Tag: my home

When Life Gives You Lemons…

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”.

That is exactly what I did on one of the many very hot days we have had in the past several weeks.

Hard to find anything more refreshing than ice cold lemonade.

A treat for me and hubby when we are sitting together, on our small back porch, which is most days.

Of course, I made a bright beautiful tray out of a thrift store frame, and a lemon filled fabric swatch.

I suppose it does seem as if I am obsessed with making trays.  Maybe so, but they are just so easy and inexpensive to put together, making just a wonderful addition to any table.

The frame I found at the thrift store for $1.00 was large, perfect for my lemonade pitcher and glasses.

A fresh coat of black paint, and simple black screen door handles, completed this summer project.

If I can find a day when my sewing machine doesn’t hate me, I want to make a few napkins out of the remaining lemon fabric.

Lemon print toss pillows, found at Kirkland’s, helped to brighten up my living room for the summer.

The print on the pillows is so wonderful, soft colors!

I like to use toss pillows in the living room, adding color to any season, and they also allow my old outdated wing back chairs look so much better.

To end my “lemon” post, I want to share a recipe I tried from a sweet new cookbook, Magnolia Table, by Joanna Gaines.

I do not buy a bunch of cookbooks, but this one is special.  The recipes are fairly simple, and the photos in the book of Joanna’s farm are lovely.

This lemon pie was so very yummy!  My family loved it!

Definitely a summer dessert.

Here is the link to the recipe.

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade”, make the best of what you are given, make something good out of a bad experience, turn a negative into a positive.

We are all given bad situations to deal with in this life, but if we ask for God’s blessings, we deal with them, get through them, and move on!

I hope you “squeeze” all kinds of happiness and joy out of this day!

Love to all.

 

 

Living Paycheck to Paycheck

“Living paycheck to paycheck”, a phrase we hear folks say from time to time.

This phrase has a kinda silly, crazy, meaning for me!

Money is so very tight for me and my husband since I stopped working.

Of course, having extra money is not the most important part of our lives.  That is why my decision to stop working to spend more time with my husband, as he deals with a progressive disease, was the right thing to do.

I am learning to do without a bunch of extra things.  It is really not so hard.

We are on a budget, but we both are allowed a bit of spending money each month, my husband saves his, I use mine for my hair, lunches out, thrift store visits and such.

So, at the end of each month, right before “payday”, I see what I have left.

If there is something beautiful I have been wanting, and my “end of the month money” allows, I treat myself!

This was my latest “end of the month money” purchase.

A beautiful canvas of an angel holding a baby.

The cost was $30 at Kirkland’s.

It was special to me when I saw it, reminding me immediately of the day my son was born, holding him in my arms for the first time.

I prayed to our Lord that day, “please send a special guardian angel to always watch over him”.

The colors are soft and lovely, I really love it!

The canvas has found a home above my painted gray, thrift store table.  So beautiful together.

Tuesday was the day before my monthly spending money was replenished!

I had $5 in my wallet, all was good!

Love you all!

May the angels watch over all of you, and those you love.

Have a blessed Sunday.

 

 

It’s Finally Here – Springtime!

According to the calendar, today is the first day of spring.

Unfortunately, the teasing continues.

Two days of warm temperatures, and then, as is today, cold, rainy, and snow.

This was a photo taken from my front door just a few days ago!

Hibernating is about over!

I guess it is about time to give up my flannel sheets.

Our woodpile is low.

Fires in our wood burning fireplace are coming to an end.

We will miss our fires, they were the center of our home during the cold winter months, drawing us to the glow and warmth.

The change is near with Easter in only two weeks.

My magnolia tree is budding, the daffodils are up, and there are so many robins in our yard, giving my sweet kitty someone to chatter with!

Yesterday, I gathered my spring and Easter items, and I also changed my front door wreath.

It will be nice to be able to sit outside once again.

Longer and warmer days ahead.

Projects will be changing from inside ones, to outside.

Today I will clean a bit, and find just the right places for all of my bunnies and chicks!

