Yearning for Summer

After looking at some of my recent pins on Pinterest I noticed a theme going on...Summertime!

 I LOVE!!! this bee on this jug. I can just see it filled with lemonade. The only problem would be finding someone strong enough to lift it to pour the lemonade out!

(Source)

 I have put hints out on facebook about maybe getting something like this in my back yard for Mother's day.  They all just laughed at me.  How rude!

(Unknown Source, maybe BHG?)

 How fun are these wash tubs used as planters?  I gotta try that.

(Source)

 I love this shade garden and the stone path leading to a quiet place to sit and ponder.

(Source)

Doesn't this pie look divine?  (source) 

Ingredients:

1 (9-inch) pie shell

1 cup water

1 cup white granulated sugar

3 tbsp. cornstarch

1/4 cup strawberry gelatin powder

1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)

1 pint of fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced

Directions:

Prebake pie crust according to directions on package.

Wash and hull strawberries. Then cut them in half (or maybe smaller depending on how big your berries are).

In a sauce pan, over medium to medium-high heat, add water, sugar, cornstarch, strawberry gelatin and lemon juice.

Whisk well until thoroughly combined.

Stir constantly to prevent clumping or scorching until mixture begins to thicken.

Once it is thickened, take the pan off the heat.

I like to put my sauce pan into my sink where I've made some ice water.

This will cool the mixture quickly and allow it to set up a bit more.

 

 

 

I happen to adore this little tune, it reminds me of summertime with all that talk about sunshine.

(Source)

By the way, I have been asked to teach a Pinterest class at the community college this summer.  Yippee, I get to share my addiction.

THE DOWNSIDE & THE UPSIDE

The downside of remodeling is the never ending "one more project" to finish created by said remodel.
The upside is getting to check off  something as  "project completed".

The downside of marking off projects is the $$ it takes to make it happen.
The upside of the $$ spent is you are one step closer to completion.

The downside of replacing carpet in three bedrooms and hallway is having to remove everything from rooms and pulling out the old carpet.
The upside is you get some serious spring cleaning and de-junking done.

The downside of having the new carpet finally installed is then having to move everything back into place.
The upside is everything is so nice and tidy and clean and satisfying.

(Here is a look at the new carpet in the hallway)

Our remodel began almost 5 years ago and slowly but surely the job has finally come together.

Here is a list of things that took us five years to complete:
Six hundred sq. ft. addition
New roof
New kitchen, family room, laundry room and storage room.
Reconfiguring one bathroom, a linen closet and a bedroom closet into two bathrooms with a walk in closet.
Finally new carpet in the the rooms affected by the bathroom project.
Now that it is all finished I would call it an UPSIDE to all the hard work and sacrifice.

P.S.
I am now off to start a new "to-do" list.  Shhhhhhh, don't tell hubby, I will break it to him slowly. TeeHee!

EXUBERANT, EXCITABLE, ENERGETIC, EXASPERATING!!!

Yes, that would explain our sweet (?) four month old puppy.  How can such a small animal creat such havoc, destroy things, chew everything in sight and still remain lovable?  All I can say is that being cute is probably the only thing that has saved her so far.

Please note:  If you are planning on getting a puppy, even if you have had dogs in the past, it is somewhat like childbirth.  You kind of forget the hard part until it's too late.

ENTRYWAY FINALLY FINISHED

We have a narrow but long entryway that was screaming for some personality.

After doing some browsing (translated, spending way too much time looking) on Pinterest I came across a gal that had her husband do something similar in her entry.

 It is on the north side of the house so the lighting isn't very conducive to good photo's.  Hopefully you will get the idea.

This is the beginning stages.

Above is a photo taken just before the project began.

This is the finished entryway.

I still need to buy some coat hooks to put on but I am really happy with how it turned out.

A BIG THANKS TO MY SON DUSTIN, HE DOES GREAT WORK!

FUN WITH MY FAVORITE GIRLS

I finally got around to posting some more pictures from our girl's trip to Utah.

We had so much fun.  We logged over 1800 miles on my car in six days.

Our main reason was to attend General Conference (a semi-annual church conference held in Utah in April and October) but other things we put on the MUST-DO list were shopping at craft stores, home decor stores, book stores, clothing stores and visiting with old friends that lived there.

Here I am (on the left) with my two daughters Maria and Natasha.  Granddaughter Addison also came along, she is taking this photo.

