Christmas 2007

The holiday season for us always starts out with the Birthday celebration of our little Christmas angel baby Josh (who's not a baby anymore - only in mom's heart). It was the usual with the whole fam including g-parents at our favorite Mexican restaurant. It was great as usual and we were stuffed. Josh ate his usual one bite of cake and the rest of us devoured it - on top of Mexican food. We were stuffed! Here's Josh & all 4 of his grandparents!

We spent Christmas at the farm of course with our family. It was so much fun. We went to my folks' house a few minutes away Christmas eve and had all MY family there and all us kids went in together and got my parents a nice Howard Miller wall clock that chimes that they'd wanted for a long time. They had no idea that we'd gotten it. We all pretended they didn't have any presents to open while all the rest of us opened ours. Then their present was the grand finale! They loved it!
Mom's and dad's faces say it all! They were thrilled with their clock!
Here's my hubby with a silly grin playing Santa Claus passing out gifts at mom's house.My three kids - I think this is the only one I actually got of them all together. They're never all in the same place at once. You know how that is... I'll get back to Christmas a little later...
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I lovedVee's post where she was taking random photos of things at her house. Made me chuckle cuz it's fun just to be random sometimes, isn't it? I've got lots of random photos myself. Lots of random thoughts, too, right? I randomly ramble alot, don't I?
Well, gotta get off the computer - this one is my daughter's and she swears she's going to have a cow if she can't check her MySpace or FaceBook one more time before she goes to bed (OMGosh). My PC at home is junk, my husband has his and is out of town, and the boys are not here of course with theirs, so I hijacked the Princess's computer for a few minutes. Photos are on my work computer - I'll be back soon - Take care everyone. Thanks for all your posts! I was so pleased when it said "8 comments" on my last post! Thank you thank you thank you!

Busy Busy Busy Week

It's been busy busy this week! You all are, too, I know. I haven't had time for much blogging and today I'll make it short and sweet! Thanks to all of you who take the time to visit me.

Princess and I closed out the stores last night trying to get finished up shopping. Now all I need is gold ribbon and bows and would you believe that I'm having a hard time finding it! Everybody's about out. Of course, it's not really my fault that I've waited until the last minute, is it?????

MY KIDS ARE MY LIFE. Friday is #2 son's 22nd birthday, so we'll pause the Christmas stuff, and take time to make him feel special. I always order him a cake (even tho he doesn't eat sweets - but the rest of the family does!) and he'll smile, take one bite and leave the rest to us. #2 is the strong silent type. A young man of few words, but when he DOES speak, it's usually something worth hearing. Typical middle child when he was young. I miss him being little SO MUCH!!! He and I were so close and he "needed" more of me than my other 2 independent kids. My husband likes to tell him now that he was like a leech on me - we had to peel him off of me. He loved me so much. We always had a 1/2 year birthday for him when he was young since his birthday falls right at Christmas. We never combined birthday and Christmas for him. We always told him that he was our special Christmas angel baby. And he looked it - he was blue-eyed and had white blond straight silky hair. He really looked like a baby until he was probably 8 or 9. I kept him in bubble suits (which I smocked myself) and knickers until he was almost 5 and my husband finally told me that was enough. I had to let him grow up. : (

I made nearly all of his outfits - all English smocking and all originals - probably more for him for than my daughter. He had a new smocked bubble or knickers or button on shirt/shorts nearly every other Sunday when he was little)

#2 son is on the right and #1 son is on the left - they are standing with their grandpa. I think they're kinda cute myself. They are both tall like all my people. I miss them being little..... I would love to have them climbing up on my lap and snuggling. #2 son spent the first 6 or 7 years in my lap, but he's grown up into a very nice respectful and mannerly young man. I'm proud of all my kids.

Here is Princess, spoiled by our whole family - mostly her brothers - the only girl, so you can imagine she really IS a Princess. But she's growing out of it. I will fill you in on her and her oldest brother another time. (I think I said short & sweet on this blog, didn't I) I will say that Princess can slug and hit and scream and is just as tough and crass as her big brothers at times .... so lady-like.....

