Getting Patriotic

Good morning all!

Can you believe it is almost mid July already?

Gosh where has the time flown by?

My patriotic season is probably the longest

of the seasons for my decor.

I start just before Memorial Day and

keep it up until the end of July

Then I start longing for Autumn decor.

This year I only did the living room,

keeping room and one display for my mom

in the guest bedroom.

Today I wanted to share my patriotic mantles.

 

Hope you enjoyed peeking into our home

with my patriotic mantles.

In other news,

I had to take Bob to the neurologist

the other day for his appt.

July 1st was two years since his stroke.

The neurologist told him he no longer 

has to see him.

 YAY

Now if only his peripheral vision in his left

eye would come back.

Whenever we have to drive far,

I do the driving because of this.

Tis the season for fruit so I made

my fruit salad for dinner last night.

I made enough for a few days.

This was my mom's recipe.

Fruit Salad

Green Grapes

Watermelon

Canteloupe

Honey Dew

Blackberries

Blueberries

Strawberries

 1 - 2 cups Orange Juice

Discloser: I do not purchase whole melons

anymore as when the kids were around.

Now I purchase those in containers

that my grocery store puts together.

I find the smallest package of grapes

and the small containers of the berries.

Put all of the fruit in a big bowl.

Add a few TBS of sugar and pour the juice

all over and mix.

Chill and serve.

Well off to prep for breakfast.

Bob is going to make ham steaks and scrambled eggs

on the grill.

Then I need to do the laundry and clean a bit.

What's on tap for your weekend?

Getting More Patriotic Blessings To All!

Janice

July CupboardScape

 Hello friends.

Today's post is for all of my

patriotic American friends.

Before school started for me,

we students all recited the Pledge of Allegiance.

I truly believe schools need to go back to this practice.

Many of the younger generation have no clue

what being an American really means.

Heck I am even fighting with my grandson

who does not even want to vote. UGH

 

The stars represent the 50 states,

while the stripes represented the original 13 colonies.

Wonder how many younger kids even know this fact?

It is such a shame to see our history being erased

right before our eyes.

We are only free because of the brave.

Long may our flag wave.

Please do not burn or disrespect her in any way.

In other news,

Robin from the Cranky Crow

asked for my bean dip recipe.

Bean Dip

1 can pinto beans (do not drain)

1 pkg Philadelphia cream cheese

4 oz can chilies drained

shredded colby jack cheese

1/2 packet of taco seasoning. (I use Kroger brand)

Fresh salsa (I use Garden Fresh Sweet Onion)

Head of iceberg lettuce (I hand shred only what I need)

Tostitos round tortilla chips

Put beans in a pot and heat until soft.

Mash while cooking.

Remove from heat and add 1/4 cup of cheese

and 1/2 packet of taco seasoning. Mix in.

Place beans in a 8 x 8 dish and place in refrigerator

to cool 15 minutes.

Soften cream cheese a bit.

Add to a bowl along with drained chiles.

Mix well.

Spread mixture on top of beans.

Add half the container of salsa on top of 

cream cheese mixture.

Top with shredded cheese and lettuce to your liking.

Chill a bit.

Serve with tortilla chips.

(Sometimes I also add sliced black olives on top too)

This is the salsa I use.

You may use whatever salsa you like.

This is the go to brand for this dip I use.

Enjoy!

Sunday morning Bob cooked us breakfast

on his Blackstone

He loves this grill.

The blueberry pancakes and bacon were scrumptious.

I wish he could make breakfast for us every morning.

Alas I am already on the road for work when he gets up.

Patriotic July Blessings To All!

Janice

Friday Finish

Hello friends! 

As you know I wanted to start this little patriotic stitch.

Was pretty sure I could get this one done

before July 4th to display.

It was a fun little stitch and I changed up

all of the colors from my stash.

I used the leftover linen from my sampler.

Waste not when you can.

Here it is finished now as a pillow.

Stuffed with fabric rags...

the way I stuff most of my pillows.

For the back used fabric from my stash

and just coffee stained it a bit.

Now it sits here replacing by my Spring one.

Once I have more stitched,

they will likely go into a dough bowl.

Not this year though.

My next Patriotic finish came out of this book

from Blackbird Designs called

American Eagle.

Here is my finished version.

I added Land of the Free and 1776 at the bottom

and continued the border to go around as well.

I used graph paper like I did for my

jack-o-lantern like Saundra thought.

