A Day in the Life - Five on Friday

It has been cold here in the foothills 

of W. Washington State, with snow

and gloomy skies, but this morning

the sun shone bright into my kitchen

 as I made my morning coffee. 

The first thing I do every morning is 

sip that wonderful, hot cup of coffee

(Starbuck's Breakfast Blend)

as I try to wake up. 

I've been slowly transitioning 

the decorations from Christmas to 

Valentine's Day, here in my little kitchen. 

My beautiful table runner is actually

an Irish Linen tea towel; 

a Christmas gift from my dear SIL, Donna. 

Thank you, Sis! <3

I made the Paper Roses a couple of years

ago out of coffee filters and watercolors. 

I am loving polka-dots right now :)

My daughter, Heather gave me the 

adorable 'Pioneer Woman' polka-dot 

mixing bowl for Christmas :) 

xoxo

I love red gingham and polka-dots

together. 

My mornings are definitely more cheerful 

with these happy little things! 

The second thing I do is venture outside 

to feed the birds. 

I won't be sitting here to finish my coffee today! 

I love how everything looks like it is 

sugar-coated. 

My Glacier Pansies keep on blooming 

despite the cold. 

These winter pansies will survive the 

freezing temperatures and go on to put 

on a show this spring. 

I plant them every fall :)

The native Sword ferns are just as hardy. 

I fill the hummingbird feeders first. 

We see evidence of foot-traffic near the 

bird feeder. 

I believe the last one is a gray squirrel. 

The snow crunches underfoot. 

Crunch, crunch, crunch, crunch....

Can you see Whitey Bear?

The little chickadees are waiting........

Snow-dusted moss on trees. 

Tree fungi sport blue-tinged snow-caps. 

Let's hurry back inside......

It's cold out here! 

Today, the third thing I am going to do is finish

my crocheted pillow! 

I started this pillow way back in June. 

You can see my dear little Ling Ling

in her usual spot, along with Maggie

on the pillow. 

We never know what is around the corner,

Dear Friends, so make the best of 

every day :)

I have joined together all the squares

 (9 front and back)

and crocheted a ruffled shell edging on

3 sides. I then made a pillow insert

to fit. I used two napkins! They were

the perfect color and size! 

I then inserted the pillow and sealed it in 

with single crochet, then added the 

remaining shell edging. 

You can see the curtain on my storage rack

and the flowered ironing board cover 

in my sewing room :)

Voila' ! 

Its new home is my slip-covered chair 

in the bedroom. 

This is my favorite shade of blue :)

I made the tiny bag for my wedding, 

so long ago in my little yellow bedroom :)

And now, here I am a Mother of 4, 

and a Grandmother of 2, 

all these years later. 

I dreamed of this while making my 

little bag. 

That took all afternoon, and now the fourth 

thing I do is to make dinner! 

Home-made broccoli cheese soup and Irish soda bread.

.

Something to warm the insides 

on a bitterly cold evening. 

We had just finished dinner 

and cleaned up the dishes 

when this happened........

We had a power outage! 

 The fifth thing I did was get

out the emergency candles.....

We stoked the fire 

and Ramblin' Man lit the fire 

in the bedroom. 

I stepped out onto the deck to 

see the full moon over Mt. Rainier. 

If you look up to the right, you 

can also see the Big Dipper! 

I could hear coyotes singing

from the distant hills 

in the cold, still night. 

And as we sat by the candlelight 

in front of the fire, 

we spoke of how truly blessed we 

are for our warm and cozy home, 

our wonderful family and friends, 

and the beauty that surrounds us

each and every day. 

xoxo

Thank you for joining me, Dear Friends! 

I hope your day is filled with blessings, too. 

( P.S. Our power was restored by midnight :)

xoxo

Today I am linking with:

Five on Friday