Back to the Birthday Party - We ALWAYS have all the grandparents and our whole family for our birthdays for the kids. They have a favorite Mexican food restaurant we always go to, and we take the Cake and presents and celebrate. Can you believe that my husband and I still have all 4 of our parents!!!! We are so blessed , and so far they are still in good health. They have been such an important part of our kids' lives and have helped to not only baby-sit (we never called sitters), but they have reinforced all the Christian ideals and morals and Godly ways to live that my husband and I have tried to instill in them. Of course they're not perfect! None of us are. But how great a blessing it is to have that extended family - and they all live here, too. Our kids have all admitted to us that they feel so lucky to know that they are loved, that our family is STABLE, that there was never divorce nor will be, and they have seen by looking at their friends how blessed we all are. I hope and pray that they will carry these beliefs and standards forward into their futures. I pray for their future mates every single day that they, too, will have these same beliefs and will be committed to God. It's so hard to find that nowadays. Most kids have experienced divorce and other traumas in their lives and it's no fault of their own. The Lord has been so good to us to leave our folks around to help us raise these kids of ours and to spend valuable time with them. What more could I ask?

Christmas blessings to you all - Vickie

Off to the Farm!

Hi - it's Friday so you know what that means!!! We're off to the farm again. I live for the weekends right now. Looks like we may need to find an indoor project to work on tho. Hubby says he's got lots to do outside tomorrow trimming trees and burning, etc., but I told him he may freeze his buns off. It's supposed to be cold and winds of 20-30 mph. Whew! We CAN build a huge fire tomorrow afternoon after the winds die down and if it's not raining, sit around the fire until late. I absolutely love sitting around the fire staring into the wavey flames. It throws me into a trance and I can get lost daydreaming or sometimes I feel like I'm just "zoning out" and think of nothing at all. I get all warm and sleepy sitting there listening to it crackle and burn.

We were sitting outside last night for a little bit and saw some shooting stars go flying across the eastern sky. I remember seeing a blurb on Yahoo or somewhere and it said Dec 13 and 14 were going to be good nights to watch for meteor showers. Of course tonight's sky is going to be covered with clouds. So I'm glad we caught a little shooting star action last night.

We're planning on making a huge caldron of venison chili outside tomorrow - the kids & various friends and our folks always come out for Saturday evening expecting good eats. Tomorrow I think it will be a "chili" day! (no pun intended)

I will take the Christmas gifts I've already got and get them wrapped and under the tree at the farmhouse, and do a little more decorating, maybe a little baking, who knows. I was thinking of looking at some of the great blogs I've looked at this week and find a neat project to work on for Christmas. It'll go by all too quickly I know.

Have a great weekend. I hope to have some more pictures Monday. I haven't shown you my family - Vickie

A Party! (pity party, that is!)

Good afternoon - just a quick note to self. Should I or should I not have both our houses decorated for Christmas - our family house or the farmhouse? I am not a humbug, but having to do everything myself (practically), all the decorating, all the shopping for our families on both sides, all the wrapping, hold down an almost full time job, cook, clean, put up the tree, take down the tree, put up the lights, take down the lights, take care of my family and remember everything for everyone else around me, the list is endless - plus the added pressure of having to deal with the checkbook at this time of year.... My dear husband does as much as he can, but he has a stressful time consuming job, and I try to take as much stress off of him as I can.

I think I'm going to only decorate the farmhouse. I've asked my kids and hubby which house they'd rather have Christmas in and nobody seemed too committed one way or the other, I chose the farmhouse. It's smaller, there'll be less to do, and if they whine about not having it in our home where they've all grown up, well then they should have spoken up a little sooner. Princess has a job and attends classes at our local community college, my oldest of course lives in Nashville, and the middle son has an apartment and is in college and works. So you see, it's not as if they could all pitch in and help me out all the time. Princess helps out somewhat and anything at all is appreciated.

Guess it's just this time in my life - probably many of you out there in blogland are in my shoes. I'm meeting myself coming and going most days, and I'm tired and I've begun having back problems and vision problems from sitting at a desk and working on a computer every single day. I don't have those complaints when I'm out at the farm. I will have to work for another year or two or three until #2 son and Princess are out of college. Boy, am I looking forward to that! We were very blessed that during the young formative years of our kids, I was able to stay home with them. We made sacrifices for me to stay home, but I didn't go back to work until Princess was in high school. It was nice. I'm going to spend my time when I quit working my day job - on my garden and plein aire painting and helping others and spending precious time with dear friends and family more and whatever else my little heart desires!