I omitted both the year on either side 

of the flower urn and the

 letter "B"

Plus changed up some of the colors.

I love how this one turned out.

I picked it up from the framer on July 2nd.

Just in time for July 4th.

Now will be proudly displayed for this month.

The lil sheep I created years ago to sell at our store.

I did keep one for myself.

More patriotic items.

All on my pine cabinet in the keeping room.

In other news,

I hope everyone had a safe and wonderful

July 4th.

We went right next door to our neighbors party.

I brought a bean dip appetizer which was a hit.

Made 2 batches of it.

My daughter Michele is finally 

moving back to her house. 

After months of fighting with adjusters 

while having to go through items they thought were

unsalvageable (almost 700 items)

workers coming in and unplugging 

her meat freezer in the basement for no reason....

and letting it spoil which was full of meat.

Then when moving it out to replace

left her house wide open for anyone 

to go in one whole day. 

They denied the whole thing.

However she caught them on a camera she had.

Most days she had to go to her house 

for inspections that were required by her insurance.

She had to shop for new paint, rugs, furniture,

appliances, clothes and food. 

It was like getting a brand new house an she

hopes she never has to do this again.

She moved from her house to a hotel to a rental house.

Back to moving into her house.

She is mentally exhausted.

Well I have to get to work.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Any plans?

Another Friday Finish Blessing To All!

Janice

Misc Stuff

Hello friends and Happy July 1st!

Lots of you have been showing off your

beautiful flowers.

I decided to get on the bandwagon.

I only have one garden in the front.

Not much, but here goes.

 

My butterfly bush has gotten enormous this year.

I love seeing the butterflies come to it.

With the rain and humidity the yews have

not dried out and are still greener than ever.

The mulch does help.

My hydrangea is starting to bloom.

The kiwi vine in the front is also starting to turn

its wonderful colors of pink and white.

This is a vine which was attached to our door trellis.

Unfortunately the trellis was damaged 

in a bad storm last year.

Bob needs to make another one.

The pop of red is coleus.

My lemon yellow day lilies 

are blooming profusely. 

We purchased this iron bench in Ohio many years ago.

Same with these vintage chairs.

They have seen better days but I still love them.

This is part of our front porch.

Wish it was a covered one.

Bob recently laid this this little patio.

The table and chairs were Bob's dads.

We kept them when he passed last year.

A perfect spot to eat dinner now...

when the mosquitoes let us.

Both Tundra and Shadow enjoy being outside

with us when we do.

We only use our garage as storage.

No vehicles ever go in there.

Now for the good stuff.

Thank you everyone for all of your comments

on both the cafe and pillow.

I so appreciate all comments.

Here comes the winner.

Drum Roll Please.

The winner is...

Mari from "My Little Corner of the World"

Mari please send me your

full name and address to my email at

primsbythewater@yahoo.com

and will get out your pillow asap.

Thank you again to everyone.

I so appreciate you all!

 July Blessings To all!

Janice

Give-And-Take

 Hello Friends!

Today's post will be a little give and take.

I am going to give away something...

and some lucky person will take.

Before I announce my giveaway,

I want to show you where Bob and I 

had lunch at last week.

We went to the Raven Cafe.

The entire restaurant is Edgar Allen Poe themed.

Even most of the menu items are named

after Poe's works.

When I worked in Port Huron this was

one of our go spots for lunch.

We went out for lunch every Friday.

My co-workers were the BEST!

We still work together, but unfortunately

no longer at that office.

We all have that long drive to work now. 

 

Anyways, we had hummus with warm pita bread

for an appetizer.

We both had Lobster Bisque.

I was surprised Bob ordered this too.

Usually he gets Chicken Tortilla.

My salad was called the El Dorado.

 A chicken Mexican one with chipotle ranch.

Bob's sandwich was called the Venetian,

which is Poe's The Visionary which 

Venice is mentioned.

His sandwich was herb crusted chicken 

with provolone, red onion, balsamic vinaigrette

on an Italian baguette with roasted red peppers on top.

I only ate half my salad.

Bob and I ate it again that night 

with Italian sausage he grilled.

The lower level was already filled at 11:00am

when we got there.

We sat up here on the second floor.

This entire floor has shelves of books on three walls

 for all to read.

Leather chairs here for anyone to sit.

 A group of folks came in right after I took this pic.

