Clean Up On Aisle Nine

It's spring!

This is the time of year our yard needs the most clean-up after the heavy snowfalls of winter have taken down the weakest branches and trees.  We rid ourselves of winter rubble in the yard and ready for the rainy, windy days of spring and summer that always prove to bring their damaging winter patterns.

Here is what our yard looked like yesterday before the tree cutters and mulching machines arrive to chomp up winter's damage.

Accomplishments And An Ambulance Ride

 It's been a month since I posted so thought I would catch you up on Life On Sprinkle

Grandchild #1 went to Iowa state in track and placed sixth in the state in girls 100m Hurdles.

She's totally pumped for next year since she is very young to have done this well.

Only a sophomore and rapidly moving up in the track world.

We are totally proud grandparents.

Woot Woot to Madeline!

Grandchild #2 took his very first trip to Washington D.C. after raising money to be able to to.

This is a huge step for him, and Anthony really enjoyed the trip.

We are soooo proud!

Another big woot woot!

Grandchild #3 played in his very first basketball tournament and took second place.

Check out that big bling bling medal hanging around his neck!

Go Drake!

You rock and Grandpa and I are totally proud of you.

That was woot woot number three!

 

 We ordered a very large cedar arbor for the backyard from Wayfair, but considering we want to plant a 'full sun' vine on it, we are instead installing it in the front yard.

 

 The arbor comes in nicely done pre-cut pieces, and then you build the arbor yourself.

Two sides with slats for the vine to grow on, and also a top piece to the arbor.

It didn't take my husband long to lay it all out and screw the pieces all together.

 It's all sitting on the front porch waiting for the cement footers (which he dug a few days ago before the RAIN fell, and fell and fell) to dry completely. 

 We decided on wisteria as our vine for this arbor.  They are so gorgeous in the spring with great looking lavender colored hanging blossoms.

 Needless to say, the front porch is a jungle at this time.... but a lovely one I must say.

Yesterday was my very fist experience with riding in an ambulance due to not knowing what the terrific pains I was having, along with heavy nausea and vomiting.

They arrived at the house and after I had settled into the ambulance administered pain and anti-nausea meds.

Four and a half hours later we were home from the hospital.

I slept a lot in the afternoon, feeling only tired and worn out.

A CAT scan determined that this was a single kidney stone and there are no others awaiting their turn to be born into this world.

What a pain and waste of an entire day.

So, today I spent the morning lounging on the porch, and then picked lettuce as well as the last of our asparagus from the garden, some of which I delivered to the neighbors.

I'll be grabbing a few groceries this afternoon, and hopefully discovering that my iPhone still works, the one that I rinsed in the colander along with the freshly picked lettuce.... my bad.

What's new with your world?

Sunshiney Happy Things

 The screened porch is beginning to once again take shape for the warmer months of the year, and all furniture has now been 'untarped' and set into place for friends to enjoy with us.

The lawn is greening up, trees are flowering, and soon our mountain views will begin their disappearing act as the leaves sprout and block our view.

We still need to put the indoor/outdoor rugs into place and once the nights no longer drop freezing temperatures upon us, I will also add Boston Ferns to the macrame hangers.

LOVE those Boston Ferns... they are like a breath of fresh air to me.

The potted pansies are still giving us their daily smiles and will be for a while yet, since all they want is sunshine and watering and don't really care about the night temperatures.  Hardy little things!

They may get a surprise in the morning since snow is in the forecast.  icky poo.

 Sometime last week I shared a photo (a very poor photo) of my new bee pendant which I wear on a gold chain around my neck and this week I added to the fun with it's cousin, a bee on a hive pendant. There is a cat eye inside the hive.  Check out the new Shine collection by Pandora if you are interested in these charming bees.  We enjoy having bees buzzing all around our property throughout the summer months and hope that other people will join by making an effort to make their yards bee friendly as well.  NO CHEMICALS!

 I've ruined many a pair of socks by walking out the door, down the sidewalk and across our paved driveway without shoes.

Yesterday I made the effort to stop this sock killing nonsense and bought a $13 pair of rubber yard shoes at Wal-Mart. I can slip these off at the front door when I come inside and hope to make this a healthy 'save the socks' habit.

Happy shoes waiting to go outside today.

Wishing you a happy week-end!

Has It Sprung?

 Your area of the country may be digging out of snow, or simply waiting for those heaps and heaps of it to melt and just GO AWAY!  We, on the other hand, have not had much of it this year, and now it's been rainy days followed by sunny days and over 70 degree temperatures driving us to even eat dinner on the screened porch last night.

