Syroco Heaven

Do you love Syroco as much as I do?  Well, I must say that my addiction with it is now officially an obsession!  One of my good friends, who loves thrifting as much as I do, is always on the hunt for beautiful Syroco pieces for me.

 If you visit me on a regular basis, you know how much I love finding and transforming these treasures with some paint and tlc.  So, I was thrilled when my friend surprised me with these beauties for my birthday, which was Sunday.  I was ooohing and aaaahing over not one, not two, but three beautiful Syroco mirrors!

 They are what I like to refer to as "gaudy gold", but not for long!  I've already stocked up on plenty of heirloom white, and can hardly wait for their transformations!  I especially adore the mirror with the attached candle sconces, below.  I've never seen one just like it!  My friend has quite the knack for finding treasures, and I think I've even turned her into a Syroco lover in the process!

 She also gave me these two gorgeous shelves.  Hopefully tomorrow I'll be able to start painting everything, weather cooperating.  I'll be sure to share their transformations with you!  It's amazing what a difference paint can make.

 And if that wasn't enough excitement, she also found this pair of really unique candle sconces.  I've never seen any like them before.  Trust me, they will look totally different when I'm thru painting and distressing them!  Buh-bye gaudy gold!!

 And, she also found me a pair of these pretty sconces, below. Love!  I was literally squealing with excitement over all of my treasures, and have been in "Syroco Heaven" ever since!

 I also got a wonderful surprise in the mail for my birthday, from my sweet friend Cindy over at
Cindy Adkins Whimsical Musings.  She sent me the most gorgeous necklace, that I can hardly wait to wear!

 It features this beautiful watch, and lovely charms, too!  At first, I thought the watch was a charm.  But then when I realized it was a real watch, I was even more excited!  Love, love, love it!  Thank you so much, Cindy, you are so sweet!  Cindy had been very sick for several months, so it meant even more to me that she thought of me in the middle of all she is going thru.  I know that she would really appreciate your thoughts and prayers for her recovery.  She is a real gem, and it saddens me that she has been sick for so long.

Hope you enjoy the rest of your week!

Home Tweet Home

Hello everyone, and Happy Memorial Day!

Hope you all are having a safe and fun weekend!

Last week I shared with you our little baby mourning doves, that were nesting in a planter right outside our back door.  Well, the other night I checked on them, and they had finally flown the coop!

(er, nest, I mean!)

 I snapped this picture their last day in the nest, at about 12 days old.  Aren't they just the cutest?

 Mama dove was ever present and oh so attentive.  We noticed that the bigger they got, she gradually spent less time with them.  Maybe she was coaxing them to test out their wings?  Or else she was just taking a much needed break!

 I tried to snap their picture each day, to document their growth.  They were such a joy to watch, and it was amazing how quickly they grew up.

 Here they are at just a few days old.

 And their first day, how sweet is that?  I wish that I'd had my camera handy, as last night I was weeding one of my hosta beds just before dusk, and there they were, perched on a rock a few feet away, staring at me!

We will miss them, it was such a thrill to see them so up close and personal.

On a different note, the movers arrived last Wednesday with all of our things.  I was so happy to see our furniture and all of our other belongings.  So, we've been busy unpacking, organizing and cleaning, and trying to return our lives  back to "normal" (whatever "normal" is!!), after we found our home trashed and in shambles from our renter.

I'm sorry that I've not been around to visit for what seems an eternity.  I hope to get caught up in the next week, as I really miss seeing what you all have been up to!

Have a great day!

A Bit of a Bright Spot

Hello, hope you all had a nice weekend.  It's been a roller coaster week since hubby and I moved home to find our home totally trashed by our renter.  Amid all of the craziness, there's a little bright spot in the form of two adorable baby mourning doves, right outside our back door!  I first noticed mama dove sitting in the wall planter by our door when we got home.  The next morning, what a surprise to find this!

 Well, this is what they look like now, anyway, after one week!  Aren't they the sweetest?  We try not to disturb them any more than we have to.  I'm sure that mama regrets putting her nest so close to the door, now what we are home (and in the nasty cigarette butts that the renter put in my planter!).

 This is what they looked like on Monday.  Mama even cleaned up the egg shell:)

 They even have their very own guardian angel looking after them!  It has been such a thrill to watch them grow, I imagine before too long they will be ready to leave the nest.

