It's summertime!
Springtime seemed so short and sweet- all too fleeting. Kids are out of school now. I was walking around watering my flowers and seeing the evidence of summertime in my yard. I reached for my camera to grab some shots as I walked around.

Toys in the grass...


hummingbird feeders dangling from the tree branches...


Neighbor horses over the fence...


Happy dawg layin around in the sunshiny day...




The discarded socks on the driveway made me smile. Little Coltie is always peeling off his socks and tearing around. Ahh, the feel of grass under bare toes.


There's nothing like it- all tickly, soft and pokey at the same time. Makes even us old ones feel young and happy to be barefoot in the greens under the shining ball of fire in the sky.


Last year, I made some cute garden decorations. I went down to a warehouse specializing in restoration and picked up a few old stair spindles. Painted em up, bent some window screening (ouch) and wires, glue, rods etc and voilà! Bugz on a stick.



This little bumblebee is my favorite one. This was the stubbiest, broken piece and I thought it was charming. The folks at the warehouse thought I was crazed when I brought it up for purchase. (I bought several larger spindles, I think they threw that lil one in for free.)


Hub helped me with the powertool aspect after I put a screw into my hand trying to attach wings. After much cajoling, he also fashioned the stinger out of an old nail.


This friendly little buzzer hangs out right by the back door. I'll take a few pics of the dragonflies for next time :)

Welcome Summer!

My lilacs were so pretty this year. I picked a few lovely bouquets to scent the house before they were gone.
We had some hard rains and they didn't last as long as other years, it seems. But for that glorious week the house was heady with intoxicating fragrance.


I placed around lots of little vases and pitchers to enjoy. I even had a little creamer full of blooms in the bathroom by the sink. Mmmmmm lilacs. One of my top 5 faves of all time! I wish they had a longer season. I also wish you could smell this picture!


A week or two before Mother's Day I got a new car! Well, new for me. It's a 2005 Nissan Murano.
It's pretty snazzy. Sunroof, leather, nice stereo. I'm finally stylin' and rid of my minivan. I've been driving a minivan nearly continuously since I was 20 yrs old and I didn't even have KIDS for 6 or 7 of those years. Somehow I let Mark convince me that it was just a good idea ~ for camping trips, groceries, dogs, etc. So even before I was in the Mom Brigade, I had the minivan. They're great when you have all the paraphenalia to haul around. Sleeping bags & rollpads or strollers & diaper bags definitely fit well in the ol' minivan. But I must admit I am happy to relegate all that to fond memories and drive something a bit more FUN!


** Mark, Colten and me on Mother's Day in front of the new car (Wyatt playing photographer) **
They gave it a nice wash for me on Mother's Day, so it was all sparkly and shiny.

The conversation had been brewing for some time... living in the Midwest with Midwest winters, a steep hilly road and driveway as well as a country cabin on the weekend was really necessitating 4WD. The nights I work, I sometimes don't get home until the wee hours and I was having a hard time getting up the driveway some nights if it was icy. No fun trudging up the hill at 2 am after work when your van won't make it! Plus, the lane to the cabin really needs 4WD most of the time unless it's been very dry.
YAY for my spiffy new car.
I just love it :)

Lately I have been stuck in a crispy treat rut. I get stuck on a certain kind of snack. For awhile, it was chocolate chip cookie bars. But I've moved onto crispy treats. They're so yum! I always make a huge batch when I make them. Approx. 2.5 of the normal 9x13" pan sizes is the batch I make, LOL.
Ridiculous, I know. Honestly, that's a really HUGE and hard batch to stir up!
I think it's maybe 16 or 17 cups just of Rice Crispies. BUT - I make mine a little differently. I like to also add in 4 or 5 cups of Cap'n Crunch cereal to that proportion and 4 or 5 squares of almond bark.



You can see the sprinkling of Cap'n Crunch in there and the almond bark gives more depth of flavor. Give it a try. In a regular sized batch, add a square or 2 of roughly chopped almond bark while you're melting, and 2 cups of your next favorite cereal. Let me know what you think!

We've been doing parent-teacher conferences here. Both boys had great reviews... I knew they would, so they got treated to goodies at the book fair.

Wyatt is having a hard time coming up with things he wants for his birthday in April. We pre-shopped at Borders the other day to get some ideas and he has on his list 4 or 5 different Mathematics workbooks. As birthday gifts! How many kids turning 11 are asking for math homework this year? I reckon just mine... Gotta love that!

