~A new view ~

 Things are looking a little different here at Mill Hill Meadow.
I have a stash of old windows in the garden shed, and now that the weather is cold and blustery, and it's too cold to work outside, I've been working inside.

 I've been bringing in my old windows, one at a time, and cleaning and sealing them, and most importantly ... decorating with them.

 Many of them are really in bad condition, and very old.
We bought most of them at one yard sale this past summer. We were told that they were out of an old city building in a near~by town.
Some of them look to be from the 1930~40's, but a few of them look to be even older.
Wavy glass and all.
The above window has 9 panes. As I was cleaning it, 2 of the panes just dropped out. So, each and every pane had to be caulked in with clear caulk and stabilized. As you can see, almost no paint remained on frame.
I painted the frame a soft sage green color with chalk paint and sealed it with varnish.

 Here you can see the finished old window frame, hanging in the living room.
I love it!! And, our family loves it. My sweet husband loves it, and he loves the character and the history of the window too.
He even loves that I didn't try to replace the two cracked window panes, and instead I just stabilized the panes and left them cracked.
Oh, and that 'new' green~gold chair? It's a find too! We bought two matching chairs second hand from an estate sale. The upholstery is in new condition, and the chairs are very well built, and very comfortable.
Perhaps we will have them re~upholstered..... perhaps not.

 Another old window. This one hangs in the laundry room, and is the same window that shows the close up in the very first picture on this post. This window was scrubbed and then sealed with varnish. I like the old paint, and the old patina on this window.

 A little glimpse at the t.v stand.
I painted it a beautiful yellow color. Goes so well with our 'new' chairs and 'new' windows.

 These doors at Gardner Village were the inspiration for the color I wanted on the t.v. stand, and on the blanket chest. The blanket chest that used to be painted white {4th picture in post} is now the same yellow as the t.v. stand.
That yellow reminds me of marigolds in the summer. Loving it!!

 The early morning view from our motel room in St. George.
Brooke and I went to "Time Out for Women" in St. George at the first of the month.
It was a wonderful event, and a super fun weekend! We enjoyed the presenters, then we shopped, and went out to eat, etc..
So fun to get away to a warmer city, and have a girls weekend!

 Speaking of 'girls weekend', last weekend we had Girls Craft Weekend.
It is something that a few friends and I have begun to do every other month.
We get together, and all of us bring a craft or two plus the supplies to do the craft, and we all spend the day crafting together. One of my crafts that I shared was wood blocks painted with snowflakes on them.
I found the craft on Pinterest.
All together, we each did eight crafts, and we had a lovely lunch, and lovely gift bags provided by two of our friends.
Our next Girls Craft Day will be in January.  I'm really looking forward to it!

 A new view : Snow.
It's official.. winter has come to our area. It has snowed several times, and the temperatures have fallen.
The picture above shows the last snow storm that we had. Huge, fluffy flakes of snow fell, and covered everything in a blanket of white.

 Oh, and one day, as I let Rowdy out to go potty, I looked across the meadow and noticed that someone is building a big new home.
I just noticed it, although clearly they've been building it for some time!

 And, look who stopped by for lunch!
The view outside our windows always includes the mountains and the meadows, and once in a while the deer.
Now that there is snow on the ground, we see a great deal more of the deer.

They found the left over pumpkins from Halloween, and have been munching away.
There are still quite a few pumpkin and squash left, so I imagine that this will be my view for a few more weeks.

What ever your view is, or whom ever you share your view with, here's wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving and a week filled with blessings and goodness.


~Attitude of gratitude :
* Feeling grateful that the phone call that came just after 5:00 am this morning was a phone call that wasn't from any of our kids. You know when the phone rings at that time of morning, your heart turns a bit cold... as it is usually bad news.
Thankfully, it was a co~worker of my husbands that had broke down in town and needed a ride to work. OK. That is do~able.
*Feeling so grateful that our son and his wife will be able to spend Christmas day with us! Previously, he had to work on Christmas, and wouldn't be able to come until the day after. He switched schedules, and now they will be here on Christmas... yahoo!!
* Grateful that most of our family will be here for Thanksgiving. We are a small group, but we always have such fun together, and make warm and happy memories.
*Thankful for our beautiful home. It sure makes me happy 'fluffing' our nest, especially when it's too cold to be outside. This is the time of year when I do my painting, cleaning, organizing, crafting, sewing, baking, cooking, etc.....

