Home Keeping: New Plants

 I went to the garden center the other day and bought flowers for my cement planters. I also bought a new house plant. A Marble Queen pothos.  It's very pretty and I transplanted it already into a bigger pot.

I won't leave the tag in the plant much longer! (grin) 

I also put together the beginning idea for my Easter table.

I need an official head count still, but I think we'll be around 16 people on Sunday.  

I think this plant in the centerpiece, my Aldi purchased Dieffenbachia, will need a bigger pot soon. 

You know what that means, right?

I'll need a new wee plant for this adorable planter!

Holy week can be full of mixed emotions. The sorrow of the cross, but also the joy, knowing about the resurrection. My heart is full of thankfulness.

 Happy Mid-Week friends.

Tea On Tuesday (and some thoughts)

 

This is one of my favorite tea sets. A mini blue and white that I found in a gift shop in California about 4 years ago.  I keep it in my china cupboard with all my other tea things.

Tomorrow we may take Sarah's roommate to tea. My favorite tea room is only open Wednesdays through Saturdays.  We have plans for Thursday already, so it just might be tomorrow for tea.

If you are not interested in a bit of political news, you may move on, and thank you for reading about my tea set and plans for tea!

If you are interested, I'll share this tidbit.

Tim has read a book called The Deep Rig by Patrick M. Byrne, about the election and how it was stolen. More frustratingly, how so many 'establishment' Republicans were just following establishment ideas.

Patrick, General Mike Flynn, and Sidney Powell met with the President and showed how they could easily proof the fraud, etc, but those establishment guys fought against them. It's all frustrating.  

Anyway, I have a few ideas about this (I've always believed there was a bigger plan underway and I'd be happy to talk about some of that if you want to hear it), but for Tim, well he felt it was all over.

He follows Patrick M. Byrne on Telegram, and I now do, too. Last night I saw this post by him.

He and Sidney, and others have been working together, with others and Sidney has said that they would be able to share it all in about 2 weeks. That is why Patrick mentions 2 weeks here. 

This post, along with some other things I've been reading and observing from November 3rd on, make me very hopeful and I'm praying bolder prayers.

I also have been being reminded by the Lord, that my complete trust must be in him and not in men. However, as we see in the word, God works through mankind. Humans are imperfect, everyone of us.

This week of Easter reminds us of that fact. Because of our sin, God gave us the perfect sacrifice of His Son. But he didn't stay dead, he rose again to new life. So thankful!

I hope you feel encouraged, friends. Keep praying.

ps - if you are the UNKNOWN commenter that fills my inbox with garbage about Trump. Don't bother to comment. I won't post it. 

Weekend

 I kicked the weekend off on Friday with this cute plant (which came in this adorable pot) from Aldi. I think I paid $3.99 for it. It wasn't more than $5.00 anyway. It's got a lot of leaves growing so I think I'll have to transplant it out of the cute pot soon, but that just means I'll have to find something for the pot, right?  

I completely agree!

Also arriving on Friday were these nifty new shower curtain liners. I'd wanted the kind with these little roller balls on them because they slide so easily, but finding ones with two holders so I can hang the liner and curtain on one hook? Awesome! This makes it easy to take the liner down for washing or the to change the curtain out seasonally, if I want.  Why did I wait so long? I had two rods up and I was still using the plastic curtain rings on my liner.  

I love the update!

For those of you who will ask, I bought this shower curtain in 2019 from Bed, Bath, and Beyond.  I still love it!

I have begun painting the trim and doors on Saturday when I was home alone. I got the hall bathroom done, well, I have to paint the inside of the closet door to be all done!

It's a fresher white, we've had a creamier white, and I can't wait to get it all done soon.  Tim is onboard with the board and batten look for the wall and maybe even repainting the walls.

In answer to prayer, he is getting very busy. Thank you to those who prayed, too! 

Yesterday, we attended a Partnership 101class at our church, and then Tim helped Lindsay get some cattle panels at Tractor Supply for her plan to add ducks,  and more chickens to her flock.  

It rained pretty hard for a brief time, and with added wind, our power went out. That doesn't happen very often as our lines are buried here but some branches came down on some wires and our power didn't come back on until nearly two o'clock.

I know this because Kyle and I left the house at around 11:10 p.m. headed to meet up with Sarah and her roommate Nicole. They got a ride home with some friends who attended a prayer conference at Sarah's bible school this weekend.  

By the time we got home, and got into bed, it was only a few minutes and the power was back on! So grateful for that!

