One Last Hurrah!

This has been a super busy week! But, with everything going on, we were able to sneak in one more little celebration. All three kids were willing to do photos so I guess that is why we hurried ahead and completely FORGOT about all of the "props" sitting just one room away. Guess the hats, leis, necklaces, glasses and green hair will have to wait until next year. Never-the-less, we got a bunch of cute shots. Lucky you, I am only sharing a few!

A girl is never too young to start wearing "the bling"!




I had been in Gainesville over night and hurried home to squeeze in a "green" luncheon with the boys - Presley couldn't hold out and fell asleep before I got there. Boys being boys, they didn't really care about decorations - hence the lonely pot of shamrocks in the middle of the table - or the food - hence the "green peanut butter" (even they thought it was gross - all the better for boys) sandwich cut into the shamrock shape. We did put out some broccoli for dipping but gave a pass to the chips!




Managed to pull off green mint chip ice cream sundaes and St. Pat's cupcakes. The boys thought it was the greatest thing ever. If I had known how easy it was to please little boys, maybe I would have had 3 of them instead. Of course, I can't begin to make sense out of Legos, Transformers or Hot Wheel Racetracks, so I guess I'm happy the way things worked out. Raised my 3 girls and now I can enjoy the boys when things are good and "hand them back" when things get too "boyish" for me.

Anyhow, we had a fun week. Even managed to squeeze in a little birthday celebration for Harrison since we missed his real day. Pictures coming soon - stay tuned.

"My Life"

I love my life. I like to think it is what "keeps me young"...or will make me really old before my time! You see, I have 3 daughters - none of whom live in the same city as I. Actually, no one else in my family lives in the same city as my husband and I. That means I am on the road a lot! As I am getting older, the trips are getting harder but I recently had cataracts removed from both eyes, so I am hoping that will help a bit. The last year or so has been really hard as darkness, headlights, merging traffic, rain, etc., etc. were all making my life difficult and being able to see is kind of a prerequisite to driving.

In any case, I have learned to find back roads and drive a little slower and I try to keep up my routine as best I can. Hence, last week's busyness. As I previously posted, daughter #3 and family were here. I had to take a quick trip up to Gainesville for my weekly visits with my mom and that just happened to coincide with the induction of grand daughter #3 to the National Junior Honor Society. I am so proud of all of my grandchildren. Don't have enough room to list all of their accomplishments but the one I am most proud of is that they are all really good kids. And I mean deep down where it counts. They may live in the day of back talk and eye rolling (the oldest 4 ARE girls), but when you sit and talk to them, they "have their heads on straight". They are all fairly privileged and have what some may consider more than their share of niceties, but that has never been what drives them. They really care about others and their place in the world. They are people I am not only proud to call grandchildren, but friends. In any case, I love my life and all of the places I find myself and the silly things I might find myself doing!

As I previously posted,we squeezed in a birthday celebration for Harrison. He recently turned 6 and due to my eye surgeries, we weren't able to be there with him on his "real day". He is a Legos junky! He loves the things and is amazing with them! I gave him a set for 8-14 and he did a great job of figuring them out. I on the other hand, COULD NOT put together one of the sets for younger kids - with the instructions right in front of me! It took all I had not to pitch the thing through the window! I wanted to prove "we old folks" could do this, so I encouraged my husband to help. Yep, you guessed it. The 2 of us together couldn't do it either. I like to think that I am too artistic and imaginative for such mundane, directed things but I know deep down that my brain just doesn't work as well as it used to and that darn thing got the better of us! But, I digress!!!

All of that to justify why we made a Legos cake. I wanted to go the easy route as I knew the boys just wanted to dive into the decorating, so I succumbed to Sara Lee pound cakes, canned (yuck) icing and marshmallows. Just some basic cuts and we were off.

Harrison chose his favorite 4 colors and the rest was easy. Simply spread over cakes and add marshmallows at strategic places.


Some of us got into it more than others but since I knew we were the only ones who would sample this marvel, I figured it would be fine!

