Happy Memorial Day!

Hope you are having a great day! Ours started off with big thunderstorms, and they almost cancelled our parade but then the sun began to peek out from the dark clouds and by 10:00 am when it was time for my Daisy Troop to march, the raindrops stopped. We marched and cheered and it was great day!

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

My '76 flag is waving in the breeze. It's one of my most treasured possessions from my favorite summer--the Bicentennial. I remember it so well. I was eleven years old and it was such a fun time. The whole country was celebrating! We had a three day bbq with our friends and neighbors, and I remember realizing then that this was VERY special. My Mom made the "now famous" red, white and blue cake that looks like the flag with the strawberries, blueberries and cool whip which I think was probably a brand new idea back then. I have to look in her old Family Circle and Better Homes and Gardens magazines that I have from her and check it out. It was such a unique idea back then! My Mom also got red, white and blue icecream-aka strawberry, vanilla and blueberry. It was so festive. Flags were everywhere and there were fireworks all through the days. What a great time. We went to NY harbor to see the special ships come in, and I remember we went to a carnival and the icing on the cake (for me, anyway!) was when on July 4th night my Dad brought out onto the patio the television (!) so that we could watch the Grucci fireworks show but still be outside enjoying our company and the July 4th night! That was big stuff in 1976! We stayed out late into the night in our backyard and it was such an old fashioned good time that I count that Summer as my all time favorite. My Dad gave me the '76 flag several years before he passed away. We would often talk about that Summer, and I was so happy he gave it to me. I only put it out from Memorial Day until July 4th so as not to get it too tattered because although I could probably buy a replacement '76 flag on Ebay, it wouldn't be the one we flew at our house on Roosevelt Street during that incredible Summer of '76!

Caitlin and I will be marching in the Memorial Day Parade with our Girl Scout Daisy Troop! Enjoy your weekend! and Support our Troops!

Flowers, Projects and more!

It's such a beautiful morning here on Long Island! Yesterday we hit 80 degrees for the first time so far this year and today we will be about 75 the weather people are predicting. The sun is shining! I have some replanting to do because of all the rain we had last week but never the less, the plants are doing well. I've posted some photos of my miniature lilac bushes, astilbe, and more. As you can see, my coal scuttle with the water pump is really starting to fill in! It does look like suds in a wash bucket! Thanks for that idea Gina. My mailbox is filling in too. I want to show a photo of my driftwood log all planted up but the flowers I have planted in it, close at night and open in the morning and they haven't woken up yet today! Wow, the flowers aren't up but I have been since 5:00 am and I even have a pot of sauce cooking with meatballs and sausage already! Lazy flowers :) My plan today is to catch up on a few things, make my sauce and also make eggplant parmigiana. Some italian families call it "gravy" but our family always called it "sauce". The house smells wonderful and when my husband woke up and smelled the cooking he said "Is it Sunday?"....Sometimes I will make this dinner on Sunday but lately since we have been working in the yard all day Sundays I have just been bbq-ing on the weekends.

Remember from my last post that wooden box I got from the house my husband is working at? Well, I throroughly cleaned it up and painted it in and out. I love how it came out! It's burgundy and black. I'm just thinking of decaling the front. I have to dig out what I have or I might decopauge the lid....I'll figure it out and then post more pictures. My husband will be back at that house probably over the weekend. Today he is working in Centerport, which is another beautiful area not far from here. My son and I wish he was back at the old house because we want to see if the previous owner's children FINALLY emptied the garage of its contents and there were boxes of GOOD stuff we want to look through. Billy (my son) worked at the house with Bill on Sunday morning and brought home old records and some cute bird plates for me. That was all he could collect from the trash pile though. We'll see...I'm not giving up. I know there are vintage Christmas decorations and other vintage household items in those boxes, and I am not afraid to dumpster dive if need be! There --I said it! ;

Have a great day!

Goodies from the Old House! & Ice cream too!

