Happy Friday Ya'll

Happy Friday ya'll!!!

I sent so much time alone during the months of April and May so I was so super happy when I finally got to see my parents and sister and brother and nieces and nephews!

It was great to have time at home alone but I could not stop hugging once I started.

Here are the pictures from that first weekend I got to see everyone at my parents house!

Here is Ryan with his fish. The kids fished A LOT.

We did a lot of pontoon riding also...

A lot of campfire watching...which included smores of course...

Tubing action...

Family floating...

Lots of paddleboard flipping fun...

And balancing...

And of course, lots more snuggle time wit these cuties...Nermie does not think he is too big to fit in that cube!! HA HA

I hope everyone has a fantastic day!!! HUGS to you all!

Have a great week!

What did you do with family once you could be together again? Are you back seeing friends and family?

Beach House Fresh Condo

Happy Thursday everyone!!!

One of my very favorite quarantine projects was painting my condo. it had not been painted in 15 years and it needed done so desperatly.

Quarantine gave me to time and excuse to paint...there was LITERALLY nothing else to do! HA

Here are the pictures I took....

Here is the color difference after edging. I chose "Beach House" by Baer as my color.

It is so nice and clean and fresh now! I am so happy I did it!

Remember my cat that was so scared she would not leave under the bed? Well, after months of using Jackson Galaxy's Stress Reliever and Grouch sprays, Grace is finally venturing out with the other cats.

This is her on the top of the cat tree with Nermie below...

And this is Grace and her sister Faith sitting at the back door getting fresh air. See how large she is??? That is from months of hiding under a bed. She is starting to lose that weight quickly now that she is movng around.  The only cat she does not hang out with is Trouble...they are NOT friends but I do not know why...

I also hing this awesome hammock swing on my porch!! I love sitting out here!!! It is hard for me to want to come in. It is sooo comfy!

I got a little update from work...it looks like I may be done in September. Then the job hunt begins...yippee.

I hope you are all well and so many HUGS to you all!!!!

That Time I Stuck A New Bathroom Floor

I spent a lot of quarantine time doing small home projects.  

My favorite was my bathroom floor and it was so simple!

I had old, dark vinyl floor tiles in my bathroom and I just did not like how they looked anymore. I thought about doing Pergo, like I have in the rest of my condo, but I found this awesome product instead. My bathroom floor is not level so Pergo would be super difficult and this was super easy!

It only took like 2 hours for the whole thing!!

Here is what I bought at Home Depot... one box was about $30 and that was all I needed for my small bathroom. 

Here is the before picture. See the dark, dark floor?? It looked awful next to my new wood floors in the hallway. So i removed the quarter round the whole way around the floor and started peeling and sticking.

Here is the first new plank on the floor!!!

These "planks" are just peel and stick and were sooo simple!!

Here is the completed floor....

This is a close-up of the hardest part. I had to cut around the sink and toilet and that was pretty easy too after a little practice. 

Another tricky piece to cut!

All in all, it was about two hours to lay the whole thing! Sooo  easy and I LOVE how it turned out.

Here is the side by side comparison...

I can not wait to show you all of the other little projects I did. 

At least something good came out of quarantine.

Oh, and PS - I went to dinner for the first time at a restaurant with friends last night. It was great! I loved seeing them. We ate on the porch at Walnut Grille and it was fantastic to be out and about town again!!

I hope everyone as an amazing weekend!!! HUGS to you all!

Random Quarantine Pictures

Happiest of Wednesdays to you all!

Enjoy heading over the hump to Friday today!!!

This is going to be a totally random post of pictures from quarantine. 

I think I will be catching up on posts for months to come.

I spent a TON of time snuggling with my cuties these past few months.

I saw this on Instagram and it is so fitting!!! I have survived so many things in my life and I could totally relate to this post! HA!

More snuggle time...kitty butts on your cold feet are the best!!!

Even more butts HA!!!

One of the cats started doing this every time I left the house. I have no idea which one but I should have tried to turn on the camera and catch him/her. Its all my slippers that I have in a basket at my door and they lay them out down the hallway. No clue what this means! HA!!

This is a photo from the first weekend we saw my parents. My sister and I were in Florida with them when the quarantine hit but when we all got home we all stayed away for about a month and then started going up on the weekend to visit but not staying overnight. We did not start hugging them or staying over the weekend until June. Right or wrong; at this point I think we are just over it.

The kids were so happy to be outside fishing!

I think my Dad (Poppy) was too!

You can see Mom was!!

I warned my nieces and nephews of this. Once we were allowed to hug it was a struggle to let go!

My Dad volunteered to cut my nephews hair - he did a great job. There were no other takers....HA!

The cats had a ton of catnip parties!!

My and my parents went over to my Aunts house to stain her deck. My Mom power-washed the weekend before and then we spent the day staining it. This is the deck before staining but after power-washing. Little note here - my dad built this deck for her. He is a retired engineer and his building skills are amazing!!

That's Dad!!!! Left side of the picture is after stain...

There's Mom! She is an unbelievable worker at 76!!! Both of my parents have stayed super active and that is why they are so healthy now. Fingers crossed they will be with us for many more years!!!!

More snuggles...

We also played a lot of games at my parents house! LOL! So much family bonding fun! That is my little sister in the lovely hat! HA

And lastly, big cat in little house! LOL!! HA!!!

Hugs to everyone!!! Happy Wednesday!!!

Grandma Wells' Homemade Bread

Happy Friday everyone!!!

So happy to have made it to the weekend!

I will be heading out tomorrow to spend the weekend with my parents (and sister and her kids) on their lake!! 

On of my very favorite things I did over quarantine was jump on the baking train.

My Grandma Wells used to bake us homemade bread and we looked forward to it every time we went to her house!

My father watched her bake it one time and wrote down the recipe. After she passed away a few years ago, my father started baking the homemade bread and it is perfect and tastes exactly like hers.

So, over quarantine I decided it was a good time to try baking it myself. We do it like my Grandma Wells did it; the old fashioned manual way - no bread baking machine needed.

So, before the baking part - let's meet my beautiful Grandma Wells!! She was always laughing and joking and was soo loving and sweet!!

This is her at a family picnic in the 80's...

And this is her with her sisters. She is on your left and the my Aunt Martha was in the middle and Aunt Laura on your right.  They are all departed but sooo very missed everyday!

So, here is the Homemade Bread recipe. My Grandmother said she learned how to make it from her mother and she came to America from Switzerland so I am guessing this is how the Swiss make bread. Sorry for my crappy writing. If you decide to try this recipe and have any questions because of my terrible writing; just email me and I will clarify it.

This is the first time I have tried to make bread so it was neat watching the yeast get all foamy...here I am ready to go with my foamy yeast and dough hook on the Kitchenaide (So I guess it was not all manual as I used the mixer) but my Grandmother did all the mixing and kneading by hand.

After the dough is all mixed; you put it in a bowl and cover it and let it rise until it doubles itself.

Then you cut the dough in half and put it into your baking pans and cover them and let them double again.

Then you bake it! Simple, right?!? It turned out sooo yummy!!! I made it a few times and shared with neighbors but then had to stop baking it as I was eating WAYYYY TOOO MUCH myself! HA

Thank you for the memories and recipes Grandma Wells! Every time I eat or smell her bread (no matter who bakes it) I am transported right back into her tiny kitchen that I remember so fondly from my childhood! It was packed with people, love and delicious food and hugs!!

I love you and miss you daily Grandma Wells!!!

Did you bake during the quarantine? Do you enjoy baking? Ever bake bread? Do you have a food or smell that reminds you of someone special in your life??

Hugs to you all!!!!!!! Have a great day!