Project "Front Porch"

Recently my mother was going to get rid of her front porch white wicker furniture...I asked her if I could have it since she was going to throw it away....she also had a swing that was green and the cushions were very weathered and she wanted to get rid of it too...I asked if I could have that too....she just wanted to throw them away thinking that they were ruined....I could see a lot of potential in it all with a few cans of paint and new cushions...I brought them home and repainted and now have a brand new front porch and it is my very favorite place to be...every morning drinking coffee and Bible study, and then sometimes, I even take my laptop out to do work....it has kept me busy and really liking working outdoors and staying out there....I am enjoying every minute of it until the hot Texas weather hits, then I am not sure where I will be.

This is the long view from one end...I even painted our old swing that I had on our front porch that is in the front part of this picture and added a cushion.
The swing she thought had no hope, I primed and painted it, added cushons and a new canopy...the canopy if just pinned up there temporarily since my sewing machine is not working...I have to buy a new sewing machine.
This is a close up view...it is now a chocolate brown instead of a green.

Just part of the wicker furniture, it came with this little love seat, a plant stand, two chairs and a table that are all grouped together

I added a cross by the front door that one of my mother's friends gave me. I thought it added a nice touch...don't look at the shadow of the woman in the window.

The old swing that my husband painted red along with the porch, the back porch, the poles on the back porch...he went a little red happy and I thought I would blend in some new colors, making the red porch not stand out as much.

There's a monster in the closet

Many of you may never have heard the little kids song, "There's a monster in the closet and the ghosts are on the wall, so why do you keep telling me there's nothing there at all"...it s a little children's song that Chris used to play with his guitar and sing to the kids and they would get so excited and get louder and louder when they sang it...it is just talking about a little kid who saw monster's in the closet when the lights went out and basically wanted to get out of bed...the kids loved it and my littlest one would get his play guitar out and pretend to be like Chris playing and singing it...it was a really cute song...and we have some great memories, video's and pictures of him singing it.

This past weekend, my daughter and grandbaby came over for a visit...my daughter tried on Alli's little Easter dress for me and of course she had to have shoes to go with it and this was the result of her search...as you can see, it looks like a monster was in my closet and she destroyed a rack of shoes and pulled them all out to try on, not matching many pairs...I did happen to get one picture of a perfect shoe match...it so reminded me of that little song and the great memories that we have had with all of our children through the years.

Here is a little picture of her little Easter dress that she never got to wear, she got Scarlett Fever before she had a chance to wear it, but she is better now.
I had to take a picture of her smelling the tulips that our neighbor brought over before they left to go back home to Michigan. They were so beautiful until Alli got a hold of them and tore the pedals off one by one.

When Alli first got here, she jumped in my lap knowing I had my camera ready and said "cheese" really big. She is the funniest little kid.

Anniversaries

Anniversaries....what a scary word for some of us....we all have them....an anniversary of some kind. I have just gone through the anniversary of my dad's death and it was harder than I had ever imagined...it has taken me awhile to get back to normal....thus the reason for not blogging....I have to admit, I miss the blogging world, I have been keeping myself busy with projects at home, at work and other people's projects. Anything to keep my mind off of realizing that I have been without my dad for over a year now.

I am coming up on the anniversary of my son leaving for the Marine Corp. that forever changed him as a man....a husband...and someone I cannot even relate to anymore. I am so thankful that he is happily married, but I miss my son.

The anniversary of the death of my friend's son, Justin....thinking of how beautiful he was and how he loved the unlovable people in the world and had so much to offer and the heartbreak that his parents are still going through when they received that phone call on Easter Sunday 4 years ago.

The anniversary of the death of my step dad who was shot and killed by his brother on the church parking lot just 5 years ago.

The anniversary of receiving a 28,000 square foot building free of charge.

I have been going through all of these different anniversaries and completely forgot about my marriage anniversary....has any other woman forgot her anniversary before? I have been so focused on the heartbreaking anniversaries that I forgot to celebrate the one great anniversary with the love of my life. How sad, I have been so busy being depressed, grieving and feeling sorry for myself and those that I love that I forgot to be thankful for the anniversaries that I still have. It is sad when a husband has to remind his wife in front of a neighbor that you just met that it is your anniversary. What does a woman do to make up for fogetting? How do I make it up to my husband who in the past several months has been a walking Jesus to me....how grateful I am and full of love for my man who has been walking with me, treating me like a QUEEN. I have no tricks up my sleeve....no ideas of what I should do, I am completely clueless. Does anyone have any ideas (did I forget to mention that it has to be on a small budget)....what can I do? Please help!!!