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!!!!!!

Thursday, June 25, 2020

A Little Bit of Crafting and Transplanting.....

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

I had planned on sharing the rest of my Kitchen all decked out for the Summer but I did not get all the pictures ready in time so that will be my next post.....

I will be sharing just a little bit of crafting and some transplanting that I did recently in this post though.....

But first, Thanks to Barb, over at French Ethereal, for choosing my post, Patriotic Doll House, as one of her features from last week's Share Your Style Linky Party!!!

Thanks so much. Barb!!

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

A few Personal Notes...

Other than enjoying the heck out of spending time in my back yard Cottage Garden, Patio and Front Porch, not too much is new since last time I posted.....

We enjoyed, what is to me, the best buy there is the other day for Dinner......

A chicken from Sam's Club........

Can't beat the price of $5 either!!

Speaking of great buys.......

I LOVE the Thrill of the Hunt......

And scoring a great bargain, buying something wonderful for as little money as possible and then wanting to tell others of my great find!!

My Mother used to get so mad at me because she would say " Don't tell them what you paid, let them think you paid a lot of money for it"....

Nope!!

I just can not be that way!!!!

I do LOVE shopping for Great Buys.....

That is in person and not online......

Even though I totally appreciate Amazon Gift Cards from my son and use them to buy something unique and that I can not find in the local stores, I am not an online shopper....

So you may be shocked that other than what I bought with the Amazon Gift Cards that my son gifted me a few weeks ago, this is the FIRST time that I bought all year online!!!!!

Yep!!

Not even with the health crisis going on did I buy online!!!!

This is the FIRST time this year!!!

Boscov's is pretty much the only place where I buy my shoes from and the only shoes I really buy anymore are East Spirits.........

I do also wear Clarks and the ones that I have already will last me until I die!!

Over 15 years ago, after having both heels injected 3 times each for heel spurs and was looking at surgery, I started to wear Mules.....back less shoes......

And I have not had a problem with heel spurs since...

Accept for a little flare up last Summer in my right heel but that was caused by my Knee Replacement Surgery and I cleared it up with exercises given to me by my Physical Therapist!

I know what size I take and wear so I do feel comfortable with ordering shoes online without trying them on as I am one who hates to have to return items....

I bought these Babies for the Summer......

These were on sale for only $34.99

And these for only $29.99!!

If you are familiar with Easy Spirits, you know they usually sell for way more than that!!

And because I had a $6.00 Reward coupon and used Gift Cards that we bought at Christmas when Boscov's had them on sale for %15 off of a $100 Gift Card, that took them down even cheaper......

We bought a few of those Gift Cards because they then only cost $85 instead of the full $100 and we shop Boscov's so frequently we thought this was a good savings as we intended to use them ourselves....

They fit perfectly and are like walking in bedroom slippers.....

I am all about comfort anymore at this stage of my life and not fashion, that is for sure!!!

I recently straightened out the 3 closets that I have all my clothes in.....

YES!!

3 closets I am quite embarrassed to say!!

I realize now that for someone who had to wear either a uniform or scrubs for almost all of her life, why in God's name did I buy so many clothes??????

It was an addiction that I inherited from my Mother who was always dressed to the nines no matter where she was going or what she was doing.....

I think about all the money I WASTED buying all these clothes and literally, I could now vomit!!

So I do plan on again going through everything and taking a serious look at what I need and do not need at this stage of my life and most likely will be donating a few bags of clothes to Salvation Army....

I already passed on a stunning long black dress coat with fur collar and cuffs to my great niece Caitlin that I wore twice!!!!

She loved it so I was thrilled!!

And I am vowing to only by a piece of clothing now unless I honestly need to...

Jane Fonda made a similar statement in the beginning of the year when she realized that at this stage of her life it was quite irresponsible to keep buying and wore something that she wore in the past to an award show where she was a Presenter....

I admire her for that...

I did a bit of Patriotic Crafting and I actually am doing a bit more but I do not have those projects ready yet but I will share these Patriotic Angels that I made for my Patriotic Tree......

I can not claim credit for these because I saw someone make these on a Face Book Decorating Group site that I below to......

She used fans for the angel's dresses but I could not find little fans in Dollar Tree which is where she supposedly bought them.....

So I cut small flags off the wooden sticks that they came on and fan folded them, stapling them to stay that way......

I cut a small piece of deco mesh ribbon and folded it for the wings and stapled it together and then glued it to the flag......

I then glued a piece of ribbon for the hanger to the back, added a some ornament for the head and a bow made out of ribbon and a ribbon rose.....

And I used pipe cleaner like wired trim to make the Halo!!

Simple!!

I can see me doing this with sheet music paper for Christmas ......

And other fabric or paper for other Holidays......

