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.

Quick Update

 I'm back for a quick update since I've been gone for so long. Sometimes "life" takes over and takes you to unexpected places. That is kind of what happened this week. The story is longer than you need to hear-or even want to hear-but it all started with a phone call from daughter #1 last Friday telling me that she was on her way to her daughter-my granddaughter #4- in Gainesville and asking if she could drop off my grand dog. It seems as if my grand's 5 month old kitten had suddenly taken ill and they were at UF Veterinary Hospital with things not looking great.

This would always have been a concerning call but it was made even more so by the fact that my granddaughter was to have her first final exam of her 2nd semester of law school that day-which, of course, wasn't going to happen for her.

After 12 hours of waiting they were sent home-to my house-without the kitten but with what might have been cautionary optimism...only to receive a call not too many hours later that they needed to get back. Unfortunately, the kitten didn't make it and we had a pretty rough weekend as that cat was kind of a "support" friend through the first year of law school which seems to be pretty isolating with all of the work and studying being required.

There were so many other ducks to get into rows after that but, in the end, my granddaughter was allowed to make up that exam yesterday and she and my grand dog are staying with me this week as she studies for her next exam on Friday while my daughter finally returned to her home in St. Pete yesterday to get back to work.

I am enjoying spending time with Liv when she isn't studying. It is kind of mind blowing to realize just how grown up my grands, who I guess I still think of as young, have become. Conversation topics have certainly changed as they face life's realities and my mind is challenged just trying to keep up. Lol

With all of that said, that is why I haven't been here to visit or finish our tour. My house is being used for its "real" purpose-living!!- and some places just might not currently be "photo worthy". Lol

I have been doing some 4th of July photo perusing from past years and I'm not sure there is a lot I will be changing. I think with the possible exception of Halloween, the 4th actually has the most of my craft decor and, most of them are things I really like. I am still looking for new ideas-if anybody has one please send it along-but, so far I am coming up empty.

I will say that if I didn't have Mother's Day, baccalaureate, more award banquets, prom and graduation all still to go this month, I might have been tempted to start my patriotic decor now. So many others are-I guess because this one is #250! But, honestly, there is no time for that in my schedule right now. And so, I will wait. Here are some of the things that are really popping out for me and I know you will see them again.

I made this one last year and was able to make the base using various leftover pieces and shapes of wood that I had on hand.

 These are both "oldies" but I love them.

Not sure why, but I LOVE the star. It is another of the "faux $Tree tile" crafts and not really spectacular but, it speaks to me. And, I can't believe it took me so many years to remember these commemorative pewter plates that have been sitting in my closets for YEARS!!

I'm actually shocked that I still want to use this guy. I am NOT a fan of dolls for decor-especially ones that look so scary but, this is what a primitive Uncle Sam looks like. I made him without a pattern and was truly flying by the seat of my pants so he almost didn't make it to completion more than once during the process. Lol

I made the box he is sitting on because I had it in my stash leftover from when I bought the boxes to make the drum pictured above. The boxes came in sets so it was just sitting here waiting for this idea to finally pop into my head.

And, of course, a "fan favorite"-the wreath that daughter #3 made me using my grandchildren's handprints back when they were still small enough to do this. Sigh!!!!

I bought this dough bowl last year because my antique one is SO LARGE and sometimes decor like this simply gets lost in it. And then, as the month continued, I found more and more tchotchkes to make and add. It's kind of fun but I'm thinking it may need something with some color as a base-a piece of fabric, some red "shredded filler" or ??? Yet to be determined. Lol

I've got to say that I am looking forward to revisiting those things-I hope you are too. Not sure when I will be back-the rest of the week is still pretty full-but until then, 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.

Snips, Snails and Jerry-Rigging

 I pride myself on my ability to jerry-rig. I am always coming up with ideas but ideas that I might not always have the budget to do correctly with the help of professionals but, that has never stopped me! I seriously think it started oh so many years ago when I just had to have a kitchen renovation! I asked my hubby what he thought of the idea and his answer was just what it always was-usually tongue in cheek a bit but a little serious as well..."you can do anything you want just as long as it doesn't cost me a fortune!". And so I did...and it turned out way better than I ever imagined...and I did a lot of jerry-rigging...and a master jerry-rigger was born.

Since that day, I have tackled many projects without benefit of professional help-way more things have gotten accomplished than ever would have if I sat back and waited until I could really afford to do one of my hair-brained ideas and that is how I have pretty much faced life ever since. I am definitely going to try anything by myself before calling in reinforcements. Now, I have learned that there are some things better left to others-especially if expensive, specialty tools might be called for but, other than that, all things are fair game. Lol 

I had set aside this weekend to try to get the majority of my outside to-do things done. And boy did I ever deliver! I think except for lots more leaf raking, most of the major things are done-until they need to be done again-kind of like housework. The minute you finish and stand back to admire, it starts getting ready to be redone again!

In any case, as I was out and about in lots of areas of the yard where I might not usually be, I spied some things that just didn't look right any longer and I decided to do some swapping.

