Major jewelry making today!

I am happy to say I've made 7 pairs of earrings today! I made them in all different colors of green-kind of a St. Patrick's Day theme! I posted them on my etsy site if anyone is interested.

Off to make dinner for John and I! He will finally be off from work tonight!!

A little of this and a little of that this weekend

This weekend I have a list of things I want to get done. First I need to clean 3 closets (1 clothes closet and 2 guest room closets). I also would like to read one of the books I am reviewing. Saturday or Sunday I will be creating some more jewelry to put on my etsy site. I will probably make some green gemstone earrings in honor of St. Patrick's Day, which is next month. Saturday night I'll be going over to Megan's (Jenny will be there too) and visit with them for a little while. I also want to clean up the courtyard a little. I have plants that need to be cut back and some that need to be thrown away. I also need to bring out all my Beleek china to decorate for St. Patrick's Day. None of these things should take too long, but it will be enough to keep me busy all weekend!

Everyone have a good one!

Look Again by Lisa Scottoline

I have been asked to review this book. Here is what a review on amazon.com said:

Ellen Gleeson was balancing life as a single mother and a feature reporter as well as could be expected. She had taken on single parenthood voluntarily, having fallen in love with her adopted son, Will, now three, when he was a very sick infant. A have-you-seen-this-child postcard featuring a child who could be Will’s twin catches Ellen’s attention, and while she should be pursuing her assigned story about the emotional effect of Philadelphia’s high teenage murder rate, she instead becomes obsessed with the missing child and with pursuing more details about Will’s background. Her questions multiply when she learns that, just three weeks after she adopted Will, the attorney who handled the proceedings killed herself. Where is the birth mother, and why doesn’t her family seem to know that she was pregnant? The answer only leads to danger, but Ellen, her reporter’s instincts on high alert, is hell-bent on finding the truth, no matter the cost. In a departure from her wildly popular Rosato & Associates series, Scottoline still sticks to what she knows in this taut stand-alone: female drama, family ties, legal intrigue, and fast-paced action. A sure-fire winner.

When I'm done with the book, I'll let you know what I thought. Have a great day everyone!

St. Patrick's Day Wreath

I was looking on-line tonight for some St. Patrick's Day decorating ideas and I came across this wreath. That reminds me I have a green-themed wreath packed away some where. I need to find it and hang it on the front door. I also have to get my Beleek China collection out and decorate with that. John, my husband is 100% Irish decent so we really need to be very festive for this holiday!

It's Raining Cats and Dogs here today!

It is raining cats and dogs here today. Don't you just love that old saying!! My Grandmother always used to say that and so did alot of my older relatives. I was curious as to how that phrase originated so I went to google.com and looked it up. Here are some things I found on there:

It comes from mythology. Witches, who often took the form of their familiars - cats, are supposed to have ridden the wind. Dogs and wolves were attendants to Odin, the god of storms and sailors associated them with rain. Well, some evidence would be nice. There doesn’t appear to be any to support this notion.


Cats and dogs were supposed to be washed from roofs during heavy weather. This is a widely repeated tale. It got a lease of life with the message "Life in the 1500s", which began circulating on the Internet in 1999. Here’s the relevant part of that:

I’ll describe their houses a little. You’ve heard of thatch roofs, well that’s all they were. Thick straw, piled high, with no wood underneath. They were the only place for the little animals to get warm. So all the pets; dogs, cats and other small animals, mice, rats, bugs, all lived in the roof. When it rained it became slippery so sometimes the animals would slip and fall off the roof. Thus the saying, "it’s raining cats and dogs."

This is nonsense of course. It hardly needs debunking, but, lest there be any doubt...

Dogs lived in thatched roofs? No, of course they didn’t. Even accepting that mad idea, for them to have slipped off when it rained they would have needed to be on the outside - hardly the place an animal would head for to shelter from bad weather.


The phrase is supposed to have originated in England in the 17th century when city streets were filthy and heavy rain would occasionally carry along dead animals.

The idea that seeing dead cats and dogs floating by in storms would cause people to coin this phrase is just about believable. People may not have actually thought the animals had come from the sky, but might have made up the phrase to suit the occasion.


Another suggestion is that it comes from a version of the French word, catadoupe, meaning waterfall.

Well, again. No evidence. If the phrase were ’raining cats’ or if there also existed a French word, dogadoupe we might be going somewhere with this one. As there isn’t let’s pass this by.

Hope you enjoyed this little bit of knowledge! Have a great day!

Walking today on the Greenway

Today the temp in Charlotte hit 68 degrees!! It was absolutely beautiful! John and I have been talking about walking on the Greenway down the road. We've never gone and thought today would be a wonderful day to go there. We were going to bring Teddy but John had just given him a bath and he was still wet. Next time we'll bring him. It was a great day! Here are a few pictures I took.


Here's John at the beginning of the greenway.


We walked this greenway path for about 3 miles. There were so many people on there today because of the beautiful weather.



If you look really close in the middle of the picture towards the back there is a male and female mallard. You almost missed seeing them they were so quiet.

John and I will have to go there more often and bring Teddy the next time!

Valentine's Day the movie

Megan, our friend Tara and myself went to dinner at JoJo's China Bistro and then we went to see Valentine's Day the movie. Dinner was wonderful and the movie was wonderful too! There were so many stars in this movie and the story lines were really nice. I give this movie **** out of five stars! This movie makes you feel warm and fuzzy all over!!

