Goodbye Pine Needles!

I finally got all of the Christmas decorations down, put away, and the whole house is somewhat free of pine needles.  Yippee!  I love Christmas, but do not like the cleanup afterwards, it's always a mess.  I am usually still finding needles stuck somewhere, into the summer.  I redecorated some of the rooms by moving things around and only purchased just one thing for the kitchen.  Moving around the things that you decorate your home with and placing them in different rooms, will give your home a fresh new look for the coming Spring. I am starting to minimize, and donating things I do not use anymore, it gets rid of the clutter and makes the house look fresher.

This bowl is what I purchased, at Kirkland's.  Never visited this store before, my sister told me about it and her and I went.  Her quick eyes spotted this large metal, footed rustic bowl on a sale rack, there was a small stack of them.  It was originally $26.99.  We both picked one up - sale price $9.97. Couldn't pass that deal up!  I filled it with 2 garlands, 1 smaller candle ring and a candle with a timer on it.  I used it in the center of my kitchen table.  You all know I love the birds, I picked this little guy up, ceramic with metal feet, at the same store for $2.99.  They sell all home decor type things and they had a lot on sale.  Great store, check them out online.

 Two foot long red metal rooster, redecorated with lemons, limes, a potted plant and a candle, now sits on the kitchen island.

Ceramic rooster in a large white bowl, with lemons, limes, potted plant, flowers, grapevine balls and moss covered balls.

 The rooster sits on the Dining Room table with two candle lanterns with timers.

 Christmas tree down and all holiday decor gone, fresh clean look.

Corner of the Dining Room, all cleaned and garlands off the railing.

Foyer, garlands down, Santa's gone.  Living Room put back together.

Mantel redo - I asked for a framed group shot of the kids for Christmas, so they got together and had one done for me.  My sister and her husband had the sign made for us as a gift.  I used Command Hooks to hang the sign so no holes in the wood mantel.  They are great to use, easy to remove, and leave no marks.  I keep the little cricket on the right on the mantel for good luck, all the other things I had elsewhere in the house.  

In the Family Room, big Christmas tree, outta there!  It's time for a fresh new start, I'm happy and can't wait until Spring!  I will be painting a bathroom and a couple of bedrooms this year so stayed tuned for that.  Colors are changing, I have to keep up! It's always a lot of work when you do it yourself, my hubby is not a painter, and I am the only one who cares what it looks like, so I do it all.  

The Grass is Greener

We live on 2 1/2 acres of property, so grass cutting takes about 3 hours to do even though we have a 42 inch base Cub Cadet riding mower. It's alot of work but after trimming around all the trees and cleaning up it always looks great!

I bought 2 banana plants at an Amish nursery and they were only about 3 inches high.  A month after planting them they are now about 2 feet high. The fan like leaves are huge and the coloring on them is green and burgundy - so pretty.

We decided to build ourselves a fire pit in the backyard, so we went to Home Depot and found these landscaping bricks.  All you have to do is dig out a base and pour sand in the bottom of the base and level it.  Next, stack the bricks in a circle.   It was really easy and only took about 1 1/2 hours to construct. So, 2-3 bags of  paver sand and 48 bricks and you have your own little piece of heaven on a cool night to make s'mores!  Total cost of the project - $80.00

This little clay birdhouse has been in my front garden since we built our home 7 years ago.  It's tucked among bushy lilacs and rhododendrons.  Every year a titmouse (bird) builds a nest, lays eggs and tends to her babies.  My cats love to watch all the activity from the front window.