This morning Sarah and Nicole have to listen in on their last three classes. (they were given permission to leave early because they could ride home with these friends) 

I was to have my grands while their mommy had a dentist appointment but the dentist just canceled her appointment and had to reschedule so, that is one less thing on my plate for today.

I hope your weekend was lovely, and full of goodness. I hope you see your families, hug your grands, share a meal with friends!

Do You Know About The Old World Design Society?

 

Angela Reed of Parisienne Farmgirl blog {here}, who also had a podcast Homemaker Chic, and has a YT channel has started the Old World Design Society and it is open for spring membership. You can read all about it {here}.

I joined for the winter session and if you love English or French Country homes style, using old world style things then this society is for you. I feel as if I have found my people!

Social media is full of monochromatic farmhouses and as pretty as many of these are, they are not my style. I crave color, paintings, old silver, collected china, jewel tones, books, interesting mirrors and lamps.

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There is a private FB page where people share their homes, and thrifted finds, build friendships, and encourage one another. There is a publication either print or digital, there is a group zoom call, earlly access to Angela's sales of Old World items.

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I've been interested in seeing everyone's interpretation of Old World. I love rich color, and velvets, but I don't love a heavy look. It's wonderful to gain inspiration from people making their homes just how they like it, which is what I've advocated for for many years. I've never cared about what is trendy, I've cared about whether I like something and if it works in my home!

Anyway, I know that many of my friends here love beauty, gardening, and personal treasures, and so I thought I'd share Angela's Old World Design Society with you.

Let me know if you join, and I'll look for you on the FB page!

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Home Keeping - Bathroom Update Ideas

 

Over the last few years I have become a big fan of board and batten accent walls. I've long liked beadboard but have never done it in our home.

All the trim in the main living areas of our home, and the interior doors in this space need to be repainted, and so I've decided that this would be an excellent time to add an accent wall in our hall bathroom! 

Don't you agree?  These are a few of my inspiration photos, I have them saved on my Pinterest board - For The Home - and then in the subcategory of Walls.

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Photo by Colleen Brett - Look for bathroom pictures - source

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I don't want it to be expensive to do, or super time consuming. Plus we have a large light switch in the middle of the wall so I'm thinking the board and batten would work better to have it blend in.  

Now to chat with Tim about it.  Kyle and I can do the painting.  I'm thinking of maybe painting the upper wall in a navy and the board and batten white to blend with the trim.

Do any of you have feature walls, or whole rooms with beadboard or shiplap or board and batten?  I'd love to hear about it!

Garden Talk

 

As I mentioned yesterday, we mulched the flower beds on Saturday.  We also replanted a few of these roses, as I realized that they were planted a bit too high. In this bed of roses, I also have the perennials of Echinacea, salvia, larkspur, daylily.  There are also, in the other beds, hydrangea, bleeding heart, feverfew, iris, a few tulips, poppies, and a lovely hollyhock called, "Nigra."

In the past I've had some zinnia which were great, but in the last few years I've had trouble with sowing seeds due to chickens scratching in my flower beds.

Now that the chickens are happily residing at Lindsay's home, I can direct sow these gorgeous poppies, the zinnias, the hollyhocks, and the cosmos!

I'm beyond excited to grow these gorgeous additions to my garden!

Garden is trial and error sometimes. I've planted things that haven't done well, started seeds that turned out great, had failures and successes. I like the process and the creativity of gardening, and I love having fresh flowers to cut and bring into our home. I also love taking a bouquet as a hostess gift, or to someone for a birthday gift.

I'm going to try to get to one of the garden shops I like and see about some flowers for my concrete planters!

Do you know the key to planting in pots?  The basics are you want a filler, a spiller, and a thriller! A main plant for the middle (usually something that will grow tallish) that's the thriller, then you want a plant that will grow down the sides of the pot, then you want a pretty plant for the rest of the pot, and that is the filler.

Here is an example

The geranium is the thriller (color) the white flower (I don't remember the name) is the filler, and the sweet potato vine is the spiller!  These plants and colors played nicely with each other all summer. As you can see this method works no matter the size of your pot.

Here's an example of a big flower urn.

This is so big, they have several fillers and spillers, and a hydrangea for the thriller! 

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Isn't it gorgeous?! It's way to big for the scale of my home, but I can easily use this method to make something beautiful in my own garden planters, and so can you!

I do want to say, though, that sometimes a beautiful pot planted with just one kind of flower is stunning.

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The great thing about gardening in pots, planters, and urns is you can do it in any size space, and its easier on your body to care for!

What garden plans do you have for this year? Any tips or favorite plants you want to share? Let's chat in the comments!

Weekend

 Saturday was warm and sunny so we did mulch for the front flower beds.  Tim's idea was to dig a bit of a trench along the edge of the beds, and then it all got filled in with mulch.