Good Morning on this (happily not raining) Saturday! The sun is shining and hopefully some of my plants will dry out a little! The heavy rain has caused our plants to really pop! and our lawn too!

Yesterday was a nice day for us. Our Daisy troop completed its year with an ice cream party and the girls all had a great time. We talked about how new friendships were formed and good deeds were done and the girls were smiling from ear to ear. Then we all had ice cream sundaes with marshmallows, m&m's, reeses pieces, hot fudge , sprinkles and more! They earned it! Me too!I also got to visit that house that my husband is working on! I thought the owners had cleaned it out but my husband said there was still stuff in the basement. I called my sister and we went to see what we could find. We're a tag team. The house is in very sad condition. A 92 year old woman had lived there and died two years ago and the house was just left! It's only now that the children decided to clean it out. Sadly, they just let the house fall apart so Christine and I were in a very MUSTY basement that had some boxes, some clothes and lots of broken stuff and spiders. Most of the items were trash and again did I mention SPIDERS? We saw a web that was so strong and secure in the corner of the basement that it looked like it was woven with fishline and polyester. I could just imagine what size spider was living in there. It was very neat to visit the house because each room had the 50's style wallpaper in it. I was sad that I could even cut a piece of it off the walls and frame it--it was musty and dirty. In the basement was a bright wallpaper with cardinals (!) and in the son's room there were cowboys and indians! I loved it! I had bought my son sheets like that when he was 3 or 4 years old. Seeing those wallpapers in person was amazing because I had only seen them in all my 50's decorating books. I love the 50's and the family values of that time. I'm a 50's style Mom so I can relate! Back to the hunt, we managed to find a few things so our mission wasn't fruitless. The real treasures are in the garage. There are boxes filled with good stuff that their elderly daughter is still going through. It was curious to me as to why the daughter chose to go through the contents of the house AFTER it was sold but whatever.... Anyway, Chris and I spied some old Christmas stuff, some glassware, and some retro home items but we only got to browse quickly. My husband is no longer tearing down the home; instead the new owner has decided to redo the entire home and use it as a rental property. That's gonna be a big project for Bill. SO the previous owner's daughter who has been procrastinating about these boxes is definitely getting tired of doing it (yeah for me) and Billy said they should be mine by early next week. Lets hope that holds true. Then Chris and I can find some treasures. We share our loot like two pirates. She knows what I like; I know what she likes. The items I found are a retro raccoon statue, some 50's plates and dishes, a very nice sugar/creamer set. The lid on the sugar bowl was missing but that's okay, a hurricane lamp (I found the globe, Chris found me the bottom), an old wooden shoe shine box, a vintage and complete box of dominoes, a 50's bird statue, a lovely white pedestal bowl and a cool rusty frying pan. So will be cleaning and painting the wooden box, shining up my frying pan , and I have already cleaned and added to my parlor the bird and raccoon. That room has my nature theme. If you look at the "pages" section of my blog, you will see my nature inspired parlor!

Anyway, have a great day! I will be working on that wooden box so I will post pictures as I progress! Oh, and when I came home from Daisys I found my Robin and his Mom, Mommy Cat, happily snuggling in Dutchess's new sleeping basket. I had to post the photo!

Here's What's Been Happenin'

Hi Everyone!

Well, it has been raining here since Monday! Long Island has suffered almost 3" of rain fall, and we aren't done yet! Finally Saturday it is supposed to clear up! We have been so soggy, I have taken in two of my hanging baskets and two of my potted plants because there is just no relief for them! I know the trees are enjoying it though! It's funny that when you have a few days of heavy rainfall, you suddenly see all your plants pop out of the ground like magic! Suddenly my hostas are springing up, my peonys, etc. It's like magic!

