Before the New Year

While many have removed all of their decorations, and tucked them away for another year, we are still enjoying ours as we entertain family for the holidays.  Our normal routine is to put all the decor away the day after NewYears.  In keeping with that tradition, I thought I would post a few photos before the grand finale.

The baby ice skates hung off the kitchen fireplace mantel.  When I was five years old, and living in Wisconsin, I wore these skates for my first pair of single blades.  Our entire family of eight skated on creeks and ponds, and a frozen parking lot in town that was reserved every year for the town rink.

My old mantel clock works well in a cupboard-top display with candles and antlers and greens.

And visions of sugar plums danced in their heads (more like beef roast trimmings).

A vintage wicker sleigh keeps company with a little egg basket collection atop my pie safe in the entry hall.

The guest room which is now occupied with my son and daughterinlaw from Indiana, is decorated with pointsettias.

My greatgrandfather's 9' secretary desk adorns the front wall of the guest room.  Inside the drop-down desk, brass desk pieces, a rounded inkblotter, letter opener, stamp dampener, and some of his old horticulture books keep hidden from little hands.

Toby loves to lay by the kitchen fire.

Kitchen mantel with greens, chocolate and candy molds, and berry topiary and wreath hold together with my grandmother's wood candlesticks.

Well, my photos got a little out of order, so this is the guest room bed, made with a down comforter with a white cotton button-on duvet cover.

This spring is curtain season, even though I have had my rods stored in the closet for a year!  I painted this room myself last year, and it was quite a trick with 14 foot ceilings.

Our sunporch table toted a vintage Christmas cloth with a basket of string balls I bought at a sale last summer.

Simplicity was my moto this Christmas.  Using both live and artificial greens, I slipped together several mantel and tabletop arrangements including this simple dining room table piece with white honeycomb candles and pinecones and greens.

A gold candle and berries accent some yellowware on my pewter cabinet.  In a couple of days, it will be another great holiday memory.  I am enjoying every moment of it.  Then come on 2011, I am ready for ya!

Christmas, Still Enjoying

While we await the arrival of our oldest son and family from Indianapolis, we are resting from our own trip home from southern Indiana and Kentucky.  We left home on Christmas Eve to visit our daughter and family in Kentucky, and all of us were snuggled in, when it began to snow.  We enjoyed and lovely evening with dinner and chatter, and before going to bed, 5" of new snow had fallen.  The many tall pines in the woods by their home and road were ladden with the wet snow.  It was just as sassytrash had mentioned, "icing on the cake".  After a nice Christmas morning with our grandson, on to Indiana to see my stepson and family and two children, and ending at my husband's mothers.

Janette Mallory's Giveaway Ended

Janette Mallory is giving away a GORGEOUS pair of candlesticks.  Don't miss out on this giveaway because it ends Sunday, December 5th!  Click the badge on my sidebar and go directly to the offer.  Janette awarded her lovely candlesticks to an entry.

Giving thanks!

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, and even though we get caught baking, cooking, running the highways, overeating, visiting until we are worn out, and taking time with loved ones, it is still a blessing to live where we are free to do this.  We enjoyed my husband's family this holiday, and were very blessed.

Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful for grandsons,

budding artists,

kisses,

Innocense,



adoring pappas,



granddaughters,



daughter-in-laws,

sister-in-laws,

brother-in-laws, and husbands who do the dishes!  And more than anything, the Lord!

And now on to Christmas! 

Kitchen Updates in Our Old House

 Our old house is always in need of some updates.    It has been 10 years since we moved here, and I am just getting around to some of these jobs again.  My kitchen fireplace had gotten so dingy, and the old color looked drab and worn out.  So, I bit the bullit and pulled out the paint. I took down all the decor including numerous old iron cornbread molds, antique copper skillets, and chestnut roasting pan (turned out to be a laundry basket full!), and carted them out to my antique shed for storage.  Then, after washing and recaulking, I got out my white paint and went to town.  When I was finished and the paint was dry, I set the mantle with some of my antique crockery, and filled two pots with red twig dogwood branches from my bushes.

BEFORE, WITH THE OLD BEIGE PAINT.

ANOTHER BEFORE, SHOWING WORN OUT LIMESTONE SURROUND.

AFTER, SHOWING SURROUND, MANTLE, AND REPLACED DECOR ALL WHITE.  AFTER REARRANGING MANTLE, I REPLACED HEARTH WITH JUST TWO PIECES, AN ANTIQUE GRANITEWARE CHEESE  SLICER  AND A WHITE ENAMELWARE BUNWARMER.

I MOVED THE PHONE OFF THE WALL,  TOOK DOWN SOME OTHER WALL HUNG ITEMS, AND PAINTED ALL THE TRIM ABOVE AND BELOW THE OLD BLUE MILKPAINTED BEADBOARD WAINSCOTT.

ANOTHER PUT-OFF PROJECT IS PAINTING MY CABINETS WHITE AND ADDING NEW HARDWARE.  IN THE MEAN TIME, MY ANTIQUATED RANGE HOOD (I PLAN ON REPLACING IT WITH A CUSTOM LOOK LATER) WAS NOT IN KEEPING WITH MY OTHER APPLIANCES WHICH ARE STAINLESS AND BLACK.  RUSTED ON THE INSIDE AND SCRUBBED DOWN TO BARE METAL ON THE OUTSIDE, I GAVE IT A FACELIFT.  TWO NEW COATS OF WHITE UNDERNEATH, AND AT LEAST 10 COATS OF PROFESSIONAL GRADE PAINT ON THE OUTSIDE, GAVE IT THE UPDATE I WAS LOOKING FOR.

