What I See ~ Looking Out My Kitchen Window

Hi there everyone, how is your day going??? I was reading Diana's blog this morning. She mentioned what she sees looking out her kitchen door. Here's her blog. I commented on her blog that this is what I see out my kitchen window......lovely isn't it??? I wish I saw what she did. 

I try to keep my back yard nice, but when you have neighbors that don't seem to care what their yard looks like.....it sure does make for bad feelings. They have condensed and reorganized a few things.....BUT it still is a mess.

They did put up this new fence a couple of weeks ago, but have not finished the process as yet. The flowers hanging from the shepherds hook is on our side of the fence. I have had a few comments from people visiting me in my backyard...."Can't you call the city to complain?" I guess I could, but I don't want to start problems....I just live with it. Guess that is why I suffer from an ulcer.

In this picture, you can see part of my back yard from the kitchen window. This is what I look at when doing dishes..........I dream daily of a 10 foot fence that hides all their stuff!!!!

Another few from inside.......would you like to do dishes here? It used to be nice scenery when the other people lived there....least they kept things looking nice with flowers and mowed grass.

This is a view of my backyard from the other kitchen window. If there was a way of moving the kitchen sink to this window......I would do it. BUT that probably would cost 5k if not more, who has that kind of money....no, not me. See the fan blades and post sitting on the table.....that is the start of my dragon fly that I want to make.

Here is a closer view of my back yard......yeah, daily I look out the window, just brings peace and quiet to my busy and noisy life. Can you see the 3 tires back in the far right??? That is where "Frieda the Frog" will sit and the Bird Feeders have a tire around them....I want to spray paint that too. Just a few projects going on here.

I have not been feeling all that well the last couple of days....but today, I finally am...guess getting older you have your good days and not so good days. I have another appointment on the 7th with the Dentist for a 2nd Deep Cleaning on the left side of my mouth. Hopefully this one will go smoothly as did the first deep cleaning the end of May. Then they will start on my 6 cavities. I am thinking I will wait till September for that...too much going on these next few months.

Also going on this month....I will be having cataract eye surgery on the 22nd on the right eye, then on August 5th, the left eye. Then there is the Pre-op appointments and Post-op appointments...yes I will be busy this month with all that. Not to mention, JP will be needing to go to the Dentist also....he has a bad tooth and the left side of his face is swelled up. I said, "you need to go to the Dentist." Do you think he will go???? Nope, he says the swelling is going down. Okay....have it your way.

Well....I guess that is enough of my complaints for one day. You all have a wonderful rest of the day and have fun on the 4th of July!!!!
Keep looking up!!! Cheers ~ Louise

A Few Flowers & Some Projects on the "To Do" List

Hi there everyone....hope you had a nice weekend. I am not sure I accomplished a whole lot, but I did enjoy the weekend, watering flowers and vegies, taking pictures, resting and reading my book that Diana wrote. "Lucy and the Mystery of the Dark Woods" During the week, after JP leaves for work, 4:00 pm is my reading time, just taking that little bit of time is so relaxing.....even though Lucy is struggling with  her life situations.

So in the above picture is a new peonie bush I got from the neighbors......I rescued it, they were going to throw it out.....NOOOOOOOO.....I will take it, they did not like the ants.....well that is fine with me, I just shake the flowers so the ants fall off (sometimes). So here is the first bloom from the little bush.

My purple climbing Clementius. She is in 3 different places, climbing up the side of the porch, climbing up a fence in the back yard and side of yard, climbing up the trellis.

I mentioned in my previous post that I had some projects on my "to do" list. Can you believe.....16 projects, that will keep me busy all summer and fall. Some of these projects may continue on into next summer too!!!

Project 1 - Freida the Frog.....I have the tires, just have to get the rest of the stuff together.
Project 2 - I want to make a Dragon Fly, made out of old fan blades and fancy railing post....spray painted and jewels and wire. Should be a fun project.
Project 3 - Paint the front door with the paint rebuilding together left behind. The door never got painted by them.

Here is a single rose.....this plant is really doing good this year.....I fed it lots of old coffee grounds in the fall. So it is pretty perky this summer. The plant is about 22 years old.

Project 4 - Paint daisies on my old shed.
Project 5 - Screw some old shutters on the old shed. I finally bought a new drill....so this can be accomplished.
Project 6 - Paint the old wicker chair white.

This is my lily bush.....each year it gets bigger and bigger.

Project 7 - Hang rods on the new basement windows and hang curtains.
Project 8 - Spray paint the bird feeder tire green.
Project 9 - Spray paint JP's old bike for a yard decoration with flowers.

