watercolor flowers

A couple of small pictures I painted from my flowers

They measure 4 X 4

Tigerlily

Pansy

House Pics 06-09-2010

Inside the house it looked like the builder had been working on heat ducts

A very important necessity, but not a good picture.

More Brick Up

One Side Done

Here is a Simple Pleasure:

Sitting under the Gazebo

with a Coffee Toffee Frosty

and the Newest Country Living

A very enjoyable hour

House Pics 06-08-2010

When we went to the house tonight

we were really surprised to see that the

drywall had been delivered.

It will be odd to not be able to see through the house pretty soon.

The brick is making its way up.

I love it!

Pictures around the house

This pot was so pretty I wanted to share it.  I love the blue lobelia.

And this one too.

Here is the Jim Shore Saint Francis that I found on vacation.

Here are the magnificent tiger lilys.

This guy is amazing to me.

How can they get their nest so smooth?

House Pics 6-7-10

The brick is started to get put on.

It has probably been a month and a half since I picked it out

so I had forgotten what it looked like.

I am pleasantly surprise with it.

It looks pretty around that window.

The house number brick.

The fireplace vent on the back.

and of course the fireplace .

Tom and I brought our chairs and were sitting in the sunroom.

What a wonderful breeze we had.

The partys over

This weekend we had Sam's graduation party.

We had a really nice turn out with many friends coming for food, drink and giving congratulations. 

I only got a couple of pictures because it was a busy time.

Here is Sam the graduate beside his cake.

It was a sour cream fudge cake with buttercream frosting.

It was so thick and fudgy and wonderful.

At the end I will include the recipe. 

Here is a close-up of the cake.

As you can tell the school colors are purple and gold.

I found some gold and purple pansies to top it off.

It turned out really pretty.

This was the menu:

Chicken-(ordered from a nearby restaurant)

Taco Bar

Baked Potato Bar

with all the fixins.

Fruit Salad

Oriental Chicken Salad (recipe to follow)

Taco Chips

Potato Chips

Pretzels

Cake

Drinks (pop, beer, water,Smirnoff Ice and Triple Black)

Everybody seemed to go away full and that's good.

Recipes:

Sour Cream Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour

2 cups sugar

1 cup water

3/4 cup sour cream

1/4 cup shortening

1 1/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking powder

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

4 oz melted unsweetened chocolate

Heat oven to 350 degrees

grease and flour two round pans

Beat all ingredients in a bowl on low speed scraping bowl often for 30 seconds.  Beat on high speed scraping bowl occasionally 3 minutes.

Pour into pans.

Bake layers 30 to 35 minutes

The tops of the cakes should spring back when slightly touched.

Cool layers 10 minutes then remove from pans.

Buttercream Frosting

1/2 cup shortening

4 cups powdered sugar

5 T water

1/2 tsp salt

1 t vanilla

1/2 t almond flavoring

1/4 t butter flavoring

Mix all together and spread on cooled cake.

Oriental Chicken Salad

1 bonless chicken breast cooked and cut up

2 T toasted sesame seeds

3 T toasted slivered almonds

1/2 head of cabbage, thinly sliced

1 pkg. Ramen noodles, crumbled

Dressing:

2 T sugar

1/4 t pepper

1/2 c canola oil

3 T white vinegar

1 pkg Ramen Noodle seasoning

Mix ingredients well and pour over salad and toss.

Happy Memorial Day

This picture was taken this morning with a nice breeze.

We love our American Flag and our Detroit Tigers.

My Father Herbert (now deceased) was in WWII

and

My Father in Law Ed was in the Korean War

and Tom my Husband

is a retired Indiana State Trooper.

We Love America.

We thank all the Troops and Law Enforcement Officers

who keep our country safe.

House Pics 05-31-2010

These pictures are over a course of approx. 5 days.

The well did get dug successfully.

Lots of good muck and mud around it, which is a good sign.

We saw this saying on another well drillers truck

"Abundant Water for Abundant Living"

that's what we have here.

The well is placed beside the garage end.

On the roof above the outdoor room

there is a hole cut.

That is for the chimney for the fireplace,

it is going to have brick on it. 

This is a great feature:

All the downspouts will be tied into these pipes

so that there will be no rainwater around the house.

It gets directed out to the pond.

The cubby in the walk in shower for shampoo and such.

The seat in the walk in shower.  It will be tiled over.

Setting the jet tub.

It will have tile installed on the deck.

The frame of the fireplace.

All the showers have been set.

And we now have garage doors!

The house is all locked up now.

Next week will bring plumbing, siding and possibly brick.

Around the house

Here are some more blooming flowers I have in our yard.

I just have to share them with you.

The color of this deep red-orange lily is so vibrant.

These iris are so sweet.

The inside look at my poppies.

Allium.  I was too late for the whole group.  This side of the deck is so

pretty when the iris, allium and poppies are blooming together.

A wonderful color combination.

We had dug up some by accident this weekend

and it all smelled like green onions

since they are in the same family.

This guy makes me smile. 

My sister had gotten this Jim Shore bird house for me.

I love the sticks hanging out of his mouth.

I believe it is a wren that is doing all this work

A teeny bird with a big song is what I have seen around it.

The orange tiger lilys are about ready to bloom.

It is just ablaze with color.

I love the color of these coral bells.

They are a nice deep red.

Potting the heck out of it

Bought potting flowers and worked all afternoon on Saturday to get them all planted.

We also use some to put in both our parents and relatives urns at the cemetery for memorial day. 

There are two of these, one on each side of the front door.

These go on the back deck.

These along with purple ones will go on Sam's graduation party cake.

The school colors are purple and gold.

I have mentioned before that I love poppies.

I found a pot of these and they are called champagne poppies.

I think they are going to be quite delightful.

Here they are with the whole grouping beside our back deck.

These are in the front.

I keep water in that blue bowl with rocks so that the butterflys will stop by and take a drink.

The cats love it too.

I love that coffee cup!

Getting ready for the party

All of us have been working on the house to make it party acceptable.

We started with this.

Then made it look like this.

And finally adding the mulch.

Had quite a mess with the weeds here.

And after some hot hours this is the look we were after.