What's Happening Today Around the House?

The final project is being finished on our bathroom addition and remodel. Hopefully I can post all about the finished project in a couple of week. This is my youngest son Dustin, the all around handy guy. He can do it all: tiling, framing, sheetrock, installs doors and trim, full blown additions, building a house from the ground up, intalls carpet...well you get the picture. He is awesome.Another angle of the "handy guy" at work.
And here are some pictures I took of some of the flowers that are in bloom around the yard. I haven't done as much in my yard this year as in the past. Hopefully this fall I can get some of the flower beds better prepped for next year.
Here is a begonia that seems happy in the shade of the front porch.
My happy geraniums and allysm, all too happy to be next to the water faucet
This is one of my favorite daylilies. It is so hardy. I just stuck it in the ground where we removed some diseased raspberries a couple of years ago and without many ammendments it is thriving. I just water occasionally and put miracle grow on it a couple of times during the summer. If you are a reluctant gardener you might give daylilies a try, they are hard to kill.

A sweet yellow rosebud.This bed is below a flowering plum tree. I planted some dianthus two years ago and it still keeps coming back. I say if it ain't broke, don't fix it. They thrive here so they will stay here.
I love impatiens and allysum combined. Look to the back left and I have nestled in a robin's nest into this basket that sits on a table on my front porch

Hope you have a happy and safe Fourth of July. Celebrate freedom, appreciated nature, and love and nurture those you love.

Hungry Babies

Sweet baby swallows have hatched and boy can they chirp...especially when mama is doing a fly-by with food in her beak. These little guys were being so photogenic, they kept peeking out to see when mama was going to return.

Dressing up the Garden

After spending a couple of months gathering up clear glass items at Goodwill and yard sales I finally had enough collected to make some garden totems. I think they add some whimsey to my garden. I am also going to give one to my daughter to put in her fairy garden she made this year.

This one has a nice sized bowl on the top, I think it would make a nice birdbath. There is a birdhouse just above that has babies that have just hatched, maybe they would enjoy a nice little bath right out side their door.

If you would like to try your hand at making these cute yard ornaments, here is how I did it:

The first thing to do is start collecting pieces of glass from yard sales and thrift stores. Then buy some glue that will hold glass. I used E6000 industrial glue (clear). Make sure the glass is cleaned well with soap and water and dried thoroughly. Next I arranged the pieces by stacking them in different configurations to see what looked best. Then I began glueing the pieces together, doing the bottom half first, then glueing the top half together. After each section was dry I carefully glued the top to the bottom. You will need to let the glue set up at least 24 hours before placing outside.

Here is my collection of glass I chose from the make my totems with.


This is the totem I am donating to the fairy garden. I will be sure to post pictures of it when she gets it placed in her garden.


This arrangment is on my front porch. I think a totem would look nice standing next to it, what do you think? Ummmmmmmmmm, wouldn't pink glass look good mingled in with the clear glass...that's it, I am off on the hunt for some pink glass. Wish me luck.

My friend CeCe is so sweet

One of my favorite bloggers has given me an award. CeCe is one of those people who loves to pay it forward and often pays for someone else's food or coffee in drive through lines. She is also a terrific mother to her two cute boys. Go check out her sweet blog here

My, OH, My, What Is This??????????????

My poor blog has been very lonely, I have neglected it for a couple of weeks and it is looking real sad. No visitors, No comments, NO FUN!!!!...


But, WHAT IS THIS??????????????????????????




The good news is that I got an award, my first one. I am so excited and honored that my wonderful daughter was kind enough to pass this award on to me, she is awesome. Go check out her blog, here she has a very cute blog, (and she has 3 children, two of which she homeschools, 3 pigmy goats, 1 horse, 1 dog, 1 cat and a very handsome husband). She also makes homemade bread, plants a garden, makes her own jam and cans applesauce, has a very cute house that is always (well mostly) tidy and clean, has a beautiful yard and I can't forget her chickens, excuse me, her Ladies. She is the one responsible for getting me to start my blog, (my husband is often heard grumbling in the background that he can never get on the computer now).
I now have the privilege of choosing someone else whom I think is deserving of this Lovely Blog Award. I choose a special person for this award, Cecelia because she was one of the first followers of my blog and because she is a wonderful person. My first time on her blog I read a post about "paying it forward" and how she does this kind of thing regularly. I just knew she was a sweet soul, and she is. Here's one for you Cecelia.