November Recap Part 1

 Where to begin? 

I think I will do a 2 part post and kinda go in backwards order for the month. 

I needed the month off from blogging not only for just quieting the world around me, but to get a handle on the busy and how to handle the busy. Sometimes I feel like I have a full time job again. This one though doesn't not have an order or structure. Things I crave. I don't think it is going to change much, so I needed to rest my mind of anything other than the most important things right in front of me.

I have had 2 plumber days at Mom's in the past 2 weeks just to give you an example of my days. The last 2 Mondays she called around 8 AM to tell me her kitchen sink was clogged. The first one Jeff was off from work thankfully for help. We got a plumber out there and got her a new garbage disposal. We thought all was well. Two days ago, she called again, but this time water had run out of the water hookup for her washer. Water was everywhere. The kitchen sink had gross water coming back up in it. 

I told her what to start doing, 

called the plumber, 

grabbed Palmer.

 and jumped in the truck to head over. 

Even Palmer took one look and knew all was not good. I grabbed towels and mops and proceeded to work on the floor. 

You see when I tell y'all I have no time to blog it seems to be really true. I am just taking care of a lot of people and time is a real prized commodity.

Taking the month off and only concentrating on the important did give me a much better attitude to deal with life's interruptions. 

The only other not so pretty thing to share with y'all is my sinus update. It just so happened Jeff went with me to the appointment after my month long antibiotic regimen. That was a good thing because when he told me I have 3 different kinds of bacteria in there and one was resistant to bacteria and then showed me the scan picture they took after said month long antibiotic ---well, let's just say all my bravado of "I'm not going to have surgery...no way!" disappeared quite quickly and tears filled  my eyes and I couldn't ask questions. Jeff had to do all the talking. My entire side of my head is one big infection blob. I don't have a date yet, because they are so booked up. I am calling a lot to keep my name on their minds:)

So for now Lindsay and I are both on a surgery list and will take the first appointment offered.

Let's change the subject. 

Thanksgiving morning I walked out on the deck and looked down to the lower deck and saw these amazing roses. I have been so busy and it had rained enough that I had not gone down to check on anything. These three babies were smiling up at me.

I quickly grabbed my snips and headed down to bring them up. More about them later.

Let's talk gardening. I usually plant my pansies around mid October. I use holidays and dates such as that as markers for gardening things. By Tucker's birthday, pansies are here and need to be in their pots. This year there were no pansies to be found anywhere. After a couple of weeks of searching, it dawned on me that they must have been messed up down in south Florida from that old Ian. Remember, we call them by their ugly old names when they have been bad.

Finally at the end of the month a few started trickling in. Not many colors, so rather than the white that I love, I went with an orange. (I do love orange though) Not sure how they will look with Christmas, but just glad to have some. They are just now getting a little size on them and starting to really bloom.

The white camellia bloomed right on key. This particular one is an early bloomer and usually comes right around Thanksgiving. This could be last year's picture. Like I said, right on time and oh so pretty and welcomed.

You will need to remember the camellia because, I bought me a new pretty for the house that has to do with them. Wait for Christmas pictures and I will show you.

Christmas decorating has begun and for the most part is up and just fluffing things as needed. I didn't get in a hurry which is how I like it. My tree is pretty and FRESH this year. We purchased from a different location and you can bend the stems and smell the freshness. The shape is so good, it possibly looks fake, but it is real.

The fern that holds the Christmas tree spot has been moved to the bedroom. This fern is simply amazing. It is lush and beautiful and old. I keep wondering how she does it. What is her secret to age? I think she loves her home. She has to go on vacation to the bedroom once a year for a month, but usually fares well.

The roses are still doing well and I cut 2 more to add to them. I tried for a dozen years to grow them in the front and all I got was black spot and no leaves on the poor plants by September from the heat and humidity. I gave up and threw one in a pot on the lower back deck and found the secret to roses in northwest Florida. Sea breezes and pots. Even though I am trying not to add to my large plant collection, you know I will just have to add to it. I am on the hunt for a pink one and maybe a white one next spring. I love cut roses like this about as good as anything you can think of.

