Saturday, May 1, 2010

I've been tagged...


Awhile ago, I was tagged by three dear friends, fiirst by Suzan at Old Grey Mare,
 then by Rosie at Roses and Rutabagas.         

 I was to show the tenth photo on the first folder in my computer files.
 So here it is. 
This photo was taken at my daughter's house in February 2008.

This is my grandson Anton  (my daughter Season's first child)
 and his aunt Haylee (another daughter of mine). Anton is 12 years old in this photo.
Haylee is going to kill me for showing this picture of her.
 Notice the drips on the front of her shirt. They came from the sippy cup that
 she is holding in her hand.
 No, it isn't hers, it belongs to her 2 year old daughter Madison.


If you don't hear from me for a awhile, it will be because I am healing up from the
beating I'm going to get after posting this. hehe

The rules say that I am to pass this tag along, but I have seen many of my friends tagged already,
so if you would like to play, feel free to do so.

The third tag came from Elizabeth of My Tattered Rose. The game is Moth's Lucky 7. I am
to reveal my 7th follower. Wow, after scrolling through all of you awesome blogs who have chosen
to click the follower button on my blog, I'm feeling truly humbled. The 7th follower is
Gale Brisa. She does't have a blog, and no picture was posted, but I feel grateful to have her
along for the ride. So Gale, if you are reading this...thank you!

I just have to show you my daffodils that are finally blooming. I have several varieties in the
garden and this is the only one that is in bloom at this time.




This variety is extremely fragrant. So much so, that if I get too many in the house at one time
they give me headache.


I think daffs are the cheeriest blooms. I literally have hundreds in the garden.
I also planted 200 bulbs  in the field at our other place. That was several years ago and
I planted them in and among the aspens. When they bloom it is a lovely sight.
(edited: So funny...I was rereading this post and noticed I had typed in 700 bulbs, instead
of 200 and came back to fix it ,but noticed I had already had a couple of comments. I'll bet they
think I'm a super hero, planting 700 daffodil bulbs. lol Not to mention rich!)



One more photo I would like to share...if you will indulge me...was taken this past Monday.
My daughter and her family were visiting from Utah, and Beau (my SIL) was working on
the car and their little 2 year old Ella (Anton's sister) decided she would help her daddy.
I just had to snap this. I love her little shoes that my daughter found at a thrift store.
They are Stride Rites, just like she wore when she was a baby.


Friday, April 16, 2010

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

Saturday, April 3, 2010

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.