Two Weeks???? Really?!?!?

Wow!  Has it really been TWO WEEKS since I was last posting here on The Porch?!?!?  Hard to believe.  Where is Time headed when it flies by so quickly???   What's the big hurry???

Heading into the "busy season" for a Realtor.  A lot going on with work and other commitments and blog time is the first place I start to trim.  But, isn't that the case for most of us?

This morning, I sat on the patio for a bit....enjoying the morning sun.  The mesquite trees have leafed out - a sure sign that Spring is here to stay.  We have several old, twisted mesquites in the backyard and their branches form a canopy of sorts over the lawn, filtering the sunlight and giving a soft green hue to the morning.  How nice it was to sit and watch birds on the lawn, gathering twigs and pieces of grass in the soft light....I don't know when a cup of coffee with hazelnut creamer has ever tasted so fine!

After a bit, I was ready to come in and tackle today's chores.  Scout and Pepper got baths and their flea/tick treatment.  I attempted to clip their nails, but it wasn't a total success.  Pepper got so frantic and wiggly that she head-butted my lip and I gave up.

Then I got busy on the house cleaning.....dusting, vacuuming, mopping.....the whole nine yards!  Laundry is a work in progress and will be throughout the day tomorrow, I am sure.

Finally, I am finished and just have a little time to sit and relax for a bit before Eddie gets home from work.  All three dogs are napping quietly in the living room and I have a cheesy Lifetime movie paused and ready to watch.  Odds are that I will enjoy a bit of a doze with the pups....

What are you up to this weekend?  Is this the time when you enjoying slowing down and recouping from the week?  Or, are you busy trying to catch up, too?

Whatever your plans, hope you have a terrific weekend!

(Drum Roll, Please)....We Are Finally Done!!!

I can barely contain my excitement!  We finally got the shelf hung this afternoon when Eddie got home from work!!!

This is where the shelf has been sitting since I painted it the other night......just sitting there and mocking me every time I walked into the room......

But, after (im)patiently waiting for the drill to charge (and the hubs to finish an online golf game), we finally got started.......

And here she sits, in all her bare, naked glory!

Once it was up, I got busy on transferring our cookbook collection up there......and, yes, I stood on the table to do it (and, no, I didn't even remove my flip flops before getting up there).  Thanks to Eddie for the lovely shot of my backside capri pants! 

I had to load and unload a couple of times to get the weight distributed just so and make it visually pleasing.  It went from this on the first go 'round.....

To this, which somehow seemed better to me.

I did a little more rearranging in this area, just shifting things a bit here and there.  One more project is in the works - supplies have been bought and are on Eddie's work bench, awaiting his next day off.   But, here is how it is coming along so far.

Additionally, I have something in mind in the way of table runner and "decor" other than a half-empty basket of snacks on the table.  Hopefully, I will get to that project this week.  It involves a trip to the fabric store, going down in the cellar for some old chunky candlesticks (that should still be in a crate down there....), spray paint and dragging out the two-ton sewing machine.  Will keep you posted as that develops!

Thanks for being patient as this project finally came to fruition!  It has definitely gotten hung up and slowed down time after time.  Which is a shame because it really ended up being pretty quick and easy....once it actually got done!

I'm linking up with Cathy at "My 1929 Charmer" for her weekly Sunday's Best Par.tay!!!  Be sure to head over there to check out what everyone else is showing off this week!



Hope you've all had a wonderful weekend, dear Friends.  Be blessed as you head back out into the world tomorrow!

Reveling in the Weekend.....

Ah, Saturday......where have you been?  I've been waiting for you all week.....waiting to snuggle back under the covers and sleep in. 

And, here you are, in all your cloudy, overcast glory!  It doesn't matter that the sun isn't shining at the moment because the gray skies encouraged me to stay in bed a bit longer this morning.  Your mild temps have dictated that I wear flip flops and my "Kiss me, I'm magically delicious" t-shirt for St. Patrick's Day.  

I'm so glad you are here.  I'm going to use you wisely....breathing deeply and listening to birdsong outside my open windows.  Perhaps today will be the day that the kitchen shelf goes up and my cookbooks find their new home.  Perhaps this afternoon will be spent sitting on a mat in the front flowerbed, pulling grass runners and weeds from the moist soil.  And perhaps a trip to the garden center to browse through the colorful rows of new bedding plants is in order.  

Whatever the day holds, I embrace it all! 

Happy St. Patrick's Day to each and every one of you, whether you claim Irish ancestry - or not!!!  Just enjoy the day....

"This is the day which the LORD has made;

Let us rejoice and be glad in it."

Thank God It's Friday!!!

Hello, Friends!  Can you say T-G-I-F?!?!?

Today is not much of a day for sitting out on the porch, unfortunately.  After a pretty mild winter and lots of beautiful spring-like days in February, we took a turn for the worse here yesterday.  Drizzly, cold, even a few snow flurries here and there.  But, thankfully, we did not get a hard freeze last night!  What a relief because the trees here have been blooming like crazy and I would hate for them to get set back.  I am actually praying that the cloud cover doesn't clear tonight so it will help hold the temps up!

Since it was so muddy, I have been taking the dogs out into the front yard on a leash to do their business.  (The backyard is pitiful right now and the task of wiping a dozen muddy paws after going out there in the red mud is just overwhelming at times.)  This morning, while I was out there, I took the opportunity to really study the front flower bed, which we worked so hard on this past year.  Remember when we put in some new shrubs and lots of mounded mums out there at the end of summer this past year?

