Dirtroad Team - From Victory Road

Welcome to the last day of 2010.  Happy New Year to you and your family.  Be safe tonight in your travels, and have fun.  I have found another wonderful shop from the Dirtroad Team for you to visit today.  Kayann does live on a dirt road called Victory Road, in a 100 year old home, in central Kansas.  Besides working on her home, she has found her creative journey through faith and life.  Working with discarded materials she makes note cards, frames, and love to paint.  Wonderful shop filled with many one of a kind works.  I love the Mother and Child note card, not only is this a great card for Christmas, but it is also a great card for a new mother.  Enjoy your visit with Kayann and her shop.

Great 50 New Year's Resolutions

I found this great post on Lehman's Blog this morning.  Stop over and read it, fun stuff to do and change your live with!   http://countrylife.lehmans.com/2010/12/30/50-new-years-resolutions-everyday-organic-style/

Happy New Year

Monday Market with The Old Farmhouse Gathering

Welcome friends!  Hope everyone had a great Christmas and enjoyed sometime with family and friends.  Please take a minute to visit some of the shops I have found for you today.  The first is Craft Cabin, where this busy mom makes wood items to paint on, plus glass and tin.  She does many shows in the Colorado and Wyoming area besides selling on Etsy.  The next shop is The Homespun Raven, a sign for everyone.  From seasonal to custom made signs, many would make a great gift for a up coming wedding or house warming gift.  The our last shop today is Pipberry Tree, where Dawn paints on slate, and makes soap.  She also offers blank slate for you to add your own art work to.  Dawn is also busy the with the German Shepherd rescue in her area.  Three great shops and each offers something different.  I would like to take this time to wish everyone a Happy New Year!  See you all next year.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas to you and your family.  We are waiting for the pies to come out of the oven, a little clean up in the kitchen from all the cooking.  Then off to visit some friends.  When we return we are starting a new tradition.  Burning the Christmas letters, you know the ones about how wonderful their life is, and you are a country pumpkin and what would you know.  So instead of feeling bad, just burn the words of those who do not understand what you stand for.  If their life is so wonderful why do they fight all time?  I will keep my simple life and enjoy each day! 

Let's start by a simple Christmas and enjoying friends!  Merry Christmas!

Kolaches

Kolaches by Marie Addison

This recipe is from my Grandmother.  Easy to make and they are so good!  We love to have apricot filling in ours, but you can use any fruit or cheese filling.

4 cups sifted flour

2 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon salt

pinch of mace

2 drops lemon or vanilla extract

1 cup warm milk

1/2 pound butter

1 yeast package

2 beaten eggs

Put butter in milk, melt on low heat.  Put yeast in 1/4 cup warm water.  Mix together dry ingredients and 1/2 cool butter and milk, add yeast rest of milk, beat till dough does not stick to bowl.  Sprinkle with flour (very little), let rise till double in size.  Grease cookie sheet, roll out, make opening, and put filling in.  Let raise,  brush with melted butter, till double in size.  Bake 350 20 - 25 minutes.  Sprinkle with powder sugar just before serving.

Enjoy!

Some more Christmas and my winnings

In my laundry room I have a very small tree filled with washboards and clothes pins.  I have a small set of lights on it and  it is great to have on while doing laundry.  

Today I was baking cookies, pies tomorrow, Roast Beef Christmas Day, Ham and Cheesy potatoes Sunday.  I have family coming on Sunday.  I will have family and friends around and this is what Christmas is all about. 

 I won this cute snowman from Yorkie's Primitives, and some extra goodies.  I have them on the schoolhouse clock in the living room.  The candle smells so good!

Have a Blessed Christmas Weekend!

What is it Wednesday - Christmas 1929

Christmas 1929

My mother was 5 years old, and the stock market crashed in October, 1929.  But that Christmas Santa still came to visit her.  She had two gifts under the tree.  A stove for her dolls, and a wine set!  The stove is cast iron, but the wine set in hand blown glass.  My mother did play with her toys and 81 year later I still have them.  The PC police would not have you giving wine to your dolls, playing with glass, beside being something a child could swallow!  How did my mother live to share her treasury's!  Some of the lids for the burners are missing, but the rest is in good shape.  

  My dad was 9 in 1929, and received a book from his Aunt Rose, my Great Aunt.  The book is copy write 1898.  It is need of some repair, I love to look at the pictures.  It is about the Spanish American War.  I will have to see about having it repaired this year, before it is to far gone!  Both my parents had great Christmas growing up, but it was not about the gifts, it was food and family.  Visiting family, and having everyone over from Christmas Eve till New Years Day.  Nothing fancy, just simple food and family.  This is what makes great memories.

