Christmas and Snow

Hello all! I hope this finds all of you enjoying your weekend!

We are! We woke up to more snow today and it was beautiful! My love plowed for 21 hours on Wednesday into Thursday but he didn't have to go back in today because the salt was doing the job! So that means that we got to go play in the snow this morning. We love getting out and driving on the snow covered roads. We try and beat the snow plows! We also took the four-wheelers out the other day playing in the snow which is soooo fun!

 

This is a look out the front door.

And this is a look out the back door.

 

While we were out and about this morning we drove past the covered bridge which is so pretty!

 

 

 

This is the river from either side of the bridge.

 

Beautiful!!

 

 

Here are some pictures from Christmas day! We are blessed to have all of our family close so we spent time with both sides.

 

There were a lot of legos this year!

 

 

 

One cowboy complete with boots and rope!

 

Three wanna-be Santa's,

 

and by the end of the day this is us...

...tired, busting at the seams full and loving Christmas!!!

 

I wish you a very happy New Year and hope you spend it with the ones you love!

Knitting

I recently learned how to knit and I am so excited about it!!

I have been knitting away! I made a few gifts and then of course one for myself!

 

Now, I only know how to do one kind of stitch but you have to start somewhere!

 

This is my infinity scarf. It's very warm!

Oh, by the way, this is in front of the newly remodeled fireplace!

 

Then last night the wind was howling like crazy and our electric went out! So I

was knitting by an oil lamp!

I was trying to finish up a Christmas gift.

 

Luckily the electric came back on in the middle of the night. The temperature had dropped and the wind was still blistering!

We woke up this morning, the first day of winter no less, to a pretty dusting of snow!

 

Knitting is such a cozy past time! I'm looking forward to it this winter!

A Little Look at Christmas

Here is a little look into our home at Christmas time!

This is such a fun time of year!

 

This is the mantel and fireplace surround complete and all ready for Christmas!

See my steps! They turned out

great.

I used a chicken feeder out of the barn and added lights and greenery! Did I mention that I have an outlet in the top of the mantel flush with the top so you can't see it! Love!

 

This is the cubby that we found when we tore off the paneling and plaster. My hubby built a new box to set inside the old one and trimmed it out. This is a fun space!

 

A few pieces of our vintage train set from the 1930's!

 

The depot didn't originally come with the train but was built for the boy that owned the train. It's just not the same scale. I still love it so much! The depot stays out all the time.

 

I just used bottle brush trees and fake snow to make it Christmasy!

I think this little depot clock is so cool.

 

Living room after the new paint!

 

This is hanging above the couch. I just tied some greenery from our tree with a piece of scrap fabric!

 

The fabric matches the pillow on the couch!

 

This is the 9 foot tree in the office. I wanted a big one this year!!

 

We found these soda boxes in the crawl space of my in-laws! It was such a sweet surprise!

 

Old ice skates and my husbands toy concrete truck make cute additions under the tree.

 

I used my old Christmas Cards to make my gift tags!

 

I love all things plaid! I have been collecting all things that I see plaid!

I made these little pine cone wreaths to hang in the office windows. They are a festive little touch to the room.

 

I know this was a lot of pictures! Thanks for stopping by!

Merry Christmas!



Mantel Remodel

Yesterday I shared with you all some of the before pictures of the mantel and fireplace.

I showed you some of the mess we got ourselves into.

 

So, here are some pictures of the next few steps.

I decided to go ahead and rip up the carpet on the steps. I figured we already had a mess and this has needed to be done for a long time! The entire living room had this carpet in it but we had ripped it up when we moved in.

 

This shows the bones of the mantel. My smarty pants husband and his dad took a picture and designed a mantel! Amazing!

 

I just got on Pinterest and started looking for mantels that caught my eye. I had a very short window of time to decide what I wanted.

 

It's starting to look like a fireplace surround.

 

This shows the knotty pine wall and the steps with the carpet removed. There were a ton of staples in those steps!!

 

The brick has not been scrubbed at this point! This was such a dusty job!

 

This is before the top of the mantel was put on.

 

This is with the top on and it all primed.

 

More after pictures tomorrow!

Have a great evening. I have been finishing some Christmas gifts and adding a few more Christmasy touches to the house! It's chilly out so stay warm and cozy!

Painting turned into Remodeling

How are all my friends today? I hope this finds you well, warm, and happy.
I wrote this post Thanksgiving weekend and have been trying to upload pictures since then. Blogger has been a HUGE pain!!

I finally saved my pictures to photobucket.com and then copy and pasted to the blog post..!!

Anyways, this is what we have been up to.
 

I knew we had a long weekend so I talked my wonderful, sweet husband into painting the living room. It hasn't been done since we moved in 8 years ago! It was way over due!