We had a very difficult week last week. I mentioned in a previous post that my husband was having some dental issues and they started doing a root canal but the infection spread so badly into his jaw and nasal areas that he was down for a week! They ended up removing the tooth Friday because even though he was on an antibiotic, it wasn't clearing up the infection fast enough. I have never seen him in such pain. This week he is feeling better but not yet feeling like his usual self. Tooth pain is the absolute worst. He has alot to catch up on cause it backed up his workload.

At the same time he was suffering, Caitlin also had an infection in one of her teeth...when it rains (literally) it pours! She was in terrible pain and actually had a baby root canal on Thursday. She was such a trooper and did great and believe it or not, she begged to go to school on Friday because it was Fun Fair, and she wasn't feeling any discomfort! I was prepared to keep her home thinking it would be sore, but she was up early and ready to go! Fun Fair is held in our Primary school every year in May and the kids enjoy a variety of crafts, snacks and carnival style games, only you don't need money. She had a blast and I posted some photos of her with her face painted like a cat, doing sand art, etc. I was working the "decorate a frame" table and when I saw her enter the cafeteria with her class and her big smile, well my eyes teared up because two nights before that she had been in such extreme pain. She had fun and even had some cotton candy and popcorn! The whole area of fun fair was decorated so happily. It was so much fun! This Friday is the last of Daisy meetings for the school year. We are having an icecream party. I'm looking forward to that! :)

I've been doing some stitching and did this little one with HOME the other night. I have a few others too. I am also doing some painting of a little shelf I have that I am now painting black. I redid a flower arrangement in a basket for my front door too. I have so much I want to do and once school is over in late June, I will be able to do it! I want to make scented tarts so badly and printed the directions. I think that is going to be my first project.

Billy is working at the old house I told you about. Unfortunately, the kids (who are in their 60's) cleaned out the house and threw alot in the dumpster! They waited till the last two days before the house was closed on by the new owner and then went about emptying it and with this rain I think any chance of even salvaging anything good out of the dumpster may be futile. Billy said he would check; he knows what I like! The kids took anything of $ value I'm sure. I'm not looking for that stuff; I want the other stuff they think is trash but I think is treasure! I am praying for some good garage and tag sales this year. Last year I did great. I found a box of Gurley brand candles, vintage cupcake and cake decorations which I collect and more. I don't know if I ever mentioned I have a very big collection of cake items. The little plastic picks and decorations. I LOVE them. I have alot of vintage ones from Halloween, Christmas, Easter and more and I even collect the new ones so I am at that person at a kids birthday party who you will see cleaning up the paper plates from their cake or cupcakes and putting the picks into a napkin into my purse to take home and clean and keep! I will have to show it to you all!

Have a great day! Good luck tomorrow Diane! I'll be thinking of you!

A Gift & Some Flowers!

As we speak, my husband is on his way to the oral surgeon to have a tooth removed. I'm not superstitious but it is Friday the 13th...just saying. I know he'll be fine. Yesterday, my brave little soldier Caitlin who has been feeling pain in one of her rear teeth, had whatthey call a pulpotomy. I know I must have spelled it wrong; it's a baby root canal. Ouch. But she did great, and I'm so relieved that she felt good and begged to go to school today. After school from 3:45 until 5pm is the Spring Fun Fair. I'm working the "Decorate A Frame" booth. This is such a fun event so I'm so glad she won't have to miss it.

One of my husband's best customers is an attorney and his wife who live nearby. Billy has been doing extensive work for them in their home they just downsized to. They had a very old fashioned colonial and have decided to downsize to a smaller colonial. He installed new wood floors, finished their basement and much more and will be returning shortly to build a porch and a stoop for them. The wife is such a nice person and from my husband working there for quite some time they have exchanged many personal ideas and thoughts. They treat him as one of the family. Well, in one of the conversations, Billy must have mentioned that I decorate my kitchen/dining area with roosters because she sent me this beautiful rooster platter! I LOVE it! I love the rooster on it, and I love the colors. I was so taken that she would think of me.