Now, if we can just keep everyone well ---huge challenge. I have a post with family gatherings to do to sum up November. I am going to try real hard to get it out later today and posted tomorrow. I am going to close comments on this one and just allow comments on that one. You will get the while month in 2 posts. I am also going to try and pop in to all my people today during Palmer's nap later.

I will leave you with 2 grandchildren pictures for today..

Miles holding his ornament from me.

Palmer trying to be the baby again. He is talking- well mostly jibber, but talking. I think he has to do it here, because Tucker talks nonstop like his Mama at home. Lindsay texted us last night and said she needed to formally apologize for all her talking because 500 words a minute came out of Tucker's mouth. I just smiled.

Be back soon,

Sandy

Home Improvement Project and Houseplants

 We had one room left in this house with carpet and I wanted it gone many years ago. However, you have to time your spending with the many things that come up that take precedence, such as new decks and just plain and simply time to take care of the project.

We made the decision to pull it out and put something different down. We waited too long to put the tile that I have in most of the upstairs. It was discontinued. That knocked me back a few months mulling over what to choose. Tyler came to the rescue with his suggestion of luxury vinyl tile. He is in the construction business and has seen and used it so we went with his recommendation. It is waterproof which is good for our location. It looks like wood and I mean really looks like wood. I am loving it. 

Of course, as with any home improvement project there are snags. One, the workers are slow to come. They have no shortage of work and then when they do come they find some water damage. I wasn't really surprised by that and fortunately it was an easy fix. It all took so long and things were out of place for way longer than I would have liked, but those are really small things. I mean really small inconveniences. I was just happy to get the very yucky carpet out. 

Without further ado, I will share what we picked out. It came from Home Depot.

You may have noticed the walls are a different color. You know how that rolls. One project leads to another. After the floors were down, there was a whole lot of tan going on, so Jeff suggested we paint the walls green. Arggghhh.

I knew he was right,  but I didn't want to paint and I also didn't want it to snowball and have to need new bedding. It all worked out. We both remembered how much we loved the green that was in our old Lake Martin cabin. We went in search of that look. It took a bit of time to find a similar look, but I think we achieved it. It is called Svelte Sage by Sherwin Williams. It matches the window blinds and cornice boards well and the bedding is just fine. I was playing around with some pillows, but I am not buying new bedding. I like what I have. I am thinking I might get a bedskirt though.

There will be no rugs for a good while if ever. I am just enjoying the tile. It is easy to care for and clean up. I do think I am going to pass the baby swing up. I don't use it enough to have it there.

Below is looking back towards the closet and bathroom. I painted the bathroom as well.

I loved how well the pictures all looked against the green wall.

Houseplants

You know I wrote a while back that I was downsizing my plants. I did a bit more of that. 

When do you have too many? My answer is when you are tired of caring for them. 

I took one out of the bedroom. I only have the two on the stands by the window. I did reverse the order of them and they are both doing very well since the pictures. 

I also realize houseplants are very hard to have in MOST homes. There is just simply not enough light even for those plants that say low light.

My mother always had one room that she would grow plants in. She would find that one room that had enough light and that would be it. I really adopted that as well not knowing that was out of just pure common sense. You just can't have plants in a room with that doesn't pretty much get a lot of morning light. 

Then I moved into my present house which has the entire back side getting a lot of morning light and I went nuts because along with cross stitching and reading, I REALLY love to grow things. BUT, I have grown tired of the upkeep and have slowly whittled them down. 

I have 4 in our living room. Two in the area where the Christmas tree grows.

Plants have a life cycle and I am quite surprised at how long this fern has held up. She is happy and even bounced back last year after being moved to the bedroom for the month of December. The mother-in-law's tongue is really old too.

I have 2 other plants in the living room. One is on the coffee table. It is a redo of one that just got tired looking. 

I have finally taught Palmer to leave it alone.

The final plant in that room is on top of the shelves. After trying for nearly 20 years to grow one in each corner of that top shelf unsuccessfully, I gave up and took one down. I replaced the one by the fireplace with a vase that my mother-in-law made. It had been in a closet. 

The right side of that shelf gets lots of morning light, but the left side doesn't so I am just tired of moving them around and trying.

If you are counting, we are at 6. Let's move too the kitchen where I have 4 and they are the more exotic plants.

