MY HOME TOUR AT A STROLL THRU LIFE

I don't have much to say today (for once!), but I wanted to invite you to a tour of my home over at A Stroll Thru Life.  I'm sure most of you know Marty and follow her wonderful blog.  I am so excited!!

Wishing all of you a great weekend! :)

XO,

Jane

A LITTLE CLEANING & GARDENING AT THE LAKE

Happy Monday, everyone!  After a busy weekend at the lake, it's good to be home.  We've left on Sunday (last night), and for some reason, although it cuts our day short, I feel more refreshed waking up at home here on Monday mornings.  When we leave on Monday or Tuesday, we're up at 5:00 a.m. and make the two hour drive.  I arrive here feeling tired and lazy and usually need a good nap.  As I've said, the lake can be a lot of work.  Even fun days on the boat, swimming, cooking out, etc, can leave you tired.   Maybe it's all the activity and fresh air, I'm just generally wiped out.  But we really had a fantastic weekend, The Husband and I.

Saturday was rather warm...okay, super hot and humid!  I spent most of the day inside cleaning.  I know, I know, you must already thing I'm a cleanaholic, but I'll let you in on a secret, I'm getting to be an old lady and I really just hate the heat.  I see The Husband outside doing yardwork or tooling around his workbench and I just feel super lazy.  So I stay inside with the air conditioning on and make myself useful.  The floors felt gritty as usual from the beach sand, the patio and the garage (which The Husband got around to blowing and power washing), so I swept, mopped, cleaned the bathrooms and cleaned all the dead bugs off the window sills.  Fun!!  At least I stayed cool. 

Later in the afternoon I went out to the grocery store and to do a few errands.  The Husband went out likewise in his truck, he's always needing a new tool or part for something.  He beat me home and when I pulled up, there he was standing in the middle of the garden with a shovel and his work gloves on.  The hairs on the back of my neck stood up as I thought, "What is he planting now?".  Then I saw the two rosebushes.  He must have read my last post where I mentioned I was going to plant some climbing roses on my flowerless arbor.  If your heart can go in two directions at once, I guess mine did.  I really wanted to buy the roses and plant them myself.  The Husband has a way of taking over the garden,; weeding, watering, fertilizing, you get the idea.  Somehow the daisies are no longer Blondie's daisies.  They're his.  The climbing roses on the trellis are no longer mine because he has been babying them for the past two years.  You get the idea.  So I sat and watched as he planted them.  He then advised me that if I took good care of them, watered, pruned, fed, etc., they could be "mine".  So what do you think of that?  I felt like an unruly child.  They are just gorgeous, they are called Eden Climber.  I love him and I told him so.  And I am going to be so on top of these plants all summer long that he won't have a chance to get near them! :)

I spent my Sunday working on the Summerhouse (my little screened in getaway).  Here you can see my little chair where I can look out at the lake and relax, the main house is in the background.

It's a little cottage but it gets really buggy and dirty over the winter.  I take a broom to all the spider and cob webs, clean the window sills where they collect (seven windows), wipe down the furniture, sweep and mop the floor.  Then I'm good for the summer.

So here it is, aired out and spotless.

Layla acts quite like the princess at the lake.  Since she has to be on a lead line or she will run away, I put her in the Summerhouse a lot where she can lounge on the window seat and watch the world go by.

I know there is a sign craze right now, I think Emily must have one in every room...about home and family and friends.  I just never cared for them until I saw this one in a shop window on a trip to Galena, IL, last summer.  I froze when I read it.  It touched my soul, my spirit.  Please enlarge it if you can't read it.  It gave me shivers of happiness when I first did.

From the Summerhouse porch you have a closer view of the bay we live on, so I thought I'd take a picture of The Husband's new baby, the fishing boat.  He goes out on the lake about 6:00 a.m. every morning (and I get to sleep late!).  It's so relaxing for him after a week of wearing a suit and tie and commuting to downtown Chicago.

