I'm BACK!!

WOW!  I can't believe I haven't posted anything since the summer of 2010!  Well, too much time has passed to update on everything that has happened since then.  I have a new outlook on life and all it's blessings and goodness.   So I'll just say hello for now, fellow bloggers and I am looking forward to posting and catching up with you all soon.  I have to look back and see what this blog was all about since it's been so long.  I hope to pass the rest of the winter with you all and find some new friends along the way.  :) 

A Few Treasures and the Best Helper I Could Ever Ask For.

Hi all
  Well...where do I start?  Things sure have been busy here.  While Hunny is clearing and discing land in preparation for hay seed, I have been tending to the cows and making sure they are happy.  My 3 year old niece has been visiting and staying at my Moms...so I have been trying to spend some time with her.  My goddaughter is getting married in a WEEK!!  She has asked me to take the pictures of her and her bridesmaids while they are at the salon getting their hair and makeup done and also of the groom and his attendants getting dressed the day of the wedding.  So I have been trying to find creative ways to take pictures of 10 men all dressed alike!  I am also responsible for printing out the bulletins for the church service.  So I have been designing several templates for her to choose from.  If that weren't enough...my brother bought a house and it closed today, so Mom and I cleaned it and moved most of his things in there today.  While cleaning, I found these two wooden chairs that the previous owner had left there.  They need to be stripped and sanded, of course.  But I just love these old wooden chairs:

Here's what the top of it looks like.  It looks like it was painted green under the white:

The second chair is just plain...but I like it anyway:

I went to the Thrift Store a few weeks ago ( haven't taken the time to take pics until now).  I found this spice rack, which I plain to prim up a bit: 

And these candle sconces:

I also hit a yard sale.  I didn't find very much though.  But I thought I could do something with this mirror.  Maybe paint it and take out the "Life is good at the Beach" sign and replace it with something more prim.  What do you all think?

One of  my best friends, Vicki, decided to have a yard sale and she was kind enough to let me look through her things before she put out her signs.  I picked out these treasures, among others.  This cute little cubbyhole shelf that I plan to use in my new office area that Hunny is building:

A wall shelf that may get its heart covered up with a star when it gets painted:

And this wall shelf that I plan to paint also.  Thank you , Vicki:

 So you see...I have a bunch of projects to get to...I just need to find a way to squeeze more hours in a day! 

  My niece likes to help out on the farm when she visits.  She's very independent and wants to do everything herself.  She's a great helper.  She told her Mom that she has to visit us more often because she has a job over here.  Aren't kids the BEST!!

Here she is feeding the calves.  She mixed the milk replacer by herself:

She is not afraid of the cows at all.  Here she is feeding the dry cows:

After we did our work, we decide to take a tractor ride to see if we could see some ducks in the water hole on the farm.  This pic is not great because it was taken through the window of the tractor.   We saw four ducks:

And we got a surprise!  A bunny!  It stayed in front of us for a really long time.  Again this pic was taken through the windshield: 

What a nice reward to end a long hot day of farm chores.  It just goes to show us that it doesn't matter how busy we get, we should always take time to enjoy the world around us and the many simple pleasures it has to offer.

Until next time, stay safe...and take the time to sit back and enjoy natures beauty that surrounds YOU!


Lori

Coffee Grinder

Hi friends.
  I'm sorry I haven't been posting much lately.  I really haven't been in the mood to tackle ANYTHING on my "to-do" list lately.  It may be a result of the heat and humidity.  While I do love the warmth...the humidity I can certainly live without!  We're having temperatures in the 25-30 C (77-86 F) range and the humidity has been ranging from around 65 - 85%.  It's very uncomfortable and not conducive to working on hobbies...or anything else for that matter! 
  There was also a tragic accident that shook up our little circle of communities quite a bit.  A young man (31 yrs old) was killed in an ATV accident.  We live in a place where everybody knows everybody.  This person was full of life and he lived each day as it was meant to be lived.  He always had a smile and was happiest when he was making other people laugh.  He had a HUGE circle of friends and family. Such a terrible loss of life.
  On a  lighter note...I did receive an E-bay purchase that I'd been waiting for.  It's a coffee grinder!  I love it.  I don't know how old it is...but I really like the look of it:

  We baled some more hay this past week...and I managed to get in on the field before I got too busy and took a few pics of Hunny in action.  Here is my Hunny baling hay in the Kubota on the right while the Boss is loading the hay unto the truck with the Massey on the left.  You may have to click on the pic to enlarge it:

 Here he goes..baling another one: 

And here it is:

Great job, Hunny!  In total we baled 362 bales of hay.  It's only the first cut yet...so we are very happy with that since it's almost as much as we had last year in two cuts.  We are hoping to get just as much or more in our second cut. That will be enough to feed our cows for the entire year without having to buy hay....YAY!! 
 
Well,  I hope to have a more interesting post next time.  So until then, I hope you all stay safe and I hope you are enjoying your summer...wherever you may be!  

