Shy Sunflowers & The Giveaway Winner

Not long after the deer knocked the bird feeder over, all that bird seed began to sprout.  In time, most of it got pulled out.  A few sprouts that I recognized as sunflowers got to stay.

I have been watching them grow and eagerly anticipating that first bloom.

This week I was rewarded with a wonderful view of the back of the bloom.  Not quite what I was hoping to see from my chair on the patio.

Now, that's more like it.

I thought I had heard that sunflower blooms always face the sun.

If that's true, I need to pay closer attention as this one seems to like to keep it's back to us all day long.  Perhaps it prefers to look at the woods.  Either way, for something that I never planted, it sure is a beauty.  I look forward to more joining it.  Even if they are in funny spots among the azaleas.

Moving along. . .

A few weeks ago I held a little giveaway.

Today is the day I'm choosing the winner.

In honor of our upcoming patriotic holiday, I put the names in my star spangled bowl.

And the winner is . . .

Drum Roll Please . . .

Lorrie 

Congratulations, Lorrie.  Please email me with your address and I will send the book your way.

Thank you to all who entered.

***

A Little Bit of Christmas

 

 I've gotta say that a baby to share Christmas with added a whole new level of joy to our holiday this year.

It didn't take long for him to figure out how to rip into the wrapping paper...

and we were all ready with our cameras poised to capture the thrill of his first Christmas.

In other Christmas news, I was delighted to be the winner of Donna's giveaway.  A very lovely copy of The Night Before Christmas.  I stumbled upon Donna's blog, An Enchanted Cottage, for the first time when she was sharing one of her family's special Christmas Eve traditions.  You can go here to read all about it.

I am now looking forward to beginning a new tradition with little Jaxson.

Thank you, Donna.

I do hope you all had an enjoyable Christmas.

I'm slowly making my way around to hear all of the details.

It seems Santa left a flu bug for Brett and I.  Ugh!

His turn was yesterday & mine is today.  Ha!

Oh that Santa... he doesn't discriminate.

Anyhow, in more pleasant news, are your Christmas decorations still in place or are they put away until next year?

I typically leave mine up until the weekend after new year's day.

There are moments where I'm ready to restore order.  However since that is over a week away I decided to go after a more peaceful and tranquil look here on the blog.

 

Now I'm taking a cue from Peanut and heading for the couch.

I think a bit of R & R is in order before the new year arrives.

As they say every time I visit Walgreen's...

Be Well. 

Announcing the Shabby Apple Giveaway Winner

Thanks to all who entered the

Shabby Apple Giveaway

I put all of your names in the hat

and

look who popped out ...  

Congratulations to Domestic Diva!

I will be forwarding your e-mail address to Shabby Apple and you will receive your $50 gift certificate shortly.

 

Thanks again to Shabby Apple for making this giveaway possible.

 I'll be back to regular blogging (whatever that is :) soon.

Enjoy your day!

Shabby Apple Giveaway

It's no secret that this is a busy time of year.

Along with  keeping up with the household chores & the work and school schedules,  we're now adding a long list of outdoor activities to the schedule... lawns to mow, flowers to plant, weeds to pull.

 

  

 Along with the never-ending list of chores to be accomplished, this time of year finds us busy attending graduation parties, showers, weddings, etc.

 Yes, it's a busy time, but also a time for fun and memory making.

Trying to keep up with our busy schedules and also find time to shop for the outfits we want to wear to these fun and memory making events can be a challenge.  

 

 So, when I was recently given the opportunity to offer one of my readers a generous $50 gift certificate to Shabby Apple, I was thrilled to do so.  If you aren't familiar with Shabby Apple, they specialize in vintage clothing.  All of the pictures above are from their site.  I had a lot of fun looking through the pretty things they offer.  Everything is so feminine and has such a fun vintage flair.  

  

 I love this.

It reminds me of the way I used to dress my Barbie doll.

 Definitely vintage and feminine.

Now, about that giveaway,  one lucky winner will be chosen to receive a $50 gift certificate to Shabby Apple.  Please click this link vintage clothing    and take a look at what they have to offer.  If you're interested all you have to do is leave a comment on this post.

Winner will be announced on May 22nd.

Sorry, giveaway is open to readers in the USA only.

Good luck and thanks to Shabby Apple for making this giveaway possible! 

 

 

Announcing The Winner

 

I'd like to thank you all for taking the time to enter my giveaway.

Yesterday I set my antique Christmas bowl in the center of Judy's pretty wreath and added all of your names to the bowl.

After stirring it up a bit, I summoned Brett away from the football games to choose the winner.

So, drumroll please . . .

The winner is:

    

Leslie from Leslie's Garden.

Congratulations to Leslie.  

