~My Life~

This is a picture of my mother's mom, the one I was named after, she was born in 1900 and I think she was 16 here, at the bottom of the picture you can see the pansies that her parents raised and sold...mom always loved pansy's:) She passed away at the age of 46 of a cerebral hemorrhage. Gee, notice the long dress? She had red hair and blue eyes, she met an Irishman named Danial Tolen boy, I bet there were fireworks over that one!

Good Morning friends:)

It's Tuesday and time for the family history project:) BTW I love doing this...it makes you think if you know what I mean:) ~ If you want to join in you can, just go to Julie's Tattered Threads and Willing Hands and sign up with Mr Linky!

This week's project is a little hard for me because I never really knew either set of grandparents...something I've always regretted in my life. I never had that special feeling the grandchildren feel or have knowing that your mom and dad's parents thought you were the best ever! I'm sure this has effected me somehow but I just don't know how, so I'll answer the questions as best that I can, okay?

1. Was yours a religious family? Not when I was little but I was baptized Catholic. When Michele was born we baptized her Russian Orthodox... before that my dad had went back to the religion he was raised with and so did I. I would take my kids every Sunday they were all baptized and confirmed Russian Orthodox and my oldest son Nick was married in the church and still attends with his wife and Alex.

Were Sunday's spent together with family? My mom's mother died when my mom was in her 20's and her dad died when I was about 4 or 5, I only remember seeing him once and my mom looked just like him. I think there was bad feelings with my parents and him.

2. Did your family take vacations? Yes, we would go camping, my dad was an avid hunter and fisherman, we would go to the Allegheny River with other families and have such a good time, I would sleep in the brand new Chevy station wagon on air mattresses ( remember now this was in the 50's ) I think my parents slept in a tent or I slept with my mom and my dad and brother Mike slept in the tent:) You see my parents had what you might say two sets of kids...Dave and Judy were born before WWII and Mike and I were born after so there was four years where my dad was gone. My older brother and sister were either married or had jobs where they couldn't go with us. We went every summer and would stay for weeks!

3. Do you remember any special stories your grandparents told you? Did you sit on a lap when you heard these stories or did you hear them when you and your grandparent would walk hand-in-hand, taking a stroll? Do you tell any of these same stories to your children? Sadly no!

4. Did your grandparents live nearby? My dad's mom lived near but she didn't speak

English only Russian, I remember my dad trying to talk to her, trying to remember the words in Russian, he could understand her but he had gotten away from speaking it. She wasn't a grandmotherly type or maybe she wasn't allowed to be...it was rumored that she liked to tip the vodka bottle to much:) My dad was one of seven and poor, his dad died when he was 16, dad only got to go to the 8th grade then had to go to work in the mill here (where my husband lost his job) but back then it was booming. My dad was very smart and I think it bothered him that he couldn't have graduated and went on to be something more. So I don't think there was good feelings between his mother and him...it was the 50's and you just didn't talk about things like you do now.

Back then in Pennsylvania during the 30's, 40's and 50's you were separated, so to speak, by your heritage...dad was Russian...mom was English and back then you just didn't do that, so I think there was bad feelings on both sides about them being together...how sad and how stupid!!! But that's the way it was back then, I do know one thing they loved me very much, maybe they tried to make up for us not having any grandparents, I really don't know, I do know

...Christmas's was so much fun, dad loved Christmas and always shopped with mom, oh, how he loved to shop, I've never found a man like that.LOL I think he loved it because he had been so poor and didn't want us ever to feel that way.

Well, that's it, I could write so much more but we would be here all day... and I think this is why I really try to be the best Grammy in the world because I missed all of that and I want them to feel that special kind of love that can only come from grandparents:)

~Mom Would Be Proud~

I found this cute idea from Cherry Hill Cottage , you will have to look thur her posts to find it, I tried and couldn't, she had gingham ribbon around it and hung on a door. Mine is tied with homespun and it didn't look to good on my door so I looped the rusty wire over the opposite side of my light post, my hanging basket of pink petunias is on the other side:) Just wrap wire around the mouth of the jar then homespun and you can really hang it anywhere you would like:)

Dark pink impatients hang on a hook and my garden sign I made a few years ago is weathering well!

