Moving On

 Let's head into the kitchen today. There are a few changes in here but most of them just involve the "art" pieces. As I looked back at past year's late summer decor tours, I realized that I really haven't changed much at all over many years. I had to adapt the living room to the new shelves, but that has already been a few years. And I have changed a few of the smaller accessories in some of the rooms but, by and large, late summer decor is what it has been for awhile. I'm guessing that might just be because I am NOT a summer girl-that's probably not a surprise to most of you. But, it might also be because I do love my Mediterranean stuff and the citrus colors that that brings so there is really no need to look for a change. I'm not sure but, whatever it is, here's to the kitchen.

I don't know why but I love all of my "Ocala" towels that I find at a friend's boutique here in town.

These are the only family photos that I have with "real" sunflowers. Daughter #2 and her class, that my granddaughter and her daughter was in that year, planted this sunflower garden at their school and the girls and I stopped by one day during the summer to see how it was going...and it was going WELL!

I'm using these pictures from HL again because I think they contribute to the Mediterranean vibe.

I love the little spoon holder that granddaughter #1 made for me so many years ago. Not sure why I don't have anything in it-guess I should think about that. Lol

This is nothing spectacular but I add it to remind myself next year. I still love the little dove shaped ring tray gifted to me by a friend.

I was starting to get nervous because Yankee Candle discontinued their sunflower candle a few years ago and I am down to my last two. I was so happy to get an email from them finally introducing a new one. The label isn't quite as pretty but at least it's not one of the "cartoony" ones they have been trying to talk us into recently. Lol I've already got two on the way since they made me an offer I couldn't refuse...50% off!

This may be the last year we see these sunflowers. I made them a few years back out of brown Kraft paper that I painted so it kind of feels like leather and brown velvet for the centers. Not sure I am loving them as much anymore as I once did. I also removed the little sunflower tag that used to hang on the candle-guess I'm over some of the tags as well. Lol

I remember being so excited when I found the ceramic pitcher and the large plate in a favorite decor shop down in Dade City. They had an "Italian villa" area set up right about the time that I was redoing my kitchen and had added this area to a blank wall. If I had had more room-and LOTS more money-I would have bought everything they had. I settled for these two pieces. And the square Italian countryside pictures are from Southern Living many years ago when daughter #1 was a rep for them. I loved everything they had and was so sorry when they discontinued selling their decor items although they may have a small line still available at Dillards. I haven't checked recently.

That small pitcher on the left and all of the candle holders are also Southern Living as well as some other pitchers you will see in the dining room and so many of my olive jars and urns. Southern Living, Ballard Design and Pottery Barn kept me in decor for a very long time!

So that is the kitchen for this year. I'm off to tackle the next round of storm debris from the "neglected" side of the yard. About the only time I am out on this side is if I have one of my granddogs visiting or I am checking after a storm. This is the side of my yard that still has the most and the largest trees so they usually produce fallen branches and vines after any kind of wind but that storm on Saturday brought down way more than usual. I have already had out a large pile of branches and filled cans that were picked up on Tuesday and I want to get this out before my next pickup. I'm pretty sure it will fill all 6 cans that I have but then I should be good to go-until Mother Nature lashes out once again. Lol

 Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Surprise!

 I bet you are as surprised as I am to see me here! When last we spoke I told you that I had an appointment today. What I didn't tell you is that it was a doctor's appointment-just a regular check-up but, those of you who know me know how much I dread anything "medical". It goes way back to my childhood and is too long a story-nor would you probably be interested in hearing it-to get into but to say I have white coat syndrome would be a total understatement.

And, honestly, at my age, it still surprises me too. It's not that I am afraid of anything going on or that I have a low threshold of pain-I just don't like going to any medical appointment. I guess I'm really lucky to be as healthy as I am for my old age. Lol

AND, we all know how much I "love" change. This appointment was going to be a double doozy! Not only was it a doctor's appointment but it was to meet my new doctor. My doctor whom I loved and treated both my husband and I for many, many years decided to retire from the office and take a position higher up in the practice that didn't require as much time. I knew it was coming but when he gave me the official word on my last visit I was sad. He knew me well and the things that other nurses and doctors saw as issues, he did not-like the spike in my blood pressure the minute I arrived at the office. He knew that by the time he and I were done chit chatting and going over my updates-not only health but family as well-it would be right back down where it needs to be-and it always was!

