Category Archives: nature

A Little Help from Mother Nature

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snapdragon

Yesterday I celebrated my birthday. Well… actually there wasn’t much celebrating because I took 3 naps during the day. I’m not sure if it’s because I crashed after a tough six weeks at “work” or if it’s because I turned 45 and that’s just what “old” people do… they nap. It may be a little of both… and for the record if naps are what come with getting older then I totally approve!

The past 6 weeks have been intense for me and I’m starting to come through it. The fundraiser is over and my schedule is finally going to get ….

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Pansies “ROCK”!

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painted rocks

You never know where the day will take you…. especially when you have nothing planned and nothing expected of you.  The day is yours!

We enjoyed warm and beautiful weather during Thanksgiving and several fabulous days off. I really felt the need to be outside as much as possible.  Nothing makes me happier than working in my yard.

It started out with this….. YUCK!

My flowerbeds were looking a little shabby.  The summer sun had pretty much baked everything.  It was time to clear the beds out and plant some pretty winter flowers to brighten my days.  Even though it’s almost ….

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“Who’ll Stop the Rain”

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mushrooms in yard

Credence Clearwater pondered it, Prince colored it purple, Adele set fire to it, Gene Kelly sang in it, Led Zepplin were fools in it, The Cure prayed for it, Husker Du stood in it, Willie Nelson saw blue eyes crying in it, The Jesus and Mary Chain were only happy when it happened, the Eurythmics let it fall on their heads, and Bob Dylan knew a hard rain’s gonna fall…….  but I’m just SICK OF IT!

My drive to work most days looks like this.

Every day for the last 12 days it has RAINED!  I know, I know, most of the country ….

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super moon.. really was

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Super Moon

I hope you all got a chance to look up in the sky this evening and see the beautiful “Super Moon”. Of course all the hype had me waiting anxiously to see the big glowing sky but really it would have been hard to miss.

It was almost impossible to not notice, as our entire house was flooded with moonlight and the glow was just beautiful. I could see the moon through the trees outside our bedroom window and grabbed my camera to TRY to get some shots.

Obviously I’m a total and complete amateur because I don’t even own a ….

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A great place to raise a family

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Modern Bird Houses

At least it must be since I’ve watched 4 families move in, raise some babies, and then move out. There’s a lot of action in this tree. It’s not renovation talk but it’s definitely about a “nest”. I’m talking about the beautiful red-breasted robins that seem to feel safe and happy in the small tree/bush on the edge of our driveway. It’s in desperate need of a trim but we haven’t wanted to mess with it and frighten the birds or reveal the beautiful little nest they’ve built.

I’m a sucker for things like this so just bare with me today. ….

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Secret Doors: letting the outside in

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Sliding Glass Panels

I think we can all agree that getting some fresh air is good for the soul… and mind, and body for that matter. I also know that many mid-century modern architects loved to design homes in a way that allowed nature and the outdoors to become part of your indoor living space. Many felt it was important to blend the two. Frank Lloyd Wright referred to it as open-plan living, to bring the outside in. Architect Richard Neutra was another who said, “Place man in relationship to nature; that’s where he developed and where he feels most at home!”

Their intent ….

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Master bedroom: baby steps

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trim1

Hope you had a great weekend. I think my oatmeal cookie bars really paid off, because we worked well, and accomplished enough this weekend. I say “enough” because there’s only so many hours in the day and the way I see it, whatever you accomplish, big or small is enough. So I’ll take a minute and give an update on “just enough” in the master bedroom project. Baby steps seemed appropriate for the title of this post because that’s exactly what it takes around here.

The walls are done, the beams and door frames stained and now we turn to the ….

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Saving Daylight

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littlekitty

Does it really save light? Do I have more time? Not really… but who cares, my brain thinks there’s more, so my body keeps going, and I seem to accomplish more, therefore I’m happier and more productive.. and apparently more talkative and able to write more run-on sentences.

Yes, you guessed it, the time change is a game changer for me. It’s a mental thing and I couldn’t be happier about it.  Welcome daylight savings time….I’ve been waiting patiently for you!

And so has kittie. She’s tired of being inside.  That face says it all.  She looks so pissed.  

The flowers and ….

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A new attitude

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Convex Mirrors

I knew it was time to take a break when I started to cry over my bedroom closet.
As a sane person reading this, you know that’s just not normal… or healthy. Full-time renovation takes a toll on those who expect too much, too fast. I’m very hard on myself and often set goals that are unattainable.

When times like these roll around I acknowledge that things are not good and it’s time to change my way of thinking. I needed to stop, breathe, get out of the house and try to see how beautiful things ….

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Nature Sunday

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Paper Butterflies

While the master bedroom closet paint dried I decided to cut out some beautiful butterflies I found online and printed out last week. I’m not sure if it’s because my parents were butterfly FREAKS when I was growing up or what… but I really love them. My parents use to catch them, photograph them, frame them, plan outings around finding them. It was fun and kinda weird. Now here I am grown and probably their age then and I find that I appreciate nature so much “in my older age”. Living in this house of glass makes me appreciate the ….

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Good finds & pretty things

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amp

The kitchen is pretty much done and my brain and body had a few days of rest… which led me right back where I need to be. Enjoying all that I have and I that we have done. I’m blessed! The approaching holidays are always good for us, as we both have almost 3 weeks off work and our creative juices kick into overdrive. It’s such a fun time for both of us. I’ll be posting lots of handmade projects over the next few weeks.

Today was about taking time to enjoy the house and some of the simple things around ….

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Birds on My Back

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P1090038_web

Over the last few weeks I’ve really been taking it easy with my work load, as I seriously injured my back while working on sheetrock in the bedroom. Richie claims that I stood on that damn step stool too long while leaning over and holding myself up for two days straight.

I really think he’s right.
Don’t you just love that lamp! Richie found that years ago at some crazy sale. I think it use to be a heat lamp used in a hospital or doctors office. We took all the “heat” part out of it and made a lamp out of ….

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A Good Distraction

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Back in Nest
It was a busy weekend for us as we move from one project to the next… but more on that later. For this post I want to share something that definitely distracted us from our “oh so important” work. One of my very first posts on this blog was about a bird nest we found in a tree and some really sweet pictures of the babies before they left the nest. Well, I had no idea that birds used the same nest again.. but these little Robins must have worked on their house as hard as we’ve been working on ….

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Let it Rain

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Raindrops In the Sun
If you’re like me the sound of rain the last few days seems so strange… almost like a dream. Because of the record-breaking drought, it’s been a struggle to keep our yard and all the pretty flowers from burning up so we’ve been watering like crazy. (like most people) Thank goodness we got a break the last three days with steady little down pours. Ahhhhhh, green, not brown begins to emerge around town and I for one am totally grateful.

Yesterday as I got home the sun was shining over my house but it was raining the most beautiful raindrops. I ….

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Leaving the Nest

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leavingnest1
Today we went back out to the tree to check on the baby Robins and they were gone!  How lucky was I to get a picture of them right before the were about to leave the nest.  We got kind of worried about them being gone and it wasn’t until a couple hours later that we realized that the mother Robin was still hanging around and chirping alot…. so we looked and looked and finally found one of them on the edge of a limb ready to give it a try.  I’m assuming the other one took off and did ….

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