2012 Here We Come!

Another new year is upon us.  I am not a big resolution maker, but this year I do have a few.  Like a lot of you I want to declutter. Our living space is pretty good, but the basement and garage looks like we are hoarders!  It has been hard because my mother in law passed away last May and we have all her things in these 2 areas.  My husband is not quite ready to think about selling or even giving away her things, so here they stay.  We need to organize the stuff though, as it is a jumbled up mess.  He said we will take a small area at a time and go through it all.  It is just getting around to him wanting to do it.  One of my main resolutions for this year is to try to cut back on my grocery bill.  There has to be a way!  Couponing is not my thing. I have tried it some, but it seems like the coupons are always for things I don't usually buy so buying something for the sake of that is not a help.  I have 3 adult children that live here, and they eat a lot. My husband is also retired and eats all day long. lol . You would be horrified to know what I spend per week on food. My resolution is to begin to plan meals for the week on Sunday, go shopping once a week instead of daily, and try to get this grocery budget under control. It will take some getting used to for us, but it has to be done. What are your resolutions?

Happy New Year!

Nadine

Countdown to Christmas!

I can't believe that Christmas is only a week away.  I haven't wrapped a single gift!  I said to hubby today, "We are staying home and getting things done." One reason I have procrastinated on putting gifts under the tree is a new addition to our family named Vader. My son's kitten!  He is a cute little all black kitten, and frisky as heck. I just know he is going to tear all the paper off the presents. lol  

A few more Christmas decor pics below:

The trunk in the front entry decked out with a prim tree and some old world Santas

All is calm, All is bright... Stained glass window on the stairway.

A lotta snowmen - A hooked rug on the living room wall. I will keep this up through February along with my other snow friends.

May your days be merry and bright this holiday season. Merry Christmas!
Hugs,
Nadine

Christmas is Right Around the Corner!

Here are a few more touches of Christmas at our house. The old Canadian goose decoy nests in a bed of snow covered Christmas greenery on the coffee table.

The bucket bench holds a few stoneware pieces and some Christmas cheer.

The stepback cupboard holds the old world Vaillencourt santa and his snowman friend

Oh Christmas tree! How lovely art thy branches!  Our main tree for this year.

Thanks for stopping by!
Christmas Blessings,
Nadine

Christmas Around the Farmhouse Kitchen

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas here at our house!  I would like to share a few pictures of some of my primitive farmhouse decor this year.  I have kept it pretty simple with touches of greenery and some simple vignettes.  The bay window is the exception in the kitchen and is decked out with a tree and village. My children no matter how old love the Christmas village.  These pictures are in my kitchen. I will share some more of the rest of the house tomorrow. Thanks for stopping by and Happy Holidays! You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

The kitchen table display is an old painted tool carrier that I usually keep on the table and change the contents with the holidays.  This year I filled old Mason Jars with treats for Santa and surrounded them with greenery.

The old Chatillon country store scale holds a bundle of fresh holly from our holly tree.

A few touches of Christmas on the beam above the stove.

For some reason this sled picture will only post sideways. Anyone know why?  I have tried everything to get it to post straight. lol.  Anyway, tip your head to see the old sled that was my Mother in Laws when she was a child decked out for the holiday.

The bay window in the kitchen adorned with festive tree and village.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few pictures of my kitchen at Christmas this year!

Have a Wonderful Day of Thanksgiving

I have much to be thankful for this year.  I wish you all a blessed day of Thanksgiving!

Great Yard Sale Day! Many Prim Goodies!

Wow, what a morning hubby and I had at the sales.  There weren't many but we decided to hit 2 places.  The first was a craft fair in a local neighborhood.  They had some lovely crafts and I picked up a few gifts, but they also had a section called "Nana's Attic" which held all the yard sale type goodies. I got the prim snowman bowl, the stocking, the repro coverlet, the hooked chair pads, some nice pocketbooks ( Vera Bradley and 9 west, plus some great hard cover books on quilts, cooking and the like.  Everything was 50 cents each.  I wish I had gotten there earlier. Next we stopped at a sale that was in an old barn. We got a ton of stuff there. The man said everything had to go and to make a pile of what we wanted and he would give us a lump sum price.  I was a bit nervous, but it seemed like he was a reasonable fellow so yeah, it was 10 dollars for all!  Hubby got an old scythe for the yard ( not in the picture because of it's size) an old yoke, the early footstool, a gourd dipper, the corn dryer, the old birdhouse in great old blue paint, the brown crock, an old buoy in old chipped paint ( which I collect) the yelloware and green pitcher, a few old barrel spigots and a great Early peg rack in a reddish brown old paint! I know it is kind of hard to see it all in my pictures, but it was a great haul, and for 10 dollars!  We have had a lot of luck at the sales lately. The antique market is slow for dealers I think because of the economy so they are selling dirt cheap. I have a few more things to show you from previous weeks.  Now to find places for it all !
Prim Blessings,
Nadine