Before this gets way too long, let me cut to the chase. As I was sitting fully dressed with hair done and make-up on and just waiting to head out the door, the phone rang and it was the doctor's office saying the doctor had just called out for the day and they would need to reschedule! You would think that would have made me happy but I was raring to go at that point and so...here we are. I didn't think I would have all of today so I really am looking for things to do and, looking all "dressed up with nowhere to go" as my mom used to say means that I'm not about to head out into the yard and get all full of mud...and so, I thought of you.

I actually took these photos last night when I was looking at how pretty the house looked all glowing from the "candles" and I realized that except for the family room I might not have shown you some of the other vignettes lit up at night.

This is my favorite! I love this room at night no matter what holiday/season. Sometimes I get so comfy and relaxed in here that I have to force myself to get up and head to bed.

I guess I could have lit the real candles for this picture-I honestly never thought of it because except for my Yankee Candles that are in the glass jars I rarely ever light a "real" one anymore! That kind of stems from me forgetting one that was burning one time. It wasn't a disaster but it could have been. Lol

Usually the coffee table in this room also has the flameless candles but I guess I have less of the yellow and gold color than I have of others so it too is outfitted with the real ones.

There are actually a few other single candles lit in the kitchen and other rooms of the house but I didn't catch them all.

And, believe it or not, I didn't catch this faux pas until just now. Do you see it? I seem to always forget at least one item from the previous decor and I guess this time it was the 4th wreath hanging over the mirror. It's gone now but I didn't want to wait until tonight to catch another picture so just pretend you don't see it. LOL

I guess by now you're getting a bit tired of my loonnnggg post for the day so I will sign off. Not sure what will come next but if it's fun or interesting, you will be the first to know. Stay safe and stay tuned.

It's Been a Minute!

 It seems like forever since I have been here and I'm not even sure I know where to start. When we last spoke, I think I told you that I had messed up my days and commitments so my decor swap, which was supposed to start on Monday would now be starting on Thursday. But, even at that, I thought I would be done and back here a lot sooner than just now.

The swap from red, white and blue to sunflowers and citrus colors usually takes four days with putting things away included. And that was still on track until Saturday afternoon when a storm came in completely out of the blue. One minute it was cloudy and the next hail was hammering my sky lights so hard that I thought they would break and the accompanying rain was so heavy I couldn't see out the door. In literally a matter of a few minutes I walked to my sunroom to see if I could see any better back there and water was GUSHING down my brick sidewalk and under the door into the sunroom. Luckily, the sunroom floor is slate so no harm done there.

Wind was blowing and things were flying and suddenly, everything went black. Power was out. Luckily, I have my fabulous flashlight from my brother and sister-in-law and Bennett and I went around gathering up what we may need for a long, hot and yes, pretty boring night ahead.

I did some reading-about as much as my eyes could take having to read by flashlight-don't know how Abe did it-lol-ran and got a quick shower before there was no hot water left and was about ready to jump out of my skin when the power came back on. I went around resetting everything, turned on the TV and we were good to go. I think the power was off a bit over three hours.

The next morning I was happy to wake up and see numbers on the clock and everything was good through coffee and breakfast and I was just getting ready to get on with my swap when the power went out again. It was dark in the house and outside and the thunder was booming again so back to my book I went.

The rest of the day is a bit of a blur. Once the power came back and I had reset everything again, the power went out three more times! Honestly, I have never been so happy to see the end of a day.

Apparently a HUGE storm passed through just my side of town-other areas never got a drop of rain let alone hail, wind, thunder and lightning! Trees took out out power poles and at least two very large ones fell on houses. And, of course, once the sky cleared up, I was outside picking up as much debris as I have had from a hurricane. I picked up parts of trees that are nowhere near my house. I got a lot of it out for today's pick-up but still have much more to go!

Thankfully, I am fine-as is what I can tell so far of my house-and I still had my furry pal here for company so we survived.

And, even though we are still having storms and cloudy skies yet again today, I was able to get some pictures so we can get our late summer 2026 tour started. We'll start in the living room.

When I looked closely at the above photo, I felt as if something was wrong with the balance so I added another book to make the middle cubby just a bit more prominent. Not sure it made a huge difference but I like it...until I don't. Lol

This is a picture that I think I actually bought to use for St. Patrick's Day. When I bought it, the flowers were other colors but I ended up painting them yellow so that I could use it with my sunflowers and I think it works. I know I could find an actual sunflower photo from The Paperhouse Print Shop but I think I am already on sunflower overload so I am good with this. When I finished all of my decorating for this swap, I have several bundles of sunflowers left over so I guess I am ready to cut back some. Lol. It always had that one orange flower so I just left it there.

