Spring Cleaning and Decorating

I can't believe it!  The sun is shining and it's 64 degrees outside.  It feels so good for a change.  I was going to start my Easter/Spring decorating today anyway, but now I'm so much more motivated.  Of course, nothing is blooming and the melting snow is leaving everything looking dirty and wet, but a change is on the way.

Here's a little bit of the snow still laying around.

Surely this will be gone by tomorrow.

I brought in the last remnants of Christmas and winter decorations.  The wooden trees and little wooden snowman that were still on the back deck are finally put away.

GONE!!

Now my bunnies are out guarding the back and front doors until Easter.

Oh, the shovel has been put away, hopefully not to be seen again for another 8 months.

That's about it so far.  There's much more to do, but I clean as I go so it takes me a while.  I got all the St. Patrick's things gathered to be put away.

So now the Rubbermaid box labeled St. Patrick's Day can be brought up from the basement and packed and the Easter/Spring Rubbermaid boxes can be carried up.  I always forget what I have and each season it's like opening gift boxes as I sort out my seasonal decorations.  Then, of course, a trip or two always has to be made to JoAnn's to replace and update.  

My other seasonal decorating that needs to be done is my blog!  I love updating it a little each season, too.  Just because it's fun and makes me feel good!  

So you know what I'll be doing over the weekend.  Busy!  Busy!

I'm linking to My Romanic Homes Show and Tell Friday here
and Stuff and Nonsense Friday's Unfolded here

Tea Cup Tuesday

I didn't plan on posting again today.  This is a work (as in a job) day for me.  But since I work from home and for my Hubby, I sort of took a little detour on the computer, got a little side tracked (as I do quite often), and found this Tea Cup Tuesday party here at Martha's Favorites, and I couldn't resist.

I have a large tea cup collection and a lot of related items, so I thought how perfect and fun.
Here is my little spot of tea corner in my tea/piano parlor.

This is the little tea cup that I'm going to show today.

  I've grown my collection into demitasse cups.  I just think they are so cute and delicate. Notice my coaster has a tea cup and pot on it.  I was lucky enough for several years to travel to Europe while my parents were living there for about six years.  I was able to find several cups on my travels.

It's very fine and delicate.  I keep it in a glass curio cabinet along with my other more delicate cups.  This one was from the Czech Republic.  The writing on the bottom is so small I can hardly read it.

It's Rosa Porcelain, hand painted.

I have a lot more to show so I'm glad to find this party and look forward to next Tuesday!

A Grandma Weekend

(Mary Englebreit calendar)

How did I do it?  How did I raise two sons?  The above picture maybe sums up the why and how! Hubby and I did a pretty good job, too!  I worked full time with my own business, cooked meals (most nights), kept a clean house, attended all the boys' school and sports functions, and still had energy left over. Organization is always my secret weapon.

Now, my boys are 28 and soon to be 30, and I'm so glad I had babies when I was very young!  It's not easy.   Parents need to have that youthful energy, which I hate to say I no longer have for long periods at a time.

My oldest son and family were here for the weekend, from about noon on Friday until noon Sunday.  It was a very nice weekend but I'm worn out!  In a good way.   I had the three kids mostly by myself on Friday.  Austin and Melissa had several errands to take care of and Hubby was working.  I have to say, they are very well behaved kids, but it's still a lot of work that I'm just not used to on a daily basis.  I love having them here, though.  I had made a taco casserole ahead of time for lunch.  Austin and Melissa brought Chinese home for dinner.  We had a relaxing evening just watching TV. (Well, relaxing with three kids takes on a different level than when I'm home alone with Hubby)

Saturday morning started out with homemade waffles and fresh strawberries.

After breakfast, Austin and Melissa got into the old photo albums.  I've always taken a lot of pictures, but in the days before digital cameras or even computers, I kept them all in chronological order in albums and scrapbooks.  Now most of my pictures for at least the last two years is on my computer.  I really should have a lot of them printed because  they spent hours flipping through pages of books enjoying all the old pictures.

Hours later, Austin was still sitting on the floor with his memories.

Logan, my oldest grandchild and very special to all of us, is six years old and loves television, video games, movies, the computer, and anything of the like.  He's an expert at video games.  We got a Wii game for Christmas so that they could have it here at our house when they came to visit.  This is where Logan spends most of his time.

As you can see on the TV screen.  He wouldn't even look at me for a picture until he paused his game.
Logan is such a beautiful, unique, sweet, loving and lovable little boy.

Landen, our second grandchild is now 5.  His Bobby (they call us Bobby and Nina, by their choice, not by our insistence) is his best bud and he clings to his Bobby like glue.

  I don't know what they were looking at, but they then got the binoculars to see whatever it was even better.
In order to give Bobby and Landen a little time apart, we suggested that Landen sit and color Bobby some pictures that we could hang on the refrigerator.

