Thanks, and thanks.

First, I have to thank two very sweet readers who sent me gifts for my birthday.



Donna sent me a cute little mushroom to add to my collection. The one in the front - isn't he just too cute.

Terry sent me this beautiful bunny thread winder! Another collection I have. I love it!

Many thanks to both of you sweet ladies. And thank you to everyone who sent an email or posted a comment. I'm sorry about the word verification thing - I thought I had it turned off and now I can't figure out how to do it again. :(

Now for the 'and thanks' part. I want to thank all of you who have been loyal readers, whether you comment or not. I've enjoyed this blog over the past five years and I'm going to take some time to go back and read from the beginning soon, but for now I am going to have to back away from blogging for a bit. Both from posting and reading, or at least doing it on a regular basis. I'm not closing my blog and I may throw up a post now and then if I finish a project to share but I won't be posting on any kind of regular basis. (not that I have been lately anyway) This is a hard decision for me, but I feel it is best at the moment. I may stop by and visit a blog now and then if I have time but as for letting my reader accumulate 1000+ unread posts, that is not going to happen. I'm going to mark all read today and after today, if I have time to read a few posts I will, if not, I'll mark them all read and move on to the next day. I will miss each and every one of them but this is just what I have to do for now.

I welcome anyone who wants to stay in touch during my hiatus to send me an email. (can be found in my profile)

Hugs,

Tina

And the winner is. . .

Maureen - with her comment from July 10!

Hey there Tina! I love what you've done with your stained glass windows...gorgeous pieces. My sister does beautiful work with stained glass...I never tire of it!Congrats on your upcoming blogiversary!Maureen

Maureen - I sent you an email, if you will respond with your mailing info I will get the package in the mail to you.


This is my little vine in the back yard


This is the one in my neighbors back yard. Mine is just a baby!

From my sister

I haven't disappeared - yet.

A package arrived from my sister the other day.


She's so punny.

She is quite happy with the fact that she is 5 years younger than I am.

But, I don't have any gray hair! :)

It just hasn't been possible for me to read any blogs this past week. I do miss them.

Oldest kidlet is here for the weekend. He cooked my breakfast yesterday! First time for everything! He and hubby have gone to see the Batman move - I passed.

I hope to pull comments and draw a name for the blog prize sometime Monday.

I hope you are all having a great weekend.

Rain!

We have had nearly six inches of rain since Saturday! There has been a lot of flooding in the Houston area - thankfully none of it has been close to us. Our yard is nice and green and the plants are happy.

I was beginning to think maybe my hydrangea wasn't going to make it. All the blooms died and the leaves were all turning brown. A few weeks ago I snipped off all the blooms and the brown looking leaves and now it looks like it is coming back! The new leaves are looking good and there are two small blooms - I've decided to just let it bloom pink!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Hang 'em high

I know - long time no post. More about that in a minute.

When I was putting the stuff back on top of my kitchen cabinets I decided not to put my two stained glass window pieces back up there. I had kinda just stuck them there for lack of knowing where else to put them but you really couldn't see them there. I finally decided to hang them going up the stairs.

It's really hard to get a good picture of them. I'm standing in the breakfast room - kitchen to left, living room to right. I tried turning the light on the stairs on and the light in the game room on but both made too much of a glare so this was the best I could do. :( Looks better in person.

I love these pieces and I've always loved the shabby-ness of them. This one is in pretty good shape.

This one is a little worse-for-the-wear. I'm wondering if I need to spruce them up a bit since you get so up close and personal to them when walking up the stairs? (I took the close-ups standing on the stairs)

Where I had them before (on top of the cabinets) you couldn't really see the edges much so it wasn't an issue, same for where I had them at the old house.

Best pic I could find without spending a whole lot of time on it. That was our bedroom window and the stained glass piece was between the mini-blind and the window. Not an option here because of the faux-wood blinds that take up the whole window. (still miss that porch)

This one was in a window on the other side of the same bedroom.

And just for kicks, I thought I would throw in the one I had in my kitchen window before. It is now hanging in front of the breakfast room window (which was right behind me when I was taking that first picture)

Okay - I haven't posted much lately. Seems I just have a lot of stuff going on (in my head) and I can't seem to get in the groove to post. I've done a bit of sewing but they are gifts so I can't post those. I haven't taken pictures of the piece from the applique class I took last month. I'm still working on the last block, but I could at least take an in-progress picture. I started a small (old!) cross stitch project but haven't taken any pictures of that either. :( Not a very good blogger am I?

All that said - if you have made it to the end of this long, boring post - I'm going to have a small give-away. And when I say small, I mean small so don't go getting too excited. Just a few little things I picked up in anticipation of my 5 yr blogging anniversary on the 15th of this month. I thought I would have some small handmade something and would put this stuff with it but the small handmade something hasn't happened and time is running short so it likely isn't going to happen. I had originally thought I would publish my first post on my birthday (July 20) way back when but I got so excited I went and published it on July 15. Since my posts seem to be so few and far between these days, I'll count any comments that happen between now and the 20th, whether on this post or any I might make between now and then. I appreciate all comments and try to respond if I have a way to reach you but some of you don't leave any way for me to reach you. For the drawing,if you are a no-reply commenter and I don't have your email address, please leave an email address so I can contact you. Thanks!