Wow!

I was given an award! One of the first blogs I read (lurked on) about pugs was Ragus Pug. She welcomed me when I got the nerve up to try my hand at blogging myself. Now she said the nicest things about my blog and I am very touched! Blogging has been fun and I have really enjoyed getting to know some online friends! I get so inspired when I see things people all over are making and decorating and thrifting! It is great to share with people who like the things you do and to learn new things!

I have been a little out of touch since our vacation. I came home to an empty refrigerator and tons of sewing. After many trips to Kroger, CVS and Walgreens I have gotten my pantry back in order. The sewing is coming along...school starts next week so I'll be able to sew more. The following week begins our big end of summer pool project!

Thanks!

Thanks for all the hints on the mystery flowers! I Googled Surprise Lily and they fit my flowers perfectly. They have many other alias names and one of them is Bare Naked Ladies! We have some day lilies in our yard - the flower is similar but they have leaves. These flowers have nothing but stem and bloom! They grow 4-6 inches a day until they are 20-24 inches tall, then burst into bloom. They last a few days and then die. There is no sign of them until next July. I also learned that some bulbs bloom every other year. I can't remember how many we transplanted but I know there were more than the three that came up this year.

LuLu has won over the dogs. They want to play with her, but she is too small. We only let them be in the same room under close supervision. Seven has not accepted her yet. There is less hissing and more watching (stalking) but again we are not leaving them alone together yet. Here she is showing her hunting skills as she "finds Nemo"!!

I had some requests to show our beach paintings. I haven't found frames for most of them yet. First the boy's work-

And a couple of mine....

Finally to Nevis- it takes us 4 hours and 10 minutes to get to the beach. This is with DH driving and does not include our one stop on the other side of Montgomery at Priester's Pecans. This is a required stop because -1. They have clean bathrooms 2. They give free samples of candy 3. The other food is good 4. You can watch them make candy 5. The gift shop is cute, they often have pug merchandise! I know the exact time so well because we have a family travel tradition. Each person gets a surprise bag if we travel for 1 hour without any fussing. It has been worth every penny to do this for road trips over the years. I make 4 bags for each person (including DH) for a beach trip! I put silly stuff in the bags -gum, socks, puzzles, card games. I collect things whenever I see cheap stuff during the year from thrift stores, yard sales, Dollar Stores so when ever we go more than 2 hours I make up bags!

What Are These?

Does anyone know what these are? They suddenly shoot up in July every year, bloom and die all in a 2 week period. They were out in the yard and some years got mowed down before they were seen. Last year we dug them up and moved them to the patio and forgot about them! They are such a surprise every year and I love them, but I don't know what they are!

Beach Vacation

We had a wonderful vacation at Orange Beach, AL. We've been coming here since youngest son was 1. He took his first steps here. We had all of the kids the first year. As they have grown up, our group of 7 has gone down to 3! The weather was beautiful, even the afternoon thunderstorms are pretty at the beach! We love the balcony views!
We spent our days swimming, biking, running, reading, painting, walking, sewing, shopping and eating! We did spend part of each day at the beach, but the jellyfish were bad most days, so we spent more time at the pool.

Each morning I got up at 6:30 for a beach walk. I spent about an hour looking for shells and taking pictures. Two mornings a heron posed for me. He didn't mind how close I got. Then I would come back, fix breakfast and paint out on the balcony until the boys woke up. It was so relaxing! I painted 5 beach paintings and son painted one. I also had a yo-yo quilt to work on in the peaceful morning.
We ate great seafood and got to take Son #2's Girlfriend out to dinner one night. She is doing an internship at The Wharf. One of the best dinners we had was a picnic at sunset on the beach. We will do that again! We did the "beachy" things at night: putt-putt, crab hunting, night swim, souvenir shopping, arcade, and ice cream.
And a trip to the beach would not be complete for me without a shopping day or two! DH calls Old Time Pottery -"The Mother Ship" because it calls to me! I love a bargain! This year it was Fiesta dinnerware -so cheap, so many bright and cheerful colors, so much temptation....and I gave in!

Orange and blue for Auburn football weekends. And look at that cute quilted table runner and matching napkins!
Red and green for Christmas! They had so much and as always- I wish I bought more! We also got some great deals on teracotta pots, a market umbrella and a cast iron stand. I didn't buy them at first because I was afraid they would break coming home. DH went back with me to look at them and HE (who does not like to go in that store!) ended up with 3 buggies full of bargains! We didn't realize how cheap the pots were until we looked back over the receipt in the car. If we had realized that the pots (we had priced at $13 each here in town) were only $1.79 - then there would have been 5 buggies full!

