Long Time No See

 What Have I Been Up To

My…but it has been a long time since I blogged.  This past year has been a tough one personally for me.  Of course COVID restrictions along with my testing positive to COVID (I am fully vaccinated) but luckily my symptoms were mild with a head cold only.  

Last summer as a screened in porch.

My oldest and last brother, Robert, had a turn for the worst in his battle against cancer last July and lost his battle in August 2021.  He was 78 years old and a wonderful brother to me.  Unfortunately I realized his wife was unable to live by herself having several medical issues including severe hearing loss.  So, I made the decision to move her into my guest bedroom last August.  Her adult children live on opposite coasts.  Taking over her finances, getting her house and car ready to sell took up most of my spare time.  Not counting all the doctor and test appointments to take her too.  I have a full house now with my sister-in-law, niece and my niece’s fiancé living with me.  Oh, I can’t forget the two doggies too, Jewels and Lucky!

Hubby at the beginning…

As I have mentioned in previous posts I decided to convert my screened in porch to a 4 season room and work started finally on it at the beginning of January 2022.  The windows didn’t come in until the middle of December and with the holidays January worked out to start the project.  I am so fortunate to have a good friend who is a designer and she accepted the job as the project manager.  The porch isn’t completely finished but it is probably 99% done.  The only items remaining are the exterior siding, another tramson window on order, another coat of interior painting and finishing the trim on the new and old sliders and Great Room exterior window.

I have loved my porch from the beginning especially after purchasing the new porch furniture several years ago.  But as I age cleaning the porch in the spring and breaking it down in the fall became harder to do.  

Ready for winter

My favorite spot is my chaise lounge chair.  Relaxing and reading out here is heaven.  

My chaise lounge chair!

I am typing this as I sit out in my new 4 season room watching it lightly snow and I am warm as a bug in a rug.

Lucky out in one of our snow days.

We had several heavy snow storms this winter.  I have a few heated mats for the doggies to get to the back yard.  This is our young Lucky.  He’s a rescue and very loving.  

The screened in porch…stay tune!

I will share the porch project with you all so stay tune!  More to come!

My Hydrangeas, Daisies & More

 My lovely hydrangeas and daisies are in full bloom.

When we landscaped our yard six years ago, I deliberately told the landscaper I wanted to keep my plants small.  After having over grown shrubs in previous homes, I knew how fast and huge plants can grow over the years.

The original landscape design was loaded with plants.  I cut it under half what was shown.  

I didn’t want shrubs that would obscure the view of the house or allow someone to hide behind them.

One thing I miss from our Pennsylvania home is the flower window boxes on our cute shed.

My plan is to someday add window boxes to my garage windows.

I’m holding out running the sprinklers in the front yard.  It’s so expensive to water the yard here.

I was shocked when I received my first several water bills the first season the grass was put in and watered frequently.

I didn’t even know how to run the sprinkler system.  I googled it and learned.  This is the first house we have had sprinklers.  One thing I learned over the years, the brown grass will turn green again.

I was in pain the last week.  So I didn’t get much done.  I even had to cancel one of my strength training sessions on Friday.  I don’t know if it was bursitis and/or arthritis in both hips.  All I know was it hurt and it disturbed my sleep.  Last night I finally took an Aleve and slept better.  It’s not gone completely but it’s not bothering me as much now.  We have had a lot of rain and more is forecasted for the next week. 

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A friend gifted me her Brother Cut n’ Scan machine.  I have misplaced the manual but I found the DVD with all the information and the manual.  I’ve printed out the manual and it is much easier to read than the original one that came with the machine.  So maybe it was a blessing I misplaced it.

I have to rearrange my sewing area [..again] to accommodate the machine.  It has to be connected  to my PC.  I’m hoping I can get it connected  so I can at least tell my friend I used it.

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I went out to lunch for the first time since March 2020!  It was wonderful to visit with a dear designer friend who is helping me plan to convert my screened in porch to a 4 season room.

We looked at Pella windows to replace my screens and a sliding door to replace the current door which has never closed properly.  

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I had hoped to finish a July 4th wall hanging in time for Independence Day but I don’t think it will happen.

It’s pieced but needs to be sandwiched with batting and back and quilted.

We plan to BBQ for Independence Day.  

I might fix Strawberry Shortcake because it such a nice summer dessert.

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I keep changing the subject, but I have 34 Inspector George Gently books by Alan Hunter (pocketbooks and kindle versions).

There are more but I haven’t found them all yet.  I’m going to try to see if Barnes and Noble can order the ones I am missing.

So what have all of you been up to this summer? 

Have a wonderful day!

My Screened In Porch

 I spent Saturday last week scrubbing down my screened in porch with Spic n’ Span using our boat brush and rinsing with the hose to remove all the pollen, dirt and grime from winter and spring.

 

I almost finished it in one day and didn’t feel sore, although maybe a little tired.  But so pleased it was done and I could use the porch before the hot and humid summer weather starts.

I had already paid to have the house, deck, driveway and sidewalks (sealed too) professionally powered washed a few weeks before. 

