A Little Giveaway...

The last day in Aug. just happens to be our anniversary. This year we will be celebrating 28 wonderful years! Time sure has flown by quickly. So in honor of this joyous occasion, and also in honor of the coming of my favorite season~FALL, I thought I would do a giveaway.

The lucky winner will be receiving a "pumpkin candle mat", six little "sheep ornies" and a fall scented "primitive room freshener". All items are handmade by me with lots and lots of love! Sorry, the bowl is not included.

SPREAD THE WORD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS! I'd LOVE to have some new members join my blog!! To enter, be an existing follower or a new follower of my blog and leave a comment telling me what your favorite part of fall is. Maybe it's the crunch of the leaves under your feet, the wonderful smells, or the memories it evokes from your childhood. Whatever it may be, I would love to hear all about it.

A chance for a second entry...If you have a blog, please post my blog on it telling your friends all about my "Giveaway". Be sure to leave me a link back to your post and I will add you in for a second chance at winning.

The contest will end on midnight Sept. 11th., which happens to be our youngest son's 23rd birthday. Good luck everyone!

Blessings,
Julie

About the New House.....

As I had once mentioned, my husband and I are planning on building a new house. We kind of hoped it would happen this year, but looks like we are going to be doing it next spring instead. Well, we hope anyway.

Our inspiration house

Another gorgeous saltbox

Joe and I love saltbox houses, so that is what we have decided to build....a little red saltbox, often referred to as our "someday house". We can't wait! We've been planning this home for almost 10 years now. So in preparation, we have been collecting a few things here and there to put in it. That to me is the best part of this whole process. The rest of it is just a lot of "hurry up and wait". You would think that after waiting this long, I would be good at waiting, but I'm not.

We have so many things stored up already that I think our current home is going to burst at the seams. For instance, our "someday house" bed is in a box that sits in our dining room. At least it's in a box, right?

We also have two awesome wingback chairs...one in my sewing room, the other in our laundry room. Our entryway is the current home to our "someday house" wood cookstove. Yes, something my husband always wanted and just had to have. I am so glad we share the same taste. He's REALLY anxious to use it, too!

Last fall I took a woodworking class and made a couple things for the house. I love doing stuff like that. Anyway, I made a step back cupboard, but still need to paint it. This is sitting upstairs in one of the bedrooms that is not being used right now, except for storage.

I do have a color picked out, but I won't be painting it until we are ready to move it to it's new home. I think I need to really see the space to be sure.

Boxes packed up and ready to go

This is an adorable corner cupboard that I found at an antique shop. I knew I had to have it when it called out my name! Does that ever happen to you? I'm going to strip it down and repaint it, so I can give it that great primitive look that it really needs.

Grandmother's cupboard.

This is problably one of mine and Joe's favorite pieces. It's an old cupboard that once hung in his grandmother's kitchen. Knowing that this will be hanging in our new home is a gift beyond measure. As you can see in the picture it really needs a bit of TLC, but it's going to be perfect for our "someday house". 

I have so many other things that I could show you, but maybe in another post. I will tell you though, that I am definitely going to be taking the woodworking class again this fall, because I have quite a few other projects that need to be built....a dining room table, wall cupboards, bedside tables, the list goes on!

Someday all of this will be passed on to our children or maybe even their children. I love the thought of that.

Blessings,

Julie

A Little Tour...

 

Today seems to be a slow day, so I thought I'd share a few pictures with you. Not much going on, but maybe it's because I'm not too ambitious today. Do you ever have days like that? I found it so hard to pull myself out of bed this morning. Seemed like a great day to sleep in, but who would feed the animals or send my husband off to start his day. So I got up with a prayer on my tongue and a smile on my face.

 

 

Being that there is only two of us that live here now, I only have to do laundry once a week, which is Monday...you know like it used to be years ago?

Monday --- laundry

Tuesday --- ironing

---- and so on.....

Well, lately I have found that I need to do at least one load of lights on Friday as well, just to make sure my husband will have some shorts to wear on Monday morning. That's done for today.

 

 

This is a little corner of our front porch where I like to sit and ponder on my day sometimes while waiting for my husband to come home from work at the end of the day.

 

 

 

 

The above pictures are of our basil, rosemary, thyme and mint plants growing in pots on our kitchen windowsil. Rosemary is my favorite. We've had this one for almost 5 years now. It's pretty much a small bush. I LOVE IT! Do you have a favorite herb?

