Spring Has Sprung - Finally!

I think Spring is finally here.  There's been an awful lot of rain, but everything is now green and I've managed to finally get a few flowers on the deck and porch.

I'm getting so many pretty birds coming to my feeders.

Couple of days before flowers went in

I was finally able to get outside some more to work in the yard and gardens.  I think if I can get a couple of more good outside work days I'll have it done, as far as clean up.  

Tomorrow is the annual decoration day at the cemetery for Mom and me.  We'll get out early to buy flowers and go out to the cemetery to decorate my grandparents and aunts grave sites.  Then we go out to lunch.  This has become an annual event for us that we try to look at as a nice day.

This last week has also been filled with end of the school year activities for our pre-school and kindergarten grandsons.  We made it down for Landen's end of year dance recital on Sunday evening.  We weren't able to take pictures in the auditorium because they want you to buy DVD's of the show.  Landen was so cute being the only boy in his dance group.  

Here we are with the kids after the show.

Last night we headed back down the 1-1/2 hour drive to see Logan's gymnastics show.  This is Logan's 2nd year in gymnastics and he did a great job.  With Logan's slight autism, gymnastics seems to be so good for him.  He likes the focused activity with lots of action.  We could see his improvement.

The teacher instructing him before he starts.

Proudly accepting his gold medal at the end. 

Sorry for the poor picture quality.  I was trying to zoom in and the lighting wasn't very good.  Not to mention the photographer (me) not always doing a good job.

Oh, and look at this.  This ugly fish washed up in our back yard from the lake.  We've never seen anything like this or this big in the lake before.  We were told it's a Northern Pike.

It was as big as the neighbors' 4 year old grandson!

Yuk!  And boy did it stink.  It sort of worries me a little because my kids swim in the lake all summer.  Oooh, Gross!!

I hope the weather is nice this weekend as I'm hoping for a nice, quiet, Memorial Weekend.

Linking to:  Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
       and Alison's Fridays Unfolded

Life This Week

I can't believe it's Thursday night already.  This week has gone by so fast because it's been a busy one.  I'll have to put my Bermuda series on hold for a few days until I get caught up with the present.

Last Friday (wow - almost a week!) my cousin, Brad, his wife, Jane, and their children, Grady and Libby, came up from Harrisburg to spend the weekend with us.  They had a wedding to go to on Saturday close to here.  They arrived here shortly after Hubby got home with our little granddaughter, Leanna.  He had gone to pick her up to spend the weekend with us.  This was the first time we have had her alone without her older brothers.

The weekend went well.  Cousins left about noon on Saturday all dressed up for the wedding.

Don't they look nice?  Grady just had to hold that sword in the picture.  And look at beautiful Libby's gladiator sandals.  She sure has turned into a beauty at only 14 years old!

Leanna was just the best little baby.  She's happy all the time and entertains herself as long as you're in the room with her.  She loves to be in her walker, which is great because she's crawling and standing and I'd be running after her all day otherwise.  We just stayed in the kitchen together with me cleaning and cooking and Leanna motorin' all over opening every cupboard she could reach.

About 7:00 at night it was bath time.  Grandma (me) prefers to give a bath in the kitchen sink while she's still small enough.  Leaning over a bathtub is a killer!  I said she's happy all the time, except when bath time is over  She did not want to get out of that sink!

She goes right to bed with barely a wimper at 9:00 and sleeps sound until 9:00 the next morning.  She's such an easy baby.

I was up early, way before anyone else.  Cousins got in late, so they were all sleeping in.  I made a fresh fruit salad, cinnamon rolls, and coffee.  I decided to use my Homer Laughlin's Virginia Rose dishes.  Most of the set was passed down to me from my and Brad's great-grandmother.  I've added to the set when I find pieces in antique stores or a flea market.

As soon as I had breakfast and the baby taken care of, I started on lunch!  I was having Mom and Dad over for a late lunch for Dad's birthday, which was the next day, Monday.  I was hoping cousins could stay to celebrate with us, but they needed to head back home at noon.
I fixed two pans of lasagna, a salad, and whole grain dinner rolls.  So I cleaned up the dishes and the kitchen from the breakfast crowd and reset the table and had lunch ready for the lunch crowd at 1:00.
Chocolate crunch ice cream cake from  Dairy Queen, with a big "7" candle and a big "4" candle was the co-star, along with Dad!

