Birthdays in August

Yesterday, August 3rd, was our daughter's birthday. We asked our daughter what she wants to do and said she'll take us to this mega-church where she started attending. I edited this post to add their link... please click here if you're interested. I've seen these churches on TV but have never been to one yet, so this was my first. What a difference from the old traditional churches. There was a loud band playing and lots of clapping but I particularly enjoyed the way the Pastor gave his message ... it was surely not boring and very interactive. Afterwards, we went to eat at a restaurant. Somewhere in the conversations between us and the waitress it came up that we are celebrating our daughter's birthday. They surprised her by giving her a free sundae and singing to her, pictured below. She was a bit embarrassed by it but we had fun watching her get embarrassed! :) Feel free to click at images to enlarge for a better view.


Then we stopped at the Guitar Center ... she wanted a loop station and an adapter for her electric guitar as birthday presents. After a while we headed home to have a birthday cake. I made her a red velvet cake, pictured below. It was a quiet and simple celebration. When they were little, they used to have three bday celebrations, one with the family on their actual birthday, another with their friends on a weekend and the 3rd, with my friends. lol ... the adults got to have an excuse to get together, 'ya know! :)


And on Tuesday, August 5th, is my step-daughter's birthday. Since she lives in Oregon, we took these pictures to greet her a Happy Birthday. She tries to read my blog whenever she has a chance and so I hope she will see this. Oh, I'm sure her dad will "alert" her on this. lol




This is her, pictured below. She wanted so much to have this Chinese checker game that her grandpa made so we gave it to her. She has nice memories playing with that Chinese checkers. This was taken last April of this year when she came to be with us on her dad's birthday. Have you noticed the difference on our walkway? It was still bare then ... now it's bursting with flowers. And our porch, pardon the mess, we use it to store lawn furnitures in the winter.

Sigh of relief! I made it. Vicky's photo is now above.

(Darn, darn, darn! #@%^#$ ... i don't understand why the image disappeared. I tried to upload it again but was giving me an error message. I have to try it again tomorrow, it's getting late ... my apologies.)

Anyway, I put together a video for her and the above is what I came up with. For some reason blogger does not accept text with the video so they are separated; it's a learning experience for me. Vicky, we hope you enjoy the above video. From all of us here in NY; we wish you a happy and blessed birthday! Hugs and kisses from all of us! Enjoy!

An Award ... for me???

Oh my, oh my! see that award on my sidebar? It was given to me by my bff mari. Mari and I goes a long way. I first met mari online, then after a few years, we decided to meet in person. A very nice lady, inside and out. Thanks a million, dudette!

I am now sharing this award to all my blogger friends; you are all deserving of this so please feel free to grab and display it.

Thankful Thursday

Tomorrow, Rhondi is hosting a Thankful Thursday. I think this is a nice way to re-connect to our inner selves and think about what we are thankful for. I am posting mine now because I will be at work tomorrow. Please go visit Rhondi's blog to see the participants. Thanks Rhondi for hosting this.
I consider myself blessed. I have a family which is in good health, and my kids seem to be going in the right direction.

I am also thankful for rain and sun. My garden beds are extra nice this summer. I am sharing pictures of my dahlias. I love the redness of this one below, deep red; the tubers were given to me by my boss last spring. Feel free to click at images to enlarge.


This one is a dinner-size dahlia... it is about 8 inches in diameter. I have these in whites and yellows. The yellows are slow bloomers ... the buds are still tight.



I love this one too; variegated orange. I should try to find the catalog where I bought this; I think this is called Mrs. Eileen, not sure.


This one is variegated purple. I used to have only one of these, but they multiply every year, so now I have more than a dozen. This is it for now folks. I wish I had more time to think but it's past 11pm and a girl has to go to work tomorrow. Hope you enjoyed looking at the pictures ... they are all a part of God's creation and we have Him to thank for!

