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,

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,

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,

A Wee Bit of Irish!!

We're Seeing Green in our House!
I've seen so many of you out there in blogland are already decorating for Easter. I wish. With about 6 more weeks of winter left for us Michiganders I just couldn't go from Valentine's decor to spring Easter decor. We have to have something in between.

So, out comes my St. Patrick's Day decor. Are we Irish? Well, maybe a "Wee Little Bit." My dad's mom was English and Irish. But, are we all not a Wee Bit of Irish for St. Patrick's Day anyways? I only wish I could prove that we are also a "Wee Bit of Native American" too so our kids could get free college. My other grandmother's great grandfather was an Indian Chief. That's all I know. Everyone is now deceased so I'm stuck with paying for college. . . like everyone else :) I guess if you can prove that you are 10% Native American the tuition is free. I don't think by the time it filtered down to my kids it would be 10% anyways.

I found the above (some type of liquor) decanter at a garage sale this summer for $2. It was from an Irish lady. It has all kinds of Irish symbols on it. I thought it was kind of neat. Not too neat though when I went to place it under my cloche, put the cloche back on top of it and it promptly broke my cloche top (yeah, the decanter was too tall ~ I didn't think to check before ~ CLUNK~~!!).

The first photo has our fireplace, with green lights, St. Patty's garland and my St. Patty's little Fairy. Isn't she cute? I found her at T.J. Maxx last year.

Here's what it looks like lit up with my green after Christmas sale lights on, which I wrapped in St. Patty's green transparent ribbon.

I also had an extra sting of green lights so I added it to the large vase by my lamp table. Yes, the one by the remaining "cloche!"

Blessings (& Irish blessings too). . . until next time,

A Little More Valentine's Decor "Tweeking"

I just can't help myself!!

I found these adorable puffed heart Valentine's ornaments at Michael's and just had to have them.

I added them between my angel wings. . .

Over my white rose hearts. . .

And to this adorable little cherub vase.

Yes, I do believe Cherub has gone and bitten me right in the behind :)

Blessings. . . until next time,

MASTER BEDROOM BATHROOM ~ COMPLETED!!

It's finally finished!!

. . .Way back in October this project began. I painted our master bathroom a lovely Benjamin Moore Aganthus Green, then went on to start painting our master bedroom. Remember my accident? I slipped, hurt my back, spent a little time in the hospital, then physical therapy, etc., etc., etc. Then the holidays hit; Thanksgiving, CHRISTmas, New Years. I've just now had a chance to finished up this room. A good winter project I thought. Cold, snow and staying inside and finishing up some things around here. I just finished the drapery topper on Thursday evening and hung it up. So, come with me for a little tour.

The above picture is entering our bathroom from the master bedroom. The clock was from from T.J. Maxx on clearance for $10, the Eiffel Tower lamp ~ a garage sale find for $5 this summer. I still need to spray paint the light switch cover and the toilet paper holder satin black, but that will have to wait until spring for warmer weather.



Rotate slightly to the left and you will see the Jacuzzi tub (with the towels hanging up that I embroidered on my little workhorse embroidery machine). The towel holder is simply two corbels, which I had my hubby cut a piece of PVC pipe to place in between. I must have had these corbels for almost 20 years, honestly. They have been used for everything you can image. Shelves, drapery rod holders, bookends and every color you can image too; mauve, green, gold. I sprayed painted it all black and made a towel rack for my tubby soaks. I also recovered the stool with black and white toile fabric. It was a garage sale find 8 years ago and has been painted and recovered a few times to fit in with my latest bathroom decor. There are three pillars the far one on the left is not in the picture. I purchased the three of them for $15 a few years ago at a garage sale and repainted them. The pictures above the towel holder are from Marshalls. The faux shrub/plants were 2 for $5 at a garage sale. They needed repainting, which I did. The little urn (soap keeper) was $4 at a garage sale.

Here is the drapery topper I completed Thursday evening. I used the same fabric and trim fabric that I used in our master bedroom. A mounting board makes a nice, neat looking treatment; my husband is always willing to cut a length of pine to my requirements. He knows how much money I save us by sewing our own draperies and I know how much he saves us by doing so many home projects himself. We compliment each other very well I guess :) and for that, we're blessed!!
Rotate a bit more to the left and the little room attached is the "Commode Room." Well, I'm not exactly sure what to call it ~ so it's our commode room LOL!! It contains the potty and a linen closet. The door can be closed for privacy :) Over the potty are two cute little glass floating shelves found for $1/each at a garage sale this fall. The metal bracket was white and I sprayed them black satin for a better fit. They look like they are just floating in the air. I really like them in this spot ~ not a heavy look at all.

