Syringa Bloomerang™

This is a gift I received last year from my Mom and Dad.

Syringa Bloomerang, a dwarf, reblooming Lilac bush.

If I prune it after it blooms. 

I should expect blooms again in the Summer.

They say it will be like that off and on with blooms 

until the first frost.

I can't wait to see that happen!

And will post pictures of it when it happens.

Currently it's just a baby plant.

I was very pleased to see that it weathered 

the harsh winter we had just fine.

If you would like some of these for your garden you 

can check them out here;

http://www.whiteflowerfarm.com/67561-product.html

Unexpected Surprise

We went over to our dear friends last night 

for our movie night. 

We try to do this at least once a month.

Dorthy makes the best air popped pop corn!

Orville Bedenrocker has nothing on you.

(misspelled his name on purpose)

About halfway through the evening 

Nita puts this cute bag on top of the TV 

with a card addressed to Chip and I.

We just looked at each other.

Huh? What's this?

Let me back up for a sec....

The night before we had taken Dorthy and Jesse 

out with us to celebrate our anniversary

to a lovely restaurant called  Castaways.

Nita wasn't able to join us.

It looks out on a good size lake. 

The scenery is just so relaxing.

And I know they enjoyed it as much as we did.

Okay back to our movie night.

Chip and I were totally floored by this

unexpected surprise.

Words cannot express how deeply moved we were. 

Such a thoughtful, loving and generous gesture.

I was moved to tears.

So why is it that it's so easy to be the one giving and 

so difficult to be the one receiving.

To refuse would be robbing the other person of their joy.

I get that intellectually.

Anyway

"Gil-Belk" family if you happen to read this post.

I hope you know how much we appreciate your 

priceless friendship.

And we love the beautiful poem you composed, Dorothy, 

the cards,

the friends plaque, bracelet...hello green my fav, 

socks and gift card.

Wow!

We enjoyed the movie and your company as always!

Which truly is the greatest of gifts.
Thank You So Much!

Creative Friday

Well most of you know blogger ran into a big 

snag doing some maintenance.

I have lost some of my comments on the 

two previous post.

But at least the posts are back up. 

So on to this post....

Played with the new 

Tim Holtz Artful dwelling Sizzix die. 

I was in a "grungy" mood. 

And I wanted to use some of his 

Idea-ology embellishments and papers.

Plus my odds and ends.

Deb was in a Shabby Chic Mood.

You have to stop by and see what she

created using these house shapes.

Adorable!

And then for our second project we did a tag.

Using Banner dies that we had 

and the Tim Holtz Tag die.

Misc. trims, lace sequins and flowers.

It says," It takes a long time to grow 

an old friend."

 Thanks for stopping by and looking.

Pantene Beautiful Lengths

5/21/2011

Looks like blogger has restored all the missing comments.

Yeah!

Pantene Beautiful Lengths - Hair provided by volunteers will be used to craft beautiful, high-quality wigs by their partner, HairUWear®. Then it will go to a woman affected by hair loss from cancer. 

This is my second time donating. And I have plenty left for me. (grin) 
A word of caution. It has been my experience over and over again that when
I sit in the Hairdressers chair and I say cut off one inch. Two inches will be taken.  
As in this case. Pantene asked for 8". Happy to spend the 3 years or so 
of growing it out again for this purpose.
So I asked that 9" be cut off. Taking in to consideration split ends.
You can see what the results were here. 10" was taken.
I'm the one that grew it out. Shouldn't I be the one who decides 
how much I want to donate? I'm just saying....
How to make the cut

• Donated hair must be a minimum of 8 inches long (measure hair from
•  just above the elastic band of the ponytail to the ends).
• Wavy/curly hair texture is fine—you may straighten hair to measure.
• Hair should be freshly washed and completely dry, 
• without any styling products.
• Hair may be colored with vegetable dyes, rinses and 
• semi-permanent dyes. It cannot be bleached, permanently colored 
• or chemically treated.
• Hair may not be more than 5% gray. 
• To find out more go to Pantene Hair Donation

Lolli ~ an Older TGF Stamp

I got the last one of Lolli Anya 

at Funky Kits of the UK 

Apparently she is an older Greeting Farm stamp.

Since I just started getting these stamps last year.

 She was new to me.

I choose to put the sentiment inside

and there sufficient room to write a little note.

Then I played with this free digi stamp from 

The Greeting Farm.

I removed what I didn't want and kept the rest.

Admittedly not the best cards I ever made.

But I still had fun putting them together.

Thanks for Looking!