A quick fly by...

Things are going well with my household updates.   Floors done, painting scheduled and a long to-do list turned over to the contractor for an estimate.  What a relief that has been to move 'jobs' off my to-do list and to the professional!   Mr. W. won't recognize the place when he returns.

Backing up  a few days first.....floors sanded and ready to go.    I have a taste of living like a hoarder with the cat's dish and litter box in my bedroom and the overflow of furnishing moved shoved into any available space.

Earlier this week, I spent two hours and twenty-seven minutes on hold with Yahoo! and never got to talk to a person.   One of the websites I manage for a non-profit has been compromised.  Online help keeps sending me in a loop with the end result of wanting to send an email to the email address on file WHICH IS NOW NOT MINE!  So, see I do need to talk to a person at the other end of the line and, no offense, hopefully located in this country.  Plan to try again today.....perhaps on Sunday their call volume will not be as high as on a week night.  I passed the time reading and playing Mahjong and trust me while not getting irritated there is only so much time a person can play Mahjong.

Also a bit of retail therapy for me.   I hit some antique and consignment shops locally as well as headed to Lancaster County PA for some shopping.   Got some great deals on some things, 10% knocked off others and bartered $20 off another.   Some I might have paid too much for, but definitely got steals on others so overall I was a winner.  Starting left to right......cute maple end table/night stand for $30, a Martha Washington sewing stand which I negotiated $20 off,  some accessories, a wrought iron floor lamp, in front of the bench a chalkboard for my kitchen, the distressed bench and a J. P. Coats cabinet for 10% off.

 (Look how pretty my floors are!!)

The chalkboard is a cabinet door with the recessed portioned painted with chalkboard paint.   People are clever!

Love the circular hanging mirror with the little bird at the top.

A couple of colorful pieces for accent and had to snag the buttons for the Rosewood Manor Barnwood Buttons 'next up' stitching piece.

Love the bench.....originally thought I'd use it as a coffee table but really like the look of it on my front porch.   If I were to paint door and shutters black next summer it will tie this piece to the porch for sure.

The J. P. Coats cabinet I am sure it not authentic but I do believe it is old or at least constructed with older wood and I did pay less than asking price.  I buy what appeals to me regardless of age and I didn't want the regret of not buying this like the one I let slip through my hands a few years ago.    I hope to line the drawers with felt and I know I can make good use of it.

Last bargain, the wrought iron floor lamp for $35.   Not a particular fan of the beaded shade but I can work on that.

So that's me this week.   Minor stitching done.   I seem to have slowed to a snails pace on that front with no stitching today for me.   Dust and clutter is everywhere. I hope to put things back in the two hall closets today which will alleviate some of the mess in my bedroom and sooth my soul a bit.   have promised myself to use an honest and critical eye when returning items to each closet.    Hopefully that yard sale/Goodwill pile will grow today!

Lots going on but little time to share

Just like the title says.....I've got lots to share but no time to post!   So here is a super quick update on a couple of things.......check this out....my living room.  If you put 2 and 2 together and realize no furniture here means it is shoved somewhere else, you get the gold star!   After not biting the bullet for the last few years, I finally have committed to having my floors refinished in my living room, dining area, halls and stairs.  I timed it for when Mr. W. would be on the road 'so as not to inconvenience' him.   Out the door he went early on Friday the 13th for 8 weeks......but not without me having him help me move all the furniture.

I hope to sit in this same spot in three weeks and show you both a glorious floor and a newly painted living room.

 Say goodbye to ugly, worn floors.

Guess I should think about replacing the two missing balusters too.

Two weeks after the floors, I am having the whole area painted.   So I kind of have been living from one corner of the sofa in the family room.  It leads to two things......a good way to clean out cabinets and closets and the desire to update some things.    Been searching the Internet for 'looks' and did a bit of consignment shopping yesterday.   I found what I thought might be a good coffee table but left the store without purchasing it........I mulled it around last night and decided the piece is multifunctional and if not used as a coffee table, it will work somewhere else.   So I will be heading back to be at their doors when they open at noon with my fingers crossed that my hesitation is not my loss and no one bought it between 3 p.m. yesterday and noon today.  

And I have been really trying to burn up the needle with Grace Mason.   I am getting there.   Pardon her wrinkles from my q-snaps.

I am alternating between stitching the motifs across the bottom with the over one initials.  They are time consuming and what's better than stitching over one?   We all know, ripping over one.   Let's hope there is not too much of that in my future.

So glad I have been able to stick to my pledge to stitch on only one piece at a time and to stitch from stash.   That's the temptation fellow stitchers....all the fabulous designs we see and trying to keep that resolve.   I gently remind myself of my S.T.A.B.L.E. Stash and exactly how many projects are kitted up and just waiting for me to start.

Next up - work, summer, yard saling, my visit to the Downton Abbey exhibit at Winterthur.....yadda, yadda, yadda and now I am on my way outside to vacuum the pool, pull some weeds and  enjoy the day AND  to head back to the consignment store for the bench I saw and maybe the floor lamp too.

