DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG: Valentine's Tree and a Few More Hearts in the Dining Room, 2025

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!!!!!!

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Valentine's Tree and a Few More Hearts in the Dining Room, 2025

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Blogging has always been a stress reliever for me along with an avenue to share my passions which are my home and my garden.....

I feel it is a personal Journal that, hopefully, someday, my Twin Granddaughters will be able to look back on to learn about who I was....

I will be posting 3 times a week on MONDAYS, THURSDAYS and SATURDAYS....

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In my last post, I shared how I decorated the buffet, hutch and small curio in the Dining Room for Valentine's/Heart Month

Click HERE if you missed that post!!

And now for a few Personal Notes...

Well, I am now 67 years old....

January 31st was my Birthday, which my son Joey took off from work and treated me to my favorite pizza which I always ordered for my family Birthday celebration....

Sicilian pizza with bacon on top from local pizzeria Norm's...

We have not had this for a long time ( I think since my last birthday) and it was so good !!

Honestly, I never ever thought I would live this long after my cancer diagnosis 17 years ago...

I was lucky as I did not need Chemo or Radiation but since then, I know I am living on borrowed time as cancer always comes back unless you pass away from something else before it does...

I am grateful for each and every day that I get to wake up one more time...

Many do not get that privilege...

I attended 4 funerals in the past 9 months....

More than I attended in the last decade...

My husband Joe's, my cousin Joe's, my brother-in-law John's and on Tuesday, my dear friend Anne Marie's...

It was quite a day...my son Joey came with me to attend Anne Marie's Funeral service at Saint Ann's Basilica in Scranton, Pa..

I always wanted to see the Basilica, known for it's famous annual Solemn Novena to St. Ann, which is attended by thousands...

But not under these circumstances...

I made a wish when entering the church, just like my mother always told me to do when visiting a church I had never been in before...

It was a beautiful service with beautiful songs and readings....

My friend and former pastor of my church, Saint Maria Goretti, celebrated the mass as that is his assigned parish now....

Since Ann Marie loved music, he honored her by singing the Funeral version of Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah, which is a favorite of mine...

I was so happy I got to talk with Father Jim Paisley afterward.

We had a beautiful, delicious dinner at a local Italian restaurant, Sibio's, that was Ann Marie's favorite...

Ann Marie's husband, Tony, had a cake made that said "This is not Anne Marie's Cake" as she was well known for her own little cake business that she ran out of her home as a side business......

She had told me that at one time, she was making 25-30 cakes each weekend for people...

Tony said that the cake would be good but not as good as hers were...

Tony gifted me a beautiful butterfly pendant with Ann Marie's ashes in it...

I had a sterling silver necklace that was perfect for it....

I am so Thankful for his generous act of kindness...

He had told me that he "took a page from my play book" and has Ann Marie's ashes in a beautiful urn, quite similar to the clock that I have Joe's ashes in,...

But instead of the clock face, there is the picture of her, that is on the prayer card, on the front of it...

After leaving the restaurant, Joey was able to show me the Chancery and St. Peter's Cathedral as he works for the Diocese of Scranton and all the restaurants he frequents for lunch around and by Courthouse Square in Scranton...

This Irish Blessing was on the back of the funeral service program....

It was a sad day but a beautiful day.....

Ann Marie would be so proud of Tony...

Joe and Tony during visits to their home........

My heart aches for Tony as I know what he is going through...

Unlike Joe and I , they did everything together...

As for my Birthday, my sons had planned to celebrate on Tuesday but they changed to next Tuesday, the 11th, ( when Jim and Danielle are off) because of Ann Marie's Funeral...

However, that may change as Snow is predicted that day...

This past Sunday was my church's annual Pasta Dinner....

All this for $15....

Pasta with home made sauce and a huge link of sausage...

A salad, a bun and cake from the same parishioner who owns the bakery where we get our breakfast items from for our monthly Sunday breakfasts after Mass...

I picked up my 4 dinners after Mass and dropped 2 dinners off for Jim and Danielle...

Also on Sunday, my washer died....

With a full load of clothes and water inside of it!!

Both my washer and dryer are close to 15 years old so I have just been waiting for them to kick the bucket...

On Monday, I ordered a new washer and dryer, replacing both of them together as we always did in the past....

Nothing fancy, very basic....

Lowe's had the best price on this Whirlpool set....

It will be delivered on Saturday....

Today, I am continuing my tour of the Dining Room , decorated for Heart Month/Valentine's....

Well, I did manage to decorate the Dining Room , checking off another Goal on my January monthly list

Decorate Dining Room for Valentine's - FINISHED

However, because of everything that happened in the last week, I fell short on getting the Living Room changed over from Christmas to Valentine's....

I am giving myself grace and working on it now...

In the corner of the Dining Room by the Living Room...

Last year, I moved this narrow cabinet down to the Dining Room from the bedroom.....

I bought this Mr. Christmas ceramic vintage inspired ceramic tree last November and i intend to keep it out year round....

I hung a heart ornament on it....

I was gifted this hand made heart by a fellow blogger many years ago....

And I made this heart....

I hung a heart that I made and a Dollar Tree Kissing Booth sign on the window divider....

This is the new Tree that I bought before Christmas....

And this is how I decorated it for Christmas....

And now for Valentine's....

Since it is a much smaller Tree, I had to decorate it a bit differently.....

The bow is made from a pink gold shimmery ribbon and a rose ribbon.....

I tucked a bunch of pink berry stems into the top of the Tree.....

I made a lot of the ornaments on this Tree.....

I tucked white sparkly baby's breath picks into the Tree.....

Along with white velvet roses....

I left the pink tablecloth, that I wrapped around the base of the Tree for Christmas, in place....

On the marble topped stand next to the Tree......

Inside the vintage milk glass compote bowl.....

On the side of the large picture titled "May I play?"

I hung hearts from the sconces....

On the shelf under the picture.....

A heart shaped candy box that I embellished......

On the other side of the picture.....

On the side of the curio....

On the shelf....

I left the Christmas floral arrangement in the funeral basket, that Ann Marie gifted me .....

And just tucked in a few pink hearts....

Hearts and cupids.....

On top of the curio.....

I hung Valentine's slates on top of the curio.....

A heart that I made.....

On the cabinet that I had my Dad build for me to match Joe's grandmother's Dining Room furniture.....

On the left side.....

I placed this white feather Tree inside a vintage crystal compote bowl......

I decorated it with some pink heart ornaments.....

I topped it with a pink snowflake ornament.....

On the right side.....

I left out the 2 sweet little girl figurines that my friend Ann Marie gifted me....

And I hung heart ornaments from the chandy.....

And that completes my tour of the Dining Room all decked out for Valentine's/Heart month.....

These decorations will stay up for the entire month of February....

In my next post on SATURDAY, I will be starting my tour of the Living Room decorated for Valentine's with a bit of Winter....

So I hope you will stop by to visit again on SATURDAY....

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......