This is a new addition to my garden. Cosmos along side the house......I am planning to get some transplanted to the front yard too.....will have lots of seeds for next year.

Project 10 - Paint and make a pallet planter for herbs.
Project 11 - Clean and straighten the basement...it is still disorganized from getting the new basement windows replaced.
Project 12 - Paint the same daisies that were painted on the shed, on the basement wall going down the stairs.

This is the same rose bush (two pictures previous) taken in the late afternoon and close up, it almost looks like a water color rose.

Project 13 - Hang boarder on walls in kitchen ceiling.
Project 14 - Back splash tiles applied behind the stove. (almost done with this project)
Project 15 - Paint two walls in the Dinning room an off white.
Project 16 - Have a garage sale!!!

So there you have it....I am not sure how much I will accomplish this summer, as I have 2 appointments with the eye doctor for cataract surgery (I am a little scared) on July 22nd and August 5th.
The Doctor said I am a good candidate for the surgery and there is a chance I may not have to wear glasses, maybe just those bifocals from the dollar store. Plus I am still dealing with the Dentist and a deep cleaning on July 7th...then 6 cavities need to be filled. I think the cavities will have to wait till September or even October. My head can take just so much....you know???

Well you all have a great evening.....see you in July. Keep looking up.....Cheers ~ Louise

I Found This On.....

Hi there everyone. Hope you are having a "Bellissimo" day!!!! HA....I was making my breakfast this morning and that word popped into my mind. What in the world???? So I asked JP, cause he took Spanish, nope he did not remember. So then I asked the computer, it knows EVERYTHING!!! Turns out Bellissimo in the Italian Dictionary means "Lovely". So yeah, hope you are having a LOVELY day!!!

My breakfast by the way, actually turned into an early lunch. Lettuce salad with sliced strawberries and olive dressing and a toasted tortilla with melted cheese, kinda like a quesadilla...yummy. Very good, think I will do this lunch again. I seem to go in spurts....for over 2 weeks I was having 2 soft boiled eggs with toasted croutons and a slice of toast (actually it was toast cut up in chunks to soak in the yolk...the eggs were cooked perfectly. Well, now I think I am off that binge and now on to the salad and quesadilla for....well at least till this big bag of spring mix lettuce is gone. Don't want it to go to waste and hopefully not to the waist.

Isn't this just the cutest idea???? I found this on Facebook. I do have a skid downstairs. I shall have to bring it up and start playing with it this weekend. I have a mean squirrel in my backyard that likes to tear up my flowers after they are planted. I shall have to feed him dried corn cobs to keep him away from the bird feeders and my planted flowers and herbs. Bad Squirrel!!!!

Well, my house is slowly getting back in shape. Still working on the upstairs....there are a few things I may not be putting back in the kitchen and on the walls...they just might end up in my garage sale or a thrift store...who knows. I am almost liking the uncluttered look in the kitchen.

I still have to take lots of pictures of my house and all the new additions. I was telling a few people about my house improvements.....I think they were a little jealous.....oh well, I waited long enough for my ceiling to be fixed.....is 12 years long enough, I am sure they never had to deal with a leaky ceiling that long.

Well time to close.....there is a plant sale Saturday, if it is nice weather I might go see what they have. JP's birthday is on Sunday, he will be 68 years old but he acts like 78 years old......old man!!!
Maybe I will get a prime rib at Festival Food on Saturday and cook it on the grill for Sunday....we'll see. His birthday cake is cheese cake and Key Lime Pie with Cool Whip.....oh very diabetes worthy!!!

Have a "Bellissimo" Day and keep looking up!!!
Cheers ~ Louise

Flowers Make Us Happy

Hi there everyone. Well, finally I am feeling better. That was a long drawn out icky sickness. The Doctor is treating me for an ulcer. Guess I let too many things get in my way and get me upset.....time to back off from gathering too many things on my plate. I must learn to take one day at a time and one plate full of stress at a time.....just seemed like many things were coming at me from every direction. The problems are still there...but I have eliminated a few things out of my life to ease the pressure. If that makes sense.

Yesterday, my kitchen ceiling was getting fixed, so I took a long walk with Kylie and got a few pictures of the neighbors flowers. In the above picture are her lovely daffodils...aren't they cute? They all seem to be smiling in this 70 degree weather.

Here is my neighbor's Magnolia tree....gosh it is so pretty. Was hard to get a picture of the flower up close....all the flowers were facing upward towards the sky.

These are my red tulips in the front yard....I am amazed that I have over 50 tulips planted in the front....wow I did not realize I had that many...I shall have to count the tulips in the back too.

