If Only....

The morning temps are changing...

so is the morning light....

there's a chill in the air that is 

refreshing and has me lighting candles again.

 I picked this one up the other day while in the 

~Big City~

with my Hillary.  It was at Bath and Body Works and

was in their clearance rack for $1.75....

~If  Only~

you were here and could smell all the goodness

coming from this candle.  It is quite Yummy smelling

and to me it smells like 

~Carmel Corn~

it is called Summer Boardwalk....

My youngest came down and said to me....

Mommy, I hope you know it's not Fall yet!

I said Why do you say that?

She said That candle smells like Fall!

(school starts soon, she wants No reminders!)

 This little candle packs some good smells in it....

Now I want a bigger size!

I don't think there were any :(

I must use this sparingly....

to make it last.  It will be part of my morning

for a few more days anyway.

Do you have a favorite candle you like to burn in the morning?

For those of you who may not know....

or don't recall the few posts I have done.  This is my Dad.

He has not been doing well for a few weeks.  Not sick necessarily, but 

without going into too much detail he has had some issues going on.  

He is not one that ever "thinks" he needs to see a doctor. 

 Imagine almost 17 yrs ago 

when we had to convince him to go to the doctor....

first time I ever remember him going

because he was having major issues and turned out he had to have a

Triple Bypass

So these past few weeks have taken a toll on him and he actually

asked one of my sisters to make an appointment 

for him to see the doctor. That was this past Monday.  

He got the results back yesterday morning and was to have tests done

this morning at the hospital. 

 My sister told me she would call me when done.

It's 4:49 p.m. his appt. was at 11 a.m. this morning

No One has called....

I am going to give my sister a call and see what she can tell me.

This is the hard part of living 1 1/2 hrs away from family!

Please say a prayer for my Dad!

Thank you for stopping by!

A Huge Thorn in my Side....

Tell me you have a room (or two) in your Home

that you just can't seem to keep under control.

I can't be the only one out there with this problem!

I can't believe I am showing all of you this room....

but here goes (try to be kind, ha,ha!)

Welcome to my: 

Laundry Room

Mud Room

Dog Room

Back Entry 

Keep the Chainsaw so it doesn't get stolen out of the garage again Room

Drop all your crap stuff and carry on Room!

(when we moved here this room was also the ladies hair salon)

This room is busy I tell you!

 It is actually a pretty good sized room. Small bedroom size really.

Parts of it I really like. But, parts I don't.

I spent most of yesterday

after spending time around my desk area, cleaning this room.

It tends to get very disorganized very quickly.

 One thing I don't care for is the blue indoor/outdoor carpeting.

Someday it will go! There are NO closets in the downstairs of 

our Home....so coats, shoes and the like have to go here.  On hooks

behind the door and the antique coat rack....shoes on the floor.

The door you see leads to my "back door guests are best" entry!

 At one time this was used as the "closet"....

see the bar I tried to camouflage by painting it the same

color as the wall? I prefer this to a closet type entry.

More Welcoming....

Don't you think?

 I do like the black and white tile floor

and the built in wall of cabinets....

 there is another one on the other side of the door there

I will tell you these cabinets are full of my

 extra dishes, cook books, candles, chatzkies....you know stuff

that for some reason I can't get rid of but probably really don't need.

The door to the left goes into my kitchen and then there is a door

in front of the pink rubber boots that goes up to the old maid quarters
(absolutely No Pun intended....that's what it was called)

that is now my oldest daughters bedroom when she is Home....

Amanda please take your shoes up next time!

Thank you!

 Loosey & Delilah's Area

and the door to the 

basement and the garage husband's workshop 

Well that's my Thorn in my side space....

I hope to someday make it more appealing and welcoming

if only for me and the time I have to spend in there.  

But it is what it is....

Now, your turn, tell me what room is your Thorn!

Thanks for stopping by yesterday and leaving

 all your encouraging words.

Hope you have a delightful day!

It's been a rough past week here.  

