Prim Pals

Well you are ALL my Prim Pals but Im talking about the forum group. When I joined the group it was a few of us just wanting to share ideas and swap and chat. A few minutes ago I logged onto the forum and was just looking around. As I scrolled down I realised we have 426 members!! How did that happen? In less than a year!!

I just want to say congrats to TJ and Debbie who started this venture and thank you to all who have joined and supported! I am looking forward to 2011 and our first gathering in June! Oh and to all the swaps and decorating pics and ideas. Last but not least I have made some wonderful friends at Prim Pals and I so look forward to chatting with you all each week. I get excited when I see more people joining and posting. The more ideas we get the more prosperous it makes all of those who have selling blogs.

Thanks girls for being there this past year....we have had our ups and downs... and together we have managed to get thru it all. Many of us have had to deal with deaths and sickness and job loss....then there were new babies and grandbabies and even furbabies! We prayed together and crafted together and formed a bond that I think will last a long time.

Hugs to all my Prim Sistas! Especially Deb and Tj and Donna and Bailey and Karen and Jeanne and Kay and Jan and gen and Mel!!! Did I miss anyone?? hehe!You know I luvs ya'll!

P.S. Any of you reading that dont belong....what are you waiting for?? We love new Sistas and brothers too! Come on and join our fun! Maybe the next time I look we will have reached that 500 member mark!!

Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday with family and friends. No Christmas in our house is complete with out pics of our boys of course. Pearse and Chance waiting for treats! My husband has ornaments on our tree that were his great grandparents....a gift when they were married. This tree is full of antigue ornaments and ones we have collected over the years. This is actually 3 trees on one base....I call them my funky trees and they have alot of my prim prnaments on them. Some from our swap over at Prim Pals and many wooden ones my mom made. It sits in my front hall. Below you can see a glimpse of a Boyds Santa bear holding his list! This is a little boyds tree across the hall from the other tree. Above is a mirror my brother gave me and hanging is pics of our dogs and cat!
This isnt a great pic but it is the fireplace and Mantle and Chance getting warmed up. Im unsure how to add more pics but I am going to try and get some up at Prim pals forum so feel free to have a look there! Hugs to you all! Merry Christmas!

Swap Time!!

I know Christmas isnt over but check out Prim Pals and Join this awesome swap!! There is also an ornie swap for those of you who leave your tree up and do seasonal ornies. Come on over and join....have some fun with all the wonderful ladies there!

Swap Goodies and more!

I have been so busy decorating and cleaning and working I havent posted in forever! But today I had to stop and show you some wonderful things! The pics are terrible as usual but bear with me cause the story is great! All these goodies below came from my best friend and *Sister* Debbie from News from Goat Creek. We have known each other for many years and been thru so much together. I got a box this week that included my ornies from the swap at Prim Pals and Deb had added some things for me. I got one of the snowman nodders she makes on an old bed spring,some rusty bells for my tree and some crow and sunflower salt dough bowl fillers. best of all was the book you see in the pic. Debbie is a fantastic cook and she sent me a recipe book filled with all her family recipes. When I opened the book and started to read her note I was so overwhelmed with emotion I cried. Such a wonderful heartfelt gift. Thanks Deb from the bottom of my heart...again! Love ya! The very next day I get another package and it is my swap package from Lorna at Live Oak Primitive Peddler. We did the Christmas swap at Prim Pals Forum and I was so pleased to have Lorna as a partner! I LOVE the wreath and she of course knew I loved Crows. I have it hung on my french doors and will take more pics later. She also made me the cutest gingerbread man and a crow and candy cane ornie. Thanks so much Lorna I love everything! You can see what I sent Lorna over at her blog!
My son is home from University! Im so excited to have him home even though he wasnt too far away and I did get to see him. As you can see Chance(the 85 pound lap dog) is happy he is home too! We missed having Aidan here to add some life to this big ole house! Now....if I could just get him to do some work for me...hehe!
Hope you have all had a great week! I am off to do more cleaning and decorating and maybe even a little wrapping! Hugs!

Help a Sista out and support MS research!

