Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Baby Does A Guest Post

I decided to let the kids each do a guest post on a few of their favorite things. Please excuse any spelling errors as they will be typing it themselves. They also took the photos themselves.

First up is Baby. Baby is seven years old. She loves princesses and sparkly things and the color pink. The other day she said I was the sparkle queen. Then she declared herself the sparkle princess of Sparkle-topia.

Enjoy!

this is my favorite thing and this is  wat it ses woof! can i be your friend?.


Ant J gave thes to me.



I got this for Crismis.


Hr name yoone.


This is my jernl.


Monday, January 28, 2013

Bedroom Makeover- A Primitive Affair

I decided to make over my room. Mr Farmer gave me the ok, within reason. And I had a reason for everything I bought.

While I waited for things to arrive in the mail, I tackled refinishing my night stands. I will do another post with more in depth information on the process.




They turned out so much nicer than I even thought they would. Mr Farmer was definitely impressed with them.

I brought in an old window sash from the old barn we tore down and an antique desk I was given a while back. I arranged some things I bought, along with some things I had, and dressed up a bare corner of the room.







It turned out cute, I think.

Next, I added some things to the top of the dresser, night stands, and a bench Mr Farmer built me for the makeover.






We rarely use lamps on the night stands, so I replaced them with these decorative candles.

Mr Farmer's is the brightest and plugs in.


Mine is battery operated. It doesn't give off a lot of light, but I almost never use a lamp on my side of the bed.


And finally, my new bed and quilt.




I added some burlap-look curtains to the windows. And there you have it.

The beam on the wall is just a piece of some heavy-duty crating materials Mr Farmer got from work years ago. We put it on the wall to make a mantel. On top of it, we place our family photos and a couple of antique crocheted butterflies that I framed. Under it, I did some faux stone painting. The stone painting and mantel were done years ago, but still look good with my makeover.


Thursday, January 24, 2013

A New Use For An Old Find

On one of my auction days, I bid on something. As is often common at auctions, it came in a box with other stuff. As I looked through my box, I noticed some cool claw foot thingies. They used to be the feet to what was called a library table. There were several different styles.

I didn't plan to use them as they were originally used. I cleaned them up quite a bit.

This is what I came up with. I used a reclaimed piece of our old barn and planed it down. I sanded it smooth and whitewashed it. Then, I gave it a watered-down, dry-brushed coat of paint.

I used dowels attached to the board and then glued the table legs over the dowels.

And here it is. A cool coat rack.





Monday, January 21, 2013

My Baby Is Old!

It seems like just yesterday Baby was born.


And now she has a beard!



How could this have happened so fast?

Friday, January 18, 2013

Cat Eyes

The last  batch of kittens are now full-grown cats. What I find interesting is how different each one is. They even have all different eye colors.

Mrs Puff has beautiful, blue eyes.


Shadow has yellow eyes.


Kiss has Greenish-yellow eyes.

And Mama has green eyes.


They have all put on their winter coats and extra fat. Pictured next are Mrs Puff, Shadow, and our tomcat, ZZ (short for Zebra).



The cats didn't hold still. They wanted to be pet. Winter tends to leave them with a little less affection than they'd like.



Mrs Puff was distracted by the wrist strap of my camera, convinced it needed to be destroyed.


Wednesday, January 16, 2013

A Few Of My Favorite Things

Here are a few of my favorite things.

Antique jars with zinc lids.


My new pantry.



An old sugar and creamer set from Mr Farmers Grandma or Great-Grandma, I forget which one. 


An antique milk glass cream pitcher. It's not useful, but it is really neat.


My coffee station. The cabinet is my very first attempt at building something. I built it years ago in our dungy, old basement, out of scrap pieces of wood. I antiqued it with paint and stain. It now is home for our coffee maker, supplies, and cookbooks. It's so nice to have the whole mess in one area without using up counter space.


Those are just a few of my favorite things. What are some of yours?

Monday, January 14, 2013

Friends, Friends, Everywhere

Baby has a tendency to keep everything. She forms attachments to almost anything.

Case in point. She cut her finger pretty badly and we had to bandage it up for a couple of days. To help her feel better, Mr Farmer put a face on the bandage. Wouldn't you know that it would be her middle finger. And she loved showing it off to everyone.

She then named it Tom. When it was time for it to come off, Tom was family. At least, that's how Baby saw it. She wanted to sleep with it and play with it.

As the mother of an up-and-coming hoarder, I have to draw the line sometimes. I made her throw Tom in the garbage. Before she did, I promised to take a photo of the two of them so she could remember Tom forever.


Friday, January 11, 2013

Sissy Turns 12!

It seems like yesterday our little Sissy was brought to our home. 

We were foster parents and she was our first child. I was over the moon with excitement. We had tried, unsuccessfully, for years to have a child. 

Sissy was 15 months when we got her. She had had a hard life until that point. She would literally run until she dropped. She never quit moving and the more tired she got, the faster she would run. Until, exhausted, she would drop to sleep. Poor baby!

And now she's 12! She is sweet and my most helpful child. She loves her sister, tolerates her brother, and tries to obey her parents. Like any child heading into her teen years, she struggles with rebellion. But she is willingly working on her issues and I'm enjoying watching her grow into a beautiful young lady.

For her birthday cake, I let her make her own. She was so excited. She chose a red velvet cake in a heart shape. When I frosted it, she liked the look of the red crumbs coming through the white frosting, so I only did the crumb coat. She also wanted to put cut outs made from the leftover cake pieces on top. Here's her cake.






 
Happy birthday, Sissy!