It was a small party, just me, Bob, Leanna and Mom, but it was nice and the food was good.  Can I say that even if I cooked it all?  And those Dairy Queen ice cream cakes are delicious!

Sooooo, I was exhausted by 3:00!  Hubby and I were going to  drive the 3 hour drive together to take Leanna home, but Hubby was so good in offering to go himself.  I packed up the baby and all that goes with her, along with a pan of lasagna, and then (tired sigh!) I was home alone!  I got the kitchen cleaned up (again!) and sat.  I so much appreciated that right then.

I have to say, I'm still not feeling well.  I just keep coughing, which makes my throat sore and my head is so stuffed up.  I think I have "The Walking Pneumonia and the Boogy Woogy Flu"!  Remember that song?  I think I'm starting to feel a little better, then I do too much, get overly tired, and then I'm down and out again.
But, resting is not much my style.  Monday I spent the day washing sheets, towels, floors and bathrooms.  My normal routine with a little extra.  Monday night I wanted to just sit and cry.  I was so annoyed at not feeling well when I have things to do.

Tuesday still wasn't time to take it easy.  It was voting day and Dad was running for School Board.  Mom, Bob and I were all helping by manning different polling locations and handing out his card as voters walked up to the polling station.  My shift started at 7:00 am.  I woke up at 5:00 to 48 degrees outside and the threat of rain!  At 5:00 a.m., my thoughts were, "Lord, let me die"!  I have to say, though, by 8:00 a.m. I was getting into the whole process and it actually became fun.  I knew a lot of people and got to know the other candidates standing outside with us.  I shared shifts with a friend that was also volunteering for Dad, so I had a few breaks.   When on duty, I was on my feet, in the rain, and talking all day.
Here's the gauntlet line we formed that voters had to walk through to cast their vote.  Most of the day we were all holding umbrellas, but here's a moment of clearing.

Here's Dad, third from the top right with the phone to his ear.

It was worth it, thank goodness.  We knew by 11:00 that night that Dad won the Republican nomination by quite a large margin.  In fact, he only lost the Democratic nomination also by about 6 votes!  Now he'll have to run again in November.  If he had won both ballots he'd be in and would run uncontested in November.   We're all so proud of him.  Now this means we do it all over again in the late fall.  Oh my, it could actually be snowing then!
Right now I just look forward to the day when I feel healthy again!

Linking to Alison's Fridays Unfolded

Changes

"The only thing constant in life is change".  I don't know who that's a quote from, but it's true.  And it's also true that the older you get, the harder it is to want to or accept change.  That's true for me in some ways, such as my routines, habits, and schedules.  When it comes to decorating, remodeling, or re-arranging furniture, I'm all for it. I just did a major clean of my bedroom and decided to move this antique rocking chair from my living room to this corner of my bedroom.

This rocking chair was sitting in front of my doors going out onto my back deck.  Those doors don't get used in the winter.  Now in anticipation of Spring and Summer that door is used all day long, so the chair needed to be moved.  I believe this chair was my great grandmother's and has been re-glued and re-finished and re-upholstered by a couple different members of the family.  It's finally ended up with me and I love it!
And notice where the necklace hangar is on the wall next to the rocker?  I want to get some sort of small shelving unit for the wall to house my growing collection of little boxes.

Sometimes they are called Limoges boxes, although they are not true Limoges from France.  My mother has given me most of these.  These are now sitting on my dresser but are starting to take up too much room.  Aren't they cute?

And here's another update on the powder room remodel. I love this change!  Hubby finally got the chandelier up yesterday.  I stood by as the go-fer and the sounding board for his frustration, but he did it and I love it.

Everything is coming together so nicely in my little bathroom!  We're now just waiting for the sink countertop to come in and then we can finish.  I'm hoping next weekend it will be done.

This past Saturday my DIL gave my son (her husband) a surprise party for his 30th. For some reason, this seems like a major change in my life!  I don't know why it affects me, but it's a milestone for him and me.  I just can't believe I'm the mother of a 30 year old!  Anyway, he was surprised.  His wife did a great job.  His boys wanted him to have a super hero cake and they helped him blow out his candles.

