TAKING A BREAK. . . AGAIN!!

Dear Friends:

So much has happened in the past month. . . our oldest daughter is now living in Texas finishing her Bachelor's of Nursing Degree with plans to continue on with her MBA. Our youngest is gearing up to finish the 9th grade - which is Junior High in our school district. She'll be starting High School in the fall. And boys, those pesky boys are now on her radar. They are calling her cell, texting her, walking her to classes, waiting at her locker. She's having fun. Me. . . I'm not sure I'm ready for all this with my baby girl. Where or where has time gone?

. . . and I am behind on about 5 million projects that I have on my "To-Do" list. So, I'm taking a break. I'll be back. . . someday. . . I think. When I began this blog it was for fun. Now it seems to be hanging over my head as another "To-Do!' - Take pictures, oh yeah, remember to take pictures of my before, not just after my projects are finished, etc., etc.!! Ever feel like that?

This is such an opportune time for me to bond with our youngest daughter and this past week has been amazing. She, being on the only child at home now, is opening up to me like never before. I don't want to be preoccupied with photographing things, thinking of needing to post again. And. . . I need to get my 5 millions things done.

I'll post when I can. Take photos of my projects (when I remember) and still try to check in with you all from time to time.

This weekend we are heading up to the cottage for some family of three bonding time. Oh heaven on earth if I do say so myself!

See you all soon,

Blessings. . . until next time,

I'M BACK - TEEN PARTY IDEAS!!

Our Daughter's Birthday Party (she's the sweetie on the right). . . and . . . All I can say is "thank God for antibiotics!!"

My sinuses have returned to normal and I'm back rolling again. . . :)

I wanted to share with you the idea I had for our youngest daughter's 15th birthday party. So many of you e-mailed and asked me the "details" of how we pulled this off so I just thought I'd post it for everyone.

I'm telling you. . . it was a huge, huge HIT!!!! I even had mothers telling me the following week what a great time their daughters had and what a neat idea it was. So my daughter thinks her mom is pretty cool right now. Neat huh?

We had an updated Scavenger Hunt party for the technical savvy kids of this generation. Long gone are the envelopes with the clues and the next hints, neighborhood door knocking or road rallies with this generation.

Oh no, this generation is a cell phone, texting generation. So that's what we used. We had two teams with 4 girls on each team. Each team used one cell phone, per team. Not a problem, all the girls had one. We just picked one to use.

This is what we did. My daughter picked her (and her friend's) favorite outdoor mall (you could pick an indoor one too, same difference). I obtained in advance a directory of the stores so I would know all the store names.

I then came up with clues to help the girls determine which store we were referring to. I'll give you a few examples later in this post.

The morning of the party, I texted these clues to my husband's and my phones. Hint: I'm not a fast texter so I got on-line with AT&T, our cell phone provider, got into our account and texted (typed) the clues this way. (Did you all know that you could do this? I just found it out by chance myself.) Since I'm a way faster typer than a texter, this was a breeze. This was our daughter's only concern. . . "Mom, Dad, you're soooo slow texting we'll be waiting forever for our next clues!" She's right. So I solved that little problem by doing it in advanced and on-line. Then all we did was hit forward on our already typed in clue to the team's cell phone.

Next issue, how could we be sure one group of girls would not just find a seat, figure out the clues, without running around the mall???? We needed proof. So, I purchased two disposal cameras. One for each team. A clue would be sent out and they would text back an answer. Either "No" would be texted back with an little cheat added help clue so they would have to brainstorm again, or the next clue if they had guessed correctly. But, they had to take a picture of the correct store on the camera, with 3 out of 4 girls in it. The 4th one would be taking the picture so 3 would have to be in the picture . . . with the store sign in the background. They rotated who took the pictures each time so we have photos of everyone.

My husband started at the bottom of the list of clues. I started at the top so they would not be running to the same stores at the same time. We had 15 clues in total.

The girls arrived at our house, we had pizza, pop, etc. Then I explained the rules. I had each girl write her name on a piece of paper, fold it and place it in a bowl. I didn't want any of "I want so and so on my team," "Can I be with. . .?" to make anyone feel slighted, ya know??? I had my husband draw one name at a time and divide them into two piles.

