My name is Leslee and I am addicted to flowers; especially those that carry fragrance! I know... you are saying, well why then the picture of a bird of paradise??? Truth is, my family hawaiian vacation begins in a week and my bird of paradise plants in the yard are in FULL bloom ~ I had to share...
I do however boast my gardenias up the front walkway and have added lavender to the mix! Out back I have the star jasmine :-) All things with a pretty smell!
Getting back to vacation - I'm not sure how much blogging I will be able to do, but I will be "Twittering"!!! Follow me at BEAUTEA97 and I can keep you updated with tweets and occasional pics...
Been absent from the blog-o-shpere since 1) I had a little PC hard drive issue and 2) my Great White Hunter (GWH) returned from a two week trip to Idaho & Montana. I try not to spend alot of time on my laptop when he is around; so as you can imagine I was a bit pre-occupied!
So now that the GWH has returned I can tell you how much I miss having that guy around! It is a typical trip for me if something breaks, stops working or disappears when he is gone! This has been the case for several years. This year did not disappoint; however I did catch a small break as the garage door broke a week before he left! The tree limb falling in the backyard very close to the spa started things off well... The biggee was this: I was in charge of mowing the yard for two weeks; "the mower must be pulled" he tells me on one of the many 'love notes' we leave for each other when he leaves. I thought that I would pull on my big girl panties and go BUY a new one; I wasn't going to be PULLING a self-propelled mower!! The two nice men at the Home Depot unboxed it and put it nicely in my trunk - It was up to me to get it out at home!!! Remember my big girl panties???? yeah, well I was able to maneuver it out by myself; not heavy just awkward. TaDa!!! So proud of myself... Even mowed the lawns that night! Next morning... yep, stiff neck!! Lovely... Had two days of neck spasms as my Doc (daughter) was not available to see me. I spent the remaining days until GWH's return sitting around with ice/heat and the tens unit connected to my neck. Lesson learned ~
I really don't mind the time alone, although I miss that guy like crazy! It allows me time to think, read and BLOG!!! Hehehe...
In honor of the GWH's return I offer you this: saw this over at Kris' place and had to share; it was just so heart warming!
Me the big lovestruck sap... Hope you enjoy it and be warned... you WILL have an AWWWWW moment at the end :-)
I returned home from Washington to find my very first tomato of the season!! It has been so unseasonably cool this summer that my crop is taking forever ~
My dear sweet is a man of many talents! He loves to BBQ and has a very large smoker. He has been referred to as the King of anything BBQ'd & smoked!! Hehehe... A couple of Christmas' ago he received a cold smoking tray. I could not see how ANYTHING could be smoked and not melt. Believe me, I was proved wrong... He has perfected smoking blocks of cheese in such a fashion that we cannot keep cheese in the house. He is now receiving blocks of cheese from our daughter and son-in-law to smoke for them! Today at the market with cheese being on sale we stocked up! Also an amazing kitchen appliance that is a must have; The FoodSaver... The cheese will stay fresh and aromatic for weeks in the fridge YUMMY!!!!!
This summer The Fireguy and I have been working at getting some projects completed around the house. Last month was the room makeover and now we have two more scratched off the list!
The largest and most in need was to re-roof! This one was definitely NOT a DYI project... We had it done which took about 10 days. We went from a 20 year old shake roof to a 30 year guarantee tile. The tile has a bit of green color to it and we really love it. We have already noticed how much cooler the house stays!!! The pics are rather weak (taken with iPhone not new camera...), but you get the idea.
The second project was to update the flooring in the guest bathroom. Here we went from 20 year old linoleum to a pergo flooring that resembles tile. I have to admit that I did not help much on this one. The Fireguy did most of the work while I was slaving away at my desk (HA!!!). I did have a big part in choosing the color of the tile and the new baseboards. :-) Brings a much needed update to this room.
I think it is safe to say that I am pretty comfortable with our projects for the time being. I have small updates that I am working on, but nothing of the magnitude that we have been doing.
Now, to sit back and enjoy the rest of the summer ~
After last weekend it was nice to not have much on our calendar this weekend! We spent most of Saturday on small projects in the backyard and purchased all the material for our next project; we are laying laminate flooring in the guest bathroom, I'll post more on that later! The Fireguy has a busy schedule this week but we hope to have the project complete soon. My goal was to have it completed by the time Tommy & Lindz visit in August, so I'm sure we can make that happen!!
Speaking of Tommy, he has begun the quest of searching for a home in Washington. This whole empty nest thing has been challenging for both Steve & I as the finality of your kids REALLY leaving the nest is hard to adjust to. Steve is having many symptoms of missing his dear fishing/hunting buddy as it becomes a reality for him that the days of spending time on the river fishing and the early mornings laying in the mud hunting ducks is merely a fond memory. We are sure that there will be many more fishing/hunting trips in their future but they will be few and far between. Guess that makes them even more special then, huh? Luckily, we have several pictures of those crazy outdoorsmen and a new room to display them in :-) The report on the first go-round of house hunting was as I recall it to be. You expect to walk in to the first house and it be everything that you had hoped & dreamed it would be; everything that you wanted. Well, notsomuch!! Luckily, Bubba is in no hurry to buy, but now is an amazing time to be a buyer... Patience, my son ~ you WILL find the perfect home. We certainly look forward to helping him move and making that his new home... Although, just so he knows... he is ALWAYS welcome at his old home anytime ((((HUGS))))
Since Bubba moved out over a year ago we have been saying that the Fireguy was going to use his old room as his hunting/fishing/rafting room. Slowly we have been migrating Bubba's things to storage and got to the point that we could paint.
Here are the before and after shots!
I got the brainy idea to try painting and add a chair rail. The Fireguy was so patient with me and took on the challenge. Together, I believe we can accomplish just about anything we set our minds to! The project turned out very well with only the mini blinds needing to be installed (on order!!) and perhaps a valance or swag and it will be presentable. There are a couple of pictures that have been out in the garage forever which we are excitied to frame and hang in this room proudly. Next up is the new roof and installing new flooring in the front bathroom! I LOVE working on little projects...
I can't decide if I am in love or obsessed!!! I took the camera and standard lense out back this morning to test some settings out. Since it had rained last night many of the flowers had moisture on them still! (Thanks for the idea Missy!!) I may have went a bit overboard but I was really having fun ~ Besides shooting my favorites; flowers, plants, etc. I also had two very obligatory subjects to work with; Belle our chocolate lab was really a ham and Bella my daughter's dog. She is very difficult to shoot, she is always running around... but I managed to make her sit for just one!
I'm pretty sure my shots will only get better and more creative as I continue to practice. I have so many shots in mind - Hawaii & Seattle are givens :-)
We purchased a nice patio set when we moved here 8 years ago. The Fireguy then added a small tet-a-tet that matched and we put in the breakfast nook. We realized that we seldom use the small table & chairs and have moved them to the patio to see if we like the open area in the kitchen. I rather like the smaller table on the patio -
We are headed to shop for new cushions today for the large set, and then I would make covers for the small set.
