Old and New

 It is so nice to sleep at night 

with angels watching over you!

Our Master Bedroom 

Headboard Treatment

 In Pinetop 

I just bought this 40's Formica
table to Mosaic for our patio area.
I think I scored for I only paid $20.00 for
it at a local thrift store. :)

I found a few of these dishes at a local
antique mall and they were on the half
price shelf... :)

There is a 12 piece place setting of these adorable

dishes. I paid more than I would have liked but all

of the centers have this beautiful focal.

Another 12 piece place setting set I purchased at a 

different antique store. Again, more than I would have

liked to pay but the owner still gave me a deal.

There are 84 pieces to the set and they all have this

great pattern all over each piece. 

I am not sure what pattern I am going to use on the table. I need to do some , rather lots, of chipping and placing to figure out if I want to combine some different patterns or use all of one set. Whatever I decide, I plan to keep four to six place settings in tact. I think it will be cute to set the table with the same place settings that are used for the mosaic.

Don't you?

What do you think?

All of one pattern or mix it up?

I have some other pieces left from the other table, stepping stone and mailbox so I have lots of options.


I am linking up with

Some of the Fourth of July Week

 Saturday Afternoon at the Orchard in Pinetop

With Janice

 Jim, Janice's husband, with Randy, my husband

with us at the Orchard.

 Lavendar Plant

at the

Lavendar Festival

Getting here turned out to be quite an adventure.

The GPS was way off...

Took us out in the boonies and when I say boonies

I mean boonies.

I have heard tale of many meth labs being out in the boonies

around these parts and we were lost.

We had passed what looked like a nice house being built off the road. I told Janice if I could get us back to it we were asking directions. When I found it again, I pulled into the driveway which took us a little ways off the road. I was looking at a sign on my left.. Janice was looking at an old trailer tucked in bushes on the right.

The sign read:

No Trespasers

Trespasers Will Be SHOT

Survivors Will Be SHOT

I backed out of the driveway as quickly as possible.

Luckily, we made it back to the highway and Janice got us directions using her Iphone.

That was the first exciting event of the day. 

Another will be later in this post.

 Janice and I with our lavendar

You can tell, as usual, I have to purchase

a lot!

We were able to pick bundles.

I had no idea there were different varieties of Lavendar.

We purchased bundles of the sweet smelling kind.

We bought buds of the kind with which one cooks.

After the Lavendar festival, on the way home, we stopped at the Wallmart which is 15 miles from our home. I had my grocery list on my Iphone and had it out to look at my list.

We went to the rest room and I accidentally left my phone on the paper dispenser in the stall.

We got some items in the beauty dept. and then I looked for my phone..

Oh No!

Back to the bathroom..

On to Customer Service...

No phone turned in...

Called our husbands...

With my husbands phone he started tracking mine.

It was still in Wallmart.

I asked Customer Service to please make an announcement.

My husband reported to us my phone was no longer in WalMart

It was on the move...

headed in the direction of our house.

Jim and Randy left our house and started following 

my phone.

When they were getting closer to it, Jim synchronized his IPhone to make sure they were at the correct location.

I still can't believe they got my phone back.

They pulled up in front of a house that was on the Indian Reservation. A woman was unloading groceries, along with her son, who was about 14 years old.

My husband rolled down the window and told the lady he would like to have his wife's phone back.

At first she denied everything.

Jim told her we were reporting the phone stolen.

It would be no good to her, bla, bla.

All of a sudden, the young man started walking towards my husband's truck and handed him my phone.

They had taken the cover off but my phone was in tact!

Thank goodness they left my phone on and it had enough juice to last....

We have all had such a good time with thinking about the woman wondering how in the world she was found.

It was quite an exciting day.

We have also had laughs about our husbands becoming detectives.

Now..

The Fourth of July

 Fire in the Fireplace..

Yep...cold and rainy!

Our Fireworks on Jim's Ipad

We played Cribbage and ate a fabulous meal.

Hope your Fourth was as happy as ours, shared with

 great friends!

Hiding The Ugly

This is a darling cabinet

I got from my friend. Kim, 

of

SweetSageVintage

( I am trying to get her to post about

some very exciting things she is up to! )

It sits on our side deck.

Looking at it here it

doesn't look so cute,

does it?

That's because it is filled with Stuff...

peanuts for the birds and squirrls

garden tools

mosaic products

and various and asundra other things.

You see we don't have enough storage at this cottage.

So

I 

went

to

my

stash

of

vintage

fabric.

I should say

one of my stashes of vintage fabric!

I pulled out a European twin coverlet

( Purchased in Round Top, Texas, of course! )

and turned it into a curtain to hide

all the ugly...

I

seem

to

be

into

hiding

the

ugly

lately!

There...

Now isn't that better?!

Sort of Supper

Just look at that...

YUM

That is what we had for supper tonight!

When my 14 year old grandson was here last,

I made a Peach cobbler.

He texted me asking for the recipe.

I felt like when I asked my grandmother for her biscuit recipe...

A sifter of flour

A fistful of lard

baking powder...regular teaspoons..maybe 2

A pinch of soda

A pinch of salt

A glass full of buttermilk

You see...I had just combined some old recipes in my head and I am not sure I measured very carefully.

But, when a grandson asks for a recipe,

A grandmother does her best to deliver..

The following is what I sent him:  

Buy a package of pastry crust in the dairy department. I used the Walmart brand....

I lined a throw away Lasagna pan with the crust.... I sprayed the pan with Pam first.... You will also need to cut the crust into pieces in order to line the bottom and sides of pan...

