HAPPY MONDAY FRIENDS!!

Did I tell you all that hubby and I are going on vacation? Just the two of us! Last vacation alone was two years ago when we went to Maui and Hawaii for our 25th wedding anniversary. This trip is for our 27th wedding anniversary. Yes, Grand Cayman and I can't wait. We are leaving in 12 days!! We will bring our snorkel equipment, sunblock and, hopefully, leave the laptops and cell phones behind. Hubby. . . are you reading this????

Good bye cold, breezy Michigan for a bit and when I return I would appreciate Spring in full bloom please!

Of course, there are things I need to get ready for us. . . and the girls. My husband will be out of town the week before our trip. . . arriving home on Friday night. . . and we'll then be taking off on Saturday AM. . . so I need to pack him as well as me. I told him the deal is, I will pack him if he promises not to fuss about how many shoes I pack (he always makes a big deal about why I need so many shoes - guys just don't get it do they?)

My parents are in transit as I type from their winter home in Florida. They will stop at their house in Michigan (about 2 1/2 hours north of our house) for a little over a week and then travel back down here to arrive on the 11th. I asked my mom to come stay with our girls. They really don't need too much attention since the oldest is 20 and going to college local and our oldest is almost 14 and in school all day, but I think they still need supervision! Mom is looking forward to grandma/granddaughter time and so are our girls. My dad may even stay a few days so that would be great for our girls as well. Our parents are all getting older and each moment we and our children have the opportunity to spend together I do believe is a treasured gift.

Update on what's been going on in our household:

*I've been working hard at this weight game. 13 pounds off and about 20 more I'd like to drop. Slow and steady I hope wins the race. Weight Watchers is a wonderful program for everyone. That's just my two bits!! Of course, when we go to the cottage for the weekend, like we did this weekend, I do stray a bit :)

*I've been having too much fun with my new "toy" my embroidery machine. I've been downloading designs and having so much fun. Next, I want to embroider some towels. I've done baby receiving blankets, tote bags, aprons and lunch totes. Addicting I tell ya, it's addicting.

Blessings. . . until next time,

MY "Work Room" - TAA DAAA!!!

Wwwaaaayyyyy back when I gave you my new finished basement tour (just keep back tracking from this link if you want to see the basement tour) - - several of you asked me "But Sher, where is YOUR work room?" I responded with an answer of "behind that door in the kitchen. . . and you're not going to see it!!" Well, thanks to our awesome Michigan winter (still lingering here by they way) - I was snowed in enough to start to make some progress in that area.

Here's what you see when you open the door in the kitchen. Not much. Just the furnaces and water heater. I keep that old swivel chair around to cut my husband's hair every two to three weeks. Yup, he doesn't have much, so it's an easy clipper cut. Actually, I cut my 19 year old nephew's hair yesterday too. Funny, those guys with all the hair (nephew) cuts his hair the same length as my husband who doesn't have much hair!

When you make a right, you see the built in shelves my husband made for me. They are wonderfully strong and I'm able to store a lot of items on these babies! Here you can see my paint supplies, many boxes of mementos and keepsakes of our daughters of things they wish to hang on to.

Another right and you're in my workroom! My husband hung up cupboards to match the kitchen for my storage items. I have my serger, my old sewing machine and my brand new embroidery machine. Next picture is a close up.

If you click on the above photo and enlarge you may be able to see a few projects I was working on. They were tote bags and aprons for my brother's grandchildren for Easter. So, if they are my nephew's children, I guess they are my Great Nieces, or is that my Grand Nieces? Oh, I get so confused!!

Next picture is the other side of my work room with my storage solutions. Not perfect, not ideal, but it works for me :) You can see my wrapping paper and seasonal wreaths hanging from the beam behind this area. I like to have a place for everything. . . and everything in its place. Yes, at times I can drive my family totally NUTS!! I like things orderly, labels and neat.

Now if you turned left from the above photo position, you would come to the other side of the shelves and walk back to my paint table (following photos):

To the right of this table and all along the wall are all built in storage shelves too. Of course, the majority of this space is taken up with my Christmas decor. I love to decorate for the holidays!

So, there you have it. MY basement work area. I call this. . . the last frontier. It was a mess. It was dirty, it was dusty, it was unorganized. I knew I must tackle it once and for all so I could get my work room in order and begin my projects again. With the basement finishing project going on for soooo long, everything just kind of got shoved into this area. After purging, tossing and donating I was able to finally able to move around enough to "get working!"

The only area left? When you walk in from the kitchen. . . immediately to the left. That's our exercise area. I have to clean and organize the treadmill, stepper, and home gym area. I just had an electrical plug installed last week for the treadmill. Now the "family" wants to be able to watch TV while working out. Give me a break!!! I thought that's what the IPODS were for. . . that they just had to have!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

Happy Easter - Thank you Jesus!

Happy Easter - Thank you Jesus!!

Today we Christians celebrate the resurrection of our risen Savior - Jesus Christ! Jesus willingly took our sin upon Himself to the cross, covered them once and for all with His shed blood, and rose victoriously from the grave to triumph over death. Jesus made the way for us to our Father in heaven.

