Author Archives: Ellen

FFF ~ A Few Of My Favorite Things…

A time to reflect on the past week and consider your favorites. Please visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story who is our hostess for Friday’s Fave Five.

 

1. We had a family taco night last Friday to celebrate my nephew Caleb visiting from California.

2. On Sunday before church Dear painted our guest room. He gets up real early. Then after church we re-decorated the room and we are thoroughly enjoying it! This is also the room where my computer lives most of the time. One of the great things about the changes in the room is the fact that the desk with my computer on it faces a window now and I get to see birds on the bushes outside the window.

3. These Irises have made me smile all week and they only cost $3.99.

 

4. Seeing the first ducklings of the season in our neighborhood. This mama duck and her little ones were crossing the street.

 

5. Last but not least, being a part of the Mennonite Girls Can Cook Blog. I’m enjoying getting to know my Canadian friends more and more. Head over to the blog on Friday and see the ingredients I put together for my Mexican Rice Bowl…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Tablescape Thursday ~ Taco Night!

It’s time to enjoy tables set for our viewing. Please visit Susan at Between Naps on the Porch to be inspired !

I had so much fun mixing and matching last week for my Mother’s Day table that I decided to do it again for our Taco Night table. I wanted to choose colors that would represent the colorful Mexican culture.

 

 

I rolled my napkins like taquitos and used some made in Mexico napkin rings. I had 6 of the flowery ones and found two striped ones that completed the 8 place settings. The 4 red and white checked plates I found at Goodwill and the 4 red and white flowered plates I picked up at HomeGoods.

 

 

The center cake plate and candle holder were both Goodwill purchases, too.

 

Our daughter Katie, my sister Lana and her husband Steve…

 

Our son Josh, my nephew Caleb, his girlfriend Marie and our DIL Laura.

I bought 8 of these goblets at a thrift store on Main St. in Ventura, California for 49 cents each.

 

The tablecloth came from Goodwill also.

This was a fun table to enjoy with our company. We built our own tacos and had brownie sundaes for dessert with a fun game of Mexican Train after the meal…

Looking forward to getting around to see tables from around the blogisphere…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Yard Art ~ Merry Go Round…

Mary at Work of the Poet is our hostess for Yard Art on Thursday. I’m having lots of fun with this meme! I drove by this house on my way to the hairdresser last week. I went around the corner to get back to it and parked to take my photos.

 

At the back of the house and next to driveway these critters greeted me. Make sure and look up to see the Owl on top of the tree trunk! I crossed the driveway and all along the front and side of the house were different animals from a Merry-Go-Round. I’ve heard that when the ride is all horses it’s called a carousel and when there are different animals it’s called a Merry-Go-Round.

 

 

 

I zoomed in to see what was lurking around this wishing well…

 

So this was a very Merry house all the way around the property. Luckily the house is on a corner so there is only one neighbor next door and they really can’t see all the yard art from their property but all the cars driving by get a birds eye view!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Outdoor Wednesday ~ Wisteria!

I love to stroll through the Japanese Gardens in Seattle when the Wisteria is blooming. Please visit Susan at A Southern Daydreamer to see more of the outdoors in bloggyland…

 

 

 

 

 

Have a wonderful Wednesday everyone.

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

It’s So Great…

…when your husband was a former master painter…

In a day he transformed this…

into this…

And now we have a proper guest room ready for company.

With the lighting in this room it was hard to get the real color of the walls in the photos. The color is called Grass Cloth. We had this bedroom set from the condo and had to find a place for it in our home in Washington. I wasn’t willing to buy new bedding so Dear changed the wall color to something that would work with the bedding. My desk still fits in the room and it works as our office when we don’t have overnight guests.

The desk had to be moved to the opposite wall. I even tidied it up so it wouldn’t be such a eyesore in this transformed space…

Thank you Dear for your hard work!

