A Sneak Peek At My Latest Firewood Folks...

available tomorrow night on TDIPT Mercantile!



I also created another Primitive Canada Goose!
**honk**honk**
Fly on over to my Countryfolk Keepsakes selling site to see him.

I'll see you over there!!
:> )

"Do not go where the path may lead...

go instead where there is no path and leave a trail."
~Waldo Emerson

Enjoy nature.
:> )

It's Firewood Folks Storybook Time..

YaY!!!
Hmmm... I wonder who they could be??

I'll give you a few hints.
One has an extremely hairy "relative" and the other plays croquet.
They will be offered on TDIPT Mercantile come May 1st.

:> )

Ahhhh, comfort food...

If you're looking for a health conscious recipe, move along to the next blog, there's nothing to see here.
But if you're not, continue reading.
((giggle))
Who wouldn't love a delicious bowl of beef stew on a cold, dreary day?

This Paula Deen recipe is one of my many favorites of hers.

Old-Time Beef Stew
Ingredients
2 pounds stew beef
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cups water
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, peeled
1 or 2 bay leaves
1 medium onion, sliced
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 teaspoon paprika
Dash ground allspice or ground cloves
3 large carrots, sliced
3 ribs celery, chopped
2 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions
Brown meat in hot oil. Add water, Worcestershire sauce, garlic, bay leaves, onion, salt, sugar, pepper, paprika, and allspice. Cover and simmer 1 1/2 hours. Remove bay leaves and garlic clove. Add carrots and celery. Cover and cook 30 to 40 minutes longer. To thicken gravy, remove 2 cups hot liquid. Using a separate bowl, combine 1/4 cup water and cornstarch until smooth. Mix with a little hot liquid and return mixture to pot. Stir and cook until bubbly.
Then slather some butter on a slice of homemade bread and enjoy!
NOTE: I tweak it a bit. I double the water and add more cornstarch. I add potatoes and peas. I also chop up the garlic and toss it in.

Now if you will excuse me, I need to put on a pair of stretchy sweat pants. After strapping on the feed bag and digging into this, I'm gonna need 'em.
**burp**

:> )

Smiling is infectious...

You can catch it like the flu.
Someone smiled at me today,
And I started smiling too.

(I bet you're smiling right now)
Happy Monday everyone!!
:> )

Uh-oh. I had an A.D.D. moment...

As I was baking some chocolate chip cookies this afternoon,


my brain wandered and I thought to myself, "You should take a peek and see what kind of sub floor is under that blue carpeting. But just pull back a tiny corner..."

Ooops.
((giggle))

Oh man, I can hear my hubs now. As he walks through the door and our furbabies greet him, he'll ask them, "What is your CRAZY mother up to now?!
Maybe with a little luck I can blind him with those tantalizing chocolate chip cookies and he won't notice.
:> )

Happy Friday...

Have a terrific weekend, everyone!!

Remember to enjoy the sunshine!

If you don't have any sunshine in your parts... make your own.

:> )

These are so sweet...

you might get a toothache.

♥

♥

♥

I stitched them up and am offering them on my selling site.
Just click on the "Other Needfuls" button below.

:> )

He's goin' swingin'...

He's gonna swing in the crowd.

And he'll be clingin',
And floatin' high as a cloud.

Rest in peace, Mr. Clark.
Thank you for the memories.
We'll miss you.
♥

Are "Smart Phones" Really Making Us Smarter...

I experienced this at a Dunkin Donuts.

If this wasn't so sad and true, it would be funny.

My personal favorite...

I may be one of only a handful of people who chooses not to own a cell phone or smart phone.

Call me old fashioned but I'd rather stick with two tin cans and a string.
((giggle))

:> )

Thanks, Steve...

As I mentioned a month ago, Steve the Chipmunk is back.

He's been very busy. I've counted a total of 11 holes he's dug in our lawn and that's just on the south side of our home.

He's also made a hole in our barn...

Under our split rails...

This one he even laid a little "support beam" across the top. He must be watching Mike Holmes on Sunday nights.

But the biggest hole he made is under our living room picture window. Oh and I don't mean in the ground under our picture window. I mean directly under our picture window where the window meets the brick.

