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!!!!!!

Wednesday, February 16, 2022

February This and That and Crafting!!




 Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

 
I am so happy you decided to stop by!!
 
Just a reminder, I will be posting on Wednesdays and Sundays every week so be sure to check back on those days to see a new post...... 
 
 Since I did not share any personal notes in my last post, this post is going to be ALL personal notes!!

LOL!!
 
And a bit of Crafting!!
 

 How was your Valentine's Day and weekend???

Mine was nice and quiet and started off with a new Blog post on Saturday....
 
 
 In my last post, I shared the very first tiered tray display that I have ever done!!

Never had the opportunity or room to do one but after I was invited by Katherine, over at Katherine's Corner, to join her and other bloggers, participating in her "Valentine's Day on a Tray Blog Tour", I decided to do one as a centerpiece for a Valentine's Tablescape!!
 
 

 

 

 

 

Click HERE to see the tiered tray that I used and have had for over 10 + years....

The links to all the other participant's posts is also included to my post so please stop by and take a look at all the beautiful "Valentine's Day on a Tray" posts...

 
 Saturday was a wonderful day because I also got to visit with my dear friend Anne Marie!!

She came down from Scranton for a nice afternoon visit and to see my house decorated for Winter/Valentine's which we believe that she has never seen in person before....

I had gifted her a few things that Joe picked up on his daily runs to all the stores around here including these trees from Big Lot when they were reduced to 90% off..


This is exactly where I envisioned them which is why when Joe brought one home for me, I immediately sent him back to Big Lot's to get one for Anne Marie!!

If you missed the post I did on her beautiful home decorated for Winter.... 

 


 

 

 

 

Please Click HERE .....

I also gifted her this pretty tree skirt that could also be used as a table covering that Joe bought at Big Lot's for 90% off for $1.00!!!!! 


 Anne Marie laughed that she benefits from Joe's shopping excursions as it is a one for me , one for Anne Marie thing with what Joe buys!!!

And she appreciates his shopping talents!!

LOL!!

I also passed on some flowers and other things to her after going through some of my supplies....

Even though I went through the entire Craft Room and all of my supplies last year, I am doing so again because after another year, I have a better understanding of what I will be using and what I will not be using....

Anne Marie graciously gifted me this sweet Bunny for Easter....

 
 So cute.....

 
I love it!!

 Looking forward to our next visit before Easter.....
 
Joe worked from 3pm til 9:30 pm on Saturday so I spent a nice quiet evening with my lap top, binge watching Dexter on Prime...
 
Nothing like a good Serial Killer Thriller in my book !!
 

On Sunday, we got a surprise inch or two of snow......

 
 Winter is far from over here in Nepa....
 
 
 
 We have gotten some of our best snowstorms in March.....
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 We even have gotten snow well into April....
 
 
 
 
 I will be keeping my Winter decorations up for another 2-3 more weeks...
...
 

 
 

Love the pattern that the snow created on my neighbor Khalid's retaining wall.....

  
 

 Now Joe was not interested in watching the Super Bowl as his Steelers were not playing in it and I NEVER watch football as I truly hate it as a sport, but we did order a Super Bowl Special from Price Chopper....

2 Large Pizza's, either cooked or you could bake at home, and 2 pounds of chicken wings for only $24.99!!!

Joe and I do not really like chicken wings and would prefer boneless bites instead so Joey ate the wings...

I forgot to take a picture of the hot pizza topped with bacon that we got for Sunday dinner along with the wings....

We got another pizza with sausage for me to make in the oven, which we had on Tuesday evening...
 
 
 
Joey grabbed his before I could take a picture!!
 
 
 
So we got 2 dinners out of the $24.99!!

Well, worth it, I thought!!!

As for Monday, Valentine's Day, Joe worked from 5pm til 9:30 pm so we didn't do anything for Valentine's Day which we have not celebrated in years anyway....

I used to do a family dinner instead but it didn't work out that way this year...

Sticking with food, this week we ordered 3 dinners from the WB Scranton Penguins Reheat and East Food Service...

 
Marinated Pork Chop topped w/ Balsamic glaze served w/ roasted carrots & seasoned steak fries
 
 
Seared Chicken & Shrimp tossed in cajun Alfredo w/ fettucine & roasted peppers
 

Joe is trying the pork which should be interesting as he really does not care for pork....

