From Scraps to Cards

I was lucky on Mother's Day to be able to spend time with my wonderful family, and that I got to spend some time doing something that I love - crafting handmade cards!

Instead of cutting up some of my fabulous new papers that I just got from Stampin'Up! I used bits and pieces of scrap paper. I hardly ever through away scraps of paper. 

We have so much going on right now. Lot's of plans being made for the wedding week and the week after. There will be out of town family coming in that I can't wait to see, as well as our Texans!

This will be our Farmer Girl's first visit and she's a bit nervous to meet us all at once. I told her not to worry we're easy going.

I also started a little mini-album for LBB of pictures from the shower. I'm hoping to have it done by her birthday (2 days before the wedding), wish me luck. I only have the cover finished and promise to snap a few photos before I give it to her.

I'm so glad that we listened to the news casters and covered up our outside plants - we got a pretty good frost. I would have been angry to have all of my hard work just die.

Have you planted anything outside yet?

Something old...

Something new
Something borrowed
Something blue 

And a silver sixpence, for her shoe.

I just ordered one for our Little-Bride-to-Be. I have the one from our wedding (somewhere), but ordered one just in case I can't find it by the wedding.

If you'd like to know more about the tradition of a Bride wearing a silver sixpence in her left shoe on her wedding day for good luck click here.

Has anyone heard about this tradition? Did you have a silver sixpence on your wedding day?

A wonderful Mother's Day!

I had a wonderful Mother's Day! Fly Boy and Little Bride to Be took us out to breakfast. I had the house specialty - Eggs, Potatoes and Onions. It was yummy. The also gave me a bath pillow, some bath salts and wonderful smelling body lotions. They know how much I love my tubby time. It was so nice to get to catch up with both of them at the same time. We talked about their house - they are making settlement the end of this month!

We stopped by my MIL's after breakfast and got to see my SIL, BIL and beautiful nieces too. Which was perfect because it's Sabrina's birthday this week, so we got to give her an early birthday present. Remember, my MIL lives 2 houses away and my parents are only 4 houses away and across the street.

My. OP took me to the mall to get me a few new beads for my Pandora bracelet, then we stopped by The Hilltop. It's a throwback place that hasn't changed since the 50's. It still has a juke box and the best broasted chicken and coleslaw! 

After lunch we went up to my parents and spent some time with them. We missed a call from our Fireman while we were gone, so he called back after we got home. They'll be here in less than a month!!! Woo Hoo! He and Dana sent me a beautiful bouquet of flowers! I think that I might split it up into a few smaller displays so that I can enjoy them all over the house.

The rest of the day I spent just lazing about with Mr OP. I did some paper crafting, reading and blog surfing. I couldn't ask for more. We are so blessed to be healthy and have the love of family!

How was your weekend!

Thanks and further explanation

Thanks so much for all of your well wishes about my vision. A lot of you asked how this might happen and to have something wrong with two eyes at the same time. So I thought that I should tell you a little about my history.

When I was 4 years old, I was watching our teenage neighbor boys play catch. The oldest boy, Keith, was a pitcher for his high school baseball team. His brother missed one of the balls and it hit me in my right eye.

My eye was hemorrhaging so bad that they were going to remove my eye and give me a glass eye. Thank goodness another specialist was called in and he was able to stop the hemorrhaging so that they could operate. I lost my sight for a few months after the surgery but after much prayer and God's grace I got my sight back. I have a traumatic cataract in my right eye and the Retinal Specialist that I saw Wednesday thinks that the tear is actually the result of the injury and that I may have had the tear for sometime. He advises that they fix it with laser surgery that they can do in the office.

Retinal tufts can come with age, and are more prone to people with severe nearsightedness. I could go into more details, but it's a little hard to explain. They are just going to keep an eye on the tuft - usually if anything is going to happen it will be within 3-4 months.

My symptom was seeing this bright crescent shaped thing in the upper left corner of my vision in my left eye, plus a lot of floaters. I'm so glad that I went to the specialist.

These photos are of my handi-work from Monday and Tuesday. Everything looks so nice and bright and cheery. The thing is, now that I have almost all the pots filled, they say we may get some pretty low temp's over the weekend. I'll have to cover everything up - what a pain!

Not sure if I'll be around this weekend, so I wish you all a wonderful Mother's Day! Enjoy!

Lilac Love att he Old Parsonage

The lilacs are in bloom! I cut two huge arms full and put them all over the house. The smell is wonderful!

I loved having off Monday and Tuesday and got a lot accomplished. But I had to leave work around 12:30 today. Something started happening to my vision. I was just going to ignore it, but decided to call my eye doctor.

He immediately sent me to a retinal specialist. I was there for a few hours and they did a few tests. It seems that I have a retinal tuft on my left eye and a retinal tear on my right eye. 

I'm to go back in two weeks to be re-examined, unless the symptoms get worse. They do want to do laser surgery to repair the tear soon. They can do it in the office, I just need to make the appointment.

Other than all the drama, I had a good day.

Are the lilacs out in your area yet?

Paper crafting at The Old Parsonage

Remember that I mentioned Saturday was National Scrapbooking Day? I didn't do any scrapbooking, but I did start a few paper craft projects. I wanted to make Dana a little something to send her for Mother's Day.

Nothing to big or expensive, just a little something.  She's a proud Mama and I know how much she loves her children. I decided to make her a little note pad. I used a small 5.5 x 8  tablet that was cut in half and then created a cover for it.