For the most part you can only see one above the table and that is the pider plant which I have nearly given up on 3 times. The kitchen is like the hospital for plants. It gets wonderful morning light. 

Not too long ago, I just thought it was beginning to look junky and I let several go and just really thought about how much looked good and what needed to go. 

What was left was these 4. I have philodendron, a newer Christmas cactus, a dolphin plant and the spider plant. This leaves one window with nothing and gives Palmer a place to walk to the window. All 4 of these are thriving here. I must admit I don't love the spider plant. It is a bit crazy, but it is so healthy that I am letting it remain. If it gets to doing poorly, I am not sure I will replace it with anything. I will just move one of the others to that window.

That brings the total to 10 and all of those are on the back side of the house. I have one more spot in the house with plants. 

My foyer gets pure Tee hot evening sun. It is home to only 2 plants. It has been home to many others but as I said this past year or so I have just been in a mood to slim them down. I once had a fern in there but it made such a mess. Then I had a very large angel wing begonia. It too was wearing me out with the mess it dropped. 

I was going to just have one in there. IT was the Christmas cactus that I have had for years. You may remember it fell over Christmas before last and broke. It really hasn't been very special since then. It was magnificent before that disastrous fall. It is still one sided and just will not fill out to the other side. I am afraid it will fall over again. If it does I am just going to start over with a new one. 

This one sided plant is messing with my symmetrical loving self. I don't know. 

Anywho...it was really going to be down to 11 and if the spider plant got on my nerves it was going to be 10. I mean after all 10 is still a lot to water.

Then I had these 2 little poinsettias that I bought for a 50 cents each a week before last Christmas at Lowe's. I had them on the table at Christmas and figured they would go ahead and be done. I stuck them up there in the foyer in the pots they came in and waited for the final departure. Those little boogers just kept on going. I decided to put them in a pot since they were outgrowing their original plastic pots. 

They are loving life. They even some new leaves since I took this photo of them. I can't throw them out now.  I do love growing things but I am also just realizing I can't keep up with as much as I once did and I have to have some moderation in things.

I hope to give one more glimpse of decorating in August as I talk about my lack of seasonal decor. My heart is just leaning towards less...NEVER minimalism. I like stuff too much.

I also love seasonal, but I am honestly being more true to me and not being so heavily influenced by all the influencers out there.

One last note to all those that think I have a green thumb. You should see some of the outdoor plants that are just so tired of the hot by this time. You wouldn't think I have a green thumb at all. It is all about light, water and all the right conditions. 

Celebrating and a Little Talk about Houseplants

   I am sharing a family moment that wrapped up January. Tyler turned 33 and the tradition since they married and moved close to us has been gathering at Outback. This year we ordered Outback and brought it to their house. I snapped a few pictures after dinner. There are no posed photos ---just the family as we are sitting around.

Tyler opening his card and don't you just love Lindsay's new cabinet behind the couch where the bookcase was. The bookcase was one Jeff made so Katie and Paul Allen have gotten it.  Lindsay is looking for the perfect picture to go above it.

I sometimes love the captured life photos as much as those posed ones.

Tucker is the center of attention these days and will soon have a brother to share it with. For now though, he is center stage. He was showing off his skills with his remote controlled truck that Uncle Paul Allen gave him for Christmas. He has a new name for Uncle Paul Allen as well. Uncle Pap. He adores Katie and Paul Allen.

The truck is not the tiny thing in front but a larger truck past his mom's feet. He can move it in one direction, but turns the remote upside down to move it backwards. Mimi thinks he is gifted!

Lindsay and Tyler also celebrated their 7th anniversary to ring in the still cold February. We went out and babysat so they could go eat out. IT was a lovely day 7 years ago in early February. This February has caused me to have to make another list to work on in the house because it is way too cold for me. I am complaining and will probably have to be reminded in October when it is hot that I was whining in February. 

This list is some projects that I will share in my next stitching post. 

I am dreaming about gardening so I will talk about indoor gardening. As I said in my last post, the entire Internet is one big advertisement and I was influenced to try my hand at some indoor bulbs this December. I started with paper whites. Many on Instagram for the last couple of years were showing off their paper whites and amaryllis. 

