Catching up...

It was the Renninger's Extravaganza at The Kutztown Farmer's Market this past Saturday. The weatherman was calling for 87 degrees and high humidity, so DH and I got up bright and early and got there by 7am. After wolfing down a hot dog with sauerkraut and a diet coke for breakfast we decided our best plan of attack was to hit all the vendors in the sun first, then look at the ones in the shade. There was so many beautiful pieces of furniture and other antiques that were just waay out of our price range. I really wasn't looking for anything in particular, but I do still have birthday money to spend. My big purchase for the day was (5) metal typewriter keys - woo hoo. DH was amazed that I didn't really get anything.


Sunday was a quiet day spent together, just DH and I. I made a big pot of cream of chicken and potato soup - freezing some for Bryan - and we watched football. Chelsea is going to visit Bryan on Thursday, so I'll send a bunch of food and goodies with her. Did I tell you that he joined the Flight Team? It's like a football team for pilots. Last year the school took nationals! He's soo excited and loving school.


Looks like this Sunday is a go for Applesauce Sunday. The girls and I are really looking forward to going to the orchard. Ringing Hill has the best cider, I always get a gallon or two while we're there. We'll make a few apple cakes on Sunday along with the applesauce. I love to share with friends and family, and everyone looks forward to it. These are just a few photos from last year. It's been so overcast and rainy (not that I'm complaining) that I haven't had the time to take any new photos.

Wishing you all a wonderful week!

More Visitors at The Old Parsonage

Thanks for all you kind concerns about our visiting ants and the plumbing problems. I'm happy to report that I haven't seen any more ants and the kitchen sink now works like a dream. We moved into The Old Parsonage 15 years ago and really haven't had to do any major repairs. There have been a lot of fun projects that we've done, painting, wallpapering, etc., but nothing major (thank goodness). The leak under the sink became almost $1000 after all was said and done. I had him install a new faucet and disposal too while he was under here and we added a new faucet for the outside hose too. Apparently a lot of our home isn't "officially" up to code - although it seems to work fine. We still have knob and tube wiring - if anyone knows what that is!




Do you see this little guy - groundhog? Well it seems, he has taken up residence under our front porch. He dug a hole and plowed right under the wood work! OY! He runs out, heads straight for our Apple Tree, sits up on his hind legs and eats the apples that have fallen from our tree. Then scurries right on back under the porch. I'm telling ya...




And what would fall be without a mouse in the house?!!! Oh my nerves! I can't stand it. I feel like we're getting hit with plagues! Ants, a flood, a ground hog and now mice. We seem to get them every year when the weather turns cooler. Not sure where they come in, but here they are! Alley is a great mouser, but this year, I've caught 3 with traps. I haven't seen or heard any others, so hopefully that was the whole family.

Some of these photos are from last year. I'm really itchin' to go out and buy our pumpkins and mums for this year. I'm hoping to get Miss Puddin and Schooch Bug for Applesauce Sunday next weekend, I'm thinking they might like to help me pick out a few pumpkins and what nots for the porch. Have you started your fall decorating yet?

2fer

Woo Hoo! It just so happens that tomorrow is two of my favorite days (Pink Saturday and Rudolph Day) rolled into one - more commonly known as a 2fer. You know as in "two for" one - get it:)


2 of my very best friends - Linda and Bucky - decided to give me a pink birthday. All of my gifts were wrapped in pink tissue - just wait until you see everything. I LOVE these vintage inspired Christmas Gift Tags. The glitter has that old-time look and the images - are darling.



Christmas tree candle holders? Well I've been wanting some of these babies these for awhile, but had not made the move to buy any. And can you see, there are even a few pink and red ones!

This was the tin that the Christmas Tags came in - I just can't get enough. As of tomorrow, there will only be 91 days left until Christmas. Not to worry, I'll be posting how I organize my holiday magic by following along with Organized Christmas.

I thought you might like to see some of the other goodies that were tucked into my bag (AVON glaze wear - love this for sparkling sexy lips, some pink body wash and the sweetest 3-d card.

Thanks to Beverly for hosting Pink Saturday and don't forget to do something on Rudolph Day (it's the 25 of every month) to help plan or prepare for Christmas, you'll be glad that you did!

Too Much?

Well our reunion was just fabulous! There was too much food and too much fun (if there is such a thing)! A lot of the families with younger children couldn't make it this year, so games went rather quickly. This was the result of our "Mummy Wrap," only this year the Mummy's wrapped the kids!

While I was baking late Friday night, I noticed that there were ants in my baking pantry. So I put an ant trap up there and decided to investigate later in the weekend. Saturday I was waay to tired after all the fun, so I waited until Sunday. I took everything out and had to throw away a ton of things. I started buying sugars and other things in bulk preparing for my Christmas Marathon of baking and basically threw most of that away. It's been so dry here that the ants are coming in looking for water and what they found was brown sugar, powdered sugar, and coconut!


In the middle of cleaning out the cupboard and washing everything down I poured my dishpan down the sink and heard a whosh of liquid from under the sink - major leak!!! DH tried to fix it, but I have to call a plumber.

Overall I had a wonderful weekend, minus the "little" set backs of being a home owner. How was yours?

More Birthday Fun

A few weeks ago I found a great new blog through Beverly at How Sweet the Sound's Pink Saturday. Sherrie's blog A Conversation at Goodwill is a treat to read and look at. She's just like you and me. She loves to shop thrift stores and re-purpose things. Why not pay her a visit?


