It Started Out As One Thing I Wanted To Show You....

I have to share something I found yesterday. I had read about this new Sally Hansen polish that is base coat, polish, and top coat all in one, Complete Salon Manicure is the name. I don't know about you, but I am always in a hurry to get out the door and at the last minute realize my nails have lost at least some of their polish and need help. Anyway, this stuff works great! It has an extra large brush and goes on quickly. It covers in one coat and you're out the door. Score!

Also, since I just have to tell you about the neat things I find, I ran across the prettiest little stitchery pattern this morning. It is a free pattern, but you have to give your email address and The Stitching Cow will mail it to you. Not being disrespectful, that's her blog name. Pretty lady. And pretty stitchery! Check it out.

My chickens are pouting a bit lately and giving me the evil eye every time I look out my window.

Thing is - I had let them out the other day and then gone back inside to do something else and forgot about them. Mistake. When I looked out later, most of them had hopped over the fence and were in our vegetable garden happily scratching and throwing things everywhere. This little nasturtium had been totally ripped up. I stuck everything back in the dirt (except the chickens - they went back into their own place), and most things seem to be surviving, even if they do look a little worse for the wear. And the chickens are confined to their pen.

This is what I see when I open my front door.

And this is just to the right. The writing is almost completely faded from the star, but it says, "Love".I made that little grapevine wreath this year from clippings from our very own vines. I had bought some muscadines and scuppernongs (Southern grape varieties ) at a roadside market when we visited my Mom in Mississippi years ago. They are not everyone's cup of tea. Mr. Cutie Pie wanted NO part of them. But I like them and they make wonderful jams and jellies. My grandmother made those when she was still here on earth and still in the jam-making mode. Anyway, I planted the seeds from those grapes I bought and now they've grown and grown. Still no grapes, but I live in hope!

Some of our azaleas are dropping their pretty flowers now,

but other varieties are just coming into full bloom.

Our little lemon tree has blossoms! Yay!

The roses are blooming,

and the amaryllis and irises.

There are seasons in all our lives. I'm enjoying this one, and I hope you are, too!

Hugs and kisses,

Butterflies

We had such a good time last week while our younger daughter was visiting. We hadn't seen her in far too long.

One of the things that she most wanted to do while she was here was visit the Cockrell Butterfly Center, so we did that last Wednesday.

It is such a beautiful place, and we hit it at just the right time - no hoardes of school children! It was not crowded at all and the weather was good.

There were butterflies of all kinds everywhere, and you see - they will actually come and land right on you. This one stuck with Mr. Cutie Pie for quite a while!

Charro, the male green iguana, but he doesn't look very green, does he? We're guessing it was the heat lamps in his cage that changed his coloring.

There are drawers and drawers of mounted specimens inside and lots of information about all kinds of insects - some (like the giant roaches) that you don't really want to know about!

Also inside were displays of products using insects (and worms!) These items were not for sale, but there was a vending machine with insect edibles. (No, we did not partake of those. I know - no sense of adventure there. Sorry.)

Our little girl had one of these little wallets I made for her several years ago. She is an Elvis fan and loved that other wallet to death. She had to bring it and show me the tatters it had become. So I looked around and found more of the same material and made her a couple this time. She was happy.

And here's a glorious look at one of the azaleas in the front yard last week. They're starting to lose their blooms now, but they surely were pretty while they lasted.

Hope your week is starting off gloriously! He is risen indeed!!!

Hugs and kisses,

If At First You Don't Succeed, Try, Try Again!

With the help of Mr. Sweetie Pie, I put a small design space up on the wall in my sewing room.

So far, so good. I don't think Chloe has noticed it yet. I'm hopeful it may survive, unlike the last one I tried. As you can see, I have another little idea working in my head. We'll see where it goes. That's always so much fun, isn't it? I have an idea of how I want things to work out in my projects, but it's always interesting to see where they actually go.