Moving Sale

Last weekend I helped price stuff for a friend's moving sale. He is a Pastor and is moving to Chicago to be near his sons. Well, I'm not really sure if it was a good idea, going to help, because I ended up buying a lot of the stuff. One of them is the milk glass pitcher pictured above. It goes with the flower vase that I already have. For those of you who do not know me, I collect milk glass ... and what's a girl to do, lol ... I can't just have somebody else buy it. (click images to enlarge if you want to)



Then one of the ladies (Gail) who was spearheading the moving sale, showed me the sweet green pepper shaped cookie jar with a McCoy marking at the bottom, a McCoy ...in perfect condition, for only $5.00?! ... hmmm, I can't let that go either! lol and the lamp was only $10.00, the silver bowl - $2.00? ... can't remember.



And I also bought the above linens which included an embroidered table runner, eight placemats or maybe napkins, crocheted doily (?) and 2 more napkins, for a total of $5.50! Can't beat that either! :)


BUT here's my best buy! A 40 piece set of Limoges china for only $50.00!!! I think that was a steal! I did not notice the markings at first until the next day when I went back to help set them up on the porch. There was a lot of good stuff like more lamps, end tables and plant stands. I bought a few of those and a baker's rack, but my goodness, where will I put them in our house? Russ (Gail's husband who was also helping) jokingly suggested that I kick my husband out to make more room! lol Our friend (the Pastor) asked if I could leave the furniture until he moves in September, which was fine with me. I shouldn't go to sales like these... I just can't pass up a good buy. And oh yes, my friend Gail is as bad as I am, :) ... she bought a lot too.

Glider Project

As promised and mentioned in my older post, we have this "ancient" glider that I planned to refinish. And we finally did it this past weekend. It was a family project, hubby and our son carried it to our backyard and me and my daughter sanded and painted it as you can see below.


And thanks to the magic of digital camera, here's what it looks like after it was painted. Funny, because when you're in the store you'd pick a color that you think you would like but once you apply it, it looks different from what you thought. I thought of painting it white but my husband discouraged me from it ... said rust will show more on white paint. Oh well, it still looks much better than before.


We carried it back to where it belonged ... our front porch. I am not real happy with the cushion, but since we were late buying cushions, all the nice designs and colors were gone. I'll see what I can do next summer.


And here's the other end of our front porch. I prefer sitting here now than our deck since porches have roofs and decks do not. It is so relaxing just to sit and read or just watch cars go by. Also, my plants in front are just starting to bloom so I'm enjoying them too.
Ok, one project down ... now if only I can make the kids wash our windows, I'll be a happy camper! lol

Turning Twenty Quilt Show

I've been wanting to learn how to quilt for a long time. Until one night, I was blog hopping and discovered Donna's blog. Her enthusiasm is so contagious that I ordered a book from Tricia. I will attempt to quilt for the first time and Donna offered to help. Donna is also having a Turning Twenty Quilt Show and by participating you will be entered to win a prize. If you are interested, please go visit her blog for more info. She is giving away a lot of door prizes! Above is a quilt from my mother-in-law. I think this is a different kind of quilt ... I am not that familiar with quilting but you can tell there were a lot of efforts and times spent in completing the above.


This one is another quilt, again from my MIL ... in those days, they used old clothes, neckties, etc to quilt a blanket. I think this one was all done by hand as opposed to machine quilting. Both of the above are very old, we decided not to use them due to wear and tear ... they are a keepsake.

I am editing this post to add this link. This is a wonderful organization that quilts for veterans to show they care. Please check it out by clicking the link. Thank you.

My Camera Ordeal

Memorial Day parade ... our son, who is a member of his school's marching band, played solo with his electric guitar. I positioned myself in front so I could have a better view since I want to take a video with my digital camera ... and so I thought; until after the parade when I tried to view the video, and I saw nothing! ... the screen is blank!? What the heck ....!? I realized then my mistake, I did not push the "record" button. duh! Well then ok ... not the end of the world. I will still have another chance. Luckily, they are participating in a marching band competition the following weekend.

