Inspiration

Love this!

Christmas Reindeer

While out enjoying the Christmas season yesterday, we were able to stop by and see a couple of Christmas reindeer, Dasher and Blitzen, at a local plant nursery.

Snow Day Fun

What a beautiful, snowy day!

Catching up ~ A collection of days

The days, the months, even the years; don’t they seem to go by so quickly?

It was a busy spring here, finishing up school work and preparing for the graduation of Abigail.  And for me ~ the finishing up of 27 years of homeschooling!

Then it was a garden tea party for her 18th birthday!

Later in the month, Abbie headed off to Ohio for Nationals and the Bible Quiz team competition.  While she as gone, Bill and I had a few adventures of our own.  We started out with a drive up north to look for some used windows for an upcoming project.  After searching in a salvage shop, we found 3 windows we thought would work.  With our car filled with windows, we headed to Cascadian Farm.

It wasn’t quite what we expected, but isn’t the scenery pretty?

Since we had come this far on the North Cascades Highway, and since we had wanted to visit the little western town of Winthrop at some time, we decided to take an impromptu trip there.

It was a very long drive, but the scenery along the way there and back was beautiful!  I love the mountains, they remind me of God’s majesty!  And His handiwork is so lovely!

The project that we were looking for the windows for, was for my greenhouse.  We have this little greenhouse in our backyard that was here when we moved here.  I loved that we had a greenhouse but it was very unsightly and we never used it for anything except for storing old wood, waiting to be gotten rid of.  Since it wasn’t very attractive, we thought about completely removing it and using the area for something else.  But this year, after considering our options, we felt led to go ahead and make some changes to it.  I wish now that I would have taken before pictures!  I really had to think about this as I wanted to make sure I would actually be able to use it if we spent the time and money to redo it.  Before we started working on it, I didn’t even want to open the door.  We started out with needing to get rid of the wasp nests that were plentiful inside.  We would take care of some, only to find some more.  Bill was diligent to keep at it, and only got stung once!

This little greenhouse project really was so much fun!

Our son-in-law helped Bill put on a new roof, and then we cleaned out the inside and using some bricks that were in there, Bill dug them up and made a little walkway down the middle.  Then we added gravel.  There were counters on each side, and he removed the old ones and added new cedar boards for me to have as my work surfaces.  I painted the windows, and before we could put them in, one of them got broken during a late summer windstorm.  So we visited another reuse store and found a replacement.  This time we went to Ballard Reuse and I thought it was a fun place to browse around.  In the end we decided to do more windows than we originally planned so we made more than one trip to Ballard Reuse!

I call this my “hippy greenhouse” and it is so fun!

 I love going in there and right now it has quite a bit of loveliness growing in there!  I am hoping my geraniums will keep on flourishing!  I love how the Lord helped us to redeem this little space, and I love what a happy place my husband worked so hard on for me.  In the spring we hope to redo the other 3 sides.  We have one window already, but there will probably be more trips to Ballard Reuse for more depending on how we decide to finish those sides! 🙂  And I am planning on some window boxes for the front for flowers or herbs!  Fun!

My sweet man in “our town”

September had a little house repair job (not so fun!) but we have an awesome friend who helped Bill with it, and the Lord was definitely faithful.  We were grateful to have that taken care of before winter.

The end of September, Bill and I visited a farm we had never been to before and went apple picking.  This was a special treat!  We had a wonderful time there, and the setting was beautiful!  What a special day!  And the apples were delicious!  And thank you Teri for the sweet collage you made for us!

Then there was the awaited trip to the corn/pumpkin farm!  It was a beautiful day to ride the hay wagon and pick out pumpkins!  Last year we did u-pick corn here, and we were disappointed that this year there wasn’t any corn available for us.  This farm has such good corn!

The gardening season came and went and in the end I had a lot of green tomatoes.  Bill found a recipe for Green Tomato Pie, and I gave it a try!  It was very good and it felt very old-fashioned to make it!

The leaves changed color and this Japanese maple tree was so bright and pretty!  Now the leaves are almost completely off!

We had a windstorm a couple days ago and it left us without power for about 32 hours.  It came on early this morning and it felt like such a luxury!  Oh, how much we take for granted!  Someone from Bill’s work told him yesterday that they would make some stew for us for dinner today because we didn’t have power, and so today at lunch he brought home stew and a loaf of bread!  I thought that was so very thoughtful and sweet!

Well, I guess that about catches things up around here.

Hope your days are filled with simple blessings!

Cast iron goodness

I love my cast iron.  I guess it just has such an old-fashioned feel that makes me happy.

And things baked in it just look pretty…perfect to go from the oven to the table.  These are two things I have really been enjoying baking in my skillet lately ~

No Knead Yeast Rolls

These are so easy.  They can be made in such a short amount of time and are very yummy!

Deep Dish Pizza

This has become a new favorite and it looks so pretty on the dinner table!

Do you have any favorites that you like to cook/bake in your cast iron?

Spring is here

Happy Spring!

I hope your day is filled with sweet spring delights!

Early spring cheeriness

Happy March!

It is so lovely that it is March!  Spring is almost here and there are signs everywhere.  We have enjoyed some wonderful sunshiny days and it has been so nice!  On Sunday afternoon we played bocce ball and croquet and we were even able to enjoy our first fire in our firepit and roast hot dogs for dinner ~ Amazing!  Truly a gift!

And have you heard the birds singing?  What a sweet and welcome sound!

The daffodils are blooming!  A bit of spring cheer for sure!

 I got some “farm girl boots” and I have to say they add a bit of cheer to the outside work! 🙂  I have so enjoyed getting a bit of a head start on some garden chores.

There are so many things to be thankful for!

Blessings!

Fine art

One of Abbie’s school projects ~ an ink and watercolor sketch

Chicken love♥

The chicken notecards Abbie made for me for Christmas ~ I love them!♥

I so admire those who are blessed with fine art skills.  I was thinking about this lately and kind of wishing that fine art was one of my gifts.  Although I love to make things, I don’t have skills in any of the fine arts.  Just after thinking about this, I came across this quote again, and oh, what an encouragement!

“Practise economy as a Fine Art:  make a duty and a pleasure of it…economy is a high Christian duty, that nothing be lost”. ~ From “The Complete Home:  An Encyclopedia Of Domestic Life And Affairs”

Can’t we all do this?  I just love how the Lord comes and encourages us!  And so now I am inspired afresh to “practise economy as a Fine Art”!  And it is pleasurable and rewarding!  It’s something that I can always grow in and work at improving, just as if I was painting or sketching!

What are some of the ways you “practise economy” in your home?

Blessings!

Mason jar love ♥

Mason jars

…from canning, to pantry storage, to holding leftovers, for gifts, for flower bouquets ~ they are just so versatile…and pretty too!

A little creating with my mason jar stamp.  My inspiration was found here.

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A little Mason jar love to share♥

I think the blue jars are so pretty ♥

A mason jar cookie cutter makes the sweetest cookies!  Just looking at these made me smile and had me thinking of an outdoor garden party!♥

I love using glass jars for storage…even just plain ones that I can fill up with good things for my pantry!

Do you love mason jars at your house too?

Hoping your day is filled with sweet things!

♥Blessings!♥

Sweetness

Not only do I have the joy of having my husband come home for lunch…today he arrived home with these!

A bit of January sweetness for this girl who loves flowers ~ especially when those flowers can be planted out in the garden!  Joy!♥

We’ve had a taste of some beautiful warm January days and I am looking forward to spring!

Blessings!♥