Spring Cleaning Break!

Whew! I need a time out!

Think I'll put down my mops, brooms and buckets and do a little blogging!

For the past couple of weeks here in Florida, the pollen was so thick that it looked like the sun melted down on everything that wasn't under cover! Well, I wouldn't say that the color was "sunny", it was more the shade of anti-freeze ~ kind of a neon greenish yellow. Not only did it make a mess of things, it messed with our noses and eyes something terrible. I can't remember the last time I took so many antihistamines! I normally don't react to bad to the spring coming into bloom, but this was pretty brutal for everyone for awhile until we finally got some much needed rain to wash it down some.

~ First rain of Spring! ~

We have a little glass top table on our screened porch and one day after the sun came up, I was doing my usual walk around picking up after ourselves and noticed a layer of the neon beast coating the table. Getting ready to wipe it down, I saw something strange on it. When I got closer I looked down and on his way out to work, Ed had drawn a big heart and wrote "I love you" in the pollen. It was so sweet I couldn't bring myself to wipe it away and anyways, more would have settled back down on it by days end so, I left it to enjoy. For a couple more days, every time I looked at it he had drawn another little doodle to his "pollen painting". I snapped a couple pictures of it but they didn't come out that good because of reflections. Oh well, it does deserve a husband kudo "awwww!"

~ The "I Love You" Pollen Table ~

So, after being on the pollen cleaning warpath outside, I started hitting it hard inside the house last week with a flurry of spring cleaning. I've been trying to dedicate a day to each room for a thorough, authentic spring cleaning. I've been dusting, polishing, cleaning out closets and drawers, washing windows and screens, shampooing carpets, storing away the heavy winter linens and bringing out the lighter ones.

~ I started up in the master bedroom ~

Curtains down - windows & screens washed - room vacuumed and dusted from top to bottom and carpets shampooed! Nice and fresh! ~

I've got to tell you, it feels real good to get this done! And now, I'm pretty much ready for my middle girly girl, Nicole, and her daughters, my 2 grand-girlies, Kyleigh and Alexis, to come over tonight from the west coast of Florida. Matter of fact they are in route now! Whoo-Hoo!

~ Nicole, Alexis (on the left) and Kyleigh (on the right) ~
See you soon girls!

Nicole will get to visit for the week-end but will have to head back to go to work and the girls are staying here with Me-Ma for a week while Kyleigh is on spring break so Mommy can lay low dollar wise on a full week of the two of them in daycare all day. I've got lots of stuff planned for us to do while they are here and can't wait to spend time with them. Being that Kyleigh is 6 and Alexis is 4, spring break at Me-Ma's is just fine with them. Hopefully, in their college years, they will still choose to spring break it with me where they are safe and sound but, I doubt it.

~ Nothing like Sister Time! ~

~ Kyleigh going for the vege tray ~

~ No explanation needed here... ~

~ And it's true! ~

Well ~ better go wrap things up around here! Got a few more things to do before they pull down the driveway.

Until next time....be safe, have fun and make lot's of great memories!

Jana

I'm back ~ after going happily astray for months!

Wow! What a slacker of a blogger I am!! Last post in July 2008?! That is sad to the bone! My website maintenance and on line sales have been put on the back burner also. No excuses here...we just got busy in life and time really did fly by. I think I also got a severe case of computer burn out. For the past few months I basically would just get logged on, check emails, pay bills, shop for new and old pieces for our house, do research, putz around learning graphics, design and html, read some blogs, peek in on my girls my spaces and then log off. Running an on line boutique and posting stuff for sale is great but it is also very time consuming. Setting up and taking pictures of items, photo editing, uploading, writing descriptions, monitoring sales and shipping can take up a better part of the day. I also had camera issues, printer problems and computer crashes and just threw my hands up and walked out into the air and light of the world to be around people in real life instead of cyber space. I was just feeling to tied down to the desk and living in Florida, the days just beckon you to be out and about. I guess you can say that I took a very extended leave of absence from "work" and I've decided that getting back into it will be a re-direction of goals and a thing of personal enjoyment instead of a competitive race.

We also during the past year have had two houses to take care of. The one we moved out of (our city pool home we call it) which was under going upgrades and improvements before being put up for sale which has been delayed due to the real estate market, and the new/old one that we are in (our cottage in the country) that needs the everyday attention that most homes do. Then we weathered through hurricane season followed by Ed working crazy and long hours until the end of the year and my oldest daughter Amy and her husband Chaun moving back to Florida from Nashville in early September. Sadly, yet bitter sweetly, they decided to move back to Nashville a few days before Christmas so I was trying to spend time with them also. Then of course there was the start of the new year with busy days up until now and well, here I am finally!

Of course with spring in the air now and summer around the corner, I can't promise if postings will be everyday but I'll do my best to write more often. We've started up again with our favorite hobby of week-end river kayaking explorations and fishing adventures....

(Our Water Horses!)

And Ed's been itching to get out surfing and I've been looking forward to long walks and shell collecting.

(Ed heading into the waves at our favorite beach)

But, up until now, all in all, I've just been kicked back enjoying and bonding with the new homestead, decorating and re-decorating, cooking and baking...

(Pineapple Upside Down cake made in a cast iron skillet!)

(Snow Crab Clusters with garlic butter sauce on New Years Eve! yum!)

and playing with my Christmas and anniversary presents...

(My new BFF ~ A 600 watt Kitchen-Aid Pro Mixer!)

(Set of Calphalon Stainless Steel Pots & Pans! Love Them!)