Well, I'll quit my pity party for today. Must mean that I haven't been spending enough time counting my blessings - which are infinite! I'll have a better attitude tomorrow. Christmas is coming and I love Christmas! Vickie

Estate Sales & Turkeys

We're off to the farm until Sunday evening! YEA! Hope it doesn't rain, we have a lot of work to do! it's supposed to be 81 degrees tomorrow and muggy. WOW - December and Texas weather. We'll come in for church Sunday morning of course, and then back out for the afternoon.

I went to an estate sale Thursday a.m. for a little old great grandmother who'd recently died at the ripe old age of 98. Her granddaughter was doing the sale and she had some really great prices. Usually, around here the estate sales are held by estate sales handlers and they have things marked up so high that most of us can't afford to buy anything. But this was a nice lady who wanted to sell everything at a fair price and so I didn't even feel the need to dicker with her - sort of felt like she was short-changing herself. I didn't get there until mid-morning, so I'm sure I missed some good stuff. But I did find a few bargains.

My husband loves old metal yard chairs and we have 6 and a glider. I have paid anywhere from $25 to $45 for good chairs. At this estate sale I was able to get one chair for $15 and one for $20 which I thought was great. My hubby sands them and repaints them - he's repainted them all a different bright color (my daughter thinks it looks "gay" to not have them all the same color - do I care? NO). Both our grandparents had these old chairs and it just brings back such great memories. .......... I can still remember my granddad and my daddy and my uncles all sitting under the big mimosa tree before and after mamaw and all the women cooked dinner and they'd all be leaning back in those metal chairs a little with full bellies and with their boots all propped up on the tree trunk. Like as not, they'd all be spittin' tobacco and solvin' the problems of the world - you didn't wanna walk around barefooted by the mimosa tree while they were sittin' out there! (hey-maybe that was a way to keep us kids away while they were jawing and chawing!) All the men got to eat first, then the women and us kids. Mamaw didn't have air-conditioning either, just an old water cooler in the living room. All the womenfolk would be in the kitchen cooking and sweating, but boy - could Mamaw cook! She & Papaw always raised all their own food and we had fresh vegetables and homemade everything at her house. She is my reason for doing the whole farm thing! It's in my blood.

I will pause here and go off on a tangent because I thought of a funny story about being at Mamaw's - Mamaw and Pappaw raised big white turkeys among other things. When I was about 12, my younger sister and cousin and I got into the turkey pen. It seemed to be so funny to us that if you squawked, it made all the turkeys gobble. So we were sqawking away and they were gobbling, and one thing led to another, and pretty soon we were trying to catch us a turkey. Well, then it became a game to see who could catch one first. We were all chasing and laughing and squawking and the turkeys were gobbling and freaking out and running around crazy and stirring up dirt and we were all having a ball. We had one turkey singled out like a calf and we all began chasing it. After only what seemed like a few minutes we cornered the turkey in the shed. It was flapping its wings and then, all of a sudden, it heaved and gave up the ghost and it's big ole knobby head fell over on the ground and then its body followed. IT WAS DEAD!!! We had scared the poor turkey absolutely to death! We all looked at each other and started screaming and crying. Then we ran into Mamaw's house and told her what happened. She was livid. But she never said a word. Instead, she went over to the turkey pen, and got the turkey out. Then she sat us down outside with a washtub, and told us to git busy plucking it. She finally said, "ya'll did this, and ya'll are going to get it ready to cook or put in the freezer. I'm not going to let it spoil." We were totally grossed out of course, we had to do everything to that turkey, even pull the pinfeathers out after she poured boiling water on it, and clean all the guts out. She stood over us all afternoon until we got it all done, but she never once hollered at us. Well, we never bothered the turkeys again, as you might can guess....
Anyway, back to the estate sale. I bought a vintage real wicker clothes hamper with wooden bottom and top for $5 (this thing was sturdy - you can sit on it), a nice hooked rug for $5, a piece of stained glass from an old church window (I think), and some other small items. Nothing much over $2. I felt it was money well spent. I'm getting to be rather good at looking for bargains - I've learned alot about antiques, glassware, etc., after spending this last year going to sales every single weekend. I have bought alot of "just Junk" before I knew any better (which will go into my moving/garage sale probably after Christmas) but it's been fun searching!

