What's a little snow among friends?

Well this is {Buffalo}, where we basically have two seasons. Construction... And Snow.

And Snow... it did. 

11" worth of snow in the actual city.
More elsewhere. I'm pretty sure my mom got a little over 16". But she's out near Syracuse.
I think we got around 3" per hour but it started out slow an picked up - peaking around 9:30 or so.

I was bundled up with hot cocoa & imagining a beautiful fire place... lol
This is the back deck last night, around 11:30pm, after it had been snowing for about 4 1/2 hrs. 

And this is the deck this morning, around 6:30am after my son shoveled the first fall from last night.

Enjoy the pics! Btw this is from my phone so forgive the bad lighting and pic placement!

Kitchen Re-take

Well so you all know that I'm moving sometime SOON. And we've pretty much decided not to take most of our furniture, and well most of everything isn't coming with us. Except, I feel like it's ok to bring the kitchen farm table and chairs. And probably my couch table in the living room.

Funny thing about being a Pinterest junkie (I mean who else do you know has like.. 48, er, um... 49 boards?) is that you get really inspired, and things that were just fine before, suddenly aren't fine anymore. Like my 4, unmatched, hand me down chairs that are with my Kitchen farm table. They are pretty standard chairs - like any you find on Craigslist for like $10 each or whatever... but two are white and light wood, and two are just some sort of oak wood with pretty spindles on them. Either way, they don't match.

And when I get to Colorado, I won't have a garage for storage, or an outside deck for painting projects, or well.. much of anything really. So I know that this is a major project that has to be completed before we go. Along with every OTHER project that has to be done before we go. You know, like actually putting the house on the MARKET?

Midnight sneekin'

ok, so who doesn't get up in the middle of the night and do a little sneakin? to the fridge, to the coffee maker, to the tv, to the bathroom... to facebook?

Well, I hate to be the one to spoil a surprise, but seriously I could not WAIT to share this with you all (which is how us yankees say "ya'll") And this is just so good. It's my first FULL furniture set re-do. As in chairs and all.

Oh, it's not done yet, which is why this is the 'sneak' peek. It's about halfway there. It's been painted, and scraped and sanded and painted again, and the top has been stained a beautiful color which looks like it's got natural burns in the woodwork.. oh I love how this is coming out.

And seeing as I love it so much, and I love you guys so much - I just had to share it with you!

But... it's just a peek... which means the rest of the reveal will have to wait till it's all done. And trust me there will be pictures. And shopping lists. And instructions.

Because I'm cool like that. Seriously cool like that.

Just suffice it to say, it's been quiet around here, cause this gal has been busy!

More updates to come - right now it's 1:30 am and snooze time... so thankful for the 3 day weekend!

Don't forget about the Freebie posted last week thursday! Follow the instructions and maybe you'll win!

Happy Labor day!

weekend madness

This has been quite the week/weekend, but I'm beginning to really understand that I do, in fact, do too much. For a long time that just seemed like the pace that life should be led. And I convinced myself that I was truly living life, and now it's become habit, and it's hard to say no. Slow down. Enjoy the small moments. It's hard for me! I only have one life to live, and time is spent, whether i'm productive or not, I can't get those minutes back. There'll be plenty of time for rest in heaven right?

ah, maybe. Well to be fair, some of these pictures are not from this weekend. Like this fabulous table top smores display. A  few weeks ago, Tye, his girlfriend Iri, her mom and I went to Taste, in East Aurora, and had a fabulous little hang out evening. The kids got smores, Tye got a cookie dough cheesecake, and Carmen and I both got the carrot cake. oh man, so good. I mean the company. The company was so good. lol No, the desserts too! 

And on today's schedule...

A random day of peace and quiet. I think today I will, clean the fridge. I hate to throw out all that food, but it's weeks old, and disgusting. I will... finally... mop the floors. I will do laundry. I will clean my room and start the 'purge/packing' process. I have a few months to get the house ready to sell... and well... it ain't ready yet! Lots to do. Actually that's probably something else to put on the list - make a list of upgrades/repairs to be done before putting it on the market as well! LOL There are a lot of little tiny things that can be done and I just need to list them, and do them.

On a side note - interview tomorrow! :)

New Paint!

