Easier than easy Fountain

This is by far the easiest fountain you will ever find.

And if there is a word that means easier than easy, it would be that too.

Once I ordered mine from Overstock and it arrived, all I had to do was place it across a container of water and plug it in.

The container I used is an old concrete water trough our daughters used many years ago to water their lambs for 4H.

(Just make sure you measure the diameter of your container before ordering.)

Here is the link.

Enjoy!

***

Linking to Fertilizer Friday at Tootsie Time.

PS. I know the extreme cold weather has kept us all from starting our spring gardens, but we can plan, right?

Putting things by

Something deep in my DNA responds to any opportunity or thought  of

‘putting things by’.


So when freezing temperatures threatened this weekend,

my husband and I picked the remaining ripe navel oranges off the tree in our backyard.

 

We have been eating them from this basket on our kitchen counter all weekend long .

Have you ever had a sweet, tree- ripened orange?

It is one of life’s great pleasures.

 

***

Linking to:

Motivate Me Monday-Keeping it Simple

Masterpiece Monday-Boogieboard Cottage

Anything Blue Friday

Early Gardening Tasks

Yes, I have a list of garden tasks,

which I am nonchalantly trying to incorporate into conversations with my unsuspecting/suspicious husband,

as in:

Me:  “Hmmm. Who do you think will win the Super Bowl, and we really need to clean out and seal all of the fountains.”

Him:  silence…

Next on my list?

Re-attaching St. Francis’s head to his body.


This St. Francis (above photo) is very special to me.

On a long trip home from San Miguel de Allende

many years ago, my friend Fran helped me get this concrete statue home.


And lastly?

Figuring out what all of these garden bloggers, who have beautiful flower beds, mean

when they refer to it all

as carefree gardening.

***

Linking to Wow Us Wednesday

Dear Daughters: My Un-Word of the year

Dear Daughters,

A very wise friend said the following to me recently,

after I re-hashed my usual laundry list of worries:


”Everything your adult daughters will learn about life and living,

from this point forward,

will NOT be from you.”


The need to teach and tell, to dig up ‘when I was your age’ anecdotes,

to tell it like it is,

balked.


”But I am a teacher, I am their mother, there are things I KNOW!”

”I have to tell them what I think!”


And then something broke loose-
and not because of my willingness for goodness sake.

I am, after all, the Queen of Balkers.

No, it was God again-

up in the sky with his jackhammer of help.

And as is always the case, with God’s jackhammer and the breaking loose of old habits and ideas comes understanding.

We all (including you, my adult daughters) have our OWN right to know.


So, my un-word for 2014, lived to the best of my ability, is to Un-Know.

I love you-

Have a great week,

Mom

 

***

Linking to LifeinGrace

 

 

One King’s Lane Home Décor Source

 

In order for a chair in my home to make the statement I want it to make,

it needs to send a message to all ‘sitters’ who approach:


” My owner likes classic, traditional comfort, with a little quirkiness thrown in, and I have to hold my own in a room filled with other things she loves.”

This small scale wingback chair, which I re-upholstered in a tiny leopard print chenille, does just that. 

Recently I was asked by a representative of One King’s Lane to select my favorite statement chair

and help, along with other bloggers, introduce a wonderful new resource on their site:

One King's Lane Home Decor Resource .

Everything you ever wanted to know about the style, period, or history of a piece of furniture

you have or are researching to buy can be found there.

The site is both informative and inspiring, with the added bonus

that it is so much fun to treasure hunt and see what period pieces you have.

Learning to Knit is like pulling a U Haul Trailer

Remember SAT exam vocabulary analogies?

As in hot is to cold as _____ is to _____.


Well, learning to knit for me is like driving a U Haul trailer.

I can only go straight.

I am currently knitting a scarf for the roof of my house.



I had a wonderful tutorial from my dear friend Nancy at Nancy’s Notes ,

I have watched a zillion YouTube videos while muttering “you’ve got to be kidding…”

and I have books, lots and lots of books.


I have interviewed (held hostage) a stranger in the yarn aisle of WalMart,

and I have bought all sorts of supplies, which I have decided is my favorite part.

I love collecting supplies.

(Help!)

 

High Hopes Gardening

 

I am a high hopes gardener.

When I coined that phrase in my thinking this afternoon, I immediately wanted to name everything High Hopes.

High Hopes seed purchases-

and High Hopes planning.


In fact, as gardening season begins soon, I am naming all of my raised beds High Hopes.

Do you have high hopes for this season’s gardening?

Remember this song?

Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can’t
Move a rubber tree plant
But he's got high hopes, he's got high hopes
He’s got high apple pie, in the sky hopes

***

Linking to Be Inspired Friday

Flea Market Finds

If not for the flea market and other houses of treasure, life would feel just a little dim.

I know some of you agree.

There’s just nothing like it.


When Hauler 2 pulls into the parking lot of one of my favorite flea markets,

at around 7:30 am,

with my cup of Chick Fil A coffee and my cart,

I feel like Christopher Columbus and Amelia Earhart all rolled into one.

And then I start to smile and relax.


It is the hunt.

It is the possibility in it all.

It is the unknown.

It is the greetings of the vendors as I walk by ( “Buenas dias, senora”).

It is the fun.

***

Sources for the photo above:  L-R

***

purple flower in white ceramic vase- flea market

pair of blue and white ginger jar vases- Ross

brass conch shell- flea market

David bust, spray painted white-  Basket Alley, Laredo, Texas

brass lamp- flea market

black lampshade- Lowe’s

Carolyne Roehm’s A Passion for Blue and White- a gift from my daughter Katherine

House and Garden Best in Decoration- Half Price Books, Dallas, Texas

small buffet- flea market

***

Linking to:

Inspire Me Tuesday

You're Gonna Love it Tuesday

My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia - Tuesdays Treasures

WOW Us Wednesday

 

Thrifting Respect

In flea ‘marketeering’ as I like to call it,

there is always a story.


I met this painting, propped on the ground, leaning up against an 18 wheeler

at the flea market.


The seller was sitting on the tailgate of her truck,

swinging her legs,

laughing with her friends.

It was a beautiful Saturday morning.


She smiled and asked me why I wasn’t there the previous Saturday.

I explained about a visit to see my grandsons.


”Ah….yes..”, she said.

We had a moment of mutual understanding about the need to see our grandchildren.


And then it was time for business.


After a moment or two of silence, as I pondered the price,

I paid her full price.


$25.00


Why?

Because the painting is lovely- especially above my cream colored couch and its olive green velvet pillows.

Because she found it and hauled it from Tulsa to the end of Texas.


Because thrifting , like everything else in life is about mutual respect.  

***

Linking to:

Thrifty Life Thursday at Revisionary Life

Vintage Thingy Thursday

Fabulously Creative Friday

Feathered Nest Friday

Be Inspired Friday

 

Discontinued But Not forgotten

my Christmas china, Mikasa Christmas Garden (discontinued)


As I packed away my Christmas china for another year ,

it dawned on me that

other than my husband, children, and grandchildren,

many of the things I love in life have been

discontinued- including my Christmas china.


Then on the heels of that thought ,

I laughed out loud because that means

I may be old enough to be discontinued too.



Just a few things (in no particular order) I have loved that are now gone:

*Franciscan Platinum Renaissance China

*Trucco Blood Red lipstick (the perfect red)

*Merle Norman Rose Gold eyeshadow (the perfect rose gold eyeshadow for highlighting)

*Merle Norman Coffee Mist eyeshadow (the perfect charcoal eyeshadow)

*ice cold RC Cola at my grandmother’s store in Ricardo,Texas

and

* Revlon nail polish color in Dusk


What’s on your favorite discontinued list?

***

Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesday

A Few Spring Gardening Plans

Yes, it is in the low 40’s here- (which probably sounds tropical to many of you),

but I am planning my spring gardening lists.


In fact, I highly recommend sitting by the fire,

drinking hot chocolate,

in a leopard velour robe and black socks,

watching the DVR’d season 4 premiere of Downton Abbey,

while you plan your 2014 gardens.


I did just that today.

I also had this library book on gardening by Margaret Roach to keep me company.

And after a shopping trip to Sam’s last week, I now have 120 caladium bulbs.

120…

Oh dear.

And then there’s the zinnia seed packets to buy and the tomato plants to find.


I may have to get out of my chair.

***

Linking to:

Tweak it Tuesday

and

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

 

Dear Daughters: Keep Marchin

Raphael Saadiq

Dear Daughters,
In the midst of what I like to call the in between time-
from the frenzy of Christmas to the hope a new year brings-
I believe there is special creativity we all have within us,  not often discussed.

It is the soul/heart's creativity in facing the challenges life brings.


In days' past, to tackle these challenges ‘creatively’,  

I think women worked hard physically seeking ease: 
in their gardens, scrubbing a floor, tending their children.



May I suggest an alternative?

When as Raphael Saadiq says, “…there’s nothing you can do and nothing you can say…”,
pick an anthem, set your worries to music, and Keep Marchin.


Happy New Year! 

Love,Mom

PS.  My new word for 2014 is LEARN-
complete with a new notebook, package of medium point black ink BIC pens, and colored markers.