Story of a Jump or Pardon my absence

No. This is not why I haven't been posting lately. This is why I won't be posting from May 9th - 24th. It's a very long story. I will be glad when this upcoming absence has up and comed! No my previous absence has to do with a lot of emergency things - taxes (by myself), a rental house that flooded, Anxiety attacks related to the two previous things, handling everything around here like a single mom (no thank you. I don't want that job!), keeping my business going (not stressful at least!), massive yard work when the sun unexpectedly shines, preparing for my son and his wife and new baby boy to visit with us for the summer (Spring cleaning anyone?) and getting ready to spend 2 weeks in Hawaii. That last one is a happy incedental. Mr. Bill insisted that I buy a ticket. I mean really insisted and he did have to twist my arm because I have felt like I was chained to the problems/events at home. But he sweet talked me into it. He's been over there working already for 2 weeks with 4 of our sons(tough gig I know but someone has to do it). So yeah, he sweet talked me. So now I'm on a crash diet, mega work outs, hair appointment, beach preparedness (any girl who plans to wear a bathing suit in public knows what this entails, and it HURTS) and a zillion other things that pop into my mind at all hours of the day and night. But I think what I'm learning right now is that sometimes you just have to jump. The opportunities that present themselves may not ever come around again. Certainly when you get to my age, you realize that life is getting shorter than ever! So I jumped for it. We shall return with memories and a few pictures that will never show the true size of the experience. Kauaii calls me and I am answering!

Story of A wreath and taxes

So I was supposed to come home and get everything ready for our tax preparer. It was top priority.

Instead...well that's another story.

So today in the middle of getting stuff together like a good girl, I had this thought, "I don't have a spring wreath on my door!", thinking of the family coming over tomorrow for an easter egg hunt. Well I couldn't find last years grapevine, purple hydrangea one. So... I got a little sidetracked...

I had a bunch of these straw wreaths. All from the Goodwill when blue was 1/2 price.

Thought I'd try wrapping the wreath with fabric. This cream colored gauze looked good.

I have a few odds and ends of various crocheted doilies, hankies and napkins. They would look cute on there somewhere.

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I had these doorknob plates kinda here and there. Staying with the 'door' theme...

Old keys. Great idea! It's going on a door so makes sense, right? Keys, doors. Whatever...

Some brass hammered tacks might come in handy.......

Pearl end corsage pins that I've had forever! That will make it easy...

Old ribbon with just the right colors from PicNSave before it turned into Big Lots...

Pink roses. Since I had a pale green doily, a beige doily and a pink edged hanky to turn into something on this wreath, a pink rose would be perfect...

Had this roll of beige tulle from the Dollar Tree from my son's wedding a couple years ago. I'm sure I can work that in...

So I pinned the green doily to the bottom of the wreath. I tucked 2 pieces of a broken doorplate salvaged from Mr. Bill's High School before it was torn down. I loved the ornate design! But what to do with broken pieces??? Hmmmm...They look perfect here as 'leaves' around my 'roses'.

An old hook I've been wanting to use on something...

More odds and ends

And the final product...TA DA!

This was the other doorknob plate. I used it first but switched it to the chippier one.

Now anyone coming to my house is gonna know 2 things...1) Spring has arrived at Dodo's House
2) Dodo is in trouble for not getting her taxes finished.

Someone get me some chocolate, will ya?
Oh and this is what I had for lunch..

Spring Story Picture Book

Once upon a time there was Spring in the air. Then came 'climate change'. Whatever.

So even though we went for 24 hours without power including heat, lights, water, appliances and horrors, TV and internet, we survived on our ingenuity and had a day of snow fun.

Now on to SPRING! I love looking at all the spring mantel makeovers online. So creative and inspiring! So with those thoughts in mind, I invited some springy thingies to come into my home. My mantel:

EVERYTHING on my mantel EXCEPT the large picture of the Los Angeles LDS Temple, a little ceramic bird and the picture of Christ is from a thrift store. Every. Single. Item.

It was fun to think of Springtime and the lovely colors, flowers and holidays. So I kept going. My living room table:

You may remember this bunny from my previous post about my bedroom decor. She found a home inside a tray I got at -you guessed it- a thrift store about a year ago when I got my green armoire that's full of food storage. Anyway, here is her cubbie. I love the lacey tablecloth I found at a basement sale downtown a couple weeks ago. Only $3! I think it brings a 'vintage' feel into my room. Someday I'll paint that wicker chest in a shabbily chic chippy way. But not today.
More bunny shots:

I have more bunnies all around the house. All rescued from a thrift store.
Here is chocolate bunny on a chair I recovered. Also thrifted:

On to the dining room. Everything on this wall is from 'LeThriftique':

On my dining room table, one end is full of tax stuff that Mr. Bill has been arranging so I cannot disturb it. But before he came on the scene, I had a pretty little tableau. Thrift store embroidered tablecloth, pink vase full of flowers from my grandson Sheldon when I was sick, eggs and buckets from Ross, candy bar labels from the graphics fairy (there be some fine chocolate inside!). And I redecorated my corner shelf. Haven't gotten around to painting it yet either. Most everything is from a nifty-thrifty store except for a few heirloom items. Enjoy the rest of the story!

And that's my story! Happy Spring!