~TOPPERS AND STONES..JUST THINGS TO THINK ABOUT...

...or I could go for a walk of course.  

I know, I know.  This is just a mess on top of my refrigerator.  

AND it is probably pretty darned dusty and probably some grease too.  Today one of my very sweet blogger freinds said she would like one of those dryer covers for the top of her refrigerator!  "WHAT??"  said I!  "Those are for ironing" ...but of course she knew that and I had already ordered a second one for the washer.

She is very smart, my friend ...and I am not...because she was way ahead of me.

"But of course!  Why not?!" said I.   So I wrote to the Etsy lady and asked her if she could make a quilted topper of deep quilted red and  trimmed in red and white check piping.  It will have the magnets and won't move.  All I will have to do is to remove the items on top of the frig and throw the topper into the washer!  No more reaching and trying to clean up there.  

I've never been able to find anything that I wanted to put up there...and I think this would be perfect.

We shall see.

I'm only five foot tall..and don't see the dirt..but..my 6'3" grandsons certainly can and most of the men in the family. 

She said yes!  She could do it. 

So..am thinking of having one to match for the top of my microwave.  

Those refrigerator magnets probably should go.  :)  Been collecting them for ages.

ALL OF THEM?  Oh, wait.  (I need to think on this.)

Then I wandered outside and started playing with the left over stones from the path out front.

This is the little area under the back rose arbor.   The gardener is going to lay these in the ground for me on Tuesday.  Since it is just off the patio..it will be a nice place to sit a table, Fairy Garden ....or ...nothing.

:)

Still playing with them..hmmmm..this isn't as easy as I thought it would be.  It doesn't have to be perfect you know!   (she said defensively!)   I can figure this out!  No, I really can!  It's those long stones on the left that are causing all the trouble because it's certainly not me.  :)

Love,

Mona

~THE FAIRIES WILL SHOUT MY PRAISES...I HOPE.~

Today, I finally got the poor, poor, pitiful Fairy Garden..(the smallest of the two) back in shape.  Wouldn't you think such a small spot would be in ship shape in nothing flat!  WRONG

I clipped...and snipped..

 and snipped more.. (poor stone sign had even  fallen over... what a MESS!  It's a good thing I didn't try to collect rent!  I've become a "slumlord"..  :(

 dead headed all those tiny mums and whatta job that was...

You would never know it, but this is a little iron arbor...the pathway through it all overgrown and hidden.

I found the little pathways and began clearing them...this one was nearly done.

This pathway started at the rear of the wheelbarrow and made it's way around the side of the house to
The little front yard. (I took the picture after the "tears" were laid.)

I laid new baby tears that have been sitting around in a flat for the past three weeks..  I could see it was beginning to die so I got busy!
 Tiny real clay pots are stacked on the bench next to the metal watering can.  You and barely see the little wheelbarrow full of gardening tools and flower pots over there by the front door.

I clipped and clipped and cleared away the little arbor, laid grass (baby tears) and put the
little stepping stones back in place.

I removed the little bridge and reset it...  The front door does open and close.   There is a little Fairy inside..but all the little Fairies statues have to go I think.
They are not real and I fear they may keep the real ones from returning.  I've already traumatized them when I began whacking away at their forest.  BAD me!!
BUT they are going to love, love, love their new soft moss floor inside the house.  :)
They will be singing my praises in no time!!

You can see the back pathway is all laid with moss now.  That's a large flat stone you see at the end of the path.  In the evening they like to sit here with tiny glass of cold nectar.  Miniature ferns and a few other miniature plants will go around it.

And when the last stone was finally in place, it was beginning to get dark.  I had to rush..The Fairy lights come on when night falls...and then the Fairies all come home.
Gotta run ..but it's DONE

It needs fine tuning...I need to remove some "things"..I'm not one that likes too many things in my little gardens.but I was just too tired to fool with it.
HINT..
Don't try to do tiny clipping and raking and planting ALL in one day!
Once they are all done..there is very little to do except water...and every now and then pinch off a dead bloom or something.  They are really low maintenance...just WATER.  Thank heavens.

One Fairy Garden done..and one to go.  It's going to have to wait a bit..I think someone hit me across my lower back with a baseball bat and I was sitting in a chair most of the time!!