I've even tried this year to plant flowers in a basket that I found at GW and painted black...so far so good with it. This is from someone that hated to garden...I used to think geraniums were ugly...mom loved them but I remember she always bought the pink ones:)

This is the window box under my keeping room window it's a little longer than the one under the kitchen window. I have a tin herb sign in there but now the flowers are really starting to grow and hide it:)

This one is under my kitchen window, I love looking at it first thing in the morning, I'll have my first cup of coffee standing at the sink just looking at how well they are doing. That is a tin garden rack in there supposed to hang it but I thought it looked cute in there instead.

I wish mom were here to see the flowers that I have planted, both my parents had green thumbs me? nada!!! But at least I try, I know she would be so proud of me, sometimes I feel her right there with me...that's how much she loved to garden. God gives us pleasures here on earth so I know that in heaven she is gardening amongst the most beautiful flowers... ones that we humans can't even imagine and I know she is so very happy!

~ Around the Top of My Cupboards ~

Good Friday morning!
It's gloomy here...I wish it would just go ahead and rain already:) No sun yet this morning but will be 84 and humid!
I went to my daughter's yesterday to turn the filter on for her pool and it was so hot that I decided to go for a swim...the water was so warm that I could just walk in, love it when it's like that, usually I inch my way in:0 A little bit later Nick and Alex came to swim than after a while Chris and his friend we had a good time until Chris went in the house and opened the refrigerator...came outside to tell me that the frig was broke!!! Oh, no!!! That was my late afternoon chore cleaning out a frig that we think had broke on Monday and here it was Thursday, you can just imagine the smell plus ants were there because of melted ice cream. Nick and I cleaned and thur out everything...thank goodness it was garbage night there, when I got home I could hardly eat because I still smelled that smell...yuck! BTW this frig is only a year old, she still doesn't know, I guess I'll tell her tomorrow they will be coming home then I just couldn't see calling and putting a damper on their vacation! At least they won't have to clean it out when they get home just get it fixed.

Here is the top of my kitchen cabinets...as you can see I'm keeping things simple up there...this is the cabinet right above the frig so we are going left to right:) I love the blue canning jars up there. Above the counter where I keep the coffee maker , bread box and cookie jar!

This is above the stove/microwave.

Corner where I have my lamp and kitchen utensils in crocks.

One cupboard over...

Then kitchen window and single cabinet:)

Stush got the ceilings done in the livingroom and diningroom and yesterday did the wall behind the TV and on over past the fireplace. So all that's left to do is about two more walls then painting the trim and doors and I really want to do the mantel too. Today Stush works so nothing will get done today, then we having a wedding to attend tomorrow:) This is taking longer then I ever thought it would but at least now I do see an end in sight.lol

Feeling a little sad too, to lose Ed, Farrah and Michael, Ed will always be part of my childhood and Farrah part of my 20's with Charlie's Angels...Michael's genius with his songs and dancing and the videos... a great entertainer, I always loved his music...so sad!

Have a great day and a big hello to my followers...I do plan on having a giveaway when all this work is finally over to just my followers and blogging friends

~Whatcha Working on Wednesday~

Hi everyone!
I'm late again for WWW but that does usually happen when I have a 1 o'clock hair appt. on a Wednesday. Plus our power was out right when I was using the computer this morning...seems a cement truck hit a utility pole so I had to put makeup on in a dark bathroom with only candle light to see by:)

This is what I worked on today, I bought this clock for 50% off at The Country Store last Friday and was thrilled, I had been on the look out for one for my mantel, so I was hoping to see one at GW cheap then prim it up but I hadn't had any luck in finding one there.Well, when I got it up to the counter though I noticed that the top and bottom of the clock were a dark green... so then I had to decide if I wanted to buy it and paint it, as you can see I decided to bring it home:0 This first pic is the finished clock after I painted and stained it...I used a colonial blue then the walnut stain. It turned out great and now I'm glad I did buy it and do a little redo on it.

