THIS AND THAT

First off, I have been remiss thanking my friends for my winnings! I won this book:

from Julia at Hooked on Houses. Julia has a wonderful blog that is just about houses...house tours of wonderful homes in the Cincinnati area, Homes for sale from her local Multiple Listing Service ( don't know how she gets them...our MLS is private) and tours of celebrity homes. It is great fun and one of my "must reads" every day.

I won this beautiful gardening book from Mary at Across the Pond. Mary is a transplanted (get the garden reference??) Brit who lives in a cottage in North Carolina. She has the most wonderful way with decorating and gardening. I so wish I could go sit on her porch and drink coffee ( I'll bring my own coffee, Mary) and enjoy her gardens.


Next on the agenda, BJ had another post today on her HOT Kitchens Open House and in honor of that I filched two kitchens off the Rate My Space pages that I like. I don't think either of them are most people's idea of a dream kitchen, but I like the way they look ( call me shallow). I could whip up some really good meals in either one, because I can cook baby.


This one is from Flea Market Trixie... I love that tile work and isn't the color on her cupboards delicious? Check out her other rooms.. I just love them, very calm and serene, plus budget friendly.


This one is from #9758419 and I think it has plenty of room for me to cook up a storm, plus I always love a kitchen with a lamp on the counter...so cozy and this lamp is especially cute.

Next, in the"It's a Small World After All" category ( good luck getting that song out of your head), I met a wonderful blogger from South Africa. Her name is Eleanor and she lives in a thatched cottage with beautiful flowers and exotic birds. As luck would have it I have only met one person from S. Africa in my life, an AFS student in High School. Well, Eleanor knows her too...is that an amazing coincidence or what?? Go visit Eleanor and tell her I sent you..she will love the company.

Lastly, I am feeling a bit maudlin today because two of my most loyal ("I'll never buy or sell a house without you") clients have listed their homes with other agents without so much as a howdy-do. People don't seem to understand that this is how I make a living and every time they say they will be loyal and then aren't they not only hurt my feelings, but almost as important, they hurt my bottom line ( which is at zero, a big goose egg) so far this year. Moral of the story: never take your friends or clients for granted. So thank you friends for being loyal and making my morning reading routine a fun one. Love to you all.

Later,
Janet

GARDEN MUSE

The weekend was spent doing more yard work. Does it ever end?? Once I showed Bob the pictures from my Garden Muse (66nick on HGTV/RMS) he went wild wanting to buy, buy, buy. I swear the man would buy every Hosta species known to man if I let him have the check book. We did buy a few and also transplanted some good sized ones from the back yard. The front of our house has dappled sun in the early AM and then is quite shady for the rest of the day.




This is what I am starting with in this area. Two Hollies and two Burning Bushes. The large tree is an oak. Yes, that's my little red Alero, 8 years old and still rarin' to go. Clearly I am not one to define myself by my status symbol car!! This is living authentically with what you can afford, folks. Click to enlarge any of my photos, if you dare!

These four pictures are from my Garden Muse. 66nick is a landscape architect and this is his tiny cottage in New Jersey. Check him out on RMS, his house is so cute and the yard is to die for. There are lots of pix. See the similarities between his yard and mine?? You do, don't you?? Squint if you have to;)





Okay, I admit it doesn't look like much right now, but in another 5 years it will be coming along. In front of the oak I planted several pieces of Hydrangea Petiolore ( Climbing Hydrangea) which will take a while to come around. They don't have a tap root, just aerial roots, so they are going to be finicky about water for a while. On the street side of the oak I transplanted 3 clumps of Stella D'Oro day lilies. We added three large leafed hostas, (two Angel Blue and One Sum and Substance) and two small leaf variegated varieties. Then I added three areas of white impatients to help lighten the area. Each area had to be dug up and have composted manure added to the existing soil. Quite the job for Bob as I watched and nursed my elbow. May as well milk that for all it is worth, right??


You really can't see the plantings in this shot, but don't you love how the Boston Fern looks in the urn by the front door? Tomorrow I will show you another area that is quite mature and has taken forever. Got to go and make dinner.

Later,
Janet

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN

BJ at Sweet Nothings is hosting a H.O.T. Kitchens Open House starting today. She has some great kitchens posted so run on over and get your kitchen fix. I love the colors of the first one!

Later,
Janet

Bob is installing a new dryer vent and it is not. going. well. at. all.
Why is it that men feel if they swear at inanimate objects, said inanimate object will comply with their wishes???

BIRTHDAY CALCULATOR.

This is one of those fun, kinda mindless things to play around with. Check it out!

Click on "Birthday Calculator." It tells you how many hours and how many seconds you have been alive on this earth and when you were probably conceived.

How cool is that?

After you've finished reading the info, click again, and see what the moon looked like the night you were born. Who says our time clocks aren't ticking...

Enjoy.


Birthday Calculator

Later,
Janet
NEWS UPDATE: My brother has found a job, better than the last and starts on Tuesday...phew!!