Next:  Peaches.... peel and cut and slice from pit in a bowl.... Add 1 1/2 to 2 cups Packed Brown sugar mixed with 1 Tablespoon flour, 1 to 2 teaspoons cinnamon, 1/2 to 1 teaspoon nutmeg. Mix thoroughly....

I am not sure of the proportions if one uses canned peaches that are in heavy syrup. I would guess to half the brown sugar and use 2 large cans of peach slices....????     I sort of made this recipe up and I did not do a lot of measuring. I am guessing the best that I can.....

Topping Crust:

2 cups flour

1 1/2 to 2 cups regular white sugar mixed with 2 teaspoons baking powder,1/2 teaspoon salt... Cut in 1 and 1/4 cups butter... I softened the butter and used 2 knives cutting back and forth as I could not find a pastry blender... I would suggest buying a pastry blender at the dollar store... cut the butter in to the flour/sugar mixture. Add 1and 1/2 cups milk to the mixture. 

Place dough lined pan in 350 degree oven for about 5 minutes. Pour peach mixture over crust.... Pour top crust mixture over top of peaches ( the top mixture will be sort of thin ) and bake for about 45 minutes.

He made it and it turned out great.

Peaches are particularly good right now,

but once my husband and I eat supper,

we are usually too full to eat dessert,

so, tonight, we did what the saying says,

Eat Dessert First!

By the way, I did halve the recipe and it was yummy..

That Texas Blue Bell Ice Cream was the perfect topping!

Our Mailbox Makeover

Our first mailbox looked very similar

to this one,

only ours was white and did not 

have a reflector,

so, to me, it was sort of cute...

Until...

Winter came,

and one of these

took my mailbox

down the road.

This is a very common

occurrence in Pinetop, AZ

So..

My hubbie said we had to get 

one of these:

It swivels at the bottom,

so, when we leave for the winter,

we can turn it to the side to keep

the mean ole snow plow

from taking it out.

There was just one problem..

It was UGLY!

We tried to get Ivy to grow up the 

posts, but the Ivy just didn't grow.

When I was doing the mosaic on the 

table and stepping stone, ( if you missed that 
post you can see it here )

I looked out at the mailbox

and that was the end of the ugly,

in my head.

I started to cut more china and I started gluing..

I used silicone to glue so it would withstand the cold.

Here is a picture closer up..

I was just getting started.

Now I have the post glued..

Another close up..

This took a lot of time, folks!

And the grouting... Oh My!

The china was not all the same

thickness and I didn't care since

 it being level was not an issue,

But

I 

ended

up 

using

my 

fingers

to 

grout.

My

poor

hands

but it was worth it!

One side of my finished mailbox

The other side of my finished mailbox

Up Close and Personal

The other side up close and personal

And the front with a large flat button

from Round Top, TX

to finish it off!

I am trying to decide if I should paint the flag a lighter

shade of pink.

My husband had me look up the regulations for the color

of mailbox flags...

Pink appears to be O.K.

It was not listed like most other colors as a no, no....

So

What

Do

Ya

Think?

The red is sort of faded, so because of the severe winters,

I am leaning towards leaving it alone.

Oh, and something very important,

I did not do the very bottom

so the post can be turned so all 

my hard work will not be

taken out by the snow plow!


I am linking up with Made By You Mondays, 
Met Monday, and frenchcountrycottage, Stuff and Nonsense, Redoux

Just The Three Of Us

Only Now It Is Just One....

The One On The Right....

Me

The one in the middle,

Hazel Madeline Neill,

My Mom,

Amber's Grandmother...

The one on the left....

My Daughter,

My Mom's Granddaughter...

The one on the right

The last of the girls...

Two years ago tonight,

my daughter was killed.

Two years ago tonight, 

I did not know...

Two years ago tomorrow,

I got the call...

The coroner did not pronounce death

until tomorrow, June 8, 2010..

but in all reality,

the death certificate should have read

June 7, 2010.....

Either way,

she is gone,

I am here...

and time heals...

but even after

two years...

my heart is broken...

not broken just because

she is gone...

but broken because

even when she was here

she was gone......

and no one knew how to make

her be Here and Whole...

She is whole now

while I am still 

here. 

Even though

my heart

aches,

it 

rejoices,

that

now

she

is 

whole.

I love you, Mom,

I love you, Amber.

 Huge Pink Hydrangeas 

on both sides of steps

 White, Blue, Lavendar Hydrangeas

 in baskets 

all along the fence.

 Basket on railing of top deck

 The other side of the porch

 White Begonias planted 

in and old tea kettle

 Front View of the Cottage

 Dalias planted in the large front bed

 Side View

 New lattice work for climbing roses

 Close up of hanging baskets on fence

holding pink geraniums

 So tiny now they are hard to see

White Begonias planted down

 the side of the porch 

that the brick patio is laid

 Close up of basket with Hydrangeas

 Close up of some

 of the dalias and begonias

 planted in pots.

 I love, yes, love Hydrangeas

 Another view of the Dalia bed

Sweet Peas are planted beneath the trellis

Pink Geraniums in baskets along fence.

There is more planting done...

more rose bushes,

vegetable garden,

Blackberry and Raspberry plants..

So, as you can see, 

in between mosaicing 

there has been some gardening going on!

Today I am cutting more china for the mail box post..

I got the white paint stripped off of it yesterday.

I think there will just be a random mosaic, with no particular design on the post since it is so large and round. I am not really worried either about it being so even. After all, a wine glass will not be resting on it!

I will see how it looks and decide if I will put a focal on the mailbox. 

I hope you are having as nice a day as I am in the beautiful Arizona Pines!