Things are actually looking pretty good!  The mums have already started putting forth new greenery.  This will make it more difficult to cut back back the dead growth - should have been done at the end of the last season - but it is a good sign that they have survived the winter.  The hawthorn bushes are loaded with tiny buds, ready for more warm, sunny days to help them bust out in bloom.  The "fire bush" is already blooming.  Although it is a bit scraggly, the color is beautiful and I will take it!  There are some weeds encroaching where they shouldn't and a bit of that dang monkey grass we worked so hard to take out is sprouting.  The mulch is seriously depleted.  But, overall, a nice afternoon working in the bed spanning the front of the house should take care of all issues!

I am so ready for Spring to arrive and stick around! 

On the personal front, I went to McDonald's and got a happy meal today for lunch.  So, I guess that makes me happy! 

Although the skies are still gray, the temps are cold and work and home projects have me feeling stretched pretty thin, I have so much for which to be thankful - 

I have this evening and tomorrow off with my better half and 

we are going to put away the cares of the world and enjoy this time together.  

I have a cozy home to snuggle up in.

I have enough business at work to make me feel a bit stretched, 

much better than no business in this "feast or famine" line of work. 

Speaking of that better half, he just walked in the door and the pups are going nuts.  So, we're going to head off to pick up a couple of rental movies and something for supper.  Then we'll have some quality down time. 

What are YOUR plans for the weekend?  Whatever you've got cooking, I hope you have some quality time for yourself and your loved ones! 

Windy Day, But Let's Chat Anyway...

The wind is blowing HARD today.....second day in a row of it here in West Texas!  But, it is March, after all.  What else would we expect???

The howling wind doesn't excuse my suck-y attitude today, though.  Neither does the crick in my neck I have had since I woke up this morning.  Ever have one of those days when nothing in particular makes you feel "yucky" or "down".....you just wake up feeling "blah"?  Yep, it's one of those days.......


So, I'm sitting here at my desk....and I can see the stack of STUFF piled up to work on, out of the corner of my eye....right in plain sight.  And, I simply cannot touch it.  I do not want to balance the checkbook, or update my mileage log, or work on papers for the accountant to prepare the tax return.....I just cannot go there in this frame of mind.....

Instead, I will take a few minutes and work on a little porch chatting over at Everyday Ruralty.  Perhaps, focusing on Patrice's topics of conversation will help me pull up out of the little rut I'm wallering in.....

1. Tell me a fond memory of an elderly person?  When I was growing up, there was a wonderful lady who lived next door to us.  Her name was Bobbie and we all loved her.  She was like a substitute mother to my oh-so-young mother and a stand-in grandmother to us kids.....and her home always smelled so good!  Her kitchen door was just across the way from the side of our house where our bedrooms were and we could smell her cooking when the windows were up or the swamp cooler was running.  She started the tradition of giving us one special little ornament for the Christmas tree each year and I still have many of the "special balls" she gave me all those years ago!
2. What's your favorite flavor of jam or jelly?  My mother made the most awesome fig preserves when we were growing up!  We had three large fig trees in the back yard and I didn't realize what a treat fresh figs were.  I sure wish I had a jar of those preserves now!
3. What goes through your mind when you drive by one of those whopping, huge houses that look like something in a magazine?  I wonder how much it must cost to heat and cool that place?!?!?  Then I start thinking like a Realtor and contemplate market value, taxes, would they like to list???
4. What's your favorite way to relax?  Laying down on the sofa with the pups snuggling under an afghan on my lap.....it doesn't matter if it's a great movie on tv or a book in hand, I'm set to relax.
5. What's your favorite kind of pasta?   I love cheese tortellini or ravioli!  Just toss it with a tiny bit of EVOO and some freshly ground black pepper, maybe a little grated parmesan.....I could eat that every night for dinner!

Okay, conversed on the farmhouse porch....did it help?  Well, maybe....a little bit.  It made me pretty hungry, that's for sure!  Three of those topics made me think of food!!!  

To see other people's conversations, just head over to Chats on the Farmhouse Porch and check it out.  Thanks for stopping by today!  Posting and attitude should be greatly improved with my next post! 

Pretty Much a Perfect Day!!!

What a wonderful day!!!  The weather was warm and sunny - the temperature reaching the mid-80's.  Incredible weather for the first day of March.....in fact, it was so warm that I actually broke out a pair of Yellow Box flip flops to wear....oh,  yes, I did!!!

The nail polish is actually much prettier in person - a lovely beachy-looking glimmer that makes me think of Summer!

Since Eddie Dale and I are both working this weekend, we took the opportunity to play hookie today!  Yep, slept in and then got ready while he did his "guy" errands (i.e., washing the truck and going to buy weed killer).  When he arrived back at the house, he carried this in.......just because he is such a sweetheart.......

Yellow roses.....one of our favorites here in the Lone Star State!  Looks so good in our living room, too!

We went to one of our favorite hamburger joints, Gloria's, which is in an old building across the street from the courthouse.  Then we headed off to Academy to shop for Trayden's birthday - we've been told he wants anything in camo.  Easy enough!

I also picked up a present for a dear friend who has a birthday this weekend.  Don't you just love this terrific bag and tissue paper from Bath & Body Works???  How absolutely cute and summery is that?!?!?  This will definitely get re-used......

Scent overload when you walk into Bath & Body Works, but they are right on target with their summery gift bags!

Now, the most heavenly scents are coming from our kitchen as Eddie Dale toils away in there over supper!  I have the door in the back room open and can hear a neighbor mowing their lawn.....oh, it feels so delightful.  Although they are forecasting a cold front tomorrow night and much cooler temps, I am loving this first day of March.

Feeling pretty blessed with all the little things that seemed so right today!  Sometimes, it is all about the ordinary moments we spend with loved ones that turn out to be the best gifts of all......