Thankful for some spring showers

Happy Sunday everyone!!  It is a cool, overcast day today.  So thankful for  few showers of rain that we are getting as well.  Makes for a cozy inside day with a nice cuppa mocha and a good book!!


Have a great week!!

"S" is for SPRiNG

New Dining Room Shelves

We are slowly getting some projects done to put our country style stamp on our house!  It will be 4 years this July that we are here and that just goes to show that life is not like those wonderful decorating shows where everything is done in an hour!!!

Here is our latest,,,,,,thick shelves in the dining room!!  Now I have a wonderful place to display alot of my white dishes, pitchers and platters.  Not exactly sure what these large pieces of wood were from, but the thickness and country feel were just what we were looking for.   I am guessing they were corral boards or something that was needed around the farm.

These pictures came from a "Gallery Art" package of co ordinating art work that

I found on a discount table at Winners.  Can't beat $7.99 for the variety that

came in the package!  Lots to choose from and these were my favorite for now!

t

This platter and gravy boat were given to us by Darrell's mom.

One was a wedding gift that they received in 1950.

White pitchers, platters, hydrangeas and the letter M...

just a few of my favorite things!

Have a great day everyone!

Hopefully there is some shiplap coming up in this houses future!!

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Thoughts of Home

Abit of this and that from the country

Happy Spring everyone!!  I hope this finds you with a signs of spring showing up at your place!
It is a cool, windy day here today...overcast and kinda dreary.  I hope we get some rain, as the ground is so dry and needs a good drink from Mother Nature.  It is my day off and there is not much on my schedule so I thought I better get a post done on my blog!  Some of you are so good at keeping up weekly, daily,,,,, and then there is me!!

We have had a busy month and Easter has come and gone already.  Darrell and I enjoyed a trip to Las Vegas for 5 days over Easter.  It was different not being with family for Easter Sunday.  We had never been to Las Vegas, we stayed at a very nice Westin Resort at Lake Las Vegas.   Some palm trees,  sitting pool side, and not having a schedule was  a wonderful break from everyday!  We rented a car and went to The Grand Canyon, Hoover Dam, Mead Lake, Red Rock Coulee, where we did alot of hiking and walking.  Of course we spent some time on the strip and took in a show.    It was refreshing to stay about 20 minutes outside of the hustle an bustle of the main strip.

From the busy strip

To the peacefulness of Lake Las Vegas
Westin Resort and Spa

Feeling a bit tropical, even though we are in a desert.

Hoover Dam

 Red Rock Canyon

The Grand Canyon!

Hiking the Historic Railroad Trail

Hope you enjoyed a brief getaway through my camera lens today!

Stay tuned for an update on our dining area....

Wishing you all a wonderful APRIL!!

Gettin some Spring On

I really have to say we have not had much winter in Southern Alberta this year.   Of course, that makes everyone anxious to get some Spring On!!   I have started on my spring time mantel and think I have all the "winter" decor put away now.  Here's what I have come up with so far.  Seeing the piece of shiplap display board that I change out for the mantel makes me want to get going on a few "shiplap" projects we want to do in the house.  Thanks to Chip and Joanna of the popular show, Fixer Upper,  shiplap has become a new buzz word.  I love Chip and Joanna's style and could move into anything they put their hands to!!

Here's hoping the sun is shining where ever you are today...

and if its not "create your own"!

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Show and Share

My spin on Eggs Benny

Breakfast and Brunch are one of our favorite meals around here.  Thought I would share my spin on Eggs Benedict with you today.  I was wanting to use up some left over chicken and kinda made this recipe up as I went along.  Then I tweaked it a little bit and had company over!!  Yikes, thankfully, everyone seemed to enjoy the dish!

I started with parmesan garlic toast and added layers of goodness.

Grilled chicken, you could use poached eggs or a fried egg, both on the

over easy side, bacon,  fried mushrooms, onion and just before serving put fresh

spinach in the pan with the onions and mushrooms.  Top with a hollandaise

sauce and some paprika.  Enjoy!  

I made these up a wee bit ahead of time so that they would be ready when our

friends arrived.  In a warmed oven, the over easy eggs will not be over cooked.

I just placed all the assembled layers of bread in a glass baking dish and

they seemed to be just right when served.  There were a few slices left over and

they tasted great the next day.

Do you have a favorite brunch dish?

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Check out "Chairish" and my Style Board

I was asked by "Chairish," a great online shop where you can find just about anything you may need to decorate a wonderful room, to create a style board for a "Woman Cave".  I  have never created an actual style board, often the idea is just in my head and I know exactly what I am looking for when I go into a store.  This was a fun assignment as I put together color, furniture, and accessories.

The style board was to be designed around their "vintage bar stool collection."  I wanted to go with a modern farmhouse vibe to my woman cave.  I chose a "mid-century turquoise fiberglass peg leg" bar stool.    I wanted to have a cabinet that would hide away and hold glasses, napkins, wine bottles, and other accessories that you find in a bar.  The wooden shelf would be a place to showcase special and unique glassware, interesting vintage bottles and some favorite pictures could be interchanged on the shelves as well.   The light fixture would give a nice modern element to the area and the fun fabrics on the cushion would soften things up a bit.