Last week I got a lot of comments about the milkweed on the side of my house that I was going to pull out.  I had no idea that milkweed was so essential to the butterflies that are heading toward extinction, like the monarch.  It's rather weedy looking...

...but the flowers are pretty.  I have decided to transplant all but a few to my herb garden.  If they don't make it, I will keep the remaining.  And I thank you ladies for opening my eyes...you are not only sweet and kind, you are a smart bunch!

I should have lightened up this picture a bit.  I wanted to show you how crazy my wisteria has gone.  It grows on each side of my front porch.  It has finally reached the balcony above the porch and his heading to the arbor above that.  That was my goal, to sit out on my balcony with a birds eye view of the lake and a canopy of purple flowers and leaves.  But I tell you, it is a plant with a mind of it's own.  It wrapped itself around my front porch furniture!  And it tangled it's way through my day lilies and hostas to the side of the house where it has tightly wound itself around a power line. Needless to say, I wasn't going to try to cut it off an electrical line so next weekend I am going to put on my safari garb and crawl under it all to cut it away from the line at the root.  I was warned it was invasive, not life threatening!

The Husband grilled some bratwurst Saturday night which we had with roasted peppers.  I'm not going to go off on a long tangent on eating healthy because I know so many of you have been doing that for a long time.  And I know that all of you know from reading my blog that I am a yo-yo dieter and sometimes actually go to a gym.  Last week I read (in two evenings), a book that made such an impact on my thinking about food that I can't stop thinking or talking about it to The Husband, my kids and friends.  It's called Obsessed by Mika Brzezinski....you can find it on Amazon or just read the description of it if you like.  Mika is a co-host on the show Morning Joe which is on every morning at 6:00 a.m. on MSNBC.  She has written a very comprehensive and well researched book on food addiction and the continuing rise of obesity in America, as well as the role of the media and food manufacturers in this epidemic.  As much as we now have access to fresh fruits and vegetables at the many farm markets that are springing up, women now spend an average of 1.5 hours preparing food in their kitchens, as opposed to 5.6 hours that was the average in 1960.  With women in the work force more now than ever and the crunch for time that all women have,  we are relying more and more on processed foods.  I am 100% guilty of that.

I came home last night and I looked at the 3 shelves in one of my cabinets that were filled with packages of instant potatoes, boxed rice and noodles, jars of sauces and gravies.  Let's just say I had a hard time sleeping.  There are going to be some major changes here in Blondieville, but don't fear, I'm not going to stand on my soapbox and preach about healthy eating.  I'm going to make it a real goal and let you know what I'm doing and how I'm doing from time to time.  But do let me have your thoughts.  How do you approach  cooking?  Do you feel any guilt like I do for not always cooking from scratch?  Have you been struggling with your weight for as long as I have because you just make all the wrong choices?  Feel free to share if you want.  It's really just my thought that you might want to have a look at this book, and my hope that you will support me in my goals to start eating right, exercising and and getting healthy, as well as shedding a lot of this excess weight I'm always complaining about!

I hope I haven't bored you.  I don't like ideas pushed on me either.  So take it for what it's worth.  Now, I'm going to just wish all of you a great week and get to getting my house in shape.  The floors are super sticky...I thought my kids were done throwing parties while we were away! ;-D

I'm joining Tracie at Fishtail Cottage for her Garden Party.  Check it out!

XO,

Jane

A WEEKEND AT THE LAKE

Hi everyone!  It's a balmy 58 degrees here in Chicago.  I'm actually glad though, yesterday was close to 90 and SO humid.  The rain came about 9:00 p.m. and cooled everything off tremendously.  Our re~seeded front lawn is loving this weather, it was actually mowed for the first time yesterday.  Yay!

It was a quiet and restful weekend at the lake.  It rained on Saturday and I mostly just puttered around the house.  I still have a lot to do before the family comes up for the 4th of July (which is coming up so fast!), but the rain was making me lazy.  I read and napped and read some more.  I was useless.