 

Now our house is about 150 years old and you never know what you will find. Keep that in mind....

 

The living room is covered in ugly 80's dark paneling that we painted white immediately after moving in. We had a pretty good inclination that there was cool, old, red brick above the fireplace behind the paneling. So since everything we do around here turns into this HUGE ordeal or actually a huge mess, we went from painting to tearing off the paneling above the fireplace.

 

Now when we (I use the term "we" very loosely) tore off the paneling we found plaster! Great, plaster!! Of course this will not be simple. So "we" chipped off the plaster. Cool brick!! Yeah!!

 
We found a little cubby behind there that they had covered up at some time.

Wait there's more.

 

Around the fireplace opening is the ugly yellow-orange 70's brick and a very narrow, concrete mantel that we both hate but I was just going to paint the brick! Oh no. That would not be sufficient. "We" are already this far we might as well tear it all off!!!

 

Yep. So "we" did! We found that when they had put in the stove insert they tore out the lentil and some of the brick so there was a gaping hole above the stove. It's a wonder that the brick hadn't fallen even worse.

 

Stay tuned.....tomoorow morw before and even some after pictures!!

Out of room....what??

Blogger has stopped letting me upload pictures! They say I have used my 1GB of storage but I don't think so! 

My SIL had the same thing happen but she signed out and back in and it let her upload pics without buying any more storage!

I don't know what to do!

Has anyone else had this problem??

Seriously, I love having a blog but I don't want to pay for more storage!

I have some pictures I want to share of our mini remodel in the living room but blogger won't let me!!

It's so frustrating.

So, if you can help please let me know. i don't have a clue! 



Follow Me!

Hello friends! I hope you all are doing well. 

 

I can't believe the holidays are upon us already! I really love this time of year. The sights, the smells, the cozy fire, the warm drinks and blankets.Sweaters and scarves! I love it!

 

I usually wait until after Thanksgiving to start decorating for Christmas but I just couldn't wait! So I started with a few things outside and hope to do the inside this weekend.

 

With Christmas in mind, I wanted to share with you my new favorite vice...Pinterest.

 

 I know, I know, its been around a while but what can I say, it takes me time to jump on board with these new things. Actually you use to have to sign in using facebook and I don't do facebook so that's what kept me from really getting into it. Recently they made it available by using your e-mail.

 

So if you have some time, because I'm sure you know how you can loose track on here, go check out my pins!! Especially the "Merry and Bright" board!

Just click on the Pinterest button to the right of the screen! Let me know what you think!

The Adventure that is My Life

Hello friends. How are all of you? It's been a while.

We got our lap top back on Monday. We had to have a new hard drive put in it. Which was a whole lot cheaper than a new lap top. So that was a blessing. However we did loose everything that was on the old hard drive. Not a blessing.
 

Monday afternoon my husband got a phone call from a friend that we do sub-contracting for with Verizon Wireless. Verizon has this trailer that they put together to send to disaster hit areas and it offers free charging, Internet access, and news information. It's a mobile hot spot. Well, they asked if Steve would go with it to Pennsylvania and set it up. This is the first one they have ever done so it's kind of a test pilot so to speak.

 

Well, I decided to go with him. We have done this once before but nothing came of it. We were only gone over night.  We left Monday at 3pm and drove to Pittsburgh and met the trailer and then drove another 2.5 hours to the town where Penn State is located to wait out the storm. We were in a hotel room and never had any bad weather. Just rain. So we waited around the next day for a phone call for direction in what to do. Tuesday around 12pm we received a call to head home so we headed home and only made it about 30 minutes down the road when we got another call and were told to go to New York. So we called looking for a room and there was nothing!! We finally found an Inn on the Pennsylvania state line in the Pocono mountains. It turned out to be a very nice place, very old and fancy! It is a wedding destination come to find out.
 

So after a good nights sleep in a country inn we were headed to Orangeburg New York. We got there and waited around for the call as to where we were to take the trailer. Finally about 11am we were told to head to West Long Branch New Jersey. So we headed that way. We ended up at Monmouth University in New Jersey, about a 1/2 mile from the ocean!
 

We spent all day Wednesday there and were not sure what we were going to do for a bed. There was no power around here and all the hotels within 2 hours were booked full.
 

A lady came to charge her phone and was so happy because she flew in from California last week to be with her 86 year old parents and she had no way of charging her phone or calling her husband and family at home and her parents needed their phone charged as well. We stood and talked a little bit about where we were from and that we were looking for a place to stay. She came back that day and said that her parents lived about a mile down the road and they had an apartment attached to their house and that we could have it if we wanted it. So we took her up on her offer.

They didn't have any heat so we hooked up one of our generators and warmed up their room and gave them some light. They were thrilled to say the least! They were interesting people. She had lots of makeup on, with large glasses and red lipstick! He was a plumber!
 

