Our Weekend

I was so happy to have my husband home this weekend. He was gone with his job all week and I have missed him so much!
He worked around the house and hung many pictures for me. He also painted the front door:

I love a black front door! I hung the wreath that I made a long time ago onto it. So Spring/Summery looking :)
Next up my husband hung hanging planters from the front porch, along with flower boxes..I picked out fern type plants at the store and impatients. I am not very good with plants..but I am hoping these are hardy enough to live for me:

He put up a bracket for a beautiful new American Flag, and I also put out two garden flags..one with a little bluebird on it, and the other a United States Naval emblem flag in honor of our Son while he is in bootcamp. I love the look of the front of our house! Here is how it looks now!! :

 We have an awesome screened porch out back. I just love the view! I haven't seen any deer roaming back there yet..but hopefully one day I will. I have to stop sleeping in so much, then maybe I will see one :)

I am glad the back porch is screened in...because this is the type of bugs we have here in North Carolina, I do not, I repeat, I DO NOT want to be the recipient of an attack from one of these beetles, and I don't want to find one crawling up my leg, thank you very much!! hee hee

The Royal family Rabbit, Peter has been quite happily romping around the screen room since we have moved in. I must say, he is quite spoiled! He is litter trained and a very smart fella. We leave him loose in the screen room all day long now and I visit him with his favorite treats of almonds, spinach leaves and celery:

I put a hummingbird feeder out front and thought I would never get any hummingbirds. I bought a more expensive feeder and it wound up leaking..and never saw one hummingbird as of last week. Then, I went to Walmart and bought my favorite 5 dollar hummingbird feeder and made up my own solution of food, and within two days a hummer arrived!!! I was so excited! The same little birdie visits me every day all day long now. I have been trying to snap a picture of it while sitting on the front porch..it is a little bit afraid of me however..but I managed to get this picture today...if you look to the left of the picture you can see the hummingbird peeking around the feeder, so sweet! :)

I noticed the hummingbird up in the tree on a branch..I don't have the best camera, but tried to take a picture of it sitting up there..when I snapped the picture, this is what I got..it was on it's way back to the feeder!

Do you see that tiny little spec near the little branch? lol
That's our little hummer!
I have been working on teaching myself to crochet Japanese flowers. Still having a bit of trouble, but getting better at it! Here is what I have come up with so far. I really like making these, they are fun!

I haven't done too much in the way of cross stitching in a while...I need to get back to that soon. I want to work on my chart "Roots and Wings" again. I need to pull that one out :)
I hope to be getting together with a friend this week to deliver meals to elderly people with the Christian Mission. I so enjoy helping others. :)

I wish you all a beautiful Blessed week ahead.
Louise

HOME!

We are finally HOME! :)
I cannot believe it, but our move to North Carolina is finally over. The past couple of months have been so hectic and so full of emotions. We sold our house, saw our son off to the military, bought a new house, packed up and moved to another state, all within a couple of months!
I know that this was all in God's plan, for it seems that it all worked out in perfect timing.."HIS" timing.

I must say, it was very hard to pack up the truck without our son. My  husband and I are getting older now and we can't do as much as we used to do.
It was very difficult! We did it though...a friend helped us in Florida move the furniture onto the truck..here is the back of the truck in front of our Florida home jam packed!!!

We used a 26 foot truck for this final load for our move (we had previously taken a 26 foot truck up to storage in the Carolina's before selling the house)...can you say too much "stuff"!!!

When we arrived in North Carolina, I contacted one of my son's friends who was more than happy to help us unload the big heavy furniture, I prayed so hard that somehow we would have help, God answers prayers! We were two days shy of closing on our new home...we stayed with wonderful friends who have a house on the Lake..it was WONDERFUL!!
We spent time on the lake in their boat...

Their lake house is gorgeous!

After our boat trip, we came back and had a lovely dinner made by my sweet friend...she eats all the healthy things I do. For the guys there was burgers, for us nice healthy salads with turkey burgers and avocados!

It's amazing through all of this I have even lost a couple of more pounds. I continue to eat healthy and like wearing a smaller size too! :) I hope I can continue to live my life this way for my health and long term benefits.
It was fun to eat dinner on the deck and watch the baby geese with their Mama's :)

Since my son has left for the military, I have been seeing bluebirds here and there..makes me think of him so much...

