~One Door Closes Another Opens~

It's a beautiful morning here the sun is out and it's supposed to be a hot one but I'm ready for it, January and February can seem so long and all you can think about are those long, hot summer days so we finally got our wish:) We are finished with our pool, yeah!!! had it perfect then we had a day of all rain and it made it cloudy so Stush was back to square one with it right after he shocked it, .... I'm waiting until the sun hits the pool just right before taking some pictures to share with you.
As you know from a past post here that we celebrated our two year anniversary and with any marriage you have your ups and downs, well Stush and I are going thur one of our down ones. As of last Friday the steelmill he had worked at for 36 years closed and I feel so bad for him losing a job at the age of 58, he can't retire because in a last episode the mill had changed his contract where it had reduced his retirement fund, that is one reason I haven't been posting everyday like I want too (I feel that if I started a blog I should at least post 4 to 5 days a week to keep all you great ladies coming back and keep you interested:) I tend to withdraw into myself when things go wrong and I can't figure out how to make it right) but I think a blog helps alot of ladies when they are able to write things down and get it out of their systems, I hoping that it will help me. Any way , we are trying to watch the money now which is hard because we always could do what we want... he does get unemployment and sub for two years but we think he is going to have to go to college to take computer classes, which is right down from us thank God because at least he won't have to travel and there will be no worries about the cost of gas. I'm also realizing that I'll have to locally find a job which I DO NOT WANT TO DO but I know I need too. There is of course alot of rumors going on in which they say that there are buyers trying to buy the steelmill and come August they will all be back to work I can only pray that is true, we certainly aren't the only ones affected by this, my son-in-law lost his job too he worked at the same place, thank goodness my daughter has a good job. I've been trying to figure out a way to at least bring in some money to pay my bills that I brought into this marriage....I could sell on ebay but with all the talk about their fees I'm a little afraid of starting that and Etsy is all homemade..I just don't know what to do! Believe me I'm counting my blessings and I know that God doesn't close one door without opening another (I've experienced this personally) so I will keep on praying that everything will work out for the best, I just wanted to let all you wonderful ladies know what is going on in my space of the world:) I didn't want you to think that I was ignoring you:)
Now on to much brighter topics....I'm keeping my eye on the pool as I type and the sun is creeping along inch by inch and I'm going to take some pics and post them as soon as possible today and also my Show and Tell today too! I'll be back soon:) Thank you also for listening to me, I'm feeling better already:)

~Julie's Giveaway~

Such great work!!!

We have had some storms this morning but now the sun is shining:) We have also been busy with the outside still!!! Plus babysitting and by 11:00 PM I'm so tired... I couldn't even watch the Penguin game Monday night, actually thought they were losing anyway so I went to bed and found out in the morning that they went into overtime and and won! My youngest drove to Detriot to see the game and said it was probably the best game the Peguins have ever played! So congradulations to the Pittsburgh Penguins! I've been blog hopping this morning and stopped by to see Julie at http://julie-countrygirlatheart.blogspot.com/ it is her 50th blog and she wanted to celebrate so made a prim, patriotic, wallhanging quilt for the giveaway:) Her quilting looks wonderful and I especially love the one she has hanging on her front door, sigh... I just have a thing for crows and saltboxes! So stop by to visit and leave a comment and if you have a blog and you post about it on your blog she will enter you twice. Good Luck!

Hopefully I'll have pictures of my back porch and pool in a few days just trying to get everything in place been doing alot of spray painting. LOL

~Show & Tell~

Hi Everyone!
This is my first time to do Show & Tell so I'm going to give it a shot:) BTW Kelli at http://kellishouse.blogspot.com/ hosts this every Friday so if you want to join in on the fun visit her blog she always has some interesting posts, recipes and projects for you to try! Kelli's idea for this week was the master bedroom, mine is still not decorated to my liking so I'm going to share my guestroom. The patriotic quilt my daughter gave me for my birthday one year and I've always loved it and imagine my surprise when I opened my latest issue of Country Sampler and saw one like it used on a owners bed, of course she had the matching pillowshams which I wish I had but I instead bought these pillowcases on ebay, loved the extra long length of them. The nightstand I found at a yard sale, painted white, for $15.00 and then I painted it black:) On the pegrack, to the right is an old, blue, baby Amish dress and the sign I made that says Herbs & Thyme ,the patriotic angel doll I found for $3.00. The lamp is like one I just fell in love with at one time in a prim catalog but to expensive for me so.....I found the lamp part at Walmart already black and the lampshade I already had, you can't tell by the light but it is a barnred check. Oh, and the repro 1940's clock radio that I just love! Well, I've had fun doing this and I hope all of you enjoyed it, hopefully I'll be able to post the master bedroom soon. Have a great weekend!!!

