My New Best Friend

I hope that everyone had a wonderful Christmas, I know that we sure did!!

We're spending the day just relaxing. I'm taking a few minutes to myself this afternoon to enjoy a few of the gifts that my dear, wonderful husband gave me. You see, he knows of my serious love affair with both coffee and anything French so he indulged me with a brand spankin' new Tassimo coffee/cappucino/latte/etc...machine - simply divine, I might add - and Kaari Meng's book "The French Inspired Home" I'm enjoying a fabulously delicious cappucino (doctor says it's okay to indulge once in a while while pregnant) and reading my new book. Ahhhh, such relaxation. Oh, and I'm listening to my new Susan Boyle CD that he gave me as well. Love her!

Anyway, I hope that you're all enjoying this afternoon and staying warm. It's FREEZING today!

xo,
Kathleen

Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas...

Have a Merry, Merry Christmas

filled with many blessings

May your day be peaceful,

filled with hope

and love.

Warmest wishes

and

God Bless!

xo,

Kathleen

Christmas Wishes From Our Home to Yours!

Oh boy! Where has the time gone? It's Christmas week and I haven't done a single post since late October!! Well, better late than never. We've been so busy around here getting the nursery ready to go and decorating for Christmas that I guess I kind of put my blog on the back burner for awhile. I've missed it though, like I always do when I neglect my poor little blog for any length of time, and figured it was time to pop in with an update and a visit to all of my kind blogging friends out there! (Okay - that was a serious run-on sentence.)

Anyway, we got some major snow around here - I'm talking about 2 feet of the white stuff and it is so beautiful! I took lots and lots of pictures and wanted to share them. They look so incredibly Christmas-y and we're really excited because it will be the first white Christmas we've had since I was a kid. The top photo was taken from inside the house while all of the rest were from around the outside. I just kept walking and walking and taking picture after picture. I couldn't seem to get enough of all the beauty around me.
It was so quiet as the snow fell. I could actually hear it falling. So peaceful!

The kids are enjoying it so much!

We've been listening to lots of Christmas music while enjoying hot chocolate and plenty of good old fashioned coziness by the fire. We're going to make Christmas cookies today and I will finish wrapping a few last minute gifts.

I hope this post finds you all happy and healthy and ready to enjoy a Merry Christmas!

From our home to yours, I wish you and your families a peaceful, warm and blessed Christmas.

God Bless,

Kathleen

Not Exactly My Best Idea Ever...

Isn't this adorable? Yeah, I thought so too. So much so, that I decided to whip up 28 of them for my son's Halloween Party at school. Oh it will be so easy I said, so much cuter than the standard issue cellophane treat bags right? Yeah. Not so much. I saw this in the latest issue of Somerset Life. Tamy Ottomeyer made these as well as the fabulous little magnets inside. I thought I would do them too except that I would fill mine with candy for the party. So....
I pulled out the sewing machine and the miles and miles of orange crepe paper streamers and started sewing to make this little ruffle. Hmmmm...okay, so far so good.

I'll just keep sewing until I have enough for all 28 right?

Yeah, well after almost 2 hours, three semi-severe hot glue gun burns on three different fingers and exactly ONE - yes ONE little basket later - I going back to Wal-Mart to get the ole' standard issue cellophane bags to put the candy in. I'm thinking they're really not so bad after all! I got so frustrated, I didn't even finish embellishing it. I need 28 of these by tomorrow and at this rate, I'll be working well into next week. I think I'll just stick to painting things and decorating - I'm much better at it anyway. Ha Ha! I'll leave the super cute stuff to all of you fabulous artists out there. Have a great day everyone and happy crafting!!

xo,

Kathleen

Sunday Reflections

In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.

John 1:4-5

Collections

Collections!

Such fun to start and the hunt for pieces to add to them - even more fun!!

I thought it would be interesting to do a post about collections. I'd love to hear about what you collect. Here are just a few of my favorites. First, I love pearl or any cream color handled flatware.

Old tarnished silver


Buttons!

One can never have too many buttons.

I love these old shoe forms

Old photographs, although I do find it a bit sad because it always makes me wonder why the families got rid of them in the first place. Wasn't there someone who wanted them to pass down to other family members?

Cherubs - I love to collect them too!

Oh yes, definitely roosters

another of my favorites!

What do you collect? I'd love to hear about it. Enjoy and have a great day everyone!

xo,

Kathleen

Sunday Reflections

O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever!

Psalm 107:1

Coffee Anyone???

Remember the server/foyer table from this post? The one where I made the flirty little skirt for that table? Well, it recently received a makeover! You see, I found this great blog called Cozy Little House and in her header photo, she has this wonderful coffee station all set up and I fell in love - instantly!

I wanted one too (insert child-like whine here)! I had just the perfect piece for it and all it needed was a new coat of paint! So I got to work and after a little rearranging in the kitchen, the rest fell into place. I now have my very own coffee station and I looove it! Thank you so much Brenda for the inspiration.

I love the way it frees up my counter space and makes the coffee pot easily accessible to anyone who is in the kitchen. It sits in a nice central location that isn't in the way of anything. Plus, I get some added storage for extra dishes and serving pieces. I put a little shelf above the cabinet and I've hung some coffee mugs on the pegs. The rest are on the shelf along with a few other adds and ends.

Love it!!

Have a great weekend and thanks for visiting!!

xo,

Kathleen

Sugar and Spice.....

Today is the big day!!! The anticipated ultrasound day!! We decided that we wanted to find out whether we're having a boy or a girl and find out we did!! Sugar and spice and everything nice...visions of pinkness are dancing in our heads.

Yipppeeee!!!!!

It's a girl!!!!!!

We are soooo excited!
We have a houseful of boys, so this will be such fun for me to go all out girly. I actually found this diaper bag weeks ago and loved it so I bought it. Then I wrapped it up and put it on the top shelf of our closet so as not to jinx myself. I figured if it was a boy, I would just return it. When they told us "it's a girl!" I thought woo hoo, I can keep the diaper bag - haha!!

I found an adorable pink blanket yesterday but I didn't buy it, so my husband stopped off at the store on the way home from the doctor's office so we could run in and get it. When the boys got off of the school bus this afternoon, I just held up the blanket and there was all this yelling and commotion - haha, I'd say they were pretty excited too!

Would you just look at this sweet face? So cute. I can't wait to meet her face to face!

Have a blessed day everyone and I promise to show you the finished project I am working on tomorrow.

xo,

Kathleen

In The Works...

We've been away for a couple of days at the lake but I wanted to show you a little peek of something that I started working on. Last week, as I was reading through blogs, I saw something that I just loved and had to do in my home as well. As soon as I finish this project, I'll share the photos, as well as the blog that the idea came from. In the meantime though, here are a couple of sneak peak photos for you. Can you guess what it is??? Also, several of you inquired about the details of the date planner/journal that I posted a few days ago. I would be happy to share the info so here it is:

2010 Birds of a Feather
by
Jean Lowe & Greg Johnson
Andrews McMeel Publishing
www.andrewsmcmeel.com
ISBN-13:978-0-7407-8342-5
ISBN-10:0-7407-8342-4
I purchased mine at Sam's Club and only paid $7.88 for it. If you have a Sam's near you, I would try there first because the retail sticker on the back is $18.99. You'll save a ton at Sam's!

Have a great day!!

xo,
Kathleen