For the LOVE of Prims

BeTtEr LaTe ThEn NeVeR...

2009-10-18T22:56:00.020-03:00

Hello Everyone!

I know, it's me...have you all forgotten who I am? Well let's see, my name is Sandy and I am a prim attic! Yes, it's me :) I am sooooo sorry ladies to have been away for soooooo long!!! I am not going to make any excuses because they are always the same. BUT I feel so horrible for it to be so very long. I can't believe that it's been almost two months since I last posted. What happened? Where did those two months go? Time just flies on by and mentioning two months, Christmas is only two months away girls ;)

I have been following the majority of you and leaving the odd comments here and there. But now I am back! And on my last post, I promised to make a post on the different textures in my house. I know that I am VERY LATE but as my title says "Better late then never". So as promised, here you go...
So my friends, I hope you enjoyed my pics on textures. And once again...sorry it took so long.

Before I sign off for the night, I have to show you all what I purchased with my Birthday money. YES, I said birthday. Another year has come and gone. But sadly when I turned 36 on the 9th, I panicked because I don't remember turning 30. Where did those 6 years go??? I have a feeling that when my 40 comes around, I will have a very hard time accepting that number. When I look in the mirror, I don't find the person starring back at me is 36. I feel I look like someone in their 20's BUT then I have day's were I feel like 90...LOL.

So with all my birthday money, I just had to go shopping for some prim decorations. I know you all would have also :)

I fell in love with this candle reflector!!! I find it is just beautiful! I have been going around the house showing hubby what I would like for him to build for me. For instance, a box to cover up this small radio. He started panicking by saying he doesn't dare stay still to long because I might box him up...LOL
The last time I was in my favorite prim shop, I couldn't help but love this stitchery. There is just something about it that I love. So when I went back the other day and saw that it was still there, that was a sign for me :)
I also purchased yet again another treenware bowl but in black. I wanted one that hangs because I ordered a Fowl Rack online over at Farmhouse Primitives. I know exactly where I am putting it, just waiting for it to come in. I don't know if everyone has checked out this awesome prim site BUT all I can say is WOW!!! There are some really nice goodies there. It was hard not to go over board but I was a good girl. So for the time being I placed the bowl on the floor under a bench filled with some fall decor.
I also purchased some candles that are all stringed together on a metal rod. I also want to put it on the Fowl Rack. I just forgot to take some pics. But trust me, when the rack comes I will make sure to get pictures to show you all. I just can't wait :)

Lastly, I will be by early this week to share some pictures of my Father's 60th Birthday Surprise. We had so much fun! And finally for once it was a SURPRISE! He was even paid a visit by a special OLD lady :)))

So until next time my friends...

WHAT??? Fall Already?

2009-08-28T23:10:00.029-03:00

I believe that we may have seen the end of our Summer weather :(((
Don't get me wrong...I can't wait to decorate for Fall. It's such a fun season with fall leaves, pumpkins, corn on the cob, Trick or Treating, witches, ghosts oh my...LOL. But after Fall comes the most longest season of all...WINTER! I HATE winter!!! It seems to last forever. Maybe Mother Nature will be nice to us and we will get a Indian Summer. That sure would be nice.

The last three weeks we have been having unbearable weather. To the point I could not do much without the heat bothering me. I have lots of things that I must complete painting, sanding and staining. So since I could not work outside, I did alot of indoor things. Such as going through all of Abby's clothes and bedroom. That child won't stop growing. I have never seen anything like it and never experienced it with Tabitha. Let's just say for Tabitha, I purchased a school coat in Kindergarden and she wore it right up till grade 6. That was the BEST $50 I have ever spent because she wore the coat for 7 years ;) How many kids can wear the same thing for so many years??? So now with Abby, it's just the opposite. Once we went through everything, I filled a extra large garbage bag FULL of all of her clothes from this past Winter and Spring. She has grown a couple inches. It took us the whole afternoon and once we were completed, Abby was very happy because she was fed up. Poor thing!

I promised awhile back that I would share some pictures from my yard. My poor flowers are really having a hard time. This year we had a really bad case of EAR WIGS. YUCK! At the beginning of July all it did was rain for the whole month, so the flowers were getting to much water...imagine that! And just these past few days, we were getting major winds which damaged some of my flowers, broke branches of the trees and blew off alot of leaves that are acutally cruchy.

I also will share other signs of Fall with some pictures...

Here is our Gazebo that is a must! Thank God for having it because for the last three weeks with our heat wave, the deck was reading 59 which is well over 100. To darn out to be in direct sunlight. And besides, I am not suppose to be getting to much sun.
These chairs and stools are sooooo comfy! Such a great spot for a nap. I have to admit I have taken a few along with my cuddly buddy, Daisy :)
Directly across is the love seat. So we have plenty seating for gathings.
As soon as you step out the patio doors, the table is right there. Holding some of Mikes's spices that he decided to grow on his own this year. You can also see that there is still some decking that never got finished staining :(
Over in this corner, is Mike's large egg. Unfortunately, he did not get to build his table to hold his egg. It just seems this year there was not alot of time on anyones hands. We had to many unexpected things. Hopefully Fall will be much smoother. On the side of the egg is more spices, then below are some tomatoes. The plant is looking really good but those couple of days from high winds, it kept knocking over all of my plants. So the majority of them look pretty droopy.
Now here is our problem...I took a picture to show everyone and wondering if anyone can help us. The stain of the deck now has black spots all over :((( Mike and I are very disappointed, but mostly Mike. He has spent many...many hours staining and we are not even done. But the spots are only on the exposed side of the deck and not the other half that is under the Gazebo. Sadly, we do not know what is causing them and they are almost impossible to remove when I use degergent to try and scrub it.
Has anyone ever experienced this or know's what is causing it? I loved the color so much that I chose and hate to think that I will need to change it once again. I think Mike will cry if we have to change everything.
And now here are some other views of my gardens...this is looking from the steps of the deck towards the front.
And here is our Ugly problem...LOL. This wooden wall belongs to our neighbor and it is the most ugliest thing that is invaded with many...many bugs! We planted at the bottom a plant that crawls but it did not bloom to the fullest that we all thought. So it looks like next Spring, a couple more will be going in to cover the looks of the old thing. Also down in the corner, I want to plant another garden. So that will be a Spring project since I desperately need to seperate and re-do my front garden.
Here is a view from the side of the stairs from the deck. We put in the stairs last year because we had no way of getting off the deck without having to go through the house. And that was one of our best ideas yet. I love it! My In-Laws planted this little garden for me and I love it so much. It did not bloom no where's as much as this year. I have honey suckle growing through the trellis and look another sign of Fall, black eyed susans. I have so many this year.
Going up the stairs, you can see some plants potted. I didn't get as many done this year that I wanted to, but there will be next year. I keep coming up with more ideas :)
A view towards the backyard...
Here is a grape tree that the In-Laws brought over from their place last year. We weren't sure if it was going to survive. It doesn't look as good as my In-Laws. But it did have a few leaves that grew this year, so maybe, just maybe we will have some grapes next year.
Another view of the garden that seperates our place from our neighbors.
Remember this Spring when we were putting stones around the tree and I was going to put hostas in it? Well here is the before picture...
And look at the plants in the background! Here is a after picture...
Much better :) The grass is so green but my hostas are now slowly dieing because once again, another sign of Fall. There was lots of crunchy leaves earlier today, but the man who mows our lawn came and mowed and cleaned up the mess. So it looked good all day. They are calling for rain for the rest of the weekend so I am sure the lawn will be full once again.

Here is a view of different plants that I planted on my extra large pot. I love it! It looked good all Summer long and is still looking super good ;) I inherited this wonderful cast iron bench that is well over 55 years. I have been trying to figure out what color to paint it, other then white. Does anyone have any great ideas? Please don't mind the wood. Hubby brought it home so we could have a fire tonight.
And here is the front of the house from this Spring...the plants were just starting to grow.
And here is the after...It is soooo grown in that it is in desperate need of seperating. So this will also be a Spring project for next year. Mike stuck the extra bricks to start a second row. I haven't decided if I want a second layer or just stay with the one. I guess we will see more next year when we work it. The poor flowers are so crowded!
And yet, another sign of Fall...I call these plants the broccoli plants because I can never remember the real name. But they are getting ready to turn red in which they do when Fall is here. They also attract ALOT of bumble bees. So I am considering moving them next Spring also. Not sure yet!
This is a new look for my front porch. You see in some of the pics that it is wet around my plants. Poor things were as dry as could be, so I had to refresh them. As you can see my neighbor, her door is green. We had the exact same thing. A nice new door with the window opening. Ah...so nice to have because I actually get a cross breaze through the house. We also changed the light. I thought I could have it hanging infront of the door but was not albe to because Mike would have to duck every time. He is just way to tall...LOL So we swayed it over to the side. I still like how it turned out.
And of course the last photo of all is of my little Abigayle with our baby girl Daisy-Roo.
I am sorry girls that I have not been blogging much. Just other things going on and then sometimes not feeling like doing much at all. I haven't had much get up and go lately, I think it got up and went! The Doctor changed the way I take my meds and upped my doses to help me out. I just feel like crying all the time, no energy and can't sleep. Not good because I remember these signs and don't want them back. I can't wait until my body starts getting use to the new doses and the new changes from taking them in the morning and not at night. I have been checking in on you guys to keep up to date with what everyone has been up to but really haven't been leaving any comments. I really like the Texture Challenge that you all have been doing. So I will have to grab my grey little friend and go around snapping pics for my next blog.

So I wish you all a wonderful weekend with lots of sun! So until next time my friends, have fun!

SuMmEr HaS fInAlLy ArRiVeD :))))

2009-08-15T23:14:00.007-03:00

Hello Everyone!

I believe that Summer has finally found us :)))
It has been super hot here these past couple of weeks. Too hot to do any work really but I am still not complaining because we were getting nothing but rain...rain...and more rain. For the month of July, on the news it stated that we received only 9 full days of no rain for the whole month. That's pretty sad when you think about it. But so far this month, it has been absolutely fabulous!

Mind you, with all the rain and sunshine, we have still been quite busy. From working outside in the gardens and lawn, cleaning ALL cupboards and re-organizing and I have had alot of family that came home from Ontario visiting. So we have been quite busy out and about visiting everyone.

I wanted to share this next photo with you because it's quite special. I had one cousin who came down to visit a couple weeks back now to celebrate her Mom and Dad's 50th Wedding Anniversary. So for the celebration, her husband, two daughters and granddaughter joined in on the mini family vacation. This will be a very cherished picture...
Standing in the back on your left (pink shirt) is my cousin Cindy, who was the first born grandchild in our family, her mother (Aunt Alvine, second born), Cindy's first born daughter and first born great-grandchild, Sarah, holding her daughter, Lily May (second born great-great grandchild) and my sweet grandmother, Lucy who was 97 back in April. This is a very special 5th Generation picture. I would only love to have Gramie around when my grandchildren come along (NOT for sometime yet) but I know she won't be here. But how special is this???

Gramie said she wanted to be able to live to see her first great-great grandchild. Well she now has TWO! And she also claims she will live to see her 100th Birthday. And you know, I believe she will. She is in such great health and has a memory as sharp as a pencil. She still gets up early in the morning, applies her makeup, dresses up and makes sure that her nails are painted at ALL TIMES! This picture will definitely make it my 'Cassista Genealogy' book. Someday, I hope to publish a book on my family line. At the rate I am going at, it looks like my dreams will come true. Sorry girls but this has been one project that has been keeping me from blogging. I get so caught up in it that I loose track of time quite quickly.

So all in all, we have been having fun visiting tons of family :) I was so happy to have a chance to visit with everyone. It's not often that so many of them come home for vacation around the same time.

I also just remembered tonight when I was getting ready to write up a new blog, I forgot to show you guys my treasures that I purchased when I was on vacation with the family. I almost died when I walked into a antique shop and saw these two beautiful crocks.
The white has a bad crack inside BUT that is fine with me and the brown one is in mint condition. The brown one has a 4 engraved it in on the front but very hard to see. Not quite sure if I will put anything in them but I have a plan and I will see if it will look good once I am finished. I will definitely share a picture once I have them in their spot. But I have to say...to my American friends, it seems that you guys find these all over the place and pay next to nothing for them. Here in Canada, they are very hard to find and when you do most of the time, they sell for a pretty penny. So when I got both of these for $40, I thought I hit the jackpot :))))

But I do have a question though...Exactly what were these crocks used for? I had one person tell me that the four gallon was for butter. Is this true??? And what made the difference between the colors?

The next item that I purchased while on vacation was one of these lights for only $17!!! They sell between $35 to $40, so once again, I was very excited when I saw the price tag on this. Of course I had to swoop it right up...LOL
And then just the other day, up the street from me someone was having a garage sale. So of course I had to go and check it out. I found this most wonderful basket for $1. All I could envision was it painted black, sanded a bit, stain rubbed all over and it filled with dried flowers.
I have it placed on top of this cabinet at the moment because I was trying to find a home for it since it is quite large. I think it will look wonderful once I have my idea done.

I have so many things to paint...unreal. I started the other day but then had to quit because it was just way to hot. I am not one of those lucky ones with a garage. So I have to paint on a nice day.

Then once again, the other day, the phone rings...hum, who could it be??? Remember that lady who was having the antique Garage Sale??? Well she was calling to let me know that she was selling a few new other things that she did not put in the Garage quite yet because she figured I would be very interested. Do I ever love her...hehe :)))) She had two smaller crocks...a four and three gallon for sale. I started shaking when I saw them. How much better could that be? I already had a five, now I have a four and three. The lid on the four is in really bad shape BUT that is OK with me. I will just end up putting it away. I felt like I was such a lucky person. Because I have been looking for these for years and could never find any and if I did, they were out of my price range. I saw one the same size as my 5 gallon going for $200. Imagine that??? To steep for my pocket book!

