Front Porch and Front Yard Summer Ready, Just Waiting for Flowers

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Today, I decided that I would share one of the projects I did this past weekend......

Getting the front yard and the front porch set up and ready for the Summer.....

But first, I want to Thank Marilyn, over at Marilyn's Treats, for choosing my post, Easter Weekend and Easter Tablescape, from last week's Over the Moon Linky Party!!

Thanks so much, Marilyn!!

Please stop by and link up to this great party!!

A short Personal Update:

So many Seniors had their Senior year end abruptly this year because of the Health crisis .....

Our Great Niece Cortney is one of those Seniors......

 Her Senior Prom would have been held the other day so her boyfriend Luke, stopped by with a dozen yellow roses and a candy bar for her.......

Such a nice gesture on an day that should have been such a wonderful evening for both of them...

He made her day.....

We are looking forward to meeting him after this is all over.....

We are all so proud of our Senior as Cortney was chosen by a panel of judges from local colleges as one of 20 Scholastic Superstars for an area newspaper......

Ironically, the other student that was chosen from her high school, is Drew Barno,  Cortney's friend since childhood and next door neighbor.......

Cortney received multiple scholarships to attend King's College located here in Wilkes Barre in the Fall......

 We are so thrilled for her......

We are just hoping that her Senior Prom and her Graduation will be rescheduled at a later time.....

Joe and our son, Joey, were watching a replay of the AHL Wilkes Barre Scranton Penguins on Sunday afternoon and look what they saw on TV..........

Us!!

It was one of the games that Joe and I treated our Niece Renae and our great nieces to back in December......

There we are right above the pause symbol on the TV.......

Left to right with Carly in pink holding her cell phone, Renae leaning over to talk to me, Caitlin, me in the red, Cortney in her hockey jersey which is the opposing teams and her Hockey Buddy Joe in a Penguins jersey and Matt who is the guy that buys my seat from us when I do not go to games.....

This was taken when Joe and Cortney noticed we were on the video board......

This picture below was taken before they noticed it.....

And you can see Joe joking around and trying to pull Cort's  hat down over her eyes!!

Looking forward to next year's games and going with these girls whom we are so BLESSED to have in our lives.....

 I took this picture when he was walking back from getting our mail the other day.....

He looks like a gray haired Peter Noone from Herman's Hermits!!!!

He won't let me touch his hair to cut it so he may be sporting a pony tail soon or a man bun depending on how long this will go on.....

On April 29th, it will be 1 year since I had my right Knee Replacement Surgery.....

I can't believe a year has gone by already......

7 1/2 years ago, when I first was told by my orthosurgeon that I was "bone on bone" and if I wanted to hold off my surgery since I was only 55 years old, I needed to lose 50 pounds and start riding a stationary bike.....

I did both and managed to hold off my surgery for 6 1/2 years, just 6 months shy of my original plan...

I bought this stationary bike the day after my orthosurgeon told me I needed a Knee Replacement....

It was on Clearance in Sears for a little over $200......

It was one of the best things I ever bought.....

I am still doing the bike to decrease some of the stiffness on the operated knee and to help hold off a Knee  Replacement on the other knee......

And that brings me to how I am trying to stay healthy during this time when we have been ordered to Stay at Home.....

Working night shift for over 35 years definitely does not promote a healthy life style.....

In fact, statistics show that long term shift work will knock 10 years off of your life expectancy....

I am not worried about that but I did not want to keep living the very unhealthy life style that I had been doing once I retired....

Actually, I started doing most of these things right after the New Year as part of a Goal to focus more on taking care of myself.......

I am proud to say that I try to do the stationary bike 5 times a week and I am now able to do 5 miles in around 21 minutes.....

Not too shabby if I do say so myself......

I do my own program, alternating between Level 3 and 4 in tension....

There is a 3 speed fan on the control panel.....

But I use this fan all the time and the bike is right cross from the window where the air conditioner is during the Summer......

When I am on the bike, I watch TV shows that I taped on the TV here in the bedroom.......

I have the bike angled perfectly that I can use the remote........

I also bought these one pound weights a few months ago and I do 5 different arm exercises using the weights to strengthen my shoulders, arms and upper back.....

I also do 30 sit ups but since I had 4 abdominal hernias repaired and have a mesh system in place that is holding my belly together, I do half sit ups sitting in a chair.....

These exercises get me moving in the mornings and give me energy for the day......

I also cut back on drinking Diet Soda......

I know only drink a can a day if that..........

But I do drink at least 3 16 oz. bottles of water a day and since I do not eat vegetables because of my IBS, I drink a glass of V8 or this generic Vegetable drink daily.....

Before my knee surgery, I was prescribed Iron, Zinc and Vitamin D tablets and after the surgery, I had to take PreNatal Vitamins for a month......

Now this is the first time that I ever took Vitamins in my life as I did not even take them when I was pregnant because they made me vomit......

These did not so I started taking them again right after the New Year....

I am trying to watch what I eat but I am cooking more now that our son is currently living with us .....

Sure I would love to lose weight as I did gain some weight back before and after my surgery last year because of immobility but it is more about feeling good and trying to be healthier than losing weight.....

I will let you know how I am doing in a few months......

This past Saturday was the perfect day to work outside for me.......

It was 60 degrees and No Sun......

Because of my auto immune disease, I suffer from Heat and Sun sensitivity and usually after an hour in the Sun, I start to get a migraine headache, get nauseated, my face gets bright red and I feel like I am going to pass out.....

