my life line, my friend, my everything is in the hospital.  the computer shop.  de -bugging a bug.  i should be picking it up wednesday.  exhale.  oh how i didn't realize how dependent i am on that old friend! currently, i'm using my son tommie's laptop...  but it's just not the same.  

i'm hoping for the big, big snowstorm tomorrow night!  cozy couch, a good movie and comfort food!

i did it.

i made a pair of recycled wool leg warmers.

love, love, love making them.

seriously, took me under 10 minutes from start to finish.

***************

thursday thirteen:

made the BEST gluten-free banana bread!  yipeee... finally something GF made from scratch and yummy, too!

tommie's at future farmer's of america, practicing for parlment procedures... he's treasurer.

enjoyed watching a documentary via netflix, abigale adams.

can't believe charlie sheen is in the hospital again.  okay, i guess i'm not surprised.

can't belive kate hudson is pregnant.  okay, i guess i can.

homeschooling centered around mark zuckerman, man of the year, according to time magazine... facebook founder.

took lucy the dog to the vet.  she has a bladder infection.

finished making our "family page" for homeschool co-op yearbook.

listed bunches on ebay, tonight.  free listing fees, gotta take advantage of that!

declined lunch out today, with farmer's market manager... had way too much homeschooling to catch up on.

filled out class proposal for homeschool co-op, today.  i'm submitting a class called, "junkyard art."  should be an utter blast!

have two flea markets, back to back this weekend.  i'll be living out of the car.  sure wish i had the vintage trailer on my sidebar!

thinking about decorating for valentine's day, tomorrow.  valentine's day is such a cheerful holiday!

happy, happy thursday night.

i'm head over heels, in love with the blog resweater.  you'll find it to the right on my sidebar.  i'm loving it because, you don't have to be a whiz at sewing.  love that! tonight,  i've decided to make recycled sweater legwarmers, with one of my old favorites.  (it's in her may archive). 

dinner's in the oven.  i popped open a jar of my homemade bbq sauce and we'll be having bbq chicken, gluten-free mac and cheese and salad.

click here...
resweater
and
tutorial on making wool leg warmers

since having my kitchen painted, i decided it was a good time to give my windows a new shabby treatment.  i didn't want to spend any money.  none. so, i scrummaged through my collections of odd linens and pulled out these!  with patsy cline music playing in the background... i let my creative juices roll and came up with this!  odd, i know.  2011 for me is about stepping out of my comfort zone.
smile, wink, nod.

Waylon Jennings - A Couple More Years

i love this. waylon jennings is one of my favorite all time musicians... well, besides willie.

a homemade memememememememe

thursday:

to my left i see: my dog laying on the couch next to me and a tube of clinique dry skin creme.

to my right i see: a vase with fake lavender sprigs and a lamp that is much too small for the end table.

in front of me i see:  the sony tuned into man vs. wild, a backgammon board set up on the table and a video box about the bible on the floor.

behind me:  darkness.

thinking about:  sleeping... since i awoke at 5 am and stayed up.  dark and cold in the house.

learning:  how to whip stitch, sir conan doyle and different camels in asia and africa.  all for classes i'm teaching tomorrow. 

last place i searched on the internet:

maryjane's farm forums.  i could get lost for weeks at that site!

what i'm wearing:  yellow polka dot fleece pajamas, mis-matched polar fleece jacket, with red nike hoodie underneath.  wet hair.  just colored it... those roots sure do sneak out!

outside:  during the day... tons of purple finches and bluejays.  and... the blue birds decided to stay!

wishing:  for more snow... actually a snowstorm would be ideal! 

making:  chicken broth for the freezer.

money saving tip:  using coffee filters for quick clean-ups.  found clearasil on sale for a dollar a tube.  we'll soon be needing it.

what my oven would say:  get these dirty cookie sheets out of me and put in a raspberry gluten-free pie!

time to close the lid on the laptop, use the dry skin cream that my face soaks up... almost immediately  and work through the bible.  i signed up to "read the bible in a year."  i'm behind.. but, better then not at all.  wink.

