Sweet MemoriesTake Me Away

Via

It's been one of those weeks. I need an escape. Something like a long warm bath in a clawfoot tub. The one above would be nice and pretty. But today I'm thinking along the lines of my grandmother Beatrice's tub. 
Maybe more like this.

Via

When visiting grandmother's county cottage, this little city girl would run through the yard, pick flowers, play in the dirt and dance on the clapboard porch until I was exhausted. Then my sweet grandmother would "draw up" my bathwater in her big clawfoot tub.

Via

It felt ginormous. I could barely see over the top of the tub. 

Via

When bath time was done, she would fix a special treat of neopolitan ice cream. It came in a box. Do you remember those?

Via

Then we would climb in bed. She'd tell a story and the last sound I remembered was the hum of the box fan which sat in the window. 

 I could really use one of those days. 

Via

Simple times.

Adding Color Without Breaking a Sweat

Yes. I went all out.
To Lowe's that is. 
After the last post I debated to show you my planters but many of you asked so here they are.
Ready made. Now I just have to keep them alive. (Next project is to add wreath to door.)

I added these little flowers around the bird bath. Skimpy but we are trying to sell the house so I'm keeping it simple. Hoping they take off to add a wee bit of color. My lilies will soon be the blooming star in the front flowerbeds. Fresh pops of yellow are on the horizon.

This is my back porch which I've shown before. Added a little color back here too. 

We had to cut back the crepe myrtle. The other tree needs cutting back too but I couldn't bear to have two naked trees. I sure hope the crepe comes back fast!

The people who were looking at our house are dragging their feet so we now have a sign in the yard and are advertising this week. We'll have an open house this weekend. Keeping fingers crossed!

On the Steps and B List

Flowers and greenery say welcome...

Blue Pueblo

If you follow me on Pinterest, you know I love porches and steps on a house. 

BHG

Today I'm pulling up photos of planters to get ideas for my porch. My walkway is narrow so the planters will have to be small. But these give me great inspiration.

Deborah Silver

Deborah Silver

gardeningwithconfidence.com

Jodie Foster's Home

While researching, I stumbled upon this breathtaking porch and home. It belongs to fellow blogger Rhonda of A Blissful Spirit.  Of course, I'm adding her to my B list!

Her backyard is just as pretty.  Be sure to look at the transformations. I would have never guessed this porch looked any other way.

Postcards from B

It's a card party! Joining the party over at A Haven for Vee .  
Vee asked us to choose 4 photos from our blogs that we'd make into cards. 

I've fancied these up in Picmonkey to make them postcard worthy.  My theme is "Vintage."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Have a happy day!

A Time to Plant

Via

Tis the season to plant!

Via

 ^"Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously." II Corinthians 9:6 NIV

Via

On Friday, the Doc walked in the room as I was notifying the winner of the E.W. McCall giveaway.  I explained to him how it was my small way to help Lois, the sweet lady who owns E.W.  

No sooner than I hit send, an email appeared from Melanie at My Sweet Savannah saying I won her giveaway!  It was more than double the amount of my giveaway. That had to be the quickest returned blessing I've ever received! The timing was amazing. Glad Doc was there to witness what I call a "God moment."
We will order his graduation party invitations from this wonderful company, Minted. Woo hoo! They have beautiful stationery. 

Minted

 
I planted some petunias in my window boxes this weekend. I want to add more plants for a variety and lush look like the ones above. This is a start. 

Can't wait for my lilies to start blooming!

I also refilled my bird feeder.  I kept noticing how fast the seeds were disappearing. We gathered around the window thinking we'd see a flock of birds any moment.
Surprise! Look who is having a field day with the bird seed!

Guess it's his time of reaping.

"Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?" Matthew 6:26 NIV

A Dinner and A Winner

Via

What's for dinner at my house? 
For a veggie, it's one of my favorite dishes. Sauteed squash. I modified the recipe found on Food.com and made up this:

Sauteed Squash

3 large size fresh squash sliced in 1/2" thickness
1/2 can French's Fried Onions
2 tablespoons light olive oil
salt and pepper

Heat oil in frying pan. Add squash. As squash starts to get soft, add fried onions. Continue to saute with lid on top until desired softness. Salt and pepper. You can add any fresh vegetable such as zucchini, tomatoes and/or my personal favorite, mushrooms.  

