Have you ever seen such beautiful children??? My gosh...I don't know how I ended up with such gorgeous grands!

Yesterday my Kindle suddenly stopped connecting to the internet. I was back and forth between ATT (internet service provider) and Kindle. They were both very good and we finally resolved the issue today (mostly due to my sheer determination). Kindle even shipped me a new device, but I will return it to them unopened tomorrow...and I am so happy that MY OWN Kindle is fine and can stay in my family of favorites! You know who else I love in recent months??? I LOVE Vera Bradley! Vera actually sent me a birthday card that made me cry yesterday! Well, I think I was already a little fragile with finding out I have a torn meniscus on my knee, and having the Kindle issue.....but anyway, Vera's birthday card to me featured two of the cutest owls on front and outlined in the fabric pattern of the items I had recently bought from her (a new wallet and e-book reader cover). Inside was more of "my VB pattern", birthday greetings, and a 20 dollar off coupon on my next purchase!!! It was all too much for me, as I had an approximate 34 dollar item I wanted to buy, and now it will only cost me 14 dollars! This makes a non-working girl very happy!!! Seriously though, just the fact that they pay attention to what patterns you buy, your birthdate, and are so generous...I seriously want to buy one of everything she has!!! I do not work for Kindle, ATT or Vera Bradley (but if Vera Bradley wants to hire me as a sales woman, I will accept the position)!!! :) It seems all is well in my world right now. I think I have decided I will cancel my ortho appointment and try to heal naturally. I am NOT IN THE MOOD for surgery! At least I know what the problem is...I can go from there. At a minimum I have ruled out what it is NOT, which relieves my mind. I hope everyone has a devine upcoming week!

Doozey Dog and Emily Princesses

A fun day with grands!

School was out yesterday, so we drove an hour south and visited a mall, and then spent hours at the coolest park, and hands on childrens science museum. We love it there. It is called Sugar Sand Park in Boca Raton, Florida. The picture of the arch we built shows Donovan, my daughter, and Emily underneath. Random pics due to my posting on my phone! Have a lovely Friday and weekend coming up everbody! Xoxo- Julie

A little cardinal, a little vase, a little princess, and a few little zinnias!

Everything is self explanatory, but the little Holly Hobbie vase I found at Goodwill says, " Thoughtfulness starts in a warm loving heart"! It is the perfect size for my cut mini roses.....i could not leave it there!!!  $1.00 in perfect condition!

Post done on my cell phone so pictures are random!

Busy weekend...

Well, this weekend was a blur! My sister and nephew were in town for a quick 4 days. As we were leaving the restroom we came upon this large oval mirror, and I couldn't resist taking our picture! I am the shorter, fat one on left, and my sister is 1 inch short of 6 ft. tall, so in some ways I can still look like a shrimp! LOL.

Emily had her 4th birthday party and she was, of course a doll. Here she was dressed and ready to go to her party.

Her party theme was "My Little Pony", and the cake was impressive! We used two different cakes from Walmart, topped with 6 small ponies, and a large one with wings that light up, and the pony talks! I added 4 sparkler candles around edge, and I'm telling you it was amazing when lit up in a semi dark venue!

And last I will leave you with another miniature rose bouquet. Never mind the dirty windowsill, screen and windows!!! I am enjoying being able to go out and cut these adorably cute little roses and slipping into a tiny vase! Soon you will see more colors as I want to add a white and orange one!

Have a good rest of the week! I am grateful for you all, and am sending special loving thoughts and prayers to LGW!!!

Hardy Mallow Hibiscus, and a neat art wreath

Well, hello again! It has been a busy week...school started today for the grand kids, and daughter-in-law at her brand spankin new office job which she is loving! Yeah! Back to the sort of normal yearly grind around here.

When hubby and I drove to Lakeland last weekend, we came upon these giant, sort of Hibiscus-looking flowers...only thing was they had a different kind of look to them, they are huge (the size of my hand) and they have a different purple leaf.....so they are a big mystery to me...but I will tell you with all sincerity, that I WANT SOME OF THESE!!! I love the dark leaves...and these appeared so healthy, I was inspired that, I too, could make these flowers grow in my own yard!

Mystery solved: These are called Hardy Mallow Hibiscus, as best I can tell, and are only hardy in zones 3-9. That is why I do not see these super giants down here in zone 10! Sadly, they will not be for me...:(



When touring my grandsons new school, we found this wreath on the art room door!!! I just instantly loved it, and thought quite a few of you might as well. His new school is open, airy and very homelike. I really love it. His school (my old alma mater) is being torn down and a new one built to replace it, so for 2 years they will be in this other location. The whole building is under air, so not much walking outside except for P.E. and band room. NICE, specially in this horrid heat!

Sea World picture, and our awesome villa stay.

This is my one pic at Sea World last weekend. Well, I do have a few more of Donovan wearing a multicolored flashing mohawk wig as well...but I will save that for another day! LOL. Anyway, the grandkids are standing looking into the dolphin tank...and don't you know a few of them were actually mating right in front of the window! That was a first for me!!! LOL.

We stayed in a 3 bedroom, 2 bath villa at Sheraton Vistana Resort, and it was really wonderful for families, and for family reunions! There are 7 pools on the property, and all sorts of other fun areas and things to do!
I only tell you this because we truely had a wonderful time there and would go back just to hang out there on resort property!!! Forget about Disney World and Sea World...just relax! Ahhhhh...I can imagine it now!!!

We did not relax...we were moving every moment we were awake!!! But had a lot of fun!

Hello at end of a lovely Mothers Day!

