Another "Thing" to Love!

I just may NEVER get out of the shower again!

Look what my hubby installed in our master bathroom!! Our other shower head was starting to leak. . . ever. . . so. . . slightly. This baby ROCKS! It can be adjusted to have the water flow out of one head or both. Both heads are adjustable and can be positioned up or down wherever you want on the shower bar. Then, they also tilt. One of the heads is a hand held removable jobby which comes in handy when I clean the shower. Having the water flow out of both heads at the same time suits me perfectly! There is also a mirror attached so hubs can shave while showering!

I'm in HEAVEN!!

I'm also leaving. . . on a jet. . . plane. . . don't know when I'll be ****Oh, never mind. I'm leaving Saturday morning for Florida with our youngest daughter. I won't. . . be back again***until the following Saturday. . . SO I'M TAKING A BLOGGING BREAK. Mom and Dad don't have Internet connection (I know, I know, how do they survive?) But on top of that. . . they don't even have a computer (gasp). Our youngest will be going through some computer withdrawal symptoms, that's a given. I told her to bring books. Lots and lots of books. You should have seen the look I got from her.

Until we meet again. . . .

Blessings. . . until next time,

I'M IN LOVE!!

I'm sure you thought you would be seeing a picture of my husband, or my children. But "No!!" They don't help me :), but she does!

Instead here's a picture of my newest love. . . HAZEL!! Hazel actually helps me clean by vacuuming up messes! It's my iRobot Roomba. I know I'm very much dating myself, but somewhere wwwwaaaayyyyy back in my childhood memories there was a sitcom named Hazel. She was the maid. So, I thought it was appropriate to name my iRobot "Hazel."

She's wonderful. She's a robot and I programmed her to clean the floor every day at 9:00 AM. She vacuums carpet, tile and hardwood floors. I mean is this a miracle, or what? One day she does the Kitchen, Laundry Room and Powder Room. The next day she moves into the Great Room, Dining Room, Den and Master Bedroom.

Now, if I could just teach her to fetch my slippers. . . I'd have it maid, ur I mean made :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

CARDINAL LOVE!!

For the BIRDS!!


Don't you just adore this cute, little chubby pair of cardinals? They make me smile each and every time I pass by them! They are sitting here and patiently waiting for Spring. Well, here in Michigan they'll have a long wait. February and March are sure to bring snow. . . hopefully, by April we'll have at least the start of Spring.

So. . . until then, I just keep plugging along with my home projects. I really don't mind winter much at all. I get so much done in this "down time" as I call it. Cleaning out the closets, basement, under bathroom cabinets, purge, straighten, donate and organize. Baking, cooking and trying new recipes. That's my role right now.

What about you? What do you do to make it through the long winter months? That is if you live in a state with long winter months :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

HAPPY NEW YEAR ~ 2009!!

Happy New Year

Dear Friends!!

Welcome 2009!!

Another year closes and a new one begins. Isn't that exciting? It's a time of new beginnings, fresh starts and things renewed. I'm excited! It's been a wonderful 2008 getting to know so many new friends through blogging. I never thought when I began this blogging journey in 2007 that I would come to love it as much as I do. I feel like so many of you have become close, personal friends to me too. I've enjoyed checking in on all of you and getting to know you and your families as well. And, wink, wink ~ just what you're all up to :)

I'm looking forward to some down-time now that the holidays are over. I've taken down all the CHRISTmas decor and placed it back in its proper storage location. I worked very hard today to get it done too. Doesn't everything seem so clean and fresh when it's all back to normal? Our youngest told me it's not called clean and fresh, but BARE! This is my time to clean-out, purge and re-organize our household, try new recipes and just NEST in my own personal BLISS *sigh* . Now, doesn't that sound wonderful???

Blessings. . . until next time,

Myrtle Beach Vacation - Condo Tour

Oh What A Wonderful Vacation We Had!!!!

Come on into our condo with me! We rented a condo in North Myrtle Beach. It was part of the Hilton Hotel's Kingston Plantation, called The Royal Palms. It was wonderful!!

This is at the entrance to our condo. Closet to the right and left for hanging items. Second door on the left was one of the bathrooms (the one our girls used).

