HELLO OLD IDEAS THAT STILL SPEAK TO ME~

 I am one of those weird people

(..I hear those of you that KNOW me..)

Anyway, I am one of those weird people

that STILL keeps notebooks of ideas.

Yeah, yeah--I know all about

Pinterest and Instagram but

there is something satisfying to me

about sitting down and looking through a

BOOK OF IDEAS.

I have one notebook for each season..

(well- Christmas has 3 or 4 binders)

These are all I loose leaf 3 ring binders

filled with page protectors full

of inspirations and ideas.

Being as it IS Fall now..

I pulled my

PUMPKIN COLORED

notebook out.

Yes! They are colored for each Season-

White For Snow/Winter.

Red For Christmas.

Pink for Little Girl Ideas.

Blue For Little Boy Ideas.

Yellow For Easter Ideas.

Green For Gardening/Outdoor Ideas.

And a slew of white ones with

typed cover inserts.

Well, you get the picture.

But for Fall

(and Halloween)

I dug out the Pumpkin Colored binder.

Here are a few of the images I have saved.

These are pictures of magazine pictures

so don't expect award winning 

photography on my part...ok...

no whining about it either.

I have always loved window boxes..

and I like the earthy simplicity

 of this one.

and a  white pumpkin surrounded by Fall gatherings...

A peek at a birdbath that is

Closed for the Season

(poor birds)

And the path of pumpkins

that leads you through an arbor..

And brings you home to this..

A place to spend an afternoon,

or an evening,

or a life time.

I have had these images for many years

and don't know WHERE they are from...

but Thank You to the people

that photographed these.

Now..

Please excuse me..

I am headed to Starbucks...

I hear they have a

SPECIALTY FALL COFFEE..

(edited to add-new for the 

FALL SEASON-it's been around for a few years)

I'll pick one up for my daughter..

cuz I don't do sugar...

Can you say..

Pumpkin Spice Latte?

Now wipe the drool off your chin

and get busy (did I SAY you were lazy)?!

                                   Hmmm...would that be what they mean

                                      by the pot calling the kettle black?

OFF (take that literally) and running for the day.

Have a wonderful weekend!

DAYS OF MY LIFE.....AN UPDATE....

You all know that I have been 

away for a while.

I know many of you have reached out

to me to see what is going on in my life.

Life has had lots of ups and downs

these past few months.

One of the best UPs-

I went to Florida to deliver my grandgirl,

Alana,

to Disney College.

We spent a few days before that

at the beach.

Now she is at college in Connecticut..

sigh...and I miss her.

I also went to Mexico with my daughter

and her three girls for a week.

Beautiful resort and beautiful weather.

Another UP-

I got my inflammation pretty much under control.

A combination of anti-inflammatory meds

and a blood panel that showed me what

foods cause inflammation in my body

made a huge difference.

My SED rates are the lowest they have

EVER been.

Hubby has had good days and bad days.

Bad days are days on end spent in bed.

Good days he is up and about,

running errands, going to a dance class,

interacting with others.

On good days,

he will take Mr. Scruffy

for nice long walks

and let him explores holes in trees.

On down days

they snooze.

Sadly, we sold our camper

that was on a permanent site in

Door County, WI.

I was getting ready to paint and remove

the old borders and update the interior.

However, if I went, I went by myself

(with Scruffy)

and would have to leave hubby at home.

Maybe someday, I will have another

'escape' plan.

I relaxed there and read books for 

days on end.

Now that I am home,

I have been dawdling around with 

doll making again.

I have a couple of other ones I made, too.

I smudged the face on one by not waiting 

until it was completely dry.

Never fear-

SCRUFFY FIXED IT FOR ME!

Remind me to beat him later!

I'm sure you know I mean that!

I will do that right after he is done

guarding the house from those

vicious squirrels.

My son-in-law, Jason,

continues to fight brain cancer.

I think he is on his 10th round of chemo now.

He has such a positive attitude

and a supportive wife and family.

Please keep them in your prayers.

I will do some before and after

shots of the condo soon.

We moved in during Covid and it

took a while to figure things out.

We had to wait on some things.

Oh- and I am still drinking

If you have read this far,

well, bless your heart!

Thanks for hanging in there.

See y'all soon!

 

THE TIME HAS COME-THE TIME IS NOW-NANA DIANA IS GOING FOR A WHILE

 I have a lot on my plate

right now so I am

 taking a blogging break.

     I am going to curtail my visits on

Instagram, Facebook & Blogger

for a while.

I will pop in once in a while on

IG & FB but will not be blogging.

I feel guilty getting comments and not

being able to reply or to visit your blogs,

so---off I go for a while.

As some of you know,

John has some more surgery coming up,

I am still dealing with inflammatory issues,

and I need time to handle things here.

What's on my agenda?

I have a trip planned with my daughter

and three grand girls.

I have new books to read,

an upstairs full of 'stuff' to purge,

things to finish up in the condo,

and I need to get the camper

ready for the season.

We have NO internet and 

sketchy phone service at the RV park.

HOWEVER-

I WILL RETURN!

Look for me this fall

but for right now----

I just need a break.

I hate it when people just disappear

and you never know what happened to them....

so I did not want to be "that person".

Thank you all for always being

so faithful and following along

with all my nonsense.

You are

THE BEST!

