Try to Remember

Wow! This is definitely a test of my memory. It feels like forever since I have been here and it is taking me a minute to remember just how I am supposed to go about this. Lol

After ten days of having other people and a dog here with me, my house is once again too quiet and I miss the company. Luckily, it is spring and spring is always a busy time for our family just by virtue of the number of family occasions we have to celebrate. Then, you add in the end of school year activities-and this year one of those is a high school graduation-and there is generally never a lack of something to keep me busy.

Now that everyone is safely home and back to their own routines, it is time for me to get to mine. And so, let's finish off this year's spring decor tour before I fill you in on the rest of my life. I will say that leaving the bathrooms and a quick peek in the primary is a bit anti-climactic because, not only do I decorate less for this theme than any other, these are the rooms that are always less decorated so I almost feel guilty to "drag" you along for this. LOL

The guest bath is pretty much void of my typical spring colors-mostly just the greenery of nature. It also has a lot less decor than normal which actually worked out perfectly because there were "real" people that had to live their lives here for ten days and they were appreciative of the fact that they did not have to maneuver around a counter full of "stuff".

Let's take a quick peek into the primary...

I didn't put the daffodil painting a friend did for me out in the kitchen where it usually lives because I was trying hard to downplay the yellow but I couldn't not have it out to enjoy so I put it on the dresser along with the small pot of daffodils I got at PB years ago.

The little pony is something granddaughter #5 made me many years ago and it is ALWAYS out somewhere in my house at all times. 

So that is a wrap for the spring tour but I do have a few other things I want to share since I am kind of the keeper of the family archives with this blog.

First of all-Mother's Day. I think I told you it was going to be a bit different this year. Daughter #2 was up in Philly with her daughter-my grand-for the weekend so she and I will celebrate soon. Daughter #1 had been here with me the whole week so we got in our celebrating then...and, daughter #3 was in town but her hubby was up in CT with their son-my grandson #1-while he had a surgery. Her other two children decided that they would plan something and they ran with it. Grandson #2 planned, shopped for and prepared our entire meal and it was delicious! He tried to zone in on favorites that my daughter and I have so he did seasoned tilapia, roasted veggies, mushrooms and potatoes. The only thing I did was set the table and show up...at my house. LOL Here he is checking on a temperature setting.

The kids don't have drinks in front of them because they were drinking LaCroix out of cans and they knew I would rather they have them in a glass so they tucked them away. LOL Do they know their old Nana or not? And yes, daughter #3 was there but she was dressed to head to the gym later that day so she didn't deem herself "photo ready". Lol

We spent the whole day together just catching up on all of the plans for the next few weeks and also got in a number of hot and heavy Yahtzee games so it was a fun day...and, I got calls and messages from everyone who couldn't make it so it was a lovely day.

Before I leave, I just need to share a few more honors that Hud had picked up along the way.

So enough bragging for me but I am just so proud of the young man Hudson has become!

Now that I am almost back to being on routine, I am getting busy on making some things for his graduation party this weekend. Because graduation has been moved to 7:30 PM-due to the insufferable heat of the usual 10AM time- there really can't be a party that day so, a number of the boy bud moms got together and are doing a joint party this weekend. Of course, that leaves out lot of family who have a far way to travel for both a party and graduation not to mention the ones who are already going to be on a trip out of state or town this weekend so, it looks like I will be representing at the party and then hosting all for the graduation night. I am always happy to do that as my house has always been the place to gather and I love it. Of course, along with that will come some preparation but I have time.

This week is all about getting his "display" set up for the party and then we will worry about what is next next. Lol

I think that catches you up on me. I am off to water anything that didn't get the VERY WELCOME rains we had yesterday. If I hadn't have had to spend so much time at the license plate office yesterday, I would have dragged everything out for a good soaking but that can be a story for another day! All's well that ends well. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Almost Done

 I'm back and we're almost ready to finish up our spring home tour for 2026. Today, let's head into the family room. The family room seems to be where most of the "pansy" things have ended up even though the sign above the mantle features other flowers-which is why the basket on the mantle kind of mimics those flowers...can you see why I always seem to be in a quandary when I decorate for spring? Life would be so much easier if I just got rid of the things that take me to different color ways but somehow I just can't do that so, what you see is what you get. Lol

No matter how or when I tried to get this shot, I couldn't so I'll just leave you with this. The only change for spring is that I put in one of my garden finials.

Because there is a lot of the antique gold in this room, I kept out the pitcher that I gilded and filled it with some pansies. There are also some garden embellishments that I found years ago in a favorite shop down in Maitland.