The weather was so gorgeous that the kids swam all day. We decided to eat outside and after a wonderful Chinese feast (Har's choice and fine with me as I didn't have to cook), the "beauty was unveiled! The kids loved it and the Dads looked on in amazement. Think we could have a side business in our future? I can see it now...Dorine and Grandsons - Cake Decorators Extraordinaire!!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day

St. Pat's Day is finally here! I have had so much fun celebrating it this year with grandchildren. We have turned about everything we have eaten "green" and somehow it tastes so much better!

Gotta love Hobby Lobby. I just "felt the need" for one more cloche and there they were on sale 50% off. I am using it with my new stone saucer as a leprechaun trap and it looks like I caught one!


Found this light green urn at Dillards. It is quite large and has a bit of a presence. I thought I could have it out with other olive jars most of the year. When I took the goose out of this vignette and added the pot, it was a bit off balance so I put it up on the metal stand from a large copper bowl that I use in autumn. I think I like this area better now.

I will be enjoying the rest of the day. We have had a full week with our youngest daughter and her family visiting. Have lots of photos to share soon. I will be in the yard getting caught up on "spring cleaning" out there and pulling out Easter decorations as well. Most of my Easter is spring decorations with some bunnies and baskets thrown in. I love the vintage Easter, so that will creep in too but I'm not big on the cutesy stuff so this is an easy holiday to switch out. Back with all of that soon. Stay tuned.

Seeking "Greener" Pastures

Leaving you with a few more "green" images for the season. The sign above sits on the top of the corner cupboard in the living room.

Here is my Southern Living door basket. This is what you will see when you approach my door any time of the year except Christmas - when the traditional wreath takes its place. I just picked up that small frame at Michaels for 50 cents and filled it with the word "welcome" - which I know you can't see - and a small shamrock I had on hand.

One of the MANY subway art downloads floating around blogland these days. If you could see my St. Pat's file, you would see that I have probably downloaded EVERY one of them. Never know when someone may just need a St. Pat's Day subway art image and I want to be sure I am ready!


I love tags on my apothecary jars and such and made the ones above last year. You can hang a seasonal tag on almost anything and turn it into an instant decoration and since I don't have a lot of time to make cards these days, it helps to justify all of the supplies I "just had to" buy and never use any more!

This image should have been included in my St. Pat's craft post but I forgot it. It was quite simply made out of an extra piece of 2x4 I had already cut and painted for another project. I embellished it a bit, added a wire twist and use it as a picture holder.

A simple wreath that I bought at Michaels a few years ago and embellished with a St. Pat's ornament I found at "The Shop" in Micanopy.

And there you have it. I really love everything about this holiday. Maybe it IS my Irish heritage or maybe it is just the fact that this holiday comes at a time when everything around us is just beginning to burst back to life and the feeling of renewal just becomes contagious. I don't know but I am going to stop analyzing the "why" and just begin to enjoy the "doing". I will be back soon but rest assured that I have begun "celebrating" and will enjoy every minute of the journey!

"Irish Spring" Isn't Just Soap

I knew it wouldn't be long before I couldn't help myself and spring would have to start creeping in! I have used a few bird nests and cages up til now, but they didn't seem to take front stage quite as much as the one featured here.





It all started with this pedestal dish. I saw a tutorial for making it on a blog (which I can no longer find) and when I saw how the writer just put together old, random things, I knew I had a winner. After all, I am the queen of "old, random things"! I have tried to pare down so many times, but I CAN'T tell you how many times I have finally parted with things and literally the VERY NEXT DAY, I see the most wonderful idea on how to use them. I have spent more time than I care to remember in my trash can praying that what I threw out hasn't been picked up yet - sometimes successfully and sometimes not so successfully! So, I found an old monkey pod bowl that I haven't used since the last luau and an old wooden candle holder, glued them together with Liquid Nails, spray painted it green and sanded it down to shabby chic. I loved it but didn't have time to look for a proper home so I stuck it here. Then, I decided I would just leave it there but it looked lost so I went looking for another nest. I found this nest basket first and stopped right there. It was just supposed to be a quick temporary fix, but when I saw how the purple flowers popped, I knew I would be leaving it there - at least for the moment.


