Quick makeover

My co-worker and friend recently brought this little topiary to me for a make over.









Along with a roll of black and white dotted ribbon.
I gave it a quick shot of compressed air and a little sponge bath...wrapped the ribbon around the trunk and put a nice bow on it's head.

Now, I'll tell you about the funny part.... it just looked a little plain, so I called my friend and asked if she would mind if a put a "B" on it. Mind you I didn't say the LETTER B, so her reply was: "Oh okay, like up on the top in the bare spot?" and I said: "No, I don't think we're on the same page...I was thinking on the front of the pot" and she said: "Oh, I was thinking about a 3 dimensional one" and I was scratching my head completely confused. Well, it hit me about the time I finished it that she thought I was referring to a yellow and black BEE!

I think she was quite pleased when she saw the finished product and it didn't have a big bumble bee on the front of it. I'm sure it will fit much better this way in her pink and black room than it would have with a BEE on it!

Keepin' the kitchen cool...

The largest window in our kitchen faces the west...which means in the summer afternoons it gets quite hot near this window.

Well, this year I tried something different...I planted some morning glories outside this window, strung some twine from the top of the window to the ground and the rest is a nice window treatment made of morning glories.

Here's the view from the inside of the kitchen...it just LOOKS cool and does actually make a difference. I saw one bloom several weeks ago, but none since...these were suppose to be annuals but they come back every year, but this is the first year I haven't had plants full of blooms. They've even been doctored with Miracle Grow and Super Bloom and still a big fat nothing in regards to blooms. Oh well, they do provide a cool shade!

So now here's where I went over the top of making it a redneck project....

I had tallest son (6ft 4 to be exact) cover the sky light in the kitchen with tin (if you're real country!) or aluminum (if you're city slick)foil the last time he made a visit.

WOW, what a difference shading the sources of the sun makes!

Late night project gone south...

Due to a loooonnnnnnggggg evening nap, we (Skippy {hubby} & I) ventured into a project last night after MIDNIGHT.... This was the end result and thus the answer to last night's question. "What it is??"



Did you guess strawberry jam??



Well that is what it was... We had somewhat of a run away porridge experience with it as when it began to boil it began to LEAP out of the pan.

Oh, what a delicious mess~~~

Like mother like daughter

Following the footsteps of my daughter (actually I did this first, but didn't complete it until recently) I pulled this chair out of someone's trash and refurbished it. Husband cut a new seat and I touched up the paint with a hit of black spray paint.

Added a healthy dose of batting for padding.

Pulled a scrap of fabric I have had for a while. Switched to a more powerful staple gun (per husband's advice) and went wild with the staples.

This is a simple, simple project and very low cost. You just have to be sure to secure the fabric tightly and you've got it made.

Here's the seat completed. Then commission (although I could have done this) husband to find a long screw to attach the seat to the chair frame.

A new chair for next to nothing!

Henny Penny gets a make over....

Meet Henny Penny....she's been enduring the great outdoors this past year and it hasn't been good for her. This would be proof of what the elements can do to you. So I graciously picked her up and brought her inside to give her a little make over... Wiped her down and cleaned her up again then broke out the paints and had my way with her.

There's a new chick in the neighborhood and she's sporting a new look.

I did not consult any farm books but I'm sure I have created some mix of breeds of chickens. She just needs a coat of gloss and she's be good to go. I think she shall be "steppin out" this spring.

December Roses

Before the first frosty ice storm my little rose bed garden was in full bloom. These little yellow and orange sweetheart roses were given to me as a gift. They were put together in a double basket and were blooming gorgeously.

After they had completely bloomed out I cut them back and planted them directly into the rose bed. I believe this is their second bloom this year.

I've always wanted a rose bed and now I have a really great one. This one is really a tribute to my late mother-in-law and a beloved neighbor from years gone by who loved roses especially pink ones. This bed is filled with little momentos of times and people gone by. This little cerub was in my mother's back yard. She sits on a stone and keeps watch over the blooms. There is also a little rabbit from mom's yard and rusty milk can from my maternal grandfather.

My mother's favorite flowers were lilies so my next project is to create a lily bed on the opposite side of the house from the rose bed. My hope is to collect some bulbs from different sources with some history behind them.

Christmas Lights PART II

A week or so after Thanksgiving on a cold windy night.... My favorite son-in-law and second son let me treat them to dinner and then came over....
And put up our Christmas lights!!

What you can't see in these pictures (and no somehow I didn't catch it in photos) was their Dad /Dad-in-law running around below barking out instructions.

It seems year to year we forget how we put things up.....therefore dear ole Dad has each strand labeled....NW corner, SW corner, Front peak etc....

This year since we had limited help we just went with a simple strand of lights around the edge of the house.

I picked these candy canes up at a garage sale this year for a couple of dollars.

And hung my trusty reindeer on the front porch post....

So here are a few shots of the lights on the house....the ones below look as if they are on fire. Must be something with the camera or the operator..

These are not good photos but here's a shot of the neighbors down the street.

And then our neighbor's directly across the street really lit their house up nicely.

So until next year this is it for our Christmas lights outside.....until we find innocent soul to help take them down....how 'bout it boys??

Christmas Lights

I took these photos so the next year when it was time to put up the Christmas lights we wouldn't forget how they were hung.
And a shot of the tree inside the house as if I'd ever forget how to put this one together. And yes, my darling daughter there are dozens of strings of lights to give this tree it's glowing charm.



And a good photo of the Christmas trees in the yard....(it took a certain someone a lot of time to figure out how to put these together and up!)
Here's a parting shot of the whole yard....and stay tune until tomorrow and you'll see what this year's decorations looked like. OH! you didn't think we did all of this this year with two knee replacements and a couple of extra hospital stays under our belt did you???

Catching up!

Well, SURPRISE I'm back! Shout out to Mandi who has memorized the garland blog by now. I've missed it but just haven't had the energy to put anything together.

I'm not sure how good this will be but I'm going to give it a try. I have a month or more worth of blog information and my head is swimming with ideas so if I ramble please be patient.

I think I'll start with before Christmas and then bring things up to date....so this is a crazy idea I've done for my grand kids for the last couple of years. Similar to or as an advent calendar. I wrap a small gift for each child for each day before Christmas. Like a count down. Each gift has a number attached to match with the day they will be opening that gift. And YES, that is 25 gifts for each child (4) = 100 gifts...it was a lot easier than it sounds and fun too~

I lucked out last year and got most of this years gifts at clearance (75% off or more). This is the exact time you need to be out looking if you want to do one for next year. There were all types of gifts....pens, cups with candy, toys, hot cocoa mix, books, gum and about anything else you run across or can think of.

I made this contraption the year before out of wire coat hangers wrapped with ribbon. They made it through this year but I'm not certain they will hold up for next year.

It looks like a tangled mess doesn't it?? Some of the gifts were really too big and heavy for this....I kind of over did it...

Hear are the lovely little darlings with things from the 9th day...I believe these were magnets...the kind you can stick on your car, refrigerator or file cabinet. They don't looked too thrilled, maybe they were acting silly. It was sweet of their parents to seen me this photo.

THE Garland

This is my attempt at the garland over at Nesting Place. I thought mine was pretty big but it almost looks wimpy in these photos. Pardon the blur....I'm still on pain medication and it looked fine to me.


I took two cheap ($2.98 then 60%off) Christmas garlands and added a small garland of English ivy, grape ivy and some other greenery. Then added some pine cones, ornaments of snowmen and reindeer's, a strand of rice lights and a little garland of wooden stars.

Whattayathunk? It may just have inspired me to finish decorating the house for Christmas!