So no sun was perfect for working outside.....

Joe brought up all the garden things for the front porch and yard from our storage shed......

I was able to get the front porch ready for Summer........

I did not put out the red rug yet as our weather is still quite fickle here in NEPA with a dip in temps. and rain maybe changing to snow flurries......

 I won't be planting my pots with annuals until the 3rd week of May because of the threat of Frost which we did have this morning as my son had to scrape his car windows to drive up to his apartment so he could work from there where he has his work station set up.....

I am sticking with the color theme of red, orange and yellow on the front porch and yard again this year as it transitions nicely into Fall......

My Lighthouse that I made out of clay pots held up nicely over the Winter......

The ceramic frogs were my neighbor Elly's......

I need to transplant more hens and chicks from pots I have out in the back yard into that small pot in the orange lantern......

Once again, I hung the wreath that I made on the front door......

I already had the cushions and pillows out on the chairs for a few weeks now......

And like always, I have used the "Weeping Mortar" on the front of the house to hang things on.....

The flag is lit up at night along with lights around the railing and the lights on the Tree in the corner of the porch......

I hung it out here in response to the FB site, Light Up the Night at 8 pm.......

You may remember that I bought these cushions and pillows on Clearance last year.....

I painted this slate over in the color theme of red, orange and yellow a few years ago and it looks as if I may need to do it again......

 In the corner of the porch.......

 A Fairy sits on the table and a frog and angel rests down below.....

We do enjoy sitting out here especially in the afternoons because there is no Sun in the front of the house until about 4 pm.......

I am looking forward to planting annuals in the pots to finish off the porch and adding the rug.....

I will decorate the porch for Memorial Day about a week before the Holiday......

Looking down the side walk in front of our townhouse......

We did buy a new set of black solar lights for this year as many of my solar lights were not working at the end of last year......

And yes, I know that I could just replace the batteries but after doing that quite often last year, it was actually less expensive to just go and buy new ones.....

The flower bed under the Living Room window........

We put the bird bath in place and moved the ceramic pots back to the front from the back patio where they were stored for the Winter......

Years ago, I discovered that if you place solar lights into PVC piping held in place by rebar, pounded into the ground, you can elevate your solar lights.....

I just placed them in these pots until I can decide where to put them once the pots are planted with flowers.....

 And I might spray paint the pipes black to match these new solar lights.....

The urns that our church were going to throw out are still hanging in there so I should get another Season out of them......

I also put out all my Garden statues in the flower bed at the top of the slope that runs along the sidewalk in front to our townhouses.....

This azalea will sound be ablaze in a purple color...

I moved my chippy angel over here from the flower bed under the Living Room window......

I have to find the faux greenery that I wrap around the base of my decorative mail box.......

 Flowers will be planted in this vintage watering can.....

My park bench....

Again, pots waiting to be planted.......

A Memorial to our sweet fur babies that are waiting for us at the Rainbow Bridge and a cute Fairy.........

Solar lights and stained glass bird baths hang from hooks on each side of the park bench......

This little girl was also my neighbor Elly's......

The phlox on the slope in front of our townhouse are starting to bud........

  And soon the slope will look like this again.......

 In my next posts, I will be sharing more of the upstairs Sitting Room decorated in a Garden Theme......

And how one item ended up turning into a HUGE project, what I call the "Snow Ball" effect.....

 Like a snow ball rolling down a hill....it just keeps getting bigger and bigger.......

 So I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

Stay safe, healthy and happy!!!

Thanks to those who took the time out of their busy day to spend a little bit of time with me!!
If you do not have a blog, PLEASE  give me some way to reply to your comment, maybe by including your email in your comment.  If I can not find a way to reach you, I will reply on the post where you commented so please check back......

I am linking up to these parties:

TUESDAY
Tuesdays At Our Home
Inspire Me Tuesdays
Lou Lou Girl's Linky Party
 All About Home Party
Tuesdays with a Twist
 Farm Fresh Tuesdays Blog Hop
Celebrate Your Story Link Party!!
Tuesday Turn About Link Party
A Gathering of Friends Link Party, every 2nd and 4th Tuesday

WEDNESDAY
Keep in Touch Party
Oh My Heartsie Wonderful Wednesdays
Beautifully Made Link Party

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's

Ducks in a Row Wonderful Wednesdays Blog Hop
Party in Your PJ's
Waste Not Wednesday
Charming Homes and Gardens Wednesday Link Party

THURSDAY
Vintage Charm
Home and Garden Party Thursday
Share Your Style Thursday Link Up Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop 
Grace at Home Party
Encouraging Hearts and Home Party

FRIDAY
Friday Features Linky Party
Friday Favorites
Home Matters Linky Party
Flaunt It Fridays
 Funtastic Friday
Farmhouse Friday

 SATURDAY
Saturday Sparks
Pink Saturday-Anything Goes!!
Best of the Weekend Party

SUNDAY
Snickerdoodle Sunday
Silver Pennies Sunday
Happiness is Homemade Linky Party

 MONDAY 
Inspire Me Monday
Love Your Creativity Link Party
Busy Monday
Over the Moon Linky Party
 Handmade Monday
Creative Mondays
You Are The Star Blog Hop
Metamorphosis Monday
Little Cottage Link Party
Make It Pretty Monday

Please take some time to visit these terrific hosts and all those joining in on the fun!