Things to smile about ....

Colors of Spring

New adventures this spring: sourdough.

Our daughter in law recently gave me a sourdough starter; of course I happily accepted her gift. 
In years past, I did all the Amish starter and sourdough starter things. 

I have changed the way that I do sourdough this time around.

I do not babysit it. 

 I neglect it in the refrigerator for days at a time.

I feed it periodically and use the 'discard for things like chocolate chip cookies, or blueberry pancakes, and even 'Everything but the bagel seaoning' crackers. 

Then, about once a week, I feed the poor neglected thing, and make bread.

Chocolate chip cookies... made with 'discard'

Sourdough Boule

Double chocolate sourdough 

April Fool's day storm... we ended up with an inch or so.

In a tall tree, vultures spread their wings to dry and warm themselves.

Sun setting over the mountains.

On our way home from our five hour shift at the temple, the sun was beginning to set and it was such a beautiful and peaceful sight. 

💗

Attitude of Gratitude:

~ Thankful for the morning sun. 

I've always been 'solar powered'!

~Warm bread coming out of the oven.

~A birthday celebratory luncheon for my husband with our family and our new Grandson.

 

~ Things that make me smile ~

 The meadow is greening up.
The trees are beginning to leaf out and the last of the snow across the mountain tops is melting.
Spring is here! 
Warmer temperatures are here to stay for a few months and that makes me smile.

 Deer grazing on the foothills...

 and the elk are grazing in the pastures.

 The birds make me smile.
They have quite a routine down.
They hop onto the edge of the bird~feeder, knock the seed on the ground, then all their friends swoop onto the ground and feast on the fallen seed.

 Rogue rooster. Pheasant rooster out touring the neighborhood. 
Seemingly dancing through the green grass. 
Yep. 
Makes me smile!

 Pigweed makes me smile { the purple stuff is what I call pigweed. 
Purple weeds = Pigweed, and Yellow weeds = Spurge weed. 

It matters little if I have correctly identified the weeds, the fact that the weeds are growing is enough to make me smile. 
The color is beautiful in the meadow and I'm smiling to know that the growing season is here once again.

 The flower beds and borders are alive with color.

The skies are alive with color as well.

All is well. 
Spring has returned.
Flower are blooming, trees are leafing out, and the grass is growing. 
It makes me happy and makes me smile.

*Update on the house sale"
All is well on that front too.  So far everything is falling into place. 
We have begun to pack and sort the last of the items that need to be sorted through. 
My goodness, gracious, but we have accumulated a lot in 32 yrs.!!
Downsizing is a challenge, but the reward I think will be worth the efforts.

~Attitude of Gratitude:
 I have so many things to be grateful for...
Feeling grateful that our daughter~in~love and Grand are safe after a fender bender this last weekend. 
~Thankful for a husband that is my rock! 
Whenever I feel overwhelmed and unsure about my abilities to do things that are challenging, he reminds me of my strength and he gives me encouragement. He prays for me, and I am grateful for that.

~ Shades of Gold ~

 Sunflowers.. in all their golden beauty.
Earlier in the year, of course, as the frost and fall season have made the sunflowers fade.

 Their cheerful faces ...

 rows and rows.

 Fading sunflower.
Seed heads. Plenty of sunflower seeds for next summer.

 The meadow.
A few weeks ago, as the sunflowers were fading. Golden sunset against the mountains.

 Golden sunrise.
Can you believe how vivid and gold the clouds are?! This picture is 100% real!
As we were driving to Phoenix this last Friday, the skies just lit up in gold colors that were almost unreal. Our daughter and I went to Phoenix to see the Bonnie Raitt concert.
Her gift to me for my birthday, this past Saturday.
We left so early, and it was still dark, but as we were going through the canyon the sunrise and the gold clouds were simply gorgeous!!

 On the road.
Golden Fall foliage through the canyons.

 Back home again.
The meadow is beautiful, with golden grasses, and golden leaves.
A few clouds hang on the mountains and foothills.
We feel so fortunate, and blessed that these are our daily views.