Here is what I came up with :

All items are from the Chairish website, an online retailer that sells one-of-a-kind vintage items.  Be sure to have a look around the site and see what you can find!!

This {woman cave} could be the perfect place to raise a glass in celebration, enjoy a hot apple cider and cozy in for the evening.

Thank you to Holly for inviting me to join in the Diva Den style board assignment and be sure to check out the {CHAIRISH},  website soon!!

Adding a Stamped Touch

It is our daughter in laws birthday and I had fun wrapping up her gift in some stamped wrapping.
I like using kraft shopping bags, brown lunch bags and kraft paper to wrap presents in a country style.

I have a large Happy Birthday stamp and used that to cover a piece of large kraft paper.  Sweet and simple!  I then looked through my ribbons and picked one with green as that is one of Js favorite colors.  Finally found a use for the cute checked burlap bow for the finishing touch.

KnJ are heading to Thailand in February, so the package contains a travel journal and some photo albums for them to have their memories of this big trip with them forever.  They are excited to get a chance to meet their sponsor child they have through Compassion International !  I am sure they will have a wonderful adventure!

Sweet n Simple Country Style

First project of the New Year off the list!!

We started the New Year with a little tweaking on the office!  This room was one of the first ones that we renovated when we moved into the house in July 2012...time has gone by and the wee renovators that you see in these pictures have grown up as well!!

BEFORE

The office was a spare bedroom and we wanted to open it up to the rest of

the kitchen area.  The sink, the washer and dryer were at the back entrance and are now

downstairs in the laundry room.

Little boys with hammers!!

and permission that they could bang on Auntie's wall!!

It was fun to step through the hole they helped make.

Looks like we forgot the saftey meeting though...bare feet and no shirts!!

We wanted to do a white shiplap board look to this wall, however when we found the

flooring on sale at Home Depot we decided to save the white shiplap look for another

project.  We needed 8 boxes to complete the wall and that is exactly what was in stock!!

I think the new wall just warms up the room and adds some interest!  Very happy with how

it turned out.  Have had this Ikea furniture for awhile now and I still like it!

The pictures on the wall are just from Walmart and have had them as long as the office

furniture.  The pictures look way better with the grey background!

So, come on into the office!

 I wanted to use accents that were Industrial Farmhouse

The light on the crate to the left of the desk is from a swather Darrell spent hours on

  When I turned the "faint" light on he commented that it shone about

that bright in the field too!!

New lights change up the space alot!

Darrell made the table that the phone is on, the bottom of it is

an old steering wheel from a tractor that he spent many hours on.

The bookshelves are built in to what was once the closet.

I moved the chair up from the spare room and it fits perfectly

in the space and the foot rest was from Jysk.  A new spot to 

read a book or chat on the phone!

Finally replaced the tired ole Ikea folders that we had on the wall

with some nice metal file holders.  This is such an easy

way to keep bills and important papers in order.  Everything in its

place makes for a space that is tidy and organized.

Trying out the panoramic setting on my Iphone..

Its all about the little accents, even in an office space, that makes it inviting

and that makes you want to spend time in.  This is where I do all my bloggin and

photo editing.

Hope you enjoyed seeing what we have been up to in this New Year!

Any projects on your "to do list" for this year?

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A perfect shadow

The morning sun was shining onto the fireplace mantel the other day.  There was a perfect reflection of the candles that I quickly ran to capture with my camera.

I am slowly getting the Christmas decor put away, but I think I will leave the mantel for a few more weeks.  I think it has a good wintery feeling to it.  The house always look so bare once the tree is down.  Getting ready to share some pictures of our office with you....did some finishing touches on it and love the results.  Stay tuned.

I like how the glass from the latern made an interesting reflection.

Last week Darrell and I got away for an overnight stay at the Cypress Hills.

The Cypress Hills run through Alberta and Saskatchewan.

This time, we were on the Saskatchewan side.

Friends of ours have a cabin there and we enjoyed playing games, eating, 

doing some skating the next day and going for a walk.

 If you look through the trees, you will find a wee log cabin that I am kinda

intrigued by.  We actually saw it for the first time June of 2014 when we were

visiting our same friends.  I love the red door and the red trim around the windows.

There has been no activity around this cabin for what looks like years.

Of course, we peaked in the little gap in the curtains and was like looking 

at a time warp of someones life.

I love this red door!! and look at the nice fireplace...

I really want to see what is on the other side of the door!

We may have to do some investigating!!

This sign at the entrance to the cabin lot is all we have to go with..

I love a good mystery!

Here are some of my pictures I took of the cabin 

when we saw it the first time...

 The small prairie town of Maple Creek, Saskatchewan is about 20

minutes from the park.  We enjoyed a walk down the main street and enjoyed

a wonderful supper in a late 1800's building.  The name of the restaurant is

THE STAR and I would recommend it to others.!

Interesting original brick wall, creaky old floors, and wonderful food!

It was dark when we walked back to the car, but I was happy to get this

picture of the window display in the "Daily Grind" coffee and gift shop.

It too is housed in one of the original old buildings of the town.

Sometimes just going an hour away in your own neck of the woods 

is a refreshing change of pace!  

Have a great week everyone!!