I finally finished knitting the black hoody sweater that he requested from me two years ago!  I have to be honest, it was not my most favorite knitting project.  Black is very hard to work with because it's so hard to see.  It turned out just OK as far as I'm concerned, but he seemed to like it.

(It looks crooked in this picture because he has the top and bottom buttons unbuttoned)

Yesterday, the weather was so nice here, about 78 degrees! Believe me, this is a huge change around here.  Monday is normally my house cleaning day, but I just had to get outside a little bit to add a few flowers.  It's still too early here for real flowers, but I put out fake ones in the upstairs window boxes and on the bench in front of my bedroom window.

I still have a lot of work to do outside.  You can see all the old fall leaves left over on the mulch.  Everything just still looks very brown and dirty.  No leaves are out on the trees yet, but I did notice the buds starting to come out on my rhododendron bushes.

These will be a beautiful purple landscape in the front of the house in another few weeks.
By the way, this warm weather lasted one day.  Yesterday was freezing and rainy and today it's 43 degrees!  Back to inside work.

The most recent change I made yesterday.  I had grown my hair out a little bit but it was really starting to bug me.  The bangs were long and constantly falling in my face and I'm "blessed" to have thick, coarse hair and it tends to get very heavy and flat on top.

This is the "before".  It looks OK in this picture but it didn't look like this most of the time.  I even had the color lightened up a little yesterday.

Here's the "after".  It feels so good!  I woke up this morning and it still looks exactly like this.  Awww! No more smoothing and moisturizing products and flat irons to straighten.  I just didn't want to take the time for that every day.  Oh, I'm also wearing another new necklace I made.

Change can be a good thing!


I'm linking for the first time today to A Beach Cottage - Good Life Wednesday
Also to Cindy's Show and Tell Friday
And Alison's Friday's Unfolded

A Lot Can Happen in the Middle of the Night

Last night was a rough night!  I have a head cold that really isn't that bad during the day, but as soon as I get ready to go to bed at night I start to get all clogged up and then I start to cough.  Drainage!  Yuk!  I seemed to get to sleep last night fine, but at 1:00 a.m. I started a coughing fit that just wouldn't quit.  To the point of gagging and my stomach muscles were so sore!   I got out of bed so that I could breath and to try to not keep Hubby awake all night.  I went upstairs to my sewing room and turned on the TV.  Surprisingly there's quite a bit on all during those wee hours.  Not like the old days when all that be on would be the station's big  test circle.   The coughing finally calmed down, but then I seemed to be wide awake.  I watched HGTV and then Tru TV and finished knitting a beaded necklace and started a new one.  These have been my new creative obsession lately.

This is the one I finished last night.  I started putting charms on them.  Here's one of the first ones I made without a charm.

I like using yarn with a metallic thread running through it.  It just gives it more of a jewelry look.

This is another style I've also been working on, along with a cuff bracelet.

I have a few of these on my Etsy site here.

Finally at about 5:30 am I started to get tired and felt like I could finally lay my head down without coughing to death.  I slept until 9:00.  Surprisingly, I felt pretty good today.  If I could get by with that every night I could get so much accomplished from 1:00 to 5:30 every morning!

My first thought when I woke this morning was about my oldest son, Austin.  He turns 30 years old today!  I just can't believe I have a child that old.  I still feel like I'm 30!  Well, sometimes.  When I'm feeling better!
Here's my oldest baby walking me down the aisle at my younger son's (his brother's)  wedding about 2-1/2 years ago.

Isn't he handsome?  I'm so proud of him!  Now he's a wonderful husband and father of three.  Oh how time flies!

Now here's the strange part of my story.  It struck me as kind of strange, coincidental, funny anyway.  At exactly 12:55 a.m. 30 years ago, Austin was born.  I remember at about 5:30 a.m., 30 years ago I was finally able to sleep for a couple of hours.  Once that thought struck me, I got all goose bumpy!  Just a coincidence?  For some reason, I just don't think so.

Linked to Alison's Friday's Unfolded

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

"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