Merry Christmas everyone! I hope everyone is having a blessed holiday with their family and friends!
I haven't been on here in a bit. We've had the flu and cold go through the house, one by one and I haven't had much computer time. I cannot believe how quickly the holidays crept up on us. I had most of my shopping done early but there is always last minute things to run out and get. And than in the blink of an eye, the day has come and gone. We have had a good holiday so far, it's been fairly quiet, which is kinda of good. We stayed home Christmas day and had my inlaws over for dinner. It's nice to stay home and not drag the kids out anywhere on Christmas day as they like to play with their new gifts etc. We are planning on going to see my mom on Friday as she is leaving for Florida on January 2nd. I'm not sure if she is going to have better weather there since it seems to be chilly down there too but she likes going there every year, lol, so I hope it's warmer than it is here.
Anyhow, I wanted to say hello since it's been awhile and we hope that everyone is having a great holiday and staying safe! I'm sure I'll be back on here before New Years!

Take care for now,

Hugs, Trish

I had the best time this weekend. I went to an auction, which was unbelievable.... everything was pretty much primitive, like looking at the magazines that us prim folk like, lol. I wish I had won the lottery, cause I sure would have taken everything home with me! This time I was not afriad to raise my little number card to bid and I got some good deals, I could have gotten more, but I had to watch my bank account and I had to leave earlier and I guess after I left, what was left went for a really good price! Next time, I'm going to ignore the texts and phone calls from hubby and kids asking when I'm going to be home, and can you bring home beer and when are you picking me up.... heck, I think I'll leave my cell phone at home!! I did have fun hanging out with my friend Natalie, from Carriage House Antiques , she got some really good pics of the auction :) Around here, it's not too often that you find someone that has the same tastes that include primitive decor etc., I was so glad that I was able to share Sunday with her and since she's been to more auctions than me, I think I learned a few tips, wink, wink!
What's new around here? Well, I'm almost done ripping up my livingroom floor. Everyone but my hubby is thinking I'm doing a good job... leave it to him to bring up the fact that it's a tad dirty, and maybe uncomfortable, and what the heck am I doing???? Of course, if it had been doing something that interested him, he would have no problem with it, lol. Oh well, I didn't listen to him and went ahead and there's nothing he can do about it, I'm stubborn with some things, and I think it will look great once I'm all done with it. Anything is better than chipped, outdated linoleum, hehe. Even my kids are in awe of the wood floor and hi-fiving me! So I just stick my tongue out at hubby and say....I haven't asked for help from you so don't say a word...
Anyhow, I was hoping to get pics up of my winnings from the auction and my adventures with my floor...Hopefully tommorow if all goes well, my main concern is getting this floor done and all cleaned up, I think cleaning up is worse than making the mess :P
Hope everyone is having a great week, and thanks for following!

Hugs, Trish

I can't believe it's snowing!! Yuck, yuck, yuck!! Can you tell I don't like snow?? If I had my way, I would have it snow for Christmas than it could all go away again, lol., but sadly, I don't control Mother Nature...
Yesterday was a little sentimental for me. It has been 22 years since my wonderful dad passed away. I was only 17 yrs old at the time, and being a typical teenager, I wasn't always the nicest to my parents. I so regret the way I was back than but I have grown and learned from that experience. My dad never got to meet my husband, nor my 5 children although I see characteristics in each of them that remind me of him. A simple grin, or rolling of the eyes, or funny faces, the way they walk, run, their sense of humor. I'm so glad that even though they never got to meet their grandfather, they can carry on these traits of his. Last night I lit a candle in his memory and it burned for a very long time, it didn't even want to go out when I tried to blow it out. That tells me my dad is here with us in spirit and is always watching over us. Love you and miss you lots Dad, xoxo

I started a new task last week although it's going to take me awhile to get it done. I wanted to see what the original wood floor that is hiding under the ugliest linoleum in the world in our livingroom. Under that hideous linoleum is a plywood subfloor. What a fun time this is gonna be, it took me all Wednesday morning to pry off a 2 foot by 4 foot area of flooring to uncover a wood plank floor. The wood looks to be in good condition so far although it appears that it may have been painted brown oh so many years ago, like the early 1900's. I don't think my hubby is so pleased with what I'm doing. He asked me why I started it at this time of the year when it's cold and we are going feel the cool air from the basement coming up between the cracks. I want to keep going at it though but I don't think I'll get much help from him, lol. Oh well, when I want to get things done, I have to do them myself most of the time...
Today is a dreary day, it was suppose to rain than change to snow later, but it's been snowing since early this morning, at least it's not sticking to the ground! This is just the beginning of a long, cold winter season :(
I haven't accomplished much as my daughter is home sick with a fever but I did manage to tea stain some strips of material that I had left over from making some curtains for upstairs... yes, I used flannel top sheets from a set that I bought, they make the warmest curtains, lol, so I am going to attempt to make some ragballs. We'll soon see how they turned out.
Anyhow, I guess I'd better sign of and check on my Brynn to see how she's doing. Hope everyone has had a good week and a wonderful weekend.

Take care, hugs, Trish

Some things that trash to treasured, my newly painted door and the primitive painted antique table that I got on Sunday...