The entire project only took a few minutes, but I love the presentation with a matching pen. I found Little Women on demand last night (the newer version with Susan Sarandon) and just had to watch it. I love the scenery and the story. Meg, Jo, Beth, Amy, Laurie, and Marmee. I love those characters and the book is one of my favorites. Plus, when I have grands some day I want to be called Marmee. The guys say no way - they don't like the name.

I'm sure that I won't really care what I'm called when the time comes. I'll just be thrilled to be a grandmother.  I've never read Little Men or Jo's Boys. Have you?

Mr OP has a birthday this month and I cannot think of one thing to get him this year! Remember my 50 days to 50 years plan from last year's big 5-0? I do have his card made though. He'll love the old truck and license plate graphics, the other one is for my nephew, Nathan.

I made this card for one of my co-workers. Don't you just love the vintage graphics?  It's a Graphics 45 line of paper. They are one of my favorite paper companies.

Since I took my Mum out for a mani-pedi yesterday we'll just be giving her a card on Sunday. I nixed the idea of evening bags for the Mum's. My MIL has one already, and my Mum isn't going to take one with her. So that squashed that idea. I got a stoneware baker for MIL, she just went on and on about the one that I have. I figure that it should be a home run.

Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy day to stop by, I really appreciate all of you, and love it when you leave a comment. It's like we're chatting over the fence in our backyards.

So tell me, do you have any plans for this Mother's Day weekend?

And the winner is...

I was at Home depot by 8:30 this am and got more mulch, another fox glove plant, a bougainvillea and some paint for our kitchen cupboards. From there I went to Target and bought some new rugs for the bathroom. 

I was at David's Bridal for an 11 a.m. appointment. I tried on this dress in black in multiple sizes. The dresses that I ordered were size 14 and 16 but neither fit in the chest. So I thought that I'd wear an 18 for the chest and that they'd have to take it in in the waist. Turns out, I got a 14W. They tried me in a 16W and it was too big every wear and the 14W fit perfectly. I had to order my size in the plum, but I can say that I have my dress and it doesn't need alterations! I am doing the happy dance. After David's Bridal I took my Mum and we went and got mani-pedi's for Mother's Day. 

Tomorrow is going to be all about planting my new things and little home decor projects. 

Fun, fun, fun!

A beautiful Sunday

We went to Jake's Flea Market this weekend. It was a mob scene, but not a lot of things that I look for. There were tons of kids clothes and toys plus a ton of things for men. I manged to snag a scrabble game with wood letters - perfect for crafting, and a sweet little dish for a few bucks.

We did a bit more mulching this afternoon and I planted some foxglove in the side garden. I also planted some gerbera daisies in an old trough. I think that I may go back for 1 more foxglove plant tomorrow and something for the planter on the front porch.

Hope that you are enjoying your Sunday afternoon. I'm off to fire up the grill. We're having NY strip steaks, grilled asparagus, cucumbers and onions and baked russet potatoes. Mmm...

Hope that you are enjoying this beautiful Sunday!

Pink Umbrella

The weekend again - yeah! I'm so excited, because I decided to take Monday and Tuesday off too! Just me, know else knows that I'm off except Mr OP and my co-workers. It sounds a bit selfish but I don't want to have anyone else influence my plans. I've got an appointment on Monday to go try on the plum dress in my size. I'm hoping that I will LOVE it, and that it will fit perfectly and not need alterations. 

My stress level has been at the breaking point all week and I really need a break - it directly effects my fibro and that is not good.

These are photos of the faded, dusty rose colored petunias I was telling you about, although they look more purple in these photos. They were last weekend's labor of love. I so love coming home and seeing them right off the back porch. 

The flowering cherry trees are blooming right now making the most gorgeous pink umbrella over our driveway. The trees line the drive and look beautiful, then when the blossoms start to fall, our vehicles look like they've been in a wedding for about a week or so.

I've got plans for a bit more mulching this weekend, plus Saturday is National Scrapbook Day. So, I think that I will lock myself in my studio and play for a few hours. I also want to plan out meals for when our Texans will be here. Our Fireman is hankering for some of Mama's cooking, so I'm planning a few of his favorites. They're flying in the Monday before the wedding, and staying until the Tuesday after, so we'll get an extra long visit. 

Hope that you all have a wonderful weekend. I'll be around to visit soon!

I was delighted

The weekend was so great. Nothing really spectacular happened, but I enjoyed everything that I did. I was thrilled to feel good enough to do the gardening that I planned. I planted 2 of our large pots in the back yard and helped mulch about 1/4 of our long flower bed. Mr. OP did most of the heavy work, but I was right there beside him weeding and spreading the mulch.

I'll snap some photos of the petunia's that I bought. The color reminds me of faded roses, all worn, soft and beautiful. When I told Mr. OP that's why I bought them he said that's exactly what they reminded him of.

We had to buy a new ceiling fan for the living room - ours bit the dust last season. I actually found one that I liked at Home Depot while we were there getting mulch. Two birds with one stone? Yep, gotta love that!

We also did a Costco run. In and out in less than a half hour - yep another one of the delights from the weekend. If you've ever been to Costco then you know how long it can take if you are doing a large order. I chalk this one up to getting there when the doors opened and shopping with a list. We only bought what was on the list.

Have you been able to do any gardening yet this year?