I planted the old mailbox and once it fills in, it'll be really pretty. The flowers are just spilling out of the mailbox! Billy has been commissioned to tear down a house and rebuild it and the house was occupied by a very old woman. Her children sold the house but didn't want to bother cleaning it out. They took what they wanted, had one garage sale and that's it. One of Bill's customers bought the house and hired Billy to do the whole project. My husband has been in the house and he said it's packed with all kinds of stuff. Now Billy knows what we like and is very good at choosing things to take home but you know i will be visiting that house to do some "shopping." I hope there's good stuff in it! You just never know.

Have a great day! TGIF!

Little Things Mean Alot!

What a beautiful week of weather we are having. Besides my usual indoor housework, I have been able to go outside and do cleaning there as well. I also had to replant one of my big pots because my little squirrels enjoy burying the peanuts I give them IN my pots :) How can I be angry? I just have to replant them. I'm thinking this is the squirrels method of food storage! right Gina? I would be much happier though if they would EAT what I give them instead of storing it. That being said, I still have a few extra plants to pot or put into the ground and then I'll be ready for round 2 of flowers in another week or so.

Billy is making great progress on our chicken coop/play area. Don't you love the big window he is putting in? That was from a home he worked on several months back. Her playhouse atop the jungle gym/coop will also have a deck with a chair and table for her to sit at with her little friends. I think it's coming out so cute. As for the chicken coop, we are getting different chicken wire as Bill fears that raccoons could get their paws into the holes of the one we have so he's going with a very small pattern. He is also putting concrete around the base under the dirt so raccoons can't dig their way in. The man thinks of everything! I contacted the one and only chicken hatchery here on the island. He was so nice. He said the other people who sell chickens on Long Island aren't hatching them; they're purchasing them and selling them. That's all well and fine, but I want to know what I'm getting and this gentlemen had an absolute love for his chickens! HE started out several years ago having some backyard chickens and had fun with them. Then they began breeding and so on. He and his wife raised five children and he said the kids grew up with their little chicken friends! Now he has a full business going! He was very honest with me and actually said certain ones he has he won't part with because he has had them for so long. Then he had turkins which are chickens that have a bald neck like a turkey, and he said he had two of those but he wouldn't sell them because he is so used to them wandering around that he'd miss them! Finally I told him that I liked Rhode Island Reds and other breeds. I settled on Red Sex Link chickens so far. They are very friendly and sturdy birds. I told him these would be pets and the eggs are just a bonus! Once the coop is built I will give him a call and pick up my chicken friends.

My son is already on his trash days hunt. If you read my blogs from last Fall you'll remember that my son loves to go on his bike on the two trash days of the week to go hunting. He brings home incredible things. Now I know why our Good Will Store or Thrift stores never have good treasures--around here no one gets in the car to drop them off. It's easier to put them out for garbage! I, for one, get mine to a church thrift store in Northport. I can't fathom putting such good items to use out on the curb when someone else could use them! Well, my son started the new trash hunting season off with a bang bringing home a beautiful artificial potted mum that still had it's tags from Michaels Crafts on it. In perfect condition! He also brought home two scarecrow picks (also with tags attached) and a very nice basket with little ceramic plaques attached to the front. It was clean and nice and will surely be used by us! I caution him to never open garbage lids but just view what people put out for pick up. He only comes home with good stuff! Again I must ask "WHY WOULD THEY THROW IT OUT?" Go figure.

I'm putting together an icecream social for Caitlin's final Daisy meeting of the year on May 20th. It's gonna be a "make your own sundae" event! Our group of girls is very sweet and two of them gave me very heartfelt compliments the other day. I truly believe that in our society if you guide your children and keep them close with good people and good values which is what is in my life, that your children can lead a good and full life without straying down a dangerous path. Preparing our children for the world instead of completely sheltering them from it is a valuable tool. Letting them know that while there is good and bad in the world, it doesn't have to invade their lives and that is good life lesson. Home is always the safe place. I am grateful to our wonderful school district for allowing us to do so much with our children at Daisys/Girl Scouts and all the other events they sponsor. The response of parents is heartwarming, and like me, they are doing the best they can as good Christian Moms and Dads. The outpouring of generosity for all our school activities is phenomenal. Our girls will be marching in the Memorial Day Parade cheered on by their community and supported by their school. I can't wait. Even at this young age, they feel the love!