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Ruby Tuesday ~ Memories…

 

Time for Ruby Tuesday and my photo editor is giving me grief so I can’t upload new photos but I had this one in my drafts and I’m missing and remembering our fun times at this old Camarillo establishment. So bear with me as I reminisce about the good ole days a few months ago in Southern California. Visit Mary at Work of the Poet to see more Ruby posts! Mary! I was going to be posting a photo of my very young and new pears that are just starting to grow on my tree but my photo uploader is failing me!!

And for clarification we moved from our Southern California condo back to our home in Washington State at the end of February of this year. We are very thankful to be back in Washington but that doesn’t mean we don’t miss our friends and some of our favorite restaurants! We’d love to transfer the great chips from El Tecolote to our favorite Mexican restaurant here. The salsa here is fabulous but their chips “…have been weighed on the scales and found wanting” .

Happy Tuesday to all who pass this way…

ht: The Holy Bible; Daniel 5:27

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Birds & Squirrels…

So if it’s Sunday night it must be time to post some Mosaics for Mosaic Monday with Mary at Little Red House and something blue for Blue Monday with Sally at Smiling Sally.

We’ve had a regular flock of these Evening Grosbeak finches at our bird feeder.

And then Mr. Bluejay visits once in a while shooing everyone else away!

And then this trapeze artist really kept me entertained!

Hope your new week is starting out nicely. I’m hoping to get around better this week as things are finally getting organized around here from our move…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

Before Thy Mercy Seat, O Lord ~ Hymn

Before Thy Mercy Seat, O Lord

Before Thy mercy seat, O Lord,
Behold, Thy servants stand,
To ask the knowledge of Thy Word,
The guidance of Thy hand.

Let Thy eternal truths, we pray,
Dwell richly in each heart;
That from the safe and narrow way
We never may depart.

Lord, from Thy Word remove the seal,
Unfold its hidden store,
And as we read, teach us to feel
Its value more and more.

Help us to see a Savior’s love
Shine forth from every page,
And let the thoughts of joys above
Our inmost souls engage.

Thus, while Thy Word our footsteps guides,
Shall we be truly blest,
And soon arrive where love provides
An everlasting rest.

Cruising to Alaska…

…I’m not but my junior high and high school buddy was leaving today out of Seattle. She and her husband and 4 friends traveled from L.A. to board their Cruise ship at Pier 91 in Elliott Bay. I picked them up when they arrived at the cruise ship and we all went to lunch before they boarded the ship for their 7 day cruise. Another beautiful day in the Pacific Northwest!

 

If you look closely you can see the Space Needle behind us in the distance!

It was fun to meet Nancy’s husband for the first time and her friends that have been by her side for many years.

We’re deciding where to go to church tomorrow. We still haven’t found a church home yet.  Now I’m going to go put my feet up and watch the Sounders play the Red Bulls. Hope you are enjoying your Saturday wherever you are…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.

FFF ~ All Things Beautiful…

Time to think about the last week and come up with 5 favorites! Visit Susanne at Living to Tell the Story to join in.

1. Mother’s Day was a wonderful day from the food to the weather to having most of my kids around for some part of the day.

 

2. Buying new plants and planting them in the ground or in pots was an accomplishment I feel good about. I’m not a great gardener but I love pretty plants around to enjoy. For years I’ve been wanting a Dogwood and this week I splurged and bought a Cherokee Chief Dogwood. Dear planted it on thursday and I can see it from my kitchen window and from our deck!! Update: The flower in the center of the collage is a Columbine!

3. Old established plants that are blooming in the yard. Boy I love this time of year when everything seems to burst with color.

 

 

4. A quick stop at the Japanese Gardens in Seattle to see if the Wisteria was in full bloom. Ahh, yes beautiful!

 

5. New visitors to my bird feeder. Oops that isn’t a bird!

Hope your weeks are going well. Have a great weekend everyone…

Photobucket replaced all my photos with ugly black and grey boxes and they are holding my photos hostage until I pay them lots of money. I’m slowly going through all my posts and trying to clean them up and replacing some photos. Such a bother.