Gotta run - I'm through with work and if anyone reads this I hope you have an especially fun weekend getting ready for Christmas! I plan to - Vickie

More cottage photos

Good morning! I have a few more photos to show you. They are not really in any particular order. I would like to hear your ideas on what to do with this fireplace. It is not functional (sadly) , but I would like to decorate it. It's white brick, and I sanded down into the layers upon layers of old paint through the years and found that vintage greenish bluish color and left it peaking through in many places. I have an old rusted gate that I've leaned up against it. Not sure whether to leave it or put in on the wall somewhere. Those old chippy blue shutters are just laying there, too. That painting is an antique that I got at a garage sale and it's rather dark in real life. I don't know if I'm going to leave it there or not. I have two sets of wall sconces for candles that I thought I may put up there when I decide about the painting or maybe a big mirror.... Any ideas???

THis next one is in my daughter's room. It's an old vanity that a lady at a garage sale practically gave me. She had already stripped the old varnish off and all I had to do was paint it and fix up a little of the veneer on the inside. We put glass knobs on it and it looks SO CUTE! Princess is going to use it for a desk, computer, etc., as well as makeup.

Here is my garden shed that we are fixing up. It was falling down - literally - and our carpenter jacked it up and put new studs and floor into it. He's putting some doors on it and I have some old windows that I bought somewhere that he's going to hinge so that I can swing them out and catch a breeze when I'm out there. We're going to run electricity and water to it from the pumphouse for the garden area. We've still got some work to do on it, but it's gone from the leaning tower of Piza to a sturdy looking garden shed. Our lab, Jake, loves it - he's got a little hay box out there already that he sleeps in at night. My husband bought old weathered wood to replace the rotton stuff with on the outside so it'll look authentic!

We had some shelves built in the tiny bathroom for storage. The bottom I had cabinet doors put on but left the top ones open. I later found an old tablecloth with light blue cutwork on it that I used for a drape over the open top. It's held back with some old blue rhinestone earclips that belonged to the old maid cousin - she really went in for glitz and glam. I have 2 jewelry boxes of this stuff! Still working on the bedroom and things to put on the wall, but I wanted to show you all my headboard. I found a couple of pieces of old iron fencing, had my dad weld them together in the middle, and bracketed to the wall (they were so heavy we couldn't attach them to the bed). I love it and it's really different!

This is the other corner of my bedroom. See the wallhanging? I'll try to get a better photo. I bought this old screen window with shelves on it from Margo at Robolady at her barn sale. We had this awful huge electric panel on the wall and this covered it just perfectly. I put some old quilt behind it to cover the panel. Works great!

Here's just another shot of part of my living room, where you can see the curtains a little better.

In my kitchen at the end of the cabinet, there's this little rounded spot which was open on the bottom. You could put all sorts of neat things there, but I decided since space was a problem that I'd put a skirt around it and use it to store paper goods and extra boxes of soda, etc. I love the little display shelf on top, too. I've started a collection of pitchers. Didn't mean to, but it's evolved into that. See the little brown spice cabinet? Uncle Claude built that, too. I keep aspirin and stuff in it that usually you'd find in a junk drawer. It's so old that I couldn't keep spices in it - it smells really musty even after scrubbing with baking soda, etc. Oh, by the way, I got a really nice surprise yesterday - Vee from A Haven for Vee tagged me. I'm going to figure out what that means and tag some other folks. I wish I had the gift for gab and clever writing that some of you smart ladies have, but alas, I do not. I am in awe of anyone who can hold my attention with words! Talk to you later!

