Beautiful Day

Such a beautiful day today, in many ways. "The first way" was the warm sunny weather. After such a cold winter it was good to feel the heat in my bones.
  This morning while upstairs I looked out from my balcony to see what needed doing in the yard.  I noticed the banana trees were damaged from the cold we had, so tomorrow they will come down. I have a large butcher knife from my catering days and it's perfect for chopping the bananas.  Each large tree has one or two babies below each stalk and they will replace their momma.
My mint came back,  I keep it in a pot on the balcony where it can get lots of sun.   It's so refreshing to chop some in salads.

I have several flower beds that needed weeds pulled.  The Humming Bird feeder needed cleaning and filled.  I keep the feeder right off my deck so I can watch the birds from my kitchen window and the top balcony.  They are so small and come and go so quickly sometimes I miss seeing them. 

I noticed the Geraniums were blooming... 

Did you ever notice the Europeans have window boxes in all windows.. they grow Geraniums to keep the bugs at bay.  I learned this trick while living over seas.  I keep them on my balcony all summer and the bugs hate them.  Natural repellent!

"Such a beautiful day, in many ways"

Another of the 'ways' was when the "Floor Guy" arrived bright and early to install my new floor! 

This was indeed a "Beautiful Day"

And How was your day?  I do hope it was as beautiful and Sunny as mine!

I'm joining

Outdoor Wednesday 

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Spring oh Spring....

Here they come!!

Poking their sweet little heads through the earth.....

Our local weather man said today "For all of you wanting to plant your spring flowers, it's ok to do so. No more cold or frost is expected"... 

Yeahhhhh!

I gave up on the floor and called for a handyman and he will be here bright and early Sunday Morning... "He is going to install my floor"

So today I went out in the beautiful weather and did a bit of transplanting. I put in a few Zinnias in the yard.  I noticed my bulbs are all about 6' high already, the day lilies are all showing their leaves and many other plants that went dormant for the winter are all sprouting.  In fact I noticed some Pumpkin plants that took from my Halloween Pumpkin that was tossed way out back for the critters to munch on.  I'll have to get some photos of them!

My succulents were in bad shape so they too were transplanted into another pot.

Oxalis Triangularis, purple shamrock are blooming and so beautiful.

Look how bright the sun was today... the temps reached 80' and felt just wonderful.

Even the orchids in my front tree were straining to reach the sun...

The potted orchids are sprouting once again... this is one that was left outdoors and it went dormant, but came back, right on schedule.

I have no idea what this flowering plant is called but it's a tuber and came back to life about two weeks ago... blooming and "oh so happy"
Our trees out back must have thousands of Robins doing the mating dance.. My two bird baths have 6 or 8 at a time washing away the dust.  I also can see the squirrels gathering leaves for their nests.  One has been making so much noise while she builds her nest in the gutter above my bedroom balcony.

"Spring in Florida"

It's a good thing!

I'll be linking to
Common Ground 

Fertilizer Friday 

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Silly I know, but I cried...

The guys spent almost 4 hours trying to get my new chandelier up in the stairwell.   They worked on it together and the one on the top of the ladder could not get it up.   He dropped the original globe and it shattered everywhere... messed up my new paint job and chipped the molding  I so gingerly placed on each stair step.   All I could do was just go outside to wait it out.  They needed a new ladder and then gave up!  I was good though, said nothing  and  came back in to clean up the mess they made. 

I did not cry then!

 I got a call from the Doctor today.   My mammogram results came back.

They found a "SPOT".  What ever that is?

Monday I will go into the hospital for a simple test to take a look at what they found?  I know many of you have had the same results from your mamo only to find it was nothing more than a little cyst or something of no consequence.  Lord knows I don't need anything else wrong with me!

"That did not make me cry!

This made me cry!

Thinking I could install my new floor.   All of you who know me,,  know I'll try anything!  But no matter how much I worked on it today,  I could not get this puzzle together!   The job was not hard at all.  My jig saw cut the wood  so easy.  I used paper to trace a pattern for the areas along the wall and that was easy, but the grooves,  how do you get them together?   Got one ok,  then the next would move.. this went on all day.  Then Mr. N.  called a few handymen and they quoted prices to install the floor.  "They wanted double and tripel what I paid for the floor"   One nice handyman,  that came by,  gave us a price then was kind enough to give me some tips and he made it look so easy. "Well, it was not"    My new floor boards are now scattered all over the house. The house is a mess, furniture  everywhere and I gave up!  Took a shower, then sat on my bed to write this post.   
All the boxes now sit waiting for some kind person  to come install my floor.  
Mr. N.  bless his heart,  went out and bought me  Knee Pads".  He is as confused as I with this floor!    I'm so upset with myself  because  I'm not one to "Give in to defeat"!   "I really want to install this floor"   I love doing such jobs.  But as I said before,  "This is one heavy duty puzzle"


Tomorrow is another day and I'll give it one more try. 
Then I'll call one of the nice handymen to come do it.. but I'll not be happy about it at all because  "I hate to part with my money!"

