Life...

I'm so sorry for the long pause between posts, but my internet hasn't been working. We did have a repairman come last week, but it's still not 100%. I'm sure things will be resolved soon, though.

Life has kept us quite busy this summer. My husband and I went on a little weekend getaway to Vermont and had a lovely time. As always, I hated coming back to reality! It was such a relaxing time and so needed for both of us.

Summers are always filled with so many projects that need to be done. We have picked raspberries and strawberries, made jams and jellies, made pie fillings and sauces, picked vegetables from the garden and filled our freezer with them. We are still waiting on the squash and zucchini to be ready...my favorites! Our goat, Billie, is loving the fresh peas, and so are the chickens!

The weather has been wonderful this summer, although we could use a little bit of rain. Just a little bit!

I have lots of pictures of all our summer adventures, but unfortunately they will have to wait for another day, because my computer is not letting me upload them.

I do hope that you are all having a lovely summer. I'd love to hear what some of you have been up to!

Blessings,
Julie

And another one added...

KIDS! What do we do with them? Remember when I told you that our oldest son Matthew was always bringing home a new critter of some sort? Well, he's done it again. This time it's a 3-month old Belgian Malinois puppy. A puppy! Oh, we need another dog like....well, you know how the old saying goes.

Shamus

I know what you're going to say..."He's so cute!"...and he is, but we still don't need another dog!

Piper LOVES him!

Hollie is still trying to figure out how she could possibly share Matthew, but at least she's willing to put her best paw forward and give it a try.

Life here is always so interesting!

Blessings,
Julie

Spring Cleaning in the Summer....

It's a crazy idea, I know, but I made a new batch of my homemade spray cleaner and couldn't wait to try it out. It smells heavenly!

I started in the living room, then onto the dining room, kitchen, and entryway. Seven hours later, I finished just in time to start supper.

Since my homemade cleaner turned out so well, I thought I would share the recipe with you.

I started by getting a nice big jar to put it in. I used a half gallon pickle jar. Then I filled it 3/4 full of white vinegar and added the peelings from 4 oranges. I let it sit on a nice sunny windowsill for 2 weeks.

Then it was ready to use, so I poured it into a spray bottle, filling it 1/2 full of cleaner, and the other 1/2 with water. If you like, you can add some orange essential oil once you put it into the spray bottle to give it a stronger scent. I added clove essential oil and now our house smells kinda like Christmas. I just love that smell!

I think you could easily use lemons instead of oranges. Either way it not only smells great, but it works great, too! I'm sure you were wondering. Since we have grandchildren and animals in our home, using safe cleaners that don't have strong chemicals in them is very important to us.

If you like this recipe, please let me know. I have lots more I can share!

Blessings,

Julie

A Farmhouse Picnic...

A few years ago, my girlfriends and I got together for a "Farmhouse Picnic".

Okay, so it wasn't a typical picnic, but my friends aren't typical. They are always thinking outside the box! One of my friends family owns an old farmhouse that has been abandoned for some time now. She came up with the idea to clean it up and have a picnic for some friends. Now...you have to imagine...this house is old, and the whole end wall of the kitchen is missing! Don't worry! She made sure it was safe, and nobody went upstairs...except maybe a few raccoons! LOL!

Some of the girls worked really hard cleaning the inside of the house and decorating the outside.

Then they worked on decorating the inside...

Tables and chairs were set up to accomodate all our friends...

Curtains were hung in paneless windows and small touches were added at every turn, along with pictures of the past...

The gentleman in the above picture is the owner of this property. This is the homestead on which he and his family once lived and farmed. He really enjoyed this!

So many reminders of what once was.

Some of the ladies even had fun by dressing up...

We had so much food brought by so many. One lady even made homemade ice cream for us. Eveything was wonderful! You couldn't ask for a better day.

At the end of the day we all posed for a picture. The entire town was buzzing about our "Farmhouse Picnic" for a long time. EVERYONE enjoyed it, and EVERYONE thought we were crazy, but I did tell you that my friends are always thinking outside the box!

I'd love to hear about some of your "outside the box" fun. I bet you have some wonderful stories to share.

Blessings,

Julie

Our Day-cation in Canada...

Much to my delight, my husband decided to play hooky from work today. I love our days spent together, and it is truly a treat to have him home on a weekday.

So after finishing up some laundry, we headed out the door. Hmmm? Where are we going to go today? CANADA! We both love going to the great country of Canada. It's really a lovely drive and most especially on such a nice day as today. Don't worry! I brought my camera along so I could share with you some of the places we stopped at, and the beautiful scenery along the way.

The picture above is of an old barn that we have passed many times, but this time I got a picture.

Bath, New Brunswick was our destination. There is a wonderful take-out there that my husband and I try to visit a few times each summer. You can see some nasty looking clouds in the picture, but they were just passing by. The weather was great!

This is the little take-out where we ate our lunch. It was DELICIOUS!  We ate outside at the picnic table.

Doesn't it look good?

After lunch, we just drove around looking at the scenery. Such a beautiful country. Some of my husband's ancestors are from Canada, and all of my mom's family is from there. No wonder we are so partial to this country...It's in our blood!

This is a picture of the McCain's french fry plant. The french fry capital of the world! It's located in Florenceville, New Brunswick. The McCain's are distant relatives on my husbands side of the family. 

I bet you never knew there was such a thing as a potato museum, did ya? I've always wanted to check it out, so maybe that will be a blog for another day.

There is a nice little vegetable farm in Bristol that my husband and I like to stop at early in the season, because they always have new potatoes ready before anyone we know. I should have gotten pictures of all the vegetables they had, but I got side tracked by all the cute little sheep. Aren't they adorable!

This is a picture of the longest covered bridge in the world, located in Hartland, New Brunswick. It is a whopping 1,282 ft. long!

This is another covered bridge located in Florenceville, New Brunswick. The town of Florenceville was named after Florence Nightingale.

Of course, after all that sight seeing we just had to stop and get dessert!

My husband had a very boring vanilla cone, but I got a small bowl of peanut butter carmel cookie dough ice cream. Let me just say, that it was the perfect end to a perfect day!

Blessings,

Julie