~Ebay Win~

Good morning!

I wanted to show you what I won on Ebay, I've been wanting one for so long for my bathroom, it's called a candle rack and has such great smelling candles (apple pie) hanging from it. It came very well packaged and boy did it smell good when I opened the box:) I found it on Saw-Dusty's Cabin...she has such neat and well made prim items in her shop, I was very pleased and will go back again!

This takes me one step closer to finishing in there, I'm still leaning towards a black, checked or plaid shower curtain and I'm going to make a sampler too for the wall in redware with a black frame or black thread with barnred accents.....it's fun planning everything isn't it? Now just to find the time to do it:)

~Give Away at Kindra's~

Hi, it's a little chilly here in PA but that's okay the sun is shining away and it is beautiful out 'here!
I wanted to get my friends give away posted before I get into the chores of the day, Kindra from
http://3guysagirlandaprimplace.blogspot.com/ is giving away two, yes, I said two prizes for her grand opening of her Etsy store... she is selling her wonderful handmade prims , so please stop in and check her out you will just love her prim stuff... so well made!!! I just love the blocks with the names on them and that birdhouse is to die for!
Have a good day everyone and enjoy this wonderful weather because the 80's & 90's aren't to far off!

~Back and Front Yard~

Hi everyone!!! We have been busy with the outside and still have to finish the front....powerwash the porch and sidewalk and new mulch, I think I need a wreath that shows up more on the door. The stool there next to the birdhouse is made from twigs with a patriotic wood flag on top, bought it Sunday for 5.00. In front of it is a piece of cement with the word primitive carved in it, found that last year for 2.00, the duck planter a 1.00 at a yardsale I had it always in the back but this year figured I'd put it out front.

This is the left side of our home.....my plant, clay pots and birdhouses are sitting on an old, weathered side of a wagon where the plant is sitting the wood is cut out for where the wheel would have been. It's neat huh? My brother-in-law is into antiques and gave it to me and I was

thrilled, it's quite heavy.

I love birdhouses and will by any that I like at yardsales so that I can hang them from the tree and yes they use them:)

This is the front, we have alot of trees so there is alot of shade, at the fleamarket last Sunday I bought some Hostas and planted them around the tree I know they will grow there at least. I just did the sign that says Garden on it I nailed it to the tree and on the black, iron hook I hung a beehive birdhouse that I found at Big Lots for 10.00 instead of putting a hanging plant there like I usually do. I'm trying not to have to many plants this year because watering will be a little harder this year because of my knee.

Last year I had nothing but pink impatients planted here but I thought I'd try something different ..... put in snapdragons, petunias and the lavender geranium that the girls bought for me, I can't wait to see it all growed in. Oh, and by the way this is the back yard, I'll show pics of the pool when we get the divingboard on and railings.

The shelf Stush made for me and the sign I made, it says Simple Goods!

This is the side of the pool house by the way, I carried the rocks up from down the end of the property two at a time and paid for it dearly the next day but it was worth it, I think it made it look more primitive. The twig fence I got for 10.00 at a craft show years ago and my clematis is climbing right up next to the watering can:) I can't believe it survived the winter, I even forget what color flowers it has:) I hope you enjoyed the pics, Stush is so used to seeing his property but not me, I get up every morning and thank God for letting me veiw this in every season!

~Our Anniversary~

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, the weather here was just beautiful and we were busy getting the back yard and pool ready. It was a special day for us as today is our anniversary! It's been two years..... goofey me thought it was three and Stush said "no it's just two" and this morning brought out the marriage license, and he was right:) I had to take a picture of it. Stush and I have known each other since he was in 8th grade and me in 7th all thur Jr. high and highschool, but went out separate ways until we met up again about seven years ago. We dated for 5 years because we both wanted to be sure this time around!!! Oh and by the way his birthday is April 8th and mine is April 7th.....I always thought that was pretty neat!