This is the pic of it when I remembered to take a picture, as you can see I had already started to paint it! You can tell at the bottom that it is a dark green. Funny how they would use green instead of blue!

I'm also working on a patriotic sampler in the mornings and evenings...I have quite a few frames from GW I need to fill with some samplers:)

Well, that's about all I've been up to, as I said I went and got my hair trimmed and colored today then went to Michele's to water her flowers while they are in Ocean City, when I got home Stush had painted the ceilings in the livingroom and diningroom so I guess the end is in sight:)

Stop by Leslie's and see what everyone is up to for WWW!!!

~My Life~

Julie from Tattered Threads and Willing Hands is doing a wonderful thing on her blog: Here is what she has to say, the post title is....

It's My Life

have you ever read 'To Our Children's Children'? it's a great book designed to help you preserve your life story for generations to come. i have been wanting to do this and thought it would be fun to do it together. the idea is to one day make a book from our posts for our children.
I hope you'll join me in this endeavor,here's how we'll do it.
each tuesday you will have several questions to answer. each month there will be a 'theme' for the month. for example, we will start with your family and ancestry, then we'll move on into the house of your growing up, your childhood, holidays & celebrations, romance, parenthood, etc. sometimes the questions will be simple, sometimes they may not even apply and other times, you might find it hard to answer. there's never a right or wrong answer.
if you have blog, sign up with mr.linky, which will be at the end of each post. you'll then make your own post by copying and pasteing the questions ans answering them. if you don't have a blog, i encourage you to play along with a journal.
please link back to my blog in your posts and encourage your readers to play along.
the important thing is to never underestimate just how grateful your children and your children's children will be that you are doing this for them. it will be cherished for generations to come.

There is a Mr. Linky to go back to on her blog so if you decide to do this please stop by Julie's blog to sign up!

1. What was your mother's name? June Adair

What was your father's name? Michael

Your grandmother's names? Rondell and Mildred

Your grandfather's names? Michael and Daniel

2. Do you have brother's and sisters? Two brothers and one sister. What are their names? Michael, Dave and Judy How old were you when they were born? I was #4 so I was the baby . Do you remember the first time you saw them? NO

3. What about your aunts and uncles? I had such a slew of them...my dad was one of 7 and my mom one of 3. I guess I'll just name the ones that I saw on a regular basis in my childhood.

My mom's sister Irma

My mom's brother George and his wife Aunt Trease

My dad's brother John and his wife Aunt Monnie

My dad's brother Pete and his wife Aunt Larue

4.Did your family get together much casualy or did you have to travel to spend time together? On both sides we used to have family reunions which were fun when I was little. One park that we had one in had a pool so to me that was just so much fun because when I was little people just didn't have them in their yards...You swam in the river !!! LOL

5.Did they play an important part in your growing up? Sure...Christmas was so wonderful at my Uncle George's...he used to tie two trees together and they were always set up in the one corner...to me that tree was so big and full...always loved it!

There... that was fun and it didn't take a long time to do especially if you cut and paste, now I actually feel like I accomplished something for today:)

~I Want One!!! and Little GW Finds~

Isn't he adorable, I want one...I love Buster with all my heart but he's a little to big to pick up and cuddle:) This cute little guy is "Max" a shintzu ( I know that isn't spelled right but spellchecker isn't picking it up so I don't know how to spell it) he has the cutest face and such a personality! He belongs to a lady I went to school with and her kids got him for her for Mother's Day. He was down the docks yesterday and I had to get a pic of him:)

Do you ever go to GW or the TS and come out with just little prims, that's what has been happening to me lately. They were good buys though...this is the top of my frig and the little basket on the left I got for .39, when I got it home for some reason I turned it over and it had M. Ford 1996 on the bottom. So I got a handmade basket with blue on it for .39! Sorry the pic isn't great...sometimes I get it right and sometimes I don't:) See the little faux plant? I got three of them in a package that had never been opened for $3.00!