And so, that weekend hubby and I started early, over 2 hours early to be exact! We brought folding chairs and positioned ourselves across from the judging stage. When the parade started, I video-taped the first marching band because I thought I should have a beginning and end with our son's marching band. When it was their turn to march, I stood up and positioned myself in front of a telephone pole just so I was not blocking anyone's view. Cool, I got the best spot. The winterguards performed, the band performed, then they all started to step aside in a semi-circle and in the middle is our son ... he is going to play his solo now ... then... my camera went blank! !@%$^&*&#@ ... again, another, what the h ....?! the memory card is full!!! ... and this time since it is a competition, he played with his electric guitar behind his back! Even 'ma and 'pa were surprised; we did not expect him to play that way. The spectators were applauding! And I did not get it on video! :( I brought 2 other memory cards with me but by the time I was able to put a new one, his performance was over. Lucky for us again, they have one more competition remaining in two weeks. We did not have a plan to go because it is over a one hour drive, and we are not familiar with the area but I've got to have his solo on video and at this time, I was really so mad at myself for video taping the first band which was a little bit too long since they were the town host's marching band!

So yesterday, Saturday, hubby and I drove to this place. We drove around and around in circle looking for a place to park. We found one and it was a long walk to the judging area; I felt so bad for my hubby because he just had knee surgery the last week of April, but I got to capture our son's solo! :) Most parents are so proud of their kids accomplishments and it so happens that I am one of them. And so, below is finally his solo. BUT, I was a little disappointed because his band director suggested that he play with his guitar in front; the director thinks it will sound better that way. We thought the sound is not as important as the showmanship but ... he is after all the director. Our son still received applause but not as "noisy" as the first competition. On our way home, he told us that for next year, he was given the responsibility to pick what they are going to play. And so, if you have any songs that impressed you, we welcome your suggestions. This year they played Beatles' songs.

So, my good friends, presenting to you our son's solo, it is not professionally done but still a keepsake and special ... for us anyway.

Flowers In Bloom

I am enjoying my garden beds right now and I want to share them with you. The above is just one of my four rows of peonies. They all can be enlarge by clicking at the images.

I don't know the name of the plant above ... what I love about it is the beauty of its variegated foliage. If you know the name, please let me know?


My campanulas are beautiful this year! The stems are long and the blooms are bigger than ever.


These are my lemon lilies, they were planted along side the foundation of our house. I love to pair them with the purple campanulas when I'm fixing a flower bouquet, and I just love their scent!


Close up of my white peony.


Very light pink peony.


Light pink peony.


Dark pink peony.
Well my friends, hope you enjoyed looking at them. Next time I will feature my roses ... and my dahlias when they're ready. Gardening is hard work but it sure is worth it when they bloom.

Front Porch Party

Oh dear, is it that time already? My porch is not quite ready yet. Oh well, I'm sure my friends will understand. Where I live, it is not a good idea to start planting annuals outdoor until after Memorial Day ... we still get cold nights before then. I usually have planters in front ... but anyway, WELCOME to my humble porch, my friends! Have you been to Rhondi's porch party? I am one of the front porch party participants. Oh yes, Rhondi, wishing you a Happy, Happy Birthday! Hope you have many more to come. The weather forecast this weekend will go up to upper 90's and I have more chairs inside so please, do come in ... it is cooler indoor.

This is the front view of my front porch, my Peonies are blooming! I have more rows of peonies at the west side of our house but for some reason, the buds are still tight. Ahhh, it is so nice to see and smell fresh flowers!

This is the other end of my porch ... as you can see, we have an old timer "glider" that I plan to refinish this summer and debating what color to use ... any suggestions?
Well my friends, I'm afraid this is not much of a party, but thank you for stopping by. Please come and visit again as I do the same.