see you tomorrow!

jumping up and down because i'm

so proud of my friend kelly.

she just had her first children's book published... it's called, "belly-button love."

it's about the bond that links a mother to her child.  the book is unbelievable!

makes a really excellent gift for anyone... especially a new mom (shower gift).

you can view the phenomenal reviews here... and here is where you will find the phone number to place an order.

support michigan authors!

support michigan businesses,

period.

hat tip, to you kelly!~

smile, wink, nod.

while visiting my cousin robin the other afternoon, i couldn't help but snap this picture of her office renovation.  (that's a blurry shot of her on the left side of the screen.)  her color palette is positively twisted.  what you can't see is, the other three walls are painted turquoise.  here's how she decorated virtually on a dime:

-her desk top is a painted white door that she was no longer using.

-the two bases for holding the door, are banged up (think america pickers) dressers, she found in a garage. 

-her crates, new from home depot, make for extra storage and hold  used and bruised bi-fold doors, which were taken apart to use as shelves.  also, painted white. 

-not pictured:  gift wrap, which she'll cut up and use as accent pieces and colors.  the gift wrap cost maybe $1.49? 

i'm guessing this whole home-office re-decorating project, cost her well under a hundred dollars.....

-oh, and the best part?  those dresser bases will be having THE COOLEST green glass doorknobs inserted into them!  and that's not all........ she's on he look-out for a prissy, little, shabby chic chandelier.  which i'm sure i'll drool over!  smile, wink, nod!

i took this delicious
picture of my cousin
robin's christmas tree ornament.
she did her tree in turquoise and white.
it was smashing!
tonight, i've been sitting
indian-style on my green and white
striped chair listing vintage
valentine's on etsy.

click right here and i'll take you there!

winter white thursday
and other idle chat....

popcorn the kitchen is officially re-painted and ready to be re-decorated in the middle of writing a murder mystery about 19th century high society ladies of london...love researching quirky facts and making them come alive will be grooving at the mansion with the mystery tomorrow night wore footless tights with thick lace and homemade legwarmers today...yes, i think it's back to dresses and skirts for me... i am much more productive, for some odd reason  suffered painfully through a documentary movie, we rented it through netfix, i thought it would be good... you know cultural studies (or insert some other spiffy adjective) the movie was called, "in this tea."  what a sleeper went to a future farmer's of america ceremony, tonight for tommie. okay... not as exciting as it sounds. 
smile, wink, nod.

winter white and lily white

one of my 2011 goals for myself and my boy, has been to dabble in mixed media art. i bought the corel paintshop 3x pro, and wowzaa! is it ever difficult for me to navigate (hence the flaky snap above). without prompting, my son has taken it over and teaching me different effects, layers and textures.  i'm counting this as homeschool art!  smile, wink, nod!

 another 2011 goal, i have is to keep my paperwork more organized. coupons, calendars, recipes, receipts, etc.  all in one place.  all in a handy folder. 

 since i've suddenly fallen in love with winter white mixed with lily white, i decided to decorate a boring white folder... with mixed media artwork.  the picture above is a cut-out of wallpaper border sticks, i found at the dollar tree.  i'd never put them on my walls, but they are fun for crafts! cheap, too!

the picture above was my blank canvas! the pictures came from a free magazine i found at the thrift shop. 



wearing these slippers while i mix art... makes me happy!

smile, wink, nod.

winter white
friday night!

about friday:

homeschool co-op

taught two classes

on neveda nuclear test sight

on pasha in egypt who befriends king charles x

plenty of good conversations

my kitchen is being painted.

color?  winter white

love the rachel ashwell look.

that's what i'm after!

homemade gluten-free pizza for dinner

(see snap above)

salad from yesterday's sales at meijer's.

will finish, the secret life josephine boneparte tonight.  six pages left.

i would like to watch this dvd: 

brothers grimm

think i might be out voted on this movie though...

my men would rather watch logging trucker, hunting or gold rush... or other "man shows."