~ In the nick of time ...

 Welcome to November!
A new month, and the month of Thanks Giving.
We live in a high mountain valley, and we get snow every winter.
Trying to beat the snow, I had lots of "to~do" things on my list.
Winterizing things... organizing things...... etc..
Just a few things that I finished up this last weekend ~~~ just in the nick of time:
 ~* Hang new curtains and install new curtain rods in the living room
~* Move stained glass stars from transom window, to windows flanking fireplace.
Southern exposure windows.
Now the sun sparkles and shines through the stained glass stars.
~*Take down all the Halloween décor, and store.
~* Put out all of the Thanksgiving décor, and fluff up the house for Thanksgiving.

 Outside, the clouds gathered, and it began to rain.
While inside, we were busy bees.
 Working to get things organized.

 The deer grazing in the meadow.
Temperatures falling.

 The mountain tops covered in clouds.
I was pretty sure that it was snowing on the mountain tops, but with the cloud cover, I couldn't see the mountain tops.

 My sweet husband took down the hanging ferns and brought them in the house for me.
I went out to the garage and brought in my great~great Grandpa's chair.
 He built it and covered the straw seat with a piece of leather.
 The chair it far too fragile to use as a chair, but it makes a charming stand for one of our giant ferns.
This is the first winter I have ever tried to save ferns.

 I would LOVE any hints or tips you all might have for overwintering ferns!

 I took a little time out from cleaning and organizing, to do a little bit of journaling.
Our son, Spencer, made this absolutely gorgeous pen for me!
I am grinning from ear to ear.. I love it so much!
I have been a journaler for years and years, and this pen makes every page I write, just that much more special to me.

 Organizing the storage room, before the major holidays, was high on my 'to~do' list.
Thanks to my amazing and sweet husband, we got the storage room completely cleaned and organized.
    {I'm adding this little 'before' picture above. It just shows a bit of the room in disarray. I didn't want to look at it, let alone think anyone else would want to look at it, so this is just a glimpse.. but you get the gist.}

 After: Love the shelving, and all the totes are labeled and stacked nicely.
What I love most about this storage room, is that I can "shop" our storage room, and decorate our entire home. I can change out vignettes, decorate for seasons, or holidays etc.
I really love this room!
 {p.s.  on the wall, you might notice an old fashioned style fireman's hat. That hat belonged to my dad. He was a 'fireman' on an old steam powered locomotive.  He tended the coal hopper and shoveled coal into the fire! I am so glad that I have that hat!  He was a fireman when he was very young, and years before I was born. Really is a special treasure to me}

 ~ One of my most favorite features that we added to the storage room : Long curtain rod to hang all of my baskets, and buckets, and containers on. When ever I need one, I can simple chose the one I want and take it off the hook.

 Sure enough.
While we cleaned and organized, it was snowing on the tops of the mountains.

Looking over the meadow and the mountains through the windows above the sink, I feel like we accomplished so much.
We are organized and everything is clean and ready for the holidays.
Just in the nick of time.

~ Attitude of gratitude
~ I'm so grateful for a hard working and loving husband. He is my very best friend, and if something is important to me, then it's important to him. He came up with the best ideas to get our storage room organized. He also helped me completely rearrange the guest room, and hung up an extremely heavy and ornate gold framed mirror in the guest room. Of course, he did mention that the mirror is so heavy, that if it falls off the wall, it will bring the entire wall with it... *giggle**.
~Thankful for 'Stevens' hot chocolate mix. Nothing warms me like a cup of hot chocolate on a cold and blustery day. Loving the flavors this year : Mexican Hot Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Truffle, Pumpkin Spice, Chocolate Raspberry, White Chocolate, No Sugar Added Milk Chocolate.. etc..
                   
It's a swell time for a mug of hot cocoa, and snuggling up with a great book!
    ~ I think I might hear the faint sounds of jingle bells.....