Thoughts and Prayers for John!

UPDATE: John had a very good interview today and the headhunter is lining up 2 interviews for him! Please keep your fingers crossed! Thanks for all the prayers and thoughts!


Today John is in Atlanta on a job interview. The actual job is in Duluth, GA. One good thing is the job is in his field of title insurance. I'm sure he will have to go back for another interview after this one-I just hope and pray this one goes well!

Thanks everyone!

Thoughts of Ireland

With St. Patrick's Day coming next month it made me think of my trip to Ireland with John in 2004. We celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary in Ireland for 11 days and it was the trip of a lifetime! All of Ireland was beautiful! I especially loved touring the Waterford factory and the Beleek factory. We also went to Jerpoint Studios where they blow glass. I bought alot of things there but my favorite is a paperweight which has green and blue swirls throughout it-just gorgeous! The people in Ireland were so friendly and nice to us. We also got to spend 3 days with our friends in Ballyliffin and 1 of those days we went to their house in Derry! Paddy Ann and her family opened their home, lives and family to us and we will never forget their generosity, friendship, kindness and time with them! It was definitely a magical time for John and I!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day Everyone! John and I slept in today and then I made a really nice breakfast for us! We just took it easy for most of the day and then we took a drive. We decided to pick up a pizza for dinner and now we are watching the Olympics! What a nice day spent together! Love you sweetie!!

Charlotte had snow today!!

The weather fibbers were somewhat right about the snow we received today in Charlotte! We have a few inches of snow-everything looks so clean and sparkly! I took some pictures before it got dark tonight. Enjoy your stroll through our yard!


Watch your step! The snow is coming down and it's icy!



My poor camellia is now shrouded in snow! It does look pretty though.


The birdfeeder my Dad made looks like a huge cupcake!


I guess we won't be having a picnic any time soon!


I just love snowflakes and I was able to capture some here! Tomorrow I want to go out when the sun is out and take some more.

That's the end of the snow tour tonight. There will be more to follow tomorrow!

Wonderful, wonderful giveaway!

Sarah over at http://www.britgalusa.com/ is celebrating her 2nd Blogiversary! She is hosting a wonderful giveaway, so check it out! Again, congrats Sarah!!

Valentine's Day is almost here!

Heidi over on Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly (http://foxglovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com/) had a St. Valentine's Day Swap. I got a wonderful Valentine's Box from Marti my giftgiver!! In the box of many goodies was a Love banner. I have taken a few pictures (see below) of this beautiful creation of hers. I just love it and have hung it from my fireplace mantel! The pink glittery letters add just enough sparkle in my living room. I love Victorian things and Marti was so thoughtful when she made this banner to include all Victorian items behind and on the letters. Thanks Marti!! She also sent me a red mug with a box of my favorite tea (Celestial Seasonings Madacasgar Vanilla Red), a wonderful Valentine Tree. You take tree branches and make a tree and she included lovely red hearts made of paper to hang on the tree, glittery gold snowflakes and little white angels with glittery wings! Can't wait to make it and put it on the little cupboard in my eating area of the kitchen! These swaps are so fun and I also thank Heidi for having them!

Miro Spanish Grille

Last night Megan and Ken took John and I to Miro Spanish Grille. John and I had gone to this restaurant about 2 yrs. ago and it was fantastic! Last night was no exception-the food there is just superb!! I had a dish that was made with fresh grilled sweet red and green peppers, sauteed onions, vine ripe tomatoes and the biggest shrimp I have ever seen without them being prawns! Megan had paella, which was wonderful she said, John had grilled scallops and they were huge, and Ken had pork tenderloin, which was fabulous also! Ken had flan for dessert and Megan, John and I had Tres Leche Cake, which was like eating a slice of heaven!! We had such a wonderful night. We then went back to our house and Ken converted our computer over from business class to home class. Megan and I chatted while the boys were upstairs doing the computer things. It was such a wonderful evening, which I always treasure with one or all of my children! Thanks Megan and Ken!!

You all make me smile!

I just want to take the time to thank each and every one of you for all the support, smiles, hugs and prayers that you have give me and my family over the past few months/year! As most of you know John and I have had a very trying year (well a little over a year) with the house, selling, moving, Jenny's miscarriages, John looking for new employment and shaky issues coming up with my job. I have never met (well over the internet) a more caring, lovable group than all of you who stop by my blog everyday or every few days! Each one of you are special joys in my life and I am truly grateful for all of you. Sometimes I think everyone is so busy that they don't take the time to thank people as much as they should and that is why I wanted to tell y'all how much you mean to me!

I hope y'all have a wonderful day and I'm sending all of you cyberhugs!! Enjoy your day!

The ice is melting-love the sunshine!

Well the sun is out and it is shining brightly and melting the ice we had! I thought the dusting of snow (we only received 1") was pretty but the ice was scary! I don't mind a little bit of snow because you can control walking and driving on it, but ice is a whole different story. I had to be careful driving to work this morning because of black ice. All the schools were closed today here, which made driving to work much more enjoyable. I left later than I usually do to, took my time but still managed to be to work 15 mins. early! We are suppose to get some really nasty weather again, but hopefully the weather fibbers will be wrong.

I hope anyone who has snow or ice in their area is warm, safe and having a great day!