Daisy Cottage

Weekend

I hope you have yourself a dreamy weekend filled with sweet fragrances and joyful little things that make your heart sing.  Maybe even have an adventure or two.

 

Because you deserve it.

 

 

Back soon.

Love,

Kim

Mirror Time

In the morning ...

Me: "Kevin, I found more mirrors for the living room!  Would you mind painting them for me?  You do a MUCH better job than I do.  I WISH that I could spray paint like YOU."

Him: "I guess.  Do we have any paint?" 

Me:  "No.  Would you mind picking up a couple of cans when you go to Lowes?"

 

Him:  "Oh sure."

Me:  "Sure?  Does that mean sure you will or sure you mind?"

No answer.

Oh the poor man.  He has had to endure years and years and years of this.

And of course he painted them for me.  And of course he did a brilliant job.  He is the BEST painter ever.

That afternoon ...

Him: "Your mirrors are done.  Do you want me to put them on the kitchen counter?"

Me: "Would you mind holding them up on the wall for me?  I want to do a new arrangement with all of the mirrors and that would make it easier if I could step back and look. And if you could go ahead and hang them for me that would be great too."

 

Him: "Uh, I guess."

Me:  "You guess?"

No answer.

Me:  "I'll get my hammer."

So I get my own little red tool box out of the stair closet and Kevin holds each mirror up on the living room wall while I tell him a little more to the right or up and down or just a smidge to the left and lower lower lower please.  And the whole time he is wanting to cringe over all of the previous little holes that are now being exposed that I had covered up the LAST time that I moved the mirrors around. And I hear muttered rumblings of how the whole wall now needs to be repainted.

Well thank goodness I know a good painter, right?

;-) 

And while I have him helping me, I decide on a nice symmetrical pattern.  A bigger mirror for the left side - a bigger mirror for the right.  The little ones all in a row. Yes that should do it! My meticulous husband measures and makes sure that each one is hung properly and evenly spaced. 

Mission accomplished.

Him:  "Looks good?"

Me:  "They look great!  Thank you for your help."

Him:  "You're welcome.  So I'm done?"

Me:  "Yes, I'll clean up."

He steps back and says, "It does look really good.  I like it.  Very nice.  You did a good job."

The poor man is released to go kick back in his beloved crooked leather chair and watch something on TV.

And as I stepped back to admire my new mirror arrangement, I realized something.

I hated it.

Yuk.  Too symmetrical.  Too perfect. 

So I wait until he goes outside to work on his boat and I take my hammer and completely redo the design. I hammered away - bending nails and chipping plaster.  And as usual, I didn't measure and some are a tad too close together. And also as usual, I managed to create more little holes that now need to be patched.

But I love it now.

And of course me being me I have to take more pictures than are necessary to show YOU.  Please ignore the smudges on the mirrors and the holes on the wall ...

Yep.  Now I'm happy!

Hours later hubby enters the room.

Him:  "What happened?????  You moved all of them?"

Me:  "I did!  Isn't it better?  See how they flow kind of willy-nilly and it is more interesting to the eye? Fun, right? Quirky, yes?  And look - I have room for more!  Isn't that awesome?"

No answer.

And my husband walks away.

Me:  "Kevin?  Kevin?"

Sigh.

 

 

He'll be back.

;-)

Kim

 
 

 

Porch Eye View

Some of you asked to see more of the laundry porch. 

Anything for YOU.

;-)

And the tour will only take a minute as you will see!

If you step up here ...

 

And turn to the left, you will see closet doors that conceal our stacked washer and dryer ...

The closet doors are discolored and have seen their better days.  I think I'd like to replace the doors with curtains.  What do you think?  Something in a fun and colorful print?  My sister and I painted the porch ceiling blue and the porch deck brown one night, soon after my family moved in. Now that was a Lucy & Ethel night for sure.  You don't want to know!   ;-) 

And that is all there really is to the laundry porch! The lower level has the furniture and the upper level has the closet with the washer and dryer.  The porch is off of the ground and my view is of the courtyard pergola and my neighbors' houses.  The morning sun flirts with the porch beautifully and I love being out here at this time of the day. 