Lori

  

Yard Sale Finds & Finally Finished Magazine Holder

Hi
  I hope everybody had a great weekend and I hope my American followers had a relaxing Independence Day weekend.  I did some yard sale hunting this weekend and I finally finished the magazine holder for my bathroom that I started...I don't even remember when!
  A friend of my Moms wanted to know if she could set up a yard sale in the driveway to the farm.  (There is a pretty big open space off to one side of the driveway and we are situated on the main highway so it's the perfect place to set up).  We told her to go ahead...but I wanted first pick :)  So Saturday morning I went over and helped her unpack and set everything up.  I found a few interesting items.  I have these 3 cutting/bread boards.  Of course the one with the flowers obviously needs a little makeover.  I kind of like the round one like it is...not sure yet though:

 
  I have been wanting some of these steamed pudding molds for a long time.  I found the 2 bigger ones and snatched them up immediately.  When I got home and was showing Hunny what I bought, I realized there was something in the biggest one!  I opened it up and there was the little one!  Lucky me ;p

Here's what the one on the left looks like on the bottom:

I saw this cake cover thingy right away.  I wasn't sure if I wanted it or not, but I kept going back to it and in the end I said well, why not.  I guess I could paint it.  What do you guys think?  Any ideas as to what to do with it or what to use it for?  The little kettle is hand made by a local guy and was used by the yard sale ladies husband often when he was away working:

In the end I had a few other little things as well as a box of 32 glasses (large, med and small) for my brother.  Guess what I paid for it all!! The glasses cost $5.00.  And the dear old gal was going to GIVE me the rest for helping her unpack, but I felt I had to give her something so we decided on another $5:00! 

 So I got home and Hunny decided we should get out of the house for a while and go for a drive.  YAY...I just happened to know of a few more yard sales so I chose the route and off we went.  Well, it wasn't as productive as I'd anticipated.  I managed to find this basket and ladle though:

I didn't like the ladle as it was, so it got a bit of paint and here it is now on my dining room wall:

It's not all black...here's a closer view:

Finally, here is the magazine holder I made.  I know...the star is not perfect...but I don't mind that...perfect is BORING!  I wanted to "prim" it up a bit more.  But Hunny is a little resistant to the look so I had to be good.  It's hard to see, but some of the edges are sanded down a little:

I just realized that is a terrible picture.  I'll try to get a better one for my next post. 

So that ends my weekend.  For my American followers I thought I'd post a few pictures I shot while we were driving around, so you can experience a little bit of this beautiful place we call home:

And we saw some sheep...they were soooo cute!

Thank you all so much for visiting.  Until next time...stay safe and keep smiling.


Lori

Canada Day/Memorial Day

Hi all

 It's the first of July...which to us Canadians means a celebration!  1867 marks the year that Canada was formed when it united with 3 British North American colonies...making a total of 4 provinces.  Tonight there will be fireworks at the local park to top off a day of festivities for adults and kids alike.  Happy 143rd birthday Canada!

 Today marks another anniversary as well, for us Newfoundlanders, as we were not part of Canada until March 31st 1949.   July 1st, 1916 was the first day of The Battle of the Somme.  At the Battle of Beaumont Hamel, France, within 30 minutes 733 soldiers of the 1st Newfoundland Regiment were either dead or wounded.  Only 68 answered the roll call the next day.  A replica of the monument in Beaumont Hamel is erected in Bowring Park, St. John's, our capital city:

"The Fighting Newfoundlander" is also in the park and is a tribute to the Royal Newfoundland Regiment.  Corporal Thomas Pittman, who was present and injured in Beaumont Hamel, posed for the statue.

 So while we are watching the fireworks this evening, let us also remember our boys who so bravely gave their lives that fateful day in Beaumont Hamel, France.

On a lighter note.  We have most of our first cut hay mowed and baled.  It was a long, hot couple of days but I wouldn't trade farm life for anything.  One of my favorite things to look at is freshly baled hay waiting to be picked up in the field.  This is the biggest field that we had seeded this year.  We are really pleased with the crop so far.  This picture shows a section of the field:

I still haven't gotten around to finishing my projects  :(   I am hoping to get back at them this weekend so watch for updates.  Thanks to everyone for following along.  I hope you enjoy reading my blog and learning a little about my life.  Happy Canada Day...and lest we forget!

Busy, busy, busy!

Hi everyone
  Well, it's been such a busy week here.  I haven't had time to work on any of my projects at all!  Between birthdays, bridal showers, working and spending an entire evening at the hospital with Mom, I haven't had a chance to do anything "FUN"!  Tomorrow we start baling hay.  Hopefully I will have a few pics to post. I promise to post a more exciting update soon.  My baby brother  ( he's 21 ;p )  is here for the night so I am cutting this one short.  Have a great Monday everybody! 

Lori

A few projects I've been working on

Hi all....3 of you!

As I said in an earlier post, I have been working on a few things this week and I'm very excited to share them with you.  I don't have them all completed yet...but this way you can follow my progress.  I'm hoping to have them finished and in their appropriate homes soon.  I made some more labels for the some bottles in my bathroom.  Here's a before shot of what the bottles looked like: 

And here's what they look like now:

Hunny gave me an early birthday present!  I LOVE it: 

So I'm putting it to good use.  I bought this mail box at a yard sale.  The ugly, thick dark green had to go.  It had a winter barnyard scene that was really quite nice but not exactly what I wanted on it so I started stripping it off .  I forgot to get a before shot when I started, so here it is just after I started stripping the paint off: 

I stripped and sanded to the bare wood and then gave it a coat of primer and a black undercoat.  I still haven't decided what color I want to paint it.  My options are chocolate brown to match the cushion on the bench in my entry hall...or maybe yellow ochre, just because I like the color.  I'm open to suggestions:

I'm really proud of this magazine rack I started yesterday.  I hope I'm not stealing anyones copyright here.  I saw this in a magazine and thought  "I can make that".  I still have some sanding to do and of course it has to be painted.  It is going to be black and it will be hung in my bathroom.  My version has smaller dimensions and the top is a bit different:

And finally...I made these "sock dryer's".  I got the pattern for these here  http://simplyprim.blogspot.com/ ...thank you Kris!  These are just adorable!  I intend to hang one of them in my laundry room and the other is a gift for a friend.  They are also not finished yet...still trying to decide if I want to stain them or paint them.  Any ideas?

So that's what I have been up to this week. I hope you've enjoyed looking at my projects as much as I have enjoyed working on them.  I will post more pics when I have them completed.  Until then...Happy Sunday!!

 Lori