It's a beautifully breezy, sunshiny day here today and I'm loving how it looks and feels.



My Honey and I worked out in the yard yesterday getting the lawn mown and some of the bushes clipped back and some that didn't survive the winter dug up. Busy day.

Our baby daughter is coming home for a visit tomorrow. No, she isn't a baby to anyone but us - she's twenty-five years old. Seems hardly possible to me. Anyway, we're all just so in a hurry to see her again! We've missed her.

Hope your day is absolutely wonderful!'

Hugs and kisses,

Lisa's Quilt

I have the best daughter-in-law in the world. (I know you think you do, but sorry, it's I who have her!) She has loved our son through all the good times and bad, and I'm thankful for her. Lisa and her sister and others in her family quilt. So, I was hesitant to offer to make a quilt for her.

But I did. I finished it last night. Lisa likes bright colors, so I tried to incorporate some of those for her.

I like it!Ariel is not terribly impressed though. Other things more important to her.

These little bears on the back are so sweet! They're doing all sorts of things in the kitchen and they look like they're having a great time.

Meanwhile, since I was out in the back yard taking pictures, I had to show you a few of the things going on out there. Isn't this rose gorgeous! Those colors are just almost iridescent.

And look. Our little plum trees that had the pretty flowers such a short time ago now have tiny little plums!!!! I am so excited about that. As I've told you, we had those same type plums in our back yard as children. How we loved them!

And here is the fierce, wild beast Chloe. She thinks she's a wild thing anyway. :)

And yes, she has now climbed her first tree. And her second, too. She also climbed into the mimosa, but I didn't get a picture of that because I was too busy grabbing her while I could! I have the distinct impression that she'd be off "into the wild" in a flash if I didn't keep a close eye on her.

And this little guy sits on the kitchen windowsill. As you can see, he has no worries about anything!

Hope you don't either!!!

Hugs and kisses,

Spring Is Here!

I love spring! But you knew that already, didn't you. We don't usually have much of a winter here in Houston, but we had one this year. Not one that you in the northern parts would call winter, but for us down here - it was cold!

I guess that's why it's doubly sweet to see all the flowers, grass and trees coming back to life again. We're spoiled. I admit it.

We are so accustomed to flowers blooming pretty much all year around.

We're used to looking out our windows and seeing green everywhere.And blue skies. You can see from this one that all the trees have not returned to their spring wardrobe yet, but oh, the ones that have just make my heart sing.

I LOVE seeing life outside my window. (Truth of the matter is, it's so bright out there right now, I've had to close the bottom curtains.)

Life is good.

Hope it is for you, too!!

Hugs and kisses,

Restoration

Today is an especially happy day for me. I'm really happy for this pretty sign a friend gave me at church last night. Thanks, Brenda!!!

I'm happy for these brilliantly colored mums I picked up at Sam's this morning (even though I know that a lot of their color came from coloring added to their water).

I'm happy because the roses are blooming again.

I'm happy that there are lots of blooms on the blueberry plants.

I'm happy because the bees are buzzing all around the abundant blossoms on the blackberry vines.

I'm happy that the six-packs of plants I bought at the hardware store last week look so pretty in their new homes.

I'm happy that the azaleas and the spirea are starting to bloom and the grass is getting green again.

But THIS is what's making me so happy today. I have my old, faithful friend back again!

When my sewing machine stopped working, I took it in to be repaired and was told that the motor was burned out and that it was so old there was no replacement available. So....I bought a new sewing machine, and I have been very happy with it. It's light and nimble and does things my old one never did. But. I missed my old friend. And then I found this place . Even though I couldn't find the model number for my machine (it IS almost forty years old, after all!), by looking at the pictures I found a motor that looked like it would work. I ordered it, and when it came today in the mail, I put it on my machine.

And we've been sewing and sewing and sewing. Happy. Happy. Happy!!

I hope you're having happiness, too!

Hugs and kisses,