That worked for a little while.  That's red marker on his cheek!

Poor little baby Leanna has a cold and an ear infection, so she was just a little bit fussy.  Otherwise she's such a good baby.  She's now 9 months old.  Her poor little nose was so stuffy so Mommy gave her a nice warm bath to clear up her congestion a little bit.

She loves splashing around in the water.  Then she got cuddled up in warm jammies and was happy and content with her bottle.

I spent the whole Saturday just basically cooking, cleaning, holding the baby, getting snacks for the boys and monitoring game and TV time.

Austin and Melissa went to some friends' house for dinner and for the evening.  This gave them a night out with friends they hadn't seen in a long time and some much needed time alone without kids.  It was a busy evening for me.  Did I mention they brought their dog, too?  My evening with kids is just different than what I'm normally doing.  I certainly can't sit and knit while watching TV!  Forget it!  The baby was very fussy but finally went to bed about 9:00.  And Logan wouldn't leave the TV turned off after his 9:00 curfew.  I'd go up to check on him and he'd have the TV turned back on again.  I finally got it all under control and I have to admit that I was exhausted!

Sunday morning, Grandpa Bobby got up with the boys and I got up with the baby.  I baked cinnamon rolls, changed a diaper, fed the baby a bottle, let the dogs out, and the clocks were set an hour ahead so it read 8:00, but really it was still feeling like 7:00 am.  Then I noticed that Logan hadn't been seen and there he was downstairs in front of the Wii game without me even knowing it!  Who knows what time he got up and sneaked down there.

By the time they all left at noon, I realized I never brushed my teeth or washed my face for a day!  This is when I'm so glad I had my children very young!  And weekends like this are why I'm so glad to be a Grandma to my beautiful grandchildren!

I'm linking to Show Off Your Cottage Monday.  I usually show off a room or something in my house, but decided to share what goes on in my house this Monday.

Windows With a View

It's the beginning of March.  In many areas you're seeing signs of Spring. Maybe some buds on the branches of the trees, some daffodils blooming, and warmer days.  Around here, not so much.   It's still very chilly here.  I have noticed that the sun is out a little more, but besides that it still looks like winter.
Hubby and I were driving the three miles to my parents' house on Sunday for dinner and this was the scenery from our car window.
This is the entrance coming in the front gate of our little community where we live.

It was snowing, and the roads were getting slippery.  It's pretty, though, isn't it?  This is a little pond that is sometimes used for ice skating.

This is the road coming up from the front gate.  Again, from the car window on March 6.

Pulling up to Mom and Dad's house in the woods.  Reminds you of "Over the River and Through the Woods".  It's very charming at Thanksgiving and Christmas, but by March we're a little tired of it.  I'm ready for a different, warmer pretty!

Today, the sun is out, but it's currently 39 degrees.  Slight improvement from the weekend.  The babies (dogs) were going crazy barking at the front window.  I finally figured out why.  This is what they were looking at across the street.

Deer are a very common thing here.  The dogs go crazy every time, but the deer aren't fazed.  They are so plentiful and tame that we can practically walk right up to them and they don't move.  Again, a fun and pretty site, but they are such a nuisance.  They're looking for food.  And when those flowers, plants and bushes start blooming, these deer will be all over them.

I'm so lucky to have the views that I have.  I'm just ready for it to look a little different.  Spring will eventually show up!

"Happy Trails", The Quilt

I'm back into quilting a little bit again.  I'm working on what may be my last baby quilt for my 6 month old grandson, Heath.  He's the only one of my five grandchildren that I haven't made a quilt for.  I'll show the progress on this later after I get a little further along with it.

As I've been working on the baby quilt, it made me realize that I have missed the designing, the colors, the textures and the sewing of quilts.  Miniature quilts is my passion, as most of you know.  I thought I'd share today one of my first, if not the first, miniature quilt I made.  It's probably not officially a true miniature because it's a little large by miniature standards, but it was my first and they got smaller and smaller as I went along.

The actual quilt itself is 23" square.  I had several of my quilts matted and framed because a few years ago I was invited to display them at an art gallery and they really showed up as art pieces when framed.  Then after we moved into our new house about six years ago, I was looking for art work for my walls and Hubby said, "You have all those quilts up at the gallery, they would look good on our walls."  So I took them all out of the gallery and hung them on my walls.  This one is in the hallway right outside my bedroom.

This particular quilt I didn't design myself.  I saw the pattern in a magazine. I decided to use batiks gradated from dark to light.

  This particular quilt pattern is "Snail's Trail".  Each square is 3-3/4".

   I machine and hand quilted this myself.  The border vine and leaf was hand appliquéd and hand quilted.

Now as soon as I finish my baby quilt, I'm going to get back to miniatures.

I'm linking today to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday

Alison's Friday Unfolded

Cielo's Show Off Your Cottage Monday