We finally closed on our new home and transferred our pet birds and Peter Rabbit to the new house. I am sure they were probably wondering what was going on! Our daughter was so happy to start setting up her new bedroom...we have a very long way to go though. There are boxes everywhere!!
We are fortunate that there are plenty of bedrooms in this house, so when our son comes to stay, he will always have his own room...
I am very excited...there is a bonus room that will be my very own sewing room!!!
Can you hear me scream with excitement?!!
YES!! A sewing room and a place just for ME!!
It will need cabinets of some sort, but for now, I am happy setting up on the floor! lol
Look at the wonderful window too..lots of light comes in during the daytime.
This will be my creative space! YIPPEE!!
A place to call my OWN!

It is difficult to hide all my craft and cross stitching stash from the hubby when we move....it all comes out from hiding then...he even had to carry it up the steps!!
Yes, that is all my "stuff". lol
He just shakes his head.....
Our backyard is quite large and beautiful..it reminds me of a park:

I ventured around and look what I found!
Honeysuckle...it smells wonderful!!

And then...I found this!.....
Wild berries too!

We have a "block" window above our garden bathtub in the master bathroom...it does not exactly give you full privacy..so for now I purchased a spring rod to put inside the window frame and I also purchased pretty "sheer" curtains with flowers on them....I am hoping this helps....

I probably need to hem the curtains ..but for now I just "scrunched" them up on the bottom (being lazy)! lol
I love the nook for the table in the kitchen! I used my Waverly curtains I purchased many years ago at Target for the windows...

We put new hardware and locks on our front door...I really like the front door, it's so pretty!

Our neighbors dog comes to visit me..he is the cutest thing ever!!

I finally have the front porch I have always dreamed of having..can you imagine all the crocheting and cross stitching that will be happening on this porch?! Endless hours...yes, endless my friends. :)

I am so happy, but yet, my heart still hurts. I wish I could hear from my son. I know he is safe in boot camp, but I miss him so much. I wish I could hear his voice and tell me that he is doing fine. A Mother will always worry about her children. We are so proud of him. I wish he could be here to share in the joy of our new family home, but I know that will come in time. He does have his own room here too, his own place in this house, as he will always have. I miss him terribly.

 Thank you for letting me share a bit of my life with you,

New Home, New Baby!

So much excitement has happened in our lives in the past couple of months. I have been one busy lady, with one very busy life! This will explain why I have not posted much as of late.
We have decided to relocate back home to the sunny state of Florida. We had a family meeting and decided it was the right choice for us. We missed Florida so much. We have so many family ties in Florida, so many friends here, and so many fond memories. Our children were raised in Florida, and the memories are so dear to our heart. We just couldn't stand to be away one more day. We have family here, and more of our family has also just relocated to Florida to be near us.
We are very excited! We found a beautiful home and are busy settling in. It is so exciting unpacking and decorating our new home.
The generosity upon our arrival back to Florida was overwhelming! Friends had meals for us, took care of our animals, and even unloaded two full trucks with us.
We continue to receive offers of help from everyone, even new neighbors.
We are very thankful for all of the goodness everyone has shown us, and we can see the work of our Lord in everyone surrounding us here in Florida.
We know for sure we made the right decision the minute we crossed that line into Florida!

There are so many craft stores in my town. This makes living here that much better!
A new quilt shop is opening up soon. I cannot wait! I will be visiting that shop weekly I am sure. I have already visited Michaels craft store and a Hobby Lobby, right down the block from our new home! I also visited the local stitching shop.
Yes, living here is pretty much heaven on earth.
I am one lucky woman! :)

As they say, New home, New baby , right? Well, yes, in a way, sort of!
We did acquire a new baby today! But not the human type...the feathered type. :)
We know Andy has been lonely since Sunny had passed on, so we decided to purchase another bird.
I took our daughter to the pet shop today and she picked out the prettiest parakeet. Blue and white, and oh so sweet! She decided to name her "Misty".
Andy and Misty get along really well, and they are very happy together.
:)

We are all very glad things worked out so well for us, and know that it was all in God's plan for us to come back home to Florida.
We are truly Blessed, and so very HAPPY!! :)


RaggedyStitches,
Louise