Let's hope not! Abby does tell her mother that she likes this little Ryder. They are at their pre-school Valentine's Party, and I'm thinking that Miss A doesn't seem particularly happy.
Grammie thinks he looks like trouble!
Oh Abby, it's only just begun...
Oh dear, I think I'm revisiting my childhood again. I'm dreaming of sitting on the porch, and have been for a couple of months now. I grew up on the "front porch" swing. Even though it made me nauseous as heck, I would swing for hours. I played with my dolls in the porch swing, watched the train across the field, grew up and sat with boyfriends on the porch swing, it was wonderful.
And now I want to sit on the porch again. I do have a slight problem, though, no porch! I do have that wonderful patio, but it's not the same thing as sitting on the porch. So I'm going to improvise.
LC made me a little quasi courtyard in front of the condo a couple of years ago, it's just a small flagstone area by the front door, and I fill it with pots in the summer, and I have a little bistro table and chairs and an umbrella. Perfect, right, wrong!
Those chairs are so uncomfortable, and even if I put cushions on them, they sit upright and just aren't meant for relaxing on a spring morning, drinking coffee, watching Maggie scamper in the grass, checking out the horses in the pasture, and so I'm on a quest. I want a comfy chair to sit in. Not as easy as you would think, though, because it has to look good. I can't have a funky chair sitting in front of the condo.
So I'm looking thru the gardening books, getting ideas. Should I do an Aidorondeck rocking chair with pretty cushions, or something in iron that swivels and rocks? If anybody has any thoughts, please email me. I could use a little assistance as to what type of chair.
I'm still going to use my umbrella with it (small umbrella on a stand) and I'll surround it with lots of fleurs, so it will nestle in, but I'm pretty stumped at this point as to what type of chair it's going to be.
I could use some help, ladies.
Now go, enjoy your Friday and think hard for me...
~ Jan
Note; Hubby came up with this one from Sears. Price is right, $200 - I could add cushions, repaint it if I don't like the color, it's a possibility. Still wondering about that Aidorondeck rocker. Would love suggestions...
One of my readers sent me a link to this Organizing Blog called I Heart Organizing.
This site is just wonderful. Just click thru on the link below and see if you don't get inspired.
~ Enjoy and Happy Valentines Day… ~ Jan
The temperatures are starting to warm, our days are in the 40-50's now, sunset is coming later, and it's a tease. We're so anxious for spring, even the daffy's are starting to bloom, but in reality, we still have weeks before the days truly warm.
I always think of Mother in February. She would snip branches of Pussy Willow, bring them inside and force the buds to open. And as soon as the Forsythia started to bloom, she would always have a huge bouquet on her living room table. There were tulips by her back door, crocuses in her yard, she always made the seasons come alive with nature.
She didn't buy bulbs at the garden center, she dug them, or traded with friends, she loved making a home and did so without spending money. It's a trait to be admired, and the older I get, the more I appreciate what she was able to accomplish with so little.
She simmered orange peelings on the stove, tucked bars of soap in her lingerie draw for sachet, she ironed her pillowcases, swept her porch every morning, washed her windows weekly and scrubbed her floors on her hands and knees. Her pantry was always lined with jars of homemade food, and she fed anybody who came to her door. There was always a pitcher of tea in the fridge, and her house always had wonderful smells, it's such nice memories.
Heaven knows, we butted heads, my family is well aware of that, but now that she's gone, I remember her good traits, and there were many. She was such a strong woman, fiercely independent, a wonderful grandmother, she was an truly an old fashioned homemaker, and for that I admire her.
She will be gone seven years next month, I write about her often, and remember the good times. Regardless of how hold you are, there is no place like your mother's home, even if it's just in your memories...
It was last Tuesday morning that I realized I had to do something about a Valentine's Day header before the holiday was over. And instead of just throwing up a new header, oh no, I decided to do a complete overhaul of The Dish.
