I started a really pretty doily, well I'm not used to using bedspread thread/yarn & so hard to get used to crocheting so small & have rarely used treble/triple crochet I prefer double crochet so I'm not getting much done. I'm seriously thinking about beading around some spoons for plant pokes. 1 reason is quicker & more cheerful & then I can keep the pink, red ,salmon & white flowering plants straight. I get moody about this time every year as I have more headaches from humidity & rain so that dampens creative juices but as weather improves & fog & rain go away I get back into doing crafts & GJ. I'm repainting a cast iron duck that needs touching up mostly but back was starting to get little rust so worked on it today. Have couple of lovebirds on a plaque that the wooden stake on back broke off, have to drill a couple of holes in new stake & attach it to back of it & give it couple of coats of clear sealer to keep it looking good. Went out to plant 4 -6 pks of plants today & it is just too wet, they will just croak so have to wait few days as another storm coming in. Used to have a name for these slumps- drolldrums I think??? This to shall pass(I hope)Glad you are healing nicely from your hip surgery. I sure did a stupid thing Mar12, knocked my 14 oz cup of tea into my hip, managed to grab it with other hand but 1/4 cup (about) burned my hip really good, drenched a thick washcloth with cold water & crushed 8 ice cubes in ziploc bag to put behind that as I could feel the washcloth really getting hot. Looked, after it stopping hurting so much an hour later & all the skin came off on the washcloth. Well, ER's out here are a mess so grabbed a tube of 99cent Dr. Sheffield's Diaper cream zinc oxide based made in USA(use on my dad's feet) & put all over it,once covered all of it pain stopped- I had tried triple antibiotic cream ,it wouldn't stay on. So fast forward to today & I can get clothes on & the thing is healed & just red,once swelling went down healed fast with the zinc. None of 3 brands of non-stick large pads worked, when you took them off any healing that had been going on ended up on pad. So air & zinc work! Not what books say that's for sure. Did I craft,not much, I read to get my mind off of it & I've cleaned out quite a few old Reader's Digests & other magazines I was "always going to get to" so at least something is getting done! Last year at this time I cleaned all upper cabinets in kitchen(air in house warmer by the ceiling so I got lovely cleaned cabinets then. Can you clean out 1 drawer at a time. My 89 yr old mom is sitting on a chair & pulling out drawers from her dresser & cleaning 1 a day. I thought that was good idea as she is missing hip joint altogether(woman texting as she was driving out of grocery parking lot slammed into mom's driver's side as she was going in) so can't take the drawer all the way out & set it on bed like she used to. So if your bedroom, kitchen drawers or craft room drawers need help might be good time to do it. 1 drawer takes 30 minutes to over 1 hr to clean out & replace all the items(takes longer if you find letters or memories etc) Just do little things, they add up & soon you will get spring fever & get back to doing again. How is your weather, it may be getting to you too!Jan

Color could fix all the ills you've listed -- fer sure. The actual building is not that bad, in fact it could be kind of fun. It's on the beach and light yellow might not be your only color option. The cost of paint isn't based on color; a predictable light yellow will cost the same as something a lot more fun. Vinyl siding can absolutely be painted. Good news is that yours is blue so you have more options. If you paint vinyl siding you are restricted to using a paint color that is exactly equal or less than the current color's LRV. Light Reflectance Value. Manufacturers of exterior products like garage doors, entry doors, shutters, decorative elements will list in their documentation with the product the LRV specifications. Use a paint color that pushes that LRV spec and you lose all warranties. So painting vinyl does come with some rules, but like most things in color there is a way to bend the rule. Sherwin Williams has a product specifically for painting vinyl siding and the way the color is crafted gives you a broader range of color choices. It's called VinylSafe and it allows you to paint darker colors on vinyl siding without worrying about warping or buckling. Can only get VinylSafe colors mixed in exterior bases, not interior. The stucco probably had color mixed in. That's a good thing but it's not a forever thing. Even stucco with the color mixed in eventually will need attention, not sure I'd call it maintainence free. If it's a matter of making the facade appealing to renters so you get revenue, then the convenience of built-in stucco color isn't really doing much for ya. Just 'cuz you don't have to paint it doesn't mean people want to live it. Painting that brick is a really good idea, IMO. So, yeah, the disjointed materials and the disparate color scheme is a problem. But painting everything the same light yellow isn't necessarily the right solution --- or maybe I should say the most *inviting* solution you could come up with to give it more curb appeal. Not sure if you were thinking along the lines of painting everything light yellow or not. I do think you have some significant color design opportunities.