We'll add another side of fresh whipped mashed potatoes. For the meat it'll be another one of my concoctions, adapted from Paula Deen's meatloaf recipe, our family's favorite. It's so good, I thought why not take some of the same ingredients and use them for another dish so...

Via

Hamburger Steaks With Gravy

1 pound ground beef

1 package Lipton Onion Soup Mix

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup quick-cooking oats

Topping/Gravy-

1 can cream of mushroom soup

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup sour cream

Preheat oven to 375.  Mix all ingredients well, Form into individual patties. Place in baking pan. 

Mix all ingredients for gravy. Pour over patties.

Bake for 1 hour. 

And no meal is complete without a little sugar. The Doc has requested cream cheese pound cake. He likes it plain but I like to top it with fruit and whipped cream. It's also good topped with any fruit salad recipe.

Via

 From who else but the butter queen Paula Deen. (Click on the link under the photo for recipe.)

 And now for the winner of the E.W. McCall giveaway.

Congratulations to #17, Sally-

 "Love the things in the shop. I've liked EW McCall on Facebook. 

Thanks for the opportunity to win :)"

Thanks to all who entered!  No blogging for me today or the weekend as we'll be spring cleaning outside. I'm about to go plant before the sun gets too hot. It was 86 degrees yesterday! What will the temps be in July?

Glimpses of Spring

Pulling out some old photos which remind me of Spring.
This was my sunroom in The Borrowed House.

Thanks to Pat, for recommending Picmonkey, and to Cindy for recommending Ipiccy. Both are easy and fun editing programs to play around in.


Ok, I still like large photos though.

Both of these editing programs seem a little more user friendly than Picasa, at least to me.

Not sure if I'll continue to watermark. This was just a play session. As my friend Dayle said, watermarking really doesn't prevent piracy. But it is a nice credit especially if you use Pinterest.

My city of romance, Savannah. 

I would love to sit and listen to harp music while enjoying the cool breezes of spring!  

Waiting on these to bloom in my backyard.
 
It's time for the azaleas to start blooming too. Imagine my horror when I walked outside a few days ago and saw the neighbor had chopped down the entire row of azalea bushes between our yards. He said he was tired of trimming them. boo hoo!

Closing the chapter on the tech stuff. Thanks for letting me rant the last couple of posts. Time to move on because this blog is devoted to pretty!

Still time to sign up for the giveaway- here!

Picture Perfect

Via

Isn't it nice that we no longer live in the day where everything has to be picture perfect? Growing up,  I attended many Home Interior parties with my mom. They would make a "grouping," usually consisting of a picture, 2 sconces and a shelf.  We probably would have thought something like this was a mess.

Via

It's nice to have the pressure off and just hang what you like. By the way, if anyone has tips on how to photograph a picture under glass, please share. This room has open sunlight in the day and a light fixture at night. Both reflect.

I found this great fox hunt picture, navy blue mat and all at a local antique market. Marked down to $16. Sold!

This is all I will do for now. We have someone interested in our house and we haven't even put a sign up yet! Hoping and praying!

Via

More on the photo storage and resizing issues - Two more suggestions made: join Google+ to acquire more free storage or embed your photos from a host site like Flickr. 

Via

I thought it would make things easier by downloading Picasa. However, it proceeded to download every single photo and file off my computer. Felt very invasive! I'm sure there was an opt out button somewhere in the original process that I missed. Seems crazy that you'd have to go into the tools menu to opt out for each of your files. I can't be worrying about that. I'll go back to Picnik for now or just skip this whole ordeal of resizing!

Via

Reminder- E.W. McCall Giveaway! Enter now if you haven't already. Winner will be announced on Friday. 
Posting my thrifty find of the foxhunt picture to Coastal Charm!