Buying myself some happiness!!!

Amidst all of the work of the past couple of weeks, I was able to go and buy myself a little happiness when I saw these beautiful gerber daisys at the market. I honestly could not quit taking pictures of them.

These colors cheered up the grey and windy days that we have been experiencing lately.

They make me crave Jelly Bellys for some reason. And maybe some sherbet to go with them.

While I was away, I received an awesome giveaway prize that I had won from

Ginger at Glitter and Roses. Have you been to her beautiful blog? She is an artist and I love to go and see

what she is creating. The reason I follow so many artist's blogs is that it pushes me to create more myself.

I need inspiration from them. Not to copy their work, but to help encourage me to create my own artwork. 

I have been wanting this book for a long time, and was so thrilled to have won a copy that Ginger offered for

her giveaway. Thank you Ginger so much. If you knew how many times these pages have been turning

when I should have been catching up with things around here. hehe

I also want to share a couple of gifts that my sweet neighbor Sarah has given me lately. Sarah is one

of those rare gems that pays attention to the the little things. She gets so much joy from life. She is the age of my oldest daughter and she is one of my very best friends. We are constantly going back and forth to each other's house showing the other our latest find or creation.

This was the pretty little Easter package she put together for me this year.

And this gorgeous organza rosette from J Crew tucked inside a French General gift bag, for taking care

of her little ten year old daughter while she and her husband had a night out.

She is always doing that. She knows what my loves are and she is always bringing me something she knows

will make me smile.

I am certainly blessed to have such a dear friend and neighbor.

I received a package from Michelle at Petite Michelle Louise of beautiful pottery from the sea.

This was such a wonderful gesture. I had left a comment on how lovely her sea glass was and so she

sent me my own little 'gift from the sea'. I cannot get over the thoughtfulness of others in this world. 

Don't you think that blogging helps to see all people that are sharing this planet with us in a different light?

It helps to offset all the negative that we hear about people in the media and restore balance. How great it would 

be if we could all do this blogging thing!

Thank you Michelle, I think of you everytime I look at these pretty little shards of glass.

I think Spring is finally here in my neck of the woods. Although the garden still isn't showing much of it yet. I can't believe that there is still very little sign of life out there yet. My forsythia haven't bloomed yet, the peonies haven't shown their the little red heads yet, and the daffodils and tulips are only up about 2 inches. I thought I would get so much done in the garden when I took my blog break, but the weather was rather cold and windy. I think I am what you would consider a fair weather gardener. lol

I did get a lot done these past couple weeks however. I was able to get some furniture painted, some grandchildren played with, some yard clean-up done and even our taxes filed on time.

The shed turned studio is progressing so fast. I am so excited about how it is turning out. The guys we have doing the job are fast and do excellent work.  It has only taken them 4 days to do all the work. They are coming back in a couple days to finish.

Here are some pictures of the work progressing. The shed was rather ratty looking with just the particle board siding. My husband had an old chicken coop turned saddle shed that he tore down and we reused the awesome old siding the do the outside of the studio. I love old sheds and wanted to reuse as much of the old coop as we could, because this was not just any chicken coop, this was the first place our little girls cleaned out when we moved to the dairy to make a place to play in. Yuck! It served them well until I bought our first twenty-five chickens and turned it back into a real coop again. The girls then found another old building to rescue and play in. When we moved from the dairy, we moved the coop with us and Dale used it for his tack shed.

I will show the final redo of the outside in another post. 

I asked that a loft be built to hold more stuff. And a loft I got.

French doors and a huge window for plenty of light. We could not have a window in the rear of the shed in the loft as I had hoped because Dale's new tack shed is directly behind this one.

Things are always worse before they get better.

I wanted tongue and groove pine for the interior of the studio becase I love the look.

This will be white washed.

The reclaimed lumber on the floor will be stained dark brown.

Here we are ready for trim.

I asked them to leave the old post as is. It will probably end up painted later.

I will show more photos once it is all painted.

I am only days from moving in and I couldn't be happier.

Who says money can't buy happiness?!

hehe

I'm a proud chick momma!!!

WARNING!

***

This post is full of proud mommie pictures.

***

Is this not the cutest face you have ever seen?

Did you guys see the darling pictures that Heather Bullard took of her sweet baby chicks?

If not, you just have to. They are so darn cute.

It inspired me to take a few of my own so I could always remember the joys of their babyhood.

I can't believe how attached I am to these little cuties.

I haven't named any of them yet, but I'm thinking.

It's hard when you don't know whether they are roosters or hens.

I would hate to give a rooster a comlex by naming him Harriette, after my great aunt.

This little guy wanted his picture taken too!

How could I say no?

This little one wasn't to sure about it though.

But this sweetie was a little more willing to share the limelight.

I think the Easter chick just made a friend!

Wait a minute...is this a chicken hug?

This was a lot of work for these little babies.

(and for me)

So after the photo shoot...we were all ready for a nap!!!

I have to take a blog break for awhile. I am so busy doing garden bed clean up,

and we have started the construction on the backyard studio. The crew has been

here working nonstop for the last three days. I am the lucky one that gets to go up

and down the road to the lumber store whenever the guys need something.

I'm feeling spread little thin right now.

I won't be doing a White Wednesday post this week and maybe next,

but after that I hope to be back on task. I hope to be able to do a little blog hopping

though, but if you don't hear from me, I will be catching up with you all soon.

I want to thank all of you who stop by and read my ramblings, it means so much.

 And whether you leave me a message or not, just know how much

 I appreciate each and everyone of you!

And if for some reason I haven't come around to thank you for your

dear words, I apologize. I really do try to thank everyone who takes the time to 

make me part of their weekly reads. 

***

I want to wish each of you a blessed Easter tomorrow.

I am so grateful to my Lord and Savior for what He did for me...for us.