Been absent from this Blog... Gave up on blogging

I gave up on Blogging as it shows sometime around 2018.  Of course 11 yrs later.. here I am posting in 2019.

I may take this down.. need to check out what is NEW out there for handling a Blog.

I lost interest because it was so time consuming after a serious fall and health issues.  And of course we get OLDER too!

Thanks for checking in here all of you who did.

Hope you are enjoying your experiences out there.. IF you have any suggestions for blogging let me know!


House was sold in Virginia, and we live on Central East Coast area now.  Love that the ocean is still close by... We are retired and living each day slowly and to please us.. keeping health up, etc....

Mary Ruth

Working on KITCHENS!

What we are UP TO!
We are working on my daughter's kitchen. She bought a house with NO kitchen literally.  So, we set out to make one for her!

The posts are starting here:
Florida House Blog Amy's Kitchen 1

Florida House Blog Amy's Kitchen 2

Florida House Blog Amy's Kitchen 3

Florida House Blog Amy's Kitchen 4

I have the floor plans and elevations posted.  I can't find my drawing program so I had to use Microsoft Paint!  Those of you who have tried it know it is NO fun!  I will update as we have photos to share.

When my daughter's kitchen is done, then we move onto my son's kitchen, then OUR kitchen remodel!

Christmas cone trees

 From Christmas past from Virginia house:
Cone tree on stand is styrofoam cone with silver garland wrapped around it.  Others faux mercury glass look.

 Below, Winter in a box, dollar store cone trees put inside wooden lantern and faux snow dropped in. 

 Below: Faux Mercury Glass cone trees (TJMaxx) and bead tree and styrofoam cone tree with red bead garland glued on.  Shell tree with lights made by my friend Liz from Naples Fl.

 Below: Oyster shell cone tree, mussel shell cone tree added to rest of collection (tassels hung on a couple)

 Dollar store small cone brush trees with battery spot light (silver pearl beads around tray)

 Below: silver faux mercury glass cone tree (TJMaxx)

 Below: Imported German paper houses with Dollar store cone trees, faux snow and battery spot lights.  These are in a Mahogany china cabinet used as a bookcase.

Christmas past, remembering my Oyster cone tree

 This was the sketch I made while viewing the Oyster tree a friend of mine made for Christmas when I lived in Virginia.  Below are the photos of one I made

Happy Thanksgiving 2011

http://ourflhouse.blogspot.com/

I have a few new posts on this Florida Blog that I started.  You won't find the same type house I used to have in Virginia but I did a different type house.  This is a ranch style slab one story house.  This is our retirement house. And we are redoing it on a budget and enjoying the journey while we make our little nest here in Florida.
The sweat equity we put in this house is all for us, we are doing the things we want to do.  I wanted to do as much as we could when we moved in so that we can get on with the adventures of the land around us and get my DH to go fishing!  I want more time for Hobbies, photography, crafts and spoiling my grand kids!
Hope you all have a great Thanksgiving weekend!

I am checking in August 2010

I have spent a lot of time on Facebook these days. Getting around and finding a lot of family and friends. The games have been fun too, getting my fill and loved being on 'vacation'.
I will have more to post soon.

I did get a new printer today because the one I bought last Fall was not handy to use and I thought printed awful copies. I went back to HP and can't wait to install it! That means back to scanning, downloading from my camera and having fun with pictures again.

For those of you who still follow my Blog, great to see you back here. I will be starting a new one when we get our next house. I will document my projects and post pictures. There will be a link to that Blog from this one, so it will be easy to find.

Hope you are all having a great summer!

Hello, Spring is here!

I just love the Spring here in Melbourne, FL! We are so happy we moved from Virginia to here! It is like we are on vacation here in our apartment. We have been house hunting, but taking our time. The 'one' just has not come along. We need a certain type of yard, house and area. I am sure when we see it, we will jump on it! We have a few that come close that we have seen!

We are taking care of ourselves and learning the lay of the land around us. We have seen more family than ever that is such a plus!
We visit our kids who live North and South of us. Our days are filled with wonderful times spent. We walk on the beach in the morning a few times a week and get all that freash ocean breeze. The pace here is slower so we don't feel like we are dragging behind, lol we are keeping up just fine.