Jesus did all this for us and all He wants us to do is accept Him as our Lord and Savior. Jesus makes it so easy for us! Thank you Jesus!!

Have a Blessed Easter!

Thank you Rhoda!

Rhoda of Southern Hospitality is a "dear." She literally "walked me through" the steps of how to change my blogging background. Do you like my new background? I've always known how to change my banner pictures, but the background was a bit challenging for me since it involved Html. I love my background now, Fleur De Li's. My favorite "french" design. . . OK, some argue it's Italian too. Whatever, I love it! Thank you Rhoda!!

Rhoda is a very talented and creative lady. Be sure to check out her blog, linked above and her business, linked following. She is a pro at turning nothing into something and re-purposing garage sale finds. Rhoda has a home decorating consulting business called, The Restyle Room too. If you don't live near her, she's available to hire over the internet. You provide her with pictures and she'll give you the inspiration!! How cool is that? If I needed help in decorating, I would certainly hire Rhoda to assist me. If you need help, please be sure to check out Rhoda. She has a talent beyond words.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Well, There May Be HOPE of SPRING SPRINGING!!

Remember wwaaayyyyy back in the fall when I planted, gee I can't even remember now how many spring bulbs? Here's the link to my Fall post. Well, I was outside today, checking out "things" and what do my eyes behold? Sprouting Hyacinths coming up from the earth!! Oh Sweet Joy!! Could it actually be? Is Spring finally coming to Michigan? I sure hope so. *Yes, that's a little icy/snow pile at the top right of the photo.

If you click on the picture above it should enlarge and you will see even more sprouting flowers! I know those of you who live in a warmer climate must think we crazy northern people are pathetic. But then, when you have a dang nabit pile (following picture) STILL at the end of your driveway it can seem like forever till Spring!

Oh, yes, I did hear we are in for a little fresh snow fall on Friday. Makes a person want to pull their hair out!!!! Oh well, at least the dirty snow will be covered with a fresh white blanket. . . I'm trying here folks, I'm trying :)

Well, on the brighter side, I should be able to post within a day or so some of my embroidery machine projects. I'm having so much fun. So, I guess that's the good thing about the lingering winter. . . I can stay in my basement workroom and don't think about being outside in the beautiful weather. Yeah, there we go.

Blessings. . . until next time,

New Face-Lift for our Front Entry & Happy St. Patrick's Day!!

I'm so excited. I finally found the "perfect" shrubs/urns to grace the sides of our entry door to welcome guests! They are not real, but man they sure look it! They came complete all potted in the lovely urns and ready to go. I've been looking for really, really tall topiary shrubs because we have a really, really tall entry porch. So many people make the mistake of putting little tiny shrubs out in front of their tall houses and I just think it doesn't look right. I've also seen huge urns with tiny little shrubs planted in them. Just doesn't look right to me either. I believe things should be balanced. Oh yes, and if you look to the right of our sidewalk you'll see our snow. . . still. . . hanging. . . around. . . on. . . the. . . ground!!! Dang nab it!!


Our old urns were just not working for us any more. They will be moved to the back of the house and placed on our patio this Spring/Summer/Fall. I loved them, yes, very much. . . however, so did the birds. Birds, birds and more birds. They swarmed my front door all Spring long removing pieces of the topiary arrangement for their nesting. You see, it was perfect for them. Grapevine balls surrounded with silk ivy. They loved to disassemble my arrangement every year for their nests! Not to mention that they could scare the tar out of you if you walked up to the door, or heaven forbid, open the front door from the inside. I was always afraid that they would fly into my house! So, I'm creating, in my mind at this point, something different to try with the topiary arrangement on the back porch. I'll let you know if I finally revamp this project as I am thinking. Oh, not to worry, I will have the remains all around my yard from my old urn topiary arrangement. . . the birds have the most beautiful silk ivy woven into ALL of their nests. . . and have for several years now!!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY friends!!

An Old Irish Blessing

May the road rise up to meet you.

May the wind always be at your back.

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

and rains fall soft upon your fields.

And until we meet again,

May God hold you in the palm of His hand.

And if you're the St. Patrick's Day partying kind, please be responsible and don't drink and drive. Please have someone take you home, or be the designated driver (don't drink) and take your friends home. And. . . have FUN!!

Irish Blessings. . . until next time,

Oh My Aching Back!!

Thank goodness for Motrin is all I have to say!! I have no idea what I did, how I did it, or when I did it, but my back is killing me!!

It may have been the walk I took the other day when I stumbled and slid a little on the ice (yeah, we still have snow and ice here in the great north :( ; it may have been bending over sewing on my new toy (my sewing embroidery machine); it may have been from lifting the cases of water at Costco. Who knows. All I know is that my back is really aching. Aching when I stand, sit, walk, breath! Ouch!!

So what happens just a few moments ago? My husband comes walking into the kitchen to announce that "his back is killing him" too. What in the world? Our mattress is about 9 years old. . . could it be time for another one. I don't think so - but you never know. Oh, my, could it be AGE?