Country life woes

I hurried out to Sand Flat Farm this afternoon after work. My hubby found out that the power had been off in our whole area for quite awhile and I was afraid that the food in the freezer and the fridge maybe had ruined or thawed out. Been there and done that, and it ain't pleasant to clean up, let me tell you. Luckily, the power company must have gotten the electricity restored in time to save my groceries. Everything seemed fine. Maybe a little soft around the edges but OK. Whew! Guess that sort of thing just goes along with country living, huh? I still wouldn't trade it for anything!

I'll have some more photos for you tomorrow. I took some more when I was there this afternoon. I had to stand in the pasture and just stare - you know that "golden glow" that you get in the afternoon just before sundown? At least that's what us artists call it. Everthing is glowing with autumnal colors as well as the warmth from the sun, and it's breathtaking to me. I see it mostly in the fall and winter months. Hard to capture on canvas too, but I'll keep trying.

I'd like to post some of my paintings on my blog at some point. I have some of them on my computer, but the size is too big, will have to take some smaller pics. I'd like to see what you all think about my work. Have a good evening and I'll be back tomorrow. Oh, Margo is bringing me one of her cute "chandies" tomorrow! Can't wait to add it to my garden shed! Vickie

Title lost

Well, the picture is up there, but can't get the SAND FLAT FARM title on there, but this may have to do... Oh well. It's the best I can do for right now. Thanks for being patient with me. I did add a little blurb about our place over on the side above my picture, so maybe that'll help.

Friday afternoon...

Well, I lost my header and photo at the top of the page. I went to the Blog Helper and it seems to be a blog problem which they are working on. I tried to put it back on there, but to no avail.

I really just wanted to say that I'm off to the farmhouse this evening for the weekend and hopefully will get lots of work done. I hope it decides not to rain, but it's not looking very good right now at least for Sunday.

Thanks to Vee and Tina and Margo who made my day by being the first few ladies to look at my novice blog! Have a great weekend! Vickie

I have some new pictures to show you that I took yesterday. These are of my kitchen and living room. We still have some decorating to do, but I'm pleased so far with the results. I wanted "old-timey" and I was thinking shabby chic, but it's looking a little more cottage-y with all the colors I'm using. I think my hubby likes it better than all the white and pink - plus I have him and two sons that are definitely not going to try to go the extra mile to keep white and pink spotlessly clean! So, I think this will work for us.

I'm very proud of my kitchen cabinets - we had to work with what was there and were not going to go in and do new cabinets. Check out my $4 TV cabinet. It was falling apart, got it at a garage sale. I think the lady would have paid me to take it off her property. My dad reinforced some of the loose boards and I painted it pale yellow. It was a nasty dirty white - worse than shabby chic white. I am still looking for a big cupboard to put my TV/video equipment in, but until I find it, this is going to work great. The top opens down to hold my DVD player and videos, and the bottom is spacious and Dad's going to put an extra shelf in there. I can store DVD's, my stereo equipment, quilts, books, whatever. I'm not real crazy about the TV being out in the open right now, but I'll have to put up with it for the time being. Sorry about the light coming in the windows. The sun was streaming in and it turned out really bright. I'll have to take a morning or night photo of the living room. It has lacey balloon curtains and it's really pretty with the sun coming in through the windows, but it's hard to see in a photo.

Did you notice my cabinet hardware? Soup Spoons! Aren't they cute??? I found a lady at Canton that has tons of silverplate and silverware mismatched stuff and bought them for $3 apiece which is cheaper than hardware at Lowe's or a home deco store. That old pie safe was built by the same old great uncle that built the house. It moved around quite a bit after he died, but we had in our other home and moved it back out here. It's neat that it wound up back where it started out!

My dining table is an old chippy glass-topped outdoor table and chairs which I recovered the seats on. All the old mismatched china came from grandparents, estate sales, etc. All my big bowls were handed down to me as well as old linens. My coffee table in the living room was from a garage sale - it used to be a dining table that my father in law got at a garage sale and he cut the pedestal down and put the feet back on it and painted it at least 30 years ago. Fits right in. I'm loving working on my cottage!

You know, I don't believe in ghosts, but old houses have lots of creaks and bumps. But I always have a comfortable feeling in the house. The folks that built and lived in the it - relatives of my husband and his dad - I think about them and their lives. I met the old uncle a couple of times many years ago - he was nearly 100 when he died. I fancy that somehow they'd be proud of what we've done with this old house and how it happy it makes us. So, Uncle Claude, if you're there, hope you'll like what we're doing - you're welcome anytime!

