Grandma Style

     I have been told on more than one occasion that I have a grandmaish style. Meaning that often the patterns and items I am drawn too are supposedly something a grandma would pick out. This has been brought up this summer as I am redoing my kitchen cabinets. I decided to line my freshly painted cabinets and drawers with some lovely contact paper that I found. The bright pops of color against the white just make me happy and I figured it would keep things from scuffing up as fast. When my brother stopped by the other day he commented on the grandma-ishness of the pattern. Then someone else pointed out to me that contact paper in and of itself is a rather grandmay thing. And I'm ok with this, in fact I've decided to just fully embrace it.

     Last weekend I came home from the store with a roll of that grippy mat stuff because Buirlen's booster seat kept sliding around on the chair and I thought it might solve the problem(it did). As I was getting a piece cut out and put under the seat Luke commented that that is also something that grandma's are known to have. And I decided then and there that, you know what, grandmas know what's up. They've been running their household's a lot longer than me and seem to have discovered secrets like "contact paper and grippy mats are useful things," so I'm just going to tap into that wisdom and rock my grandma style.
   Speaking of Grandma's, my Grandma and Grandpa Shearer just celebrated their 65th wedding anniversary. They are awesome and  I am so very blessed to have their wonderful example in my life.

Grandpa Charlie and Grandma Frances 65 years ago. 

This week my sunflowers finally passed me up, at least this one did. Non of them have bloomed yet, but I'm sure looking forward to when they do!

Yesterday, my friend Emily, her kids, Buirlen, and I drove south a few hours to meet up with my dear friend Katy and her kids for a quick visit. We visited a lovely public garden that gave me serious joy and garden inspiration. So many colors and types of flowers that I had never seen before....The few pictures I got do not do it justice! 

(Photo credits on these 2 go to Katy)

Buirlen and Brody. Cute little buddies!

A storm just rolled in and the rain sounds lovely as it comes down with rolls of thunder. May your evening be delightful and filled with the peace of The One who designed each and every flower, created marriages that last 65 plus years, and brings the rain. Good night!

"Where flowers bloom, so does hope." ~Lady Bird Johnson

"Love is not an affectionate feeling, but a steady wish for the loved person's ultimate good as far as it can be obtained." ~C.S. Lewis

Summer Time Happenings

  Summer time is under way here in the Northlands, we have been busy! Friends, house projects, and gardens.....Oh My! Life is good. 

      Over Memorial Day weekend, we got to catch up with our good friends, Andrew and Katy and their kids. Sadly for us, they got a wonderful job in Indiana at the end of last year and moved away. It was so fun to spend time catching up.

The Kiddos together again.

Buirlen, Ax, Nettie, and Brody.

Sharing ice cream. Yum!

Time for bubbles and hanging out in the porch. 

A bicycle built for...3

Another one of the pre-projects to get done before the siding acatually gets under way, is removing 2 spots of concrete up by the house. Luke thinks that our living room was at one point a detached garage, and that is why it has the random lip of concrete under the window. And the other patch is a small sidewalk that leads back to the door that is no longer there.

The living room floor just vibrates when he's working at this.

It's jack hammer time!

Helping Daddy and loving it!

Time to relax. Buirlen has decided that his old carseat is the perfect lounge chair. 

This past week, I have also been working on getting my garden in. I am very excited about it this year and hope that it turns out as beautifully as I'm picturing it in my head. I have a sunflower, "forest," wildflowers, cosmos, zinnias, marigolds, tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, beets, collards, and broccoli. 

Tilling in the rain. He's a good guy. 

A cute and dirty little gardener. 

Planting beans. 

Getting dirty. 

This afternoon, I added a touch of class and charm to my garden which I'm hoping will also deter deer. 

Baby strawberries. 

And then, I went and gave a moose a muffin and am knee deep in a house project of my own involving my kitchen cabinets. Sand, prime, paint, repeat. More on that later. 

Mini road trips to see Poppy. 

Sherif Buirlen is on duty. 

My happy boy. 

Until next time. 

"Let us dance in the sun, wearing wildflowers in our hair." ~Susan Polis Schultz

Puff Pastry and Other Stuff

     Monday is over halfway over now and the weather has been unique. Between the rain/snow/hail we have been getting, the roads should be interesting to drive on. Regardless of the weather patterns however, this weekend was lovely. Katy and I love to watch "The Great British Baking Show," and felt the need to try our hands at something creative in the baking department. So, on Saturday, we spent the afternoon making lemon, raspberry, cheesecake, puff pastry tarts.

I wore my pearls to add a touch of Julia Child to the afternoon. 

The recipes ready to go. I even have a British cookbook with my name in the title. 

Lemon curd, Raspberry coulis, and puff pastry.

Starting the dough. Nettie got in on the action. 

Pounding our butter. 

It was exciting when it worked out like it was supposed to. 

Roll, fold, chill repeat. And if you're Brody you take a snooze. 

Katy is a tad busy. 

Babies and raspberries.

 

We achieved the layers of puff pastry, but I think we may have overworked the dough because it wasn't quite as delicate as I think it should have been. But so fun to try non the less.

Also, last Thursday, Luke's sister, Martha, and her family moved and our now just a couple of hours from us. So we got to see them and their new house. They also came to town for the weekend, so fun was had. 

Giving Auntie Martha a hug.

Cousins are fun!

  

Relaxing with Grandpa

Is it a pond, a skating rink, or our driveway on this blustery day?

The other day Andrew, Katy and the kids were over and all the kids were playing in the bedroom. Nettie comes out and asks if she could use my toothbrush. I told her no and that she should use a pretend one. She replied, "But i already did."....Oh boy

So there you have it. Enjoy the rest of your day!

"Simple pleasures are life's treasures." ~Unknown