Dirty hands, Beautiful life: 2013

A few of my favorite things...

Sharing a sneak peek of a few of my favorite little hints of Christmas from around the place...

I just love re-purposing vintage items to add a little sentiment to seasonal decor.

Lush greens are my weakness -- add in an ornament for a festive feel!

Santa boots are an unexplainable weakness! I blame that sultry "Santa Baby" tune...

The kids think this is for them...but...

Because in the cold tundra here you could never have a screen door like this on the outside!

The simplicity of crockery bowls make them the perfect decor item that you don't have to store!

Like Anita at Cedar Hill I'm into that!

A little wooden crate makes it easy to grab our favorite book.

The theme of crockery and greens is obvious, but hey-- if you didn't enjoy it you would be on to another page in cyber space by now.

A scarf is a great way to add warmth and texture to our grain box buffet.

I gave this to my mom many years ago and when she re-gifted it back...well...it was my second favorite gift from her ever!

Hope you are kicking back and enjoying the little touches of Christmas around your home!

Linking to...
Nifty Thrifty Sunday
Make it Pretty Monday
Make the Scene Monday
The Scoop
Stroll Through Life
Nifty Thrifty Tuesday
Down Home Blog Hop
Grace at Home
Simple and Sweet Friday
Overflowing with Creativity

Getting the tree

As I finally have time to sit down by our beautiful tree and enjoy it's sparkle and shine, I thought I would post a few pics of the cutting adventure.

This year was the most fun yet! A great farm with so many varieties.

Also, little cowboy was big enough to do the cutting...

...and carrying this year!

Here's hoping he can tie and load as well.

Fresh Greens on the Porch

As the years have gone on, I've become pickier and pickier about the greenery I keep around. I'm not big on fake flowers or greens...I just love the real, outdoorsy thing.

Usually stuff like this is given the boot or demoted to classroom decor...

but I used some hand-me-downs from my mama on the porch...

I started clipping fresh greens to tuck in to the garland...

It was so easy to just tuck the branches right in under the fake garland I had wrapped around the post.

Truly that simple...no extra wiring required.

Adding different types of greens really gave it some pop -- especially these junipers.

It even looks real against nature's best!

It's certainly cold and snowy enough to use the skates and sled now!

Winter Blessings!

Fancy Farm Friends

Some people find stray cats in their dog house...

Others find stray roosters in the pony's house.

Seriously. This stray rooster has been hanging around the place for a month or so now and has moved right into the mini-barn.

Guess he's looking to stay warm in all of this...

Time to name him...

Wrapping Quick Tip

Just a quick tip that I discovered this year...

My little sister and I were just chatting at Thanksgiving about how our wrapping has changed as our families have grown. When we were young it was nearly a beautiful package competition.

I remember one year that I actually used craft wrap and stenciled every package! It was beautiful!

I don't have quite that ambition, but I still do love every package to look special and reflect the love that it was wrapped in. This year I splurged on reversible paper -- in turned out to not be a splurge at all because you can fold it back to represent a ribbon...

Add a quick gift tag and you have a finished product...

Or add a quick mesh ribbon for an over the top fancy look...

Teenagers change your choice in wrapping paper as much as toddlers :) Happy wrapping!!

We are so blessed!

Simply Elegant Centerpiece

One of my Turkey Day Tips was to let the kids make the centerpiece...little did I know that it would be the first day above 30 degrees and sliding around on the pond and tromping through the woods would be much more enticing than making a centerpiece in the kitchen even for my sweet little nieces. (They may perhaps have been influenced by some little wild cowboy that runs around this place.)

I at least talked them into trimming off a few greens for me. Hopefully they didn't pull them right off the front steps!

I'm not sure that I've ever even shared on here that I collect Early American Prescut Glass. I started my collection nearly 10 years ago and have only a few of the most select (aka..expensive) pieces left. I L-O-ve them because the clear glass allows you to change for every season or color scheme. Mainly I L-o-ve that it is durable enough to use for everyday if you wanted. (I don't want.)

I quick went to the cabinet and pulled out a couple stackable pieces. Filled each bowl with water. Dropped in a few cranberries and tucked some greens ins around the edge.

This still seemed a bit outdoorsy, so I dropped in a votive candle --- which by the way floats even though it is not a "floating candle." Hmm...the money that could have been saved over the years...

And...I'm proud to say although the house well-decked for the In Between...this was the first red and green to make an appearance until after our Blessed Thanksgiving.