Some very emotional things have happened

within my family and to people in my family.  

This morning I woke up at 6:30 a.m. and decided to get up 

and take a few moments for myself before the rest of the house

 decided to wake up.  I enjoy doing this in the summer

because I can come downstairs and open doors

 and windows and let the cool morning air seep in and

 replace the stale, muggy, closed in air from the night.

So I made a pot of coffee and sat on my porch

 and enjoyed the cool air and the chirping birds and

 my fresh hot cup of coffee.  When the sun started to move to

my space on the porch, I decided to get my new camera 

and see what I could catch thru the lens and play a bit.  

Please join me on a .....

 I love to tour a little bit in the morning light....

 I wanted to catch the birds at the feeder,

but not get so close that I would scare them away.  

This picture I took from my porch while sitting down.

 This guy was sure enjoying this homemade bird food

~made for me by my little Great Nieces~

 While I toured my yard I was also watering.

These lilies are the most fragrant in my yard

and I do not know the name of them....

Do You??

 We have raspberries....

they struggle, but we have them.

 The other day I showed you a basket like this with the new coco liner.

I show you this with the old coco liner because I am wondering

 if any of you know if there is some kind of liner for this

 that would help it to last longer?

 I was so excited when I put my pictures on my computer to see

how well I got a picture of this Chickadee....

Love my Chickadee's!

 This guy sure has his head stuck down in there to get

some seed, must taste good!

 ~Peek A Boo~

Do you see him?

 Just watering my sink!

Love that I could catch the water sprinkling!

I really like this photo too....

Makes me smile when the birds eat from my feeders!

Well, that's it for my little tour.

Hope you are all having a delightful weekend.

It is very hot & humid here....

spending the day inside!

Memorial Day....

Visiting this place yesterday was one of the most emotional

experiences, outside of my Mother's funeral, that I've

ever experienced!  There was something from the moment

that we drove into the entrance that just came over me....

 Maybe it was the sight of our beautiful Flag waving in the wind ....

 So proudly Welcoming you in to experience the beauty....

 or maybe it was the sight of 

row after row of smaller, yet just as compelling smaller

flags waving in the wind at each and every grave....

 section after section

paying tribute to those that gave up

their lives for us and/or spouses who also

paid a price....

 Profoundly sad....

and yet so very Proud....

To have this Flag waving 

not only today, but everyday!

If you've never had a chance to visit a place like this

I highly recommend the experience.

Have a safe Memorial Day Weekend!

No Foolin'....

I Love getting a good deal

on things for our Home!

 Like these colorful vases....

 Music plays a Huge

part in our Home,

and I LOVE words!

 and just about

anything Birds....

I think this just about

says it All!

Have a Wonderful Sunday

No Foolin'!

Sorry I can't post today....

I bought a subscription to this

and it finally came in the mail....

just now.

 So, I'll be reading it from 

~Front~

~to Back~

I think I'm going to 

enjoy it!

What are you enjoying today?

Are you ever curious....

to find out more about your family?

We've all seen the show....

 Well, our family has recently been very interested in

 finding all of this out!

One daughter in particular has really been into this.

Ancestry.com

Well, she came home the night before last and sat with her dad

and they signed on ancestry.com and started researching.

They found out quite a bit of info, but you can only go so far

and then you have to pay.  Well, yesterday morning~ish, I

decided to make my own account.  My dad has been wanting me to

"take over" keeping the family tree stuff updated.  I never really gave

it much thought until recently.  He is getting older and

 he is one of the last

to know what there is about my side of the family. 

 Same with Brad's dad.

So, I signed up and that's what I did....

ALL DAY YESTERDAY!

 I entered what I knew myself, called my Dad

  a bazillion times a few times.

Interrupted his usual schedule of

 naps thru-out the day!

But, the more I found out the more I wanted to

 fill up those empty spaces

in our family tree!  I literally had to make myself put down my laptop

when my hubby got Home to go out and have dinner.  Then when we got 

back Home....I started up again!  Am I addicted, Yes!

