♥Jelliesjams-Dolls♥

I Want to Wish Everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving!

2011-11-21T19:35:00.001-05:00

Hello everyone! Can you believe that Thanksgiving is only a few days away! I feel as if I just wrote about Halloween in the month of October…the older I get the faster the days fly by. I am also very busy doing projects around the house so I guess that makes the days go by quickly.

Here are a few photos of my Thanksgiving dining table and other pictures of Thanksgiving décor around the house. I moved the sofa in the living room and I hung a sweet glass front cabinet over it. Projects like that require spackling/sanding and painting…but I enjoy that.

The postcard in my header is 85 years old! It was sent to my husband’s uncle when he was a child, I also have some very old cards from Christmas which were in his family that I display with my Christmas decorations.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING BLESSINGS TO ONE AND ALL FROM MY HOME TO YOURS!

Halloween Greetings!

2011-10-28T18:55:00.001-04:00

Greetings from our home to yours.

I wanted to introduce you to my Halloween door greeter, my take on a scarecrow/witch. This year I wanted something geared more to the spooky/boo Halloween theme and all I will have to do once the day is over is remove her green gourd head and put it into the garden for the squirrel, chipmunks and birds to have a special treat of their own.

She was easy to make and fun!

Here are a few snapshots of some Fall/Halloween décor around the house.

AND, the sweetest little doll made for me by my daughter-in-law! She is very tiny, her head/arms and legs are made of clay! She is so precious, she is like an Izannah Walker style doll and she has the cutest little ears. I was super excited when I received her in the mail. My daughter-in-law does take orders for these.

Happy Halloween, stay safe and have fun-beware of the ghost, goblins, witches and the creatures of the night!

I will start at the beginning of where I ended!

2011-10-03T16:40:00.001-04:00

My last blog post was before Easter-so much time has passed and the days and months have flown by!

Summer began with my grandsons coming to spend their summer vacation with us. We enjoy having them and they love being here with us, so from the beginning of June to the end of August we are blessed with both of them. They keep us busy for sure,; soon they will be getting too old to come and stay here so we enjoy every minute with them.

Helping to water the garden.

A fun day at a farm picking blueberries, peaches and flowers with me and their Aunt Laura.

And getting to enjoy the freshly made blueberry muffins and other goodies from the orchards.

They also went to NYC and enjoyed going to visit the Statue of Liberty, Liberty State Park and Ellis Island. The rest of the time they played outside climbing trees, riding bikes and scooters or playing video games. They also enjoyed going to the movies with their Aunt and Uncle. We also celebrated some birthdays-mine being one, but a very special First Birthday for my daughter’s best friends little girl. So the days, weeks and months flew by and before I knew it my grandsons were heading back home to begin another school year.

I spent the days working in the yard and doing little things around the house, one was organizing, but all of that happened after Hurricane Irene hit…we were very lucky with only some downed limbs and branches and lots of rain…it was not until after she passed we were without power for nearly four days, which caused the finished basement to flood, took a couple of days to find a generator to get the sump pump working and then the dreadful chore of cleanup in the basement. It was funny because being without power we adapted to it-BUT the evening the power came back on we did rejoice! After I had finished cleaning and organizing the basement just in time for Labor Day Weekend the air conditioner stopped working-and it was a hot and humid weekend. I knew what had happened to the unit but did not want to blow the house up trying to get the furnace back on to have the air start working, so we spent a sweltering holiday weekend and once again, we rejoiced after the unit began working. We were truly one of the lucky ones, there was so much damage all around our area and of course the other states hard hit, one being my beloved Vermont!

After a quick weekend trip to Orlando to watch my grandsons so their mommy and daddy could attend festivities with friends the boys and I enjoyed Downtown Disney and Magic Kingdom, the younger one loved taken photos and I love this photo of them-many more memories were created that last weekend in September.

I came home to enjoy our cooler fall weather and to do a bit of autumn/Halloween decorating. I have wanted to make a scarecrow to usher in Autumn and being inspired by the creative scarecrows in Magic Kingdom I made my own version for the back flower bed (that was another project I took on in early spring, you can never have too many flowers!) Wish I made this Scarecrow Lady earlier because she actually keeps the deer out of this little garden. The cost of deer repellant over the course of the season gets to be expensive. Last night the deer, and we have at least 5-7 visiting, stopped and just stared at here and ran off! You can see where they nibbled the flowers down prior to Missy Crow Lady standing guard!

The biggest news of all though was when my daughter called me on Saturday night after going to dinner with her boyfriend…she called to tell me that he asked her to marry him and now she is engaged! So in the next few weeks we will start planning for a late spring/early summer wedding. They have been dating for a long time and I think she had given up hope on hearing the question-his plan was to truly surprise her when she least expected it and he certainly did! This photo was taken in June at her best friend’s daughter’s First Birthday party…the happy couple! (Off to the far right is my grandson enjoying his party food!)

So, for now I say goodbye and leave you with a photo of my kitchen window display and my deck looking toward my dear Scarecrow Lady – I have more photos to share and will be back soon – not wait again for months – promise~!

Happy Easter

2011-04-24T14:57:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter Wishes!

This picture of the Last Supper

belonged to my mother-the true meaning of our Easter celebration!

A Fun Project

2011-04-21T21:55:00.001-04:00

I love primitive style portraits, especially those of children, some of these prints can be costly and since I love to keep changing things around my home I thought I would make my own. No, not paint them, that is one talent I was not blessed with!

It is a fun and simple way to make your own primitive style prints on canvas and if you are not into primitive/colonial you can do this with any type of art you love-just keep in mind the size. This is not something that you can make to sell, more for your own personal use.

First you find a print you love and print it out onto printer transfer paper-the iron on type-make sure it is for light background since you will iron it onto a canvas art frame, the ones that are stretched onto the wooden frame, I bought these on sale at Michael’s Craft Store and use the 5x7 or 8x10. Just follow the instructions for printing and then iron it onto your canvas frame and there you have it-a primitive colonial style print to hang on your wall or sit on a shelf, I paint the edges black to give them a finished look.

Here are my two “primitive girl” portraits which I hung over my sofa in the living room.

A photo of them hanging on the wall. On the table at the end of the sofa is a tiny one, the baby in the red highchair, I love that print and plan to make a large copy when I get more supplies. The large colonial girls print I purchased many years ago in Detroit, Michigan. These are just two – I have made 6 total, a fun way to create art in the style you love!

Where oh Where has the time gone!

2011-04-02T11:25:00.000-04:00

Wow-I have not be loyal to my blog! Busy with too many other things. So many things have been going on around here, some fun, some not so much fun, a few changes outside and a few things inside, BUT nothing really exciting.

The most exciting was when my son and his family came to visit at Christmas and a few weeks ago I was in Florida to visit them, I had a fun trip and love being with my sons and my grandchildren,

Here is a photo of my son and grandsons out in the snow-this was the day after Christmas, the kids were really hoping to have some snow-my oldest grandson had seen snow before, but his little brother never had, they loved being outside in the cold throwing snowballs and making a snowman. I had put in a "special request" for them to have snow, I guess I never gave a cut-off time because after that we had more snow than I can remember living here in Central Jersey. In fact, on April Fool's Day I looked outside and it was snowing!

Outside, just before the Holidays I had the front porch removed and replaced with just steps, at first I was not sure, but when it was all done I love it. I am anxious for warmer weather so I can redo my flower beds - which sadly a section was destroyed by the tractor and part of our lawn! It will be fun to plant new flowers and see how it will come out,.

This is now the front of the house-before there was a very ugly balcony under the center window with ugly pillars and ugly metal handrails. The bricks of the steps were starting to break up and it was time to remove all of it. To the left of the door is where my plantings were "destroyed"-so I will be focused on this area-the snow covered the area of the yard where the grass was torn up, that will be re-seeded once we get warmer weather.

Inside I have moved furniture around, you know how that goes, table from kitchen into dining room, that table into the kitchen, then move the chairs and rearrange end tables and coffee tables in living room-the fun part of owing a home, decorating!

I have not taken any new photos of the inside, all my photos are fronm the holidays, I have my spring-time decor out and as soon as I snap a few pictures I will post them.

Wishing everyone a wonderful day and I hope it is warming up where you are, because here Old Man Winter is enjoying his stay!

Thank you Shelley for the Christmas Greeting!

2010-12-12T10:58:00.000-05:00

Thank you for the Christmas Greeting, which I am using for now as my header photo! So lovely!

A Little Christmas Around Our Home

2010-12-09T22:23:00.001-05:00

Been busy getting the house ready for the holidays. I love this time of year, it just seems magical.

This year my oldest son and my grandson will be spending the holidays with us. Last year my other son and his family were here, if Santa could give me one special gift it would be that we all could be together, Christmas time is extra special with young children around!

So, here are some photos of our Home for the Holidays, I want to wish everyone a very blessed and Merry Christmas and a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year!

Blessing,

Martha

Merry Christmas from our Home to Yours

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God Bless All of our Men and Women Who Serve our Country

2010-11-11T12:19:00.000-05:00

VETERANS DAY 2010

God Bless our Troops! Remember those who gave their life for us!

SLOW DOWN 2010!

2010-11-07T15:23:00.001-05:00

Wow, the day/weeks/months are flying by! I cannot believe it is November already. Last month at this time I was in Florida visiting my sons and their families and in a flash the visit was over and I was back home in New Jersey! I really enjoyed the time spent with my grandkids, they are growing up way too fast as well. My granddaughter just turned 13 and it seems like only yesterday she was born, my oldest grandson will be 11 next month, again, I remember my son and daughter in law calling to let me know they were on there way to the hospital. My sons and their families do not live close by so I have not had the pleasure of watching them grow up, it seems whenever I see them they have gotten taller and older and before I know it they will be young adults!

I am trying to remember what has happened since my last blog post. Not any major changes around the house, well a few, you know how that goes, move a table, move shelf displays, move a chair. . .and when finished start over, if I took a photo each time I moved something or rearranged something I would be replacing my camera every few months because it would be worn out! I did put away all of the Halloween things last week and took out my Thanksgiving turkeys, the rest of the things are the pumpkins and gourds which were out for Halloween, they have held up well, I think I only had to throw out two small gourds, not bad considering I had put them out in early September. I can remember telling hubby I wanted to get my autumn décor up early since I was going away the first week in October!

Oh, my son returned home from wolf and bear country all in one piece! He enjoyed working with the wolves, but his love are the black/brown bears in Minnesota. He said the state of Idaho was very pretty and now he is waiting to hear about a job in Vermont, his and my favorite place in the good ole USofA!

Next month, weather permitting or maybe the end of this month we are having the front steps/overhang and rails removed and new little front porch installed. Looking forward for the end results on that. We were going to wait until Spring, but I did not want my perennials destroyed, so while they sleep the work will be done! This fall we have had the foliage change into such pretty colors, this is the first year in a long time where they leaves changed into their colorful wardrobe, I enjoyed seeing all the colors. We would usually drive up to Vermont and enjoy the colors of the leaves on the drive up, we have not gone for the last two years and I was so happy to have seen the changes here in my neighborhood and along the country roads.

Adding some photos of my Thanksgiving theme decorating; under the dining room table you can see our Pug sunning herself under the table, she sort of looks like a seal! (You click on the photos to see the full album.) I love the large turkey on the dining room table and in the living room on the coffee table you can see a little ceramic turkey my brother had given to our mother, many, many years ago, one of my favorites, I also added the “pull-toy” type turkey in the kitchen on the sideboard. I have a new teeny tiny yellow ware bowl on the last shelf of my old white cabinet in the kitchen, I bought that yesterday while I was out antiquing with my hubby, it was a fun day! Wishing one and all a glorious week!

November

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Simple Treasures

2010-09-26T20:58:00.001-04:00

I really, really wanted to go to the Walker Homestead’s Simple Treasures from the Past show this weekend in Brookfield, Ma. My husband would not have been able to go with me and I did not want to take the 5 hour drive by myself, I have driven up in that area and further, but not alone. I enjoyed viewing all the great photos they posted on their Facebook Page but I know it was not the same as being there. It would have been fun to meet the ladies who created a great new publication, A Primitive Place, which features many great articles and photos of beautiful homes decorated in primitive/Colonial styles (I love this style and love to see homes and how they are decorated, my hobby/passion!) If you want to learn more about the show and this new, hot off the press publication go over and visit The Primitive Place Blog, you will enjoy it if this is your style.

So, I did not get to go, but today I did go with my husband to the local antique mall, not many antiques or primitives, you have to hunt for them, so it is more like a treasure hunt. Well, today I found a treasure, I had seen this little chest before in another shop, but the shop was sold and the dealers moved out, today while looking in the booths I spotted the little chest, I ran, nearly knocking over the items in my path and just stood there admiring it. I was going back and forth in my head, yes buy it, no, yes, no, I called me husband to come over and look. He liked it and said to go for it! I guess he may have been feeling a bit sad for me since I was not able to go to Massachusetts! I found a sales person and made an offer, she said she would call the owner and get right back to me. We stood there waiting and waiting and finally I went to find her, she said she forget about me, she was busy with other customers, I remained polite and asked again about my offer and she told me the owner said YES! Yippee! We had them put it into the car and I could not wait to get home with this little chest of drawers. Then came the fun part, where was I going to put it!

After looking at each room I decided the master bedroom was the perfect spot, next to my side of the bed. With my husband’s help I put it in place. It was heavy and a task getting it upstairs, I think I am getting to old for some of these projects!

I tried different gatherings on the top and settled for what you see in the photo. The drawers are filled with my many decorating books, easy access for reading in bed and a small section of the top drawer holds eyeglasses, tissues, etc. It is a sweet piece, made of yellow pine, it reminds me of an English or Irish style chest of drawers.

I also found a great crock at a great price, a tin can of Old Dutch Cleaner, this went in the main bathroom, I collect old tins related to cleaning and old medicine tins and bottles which were once filled with medicines. I also found, for my husband, a wonderful large glass jar in the shape of a VW! He collects cars and in his den he has a large collection of very old collectible cars, the VW is one of his favorite model cars. It is a precious jar and he loves it.

So, today was, in a way my, my own treasure hunt and I found some great treasures!

You can see my copy of A Primitive Place in my magazine basket! The item on the left of the dresser is a very old carved wooden Lady, she comes apart and you can store items in the base, this belonged to my husband’s aunt. I have also posted a photo of the Old Dutch Cleaners tin can, since I am a clean freak I think the words on the tin describe me to a T!

I hope that you all have had a great weekend. Treasures come in many forms, but in reality the best treasures are your family and friends, all of your loved ones, there is no greater treasure than that!