I ordered some tiny potted ferns...you know..to put in the BARE SPOTS!
Shhhh..don't say it! :)

It's something I've been wanting to get done for...months.  :)
It's such a neat hobby.  I would put a Fairy Garden on the ground  under one of the big corner trees..but if I got down..I might never get back up and besides, you can see how well I took care of this one.
There is still more that has to be done..but..I just plain petered out!
Hope you like it! :)
Love,
Mona

~THIS IS JUST SOOO NEAT!

Maybe I'm easily impressed...but I have this item I want to show you.

No..the ironing board cover isn't it. 

Since you all know by now that I iron the heck out of everything, just about,  it won't surprise you that I bought another ironing board cover.  The reason is..I iron in the garage, and even though it is the garage..I like it as nice as I can make it.  Rugs on the floor, even under the car.  Crazy?  Probably.  But it's the closest thing I have to a laundry room.

So..

 Since I do a lot of ironing and things get dusty in the garage no matter how much I clean ... here is my second spare cover.

 .Though I am not a "blue" person..I thought this was adorable.

 And this is where I got tickled!!  This pad fits on the top of your dryer..OR washer, whichever you prefer.

It's on my washer right now..but that's just so I can show it to you.  The dryer is really the place for it.

I got in a rush and there were clothes on my dryer... :)    AND LOOK AT THIS...

 It curves over the sides and...AND...is secured by these LARGE magnets!  Yes...magnets!!

On the other side as you can see, is so you can iron on it.  It is MADE for ironing  NO setting up your board if it is not always up and you need a quick touch up of your clothes.   

I am loving this.  

I mean these  pads are SECURE!   

Isn't it neat???  :):)  

I thought so too.  I just had to share this with you as I had never seen one before.  

The lady is on Etsy.  Her things are QUALITY!

If you want to know where I got it...just email me and I will send you a link.  I am delighted with mine.

The fact that I ordered mine to match my ironing board cover...well...you know how it is.

Probably a girly thing.  So...do you like it?

Lov'n hugs,

Mona

~IT TAKES A LOTTA NERVE...~

....and the older I get the more nerve I seem to be getting, thanks to all of my great blogger friends out there!  With your help, I might actually grow up one of these days!

I'm going to do this!  I am going to carry this handbag..with attitude! 

I don't have all that long to stick my neck out...and I am beginning to understand  some of the older ladies styles a sweet blogger friend sent me yesterday..or was it today?

Very interesting by the way.  VERY! :)

I am going out to lunch tomorrow with some girlfriends..and I am going to carry this bag.  It's a "Junior Drake" bag and one of my favorite brands.  

The inside is pretty grays in an interesting print.  Has all the pockets you could want.  SOFT as a baby's bottom..and I love it.  The bright yellow that shows in this photo is WRONG.  The above picture is correct.  

I'm wondering if my daughters will comment on this...they have been a lot easier on me since I stopped coloring my hair. 

But..now I'm doing things like this!!!

However..I must say that daughter, Maryalice, only said of my silver sandals and silver toenails,

..."Nice Mom, very summer!" when they took PH and I out to dinner Saturday evening.  

HOW ABOUT THAT!! :)

Expecting company so I gotta run..but..tomorrow I have to show you something from my ironing board cover lady.  Remember her?  Rather it AND her?  Your going to love this!  

Knocked me out!  

I get so tickled when I find something neat!

Big hugs! 

Mona

P.S.  Hmmm...my right big toe looks a little crooked..when the heck did that happen??  I'm standing up so maybe that's it.  Maybe it's the camera angle..  (TALK about vain!) :)

~COLOR? HOW DO YOU FEEL ABOUT COLOR?

How do you feel about color?  any hangups?  I mean really!  Does it intimidate you a bit, not at all?  Well..it does me. Or did.

For years though, as much as I loved red, I would never, ever wear it!  I was raised to think that a woman in a red dress was...well, loose!  Yes, loose!  A hussy!  LOL     Trying to call attention to herself.  So..I never wore red.

As a child I had a little red and white polka dot dress that I loved and would have worn every single day had I been allowed.  

Brown, blues, greens, and prints were of course just fine.  But red?  Never!  

Not any more.

I change what I like to wear, what color I like to decorate with and all that sort of thing, often.

Now?

I've been through a faze where I painted EVERYTHING red.  I still love red and it's a favorite color..

however....