Then Thursday morning we went back to the college and set up and a nice man that works with Verizon brought us the most AMAZING bagels I have ever had!!!! Seriously they don't make bagels like that in Ohio!!!

Finally Thursday evening we were able to come home. We left the trailer in good hands and headed to Hershey Pennsylvania. We stayed there over night and let me tell you how wonderful the hotel felt! A comfy bed, clean room, and a hot shower! We didn't get to go into the Hershey factory but drove through town.

We did make a detour just on the other side of Wheeling West Virgina at the Cabela's store so that was a nice way to break up the trip home.

Let me tell you, there is NO place like home. especially when home has electricity and restaurants and GAS!! I'm so spoiled I know.

So that was last week and this week I am getting the laundry done ( so much for two people!) and doing everything that I didn't get done last week!

We never know what a day will bring. It's kind of exciting! Kind of...

Talk to you all soon. Have a great week!

P.S. Sorry this was so long and with no pictures! We forgot the camera!

Crash and Burn

Oh my, what a week! Our lap top that is only a year and half old took a CRASH!! Like the hard drive is gone!! It was making these really weird sounds like it was eating its self. Not good at all. So it is getting fixed and I am typing from work!

 

I didn't realize how much we used our computer!! What really stinks is that all the business records for the year were on there. Luckily my wonderful, smart husband backed the files up on a zip drive a few weeks ago so not all is lost!! Praise the Lord!

 

Fall is in full swing as you are probably aware of but I can't help but start to think about Christmas!! I am so excited to start my decorating! I have been thinking of ideas that I can't wait to try!

I know, one Holiday at a time!

 

My wonderful, smart, funny, and cute husband had a birthday yesterday! I made him a German Chocolate cake and it taste so good!! I can't wait to get home to have a piece! I am so thankful for my husband and the relationship that we have! He is my BEST friend! I love him so much!

 

We have been enjoying some of this lately. Nice cozy outdoor fires!

 

I am wishing you a wonderful Fall!!

 

Talk to you all soon.

 

P.S. I am loving Pinterest! Come check me out!!



Update on Life

Boy life has been busy!! We have been going non stop it seems since the beginning of September.

 We have had something every weekend. Good things but things non the less. We hosted a Fall party for our class last weekend. As well as Fall Festival at church. This past weekend we went to southern Ohio and rode four-wheelers and stayed in our friends cabin!

It was so fun and relaxing! We stopped at a little festival and I enjoyed some kettle corn and yummy BBQ! The weather was perfect!

We are hosting another fall party this weekend with a bon fire and hayride!

This is always a busy time of year but I enjoy it.

I am so thankful for the life that the Lord has given me!

I am so very very blessed. This past week I am especially thankful for a wonderful marriage. I love being married to my husband! We enjoy each other so much!

I am reading a great book by Elizabeth George called "A Woman after God's Own Heart".

I highly recommend it. I have read it before but just wanted to refresh myself in this area!

Even if you have a healthy marriage it is good to keep reminding yourself of what God has to say about this subject.

She has many more books that are very good!

This week looks like it will be a little slower in the evenings which will be nice.

I wish you all a wonderful week!

Fall Mantel

Good morning everyone! I hope you are having a good week. It has been kinda a rainy week here. It's been nice though. I woke up this morning to rain drops on the window.

The rain is so peaceful sometimes. It absolutely feels like fall! 

Last week I pulled my fall decorations out of the closet and gussied up the living room a little bit.

 

This is the coffee table center piece. The round wooden object is an old seed shaker. The bottom is wire mesh. The Fabric pumpkin I made last year. I have several that I have made over the last few years and I love them! 

This is the mantel. A large mirror in the back goes with a dresser that you will see. The wooden frame on the left I found at a barn sell it is empty but kind of looks like a mirror as well. The large W was a birthday present from my brother and SIL. The harvest time bunting I made last year out of burlap and jute. I just stenciled the letters on.

This is on the dining table. Two ironstone platters stacked with pine cones and a candle. Those are beans surrounding the candle, which by the way is mulled cider from Gold Canyon and smells delish!!!

I should have lit the candle it would hav emade a better picture.

This is the dresser I mentioned. It is full of fabric! And it makes a great place to display things.

The barn picture came from a garage sell this summer and here are some more fabric pumpkins!

Books I had and a church hymnal.

I love this little train depot. Its from the 1930's.

I made the wreath with burlap that I had. I wrapped it once tight and then went back around it loosely and twisted at the same time and hot glued as I went.

I used some of the old flatware that I have and made a rosette.

I was happy with how it turned out!

There is your peak around the house. I wish everyone a fabulous weekend and a fabulous Autumn!!