Mother Nature Did Not get the Memo

2010-09-23T14:10:00.001-04:00

She must have been out with Jack Frost or Old Man Winter, but she certainly was not at her desk to see the pages turn on the calendar and the date say AUTUMN 2010, at least not around here in Central New Jersey anyway. It is and has been hot and humid. I should not complain though, in a couple of weeks I will be heading to Florida to visit my sons and their families for a long weekend while they tour the new Harry Potter Park @ Universal and the adults will also go to the Universal Haunted Halloween Horror Nights! I will be very content that day/evening staying at the hotel with the younger grandchildren doing our thing! So, I guess this hot weather will be in keeping with Florida’s weather.

We did have a few cool days which I spent working in the yard. The squirrels decided to make my sunflowers their dining room and climbed up the stalks to eat the seeds, breaking off the pedals and snapping the stems, so I had to cut them all down and turn them into mulch. I must have angered them because they then went after my pumpkins! They tried gnawing my two Casper pumpkins, but then went on to eat all the small pumpkins and the stems, so that was the end of that! I brought in the two Casper pumpkins which survived and they sit happily upon my kitchen table! They could not take away the memory I have building the raised bed in which to plant them with my grandsons while they were here over the summer.

I have been busy painting inside and moving things around in the living room and kitchen . I moved the black table I had in the living room into the kitchen, painted chairs I had and moved them into the dining room and moved those chairs in the kitchen. I moved the white kitchen table into the family room, a nice little place to sit and play a game or when I am using my notebook computer or even have a little meal.

I hope that everyone has had a wonderful summer and now we have the holidays to look forward too and many, many more happy memories to be made!

Happy Autumn,

Martha

I have included a link to my Picturetrail Autumn Photo Album. Too many updates to list on my blog, I hope you enjoy viewing and thanks for looking!

http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=22885421&uid=11931777

Where Do I Begin

2010-08-24T12:15:00.001-04:00

Where do I begin. . .let’s see, first my precious grandsons went back home on August 19, well not home on that day, their Mommy flew up and we met her at the airport. They flew back to Florida and spent a few days at Universal and Walt Disney World before heading home and back to school. My days seem long! I am slowly adjusting to having free time. I miss them and at times I can still hear them calling me or hearing the younger one shouting, “I’m Hungry” or “Grandmamma, where are you?” and the older one sitting with me watching movies and just talking! I hope to see them again in October when I go to Florida for a very short visit. I will also get to spend a bit of time with my other son and his family! This photo was taken the morning they left, they said good-bye to their pumpkins, the back yard, the ducks and even the fire-pit. Hopefully they took with them many memories because I know that I have many memories of time spent with them!

The boys left on a Thursday and on Friday I had the pleasure of meeting and babysitting my daughter’s best friend’s baby girl! I wrote about the baby shower here! I had forgotten how tiny and precious a new baby is. She is a little doll. This was Mommy’s first chance to bring her over, we were hoping the boys would have had a chance to meet her too, but maybe next summer when she will be running around! Her she is Miss Precious! (not her name) She is on my daughter’s bed posing with Miss Kitty, my daughter has had Miss Kitty since the day she turned 5.

Here is my daughter with Miss Kitty 25 years ago!And here she is today. . .holding that sweet baby girl!

As far as the interior of my home, well over the last weekend I moved furniture around in the bedroom and that is about it for decorating. I must confess that even though I will miss the days of summer and all of my flowers I am looking forward to a change of seasons, SO I took out two redware plates with an autumn themes, one with crows and the other with wheat, I may leave the crows out year round, they just sort of go with my kitchen decor.

One day while the boys were here we went to an antique store, not much to their liking, but they each found a treasure so they were happy. I too found a couple of treasures, I love old cloth dolls and old teddy bears. I found, what I think is a precious and very old bear, my family thinks I am crazy to think he is great, BUT he is! I also found a cloth Japanese doll. Ever since I was a little girl I longed to own a Japanese style doll, I don’t know why, I just thought they were great, so now, a million years later I have one made of cloth! The bear does look sort of scary in this photo, but he is not!

And now I must get going so I leave you with a picture of the view outside my kitchen window. This is why I do not wish that summer fly by, just cooler days and my flowers to last a bit longer. Oh, I almost forgot, I have a Mr. and Mrs. Hummingbird that visits my sunflowers, I took a few photos of them, not too clear because as soon as I got too close they flew away! See Mrs. Hummingbird on the leaf! I have two wonderful stories regarding hummingbirds that one day I will share.

Wishing everyone a wonderful end to the month of August, enjoy the last of summer time, because soon we will be wishing for the warmth of the sun.

Good Bless, Martha

Summer Marches On!

2010-07-29T15:54:00.001-04:00

I guess my blog should be a monthly update! I have been busy with my grandsons here, the days are flying by and we are having fun.

I have been planning projects in my mind as to what I will be doing once they go back home. I am planning on extending my deck flower garden and hope to plant some perennials so next year I can sit back and enjoy watching them bloom. I also have a few fun projects planned for inside and a bit of painting inside too.

We have had a really hot summer which did a job on the grass, I have watered the flowers to keep them looking good and with rain the grass will come back, in fact today we had a nice rain shower which has already helped.

(The following photos show the growth progress of the pumpkins until one day!)

The pumpkins plants were growing like crazy, everyday the vines were getting longer and longer, it is amazing to watch! The vines finally had flowers which made us so excited, because then we would get some pumpkins. One morning I looked outside and standing very close to my deck was a precious little fawn, she looked at me with big brown eyes, I called my grandsons to come and look, she stayed long enough so I could take several photos of her and then she ran off, or so I thought! She stopped along the way to have a little pumpkin vine for breakfast! I had removed the mesh when the plants were getting crowded, I had to replace it and then used a deer repellant, I am hoping they will recover, there are still some plants with buds, so fingers crossed, the boys and I were hoping to grow our own pumpkins, of course they will be back home, but I plan on taking photos for them.

I have never grown sunflowers before and I am happy with how they too have grown. I did not buy the seeds of the large sunflowers, these have a smaller head and the color varies from yellow/orange to pale yellow, I love how they turn to face the sun which makes them face the deck and my kitchen window. Even though this summer has been very hot I do not wish for it to go away too soon, I love sitting outside in the evening and enjoying our yard, I will miss all the flowers when the last bloom fades, but also look forward to another season with new plants.

So, until next time, wishing everyone a happy summer. . .enjoy the days ahead!

Martha

Those Lazy Hazy Days of Summer!

2010-06-28T12:30:00.001-04:00

Wow, the days are flying by! I have been so busy with little time to blog, I try to look at my favorite blogs when I have a spare second. Since I have not blogged in awhile this post will be a jumble!

First, I had the work completed in the upstairs bath and the ceiling repaired in the downstairs half bath. This fall I will have that bath painted. Next project was the deck. When the contractor showed up to being the work he said the entire deck had to be removed and rebuilt. The boards under the deck were in bad shape. Of course, this added a lot of extra $$$ to the job, but in the end, the results were well worth it. I LOVE the new deck, I had the steps moved to the area of the deck which leads directly into the yard, before they were taking you almost into the little deck that comes off the laundry room door. This project took two weeks and he finished two days before my grandsons arrived for their summer visit. My daughter and I hustled to get the yard back in order and while waiting for the deck to be finished she and I painted lawn furniture, shopped for two new umbrellas and I had started flower seeds to be planted and potted the flowers that would be on the deck. Where he had removed grass to make a patio landing for the stairs (which, by the way, are much wider/longer and more of them. . .nice place to sit and watch the kids chase fireflies in the evening!) I was left with a big pile of dirt and rocks. I sorted through the dirt, pulled out the rocks and bought topsoil and made a little cutting flower garden in the area, I love it. I planted the plants which I started from seed and they are growing happily in their new “bed”. I have a row of sun flowers and hope they will bloom before he boys go home in August.

Without my daughter’s help I would never have been able to have it all done in time before the boys arrived. She has even taken over helping me mow, she takes care of the back and I take care of the front! My daughter who once ran away from earth worms is becoming quite the gardener! She tells me pushing the lawn mower is a great way to exercise!

Now my days are filled keeping two little boys entertained, 10 and 7! They help water the gardens and we started a pumpkin patch. They each picked out pumpkin seeds to plant. Yesterday I built a raised bed for them to plant their tiny pumpkin plants in, those seeds grew so fast that I had to have a place to put them! Today off to get more topsoil for them and I may extend my little flower bed next to the deck. We still have patches where the truck and workmen’s tool stomped my grass down, but it is slowly coming back. The boys working on the bed for their pumpkins. It was sooooo very hot on Sunday when we started this project. I thought we would melt! They will not get to see the pumpkins mature, but I promised them photos of their progress. The boys go home in August.

The little pumpkin plants planted, a view of the deck and little flower garden and the deck in the process of being built. We went with the new composite material, I will never have to stain or water proof it again! You can see how much the flowers have in the tiny garden have grown in the full photo of the deck and garden. We are enjoying the summer days on the new deck, we have dinner outside, have been doing a lot of BBQ-ing and the days seem to fly by.

My Girl,mowing the back yard and after, getting ready to go out later that evening, she cleans up nicely!

The end of May my #3 son moved out, he has his own place and he is getting to know his neighbors, he said his job is tiring but he loves it and on his one day off a week he enjoys the beauty of the state he is living in.

A few photos of his new home and one of the neighbors! He is living in Idaho, in a tent and working with wolves! He loves working with wildlife and living in the wilderness, he graduated college last May, a non-traditional student. . .he was the oldest student at the college he attended. After his stay in Idaho he heads to Minnesota to work with bears, this will be his third year of doing that. He and the animals seem to have an understanding and respect for one another! He will then return back to a “house” with indoor plumbing sometime the middle or end of September but his heart will long for what he loves. He hopes to find a full-time job working in his field of wildlife/environmental work. The inside of his “home”. . .I could never, ever live in a tent for a long period of time.

A Neighbor!

Before he left, now I am sure he has a full beard and long hair and dressed in his favorite old pants and flannel shirts which I patch for him because he will NOT throw them out.

As far as the inside goes I have not made any or should I say too many changes! When the warm weather arrives I spend most of my time outside working with my flower gardens and doing stuff around the yard.

So, for now, as I tell my son, Happy Trails, I hope everyone is having a great summer and will have a wonderful July 4th!

Bye for now,

Martha

Treasurers

2010-05-10T22:02:00.001-04:00

For Mother’s Day I went on a treasure hunt, sort of! After I finished what I had to have done around the house I got ready and went to a local antique/junk shop to browse around. My hubby was doing work in the yard, we had so many branches which were broken because of the winds and a large part of a tree fell. The weather went from Spring to Late Fall, the wind the last few days had been so strong and the temperature drop to nearly freezing at night. OK, back to my topic…I wanted to go out and since he was busy I went on my own. I enjoy that because I can take time to look at everything at least a dozen times.

While pulling aside some “junk” I happened to pull a large wooden carved angel, she is only a head and wings. At first I put her down to try to get to the item I wanted to see, but the more I looked at her the more she grew on me, so she had to come and live here. There was something about her that drew me in and I am happy I did buy her, a bargain at $8.00! She now hangs in the front hall above a chest of drawers and some my “heart” items and my beloved tiny teddy bears.

My daughter gave me a beautiful hanging plant and my son gave me a gift card to Home Depot, I love shopping there as much as some women love going to the Mall! I am not a Mall person but can spend hours looking around Home Depot!

I also found a pewter creamer and two pewter candlesticks (I have been on the watch for some for a long time now, at a price I could afford!). I found a bright yellow bowl to add to my bowl collection, the bowl is a much darker yellow than what it looks like in the photo. I also found a small framed silhouette.

After I put my treasures away it was time to fire up the grill and have a cook out. We were not able to eat outside since the wind and temperature were not agreeable, but nevertheless the food was yummy and I had the best company one could ask for, MY FAMILY.

This week I want to do a bit more gardening and we await the start of our new deck. Now, I just need Mother Nature to cooperate around here so my flower beds start to bloom!

Happy Mother’s Day!

2010-05-09T10:50:00.001-04:00

Wishing everyone a very Happy Mother’s Day!

May your day be blessed with sunshine, hugs, laughter and

kisses!

May your hearts be filled with memories that make you smile.

Happy Mother’s Day from Me to You!

The Good/Bad/Ugly!

2010-04-29T10:14:00.001-04:00

I will start with the GOOD . . .A Primitive Place will be publishing its very FIRST publication coming out August 2010! I am really looking forward to this because I know that the women creating this publication will not only put their heart and soul into it but it will be a publication that will cover articles and homes that I am interested in. It is so hard today to find a magazine totally devoted to publishing photos of homes and articles that are related to the colonial/early American and primitive style that so many of us love! Take a moment and go visit there home page to read more about it. I am looking forward to the first issue! Just click on the above sentence and take a little trip to visit.

Here is the cover of the first issue, doesn’t that make you want to subscribe today! You can also visit the wonderful blog with so many fun and inspiring post. Go ahead and take a peek, you will be happy you did! Just click on the last sentence and it will take you there!

Now for the BAD. . .well, in the end it will be a good thing, just that I do not deal well with confusion. Today the workmen are here redoing the main bathroom upstairs. New tiles/tub/fixtures, keeping the original vanity, which I plan on painting down the road in the very near future. Anyway, I do not deal well with workers in my home, the in/out, sawing/hammers/drills/dirt/all the mess and confusion which brings me to the UGLY. . .the bathroom was showing her age and like almost all old things it looked worn out (exception here, please note-antiques and well worn items like pewter and redware/crocks/old bowls/quilts and many more are not part of this equation, with age they are more and more beautiful. . .wish I could say the same about me!) Anyways, the bathroom was failing and then a pipe started to leak and now there is damage on the ceiling in the half bath downstairs! The ceiling needs to be removed (part of it) and repaired and then the dreadful job of painting it, I do not enjoy painting ceilings! So, to add to the UGLY, the half bath ceiling looks awful and I dread the moment today when they cut it out! I do not deal well with a BIG MESS! The men are well aware of my hang-ups and reassured me they will do whatever it takes to keep the mess under control.

I am really looking forward to when I can get my home back in order and enjoy the new bathroom (well. . .I do not use that bathroom it is family, my two sons and daughter). For me it will be organizing it all starting with cleaning and then decorating it again!

Later this morning I want to go out and plant my flower seeds to get them started, it has been so cold here lately, but will be warming up for the weekend. I want the plants to get started so AFTER the new deck is built in a few weeks they should be big enough to plant once that job is complete. I do not want my little seedlings to be trampled upon!