Let's see, what else have I been up to...I've bought and painted many pieces of vintage furniture and decor and fixed up some pieces I've had hanging around for awhile. I've been going through boxes, weeding things out and organizing things that I've been meaning to do for years like sorting out old photos, the girls old school papers and memorabilia etc. I also have been setting up my sewing area with an awesome vintage sewing work station that I picked up at a local thrift store. I'll do a separate post on that later with pictures. It's really neat, heavy as a car, and was a bear for me and Ed to get up the stairs but so worth it and great for organizing all of my sewing stuff. I guess I've just basically been being a domestic diva, enjoying life, getting to know myself a little better and taking time to soak in all that I am grateful for.

So, check back in to catch a new posting once in awhile. I've got some great pictures, stories and thoughts to share. And soon, I'll be listing new/old items on my website after I do a little spring cleaning there.

Until next time ~ Be safe, Be happy, Be Fun & Be Kind!
~ Jana ~

Oh, The long days of Summer in Florida!

My, my... it sure has been a long time since I've sat down to write on the blog! Summer time came at us so fast and with the longer days I guess we have been trying to fill every hour with the many projects we've got going on around the new place. It's been 7 months now that we've been moved into our wonderful country cottage and it has really kept us busy.

Besides working around the homestead, I have been dealing with not feeling so good on and off for about 3 months which has, at those down times, just stopped everything that I needed to do. I got pretty sick at Easter time and ended up in the emergency room with excruciating pain in my left side and back. I couldn't even make it up the stairs around here. They checked me out thinking that it was kidney stones but after 8 hours in the ER and a lot of tests, the scans came back showing diverticulitis. What!? I'm only 46 years old! Come to find out, it runs in our family and shows up at young ages. Well, that stuff makes you pretty sick for pretty long and the pain is the worst I've ever felt and all the meds they put you on are terrible too. After many trips to many docs, the dreaded colonoscopy (which itself wasn't bad at all, it was the prep that you have to do the night before! Ugh! not nice! ) and then with a second trip to the ER with another flare up, they are wanting to do surgery to get it on out of there before a major problem arises which they tell me it's not "if" but "when" it happens at this point. So, at this time (knock on wood) I'm feeling better than I have in months but this stuff can rear it's ugly head with no notice so I've got to get in and get it taken care of ASAP and get back to a normal life.
So during my heal times, I've wandered around and messed around in the house doing little things like organizing stuff, getting rid of stuff, working on little crafty projects and taking pictures of our summer. Ed's been a trooper and even though that sometimes he works major hours and odd times, he's been a huge help to me when I was at my worst. I know he's worried every time I wince and I know he's tired but never complains. What a great guy to be married to! So, since I'm just catching up on stuff, stocking up my website and listing things on eBay, I thought I would share some pictures and little stories of our summer time things that have made me smile in the past few weeks. Hope you enjoy them! Sit on back with a coffee, this could be lengthy!
One of our early spring projects was putting in our first vege garden. We've got 3 and 1/4 acres to play on but decided to start small. One lesson I learned was that for 2 people, you only need one eggplant bush. Those things produce like rabbits!! I totally ran out of recipes for using them. We did manage some tomatoes, green peppers, hot peppers, okra and one lone sunflower plant. We picked off a lot of bugs, got ate up by ants in the garden and had to fight off the wild turkeys, oh and a neighbors wandering pig, but all in all we did okay for our first try and we learned a lot! I did get some herbs planted in pots outside of my kitchen door and I love walking out and clipping what I need while I'm cooking, still need to master the care of those though also.

We picked all of these one afternoon! Woo-Hoo! We can grow stuff!

Our first Sunflower!

Our neighbors pig on the loose! It came right up behind me when I was in my own little world watering the garden! I didn't know I could sprint up 3 flights of stairs so fast and I didn't know pigs could run so fast either! I took this from the 3rd floor balcony off of our bedroom (thinking I'd be safe up there with the doors locked too, silly girl) He was a big one! Sure didn't like the way he eyeballed our garden though! Then I thought later hmmm...new recipe, bacon and eggplant, just kidding! :)

The pic above is the view from our door beside the kitchen looking out into our back pasture. The main living area is on the second floor and the views are fantastic! The pasture goes on way beyond that fence and beyond it is a cattle ranch. They walk by everyday and are now bringing their calf's out. So cute, I'll try to get pics of them. They lay under the trees and watch us work. This was taken after we finally got some rain around here and we had just mowed that week-end. Those are my little herbs on the deck that we use all the time when we cook. Right after I took this pic, the sun popped out and made some really neat shadows on the grass. I snapped a shot of that too, below. Love this back pasture in the morning!

Now, my Mom went on vacation this summer for a couple of months up into Ohio where she was born and raised and most of our family is up there. I was born up there too but we moved here to Florida when I was 6. She kept my Grandmas house so we all can still go up and visit with Aunt's, Uncles, cousins etc. She then went to the mountains in North Carolina and when she started heading back home to Florida, I ask her to pick me up some peaches if she found any good ones around Georgia. Well...this is what she brought me home! My Mom is just the best!

I just love summer peaches and these where so delicious! Ed decided to separate them out to get any bad ones off the bottom if they were any but we only found three. Below is his contribution to shabby country cottage picture set ups. Good job Ed!

And of course because we couldn't eat them all...I did some canning, which I really enjoy doing. I made Spiced Peach Butter! Yum! I didn't get a picture of the finished product in the jars yet but...I did stand in the kitchen along time peeling peaches...

Sad to say, I have no pictures of the peach cobbler and peach milkshakes we made. They were gone to fast!

Well, I'll stop here for now. I'll post more tommorrow with our beach pictures!See you back around the cottage soon!

Jana