A SIMPLE CELEBRATION

 Yesterday we celebrated Dad's 93rd birthday.

It was a very low key affair...

a good meal and spending time together.

Dad spent much of the day on a project.

Our front door got stuck and had to come down

for a repair.

Dad is happiest when he has something 

to tinker with or repair, so I was happy when the 

job presented itself.

It takes him a bit longer to figure out and complete a task,

but he always gets the job done.

It took Dad, my visiting sis Susan, and myself to get the

door back on its hinges. We worked together as a team and made it happen.  Sue was not only up for Dad's birthday

but to help me get Mom to the doctors. She's had a bad month

and I was concerned that I wouldn't be able to manage her

on my own.  She can't walk or go up and down stairs right now

so I purchased a portable ramp from Walmart which made the job so much easier.

My main concern was some swelling in one of her legs

and knew I needed to get her in asap, not to mention she has

become harder and harder to get up and down in the bed

and on the toilet.

 Turns out she has blood clots in her leg. 

 Doctor Edwards decided to treat 

Mom at home with medication

 instead of putting her in the hospital.

The nurse made it very clear if Mom

 couldn't or wouldn't 

take her pills she would have to be admitted.

The weather couldn't have been lovelier yesterday

for Dad's birthday, in fact our first hummingbird of the season

made it's appearance to said hi.

Well that's the news for now

thanks for stopping by.

SAYING GOODBYE

Saying goodbye to a good friend.

Sweet Daisy

A much loved pet.

3-6-2019

MY THREE YEAR ANNIVERSITY

 This week marks my three year anniversary

of moving to Fayetteville and in with my parents 

to be their caregiver.

In anticipation of my fourth year, I decided to 

tackle a few decorating projects.

The first one was and is risky,

but I did it anyway.

I've always liked this chair but not the color.

I did some reading and found that 

chalk paint works on fabric,

I plunged in.

The first coat went on pretty easy.

It took four coats before I was satisfied.

I also put two coats of wax on, which made it 

much more soft.

I don't know if I would have been so quick if this

chair got lots of use, in fact it's really just an accent chair.

Sandy, our helper is probably the only person that

sits in it regularly.  Time will tell if it will hold up,

down the line it can easily be recovered.

Second project this little chest.

A big problem for my sensibilities here is that

there is just too much brown wood.

Wood floors, wood doors, wood walls, wood furniture.

I chalk painted the drawers of the chest only and

it works well against the paneling.

Next I took on our little kitchen table and chairs.

The chairs were a bit harder, they didn't seem to want to

cover as well.  After four coats I had had enough...

it'll do.

The table legs were much easier, I added a little

water to the paint which helped lots.

By the way, I had never chalk painted before and

the fact that chalk paint tends to be a little pricey

has kept me from trying my luck.  When I found this

Waverly paint in the craft section at Wal-mart

I thought, why not. They have it in two sizes, 8 oz. at $6 

and 16oz. at $10.  The smaller size was enough paint for

each of my projects with some left over in each bottle.

I'm not quite finished yet, my table legs still need

to be waxed and the chairs buffed but I am

already happy that I went for it.

As I look around the house, I'm thinking...

what's next.

CREATING

 I wanted to show you my latest 

up-cycled sweater wreath creation.

A friend on face book ask me to do a special order

for her. She wanted something with a beach theme.

Living with and caring for my parents now means I don't

have the luxury of having all my crafting supplies

at my disposal.  My mantra is "use what you have", so I 

had to be creative for sure.  I had a frame, some bags of scrap sweaters, and my Mom had a jar off pretty shells.

I ended up picking up a couple of used sweaters

at the local Goodwill's 50% sale and made it all work.

Here is the finished product hanging on my friend's door.

I don't know if it is what she had in mind but

I guarantee no one else will have one like it.

MEASURED

Hard to believe its almost Christmas again.

I haven't been caring for my parents quite three years yet,

but this will be my third Christmas.

Autumn came and went without much fan fair.

I did have a lovely birthday in October
thanks to my sis, Susan.
We ventured to Miss Bobo's,
located in Lynchburg and owned
by Jack Daniels.
Quite a spread!

Otherwise, I've just tried to stay busy.
One project I took on was to do some organization
in my Dad's garage and workshop.
Cleaning out drawers and cabinets,
putting like things together and such.

 Where my Dad and my Uncle James before him
acquired all the STUFF in that garage I'll never know ,
but STUFF we have. The following pictures
of measuring tools is just a glimpse  of the
STUFF.

Now, I'm a crafter and I would love to be
creative enough to come up with ideas using
all these goodies, but my brain just won't
cooperate.  

 I found about 15 to 20 various rulers and yardsticks

and I was able to come up with some Christmas
crafts, thank goodness.

Dad and I worked on this project together.
He drilled the holds at each end and we bolted
them together, I wrapped the lights.
These sticks were interesting,
they were 48 inches long instead of the normal 36 inches.

We mounted it on the outside of the workshop,
we can see it from our back window

and traffic in both directions on the highway
can see it as well.

The other craft I did was this yardstick/ruler
Christmas tree,
thank you Pinterest.

Wishing you a very merry

measuring Christmas.

A LOOK BACK AT SUMMER

Summer has come and gone

and it's been a good one.

I was somewhat daring...

cut my own hair!

Someone new in the neighborhood

came by for a visit.

Purchased some new bedding online from

Overstock.com.

Mom had a barium swallow test

that was

absolutely useless.

 Dad did a lot of reading, playing solitaire,

and snoozing.

I spent many days 

trying to organize

Dad's workshop

(this is the before pictures, I don't have after)

Now, what do you think Fall will bring?

I can only imagine.