Happy Day!

Today is our 29th Anniversary. Somedays it seems like we have been married forever and then some days it seems like it was just yesterday. But one thing is for sure.....I love you Dick and I can't wait for the next 29!

I wanted to share a few pictures with you......

Dick's Junior Prom ( We look like babies!)


Christmas 1977


YES!!!!!!! We are married!!!!!


The Happy Couple even though they are not smiling!

Hey Yall! I have been a very busy Frannycakes! Project after project, delay after delay and I've actually completed about half of two projects. And my burning question for my readers, all 5 of you, is why is it that when you have a project going on that the rest of your house goes to hell in a hand basket? I came inside to have a sandwich and read blogs and I look around and all I can see is pollen, dirt and things that don't belong where they are. The vacuum will have to come out. I can't stand the rug to look like this. And I can see foot prints on the hardwood floors because the pollen is so thick! No wonder my eyes feel like I have been crying all day and my sinuses are about to explode!

Yesterday, I decided to recover my chair seats on my dining room chairs. These chairs were my grandmothers. I love them. A lot. They have probably never been properly cleaned. At least not since I have had them. So I removed the seats and took them to the garage. I used something I got at home depot along with fine steel wool to clean those things up! I thought maybe it would take me an hour....HA!........Four hours later I was bringing them back in the house. But they look wonderful. Last night, I recovered the seats and put them back on the chairs. They look like new chairs! I am excited!

Today I got up to do what I had actually planned to do yesterday. We took the kitchen chairs and table to the garage a couple of days ago. I have been wanting to paint them black. So I got the paint but either the day was too hot, too humid, too rainy, too windy.......you understand, right? Well, yesterday was too windy. Plus we have this pollen problem, so I had to postpone painting again. Today we had just a little breeze so I started spraying. The chairs look so good! I am not finished yet. I am letting the first couple of coats dry good then I will move the all to the back yard shade. Hopefully by then my "trigger" finger will have feeling again.

So now you know what I have been doing and not doing along with no blogging yesterday. I think I will get the vacuum out and get that over with first. I will talk to you later and hopefully have some pictures! Tootles!

Hey Yall! Guess what? The temperature in my little part of Maine is 68 degrees this morning!!!!!!! I have my windows open and there is a nice breeze moving through the house. And you know what that means? It means that I won't have anything to complain about today. Well, we will see...... I will try and make this a more uplifting read and not such a downer.

Yesterday, I got out in the yard and cut the grass. It is amazing how much that grass grows in just a few days! I love being out in the yard. It just seems to clear my head even though yesterday it got filled back up with pollen. It is everywhere!

In order to not heat up the house with the stove and oven, I had planned to make some cold salad meals. I wanted to make chicken salad, but that requires boiling chicken breasts. So I boiled my chicken breasts last night on the grill! We have a burner on one side. I sat out on the porch to make sure I didn't burn the house down and read my book. By the time the chicken was done, the word had spread to the mosquitoes that I was outside and ready for the biting. I was ready to get back inside. I told Dick that if he wanted a hot meal, he needed to get it at the mill. Aren't I just a sweet wife? At least I told him where to get it......

I finally put up new curtains in my kitchen. IF blogger cooperates, I will take some pictures and post them. Yesterday, I took a bag of clothes by Goodwill. I decided to go in and see if then had any big round rod top with finials curtain rods. They didn't. BUT....they did have two wide pocket rods complete with all the hardware.....two for 99 cents! So today, I will be taking back my two wide top rods that I bought at Walmart for $20.

Oh! I have added some new blogs to my "Recommended by Frannycakes" on the side of this blog. Check them out! Noble Pig is a new favorite! She has some of the most wonderful recipes along with mouth watering pictures! She is a wine lover and makes some good recommendations. Most of you know that I really don't drink wine very much, but she has made me want to try a few and see if I can find one I like. Go check her out! You won't be sorry! Go.....NOW!

That's about all I have this morning! I'll try to check back with you this afternoon. Tootles!

I received this picture from the girls at the beach. They are having fun without me. Dang it. And I had practiced our routine all winter......

