Baby Blankets and Flowers

I finished the little girl baby blanket the other day and I took some pictures to show you. Emily Katherine was born on Easter Sunday. What a wonderful gift for her parents. Marcus, the Dad is a co-worker of mine. I'm bringing the blanket in tomorrow for them.

Right before we left for our NJ trip I started a baby blanket for my grandson, Owen. Jenny's due date is July 17th. I can't wait to hold that little baby in my arms and cuddling with him! I love the color combo of his blanket!

When I got home from work today I knew I had to start more packing, but first I had to check out my roses. Here are some pictures of these beauties!

I love my moss rose. The color is so beautiful!

This shell pink rose blooms all season long-I just love it!

This is my favorite hosta by my fountain. The leaves are just so huge this year!

Hope you like the pictures and I thought it would be good to show you the baby blankets so you will know what I have been working on. I might not be on here very much until after we move to our new house on Friday. I'll stop by when I can!

Take time to smell the roses literally :)!!! Enjoy nature and life!

I'm Back from NJ!!

I'm back from NJ! It ended up being a 12 hour ride on the way back because there was a backup in Virginia for an hour so it set us back. We had a great time in NJ most of the time. My sister, Sue needs everyone's prayers-she had a break down again and on Good Friday we had to admit her to Mental Health again. She is doing much better. We found out she wasn't taking her meds but she is now on them and hopefully will be back home by the end of the week. Easter Sunday I visited her with my parents and other sister. I talked with her on the phone today and she sounds so much better. I hope this time she stays on her meds, poor thing.

Saturday my nieces and my nephew colored Easter Eggs at my Mom and Dad's. I got a few pictures of them. Jenny also helped them to bring their creative side out!!

My niece, Devyn coloring some eggs.

Jenny and Troy (my nephew) coloring eggs.

Jenny, Troy and Devyn coloring eggs.

Tawny (my niece) broke 3 eggs so she is making a egg salad sandwich.

Easter Centerpiece

This is my younger sister, Sandy. She had a really pretty dress and crocheted sweater on for Easter.

My sisters and my Mom won't be able to come to Jenny's baby shower. My sisters bought her gifts ahead of time. They decided she should open them early. Here she is opening up some of the gifts.

My Dad makes furniture. He made this cherry Queen Size bed for my nephew, Troy. This is the headboard. It is a platform bed with drawer underneath-he did an awesome job!

Here is the cherry dresser he also made for Troy. They both came out so good and look great in his room.

Well that is all I've got from NJ. I am glad to be back home, in my own bed, watching my own TV shows, but even with my sisters breakdown we all managed to have a good time! Hope everyone had a really nice Easter!

Happy Easter Everyone!!

I will be leaving at 4 a.m. tomorrow morning to go to NJ for the Easter holiday. This will be my last post until I get back on Tuesday. I wanted to wish you all Happy Easter!! Don't you just love these sweet Easter Bunnies!!!

Tornadoes all around us!

Saturday was a very dangerous day here in NC. I live in Charlotte and we had torrential rains and really high winds, but nothing like the rest of our poor state had! The devastation in Raleigh, Cary, Fayetteville was just plain horrendous and scary! I'm sure you have seen the Lowe's Hardware Store in Sanford, NC that was demolished by a tornado that swept through the area. John and I spent the day packing up the things in the garage and we didn't hear about the devastation until we were eating dinner watching the news. My heart goes out to each and every person that lost a loved one, lost a home, lost their possessions and were hit by those terrible tornadoes. Prayers going out to all those mentioned.

My first rose bloom of the Season!

The weather has been very peculiar here today. We woke up to cloudy skies, then torrential rain and high winds. Then the sun came out and it was beautiful. Then the cloudy skies came along with the torrential rains and high winds again! Crazy, crazy weather. Well after the first deluge of rain I looked into the courtyard and saw my rose had its first blossom on it. In between the raindrops I went out and snapped some photos of the buds and bloom. I just love this rose!

First full rose bloom of the season.

This rosebud was so pretty, just hanging there. I love the shell pink against the dark green leaves.

The moss rose is starting to get in on the act of opening too! I love these roses, the buds are covered in "moss".

These coral bells (Heucheras) were from my Nana's plants. Nana gave them to me about 32 years ago and I have moved them with me where ever we have lived.

2 years ago I had bought some Gerbera daisies from Lowes. They were beautiful and they must have reseeded themselves. Last year I got the greenery but no flowers, but this year I got some beautiful blooms this year! I love the orange color.

This is a closeup of this beautiful bloom!

Here is another photo of the coral bells, just getting ready to open.

My Chives are starting to bloom.

