Simple Pleasures Thursday is now a Blog Hop! What Simple Pleasures have you enjoyed this week?

For me, this week has been hectic, exciting, and at times overwhelming - but most of all, filled with many, many Simple Pleasures.  From the smallest things like the perfect cup of coffee in the morning, enjoying an uninterupted hour of walking with my dogs, to finding that exact right color of paint I was looking for to paint my bedroom.  Maybe I'm just finally figuring out how to take the time to enjoy the Simple Pleasures that really are around me everyday!

So this week I thought it might be fun to make Simple Pleasures Thursday a blog hop where everyone could join in - add the linky tool to your blog - and share with everyone the Simple Pleasures you've enjoyed this week.  I really think we all have them, but sometimes we get so busy, we forget to recognize the little things around us.  I know I do - but I'm trying to get better about it!

So here are a couple of photos of my "babies" - all dressed up for Halloween. I have really enjoyed spending time with them this week - they ask for so little, but give so much!

My 2 Cocker Spaniels are easily distracted by a bird - but my little Yorkie has that stubborn, not interested, terrier thing going on!

How about you - what Simple Pleasures have you enjoyed this week?

 

Happy Monday! Fall is Here and It's Pumpkin Time - Especially over at Pumpkin Tart!

This Monday's featured blogger is the perfect blog for when the days are turning cooler, and the leaves are at their brightest colors.  Pumpkin Tart  is the one spot you can find all those special recipes for this wonderful time of year. 

  

The Fall Leaves are beginning to turn, and the Pumpkin Patches are bursting at the seams!

My blogging friend, Andrea, over at  Pumpkin Tart  must be in heaven this time of year!  She has the most wonderful, home-style recipes for all things with a Fall flair!  Pumpkins, apples, cranberries - everything we all turn into our own family traditions.  And she is so very generous in sharing all of them -
 Stop in and say Hello! 

Following is one of her amazing recipes:

 Apple Butter Pumpkin Pie
(click on the link to go to Pumpkin Tart)

1 can pumpkin puree, 15oz

1 cup apple butter

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons maple syrup

3 eggs, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup evaporated milk

1 unbaked 9" pie crust


Combine all ingredients except pie crust and beat until well incorporated and smooth. Carefully, pour into unbaked pie crust. Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, reduce heat to 375 and continue baking for an additional 20-30 minutes or until center has set and filling begins to pull away from sides of crust.

Remove from oven and let cool for 30 minutes before transferring to refrigerator. Chill for 2-3 hours before serving.


Enjoy!  And I hope you'll stop by and visit with Andrea at
Pumpkin Tart!

Friday is full of Fun, Friendly Follows!



While I was busy finding great new sites to follow this morning, I came across another fun blog hop - also for Friday - so I'm making an occasion out of Friday and Blog Hopping!

All of the fun sites I love to read everyday have been found from Friday Blog Hops so I'm a big fan.

Join me as I hop both Social Parade and Friendly Friday - I'd hate to be alone all day!

I Love a Parade - and a Great Friday Blog Hop - So I'm Jumping on the Social Parade Friday!





Social Parade Follow on Friday Blog-Hop is a weekly link-up hosted by Smart and Trendy Moms . It was created for socializing and to get new followers, subscribers, readers without feeling overwhelmed. Every week will be a new link-up that will focus on following blogs.

And don't worry you do not have to carry this button or any button of Smart and Trendy Moms on your side bars. Your blog sidebars are great real estate and we respect that : ) The button needs to be posted in your participation post only.

How it works-Follow this blog and Grab the link-up button and post It's a Social Parade-Follow on Fridays on your blog!. Every Friday a new linky will be posted.
 
* Follow the blog in the first spot (Smart and Trendy Moms), they will follow all on the linky as time allows! All blogs participating must post about Social Parade every week.


* Link-up your blog post for "It's a Social Parade" that you made on your blog.
* Follow as many as you like commenting on their POST as you do so they can follow back!

* If you do not make a post and link that up, it is unlikely that someone will search around for a post to comment on.

The Rules!

*Absolutely no links to other blog hops or hops like this!

*No Porn!

*No Giveaways!

*No other crap!

*These rules ensure a little bit of fun!
 
Easy as can be - and I always like to keep it simple!

Simple Pleasures Thursday - What Have You Enjoyed This Week?



This is so easy for me this week because I have been able to take a deep breath, let it out, and really take time to enjoy the Simple Pleasures around me for the first time in a while.  I am especially appreciative this past week for all the little things in my world I had taken for granted.

I have been able to slow down enough to read a book - and actually remember what I read.  For a while I had been reading, but my mind was going in 10 different directions and I would have had a hard time telling anyone what I just read. 