NOTE to Daphane because I know you read my blog...one of these would be really nice for your rolling pins collection. And if you don't want the collection anymore, you can send them my way and I will take really good care of them...LOL
I also purchased a old tool tote. I forgot to take a before picture. It's not done yet but once I have completed it, I will make sure to get a picture. It is quite large, so I want to put magazines in it. It won't hold all of them, but a good chunk at least.

I am hoping that tomorrow wont be quite as hot as today so I can finish painting the items and get them put in their place. My house has been a bit upside down and I am having trouble dealing with it...LOL. I am a bit of a neat freak. Everything has a home and do not, I repeat, do not leave anything laying around. My girls have learned the hard way. You leave it laying around, it goes in the garbage. You have to understand, my house is quite small. If anything is out of place or things laying around, it makes the house look dirty. So I am quite picky about this.

Finally the last picture I have to share is a 'Winning' that I received in the mail last week. Becca from "I'm me, What more do you want?" was having a drawing and I WON first place. I was so excited!!! Look at what I received...
A container full of homemade cookies AND they were delicious!!! My husband has a sweet tooth, so he jumped right in them as soon as I had the package opened. There were two chocolate bars, but my parents showed right when I had everything unpacked, so of course they jumped into the bar. Leaving nothing behind...LOL. And then this cute basket with some goodies I believe from The Body Shop. I haven't used them yet but the arrangement is cute. So once again, I want to thank Becca for the wonderful gift. I have to admit, it was loved by all :)))))

I also realized today that I never took pictures of the outdoors with all the work we have done. So you can be counting on some outdoor pictures coming up in the next few days. Mind you, I have seen much prettier yards so prim and all mine don't quite look like that. But this year sure does look alot better then last.

So until next time my friends...

...mOrE pIcTuReS aS pRoMiSed :)

2009-07-25T15:42:00.028-03:00

How is Everyone's weekend so far???
We are yet again, getting more rain, more rain and MORE RAIN :'(
It seems that is what this Summer is all about. I think the Sun took it's vacation and forgot to come back...LOL. We get very lucky and have one OR maybe two nice days and then rain for 4 or 5 days. I am praying for a much nicer August. No more rain...PLEASE!

As promised, more yummy pictures from when we visited the Acadian Village :)
I tell ya, this place was to die for! I so want to go back next year so I will be able to take my time in each house and take everything in.

Here is what was once a one room school that taught children from Grade's 1 to Grade 8. My father told me many stories about attending one room schools. Amazing how the Teacher had to teach so many different things for all grade levels. This was the entrance to the old School House. Abby could not wait to enter to see what the school looked like.
And here she is, happily sitting at one of the desks :) She was very puzzled to as why and how did the children write on slate. Notice the pile of wood in the back corner that was used to heat the school in the Winter months.
And here you see Mike and Abby eagerly heading to church...
They decided to have a quick prayer :)
This Church was so beautiful! I fell in love the pews!!! And check out this chandelier...WOW!!!
We were now leaving the 1700-1800 section of the Village and getting ready to enter the 1900's. We needed to cross the bridge to enter the new section that was added this year...
This was so AMAZING! I just had to snap a picture of the sign...
And you know these laws really did exist. Here in Grand Falls (where I live), they use to have a bridge quite similar BUT the law was 'No riding horses across the bridge!' You had to walk your horse or you would be fined $10 or $20.

I thought this was really neat how the cribs started changing into the new decade BUT yet still quite tiny.
And here from a distance, you will find the actual Motel that existed back in the day. And you are able to stay the night here if you wish. I would so love to spend the night, I am sure I would NOT get a good night sleep but what a experience it would be. They offer meals in the restaurant that would of been served back in the early 1900's. Not sure if I would enjoy the meal either but it would only be one day of my life, RIGHT? It would be just a thrill for the experience :)
Here was a train station that was not up and running quite yet since this section of the Village was only added late this Spring. But oh WOW...love the colors of the building!
Here is what a gas station would of looked like once cars were first introduced. You can see the sign on top called 'Irving Oil Products'. Irving Oil is a very large and rich company here in the Maritimes, Canada.
...and check out this car! I thought of my Grandmother right away. I thought oh how she would have so many stories to tell. How this would bring back so many memories for her. To bad the Village is so far from home and it requires so much walking because I would love to bring my 97 year old Grandmother and listen to her stories and how she could relate to this lifestyle.
This store was closed with a sign in the window saying due to Inventory. I would have loved to enter, just to see the items.

This house here was much richer compared to when we were exploring the homes in the 1700-1800's.
It had this actual phone that really worked!
And electricity but ONLY for lights. It was so cute because the women worked there all day long and she had homemade molasses cookies all ready to serve to the public. She offered one to Abby, but she declined because she prefers fruit and veggies over cookies. I know, what a weird child...LOL. No child passes up cookies but mine does...LOL.

Check out how the fireplaces changed! To be honest, I much preferred the fireplace from my previous post. Actually, I preferred the look of the homes from the 1700 and 1800's. But it was still so fun to see how the homes, furniture and style changed over the years :) Even the way the men, ladies and children dressed changed quite dramatically.
And this was really neat...back then all the sidewalks were made from wood. I am not sure if in the States they did the same BUT here in New Brunswick and Quebec this is how they were made with dirt roads.
Here was yet another store that we did not get a chance to enter. I wanted to soooo bad but when I looked at my watch, it was 1:30 and we had to be in the other town to pick Tabitha up for 2:00. We had a half hour drive ahead of us and it took another 10 minutes to walk back to the main building so we could leave this small but wonderful Village.
So trust you me, we kicked our butts in high gear and that is how I ended up with MAJOR blisters under my feet...LOL

I had to snap one more picture of this beautiful home. I wanted to enter it so bad but knew we had NO time at all. So this is why I really...really need to go back next year. Because we also skipped homes in the older section of the Village.
I LOVED my visit here so much! It was my high point of our mini-vacation.

As we headed out of this small but yet wonderful village, we needed to cross over a bridge because Shippagan, where Tabitha was, was located on a small Island just off the coast of New Brunswick. It was so cloudy out that day, we were sure it was going to rain but we were so lucky not to get one drop for the whole day. This was our view all the way down to Moncton, another 3 1/2 hours of driving before we hit our destination for the next three days.
We made it to Moncton by 7pm. Hubby and I were soooo exhausted from driving for 7 hours that day. The kids were wound for sound, so we took them down to the pool that was located in our Motel for the evening. We were hoping to tire them out and it worked :)

For the next three days, they were spent as full but fun days. I will post more later this week. But before I sign off, I have to share with you my new display I made earlier this week that I was saying I needed to add a cloth or penny rug. Now it looks much better :))))
I had this penny rug put away because I was burning a candle one day and the wax fell out of the dish ALL over my penny rug. I wanted to cry because have you ever tried removing wax from wool??? Impossible!!! But then I had a friend who told me to put a rag over the wool and use a hot iron, it will come off and go on the rag. So I thought what do I have to loose? I tried it AND to my amazement IT WORKED!!! Now you can't see it and would never know where the wax was.
Well my Friends, I must run for now. We have company arriving from Toronto for Supper. We have the next couple of days quite full from visiting family from all over. I am so looking forward to it. So I wish you all a pleasant and wonderful rest of the weekend!

Until next time...

~ Home Sweet Home~

2009-07-23T00:00:00.032-03:00

Hello Everyone :))))

We got back late Monday night from our mini 4 day family vacation. We had, or might I say the Girls had TONS of fun...well, I did to :) That is what we wanted...I want them to grow up and say 'Remember when...'. And might I say, I believe this one they will say just that :)

When we got home Monday night, it was 9pm. So we all were quite tired to do just about anything. I was also looking very forward to sleep in my own bed. Nothing like your own bed!!! So basically all we did was empty the van, empty all the luggage and put ALL the dirty clothes (there was ALOT!) in there piles so it would all be ready for washing the next day.

I shall share with you what we did during our mini-vacation, some items that I purchased and all the fun we had :) I will warn you all now, it will be picture heavy. But the pictures that I will share with you all today shall make you drool...LOL. At least I did! I will also break our vacation up in a few posts because if not, you guys will be looking - reading my blog for days...LOL...and I don't think any of you want that.

First off, remember that Garage Sale I was telling you all about??? Well I headed over there lastThursday night before we left early Friday morning to pick up Tabitha from her Acting Camp and got a couple more things. I just could not resist...LOL. I plan on going back :)))) She will be adding more old things later this week. I purchased this old Coca-Cola case...I always wanted one. You can't see it in the picture but it is written in red Coca-Cola but it is extremely faded...
...this is what I did with it. I am missing something for underneath...a cloth or something. I am thinking a penny rug, just haven't had time to finish the display quite yet. Once I am done tweaking this area, I will post a new picture.
I also purchased the second brown jug that she had, making number 3 for me. I want to make a display them. I have it in my head how I want it to look. So once again, I am getting another shelving built by my father's neighbor. So once it is built, painted and in place, I will also be posting a picture to share.
Now onto our trip...

We were up and at it early Friday morning. We wanted to be on the road bright and early so we had the vehicle loaded the night before. We made a pit stop at Tim Horton's for a good coffee and were on the road for 8 am. Tabitha's Summer Camp was finished at 2 pm but we wanted or should I say, "I" wanted to make a pit stop to a special spot...hehe. We had 3 1/2 hours of driving ahead of us, giving me a couple of hours to stop where I wanted to. If you go to the link just below, you can see where I live in Grand Falls (along the border of Maine) and we needed to go to Shippagan to pick up Tabitha. On the other side of the province along the Atlantic Ocean.
http://www.new-brunswick.net/new-brunswick/maps/nb/ad7.jpg .

We made it to Caraquet a little bit after lunch, noon, which is only 1/2 away from where we needed to pick up Tab. Now what was in Caraquet you all ask??? A place that I have been wanting to visit for years now and even more when someone told me more about it this year. This special place is called 'Acadian Village' . OMG...is all I can say. When I entered, I felt like I had died and gone to heaven :))) Now let me tell you, a few years ago I went to another place here in New Brunswick which is very similar to the Acadian Village. It is called King's Landing. But I was warned that when I went to the Acadian Village, I would notice a difference because the Acadian Village is much poorer then King's Landing. Meaning that King's Landing is more of a museum like. There are many rooms that you are not allowed to even enter. You have to stand behing the area. But it is not the same at the Acadian Village. You are allowed to tour the houses, watch the people work, cook/bake and so much more. I touched ALOT of things...LOL

The village is broken up into two sections. You have the 1700-1800's era and then the 1900's, which is new this year. Here is another link that you go to and once you enter the site you are able to view the map. Each house was brought to this village from surrounding area's. Each and everyone of them tell's you the history, the family/families that lived in each house. Along with what the person/person's did for a living. The people who worked/lived in each house would explain it all out. WOW!!!

I took lots of pictures to share with all you ladies...this is where the drooling begins :)
Sadly, I never got to see all the houses, shops...ect because when we entered we were told it would take about 3-5 hours to tour the whole thing. WELL, I did not have much time to spend so we needed to boogy. And let me tell you, I never walked so much. Let's just say, I learned my lesson NOT and I mean NOT to wear sandles in a place like this...LOL. We did the Village in 1 1/2 hours and by the time we made it to the end, I could no longer walk. I had a very LARGE blister on the bottom of both feet. I was in a great deal of pain for the remainder of the weekend. But I sucked it up and suffered. After all, I was to blame...I do want to go back, hopefully next year so I will be able to tour each house and get even more pictures:) I already told hubby. For a person who is not much into things like this, he seemed to have enjoyed himself.

As we entered the Village, there was this cute bench along the trail. Abby was already due for a break from just walking from the car...LOL
The first house we stopped at, had this beautiful rope bed :))) As you can see in the picture, there is a corner of a craddle. As the years went on, you could see the beds, craddles and other things improve. Even the way of living...
And check this out...I don't remember which house this was from but ohhhh WOW!!!
Here comes the horses and wagon. You can actually get on for a tour with them. Abby really wanted to but we were pressed for time. You had to watch where you were walking because if not, you would get a gift for free :) And trust me, this is one gift you did NOT want...LOL
These were not small horses. Their horse shoes were HUGE!
This was one of the first houses. You can tell by how the inside was finished. Everything you see is original, nothing new here. Look at how the walls were made. But most important, don't you just LOVE this cabinet??? It was gorgeous in person! I want one just like it...hehe.
This was no small guy...
...and here he had a bad itch :)
Here's Abby just before we entered the General Merchant Store. Back in these days trading was done so people could make purchases. Not alot of money went around back then. It was very neat to see all the goodies. I was so caught up in everything that I forgot to take pictures from inside. Sorry girls...
Abby was getting a kick out of watching the ducks play and swim. It was a very humid day when we went.
Just check out this lighting!!! Isn't it beautiful???
This was one of my favorite pieces! I love it so much that I told hubby in our DREAM home, I want one...LOL
All the fireplaces there were in working use because this was how they were doing all their cooking. Talk about VERY hot in the houses on such a very humid day. And the men were wearing wool pants. I don't know how they were doing it.

I just LOVED these stairs! But talk about narrow. We were allowed to go upstairs, so of course I headed on up with Abby. But once again, so caught up, I forgot pictures.
I saw very little yellow ware, so when I saw this, I just had to snap a picture.
You see the beds are slowly changing in looks...
I just wanted to scoop up this blanket and bring it home with me. Heck, do you think they would have noticed a large lump under my short??? LOL

Here is what was known as the 'The Theriault's House - 1890'.
I loved this display of old jugs...
A original dough board...WOW! And I loved the floors in this house...same house as above.
And here is the 'Thos. W. Riordon - 1895 - Grist Mill'. The Mill itself actually worked. Very amazing!
Well my friends, I hope I didn't loose any of you. I still have more pictures to share but I think this post has been long enough. So guess what that means??? YES more pictures to share on yet another post. I hope you enjoyed your visit just as much as I did. So please do stay tuned for some more mouth watering, drooling pictures.

