Philadelphia - Staying at Mom's House

Congratulations to Becca of Everyday Life for guessing the correct answer!! We will be staying at David's mother's house. This is also the same house that he grew up in! His mom has lived in this same house for over 50 years!

David's parents divorced when David was about 18 years old. His father moved to Georgia. (That's how he and I met! **Smile**) Unfortunately, he is no longer with us. He developed Cancer and passed away about 10 years ago.

Philadelphia is known for it's "Row Homes". Many look like these...

Photo Source

Photo Source

The homes are "stuck" together, one right next to the other. If you have to go around to the back of your house, from the front... you have to walk around the whole block to get there!

It's funny.... when I first met David, I had never been up north and had no idea what a "row home" was! I can still remember him pointing them out to me, the first time he took me to Philadelphia. They looked like huge apartment buildings to me! (That's what I grew up living in - apartments!)

David's mother grew up living in a row home a lot like the first picture above. The homes were each exactly alike!

The home that his mother now lives in is -- I "think" -- still considered a row home, but it is more like a "duplex". There are only TWO homes "stuck" together. There is a yard (a tiny one!) in between each two houses, like these....

 Photo Source

David's mother's home looks a LOT like this one! She has a bigger porch on the front, tho. There is an "alley" in the back and her driveway and garage are pack there. In Georgia... these would be called "duplexes" or "townhomes".

I look foward to taking pictures of her home while we are up there so that I can show you. (Hope she doesn't mind!)

Later today... check back for a new clue & hint for Day Two of our trip to Philadelphia!

My Busy Month of May

Hello. Remember me??

I am the blogger that promised to write every day and has not. I hope you can forgive me! My only excuse is that the month of May has been a busy one and blogging got rotated to the bottom of the priority list! I am a "routine" kind of person and my routine is TOTALLY OFF right now!! And has been for weeks!!

At the beginning of May I was in search of a new job. I was busy working on my resume', making phone calls, visiting other preschools, and going on interviews. Thankfully, I found a new job rather quickly and will begin it in August.

During the middle of May, I was busy winding down the school year at my previous job. I was in charge of making the "Memory Books" for each student, so I was busy trying to finish those so that they would be ready to go home on the last day. There was also the task of packing up the classroom and cleaning everything.

Miranda's birthday was on May 21st. She and I had a wonderful day in Atlanta!

On May 24th, I traveled back to Atlanta with David and a group of friends to attend the Jimmy Buffet concert there! What a BLAST that was!! --- I owe you all a post about that and pictures!

David has had a lot of vacation time left over to take before the end of May, so he has been home a LOT! He has been working in our yard quite a bit and I can now say that I ENJOY HANGING OUT IN MY BACK YARD! Wahooo!!!! --- I owe ya'll pictures of it, as well! I am quite proud of how it looks!

We have also been busy sprucing up the inside of our house a bit! I was on the hunt for a new duvet cover for my bed and a new "look". I finally settled on a white duvet cover so that I can easily change the "look" by swapping out the sheets, bed skirt, shams and throw pillows. Now, if I can just keep my silly dogs OFF my bed!!

I also have a new tablescape to share with you!! I went "thrifting", as I call it and found LOTS of goodies!! Part of what I found was for my June tablescape!! I love it and can't wait to share it with you!!

While I have been absent from my blog..... I discovered that I have been given a few AWARDS!! My friends, you are too kind! I don't know that I deserve them after being "absent" so much lately! I will post about them soon. I PROMISE!! 

We will be leaving for the beach in a few days, so I will be "absent" again! But.... hopefully, I can get into a routine after that because we have NOTHING planned for the rest of the summer!

As I said before... I owe you several blog posts! That is something that I will begin working on as soon as I can. Right now... it is 7:00am and I already hear David out in the back yard watering the plants and cleaning up after our fun pool-side day, yesterday! I guess I better go and help him!!

Toodles for now ~

Thirty Days of Thankfulness - Day 6

Today, I am thankful for my Mother-n-law. No. That is not a typo. You read it right!!

My mother-n-law is the most awesome lady and someone that I admire very much! You would never know that she is 70 years young by the way that she lives her life.

She is a strong Christian lady that enjoys life and isn't afraid to get out there and have fun!

Christ is the center of her life and she lives her life serving Him.

She travels more than anyone that I know and has traveled to many places all over the world.

She has volunteered so much at the hospital near her home in Philadelphia, PA that they offered her a job! So, now she works part time there AND still volunteers!

For many, many years she was the organist/pianist for the church that she belonged to (The same one that Hubby grew up going to.) She also volunteered much of her time there, as well. She practically did everything there, but preach! **Smile**

Unfortunately, that church had to shut down due to lack of members and funds to keep it going. She now attends another church and is happy to be doing the same things as she did at her previous church.

My mother-n-law is also a VERY talented lady! She can quilt and sew like you wouldn't believe! She also knits & crochets beautifully.

For many years (Throughout Hubby's childhood and beyond) she had her own business where she sewed and made covers and cushions for people that had boats. Today.... she is STILL doing this, just on a smaller scale.

She is like the Energizer Bunny!! She just keeps going and going -- but, in a GOOD way!

As I mentioned before, she lives in Philadelphia, PA which is a loooong way from Southwest Georgia! I wish that she lived closer. I would love to see her more than once a year. We are fortunate that she can at least come for Christmas and we look forward to her visit each year.

She is such an inspiration to me and I pray that, someday, my family can say these same things about me!

I love you May!!



Grandma and her girls - Christmas 2009