This iris bud is huge. Last year I waited and waited for it to get a bud and it didn't. I think this one is either a peach colored one or a really deep purple. I can't remember which one I dug up when we moved. It will be a nice surprise!

I just love this time of year-such renewal and beauty!! Enjoy!!

Teddy has the right idea for a rainy day!

Today is rainy, dark, windy and just down right stormy. Teddy, our Golden Retriever has the right idea! Check out his rainy day pictures (I hope him sleeping with his eye slightly open doesn't freak anyone out):

Isn't he a cutie! He really was tired I guess-LOL!!

"Mom and Dad's bed is so comfy, I'm glad they got up to pack some more boxes because now I have the whole bed to myself", says Teddy to an almost empty room.

I hope everyone has a great day no matter what your weather is. Enjoy!!

Fabulous Friday!!

I hope everyone has a Fabulous Friday!!!

My house is filled to the hilt with boxes!!

There are moving boxes all over the house now. The pictures have all been taken down and wrapped in bubble wrap for their journey to our new home. Everything downstairs has been packed except for what we are using daily. Upstairs our bedroom and master bathroom is now packed up. Over the weekend I have to pack up my jewelry table and the 2 guest room closets. John and I are going to attack the garage too! This will be the last weekend we have to pack before we move. The next weekend is Easter and we will be travelling North to my parents house.

Some people, well really most people don't like packing but I really don't mind it. It gets me to go through all the things and get rid of things I don't need or want anymore. I also love giving the girls things that they can have to carry on some traditions! Maybe if I had to go up in the attic and pull all the Christmas boxes down, like DH did tonight maybe then packing wouldn't be so fun to me!

Well I'm off to pack a few more boxes! Hope everyone had a great day!

Do you ever feel like Norm on Cheers!

Yesterday I went back to work after being home sick for a week and I felt like Norm on Cheers when he walks through the door and everyone says his name-LOL!!! There was piles of work on my desk, plan table and my chair but there was also alot of glad your back not just because they wanted me to do their work. I have always loved the work I do but sometimes there is just too much of it and I get so swamped down and feel like I am never going to get it all done! The 32 contracts that I had written and put together and were just ready to be sent did in fact go out. The boss' daughter sent them for the project manager. There is a small glimmer of hope that there will be more help in the future!

It did feel good to be back and appreciated :)! It also felt good to feel like "Norm" for a moment and to know that you are greatly appreciated.

Hope everyone has a great day!!

Rain drops on leaves....

Have you ever walked through your garden or someone else's after a rainstorm? I have done this many times and I have been in awe of the little raindrops that gather on leaves. If you look at the texture of a leaf you know there are little crevices, pools, puckers and just so many little places where raindrops can stay. I have 5 different hostas in my little courtyard garden and their leaves are just wonderful for catching mother nature's raindrops! We had a really intense storm last night-we even had hail for a little while the size of gum drops! This morning when I got up I crept out into the garden to take these pictures. I hope you like them!

My little garden fairy who watches over my garden did a very good job protecting the plants from the hail. Isn't she cute!

This dark green and chartreuse green hosta have the perfect leaves for raindrop catching.

My daylilies are so healthy and green this year. I have always loved the way raindrops or water seem to stick to them!

I couldn't believe it when I saw how much water pooled at the tip of this hosta leaf. When the light hits the water it almost takes on a silvery hue-just gorgeous!

One of my all time favorite hostas has puckered leaves and the raindrops managed to land and stay on it.

I have an urn of ivy which I have set on a concrete pedestal. Every leaf of the ivy has curls in it and it catches so many raindrops they form little pools all over the plant.

Another hosta with many, many raindrops.

My tree peony has alot of lush leaves this year and it also caught alot of the raindrops.

This is my moss rose. The "moss" on the buds is so fuzzy that the raindrops don't stick to them! The leaves just love those raindrops though!

This rounded hosta leaf is loving the rain!

I have 4 or 5 Heuchera plants that were my grandmothers. I love the dainty shell pink flowers that form on its stems. The leaves are beautiful in themselves though, they sometimes even look leathery. The raindrops loved them too!

That's the end of the raindrop tour! As you all can tell I love nature, especially my flowers and leaves. I hope you are having a wonderful Sunday where ever you live!

I also wanted to thank everyone for your get well wishes. While I still have bronchitis, I have improved quite a bit. I will be heading back to work tomorrow, but I will be taking it easy. Enjoy!!

I wish I was here....

As all of you know I have been sick with bronchitis all week. This is getting really old! I am feeling just a little better today and hope to sit outside sipping iced tea under my umbrella at the picnic table. I was looking through my photos and I came upon this lovely picture! I wish I was there right now!

Everyone have a lovely day!