Random This and That

 We had a pretty busy holiday weekend getting a lot of things accomplished! Of course, I worked on Saturday and Sunday but had Monday and today off. 

Besides the usual chores we took out about half of our flower bed in front of our house. It was getting to be too much to keep it weed free and the flowers in that area didn't do that great anyway. 

There were four pots along the front and we took two of them out. 

And put them in front of our deck. 

It looks so much better and will be much easier to maintain!

I also planted a single tomato plant again this year. 

LOL! It has a lot of growing to do! This is a small fruited tomato plant. It's supposed to grow 4-5 feet tall! 

I am not much into gardening, but I do love fresh tomatoes! 

We also had to rescue the solar lights that were being buried by our oriental arborvitae bushes in the back. 

Here they are lit up at night. 

I love the pattern the light makes on the grass. 

Our yard was sorely neglected after me not being able to do much of anything last summer, so it was so nice to get out there and be able to clean and freshen it up! 

Saw this guy sitting on the roof of work the other night. 

He's probably keeping guard over mama on a nest somewhere! 

Saw this cute gardening shed on my walk this morning. 

The sign above the door says "Seed and Supply". 

The boys will be done with school in a few weeks. We are taking them overnight next Saturday so Shauna and Brad can celebrate their 10th anniversary. I can't believe they have been married for 10 years already! 

Finally, today is my son Chris's birthday. He's 46 years old! He's coming into town in a few weeks and I can't wait to see him! 

Until the next time take care and thanks for stopping by! 

Estate sale #2

Before I tell you about the second estate sale, I want to mention that the house on the previous post was not for sale but Zillo estimates it's worth at $1,094,000. 

Ahem...anyway, this was the house at the 2nd sale I went to. 

This one is for sale and it's listed at $833,000. Not as expensive as the previous house but it had a much better kitchen!

The rest of the house was nothing special. I did take this out of the family room window. 

It had a nice deck, part of which was screened in then a set of stairs that went down to a pool which you can see just a little of through the trees. I could not get a better picture of it without going into the backyard! 

This sale definitely had more practical and interesting stuff. Everything over $1 was 50% off. 

I thought this hummingbird was very pretty. 

It was priced at $4.

There was a cupboard of Kentucky Derby glasses. 

They were $3 each. 

I loved this cheese tray and matching knife. 

So pretty. It was $4. I would have bought it but I really have no use for it! 

Then there was boxes and boxes of Playboy Magazines. I think this is the second time I've seen them at an Estate sale. 

I can't remember how much they were but there was a sign that said there was more in the garage! 

There was a bookcase full of puzzles. 

They were $2 each. 

This was a new with tags Ralph Lauren top! It was very pretty!

I don't care for those kinds of necklines so I passed. 

Here's what I bought:

This Venice Company Hoodie. The embroidery on the front is really pretty. 

Unfortunately, even though it's my size it's too small and I probably will end up selling it somewhere. I paid $2 for it. 

This box of Thomas Kincaid puzzles. There is 8 of them from 300 to 1000 pieces. 

The pictures are so pretty. We'll save them until next Winter. I paid $2 for this. 

This Genius Nicer Dicer +. 

I had been thinking about getting a dicer like this and when I saw this one I jumped on it! I had no idea what brand it was, so I used an image search app on my phone and it identified it. I paid $5. 

This handy desk organizer tray set. 

As you can see I already have it in use! I paid $2

And finally this strainer

I used to have one like it and the handle got melted so bad I had to throw it away! It was pretty handy so it's nice to have one again! I paid $1

Total spent: $12. Gotta love it!

Well that's it for now. There is a few more estate Sales this weekend and hopefully they will be interesting enough to post about!

Until then, take care and thanks for stopping by!

Estate Sale #1

 I went to two Estate sales last Saturday. They were both on the 2nd day so everything was discounted. 

This is the first house

This is the front entrance

 Not a fan of the red brick but to each his own!

The best part of the house was these two rooms. 

This sitting room with a gorgeous wood floor and a ton of natural light. 

And the formal living room. 

Huge with huge windows and tons of natural light!

This was the kitchen. 

Pretty underwhelming compared to the rest of the house. 

There was several bedrooms with tons of clothes in the closets. 

Obviously, the people that lived there were of Indian descent. All the closets were full of saris and embroidered jackets. There was very little regular "American" clothes! Whatever that is! 

Each closet had a different size clothing from small to large. Including the bedroom in the finished basement. I think multi generations lived there. It certainly was big enough! 

Also, someone was an artist. The rooms were filled with paintings like these. 

And there was several instruments.  

I think this was called a Harmonium. I had never heard of it before and apparently, it's a reed free organ that is popular with Indian music. They were asking $300 for it. Everything was 20% off. 

This is a Gibson Ultratone 7 lap steel sitar. 

They wanted $1.800 for it 

And this was a Calcutta Sitar

They were asking $1,000 for this one.

This headress was interesting. 