When I walked out on our front porch a week ago, there was Steve. As he looked over at me, he nonchalantly jumped up onto the old vintage bin I have under the picture window. He then sprung off like Spider Man and landed vertically on the brick under the picture window. He shimmied up a few inches then disappeared below the window and into the brick!

After the shock of what I just saw wore off, I heard myself say aloud, "Why that little b*st*rd!" I then walked over to the window and took a look. Sure enough, there was the hole. For now, hubs slapped some mortar in there to keep him out.

We know this old farmhouse is in need of new windows and now thanks to Steve we have to start with the living room picture window. Since this is an unexpected and costly expense, he owes us big time!
I hope he knows how to lay down vinyl plank flooring.

Happy Monday everyone!
:> )

"To character and success, two things,

contradictory as they may seem, must go together-humble dependence and manly independence; humble dependence on God and manly reliance on self."
~William Wordsworth

♥

I did some shopping...

Nope, not clothes shopping.
I did some home improvement shopping!

Yippee!!

Okay, I think I've got everything I'm going to need to finally get rid of the infamous blue carpeting in the den.
I'm not sure what this sub floor is going to look like once I tear it up. But I have a feeling I'll be doing a lot of prep work to make sure it's in good shape for the vinyl planks to adhere.

Just for sh*ts and giggles I laid some of the planks down to see how they'll look.

Darla is impressed.

The closest Lowes I went to was sold out of the flooring. Before hoofing it to another Lowes, I asked the kid to call to make sure they had some in stock.

Man, at $4.15 a gallon for gas, I wasn't about to travel to another Lowes if they didn't have any. Which brings another question to mind. Why is no one complaining about gas prices now like they did back in 2008? Not a peep. Does everyone have memory loss? (I digress)

Anyhoo,I'm not sure when I'm going to tackle this project.

At the moment we have an issue with our living room picture window and Steve the Chipmunk. He has become our very own furry Dennis the Menace. I should have known something was up when I saw him running around in a striped shirt and overalls.

I'll keep you posted.
:> )

"A pessimist sees...

only the dark side of the clouds, and mopes; a philosopher sees both sides, and shrugs; an optimist doesn't see the clouds at all - he's walking on them." ~Leonard Louis Levinson

I'm a cloud walker.
How about you??
:> )

Am I one of those crazy people...

who wishes their dog a happy birthday and puts a ton of photos of that dog on their blog??

Yes, I most certainly am!!!
((giggle))

Happy 12th Birthday to my beloved Darla!!!
YaY!

Seven years ago, she welcomed her new baby sister with open paws.

We brought Darla home first, then Hannah a week later.

They were like two peas in a pod and were never apart.
Hannah was the brains, Darla the brawn.

She really misses her sister now. When Hannah got sick last year, Darla literally stayed by her side right up until we had to say goodbye to her.

She is so awesome!!
:> )

Two months ago I was worried she wouldn't make it to her 12th birthday. But she has come a long way.
Hopefully the good Lord above will give me a few more years with her. I'll cherish whatever time He gives me.

♥

I did a Lowes and Home Depot run this weekend...

Oh my! I LOVE these stores!
I become completely hypnotized as soon as I pull into the parking lot.

"Oooooh... Look at all the shiny things!"

My mission was to check out the the vinyl floor planks I want to put down in our den. Not only do they sell them by the box, they sell them individually. So I grabbed a few in two of the three colors they offered. But it was slim pickins. Seems everyone is buying this stuff.

Here's "Gunstock."
Nice color, but dark. With the old barn siding on the walls, I feel it will be too dark for the room.
It's hard to see in these photos, but they are textured.

Here's "Golden Oak." It's a similar color to the original old 1800's pine plank flooring in the living and dining room.
It will also lighten up the room and make it appear larger.
A nice braided rug would look terrific.

Not only did my hubs agree with me on the lighter color, (Quick, somebody catch me! I'm going to faint!)
**thud**
George gave a nod to the lighter color too.

I'll be counting down the days until the blue carpeting is gone!!

YaY!!
:> )