The beehive is usually on the TV shelves but I moved it down here this year to bring a pop to the coffee table. It has mostly pansies with a few forsythia blooms.  I'm also still using the brass bowl that I bought back for the holidays because it goes so well with the brass tray. Between the nest and the hive I guess I've got a "birds and bees" kind of thing going on. Lol

This is where the sign throws a wrench into the "pansy and pansy color" scheme. I still like the sign-actually even more now after I "rusted" it up-and I like how the basket with the sunhat on the mantle mimics the bicycle basket in the sign-I just wish there were more purple and lavender flowers. Just got an idea...why not add them myself? We shall see....???

I know the yellow on the sign isn't screaming all that loud but to me, here in person, it is ALL that I can see. I'm seriously thinking of getting some paint pens in the colors I need and seeing what I could do. I don't think acrylic paint will stick or it would already be done. Lol

Just a hint of what it looks like when the candles start to come on.

So that is the family room for this year...until I tackle that sign. I would be off to the store as we speak but I have an unexpected visitor. Daughter #1 had to make a quick trip up to Gainesville so my grand dog is spending some time with me and I don't want to leave him alone. But, you will be the first to know if I get that sign done.

With running errands, appointments and award ceremonies, I have had a busy week. We had back-to-back award ceremonies for my grandchildren's high school the other night-first, one for the under classmen where granddaughter #5 got a Distinguished Student award followed closely by the senior ceremony where grandson #2 got his Honor Society bib, academic honor cords, outstanding student in aeronautical engineering and a Trinity Catholic award presented to him for academics, leadership and character. To say that my Nana buttons were popping would be an understatement. I could not be more proud of either of these two-as I was with the their five cousins who came before. I truly feel so blessed to have been able to be at almost everyone of the milestones over all of these years. I can't believe that we are only one year away from not having any left in school-other than college and law school. Lol

My grand dog loves my yard so I am off to take him out for a bit of playtime then lunch. I think we may only have one more stop on our tour this year so I will be back to finish that up in case you're sitting on the edge of your seats waiting for that to happen. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Best Laid Plans!

 Well, it seems like a hot minute since I have been here. I think when we last visited I mentioned that I was getting my house ready for carpet cleaning in the four bedrooms, replanting of the terraced garden and bougainvillea pots and then, possibly FINALLY painting the sunroom ceiling because I had finally gotten the "urge". Let's just say that it is too bad I had the first two things to address because, honestly, by the time I had finished with all of that, I was lucky to even be able to stand straight and the "urge" quickly left the room. Lol

I have carpeting only in the bedrooms and, since only the primary gets used all of the time, vacuuming does more than enough but, still, about once a year I like to get them deep cleaned. And, when I do that, I use that opportunity to clean right up against the baseboards where the machine won't reach as well as washing the baseboards as I go. I also move all of the "smaller" pieces of furniture out so they can get to as much of the carpet as they can. And, even though I never think of that as a huge job, by the time I am done, I am pretty sore and the house looks like this.

Lucky for me the carpet really needed overnight to dry completely so I didn't have to move anything back until the following day-which was a REALLY, REALLY good thing because by then I was almost upright again. LOL

Of course, now that the carpets all look and feel so clean, I am thinking all of the rest of the floors need to be next!

And, since I did get the bougainvillea planted as well as the terraced garden, much extra watering has been needed as things around here are DRY! And, once I was out there for that, I moved on to the continuing list of garden chores that need to be done. This is the time of year where things happen quickly and my life will be so much easier later in the year if I stay on top of things now. Lucky for me, I love working in the yard and don't mind wearing myself out because the sense of accomplishment it gives me more than makes up for the effort!

And so, with the ceiling painting looking like it is tabled yet again, let's head into the sunroom. The sunroom never gets a whole lot of "love" but this season seems to be even less than normal. I think I have already told you that the lack of any purple in this room comes from the fact that I still want to use the cute little "postcard" pillow. It kind of set the tone for everything else.

The colors on the pillow are what led to the "lack of colors" in the arrangement.

I split one of my larger peace lilies and put them into the new pots from Walmart's "My Texas House" collection and then found the cute scalloped plates to set them on in Target.

Most of the photos are on display for this "theme" only because their frames are spring colors or the event happened in the spring. No big "ta-da" here.

So that is all I have for you today. I think the weekend looks to be pretty busy as my outdoor "to-do" list just keeps growing the more I look around. I've been looking over my 4th of July photos from last year and beginning to work out a few small changes and, I am still looking for some new craft ideas. I definitely miss crafting but honestly, there truly isn't anything I've seen lately that I want to make. It seems like I have just "been there-done that" with everything I am seeing these days. I won't stop looking but it will have to be something really special for me to add to my already over crowded 4th of July decor...we shall see. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.