The Husband was able to get his boat in the water with the help of his friends at the marina.  He fished a bit but had little luck.  He came home and fished off the dock.  Above you can see him and if you look at the water, you can see it's pouring rain.  That didn't stop him!

Sunday morning we were up at 6:00 a.m., had coffee and then he was off again to catch the big one.  I went back to bed.  Well, he got lucky and caught about 4 of these big bass (yes, he brought his phone to take pictures and back up his fish tales).  We are total catch and release people so there was no harm done to this slimy guy

I was in shock when we arrived and I saw all the blooms on my climbing rose.  Last weekend it was just buds.  Now I'm wondering, do you see where the roses have grown above the trellis?  Should I prune that off so it spreads out more?  I know zilch about pruning roses and it's time I learned.  I have an arbor along a walkway to the garden and it was my original idea to plant clematis.  Now I'm thinking of roses.  I've caught the bug!

Aren't these gorgeous?  While I have your attention, I thought I'd mention my battle with the milkweed along the side of my house.  Where it came from, I'm not sure, but I'm trying to clear it all out to plant peonies.  There are about 10 plants and they are taller then me.  For years I've avoided this project because of all the bees hovering around them.  So Saturday I consulted my best friend, Google, and lo and behold, these plants are highly coveted.  I even found a milkweed club!  Apparently, their claim to fame is that they attract all sorts of butterflies (and bees).  I've cut them down before and they just keep coming back.  Between the milkweed and my crazy wisteria, which has wrapped itself around a power line, I have a mess on this side of my house. 

I made up for my lazy, rainy Saturday by spending most of the time outside on Sunday.  I cleaned up my section of the workbench in the garage where I keep all my outdoor table and patio decorations, and my alotted space in the shed for my gardening tools.  I found this funky birdhouse that I bought a few years ago at some sort of roadside stand.  I attached it to a tree by the driveway.  All of my birdhouses have No Vacancy signs, the little wrens are loving them.  I also planted some pots with flowers I had left over from planting here, so I got a lot of bang for my buck.  

Not only was it Father's Day on Sunday, it was also Emily's birthday.  We got on the road for Chicago early and we all met at a little Irish pub, the whole family and then a few, to celebrate both occasions.  Pizza, beer and a lot of laughs.  We also celebrated our son, Jeff, buying his first home.  He has been staying with us for the past few weeks and he is closing on his house in about 2 weeks.  It is awesome, just beautiful and only 15 minutes away.  We are so happy for him!

So that's all I have for now.  I brought my boxwood clippings home with me and I'm going to get to work on that wreath today.  I've also been working feverishly on cleaning up my laundry/storage room in the basement.  I can't even describe what a mess it was.  I spent three straight days sorting and washing clothes, some that the kids left behind when they moved out, came back, moved out...I can see the floor again.  We also have a big standing freezer that I totally emptied and scoured.  As much as I like to clean and organize, this freezer (and the whole laundry room) was the bane of my existence.  I found whole roasts and chickens going back to 2009.  All sorts of packaged foods that The Husband would load up on at Costco.  I would just forget I had stuff in there.  So it's clean and sparkling and even though it's just a dark, dungeon of a room, I'm happy! :)

See you soon!

XO,

Jane

PLAYING IN THE GARDEN & KITCHEN

It has been a crazy busy week here.  As I mentioned in my last post, I was seriously lagging behind in the gardening department.  I finally got out to the garden nursery and I was seriously disappointed that they were out of so many of the plants that I love.  I had to change my whole color scheme and try plants that I've never grown.  Time for Blondie to step out of the box!

Because I get so much shade in my yard from all of the huge walnut trees and so much sun on my patio, I planted 3 tomato plants in this really big pot.  I think they are going to do just fine.  I've had little luck growing them at the lake because of the watering factor, so I'm really happy that I came up with this idea.

