Pulling Weeds

It is a beautiful spring day here.  Pollen isn't even bothering me!  I love a day when it is cool in the morning and the sun comes out and warms the day just enough.  The birds are very busy as they are nesting.  My bluebird is flying in and out of the nesting box.  I have a new container of meal worms for them so they will be thrilled!

I have spent the morning doing little things - sweeping the porch, planting a new basil, and doing some yard maintenance by pulling weeds.  That is not my favorite task but as I was pulling it occurred to me that it is a great time for devotion and prayer.  I had thoughts of friends and family running through my mind and I always think if God puts someone on your mind, then say a prayer for them.  It doesn't have to be long.  Sometimes I just speak their name or silently lift them up.  However you pray, it is a good time to do it when pulling weeds!  It reminded me of throwing out things that burden us, getting rid of things that clutter our lives.  With every weed it is like saying goodbye to something that hinders me.  I have a new perspective on weeding my yard and I think I like it. (not the weeding so much but the new outlook.)  If I can find anything to use in my yard that is natural and works then I am for it.  So, for the areas of weeds that are too much for you to do by hand, I recommend using vinegar as a weed killer.  I am attaching a link to the website for the recipe.  www.garden-counselor-lawn-care.com/​vinegar-weed-killer.html
 

I bought a new birdbath yesterday and that will be fun to watch as they dunk and bathe in that.  But this morning as I was back washing the pool and the water ran down my yard I noticed the birds were taking full advantage of having it!  Several of them were splashing in the run off.  Just that act of me cleaning the pool provided them with the water to drink and bathe in.  It made me smile to watch them.

My dogwoods are in full bloom, the azaleas are open and several of the trees in my yard are flowering.  Spring is officially here and I love it. It is that time of year when winter is behind us and we are easing our way to summer!  The photo below is of my Indian Hawthorne which is in full bloom and a very busy bee.  Which reminds me, there is really no way to convince a curious beagle that they should not be playing with the bees.  While they may think they have the upper hand, the bee will sting sooner or later!

I went to the local nursery yesterday and just wandered the aisles and looked at all the flowers and herbs.  It inspires me to come home and take stock of my yard and see what I want to add this year.  I will be making a buying trip soon!

But for now, I will go pull some more weeds and ready my garden for those wonderful new items that will soon be planted.  Preparing the garden is vital and that is on my to do list. Planting a garden is such fun and good therapy.  My grandmother always said not to plant the garden before Good Friday - being a southern woman I adhere to what she told me, because we were taught to do what our mother's and grandmother's said.  Enjoy your day!

Picking up shells

It has been awhile since I posted and I need to catch up.  Remember in my very first blog I talked about Southern Sisters?  Again, since I have no blood sisters mine are all "sisters of the heart."  Which brings me to my update.  I have had the pleasure of spending the past 6 days with my dear friend and sister who lives in Tampa.  Let me tell you first about our friendship.  She was my neighbor when we purchased our first house 34 years ago.  Our houses faced different streets and our backyards were connected.  They always say back door guests are the best.  She and her husband became wonderful friends to my husband and myself.  Her children were young and I watched them grow up.  When our son was born they graciously accepted the role of godparents to him.  Over the years we have been separated by miles as they have moved from place to place but when we see one another it is if we just walked across those backyards we shared so many years ago.  The time and distance don't seem to matter.

So, I pretty much invited myself for a visit and we are back to my story.  I drove the 7 hours to her house on Monday and our adventures began.  We caught up on family, we talked about our dogs, we went to our favorite restaurants and just enjoyed each others company.  We have shopped at the mall and drove to small Florida towns and hit the local antique stores and shops.  We took a ferry to Calidesi Island and spent the day walking the beach and looking for shells and other treasures while we talked and laughed.

We have laughed till our sides hurt and we were in tears.  There is nothing that compares to laughing like that.  It is like a cleansing balm!


The best thing about all the above is that we did it all together.  We could have spent the week sitting on her porch with a glass of tea and it would have been just as wonderful.  Even though we email and talk through the year it is not the same as spending time together.
I hope you are blessed to have a friend like this.  Someone who knows your thoughts before you speak them.  Who knows what you love and what you hate!  A friend who stands by you when something is wrong and who shares your most secret secrets!  They are like those shells we found on the beach - each one is unique and a treasure. 


