Saturday, April 27, 2013

My Little Garden Helper

Emmy loves to help, and as a reward for being good at one of my friend's house, I promised she could help me water when we got home.
Don't you love the pose with hands on hips.
Okay. What's next?
While we were watering and deadheading, I decided to get some pictures of my garden.
I have to be careful showing Emmy how to dead head. She'll just want to pick all the flowers.
Most of my garden is in pots and containers that I brought from home.
I also brought little animals, cement benches and cement urns.  It just makes me
feel at home to have things I love around me.
I love planting flowers around rocks. Something about the color next to the texture of the rock just "rocks" me.

I never have good luck with the preplanted color bowls, so I do my own.


I freshened this set with a coat of white paint and changed the cushions and tablecloth.
You may remember my tutorial a couple of years ago on doing the chair pads.If not, you can find it here.
I loved the way it looked with the oilcloth, but it lasted less than two year. It was so faded and cracked, I decided to redo it for our Easter party.
This is an outdoor fabric I have had forever (was going to make a swing pad out of it).
It looked so fresh for Easter...got rained on, but cleaned up nicely.


This is the red iron set I love so much. I have spent many mornings with my coffee and bible study out here, surrounded by things I love. In the evening, it is a shady spot where we often have dinner.

Mr. SS made 3 of these birdhouses  for my son's wedding about 15 yrs. ago. I have this one and one is hanging in a tree...will show it another time...forgot to get a picture.
Anyway this one has always been in my garden somewhere.
I still have Rosie's sister Rusty adorning my garden and I still use her to show off a project once in a while.
My English daisies have done well this year. I think they like their mostly shady home. Or maybe Mr. Rabbit is taking good car of them.

You can see by my flowers and containers that I am partial to yellow and blue both inside and outside.



Well, I think we have made it all around my small cottage garden.
It looks better this year than in the past 2 years. A couple of things come to mind that might have contributed to the success this year. For one, I used Miracle Grow Potting soil. A few days ago (right after I took pictures) I fertilized with Miracle Grow and I'm not kidding you, the petunias have grown 3 inches and everything is growing and filling in. 
Another thing...we have been home for ME to water. I am very diligent to get out and water and deadhead everyday. They know I love them and have paid me back with abundance and beauty.

Can you tell, I love my garden...not matter where I live, I have always had my flowers.


God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Sunday, April 21, 2013

It's Been a While

Yes it has!!  It's not one particular thing that has kept me away...just life I guess.
Catching up after Easter took a lot out of me. I've been doing  some sewing, and spending time watching Grands activities (my favorite pastime).  

I love this time of year. It's warming up, but not too warm to enjoy the outdoors.
I've done a little gardening (because I only have a little garden) and I love sitting outside where I can see my flowers (and the Grands) as I do handwork, bible study, flip through a magazine, Pin, or my latest obsession...playing Scrabble on my I-Phone.

This morning I took my coffee out to my favorite little red iron table and chairs. I just had to take my April Mug Rug out with me. It looks so cute with my table and chairs.

Because the little ones have been obsessed with Lady Bugs the last couple of weeks, I decided to make April's Mug Rug with a Lady Bug.

These are in no particular order. Just kept on snapping.
I hand appliqued the Ladybug and flower using buttonhole stitches.
This one has prairie points. I haven't done those for a long time...but just like riding a bike...it all came back.



I had several fabrics lined up to decide which one I liked best, when Emmy came in and ohh'd and ahh'd over the cute Ladybug.  I showed her the different fabrics I was thinking about for the side opposite the Lady bug. I asked her which one she liked and she said "Oh Mamaw, use the red!" Yes she's only 3 and she was so right. It had to be the red.


I took lots of pictures of my flowers today, but am saving them for another post.
It's way past my bedtime.



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Monday, April 8, 2013

With Sadness


I have never really been one to be "star struck".  But my first memory of wanting to be like a star, was  rushing home from school to watch Mickey Mouse Club and Annette.
I loved her singing and dancing and her sweet smile. I especially loved her acting in "Annette" and "Spin and Marty" on the Club.
I wanted to be just like her.

As I became a teenager, Annette did too and her "Beach" movies with Frankie Avalon were my favorites
I loved that she was always the "good girl"
Funny thing is, I was always teased by friends that I had Annette Funicello hair. When I was younger, her natural curly dark hair was much like mine (or mine was much like hers)
Then as a teenager, I used the big rollers and had a flip, again much like Annette's

I know she had several song hits too, but I especially remember "Tall Paul". The tune is going through my head now
In 1964, some friends and I went to the Long Beach Auditorium in Long Beach, Ca. where I grew up, to see  Paul Anka, Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon sing. The only time ever, I remember being one of those "screaming" teenagers at a concert.

Later, I was saddened to find out she had MS. She worked hard at raising money for her foundation
The Annette Funicello Research Fund for Neurological Diseases.
I read somewhere that she thought the Lord wanted her to go through the disease so she would understand and help others through it too.

October 22, 1942  -  April 8, 2013


I was suprised to find out she was 4 yrs. older than I am. I always thought she was the same age.


This is a really different kind of post for me.  I think as I get older, things that bring back memories of my younger life mean more to me.  Then it is like a chain reaction and I remember other things I thought I had forgotton. Okay, I'm getting old...I'm rambling.




God is Good!!
Life is Good!!

Wednesday, April 3, 2013

The Rainbow's End to a Perfect Day

With a warning of rain on Easter Sunday, I was a little worried that our traditional outdoor meal and Easter egg hunt might not go as planned.
But I didn't need to worry because as always God was in control

The day started with church with my cousin from Sacramento and her daughter Amber.

After our traditional ham dinner with all the trimmings, there was the Easter egg hunt.  3 of the "big kids" hide eggs now, so we had 11 hunting. There are dozens and dozens of decorated and filled eggs.
Emmy found a plastic one with nothing in it...really... can you tell??
Cousins found the
Golden Egg together and shared their treasure.
(What happened to the day when the the Golden Egg had a dollar in it?)
There was lots of picture taking.
And pretty Easter dresses. (Which Mamaw did not make this year)
There was lots of teasing. Poor Madi. Her Papaw and 3 uncles just would not stop teasing her.
There was a tired little girl at the end of the day.
As soon as the egg hunt was over, it started pouring rain.
The kids loved it and continued on with the fun of the day.
In the rain, there were volleyball games, egg tosses, baseball,
and races to the corral fence and back.
I took this picture, but the one at the top of the post, my DIL, Lialani took. It was a complete rainbow.
What a blessing the day was and it all ended with this sign that the Lord was indeed in control.
All is well in heaven with Jesus at His side.

                             Easter night, I was once again blessed with a sleepover with the grands.
We piled into our RV small cottage and watched movies, and played cards.
The next day after lunch everyone went home.

and Mamaw took a nap!!



God is Good!!
Life is Good!!


PS  With the Easter preparations, visitors from Sacramento, and playing catch-up, I didn't get a Pinterest Try in this week. In fact, I think I'll put that on hold and try to get back to regular posting. I seem to be planning that and fail to post some other things I want to, so I will still be trying things and sharing, but not on a regular day.
But for today, if I was going to try something to share it would be this.
Suzanne at Notes From the Patch pinned and posted about it.
I had also pinned this. My version is so perfect for my Weight Watchers.
 Boiled Egg 2 pts.
1/4 Avocado 2pts
Nature's Own Whole Grain Sandwich Thin 2 pts.
I also would add a big slice of tomato 0 pts.
6 Points Plus for a yummy lunch.