I'm A WINNER!

Lucky, lucky ME!  I entered a give-a-way over at Dawn's Comfy Corner (she's a fairly new blogger and buddy) and she sent me the news that I won!  And what a nice gift - it came in the mail yesterday and I'm so anxious to give them a try...  Seeeee?????

They are thick and absorbent and she made them very generous to scrub and wash all my dishes and pans!  Can't wait to use them.  I imagine I'll be gettin' to that shortly cuz I've got NO dishwasher other than myself and a sinkful of dirty dishes from breakfast!  Thanks so much, Dawn!  (Just noticed my "Butt Rub" seasoning for BBQ back there behind...  oops! - Promise that wasn't staged.)

In other news, my oldest son, Adam, is home for a few days to enjoy the farm, the tractor, AND most importantly - Fishing with his Pop (my daddy).  He said the rest of the spring is going to be very busy in the music industry and he probably won't be able to come home anytime soon after this.  EVEN THO it's supposed to rain torrents later this week/weekend.  He and Pop may have to find other things to do besides fish!  My middle son, the Kiwi son Josh, is a photographer, and he did some publicity shots of Adam last time they were home together...

 Josh is doing a great job, I think!  They took these photos down at the old train depot here in our town...

New topic...  about 3 years ago, a friend of mine gave me several starts of her white iris.  I spread them out in one of my flower beds behind the deck, and planted them and they've done really well at spreading and filling in and making new leaves.  They lived through our drought last summer, too.  I was about ready to pull them up and move them because in 3 years, they hadn't bloomed.  I thought maybe they weren't getting enough sun in their locale.  I even threatened them out loud that they were about to get yanked out of the ground if they didn't bloom this year.  Well, lo and behold...

THEY BLOOMED!!!

Think it was just time?  or think it was the threat???  Who knows, but I'm glad they decided to show their pretty faces!  Yes, they're all white, but I think I'll add some more colors to them.  I had intermixed them with some blue hydrangeas, but they died during the drought even tho I really babied them to no end.  So, iris it shall be!

Fruit trees are blooming their little hearts out...

My lovely onions.... Do you see some bare spots?  Well, my sweet little Gypsy decided to do some digging in the boxes.  I repaired as best as I could, but will have to get another bunch or so and fill in.  I can see some fencing in the near future around the garden, but that's okay.  The last 3 years, the coyotes ate most of my watermelons. Drat.  I've been asking for fencing since the first year, but THIS is the year for a garden fence!!!  Gypsy is one of those puppy dogs that buries her treats, her bones, her chewies, and goes back later when no one's looking to dig 'em up and eat 'em.  Another lesson from being a stray I suppose.

Kathy, you know what this means, doncha?  WAR ON GOPHERS!!!

Gypsy tries to dig them up, and if she finds one on a trap, she pulls the trap out of the ground and carries it off to eat the gopher.  Yuck.  (note to self - get worm medicine from vet...)  So... I've lost several gopher traps and at $6-$7 apiece can't afford that.  We've taken to driving a piece of rebar into the ground and wrapping a wire connected to the trap around the rebar to save our traps!  Works pretty good...

I've already caught two, and possibly 3 more that were eaten off the traps.

Ok, my peeps - love you all and I wish you the very best of weeks!  We have beauty outside right now, but rain is promised.  Only thing to deal with today is 30 mph winds!

Keep yer dress down!

Random Thoughts...

I'm a WINNER!!!  YEA!   See what came in the mail yesterday!

Remember her cute little magnets that she was making?  Well, my Texas magnet came yesterday, and I opened it immediately and put it on my fridge smack in the middle.  Go see VEE's fridge just covered with all her magnets that she made and sent and that her sweetie, John, took to the post office several days in inclement weather!  There --- doesn't it really just jazz up my fridge!

In other news, I found a couple of pictures I thought I'd show you.  As some of you may know, my sweet mother-in-law has Alzheimers.  She's in a nursing home now after breaking a hip and having a stroke.  My husband has been SO faithful to go and see her nearly every single day.  We always go on Sundays after morning church services.  I had THE BEST mother-in-law one could ever ask for.  I miss her, and I miss my father-in-law, too, who's gone on to be with the Lord. 