I'll show you more pictures later. Gotta get to work now!

We had an absolutely wonderful time at Thanksgiving. Spent the day with mom & dad, my sister, brother, and their families. My parents have recently started inviting my in-laws to our family gathering. It makes it so special to have ALL my family together. My mother and father in law are alone, and I really appreciate my folks having them also! My husband and I agree that we have the greatest in-laws in the world!

Friday night, we had everyone over to our little Sand Flat farmhouse for a huge fish fry, with hush puppies, fries, fried pickles, and all the trimmings. It was wonderful for me, because it was the first time that alot of my family had seen the farmhouse EVER! Below are a couple of before photos. This is my kitchen - I tore all of the upper cabinet doors off and left them open. We painted the kitchen a pale yellow with a soft light green woodwork and beadboard and trim with white doors. Sounds "loud" but it works. I love it - Here's before, and I'll get some new photos of some of the 'after' on here in another post, but you can see how terrible it all was...

Next is my living room and then the awful bathroom. We had to tear out the entire bathroom including the floor right down to the dirt to re-do it. HAd to cut a hole in the outer wall to get the new shower unit in. I wanted a claw-foot tub, but the bathroom was so tiny, we had no room at all for that, so I'll have to settle for that.

Well, that's all I have time for today. I'll get some new photos on here of some after shots of the house. It's looking good. I bought one of Margo's (of robomargo, robolady, robojunker) crystal light catchers that she made for my house and she's saving me a little "chandie" that she made, too. I plan to hang it outside in my new functional garden shed which my husband re-did for me - it was a falling down rotten shed, and he's got it all fixed back up to use for a garden/potting shed for me. Can't wait for spring now!!!! I'm going to have a garden for the first time in many years! Where we've lived for the past 17 years is all solid red clay and not much good for anything, so I'm looking forward to having a garden in aptly named "Sand Flat" community this spring! The soil is great for everything from roses to vegetables to pecans. Plus, there's plenty of compost and cow manure all in my garden area that I should be set for a long time to come! We'll be eatin' good next year!

Well, this week promises to be extremely busy for all of us. I haven't seen my brother and his family for two years as they live in North Carolina and WON'T fly anywhere. We haven't been able to get up there to see them either. I will be doing most of the cooking I guess, since my mom is needing knee replacement surgery and she's trying to put it off until after Christmas. So my sister and I will have her sitting at the kitchen table cutting up the fruit salad.

I think Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of the year! You get to see all your family like at Christmas, but you don't have the added pressure of shopping for gifts. I love giving gifts, but I love seeing my family more than anything. I love the Christmases that we've given home-made gifts - those mean more to me. All this running around like crazy trying to "just find something" to give so you'll have a gift for everyone drives me nuts. Christmas shopping has gotten totally out of hand. I remember the days when I was little when my parents centered Christmas around the blessed birth of our saviour, Jesus, and how magical it was to sit around the Christmas tree as my dad or mom read the Christmas story.

Here's a Thanksgiving idea that you might enjoy doing with your family---

For Thanksgiving a few years ago, I had my whole family at my house. I bought some parchment paper and a gold caligraphy pen and some gold ribbon, and cut out some little scroll size pieces of the paper. Then I wrote a special thanksgiving for each person in my family and why they were special to me. I rolled them up and tied the gold ribbon around each one and placed on them beside each person's plate. Everybody kept wondering all during lunch what was on the scrolls, but we had to wait until after everyone was through eating. Then I had each person in turn open and read their scroll out loud to the family. It was wonderful and I got to express my thanks and love for each and every family member and what made them so unique and special to me and my life. There were lots of laughs, lots of tears, but mostly lots of hugs and kisses - and I think this was the most special Thanksgiving we've ever had as as family. We don't express our love for one another as often as we should.