I shall run for now BUT I will be back. I hope that everyone had a wonderful hump day and the sun is shining in your neck of the woods. So until next time my friends...

A Little of this and that...

2009-07-12T21:28:00.014-03:00

How was everyone's weekend?
I hope the sunshine found you all :)

In my neck of the woods it was actually quite windy, sunny, cloudy and little showers here and there. Made it a little hard to do any staining and working outside around the house. So instead I did a little tweaking here and there and some laundry since it was not overly hot in the house. I do not hang my clothes up outside for two reasons...first one, I hate bugs!!! Actually I am scared to death of them and always said when I was younger that I would never hang my clothes out for the fear of bringing in unwelcome guests...LOL. And the second reason is because of my hubby and Abby. I did not know until they were diagnosed with Asthma that you should never dry your clothes outside because you'll bring in pollen and other things that could trigger Asthma attacks. So do you think that made me ha:p:py when I was told that :)))))) Can you all see me smiling from ear to ear...LOL.

For awhile now, I have not been liking how my shelf looks in my half bath on the main floor. I have been wanting to change it but did not really have anything that I was looking for UNTIL I hit that wonderful Garage Sale that had so many goodies :)
This is what it use to look like...
...and now this is what it looks like...
And I have been looking at some wonderful pictures of some primitive ~ colonial homes and have been really thinking that I would like to change the look of this half bath. But I warned hubby that we would make this a Fall project since we are having a hard time to finish up our Summer ones :) I would like to take down the boarder and paint the walls all a light color (Belvedere Buff) and then paint all the trim work and cupboards a really nice green (Comfrey Green). I found these two colors in the Colonial Traditional Colors made by Para. These are the two colors that I have chosen...
Like I was saying it is only a half bath with the washer and dryer in it. And I have the front loads in which I LOVE alot but the washer door opens back to back with the dryer door. And since this is a really narrow room, I have to put my clothes on the floor when I take them out of the washer, then close the door, go over the pile of clothes and put them in the dryer. Hubby said we had to hire a plumber to come in to change the piping around. So I figured since the washer and dryer have to come out to do that, we could repaint the washroom at the same time :) Of course hubby looked at me with half a grin...hehe. I also got a old door from my dad that has holes from where there is suppose to be windows that I want to sand down and paint the same green. Then take the door to a window repair shop to have the windows put back in. I want to install this door on to the bathroom and sew up a curtain to cover up the windows. This way here I will get natural light in the hallway because with the door closed all the time, the hall is very dark. I am thinking it will look very sharp. I can't wait to start the project :) And don't worry, I will make sure to post pictures.

I also have this mini dry sink that I purchased last year at a craft show in the half bath.
I am thinking since I will be painting all the trim work green, this will have to change to another color. Undecided quite yet to what I will change it to. But do you see the jar on the top shelf with the rusty lid??? Well I purchased it from another Garage Sale for .25, exactly what I was looking for. I filled it with some wooden spools which I purchased from a local craft store, which eventually I will wind them all with threads. Here's a closer look...
I haven't had time to put threads around them and besides, I haven't found the colors I am looking for. The Dollar Store ran out, so I am waiting for their new stock to come in. But after I added the spools, I felt it was still missing something. I completely forgot that I had some prim labels, so I added a label that I ordered quite awhile back from online...Yankee Lane Primitives . Now I like it much better :)
The label suits it perfectly!

And then of course, I took a little break with my coffee during the day...guess who had to come and get some snuggle time???
...that's right, my baby girl, Daisy. She is looking at me as if to say "What do want?"

I then decided I wanted to change the look of my stove top. It has been the same for quite sometime now. I didn't realize I had so many molds. So I filled a bowl up with them and VOILA.
here's a closer look...I am liking it :)
Do you all remember all of those mason jars I bought? Well this is what I did with them...
I added flour, sugar, brown sugar and tea bags to them. I use to have these big bulky tin cans that hubby bought me one year for Christmas. I decided, it was time for a change. I will not get rid of my tins though because I love them so much but I am really liking the new look in this corner. I also put my wooden box with all my cutting boards here. I looked at hubby with my my eyelashes batting and asked him that I would really like a box similar to the one holding the cutting boards to hold the jars :))) At first I thought the jars would of fit in this box BUT they don't. Hubby did not say NO to making me one, he just said oh something like that is simple to make. So that means a YES! But when...well I will have to be patient...It will be hard since I am known not to be all that patient...hehe. I am still thinking how to hide those darn cords. But also thinks that when I get my box to hold the jars, it just might solve my problem.

Gee, I did not realize I had so much to say :) But of course it had been awhile since I last posted. I missed you all...

The last picture that I have to show you all is of my new lamp.
I LOVE...LOVE...LOVE, IT!!! I have been wanting one of these for a very long time. I finally got one at such a good deal that I could not say 'no' because I may never get the chance ever again. I also purchased a prim light to put over the sink but hubby has not gotten to it yet. Hopefully later this week it will be up so I can show you all.
That poor guy...I have been keeping him sooooo busy. I am sure he is thinking will the list ever come to an end. I promise it will...eventually...LOL. But on a good note, Friday we will be heading out for a few days of vacation. At first it did not look good for any vacation time at all but it turned around. HIP HIP...HOORAY!!!

Tabitha, my oldest left for camp today on the other side of the province, Shippagen. It is three and half hours away from us, right onto the Atlantic Ocean. It is a program that they offer for free to Francophone (French) Schools. They go for 6 days and there are tons of different camps to choose from BUT that is if you get accepted. They get tons of applications and then choose only so many children between the grades of 6 to 11 to attend. Well she got accepted for the Acting one...right down her alley. She was on cloud nine. When we go and pick her up on Friday, the kids will be doing a play that they will have all come up with and worked hard on all week. I am looking so forward to it and will be very happy to see her. But once we pick her up, we will drive another 3 hours further down the province for a three night stay in Moncton. We will hit the water parks, the zoo, some mini-put and we can not forget SHOPPING! Tabitha has been saving up her money for months now to go shopping for clothes. We will then head into Fredericton for one night and then be home by Tuesday. I must say that we are all looking very forward to our mini-vacation. I will try real hard to make the most of it with the girls and to have loads of fun. We have lots planned but I think it will still be relaxing. We promised the girls each night to go swimming at the Motel. They have an awesome pool. And what is fun about that is that I find it to be quite relaxing.

I have a busy few days ahead of me before we head out on Friday morning. Tomorrow Abby goes to her morning camp and then I think we will head on over to the Doctors. She is breaking out with some kind of red dots. They don't look like chicken pox and I am sure they are not because she started out with only one two weeks ago, in which I thought was a fly bite. But as of this morning she has about 15 of them. I will check her out tomorrow morning to see if they have worsen, she might not end up going to camp:( Then on Tuesday, she has a eye Dr Appt at 8:30, I have a hair appt at 10:30 and then I have a Dr Appt at 2:00. So it will be a busy day! I do hope to be back one day this week with a post before we head out early Friday morning.

So until next time my Friends...enjoy week :)

It HaS bEeN a LoNg TiMe...

2009-07-09T22:35:00.015-03:00

Yes...I am still alive :)))

I haven't been blogging because it has been one crazy month and a half around the Beaulieu household. Once in awhile I would check in to see what was new with everyone but not enough time really to leave messages. I can get on here and spend hours, which I know you all understand that.

I am very HAPPY to say my Father In-Law is back home but still not doing all that well. When he was rushed to the other hospital (refer to my last message), one surgeon wanted to operate the very next day because he was saying that my FIL had a third hernia but the original surgeon who performed his first surgery was saying that it was only fluid built up in and around his stomach. As days passed by, FIL starting feeling better and better. So we were all getting happier and thinking well it must of been fluid built up. You see, he still has both blood clots in each leg and is taking medication for them. So we can not afford for him to go back into surgery right now because it is actual life and death if he goes back under. And trust me, the man does not want to get operated on anytime soon and can you blame him??? But now the problem is, he still has a lump where the doctor was saying it was just fluid and my FIL is still in pain and gets tired very easily. I feel for him so much...it has been a month since all this craziness has happened and he still is not back to himself. And can you imagine, the Doctor said the very next day he would be back to himself. We all are very grateful that he is here with us right now but honestly this poor man can not continue suffering like he is either. I think they are going for a third opinion in Fredericton. I will continue praying for him to get better and to get rid of these blood clots so his surgery will be less dangerous. I also want to thank all of you for your thoughts and prayers during our tuff and difficult time. It is appreciated so much...

Poor hubby was so tired from working 6 days a week and 9-9 shifts. They hired a part-time student for the Summer and thank god he was a very quick learner. So hubby gets to step out of the store here and there for breaks and now he is able to get his day off work again :)))) Mommy and the girls were having Daddy with drawls...LOL.

Then on top of that, my poor baby girl, Daisy fell down the stairs and hurt herself really bad. She didn't eat or drink for three days straight. I called the vet and they told me to give her 1/4 of a tylenol every so often but four days later she still was not better. The poor thing couldn't jump up on the furniture, barely walk, nor running and would actually lay on the floor crying. It broke my heart, so I called back the vet and explained to them that something had to be done because it was awful seeing her suffer so much. They put her on muscle relaxers because she had a pinched nerve. Imagine! Here she is all covered up in a blanket because all she could do was shiver all day long. When I brought her to the vet, they weighed her and the poor thing lost a pound. A pound on her is like 10 on us...she did weigh 9 pounds and now she is down to 8.
You see the pink sweater I put beside her? It's her new little sweater that I bought her for $4. I couldn't resist, perfect for our cold winter months when she goes outside :)
But I am happy to report she is feeling better, but does not use her leg proper anymore. She has a hard time balancing herself on it. But the vet said she is doing good, so I am not sure. But here she is feeling much better...
And then, I had a mole removed from my lower back, the same week that FIL was rushed to Edmundston. It was suppose to be simple and easy but I ended up ripping the stitches and it took a good month before it actually healed. I was running to the hospital twice a week for the bandages to be removed because the stitches didn't really hold due to where they were. It was located in my lower back that stretches, so that is why they ripped on me. And on top of that, I had my infusion the same week that the stitches were removed. Because of the infusion, it took ALOT longer for it to heal. So now I am left with one really good scar. Thank God it is where no one can see it...YUCK!

But on a good note...

I made a couple business trips with hubby, and while I was away I made a few purchases :))) I found this bowl at a discount store for $2 and got the lamp for $19, originally $39, so of course I had to scoop it right up. I also got the little flower arrangement and the purple flowers. Needed some summery things.
I placed the lamp over here at the entrance on this little table...
I was in need for some more candles that hanged, so I got a couple more and just loved this little pail. I was thinking about planting a flower in it but soon found out, that it would not be such a good idea. So I have it on display instead...forgot to take a picture.
A couple of weeks ago, I then decided to make a run over to the primitive store in the next town from me and found myself some more goodies :))) I had money saved up just for this and am very pleased once again with my purchases.
I hope you are still with me...so much to say since it has been so long...hehe...

I have been hitting some garage sales and I hit the mother load at one place :)))
They have so many old and antique things, I was in paradise!!! So many things to choose from...sure wish I had ALOT of money...LOL. They have so many things to choose from!

I decided to purchase these mason jars, medical bottles and even a old jam bottle. I googled some of the bottles and some date back to 1908. I even got a old bottle that use to have Heinz Vinegar. It dated back to the 40's I think, if my memory serves me correctly. Some of the mason jars I am going to use to put my flour, sugar and brown sugar in. Just haven't had time to get to that quite yet. To busy working outside since we finally have sun :))))
I then was very lucky to get these awesome skates. I was sitting in the clouds when I saw these. Along with these old tins...I just fell in love with them. And what a awesome dark brown jug.
I tell ya...this place is full. And the lady keeps digging it out of her basement. I guess it's full of old things that she has collected over the years. She keeps calling me, I have been there three times now. I don't dare go back because hubby may kill me...LOL. On my last trip she had this old wooden box and I fell in LOVE with it!!!
I am trying to think what I can display in it...does anyone have some good ideas for me??? Do PLEASE share...

And I also got these...
I have been looking on E-bay for some and they sell between $10 and $20 bucks. I got them for $3 each, so I thought I did pretty good.

So all in all, I think I did rather well with all my goodies from the Garage Sale. She told me that they were adding more antiques next week. Do I dare go back??? LOL
She told me that she had another wooden box but bigger then the one I purchased. I want to see it so bad...

And now since we finally have some nice sunny weather, hubby and I have been working outside to try and complete all the work. For the last two weeks we have been getting nothing but rain. In between all the rain, I have been weeding the flower beds, the lawn, planting new flowers and transferring others. The yard is starting to look really nice and homey :) Then in between hubby's days off and the rain, we have been trying to stain the deck. We were hoping to get it all stained inside and out but it looks like we will only be doing the inside this year. We want to have a chance to enjoy the deck before the nice weather is gone once again. And yes, once we are completed...hoping by the weekend...I will get some pics up for you all to see.

We then had to hire someone to spray our yard because we were having severe problems with the little red fire ants and ear wigs. OH YUCK!!!! Those darn ear wigs were eating all my plants and they were everywhere. We couldn't even sit outside under our gazebo at night because it was infested. And now...OH WOW!!! They are dead and we can actually go outside and not have to worry about them crawling all over us.

So I guess I am off so I can hit the hay for yet another wonderful sunny day ahead of us. So many things to do and as I mentioned I am hoping to have all the little things done for the coming weekend. They are forecasting sun for the entire weekend...I hope it doesn't change. And I hope you were able to stay with me for such a long post :)

So stay tuned for upcoming pics of my yard and gardens.

Until next time my friends...

I am still alive...

