I'm De-Throned

It is official...I must climb off my throne-at least for another year! My birthday weekend could not have been more perfect and even though the kids asked me how I wanted to celebrate and I thought I knew what was in store, they had some tricks up their sleeves!

After a quick breakfast, the early arrivals (I must say that it was amazing that the whole family made it here today-we had football games, sorority philanthropy, job training, football weigh-ins and an engineering fair to mentor) got busy on wire brushing, washing and re-painting 20 pieces of pool deck furniture and two trellises. 

It was nice to watch the work for a change, but I couldn't stand it for long and just had to get my hands dirty-even though I was "queen for a day"-lol.

The re-painting is NOT an easy job and always takes me several days. The group moved on to other things and once the furniture was dry, they moved it back, washed the cushions and glass table tops and got it all good to go again! They also repaired lots of broken wood on our many feet of fence, cut down the crepe myrtles and helped me weed and rake the side gardens. Then, on Sunday, my son-in-law built my new shelves for our guest bathroom. I have wanted to do this for so long so he finally got it done for me. And, I got the expert advise from the two decorators in our family and we are now in the process of finding just the right woven blinds for our living room windows. This update has been another thing on my wish list for a long, long time.

While Todd, Elton Jim and I finished up some work on the fencing, the rest of the gang was secretly working on big things in the house.

They decorated and cooked.

They finally let me in...

...and I was truly surprised. They had the whole dining room decorated-sorry, I was too busy enjoying to get a good picture- and greeted me rather royally...

...with a fan reception and all other accolades-lol.

They led me to the table where they had unearthed some pictures that even I don't have. What a trip down memory lane! And then they really got me-they presented me with my mom's old lap desk full of 70 memories of me written by my family and friends. I must say the tears were rolling after some of these and oh what good times they all recalled! It is amazing to know that the things that have always meant so much to me-but I didn't think would be remembered by others-were many of the things that they hold dear as well!

And, after reading all 70 of them out loud, in came the cake cakes. There is a joke-with maybe just the smallest ring of truth-that says I am NOT a good sharer where my Wright's Gourmet coconut cake in concerned...and so, I was greeted with this. It made perfect sense to me-lol.

Thank goodness they thought about the fire hazard-the alarms would still be ringing if they filled that cake with the right number of candles!

I love how these kids love spending time together!

Even after a long day of hard work, we were able to get these beautiful smiles!

This picture did not happen as easily. The girls DID NOT want pictures. They said they weren't dressed right, they didn't have on make-up, they had been working all day,..... I promised that I wouldn't post it on Facebook-and I didn't-but I didn't mention the blog. Shhh...just in case...don't tell them you saw it here.

My brother and sister-in-law not only spear headed a lot of today's chores but have been coming down to visit a lot and helping out with all sorts of things...and for that, we could not be more grateful! And, of course, Jasper had to get in the picture as well.

And so, it if finally official!

So now it is time to really get the plans in order for next weekend. The kids will be here for a quick St. Pat's celebration before they head off on spring break. Stay tuned.

It's Official...Sort Of

My "real" day is over and, because I knew we are having a "full-family" blow- out this weekend, I kind of expected the day to be rather low key...until, the doorbell rang and I was greeted with these three little faces (and daughter #3 tagging behind) with my local favorite cake in hand! I say "local" favorite because a little birdie has hinted that my all time favorite-from Tampa- cake will be arriving tomorrow!

It sure didn't take long for us to get into this delicious confection. And then, the rain started-and that was a GOOD thing for several reasons. First and foremost, we NEED the rain. But, secondly, that meant this group didn't have to leave because the boys football practice was canceled so apparently a surprise dinner plan was on. And before we knew it, my son-in-law appeared with a huge Chinese dinner full of everyone's favorites. My low key day turned into a wonderful celebration-and now I still have our family-filled weekend to look forward to. I'm a lucky lady!

And, speaking of "lucky", I'm still tweaking St. Pat's. As I was perusing my St. Pats Pinterest page, I realized once again how I am nothing if not consistent! I must have pinned 6 or 7 pictures of shamrocks on script. There is something about the printed word that I just love.

And so, this was kind of a no-brainer.

