Let them drink Blenheim Ginger Ale!

Have y'all ever tried Blenheim Gingerale?

It's life altering.

And, based on our customers at Davis General Store, I'd say it's easy to get hooked.

We have people calling us to put them a case on hold.

And we have others who come in every week to buy a 6-pack.

And some people just stop by and get a single out of the cooler.

Some drink it because it's good.

Some drink it to open up their sinuses when they have a cold or allergies.

Others use it as a mixer.

It comes in:

Original Hot (pink top)

Not as Hot (gold top)

Diet (white top)

The bottling plant isn't that far from the store, so usually Anj & I make a run every few months.

Yesterday, I went by myself because hubs was tied up at work.

I drive by myself over North and South Carolina all the time, and traveling alone doesn't really bother me, but:

1) I am not a fan of drivin' hubs' truck. Its brakes aren't as sensitive. The steering feels funny, and I feel like I'm drivin' a school bus.

2) This go round we got more than normal, and as a result, it wasn't shrink wrapped on a pallet because we had to fit it in the bed of the truck without blocking the back glass. 

A few disturbing images of 1200 glass bottles of ginger ale rolling all over the highway kept popping in my head.

Betta believe I was checkin' the rear view mirror every time I turned, hit a bump, hit the brakes too fast, etc, etc, etc.

But, I am happy to report that I, the truck, and all the bottles of ginger ale made it to the store safely.

And, we got it unloaded about 10 minutes before a torrential downpour hit.

You can check out the Blenheim website to find some near you.

Happy Thursday!

store findings featuring the work of mini anj

In my on-going project of finding the surface of the shelves/floors/walls at the store, I uncovered this gem:

 

Y'all.

I am one of the most sentimental, omigosh-we-have-to-save-that! people ever.

So, you can imagine how I felt when I saw this little piece of Anj circa probably 1987-ish. 

Just look at Snookie-pie learnin' to write his name!

Not only did I save it, I framed it and put it on the mantel.

Sho did.

{I used a frameless photo frame that I got from Pier 1 forever ago, but I'm sure they have them at craft stores if you're interested in displaying a photo, collage, or document without the distraction of the frame itself.}

You just never know what you might find.

Happy Wednesday, y'all!

black boogers from the store, and black windows for my car.

So, I had this idea,

which sort of lead to another overhaul at the store.

Starting with "the back corner".

Since 1960, "the back corner" has been crammed full papers. 

Boxes and boxes and boxes and boxes of papers.

And receipts.

And check stubs.

And retro shoe, farm equipment, and seed catalogs.

And more receipts.

And more stubs.

And dusssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssst.

Here is a before/mid-process pic.

My "resting bitch" face. {Thanks Steph.}

Ha. I didn't mean to look so bitchtastic. But, I was hella tired. 

Haulin' boxes of crap out to the dumpster, and more boxes of papers and books to Silas' truck = better workout than any gym.

Let's just say I've been soaked in sweat. {The store has no A/C.}

And my boogers have been black.

And customers say stuff like, "DAYUM, Silas workin' the shit outta you, ain't he?"

But - 

it's GOING to be worth it, y'all.

Also, Sylvia got her a little tan. Or, more like, some bronzer for her cheeks.

Shout out to my lil bro for hookin' that shit up.

I am not a drug dealer.

But - I would like to be a little cooler {literally cooler, like temperature wise} when I get in the car.

And not have my left arm get sunburned while riding down the road.

Also, I would like to stare freely at people at stop lights, and when I am forever stuck in Charlotte traffic.

At almost 30, I am embracing tinted windows.

Whoop!

What are y'all's plans for the 4th?

It's my BIG 3-0! Holy smokes.

Silas - in action!

Recently, a local news personality stopped by the store to interview Silas about the store and its history.