Yes, even while I am doing laundry.

:-)

See?  That's morning sun.  Ahhhhhhh.

 

Here it comes - dancing across the porch floor ...

And if YOU were my neighbor, I would be standing here and waving hi to you too.  Although I can be a very scary sight.  Believe me.

This is what the birds and the squirrels and the neighbors see ...

And that concludes our little laundry porch tour.

Thank you and please come again.

  
 
;-)

Kim

Cheesecake For You!

Thank you SOOOOOOOOO MUCH for your sweet birthday wishes for Shannon!  You all made a special day even MORE special for her.

And me.

Thank you!

Although she is feeling a wee bit tired from all of her celebrating and could hardly keep her eyes open for me to take this photo ...

I can share that it is a happy tired for my birthday girl!  She loved turning 21.  And my other girl is very happy too that Shannon isn't too old now to hold her on her lap.

And if Maggie is happy, well then EVERYBODY is happy.

;-)

I saved a piece of birthday cheese cake just for you too. 

 

I use this recipe.  It is really easy and because the graham cracker crust is my favorite part of cheesecake, I double those ingredients. 

Yum!

Do you like your cheesecake plain, as it is often described in restaurants when not topped with something fruity or saucy?

I like it plain. 

But I really do NOT like the word "plain."  It is, oh I don't know - plain.  I think it might be my least favorite adjective.  I mean honestly, what IS plain?  Plain can be subjective. Plain can be beautiful.  Plain can be just perfect.

Like this cheesecake.

It is rich, moist and delicious.  Absolutely delicious.

Did I mention that it was delicious?

 

D E L I C I O U S.

 

This is a great recipe that you can count on.   It makes a classic cheesecake.

 

 

So please help yourself to this delicious and so-not-plain cheesecake and thank you for being a part of our family! Because you really and truly are.

Shannon is taking a little nap and Maggie - well guess whose lap she is in now?

 

Love,

Kim

 

I Was There

 

On a dark humid Florida night, I gave birth to a beautiful baby girl.

 

It was May 23, 1989. 

 

And from the second that she took her very first breath, I have been there.

 

 

That was all that I ever wanted from the moment that she was born.

 

 

I wanted to be there for her firsts and for her lasts.  I wanted to be there when she needed me and I wanted to be there even when she didn't.

I remember having a sense of urgency when she was born.  Please God, I prayed.  Please just let me be there.  Let me be there for her.  Please don't let me miss anything. 

 

 

Please just let me see her grow up.

 

 

And He did.

 

And she did.

 

 

 

And I am so thankful.  I am so thankful for every single day that I have been this child's mother.  I am so thankful that I was there to put on her Band-Aids and stroke her hair.  I am so thankful to have held her little girl hand and I am so thankful to now know her big girl heart. Through the good and the bad and the happy and the sad - my heart overflows with joy that I was there.

 

And as she whirled and twirled through her childhood and blossomed into a young woman right before my eyes - I was there.  And as she filled our home not only with the melody of her sweet music, but also with the strong spirited melody of her soul -  I was there.

 

Yes, I was there.

 

 

Thank you God.

 

My baby girl.  My dream come true too.  Look at you.  

 

 

 

 

You are now 21 years old.

 

Go forth and live your life.

But most importantly - LOVE YOUR LIFE.

Dream and do and then do and dream.  And remember to do this over and over again.

 

And please know that wherever we may roam or wherever we may be, I will forever and ever be your Mommy.

 

In my heart you will always be home.

 

 

Happy Birthday Shannon Leigh!

 

 

I love you,

Mom 

*Photos taken of Shannon are courtesy of photographer Jeffrey Holmes.  You may visit his site and see more of his wonderful work here. Thank you very much Jeff for capturing Shannon so beautifully!