I planted some marigolds in the pot as well as they deter buggy pests and they look pretty.

I also picked up a small hanging plant for my back porch.  I usually get a larger basket but too many people have complained of concussions from bumping into it on the way out.  I think these are double petunias.

And because I've had such success with my climbing roses at the lakehouse, I thought I'd try a tea rose here, again in one of those big pots.  I love the colors and there are so many buds on it already.

This is a little rustic area off the patio.  It's covered in ground ivy so I set some pots right down in it.  I'll take more pictures in the coming weeks so you can see when it's overgrown, er...blooming like mad.

This is the best seat in the house!  I sit out here with my coffee and a book in the morning and maybe a glass of wine in the evening.  The Husband treats the table and chairs with some sort of oil solution that brings back the rich shine, but I like it sort of worn like this.  The patio is surrounded by hedges for privacy.  The houses in the city are so close to each other that you can sneeze and your next door neighbor says, "Bless you!"

All the kids and their spouses came for dinner Wednesday night.  I had made this casserole a few weeks ago, just fiddled around with things I had and came up with with something very tasty.  So this is what I served along with Texas toast and a salad.  It's very simple...just chunks of chicken, sausage and potatoes browned in olive oil and into a casserole dish.  I then poured a jar of garlic/onion red sauce over the top.  Then bread crumbs mixed with melted butter...

...and then just a thin covering of mozzarella cheese. It bakes for about an hour and a half.  Very simple and so good!

Before dinner we had this Loaded Baked Potato Dip that I found here.  Very simply:  Mix 16 oz. of sour cream with 8 oz. of cheddar, 12 oz. of cooked bacon crumbled up and a handful of chopped green onion.  Delicious for dipping potato chips in!

The big storm front that started in Iowa hit us at about 6:00 Wednesday night, right when everyone was coming for dinner.  A lot of dogs don't like storms and Milo is one of them.  But then Emily and Mike showed up with Rusty, they didn't want to leave him home alone.  Then Kevin and Mary Clare came with who else but Tucker.  Talk about a madhouse!  All the dogs forgot about their fearfulness and ran around like crazy!  Luckily the bad part of the storm swept through just miles south of us and all we had was a tremendous downpour.  

So, we're off to the lake in a few hours.  I have pots to plant there, too, and I'm really excited...I bought curtains for the French doors that lead out to the balcony off our master bedroom.  We've never had curtains there before because the view of the lake is so pretty.  These are just white tab top curtains that we can leave open.  The room is quite large, I have a comfy chair and floor lamp for curling up to read, and The Husband eventually wants to get a desk for the corner so he can get a little extra office work done when he has the time.

So, I'm off to get a few things done, pack my bags and get on the road.  I hope everyone has beautiful weather this weekend.  The rain really ended all the humidity we were having and it is just gorgeous! :)

XO,

Jane

A LITTLE SHOPPING, MAKING CANDY & WAITING FOR THE RAIN TO GO AWAY

I hope everybody has started their week out well.  I had a slow weekend...okay, interpret that to be boring.  I did make candy, though!  Isn't that odd?  The only time I make candy is around Christmas so this was a little fun.  While perusing blogs yesterday morning, I visited, Lisa at Texas Decor and she had a post up about making these Hershey Pretzel Hugs.  How cute are these?  And they have that sweet/salty flavor we all crave.

I was heading out to the grocery store so I decided to get the ingredients.  I made them after dinner last night.  The Husband and Abby were hovering over me as I put the finishing touches on them, then I sadly had to inform them that they had to go in the freezer overnight!  Ha!

They are SO good.  Just plop a Hershey Hug on a waffle pretzel, warm them up in a 200 degree oven about 7 minutes and then while hot and gooey, add the M&M's.  Now, you have to go to Lisa's blog to get the details.  She is such a sweet girl and has a fantastic blog that I've been following recently.  Tell her I said Hello!

