I have a heavy heart...

Sorry I haven't been posting a lot lately. I do have several things to share, but haven't been up to sharing.

I found out recently that my sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. Praise the Lord it was caught early. As it was in stage O...precancerous. She just had surgery to remove the rest of the cancer and will start chemo soon. I think by pill. Not sure on that one.

This is all very hard for me as she is my only sister and we live very far away from one another.

I also found out some dear friends of ours found out that their youngest daughter...eight years old has a very agressive form of cancer. She has had two surgeries to remove two big tumors . One from her abdomen and one from her neck. She has a very long road ahead of her.

The only thing that is getting me through it all is knowing that God is the Great Physician and he can heal anyone.

Have a blessed day.Pin It Now!

An autumn recipe to share

Hello All!

Today I popped over to V's blog and she had this wonderful pic of her carrying these lovely zucchini's. She has a gracious plenty and they are big.

I told her I wished I lived by her so I can take some off her hands. So, V, this is for you hon. You will love this bread. It will make the house smell so good.


Chocolate Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:

2 cups sugar
1 cup canola oil
3 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups shredded peeled zucchini

In a large bowl, beat the sugar, oil, eggs and vanilla until well blended. Combinethe flour, cocoa, salt, baking soda, cinnamon and baking powder; gradually beatinto sugar mixture until blended. Stir in zucchini. Transfer to two 8-in. x 4-in.loaf pans coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes oruntil a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely.

Yield: 2 loaves (12 slices each).

P.S. You can shred and freeze some zucchini and be able to make these loaves during the winter.

Enjoy!Pin It Now!

Pottery Barn knock off with a twist

Remember me talking about this Pottery Barn accessory?


Well, I have found a wonderful blog with a very creative lady named Michelle who was thinking along the same lines as me , but she had a better way to go about it than I did. She shows you step-by-step how she achieved this look, but with a different subject matter than the horse. She has my creatives juices rolling and I have all the necessary supplies to put it all together.
Check out her link and giver her blog a browse.

http://windhula.blogspot.com/2009/09/sneak-preview.html

I will be back Monday and will for sure post pics of the deck and update you on my progress of my pinwheel quilt. My dear son needed a little TLC while recovering from his surgery.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend.Pin It Now!

YOU DREAM IT, YOU CAN MAKE IT ...

I was wanting to have this as a feature to inspire you every Wednesday,but Wednesday was my wedding anniversary so being on the computer wasn't in the equation.

BTW, "Thank you" to Gen and Sue for the sweet anniversary wishes. You ladies are sweet.

I have been surfing again and I found one blog that has a very cool project that I think would be great to give as Christmas gifts. I know, I know, it's only September, but Christmas will be here before you know it.

I want you to check out this link.

http://heritageunwrapped.blogspot.com/2009/03/heritage-blocks-rock.html

Chris Crandall has a cool website that allows you to make wonderful projects with photos. The link I gave you actually is the post I want you all to see. I am so loving that project. I am seriously considering making some to give away as gifts and some for around my home. So, hop on over there and check it out.

Darling son is having some wisdom teeth pulled today. So later on I will post pics of the deck. We finally finished it! YAY! I am also making progress on my pinwheel blocks and will show you that as well.
Have a great day everyone!Pin It Now!

CELEBRATING.....

My 20th wedding anniversary with my hubby.

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GIVEAWAY!!

OOOOH, yes, there is another giveaway! Hope on over to

There you will find all the details on how to enter. She is having a sponsored giveaway and the sponsor is Lani from the http://www.thequiltshoppe.net/

You have until Thursday, 8:00AM MST to enter and she will announce the winner later that morning. So hurry and head on over there.

Good Luck everyone!

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LINKY LOVE Saturday!

I been surfing again.

Here are some links to some sewing, quilting or home dec blogs that I think you might like. Lots of cool projects on this site. Most of the projects are pdf's, but some have videos on how to sew the projects. Love this, as I am a visual kind of gal.

http://www.sewingrepublic.com/projectIdeas.html#/all/

Kathryn over at http://handmadekate.typepad.com/handmade_kate/ has an enjoyable blog. Go through her archives and give her a looksee.

Deb over at http://www.homespunliving.blogspot.com/ has a delightful blog. She dabbles into a little bit of everything; knitting, sewing. She also has a shop where she sells her handmade goods. You can find it here:
http://www.fireflyfarm.freeservers.com/She makes the cutest peg bags to hang on your line for when you are hanging your laundry.

OOh, and here is a really cool link to http://www.designmom.com/2009/07/build-two-toddler-beds-for-75.html If you got little ones ready for a toddler bed, then this link is for you. She gives great step-by step directions and pics. You have got to see this one.

We are almost done with our deck staining project. We've been blessed with some cool weather, so , we are getting it done. I will post pictures on Tuesday.Pin It Now!

We Must Never Forget....

Take time out of your day today remember the families that were left whose loved ones perished.

I had the privilege of going to the site in Schenksville,PA (not sure of spelling). The site where one of the planes went down. It's a very populated town, but where that plane went down it was up a mountain in a big grassy area. I tell you, it had to be a God thing that it crashed there and not in a populated area resulting in more casualties.

Have a blessed weekend!Pin It Now!

Tomatoes.....

Ah, the canning of tomatoes didn't work out. Too many ripe tomatoes and not enough time in my busy schedule to can. : ( So, I shared three bags with neighbors and my daughter and I made spaghetti sauce with the rest of it to freeze. Maybe next year I will have better luck with trying to do that.

