Computer problems

Hello everyone ~ I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving day. I had a fantastic dinner out with Mark's brother, his wife and daughter. Coming home to a quiet, empty house was almost too much to bear though. I said to my self I just wanted to die so that I wouldn't have to miss him anymore.  I don't really want to die, but any of you who have lost your spouse know what I am talking about. This was my first Thanksgiving without Mark. It felt strange not fixing Thanksgiving dinner like I normally do. I still feel out of sorts this morning. Keep me in your prayers during this holiday season.  Pray for others who have lost loved ones also.

I may not be on the computer much as I am having major problems with my computer at home.  I'm on my laptop, that I bring here to work. I have an external hard drive that Mark always backed up everything to but I don't know how to do that. Todd is going to show me how and until then, I'm not going to be on that computer as I'm afraid it's going to crash and I'll lose everything.  It is really acting weird.  All of this makes me miss Mark even more as he was my own personal computer geek.

Maybe it's time for a major break right now.  There are plenty of things around home I can to take care of. So, if you don't see much of me, you'll know why.

Have a wonderful holiday season.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Plumbing, some decorating & flowers

Good afternoon Folks ~ Thank you all for your comments about Todd doing the plumbing for me and for your prayers as we worked together Saturday.  It was such a relief when there were no more leaks.

This is the crawl hole in the kitchen porch to under the house. SMALL. We opened up a hatch in the floor in the bedroom that Mark had made for getting under house, and it’s easier to go through.

Todd had a neat light that he wore on his forehead.

Here he is on his stomach in the sand. Not a comfortable job at all.  He was down there almost 2 hours.

Here he is after we had eaten lunch, feeling much better.

Here’s where the shower plumbing is right now. We were just too tired to even think straight, much less do anymore work at the end of the day, so called it quits.

Here is part of the west wall of bedroom, partial old wall boards, and empty spaces.  I love the dresser, it’s probably from the late 1800’s and goes well with our ‘found’ head and foot boards. I think we paid $150 for the dresser many years ago.  The wall clock we bought in Spain, we had more of them all different, but sold them a long time ago to survive. This clock was my favorite. The alabaster urn lamp we bought for Mark’s mother when we were in Spain and we got it when the estate was settled after his dad passed away.

Now you all can see the curbside shopped oak veneered pressed wood and oak wood piece I loaded into the van myself. Todd and I carried it into the house and it is really heavy as all pressed wood pieces are.  I love it.

I’m not sure when Todd will be able to come back down here to finish the work, so I camouflaged the back of the large piece of furniture that I had moved out away from the wall so that he could work on the shower plumbing.  When we’re all done with that, I’m going to buy some of the ‘cheap’ beadboard and finish off that wall, the north wall and the beam, then also do the west wall which is showing in pictures above.  The south and east wall I’ll do on down the road when I can.

The crocheted bedspread has a piece missing but you can’t see it here as it’s up on the top so you can’t see it. I don’t even remember where we got it.  The wreath was free from a friend who got rid of Christmas things when she was moving to a smaller home.  I also camouflaged the beam with some old curtains and garland also from the lady.  Set more of Papa’s baskets up on the piece of furniture too.  I could just here Mark saying ‘You’re funny’. He knows how I love to decorate for Christmas, and this might all have to come down if Todd is able to come before Christmas, and that’s why he’d say I’m funny. It did make me feel good though and all of this changed the look of the bedroom.

Here we have Garlic vine blooms. Have quite a few of these in bloom all over the area right now.

Pink muhly grass.

I read some discouraging news about Etsy last night right before going to bed.  I prayed about it and had to just let it go.  They are letting fake vintage items being sold and they are also letting resellers by things from China, etc. and sell them.  When I first joined Etsy, it was a place strictly for handmade items. This is depressing to me.  It makes me not even want to put anything in my little shop anymore.  Why bother? I love to create, but between losing Mark and now this news, what’s the use?   It would be nice if someone liked what I make and would buy wholesale for their shops, but I’m sure lots of us crafters feel that way.  Selling is a real agony.

I have sold some pieces on Etsy and it was always exciting. It will be harder now to be found. Sigh!

Sorry for the mini rant. At least I can still create, and I enjoy it and hopefully I’ll still make sales. It’s not the end of the world.  I’ll use what materials I have and just go with the flow and see what happens.

I hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving.

We all have much to be thankful for even when we don’t think so.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

Success!!!!