Hoping you find some sunshine in your life today.

Happy Spring!

A Million Tiny Little Things…..

There is a scene in one of my favorite movies, Sleepless in Seattle, when Tom Hanks talks about his wife in such a beautiful way, “it was a million tiny little things that, when you added them all up, they were supposed to be together…”.

When cleaning up a bit yesterday, room to room, picking up and dusting, I realized that Christmas in my home is a bunch of tiny small touches that when you put them all together, you feel the magic of the season.

Before this week is over, I wanted to share many of the tiny things I treasure each Christmas.  Many I have cared for with love over the years to use again and again.

My cherished white nativity set, purchased with Christmas money from my son.

My tree, with all the special ornaments I have collected over the years.

It is sprinkled with snow, pine cones and berries.

My beautiful paper mache angel, handmade, always sitting at the very top, love her so!

This wall hanging was my new addition this year.  I love that it is the first thing you see as you look into my home from the front door, “We Wish You A Merry Christmas”.

A snowflake pillow, a wreath on the mirror, lots of sparkle, with gold and silver ribbons.

Garland on my dining hutch, and entry clock, decorated with beautiful ribbons, lights, and snow covered pine cones.

A bit of red in my kitchen, small dishes, tin canisters, and a small tree.

A Hallmark Santa, so old, nestled under a tree on my kitchen counter.  Love him!

This salt dough nativity set I have carefully packed up each year, purchased at a church craft fair, 42 years ago. The faces are amazing.  Big smiles, rosy cheeks, just so sweet.

A Santa tray, purchased on a Thanksgiving visit, with my precious mother, to see my brother in New York City, so many years ago.

When I bring it out each year, I remember our trip together and how I struggled with spending $35 on this hand painted, paper mache tray.  So glad I did, the memory it brings to mind each year is priceless.

The best saved for last, this Baby Jesus made of paper over 40 years ago by my son.

I love the smile Jimmy placed on his face.

Oh my, precious, cherished, now a family tradition each year, finding the perfect place on our tree to place our Baby Jesus.

Thank you all for allowing me to share all these treasures.

I truly hope every one of you have collected special Christmas treasures, those items that when the season arrives you find such overwhelming joy in displaying in your home as I do.

Sad a bit that the holidays are over and my treasures must once again be packed up with loving care.

Love to all of you, also precious treasures to me.

Blessings and love.

 

My Wonderful Incomplete Christmas

Made lists, and more lists, planned for weeks, shopped early, wrapped early, but with all of this, my Christmas planning was incomplete.

Most of my decorating in my living and dining area, and my tree was completed, but all my extra little Christmas touches, those I wanted to do here and there, never happened.

Cookies, I so wanted to make, didn’t happen.  Bakery Christmas cookies had to do.

Making ornaments, and creative gift tags, was limited.

So much undone.

In the end, the fact that my family made it to my home on Christmas Eve, despite slippery dangerous snow covered roads, was all that was important.  We all just wanted to be together, and with God’s help and protection we were.

Cookies can still be made, ornaments made and saved for next year.

My husband gets upset with me because I fuss so much when folks are coming to our home.  He always tells me, “it’s just family”.

I have different thoughts on all this fussing, I fuss because I want all to be special for them!

A gift to them.

Thanking them for coming and sharing this special time of the year with me and my family in our home.

I pray you all had a Merry Christmas with family and those you so love.

I also pray and ask God that we all will have a blessed and wonderful new year ahead.

Be safe, be happy, and always love each other.

Fussing for those you love is OK!

Until next time!

 

 

Simple Fall Gatherings

My kitchen window faces the front of my house. I can see folks coming and going when I am working at my sink.

A few days ago, I noticed the Amazon driver pulling into my driveway.

A younger woman walked up to my porch with one of my many orders.

I really love Amazon Prime!

After she placed the box near the front door, as she was walking away, she turned, smiling, she took several photos of my fall gatherings on the porch.  So cute, putting a smile on my face too!

I thought I would share what she was smiling about.