Dont I look lovely in my sons hat??? Well it was cold here today and we were outside finishing up the lights and decorations and I needed to keep warm. So here I am...looking like a million bucks...NOT!! Hey Im a country girl....what can I say??
Seriously though I am posting a pic and a link for my Prim Sista Debbie at Goat Creek. Deb makes the most wonderful salt dough goodies and well you all know how crows are one of my favs!! Well check out this guy..... isnt he awesome! Deb is selling them and some other goodies on her blog. Stop on by and help her make some money for the Christmas season! Ask about the snowman nodders she made on an old rusty spring...tooo cute!

Here is the link to Deb's blog....News from Goat Creek

And here is what Im going to do: For every crow Deb sells I am going to donate $1.00 to MS research. Deb's husband Wendell has MS and I have two other friends near and dear to me who also suffer from this disease so this is my way of giving.....after all it is Christmas! Please feel free to post this on your blog as well!

Thanks and God Bless!

Holli

New blog to check out!

Good Monday morning everyone!! I hope you all had a great weekend. I am just posting a quick one today to tell you about a new blog. First of all check out these bowls!!!
Do you want to know where to find them? I think they are awesome and I am dying to get my hands on a trencher! Please check out Kentucky Hillbilly Crafters.

Kay and her husband make these wonderful bowls and have just started a blog. Go have a look to see what your missing! Kay good luck in your adventures....with ware like this you are going to do great.

Have a great day everyone!

Holli

Getting close to that time!

Only a week til Gens snowman giveaway on the Prim Pals forum is over! Hop on over there and add your favorite Christmas memory to get your name in! Link is on my side bar. Also if you add it to your sidebar and let us know at the forum you will be entered in an extra giveaway for a group of handmade ornies!

Lest We Forget

In Memory of all those who have served and those who continue to serve. God Bless you all for our freedom.

Rain Rain Go Away!!

Doesnt the rain make you sleepy? Harley thinks it does! It has rained here since thursday and its supposed to rain tomorrow and Tuesday as well. Im tired of it! I have no motivation and I just wanna be lazy like Harley! I did manage to get a few things done around the house and I worked today at my second job. I hope to get lots done this week as thursday is a holiday and I want to take friday off and make it an extra long weekend. I have to start some prim Christmas projects since I am participating in the swap over at Prim Pals forum. I also have a few projects on the go for Christmas presents which I obviously cant show you! So what has everyone else been up to this weekend? I hope the weather has been better than here!

Holli

Who wants to Swap????

Check out the Home for the holidays swap at Prim Pals Forum! If your not a member come on and join! This is gonna be a great swap in time for Christmas. I cant wait!

Giveaway!

Prim Pals forum is having a giveaway! Isnt this snowman great?
Gen from Olde Pear Primitives made him and he can also be purchased from her. Gen has generously offered Prim Pals this snowman for a giveaway she is hosting on the forum. Come on over the Prim Pals and tell us your favorite Christmas memory to be entered! If your not a member please join...lots of upcoming giveaways and swaps!

Where have I been???

Ohhh....just around! Working mostly and shopping and crafting a little. I am trying like crazy to get my onies finished for the Prim Pals Ornie swap! I only have a week to mail them...yikes! I will show you all what I have been up to soon.....but have to wait til everyone gets their ornies first.

My fav Prim store opened up in a temporary location...remember they had a fire earlier this year. I was so excited to visit them yesterday. Everything looks great and I bought a few goodies. I think my favorite were the farmhouse scented wax crumbles...they smell sooooo good!

I will try to catch up with you all soon.

Hugs and have a great weekend!

Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

Today was our Thanksgiving here in Canada. I have so many things to be thankful for this year. My own health and especially the health of my brother and all my family. To have a job and a roof over our head and to have my husband back to work after 3 long years. I am thankful for all my friends both here at home and in my online groups. You are all very special to me and I treasure the friendships I have made. My sister cooked today and our whole family was there. This is a pic my husband took of us all after dinner. My brother is in the middle, my sister Kelly and her two girls on the left and mom me and my son(with his new mohawk...lord help me) on the right!



Its not often we get a good picture of all of us so it was nice. I suspected my brother would say no....but he was a good sport about it.



I would also like to say I am thankful for ALL the troops both Canadian and American who are fighting a war to keep us all safe. I pray for their safety while defending our rights.



Hope you all had a good weekend.



