More Pictures Than Words

It was 60+ degrees yesterday (and today).  In February.  In Western Pa.  I soaked it all in as best I could, knowing it could be a while before spring actually rears it's warm, sunny head.

I walked around my yard and inspected it for the first time since fall.


The cherry & peach trees are starting to get their leaf buds.

The Stump Nick's been hacking away at since we cut it down 2 years ago and the tree I plan on cutting down and making a table out of the large stump this year.  I'm so glad we finally got our own chain saw.  

 

The wood pile and the garden.  Our compost bin that needs to have it's sides closed off a little better and our new house number.  The kayaks just waiting to be used.  

Yesterday morning, I took Sadie for a long walk and headed down to the Christian Center, where I totally made out and everything was free!

The Plates needed to be washed.  They were yellowed from sitting in the greasy air of someone's kitchen.  There are 12 cups, 8 saucers and 8 bread plates.  All matching.  All made in England.  What better way to serve tea in my new blue and white parlor, than on my new blue & white china?  Now all I need to do is track down an affordable silver tea service.  I find them on craigslist pretty often, but they're either far or expensive.  

Our island was once a sink cabinet and has had a "faux drawer" since we bought it, and since we bought it, I have been asking Nick to turn that into a MUCH needed drawer.  I have too many kitchen gizmos for my own good.  The goal is to use an in-drawer butcher block to store most of mu knives, while we use a side-mounted one for the most used ones.  That way there'll be no big ugly block in the middle of the island.  It fits all but half of my steak knives.  

The basket chair is far from perfect, but it's cute and there's a serious shortage of comfy chairs in this house.  The last time we had a house guest, we had to put a dining room chair in the room so she had somewhere to sit besides the bed.  Eventually, I can see it moving into our basement family room (a project we haven't even started) but in the mean time it can hang in the guest room.  I tossed all of the spray paint cans I had on the guest room bed to pick a color for the chair.  I went with the clay red.  It's far from the perfect color but it can always be changed and the theme of thee day was free.  

Oh, and in anticipation of restocking our bookshelves, I've been sorting through & dewey cataloging our non-fiction collection.  It's taking over the other guest room.  I assure you that only a portion of the books are pictured.  

Oh, and while I was dealing with my finds yesterday, Sadie somehow got loose and was gone for almost 2 hours.  I had the car out and half of the neighborhood looking for her.  When we found her, she was sopping wet and looking very pleased with herself.  My best guess is that she somehow wound herself down to the creek for a swim.  It was barely 60 degrees.  If she keeps up this level of heat intolerance, it's gonna be a long summer.  Thats what I get for having a dog with webbed paws.  

Bad Dog!

(I told you she was looking pleased with herself!)