Two groups formed; passed out cameras; secured their cell numbers; assigned one group to me, one to hubs; gave them our cell numbers. My husband drove his group, I drove mine and away we went to the mall. We parked next to each other, got our groups to the entrance and sent them their first text at the exact same time. Fair is fair.

And away they went.

Hubs and I found a Starbucks and sent out clues.

This went seamlessly, effortlessly. It was so much fun for the girls. The first team done, of course won. We came back to our house for waffle bowl ice cream sundaes and cupcakes. Gift bags were passed out and our daughter opened her presents from her friends. I had gone to Bath & Body Works and got items for two sets of gift bags. The winner's bags had a little nicer items. I also dipped 5 pretzel rods each in white chocolate and sprinkles for their bags. I think these were gone before anyone left our house!!

I stopped at Walgreen's on the way home from the mall to drop off the cameras. I had the 1-hour photos developed and ordered a CD of each group of pictures. I have Roxio software (legal and available at Walmart) and copied a CD for each of the girls to take home in their gift bags.

______________________________________________________

Here's a sampling of our clues for you: bold font is the answer/store

If you're taking a test and you don't know an answer to a question you would: GUESS

A resident of Paris would be called a: Parisian

A space between some one's two front teeth is called a: GAP

You must be this age to legally have an alcoholic drink: Forever 21

This is where you would go to see your favorite Hollywood stars: MJR Movies

If you want to fly in an airplane, but don't fly first class . . . you fly: Coach

"Make that a double shot of espresso with extra whipped cream - grande size!" : Starbucks

You wouldn't eat using normal silverware here: P.F. Changs

Shhh!! You can't tell anyone: Victoria's Secret

This is so much fun for a teen birthday party. Our daughter and her friends are all 15 and thought this party rocked. It is soooo much better than a dreaded sleepover moms. Yes, they all went home at 11:00 pm. Heaven. I slept well ;)

If you have any questions, just e-mail me.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Blogging BREAK!!

I'm must take a little break here people!!

Just too much going on for me right now.

Our oldest is packing up and preparing to move to Texas on Saturday. I'm still recovering from the past week of having my garage sale (very successful by the way), our youngest turning 15 and having her birthday on Thursday, her teen party on Friday and the grandparent's birthday celebration with her on Saturday. My parents came down for the celebration from up-north and stayed until Monday morning.

And. . . as luck would have it. . . I'm sick, sick again with a sinus infection which has taken me to bed for the past two days. I don't think I ever completely got over the one I had last month. It just came back more evil than ever. I'm telling you this one has knocked me on my fanny. From head to toe I am aching. I did get into my doctor yesterday. . .so I have new meds, and, hopefully, will be able to have a proper send off for our oldest on Saturday AM.

So, for now, I'll be back when I can be back. . .

Blessings. . . until next time,

TOO BUSY TO POST MUCH THIS WEEK!!

Too much going on around here this week. . . .

Today I pick up our youngest from school for her hair appointment. A fresh cut and freshening up those highlights are on the agenda. Girls are EXPENSIVE!!

Thursday and Friday I am having a garage sale.

Thursday is also our youngest daughter's 15th birthday. I can't believe my baby is turning 15!!! My husband will be in New York on Thursday so our oldest daughter and I will be taking Janelle out for her birthday dinner (after cheer practice, of course!).

Friday is Janelle's birthday party. Eight girls total will be coming over, pizza, pop and then we will be going to the mall to do a "texting type" scavenger hunt. The girls will be broken into two different groups and we will give them "text" messages for clues. After they figure out the clue they will have to go to that store and take a picture with the disposable camera I will supply. After they text my hubby, or I, the correct answer, we will text the next clue to them. It's an update of the envelope for the clue I guess. The winner group will get a little nicer gift bag and the non-winner group will also get a gift bag. (We are still making up the game/rules/details). Then back to our home for cupcakes and ice cream sundaes in waffle bowls.

Saturday my parents will be driving down 2 1/2 hours from their home up north and my hub's parents will be coming over for dinner and celebrating Janelle's birthday AGAIN!!