What a long day, 8-5:30, but we did it!!! I am so ready for bed and I know Todd will be too.  He had an hour’s drive before getting home to a hot shower.  He took a cold mntn. dew for the ride home. There was most definitely a leak in the pipe under the house, doing that work took almost 2 hours.  Todd did a fantastic job and we were so glad when we turned on the water and there were no leaks anywhere.  He did work with copper/soldering and pvc. I put a fan under the house to blow on him, from the tight entry way in the kitchen’s screened porch. The fan is an old GE, heavy motor and casing and probably weights at least 10 lbs.  he said 25. I stayed at the opening in case he needed anything, and for morale support. I prayed that he would be safe and that it would all go smoothly.

We didn’t quite get the shower plumbing finished, but he’ll come back another day an finish that.  We were both tired, it was time to quit.  We did take out the other metal shelf unit and brought in that curbside shopped oak and presswood piece.  Oh my gosh that thing is heavy.  I still don’t see how I got it into the van myself.

Thanks for all your good wishes, thoughts and prayers for this plumbing project. We were so glad there were no leaks when we turned the water back on.

Lunch was good, and we enjoyed our time working together.

That’s it for now. I’m going to eat a bit of supper and ‘hit the rack’ as they say in the Navy. (I was married to a sailor.) I woke up around 3:45 this morning couldn’t get back to sleep, so got up about 4:15.

Have a nice Sunday and I’ll post again later with pictures when we finish the job, which might not be for a week or so with that. Thanksgiving is this week.

FlowerLady

Lost my navigation bar on blogger

 

Freak out!!! I had to do a Google search and get in through a back door. How did the navigation bar just disappear?  Has anyone had this happen before?  Is there a way to get it back?

We had a wonderful rain yesterday giving the gardens a much needed soaking which hopefully filled up the rain barrel once again, it was empty.

I think I’m ready for the plumbing project tomorrow.  My brother-in-law will be here around 8, nephew isn’t able to make it after all.  Dates were mixed up and he has to attend a rodeo event his daughter is in.  I understand that.  B-I-L and I can do it and I will enjoy helping as I always enjoyed helping my dear husband with any project, even though I sometimes did my fair share of complaining, I’m no saint.  We always had fun even with hard work, as we found things to laugh about that kept our spirits up.  I really have missed helping Mark with projects, so I’m really looking forward to working with Todd. Every time I hear power tools in the neighborhood, I miss Mark terribly. Sigh!

I’ve been looking for a couple of months at least now, for a great tool we have for cutting pvc pipe.  I was even the one that used it last when Mark was ill, so I must have asked him where it was at the time, and in the distress of everything, I forgot where I put it back. I looked on table surfaces, places I thought it might be, prayed about it too.  Then, night before last while in bed, it came to me to look in a certain set of drawers, I fell back to sleep, and remembered yesterday to look.  After going through a few drawers I found it.  Hip, hip hooray!!!! Thank you God for the nudge to look there.  The tool is called a water whiz.  It cuts pvc pipe like it’s butter and I love this tool.  I am so thrilled to have found it.  It is so much nicer than a hack saw.  Well, I ‘think’ this is the tool. I thought it had an orange handle and this one does.  I just can’t figure out how to get the cutting blade to open. Todd will know and hopefully I’ll remember how the next time I need to use it.

 

I cooked up a corned bee brisket with bbq sauce in the crockpot until it was good and tender.  I’ll pull it apart, for sandwiches tomorrow, serve chips, dill pickle, coleslaw, mntn. dew for Todd and I saw IBC Root beer that caught my eye for myself. (Haven’t had root beer in who knows how long.) I also bought at Big Lots the other day a tin of chocolate/hazelnut crème filled Piroulines, for a treat, $3.  Todd said he is looking forward to working with and eating with me tomorrow.  I hope all goes relatively smooth.

That’s it for now.  I hope you all have a great weekend whatever you do, wherever you.  Remember to count your blessings and tell others thank you and that you love them.

FlowerLady

Old New Kitchen

I found a wonderful remodeling series on Hulu today,

The Bronson Pinchot Project

I just finished watching the episode ‘Old New Kitchen’.

Enjoy!

FlowerLady

I feel blessed

 

Good morning Friends ~ It’s a new day another gift to enjoy, to learn in. We are having partly cloudy skies, some rain is predicted, but it has been predicted for days and most of those days nothing happened. So, I just started a load of laundry because I really needed to and will hang it up on the lines to dry and hope for the best. It is very warm and humid out, our cool weather disappeared and it almost feels like summer once again.

