I hope you all had a great Christmas,

I know I did! I said that my spirits

were lifted after I talked to my sister,

well, we spent Christmas together

for the first time, since the 60's or 

the 70's! My family is spread out

all over the U.S. and she lived in 

Oregon for a long time and now

she is back in Missouri....So, I hope

we can visit, more often. It was an

awful short visit, but it was wonderful!

 I did get some pictures going up 

and coming back.....This is not far

from where I live and we were way 

up on a ridge! It doesn't look like 

it is high up in the picture, like it

does with your eyes!

Still in the Kiamichi Mountains...

I loved this X in the sky!  My hubby

wanted to know if my sister lived under

it!...lol...Like X marks the spot!

I think this ridge is the one with the

tunnel, below. 

I can see daylight at the end of the

tunnel!

 This is not a good picture, but I was in a

hurry to see my sister and I didn't want to 

walk a long ways to get a better one!

I hope you weren't in MO, Angie, becaue

I will be mad that I didn't have time to

meet you!

I love all the rock in Missouri, we used

to go there to see my grandparents

when I was young. 

This is Tom, my sister's turkey....He

kept following us around and talking

to us and showing off.

 

On the way back home, in Osage, AR, 

there is a pottery shop, just off the

road we were on, so we stopped and

my hubby got a coffee mug....The 

potter said it was a general store

from 1901 until 1989...He has been

there a long time and lives next door.

I love the stacked stone on the side.

Have you ever heard of the War Eagle

craft show?  I wanted to go to it in 

October, but didn't get there, anyway

he said he has set up there for 33 yrs!

I love this picture, it reminds me 

of a folkart picture with the hills

going this way and that!

This was taken shortly after the pic,

above it....If you make the picture

bigger you might be able to see the

houses up on the ridge! I could have

cropped this picture, but then you 

wouldn't be able to see how high 

the ridge is....The trip was fast, we

went up on Saturday and back on 

Monday!  I have more pictures and

some of them are misty from a lot

of rain, that we ran into....

I want to thank you all for coming

along on the trip and thank you all

for following!  I love blogging and 

seeing what everyone is doing, how

you are decorating, what you are 

creating and so on....

I want to say Happy New Year

to you all and I hope the new year

brings you many blessings, good

health and many more friends thru

blogging! 

I forgot to have my giveaway at 

Christmas time, so I will have one

later on....What is up with that?

I guess it was because I was 

Bah Humbug!...lol....I am so glad 

that I got over that....Geese Louise!

Happy New Year!

Bear Hugs & Blessings~Karen

Christmas Decorating

I wanted to show you all the little

bit of Christmas decorating that 

I did.....I have been Scrooge the

all month! Usually when I get 

this way, it doesn't last this long!

Anyway, my spirits have lifted,

with a little help from blogging

friends and my Sister!

Here's Chum!  (Sound familiar?)

Bah Humbug, I'm not wearing

this hat and you can't make me!

 It is only going to be on here one

more second! And that is all it was

on his head! Chum thinks his Mom

is nuts for trying to put a hat on 

him!

 And she probably is!

I would like to thank some blogging

friends for thinking of me and sending 

me these wonderful Christmas cards! 

I usually send out cards, but not this 

year.....I know, Bah Humbug! Anyway, 

they are from Tonya of My Primitive

Creations By Tonya, Gina of Catnap Inn 

and Teresa of Deppenhomestead...

Thanks so much ladies, you sure lifted

my spirits!

 

 I got out my gingers and I don't 

have all that many...Guess I need

to shop for some, for next year!

Close up of the ornie in with the 

gingers, from Brenda of 

The Rusty Thimble, last year.

This ginger is from Brenda, this year.

I sent her a box of graters and a sifter

and she sent me gingers! I love them,

thanks again, Brenda!

 In the picture, above you can see

beeswax gingers from Sandy of the

Olde Country Cupboard and another

ginger from Brenda on a grater. Plus

that big gingerbread man I won 

from Grandma Kringle's giveaway.

I love him, too!...Thanks again, 

Grandma!

Here's my little tree in the kitchen.

I got the little mason jars from 

Samantha's Accessories.

 I decorate my mantel different, 

every year and this year it has 

Santas....

My new tree....I love this 

skinny tree, it is like my 3 ft.

 one, that I didn't put up, but

it is 6 ft. tall.

Well, I would like to let you all 

know how much I have enjoyed 

reading your blogs and getting

to know all better....Blogging

friends are the best! I hope you

all have a Merry Christmas and

a Happy New Year!

Bear Hugs & Blessings~Karen

Kitchen Pictures!

Hi everyone, I am going to

show you the kitchen today!