happy friday... to all of you!  smile, wink, nod!

winter gardening and fresh produce deals!

winter white thursday:

just because it's cold and snowy and we're months away from digging into the good earth to grow our own food... doesn't mean we can't dabble in window sill gardening.  growing mung bean sprouts.  this is day two... look close and you can see the starts of the white sprout.  in about four days... we'll be smothering our salads with them and adding them to stir-fry's!

other food for thought:
do you have a meijer's by you?  if so, you'll want to take advantage of their buy 10 get the 11th free promotion.  today, i sauntered through the grocery store, flinging the following dollar items into my cart:

-blackberries 2 cartons
-organic 3 bags of carrots
-cherry tomatoes 2-bags
-2 bunches of celery
-4 bags of lettuce
-4 greenhouse cucumbers (the big ones)
-dole pineapple (4 cans) sliced in their own juice
-1 can of corn (for cowboy caviar)  would of tossed more in the cart, but they only had one can left.

i'll be making one more run there, before the sale ends saturday.... too many fresh good things to pass up.  especially this time of year.  in michigan... fresh is hard to come by--well, unless you're talking about mung bean sprouts.  and let's face it... there's just so much you can do with them!  smile, wink, nod

winter white wednesday!

late afternoon yesterday, we had a breathtaking snowfall! while i was driving in this mini-blizzard and gripping my steering wheel with winter-white knuckles, my son tommie snapped this picture of our snowy patio!  can you spot the woodpecker?  (on the hanging suet feeder!)



foot and toe update:  still black and blue on one foot and very light sprained feeling on the other.  but, i'm not walking around like i'm starving for attention and i should be good as new very, very soon!

something new i wearing.... johnson's baby lotion. my mom gave me a pump-bottle, as an extra gift at christmas!  it's such a comforting smell! reminds me of when my baby was a baby!

smile, wink, nod!




winter white day three!

i breathed new life into the window above my kitchen sink. i took a tree branch (free), covered it with cheap toiling and hung bunches of dried roses and babies breath.  the roses were graciously given to me, from the flower vendor i'm set up next to, at sunday's market. love decorating cheaply and love how cozy my kitchen feels! now i'm thinking i need to string up some white twinkle lights!  smile, wink, nod.

 

MONDAY NIGHT MENU and what-a trip!

winter white
day two!

how cute is this little shabby chic roaster?  a gift from my dad no. 2.  i've used it to make a pot roast in... and as we speak, pork chops.  it's marked "california pottery," on the bottom of it, and i'm quite sure it's on the current side of vintage. 

breaking news:
saturday evening, not thinking what i was doing, i scampered down the carpeted basement stairs and slipped and tripped and landed upside down at the bottom of the steps.  i have scraped up hands, what feels like a light sprained wrist, a bruised and or broken big toe, an opposite side, sprained ankle and a banged up knee cap.  (which by the way, i fell off the curb, while out walking the day before.)  some may think this is a wild way to start the new year.. but, looking for the silver-lining, i'm happy to be on the mend and thankful i wasn't hurt worse:  head, hip or leg injury. 

dinner tonight?
pork chops
squash (from our garden- yes it's still good!)
homemade apple sauce
and
roasted green beans with slivered almonds (pressure canned the beans in september.)

what's on your monday night menu?

 winter-white

day one!

new year's day... found me creating a lambswool purse, from a recycled sweater and my kitchen curtains.  it started like this....

my curtain's were ivory colored, tattered and shear... i decided to accent the gypsy bag and infant hat, with strips of the material.

both hat and purse were no-sew. and i didn't use a pattern.

there was just a lot of tying involved and thoughtful planning for the layout.


to add a little class to the purse, i embellished it using vintage buttons, i found at the flea market.
as much as i adore the purse and hat... i must try to sell them at the market or mansion. hence, the black and white photo, attached to the purse... it's my price tag.

i think i need to make myself a pair of these felted maryjane slippers, too.  what do you think?  click here and now!