Happy Spring & a Reality Check

Happy Spring everyone! It's hard to believe, about six months ago, summer was ending and it was time to plan Fall and the holidays (and a house sale and a move lol). I hope it's warm and sunny wherever you are. Many people told us it would be warm here in AZ, but that has NOT been the case. We've actually have had more cold days here since November than we've experienced living in Florida total! I'm not joking... lol It's even been SNOWING here for two days straight... Well - by here I mean in AZ, but up north, what they call the Highlands. However, when a cold and rainy front came through here in AZ and in the valley on Sunday, we did experience a little hail....

Hail on the AstroTurf yard....

Hail on the bistro set the only thing left outside - Weather here has been destroying the furnishings I had on our patio in FL.

Hail on Jeff's grill...

Hail on the neighbors roof...

And yes - that was fake grass we have in the back yard... At least THIS is green!

Speaking of green...

Saturday, I tried a slow cooker recipe from Sandra Lee on the FoodNetwork. I only substituted on thing: her apple juice for beer (Hey - I actually AM part Irish!! lol) And rather than can 6 cupcakes, I got us one jumbo cupcake to split for something sweet...

Just enough sweets :)

Appletini's (because they're green and yummy too!)

Soaked red potatoes with salt & garlic to make a dirty mashed potato...

We had leftovers Sunday - but since so much cabbage, carrots and broth were leftover, I saved it and today added some bow tie pasta to the broth for soup + a toasted turkey sandwich tonite for dinner. The warm soup hit the spot since it was still chilly today (40's). Since there was STILL soup left over, I froze it for another time...

I had done "Spring Cleaning" outside first a few weeks ago, but like I mentioned, what was outside has gotten destroyed (no trees - no coverage what-so-ever) so I cleaned it up (again) and brought it inside for an inside garden room. The bamboo coffee table I had outside got hot the worst... But I sanded it down again and cleaned it up with a fresh coat of paint and brought it upstairs to the office...

Even though I had the table covered with canvas and vinyl drop cloths... the bamboo is splitting...

What it WAS starting to look like as I set when we moved here... I thought all I needed to do was acquire plants over time to fill in and it could be something like it was in FL...

After cleaning up the outdoor pieces, I brought the lanterns to the front door entrance. It has more shade from the sun and protection from the DUST and wind there...

Other pieces I repaired, cleaned up, repainted, and brought inside...

Chairs got a bit of a spring spruce-up too...

A sneak peek bringing the outdoors in...

 

It's been taking a little longer to edit pics to post projects I've done around here... Probably because of the pin factor. I spent all day yesterday updating, or "Spring Cleaning" my Internet presence (updating profiles, images and avatars) so I hope to spend the rest of the week updating images of projects I've done here to post soon...

People have asked me if I'll be changing things around here as often as I did in FL, and I think that is highly unlikely. Although yes, I want to make this rental house our home - bottom line: it's not. So once something is done, it's done, because yes - in the back of my mind is the question: Will all this need to be packed up again come October or November? I still have unpacked boxes in the garage and in what was to be a guest room. I'd like to say no, but reality check is: Sephora, Jeff and me are not happy in this location. There. I said it. It's out there. Besides the furnishings not weathering well outside, I see Sephora sooooo sad and I feel terrible. I feel like we took everything away from her that she knew, loved, and enjoyed: the butterflies, the birds, the lizards she would chase on the patio, the frogs she would watch at night, and even the grass between her paws and she would eat and puke up a hairball... I thought if I could try to create a garden room inside for her, it would help make her happy... We'll see. I just need to go catch a few lizzards somewhere to bring in for her...

Sorry.

Don't know where all that came from, but it was bound to come out at some point.

I guess it was an emotional Spring Cleaning...

I'm sure my therapist will be happy.

LOL

I gotta keep laughing and believe...

Love this pic Mary Douglas Drysdale posted yesterday on FB...

Happy First Day of Spring!

Thanks for stopping by...