Fresh Flowers for the House

It seems I've taken a four-month sabbatical, and I certainly didn't intend to.  I've discovered the longer I stay away, the harder it is to think what to write on my blog.  I hope that all of you had a lovely Mother's Day yesterday; I most certainly did.  Went to lunch on Saturday with my mom, my sister, my niece and her adorable foster child.  I so wish I could share pictures of the little girl, but I completely understand why that is not allowed.  Yesterday, our son came over and the three of us went to dinner at a nice restaurant.  Afterwards, we visited my mother-in-law, so I think we all had a good family weekend.   

            

April Days

Hello everyone -- I hope you had a good weekend!  It's been a few weeks since I've posted because we have been busy.  We had a nice Easter, and I hope you did, too.  We enjoyed Easter lunch at my in-laws' house, and Hal's maternal uncle was there with us, too.  It was so nice to see everyone.  We had a Honeybaked Ham, creamed corn, green beans, a gelatin salad, rolls, and deviled eggs.  I made a lemon loaf pound cake for dessert, and it seemed to be a big hit.     

   

The Winter Dining Room (And a New Piece of Furniture)

Happy Monday and Happy February everyone!  Wow, where did January go?  I hope you're all having a good winter and staying healthy.      

Summer Kitchen

It's officially summer, yes?  Whew, is it hot here!  It's supposed to be in the mid-to-high 90's all week, with high humidity.  Welcome to the south!  At this point, the catch phrase around here becomes, "Hot enough for you?"  After hearing this so many times, no one even bothers to reply.  😜  It's almost like the dead of winter because everyone stays inside, where it's air-conditioned, as much as possible.      Today, I want to share a few pictures of my summer kitchen.  I've made a few little changes in here since the big renovation in 2012, namely a new dishwasher, new replacement windows, and wood floors.  All those things were money well-spent, and we still love our kitchen.  

 

Finally -- The Guest Bedroom

Happy Friday everyone!  I want to thank you all for the nice comments you've left for me over the last week or so.  I'm very appreciative, and I haven't forgotten about you.  I posted on Monday and haven't been back on the computer since then -- until today.  I'll be paying my regular visits to everyone in the next day or so.

Back in January of this year, I gave a very brief, sneak peek of what I was doing to our son's old bedroom to give it a new look and turn it into a guest bedroom.  I really thought I would finish it sooner and would be showing it to you during the winter months.  That didn't happen, so here it is finally, almost completely finished.  This is a long, picture-heavy post, folks --just wanted to give you fair warning.  :)

DIY Basement Room Renovation

I came across some old pictures of our basement this weekend.  I'd forgotten we took these pictures, so I thought I would share a little renovation we did here about nine or ten years ago.  We did this ourselves -- we're not carpenters, so it's not the same as a professional job.  But we think it turned out pretty well; our family and friends definitely seemed impressed.  :)  There's a big difference in the "before" and "after."  I don't have a lot of pictures of this room; I need to take some more first chance I get.

Christmas Outside the House

Hello everyone; I hope you all had a nice weekend.  It has turned very cold here in our area of North Carolina.  We now have a bitter wind blowing, making it feel even colder, but we did have sunshine today, which was a welcome sight for sure.

I continue to decorate for Christmas, and hubby is great about helping me out when I ask him to.  Today, he put some small nails in our birdhouse so that it could get a little touch of Christmas --

A New Haircut

Hello dear readers and Happy Monday to you!  I hope you've had a good weekend.  I just realized it's been over a week since I posted anything.  One thing I've been catching up on is my blog visits; I had fallen way behind on those.  From what I've seen, everyone has been cold, pretty much everywhere but Florida, it looks like.  You've also been busy cooking delicious-looking food, and getting ready for the holidays.

I'm excited about the upcoming holidays, too, but this is a non-holiday post.  It's also a totally different kind of metamorphosis for Met Monday.  :)  Guess who got their first haircut this week?

Working on Curb Appeal

We've been working on improving curb appeal here at the homestead.  Our house is 42 years old this year; it's a child of the 70's.  :)  Now that we've gotten our son through college, we're focusing on making some improvements to our home.  Fortunately, we were able to have our kitchen renovated two summers ago -- what a difference that made!  Duncan is just about fully house-broken, so we're going to replace the carpet in our den and hallway after Christmas.

