I love it!

 I love it!
Fall.
Leaves.
Crisp cool mornings.
Sunrises.
Mountain views.

 Going on long walks with my sweet husband, all around our little hamlet.

 Past the old dairy...

 " Good Morning, cows"!
"Cold morning, isn't it"?

 Down the lane.

 Admiring this woodshed, and all the cut and split wood, ready for cold snowy days.

I love it!
I love this 'fall' season of my life! 
Each and every day is filled with blessings!

The final count of this year's trick or treaters: 255
They love the full-size candy bars. It's so fun to see how happy the kids are to get a big candy bar. It's once a year. 
I have recently heard of entire neighborhoods that really get into the spirit of the day and have booths set up for chili, nachos, apple cider and donuts, hot dogs, etc.. 
Is this a new thing?  

I love it!

~Attitude of Gratitude :
Thankful for my 'muk~luk' neck warmer. Goodness, gracious, it keeps the cold wind off my neck and keeps me cozy warm during our walks. I had no idea that it would work so effectively! 
~Grateful to be a grandma! We waited 6 looong years to become grandparents. I love 'talking' on the phone to our one Grandbaby.
 He just blabbers on, and nothing he says makes sense (he's just one) but oh, how it fills my heart.
 It is the highlight of our day getting to 'talk' to our Grand! 
I totally get why grandparents just beam when they talk about their Grands!!
~Thankful for my sweet husband and the way that he indulges my 'wish list'. We are compiling our wish list for retirement, and he smiles and agrees with my plans, even if some of them are extravagant..*smile*.

Hours

 Spending the hours in my day soaking up the last of the warm weather and sunshiney days.
 Enjoying our mountain views...

 Summer flowers in the garden...

 Orange flowers are a bright spot and heralding some good things about Fall ~ including Fall color schemes.

 The second time around for Chilies. 
The market that inadvertently gave us HOT chilies, replaced them with mild chilies. 
My sweet husband roasted them himself this time. 
Propane torch and fire bowl = the perfect way to roast chilies. Just a few hours worth of work and the freezer is stocked up with roasted chilies.

  A few hours driving around our sweet countryside and taking pictures. 
Going for a drive is one of our favorite things to do.
Above is a section of an old, old, Pea factory. 
My grandmother worked there as a teenager. 
She was born in 1909, so you know this place is quite old. 
   As long as I've seen this old building it's been boarded up.
I like to imagine how it must have been when it was in use.

 The beautiful Manti temple. 
We recently finished serving a mission at the temple. 
We were the coordinators of the baptistry.

One of my favorite old barns.

We live in the country.
Sometimes to kill a few hours, we take a ride around and enjoy the scenery. 
As the weather turns to winter,  the roads will get worse and make it hard to get out for a few hours and take a ride. 
So for now, I'm enjoying these hours.

How I've spent a few hours this week:
 ~Canning sweet and sour sauce.
~Freezing browned and seasoned hamburger.
~Watering and deadheading late summer flowers.
~ Adding some Fall decor to the front porch and all around the house.
~Shampooing carpets as we are getting a delivery of new recliners this week.

Attitude of Gratitude:
 ~ I'm so thankful that I noticed that the water heater is leaking. We bought a new water heater and we'll get it put in this week. So thankful that it's still nice weather and that we didn't have a major problem because of the water heater conking out.
~Grateful for cool mornings!
 I feel so energized and motivated with the mornings being nice and cool.
It may just be a few hours of coolness, but I love it and it sure sets the tone for a productive and happy day!

Bring Back: Family dinner time

Homespun philosophy: Through stormy weather, we'll all stick together

~ Savory & Sweet ~

 Welcome!
This week has been a week of getting things done around the cottage. 
Cleaning, and organizing, and preparing for colder days.
In Utah, when Autumn arrives, it arrives with a snap! 
One day it will be hot, Capri wearing weather, and the next day it will be so cold you click on the furnace!
We've been working on getting the yard ready for winter
I've also been working on stocking up the freezer for winter.

 After our weekend trip to the farm stand and stocking up on produce, we had a great selection of vegetables, and it made perfect sense to make a big batch of savory, vegetable beef soup.
Fresh corn, fresh green beans, tomatoes, squash, etc...