I'm truly excited to have my new floor.  It's replacing such a dirty old carpet that once graced my home. Until then I'll  gather my thoughts tonight,  in peaceful sleep.  Get up tomorrow and give it one more try.  If I'm not able to do it.. then it's only a phone call away!  
I can't wait to show you all the finished floor.


to be continued.......
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Framed Apple

SWW

Today I worked on my Apple Arrangement... It took me back to my  fun days as a Floral Designer.  I have not done any designing in years and found how much I really enjoyed doing it.

This project started when I found this old apple door hanging in a closet.  I did not want to toss it and thought I'd do something different with it... so I went to a few garage sales and paid $2.00 for this frame.

It's pretty heavy and of good construction but much too big,, I took it apart and cut to a smaller size,, one to hold the apple door hanging....

After gluing it all back together I then painted with glaze and wood stain.

I used my glue gun  to attach the apple door hang, then looking at it I felt it was much too bland in color so I went to a table arrangement of silk flowers and pinched a few..

Yes, just what it needed for color...

Now that it's finished I found the perfect spot on the wall above my new green table lamp.... Not bad!

You know, I like the dimension it brings to the framed art.... the colors are also nice against my blue painted wall.....  
It's a good thing to recycle old items into something new and useful and I also brought back some happy memories of my days working with silk flowers.

 I'm Joining These Parties

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Tuesdays Treasures 

Take a Look Tuesday 

The Power of Paint 

Wow us Wednesday 

Show and Tell 

Wallet Friendly Wednesday

Strut your stuff Thursday 

Hooking up with HOH 

DIY Project Parade 



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Sandy

This post is a “Test”
I'm learning how to use "Live Writer" to post on my blog.  If you see mistakes, well, it's because I just don't know the site yet.. 
Testing, Testing!

I took these photos from some old frames I found in the thrift store and blew them up, scanned them on photo paper.  Took some larger old frames that I’ve had saved for just such a project, spray painted them black and made such a cute arrangement on my wall. 
If only I was crafty enough to paint such flowers. I’d use oil paints with their rich textured feeling.
Alas, I’m just not an artist when it comes to drawing or painting… although I do try.  I’m one to use hammers and tools to do my creating.  The glue gun is also one of my tools… I’ve glued so many different crafty things together.. I always wanted to make myself a holster for that thing.
Back to my prints…. I did a post last year on  how I did this project. I’m sure no one will mind,  but I’ll just use the idea for my Test today.

 

I really like how the colors look with the black frames.
The photos came out well when I hit 'send' to my blog. I like the watermark feature!

 

The ‘water marks’ have been mastered.

 

The font just jumped away from me but I got it back?  Windows Live Writer is pretty nice to use and I just hit ‘Save to Draft’ and it’s transported to my blog draft menu… hmmmm? now let me go there and see what it looks like..
this was fun!    

I'll be linking this Test to
Alphabet Thursday

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Windows live writer and my desk

It’s time to “Get with the times” and figure out  to use  ‘Windows Live Writer”  I’ve always used my lap top to compose  my blog post.   The lap top comes with me around the house  and I’ve seen so many nice fonts and formats in the blogs I visit each day … I want to learn.  So this means sitting at my “New Desk”  downstairs, the only pc with Windows 7.  

"The new desk is officially open for business".  

I put on the final paint at 6am this morning and have  my fingers crossed for the paint to be completely dry.. As you can see I put everything on and in the desk.  I’m in a rush to get my room back to normal.  It also was such a job (being technically dumb) putting all the wires back into the pc.  But, I did it and it all works. I have just one problem… where do I put all those  wires? 




This is how this project started.  I had such a time getting it all to stand straight!  Mr. N.  did help me with this though… the two of us did it together,,, I glued and nailed and he held… we had to laugh though because two of the cuts were not the correct size,, '”hey Joe, at the Home Depot”   if your reading this, we still love you!

(look what they did to my floor. Next week we get a new one)

  

The keyboard roller drawer came from an old desk, I had such a time
trying to get it to fit but "It's on" and will have to play with it another time.
It's hard to roll in and out.  I may have to go buy a new roller thingie and
start again with this.. for now it works, sorta!







I have a few issues, the pc tower is much too long,  wrong measurement by me. I may remove the back to push the tower further in?
Now, on to learn” Windows Live Writer”.  This is my first post using it.. let me see what I do next.. I’m going to post this and if it is funny looking or something is wrong.. Please forgive me and let me continue to learn!

I just did a preview and do not see any difference in the font?  Oh well, next time I may do it?   So far I don't see any difference in the post?  So it is what it is.

I'm really starting to enjoy building furniture.. if only I had a garage or a work room.. imagine having a room with peg walls to hold all your tools,, and every type of tool.. a router and a table jig saw... (ok,, Dream away Sandy!)  I could take orders.

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.I'm linking to
Sunday Showcase Party

Sister Sister Sunday 

A Piece of Work 

Frugal Friday 

Tickled Pink 

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