Spring is a time of renewal in the cycle of life. That is how I feel - like I have been refreshed and renewed just by spending time with my friend and sister.  For now we both will think on the past days we were able to share and enjoy and look forward to our next visit.  Whenever and wherever it is, we will cross those old backyards once again and "sit a spell" and catch up with one another.

Family Gallery

FAMILY.  That is a strong word.  It means something different to everyone.  It can be a mom and dad with child or children, it can be brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, cousins, aunts and uncles and grandparents.  Or, it might mean your circle of friends who have become your family.  Sometimes family is not blood relations but heart relations.

Whatever it means to you, and however you define it family is important.  Everyone has photos of family.  They might be aged black and whites of loved ones long gone, or portraits of your children that chronicle their days as infants, toddlers, young children and teens.  Wedding photos and candid shots from good times together.

Take these photos and make a gallery.  Find an empty wall in your home or for that matter, empty one!  It doesn't have to be a large space.  That is the great thing.  The wall is your canvas and can be anything you want it to be.  

Think about where you will enjoy it the most - down a staircase, in the living room, down a long hallway.  Do you want to use all black and white photos, all color or a mix of both.  Shelves can be incorporated to lean photos on or maybe a memento that speaks to one of the photographs.  Use your family initial.  These are readily available at craft stores in a variety of sizes.  You can purchase wood, plastic or even cardboard initials and paint, stain or decoupage it.  If you decide to decoupage the initial cover it with words from a wedding program, a copy of birth certificates, wedding license or diploma.  Or even copies of photographs.

It is fun when you start putting it all together.  You go through photos you may not have thought about in years and they bring back memories.  A walk in your past as you pick and choose your images.  So many photos are on our computers now that it is easy to order prints, enlargements and edit them.

This is my gallery I finished today.  It makes me smile to look at it and I think that means it is a success!
I framed all the photos myself and bought most of them at Michaels.  Seeing what others had done inspired me to make this gallery and I hope you too will be inspired to do this.

Paint those Stairs!

After what seems like an endless time, we have come to the end of a remodel in our basement.  The final step was...well, the steps.  We have laminate flooring in the rooms but that would not work on our stairs, and I am not a fan of carpet.  So I decided to paint the stairs.

 I did not want them to be one solid color, so I measured from the trim in 3" and marked each step.  I then taped of the treads and risers.  I painted up to the tape with my first color.  Let that dry and do a second coat.  After that coat has thoroughly dried, remove your tape. 

 For the second color, I tape the edge of my first color so as not to mess that up! After the tape was covering each step I began my second color.  Do that just as you did the first.  Let it dry, second coat and let it dry.

The photo above shows the second color going on the steps.  Below is my finished stairs.  To insure your paint stays fresh and does not wear be sure to coat your steps in a polyurethane coating made for floors.  You can use a satin, semi-gloss or gloss finish. 

 

Church Cookbooks...Praise the Lord!

If you have lived in the south for more than 10 minutes then you know every church has printed a cookbook at one time or another.  Doesn't matter the size of the congregation, it can be a small or mega.  But a cookbook is in their library!

First thing about it that strikes me as funny is that the women will actually share their recipes. I mean, when Miss Whoever shows up at the Church Social with the best homemade chocolate cake anyone ever ate she is beaming!  Then Mrs. Whats Her Name is asked every time there is someone in the church who needs a meal to prepare her famous chicken and dumplings.  Of course she does.  Southern women like to guard their recipes like Fort Knox guards gold!  They are handed down from generation to generation.  Mothers get their daughters in the kitchen and say "Grandmama taught me to make this now I am gonna show you too."  It is more than a cooking lesson it is part of those Southern roots I spoke about taking hold and growing just a little deeper.

 But, when it comes to the church cookbook they all come through with recipes.  Now, I am not saying they give up the gold, but they do bring in some winners.  So the "Cookbook Committee" gets busy sorting and proofing all the recipes, then they type them out neat and send them to the company for printing.  (Now it can all be done on our computers!)  Then the cookbooks arrive and everyone gets to purchase a copy.  It is done over and over in small and large churches, year after year.  When you are fortunate enough to own one of these treasures you hold onto it and use it often.  Mine is dogeared and stained - that shows how much I love it.  

So often when I use it for a recipe, I think of the ladies that are no longer with us. The recipes they shared in our little cookbook is a link to them to help us remember how blessed we were to know them.

