hellooo ~ this & that

Hello and happy July! I recently finished repainting the little table on the porch. I've this table for at least 30 years - a cast off from a neighbor. It's been several colors. The last few years it was yellow and it was fading and peeling. I was tired of the yellow anyway.

The Chicago area has been hit hard with the smoke from the Canada wildfires. I took this photo last week, when the sun was trying to peek out through the haze right before sunset. That was the day we had the worst air quality in the world.

My little veggie garden is doing great. There's two tomato plants on the left, then red onions, and purple beauty bell pepper. 

Exciting to see the first fruits.

This beautiful purple flowered perennial has turned out to be one of my favorites. It's in the geranium family (geranium pratense); more commonly known as Meadow Cranesbill. I purchased this plant at least 25 years ago with my then next-door neighbor, Thanam. She had recently moved here from Malaysia and didn't have a car. I took her to the garden center with me and we each bought one of these plants. For some reason, she thought the name of this plant was Heavenly Death. That's what she always called it. Did it have that name on the plant tag? I don't remember. I've Googled to see if any variety of Meadow Cranesbill has this name and don't come up with anything. But to this day, I still call this plant Heavenly Death because of Thanam. It reminds me of her. (She moved back to Malaysia 20 years ago.) 

Another interesting thing about this perennial is that it's been moved several times and has always done well. It loves where it is now, nestled in-between coral bells. It gets a nice mixture of sun and shade.

Our new(ish) next door neighbor never did cut down the mulberry tree like he told us he was going to. We even left him a nice note on his gate last month, offering once again to help him pay for having the tree cut down and to let us know if he needed any help finding a tree trimming service. We left our phone numbers and also told him he was welcome to stop by and talk to us. Never heard from him. *sigh*  

So, you guessed it, we're once again having to deal with millions of mushy mulberries falling all over our patio, in the hostas, and all the other plants that run along the privacy fence ~ not to mention the walking path to the patio and in all the fresh mulch we lay down in the spring. We haven't been able to use our patio in for three weeks, so far. And when the mulberries are done falling, Brian will then have to power wash the patio to get all the stains off. Have I ever said how much I hate this tree? 😜

INDOORS:

I got tired of looking at this squished space in "my" room. (I never know what to call this space. I have several names for it: Phil's room {used to be my son, Phil's bedroom}, the guest room, my room, my office.) 

I cleared the space out, including the bookcase so I could move it.

I started by moving the bookcase underneath the mirror. Clementine immediately took up residency on the chair moved to the side. I stashed my yoga and exercise equipment into a basket in the corner.

In this view, you can see the opening to the room, as well as how the wall next to the door juts out, creating a little nook next to the bookcase. 

I decided I didn't like the basket of exercise equipment in the corner. The corner needed some height. So I moved the exercise stuff into a smaller basket, tucked the yoga mat and bolster next to the other side of the bookcase (as seen in photo above), and put a stool with a plant on it in the corner.

Took the framed cat art print from the kitchen and moved it to this wall. 

I think this space looks much better now. Less cramped.

The white chair got moved into the living room across from the couch. The chair has become Clementine's new favorite napping spot. Funny, because she rarely napped on it when it was in "my" room.

For those of you in the US, have a happy and safe 4th of July. (Clementine doesn't like fireworks ~ and neither do I.)

spring amazements and a big project

This weekend, I went to one of my favorite local garden centers to look around. When I walked into this greenhouse, I stopped in my tracks and smiled. One thing's for sure: When you live in an area that has long, cold, gray winters, it sure makes you happy to see color and flowers again.

I didn't rush and buy any flowers yet though as I knew I wouldn't be able to plant them this week. And right now, all I want to plant is some pansies and they were overpriced at this garden center.

What I did buy? ONE succulent.

Remember the vintage planter I got a couple of weekends ago at an antique shop?
It was calling for a succulent.

If you're wondering about the piece of art in the background...that's a metal and wood plaque by the contemporary American artist, Nancy Thomas. I found it in Goodwill many years ago.

I am amazed by what is blooming or coming out of the ground every day. One day the hostas were barely poking out of the ground and two days later, the leaves were already unfurling.

Today I was walking around my yard and I found these beautiful daffodils in bloom. A couple of days ago, they were merely green stalks.

And rhubarb! That appeared practically overnight, too.

 I had physical therapy this morning (and oh, by the way, I saw the orthopedic dr yesterday for my six week checkup and he didn't like how my knee and leg are still swollen...so I started a prescription anti-inflammatory that will hopefully get that swelling down...and lucky me got another month of PT tacked onto my schedule, too), and this afternoon decided to start a big project.

