I am a Victorian Soul, who lives in a small townhouse that was built in the mid 1970's, not a huge Mega Mansion!! I just recently lost my Hubby Joe, who was a Retired Letter Carrier. I worked night shift as an RN on a Hospital based Rehabilitation( Physical Medicine) Unit for 37 years before I had Knee Replacement Surgery and officially Retired in 2019 after 41 years working in Direct Patient Care ... I am so glad that we retired at 62 years of age and got to spend that time together before he passed....I still do love Retirement!!!!

I DABBLE IN A BIT OF THIS AND THAT!!!!

" IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO BE WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE BEEN"
George Eliot
George Eliot was actually a pen name for a woman named Mary Anne Evans......

BLOGGING FOR FUN AND FRIENDSHIP!!!!!!

Tuesday, May 5, 2020

Word of the Month for May, CHANGE and Some Changes I Made Around the House!!

 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

So here it is.....

The month of May!!!
The old saying goes "April Showers bring May Flowers"......
We sure have had our share of showers in the month of April here in NEPA.....
Finally, trees and bushes are starting to bud and bloom......

 The phlox on the slope in front of our townhouse are just starting to open and bloom.....
 Soon, the slope will be ablaze with color.....
 I have 3 azalea bushes in the front yard and this is usually the first one to bud and bloom.....
Soon, these red buds will be bursting with color.......

I feel that the Season of Spring starts with HOPE!!

HOPE for warmer weather and spending time outdoors with family and friends...... 

 HOPE was my Word of the Month for April.......

Click HERE if you missed that post.....

Because of what is going on now in the world with this health crisis, I chose to have HOPE!!!!!
I chose to have HOPE for better days ahead and HOPE that my family would remain safe and Healthy!!

So far...

So good.....

Even though just about everything during the Month of April was cancelled......
HOPE, for me, will NOT , nor ever, be cancelled..........

POSITIVITY is what I chose as my Theme for this Year......
Little did I know how important it would be to remain POSITIVE this Year!!!!

 I am choosing to maintain this theme by only posting positive things here on my Blog and also on my face book page.....
 There are so many Negative, "Doom and Gloom", finger pointing at Politicians and people of a certain geographic location and Ethnicity, and personal ranting and raving posts out there on face book that it is hard for anyone to try to maintain a positive attitude......

 BUT, I have had enough......

I am CHOOSING to scroll through and not read any of these posts.....

 I choose POSITIVITY!!
May is a month of CHANGE when it comes to the awakening of the Gardens and landscapes that surround us......

So I choose CHANGE at my Word of the Month for May!!!

 A very long time ago, the original unit manager of the Rehab Unit on which I worked for almost 38 years, told me that "Change is the only Constant in Life"
 How true this quote is.......

Things in our lives are constantly CHANGING.....

But how you choose to deal with those CHANGES, will shape your life.....
 So what exactly does CHANGE mean......

1 : To make or become different

2 : To undergo transformation, transition or substitution

"To make or become different"...... 

 I, personally think that in relation to what is going on currently in the World today, this is an understatement!!!
So many things in our lives have changed drastically in the last 6-8 weeks......

 And now, in the month of May, many of us will be going through a reopening to some degree of the States in which we live......

 But there will be CHANGES.....

 Things will be very different......

 "To undergo transformation"......

Businesses are opening back up but are also learning to do things differently...

 They are CHANGING with the times in which we live.....

 They are leaving the Old Ways of doing things behind and moving forward with discovering and trying New Ways of doing things.....

 They are CHANGING........

They are making CHANGES that will affect an entire population in their communities  ......

The CHANGES that they are making will matter.......
CHANGES we all make will matter.......

Yes, we can make CHANGES in how we do things, where we go, etc.....

But how we deal with and accept those CHANGES.......
Will determine our success in life.......

Our success in adjusting to living a different way of life then what we were used to......

I feel though that it is important that even though we will CHANGE......
We can leave nothing to Chance......

By this, I mean that we need to take a serious look at our lives and how we want to live it....

Do we want to fight these CHANGES head on, kicking and screaming or do we want to sit down and think about how we can make these changes work for us and for our families and for our communities...... 

CHANGE truly is inevitable in Life......
 But Growth is optional!!

I am choosing to use these CHANGES as an opportunity to GROW ......

How I will do that, I am not quite sure but I WILL do it with a Positive attitude!!

And now that I have spoken about all the CHANGES that we all will be facing in the Month of May....

There are a lot of CHANGES that I will be carrying out around our home for the Month of May......

Some of which I already made this weekend, the first weekend of May, which was beautiful here even though Sunday it did get a bit hot for me...almost 80..

Because of Auto Immune disease, I do not do well in the Heat of the Summer at all!!

On Saturday, I straightened out all the scalloped brick borders on the walkways in the back yard....
 I painted these metal garden stakes which were looking a bit faded from the Sun....

Before......
 After......
 Before....
 After........
 Before.......
 After......
 I just simply dry brushed the paint on them and then spray them with a clear sealant.....

Joe bought 3 more bags of red mulch for the back yard which I put down.....
 On Sunday, I cleaned off the front porch, ran the sweeper over the artificial grass rug and put down the red outdoor rug that I bought last year at Ocean State Job Lot.....

Before......
 After......
 I do want to buy a custom cut artificial grass rug for the concrete block on the back patio but until Carpet and Rug stores open up, I sent Joe to Ocean State Job Lot to buy these 2 aqua outdoor rugs which I can also use when I do get the artificial grass rug....
 Our son, Joey, who is currently staying with us, realized that the pillow on the vintage milk crate could be used as a foot stool....
 A CHANGE he definitely enjoyed!!!!

I also got out all my solar lighting and CHANGED the way the front of the house looks in the Evening.......
 A CHANGE I definitely like!!

I will be sharing more about these changes when I plant all my pots with my annuals right before Memorial Day......

We will be having below average temps. this week with Freeze Warnings and a chance of snow flurries!!!

The weather has definitely CHANGED from the weather we had over the weekend!!

Since Joe was off on Monday, I enlisted his help in CHANGING the way the flower bed by our Court's Mail Boxes looks......

I enlarged this flower bed a few years ago and planted perennials from our back yard here to brighten up the neighborhood.......

We replace the mulch every year and I straighten out the rock border that I put in originally....

This is how it looked before we started......
I wanted to enlarge it to include the tree and go up to the retaining wall.....
After I dug out all the grass, put down weed block fabric and mulch while Joe hauled all the dirt and grass away...

This is how It came out.....
 I will be adding more perennials to it as I start to thin out some in our back yard which is when I will post more about this area......

I have a lot of other CHANGES planned like finally taking down my Easter decorations....

That is right.....

I STILL have the house decorated for Easter!!

I had planned on doing it last week and on the weekend but decided to CHANGE my plans and take advantage of the nice weather we had.....

I will then be decorating the Living Room for the Patriotic Holidays of the Summer, cleaning windows through out the house, CHANGING curtains, putting in air conditioners, etc......

So I have a lot of CHANGES in mind for the month of May......

I will be maintaining my POSITIVITY as I deal with all these CHANGES.....
 "Choose Positivity and Watch the World Around YOU CHANGE!!!"

Will you choose to be the one to bring on some CHANGE of your own?????

I certainly HOPE 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:

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






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14 comments:

  1. DebbyMay 5, 2020 at 3:20 PM

    Your yards look so nice. You've done a lot of work. I'm still having a hard time staying motivated. Mild depression perhaps? Noting serious. We can't use wood chips where I live due to forest fires. After our big fire in 2018 firefighters told us that rocks are a good buffer. So we are planning to put in some river rock soon. As a buffer in case we have another killer fire season. Our triple digit weather will be upon us soon enough.

    You seem to be a bundle of energy. I wish I was like you! More would get done! Stay well.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Miss MerryMay 6, 2020 at 12:05 AM

    Your gardens all look so nice! I have come to the conclusion that I am not going to be doing any gardening this summer with my broken arm still healing. We live about 45 minutes away from some Amish nurseries and my daughter and I go and get hanging baskets after Mother's Day. We have those frost days too. I am concerned about going this year. Ohio is wishy washy on masks and, although they stress social distancing, no one seems to be doing that either. I'm not sure what I will do about hanging baskets.

    ReplyDelete
  3. mamasmercantileMay 6, 2020 at 2:21 AM

    Lots of change, the painted ornaments look amazing. I love your attitude for the future concerning hope and remaining positive, it is all we can do. The vintage crate was a delight, I haven't seen one in years. Take care and stay safe.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Creations By CindyMay 6, 2020 at 8:41 AM

    Awe. your hard work girl is paying off as your garden looks so pretty. I have saved some of your little meme's as they have spoke loudly to me this morning. Change sometimes isn't a bad thing at all. I am just a creature of habit and boy is the Lord teaching me some things. But for me my comfort comes from the fact that though we live in a ever changing world that my God will never change. I hope you have a beautiful day dear lady. Hugs and blessings, Cindy

    ReplyDelete
  5. RebeccaMay 6, 2020 at 11:54 AM

    I always love it when you share these quotes.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble ChristmasMay 13, 2020 at 10:08 PM

      Rebecca,
      Thanks so much for stopping by!!
      Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
      Hugs,
      Debbie

      Delete
  6. SandyMay 6, 2020 at 2:43 PM

    Your outside garden area is cute. I've been taking some pictures while on my walks trying to get some ideas to make a few changes here. I want to decrease some of the flower beds, getting to be too much work. We had lots of rain in April as well, but not many flowers yet in May. Been colder than normal. Stay well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. annies homeMay 7, 2020 at 2:04 AM

    here lately all of our lives have seen much change in fact some times I think to much change. My grandmother always delighted in the thought of april showers bring may flowers and your flowers look awesome after the april rains
    come see us at http://shopannies.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Meditations in MotionMay 7, 2020 at 12:44 PM

    Thank you for the positive encouragement from the graphics. I especially love the "choose wisely" one. So true! You certainly have been using your time wisely around your house. Love the look after all of your projects.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble ChristmasMay 14, 2020 at 8:04 AM

      I just visited your recent post and went to leave this comment...
      Great post!! I firmly believe that the decision is ours in how we react to our situations though each one of us are in a different situations during this crisis...Thanks so much for stopping by!! I just did a post about how words and the use of certain words can affect one's perception...Stop by if you get a chance...
      Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
      Hugs,
      Debbie
      I can not comment on word press because I do not have an acct and password so I am commenting here...

      Delete
  9. AnnMay 8, 2020 at 12:36 PM

    Beautiful changes and I love all of your positive energy, Debbie! Thank you for sharing at Party In Your PJ's.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Michele MorinMay 10, 2020 at 7:53 PM

    One thing we know is that the only thing that's certain is that things will remain uncertain for some time.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Debbie-Dabble Blog and A Debbie-Dabble ChristmasMay 13, 2020 at 10:21 PM

      Michele,
      I am responding here as I need an acct. to sign in to respo Thanks so much for stopping by!!
      Stay safe, healthy and happy!!
      Hugs,
      Debbiend on Word press and I do not have one...

      Delete
  11. Powell River BooksMay 13, 2020 at 1:36 PM

    At university I took a whole semester course on change theory. - Margy

    ReplyDelete

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