Ack!! It's been a few weeks! Did you ever have one those days that everything seemed to go wrong?? Well today was my day! Here I am trying to get everyone off to school on time without a hitch. The night before, I had everything ready as my 2 youngest kids were going on a school trip to the pumpkin patch and the forecast was supposed to be rainy. Well, by morning, we had a pair of splash pants go missing and our umbrellas had disappeared.Uggh! the story of my life around here. Anyhow, the weather wasn't too bad but I decided to drive my kids to the bus stop. I was walking out the door with a mug of tea cause I didn't want it getting cold, and after warning my oldest daughter to watch out for the dog poop that our Sam had just done....what did I do? Slipped on the wet grass and fell on my bum in the fresh poop! Yuck!! Right than I had decided, yep, it's a Monday, lol. So after I got home from the bus stop on got my Rhys on his van for school, I went looking for my makeup that I had put on this morning. Do you think I could find it? Nope! Brand new eyeliner and eye shadow disappeared into thin air. Okay, I've had this happen before but have found it in my youngest daughter's room. This time, I searched high and low everywhere and cannot find it. Something is playing tricks on me! I always have things disappear, and never end up finding them, ever since I started doing ancestor research 5 years ago. Weird things have been happening here. Given that this house is way over 150 yrs old and there are 4 generations of Boyd's that have lived here and it's getting near Halloween.... I thinks the spirits are getting a bit playful here on my expense! After a frustrated morning, I decided to go upstairs for a rest. I kinda like naptime when 5 kids are all at school,lol. Anyhow, out of the blue, one of my dogs start barking for no reason, so I went downstairs to find her barking and growling at the wall...I'm not joking! I call her to come upstairs with me along with my other dog who always sleeps outside my bedroom door but neither dog would go up the stairs and the one ran into her crate with tail between her legs and hid... they always say animals can sense what humans can't right? I head back upstairs and upon going through my kitchen I notice that my oven dial is on. I did not use my oven at all and there is no way that I could have turned that thing on...I'm getting more spooked than ever! I even got weird chills walking through my living room, the kind that raise the hair on the back of your neck. So I'm thinking my house is haunted by some good ghosts ( I hope), but I had a hard time falling asleep. We have a small cemetary on our lot and we've had ancestor's that have passed away in this house so anything is possible.... Around dinner time, my hubby calls from work and tells me our pickup truck that he left there over the weekend was stolen... can things get any worse?? I thought he was joking at first, but.... nope, he arrive home in the work truck :( So, I'm expecting a call from the police department and the insurance department in the morning and we can only hope that our truck is found safe and relatively sound... we didn't really need this happening now...sigh.... Anyhow, on the brighter side, this weekend I finally got my front and side door painted and i love the color! Even hubby who at first was a little unsure of my color choice said it looked really good! And I went to my first auction on Sunday, didn't get anything cause things were way outta my league, lol. Next time I need to bring someone who is experienced in going to auctions, lol, as I didn't have a clue... But on my way home, I did stop by a shop and bought a nice primitive painted table that I've had my eye on since May and it was still there, so I bought it. Now if I can just find my camera that a special someone hid...you know who you are!!, I can get pics up! Wednesday I have a meeting with a rep from AVON, just to see how much it costs to become a rep myself and earn some extra $$ from home...Wish me luck!! Anyhow, that's it for now... hope I haven't bored you all! Have a fantastic week everyone and may your luck be better than mine has!! lol Hugs, Trish

Hello my friends! Time sure has been going by quickly. I cannot believe it's October already. September was slightly busy around here. My two oldest children had birthdays on Sept. 27th and 29th. I'm feeling a little old when they turn 15 and 12, lol I am enjoying my every other day of having no children at home. Some days I just don't know what to do with myself though. I have to turn the radio on just to keep myself company. I have been puttering around painting a few things that I have picked up here and there. We really haven't had alot of sunshine lately so my front door is still not painted :( Maybe this weekend?? I have been doing some more decorating for fall, hopefully I will get a few pics up. Today I decided to make some homemade apple sauce with apples from our ancient apple tree. Usually this tree doesn't put out very good apples anymore, but this year they looked pretty good and were big. Of course when I was picking the apples, our horse Hobbins came running over to the fence looking for a treat so I had to give him a few. Now he comes over daily for an apple treat. Anyhow, my kitchen smelt really good today with apples and cinnamon, yum! And of course I got extra bored so I made a big jar soy candle scented, yep you guessed it, baked apple pie. Talk about getting hungry after my morning, lol.
This weekend id Thanksgiving weekend in Canada. I am so looking forward to cooking a turkey, and a ham and all the fixin's. Maybe I'll bake an apple pie too, and I want to make the pumpkin crunch recipe from the APP magazine, it looks so yummy! Being since it's a long weekend, we decided to "winterize" the house as well. We were asked to go in a family dinner but we have so much to do around here that there just isn't time :( We have to caulk and put plastic around the windows, fix the area around the doors to keep the wind out, split wood etc. and the list goes on and on. The other night it was really chilly so we started the woodstove... oh how I missed the smell of woodsmoke and the warm heat that it creates. I wanted to curl up in the woodstove room to sleep but somehow I don't think my rotti Jasper would like that too much since it's not a huge area in the first place. Maybe when I get that room fixed up I'll put a rocking chair in there and stay cozy on those cold winter nights!
The leaves are turning colors early this year and are all over the ground. So very pretty! When I was a child, we used to collect leaves and press them in between 2 pieces of wax paper with shredded crayons. My mom would iron them together and we would make placemats for Thanksgiving dinner. With so many leaves on the ground already, I think I might let my kids do that this weekend, keep them occupied, lol as well as being creative!
There are a few auctions coming up in the next few weeks that are local. I'm hoping that my hubby will take me to them, fingers crossed. I've never been to one before, but these ones look interesting and who knows, I might come home with something :D
Guessing that's about it for now. I hope each and every one of you is having a fantastic week and if I don't get back here by the weekend, have a wonderful weekend and to all my Canadian Friends, have a safe and blessed Thanksgiving Holiday!