Autumn came to my little cottage from a dear friend Val.  I have known this young lady for years, we met in a forum either about gardening or about country living,  probably 13 years ago. She inspired me way back then with her love of life and her happy spirit. You can visit her at her blog Pretty Little Rough Patches. I wondered how I could display these and saw the little brads I have nailed into the strip of wood under plates for hanging Christmas decorations on beam between kitchen and scullery. Ah ha, that will work.  I just attached a paper clip to each leaf and hung them that way. Thank you dear Val for thinking of FlowerLady down here in the sub-tropics.  I really appreciate you thoughtfulness, these are little jewels.

Here is my latest little felt heart.

Complete with a funky little butterfly.

The next two photos are of the same rose, an unknown I bought earlier this year, cheap.

It smells wonderful.

This is another unknown rose, also bought cheap.

Next is a whole passel of photos of the sweet little hybrid musk rose named ‘Kathleen’.

I love this rose and it always brings a smile to my face

and joy to my heart when it’s blooming.

I really need to try to get some cuttings rooted of this rose.

I’ve had it for many, many years now.

***

I’ve been working on emptying out things from the bedroom for this weekend so that my brother-in-law and my nephew can work on plumbing. I am excited about having this done, especially the leaking pipe under the cottage. Whatever else they can accomplish will be icing on the cake.

I look forward to helping them both and fixing barbecued beef brisket in the crockpot for sandwiches. I am so thankful for the time and help these two are giving me.  It blesses my heart so much.  I’ll keep you posted and plan to take photos during the day Saturday.

Sunday was church, early service 9:30, then afterward was brunch with a small group of ladies for a Bible study.  We have such a good time together.  Our next time together will be for our Christmas party on the 22nd.  The hostess goes all out for decorating for Christmas each year and we are all bringing a dish.  I am taking my Pumpkin Mincemeat Pie. We also exchange gifts and I will be creating a heart especially for the lady whose name I chose.

Yesterday morning was the Friends Needing Friends, FNF, widow’s group meeting and luncheon and it was wonderful! It was one of the best I’ve been too.  Everyone was happy and thankful for so much in our lives. You can visit the post I did about it here.

I had two different ladies, one on Sunday and then one yesterday tell me how much better I looked, like healing was taking place and it is. My broken heart is being restored by the Great Restorer of all things. Mark would love that, as he was a restorer of broken things himself. There is something wonderful and oh so satisfying in restoring things. God Almighty loves to restore us with His love, grace and tender mercies. Widows are very special to Him and He cares deeply for us.

I saw a wonderful story online last week that really touched my heart.  A young photographer went around NYC photographing thousands of real people and asked them what piece of advice they would have for a large audience.  One lady he came up to in pouring down rain was a widow in her 80’s, standing under a colorful umbrella. Her piece of advice was this. “I’ll tell you what my dying husband told me when I asked him what will I do without you in my life.  He told her, “Take that love you would have given me and spread it around.”

That still gets to me as I write and read the words again.  I loved my husband deeply, he was my life, and seeing this story was a gift from him and from God for me to carry on and ‘spread the love’.

Thank you all for reading my posts, for your loving, kind, encouraging comments.  Thank you for your own blogs which inspire me to keep living and enjoying life.

Love and hugs ~ FlowerLady

I’m back

 

Good morning everyone ~ I hope you are all doing well. I just have a ‘bit’ of a cough every now and then, but am feeling so much better than I was.  Thank you all for your well-wishes and prayers.  I basically hibernated only going out to the grocery store one morning (3-4 blocks away), I read, watched movies on you-tube, I didn’t feel like doing anything.

Wednesday my (Mark’s) nephew, Joseph, called and said he’d be in town the next day and wanted to know if he could stop by to assess my plumbing situation and make a list of materials needed.  I told him I was getting over a cold, but he could come over.  He got here around 2 Thursday afternoon.  I showed him the water meter, the connection at the front of the house and other areas he needed to see, plus he looked under the house and could see what he wanted to do there too.  He and my brother-in-law Todd are going to be doing the replacement of water pipe under the house, replace faucets, etc. under the bathroom sink and the toilet.  And, if they can they are going to replace old copper shower pipes and connections too, since the bathroom wall is uncovered from the bedroom side.  I’ll just have to empty the big piece of furniture that is there and they will move it out of the way.

I’ve got to get the other metal shelf unit out of the bedroom and am working on taking care of that. It’s all a job that’s for sure.  They will be here Sat. the 23rd.  I’ll be taking off from work that day to ‘help’ and to ‘feed’ them.  I am so thankful that they are willing and able to do this for me.

