Happy New Year 2018

I'm a resolution maker and for the most part I  do pretty well with keeping them.  I love the beginning of a new year and a chance for a new chapter in my life.  One of my goals this year is to do more blogging.... 

We don't go out any more for New Year's Eve but I did set the table for our New Year's traditional sauerkraut and pork, etc. dinner.  This year I even made my own sauerkraut and the whole venture turned out pretty well.  I will definitely be doing it again in 2018.

I hope your year of 2018 is one of growth and peace of mind.

Happy New Year!!!

Living Room Reset

With all the construction and refurbishing that is going on at my sister's new house, I decided I needed a change also!  My new change just involved a gallon of paint and a few odds n ends! 

My living room has been pink for quite a few years now and last weekend I decided to change that.  The pictures that have been catching my eye on Pinterest all have white walls!   I was very cautious about changing to white walls, it reminds me of rental units where you have no choice....but I went with it, deciding if I didn't like it, its just a gallon of paint.   Here are before and after photos.  I'm still working on details, I had a mirror hanging above the mantle that I took down and am replacing with an old window.  The window needs painted and I'm still working on what to put in the window... 

What has your latest project been?

 

Happy, Happy Fall!!!

Here is my mantle decorated for fall....  

I have decorated outside as well and have decorating the kitchen on my list for this weekend.  I have almost as many fall decorations as I do Christmas!  

Looks like a nice week ahead weather-wise!  I love a nice long fall with warm days and crisp cool evenings.

Welcome Baby Juliette!!!

It's been a couple weeks and I am finally blogging about the fun I had at the beginning of the month when I spent a week in Virginia.  I got a call from my daughter who said she thought maybe it was time for me to think about coming down there.  I was the designated babysitter for the 3 year old when Molly had Juliette. 

So I arrived in Virginia Monday afternoon and was given my "mimi" manual with Lila's routine and any other info that Molly thought might be important during my adventure with Lila.

 I was a bit nervous about entertaining her for three days but it turned out she entertained me!    Monday night Matt and Molly were still home so we went out for dinner and Tuesday morning they headed off to the hospital.  Lila and I arrived at the hospital sometime after lunch and stayed for a bit since we knew it wouldn't be long.  Juliette was born Tuesday afternoon. She weighed the same and was the same length as her sister and so far they look alike.

It is so nice to have such a sweet granddaughter to play with and enjoy.  Her parents are doing a great job raising her, we had no tears or problems until her parents came home with the baby on Thursday!   

Welcome baby Juliette!  Wishing you a lifetime of happiness.

Ooooops!  Miss Juliette is now almost two months old, looks like I forgot to post this!  

I Love Fall!!!

I'm so glad that I live in an area with changing seasons because as fall is thinking about cooling things off I'm looking forward to warm colors and smells of burning leaves and the change in the season that I think of as Beaver Fair Weather....   

This week is the Beaver Fair so my end of town is bursting with activity; tractor pulls that sometimes sound like they are right outside my bedroom window, people and cars parked on the field in front of our house as well as behind our house, cows mooing, and the sound of the loudspeaker announcing cars parked at the wrong place or lost parents.

I usually get motivated to clean off my porch and put out some fall decorations this time of year since lots of people walk by our house.  This year in addition to a few pumpkins, and lights and leaves around the front door, I have added some lighted mason jars for ambiance....  I was visiting Molly last week and I went along with her when she delivered a meal to a friend of hers and as Molly was talking to her friend I noticed the cute jars she had hanging on her porch and remembered that I had some jars that were already wired that we filled with flowers for Molly's wedding so Sunday afternoon I hung them!

I'm ready for the Fair!

No Weeds!

I don’t what happened to me this year but I have been rather compulsive about my gardens.   I’m  not sure what to attribute it to, I guess a combination of a dog that doesn’t want to go outside by himself, a gator to run the full tubs of weeds to the compost pile rather quickly, and of course we haven’t had any rain for a while so that tends to slow the growth of even the weeds!     