These lovelies are in the front yard also. A red variegated tulip????

Last but not least, a close up of my red tulips.....sweet.

In my next blog I will update you on our kitchen ceiling. You won't believe what the men did, like everything came down, right down to the beams....it was totally unbelievable. They only found a little bit of mold.....so that was a miracle. For all the water leaks.....yes that was a miracle, I think God had his hand on our roof, protecting us from the mold.

Well, time to close, hope you all have a wonderful weekend.
Cheers ~ Louise

Just A Little Humor to Start the Day

Hi there everyone. Hope you are keeping warm and not getting too weary of this long winter. Well, looks like another 2 inches of snow and 16 to 19 degrees tomorrow. I have not seen any squirrels around the house....they must be all hiding, maybe I should drop a few nuts on the ground for them. Finally saw a few cardinals on Saturday feeing on our barn feeder.....so there is a little life going on in the backyard.

Yes, I am getting a little weary, I look forward to a bit of a thaw, but then I shall have to deal with a leaky roof and ceiling in the kitchen. As long as it is freezing, the kitchen ceiling does not leak. We will have to call a roofer for sure this spring...it can't go on like this anymore. Not sure how this will be taken care of, guess this one is for God to take care of.

I had an Etsy sale last week, so I was happy about that. After I am finished with this blog, I will take some pictures of some cards I made. My "happy cards" collection. Maybe it will cheer someone up....me for sure if they sell!!! I need a smily face here!!!

Well, time to close this blog for tonight. Need to go wash dishes and get something ready for JP when he comes home from work at 1am. Probably fish, vegies and fruit. Talk to you all later and have a great rest of the night. Cheers ~ Louise

Doing Some Baking ~ What a Mess!

Did some baking last night. Usually baking will consist of just one item.....but last night two items were made, one of which was a "never before baking recipe which I got off the Internet" Pineapple Upside Down Cake and the second recipe (from a friend) Chocolate Chip Zucchini Bread (one small loaf will be sent to Pops in Las Vegas). JP at this very moment is having a piece of it right now.
The above picture is 3 loaves of Chocolate Chip Zucchini bread and Diabetic Pineapple Upside Down Cake and a little piece of cake with whip cream on top.

The above picture is of the diabetic pineapple upside down cake just before I put it in the oven. The recipe consists of flour, egg whites, honey, salt, margarine, pineapple juice, pineapple, blueberries and brown sugar. If you would like the recipe, let me know via comments and your email and I will send it to you. Same with the Zucchini bread recipe.

This above picture consists of the upside down cake and my totally un-organized kitchen mess. No one around to clean up the mess. but, me, myself and I. (hahahaha)

Another angle to the messy kitchen. Yikes, I have literally torn my kitchen apart. Either I need a bigger kitchen ooooooooooooorrrrrrrrrrrr less stuff!!! Shhhhhhhh don't tell my husband that!!!

More of the messy kitchen. Dishes are always in the sink, because I tend to cook alot. The banana box to the right on the floor is filled with cans of pineapple (49 cans to start with) now there is 33 cans left. Need to find another pineapple recipe for diabetics. Got the cans of pineapple from the local grocery store, they sell dented and scratched food in boxes for $7. So I usually get 2 boxes, what I don't use, usually give to friends.

Well, I am off, have to do some errands today and get Pops gift mailed tomorrow, have to get $10 from the bank to send along with his crossword puzzles and a few odds and ends. Probably mailing the package will cost more then the items inside...oh well. You all have a great day and keep looking up for your redemption drawth nigh. Cheers ~ Louise

♥My First "little" Harvest♥

Well, here you have it my first little harvest of the season.....oh my, how delicious the beans, tomatoes, pepper and celentro were steamed altogether!!!! The pepper plant and bean plant were from Walmart. Tomatoes came from the hardware store and the calentro was from seeds I planted in my upside down planter. Got a little cucumber the other day. Looking forward to some zucchinni in the next couple of weeks...oh my we will have alot of zucchinni if all the plants produce. I planted 12 seeds and there are 8 plants growing....may be sharing alot of zuc's this year. Last year I had maybe 3 plants and only got 5-6 zucchinnis.....was a bad year for vegies from the garden.

We had a big storm the other day.....3 storms passed by, the last storm brought flooding in the back yard and 1 inch of water in the basement....plus our roof leaks very bad....so we had a flood in the kitchen also cause the bucket wasen't place in the right spot to catch the drip, drip, drip of the drops leaking through the roof into the ceiling. May be a long time before we can get that fixed....we need a ship to come through for us.

Well time to close this blog for now. You have a great day and keep smiling!!!

Louise