Time off from this Blog and decorating has been refreshing. I had to erace the Virginia home from my head, and have been researching and looking forward to a new lifestyle and decor once I find the right house. I have purchased a few books and done some research on Island living. I do not like the very earthy tropical with lots of textured materials, tends to get musty over time. I wanted to develop something just for us whether it is trendy or not is of no concern this time around.

Thanks for checking in with me and I hope to get things going again with a new blog that will be referenced to this one to cover my next home. It is always a challenge and adventure to take the 'box' out of the house. So many one level houses that are cement block squares here. The nooks and crannies of an older well-established home already done are cost prohibitive for us, we must create it! What a challenge on a budget! Wish us luck!

2 YEARS!

I can't believe I started this blog 2 years ago this month! It has been a great way to mark the time passing and to record some things that I might not have remembered. I have met a lot of nice Bloggers out there in Blog-land and have learned a lot.
I think this coming year will have more changes than just my making the move to another state. Moving from Virginia to Florida was a big move, one I will never regret. I have already seen more of my family (they live close by now) than I did in the last 10 years.
Thanks for stopping by my Blog and for posting comments, it has been a great journey!

Bombay Blue & White dishes

My latest thrift store find. There is a Salvation Army near me and I checked it out the other day, I found these dishes at $20 for all the 12 pieces (8 plates, only 4 showing).

I left the dishes there, wanting to think it over. I am not a blue lover

so I was not anxious to have these. I went back a couple of days later

and decided because they were still there I would get them this time.

When I brought them up to the counter, the lady said '50

50% off today on dish sets! So, I got all that is in the photo for $10!

Bombay cobalt blue dishes.

Pantone color for 2010

Yes I can do this! Turqoise! Colors of the beach!
full press release here:

http://www.pantone.com/pages/pantone/pantone.aspx?pg=20706&ca=10

my COLOR story!

Since I have been a color consultant and a designer, artist/crafter for years, I used to keep color out of my home to make going out everday and dealing with a lot of colors all day not be overdone. I liked coming home to a clean palette, a fresh clensing of all had been around all day, too much stimulation.

Do you know your color proportions?
In my house in Yorktown, Virginia I used a Black, brown and white palette. I thought that with each season I would change the accent colors. I had added yellow (in very small amounts), then red (which I stuck with).

The thing is I was not sure at what quantity or amount I would be able to live with a color! I love yellow, but found it too loud in that house to have too much of. Once I added a bit more than a small amount (as in flower arrangements, candles, etc) it was too much. I tried purple, orange, and blue this way.

With the white walls, I could go any color I wanted. This left quite an opening for experiment.

Red, turned out to be my favorite accessory (since browns are actually a deep orange, I was staying in the red color family.

I put a small amount of red, then more then more untiil it got too much, then pulled back.

Why did I do this? To find my comfort zone for each color. Now I am sure that a red wall is too much for me, but a large painting with a lot of red or all red is OK.

With each color you have different other color additions to change the 'temperature' of the color to cool (on the blue side), dark (grayed down by adding black), light (adding yellow), tints (adding white) and value (how true to crayon color/primary colors) is it?

I had to find the correct red as well. For me it is red with light (yellow added). Once I found this out, I know which red to add or to change to.

What does this mean? It means I am on my way to having my own customized color palette that won't change! I know what greens I love because I have loved that color all my life, and have noticed different variations and how to cool it down and warm it up.

It is fun to see how each color affects you too. I want to experiment more in my next house.

Do you have a COLOR story?

Looking forward to what 2010 brings! Happy New Year!

Looking back, 2009 was a busy year for us!

