Simply Pretty!

Please click on the show and tell link to see more pretty show and tell posts at Kelli's House.





My daughter is doing some decorating in my son's empty room. We plan to use that room as a tv room. (and maybe we'll squeeze in a corner for sewing???) She already had this very large glass bowl that someone had given to her. She filled it with coffee beans ($5 from TJ Maxx) and put a pretty candle inside. The aroma is wonderful! Whenever I walk into the room, I take a deep breath and smell the coffee!

Easter decorations

I worked in the kitchen this morning. I put away a few things to declutter the countertops. I no longer have a bread basket on the countertop. You can find the bread on the lower shelf next to the peanut butter. I moved my coffee pot around to allow more room by the sink and put the coffee, filters, creamer, etc. in the cabinet above the coffee pot. Sounds simple? It was..... such a DUH moment for me... but makes everything look cleaner in the kitchen. I brought the bunnies into the kitchen. They are now the only things on my bar and you can actually see them. Before, there were placemats, the landing spot for purses, mail, empty glasses, etc. We'll see if we can keep this clean look up. Plus, if I can keep it clean, it will make a great spot for cutting fabric and working on other craft projects. (so much for keeping it clean, right?)

I bought this string of Easter eggs to make the new wreath for my front door. (before birds starting nesting) I decided to drape them on my light fixture for now and I actually like the way it looks. Too bad I don't have a table underneath. It's still in husband's apartment. I hope it will make its way back home soon.

I also rearranged my mantel again this morning. No pictures, as I'm not sure if I really like it. I just wanted you to know how busy I've been today. I love working part time!

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring to you! This is a cute banner that I had planned to use on my front porch this year. Then the birds arrived and now nothing will be placed on the porch area for a while. (except for a sign to warn others that birds are nesting)

Okay, I've been working part time for two weeks now and loving it! However, I cannot figure out why my house is such a MESS! I have yet to work inside at decluttering and cleaning. I did work outside yesterday to clean out the back flower beds. The dogs enjoyed their new "playpen" and I did get a lot done.

Are you planting a garden this year? With the economy, I think a lot of people are planning to grow their own vegetables this year. I had planned to grow a few things in pots, but my neighbor and son decided otherwise, for me. We now have a rather large garden spot plowed up and ready to go. It's been years since I've had a garden and I really don't have that much experience, so this will be a trial and error experience for me again. (remember the corn and the Mennonites, Mama?)

It's supposed to rain for a few days, starting tomorrow. I hope I can get a lot of inside work done then. I really have been busy; it's just that no one can tell. :o)

Not again!

Surprise! Again! Last year, in May, I had birds to nest and raise a family in my wreath. You may remember that story, as I followed them along the way with my posts. I had told myself to make sure I removed the wreath before bird nesting time, as I really didn't want to go through that again. We had to block off the front door so no one would disturb the birds and to keep anyone from being attacked by mama bird. After our birds flew away, I had a huge mess to clean up on the door.

Well, yesterday, I was leaving for work and I noticed birds flying around my current wreath. ( a heart shaped basket) I thought to myself that I had better get that wreath down tomorrow. Tomorrow is now today and when we checked this morning, I am TOO LATE..... the nest is complete with one little egg already inside. So, there goes my plans for my new Easter wreath that I planned to make this week. I cannot bring myself to disturb mother nature. We will, again, watch the birds develop from our front door this year. I did make myself a note, already, on next year's calendar....end of February: remove wreaths from doors! :o)

