I'm so glad you could stop by. This is my personal blog of daily life and my journey through life. You will find a strong emphasis on family and friends as well as finding my ancestors through genealogy. Unlike my other blogs this blog is more of a catch-all so any topic is fair game.
As an avid DIYer and crafter, I like to watch the DIY shows for home decorating and gardening ideas. Several years ago, one of the hosts on a DIY show made the comment that every home needs a red room. Now my husband is a huge Detroit Redwings fan so the sports room has a lot of red in it but the walls aren't red. Red made it's way into the kitchen via dinnerware and lids to the glass food storage containers I use. When we first viewed this house, I planned on doing the kitchen black and white with splashes of red if we were the successful purchasers. Well, we were successful but after moving in it was fairly obvious my colour scheme would not work yet at the same time the taupe walls weren't working in the kitchen. I devised a plan to paint every room in the house as my winter project.
I was on the Behr website using their decorating tool starting with the green I wanted for our bedroom. All the colours in the house would in effect co-ordinate back to that green. At the same time the colour scheme of taupe, green and burgundy was the same as our vacation home making it so that any items taken from here would automatically match there and visa versa. I had a nice co-ordinating burgundy picked out for our home office and a taupe for the kitchen. My husband said the burgundy would look great in the kitchen so I thought what the heck, headed over to Home Hardware. They have the codes to make most of the Behr colours except they didn't have the code for that burgundy. I came back home to get the next closest burgundy colour number then when back to Home Hardware but on the way there did a quick turn-around. I was onto plan B. I grabbed one of the dinner plates then went back to Home Hardware where they custom matched the paint to the plates.
The kitchen is now a deep, rich splash of almost a ruby red. It is absolutely gorgeous! The red makes the marble tile floor pop and serves as a wonderful backdrop for the black appliances while bringing out the warm tones in the oak cabinets. I can't help but smile every time I go into the kitchen. Red is a very difficult paint to work with and this one has been about a difficult as they come taking more coats than expected but the end result has been well worth it. I'm so glad I listened to my husband and used the red in the kitchen! What a wonderful splash of colour, one that will continue to bring a smile not only to me but to everyone who sees it...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
An Arial View En Route
December 6, 2011
My camera is pretty much attached at the hip so imagine my disappointment when I can't use the digital camera in the first 20 minutes or last 10 minutes of a flight. I'd love to get some great arial views from the plane window. It is a safety issue so I comply but others do not.
Anyway, it is hard getting a decent photo from inside the plane. The cabin lights and natural lighting present a few problems as does dirty windows. I do the best I can. We had a lot of cloud coverage between Milwaukee and Orlando so managed to get only a few arial shots. This one looked rather good although I am not quite certain where it was but the view caught my attention.
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
We are very fortunate to always have a number of helping hands for moving, painting and home renovations. I have set a goal of painting every room in our new home this winter. It is a big undertaking but honestly is not as much work as it could be even though it is a big house. The is no wallpaper to have to strip other than a border in the lower level bathroom. The walls are in good condition so there is only the normal wall repair to do.
I started the upper level bathroom last week. Our youngest kid's partner offered to help with the prep and painting. We finished the painting yesterday then my husband helped with putting the prisms back on the lights and replacing the exhaust fan hood. The room still needs a final clean-up and we are waiting on a friend to bring the custom made trim he's making for the tub wall. My husband and I spent the rest of yesterday and this morning emptying more boxes from our move and organizing. Another pair of hands always makes the work go faster. This coming week we are painting the kitchen and hopefully the guest room. It would not be possible to get this amount of work done without helping hands!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Over the Wing
December 6, 2011
My husband and I left here on December 4, flying out of Detroit into Milwaukee for the first leg of our winter vacation. It really wasn't all that cold when we left but I will tell you Wisconsin was cold. We spent a couple of days there then flew out from Milwaukee to Orlando, Florida.
It was a good thing we arrived at the airport early as the flight we were supposed to be on was cancelled and they bumped us up to an earlier flight. We had time to grab a quick coffee then board the plane. The flight was uneventful so I amused myself looking out the window and playing with the television. We few Delta so they had individual televisions for ever seat but we only had one set of headphones with us. My husband was interested in the golf and I was so, so about HLN so decided to snap pictures out the window instead.
