Weekend Interrupted-Met Monday

     The above picture pretty much sums up my life since Thursday. A big ugly bug came my way and knocked me for a loop. I'm not 100% yet, but at least I no longer feel as if I have been run over by a very large truck.

     We also had this going on at our house all weekend. Isn't he cute? Don't you just love them right after a bath?

Nothing says "trouble" quite like two innocent little boy faces!

Of course, there was also this little problem,

which wasn't repaired until Sunday afternoon.

     With all of that going on, what I hoped would be a completed Met. Monday project, is still a work in progress. I thought I'd share the early stages of what we are doing. Usually, if you are changing something, you tend to take away something you don't like and replace it with something you do like. In this case, the opposite is true. Our home is in a busy subdivision, but we are lucky enough to be on a field that is still farmer owned. Therefore, we don't have any houses behind us. It gives us a feeling of a much more open space. When we moved into our house almost 7 years ago, the back corner of our house had a small blue spruce tree...nothing else. We watched out little tree grow, we added some fencing around it for some climbing flowers and it became a favorite spot in our yard.

Our little tree last spring.

Wasn't she beautiful in her winter coat the year before?

     Last summer, after a series of drenching rains...our poor little tree died in a matter of days. We found out that blue spruce "don't like to have their feet too wet" and while that area of our yard is usually not under water, the deluge of rain quickly ended the life of our green family member. We couldn't cut her down. She had a nest that we wanted to allow to hatch and she became a perching place for the many hummingbirds that gather around our yard. So we let her stand proud through the summer, fall and even into winter. We filled her branches with suet balls and the birds fed on her during the cold months. But, last week it was time to let her go.

     We looked at other trees for the space, but most that we liked could also suffer the same fate if we had another heavy rain. So, we are adding more fencing and have picked out a beautiful climbing rose bush in a brilliant orange to put on the fence.

We hope the rose bush will quickly catch up with

the flowering climbing plants on the other fences.

     We miss our tree and we don't think this is a "better look" for our yard. It is however something that will hopefully offer us brilliant color throughtout the spring and summer, block a little of the view of the field and still be a haven for all those hummingbirds. I'll post the completed project soon. I had finally gotten caught up reading all of your blogs and then I had a weekend with no computer, so I will be coming around seeing what kept you all busy the past few days!

     I am linking this to Met Monday. Please join our hostess Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch to see all of the creative projects happening in Blogland.

FYI-Internet Service Was Down

     I haven't had an internet connection for the past few days. I just thought with all that has been going on, some might be concerned that I wasn't posting. Nothing has changed with my mom, I just couldn't use the computer. I'll be back tomorrow!

Keeping It Light and Simple-Tablescape Thursday

     One thing about using a table that can only be set for 4, you don't need nearly as much in the middle for a centerpiece. I had several things I planned on using today, but I really liked this table with "less". As you can see, the sunlight was pouring in through the front door...remind me to close it next week!

     My place settings today are a mix of old and new. The placemats and napkins with the bright orange gerbera daisy are from Macy's. The silverplate flatware is an Ebay purchase, W.M. Rogers-Enchanted Rose. The water goblets were a thrift store purchase. The dark green dinner plates are from WalMart. The salad plates were my souvenir from the Epcot Flower and Garden Show this year. Each year the plates are different and I really loved the soft colors.

I love it when the plates are all different...don't you?

I usually like flatware that is less ornate, but blogging

seems to be changing my opinion on some things!

     Of course the napkins decided on the flowers for the table. I

had to use gerbera daisies. I added one of my little Hummel

figurines..."Little Gardener" to carry out the floral theme.

The rose bowl that holds the daisies is antique cut glass and the candlesticks are vintage.

I'm finding it a little distracting using the glass topped table. The ironwork seems to be jumping out in every picture. Any suggestions other than switch back to my other table?

Please join our hostess Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch. She has created this wonderful party for all of us. You will see some beautiful tablescapes if you visit.

Things That Make Me Happy Today

"When one door of happiness closes, another opens;

but often we look so long at the closed door that we

do not see the one which has been opened for us"

Helen Keller

A new mat for the front door

A double rainbow in the midst of last night's storm

My yard bursting into bloom

My boys are coming for the weekend

My daughter coming home in 11 days!

We are taking her to Sleeping Bear Dunes, one of my favorite places on earth 

A new recipe I wish I could take credit for...go visit Ann @ Thibeault's Table for the recipe-so good!

The fact that my parents have had 63 wonderful years of marriage

How blessed I am with friendships, both in real life and in my blog world

Mother's Day Wreath-Met Monday

     Somehow, my husband has a new addiction to garage sales. He rarely buys anything and if he does it is usually a $1 toy for the grands to play with when they are here. I actually like going to garage sales when we are in Flordia...they have good stuff...lots of housewares. Where I live, garage sales are mostly clothing, baby items and toys. Yuck. The past 2 Saturdays my husband has gotten me up at dawn to hit the sales. This week I actually bought a couple items from one sale.   

     I bought a box full of miniature rose candle rings (that had been cut) for $2.50. There were a dozen rings in the box. The owner had several other wedding type items in the sale, so my guess is that these were purchased for a reception or shower. They might have been used once, if that. The tiny roses were so pretty and natural looking that I knew I could do something with them for my MIL for Mother's Day. I made her a wreath for outside her home last year and she hung it inside instead...so, I opted to try again with the outdoor wreath.

     I picked up a medium size grapevine wreath at WalMart for $3.99. I dug out the leftover ribbon from my own wreath. With my glue gun heated and some floral wire, I was ready to go. The plastic "ring" on the flowers created a bit of an issue. The glue didn't want to stick as easily as it would to stems or leaves, so as I places each ring on the wreath, I wrapped it with a piece of green wire and then glued both of the snipped ends and the place where I wired it on.

You can see how I simply lined the rings up around the wreath.

     The back of the wreath. It is hard to see the wire, but there is a piece for every candle ring. This wreath took 10 candle rings to complete.

     I actually liked this particular wreath without a bow, but I knew my MIL would want some ribbon on it. So, I kept it very simple. I love the fullness of the tiny roses. Sweet, fresh looking for summer and the total cost was $6.50.

     I am linking this to Susan @ Between Naps on the Porch for Met Monday. Make sure you stop to visit her today and see all of the other projects!