one step forward...am I going forward?

Today is my day off and the plan is.....not to leave the house until it is clean and in order....I know. I might never leave again....hehe. Anyway. I remembered that I didn't drop the mail off at the post office last night. So I got dressed and loaded the three dogs in the car and off we went. I looked at the wrong day on the outside box. I thought they would pick it up at noon. It was 11:45 at that time. Sounds good....let the letters fall...then realize that it is on sat. that it is picked up at noon....today not til 5:00. Bummer. So decided oh well, nothing I can do now. Just go home and make the best of the rest of the day....How positive is that.....Just as I turn the corner to pull in the driveway what do I see pull up in front of my house.....You guessed it....The mail truck. So thus my post title.. I am not sure if what I am doing is techniqely going forward or if I am making holding circles. I will keep you posted. lol.

a few shots from today

Larry and I went on the annual pond tour today. The proceeds benefit a local hospital. I thought I would share a few pics. I just loved the first pond. They had a wonderful yard.
I thought the colors here were wonderful

This is one of the tiers to his pond. It was breathtaking. My photography not so much. But it gives you an idea of what we were experiencing.

This beauty was along his driveway.

This was another pond. The water was soooo clear. This one was designed by a 13 yr old. I think they did a wonderful job. They had some big fish.

As far as any work getting accomplished. Not so much. I thought that going and seeing all these pretty ponds might give me some ambition to weed around our ponds......I did pull a few. It is just so dry here they were all breaking off. I did however see that we have a chance of rain everyday next week. Keep your fingers crossed. I hope you enjoyed your weekend. On to another week. Have fun. Lisa

It's a Twister....

That is the name of the template I used on the new quilt anyway. hehe. Well it was midnight and I decided to start a new quilt. It might not seem like such a good idea tomorrow(or today) when I have to be on my feet for 10 hours at work. But anyway..... Here are the blocks. I just used a charm pack(which is squares already cut 5") I then cut 5" alternate blocks and started sewing.
Added a border and then started cutting using the template.

So after three hours from start I have all these pinwheels ready to sew together. Then on to the borders. Just thought I would show you what I was up to tonight(this morning) Wish me luck tomorrow. Have a good weekend. Lisa

This is for the birds.....

Literally, This post is about my birdies. Check out their nest. This pair makes the craziest nests I have ever seen. Unfortunately, It has fallen down quite a bit tonight since we were moving the cage so much. It had been over the basket alot more. There is just a small hole in the paper that they enter in. They have three eggs in the nest now.
Anyway....I have been looking for a cabinet to keep all my bird supplies in. They have been in the dog treat cabinet and it was getting way to congested. So the other day at the thrift store. I ran across the perfect thing. It has a drawer in the bottom to hold newspaper.....

Then a spot in the middle for the food etc.......

This is the final look. Don't look at the mess on the floor. It was alittle too late to run the sweeper tonight. I will work on that in the morning before work. We built this cage a while back and had been hanging it on the wall about a foot and a half higher. Larry cut the legs of the cage off for me and drilled some holes in the cabinet so that my very innocent dogs can't knock the cage off. I am so happy with the results. I feel very blessed. Oh by the way the cabinet was only 8 dollars. Yippee.

The New half Bath begins

Here is the before shot of our half bath. We weren't planning on working on this project for a while. The plan was to get the yard in order......Well. I was out shopping and found a great cupboard.....soooo. We were off and running.


Larry had a four day weekend over the fourth and let me tell you he has wasted no time. He removed the old floor, took out the little corner wall and moved the plumbing and vent pipe back. This added about a foot on to the room. The old toilet has been removed.

He cut the boards for the new floor and glued them down. He used left over rocks from the yard to hold them done while they dried. He patched the old drywall and studded the new wall and drywalled it.

Here is a shot of the cupboard I found. It was originally 493.00 and it was on sale for 100.00. Yippee. I painted it a flat black. The middle top cupboard front will hold a mirror. The other two doors on top will be glass or fabric. Haven't decided yet.

We were afraid that the cabinet wouldn't fit in the room so today before our dinner guests showed up we moved it just to see. Thank goodness it went right in.




This will be our sink and faucet. We found the pump on craigs list. It was 20.00. Larry had to cut some of the inside out with a torch so that the plumbing will fit. He still has to put in new bolts etc. These are just temp. Then it will be painted.

I just love the bowl. It will have a hole cut and drain installed soon. The handle will turn the water on and off. The temp. controls will be under the counter in the "drawer". It will look like a drawer but it will only be a front on hinges.



This is a fuzzy shot of the light I got for 4 dollars. This will be our light in the bathroom. Larry painted it for me today. Hopefully tomorrow. We will get the walls painted and more plumbing run. I hope you enjoyed my little tour. Have a good nite. Lisa

Alittle progress.

The last two days have been pretty productive. On Sunday afternoon, we painted the shutters on the house. We are both happy with the brown.

What do you think of my little can? I got it the other day at the flea market for a dollar.

Here is another shot. I changed some of the stuff out on the porch. Now I need to decide what color the paint the front door.

This is a close up of the shelf. I got the little box the other day. It is some kind of game, I just liked the box. The crow was also a thrift store buy. It was 35 cents. I tweeked it alittle. It originally perched straight on the stand. I made it stay at an angle. I changed the button eyes that were white to black. I also put some dried flowers around it's neck. I really like it. The only thing that I didn't get done was to cut some more yarrow to hang under the shelf. Maybe tomorrow. We also got the house and deck power washed. CHECK! I just love to check things off the to do list. I hope you enjoyed your day today. Thanks for stopping by. Lisa

I ran across a before picture of the front of our home. These are the shrubs we took out. I am hoping that we will get the shutters painted this weekend. I have a nice brown that I picked out. I love the green on the shutters but I never find green fabric at the thrift stores. I do however find lots and lots of lovely blues....So.... I thought that if I changed it to brown the blues would go nicely. Now I just have to figure out what color to paint the front door. I am pretty sure I will never get Larry to agree on any form of blue for the front door.