many hugs, Trish

Hi everyone, well it's been a little bit since I was last here. I thought I would have lots of extra time to be on the computer with 5 kids in school, well I was mistaken, lol. Fall is definitely in the air although today was a shocker with temps getting up into the 30's and the humidity horrible. I actually had to turn the a/c on upstairs for a bit. Now they are saying that the weekend is going to be cool and so/so. We have tons of brightly colored leaves falling from the trees, I must admit, as much as they are pretty, I'm not looking forward to what comes after fall. I don't like snow... I must be getting old, lol. I hate driving in it and where we live, when it snows, it snows good and well, I'm usually stuck at home cause I hate it and I hate how alot of people drive in it! Oh well, we'll get to "that season" when we get there. So, I've been in the fall decorating mood, I've never really been into it before, but for some reason this year is different. I bought a few small squash for decorating and low and behold my kids said to me " are you going to cook squash?" and I'm like no, you don't like squash so I'm using them in my fall displays. Than I get "yes we do" and I say "no you don't, every time I cook it you refuse to eat it" . So I'm guessing I have to go to the market to buy some more squash to cook for them and we'll see just how much they eat, lol. Of course during the week I wandered into the dollar store for a few things and I came across some really nice fall leaf decorations that are vinyl and won't get wrecked if I put them outside. They don't look cheap at all and I wove them in with my grapevine swag thingys that I made to go over my doorways. I I am think I might go back for more. And I made some more grapevine stuff for inside and put the dried false sunflowers from my gardens in them and I really like how it looks as long as my cats don't get at them, lol. I am patiently waiting for some votive candle molds that I ordered from ebay, they shipped out on August 27 th and still haven't arrived. I've never had to wait this long for an item off of ebay before and it's kinda of disapointing. Hopefully soon.....
My kids have so wonderfully passed along the cold bug that they picked up from school... nothing says back to school like a cold. I have not been up to par lately but am getting there, so that's also another reason why I have been around lately. I have alot of catching up to do :)
I still haven't gotten my front door painted :(, hoping for a nice sunny day that no rain is expected in the forecast, haha. Anyhow, I think that's probably it for now, I hope everyone is well and have a wonderful weekend whereever you are!!

Love and hugs, Trish

Hi folks! Well, the first week back to school was a success!! So far, everyone is happy with their teachers and adjusting well back in their routines. My youngest son met his teacher on Wednesday and he goes in on Monday to meet a few students that will be in his class ( they phase the kids in a few at a time over the first month) and he has his first full day of school on Wednesday. It will be a bittersweet day for me... after 15 yrs of having a child at home, I will be on my own every other day now... what's a mom to do??? Oh, I know... sit back, take my time at getting things done and finally get to some crafting that I've been wanting to start forever, lol. I am so used to having a child home every day that this is gonna be strange for me though, but I think I'll get used to it :) So as of now, I have a child in gr. 10, gr.7, gr.4, gr.2 and junior kindergarten.
We did get to the Durham Central Fair but not on cheap night. Hubby had to work late and by the time he got home, the kids were in bed and boy did they give a "what for" the next morning, haha. Okay, Friday was a much better night to go anyways and we had coupons for discounts for the rides so it wasn't as bad money wise as it usually is. And we skipped the games as hubby said the kids already had way too many stuffed animals, lol. We had lots of fun watching the kids enjoy the rides although I am feeling old after watching my oldest son go on rides that 20 yrs ago, I used to really enjoy... the zipper was one of them and the tomahawk. My stomach got queasy just watching him get on them but he didn't throw up!! I sure would have, lol. Oh to be young again!!
Today was a tad boring... hubby had to work at the ribfest in Oshawa around dinnertime. I decided to go out and pull out alot of vines that were growing on the front of my house. Last year I made wreaths with them so this year since they were so long, I made swags out of them. I placed a long one over our front door and two windows and another over our side door. I put one in our kitchen with some dried false sunflowers and black eyed susans. I'm hoping to get out to the dollar store and get some fall flower decorations to add to the ones outside since I'm on a fall decoration kick, lol. I also grabbed some discounted acorn squash to put outside for a display and I need to get down to the corn field to get some cornstalks to add to it. Next is painting the front door when it's sunny again. I pulled out the left over paint can that I used to paint our fireplace, it's a dark reddish color and I wanted to see how it looked against our blue siding on the house. I really liked it but my hubby said "oh no, not red", lol. I'm like, it's not bright red, it's a rusty barn red, it will look good and he just sighed. Men, they will never understand us, lol. Needless to say, I'm painting the door a reddish color and he's gonna like it or pretend to like it! :D And than, I just may paint the two side doors the same color...won't he just love that, haha.
Oh well, I guess I'm off to bed, hope everyone is having a great weekend and I'll be back soon!