Flying above the clouds is always quite nice. I so love their fluffy, comforting look! At the same time they hide what is below and since the cloud coverage was rather heavy most of the trip, I didn't get a lot of good shots out of the window. It was a very nice flight though with a smooth landing. And so our winter vacation in the sunny south began...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
My gosh, 2012 has started off quite chaotic so I haven't been blogging as much. I hope to get back to my normal daily schedule within the next day or two. I have so much to blog about starting with our winter vacation (Dec 4 - 22), a minor mishap at the airport coming home, our wonderful Christmas, volunteering for the local school's breakfast program and starting my major indoor winter project of painting every room in the house. So there is a lot going on right now but in a good way. Tomorrow I will post the first in a series of posts about our winter vacation to bring you up to date. In meantime I hope you have a very enjoyable, blessing filled day :)
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Have you ever wondered why the word grand is used to describe Grandparents or Grandchildren? Well the bottom line is these relatives are grand in every sense of the word! The relationships themselves is almost magical, one feeding off of the other. After all you can't become and Grandparent without a Grandchild and yet you can be a Grandchild without ever knowing your Grandparents. The beauty of being a Grandparent with an intimate relationship with your Grandchild/Grandchildren is absolutely priceless!
Parents to oldest and youngest Grandchildren along with the little angels visited us today for brunch. They were down to visit the newest member of the family born on Saturday weighing in at 8 lb 6 oz. Our Grandchildren were beyond excited at the prospect of meeting their new little cousin! Papa made everyone grilled ham and cheese sandwiches for brunch while Grandma pulled out a can of home canned peaches to top the vanilla icecream. Oldest Grandchild spotted popcorn kernels in the pantry so Grandma got out the popcorn popper while the treasured magic popcorn bowl was carefully carried to the kitchen. Both Grandchildren pulled a chair to the counter to watch the popcorn pop. It's quite neat to watch. It is an electric version of the WhirlyPopper, ultra quiet, no spout and just gorgeous popped corn filling the bowl. With the popcorn filling the magic popcorn bowl, they contented snuggled up with Grandma and Papa on the couch. We chit chatted with the parents (aka our amazing kids) while the little ones munched on their treat and all was well. What a wonderful way to spend a bit of time on a Sunday!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Signs
December 6, 2011
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
A week ago today we greeted a brand new year, full of hopes and promises. Goodness time does fly! It has been a rather busy but uneventful week. The weather has been unseasonably mild so my husband worked on organizing the garage, freeing up a bit of room for getting the car in and out. A few things were taken to Goodwill reducing a bit more of our clutter. I did a massive organizing session in my new pantry. While we were on our winter vacation a mouse managed to find it's way into the house. Nothing was touched in the pantry which is surprising as some foods were not protected due to the move. Now they are all protected! We set traps, put out bait under the decks and plugged in the electronic rodent devices. So far there have been no further signs of our critter visitor. My husband changed out the hall light fixture and we talked about a few plans for the house to be done in 2012. My husband finally came into the 21st century by opening a Facebook account for the business. Now I just have to get him into Twitter. We held our first larger event of the year last night. It was a huge success with all having a good time. And so went the first week of 2012...
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Little Walking Men
(Mitchell International Airport, Milwaukee, WI)
December 4, 2011
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
Today we greet a brand new year with welcomed arms with our traditional
surf & turf dinner of steak and lobster. The old year (2011) was full of turmoil sprinkled with many good times but for the most part a year of change. We were very blessed to be able to travel to Las Vegas and Wisconsin as well as spend three extended periods of time at our vacation home in Florida. We enjoyed many great times with family and friends over the year. Our kids and Grandkids are happy, healthy and continue to shower us with many blessings. After a two and half year period I finally got rid of my online stalker. After waiting patiently for 18 months we finally sold our house (wonderful news) at a loss (bad news) but at least we were able to move into the house we really wanted on September 1. The new house is absolutely wonderful and while there are a few things we have had to deal with, I'm sure we will establish many happy memories here. We are looking forward to decorating as well as establishing new garden beds. It is destined to be a party house but in a good way. On the downside, I was injured in mid-February taking more than three weeks to become fully mobile again. My husband was hospitalized with an unknown virus then diagnosed as being pre-diabetic. In December I had a slip and fall at the airport so am still sporting the tell tale signs of that injury. Our health problems in 2011 have been a blessing in disguise as we work towards a healthier 2012. While 2011 was a year well lived, 2012 is bound to be better!
Happy New Year!
Garden Gnome
©2006-2012
