Projects & More Projects

It's been busy around our house with Spring projects. How about at your house?



Remember this room? I posted it recently in my exercise post.

I decided to give it a bit of a redo. You see--hubby just officially retired--which means he needed a little get away space to read, study, make calls, watch his sports and take an occasional nap. lol
This chair was not very comfy and a little "girlish" for him. I moved this chair back into our bedroom.

So, I picked out some material and got out the sewing machine and made a few changes.

I got out my paints and brushes and went to work.

I took apart a print we picked out in New Bern, NC when we went sailing there. I needed to change the mat colors. Yes, you can paint your mats. I do it all the time. This was a little difficult since it had been professionally matted but still doable. Just take off the paper on the back very carefully and you can glue it back on.

This is what it looks like semi-put together.

Glue the paper back and screw the wire on.

New gingham checked curtains that are simple to make, new cushion on the hope chest, a couple of throw pillows, and new chair cover and oh--let's not forget the new recliner for sweet hubby. It glides, swivels and reclines. He's in his glory. lol

He gave me that hope chest on my 16th birthday and Ceekay @ Thinkin' of Home would kill me if I got rid of it. She 's a real sentimental gal. (smile)

It's still a multi-purpose room that I use for exercising, sewing, painting or ironing. We rarely are in there at the same time.
lol

We have nautical accents and anything red, white and blue in there.

I had an anchor monogram put on the pillow and tufted the cover with red buttons.


Hubby hasn't had much time to use his chair--- yet. I'm keeping him busy with a list of projects, like the one below.

He just finished scraping all the wrought iron patio furniture and repainting it.

After a couple of years it needs to be done again. It gets those little rust areas or starts to peel.

He really is a hard worker.

There was furniture everywhere. lol He sprayed my hooks, big urn, clock etc.

Today, we were on to another project--the patio. It needed to be cleaned and resealed. What a job. Thankfully we had help. That's for another post.

Hope your week has been a good one!

Pecan Pie Banana Pudding

A few years ago I started making my own custard pudding for a recipe similar to the standard banana pudding recipe --but I have to say I like this one so much better.


Here it is on the stove top. You start with simple ingredients.
Whisk together 3/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 3 1/2 cups milk & 3 egg yolks in medium saucepan until well blended. Bring to boil over medium heat, whisking constantly for 1 minute. Remove from heat and stir in 1/2 tsp. vanilla and 2 Tlb, butter.

Thaw pie at room temp. 2 hrs. and then cut pie into 1/2 inch cubes.

You will need vanilla wafers and 3 bananas.

Spoon one quarter of the custard into a 2 quart trifle dish or bowl. Slice 1 banana and layer over the custard. Top with half of the pecan pic chunks.

Repeat procedure with one quarter custard and 1 banana. Top with vanilla wafers.

Repeat again with one-quarter custard, remaining banana and remaining pie chunks.

Top with remaining with remaining custard. Cover and chill at least two hours.

Top with whipped topping just before serving. Serves 8- 10.

Ejoy!

I'm joining Michael Lee
Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday

Tea Room in AZ

On our last full day in AZ we sent the men to a baseball game and us girls went to the Front Porch Tea Room. My daughter who lives in CA (5 hrs. from Ceekay) came to pick us up and take us back to her home. This gave us an opportunity to go to tea with Ceekay and her grand daughter, Emma.
My two grand daughters were there as well, also an Emma and Olivia.
Front Porch has a cute little shop and the decor was very pretty. This hutch is against one wall. To the far left you can see a white lattice that divides a corner where you can go and pick which tea cup you would like to use that day. The girls thought that was special.
The shop area.

Cute little centerpiece on each table.

Pretty mural on the wall.

It was special to have little Emma with us that day. She lives a bit far from Ceekay.

Isn't she a cutie!

The next few pictures are of the little girls food. They chose hot chocolate to drink.

Olivia chose a pancake shaped like a lady bug. Isn't it too cute!

Little Emma chose P&J.

The scones were so yummy! We could have made a meal of those. lol

Notice all the cute tea pots. We each had our own with a different design.

Here's my sweet Emma. She's very much the young lady now at 10. She's reading Fancy Nancy etiquette books. I got a kick out of seeing her little pinkie out as she drank her hot chocolate. She was thrilled they had a hat to perfectly match her pretty dress.
Sweet Olivia came with her own hat. We all had to borrow from the shop's selection.
The girls had a great time together. It was a great way to end our visit in AZ.
How's your week been going? I hope it's been great thus far.

Until next time.

Everything A Bloomin'

Hi Everyone,

Just as I returned from CA and AZ and thought I would be home for a while to get Spring projects done, the unexpected happened.

We got a call from my hubby's family in MI and one of his sisters was taken to the hospital. She was having trouble breathing and was admitted. It took a couple of days for the diagnosis of Pulmonary Fibrosis and 5 days later the Lord called her home. We were in shock! WE have been in MI for a little over a week spending precious time with his family and mine.

Life is short and the unexpected happens. We know not the hour or the day that our life may end but I'm thankful that I know the one who holds my future in his hand. God is in control and his grace is sufficient to get us through the trials.

We missed some of the blooming in SC but not all! It's soooooo good to be home! It was cold and rainy in MI for most of time we were there. We even saw snow flurries one morning. (Yuk!) I think we had two sunny days---that's it!

This time of year is beautiful in the Carolina's. We have so many flowering trees and shrubs. This is a tree in our backyard. The color is so vibrant. We have a couple of Autumn Blooming Cherry trees in the backyard, too.

Our tulips and pansies are so colorful in the front yard.

This is a Japanese Tulip tree in our front yard. It's so pretty when it blooms but doesn't last long. It didn't help that we had a storm with hail last week. That knocked a lot of blooms off.

I hope your week will be a happy one.

I have a quick question for any one out there. I don't know why my widgets moved down to the bottom of my page instead of on the side like I've had them forever. Any one know to change them back? Any help is appreciated! Thanks!

Weekend Fun With The Grandkids

Saturday we babysat while Sarah went to get her hair highlighted. That takes at least 3 hours so we had lots of time to occupy a 3 & 1 yr. old.
We took a long walk around the neighborhood, went to the play area, and played in the backyard for a while. After Lunch the baby went down for a nap and Jonas, Papa and I colored eggs.
He's patiently waiting for the dye to work. It was a little difficult cuz his mom brought brown eggs. lol The dye finally did it's job. He got some blue and red on his hands and when his mom got home he told her his hands died. lol After laughing I corrected him and told him to tell her they got dyed.

Here's a few pictures of Easter morning. They looked so cute I had to share.

They like to hug each other. He's pretty protective of her.

She thinks he's so funny!

One of her serious moments.

I hope you had a wonderful Easter with family and friends!

The Tea Room

While at Ceekay's in AZ we made a point of going to The Front Porch Tea Room.


My daughter, Andrea