 Since I am writing about these cookbooks I will share a couple of the treasures inside.  Not only the words of the dedication page but one of the best recipes.  This is the go to pound cake my mom bakes and has for years.  I hope you enjoy it.


Almond Pound Cake - from my mom, Betty.
1 cup margarine 
1/2 cup vegetable shortening (we all know that means Crisco)
3 cups sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. almond extract
5 eggs 
3 1/2 cups plain flour -sifted
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup milk
Cream margarine, shortening and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add extracts.  Add eggs one at a time and beat well.  Alternately add the measured flour and baking powder with the milk.  Begin with flour and end with flour.  Bake in large tube pan for 1 1/2 hrs. at 325 degrees.

If you have a church cookbook of your own, then you are blessed.  The women who shared those recipes were sharing more than cooking with you...they shared their knowledge of cooking and a little about their life.


Think I will bake a cake today.

 

Family Photos and more

We all are looking for new ways to incorporate photos in our decor.  There are so many beautiful frames in the marketplace now made especially for creating galleries.(Michaels, JoAnn's, Pottery Barn, Target) You can even purchase or download templates to help you place your photos on the wall.  We have the means to download photos of family, pets, travel or just landscapes and nature.  Manipulating photos is easy on your computer or photo website (Snapfish, Shutterfly, etc.)  Change color to black and white or sepia.  Add borders or text.  Zoom or crop.  It is fun and easy.  Best part is if you do not like it you are not hurting your original photo.  Just hit revert to original! I have a few ideas to share with you.  I am currently working on a family gallery and wanted it to include something unexpected so I got out my old Scrabble game and began making words and photographing them.

  This photo is the one I framed for less than $10.  What you come up with is unlimited.  Do one with your family name, your children's names, Mr. & Mrs. for wedding photos, Baby, pets...get the idea?  Everyone has a Scrabble game and it is fun.  You can use the wooden tile holder or lay them out on a dark background and photograph them that way.  Use your imagination and have fun.

Next I want to share a display idea for a small photo.  This one is of my great-grandparents with me as an infant.  I love this photo as it is the only one I have of them.  It doesn't fit well on a wall because it gets lost.  So, I decided to put it in a large glass vase on a shelf.  It is visible but protected.  The vase beside my photo will hold something when I decide what.  Thinking white alphabet balls.  Will make those myself - they are very expensive to purchase!

As your travel why not capture photos of scenery and landmarks in the cities you visit.  Look for unusual shots that will catch the eye on your wall.  I have a gallery that I add to as we go on another trip.  It is fun to decide what to photograph and how to shoot it.

 This photo is of the Brooklyn Bridge taken looking up at the cables and the next one is of snow covered picnic tables beside an office building in Chicago.  I looked up and saw their reflection in an overhang of the building so that is what I photographed. It looks like they are floating.

 

This final photo was taken at Times Square.  Love it because I even caught a NYC taxi in the photo.  


Adding galleries of this type makes your home your own and makes the space feel more personalized.  It is fun to capture these memories and displaying them makes it easy to relive those special times over and over.

 

Mason Jar Mania!

When John Landis Mason was granted a patent in 1858 for the canning jar that bears his name, I am sure he could never have imagined 2012 and the creative ways in which we use those glass jars.

What Southern woman doesn't have boxes of canning jars in her basement or attic?  Some are older than we are as they were handed down from our grandmothers.  That simple jar that generations of women have used to put away jams and jellies, pickles and preserves, and everything in between.  But my oh my, it is not just for canning anymore!

 The photo  is taken from Country Living where a jar has been turned into a soap dispenser.  The pump shown is available at www.onedreamdesign.com for about 3.75.  You could find other pumps on the web.  How cute is this!

So let's think of other ways to use the Mason jar - since it so easily available and inexpensive.

1.  Picnic in the Park 

•  use a Mason jar and screw on lid to hold your individual servings of salad, slaw, fresh fruit, etc.  Or use it for your homemade salad dressing.

 2.  Party on the Patio 

•  use quart jars for silverware holders on a buffet.  One for each utensil.  
• fill pint jars with water (colored to match your decor if you wish) and float candles in the jars.  Sit around the patio or line your dining table.
• fill pint and quart jars with sand about 1/3 to 1/2 up and add a candle in each one 
• use bendable copper wire or other wire to wrap the threads of the jar and make hanging lanterns for your trees or hang from shepherds hooks
• Serve your beverage in pint jars - what is more Southern than sweet tea in a Mason jar!  Especially great now that you can purchase jars with handles.
• Make Mason jars your centerpiece holder - fresh cut flowers in a jar are the perfect summer accent.