 I looked around and spotted my  very old birdcage that my daughter, Maryalice, gave me for my birthday when she was in high school, and she is now 50 years old and got the urge to paint.  It was turquoise and pretty chipped and beat up.  But look at it now.  

As usual, I'm not finished with it and just popped a froggie in it for the picture.

Cute little tabletop cage was sitting there a total mess..so it got a bath of Strawflower too!

 Was I done?

Heavens NO!

I headed for the living room and ....

WHY NOT, my pea brain shouted!!!

So...

...off to the painting table went the first end table!

I have had these for ...so many years.  They are old and split and one even appears to be handmade...but with ANOTHER coat of paint...they are new to me!

..next came the other end table..

and next ...the other end table, and then....

...the coffee table.  All of it is second hand.  The coffee table was a fairly recent garage sale find..for $10 or $15 dollars...I forget.  

Cord?  What cord?  Do you see a cord?

I don't see a cord! :)

All done!  I did it all within a couple of hours..at the very most.  

So... Yes?  No?  Maybe?  

Be nice...okay?

Big hugs..

Mona

P.S.  What I wear?  ALL the beautiful colors I can find.  I favor turquoise to wear right now.  Some kind person said it matched my eyes and made them look pretty and you KNOW how that effects us women!  Men too!  They don't fool me one bit!!  LOL

~LAYING STONES AND 116 YEARS..~

The day was over 21 minutes ago.  June 18, 1954.  I would have been married 60 years had my first husband lived.
I started my life over once again and PH and I will celebrate six years in just a few day. Together that makes about 104 combined years of marriage!  Think of it!
I was married 43
He was married 55
We've been married 6
GOOD GRIEF!
I think you could say we are experienced at it..this art of being married!
(I had to come back this morning and change my figures..  LOL
I should never blog late at night..rather EARLY morning.)
****************

Getting on with it..yesterday....those flagstones I've been fretting about for the past couple of years..finally went in.

Our gardener arrived early in the morning in his little red truck..and

...went straight to work and worked all day long..setting those stones.

For about two plus years those stones have been stacked beside the house..waiting and waiting for one of my sweet sons or sons in law to place them for us.  We are just a bit ..( a bit! ) too old to do that sort of chore anymore.  He really did a nice job.

 Across the front and...

.(They made a good sized pathway...)

around the corner and down the side of the house..to the back gate and through the rose arbor.
Now for the grass to grow back.  The trees are growing bigger and bigger and the sprinkler system is now repaired.  (bless our gardener!)  Lots more to do..but it's slowly coming together.
*heavy sigh of happiness!*

I had begun to think the stones would never get put down.  I tried lifting one with the idea of doing one a day..and gave that thought up immediately!
PH liked them all stacked neatly in a corner.  Yep..didn't bother him one single bit!
But he rather liked no plants, tree's or flowers either. LOL

I fix and plant...it make me happy.
He plays Saduko (sp?) reads his books and that makes him happy!
From past experience we know when to live and let live!
:)

Love,
Mona

P.S.  Now I can walk clear around the house and never have to wear shoes!  The irony of it all!!!

~A SHOE AND HANDBAG FETISH?~

I like shoes!

A lot!
(Handbags too!)

I am wondering if I need one of those "couches" where you talk about things.  

When I was young, not sure exactly how old, shoes became very important to me.  My parents went through some tough times in the 1940's and it really didn't get a lot better until the late to mid 1950's.  By this time I was through high school and married.

My folks struggled.  My father was a contractor and there was very little work.

No work often.
Sound familiar?

Black and white oxfords were huge in 1950 and my pair wore out.  If I have told you this story..heavens.. just skip on past this.

Each day after school I would try to glue the sole of my shoes back in place..and with double thread, stitch it carefully back on.  Then polish my shoes,  making sure the polish was down in the edges covering the threads.  Then I would  let them dry and buff them until the shown with an old soft baby diaper that my mother always saved for rags.

They looked..okay.  If anyone noticed..no one said anything.

By the end of the following day..I would "flap, flap" home once again.   All day I  would pray my shoe would last until I got off the bus.  It was miserable.

And so...
my obsession with shoes began.

   A new pair of sweet leather summer sandals is just that to me.  Sweet!

I used to want new shoes so badly that I remember once dreaming I had a new pair and it was so real that when I woke up, I actually looked under my bed expecting to see them.  I was about 15 at the time.

I believe in Fairy Tales..still do.

Can't help it...just a fact.