We are going with the new composite material that will never need painting. . .another job I did not enjoy doing, painting the deck. I just have to decide on a color, I keep changing my mind but need to decide by the end of today!For fun I am sharing this farm house print that hangs in my dining room, I love prints that relate to farms and farm living, it takes me back to my roots growing up on a farm in upstate New York. (I think if you click on the photo you can enlarge it.) I loved living on that farm and have such great memories of spending summer vacation just being outside in my own private playground! I have been collecting the little bisque people and animals for a few years, I have found them here and there but I love how the relate to the print. I had many more, they were once displayed on a wall shelf that came crashing down and many were broken beyond repair! I learned a valuable lesson back then, shelves cannot be hung with itty-bitty nails, the size of a straight pin!

May your day be filled with sunshine and happy memories of your childhood and new memories in the making!

Blessing,

Martha

Rag Doll Caper. . .

2010-04-26T10:08:00.001-04:00

Saturday was my daughter’s best friend’s surprise baby shower. As we all know months go into planning any surprise event. All the plans were finalized except for one, how to get her there without her knowing that she was going to a surprise baby shower.

When she came over to visit about a month ago my daughter and I started a story of how I was going to show my Raggedy Ann dolls to a woman who was interested in purchasing them. Just a casual conversation and that was the end of that.

Last week she came over and I showed her a finished doll (the one above) and told her that Saturday I was going to meet the woman for lunch, blah, blah and blah. She listened and said that would should be fun for me. On Friday night my daughter sent her a text message saying I did not want to drive there by myself since it was an unfamiliar area for me. My daughter said since it was going to be near where she worked maybe she could join us for lunch. Her boss was in on the plan along with a co-worker. The mommy to be works at the hospital where her baby will be born come June!

We had to get to the restaurant early to help set up (my daughter was in charge of making the flower arrangements. . .they were so sweet!) This photo does not do them justice, the flowers were a variety of pinks with a branch that had a tiny bird’s nest and bird. The baby’s room is going to be pink/browns and the bedding as flowers and branches with birds. Very sweet! After the banquet room was ready my daughter and I headed to the hospital to pick her up (there were many text messages back and forth-she did not want to go-had errands to run, etc. etc.) We finally convinced her to come with us and it would be only about 1 1/2 hours. I had my doll in the back seat and kept chatting about doll related things.

She was so surprised when we walked in and everyone shouted SURPRISE. . .she cried and said she had no idea she was going to her baby shower, she thought maybe it was going to be in May.

I was happy that my Rag Doll and I were able to be part of the surprise!

The weather was picture perfect and the day was super special. She received many, many adorable gifts. They have the cutest baby girl clothes out now, I think new Mommy will be changing baby’s outfits at least 5 times a day so she can wear all the new clothes she was given before she out grows them!

Mommy to be and my daughter!

Hello

2010-04-22T14:37:00.001-04:00

Again it seems as if time has flown by! I cannot believe it has been a month since my daughter and I went to Florida! We stayed beach front at Siesta Key Beach, the views from the living room windows were breathtaking. The sky, surf, sand and all that the area had to offer made the trip special, BUT what made it the most special of all was spending time with my sons and their families. The grandkids had sleepovers at the cottage. We celebrated my oldest son’s youngest son’s birthday with a cook-out and then a cookie cake! We even had an Easter egg hunt before we left since we were heading home on Good Friday. I miss them all dearly.

We had a lot of fun, but then we had to come back to the real world.

I have been busy with projects around the house, I painted the master bedroom. It was a green that was supposed to be Sage green, but the shade never made me happy. I lived with it for five years and felt it was time for a makeover. My husband had gone to Washington, DC for business so that was the perfect time for me to take on this project. It is now a soft brown which seems to change colors depending on the time of day, it is called Basketry. I love it, later I am going to have crown molding install. (Much Later. . .in a few weeks we are going to have a new deck built and changes to the front porch). It is hard to tell the color in this photo with the sun the room looks different shades of soft brown/tan and in the evening it is a nice warm color beige. I now can change out the quilts on the bed and give the room a different look, I need to take a better photo. The colors in the quilt are darker than this photo, it is red/grey blue/yellow gold and cream.

Our pug became ill. She was so sick and had to stay at the vets. I am happy to say that now she is doing so much better and I pray that she never has to go there again for illness.

I also managed to make one, only one Raggedy Ann doll (you can see here on my header) and I have another one started, she is waiting for her arms and legs.

It seems to be feast or famine when it comes to me posting on my blog. I bought a little HP notebook computer which is fun to use and I can drag it with me, hopefully now I will be able to keep my blog updated better! Until next time, God Bless and happy days to one and all!

Martha

Warm Easter Wishes

2010-04-04T13:24:00.001-04:00

Happy Easter Wishes to my family and friends

from our home to yours!

Lost in Time

2010-03-10T20:00:00.001-05:00

Wow! I have been lost in time there for awhile! Times have been worrisome around here. . .seems 2010 has brought health problems to our family, but with the grace of God I know all will be well. So, I had taken time away from blogging but I did catch up on a few blogs that are like medicine for the soul!

No major projects around here either. Well, maybe a couple, but nothing out of this world. I did get a new kitchen island, the one I had was a make-do, so to speak, it was really a sweet little garden cart, which now will be used for what it was intended. You can check out my Make Do Island here. My new island is the real deal, I had seen it a few weeks ago and left it in the store, I really liked it and felt it would work great for what I/we needed so I went back with my daughter and purchased it. First we had to shovel our way out of the driveway and hoped that the plows had cleared the roads, which they had. Nothing like two “women” on a mission! She agreed to go with me if after I took her to have her new eye glasses adjusted and she could do a bit of shopping. Of course, once we came home it was the game of musical furniture, I had to move things around and then comes the cleanup, but it was worth it. Last weekend my husband and I took a little drive to the town of Chester, there I bought a bench/table for the family room. The lid lifts up for storage. It will work great when I have my grandsons this summer, they can store games and toys in it.

In two weeks my daughter and I are going to visit the sons/brothers/niece/nephew/granddaughter/grandsons in Florida. We have rented a cottage on Siesta Key beach which is a hop/skip/and jump from where my two sons live in Sarasota. I cannot wait to see everyone again.

I am also going to paint the master bedroom when I get back and then we are having the main bathroom redone so that will be keeping me busy for awhile. This is my new island, of course the display on the top has changed at least 100 times. I am also going to show a photo of how my kitchen looked 2 years ago, I am so happy when we had it done I went with white cabinets!

Hearts

2010-01-25T15:17:00.001-05:00

I am not one to decorate for Valentine’s Day or so I thought! Yes, I love to decorate for Fall, Halloween, Thanksgiving and of course Christmas, but not Valentine’s Day.

So, onto my subject of Hearts ♥ and decorating for Valentine’s Day. Yesterday while shopping I bought a package of red glass hearts, with the intention of saving them to use on my feather tree for next Christmas. After looking at them I decided to put them on my white feather tree and placed it in the front hall with my little antique looking bears making a sweet vignette. After that I started to organize the corner china cabinet in the living room, I opened a box which had little polka-dot candle hearts and some splashy red hearts that light up! OK, so I decided that I would put them into a heart shaped basket I had put away and put them into the family room. . .then I found a heart shaped wooden dish and well, it all just took off! I then started to look around my home to see how many places there are “hearts” which are out year round. I found them in stitchery's, my little bears each had a heart, one is wearing a heart shaped locket and the other holds a heart made from an old quilt, I have a angel that stays out year round and she is holding hearts made from another old quilt, I found game boards with hearts, hearts made from buttons, a brass heart shaped candle holder, metal cookie cutter hearts and molds, a glass heart shaped dish filled with. . .Candy Hearts!, a little rock shaped like a heart that was found while walking, a tiny glass heart my hubby gave me years ago, which I keep both in a tiny little wagon with locks of my grandsons hair from their first haircuts. I found lots and lots of heart shaped items; on calendar pages and in pictures. So, maybe I do not really decorate for Valentine’s Day, I have to admit my home is filled with Hearts!

And, I do not want to leave out my Raggedy Ann dolls which I make (lately when time allows)with their special hearts and my Raggedy Ann and Andy story books and one of my favorites being Raggedy Ann♥s Candy Heart Wisdom filled with precious sayings. . .from the works of Johnny Gruelle. I used one of the sayings on the photo of my Raggedy Ann I made years ago.

Do you decorate for Valentine’s Day. . .how many heart objects are in your home? Here are a few of the Heart shaped items I found. And let’s not forget the saying. . .

HOME IS WHERE THE ♥ IS!

“When love fills our hearts happiness is everylasting”

Sharing my holiday gifts.

2010-01-12T12:43:00.001-05:00

This is a little late, days continue to fly by, but in my last post I said I would share my Christmas gifts. The best, of course was the visit with my son and his family, nothing will top that!

My daughter gave me a sweet miniature tea set in pewter, it is child size and I love it. She also gave me a fabric Pug Dog, I have been wanting this little guy forever! I also received from her a teeny-tiny ABC pewter doll plate. I love all things related to dolls in miniature.

My hubby gave me two more game boards, which I hung in the kitchen over the sideboard. I love wooden bowls and he added 3 more to my collection. I also received a new dining room table, but this was a few days before my son arrived, I wanted a larger table so we all could gather around to eat. One of my favorite gifts from him was a corner cabinet for my dining room, I LOVE IT! And last, but not least a gift card to an antique shop where I found a little Putz sheep a wooden masher and small rolling pin. . .I am working the balance down to zero now!

My #3 son gave me a hand carved wooden spoon made by a student where he went to college. I received two reproduction colonial style dolls which I have admired for some time as well. I was also given a new nightgown and slippers.

With Christmas now a memory I have been busy moving things around the house to make room for my new treasures and putting away things that I will no longer be displaying, I put it in storage in our basement, I am not ready yet to sell or give it away. My upcoming project will be to paint the dining room chairs black and maybe one day way down the road replace them with ladder back chairs in black or windsor chairs.

Masher and small rolling pin in new wooden bowl.

The board above the shelf and the one in the right are new. I had the black/gold one for years and the one on the left for a few years.

I also moved the furniture in the living room around. . .the blanket chest is now where the sofa was and the sofa where the chest was. In front of the window is my “other” dining room table, which I moved into the living room. It makes a cozy spot to drink coffee and look at my decorating books or CS Magazines! All of this leads to spackle and paint and for now this is how it will remain, how long is for now, only time will tell!

But the very, very best gift was when my little grandson drew me a picture on a paper-plate and faces on two little white pumpkins I had saved from my fall decor. . .these gifts and memories are priceless!

Happy New Year!

2010-01-01T19:38:00.001-05:00

Happy 2010! Wow, where did 2009 go, it seems like just yesterday it was 2009. I remember thinking about all the plans I had for 2009 and they all seem as if they just happened yesterday. Christmas flew in and out just as quickly and now we shout out Happy New Year and welcome 2010!

My Christmas was so special this year. My son and his family flew in from Florida. There is nothing more special than having young ones/little ones around during the holidays. I spent more time watching the goings-on and did not take very many photos, but the memories are printed deep in my mind. I hope that I can have this again along with my other son and his family, maybe I can wish hard enough and it will happen. I did wish that my granddaughter would have snow for Christmas and that wish was granted, she really enjoyed playing in the snow, a Sunshine State girl loving the cold winter winds!

It was fun having more family around. The day after Christmas they went with my daughter and her boyfriend to NYC to see the tree and all the sites and sounds of the holidays that NYC has to offer. It was a cold/wet day, but they enjoyed seeing the sites. They took my granddaughter, who is quite the artist, to the MOMA to see the art work. Maybe one day she too will have her work exhibited!

A few photos of my special Christmas 2009. Next time I post I will share with you my wonderful gifts, but none will ever be as special as the gift of family. Happy 2010 one and all!

Little Welcome gifts the day they arrived.

Decorating Christmas Cookies!

Opening his stocking!

Opening her stocking!

And laying his finger aside of his nose and giving a nod up the chimney he rose, and I heard him exclaim as he drove out of site, Happy Christmas to ALL and a Happy New Year from our home to yours!

I promised my grand ♥ children I was going to try and get a picture of Santa going up the chimney after leaving gifts!

Winter Wonderland

2009-12-20T15:10:00.001-05:00

Welcome to my Winter Wonderland. . .I hope it will last through Christmas. This has been my Christmas wish since the beginning of December. . .SNOW. . .cold/white/Christmas Snow for my granddaughter who will be arriving on Tuesday with her little brother and of course Mommy and Daddy (my youngest son). They live in Florida and my granddaughter has been wanting a white Christmas for sometime now, our New Jersey snow arrived a bit early, but I will take it and hopefully by Tuesday there will be enough left for her and her little brother to play in.

To all my family in Florida, especially my oldest son, his wife and my two grandsons. . .with all my heart I wish you a very Merry Christmas . . .we will be miles apart. . .but not in my heart!

♥♥♥♥

Enjoy the pictures of our snow! After helping my husband shovel we made a little snowperson to greet my family when they arrive on Tuesday. My fingers are crossed in my warm woolen mittens that the snow remains for a little while longer!

Wishing Everyone

a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! Martha and Family

A Little Gift of Thanks

2009-12-15T21:52:00.001-05:00

I know that everyone is very busy this time of year getting ready for the big day, but let’s take a minute and send someone a gift of thanks, our service men and women. We are so blessed to be able to spend time with family and friends while they make so many sacrifices for us. So, take a moment and visit here to say thank you for all you do! This is being sponsored by Xerox.

Let Us Rejoice at Christmas and give Thanks as well!

Christmas arrived early for me!

2009-12-13T19:06:00.001-05:00

You would think that if one spent 3, almost 4 full days to decorate their home for Christmas that once it was finished and everything put away neat and tidy that one would sit down and enjoy the time it took to make their home special. Well, not this one, ME. . .I thought I had everything the way I wanted it, took pictures, put them in my Webshots Christmas 2009 Album and then decided that I wanted my Christmas gift early, and my wish was granted, but in the process we had to move 3 HEAVY pieces of furniture.

My wish was for the blanket chest that was in my husband’s den/office to be moved downstairs. My hubby is a big collector of Matchbox Cars and baseball cards. He has wonderful displays in his den, they are all behind glass doors and fun to look out. He was using the blanket chest to store extra stuff, but on top of the chest was a big car display, so it made it really difficult for him if he needed something from the top portion of the chest. In the front hall I had an antique cherry dresser that was a gift, it is very old and I would never, nor could ever part with it, it is a treasure because of who gave it to me. I told my husband that I wanted the blanket chest as my gift for Christmas, all he had to do was help me move it into the living room. Sounds easy, right. . .NOT. First we removed the drawers for both pieces, and they were filled with his things and the antique dresser was filled with all of the family photo albums. It was quite a job to carry the old dresser up stairs, but somehow we managed to do it and put it into the master bedroom, out of the way. After catching our breath it was time to move the blanket chest downstairs. We were maybe 3 steps down and the top came open, even though we had taped it shut, it was a difficult piece to grab hold of, there really was no place to hold onto it, hubby could no longer hold onto it and I was on the bottom and did my best trying to stop it from flying down the stairs, hurting me and the house in the process. Thank goodness my son was home, I called out to him several times before he heard me and came running, with his help we barely managed to move it down the rest of the way. When I think back we could have had a major disaster with the walls and stairs or injuries!

