June 2017 – Loving My New Simple Life

30
Jun
2017

Let’s stay home!

Once the weather turns warm and wonderful, our yard and back porch become an extension of our living space. We spend much of our time outdoors including having meals. Even when it is hot you can find us sitting under one of our large shade trees, one or both of us usually napping.

Staying home is just part of our lives now. My husband just cannot go and do so much anymore, his difficulty walking and low energy level just does not allow it.

Since this is how our lives must be it is important for me to make a fun, colorful space, that we love and enjoy!

A happy place!

Thanks to a Walmart gift card I have tucked away since Christmas, I was able to purchase a couple of inexpensive items from a Better Homes and Garden galvanized line, especially designed for easy outdoor dining.

A beverage server for only $12.48, and a tiered server only $17.88. I also found some very reasonably priced outdoor dishes ranging from $.98 to $2.48.

Beautiful, bright colors.

The tiered server saves me many steps in and out of the house, I keep it stocked and close to the back door for use anytime. You can find the beverage server filled with lemonade for us to enjoy throughout many hot afternoons.

Summertime, bright and beautiful long days, warm, just so happy!

Kick back, relax!

Warm loving thoughts for all of you this weekend.

16
Jun
2017

Filling My $2 Basket

categories: DIY, Flea Market Finds/Thrifting, Home Projects

Every morning before the sun is too hot I have been working in my yard, potting, planting, weeding, just enjoying the alone time.

So much yet to do, but no complaining. My home is my happy place, my place just “to be”!

I found this twiggy basket at the thrift store and immediately knew what it could “be”!

The $2 tag was hard to pass up.

I lined the inside with an inexpensive foil pan, poked holes in the bottom for drainage, and filled it with garden soil, geraniums, and vinca vines.

To finish up I added more soil to cover the foil pan.

The thick twig handle is what I noticed first and sold me on this basket.

The pink and white geraniums are so beautiful and I knew that this basket would be just a lovely welcome on my tiny front porch. On my trips to visit my brother in New York City, I loved all the small shops that sold flowers, the ones that lined the fronts of their stores with pots and baskets of plants and flowers. No doubt my $2 basket could be displayed perfectly in front of any lovely, sweet, flower shop.

New York, NY: flower shop

Have a lovely Friday, hope you “fill” your day with joy and love!

13
Jun
2017

Creating a Recipe Binder

categories: DIY, Home Projects

Last week my dear husband ask me to make his favorite chicken recipe.

As it turned out, it took me longer to find the recipe than to make it!

My recipes are here, there, and everywhere! Enough!

It is simply crazy that at my age my recipes are not organized, so I decided to put together a recipe binder to end the chaos.

I chose some colorful binders that provide a clear front insert area for a cover page.

Making one for myself, and a couple extras as gifts.

Pinterest helped to make this a really simple and fun project with all the free printables offered by so many talented people.

I decided on these clean, classic, black and white binder printables.

I love the font used and the extra sweet comment under each category page heading. There are eleven category pages.

After I printed out the pages on white card stock paper, I inserted each one into sheet protectors and all my recipes as well.

Using sheet protectors allows recipes to be kept clean during preparation. Simply wipe off any spills or finger prints and put pages back into the binder for next time.