• Survived losing my business, and DH losing his construction job due to the economy. Not to mention the money lost due to the recession. Lost some loved ones, and moved away from our friends. We spent 11 years in Virginia, so it was a bit sad to leave, but we had wanted to get back to Florida for quite a while and circumstances finally led to us being able to pull it off!
• We listed our house in Yorktown, Virginia, and sold it. So much work to keep up with the clutter and cleaning for showings that most of the time had an hour notice!
• Decluttered the house and the garage, storage unit time!
• Spruced up the house, repainted in some cases and worked on landscaping which needed much attention after the two years we had with challenges and surgeries for both of us.
• Moved to a temporary apartment for 4 months while waiting for DH to get a transfer for us to more (WITH a job, in this economy, there was no room for gambling)
• Moved to Florida (where we wanted to be). And transferred to another temporary apartment. And we did all this with DH and I both NOT being able to lift anyting heavy! What a trial!
• House hunting in Florida is something we are doing cautiously, what's the rush?

We are STILL here! And that is what matters! We are settling down again, and moved closer to family. We were not broken, just shaken a bit with all we did. Now, we plan on enriching our lives with the people we love this year and many years ahead! Our goal is to put our nose to the grindstone less and slow down to enjoy the blessings we have in our lives. We are close to retirement, and are starting to plan ahead for our lifestyle and simpler way to live, less hectic and more healthy we are trying to incorporate that philosophy into our next home. Sounds like a New Years resolution to me!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I saw SANTA today (Christmas Eve 09) at the beach!

I saw santa at the Melbourne Beach today, trying to avoid being seen by the children there. When our eyes met, he winked at me. I am sure he will be back tomorrow to relax after having such a long night!

Merry Christmas! 09

CHRISTMAS 09 in Florida!

I bought this off white bisque Santa at TJMaxx just before leaving VA. He got packed quickly and got opened again here in Florida. I put him on a table, then on the back patio with the 'jungle' as his backdrop. I am hoping to take him to the beach for his rest after Christmas Eve! Other 2009 Chirstmas decor in our temporary apartment:

It's a Jungle out there!

We are all moved in! This is a view from our patio! It shows the jungle in the back of the apartment complex! The view is breathtaking. I LOVE the Florida vegetation. Will be in the mid 80's this rest of the week here.

I will be OFF LINE until the 18th when the dish gets installed. See you then!

MOVING TIME!

We are almost all packed up and ready to move. Hard to believe that we will be in FLORIDA for good in a short time! We will have Christmas with family and ON THE BEACH! Yes, the beach in those photos I just posted! It will be MY BEACH! I intend to spend a lot of time with my feet in the sand this winter! Gotta rekindle my connection with the ocean and the shore. My soul will soar!

Finally a post from my friend Judith!

Her BLOG link.
She has posted a curent photo on her blog and is getting back into posting some more photographs! I just love what she does!
Hooray Judith, I am waiting to see more pictures!

The beach and blue skies, Melbourne Beach, FL

I miss the blue-blue (photo not retouched, just as it came out of my point and shoot pocket camera) skies especially while standing under a palm!

Links to photos from same trip on this Blog: (use your shift key + press link to open new window)

Hello from Satellite beach

Melbourne Beach, Florida

Doubletree hotel, Satellite Beach Florida

Melbourne Beach Fl, historic shopping district

Satellite Beach continued photos

Melbourne, Florida and Palm Bay area

Satellite Beach continued

Great place to walk after breakfast near the beach. This is the area just over the Melbourne Bridge The beach is such a huge part of the life here... Ahhhhhh!

Love the sea grape all around, the knarly trunks are rarely viewed, but here by the boardwalk they could be observed closely.

When I saw this sign, it reminded us of the Sinfeld episode about the Bizzarro world where it was an alternate universe. We didn't eat here because we had just had breakfast nearby and headed out of town.

Melbourne, Florida has a historic shopping district

I took these photos quickly just stepping out of the car. Was hard to take photos as we walked around because I was so busy just looking at everything! I had seen some of the antiques online on Craigslist (antique section for Space Coast, FL) and saw the New Haven area listed. I was surprised to see that I recognized some of the items I had seen on CL in some of the shops. I talked to some of the shop owners and had such fun because it felt like I had been there before! The streets were already filled with cars parked early in the morning!

This is such a quaint area. Just beyond the shops is the main road where we caught the bridge back to Satellite Beach. There were a lot of antique and consignment shops and little bakeries and places to eat.