I had the dictionary on hand for just this reason. It is from the $ Tree, so I don't mind ripping out pages at all-in fact, that is why I bought it because it really isn't a very complete dictionary. Then I grabbed an inexpensive black frame from HL. I had the shamrock download in my St. Pats download folder but I don't remember where I found it.

I simply printed the shamrock on the dictionary page and framed it up.

I don't know why I love this so much but it makes my heart happy...not bad for the day after a really BIG, milestone birthday. I know I will have much more to share soon so stay tuned.

My Lucky Day

After a nice visit in Gainesville, we are home again and I have just a bit of time so I thought maybe we could move on to the next room in all of its "green:" glory!

This sign was one of the first wood signs I made. I used a dog-earred fence slat. I just cut it to size and glued the two pieces together. Then I used a dark stain, painted on the letters and found a gold horse shoe at HL for the "U". It still looked a little plain to me so I added a glittered shamrock for embellishment.

I seriously wish I could remember where I bought these "Bells of Ireland". I have wanted more for years and just can't find them any more.

I still use this banner that I made a number of years ago. I simply downloaded maps of Ireland (sorry but I don't remember where I found them), cut them into shape, cut out a bunch of hearts and distressed the edges and then folded them in half so they be 3 dimensional and glued them on into shamrock shapes. It was so simple but I still love it.

This room is pretty simple but I love the calming effect of all of the green-green is the new neutral! Stay tuned.

Ahhhhh!!!!

By now, if you are a follower of this blog, you probably know that autumn is by far my favorite season. But, this "spring" is not far behind-maybe because it really isn't spring. It is still winter but the weather around here for the last two weeks has been almost picture perfect!

We are having chilly nights so sleeping is comfortable and then 70s during the day. The skies are the most incredible blue and the clouds the most brilliant white.

So, to say that we had a fabulous weekend would still be an understatement...everything just fell into "perfect place". This was the weekend that we usually head down to the farm to pick strawberries. This year the boys weren't with us as they were camping with their dad and some BFFs from their Lakeland days. Hubby, daughter #3, Presley, her friend and I all headed out Saturday morning. The drive down is wonderful as we use back roads and go past so many beautiful horse farms and lakes.
As soon as we arrived, we started picking.

Yes, hubby is holding our box of strawberries. It was just so bright that I couldn't even see the screen on my phone...guess I'm lucky he even has a head!

No idea what she was doing...I didn't see this until I was editing. But, as I get older, I take what I get and am happy for it!

Of course, after we were done picking we just had to sample a few of the delicious goodies from the cafe-even though we were then heading off to lunch-life is short, eat dessert first! Lol  We tried the fresh strawberry shortcake and the strawberry ice cream sundae-my vote always goes for the shortcake!

They have several play areas for the kids but this one under this gorgeous tree is always our favorite. After the girls wore themselves out, we were on to Eustis and our favorite Mexican restaurant...and, lucky us, we got one of our favorite outdoor tables-who would want to be inside on a day like this?!

As we arrived in Eustis, it was pretty obvious that we had come on the same day as a huge outdoor festival. Again, we were lucky enough to find a bench right by the stage so we could enjoy the live music while we watched the girls on the playground with the beautiful water right in front! We really had to pull ourselves away to head home after a lovely afternoon!

The next day dawned just as beautiful and I began my "birthday week"-although I must admit this just might be one birthday that I would just as soon forget-although it doesn't sound like my family is going to let me do that!

My brother and sister-in-law arrived with this beautiful bouquet. I adore spring flowers! That may be my only regret about living where we do-we are just a bit too far south to grow these beauties. But, most flower markets now have them available right about the time for my birthday-I am a lucky girl!!

They also brought a wonderful meal and, of course, we had strawberry shortcake for dessert. And then, my brother and I tackled the last of the "forest" behind our house! I think we truly have enough cut back now that we will have NO vines or big, ugly leaves invading our yard for months to come.
And then, I got to make my wish list for all of the things I would like accomplished next weekend when everyone arrives to help me celebrate my next milestone. I am not much of a party girl and I really don't like being the center of attention. So, when they began inquiring what kind of a gift or celebration I might like, my answer was, and always will be, willing, helping hands. It is a win-win for all...I hope. I am actually getting excited about seeing everyone and all of the projects we may get accomplished...you'll be the first to see. Stay tuned.