  The sweet plum jam that was made earlier in the week, poured into these containers and ready for the freezer.


We are empty nesters~
Sometimes we make a meal that is large enough to eat a portion and freeze a portion for another day.
I bought these 'Deli Containers' from Amazon. 
These containers are freezer safe, microwave safe, dishwasher safe (top shelf), reusable and PBA free. These containers hold 16 oz. and have proven to be such a handy thing to have on hand.
I mix
 up my own seasoning mixes and rub mixes for smoking meat, etc..
Oh, that I had thought to buy containers like this years ago!


~ Attitude of Gratitude:
~ Last night, we made it up to the lake to fish. The wind has been blowing like crazy here, making a fishing trip impossible. Just as my husband finished fishing, and the sun was setting, the wind kicked back up. I am so thankful that we had a calm, beautiful night to enjoy the lake. 
~Grateful that we were able to water our lawns. We are on water restrictions, and we are only able to water 2 x a week. I am so grateful that we still have two days a week in which to water, as some of the small towns nearby have been restricted to one day of watering, and worse yet, other small towns are not allowed to water, at all!
~

~ Quack Weather ~

 Oh, this winter certainly has me feeling out of whack!
Evidently it's quack weather!
Two nights ago, we heard quacking.
Looking outside, there in the dark , on the front lawn were ducks.
As soon as the dog started barking, they took off.
Fast forward to yesterday morning.  As I was about to let the dog outside & right on the patio stood the ducks.
Poor quackers. They were trying to get out of the deep snow. And, deep snow we have.
Yesterday we ended up with about  a foot of new snow.

 

 

 They were swimming through the snow and trying to find a dryer spot to nestle down
How cute they were... waddling through the snow.

 They took off, around the woodpile and headed for the meadow.
I thought that was the last we would see of them.

 When my sweet husband came home from work, I mentioned that the ducks had visited again, and were trying to snuggle up against the house and under the patio heater.
So, my husband went outside and took a look around to see where they had been and then he sticks his head in the door and tells us that the ducks are back, and in fact they had fallen into one of the basement window wells.

 Poor things.
My sweet husband took one of his large fishing nets and fished them gently out of the window well.
He put them in a tote and took them back to the neighbor that he thought that they belonged to.
Well, a sweet little girl answered the door and with much relief thanked him for bringing back her ducks. The hen practically jumped into the little girls arm.
An older brother of the little girls mentioned that the ducks had been missing for a couple of days, and they had tried to find them, to no avail. He also told my sweet husband that they had 4 ducks, not just 3.
So, being the wonderful and sweet and thoughtful man that he is, he drove back home and took another look around. He heard some rustling in another window well, and discovered the last lost duck. He scooped up the last duck and returned it to it's proper home.

Later in the evening, the doorbell rang and there stood a mother and her three young children.
She told my husband, " I hear that you are the duck rescuer and that we have you to thank for returning our ducks".
The kids had made a sweet candy~gram thank you for my husband.
Not necessary, because he's just the most generous and thoughtful person, and he didn't need a thank you. ... but, it was kind of them and he appreciated their thoughtful gesture.

Such a happy and bright spot in a cold and stormy winters day.

~Reasons to smile today :
* The snow storm has subsided and I was able to stay on top of the new snow yesterday. I am grateful that my health is good and that I could get outside and shovel, scrap snow, salt sidewalks and driveways. It took a few good hours out of the day, but I am so grateful that I am healthy and able to do the chores that needed to be done.
*New bedspread. Yesterday while shopping, I found a really bright and cheerful bedspread for out master bedroom. Just the ticket! It's cheerful and bright, and I love that it feels 'summer~y'... especially now that we've had months of snow.

*Reason number 3 to smile today: Cute craft ideas that I'm going to make and a batch of chocolate chip zucchini cookies. Staying inside where it's cozy and warm today.

~ New year... new opportunities! ~

 Hello friends,
Can you believe how quickly the new year is approaching?
Never in all my years, can I remember a year that has gone by as quickly as this past year.
Maybe it's getting older..... I've often heard that as we age, time goes by faster.
Hmmmm.... it's something to consider ....
I have big plans for the coming year.