I didn't even turn on the TV yesterday, until I saw it was

5:00 p.m. and the news was to come on.  I like the local news...okay!

Anyway, I got pretty far on both my and my hubby's sides.

Until, they came over from another country....

now I need to see what I can do about that!

I'm missing a few parents and marriages and such....

Just let me say this....

it's fun to discover your ancestry.  If you've never tried it before,

I recommend doing it!  It's easy these days with computers and stuff.

Of course you could go to the library and start there looking

through a ton of books, that could be fun too.  But, I didn't!

And if you've never seen the show
Who do you think you are?

It is on Friday night at 8:00 p.m.

here anyway....

This week Helen Hunt discovers her ancestry!

So, have you ever researched your ancestry?

How far did you get?

I'd love to know!

(No I am not being paid in anyway to talk about this!)

(I Google imaged my pictures, if I have to put some sort of source.)

Have a beautiful sunny day!

It's raining ice....

or it's raining and then turning to ice!

Either way there's no school today.

My daughter will be happy

as she had a couple of hard exams today,

one being physics....

she does well in this class,

but it is a struggle for her.

This will give her more time to study!

On dark, gloomy, cold days like these,

I like to go around my Home and light a few candles!

(my picture taking needs work, so please excuse me)

 ~white chocolate~

This was just an inexpensive little local grocery store candle.

But, once it pools the scent is amazing!

~ vanilla cinnamon brulee~

This is a cheapy from Menards.

I know my candle topper is fall themed....

but I like how the light looks thru the cutouts.

~ hazelnut cream

fresh baked muffins 

& 

chocolate pound cake~

This 3 layered lovely I picked up yesterday at Wal-Mart.

I have good luck with their candles.

I find if I let my candles burn long enough to pool at the top,

that is when I get the most scent & the candle isn't

wasted with a bunch of wax clinging to the sides when

it reaches the end.  Of course the wicks need to be 

trimmed everytime I light them to burn.  That

saves on the wick being all sooty so to speak

and releasing all the black stuff into the air.

 pure yummy~ness!

After I dropped my daughter and her friends off at the mall

for her Birthday on Saturday, I went around to the stores 

I enjoy.  It was nice to be out and about after my long

stay at home the last few months.  I picked up this bright green

ceramic bird topiary at T.J. Maxx.  It is crackled and I love the color!

I picked this bird up at Tuesday Morning.  I really like his 

metal legs.  I've had the nest a few years, not sure where I 

picked that up.  I'm starting to get my Spring on here in our Home.

Just nudging nature along a bit!

 I picked this little green planter up at

T.J. Maxx and thought it was perfect for 

the pens and stuff on my desk.

Love my birds!

 I'm probably the last one to pick this up....

It's a bit more then I usually spend on a magazine,

but I couldn't help myself!

A girl deserves a treat now & then,

don't you think?

So I will spend some time here in my 

favorite spot, perusing it

and hopefully getting some 

good ideas to decorate my Home!

Hope you have a delightful day

in your corner of the world!

Hello Friends....

 We are having our Big snow of the season today.  Yesterday it was sunny and in the 40's.  That's nice weather for Michigan.  Balmy....almost!  Heat wave...so to speak!

 I took these photos when we had our last snow

It's much worse outside today!

I like how this bit of snow 

is just sitting there holding on.

A form of art!

 Taking the place of birdseed in 

my little feeder....

Poor birds!

 My wooden wheel barrow....

waiting for those summer flowers

to replace the cold snow.

 My rain~chain....

is now filled with Snow!

 I love how the snow forms on 

a pine tree....

the needles poking thru,

staying strong.

 Sometimes she's a 

bird bath....

sometimes she's a

 planter....

But she's always beautiful....

I think!

 Thank you for strolling thru my yard with me today.

I will now go back in to our warm

Home....

and enjoy a snow day

with my daughter!

Enjoy your corner of the world....

are you getting snow?....

or are you enjoying warmer temps?