DEBBIE-DABBLE BLOG

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!!!!!!

Monday, September 16, 2013

Tea in the Garden!

First off. my thoughts and prayers are with everyone affected by the flooding in Colorado and other states. My area is no stranger to flooding so I do understand what all of you are going through.....

I want to Thank Kathy over at Life on Lakeshore Drive for giving my post , I'm in the Newspaper, a Special Shout Out!!!
Kathy hosts the weekly party , A Bouquet of Talent Party!

Thanks so much , Kathy!! Please take some time to visit and link up to this great party!!

Again, I worked on this post about 2 weeks ago so I would have a post up while I am working on clearing out my downstairs and painting...
The flooring in coming on Friday so that it adapts to the atmosphere in the house and then on Monday, the 23rd, remodel starts!!

We finished all the painting in the DR and the LR so now, over the last 3 years, the entire downstairs has been repainted!!

Back to this post.....

This is just a simple little Teascape outside on the Patio.....

The garden is actually starting to show signs of Fall now.......

It is so hard to get good pictures when the Sun is out in full force as half of the yard is shaded by the trees in the back.....

I took a lot of these pictures over the course of a day...

I used one of my vintage tablecloths....

Remember those purple dishes that Joe bought for $1.00 each on Clearance at Wegman's?

And the tea pot , creamer and sugar bowl is from T.J.Maxx and Marshall's.....

The Tea and Toast sets came from Salvation Army!!

In looking at these pictures now, I realize that I have the spoon and the fork in the wrong place!!!

I guess it was a Senior moment!!

Hopefully, my next post will show you the painting we have done in the DR and LR and how I re-arranged some of the wall art , which I have a lot of!! Remember, I am a Victorian Soul who subscribes to the Philosophy of More is More!!

I am still trying to catch up on my visiting but right now life is a bit crazy and my house looks like a bomb went off inside it!!

I am so jealous of all the wonderful Fall decorating ideas I am getting glimpses of on all your Blogs!!
As I have mentioned before, I will be skipping Fall and Halloween decorating in the house this year but I will be going straight into Christmas decorating since I already have all my knick knacks and doo dads all packed up from the downstairs!

After they are done doing all the cutting of the flooring on my Front Porch, I hope to at least decorate the porch for Fall......

And I will be doing our church's Harvest Tea on October 9th. I will be decorating one table and my theme is "Quoth the Raven, Nevermore!" I will be decorating it in Black, White and Silver......

I do have links to my Fall and Halloween decorations from last year on my side bar if you are interested......

I will be linking up to these great parties this week:

TUESDAY

Tea Time Tuesday

Show Me What You Got Tuesdays

Nifty Thrifty Tuesday

Knick of Time Tuesday

You're Gonna Love It Tuesdays
The Gathering Spot

Tea Cup Tuesday

Brag About It Tuesday Linky Party here at VMG206 and also HERE at Be Betsy!

Twirl and Take a Bow Party

A-Zebra Linky party Tuesdays

Cottage Style Linky Party

Tuesdays with a Twist

Tuesdays At Our Home

WEDNESDAY

Wednesdays Make, Bake and Create party
Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's
Wow Us Wednesday
Sizzle into Summer Party
Wednesdays Adorned From Above Linky Party
Home (Work) Wednesdays
Lovely Ladies Linky Party
What's It Wednesday
Wonderful Wednesdays
HOME Party on Wednesdays
Creative Wednesdays

THURSDAY

Treasure Hunt Thursdays
Home and Garden Party Thursday
Homemaking Weekend Link Up Party
Time Travel Thursday
Open House Party
Share Your Cup Thursday
Vintage Thingie Thursday
Transformation Thursday
Inspired Creations Linky Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
Pearls and Lace Thursday
Grace at Home Party
All Things Pretty Thursdays
Garden Party
Create it Thursday
Tablescape Thursday

FRIDAY

Fertilizer Friday
Home Sweet Home Friday
Be Inspired Fridays
Thrifty Things Friday
Simple and Sweet Fridays
Show and Tell Friday
Tickled Pink Party
Flaunt It Fridays
Fabulously Creative Friday Linky Party at Jennifer Rizzo's
What To Do Weekends
Feature Friday Free For All
A Peek into Paradise TGIF Link Party
Inspire Me Please Weekend Blog Hop
Inspire Me Fridays
Anything Goes Linky Party
Ladies Only Blog Share Linky Party
Weekend Blog Linky Party
Friday Flair Link Party
Friday's Five Features Party
Friday Favorites

SATURDAY
From the Farm Blog Hop
Pink Saturday
Party Junk
Strut Your Stuff Saturdays
One Great Idea Saturday Party
Finding the Pretty and Delicious Party
Saturday Show and Tell
Serenity Saturday
Saturday SHOW-licious Craft Showcase

SUNDAY
Seasonal Sunday

The Creative Home and Garden Blog Hop

Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
That DIY Party
Inspired Sunday( Formerly Vintage View Sunday)
Submarine Sunday
Share It One More Time Sundays
DIY SHowcase
Clever Chicks Blog Hop
Sunday Showcase

MONDAY
Inspiration Mondays

Amaze Me Mondays

Creative Blogger's Party and Hop

Mod Vintage Mix Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

Make It Pretty Monday

What'd You Do This Weekend?

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

Thanks so much for stopping by today and every day that you take the time to visit with me!