I sure wish my mother were here to see  my gardens this year.    She would often stop by to see what was blooming  and she enjoyed showing hers off as well.  At 95 she had a gardener who did a lot of the work but she still managed to pull the weeds close to the house.   A couple weeks ago when my sister and her son switched houses I pulled a LOT of weeds at my mother's home so it looked nice for the new owners.  My sister had to much to do this summer packing for the move to pull weeds.

Independence Day

I decorated my mantle for Independence Day.  Last year I decorated the front porch.  This year I have a few flags out but was more motivated to change out my mantle.  Do you decorate for the holidays?   I'll probably pull out the sea shells and change everything out for the rest of the summer and I always look forward to fall decorating. 

We will be spending the weekend at the pond so tomorrow I'll be cooking....  I hope you all have a wonderful 4th of July.  The weather here is supposed to be great all weekend! 

Our New Kitten!!!

I am an animal lover....I had a cat/s from as long ago as I can remember.    We continued to have cats also until about 4 years ago when I was happy to have cleaned out my last litter box, etc.  

One thing we didn't count on was that our cats kept all the little critters away.  We never had mice when we had a cat....  and cats are pretty self-sufficient.  We can leave food out for a cat and go away for the weekend and the cat is fine.   Every now and then Mr. Kay will mention getting a cat, or I will think about a cat, but up until now we were able to resist.  

The deciding factor is all the chipmunks and rabbits that have taken up residence around our gardens!  Almost every zinnia I planted has had the bottom leaves chewed off.  I've had enough!!!!  I got a kitten last week.  Had it for less than 5 minutes and it jumped out of the box it was in and it ran away as fast as its little legs would carry it.  The kitten was gone!!!  We looked for it, but with no luck.  This morning  I got a message and a picture of my kitten!  The kitten had been found, but was with another family....  Lucky for me they were willing to give it back to me and now "Fluffy, her Majesty" is home where she will earn her happy home by keeping the critters away!  Well, that's the plan.

The Lazy Gardener

Last week Mr. Kay and I went shopping for a utility vehicle that we could use at the pond for entertainment, etc.  It's something that we had talked about and finally I found one that looked cute and had relatively low miles (hours) and was in my price range.  I talked to the salesman and he offered to let me drive a few.  Yep, the old bait and switch.  Ya go in for an old beat up machine and walk out the proud owner of a gator that can go 45 mph.   I'm sure we didn't need all that power, but I have found that it zips up to the pond as quickly as my Jeep!  And also, it is a perfect accessory for a lazy gardener!    I can pull weeds, then load the bucket into the bed of the Gator and fly on down to the compost pile in no time.  Yesterday I put all my tools in the back and used the bed as a potting table.  I'm definitely not a fan of the color combination...  I don't like the Pittsburgh Steelers for the same reason (ugly colors).  But I am impatient and since they could deliver this one the next day.....  I'll get used to it.

We are still discussing how and where we are going to store it!  Mr. Kay has been talking about building another garage for a couple years now, I have ignored him so far, but he might have a good idea after all....  Ever notice how one thing leads to another and before you know it......well, you know!    Anyhow, this girl is a quite happy with her purchase!  

Fishing Fun!!!

My favorite little 2 year old spent the weekend visiting and having a good time at the pond.  Her papa bought her a "Frozen" fishing rod and she was eager to try her luck at fishing.  In fact, she may have caught the fishing bug.  Judging from the amount of time she spent fishing I'd say she will be a regular fishing with the boys.  She fished from the shore, and from a paddle boat with "captain daddy" and off the dock with papa.  She was a trouper with the bait and even held a salamander (although not fishing related).

Unfortunately, it may be her only trip to Pennsylvania and the pond this year!   Her mama is pregnant and won't be traveling in July and everyone's June is already full.  After the baby comes it will probably be awhile before they will be up to traveling with two children.  

So, by next year the fish will be a little bigger and hopefully Lila remains enthusiastic about fish and worms!