 

 

These are some large tomatoes from our garden and 3 small plums from our plum tree. We've had a couple plums already. They're nice-n-sweet!

 

 

One of my favorite things to do is to decorate our kitchen mantle. I change it out with each season, although I do count spring/summer as one season, just because they're the shortest ones.

 

 

 

My mother in law loved to hang on to things. I am so thankful that some of the things she hung on to were a few of the toys my husband played with as a child. I put a shelf up in our dining room to display a few of these precious items.

 

Since my husband and I raised 3 boys, this saying held a particular place in my heart, mostly because it is so true. I stitched it up and placed it in an old frame I picked up at a yardsale. It reads ---

I have been driven many times upon my knees

by the overwhelming conviction

that I had nowhere else to go. Abraham Lincoln

The bottom reads ---

Be joyful always, pray continually.

--- I Thes. 5:16, 17

 

 

The early oil lamp in this picture, along with the tipped basket were items that I found in an old abandoned home that my husband's nephew bought and tore down. The poor old house had seen it's last day. The books are early Dick and Jane readers. Remember those?

 The baby in the picture is my husband.

 

 

A little corner of our living room where our granddaughter reads her books and rocks her babies.

 

 

Jams, jellies, sauces and relishes stashed away for our winter enjoyment.

 

 

The flag that is currently hanging outside our home. Such a perfect saying. I'm so blessed to have many beautiful friends.

I hope you've enjoyed these few photos from around our home.

 

Blessings,

Julie



Nothing Special....

It's been a relaxing day here. How has your day been? I hope it's been nice. The sun is shining, the breeze is blowing and the crickets are playing their music. I love the sounds of summer, don't you?

I made some zucchini bread this morning for my 75 year old aunt. She brought me some zucchini and made her request and I happily obliged. I made 3 large loaves and a couple mini ones. Tomorrow I will make her some apple bread with some of the apples from our orchard.

I have the crockpot going with a pork roast. I used some of my rosemary and garlic jelly on it. Smells so good! I also have some purple potatoes in a pot from my father in laws garden and carrots from last years garden. Supper will be good tonight.

I took a couple pictures of Billie and the geese today. They're good friends, but I think it's only because the gander insists on it. HEHE!

 

 

Looks like Hollie and Seamus are having a relaxing day, too.

 

 

I hope that no matter what your day has been like,  you're able to take a bit of time for yourself to relax and enjoy all the simple pleasures God has displayed around us.

 

Blessings,

Julie

 

 

 

 

A Simple Day at Home...

This weekend my husband decided he'd like to make some bean hole beans. Ever had them? I don't know why, but they taste so much better than regular baked beans. Maybe it's all the work and time that goes into digging the hole, building the fire and waiting patiently for them to cook. Whatever the reason is, we love'em!

My husband tending the fire for the beans.



 We let'em cook for about 6 hours and then dug them up.

Delicious!

We also cooked some ribs on the smoker.

Sitting out on the deck while everything was cooking was amazing. The smell of the wood fire and the ribs smoking was just the best smell ever.

I hate to see summer leave us, but I can definitely feel fall in the air. Fall is my favorite time of year, but I just don't like what follows.

Our squash plants are getting huge! A sure sign fall is on it's way. The runners are growing right up onto the deck.



This is actually one of our compost piles, but some of the squash seeds that got thrown out decided to grow...and multiply! I LOVE SQUASH! I think there are actually some cucumbers in there, too.

I am just loving this wonderful season and hope that you are enjoying it, as well. We all have so much to be thankful for. God is good!

Blessings,

Julie



Our Weekend Getaway...

For me, one of the best parts of summer are the weekend getaways my husband and I take together. We both love to travel. This summer we decided to go to Vermont. If you've never been there, it's definitely worth the trip.

Two years ago, while in Vermont, we found a quaint little B&B in a town called Waitsfield. It's called The Inn at the Round Barn Farm.

We liked it so well, that we decided we just had to stay there again.

Our room was amazing.

Just look at that ceiling!

The view from our room was so beautiful!

In the morning we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast.

Yummy!!!

A few pictures from inside the Inn....

..and the grounds surrounding the Inn.

So relaxing!

 We had such an amazing and relaxing time away and we hated to drive off, but unfortunately all good things must end.

Until next time....

Blessings,
Julie