Visit with my Sister and Family

 At Sandy's house for a couple days on my way to Bradenton, she and Todd came to pick me up and took me to their house. Had a great but short visit.

 Date night. Had a delicious dinner out @ a steak house. We used to date 34 years ago!

 My sister, me, and my sisters best friend Phyllis... what a hoot!! That lady is a blast. We had just eaten @ the Panda Buffet. Best Chinese buffet I have ever eaten at.

 Leaving Saturday morn, me with my brother in law, Bob. Great guy. My sister is a lucky woman, he is so good to her.

 My sister and me. She is doing so much better but still a long way to go for her recovery from the extensive heart surgery  but all seems to be going well now. Love you sis!!

Awwww, how sweet.. my sister and her hubby. Had such a great time, hated to leave BUT.. can't stay for ever unfortunately.

Date Night..Ha Ha

Well it is about time, but guess who has a date this weekend in Bradenton, Florida??? MEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Been a long time since I went out but gurl have I learned the VERY hard way it DOES PAY to be  EXTREMELY choosey and take your time. Much rather be alone rest of my life than with what I have been through in the past.I know a LOT of you can relate.  I will be visiting my sister and also getting to go out with my old flame from over 30 years ago!! Feel like we should be on TV or something.. "Guy and Girl  old flames meet up after 34 years of having not seen each other!"  LOL!  We have chatted on phone a few times and write each other every day several times a day on FB. He is looking forward to meeting up also, got a date planned. Sandy and Todd will be coming here Thursday to get me and I will be visiting my BFF for a day and a half, then my brother Jimmy (my only bro!) will pick me up from her house Friday evening  and take me on to Bradenton. So I am going to get a fun packed trip getting to see everyone I love and also go on a date with  some one that I know is not a nightmare from hell(sorry about the language)! Woot Woot!! BUT, the great thing is that Gary, my son in law's (Michael) Navy buddy, (pictured above, Michael in back and Gary toward front in Afghanistan)  will be house sitting for me. Check out the weapon lying next to him in top pick to left... hand on it and ready to go..LOL.. you never take your hand off your  weapon with the choppers /BlackHawks coming in.... or hardly any other time over there! Gary and Michael were in the Navy (ground forces)  together and  did their tours of duty in Afghanistan twice  and Africa together and  he is also living with Celena and Michael.. Gary (and Michael) are trained  in hand to hand combat and to kill with his bare hands as most military are especially when they are being deployed to hostile lands as they were ..., he will take good care of my animals and stay here so I don't have to worry. I have known Gary for a while, he is like family and always invited  here for major holiday get togethers too. And the best thing, he owns a very ... let's say.. "Get the job done with ONE shot" weapon and will have it  HERE with him! And he will not hesitate to use it  if needed so I don't have to worry about my home being invaded while I am gone!!! One thing you don't do is mess with a young military dude with a super duty weapon that has served two tours in Afghanistan and trained to survive it! LOL! So I don't even feel sorry for anyone if they even think about trying to mess around here while I am gone! Not trying to sound cruel but just feels good to have the house protected by the U.S.  Navy!! LOL!!! Not needing to worry about things while I am gone, gives me great peace of mind. Hope everyone has a very blessed week.. almost hump day then weekend!  Got laundry and packing to do...Blessings to all.

Yuck Day..LOL

Went for the dreaded infusion treatment today. Takes about 3 hours for mine, needle/catheter  through top of hand..OUCH!  Seems like it hurts worse every time I go anymore. Didn't feel too good afterwards so I came straight home.

Salvaged and re purposed pieces that were left in a field for years rotting away!

 Old cabinet, I worked on it a bit and made it into a re-purposed piece for the kitchen. Found a wire basket in the shed that fit perfectly into it. This table was a broken mess and I put it together as best I could, did some hammering, made a new leg for it, tore off old layers of veneer all around the sides , white washed it and put some old curtains I had, Rit tan dyed them and hung them around it with heavy jute rope.Very pleased with the way it turned out.

 Another pic of it. I had went to this little flea market years ago and had actually made a slightly lower offer on the desk and the lady wouldn't accept my offer. Well several years later the market was abandoned, these two furniture pieces along with a green chest of drawers were left standing in the field after years of weather and elements getting to them so I asked the owners about them and they said "Take them, we were going to burn them!".. so I hauled them off for free after they held out for more money they didn't get several years earlier!!! LOL!! The pieces have been sitting in my shed for about 4 years now so when Michael and Chris came over and mowed last week they cleaned out and burned all the trash in that shed and I had them go ahead and drag the three pieces of furniture inside for me.They thought I was nuts! Figure there was no better time to go ahead and try to re purpose them after all these years. Saved from the burn pile once again!

 This was an old dresser. Bottom drawer face was missing so I used it for quilt storage. White washed large areas of it also, made one new leg for it. The spindles on top once held a mirror which of course was missing so I cut and shaved the edges of a dowel rod to fit the old mirror holes, white washed the rod, put it between the spindles and hung this old American Flag on it. The other three drawers work fine now after I took them out and put them back together properly, they have the dove tail joints. I just love this piece!!!

Love the old spindles on top that once held a  mirror. Better view of where I put the dowel rod in across the spindles and hung the Flag. I deliberately left it all weathered looking as I love that look, however I did white wash a lot of places on it. I put this piece in my living room, loving it in there, softens up the room.Shouldn't have any trouble finding things to fill the drawers! The quilts look great in the bottom space where the drawer was missing. I do have one more piece I saved that day also.. it is sitting on my back porch waiting to be made beautiful again LOL...It is an old green chest of drawers. Got to give some thought to what I am going to do to it to fix it up, how I want it to look, and what I will use it for. The pieces required tons of vacuuming them out, spraying with bug spray and scrubbing with bleach water b/f I could begin white washing, hammering, and transforming! But have been well worth it.