Show and Tell

I'm not the only one at my house anxiously waiting for spring. As bad as I want to get my hands in the dirt, she wants to feel the warm soil between her toes.

She is much more patient than I am!

Isn't she adorable? She's made of resin, is almost 30 inches tall and I got her for 39.99! She just had to come home with me. Now all we need is some nice warm sunshine to melt the snow!

For more Show and Tell posts go over to Kelli's House.

Did you know?

Pepper Bumps; Peppers with 3 bumps on the bottom are sweeter and better for eating. Peppers with 4 bumps on the bottom are firmer and better for cooking.

Frying Hamburger; Add a teaspoon of water when frying ground beef. It will help pull the grease away from the meat while cooking.

Expanding Frosting; When you buy a container of cake frosting from the store, whip it with your mixer for a few minutes. You can double it in size. You get to frost more cake/cupcakes with the same amount. You also eat less sugar and calories per serving.

Newspaper weeds away; Start putting in your plants, work the nutrients in your soil. Wet newspapers, put layers around the plants overlapping as you go cover with mulch and forget about weeds. Weeds will get through some gardening plastic they will not get through wet newspapers.

Flexible vacuum; To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent or flattened to get in narrow openings.

Reducing Static Cling; Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and ... ta da! ... static is gone.

Measuring Cups; Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill with hot water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry cup. Next, add your ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right out.

Foggy Windshield? Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove box of your car . When the window s fog, rub with the eraser! Works better than a cloth!

Reopening envelope; If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or two. Viola! It unseals easily.

Get Rid of Ants Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it 'home,' can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so, especially if it rains, but it works and you don't have the worry about pets or small children being harmed!

INFO ABOUT CLOTHES DRYERS The heating unit went out on my dryer! The gentleman that fixes things around the house for us told us that he wanted to show us something and he went over to the dryer and pulled out the lint filter. It was clean. (I always clean the lint from the filter after every load clothes.) He told us that he wanted to show us something; he took the filter over to the sink and ran hot water over it. The lint filter is made of a mesh material .. I'm sure you know what your dryer's lint filter looks like. Well ... the hot water just sat on top of the mesh! It didn't go through it at all! He told us that dryer sheets cause a film over that mesh that's what burns out the heating unit. You can't SEE the film, but it's there. It's what is in the dryer sheets to make your clothes soft and static free ... that nice fragrance too. You know how they can feel waxy when you take them out of the box . well this stuff builds up on your clothes and on your lint screen. This is also what causes dryer units to potentially burn your house down with it! He said the best way to keep your dryer working for a very long time (and to keep your electric bill lower) is to take that filter out and wash it with hot soapy water and an old toothbrush (or other brush) at least every six months. He said that makes the life of the dryer at least twice as long! How about that!?! Learn something new everyday! I certainly didn't know dryer sheets would do that. So, I thought I'd share!

It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome!I have wanted this plant for a year! It is a Weeping Pussy Willow. We had them at our store last year but they were 20 dollars and I refused to pay that. We got them in again this year but they were still 20 dollars. I don't know what made me look at them the other day but they were down to 10. I couldn't resist!
According to the website (http://www.sunrisegreenhouses.ca/) they only grow to 18 to 24 inches.

They are good in zones 4-8 and are very winter hardy.

According to legend the willow is bestowed with magical power capable of fulfilling wishes. The only wish I have is that it will survive!
Go here to find out how to grow your own.

I'm really looking forward to watching it grow. Darla gave me this award and I'm passing it on the the 'gardening sisterhood' that have managed to bring a little sunshine and blooms to Bloomin' Tuesday all winter. Thank you for being so faithful!

If you would like to join our garden tour just add your name and permalink to Mr. Linky and add a link on your blog to this post.

I'm so tired of winter...

...that I not only changed my blog theme, I've put away all my snowmen except for the ones in the entry. I don't remember ever taking them down so early. I was excited to put up the picture that Laurie and Chris gave me for Christmas. I think it looks great over my chippy cupboard. They not only took the picture and had it enlarged, but Chris built the frame from old wood from the attic floor.The fern will help me think spring, I hope!
For a better picture of the fern click here.

Show and Tell

I found as awesome bird plaque at an indoor flea market this week! It is cast iron and very heavy. When I bought it the man said it would be real nice after I repainted it. No way was I going to do that!
I love it just the way it is.
The best part is it was only 8 dollars!
For more Show and Tell posts go over to Kelli's House.

Finally!

We've had a busy week around here! My daughter-in-law went to the hospital Sunday morning but was sent home Monday afternoon. They went back in Tuesday night at 10 for some medication to get her cervix softened. My new Granddaughter, Payton Ann Max (My son's father's middle name) was born at 7:48 last night! Both Mother and Daughter are doing very well.She is very much like her big sister. She is 21 inches long (J was 211/2) and weighs 7lbs 8oz (J was 7lbs6oz). She also looks like Jerzie but her hair is very dark and Jerzie's is more blond.
We only got to see her getting cleaned up and examined last night but both Jerzie and I will get our hands on her today!
Daddy grinning from ear to ear and Jerzie in awe of her 'sissy'!
Thanks for the pics Chris and Laurie! I was so worried about Jerzie, her new baby doll and accessories and the flowers she got for her Mommy I forgot my camera!

More Hats!

There's one more for the baby!

It's Bloomin' Tuesday!

