Spring Fever hits again!!

Spring is definitely in the air! Got the rest of the trees in the back trimmed, more clean up in the yard, freshly mowed, edged and weed eaten! Trash all out for pick up on Friday. Looks really nice, neat and clean outside and lots better with the trees trimmed. Fencing all looks good now, just getting ready to do some minor repairs and some outside painting, maybe. Not now though with all this high humidity!
Okay, all the windows are opened and I get a wild hair to remove the attached headboard and night stands from my bed. Got those in the barn and my room looks almost doubled in size and so much lighter in there too. So next thing...change the sheets and quilts out, move the bed and lordy, lordy, lordy found a whole new store of cat toys (not to mention hair I had been unable to get to cause could not move it) under the bed. So spring cleaned in there really well. Even dusted the furniture and ceiling fan.
Next day, called Nina, changed out the curtains in my living room to pretty spring sheers, plus changed up the wall decorations (Nina does such great work), then decided to wash and change the curtains in the bedroom too. So much fun, fun, fun! I was really tired so treated myself to some sliced apples, cheese and a glass of wine and went to bed to read until about 10.
Lightning flashes and thunder crashes woke me around 1:15 and did not die down until around 3. Not a lot of rain, but when it did come down it was very fast and very heavy. Wide awake so I read some more until about 7 a.m. then fell back to sleep until 10.
Had to go to Wally World to exchange some things, bought some silk panels to go with my new sheers in the living room, put them up, changed the curtain on the front door to match, changed the dining room to spring colors and then changed the ones in the bedroom around again. Now I am pooped for sure, but surely feels good that the spring cleaning is done, including mopping all the floors and washing the windows inside. Still one more load of clothes where I changed the dining room out, but that's nothing compared to all that has been accomplished this weekend.
Tomorrow, just gonna laze around and watch my Nascar Races and pig out. Hope you have a terrific Sunday as well. Make lots of memories while you can. We have more storms to come through on Monday and Tuesday so glad all the yard work got done.
Chat more with y'all next time. Luv, Mat and "the girls"
Here's what I did in the bedroom with removing the headboard and changing the draperies.

Here's some photos of what we did to the wall and windows of the living room. I used 2 kits of Kyra's from Russian Dutch Heart and a cluster from her kit by Arlene.

'Smoke' did it again in Vegas!!

Our rain is finally moved out of here, my little pond on the driveway has finally receded so the birds can eat again. I have been in this house since Wednesday and today I have been sitting here watching the Nascar Races from Las Vegas and Tony 'Smoke' Stewart won again. Great race this time..but I decided to scrap a little while watching it....LOL!
Spoke with my sister, Kathy, this morning and she said she was going to play Bingo, so I just had to do this page for her. It's a combo of a cluster by one of the CT at Raspberry Road Designs and the Add On freebie from RRD of the Life Documented kit.Then I put this page together of her grandbabies with a collab kit from MSCK called Violet Red Passion and some photos from Christina's facebook site.Finally here is a page with Miss Hayden in it. This is a special QP made by Kyra at Russian Dutch Heart.Thanks to all these generous designers for their lovely work.
Since the sun has come out and it is only 5:30 pm, think I will go outside for a few minutes, the temps are coming back up from the 30's to being in the 80's by tomorrow! No wonder so many folks are ill with allergies or colds. Y'all have a good week ahead, will chat with you more next time. Luv, Mat

Time Change Already?

Can You believe it? Time change is here again this weekend! Time just seems to fly by so fast now days!!
It's been spring here in Texas since the middle of January. All the trees have budded, bloomed and now are the pretty early spring green. Flowers are popping out everywhere and I have potted some pansies, geraniums, live forevers and dianthus and ornamental cabbages. The temps are perfect (actually a little warm) but the wind is about to tear everything up by the roots. We are expecting 2-3 inches of rain over the next three days that will help a lot especially if it is the slow soaking rain. And temperatures are to drop back about 20 degrees to the mid to upper 50's.
I took some photos of my cat collections...the 3 family kitty cat flower pots hold the dianthus', then there are the 2 solar cats amongst my potted plants in the front, the 2 welcoming ones standing on the front portico and all my placques that hang over the kitchen window. And my doormat says wipe your paws...think I love cats
These photos of my "girls" were taken with my Blackberry phone and put in a page I created from RDH's A Day in Tom Kitten's Life kit with a freebie cluster from the same kit made by Arlene (there is a link in my blog visits on the right), don't they look cute? They are such fun "girls" and so much company! You should see them now, a fly has gotten in and is about to drive them wild...they are certainly getting some exercise today...maybe they will be exhausted tonight (like a cat needs a reason to sleep...LOL
This newest photo of Hayden is from either Margaret's or Penny's facebook account, thought she looked so cute in this QP I made for Miriam's Scraps (See her link on the right here) a while back. If you haven't visited her space lately, you have missed some really lovely freebies. The wordart on this is one of Miss Linda's (Random Thoughts on the right) from a while back
Since it is hump day, y'all all have a great weekend ahead making lots of great memories to share and don't forget to turn those clocks forward an hour, yep we lose a whole hour on Sunday morning! Chat more next time...Luv, Mat

Goodbye Annie Golightly!!