I baked a pie - I'm not an accomplished baker, but I enjoy the process, regardless of the sometimes questionable out come!  And thankfully, my husband isn't too picky - pie is pie to him!

I had a long lunch with my son.  He only lives about an hour from me, but now that he has graduated from college and is out in the working world, he hasn't been coming home as often as I'd like.  I'm thankful he's doing fine, but I still miss him. 

And, I'm appreciative of something else I have taken for granted.  I follow and read the blogs of many new blogging friends, and I realize some of you are struggling with health issues.  My heart goes out to all of you who are having a hard time.  I wish I could do something, even a little something, to make the days easier for you.  I get it - we can't take good health for granted.

So those are some - just a few - of the Simple Pleasures I've enjoyed this week.  Reading, lunch with someone I love, baking, and an acute awareness that we can't ever take anything for granted.

How about you - What Simple Pleasures have you enjoyed this week?

Are you old enough to remember the 60's ?

The post I wrote yesterday made me start thinking about other things I remember from my childhood and I got so much enjoyment from it I thought I'd share some of them with you!

Who hasn't watched I Love Lucy reruns and laughed until your sides hurt?  Even now I can sit at home on a rainy day and watch Lucy and Ethel escapades for hours - and be perfectly happy.  Back then I remember it was a big weekly event when we all gathered around the TV for Lucy, Andy Griffith, and the Ed Sullivan Show.

And how about your Radio Flyer wagon?  How many miles did you put on your wagon?  When we were small, our parents would pull us in it; when we got a little bigger, we would pull little brothers or sisters, and sometimes the dog.  Most of us probably wore the tires off of them!

Entertaining yourself for hours was easy - you just needed an old tire swing, and a tree to hang it from.



And then when we got a bit more independent, we had to have a Schwinn - with streamers - and a bell.    And if you were a really lucky kid, you had a basket on the handle bars!  Those days you could ride everywhere in your neighborhood without a worry, as long as you were home in time for dinner.



When we got into high school in my neighborhood, we were all after the boy who's parents bought him the 1965 Mustang - now that was hot!

Ahhh - those were the days!  Things seemed so simple, safe, and easy back then...............

Unless of course you remember Woodstock - now that would be a whole other story!





My First Cottage Project is Underway!

When I was a kid back in the 60's, one of my favorite things to look forward to was the long trips we used to make to my Grandfather's farm in the summer.  That farm is one of the reasons I think I feel a pull to living in the country and trying to replicate a more simple time of life. The memories I have of that old farm are still very vivid, and very special. 

When we'd arrive at the farm, one of the first things my Grandfather would do would be to hook up an old wooden trailer to his tractor.  We'd all pile on the trailer for a ride through the fields and the woods, and finally down to a creek on the other side of the woods.  All of us kids would bounce around in that old trailer, hanging on to the wooden slats on the sides, and screaming everytime he'd hit a rut, or go down a hill.

When we got to the creek, we'd all line up for what we thought was a huge treat.  My Grandfather kept an old tin cup hanging on a tree branch that we'd all use to get a cool drink of water out of the spring fed creek.  We'd each patiently wait our turn, and we'd pass that tin cup to each other as if that creek water was the best thing we'd ever tasted!  That same old tin cup hung on that tree for as long as I can remember. 

We'd all play in the creek until we were soaked, tired and cold, then we'd make the long ride back to the house.  When we'd get back, our parents would have a picnic lunch ready for us on the porch.  Sitting on my Grandfather's porch is still one of the memories I draw on when I need to remember a calm, safe, and peaceful time.  I've thought about it many times in the past few months.

He had an old porch swing on one end of the porch that the other kids would all fight over to sit on, but my favorite place to be was on one of the old metal chairs that were off to the side by themselves.  These 4 chairs were mismatched, rusted, and well worn.  My Grandmother and Grandfather had used them well over the years.

Sitting on those chairs I would make up stories of what I thought my Grandmother would be like if she was there with me.  She had died when I was very young and I don't have any memories of her at all.  So I would make up memories, and talk to her, while sitting on those old chairs where I knew she had spent so much time.  A silly little girl's game, I guess. 

I've always had so many sweet memories of those old rusted metal chairs. They remind me of picnics with cousins, aunts, uncles, and of course my Grandfather, on summer and fall afternoons.  They remind me of picking fresh strawberries and blackberries; they remind me of pumpkins in the fall; they remind me of the old tin cup at the creek, and a Grandmother I never knew.

So now I've set out to recreate some of those old memories with my own old chairs.  After searching estate sales, yard sales, and auctions, I finally found 4 old, rusted, mismatched, metal chairs I'm re-doing to use on our porch.  (My husband doesn't get this part - he thinks if you want brightly painted chairs, you buy brightly painted new chairs.)