Will I ever grow up...stop wearing toe rings and and coveting new shoes?  

Probably not.  

If it were going to happen..it would have happened before age ...77, don't you think?

*hanging head*
My seven little ones are all grown...and I made sure they had nice shoes and clothes.
Now it's my turn.  :)
So many shoes, so little time!

I would promise to one day grow up.. but I am beginning to lose hope.

I wonder if someone dropped me on my head when I was a babe?  I've heard of such things..

:)

Oh...and handbags...love them too!  

Love,

Mona

So...are they a bit....much?  You can be honest.  I'll understand.

*sigh*

~HAPPY FATHER'S DAY~

Happy Father's Day to all those
 wonderful, caring and cherished father's out there.

To my own step father for raising me as though I were his own.

To my late husband, Pat, for ALWAYS being happy when I had another child! :)

To my three son's and son's in law for being such fantastic Dad's.

And..

To PH for coming into my life and loving my children, grands and greats as though they were his own, and for raising his own son to be a wonderful, caring father!  

I am grateful to all the father's in my life.

I am fortunate.

I love all of you.

Mona

~I'M COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET..~

I love that they are making things cute as well as of good quality and serviceable.  For instance, my new iron.

I am a closet ironer.  I love to iron.  Not sure why that is..and even though my laundry area is relegated to the garage...I still have to have cute. 

A laundry room just isn't in the cards in my life.  

Ok..I'm going overboard a bit here..but..this was love at first sight with this iron  and maybe I am trying to justify buying this little cutie.

I dropped the last one..or rather it got knocked off the ironing board and ruined the tip so that all my ironed shirts etc. had a grove in them from the bent tip.

So....this arrived in the mail today...UPS.  Love those UPS men!!   :)

Look!  little pink flowers!  Is this sweet or what?!  AND it works beautifully.  

Plus it's a pretty rose color.  

AND it irons hanging things...like drapes...you know..like that.?!   

I don't think it hurts to have an nice thick rose covered handmade ironing board cover either.   A lovely lady on Etsy, makes them and I love it.  

It's snow white..but the bad lighting makes in sort of yellowish.  DARN!!.

New Iron ....check!

New Ironing board cover....check!

A ton of clothes to press....check!

A pretty clean white laundry room with room for my sewing machine?

~Silence.........~

Ah well..some wash their clothes in creeks and don't own an iron.

I am grateful!

Love :)

Mona

p.s.  One should not take pictures at night in a garage with no flash.  The goldenish color is from the one little lightbulb.   Not thinking here.  

And...I'm joining Marty's "Inspire Me Tuesday" party..at
A Stroll Thru Life

~FAMILY OF FREE SPIRITS..~

 Saturday..

A long, long drive for two old folks to my great nephew's wedding to his beautiful bride.  

It was lovely.  

...and long..

 A very happy occasion ...then a long drive home the following morning.   

 The happy couple honeymooned in France.  

*sigh*

 Sunday...a reunion with some of my daughter Sandy's family.  Her brother Mike and his wife were missing due to sudden illness, after traveling clear from Colorado.   Six of my seven children came.  The fellow in the blue print shirt is my daughter's friend.

It was difficult..but we all smiled for her.

I hope she could see us.  

Sandy's husband Jeff, is on the far left in the sun glasses and baseball cap.

Me?  I looked like a large white marshmellow!  Ah well. :)

Son Patrick was helping grandson click all the camera's that were thrown to them.

Four of the seven are in the picture.  One was ill and the other is in heaven tending God's flower garden.
She visited me and told me so.

Daughter in law and granddaughter ..(the family tattoo artist!:) You can get the full scale of her tattoo's above.

lol :)  

Well...I have a large family and they are all free spirits!  

It's beautiful to me.

Bless your hearts...if you are strongly apposed, please don't say so.
I understand. :)
It's been a happy but difficult week for me

Daughter Dawn with her tiny sleeping doggie, "Love" snoozing on her back.

And yes...Dawn was getting a tattoo from her niece!  Shhhhhh...do NOT say a word!! :)

 Everyone is gone.  Yesterday was the last of the visits for awhile.

Cool shade for Mele...

...and not so cool place for me but a nice place to reflect.. at least it looks cool and with the fans running it's not bad...

Close to 100 degrees!  It's been worse!

I'm still tired and so is PH!

My love to you all.

Mona