2009-06-14T12:34:00.005-03:00

I just wanted to drop in to let you all know that I am still alive.
I just took a break from blogging for awhile and have been doing something else that I truly love and that is Genealogy. I love researching my Cassista Family Tree. I have been locating a great deal of information lately from the states and Quebec and have been keeping myself busy with that since our weather has been really crappy. We have been getting nothing but rain for awhile now and finally today it's a beautiful summer like day out there. With it raining we haven't been able to work outside much. But I have got some work done...pictures will follow later this week. But sadly other major work wont be getting done any time soon.

This past week has been quite the crazy one for our family. My husbands father went in for a simple double hernia operation last Monday and was sent home the same day since they claimed the new procedure that is done now you can go home the same day and experience less pain then the old way. But on Tuesday he was rushed back to the hospital because he was experiencing severe chest pains and could not breath. We thought he may have been suffering a heart attack. But when the Dr at the Emergency seen the shape he was in, he knew it was not a heart attack and had him transferred to another hospital for a cat scan. Come to find out, he had water on his lungs due to the surgery but since they had him there, they decided to do a full body scan and found a blood clot in each leg. The hospital then made the decision that he was not going home until they could get these blood clots to dissolved. And as of yesterday he was feeling a bit better and peppier. But at 8:50am this morning the hospital called home because they could not get a hold of my MIL stating that my FIL was being rushed back to the other hospital for another cat scan because he passed out in front of the nurses station. He was complaining that his lower stomach was in massive pain. So they are assuming the blood clots went to his stomach. At this time we are now awaiting for further news. Talk about being very stressed out!!!

It goes to show you that just a simple surgery can turn into something major. I am asking for everyone to please keep us in your thoughts. My poor husband right now is running onfumes. With his father not being at the store, he is covering his shifts and his fathers. So right now he working 6 days a week, basically 9 to 9 with no lunch and supper hours. I fear that he is going to burn himself out but he keeps telling me not to worry. BUT you are talking to someone who worries about EVERYTHING! This is who I am and I can't help it.

So I will go for now and keep you all posted when we find out further information. We are getting ready to head to the other town at the Hospital to hopefully find out further information. We are truly praying for good news.

UPDATE on my FIL as of late tonight...

As of late tonight we found out that FIL needs another surgery because it is yet a third hernia in the stomach area that has to be removed because he is in massive pain. They are keeping him severely sedated at the moment because the pain is absolutely horrible:(

But the problem now is that they have him taking blood thinners because he still has both blood clots BUT they have to take him off of these meds before surgery because he could bleed to death during surgery. But the other problem is that he is at extremely high risk for surgery because of the two blood clots that he could die during surgery.

Now we are all very upset and awaiting for the two surgeons to meet tomorrow morning to decide what are they going to do??? Of course for the past couple of hours all I have been doing is crying because my FIL is like a second dad to me and my poor husband is very, very quiet because he just doesn't know what to think. The poor guy has to go into the store tomorrow and he said before he went off to bed, "Tomorrow will be the longest day of my life. What do I do?" I feel for him so much. He is VERY close to his parents.

Please continue to keep us in your prayers. I can see that tonight will be a very long night...I pray that the whole family can get some sleep especially my husbands Mother. She left here tonight very upset.

BuSy...BuSy...BuSy...

2009-05-24T19:52:00.008-03:00

Hello Everyone :)

Where have I been? I'm still here, just been soooo busy that I really haven't had much time to blog. Every once in awhile I would check in on everyone but other then that no time for actual blogging. I feel so guilty for being away for so long.

Since Mother's Day, it was spent quite busy.

My Sister In-Law arrived from Toronto for the weekend. So we had her over for supper on the Friday night and then we celebrated Mother's Day on Saturday with my husbands side of the family. And then Sunday it was spent on my side of the family. Trust me by the time the weekend was over, we were all played out and looking for bed. But we had a wonderful weekend with lots of good food :) It was just so precious because Abby was so excited to give me my Mother's Day card handmade from school. This being her first year in school made it extra special to receive the card. She was showing everyone and kept telling me not to look because I had to wait for Sunday to come. She was thinking I had no clue what it was...LOL.

Then we started the week out with going through everything to prepare for the Garage Sale. I felt like all I was doing was cleaning and pulling stuff out. I have stuff stored all over the place because I don't have much room here. But let me tell you, boy did I do alot of purging. It actually felt good and now I have space...LOL. We then had to go over to my friends place on the Wednesday to set everything up and make sure everything was priced. We were about 8 people who had things to put in the sale. It lasted for the whole weekend. Here in Canada, it was a long weekend for us so we did the Garage Sale for the whole entire weekend. Let me tell you, by the time I got home at night I was played out. Not use to putting in big days like that. But over all, we had a very successful weekend. I made alot more money then I could ever imagine...YAHOO! I barely brought anything back home. The things I kept because I didn't want to throw them out. But like I said, I hardly brought anything back...maybe 6 or 7 pieces, compared to two van loads :)

Then on Thursday, I had to have Tabitha over at the dentist office for 8:30 in the morning. They were pulling out her last four baby teeth...and yes I said four. Poor thing ended up getting 9 freezing needles and she thought she was going to school afterwards. Yeah right!!! Poor thing remained frozen till about 4pm and realized that she could not eat and your are not allowed to suck on a straw so she was very limited. But what a big girl she was. No crying, fighting with the dentist or nothing. She knows all this work has to be done to try real hard to prevent braces. Now when these teeth grow in they will be pulling the adult ones out also. But this time she looked at me and said, "Mom, they will only pull two at a time." She was in alot of pain when the freezing wore off. And then this past Thursday she had to go and see the Orthodontist to have appliances installed in her upper and lower mouth, just to hold her one and only molars in place. If not then they will fall foward while we wait for the other adult teeth grow in. Poor thing hasn't had any teeth grow now for the past three years because she doesn't have the room for them. So as of Thursday, it looks like she will be getting braces.

And then of course to start out the weekend of our Garage Sale, we had to have some form of excitement. We can't go out without that right??? On Thursday evening, my FIL called from the store begging hubby to get in because he could no longer walk. FIL, went directly to the Emergency. He ruptured himself on both sides. So he was rushed to another hospital but he refussed surgery because he knew then that my husband would be alone for a couple of weeks. And that would of been really hard and tiring on hubby. So instead he came back home wearing some special belt to hold his hernia's in place until he gets surgery next month. Hubby threatned him NOT to do any lifting or anything that would cause strain. He promised...so now we await for the surgery to take place next month sometime.

And then sadly we had another death in the family. I had a Great-Uncle who passed away at the age of 88 years old. He was suffering from prostate and bone cancer. He told my father that it was time for him to leave, he had a long and happy life and he no longer wanted to suffer. But of course, death is always hard on the family. I just keep thinking of my poor Gram, she has been experiencing so many funerals lately and she finds it gets harder each time just due to the fact of her age. This was her brother in-law and now her sister (his wife) is not doing so good. I am afraid since my Great-Uncle passed away, she won't be far behind him. At the funeral, she was so lost and didn't even recognize anyone and when you told her your name she still didn't know you. She just turned 90. But she is the only sibling left for Gram and they are very close.

With everything going on, somehow, someway, I found time to work on some things.
I got Daisy's dog dish all done and I am pleased with how it turned out. She still is trying to adjst to it because it is a bit higher off the floor then her old one. I painted it black and then barn red over that, with a bit of sanding and stain, it looks great :)
Now I can say that she is stylin the Primitive way...hehe
And then I finally finished my spoon rack and I LOVE IT! I painted this piece black with mustard over it, sanded and of course stain and love the look.
For the time being I have a couple of spoons sitting in the bottom and a dish cloth. I want to add some other things but just haven't gotten to make up the arrangments to add to it. Sorry for the pictures being blurry, hubby told me that I must of had the camera on the wrong setting.

And of course having my own Garage Sale didn't stop me from stopping into one when I found out the lady had antique jars, bottles, ect...Of course I got there to late because the most of her things were gone. But I was lucky to find these two things pictured below...
This brown jug is huge and in excellent shape. I then loved the look of this other tin jug of some sort. It kind of looks like a oil can of some sort but not exactly sure. I also found a old wooden step ladder that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of. But I want to place the ladder in one of my flower gardens. So once it's in place, I will make sure to get a picture and share with you all :)

And then this week hubby and I started working in the flower gardens. I decided to go with stones around the beds of my flowers because we have someone who cuts our lawn and he has a bad habit of cutting the tips of my flowers off and he puts all the grass clippings in my flower beds. It DRIVES ME CRAZY...lol. So to keep myself sain and my flower beds looking good, I decided this was the better thing to do.
So as you can see here, we started around our tree. In the next few days, I want to add hostas all around it. I have it invisioned in my head, and it looks good. I think it will be beautiful once the hostas are all filled in. Hubby had a hard time trying to make the stones fit perfectly. But I think he did a great job!
He then started around the front of the house. Oh boy will it look sharp! I can't wait for him to finish. With a few hours here and few hours there, it will be all done. My flowers have really been growing like crazy this week with all the nice weather. But I really need to get them seperated because once they are all in full bloom, they will be to crowded. As it was, last year, there were just to many and I think this year they trippled in the amount...LOL

We have been trying so hard to get work done outside early because I want to be able to enjoy the summer. Be able to sit back and enjoy all the wonderful work.

Tomorrow morning we will be getting up early and leaving for Moncton for two days.
The kiddies will be staying with the In-Laws and my Daisy Girl is staying at my Dad's so it is just two days of hubby and I. I am so looking forward to it :) On Monday, we will do some shopping but on Tuesday, Hubby is in meetings from 9-5. So I guess I will go out and do some shopping on my own :) It will be a late night on Tuesday by the time we have a quick supper and get home. But we will make the most of it.
So no work will get started until Wednesday in the yard. We keep waiting for the warm weather to stay at night so we can get the back deck all stained and then I can set everything up. The guy at the store said we need warmer nights then what we are getting for the stain to set. So I sit and wait patiently...LOL. And then of course, I haven't finished my front porch yet because I don't want to paint the floor until they install my door just in case they scratch up the floor while they are installing the door.
But hubby ran into the Contractor yesterday and he said this week...YEAH! I can't wait. Just the fact of the door being changed will make the front porch look cleaner. I then have a new light that I only had for 3 years for hubby to install, paint the floor and then add my rocker est VOILA...it will be all new and will look GREAT!

Oh boy...so many things to do and not alot of time :) But we will work on one thing at a time and it will get done. I try to keep telling myself, it is still May so we will be OK.
Tabitha counted tonight and the girls only have 20 days of school left, so my aim is to have the outside done by then.

Well my friends, I hope I didn't bore you all with everything that has been going on. But as you can see, I really did have a hard time squeezing in time to blog. Now I shall go and read a few and hit the hay for a early morning.

I will check back in later this week with my new finds from my trip and hopefully some updates of my gardens. To my American Friends...have a great Monday for your long weekend and to everyone else, I hope the sun is out and your enjoying it.

Until next time...

HaPpY MoThEr'S DaY tO aLl YoU MoMmY's!

2009-05-09T22:00:00.000-03:00

~ Whatcha Working On Wednesday ~

2009-05-06T22:24:00.009-03:00

WOW...it's been over a week already???
My computer was in to see the Doctor last week. It has been acting up on me, so I decided to get it checked out and come to find out I had 28 virus's. Imagine that???
I am so relieved that the Computer Doctors were able to fix it and I did not loose anything. I have ALOT of information in it from Pictures to Genealogy that I would have cried if I lost everything. I guess it's time to do a back up for 'Just in Case'.

It has been a very busy week! I am still doing some Spring cleaning and organizing around the house. My neighbors...well now old neighbors and good friends because they sold their house and officially moved out Monday :( well they are having a Garage Sale for our long weekend in May. So I have decided that I have somethings that I really need to get rid of. I was always told that if it hasn't been used in the last 6 months then you will never use it. So I have gone through closets, chests, cupboards and dressers and I am still cleaning. They gave me full permission to put in what ever I wanted to sell. I know that I had one last year but we always have things to get rid of, right??? We also have a bad habit to save boxes from items that we purchased and I noticed that those darn boxes take up alot of room. We keep them for just in case we have a problem with our item. Alot of our things have a one year guarantee on them but we need to have our boxes to be able to return them. So this is why we keep all of them. But enough is enough! We just don't have enough room to store all of this stuff.

And along with all this Spring cleaning, I have been working on alot of projects. On Sunday hubby was finally able to take my dry sink over to his Dad's to shrink it down a bit. Now it makes more sense and I LOVE it! I also love how the color turned out.
Now that I look at the picture, I need to rearrange the items on it. I guess I will probably be doing that tomorrow :) I will also be adding some plants to it but of course it's not time yet since it still gets quite chilly out at night. But this dry sink took me longer to do then I thought it would because I was deceived by the size of it. But I am so thrilled with the turnout. Now I await for my front door to be installed and the floor stained and it will be completed. I will be sure to take a picture of the completed look. I am so anxious!!!

Remember my little round black table that I posted about in my last post? Well here it is now with my lamp and other decorations. Sorry for the brightness of the picture. It was dark and I turned on the lamp but I guess I should of turned on the ceiling light. But once again, another project I love...
Then Mom showed up yesterday with my dog dish holder all built and ready to paint.
I started painting it black but then decided because it will be used all the time since it will be Daisy's dish to eat and drink, I painted over the black with barn red. I still need to sand it, stain it and I will also varnish this piece just because if water gets on it, it won't damage the wood or anything. I would rather protect it and be safe.
Also in the background, do you see my spoon rack??? :))))
My very dear hubby built it for me...I was so excited when he brought it home all built. Boy he has been spoiling me by building all of these wonderful things. As of tonight, I got it painted with it's bottom coat, black. I will add a mustard color over it and then sand it all down and add the stain. Hopefully I will be able to complete these two items tomorrow.

