"Posh Porches" on a budget

I say you don't have to have a large home with a wrap-around porch or a cascading circular deck to have a comfortable area to read, write, or watch the stars.
In fact my apartment porch is six feet by 13 feet. A previous "carpenter" tenant made the corner plant stand out of solid oak...leftovers from some of his jobs which made it very quaint. He nailed an old horseshoe to the top and I take that as a good luck symbol because why not?
I took some of my inside.....outside.....
I read that online or on HGTV or maybe some makeover TV Show. It is a great idea and saves cash flow for the gas tank these days. I did purchase the double rocker for half price and the two pillows at Target on sale. The cushion is a yellow rug so to deal with rain. I picked up a piece of Blue outdoor carpet at Home Depot on sale and have since put pink peony's in the front flower boxes. I know the style is clean sweep/less is more, but not for me...I like warm and inviting. If I want clean sweep I can go volunteer at the hospital.....
I am still in need of a three story thin white Victorian birdhouse I have a special hook for. I do have the white antique bird cage not visible in the photo.


This is my shabby chic "Georgia Peach" porch from last year. Check out that cool chandelier! I draped pearls from the Christmas ornament box and some crystals from a broken candle holder around its base. I took an old over the commode shelf stand and painted it to match the rest....Peach! Found the table in my Dad's barn being used for a cat food table....so I borrowed it and what do you think? Painted it Peach! I had the Rocking Chair so I just had to paint it Peach too! Notice on the far end is a white tree with white lights in a white pot with white organza hiding the base or branches and of course the orange gazing ball to keep the bad spirits away. Last year I used a grey indoor outdoor carpet. And last but most important are the old world antique looking lace curtains afront the outside window. Those were the "needed touch" that set the atmosphere and won me the contest. It's a yearly contest for the best most creative porches at our complex....prize is $75.00. Fantastic 'cause I spend $150.00 to win that $75.00! The gain is sooo worth the loss.

Little Katy Grew Up and Graduated Today!

This is Katy G... She is a very special person who lived with my family and myself for over two years when she was eight, nine, and ten years old. Then she moved to Florida with friends and now today, May 23rd, 2008 she is Graduating from High School. Isn't she beautiful? Yes! I surely miss Miss KatyG. I hope to get to see her someday again because we will always think of her as part of our family. Always and forever KatyG............

and the best to you and better.............

Love DianeO

Bree's Golden Birthday

This is Briana....isn't she beautiful? Tomorrow is her Golden 17th Birthday and I am so proud of her, not because I am her Nana, but because she is a good person and I am glad she was born.

The Thorny Stem

I work out of my car much of the time so listening to Audio Books has replaced negative politics and talk radio. The last book was a true story by Richard Paul Evans called "Finding Noel." It wasn't negative but God I cried while driving around the city for four hours of that book. Well one hour of it anyway. Richard's Mother died. No one could find him therefore he missed her funeral. That was just the beginning of this four hour story. Richard decided to end his life after losing his scholarship, his job, his fiance of four years, and then his Mother, when a young girl came upon him in the middle of a snow storm. Yes, he fell in love with her. Her name was Macy and her Mother died when she was 6. The Father was a drug addict, therefore she was separated from her baby sister Noel, age 4. Noel was adopted by the prominent family and Macy got beat all the time at her new home. Macy ran away and a woman named Jo saved Macy from a shelter on Thanksgiving years later. (Sure, right, Thanksgiving!) Richard talked Macy into finding her long lost sister......after he was hired to play guitar at the Java Junction where she worked. To cut this short, Jo adopted Macy even tho she was an adult. Jo died of Cancer....Noel found Macy.....they had each been given a Christmas Ornament from their real Mother before she died, with Noel written on it. Noel accidentally broke hers while in college and found a letter from her real Mother inside telling her the truth that her adopted family refused to do. The girls figured their dead Mother made it break. I believe that. Richard found out his Father really wasn't his Father while visiting his Mother's grave. Stu, the stand in "Father" showed Richard a gravestone that belonged to his real Father, and the man his Mother loved all her life. He was killed in Vietnam and was an avid guitar player. (Go figure)
And that is why Stu never treated Richard very well. Ah Ha! Well all ended happy....Macy and Richard married and had three children. What's my point?

My dream in life was to help children who needed love by adopting them. I did that for a few years, in fact one of my precious girls graduates this month. People don't realize what these children go through, but I seem to understand.