Joe donates to every Veteran's Society under the Sun so of course, they send all those Freebies in the mail like Calendars, cards and even shirts ( yes, we got a tee shirt the other day)..

I liked these 2 Patriotic cards so I made plaques/ornaments using them.......

I had these wooden plaques that I bought on Clearance at Michael's in my stash that I painted red.....

I adhered the cards to the wood plaque using a spray adhesive......

Then trimmed them off with trim and ribbon roses and added a hanger........

I used a some white rosette trim and gold ribbon roses to match the flowers on this one.....

On this one I used a fancy beaded trim.......

And red ribbon roses........

Here is where I put them.....

I will be sharing more of this when I do my Patriotic Home Tour post closer to the Fourth of July as I have added a few more Patriotic decorations since Memorial Day.....

You may remember this vintage Bread Board that was my Neighbor Elly's that I painted with chalkboard paint.....

Okay, I am NOT a chalkboard artist like so many other Bloggers are.....

I do not have a steady hand and I am developing arthritis in my fingers with painful finger joints and nodules so to make things easier, I did this.....

I was inspired by several Bloggers who painted bread boards in a Grain Sack design and this is my own version of such....

I used a pale yellow and red paint that I had and also Letter stickers in my stash.....

Now I will not be racking my brain on how to change it for the different Holidays....

Okay, now we are going back out to the Garden......

I almost grabbed this little guy, thinking the chipmunks had buried something in this vintage galvanized pale......

I was going to spread the dirt back over until I saw the eyes looking at me!!!

I would have screamed Bloody Murder if I grabbed this guy because I am no lover of frogs ever since I stepped on one bare foot many years ago on our front porch......

Have I mentioned that I NEVER walk barefoot outside anymore???????

He is still there this morning, getting a bit of Sun!!

Just another Critter in my yard!!!

Speaking of Critters, the squirrels have now decided that the marigolds that are popping up from the seeds I planted taste really good!!!!

This pot I managed to save by moving it on to the Patio and they only gnawed 2 plants down to the dirt....

However the marigolds in this watering can were not so lucky!!

Not only did the squirrels eat each and every one of them but they dug out and threw out the dirt, leaving the watering can half full!!!!

I now transplanted a begonia in it!!!

I have taken note that they are going after those containers where I planed seeds and are not full of flowers.....

So I changed my strategy!!

When Joe brought home this amazing pot filled with Zinnias from Wegman's....

I decided that I would transplant these as this pot looked a tad too small for them .....

They were only $10!!

The squirrels and birds ate all the Wild Flower mix seeds that I had planted in this beverage tub originally......

So I took out the begonias and lobelias that I recently planted in it......

And took the entire root ball and soil out of the pot the zinnias came in and transplanted it in this beverage tub......

I think that they will spread out nicely in this container......I hope!!

And hopefully, the squirrels will leave it alone!!!!

I took the begonias that I planted here and planted them in the pot that the Zinnias came in.....

So we will now see how these do.....

I had planted one mounding petunia in the pot in this vintage coal bucket.....

I had also planted petunias in this same pot last year and I guess they reseeded themselves.....

About 4 more petunias plants are now growing in this pot along with the mounding petunia.....

And the squirrels have NOT bothered this pot!!

Maybe they do not like petunias!!!!!

Stay safe, healthy and happy!!!

And I hope you will visit again soon!!

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:

FRIDAY
Funtastic Friday
Friday Favorites
Home Matters Linky Party
Embrace Your Style Link Party
Flaunt It Fridays

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

Over the Moon Linky Party
Handmade Monday
You Are The Star Blog Hop
Metamorphosis Monday
Little Cottage Link Party
Make It Pretty Monday

TUESDAY
Inspire Me Tuesdays
Lou Lou Girl's Linky Party
All About Home Party
Tuesdays with a Twist
Farm Fresh Tuesdays Blog Hop
Celebrate Your Story Link Party!!
Tuesday Turn About Link Party

WEDNESDAY
Oh My Heartsie Wonderful Wednesdays
Beautifully Made Link Party
Keep in Touch Party

Fluster's Creative Muster Wednesday's

Monday, June 22, 2020

Summer Kitchen, Part 1, 2020

Welcome to Debbie-Dabble Blog!!

I am so happy you decided to stop by!!

Hope all the Father's out there enjoyed their day on Sunday.....

Joe wanted pizza from a locally owned Pizzeria so we got 2 trays of Sicilian pizza which is pretty much the kind I always had growing up.......

I think I was in my teens when I realized that most pizza is round and does not automatically come with onions!!!!

This is what was left over but it sure does heat up very nicely in the microwave so it will not go to waste......