3.  Dirt in a Jar

• Who hasn't made "Dirt" for dessert!  Kids love it.  So why not take it to the next level and before filling individual jars with pudding and crushed oreos place your gummy worms and bugs in the bottom of your jars and then slide some extras down the inside of the jar after filling with pudding.  Great visual presentation.  You can even use the screw on lids to transport each dessert to the party or stack them in your refrigerator or cooler until ready to serve.

4.  Cookie in a Jar

• When gifting your favorite cookie recipe to a friend or teacher.  Why not use a quart jar and fill it with the dry ingredients for the recipe.  Attach the recipe on a cute card with ribbon around the neck of the jar.  Not just for Christmas.  Think end of year gifts and give a recipe for lemon cookies or key lime coolers. 

5.  Bird Feeder

• Using a pint or quart jar upside down and screwed into a chicken feeder (available at any hardware store or feed store and on ebay - galvanized mason jar feeder base).   It is that simple.  You fill your jar with birdseed before screwing on the top and then turn over and sit out for the birds.  Or use it in your house for your own "little birdies".  Fill the jar with jelly beans, hard candy, pastel m&ms for the spring and summer and in the fall - of course, candy corn.  You can let them decorate the jar with season clings or stickers!

6.  In the Home

• Use a jar and lid to store everything from paper clips and rubber bands in the office to crackers and snacks in the kitchen pantry.
• In the garage make them part of your organization system to hold screws. 
• Purchase a light adapter and make a lamp from the mason jar - fill a quart jar with buttons, wine corks, clothes pins, marbles, dog treats, small toys.  You get the idea.  Whatever fits your decor and mood.  Then just add a shade.
• Purchase a pendant light kit and make a hole large enough to thread the cord through the lid of the jar and use a small bulb in the jar.  Hang as any pendant light or bunch several together for a chandelier effect. 
• Fill your jar with your dogs favorite treats.

Now I come to the best part - Weddings!  These days the Mason jar is just as at home at these affairs as it is in a farmhouse kitchen.  You can refer back to numbers 1-4 and think wedding and then add these ideas.

• Fill a jelly sized jar with personalized candy in your colors as favors.  Before the wedding date you can spray paint the lids to the jar in and add your initial to the top.
• Plant a flower or herb in a pint jar and tie a tag with your names on the jar.  These can be used as part of your table centerpieces and then go home with guests.  Lavender, Rosemary, Lemon Balm, Pineapple Sage would smell wonderful!
• Fill quart jars with bread sticks on each table
• Spray paint jars with silver paint for a special touch
• Spray jars from the inside with neon colors or wedding colors and use as path markers with candles inside
• Hang jars filled with flowers from each row of chairs down the aisle
• Personalize the jars with bride and groom initials 

As you can see, I have just scraped the surface.  The use for the Mason jar is limited only by your imagination.  I would love to hear from you and some ideas I have not mentioned.   Take out those crates of jars and use them!  If you run out of ideas you can always use them to make jelly!

Happy Creating!

It's Not Just for Laundry Anymore...

The Laundry Room.  A place where all the dirty clothes miraculously come out clean.  It's like magic.  Or at least that is what our family thinks!  Of course, we know better.  I wonder if a log was kept of the hours spent sorting, washing, drying, folding and putting away clothes what it would add up to in a year!  Or a lifetime!

So I figure if I was going to spend hours upon hours in THAT room, I should at least have a something nice to look at!  I wanted my laundry room to be more than a place to throw dirty clothes.  It has taken several transformations to get it where it is today.  And I want to share some thoughts and DIY ideas with you about just that. Sure it has the washer and dryer but it can have anything else you have room for.

 

 I used vintage flash cards in a frame with a photo of my beagles when they were puppies.  It adds a touch of whimsy to the room.

The nine cube unit is from Target.   The cubes with the black pull out bins hold all my dogs necessities - toys, collars, blankets, medication.