Holli

Cowboy Breakfast

Got to love hungry men! Every year we buy our wood for the winter and have it delivered along with our neighbours. Between us we have 12 cord of wood. Thats alot of cutting and splitting as it comes in *tree* lengths. Its been cut for a few weeks and today is splitting day so I told them I would make what we call Cowboy Breakfast to feed them all this morning. As you can see they were enjoying it. Thanks to my husband and great neighbours for keeping us warm this winter!
Here is a picture of the cowboy breakfast right from the oven. You cant really tell what it is so I will explain. That is my big turkey roaster almost full of layers of yummy goodness!
First you turn the over to 350 and and put about 3 tbsps of butter in the roaster to melt.

Add a package of frozen hashbrowns, stir occassionally.

While those are browning cook your bacon(I used 2 pounds this morning)

Add Bacon to hashbrowns and put it back in the oven.

Cook breakfast sausages and cut into bite size...add to roaster on top of bacon.

Scramble eggs(I did a dozen this morning) and after they are cooked add to roaster.

Top all of this with shredded cheese and let it melt.

Creates a very hardy layered breakfast that we love!

Hope you are all having a great weekend. Wood is almost cut and now I get to feed them all dinner!

Mustard Pickles

Yes Mustard pickles took up my whole day today! This is Hubby chopping the onions in the food processor he insisted I needed for Christmas last year.(I have never used it>
And here is everything soaking in the salt water before we cook and add sauce! Its been a longggg day.
And in the pot with the sauce....dont they look good? And my house smells wonderful!
Its an old recipe of my grandmothers and everyone loves them but as usual no one but me ever makes them. So we did a double batch and most of the family will get a jar at Christmas.

I have also been working on a crow this weekend. He is all cut out and ready to sew(hopefully this evening) and soon he will have a name! Go on over to prim pals forum and vote in Name that crow post!

Tomorrow I work...hope you all are having an awesome weekend.

Hugs,

Holli

An Awesome giveaway!!!

Melissa at Prim in the Country is having a great giveaway to celebrate the opening of her selling blog. Stop by and check it out! She has fantastic fall items for sale as well. Dont forget to tell her I sent you!!

An Ornie Swap!

Do you want some new ornies for your Christmas decorating? Check out the ornie swap going on at the Prim pals forum! If your not a member just sign up and you can join in the fun. You have until the end of September to join the swap and receive lots of new ornies handmade by other members. Check out Prim Pals for details!

Happy Sunday everyone!

Name that Crow!

Just a quick note....Im working long hours the next little while so my blog posts may be short!

BUT....I am running a little contest over on the Prim Pals forum called Name that Crow! So hop on over and check under the games section and enter for a chance to win! Dont forget you have to be a member....and if you arent....What are you waiting for???

Also tonight is Chat night at 7pm CST and I am doing another little contest regarding that..... check it out! Lotsa fun!

Have a great week!

Holli

My Nest is Empty :( and Earl left a Mess!!

Remember my new fence? This is what it looks like after Earl Passed thru. The wind literally bent thick steel rebar until it snapped. The only good thing is the panels are intact so we just have to reset some posts. My Furry boys helping to remove fallen tree limbs! Big Maple Tree limb that came down in our back yard. Chance loves sticks and thought he could pull this one around...little too heavy for him!
And in other heartbreaking news....here is my handsom son outside his new home. We moved him to University residence today. They were running on partial power due to the storm and of the 4 elevators only one was operational. So you can imagine the line ups to get to the elevator with all their belongings when there were thousands of students to move in. No ventilation and he is on the 17th floor of the high rise complex so definately not doing the stairs! Full power was restored this afternoon although there are still parts of the city with no power due to downed trees and lines.
This is me and him....and it was very windy so I look a mess....ok I was a mess and thats why Im wearing the sunglasses to hide the tears. My baby is grown up and off on his own. Leaving me in a very quiet house with just my fur babies and husband(Oh and his mother but we wont go there!). I am proud of him and he is so excited and Im trying to be happy even though my heart is breaking.

This is the first time he has ever shared a room and his room mate seems very shy and quiet. My son is not..... he is very outgoing and friendly. He was ecstatic to realise his room overlooks the football field and the girls on the floor kept coming to introduce themselves! Im sure he will be just fine and maybe someday I will adjust. Guess I better get crafting to take up my idle time!

Hope you are all having a good long weekend! Hugs!

Holli

My Name is Earl....