Kamryn spent the weekend and had fun helping. She and Tim went and got the mulch while Kyle finished the edging.

Kamryn also learned to drive the old riding mower. We took the cutting deck off and use it to pull a small trailer around when working in the garden.

Tim getting ready to fill our old faithful wheelbarrow. It's pink now it's so sun faded!

Kyle spread the mulch after Tim dumped the wheelbarrow.

Load after load. I even shoveled one load and I'm still paying for it with my lower back!

Doesn't it look great?

Kam getting instruction on driving the mower from Grandpa.

On Friday, we'd had a call from Tim's sister that their mom was sleeping mostly, hadn't had much to drink, and seemed to be transitioning. She emailed everyone the next day with some more information and let us know the hospice nurse would be coming to evaluated her.  The nurse agreed that she was in early stages of transitioning. Tim's sister told us that mom had woken and eaten a good amount of a soft supper.

His sister was booking a flight from Missouri, his brother was looking at flights for Sunday evening, and we started looking for a flight for Tim.  He had a repair job for Monday which could be done the following week, but he has inspections starting Tuesday, so we checked flights and found one leaving Sunday morning and he could return Monday afternoon. We booked it, and I dropped him at the airport yesterday morning and will go pick him up this afternoon.

With his arrival, and his sister's arrival late the night before, Tim's mom Jean, realized she had company and wanted to get out of bed!  One of Tim's sisters took the opportunity to cut her hair so here is Mom sitting ready for a haircut!  As soon as his sister started to brush through her hair, she fell asleep again!

Isn't she beautiful? She is in her 100th year of life. Tim said "She's a true extrovert! Had to get up and enjoy her company!"

She still slept mostly, but I know it was special for her to have her living children all with her yesterday. That's rare since they all live in different states, and one is often in West Africa.

Last evening allowed them (Tim and his siblings) to talk together and make plans for her memorial service. We don't know how much longer her life will be. She may rally for a while and make it to the autumn and her official 100th birthday. But now they've all spoken together and made plans for the future.

As for Jean, she's had a remarkable life, and has two sons, (one who died in infancy, and one who died at age 10) waiting for her in heaven. There are many there waiting to welcome her, and the Lord waiting to tell her, "Well done, my good and faithful servant."

Being Brave

 My lovely mom and I went to tea on Wednesday. This was the first time she'd been inside a restaurant type establishment since last March. She does go out a few stores when necessary and she picks up her grocery order from Walmart.

Our favorite tea shop is small and the owner is very careful to follow our state guidelines, so my mom decided she felt comfortable going.

We talked about how for her, who wears a mask the times she has gone into a store, it felt a bit uncomfortable to not have a mask on. She mentioned that she feels safe with the mask on, even though she has seen the report from the CDC that wearing a mask makes little difference in people getting the virus. (I believe that came up in Gov. DeSantis of Florida's meeting on covid yesterday)

We talked about how she has never felt the need to wear a mask ever before through flu seasons, or even when my younger brother and I got the horrible swine flu in the 70's and have fevers of 105 degrees and were cared for at home!

Since they've been seniors, they've followed their doctors' recommendation on the flu shot and felt safe, my mom said, even though the flu shot doesn't cure the flu, and often isn't even for the 'varient' or strain of flu that seems dominant that year.

We had a lovely time together, and I was so proud of her for being brave to go and enjoy herself. 

I am glad that since June last year they chose to have the family in their 'cov*d' circle. They've had my granddaughters (their great grands) over for sleep overs, they've been a part of holidays, birthdays, and other family gatherings.

They don't plan to get the vax as there seem to be a lot of adverse reactions to it, and the vax only mitigates symptoms of cov*d, it doesn't keep you from getting cov*d.

I've been curious as to why our country didn't give everyone a dose of HCQ when it acts as both a preventative, and a cure. That med along with a few other things would have been a few dollars per citizen, and we could have been over this last year by summer.  There are bigger issues underlying this 'pandemic.'

There are other protocols too, that are effective. I have a long time friend fighting the virus right now. His wife had it and got over it easily but he's struggling. I ask her if they ask for one of the protocols, and she said she did but was told, "It's a virus and it has to run it's course." 

That shocked me.

Another friend shared this very helpful website www.frontlinemds.com   

Back to my curiosity regarding why we didn't pursue known cure/preventatives. I think it all comes down to profitability, even though it makes me sad to say that.

I know that if my parents get the virus, and they may already have and not had symptoms, I will advocate with my whole being that they get one of the therapeutics. If that doesn't work, we'll work with a frontline doc and get it done.