Well on Monday, we all had some free time, and got our ambition up to accomplish something great. Picked up our friend Sam, went to home depot, and picked up a beautiful color - Peach Bud and got to work! This is Polina's room before the painting begins....







Both Colors - lookin good!

It's hard work but someone has to do it! :)

ah the results. This is actually Nalom's room - but everything still needs to be put back together.

this n that

The Hastas are really coming in now :) I'm so glad. They get limited sun in the morning, and I see the neighbors having great success in more sunny area's, but I imagine by July that these will look fantastic. I hit them with some miracle grow on Sunday, and will repeat this saturday or Sunday, and I think that really helped them along! :)

Just a quick shot of my deck box. I actually have 2, but need to get a 2nd set of rails for the other box, which has petunias in it. It's not growing as thick and full as these are, but arent they fun? Don't mind the mess around the deck, it's kind of my storage/work space! LOL
These I believe, are the Russell Lupine's I put in this year. They will grow 3-4' tall and have lovely pinkish purple blooms - long and narrow. I was instructed to plant them at least 18" apart, so the other one is about 3' away... but they will add a nice splash of tall color I believe.

Our new seating area. In the past we utilized the more central area of the yard which is directly behind the back door, and looks directly into the neighbors yard. I realized last year that I truly wasn't enjoying my yard anymore back there, since it is quite 'busy' in the neighbors yard. This year I set us up on the side of the house, which, with the trees actually feels very homey and cozey. Tye loves it and has sat out there 3 out of the last 4 nights reading. I pulled some stakes I bought several years ago which were supposed to be candle holders, and am using them as cup holders instead for our drinks. Kinda artsy fartsy but I really like it! :)

Azaela's 6 days later...

Six days later and the light pink Azaela's are blooming! The two plants together look amazing! I love it! I'm thinking of seperating them a little bit, so that they will grow a little bigger, but I'm not sure. I really like their compact size, with all the amazing blooms they have on them. I'm so blessed to have them coming in so nicely :)

Today we went to home depot and bought 4 Patriotic Red Adirondack chairs, which we put in the side yard near the bird feeder and off to the left of the deck. We tried to have a litle fire tonight but it didn't go so well. The fire wouldn't really start, and the neighbors were a little disruptive. Oh well we can try again another night. I am really excited about the chairs though! :)

Good morning!

ok so I'm up :) Been up now for over an hour. Got my facebook time in, got my breakfast, and took some pics in the yard. I'm really liking this online journaling of the spring flowers coming up. It will be awesome for next year to see what is supposed to come up when. If you can't tell - having little gardens makes me happy.

So here we go. The hastas are really coming in and are about 3" tall now. There are 4 plants coming in, which is a good thing because that's what I planted. The cool thing though is that 2 of the plants have multiple shoots which means by summer they will be nice and full. Next year I should be able to split them a little and extend them a little bit. I have about 25' of space that I would like to have Hastas in. Very shady area of the house, with very early morning sun, so perfect for a Hastas area.

Do you like my new planter? This thing was a little expensive once I got all the pots, and the plants, but it is really cool. I've always admired these on other people's porches... I'm excited to have one on my deck :)

There are pink and white Fuschia in the top planter, gerbera daisies in the 2nd planter, pansies in the 3rd and white something or other in the bottom. I am sorry I don't remember what they are called. I'll have to check the tag later.


Oh! Mystery plant... what color will you bring? It has tons of little flowers on it starting to bloom but they are all green and no one is peeking anything yet! This little darling is being very modest. Not sure when she'll reveal her slendor, but I await anxiously!


my garden partner :) Jilly actually isn't much of an outside dog. She goes out, does her business and comes right back to the deck.
If I make her wait outside while I work, she stays super close to the door. Crazy dog!

And my Azaela's - as I said they are definitely coming in beautifully :) Sooo cool! A lot have budded and bloomed, with still plenty more to come. I'm expecting by early next week the back plant will have blossomed as well and we'll have beautiful color from both.

Garden update & Prom

Ok so the flowers that I have no idea what they are, that are coming back up are starting to bud. I can't wait to see what they turn out to be. Then I will take pics so I can remember for next year. There is actually some room to the left of these flowers that I can extend the garden about another foot or foot and a half. I might build over and around it :) We'll see!

