Random Monday

Hope everyone had a terrific weekend. Not much happened here in my neck of the woods. Mostly football, house cleaning, and relaxing. Just the way I like it - the relaxing part! Didn't have too much to share specifically, so I thought I'd just throw some randomy things out there.

First, I thought I'd share some pics of my littlest football player. Well, he's not all that "little", but compared to his big bros who are both 6'4", guess he's still little at 5'1"!!! His team, The Warriors, didn't fare so well this weekend. It was a tough loss considering it was to a team that supposedly was not as good as them. Happens all the time, right? That's my boy - number 65.

Sunday promised to be a gorgeous day here - which it was. So, in morning, before making breakfast, I went out on our deck, and wiped the morning dew off the furniture, brought out all the chair cushions and slipcovers. Swept the deck real well, and fussed with what few plants I have left. We even ate our breakfast outside. It was so nice. Later in the morning . . . off to the football game. The weather was perfect - not too hot, not too cool with a nice breeze. On the drive home, I thought "boy, it's so nice today, think I'll grab my new BH&G Christmas Ideas Mag (ooo, maybe I shouldn't have admitted to purchasing that! I'm supposed to be in "magazine reahab"!), with a nice glass of ice tea, sit out on the deck and enjoy more of the day". Well, this is what I came home to:

AGGGGHHHH!!!!!

WHAT THE . . . . ????!!!!!!

OMG!!! Everything was literally blanketed in a thick dusting of pollen - the tables, the chairs, the just-swept floor, the outdoor rug!, the cushions!, the pillows! even the plants!!! Son #2 would have gone into an allergy frenzy out there! It's happened before, but never this bad! The culprit is a beautiful Blue Atlas Cedar we have planted right next to the deck. Hopefully you can see from the pic that all those teeny tiny pinecones are opening up, and filling the air with their deadly pollen whenever the breeze kicks up!

Well, bet ya'll can guess what I did this morning. Yep . . . swept the deck, wiped down the furniture, cushions . . . oye!!! Since I was out there taking pics of that blasted pollen monster, thought I'd get a few snaps of the deck while we still have some nice deck weather here and all the furniture is still out. We bought the lounge set this Spring from Sears. It's from Ty Pennington's line, and we have just loooovvvved it! We sit out there all.the.time! I actually had a larger outdoor table and chair set on the deck before the lounge set, but I dropped it down in the yard next to the pond (Oh . . . the pond. I'll share pics of that in another post.), and brought the smaller set up on the deck.

That table is . . . well . . . I'm not sure how old it is. I think I've had it maybe 12 or 13 years. I know for sure that is it's fourth color. I just keep repainting it, and moving it all over the place. The chairs were MSL furniture from K-Mart a bunch of years ago too. As you can see from the pics below that the arms/legs were a gun-metal grey that matched the webbing. Well, that just would not do with the new brown lounge furniture. Since I couldn't do anything about the webbing, I painted the metal parts and made little cushions and slipcovers to cover the webbing. Turned out pretty okay, and it all only cost me like $50 for the fabric and paint.

My lovely summer plants are really starting to wane. I'm trying to fill in with some mums and some pansies a little later on. The plants below are my herb plants and a couple scented geraniums that I'll be bringing in soon, and keeping my fingers crossed they survive the winter in the house.

One more bit of randomness I wanted to share. I was watching one of my fave C'mas movies last night. Now c'mon . . . don't judge me! I didn't slip the DVD in yet, it was on HBO Family (I think).

The 1994 remake of "Miracle on 34th Street" with Richard Attenborough as Kris Kringle, Dylan hunk-of-a-man McDermott as Bryan Bedford, Elizabeth Perkins as Dorey Walker and Mara Wilson as Susan Walker. Don't get me wrong, this movie could never replace the original, but it's such a "pretty" film. The way it's filmed in such crisp, clean top-lighting. The costumes . . . kind of reminiscent of how folks dressed in the 40's . . . the ladies in proper skirt suits, pumps and pearls. The men in suits, ties and topcoats. Everyone and everything is done with such properness and grace.

What really made me want to comment about this movie more than how "pretty" it is, was a particular bit of dialog between Kris Kringle and Dory Walker. Now, mind you, I've probably watched this movie . . . well 30 times, but last night this dialog really made me think how true those words are on so many levels. When asked of Dorey if she believes in him as being Santa, she replies that some do admit to "him" as being a fantasy (I'm seriously paraphrasing here!), he responds with this:

"I'm not just a whimsical figure who wears a charming suit and affects a jolly demeanor. You know, I'm a symbol. I'm a symbol of the human ability to be able to suppress the selfish and hateful tendencies that rule the major part of our lives. If you can't believe . . . if you can't accept anything on faith, then you're doomed for a life dominated by doubt."

Is that not so true in so many aspects of our lives? If you, by chance, have not seen this movie, catch next time it's on TV, or rent it. I really don't think you'll be disappointed. But try not to compare it to it's original, there are some real differences.

Here's a link to the trailer for this movie. (hope it works) Enjoy and happy Monday!