Check it out: 

SILAS-ism of the day

 

An older gentleman and some of his younger relatives were in the store looking around, and had tried on some overalls and checked out several items. They made their way to the hard candies by the door, and noted that we had licorice and sassafras. A few minutes went by and the oldest gentleman said, "Y'all got ho'hound?" And Silas and I both said, "Yessir. We do." Silas walked off, and I walked toward the candy to assist the man. I said, "Here's a bag. It's a better buy to get three bags instead of one if you think you'll eat it." ... Meanwhile, Silas has been gone for several seconds, and has now reappeared with a hoe handle in his hand. All the men looked confused.
"HOREHOUND, SILAS!" I said. "They wanted HOREHOUND candy! Not a HOE HANDLE!"

Hahahahaha! Bless his heart.

you know, typical friday at the store

duck dynasty was in the newspaper.

this lead to a conversation about the difference between do-rags and bandanas.

then we got to thinkin', we have always had stars & stripes bandanas and camo ones because at the davis general sto, we get down like that.

then we thought, "hey! let's have a damn photo shoot and advertise these thangs!"

so we posed like rednecks gangstahs refugees bruce springstein tupac pirates the dudes from duck dynasty.

since we are so awesome, phil and willie stopped by the store when they were in charlotte recently for a race.

psych. those images came from google.
{and we harassed a few customers to take pics of us, bless their hearts.}

would be totally appreciative if they decided to stop by though.

the real "si" - except not.

"silas" is preferred.

personally, i'm gettin' more of a willie nelson vibe.

hope your weekend is happy happy happy.

you liable to find it at davis sto

today, i decided to tackle this here madness @ davis store

first up ...

never know when you might need to douse oneself in escada, swish with some listerine, or hit up some advil - conveniently housed in a tidy cardboard box

you know you wanna wash all 2000 of your parts with this

creepy as hell loofah 

or do whatever it is one does with
some mineral oil from like the 60's

label some shiz with some
old school seed stamps

repair some overalls, pants, or jacket with some

miscellaneous carhartt parts

and these, well, just check out these

crazyville hanes ads ... 

1) just look how she's gazing obsessively at him while he stares off into nowhere in his mayjahly high water slacks

2) is it her job to keep him warm? seems like she could think of somethin a lil better than hanes thermals, no?

and how bout this one?

i know my man be sailin' like a boss with his tshirt tucked into his draws

never a dull moment, y'all.

happy wednesday.

street sweepin in the QC and impregnating shoes

so, last night's trip to tar-zhay was a success.

i don't bother to curl my hair to go to the store, so i haven't messed with the curling wand thingie yet.

if i master it, i will let y'all know all about it.

on the way to the store this mornin, i sat on the highway between TWO exits for THIRTY minutes.



know why?
some dingleberry somehow lost thousands of batteries all. over. the. road.
closed down all three lanes, and an exit.
what. the. deuce?
i saw a helicopter looming overhead, and now i know someone inside was filming this titillating video of dudes sweepin' up batteries:

When I finally did make it to the store, it was about lunch time.

Never a dull moment.

Some favorite quotes from today:

Silas: "FOOT ASS?!?" (in response to a customer who asked for a foot axe)

Me: "SILAS, YOU WONT SOME CORNBREADDDDDD?!" (my soup today from the methodist church came with some cornbread and i already had me a sandwich to go with it) nikki started laughin, and said, "Man, that was reddd." So, then I bout choked and started laughin too. 

Nikki: "I felt lower than a pregnant ant." (while telling me a story at lunch)

Nikki: "What is that?" (asked to Silas, pointing to a cone shaped cell phone booster)

Silas: "A phallic symbol."

Me: "How do you impregnate a shoe?" (asked to Silas, after finding this:)

Customer: "Hi, I need to speak to the person in charge, please."
Silas: "Well, I don't know of nobody like that around here, but what is it you lookin' for?"

