A start in decorating

 

Good morning Folks ~ It is another gray day here with more rain predicted today and over the next few days. It rained most of the day yesterday and some of the day before, which was a good time to get Christmas decorations out of the attic.  I decided my main tree would be the ‘Charlie Brown’ tree we found curbside in Sept. 2012. I put a small one in my space here where I create and blog, and there’s a tiny one in the bedroom.

I made up collages using PicMonkey. The top two pics are of the one in my space. The bottom right is the CB tree, and bottom left the one in the bedroom.

A widow friend of mine, dear Sue D., who has been a widow longer than me,  gave me this lovely ornament my second Christmas without my DH.  It is oh so true.

I want to thank all of you how have been following me through the years, for your friendship, love, hugs, prayers, your encouragement. You are a blessing to me. You have made this widow walk not so lonely.  I thank God for you, and am thankful that He is with me and never leaves me. He is my strength when I am weak. He has sent all of you into my life.

I will be setting up the nativity and heavenly host in the next week or so.

******

Christmas is a time to remember that God Himself, left His heavenly throne, became a human babe so that one day when the time was right, He would give Himself as a sacrifice for all the sin man has done, keeps doing, and will do until He returns again. Because He rose from the grave, we have been promised life eternal when we believe in Him and what He has done. He loves each and every one of us, no matter what we have done. His love and mercy covers us and washes us clean. We become spotless and will live forever with Him, where there is no more sin, no pain, no death, no sadness. All will be well.

Until then let us trust Him and thank Him for the gift of every day that He blesses us with.

Love, hugs & prayers ~ FlowerLady

Miss Rosie, new faucet

 

Hello Folks ~ Thank you all for your kind thoughts about my water woes. My dear BIL Todd will be here Sat. morning to work on installing a new faucet, working on the leak under the house, and doing body work on my van roof, as last week we saw ‘why’ water had come into my van during a heavy rain I was driving in. A hole in my roof and one about to happen.  So, he’ll do some grinding, and bondo work on the places.  Bless his heart.  He’s like my dear husband in that he can do so many different things, and I am very thankful for all of his help since losing my DH almost three years ago, (9th of Dec. 2012).

I’ve got containers filled with water for filling sink and basin for washing dishes, for sponge baths and for flushing the toilet.  I am camping out this week and hopefully the leak will be fixable by Todd and we won’t have to call in a plumber.  Keep him in your prayers Sat. as he does all of this work for me. He lives a little over an hour away and works full time, so I really appreciate his time and efforts.

I’ve been researching kitchen faucets, was getting frustrated looking and reading about them. Finally found one online that was in stock at my local HD.  I wanted a high arc, 360 degree turn of faucet, a metal body and ceramic valves. They had some online but not in the store, they could be shipped to store, but it might not get here until after Todd would be here.  I kept looking and found a Pfitzer that they had three of in my store.  I went there this morning with my printed out paper in hand, found it, but really hated the idea of spending $98.  As I was standing there looking at the faucets on the wall, I spied one in the same pattern by the same company, and it was $78, in chrome finish, instead of stainless steel finish.  They didn’t even have the cheaper version listed on the website at all.  Needless to say, I bought the $78 one.  I went through the garden dept. on the way out, was tempted, but not enough to buy something I don’t really NEED.  Here’s my new faucet in the box.  I’ll show it installed later.

I’m trying to learn how to use my smart phone camera, how to text, etc. I feel like such a dunce.  Miss Rosie and I have been visiting in the screened porch off the kitchen and today I decided to take some selfies so you can see how cute she is.  She really is a dear.

She is such a sweetie pie. She and I are bonding. I slouch in the chair and she lounges on my chest while I pet her, rub her tummy, kiss her. It’s hard to take selfies and I’m not crazy about them, but I am who I am and it’s Miss Rosie I am showcasing.

These next pics were taken with my Canon PowerShot A650 IS.

She heard me washing dishes, so got up on the covered trash can space just outside the window over sink. This is where Miss Tork hung out too.

Here is Miss Tork in June of 2008, she didn’t become an indoor kitty until after I lost my DH, so sometime in 2013 she moved inside where she keeps me company.  She’s been a real comfort to me.

Now here we have Miss Rosie on the last day of Nov. 2015

This cracks me up.  She was meowing but looks like a really mean Halloween Cat.

I just happened to catch her with her mouth open. Miss Tork did and Miss Rosie does, rub against the window.

Well, It’s about time for me to go get horizontal to read before sleep.

Tomorrow I’ll be trying my hand at washing my hair in a basin with a pitcher of water.  My hair is long so I’ll see how that goes.  One thing about experiences like this, having to do without, is that you appreciate so much more the everyday conveniences we have.  I look forward to hot showers once again. For now I’m sponge bathing while I camp out.

Goodnight and rest knowing God is watching over you while you sleep.