Then came the long process of going up/down the stairs with drawers and the contents being put away. I then had to move the small chest which I had in the living room to the front hall and placed the blanket chest where that was. This little project took an entire day! My husband said if I was not happy with my “gift”, too bad, because he was never going to move it again, well he does not have to worry about that because I am very happy to have it where I can see and enjoy it everyday, and it is a great place now for me to store the family photo albums! (I always thought it was too nice of a piece to be hidden up stairs.)

And after all of this was finished I did more tweaking, I redid the arrangement on the kitchen table. I had an old bucket that I had put my pine cuttings in and when I had used what I needed the bucket look rather neat with the greens in it, I had some pinecones I had gathered from the yard and it became my kitchen table center piece. You can see the photo in my header. I also rearranged a few more small things and finished my little Santa I was working on. Now, or should I say for now, things will stay as is!

Ho Ho Ho * * * Where Did I Go!

2009-12-01T16:14:00.001-05:00

Wow! I cannot believe that I have not updated with a new blog post since before I went away in October! The days and months are going by way to fast for me!

I had a great visit in Florida with my sons and their families. Walt Disney World can be very tiring, but so much fun when you are spending your time with your favorite little people, my grandchildren. I have so many great memories of time spent with them. On a sad note my oldest grandson became ill and had to spend an entire day in bed, it broke my heart, he is such a sweetheart and it made me sad to be a a park with his brother and his little cousin knowing he could not be with us. He was able to make it to the downtown Disney Trick or Treating, but I knew he was not feeling 100% so we all went back to the our rooms early. Downtown Disney was packed too! There were areas where you could barely move. We did see some awesome costumes. My Daughter-in-Law Leslie made the costumes for her family, I nearly died laughing when I saw my son! She is so creative and clever when it comes to doing something artistic! My Daughter-in-Law Katherine was a “scary-doll”, but I thought she looked precious! It all seems so long ago now!

After I got back home I was busy moving things around the house. I decide to move my computer out of the family room into the large cabinet that once belonged to my mom. I wanted to have more room in the family room for the holidays because my son will be here this year. Of course, we all know that once you move something one things lead to another, like having to paint the walls once I removed the pictures and then did the trim and so it goes on and on. My computer now lives in the living room, we never use this room and it is my favorite room in the house. Now I call it “MY ROOM”, and when I am not using the computer I shut the doors and I do not have to look at all the computer stuff! I moved the table I was using for my computer into the kitchen and moved my sideboard near the sink area and I am now using it for an island! I love it and I now have extra room at the table to place buffet meals or when my grandchildren are here extra room to sit and eat!

We had a very quiet Thanksgiving. I did not cook nearly as much food as in past years because there were fewer of us here to eat. It was still a yummy meal, I think, and since there are no leftovers I would have to say others thought the same.

Friday and Saturday I spent “decking the halls”, I still have a bit of tweaking to do here and there. But I am finished decorating for Christmas. This year I made a special tree for when my grandchildren are here, more childlike and whimsical and put all my old cloth Santa Clauses in there. I also used decorations that will not break easily, this will allow my 3 year old grandson to be a little boy and we will not have to worry about something breaking or him getting hurt. I have a small tree in the dining room by the front window and a larger tree (but not too big) in the living room. I have a tiny little tree on my kitchen counter. . .I love this little tree and added two vintage snowmen candles next to it. There are so cute.

Here are a few pictures of my Christmas Decor. I will add more later and I also want to move my photos into my Webshots account later! So, enjoy the tour of my Home for the Holidays!

At Last

2009-10-26T22:03:00.001-04:00

I have finally found the time to list my Raggedy Ann doll and my pumpkin doll on ebay this evening! It has been a very long time since I have listed dolls, so here's hoping they get a bid, my daughter has dibs on the pumpkin gal, she loves her and especially the owl I made to go along with her.

My final post for now, leaving on Thursday to spend time with my family at Walt Disney World, we will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside. I cannot wait to see my grandchildren and of course my sons and my daughters-in-law.

Happy and Safe Halloween.

Enjoy handing out candy to the Trick or Treaters or taking your little ones out to go Trick or Treating!

OMG-Two Posts in one day!

2009-10-24T14:52:00.001-04:00

Look at what I got today! Two Watts bowls marked 6 & 7, a small yellow ware bowl, a blue bowl, a two tone jug, a very large Ironstone bowl and a bowl with blue/white band. . .Yellow Ware??? And crock with a number 4 and the dark blue design, which for the life of me right now, I forget what it is called!

My neighbor is moving and she stopped by the other day to let me know that she may have some things I may want. I stopped over on my way to the grocery store and told her I would be back after shopping. When I arrived the “junk” haulers were there. I made a bee-line for the stuff in the photo! I looked in the truck and there was some really great things, or were great, the haulers had broken the furniture into pieces, there were chairs and a couple of tables and a hutch, that now was firewood! My heart sank when they took an axe to a beautiful antique chest, I had to leave, it upset me so. I told her to wait and if I could find a place to store the stuff I would, but it was too late! I understand that she wants to pack up and move on, BUT, I wish she had waited before having really good things broken to fit into a dump truck. I came home really upset. . .and who knows what was under the stuff in the truck! Oh, and I picked up a nice quilt that is now being soaked and washed!

I was so upset, I came home and did this: Yes sir, I hate HALF of a coconut custard pie, of course now I am upset about that, but at the time it seemed to take away the image of the man with the axe chopping up that trunk. . .now we know why some things are so collectible! I just had to share. . .Oh, if anyone knows the name of the crock, please let me know, I cannot remember at all!

Autumn Splendor-Harvest Queen

2009-10-24T08:05:00.001-04:00

I have been having fun working on some dolls. I made a tiny Raggedy Ann doll, it seems like ages since I made a doll. Then for fun I made a pumpkin head doll, Ms. Autumn Splendor-Harvest Queen. She was fun to make. Her head has been painted and sanded, her little arms are sticks, I have to say she looks cuter in person, now I know why she did not win “Ms. Photogenic”! I do not use patterns for my dolls, they sort of create themselves. She is plump like a little pumpkin and is proud to wear her crown and her “ribbon” announcing she won Harvest Queen, 2009. I also made the little Owl, he is her very best friend and his name is Hoot (pretty clever, uh?).

I am hoping to list her along with two Raggedy Ann dolls on ebay today. Fingers XXXXX I can get to it.

I hope all you ladies out there feel like a Queen everyday and are enjoying all the beauty Autumn has to offer. Yesterday I enjoyed the sound of leaves crunching under my feet as I mowed the lawn and did some raking! Happy Weekend, enjoy,

Martha

Oh bittersweet Bittersweet!

2009-10-20T21:58:00.001-04:00

A few post back I had mentioned that I was unable to find “real” bittersweet, I have a few branches of the fake kind, which looks really realistic, but I wanted to have some of the real stuff.

My daughter is a floral designer and the other day she came home from work with a large bundle of it! She did not know if she was going to be able to find some, but she did. I was so excited, like a child on Christmas morning!

I put the cellophane wrapped bundle on the dining room table, trying to remove it with damaging the stems with the beautiful bright orange berries and bright yellow casings. The entire time my daughter kept saying, “you better do this outside”. . .once I tore the wrapping of I knew why, the berries and the yellow casings and dried leaves went all over the table and floor. This stuff is beautiful, it just screams out AUTUNM. . .but it is certainly messy to work with. I had a lot of fun sticking the branches here and there throughout the house.

I really love how it looks, but I do not like the mess it makes when you decide you are going to move it from one place to another. The worse was when our Pug found some of the berries and was trying to eat them, luckily we got them out of her mouth. I read and was told that it can be very harmful if ingested. The above photo was the one arrangement she decided to snack on, I have since move it up high. Next year I will be better prepared if she can get me more. I am in love with bittersweet, its beauty out shines the mess it can make.

I now have tiny and large branches of bittersweet all around my home!

May you never have too many bittersweet moments!

Martha

Gravestones

2009-10-06T13:02:00.001-04:00

Since Halloween is just around the corner I thought I would post some pictures of Gravestones and Cemeteries! I like to look at the simplicity and shapes of the very old gravestones. Many of these are like a bold art statement, in fact hanging cupboards have been designed around the shape of a headstone or tombstone, as some call them.

I always say a prayer for the souls resting there and wonder about who they were and what their life was like. I ask myself will some stranger one day stop by and look upon my gravestone and wonder about me!

Gravestones and cemeteries are not a pleasant thought, but it is a fact of life. The images are often associated with Halloween and scary/spooky thoughts but I see them as a place of peace. Of course you will never catch me waking around a cemetery at night! I tried that once; this was in a very old cemetery on the campus of where my son was going to school, the moon was full and it was right above the cemetery, the image was hauntingly beautiful and I was hoping to capture it on my camera, sad to say I did get a good photo (see below). I told my son I was going across the road to take a picture of the moon, I guess it took me longer than I thought and I kept going deeper and deeper into the cemetery. I then heard a voice calling my name and jumped and almost fell and I was scared! I then realized it was my son who had come looking for me! My photo was a blur, but I will always remember how it looked in my mind!

You can go here to read about a Black Cemetery in Lamington, New Jersey, it is on the National Register of Historic Places. I found it very interesting and did not know that this historic cemetery existed so close to where I live. We learned about it while visiting an antique/gift shop.

And, what about vultures! Now they are really scary and so appropriate for Halloween, these two guys paid us a visit last year. I had no idea they were as big as they are, this picture does not show their true size. Now they are scary and ugly!

This year I will be spending Halloween in a fun and magical place with my grandchildren and my sons, my daughter, my daughters-in-law and my daughter’s boyfriend. The only thing I will have to be afraid of will be overspending. . .we will be going to Walt Disney World! My husband will be staying home to take care of our Pug, he said he will enjoy watching the games and relaxing! I am looking forward to being with kids and their families if only for a few short days.

Fall is around the corner

2009-09-15T11:13:00.001-04:00

Fall is just around the corner. Many of us are waiting anxiously for the pumpkins, autumn leaves and the sites and smells that autumn brings. Yes, even Santa waits for this time, he said for him it is the calm before the storm and he enjoys painting pumpkins and enjoying fall just like the rest of us! We had the pleasure of chatting with the Jolly Ole Elf himself a few years ago on a visit up North! I had my photo taken with him, but I will spare you!

I did a bit of decorating around my home and will share a few photos of what I have done. The dining room day and night and a few photos of my sideboard in the kitchen. I have done a bit more in other rooms and I will share those after I take some photos. I will be adding more Halloween things later on. I could not wait to add some of the Halloween things on the sideboard! I love the little sampler on the shelf, it reads:

We gather together

to watch the sky

as the Harvest Moon goes dancing by.

There is a little cat and some pumpkins with vines.

That’s all for now!

Happy Birthday to my Little Girl!

2009-09-12T22:50:00.001-04:00

Happy Birthday to my “Little Girl”

Happy Birthday dearest Laura!

Born September 13, 1980

I have four sons whom I love dearly but my heart longed for a daughter. On September 13, 1980 my prayers were answered. I will never forget hearing the doctor say, “It’s a girl” and I kept asking “a WHAT”. When I saw her I thought she looked just like my second son when he was born. She was not a tiny little delicate baby girl, her nose was pushed to the side, she had a squinted eye and looked like a boxer! Having four sons I could not wait to dress her in dresses, that lasted until she was about 3 1/2 and after that she wanted to dress herself in her brother’s clothing! It was worse when she made up her own fashions, I only wish I had pictures of them! Whenever I could I would “dress her up”. I would get the strangest looks when we went out but she was not going to let me change her clothes. My little tomboy grew and each year she grew more and more beautiful. I am very proud of my little girl, she has worked hard to achieve her goals and like most mother/daughters we have our moments but I could not wish for anyone more special than my daughter!

Happy Birthday Laura, I love you!

And even today she rarely dresses up, she loves to wear her old grey sweatshirt! For fun I dressed her like Snow White, wait until she sees this! He nephew said he wanted her to dress like a princess for Halloween when we go to Walt Disney World. . . yeah, that will be my excuse for putting her face in a hole and making her into a princess!

Remember

2009-09-11T10:57:00.001-04:00

Remember those whose lives were taken and those whose lives were forever changed on this day!

The photo below was taken by my son’s friend, he was there that day.

Fruit Salad Anyone?

2009-09-05T18:28:00.001-04:00

Today my hubby and I went to the local “antique-shops”, I called them more or less Grandma’s Attic, but every so often you can find something special. Today was my lucky day. I found more stone fruit at a very cheap price, *tada*, $1.00 each, yes, I said $1.00 each for a grand total of $5.00. I have seen stone fruit being sold anywhere from $10.00 for one piece all the way to near $100.00 for a piece. I had a few pieces, the strawberries were given to me, I found the green grapes in a junk shop the light green pear was a gift . Today I found purple grapes, a banana, a peach, a nectarine and a dark green pear, or at least I think it is a pear. They are all in great shape, the dark green pear does have a tiny chip on the top, very small and for the price I was not going to leave it there. Now they have been washed and are happily displayed in my vintage black and white transfer ware bowl. I love how they blend in with my fruit prints, another great find for $1.00 each. I found these months ago on another little antique trip we took. With a little bit of old fashion elbow grease on the frames and washing the glass they came out precious. I guess my style of decorating is Cheapy–Cheap Roadside Chic!

Wishing everyone a very happy Saturday!

I wanted my blog to be a warm and fuzzy place, but sometimes well. . .

2009-09-04T18:56:00.001-04:00

you need a place to express yourself or VENT. . .so this is what I am about to do! I honestly do not understand why there is such an uproar over the President of the United States speaking to the children returning back to school. Some of the posts and news reports I have read or seen make me wonder why! My take on this is that those who are objecting and saying they will take their children out of school, etc. etc. yadayadayada. . .are basically teaching their child(ren) to behave like bullies or sore losers. They are teaching them that even if you do not agree 100% with someone the way to deal with it is with name calling and making up things to support your beliefs. Or, if I may be frank, LIE I also see it that they are teaching their child(ren) disrespect for the president which in turns shows disrespect for all authority. . .I do not like your views therefore I will not listen/partake/discuss. Other presidents have given pep talks to students on returning to school, what is wrong in saying study, try your best, work hard, be all that you can be! Isn’t that what we want our children to hear, isn’t that what we tell our children? I think there might have been a few things in the worksheet that the children were going to ask to do could have been worded differently, but all in all to have your child hear the president speak to you should be, in my opinion, an honor. I remember my children being asked to write a letter to them self about their goals, dreams and hopes for their future. After graduation these were mailed back to them. . .an eye opener indeed. . .!