I think I might also be almost over the book stacks and bead garlands that I made for every holiday/season. Once upon a time, I loved them all but this one almost didn't make the cut this year-and, it is probably still not safe. Once I have a minute, I just might find something else for this spot.

So that is the living room so far. I have an appointment tomorrow and some errands and then I should be back and ready to get on with "life"-as long as Mother Nature plays nice for awhile. I am off to finish up my grout refresh that never got done and then see about starting a new project using a drop cloth from Lowes. I have never worked with one before but lots of crafters use them so we shall see. I will fill you in on that once I get started. Until then stay safe and stay tuned.

What a Week!

 So, where do I start? Let's just say that this has been a week so far! But first, let me catch you up on my weekend. It was wonderful and I blame that for part of what has happened this week. Lol I simple could not re-enter after the holiday. It actually started last Thursday when I was sure it was Friday all that day...more about this later.

My brother and sister-in-law came on Friday afternoon and we spent some time catching up and then they wanted to know what was on "my list". I truly did not expect them to do any work this weekend but, they're not used to sitting still and I think truly love lending a hand. We kind of made a little list before enjoying the start of our 4th of July picnic and watching some TV.

Early the next morning, they were off for a holiday race that my brother not only ran in but won for his age category! Once they were home, we started on the list and really got a lot accomplished before calling it a day, having more of our holiday feast and nestling in to watch the firework display from NYC. After so many years of fireworks, I guess we're at the age where we no longer have to be on the front lines. Lol And, again, because we have done this for so long, none of us took any pictures until my sister-in-law got one of my grand dog to send over to daughter #1 and granddaughter #4 as they are in Italy.

We kept tackling the list until they left on Sunday afternoon and almost everything was off of it at that point-except some repairs on the privacy fence that required more than what we normally have to do. We had it figured out but just couldn't get some VERY LONG screws to go into the wood. I was blaming my power drill battery. No matter how hard we tried, those screws would not move. We finally called it a day with almost everything else up and running in my house again. And, honestly, I would have been OK with leaving it the way we jerry-rigged it but since grandson #2 had volunteered his help for anything I needed before he heads to UF in August, I sent him a message and when he got off work the next day, he arrived with an "impact drill"-which I had never heard of and literally in less than 30 seconds those screws were all the way in and then he grabbed another box of screws and hit all of any other slats that he could see that were loose at all! I would say it was his strength or youth but, honestly, in the case it was his knowledge of the correct tool to use! Lol 

Now for my week. I think I told you I would be starting my 4th swap out on Monday-which was still the plan until early Monday morning when I flipped my calendar and saw a hair appointment for Tuesday. Of course you know that that changed all of my plans because I need to go great guns with NO interruptions. And so, I found other little things to do and figured I would now have to wait until Wednesday.

And so, I get up on Tuesday morning and head out and get to my hair appointment and my hairdresser looks at me like I'm crazy and says "I don't have you on the books for today-I think it's tomorrow"! And, yep, she was right. I go back to last week being off by a day and I guess after the holiday I was still on "Dorine time". I used my time wisely since I had gone to all the trouble to actually get dressed in "real" clothes and put on make-up and made a quick trip to Lowe's for a drop cloth. I'll fill you in on that another day.

And so now here I was with no swap out happening, almost nothing left on my "to-do" list and time on my hands. Luckily, I had just had some grout pens delivered from Lowe's and I decided to give them a try.

Many, many years ago when I was re-doing my kitchen cabinets and getting rid of everything avocado in the room including the avocado Formica countertops, I had white tile counters and back splash added. What was I thinking? It was pretty but so hard to keep clean and I found myself using straight bleach and constantly scrubbing the grout lines. And, I'm sure because of that, the grout wore down and I could not get them clean any more.

That is when I did the second hardest DIY of my life. I used a grout saw to remove every bit of remaining grout and then re-grouted the entire kitchen. I had never done anything like this before so I relied heavily on my friendly Lowe's guy in the tile department. I had read enough to know that I wanted pre-mixed grout and that I wanted the one that wouldn't stain without needing to be sealed. By the time I had gotten to the grouting stage, I was not going to add yet another step unless I had to. I was assured that what he sold me would do the trick-and, it did. For a little while. But then the grout starting staining and no matter what I did I could no longer get it back to white. I think I was just browsing somewhere when I saw mention of these pens. They look just like a paint pen and work exactly the same way...and, they are miracle workers!