 My husband gave me a gift card to Home Goods for my birthday a few weeks back, and as I was about to spend it and standing in line at the check outs, I noticed some really cute cloth carrots.

SPRINGTIME I shouted under my breath!

 So I grabbed two bunches of them and placed them in a wooden, elongated bowl/container which I had bought there a month or so ago.... they fit perfect and look great on the mantle in my springtime vignette.

 I took down all of the wintry pine cone branches and all of our birthday and valentines, as well as thank you cards we had received from the grandchildren, and I totally spruced this place up into a cheerier looking family room, which is at the center of our home.

 All of the yellow silk forsythia flowers are from years past, and since I place them in large Rubbermaid tubs when not in use, they stay quite nice from year to year.

I need to look at our live forsythia bush and see if it is blooming yet. The ones in the Roanoke Valley are all yellow now!

Happy bushes!!

 I've had the little brown bunny a few years and don't recall where I purchased him, but he hops onto the mantle every spring.

 The large hare is one of two that I have... the other one which is in our bedroom, and the gold LOVE artpiece is new this year and can be purchased at a Pier One store.  Our local store had been sold out after Valentines Day, but Monday they received a new shipment.... so I headed there yesterday since it was an item I REALLY thought I needed.

I LOVE IT and can use it year round if I choose to.

So thats' it.  I am ready for spring already, and even if we get more snow, well.... I really don't care, because in my heart spring has sprung already.

Seize The Moment

 We had finished our evening meal and sat down to watch a little Netflix, as is our typical routine at the end of the day, and a bit later I needed to head off into the kitchen for a drink of water.

The sunset caught my eye as I glanced out onto the porch, and the view required that I grab my Canon Rebel and snap a few before the scene was gone.

Sunsets are like that.... kind of like life....

Seize the moment or it's gone forever.

It's been a rainy few days, so the photos happen between the bands of rain.

Have a beautiful Tuesday!

Mysterious Springtime

 

The yellows came early this year, my favorite forsythia bush.

 And the daffodils too!

*notice little Miss Izzy behind the tree*

 

 *and there she is again*

 And then came VERY cold weather with a frost that caused my daffodils to fall to the ground, and I thought they would die for certain,

 but that hasn't been the case at all.

They continued to look like sunshine, but in a horizontal position unfortunately.

 So my husband watched them for a number of days, thinking that they were goners.

 And now he has tied them up into an upright position again, and they continue to shine.

That's the mystery of springtime.

Springtime Cool Weather

It's been a busy and somewhat rainy week,

but in between the storms we have found the time to enjoy ourselves

and do some grilling on the deck.

This is my husband.... the man of the hour who is a very 'take charge' kind of guy and does all of the grilling.

 This is our little girl dog, our boxer, Izzy.

She's always very sniffy and curious when grilling happens.

 WE also found the time to do some planting between rain showers,

A couple buckets of daffodils will hopefully add some color beneath our Bradford Pear trees this year.

 and of course you can NEVER have enough pansies, so we have them in the planters on our deck, in pots on the front porch and back patio, and a few with the daffodils.

 The weather was so iffy, but mornings required that I wear a sweater.

I found this new white cable knit at H&M, a store a rarely step inside,

but who can resist a sale with a very nice cable knit for $20?

Certainly not I.

 I paired it with my favorite leather hat,

an old pair of Naturalizer leather boots.

a pair of Tommy Hilfiger jeans from a couple of years ago,

my Michael Kors Runway watch that I STILL LOVE from a few years ago,

and a matching necklace and bracelet from The Loft from my over-flowing jewelry box.

Hat HERE // Watch HERE // Jeans SIM HERE// Boots SIM HERE 

Sweater SIM HERE

What To Pot This Year

First.... YES... we will be planting lettuce in the garden this spring....

 but when we were at the garden center over the week-end shopping for pansies, I spied some pretty mix of potted lettuce varieties and asked my husband if we should pot and grow some on the upper deck near the kitchen door.

 His first response was, "nah", which is a conditioned response in him I think.

To immediately say, "no", but as he walked about the nursery and thought about it he changed his mind, and I spied a few containers of lettuce in his cart.

HA!

I knew it!

 Sometimes it takes me planting the thought in his head.

He even bought his very own lettuce pot, a pretty dark red one.

 So, yesterday, Sunday, the rain began to fall and it's still falling as I type this on Monday morning.

 If the rain continues, we'll be picking lettuce very soon.

nom nom nom.

Kinda feeling a bit like a rabbit today.

XOX