Price MaisondepaxRods RestorationWooden Curtain RodsHanging Curtain RodsFarm House Curtain RodsDiy Curtain BracketsIkea Curtain RodsPvc Pipe Curtain RodFarm House CurtainsForwardThese DIY Curtain Rods that are Restoration Hardware Inspired are the PERFECT Farmhouse Accent for any window! Rachel from Maison de Pax will show you how you can make these for your very own!Washing the upstairs bathroom window, including the outside, became a very big chore this summer. The window is very high above the ground. Today I'm doing a happy dance.   Since my husband is a jack-of-all-trades, I asked him to create a little patio area in our backyard, complete with a small fountain.  See how wonderful it is to have such imagination as well as a versatile husband?  I tell my ideas and my husband puts them into reality. What a great arrangement. Anyway, there came a moment of discouragement when he said bricks were far too expensive to buy. I would have to settle for gravel, instead. 

A call to Restore, a big recycling store, the proceeds of which benefit Habitat for Humanity, revealed they had bricks!  Guess how much they were?  Now that's a bargain and a half. Three or four trips later, in the trusty old 12 year old hatchback car, my wonderful husband delivered a big, gigantic pile of bricks, ready to be transformed into a beautiful mini-patio.28mm curtain pole joining piece First, a huge pile of leaves from last fall had to be raked and bagged. target circo sea life shower curtainMy husband enlisted the help of a friend to do this wretched task.curtains and blinds gerrards cross (After the old "mountain" of leaves disappeared, this is what the project looked like:)inspire ikat spot lined ring top curtains

After clearning the ground, at last, he measured the brick area using geometry! He put a stick in the middle of the area and attaches string.  Then, somehow, he got a measurement of how the bricks should be laid out in perfect symmetry. Now if you think this explanation borders on ignorance, you are absolutely right. Never, ever has any geometric reasoning made sense to me. laura ashley curtains seasprayThe most important thing is it worked for the patio!ikea lill net curtains He started laying out the bricks.  eclipse thermaweave curtainsWhen he came to an area that needed the bricks to be rounded, he chiseled into the regular brick and voila! , a rounded piece evolved. Can you believe that in one day, yes, one day, he laid out the entire patio?

The next day, my husband, the brick layer,  covered everything with cement for grouting. (Wheelbarrow plus buckets of cement and Honey Cat supervising water drips from the hose):Sloppy grouting gets applied): By the end of the second day, my husband completed the project.  Then he planted white and red impatiens near the patio.  Now, we will have to be on the lookout for a fountain and maybe even a little bench or lounge chair or two. I love looking out the back door and seeing the mini-brick patio. The whole project is a shining example of "where there's a will, there's a way."  Talk about a metamorphosis!  A former pile of rotting leaves has been transformed into a very sweet brick mini-patio. If there were such a thing, I'd submit my huband 's name for the "brick mason" of the year award. Now hop on over to Between Naps on the Porch to see other metamorphosis projects by simply clicking  on Susan's button in the sidebar. DID YOU HAVE SPECIAL PROJECT AT YOUR HOUSE THIS SUMMER?

It's fun to think of different menus as well as table settings. I love to make everything look lovely, right down to colorful, different designed napkins and matching floral arrangements.  Some weeks it's kept fairly simple; other weeks crystal glasses and more elegant serving dishes are pulled out. Want to see a little birdie vignette on a triple mirrored shelving unit in an upstairs bathroom? The second and third shelves hold a colorful paperweight collection.  Placing the paperweights on mirrored surfaces doubles their appeal. It's fun to create little scenes such as this in one's home.  With birdies in the picture, it's truly one way to make a "home tweet home." Raspberries need nothing to make them taste better.  They don't need whipped cream or tons of sugar.  When popped into one's mouth, the burst of sweet and tart flavor delights the tongue and taste buds. Raspberries, for me, are true simple pleasures. All through my childhood, my father grew raspberries on bushes behind the garage in our backyard. 

He loved going out and picking them for us kids. Even when the juice stained his fingers and the vines pricked him, it didn't matter a bit to him. What mattered was giving a treat to his five daughters. On rare occasion, my car drives by the house where we grew up. Usually, I prefer to take another route rather than dredge up all the old memories.  My mom and dad have both gone to the other side of life and that  house is too filled with memories of them.  It makes me sad to see it. By one day recently,  I drove by. All the raspberry bushes are gone now, too, as well as the garage.  In the supermarket, when I'm in the fruit section,  raspberries always come to mind.  I'll pick up the half pint package, look at the price, gasp with horror, and then put it into my shopping cart anyway. "Daddy would approve," I tell myself. It's probably because along with the luscious taste of that first berry, a lifetime of memories come flooding back.Raspberries, to me, are among life's simple pleasures.

Today's  Simple Pleasures Party is hosted by Dayle at This and That. /    and read all about other peoples' ideas of what constitutes a simple pleasure! Thanks for hosting, Dayle. We should never forget the simple pleasures in our daily lives. Whenever I see something special or experience a happy occasion, my first inclination is to share it on my blog so I hope you enjoy these random  photographic wedding remembrances. Thank you to Susan for asking me to write a guest posting for “Writing Straight from the Heart.” I truly appreciate the opportunity and hope that I don’t disappoint all her devoted followers! First, let me tell you a little bit about my work in general. I create lovely cut paper collages using a wonderful palette of papers in a myriad of colors, textures, and patterns. I am interested in presenting my viewer with images that both celebrate our unique diversity and unite us in our humanity. I approach each new subject as an exciting opportunity to unite these beautiful colors, patterns and textures with my own sense of wonder at the world, creating a meaningful piece of art that will delight and inspire my audience.

For this particular collage, entitled “The Littlest Birds Have the Bravest Hearts,” I wanted to celebrate the idea that those who seem to be the weakest are actually the ones who, when called upon to do so, are able to make the bravest choices, beat the steepest odds, and overcome the greatest hardships. However, I am always inspired by those beings among us, be they humans, animals, or even the odd flower blooming and growing in a sidewalk crack, that are able to survive and even thrive in the face of adversity. In short, I believe that, because of what is often required of them, the “Littlest Birds” really do have the bravest hearts. NOTE FROM SUSAN:  Many thanks, Noelle, for being today's guest blogger.  Strolling through the Red Lion Inn Gift Shop in West Stockbridge, Massachusetts, I spied the most adorable note cards. My favorite depicted the above colorful bird. The cards came in different sizes and I selected a smaller version. Once home, I put it on a little gold easel near three birds from my collection.