Front Yard Fall Display

Wow time is sure flying!  Here we are at the end of October already and I haven't shared my outdoor signs of Fall.  This old wheelbarrow was my husband's grandfathers. Don't you just love the old red paint and original stenciling on the side? We have had more people stop and want to buy that wheelbarrow from us, but we would never sell it. It belongs here. Unfortunately we have to keep it chained to a tree. We have already had someone steal the pumpkins from the display. I am hoping it was just kids.

The bittersweet looks so pretty against the red door!  I have had trouble with my bittersweet this year turning brown.  I don't know if it was because of all the rain we had or what.

Simple and Prim Fall Displays

I hope everyone is having a great Fall!  Our weather is still stuck in summer mode thus far here in Massachusetts with lots of humidity.  I am hopeful that it will soon break and I can feel the fresh crisp air. I have kept my fall decor fairly simple this year. I am going for a less cluttered primitive feel to most of my displays and decor. Here are a few picture from my kitchen. I did the bay window with a great large prim birdhouse that we got a local primitives shop in Rochester MA called The Gingham Goose.  If you ever are over that way, be sure to pay the shop a visit and be prepared to want everything in there!  It is topped off with a vine and the old crow sits on top. The little pumpkin sits atop the old candle boxes.

I bought the old tool carrier for 5 dollars at a yard sale a few weeks ago and gave it a coat of black paint and some distressing. I think it makes for a nice simple kitchen table top display with the gourds, indian corn and the  storage jars.

For the kitchen entry display I filled an old crock with some drieds and in the corner I put a few natural gourds in one of my latest ebay purchases..the great old cranberry rake!
I am hoping this weeked we will be decorating the outside space for fall.

Re-Purposed Old Door And New Yard Decor

Wow it sure has been hot here in New England this week, and they say the next few days will bring no relief. I know others are having it worse than we are, so I will be grateful for our 90 degrees!  Before you know it the leaves will be changing and the snow will be flying so I will savor each day for what it brings to us. I have a few new finds that I have turned into primitive yard decor so I thought I would share them with you. Best of all they were found items in our garage!  The door and grape crusher were found up in the rafters and have been there according to hubby for a LONG time. He said he remembers asking his Mom what the crusher was when he was a little boy and he is ummm......58 so yeah it's old. haha. It has some great old green paint on the base and traces on the wheel!  I put a plant in the bin and it is decorating the front of the house now along with a lot of other items.  The door was the origninal door to the old outhouse on the property. When he pulled it down it was covered with mud wasp dirt... I ran like heck. lol  But, I cleaned all that filth off it and I just LOVE the patina of it. The old green over the cream color paint is perfect in my eyes.  I hung a twig wreath and the metal sconce holder which came with 3 glass vases in it and I replaced with the old clay pots.  That was a yard sale bargain this past weekend for a dollar. I figure I can change the wreath and decor on the door with the seasons.  We put the door leaning up against the side of the house where the driveway is.  It was always a blah plain spot, so now it has a bit of charm.  So, if you like this look don't overlook those old doors!
Nadine

