I need beauty...

I know! I know! How many of these candle thingys can I post? But what you don't understand is how beautiful they are up close and how they speak to my soul. I find them so peaceful, so calming. And this wood was particularly charming with its sharp contrast and ridged bark. It smells good and feels good in my hand so on a dreary day when my heart is even darker I like to light my candle and escape in my imagination to the farm to walk in the woods. It certainly helps to craft things from the woods and it makes it even brighter when I have a large order waiting for them. Appreciate the simple things and enjoy the creativity of The Maker.

Top: shows a 2, 4, and 6 inch oak candle holder
Bottom: closeup of contrast and bark ridges

crafty farm girl

It was my mother's birthday this past weekend and she had ordered a set of thank you cards so I hung on to them a little longer and gave them to her as a gift. Of course she loved them - what mommy doesn't like their little girl's artsy projects? I was happy with them myself so made a few more sets. Now if only I had the diligence to get an etsy site up and running. Farmer John has been busy making more candle holders - we have an order to fill by the end of March. And we are itching to head down to the farm this weekend - just to check on things but who knows what treasure we will find - either in photo or "for real." I promise to show you next week!

HOPE

I like to call this hope! Hope that spring is right around the corner. Hope that soon the snow will be all gone. Hope that the rest of my bulbs are strong enough to push the mulch off the top and burst into the yard to delight my visual senses.

Keep working little bulbs - I have great hope for you!

Treats for my Sweets

Valentine's Day is fast approaching and with my goal to spend no money on gifts I knew the way to my lover's heart was through his tummy. Who am I kidding? We haven't exchanged Valentine's gifts in years. In fact the other day, number one son asked how often dad bought me jewelry. My answer - "Totally random, never when expected and always a surprise!" Like the Valentine's day 10 years ago when he gave me a beautiful "real" diamond heart necklace. I remember gasping when I later saw the receipt. "Really, for me" he did this for me! so yah - never expected, always a surprise....it obviously works for us :) And definitely no jewelry for Valentine's Day since.
Well this is not a budget year for diamonds so he is getting sweet treats! I recently tasted an awesome lemon cake that someone had brought into work and I knew this would be the treat for him. His tastes seem to run a bit to the unusual (lemon, rhubarb, coconut, need I say more) so when the kids were home he often got left out of "favorites." They tend to take after their mother - chocolate, chocolate and chocolate although I do like rhubarb and coconut too. Anyway, now that it is just US I try to think more about what he would like so I got the recipe and made the VERY LEMONY cake with very lemony glaze. I made mini cupcakes so he could just pop bites of goodness into his mouth but also made a loaf cake which in reality is better - more cakey - so I will remember that for next time. Then my other Valentine lives across the street and is four so I knew I had to make something that would make his eyes smile and his happy little laugh cackle and drive his mother crazy with the sugar high so I made cake balls. Chocolate fudge cake balls with white chocolate icing and candy heart sprinkles - oh boy! Yes I have eaten a few myself. Number one son was home and asked why I choose such labor intensive treats - just taste them I replied. They looked easy when I first saw them but labor intensive is definitely a more adequate description. I made dozens of these for my little Valentine's birthday last year only we put them on lollipop sticks and called them balloons. This year he wants a helium tank for his birthday. You see why he is my Valentine!
So to make a short story long, here is the end product of treats for my sweets. They have been tasted by all - including the dog and pronounced delish! The dog's version of a sugar coma is a long nap which actually sounds like a good plan to me. Happy Valentines Days

It's A Miracle

Remember Mrs. Beasley from a few posts back? and my sweet friend who was sure Aunt Mary could fix her? Well, she ain't pretty but she's fixed. I think if she's not played with too hard she may even have a bit of life in her for a few more years. Yes, I am patting myself on the back - pat pat pat!
And the next project that is finally completed is the linen closet. I am so proud of John Dear and his efforts on my behalf. I wish I had "before" pictures but at least I have a few "after." The closet is painted and the shelves are covered in fabric - the entire project cost $0.00 using

leftover paint and leftover fabric. A big ole' bag of stuff is headed to freecycle - it is amazing what you can find in the recesses of the closet and the stories they will tell. I found perm rods from my high school perms - does anyone even know what those are? and any number of slings and braces from the kids athletic years. A baby hot water bottle from the days of colic and sheets to bed sizes we don't even have anymore. I am even considering cute little tags to label the baskets of sheets so they stay organized. Yes, seriously laughing at myself!
Now I am off to tackle another room, maybe I will allow myself a "before" picture...but then again - maybe not!

What would we do if you lived next door?

to my daughter Nen (short for Lynnette)...on a snow day...

If you lived next door we'd have all kinds of fun today
First we'd have breakfast in our jammies and plan the day
Then we'd make a huge batch of yeast dough and set it aside to rise
I don't know if we'd make bread or cinnamon rolls or pretzels
or maybe try something new or that we haven't done in ages like
bagels or pita - did you know when you were little you would help me
make the circles of dough for bagels. Wonder why we stopped?
While the dough was rising we'd get out our craft supplies and admire each other's
stuff and talk about things we could make
like cards, and scrapbook pages and story blocks and this and that.
You'd tell me what you had recently read in Martha Stewart Living
and I'd tell you what I had discovered in the blogosphere,
we'd dream about the things we could do if we had all the time in the world
to be crafty.
Naturally we'd move from paper and doo dads to fabric and patterns,
maybe even pull out the machine and experiment with a quilt square or two.
Eventually it would be time to gravitate back to the kitchen and get a pot of soup simmering on the stove so the house could smell divine. We'd get that yeast dough all made up into something special and the baking smells would inspire us to make a fancy dessert for supper.
What fun we could have if you lived next door!

(PS - I didn't forget about you, Kayla - you'll be mine on the next snow day and of course, once you woke up you'd join in all the fun)

all iced in

We are covered in a sheet of ice today. I hear the major roads are fine but no one has been down our street yet. A good day to stay inside and knock some things off the "to-do" list.
Just got back from a short but crazy walk with the dog. It was either that or he was going to "pop" on my carpet. He did not want to go out and neither did I but together we slid down the hill and across the street to "take care of business" as they say. And what's better than to come in out of the cold to a bowl of soup! I've made five kinds so far this month - Split Pea, Corn Chowder, Pasta and Bean, Spaghetti soup and Chili. I'm trying to decide what is next - I love soup! And even better than soup is homemade bread to go with it. Yumm - all good things to do on a day that we are iced inside. (Yes, that is Zeke above, enjoying his bowl of soup!)
I have lots of projects to work on today and really don't know where to start. There are hundreds of wedding photos to get organized, the linen closet which is half-way cleaned out but could really use a coat of paint now that I look closer, Mrs. Beasley still needs to be fixed and we've added JH's stuffed tiger to the "Aunt Mary can fix it" pile. So truthfully I should close this blog and stop writing about nothing and get to work. Maybe next time I will post my "50 things to do before I turn 50" list. That should be motivating enough. Enjoy your snow day!