Happy Mother's Day

 Happy Mother's Day to all mothers, adoptive mothers, dads that are mothers,

 heck any and all that identify as a mother. 

 I was sitting out on my porch yesterday and a van drove up and a man walked up my driveway with a huge bouquet of flowers!  

They were from my three children and my grandson.

I hope you all have a relaxing, blessed day.

~XOP~

Happy Mother's Day

My daughter called me home from camping to celebrate Mother's Day early.

We went to the nail place and I got my toes and my fingers done.  

I decided to try something new. 

 I had a sparkly teal for the "French" pedicure/manicure.  I LOVE how this turned out!

 My daughter in NC sent these beautiful flowers.

My son gave me these beautiful flowers too. 

 Apparently everyone knows how much I love Stargazer Lillies!

My younger sister sent me the nicest card this year too. 

She has CP and I work to make sure she has what she needs to live as independently as possible.

The family took me to dinner too.  

All in all a pretty nice time!  

Just missed having my other daughter there too, but I know she was there in spirit.

On Sunday hubby and I went back to the camper.  

I thought we needed a photo of the 2 of us.  We are terrible at taking selfies, LOL.

Hope everyone had a nice weekend too, whatever you got to do.

~XOP~

I Love My Kids

I had a fabulous day yesterday.  It was Mother's Day.  

I have a love hate relationship with this day.  

Some years it has been rocky (not due to the kids) but this year it was fantastic. 

 I told the two that live near me that I didn't want anything for Mother's Day except them to come to my house and help me in the garden.  

The front garden especially has gotten out of control and really just needed to have most everything removed so it can be re-done.

Little did I know how this day would turn out. 

 First thing, my eldest daughter wanted to take me out for breakfast. 

 She asked if her MIL could come too as her son (my SIL) was out of the state and 

my daughter wanted to celebrate for him. 

 Of course I said yes! 

 So we went to breakfast and that was followed up with manicure/pedicures at the local salon. 

 I did not get a manicure as I knew we would be working in the garden.  

After that we went back to my house and about 10 minutes later my son showed up.

He came out of the truck with the biggest, most beautiful bouquet EVER!

I LOVE both Stargazer Lillies and Daisies.

This arrangement had them in abundance!

Isn't it gorgeous?

This was from all three of my children.

The middle one lives in NC so she could not be here to celebrate with us.

Then the garden work began.  Shelby and I were weeding and I charged Thadd with turning over the grass that was in the expanded portion of the garden.

He took the weed wacker and leveled the grass into dirt. 

Not exactly what I expected but I think it will work with a bit more effort on my part.

Then I asked them to help me remove the dead bush.  

Oh baby, taking out the one dead bush ended up in removing all 4 bushes 

(they looked awful once we got the dead one out.)

Shelby and I dug out around each bush and we hooked up the towing strap and Thadd pulled them out using the truck!!!

Just look at the roots on those things!!!  

Then we had to drag them to the back yard.  Chris can cut them up when he gets home.  

They were incredibly HEAVY!!!

Empty gaping holes, and branches filling some of the space in.

Now I have a LOT more work to do in leveling out the ground,

 making sure I can kill the left over weeds and grass.  

I plan to fill in with some purchased dirt, put down weed barrier, and maybe plant.  

Then wood chips on top. 

 My plan is to plant some blueberry plants and Peonies near the house and

 fill in with some vegetables in the large center and border with annuals. 

 I will have to see what hubby thinks.  

He is out of the country this week.

I kept on saying, dad isn't going to be happy we did this...

And they kept on saying, well, he should have been here then.

And we would all laugh and laugh.

It was fantastic!

I was dirty, a little sun burnt and exhausted and incredibly HAPPY!!  

This was one of the best days ever!!!  

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend and celebrated your moms, moms to be, grandmas and any other mother figure you love!  

~XOP~

Bridal Shower/Mother's Day Weekend

Last weekend was jam packed! 

 I finally, had that bridal shower I have been preparing for on Saturday.  

