Proud as a......CHICKEN!

Yes I am proud as a CHICKEN. I think chickens are far too often overlooked in the fowl world. They are actually quite beautiful and amazing. To prove it I have included some beautiful chickens to show you how proud I am.

The reason I am as proud as a chicken is that Jennifer, over at Pear Street Studios has been writing a series of posts on Unforgettable blogs and how you can create one. I have been loving Pear Street Studios pretty much since I've returned to Blogging at the end of July, so when Jennifer wrote I "listened". There are so many wonderful blogs out there, that many days here I work I find myself spending a little too much time surfing around; reading and dreaming and not actually working.

Jennifer wrote a wonderful post on August 28Th titled "To Boost or Boast" in her "Unforgettable Blog" series, again I read and took notes. To my shock and amazement there was MY blog mentioned! I am so honored, really! I'm having that "Sally Field" moment: "You really like me!" I have already met so many nice people this month that I have been back to blogging. I'm learning so much and I hope that I will continue to learn and that you all will enjoy coming here to my porch, sitting and having a glass of ice tea with me while the chickens run around.

Now you see why I'm proud as a chicken??? ;)

*MUAH*

EDIT: I want to apologize to JENNIFER over at Pear Street Studios, I mistakenly called her Kathryn (I am SO embarrassed), I realized I did so because another great blogger Kathryn Bechen of Kathryn Bechen Ink contacted me on the same day to add me to her favorites. I think I was overwhelmed. Again I am sorry JENNIFER. Thanks Penny ;)

*muahs*

Found Treasures.....

Some days on my lunch break, I have a chance to go to our hospital's thrift shop .It's a hit or miss kind of thing, well the other day I was lucky, I found a few Vintage Pastiche style things, I was particularly excited about the vintage framed photo, I just love the girl's dress, the cameo and valance I found seem to echo the vintage period of the picture. I also snagged that cute little lamp with roses, although it's new *gasp* and it even has a "made in china" sticker on it, I think a pretty little shade on it will give it that vintage feel. In the back you might see a peek of 2 wall sconces that were in my purchase, they are candle sconces and have mirror backings, painted a creamy white they will look great hanging somewhere in the house.





*muahs*

Humingbirds and paint colors...

I must say I have had such a busy last few days, lots going on and hopefully I can share some of the neat stuff that's been happening, by the end of the week. I have so much to post about I could go on and on and on but that would be quite boring. I'll keep it short and sweet. :)

Getting ready for work this morning I walked by the kitchen eating area's window and I noticed our hummingbird making his rounds. We have a couple different hummingbirds but our ruby throated has staked our property as his. He's territorial and chases all the other hummingbirds that try to get a drink. When I saw him I grabbed my camera, the feeder is quite a distance so I have a difficult time getting a good shot, but here he is standing guard over "his" feeder.

....and to jump on over to another topic, I did get all the walls in the kitchen primed and I tested out the "Midday Sun" paint color, I'm leaving it up for a few days to get a feel for it. I think I will end up doing a wash on the wall, I like color washes, they soften up the paint and give the walls depth and that "dreamy" look. When I get to that point I will post pictures and directions on doing color washes.

SO what do you think of the color?

*muahs*

~M

CASA PRECIOSA

I took a few moment today to check out one of my favorite sellers on eBay: ZOE from Casa Preciosa She has the most wonderfully yummy things at her eBay store and I don't think she ever has had a problem selling anything. Using vintage fabric, damask tablecloths, lots of ruffles and roses her pieces are to die for and her merchandising talent is head and shoulders above the rest, look at her studio how cute and clean it is.

Thought I'd give you some ruffles this Sunday night , because you know what they say: "You can't just have one".


Enjoy :)

*MUAHS*

All That Glitters....

A couple of weeks ago I bid on a original painting by my friend and artist Jacqui Faye, she does a painting a day and sells her work on eBay . The piece I loved was titled "All That Glitters", I loved it because it reminded me of my mother's dresser when I was a little girl; all of her perfume bottles lined up on top. I used to peek up on top of that dresser and admire all the different shapes of the bottles and swoon over those scents. Well, I won it and it was at my doorstep yesterday when I got home from work, it felt like Christmas, only I knew what I was getting. ;)

The detail of "All That Glitters" is very impressive. Putting that much detail is usually reserved for much larger work. I love how she takes pride in every brush stroke and her growth as a painter is evident in every work she completes. I am really excited I won this piece, it's my first real piece of art I have ever owned, not counting my Wallace Nutting photos. Not a reproduction or a print but real art.

Thanks Jacqui, I am thrilled to have your piece and I can't wait to find it the perfect place on my walls.

WE'RE CERTIFIABLE.....