_________________________________________________________________

we had chef's salad for supper tonight, and y'all one thing about bein' gluten free that suuuuuuuuuuuuucks is a lack of croutons. normal grocery stores around us didn't carry em, and i was too lazy to go to a specialty store.

so, i made some!

and they were the. JAM.

easy too!

cut bread in small cubes (gluten free bread is often kept frozen anyway, so it made the cutting part really easy)

melt butter, and stir in garlic powder and grated parmesan

stir the bread cubes in the butter mixture, and bake at 350 for about 10 mins.
(the baking time may vary a little depending on how many you make)

soooooooooo divine, y'all!

so, so, so magical.

took my salad to a whole nother level!

tomorrow is friday!

if you haven't already, please check out the store on instagram
@davisgeneralstore

deuces!

 

heyyyyyyyyy, y'all!

is this mic on?

y'all are still here?

yeah, you are.

because Y'ALL ARE AWESOME.

sorry for my just peacin' out and all. i just been a little here, a little there, a little errrwhere, knowwhatimean?

anyhoozle.

first up, some business.

i think i'm gettin' rid of the button swap/sponsor/anything along those lines.

why?

because i am psycho and ads along my sidebar make me feel cluttered. and the whole reason i blog is to DE-clutter my brain. (or at least attempt to.) please know this is NOTHING PERSONAL. so, there's that. i'll prolly delete all that jazz this week. if i love you, i will most likely shout out occasionally in my posts, which is probably more important than a sidebar button anyway. and, shouldn't bloggin' be about makin' frands? i'm just not interested in keepin' up with all that jazz.

#bishislazy

i've still been at the store a bit, inhalin' dust, and blowin' black stuff out of my nostrils for 6 hours after i leave the store. but I LOVE IT. 

there are parts of the store that are totally magical ... 

 

then there are other parts ...

what the hayull?

but i love the sense of satisfaction i get from working to improve the store -
not to be confused with "modernizing" the store.

i love meeting the customers who come in everyday. i like selling people products that are legit. i love hangin out with the FIL (and Nikki ... i need to steal a pic of her soon).

{here's the FIL tellin' his brother all about his recent trip via iphone photos}

i would LOVE to do a full blown "before & after" - butttttttttttt, i have a confession. i sort of get all gung ho, and before you know it, i've missed a meal and forgotten to take any "before" pics. i'm sorry. i know. what the hell kind of blogger or cleaner upper or decorator or store display maker am i with no "before" pics? i suck. oops. i also feel totally overwhelmed at the thought of documenting all that's been cleaned, organized, thrown out, etc.

but, here's some, at least. forgive me?

so, we sell lodge cast iron cookware at the store. previously, we had some in the main part of the store, hidden under a table and a few inches of dust. then, we had some on top of said table, and the display for the lodge stuff was in the front part of the store, and had no lodge stuff on it. so, i hauled all this shiz to one part of the store, and utilized the display.

we sell lots of seed in the spring. these seed scoops {and baskets} were previously just laid down wherever there was room apparently. nikki and i hung some nails and got these off of the floor, because we don't have room to be wastin' ANY kind of space.

hubs and i went junkin and found these awesome bins to help store/organize more hardware:



we also sell galvanized tubs, pails, and cans. previously, they were all stacked together, and individually priced using a sharpie marker on the side of each one. now, one of each size and shape is displayed and priced, and the others are organized neatly.

the FIL also loooooved to sell shiz straight out the box, and still in the plastic wrap it came in.
*cringe* {love you, silas!}
i took all these carhartt shirts out of their wrapping, and organized and priced them.
as you can see at the bottom of the pic, there are still a few cardboard box "displays" that need to be taken care of. 



this bin has been here forever and a day. potatoes and beans used to be sold from it. my FIL decided to fill it up with empty boxes, and nail some wood on top, and the two things combined could serve as a "table" to sell stuff from.
yeah.



so, we threw out all the boxes and got rid of the wood and filled the bins up with .....
merchandise. so we can sell it. ;)
{we sell lots of work boots. when the spring comes, we'll switch out the socks, gloves and toboggans for something else}



there are other aspects of the store that just ...
add character.

