Busy Week!

 Life has been hectic of late...good hectic if that is such a thing! I have been super busy with lacrosse, family visits, birthdays, more birthdays and lots and lots of yard work! For about the 6th week in a row I have had my 6 cans of leaves/branches out for pick-up...and still they all keep coming down. And now, of course, it is time for the pollen and "squiggles". Everything looks a mess and it is impossible to stay ahead of it yet I continue to try! Lol

Before I get on to more of the "fun" stuff, let's make a quick trip into the sunroom.

Once again, I kept the sunroom minimal so that surface areas would be easy to access. This week a lot of the family will be arriving to help me celebrate yet another birthday. I don't understand how they keep coming so quickly but they do! And then the weekend after that grand daughter #5 and her BFF are coming over for Nana weekend so this space will be bustling for awhile!

But, prior to all of that fun was this past busy weekend with extended family. My son-in-law's family came to town and we got to do two lacrosse games and an 18th birthday celebration for my oldest grandson.

For Harrison's birthday dinner he once again chose one of my favorite restaurants here in town, Ipanema Brazilian Steakhouse. A meal at this place is more like an experience and it was so much fun to share it with the extended family.

And then we had another lacrosse game last night with two more to come this week! Whew! The team has a really busy schedule but, I am finally starting to catch on to a bit more of the game and it is so fast paced that I am actually really starting to enjoy it.

I probably won't be back for a visit until the week is over because my kids have things planned for every day to keep me busy but rest assured, when I am back I will be loaded with photos...unless I forget to snap pictures. We shall see. Stay safe and stay tuned.

Along the Way, Life Happens

 "Along the way, life happens". I use this phrase a lot. I don't mean it to be in a bad way-although sometimes that is the case. More often than not I mean it to be that I have something planned or, more often, nothing planned, and then something happens and it goes a completely different way. That is what happened yesterday. As I was sitting in my living room waiting for daughter #3 and her family to pick me up to head to another lacrosse game, my phone rang. It was daughter #1 and she wanted to ask me if she could come for 4-5 days next week-which just so happens to be over my birthday. Looks like we'll have a day trip somewhere-my choice, another day with a lacrosse game and yet another doing some fix-ups around the house and yard...couldn't ask for a better birthday present! Since my birthday falls on a weekday and daughter #3 and hubby are going to be out of town, I just kind of figured it would be a quiet one this year-which would have been perfectly fine with me-lol

And then I hear that daughter #2 will be coming to town on Saturday as well as 2 of my grand daughters...looks like there is a celebration coming whether I'm ready or not. At my age, believe me, it would be OK if birthdays went un-noticed but anytime the family can be together, even partially, I'm all in.

And so with that happening and so many lacrosse games and planning for St. Pat's celebration with the kids, I figured I had better get busy with finishing up the tour. Let's head into the dining room today. Am I the only one who falls completely under "green's" spell? I just think it brings such a sense of calm.

I love this counted cross stitch that I did many years ago when my eyes were a whole lot younger-I only wish I had dated it! Even though I store it carefully, it is starting to "yellow" with age so I know it was done a LONG time ago.

Still love the sequin shamrock the kids and I made a few years ago too.

That is the dining room for this year. There isn't a lot of new things here but it is where I used some of my new Belles of Ireland. I'm so happy that I was able to find more of them this year.

Just a few pictures from last night. We were in Alachua which is a bit north of Gainesville where so much of the family lives so they were all able to come out and cheer on the boys and the team. We got a really late start as one of the referees was stuck in gridlock traffic coming up due to an accident on I-75 where a tractor trailer ran into an overpass crumbling a lot of it to the ground. My son-in-law is our county engineer and he had spent the better part of his day out there. He said it was a nightmare as traffic all had to be re-routed and was backed up over 4 miles. In any case, the show must go on and Trinity Catholic is now 3-0 with another wonderful win under their belts.

And so, life happens...and I'm so glad it does!! Stay safe and stay tuned.

Spring, Spring

 Yesterday was the PERFECT day to be outside and if you are a gardener, that is where you were probably headed. I held off as long as I could...I really did. I went out to tackle the leaves on the other side of my very large, tree covered yard and before I knew what I was doing, I had the clippers in my hand and I was cutting back ugly, freeze burned leaves and stems. I know I was not supposed to do that until another freeze is not likely (March they say ), but, my phone is telling me we are going to be in the 80s for the next 10 days and that will take us into March. I just couldn't pick up leaves and not start to tackle the rest. Of course, I once again filled up my 6 cans so, after 7 hours out there, I had things looking good enough that I could sit back, put my feet up and enjoy the yard a bit. There is still so much more to do but I am getting there. A lot of the things I am doing will prepare the fence for pressure cleaning so that is coming soon-and, I think I will be happy if it's a little warmer when I do that because no matter how hard I try, I end up drenched!

In any case, I'm tackling indoor chores today so while I'm waiting on some wash, I thought we'd head into the kitchen. Do you see my pretty new kitchen towel that I got in Eustis?

I'm so happy that my green enamelware pot is back. In fact, you will probably see it right there from now until 4th of July comes out because green will go well with all of the decors until then. I love that thing.

And, for whatever reason, I am loving this little vignette. I added the shamrock wreath last year and then I recently found the little shamrock cutting board in HL. I don't know why I'm so obsessed with cutting boards but they always seem to speak to me-loudly. And, I love that you can find them now in all kinds of fun shapes.