Lastly, I love feeding the birds and providing them with clean water is a must. I have gone through countless bird baths in my yard but they last a few years and then crack. I found this adorable sunflower hummingbird feeder for $2.50 at Family Dollar and I'm using it for water! It's plastic but I think it'll do the trick. So far the color seems to be drawing the birds to it so I hope it works out. I know it won't crack. Sometimes the cheapest stuff or the "free" stuff is the best stuff of all!

Flowers & Chicken Coops!

Mother's Day was such a lovely day! The weather was beautiful and it was so nice to go outside without a coat! You only needed a light jacket in the morning but by afternoon you were free of even that. We started out early and drove 40 minutes to our favorite fork of Long Island, the North Fork. The other fork is the SOuth fork and that has the Hamptons. Not interesting to me. I am surely a North Fork gal who likes the farms and farm stands! I have posted about my love for this area many times. We drove through our favorite towns on two lane 25A and had breakfast in Greenport at the Coronet which is a luncheonette that's been there since the OLD days! Yummy! I had a "florentine" omelet, bacon & coffee! Bill had a "denver" omelette of ham, peppers, onions & swiss and my son had a "ranchero" omelet. That was an interesting one with ham, sour cream, & nacho cheese while Miss Caitlin had Reeses Pieces pancakes! We were very full after this breakfast I can assure you! We then backtracked cause Greenport is the very tip of Long Island! and drove a few miles to Jamesport to my favorite nursery while passing through the lovely towns of Cutchogue, Southold and Mattituck. The flower selection was great! We got hanging baskets and a few plants to start. We will be back there many times over the next few weeks for sure!

When we got home and unloaded all our flowers, Bill and Billy went to work in our yard. My husband has wanted to rebuild our jungle gym for the kids and add a playhouse/deck for Caitlin on top of it. He has saved material from all his job sites. He even has an amazing large window for it so Caitlin can look out over the yard from her new little playhouse. It's gonna be adorable. Caitlin and I went about our planting

Underneath the playhouse is a big boxed area that I thought Bill was going to enclose and make it a storage area for more outdoor toys or even a new sandbox. He had other ideas! A chicken coop!

You may not know this, but for several years we were the proud owners of a bantam rooster. He was a miniature. My husband found him in an abandoned building in Brooklyn. He was supposed to tear the building down and went through the property room by room to make sure it was completely empty. In a crate he found this little rooster. The previous owner must have owned roosters for the horrible blood sport of cockfighting. He left this little guy behind or whatever but my husband brought him home, and he became the most wonderful, loveable pet you could imagine. We named him Little Jerry. He was affectionate and smart. He knew his name, he recognized people and he loved to follow us around outside. He enjoyed people's visits and when we would sit on the front porch, Little Jerry would come from 'round the yard to join us!

Sadly, he passed away in September after 5 years. Things just haven't been the same. When we did our Fall cleanup outside, it was so odd not having my little buddy out there. He would let me pick him up and hug him and he would fall asleep in my arms. I know some people would think I'm nuts, but I believe that every living thing wants and needs love and affection, and he returned it ten times over!

So now we've been cleaning up after this harsh Winter and again, we are feeling his loss. My husband thought this would be a great place to make a nice and secure coop. Jerry's coop was an above ground one on four legs but we thought we do this one as an actual "open the door and enter" one. I am so excited. Once it's done, we can get some chickens. Although I know I may not have a brood with Jerry's personality, I'm not worried. I think they will be warm and affectionate and mingle with our family just as Little Jerry did.