 In years past I've tentativly made 'New Years' plans, or resolutions, whatever term you want to use.
But, last year I put 8 strips of paper rolled up in a tiny little bottle.
Eight resolutions for the new year.
A few days ago, I took the cork out of that tiny little bottle and I read over my goals for this past year.
Happily, I accomplished each of my eight goals!
Maybe there was a little genie magic in that little bottle!
 What ever it was, having that little bottle filled with those slips of paper was just the reminder and just the motivation that I needed to work on my goals this last year.
Guess what? Tommorrow night, I'm going to write down some new goals for the coming year on little strips of paper and put those little written reminders in my teeny little bottle.
  Just a little reminder in the coming year of the things I want to work on.

 Also, I took a few minutes and downloaded some pictures off of my little camera:
* Deer in the meadow. They are still digging through the snow and munching on a few of the pumpkins left over from Halloween.

 *Pictures snapped on the way back home from Santa Fe.
In the Monument Valley area of Utah.
Gorgeous red rocks.

 * Near Moab Utah.
Love the turquoise color of these rocks.

*Hole in the rock.
Gosh... we should have stopped.
I saw a sign here advertising  ~ Camel Rides.
Oh well.... maybe next time.

Wishing everyone a very Happy New Year!!
Hope that this one is the best New Year yet.

~Reasons to smile today...
~The days are getting longer now, and that means more sunshine each day!  Perfect for a girl like me that is 'solar powered'!
~ Having my sweet husband home for a few weeks. Nothing better than spending time with my best friend and sweetheart!
~Buying paint and trim... getting an office and the family room re~painted and decorated. Love the fresh clean feel of a newly painted space :)

~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.....

~ June: Junking and Jaunts ~

Hello friends.
Boy, oh boy.. it's another month that has just sped by, and tomorrow July will begin anew.
We've crammed a lot into June.
We've been to yard sales, and garage sales, estate sales.... we've been junking.
The above shelf was a yard sale find. Also the Quaker oats cans.. love them! I gave the shelf a little make over with some paint, and a bit of sanding.

I always find something great when I go junking.
Above junking finds: Shelf {gave it a make over with some black paint} bottles, plant, and the pig with the goose... affectionately referred to as "Petals" the pig, and "Gertie" the goose.

 Delightful mirror. 
We snagged it at a yard sale, only it wasn't actually displayed at the lady's yard sale.
She had it in her house, and they have been renovating their old house.
She asked me if I was interested in a really big mirror. She showed it to me, and the price couldn't be beat. I bought it on the spot.
 It also received a make-over {painted}. There is some hazing, and speckling on the mirror, but I honestly like the aged look of it. 
Isn't the scalloped edge on the mirror sweet?!
I imagine in it's former life, it was part of a mirror and dresser set.
 I painted our mantle white, and had been looking for a large mirror for the mantle.
 This mirror fits the mantle perfectly.

We took a jaunt to Park City.
It's always fun to take a trip to Park City.
We went to lunch and did a bit of shopping. 

 We managed to squeeze in a trip to the zoo in also.
 One of those summer activities that is always a lot of fun.

Lastly, our 'grand~dog' turned one year old.
Her name is Luna, and she loves water! Our oldest son and his wife live by a river, and they take Luna down to the river to swim, fetch and play.
Honestly, I was surprised that they got her to stand still enough to snap this picture!

So, what ever you're doing to soak up summer, I hope you're having fun!

Attitude of gratitude :
~ Feeling grateful for this day! I've been asking in my prayers for our Heavenly Father to help me find ways to serve.
Just this morning, I made a batch of naan, and took some over to my neighbors. It's not a big deal, but I'm grateful for the opportunity to foster goodwill, and show kindness.
Honestly, I am a home~body,and because I'm not out and about, and also because we live in a teeny tiny town, opportunities to serve just don't present themselves every day.
Of course, I always feel blessed to serve my family, but I am looking for service opportunities around me elsewhere as well.
A few days ago, traveling along the highway, we saw 2 elderly men trying to push a pick-up. We stopped gave them some help, and they went on their way. They were so grateful! Just for a teeny bit of help, and they thanked us profusely.
Yes.. I am feeling grateful for this new day, and for each new opportunity to serve.