She doesn't talk much any more, just smiles and says "I love you".  Even tho she can't communicate any more, she knows who she loves.  She loves to try to sing!  Sometimes, we'll sing a few hymns when we go, and even tho she can't remember our names, she remembers the words and melodies of her favorite hymns, and you should SEE the way her face lights up!  She remembers the Bible, too.  I am not surprised tho, because it's a testament to her faith and love for the Lord.  THAT's what has stayed with her.

WE LOVE YOU MEMA!

Think I forgot to show you these following pics...  Out on the lake that we fish at, an otter (I think) appeared one day not long ago, and I luckily had my camera handy.  Pretty cool...

I'll leave you with this sweet needlepoint that I found at a garage sale.  A little old man was having a sale at his home. I asked him who did the needlepoint and he said his wife did it.  It was beautiful!   He said, "My wife left me..."  I looked at him sadly and said, "Oh, I'm so sorry!"   He said, " oh, it's okay, my wife left me to go be with Jesus, and I want someone else to enjoy some of these beautiful things."  So I bought it.  And had to leave quickly so I wouldn't cry.  If you like it, you have my permission to borrow it.

Keep your dress down.

New Blogger

Hey ladies and gents - just wanted to introduce to you a new blogger (to me) - actually, she's been around for awhile.  Dawn's Comfy Corner is just full of goodies - recipes and this lady does beautiful quilting, too.  PLUS, she's having a giveaway right now for some beautiful crocheted dishcloths (which I am coveting...).  So head on over there and make her acquaintance, tell her I sent ya and enter her giveaway!  Just don't get too "comfy" thinkin' you're gonna win!  (wink, wink!)

                                                               credit - Dawn's Comfy Corner

DING DING DING!!! WE HAVE A WINNER!

Congratulations to Linda Sue at Buhlaland!  She made the 13th comment on my last post and had the winning guess as to WHO both my husband and I dressed up as to go to a New Years Costume Party!  She said Winston Churchill and Frida Kahlo!  What a clever lady!  Never thought anyone would guess Frida Kahlo!  I think my hubby made a pretty good Winnie, but it's kinda next to impossible to make a blond pale-skinned gal look like a dark mysterious Latino woman artist!  Even with that wicked UNI-BROW!  Several guessed I could be Golda Meir (sp?),  and I never thought about that, but I guess I did sorta look like her.  I'll be getting her prize out to her soon!

I've been reading Parisienne Farmgirl's blog for a couple of years now, a beautiful young mother with 4 gorgeous children.  She just announced that she will be heading up her own online magazine all about French country style, her potager, cooking, personal style on a budget, etc.  Her name is Angela - go over and meet her and check out her blog and her magazine. I think it'll be a hit! And she's having a give-away, too, I think, to one of the first 100 people that sign up for her magazine!  A cache of lovely, delicious products!

Guess that's all for now - will be back soon!!!  Keep yer dress down!

GIVEAWAY over at Margo's

Go visit Margo, people!  She's over there at Margo's Junkin' Journal and she's sponsoring a wonderful giveaway of a beautiful silver triple cross necklace from Sterling Grace.  Love that store.  I have some of their jewelry and it is really nice!  I'm entering - how 'bout you!!!  Oh and by the way, look at Margo's Advent Calendar - it is VERY neat!

Of NOTE

Last night we were so very blessed to receive around an inch of rain, PURE BLISS FROM HEAVEN ABOVE!!!  We knew a little something was brewing for awhile when it started rumbling and we could see some far-off lightening.  What a wonderful thing is RAIN!  Nowhere near our deficit for this year, but it felt so good to even get wet last night after leaving some friends' home and drive home slowly and carefully with the wet stuff  making it hard to see.  Thank you Lord!!!

In other news, Southern Farm is having a give-away - one of their super-duper three hole nest boxes. I'm entering, AGAIN, so I'm letting you all know about it, too!  They have the best-looking nest boxes and since I am officially getting hens in the spring, I think I deserve one, don't you???   ;)   I'm getting serious about wanting to win one of these dudes now.  I'm already making plans for what my coop will be like and what kinds of hens I want.  So, you are officially informed, and you can hop on over and say hi if you want! Their address is    http://georgiafarmwoman.blogspot.com/  . 
Y'all have a good day - and keep your dress down!

Happy Valentines Day to ME!