Take care and hugs, Trish

Happy Labor Day weekend everyone!! And just around the corner....school begins for another year! I'm betting there's going to be alot of very happy parents out there, lol ( I must confess, I'm one of them :D)
Not much has happened this weekend. Looks like we are done with the buggies, knock on wood. We are finally getting some rain and hoping the temps stay a bit cooler than they have been. I hate having the a/c's on and I'm looking forward to opening the windows and letting the fresh air breeze through....that is if the rain doesn't go on all weekend. Doesn't look like we'll be doing much other than last minute back to school shopping and I'm hoping to go into to meet Natalie from The Carriage House Antiques Shop in Bowmanville, if she's working, and maybe, if I twist hubby's arm, buy a thing or two or three, lol. I need to get some more craft supplies since I'm pretty sure I'm going to go nuts the first week of school with the kids not home and I need to paint our front door and maybe the back door and the side door, oh boy, the list goes on and on. Eventually I need to clean out the woodstove room and paint it before we need to use the woodstove and these are things much easier done with no kids around, lol.
My oldest daughter is going up to Kinmount with a friend for the weekend and to go to the fair, I always worry about her on the long weekends when they travel***SIGH***even though she says I worry too much! Next week is the Durham Central Fair and the kids are counting down the days, Thursday is cheap night so if the weather holds up, that's when we will go cause we all know how much it can add up when you go to a fair especially with 7 people!
Well, I guess I should get to bed, morning comes to quick. I hope everyone has a safe and happy long weekend!!

Hugs, Trish

Hello everyone! I meant to back on here sooner but things have been hectic. And I mean "buggy" hectic. Ah, the joys of having kids.... last Wednesday we got a call from a friend whom my daughter plays with and they said that their daughter got the dreaded words "HL", and my daughter has been playing with her. Ugghh, well, we dodged this for 15 yrs and at some point in time it was sure to hit us. Here I am frantically checking all of my kids hairs ( yes, all 5 of them) and low and behold, yeppers we got them, yuck!!I'm running out that door to the nearest pharmacy and cleared out their shelves on that special shampoo and in between each child's treatment I was throwing in a load of laundry of bedding and clothes. My poor washer must have done about 10 loads that day cause my kids all like to sleep with a ton of blankets, even in this hot weather. Than my hubby comes home and I check his hair and he checks mine...another ugghh...we had to shampoo our hair too :( These stinkers won't go away too and school hasn't even started! So tonight, I did a second treatment and 2 haircuts and the other day after reading on the web that using castor oils helps, I tried that and it really helped get those bugs out of the hair. I am so hoping that we are done with all this now. My teenage daughter has been freaking and has been staying up in her room cause she didn't get any and doesn't want them, lol. Oh well, that's life and it's bound to happen but oh what a pain in the butt it is, lol.
Anyhow on the weekend, I did go shopping to and got some prim goodies from a local shop and I went back to the one antique shop and she immediately told me she just got a crock in and that she knew I loved crocks so I bought it and for only $10, and I also got a wooden antique box that I'm hoping to put a fall display in it on my table. While we were out we got some small cucumbers and fresh Ontario apples ~nothing tastes better than our local produce!! I'm hoping to make some pickles in the morning if nothing else happens, lol.
It's been really hot and humid again here, temps in the 40's with the humidity and it makes you feel like doing nothing.I hope a slightly cooler weather is on the way, not too cool, but cooler than what we have been getting. On a good note, school starts in 6 days, whoohoo!! I love my kids, but it's time!! And this year, my youngest son Kaedyn starts JK so he will go Mondays, Wednesdays and every other Friday, all day, so I will finally get some "me time" and enjoy whatever it is that I do... hopefully my crafts :)
Anyhow, that's about it, hope everyone is having a great week :)

Blessings, Trish

Well, another weekend is upon us. Where has summer gone?? Time seems to be flying by like crazy... it didn't seem that long ago that we were begging for spring and summer to arrive and now it's almost autumn!
I don't have any pics to share of our trip to the antique/art show.... we didn't buy anything, lol. I saw some really nice things but they were way out of our budget and with school starting for 5 kids just around the corner....well, you know how it is. We have had a break with the humidity the past few days, but a few big thunderstorms with lots of wind...yikes! Sunday night was wicked, the storm we got knocked out our power and I couldn't sleep because the lightening was so constant and it was lighting up our bedroom. was so tired by the morning, but hubby was snoring through the whole thing...men, lol.
I have not accomplished much this week except laundry and being the servant to the kids...and listening to "mom" a thousand times a day especially when I'm outta sight, and the continuing bickering and tattle taling, I don't know how my mom ever managed raising us 5 kids and surviving, I have great admiration for her! I love my kids greatly but I can't wait until school starts in just over 2 weeks!
I did manage to paint a bench that we have had for almost 2 years that was sitting in our kitchen and my youngest daughter was helping me sand it, she must have been bored :) I will post a pic tomorrow. It's going to be a boring weekend for us as my husband is working at the Havelock Country Jamboree and he will be gone all day both Sat and Sun and our van needs work on it so I won't be going anywhere. At least hubby gets to listen to some good country music, Dwight Yokam and Ricky Skaggs is playing along with lots of other popular country singers. I don't have any crafts to work on, haven't had a chance to go out and buy anything, lol. I guess I will be searching things in the house to redo. I have a few dressers that need to be reglued and sanded and an old sideboard that the doors need fixed, other than that I don't know what to do. I really need to get upstairs and finish it but I've got nowhere to put stuff and with no closets except the one in our room, it's hard for me to get it done and with no help it's even harder. Once I have everyone in school, I'll find more spare time but it bothers me knowing that so much needs to be done but it's left up to me...
I guess that's it for now, I will try and a pic of my bench up tomorrow and I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Hugs, Trish