Also, this will be the last time the grandparents will see our oldest daughter, Lindsay until Thanksgiving. Lindsay will be moving to Texas on the 23rd of this month to finish her degree!!

So, I'm probably not going to be on-line much this month. . . at. . . all!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!!

I hope all of of you moms out there have a wonderful Mother's Day. Let your family take you out to breakfast. . . lunch. . . or dinner. . . or make YOU a meal for a change.

After church, we'll be going out to eat and then coming home, sitting on our back patio and enjoying the yard!

Blessings. . . until next time,

SHOPPING THERAPY!!!

Sometimes. . . a girl's gotta do. . . what a girl's gotta do :)

A little shopping therapy, know what I mean?

Blessings. . .until next time,

A VERY PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND!!

I checked the 10-day weather forecast and decided it was safe to go ahead and plant all of my annuals this weekend. No night freeze here in Michigan. . . yeah!!!

I purchased potting soil, flowers, a few new clay pots I needed, scrubbed out all the old pots with a water/bleach solution and planted away. I also fertilized all the pine trees with Miracle-grow evergreen tree stakes, all the trees with tree stakes and fertilized the perennials. AND I'M DONE!! Too tired to take pictures though. Will show you soon!! I'm off to La-La land now. . . ZZZZzzzzzzzzz.

Blessings. . . until next time,

WISTERIA LANE?????

No, Not Desperate Housewives on Wisteria Lane . . . my Wisteria

It's FULL of buds. . . just waiting day by day for it to burst. I'll share the moment with you all when it happens :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

My Walk Around the Yard: part two


Our front courtyard area. The wisteria is about to explode. I'll show you when it does.

Ornamental miniature Cherry Tree. . . just about finished blossoming. It's now leafing out.

Magnolia Tree

Phlox bursting forth with color. . .

Lilac tree ready to blossom too!

and the Lilac bush.

Lamb's Ear

Azaleas in full color. . .

And finally, my little bench waiting for its basket of annuals to be placed on top. A wee bit early for annuals here. I normally plant after Mother's Day, when chance of frost/freeze is over. So, about a week and 1/2 until I plant those annuals. I can't wait to start digging in that dirt :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

SPRING IN MICHIGAN

SPRING

Oh yes, it's been a looonnnggg time coming, but it's here. SPRING in Michigan and I'm loving it!! I took a walk around my yard this afternoon and snapped a few photos.

Spring, it comes every year. I like to think of it as God's promise that our bad times (winter) will surely end!

Flowers blooming;

Trees budding;

and we repeat :)

See all of my hostas and lily of the valleys coming to life, reaching for the sun?

I'll share more pictures. . . next time.

Blessings. . . until next time,

TEXAS HERE SHE COMES!!!

Thank you so much to those of you who left comments and e-mailed me regarding our daughter finishing her education in Austin, TX. All is pointing in that direction for our daughter. She's flying to Austin on Thursday to take care of of a few details and will return on Sunday. As of this date. . . the plans are to drive her car from Michigan to Texas with my husband/dad. . . on the 24th of May!!!

WOW!! It's an incredibly great opportunity for her. She'll be able to spend time with hubby/dad while he's installing a new system in Austin and finish her education. I will miss her terribly. So will our youngest daughter. I think I'll have to fly down every 4 - 6 weeks. . . just to check in on her and get my hugs.

We (daughter and I), are entering a new season of our lives; one chapter closes, another one opens with new and exciting opportunities for each.

. . .but why, may I ask. . . "does my heart hurt so???"

Blessings. . .until next time,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY HUBS!!

My hubs turned 52 on Thursday! I made his favorite cake for him and suffered through dinner at PF Changs. I don't like Chinese food and it doesn't like me. It's a testament of how much I love this man. He was in heaven! I, not so much. The good thing was that I'm still sick and couldn't taste anything, so I didn't each much.

I love this picture of my husband. We were singing, or I should say attempting to sing, Happy Birthday To You. . . Happy Birthday To You. . . . He was actually laughing at us, I think!

I hope this year brings you some time to relax dear. You deserve it. I hope to see more of the following picture of you enjoying your hard work. I took this at our cottage during our last visit. My husband relaxing and doing nothing. I don't see this too much!