Hey friends!  Valentine's Day came a little early for me this year.  I won a giveaway over at Liane's blog, http://tenderhearteddaisy.blogspot.com/ . She put together the cutest Valentine's Day assortment of goodies.  How cute is this package!  She said her daughter wrapped all the little gifts very carefully. Look closely - done up with string and buttons and little fabric cutouts!  I'm gonna have to borrow this idea from Liane's talented daughter sometime!

Remember "brown paper packages tied up with string,

These are a few of my favorite things!"

I had to take pictures of my goodies all wrapped up - I almost didn't want to unwrap them - they're just so clever.  Liane - tell your daughter she did such a wonderful job on the wrapping!  I wonder if she hires out for Christmas presents?????

But..... unwrap them I did! My curiosity was just getting the best of me -  how can I not open these little gifts!

WOW and DOUBLE WOW!!!  I hit the Valentine's JACKPOT!  Look!  A cute RED clutch handbag to slip my compact and lipstick in when my husband takes me out for a romantic Valentine's dinner....

Some SWEET HANDMADE mini-Valentines cards for some special friends .....

A pair of luscious earrings with RED strawberries for Valentine's Day - think CHOCOLATE covered...

Won't I just be "blinging"!!!

A cute Valentine's Heart that I've already hung in my  kitchen to remind me what a SWEET giveaway I just won and what a SWEET lady Liane is!

And two delicate silver hearts.  They have a lid that comes off that I can fill with KISSES for my someone special!  Thank you Liane!  Go stop by and pay Liane a visit - she's a SWEETHEART for doing this giveaway!   This was such a nice surprise and so unexpected!  I'm looking forward to Valentine's day even more this year!  How 'bout you???

SSSSSHHHHHHHHHHHHH!  Don't tell my husband!  I didn't show him my giveaway - he'll have to wait for Valentine's Day for the big reveal!

Life on a Southern Farm's Giveaway!!!

Hey, people - quick post here til tomorrow maybe.  Just wanted to let you chicken people know about Georgia Farm Woman Pam's giveaway on her blog, Life on a Southern Farm.  Her husband makes the most fabulous chicken nesting boxes I've ever seen and she's giving away one of 'em for free!  Cluck on over there and check 'em out!  She has a very cool blog, too, by the way.  And you really should do some reading over at her place - they have the neatest farm and some very cute critters!  OH, AND TELL HER I SENT YOU!

Savannah Style...

Good morning people!  Lookie here what I won!  Manuela at The Pleasures of Homemaking had a wonderful giveaway awhile back and SEE WHO WON - ME!  The prize was this beautiful coffee table book from Paula Deen.  It is a gorgeous book by a true Southern Belle - Paula talks perfectly normal to me  y'all. I don't know why people go on about the way she talks .....

Anyway, I would love to share a few photos from it with y'all from this book if ya don't mind...

It has beautiful outside dining layouts............wouldn't you just love to attend THIS picnic???

......or spend the night in this quaint little bedroom...........

...............or take your mint julep and peach cobbler on this lovely porch.......

...........or howdy at your neighbors from this veranda...........

........how 'bout adding a little whimsey to your beachside cottage..............

..........me, myself, and I?  I really like this rustic, more primitive style.......

.......and I LOVE this front porch all decorated for fall!  Isn't it gorgeous????........

........and who could forget Christmas in Savannah?  Why, it's mahvelous! 

Manuela, thank you so much for having such a nice giveaway - and for drawing my name!  I love this book. I keep picking it up to gaze at the beautiful photos of Paula's home and hometown.  It's great for inspiration - beauty to the senses - and of course, "southern" in style, which we all know is what I'm all about.

Y'all come on back now, ya hear?

Pay It Forward 2

Hi folks!  Whatchy'all been doin'?  Me?  Well, lookie here what I got in the mail yesterday!

This gift is from Sunny at Sunny's Place.  She is doing a "Pay It Forward" giveaway. I'm participating, too.  Look at the lovely things she sent my way - a beautiful candle holder and votive, some handmade (by Sunny) candles from her real beeswax when she was raising bees (wait - I mean beekeeping), a little windchime that makes the sweetest sounds and this sweet book entitled His Princess, Love Letters From the King, which is just grand. I can't wait to read it. Short devotions that I will be able to share with my daughter about the love that our Heavenly Father has for his daughters in Christ.

Sunny, Thanks so much for this lovely gift.  I know I'm going to enjoy it immensely.  Now, I have 3 sweet friends that I am "paying it forward" to, so they will be getting something from me very soon!!!

Got WORMS???