I have only recently discovered Leslie's blog, but I always enjoy my visits.  I think you will too.

  

A Little Christmastime Giveaway

 At this busy time of year it's easy to become a bit frazzled.

The to-do list is never ending and the days fly by faster than ever.

If we're not careful it can become downright overwhelming.

Sometimes trying to pull off the "perfect Christmas" proves to be anything but.  

As I've gotten older the idea of perfection at Christmas has taken a back seat to sorting through all the possibilities out there and carefully picking out the ideas, recipes and traditions that fit my life right now... today... not ten years ago when life seemed easier, happier, you name it.

Anyways. . .  all that to say, in my small way I'd like to offer a giveaway with the hopes of giving one of you a small break from the hustle and bustle of the holidays.  A few little things and permission from me :) to sit down for a few minutes, relax and have a little "you time."

To start a book titled Christmas At Home.

A little book filled with recipes like:

* Mulled Holiday Punch

*Apple Cinnamon French Toast Souffle

*No Fail Party Dip

*White Christmas Chili

*Chocolate Covered Coconut Balls

to name just a few.

        While you're sitting in a comfortable chair with your feet propped up you might as well take a little more "you time" and enjoy the talents of Susan Branch in this charming little Christmastime book.  I think many (if not all) of us are enjoying Susan's delightful blog.  

I've been enjoying this little book for several years.  Recently I found another one at the thrift shop and thought maybe one of you would like it.

    

 As we finish out 2012 and move into 2013 I thought it might be nice to stay organized in a very pretty way ... a little Susan Branch for your purse.

 With the hopes that you will occasionally remove your holiday apron, set down the rolling pin and pamper your sweet self...

I'm including the Burt's Bees Essential Kit containing:

*Beeswax Lip Balm

*Coconut Foot Cream

*Nourishing Milk & Honey Body Lotion

*Hand Salve

*Soap Bark & Chamomile Deep Cleansing Cream 

Love Burt's Bees for being made with natural ingredients and also made in the USA.  Yay!

Okay gals, that's my small way of trying to keep your holidays less than perfect.  In a good way, of course :).

If you're interested, please leave a comment.

That's it... no hoops to jump through here.

I'll drop all of your names into a festive Christmas bowl and choose the winner on Sunday night.

Oops, one more thing...

for some reason Peanut has been insisting that I add a gift from her to the giveaway.  This is what she's contributing:

 I'm not quite sure why, but she is adamant.

I know these knee hugging elves are one of those things you either love or not.  If you don't want to receive Peanut's contribution, should you win, feel free to let me know.  I won't tell her ;-).

 

 

Christmastime Morning Ritual

 

Once I have the Christmas tree decorated it's time to start my favorite morning ritual of the year.

It's at this time of year that I like to get up a little earlier... before any of the other household creatures are stirring :).  As I tiptoe out of the bedroom, the first stop is the Christmas tree where I make a pit stop to turn on the lights.  

From there I head to the kitchen to get the coffee going.

 

 But, before I get the coffee started, it's time to plug in a new and oh-so-pretty Christmas light in the kitchen.  This one is sitting on the kitchen island and was a recent giveaway win from the oh-so-talented Judy at Just a Little Something For You.

This beautiful wreath warms up my kitchen first thing in the morning.

 Judy took an already pretty Christmas wreath and added her own special touches of tiny white lights and glittery green and red stars and in the center she placed this adorable battery operated candle.

If you are a visitor to Judy's blog you will already be familiar with her many talents for assembling creative, beautiful and heartfelt gifts.  

She even made the cardboard shipping box into a thing of beauty.

If you haven't visited Judy's blog yet, I hope you'll head on over.  You will be glad you did.

Thank you, Judy.

 

  

Happiness Arrives in the Mailbox

 

If a package appeared in your mailbox bearing this signature, would there be any doubt that it came from a very artistic sender?

A few months ago I discovered a new blog and was immediately taken by the beautiful artwork of Michelle Palmer.  I am in awe of such talent and I think I read her entire blog in one sitting.  Not long after discovering her blog, I was so excited to learn that I was one of the winners of a giveaway she so kindly offered to her readers.  You can read about it here .

 As you can see, everything arrived so nicely packaged by Michelle.  I will admit that for several days I didn't open the individual packages because they looked so nice as they were.  I hated to mess them up :-).  Eventually curiosity got the better of me and I carefully removed the staples to reveal the beauty of Michelle's artwork.

~ Harvest Perch ~

an original art illustration on fabric

~ Something to Crow About ~

 an original pen & ink illustration on linen

 ~ Scarecrow Joy ~

 an original transfer from one of Michelle's original watercolors

(this guy makes me smile every time I see him)

and he has a pin on the back.  Perfect for pinning to my jacket (as soon as it gets cool enough to wear one).