I remember being in Jr. High when J.F. Kennedy was running for president of the United States. In our social studies class we were asked to bring in articles from the newspaper (no internet back in those days!)or to watch the nightly news so we could discuss both candidates. On Election day we had a chance to VOTE, our ballots were dropped into a make-shift ballot box. I voted for Kennedy, when asked why I still remember my answer. . .I liked his accent, his hair, I thought he looked like my brother and I loved the clothes that Jackie wore. . .was this a good answer. . .at my age it was an honest answer. That is what I took away from all the pre-election up to the election day discussions in my class. Did my parents ever say to me you must not take part in this discussion, no. . .their attitude was that we were going to school to learn, to be given a chance to discuss other points of view in a civil manner. Was this a life changing experience for me, was I harmed by our discussions, NO! I was more influenced on the day our president was assassinated, my young mind filled with questions as to WHY and I along with classmates turned to our teachers and parents to help us understand. I still to this day do not understand hate and violence, and I wonder will it ever end! Or is there still a buried feeling of resentment toward people who are not just like US!

We may not all agree with the views of everyone all the time, but I for one want for my children and grandchildren to have the opportunity to be able to look at the world and the people who make it up and be able to discuss things intelligently and with knowledge. I never wanted my children to be bullies, to show disrespect to their elders and people with authority or have the attitude that if you do not play my way, well you cannot play at all. I wanted for them and for my grandchildren to show compassion toward all and have an open mind to discuss matters without getting angry and to keep an open mind. Pulling your children out of school because the president is going to speak to them in my opinion is pretty silly and setting a bad example. I can just see the day when the teacher sends home a note saying the class will be doing such and such and little Johnny or Mary refuse to go to school because this is not to their liking. . .just my thoughts.

Look What I Did!

2009-08-26T14:52:00.001-04:00

I want to get back to working on dolls, the last time I used my sewing machine was when my grandsons were visiting me. My younger grandson wanted me to make his stuffed animal a jacket to wear! Oh yes, then made a dress for a Raggedy Ann doll and now my machine sits and waits. . . .I have stuff cut out and waiting but I cannot seem to get truly motivated. Yesterday I thought I would sit down and stay focused, no, I did not start a doll nor did I finish one poor doll who is still waiting for her bloomers, instead I made a crow pin keep.

I had the box so I covered it with Thimbleberries flannel fabric, sealed it and then sanded it
I made the crow from black wool and the back of his wings are gray/black/white check wool
He sits upon a little pin cushion I made from a piece of coordinating Thimbleberries homespun fabric
The interior is painted in raw sienna and raw umber, shades of brown and gold and then sealed

And I love it! Primitive in style, fun and useful, I may keep it or sell it, I shall decide later, this was so much fun to create. I do not use patterns when I make my dolls or for that matter anything I make, I seem to have a hard time following a pattern and for me it takes the fun creative part out of it.

OK, now, I must work on dolls, after I finish with. . .? Still waiting for motivation!

♥♥♥♥

Just learned about this sad news.

2009-08-24T21:54:00.000-04:00

I enjoy so many blogs and picturetrails, for me it is like visiting a friend. Many, many of you have inspired me with your photos of your homes and your words. Tonight I was "visiting" a picturetrail album and learned that Ruth Rochelle of Primitivehomeplace passed away. Those of you who visit her picturetrail or knew her must have known this already, it was shocking for me to read this. This news made me stop and realize how fragile life is and to enjoy everyday with all that we have, our families, friends, homes everyone and everything that becomes a part of who we are. I did not "know" her, but felt as though I did, she seemed to be such a loving person. I believe her home was also in Country Sampler.

Textures around the home

2009-08-22T12:21:00.000-04:00

Jennifer at Taylor’s Farm House Attic had joined in the fun of showing different textures around the home, she did her post after reading Carolyn’s blog at Primitive Devotion. I thought it would be fun to play along!

I have some photos of different objects around my home to share. One of my most favorite is what I call my nature display, I have pinecones that are very special, one is from my husband when he went to Florida to visit friends many years ago, another pine cone is one that my son brought home to me from a stop he had in Oregon, another was given to me by my precious granddaughter when she was about 3, one I found in Seattle when I first went there to meet my first ♥ born grandson, this was almost 10 years ago! The others were given to me by my grandchildren at different times. The Robin’s egg I found when my grandsons were here and my husband found a nest when he was walking our little pug. The gourd was a gift from my grandchildren when we were in Vermont last summer, they found it and gave it to me. These are my most precious little treasures. I also treasure a fabric covered box filled with yarn that my son took from sheep to spinning into yarn in a fibers class he took in college; the old darners belonged to my mother. The glass paper-weight belonged to my dad. The squirrel once belonged to my mother, it was a gift I had given her many, many years ago. She had a squirrel that would come to her when she called him, she had named him “Little Pip” so for Christmas I had given her a squirrel to display year round, that was over twenty years ago! The little wooden box with books holds my dad’s bank book from 1950! It also holds a little address book that once belonged to him.

These objects are not just textures in my home, but treasures filled with memories.

Shelley’s Raggedy Ann

2009-08-14T17:17:00.001-04:00

This post is for someone special regarding a Birthday Raggedy Ann Doll.

Shelley, here she is, she is yours if you want her!

The dress fabric is yellow with tiny red flowers and a green geometric

design. There are red heart buttons on the bodice, and they are straight! Sorry about the photo!

My New Kitchen Shelf

2009-08-12T10:20:00.001-04:00

Hello everyone.

Well, it is not like I do not have anything to do today, I have a long list of to-dos, grocery shopping, post office, and yard work. First

I thought I would “play around” with this new internet blogging tool named Windows Live Writer. I have seen this before being used

on some blogs and then saw it again the other day on Linda’s blog-Behind My Red Door- and thought I would give it a try. Anything that

involves playing around making things look nice and/or decorative is fun for me. So, today before running off to do errand I thought I would show a picture of a

new shelf I bought on Saturday. My hubby and I went to the town of

Chester to browse in shops (I remembered my camera half way there!). There is a shop that sells unfinished wood items, he has so many great

things, I saw this shelf and the price was too good to refuse. I painted it white using Olde Village paints, I wish I had bought the more off white, but

this goes with my kitchen cabinets and I am enjoying it. I moved the black shelf into the living room above my sofa. It’s been fun, now off to the “real-world” to

get things done!

New Little Raggedy Ann Dolls

2009-08-11T18:34:00.003-04:00

Original Raggedy Ann style dolls made by me, Martha of Jelliesjamsdolls.
It seems like ages ago that I have listed a doll or dolls on eBay. I am now back into my doll making hobby and enjoying it. I have two little ones that I will be listing on eBay this week. They are hiding behind a book 'cause they still do not have their bloomers yet, well one does and the other does not! I love making my style of Raggedy Ann dolls, giving them the look of being worn and well loved. Back to the sewing table after the dinner dishes are finished. . .back to making my little Raggedy Annies!

I hope they put a smile on your face when you look at them!

August - The Dog Days of Summer or are they?

2009-08-07T13:08:00.003-04:00

Ok, I will be the first to admit that at times August is not my favorite month, but that was not always the case. It seems August can be very tempermental, some days can be so hot and muggy that you cannot bear to step outside, even with central air conditioning you feel tired and listless. Sprinkled inbetween you can have some truly beautiful summer days such as we have had yesterday and today.

I know many long to rush through summer and move onto the crisp cool air of autumn, I love autumn and all it has to offer, but I also do not want to wish nor rush away what remains of summer. We all know what comes after autumn, winter and those days can seem endless with cold weather and grey skies.

Today as I walked out to get the mail I stop and looked at my flower garden, I will miss it when he goes to sleep for the winter months, I love to cut some flowers and bring them inside to enjoy, even if they are a couple of blooms from the top heavy hollyhocks or the ever expanding take over of the brown-eyed Susans. I do not wish to long for the next season but wish to enjoy this season and all is has to offer, even the icky days.

I feel now as I am getting older that I want things to slow down, the faster the seasons come and go well, the older and older we get!

What I do miss and long for are the August days of when I was growing up on a farm in upstate New York, the days of running lunches to my dad and brothers working in the hay fields, the days of climbing on the bails of hay, the days of sitting under the weeping willow tree and playing house with my dolls, the days of the smells from the kitchen while my mother was busy canning all the vegtables from the garden, the days of swinging on the tree swing. Back then I loved summer and August because I knew that soon September would be here and back to school. I did not like school one bit! When my children were young I loved August because they were still on summer vacation and that meant I still had the time to spend with them before they headed back to school and the rushing around every morning. We also took our summer vacation in mid August.

So, until autumn arrives on her own time I will cherish the summer days that lie ahead, I do not want to wish my life to go by any faster than it already seems to be, so for now enjoy all the beauty of this season and let time go slowly because it all too soon will be gone.

I have been moving. . .

2009-08-05T10:40:00.003-04:00

AFTER-COMPLETED-MOVED CLOCK AND SHELF

SORT OF AFTER-GROUPING WAS NOT RIGHT

BEFORE

BEFORE

When my grandsons were visiting there was a day when we could not leave the house because the driveway was being resurfaced so we were cooped up inside. They entertained themselves by playing a video game, after spending time with I came downstairs to check on the progress of the driveway. I then started to look at my living room and thought it would be a good day to move stuff around. The furniture placement had been the same for quite a few years and I wanted something different. I move the tall cabinet to where the sofa was and the sofa to where the cabinet was. Of course, after that is done you have to move tables and table decor around too! For some reason it just did not look right, my daughter said she liked it better the other way, my grandsons said the room looked much bigger and my husband agreed. But, there was something not right. . .after looking at a picture I realized that the clock and wall shelf had to be moved! After patching holes and painting I hung my pictures moved the shelf to another wall and moved the clock into the hallway. Now I am liking it much better, it no longer looks off balance! It will remain this way for awhile. . .
My photos show the end results and the before pictures. In the after pictures you can see the little pillow I bought last week at the antique shop in Frenchtown, it is made from a piece of an old coverlet, the color is a gray/brown and white. I wish they had had more because I would have bought another one, the others did not have the right colors. I like how it blends with my Warren Kimble rabbit hooked wool pillow.
Well, off to do a bit more moving, I am organizing my laundry/sewing room so I can start working on dolls again. The space is very small and I need to find a long/tall wall cabinet to store my fabric and supplies, what I have now is not working out, until next time, hugs,

A fun day trip

2009-08-02T11:41:00.003-04:00

On Saturday my dear husband and I took a little day trip to Frenchtown, New Jersey. It is about 35 miles from our home.

I was hoping for my antique shops, but all in all we had a fun day. We had lunch at a little cafe, and then strolled the streets browsing in shops. There was an wonderful old building which had an incredible flower garden in the front yard with massive plantings of perennials, they were so lovely. I would love to look out my window everyday and see that garden!

There was one antique store which was full of wonderful items, but the prices were way out of reach for me. She had some great pieces of stone fruit, old cloth dolls, coverlets, quilts, antique rocking horses and little odds and ends. The only thing I could afford in there was a small pillow made from an old coverlet! In another tiny antique shop I found some donut/cookie cutters with the wooden handles in red and green. They were only $3.00 each so I bought the ones I truly loved to add to my collection. I have two which belonged to my husband's aunt and I have been wanting to add to them.

There was a nice gift shop, the items in there were your typical gift shop items though. I did buy a sweet little wire basket for my faux cherries.

The Delaware River was very, very high and the water was muddy. We have been having so much rain lately, it appeared as if it would overflow should we have more rain. Well, today, guess what. . .more rain! We walked along the river after having stopped to get an ice cream cone. We then headed back home where I had fun moving things around and finding homes for my new items. It was a great way to spend a Saturday.

Today it is raining again so we are enjoying being in the comfort of our home, me puttering around and cleaning and my dear husband playing a video game! I think he is getting in some practice for when the grandsons come next summer he will be able to beat them.

Whatever you do on this Sunday I hope you are enjoying yourself, till next time, hugs and love,

Back to Basics

2009-07-28T11:28:00.004-04:00

On Sunday my grandsons went back home to Florida. The seven weeks they were here seem to fly by! I miss them dearly and today it all seems like a dream. I have such wonderful memories of having them here and I hope they too will remember part of their summer vacation at Grandmama-Mama Martha's house! My son, who lives in Vermont, also came home for a short visit to see his nephews, family and friends. He went back home on Monday.

I did have time to putter around my house while they were here. I moved some furniture around in the living room. My youngest grandson said, "OH MY, now you have to take many steps to the couch!". . .then he looked at me and said, "but why do you have this room, no one goes into it". . .words from a six year old. How true, we never use the living room. Well, I do on occasion to leaf through the pages of an old Country Home issue from 1983! (Yes, I have many old issues, I love them and wish the magazines were like those old ones!) While the boys were here they did use the room for play, they would sit on the sofa and pretend to be different characters. Now, as I pass the room and look I can see them and hear them in my minds eye and I am happy to know that they enjoyed being in there.

So, things are slowly going back to normal for me, back to the old routines and looking ahead to making new memories down other roads. The boys and I talked about making a transport machine. . .I wish that I had one right now, I know where I would be going and I would also get to visit my beautiful granddaughter and my littlest grandson! Until then I wait until October when I will see all of them again.

Flowers always seem to brighten up a room and a mood, so I brought in a bouquet of Brown Eyed Susans and Sunflowers from my garden to enjoy;

So, until next time, sending you flowers to enjoy!

Another Year Older

2009-07-16T22:35:00.003-04:00

Well, today was the day that I turned 62! Yikes, I cannot believe it. The years seem to have flown by, it seems like yesterday I was only 10 and if it were not for the aches of arthritis I would say I still feel 10! I remember my mother telling me that after you reach the age of 25 the days and years zoom away, I believe it is true.

I will not look at the number of my age but will count all the things I am able to do. I can still push a lawn mower to mow almost an acre of grass, I still can cut down trees and make gardens. I am able to care for my home from top to bottom, I can still sew and make my dolls and crafts. I can still walk around the parks at Walt Disney World along with my young sons and their families. I can drive from central NJ to VT in a day, over 7 1/2 hours from my house to where we go. I will count my blessings and they are many. I can enjoy all the wonderful gifts that God has given me.

Today I celebrated with my grandsons just enjoying spending time with them.