We are in charge of our health. We are sovereign people as adults, regarding our health choices. We can decide when we get certain tests, if we get them at all. We can choose to vax our kids or not, we can choose what kinds of treatments we take for illnesses.

We have a friend fighting stage four colon cancer. He's doing well on natural treatments and that is what he chose to pursue. Will it cure him? Maybe. But it was his choice, and he and his wife are at peace with that route they've chosen to take.

Be at peace friends. What ever you chose, I am your friend. We may not agree on everything, but that's okay. We all must make the decisions that we believe are right for us and our families (if we still have children in the home).

Have a wonderful weekend.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

 

Slainte, Friends! Literally health to you!

I am going to tea with my momma today, and I am looking forward to it!  This won't be my cup at the tea shop today, but since it is mine, I will likely use it sometime today!

I have Irish heritage. My Scottish covenantor ancestors were sent to Ireland after they lost the battle of Bothwell Bridge to the English. They were fighting for the right to worship in the way they wanted, vs the English who wanted them to follow the church of England ways.

Anyhow, eventually they spelling of our last name became Irish influenced and when Oglethorpe came looking for farmers to build an agrarian society in Georgia, our family went and settled in the New World.

I watched an interesting video this week called "Celtic Pilgrimage," on prime video.  It's slow moving and a bit long, but I found the information about St. Patrick, St. St. Columba, St. Hilda and a few others. I learned that celtic Christianity was not Roman Catholicism (that came later), and these people were only made saints so that the celtic Christians would accept the Roman view of Christianity. I found it all very interesting.

The celtic Christians were traveling the world in the 700's, and there are writings on a cave in West Virginia that people had thought were ancient Indian dialect, until a linguist visited the cave and found it was ancient Irish! As a history lover I found this all very interesting.

I like to celebrate this day because of the work of these Christians who served the celtic people and then spread out around the world.

Over the years many myths have sprung up about Patrick, the most famous being that he drove the snakes from Ireland. There were no snakes on Ireland, but this is comic is funny!

I hope you have a delightful day, whether you celebrate St. Patrick's Day or not!

Another Marketplace Find

 

I've really not been making very many purchases these days, it just might seem like it. (grin) 

It is spring and that has me working on my ideas for the garden, and for my outdoor seating areas.  I've been wanting to get some great planters that will hold up with changing seasons, and I don't want to spend a lot of money for them.

Yesterday I saw an ad for 3 concrete planters, for a reasonable price. I contact the seller, and arranged to go look at them. They weren't as large as I thought they'd be but they are really nice.

There is a bit of wearing down on a few corners, but overall they are in create shape and I love the way they look. They belonged to the sellers' mother in law. The sellers' husband said "I'm 71 years old and I remember them from when I was around 11 or 12." So they've got some patina on them!

The seller had some other pots that I think she is going to be selling too, bigger and round, so I am going to contact her about that. I'd like to find a few larger ones for the seating area that I am making where the chicken run used to be.

These planters weigh about 45 pounds each, and I'm thankful that I have Kyle to haul things around for me!

Are you working on plans and ideas for your outdoor spaces? Do you make purchases off of FB Marketplace?

Weekend (And Thoughts On The Consent Of The Governed)

Today at 9:00 am

Today the sun is shining, it's a bit windy, and the high will be around 40 degrees. A chilly day.

We had a really good weekend. 

Friday evening the family gathered (those that were available), we ate dinner and played Mexican Train. That's a game that even Kamryn can play (she won a round, too!), and Klaire plays on a 'team' matching up the Dominos by color and number. As my dad likes to say, "We had four generations at the table." It was fun. Nate and Kay left to put the little grands to bed, and the older two got to stay a bit longer. They live very close to us, so it's easy to run them home.

It was fun, and we're already looking forward to this week. 

On Saturday, Tim had breakfast with a friend, and then had an inspection. Normally he doesn't work weekends, but with work slower right now, we didn't mind that it was a Saturday.

I cleaned the hall bathroom, changed out the shower curtain (I keep them and rotate them seasonally), dusted, vacuumed the living room, kitchen, hallway, and bathroom. I've learned to always dust before vacuuming. 

Tim wanted to eat the leftovers in the fridge for dinner, which was fine with me! Kyle never minds that, as long as there is good food! (grin)

Yesterday, was church, and then home for a big Taco Salad I had made. I also made homemade ranch dressing.  Our friend Denny was here for lunch and the afternoon/evening, and the older grands were here, too, as they go to church with us and spend the day. Kamryn and Kyle played minecraft online with their friend Daniel, Klaire played, took a nap, and then watched a show she likes.