I want to get these little projects done and out of the way because hopefully in the next couple of weeks we will be busy outside staining the front and back deck and getting them all ready for Summer. And I also need to do some more work in my flower gardens. I am getting anxious for Summer. We get one or two nice days and then it cools down and rains. It has been raining since yesterday and is suppose to right up to Mother's Day. YUCK! But the good thing about it is that it will make the grass turn green and flowers grow...that's a bonus :)

I also wanted to share with you my recent purchase that I made from Kathy over at My Colonial Home. I have been wanting her work for quite sometime now and finally decided to make a purchase. I purchased this sheep penny rug (it was very hard to choose one but I kept going back to this one), candle huger (I have it on a old mason jar full of rose hips) and a little ditty bag full of flax hanging on my dry sink
Her work is remarkable! I only wish I could stitch so perfectly like that. My penny rugs are no where near as hers. But I know with more practice I can achieve it but all I can say is WOW! Of course for the time being my penny rug is hanging on a chair but it will get a home once hubby gets time once again to build me a shelf to hang it on. So hopefully next Wednesday (his day's off work) he can slap one together for
me :))))

Yesterday I had to take Tabitha over to the Orthodontist because we are working really hard to try and avoid braces but it's not looking good. We were there for a hour and half...wow...I wasn't expecting it to take that long. She will need to have her last four baby teeth pulled...molars. Poor thing, she only really lost two teeth on her own. The rest were pulled out by the Dentist...just because like I said, we are really trying hard to avoid braces. She has really big teeth but a really small mouth. So next Thursday she is scheduled to have those four molars pulled out all at once and then the following Thursday they have to put a form of a brace in her upper pallet and bottom pallet to keep her adult back molars in place so they won't fall forward. We then wait for her eye teeth and pre-molars to grown in. Once the pre-molars come out, they will also remove those one's. Then we are hoping she will have enough room for all her eye teeth and the next set of molars. Once the other teeth grow in they will then remove these brace/bracket things and this is where we will see if she has to have braces or not. I can see this will be a expensive road ahead of us but if we can correct the problem now, it makes me happy. Because if we do not do these steps right now, her eye teeth will come out the front of her gums on the very top or very bottom. And I don't want her to go through that.

Once again...Friday is Remicade day. So I will be spending my morning at the Hospital...yeah for me...NOT! Oh well, it's a good time for napping...hehe. My Sister In-Law also shows up Friday from Toronto. She is flying down for a long weekend to visit the family. So it will be nice to see her and spend some time together. We will be celebrating Mother's Day at hubby's parents house on Saturday and then on Sunday we will head out to my parents my house. So it looks like we have a busy weekend ahead of us.

So that is it for now my friends. I am hoping that everyone had a great start of the week and will have a wonderful end of the week. It would be so nice if we get some wonderful sunshine for Mother's Day.

Until next time...

SoMe PrOjEcTs & HoW wElL dO yOu KnOw SoMeOnE?

2009-04-27T17:07:00.011-03:00

WOW...I can't believe how long it has been.
I am so sorry that I have been away for such a long time BUT I have been kept quite busy with some projects, Spring Cleaning and the death of my Uncle. Every so often though I did pop in to check up on you ladies to see what was new.

We had a beautiful sunny weekend BUT boy is it cold out there today. And they are not calling for Summer like temperatures at all this week. We are only going to be getting +6, 9 and 11. BUT my flowers are growing so that is encouraging. I got a chance on Saturday to work a bit in the flower beds...cleaning them up and weeding.
I can't wait to see them all in bloom...

Like I mentioned, some Spring Cleaning did get done. I went through all of Abigayle's clothes to see what still fit her and what not. I filled one large black garbage bag full. That child grows like a bad weed...LOL. The doctors claim she will be a 6' tall girl, she definitely will not take after her Mommy :) And you know I believe them. She is the tallest in her class...even taller then all the boys. That's OK...I tell Tabitha she will be the one to reach all the high things for us...LOL. I then cleaned out my cupboards, medicine cabinets and closets. Feels good to get rid of things that I no longer need. And looks good when you open the doors and see organization.

I also kept myself busy with some redo's. I had these candle holders for well over 15 years and decided they needed a fresh new look. I love how they turned out and I separated one set. Here is one on my bread board on the stove...but knowing me, I am sure they will find new homes.
The other found a home in the dining room on my other bread board. I am not liking this display as much so of course there will be more rearranging :) I still haven't made my pantry cakes but am thinking they might get done later this week.
The other set I placed on top of my shelf...
I then re-did this little shelf that hangs in my half bath. It use to be country blue and since I have a couple pieces painted in barn red I thought it would look good with a fresh look.
I also had my Dad's neighbor build me a couple pieces of furniture, like this beautiful table.
He does such wonderful work and charges next to nothing to make them. This little table cost me $40...better then paying full price in a Prim Shop. So of course today I got busy painting, sanding and staining it. And all I can say is WOW!!! I LOVE how it turned out...
This is where it will sit. I haven't got it decorated yet because the stain is still really sticky. So once it is dry I will take another picture of it with the lamp that has been stored awaiting for it's home :) And since I am putting the table here, I had to move a few things around. Like this light in the box, I could not keep it there since a lamp will be on the table. So I moved it over to my husbands desk.
It hides a bit from hubby's computer screen but I think it looks good here. Look at all those wires on the floor. They drive me insane!!! But since we no longer need the heat on, I will try to hide them better. And then since where my chair sits, with the table and bench I no longer had room for my candle stand. So I moved it over by hubby's desk and my antique one.
It doesn't mean it will stay there but for the time being this is where it will go. And if you look closer or enlarge the picture you can see 5 different spoons sitting with my cutting boards. I went to the Dollarstore and saw these packages of spoons unfinished. I thought how easy is it to paint them up and display them. Hubby was suppose to build me a spoon rack on his day off (Wednesdays) but due to certain circumstances he hasn't gotten to it yet. But I know he will get it done when he gets a chance. So until then, this is where they will sit.

The other piece of furniture is this dry sink. BUT my oh my did he build it really big. It's almost 5' high...too high for me. And it is also to wide to put where I had intentions. And since my Dad delivered these things to me this morning, I felt to bad to ask his neighbor to cut it down. So this Wednesday, Mike's job will shrinking it down a bit so I will be able to put it on my front porch with my Summer decorations. He charged me only $50 for it. I see these sell for well over $200 in the Prim Shops...so you can bet I was really excited.
I will paint and distress this piece in a green color. I can't wait to get it finished and displayed. It will look so nice! He is also building me a dog dish...well it will hold Daisy's dog dishes but he didn't get it finished yet. Once I receive it and get it all painted I will make sure to post a picture. Since everything else in the house is all so prim...I thought Daisy's dished needed to be also :)

Then yesterday hubby and I went shopping for stains because our deck needs to be re-done again. And since we need to redo it, I thought how nice it would be in a color. I chose a nice green color for it. I know, your all thinking green...RIGHT? But wait and see the color...I LOVE IT! But the guy at the store was really nice because he told us that the stain will be going on sale within the next few weeks so we should wait till then. He also recommended that it's not a good idea to stain in these cool temperatures because the stain doesn't penetrate as good. Now that is what I call Excellent Customer Service. He was so helpful and really knew his stuff because we were also looking at that 1-2-3 Rock Sealer step. He recommended in our area it was not a good idea because of the quantities of salt that is used in the Winter. I wanted to redo my front porch because that one is made of cement. But it takes a good 5 days to do all the steps and when Winter comes the salt will just ruin it anyways. So he recommended for us to use the color paint stain. It will penetrate really good in the cement and last ALOT longer. So now here I sit looking at all the paint chips trying to decide which color to go with. Decisions...decisions...but boy is it fun. And then this week or next we should be getting our new front door, this is well over due. The old one has had the buns. When it is closed you can still see outside...many cracks. I know this was not good for the Winter months...imagine all the heat we were loosing? I wanted to go with a color door but could not decide on one and then thought I will not be staying here forever so it was best to put a white door that I knew would not turn people off. So now I can't wait! We will have plenty to do for the next month to come but so looking forward to it. It will be nice to have a fresh new look in front of the house and out back. And then with all the flowers in bloom it will be soooo nice.

WOW!!! I guess this turned out to be a pretty long post...but please bare with me, I almost done.

One of the main reasons I have been away for so long was because of my Uncle Romeo. Sadly he passed away one week ago yesterday, April 19th. We had his wake on Tuesday and funeral Wednesday. That poor man suffered for two very long weeks. Every couple of days, the Doctors would tell us that he had only 24 hours to live. But something kept him going and we all did not know what. He amazed the Doctors and they could not explain what was keeping him going. His sister...my Aunt, her husband and his two kids never left his bedside for those two full weeks. They would eat, shower and sleep at the hospital right in his room. It was so nice to see everyone pull together for such a sad time. But my Uncle was very grateful to see all of his brothers, sisters, In-laws, Mother and children by his bedside. He thanked everyone for coming. I am so touched because when his children arrived from the airport and walked into his room, his eyes twinkled. I will never forget that...

I was really worried about my 97 year old Grandmother. I was so scared to see what this would do to her. You know, I am not ready to loose her yet. I know she is 97, but that is my second Mom. All she kept saying was why did God not come and get me instead of him? It has to be so hard to see one of your children go before you. I pray that I never have to go through this. But you know, my grandmother did really well. She remained very strong. But I truly think what helped had to due with the language barrier. You see Gram does not speak nor understand English and my Uncle's funeral was all in English. So Grammy did not understand a thing the Priest was saying. So I truly believe this made the funeral alot easier for her.

Now to the title of my blog...
At his funeral my Uncle who helped in taking care of him said the eulogy. It really makes you think..."How well do you know someone?" You may think you know someone really well, like no one else knows my husband like I do but do I really know him? I did not know that Uncle Romeo was a clock collector. I guess he had well over 120 clocks and they were all set at the exact same time. Imagine that? My Uncle then went on to say some really nice things about Uncle Romeo that I truly did not know. I learned alot about him that day. But what was most important was that Uncle Romeo kept asking the family to give just 10 minutes of alone time. But no one would really give him that 10 minutes that he wanted. When the family would step out of the room, the nurses or doctors would enter. Then finally that Sunday morning, the family decided that maybe Uncle Romeo was holding on because he did not want to die in front of them. So everyone decided to step out and go for brunch. Within 15 minutes from the time they left the hospital, their cell phone rang and it was the nurse. My Uncle passed away at 11:15am. He kept asking for those 10 minutes because he wanted to die alone. They all thought that he wanted them by his bedside for when the time came but he really wanted to be alone.

So how well do you know your husband, mother, father and everyone else? A thought I will leave with you...

I dedicate this post to my Uncle Romeo...
You may now rest in piece and be with the Angels.
1942 - 2009

WiShiNg A hApPy EaStEr...

2009-04-12T21:02:00.007-03:00

I wanted to drop in and wish everyone a very Happy Easter!

To have a change of mind today, we went to the Sugar Camp with my husbands side of the family early in the afternoon. This was really neat because the man who runs the sugar camp gave us a complete tour of the area. Showing us step by step when the sap comes out of the trees to how it is turned in maple syrup. Very amazing and talk about alot of steps. You obviously need alot of time and patience to make sugar products. But this is his passion and being retired he now has time to do it.

Here you see all the family gathered around the table of clean snow where the syrup once boiled at a perfect temperature is poured onto the snow and within seconds you take a popsicle stick and just start turning it in to sap until it is completely wrapped around your stick.
As you can see the kids were truly enjoying it but I think the adults enjoyed it just as much :) As for me...I don't have much of a sweet tooth but I did have some. But boy oh boy was it sweet. A bit to sweet for myself.
This is my cute little nephew and godson, Ryan...he was just to cute because he was wodding it all in. Once he was finished he had one sweet face. Standing beside him is his bigger sister, Keisha.
We spent a good two hours at the camp with a whole lot of enjoyment. This may become a family tradition. We then went back to my in laws for a wonderful supper. It was a great day...other then that white stuff that you may call snow...LOL. Yes, you guessed it...it is snowing once again. I sure do hope this will be the last of it for the year :)

I also wanted to give you guys a brief update on my Uncle. But before I do, I truly have to say a Big Thank You to you all for all your kind words. It is so nice to have so many kind people that really care out there in this big world.

My Uncle is still hanging in which is amazing everyone. The Doctors said he would be lucky if he was to make another couple days. And at this moment he is truly amazing everyone. My cousins wont leave his side which is so touching to me. He has had some really rough nights but Dad told me yesterday he actually woke up and shaved himself and combed his hair and was saying some jokes. But he refuses to actually lay completely down in his bed to go to sleep because he is really scared that if he does he will die. So instead he sleeps sitting up holding onto the bed rails. He doses off for about 20 minutes and then wakes back up for another 20 minutes. But he is completely bed ridden, his feet are so swollen that he couldn't even walk if he wanted to. The doctors switched his medication so he no longer feels pain. But most of all he is so grateful to have all his brothers, sister and children by his bedside. I think just knowing that makes him feel all good inside since he was a man that lived all alone for the past 10 years. It's amazing how a family can come together for such trying times. Even though they all don't see eye to eye they are all trying to be civil for their brother. I wish him so much peace.

I will keep you posted and again I want to say Thank You for all your prayers.

Until next time my Friends...

I am filled with so much sadness :(

2009-04-09T11:24:00.002-03:00

Last night my father called with some bad news :(
My fathers brother was diagnosed with lung cancer last fall.
Sadly there was nothing that the doctors could do for him because he also has bone cancer. They did give him radiation to help shrink the tumor in his lung. And at that time the Doctors said he could last for 6 months up to 2 years. It all depended on how quickly the cancer would take him.

All Winter long he kept going back forth from his home to the hospital. Either he would be in so much pain that they had to adjust his morphine or pump water off of his lungs. Then in February, the lung that had the tumor in it collapse leaving him with only one lung. He was then put on oxygen 24 hours of the day. He has been filled with so my anxiety just because he does not know what to expect. He started cleaning his apartment from top to bottom and would only sleep for a hour here and there in his lazy boy. Just for the fear if he would sleep in his bed he would never wake up again. This hurts me so much.