Christmas 1930 found my mother's family with no Christmas tree.  That year my mother won the tree from the school, no gifts, but a tree and some food.  I think that was my mom best Christmas.  The next year still no tree, and she did not win the tree at school.  Christmas Eve her and her mother (my Grandmother) went walking around to see the other houses decorated for Christmas, and walked past the tree lot, where the owner was burning the left over trees.  They both talked him in to giving them a tree.  So in the early hours of Christmas morning 1931 they had a tree up, decorated, and enjoy another great Christmas with each other.

  

If you have some Christmas decoration that you are not using, please donate them to a family, that would love to have their Christmas a little brighter this year.  I did!  It was wonderful!

My question is why did my parents save toys from 1929?  

Merry Christmas

Christmas Part 2

Welcome to my home for another look at what I have done..This year we donated our big tree and half the ornaments to a needy family.  The new tree is small but works for us.  Very easy for me to put up.  After Christmas I will go though the totes again and see if I can part with some more.  So many memories,  but with all the family gone, it can be very sad.  The memories are in my heart, and some other family can make their own now. 

I had a wreath that was getting a little sad looking, so I remove all the decoration from it.  Then I added some ribbon (left over from another project), and tied some silver mugs and ladle to it.  The ladle and cups came from another garage sale.  My husband like how it looks over the fireplace. 

I did keep some of the old ornaments that belonged to my Grandparents, and my parents.  This year I placed them on this silver tray, another garage sale find.  This is sitting on the table in front of the couch.  Quick and easy.  Come back tomorrow for a little more Christmas from my house!

Merry Christmas

Christmas Week part 1

I'm so enjoying getting ready for Christmas..  It is a lot of work but the memories that are made will last longer then the gifts.  So this week I'm posting picture of what I have done with my home this year.  I love to read everyones blog and get ideas on what I can do with my home.  So this is what I have done in my kitchen this year. 

This is our Christmas tree in the kitchen.  Filled with cookie cutters and mini rolling pins.  Many of the cookie cutter came from garage sales, and some belonged to my mother.  Love the old cutters!

 I have the kitchen tree sitting in a old roasting pan, found at a garage sale for a dollar.  The milk bottles are from our local dairy filled with salt.  Each year they have eggnog in a collectible bottle. This wonderful idea came from Aunt Ruthie over at the Sugar Pie Farmhouse. Love the look!  

 

Here are some more of the many milk bottles I have.  I had so much fun filling them with salt, and making them part of the cookie and milk theme going on in the kitchen.

This Santa Cookie jar is one I painted a few years ago.  Time to getting cookie cutters off the tree, and fill up the cookie jar.  Then run down to the farm for milk, eggnog, and butter.  We need to support our local cows and keep them happy!  Bake some cookies and enjoy time with family!

Merry Christmas

Dirt Road Team - Donnalda

Welcome friends to Friday and one week till Christmas.  Let's visit another talent artist from the Dirt Road Team.  Donna lives in sunny California out in the dessert, doing her art and having fun.  You will find down loadable tags for scrap booking, gift tags, or to add to your own art work.  Plus you will find drawings, books, journals, note cards and many more items.  Donna has worked many jobs in her life that have all added to her artistic talent.  Now that she has retired she is doing what she loves ART, and living in the dessert.  You will enjoy your visit to her shop. 

Monday Market with Old Farmhouse Gathering

Welcome friends!  With all the snow and cold air grabbing the country it is a good day to stay inside and do some on line shopping.  So let's going visiting!  The first shop is Teresa's Prim Treasures.  Teresa lives in a area surrounded my Amish Farms and is reminded daily to keep it simple.   Her prim shop is filled with prim wristlet key fobs, pincushions, and E-patterns.  Check out the I-pod or cell phone sleeve.  The next stop is The Country Cellar.  Angela is a country raise girl who has been featured in Create & Decorate and Country Marketplace magazine.  She loves fiber and folkart.  Do you have a baby in the family then check out the crochet diaper covers.  They look so warm on this cold day.  Love the dishcloths that are dresses reminds me of the ones that where potholders in the 50's.  The last shop is The Country Crock.  Regina has been crafting her whole life.  Her Etsy shop is filled with crocheted dish clothes, Christmas items, supplies and lye soap.  Many are priced under $25.00.  All three shops have great items for gift giving or stocking stuffer's.  Enjoy your visit and remember to type "ofg team" into the search bar on Etsy for many more shops.  Enjoy your shopping with your slippers on and not having to worry about finding a parking spot at the mall, or the slippery roads.

Dirtroadteam on Etsy - Faerie Majikk

Welcome to another feature of a Dirt Road Team.  With all the cold and snow in much of the U.S., let's go down under to Australia.  They are getting ready for summer and warm weather.  So please lets visit Faerie Majikk shop.  This wonderful artist loves fantasy.  Since she was a little girl and her brother gave her a picture of a unicorn, she has been painting the world of fantasy.  Not feeling comfortable with landscapes, and still life, she has found her talent in the innocent world of fantasy.  She also has two other shops on Etsy one for supplies called Faerie Majajikk Supplies and the other Phantasmagoriajewels for digital collages.  Enjoy your visit down under, and come back next week and meet another member from this great team.