These are a bit of a surprise, 3 yellow tulips with red stripes. We've lived in this house since July 2007 and I don't ever remember these coming up before. My mom found them last weekend when she was here - and I am waiting for them to die then I'll transplant them to the back yard with the fire & ice tulips.

These are the Azaleas I planted last year. The first set is starting to bloom, even though the back plant has buds, nothing is peeking yet. Still they both look pretty :)

Ok and here is what you're waiting for - Shiori in her prom dress! Isn't she stunning? Oh she was the belle of the ball - how beautiful is she? I just love her :) So cooperative and sweet. I was very proud of her.

This is just a fun, whimsical picture of Shiori and her date, Ignacio, from Chile. It was too cute so I thought I'd share. She had a great time last night, and doesn't hate me for making her go either :) Which is a really good thing!

We got lots of traditional shots of the two of them. We both agree that this is one of the best ones. We really liked the flowers behind them.

Gardening

Well, in an attempt to REMEMBER what I plant, I'm taking pics on a weekly/bi-weekly basis so that I can see what's new coming up, and what I can plan on next year. Right now I'm mostly focusing on Perennials, until they are nice and established. Then I will fill in with annuals every year...


Above is my little tulip area. I think it's more a bird/squirrel haven. That little feeder I fill with corn and peanuts for the squirrels to encourage them AWAY from my bird feeder. Doesn't work. They eat the seed from the feeder, and bury the corn in my mulch! UGH!


These are my lilacs. They are really starting to bloom - still no fragrance yet though.


This picture isn't the greatest - but the big bushy area will be white daisies when summer comes, next to it I planted these cute little English Daisies, which are bright yellow centers with Neon Pink bushy petals. They are SUPER cute :)


another shot - to the right are the yellow daisies I put in. I'm hoping that these will fill the garden in quite a bit by summer. I also added 3 solar lights (Only $3 at Walmart!)

These are my azaela's - i'm sooo happy they are getting ready to bloom again this year. I really wasn't sure how they'd take to the soil. There are two of them. the ones up front are bright pink, the ones in the back are lighter pink. They are planted really close together so they will stay pretty small. Next fall I might transplant them and move one over a little bit to give them both more room. Not sure yet.

Well there are plenty more pics I could post - but this is good for now. As I progress I'll be sure to share them! :)

My new, favorite visitor!

Forgive the picture, it was taken from the house, thru the window screen - but you can see how pretty he is. A beautiful Red Cardinal. He visits every morning just for a snack. Isn't he beautiful?

ah spring

We've been having some pretty fantastic weather the last couple of days. It's really unheard of but, I sure am enjoying it! Yesterday it got up to 76, and today it's supposed to hit 80. Again, unheard of for Buffalo, in April, but I'll take it!

This morning I made pancakes for breakfast then headed out to the yard to continue working on getting it set up to enjoy for the spring/summer months. Watered the garden which needs some serious soil and mulch build up. I'm wondering if my hastas are going to come back up. I feel like they should at least be peeking out and they are not. Of course, the bed they are in was so dry it was like desert soil... can't think of the last time they received any real moisture. I have to be careful with that particular bed to make sure it's getting watered alot, unfortunately as it's sheilded from most of the elements.

My Black eyed susans look like they are ready to come back, and my daisies do as well.

The Azaela bushes faired well (They are still tiny, which I think they always will be) - and are starting to bud, but what I'm most pleased to see making a come back are my Lilacs. I have these 2 really pathetic lilac bushes which I didn't really know how to care for. They were neglected big time when we first moved in, and I was trying to nurture them back to health the first 2 yrs we lived here. Well I found out last year that as soon as they are finished blooming you are supposed to cut them way back without abandon. So I did! Wow, they have easily 3 times as many blooms on them this year as they did last year and I cannot wait till they start coming in and I can walk by and smell their beautiful scent. I fondly remember that from my grampa's garden when I was a kid.

Anyway I also pulled the grill out for dinner tonight and tomorrow, and put a bird feeder outside the dining room window. A few birds have found it - including a really pretty red headed one - of course I have NO idea what kind of bird it is, though I might hit the library for a little bit to find a couple gardening books :)

Happy spring people - I'm feelin GOOD about this year!