I'VE GOT SUNSHINE

I went to Providence today to have lunch with a friend, check out some shops and order my tickets for the Providence Preservation Society House Tour on June 7th. Here are some random pictures from the Benefit Street area which is one of the oldest parts of Providence. Note how close the houses are to the street. No way to avoid getting cars in the photos!! Click to enlarge, if you like.






Love this door, which appears to be later than the house
Charming Georgian (Adam) Colonial
These appear to be painted showerheads...public art??
Toasty on the third floor, if it ever gets warm here
Love these colors with the faded brick
Showy front door
This IS the front door, I checked the other side..no door.
A perfect example of Greek Revival architecture
Greek Revival with Victorian addition
I love this color combo and this shot. Lovely dappled light...almost
artistic except for the darned car. Drat!

Thanks for all your comments and suggestions about my dilemma. I think I have it figured out.

Later,
Janet

Edited to add: Melissa at The Inspired Room is going to be doing a Drive-bys Around the World Post sometime soon. If you do any drive-bys link back to her for an upcoming post.

MAY I HAVE YOUR ASSISTANCE PLEASE??

I just started to read my blogs in Google Reader. Now most of you know that I am a technoklutz ( that is my coined word, should I put a little *trademark thingie* next to it?). I like keeping up with your blogs that way, makes it easier to see when a new post has arrived, but how do I comment?? I like to comment as often as possible so that you know I have been by to visit, but I don't see how that is an option. If you know, please comment or send me an e-mail, OK?

Later,
Janet

PERFECT VERMONT WEATHER

Just some random shots of Burlington. Saturday was gorgeous ( sunny, low 70's, no wind) and it was commencement weekend at the University of Vermont (UVM) and St Michael's College. Lots of people hanging about enjoying the weather. Enjoy!



World Famous Nector's Restaurant home to Phish ( the band)
Elton John is coming to Vermont in July! The Flynn Theatre is our "Performing Arts" theatre, although it was a movie theatre when I was growing up.
Note to Jano: What's Your Beef, now known as Trattoria Della. Wonder if they still put the baby shrimp and chopped hard cooked egg on their salads? That was so very exotic in the 70's/80's :)

Bennington Potters North, my favorite browsing store
Vermont transportation, green in more ways than one

Milling about at the Farmers' Market







Blatantly free advertising for the Fletcher Free Library


Later, Janet

CATCH UP

I am not sure how relevant any of this is to you or me or the world at large, but here we go.

My FIL is still in the Nursing Home ?Rehab. Seems to be OK most days, but there seems to be no news about his progress or his eventual return home. He is getting cranky and wants out, NOW.

My elbow is no better, but I am supposed to give it another couple of weeks and then maybe have a cortisone injection. I just want it better so I can go back to doing stuff outside. I can do it now, but I am afraid I will make it worse.

Tomorrow we go to Vermont for belated Mothers' Day and to return their computer which needed some tweaking ( yes, I said tweaking ala Tom Hanks in "You've Got Mail").

Mothers' Day was spent with no children, but with Bob digging in the back garden. My plan this year was to dig up my small back garden which is my only sunny space. The soil is just dirt and every year all my flowers come up looking lovely, but by July no amount of Miracle Grow can perk tham up. I dug out all the Black-eyed Susans, Daylilies and assorted other flowers and gave most of them away. Then we ( I use that pronoun very loosely) added 3" of peat moss and 10 bags of composted manure and forked it in. This was only one half of the space, but the rest should be done Memorial Day weekend. I spent too much money at the nursery and bought these two rose bushes.

This one is "Pat Austin" a copper colored rose and the next one is "Graham Thomas".


Both are David Austin English Roses. Hopefully I ( there I go again, pretending it was moi) have done enough to help them thrive. I am excited. The Pat Austin has 25 buds and the Graham Thomas has none, but must flower just a bit later. I have also planted Morning Glories and Moon flowers, some lavender ( which I love and have never grown before) and some herbs. The next project is the front yard which I am modeling after A Rate My Space page. Stay tuned!

Later,
Janet

TOMORROW,TOMORROW

Remember...it's only a day away! I've been a bad blogger, but I promise I will try to catch you up on my not so exciting life tomorrow.

In the meantime, hop over the JewelboxHome and check out Genevieve's website and blog of the same name. Many of us can relate to living in a smaller (under 2000 sf) house and this site has lots of tips for making the smaller home into a "jewelbox".

Later,
Janet

ANDY ROONEY, HE'S OUR MAN!!

