"THE BIRDS"...i WILL win!!!

For the past couple of Summers, we have lost most of our peaches to "The Birds" (Alfred Hitchcock reference). I love birds just as much as the next guy...goodness knows, I have fake ones ALL OVER my entire house.

But every year those little innocent-looking guys swoop down and devour our peaches before they're even ripe. So we never stand a chance.
But this year I decided to take a STAND!!! We assembled this frame meant for a shade canopy...left off the canopy...and used bird netting instead. Just look at how loaded the tree is this year............MINE.............ALL MINE! Hee-hee! : )
Of course, I always love to share..........with Humans!
And these two, helping with the last of our orange crop, are two of the CUTEST humans I've ever seen!

M.L. : )

Wednesdays With My Mom

Hi All,
I wasn't quite ready (as far as spare time goes) to put my 'Wednesdays... Wrap-Up' Post together this week. And since we had a pretty good visit last Wednesday, I thought I would go ahead and post this.
Above, is an adorable photo of my parents in 1969. Below, is a pic taken several years ago on their 50th Wedding Anniversary. Still, just as cute as can be!!!
My sister, June, joined us after work last week to share in the fun of watching a DVD she recently made for Mom. She did such a fantastic job putting lots and lots of old family photos together for Mom to just sit and watch. Oh my goodness...her reactions to them were wonderful!!! Even though her Alzheimer's has progressed quite a bit, she still delights in seeing old photographs. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts, June. You're amazing!
Below, June showing Mom her new Mickey Mouse bracelet.
These next few photos were ones I snapped while enjoying the DVD together. : )




Happy Wednesday,
Mary Lou

Remembering on Memorial Day

My blogging friend, Sandy, at 521 Lake Street, encouraged us to share photos of some of the Veterans in our family. Of course, I chose my sweet Dad:




Thank you Daddy... and all Veterans who have served this great country. Also, thank you to all who are currently serving us and our country! Our deepest heartfelt appreciation goes out to you.



I recently made this little box (below) with the vintage children, for a birthday gift. I felt I should blur their little faces because I can't remember where I got this image. If these are family members of yours and you would like me to remove these pics, just let me know and I will gladly do so. I don't ever plan on using this image to make items for sale.

I added the red and blue......The hat.......Hairbow.......and flag. : )

Happy Memorial Day!!!
Mary Lou

Wednesdays With My Mom AND...Getting Ready For the Summer Holidays

That's me in the little red dress. The girls in our family affectionately call it "the Cheerios dress". If you look in the photograph below this one, you will see Diana and June wearing theirs. I remember looking at them in a box when I was little and could hardly wait to grow into them!!!
Here, below, it was finally my turn...YEA!!!

Since Memorial Day is Monday and then the 4th of July will be just over a month after that, I thought I would go ahead and change my Header now. I finally finished dressing Annie. : )
As promised, my two beautiful Santos gals are holding a banner between them to help celebrate the upcoming holidays.

Most likely I will be wrapping up my 'Wednesdays With Mom' next week with some of my favorite photos of the things we did together on Wednesdays since blogging. I've SO enjoyed sharing all of our Wednesday Adventures with you since 2008. Things have changed dramatically in the last couple of months and I feel it's time to bring this feature to a close with only occasional updates. I will explain more in my 'Wrap-Up' Post next week.
I'll try not to skip my weekend Post this week. Last week was such a blur that the weekend just whizzed by!
Happy Wednesday,
Mary Lou

Wednesdays With My Mom AND...A Post Revisited

This photo was taken on my parent's wedding day. I love taking in every detail. Old California...wish I could have been there! : )
I didn't take any photos of my mom last week, because she was having a rough time. I told my brothers and sisters afterwards, that I guess we'll just have to treasure the good days, because it seems to go back and forth.
So, I thought instead, I would re-post an old favorite of mine from 2008. Enjoy!...
No...you're not seeing double. Sara & I went to an antique store last week and I bought this second M.E. teapot. When they were ringing it up Sara said, "Don't you have one just like that at home?" I replied, "yes", but that I was planning on changing this one up a bit. She just shrugged her shoulders and said, "Hmm." Note: I paid (around) $28.00 for the first one at a very nice boutique several years ago. This second one only cost me $8.00. However, there is a little chip in the base, but that didn't bother me because I was planning on painting over it anyway. SO...let the fun begin! I chose red nail polish for the new flower color. And black enamel paint for the new polka-dots and base color. NOTE: The nail polish worked so much better. I ended up having to paint clear nail polish over the black.
For the big polka-dots I used a pencil eraser.

Bye-bye pink.

And I used the ball of a sewing pin for the little polka-dots.

Cute little cousins now. : )
One last photo with the flash so you can see how bright the red really is.
DO try this at home. : )

Playing With Flowers and Other Random Things...

Michael's has their Hydrangeas on sale this week, so I brought a bunch home and have had fun trying to arrange them.

Isn't this vase, below, just beautiful???
I just got it at Marshalls in case you have to have one too. : )
This one below, is Sara's take on it. She really loves them in the ceramic pitchers (as seen in many magazines lately).
Many of you have seen my other Santos figurine wearing the crown I made. Thanks to A Day in the Life of Ramona, she directed me to the Ballard Design website to find that first one. Then, they recently put this beauty on sale for half price. Who could resist??? Not me!!!! I'm planning on having the two of them hold a banner between them in some kind of future vignette. Be waiting with bated breath. : )

I took this photo(below) in the morning and was hoping those sun spots would show up on the finished product.
Does anyone know what this random little thing was meant for originally? It didn't come with the bottles, but I'm glad they fit.
I decided to use it for button storage.

More storage for my specialty buttons. These flower-cases are found on the bead aisle in the craft stores.
And here's a sneak peek at what I'm hoping to finish in time for my 4th of July vignette. She's only been months in the making!
Have a great weekend,
Mary Lou