Hey Yall! It is hot up here in Maine! I have been trying to stay cool the past few days. So far so good. Now when I say cool, I don't mean air conditioning cool. Oh no. Cause we only have window units and we just put the the bedroom units in on Saturday. The one for the family room hasn't gone in yet. For some reason, people in Maine like to be hot during the summer. They like to have their windows open and have the pollen and dust and bugs come in the house. They like the humidity and how it makes the hardwood floors feels damp and the furniture feel.....ugh! I guess you all know by now how I feel about houses up here not having central air conditioning. How can you build a house that costs as much as ours and not put in central air? As far as I am concerned that is like not putting in the plumbing. So we have portable fans all over the house with their cords laying all over the rooms......maybe I should stop now.

I cleaned out our mud room yesterday and put all of Dick's coats (yes, there were about 12 of them!) down in the basement on a hanging rack. I threw away a bunch of other stuff and put other things where they actually belong. It is amazing how much room we have in there now! I also picked up and put away a bunch of things that have been collecting in the laundry room. I need to go in there and dust, and then that will be finished. The nice, cool basement may be my next project. Okay, okay! I am not going there.....again.......

I talked to my friend Beth yesterday.....HEY BETHIE!!!!!!!!! Beth had surgery last week and is home recuperating. (She has air conditioning!) She is a very loyal reader of Frannycakes. I always feel guilty when she tells me I need to update because I feel like I am letting her down. So I am going to be extra good about updating to aid in her recuperation! Years and years ago, I had the same type of surgery and Bethie, bless her heart, was in charge of driving me everywhere I needed to go. How did she get assigned this, um, privileged job? Well, first, she was the only one not working. Everyone else was suddenly thrilled they were employed! Second, sometimes it is easier to step up to the plate than to continually listen to someone bitch and complain about not being able to drive for 6 weeks. Bless her heart. She did a good job and I had a good time. Notice I said "I" had a good time. Most of your know that I have this problem with making decisions. Well, I needed to go shopping to get an outfit to wear to a rehearsal party that I was invited to. We had looked and looked and I had tried on and tried on and just couldn't make up my mind and finally Beth had had enough! She picked up the box of shoes and said you are buying these. I immediately bought them because I had only heard her use that tone of voice with her kids and we all know about what brings about that tone and what the consequences are. Yes Mam! I will buy these and love them! And I did.....they were my favorite shoes that summer. So, I really should be on my way to SC right now to be at Bethie's beck and call. I so owe her. Love you Beth!

I guess I should go take a nice cold shower so I can get ready for the day. I do love sweating after showering....it is so refreshing.

Talk to you later....Tootles

Hey Yall! I have been having a party. Did I forget to send you an invitation? Well, you might not want to come, cause it's a Pity Party. And you know those kind of parties are usually just one person. And I know what you are probably thinking....why is the hells bells does she have to feel like she needs a Pity Party. Well, I'm not gonna tell you. I am about over it and your weren't invited. Be thankful. Very thankful. Just ask Dick....

The weather has been crazy here. It has been very overcast or raining and very cool. Today has been in the low 50's. Tomorrow is supposed to be in the low 90's. I might be having another kind of a party tomorrow if I get too hot and don't have an air conditioner to cool off with. Wanna come to that one? Didn't think so!

I have purchased my Kilz and paint for my kitchen table and couple of other things I am planning to paint. If the weather will just cooperate, I can start this weekend. I also need to make the curtains for the entrance to the master bath. I have two chairs to recover but I need to pick out a fabric first. And you know how I am about making decisions.

Tomorrow is the beginning of Virginia's week at the beach. And I will not be there. Due to the fact that we have a gazillion things going on this summer, I decided that I would have to bow out of this trip. I know they are going to have a great time. And of course they will look so nice and tan when I see them and I will look like a ghost. I will actually look like a streaked freak from the self tanning lotion that I attempt to put on my body. Everyone has written about how to do it without getting streaks and I have tried it all and I still look disgusting. Oh well. And just in case you are wondering if this trip cancellation is the reason for the Pity Party.....absolutely not. But I will miss my buds. A lot.

Chris is flying to Maine the end of the month and then we will drive together back down south. A group of friends are giving Mary Ann and Justin a party on July 12 so I will be there a few days before to help cook and get things together. Then I have a week to kill and the next week I go to the beach with Elaine. So I won't miss out on the beach all together.