Pumpkins, colorful mums, my rusty, gas can jack-o-lantern, and the sweet sign I purchased at the Country Living Fair in Columbus, Ohio.  A simple fall gathering welcoming all coming up to my small front porch.

A beautiful fall wreath, which I have had for years, just added more fall color to my porch.

The back porch was changed for the season too!

Again, simple changes, all inexpensive.

New flannel pillows, in navy, with a bit of turquoise.

Painted a $4.00 wood tray from Hobby Lobby the same shade of turquoise, and filled it with bittersweet.

An orange throw added, for chilly fall afternoons, and some small pumpkins.

Love the navy and orange together.

The simple, bittersweet twig wreath, I had made a few weeks ago, found its way to the brick wall on the back porch.

Just a few simple items that added a smile to a stranger’s face, and in turn, one to mine!

Love you all!

Hope you are enjoying this colorful time of the year.

 

When a Small Gift Returns

Hope you all had a wonderful 4th of July.

I hung my flag outside of our home the first thing in the morning.

So fortunate to be born and live in the USA.

Sometimes we forget!

Just a quiet 4th for us, no invites, no guests.

I did decorate a bit, it is just something I like to do!

Last week when shopping with my sister, we found a cute dog bandana filled with stars and stripes.

We immediately thought of our favorite dog, “Denali”, belonging to my niece, my sister’s daughter.

I wrapped it up and mailed it to him for his 4th of July apparel.

In the afternoon, during our uneventful 4th, my phone beeped.  It was a video of our favorite dog prancing around, modeling his new scarf.  Soooo cute!

Oh my gosh, what a really simple sweet moment!

Me and my husband watched the video over and over, laughing at it each time.  It made our day special.

The video was our gift of thoughtfulness returning!

Do something simple and sweet for someone you love and watch it come back.

Love to all!

 

 

Sunshiny, lemony…..it’s the color Yellow!

Simple lemonade recipe

Most of my life I have loved the color yellow!

In the past, I have had a yellow front door, and when country decorating was so popular, I had a yellow and white checked, wallpapered kitchen.

Even with changing styles, I have not let go of it!

A pop of yellow!I now have settled for using yellow in my living room and dining area.  The white sofa with the yellow drapes works happily, for me, especially with the floral print on my dining chairs and matching toss pillows.

I think I have mentioned and shown you in the past that I absolutely love toss pillows.  Pillows are an inexpensive way to change and update any room.

Bright yellow pillowsI like to bring other simple yellow things into the room when I can find them.

Found this distressed yellow clock at Hobby Lobby when all clocks were 50% off!

Our home is small and our budget, even smaller! I really cannot do a bunch of decorating and updating in every room, but oh how I have learned to embrace what I have in my home, even the messes.  There is beauty in taking care of what you have, and of course, in appreciating what you have!  It took me a long time to realize that!

Yellow flowering plantDuring my growing process, I know that everything doesn’t have to be perfect in life, or in our homes. Much work to be done on the rest of this life of mine, but today I took a big step by sharing with everyone a bit of my home, feeling proud of it….it is beautiful to us!

Today was a perfect summer day, hot and humid, so I made a pitcher of lemonade, photo above. Tall glasses, filled with ice, and garnished with “yellow” lemons. So refreshing, and a treat for us when taking a break from our yard work.  I have included my favorite lemonade recipe at the end of this post. Invest in a wonderful glass pitcher!

Yellow will always be somewhere in my home, it’s brightness, joyfulness, like bringing sunshine into our lives!

Love you all so much, enjoy some lemonade today!

 

Simple lemonade recipe:

Ingredients:

Bag of lemons squeezed to 1-1/2 cups of lemon juice

1-3/4 cups of sugar

8 cups of water

Directions:

In a small saucepan, combine sugar and one cup of water.  Bring to a boil and stir to dissolve.  Allow to cool to room temperature and then refrigerate to chill.

Remove seeds from the lemon juice, but leave the pulp.  In pitcher stir together chilled sugar syrup, lemon juice, and remaining 7 cups of water.

Enjoy!