 And here is just a small sampling of what hubby and I have been dealing with.  The renter had the nerve to say that we gave her permission to paint!  We were up past midnight the other night covering this mess up.  It took 4 coats of Kilz primer, and 3-4 coats of Valspar paint with built in primer, to cover it.  Some of the grafitti it still bleeding thru in a few areas.  I honestly don't know how people can abuse other's homes like this.  She eve tore down the beautiful floral Ralph Lauren wall paper border in my craft room, that I loved so much.  And she damaged the walls in the process.  So, that room will have to be repainted, and I need to find some new border as a replacement.

 I tried to get a good picture of some of the grafitti, but it's not showing up very well.  I think she used magic markers!

 This is what much of our yard now looks like, thanks to the renter who blew piles of leaves all over the yard, killing our once beautiful grass. Still trying to figure out how to get the nasty cigarette smell our of our master bedroom (yuck!).

 Stains on rugs and carpets from her dog.  We had new carpet put in most of the house on Thursday, and it feels sooooo much better already!  No more nasty dog pee smell or stains.  We are supposed to get our furniture delivered in the next day or so, can't wait for that.  Thankfully we've had our motor home to live in (parked in our driveway), thru all of this.  In all honesty, I am drained physically, emotionally, and mentally.  I am so ready for life to return to normal (whatever normal is, anyway!).
We did get our high speed internet, phone, and tv connected today, so that feels good.  I know that "this too shall pass", but walking thru it has not been a piece of cake, to put it mildly.

On a lighter note, I can't wait to show you how I've been decorating our pontoon boat, that we had launched a few days ago!  (hint:  I've used lots of pink, and it has a tiki hut feel to it!).  Thanks so much for all of your support and kind words during this difficult time.

Hope you have a great week!

Not so Home Sweet Home

Hubby and I returned to Michigan late Sunday night, after living in Washington State for the past year. We were shocked to find the condition that our renter left our home in. Originally, we weren't going to rent out our house, as I just didn't like the idea of someone that we didn't know would be living there. But, my cousing who was our realtor at the time persuaded us to rent it out. Well, she broke her lease early, and in 8 months time left our once beautiful and sparkling clean home in total shambles. Almost all of the carpet was ruined with dog pee stains, and the stench from it all was overwhelming. Needless to say, I've been in tears since we got back. Also, the hardwood floors in our bedroom not only were deeply gouged, they smell of dog pee and cigarette smoke, though no one was supposed to smoke in the house. She ruined much of our yard, that we always took pride in, killing large areas of grass. The list goes on and on. She never cleaned, so I spent the entire first day throwing out the trash she left behind, and cleaning and sanitizing everything in site. She also painted huge black and white checkerboard on the walls of our loft, and her teenage daughter wrote graffiti all over the walls. To add insult to injury, the insurance adjuster said that our policy (the one our agent assured us would cover any possible damage she might do) didn't cover any of it. They only would cover if she had burnt the house down!
On top of it all, we have a neighbor from hell (who thankfully doesn't live next door). He had caused us grief on and off over the past 10 years, as he doesn't like that our dock is right across the road from his house (even though we have legal right to be there, and have deeded lake access). He's had lawyers send us threatening letters over the years. We hadn't even been home 24 hours, and he filed yet another complaint against us, and a police officer showed up at our house telling us to move our dock.
I would much rather talk about decorating or crafting or other fun things, but right now things are just too crazy. I tried uploading some photos to shown you what we are dealing with here, but we have a very weak connection til we get Comcast installed. So, I humbly ask for your prayers, that we find a bright spot in all of this mess. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Not So Home Sweet Home

Hubby and I returned to Michigan late Sunday night, after living in Washington State for the past year.  We were shocked to find the condition that our renter left our home in.  Originally, we weren't going to rent out our house, as I just didn't like the idea of someone that we didn't know would be living there.   But, my cousing who was our realtor at the time persuaded us to rent it out.  Well, she broke her lease early, and in 8 months time left our once beautiful and sparkling clean home in total shambles.  Almost all of the carpet was ruined with dog pee stains, and the stench from it all was overwhelming.  Needless to say, I've been in tears since we got back. Also, the hardwood floors in our bedroom not only were deeply gouged, they smell of dog pee and cigarette smoke, though no one was supposed to smoke in the house.  She ruined much of our yard, that we always took pride in, killing large areas of grass.  The list goes on and on.  She never cleaned, so I spent the entire first day throwing out the trash she left behind, and cleaning and sanitizing everything in site.  She also painted huge black and white checkerboard on the walls of our loft, and her teenage daughter wrote graf

Rocky Mountain High

Hello everyone!  Our time spent in beautiful Colorado brough to mind the old John Denver song.  Colorado is truly one of the most gorgeous states that I've ever visited! Right now we are driving across Nebraska, and are bored out of our gourds!  We were spoiled with such stunnning scenery for the past 11 days.  And to put it politely, there is not a whole lot to see in the corn husker state! I took so many photos while we were in Colorado, that I'll share more in future posts.

