Guest Bedroom Tour with Kelly

 

I'm linking up with Kelly over at Kelly's Korner today for her Home Tour.  Today she is featuring guest bedrooms.  We have two guest bedrooms in the main house, one with a queen bed and one with a king. Both of these rooms hold special pieces of furniture and decor that relate to family.

This is what we call the Queen Room (since it has a queen size bed).  My Dad made the bed, the step stools and the nightstands some 25+ years ago.  It is made of solid mahogany and was made to perfection.  When my Dad moved into assisted living, this set came to live with me and I cherish it.

This built in corner cabinet and shelves hold family memorabilia, old family photos, some of my Mom's figurines and bronzed shoes of mine and our children.

One small wall holds this collection of crosses that were hand made by my Dad as well.

This chest is over 100 years old and was made by my paternal Grandfather.  My Dad refinished it many years ago to match the bedroom suite.  The carving of the man and woman you see sitting on the chest was hand carved by my Dad as well.  He was a very, very talented craftsman. 

 

This piece of tatting that was done by my maternal Grandmother hangs over the bed.  I do not know if there is anyone who tats anymore or not.  I'm afraid it has become a lost art, but I'm so glad I have this lovely piece, along with her tatting shuttle.

AND, you guessed it, this is yours truly on our wedding day.  I just had to show this as it hangs on the wall in this bedroom as well.  A mere 19 year old child!

Our second guest room we call the King Room, as it has a king sized bed in it.  And, this bedroom suite belonged to my MIL, so it has special significance as well.  The bed and night stands are of mahogany also.

I love the beautiful highboy that goes with the suite.

 The decorative plate that sets on top of the chest is a piece that my Dad bought in Italy in 1950 when he was in the Navy.  The colors are just gorgeous and I can't believe it has survived as many moves as it has in the last 66 years and has not even a chip. I should probably carry it to one of the Antique Roadshows as it could possibly be very valuable.  But, it's valuable to me regardless. 

We will be headed out of town this morning to attend the wedding of the daughter of some dear friends of ours.  We'll be home on Sunday and then our daughter and the boys will arrive late afternoon on Tuesday.  So, it's going to be busy around here so you likely won't hear from me until next Friday when Kelly is touring Home Offices.  

Have yourself a great weekend!

Wednesday Hodgepodge

It's Wednesday and that means question answering with Joyce.

1. Do you find yourself influencing your world, or is it more the other way around? 
I would hope that I am influencing my world, for the better, might I add. I'm sure giving it my best shot.  I'm certain it can reverse on me at the drop of a hat but I sure try to stay on top of it.  

2. July 14th is National Tape Measure Day...the device was patented on this date in 1868. When did you last use a tape measure? Do you always know where to find one in your house? Tell us one way in which you feel blessed 'beyond measure'. 
I think it was this past weekend when I was measuring the height of a cabinet.  I ALWAYS have a tape measure within reach.  I have one in my purse, by my computer (so if I'm internet shopping and need to check out the measurement of an item, then I can pull out my trusty tape measure), and one in the kitchen.  I nearly wore all of them out when we were building this house. 

Oh, my, I feel blessed beyond measure in so many ways but the first way that came to my mind was, good health.  Hardly a day goes by that I do not hear of someone else with a life threatening diagnosis or illness and I never want to take my health for granted.

3.The Plaza Hotel (Eloise), The Land of Oz (The Wizard of Oz), Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia), The Hundred Acre Wood (Winnie the Pooh), Wonderland (Alice's Adventures in Wonderland), or Never Never Land (Peter Pan)...which storybook land (on this list!) would you most like to visit and why? 
Wonderland.......Alice in Wonderland was one of my all time favorite stories when I was a child and I use to dream of being in wonderland. 

4. Where and when do you get your best ideas? 
Hummm.......There's so, so many places to get ideas these days that it really requires very little thought.  But, I would say I get my best ideas from magazines, Pinterest, store displays and other people.

5.  So what have you been watching on TV this summer? Anything good?
I think the 'pickin's are slim' this summer.  Hubby and I watch a lot of Fox News and sometimes I will just watch a movie on my Ipad.  I haven't found anything all that good on TV.  Hallmark starts a new series, Chesapeake Shores, on August 14th. Hopefully it will be good and they will carry it through to completion, unlike the way they did Cedar Cove.  I so enjoyed Cedar Cove and this summer was to be its 3rd or 4th season and they cancelled it.  So, so aggravating!!!!