Well, WE GOT 'EM! Hornworms that is - on the tomato plants. They are huge. They start out little bitty and in a day or two or three they've eaten enough of the plants that they are engorged and sure make a mess when you snip 'em in half with your garden shears.  They leave little poops everywhere, too. I wanted to just snip 'em, but Tony said he was gonna leave 'em in the metal pot in the sunshine... They've bitten holes in some of the tomatoes, too.  I've dusted with Sevin so we'll see...

Got baby birds?  Yes?  We do, too, baby mockingbirds.  The nest is in front of my kitchen window in the crepe myrtle tree.  I can do the dishes and watch the mama bird stuffing bugs down their throats. I'm keeping an eye on 'em to see when they jump out of the nest or fall out.  We've got cats all around.  I guess I should just let nature take its course.

Good night, friends.  I'm sleepy.  Take good care of yourselves and I'll see ya on the flipside!

Giveaway WINNER Announced!!!!!

Congratulations to Linda Sue at Buhl-a-land!!!!  She is the winner of my 200th post giveaway!!!  I had 35 entries with a couple of email entries from new bloggers that didn't have a blog set up yet but had been reading my blog!  Thanks to one and all for entering!  Linda Sue - email me your address and I'll get your painting and a couple of other little surprises off to you this week!!!

I used one of those online random number generating thingies and I was going to copy it and show it to you just so you'll know I was being fair, and it wouldn't let me copy. Rats! Rather, gophers!  This was fun and I'll be looking forward to my next giveaway - the Pay It Forward Giveaway where I'll pick 3 bloggers and sometime during the next year (Oh, I won't wait THAT long!) will be sending them something!

Here were the entries ---

1. Mitzi - Lazyboyx2

2. Annesphamily
3. Lea - myletterstoemily
4. Debbie - dcwisdom
5. Barb - Barbs Blog
6. Barb - Barbs Blog (posted on her blog, too)
7. Barbara - 3acrehomestead
8. Jan -email, but no blog yet
9. Becky K - Hospitality Lane
10. Gail - At the Farm
11. Noni - Brick Street Bungalow
12. Dolores - Moving forward with Alzheimers
13. Scrappy Doo - Adventures in Ellis Co. & the Dollar Store
14. Elaine - Soggy Bottom Flats
15. Day Photo - Colorado Farmlife
16. Vee - A Haven For Vee
17. Melodie - Laughine Duck Farm
18. Aunt Amelia’s Attic
19. Christa- Country Hearts at home
20. June - JuneBug
21. Christa - Country Hearts at home
22. Sher - Old Time Me Artist
23. Sue - The Cotton Patch
24. Lady Farmer - Lady Farmer Parables
25. LindaSue - Buhlaland
26. K Falls - Farmgirl Cheryl
27. Dani - Eagles Wings
28. Tara - New Day New Seasons (posted on her blog)
29. Tara - New Day New Seasons
30. Kblaidlaw - email, no blog yet
31. Miss Sandy - Quill Cottage
32. Irma’s Rose Cottage
33. Ginger - the Gingerbred Shed
34. Amy - Homestead Revival
35. Delores - email, no blog yet

THANK YOU AGAIN, FRIENDS!!!!  Go say hi to Linda Sue!

PAY IT FORWARD!!!

"Paying it back" is an obligation. "Paying it forward" is to give because you want to.

I am taking part in a Pay it Forward with Sunny at Sunny's Place.  I look forward to seeing what I can give and to whom!! Here's how it works.....

If you want to join in the fun, just leave a comment saying you'd like to be included. The first three people to do so will receive a gift from me sometime during the next year. In turn, they will post a Pay It Forward post on their blog and send a gift to three people who agree to participate. You never know when the gift will arrive in the mail. It could be next week or next June. It truly is a lot of fun trying to find out what people like so you can send an appropriate Pay It Forward gift. It can be bought or handmade and doesn't need to be expensive at all.

I am excited to see to whom I can Pay It Forward !!!!!!

p.s. - see there? I do know a little about grammar - "to whom" . I'm not a complete hick!  (stop snickering - you know who you ARE!)

Work Weekend & GIVEAWAY!

Ok, friends... I promised a post, but I don't have any new pictures to show you. Is that ok? Think you can do with just type?  I hope so. Maybe I can pull up a couple of older photos that hopefully I haven't used before...

