~ Iffy~

 My goodness.. spring has been iffy, at best, where we live.
We'll have a warm day, then a cold day when it's chilly enough that I end up turning on the fireplace. Also, we've had a lot of wind this spring. Tons of wind!
For a bit, I thought that I'd never see the brunella bloom again, or the tulips for that matter.
Now that things are greening up and looking beautiful, my heart is happy that spring is finally here and summer just on it's heels.

 We've stayed pretty busy.... we replaced the light fixtures in the kitchen. The previous light fixtures were a bit too contemporary for my taste, and the new light fixtures are more 'country' or 'farmhouse' and simple.

 I've been making summer crafts....

 and spring crafts......

 and making over furniture.
That little chest of drawers was given to me years and years ago. Our youngest son helped me cut the 'skirt' off of the chest of drawers and helped my add the 'feet'.
Then, I cut a piece of wood and replaced one of the drawer stops, and gave the entire thing a paint job.

 Distressed, and stenciled and sealed, it's a great additional storage piece.

The entire project, including the cost of paint, and the stencil, came in at under $20.00. A real bargain for a nice storage chest. The 'feet' we bought at ReStore and adapted them to use on the chest. Originally they were furniture 'feet' that were for couches, or side chairs I imagine. At just a dollar a piece though, they really were a great buy!

Also iffy... my ability to keep my blog updated. I have good ideas for posts, and then I run out of time, or fail to make time to download pics, and write and publish a post.
Guess I'm too busy soaking up the warmer weather, or maybe I've outgrown my desire to blog?
It's iffy.

What I want to say is....

 It is still very much winter here.
Snow..... and lots of it, covers the ground, meadows, mountain... and lawn.
One of the worst parts of winter, in my opinion, is the wind.
When it blows, it blows that freezing air off the mountain tops and there is no escaping that frozen air.
Brrrr.... just brrrrr!!

 I try and take Rowdy out for a walk every day.
We wait and watch for the sun to come out and for the day to warm up a bit.
He loves going for a walk, and I've been letting him off the leash for part of the walk.
When we walk past the fields, and there isn't any traffic on the road, he gets to walk along with out the leash, and he loves it.
He cracks me up!! He walks along and sticks his tongue out as he's walking and treats himself to a "snow" cone.
He loves munching on mouthfuls of snow.
Too funny!!

 We walk around the college.
The sidewalks are kept cleaned off and so it's a nice place to walk in the winter.
This building is just one of the old building that we walk by each day.

 I have fallen in love with the blue on the door. So much so, that we bought a similar color of paint to repaint my sweet husbands office.
We've been working on indoor projects. Painting, putting up wainscot, etc...
It's a great time of year for indoor projects!!
Believe me, when it's warm enough to be outside, that's just where we'll be !

 Staying busy with projects and crafty ideas helps the winter pass more quickly.
On Pinterest, I saw a tutorial to make colored glass out of recycled bottles.
Gathering up old salsa and jam bottles, I followed the tutorial and ended up with a bunch of colored jars. I rather like the way that they turned out, although I admit I splurged on store bought ModPodge and used it instead of my homemade Modpodge on this project.
It called for glossy modpodge, so I used that.

 I love that the turquoise blue jars ended up being an almost perfect match to the turquoise blue jar candle that I recently bought. The jar with the wire bale on it is the purchased jar and the smaller jar to the left of it, is the one that I made.
Along with turquoise colored jars, I made olive green ones and pale orange jars.

 For Christmas, our daughter gave us some balm from Trader Joes. It's a head to toe balm, and it's wonderful for dry, chapped winter ravaged skin.
I found another Pinterest idea to make some homemade balm, and so I did!
Beeswax, coconut oil, olive oil, almond oil, and essential oil.
It made one and a half tiny jars full, and above it's been poured into the jars and set to cool.
As it cooled it turned a pale, pale yellow color.
Turns out, it works just as well as the Trader Joes variety, and considering that the closest Trader Joes to us is well over 90 miles away, I'd say that the DIY balm is spot on!

Lastly, I'd like to say that spring will come.
Each and every day draws us closer to spring.
Warmer temperatures, greening grass, and daffodils and tulips and pansies in bloom.
As I looked through my pictures from last spring, I was trying to gauge when I'd see green grass again.
This picture is from late April. SO, my heart is full of hope!!!
Oh, and as we were going through our favorite catalog to order seeds from, it dawned on us that we planted garlic last Fall.... so there is that to look forward to this summer too!!