My verdict on paper whites is that they are quite lovely and if I were going to do them again I would need to do them in a very short dish rather than the tall one I used. They were so tall I really didn't have anywhere to put them and of course they fell over which explains why I saw the ribbon tied around them all. I don't think I will do paper whites again. They were lovely and I am glad I tried, but I think I would like just a little poinsettia or some grocery store flowers.

I planted an amaryllis in hopes that it would bring in the new year with a bright coral bloom. 

Does that look coral to you????

It turns out they sent me the wrong one. It was beautiful though. Again, it should have been planted in a shorter pot.

I loved it and am days away from it blooming again. My verdict on this is that again I think for indoors I would rather have a houseplant or some grocery store flowers. I will transplant this one outdoors when it is done though. Mother has a whole row of them in her back yard and they are very pretty.

So that influencing done by all those influencers is over and I will move back to my normal programming.

It is camellia season and I have a couple of camellia bowls around the house.

I have been fluffing my houseplants to survive the changes in light with winter. For those of you who think it is all green thumbs around here. Not so. I am diligent and do have lots of luck in places where there is abundant light like my kitchen. 

My geranium that I brought in for the winter from the back deck is getting leggy and moving up in my fern. I will trim her this week and root some of that tall stuff. Soon she will go back out until September when it gets so hot she is unhappy and I bring her in for a bit. You will notice the amaryllis on the floor getting ready to pop out again.

Cold and cloudy again:(

I nearly lost my Christmas cactus this year. She had gotten too big for her pot and I failed to repot her. She fell over for the second time and the second time really messed her up. I lost a good portion of her -probably half, but she is back in business and I think will live to show off again next Christmas. 

Just another mishap. I had a spider lily in my living room that had begun to really limp. I tried a clay pot rather than the plastic one she was in and she went from bad to worse. Coupled with the loss of light from the Christmas tree blocking her light I put her back in the plastic pot and moved her to my bedroom to either survive or go to the place plants go to die. Oh and I gave her some fertilizer for good measure. Well, she decided to come back. Some new growth is happening in the middle and I think she has found her new happy place. 

A new plant was bought for the living room.  This is my little sunny area where the Christmas tree is placed. 

I have plants in 4 rooms upstairs and the big room downstairs. I don't try to grow them in every room because I am not in every room nor do they have enough light to maintain them. I do love houseplants though.

One other little helpful tidbit. I downloaded the app Overdrive on my phone and now I can listen to books from our public library just like Audible and all for free. Thanks Carol! I also stopped by the library and checked out a large print book for Mother. I am so hoping it will be something she can do. Her eyes bother her so reading has almost been given up by her. She once loved to read like me. 

Thinking about spring,

Sandy

An Update

I am going to share some stitching first and then get into a life update.

I finished the third bird in my plans to stitch three birds. I went in a totally different direction than originally planned. I was planning to choose between the Orioles or the Chickadees. I loved the orioles and felt they were the next prettiest pattern. The thing that took me off that trail was that I don't think I have ever seen an oriole in person. I then was leaning towards the chickadees which I do see here often, but I kept thinking I needed a cardinal to go with them because every single day on my strolls in the neighborhood I can always see a bluejay, mockingbird, and cardinal along with herons. I see others but I see those every single day without fail.

I don't think the cardinal albeit one of absolute most favorite birds is as pretty as the other two I have stitched mostly due to the pattern. It was by the same designer but did seem to be less detailed. The bird is pretty and I did add some outlining to it to define it more.

All in all I am very pleased and look forward to hanging it with the others. It is at the framer's now. 

I also stitched a pattern shared with me by Mary of Stitching Friends. I made a few mistakes but after ripping out the same thing three times I just decided I was over it and would live with it. I have another pattern I would like to stitch to partner this one. I will leave this out for a very long time. I think it is cute and goes with my coastal home.

I don't think the picture does it justice even with its flaws it is quite cute.

Now, for a little life update. Mother now has the shingles. She has had to stay at my house because with keeping Tucker I just could not stay at her house 24/7. I told her she had to come to my house if she was going to take pain medicine. Mother has been sick off and on for almost a year now. It is taking a toll on her. The shingles are awful. She had them many years ago and has had the vaccine, but I think she is just so weak and her immune system is down that she is just facing some tough days. 