Hi everyone,
yes it's late and I should be in bed, lol, but I'm so excited... tomorrow we are going to our local town of Orono for the yearly antique/folk art street fest! I've never been to it before( and it's only 15 minutes away from us :( so I told my hubby that we just had to go and see what we could find... of course there is a trade off, I let him go into Peterborough( home of the tallest Liftlocks in the World!) to play poker for a few hours, lol, he hasn't been there for almost a year to see his poker buddies, so I guess can compromise and since this time it is during the day, I am assured that he won't be rolling in home at 6 am in the morning, haha. Maybe I should tell him that whatever he wins will pay for whatever I buy at the antique show?? Do you think he will go for that? Other than that, it's going to be a quiet weekend, my oldest daughter is camping with a friend, my oldest son is at his dad's for the weekend, so we have just 3 kids at home and it's supposed to rain... gee what do I do with them?? Oh, I'm sure there is a NASCAR race or qualifying thing going on Saturday which my one one son just loves...go Tony go! Than there is me... bored of cleaning, being the personal servant and maid and waitress pf the house, hehe but that's what a mom is all about! Ah well, it's almost 2 am and we need to be in Orono by 10 am, no problem since our 2 sons have us awake at 6:30 every morning.... doesn't matter if it's the summer holiday, they are up at the crack of dawn and that isn't always a good thing, lol. So I will be sure to post whatever I weasel out of hubby tomorrow at the antique show and I hope everyone has a cooler but nice weekend!

Take care, ~ Trish~

Well, after a cooler, less humid weekend, we are back to stinking hot weather, lol. Saturday evening as we were sitting around our campfire, I recall wearing my fleece coat which I wear in the winter and it got down to 9 degrees. Great for sleeping :) Well, now the temps are as high as 40 with the humidity and our 3 air conditioners are going full blast during the day but I try to alternate them. The steel roof in our home really draws in the heat :(. It's so hot that I don't let my kids outside as the air quality sucks, even in the country and the smog...... I remember 20 years ago laying out in the sun, never a care in the world and tolerating this heat... I must be getting old cause this heat makes me feel ill! blah!
So over the weekend nothing much happened, hubby was supposed to work ( he does septic tanks, eww yuck..stinky, but someone has to do it), but the brakes went on our truck so he had to fix them. He already works long hours during the week so it wasn't a big loss not going in on Saturday :) If anyone has septic/holding tanks, think of the workers who have to clean them cause in this heat, it isn't sweet, lol. Than on Sunday, it was rainy and stormy so my loving hubby told me to go and buy a crock that I wanted....he took care of the kids so I went!! Who in their right mind is gonna turn down a chance to escape the house and go shopping...not me!! So I bought a bean pot with a lid, a small enamelware dish which is now in my bathroom as a soap dish an antique wooden butter press. I think my husband should think twice before letting me outta the house again, haha. Anyhow, since it's August and autumn is just around the corner, and the kids go back to school (yay!!), yes I love my kids but it's been a long hot summer and being stuck in the house with 5 of them hasn't always been pleasant!), I got the urge to make a candle tonight. A nice pumpkin custard mason jar candle and oh it smells nice, good enough to eat, lol. I have found a wonderful seller on ebay who I have been purchasing scents from for almost a year now, and she never disappoints me and even my son walked by this candle and said that it was the best smelling one I have made yet :) I am so looking forward to making more candles soon, I just ordered more wicks and wax as I'm running low! And last week, I received my wonderful purchases from Hillcrest Home Prims and I absolutely LOVE them, thankyou so much Tricia!! So now, I'm, patiently waiting for my APP magazine to arrive, the suspense is killing me, lol,, but as the saying goes... good things come to those who wait! :)

I guess I should be heading off to bed, it's almost 2 am so until next time, God Bless,

~Hugs, Trish

Whoohoo!! I went and got my dough/pastry board yesterday!! I am so glad that it was still there :) It covers my whole stove top. I just need to put something on it to protect the wood, I have some minwax that I hope will do. I'm not going to paint it nothing as I love all the dings and marks in it, they give it character. And, I got it for 10% off so instead of paying $65 which really wasn't a bad price for such a big board, I got it for $58.50. Now I just have to find some prim decorations to display on it...do I smell another shopping trip, lol? I also picked up a cute wooden washboard soap holder with a towel rod on it. I don't really like it all light wood so I would like to stain it or something so that I can still keep the wording on it. What do you all think?
Anyhow, it looks like it's going to storm, so I'm going to get off of here for now. We need a good rain if it would just take away this awful humidity. I feel like melting as soon as I step out the door :P
Hope everyone is having a blessed week and take care for now,