(This is a QP I made using Miriam's Scraps newest kit called Aged Wedding and my personal photos)
We have all lost a great lady and friend! Annie Golightly (nee Annie Mack Milford Smith) passed from this world on February 28th! I am certainly going to miss her.
She was my neighbor for a few years, but I followed her escapades a long while before actually meeting her. I remember hearing her perform in Cowtown when we were both a lot younger...LOL!
As neighbors we were always doing things together. She would fix breakfast, or we would have martini time together and catch up at the end of the day, or we were grilling outside, setting up tables in the yard while the whole courtyard enjoyed a picnic together! We would fix a pot of beans, some macaroni salad and yes, Annie's fantastic jalapeno cornbread. She could really hold all's attention when she told of her adventures. We both shared a love of being outdoors, our plants, and of course, our cats!! Her, Tuff, owned this neighborhood. He would visit each of us as he strolled outside each morning and evening! O he loved to be brushed and how he loved to torment Annie into getting up earlier than she wanted to!
I helped proof Annie's book and aided her with editing the jacket of her book "Dreams and a White Horse" (of her journey via a cattle drive from Ft. Worth, Texas to Miles City, Montana). I can remember when she got the first shipment of the books. How we devised an order form and record for sales of the books. I even bought some that she personally autographed for family members! It's a great tale and cleverly written.
We shared birthday cakes, tears over lost friends, views of the news and newsmakers, her paintings, anxieties at illnesses and loads and loads and loads of laughter together over a cold beer for me and a martini for her! Even though we weren't close enough to visit in the last couple of years, she was always in my thoughts and through e-mails and phone calls, we kept in touch until she could no longer use her computer. I even did a family tree for her family before she moved from here. She was so very interesting to talk with. I loved to hear her sing, I loved her paintings, I loved her toughness, her independence, her wit and humor with a written word, her talent for painting, her down home cooking, her love of performing and her friendship, but most of all, I loved HER and I will miss her dearly! Goodby Annie!!

Good Saturday Morning Y'all!

Got up early, early, early yesterday and was in a domesticated mood...lol! (This doesn't happen often you know?) I baked a Pecan Encrusted Lemon cake, made some of my avocado salsa (I think I blistered my fingers cutting up those serrano peppers) and baked a pan of biscuits....all before 7 a.m. Then, after cleaning the kitchen, it was outside to clean up yards, etc from the winter.
It was warmer and less windy than predicted, so got myself really good and dirty!! Loved it!! Needed to be done and I needed the exercise and to be outdoors. With all the windows open the "girls" loved it but kept crying to be outside with me.
The birds were glad when I finished as they were hungry and thirsty too! (I feed them and have water for them always..lol) Cleaned off the porch and got down webs and dust around all the windows and doors, picked up all trash the wind had blown in and started on the trash and junk around the "barn". Even got all the Christmas stuff put back up in the loft of the "barn" (actually a storage shed that looks like a barn).
Then the yard guy came and really did all the hard work, got the weeds (that I had not dug up) cut down, all the leaves and twigs all gone and carted off to the dump. He will be back next week to trim back some tree limbs, etc and to rebuild my mailbox post!
I got my plants all redone and fed and watered and am pleased with the outcome. Sure feels good to have it all done, now just waiting for the real lawn to awaken and make it all pretty and green.
Well, off to do the chores that I did not get finished yesterday, expecting company tomorrow and want my home fresh and clean. Gotta watch the Daytona 500 and then the Oscars are tomorrow night! So not gonna do much but pig out and watch TV and visit with Kaye and Randy!
Chat more later y'all, have a terrific weekend and make lots of memories to share!
Here's a couple of photos of my cake...will post some of the flowers when the sun is up a little higher so I can take some photos! Luv! Mat

Happy Valentine's Day to All of You

Just felt like wishing all of you a Happy Valentine's Day and Happy Anniversary to my sister Penny and hubby Weymond. May all of you have a marvelous day! Luv ya bunches! Mat















Thanx to Miriam at Miriam's Scraps, Kyra at With A Russian Dutch Heart, Snappy Scrappy, Ginger, Donna and Linda at Random Thoughts for the kits and the wordart that all of you have shared to make this so much easier for me! Love Ya!

Winter to Spring and back to Winter!!

Mother Nature cannot make up her mind this year!! We had a few days of cold weather, but no snow or ice...then we had spring like temps for a few weeks with trees beginning to bud as well as the flowers beginning to pop out and temps in the 70's,(Nina and I walked in the park Friday in 60+) but not this weekend!! Nope it was 30 yesterday with a wind chill of 15 and this morning it is 26 and the predicitions are for rain, sleet, snow and then back to rain for tonight and tomorrow and then on Tuesday....Valentine's Day...right back up into the 60's again. LOL! Texas weather, if you don't like it, stick around a few hours, it will change!!
I made a couple of pages for my sisters of their families and one for my niece Amy's new hubby of his family. I used Kyra's (With a Russian Dutch Heart) kit called Precious Memories...and my personal photos or some that were downloaded from FB...LOL!
Whatever y'all are doing today, have fun at making memories to share! Chat more in a few days! Luv, Mat