Friday's Five

I need help.  It's so hard for me to resist a bargain in magazines and books, even though I need more like I need another hole in my head.  The bundles of magazines and the book were at my favorite thrift shop Wednesday and I grabbed them along with the cute mugs.

Aren't they just the cutest?  I love the little bee with the raised wings.  They have to be handwashed, which is pain for someone who loves her dishwasher, and I don't know where I'll put them, but I'll make room somehow.  They just cried to come home with me, too.

After shooing Stormy and her nose out of the mugs that I set up for the photo, she decided to take a nap on a stack of place mats.  I love that girl and you know she gets away with about anything.  

We had a good rain Wednesday night and I went to The Project (other house) to check the closet where we had discovered mold and it was wet around the baseboard.  Phooey.  BG's patching job didn't quite do the trick.  We knew a new roof over the addition to the house was needed and would have to wait for better weather.  We were hoping though that the patching would keep out moisture until then.  Didn't happen.  

BG and I are going out for dinner tonight.  We have a gift certificate at a steak house we haven't used yet.  So that is probably where we'll be going.  Do you have big plans for the weekend?  Hope it is a good one!

Linking to:

  Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday 5

 Nancy's  Random 5 Friday

Happy Friday to you!
xo Cheryl

Play Time

Good afternoon!  It's a rainy day here in my town and it's a good excuse for me to just play today.  I've been playing around in PicMonkey with the new Dodge and Burn editing features which are new and available to Royale members.  

First up is Burn which creates shadows and darkness.  I took the photo of the crocus on Sunday when the sun was brightly shining.  I used the Burn feature to darken some of the white areas which the sunlight made.  The original is on the left.  I didn't overdo the shadowing and this was my first attempt, but I think you can tell the difference. 

Next, I tried to lighten the dark bags circles under my eyes and also worked on the sagging neck.  The original is on the left.   I think Dodge helped a bit with the eyes.  Wish I'd had this feature before I posted the original photo a few posts ago.  Ha! 

I love PicMonkey.  It is my favorite editing site when I need one.  I only realized just a few months ago how good is the sharpen feature.  I do wish they had a good watercolor feature.  For that, I go to PhotoScape and BeFunky. 

Most of my editing is limited to resizing, but once in a while it's fun to play!  Do you have a favorite editing site?  

Now, it's time to stop playing and think about a few neglected chores that need to get done today.  And it will soon be time to start that pot of vegetable soup I'm having for supper tonight.  I had a chuck roast with potatoes and carrots last night and I like to put the leftover roast into a pot of vegetable soup.  Yum, yum!  It will taste good this chilly evening. 

Happy Tuesday to you!
xo Cheryl  

Friday's Random 5

I picked the worst day of the week yesterday to get groceries.  But I had some other necessary errands to run so it had to be done.  It was rainy and chilly!  We're supposed to warm up again so maybe the robins will finally make an appearance in our back yard.  They seem to be a little late this year.  

I'm still unable to read as much as I'd like.  Hope this passes soon.  I used to have a doctor (he's retired now) who had much the same problems I do with vertigo, only worse.  He had to have a new striped carpet taken out of his office because it made him dizzy walking over it.  I kid you not!  

This news item made me smile.  A Fort Worth woman just celebrated her 104th birthday.  She credits drinking Dr. Pepper, 3 a day, for her longevity.  She said that "every doctor says that they'll kill you, but they die and I don't.  So there must be a mistake somewhere."  

It seems there is a lot of the color orange to be seen this spring.  In clothes and home decorating items.  I bought an orangey top a week ago, but I don't have anything orange in my house except the real thing which I ate this morning!  Do you love the color orange?

Here's a strange...we've had 2 dead possums on the shoulder of the highway not far from our house.  This morning I see another one dead in our back yard. What is going on?

 Linking to Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday 5

Happy Friday to you!

xo Cheryl 

Tuesday Tidbits

Happy St. Patrick's Day to you!   Do you wear green or get pinched?  Some of my ancestors came from Ireland.  Also from Germany, England and Scotland.  The most famous of my ancestors was the first king of Scotland, also known as Robert the Bruce.  According to my late aunt who researched our genealogy, he was my great...count great 27 times...grandfather.

I want to thank everyone for the sweet birthday wishes.  I had a lovely birthday over the weekend.  We enjoyed beautiful, warm weather.  We were invited to KC again by my son, who wished to eat dinner with me for my birthday.  I didn't take one photo this trip, just enjoyed the day.  We did stop by the newest shopping center at Blue Springs because they have a TJMaxx.  I could have filled a shopping cart, but didn't buy one thing.  Talk about restraint! 

~watercolor edit of photo above~

Our weather continues to be very nice.  It was 80 degrees yesterday, but today is a more normal 56 with sunshine.  It won't be much longer now...those beautiful redbud trees will be blooming.  I can see the yard getting a little more green each day.  