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY

 I hope you all have a wonderful 

MOTHER'S DAY!

Love and Blessings!

BEFORE AND AFTER BACKYARD MAKEOVER

This is a home we owned 

several years ago in the 

Historical District of Green Bay.

The big old houses were built

close together with long ,deep yards.

The house to the left of 

the one we bought

was an eyesore as far as

the yard was concerned.

The fix?

A fence!

What's the old saying?......

Good fences screen ugly things

make good neighbors.

SOOO TRUE.

Here is one of the 

highlights when we were done.

When we moved in 

this is what I saw looking out our

breakfast nook window.

Now how cute is THAT? NOT!!!!

Look what a difference a fence makes.

This is from the back looking towards 

the back of the house.

Before:

After:

This was before any landscaping was done.

We divided the back yard into

two "rooms"...and put a picket fence

across the back yard to divide it.

First we had to dig up the yard to 

trench utilities out to the back.

I stuck an arbor there so they

would know where I wanted

to place the fence across

The fence went up to make the division.

The problem was that the neighbor's 

old garage was built on the property line.

It looked like what you see above.

The neighbor allowed me to paint it

and hang a door and two windows on it.

I painted the back of the windows black

so that they looked like the real deal.

They are basically "decorations" 
hung on the side of the garage.
I eventually painted the shutters
white-sadly, no pictures of that.

Want to see what is behind the gate now?

Come on in!

Hard to believe it's the same place, isn't it?
New Dawn roses eventually grew up the 
arbors and scrambled right up over
the side of the garage.

sigh- Have I told you I really loved this place?

I did-oh yes-I did!
If I run away from home you might want
to look for me under the arbor
in my old 'secret garden'!
Shhhh-don't tell MyHero where I am

he might show up and want me to cook! 

HAPPY EASTER

 I hope you have

a very special day~

        See you soon!

FUDGE IS NOT JUST FOR CHRISTMAS! SPRING TIME LEMON FUDGE

 I think just about

EVERYONE

associates

FUDGE 

with Christmas.

I know that I always

make several batches

of all different types

of fudge during the

Holiday Season.

I give them to my

enemies friends to 

MAKE THEM FAT-

that way I look thinner 
enjoy.

Pretty smart for a blond, huh?

Anyway,

I have a recipe for

LEMON FUDGE

for Spring.

If you love lemon this is for you!

I'm not sure where it came

from but I have used it for

several years.

It was probably the old

Taste Of Home magazine.

It is so good that you

will be licking the pan.

You will bow down

before me because

I am 

The Fudge Queen.

This is NOT a recipe

for those 

weak-willed people

that cannot refrain from

eating the whole pan...

Nosirreeee..

Here you go-

LEMON FUDGE

1/2 cup REAL butter (no oleo/margarine)

One 4.5 oz cook & serve lemon pudding

(do not use instant pudding)

1/2 cup milk

3-3/4 cups confectioner's sugar

1 teaspoon lemon extract

Line a 9" square pan with foil

bringing it up the sides.

Use butter and heavily butter the foil

In large saucepan combine:

Pudding mix

Milk

Butter

Cook and stir over medium heat

until mixture has thickened.

Remove from heat.

Beat in confectionery sugar & lemon extract.

Pour into buttered pan and refrigerate.

Use tinfoil to lift fudge out of pan.

Cut into squares and store in fridge.

Serve to family and friends

and your skinny enemies.

Trust me-

You will have a new

Easter candy tradition.

THIS IS SOOOO GOOD!!!!

GOOD-BYE ST PATRICK'S DAY-HELLO EASTER!

It has been a long hard winter here for us. 

 I am going to try to get back to 

regular blogging. 

Bear with me as health and 

family issues are at play. 

While I love 

St. Patrick's Day and 
all things Irish
it is time to drag

 the Easter stuff out 

of the basement bins,

and then to move things

around in the china hutch,
and then to bring my
bunnies out of hiding...

Why?  Well, because

 we all know that

ONE THING LEADS

TO ANOTHER,

don't we?

Why-oh-why-

in the midst of all that is going on

do I do this to myself?

Anyway,

It is time to 

bring out a couple of

bunnies to 

dress up the center of the table.

Look at their cute little faces!

They look so cute there

I think they should be surrounded

by other lovely Spring pieces-

like beautiful napkins.....

And then, of course, I must

drag out my old dishes

that I haven't used for several years.

Garden Party by Pfaltzgraff.

You know I have had these for almost

30 years and I still love them.

I always used them in the 

Spring and Summer months
but they have been packed away
for a few years now.

The ruby thumbprint glasses

belonged to Gramma Hazel.

Not wanting to be hidden away
 another little sugared bunny 

jumps in to join the fun.

Sweet peeks of what is to come.

A little close up of the florals.

Now-Here is 

QUESTION #1~

HOW LONG DO YOU THINK

it will take 

SOMEONE to discover that

there are 

M&M's in the flower base

that rests just below the bunnies?

QUESTION #2~

When do you think I will discover 

that they have all been eaten 

unbeknownst to me?

So-there you have it.
Just a touch of Easter here--
but we know here is a lot more to Easter
than bunnies, isn't there?

What are you doing for 
Easter or do you bypass
Easter decorating and go right for
Springs Things?

Have a wonderful day~
I'll be around to visit as I can.