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Today is St. Patrick's Day and I always think of my dear friend, Mike, who reminded me so much of a leprechaun. Mike was a wonderful friend and coworker when we lived in Western NC. We shared an office where he was a social worker and I was a nurse. His background in Social Work was with child protective services and boy, did he have stories to tell. We frequently went out on home visits together and I quickly learned where every child molester and wife beater in the county lived. I met witches in one area of the county. He didn't tell me they were witches until we drove away. He called these people one of his many "colorful people." Mike loved people.... especially colorful people. He didn't own much, but would give away the shirt off his back. He would promise people the moon, and usually delivered. There was an old Indian woman who always called our office, asking Mike to bring her some meat for her freezer. Somehow Mike would figure out how to get her some meat to fill her freezer. She would call back a week or so later and say the meat had been stolen. (she, more than likely, sold it) What did Mike do? He found some more meat for her freezer! I used to get aggravated with him and tell him he was too nice and too gullible. But my words never stopped him. He would laugh and tell me he was taking care of his colorful people. Mike loved to cook. He loved to feed people.... especially me. (I gained a few pounds while knowing Mike) He lived a few houses down from my family and frequently treated us to his wonderful creations. He used to own a restaurant in Florida and I think he never lost his passion for cooking. One day I was very sick with a virus. I stayed home from work and threw up all day. Around lunch time, I heard my doorbell ring. I slowly got up to answer the door, only to see Mike's white "chicken truck" drive away. He had left me a container of chicken soup and called me later to see how I was doing. Mike raised his granddaughter, alone, as his wife had died a few years before I met him. He drove a white dodge truck with a camper shell on the back. As his granddaughter got older, she became embarrassed to be seen in, what she called, the chicken truck. He loved the name and was proud of his chicken truck. I enjoyed riding in the chicken truck. Until I found out Mike was sick. Mike tried to hide his illnesses from us and pretended everything was okay. We knew he was sick, but we knew better than to pry into his private world. He wanted to take care of others... not himself. Finally, one day in the chicken truck, he asked me to drive. He told me that everytime he turned his head to the right or left, that he would almost black out. This was the beginning of the end for Mike. He finally went to the doctor to find out that he had a lot of other things wrong with him too. He would ask me to pray for him, because he didn't really believe in that "religous" stuff. Mike died of cancer just before Christmas a few years ago. I was fortunate enough to spend a little time with him before he died. Mike accepted Christ as his Savior just before he died and could not stop talking about the Lord when we visited together. Mike was truly one of my "colorful" people that God placed in my life for a few years. I will never forget him and will always think of my little leprechaun today and on every St. Patrick's Day.

Love 'em anyway!

I wanted to share this picture of my daughter's sweet little dachshund: Tumpy. He came to live with our family when my daughter moved back home a few months ago. He turned a year old on Friday. Tumpy is a sweet little boy, but must be watched very closely to keep him from tearing up and trying to get into the garbage. We are learning to remove everything from the end tables that Tumpy might enjoy. Except for this morning.... We had some car maintenance done on two of our vehicles last week. We decided that it was time for dear daughter to pay for her own car maintenance, so she had written a check this morning to go along with our check. I guess Tumpy thought none of us should pay:

I was cleaning up the kitchen and all the dogs were VERY quiet. My dachshund, Sweet Pea, did come and whine at me once, but I didn't pay her any attention. I guess she was trying to tell on Tumpy. When I walked into the livingroom, this was all that was left of the two checks. Bad Tumpy! I still love you.

Monday morning...

Welcome March, 2009! This is what we woke up with on Monday morning... beautiful snow. I was hoping the weather man would be wrong this time, as I had to get up and go to work on Monday morning. Work was very interesting.... 12 out of 14 nursing assistants called out because of the snow. Thankfully, our snow loving maintenance man drove to pick several of them up for work. What a day! This top picture is my house as we were leaving the driveway. My husband was here and took me to work. Thank you, dear!

The picture is dark, but my front sidewalk is underneath all this snow.

The sun was shining directly into my eyes when I took this picture. I could not even tell what I was shooting. But this is a view of my work place, when we drove up.

This is my dogwood tree just outside my front door. Just think, in a few weeks, it will be full of beautiful springtime blooms! It was beautiful and today's temperatures will be almost 70! Enough snow for this year. Please hurry, spring!