~hugs ~Trish~

Didn't get my doughboard today, but my husband said he would buy it for me, sooo hoping the store is open today so we can go and buy it!! Here's a few pics of my new wooden bowl I bought the other day and the crock that I found in our basement :) I'd better get some sleep...more antique shopping in the morning, lol

I hope everyone is having a great weekend and to my Canadian followers, happy Civic Long Weekend! :) I, so far have been having a great weekend! Friday night, I ventured into that creepy basement and lugged up that crock that I have been talking about. Eww, yuck, and boy was it heavy! Inside it was rusted old cans of pop, probably hidden in there by my husband's late uncle who used to hide everything, especially his liquer in the old woodshed, haha. These were old Chateau brand pops, very skinny cans,but they were so rusty that they broke apart while I was removing them so I figure they had likely been full when they were put in the crock, cause normal empty cans would not have rusted that bad in a crock. Upon inspection I had noticed that there was a heart logo on it with the number 5 inside, meaning it was a 5 quart crock( quite large!)., but I had never seen a heart on a crock before. So, I posted a question on my trusted APP forum and a wonderful member googled it for me and gave me a link for a similiar crock and low and behold, other than my crock being larger, it was the same make! And to boot, my crock has a lid to it which these days is hard to find a crock with a lid to it. I honestly don't knwo where to put this big crock without it being broken as it could be dated as far back as the 1850's era. But I am pleased with my find and so is my husband since he usually rolls his eyes at my "primitive tastes", but this crock belonged to his ancestors so he was happy at my find!. Than today, on an errand to the "liquer store" for some beer, lol, I decided to make a quick run into the local antique mall, and I found my first "wooden bowl", so I just had to buy it! It wasn't there a few weeks ago so I grabbed it and although it cost me $23 ,I am happy! I also spotted a large pastry/dough board, similiar to a noodle board and it was big enough to cover my stove top, only problem was, it was $65, so I got home and dropped MANY hints to my hubby about how much I wanted it and how much I had seen reproductions like it on ebay that cost just as much plus shipping, so keeping my fingers crossed, my loving husband will go and buy it for me! If not, I will see if they will do a layaway where I can make payments on it because I really want it and dough boards are really hard to find around here!
I thnk that's it's for my weekend so far, I will post pics of my crock and wooden bowl tomorrow and maybe my "new dough board" :)

Take care and hugs, ~Trish~

Okay, so here are some pics of the curtains I made. The bedroom ones were made from plaid flannel top sheets and so easy to make, but I do need to sew them properly with my newly acquired sewing machine since these were a quick throw together and hand sewn and safety pinned, lol. The sheer cheese cloth panel is in the middle. The panels for y kitchen curtains aren't hanging quite as I would like so I need to do some tweaking, but they do the trick! And the black shelf is one of the shelves that got on the weekend. It was a light oak color so I painted it and sanded it and I think it turned out quite well. I'm starting to get the hang of these things :)

Another late night and I can't sleep, lol, so here I am !Well, it's been a busy week around here. Tuesday I took the kids over to pick our new chickens and we ended up staying there for 2 hrs. My wonderful friend brought us down to the creek that runs behind their home and she was showing the younger ones how to look for fossils in the small rocks. Of course my sons had a blast throwing those stones into the creek and making big splashes and it made me smile to see my 9 yr old son Rhys, who has a rare genetic syndrome called Hurlers syndrome aka, MPS 1 get so involved! Anyone who has a child with a disability will appreciate the littlest of things that will make their child smile and have fun! By the time we got home, the kids feet were soaked and they had to change their wet clothes but it was a blast :) The kids than patiently waited until the evening when our new chickens were delivered to us, 3 americaunas (ee's) and 6 banty's. They all have feathered legs to boot which we have never had any chickens like that, lol. I am seriously thinking of getting some more since the banty's don't grow too big and heck, if I' m the only one taking care of them, who's gonna care right? Wednesday turned out to be a on again off again rainy day so not much happened around here. We tried to stay in as much as possible as the humidity was just horrible. Today though, was just perfect. There's nothing better than having the windows wide open and letting in a beautiful breeze come in and letting the kids play outdoors without sweating to death. I wish the whole summer could be like this, but somehow I don't think it will be! Tonight I painted the wooden magazine thingy and it needed 3 coats of paint to make it look good. Well, I only had enough to do 2 coats so the dollar store here I come to buy more paint, lol. Since this weekend is a long weekend( whoohoo), gotta love all these long weekends and this one is the civic holiday,I am hoping that I can get pics up of all the the treasures that I have painted and the curtains that I have made and since we will have 2 kids less this weekend, maybe I will get to go antique/prim shopping again...hint hint :D

So that's it for now, and Lori, I will get those pics up of my curtains a.s.a.p!! Hope everyone has had a great week!