Throw Back Thursday - The Lucky Charms Tree **UPDATED**

About 2 x the approximately size, 1984

When my son was about 4 we saved box tops from Lucky Charms cereal and sent them in for a teeny tiny pine tree.   We sent in our box tops and I am sure with some postage and handling money and waited to our prize to arrive.   Finally this little itty bitty little tree the size of your little finger

Summer 2005 after my son and I  transplanted  it
from the back corner of the yard

came in return mail.    So me and my three little ones planted the tree in the far back
corner of the property......and watched and weeded around it and watched it grow so slowly, never seeming to get any bigger.   One day we found out why it was growing soooooo slowly.....seems Mr. Wonderful didn't know there was a tree growing and would just run the lawn mower over it every week or so!!    (No. 1 Reason I preferred to cut the grass and not him.   No further evidence was needed as to what happened to other plants.) We took rocks and arranged around the little bitty thing and let it be safe from the nasty lawnmower.   This tree has been a landmark in the yard.

Winter 2006 - Oh no poor little tree, please survive the winter

Spring, 2014

We have pine cones this year!

It has become a nice 'screen' between my pool deck and the neighbors deck - now with 5 children under 8!

So, now 30 years and one transplant later, the Lucky Charms tree grows tall and strong and is currently  home to a next of baby robins....but with Buddy the cat, maybe not for much longer.  Over the years and to this day when I am relaying to my kids where something is....it all relates to where is it in proximity to the Lucky Charms Tree!

"let's have a picnic"

"where?"

"by the Lucky Charms tree"

"I lost my keys"

"Where were you when you last had them"

"by the Lucky Charms tree"

"I want to plant some flowers"

"where?"

"around the Lucky Charms tree"

"Where's your brother?"

"Hiding behind the Lucky Charms tree."

"Help me put up the holiday lights"

"What trees in the yard to you want to decorate"

"Let's put christmas lights on the Lucky Charms tree"

**UPDATE**
I received an email from General Mills today asking if they could share my story of the Lucky Charms Tree on their social media page and they sent me a copy of the box with the free tree offer.  This is just too funny and has me sending emails across the country to my children.  I had intended to add a photo of my son then and now but just didn't take the time to did through the box of photos.....I think I will now.    I am grinning from ear to ear.  Check out the box offer!  

Slow and Steady Wins the Race

That is how I am proceeding with Grace Mason.  Just trudging along. Of course I had to go out of order to stitch down the side so I could stitch the bottom border.  It gives me site of the finish line.  I have been trying to spend my evenings outside getting the deck, pool and yard in order so I have been stitching early a.m. before work and at lunchtime at work.

The single stitch dividing lines are EZ-PZ to do at work.  Just need to take a needle and floss and of course cheaters!  I have a ~secret~ date in mind as a deadline but don't want to jinx myself. Considering how far I have come since April, I think I can meet that deadline and there will surely be fireworks heard throughout the land when I do.....

I am saving the section between the baskets until last.    Some of the other stitchers have stitched it as charted, some are personalizing or adding their own verse.    I am waivering between stitching as charted or added two more baskets to complete the row.

I am trudging along with my around the house to-do list but I can report being able to cross a couple or three things off that overwhelming list of mine.   I have been working on created new habits for me too.  Usually I get home from work mentally exhausted and just flop on the couch with a good friend (my stitching).   I have really pushing to not sit down when I get in and rather do things in and around the house.  So, the guest room completely done.  All painted, floor scrubbed, woodwork wiped down and windows washed!  Whew!  Two pesky little tasks remain in that room but I need a handyman for them.   

And that my friends is the secret to accomplishing the tasks - know when to hold 'em and know when to call in reinforcements.   I've managed to hire a painter for my living/kitchen/hallway paint job!   I have contacted 3, yes THREE, different floor refinishers so far without luck.  Two have phone numbers or emails that are no longer working and the third, (even though his ad says serves all of New Jersey, he doesn't do south Jersey).  Maybe it is a dying art with more people putting in laminates.  Maybe I should cover the nasty hardwood with laminate?

Flower beds are weeded and mulched.  Pots are planted and ready to arrange on my deck. Power washing is done.  Started wire  brushing, priming and painting my pergola.  Boy is this going to take longer than I expected.   Seems to be a habit of mine --- not appreciating the proper time for any given task.  I am putting off refinishing the wrought iron chairs - maybe fall, maybe next year. Mr. W. says just buy new; I say take care of what you have.  I now realize why Mr. W. has no interest in moving in to a 55 Plus community.   He has a maintenance person - ME!   Oh well......so it goes.    If I wasn't putzing around the house or yard I'd surely be spending money!   So I will keep plodding along an hour or two each evening and before you know it, jobs will be done and I will be enjoying the world rush by from my deck while having a beverage!

POP goes the PEONY

P

PE

PEO

PEON

PEONY

I watched its progress everyday and then in one afternoon POP!