Another new blogger friend of mine is Diane Cayton-Hakey, and I had the good luck to win a gift certificate on her blog to Holly Lane Designs.  I picked out these earrings and it wasn't easy.  This website can be as addicting as the candy...so many pretty jewelry pieces and great quality.  I would have shown you these on but I have no one here to take a picture!  Now, visit Diane as well.  What a lovely lady; smart, beautiful, hilarious and she writes some really relevant posts that gets everyone commenting.  Thanks, Diane!

In my meager attempt at competing with the fashion blogs, I wanted to show you the little dress and sandals I got at Old Navy.  It was sort of funny, Emily has Thursdays and Fridays off work and we usually go bumming.  I don't know about you, but at the end of the week I'm lucky if I have spare change in my wallet for the bus.  Last week we went to Homegoods and I trudged along behind her while she picked out some really cute things for her backyard deck.  Funny though, as my eye caught things I liked, I was able to be more logical about whether or not I really needed it, liked it, or if it was worth the money.  Anyway, this past Thursday she wanted me to go to Old Navy with her to return something.  "You can't keep doing this to me, Em!"  Well, The Husband took pity on me and gave me a little "pocket money", as my mom used to call it and off we went.  But first, we stopped at Pier 1 where she had to return something as well.  OMG, it was like being at an outdoor summer party!  As I haven't even cleaned up my patio yet, I saw it all coming together with the help of a few outdoor pillows, some really inexpensive lanterns, straw placemats and cute candles.  But again, my funds were limited so I was very cautious about what I put in my basket.  My mantra is:  Do you need it?  Do you love it?  Will you have it forever?

Onward to Old Navy.  Not exactly your place for quality clothes but you can always find something fun and affordable.  Hence, this little cotton summer dress and sandals.  And I found a white tank top to wear under it...all for $37.00!  My biggest treat throughout our little shopping spree was that Emily kept telling me it looked like I had lost weight!  Well, I had given up on that notion even though I have curbed my sweet tooth radically.  I said, "That's great, Emily, because right now I'm so hungry I could faint."  Silly me, no breakfast or lunch and it was 3:00.  She came up to me a little bit later with a fruit and nut bar that made me want to gag looking at it.  "They had Hershey Kisses but since you look so good, I bought you this!"  What a sweetheart.  So I have my fingers crossed that I just may be slimming down, but I'm not going to dwell on it.  I'll be starting a new insane diet.

Here's the side of my house in all it ivy glory.  Believe it or not, there are three windows under all that greenery.  I love it though, the light filters in just perfectly.  But I do have to trim it.  The English ivy on the brick is at war with the German ivy on the ground.  So my clippers are sharpened!  I haven't had a chance to plant my flowerpots yet,  I'm waaaaay behind on all things gardening.  Yesterday I decided that today would be the day I would go to the nursery and get flowers and tomatoes and herbs, oh yes!  I pulled out some pretty planters that I had been hoarding downstairs and I meticulously made a list of the color scheme I am going to have this summer and what flowers I wanted to try.  I went to bed a happy girl.  And then...I woke up at 2:00 a.m. to the sound of thunder and rain pelting the windows.  Milo jumped into bed with us and all I could think was rain, mud, mess and another day I'd have to put off playing in the dirt.  So today is iffy, it's gloomy with dark clouds drifting in and out.  Should I make a run for it?  Nothing is more disappointing than having all those flats and pots sitting outside  and not being able to do anything.  Woe is me.

Oh, by the way, we missed going to the lake this weekend so Milo missed out on being in the Ugly (handsome) Dog Show.  What a disappointment, all that money on teeth whitening and having his chest shaved...

See you soon!

XO,

Jane

A LITTLE OF THIS & THAT AND A DIY PROJECT

Well, it's been awhile since I've been around.  When I go this long without posting, even I forget what I've been up to.  Okay, weather report.  Last week was hot, hot, hot.  Any excuse to get out of the house and into the air conditioning was alright with me (we have the old fashioned in the window air conditioners and no one was around to put them in).  I was even desperate enough to sit in Firestone while Emily had a tire changed.  Yes, desperate.  After some wicked weather over the weekend, we are in the 60's and I'm loving it. 