I have just changed my email address that I use for blogging to gmail from yahoo.  Maybe that will help those who have said they don't get my comments sent to their email.  Please let me know if this has helped.

Before I hit the publish sign I want to mention that the ol' dizzy stuff has struck again when I'm reading and scrolling at the computer.  Sometimes it doesn't bother me too much, other times it's quite dreadful.  This is one of those times and so I will be at the computer much less until this passes, hopefully soon!  If you don't see me for awhile, this is why.

Happy Tuesday to you!

xo Cheryl

Thursday's Thoughts

1.  I'm so ready for a little weekend trip to Branson.  Not this weekend, but soon I hope!

2.  Since I have a birthday this weekend, I'm going to share 4 more things that you may or may not know about me to add to the 65 things I listed here in 2011.

    66.  I'm an introvert and prefer quiet, but I can be quite 
           talkative when I want to.
    67.  If you called me a night owl, you would be correct. 
    68.  I don't feel (or act, some would say...haha) like I'm 68 and almost 69.
    69.  I've been to Paris and seen the Eiffel Tower.....in Las Vegas!
                
3.  The news is so depressing that I am tempted to not read it for a week or two.  Actually I don't have to read it because BG is quite good at giving me an update  when he gets home from work.  Usually the first thing he says is "did you hear about...."! 

4.  I quite agree with my son when he said that we should be able to claim the government as a dependent on our tax returns.

5.  The weather has been delightful.  I've opened windows to let the fresh air in!  And we have some green beginning in the yard.  Yay!

Linking to

Theresa's  Good Fences

Tanya's  Willy Nilly Friday 5

Nancy's  Random Five Friday

Happy Thursday to you!
xo Cheryl

Since Last Time...

The weather was beautiful over the weekend when we went to Kansas City to see our son.  He had invited us to go to dinner with him and his new lady.  We had a great visit and we liked her a lot!  She is a cute, sweet girl and was very easy to talk to.  Time will tell where this is all headed!  I don't ask any questions.  Well, not too many.   

Our son drove us around the city on Sunday and we crossed the Kit Bond bridge heading into the downtown area.  He took us to the West Bottoms area where there are many antique/flea market shops.  We only had time to go into a couple of them, but the first one called Re: had 3 floors of wonderful things to look at.  

Of course, I pulled my trusty camera out of my purse and snapped a few shots, but it was very busy and I didn't get as many as I would have liked.

They have a lot of old furniture that is painted and I thought the prices on many items were reasonable and others were quite expensive.  

I loved browsing around and will definitely have to go back for a longer visit.  If you love old things, painted furniture, and repurposed things, then you would love this shop, too!

My son bought the above framed quote to put in his office.  I bought a couple of things to add to my gallery wall and will show it another time when I get it all together.  Hopefully soon.

Back across the bridge we went, this time heading to Kansas.  Kansas City, KS, that is.

Nebraska Furniture Mart is where we were headed after a stop to eat some bbq at Arthur Bryant's.  We liked our food, but I think we were unanimous in declaring Gate's BBQ the winner over Bryant's.  Gate's sauce is the best!  Did I mention that the Gate's restaurant we ate at last time we were in KC burned down just days after we were there?  They have several around the city, but I do hope they will build back in the location we were familiar with.  Okay, now let's see what I found at NFM.

I've been looking at TV stands for awhile and couldn't find one I really loved.  And I have to love it because once I purchase something, I tend to keep it forever.  Except I can't keep my oak entertainment center, which I dearly love, because the new tv won't fit and it's just too high for the tv sitting on the top.  Anyway, I think I found the one, pictured above.   BG liked it, too. 

That was my weekend and a fun time was had.  You don't want to hear about the stomach virus that hit in the middle of Sunday night and lasted too long.  I did get out yesterday to run to the license bureau to get my license renewed before they expired. 

Now that the weather has turned warmer I need to get out clothes that are much lighter.  If I can find any.  That is what I'll be doing the next day or two.  Do you have the same problem I do when the seasons change and wonder what you wore the last time?  

Happy Wednesday to you!

xo Cheryl

Friday Randoms

It's Friday!  I'll try not to talk so much and keep my random thoughts short today.  In between filling bird feeders, cleaning house and doing laundry, I decided to take a break and blog a bit but I'll have to get back to work soon and finish up.

1.  First thing I do is pick up the clutter.  I have magazines all over the place and I really haven't read many of them yet.  I laughed to myself when I picked up House Beautiful...that is so not my house right now!  lol!  This Old House is more like it and is one of my favorite magazines.  Ignore the chocolate bars covering the mailing label.  I just grabbed what was handy!