And I am a hurricane! Yup we are about 12-14 hours away from being hit my Huricane Earl. It is expected to make landfall in Nova Scotia early tomorrow morning. Hopefully he will be a tropical storm by then but we will still get the effects. Sooooo....hubby is out moving things and hoping the new fence holds up!

On top of all that this is the weekend I lose my son to University. Its bittersweet really....he is soooo excited so I cant help but be excited for him. On the other hand I am sad. My only child is moving out and Im truly not dealing very well with that at all. He will be about 45 minutes away but it just wont be the same.

Not exactly the long weekend I was hoping to have! I hope you all have a good weekend and those in line with Earl stay safe!!

Holli

Where does the time go???

I am sorry I have been a slack blogger over the summer. We have had a busy one and not all of it good! I hope to be back to normal soon.

This week is the last week for my son being home. he moves into University residence a week from today. Its only 40 minutes away but that seems like a million miles to this momma! He is my only child and I am so proud of him but so very sad to have him moving out. Its a bittersweet time for me.

Most of you know I work in sales and that job just goes crazy come September. Some day I hope to learn how to organise my time much better than I do now! My boss also picked up a new line of cosmetics so starting the end of this week I have set ups to do in 18 stores plus everything else going on.

I did the Prim Pals Autumn swap and I will show you the fun things I made as soon as my pal receives them! I am hoping to have some time to make some for myself too.

On a not so great note my brother was admitted to hospital again Thursday evening. I spent the weekend with my mom and visiting him. Since coming home 3 weeks ago he has done so well and we are so very proud of him for abstaining from his vice. Unfortunately with his liver not functioning at 100% he has slowly been building up fluid again. His potassium was also very low and he was falling asleep constantly. They have corrected that and are working on the fluid with a stronger diuretic. All we can do is pray but I suspect the prognosis at this point is not good. My dad always used a saying * A day late and a dollar short*. I was reminded of that when my brother landed back in the hospital. Sometimes the turn around is just not soon enough to make a difference.

So I hope you all are having a good summer and I have been reading some just havent kept up like I should. I will try to gather my thoughts and get organised to post more!!

Holli

Flowers, fences and fun!

Here is the almost complete pic of my fence! Still need to do a gate at the end and the tops of the poles cut off and capped but see how I dont have to look at that parking lot anymore?? I love it!
This is the front of my house with all my flowers blooming. Unfortunately it is shaded and my house is so tall its hard to get a good one with them all in it!

This is beside the front step(which will soon be a front covered porch I hope!) My geraniums and Canta Lilies in bloom. The hosta is about to bloom as well.

Looking down the driveway and side of the house....more Canta Lilies and the archway that needs trimmed big time! The corner of the window you see had plants growing out of it! We had tear it apart and have ordered one to replace it as it is rotten and has ants! NOT something we planned for...the joys of an old home!

Back porch with wave petunias that grew like crazy this year and my railing boxes. This area looks terrible because half the siding is off where we replaced the porch last year. It is all coming off eventually and we are going back to the wood shingles that would have originally been on the house. Thats a big project so we have to wait until there is more money!

This is an old wash tub under all those flowers. There are wave petunias and another pink flower I am unsure of the name. I had it sitting in the shade and it didnt do well so we moved it and it took off like crazy again. I am amazed at how well they have done this year.

We have had a good weekend here...I have finished up work on my swap over at Prim Pals and have Donnas goodies all boxed up to mail first thing tomorrow. Last night hubby and I went to a fun little rodeo and had some laughs. I also changed my header pic to a picture sent to me by a cowboy friend. he took this random pic of his boots all lined up and I loved it so much I decided to use it here for awhile!

Hope everyong has had a great weekend. Talk to you all soon.

Holli

Who is turning 40????

Tammy!! And she is giving away this great doll to celebrate her birthday! Happy early birthday Tammy. The doll is beautiful and you are so very talented.
If you would like a chance to win this doll..... head on over to Tammy's blog and sign up! Click right here for a link! Good luck everyone...although I really hope I win!

Hope you all had a great weekend. Its going to be a busy work week for me and I have to finish up the BIG box of goodies I am sending my swap Partner Donna from Prim Pals Autumn swap!

Hugs to you all!

Holli

Christmas in July!