Jim and Danielle gave Joe money and a Lottery ticket which he won $30 on which we laughed about because on Mother's Day , I also won $30 on the Lottery ticket that they gave me.....

The difference is that I cashed mine in for money and Joe used his to get more lottery tickets!!

Joey gifted Joe a Pittsburgh Penguins Paver but it can also be hung.....

So this is how the front porch looks like now........

It was easily hung on one of the nails that we have in the brick to hold the Christmas garland....

I will probably rearrange the other things today that are hanging here.......

Well, I lost a Battle against those darn squirrels....

I have 2 owls out in the back yard to ward off the squirrels that insist upon burying the peanuts that my neighbor continues to throw out in his yard with reckless abandon, totally disregarding the destruction to his neighbor's property........

I am biting my tongue as I write this, can you tell??????

The one owl "Hoots" when motion is detected....

I usually turn it on when I see the peanuts in this neighbor's yard but do not keep it on all the time because it would be "hooting" all day long because of the amount of birds that fly through our yards....

And I RESPECT my neighbors by not annoying them all day long with that "Hooting"....

Now over 2 weeks ago, I used the red coffee container for bird seed that I had bought and it sat on the shelf on the Potting Stand all this time......

2 days ago, I remembered that I had Letter stickers in my stash but I did not have the proper letters to spell out "Bird Seed" so I spelled out "Bird Food".......

I was so darn proud of myself!!!!

Okay, I guess the squirrels can read because yesterday, my son, Joey, called me out to the Patio and said " You gotta see this"!!

Lying on the ground was the lid to my "Bird Food" container!!!!!!

All chewed apart!!!!!

Joey saw a squirrel running from the scene of the crime!!!!

For 2 weeks, they did not bother that container but as soon as I put those letters on it, they ripped apart the lid to get into the seed!!!!

So do you think squirrels can read??????

The Bird Seed is now kept in the house......

And the War continues ........

Today, I will be FINALLY sharing my Summer Kitchen that I promised to do a few posts back.......

I got distracted by the garden.....

I will be doing it in 2 parts......

Summer is really the only time the Kitchen is not decorated for a Holiday......

I don't decorate it for the Patriotic Holidays....

For many years, I was not happy with the way our Kitchen looked......

When we bought our townhouse which was brand new at the time, it was the late 70's so I had black walnut cabinets and harvest gold countertops......

It only took a few years before I surprised Joe by painting the cabinets almond which at the time was the "In style" color ....

NO!!!

I NEVER ask Joe about doing anything in the house because he told me right from the beginning of our marriage that I could do whatever I wanted to do to the house as long as he was not the one doing it!!!

As a Carpenter's Daughter, that was a dream come true!!!!!

When I painted our Living Room peach, it took him 2 weeks before he noticed that the color was actually peach.....

Joe being totally oblivious is great for me!!!

Over 10 years ago, I wanted to paint the cabinets again......

This time, I did enlist his help and we painted them white.....

That was when I stripped the apple wall paper border off the walls and put up the border I now have, painting the Kitchen red and a pale yellow and putting in a chair rail....

In 2013, we decide to do a major remodel of the downstairs......

We had laminate flooring installed in the Living Room, Dining Room and Powder Room.....

Along with new light fixtures in the Powder Room and a medicine cabinet, new countertops, sink and light fixture in the Kitchen along with the new flooring.....

Prior to this, I repainted the Living Room, Dining Room and Powder Room and stripped the old wall paper border off and put up new wall paper border in there......

My Kitchen went from this........

With the harvest gold countertops and enamel sink........

And harvest gold flooring.......

To how it looks now.......

New countertops........

And my new E-Granite sink as I do not care for stainless steel......

And the flooring was continued into the Kitchen from the Dining Room and Living Room......

I felt that I finally had the French Country Victorian looking Kitchen that I had always wanted!!!

And I am still very happy with my Kitchen......

Today, I am going to share what I call the "Work" area of the Kitchen.....

We will start here by the stove.......

On the side of the cabinets by the door out to the Den.......

I have a French Country vibe going on in the Kitchen with the roosters and chickens.....

Even though many consider them Farmhouse, they were French Country LONG before Farmhouse came on the scene!!

On the side of the stove......

Pretty embroidered towels.......

Vintage rolling pins and mashers inside of a Planter's Peanuts can that was my Mother's and a chicken rug beater......

Last year, I re-did Home Interior pictures that I had hanging in the Kitchen using place mats from Dollar Tree......

Click HERE if you would like to see what I did.......

Many years ago, I had my Dad take out the center panels of the cabinets above the stove and refrigerator and put in the plastic panels used for drop ceiling lighting......

I did not like how that looked so I spray painted the panels with a copper paint to go with the copper pieces that I had in the Kitchen.....