 The sunflower patch today.
Faded to dark amber~gold.
Most of the seeds that were left in the sunflower heads have provided a feast for the birds.
I already cut and dried all the seed heads that I wanted to save, in order to have plenty of seeds for next year.

 The faded sunflowers are still beautiful in their own, golden~amber, Fall~ish way.

Final shade of gold.
We've decided to leave most of the sunflower stalks up during the winter.
It will provide a bit of a windbreak, and place for the birds to rest.
And, I honestly think that they are still beautiful .

~Attitude of gratitude.
~ I'm so grateful for good and true friends.
~Feeling thankful for the simple things in life.
~Grateful for prayer.
~Feeling thankful for pumpkin bread. ... what a delicious seasonal treat. I'm so glad that we have pumpkins!
~Feeling thankful for Fall festivals, pumpkins a~plenty, and scents of cinnamon in the air.
~Grateful for my sweet husband, and that we had a great date night last night and went to see the Odyssey Dance Theaters production of Thriller. I'm grateful that we had the opportunity to do that!

~ Sunny upcycle ~

The laundry room received a sunny up cycle do~over.

Our youngest son had a bunch of old galvanized roofing, left over from his garage. 

We wanted to use that galvanized tin in the laundry room. 

I had also curbside picked an old headboard a few years ago that was all solid oak.

 I just knew that I could up cycle the wood from that old headboard. 

The before: beige clay colored walls, and not a whole lot of character.

I had hung an old window on the wall, and I loved it, but I wanted the room to have more personality, and be a place that I enjoyed being in, as the laundry room is a room that we all use every day.

After determining that we wanted to add the galvanized tin for wainscot, we secured it to the wall and added a baseboard.

Then, we added the top section of the old headboard. The headboard wasn't long enough to top off the tin, so we then added a few sections of 1"X 8" pine boards to add length to the headboard section.

Then, we added 1" X 4" pine "battens" . Now the 'seams' of the tin were covered.

Then, I painted all the wood to finish it off. 

I'm still deciding if I want to give the wood a bit more distressing, and add some dark wax to it. 

I put the old window back. Added the old washboards, the Warren Kimball print, the large red metal box filled with greenery.

 The old copper mailbox is for dryer lint.
A cute "Pioneer Woman" tea towel on the dryer with a glass container for detergent.

 An old pine shelf up cycled with barn red paint, and dark wax holds a prim light, old canning jar filled with clothespins, an antique iron and a small faux geranium.

Above the window, a shelf was installed as a cornice, and a cute hand painted sign sits on top.

I sewed a simple curtain with Waverly fabric.

The sunny up cycle and re~do of the laundry room turned out exactly as I hoped it would.

Almost everything we used was up~cycled, or thrifted, with the exception of paint, and fabric and the new rag rug in colors of black and mustard. 

Nothing more satisfying than having a room turn out beautifully and all on a shoestring budget!

~Attitude of gratitude:

~Feeling thankful for cozy evenings in front of the fire. 

~Grateful for all the sweet potatoes I was able to harvest.

~Grateful for a good nights sleep.... especially considering how rare that is for me.

~Feeling thankful for a clean house, and decorated for Fall/Halloween. It feels cheery and festive.. ready for the holidays.

~ Halloween... Salt Lake City style ~

                                 Some folks just go all out for the holidays, don't they ?? !!!
I made this picture just as large as I could, so that you can see the many details that went into this Halloween display in Salt Lake City.
Notice the sails on the windows, the chain above the entry, and the ships lanterns.



The pirate theme for Halloween, is right on the mark.

I'm sure a lot of thought and a lot of work went into getting

this Halloween display, just right. 

 My sweet husband and I went to Salt Lake City this past weekend.

We wanted to have a little getaway, and enjoy the Fall weather, and just spend time together before the holiday season begins.

We had so much fun together!