I have worked outside the home for many years as a legal assistant and also a medical transcriber, in a few months I will reap my reward of getting my first social security check! Growing old may have its downside, but for me I am still looking up!

Sixty-two and still counting. . .Happy Birthday to ME!

Happy Birthday to my son, Geoff

2009-07-13T23:17:00.002-04:00

Wishing my son a very happy birthday. These photos show him with his son (the above photo is little one is the one in the blue shirt sitting on the dinosaur).
My son is one of the kindest and funniest people I know. He has a heart of gold and he is the best Dad to his little son and daughter.

I still remember the day he was born and I clearly remember the day I brought him home from the hospital, his older brother Gregg made a comment that our lives, as we knew it, was never going to be the same. I think Gregg was having a bit of sibling rivalry, but he was right, things were never the same and I am so happy they were not. Geoff has brought many joys into our lives. When he was little he could be a litte terror but he grew into a wonderful young man.

Happy Birthday Geoff, we love you and are so proud of you and all you have done!

In the Good Ole Summertime!

2009-07-08T10:32:00.005-04:00

We have been having such beautiful weather! I really love my back yard for relaxing, there are many large shade trees and one tree which shades an area of our deck where my wicker settee is. This is a nice place to sit and look at magazines or read.

When my grandsons are playing outside I always make sure to have my camera with me, for those Kodak moments. The other day we were out in the front yard and while they were playing I was taking photos of my flowers in my front flower garden. They are finally starting to look pretty, with all the rain we had in June I was starting to think they were not going to make it. The flowers are now starting to bloom and the garden is looking great. That is one of my favorite things about summer, the flowers! I do have some visitors that like to munch on them though, deer, but I make sure to have plenty of deer repellent around to spray on the plants. The product is costly, but I want to enjoy my flowers and the deer can find other things to eat.

We are enjoying the summer days outside and memories are being made with my grandsons. Life is good in the good ole summertime!

Sending everyone big bouquets of hugs!

(I see that I added two of the same photos in my flower mosaic! )

Summer Days

2009-07-04T10:11:00.003-04:00

Happy Fourth of July to Everyone!

The days here are flying by. You know what they say about how times flies when you are having fun. . .well they certainly do. It seems like only yesterday I was bringing my grandsons home with me from Florida to New Jersey so they could spend part of their summer vacation with us.

We have been very busy. We had our trip to NYC to see the Lion King, days of playing baseball in the back yard or blowing bubbles. We even made a BIG tent and my grandson aptly named it Camp Imagine, this is where they and I can be whomever we want, cowboys, knights, safari hunters or just us! I know many people think that if you have grandsons it is all tough and tumble play, not true, they have a vast interest in everything around them, from watching me sew a shirt of a favorite stuffed tiger toy (with a skull and crossbones on the back!) to having tea parties. Our guest lists is long, with toy turtles, tigers, penguins, Raggedy Ann Dolls and a stuffed wart hog! Even my husband and our pug join in. We share a meal of fish crackers with water "tea" and a large helping of laughter, stories and good times, the memories I hope will last them a life time; I know they will for me. I tell them about when their daddy and their uncles were little boys. They get to hold toys that once belonged to their daddy when he was a baby along with a quizzical look upon their faces. . .trying to imagine their daddy playing with a clown doll!

In the evening we have story time where I read to them and sometimes I make up stories for them. They keep me busy and yes, there are days where I am tired, but I would not give this up for anything! Soon these little guys will be men, just like their daddy and uncles and the days of coming to spend summers with grandmama will be over.

Today were are celebrating the Fourth of July by having a picnic at the park and if they can stay awake we will go to another park for the fireworks. I want to wish everyone a safe and happy July 4th. I also want to thank all of our military for allowing us to have the freedoms we have.

Enjoy the holiday, your family and friends, until next time,

Disney, Decor and Summer Days

2009-06-18T12:21:00.003-04:00

I am back home after my trip to Orlando to visit family and bring home two of my grandsons, Sage and Cole. They are my oldest son's two children. Ever since Sage was 5 it has been tradition to have him spend part of the summer with us. As Cole got older he came to visit too, this is his second summer. My granddaughter spent a week with us 3 years ago, my son and his family came to visit and stayed an extra week. My youngest grandson, Ashton is still a bit to young to come and stay, he is Micaela's little brother and they are my 4Th son's children.

I had a wonderful visit with my family and I got to see my brother and one of his sons and his family. The weather was perfect, but the time went too fast. We are planning another trip in October around Halloween, the kids love to go to Disney around that time. What I love the most about Disney are the details in the decorations and the details in the different parks. I only go on a few rides, I am not one who likes to be scared to death on rides. It's A Small World is what I can handle!

Now I am home and enjoying spending time with my two grandsons. They walk in and it's like they never left here. They enjoy playing outside, we go to the school playground where we saw a red-fox and the other day a wild turkey. I have many deer in my yard so they are now the deer watchers and the youngest will tell them to go away if they get to close to my flower beds! Both boys know to stay away from the deer. Tonight we are taking the train into NYC to see the Lion King on Broadway. When my granddaughter stayed with us we had taken her to Philadelphia, it was short notice and they were the only tickets we could get. My daughter in law had sent me info for discounts for the show in NYC so we were able to get the tickets well in advance. I really enjoyed the show when I saw it and I am hoping the boys will enjoy it as much as we do. It will be a long day today since we will not be getting home before 1:00 A.M. I pray we do not miss the last train out of Penn Station!

I have added a few pictures, one is of my great-nieces, Ali and Ariane and my granddaughter Micaela. I called them Disney Princesses!

There is a picture of my youngest grandson with Rafiki, a character from the Lion King.

My grandsons, Sage and Cole with their Aunt Laura, my daughter, they were being silly playing with paper string poppers.

Lastly are some living room photos. Our wedding anniversary was on June 15 so I took the boys with me to go to my favorite furniture store to pick out my anniversary gift (My husband bought something he wanted related to baseball cards and I bought a table! We are both very happy with the gifts "we gave each other"! Hahaha!) Little boys do not enjoy looking at furniture or house things, they were good for as long as they could be and then started asking, "can we go now?", over and over. After looking around, to what may have seemed like forever to them I spotted the table. It is round with a three prong leg and painted a barn red color. It is perfect for my living room. I had been looking a long time for a new table to use in the living room. The boys were happy to get home so they could play and so was I , I got to "play decorator"! My husband also gave me the paper mache antique rabbit on the table in front of the sofa. This is an antique candy holder. I have rabbits in my living room (not real ones!) I just love rabbits and they seem to end up in the living room. I think it all started when I read a book about bunnies and their adventures, you know the type of children's story book where the animals wear clothing and they go to school and learn lesson in life, I read this story when I was a little girl and just loved the illustrations and the story and I guess that influenced me! The paper mache rabbit is a gift for my birthday. . .which is not until July 16th! I saw this rabbit when we went antiquing and I had to have it, I was afraid someone else would come along and snatch it.

Today, from the song sung by Timon, a charachter in the Lion King, I wish you Hakuna Matata which means NO WORRIES in Swahili.

Going To Disney World

2009-06-03T20:54:00.003-04:00

I am off to Walt Disney World tomorrow morning and will be staying at Port Orleans Riverside on Disney property, I am on a mission!
I get to visit my son, his wife, my precious granddaughter, Micaela and her silly and adorable baby brother Ashton. I will see my grandsons Sage and Cole and will be bringing them back home with me to spend part of their summer vacation. I will not see my oldest son because he has to work, but I will see my DIL. They all live in Sarasota. My son, two daughters in law and the grandchildren will be driving to Orlando tomorrow morning.
I will also get to see my brother and one his sons and his family. It will be a short visit with a lot of memories being made. My son who lives at home is there now with his friend, she is there on business and we are hoping to meet up at one of the parks.
My little Pug is not too happy to see me go, she knows something is up when she sees luggage! She will be well loved by my husband and daughter. I told her to enjoy the quiet time because by Sunday afternoon she will have two little boys around the house! My travel Raggedy Ann is waiting on the luggage, I take her whenever I go away, either her or her little "sister". . .they keep my connected to home and make my room feel more like a home away from home. I also have my carry on bag stuffed with Country Sampler back issues. . .it can get lonely at night in a hotel room so looking at the magazines will help pass the evening.
(My side-lite hand crocheted panel looks awful in this photo! A memo to self to take care of that after I get home!)

Micaela and Ashton, see you soon.

Sage and Cole hope you are ready for your visit to my house for summer vacation. I call my son my Ghost Child because whenever I go to Florida I only get to see him for a short time or like this visit not at all.

Wishing everyone a great rest of the week and a happy weekend!

What's For Dinner?

2009-06-02T11:58:00.006-04:00

The mess while the range hood is reconnected!

Back to Normal!

Hi! Well, after much back and forth and an almost threat I finally had the kitchen people send out a contractor to re-connect my range hood. The first two photos show my kitchen turned upside down! It took him about 3 1/2 hours and the job was more involved than I thought it would be. When the contractor saw the screws that held the hood he could not believe it, he said I was very lucky that it did not hit me in the head! He had to pull out the range, which had been secured into the studs, that took him some time to reach under the oven and get to the screws. After he hung the hood he stood back and had to start over again because it was off by over 1/2 an inch on the left. Thankfully the contractor was pleasant but I was happy to see him go so I could clean and get back on schedule with things I had to do.

The good news was that after he pulled out the range I got my Vermont Sign back! That made me happy, very happy. I now hung it on the other wall next to the fruit. If it should ever fall again it will only bruise the bananas! I hung another little picture over the range, it hung in the kitchen before, I moved it into the family room and now it is back in the kitchen. I was going to leave the space empty, but it looked empty! I had hung my BIG clock there before, but after the backsplash was installed I could no longer hang the clock, the clearance from the top was too tight. When I moved the clock one hand fell behind the range and I now have that back too! Now, I can watch time fly by!

Today I have a lot to finish up and want to use Wednesday to relax before I head to Walt Disney World on Thursday. There will be a lot of running around when I am there, fun times with my sons and their families and then I bring my two grandsons back home to spend time with us.

Wishing everyone a wonderful and safe week!

Cooking Can Be Dangerous!

2009-05-31T19:32:00.003-04:00

I love to eat but do not like cooking that much. Cooking a meal seems like a lot of work and there have been times I have said I would do anything to not have to cook a meal. BUT, not have an over 50 pound range exhaust hood come falling down on me! This is my range hood which just came crashing down and missed me by inches, My guardian angel was standing guard over me and moved me in the nick of time. I cannot believe this happened and I am very lucky that I was not hurt except for my arm and that no real damage occurred except for the poor tea kettle being dented and water being splashed all over the place. I am so thankful the burners were not on and there was no food on the stove top. I am now feeling less upset than I was about 2 hours ago, the only thing that keeps me from falling apart is that my husband and I both stood there watching my Vermont sign ( SEE MY TOP PHOTO) fall off the back-splash and go behind the stove. This is the second sign I have had like this, the first one did the same thing, only it fell behind the cabinets before the install was complete. If I ever sell this house and they tear out the kitchen they will find not one, BUT TWO of these signs, the first a gift from my husband and the second to replace the gift from my husband. I have to laugh when I think of this, even though losing my sign makes me sadder than nearly being killed by a heavy range hood. My dear husband just said he is going to buy the signs in bulk now! That makes me laugh, but deep in my heart I am really sad and to make matters worse I cannot get anyone from the company that installed this to talk to. OK, so it is Sunday late in the afternoon, BUT, I better hear from someone on Monday morning. I did speak to one woman and I do not want to go into what she said nor my reply to her! Let's just say it added fuel to the fire of me being upset!

Here are pictures of my disaster, which could have been worse, I guess. Another thing that upsets me is that I leave early Thursday morning to go to Florida to visit my family and bring my two grandsons home to stay part of the summer with us. I planned on writing a happy little post of changes I have been doing around the house, but this is not a change I had planned on! I just hope it gets fixed by Wednesday!

The last photo are some of the small changes I did on the counters last week, a little tweaking and rearranging around the house.

I do not think I will ever again say I hate to cook! If I do I will be afraid a kitchen cabinet will fall on me. Oh, and my husband just said no new Vermont sign for awhile. . .

And why is it that when you cannot use something you want to use it, like right now I want to boil water for tea! I can use the microwave, but I like my tea made from a boiling pot of water from a stove.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend

2009-05-23T10:54:00.010-04:00

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First I want to wish everyone a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend! Please take time to say prayers for our troops who keep our country safe and allow us all of our freedoms and prayers for our military who gave their life for us. Let's salute all of our military! We owe them so very, very much!

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It's been a busy week around here. It started out with washing all the windows inside and out. . .thankfully I have the windows that you can pop in to wash, it makes this chore seem less of a chore. After the windows were cleaned I washed the curtains in the all three bathrooms and then gave the bathrooms a major cleaning from top to bottom and everyplace else. I clean every day, but three times a year I like to give the house a extra cleaning. I then washed the curtains in the bedrooms and gave those rooms a major cleaning. My grandsons come and spend part of the summer with us and they use my son's room, he will be spending the summer in Vermont so this gives the little ones a space to call their own while here. Last year the room was to cramped with a twin bed and a cot, so I decided to buy a trundle bed. I had to dismantle the old bed and move it to the basement, the bed people took the old mattress away which was great. The room has so much more room now and the boys will have a comfy new beds to sleep on when they visit and when my son comes home he will be thrilled to have a new bed! The week ended with lots of yard work, I think the property gets bigger and bigger every time I mow, we have almost an acre, but it seems much bigger, maybe it is because I am getting older and slower! I planted all my annuals before we went to Vermont two weeks ago and they are doing nicely. This weekend we will have a small barbecue, which I do a lot of anyway in the summer well into fall. It will be nice to just do the regular chores for now and enjoy the summer months. We have so many things already planned to do this summer too.

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Last weekend was fun, we went to a large craft festival in Hunterdon County, NJ. There were over 100 vendors and the booths were all great! There were some jewelry and clothing booths which had nice things, but when I attend a craft show I want to find special things for my home and I did at great prices too. This made my husband happy, in fact he found a baseball card thing he fell in love with so he bought that to add to his collection. The weather was perfect and so was the food! This craft show will be held again in October and if I can I would love to go back. It is not far from home and is held at the Hunterdon County Fairgrounds in Ringoes, New Jersey.

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Here are some of the treasures I found at the Craft Show.

It is rather hard to see, but I bought the little crow pillow which now lives on the chair in the kitchen along side my old cutter quilt pillow.

I also bought this little cabinet, I wanted something for the living room to keep my country style decorating books in. I have been looking for sometime to find the right piece; as we were about to leave I saw a booth with all types of great furniture, it was hard to pick just one piece, there were three pieces that I really wanted, but had to settle for one. The crafter was from Pennsylvania. She told us she, her husband and son make the furniture.