~Things making me smile today ....
* We were supposed to get another big snow storm yesterday, and most of the moisture we received was in the form of rain. Yay! I'll take the break from shoveling, thank you very much!
* Our order is on it's way from Bath & Body works. Again, we live so far from a B&BW that when they have their semi~annual sale, it's just easier and more affordable to order on line.
*This coming Friday, we have reserved ticket to visit the Provo City Center Temple.
That building was our tabernacle when I was growing up and holds a special place in my heart. I am so happy and grateful that it is now a temple and that it could be saved after the fire.
To read more about that temple, click the link : http://newtempleinprovo.blogspot.com/

~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.....

~ Would you believe me if I told you.....

 That.. Garden Charlie is the official greeter of the season, here at Mill Hill Meadow?!
Well, he is!

We've had Garden Charlie for about seven or eight years now.

In his early life, he watched over our large gardens at Cottage on Main.
    Now, he's pretty much retired, except for during the Fall months.
Cute as ever!

 Garden Charlie got spiffed up a bit this year..... he got a new overalls and a new cozy flannel shirt.
Instead of frightening off the birds, he just grins and enjoys all thing Fall.
 Pumpkins, gourds, and decorations.

 Amazing gourds in beautiful Fall colors grace the dining room table.
A bit of the harvest season on display.

 The living room console table is gussied up for Halloween, as well.
Some of the darling crafts that we made are displayed, and that wonderful large birdhouse is an early birthday present from my husband. We saw it in a new boutique in town, and he knew I loved it and bought it for me.
Even though my birthday isn't until the 15th, he wanted me to have it now and enjoy it.  He's awesome like that!

 A few more crafts from our girls craft day on the entry table.

   ~ and some more crafts....

 ~ and some more.

 I realized that I didn't have a Halloween wreath.
Lots of Fall wreaths, with leaves and berries, etc.. but no Halloween wreath, so I made this one.
Looking at the crow, I think someone bumped him.. he looks like he's ready to fly away, or fall off his nest.

 Just two weekends ago, my sweet husband and I lucked upon an estate sale in a near~by small town.
I couldn't pass these amber goblets up. Not only do I love the color of them, and how well they will work for Fall tablescapes, but I adore the diamond cut design that extends down the stem of the goblets.  The folks had such a cute little requirement for buying something at their estate sale.. the requirement was that you had to consent to take a few cookbooks for free. Their mother had collected cookbooks her entire life, and had a room about 12X10 full of cookbooks!  So, I also got 4 neat old cookbooks in the deal!

 Our 'new' old door. We've been in this home now for just shy of a year and a half. We love our home! However, newer homes aren't built {generally speaking} with screen doors. We really, really wanted a screen door.
We ordered one from Home Depot, and it was quite nice, and a pricey. But, it wouldn't work on our house, because the reveal around the door wasn't deep enough to install a screen door.
So, my sweet husband had a carpenter build us a shallow depth door and then my husband built up the door casing, and now we have an amazingly beautiful hickory and cherry wood screen door, in the old fashioned style.
I'm over the moon!

Hope you all have a " Boo~tiful day , my friends.

~Attitude of gratitude
~ Feeling grateful that our old truck is getting a brake fluid hose replaced. Last thing I want is a fire under the hood.
~Thankful for cinnamon ~ sugar pecans roasting away in the slow cooker. Boy, does our home ever smell delicious, and Fall~ish!
~So grateful for our new range. Our old smooth top range conked out, and my sweet husband bought us a new gas convection range with 5 burners. Boy do I feel spoiled :)
~Feeling thankful that my sweet husband has gotten so much of the winterization done around here.. all the vehicles have had the oil changed in them, the rototiller and lawn mowers will be done this week, and the ATV's. What a nice feeling to know, when the snow falls, we'll be ready!

~ a few of my favorite finds ~

 Hello there, friends.
Is it just me, or has this entire summer, and even year, just flown by?
Fall is my most favorite season of all. Perhaps, that is due to the fact that my birthday is in the Fall... although it is still a little ways off.
I have heard that you love the season in which you were born, but I don't know if that's true or not.
For me it is !
I'll bet you've all been super busy.
I've been busy too.. you know, it is canning season, and yard sales are starting to wrap up for the season.
Drat.
Wish I lived in a year round yard sale kind of climate....**smile**.
I've found some great things this summer at yard sales, and I've also found a few smart tips to help me out with canning.
So, lets get on with this post, shall we?
  ~ The above galvanized pumpkin is a new favorite find.   Found at a near~by gift shop.  It wasn't in~expensive, however, it will last for years and years and years, and it is quite pretty, and makes my heart smile .