Then yesterday he was rushed back in the hospital, his last lung is filling up again with fluid. We have been advised that he has about 2 days to live. I am filled with so much sadness. I was never close to my Uncle but it is so sad to see him go at only the age of 65. To me 65 is still young. You still have so many things to accomplish in life before you go. All of my family have been called and everyone is heading home to be with him. The most of my family lives in Ontario along with his two children. So now we are awaiting for everyone to arrive. My Uncle has 4 sisters and 3 brothers...tonight everyone is gathering at the hospital to be with him.

But what hurts me the most is my 97 year old grandmother. My grandmother is still in excellent health and I am really scared that this will do a number on her. To me, grammie was my second mother. I spent all Winter & Summer vacations along with living with her and my grandfather when I was younger. I can't imagine watching your child die. I pray I never ever have to experience that. But I am so scared that this may take my grandmother also.

You see...I have a hard time dealing with death. I am so scared to die young and when I know someone who passes away it hurts but also scares me because you just never know. It is easier for me to avoid seeing them or going to their funerals. But I know that is not good either. So many people these days are hit with heart attacks and cancer that it is scary. I am filled with so much mixed emotions right now that I just don't know how to react. I want to go and be with my family at the hospital but yet I know all I will do is cry because the minute I see someone crying I break down. I am not someone to lean on...I need someone to lean on myself. I am not strong when it comes to death and I feel that his funeral will be such a sad one since he just recently reunited with his children after having no contact for the last 20 years.

I know each time someone close to me dies, makes me think that we all need to live our life to the fullest. Tell our families how much we love them and how important they are to us. So if you haven't told someone lately how much they mean to you, do it today because we just never know when our time is up.

I should run for now since this afternoon I have Doctor Appointments. One is for myself and the other is for Abby. We got in quickly for Abby to be seen for her Asthma. So it looks like the best part of my day will be spent seeing Doctors. And then I guess I will decide tonight if I want to head down to see my Uncle and all my Family.

I want to Thank Everyone for listening to me, it means alot!

AnD tHe WiNnEr Is...

2009-04-07T20:52:00.008-03:00

What Tuesday is here already??? Where did the weekend go?

Sorry I am late at posting, every time I thought about it, I had to go and do something else. So here I am :)

Last week went really well for Tabitha at the Music Festival. But we are all happy that it has come to an end. It makes lots of running around and missing school. I am not one who lets my kids miss school just because but these were competitions and important to her. Plus she is a very good student and does well at school. It is a great experience to the kids who do participate. There are so many talented kids in our County...making alot of proud parents.

I see on the majority of your blogs that your flowers are beginning to bloom...the snow is all melted and the lawn is turning green. And then I look outside and still see this :( But I have to admit that it has melted quite a bit because two weeks ago we could not even see the chimney. And I am guessing if the sun can stay out till next week, it should all be gone by then.
And then I read other blogs and see that some of you or know someone who is flooding, still getting more snow or even experiencing tornado's. And then you watch the news and see the devastation that just took place in Italy with the earthquakes. We don't experience any of these dangers that God gives us except for snow. And to be honest I will take the snow any day then ever having to experience the other dangers. At least I know it will eventually melt. Let's keep everyone who is any dangers at this moment in our prayers.

I had to run some errands this afternoon, so I had to run over the drug store and FINALLY I saw this...
I snatched it right away. So you can imagine when I am done posting my blog what I will be doing :)))) I have been so excited to see Karen's home from My Colonial Home because I have read so many blogs commenting on her article and to be honest I was jealous. Where I live they do not put out the magazines early at all so I have to be patient. But I did break down and subscribe last night because I received a email from them saying that it was something like 50% off the news stands. I will actually be saving money on the long run. So hopefully I will receive them quicker in the mail then the stores do.

I also wanted to share with you a lovely handmade card that I received in the mail last week from Linda over at Behind My Red Door. It is a picture of her home...what a neat idea. I would of never thought of taking a picture of my things (a grouping) and making a card from it. Thank You so much Linda...I loved the card and I am so happy that you liked everything.
And now to what the title of my blog is all about...

I know you are all waiting to find out who the winner is...RIGHT???

The WINNER of this wonderful gift goes to....

Char over at The Pickled Pepper Patch. Congratulations Char! I know you will put this CD to great use. I can't wait to see the creations she will make from it. So Char if you can send me your mailing address, I will get this out in the mail to you tomorrow. You can email it directly to me at tabnab@nbnet.nb.ca.

I thought I would share some graphics with you all that are on the CD...so enjoy!
And there are many more...along with 50 recipes of making some early prims.

I had some people asking me where did I purchase these CD's from...
Her name is Jules and you can find her over at The Saltbox Peddler. She also offers Wholesale to the ones who have their own business with a business number.

Well I will be running now because don't forget I HAVE to read my Country Sampler. I am sooo excited :)))

So until next time my Friends...

OMG...I can't believe I forgot!

2009-04-02T13:37:00.004-03:00

The sun is trying real hard to come out today.
It will appear and then disappear BUT you can actually see the snow melting.
YEAH...I can't wait to see that green stuff underneath. I am being confident that by the next couple of weeks the snow will be all gone, the green stuff will appear and my flowers will start growing.

This morning we headed on over to Tabitha's Music Festival.
Competitions here we come! WOW...we have some very talented people in our County :) Here is Tabitha with a couple of her friends that she had to compete against. The girls were a bit nervous but yet very supportive for each other.
We were able to record Tabitha singing the three songs she had to compete in.
Her first song was a Canadian English Kids Song which she won third place in.
Her second song was a Religious one which you can view here, she won second place. And then her third song was a Italian one and she won first place. She was very pleased with her performances and of course being the proud mommy that I am, I think she did a awesome job! She has been competing for three years now and today was her first time winning first place.

We will be back at it tomorrow for two more songs. But tomorrow is not a competitive day...it is for fun. The theme for the songs tomorrow are theater. She has one as a French Solo and her second will be a duet with one of her friends. With the Theater songs they have to be in costumes and I think they will be fun to see.

Now onto the title of my blog...
I can not believe that I completely forgot this but with everything going on, it slipped my mind. Since March the 2kd, I have been blogging for one year. I never imagined a year ago when I started this journey that for one I would have continued with it but also to have the opportunity to meet some wonderful people through my blog. Also just recently meeting two wonderful ladies in person. I feel that I have made some great friends. With this journey we are able to share something that we all have in common...decorating and crafting but most of all, our Families.

I want to Thank All of you for stopping by on a continuous basis and leaving comments. It's because of you ladies that I continue my blog and thoroughly enjoy reading what everyone else has been up to.

So to celebrate my one year anniversary, I am having a giveaway :)
I would like to keep this giveaway to the ones who come by on a daily...weekly basis to see what I have been up to. So I am asking that you DO NOT post this on your blog to share with others. Just because I want to give the ones who stop by all the time a better chance to win. I will keep this open until Monday night at 10 pm and on Tuesday I will announce the winner. All you have to do is leave me a comment and if you are not a blogger please do leave me your email address so I have a way of contacting you if you are a winner. So good luck to you all :))))

So by now I know you are all wondering what am I giving away...RIGHT???
Last year I purchased 2 of the same CD's that has over 50 recipes of "Making your own Early Simples". Items such as, Early Soaps, Pantry Cakes, Early Lighting and so much more. I am not sure if you remember but awhile back I had a recipe for my mini-cinni buns dipped in scented wax...this is where I got the recipe from. And on top of the recipes there is also 5 different banners and 122 Images...such as Halloween, Christmas and many others.
You can see here the CD and it comes in a brown paper like envelope.
So I want to wish you all GOOD LUCK and like I said on Tuesday I will announce the winner. I really enjoy my CD and what I did was print out all the recipes so I have a paper base to refer to on a continous basis. The images are awesome also. I have a few ideas on what I want to do with some images.

Now I have to go and finish up the laundry and change Abigayle's bedding completely over. We went to the Doctors yesterday and we might be thinking that Abby is asthmatic. And of course she has a feather duvet and feather pillows, the doctor wants me to take these items away. She gets this nasty cough quite often and now it may look like that she may not have had tons of colds, she just may have been having problems breathing. So she is now on two pumps and I have to slowly remove things that just might be triggering these bad coughing spells. We have a referall put in to see a specialist...so hopefully we will get the call real soon. But at least I am happy to know what the problem has been. But yet I feel so bad for her because she has suffered for many months. Poor thing!

So until next time my friends...enjoy the Spring like weather.

Sandy :)

What...where did Spring go???

2009-03-30T10:58:00.011-03:00

Look what I woke to this morning...
Now imagine...yesterday it was +12 out and there was not a drop of snow on my back deck, the sun was shining and the sky was bright as could be. I actually cleaned it all off on Saturday...getting anxious to get the summer things out. Preparing my deck for summer, that I was...well I guess I was to early...Where did Spring go???
I think it may have forgotten to come :(
No really though...we were getting such wonderful Spring like weather. The snow was finally melting, the sun was shining and it even felt warm in the air. But early this morning it started out with freezing rain then by 7 am in turned to snow. They started out calling for 15-20cm of the white stuff but I think we are going to get something more like 30cm or more. Here it is now 11 am and the snow has yet to stop. My husband called this once he got the girls dropped off at school and he made it to work and told me that transports and other vehicles were stuck everywhere. And he also had mentioned that the roads were dangerously slippery and could not imagine why there was still school. Well this is to be expected for living in the Maritimes. But it is like I always tell my husband...I would rather have all this white stuff then have to live with earthquakes, tornados, hurricanes and flooding.

I can't get over how quickly the weekend came and went. For the most part I spent Saturday cleaning the house from top to bottom and was able to finish my projects that I started. Like I mentioned it was so beautiful out Saturday that I had everything out on the deck drying. The sun is so strong these days that it cooks the paint and stain...LOL. Then late in the afternoon two of my good friends came up from Fredericton stayed for supper and visited into the night. It was so great to see them and have the chance to chit chat...well talk our ears off...LOL.

So then on Sunday, I displayed my items throughout the house with the help of hubby. I am so pleased with how everything turned out.

Last weekend when I was in Fredericton, I purchased this fly screen at Winners for $5.99. I wanted to do the tutorial that Char showed us on her blog The Pickled Pepper Patch. So with the help of hubby, we removed the handle that was on it and put a new one, added the paint and VOILA!
For the time being, I have placed it over a candle. But I want to get some pantry cakes made and make up a display of some sort. So that just may be a project for later this week.

I also decided to change the color of the frames that I keep the girls school pictures in. I thought that I had a better picture of what they used to look like and where I kept them but this is all I could find.
I always wanted to change the color because they were almost the same color of my walls. And now painted black, I think they look great!
I also put my whale tale candle holder, another tutorial by Char that hubby built me last week on the same wall. I did a little rearranging of things that were here. I am just not sure about the painting and where it is positioned. But I LOVE this painting so much that I still want it to be displayed. An artist made me this last year and gave it to me. I just don't want it to be hidden somewhere in the house. Plus I HATE adding extra holes in my walls. I am very particular about that...LOL

Here is a close up of it...I painted it black underneath and then a light coat of the barn red on top. Sanded it so some of the black paint would come through and then added a coat of stain. I am very pleased with how it turned out :)
The next item...sock stretcher...another tutorial by Char was hung here. Not sure about it being here though, you know me it probably will find a new home...LOL. So for the time being this is where I put it.
...and here is a close up of it...
...and of course I had my candle holder here that I purchased from Kathy and Stephen from Home On The Hill at their Home Show last weekend. I had in my head where I wanted to put it but sadly I could not so I moved it here instead.
But you know me...it probably will be moved again. Everything has it's spot to go and I keep moving things until I can find that right spot. It is so funny because I move things around so often that at times hubby thinks I went shopping and bought something new. Sometimes it's really hard to convince him that it's not new I just rearranged things. The only way he will believe me is if he asks Tabitha...LOL...but he does not care if I purchased something new. It just goes to show how men really don't pay much attention to what we do have :)))) But I still love him...it wouldn't be Mike if he wasn't like that.

Well this week is going to be a bit hectic and crazy. Tabitha is entered into the Victoria County Music Festival. She will be singing 4 solos, 1 duet and 3 songs with the Adagio Choir. This is a very popular thing in New Brunswick and if Tabitha makes it through the County she will compete in provincials. I will keep you posted on how well she does.

So until next time my friends...I hope where ever you are the weather is much nicer then us.

WhAt I hAvE bEeN uP tO...

2009-03-27T22:26:00.003-03:00

Friday all ready??? Where did the week go?

This morning I headed on over to the hospital bright and early for my Remicade. I was there for 5 long hours, but mind you, I spent most of it sleeping :) They gave me a bag of benadryl through IV and when that hits, I am good-bye. It's not a deep sleep since they have to take my vitals every 15 minutes but at least I was able to rest some. Then when I got home, I had to run over to our Accountant. It seems I have a very complicated tax return to fill out. And people wonder why I pay someone to do it for me. If a professional finds it a challenge to do, then I would have never figured it out. Then back home I came since my baby wasn't feeling so hot. So while she was resting on the couch, I finished AND started some new projects.

I was hoping that today would of been a beautiful day but we had some light flurries then some rain and a very cloudy day. BUT they are forecasting a beautiful one for tomorrow so I am crossing my fingers. I so want to open all the windows and try to air out this house. I am getting over my cold...thank god it was no wheres near as bad as a few weeks ago but my baby came home from school today complaining that she did not feel good. Tonight she has a really bad cough and poor thing can't stop sneezing and all she could say was "Mommy I am sick"...poor thing. I pray so much that I don't catch it back. I told my husband that I want to buy a couple cans of Lysol and spray down the house. Joking, hubby said we will even spray the kids while they are sleeping...LOL. Of course I won't, but it would be tempting since my kids have a bad habit of not always washing their hands. But aren't all kids like that???