I store the porch furniture cushions in a storage bin over winter and I always cover the furniture with painter’s drop cloths.  

I am thinking of turning the screened in porch into a 4 season room.   Breaking it down, setting it up and all the scrubbing is more work than I want to do as I age.  But I would love to be able to sit out there anytime, any season.  My plan is to have large windows that I can open to make it feel like a screened in porch but be able to close it up to keep out the pollen and dirt.

I made a big change in my routine recently adding weekly strength exercising sessions.  I’ve read that strength exercises are even more beneficial than cardiovascular as one ages.

MaxStrength Fitness was running complementary free sessions so I decided to bite the bullet and try it out at age 74!  They recommend two twenty minute sessions a week.  The exercise room is kept very cool so you don’t even work up a sweat.  They work you on different machines until your muscles are fatigued.  I like it because it it nearby and I can be done and home in an hour.  

Next Friday I’m having my neighborhood lady friends over for lunch out on my screened in porch.  Everyone brings a lunch and I will provide the drinks.  We are all vaccinated and can social distance on the porch easily.  

Thanks for visiting!

Spring Cleaning & More

 I’m back.  

I have been meaning to blog but instead I’ve been Spring Cleaning.

I have a lighted China Cabinet above my coffee station that was filled with teacups, Polish Pottery mugs, miscellaneous mugs etc.

It was busy looking to say the least.

So I decided to go on Amazon.com to see if I could find some teacup holders to hang my teacups.

I found a set of four and ordered two after measuring to make sure they would fit on my shelves.

They came quickly and they were easy to put together.

I positioned a set for each side to show off my teacups through the glass.

I had a set of white teacups that I placed on the back row and put my set of Royal Daulton teacups in front.

Then I order two racks to fit on my bottom shelf to better display my Polish Pottery mugs.

I was so pleased when they fit perfectly too!

I am lucky to live very close to a Polish Pottery store here in my town.

I couldn’t believe that I have 22 Polish Pottery mugs!

I love them because they are all bordered by a deep blue ring, microwave and dishwasher safe too.

And, as many of you know, once you start reorganizing it expands to other areas.

Next I ordered six white racks to go in my Christmas Cabinet.

They look nice, are study and display my Christmas decor beautifully.

These little white racks are working out so well that I ordered three more of this size plus one larger.

I have a Knick knack cabinet in my laundry room that could use reorganizing too.

I even managed to polish my silver that had turned dark.

We had a lovely sunny 80 degree day yesterday to celebrate my niece’s boyfriend’s birthday.

Andrew loves to cook so he BBQ’d baby back ribs on the grill.

They were delicious!  

We are back to rain and cooler temperatures the next few days.

But I took a delightful spin around the neighborhood on my Liberty Trike yesterday.

The builder is still working on the drainage in the wet lands behind our property line.

They reached behind me on Friday and then quit at noon leaving this ugly thing with gravel in it and the pipes all lined up.

The machines are so noisy I had to put ear plugs in my ears. 

 I dread them coming  back but I want the work completed.  

The machines run back and forth all day!

They even drove up my driveway with a pickup truck loaded with 5 or 6 of these heavy pipes and across the back yard to dump them without asking permission.

And the ground was wet from the rain.

I couldn’t believe their nerve.

Well, I better get back to work.

Thanks for visiting and all the lovely comments.

Early Spring & Snow Forecasted

 The trees have budded out here in Ohio.  It’s the earliest Spring I can remember in a long time.  And then up popped a weather forecast on my iPhone today advising that heavy snow of 3 to 5 inches is forecasted for this Tuesday night.  I’m tired of snow.  My Serviceberry tree in the front flowered a few days ago too.

Lots of changes happening here in my neighborhood.  Across the street a new house is being built on the empty lot.  It’s been empty the whole six years I’ve been here.  The geese used to build their nests there and raise their young.

And behind our property line for our street the Davey Tree workers came through and torn down a 20 foot strip of trees to install drainage for the new homes (28 homes!) that will be built behind us.  The builder “promised” that no more trees will be cut down but I’ll believe it when I see it.  They let the huge trees fall into the wooded area they didn’t cut and unfortunately lots of uncut trees were damaged.  This area is considered wet lands and it wasn’t to be cut or disturbed.  Today the workers came back to remove most, but not all, of the trees they cut down.

Today I spent most of the day cleaning my granite kitchen counter tops and stainless steel appliances.  I really like the Method Stainless Cleaner.  Boy does it shine the appliances!

I made strawberry shortcake again for the second time this year.  It’s turned into a family favorite dessert. 

We have used our BBQ grill already too.  

I have always used Bisquick’s shortbread recipe to make my shortcake.  

And, of course, lots of Reddi Wip Whip cream!

We love our doggies, senior gal Jewels and puppy, Lucky.

Lucky is so adorable and sweet.  He loves all his toys.

He is spoil rotten of course. 

Getting sleepy.

Eyes closed.  Toy still in his mouth.

Jewels in the meantime sleeps a lot.

Thanks for visiting and have a good day!