On a visit to blog porches one day I stopped by Manuela's place; The Feathered Nest and read a post: "...Being a Backyard Wildlife Habitat" I was immediately interested, my husband and I are both birdwatchers and have the binoculars and bird book handy at the window at all times. You never know at any given moment when we will see birds, rabbits, skunk, deer, fox and even the hint of a bear.

After reading her post I took a tour over at the National Wildlife Federation to find out if we qualified to become a certified backyard wildlife habitat. There are four things you must have in order to qualify as a BWH. The first step is by PROVIDING FOOD, you can do that through feeders or through native plants. Some of the native plants in my area that I have are; Northern Red Oak, Winterberry, Sweet Pepperbush, Red Chokeberry, Rough-stemmed Goldenrod. We also have many apple trees and raspberry bushes.

Second step is WATER, you can achieve that by either having a birdbath or have a pond. I have a couple of birdbaths in the yard, the bath in the front is our favorite because we always see house sparrows taking baths in it. Our property also flanks a pond where a great blue heron has been spotted on occasion and we have a stream running through our back property, in the summer I have a great rock I love to sit on and watch all kinds of birds flying through.

Third requirement is SHELTER, having cover and places to raise young. This can be done in several ways, the easiest using existing vegetation like shrubs or dead trees, places for wildlife to hide. Another way would be to put up nesting boxes and having a pond will create a place for wildlife to raise young. Our property is filled with multi floral rose, you know those wild roses that take over everything and are a nuisance? Well the birds and wildlife love those so we are torn about taking them down. We also have a lot of wisteria, trumpet vine, honeysuckle trees and various other vines that are great shelter, not to mention the handful of nesting boxes we have.

Final requirement is SUSTAINABLE GARDENING or gardening in a environmentally friendly way. You can so this by MULCHING, REDUCING YOUR LAWN AREA, XERISCAPING, using RAIN BARRELS and REMOVING INVASIVE & RESTORING NATIVE PLANTS. Next year my goal is to work on a xeriscaping plan, I do mulch and we do have a reduced lawn area relative to our acreage.

We met the requirements of all four areas! I filled out the application, sent it off and was so excited to see it in my mailbox this week.

So thank you Manuela for posting about the backyard habitat, I will post my sign with pride. :)

My cheeks hurt.....

from smiling and laughing so much! I'm back! I took a long weekend to take a trip down to Lancaster, PA. Amish country, to visit my friends. Unfortunately, we weren't able to hit any of the antique stores, our mutual friend had flown in from Victoria, BC to see us this is her third year doing so and each of us take turns housing her while she's here. We also had a friend from Indiana come, he was in a 200 mile bike ride in PA (in one day) and we were there at one of his pit stops to cheer him on.

We had wonderful weather for our get together and we had lots of fun. I took some pictures of some of the food, nothing fancy, but the colors are beautiful.

It was a fun and relaxing weekend with my girls, tomorrow it's back to reality.

Decisions, decisions.....

Somewhere in my travels among the beautiful blogs I've been discovering lately someone, and I can't remember who, mentioned they found the perfect white; "Swiss Coffee" from Dunn-Edwards, not too yellowy, not too gray or bluish. Just what I was looking for. I went to their website and to my dismay discovered that Dunn-Edwards does not sell their paint to the East coast! WHAT?? Such beautiful colors, what a shame. I ordered several brochures and samples anyway I figured maybe I could persuade MS. Dunn or MR. Edwards to peddle their wares out here. ;)

My samples were waiting in my mailbox yesterday! I was so excited, I was like the dad in "A Christmas Story" when he won his award. The colors are truly beautiful, really rich. I really like Swiss Coffee. Another color caught my eye; "Midday Sun", it's a beautiful yellow-orange, not too much of either, it looked nice in the chip. When I looked at the cover of the brochure it looked as if it may be the same color, it was! It gave me the idea of the whole room in that color. I was thinking of this color for the area above the wainscoting, it's not a lot of wall space so it wouldn't be overwhelming. I had been thinking of a faux finish, a plaster, but I don't want to overdo the faux since that's what my passion is and I do a lot of it already. Plus I really want to stick with the cottage theme.


I know pictures never translate the actual richness of a color, I took pictures with and without flash and I used the cover of the brochure to show you.

So I guess I'm asking anyone that reads this for an input what do you think? Is it cottagey?

So thank you to one of my fellow Cottage bloggers who mentioned Dunn-Edwards and Swiss Coffee, if it wasn't for you I wouldn't have found this wonderful color and so many others to choose from.

12 OF 12

Every month I participate in a project that is the brain child of fellow blogger; Chad Darnell. It's called 12 of 12, very simple you take 12 pictures of a day in your life on the 12th day of each month. It's probably one of the most fun things I do and I look forward to the 12th of each month. I was ready to post them last night but I was having technical difficulties and had to wait until this morning.

