Bootie Call

If you've read my earlier posts, you know that I have a real problem with giving up my flip flops and wearing regular shoes when the weather turns cooler. I've been fairly lucky so far, in that the days have been warm enough for me to still don my foot favorites, unless it's raining, which is was today. So, since I had to go to a doctor's appointment and then run errands afterwards, I succumbed to wearing my tennis shoes, with socks (argh). Part of the problem is that shoes and socks make my feet hot and if my feet are hot, I'm not. I usually don't like being hot, unless I'm at the beach or sitting by a pool with a nice frozen drink in one hand and some favorite reading material in the other. Each store I went into today had their heat cranked up and was sweltering. OK, perhaps my internal thermometer is just a wee bit off due to this Mother Nature thing that women around my age so happily experience but whatever the cause, wearing the shoes and socks just made things worse. So, when I got home, the first thing I did was whip those things off my feet! As the sun and temperature started to go down, I started to get chilled, so I went for one of my favorite pairs of cool weather footwear - my leopard print bootie slippers! They're soft and comfy and cozy warm and just so much fun to wear! Take a look and see if they don't make you smile:

Quite a departure from my flip flops, but way cute! Hey, if I have to wear shoes, I might as well have a good time, right? Thanks for stopping by and remember: silly feet are happy feet! Hugs! Leena

Gardening Day

I had the best time today, working in my yard! I'd been waiting for the rain to stop and the grass to dry a bit, so that I could mow it, then discovered that I needed a new spark plug in my mower. Argh! So that was taken care of the other day and today it was time to mow. I couldn't believe how wet the grass and ground still were! The rain, rain, rain, snow, melting snow, rain seem to have added quite a bit of extra moisture to our landscape. Not a real problem. It just meant that I had to empty the mower bag about three times more than usual and that the grass took up a lot more room in my big garbage cans than I would have liked. The worst part is that they weigh a ton! Our trash service doesn't pick up lawn waste again until Thursday, so I hope it doesn't rain again in the meantime. If so, those cans will be impossible to roll down the street!

I actually filled both of my cans with more than mowed grass. I pulled weeds, dug out this annoying ornamental grass that had sent runners all over my flower bed, emptied the now frost-bitten plants (I spread the dirt in the beds) out of my many containers and picked up some leaves. I also dug a really big hole to transplant a hydrangea into and planned to lug a bunch of mulch from the side yard into all the beds. Needless to say, after several hours of working, I didn't get around to moving the plant or the mulch, but I still feel good about today's accomplishments. The weather was so perfect - blue, clear sky, autumn breeze, cool temperature, no humidity and lots of sun. Much better than the 100+ temperature and almost as high humidity days that I was working in about a month or so ago. That was no fun at all!

I get a big thrill out of being able to have a day like this mainly because I have a really bad back that restricts my participation in projects of this type at times. It takes me several times longer than it used to, to do things and I have to sit and rest my back every once in a while, but I'm a determined little bugger and keep going until I know I've pushed my spine to its limit. Then it's time for a nice glass of ice water, a warm shower and a little admiring of what I accomplished. Yep, it was a good day! Hope you had a great day too! xoxo, Leena

Creating Vintage Charm-It's Here!

I was SO excited yesterday when little Abigail got home! She and Jamison like to bring in the mail and she was carrying my copy of Creating Vintage Charm magazine! Of course, I immediately turned to the section featuring my pumpkin - I was just too elated to wait! This is the first time that any of my artwork or my shop has been published anywhere! Like I said before, I am truly humbled and honored. Thank you again Sonia! If you'd like to order your own copy, please see the link in my previous post. Hugs, Leena