As most of you know, I'm an avid reader and love my book collection. I have books in every room of my home except for the bathrooms. Downstairs in my family room, I have three big bookcases and two small ones. I also have big wicker baskets full of books because I have no more room left in the bookcases. Well, I decided to tackle the books today. Monkey was absolutely thrilled by this prospect.

I started with the first bookcase and cleared off the half the shelves, starting at the bottom. I carried those approximately 150 books upstairs (lots of trips) and piled them on the kitchen table. I looked up each book on amazon to see the average reader review. Anything less than four stars, I didn't keep it. After that, I decided which ones to list on paperbackswap and which ones to donate to my local library for their Friends of the Library book sale.

I ended up listing 44 books on paperback swap and bagging up another 47 to donate to the library. The remainder were the ones I kept.

Look - I already have empty bookshelves! My goal is to finish this first bookshelf by this weekend. I have a loong way to go, but this is a start.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter - if I don't talk to you all by Sunday!

sunlight streams in

 My view out the front door this morning...the sky finally had some blue to it (instead of all gray) and the sun was trying to break up the clouds.

And it was warm! Well, for this time of year in a northern climate, anyway. It got up to 50 degrees F -  twenty degrees higher than normal. Brian and I enjoyed a walk around the neighborhood wearing hoodies instead of heavy winter coats, hats and gloves. I kept the kitchen window open most of the day. Felt so good to have fresh air in the house once again.

I love the way the late fall and winter sun streams into the room that used to be my son, Phil's room - which is now my girly room. I was thinking today how I'd like to replace that red chair with either a daybed or love seat, but that would require more rearranging. I'd have to find another place for the butler's table - and space is limited in my small house. You see, the red chair looks cozy and comfortable, but it's not. It's too worn and squishy. It feels okay at first, but then you realize your back hurts because there's no support. So we never sit in here. It's a good spot for the cats to nap though. They don't mind squishy. ;-)

I keep most of my cookbooks in here, novels, journals, art and scrapbooking supplies, yoga materials, plants, a bulletin board and personal tchotchkes. I honestly don't spend a lot of time in here. I do yoga in here and sometimes paperwork or light crafting at the desk, but that's about it. Oh - Brian hung the bird picture above the red chair for me today. I found it at an antique shop for just $6 a couple of months ago. I had some other stuff on that wall that I ended up taking down, so I had to patch up nail holes and touch-up paint in areas. I forgot to take a close-up photo of the bird picture today while I was photographing the room, so I'll have to show it to you in a future post.

Going around the room...

On this side, here's our family photo (taken on Phil's 21st birthday, two months before he passed away), Phil's memory shelf, plants, bookcase and yoga mats.

To the right is the closet. I took the doors off so that I can keep my stacking bins of scrapbooking and art materials in there and have easy access to them. It's also the closet where I keep all of my hoodies and cardigans. This house doesn't have any walk-in closets; just small standard-sized closets. With Brian and I sharing the master bedroom closet, I get this extra closet for some of my clothes and Brian uses the closet in Tim's room/the guest for his overflow.

Wishing you unexpected sunshine...have a happy weekend!

starting with the living room

 Thank you, everyone for the get well wishes. That nasty respiratory flu bug lasted

"only" four days ~ which isn't bad for the flu, I suppose. But those four days were the

sickest I've been in many years. There wasn't much I could do except rely on good

old-fashioned home remedies (sipping warm water with raw honey and fresh lemon;

steaming my face over a pot of water with tea tree oil in it) and upping my dosages

of vitamins C and D3 and Allibiotic (a mixture of elderberry, olive leaf extract, garlic,

oregano oil and rosemary oil). I don't like to take anything "over-the-counter"....

I prefer to use natural ingredients whenever possible. I find most of that OTC stuff makes

me wired and sets my heart to racing anyway.

So now that I'm well, I've been working on rearranging and organizing some rooms.

It's frigidly cold here (below zero temps), so what better time than to start indoor

 organization projects? I have so much to work on, but I started with the living room. 

Remember how the black ladder bookcase used to be on the other side of the living room

 with vintage suitcases and plants stacked next to it? I moved it to this wall where the 

buffet used to be. I think it looks so much better over here - really opens this space up. 

That buffet is so big and cumbersome that it took up that entire space and crowded out the couch.  

Brian moved the buffet for me to where the black ladder bookcase used to be. (Side

note: my mom said this spring she wants to teach me how to re-do the buffet. I'd like

to paint it flat black and leave the top with the mahogany finish, but fixed up and varnished.)

In other words, I traded places with these two pieces of furniture. Now the two big

things are deciding what to hang above the buffet (art work? floating shelves?) and

deciding what to finally do with that darn fireplace wall!

