with brush in hand: May 2012

Tuesday, May 29, 2012

Hot, Hot, Hot

Good Morning...it's gonna be a hot one here today. I have been putting off flipping the switch on the ac. We have a whole house fan, which pulls the air through the opened windows and pushes the hot air out of the attic and that has kept the house comfortable. When I close up the house for air conditioning, it feels like winter again...all closed in. Our house guest, my brother's dog Callie, has found her cool spot...on the Mickey Mouse rug in the grandkids room...air coming through the windows and a ceiling fan above her.
Keep Cool Folks!

Friday, May 25, 2012

Mom Mom x Two

Today was the first time I watched both Mariah and Dylan. My daughter had to return to work last week and although I had my day each week with Darling D while she was off, I never had both children together. I was a bit apprehensive about this...it's been many years since I've been responsible for an infant and an almost 3 year old. But Lou drove out with me to pick up the kidlets...that also means 2 carseats, enough clothes for a week, just in case, and a cooler full of bottles for the baby girl.

My sweet grand girlie is growing so fast. Didn't get any photos of her smiling. Every time I pulled out the camera she became fixated on that, but she really thinks her Mom Mom is funny. She only cries when she is hungry. A real sweetie.

It was warm and sticky and the D boy got to play in the water. He had a great time.
I found this ring on Amazon for $ 11.00. It's about 4 feet around, you hook the hose to it and have a ring of water shooting up. Best money ever spent.

I tried to put up a video I took of him dancing in the ring but couldn't get it to load.

OK folks, I must tell you that I started this post last night after we took the children home. I loaded the photos, started writing the post and nodded off about 20 words into it.

Yes, I must admit, I'm old!

Wednesday, May 23, 2012

M-I-C-K-E-Y

Mickey Chair

I saw this online and thought...I want one for me. However it is a child's chair and I want one for me...Hoping Lou can come up with something close 'cuz I want one for me.
Thinking maybe 2 of them, just in black for the yard.
Yes, I want two of these.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Respect Old People...

I saw this on Pinterest and thought,"Yep, that's me!"

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Sunday, Sunday

Another beautiful day...I was up early as I awakened to the Lucy dog staring into my face this morning. I thought she had to go out...but as I pulled myself out of bed, she went flying to the kitchen and stood by her food bowl looking at it and then looking at me.
"Well Mom, where is it?" So I put the coffee on while she ate, poured myself a cup, and when she was finished eating, we went outside. I thought I'd sit on the porch while she did her morning round of the yard. She follows the same route every morning, checkin' out who may have passed through overnight.

However, as we went out the door to the porch we were attacked by several house wrens.

Lucy quickly took care of business and was ready to go back inside. I searched but didn't see any evidence of a nest. House wrens are nasty little stinkers, however their song is lovely.

House Wren Photo

Lucy decided to crawl back into bed and quickly fell back asleep.

I, however, decided to brave the "attack of the wrens" and sit on the porch, sippin' my coffee. Although the hydrangeas aren't quite open yet, there are several blooms are starting to show their colors...

I still have more annuals to get planted and should get that finished today.
Hoping you all have a beautiful Sunday...

Monday, May 14, 2012

A Mother's Day

Hoping all you Moms and Grandmoms had a beautiful Mother's Day.
My girls and their guys took Lou and me to Brookside Gardens in Wheaton Maryland
for a day of family, butterflies, flowers and picnicking.

Dylan loved the butterfly garden...

It was amazing, the butterflies were flying all around us, some even landing on us. We needed to shake our clothing before leaving, to be sure there were no escapees.

Meagan and Erik saw many things
they'd like to do in their yard.

The baby wasn't quite as excited as her big brother
...she slept through visiting the butterflies.

We all strolled through parts of the garden on this lovely May day.

The climbing roses were gorgeous....just love this beautiful shade of pink.

Spent time with the grandbabies...

Sweet Mariah J thought Mom Mom was so funny...

Had a picnic lunch of chicken salad and turkey sandwiches with fruit salad,
pasta salad and hibiscus tea.

The girls had invited my Mom to spend the day with us but she felt it would be too much walking. She opted to go with my brother and his wife and my sister and her boyfriend to have the first steamed crabs of the season. Thinking on our Dylan day this week, we'll take Mom and Dylan out to lunch.

When Lou and I returned home I was able to get several flats of pink and white impatiens planted that had been sitting on the porch for a week.

Thank you family for a wonderful day.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Not Created Equal

I used sponge brushes in my sign painting business almost everyday and have discovered not all sponge brushes are created equal. Years...like 20+ years ago, this type of paint brush was made with the wooden handle going into the sponge, attached to a piece of hard plastic inside the sponge.

Several years ago the brushes began to be made with the wood handle attached to a piece of plastic on the outside of the sponge, like the one in the picture above. After a few sweeps of the brush while holding the handle, the flat sheet of plastic inside the sponge breaks and one ends up with a floppy, unusable mess. Makes me think someone designed these new brushes so that they wouldn't last as long as the original, and people would need to purchase more and more.

After hearing me complaining and whining and throwing broken brushes across the room, my dear husband searched and found the "old" kind for me, like this one. . They are stronger and last longer and can be found at
Budeke's Paints & Decorating

Doesn't take much to make me happy...

I also found a new brand of glitter paint at Joann's Fabric and Paint last week.
The red works so well on ruby slippers!

Again...happy