Is It March Yet???

Me neither.

I just liked this picture of a happy girl sticking her head out the window

to greet the day.

That's what I'm going to be doing tomorrow,

if tonight's Kansas tornado 

doesn't blow us all away.

Tomorrow is the last day of February,

and then we will be

finished with Winter 2011.

Thank GOD from whom all blessings flow!

Then on Tuesday morning

I will stick my head out the window and say

HELLO MARCH!

You beautiful Thang, you!

March.

I have longed for you so.

Tomorrow on the last day of February,

in celebration 

of the last day of February,

I . am. taking. down. the. last. of. the. winter. decorations.

The evergreen swags

and the kitchen tree,

and the snow village,

and the snowflakes,

and the snowmen.

They are so outtaa here!

I went out and about the yard this afternoon

gathering sticks and twigs

for a birdy - springy - green

vignette.

The only bad thing about

doing all of this is

I also feel cleaned compelled to 

CLEAN.

That's how I trick myself into getting things done around here.

No clean....no fun!

The worst part will be the boxing up of things,

and I swore that this year I would label the boxes and

put things away in an orderly fashion.

Pfffffffffhhhhhhhhttt!

I didn't really mean it.

I'm too anxious.

Giddy, actually.

Trembling with excitement!

March.

Is.

Almost.

Here.

Did I mention that tomorrow is the 

LAST DAY OF FEBRUARY.

and the day after that is MARCH?

I just thought you should know 

how happy I am about it.

goodbye February.

It's been real.

Hello Beautiful!

Last week while the ground was still really covered up with snow,

and the temps were below zero for several days....

I noticed a little scuffle going on 

out on the deck.

Two little birds were fighting over a sprig of fake berries

from this arrangement right outside the back door.

They had already stripped the cedar branches pretty clean,

and were still looking for something to eat.

Apparently they were scoping things out

for future housekeeping!

I think she likes it here!

Unfortunately hubs went out and moved the furniture around
quite loudly,
and scared the little darlings away.


I'm glad they stopped by,
even if for just a little while.

I just hope they didn't eat too many of
those fake berries before I caught them at it!

Sweet Love Legacy

Old Fashioned Romance

I finally took down the big Nativity set from the buffet in the entry

(no hurry, right?)

just in time for Valentine's Day.

I really like doing Valentine's decorations

in a vintage way,

and trying to find ways to display more of the special things

from my family's past,

instead of keeping them packed away in boxes all of the time.

I'm sure this group of things will evolve

in the weeks ahead as I drag out more little treasures

to display,

but for today

I thought I would showcase some of the lovebirds

from days gone by.

Kellie, all those sweet doilies and hankies

are tucked in here amongst the pictures and books...

see the garland hanging up on the mirror?

I used the yardage of beautiful lace you found me

to hang the tags on....I love using it that way!

These are the printing blocks used to put pictures in the newspaper

back in the day...

This is my great grandfather and great grandmother

Mr. and Mrs. George Bateman.

These pictures were taken for their wedding announcement.

There's my mom and daddy,

in their wedding picture.

I also dug out some little special things that were found

in my Mom's secretary, like the keys and little notebooks...

I found my Dad's fourth grade report card and keep it in the secretary now,

along with some little notebooks where his mom and dad kept

records of the money they spent to raise chicks

and my Grandpa's preaching dates and notes.

Here are Jim's folks looking like

two little love birds!

I love using the old books that I have collected.

One of my favorites is the one

titled

Guiding Boys Up Fools Hill.

It is kind of a guidebook about teaching boys

how to avoid the wiles of the world.

Good read!

I may need to post on that one of these days.

I feel so blessed to have had loving parents and grandparents

who loved each other and us the way they did.

They were not perfect,

but they did it well,

in their own way.

They loved each other for a lifetime and beyond.

They loved each other through very hard times.

Through tragedies, poverty, and disease.

Through thick and thin.

I'm thanking God for 

such a legacy of love in my life!

Happy Day today everybody.

Wherever you are in your journey,

will you leave a legacy of love?

That's what I want to do!