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!

Luckett's Weekend

Once again, my most favorite time of year....Luckett's Spring Market, a weekend of antiquing and shopping!  

 Unfortunately this year the weather did not cooperate and the fields were a big muddy mess!!!  In fact, if you didn't have four wheel drive you most likely had to be pushed out of the field by Saturday afternoon.  No problem for us, but look at this guy!  Yikes!

 I didn't take many photos this year because it took my full concentration to stay out of the mud and mess, but I did leave with arm loads of stuff and a happy heart!

This year we were very thankful to my son-in-law, Matt for babysitting.  He usually comes along and is a great shopper, as well as the 2 year old, however this year we knew we would be up against rain and mud and he volunteered to stay home with Lila.  We were very thankful for that.  She would not have lasted long.

Of the things I was specifically looking for, I struck out but I managed to find stuff that I didn't know I was looking for.  I came away with some succulents, some beautiful linens, an obelisk for the garden and a vintage sand shovel.

In addition to the shopping I was able to spend time with my daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter.  So the weekend was definitely wonderful!  The rain was just a minor inconvenience.

Bring on the summer!!!

Blessing Others!

My daughter has accused me of being a hoarder!  I have seen the hoarder shows on TV, obviously she has not!  I have been living in the same house for almost 30 years and have accumulated a lot of "stuff".   A percentage of that "stuff" belongs to the daughter who is accusing me of being a hoarder!

  I strive for a photo shoot ready home, but there are those places where no one dare enter!  In that effort I have decided it is more than time to go through all my "stuff" and drastically reduce the amount of "stuff" I have by blessing others.  So as I begin my project, that frankly seems a bit overwhelming I will eat away at this elephant one bite at a time. 

First off, the clothes closet.  Last weekend I spent a few hours going through my closet and have taken 4 large trash bags + to the community aid dumpster.  I've gotten rid of all kinds of clothes and shoes and will be able to bless others in the process.  We are having a big yard sale at my mother's later this month but instead of going though the hassel of pricing stuff and dragging it all over there, and then making $20 on all of it, I decided to skip the hassel and concentrate on getting the stuff out of my house. 

I hope that I do not loose my momentum and that I am able to devote a bit of time each week to going though stuff and getting rid of what I don't need. I haven't used in a long time.  The photo is not as impressive as the pile on my closet floor was before it was bagged and put in my car, but when I finish the closet I will be posting before and after photos that may be a bit more impressive! 

Happy Birthday Zippy!

Yesterday was Zippy's first birthday.  Our puppy is now a year old.  We did not celebrate.  If you follow me on facebook you know that a day before his birthday Zippy ate the wooden trim around the window in the living room!  

Having photographed it and posted about it I found out that I am not alone in the list of owners with naughty bored dogs.  Zippy is usually good when he is home alone, his major problems are when I am home and he wants attention.  He will grab anything nearby and run with it and chew on it.  Zippy has destroyed one TV remote (the replacement is hanging on by a thread), he chewed wallpaper off the wall in the kitchen and started on the baseboard.  He destroyed two pairs of glasses beyond repair and various books, magazines.  

The good news is that he is a year old, any day now he should show signs of being a good dog.  In the meantime, we will continue to have the house Zippy proofed and live with a blanket on the sofa and chair and try harder to remember to keep the bedroom doors closed!

Happy Birthday....  may you live to have many more!

Signs of Spring!

Today my sister posted this photo from the home where I grew up, she is living there now.  She lives less than a mile from me, so this is almost in my own backyard!  Anyhow, I remember as a much younger child enjoying these flowers as one of the first signs of spring.  My mother would always point them out as soon as they bloomed.  We called them snow drops I think.

A sign that I always look for is the robins to come back.  I have a big old crab apple tree right outside my sun room window and as soon as they come back, they start eating the crab apples.  I actually looked for them this afternoon at lunch time.  The sun was shining and it was feeling kind of "springy" to me.  I haven't seen any robins yet, but it is usually the last week in February that I start to see them again.   Have you noticed that its still daylight at 6 pm?

Have you been checking off your sure signs of spring? 

Knitting Mania!

Before Christmas my daughter showed me a hat she would like to have for Lila and after looking at it, I thought to myself, "I can knit that!".  I haven't knitted in 40 years but it didn't look to hard, so I dug out my knitting needles and bought some yarn and I have been on a knitting frenzy every since! 

I knitted a couple hats for Lila, an ear warmer for her and her mother, various scarves, a blanket for Lila's doll, numerous dish cloths  and a sweater for Lila.   I have a couple projects on needles that may or may not be completed in the near future.  I have also been teaching some of the ladies from my church how to knit and they are all happy with their progress. 

I hope to keep up with this and shower my friends and family with homemade goodness!  Let me know if ya want on my list!

Organizing and Purging!!

I'm excited to have some motivation to get my house organized and decorated for Megan's wedding reception this fall. (My niece asked me if she could have a wedding reception at our home when they come home from Canada where they are going to get married.  Of course I was delighted to have the chance to buy pumpkins and decorate, but....  I have a lot of sprucing up to do before then!   My soap kitchen/project room and space where everything goes that doesn't have a place of its own is the first thing on my list to get organized.  It will be the area where we will keep the extra food and mess during the reception so that my kitchen doesn't look like a warehouse while people are milling around! 

It seems one thing always leads to another, I have gone through most all the cupboards and cabinets in my project room and am now working on the visual surfaces.  I really need to work in the basement also!  Here is one area that I have finished!  I took a photo quick before it became cluttered again.  I want to work very hard to keep it clutter free forever!  I thought you would be impressed after seeing the "before" photo!

 Also on my list of "to do" projects is to paint and update, refurbish our master bathroom.  I thought that was going to happen this past weekend but I got a stomach thing that is going around and basically was worth nothing all weekend.  But stay tuned for the progress on that project.

This weekend Molly, Matt and Lila will be visiting so the project will be put on the back burner again....if I can't think of a way to procrastinate the following weekend, I might get to it then!

Keep me accountable people!  I want to get the house in shape before the big day in October!