I finally painted my bread board. YEAH!!! Remember, I received this as a gift from my FIL for Christmas??? He never painted it because he didn't know how I would of liked it finished. So it's done and one more thing off of my list. Here it is...
...it looks so different right now just beause the color is new and it stands out from the white appliances but I really like how it looks. I decided to go with Barn Red because I have so many things that are painted black, I feel you need to choose other colors...right??? And I did not want to paint it a off white, beige color just because we are slowly changing the color of our cupboards over and that is the color of them. I figured it would just be lost in the color. So I am pleased with what I went with and besides it blends in well since my big hutch cabinet is the same color. Of course I will end up tweaking what's on top. But for the moment this is how it looks.

The two items that hubby built me on Wednesday are all painted and one is stained but I will only show you once I have them completed. I should have them done this weekend :)

I also decided to re-do my banana holder. It was green in which served it's purpose when my kitchen use to be green but I felt it needed a change so I painted black over it and sanded it up a bit and then stain. Now it looks much better.
And since I was in the working mode...I finally made my curtain that went over the sink. I have been wanting to make up a new one but just kept putting it off and finally today I sewed it right up in a jiffy...
It was so funny because once I had it installed, Abigayle came up from the basement and with great expression and said "OH WOW!". So I take it that she really like's it :)

So tomorrow if it turns out to be beautiful, I will head out on the deck and do up a few more projects. My head is spinning because I have so many things that I want to do and complete...LOL

So stayed tuned until tomorrow to see what else I have been working on...Until next time my friends :)

~ Whatcha Working On Wednesday ~

2009-03-25T19:52:00.016-03:00

WOW...I have so much to say, I don't even know where to begin... :)

I guess I will start at the beginning...

I took hubby to work Saturday morning and dropped Abby off at my MIL's bright and early. Tabitha and I headed out early in the morning to hit the Home Show that HomeontheHill was having two hours away from me :) We drove straight through and did not make any pit stops just because I wanted to be there when they opened their doors. Sadly of course, I got lost. I am the worst person ever trying to find a location. I am more of a highway person...North, South, East & West but other then that, well I just get lost. I was so scared that by the time I got there everything would of been sold out. BUT I was lucky, almost an hour later then what I wanted I finally found Kathy's house and was so darned excited.

OMG, her house is even more beautiful in person then in pictures. I loved how everything has it's own little spot and how it all looks so prim but yet proper. She sure has a nact of displaying everything all so well. I think I could of stared at everything for hours. It was like a store, you walk around and look but then walk back around and see things that you didn't see the first time :)

I know, you guys want to know what I got, right???
I was and still am very happy with my purchases. There were a couple of other things that I was hoping for but already sold out and that is OK because I am still happy with what I chose. Look at what I got...
OH WOW!!! I even already had in my head where these items were going before I even made it home ;)

The stool found it's spot right beside my new chair and I love it there. Look who is in the chair...my little baby girl who I guess missed me like crazy. Hubby said she paced the house Saturday and Sunday looking for me. Oh...poor little thing....
...and then the shelf I placed above one of my stands and put a treenware bowl in it. I like it, what do you guys think? Do you see the pillow tucked inside?
Kathy gave it to me, how very thoughtful of her. I love it, thanks a million Kathy!!!
I tell ya, she works so well. This was a pattern offered from Primitive Bettys and Kathy has a whole bunch of these throughout her home, either done up in frames or as pillows and I loved them all!!! Again, thank you so much Kathy :) So for the moment, I have found a home for it but of course I like the rest of you am constantly changing things around so you never know, it just may find a new home.
...and the last thing has found a home over hubby's computer for the time being. I will not keep it there because it's almost the same color as the shelf and I want it to pop out. So I have another spot in mind to put it.
So over all, I got myself some pretty nice things. I am very pleased!
Kathy's husband Stephen works really good. What a very lucky gal ;) You can go and visit Kathy over on her webshots and see all the things that Stephen makes her and she diplays all so well.

But that is not it girls...when I started blogging, I never imagined in the world that I would ever meet other bloggers out there in person. At the beginning everyone I visited and made friends with were all from the States. So I never imagined that the day would come that I would meet someone. Well girls, you got it right...I got to meet two ladies who's homes I adore. I could look at their photos over and over again.

Of course, Kathy who does not have a blog but is on webshots with some fantastic home pictures. She and her husband, Stephen were so very nice and you can tell they have so much pride in their beautiful but yet gorgeous home. They made Tabitha and I feel very welcomed. And then, I also got to meet Linda and her husband David from Behind my Red Door. Again, they were also such really nice people. Let me tell you girls, Linda and Kathy were two very wonderful ladies and I mean that from the bottom of my heart. I was so happy to have the opportunity to meet them both. If you have not yet read Linda's experience you have to run on over to her blog and catch up. I was so happy to hear that she enjoyed her visit here in the Atlantic Provinces, New Brunswick, Canada.

So before Tabitha and I headed out to go shopping in the big City, Fredericton, we had to snap some pictures of the three of us with my daughter Tabitha. It was so cute, our cameras were all lined up for Linda's husband David to snap. What a sweet man!
And I also have to mention, that while I was there I also met a new blogger who is another New Brunswicker, Carolee from Autumn Mom - Patches of Godlight. It was so great having the chance to meet you Carolee and of course I had to run on over and add her to my blogging list.

So all in all, I was so very grateful to have the opportunity to meet some new friends. And let me tell you, if Kathy and her husband Stephen have another open home show I will be there...LOL and this time I won't be lost because I remeber where you live now :)

So after our wonderful visit, Tab and I headed into the City, found my best friends place, picked her up and we went shopping. Just us girls and boy was it fun. The first pit stop was one of my favorite stores, Wheatons just because I knew the store closed early on Saturdays and was not opened on Sundays. I found a couple of things but did not spend alot at all. I was a good girl. Actually I was a good girl all weekend.
I liked the look of the fake herbs but did not like the dish it came in so when I got home, I transfered it over to a new pottery dish. Much better...
We then hit a couple other stores and then decided it was time to eat supper. So we called up another old friend that we hung out with back in High School and went out for supper. Everyone ate well and did we ever talk. Poor Tabitha, I don't think she did much chatting at all.

When we were done supper, we went back to Helene's place and talked right into the wee hours of the morning. I can't believe how time passed so quickly. We spoke about everything under the sun and sure did bring back some memories. It's hard to believe in a couple years, we will be celebrating our 20th school reunion. Where did the time go??? The worst part is, we are all talkers but some how some way we all spoke and still managed to hold a converstation and understand each other...LOL.

Finally Sunday came, Tabitha and I parted Helene's place in the mid afternoon so we could head home early enough. I was aiming at least supper time. What a great weekend that we had. I couldn't of asked for anything more. I got to meet some new friends, some old friends, shopping and spent time one on one with my daughter. What more could a girl ask for???

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Now sadly I did not get anything posted until tonight because yet again, by Sunday night I started not feeling so well. I woke up Monday morning feeling crappy and I had no voice at all. My husband teased me and said it was probably because I talked to much over the weekend...LOL but no, it's another cold. So I really didn't feel up to doing much. And then yesterday and today I put all our tax papers in order. That is a big pain in it's self. We have so much paperwork that I need to make sure we have everything. Plus I like it all to be in order and less confussing for the Income Tax guy. I try to make his job easier.

This left some time on my hands today, so hubby helped me, we made some silicone light bulbs. I don't know if anyone out there has tried making these on their own, but we seem to have such a hard time getting that twisted look on the bulbs. I am sure with lots of practice they probably will start looking better but right now they are just so-so to me.Mike came up with a great idea to hang them for drying. He used those things that makes a chicken stand up on a barbeque. Neat idea!Here is one finished and displayed on my light. I have to admit they look better when they are lit.
And then to my shock, I was reading some blogs this afternoon and showed hubby some things made by Char from The Pickled Pepper Patch, who did up tuturials on her blog. I just mentioned that I would so love to have these items and how I miss him not working in the shop anymore. So he said he was heading over to his parents and will see what we have for wood over there in storage. He came back home with these two items made up that Char had posted previously on....
I am sooooo excited!!! So guess what I will be doing for the rest of the week??? You got it...painting. The nice weather is slowly on it's way and they are forcasting it to be beautiful for the rest of the week so I will be hitting it outside and get some things painted. What a great guy :)

Well girls this is one LONG post. I hope you all stayed with me and did not get lost half way throught it...LOL.

So stay tuned for later this week to see some of these projects completed. I can't wait to get started tomorrow ;)

So until next time my friends...have a great rest of the week!

SpRiNg HaS aRrIvEd :)

2009-03-20T20:18:00.014-03:00

It is official...Spring has arrived :)
Well the official day anyways...we still have plenty of snow that needs to melt.
No signs of any lawn for us yet but hopefully real soon since we are heading towards the end of March. Once April arrives, it truly is a real sign then. I am getting very anxious since I am not much of a Winter person. You can feel the weather in the air is getting warmer, love the sun shining in the windows (but I don't like the looks of the windows...YUCK!) and the days are getting longer :)

Today I dug out what Prim Easter decorations that I have and decorated a bit around the house. I don't have many pieces but what pieces I do have, I love them all. Abigayle had to help her mommy but of course if you know me well, I had to go behind her and place the decorations just right. The perfectionist in me...OOOPPPSSS. I do have some patterns all traced out just need to cut out the material and get them sewed. I should get that done next week. Especially one pattern in paticular because I love the looks of it so much.

But of course before I show you some pictures of my Easter decorations, I had to show you how my little Daisy Girl claimed my chair.
This is where she spends her days. She is one lucky dog because if she lived outside, she sure would not be getting into it but since she is a house dog that I have to fight with to go outside because god forbid if she got her paws cold or wet...LOL. She is one prissy dog but my baby girl.

Now onto to the show...

If you look closely, there is a tiny rabbit :) I thought he was bigger when I ordered him online but that is OK, I still love the looks of him.
... cute bunny sitting on a egg along with a bunny that is made out of tin...
...a bunny that is made out of a gourd, he is to CUTE!
...the chocolate bunny, I made myself and the muslin colored one I purchased...
...two more really cute bunnies sitting beside a old tin box that has "Happy Easter" written on it...
...my father purchased this old tin can from a garage sale many, many years ago for a $1. And just a few years ago, he gave it to me :) It is so CUTE and has bunnies all over it. I keep it out all year round but put it with my Easter decorations when it comes to that time of the year.
Some wooden Easter eggs...
...and of course some more wooden eggs. I was getting a reflection from the sun shinging in through the patio doors.
...and least but not last my prim Easter Bunnies. All the bunnies that you see here were purchased from Folk Art from the Harbor last year. She makes some really wonderful things and does not charge alot at all for her items. She also has excellent service...
And then last night I went out to one of my favorite prim stores to pick up a item for Kathy from Home on the Hill another New Brunswick Prim lover that I am going to meet tomorrow but I will get back to that. Anyways, the lady at the store started bringing in Brown Ware dishes and am I in love :)))) Oh yeah! So of course I could not leave her store without purchasing these next items. She is not charging alot at all. I couldn't get over her prices so or course I could not leave these items behind since I am slowly trying to start a collection. Look what I got...a salt & pepper shaker, sugar & creamer, pie plate and this little square made from homespun. They look so awesome, a style that I was so looking for.
These items are dishwasher, microwave and oven safe. So they are not just for decorating but also for use. So that is a added bonus :)

I am keeping these items in my large cabinet that I had built...
Slowly building the set.

Now onto Kathy from Webshots over at Home on the Hill. She and her husband Stephen are having a open house on items that they built. I have my eye out on a couple of items but there is so much to choose from. They have some really wonderful things...so prim ~ colonial style. So I have decided since she only lives 2 hours from me that I am going to head down to her open house with my oldest daughter Tabitha. We then are going to go and spend the day in the City and then head over to my best friends house to spend the night. Tabitha and I are very excited since we have never had a over nighter, just the two of us. It should be lots of fun, a girls weekend. And what is so fun is that Tabitha loves prim ~ colonial style just as much as me. I cloaned a mini me...LOL.

I am also really looking forward to meeting Kathy. As we have been exchanging emails come to find out it is such a small world because she use to live in the same town that I currently live in and what is even more funnier is that she lived on the same street that I currently reside on. And also my baby sister knows her son and his family. They attended the same church before my sister moved to France. So it should be fun!

I will make sure to post some pictures of my purschases from our Girls Weekend getaway.

So my friends, I should get going so I can pack up a over night bag. So I hope that the sun is shining where you are and you all have a great weekend.

Until next time...

I'm Back :-)

2009-03-10T22:05:00.007-03:00

WOW...I have been away for so long...
This was one nasty cold - flu that was going around.
The girls had it bad but came back after a few days. Hubby caught it and again, came back rather quickly. But I on the other hand did not come back so quickly from it. I literally spent a week in bed. For three days I suffered really bad to the point that on the fourth day I had to go to the Emergency because I just could not anymore. Come to find out I had a bad throat infection and ear infection. I was really lucky to get some antibiotics for the infection along with something that I was to gargle which made my throat numb. I was so plugged up that I could not breathe through my nose, causing really bad headaches from my sinus's so I was also taking Advil Cold & Sinus. My body ached so bad, that I had to break down and take morphine. Now just to let you know, I have morphine pills for my really bad days. I don't really take these pills because I don't want my body to become dependent on them. But being as sick as I was...my body hurt so much that I could not stand, sit or lay. The doctors did not lie to me when they told me that my immune system would be week and if I were to catch anything, it would take longer to get better. It is all to do with the Remicade I take for my AS. This was the first time I got sick this Winter and I truly pray it will be the last.
I do not want to feel like that again. I also told my husband that when the girls were complaining that their throats hurt...oh boy do I feel bad now for not doing anything about it because of the pain I went through.

We are all so ready for Spring so I can open the windows and get these germs out of the house :) Mind you today was a really nice day out, so I opened the patio doors. It was nice to have some fresh air coming in. Can't wait when we can do it all the time. And I am sure you all agree with me.