Joey and I will be having the fettucine but I already picked the peppers and shrimp out of Joey's as he does not like either...

I will eat the shrimp and I gave his portion some of my chicken....

We will be having those for dinner tonight so I will let you know how it goes!!


And one more thing I want to mention....

Last Monday on the way home from work on a dark side street, which by the way I told him not to come home that way, he hit a HUGE pot hole, blew the tire and bent the rim as he drove it a little ways to Firestone by the Mall near us ..
 

 Excuse the language there but we thought this was hysterical especially since it is based on a Guns and Roses song and we saw them in concert a few years ago!!!

Long story made short, our insurance, Nationwide, paid for the new tire, rim and alignment!!

We had the "Vanishing" Deductible which decreases by $100 from $500 every year without an accident so we were down to $0 on the deductible....
 
This fell under "collision"
 
The cost was a little under $500 so if we just had our regular $500 deductible , we would have had to pay the full amount...
 
I want to give Kudos out to Nationwide and to Firestone who worked well together and took care of this promptly and very efficiently!!
 
Like I always say..
 
 "You only get what you pay for" 

And it is well worth it paying a bit more for car insurance...

BUT...

Boy, am I ever glad that it happened to him and not to me as I would never hear the end of it!!!

I know from past experience!!!!

And he is now going the way home that I told him to go in the first place....

The way I took home every morning from work....


  
 
I finally got around to finishing the other larger clay pot snowman in the Kitchen.....



 
Since this is a larger pot, I used a clay saucer that I painted black to make the Dollar Tree hat ornament appear bigger......
 
 
 
 I added a few things to the hat.....

 
  
 
  
 
Now it looks much better.....




 
 
 In keeping with the Winter theme.....

I bought these 2 snow man heads in Dollar Tree in October.....

 
 I wish they had more but these were the only ones left and I have not seen them since.....

I was going to use a Pringles can as the body to make snow men but they seemed too big to me so I used a soup can.....


These are my 2 snowmen....


The 2 heads were made slightly different....


On one, the hat was set further back so I added 3 pom poms, also bought at Dollar Tree, in the front of it.....

 
 I love these cute faces......

 
 I made the scarves out of pieces of ribbon that I had left over from bows I made for wreaths...

 
I simply wrapped a double layer of white felt around the can, gluing it in place...
 
 
 
 And used some of the vintage buttons that I got from my neighbor Elly....
 
 
And added some pom poms to the center of them....



And this is where I put these 2 cuties.....



On top of the hutch in the Kitchen....
 
 





 There are other crafts that I wanted to make for Winter but still have not found the time....
 
I did manage to make one more Valentine's Craft!!

 
 I saw so many of these on Pinterest....
 
 Source: Pinterest

Source: Pinterest
 
And my dear FB friend Angela was able to find a ready made one at Dollar Tree .....
 
 
Which she embellished so beautifully....
 

 Again, I took a pot right out of my Patio like I did for the snowman ones and spray painted it red, along with a saucer....

 
 I sent Joe down to Dollar tree to look for a glass bowl and all he could find was this sort of gold mercury glass one which, to me, ended up being perfect!!!
 
  
 
 I filled it with candies that I had and have used for decorations for years........
 
 I found lace vinyl heart stickers ( who knew) in my stash....

The only place that I could think of where I bought them was when A.C. Moore went out of business here....

I used one in the middle of the pot. and embellished it with a red rose and heart gems that I had....


Along with a trim....

I again used the lace heart stickers, trim and some hearts on the "lid"....

 
I glued a white porcelain knob that I also had in my stash to the top.....

 
 I really like the gold mercury glass look of the glass....


And I put my Valentine's gumball like candy machine here on the buffet in the Dining Room....




I thought it was the perfect place for it with all the other Valentine's goodies!!!

I also found a bunch of keys in my stash that I remember buying from the bins in Michael's a few years back....

I added 2 to these things, trying to symbolize, "The Key to my Heart"





I think I may embellish them with a few ribbon flowers and nicer ribbons....
 
