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!!!!!!

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Today is a Special Anniversay Date....Maybe...

March 28..........

1978.......

This is the date that Joe and I closed on the sale of our brand new townhouse and we became home owners with a mortgage!

It was almost 5 months before our Wedding and we already owned a house!!!

I was 20 years old and Joe was 23 years old......

I was still in Nursing School.......

We did not want to waste money on renting so we bought our townhouse, which was supposed to be only a starter home that we would sell in 5 years.........

Fast forward 40 years.......

Yes, it has been 40 years since we sat on the floor in our Living Room with a bottle of wine celebrating home ownership!!

And here we are....... still here, in this house....

What is the saying??????

We plan and God laughs........

In the last 40 years, we have updated and remodeled our townhouse which was brand new when we bought it.......

This is just some of what we have done..........

Replaced the flooring and carpeting down stairs 4 times

Replaced the carpeting upstairs 2 times......

Replaced the Kitchen counter tops.....

And sink....

Replaced the windows.......

Replaced the pillars on front of our house....

Replaced the roof...........

Replaced the front and back doors 2 times

Replaced the gutters.....

Gone through at least 6 hot water heaters.......

Maybe 4-5 washer and dryers......

3 stoves

3 refrigerators

5 microwave ovens.........

2 toilets in 2 bathrooms.......

3 fold down attic stairs........

We even turned the Patio into another room, our Den.......

We have gardened, painted, wall papered.........Wait......let me change that.......

I have gardened, painted and wall papered........

40 years ago, did I realize that the 13 steps to walk up to the sidewalk that runs along our row of townhouses, would be such a hassle for me as I near retirement?????

40 years ago, when I was quite enamored by the thought of a second floor because I grew up in a ranch house, did I think that getting up and down the steps in my house would become a hardship for me???????

So here we are 40 years later......

Once AGAIN, we are looking at replacing the windows in our house as my "new" windows are 31 years old!!!!!

In 10 years, when we are in our 70's, we will be needing another new roof!!

So as we head into our retirement years, I find that I am frequently wondering how much longer we can stay in our house from a financial and physical point of view......

Truth be told, I am tired of being of a homeowner.....

There....

I said it......

I am tired of constantly having to maintain a house, replace appliances and pay taxes.........

I have been doing it for the past 40 years since the age of 20 years old!!!

As the major bread winner, the responsibility always seem to rest on my shoulders......

Or that is at least how it feels......

At this age, I am not so sure that being a homeowner is a good thing........

In future posts, I will be exploring more about this subject ..........

Home Ownership in Retirement Years.......

The Pro's and Con's.....

In the next 10 years, Joe and I are going to have to decide if we will sink even more money into this house or if we will MOVE on.....

So I hope you will be back to visit again soon when I start to explore this subject.......

As for today, we will celebrate owning our home for 40 years!!!

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:

THURSDAY
Home and Garden Party Thursday
Share Your Cup Thursday
Share Your Style Thursday Link Up Party
Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop
  Inspired Creations Linky Party
Vintage Charm
Grace at Home Party
Create and Celebrate Blog Party

FRIDAY
Friday Features Linky Party
  Feathered Nest Friday
Funtastic Friday
Friday Favorites
   Awesome Life Friday
Home Matters Linky Party
What To Do Weekends
   Flaunt It Fridays
  Sweet Inspirations Link Party

SATURDAY
Saturday Sparks
Pink Saturday-Anything Goes!!
Best of the Weekend Party
Share It One More Time Inspiration Party

SUNDAY
Snickerdoodle Sunday
Bouquet of Talent Linky Party
Sundays at Home
Silver Pennies Sunday
Happiness is Homemade Linky Party
Nifty Thrifty Sunday
The Fabulous Party

MONDAY
Inspire Me Monday
Inspiration Mondays
Dishing It and Digging It Link Party
Busy Monday

Amaze Me Mondays
Over the Moon Linky Party
Merry Monday Linky Party
Creative Mondays
You Are The Star Blog Hop

What'd You Do This Weekend?
Cooking and Crafting with J & J
Metamorphosis Monday
Celebrate Your Story Monday Night Link Party!
Make It Pretty Monday
Lou Lou Girl's Linky Party

TUESDAY
Show and Share Party
Tuesdays At Our Home
Inspire Me Tuesdays

The Scoop

Tuesdays with a Twist

Reader Tip Tuesday Party
Keep in Touch Party

WEDNESDAY
Beautifully Made Link Party

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's

Sunday, March 25, 2018

Easter in the Kitchen, 2018

Welcome!!!

Today, I will be sharing how I added a bit of Easter to the Kitchen.........

But First, I want to Thank Laurie, over at My Husband Has Too Many Hobbies, for featuring my post, Living Room Easter Tree, from last week's Snickerdoodle Create, Bake and Make Party!!

Thanks so much, Laurie!!

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

In my last posts, I shared my Easter Buffet in the Dining Room......

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

And my Pink Easter Tree in the Dining Room......

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

Today, I am sharing a few Easter decorations in the Kitchen......

As I have mentioned many times before , I like to decorate the hutch and desk area in the Kitchen for the various Seasons and Holidays......

This is how I decorated it for Easter.....

I replaced my Winter decor with most of the things that I normally have displayed in the top part of the hutch......

I did hang a rack with 3 Easter plates in the middle and at the bottom of it, is a vintage stylesEaster plaque.......

I will let the pictures do the talking....

The desk area is decorated for Easter......

Since the Kitchen is red and yellow, I tried to stick to that color scheme with my Easter decorations......

A yellow Bunny and lots of Chicks.....

A wooden Easter egg plaque hangs in the center.....

Some vintage paper eggs......

I bought this cute dish a few years ago at Michael's for 90% off!!

More chicks and a lamb.....

And Easter tree......

There are also some Polish Pyansky eggs scattered about this display......

The ceramic egg has "Happy Easter" written in Polish on it......

I also decorated a bit underneath the desk area....

A cute Easter Bunny hangs from the knob on the drawer.........

On top of the vintage picnic basket.......

A floral arrangement that I did inside of a yellow Easter bucket......

Above the sink where the Kitchen window used to be.......

I added a few Easter touches to this area.......

I hung birdhouses on each side for Spring and Summer.....

I hung a few eggs from the chandy.......

On the ledge......

Moss Bunnies......

Copper Easter eggs.....

More yellow chicks......

Yellow pastel eggs........

The top of the refrigerator.....

A spring arrangement that I did inside of a vintage yellow tea pot.......

A green glass Easter Bunny in a basket.......

A large yellow chick box.....

A yellow Easter egg box.....

These refrigerator magnets were bought for me by my Mother many years ago.......

And last, I want to give you a sneak peak of the garland and wreath that I hung above the counter bar......

I will be sharing more of this garland in a future post.....

I hope you enjoyed seeing how I added a bit of Easter in the Kitchen.....

And I hope you will be back to visit again soon.......

And 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:

Welcome Spring Linky Party

The Spring and Easter Joys Blogger Linky Party

MONDAY
Inspire Me Monday
Inspiration Mondays
Dishing It and Digging It Link Party
Busy Monday