Friday, December 30, 2011

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

Saturday, December 24, 2011

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

Tuesday, December 13, 2011

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




Sunday, December 11, 2011

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
 

Saturday, December 3, 2011

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