We had a busy, busy weekend. We got up early Saturday and did about 10 hours working on the garden, the flower beds, the yard at the farm.  We have about 6-7 giant catalpa trees and they have just about finished dropping their footlong beanpods all over the yard. I HATE catalpa trees, but if we didn't have those we'd just have the big oak and the sycamore and some china berry trees (which I also hate).  SO, we raked as much as we could, burned most of it, and mulched a bunch more.  And all those huge beanpods open up and these little fuzzy white seedlings float all around everywhere and sprout in our sugar sand.  Such a mess.  We're constantly going around pulling up little sprouts.  The china berries are doing the same thing.  YUCK.

Anyway, we worked hard raking and doing all our stuff.  I planted my rows of carrot seeds. I had to wait until the moon was waning. I've had 'em for a couple of weeks but that was the first chance I got to plant them.  We had a really good rain Sunday night through early this morning so everything I have planted to now got a good soaking. I hope those little carrot seeds didn't wash away... My  tulips and lilies are coming up and my wagon of pansies has never looked better.  The snow and cold kept them kinda sickly looking but they kept popping back out and now since it's a bit warmer they're beautiful. Here's a pic that I took a couple of weeks ago, but they're all twice as big now and overflowing out of the wagon - I'll try to get a current photo!

We grilled hamburgers Saturday night for us and Josh and his girlfriend. They were so good. Flash forwards me to summertime!  Yea, it's almost here - at least spring is! We're having 75 degree temps today!!!  Another shower for tomorrow and then several days of nice gardening weather.

Sunday, we went to church, and then the rest of the day we spent at my  MIL's house cleaning up and getting the furniture moved out, the rest of the wallpaper off, etc.  The mud-guys and painters and the roofer are coming later this week to start their stuff and Sunday afternoon was the only day to do it. We were going to do the bulk of it ourselves, but when the roofer told us that he had a mud crew and a painting crew as well as excellent references, we decided to JUST GIT ER DUN.  We hope to put it up for rent in the next month or two.  Rental income will help us pay for MIL's care at the memory care facility. It's very expensive...

So, needless to say, I needed another weekend after this past weekend.  I kept nodding off in front of my computer yesterday.  Tonight we are taking MIL out for her birthday. I will go over after work and get her dressed and hair done - we're going to eat catfish - her favorite!  I know she won't remember it tomorrow, but for tonight - she'll have a wonderful time and we can imagine that all is well with her and just enjoy being together.  She's a jewel. I had the best in-laws in the whole world!  And my husband says the same thing about my folks! 

NEWS FLASH!!!  I'm coming up on my 200th post! I can't believe it!  I'm planning a giveaway and plan to make it very special because I let my 100th post get away from me.  So stay tuned.  I think this is post #193. May be a little premature to announce it, but I want to give you guys plenty of time warning!  Let me get my thoughts together about what I'm gonna do, and I'll be back in touch to announce the winning prize!!!  I want it to be special because you all have enriched my life so much & given in so many ways to me, and I want you all to know how very precious you are to me.  This is an outstanding group of women, friends and family that I have here in bloglandia & so I simply must do something befitting this great group of gals! 

I WON A GIVEAWAY!

Lookie-lookie! See what I got in the mail last week???  I won a wonderful GIVEAWAY from Miss Sandy at Quill Cottage!  If you know her, you'll know that it's a fabulous prize!

What do you think it is?  You'll have to guess! You'll NEVER guess!

It's very foo-foo! Now do you know what it is???

Still don't know, do you?  Whatever it is, it's PINK - very PINK!

SEE WHAT I WON FROM MISS SANDY'S GIVEAWAY?  One of her wonderful, outstanding, amazingly beautiful and sassy High Heeled Shoes!!!  All decked out in wonderful hot pink and black doo-dads, lovely old photograph, some vintage-y gift tags, decorator crepe ribbons and trims, a little black bird (just cuz) and everything cutesy and girly-girly!

Are you just so jealous?  And I know the perfect place for all this lusciousness!

In the PINK room at the farmhouse!!!

Isn't it absolutely perfect here on this vanity??? I think so, too!

Thank you SO much Miss Sandy, at Quill Cottage!  You MUST go check out her blog!  She does all this beautiful paper art - she is multi-talented. She writes inspirationally, too, and most of all she is a dear Christian lady.  I feel so lucky to win her giveaway, but more importantly to be her friend!!!