Freebie Curbside Cupboard Redo

Hi everyone,  It has been a while since I have posted, but you know how it is in the summer. (busy busy busy) A few months ago I had blogged about my husband coming home with a neat cupboard top he found on the curb for free. It looked like a man had used it as a tool cabinet as it had the holes in the shelf for brushes etc. First I took those old shelves out and hubby put a new shelf in for me. I had this circa 1990's colonial style cabinet that was in a high gloss pine finish with a painting of flowers on the doors. It was pretty and all, but screamed " I need to be primmed up" I meant to take a picture but I was so excited to finish this that I forgot. lol  So I painted both pieces in Valspars Dark Kettle Black (flat finish) after sanding them down. I then resanded to distress and gave it a rub down with Minwax special walnut stain. I let it sit for a few minutes then wiped the stain off with an old soft cloth.  I put the found cupboard top on top of the cabinet bottom I had and came up with the "step back" style cupboard look.  I think it came out very well and looks nice with the old crock bottles, tole tray and pewter pieces.  I am sure I will be fooling with vignettes for it for a while :)  I hope everyone had a nice 4th of July and the summer is going well so far!
Here are two pictures of the completed cupboard followed by the picture of the cupboard top before it was made over in case you missed that blog post from a few months ago.

Before:

A Few New Plantings Around the House

Hi all, sorry I haven't posted in a while, but things have been rather busy around here.  Yesterday was a beautiful day for Fathers Day and hubby and I added a few new plantings around the house.  We plan to edge the gardens in old bricks we have, but I thought I would share the pretty flowers we planted for now. They are already attracting butterflies which is what I wanted. I hope everyone had a great Dad's day weekend!

Summer Thyme Picnic- New Display

I love picnics!  There is nothing better than to spread out the blanket and relax and enjoy some summertime good eats.  I decorated my bay window with this old picnic basket filled with an array of prim goodies, mason jars filled with canned summer fruits, ginger beer bottles for a refreshing beverage, lemons and limes, and an old civil war song book to read.  I hope this weekend is a relaxing one for everyone and maybe you can find time to even have a picnic.

Taco Pasta Skillet

I made this for dinner tonight and it got rave reviews from the hubby and kids so I thought I would share this easy recipe. It fed 6 people and hubby had 2 servings.  I served it with crusty bread and a green salad.

1 lb	ground beef
1 c	chopped onion
1 c	sweet corn (frozen)
4 oz	diced green chile peppers, drained
1 pkg   2/3 c	taco seasoning (1.25oz) water
1 lb	penne pasta (1 box)
4 oz	sliced black olives, drained
1 c	shredded monterey jack cheese (divided) can of diced tomatoes sour cream fresh cilantro

Brown the ground beef and onion in a large skillet. Drain. Meanwhile, cook your pasta of choice according to the package directions.  I used ziti.
Add the corn and green chilies to the beef mixture. 
Add the package of taco seasoning mix and 2/3 cup of water and stir. Add 1/2 C of the cheese and the olives.
Simmer for 5 mins.
Drain pasta and add to the meat mixture. 
Serve topped with the remaining shredded cheese, diced tomatoes, sour cream and cilantro.
Enjoy!

Happy Sunday!

It is a gorgeous day here in New England.  The highs will be in the low 70's. I hope to get more yard work done and just enjoy the day.  I switched up the farmhouse table this morning.  My Mother in Law who recently passed away had given me this lovely victorian lemonade set that was her Mothers. I filled it with the hot pink rhododendrons that are blooming in the yard and added a few more victorian pieces around it and used a vintage tablecloth with strawberries galore on it.   I think it makes for a bright and cheery table. While I still love my primitives, I do like to decorate in other styles on occasion and love to mix things up between primitive, farmhouse, shabby chic, and victorian. Maybe it is the Gemini in me.  How about you?  Do you stick with one style regardless or bring other treasured pieces into your decor even if they aren't the majority of your decor?

Catmint ? You Would Think The "Cat" Part Would Have Given Me a Clue

Hubby and I went to Home Depot this morning to pick up a lawn mower starter and of course I can't leave that place without walking through the garden dept.  I saw the tall spikey purple flowers and thought they were pretty and a decent price at $5.97 so I purchased three 2 qt. pots. I noticed it was called catmint when I got it home and so I tore off a leaf and smelled it...yep minty. I wonder why they call it catmint?   So I decided to put the plants beside the garage where it gets a lot of sun. One of the kittys was nearby and immediately began to roll on the plant knocking half of it flat to the ground.  Another comes by and starts chewing on it.  Yikes. I tell hubby that I think we bought catnip!  I was afraid they were going to flatten the rest of my flowers and seedlings there so I replanted all 3 plants in an old cranberry box and put it on the side of the house. So the kitties are havin' a hell of a time with my new plants and hubby is grumbling about wasting 15 dollars. lol

Little Mama is staggering off after rolling on the plant for 15 minutes.