So even though copper is big right now, it has always been in my Kitchen!!

Again, French Country!!!!

A few things hanging above the stove.....

Bright red, green and yellow dish towels......

This is all the counter space I had in the Kitchen before I had a counter bar built on the wall opposite to this one.....

I have vintage dish towels with strawberries and apples on the hanging from the cabinet handles.....

The area to the left of the stove.....

As I have said many times in the past, my Dad took out the Kitchen window when I had him turn the enclosed patio off the back of the house into the Den......

I still treat it as a window and like to decorate this area for the different Holidays......

Right before Easter, I made valances from a red and white checked tablecloth ......

And hung it here for the Summer......

I bought this chandy on Clearance and added a set of demitasse cups to it after spray painting it red.....

Red beads, mini galvanized measuring cups and a bird hang from the chandy....

Bird houses that I painted several years ago hang from the gingerbread fretwork that I added to the sides of the cabinets....

Last year, I used pot holders and red framed Valentines signs to create the Rooster plaques on each side of the cabinets.....

I also hung Rooster ornaments from the curtain rod.....

On the window sill.......

A vintage eggs beater, a mason jar filled with eggs and a vintage yellow pot that is part of a salt and pepper shaker set.....

In the center are 2 milk bottles that I painted white and added hearts to......

A crackle glass sunflower candle holder that I filled with battery operated fairy lights.....

A vintage mason jar filled with fruit.......

The red and yellow doilies came from the Dollar bins at Michael's......

The glass shutters were in my neighbor Elly's attic when we cleaned her house out for her sons.....

NO, I do not have a dishwasher, hence, the larger dish drainer on the counter.....

Joe used to be my dishwasher but when I retired, he told me it was now my job "Since I had nothing better to do"!!!

It took him awhile to get used to me not working and also the loss of my salary.......

Copper plaques around the soffit above the cabinets......

Before Easter, I decided to hang this wreath on the center cabinet door.......

I finally found the cotton picks that I bought in the Fall on Clearance at Michael's and added them to the wreath......

Did you ever put something away and have no idea where you put it??????

I searched high and low for these darn cotton picks and finally found them!!!!!

To the right of the sink......

Bought these canisters in Michael's many years ago......

In the corner in a wire tea cup........

A floral arrangement with a set of 20 lights.....

The toaster and can opener......

And my Beverage area.......

No, I do not have a Keurig.......

Mine is a Hamilton Beach Brew Master and you can pour each cup individually.....

This is the second one we have had....

I had mentioned in a previous post that I used a gift card from my son, Joey, to buy this vintage styled Coffee sign......

It goes well with the vintage styled tins I have here......

The vintage green depression glass salt shaker is to sprinkle a bit on the coffee grounds when you put them in the filter to lessen the acidity of the coffee....

My Dad taught me that and he used to brew the BEST coffee.......

I covered the red and white checked place mat I have here with a clear acrylic chopping board to try to save it from spills.....

I don't pride myself on my agility.....

Another vintage styled coffee sign on the side of the refrigerator.....

All 3 of those containers including this little shelf that I painted with chalkboard paint, came from my neighbor Elly's house.....

So did the enamelware holding tea bags, hot chocolate mix, etc......

I tried to make the best use of my limited counter space....

Yes, I have white appliances because I truly do not care for stainless steel as it looks very "cold" to me.....

On top of the refrigerator......

With the tea pot lamp off.....

And back on.....

An egg crate that I bought at Michael's in early March rests on top of a green vintage mixing bowl......

In the center is a vintage yellow enamel coffee pot filed with red and yellow flowers.....

The 2 little houses were bought in Michael's at 90% off about 2 years ago......

I embellished this lamp shade using a vintage tea towel, trims and beads.....

When the boys were young and we went different places on vacation, I collected magnets from all those places......

I now have them on a magnetic board in my Sitting Room......

These are magnets that Joe and Joey bought for me from their Pittsburgh trips, a trip to see all the War Memorials in Washington, DC and from a trip to Canada, Niagra Falls, that Joey took.......

Along with some that have cute sayings on them and one from India, which was gifted to me by neighbors from India for taking their children up to the school bus stop with mine and picking them up and bringing them home....

On the bottom half on the refrigerator are pictures of all the dogs I had in my life and a few other pics....

And this is where we will stop for today.....

In my next post, I will share Part 2 of my Summer Kitchen, including the Hutch and the Counter Bar............

So I hope you will stop by to visit again soon!!

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:

TUESDAY
Inspire Me Tuesdays
Lou Lou Girl's Linky Party
All About Home Party
Tuesdays with a Twist
Farm Fresh Tuesdays Blog Hop
Celebrate Your Story Link Party!!
Tuesday Turn About Link Party