I've gotten into this mood to do some hard cleaning, started yesterday getting my deck ready for the summer. When you have an old deck that's untreated w/varnish it gets green from over the winter, yuck. I take bleach water and scrub it with a wire brush, whew, luckily it's not too big. When you start seeing the difference it feels so good, like you've really accomplished something and know you won't have to do it again till next year. LOL

Anywayyyyy, I've finished half of it, scrubbing up deck chairs and the table, oh my husband's going to barbecue me something this next weekend, after all this work. :D He will, he loves his grill. I'm not a summer person, at all, but when it's here I like it and take full advantage of it.

I came in, took a shower, amazing how wonderful a shower feels when you get so hot, it's like Heaven. I ran downstairs for a cup of coffee and cut the tops off some strawberries to freeze. I'm going to make a strawberry smoothie later in the blender. So now I'm just chillin' and going to get back to my afghan.I can't tell you how in love I am with this sweet magnolia flower, it's amazing how this one little flower smells.

Update on red and white afghan...

I love red and white, here's an update on my red and cream checkered one I started.

I was looking for little bags to put leftover candle wax in that I was taking out of candleholders and cleaning up. I found the little bags, but saw my old sewing needleholders. One was from Woolworth and not sure where the other was sold, but I've had them forever and they were my mother's. I took a pic of them open, love the foil that holds the needles. See the leather knee patch in the back, can you believe it was only 79cents, now you know that's old. I have sewing things in the kaboodle, tins, boxes and even mason jars. :D 

Then I got back to cleaning up some of my candleholders. When they get so low the wick doesn't light, it's time to dig out the wax and put them in bags for the tarts burner. I like to divide some of the wax that I really love seperately in bags, but if there's just some different waxes I'll toss them together. You never know how they'll smell when burning a mix of scented wax. I take the candle label off if it'll stick together and put it on the little bag, if not I'll just use a marker for the scent name. I also like to put tealights in some of my favorite glass pieces. They're very pretty lit up close together like on a tray.

PS My husband brought in a Magnolia flower from the Magnolia tree. It smells wonderful...

Found this online on how to start a Magnolia tree from seeds or cuttings...

To germinate Magnolia seeds I would recommend using the paper towel method....with a little twist. First collect the red seeds. Then, using either a razor blade or an x-acto knife, carefully cut the outer shell. Once you have the actually seed in hand fill a glass with semi-warm water. Let them soak for about ten to fifteen minutes. Then get a paper towel and moisten it with the same temperature of water. Place the seeds in the middle of the towel and fold it hamburger style. Put everything in a ziplock bag; flatten it, and leave it by a window for about three weeks. You can tell if the seeds have germinated once you see the ziplock bag rise. This keeps the moisture constant in the bag and will help keep the seeds warm.

Another site...

Instructions

        1 Gather seeds. Collect as soon as possible after they mature in mid-September to early October. Spread the cone-like fruit out to dry for several days. Shake the seeds out of the dried cone.
        2 Store seeds over winter. Place seeds in a plastic bag containing sand and peat moss. Store in the refrigerator at 40 degrees or lower for three to six months before planting.
        3 Plant seeds. The following spring, plant the seeds either directly in a seedbed in the ground or in individual starter pots filled with rich potting soil. Sow seeds ¼ inch deep and firm soil gently over the seeds. Keep moist until they germinate.
        4 To grow magnolia from cuttings, gather pieces of softwood in later winter or early spring. Softwood is new wood whose bark is still soft enough to be easily pierced with your fingernail. Cut pieces that are 4 to 6 inches long, and try to include a couple leaves at the top. Make a clean diagonal cut at the bottom of the cutting. This is the part you will insert into the soil.
        5 Place in rooting medium. Use either vermiculite or peat moss to root cuttings. Fill starter pots with rooting medium. Place cutting into rooting medium, leaving about half of it above the soil line. Cover each pot with its own plastic bag. Humidity is vital when rooting softwood cuttings. Keep the plastic over the pot, except when watering. Place the pots in a protected spot in the shade. Check for roots in four to six weeks. Another sign that the cutting has "taken" is if it starts to grow new leaves.
        6 Transplant seedling or cutting where tree is to grow. Transplant seedlings when they are about a foot high and cuttings when they have a small root ball and their leaves are actively growing. Add some regular garden compost to the hole when transplanting. Set the magnolia so the soil is at the same place on the trunk as it was before transplanting it. Water well and feed with liquid fertilizer every two weeks until late summer, then stop feeding until spring.

So into roses right now ♥

They're smelling so good and honeysucles are almost done. My daughter brought a couple in to see if they're ready and not quite yet, but they smell so wonderful. I have to get strawberries this weekend, it's almost over for them.

I just dry the smaller roses on a paper plate, longer stem roses I hang upside down and some I put in a napkin in a big heavy book. The petals spread out to dry on a plate are good for making potpourri. 

drying roses

May's almost over...

I can't believe May is almost over, has it really been almost half a year since Christmas? I miss Christmas, so to me it's a little over half a year till Christmas again. :D I better get busy...