take care and hugs, ~Trish~

Hello again! Notice I post later at night? It's the only time my kids are all asleep and I don't have to fight for the computer, lol. We had a wonderful time visiting our family on Sunday, I wish it could have been longer :(, but none the less, it was good. My kids got to see there cousins that they haven't seen in about 4 years and it was nice to hear lots of laughter from the kids playing, and from the adults reminiscing of the good old times when we were growing up. I can honestly say that when we got home, 3 of my kids were so tuckered out that they went to bed early and slept all night!
Today I have been busy ( okay, when aren't I busy?). I coffee stained 15 meters of cheese cloth and made 5 pairs of curtains,I like the coffee stain much better than the tea stain. So all of my kitchen windows have cheese cloth curtains in them, I placed then behind the primitive toppers and cafe style curtain panels that I already had up and I like knowing that the gap between the topper and panels is filled in now. And I put some in our bedroom windows as well behind the flannel plaid curtains that I had made out of flat bed sheets. Now I can keep the plaid curtains open and know that you can't see directly in the middle of the windows but still have lots of sunlight. When I bought the cheese cloth this weekend, the lady told me I was the "CHEESE CLOTH QUEEN", LOL. ...just wait til I go back in there to buy some more for my livingroom windows, haha. Apparently they sell out of the fabric in the autumn as hunters buy alot of it for when they go hunting, so I won't leave it too long before I get more :)
So tomorrow I am going to go a friends house and pick out some EE chickens ( americaunas) and some banty chickens that she is giving for free as she has too many. Ah yes, just what I need, more chickens, but I have been wanting to get some different breeds for SO long that I couldn't pass up the opportunity!! I still have not ventured down into the creepy basement to bring up the huge crock that is down there, I guess that should be on my list for tomorrow too!
Well that's it for now, until next time, take care,

~Trish~

A quick update before I head to bed....
I took my daughter out shopping today and on our way to Walmart we hit out local Christian Thrift Store, my daughter roller her eyes at me, lol. I found some wonderful things, a wooden shelf with rod in it to hold a small blanket for $3.50, a small spice rack for $1.50, a wood magazine rack that a lady told me was used to hold open magazines as it had wood dowels in it, and a wooden bread box( as we are tired of our cats eating the plastic off our bread bags when they get hungry, lol) I have already primmed up the wooden shelf and the spice rack, gee I get over excited don't I ?? Of course my daughter in return for shopping with me picked out a pair of DC running shoes that brand new would cost over $50, she got them for $ 3 and she picked out a cute shirt as well. I spent more at Walmart as well and bought 15 meters of cheesecloth to finish off the windows in my kitchen. I think we found some really good deals today! Well, I need to get to bed, we are off to see family in the morning and having lunch with them so I'd better get some zzz'sss. Hope everyone is having a great weekend,

Take care, Trish

Hi there, I've added a few pics of around the farm and I will add some more later when my dialup is a bit faster. I have a question for all you bloggers, how do make it show up on your blog who you are following? I'd like to add all you wonderful people on my blog but I'm blonde and can't figure it out, lol

Cheers, ~Trish~

Oh my, did we ever have some wicked weather today!! It started of nice and sunny and not a cloud in the sky, so I hung my 2 loads of laundry out first thing in the morning. Well, it started to get cloudy so I thought I'd better get the laundry in and as I was doing that it started to spit rain and thunder came roaring in. I barely made it in the house and it just down poured. Than the wind picked up and it was so bad that the rain was literally going sideways and the trees were bending over. I thought for sure the roof was going to start leaking like it did the last time but luckily the tar that my husband had painted on the seams of the roof held out and no leaks, YAY! My daughter had texted me and said there was a tornado warning, and I'm thinking oh great, with this wind I wouldn't doubt it but we have nowhere to hide as we don't have a basement other than a dirt floored creepy spider filled crawl space which my kids would never go into, lol. Luckily it passed but our driveway looked like a river and the road was starting to wash out a bit. Than the sun appeared and it was eerily calm. Than of course 20 mins later, another storm went through and this went on all afternoon. I hate being in constant severe weather warnings, but it looks like it's going to be the summer for that :( My youngest kids were supposed to play t-ball but the fields were big puddles so we didn't go, they were not too happy, lol. Anyhow, during the rain, I managed to paint a bathroom shelf black with leftover paint, it was one of those cheap shelves but it looks much better and will do until I buy a nicer shelf and than I'll dress it all up nice and prim!
I'm going to my hometown this weekend to visit my mom and my brothers family who is visiting from Killaloe, Ontario. We haven't seem his family in about 3 yrs. My mom is giving me her old sewing machine so that I can start sewing crafts etc. and an antique desk that belonged to my great grandfather and I'm sure she is sneaking in a few more things as she's trying to clean her house out, shhh, don't tell my husband, he has no idea we are bringing stuff home. I'm not telling him until we get there so that he won't roll his eyes and complain :) I've been wanting to start sewing again, but haven't had a machine, so I'm excited to be able to start making some prim goodies!
I'm hoping the weather is nice tomorrow so that I can go out and take some pics of the farm to post here.
Well, I guess that's it for tonight, hope you all had a great day!!

Hugs ~Trish~

My new crocks, washboard, butter paddle, masher and cheese cloth curtains...