I need to get this out

before I forget it all! It's been so busy and crazy, and insane, and yet... well... lets start with this shall we?

Deuteronomy 31:8
The Lord himself goes before youa nd will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged!

God is so amazing. In so many ways He constantly shows me how He's laid my life out ahead of me, and regardless of the enemy's desire's for my life... how He protects and shelters me from the storm, even while I'm in the boat! LOL

So lets see, you all know how the car situation turned out - I was able to get a fantastic car, for an unbelieveable price, and I was paid more for my old car than I paid for it... Well - here's for round two ok?

When I got the insurance money, I really felt that I needed to tithe on that money. It seemed right because it was income to me, and all I've been taught about income is that it all needs to be tithed back to the Lord. There are many different opinions on this - and they are very personal to each, so I wont' debate, but I will say this - if I'm wrong, can I possibly suffer because I gave TOO MUCH back to God? Nope! So anyway - in addition to my tithe, I felt it a good idea to sow into a friends new home. I didn't have much to sow, but I figured I'd give what I had... and be obedient to what I felt I needed to do. So I did give some cash away in addition to my tithe.

Fast forward to Tuesday night (yeap poor Tye's Birthday - which he did have a good one) and Tye and I drive out to Niagara Falls immediately after work for his hockey game. Read: Directly after work, which means I never went home. So when we do finally get home, it's FREEZING in the house! I go to the thermostat, and it's reading 50 degrees. Holy cow that's not good. Go to the basement and sure enough the furnace is trying to kick on, but it's not going anywhere. (I found out later that the motor had seized up) So I truck on down to the office to borrow some space heaters until the Furnace guy can come out in the morning. Thank God he's a friend and fellow believer. He moves us to the top of the list, and will be there first thing.

On to the next issue - I go home from the office w/3 space heaters, figuring one for each floor of the house, at least to keep the chill out - heck it's going to be 10 degrees out and i don't want anything freezing and busting. I literally plug the first one in, and can see electrical current running behind the plug - YIKES - unplug the space heater - and 30 seconds later the electricity goes out. You're not kidding! Ok great. So now it's cold, and we're in the dark, and it's getting late.

Grab a flashlight and go to the breaker box figuring I tripped something.... Well I turn every single breaker off, and then on again, but nothing helps the lights. *sigh* something is really wrong. I put the heater in the basement and call my friend Jim, who's an electrician. I explain the problem and while I'm talking to him he says it's probably better that I don't use the heaters if they caused that much problem after I unplugged one of them. (You're kidding right? It's 50 degrees and falling fast).

I go over to the basement heater that I had plugged in maybe 10 minutes prior and oh dear - the plug is HOT. It's not supposed to be HOT! Greaaaaaaaat. Unplug that and shut the breaker off to that part of the house.

Well the long and the short of it is this - we went to Applebees! yeah, well what are you going to do? We have to eat right? And Tye - well it's his birthday for goodness sakes... I brought my bible and meditated on some really good verses about being more than a conquerer, God having a plan for my life and really just reminded myself about my position as a believer, and what being 'sanctified' means to the believer.

When we came home we went to bed. It was cold yes, but it was just 9 hrs we had to deal with it really. My friend the repair man came over in the morning and fixed our furnace. Here's the praise God. I really didn't know how I was going to pay for it - it was 30 days out of warranty and cost me almost $300. Well remember back to that seed I sowed last week after I got the insurance money? When I was writing that check - God had already prepared me a way to pay for that furnace repair.

A week ago I filed my taxes and it was not supposed to be deposited to my account until Monday, but it was deposited yesterday, the same day I needed to pay the furnace repair. Also - a friend of mine heard about my troubles and gave me a check for $200 towards the furnace repair! Yes! My heart is leaping for joy. I am so excited.

So my furnace is fixed, and I'm looking for someone to help fix the electrical. It's a serious issue -someone came to fix it last night - but it's bigger than their knowledge. basically the outlets are working, and the light switches are showing power but the actual lights are NOT turning on...

But you know what? God has already shown himself faithful to provide for my needs in this circumstance - and I know that he will do the same for the electrical issue! God is not going to let me down and I'm thrilled to have more testimony in this!