Blessings. . . until next time,

CRAIGSLIST FIND FOR THE COTTAGE!!

LOOK WHAT I FOUND FOR OUR MICHIGAN UP-NORTH COTTAGE:

We have a cathedral wall at our cottage that I've been wanting to place an electric fireplace. Not just any electric fireplace, however. A really, really nice, electric fireplace. Not the kind you can buy at Home Depot, or Garden Centers. The realistic looking kind that you purchase from a heating/cooling company. The Dimplex electric fireplace. It has adjustable flame, adjustable lighting and a heater blower that is also adjustable. They are very pricey and I was looking for a used one to fit the bill. I'm cheap, urr, I mean Frugal! I couldn't find one that wasn't cherry wood, or white, or a corner until. I have been looking for a few years now. . . then I found this one.

My husband was not in agreement, however. He wanted to put in a gas fireplace. Like we have in the basement of our cottage. I just wanted an electric one, with a remote and no lingering smell. He never thought that electric looked very realistic. . . until I showed him this one. I found this one on Craigslist.com. The couple had this unit in their finished basement (which with three kids under the age of 4 years old ~ they didn't get down there much to use it). They were moving and selling this unit. Luckily, hubs was home and reluctantly agreed to go look at this with me. As soon as they turned it on for us to see, my hubs agreed with me. It was beautiful! These units are pricey. $1,200 new just for the firebox and then another $500 to $600 for the fireplace surround. They were only asking $400 TOTAL!!! FOR BOTH.

The mirror on top of this unit was a separate find of mine. Can you believe it? I found this from another ad on Craigslist.com at the exact same time as finding the fireplace. It was only $50!! They even offered to deliver it to me. Can't get better than that, can you? The fireplace and the mirror look like they have always been together. For $450 I did not break the budget and have now achieved the exact look I've been wanting for our little up north get away.

. . . And sorry hubs, but this is one remote that I control :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

I'M STILL ALIVE!!

So sorry I have been Missing In Action (MIA)!!!


I'm still around. . . I just never got to feeling better. I finally went into see the doctor on Wednesday and found out I have bronchitis and a sinus infections. No wonder I was feeling so "punk!"

Back soon.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Garage Sale Season has Started!! WhoooHooooo

My Favorite Season of the Year :)

I know you in the south have been enjoying garage sale season for a while already. But, here in the north. . . they just started. I have no pictures to share with you all. I'm in bed with a rotten chest cold/sinus thingy. . . but before I got sick I hit a few on Thursday. I found a Mr. Coffee Ice Tea Maker with an extra pitcher and lid for $5, makes GREAT iced tea. We don't drink Sweet Tea here in the north. Just plain brewed iced tea. . .yummy! I also found a great little table that needs some TLC for $15!. . . and I found some really nice costume jewelery (yeah, like I need more of that my youngest said). The weather here is absolutely beautiful. Low 70's. That's perfect in my book. Before taking to bed, I helped hubby put out all the outside yard things yesterday. We re-installed our rock pool, I uncovered and changed the lights in our fountain in the front yard, put out the pots, yard ornaments and the gazebo tent. It is so nice to be done now doing these chores at both homes. More mulch added to both homes, yard & patio things in place.

Now. . . we can just sit back with a tall iced tea and enjoy the beautiful weather. :)

Have a wonderful week. When I'm up and feeling better I have some baking and cooking to do and a birthday cake to make for hubby. He's turning 52 on Thursday. Where does time go?

Oh yes, did I mention everyone will be back to school and work from Easter Break tomorrow? Yes, that's my real Whoooo-Hoooo!!! Then, I'll be back to myself shortly because I will actually be able to rest!

Blessings. . . until next time,

CALLING ALL YOU TEXANS!!

TEXAS?? ~ WHAT TO DO?

We live in Michigan. The economy stinks!! Our oldest has been trying to get into a nursing program here in our state and it. . . is . . .absolutely. . . impossible!! Then add to that ~ each college requires different pre-reqs. She has her associates degree (with excellent grades) and now wants her bachelor of nursing degree. We have so many unemployed in our state (from the car industry and related manufacturing) and the only area hiring is the medical field ~ so everyone wants to get into a nursing program!! So that's why I'm asking your advice. . . .

