We Played House

You know that my sweet friend Becky and her precious family came and stayed with us last week.  Now that they are gone and things have slowed down a little here in Tennessee, I want to share with you all some of the fun things that we did.

  We ate.  We hiked.  We had a bon-fire and movie night.  We ate more.  We drove around looking at the gorgeous leaves. We went to the Nashville Flea Market.  We played house.

You might be wondering what I mean by “played house”. 

Well, let me just tell you.

I really don’t want to embarrass Becky, but can I just tell you that this beautiful lady oozes with talent.  She cooks, she paints, she designs, she decorates!  Oh yeah, and her husband builds.  What a carpenter he is.  (more on his carpentry skills later)

Now you know that I had to ask her to help me change up some things in my house.   And change up, we did!!!   We worked in pretty much every part of the downstairs in my house. 

You do know how much fun I had, right?

I am going to show you little bits at a time because we really did so much.  I also can’t wait to show you the gift that Becky and her hubby brought me.  Oh My Goodness!!! 

Here’s a little of what we did in the dining room…

I found this great old screen door on a sidewalk where someone was throwing it out.    It looks great here in this corner with my beautiful old ladder that I also found on the side of the road.  So thankful for other people’s trash…

Really loving the little banner I made using my nanny’s old handwritten recipes.  I think it looks great in here.

Isn’t that door just fabulous?  Okay, I know that not everyone wants a chippy old screen door in their dining room, but it just speaks volumes to me.

One of the big things that we did when changing things up was to get things off of the floor.  Yeah, bad habit of mine…

These great old crates were on the floor holding extra glasses and extra white dishes.  Now they are on my buffet making a big bold statement.

I can’t wait to show you more, but I figure this is a good place to stop.  I hope you’ll come back and take a look at the rest of the fluffing that we did. 

Let me tell you that I took all kinds of mental notes while we worked.  I’ll pass some of Becky’s tidbits of knowledge along as I go.  I may even have a little bit of my own knowledge that I could muster up and share.

Hope you are all having a great weekend.  Blessings to you all!

By the way, if you haven’t visited Becky before, make sure to check out her beautiful home at Buckets of Burlap.

Linking up over at:  Funky Junk Interiors

Fowl Play On a Pumpkin

Hey all my friends!

It’s been a few days, hasn’t it?

Our friends from Louisiana have come and gone.  What a glorious week we had!

I have to show you what we discovered while they were here.

Isn’t this a great little face carved into this pumpkin? 

See that little heart shaped mouth and those two eyes…

Guess who carved it?

Was it one of these two beauties?

It could have been any of these…

It could have been any out of the twenty one chickens that we have, but it was definitely one of them that did this very artistic carving.

Isn’t this so cool?

We think we have some pretty talented chickens!!

Hope you all have a wonderfully blessed weekend.

Linking up over at Farmhouse Friday

Pumpkin Anything

I admit that I absolutely love pumpkin anything.

This beautiful blue green pumpkin, I love to look at.

And, then there is all of the other pumpkin stuff that I love…

I usually make my own whole wheat pancakes, but when I found this at Trader Joe’s, I had to try it out.

Oh my goodness, these were delish.

I love muffins!  These pumpkin muffins are made with freshly ground whole wheat.    They are a little heavy, but oh so tasty.

Of course, you can’t have the muffins without a good hot cup of coffee.  Right??

Green Mountain Coffee is one of my all time favorites.  Their pumpkin spice is seasonal, so I stock up when they have it available.

Pumpkin Spice coffee, homemade pumpkin muffins, and homemade apple butter.  OH MY!

One more look at this beautiful pumpkin and my gorgeous hydrangeas.

Add a pumpkin candle, and I am one happy lady.

See what I mean.  Pumpkin anything….

Blessings everyone.

Linking up at Momma Hens Coop and Primp

Crock Pot Apple Butter Recipe

Several of you asked for my apple butter recipe that I make in the crock pot.   It is simple and it is delicious.

Approximately 3 lbs apples

3 cups sugar

2 tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp allspice

1/2 tsp cloves

Dash of salt

3/4 cup water

Fill crock pot 3/4 full of peeled, cored, sliced apples.  Add remaining ingredients and stir until evenly mixed.  Cover and cook on low overnight.  If butter has too much liquid, remove lid and cook on high until desired consistency.

If you make your own, I would love to know what you think about it.

Update on my mama…Honestly, this is not a great time.  She is feeling really bad.  She has very little strength, can’t eat, and just feels lousy.  Boy, this is a tough one, my friends.  It’s tough to see your mom, who has always been so strong, now feeling so sick.  I ask you to please continue to pray.  Thank you.

Also…I am busily preparing for our guests who are coming in from Louisiana this week.  Mr. and Mrs. Buckets of Burlap and their beautiful family will be here soon.  We cannot wait for their arrival.  Boy, do we have some fun things planned.   I will be taking them to the Nashville Flea Market while they are in town, so if you are going to be there, let me know and maybe we can have a blogger hook up sometime that day.  Wouldn’t that be fun?

