Spring Break!

Does this little girl look bored to you???

Maddie is on Spring break.

And Maddie came to gram and papa's house because her mom had things to do.

In these pictures she is watching a movie while she waits for me to get out into the studio.

She knows that when we get out there she will be able to talk me out of some of my

'special stuff' and she will pack it home (much to her mother's dismay)

I think my two daughters...with daughters...blame me for all the extra clutter in

their houses.

WHO ME?

Isn't that what grandmothers are supposed to do?

Pawn off all the 'special stuff' they no longer want?

That's what my mom did, and her mother before her.

It's tradition I think!

This movie must be boring, because now she's almost asleep!

Can you see her through the door?

We did get some grape hyacinths dug and planted.

I had to scrape the snow back to find them.

And there they were...almost 2" tall under the snow.

I took advantage of the little bit of sun that was coming in today to

get some pictures of the living room.

I haven't shown many broad shots of my home on this blog

(probably because it's too much trouble clearing away my junk

and the stacks of magazines that I have around constantly

 to keep me sane through the Winter)....as I was saying, I don't take many

full room shots because I love focusing in on the little things in a

 home that make it what it is.

What makes a home a home to me are the personal things we choose to

keep around us. For me it is an old pot that belonged to Dale's grandmother.

The old books my mother collected for years and then passed on to me.

Or the iron garden angel I saved up to buy because at the time I bought it I needed it

to remind me of this promise 

"He shall give His angels charge over thee,

to keep thee in all thy ways.
 They shall bear thee up in their hands, lest thou dash thy foot against a stone"

 Psalms 91:11-12

Or little green shoots from a hyacinth bulb.

I know I keep saying this but...

I am craving Spring weather...and when it doesn't come to my outside world...

(it is snowing outside right now as I type this post) 

well,

 I just have to find a way to bring it into my inside world.

Just a few sprigs of anything will do!

As long as it is green.

And even better if it comes with a little pink attached.

These pretty tulips are from the market, not my garden.

It will be another month, maybe longer before my tulips bloom.

I know you will probably be shocked to find out I won two more awesome giveaways ; ) 

The first giveaway win was a French inspired surprise from Debbie-Texas Daisey

 from the beautiful blog

Glory Feathers, Star light, and Roses 

Debbie also has a beautiful garden blog Behind My Garden Gate.
That is how Debbie and I met. I love garden blogs, and found hers not long after

I started blogging myself.
Debbie takes me to garden centers in Texas that I will
never have the chance to visit in person, and she grows things
in her garden that I can't grow here.
 A trip to her garden is such a pleasure for me.

So do you want to see what I won?

A lovely Eiffel tower necklace and three petit Frency boxes.

The necklace is beautiful!!!!!!

I already have two of the boxes full of stuff in the studio

and one I have in my bedroom to hold those stray things that seem to 

find their way onto my bedside table.

Thank you Debbie...I love everything! 

I also won Lili M's beautiful OWOH giveaway.

She was giving away 12 months worth of hand written, snail mail correspondence.

Can you believe I get a lovely card from Lili for the next 11 months?

This was my first month's handwritten note from dear Lili.

She wrote me a sweet note on the back of one of these beautiful note cards from one of her

favorite Dutch design studios pipstudio.com

and then sent an extra one for me to use myself.

and tucked inside the envelope where two bags of Dutch Pickwick tea.

Thank you so much Lili...

it will be wonderful enjoying this giveaway over the next year.

What a brilliant idea this is!

~

Well in case you are a little curious about what Maddie talked me out of in the studio...

all I can say is...

she left with her arms full!