The thankfulness list:>)

Wow, what a busy week this has been! Just trying to get things organized for fall and the change of seasons. For some reason I think I feel more need for deep cleaning and organizing in the fall than in the springtime. I think it has to do with looking forward to all those months cooped up in the house for the winter! Do you like my morning glories? They are still hanging in there and giving me lots of blooms. It is so cool and nice here (71 at the moment) that even though it is 3:00 in the afternoon they haven't wilted! While blogging around this morning I came across Kim's blog, and thought she had such a lovely prompt to "add a list of thankful things to your blog". I thought that was a great way to start my weekend so here goes.
1. I am thankful for the unwavering, unconditional, unending and unbelievable love that I get from my sweet husband, Earl. He loves me like no one has ever loved me before, and he makes me happy every day:>)
2. My daughters and the sweetness they bring to my life.
3. The happiness of time spent with true "kindred spirit" friends.
4. Clean , line dried sheets. If I were rich I would have my "staff" wash and line dry my sheets every day!
5. Sunshine
6. flowers
7. The way I feel when I am surrounded by my extended family.
8. The way my cats seem to know when I am feeling bad and come cuddle on my lap, especially on a cold winter day.
9. Thunderstorms in spring.
10. beautiful old houses.
That is a start. I will have to think and add a bit more as I come up with things that make me happy. I am a generally happy person so I guess I am even thankful for that! :>)
I hope everyone has a beautiful autumn weekend, think about your blessings and not your woes if it's possible!

What I love about my Home

Karla's Cottage is having a "What I Love About my Home" show today. Right at the moment I am not crazy about anything inside my home. I am in the final stages of the living room paint job (YAY!) but everything is still torn apart until that is done, and if anyone has ever been involved in that type of project, and I know you have, you know it affects every aspect of your home. Something from one room needs to be stored in another room and so on and so on. It disrupts the entire house. So today I will show you what I love about my home outside. This pergola was built for me by my sweet husband for our 25th anniversary. I love how it adds a little interest to the back entry. What I really love is all the hanging plants I can adorn it with so that every time I step outside in the summer I am surrounded by garden. Sometimes I go outside on a summer morning with my coffee or ice tea and just sit and sip and watch the morning and the deer and rabbits running around the yard. It is lovely and it makes me smile every time I see it. Thanks honey, for such a lovely gift!

These happy little vintage chefs were a flea market find. I think they are so sweet!

As are these eight dainty little bridesmaids! They are made of vintage crepe paper and flowers. How adorable! You can find them at my etsy shop, here! Hope everyone has a great weekend:>)

Dreams

Do you think my flower bed needed weeding? Sheesh! We finally got some temperatures in the 70's last week and I decided it was time to get out there and take care of the flower beds in all their weedy glory. You can't tell from the picture, but this pile of weeds is about 5 feet long and 2 feet high. Oddly enough, it made me think of Brin of My Messy Thrilling Life and a post she did about not realizing your dreams. I know, I have the strangest thoughts, but since I can't sleep I thought I would get them down. Now I want to say up front that I think we all need dreams and aspirations! But, I also think that there is a lot of examination that needs to go on regarding our dreams. For instance, I love beautiful gardens and with 5 acres, I would love to make a great deal of the back yard into a lovely garden. The reality, unfortunately, is that with gardens comes weeds, and we can all see how diligent I am about those! My dream of beautiful gardens conveniently visualizes a garden without weeds. All dreams come with a price. I want to persue my art, what is the price? Choosing between time for that and time with my family, time to clean, time to do any number of things that I would also like to do. Being creative takes not only time but the ability to wear your heart on your sleeve and offer it up to strangers to buy. That part is hard for me, so is the time it takes away from my family. I have to constantly weigh what is important to me, and sometimes, in fact, often, my art loses. That's ok. I know my priorities. I know people who have focused on their dreams to the detriment of the joy they could have right now, today. The dream of what they want someday, overshadows the blessings they could be enjoying that are right under their noses. What a waste.
I want to enjoy the good things I have today. I am living the dream of countless people in other countries who's dreams are enough food for themselves and their children, a roof over their heads, a bed to sleep in instead of hard, cold dirt, and a life and opportunity that they can persue without fear that someone is going to come harm or kill them because their belief system is different! Dreams are good, and without dreamers we would not have the inventions and many of the beautiful artworks and inspirations we have, but sometimes we need to know when the dreams no longer fit us, when it is time to adjust and move on. I hope that I am making sense. Lack of sleep sometimes makes me a little less coherent than I should be! Thanks for letting me ramble on, as for the flower beds....one down four more to go. The compost pile is going to be 50 feet tall!

This is one of the original built in cupboard doors that were in the teeny kitchen of this house when we bought it. I have a pair of them that my husband has been trying to throw away for the past 20 years, LOL! He has actually taken them out to the curb a few times and I have sneaked out there and brought them back. He would see them in the basement and just shake his head and laugh. I always knew that someday I would paint on them, they have a really great alligatored old paint finish on them and I love the texture. Well I finally got one of them finished with a painting of zinnias. I really like the way it turned out and I have it hanging in the hallway outside our bathroom door. I still have one to paint, if I can get to it before he sneaks it out to the road again! He likes this painting too, so maybe he will give up and let me just paint the other one. I guess that means I even pick trash piles at my own house! I'm pretty hopeless, good thing he loves me anyways:>)