Blessed

As every mother out there can attest, until you are a mama you can't know how it feels to do the hardest and most wonderful job on earth. When we were children it seemed that each Mother's Day sermon at church included Proverbs 31 - maybe that's why it's my favorite. I remember though, my mama would wait eagerly for the preacher to get to verse 28:

"Her children shall rise up and call her blessed"

At this point she should whisper a little "Amen." At the time we rolled our eyes knowing later that day when we poked fun at her that we would no doubt get a scolding about not listening and that we were supposed to call her blessed. We would retort with the idea that we didn't need to do that until we were grown.

Well, wouldn't you know that grown thing came all to soon. (For us anyway)! Now as moms ourselves we know that through the daily struggles of raising babies and then years later raising babies and teens together, that she was probably looking for hope in what sometimes feels like a thankless and scary job.

Yesterday, once the potato peeling relay and the gravy train were finished, we gathered as we haven't done in many years. When we sat down to the Thanksgiving table, mama and her children, we gave the glory to God for holding our family together through many challenging years. We gave thanks for the heritage of believing that began over 50 years ago with our grandparents. We gave thanks for our children. We gave thanks for one another. We without using the words, I believe, called her blessed.

Although we missed our extended family, thank you for this special day. And...this was my first time ever giving in and posting from my phone (still in bed!). Therefore, please forgive any typos or errors in format.

Turkey Day Teacher Tips

Here's a few fun things this teacher is going to take home for the holiday...

For a little fun...try this turkey quiz! Compare your Thanksgiving to turkey at the White House.

Play Thanksgiving Day Parade Bingo

Let the kiddos make the centerpiece...less for you to do and everyone will L-O-ve it!

Don't forget about fractions when you are measuring out those ingredients.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!

The In-Between

One of my favorite children’s books refers to the moment when you wake up, but the sun’s not up as the “in between.” I think of this time of year as the same. Really in the Midwest autumn is over…trees are bare…pumpkins are rotten from freezing…but winter really isn’t supposed to come until after we eat that turkey!

This year Thanksgiving is late and there are actually only 3 short weeks between Thanksgiving and Christmas break which for us teachers IS Christmas! With family coming, I didn’t want to “overkill” and have the house decked out for Christmas…but where is the balance for the “in between…”

I would love to know what you do, but here is what I’m trying…

A nature inspired tree

The grapevine garland I bought for Our Knot, but it has been one of the most diverse things for adding a little touch of nature to any room

Decorating a tree with branches of flowers is so much faster than ornaments! We will still have the traditional tree in the family room, but this gives just the right touch.

See my pumpkins mixed in still – I think the key was not to introduce any bright red yet. Red is one of my favorite reasons to L-O-ve Christmas. It will be easy to put the pumpkins away next Friday and pull out the red!

A little pumpkin, snowflake, and evergreen mix…

Your turn…what makes your home merry before the Turkey is eaten??

Linking to

Vintage Thingy Thursday

A Stroll Through Life

Joyful HomeMaker

Coastal Charm

Make It Pretty Monday

Beyond the Picket Fence

Farmhouse Porch

Savoring Summer

Today was a delicious day of celebrating what summer dishes up. Peaches frozen, apples sliced, and tomatoes canned as delicious salsa and spaghetti sauce. I’m making plans for readying my planters for fall, but then I realized I didn’t share their summer style (keep in mind we had flooding rains followed by a drought).

I usually don’t use petunias other than waves in planters, but these double petunias from the school’s plant sale were a fun surprise popping our of the sweet potato vine.

My calibrachoa struggled as the summer went on, but was beautiful to start spring.

The lantern and buckets were all free treasures found from the 1800’s house we renovated. I really should share more before and after photos of that soon.

This is a little blurry, but the bucket of Creeping Jenny was one of my favorites. The bluebird is my friendship bird that reminds me of my dear friend Mrs. McIntosh who taught me so much about gardening.

I always L-O-ve ornamental grass with sweet potato vine as a no-fuss combo and it looks great in the fall!

Obviously I have a small obsession with sweet potato vine, but I think it gives such a flare to the pots, and I think using it repetitively gives cohesion to pots that look completely different! The blue fescue grass was a new touch, but it worked well in pots. Now I can put it in the ground to enjoy next year!

Something new I did this year was to add colorful crotons to my outdoor pots. These I will pull out for fall and use as plants indoors. The little nest was courtesy of my little cowboy’s adventures. He was very clear that it was already on the ground…

For the next pot, please ignore the ground cover (aka – weeds)