Fun for everyone…

 

I received my gift from Betsy at My Five Men this past week.  This was the second Pedicure Party that Betsy hosted.  I was lucky enough to be selected (randomly) as the winner. Yeah!

Betsy is such a sweet and thoughtful person.  She remembered that I had mentioned an OPI color – Melon of Troy – that I liked and she enclosed a coupon.  I love my blogging community. Random acts of kindness happen all the time.

But I have to confess.  I wasn’t the only one who was excited when I opened my package.  You should have seen the two teenage girls in the room go crazy over the bubble wrap.  Until I wanted to take pictures…then they acted a little sedate.   I wanted to share the moment with you anyway, but I’m too technologically challenged to load the video.  Seventeen tries is my limit on a Saturday night after two glasses of wine. (I really thought they might help). ;)  So you’ll just have to imagine how much fun they had with the bubble wrap.

Thank you again, Betsy!  You’re a dream.

At the end…or new beginning…

 

I choose to see this as the end of the project, but the beginning of the tables’ new lives.

Didn’t Greg do a wonderful job at executing my design plans? Because I have to be really honest…he did 98% of the work.

 

These are the glass mosaic tiles that we picked out together for the top.  We couldn’t find anything with more of a yellow theme, but liked the nature colors and tones in these.

 

Now my favorite part…getting to use them again. A nice cool glass of Apricot Honeybush Tea, a candle and a good book…all next to my swing.  Life is perfect!!!  

In the middle…

 

Well, progress is being made.  Not as quickly as I would like, but then I’m not very good with power tools so I have to rely on hubby to help.

The primer coat and final color have been done.  I bet you thought they were going to be purple. :)

 

This piece of plywood had to be cut and then notched to fit…

 

these do-hickeys (sorry I don’t like using all these technical terms, but I never want to dumb-down my blog)   ;)

 

Here’s a deliberately obscure picture (yea, let’s go with that) of the new tops.  I don’t want to give it all away too soon.

Hopefully soon you’ll see the finished project.

In the beginning…

 

I have no idea why now, in the heat of the summer, I have become inspired to do so many crafty little projects.  This is one I’ve been thinking about a lot lately and have just decided now is the time.

I have had two of these outdoor tables for several years and they are beginning to look the worse for wear. 

 

This was one of the tiles that used to be the top of the tables. This one obviously had a plant sitting on it more often and really looks bad.  You can see that they were made out of some kind of compressed material that is coming apart.

 

After removing the “tiles” this is what was left.  The camera (or operator) didn’t quite focus on the right part of the frame…sorry.  But the most difficult part of this whole process was left to me to do.  I had to remove the old glue…not easy.  A chisel proved to be the best tool for the job.

 

Now I have two frames all clean and ready for primer and paint.  Which my husband will apply this evening.  You’re just going to have to wait and see what I have planned for the new tops.   

Random shots…

 

I’ve been cruising through several of my picture folders reminiscing about the trips I went on with friends or family. This is just a random sampling…

This quote often comes to mind.  It’s a favorite.

 

 

These nasturtiums remind me of Kathy, a good friend I’ve made while on this blogging journey.

 

 

This shot was taken on a trip Nicole and made up to Strawberry with Annie. This was at Tonto Natural Bridge. So cool and green.

 

 

   

Peace out, Peeps.  (This ones for you, Steveroni.)

Grains of sand…

 

 

“It isn't the mountain ahead that wears you out; it's the grain of sand in your shoe.”  Robert W. Service

”To see a world in a grain of sand and heaven in a wild flower Hold infinity in the palms of your hand and eternity in an hour.”  William Blake

“An ostrich with its head in the sand is just as blind to opportunity as to disaster”  Unknown

Come join the party…

 

Betsy at My Five Men is hosting a mani and pedi party again!  I decided this time I would join in on the fun.

I had hoped to launch a thousand ships with OPI’s color “Melon of Troy”, but sadly the salon was out of that color and this was as close as I could come.  I think I need to buy my own bottle for in the future.  But go on over and check out all the fun at Betsy’s.

I’m so blue…

 

Okay, being blue is sometimes something that takes control of me, but in this case, I’m not the one that’s blue.

I have no idea what button I must have pushed, but all these shots of the humming bird came out this way.  I believe this is a female, but I don’t know of which kind of humming bird.

Maybe someone out there can help me identify it.

I’m going with the story that it was blue because it knew that Annie and I were headed down the mountain and it was sad.  Don’t you think it looks a little sad? 

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend and that there’s not a blue one in the bunch.  :)

Not by the hair…

 

of our chinney, chin, chins.  This momma javelina and her two little babies were at the cabin this last weekend too.  She was very protective and we gave her lots of room and respect.  There was another momma with only one baby also, but I didn’t get any pictures of her.  She was very shy and probably a first time mom.

There is so much to see and enjoy at the cabin.  It’s hard to head home sometimes. :)

Back down the mountain…

 

Annie and I made the trip back down the mountain yesterday afternoon.  We got caught up in a traffic jam that was five miles long when we jumped on board.  It ended up stretching back ten miles before all was said and done.  There was a fire in the median south of Cordes Junction.  This is always one of the hazards of traveling north for the weekend around here. Don’t you know the restrooms at Sunset Point were doing a bustling business because not all of us were brave or desperate enough to stop at a shrub along the way.

We had a wonderful time and the weather couldn’t have been better.  I just know I’m really meant to live in the mountains…maybe someday.

I was enjoying a book while up there and will leave you with a quote from a Native American, Ohiyesa (Charles Alexander Eastman).

“”We know that the God of the educated and the God of the child, the God of the civilized and the God of the primitive, is after all the same God; and that this God does not measure our differences, but embraces all who live rightly and humbly on the earth.”    Ohiyesa

This little light of mine…

 

I had an idea about lighting for my new porch swing that Nicole and I made happen the other day.

I bought these sweet little jars to hold tea light candles.

 

We put cup hooks in the beam added chain and waited for it to get dark.

 

This picture doesn’t do it justice, but you’ll get the idea.  It was a wonderful, soft glow and made enjoying the swing at night even better.

Guess what??  I’m headed back up to Strawberry with Annie this weekend.  We need to get some things that she left up there after our last trip.  You don’t suppose she did that on purpose, do you? I’ll catch up with everyone when I get back.  Be safe and enjoy your weekend.

Promises and hopes…

 

of things to come.  This is Nicole’s watermelon vine.  We’re hoping that the fruit will start setting on.

Lost in a rosemary jungle…  I love the flavor that rosemary brings to many things.

I somehow missed getting a picture of the thyme.  This morning Nicole and I had fresh thyme scrambled in with our eggs.  Devine!  It’s not always the most rewarding gardening that happens here in Arizona, but we try to make the most of what we can.  I hope you do that with the rest of this week…make the most of it.  :) 

It’s a BEE-utiful day…

 

 

The first guy stands about 2 1/2 feet tall and the second guy is tiny and spins in the wind.  I have a thing for bees…real or otherwise.  We’re easing into summer and it is getting HOT!  I’m beginning to venture outside, but not so very far yet.