Bill and Billy put in the posts for the base and poured concrete around them. Bill even thought of securing around the base of the coop so the raccoons can't dig their way in! I love the raccoons too. I feed them as well in another part of my yard along with the possums but I don't want them feasting on my chickens! We must co-exist peacefully!

All I can say is I sure am blessed to have a husband who makes all my dreams come true. He built me my dream house and now he's making it possible for me to keep chickens! He is something else. I love my Bill.

Back to the planting~~I hope you all read Cat Nap Inn Primitives --click on her blog on my sidebar. That's Gina and I love her dearly. She had a great picture posted of an old kitchen sink in a garden filled with white flowers and dishes. The dishes looked like they were soaking in the suds! I loved it. She has an incredible yard too. You must click and see. Now I know sinks are pretty easy to come by at scrap yards, but I decided to cop the idea but do it a little differently. I took an old coal skuttle and filled it with alyssum and put my antique water pump over it and put little dishes and a tea cup popping out! I think it looks adorable and shows off my little black water pump! When the flowers grow, it'll look even better. Just some dishes soaking away in the sun!

I have more to show you tomorrow, but I've got to run for now! Have a great afternoon!

Happy Mother's Day! And a really great "healthy" dip recipe!

Happy Saturday morning to you all! I don't think I've ever gone this long without blogging so you can probably guess it's just that I've been busy with lots of things~~not that I haven't been thinking of you all! I've got quite a few projects going on and as mentioned in my previous post, school is wrapping up in six weeks and our wonderful school district fills it with many fun events even though NY State tests are taking place too. I look forward to Summer vacation and having the kids home. We enjoy being home together. I love not having to wake them up in the dark when I know they are still sleepy and send them off. SO many days I just want to let them stay home :) but I know I can't and off they go on the bus.

We are getting our gardens ready. This is an endless job but one we enjoy. My husband enlarged our beds and tomorrow we are planning to head out further east here on Long Island to enjoy a Mother's Day breakfast and do some plant shopping. This has become my Mother's Day tradition, and I love it. We have a few favorite nurseries, and I am hoping and praying that they will have the selection of hanging baskets that they did last year. Also, my husband and I love to ride around and see other people's homes because since he built our house we haven't completely finished our front landscaping, and he also still has to put in a walkway. He wants to do a colonial brick path leading to my front porch. It should be a nice day. I am really looking forward to it.

Yesterday, I heard from a good friend of mine who was going to a cinco de Mayo party at her job ,and she requested a recipe of mine that she wanted to bring as her "dish". This is not "my" recipe; it was passed on to me from my neighbor several years back and since I have made it many times it's been a a family and friend favorite. I wanted to pass it on cause with so many of my blogger friends committing to eat healthy, this is a great snack and a healthy one too!

TEXAS CAVIAR

In a great big bowl, combine:

1 can of corn (drained)

1 can of black beans (drained, rinsed and patted dry)

1 or 2 avocados peeled and chopped

1 tomato cut into small pieces

1 onion cut into small pieces

1/4 cup of red wine vinegar

1/4 cup of oil

1 tsp garlic powder

Let it sit in your fridge for awhile then enjoy it on Frito "scoops" chips! It's addicting!

Besides the gardening, the school stuff and the Girl Scouts , I have been crafting. I will take the time this weekend to photograph the little things I've been doing. I picked up these cute felt farm animal cutouts, and I blanket stitched them onto some material I had for pillows. I just have to stuff and sew it up. I've also been rearranging a few things around the homestead here!

My trip to Colonial Lexington & Concord and Salem really inspired me, and I've been digging out some items I had from my Mom's house that she had in the 1970's when Colonial decorating was big. I think my house is a combo country/prim/americana and colonial. There should be a name for that!

Have a wonderful Mother's Day~~whether you are a Mom to your children or pets that are just like children (I know mine are), enjoy your day!