A Busy Week Ahead

Well, the best laid plans go astray. The kitchen is not finished by a long shot. One thing after another kept cropping up during the week conspiring to keep me from my appointed rounds with the paint brush. Well, the kitchen is not going any where, so I will continue this project this week.

The annual Make Mine Pink Mother's Day Shop Hop has begun. Make sure you go register and start finding those shopping bags. Find the shopping bags to win some wonderful prizes while you do your shopping for Mother's Day. It's fun, it's easy and no purchase necessary. Always a good time! Just click on the above logo to go register.

This week's Make Mine Pink Friday theme is Blossoms and Blooms. The boutiques will be welcoming spring with a plethora of flowers! You don't want to miss this one!

Other fun news this week, there is a great give away going on over at My Hydrangea Home. An absolutely gorgeous hand crafted tassel of your choice to be given away in a few days, don't miss your chance at winning one of these.

I read a nifty trick this week over at the Essential Herbal site. You can pick some fresh lilacs. Remove the blossoms and add them to some sugar in a closed container overnight. The sugar will pick up the lilac fragrance and is a lovely addition to herbal tea. I tried it and it is really nice. A little sip of spring time.

As you do your planting this month, try a little catnip. Talk about your multipurpose herb. First off, ants are not terribly fond of this and it does an excellent job of repelling the little pesties. Second, catnip tea is wonderful. Dry your own, keep in an air tight container and you're all set to brew a cup when you want. Third, your cat will flip (literally) over this. Again, dry and put in little play things for your furbaby. Cats aren't picky about the way their catnip is delivered. Just tie some up in a muslin bag and watch the fun begin!

This week, I was spending a lot of time visiting with my hubby at the nursing home and had some time to get in some crocheting. Look at what I have come up with! They will go on the website today at some point and will be sold with a lovely jar of bath salts. Perfect pampering gift for Mom or yourself. These rose bath scrubbies are made of 100% cotton, hand crafted by moi and are nice for gentle exfoliation.

Well, I best be off for now to tackle the painting. Hope to have some kitchen photos for you next week (cross your fingers for me). Have a wonderful week,

Pat

Week of the Kitchen Redo

Busy, busy week here in the ol' homestead and lots to share with you. As many of you know, I have had my hubby in the hospital since January and so have had to do daily hospital runs. I have been watching this tree from complete dormancy to glorious flowering. Look at the view out this window, not to bad to watch now! Just had to share this, it's so beautiful.

This past weekend, my youngest grandaughter made her First Communion. I was able to get a day pass for my hubs to come with us so I was pretty busy during the celebration but did manage to get this photo. My grandaughter is the first girl on the right with her back to us. (There is a reason I am not the family photographer! lol) She looked like an angel and fairy princess all rolled up into one. This is the infamous Bridget who has been known to come out with some pretty funny observations on life.

And then on Monday, for some unknown reason, I decided it would be a great idea to redo my kitchen. I started ripping things apart before I thought to take some before pictures. I took a photo of the first cupboard with it's brand new sparkly antique linen interior! Looks brighter already. The cabinets and woodwork are the bear of a job in this room. The walls will be a piece of cake! I'm still undecided whether to go with a golden yellow or a sagey green or a robin eggy blue. Please weigh in with opinions, I need some help here!!! (Great way to redecorate, color by vote, lol)

On the business side of things this week, there is the Mother's Day Shop Hop at Make Mine Pink beginning April 25th. Make sure to go to http://www.makeminepink.com/ to sign up and get registered so you are all set to find those shopping bags the boutique owners have hidden on our websites. Lots of great prizes, as usual, and no purchase necessary - but it is a great way to find your Mother's Day gifts while having fun and relaxing at home.

This week's Make Mine Pink Friday theme is Celebrating Mom. Are you seeing the trend here? Come and shop the new products for Mother's Day. I have a new gift item that will debut on Friday( http://www.patriciarose-apotpourri.com/ ) and many of the other participating boutiques have special gift items as well.

So back to my painting, will see you next week. Hope I have after pictures by then. I don't know how long my sanity will hold with this mess!

Hugs,

Pat

Moving My Work Room ----Again

I will find the perfect place to set up my work room yet. Thought I had it all figured out and lo and behold, I need that room as a bedroom again. Sheesh! So, one more time and, I swear, this is the last time. So, this week will be a week of moving everything one room over.

I was fortunate enough to find some very old bobbins from a weaving mill that has closed down. We have a wonderful group here in the Hudson Valley, Hudson Valley Merchandise Exchange, that rescues many, many things from going to the landfill. You have to check frequently because things come and go fairly quickly, but it is like a treasure hunt and sometimes I get incredibly lucky. The prices are very reasonable and it's for a great cause! Here is what I've done with some of the bobbins - candle holders!

I have a pair sitting on my mantle as well. I think they are fun and different, with the added plus of being recycled!

This week I have to get some serious garden clean up started. With the unusual warm days we had last week, quite a few weeds have awakened. Will manage to get some dandelions picked and make some dandelion fritters--yum! Chickweed is full of vitamins

The chives are up nicely and I have started harvesting those already. The more you use, the more you get. Even a small bunch will give you plenty. A nice way to use chives is to make a white chive, sauce (1 Tbl. butter, 1Tbl. flour- melt butter in pan mix in flour-you have just made a roux, don't you feel like a French chef??-stir in a cup of milk. Keep stirring until thickened, add in a small handful of snipped chives, a bit of salt and pepper and pour over cooked veggies. Garnish with a little fresh snipped chives and you're done. Carrots are great this way, but also green beans or wax beans)

It seems some little woodland creature had been very busy moving my little hyacinths around during the autumn. I have them all throughout the gardens and lawn, just not where I planted them! Little devils! It looks pretty anyway and I have to admit, I kind of liked the surprise. My poor gardens have been so neglected the past few years, maybe the critters decided I needed some help.

I have some Jenny wrens checking out the birdhouses by the patio, hope they move in. Just love them. I think it may be time to put out the bluebird houses too. I hear a whole lot of bird song everyday now.

Hope everyone has a wonderful, productive week. Make sure to make time to check what is growing around you, so many miracles happening this time of year! Talk to you soon,

Pat

Keeping It Green, Redo's

The last week's Make Mine Pink Friday and this week's are almost the same in my mind. Recycling is a part of the crafting movement. We all take items-scraps of fabric, bits of lace, a small broken bauble- and turn them into something else. We take old worn furniture, give it a paint face lift and it has a new life. Taking our turn caring for antiques until it is time to pass them on. It makes me feel good to keep even a meager amount from the landfill and turning it into something I, and I hope others, will treasure. It is with these thoughts mulling around in my head that I have started offering a line of potpourri sold in containers - not something I have gone off and bought new, these are containers that I am recycling and making beautiful and useful again. My first is a really useful glass mug that I have embellished with ribbon, lace and faux pearls. A few millinery flowers and leaves completed the look. Here is my newest redo -

I have put a few around my home and am offering some to you as well. Hope you enjoy them.

For those of you who have enjoyed our Make Mine Pink Shop Hops, mark your calendars! The Mother's Day Shop Hop is going to start April 25. Great prizes will be offered (as usual!) and no purchase is necessary to participate. For those of you who have never joined in, come on over and enjoy browsing through the participating boutiques as you search for the hidden shopping bag. The more shopping bags you find, the larger the prize you will be able to be entered in a drawing for. It's fun, great shopping for Mother's Day and maybe a super prize for you! Doesn't get much better than that, does it?

Have a terrific week,

Pat