They not only come with reversible nibs but also an extra with each pen which is really necessary because my grout is "sanded" so it can wear out a nib rather quickly. Just look at the difference.

I only bought 4 pens so far because they don't give you any idea of how much coverage you get so I am starting with the countertops and will get back to the backsplash at another time because, obviously, they are nowhere near as stained because there isn't anything happening on them. 

Since I am just trying these, I have no idea how long the coverage will last but I can tell you, even the places where my coffee maker sends out drips every morning is covering as easily as everywhere else and I am having fun doing it. It is kind of like coloring in a coloring book-just follow the lines!

With that being said, I probably won't get it all done before tomorrow so I will push this to the side and get on with my swap-unless there's something else I'm forgetting or remembering incorrectly. Fingers crossed I will be back soon to show you the start of my late summer decor. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Sooooo!

 So, I've been sitting here thinking and revisiting yesterday's post. Of course, all of that autumn goodness is sitting  here right next to me so it isn't hard to envision. I am chomping at the bit to get my hands on my autumn decor. I'm thinking if I could do this, I could begin to make some changes and tweaks and that makes me excited. It's funny how my brain is skipping right over my next decor which I term "late" summer and it consists of sunflowers and my Mediterranean decor with some citrus thrown in. And, even funnier, is the fact that if I had any inclination to change that up a bit, I actually COULD easily get to it as I can quickly put my hands on all of the sunflower stuff as well as the yellow and citrus colored candles. The Mediterranean jugs and urns are all in the garage but they wouldn't be what I would be tweaking if I had the notion.

As my decor stash has grown over the years...and my children have moved out...I do have a lot of storage space. I have three guest rooms with fairly large closets. All of them also have chests or armoires that hold a lot. As I have evolved in my decor, I try hard every year to make the storage of said decor easier to find the following year. I have pretty much ended my habit of having to write myself notes where certain things are and have found dedicated spaces for those things. That doesn't mean that it can all be stored together. That depends on the size of the stash but, since we all know that summer is not my favorite, the summer decor-at least the sunflower part of it-can easily find room together. This room affords me a closet-which is loaded with decor from many other holidays, a pie safe that holds cookbooks, dishtowels and lots of colored Mason jars, a dresser that holds mostly scrapbooks, cards, letters, etc. and the armoire.

That armoire is one we bought at Naked Furniture in Tampa back when we were just opening my husband's CPA practice. That is where we got most of the furniture for the six rooms we had to fill. While he was busy with the business end of things, I was busy finishing the furniture. Lol When he retired, we brought some of our favorite pieces home to enjoy and this cutie is a workhorse...she holds a LOT!

She is kind of like the blanket chest in the living room that holds WAY more Christmas stuff than you would ever think possible!

Every bit of my sunflower stuff is in there as well as the large boxes full of stuff from other holidays!

And, if I needed them, the candles take up just a small part of the bottom shelf of a cabinet in another guest room.

And, I just realized something else. Even though I was in HL yesterday-and I'm sure it was full of sunflowers-I never made note of any of it. What is happening?! The heat must be getting to me. LOL I seem to be wishing my life away and completely forgetting that it is only July 1 and I truly have the rest of the summer to get through before I can start thinking of fall. Calgon, take me away.

I am sure everyone is planning grandiose celebrations for the coming holiday but mine will be a little more low key. I currently have daughter #2 and family in Chicago, daughter #1 and granddaughter #4 heading to Rome on the 4th and daughter #3 and family off to Crystal River for the weekend so it will just be my brother, sister-in-law and me here in Ocala...and, of course, Benny will still be here. I got spoiled after so many years of watching fireworks while floating in Kris' pool down in Gulfport so the idea of loading up and heading off into the crowds to find a spot for viewing-not to mention the heat and the mosquitoes-just doesn't appeal to me anymore. In one evening, we could see displays from St. Pete, St. Pete Beach, Gulfport, Largo, Indian Rocks Beach, and any of the other places along the coast that set them off that night. We were SPOILED! If we decide that we want to head out, we can always head to daughter #3's front porch and watch a number of displays from there but.... I'm guessing that when I got to this age, if I'm not seeing these things through "young" eyes, I've probably seen enough fireworks to last a lifetime. Honestly, once you've seen the fireworks at Gator Growl, not much else can compare-not even Disney.

I couldn't resist a few images from over the years.

I'm thinking we will still try to keep our food within the 4th guidelines but we shall see. You never know what will happen around here and, as you know, anything can-and often does-change at any time. Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.