Hugs,
Debbie

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

Saying Good Bye to the Church of my Childhood and then the Unthinkable Happens....

Last June , I did a post titled The Closing of a Church where I spoke of the Church of my Childhood......

It was the Church where my parents were baptized, received all their sacraments including saying their marriage vows and were both buried from.

I also received all my sacraments there......

It was where Joe and I were married.....

It was where we ,and many of my family members before and after us, stood on these steps and posed for pictures......

My sons were baptized there......

It was closed because of the consolidation of Catholic Churches that is taking place in our area......

It was slated for demolition on Monday.

My sister, who only lives a few blocks away, has taken lots of pictures that she will be sharing with me so we will remember this church that was so much a part of our lives.

My Dad was the janitor of this church for over 20 years..... it was the church where he would let us ring the bells and we squealed with joy as we hung on tight to the rope and flew up in the air with the ringing of those bells.....

My sister was there on Monday morning along with a huge crowd of people as the church was being demolished...

She went home for lunch leaving the church looking like this...

Courtesy of the Times Leader Newspaper

No sooner did she get home and turn on the TV at lunch time when she heard the terrible news...

She ran back over....

The church had collapsed onto the crane with the owner of the demolition company inside of it, killing him.....

What a devastating blow to a community already mourning the loss of a hundred year old church......

Please click HERE to read the story of what happened and to see the video of the collapse.....

Our hearts go out to the family of John Brdaric......

My sister and I were going to take bricks from the church as a rememberance....

Now we are not so sure about that...

How do you feel about it?????

I am so torn about what to do......
We believe our grandparents are on the plaque listing the Founding Families......The Kolojejchicks

Hugs,
Deb

Thursday, September 5, 2013

The Transformation has started....

I want to Thank these great hostess's for featuring my post,
Last Look at my Patio and Back Yard for Summer of 2013 , from last week....

Thanks to Deb over at Lavender Garden Cottage , from last week's Cottage Style Party!

And Thanks to Nicky over at Pink Recipe Box from last week's Creative Wednesday!

Thanks so much, Deb and Nicky! Please take some time to visit and even link up to these great parties....

AND I want to THANK Mary and Dave from the web site, Front Porch Ideas and More , for choosing my porch decorated for Autumn (2012) as one of the features on a new page that Mary created for the web site,
Fantastic Autumn Decorating Ideas for Your Porch!! Please click on the link to see a lot of great porches decorated for Fall!!

Mary was so kind to make this fantastic collage of my porch using pictures from my Blog!!

Mary, I LOVE it!! And thank you for your sweet words...I really appreciate it!

Please visit this wonderful web site and see so many great porch ideas!! You will be amazed!! They are also on Facebook and Hometalk!!

Okay, the transformation of my downstairs has begun!!

I have started to pack everything up, starting with the Living Room in preparation for new wood laminate floors that will be installed the last week of September....

And I have started to paint.....

This was how the wall below the chair rail in the LR and hallway looked before.....

It was a faux paint treatment that I did , first by sponging paint on then creating a mottled effect by dabbing the wet paint on the wall with plastic bags, pulling it off so to speak.

I still like this effect but wanted to change it up a bit.....

See the colors in the border????

I had this aqua color paint from another project that I did long time ago.

So I painted the wall below the chair rail with this paint.....

This is how it looked.....it sort of has a wall paper look.

It was a bit too bright for me.....

So I did the same treatment......sponge paint on first and bag it off only using the peach paint on top of the aqua paint!!!!

I like this so much better.....

I love the way it looks with the border......

Don't mind the boxes.....

More pics.....

I think this color will look good against the wood flooring....

I'm still moving things out.....

This wall will stay all together like this because this is where the ceramic tile that creates a foyer is and they will not be working over here.......

I am a color girl and I like the new shades of color in my Living Room!

I also started to paint the textured ceiling from light peach to the same shade of peach on the wall above the chair rail......

It is going to cause me to have a stroke as it is bleeding through and will take at least 2 good coats. I have the textured celing because 27 years ago when we had replacement windows put in, it was such a tight fit that they really had to wiggle the window in and that caused all my nail heads in my drywall ceiling to pop!!!

No word of lie!!! The textured ceiling hid a multitude of sins, let me tell you!!

This part is done....

So that is the start....... I am off for 2 days and will be painting my fool head off!!

Then I start the Dining Room........

Wish me luck!!

I will be linking up to these great parties this week:

FRIDAY
Home Sweet Home Friday
Be Inspired Fridays
Thrifty Things Friday
Simple and Sweet Fridays
Show and Tell Friday
Tickled Pink Party
Flaunt It Fridays
Fabulously Creative Friday Linky Party at Jennifer Rizzo's
What To Do Weekends
Feature Friday Free For All
A Peek into Paradise TGIF Link Party
Inspire Me Please Weekend Blog Hop
Inspire Me Fridays
Anything Goes Linky Party
Ladies Only Blog Share Linky Party
Favorite Fridays Party
Anything Blue Fridays
Weekend Blog Linky Party
Friday Flair Link Party
Friday's Five Features Party

SATURDAY
From the Farm Blog Hop
Party Junk
Strut Your Stuff Saturdays
One Great Idea Saturday Party
Finding the Pretty and Delicious Party
Saturday Show and Tell
Serenity Saturday
Saturday SHOW-licious Craft Showcase

SUNDAY
Seasonal Sunday