I drove the 2.5 hours (one way) with my SIL and that was nice.

  I love catching up with her.  

If you remember this is the one I have been making all the things for.

I will show you how I packaged the gift.  Let's "unwrap" the gift and show you.

This is how I brought the gift, all wrapped up.

I put everything inside a Pyrex casserole dish, a covered one.  So when she opened the cover...

She saw this.  Coasters were on the top

Next layer was the trivets

Under the trivets were the oven mitts

Under the oven mitts were the first set of dish towels

Under the first set of dish towels were the second set of dish towels

Lastly, when all was removed it revealed that I had glass etched their last name on the bottom (outside) of the Pyrex dish!  This way, if they have to take a dish, they always get it back!

The glass etching cream (Armor Etch) came from Michaels. 

 I used a stencil and a bristle brush. 

 I used my spray baste that I use for quilting to adhere the stencil letters to the bottom of the pan. 

 I drew a line with a Sharpie that was straight, so I could line up the letters.

  I cut the letters apart and spaced them on the dish, then held it up to make sure I liked the spacing.  Since I had to use the S and the L twice I had to make sure to leave room for those.  

Then I painted the cream on, let it set for 1 minute and washed it off in the sink.  

EASY!  

I have painted the bottom previously for gifts but I like this better and it will NOT come off.

OK so this is where I say, if you are my friend or relation and you KNOW I do this for showers, please don't do this at showers you know I will be attending.  

You would think I not have to say this but I know how crafty all my friends are! 

 Or just ask me if I am planning on doing it.  

If not, then glass etch all you want.  

Or etch something different, like glasses.  

If there is a stencil for it and you have glass, go for it!

Linking up with Crazy Mom Quilts

I leave you with a fun little flipgram of the whole loading process.

We went out to the farm for a Mother's Day brunch.  

Eric cooked eggs Benedict, sausage, hash browns, among other things.  

He made Mimosa's and also bought Diet Coke for me.

Weren't the plates beautiful?

My son brought me these beautiful flowers.

Beep was enjoying the warm day to enjoy a dust bath!

All in all a great weekend!

~XOP~

Happy Mother's Day

I just wanted to take a minute and wish everyone out there a happy Mother's Day! 

 I hope your families take a few minuter today to let you know how much they appreciate you 

and all you do for them! 

 I hope you do the same for all the special women in your life!

I was at a bridal shower out of town yesterday and these beauties were waiting for me when I got home.

They are from my lovely DD2. 

 Thank you so much!

(She is the one in the smaller photo)

Today my son brought me these. 

 Thanks to both of you guys!!

I am supposed to go to dinner and a movie with my DD1 today too.

All in all a great day.  I am hoping to get to my sewinroom sometime today also.

Just before the shower I was making some dish towels and a garter for the bride.  

Thought you might like to see how they turned out.

 It took me awhile to find the perfect dish towel but finally found some that would work. 

 Anyone interested in seeing how to make them?  

SUPER easy.

Isn't she beautiful?

haha my little niece thought it was a headband!!

Why does the Spartan always end up making projects with Michigan fabric??

Welcome to the family Juli!

~XOP~

It's The Little Things

I came home from work to find 2 of my cats sleeping in odd places. 

 Mosen was on this box and he looked so content.  

Cats have a knack for making even the most uncomfortable places look divine!

I didn't happen to be able to find Aiden and then saw this

 

 She is sleeping on top of a bag full of fabric with her whole face smashed right down in the bag 

as if she is smelling the fabric. 

 It was so cute!

Also, arriving at home yesterday was a HUGE box from Pro Flowers.  

These beauties were inside.  

From my DD2 that lives in NC for Mother's Day.

Can you see the brightly colored dishes next to the vase?  

There are peacocks on them and DD1 is scouring all the Home Goods stores for more of the dinner plates and any accessories that might go with them.  

If anyone has seen them at a Home Goods near you please let me know.  

Maybe they will ship?  

Have a wonderful day!

~XOP~