I did not want to take pics of others while there,

as the remainder of this floor was filled,

including the outside patio...

could not believe folks were sitting outside that day.

This is the cafe/ bar area.

Lots of specialty coffee drinks, teas,

frappes and smoothies, along with beer.

They have live music at night when 

the younger crowd comes in.

The owners are in their 40's and this 

business they created is a good one.

They do have outside seating too,

but it was awful hot that day.

The place gets packed every day for lunch,

which is why we like to be there by 11.

It was packed when we left. 

Now for the giveaway.

It's been such a long time since I have had one.

I so appreciate everyone who follows along.

I read all of your comments and sometimes

even more than once.

I may not comment to your blogs daily,

but I do try to when I can.

Maybe once retired, I can post more often....

just too much going on right now.

I made this flag pillow using strips of fabric.

It is rag stuffed to give that lumpy feel.

The back is Onasburg fabric,

along with the front where I attached the other fabric.

Here is a close up.

So if you would like this pillow, here are the rules.

1. You must be a follower.

2. Open to my both my U.S. and Canadian followers.

(Not sure if my Canadian followers 

want a US flag though).

3. Please comment using the words ~

"Stars and Stripes"

4. If for some reason you cannot comment,

you may send me an email at

primsbythewater@yahoo.com

 

I will post the winner on my next post.

Good luck to everyone!

Stars And Stripes Blessings To All!

Janice

Sunday Starts

Happy Sunday.

You know what that means.

Check out what I am working on now.

 

First up is 

Laura Vorgensen 1853.

My parents were married in a church on the hill.

This is why I chose this sampler.

I want to add their names,

the church name and that date they were married.

The church was built in 1854.

My parents were married in 1955.

I still need to finish my great grandfathers one,

but when I mentioned this one to my mom

she was really excited when she saw the pattern.

When I started this,

it began with changing up floss colors.

The letters A and B were to be white.

You could not see them.

I dont mind some ghosting, but not at the beginning.

When I got to the letter E, again not a fan.

As you can see I changed the 

E and F to a lighter shade of blue.

Now am not so sure about these colors either.

I do not want a majority all blue sampler again.

Which version do you like?

Next up is Blueskin.

This was one of George Washington's two horses,

he used in the Revolutionary War.

Blueskin was actually a a blue roan which

looked gray except in the Winter

where his coat turned white.

He is the horse often seen in portraits

of George Washington. 

His other horse was Nelson.

I was able to stitch one branch

of the cherry tree.

Am loving the colors thus far.

Once I finish this one 

will work on Nelson at some point.

Stitching this on 28ct Vellum.

Finally,

I decided I wanted to do a small stitch

before July 4th comes along

and make this into a pillow.

I wanted something for July 4th since I knew

Patriotic Pinwheel Parade would not get finished. 

This one is Old Glory 

by Little House Needleworks.

I have gotten this far.

Lauren said I must be a fast stitcher...

Well guess that gets me in trouble. LOL

I stitched the flag in red, green and blue. GRR

Yep pulled out a light green and did not

realize it until I was completely done.

Spent an hour frogging and re-stitching

in white like it is suppose to be. 

None of the colors I chose were the called for.

Just trying to use up my stash.

The linen was leftover from my one

stich I did for my Maternal grandparents and

great grandparents.

I forgot the color but it was a 36 ct.

If all goes right I should have this one finished soon.

Not counting my chickens though....

In other news,

Friday night was the fireworks that the First Nation

folks on Walpole Island put on the first

night of Summer each year.

We could walk to our dock and see them,

if it were not for the mosquitos.

We usually drive to a parking lot

which is a hop skip and jump from us 

with an awesome view.

Well a thunderstorm came in on our side  of the river.

We thought for sure they would cancel

them since it was directly across  

the river from us.

Well we went to bed at 10:00pm.

10"05 we heard them go off.

UGH

By the time we would have gotten re-dressed

and drove over there it would have been done.

It seems the storm was just on our side of the river.

Go figure.

Bad storms hit our state once again last week.

This time the entire street my niece lives on

was affected.

Trees and wires down everywhere.

Fortunately for my niece,

the big tree in her yard fell across her driveway.

Others were not so lucky.

Cars and houses were badly damaged.

They declared a state of emergency for her city.

Well off to make French toast and breakfast sausage

for Bob and I.

Hope everyone is staying safe.

Sunday Start Blessings To All!

Janice