Here's our girls' room. They had a room with two queen sized beds. My hubby and I were at the opposite end of the condo. . . so that was nice because we couldn't hear them in their room late at night talking, laughing and watching TV.

This is a shot of the girls bathroom. It's soooo hard to photograph bathrooms!! They are so small it's hard to fit them in the photo.

Our beautiful kitchen area. I'm so glad I had the opportunity to cook and clean for a week in this kitchen. It has totally nixed my thoughts of granite counter tops for our home in the future. No thank you. I will be happy to stick with my Corian Solid Surface. This black granite showed everything. It was so hard to clean too. I couldn't believe it. Every water drop showed, every streak was magnified!

Off of the kitchen was a laundry room. Yes, I LOVE having a washer and dryer on vacation. That way before we return home I can wash my family's clothing so I don't have to do it when I get home. Everyone can just put their clothing right back in their closets and dressers!

This is the balcony off of our rooms. We could enter the balcony from the living room or from the master bedroom. Oh yes, we had the end unit on the 24th floor. And what. . .a. . . view. . . we. . . had!! This is the master bedroom with a bathroom off of it. To the left (can't see it in this picture) is another doorwall leading to the same balcony as above. We had a wonderful walk-in-closet that was the size of some bedrooms I've seen.

This is the master bathroom. Behind the door is the Jacuzzi tub. I'm strange. I only get in my nice, clean Jucuzzi tub I have at home in my bathroom. I've read about all the germs in the tub and on the remote controls. No thank you!!

This is the view from our bedroom walking into the Living Room/Dining area. Yes, hubby is on the phone WORKING. . . on vacation. I'm not sure what was supposed to be over the buffet in the dining area. It looks like it may have been a photo or a mirror that wasn't there any longer. You can still see the hanging hardware attached to the wall, however.

This is a shot from the dining room, into the kitchen. To the right, you go down a hall and back out to the exit door.

This is the view from our room. I didn't visit the pool. I spent my days laying on the beach under an umbrella. . . reading a book and just totally enjoying myself. Our girls and my husband enjoyed boogie boarding and renting jet skis. I enjoyed looonnnngg walks on the beach in the morning and late evening. *Sigh* What a great time, family time we had.

We ended our vacation by visiting Charleston. What a great city! We visited the Middleton Plantation, The Marketplace, the beautiful old homes, Justine's Home Cooking Restaurant and the wonderful downtown area with all the delightful stores and antique shops. Our hotel was not as impressive as our condo though. Due to the history of Charleston - - space, of course, is at a premium. We stayed at a beautiful Embassy Suites which was a former military academy. We opened our door to our "suite" and our girls asked us where it was. I would have taken a picture for you all, but it was too small to even bother. But, we all enjoyed ourselves in spite of the small, close space.

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,

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,

. . . What A Nut

Monday mornings. My favorite time, as I have shared before. Rest, recover and regroup.

We had a busy weekend around here; Friday night we had company over for dinner (they are moving on Tuesday to sunny California - hey - they should have taken us to dinner ha-ha) - So Friday was cleaning house, shopping for the steaks, potatoes, then baking dessert, etc., for Friday night. Saturday we took down some outdoor yard things. . . like my gazebo canopy in our backyard (put up for winter - so - so - sad), our outdoor lawn decor. . . rabbits, little statues, things like that. Then off to a friend's newly opened business for his official Open House. Then lastly we had a special meeting at church in the evening to meet and ask questions of one of the candidates for new senior pastor. Sunday was church and it was our designated week to be greeters, then HOME. Are your weekends like that? Filled? Every hour spoken for?

. . . and hey, I didn't even mentioning running our 13 year around each day to stores, friends, activities, in between all mine and hub's household duties. I've told her to "hire" herself a driver. I just can't keep up with her anymore. : )

Later today I'm starting a "big" trash to treasure project at church. (I hope it's not so big that I wish I hadn't volunteered! My hubs said I must be nuts to take on this project. But he's supportive of it and I'm excited about it. And I felt led to do it.) I'll share more and pictures of it with you tomorrow.

Blessings. . . until next time,

. . . "To Everything There Is A Season."