We really enjoyed chatting with the artist who made the painting below. This now proudly hangs in the half bath! The artist is Barbara A. Palmer from New York state. Her paintings are so whimsical and fun, they are done in a Theorem style. She is a contemporary American Folk Art artist. You can visit her website here ♥ BP Folkart Press ♥ I have to say the website does not do much for her artwork, I loved every piece I saw. She is also an author and illustrator of children's books. My photo also does not do justice to this whimsical painting.

I also bought some really neat no hole siding clips to hang plants/wreaths or whatever you want outside. I found this invention to be so very clever, you just pop the clip under the siding where the seams meet and click it in place, no holes and they really work. They are easy to remove too. I wish I had bought more. I also liked that the inventor was from my adopted state of Vermont!

Last weekend was fun and this weekend will be special and fun in a different way, relaxing at home!

I hope, whatever your plans are, that you all have a special weekend with the ones you love.

Happy Memorial Day Weekend!

An Introduction and Some Goodies I got in Vermont!

2009-05-17T13:35:00.008-04:00

I want to introduce you to my Daughter In Law, Leslie's creative talents. She is very talented and passed this creativity along to my granddaughter. I love her work, it is unique, one of a kind and very well done. I have several of her pieces and love them! Her style is original and one of a kind, you will not find her work mass produced. She has started a little store on Etsy and I wanted to introduce her and her work to everyone who comes by to visit. You can visit her store by going to my sidebar and clicking on the little doll photo. I hope you will give her shop a visit and thank you!

And now for some of my treasures from our visit to Vermont

On Mother's Day my daughter gave me this photo of a little house in Vermont, she had taken it two years ago when she visited with us during a college family weekend. I use this photo as my screen saver, she had it printed and framed for me and now it is displayed next to my computer!

These are a tiny little bunch of Forget Me Nots I picked last weekend in Vermont. They were growing wild near the dining hall of the college and I found them growing wild in the yard. I added the little wild daisy with them. They are in a tiny salt shaker and I am happy to say they are still alive and are on the windowsill in my kitchen. I love tiny little bouquets of flowers, and my favorites are wildflowers, just picked and placed into a glass jar or old container, nothing fancy, just simple and sweet.

In my other post I told you how my son gave me a bag of wool and I had purchased some felting needles while visiting Stowe, Vermont. On the rainy afternoon waiting to go to the graduation I tried my hand at needle felting and made a little Pug and a Wire Haired Fox Terrier. We now have our Pug and I once had a Wire Haired Fox Terrier. They were fun to make, but it was no fun when I poked my fingers with the very sharp needle. My son said while taking his fibers class and making the little bear that is in my header photo he poked himself many times too! So, this is Zoe the Pug and Timmy the Terrier!

These are goodies I bought while in Stowe, a long table runner, a round table runner, some barn red candles, a bag of Vermont fragrant dried Balsam Tips (my son thought that was a waste of money, he said I could have gone out into the woods and gathered my own. . .) I love the scent and plan on using it in little primitive sachets, it is like having the spirit of Christmas year round. I also bought a grubby battery candle and wish I had bought more than one, the price was great and the store was having a big discount. And I bought two black hooks and a bag of flower seeds, which I planted and I hope they will grow.

My husband bought me this wonderful wool hooked rabbit pillow for the living room. It is a Warren Kimble design and I have another version in a small print in the living room. I have several unique rabbits which I keep out year round in my living room and this pillow made them more special.

These are two hand embroidered pillow cases, in perfect condition that I found in an antique shop in Montpelier, Vermont. I just loved the pattern.

Also in the antique shop I found this old license plate that I bought for my husband to add to his car related memorabilia in his den, he has a big collection of vintage matchbox cars and other matchbox related items along with odds and ends, and this is now part of that odds and ends collection!

And last, my daughter's best friend came with us to the graduation and she surprised me on Mother's Day with this little framed cross-stitched saying, which now proudly hangs in my kitchen above the sink!

So, I am now back in the real world at home, my thoughts keep going back to our trip and the wonderful memories I have.

I am about to create new and very special memories in a few weeks when I fly to Orlando and meet with my grandchildren and family at Walt Disney World! After spending a few days there I will be bringing home two grandsons, Sage and Cole who visit with us in the summer. I wish that I could bring home all four grandchildren. Two of my sons live in Florida, one now is living in Vermont, one is home along with my daughter. I wish we all lived closer to each other !

2009-05-16T18:21:00.002-04:00

Last week we were in Vermont, my home away from home. We went to Sterling College for my son's graduation. It is in the town of Craftsbury Commons, VT, a very unique area and college. Sterling College is not your typical four year college and when my son started there four years ago I was not sure what to make of this school, but after spending a day we all fell in love with the area and the people. I always looked forward driving the 420 plus miles ONE way to go there and visit. It was a bittersweet time, proud of my son but also sad not knowing if we will ever go back that way again. For now he will be spending part of the summer working up there and then he is going to Minnesota where he has spent the last three summers working with black bears. He has always loved the out doors and bears so his degree of BA and Conservation Ecology should work out great for him.

While there we always visit the small town of Greensboro, Vermont, this photo is the main street. The town boast of being the home of Willey's General Store which carries just about everything you may need.

Another place that I LOVE to go to is the Sterling College Farm, I grew up on a farm and still have a fondness for the farm animals and the farm way of life. This photo shows one of the horses that is used for logging, my son, my daughter and me. . .taking a photo to capture the moment. The scenery in the area is breathtaking and no matter how many times I see it, it is never enough. I sometimes think I have maple syrup running through my veins and that I belong in Vermont!

This photo is the Commons at Craftsbury Commons, I must have a dozen or more photos of this church in all seasons. They have a farmer's market and different events at the Commons. The town is very, very tiny! If you want to visit the Town of Craftsbury just go HERE and enjoy the photos. The area is like time stood still, no Walmarts or Targets or Malls, a very simple and basic way of life .

And my son getting an award the evening before graduation. This is a close knit community where everyone is like family. I hope that I will be able to go back there. . .someday soon.

And a word about my header, the Raggedy Ann dolls are mine, I travel with my little dolls, they are like a little bit of my real home away from home, my son made the white bear, the students have to take a fibers class, shear the sheep, was the wool, etc. etc. His friend made the little sheep, when I saw that I just had to have it and thankfully she let me keep it, it is so darn cute. The jar has maple syrup made by the students, from the tapping of the trees to making the sap into syrup, they do it all. My son gave me a gift of a wonderful book, Salt Pork and Apple Pie, it is a photo essay of some of the people in Vermont, the real Vermonters!

Tomorrow I will have more photos of some goodies I bought while in Stowe and Montpelier, so stay tuned for more of my adventurers in Vermont.

April Showers Bring Mayflowers-and now we need a Mayflower ship to get around!

2009-05-04T19:28:00.006-04:00

This is the little cape cod house we rent when we go to Vermont.

I t has everything we need and it is a very quaint and charming little house! I wish it was mine!

We had some really warm/sunny days last week, then the temperatures drop to a more seasonable temperature and now we have been having rain, lots and lots of rain. It is really make the grass grow and the leaves went from little buds to full fledged leaves. My perennial flower beds out front are really growing now too! With all the rain we were not able to enjoy the pretty flowers on the trees in the front yard for a long time, one minute they were pink buds, then flowers and now heavy rain is making them start to fall. The branches are hanging so low from the weight of the rain on the blossoms that it creates a little canape. I am hoping the rain lets up, Thursday we are driving to Vermont and I want to have my lawn mowed before we go! I also do not enjoy driving for over 7 hours in rain!

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Saturday I took a little drive to Flemington, New Jersey. There used to be the Platzgraff outlet there, I learned it closed the end of December! They had some wonderful things at a really good price, but now they are gone. A lot of the quaint shops are now gone too. There was one shop that had some nice little items for the home. I bought a black/white woven table runner for my kitchen table, the words Made in Vermont caught my eye and the price was just right! I also bought a few candles and a bag of cinnamon scented rose hips. I then went and browsed in an antique shop and all I found there were some old and in great shape Matchbox Cars for my hubby. He has a BIG collection of vintage Matchbox cars so he was very happy with his gift when I brought them home for him!

This is a peek of my hubby's den/office!

The Matchbox display case is filled with vintage Matchbox Cars and the back

opens and stores the original boxes the cars came in, some of these are very old dating from 1955. His den has glass enclosed cabinets to showcase his cars and other Matchbox related stuff.

On the bottom right near the bottom you can see a drawing done by my Grandson, Sage. It is Raggedy Andy! This is extra special for me because I make Raggedy Ann dolls! I told my husband his cars may be worth a lot , BUT that drawing is priceless and he agrees!

On Tuesday and Wednesday I will be getting things ready for the drive to Vermont for my son's graduation. I hope the weather is nice once we arrive, I am hoping they can have the graduation outside!

I also want to wish my daughters in law, my neices, sisters and all the Moms out there a very happy and special Mother's Day.

Happy Mother's Day

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Spring jumped into Summer!

2009-04-28T13:20:00.004-04:00

Well, it seems spring time was short lived here in Central New Jersey! We have been having some pretty HOT weather, BUT I am not going to complain, because it could be worse, I am thankful we do not have to deal with flooding, earthquakes, volcanoes, tornadoes, hurricanes and heavy snow storms or ice storms! This will be short lived until the true dog days of summer arrive and then my big complaint is pushing that lawn mower which gives off a tremendous amount of heat, it is quite a workout for me! You would think by October I would be as skinny as could be, but no! I also do not enjoy cooking when it is very hot, but then again I do not enjoy cooking! I do not mind using the grill on the deck, keeps the kitchen cool and I love to eat food that has been grilled!

When we moved back to New Jersey from Michigan it was July, I thought that summer I was going to die with the heat and humidity, we were not used to it after living in Michigan for 8 years. That summer was so hot and humid, the children and I would spend our time in the finished basement. I made a promise that I was going to find a job that would work for my schedule since my daughter and #4 son were still young. I was going to put in central air and did not care what I had to do to earn the money! The next spring I took a job cleaning the homes of the owners of a place called The Martinsville Inn, I cleaned the 3 homes and the Inn. . . and I filled in cleaning the home of another family member on occasion. . . the pay was good, the job was not pleasant but the hours worked for me and my children. The job was hard, I cleaned I forget how many toilets at the Inn, and all of the bathroom floors/mirrors/sinks, I wanted money and as I said, it worked for me. Do you remember the cartoon of Carol Burnett at the beginning of her show pulling a big cart with mops, well that was me at the Inn. I did that job for 2 years until I was able to have a real job, which I took at the community college! But, anyway, my first year I saved some of the money and had central air installed in my home and I still have that unit. One of the best decisions I made way back then! I clearly remember the day the unit was installed, it was mid August and it was very hot and humid, the contractor came inside and showed me how to set the thermostat and about an hour later the children and I danced around, it felt soooooooo nice!

So, even though we are having a "heat wave" I have still been busy doing things around the house and yard.

I changed out the bedding for spring time. Here are different views of the bedroom, the quilt on the rocking chair and the wool hooked rug are very old. The dresser in the corner belonged to my husband's family. The piggy bank on the floor belonged to my husband's Aunt. I also moved the white rocking chair from the family room to the bedroom. The little yellow table by the bed has hidden compartments in it, I love that table! Of course I cannot forget my little Raggedy Ann, she normally is not on the bed, I made her and could not bring myself to selling her, I am attached to this one for sure!

I made some new pillows for the outside deck furniture and bought new seat cushions. I still have one pillow to stitch shut before I put it outside, the pillow covers are made from an outside/indoor table cloth, the colors were perfect. The fabric is stain and mildew resistant!

I put my redware plate with my crows on the sideboard in the kitchen, they are ready to go to market! I found the plate last weekend when my husband went out antique browsing!
I made my little stone fruit arrangement in the dining room, again, I had some fruit and found the grapes while at the antique shop last week.

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I have been doing yardwork, getting my flower beds ready for planting with the annuals, cleaning off the deck furniture and painting it and the never ending battle of sweeping off the deck, little things from the trees keep blowing onto the deck and it builds up quickly!

I also have puttered around the house moving things here and there, making small changes.

Next week we are heading to Vermont for my son's graduation, I am hoping for warm weather when we go and this hot/humid weather we are having now is preparing me for my trip to Walt Disney World in June! I call it my WDW basic training! When I come home I will be bringing my two grandsons back with me for 7 weeks.

I hope that everyone is having nice weather, and if it seems to warm or too cold still be thankful for the gift of seasons and changes, they are all gifts from God!

This and That

2009-04-21T11:30:00.004-04:00

I found a "home" for my cupboard that I refinished last week. At least for now it will "live" on top of my pie safe in the kitchen! I put my old glass jars and bottles on the top and left the inside empty. . .it will make it easier when I decide to move it someplace else, down the road! I am really pleased with the results and though I was hoping for the wood to show after stripping it I love the original creamy white paint. I plan on painting my pie-safe, I think!

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On Sunday my husband and I went to browse in antique shops. We had lovely weather and it was nice to take a short drive and do something special. I found a few treasures.

Fabric-a yard of each for $1.00 each, perfect for making my Raggedy Ann Style Doll dresses.
A small white platter-Buffalo China-maybe once upon a time it was used in a restaurant for serving- I ♥ it!
A small cream pitcher-I have a small collection of them.
Stone/glass grapes-I have a print in the dining room and will be using these with my stone apple and green pear to make an arrangement like the print. I also have stone/glass strawberries which I did not photo because I forgot I had them! The gold pear is made of wood, I have had that for ages. I will not use it for the little arrangement.
And a large redware plate with a yellow heart in the center-perfect for my kitchen. It found a home on the buffet table in the eat in area of my kitchen-I love how it looks with my large wooden crow.

I have a lot I should be doing right now, I have a doll to photo and list on eBay and another one started! And, of course, the never ending job of housework. I wish everyone a wonderful day, and if life gives you lemons today, make lemonade because sometimes life is not always a "bowl full of cherries"!

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Busy!

2009-04-18T18:57:00.003-04:00

I have been busy getting the lawnmowers ready for mowing the lawn. I think as I am getting older the yard is getting bigger, it takes me twice as long to mow now, we do have a BIG yard, almost an acre and my old bones are finding it harder and harder to walk and push that heavy mower. When I finish I stand back and think how thankful I am that I was able to mow and that I have a yard to mow. So that is job that is done, until next week. . .again!

I also have been busy getting my flower beds cleaned up and planting the tulips that were given to me on Easter. I also potted some flowers and bought two geraniums to hang on my shepard's hook. I love when the flowers are in bloom, the entire yard looks so colorful.