Missing Our Trips Together

 I found this photo taken during our last trip out West in our Pleasureway Van in September 2013.

We spent several days at Yellowstone National Park.

We had no problem getting a campsite because of our small size.

Never thought my days of traveling with my sweetheart would be over.

Such fun times we had during our life together.  

My T-Shirt Quilt

A family member asked if I could make a T-Shirt quilt for her from her high school days to take with her to college last summer.

I had never made one and knew it could be tricky working with knits.

She brought over around 12 T-Shirts and I washed them and ironed them.

Next I googled how to videos and found an excellent one explaining in details all the steps.

I cut out the sections to use.  It generated a lot of scraps.

I had to order the interfacing needed to stabilize the knitted pieces.

That took FOREVER due to COVID.

And luckily my niece’s heat press helped to reduce the time needed to press the interfacing to the pieces.  Ironing it would have taken forever and would not have been done as completely.

I followed the instructions from the video to mark the center lines of the pieces.

I cut all of the blocks (except for four) 13 inches by 13 inches.

The other four had larger designs on them so they became 16 inches by 16 inches.

I played around with the placement and once that was decided I started sewing the blocks and then rows together.

I decided to make a border around all the blocks alternating the knit colors.

In the meantime I ordered a knit backing fabric after my cousin selected the ones she liked.

Then it was sandwiched with the top, padding and backing.

That took several smoothing out the wrinkles to get it ready to quilt.

I tried to do free motion quilting but the quilt was so heavy to move around and I was very disappointed with the results.  So I picked out all the stitching and put my walking foot on.  First I stitched 1/4 foot on each side of the stitch lines to stabilize it.  Then with the walking foot I marked quilt lines for each of the blocks.

I made a machine embroidered label for the back too!

My cousin loved it!

But I did say it’s my first T-Shirt quilt and my last one.

LOL!

Ribbet Photo Editing Tutorial

 Way back in 2012 I used Ribbet.com, a photo editing program, to design a new blog header.

Then the past several years I didn’t blog at all.

Now that I’m back to blogging I think I would like to update my header.

I found out that Ribbet has an app now.  

So I downloaded it and discovered it is different from what I remember.

Luckily Ribbet invited me to a webinar today to talk about their new browser version.

I think I will have to play with either the website version and/or the browser version to come up with a new header for my blog.

I’m still working on my office.  I wish I wasn’t so slow.

It’s an unbelievable 69 degrees out and windy today.

My gifted Christmas Poinsettia is finally looking a little under the weather.  

But I’m surprised how long it lasted.  

Have you ever had one of those days where you have so many things to work on and you don’t feel like doing any of them?

That’s me today.

I have six accounts to reconcile for the last month.

Bah...

Ain’t going to be done today.

I started a new Alan Hunter Gently book and it is calling me.

How is your day going?

Hope it is happy!

A Warm Day Here in Ohio

 Oh my gosh...it’s 61 degrees here today!

I sat out on my screened in porch in the sun feeling the fresh air and loving it.

First time this year!

I had three items on my agenda today and I completed all of them.

1.  Sign my income tax return and deliver it to my tax guy.  DONE!

2.  Try the new microfiber window cleaning cloths I ordered from Amazon.  DONE!

My Great Room and Kitchen windows have the screens out so I can see and take photos of the animals and birds without the screens ruining the shots.  The windows were pretty dirty because I didn’t have them cleaned last year so I first used a squeeze with a pail of hot water and Dawn soap on them.  Then I used the new microfiber cloths as instructed.  Wow!  No streaks at all!  I’m amazed at how well they worked.  I don’t plan to do the rest of the exterior windows because the screens need cleaning too so I’ll hire a professional.  Actually the whole house needs to be professionally power washed this year.  

3.  I had ordered a BISSELL portable carpet cleaner to use on my stairs but it was too much work for me at age 74 to do the scrubbing needed.  I was so pooped after doing the first part of the stairs I couldn’t finish the rest.  So I’ve decided to return it for a refund. DONE!

 If I was  younger I would probably keep it.  I liked how it cleaned up and it really did a wonderful job picking up the dog hair and dirt.  I haven’t decided what to replace it with...either a lightweight BISSELL carpet cleaner upright or another portable one that has a power brush.

  So glad this snow is gone!

  I was glad to get my car out for a drive today.  My hubby was the driver and I was the passenger.  I’ve never been crazy about driving unless it was a route I knew well.  Although I’m so much more comfortable driving with the back up camera and sensors.  When my hubby and I took off on our trips we both just relaxed and were so happy to be on the road.  I purchased my Subaru Outback 2016 in September 2015 and I only have 7,700 plus miles on it.  I’ve had to put three batteries in it.  If it sits the battery completely drains.  Finally this winter my brother in law attached a trickle charger to it and I haven’t had any problems so far.  I think something in the electronics drains the battery.  Other than that issue I haven’t had any other problems with the vehicle.  It’s the third Subaru we (I’ve own) have owned.  

Isn’t that the truth!

I’m enjoying another cup!

Thanks for visiting little old me!