We drove around the old neighborhoods and took pictures of great old houses.
The blue house above is just scary looking, but it were renovated, it would be gorgeous.
Looks a bit Halloween~ish now though.......

 One of our views on our drive.
Old houses, old neighborhoods, and old buildings make me smile.
I just love old stuff!!

 Gorgeous mansion.

 Same old mansion; different angle.

 Salt Lake City temple.

 Salt Lake City capitol building.

 Downtown Salt Lake City  ~~ City Creek Center.

We shopped at City Creek Center, and ate lunch at The Cheesecake Factory.
It was our first time eating at The Cheesecake Factory.
      Our daughter had gone to The Cheesecake Factory in Ohio, and she told us that we would love it. We did!
We had their grilled chicken tostada salad, and split a slice of pumpkin cheesecake.
If you've never been to The Cheesecake Factory, be warned... they serve huge portions and one dish easily can be shared!

We also got a jump on our Christmas shopping at City Creek.
It's a nice feeling to have a bit of shopping done already.

 It's turning cold here.
It was just 33 degrees this morning, and that was the thermometer on the porch.
Once you stepped off the porch, it was even colder.
My sweet husband snapped these pictures of the moon last night.
They are not super clear, however, if you look to the right of the moon, you will see what looks like a tornado funnel.
It was just a really neat cloud formation.

 Just a few seconds later... it had disappeared.
So glad that he got the picture of it, when he did.

On the way back home, we stopped by Costco, and stocked up on Halloween candy.
Last year, we had over 150 trick or treaters!! What a surprise that was after only having less than a dozen trick or treaters when we lived at the homestead.
     Last year, our daughter had to make an emergency candy run, because we had more trick or treaters than we had planned on.
   This year, we are ready for them..... I think......

Wishing you all a great rest of your week, and a Happy Halloween.
Just think, in a few days, it'll be November!!!

Attitude of gratitude ~
~ Feeling thankful for these last Fall days.
~Grateful for an amazing husband. I am so blessed to be married to my very best friend! He indulges me, and doesn't mind me asking him to stop the car just so I can snap a picture. What a guy!!!
~Feeling grateful that all the winterizing around here is done. I just have to plant garlic this afternoon, then that will be the last Fall chore on my list. Oh... and straightening the storage room, but that shouldn't take long, or be too bad.

~ April Mash Up.. aka... stuff keeping me busy this spring ~

 Goodness.
Now that warmer weather is here, we have been super busy.
You know, that old adage.. "make hay while the sun shines"?
Well.. we've been making hay!
Catching up on our 'to-do' list, and getting projects squared away.
We've thrown in a lot of fun too.
Yard sales, trips, anniversary celebration {the reason we took a trip}.
All, great stuff.

 Snagged the above dishes at a yard sale.
Both sets of dishes for just a few dollars.
Neither set is complete, but that's really ok with me.  I really love the design on the dishes and there are so many great pieces, that it really doesn't matter if the sets are complete.
Both sets of dishes, from what I've researched, are from the 1930's and 1940's.

 I've been busy painting.
Inside and outside {as you will see, later on in the post}
Inside, I re-painted this old buffet table.  Believe it or not, I've had this buffet for about 10-12 years. Found on the side of the road.....literally.
I repainted it with a soft yellow paint, and dry brushed some white glaze over it, and replaced the knobs with giant glass knobs. This buffet has had many a transformation, and has been used as storage in many a room in our house.
I'm digging it in it's current finish, and in it's current location: as a entry way table.
I also snagged the mirror from our youngest son. He had it in a closet and wasn't using it.
So, a coat or two of white chalk paint later, and a marriage to the buffet, and presto- change... a great combination for the entry.
Oh, and I spray painted the buffet lamps a brushed nickel color, and white chalk painted the lamp shades also.