You may have read this before, but it bears repeating. If you are a woman over 40 you can never read this too often ;)

As I grow in age I value women over 40 most of all.  Here are
a few reasons why:

A woman over 40 will never wake you in the middle of the night
and ask  "What are you thinking?" She doesn't care what you
think. If a woman over 40 doesn't want to watch the game,
she doesn't sit around whining about it.  She does something
she wants to do, and it's usually more interesting.  Women over
40 are dignified. They seldom have a screaming  match with you
at the Opera or in the middle of an expensive restaurant.
Of course, if you deserve it they won't hesitate to shoot
you if they think they can get away with it.  Older women
are generous with praise, often undeserved.  They know what
it is like to be unappreciated.  Women get psychic
as they age.  You never have to confess your sins to a
woman over 40. Once you get past a wrinkle or two, a woman
over 40 is far sexier than her younger counterpart.
Older women are forthright and honest. They will tell
you right off if you are a jerk or are acting like one.
You don't ever have to wonder where you stand with her.
Yes, we praise women over 40 for a multitude
of reasons.  Unfortunately, it is not reciprocal.
For every stunning, smart, well-coiffed hot woman over 40,
there is a bald, paunchy relic in yellow pants
(there's an image!!)making a fool of himself with some
22 year old waitress.

Ladies, I apologize.
For all the men who say "Why buy a cow when I can get the
milk for free?", here's an update for you.  Nowadays 80% of
women are against marriage.  Why?  Because women realize
it is not worth buying the entire pig just to get a
little sausage!

Forward this to five fine, fun, fabulous, fancy free women over 40!!

Have a Happy Mothers' Day

Janet

DIGITALLY ARTISTIC

Doesn't this kitty look cute?? Please note that I am blatantly breaking copyright laws, but I wanted to introduce you to Karen. Karen is my youngest son's girlfriend and moved with him to Seattle. She is an artist, working mostly with digital media, and is extremely talented. Please stop by her website at KarenPetrasko.com and check out her illustrations, sketches and bio.

Later,
Janet

PS. She is the one who gave us two of our cats, Cooper and Chloe aka the Black Babies ( no racism meant or implied, they are just black!!).

WARNING...BLOGGING IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH!

Did you know that you must blog with care to eliminate some of the potential hazards? My first blogging related health scare was potential weight gain. I rarely eat between meals, but because I blog at night and sometimes read your posts quite late I find that I get hungry and we all know you can't go to sleep if you are hungry. So I am faced with adding additional calories to my daily intake. Not good!

The second problem is zits aka acne/pimples/blossoms or whatever you called them as a teenager when they were the scourge of your existence, but pretty normal. Remember how the Clearasil would turn grayish and crack if you put it on too thick? When I read your blogs I have a tendency to sit with my chin in my right hand. Again, not good. I seem to be fighting the same pimple on my chin over and over.

Lastly, and I went to the Doctor's for this today. To prop my chin up while reading I lean my right elbow on the desk and now I have very painful bursitis of the elbow!! It has been bothering me for two weeks so I finally decided I should go and find out what was causing this pain. Blogging, that's what!!. Now I need massive doses of Motrin and lots of ice. Worse yet, I need to rest my elbow and that means my gardening that I started 2 weeks ago ( which no doubt aggravated the "injury") will not get done until my elbow is better, or until I can coerce Bob into digging and schlepping.

That's it for tonight, time for more Motrin and reading your posts without the whole elbow on the desk thing!

Later,

Janet

710

I will probably be kicked out of "The Sisterhood" for promulgating blonde jokes, but I couldn't resist, besides I have some blonde highlights myself (and a few "blonde moments" that go with them).


Do you know what a 710 is ?

A few days ago I was having some work done at my local garage. A blonde came in and asked for a seven-hundred-ten.

We all looked at each other and another customer asked, 'What is a seven-hundred-ten?'

She replied, 'You know, the little piece in the middle of the engine, I have lost it and need a new one..' She went on to say that she did not know exactly what it was, but this piece had always been there.

The mechanic gave her a piece of paper and a pen and asked her to draw what the piece looked like. She drew a circle and in the middle of it wrote 710. He then took her over to another car which had its hood up and asked 'Is there a 710 on this car?'

She pointed and said, 'Of course, its right there.'

If you're not sure what a 710 is Click Here <http://www.hotautoweb.com/cogifs/710.jpg>


Later,
Janet

P.S. My FIL is out of the hospital and has been moved to a Nursing Home for re-hab. Seems he has a gall bladder infection which presents like a stroke. Last year when my MIL had her kidney removed she got a urinary tract infection which mimics dementia and paranoia. She doesn't remember a thing about it, but in retrospect she was pretty darned funny.

MODVIC

The owners of Modvic kindly invited all the Realtors in our area (200+) to a Broker Open House at the property on Wednesday. I got there early and parked on the next street anticipating parking issues. Silly, little girl scout me, always prepared. Exactly 10 people showed up and 8 were from my office. Aren't we good?? And we have two Antique Home Experts. I have capitalized this because I am one of them ( the other did not attend...she had 2 closings that day...boo, hiss). The pictures are not nearly as good as I would have liked, but my excuse is that it was just hard with even 10 people roaming about and the tour was fairly regimented...no wandering off to explore and take pictures on my own until the end. The house is gorgeous, very expensive ( no home has sold for this much money in town ...ever) and it is clear that no detail has been overlooked. If you want to see more or read about the history of the property or read the restoration blog just click on the link, OK? Alright, enough already, just show the pictures!