Hope you are all doing great and pray that you all have blessed Sunday.

Linking up at Fresh From the Farm 

What’s a Jelly Cabinet For Anyway

Hey friends!

I finally decided to use my jelly cabinet for its intended purpose.

I figured if I have a beautiful old jelly cabinet, why not happily display my freshly canned apple butter in it.

Do you remember me telling you that my girls and I picked about 95 lbs. of apples at a nearby apple orchard? 

Why do I do things in such extremes?

I do have a wonderful Pampered Chef apple pealer corer slicer, but let me just tell you that this was a lot of work.

We peeled, cored, cut, weighed, and cooked for several days and made the most delicious crockpot apple butter.

I figured after this much work, the fruits of our labor should be displayed.

I also stacked up a small collection of vintage aprons that I have.  If I am correct, several of these are beautiful hostess aprons.

There are also a few jars of fig preserves that my sweet mama made for me from her own fig tree.

  My family loves homemade preserves and jellies.  And, when fall comes around and it’s apple picking time, we are so eager to get our apple butter cooking.  It doesn’t get much better than apple butter on whole wheat toast with real butter and a hot cup of Pumpkin Spice Coffee.

If you are interested in the crockpot apple butter recipe that I have, please let me know and I will post it on here for you.  It is easy and it is scrumptious!

Blessings to you all!

Linking up at Faded Charm for White Wednesday, LaurieAnna's

Vintage Travels

Wouldn’t you love to pack up this pretty little suitcase and take it on a trip somewhere?

 

 

Can I just tell you how much I love timeless treasures?  Even if they have no part in the history of my family, they still speak volumes to my heart.

 

 

Oh, how I am loving the rich browns, purples and greens this fall. 

 

 

 

Sometime soon, I want to share with you what I consider my “style” to be and why I love what I love.

 

 

Take a look at this beautiful plaid blanket.  This beauty is heavy and warm.  Another yardsale find…

 

 

One of my favorite things to decorate with are bundles of books…especially books that are uncovered.  Wrap them with a little bit of twine and there you have it.

 

 

Isn’t this is a great basket to put all of your eggs in?  Or maybe all your books…

 

I am really looking forward to the weekend.  There will be lots of work going on but also some relaxing time with all my family at home.  Hubby has been gone all week on a business trip so we are ready for him to get back home.

 

My sweet friends, I pray blessings for each and everyone of you.

 

I am partying over at :

 

LaurieAnna's Farmhouse Friday

 

Common Ground

Botanicals and Terracotta

Hey my friends!

 

Have I told you that we are getting ready for guests to come for a visit? 

 

You remember my visit to Louisiana this summer, right?  Well, guess what?  Louisiana is coming to Tennessee in about two weeks!!!

 

Becky, from Buckets of Burlap, and her precious family are coming for a visit and this girl cannot wait.

 

Of course what that means is that we are in full gear getting ready for them.  Why do we wait for guests to come to get major stuff done?  It’s like that with you too, right?

 

Besides some of the big stuff we are working on, I am also just trying to make things a little prettier and a little more fallish.

 

I wanted to show you some beautiful botanical prints that I picked up at a yardsale the other day that I thought would be great for the season.

 

 

 

 

I also brought some of my smaller herb plants into the kitchen.  I love the look of these pots.  I laid an old bankers bag between the two pots just to add a little texture.

 

 

 

 

I just have to tell you that I love the browns and naturals that are going on here.

 

I still have a few more fall things to show you, but will do that later.  Right now, I am headed upstairs to my daughter’s bathroom where my oldest daughter has just wired a new light that we bought.  She is thrilled that she can add electrical work to her list of accomplishments. 

 

Talk soon…okay!

Adding a Little Brown For Fall

Hey my friends!

To stay with simplicity and budget for my fall decor, I am pulling a few browns out of the attic, adding some dried hydrangeas that were graciously given to me, and moving stuff from here to there.

I love that by using a neutral color palette, I can throw in a few browns, purples, greens, etc., and make a big statement.

I found this great galvanized bucket at my last yardsale of the season.  Not old, but I sure love it.

I pulled this gorgeous old green chair out of my grandfather’s barn loft.  I absolutely love the patina on this little baby.

Add a fun tag here and there to add a little more interest.

A little grapevine pumpkin added to  a candlestick adds a little more fall prettiness to my dining room buffet.  So simple…

Later this week, I am going to show you a great old brown suitcase that I picked up at a yardsale recently.

Fall décor on the cheap…just the way I like it! 

Still keeping it simple on the home front. 

**update on my mom…she had her last double drug treatment this last Thursday.  Doctor said everything looked good and her numbers were all good.  He also told her that this next group of treatments should not be as bad.  Praise God for that!  We are so thankful that she is finished with this first phase.  I will tell you that the last couple of days and the next few days will be rough on her.  I would so appreciate you helping pray her through it.  We are still leaning on Him and fully trust in His perfect plan.  Thank you, a thousand times over, for caring and for praying.

Linking up over at My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia

Modern Country Style