I like a relaxed day with my people. 

This leads me to some thoughts regarding freedom, and our rights being given to us by God. They relate to cov*d because several things I saw and read this weekend are on my mind. If you don't want to read that, then this is where you can stop. I respect that.

I was thinking about how as a citizenry, so many have adapted to being told what they can and can't do without laws being passed. JB says they'll give us guidance on what we can do. Really? F@uci says there is no date he can give when people can have larger gatherings like weddings. I'm glad that our family has always gathered together, in spite of cov*d. I guess we just made ourselves our own 'cov*d circle.'

I believe most of us are good, law abiding citizens of our countries, and we want to do what's right. That's why it's been so easy for us to come under these mandates, not laws, that restrict our lives. There is enough data to show that with proper treatments (which our last president talked about, so the opposition couldn't have him have any kind of victory, so they wouldn't allow certain known drugs to be used that could have saved lives.), HCQ, and Ivermectin and others, this could have been over with in just a few months.  But its never been about keeping people safe, its about control. 

When will people feel it's okay to stop wearing a mask?  The CDC report said masks don't make a significant difference in cases, so why are they saying we should wear two or three masks?  Are people waiting for someone to come out and say, "You may now stop wearing a mask, and go about your lives." This continuing on is mostly for optics. So JB can say, "We beat it under my administration." They already have tried to say there was no vax before they took office etc... which is not true! JB himself was vaxxed before he took office! 

Cases are down significantly around the country, yet JB talks like a dictator: they'll decide, they'll give us guidance. In America, the founders built the foundation on the fact that people's rights are God given, not government given.

From our Declaration of Independence - 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed,"

Governments derive their just powers from the consent of the governed. That's us. If we disagree we need to say, NO!

I'm really praying for people to recognize that we can shelter the vulnerable, and those who are not at risk should be able to run their businesses, visit with friends and family, go to church, breathe freely.

We can believe that the virus is real, care about those who've lost loved ones, and still believe that as sovereign people we can make those choices for ourselves.  People are free to make their own choices. I respect that. If someone feels better in a mask or two, then feel free to wear them. I am not offended by that. I simply feel that the citizens of free nations, should have the right to decide that. 

Refreshing The Picket Fence

 

Many years ago, we got picket fence sections from a neighbor of a friend who was taking down a fence. God has always provided for us, even our wants. This allowed us to enclose the front flower garden and add charm to our property.

Isn't it cute?

As with all things, and especially when they come to you used, the fence fell into disrepair. Tim was so busy with work that it was hard to find time to do the needed work. He doesn't like to hire these jobs out, because they are things he can easily do. (though he is better at doing this now)

In the autumn he replaced the picket sections, and then yesterday he painted them with a paint/primer mix from our local hardware store.

I think it looks great!  

When Tim was done I swept the walkway, and had Kyle take a photo of the front side.

While Tim was outside, our neighbor came over to tell us that he had someone look at his roof and from a July storm that had hail he will be getting a new roof for free. Tim is going to have ours looked at, too. 

Several friends of the blog wrote to me saying they'd like to talk politics a bit, and so I will be doing that off and on. I have a few things to share today, so if you don't want to participate in this portion, feel free to leave a comment on the picket fencing, and go on with your day!

Sometimes, I don't know where to start because there are so many areas where things are wrong.  

I'll start with election stuff - 

1. A Michigan judge has reinstated a voting fraud case. You can read about that {here}.

2. Doug Billings interview with Sidney Powell. She talks about election fraud and the evidence they have and are working on. {here}

It's very interesting that people will say "Well, the courts have heard the cases and decided against Trump." That is just not true. The courts have decided to not hear the cases. That is different. They've decided based on standing or saying the cases are moot now that Biden is inaugurated. That's just wrong. If the courts heard the evidences then they'd have to say that fraud did happen and that the election must be overturned. Fraud, according to the law, automatically renders it invalid!

This shows how deep the corruption is.

I've shared with you about George News.  Their website has been affected by the fire in France. You can read about that {here}. It doesn't affect their YT channel or their Telegram channel.

They've shared some interesting things in the chat lately and Dan Scavino has been sharing some interesting things also. Dan is on Twitter, Instagram and FB. 

Here are a few things that the George news guys have been sharing in the chat.

Mighty interesting, if you ask me.  What does it mean? I don't know. Could it be something with Gov. Cuomo, triggering a domino affect? Maybe.

I'm headed out for groceries in a bit, then Kyle is going to his friends' house. We are starting a new tradition tonight. Dinner and games with whoever in the family can make it. It's going to be fun. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend.