Fluffing the front yard...

It was a beautiful fall day today.  85 degrees at the end of a September is a real treat here in northern North Dakota!  I took advantage and did some 'fluffing' of the yard.

The chair is handmade and a gift from my sister.  Works great for outdoor for decorating purposes.  The plant sitting on the chair seat blooms part of the day and then hides overnight....

Definitely fall here.  We have had several hard freezes so most of the flowers are done and over for the year.
Nevermore says the raven (but I am counting on spring bringing everything back to life)!

My husband surprised me with the old red wagon one day.  He knows what makes me smile!

Had to add some spider webbing for fun.   Will have to see how it holds up to 20 to 40 mph winds as we are sure to have some days like that in the near future.

My son that farms was kind enough to let me steal some corn.  Given the state of crops with the drought and price of corn, I appreciate his generousity.

Yep, both sides of the entry.  Notice the well trained dogs who know they can't go past the fence.  We live on a well traveled highway and need to keep them safe!

Hmm, that spider looks more like a fly.  But guess that works also.  So a little fall and a bit of Halloween thrown in for fun!  Hoping we can make it to Halloween without any snowfall.  Seems like many Halloweens have been the first snowfall of the year.  Makes me really appreciate the 85 degrees today.

Enjoying the outdoors with a toddler

My 1 year old grand daughter spent an overnight visit with my husband and I.  She clearly appreciates being outdoors!  I just had to share some pictures of this precious little girl enjoying her day.

She discovered the crab apples on a low branched tree and was quite determined to pick these.

She picked, and tasted, and shook the tree.   Then went back to do it all again.

Our kitty Cocoa was not sure what to make of Lydia and stalked her most of the time she was outside.

Evidently you have to find just the right apples to pick!

Curiosity got to Cocoa....   She had to find out what was making noise dropping into the bowl.

Not sure if this face means "come and help"  or "enough with the camera!"  LOL!

Cocoa was a bit disappointed to discover there was nothing of particular interest to her in the bowl.

After the apples, it was time to check out the garden.  Lydia quickly decided that cherry tomatoes taste much better than tiny crab apples!

It took a few tries to learn to bite them in half first and not worry about the dirt.

Yummy!  Do you want some of these too?

Handmade Rustic Romantic Wedding

Time flies so fast! It seems like just last year that the kids were young and their friends were often found hanging out at our house. It was quite busy at times when they were little as I had two sons and a daughter all withing three and a half years. 

I did not anticipate that would mean marriages, houses, and babies all coming in rapid succession years later. LOL! It has been a busy few years again. They have managed to get married (all three), buy homes (two oldest), and have children (oldest and soon to be second) all in order. 

My daughter was married this past June. She and I had great fun making the wedding decorations. Doing so allowed me to make extra trips to Missouri to spend time with her also. I thought I would share some pictures of the wedding decorations.  The wedding was a small destination wedding that occurred lakeside and required everything be brought in and out in a short time.

Coffee stained tags, skeleton keys, and a faux old window frame directed guests to their tables for the reception dinner.

A birdcage served as a wedding card holder.

The table top decorations were burlap, green bowls wrapped in twine and filled with succulents and glass beads, numbers, and mason jar candle holders.

 Doves punched from scrapbook paper were scattered on the tables.

The jars were filled with beans and peas to hold the battery operated candle.

Gifts for guests included sunglasses, a cd of the music played (classic rock hits!), and home made dog treats.

The wedding programs were made using the burlap, scrapbook paper, and twine.

The wedding celebration was wonderful.  Family and friends all enjoyed themselves.  And the bride reported  she felt she had the perfect wedding.

Adding a little interest

Still waiting until I can get my wooden floors, but in the meantime have found a few other ways to improve my kitchen.  I used the Giani Granite kit to improve the counter tops.  Removed and repainted where there had been a wallpaper boarder.  And this weekend I striped a wall.

The was was the grey blue color... which worked but, truth be told, I was just getting bored with it.

It sorta sets of the front entrance which opens right into the kitchen.  And who knew that striped could be so easy and quick to paint if you just add them to the color you already have on the wall.  Gotta love quick easy updates!

So there you have it, a little stripey interest and a quick easy weekend project.

(Sorry bout the poor photo quality...  just could not get enough light to get good pictures... and wood floors will look so much better....)

Avoiding housework...

Some days the house is mostly under control and I just don't feel like doing the things necessary to shift from mostly to completely.  Ever have those days or weeks?

Last night instead of doing some cleaning, I messed around with chalkboard art...

This was copied from CustomChalk.com.   Definitely need some practice and tools to make chalkboard graphics look professional.  But hey!  it got me out of housework!

Posting photographs always makes me see the things I want to do differently:  put a frame around the area I painted with chalkboard paint, find a better way to display the areal pictures of our property, change the light in the entry, etc.

Summer Sunsets on the Northern Plains

May all your sunsets be glorious....