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!

Hey Yall! I hope you all are having a good weekend. It has been cold and rainy here today. I have jeans, socks, and a sweatshirt on AND am wrapped up in a blanket. We really need the rain here. I have been watering everyday. I have enjoyed having a well so we don't have to pay for water. Just one of the perks of living in the Maine country.

Since I couldn't go outside and work, I decided to do a few things inside that I wanted to do. I finally got my grapevine wreaths from the basement and some silk flowers and made up some summer wreaths. I made a new one for the front door, one for the fence gate that opens to the golf course, and one for the side yard fence gate. They all turned out really good! I had found some wooden birds and hot glued them on. Very cute! I decided after a suggestion from Julianne, to go and take some pictures and post them to my blog and share them with you. So I take them and come right inside and transfer them to my 'puter and attempt to upload them to the blog. The pictures would not upload. What is up? It kept timing out. If anyone has a suggestion as to why this happening and what I can do, please let me know. Please! Help! Me!

Chris called a few minutes ago. The air conditioner in the condo is not working. He called earlier today to say that today was a hot day. Well of course it is. Air conditioners don't break on any other days. So I guess the heating and air people will be coming on Monday. Hopefully on Monday......

I found some old 5 foot shutters at a big yard sale last week. I originally bought four with the intention of making a folding screen. There were still 4 left there when I rode by on Friday, so I stopped and made them an offer and they took it. So now I have 8. Julianne said they would look cute as headboards for the twin beds. Yes they would and I may consider that. I really had my heart set on a screen. See, the lot beside our house without a house has recently been purchased and they told Dick they will probably begin building this summer. I wanted the screen to put at their side of our deck so we would have some privacy out there. We do eat out there occasionally and Dick and I go out and talk when he gets home and I just thought it would be good to have for that reason. Lots to think about!

Julianne got another scholarship today! It is a departmental scholarship and although it is not as big as the other, we appreciated every bit of it! Go girlfriend!!!!!

That is about all my news for now. I will talk to you later! Tootles!

Happy Birthday John & Elaine

Happy Birthday to two of my favorite people! I love yall!

Hey Yall! Frannycakes is a slacker. I just haven't had much to write about since I got back home. I don't know if I am just tired or if I just have so much to do, but it has definitely kept me from blogging. Hopefully, that is over now and I can resume with normal blogging. Whatever that is.....

Let's see......what has been happening? Well, we have some big news here! Julianne received a scholarship from the Pulp and Paper Foundation which covers her tuition at school. WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOO!!!!!! We are excited and proud and thrilled! Congratulations Ju Ju!

I have pretty much done my planting out in the yard. I am not planting as much as last year. I wasn't going to do any veg's but I think I may do a couple of tomato plants. I also want to get a couple of spike plants then I think I will be finished. I love working out in the yard. We have to enjoy it while we have it around here!

Our weather has been cool and cloudy and rainy this week. This weekend is supposed to be sunny and nice. I hope so. I can only take so much cloudy weather. It kind of depresses me and makes me want to curl up on Red Sofa.

I have a long list of spring cleaning that I need to do. However, I kind of like Maxine's theory......

Am I the last person on earth to catch on to Google Reader? Wow! This has cut my time on the computer substantially! If you read a lot of blogs like I do, you definitely need to check into it.

I need to go on to bed, so I will say goodnight but I will try to start again tomorrow.....maybe even with pictures, if blogger is feeling nice. Tootles!

Graduation AND Engagement Weekend Pictures!

North Carolina State Graduation Cake


Linley and Her Family


Julianne and Dick waiting for the Graduation to begin.


Chris and Frannycakes having fun with the camera!


Chris and Linley at Graduation.


Chris and Linley....aren't they cute?

The Ring

With This Ring I Promise.....

There is a song that I like that goes "With this ring I promise to always love you, always love you." Well, yesterday, May 9, Christopher presented Linley with an engagement ring and this promise. We are so happy for you and love you both!

Hey Yall! Well, it is almost midnight on Thursday and I am alone in the living room typing away on a Frannycakes post. I am feeling sad right now because my time here with my friends is coming to an end. I have had such a good time and enjoyed laughing more than I have in a long time. All of these things makes it hard to leave.

Friday will be fun visiting my Aunt Dot and cousins. I can't wait to see Mom and Dad and the whole gang from Jacksonville. Of course, I can't wait to see Chris on Monday night and visit with him and Linley and Maeby Shea! And Jamie and Lesley will be joining us during the weekend so we will have the whole family together. I wish I could spread all this out a little because it will be hard to take it all in during such a short period of time. But since I can't, I will just enjoy them all while I can.

I will talk to you later......

Where in the World is Frannycakes? Part 3

Hey Yall! Today is my last full day at Pawleys Island.....sniffle, sniffle. I have had a wonderful time and plan to not change that a bit until I leave!