I put some mod podge on them and some cinnamon and cloves on the ceramic bottoms. This one is on the cupboard in the entryway!

This one is an Aloe plant that is sitting on my crock bench in the keeping room. The little jug I bought at the Country Store, I think it's cute!

Awww, Html don't you just love it!!! The spaces just never work out for me.

The sugar bowl I also found at GW for .49 it's some type of pottery and I'm sure it cost more then .49 the date on the back is "86".

Yesterday we went to the docks and took a pontoon ride with our friends, Danny is pictured here guiding the boat.

We cooked hamburgers on the grill there...a relaxing time and finally had some good weather, the river was muddy looking though from all the rain!

I've probably been driving you crazy with all the background changes I've had lately.lol I just couldn't find one that I was satisfied with, the 1st one wiggly things drove me nuts and then the 2nd one I didn't care for the writing on the middle column. I think this one is okay for a while and it seems to load fast...if not please let me know, okay?

Well, tonight I made chicken and onion enchiladas, they are in the oven right now so I'm off to make some spanish rice to go with it...I guess were having a Mexican night here.:)

~My Entryway and Adding to My Selling Blog~

Hi blogger friends...happy Saturday to you!

I tweaked some today, I didn't know if I should hang things in the entryway or not because now everything in the living room and dining room is pushed to the middle of the rooms plus everything is off the walls and Stush will be filling holes and sanding soon, but I just can't live this way without anything on the walls so I'll just have to clean and wipe off after everything is finally done!

Here is what I put up on the one wall that is left of the front door, the peg rack used to be above my drysink in the dining room now it's in the entryway and it's amazing how things look new in a different room:) The stocking strecher and tin lantern used to be in the keeping room and so was George but I moved him in here to go with the patriotic mirror. I don't know if it will stay this way but for now it's okay!

Now this is underneath the peg rack, I used to have a bench here and by taking it out and putting a chair instead it gave alot more room. I didn't think of it until I saw that Lisa had a chair in her entryway and I just loved the look so I thought I'd take a try at it. I did finally put some dark walnut stain on my stacking boxes and it made them alot more primmer:)

This is to the right of the door, sorry it's blurred, and on the closet doors I compromised with Stush, the top part are glass with some sort of frosted stencil look to them and I wanted to paint over them but he said he had paid alot of money for them so I relented:) Actually the doors look so good painted that it doesn't look to bad anymore!

Now in this picture you will have to excuse the mess on both the right and the left.lol
The sewing machine is in the middle of the keeping room floor and everything in the diningroom and living room is pushed from the walls all wine glasses and everything that would break is out of the cabinet. Anyway I moved the cabinet that you see there from above the table that I have my wooden bowls on to the entryway!

I put the towel rack in it's place and added some blue homespun...on the towel rack I had painted it black and then painted over it with the cranberry then the walnut stain and love how it turned out!

Now to my selling blog...I'm adding the next two things here:

These are the napkin rings in a blue enamel ware, there are six of them... price is 9.00 which includes shipping. They are in great condition and I've seen them sell for $2.50 a piece. Napkin not included . Sold thank you Esther

A better picture of them!

This stenciled canvas picture is 16"x 12"

I bought it from ebay and just never could find a place for it!!!
Beige background with black letters and designs of crows and willow tree.

Here is the back of it, it's very nicely done.

Price is $8.00 which includes shipping! If you wish to purchase please remember to email me...rondell1951@hotmail.com

Well, I started this post at about 4:30 PM and here now it is 8:45 PM...I hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday evening!