THE DAY BEFORE I GAVE THE BEADBOARD BACKSPLASH A FRESH COAT OF WHITE.  THEN I TAPED AND PAPERED OFF ALL THE CABINETS AND STOVE TOP BEFORE PRIMING WITH METAL PRIMER SPRAY PAINT.

AFTER 10 COATS OF BLACK PROFESSIONAL GRADE APPLIANCE PAINT, I HAD THE UPDATE I WAS LOOKING FOR.

ANOTHER KITCHEN VIEW.

WE ADDED THE ANTIQUE LAMP OVER THE SINK AND UNDERCABINET LIGHTING WITH OUR ORIGINAL UPDATE. TWO YEARS AGO MY HUSBAND GAVE ME GRANITE COUNTERTOPS FOR CHRISTMAS.  THIS HAS TO BE THE YEAR TO PAINT THE CABINETS!

LATE AFTERNOON SUNSHINE ON THE SIDE OF OUR 1847 HOUSE.

A Touch of Fall In the Air on the Farm

When we moved to Tennesse 10 years ago, our Jack Russell Annie was just barely one year old.  Now at 10 going 11 she finds snuggly spots to nap inbetween her hunting jaunts on the farm.  She still goes, just not quite so fast.  Her once all-brown face is now mostly white.  My, how time flies!  She will soon snuggle with the other dogs in their heated dog house.  As I walked around the farm, with fall in the air, our dogs, horses, plants and landscape has changed so much from the past 10. Walk with me for a moment and I will show you.

 Anna, my old show mare, was my favorite mare.  She gave great rides for both me and my oldest grandson, until we retired her to broodmare where she has given us some great foals.

 Blue came with us from Kentucky.  Now at 14, he is still one of my BF horses.  He and Anna are sharing a field since Anna's last foal was weaned a few weeks ago.   Now their pastures are eaten down and dry, needing a rest over the winter to be lush and green next spring.

 This is Depo, a JackRat, from Annie's first and only litter when she was just a year.  Depo used to have a brown face too.  He has found himself a good place to nest for his afternoon nap as well.

Some of you have met Toby, now 7, and adopted dog at 4 years, who won all our hearts with his not so smart dog routines.  Tobes makes some of the antique shows with us, travels well, visits well, and loves to ride in the car.  All the grandkids love him; he is very kid friendly.  Toby stands on a stone retaining wall that surrounds the far side of the pool.  We added the pool and the patio 6 years ago.  My husband and I hand-laid 15 pallets of patio stone to create the wall and stone patio.

 
This is Rascal, my grandson's Jack Russell, who came to live with us 3 years ago, after my grandson and his mother moved back to Kentucky.  Rascal had spent so much time with us on the farm, that he was not ready to make the move when they were!  He still goes bananas when they come for visits, and sometimes he makes the trip with me to see them.  He is always ready to go, but always ready to come back.  Here he is accompanying me by the pool to photograph the dried grasses.  We added all of the landscape by the pool as well as many around the yard.

 With all the drought, we still managed to have one last bloom on the Hydrangeas by the corner of the house.

We built the horse shelter in the field, as well as adding many sections of white fencing over the farm.  All of the fencing was run-down and delapidated when we bought  the place, not to mention overgrown, and overrun with weeds and junk.  We replaced all the fencing with white and began some weed-control(bushhogging), and now the place looks liveable.

This past week I scraped and painted all the rails, posts, and trim on our front porch.  Now a refresh of the mulch and it will be good to go till spring.  Earlier this spring, I tore out all the old bushes and junk by the front to replace it with some shade-loving plants and bushes.  I have lost almost half of what I planted due to drought and heat.  Guess I will bite the bullit and replant again.  Still glad I did it.  It will look better eventually.  Can't believe my maple tree in the front yard is still green and some have already lost all their leaves. 

The last of the few tomatoes still hanging on.  Time for fried green tomatoes!

Oop!  This one snuck in sideways.  This is the last of the color.  Sounds like our first freeze could be happening this weekend.  Love lavender.  Started this from seed 2 years ago.  This was a weedbed over my headed when we bought this place.

My plants are in the greenhouse for the winter.  My husband gave me the greenhouse for Christmas a few years ago, and I  have loved it.

The last little bit of color left in a patio pot.  The geraniums and petunias are long gone.  This is a portion of the patio we added.

We are still picking pecans.  Our huge old trees are still producing bumper crops year to year.  We just picked up another 5 gallon bucket today, with probably 10 more gallons on the ground.  We just get tired of bending over.

I managed to put a little fall vignette on the sunporch table.  Love the hedgeapples for fall, even though I hate the Bodock trees they come from.   If you have ever been stabbed by the thorns from these trees, or tried to mow around one, you would understand.

And finally, a bouquet for my table with zinneas, lavender, basil, and Echinacea seed pods.  It was a good day on the farm.  Thanks for letting me share it with you.