Introducing LuLu !

We are home from vacation and I took over 300 pictures! I'll get to them another day. The important news is that we have added a baby to the family. She arrived this afternoon. The humans are all in love! The pugs are curious! And the cat is hissing and spitting.... it may take her a while to accept her new sister! She was named after our favorite beach restaurant!

Something New with Cherry Tomatoes !

I found the answer to the cherry tomato abundance! We wanted to eat at LuLu's in Gulf Shores but the wait was 2 hours and they weren't taking any more names ...so they gave us a coupon for a free appetizer the next time we came back! Although I was trying to ignore my "coupon addiction" while on vacation- this was too much temptation! L. A ..Caviar (Lower Alabama Caviar) We didn't think it sounded too good but, it was free. It was WONDERFUL! I mentioned that I had seen Lucy Buffet's Cookbook (Sister of Jimmy and owner of LuLu's) and I wondered if the recipe was in it....

Shortly after that DH went to the restroom and was gone a looooong time! He returned with the cookbook! Sneaky thing had gone to the gift shop! So I'll be studying up on some new recipes as we drive home today! LuLu's is a fun place to eat- lots of activities for the kids of all ages- but go early (or for a late lunch) if you want to get in!

My View of the World Today

Bountiful Harvest

I only have one cherry tomato plant, but it sure is full! I've used them in salads, kabobs, and marinated them. I even fried some sliced green ones! I need some more ideas...... any suggestions? I've never had so many and they are so good! Every year the squirrels and chipmunks eat about half of them -this year they have not touched them. The pugs also love them!

Wordless Wednesday

More Before and After

The pocket doors were a big project. Even the hardware was painted. Why do people do that???Many layers later .....

This is a picture of the pocket doors from the dining room side (future project site) before stripping.

And these are the doors now- from the parlor side.

The next picture is not a before/after. I was trying to get a picture at night with the fireplace turned on. Do you see the flames and coals? It really puts out a lot of heat. It will be wonderful in the winter!

Here we have a picture of the hall on moving day. Notice the Christmas decorations. We moved in March 1st! The house had not been lived in for a year and a half. I guess they thought the Christmas decoration would help sell the house.....it didn't work!
Now the after- a couple of different angles.
Looking toward the back of the house...before.....

And after....
Parlor, sometime in the first month, the dolls, plant, cat and small rocking chair were ours. The other things came with the house - we still have the furniture and lamp. The rug and lace curtains went to the curb ( I love to recycle but trust me- they were too far gone- and they weren't vintage!)

See - the same furniture today!

Happy 4th of July

Before and After

This is just a preview of a post I'm working on. When we moved in the house in 2001 I took some pictures. I did not have a digital camera and many of the pictures are poor. I was in a hurry- just snapping when I remembered. I wish I had done a better job. But I tried scanning a few in so I could try some before and after comparisons! This is the parlor the day we moved in......

This is the parlor 5 minutes ago.....

I think there is improvement! The parlor is 95% done. We still need a light fixture for the ceiling and I am still trying out artwork in different places. More before and after to come...........................

The Grand Finale

Some of our projects are finally done! First the fireplace... the tile came and DH finished the hearth. He installed the insert and it is wonderful. I am so proud of the way he figured all of this out! It is better than my vision of it was!

Next - the paper mache projects made it for the 4th of July! I put the glaze and the ribbons on them and hung them on the feather tree! I really enjoyed working on these. As always, when I worked on them, more ideas popped into my mind! So I have started even more. I forgot to take a picture of the Halloween pug- but, I will be making more of them before Halloween. The stars on the tree are made of Styrofoam stars or tin foil shaped like a star -then covered with paper mache. I will be making more of them, too. I also have started some tiny Uncle Sam's made from a night light bulb. Last year I tried selling some Halloween ornaments on Ebay. It was OK, but I have sold them for more $$$ here in town. I have been thinking about trying Etsy. Maybe sometime in the future.....

Finally - The June Coupon Project!

Today's haul from Walgreen's - value $53.68- spent $7.45 OOP! I did use some money off my gift card, but I will be rebating and adding $10 back on so far for July. I have totaled my spending for groceries and drug store purchases for the month. It was shocking! I have my work cut out for me. I did save 53% overall, which I am proud of, but still I am surprised at the amount I do spend. I hope that the stocking up that I have been doing will even out and now I can maintain this stockpile without buying so much in one month!