Today, I put my flower garden to rest. . . I cut down the perennials and pulled out the annuals. After about 3 hours of cutting, pruning, transplanting, raking and digging - I'm getting into a hot bath. I'm planning on soaking until I turn into a prune.

. . . Tomorrow, after church, I have some new bulbs to plant for spring. THEN I will be finished outside - - at least here. In a few weeks I will go to the cottage. . . and. . . do it. . . all. . . over. . . again!

Excuse me please, I have a date with "Mr. Bubbles." : )

Blessings. . . until next time,

Ever Have This Happen?

War. I've declared War at my house.

These beautiful flowers, given to my oldest daughter at a bridal shower this past weekend, were infested with these little "no see-um" bugs. . . or the actual official name is. . . "fungus gnats!" Yuck!! I think a generation or so came in the house with these flowers. By the time we figured out where the buggers were coming from, it was too late. . . they were already in the house! Uninvited house guests, not welcomed, not asked to enter. Now how to get them to leave? The flowers "went out of the house," but the little buggers are still in it.

I'm using the old remedy I got from a friend. It works every time. . . place a little apple cider vinegar in a small bowl. . . cover the bowl with plastic wrap. . . rubberband to secure the plastic wrap to the top of the bowl. . . puncture a few little holes on top of the plastic wrap. The cider vinegar attracts the little buggers and they dive in, but they can't get out (that why the wrap is rubbberbanded on tightly so they can't sneak out the sides). . . so they drown!!! Better than letting off those bombs where you have to seal off your kitchen cupboards or wash EVERYTHING in the kitchen after letting them off. Yuck. I think maybe one more day of this "trap" and they will be gone.

These fungus gnats are on mums especially this time of year. I purchased a spray from The Home Depot that you supposedly spray on the flowers to kill the bugs, but not the flowers. . . maybe we'll use that next time BEFORE the flowers make it into the house (and the bugs).

Next time you see mums at my house, they will not be inside my home. . . only outside to greet welcomed guests.

Blessings!

It's like a "Miracle" to me!!

Silver. You either like it, or you don't. I do like it. I don't like cleaning it. Back when Hubs and I married (26 years ago) silver was a fortune! Therefore, I didn't register for silver-plate flatware because the price was out of this world. Today, I don't think brides register for such things. (They register at Home Depot for grills, sporting goods stores for hiking equipment, etc. Things have certainly changed, haven't they?) Entertaining is not what it used to be. Everyone is too busy. That's probably a better thing. Not so fussy. Just more casual. You can certainly get together more often and don't have as much work if you just order a pizza or throw burgers on the grill.

. . . But I still like silver and I use my silver. I use it for the "Ladies Advent Tea" at our church, I use it for ladies luncheons and brunches I host at my home, we use it on special occasions, birthdays, holidays and sometimes "just because day." Someday, I hope to use these fine things for my daughter's bridal showers. Oh yeah, I have my silverplate flatware now. It's a vintage pattern from 1925 and I love it. Simple elegance is what I call it. Someday I'll post about it and show you all a picture of this lovely set I've pieced together.

Anyways, back to what this post is about. I stated above I don't like cleaning silver. . . well I found the most wonderful product. Maybe those of you who like silver have already found this product. It's by Haggerty. It's a spray on cleaner that you use with special Haggerty gloves. You spray the cleaner on the gloves. . . then you actually "rub" off the tarnish. It's magic I tell you, pure magic. I had so much fun when I actually saw how fast this product works that I cleaned all the silver in no time and had fun doing it. . . . And it doesn't smell . . . . like, you know, that grandma's home Toni permanent wave kit either! You who have silver and clean it, know what I mean. Then the next bestest ever product is the Haggerty Silverware Dip. It's a tall plastic container with a little dipping basket inside. You place a few pieces of flatware into the basket, dip for no more than 10 seconds and out comes your flatware ready to rinse and dry. Amazing I tell you, simply amazing!

Just wanted to pass it on to those friends of mine who like silver. For those friends of mine who have all their silver in a box stored in the basement. . . oh well, never mind.

Oh yes, I almost forgot. . . after cleaning your silver, throw the gloves in the washing machine, wash and they are ready for the next time.

Happy polishing!

Blessings!