Welcome!
Today I'm showing a newer plant to my shade garden. It is Asrtantia Mayor 'Lars' (edit; I forgot to add as Carla mentioned, the common name is masterwort or pincushion flower) and comes in about 10 varieties with shades of white to dark red. It is hardy in zones 4-7 but some other varieties will grow up to zone 9. I'm always looking for flowering shade garden plants.
One of my books said it does better with half sun but mine gets very little sun and seems to be doing okay for only the second year.
The flower is several inches above the foliage so it is quite a showy bloom. Do you have any of the varieties?
If you would like to join our tour just add your name and permalink to Mr Linky and don't forget to add a link to this post to your blog. Sit back and enjoy!

Art!

I'm sure some of you were wondering last week why Jerzie and I had such a mess when we only made 2 hearts for Valentines Day. We made more than that but it was a surprise! We made a card for Mommy, one for Daddy and one for Aunt Laurie and Uncle Chris. I stuck them in the mail and luckily they got them on Saturday, just like I planned. They were all surprised.All I did was fold the card stock, write on them and cut out a few hearts. Jerzie did everything else herself. I found darling stickers with monkeys and hearts that were perfect. You can click on the picture to enlarge it.

It was so much fun to surprise everyone and I made sure that all the loose hearts were sent with the cards to really 'share the love'!

Make Lemonade!

Charlotte from The Robbins Nest has given me this award.
This is an award for people who know how to make lemonade out of the lemons that Life sometimes hand you. It is also a award for blogs that have a good Attitude and plenty of Gratitude. Your attitude is not determined by circumstances, but by how you respond to your circumstances. It’s how you react to events, not the events themselves, that determines your attitude.

This has reminded me of a great story about my Grandmother making lemonade out of lemons.

Gram was probably in her early 80's here. She moved home from Florida about then and ended up living in a retirement apartment. She broke her hip but soon recovered and was living on her own again. As she aged the family hired a woman to help out every weekday morning. Gramma was in the bathroom washing up as she could no longer get into the tub to take a shower or bath. M heard a crash and ran into the bathroom to discover Gram laying naked in the tub. Luckily she didn't seem to be hurt so she told M as long as she was in there she might as well enjoy a bath! She enjoyed every minute of that bath and when she was done M had to get in the tub and help her out. Now that's making lemonade when life gives you lemons!

I'm guessing this picture was taken in 1993 when "the old girl" was 93. Gram lived alone until she broke her hip again at 94. She ended up in a nursing home and passed away after a couple months. Because she was determined to 'make lemonade' she lived a full and happy life.
Instead of passing this on I would like to hear about someone that you know that was good at 'making lemonade'. Just leave a comment when you post.

Thanks, Charlotte!

Happy Valentines Day!

Darla sent me this adorable heart that was made by her Mother. I got it just in time for Valentines Day! Thanks, Darla!

I hope you all have a wonderful day!

Show and Tell

You will all be able to sleep tonight because I'm finally going to show you what I did with this little entry off my kitchen. As I told you here this is what the walls looked like.

This $8. bargain picture was my inspiration. I loved it, bought it, and then had no place that it looked right, so I did what every bored, designer wanna-be would do. I designed a room around the picture!
I picked a beige paint color that matched the color in the picture to paint the walls. I also got a color as close as possible to the charcoal color.
I taped of an area 41/2 inches wide and 36 inches from the floor. I sponge painted this area with the charcoal and a little of the beige. The background color in the picture is not a solid color and I also wanted a more rustic look. I traced a couple of the stars in the picture and cut a stencil. I lightly sponged the stars with the beige, being careful to leave some of the darker paint showing thru.

This is a small area with 3 doors, a closet, and an ironing board in the wall so it only took a quart of paint (2 coats +2 coats of primer)

I use this room for Jerzie's toys, so I ordered a black leather ottoman from Target (on sale and free shipping) to hold the toys and serve as a bench when used for an entry.

I also added a piece of carpet ($15. Big Lots) as there is no basement under this area (it used to be the side porch) so the floors are cold for sitting and playing.

These are all items that I had in the room (or other rooms) before. The wooden star is on the bathroom door.

The view from the kitchen. I'm still on the look out for something for this area but this old crate will do for now.

I painted the window frame of the outside door the same color as the border base color. I hate to paint windows so I removed the frame to paint it.
I loved this short berry rope with word signs (hope, live, love, laugh) included and I think it works perfect as a window topper. This was a very fun and inexpensive project. I did paint over wallpaper because it was on so well. I do think the seams would probably show in a larger room if you painted over it. It can't hurt to try tho and it is a nice smooth surface to paint on.
For more Show and Tell posts go over to Kelli's House.

Patiently(?) Waiting!

Yesterday was my new grandbaby's due date and just like it's big sister it's not ready yet! Mommy was threatened with inducing labor and before that happened Jerzie was born. Here we are again, 2 1/2 years later and poor Mommy is going thru the same thing. If the baby isn't born by next Wednesday the Dr will induce.

As you can guess Mommy is very incomfortable and , of course, everyone told her that the second one usually comes earlier so she expected to be over this by now. Just for the fun of it, I thought I'd go back to that day in July of 2006 when our sweet Jerzie Shea was born.

I'm guessing this child will end up as headstrong and stuborn as it's sister who takes after her great-great grandmother, great grandmother, father okay, I'll admit it, Grandmother. Just remember it's not my fault, it's in my genes!