At the end of Richard's book he said we "fixate on the blossoms.....when its really the thorny stem that keeps the blossom alive." It keeps the plant alive only to get a few blossoms in the course of its life. I say we are the same as the rose ... We have to learn to appreciate the everyday thorns because without them there is no life and would be no blossoms, ever.

photo from NatashaP at www.flickr.com

My Firstborn Son Lives in a Small Box, a Cell

By Judge Dennis Challeen

We want them to have self-worth

So we destroy their self-worthWe want them to be responsible

So we take away all responsibility

We want them to be positive and constructive

So we degrade them and make them useless

We want them to be trustworthy

So we put them where there is no trust

We want them to be non-violent

So we put them where violence is all around them

We want them to be kind and loving people

So we subject them to hatred and cruelty

We want them to quit being the tough guy

So we put them where the tough guy is respected

We want them to quit hanging around losers

So we put all the losers under one roof

We want them to quit exploiting us

So we put them where they exploit each other

We want them to take control of their lives, own problems and quit being a parasite...

So we make them totally dependant on us

Flowers for Who?

Today I came upon this beautiful Spring bouquet of flowers in a basket . It was sitting all by itself in front of a huge apartment complex on a busy street and near a bus stop. I continued doing my job in the area and then proceeded to my car for my camera. I just couldn't leave that lonely basket sitting there without offering it some sort of attention process. My thoughts were mostly who it belonged to? Was the person it belonged to inside and would he or she be delivering it via that bicycle parked nearby? Or was it intended for someones sweetheart but before he could deliver it, the phone call came saying Good bye, it's over. So he left the gift of love on the grass for all who passed to enjoy and take if they so desired. Or was it for someones Mother who was visiting on campus today? Maybe this was a hidden camera deal for UTube? Were their people watching from the 5th floor to see how long before it was taken by a passerby? Who were those flowers for? Why were they sitting in such an open lonely area? We'll never know, but they certainly added a bright "spot" to my day as well as many others I suspect. Maybe that is exactly who the flowers were for.

Lost in the Past, Speeding in the Present

Obviously I never took one whole picture of my "old '94 Lincoln." God I loved that car! It was not one of those long honkers rather the short sport continental with a blue cloth top.

Today I was driving on what we call our Beltline Highway that circles the city. Some people call it an Expressway, others give it a number like Highway 12 & 18. I was on my way to a job across town and leisurely maintaining 50 mph due to the "stupid" price of gas. I was daydreaming when I saw something familiar which brought me back from one dreamland and cast me into another one far from that Beltline Highway. My eyes fixated on it and my heart started to beat to a different time and set of drums. I felt an excitement growing within my mind and soul...so now we had my heart, mind, and now foot involved and growing heavier on the gas peddle. I did have some sort of sense left as I recall looking at the speed-o-meter! 55.......on to 60......my eyes still fixated on a time in life that was good and pleasurable. The kids were bustling about the house and the ten year dog hadn't died, nor had the nineteen or fifteen year old cats. There were two beautiful little Foster Daughters and hope for more. There was fun and activity and more life force happening. 65mph......I'm coming, I'm coming....wait for me, don't dissappear.....70....72.......75. I had to get it back, to catch it..... I changed lanes and set my blinker to head South away from my destination job site. Sense came back for a minute as I checked about for red and blue swirling lights anywhere in site. There was an adrenal rush like no coffee or Dew I ever had in a long time. I was calling in that life force and making it happen with my foot! I'm coming, wait....I need you, you are hope, you are a happy time, you are love and faith and a knowing there is more. You are safety and security...for God sakes wait for me...... I finally slowed enough to make the exit ramp and headed North and caught it!!! I had made it but there was no relief, only a couple tears because the realization and awakening all rushed back into my body, mind and soul. The car I had raced to catch and had put my life in danger over, and was not my "old '94 Lincoln." It was similar but not the same. Nothing is the same. The kids are all grown and the dog and both cats died, the Foster girls are in different States and dammit I really want my car back. Or at least a little replica of it for the "memory mantle." Time changes everything and for a few minutes today I got lost in the past, speeding in the present to find those fun youthful times again. A daydream? Yes, but they are good memories and that Lincoln is out there somewhere with a new engine and I want it! "What if" it had been my Lincoln, what was I planning to do if I "caught" up to it today? Make him sell it to me is what!! Good memories are worth whatever you can pay for them. Rather it be in the garage than on the mantle. Never-the-less it will always be in my heart, yes with the kids too. Racing after life dreams in reverse? Stop it!