 

I had ordered a large white moulded floating shelf to go on the fireplace wall

and I was going to put corbels under it - kind of like a faux mantletop. After waiting

six weeks for the shelf and some shipping mishaps, I finally got the shelf. It was damaged

in three places, one of which was a deep crack. Totally unacceptable. I wrote to the company

and asked for my money back - which they gave me. And they didn't even want the 

shelf back! In the meantime, I found a carpenter who does custom wood working and

sent him some pictures of what we're looking for as far as a simple mantle. He's working

up a quote for us. I am hoping that it's not too expensive. After living in this house for almost

26 years, I think it's about time we finally get this fireplace wall finished the way it should've

been in the first place! It's always been a matter of finances though.

 I moved the vintage suitcases and plants in front of the window - another thorn-in-my

side area. I hate that fake plastic brown molding around the windows. I don't want to

replace it with white molding until we get new windows. So I'm thinking this spring that

I will just prime and paint the molding white. I also desperately need new curtains. I

have tried several pairs and nothing has looked "just right". I was looking at curtains online

yesterday and found these from World Market. I think I may order them.

 Today, I'm tackling the kitchen. Cleaning out the junk drawer, the baking cabinet,

the food pantry cabinet, and the freezer. Organizing my cookbooks and redoing

the inside of the china cabinet. What organizational projects are you working on

this January?

 

inspiration from friends: a shadow box and glass bottles

 Inspired by a shadow box display next to a door at a friend's house, I decided to try

somewhat of the same thing at my house. My friend had several shadow boxes, but I only

 have one. I took down the piece of artwork I had by the door and put up the shadow

box. Turns out I like the display itself, but not the location. Good thing I used 3M 

Command strips and not nails!

 The piece of artwork that I had taken down was this metal bird piece on the left. Again, 

not crazy about the new location, but that's OK...you can play around with moving artwork 

on the walls when nail holes aren't involved. 

Notice anything different on the top shelf of the bookcase?

 I'm always inspired by the fun decor at Art and Sand. I love her collection of glass

bottles and how she hangs tags and charms from them. I found wire-wrapped flowers

and vintage keys in my stash of home decor and used those to decorate my bottles.

I used a lone glass bottle as a bookend on the second shelf. 

 

I love the cover of this Birdsong book. I found the book at Savers and bought it

for the beautiful artwork on the cover. 

I hope you find joy and inspiration all around you and carry it home with you, too. 

Partying with Green Willow Pond ~ What We Accomplished Wednesday. 

 

weekend visits with family and monday business

 Hello, friends ~ how was your weekend? It sure was good to see Tim this past

Friday. We helped him with his taxes, took him grocery shopping and for a haircut,

then went out to dinner at a 50's-style burger place. I also brought him a bunch

of frozen meals. When I cook dinner at home, I package up the leftovers in freezer

bags or containers and then take the whole lot to Tim's place when we visit. He's

not a cook, so he appreciates some good home cooking. I enjoyed seeing some of

the projects Tim's been working on in school, including pinhole photography and 

print-making. He's a really talented artist and photographer ~ can't wait to see where

it all takes him someday.

 On Saturday, I spent the day with my mom. I helped her with some decorating

ideas, then we went to a thrift shop (didn't find anything) and went out to lunch.

Mom has a lovely house and it's decorated so pretty, but she likes when I help

her with organizing and rearranging - my strong suits. Here's one of her

bookcases in the family room. Books and decor scattered willy-nilly and piles

 of paperwork that don't belong in a bookcase.

Here's the after when I was done cleaning out and rearranging...

And I have to show you the dressers that Mom just re-did. They're amazing.

My parents had these dressers forever. I don't remember them ever having any

other furniture in their bedroom. I only have one "before" photo - of the tall dresser.

You can see how beat up it was.

And here's the "after". Isn't it beautiful? Mom has photos of my dad, some of

his favorite books, and his valet box (oops, her dainty teapcup is photobombing)

as a memory grouping on top of this dresser.

Here's the longer dresser. I just can't believe the transformation. They look

like totally different pieces of furniture. 

 

Showing you some things in Mom's house wouldn't be complete without a

photo of her darling dog, LuLu. Doesn't she look like a stuffed animal?

I swear that pup is smiling.

I know we're all sick of seeing it, hearing about it, and shoveling it, but that

nasty white stuff just started again. We're in for 4-8" and it's going to be

heavy and wet. I always worry about Brian driving home from work in this

weather, especially since he has a long commute. I'm staying home and

getting things done around the house, including making a quinoa salad and

a pot of soup. Happy Monday, everyone.