Currently though, we've been focusing on sprucing things up outside.  I thought I'd show you a comparison of our front porch and surrounding landscape from last winter versus now.  It's not a huge change, but it does look much better.

Cozy Up To Fall

Hi everyone!  I finally got the fall touches added to our den a few weeks ago; I'm behind schedule for fall decor.  :)  We don't usually go out of town in October, and this year we went to the coast for three days.  So, now I'm working on fall and pre-holiday cleaning.  I want to get the house nice and clean before it's time to start dragging out the Christmas decs.

Classic Blue and White

Hi folks!  Back in August, I wrote a post about summer touches around our house.  In that post, I showed some images of our den, our front porch, and the blue and white dishes on our kitchen shelves.  Most of the comments I received said that the blue and white collection was a favorite.

I love blue and white, too.  I wanted to show you a little more detail of the dishes on our display shelves in the kitchen.

Summer Into Fall

Summer is transitioning into Fall.  According to my calendar, tonight is the Autumnal Equinox, and tomorrow is officially the first day of Fall.  I love the season changes, especially when summer changes to fall.  The roadsides are lined with yellow and golden wildflowers, and the leaves are just beginning their floating, dancing descent towards the ground.  The grass is extra green, the sky is a deep blue, and the air outside will soon be feeling crisp and slightly cool.  One of my favorite things about fall is the subtle way the quality of the sunlight changes; have you noticed that?

"Church of the Fresco"

My Parents' New Sunroom

Happy Monday everyone -- can't believe it's here again already!  :)  I'd like to share a renovation from my parents' house this week.  I think you'll enjoy seeing this cheerful, cozy room.

On Saturday, I paid a short visit to my parents.  I delivered some groceries that my mom had asked me to get for them, and it was so good to see them.  I think my dad is making some progress towards getting better, but it's very slow right now.

Last fall, my mom and dad decided to turn their screened porch into an enclosed sunroom.  You can see how this room looked as a screened porch in this post from 2012.  I just love how it turned out, and so do they.  Thankfully, I remembered to take my camera along yesterday, so I took some pics to share on my blog.

A Small Update To The Dining Room

Happy Monday to you -- hope you had a nice weekend!  My dad finally went home from the hospital on Friday, after spending five weeks there.  I know he was so glad to get back home to his own bed, comfy chair, and his yellow lab, Gracie.  I appreciate all of you who kept us in your thoughts and prayers.

We made a little update to our dining room this weekend, and I'm sharing it today at Metamorphosis Monday.

Making A Pretty Bird Feeder

I've been feeling crafty lately --

Our Patriotic Summer Porch

Hi folks!  Can you believe June is already half over?  Honestly, I can't.  This has been the fastest spring and summer -- the days just fly by faster and faster.  I wanted to share the further progress that I've made on our front porch.  The three things I mentioned in my previous porch post that I wanted to do can be checked off my list.  I still have a couple more things, and then I'll consider the porch done for the summer (except for keeping the flowers watered, of course).

Flower Therapy

Happy Monday to you!  I just wanted to share a few pics of what I did this past weekend.

A Drive-by Photo Shoot

This time of the year, I love to see the pretty neighborhoods in our area putting on their best spring show.  There are two neighborhoods in particular that are just so lovely in the spring -- Ardmore and Buena Vista.

The historic neighborhood of Ardmore is the first one we drove through today.

I love this porch, the windows, the lace curtains, and the American flag -- so homey looking.

A New Kind of Flameless Candle

Have you seen the new flameless candles with the realistic moving wick?  Oh wow, I love these!  I'm probably the last person to find out about them, since I'm always late to the party; but in case you haven't seen them, let me share with you.

Snow Men Brighten the Winter Days

Hi everyone!  Have you had a good day?  We spent the day running errands, so I'm glad to be sitting down, finally.  One of those errands involved buying a new, much-needed grate for our fireplace, so now we can have some cozy wood fires in our den. 

The Christmas decorations are finally down and mostly packed away.  I enjoy them so much when they're out, but our house feels much more spacious once I've put them away again.  I used to feel a little melancholy after packing all the cheeriness away.  Then I discovered that if I put my snowmen out in January, it helps to jolly things along during the long cold months between Christmas and spring.  :)