Here is a shot of the middle. I will have to get alot more done before the "after" picture comes along. I have a couple of chairs that I usually put out on the front porch next to the swing. I just got a couple wood chairs from my mom. Now I have to decide which ones to use. The wood ones might not last too long in the weather. All these decisions tired me right out. hehe. Nite!

One unwanted visitor and a finish

Can you see anything in this picture. This is the site out my back door yesterday morning at about 6:40 am. I had just seen Larry off to work and stayed at the door to see what was happening outside at this early hour. (hehe I usually get up at 8:00). I was startled by a huge winged creature. Yep...you might have guessed. It was a heron. It was casing my pond and my lovely fish.

Sorry for the blurr and the bad lighting. I wish I had time to go to another window for a better shot. He wasn't there long. He saw me and left. I keep looking now all the time. I don't worry about the fish too much since the water is 4 ft and them definately can get away. I just would like to get a closer look. I worry about my dogs if they got close.

Anyway, her she is. I have finished my sheep rug. All I need to do is bind it. I think I have a new project in mind.


I got this basket at a yard sale a couple weeks ago. It was only two dollars. I thought it would look cool with a hooked cover of some kind. I thought I could use it to carry my hooking stuff if I ever go to a hook- in again. Now just to decide what to put on the top. Something with wool in the title. Hummmmm.

Hope you are having fun tonight. Lisa

Flower beds are a changing.

Last Sunday we worked on the front flower beds. The old over grown shrubs have been taken out and replaced with some smaller ones. We planted some grass along the edge that had been changed. Not sure if the clumps of ornament grass is going to perk up or not. If not we will try again. We have plenty of that. Marlee is checking it out. Most likely thinking...Did I pee on that today?
Here is the other side. I have a coneflower planted and some black eyed susans.

I just love the little step ladder we found in the trash. I have little pink flowers planted in the log and around the base of the ladder. However since the hard rain last night...Not many pink flowers open this morning. I put the ladder there to hide the hose and vents and other ugly stuff. I am going to put a metal bucket on the top of the ladder and see if it conceals more. If not we are on to plan B. I have a chicken crate/coop. I think if I stand it on end it might conceal more. Stay tuned.

Larry and I made a little house out of some windows from a trash find. The roof was made out of the screens.

Here is it's new home. We took out more overgrown shrubs out of the island on the side of the house. Larry has changed the edging and has grass planted.

Here is the view from the side street. The left side is mulched but the right side just got weeded on monday night. Took out a ton of lillies by the gas meter. Just put on a few. They should cover it up soon.

Hope you enjoyed the look around. Today's agenda is to finish my rug, re-do the front porch with some new thrift store finds, Maybe finish the porch swing and chairs. Better get going. Have fun with whatever you have to do today. Don't forget to smile! Lisa

A new project

On Sunday, Larry had to work on an emergency job, so I decided to do something fun. I started a new rug. I picked up the pattern when I was in Berlin, Ohio. I love Marlene's patterns. I told myself I would try to get it done in a week......
I worked on it Sunday evening and alittle on Monday nite. I should have taken a new picture. I have all the sky done and the legs and face of the sheep done. I have been working on the ground. I had a lot of brown worms to use up so I decided to do brown on the ground instead of green. I might have to re-do the legs though. They are not showing up much against the brown.

I hope you are having a good night. Make it a good weekend. Lisa

What a Relief....

I finally created something....I can't believe I haven't posted anything since mother day. I just have been going thru a dry spell. Not working on anything exciting. Until yesterday. It was my day off and I was determined to do something. So I got out my thrift store find(of a few months ago) hehe. It was a 5 yard piece for 5.oo. It is hard to tell but the background is a light yellow.
I decided to make cushions for my porch swing.

These are the cushions that I got at a garage sale a few years ago.

Here is the finish. I like the way they turned out. Not sure how long they will stay pretty. There is now cover or roof and I can't wait for the dogs to find them.



The blue fabric was also a thrift store find. Three yards for 3.00. The swing was on the curb and we brought it home and painted it. I made pillows for the swing and cushions for the wicker thrift store chairs. The set of chairs were 5.00. I just love this thrift store. I hope you have been creative. It sure makes you feel good....doesn't it?

Next on the to do list...on a sunny day....is to paint the shutters. I founds a nice brown that I think will look nice. Til next time. Have fun and enjoy the things that make you smile. Lisa

Happy Mothers Day

Thankfully, I got the little wall hanging done in time. I had my mom and dad over today for dinner. She liked the little quilt. I was afraid I wouldn't get the last of the quilting done in time. I always wait til the quilting is done before I put on the binding.....until last night. hehe. I put it on last night and then finished the quilting this morning. Thankfully, it turned out okay. I was happy with it. Sorry for the picture quality. It looked much brighter in person. This was made using the twister template. It was so easy. I just used the left overs from a charm pack. I think I will make another but try to make the pinwheels separate instead of touching. We'll see.

It was a beautiful day here in Ohio today. Finally a day without rain. Yippee. We had dinner outside....a fine day. I hope you enjoyed your day today. Have a good week