If you haven't discovered Michelle's blog yet, you're in for a real treat.  Her most recent post features Frost Fairies in the garden.  While there's no frost here yet, the on and off rain showers are making the morning glories happy.

~ Thank You to Michelle ~

Your kindness and talents will be treasured always.

Dish Washing Fun

Today was a good day for dish washing.

It was actually good for a whole lotta things, but like every day the dishes had to be washed and things just seemed to fall into place to make it a pleasurable experience.  I daresay it might even qualify as a sensory experience.  Come along and I'll show you what I'm talking about.

We'll start with a February day with temperatures in the mid 70s ... blue skies with a few puffy clouds scattered about ... fresh, gentle breezes blowing ...  sound good so far?

The sink is filled with hot, soapy water, but there's something missing.  Let's go outside and see if we can find it.



I think we need one of these ...

and a handful of these.

We'll put them right in front of the kitchen sink ... at eye level.

Pretty to look at and that hyacinth will perfume the air and bring to mind thoughts of springtime.  Drifting off to the land of springtime is sure to make the dish washing go faster, don't you think?

Once the flowers are in place, we'll need to open the window.

Those gentle breezes and birdsong will further enhance the mood we are creating.  Okay, let's see ... we can see beautiful blue skies, pretty spring flowers and little birdies at the window, we can hear birds chirping,breezes blowing, and bubbles bursting.  We can smell fresh air, spring flowers and dish washing soap.  We can feel the warm bubbly water and ...



the softness of the dishcloth and dish towel.

Now while we will enjoy the softness... I don't think we will let the dishes enjoy the softness quite yet because these are the special linens that are to look at and not use.  At least not yet.



They were both handmade by two different talented blog friends.

The beautiful dishcloth was made by Karen (aka:  HappyOne).  She had a giveaway for two dishcloths and I wasn't the winner, but at the same time all who entered were winners as she so kindly sent everyone who entered a dishcloth.  You can read about her giveaway here.  Thank you, Karen.

The beautiful dish towel was made by Vee (aka:  A Haven for Vee).  This was another giveaway with a twist.  In this case we didn't even know there was a giveaway until the winner was announced and then I thought I had won a cookie cutter in the shape of a moose (which I did, by the way), but he brought along with him this lovely dish towel that matches my kitchen perfectly, just like Karen's dishcloth.  Amazing and wonderful. 

If I have completely confused you about this giveaway, you may want to read all about it here.  I think I may have even confused myself ;-).  At any rate, one thing I'm not confused about is the kindness shown to me by two special bloggers.

Now, you may have noticed that four of the five senses were covered in our dish washing experience above ... you may be thinking "what about taste?"  Well, since I didn't think dish soap or flowers would taste too good, I think we'll give it a post all to itself and it most likely will involve a certain moose cookie cutter.  Stay tuned ... and since I fear I may be causing more confusion the more I talk, I'll just quit talking and throw in the towel.

I mean ... hang up the towel.

This concludes another spellbinding post from my Happy Home.

Fun Fall Reading

As the fall frenzy of cleaning and sorting continues around here, I decided it was time to go through the books and see which ones we no longer need.

I have to admit that I don't always buy books because I intend to read them.  Sometimes I buy them for use in decorating and sometimes I buy them because of the cute pictures on the covers.

For instance, when I saw this book at the thrift shop one day I didn't think it looked like one I would enjoy reading.  However, I did think that this little doggy reminded me of ...

this little doggy and that seemed a good enough reason to bring it home.

  Because there are way too many an awful lot of books around here I was being fairly ruthless in what I was getting rid of.  I was thinking that maybe I really didn't need to house a book just because it had a picture resembling Peanut on the front cover.

Often when I am debating which book to read next I read the first page and if it appeals to me that is what I read.

So, before tossing this one in the donate pile I decided to read the first page.

Hmmm ....  jack-o'-lanterns, chrysanthemums, colorful gourds.

Maybe this would be a good book to read since it will soon be Halloween.  Kinda has that Fall feel to it. 

I think a good Fall read deserves a pretty Fall themed bookmark and luckily, I now have one thanks to Sherri at Sherri' Jubilee.  Sherri recently held a giveaway for one of her handmade bookmarks and I was so happy to be chosen as the winner. 

I think this beaded acorn is adorable.

Thank you, Sherri.  My fall reading has just gotten prettier :).

Just a little note:  I've been having trouble leaving comments for some of you.  After typing the comment and clicking Publish Comment, the comment disappears.  It is only happening on a few blogs so I'm not sure what the problem is.  Anyhow, if you've recently left me a comment and I haven't been back to visit you this is probably why.  I'll keep trying. 

Happy Monday!

I'm off to plant pansies before the rain begins.

What are you up to?