The cubes without the pull out bins holds glass jars I bought at the grocery store when they were BOGO free.  The jars hold their treats.  On top of the cubes I wanted a little pizzazz so I bought sheets of scrapbook paper and used Mod Podge to adhere it to the unit and then coated it with several layers of Mod Podge following the directions.  My dog food container is a copy of one I was in the Ballard Designs catalog.  Theirs was $49.  Mine is made from an old popcorn container - you know the kind you get for Christmas with the flavored popcorn in it!  I spray painted the container itself with Rust-Oleum American Accents smooth stain finish paint.  I chose Heirloom White to closely match the one in the catalog.  I used stick on letters to spell out Dog Food and used Mod Podge to seal it.  The words "Bon Chien" and "Bon Appetit" are written with sharpie.  I used flat black spray paint for the lid.

 I have antique glass bleach bottles on top of my cabinets and a cute laundry mat (cushioned which is nice) that I picked up at Home Depot.

Laundry day is not so bad now!

Organizing 101

Today I want to take you into a room.  Sort of a room, it is the garage and I figure that is a good starting point for my rooms.  We all want the garage to be clean, organized and clutter free but that isn't always the case.  I have a space between the back door and a wall in the garage that was holding shelves.  They were always stacked with this and that and always looked messy. 

It was the perfect space for one of those amazing entryway storage systems like Pottery Barn and Ballard Designs carries.  I just didn't want to spend that much money for the garage!  So, last fall we took out the shelves, I painted my garage and my husband and I built our own storage system.  It was simple.  We started by going to Home Depot and buying a double door wall cabinet (unfinished), a sheet of wainscoting, and some boards. 

 First determine how high you want the cabinet.  Attach two boards (one at top and one at bottom of where your cabinet will be) to your existing wall by using screws in the wall studs for support.  Then using wood screws attach the cabinet to the boards. We used them about every 4 inches top and bottom - you don't want that to fall!  Now measure and cut your wainscoting.  Attach it to the wall beneath the cabinet.  We added a board over the wainscoting for hooks to hang dog leashes and jackets.  The base can be another cabinet you purchased or build a base like we did.  The bottom is just a panel with cabinet pulls for decoration.  The two open spaces were perfect for baskets I purchased at Michaels.  These are used for outdoor shoes and the top is the perfect place to sit and put your shoes on.  We painted it to match the garage and I added the stick on numbers to the cabinet doors for decoration.  Total cost about $100.


The best part is this can be configured to any space, you can customize it as you wish and it just took a little elbow grease.  I love it!

In Like a Lion, Out Like a Lamb

Or, In Like a Lamb, Out Like a Lion.  I have been told this my entire life that this is how March will arrive and leave.  It was also on a bulletin board my class made when I was in 5th grade.  We had a lion going into a cave and a lamb coming out the other side.  Funny the things you remember.  

March.  That word stirs the promise of spring in everyone who has sat inside for months and watched it snow, rain, ice or all three!  We are ready to bid farewell to another winter and get outside again!  

As I write I am watching Robins in my yard - about a hundred.  This is Spring signal #1!  They are busy looking for food and flipping grass and pine straw away as they do so.  It makes you want to run to the nursery and buy plants.  But, here's the kicker about March, it is a fickle month.  Like I said it holds the promise of spring, but it is so unpredictable.  Today the sun is shining, the birds are singing, the flowers are budding and it could be freezing and snowing tomorrow.  It is difficult to wait it out, but wait it out we must. 

There is some gratification from those hardy little daffodils and narcissus that pop through the cold dirt to give us that first glimpse of what is to come.  The forsythia with the tiny yellow blooms that line my driveway.  The beautiful camellia blooming beside the house. These are photos of these flowers taken this morning after a rain.

So what do you do as you bide your time and wait for spring?  One thing is to do the maintenance on your garden tools and pots.


For clay pots that were not cleaned in the fall, you should do this before planting in them this spring.  They can harbor bacteria that will cause your plants to die or not grow as they should.  It is an easy task. 

First, using a stiff brush like a bottle brush you should clean the dry, empty pots.  After you have brushed off loose dirt you can soak the pots in a mixture of 1 part bleach to 9 parts water.  Soak the pots up to an hour, brush them again and then let them soak in clean water (no bleach).  Once this is done sit them in the sun to dry.  This should ensure your pots are ready for the new flowers your will plant.  

Clean and sharpen your garden tools.  Steel wool will remove rust.  
Get out those seed catalogs or head to the website and order!  Just browsing is good therapy for what ails you...Spring Fever.

March.  Glad it is here, will enjoy the sunny days and soak up some Vitamin D and plan my garden (but not plant!)