So what's the big deal, it's not that different, but figuring it out was a total nightmare. I paced the floor, I stepped away, thought about it, went back to it, gave up in frustration, tried it again, and again, and again, and again. I threw more than one hissy fit, I banged my head against the wall, literally, and paced some more. Did it help, of course not, but it probably saved my sanity.
Bottom line, I don't know enough about css to code diddly squat. There was no help to be had, I was out there hanging, and I finally got the header in place, but I couldn't get the background image inserted showing a white posting area. And i could't make the white posting area have a drop shadow around both edges. Arrrrughhhhhhhh
I spent the entire weekend on this, I'm not kidding, poor hubby made lunch today, cooked dinner tonight, but I persevered. And finally, finally it's working. Not built according to standard code, but it works!
And I don't even like the striped background, but switching it to something else now will be a walk in the park compared to what I've gone through.
Surely some of this concentration will help keep my brain cells from dying. You would think!!!!
Sorry to bore all of you with this, but at this point I don't know if I'm venting or doing the happy dance here.
And I need a serious redo on Jan CAN Cook, but not this week, my brain and my butt both need a rest, I'm practically glued to this chair!!!
I really don't know whats happened to yours truly in the past couple of years, but I'm totally obsessed with organization. Well, that's no surprise about the obsession, I always seem to have some kind of obsession going on in my life. But I have to admit, this is one of my better ones.
It all started a couple of years ago with my big pantry reorganization. This has worked phenomenally well, putting everything in baskets, its so easy to pull one out and grab what you need instead of pilfering through the pantry and knocking everything over. Then it progressed to baskets in the fridge, which was a disaster, the family made such fun of me, but I've discovered the problem was I had too many baskets in the fridge, now I just have a few for pickles, condiments, and dairy items, and now it's working well. Nothing gets hidden behind anything, I just pull out my basket and take out what I need. And I've always been a fan of draw organizers, they just keep everything separated. That was probably my first inkling to organization, a few years ago when I realized that the "secret" to organization is containment.
And last fall, when hubby added more shelves and drawer partitions to my closet, it has been one of the best things he's ever done. I haven't had a messy closet since he redid it for me. I have been meaning to take pictures and show you all how well it's working, I've got that on my "to do" list for this month. Ditto with the jewelry drawers, I bought black felt partitioned organizers for my jewelry and now it's totally contained, totally straight.
I also redid my dresser drawers, they are now lined with plastic bins, so that I can separate socks, scarves, and yes, even Maggie's doggie duds are in bins.
The linen closet is my next effort, but I'm not exactly sure what I'm doing with it yet. And this morning I found these organizing tips on Martha Stewart's website, and I was intrigued not only with the hall closet pictured above, but also this linen closet.
If you link here, Martha has 8 organizing videos, everything from organizing this linen closet above to your pantry, the woman even has a video on how to organize your family. Now, it's Martha, so she does tend to go a bit overboard, but she has such wonderful ideas. Let's 's face it, she's brilliant, and her attention to detail and work ethic are to be admired.
This morning I subscribed to her daily "organizing" newsletter, so I'll probably be bombarding you with her good tips. ☺
My world just flows so much more smoothly when everything is in it's place, and by nature I am not that person, so it takes deliberate effort on my part to put things where they need to be. But I've found that even this old(er) brain can be retrained, I actually stop and tell myself to put whatever I'm holding where it belongs.
It's not that my house looks messy, everything always looks good on the outside, it's when you go behind the scenes and open drawers and closets that it's cluttered, but no more! And since I live with a totally neat freak husband, he is thrilled that I've finally, finally, after all these years gotten my act together.
But here's the $64,000 question, will it last? Yes, I actually think it will, until the dementia sets in, anyway. As Martha always says, "it's a good thing..."
© all the latest from Nashville ya'll, AllRightsReserved.
Designed by ScreenWritersArena
Posted with Blogsy