2.  I did venture out in the cold yesterday in search of the proper rod I need for new curtains.  Unfortunately, the drapes arrived and they not what I had hoped for.  They looked yellow, not natural!  So they will be returned.  

3.  I stopped into Pier One to look around and I always end up in front of the dish display.  I wanted to say "I'll take that one and that one and....."  I love pretty dishes and the sunflowers really caught my eye.  This whole display was a feast for the winter weary eyes! 

4.  While I was at Bed, Bath and Beyond looking at curtain rods, I found this little item that my son introduced me to when we visited him recently.  He had one on his fireplace mantle and at first I thought it looked a bit strange until he told me what it was.  Maybe you've seen them but if not, it is a reed diffuser and it has a wonderful fragrance!  His was vanilla scented, but I decided to try Oceano. 

 

5.  Not wanting to cook after a long day of shopping, I ordered pizza to take home for supper last night.  I'm thinking Mexican food sounds good for tonight.  What's on your menu?

Linking to Tanya's Willy Nilly Friday 5 
and to Nancy's Random Five Friday

Happy Friday to you!
xo Cheryl

Fencing In The Snow

The blue and white is pretty, but I'm ready for some green!  How about you?
 

The horses look so cold.  I hope they have a barn to go into.  I thought this was an unusual looking fence.

Linking to Theresa's Good Fences 

Happy Thursday to you!
xo Cheryl

Wanted...Nice Weather!

I had planned to go to the city today, but it's beginning to snow a wee bit.  A little snow never used to bother me when driving, and I've driven in heavy snow to go to work in the past.  Now that I don't have to get out in the elements, I usually don't.   But you know when you've had your mind set on doing something and you have to change your plans?  I'm not as good as I'd like to be with going to Plan B.  Not that I had anything that earthshaking to see to today.

I'm expecting my new curtains to arrive any day now.  And I think I may have the wrong rod to put them on.  So, I had planned to go to the store to talk about curtain rods and make sure I have the correct one.  A little flea marketing was also on the agenda and possibly a haircut.  I couldn't get an appointment at my usual place until next week.  We have something special coming up this weekend and I wanted to get my hair cut as it's looking rather flat as you may or may not have noticed in my selfie I shared in the last post.  

I do want to thank everyone for the sweet comments on my last post.  Ya'll are just so nice!

I was recently told that I was a No Reply blogger.  Hopefully I have that fixed now.  If you are still having problems, I don't know what else I can do.  Nothing was done to change it in the first place and I have no idea how it got that way.

I also wonder why my font seems so much smaller when I preview my post than when I'm actually writing it?  I also will have spaces where I didn't put them and other strange things will happen that I didn't want.  Am I the only one the blogger gremlins mess with?

Now I'm off to check out the weather forecast again and make a decision on what to do today.  I am having an attack of cabin fever, so I hope I can get out of the house for a while!

Happy Wednesday to you!
xo Cheryl

A Barn and Birthdays

Happy first day of March!  In spite of March coming in like a lion and dumping around 5 inches of snow on us, spring is just weeks away!  I'm more than ready to hear the birds singing once again and seeing some green. 

The hubby and I hopped into the 4-wheel drive truck and ran a few errands.  We had heard of several cars being in the ditches, but we drove slowly and were careful.  Too many don't seem to slow down and then wonder how they ended up scooting off into a ditch.  While BG drove, I snapped away at the scenery, but the snow falling and the light didn't make for very good photos.

                                                       * * * * * * * *

Tomorrow is the date of my father's birth.  He would have been 102 if he were still living.   In a couple of weeks, I'll have another birthday.  Mercy me...time flies.  How can I be this old?  

I had to go to the doctor Friday for a follow-up visit for my toe surgery.  The nurse sat down with her laptop and began updating my info and asked how old I was.  I told her I would be 69 in a couple of weeks and she told me that I sure didn't look that old.  I wanted to give her a big ole hug.  Do you know how those words are music to these olden ears?  I guess all those years of being thought so young...and I hated being treated like I was just a kid when I was married with 2 little children...has finally paid off.  And having a round face probably helps, too.  Now that I've said all that, I'll probably wake up in the morning with white hair and drooling.  lol!  I need a haircut and I can't hold the camera still with one hand so it's a bit blurry.  And that's a good thing as the wrinkles don't show up as plainly!  :)

Soon the work on The Project will begin again after a too long break.  I'm trying to get some things in this house either underway or finished.  Depending on the project.  One of those started was going through a huge stack of magazines and cutting out the photos, articles and recipes I wanted to save and putting in a scrapbook.  So I need to speed it up with these indoor jobs because when spring weather finally arrives, I'll be wanting to go outside and we'll be trying to finish up The Project.  Hurry Spring!

Linking to Amy's The Barn Collective   

Happy Sunday to you!  (what's left of it)
xo Cheryl