Rotate left again and here is the sink/vanity area. I'm not completely done here. I have an idea. . . I purchased a router at a garage sale this fall and I'm going to use it to notch out the back of some molding I have which matches the cabinets. You know, notch out a spot in the back of the molding to accommodate those ugly mirror hangers? This molding will then be placed around the standard, builder mirror. Hopefully, it will work as I have planned out. . . in my head :) and it will give this a nice, custom finish.

Now, we're back out the door and into the master bedroom.

And, if you'll excuse me please. . . I think I'll go soak in my nice Jacuzzi tub and admire my hard work. Ahhh!! It's the little things that make me happy.

Blessings. . . until next time,

Just A Little Something!

I actually did this "little" project before CHRISTmas, but got so busy I forgot to blog about it :)

One day while finishing up my CHRISTmas shopping I was walking through Wal-Mart. . . I took a short cut through the sewing department (yes, I am blessed, our Wal-mart still has a fabric/sewing department, thankfully!) While taking this shortcut I noticed a little area of trim on clearance. This particular trim caught my eye and I stopped to examine it further. $1.00/yard on clearance??!! Hmmmm, may just be enough to trim out my dining room lamps. I bought the remainder of what was on the little bolt, finished my shopping and came home.

I measured it on the shades when I arrived home. Hmmm, again, may just be enough! Like just enough. Like the perfect amount!

Down to my basement Work Room I went (more on that later ~ this has been my personally declared - Organize your Work Room week - hopefully, I'll be able to move around a bit better when I'm finished organizing).

Out came the hot glue gun (always keep a bowl of iced water near by for instant relief to those finger burning accidents - which will occur! Gee, wonder how I know that?)

Not bad for a couple of bucks and a couple of minutes for my time.

Blessings. . . until next time,

VALENTINES DECOR!!!

Um, yeah, this is what we do in the Great North when we're snowed inside the house, it gets dark at 5:00pm, and we're bored!! WE DECORATE!!



I picked up some CHRISTmas lights after CHRISTmas for cheap, cheap, cheap. I think I paid 60 cents at Walmart-75% off. Red for Valentine's Day, Green for St. Patrick's Day and Red/White/Blue for Memorial Day, Fourth of July and Labor Day. Hey, why not? I always say memories don't just always happen. . . sometimes you also need to MAKE them happen. Like magic!! My 21 year old has always told me I did a good job making her childhood a special one ~ and I'm keeping it up for our 14 year old as well.

I added red lights to the two topiaries on each end of the mantel and in between as well. I also have a tall glass vase on the side table to the right of the mantle, which I placed in a string of red glowing lights. It looks so warm and cozy in the evening. And no, they do not flash/blink red. They are a constant-on-lit-red ;) As I stated in my opening line of this post. . . it gets dark here at 5:00pm ~ so we have plenty of time to enjoy the soft glow each evening!

A little heart banner I found years ago secured to my Fleur de lis irons. I placed white rose hearts on top of the irons for now. A little garage sale find of a cherub vase holding red and white paper roses sits upon another urn/vase I inverted for additional height.

The sofa table. . . I always use this area to decorate for the individual holidays. A large rose heart wreath, a large red rose underneath the cloche, behind the rose wreath is a picture filled with rose buds, a little vintage looking (a Marshall's find) birdbath with little hearts inside. Rose petals scattered here and there and other misc. heart/Valentine's decorations I've acquired along the way.

I must say, however, my very personal favorite is the little angel/cherub wings displayed prominently upon the wreath holder. Precious, just precious.

Our youngest, the 14 1/2 year old, is just absolutely thrilled with all the decorations. So my mission is accomplished!

It's a nice little "something" after the removal of all the CHRISTmas decorations. Dontchathink???

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,

THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME. . . THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME!!

Ya-Hoo we're heading home today!!

I really didn't want to come up to the cottage this year after CHRISTmas. I just didn't feel up to it. I have so many things I wanted to finish at home and I'm. . . just. . .plain tired out after CHRISTmas. But hubs loves his cottage and wants to spend every second here he can. He has a highly stressful job, so if this little place is a piece of heaven for him, I'm right here with him.

But. . . he decided we should go home (Yeah!!) due to the storm a brewing later today. Yes, more snow!! We left for the cottage on Saturday afternoon. Yeah, it was fun at home Saturday morning trying to pack to leave too. Our power went out just as I was getting ready for the day. I packed, put on my make-up by candlelight, and my hair, oh, let's not even go there. Just think, no blow dryer, no curling irons, aauugghh!!

