Saturday Meanderings

It’s hard to believe it’s the last official Saturday of January. In order to truly appreciate the time that continues to fly by, I want to enjoy my photos from this month. From the quiet solitude of New Year’s Day morning to the ending of this first month of 2025, it has been fulfilling. Thank you for joining me today for Saturday Meanderings where we chat about all good things this week.

Rejuvenating our Property

Two very hot summers have taken its toll on parts of our property. We are focusing on replenishing the soil, fertilizing the trees and removing dead and dying plants.

My sweet husband continues to get truck loads of compost from Arizona Worm Farm, a 10-acre urban farm in Phoenix whose mission is to turn garbage into natural gardening products. In addition to compost, they sell worm castings that will go in my garden and dried black fly larvae treats for our chickens.

Looking forward to adding this to my garden, once the danger of frost is over. I have never used worm casting and I am excited to see the fruits of our labor in the spring.

Home Improvement Time

There is nothing like hosting an event (engagement party at the end of March) that gets me motivated on completing home improvement projects. Do you remember the show Murphy Brown (first episode 1988)? Candace Bergen, plays Murphy Brown, a star reporter. One of the characters, Eldin, her house painter is always working with an unending paint contract. Well, John, our painter is my Eldin. Currently, he is repainting the entrance and we may add a different door color too.

John and I have worked together on many projects and he is an excellent painter and handyman. Many of our exterior windows need repair and painting so John will be a weekly fixture here.

Great Bargain for a Mattress Topper

In our pool house, we have two twin beds. When couples stay, we push the two beds together which creates a king size bed. Having a good mattress topper is important to eliminate the space between the mattresses. In the past, we had a foam topper which Finn had fun tearing apart.

I find this premium down alternative on the Quince website. I’ve never purchased anything from Quince but they have strong marketing campaigns on Instagram. With nearly 2500 review and a 5 star rating, this mattress topper is on sale for $99.00 (from $199.00). Naturally I want our guests to be very comfortable and our latest visitors (my brother and sister-in-law) confirm the bed is quite nice.

Another plus is that the topper has corner loops to help secure your duvet cover ties.

Getting Wax off a Tablecloth

I love candlelight and bought some new burgundy candles for the dining room table. However, they were the drippy kind and my favorite new tablecloth suffered a bit with various size wax splatters. Since the pattern has delicate stitching, I didn’t want to use a knife to scrape it off.

I find this to be the best way to remove wax from your linens. Using brown paper bag, cut a section to put under the tablecloth, and one over the areas you want the wax removed. Using a hot iron, press on the brown paper bag which will melt the wax and be absorbed into the paper.

If your paper bag has a decorative ink, I keep that away from the fabric side. I wrote a more detailed blog post about this in 2022 and you can see it here. The burgundy wax did leave a slight discoloration on the fabric, but by using Oxy-Clean, I am able to completely remove them! This is one of those projects that feels good to complete.

Our 30th Anniversary

This week my husband and I celebrate our 30th anniversary. We will be planning something extra special at some point in the future. Hard to believe it’s been 30 years. We look so young there, however I was 38 and Scott, 44 at the time.

Front Fountain Project

We have two outdoor fountains and this one, by the front entrance is long overdue to be cleaned. Draining it, scrubbing all the tiles, removing the rocks in the bottom is a big project.

In 2020, we did a refresh on the other fountain (see picture at the top) and so other than cleaning the water, no extra work is required there. Another project completed!

From the Internet

One of my favorite blogs is The Glam Pad. Their latest post features A Shell-Inspired Florida Home by Karen Abell, owner and curator of the Patina Collection. It got me thinking that I have some beautiful shells and this article is inspiring me to display them in a more interesting way. If you have a shell collection you may enjoy reading this.

Cindy Hattersley’s latest post, Age Appropriate for Mature Women is Highly Inappropriate is rather fun to read and filled with inspirational information. Who gets to determine what is age appropriate for women over 50? Great advice on how to embrace the freedom to live, dress, and pursue passions in ways that reflect our individuality and confidence, regardless of our age.

With February right around the corner, you can find Valentine wreath ideas from my dear friend, Chloe at Celebrate and Decorate here. Many of you have met Chloe from our fall styling workshops and know she is a talented and clever gal.

What Are You Watching?

Can you recommend a good movie or series you are watching? We recently finished Landman (a Taylor Sheridan one); Lioness (another Taylor Sheridan), and the last episodes of Season 5 of Yellowstone.

On my list is the watch is The Thursday Murder Club on Netflix, series called The Saints, and the documentary, Lockerbie. The second season of Night Agent was just released too.

As our house guests are wrapping up their trip we hope to devote the rest of the weekend spending time with them. Whatever your plans may or may not be, enjoy your weekend and stay safe out there.