Painting Saturday and Sunday Resting!

Well John and I started painting yesterday morning.  We finally finished at 10:00 last night!  It was a painting marathon for sure!  Here are some of the photos:

 This is the fireplace wall that we painted 2 shades darker than the walls.  We used Valspar's Warm Gingerbread for the fireplace wall.  We used Valspar's Sandpiper for the walls.

The second part of the front hall.

The front hall looking into the Dining Room.

 Looking from the kitchen into the front hall and hall going to the garage.

Living room.

 This is an angel photo we have in the front hall.

Auntie Mae, Canterbury Cupcakes prints in the breakfast room.  These were done by Catherine Holman, a fellow blogger!

 The Living Room looking into the breakfast room.

This is the magnolia blossom painting my Mom did.  We have it hung in the front hall.

John and I needless to say are sore and aching!  We slept in this morning and visited with Jenny, the boys and Megan dropped by too! We had a very nice day!

John and I have had a bummer crop of cucumbers and some tomatoes now out of our garden.

I made cucumber salad and caprese salad for dinner tonight yummy!!

Here is the caprese salad.  I was so, so good!

Friday night we bought a new hummingbird feeder from Lowes.  It is a red bottle with the feeder at the bottom.  I am happy to say I think every hummingbird in the area has found it!!  We had 17 hummingbirds swarming around at one time trying to feed from it!!!

It was a really great weekend!!  Hope everyone had a great one!!

Paint, Paint and more Paint!

John and I decided to take advantage of the $5.00 rebate that Valspar was offering.  We went to Lowe's and bought 2 gallons of paint for the walls of the 2 front halls, hall going to the garage, the living room, eating area and kitchen.  We bought a quart of paint that was 2 shades darker for the fireplace wall.  Here is the fireplace area before it was painted:

Here is the fireplace area after it was painted:

I think it looks awesome!  Tomorrow I will take more pictures. With daylight I think the room will look so great!

Yesterday was my birthday!

Yesterday was my 54th birthday!  I don't feel 54.  Jenny, the grand boys and John came and took me out to lunch.  Work was busy so it was nice to get away for a little bit!  Jenny, Kevin and the boys gave me some beautiful gifts.  See below:

 Jenny and the boys brought me these beautiful dahlias!  I put them in this vase and set them on the counter at home.  Boy do they brighten up the room.  Just gorgeous!!

The grand boys (with help from their Mama) gave me this beautiful plaque.  I will be putting this in my room on my nightstand.  Every night when I get ready for bed, I will think of those sweet darling boys!

Jenny, Kevin and the grand boys also gave me this beautiful white bowl.  I think I'm going to use it to store front in it on the island counter.

Megan and Ken are vacationing in Buffalo, NY visiting Ken's family.  They are taking me out to dinner tomorrow night at a restaurant I haven't been too yet.  My birthday seems to have become birthday week!  What fun!!  I am truly blessed!!

Rose in the front garden.

Today after John and I had lunch with our friend, Robin Paley at Brixx's Pizza we came home and I made the rounds of the garden out front and veggie garden.  I had won a rose two years ago on a blog.  It is called the Maggie Rose.  Very beautiful.  When John and I were renting a house and then moved into an apartment while we were waiting for our house to be done, I kept this little rose that was like a little skinny plant in a container.  I watered it, fed it and when we finally moved into the house and it was Spring time, I planted this lovely little rose in the front garden in front of the stacked stones we have.  This is what I was greeted with this afternoon!!

Isn't it a beauty!!!  I am so glad I nursed that little itty bitty rose along!  How Mother Nature surprises us all the time with her beauty!!

Hope everyone is having a lovely Saturday!!

Owen on the train tracks!

Let me explain the title of my blog.  My daughter Jennifer (Owen's Mama) is a wonderful photographer.  She has been taking pictures as long as I can remember.  Her college professor told her she had a great eye for taking photos.  Well the other day Jenny decided to take Owen to a set of abandoned railroad tracks and do a photo shoot.  Here is some of her handy work:

Owen loves his picture taken as you can see and he was the perfect little model for Jenny!!  Can't wait to see what photos she takes of Jack when he gets older!!

Ladies Night by Mary Kay Andrews

I just finished reading Ladies' Night by Mary Kay Andrews.  What a great book!!!

Review from Goodreads.com:

Take a splash of betrayal, add a few drops of outrage, give a good shake to proper behavior and take a big sip of a cocktail called…Ladies' Night!
Grace Stanton’s life as a rising media star and beloved lifestyle blogger takes a surprising turn when she catches her husband cheating and torpedoes his pricey sports car straight into the family swimming pool.  Grace suddenly finds herself locked out of her palatial home, checking account, and even the blog she has worked so hard to develop in her signature style.  Moving in with her widowed mother, who owns and lives above a rundown beach bar called The Sandbox, is less than ideal.  So is attending court-mandated weekly "divorce recovery" therapy sessions with three other women and one man for whom betrayal seems to be the only commonality.  When their “divorce coach” starts to act suspiciously, they decide to start having their own Wednesday "Ladies' Night" sessions at The Sandbox, and the unanticipated bonds that develop lead the members of the group to try and find closure in ways they never imagined.  Can Grace figure out a new way home and discover how strong she needs to be to get there? 

Heartache, humor, and a little bit of mystery come together in a story about life’s unpredictable twists and turns.  Mary Kay Andrews' Ladies' Night will have you raising a glass and cheering these characters on.

My take on the book:

I just loved the main character, Grace!!  She had a lot to deal with in the book and she did just that she dealt with it!  I really can say I liked all of the characters, they all added their touch to the book.  Well, I really didn't like Callie, Wyatt's wife/exwife.  But her character added to the story.   I don't know why but the whole time I was reading the book I kept thinking Grace's Mom would be played by Sharon Gless from Cagney and Lacey.  

The storyline of the book was really awesome.  I have to give Mary Kay Andrews alot of kudos for her lovely writing in this book.  I always felt like I was right there. 

I would highly recommend this book and I give it five stars *****!! 

Tennis Elbow-OUCH!!!

No I don't play tennis, atleast not for many years, but I do have tennis elbow!  I had my first physical therapy yesterday afternoon and I hope to goodness I can get rid of that!!  It has been determined that I am using my mouse so much at work and for long periods of time that I know have carpal tunnel and tennis elbow!  I wasn't surprised when the hand specialist told me I had carpal tunnel but I was really surprised when he told me I have tennis elbow.  I just thought the pain from the carpal had radiated up my arm.  I don't have to go back to PT for the tennis elbow as long as I do what the therapist said and do my exercises a few times during the day.  You can bet I will do that because it is so hard to schedule all the appts. for PT with my work schedule.

To help the situation I have obtained a new mouse.  I am now using a track ball mouse and where has this wonderful thing been all my computer using life!  I love it!!  I have it really close to the edge of my desk too