Some of my flowers that's come out, and my old man Cherry Blossom tree with the cool roots. I guess they're not suppose to be on top of the ground, but I love it. Look at the inside of the Iris, it's so cool. Then my Mother's Day flowers below. My grandson came in trying to hide them behind his back. Well I noticed he was leaving a trail of the petals to the table. Seems his little brother was picking them off in the car and they were falling off the plant while he was walking. LOL You can see some of the petals on top of the flowers. It was adorable. :D

 Remember the pink and white afghan I started, finally finished it. It's all knitted, except for the crocheted edge around. It will be a cute one for my granddaughter to wrap around when she's here with her dollbaby.I was looking at this and thought, "Where's the edge?" and realized I had it folded over, well duh. It's below...

I started back on my cream and red ripple crocheted afghan, but knowing me I'll probably start on another project before it's finished. I get inspired too easy with other things. :D I'll finish it by Christmas, yep, I know I will. :)
 

 

 We had a great birthday party for my youngest Sunday. It was a fairytale party at the park, beautiful day. I made a cloak for her, she was a mix of Red Riding Hood, Emma Swan and Mulan. :D She just turned 18 years old, I can't believe it. They had fun playing football, kickball, badminton and everyone just running around. The kids had bubbles, big balls and windmill twirlies, some things just never get old. Give a child a ball and a field to play in, they're in Heaven.

  I made up old fashioned party bags using paper bags, old fashion candies, moonpies, candy necklaces, bracelets, and some little party favors, stuck a windmill twirlie in each, they were so cute. Ofcourse party necklaces, Target had four to a pack party necklace for a dollar each and that's also where I got the twirlies.

I made chocolate chip and peanut butter cookies, brownies, had chips, jar dips and my DIL brought subway sandwiches, add that with a cooler full of sodas and water. Water is essential when everyone's out running around, surprising how much they'll drink. I want to get a homemade ice cream maker and have an ice cream party. I remember when I was a kid and people were making peach ice cream outside, that was a good memory.

I had made my granddaughter a tutu, my first one. It had white, light and hot pink, and green tulle. I wrapped it on a long piece of 5/8" ribbon so I could tie it in the back and little ribbon pieces between some of the strips. This way I had a piece of thin ribbon at the very end on each side of the tulle strips, so I could tie the waist ribbon to them. Later you can just untie the ribbons at the end and add more tulle as they grow. I took a flower apart and hot glued it together in layers, glued a sparkle button in the middle and hot glued a clip on the back. This way it can just be clipped to the waist to take on and off. I went with this video, it's a very good one, but next time I'll make the strips in 6" wide, instead of 4", maybe I'll see... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTXo6uv9HxA&feature=player_detailpage

   I also made her a couple of hair ribbons, she wore the corkscrew one to the party. Here's the link on the how to... http://craftrookie.blogspot.com/2011/09/corkscrew-hair-bows.html I also had bought a bag of beads at Joannes where I bought the tulle and made her a couple of bracelets and a necklace.

  When you're planning a party do yourself a favor, make a check off list. Everytime you do something and check it off you'll feel so much better and not so overwhelmed. Take that list with you to the store, how many people will be there, what you need for each one and I had a theme in my head. I got most of the things together the night before, which I do for most every big event. The sodas and water had been in the frig so they'd stay colder, and we always have bottles in the freezer for ice, keeps things really cold and takes up less room than a bag of ice. We just use small water bottles and a big water bottle filled with water to freeze.

After I made the red velvet cloak, (material was half priced at Joannes), yay, I took a couple of pics. The above one was too bright, but I thought it was cool, so I kept it. The bottom one is kind of dark, but the very top photo on this post shows the color of it, love the color. Her sister took the photo in the woods of the park and it was all just so much fun, it was a great day.

 

 

 Leftover party necklaces and I got my own windmill twirlie, ha ha. :D

 

After the party we went to Krispie Kreme, oh my goodness, just sayin'. :D

Oh and glowsticks, I love blue glowsticks. I usually always have them for a party bag. Kids around give us excuses to still play with kid things, (I have a little rabbit pez toy from Easter looking at me right now and I eat way too many pixiesticks that I call sugarsticks), pffft there's always leftovers when you make party bags or baskets. ;)

   

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven."

Yesterday we had a family birthday at the park, it was as magical as watching a whirlie twirl. 

I got each of the kids a paperbag filled with old time candy, whirlies, a bottle of bubbles, moonpie and little things. The tulle in the bag is my granddaughter's tutu I made her and she wore yesterday. I'll post some other things later.  

Lemon Bread...

Lemon Bread...

1/3 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 milk
grated rind of one lemon
1/3 cup sugar
juice of one lemon

Cream shortening, gradually add 1 cup of sugar, beating well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt, add to creamed mixture alternately  with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Mix well after each addition. Stir in rind.
Pour batter into a greased 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 by 3" loafpan or whatever loaf pan you use. Bake at 350 for 50 minutes, (mine gets done faster). Combine the 1/3 cup sugar with the juice of the lemon, stirring well and immediately pour over the bread after you take it out of the oven.