So being sick, you can imagine nothing really got done around the house. Poor hubby worked all day and then would come home and feed the girls and then get them off to bed. I felt bad that I was not much help. But in a way, thank god it was their March Break but what a sucky way to spend it. So around Sunday I started feeling better, still plugged but at least I was up and about. I had quite a bit of laundry to catch up on and house work. So that is what I have been doing these past few days.

While I was sick I did read every once in awhile some blogs, so I did stay up to date. But I did not do much commenting...sorry girls. I also wanted to Thank All of You for your comments. They were all so touching and encouraging to read. Thanks Girls!

Just before I got sick, the last week of February was "Winter Carnival" for the girls at school. One of their days were skating at our local rink and the parents were invited to join along. Well lets just say, I haven't been on a pair of skates since I was in Grade 7...were taking about over 20 years ago. It was not a pretty site...LOL. My poor husband had to hold Abigayle from not falling down but also me. Let's just say that back in Grade 7 I could not skate and being 20+ years later, I still can't...LOL.
Here I am holding on to the side with Abby. She was so proud that we came along with her.
The school broke up the grades...so the younger kids skated early in the morning and then the older kids got to come in just before lunch and skate. So it was nice that we got to enjoy time with just Abby and then some time with Tabitha.
Here is Abby, I think it is a fake smile because she was really scared to leave the side of the rink :)
And here is Tabitha who is a much better skater then her Mommy :)
We all had alot of fun and realized that Mike and I really need to practice skating, especially me. But this was more for the girls, they are always very proud when we (parents) can join in on their fun.

While I was sick, I also did do some reading when I got fed up of sleeping or if I slept to much. These are really some awesome books and are full of ideas and really beautiful homes.
I purchased these books directly from Judy Condon herself. She actually has another book coming out his month that I want to order...that is how much I love them. She has a website which you find at...
MARSH HOMESTEAD COUNTRY ANTIQUES, LLC
So if you want some books that have some great inspirations and loads of pictures, run on over and check her out. Also in a couple of the books there are some instructions on making some items for yourself. I can tell that these will be books that I will refer to for years to come.

One last thing that I wanted to share with you guys in which I have been wanting to for some time now but then everything happened and I just didn't get the chance. I have been wanting a Chippendale Wing Back Chair for quite sometime. I saved up my money and ordered it directly from one of my favorite stores - Wheatons. This is a store that has locations in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. I ordered the chair from the Moncton Store and had them ship it to the Fredericton Store. I have a good friend who lives in Fredericton and he was heading my way so I was very lucky to have him bring it home for me. My goal is to have a second one so I can sit them next to eachother. I really like the pattern on the chair. My littel Daisy-Roo (dog) kinda claimed the chair as her's :) It is big enough that she and I curl up on it to either take a power nap or to read...LOL. There is some burgandy going through the pattern that I was thinking a love seat or couch made the same way, Chipendale, in just burgandy would look good with the chair. But of course that is a wish I have. I won't be making that purchase anytime soon since it looks like we need a new front door on the house. And that is a much more needed item then a new couch. But a girl can dream, right???
Well that will be it for tonight. I want to check out a few blogs before heading off to bed. And once again...I really do appreciate all of your comments. I love receiving and reading them. So until next time my Friends...

...still so very sick :(

2009-02-28T18:36:00.000-04:00

I just wanted to touch base with everyone to let you know I am still alive but am feeling even worst today then ever.

This is one nasty cold that attacks all your muscles, sinus, chest and throat. When I feel like I am feeling better, I go right back down hill. The same with my girls. It's like all we do is keep passing it back and forth. I do not wish this cold onto my worst enemies. WOW!!! There are so many kids missing from school because of it. I think this is the worst Winter by far.

What makes it even worst for me is that I can't take very much due to all the medication I take. Alot of things counter react and that is not what I need. My body is always in pain to begin with, but it is even worst right now. So I am having to take morphine for the pain. So I feel quite groggy...

I am hoping to be back real soon...I have a few things to share but mind you being so sick I have not accomplished much around the house other then reading. I am also very behind on reading all my favorite blogs...I just don't have much energy and keep dosing off. But I will try to catch up on my reading and comments real soon.

I am hoping everyone is having a better weekend then me and the sun is shinning where you are.

So until next time my friends...stay healthy :)

Sandy

Blah!!!

2009-02-18T17:27:00.002-04:00

I am just checking in to let you all know that I have been taking care of a sick Family including myself. I feel like a train has ran over me...body is aching till no end, coughing and all the ailments that come with a cold. This is a nasty one and I wish it on know one. Sadly I can not just take anything such as cough syrup because it counter reacts with my other meds. So I need lots of rest and fluids.

Once I am feeling better, I will be back with some pictures of my tweaking.
So until then my Friends, take care and I pray you don't catch it :)

~ Day 11 & Day 12 ~

2009-02-15T17:07:00.009-04:00

How was everyone's weekend? Sadly it's almost at the end...
It seems the weekends fly right on by and the weekdays take forever to get through.
We had a very stormy Saturday, Valentine's Day. It literally snowed the whole entire day and accumulated to be quite a bit. I attempted to go out but was not very long turning around and coming back home. The roads were really bad and to add to it we had really high winds causing next to non visibility. So it was a day to stay in where it was warm and safe.

My 12 Days of Valentines finished yesterday...

Friday was Day 11 ~ Girls Movie Night.
Us girls curled up on the couch in our PJ's and watched Beverly Hills Chihuahua.
It was a EXCELLENT movie! It made us laugh and even made my little Abigayle cry at one point. I felt so bad seeing her cry and thought "Oh no, she is one sensitive girl like her Mommy". But I recommend this movie to anyone with kids and even without kids. This was a very relaxing evening :)

Then Yesterday, Day 12 ~ Valentines Day.
As I said it was storming outside so it was spent as a very quiet day. I cleaned a bit around the house and did up some laundry while Hubby was at work. I watched the snow come down like crazy. The girls received their last gift . Now I am not a person who buys my girls gifts just because or all the time. They get gifts on special occasions, such as Valentines, Easter, Birthdays and Christmas. So their Valentines gift is something to share and actually something for the Whole Family. We purchased the guitar that goes with our Wii game for Guitar Hero.
Hubby and the girls gave it a try but found out it is harder to use then they thought. But everyone was pleased with the gift and might I add, it is not a expensive one compared to what I thought. So we all did good :)

So everyone enjoyed yet another year of our special Valentines.

We woke up this morning to clear sky's, mild weather and lots of snow. Over the weekend it was our Winter Carnival and we promised the girls that we would go over to where the ceremonies were being held and see what was new from last year.

Very impressive...

There was a tunnel ~ maze all made from ice and snow. It was completely closed in so some places were even quite dark. I also have to admit it was warmer inside then it was outside. At some points we were getting lost...LOL. The girls really enjoyed it alot and I have to say so did hubby and I. Here is Abby in a low tunnel made for small kids...
and here are the girls inside, down one of the tunnels...
There was also horse, sleigh rides. The horses were beautiful! We did not take a ride because there was a line up and I was frozen solid. But we watched...
There were different activities for the kids to do, such as this one sliding out of the mouth on top of a large snow moutain. This was enjoyed by all the kids. Tabitha was the first one to come down the hill...
and right behind her, came Abigayle.
Also displayed here is the "World's largest Igloo". The man who built this had entered a competition last year for the Guinness World Book of Records and he won. So again this year he duplicated the same Igloo from last year except he made it taller this time around. It is pretty amazing and a excellent job!
There was also Igloo competitions going on. Anybody was able to sign up with a team and build their own Igloo. Your Igloo had to withstand so much weight and many other rules and regulations. But I just had to take a picture of this paticurlar Igloo because the team had it some what decorated up as a Primitive Igloo. It was just to cute :)
After we seen everything and tried different things, it was time to head home. The girls were not all that cold because they were dressed up in their snow suits but Hubby and I could no longer feel our ears nor hands. And I have to say even my legs were frozen. Jeans are not exactly the best things to wear on cold days. But today was enjoyed by all.

Now this evening will be spent quietly and maybe even a movie. I guess we will see...

So until next time my Friends...stay safe and warm :)

~ Day 8, 9 & 10 ~

2009-02-12T20:31:00.008-04:00

Hello my Friends :)

I have fallen behind for the last three Valentines days...OOOPPPSSS!!!

It has been three hectic days here at my house. Of course things did not go as planned again :( I am thinking next year I may have to change a few things around on my Valentines Calendar.

Wednesday, Day 8 was suppose to be "Girls Craft Day" BUT that did not happen!
Tabitha ended up coming home from school early with a migraine and still a sore throat. So she ended up sleeping the whole afternoon and evening away. I had to wait for Abigayle to come home from school and head out for a couple of appointments that I forgot about. My little Daisy-Roo had her annual Vet Appointment. Took longer there then expected. But she came out with a clean bill of health other then a minor ear infection. Once we left there I had to run in and see the Tax Guy for a few questions. Doing a favor for my little Sister while she is in France. By the time I left there I had to head over to the Drug Store for some prescriptions and other things. Next thing I knew...it was time to pick up Hubby from work. And by the time supper time comes around we can no longer do crafts because then it's time for homework, baths...you get the idea.

It was gift day for them...which they loved! Here, Abby is getting some loving from her Daddy :)
I got her some packages of play dough. What kid does not like play dough. I thought these were neat because instead of coming in containers they came in sealed like bags. She was very pleased with her gift...
And then Tabitha received some papers and stickers for her Scrapbooking. She has been busy making her Album from when she went to Toronto last Summer.
So that brings us to Day 9 ~ "TeLl EvErYoNe HoW mUcH yOu LoVe ThEm"
and it was also a coupon day. Of course in a run of a day in our house "LOVE YOU" must be said a million times :))) My husband must call me about 10 times a day from work just to see what I am up to and before he hangs up the phone he always say's Love You. And a must in our house before the girls go to bed they say Love You. Even Abby has to give her big sis a kiss, a hug and love yous. It's to cute! What can I say...we are a loving family :) No really...I always said when I had a Family, it was very important to me to make sure we tell each other every day how much we love eachother.

For the coupons...Tabitha received a coupon for a "Movie Rental of her choice" and Abby received a coupon for "One Chore"...she say's she will clean her room. I wonder for how long...LOL. They both were really happy with their choices. How many kids do you know that love to clean??? I know...I know...I have weird kids...LOL. They kind of take after their mommy.

Since we did not get to do Crafts on Wednesday, I decided we better get our Valentines Cards done for Abby's classmates. After Christmas there are always some great sales. That is the best time to shop at times. I found these packages of 10 mini play dough for $1 a package. At the girls school we are NOT allowed to send in cookies, cupcakes or any treat of that sort due to high Allergies to Peanuts. So I thought for a fun treat for Valentines...the Kindergarden kiddies would love some play dough. Abby was the one who wrote everyone's names on the cards and packaged up the baggies. She was fed up at the end...she is to funny. She claimed that, that was hard work :)
Tabitha did not join us in the fun because she had to babysit right after school until 8 at night. She was happier babysitting because she was earning money :) Trust me when this girl knows that she can make some $$$ she is gamed. She loves watching her bank account grow. And that makes me happy...she is a saver. Hopefully she will stay this way as she gets older.

And now I bring you to today...Day 10 ~ "A Family Supper at Candle Light"
Believe it or not but there was no lights on...only the candle on the table and the one behind Abby's head. I guess my camera has one good flash...LOL
For supper we had some salmon cooked on the grill with peas and noodles. It was one YUMMY supper. Tonight was the last night for small gifts. So they were all anxious to open up and see what they received...
We are almost coming to a end to the 12 Day's of Valentines. And it just so happens my husband and I were speaking how over the two week period we spent more time having family suppers then in a long time. So my goal is that we have to have more family suppers then what we do. It is a MUST! No excusses.

I have been working on my sheep penny rug during the evenings...slowly...LOL.
But I will get some pictures so I can share with you. I can't wait to have it finished because I think it will be so nice. But then, where to put it...I am sure I will find that one special spot :)

Today I spent the whole afternoon tweaking :) I packed up ALL my snowmen and other winter items. I want Spring so I dug out a couple of Easter things. I will have to get hubby to dig out the other bins for me. I moved things here and moved them there. Tried this...tried that...I will have to snap some pictures tomorrow and share with you. I am pleased so far with how things are looking.

Tomorrow morning I am off to another infusion. I swear those every six weeks come up quickly. My body feels I am due though. So I will be there all morning till lunch time. And then on the road again at 4pm for another appointment that is at 5pm. So I probably wont get a whole lot done tomorrow. I guess I will see how I feel after my infussion if I will be up to more tweaking.

Tomorrow for Day 11 ~ will be Girls Movie Night . Hubby has to work until 9pm so after supper all three of us will curl up on the couch and watch a good movie. Should be fun :)

So until next time my Friends...

***For the LOVE of Prims***

BeTtEr LaTe ThEn NeVeR...

WHAT??? Fall Already?

SuMmEr HaS fInAlLy ArRiVeD :))))

...mOrE pIcTuReS aS pRoMiSed :)

~ Home Sweet Home~

A Little of this and that...

It HaS bEeN a LoNg TiMe...

I am still alive...

BuSy...BuSy...BuSy...

HaPpY MoThEr'S DaY tO aLl YoU MoMmY's!

~ Whatcha Working On Wednesday ~

SoMe PrOjEcTs & HoW wElL dO yOu KnOw SoMeOnE?

WiShiNg A hApPy EaStEr...

I am filled with so much sadness :(

AnD tHe WiNnEr Is...

OMG...I can't believe I forgot!

What...where did Spring go???

WhAt I hAvE bEeN uP tO...

~ Whatcha Working On Wednesday ~

SpRiNg HaS aRrIvEd :)

I'm Back :-)

...still so very sick :(

Blah!!!

~ Day 11 & Day 12 ~

~ Day 8, 9 & 10 ~

For the LOVE of Prims