Not sure if I've ever shared this little sweetie, Adam and Jade gave her to me. Don't you love that she wears a party hat and collar? We call her Sheila.

I told you that Pam stopped over this week with more birthday fun. She brought me a little gift (birthday combo Christmas) of this perfume. It's called Amazing Grace and is sold on QVC. I've never smelled it before, but it's so soft and clean smelling almost like a powder - I'm loving it! There's another sheep right in front of Nana's photo. The original photo is an oil painting that hangs in my MIL's hall. Isn't she lovely?

Thought that you might like to see the rest of the flock. And yep, there's a Shepherd in the middle.

Ray a drop of golden Sun...

It's an over cast, cool, but humid morning here, so I thought that we all might enjoy looking at the beautiful sunflowers that I got for my birthday. Aren't they terrific?!

Celebrations at The Old Parsonage

We have so much going on this month. It started with 2 birthdays ( nieces - Allie and Cameron) on the 1st, then Memorial Day, my Birthday which turned out to be a week long event:) My cousin Pam came over the other night and we celebrated again!



Our niece Samantha turned 30 this week - that's really hard to believe. She was just a tiny little thing when I started dating DH and now she's got a little guy of her own. Happy Birthday Sam! This weekend is our family reunion. I've been busy making lists, buying things and I started making food last night.



Then next week, 2 more of our nieces (Jocelyn and Nicole) have birthdays. Yes, we have a lot of nieces - 13 to be exact. And next year, after my brother re-marries we'll have 14 nieces and 3 nephews - fun!

Hope that you are all enjoying your week!

A nip in the air

Woo Hoo - the temps are in the 70's today, I've got a big old pot of chili simmering on the stove, and there's football on TV. I do believe that fall is in the air. We live within walking distance of our local high school and this past Friday night was the first home game - Go Vikings!

We can hear a play by play from our house. It brings back such memories, I was head cheerleader in high school and loved everything about it. There was such excitement that built up to the games - bonfires, pep rallies, spirit week events - just a lot of fun.


I know these photos don't have anything to do with my post - but I love my little cherub statue too. Does anyone else love football?

Remembering...

Don't forget to visit Beverly at How Sweet The Sound for more Pink Saturday love and remembering.

God Bless...

I can see clearly...

My wonderful sons put their heads together and gave me this wonderful lamp for my birthday. It's perfect for my studio. I LOVE it! It replaced a clip on lamp that would go on and off depending on how hard you walked around the room or if you bumped the table. But hey, it was free and worked most of the time.


They are really good gift givers, just like their Daddio! A lot of thought goes in to each and every gift they give. Bryan gave the lamp to me on Monday before he headed back to school. He called me first thing Tuesday morning to wish me a Happy Birthday. He was waiting for his flight instructor to get to the airport. I can't believe he'll have his pilot's license by Christmas - oh my nerves. Adam called Tuesday night. He was working a double and called when he was on break.

All that Glitters is...

RED! At least in my studio the past few days. I finally finished my tags for Karla's tag swap. Now I just need to package them up and they're "Off to see the Wizard," so to speak.




Thanks so much for all the birthday wishes! I had a wonderful birthday weekend! Everyday we did something fun and there was lots of junking involved. I'll share more about it soon.



I am so blessed to have a family that loves me so much, and I adore them - that includes my friends too.


Thank you all from the bottom of my heart!

Are you a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?

Just two more tags to go and I'm ready to send them off to Karla. This has been so much fun!!! I love The Wizard of Oz. I can remember as a kid, getting our baths early and Mum would pop a big bowl of popcorn shaking a pot over the stove. Then she'd melt butter in the same pot and pour it all over the popcorn with lots of salt! Yumm it was the best.


I always hid my head when Elvira Gulch took Toto away on her bike. She seemed more scary than the Wicked Witch. and those flying monkeys - now they were really scary. But the memories of those fall nights are terrific. It was soo much better when you had to wait an entire year to see the movie. And then going to school the next day to talk about it - so much fun!

Did any parts or characters scare you?

If I only had a brain...

Yep that's how I feel a lot of the time. Do you ever find yourself at the fridge and can't remember what you're looking for? Or do you ever drive somewhere and not remember driving there? My friends and I talk about this all the time. I think that our brains are always in overdrive and this is what happens.



I'm really loving how the Scarecrow turned out. He's my favorite so far! Hope that you are all having a wonderful holiday weekend!

The weekend is finally here!

September makes me want to clean, move furniture, wash windows, make comfort food and nest. I have a fall/spring cleaning schedule in my household magic book, along with a million other important things - maintenance schedules, important phone numbers, etc. So I know just what to do!



This weekend, since it is a holiday weekend, I'll tackle the foyer. There really isn't too much to do in there. Just scrub the walls and wood work, wash the windows and curtains, vacuum and dust a few chachka. It's the easiest room in the house and I can do it in a morning - if I don't get interrupted.



The rest of the weekend will be a free for all. Bryan's home 'til Monday - yeah! That means lots of cooking and good times. And then there's my b-day on Tuesday that we'll celebrate on Monday. So it should be a fun weekend.



I'm lovin' the hot pink of these cockscomb. I have the bouquet on my kitchen table so that I can see it as soon as I walk in the door -it just brightens my day. Did you know that you can dry cockscomb by just hanging it upside down to dry in a cool place? But, beware, they drop tiny black seeds. They are already dropping them on my table and I'm not drying them.

I'm linking to Beverly's for Pink Saturday fun. Pop on over - you'll love to see what everyone is sharing!