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