 ~ See that 8 gallon pickle crock sitting under the console table? It was a yard sale find, from a few weeks ago. I hesitate to tell you what I paid for it... honestly, it was a steal. My sweet husband and I went to a yard sale of an older couple that had left the state, and a friend of theirs was selling the stuff for them that they no longer wanted.  Between my husbands finds, and mine, we made a package deal with them, and I would say that I paid a dollar {whoo Hoo} or less for that gorgeous crock!

 ~ A lot of candles found at a consignment store in St. George in the Spring.
I loved the sizes of the candles, not necessarily the scents or the colors.
So, I gave them all a make~over {ya'll know how I love to make~over stuff !} with extra wax, cinnamon, pumpkin spice and nutmeg.
I call them 'Cake Candles' , although that may not be the official term.
Love them now~ and they smell nummy too!

 ~ Another favorite find... sweet watercolors.
Just 25 cents a piece.
They are quite large, and older.
The top one, of the red mill, I framed for the dining area. I adore that sweet red mill and waterfall.

 ~They are all signed by Katie M Kinney... near as I can tell, and the date on each of them is 1952.
Perhaps they aren't great works of art, but I certainly love and appreciate each one of them, and I am happy to add them to our home.

 ~So, of course it's canning season.
Happily one of my favorite finds, has been fresh tomatoes on our little plants.
We planted just a handful of tomato plants this past spring, and did our best to keep the deer out of them.  Still, I just didn't quite have enough tomatoes to make salsa.
So, I stopped by a cute little farm stand in a near by town, and low and behold, fresh tomatoes!
I love that little farm stand in the Fall... for they have the best pumpkins, but I had no idea that they would have fresh tomatoes. Nice surprise!

 ~ Well, I just whipped up a batch of salsa pronto.
Much to my dismay, our pepper plant just couldn't produce enough peppers, and our local grocery store wanted a small fortune for just one pepper.
So, off to the dollar store I went, where I bought 7 one pound bags of all natural fajita mix... peppers and onions.
And, all the prep work was done! No tears from chopping onions, and no time consuming prep work for chopping and de~seeding peppers. Nope.
Just tossed a cup at a time of the fajita mix into the food processor, and presto.. chopped onions and peppers.
I feel like a genius! For just a dollar, all my peppers and onions for salsa!

 ~ A cute find... inspiration to make this sweet little hanger, via Pinterest.
There are such cute idea on Pinterest for Fall!!
I made  this cute little candy corn hanger in no time at all.  Just waiting for October to decorate with it.

 ~ Favorite find... polka dotted napkins on clearance at one of my favorite little boutique stores.
Just a dollar a package, for either the large polka dot napkins, or the small polka dot napkins.
So, I bought both.
Snagged a few recycled jelly jars out of my stash, a brush on of DIY modge podge, and a few other small embellishments, and VOILA... sweet little Halloween votive.
Gosh, I love 'em.

 ~ Favorite find, and favorite Fall activity..... "Swiss Days'' in Midway.
Love, love going to Swiss Days.
Lots of cute booths and cute ideas. Really helps me get in the creative mood.
Snapped a picture of this sweet sign.  {Sorry to the lady in the sandals and jean.. the booth was too crowded and I had to snap a picture as fast as I could }
What a darling up~cycled window frame.  Barn wood takes the place of the glass, and a sweet saying painted on the wood.
I just happen to have an old window frame laying around here... someplace....

 ~Another booth with cute accent pieces.

~Although, this had to have been one of the cutest things in this booth.
Simply, cute.
A round chalkboard, and a sweet saying.
Going to have to make me one of these!

~ Attitude of gratitude
~ Feeling thankful for sweet friends, craft days, and for all things Fall
~Grateful for my sweet husband, and wonderful kiddo's.  We all got together over the Labor Day weekend and had dinner. Thankful for those that had a ways to travel to be here, and I'm thankful that they made the effort.
~Thankful for a dehydrator full of pears, bottles of homemade salsa, bottles of homemade jam and a pantry filled with quick mixes. I am feeling more and more ready for falling snow days, each and every day, and grateful for a heart that feels that it is important to prepare and be a good steward over all that we have been blessed with.