Yay!!!

 Yay! We finally had some rain!! No where near the length of rain that was predicted but, rain never-the-less. The weather has sure been fickle of late. We have had heat but not death defying-albeit DRY, my brother and sister-in-law were caught in a mini-blizzard last week out west and now just a week later and a few states away they're anticipating temps over 100 while friends who live in Texas are looking to build an ark...their rains are just not stopping. Oh well, it is one of the many things we have no control over so, life goes on and we adapt. And, for me today, that means trying to get a few more things off of the to-do list.

And, a good way to start is to take you into the dining room.

I still love this star that my grand daughters and I made many years ago as family gifts. I had seen one that looked like this in a magazine somewhere and it was a Bethany Lowe design. I have always loved almost all of her things...they speak to that vintage, kind of distressed passion that I have always had for holiday items. Of course, as has happened before, there were no details on the piece so I didn't know how large or small it was. I set off to find styrofoam stars and was not successful in that hunt so I bought a large, flat sheet of styrofoam instead and we cut our own.

Of course, when crafting with these girls, glitter was always an essential and I think I just might still have a few bits of red glitter in my house from this project! We coffee stained a coffee filter to use as the medallion, cut and glittered the smaller stars, printed the banner, and embellished with two small paper flags and some beads on the points of the star.

I actually went back to 2009 and found these pictures. Wow...just wow! We all look so much younger. Lol

After moving the 4X4 fire crackers around to many other places, they ended up back here and this is where I used the star and stripes wood tags as well. I love it when I make things but then never really have an idea where they are going to go! Lol

So that is the dining room for this year. I'll be back with more soon. Until then, stay safe and stay tuned.

Just in the Nick of Time

As I was doing my patriotic decorating this past week, who knew that I would have it all done just in the nick of time? I posted that I was dog sitting for daughter #3 while her family was out of town for the weekend. I had forgotten that even though public schools were out for this year, private schools were not and two of my grand children attend private schools...hence, they had to be home for school on Tuesday. With that in mind, they got back to town much earlier than I had expected and asked if they could bring over an impromptu Memorial Day bar-b-que. Who could say no to that? Lucky for me, I had a "few" decorations up...not to mention plates, cups, napkins...and all the stuff...ready to go. Lol

Even though the temperatures was supposed to be high, there was a gentle breeze-not to mention shade at one end of the pool-so we had a beautiful afternoon catching up, swimming and having a wonderful meal!

Today, I am missing my little shadow but she will be back soon when the family once again heads off on vacation. I thought before I tackle some things on the never ending "to-do" list, I would take you into the kitchen area.

I guess there really isn't much to say about the kitchen. Most everything decorative here is also functional...which I love. I am happy when all of my things are being used but even happier when they are easily accessible and the kitchen layout pretty much assures that these days. I think the only new addition this year-so far-is the blue pitcher above. I found that while shopping down in St. Pete and for some reason, it spoke to me. I actually envisioned it full of flowers but, for now it is here.

So, that is today's tour. I'm off to get something done while waiting to see when my car can go in...once again. It seems there is some kind of electrical issue that is not showing up on diagnostics...oh happy day! At least my life seldom is boring! Stay safe and stay tuned.
 

Happy Memorial Day...through 4th of July!

I have been back for almost a week and really don't know where the time has gone. I did have hair dresser and doctor appointments but, I guess the rest of my week has been spent getting the house ready for the next round of holidays. Plus, I am dog sitting while daughter #3 and family are at the beach for the holiday. I guess I spend a lot of time with any of my grand dogs when they are here. I always had a dog in my life and I do miss having one although I am wise enough to know that I am too old to take on another dog. I love big dogs and that means lots of big care and costs. So, when any of the grand dogs are here, I tend to spend a lot of time with them. Guess all of that answers where my week has gone.

In any case, here is the beginning of the tour, I haven't made it to a garden center yet, so my porch planters are having to make due with some of the red, white and blue plants I could gather from around the yard.