I won't go into much detail, but it has been some tough weeks and I am very tired. I don't do well with stress with my Rheumatoid Arthritis so I have a flare going on and am trying really hard to take care of myself too.

I knew I was about ready for someone to stick a fork in me when this past weekend it was birthday celebration time. Jeff and Paul Allen are two days apart in birthdays and for most of Paul Allen's growing up years I insisted that they both have separate parties, but as the kids are now out on their own it is much harder to do so they get a joint party and Lindsay and I get a joint party in September. I have pictures to document every birthday of their lives and for that matter mine and Jeff's too. 

I don't this year. 

My day started off bad when I got up early and made a key lime pie for Jeff and placed it in the hallway refrigerator. Mom had called and needed us to come get her as she was hurting so bad she couldn't stand it. Jeff went to get her and I had literally just placed in the refrigerator when they walked in the door. I went to take care of her and get her some medicine and to bed. I walked back out to get something out of the fridge and out came the pie spilling out RUINED and a huge sticky mess. I sighed and cleaned it up. Jeff had a golfing date with Paul Allen and Tyler so I sent him away knowing he was looking forward to it.

I figured pie was over and I set out to make the planned yellow cake with fudge icing for Paul Allen. I figured I would make Jeff a pie later in the week...move forward, Sandy!

As I turned on the mixer I suppose the butter was not in a good location and stuff flew out of the mixer and made another mess. I really wanted to sit in the floor at this point and cry. 

Hospital stay, days with Mom, and now a Lucille Ball episode playing out in front of me the tears were just about to spill out. I got the cake on and then sat down to watch church. It was Sunday morning. The sermon was wonderful and calmed me down.

I figured Mom was asleep so I made a quick trip to the grocery store to get more limes and made the pie again.

Oh, and if you think the above isn't enough trouble, I had to make a second batch of icing because I put the wrong amount of milk on the first one.

You can really see my worn out spirit by now!!!!!!!!!!

Cake and pie were served with fried fish on Sunday evening and I totally enjoyed my family around the dining room table. It was soothing salve to my soul. 

However, I didn't have mind to take not even one picture of the event or of my boys.

Tyler did snap one of Tucker eating cake and that my friends is the only picture of the day.

You can see why I said I wouldn't be blogging much. Add in the state of affairs in the country and I am just too tired to think let alone do much more.

The one good thing I will post is that Tucker is just adorable and growing and I am enjoying him in spite of the fact that I am fully tired.

God is good and I will get through this and realize I am not alone. Many of my friends are going through this as well. I just want Mom to be ok, and she may bounce back but she is aging and that my friends is a hard pill to swallow. 

Just a few more things....Gus had a June birthday. Only picture I have snapped of him this month...

Lemony feels like I do...pooped.

One last picture.

I took this the other day as it is a favorite spot in the house. I thought it looked like an old 1970s magazine picture of houseplants.

I sent Lindsay and Paul Allen an article from Smithsonian earlier this week that documented highlights of 1968's news mostly to remind them we will get though these crazy times. If not, then "Come, Lord Jesus and soon."

Take care all, 

Sandy

A Little Bit of Everything

I have read all of your comments but I must say I have not been very good about responding. Last week most of those posts were written ahead of time and scheduled, otherwise I would have never gotten that many out in one week. Last week was such a busy week. I think I had somewhere to go for someone else everyday. Even Tucker got tired of not being home. We survived and this week should be a wee bit easier. 

I have been stitching but not nearly as much. I had all these Christmas plans but it just wasn't working so I pulled out something I was going to work on in January. Catherine at I Love to Stitch  gifted me a Quaker Family Registry sampler. My intention is to use the called for colors but make it a personal sampler to go on my wall in the Auburn house. I have the border all done and have started with the flowers. 

I can only stitch in the day on this one right now as the linen is dark as well as the colors and December is just not my fave month with no light so early. Does anyone else want to go to sleep at 6:00? If Christmas wasn't in December I have no idea how I would survive without light. I am a creature who craves sunlight. I actually like winter in some ways because it makes us slow down, but I need more light.

At night, when I am not running around shopping, wrapping gifts, or reading I have stitched on some Christmas ornaments. 