I hope anyone who reads my posts has a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday. I'm going to be very busy this week, so I don't know if I'll get back to you or not. Planning on taking off work for the rest of the week to cook and clean probably like the rest of you. It is nice that most of my family lives here and my husband's parents and my parents are all still alive and in good health (what a blessing) so we get to stay home for all our holidays! Happy Thanksgiving to you all! Vickie

Well, I finally got a couple of photos on here - and I promise this is all for today. The yellow house at the top of my blog is a not very good view of the farmhouse. We had just re-sided it. We've still got lots to do, but will probably wait until early spring to set out bushes, pecan trees, fruit trees and flowers since it's so late in the year. We still have to paint the new front porch and railings, too.

I love being out there. Since our farm is mostly pasture, we can sit outside at night in the middle of the place and see 360 degrees of stars and open sky. I love where we live in Texas, but there are so many trees, sometimes it's difficult to view the whole entire heavens above. But you can do it here on Sand Flat Farm. It's nice in the daytime, too, cuz you can see all the clouds. And where it sits is on the rise of a slight hill and there's a breeze across the place all the time. Rarely is it still - which makes it nice!

I always thought I was born into the wrong century. Always thought I should have been born back in the 1800's. I love that era. I quilt, I put up jellies, pickles, and other stuff, and had two wonderful grandmothers teach me how to sew and cook and do alot of things they grew up doing. You know, alot of people nowadays are not interested in the "old ways", but I absolutely love it. I hate how our society now is so fast-paced and so technological. I LONG for lazy days, and slower times where you can visit with your family, kinfolk, and neighbors and sit on the back porch and drink your coffee and just be quiet and enjoy just being still. I'm going to have my own garden next year. I brought up the subject of chickens but so far all I've gotten out of my hubby is his eyes rolling and a sigh. Don't know if he'll go for that or not...

Well, gotta run - I'm going to the farmhouse this afternoon to get some painting done. I'm refinishing some little end tables today and I will be covered with paint again this evening. And we have a wedding to go to tomorrow!

About ME

About me & mine---

Let me tell you a little bit about myself. I married my highschool sweetheart - feel like we grew up together. We have 3 kids, my oldest son is 26, is a musician and lives in Nashville and works as a singer/songwriter. He is hopeful that he may come back to Texas soon and tour and gradually work his way up. He just released his first single on Texas radio. My second son is 22 and is a student in college, hopefully with just another year to go. He's moved back and forth from home to college a couple of times and is about to move back in with us for a short time (that happen to any of you?) and my daughter, the princess (which I will probably refer to her as from now on) is 19 and in her second year of college.

I was blessed to be a stay-at-home mom for many years until the princess got into high school. Then we had college for #1 and #2 son, so I had to go back to work for a time. I'm hoping just a couple more years will be all I'll have to work. I am desperately longing to get back to my painting full time and working in my garden which I'm going to have next year at the farmhouse.

I was born an artist I guess. My mom tells me that when I was little, even as young as 3, I would sit in front of the tv set and draw Felix the cat, Buggs Bunny, and other cartoon characters. I have loved drawing and art for as long as I can remember. My teachers all through school would always get me to do projects for them. I didn't act in school plays, I did set designs and such. I won the fire prevention poster contests. It was second nature to me. Still is, I guess. Altho my parents finally found me a teacher for about a year when I was about 13 from whom I learned the basics about watercolor and oils, alot of what I do is self-taught.

I feel like I am living in what I call "artist mode" all the time. My eyes and brain are on overload constantly - everywhere I look - especially outside - I see something that makes my fingers itch to put it on canvas. God has created such a beautiful world for us to live in - if only we stop and pay attention. I have a card that Max Lucado designed that says something to the effect that ..."the next time you see - a beautiful sunrise or a field of flowers, stop and listen to hear God say, 'see? I made it just for you.'" (not the exact words but you get the idea) That says it all for ME. That desire to create, the way the light and shadows fall on objects or a landscape, the way the colors interact - to translate the excitement that I see and feel into something that a viewer of my art can relate to and feel the same thing I felt when I painted it - THAT is my muse. THAT is what drives me.

