A Good Weekend

A very odd sunset tonight it looks like the sun was shooting straight up to heaven. 

I found this at the dump swap shop. Someone had made a vase out of birch bark so for free I will give it a try....

Yep it's a keeper...

My sweet friend dropped off some red winter berries 

perfect for decorating.

I have been cleaning out cupboards and drawers and closets.

I took a load to the thrift store and well I had to look around. right? I found 2 Christmas scarfs with tags on each one that said 20.00 I scored them for 2.00 total I would say that was a deal!

Bright and early we joined Miss B for breakfast with Santa.

Then a trip to the playground...

I bought a Christmas train to put together and decorate.

Miss B did all the decorating I just squeezed the frosting on she put all the candies on. She was so creative I thought. 

I have been decorating a bit along the way.

this is my vintage little paper houses I put in my step back 

cupboard in the kitchen. 

****

Let the holidays begin. Take time to enjoy them. 

A Church Sale And A Cleaning

We got our Thanksgiving Card from Miss B. She really put her foot in this one:) So cute.

I went to a church sale bright and early and purchased some items for Christmas. This parish does a great job of making gift baskets that are great for Yankee swaps and gifts that are not a lot of money.

But they also have a trash and treasure room in the basement. I had to rescue this hooked Lamb.

I also purchased this bracelet and earrings. the bracelet has some pieces missing but the earrings can be used to fix it. I love vintage bracelets. 

So on the way home I took a drive into our recycling center aka the dump. These two little trucks were in the swap shop. They are in great shape a little cleaning and...

And pretty cute!

I also found this in the swap shop a very large jar with no cover.

I grabbed it and asked husband to make a wooden top. this will be great for flour. Husband made a top but he stained the wood so I will show it later. I gave it a good scrubbing and a bleach soak we are set to go.

I watched old movies and cleaned out drawers and bookcases. Lauren Bacall and Gregory Peck does it get any better than that? Ok maybe Hepburn and Tracy. While cleaning out drawers I found 80.00 in LLBean gift certificates, 50.00 restaurant gift certificates, and 100.00 spar gift certificate that we had forgotten about. I guess I should clean more often!

My dollar basket I got a few weeks ago all decorated up.

I had everything at the house to dress it up and lots of greens in the woods.

This is sunset tonight. I walked by a window and the outside was a weird color so I put a coat on and went out looking for the sunset. Pretty awesome!

And to get the holiday spirit going I put the lights in the windows.

My neighbor has them all year round. While it is very pretty 

I love when we start getting the lights up each year it seems like a little holiday prize. 

***

Have a wonderful safe and peaceful Thanksgiving.

A Week...

Prayers to Paris. There are no words....

Last Wed we drove into Boston for husband's 6 month check up.

All is well and we go back in 6 months!

These amazing cookies are oatmeal, white chocolate, and dried cranberries. So dang good!

I attended a couple of Christmas open houses one was at Badger brook, just an amazing place to go with lots and lots of goodies for rug hooking etc.. I bought a pattern to do a punch needle snowman I think I have finally learned how to needle punch (I think) so I worked on that last night. today Miss B visited she had a very hard time when it came to leave. Her grandfather had to walk outside so he wouldn't cry with her. Her little heart was broken:( We have promised her an over night with a day of cookie baking. 

I have my challenge rug drawn out and now I will work very hard on it for the next few weeks. Thanksgiving is very quiet for us so I will hook and enjoy some Christmas movies to get caught up.

The Christmas Rush

I know everyone is complaining of a commercial Christmas.

We decided years ago when we saw it getting out of hand to take a step back and enjoy the season. My daughter and I fill our stocking for each other with things we get free(samples) or things found at thrift shops or yard sales. You would be completely surprised at what we find through out the year. This little santa I got for .10 at the thrift I will fill with candy and put in Miss B's stocking.

1.00 for a great basket for the door, I will just go out in the woods and cut come evergreens to fill it and some red berries. All for less then I would pay for a wreath.

I also found these sweet little knives for a dollar. I bake bread and make compound butter or a home made jelly. One of these cute knives would look great with it. 

And yes husband  and I will be elves for the polar express again this year. It is for a good cause believe in books. It is a great program to get books in kids hands.

***

I know we haven't had thanksgiving yet but just a little reminder to take a breath you decide how crazy Christmas is in your life.

A Warm November

We had the most beautiful, warm, wonderful, day today.

It makes the heart sing. A long walk, a little yard work before dark, and I hope that I sleep better tonight than last night. Sleep does not come easily for me at times. 

Another great day tomorrow even warmer than today!

I plan to enjoy it too for winter can not be far away.

****

People don't notice whether it's summer or winter when they're happy.

Time Change

Not so happy about the early darkness so a cup of tea and a fire to cheer me up. A very busy week...

Friday we headed out after I got out of work for MT Washington hotel. It is one of those very old historic hotels and breath taking

even thought the the mountains were socked in with 100 mile of hour winds and snow!

The moon gave it a spooky glow after dark. We were there for an awards banquet our former fire chief in town was named fire fighter of the year, the really cool fact is his daughter is our fire chief now.

The next morning things cleared just beautiful! I love the mountains. After we left there we shopped some then met up for trick or treating.

Our  sweet B and her pepe. She had a dog bowl she used as her trick or treat bag. 

Daughter dressed as Play-Doh so stinking cute!

And because we wanted to keep it classy that would be B peeing on the hydrant:)

The neighborhoods go all out this one had a fog machine and a bubble machine we had to drag B away she loves bubbles.

Back to shopping I purchased these white battery candles.

they come with a remote nice but I can't leave anything alone.

I decoupaged some tissue paper I got from a cute shop 

Added a wool bow and a rusty star to each. 

This was the tissue paper so cute 

It matches things perfectly and I used cinnamon so it smells good too. 

Have a great week 

***

We must always have old memories and young hope.

A. Houssaye