How lovely for all of you that you live so near each other. When we were raising our oldest kids, (we have six - the four "big kids" and two "little girls" - Hah! We still call them that, though they are 25 and 28 years old!) we lived 5 minutes from my parents, and I knew how lucky we were. Papa was retired, so he would pop in any old time of day and I could shower, or run to the store, or just veg for a little while. It was wonderful. Papa and Gram took our big kids everywhere, exposed them to things they wouldn't otherwise have been exposed to - like professional baseball games, the neighborhoods in Chicago they grew up in, oddball museums, ethnic restaurants. This past Thanksgiving, the big kids were reminiscing about those days, how much they loved going places with Papa and Gram. Papa died when our little girls were only 2 and 5, so they didn't get the full benefit of having two wonderful grandparents. Then, we moved so Hub didn't have to commute a hundred miles a day anymore, leaving my poor mom alone in the city they raised my brothers and me in. I felt awful about that, but Mom was still young and we saw a great deal of her. She is still a wonderful grandmother, it's just that she is not young anymore. Our 6 yo gdtr lives 2 hours away, another 6 yo gdtr and her 2 yo brother live 5 1/2 hours away. The closest kids are an hour away, and lucky for me, I'll soon get to resume babysitting those three one day a week while their mommy keeps her hand in her speech pathology practice. I'll have my hands full - the oldest will be 5 in Feb., her little brother is 2 1/2, and their baby sister was 1 the day after Christmas. I haven't knitted in years - not sure why I stopped - but two of my dtrs do. They've done some beautiful work. I like cross stitching or embroidering while we're watching TV - or doing a crossword puzzle. I can rarely just sit still and watch TV, just like my mom. Sherry

Here are a couple of ideas I used from my wedding, also an outdoor and also a second: 1. Small canning jars w/ unscented white candles in them (from Ebay of course, the candles, the canning jars you can get anywhere). Hung from every possible spot w/ thin craft wire. Absolutely magical after the sun went down and so easy to make. 2. Lots and lots of fresh flowers. I stuck w/ roses, from white to ivory to pink. I was lucky enough to have a cousin who could arrange them, but I bought most of them from the grocery store and because they were cheaper, I could afford to have LOTS more. The impact of so many fresh flowers was beautiful. 3. We had a tent, which my dear husband strung w/ grapevine. We then placed lots of white christmas lights throughout and then of course the hanging lanterns. Since it's nautical, perhaps you could use net? Not sure, but again, the effect was really stunning and very easy (though time consuming) and inexpensive. 4. My focus was to emphasize the natural and to avoid the unnatural at all costs, since that's my personality. In such a lovely setting, sounds like that might work for you as well. 5. We bought sparklers and the kids loved them. Used tiki torches at the end, which was fun. 6. Cake was laden w/ real, fresh fruit and it was lemon w/ cream cheese icing. No ice cream, but there was raspberry sorbet. Not a drop left of any of it. 7. We didn't do the surprise bride thing. We greeted our guests before hand and had an hors' doevres (spel?) table w/ cheese, fruit, and fresh lemonade and iced tea. None of that was left, either! 8. Finally, my dear husband and I walked up the "aisle" together, after our parents and my sister and his best friend. This, I think, was the best part--it symbolized our equal relationship, our adult status and it just felt really powerful all at the same time. 9. Oh, in Pennsylvania, at least, you can marry yourselves. It's based on the belief that the Quakers had that noone stood between you and God. As long as the marriage is witnessed, you don't need a preacher. We had a friend conduct the ceremony, but we allowed the "marrying" to happen in a moment of silence. This was also very, very powerful and quite spiritual, since we were so closely connected to out-of-doors. 10. Oh, and one more thing, we had a string quartet from the local college and it made ALL the difference in the world. If that's not possible, think about having someone play guitar or something. I read in a Martha book that live music makes the difference and it does. Skimp on something else, but go for the live music if you can. And involve the audience. They loved the hymn singing, etc. 11.Oh, sorry, one more thing. Our wedding came at a very difficult time. My brother had died just a few months earlier. We made a point of honoring all of those in our families who were there with us in spirit, but not in person. This did not take away from the joy, only made it more poignant and moving. It is reality, with us "mature" brides, that some of our family members may no longer be present. We had a small table w/ their pictures on it under the heirloom apple tree that served as our altar. That we decorated w/ just a basket filled w/ aforementioned roses and just a bit of tulle to hide the rope that held it in the tree. Enjoy the process. It's time consuming, but fun and don't let anyone, I mean anyone, MIL, DM, SIL, anyone, tell you that it should be different. This is your one (or in our case, two) time in your life when you can do it how you want it.