Blessings. . . until next time,

Gift. . . to MYSELF

Well, after cleaning, sorting, consolidating, purging, organizing, rearranging and labeling the basement sewing/storage/exercise/workroom. . . I thought I deserved a little reward he-he.

This is my little present to myself. An electronic home embroidery combination sewing machine. Rated as a Consumer Reports BEST BUY. I've been tossing around acquiring a home embroidery machine for a while now. When I saw this one. . . which was reasonably priced, equipped to do everything I would need it to do - - - I thought "it must be meant to be!" Heck, it even came with PE-Basic. This gives me the capability to download images from my computer and enter them into the USB port on my new machine. How cool is that?

I've been having sooooo much fun learning how to use this machine. I'm taking my time learning one step at a time. This machine is amazing. . . it is even self-threading (included the needle). Which is good for this old gal whose vision ain't what it used to be :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

Fine Tuning, Finishing up. . . and Finding the Time

Hello dear friends. I have been very negligent as of late with my posting. I try to post at least every other day. But, I've been Spring cleaning; fine tuning things like my dressers, closets, kitchen and bathroom drawers and cupboards, reorganizing my pantry, finishing up projects and just finding the time to do it all. Boy, does it feel good to accomplish these things!!

Last weekend my husband and I made a truck-full delivery/donation to the local charity resale shop. Things I've had since moving in this house (almost 7 years ago) - - that I had been holding onto "in case" I might use it - - WENT. And how cleansing that feeling is to purge it all! Not to mention how clean my basement storage area is now.

I've been working like a busy bee to get, as I call it, "My Last Frontier" cleaned and organized in my home. That would be my basement storage area, my work room and my sewing area. I can actually walk in the room now and even function properly to do my projects. I can't wait to begin again - - I have so many projects I want to tackle!!

Next, my hubs finally put up the border I purchased for our laundry room a few years ago (yes, I do believe it's been a few years now). It was one of those things that we just put off. I do a lot of home projects myself, but he has always done the wallpapering and wallpaper borders for me. And for that I am thankful!

Anyways, here's my "finished" laundry room. I purchased the lamp and the clock at different garage sales last summer and painted them to match. I think these items add a cozy touch to the laundry room. I do spend, oh. . . so. . . much time in this room, that it may as well be cozy. By the way, if anyone is looking for a new washing machine in the near future I would so highly recommend a new front loader. It's my favorite appliance in almost 27 years of marriage. It's a Kenmore and it's magic.

I'll be back within a day or so to show you some of my other completed projects. And let you in on a few more that I'm planning for the near future.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Part 3 - Spring/Easter Decor

It seems kind of funny to be writing this post. . . all about Spring/Easter Decor - - when we were just hit with another snow storm last night here in Michigan. Yup, another dumping of 7" of snow combined with ice!

*Edited to add: GREAT, now we are expecting another 8" of the fluffly white stuff to fall on Friday night through Saturday - - AAAUUUGGGGHHHH!!

Our schools are closed and my youngest is enjoying each and every minute of her unexpected day off. Except, mom here won't venture out to take her anywhere. That disappoints her. MAJORLY. If the roads are too bad for the buses, I don't go out either. Heck, I even cancelled my dental cleaning appointment for this AM. I don't care to get stuck somewhere on the road!

The top picture is of my table as you walk downstairs into our basement (where we spend most of our time). I made (years ago, when I was into ceramics - Jesus carrying His Cross to Calvary - for us!) I do not have an electrical plug on the floor upstairs underneath my sofa table or I would display this there. It's three dimensional, is lighted and I love it. This my friends, is what EASTER is all about for us Christians. Jesus, willing taking on our sin at the cross - covering them with His blood and fulfilling the sacrifice once and for all. . . for all of us. . . then triumphing over death - rising again - so we too may have eternal life through HIM. He paved the way for us to the FATHER. Thank you Jesus!!

There is also a little lighted Easter Village I've acquired over the years. . . with the standard "egg tree" on each side. It's cute and when my girls were younger they enjoyed placing the little eggs and decorations on the tree. Now, I just store it with a bag over it - because no one wants to decorate it yearly. Kind of getting like our parents who do this with their Christmas tree!!

I found this years ago when we lived in Texas for a short stint (loved every minute of it too - husband's work project - we joined him for the entire summer - hot, but wonderful). It's of the Last Supper (why we recognize Holy Thursday or some call it Maundy Thursday). It's actually a candle holder with three candle holders behind it that illuminates behind the glass nicely when lit.

Again, while in my ceramic making days. . . I made this arrangement too. I always tried to decorate for the holidays to make things special for my daughters. To give them good memories of their childhood. . . it's such a short window of opportunity.

Don't forget we also "Spring Ahead" this Saturday for those of you who are in states that participate in Day-Light Savings time. Turn your clocks UP one hour before going to bed on Saturday evening. . . you don't want to be late for Sunday church now do you?

Blessings. . . until next time,