home...

I spent last weekend in the beautiful North Carolina mountains. When we arrived there were remnants of the last snowfall still on the ground. It was just a small amount, but honestly, any snow makes me happy.


This is our house. It was my grandparents second home and now belongs to my mum and uncle. They are trying to sell it, but I would love for us to keep it in the family. We used to spend weeks up there during the summers and we would go up for Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. My grandparents loved being there and I did too. It takes about 3 and 1/2 hours to get there for us and with the pets, it just makes it hard to get up there very often.

It is always so beautiful in the mountains. The air is crisper and cleaner somehow and the sky seems so much closer. I hated to leave and even tried to convince mum that we should stay another day. They were calling for snow the day we had to leave, and I so wanted to hang around to see it. Oh well... maybe I'll head back up during the Christmas holiday. I'm taking a few vacation days and will have almost two weeks off.

I wish I could say it was good to be home. But truly, it isn't. I would rather have stayed there, in the mountains, in the clouds.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving...

Blessings,
~*~

Photo Hunt #2 - reflections

i liked the way the light and my cat show up in the glass on my new french door that i haven't hung yet...

I'm headed out of town today to a place with NO INTERNET! Oh No! :-)
I'll get caught up on the blog reading and photo hunting when i return and on Monday. Have a great weekend!

Blessings,
~*~

magic

To me, winter is a magical time. Everything goes dormant, quiet and hunkered down in whatever cocoon we can find to keep us warm and toasty. A cup of tea or hot chocolate..our favorite book... the smell of wood burning in someones fireplace... these are things that to me... make winter days magical...

Even though it is not yet winter, in my area, we have had winter temperatures for quite a while now. As I leave the house each morning for work, the air is brisk and nippy, chilling my face and hands and making me wish for my warm, cozy bed.

Early this morning, I awoke to find that the sky outside was just a tad different than it should have been in November in my neck of the woods. In fact, I groggily thought that it almost looked like a night filled with snow. (Yes, I said the S word!) I chided myself as I made my sleepy way to the window, that there was no way it could have actually snowed. My neighbor must have her outside lights on, I thought, that is why the night looks so ... well... light.

Imagine my surprise, when I peeked through the blinds... to find...



Yes... it really did snow!

Of course, when I made this discovery, it was three something in the morning and much darker. I took the photo above just before leaving for work, around 6:45 this morning. I also took this one...



...pansies slumbering under a blanket of snow...trying to keep freezing their pretty little petals off...

the moon on this snowy morning was very pretty as well...

there is so much magic in a snowy moonlit fall morning... and winter is still to come!

Blessings,
~*~

a cozy day...

I have spent a cozy day indoors today for the most part. I did venture out early this morning to the grocers to pick up a few items I needed. I have had a most productive day really. I finished a book, washed several loads of laundry, washed dishes, swept the entire house and cleaned the windows on my back door.

A little while ago I went out and took all my empty garden pots and my outdoor cushions to the shed. Tonight it should get into the 20's so I thought this would be a good time. It is amazing the difference in temperature since yesterday. It really felt like an Indian summer day yesterday, but today it is much chillier, although we have kept the blustering winds and that adds to the chill.

The past few hours I have spent knitting in front of the fire and a lovely movie, "You've Got Mail". I love that movie! In fact, I actually pulled it out last night (I have it on VHS) and watched it, and when I sat down to knit I found that it was coming on abc family channel, so I watched again!


I've been sipping hot tea, knitting and watching a movie. What could be better on a cold blustery day?

I'm off to hurry to feed the kids before the football game starts. Yes, I love football! It is snowing in Pittsburgh (I'm a die-hard Steelers fan!) and I can't wait to watch the snow, the football, sip my tea and knit. Just lovely!

I forgot to mention my knitting progress. I started a sock class last week because try as I might I could not remember or figure out how to do it. I have about 10 more inches to knit before Tuesday nights class. This is my second pair of socks and I'm looking forward to becoming more proficient with it. :-)


Enjoy your evening.
Blessings,
~*~

My first Photo Hunt

I love taking pictures. I love trying to get just the right angle, the right light or shadow to make a great picture. I tell people I am an amateur photographer, although I consider my skills to be below amateur level.. basically "newbie".

In an effort to expand my skills and also take more pictures, I've joined Photo Hunters which is hosted by tnchick. I've watched as various bloggers participated, seen such beautiful photos and creativity with the themes and thought it must be just so much fun.