Don't have any finished projects to share. I did pop over to Melissa's at http://theinspiredroom.net/ She had an interesting post titled, "What's your style?" with a link to a quiz that you can take to find your style.

I took it, here is my style.

Cheryl, you are a Country Casual
Your home expresses your open, easygoing approach to life. You love unique finds, and can turn a few mismatched garden chairs or floral teacups into a charming arrangement. You appreciate a pretty mix of relaxed pieces, like painted wood or weathered furniture, lovely florals and other patterns, lots of throws and pillows, mementos and bunches of fresh flowers that give your home a unique sense of breeziness and charm.
You value comfort. Your home is a warm and open friendly place, and you feel happiest when everyone is cared for and relaxed in your space. Elements like pillows, throws, overstuffed furniture, and good lighting set the mood. You may also enjoy layering different fabrics or mixing patterns to create a cozy effect.

So, what do you think? I have given you a home tour, is this quiz spot on, or way off? Speaking of the home tour, I still have two more rooms to show you. I will be posting those tomorrow.

Have a great day!Pin It Now!

A little bit of this will be happening today.....

A dear friend gave me a boatload of tomatoes. We had some last night on our hamburgers and some with breakfast on eggs this morning....but there is way too many of them for us to eat before they go bad.


So, I am going to try and do some of this.



Photo by Country Home Canning

Wish me luck as I have never done this before. I have been reading up on it and have directions to get it done. I will post pics of my lovely canning jars when I am done.

Enjoy your day!

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LINKY LOVE FRIDAY!

Feeling a bit under the weather today, so I am going to share some links with you to some ladies that are pretty creative.

Have a great Labor Day weekend and enjoy the weather and the last of BBQ's and the like until summer comes around again!

Here are the links.

Not quite sure how I stumbled on this blog, but I fell in love with this idea that she had for a faux grain sack tutorial. Check it out.
http://musingsfromafrenchcottage.blogspot.com/2009/01/old-grain-sack-pillow.html


I found Traci's blog from Kimba's DIY day links. You have to check out Traci's husbands handiwork on their guest house. Love the colors and the style. http://beneathmyheart.blogspot.com/2009/04/progress-on-guest-house.html

Also, go check Jamie out. I found her through Kimba's DIY links as well. Jamie and her hubby are going through a home reno. You have to see her laundry room. I love it! It is an absolutley beautiful transformation. I know I would definitely enjoy doing laundry in a laundry room like that.
http://somethingtodo-jamie.blogspot.com/2009/07/half-bathlaundry-room-before-and-afters.html

Have a great weekend!Pin It Now!

YOU DREAM IT..YOU CAN MAKE IT WEDNESDAY!

This is a new feature I will have every Wednesday. You ladies out there in blogland inspire me so much. Especially you ladies that like Pottery Barn. I ove looking at the catalog for inspiration, but don't have the money to spend on some of the very unique pieces they sell.

Today I am going to share a link with you to a creative lady who likes Pottery Barn as much as I do, but doesn't like the price.


First up we have Susie of


This gal is one creative cookie. She sees it, she creates it and then she shares how she did it. Back in July she shared how much she loved this decorative type font board that Pottery Barn sells, but couldn't justify paying that price. So she set out to make one of her own.

Photo by Pottery Barn

You can read about how Susie made this here:
http://www.susieharrisblog.com/2009/07/inspirationpass-it-on.html If you search her archives you can also find out how she made one of those cool flags that Pottery Barn has over or on a mantel as well. She's got an Etsy shop too. So, if you aren't the crafty type and want to purchase something you can check out her Etsy Shop here:
http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=5914190 She has some really ecclectic one of a kind pieces that she sells. Be sure you stop by her blog and say "hello."

Now I am going to share with you something from the Pottery Barn catalog that I think would make a great copycat project. Now, I didn't make this myself, but I am inspiring you with ideas to try it for yourself. If you make any of these ideas. Please let me know. I would love to feature you on my blog.

First one is this . How cool is that?

Photo by Pottery Barn

I love the fact that it's a giant key and love anything with verbage on it. This can easily be made by you with plywood or MDF and a little thing called an overhead projector or your local copy center. I may actually do this project. What I would do is look for a key silhouette or graphic and copy it onto some transparency and use an overhead projector to trace out the key onto the wood. Cut it out and sand and paint or stain. Then I would use the overhead projector again and do the wording with letters in a font that I have printed off on my computer. Sand it down in some areas to give it that worn, old look and mabye put a glaze on it to age it a little. Slap some of those sawtooth hanger thingies on the back and VOILA! You got instant style without spending a whole lot of money.


The same idea can be used for this one below. Except this one would require an extra step. Again, I would buy some MDF or plywood and cut it to size. First I would stain it. Then I would use an overhead projector and trace out the horse silhouette that I printed out on computer or enlarged at a copy store. Then I would carefully paint over the big stained area that is not the horse a white. Sand up in a few areas to give it that old, worn look and you are done. What's really cool about this picture below is that the wood they used looks like floor boards because if you look at the picture closely, you can see the differentiation (is that a word?) in the stain on the horse. Very cool, I think.

Photo by Pottery Barn

Tomorrow is DIY day over at Kimba's http://asoftplacetoland-kimba.blogspot.com/
If you haven't stopped by her blog, you need to. DIY day will get your creativity juices flowing.

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