My hubby will be heading up a project soon in Austin, TX. The project will last around 2 years. He flies out on Monday am, and returns on Thursday nights. He normally just stays in a nice hotel while these projects are running. . . but we're thinking perhaps this time he should just get a corporate apartment. Our oldest can live with him, if she can get into a nursing program at a college near Austin. The amount of colleges with nursing programs is so much better than the amount we have in our state. The colleges near us have approximately 1,500 applicants for the nursing program and only 100 are accepted! Our oldest was shocked to do some on-line checking and find that some colleges near Austin, TX have over 700 enrolled in their nursing program!!! OVER 700!!

What do you from Texas, especially the Austin area, think are the best colleges for nursing degrees? I would appreciate any and all advice or information you could supply to us. Our oldest thinks this could be a great option and an opportunity. Several years ago when hubs put in a system in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area we went with him and spent the entire summer in Texas. While hubs worked, the girls and I saw all the sights. We fell in love with the state. Our oldest especially loved Texas. She probably would not return to Michigan after acquiring her degree.

What do you all think? Could this work?

Anxiously waiting to hear from you. . .

Blessings. . . until next time,

Are You Tired of Eating These Yet?

Hope you all had a wonderful Easter and were able to spend time with loved ones.

We went to our cottage for the weekend and had our Easter dinner there. I made our usual Easter dinner: Ham, Cheesy Potatoes, Green Bean Casserole, Corn I had froze from the end of summer, Homemade Yeast Rolls, Freshly cut Pineapple, tossed salad and Deviled Eggs! (Yes, we had a lot of hard boiled eggs. My family is not nuts about them plain, but make them Deviled and look out. . . they are GONE!!) Then we had apple pie, peach pie and ice cream for dessert.

It was a beautiful weekend at the cottage. We added mulch to all of our landscaping there too, same as we did to our home a few weeks ago. We hauled out all of the summer items from storage and have all of our patio furniture out and ready to be used. Next trip, we'll probably be able to put the boats in the water.

We took several walks and enjoyed each and every step. It was a very relaxing and restful time for our family. I also brought up a treasure I had found recently on Craigslist. I'll show you a picture as soon as I download it from my camera.

Blessings. . . until next time,

HAVE A BLESSED EASTER!!

CELEBRATE OUR RISEN SAVIOUR!!


Thank you Jesus for taking my sins and punishment upon yourself and covering them once and for all. . . at the cross. . . rising from the grave. . . to triumph over death. . .making a way for us to have eternal life, with the Father, through you. Amen!

How cool is that? And all we have to do is accept HIS gift of salvation! None of us is worthy of this gift, yet it is available to each and everyone of us! None more deserving than the other. Have you accepted HIS gift? Have you made HIM your Lord and Saviour?

I wish you all a wonderful Easter celebration with family and friends.

Blessings. . . until next time,

SPRING & EASTER DECORATING

It's kind of funny for me to even be posting this now!

So many of you gals, especially those southern gals, did your Spring/Easter decor posting sooo long ago. But here in the north Spring is just now starting to sprout. My husband and I put 138 bags of mulch (2 cu. yards in each bag) all around our home yesterday and today. This afternoon, when we finished, we turned on the weather channel. Yikes, here we found out we are expecting 6 - 10" of snow Sunday/Monday! Can you believe that? But, we've learn to roll. What can we do? Nothing, absolutely nothing about it :) At least it won't stick around long and when it melts we'll see our fresh layer of mulch!

So, here's my Easter/Spring decor (not my Christmas - which would probably be more appropriate for us!)

My little Beatrice Potter Rabbit on our dining room table with some straw and pastel plastic eggs scattered around. A Marshall's find from a few years back.

Two little moss bunnies with eggs in their baskets. . . and a few more rabbits. They seem to multiply, don't they?

And finally, our sofa table vignette. Our signs; Spring & Easter Blessings; then we have chicks feeding, bunnies hugging (hmmm, I wonder if this is how my collection multiplies?), Easter plates and my favorite, spring time bird's nests. However, the glass Easter Egg candy dish seems to be my family's favorite.

Now, if you don't mind passing me the snow shovel!

Blessings. . . until next time,