Unfortunately, with my busy life and schedule and job, I find very little time to paint. When I paint, the time flies by. I have taken off work for a few days at a time or over a weekend or when I'm sick, and I paint. I don't eat, I don't watch TV, I sometimes listen to soft music or classical music, but I may paint for 6-8 hrs and never even know what time it is. It's hard to do that when you have kids interrupting you or your job you have to go to or the housework is screaming at you to be done. But I'm NEVER GIVING UP!!! I do it for ME. I have to create. Whether anybody ever likes my work or buys my paintings it doesn't matter. I do it for ME.

I have 4 other girlfriends who are also artists - each one is different, but we are all driven by the same desires. We take an annual trip somewhere neat each year for 4-5 days and do nothing but paint, watch art videos, take turns cooking, and reading each others' artbooks. I look forward to this time each year more than just about anything.

I will reveal more about my family as time passes. This post is rather long, sorry, but I wanted to tell you about me. I also want to tell you about how we are now in the process of re-doing the family farmhouse - which is my latest time-consuming, but highly enjoyable project. I will post pictures of the project when I am able. My father in law's first cousin was an old maid and he took care of her for a long time in her later years. Her dad built the family farmhouse on 80 acres in Sand Flat. They grew roses for a long time as well as gardened and ran cattle on it. The last few years, it's grown hay. The old maid cousin died and left the farm to our family. We have yearned for something out in the country over our 30 years of marriage, and even tried to buy a couple of places (which the Lord said no to)-(guess He knew what was coming), and we have had a ball fixing up the place. It was real run-down, uneven and unkempt and grown up all around. We had to first of all clear weeds and dead trees from the back of the property, level the old 30's pier & beam house which had rock piers that had shifted in the sand over the years (hence the town's name, Sand Flat), re-do all the wiring, gut most of the rooms down the studs, completely gut the bathroom including the floor which had rotted out and re-do lots of plumbing. The kitchen cabinets were actually in pretty good shape and needed sanding down and painting. They must have been refurbished back in the 50's or 60's at some point. We put in central heat and air (a must have in Texas), all new lighting, flooring, etc. I have caulked at least 3 million miles, sanded, kilz-ed, and painted every single surface in that entire house. I'm still peeling paint off my body in places that I wonder how it got there!

Now we are down to the decorating. We decided that we wanted to try to keep the house in the era that it came from. I know we are not exact with that because there are some amenities that I won't do without - like ceiling fans and a good refrigerator and stove. Everything that is in this house except new mattresses, appliances, a sofa and a TV all came from garage sales, estate sales, flea markets or friends and family. We have a couple of items - a pie safe and a spice cabinet - that the man who built the house, the old maid's dad, made by hand and have brought them back to the house. They are a treasure to me.

It's not really shabby chic, I guess it's more of a cottage look we're going for. My hubby didn't want every single thing fu-fu in the house, so it's developing a more cottage-y style. I can't wait to figure out how to get photos on my blog for you all to see. I need some decorating tips and suggestions from you all. I want to know what you think!

Well, that's all for today - Sorry it's so long - but I had major things to bring you up to date on with me. I also tend to be rather wordy - I'll try to be more concise in the future. Thanks for checking out my blog - I hope it will be interesting to someone out there- I'll keep you posted on my little Sand Flat Farm. Vickie

I'm creating this blog because I recently found all you lovely ladies who share alot of the same interests as me and I decided it was time to investigage the how-to of blogging. I actually checked out robojunker's (thanks Margo) blog and followed many of her links to others of you all. There are some great and beautiful blogs out there!!! I was delighted to discover women from all over the country and abroad from whom I have already gotten some great tips as well as heard some heart-felt and sometimes funny stories about your lives and families. I have observed many wonderful women out there who share the same passions that I do, the same interests, the same heartaches, and the same joys. You can never have too many friends who can chat with you, share burdens with you, pray for you, rejoice with you, advise you, encourage you, and just plain be silly with you. I hope that I may have the opportunity do those same things for you all, too.

I'm still trying to figure out how to get pictures uploaded on this blog so I can put my pic and other photos of my projects and hobbies and daily life on there. I don't know if I can blog every day, because on top of everything else, I have a full time job as a secretary (boring-but it helps get the kids through college), but I will try my best to stay on top and keep as current as I can. I hope to chat with you all soon! Thanks for checking me out! Vickie