6. 'Don't swim for an hour after you eat', 'Dog days of summer', 'Knee high by the Fourth of July'...choose a summer saying from the list or share one of your own, then tell us what image or memory comes to mind when you hear it spoken.
'Dog days of summer' - it is exactly what we are in right now here in NE Louisiana.  My goodness, it is so hot and humid that I can hardly stand to be outside for any length of time.  And, since we have zero shade, we have intense sun pretty much all day long.  Hopefully some of our landscape trees will grow quickly and provide a little bit of shade for us. ~hope, hope~

7. In a single sentence, sum up one life lesson you've learned. 

God's timing is always perfect and mine is not!~swallow big~

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Speaking of random.......I was behind a truck yesterday afternoon and a sticker across the back window said, "Dirty truck, Lonely women, Happy dog."  Okay, I had to chuckle because I had no idea what in the world that was supposed to mean.  Perhaps it doesn't mean a blessed thing but I've sure pondered it for a while and wondered if I was supposed to "get it."  ~ only in the South~

The Landscape Reveal

Are you ready?  I mean it seems that I've been talking about and showing bits and pieces of our impending landscape for long enough.  It is now done and ready to be revealed.  And, you can scroll through these at your own pace as there are quite a few pictures with a small description underneath.  You can view as few or as many as your little heart desires. ~you have my permission~

Front view and as you will see there is plenty of room for growth in all of the beds, so they may not look full enough to you right now.  But, each one was placed with future growth in mind so there will be plenty of room for all the little guys to grow and flourish and not run over the plant next to them.

Each side of the front steps is flanked with Colorado rock

The left hand side of the front

These are both of the right hand, garage end, of house.  We used oak mulch in the beds instead of pine straw.

This is the back view of the house.

This is one of the beds to the left of the porch and patio.  It's also a bed that we can enjoy through the big windows in our living area.

This is our rose bed that adjoins the patio

This bed is outside our Master Bedroom window.  The Redbud tree will hopefully provide some shade for those windows in the next 2-3 years.

Hubby even had the area around his fish feeder landscaped with rock and grass.

This bed is just to the left of the back porch and has one of the flagstone and rock walkways.

The patio view

 These walk ways go down to the pond and around to the garage

 Hubby had this area of the pond done with tiny gravel, edged in flagstone and then the Colorado rock beyond it.  A great area to fish.

The landscaper did this neat water scape with huge rocks and flagstone.  Those are Louisiana Iris' planted in the pond that will make quite a showing next year.

And, there you have it.  We are so glad to have this project behind us and now to sit back and enjoy it's beauty.  As I said before, it's like icing on the cake!

A Sunday Surprise Post

 
I have probably only posted an entry on a Sunday a couple of times since I have been blogging.  But, I had a few things to share that would have been my Monday's Musings but the great "landscape reveal" will be here tomorrow instead of my regular Monday post. 

We have a few sunflower fields in our area and what better photo backdrop than sunflowers.  Our son and DIL took the girlies out to one of the fields a couple of evenings ago and snapped away.  They did nearly have a heat stroke in the process but the girls co-operated in spite of it.  I imagine they knew the quicker they co-operated the sooner they would get back in the air conditioned vehicle. ~grin~  They took some 70+ pictures and there are a lot of "keepers" for sure.

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 This past Thursday I had these lovely young ladies over for lunch.  I have known all of them since they were itty bitty and 3 of the 4 were in a young mom's Bible study that I had 25+ years ago at our church.  They hold a very special place in my heart and I so enjoy being with them and catching up with all the happenings in their lives.

I sat a fun table with bright summer colors.  These are some very inexpensive Melamine dishes that I found at Wal-Mart this past spring.  They make a table so happy looking and we all enjoyed our time together.  I served them Chicken Salad Pie, a chopped salad, rolls and  Pink Lemonade Pie for dessert.

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Andi Kate and her Mom have been involved in Operation Potty Training the past few days.  Aren't those the cutest little training panties she has on and those chunky thighs.  Oh, my!  She is quite young but they are giving it a whirl to see if she catches on and if not, well, they will wait a little longer.  She's caught on to so much so early that she may well figure this out as well.  We shall see.

