Number 2

Well, the Extreme makeover is done and we came in second. That means that our rent is half for the month of July. No bad for doing what we wanted to do to begin with. Here are a few of the pictures of the place.

Here is the deck that RJ built. I helped a little bit. We still need to put skirting around the base of the deck and stairs.

Here I am on the little bridge that we put over the drainage ditch. The shape of the bridge is like the shape of the deck. Now we have to do some fine touches left.

VERA BRADLEY

If you know me, you know that I am not much of a name brand person. But I saw a lady in Subway a couple of months ago and I LOVED her purse. Asked her where she got it and she said it was a Vera Bradley. Never heard of this so I asked my daughter, Jennifer, and she said that my other daughter, Carrie, had a Vera Bradley purse. Jennifer called Carrie and told her that I found something that I would like. Carrie said that she would get me a purse for Mother's Day. Got on line that night and found the purse that I wanted. Mentioned the purse to my mother and she said that she would like to have one also. We happened to pick the same pattern so my mother picked an alternate choice. When Carrie came through Topeka yesterday on their way back home to Wichita, she brought our purses to my mother (I had to work). I am in love. Here are a few pictures of what my purse looks like. What do you think? Is it me?

It holds everything I had in my other purse but I can find it easier. My mother says that everyone notices her purse and thinks it looks great. Maybe there is something to brand name items.

Yard work

RJ and I have been busy outside when the weather is nice. Here are some of the projects that we have been doing.

Here is the porch that RJ built. He custom cut the stringers. At least now we can get into the front door. We have to finish the steps and put on the railing. When we finish we will have steps on both sides of the deck.

Here is the flower bed on the south side of the trailer that I made. Not much color in this. Hope the flowers will bloom more. I put the flowers in pots because I didn't know where the lines were in the ground.

Here is the flower bed on the north side that I made. I put colorful pots on this side. The ground was uneven so I filled the area up with rocks.

Here is an old man that I hired to do the work. He was cheap. Now we can enjoy the swing. I hope to clean it up and try to stain it.

Here is a view of the yard from the driveway. Because it faces east, we get shade in the afternoon. Now to finish the front deck and then move on to the back deck.

Today is my birthday!

Today has been a fantastic day. Started with a video call from Carrie. Got to see all of the family. Then RJ and I went to Lowe's to buy what we need to build our front deck. Came home and then we went to Home Depot and got some plants for the yard. Brought them home and then we went to Walmart and got Miracle Gro soil and more plants. Here are a few pictures of the plants that we got.

Here are double bloom Begonias, white, red, yellow, coral and pink.

Here we have blanket flowers, (gallo orange, red and dark bi-color), shasta daisy and Dianthus (Barbarini purple). I also got Autumn fern, Japanese painted fern and English Ivy.

Here are the plants after I repotted them. RJ helped me with this. These are going on the north end of the house.

These are also going to the north end of the house. They do not need full sun. I am going to make a flower bed and put rocks in it and place the plants around the areas so RJ does not have to mow there.

And these plants will go on the south end of the house. They need full sun. It will be like the flower bed on the north end. We signed up for a contest here for "extreme makeover" for the outside of our house. We are doing things that we were planning on doing. We just have a time frame now. The contest is over the end of June. I sure am enjoying this. RJ treats me like everyday  is my birthday.

While I was sitting in front of the house I saw a new bird. Has kinda orange head and chest with a brown body. Any idea what this is?