At least, I think it was a headress. It was 100% silk and it was priced at $25. 

There was this whole box of bracelets. 

They were all thin and light weight. I could not find a price on it. 

Funny, this book was just sitting in a basket on a dresser. 

This is one of the best books I have ever read. It really gives you a good idea what it is like to be poor in India. I highly recommend it but be warned, it's brutal! 

Once again I passed up a stand mixer. 

It was priced at $45 and looked brand new. I just don't think I would use one very much and don't have a lot of storage place for one. 

Then as I was leaving the subdivision I saw this house across the street. 

I'm not a fan of these modern looking houses and they seem to be popping up more and more! It looks like an office building or library to me. Not inviting at all! 

I did not buy anything at this Estate sale but did make up for it at the next one!

I will tell you all about it in the next post. 

Until then take care and thanks for stopping by!

Plants and More Plants

 This is the picture of my azalea bush that I took on May 2nd last year. 

This is a picture of the same bush that I took on April 29th of this year! 

Can you spot the difference? Grrrr!!

All it grew is a very small branch with green leaves on the bottom of the plant.

I have no idea why it bloomed so beautifully last year but is practically dead this year! Google says it could be anything from not surviving the cold winter (even though this winter was not as cold as last winter!), a fungal disease, poor drainage, over watering or drying winds! 

Fussy little bugger! I'm going to cut it back a little and give it one more chance. If it pulls this stunt next year, I'm pulling it up! 

Thankfully my indoor plants are faring much better! Look at my beautiful violet!

It was pretty dormant all winter but has bloomed beautifully for Spring! 

I don't know if I posted this before but my 100-year-old friend Adrian had her daughter buy me this beautiful plant a few months ago as a thank you for me helping her with some things.  

It's a Dracaena Gold Star. According to my plant book, as it grows the bottom leaves should wither and show the stem. 

Next to it is a couple orchid plants. I've yet to have an orchid rebloom for me so we'll see. 

Last week I bought this Spring cactus. It's like a Christmas cactus only it blooms in the Spring. 

It was a little bigger when I brought it home but a couple of the branches fell off when I was transplanting it. I put them in the dirt but only the one of the right side took. It also had some flowers but they were pretty much dead so I pulled them off. 

This is a piece of the peace lily I took from a big one at the CBD store where I used to work.

I only took a small chunk with 2 leaves so it's growing slowly but surely! 

And there's my beautiful Jade.

I bought it at Home Depot a few months ago. It's about twice the size now. 

This aloe was given to me by Brad's mom Sandy last Mother's Day. 

It was painted blue when she gave it to me. You can still see some of the blue on the bottom. It would be a little fuller, but I accidently dropped it off the table when I was transplanting it and a lot of the bottom leaves broke off! 

I love having indoor plants. I never used to be able to grow them, so I'm always thrilled when they do good! 

In other news. We were at Brad's parents for Easter Sunday. 

His dad collects kangaroos and has a bunch of them lined up in their family room. Most of them have little joeys in their pouches and some are super cute! 

That's it for me for now. I've been to a few Estate Sales and will be telling you about them the next time!

See you then and thanks for stopping by! 

Adrian turns 100!

 Tuesday was Adrians 100th Birthday and we had a big party for her!

I actually was not scheduled to work that day, but I wouldn't have missed her party for the world!

Before I tell you about the party, though, I want to tell you what I know about Adrian. 

She was born on April 22, 1925. She was raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. 

Her favorite thing to do as a child was to go to the port and watch the banana boats come in. She loved watching the men carry the huge bundles of bananas off the boats!

Her mother died of a burst appendix when she was only 13 years old. Her and her younger brother were then raised by her grandmother. 

Her grandmother lived to be 108!

She worked in a factory during World War II. She was a Rosie the Riviter of sorts! She also volunteered at the USO. 

She got married in 1955 when she was 30 years old and had three children a boy and two girls. Her oldest daughter is almost exactly my age. 

Her husband's job took them all over the US. She told me that one time she complained about moving so much and he asked her, "You want to eat, don't you?" She thought that was too funny!

They eventually settled in Wisconsin. Then her husband passed away in his late 40's while he was on a business trip. Her kids were teenagers. 

She stayed in Wisconsin until 2015 when she turned 90 and moved to Michigan to be by her daughter.  She lived in Northville in her own house across the street from her daughter until 2023 when she fell and broke her hip and eventually moved into assisted living. 

So she lived alone and took care of herself until she was 98 years old!

 Anyway, they decorated the dining room so pretty for her party!

She made a grand entrance while we were singing Happy Birthday! She was singing right along with us! 

She has 5 grandchildren and one great grandchild and they were all there! 

The mayor of Northville gave a speech and declared April 22nd to officially be Adrian (last name) Day in Northville!

They even played her wedding video!

It was such a nice party and I was so glad to be able to celebrate with her! It's not often, if ever, you get to celebrate someone's 100th birthday with them! 

See you the next time and thanks for stopping by!