We were fortunate enough to make our getaway to the lake on Thursday night...yes, central air!  This is Layla watching the front door as we load up the car, always afraid we  are going to leave without her.  I'm usually on my second wind after the long drive up.  At about midnight I was sitting in my rocking chair by the big windows reading when  I looked up to hear the wind picking up and   the trees were almost bending while leaves swirled around..  A huge storm blew in and although it was a little frightening, it took the hot weather with it. 

The next morning was cloudy and cool, in fact, the whole weekend was.  Across the street, my neighbors peonies were sagging on the ground like huge white swans from the rainfall.  I grabbed my trusty scissors and cut a few for a pretty bouquet.  

Even with the cooler weather, my allergies continue to be terrible.  With the wind blowing cotton wood puffs all over the place, I tried to stay indoors as much as possible.  I had seen a little DIY project on Pinterest that I wanted to try...I didn't re~pin it since it was pretty simple to figure out, so I don't have a source.  . 

I found a wooden hanger (thanks Judy, for offering to send me one!), and I had some gray spray paint in the garage.  All I did was give it two coats and I had the hand towels.

It's in the powder room where I have a slight beachy feel going on...not too much, themes overwhelm me!

By Sunday I couldn't stand sitting in the house anymore while The Husband kept himself totally occupied playing with his boat in the garage.  I took a ride up to the big country farm/nursery we go to for just about everything.  It sells plants, garden accessories, groceries, you name it. 

I actually went for some asparagus and came home with a big hanging planter of petunias.  Of course I forgot to take a picture.  I have a big crock that sits by the patio steps and rather fill the whole thing with soil and thus make it unmovable, I buy a hanging plant that sets down in it perfectly.  Beautiful red and white petunias.  And I forgot the asparagus.  

I have a list of projects a mile long and I totally blame it on the allergies for keeping me from starting on them.  Last week they were so bad, I gave myself an eye infection from rubbing them.  This weekend my face broke out in hivey blotches.  I don't mean to complain about the little aggravations in life, but I'm not the type to just plow through when I feel crappy.  Just let me lie on the couch with a cold washcloth and sneeze myself to death.  Okay, I finally took care of the front porch, swept the best I could with the wind blowing the leaves everywhere and put my cushions on the furniture.  One project leads to another and although I didn't do it, one sunny day I need to scrub them down with Oxy Clean.  And my wisteria has to be trimmed big time, the tendrils kept getting caught in my hair and it felt like they were ripping it out.  I do have some pretty purple flowers on it, but my gosh, it's  wild looking stuff!

2 weeks ago we lost our beloved birch trees in a storm.  It was heartbreaking.  They landed in the neighbors yard but caused little damage.  They were nice enough to cut it up with a chain saw and now we have this...

...and a lot more where this came from.  Oh, and listen to this!  The Husband trimmed the boxwood and I collected a big vegetable basket full of clippings...and then left them here.  Grapevine wreath here, clippings there.  Sigh.  I do have to say that I just may have enough for two or more wreaths.  I was really looking forward to working on that this week.

I cleaned up the hearth a bit and finally put some photos in these Pottery Barn frames I've had forever.  I love this picture of Abby kissing Milo on the beach.

And speaking of Milo, we have plans for next Saturday night at the lake.  No, no, no, it's not what you think.  It's a big dog festival and I'm entering him under Mr. Handsome!  Layla's coming, too, just so she can growl and act indifferent to the other dogs.  Can't wait!

So that's been my week.  My hives have gone down and after an hour of blowing my nose when I wake up, I'm pretty much okay.  I'm sort of behind on all things housekeeping due to the wretched heat last week so I have my day cut out for me.  See you soon!

XO,

Jane