Bridal Party

Stephanie, these are the ones I am sending to you except the flower girl shown is mine. Yours is in a package. I have so many little Madamn Alexander dolls that I collect for my granddaughter and she didn't need these, so they will be mailed to you. If anyone needs any Wizard of Oz, please let me know. I have quite a few of them. Hugs, Pat

More wedding pictures of us

We did not have a lot of pictures taken, but here are 3 more of us alone. I have one with my 2 children, but not sure what I did with that one. They didn't know that Al was not their biological father until the ages of 4 and 6. My daughter cried because she thought she was losing her "daddy", but we told her that he loved her so much that she was his daughter and would always be her daddy. I thought that was too young to tell them, but the social worker who was in charge with the adoption said it had to be done. She even spoke with them in private about how they felt about Al, their daddy. My little girl cried all day until her daddy returned from work and assured her he was not going to leave her ever. The adoption process was as ugly as a bad divorce, on the part of their dads. She has met her biological dad, but my son has no intention of ever wanting to meet him. How does a man reject his first born and never want to see him is beyoung my comprehension!!!! But it's his lost because my son is a better man because of Al. He is also keeping his half brother and sister from getting to know him and that bothers my son.

Al's friends wanted him to smash the cake in my face, but I had already warned him, that I would not like that at all and he was a gentlemen about it. They called him a woose for not doing it. I think even with an informal wedding, it's not good etiquette to do such things. We will be married 39 years come November and we are getting back together soon. We still have a few things to work out and hopefully by January, I will be back with him, So please keep us in your prayers.

I had to show you this funny picture from my Senior year. I hated the way they wanted me to look like I was pushing a wheel barrow. Silly, but I had to say with the photographer. My mom made the dress I am wearing as she made most of my clothes and she was a very good seamtress. That is one I wish I still had. It was a pale mint green with white collar and cuffs.

                                                          My brother's dog died, but luckily, we found a man who knew him and he gave his yellow lab to him and my brother is doing so much better having a best friend again. His name is Rocky and although he is not pure breed, he is more lab than anything. Robert had a hard life, but worked while disabled for a very long time,because he can't sit still. I've been doing my best to make sure he eats and takes care of himself. I haven't seen him this happy in a very long time. Needless to say, he is lucky to be alive, because he was being over medicated and was like a drunk all the time and was in a wheel chair and now he is free from that and walking most of the time without his walker. He can even run now, but with the brace, he reminds me of Forrest Gump when he was running.

                                                             Have a wonderful day all of you sweet bloggers. Love and hugs, Pat

My Little(big) cottage

Today, I thought I would share with you, the little cottage we live in. The floor plans were from Sears and we called them shotgun homes because if you stood at the front of the house and you could shoot straight through to the back of the house. These are very popular in New Orleans and I fell in love with this one. We could have bought a new home with all modern things, but before this house was painted, it was horrible both inside and out. I will find the pictures of the before and after of the inside for another post.
                                            Click on pictures for a larger view. The house looks small but it is not.

This is what it looks like today, except for needing a new paint job and some new siding in spots. The closed in Porch was my craft shop for several years, then became a nursery for my grandson, and now it is a storage space for all my seasonal decorations.

This was once a worn out old shed and we spent a lot of money making a play house for my grandchildren, only to have our neighbors with a tree filled with termites. Since it had ceiling tiles, linoleum floors and bead and board walls, we never noticed the termites until it had eaten from inside to out, so it is no longer a part of our yard.

I made little walk ways with a mold that I bought and did all this before my surgeries in 2001. I had just about finished the entire landscaping when I got sick and I have not been able to work in it again. God has taken over and I am thankful every day that I used plants that don't need a lot of care.

The little square gazebo is overflowing now with vines and it is so pretty and fragrant when they bloom. The fench is covered in creeping jenny and is so cool to see other plants hanging from the fench.

this is the inside of the gazebo and at night it was always pretty to be lite up with lights and just sit and relax.

this is my side yard which is being cleared out for my storage room on the side of the window. Behind the arbor was a lattice filled with Confederate Jasmine, but was dug up a few weeks ago and planted next to my front porch. Still have lots to move and luckily the arbor is now gone, but the vine is just growing on the picket fench.

This is a before picture and I say that because after all the stenciling, we closed in the patio and made me a craft room and we have had nothing but problems since Lili struck, then Rita did more damage, so I had to move everything into my extra bedroom, which hopefully soon will be my pink frufru bedroom.

I told you I didn't live in a mansion, but my little cottage was my dream and all I have to do now is make a bigger craft room( the correct way) and I'll have my bedroom back. I am praying this will all happen before Christmas or very soon after. I know the addition will have to wait until we get our income tax refund but February is a good time to work-it's cool and he is going to take a weeks vacation to get it done.I hope you enjoyed seeing my little cottage. Love and hugs, Pat

FruFru crafting

What does one do when the doctor tells you to take it easy. Well I go into my messy craft room and pull out projects that needed to be finish, but I couldn't find enough things to really frufru up my birdhouse. It's still a work in progress, but at least you can see how far I have gotten with it. My inspiration came from Connie at Living Beautifully and she does some super great things that I thought I would give it a try. At first I was just going to paint and decoupage, but I went a little further than that. I have a cute white bird to put on the perch and a few more things like flowers. I have a round top one that I want to start working on but have put all the things away for the 4th of July bar b cue that we are having tomorrow. Wishing you all a Happy 4Th with your families. Honest opinions are always welcome. Love and hugs, Pat

Finally found my "Flower Child" wedding photo

I finally found one of my wedding pictures and as you can see, I had a "flower child" wedding, even though I was 23 years old. Those were the days of bell bottom pants and mini skirts, but my dress was knee length. This was taken in our trailer after we went to the Justice of the Peace. When we had our marriage blessed in the Catholic Church, I have no idea what happened to those pictures, but I wore a simple dress, then we went home for a little family get together. Al look like a gangster is this suit and I always laugh when I see it, but having a simple wedding lasted longer than any of our friends. All 7 of our best friends had big weddings and have all divorced since then.

I had my epidural yesterday, and I am feeling a little drunk today and want to eat everything in sight because of the steroids. I have to watch my sugar intake because of the diabetes---steroids make your sugar level rise.

We have been having rain every day since Alex started in the Gulf. Oil is worse than ever and you could see it in the waves as they broke on shore. It will be decades before the beaches are safe to go into the water and I for one, am not going into it until I know it is safe to go in the water.

Not much else going on. Just waiting to find out when my surgery will take place. I never knew neurosurgeons were so booked that you had to wait forever, but that is how things stand for now. I hope you all have a great day. It is dark and gloomy here today and I am supposed to rest for a couple of days, but I can drive starting tonight and that is a good thing as Al will be coming this afternoon, so I can go and pick up a few things I need. Love and Hugs, Pat