So, here is my first photo hunters picture. Today's theme is: ruin(ed)



Blessings,
~*~

Quilt giveaway contest

No, I'm not giving away any quilts! But I would, if I knew how to quilt! :-)

I saw this contest mentioned over at on the needles and decided to check it out. I love giveaways and I love quilts so I thought I should at least look.

Turns out this wonderful woman named Dana at Old Red Barn Co. is giving away three fabulously beautiful quilts! Wow!


Of course, after I looked at the photos and read the post I thought, nah.. I won't enter...


Psych! Had you going there for a minute, didn't I. No? Well, yeah... guess not. :-)

Hee hee...

Blessings,
~*~

Projects

I have a list of projects that I want to do around my home. I decided that I will list them here so that I have some sort of accountability. As they get done, I'll post notes and photos. Sound good? Great! Here we go (in no particular order)...

Project: Yard: Status: begun (I actually have some landscape guys coming next week to start! Yippee!)
My yard is out of control. I have ivy and periwinkle ground covers covering almost everything including my shed. I also have all kinds of trees growing up that I just don't want to have there. In the summer they block off most of the yard and I can't see the back and watch for the dog. I have this grand plan in mind for what I'd like to do to my yard, and the start of that is to get it cleaned up.

Project: Paint Status: on hold for spring
The exterior of my house is cedar shake shingles. I have someone lined up to paint the exterior trim, the front porch floor and the front door. On the front window I have a dark green awning. It matches the porch floor. I'm thinking of painting the porch floor a sage green this time but am not sure about the awning cover and if I need to replace it or just was it. I don't want to remove it because it really helps keep out the heat from my bedroom. I'm also going to paint my front door a "different color". Right now it is white, like the trim of the house. I'll take some pictures and you guys can help me decide. :-)

Project: House shingles
I need to replace the cedar shake shingles on my home. Several are in good shape, but a lot are broken, exposing the clapboard underneath or they are so weathered down that there is barely anything there. One person suggested replacing them with concrete. They look just like wood, but would last a lot longer. I'm going to have to think about this.

Project: Fence Status: soon I hope...
My front fence pieces on each side of the house are woefully desperate to be replaced. One side is falling down, literally leaning about 90 degrees. The other side, the gate is almost impossible to open. The rest of the yard has chain link fencing. On one side, there are a lot of shrubs and trees that have grown up beside the fence and created nice privacy for the yard. The back has a privacy fence about a foot inside of the chain link fence that I think was put up just for privacy sake. It only goes to just behind the shed and doesn't go all the way across the yard. The last side is the problem side. It is the side with the "nasty neighbor". The one that had me looking for condos because I just could stand the thought of putting up with her anymore. Anyway, I have very little purposely growing along that fence, but anything that is there, she comes and pulls off the fence or her dad cuts it all down (over a foot inside MY side of the fence). That side is getting a privacy fence for certain!

Project: french door Status: found the door
I have a room that I use only for storage. It is currently storing my grandmothers reproduction Victorian living room set. There is a couch, two chairs, coffee table, and two end tables. The tables are cherry with marble tops. I have always loved this furniture and always pictured having a big house with a parlor with french doors that I could look into the room and see the furniture and be able to keep it pristine. With my tiny house, it is hard to deal with. Plus I have to keep the door to the room closed because of the kids. With the door closed, I lose a lot of light. So, I decided to buy an old french door and replace the door that is there. Yay!

Project: paint (interior)
ugh...

Project: restore windows
again... ugh... ($800 per window...oh my)

Project: shed
I'd like to turn the shed into something fun... like a little country room or a studio. Lots of ideas for this.

Project: Enclose part of deck
My dad did this at his house. He had a nice big deck and decided to enclose it (really it is a screened porch) but he put a vaulted roof instead of just a flat roof and added some skylights. I could live on that porch. My deck is plenty big enough to do this and I really think I'm going to do it. I might even go so far as to put glass and screen so I could protect it from the elements. I have a table that I want to get from our mountain house (big picnic style table {think Walton's} that is made of wormy chestnut), but I have nowhere to put it. I could put it out there it would be great and it would give me more space. :-)

Project: remodel bathroom
another ugh...

Project: ceiling stripping
My ceilings are in bad, bad shape. Someone put up that popcorn stuff in some of the rooms and it is falling off and the ceilings are splitting. In the office the ceiling is separating. It is bad.

Well, that is all I can think of now. I'll try to keep updated here and if you have any suggestions, please let me know. :-)

Blessings,
~*~