But, I've decided I want to know someone used, and loved, my chairs before I found them - I'd like to think someone made some memories of their own in the old chairs!

I started by first using a wire brush to get off some of the rust, then I used a product called Naval Jelly, which took off most of the remaining paint and rust.  I also had someone tell me oven cleaner would do the same thing. 

The Naval Jelly seems to take it down to the bare metal, and makes the primer coat go on smoother.



After sanding, sanding, and more sanding - the first one was ready for the white primer.

I may have taken on more than I can finish this week - but - I'm determined I'm going to have my chairs finished before I move!  So, I'm off to Hobby Lobby for paint............



We'll see how it goes from here!





I'm Putting Some Fun in Monday!

I'm jumping in on a Blog Hop to energize Monday around here!

I came across this yesterday as I was trying to get caught up on all I've missed lately. What a fun idea to jump start your email subscriptions - I love it!

Welcome to Mailbox Monday!! A blog hop to boost your subscriber count!

Hosted by A little of this A little of that… , Simply Stacie and This Mama Loves Her Bargains

Here’s how to join in the fun:

Add your blog link to the linky

Subscribe by email to the three hostesses. They will return the favor.

Visit the other blogs on the list and subscribe by email to the ones that interest you. Leave them a comment with your blog link so they know you are subscribing from Mailbox Monday. Don’t forget to confirm your subscription!

Everyone is welcome to participate. Each week a new linky will be generated so make sure you stop by on Monday’s to add your blog.

Your blog *must* have a place for people to e-mail subscribe.We will be subscribing to everyone’s blog who participates. If there isn’t an e-mail subscribe option, your link will be removed from the linky.

The Mailbox Monday Blog of the Week is The Family Fanatic which takes the #4 spot on the linky. Next week, we will choose from this week’s participants for the Blog of the Week.

Help us spread the word about Mailbox Monday! Write a post for your blog and add the blog hop code.

Let’s have fun and meet (and read via email) some new blogs!

Oh, My! I owe you all a big THANK YOU!

Well, my friends, I want to start with an apology, and a thank you, to all of you who have hung on in this little corner of my world, even though I have been shamefully on the missing list.  I appreciate you more than you'll ever know. 

So many things have happened in the past 3 months.  Some days I was absolutely giddy with joy; other days I was crushed with worry; and many weeks I was cautiously hopeful.  Some days were so absurd all I could do was sit and laugh at all the nonsense!  The ups and downs of it all about wore me out, and the stress level around here was almost unbearable some weeks.  But as we all know - you get through it somehow - and you move on. 

And that's what we're doing, literally moving on.

Here's the quick version of events -

~ After 2 months of off and on negotiations (some very contentious negotiations), we sold our farm.  We've sold other farms and ranches over the years, and it was always a pleasant, easy and uneventful move.  This was a completely opposite deal, and we even stopped the negotiation completely at one point because it became too stressful.  But it's done, and we're satisfied with the end result - just getting to this point was not fun. 

~ We bought a piece of land we had loved since the first time we saw it, but there's no house on it, so we're a little frantic trying to get a small house and barn built. 

~ Everyday we're working on plans, building fences so we can move horses and cows, packing, working, and trying to find a little bit of "normal" in the day.

~ In the middle of it all - a totally random event added even more chaos to the mix.  I got hit by a truck in a grocery store parking lot while I was loading groceries into the back of my car.  (More about this in another post.)  But I was lucky - I was only slightly injured and have completely recovered.  What has turned out to be almost worse than getting hit by the truck is trying to get the guy's insurance company to pay for the emergency room and ambulance costs.  Very frustrating.

I was beginning to think my Karma needed work - I was a magnet for craziness!  But, I guess perspective is everything.  Now that I can take a step back without being overwhelmed, I can see the joy in the unlimited possibilities of building the little cottage I've always wanted to live in.  I can see the beauty of the land we'll call home.  And I am so grateful I am able to enjoy it all with my family. 

This will be our new drive way - this is the same old farm I took so many pictures of last fall and spring!  I loved it the first time we stumbled on it - and I love it even more now!  You can check out the pictures on the left side bar - A Walk in the Woods - if you're interested.  It's one of those things that just feesl like it was meant to be.

We may be living in a camper trailer for a couple of months until we finish the cottage, but I'm going to look at it as a new adventure - not an inconvenience!  As long as we can get satelite internet and DTV hooked up, I think we'll be fine!

It's already looking like fall on the pine tree lined drive.

I think my posts for the next few months will be centered on the progress of what we're building; the old pieces of furniture I've found and am refinishing for the cottage; and the decorating projects that are swimming around in my head.  I might be a little excited!