Since I haven't found a whole lot of new things for St. Pat's, I've added green candle rings around a lot of things. It just seems to give a cute finishing touch. And, some of them aren't really candle rings-which can be pricey. The greenery here is an old faux vine that I took off of an old gate I bought many years ago. I still use the gate in my spring decor but the vine was getting a bit ragged looking. I was going to throw it out but, since I bought the piece at a trendy little garden shop in Mt. Dora I realized that the faux vine was actually a good quality so I just kind of rolled it up and sprayed it with my silk flower cleaner and it looked like new. Win-win! And then, some others that you will see in the other rooms of the house are actually what they call a flower garland. I found them in the $ Spot at Target. I think they are a little too sparse to be used as a garland but wrapped in a circle they make the perfect ring...and again, more inexpensive than the real thing.

I still laugh every time I look at that picture of my grandson when he was in pre-school. I've told the story before but for anyone who may not have heard it, it bears repeating. He was supposed to represent an Irish gent in his school's international parade. I made him an outfit with knickers and vest and then my daughter got the bowtie, knee socks and tam. The hat was perfect but we didn't need that green hair. We didn't want to cut it off because we use Irish photo props in this family all of the time so we just pushed the hair up into the hat. And, that worked perfectly. He looked exactly like the picture we googled...until one of his friends saw a wisp of green hair and pulled all of the rest of it down. I don't remember why but guests were NOT invited to this parade and so, we had no idea how he looked as he marched until one of the teachers sent this picture! Too funny!

This area got a little change up. Instead of what used to be here, I just brought over the silver dish full of greenery and nestled in a few hats left over from the dough bowl project.

So that is the kitchen for this year. I actually started this post yesterday and then "life" got in the way and I forgot to finish it. I almost did again today as I have been out "tending the lower 40". Lol When I was out there the other day I realized that a LOT of the lattice on the top on my privacy fencing is falling. This is a custom fence that runs the entire 308' across the back of my property and then down the 2 sides. It is a lot of fence and was definitely well built...when it was built many, many years ago. I am actually amazed that it has stood up so well. I have replaced a lot of slats-which is not the easiest job but I can do it. But, when it comes to the 8' posts and adding new lattice, I need some helping hands. And so, until I get them, I've been out there putting on bandaids-just using small nails and trying to salvage what I can. I am the queen of jerry-rigging. Believe me, if I thought hot glue would work I'd be trying that first! It wouldn't be quite as hard as it is except that this year I decided to let the azaleas (that I usually keep trimmed back so no little slithery friends can make a home) grow as they wished. I just wanted to see how they would look. And, they look beautiful but, it is almost impossible to get a ladder in there where you need it...but I digress. Lol

I've got a list a mile long of things that I need to get done today. Tomorrow I'm off for a bunch of errands and then we head to Gainesville for another lacrosse game. Our game on Friday was another win but I didn't get many pictures because we got caught in some unexpected rain and were pretty wet-definitely not picture worthy. But, it was a win none- the -less and the boys were happy!

Hope your weather is as beautiful as ours has been. Stay safe and stay tuned.

It IS Easy Being Green

And just like that...we're on to St. Patrick's Day! Well, I probably shouldn't say "just like that" because the switch from ALL red to ALL green takes a bit but, I'm there and loving it all. I always say that it is hard to find new ideas for this holiday because so many people just pass it right by but, I guess because I'm older than dirt I have been able to accumulate enough stuff because I have A LOT!

Let's start with the porch and then we'll catch the living room. I'm so glad that I refurbished that flag-it was so faded in the pictures from last year that I almost thought it was a lost cause...but look at it shine!

These beauties are the ones left from last year. I just moved the pots to other places in the yard and they never died back. I actually have a few more pots of them other places and have been having to pull some out of the ground in places that they have taken root all by themselves. Some of mine bloom white and others bloom purple but I think they're all just beautiful and perfect for the holiday!

I ended up hanging the vintage wreath here but now that I am really looking at this picture, I'm not sure this is the best spot for it. It all seems too busy with so much detail from the mirror around the images.When I hang it over a regular mirror the back is reflected and I don't like that either...what's a girl to do?

I still love that little picture which is nothing more than a shamrock image that I printed on a dictionary page and framed. Sometimes it's the little things!

I'm still using the leprechaun hat arrangement that my grand daughters and I made so many years ago. A picture of that project found its way to Pinterest-it was pinned by a blogger who posted clay pot crafts for kids-and made my blog views go wild. And, every year about this time, the same thing will happen as I guess it comes back around. I always forget about it until I see 100s of views in one day and then, sure enough, there it is again and I get my 15 minutes of "fame". Lol

I moved the moss shamrock that the kids and I did years ago to this mirror and I like it there but thinking I might need to move it back to the entrance mirror. I guess with this being a solid color it works better against all of the intricate detail of the tin tile mirror whereas the vintage images just get lost in all of that...we shall see.

  So that is this year's living room. I was hoping that Grand daughter #5 could come over today to start to plan our St. Pat's weekend but I forgot that she would be in D.C. on a school trip. Then, I kind of thought I would head out into the yard to start some spring clean-up and MORE leaf patrol. But, it is really kind of chilly out there and the irrigation system went off this morning so everything is wet....so, I think I'll just tackle some wash and maybe a closet or two and then call it a day...and we'll see what tomorrow brings! Lol Stay safe and stay tuned.