I belong to Prim Pals Forum and we had a Christmas in July Swap. TJ from Willowbend Prims was my secret elf and look what she sent me! I was sooo spoiled! I just love ths Santa with his little crow on his shoulder and the tree and the star!
Here he is a little closer!
And this pic does no justice to these crows! TJ knows I love crows so she made me *Three Wise Crows*. There is also a battery candle behind them that you cant see. Tooo cute!
Then I got all these goodes as well,hang tags and soap and stocking ornies and a cute snowman plate. It really was like Christmas opening that box!
Last but not least this cute plate with chickens...another of my favorite things! Thanks TJ for everything!
If you arent already a member of Prim Pals come check it out! We are doing an Autumn swap now with Halloween to come and monthly happiness swaps as well. Lots of recipes and tutorials and patterns and just plain fun!

I had mentioned in my last post my brother was doing better. He is at home now and doing ok. Its mostly up to him now so we continue to pray he is strong enough to get thru this. If I hadnt seen it first hand I am not sure I would have believed what a terrible disease alcoholism is. Not only does it devour your body but it affects your brain and truly the hearts of those around you as they watch helplessly. I pray none of you ever have to see a loved one go thru this.

House of Henry Goodies!

Remember when I said I would post the goodies I got on my trip to House of Henry?? Well I know Im much later than I thought but here they are! This is the cutest doll and well you all know how I love my crows and she is holding one! The sheep is adorable made out of chenille.
This is a pic of her sitting on the old quilt I also bought along with the star pillow made from an old quilt! I have them all in my bedroom on my rocker but I think she may move to the livingroom so everyone will get to see and enjoy her!
I love them all and I was so happy to meet Faye. Check out her blog and her shop at Primitive Lace!

Lots of work for me lately so I havent posted much. My brother is doing well and might possibly be home this week. He wont ever be 100% and alot is up to him but one day at a time and God has sure worked a miracle this time. My yard is looking great still and one of these days I will get pics of my wonderful fence posted. I am sooo enjoying the privacy! Hope you are all having a great summer and I promise not to stay away too long this time!

Holli

Wow Ten Years!

Thats Dave and I ten years ago today on our wedding day. We were married on the beach in South Carolina the day after my best friend or as I call her, my sister, Debbie from Goat Creek. It seems like yesterday some times and Lord knows others it seems like forever!

We had a great day today....left this morning with no destination in mind. Had lunch at the Big Stop restaurant which is like a truck stop and has the best food! Then we headed further into New Brunswick and I decided I was going to make the long awaited visit to House of Henry. I met the Faye thru our blogs and she makes the nicest dolls. If you look at her blog Primitive Lace you can see the doll I bought sitting in her window in her header picture! She is holding a sheep and I just love her. I will take some pics of her and the other things I bought as well to show you soon!

Faye it was so great to meet you and your shop is just lovely! I will definately be coming back to do more shopping in the future!

We then travelled back towards home and stopped for some yummy seafood chowder and at a couple farm markets. I had a wonderful day just relaxing and driving and visiting!

Hope you all had a great weekend!

Holli

100 followers giveaway !

Nope not me this time....check out Gen's Blog, Olde Pear Primitives ! When she gets to 100 followers she is going to have a giveaway. Gen is very talented as you can see and she says she just started sewing but look at the witch she made! WOW! Gen is also a member of Prim Pals forum with me and we just love her. Good luck on getting to 100 followers!

Crow Pie

Ever have to eat crow pie? hehe! Remember the song....Four and Twenty Blackbirds baked in a pie? Well my post is themed on that today! While my brother was resting in the hospital I took a break one day and visited a prim shop in the area. I found a table cloth someone had stitched with 20 blackbirds around the edge and 4 in the center. It was all coffee stained(and not ironed as you can see) The first pic is the center of the table cloth. This is a pic of the edge stitched with the birds.....
The next pic is of a Crow Pie I bought at simply Primitive in Truro.....my fav little shop that had the fire. A bit of a freaky story with this. I had looked at it for awhile and couldnt decide to buy it cause it was a little pricey for me. The DAY of the fire...all day I was thinking I had to go get it so I did. That night the place caught fire and everything that was fabric was ruined! Weird!! Kinda scared me! But I do love the pie!
This isnt a good pic but thats it sitting on my tablecloth I bought! I just love it and I think they were meant to go together.
I hope you all have a great weekend. I know I promised finished fence and yard pics...I will get to them soon. Has taken me a couple days to get things back in order from being gone. My brother continues to improve...we can only hope and pray.

Thanks again.

Holli