 We've driven nearly 2,400 miles since leaving our home in Washington State, and have seen some amazing sights!  One of my favorite towns in Colorado that we stayed in was Breckenridge.  It's a beautiful ski resort, and since it was off season when we were there, it wasn't crowded in the least.

 We passed thru Vail on the way there, climbing in our motor home to over 11,000 feet!  Adjusting to the altitude was a bit challenging.  I found myself easily out of breath, headachy, and very thirsty! But, I loved the time we spent there, and can hardly wait to return!

 Vail was a very ritzy town!  Check out this gorgeous vacation home, below!

 No recession going on here!

 We liked Breckenridge much better.  Even though it was a very popular ski resort, it was much more laid back.  And this is the view we had from our campground!

 I do have a funny story to tell you about the campground we stayed at in \Breckenridge, called Tiger Run RV Resort.  I had called them earlier in the day to make sure they had room for us, for one night.  Well, the woman that I spoke to neglected to tell me that their office, and security gate closed at 5pm.  We arrived at 5:45, only to find a locked gate, and a sign that said "If you don't have a reservation (we didn't) and arrive after hours, we can not accomodate you"!  I was near tears!  There wasn't another campground around for miles.  Not one!  And we had been driving all day and were tired.

 Well, we saw another camper there, who suggested that we walk to the clubhouse and see if there was anyone there that could help us.  Tiger Run was a very "fancy-schmancy" campground, complete with an indoor pool and hot tub, tennis courts, and more.  We normally stay at pretty low key places like state parks, but thought it would be a nice treat to stay here, especially since there was no where else to camp in the area.  Hubby walked into the pool area, and started chatting with an Australian guy who was using the hot tub.  He told hubby that he owned two lots in the campground (each spot is individually owned and rented out), and we were welcome to use his extra spot for a night or two!  When we tried to pay him, he refused!  I told hubby that he was our Aussie Angel!    So, we were both very,  very happy and much relieved!

 The campground also featured lots of cute little chalets that were available to rent or purchase (I was shocked to find out how expensive they were, as well as how pricy the campsites were to buy!!!!).

 Have you ever seen such a funny looking vehicle?  This hummer, with it's own "greenhouse", belonged to a fellow camper.

 Breckenridge was full of quaint and historic buildings like this.  Love the pretty gingerbread trim on this cute old house turned shop!

 Downtown Breckenridge.

 The ski lifts were right in town!  I bet it's just gorgeous here in the winter!

After Breckenridge, we spent the night in Golden, and last night at Estes Park.  Colorado was truly the highlight of our cross country trip!  We plan on getting back to Michigan in a few days.  While I look forward to being in our own house again, I really do miss my old "home away from home" in beautiful Washington State!

Have a great weekend!

Greetings From Colorado!

Hello everyone!  We've been on the road for one week, and right now are in gorgeous Colorado.

 We spent last night just south of Steamboat Springs, at a state park overlooking this pretty lake.

 Here we are! Today we are headed toward Vail and Breckenridge.  Neither of us has been there before, so we are really looking forward to it!

 Backing up several days, while we were in Oregon, we toured the Tillamook Creamery.  It was really interesting, and we loved all of their generous cheese samples!

 Can you imagine working on this line day after day?  I don't think I would want to eat cheese after that!

 Lots and lots of cheese!

 Eastern Oregon was beautiful.

 Can you believe that we woke up to a dusting of snow the next morning?

 In Idaho, we stayed at a state park right next to this winery.  Of course, we just had to go in and do some wine tasting!  We also enjoyed a nice dinner here, too.

 I had no idea that Idaho even had wineries!  The cameground was right next to the Snake River (below).

 Next we headed to Utah.  Geez, we've been in so many states this past week, it's hard to remember where we are at!

 Loved the snow covered mountains!

 In Wyoming, we saw mile after mile of nothing but sagebrush and cows.  Got a bit after awhile, to say the least!  We did see dozens of antelope right along side the road, which was really exciting!  Wish I could have gotten a picture of that!  Most of these photos I've taken while speeding down to road at 70mph (while in the passenger seat, of course!).

 Ooops, almost forgot these last two photos, which were in Utah.

Can't wait to get caught up with all of you, to see what you've been up to! I'll be sure to keep you posted of our adventures!