This little rosey cheeked fella had a fun time playing in the pool yesterday.  His other Grandparents have a pool and he certainly seems to be enjoying it.  It's hard to believe that he is getting close to his first birthday.

May this Lord's Day find you worshiping the one true God that can bring peace to this troubled land.

4th of July Musings

And, we welcome July by celebrating our nation's freedom today.  In spite of the trying times, we still live in the greatest nation in the world.

 AND, who might this be???? Why, it's our little Princess zip lining last week at Pine Cove Christian Camp in Tyler, Texas.   Surely she is not big enough to be doing this.  But, if you look really close you can see that she does have a smile on her face.  What a big girl!!  For the past 4 years our son and family have gone to family camp there.  Our children went to this same camp every year for several years and then both worked there after they graduated from high school. It holds a special place in our hearts. 
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My Dad gave me this gazing ball stand for my birthday a few years ago and our landscaper found the perfect spot for it in our new yard.  I love where he placed it and I can see it out our back windows.  The landscaper anchored it in the ground and used silicone to hold the ball in place.  Hopefully that will hold it firmly when the strong winds blow here on the hill.  We shall see..........
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We had a gathering of friends for dinner this past Friday night and had such an enjoyable evening.  I browsed Pinterest for some table scape ideas and, oh, my goodness, there was a plenty.  I went with simple and cute and thought they both turned out most fitting for the occasion.  Anytime we gather with friends, it's a fun time for sure.  We'll be celebrating with our family this afternoon with more good food and good times.
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And, here's a "before landscape" picture, looks a little naked doesn't it?

And, here's an "after landscape picture, with clothes on. ~smile~  And, the before picture was taken by a professional photographer and the bottom one was taken by yours truly.  Quite a difference isn't there, in both the pictures and the landscape. ~chuckle~  The landscape will be wrapped up this week as all they lack are the stone walkways in the back.  After that I'll show you more details of the landscape.

Lea's Favorites

 A few of my favorites this 1st day of July............

Hubby's staff gave me this Pandora bracelet for my 60th birthday and that will be 4 years ago the 29th of this month. Yikes!  I have so enjoyed collecting the charms for this bracelet.  I have charms that are a bit about my life, a boy and a girl, a camera, a coffee cup, a cross, etc.  I recently filled it up and am thinking about starting another one.  I mean if one is good then two would be better.  No, I'm teasing, but I may get another one and that would give my kids something to get me. ~wink~  I think I would fill another one with all things "blingy."  We shall see.
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These are so good and especially with a cup of coffee first thing in the morning.  My DIL introduced these to me while we were all in Branson and they can now be found in my pantry.  I love all things almond!
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If you are looking for an easy meal, then you should try this.  All you need is 3 lbs. of pork and a few ingredients to mix with this package, a crock pot and in a few hours, you will have a pot full of deliciousness.  You can use it for sandwiches and merely add some chips or you can serve it with some potato salad, baked beans and french bread and have a full fledged meal.  I am going to serve it for our 4th of July meal.  Using a crock pot is sort of like having a good fairy cook for you.  A real favorite of mine.
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I have mentioned on here that I started using essential oils this past Oct.  My first use was to aid in sleeping.  I have slept good all of my life until about 2 years ago and then I started waking up about 1:30 and having a very difficult time ever going back to sleep.  I saw on Facebook that someone had used a blend of the above oils very successfully to aid with her sleep.  So, I decided to give it a try.  I use 3 drops of the Vetiver and 2 drops each of the Cardamon and Juniper Berry.  I keep them blended in a dropper bottle and I use 3-4 drops in my diffuser and then I rub it on my big toes, and up the center of my feet. I then add a few drops to a non-fragranced lotion and rub it all over my hands and arms.  It seems to be the magic potion.  I sleep good all night long 90% of the time.  Now, I know if you have never used EO then you may think it a bit weird as many others do.  But, don't knock it until you try it.  I researched and pondered essential oil for a long time before I jumped in but now, I am definitely a believer.  These are 3 of my favorite oils but I have many others. And, unlike drugs, there are no side effects with essential oils.
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And, this little guy was 10 months old yesterday and he had a good time with this playmate in the mirror last week.  Bridget said he was totally mesmerized with it.  He would clap his hands and the baby in the mirror would clap his.  Babies are just too cute as they figure things out.

Wishing you a wonderful 4th of July!!

Lea