That's about all the news I have. I will talk to you tomorrow! Tootles!

Hey Yall! Well miracles of all miracles! I was able to upload one picture of my wreaths. I guess I should be thrilled that it at least did one.

I wanted to get out and get the grass cut before the rain came in this afternoon. I guess I should have gone out and done it around 7:30 this morning. I finished cutting the front yard and it started sprinkling. I was nice and damp when I finished the yard. I got out the weed eater and took care of that and then blew off the driveway and back porch. Aren't I a good little woman?

Of course I was starving when I finished. So I warmed me up some lunch and checked for updated blogs. Like every blogger, right? I needed to vacumm so I got out the hose and hooked it up. How do we get this much dirt in the house? Tell me. We usually leave our shoes in the laundry room. Weezie doesn't even like to be outside so I can't imagine that she tracks in that much. I just vacummed a couple of days ago. Anyway, while I was vacumming, I noticed it was getting dark outside. When I finished downstairs, I turned off the vacumm and heard thunder. The rain was coming down like crazy and the wind was blowing. I took the hose upstairs to vacumm and when I got to the top of the stairs I could see the wind blowing rain through the open windows. UGH! There was water all over the floor and the curtains were dripping wet. So even though I had not planned to do it, my upstairs wood floors got a wet mopping or rather toweling today.

That's about all that is up here. I will talk to you tomorrow. Tootles!

I'm off to cut the grass......

Hey Yall! Gosh it was a beautiful day here. The temperature was great and the wind wasn't blowing too hard. We had a few dark clouds, but no rain. I definitely didn't want to work inside even though I have a nice long list of things I need to do. I would much rather stay outside and work in the yard. I wanted to get a couple of new plants for the yard to fill in the empty spaces and was just waiting till the spike plants came into the nurseries. Or Home Depot. Or Lowes. Or Walmart. Today, it was Home Depot. The spike plants were in so I got 3, plus a pot of marigolds, and a white geranium. I also got my paint to do my table and a couple of other projects.

When I got back home, Julianne was there. Her new name is Cupcake Queen 'cause she loooooves to make cupcakes. Not just plain cupcakes..........oh no. Fancy, smancy cupcakes! Unfortunately for her dad and me, she makes them for her co-workers and only gives us a couple. I guess maybe it is a good thing she doesn't make them for us. It might make me a big old cupcake.

I planted my flowers. Then I decided to put them in some white planters that I had. They had been over the garage since we moved. I am sure the movers probably dumped the pot out of it and loaded it in the van. They were filthy. So I got a bowl of water, soap and bleach and proceeded to clean it up. They looked much better after I finished.

When I started cleaning up my mess, I decided to wash off the back deck. I had spilled some potting soil and it looked pretty bad. I just used the sprayer with the hose and it looked like it had just had a bath. Something that I was ready for by that time. However, it was just about time for Dick to come home so I decided to wait till after I warmed up his dinner. Then I took off for my bath. I always bathe in the mornings, but it felt good to get one at night.

Chris called this afternoon to tell me that he had switched on his air conditioner and it had worked! Well, we are still having the air people come and check it out. I know he is much cooler tonight!

I am off to bed.....I will talk to you later! Tootles!

Hey Yall! Yep, two days in a row........you're not seeing things!

I managed to sleep till 9:00 this morning because we had the windows closed and I wasn't woken up by the gold course lawn mowers or the golfers. One or the other usually wakes me up. The golfers have been out full force this week. I think they must have improved over last year because we haven't found as many balls in the yard.

I planted my 4 tomato plants this afternoon. Hopefully we will get a bumper crop this year. I didn't plant the bell peppers and banana peppers like last time. I am just concentrating on the 'maters.

Dick and I are going out to dinner with a man and his wife that he is interviewing for a position at the mill. Hopefully they will be easy to talk to because this is not always a lot of fun for me even if it does come with a free meal out. I am sure it will be fine.

Chris is still without air conditioning. I called the home warranty people and they should be out tomorrow to check it out. I know he will be glad to have it fixed.

I guess I need to go shower and dress. Talk to you later! Tootles!