I also stripped down a cupboard I had. I bought this in Michigan about 25 years ago. It was in an antique shop and I was told it came from an old house. It was painted a blue/grey color and a few years ago I painted it a colonial red. After I had the kitchen done last year the cupboard found a home in the basement because I did not know what I was going to do with it or if I would use it again. While at the hardware store a few weeks ago I bought some paint stripper, I was going to use it on something else but instead used it on the cupboard. I thought I was going to find a beautiful wood underneath the red and blue paint but I was really surprised as to what I found! After letting the stripper set I used the stripping tool, the red and blue paint came off like the peel of a banana! I was pleased that this was going to be so easy, but underneath was a very pale creamy white with a tinge of yellow, almost like cream or real butter before color is added to make it yellow. This paint would not budge, not matter how much stripper I put on it or sanded! I cleaned it up and let it dry and I am in love with it. There are some areas where the paint was worn away, the cupboard looks great. I am thinking maybe this was milk paint since it does not want to come off. Right now I have it setting on the kitchen floor until I decide where I will put it. I am so thrilled, it was like finding a buried treasure!

I hope everyone has been well and if busy, busy doing things you enjoy. I also have been doing the regular house-hold chores and making my little prim Raggedy Ann dolls, I think they are upset with me though because they have been pushed aside. I figure when we are having great weather I want to take advantage of doing what needs doing outside and doing projects that need to be done in the garage.

Hugs,

Wishing Everyone a Very Happy Easter

2009-04-11T20:10:00.002-04:00

Happy Easter

to everyone

Wishing you Blessings today

And Always.

In The Middle of an Island

2009-04-04T18:47:00.004-04:00

I have been busy making my style Raggedy Ann dolls but on Thursday I took a break from sewing and went to Home Goods, I love that store! I wanted a small table to use as an island in my kitchen. I had used a little antique red farm table in there before, but it was too low and after I had the kitchen redone last spring I moved the table into the dining room. I liked the look of a big open kitchen, but since the kitchen table is not near the cooking area I needed an extra spot to put thing down while preparing dinner. My kitchen is a very large space which is very nice to have.

We do live in the house and the kitchen is used daily, even though I hate to cook! I still have a son at home and my daughter, they both use the kitchen; I like it to look nice, but it does have to function. I found this table which is supposed to be a potting table for gardening, I loved the look and of course the price was right! I painted it white and placed it in the kitchen. The top is tin so it will be durable and it goes with what I already have in the kitchen. It took me a day or two to really decide if I liked it and now I love it!

Now, if I could go to a real Island and just sit and look at the ocean, but for now I am happy sitting at the kitchen table and looking at my island!

Now, I hope I do not use it as a spot to "decorate", it will defeat my purpose. Yesterday I cut some forsythia to bring inside, a bit of spring. . .I love how they look in the old glass jar and I love how they look on my island! I also brought in some daffodils today to put on the kitchen counter.

Wishing everyone a special weekend and warm Island breezes.

Yes, There is an Easter Bunny!

2009-04-01T12:34:00.006-04:00

And I have a photo to prove it! Caught on camera running as fast as he could. . .

a secret meeting with someone perhaps?

Sure enough, he was going to meet Raggedy Ann and show her where he plans on hiding Easter Eggs! Raggedy Ann looks up in surprise, OH NO, she tells the Easter Bunny to turn around and look up, he would see the paparazzi looking at them!There they are with a look of surprise, caught and photographed, so now the secret is out, there really is an Easter Bunny.

I made this little set to sell on eBay, if you are familiar with the Raggedy and Ann and Andy stories there is an illustration of Raggedy Ann, Andy and the Easter Bunny. This is my take on the illustration.

Last night it was getting late and I wanted to photograph them outside with the

hyacinths, I was so amused after I downloaded my photos onto the computer, there was this photo that looked like the little bunny was running away! I was in such a rush I must have moved the camera to have his image look the way it does. . .or maybe, as the dolls and the toys and the animals in the Raggedy Ann and Andy stories, they really do come to life?

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

May your day be filled with surprise and your ♥ be filled with the the love and imagination of a child.

Happy Birthday Six Year Old

2009-03-27T11:35:00.005-04:00

Wishing my grandson Cole a very happy

Birthday!

I remember when my son called to tell me that my DIL was in the

hospital, Cole's big brother Sage at the time was

three, after Cole was born Sage went over to meet and greet his new

baby brother, my son held the phone so I could hear him, he said, "Hi Baby" and then said to Daddy, "can I have my chocalate cake now!"

Cole is a sweet and funny little boy. Last summer was his first summer that he stayed with me for a couple months with his brother Sage. I will have them again this summer for about seven weeks. I love having them here, they keep me busy and we have fun together.

He makes me laugh. . .and we all love him dearly!

Happy Happy Birthday Cole, you are growing up too fast!

Love, Gammama Martha

An Odd Post-It will not make sense to anyone except for one person!

2009-03-26T20:19:00.003-04:00

Here I am. . .my dress is green with pink roses.

I am a big "girl" 21 inches in length and very, very plump.

So here I am! My apron is white and my bloomers too!

Happy Birthday to my Mother

2009-03-25T15:44:00.005-04:00

My Mother in her early twenties. I look a lot like her, only she was tiny and well, I am not!

My Mother standing on the left dressed in white with my aunt and uncle and a friend. She was in her early teens in this photo.

My Mother the second from the right standing in the back with my Grandparents and Aunts and Uncles, this was not the entire family.

My Mother at the age of 25 0r 26 with my oldest brother at his baptism.

My Mother sitting on the left with some of her friends. When she was very young she came to the United States from Canada with her sister. They worked long hours at a lace mill in NYC, they would send the money home to help my Grandparents. My Mother told me they worked really hard for very little money and they lived in a rooming house with many young ladies. She said on their day off they would go to 5Th Avenue and look at the "fancy-clothes". She started sewing to make clothes like she saw in the windows of the shops in NYC.

My Mother at the age of 94!

Happy Birthday!

She is no longer with us, but I still feel her spirit. My Mother was strong for a tiny little thing, she had more courage and faith than anyone I know. I wish she was still with us, I would love to share my doll making with here; sometimes when I am making a doll a feel as if she is looking down at me and laughing because sometimes I am not sure what I am doing! I learned to sew by watching her.

She raised 8 children and was a grandmother to 27 grand kids and I have lost count of the great-grandchildren and there is one great-great grandchild!

She was a great cook, she made the best apple pies and cakes. I still long for her mac and cheese and homemade garlic bread. Cooking is one thing I wish I could do as well as she did, she could make a meal out of nothing and it was always so good.

She lived on a tiny amount of money each month, I bet she could balance the budget for our country and have money left over. She managed to save and pay all of her expenses on an income of under $500.00 a month. She was thrifty yet giving if any of her children needed help.

She taught us to stand on our own two feet and to never let obstacles stand in our way. She taught us to think for ourselves and she would always say, "Hard work never hurt anyone!" She was also funny, her humor was unique.

She loved to be dressed up and made all of her clothes, she could look at something in a store or magazine and make the same thing without a pattern.

Happy Birthday Mother, I know that right now you must be asking yourself why I am writing about you on a thing called a "blog". . .it is because I want anyone who reads this to know how special you were and how much we all love you and miss you!

She left us on June 15, 1999 at the age of 95.

I Love You,

Right Around the Corner. . .

2009-03-19T09:37:00.010-04:00

Spring is waiting to make her grand entrance. In fact I even found traces of her getting ready to come back until our dear friend summer comes along. When I think of spring I think of the Crayola crayon named Spring Green, for me that sums it all up nicely. . . spring green!

I am looking forward to the warmer days, but for now I am enjoying the time inside to work on little craft projects and making more of my Raggedy Ann style dolls to sell on eBay. After the weather gets warmer I spend time outside working in my flower beds! I miss my patchwork flower beds and look forward to their return every year.
This is a little wool applique bunny pillow I made, it was a fun project and this little pillow fits nicely in a cupboard, shelf or even on a chair with a little larger pillow for a backdrop.

Last weekend my husband and I went into town to browse around the "antique" stores. In my opinion the stuff is more flea market like, but sometimes you can find a great little surprise tucked away in a corner.

I found this sweet Fresh Eggs Box to use with my Mama and baby Chicks for a little spring display in the kitchen. I love this box! I also found a great wooden dough board and a mason jar with a zinc lid, I love those and have a few. They are perfect for storing stuff, I use mine all the time for storage or display.

I also found a precious little desk, but did not buy it, it was darling. I did not want to spend the money just yet. . .well two days later I had to spend double the price of the desk to have a plumber come out and fix the drain in the shower! Isn't odd how sometimes you will not buy something because you think it is too much or not in the budget yet you can write out a check for something, in my opinion, a waste, like a clogged drain! Once I calmed down I thanked God that we had the extra money to have to work done, such is life.

This white rabbit was a gift to my daughter many years ago, I love this guy, he lives in my doll cabinet, but this year I brought him out to take his picture with a Raggedy Ann doll I made. They are "holding" a very old Easter post card that was sent to my husband's uncle, it is postmarked 1921! I made this Raggedy Ann to sell on eBay, but I have taken a big liking to her and cannot part with her! Mr. Bunny is now just sitting in a chair in the front hall, I think I will leave him out for a little while, he is really very precious!

Some of my Raggedy Girls I am selling on eBay. Two of my auctions already ended. I am always so happy when someone "adopts" one of my Raggedy girls! The one dressed in yellow is mine for now!

Another sign of Spring, buds on the trees. Yesterday was a nice day to photo the dolls outside for listing on eBay!

I like my dolls to look old and well loved, as if a young child had played with them and then they were tucked away to be rediscovered and loved again.

Today I wish for everyone a spring in your step as you go about your day!

Back to "Normal"-for now

2009-03-12T11:17:00.006-04:00

Finally I have by house spic and span clean and everything is back to normal, until I decide I may want to move little things around. I did my spring/Easter decorating and now I can go back to doing "normal" stuff around here, whatever that might be!

I did go back to listing my Raggedy Ann style dolls on ebay and I have started a little wool pillow for spring/Easter, it is a fun relaxing project.

Here are a few photos of the kitchen backsplash, which I dearly love along with the crown moulding in the dining room, front hall, living room and kitchen. In a few weeks when my hubby goes to Washington for his IRS tax law seminar I will use those days to paint the front hall and do some touch up painting, but for now it is back to doll making!

♥♥♥Wishing everyone a "Normal Day" ♥♥♥

Family Room-Before-During and After

2009-03-09T13:10:00.004-04:00

Getting older is slowing me down! It is taking me longer to get my house back together, I was hoping to be all finished, but in the process I am also doing a major cleaning of everything before I put it back. I vacuum and dust everyday but with workers in the house that was not possible! With the house being torn apart I want to make sure all the glass on the pictures have been cleaned, windows washed, everything dusted really well and furniture vacuumed and the floors polished before it is put back. I am calling it my Spring Cleaning!

My family room is all back together. I am almost finished cleaning the living room and dining room and then a bit of tweaking, but for the most part they are back in order. The kitchen is cleaned but I am cleaning all the "stuff" before putting it away. I should be finished today! Yeah! I am also doing a bit of Springtime and Easter decorating at the same time.

Some photos of my family room before (Christmas two years ago), during (when I no longer could stand the panel and had to paint it, thanks to Linda at Behind my Red Door!) and after (with the new mantel, the carpenter was also a great salesman! A mantle was not in the plans, but I went for it!) The old mantel was just a flat board, very ugly, the entire room I thought was ugly, now I really enjoy being in here since this is where my computer desk is.

I also want to point out a little bunny dressed in red/white and blue on the bookcase. My daughter in law, Leslie, made this a few years ago. She is very talented as is her daughter, my granddaughter, Micaela. Leslie makes some very unique style dolls when time allows for her. I leave this little rabbit girl out year round; in the basket are the tiniest little wood eggs she painted in red/white and blue designs, they are about the size of a babies pinkie nail! I love this little set.

Wishing everyone a peaceful day!

♥♥♥♥♥♥

Mess + Progress

2009-03-04T08:37:00.003-05:00

A few photos of the work progress, today is the kitchen, the living room and dining room are finished and the hallway. I will have to paint the crown and do touch up on the walls where the work men's tools hit the walls. Once all the work is finished and the house back in order I will enjoy it. It shows the best in the kitchen. I am also thinking of a new placement of furniture in the living room once the painting is finished in there. AND, I told my husband I will never ask to have a project done like this again, last year was the kitchen but that was just one room. I have stuff from the kitchen, living room, dining room and family scattered all about. I usually take time to organize the stuff, this time I just removed and dropped it out of the way. I am also going to pack up some of my things and keep a less cluttered look. How long that will last we shall see. I sit here typing and look down the hall and see muddy floors and sawdust, yuck! The next few days will be really busy, the bright side is I dislike cooking and since everything is such a mess mt husband brings dinner home after work!

I sign off with: Here a mess, There a mess, Everywhere a mess. . .but in the end I will be happy with the results. . .I was just told that they are coming into the family room to work on the fireplace, my safe spot will now be taken from me! After that the backsplash and finished. . .for them anyway!

Wishing everyone a great day!

Saturday Doll Show and Other Stuff

2009-03-03T08:16:00.004-05:00

Last Saturday was the doll show. I have been going to this show for four years now. There are many different dealers showcasing dolls that are new to very, very old and expensive, dolls that I could only dream to add to my tiny collection. Tossed in between the booths these booths are the booths with the old dolls and accessories that you could find at a flea market. . .but sometimes you can find a little treasure buried in the pile of "junk". . .I found a sweet little doll coat, very old and very well made, faded to a soft red made of flannel and trimmed with a tiny braid and two little red buttons. This little coat was too sweet to leave behind, I said I was not going to buy anything since we are having the crown moulding and other things done around here, but for $1.00 I could not leave it there.

I entered two of my original Raggedy Ann style dolls. They won a blue ribbon and a certificate. The judge thought they were actually very old dolls, this made me happy because that is the look I go for! They had been put in the antique/old doll category! I had to clear up this mistake. Below are a couple of photos from the doll show and a photo of one of my dolls that I plan to list on eBay. The other one I am not ready to part with.

Today is the start of the work in my home. . .I will try tomorrow to post the photos of the mess in my house. . .I do not deal well with a mess let alone a BIG mess! I have often said I could not live through a big remodel. I cannot wait until they finish and it will look great and worth it in the end! Installing crown moulding is something I could never do by myself, first I would not have the tools and second my arms and hands would stop working after the second section was added. I have two men here now, this is a job for teamwork for sure.

I hope everyone has a great day. . .until next time,

♥♥♥♥♥

Hugs and Blessing,