Grandma

My Grandmother, Ethel, was an artist when it came to homekeeping. She sewed clothes for her family, canned fruits and vegetables that were so pretty you hated to open the jar, except that they tasted so good you just had to! Her house was always in order, her budget made to work no matter the circumstance, and her cooking, oh my! She cooked for the most part without recipes, much to my sorrow, but what recipes she had I have copied down. My grandmother was never wealthy and when she passed away I got her kitchen table and an apron (she always wore an apron) and her stack of feed sack materials. If you click on the picture you can get a closer view of the colors and patterns. I am sure many of you are familiar with feed sacks, they are one of the ways grandma made the budget stretch on the farm. I have many dresses and short sets from when I was little that were made by grandma's loving hands from these materials, and my girls wore them when they were little, they are packed away for the next generation now.

So I have a stack of fabrics that make me think of grandma, who I loved dearly, and jars full of buttons that I loved to sort as a child. My problem is I can't bear to cut the fabric up and use it. I sometimes think of making quilts for my girls out of it, because I believe in using things and not just packing them away, but it seems like such a finite resource and I want to end up with something special. But the truth is I just can't begin to make that first cut. I did sew a few little outfits for my girls when they were little but now the pile is even smaller and I just can't do it.

I see the cutest things that people do with buttons but I guess for now they will stay in a jar on my bookshelf. Every once in a while, my daughters pull them down and go through them, some they have used for a craft or two, but I think they just like looking at them as I did when I was a girl. Anyone out there have the same problem? Do you have something you want to use but don't have the courage to use it up?

Tagged!

I have been tagged by Tiff at Folded Gingham. Wow, that's a new one. Apparently I have to think of seven weird things about myself to tell everyone. I should throw this out to my friends & family, I am sure they could come up with way more than seven things, and much more quickly too! Hmmmm...

1. I paint at least one room in my house every year. There have been a few years I missed but not many, I swear the rooms are getting smaller! And usually it goes something like this, I wake up, look around pull all the furniture to the middle of the floor, go buy paint and have it done by that evening. It helps that I have a small house (that's why I call it a cottage).

2. Not a really weird thing but not the "norm", I home schooled my girls for 5 years and loved it. I wouldn't trade that time with them for anything. I started it about 11 years ago and it was a big step off the beaten path for me, but so worth it.

3. I pick up stuff by the side of the road and re-do it for my house. I thought this was weird until I began reading more blogs and found out how many kindred spirits there are out there.

4. I own chickens, not strange if you live out in the country, but I am not so much out in the country. I don't live in a subdivision, but an older town that has gradually filled with subs and is now very populated. Lets just say I don't know anyone else in the area that has chickens.

5& 6. My husband says the only fault I have is that I don't screw lids down tight when I am done with them. I don't know which is the strange thing, not screwing the lids on tight or my husband thinking I only have one fault. I think that might actually be two things!

7. My oldest daughter says it's weird when I dance around the living room to her music. Can't help it, sometimes the music just takes me and if I can't dance like a weirdo in front of my family then where can I?

Here are the rules...each player starts with 7 random Facts/habits about themselves. People who are tagged need to write on their own blog about their seven things, as well as these rules. At the end of your blog,you need to choose 7 people to get tagged and list their names. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them that they have been tagged and to read your blog!Have fun!!!.

I tag...
Daylily Lane
Under A Blue Moon
Because I Said...
My Messy, Thrilling Life
Homespun Living
The Draper House
Lallees Cottage

Hey friends & Family, can you think of any weird things about me?

Look at the pretty stained glass panel I got at Marshalls on Clearance! Happy Mothers day to ME!

Michigan Spring

I thought I would share a little bit of our Michigan spring with everyone. Everything is so green and pink and white! This is a dwarf apple tree that Earl and I planted 24 years ago, never got a decent apple off it in all that time, but isn't it lovely in spring?
Below is a close-up of the blossoms. When I mow the lawn it smells so beautiful out by these trees. The neighbors have two BIG old apple trees right next to ours and it is heavenly to be near them this time of year!

Then of course, we have the lilacs... We have six beautiful lilac bushes scattered over our little 5 acres and every spring around my birthday they give me the most wonderful gift of their blooms! I am able to fill the house with big bunches of lilacs, all I want, and still look out on masses of them.






We also have a lovely gnarley old pear tree. The pears are totally inedible, hard as rocks and there are always masses of them in the fall to clean up, but I just don't mind because to have masses of pears you first have to have masses of blossoms. The tree is beautiful, They don't smell as pretty as the apple blossoms but they are beautiful and the leaves are glossy and turn a deep burgundy in the fall. I enjoy the pear tree no matter what the season.





So much more to show you as spring advances. I can't wait to show you the lavender, the pergola dripping with flowers, the perennials and annuals tucked here and there. Spring in Michigan makes winter in Michigan bearable (almost). :>)

Here is a peek at the glass rooster I am putting in the mail today for my mom for mothers day. She has the hen in this color and when I saw the rooster I just had to get it for her. I can post this because my mom doesnt check my blog, she isnt a computer person, so I am safe!

It is a beautiful rainy day today with thunder and a light rain. Wish I could stay home and putter around the house instead of going to work...but that is what I say when the sun shines too! Good thing I work for the schools so I get the summer off. I have been a stay at home mom too long and now work feels a lot like prison to me. Poor hubby has been supporting us for all these years, I try to make home happy for him to make up for it :>)

Well, off to work and to drop mom's package in the mail. I hope my blog isn't too boring. I don't lead a very fascinating life, work, clean, try to find a little me time. I am at a stage in my life where I can try to change a few bad habits, t.v. - a HUGE time stealer and so easy when I am tired to plunk down and zone out. A few years of that and you realize all the time you could have been doing things that were productive or that would have brought me closer to friends and family. How many more conversations could I have shared with my family? More exercise, more time to read my Bible and grow as a christian and decent human being. Life seems filled with time thieves. A little stolen here and a little there and you barely notice. I suppose the computer could be in that category but I don't usually just sit and surf and I am finding so much inspiration in the blogs I have found. Inspiration to be more creative and more sharing. Anyway, I hope whoever is looking in on my little corner of the world will some day find some inspiration here too. Now off to work (sigh)!