 On one of our yard sale buying jags, I bought the above oak framed artwork for just 25 cents a frame. After scrubbing the frames, and taking out the dated art work, and painting the mat boards with black chalk paint, and the frames with white chalk paint.......

 presto - change... some cute and simple art work.
I hung the daisy-like pictures in our master bedroom.
Love the simple graphic flowers, and the 'shabby chic' frames now.  All for a dollar, and little creativity and elbow grease.
That's what I call a win!

 We've been having a lot of rain storms.
So far this week, it rained on Mon., Tues., and Wednesday.
Finally, the clouds have cleared a bit and today should be a warmer and dryer day.
For all those folks that have had little faith, I say, "Have Faith"!
In this time of drought, the Lord will provide!!
Heavenly Father has blessed us with lots of wonderful rain!

 My sweet husband and I just celebrated our 28th wedding anniversary!!
Yippee!! I've been wed to my very best friend for 28 years now!!
We celebrated by getting away on a little anniversary trip.
We went to sunny St. George.
We had so much fun!! We shopped and shopped.
We shopped all the thrift stores, and antique stores, etc.
I found the above treasures at a thrift store, and right away I knew just what I would do with each item.

 Previously, I had a small picture on the right side of my dining room hutch.
I've really been digging French Farmhouse décor, and wanted to add some copper accents and baskets in our dining area/ kitchen.

 Ta-da!
After giving the large platter basket a coat of gray paint, then a dry brush coat of white chalk paint, I now have just the look I wanted in that space!
Oh, I just adore that old copper fish.
Those old copper molds were all the rage in the 1970's.  I loved them then, and I love them now..... although I am partial to the fish shaped molds.
And, who doesn't love a great basket?!!

 Ok... so back to the painting.
Remember how I mentioned that I had been painting indoors, and out?
The above picture is of our youngest son's house : Dunravin , it's the name of his house, and it has needed to be painted for a long time.
He has been the owner of Dunravin for about 16 months.
All of the electrical has been replaced, the plumbing, the insulation, inside painting, etc.. etc..
On the outside, we were waiting for good weather this spring to give the house a make-over.
Boy did it ever need it!
I'm not really sure what color it was.  Our son called it baby poo yellow/green.  Yeah.. that's about right.

 Now: Yay!! A fresh coat of paint has done wonders for Dunravin!!
A soft gray color : Gray Mist by Behr. 
The body of the house is done, but we are steadily working on getting the trim done.
Of course on an old house, it's much easier said than done.
Windows have to be caulked, scraped, some wood filler used, and then painted. Trim work is hard work because it is so high off the ground, and there is so much of it.
One of our biggest challenges, has been the weather. We'll have a few hours of sunshine, and then the rain begins.
I have a newer picture than the one above {taken last Sunday}, we have made progress and I'll have to post those pictures one of these next times.

Finally, a rainbow!
After a few days of rain, across the meadow was this beautiful rainbow. It was actually a double rainbow... if you look to the left upper hand corner, you can just see a faint double arch.

Yes.. this is a busy time of year.
All of us are busy, busy. Yard work to do, renovation projects for some of us, etc.
We also have a fence to build here at Mill Hill Meadow this summer.  So, if I am absent for a bit, you'll all know that somewhere I'm working my fingers to the bone ****giggle**.
Miss you all, and I hope to catch up on what you've been up to, very soon.
Smiles, and hugs... ~~~ Kerin

Attitude of gratitude:
~Grateful for my wonderful family! I couldn't get half the stuff done with out all the help that they give me!
~ Feeling grateful for the rain that we've been blessed with! Although, I seriously want to wring the neck of the farmer just East of us. He's had his wheel lines going night and day, even though it's been pouring rain for 3 days. What gives??
~I'm so thankful for good health!! We all caught the cold that is making the rounds, but thankfully, in just a day or two, we all felt great again. We are blessed not to have had the cold hang on, and not to have had that horrible cough that others have had. Whew!
~I'm thankful that the drive-in movie is open again!! We've had a blast on the past few date nights; going to the drive in!! Cup of chili, drive in movie, and my sweetheart = a great beginning to the summer!!