Good afternoon all, I have posted some pics of the things that have been collecting and the cheese cloth curtains that I made. The curtains aren't fancy, lol but they do the trick. Until my husband can put a proper rod up on the door ( it's a steel door), I looped the twine through the holes that were in my mini blind brackets and flipped the material over the twine and tied them back on either side. Now seeing how dirty the door is, I really need to repaint it, lol. Anyhow, I did find some goodies and the butter churner was from here, that someone had put outside when we moved in. The lid was very rusty so I spray painted it and it's as good as new! I am slowly adding to my crock collection :) Now to figure out where to display all of these lovely things! I'm trying to figure out how to get the pictures up under where I posted so for now they are at the bottom of the page.
This is just a quick post, I'm waiting for my 7 yr old daughter to picked up to to a friends for a play date. I'm sure I'll be back later tonight to fiddle around with my setup here. Thanks for stopping by and following!

Hugs, Trish

Hello again! I hope everyone is having a good weekend! Well, today, after a late start ( hubby had to work from 7 until 12 pm), I finally got some of the things on my list completed... that is after laundry,dishes, serving the kids, feeding the horse and chickens and duck and other household chores....
We had our 14 yr old daughter babysit 2 of our boys while we took our one daughter and son out with us. We first hit Walmart in Bowmanville , where shortly after we entered, it poured rain, so loud that you could hear it pounding off the roof! Anyhow, we did our grocery shopping and I picked out some paint so that I could use it on our kitchen chairs etc. Than we headed downtown and I ran into the local fabric store to buy some cheese cloth as I wanted to make some curtains, and boy what a cheap way to make some primitive curtains! The lady working there jokingly told her daughter that she would buy her some to make some curtains and after me telling her that's what I was buying it to make curtains for, she gave me a strange look, lol. As I left the store, right next to it was an antique shop and I just had to take a peek at what was outside and well, I think I may be going back there really soon as there was an old tin wash tub thing and a large crock, haha, things I would love to have and the prices weren't too bad. After bringing home my daughter some poutine as a payment for babysitting, I began to tea stain the cheese cloth and threw it out on the the line to dry, which only took about 15 minutes because it was so hot and humid. After fiddiling around with the material, I hung it over some twine above the window in my front door, and I love the way it looks! Best thing is, I didn't even need to sew any of it!! I know for sure that I'll be making more curtains out of it!!
So after I got 3 of the kids into bed( my one son just had to watch the NASCAR race with his dad), I began to paint 2 of my kitchen chairs...they are windsor style chairs that were painted green with light oak seats. Well, I painted them black and I will restain the seats to go along with whatever I do our table. I used a melamine paint that had I think verathane in it as a finish and it's not supposed to chip, crack etc. so lets see how it holds up to my rough kids and pets, lol. I must say, this paint is sticky!! I got it on my fingers and it wouldn't wipe off and my fingers were sticking together, never encountered this with any other paint before! But my husband likes the color and thinks it looks good, so hopefully tomorrow I will get the other chairs done along with a trip to another antique shop in Orono so that I can buy some more crocks that were on sale...I saw them last week so hopefully they will still be there! I guess I have to be really nice to my husband so that he will buy them for me :)

Well, I guess that's it for tonight, I see lightening in the sky again, so I'd best turn the computer off...

I will get some pics up this week of everything I've been doing!!!

Take care, Trish

Well, we dodged the storm last night, I was actually looking forward to some rain to get rid of the humidity, but no such luck. Today is just as hot! It's hard to get in the mood to do anything in this heat, even though we've been hanging out inside with the a/c's on. I'm barely getting to my house work and with 5 kids, there is alot of it to do. Hopefully this weekend will prove to be a more creative atmosphere. I am in the middle of sanding my kitchen table and chairs to repaint them and give them a more primitive look, ***sigh*** it's taking me awhile to do. I have also been working upstairs in our loft area and trying to tidy it up. It's hard when you have no closets in the house and tons of stuff that you have nowhere to put. Plus, it's just me working on it as my husband works all week. One of these days it will be all done. I am also hoping to buy some cheese cloth to make some curtains for our front door window, and maybe enough to some other windows as well. They are so simple to do and you don't even have to sew them. We shall see just how much I get done around here, lol. There is never enough time in a day to get things completed.

Hopefully I can get a few pictures of the farm up as well, if my 14 yr old will be nice enough to lend me her camera usb cord, I musn't go into her room without her permission!!

Well, until later, enjoy your day everyone!!

~Trish~

Well, I'm back on here again, tinkering around trying to figure out how to get some primitive graphics etc. on here. This could be a challenge for me, lol. We are under a severe thunderstorm warning right now so I'm keeping an eye on the window watching for lightening so I can rush around trying to shut the computer down before I blow it up. If anyone has any ideas on how to display graphics or clip art, please let me know, I'd greatly appreciate it! Have a wonderful night everyone and stay safe if you are having stormy weather!

~Trish~

WOW! I just created my own blog, lol. and I thought I wasn't too computer savvy :) It's extremely hot and humid here and my kids for once are not asking to go outside! I guess I should be working on making this site a little more attractive so please bare with me for awhile as I learn. Hope everyone is having a great day and staying cool!

~Trish~