Here is a lovely gal who makes being a Mom (and Grandmom, in my case)a lot of fun! This picture is angelic, but she was a terror all day today!!! Lots of energy and never slows down, to where we are all exhausted by noon!!! Hahaha...in this case, looks can be highly deceiving! :) This picture was taken a few days ago at our favorite bakery...the lighting was so perfect!

This is a hodgepodge of pictures over the last few days. Below is a fish dinner a friend received at a dinner he and his wife took our family out to! Isn't it magnificently presented???

I took the grand-kids over to a local hotel to see the swans in the lobby! They swam right over to us and seem to enjoy their water hole there. I don't know what made me think of it, but the swans have been in this hotel for many years, and they enjoyed seeing them. We also rode the elevator to the top floor as it is glass and we could see the swans from above. Then we went to check out the pool area to decide if we might come over and spend one night this summer there and just play. I think they determined that it would be "awesome"!!!


Just a few days before Mothers Day I saw these cute baby ducks frolicking in the puddles at the grocery store and the mother was standing by the edge just watching them play. It was so sweet. The pics are blurry...it was drizzling rain and I was being threatened to being run over while trying to quickly snap the photo!!! Hehehe. I live dangerously!!! :)


Hope all of you had a wonderful Mom's Day, and will have a great week coming up. Tomorrow is my first day on new job...wish me luck!!!
xoxo- Julie

Ah, the joys of a warm early evening in Spring...

EMILY (granddaughter)


These pictures (taken by my DIL this evening), stop time for a second, and makes you realize how grateful you are for EVERYTHING!!!

Good news, dying lace experiment with natural food dye, and a cute girl!

OK...first the good very exciting news for me! I received the letter today from the library that I have been selected for an interview!!! It has been about 4 weeks since I first applied! Kind of a slow process, eh??? I am ultra excited anyway, and am planning to make the break into a new career, if I can. We won't be poor, we just won't be as rich as we used to be (financially). Still rich in love, and that is all that matters to me.

This morning, we made blueberry muffins, and the box had a can of blueberries, which you drain before folding in. I saved the juice from the blueberries and used it (along with a tablespoon of white vinegar) to dye some white laces I had (a wonderful friend sent the laces to me from Aussieland)!!! I heated the mixture and am letting the laces soak a few hours to see how they do...but here they were just 5 minutes into it:



Yesterday the grandkids, DIL, daughter and I went to a few parks in Boca Raton, and here is Emily in her new dress from H & M. Such a doll!!!


Have a great week everyone! xoxo- Julie

A few realizations today...

All two of my realizations came within a few minutes of each other...

One was that I will need to continue to work in my same career path (I had hoped to make a midlife career change), but will just NOT be able to due to financial requirements.

The other is that as I worked some plain old x's on top of piece of gingham cloth and attached it to my embroidery collage, and came to realize that this is a very pleasing thing to my eye. I filled in with some pretty little french knots...and it is just old fashioned and more "me".

Here are a few shots of the kids and my daughter at the park today. We played golf (they had a put-put golf area there), and ran around like fools.

A little sugar fairy photo shoot!

Happy Thanksgiving week, from tropical south Florida!

When I saw this beautiful palm full of rusty orange seeds just dangling from it's core...I knew that had to be my Happy Thanksgiving photo for you all. Isn't it just gorgeous?...and they were hanging all around the whole tree. It stopped me in my tracks to photograph it.

Regarding my previous photos about where we had been...you were right...we had been to Disney World (you saw the castle all aglow at night)...absolutely stunning to see...We went for Mickey's Very Merry Christmas Party. A fun event from 7pm-12 midnight. We like riding roller coasters after dark! (I say "WE" in the most lose way...I only ride one...Thunder Mountain Railroad).

The pic of Emily in the rock (previous photo #2)was taken from the base of Hogwarts Castle while we were waiting for a few folks to get off of that ride. And speaking of the castle, here it is in all it's glory with sunbeams cascading down on it:

Here is a pic of a very sweet wizard holding Hedwig over at Harry Potter World.

And one in front of the combined owlry, wand and broom shop.

We did get to eat at The Three Broomsticks there in Hogsmeade...and it was delicious. We had smoked turkey legs, mac n cheese (the kids), and fish and chips. We drank Butter Beer (non alcoholic) and Pumpkin Juice, which was delicious I thought. The pumpkin juice tasted very refreshing and like pumpkin pie in a glass! The ingredients are simple...I would say it was half and half pumpkin puree and apple juice, and also a portion of pineapple juice, and some pumpkin pie spice. I will try it in the Vita Mix and see how it comes out on Thanksgiving day...for a bit of fun.

The more exacting recipe is HERE.

The last photo of the kids in front of the buffalo topiaries (previous photo #3), was from out front at the Wilderness Lodge, my favorite Disney Hotel (although we still haven't stayed there due to price, but we hang there to eat at Whispering Canyon, and observe the geyser that shoots up randomly out back.

The third day there, Emily got to ride a pony over at the campground area in Disney, with her 2 mothers by her side (my daughter and DIL).

Here are a few shots from Universal Studios...first Thing 1 and Thing 2 (and their daughters,Things 3 and 4 were there too)! We were in line right in front of this really neat family and the Mom and Dad had their wigs on too...and we shared our car with them through the ride.

And Emily June by her favorite car...the big shiny pink one outside the diner!


Here are two pics of a couple of birds just hanging out during my work day last week...one was by a front door to a building, and one was next to my car as I was getting off I95.


Have a happy Thanksgiving week! xoxo- Julie