I forgot to get the new handles

for the drawers, when we were

gone this weekend, but they 

can wait.....I have a couple

 things to do, but they can

wait, too....This is going to be

a picture heavy post, so  get 

you something to drink and

settle in.....

 Evening shot!

Now for the before and after shots...

To the right of the sink, is a ditty bag,

that Linda Claus sent me, a long time

ago and it has "Sunflower Seeds" 

stitched on it!  How appropriate for my

kitchen!  Thanks again, Linda...I love it!

I filled in all the designs in the doors 

and the drawers!  I filled it in, let it 

dry, sanded it with the electric sander, 

filled it in, again and let it dry and 

sanded it.....Any place that needed it,

a third time got it, again and then 

sanded after it dried.....I painted the

door fronts and drawers, twice and 

the back of the doors, once, except 

for 4 that I forgot.....I painted all

the hinges for 23 doors, drawer pulls

for 10 drawers and 10 screws for each

of the 23 doors!  See why this took me

so long?......On to more pictures....

This was one ugly stove and a pain

to cook anything on, the burners did

not work too well and you had to 

switch food from one burner to

another.....From the one, above to

the new one, below....

I love cooking on this one! The 

towel with the crow on the pie is

from my blog buddy, Gina....

From Cat Nap Inn....Thanks, Gina!

I love it!

Butt ugly counter tops, I can't believe

I lived with this for almost 5 years!

My new counter top!....Love it,

it is called Jamocha Granite.

To the right of the sink, with the 

ugly design...Before...

Smooth doors!

Before:

Above and to the right of the

fridge....Pantry is on the right.

I am going to get those drawer

pulls that look like a half a cup

for the drawers, since I don't 

like the ones I have, even after

painting all the brass. As you can

see, I painted all the crown 

molding, too....We used the same

trim on the bottom of the top

cabinets as we did for the plate

rail, we just turned it opposite

direction.

 A shot from the dining room side,

after we put the new cabinet under

the snack bar and had the bead board

sitting behind the stove.....You can

see the beautiful post and the extra

dowel holding up the cabinets.....They

all had slid down about 1 inch and it 

is a wonder that I didn't come home 

                     and find the top cabinets laying on 

the counters! Hubby put lag screws

in them to hold them up tight.

 Here, we have the stove out and we

had to cut the cabinet off some to 

make room for the larger stove, so

it would be centered more in the 

opening of the top cabinets.

Picture above is over the snack bar.

Now with the trim and the bead board.

We built the wall on the end, too....

And my teeny valance above, it on a

shower curtain rod.

A shot to the left of the stove....I 

made all the curtains and I have 

a good place for water, flats of 

canned goods, water, sodas and

what even behind the curtain. I 

keep forgetting to get a knob for

the new cabinet (far left) and the 

hinges need to be painted black.

 I bought the crow at the Fall Festival,

last month....

Well, I hope you enjoyed the tour of 

my new kitchen, I know it has been

a long time coming! Getting the 

curtains done, has really made it

come together, (in my opinion.)....

As happy as I am to have it done, it

did make me sad on the 1st of 

December....I was painting and it 

was the anniversary of the death of

my mother.....The last thing, that 

she helped me do, was paint my 

cabinets in my kitchen, in Texas.

It gets me down, this time of year, 

for that reason and we are alone 

on Christmas, our son and his

family are all in Indiana...So, I 

think I will put on some 

Christmas and go sing and

decorate the halls!!!  Good thing 

you are not here, you 

wouldn't want to hear me sing,

because I can't carry a tune

in a bucket!...ha ha....

Now, I need to finish doing my 

Christmas decorating and put

the extra stuff and boxes away.

I will show you the dining room 
side, later.  We have some things
to build and I need to do a little 
painting.

Thanks for stopping by!

Bear Hugs & Blessings~Karen

Kitchen Pictures Coming Soon!

Hey blogging buddies, I have been

seeing all the wonderful Christmas

decorations on your blogs and I feel

like Scrooge!  I just got my tree done,

last night and I usually get it done

right after Thanksgiving!  Well, the 

kitchen has taken a lot of my time!

I am going to try to get the curtains

finished today and I will do the big

reveal on Tuesday, so be watching 

for that!

You would think that Chum is more

like a kid, than a cat, because he 

always wants to help and gets mad if

you don't let him! ...lol.....Crazy cat!

I have gotten some goodies in the 

mail, that I will share with you and

then some of my Christmas 

decorating....All coming this week.

I would like to welcome my newest

followers, I am grateful for all my

blogging friends and I am looking 

forward to getting to know you all

better!

Until next time...

Bear Hugs & Blessings~Karen

 

Christmas Giveaway!

Hey everyone, I just want

to let you know that Sara, of

Salmon Falls Prims, is having

a Christmas giveaway!

Click Here

to take you there to sign up!

Bear Hugs & Blessings~Karen