The bargain

Did you find any great "after Christmas" sales? I will have to say that this Christmas cactus was my best bargain this year. I found it on sale a few days after Christmas at Lowe's Home Improvement for 45 cents. I have never had too much of a green thumb, but thought, for 45 cents... it's worth a try. I love a good bargain!

Do you have candy in your purse?

I rarely keep candy in my purse. If I have any candy, it usually gets eaten on Sunday mornings by my family during church. (I know, shame on us) However, I have been carrying around a candy cane for several weeks, that had managed not to be eaten until yesterday. I was out shopping yesterday, in a crowded store, when I heard a lady let out a huge *sigh*, as if she were out of breath. I then felt someone tap me on my arm and ask "M'am, do you have any gum or candy in your purse? I am a diabetic and I feel like I'm going to faint." I knew I had the candy cane and quickly handed it to her. She grabbed the candy and started eating it and said, "oh thank you! I love you." I've never had this happen to me in my life. I was glad I could help the lady. This may never happen again, but I think it's a great idea to keep candy tucked away in my purse.... just in case!

Happy New Year!

2009 is here and I ask myself what will I do differently this year? I know of a lot of things I wish would happen this year, but I can only pray about them, as I cannot make them happen without God. So many times I try to "help" God along by making rash decisions, which prove not to be the best thing to do after all. I hope that I can slow down, LISTEN to God, and make the right decisions this year.

In MY ideal world, this is what I want for 2009:

1. My husband and I to live in the same house seven days a week.

2. My daughter to graduate and successfully launch her career as a cosmetologist.

3. To be financially able to work part time, as a NURSE, and not a nurse manager. (not fun)

4. To walk more, to move more.... to get more exercise.

5. To spend more time doing fun things that I enjoy... like sewing, cooking, yard work,

visiting others.

6. To better train my dogs, so that I am not spending so much time cleaning behind them,

saying NO!, and chasing them around.

7. To spend more time thinking about others, and not so much time thinking of myself.

Notice there is nothing there about losing weight.... LOL. Yesterday at work, I heard several girls planning their weight loss strategies during the day. I laughed and told them that I thought I would use "reverse psychology" this year, and say I'm going to see how much weight I CAN gain in 2009, since our weight goals are usually not successful.

What about you? Have you made resolutions? My boss is having us to actually write down a few goals this year.... both professional and personal goals. I've already warned her that she may not like mine, as they may affect her personally. She knows what my 2009 goal is regarding work and promises not to take it personally. Any goals for big changes in your life this year? Happy New Year!

Goat Tips

These are my daddy's goats and this post is for him. I checked out a book from the local library titled : Pearls of Country Wisdom. This is the tip for daddy (and any of you other goat lovers out there): Goat Breeding Tip. One cup of apple cider vinegar to 3 gallons warm water beginning 6 weeks before breeding will help generate more doe eggs, getting up to 75% doe kids. Aren't his little goat babies cute???

Is it really November, already?

I woke up this morning and realized it was November 9, 2008. Where has this year gone??? It is almost a blur to me, as it has come and gone at a very high rate of speed. Let's see.... husband and I relocated in February to a town two hours away. I un-relocated two months later, moving back into our home and returning to my previous job. We do a lot of commuting these days! My son was married in May. We've done a few cosmetic things to the house this year. My daughter moved back in with me in August.... bringing along her puppy. We now have three young dogs in our house.... yep, that is where the time goes! Three dogs will really keep one busy! I'm working four ten hour (+) days a week... way more than I want to work. I'm praying for a change... and hopefully, if it all works out... it is just around the corner. I'll keep praying about that one. Our family took a nice drive today.... husband, myself, daughter, and the three dogs. We took a scenic tour of the fall leaves, or what is left of them. I think our peak leaf season was sometime last week. It was still very beautiful and was fun to just get out of the house and see something different for a change. We don't seem to have a lot of family time anymore, and it was fun, just being together..... even with the three dogs, who love to ride in the car! I look forward to life slowing down a bit.... I want to enjoy the years, the months, the seasons.... and not just wake up one morning and realize that another year has almost passed me by!