SLIPCOVERS

Not so warm today but the sun is shinning really bright which makes it seem warm especialy when the sun streams in the windows.
I finally took the garland off the mantle in the lving room. Now I have to go find the garland I had up last Spring and Summer. When I find it and put it up I will take a picture.
I took the festive chair covers off the dinning room chairs that I had on for the holidays and washed them and put them away and I put the Spring/Summer/Fall coves back on. I really would like to get these. They are on sale for $40.00 each I don't know if I want to spend the money. They would look great against the walls in the dinning room which are painted about the same color as the yellow in the clip cover.

UPDATE: Bought the slipcovers. They are really pretty and I am glad I did. I will wait until around Easter to put them on the chairs and then maybe I will go and get some dried flowers in the same color combination for a vase on the table. Spring is coming!!!

ICE TEA

Last summer we were hooked on Arizona Ice Team half and half. It was half tea and half lemonade. I don't remember if it had any sugar in it. We would buy a two gallon jugs for $5.00 when it was on sale. When the summer ended I still felt like drinking ice tea instead of soda. So I decided to try again making ice tea from scratch. Every time I have done it in the past I never liked it. I have finally got the recipe down pat. Six decaffeinated tea bags in a two quart heat resistant glass pitcher. Pour boiling water on them and cover with plastic. I use to a this point put the pitcher in the refrigerator but I discovered that letting it steep on the counter was much more effective. I let it sit until it was room temperate then I put in in an air tight container. When ready to serve pour into a glass full of ice. I make sure I always have sliced lemons in he frig. Perfect tall glass of ice tea.
It's only Feb 24 and the wind is blowing like it is the beginning of Mar. MARCH COMES IN LIKE A LION AND GOES OUT LIKE A LAMB. We will be seeing tulips soon.

Bow Flex

The leaves on my rhododendron bush outside my dinning room window are all turned in this morning. But the sun is shing so brightly you would think it was summeer. It is still below freezing but it's going to be close to 40 today. The sky is as blue as if you were at the ocean.
Tomorrow the Bow Flex Tread Climber arrives. Let's see how this plays out.

COMPLELLED

I just felt compelled to write today. I have not in a while. The reason I feel compelled is that the weather has been damn near perfect for this time of the year. The sun is out today and it is close to 45 degrees. I don't think I have worn what I would consider a winter coat all season. I even heard a bird chirping this morning. I don't think it was a bird that you hear chirping when it is really springtime, like a robin or something. I think it was just one of the birds that spend the winter here in the great northeast and it was very happy to be warm. There is a cardinal sitting in the weeping cherry tree outside my dinning room window. The only reason I know it is a male because I read somewhere that male cardinals are bright red and female is brown. Now with that written I can look back from February 19, 2013 and refresh my memory about the weather on this date. Because chances are next year on this date we will be looking at a pile of snow under that cherry tree and the male cardinal's red color will stick out even more against the white snow. I have an awesome rhododendron outside my dinning room window also. The leaves are all perky and flat out. Usually at this time of the year the leaves are all curled into themselves trying to keep warm. The maple trees are being tapped in our area for maple syrup, that usually doesn't happen until late March or early April. I wonder if the farmers are going to be able to plant to crops this year.

CHRISTMAS TREE

Overcast... High 54


I can't belive this weather........I don't think we have had a hard freeze yet. It snowed a couple of inches way back in Oct but has been warm ever since.


I don't think we are going to put up a tree this year. Not that I don't feel in the spirit and really this is going to be the best Christmas in a long time. My daughter has a significant other and they are doing really good. Being so sick last year put a damper on that Christmas put a damper on that and the year before that I was still mourning the sudden loss of my brother. After I lost both my parents too, Christmas has not been the same as it was when my daughter was little and I had my parents and brother.


Last year because I was sick we joined my extended family for Christmas and Thanksgiving. My cousin and her daughter's and their families. They were nice enouogh to realize that we were going to be just the three of us for the hollidays

A QUICK UPDATE

Today was a lazy day, the only thing we did was go to the pet store to get cat food and liter. All of a sudden the cats are not eating the canned food that we have been giving the for years. So every week we try something different.
So we spent most of the day sitting on the front porch. Sometimes I wish this space was my entire world. It is quiet and comfortable and we can eat, sleep, blog, read, play games etc and ever have to leave the porch.
My girlfriend brought me the most delicious home grown tomato so I made grilled cheese and tomato sandwhiches for the three of us. Our patio tomatoes went to crap, I will never do that again. My grandfather would be so disappointed in me. He use to grow the most wonderful tomatoes, why can't I.
Still no plans for the upcoming wedding between my daughter and her fiance. They just don't know what they want to do. She has tried on some wedding dresses. I am not going to call them wedding gowns because they are by no means a gown. One of them we found in a boutique. She wants something very sinple.

BACK AGAIN

Abundant sunshine. High 88. Winds N at 5 to 10 mph.





I am back after a long absence. I don't know what comes over me but if I miss a couple of days it just seems too overwhelming to try to catch up and then it just gets worse and worse. What I should do is not worry about try to write about what has happened weeks ago but just concentrate on the current events.





This morning the carpet cleaner came and cleaned the carpet in the living room. I also had him shampoo a chair and the couch. I had taken the cushion covers off of the couch cushions and wahed them so he only had to shampoo the rest of the sofa.





Last night my husband and my cousin and I celebrated our best friend's birthday. I have never cooked a port roast before. I was always afraid that it would never come out as good as my mother's but when my friend requested it as her birthday dinner I could not refuse. It came out delicious. I rubbed the roast with salt and pepper and put small slivers through the meat on top and stuffed garlic down inside the roast. Cooked it on 400 degrees for 10 minutes then a slow 250 degree oven until the meat thermometer reached the pork setting. I served roasted sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, gravy, buttered carrots, applesauce and a tossed salad. Everyone said everything was delicious. The birthday cake was a white layer cake with strawberries and cream between the layers and on top. We hung out on the porch until almost 9. We had a lovely night.