I think it is true that what everything old will be new again. I made this fire cracker many, many years ago as my family gift that year, I really don't even remember where I saw the idea but, suffice it to say that it has been around a long time. Imagine my surprise when I saw almost the exact same thing as a craft post idea the other day. If I remember correctly, it is a paper towel roll covered in a download of the Declaration of Independence. The round ends and star are cut from cardboard and glittered...as is the #4. I made the medallion from folded card stock, printed the JULY and 1776 tails and added a 4th of July embellishment I had in my scrapbooking supplies. Then, I popped a hole in the top and stuck in some fancy 4th of July tooth picks. It had a lot of steps but none of them were difficult...and now I'm glad I hung on to it.

Here is where one of my new Uncle Sams ended up.

So that is pretty much the living room for this year. You definitely can't miss the fact that it is decorated for patriotic holidays...Lol. I'll be back with more soon. Stay safe and stay tuned.
 

I'm Back!

 I just returned from a week in St. Petersburg and boy, re-entry is difficult! I had such a great time. If we weren't off just having fun, I was tagging along with my daughter to some of her design clients or shopping for her clients (or ourselves) or just helping her finish her new design studio...it was all so much fun! And, it is never a trip to St. Pete without lots of walking, laughing and eating. I like to think that all of the walking counteracts all of the eating. Lol

My first full day down there we went to the Van Gogh Live exhibit at the Dali Museum. It was quite the experience. All of the rooms in the one area were saturated with one painting at a time - some the full painting, others were close ups of parts of the painting. Then, when you least expected it, parts of the painting would come to life. It was very hard to take pictures of because, #1, the images were huge and projected everywhere and #2, you didn't want to miss anything by looking through a camera lens. It was really beautiful and I managed a few shots.

After the exhibit, we headed to The Library - a restaurant in downtown St. Pete. It is the first time I was there and it was delicious!

We had the most delicious roasted brussel sprouts as an appetizer and then I had a Fried Green Tomato BLT...minus the B. Lol I let them put it on but then gave it to my grand daughter as I am not much of a meat eater.

I was having so much fun that I didn't get many other pictures until daughter #3 and grand daughter #5 arrived on Friday afternoon for the rest of the weekend. We spent Friday sitting on the porch, talking and ordering in food from one of our favorite restaurants... gotta love Uber Eats! I will say that we were soooo lucky with the weather! The temps were in the 80s but there was very little humidity and the wind was enough to not only keep everything cool but to also keep the mosquitoes at bay. It was the PERFECT porch sitting weather and we did a lot of it! 

Saturday morning we started walking. My daughter lives in the historic district so there are so many pretty things to see as we walk and, it is only a short distance to downtown. It was wonderful to see a bit of the return to normalcy. It took us a while to decide on a restaurant for lunch but we made a great choice. We decided on The Park Shore Grill. Kris eats there often but it was, again, new to me.

After a long, leisurely lunch, we walked to one of Presley's favorite places, Sweet Divas. And of course, we had to get one of almost everything! Lol

Armed with our bag of goodies, we strolled through the park and made our way to another favorite destination - the veranda at the beautiful Vinoy Hotel. There is just something about sitting on the veranda, having a glass of wine (or two), looking at all of the beautiful boats docked across the street and wiling away an afternoon. 

Presley had never been here before and she was actually very excited to learn about the history of the hotel. She found a "tour" to listen to on her phone and then set off to see the halls, gardens, grand ballrooms, etc. in person.

We hopped on the trolley for a few blocks and then made it home right as grand daughter #4 was getting home from work.

We did a bit of a smorgasbord for dinner...a bit of charcuterie and then lots of air fried veggies with a delicious aoli that Olivia made for us! And, we ate as we played games...for the rest of the evening. 

And, after milking as much breakfast time on the porch as we could, we headed home. It is always so much fun down there and always so hard to leave! But, I am back and getting back to reality. I have a few appointments this week but then I think I will start my 4th of July decorating. We are supposed to have a scorcher of a week so the idea of staying in doesn't bother me at all. My grandson does have his spring football game Friday night and it is supposed to be HOT but I'm hoping we can set up a tailgate in some shade and manage to get through the evening. And then, I am dog sitting for the holiday weekend...should be fun!

I have a quick little 4th of July craft I will try to fit in as well so I'll be back. Stay safe and stay tuned.