This is a photo of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir warming up before the last session of conference.  For me listening to them in person was one of the highlights of the trip.  Any televised  performance just cannot compare to hearing them in person.

This is a picture of my eleven year old granddaughter Addison taken near the Salt Lake Temple.

She was such a trooper all week, always willing to do whatever we wanted to.  Shopping was her favorite part of the trip.

She even had a stinkin' cold the whole time.  This particular morning was the worst, she didn't even want to eat breakfast.

But the day got better when she finally decided to get her ears pierced.  For years she has been saying that she did NOT want to pierce her ears because she thought it would hurt too much.  Welcome to the big girls club Addison!

My main objective when it came to shopping was to get crafty stuff and cutesy stuff.  The plates I got at Tai Pan and the cute knobs were from Hobby Lobby. We don't have a Hobby Lobby close to where I live so I just had to buy these, and they were even 50% off. I went back the next day and bought $100.00 more of them.

One of the must go to places was The Wood Connection.  They sell wood cutouts for holiday's and seasons that you can paint and embellish.  The only problem is that they don't ship so I had to buy what I thought I could stuff into the trunk for the trip home.  I bought 5 different projects to work on.

(Photo's taken at The Wood Connection in Murry, Utah.)

The Lion House.

One of our stops was to have lunch at the Lion House, a very famous (and delicious I might add) place to eat in Salt Lake City.

Below is what I had, Cashew Chicken salad and an orange roll. 

Visiting with friends that used to live in our home town that now live in Utah was a real treat too.

This is a young lady that I watched grow up before my very eyes and now she is a mother hereself.  Sniff, sniff.  Time flies.

This dear lady is one of the finest women I have ever met. Jackie and her husband were the ones that introduced my family and I to the gospel when I was just 13 years old.  Her husband passed away two years after I joined the church and she went on to raise four children by herself as well as put herself through college.  She never re-married and has been a blessing to so many people throughout her life.  She looks so cute and would you believe that she is 79 years old?

One of the funniest things about the whole trip was when one of my daughters got the Toby Keith song "Red Solo Cup" stuck in her head and we giggled and laughed and cackled so much when ever she would begin to sing it.  The hilarious part is that she doesn't listen to country music at all and had never heard this of this song before while my other daughter never listens to anything but country music.  What sheltered lives they both live.

To sum it all up I would have to say that it was one of the funnest trips I have ever made and to get to share it with my daughters and granddaughter...well, it was priceless.

THIS GIRL TIME WAS DELIGHTFUL!!!

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS, PINTEREST INSPIRED

Once again I was inspired by something I found on Pinterest. {I know!  Shocker huh?}

Over at Lil Luna's blog she did a tutorial on this cute Count Your Blessings photo holder.

LiL Luna's version (above) in black and white is fabulous

And as much as I love black and white I decided to do my version in pinks, greens, beige and brown.

This particular board is going to be donated to our church's youth fund raiser auction to help raise money for scout camp and girls camp.

I procrastinated and waited until after dark to take these pictures so they aren't the best quality.

Here are some different angles.  Seriously though it looks so much better in person.

In the next photo's I hadn't added the ribbon to the clothes pins.  They looked sort of naked so I went ahead and added the ribbons to them.

Here is a list of materials and dimensions.

1- 12"x20" piece of bead board

4- 4.5"x6.5" pieces of very thin board (1/8" birch plywood I think)

1- 12"x2" piece of bead board.

Antique white craft paint

Scrapbook paper (your choice)

Embellishments (your choice)

Vinyl lettering

4- 2" mini clothes pins

For a good picture tutorial go to Lil Luna.

CUPCAKE BIRDHOUSES

I have a friend named Mona that is a FABULOUS crafter.  She does a lot of things with wood using both new and old wood.  She made this potting bench and these adorable bird houses for her spring farmers market.  Can we say "Awwww, how CuTe!"

@ General Conference

 My two daughters and granddaughter and I are in Salt Lake City for our church's semi-annual General Conference.  Here is a view out our hotel window.  When we got here yesterday (Saturday) it was 80 degrees and sunny, today it is rainy but we won't let it get us down as tomorrow is supposed to be better.

Here are my girls and granddaughter at one of our many pit stops on our way to Salt Lake.

  

I will be posting more as the week goes on.