I got the latest water bill Saturday, and it’s doubled from what it was last month, which was double from normal use, so water usage has gone from 2 a month to 8. YIKES!  I called my BIL and told him and asked if I could turn the faucet off at the inlet in front of house when I’m not here, and he said yes and also suggested I turn it off at night too, so that’s what I’ve been doing.  That should help keep the water from leaking until they can fix it.

When Joseph pulled up into the driveway, I laughed right out loud. Look at what I saw over the top of his truck. Do you see the horns over the top? Joseph has been in rodeo events since he was a boy, as is his father.  In fact, Pepe, just competed in Las Vegas and was 5th place in his event, and he’s going to be 70 in Dec.  Anyway, Joseph’s wife and two daughters also participate in rodeo events.

This is what the horns were attached too. This is pulled along the ground behind a truck or whatever, and the legs wiggle for practicing roping a calf. Joseph was bringing this back to his friend whom he had borrowed it from.

Anyway, I am looking forward to the plumbing being taken care of.  Dear Mark loved working on all kinds of projects, and did a lot of building around here, but plumbing was something he hated.  He had crawled under the house a few years back and repaired the leak we had then and we were talking about how best to replace the old pipes. Alas, that was one of our projects we didn’t get to complete. I know that he is thankful that these two are stepping up to help me and take care of this problem.  I am very thankful too.

Last week during my ‘down’ time, I thought about a lot of things of course, and just rested.  I needed to step back from all that has been going on, is going on, will be going on, and just ‘be’.

Sunday afternoon I went to an early Thanksgiving dinner I had been invited too, mostly women but 4 men/husbands came too.  There were around 20, and for FlowerLady, that was a LOT of people to be around that I mostly didn’t know.  They were all friendly, kind and food was delicious! The ladies had all brought different dishes and there was plenty to eat.  After we ate, we wrote down and shared what we were thankful for.  Then one of the men had his guitar, and we sang old hymns which I enjoyed.  Then he sang a lovely song he had written for his wife, very nice.  Up until then I was doing fine, but the next song made the tears start and I couldn’t quit.  It was In the Sweet Bye and Bye, written in 1868 by Sanford F. Bennett. The refrain is what did it to me. It reminded me of the last photo I took of Mark and that he told me he’d be waiting for me on the rainbow bridge.

-------------

There’s a land that is fairer than day,
And by faith we can see it afar;
For the Father waits over the way
To prepare us a dwelling place there.

Refrain:

In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore;
In the sweet by and by,
We shall meet on that beautiful shore.

We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blessed;
And our spirits shall sorrow no more,
Not a sigh for the blessing of rest.

To our bountiful Father above,
We will offer our tribute of praise
For the glorious gift of His love
And the blessings that hallow our days.

I made some new friends, enjoyed good food and came away thankful to God for all of His many blessings, and for His love and tender mercies.

Here are some flowers from Plum Cottage gardens.  It is still warm and very humid down here.

This velvety foliage is from a yellow flowering buddleia.

Salvia coccinea

Garlic vine

Granada

Sunrise

Enjoy preparing for the upcoming holiday season, it is rapidly approaching.

Love and hugs to all of you.

FlowerLady

Hot ginger tea, ibuprofen, needlework hearts, roses

 

Hello Friends ~ Hope you’ve all enjoyed your weekend and that you have a good week ahead.

This morning while sipping coffee my throat started feeling sore on the right side. I took some vitamins and herbs, and decided to not do very much today. I later took an ibuprofen, drank a cup of hot ginger tea with honey, watched a movie on you tube, and made two felt hearts. Am feeling under the weather that’s for sure.  It will be early to bed tonight, as I feel achy, and sinus is stuffed up on right side too now.

The other day when I was in the ‘secret garden’ I got a whiff of a deep rose scent.  I thought to my self, what’s in bloom?  I turned around and there was the rose ‘Granada’, freshly opened.  I bought this early this year.  Granada was one of our favorite cities in Spain and this is a lovely reminder of good times we had there.

This is a bloom of climbing, ‘Maman Cochet’.

This heart has the darker abalone bits and a cultured pearl in the center.

I enjoyed making them both.

These are a lighter colored abalone, and a small cultured pearl.

It’s still very warm and humid down here, today it’s been very breezy too. We need rain and they keep predicting we’re going to get some, but we haven’t yet.

That’s it for now. If you don’t hear from me for a few days, you’ll know why, I’ll be taking it easy to get rid of this bug.

Happy Autumn ~ FlowerLady