I am in that mode where as I am doing my daily cleaning chores I have to resist moving into my January cleaning out deeply. Seriously, December is not the month for that, but I am ready.

I have read so many inspiring books lately. I ended up reading all three of Emily Ley's books and they have me revved up for 2020.

More on that in just a bit.

I am not doing a Christmas house tour this year, because for the most part nothing is new. I have all the same old stuff out. I will say I have moved some things around so the only pics will be of something different and they will be interspersed in just life posts.

I did put some pine garland and ribbon on the foyer mirror. I have never done that before. It was in my Christmas bins, so nothing new bought.

Across from that my Christmas cactus is starting to really show off.

Not only have I been trying to skip to January's activities when I don't have my Christmas shopping done yet, I have been so reflective lately. I am that by nature, but generally that comes a bit later in the year as well where I think about what worked and what didn't. I always try to improve myself. I always loved that I got two times a year to do this when teaching.... January because it is just the so called beginning of a year, but also summer when I was rethinking the school year. I still sort of find myself thinking new year then as well, but January has definitely stepped up its game in that department.

I noticed that my blog post numbers were way down this year and if I am totally honest I started 2019 thinking I would end the blog in March on my 5th year anniversary. That didn't happen! This year I am thinking I will go to I get a more definitive answer from the Lord to quit. I enjoy the process of writing and documenting the stitching and the housework, but I enjoy reading others as much as anything. 

I don't enjoy other forms of social media. I have never had a Facebook and most likely NEVER will. I try to like Instagram, but it is not the same as a blog.

All that to say, I will be here for now and that feeling has passed.

Onto a lighter subject...

Night view.

Day view.

Lindsay was worried I needed help wrapping presents, but they are all on top of the pool table. Gus, the Springer and wrapped boxes are not a good combination. 

Lemons.

I gathered the remainder of them. I have shared with family and neighbors. I have squeezed and frozen some and now I have a bowl to use for December. I think we gathered nearly 70. 

The weather is perfect today. Typical north Florida weather. Short sleeves one day and long the next. I am not complaining as long as their is sunshine!

That is it for now...

Be back later in the week.

Sandy

The First Daylily

My first daylilies are blooming. I get so excited when they bloom. 

I got pine straw down in most of the beds this weekend. I am trying to wash windows as well. I never really shared the debacle of the house painting story and I really plan to spare you that troublesome story. I basically had to stay after him. Nickel and dime him...by that I mean...I would say if you come and do this much today I will give you this much:) Yep, it was no fun, but the house is painted and it is good. He didn't clean up one thing. Left all of his ladders! I mean that in itself was a ton of money. I gave them to another worker that I figured could use them. Anyway, my windows didn't get cleaned and so it will take me awhile to get them done. At one time I did them regularly with the spray wash and that kept them pretty good, but pollen has really stuck to them this year so I may have to do some actual wiping them down. It is taking me longer.

The weather is really nice so I need to do a few a day while that lasts.

Here are some pretty rose pictures to pick the mood back up.

I am in housekeeping mode this week. I have a ton of tasks to do. How things get so behind I will never know, but last week Lindsay had two late days at work. Hopefully they are the last of them. They have hired some help. That wore me out and Mom was on a trip. I really missed her help:)

Lindsay's friend's baby came home from the hospital. She nows weighs 6 pounds, but she is doing well. Happy to hear that bit of news. Lindsay and Tucker went to see them this weekend. Lindsay said Tucker seemed giant next to her. He is growing and Grammie does love him so much.

I am stitching on two things currently. I should have some patriotic things for summer. I will do some finishing when I finish both of these.

First is my muted blue cottage. I ended up staying with the muted colors. I think I was too far in and I can make it work with the finishing selections.

I pulled an oldie from my stash and am stitching a bunny with a sunflower for use in the summer after the patriotic stuff is put away. I did the sunflower in the pot awhile back.

I am doing it on Aida...such fun stitching.

Oh and my begonias are perking back up after winter. I moved one up front with the Christmas cactus. They both love this spot and are both trying to put out blooms. 

It is fun when you find a magic spot for a plant.

Oh well, that is all for me today.

Enjoy the week,

Sandy