I was in a small decor shop the other day and I saw this stone saucer. I could think of so many ways to use it and it was rather inexpensive so I grabbed it. For now it is under this cloche filled with St. Pat's coasters and a small bowl but I already have visions of how I can use it in both holiday and every day decorating. I love things that are rough and rustic looking and grab them up whenever I can.

The Irish blessing in the background I simply printed and framed. I put this one here and then found a slightly more modern version and did the same thing in the familyroom.


The refrig is once again covered. No matter how much I love it clear, I always have so many pictures I just have to display and there are only so many frames one house can hold! My new favorite magnets are paper covered clothespins with a magnet strip on the back. I use seasonal scrapbook paper and they are a snap to make.




That pretty much gets us through the house once again. I have some random shots to share with you soon but unless I see some more "must dos", I think I am done decorating for St. Patrick's Day. Now all that is left is to sit back and enjoy celebrating!

Begosh and Begorrah

So here we are back in the familyroom. I have already replaced the candles in the Southern Living jars with "greener" candles (forgot to take a new photo until I just saw this so imagine!). The piece of green gate is a reproduction that I bought at my favorite shop in Dade City. Sometimes it is actually out in the garden, but for spring and summer, it is usually somewhere in the house. The Erin Go Bragh banner looks like I made it but I actually found it at Home Goods last year. It is made of vintage postcards, so right up my alley.

This is a picture of my oldest grandson taken last year at his school's international festival. He, of course, was representing Ireland. My daughter called and asked me to make a costume that was authentic Ireland and this is what came to mind. Armed with just a few measurements, I whipped up the vest and knickers and then found the sequined bow tie and made a little shamrock boutonniere. I left the shoes and hat up to her. I said a quick little prayer when I popped it in the mail because I'm not very good at altering patterns and heaven knows this took a lot of "tweaking" as "authentic Irish" costume patterns are not in abundance. I was not at this festival - think parents were asked not to come for some reason - so I was relying on a photo taken I think by the teacher. Not the world's best photo - shirt out and deer in headlights look - but I was just thrilled to see that it worked! We were trying very hard not to make him look like a leprechaun!


Imagine my delight when I happened upon this fellow in "The Shop" in Micanopy. I had to buy him as he confirmed that we had been on the money when designing Harrison's costume.


Then, imagine my surprise when this photo arrived! Just the look we wanted to avoid had reared its ugly face!! Seems that the hat purchased was for an adult, so cutting out the hair would have made it too large for Harrison's head. My daughter thought keeping it tucked inside would fit the bill but apparently, she under estimated a handful of 4 year old boys! One of them saw a wisp of green hair hanging out and encouraged Har to "let it all out"! I love that look on his face - he thinks he is too cool!


New birdcage on right. I kind of just stuffed in a silk plant and let it go for now. I'm sure inspiration will strike soon.



So that is pretty much the end of this room. Think we have one or two more to go. Didn't know any one sane person could have this much for St. Patrick's Day did you? I guess my Irish roots tend to come out this time of year. After all, my maiden name IS Dunphy! Stay tuned.

The Luck of the Irish

As I was posting this blog, I realized that most of my house looks just like it did in February except that where there was red there is now green and where there were once hearts, there are now shamrocks. I will have to start mixing things up a bit for Easter but for now, here is the dining room.


The tall apothecary jar is filled with limes and then I wedged in a download of an Irish verse. The shorter one holds an old mug filled with flowers nestled in some shamrocks.

Talk about simple! This cupboard top holds my lanterns with green candles and a tag and the vase has a silk shamrock bush. This shamrock bush is the prettiest faux shamrock I have found. It has small purple flowers. Wish I had bought more of them. I bought it at a specialty decor shop and it was quite expensive - hence, why I only bought one and double hence, why that store is no longer open so I can't go back and buy more!

I left this goose here just because he is big and fills the space, but as I look at this picture, I realize that this area needs some work!!!




That gets you through the dining room. Here is the coffee table with the addition of one of my new birdcages. Just bought some more moss rocks so once I get home (writing this while out of town), I will be "tweaking" again. Guess that is what keeps me going. I am a nester and I love adding little treasures to my home. I also just stopped by the Dollar Tree and picked up 2 cute birds that I will be adding to nests very soon. Stay tuned.