FlowerLady

Thanksgiving water woes

 

Hello Folks ~ I hope all of you in the states had a lovely day yesterday filled with lots of love, laughter, and good food.  I had a very nice time with my dear husband’s brother, Todd, his wife Sue, and their son Josh yesterday.  My little cottage was filled with so much, and I am thankful for our time together.

Sue took a picture Josh and I. The last time I saw him, he was around 9 years old. He’s now 24. Sue took the picture on my tablet, and I haven’t figured out how to send the picture to myself via email, so I took a picture of this as it’s my wallpaper on my new tablet, (that’s why the funky lines in my photo). Josh does remind me of my husband in some ways and of course that made for an emotional day yesterday. Josh was showing me different things on my tablet as I am just learning how to use it and my smart phone. My dear husband was the computer geek in our family and always was ready to help me with things. I was thankful for Josh’s help.

Before they got here, I was happily keeping up with dishes as I was preparing things, when all of a sudden the cold water faucet would not shut off. I got under the sink and turned off the faucet there but still had a steady trickle.  I called Todd to tell him my dilemma and found out that their hot water heater had sprung a leak or two. (He’s going to get a new one over the weekend). He tightened up my faucet under the sink when he got here, and now I just have hot water. I need a new sink faucet. This one is about 10 years old, maybe a little older.

I’ve been looking at faucets, and am getting discouraged. I want a good body construction, no plastic and I want ceramic valves for no dripping. Reading reviews is mind boggling.

Then earlier today when I was looking at faucets, I went into the ‘scullery’ where I wash the dishes, to measure the height of faucet, I want a high arc, well I heard this strange noise and thought now what?  I walked around the small room and leaned here and there until I could pin point it. It sounded like the refrigerator area. Uh oh!  I went outside and turned off the water to the house, came back in and no noise. Went out turned it on again, came back in, and there was the noise.  Back outside, turned it off again, because obviously there is a leak.

I called Todd with that bit of news, then asked him about the hot water heater and not having water going into it because I couldn’t remember from the last time we had this problem. And there you have the story of our Thanksgiving ‘water woes’.

This morning I got up late, for me, right around 7 instead of 4-5, and was drinking my first cup of coffee when the phone rang, they didn’t leave a msg. and I didn’t recognize the number. A few minutes later, the phone rang again and this time a voice came on saying my name and then telling who it was so I picked up.  It was my husband’s boyhood friend, who we’d not seen in years, and he was at our driveway gate.  He was in town, lives in GA now, and wanted to stop by and offer his condolences. Of course, more tears were shed as we visited for 3 hours.  It was a good visit.

Now I’ve got to figure out a hose remedy for washing dishes, and showering outdoors so that I don’t have to turn on the water to the house at all.  I can fill buckets for flushing the toilet, from the one water connection that is still working outside the house.

Ok, here’s some goodness and beauty.  I went around taking pictures of flowers yesterday morning and here they are.

Here are bougainvillea blooms on my shed.

Cape Coral honeysuckle is in bloom in several areas right now.

Cuban Buttercup

Hibiscus

A small Hydrangea tree and a beautifully marked prayer plant.

Ferns with my gazing ball, a birthday gift from my DH one year.

Meyer lemons

More ‘Kathleen’ roses.

Last but not least is Miss Rosie, who was following me in around, leaping on leaves, rolling on the paths, having a good time. She had her picture taken by three different people besides me in the past two days.  She is quite the celebrity.

Well, that’s the little saga from Plum Cottage.

Keep me in your prayers ~ to keep my cool, not get depressed and to be joyful in all things.

Have a wonderful weekend ~ FlowerLady

Hurray for chilly temps :-)

 

Good Monday morning Friends ~ After rains on Sat and yesterday, cooler temps moved in. I checked accu-weather a little while ago and it was 62, feeling like it is 58. Oh how wonderful that feels! I see that some of you have gotten your first snow of the season. Pictures look so pretty.  We are to have cooler temps all week, yippee!

I’ve started a beaded phone case, and if this turns out nice, I hope to make more to sell in my Etsy shop.

I took a piece of lace and am beading over the flowers. Have drawn out some stems for smaller flowers, then the rest will just be filled in with beads.

Below is a collage of three of my beaded brooches which are now in my Etsy shop.

I went outside yesterday for something or other and spied this string of caterpillars on my Dwarf white orchid tree.  I have no idea if they are a moth or a butterfly.

They were making their way to the leaves at the top of the stem. I went out later and the stem was clear of cats and I thought to myself, where did they go.  Then I saw them all clustered and eating away at the ‘leaf diner’.  Sorry for the blurry photos.

Now for some more photos of one of my favorite roses, ‘Kathleen’. Photos taken with my Canon PowerShot A650.

That’s it for now. The sun is shining, the sky is blue and I better get going as things need doing around here before company comes on Thursday.

Happy Thanksgiving preparations.

FlowerLady