 

on a completely unrelated note, i am obsessed with this video.
i've always liked carrie, but she's never been a favorite.
however, with 'blown away' and 'two black cadillacs', i dunno, i feel like she's finally gettin' into her groove or somethin. like, she's finally able to truly do what she wants, and i am lovin' it.

i love the song.
i love the creepy piano music in the video.
i love the vintage cadillacs.
i love her shoes.
i love both women's funeral attire, especially the red nails and the veil.
and, duh, i love that the car has a spirit of its own.
i read something saying that carrie wanted to get the okay from stephen king before moving forward with the video since the whole idea of the car having a mind of its own is sort of borrowed from his book/movie 'christine'.
do y'all love it as much as i do?




welp, that's all for now, shugs.

peace out.

that time Silas left for two weeks

y'all have heard me talk about the store over and over before.

well, Silas, my FIL, left town for a couple weeks.

i may or may not have gone in and cleaned.like.a.mo.

the business started in 1890. the building has been there since 1907, and i swear, some spots of it haven't been cleaned since then.

the FIL may have been usin' paint cans to hold up "tables" and cardboard boxes with prices written in sharpie as "displays".

 i tried to help umm ... increase the visual appeal ... soon i will take real photos.

anyway, we made him a sweet welcome home poster and some treats to help soften the blow.

he came back, took a quick walk through, said, "Shit!" took his cookies and muffins and left.

i say all's well that ends well, no?

ps, we got some new shirts in, you KNOW y'all need one!

{the porch is new since the filming of Banshee}

and guess what else?! the store is on ...........

instagram. BAM!

@davisgeneralstore

tomorrow i'm actually goin' to read other people's blogs and respond to emails.

sorry i suck.

God made a farmer, y'all.

And He gave me an awesome FIL who lets {?} me come clean, organize and decorate his old general store.

I'm still alive.

And still busy.

The store and I have been spendin' a lot of time together.
It is in need of some love.
 Bonus, I get to hang out with fabulous shugpies like this while I'm there:

And then there's The Hardware Show.
There is somethin' magical about old men in tall ball caps talkin' about seed spreaders and mouse traps and cast iron cookware.

And I've had to help clean up some messes.

But, I still love y'all.

What can I say? My B.

Sometimes life happens.

PS - the best thing about The Super Bowl?

This commercial:

Way to have the nuts to mention God in a Super Bowl commercial.

And farmers.

Some people make fun of schools like State and Clemson {among others}.

I wanna know where the hell y'all think your food comes from.

Deuces for now.

weekend

Imagine my excitement when both of these came in the mail on the same day!

We got our pintos, onions & cornbread on.

McAlister's was had.

After my caffeine surge, I decided to organize our closet.
We'll see how many days this lasts.
 We can now stand on the actual floor while we're in the closet, rather than atop a big pile of shoes.



Y'all already know how much I love this movie, and how I decorate my planner like a high schooler.
Welp, I saw Truvy and Clairee in a magazine. Duh, I cut it out and put it ....
in my planner.
It was clearly meant to be.

Caught up on Banshee, part of which was filmed at the store .

I was surprised to see that the store does make several appearances in the show.
{You can see the store @ about :11 in the trailer below - omg, get excited!}

In preparation for our two-hour viewing, I made myself my version of a wine spritzer.

And I made it in my redneck wine glass.

I tried to like wine for real, and straight up, but .... my taste buds just weren't a fan.

I should mention that we don't in fact have Cinemax,

so we watched the bootleg version.

Kids, this is called a VHS tape.

Our weekend also involved cheesy grits with bacon, eggs and yummy coffee with spray whip.

And apple raisin salad. Yumm.

We got our walk on.

Did a little catchin' up on some rest.

Watched some basketball/football & drank some bevies.

Had some delicious chicken parm ... even without the noodles, mine was delish!
Good job, Anj!

Hope your weekend was fantastic!!

Linking up with Sami.

Happy Monday, shugpies!