Of course because I am working on the house a lot of my pictures are centered around that.

First picture; early am ohhh around 6:30 scraping wallpaper......just a word of advice : make sure you put a bra on before you start scraping. ;)

The angle from where I was located much of the day; on my belly painting the baseboard around the kitchen, the taping was the most tedious part. I will be so glad to say goodbye to those dark stained, stenciled cabinets.Taking a break: "There's no place like home" ;)

A little later; a nice snack of cucumbers and dressing with just a touch of sea salt, mmmm my mouth is watering right now.

Coffee in a great Polish pottery cup I found at a garage sale, on top of books that I am browsing through for ideas.After all that scraping I uncovered this little piece of wall. Vinegar and water is my friend.My neighbor came to my door bearing gifts and wondering what all the noise was in the house, I told him I was "re-doing" my kitchen. He thinks I'm crazy because I'm always doing some project. He brought over fresh summer squash, tomatoes and cucumbers *dang it! Where was he earlier?*

These words I have on my refrigerator so I remember to be positive everydayI went out to check on my beehive, the girls are hard at work. The smell of honey is thick in the air and it's time for me to extract some very soon.

Coming back in from checking on them I had to stop and take of picture of my dahlias, they look beautiful this year.

The morning glory I started from seed are finally starting to take off. They are growing right up the window sill, I love the white ones and I love how tight they curl up before they open in the morning.

Finally siting down to relax a bit in the evening, this is a little spot I have in the corner of the living room. I like lots of "stuff" especially on the walls....does it show?

There they are. I hope you enjoyed my 12 of 12 and if you would like to participate go check out Chad's blog, it's pretty cool

Busy day....

WOW! Today has been a extremely busy day for me I was up before the rooster crowed this morning to take my husband off to meet with his military unit. They are heading to beautiful Virginia for two weeks of training. I plan on getting a lot done on the house in two weeks! :)

After a nice breakfast our family support group prepared for us the guys were on the bus, I said my goodbyes to my husband and I was off to find some treasures. I was able to find some cute things just calling out my name: a nice vintage tablecloth with some great greens and a bit of yellow, it has some stains but layering will take care of that or possibly a pillow.....then some knives with Bakelite handles ohhh I love finding Bakelite, especially when I can afford it. I also found a few vintage photos for my altered art, I passed a few up so I'll have to go back and get those.

Aren't these little birds cute? I know they're common, but we are birdwatchers and we have so many that visit our backyard, I couldn't resist. The little butter pats I couldn't resist, just in time for fall.

The rest of the day was devoted entirely to working on the kitchen, sanding and priming. If you notice in my blog title there is a picture on the bottom; that is (was) my eating area of the kitchen. I had not been able to start any changes since we have moved in, it wasn't hideous but the previous owner certainly did like blue, blue is everywhere and wallpaper she had tons of wallpaper! Lots of scraping.

I am hoping to take you on my journey of reinventing my kitchen and small eating area from farmhouse chic to cottage chic.

Front Porches and Hummingbird Moths.....

Since I have rediscovered blogspot and have been introduced to TypePad I feel like I'm 12 again, the butterflies of excitement in my stomach are there when I visit so many beautiful blogs that take me to so many more beautiful blogs filled with beautiful pictures, places and things that I am completely enchanted with.

There are so many other woman out there that are in love with the same things that I am, many times I am reading their entries and thinking wow that could be me writing that or is there a camera in my kitchen? The Internet is a wonderful thing; it's like the front porch I remember of my youth, in the evenings or weekends you would walk down the street and your neighbors, usually the elderly ones, would be on their porches and you would stop and pay them a visit have a glass of ice tea or lemonade and talk about recipes, gardens and yes even the other neighbors. (hehe)

While visiting Kathy's Cottage porch today she had these great pictures of a hummingbird moth; beautiful little things they are. It reminded me that I had taken pictures last year of a hummingbird moth and it was on the same kind of flower, almost the same color. So similar our pictures are. I never would have know if I hadn't took that stroll down the street and paid a visit to her porch. :)

*muahs*

Black Gold

I stopped by one of my favorite places today while in town; BORDERS. I love Borders and I love the coffee there, although I am strictly a decaf girl now. What I especially love about them is they are being more "environmentally aware; they bag their coffee grounds and give them away to excited gardeners like myself, it's like black gold, I'm sure the young college students that work there for summer break, don't quiet understand how someone can get excited about coffee grounds. I was so excited that I took all three bags that were sitting in the pretty fireman's red can in front of the coffee house. My husband, bless him, rolled his eyes but patiently helped me bring the three soggy wet bags to the truck.

So next time you head to your Borders or Starbucks, ask if they save their coffee grounds, if they don't perhaps they will start.