Yes! I put the last rectangle of tiles up next to the backdoor wall this afternoon. I pieced it a lot because I want to send about 11 sheets of the tile back for a refund. That will be about a $200 refund. Boy, did I miscalculate how much I needed. I’ll have to call the seller this week to tell her I want to do this. I order 25 sheets and used 14. Hmmm…better wait to see how the tin work works before I send them back.
I then have to peel off the rest of the plastic that the tile fronts are stuck too and grout them all. Then I clean them off with a special solution and then seal them all with another solution. I saved about $400 doing this myself. : )
Sean will be helping me in the next few weeks stain the wood on the new windows. I have a lot on my platter!

We had steak on the grill tonight and it was the best we’ve have for a while. Not overcooked for one thing. Brian waited until the coals were ashy too. He’s sometimes too quick to throw the meat on the grill when the charcoal starter stuff hasn’t burnt off.
Brian added some more chicken wire fence so I could plant some green beans in the veggie garden. I also planted some delphiniums and already growing orange pinwheel zinnias. I separated some Lamb’s ears into a few plants and dug up some marigolds that were coming up in the iris garden from last year. It’s great to be resourceful! I also planted some fuchsia colored gaura near the pond.
Silly Cosmo was out on the back patio with Brian and me after dinner. He saw a bunny eating a discarded bagel and took off after it! He looked just like a panther, but he didn’t get the bunny, thank goodness.

Besides this house, an apartment near Philadelphia and a few dorm rooms, these are the only houses I lived in my entire life. The first one is the where my Mom still resides. You can see what it looks like a bit in the photo of her garden that I took a few days ago. The next place was in Fort Pierce, Florida. I don’t remember it at all. There was a canal in the back and one time my mom caught me half way up the link fence near it! Gee, funny I never tried rock climbing walls. And the last house was near where Brian grew up-I’d say 3-4 miles away and we didn’t meet formally until introduced at his cousin’s wedding to my brother. I am sure he frequented the same stores as we did and we must have seen each other some time as kids. It’s a small world after all.

Remember the photo of me in January at the sculpted hedge garden? Well this was taken back in about 1970 at the same location. That’s Don, Ken and me (about 10). : ) This is one of those fast fading polaroids.

I finally found some old photos and other things to scan at Mom’s on Thursday. This is the guest receipt for my grandparent’s honeymoon back in 1921. The stayed one night in Cape May, NJ and it cost all of $7.00! I asked mom is I could have this and she said I could only scan it. Wouldn’t it look neat framed with my Cape May piece?

We’ve had thunderstorms and downpours tonight and also part of the day. Sean and I got stuck in one on the way home from an awesome (and expensive) garden center. We actually pulled into a neighborhood to wait it out a bit. The computer has been off and on all night, thus my late post. We also have some water in a part of our basement. That’s the first in a while.
I tiled to the last wall today and put a second coat of paint on the two walls I spackled. One looks better than the other as I used different spackling on each. Brian bought the spackling on the wall that looks too shiny to me.
All this tiling and cutting the tiles is doing a number on my hand. I have been waking up in the morning with 3 numb fingers now for a few days.
I hope to watch Memoirs of a Geisha tomorrow as Sean rented it especially for me.
Speaking of Sean, he just joined the YMCA for a few months. I went with him and it’s a nice faculty.

I call this my fairy garden. Last year I could not find my fairy birdbath, but you can see it was located this year! My glider needs to be on a platform as it sinks into the ground. You can see Gem Marigolds, cinnamon ferns (?), a somewhat wild rose, Baby’s breath, Pansies, Lobelia and Snapdragons. A few wild Violets are there too. The hanging basket has two kinds of begonias in it. This is really a gnome garden too, but they are all hiding behind the ferns and Baby’s breath. This is on the side of the house between the two bedroom windows. There are also plants along the house too-a white butterfly bush, white phlox, azalea, variegated hostas and a bush with lime green leaves.

If you turn right from the fairy garden, you will walk up to this area. It’s in a half circle under a Japanese maple tree. There are the few roses I have planted here (some are blooming now). Also you will see Dianthus which is so colorful and pretty. There are two adirondack chairs next to two holly bushes. This is mainly in the front yard.

Well…almost. That tiling is surely an interesting and somewhat challenging project so far. I got brave today and peeled off the backing of two of the installed 12 x 12s. Not all the tiles are sticking (not unusual) and I had to reglue them. The old 46 yr old adhesive is to blame. But out of all the 100+ in one sheet, a few not sticking isn’t all that bad. The first sheet had too much adhesive under it and I am scraping some of it away between the tiles with a knife so I have somewhere to put the grout next. The thing I am doing today is cutting my fingers on the glass shards left over when I snip the tiles. I did that three times already today! And I did the corner-like a contortionist (under the cabinet and sprawled on the countertop) getting the adhesive smooth in the corner section. I am a little worried about that area not sticking. At least I am on the next wall-it also has three outlets I have to work around which is also difficult.
Off to take some photos. : )

I finished this for Rachael tonight. I left a little of it bare, but she can certainly fill it in if she wishes. I just ran out of time and I’m not good at doing mini animals like Rachael is. Her dog and peacock were stitched over one and she did a beautiful job. I hope she likes this.
I look forward to getting Barbara’s next.