What is it Wednesday

Welcome friends to another what is Wednesday.  Today just some family Christmas ornaments.  All from the 1950's and 60's.  Some belonged to my Grandfather Thomas and my Dad.  My dad was a big hunter and had a lot of deer ornaments, plus a paper beer mug ornament.  They are started to get very fragile so this year I have them a over size mason jar.  I would believe that these all came from a dime store, do you remember those?  The local 5 and 10 cent shop (or dime store) started by sell everything for 5 or 10 cents.  Woolworth's was the first then Kresge followed watching how Mr. Woolworth ran his stores.  People love to shop in these stores for quailty products at affordable prices.  From the dime store Mr. Kresge started K-Mart and the Kresge Foundation, all based here in Detroit, Michigan.  In the early days of the dime store you could go in and  purchase Christmas ornaments made in Germany (my mother in law) still has some of these.  Will the ornaments we purchase this year last 50 or 60 years?  Do you have some old ornaments in your family and cherish them each year?  I hope so, it is a great way of connecting to our past, and nice to see great great grandkids enjoy them.

Come and follow a new blog

I came across a new blog this afternoon, so please stop by and say HI!  Lovely Vintage Country Life is so cute and warm.  Here is the link to visit:  http://lovelyvintagecountrylife.blogspot.com.  Enjoy your visit and her music!

Merry Christmas!

12-7-1941 Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor

On this date 69 years ago Japan attacked the U.S. at Pearl Harbor.  This was a profound shock to the American people.  President Franklin D. Roosevelt said "A date which will live in infamy".  Have you talked to your parents, or grandparents about World War II?  My mother was at a dance when they announced that the U.S. was attached.  With the young men in uniform running from the hall to get back to base, and everyone else crying and praying.  My dad and so many others signed up to defend our country, and becoming the 'Greatest Generation".  They have just gone through the depression, and then they went to war.  Everyone did there part from collecting tin, using ration stamps, growing a victory garden, this generation rolled up their shirt sleeves and went to work.  Do we have the know how, and the back bone to do it again?  I believe so, America is a strong county, with many great people living in it.  The news media will tell us different, but read some blog and we still have it!  God Bless America!

Southern Lady's Market: Southern Lady's Market Monday for December 6, 2010...

Southern Lady's Market: Southern Lady's Market Monday for December 6, 2010...: "Welcome to week 5 of Southern Lady's Market Monday!! Join in by linking in thru the linking tool at the bottom of this post and then please..."

Monday Market with Old Farmhouse Gathering

Welcome friends!  This is the first Monday in December, and I have three more shops for you to visit today.  So grab something warm to drink and your Christmas list and let's visit the shops I have found for you today.  The first shop is Special From Rachel, where Rachel loves to work with new and vintage lace, trim, buttons, paper.  She make modern and prim items, check out the cute Christmas Owl with yo yo eyes.   Do you have someone who collects owl?  Then you must check this owl out.  The next shop belongs to Debbie from the Sugar Mountain Mercantile.  Debbie has her shop filled with vintage items, signs, crochet washcloths and soap.  Everything is under $20.00, so make sure you visit for stocking stuffer's, or the those last minute gifts for co workers.  The last shop today is Sweet Liberty Farmhouse.  Kathleen is a very busy person with 4 kids, and 4 shops on Etsy.  Sweet Liberty Farmhouse is filled with altered art.  Do you need to gift tags, cards, then be sure to stop by this shop.  While you are visiting her shop check out the baby cup, great for babies first Christmas.  Many of Kathleen items are one of kind, so don't wait to long or they will be gone.

Dirtroadteam on Etsy - Barn Door Designs

Welcome friends to the first Friday in December.  Is everyone ready for Christmas?  I'm not!!!!  I have another wonderful shop from the Dirt Road Team for you to visit today.  So get something warm to drink and lets go visit Barn Door Designs.  Sandee loves to paint with oils, acrylics and water colors.  Nature and animals are her favorites to paint.  She paints on old milk cans, gourds, and slate, turning many into note cards.  Pet portraits is something else she has to offer.  Please email her for more information on this.  Plus many of the items she has can be personalized with names and dates.  Come check out her new blog and become a follower.  Her blog link is http://barndoordesign.blogspot.com.  Have a wonderful week, and come back next week for another shop from the Dirt Road Team.

I won

I have won this wonderful snowman from Yorkie's Primitives.  This has made my day special, and this will make my holidays special.  Thank you so much for picking my name!