Crushed

I can barely write this and have put it off  as long as possible, but I think everyone who has visited me and left sweet comments deserves to know why I have been silent. On Friday January 27, my elderly parents were hit by a truck. The impact was on the passenger side where my mother was sitting. She was killed instantly. My father is in critical condition with chest injuries. I can't believe my mother is gone, she was taken in an instant. I'm grateful that she didn't suffer and I'm sure she was gone before she even realized what happened. My family is lost and dazed.  My parents were married for 65 years  I fear that my father will not be able to go on without her and his time with us will not be  long. I have to be away from the blog for awhile while I try to cope and be of comfort and help to my family where I can. To everyone who has visited  and to my new followers thanks for stopping by and thank you for honoring me by following my blog. I will get back to you all when I can.

My Buffet Redo

Well this has been along time coming, but I've finally painted and shot a few pictures of my buffet. I bought the buffet almost a year ago and painted it right before Christmas. Here is the new look,

Before

This is the before. I like the lines of the buffet and its well constructed, but the doors and drawers are a little wonky. It's an old piece so I'm not that worried about slight imperfections. I painted the body in Talc by Martha Stewart paints and the top is painted in Magnetite also by MS paints, after painting I applied a coat of wax.  I liked the patina of the original hardware so I just cleaned them up a little and put them back.
  My living room is not very wide so it was hard to shoot this at an angle that captured it all without shooting  under the lamp... drat. I'll have to figure that out one of these days. Here are a few more angles,

Notice Bijoux in the mirror

I'll have some full room shots after painting and installing new flooring and area rug. Its coming along slowly but surely. I'll be joining these great parties,

                                             
                                           
                                       Nesting Place for the Perfectly Imperfect Party
                                             Between Naps on the Porch for Met. Monday

                                             Bunny Jeans Decor and More for the Bunny Hop

                                            Ivy and Elephants for Wha'ts it Wednesday

                                            Savvy Sothern Style for Wow Us Wednesday

                                          It's Overflowing for Its Overflowing with Creativity

                                         My Romantic Home for Show and Tell Friday

                                        Miss Mustard Seed for furniture Friday
                                  
                                       Beyond the Picket Fence for Under 100.00 linky party.

                                      French Country Cottage for Feathered Nest Friday

Scary Birds

There are some very large birds hanging around in the very tall trees behind our house. I think they are some kind of buzzard or hawk. I did a little research on what I thought they might be but I'm stiil not sure. I'm nervous about them because my female Bichon is very small and I know that some types of hawks can eat small animals. I got the camera out and took a few shots. If anyone knows what these guys are please let me know. They were near the top of a huge tree, this is the closest I could get with telephoto lenses that came with my camera.

My husband said they remind him of the Dementors from Harry Potter. So I took a creepy picture of them .  I  think this would make a great Halloween pic lol.

The black spots are those creepy looking birds! I shot the picture so that the background was blurred. Since the birds are far away the branches in the foreground are  in focus and the birds in the distance are blurred. It looks creepy and totally illustrates how these birds make me feel YIKES!  Please if anyone knows what kind of birds these are please let me know. Hopefully they're the kind that only eat carrion, aka dead animals.

A New Toy

I hope every one had a  wonderful Christmas and your New Year started out great. I'm so excited to tell you that my husband surprised me with a new camera. I had no idea that he was planning this. A big box arrived for me and when I opened it and saw what was inside I almost fainted! I went right into the ugly cry LOL. He got me good, he and my daughters kept this secret from me for days. I can't believe no one slipped before the camera came. This is the camera  I received,

image source

My camera came with a carrying case two lenses and a strap. It was a great package deal and I'm  so grateful to my husband for this gift.   Here are a couple of not so good shots of Bijoux and Paris taken when I was clueless.  I took them on the day the camera came.

I've been practicing... A LOT! is it wrong to love an inanimate object? if so I'm sorry, but I'm loving this camera.  I will have a new project to share soon, as soon as I feel a little more satisfied with my pictures.I've got a lot more to learn.  Happy New Year !