I started with the very large ceramic vessel that is supposed to be a bubbler fountain. I have two actual fountains on the pool side of the yard but at one point a number of years ago I decided that the extra patio needed a bubbler. My girls gave me the bubbler piece and large ceramic basin as a gift and I set out to put it all together. First of all, both pieces weigh a TON!! And then things had to be perfectly level and I would need to be able to get under the pieces to clean the filter, etc., etc., etc. I quickly decided that that was one upkeep that wasn't in the cards for the benefit we would have gotten so the larger piece went into the garden and became the world's most expensive plant stand and the basin has been used in various capacities-most recently in the terraced garden where it was a water feature until the crows kept biting the fountain apparatus and throwing it out of the water.

So this weekend the two pieces kind of came back together-well not the basin but the bubbler and the fountain. It seriously took everything I had to move the bubbler across the yard! It is super heavy and super awkward but, with a bit of lifting and a lot of rolling, I got it to the corner of the pool deck. My initial plan had been to just use it as a plant holder and I tried it out like this.

I was going to find a larger plant and call it a day when I remembered the fountain thingy. Right now, this is the largest bowl I have that will work unless I use one of my really nice bowls and, since I'm not sure that the crows might not still attack this thing and knock the bowl to the ground, I am starting here. I think if I decide to keep it-which might be more trouble than it is worth but, since I water everything out there at least once every other day, it shouldn't be too much extra effort-I might look for a larger, non-breakable one.

Then I moved on to my next issue. When the pool guy cut off the slide, there were the holes from where the legs went into the decking left-and, a bit of the metal sticking up. They might have been able to be ground down-but not by me-and so I came up with my next ingenious idea. I filled the holes with small stones that I had left over from a craft project and got out the "crack filler" that my brother used to seal a crack in the grout of my sunroom wall. Since the cool deck is so varied, I just slathered on some of this stuff and after it dries I will probably need to add more until I can kind of get things level and not a trip hazard and then I still have some of the concrete stain from the last time we redid the deck and my hope is that when all is said and done, no one will ever know there was ever a slide there-except of course for the water pipes that go under the deck and then to other areas of the yard so removal of that would be way out of my budget right now. I'll just set the chair over it and no one will ever know. LOL

And then there is this:

I managed to get all of the dead bougainvillea vines down from the trellis and it makes me so sad. First of all, I couldn't get the pretty color that I had had here originally and secondly, it will take a number of years before these two plants meet up on the top of the garage door again. Sigh! At least the original trellising that my brother and sister-in-law helped me do is still perfect and ready to go!

A few updates:

Before I had even finished out on the pool deck, I had to refill the bowl on the new "fountain" twice so I was just about to call it quits but then I realized that with the bowl as small as it is and the spout as high as I had it, the water was quickly leaving the bowl. Since this thing comes with many different nozzles, I tried every one of the others and, in doing so, I discovered if I didn't use any nozzle at all. I would have a bubbler. And so I went with that and haven't had to add more water in over 24 hours. It is kind of serendipity that this large vessel was meant to be a bubbler fountain and after many, many years of non-use has kind of found its way back to its purpose. Lol

I actually love the way this looks as a bubbler but I DEFINITELY need to find a larger vessel!

And, I have put all of the rest of the "crack filler" that I had down on the deck and although it is nowhere near perfect, I don't think anyone will be tripping here in the future...at least fingers crossed.

And, as I was re-reading this post before publishing, I took another look at this photo:

I realized that I actually really like the size of the planter on top of the vessel. I'm now thinking that if I can find any kind of a bowl large enough to nestle down into the planter just a bit, I may have a WINNER! Guess that will be my next treasure hunt-maybe I can even find something around here as it won't be seen so it won't really matter what it looks like-we shall see.

I'm busy today catching more of the little things that I have let slip. I have a hair appointment this week as well as two award banquets so I will be busy but hoping to get back soon to finish up our spring tour and to let you know how things end up back here. Stay safe and stay tuned.

UPDATE update!

So, me being me, I just knew that somewhere in my stash I could find something to work...and, of course, I did. I seem to be the "keeper" of all party supplies. No matter what kind of birthday party got thrown or G.S. activity or Relay For Life theme...I am the one who held on to things "just in case". Come see me if you need sombreros, hula skirts, leis, boas, etc., etc., etc.

And, of course, I found some plastic serving bowls-one that is green. It could actually be still larger-and I will probably look in party supply areas of all of the places I hit for awhile for a slightly larger one but, for now, its diameter is larger than the previous bowl and it is deeper.

I gathered up some bricks, etc. to use as risers and got it where I wanted it.

The bubbler I was using wasn't quite high enough so I am using a different nozzle and, of course, since the bowl is larger where I cut the "feelers" on the fountain is making it too short and it moves to one side instead of staying in the middle but I will remedy that as soon as I settle on a bowl and then I might be able to use another nozzle that will shoot the water even higher without going out of the bowl. We shall see...but for now I am happy with the symmetry of these pieces.