Now for a recap of yesterday..... After several cups of coffee, we dressed and headed to a consignment shop here at Pawleys. They had some great furniture and some cute furniture and clothes. Next we headed to Georgetown and picked up Jeb and met John at the Ball and Cue. I had fried chicken, rice and gravy, squash casserole and lemon cake. And it was delish and did not disappoint in the grease department! Next we went to the caterer's house and talked wedding reception. That was alot of fun AND she had just moved into a new house and I couldn't listen to the reception plans for looking at the decorating and ideas I could take to my house. Next, we went to DeBordieu to pick up Ruth and then to the grocery store and then back to the beach house. We were pretty lazy the rest of the afternoon probably from the wonderful greasy lunch. Virginia and Ruth made Beaufort Stew for dinner. It also was DELISH! After everything was cleaned up and finished, we got on our pj's and got out the cards. These people like to put a little money on the table and I usually lose mine. I am not talking alot of money....25 cents per hand. The first game I lost all my quarters. The second game I won!

The other ladies are coming in today. I guess I will need to get some more quarters to lose. I can't wait to see what kind of food they bring! Cause they never disappoint!

Tomorrow I pick up my rental car and head to Georgia. It will be so nice to visit with Mom and Dad. It has been a year since I have been down and that is way too long. On the way down, I am stopping in Statesboro to visit my Aunt Dot. Hopefully I will be able to see my cousins too. I always have such a good time around them! I wish I lived closer to everyone. That has kind of become my theme song these days....

Well, I guess I need to go and get ready for lunch. Always anticipating that next meal! Talk to you later! Tootles!

Where in the World is Frannycakes? Part 2

Hey Yall! Greetings from Pawleys Island where we have the heat on! Can you believe it? And let me tell you, the heat feels good coming from the vents....real good! Sorry about not posting yesterday. We were very very busy. Scratch that. We were not busy. We did have things to do and people to see and food to eat and naps to take......Did you hear that? Naps to take? I took the most glorious nap yesterday. But I guess I will start at the beginning cause I know you are wanting to hear ALL the details. Okay, okay. Virginia and I accompanied Elaine to interview a caterer for Mary Ann's wedding. That was exciting. I remember the nervousness I experienced just talking to the people at the hotel where we were having Jamie and Lesley's rehearsal dinner. I can't imagine planning a wedding! But that was exciting and we meet with another caterer today. After our meeting we headed to check out a furniture store because Elaine was looking for a love seat for the beach house. After looking at the beeeeeeeautiful furniture, we headed to Steinmart because Frannycakes does not have a Steinmart in Maine and she loves Steinmart! Then it was time to EAT! We met Bethie at Pawleys Island and had a delicious lunch. Nothing better than eating good food with good friends!

Elaine had to tutor so she dropped Virginia and me off at the beach house. We had talked about laying out in the sun between the dunes cause it was just too dang cold to lay out on the beach. There is just something wrong about lathering up with sunscreen when the heater is on in the house. After getting my stomach full, all I could think about was wrapping up in a blanket and taking me a nap! And that is just what I did. And it was GLORIOUS!

For dinner, we had chicken enchiladas and as usual, we were delish. After dinner, my boyfriend John, who also happens to be Elaine's husband, herded up us and drove us to Brusters for ice cream. And it also was delish!!!!! Thank you John!

So what do we have planned for today? Well.....we have another appointment with a caterer and since we will be in Georgetown we are going to the Ball and Que for lunch. Yum Yum Yum. I do love a little food with my grease. Nothing like good country cooking! And after that? Well who knows. I will let you know later!

Friday, I head to St. Marys with a detour to Statesboro. Monday I head to Raleigh. I can't wait to take care of my Bo Bo. Then on Friday, Dick, Julianne, Jamie and Lesley arrive for the weekend celebration of Linley's graduation from North Carolina State University. I can't wait to see everyone!

I talked to Julianne yesterday and she wanted me to give her a shout out on my blog. So without further adieu......HEY Julianne!

I guess I will go get another cup of coffee and get ready for some serious chit chat. I will talk to you later! Tootles!

Where in the World is Frannycakes?

I finally touched down in God's Country around 5 yesterday afternoon! It looks kind of funny though. They have green down here.....green grass, green trees and this thing that I vaguely remember.....flowers!

Dick carried me down to Portland to catch the bus to Boston. Great way to go to Boston.....especially with gas prices and a husband who had a shut down that was starting Sunday. As it had been previously, my bus trip was wonderful with the exception that I was disappointed that we were watching "The Bee Movie" and I had half way watched it on our flight back from Italy. Notice how I threw that fact back at you!

I got a new phone for Mothers Day! It is a smart phone and appropriately titled that because you need to be smart to use it. If I could just get my email to work on it, I would feel alot more confident. I am not sure I can actually get calls because I have not heard it ring yet. The only way I know that I was getting a call was because I was holding it and looking at it trying to figure it out when it said I was getting a call. I will admit that despite some people thinking I should run back to Maine and RETURN that phone cause I am not smart that I have actually figured a couple of things out. So there! And I do have 30 days to return it. And I will be back before 30 days to do that after "Where in the World is Frannycakes?" is over.

We may be getting rain this afternoon and that will be fine. It is just so relaxing here and I am with my bud.........life is good!

I keep forgetting to report that our niece Maggie and her husband Ben are having a baby BOY!!!!!!! We are so excited for them and I know Vickie, the new grand momma, is ready to head to the states! Congratulations to the new family! He will be one lucky very loved little man!

I guess I need to go........relax! Talk to you later! Tootles!