Misty comes by to take a "hit" off the plant.

Catmint plants all replanted in their new box. Uh oh...Mama is back for a second roll and Ty is getting his fill too.  I wonder how long the plants will look pretty? lol

Out and About on a Beautiful Early Summer Morning

Today is one of those picture perfect days here in New England.  The sun is shining brightly, it is in the mid 70's and a light breeze is blowing. After all the rain we had everything is very green! I was walking around the yard this morning checking on my flowers and decided to take a few pictures.  I am a bit behind in my gardening this year because of the weather and the death of my mother in law, but things are starting to look nice around here.
I love the pinks. They remind me of peppermint candies. The wooden planters are planted with a few mixed perennials.

Outside the back door, the old oak chair and table make a nice place to have a cup of ice tea in the morning. The old rusty bucket makes a nice pot. More pinks are planted in the rusty clam bucket. I do love my rusty buckets! The iron german shepard is a shoe scraper. The green table was a curbside freebie.

The outhouse on the property which hubby says will soon be my potting shed looks pretty with the old lobster traps and buoys out front. I collect old buoys and anything ocean related besides my prims. The old watering can makes a nice planter on top of the lobster trap.

At the front of the house the child's double seat adirondack chair has a potted pink petunia on its table, and here comes kitty to investigate what I am doing! The old wagon wheel with it's great red paint leans against the lamp pole. I am hoping the vine I planted will grow around the spokes.

Beside the house the river is calm and the greenery is lush. I love sitting here watching the fish jump and if I am lucky I see a couple of river otters playing occasionally. In the early morning when I arise the croaking of the bullfrogs is like a chorus.  A black snake surprised hubby when he was fishing earlier here.he didn't catch anything. lol

I hope today is a beautiful day wherever you are! Thank you for stopping by!

Happy Memorial Day

I hope everyone has a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!
I haven't been working on my blog for a bit as my mother in law passed away last week. She was a wonderful lady that my family loved dearly. She was 89 years old. She will be remembered lovingly.
Rest in Peace Alice.

Prayer for the Troops

Please join us in our prayers for the men and women of the Armed Forces Of The United States Of America and other countries who are now in harm's way in Afghanistan, Iraq, and other parts of the world. We thank them and their families for their sacrifices.

 

We are grateful for the ultimate price of freedom paid by those fallen. We pray for strength and courage for the POWS and Missing In Action and those held hostage.

 

We pray for the protection and safety of selfless relief workers and missionaries who help those in need.

 

We pray for the protection of children and innocent civilians.

 

We pray for our nation and our leaders.

 

- The Howards

Lilacs To Brighten Another Dreary Day

Today has dawned another dismal, showery, cool day here in New England.  The only cheery sign of pending summer is the beautiful lilacs blooming along the back fence.  I snipped a few, shook the rain water off, placed them in an old Gem mason jar and added them to my coffee table vignette. They are beautiful and smell so good!  My daughter's boyfriend informed me that next Tuesday is supposed to be good weather. Today is Thursday sooooooo..... I guess that is something to look forward to. I am wondering if I will ever get to plant my vegetable beds.

Outside Corner Makeover

Yesterday hubby and I were walking around the yard deciding what new plantings need to be done and what changes we should make.  We stopped at that corner of the house.  It is a place where nothing grows, and believe me I have tried growing things there. There is little sun because of a large Japanese maple tree that blocks the light. It is just an eyesore. The only thing that flourishes there is spiders. He said, "We need to get something for that corner", and started listing things that involved money.  ( granite troughs, benches...ugh)  I am on a thrifty kick and my brain began to think of things we had in the shed, in the garage, or stuck in the basement. I remembered seeing this sweet little chair in the garage on top of the canoe ( it looks like an episode of "Hoarders" in our garage at the moment. ) I think it was another thing he had found roadside.  I came out of the garage with it and some bucket that I believe is the liner to a bait bucket, and he said "where are you going with that?"  I said, "I just want to try something" He began mumbling about wood glue and clamps as usual.  I just ignored it...it's not like anyone would want to actually sit in that spider infested corner anyway.  So this is our new "naughty corner" display and I like it.  I am going to put a plant in the bait bucket liner. Best of all it was Free and I think it looks primitively charming. What do you think?