Black-eyed Susan

I love Black-eyed Susan's. I bought 2 pots and planted them by my front door steps, which gets full sun all day long. Today, I was greeted with the smallest of blooms. I can't wait to see

both plants in full bloom. Tomorrow, I am having my friend's son, Rob, to come and cut down lots of bushes with his chain saw. I can't wait to get this yard back under control!

Flower power from my yard!

Where are my scissors?!!

I am always looking for my scissors. I have lots of scissors because I keep buying them when they get gone. These are my craft scissors that can cut paper. (I keep my fabric scissors under lock and key!)

Between the boys and my husband, I can never find my scissors. I can not tell you how aggravating this is to me. This morning when I was in Big Lots, looking through cleaning supplies, I saw this sponge caddy. Then, I had an idea. Why not put the sponge caddy on my filing cabinet located next to my desk and have a place to put my scissors. I love this idea. They are handy and everyone knows EXACTLY where to put them back! For $2 I have solved a very annoying problem and created my own scissor caddy!

Summertime

This is perhaps one of my favorite songs of all times. I found this artist on You Tube. Her name is Cris, a graphic designer in Canada. She has a beautiful voice. Check out 'cityofsun88' on You Tube to hear more of her songs. Enjoy!

Seeing Red

Since I had left over red spray paint, I have been seeing red. I had this basket that I thought was so ugly, yet I liked the way it was made. I decided it would be the next project.

For right now, it's hanging on the bathroom walls with washcloths. I am not sure that it will remain there. I can see it filled with flowers, or evergreen during Christmas holidays, or fall leaves during autumn. I do like the way it turned out.

My New Old Chair

This is an old chair that has been on my front porch (although it's not a real porch since it's the size of a postage stamp). Anyway, I have fretted for years what color to paint it. I finally decided on Barn Red. I just love it! I spray painted it because I thought it would be quicker. Lord knows that I need all the minutes in a day that I can get!

I think it's just perfect now! And, just in time for Flag Day!

Flowers & New Door Mats

Nikolai and I worked on this little flower garden this morning. I had an old wheelbarrow that belonged to my daddy. I couldn't bear to part with it so I put an old cloth mat in the bottom (since it was rusted out), filled it with soil, and we planted flowers. I am very pleased with our efforts.
As you can see, I need to mulch around my tree base. That's on the schedule for next week.

We also bought all new floor mats for our house. It had been a long time since we had bought any and the ones we had were pitiful. I still had a mat with snowflakes at the front door. I know, that's sad! The boys took these photos. I thought they did a good job. Deniska took the first two photos and Nikolai took the last one.

We worked in the yard all morning. My butterfly garden has been invaded by poison ivy. I don't know how to go about getting rid of it without hurting the other plants. I bought some Round-up for the other places. Poison Ivy is bad this year in my yard. I don't want to boys in it at all. Maybe I will hire someone to come clean it out for me. Or, maybe I will just bite the bullet and do it myself. I've never been allergic to poison ivy and I don't want to start now!

Gifts and Thrift shop finds

My mother-in-law, Joyce, gave me some Bath & Body products, Avon lotion, and an angel pin. Wasn't that nice?

She also gave me this Rosetti purse. I really like it. It's big, it's red, my new favorite purse color, and it's large enough for school. It even has a padded pocket for the new small 10" laptops. I might have to get me one of those just for this purse!



My sister-in-law, Deanna, gave me a bag full of clothes for the boys and a set of Adventures Odyssey videos. The boys are excited about those.

Deanna also took me to a thrift shop and I got several neat things. A Pier One cat rack, a vintage red purse, and 2 pillows.

The red purse needs to be cleaned and a vintage hankie needs to peek out of the side. It will be my Sunday purse. I don't know why I feel in love with this little purse. It just spoke to me.

Outside sights