 
 I do have other Winter and Valentine's crafts that I want to do but I only have so much time in the day so I started a Craft To Do list....
 
 
From the beginning of September until after Easter, depending on when Easter falls, is what I consider the Holiday Season....

During those months is when I decorate most of, if not all of, the house for Fall/Halloween, Christmas, Winter Valentine's, Saint Patrick's and Easter....

Meaning that I am changing decorations out about every 4-6 weeks and doing heavy duty cleaning while doing it so my time is limited during these months....

I do decorate for the Summer Patriotic Holidays and also do a late Summer "Under the Sea" theme but those are only in the Living Room...

That gives me a lot more time in the Summer to do other things so what I need to do is craft for the different Holidays and Seasons during the Summer months....
 
 Which will work out well as it has been getting so hot and humid here in the Summer that I am stuck in the house with the air conditioners blaring anyway and not able to enjoy being outside...

So anytime I see something of interest on Pinterest or on a blog, I will be writing it down and listing where I saw it...
 
A Craft To Do List

Sounds like a plan...

We will see if it works...

On Sunday, I may be sharing how I have been slowly packing away Christmas and changing the upstairs back over to "normal"....
 



 
 Or I may do a Winter Tablescape..

Haven't decided yet....
 
So I hope you will stop by to visit again on Sunday!!

Stay safe, healthy and most of all, 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:
 
 



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

  1. Judy at GoldCountryCottageFebruary 16, 2022 at 8:07 PM

    Hi Deb: All is looking good and your snowman pot turned out so cute. Looks like the food was good and more snow! Are you tired of it yet? I'm getting so tired of the cold. We are having winds now that just seem to go right through a person. Looks like you are making good progress on your crafting..Happy Wednesday..xxoJudy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Miss MerryFebruary 16, 2022 at 9:48 PM

    Oh gosh, that Valentine Gumball Machine is just adorable! I like yours so much better than the inspiration, but what a cute idea! How fun to have Ann Marie visit and exchange treasures. You two are crafting sisters! You will have to report back on those dinners. You know I am obsessed with them. I wondered if the alfredo was spicy? Have a great week!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Michele MorinFebruary 17, 2022 at 9:46 AM

    Your snowmen are adorable!

    ReplyDelete
  4. JeanieFebruary 17, 2022 at 10:42 AM

    Snow on your porch, a wonderful dinner, a good friend! What could be better?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Sandi MagleFebruary 18, 2022 at 11:06 AM

    Hi, Debbie. I had to laugh at your comment about winter for 2-3 more weeks, wait until the latest storms dumps on you! Grins...I think we may be socked in longer than that! Glad to see you are keeping busy. Yesterday was my first day not in the doll/craft room...! Hugs, Sandi

    ReplyDelete
  6. handmade by amaliaFebruary 20, 2022 at 5:09 AM

    Hope you had a wonderful Valentine's Day! Love all the decorations.
    Amalia
    xo

    ReplyDelete
  7. My thrift store addictionFebruary 20, 2022 at 1:05 PM

    Girl, you have been busy! Your assortment of snow people are my faves. Thanks for sharing at Vintage Charm!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Joy from Days Filled With JoyFebruary 21, 2022 at 6:09 AM

    Oh wow, I just love your Christmas decorations and the SNOW!! How I wish it looked like that here in Australia!! xx

    ReplyDelete
  9. Donna @ Modern on MonticelloFebruary 22, 2022 at 4:09 PM

    That bunny in the blue truck is a sweet gift from your friend. I just know we will see it in your upcoming decorations. #HomeMattersParty

    ReplyDelete
  10. Life as a LEO WifeFebruary 23, 2022 at 8:09 PM

    You had a fun time of crafting it looks like. I love the little candy machine. I love Dexter, but I am beyond furious with Showtime! I won't ruin it for you if you haven't finished the new show. I demand a rewrite lol. Thanks for sharing on Crafty Creators!
    XOXO,
    Niki ~ Life as a LEO Wife

    ReplyDelete
  11. My Hubbard HomeFebruary 24, 2022 at 8:26 PM

    Your fun posts and creative flair always makes me smile :) Thanks again for the inspiration.
    hugs,
    Rachelle

    ReplyDelete

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