It was so foggy the last half of the drive to our cottage that I was scared to death!! I honestly think we could only see about 2 feet in front of our car at times. That is too dangerous for my liking. I was praying the entire time. We arrived at the cottage to find the guy we hire to plow our driveway DIDN'T - this time!! We called and got his voice mail and he came out the next morning with his snow truck/plow. Too late, we still had to truck in ALL our stuff from the street upon arrival because there was 3' of snow in our driveway. No way was our car going to plow through that stuff. The snowplow guy put us on the wrong list. The "plow when I get a call list" and not the "plow when we get 3" of snow list!" Hopefully, he made the correction!!! He did apologize, so that was nice.

It's very windy and cold right now so the kids don't want to go outside sledding, or skating ~ the usual things they do up here. So we went to see Marley and Me yesterday. Great movie, the ending stinks. That's all I'm going to say. It's a movie that you are laughing at until the last 10 minutes, then you're crying.

So, I'm off to pack up the cottage now and head home. Home. . . it's where I want to be.

Blessings. . . until next time,

IS IT REALLY OVER ALREADY!!!!?????!!!!

Happens every year. . .all the wrapping, shopping, baking, cleaning, cooking, entertaining, decorating then * poof * and it's all over!!

Well, did you all have a wonderful CHRISTmas celelebrating the birth of our Savior, Jesus?? I hope you and your family had a great CHRISTmas with lots of memories and plenty of pictures. We had a wonderful CHRISTmas, but we forgot to take pictures on CHRISTmas Day, can you believe that? We got too busy opening presents, cleaning up the wrappings, making dinner, cleaning up dinner, etc., etc.

We were supposed to head up to our cottage early Friday morning, but the weather did not cooperate with us. We had a lot of freezing rain/ice ~ so we decided to stay home an extra day or so until it the roads are safe. What's an extra day to wait for safety? It was a wonderful day too. We. . . did. . . NOTHING. Just rested. Boy, did I need that!

We'll head up in the morning when the temperatures have risen a bit. Then, while at the cottage, I'll make our family's favorite Bean Soup with our leftover ham bone. That, with a fire, with our family, at the cottage *sigh* doesn't get any better than that :)

Enjoy your family time!!

Blessings until next time,

Merry CHRISTmas & Happy New Year!!

Merry CHRISTmas dear friends!!

I hope everyone has a most wonderful, peaceful and Merry CHRISTmas with their friends and family.

My husband is not traveling this week, so we're enjoying some time together. We actually went to a movie this evening and saw "Four Christmases." I was somewhat disappointed. It's the kind of movie that I wish I had waited to see on DVD and not spend good money on at the theater. Do you know what I mean? Like OK, but not GREAT!

Our 14 year old has her last day of school tomorrow. Yeah, I know!! A lot of schools are out already. Their last day was Friday. Our district has "winter break" for a week in February so we have to go a few extra days just before Christmas. It's actually OK with me. I mean what are people really supposed to do with geeked up kids a few days before CHRISTmas anyways? But, the flip side is, what are people supposed to do with bored kids, in February, in Michigan, in the middle of winter????

I'm going to be taking a break from blogging probably through the holidays to enjoy the season with my family. I hope you enjoy your CHRISTmas and New Year too.

. . . and please remember during all the shopping, wrapping, running, decorating, baking, eating ~ to take time to remember why we celebrate CHRISTmas. The ULTIMATE gift we could ever receive. The birth of our savior, Jesus Christ. Thank you Lord for sending us your son ~ to save your people ~ to make it possible for us to have eternal life through HIM. Thank you, thank you. Amen!!

Blessings. . . until next time,

CHRISTMAS DISHES

I almost forgot to show you my CHRISTmas dishes!

A few years ago, while out doing my thing (garage/yard sales) I came across this lovely CHRISTmas set of Farberware dishes. I always thought it would be so nice to have a set of dishes for just CHRISTmas, but didn't want to spend the money. Some sets are kind of pricey for only using one month of the year.


This was a complete set of 8, including a large meat tray, serving bowl, creamer, sugar and teapot. It was only $10!! AND it was in perfect condition. Not even a chip on them.

The pattern is White Christmas, making them all the more special. I have always loved the movie and have seen the play twice ~ so I knew I had found my CHRISTmas set of dishes. The price was right, the name was right. They were PERFECT!!

Blessings. . . until next time,