I also have to go buy him a new copy of Harry Potter & The Half Blood Prince. He is nearly finished with the fifth book Order of the Phoenix... and about to want to start the next one. I was going to re-read it quickly before he did so I was refreshed and we could discuss things as he goes along. BUT... last night I was not feeling well in the middle of the night. I had a late night hot bath and fell asleep for a split second and dropped his book right in the tub. I awoke with a start and it was floating! BAD MOMMY! Needless to say, tomorrow I will be picking him up a new copy.

Well folks, before I could even get a new blog post up with pics of the three birds I kept here and listed online, I sold all three of those!

I know, I know... Sorry! I'll still show everyone the three that flew away. The first one I had listed was the tiniest little bird and I think was near the top of my favorites.



I thought this little guy was so cute- particularly in size and scale. The color combination was sweet too!



Some sweet girl also emailed me and said that she was a Maven on This Next and posted my Spring Bling box on there!! I had never even heard of this site but when I checked it out, I thought my little box looked GREAT on there! Have a look see RIGHT HERE!

Next in line to show is the sweet aqua blue and white one I had.



I end up having a really hard time deciding which of these is truly my favorite ones. I get attached to each one as I work!



This was the last one that sold. The soft pink one



This one was the second largest box, and I thought looked very cottage-y with the roses and tiny flowered print paper.



So, those three flew far, far away.... out to California. Meanwhile, I brought 3 home from the shop in town and listed them online to give more people a chance at them. The silver bird with blue feathers on the viney brown box is still available right now down at Willows in Dubuque. The other three shown in the previous post are listed in My Etsy or at My Lollishop or give me a shout here on the contact email.

Ahh... Spring has been in the air. Unfortunately it is only on the radar in short blips. We've had some beautiful days, but alas, they do not last. It goes right back to cold and dreary. Perfect weather for the germs. You guessed it, we've been sick here. In the last month we've been through the flu, strep throat and sinus infections/headcolds. I think we're in the clear now, finally!



BUT, it's been raining like crazy. I think we've had more than a few inches at least. Our basement is feeling it... I think we may be getting rid of some carpeting soon.

While we were having all the illness, I worked on some Springtime projects. I took some of them down to the shop today, and also kept a few at home to list online. I will show some here that I have in the shop downtown.



I thought it would be fun to do up some little boxes for trinkets. I grabbed some fancy papers in lovely color selections and made the base of my project just as pretty as the vignette on top.



Covered the boxes inside and out, and aged them perfectly. Then I set about making the Wow! Gathered some crepe paper and ruffled it around the tops of the boxes.



I stained up some paper Easter grass and put a bit on to cuddle the little nest. Next some moss and grass.



Found a few little birdies worthy of such surroundings. Gussied em up a bit and placed them in their new homes, with a few fancy little eggs to look after.



Then I got around to sprucing up their digs. Some flowers here, rhinestones there.



All in all, I am in love with these Spring Bling bird boxes. Although I think I was sneezing glitter and hiccuping feathers for a week and a half.
Here is the crowd favorite. The girls at the shop wanted to make certain of all 7 I brought down, that THIS one stayed in the shop!



I think it is the crown...



What do you think?



Let me know what y'all think of these. I was pretty excited to finish them off. You can see the ones I have online in MY ETSY and in MY LOLLISHOP . I have one listed right now, as well as a caged bird ornament. I'm in the process of listing the others - please be patient! Also some St. Patrick and Easter things. If anyone is REALLY interested in one of the ones shown here on the blog which I have in the shop, shoot me an email right away and I'll see if it is still available. These are one of a kinds, folks- so if it is already gone in the shop, we're out of luck. Otherwise there will be 3 available online.

Have a great week and don't let the germs (or the rain, or snow...) get you down! Just think glitter!

Ahhhh, Valentine's Day! Red and pink and hearts all over.
I'll set you up with a few more shots of the decor around here.
It's VERY lovey. We're just oozing hearts.







Wyatt, Colten and Copper are all getting little goody bags.
(Copper gets a whole bag of rawhides! Shhh, don't tell him.
He's already trying to sniff them out!) The boys get lots and lots of candy, movies, books and GUM! I sure hope I don't regret THAT purchase! LOL

I baked some goodies for my Valentines.
I love baking for my boys. Nothing like the smell of real vanilla and
a warm oven to make a house seem full of love.





We did up fancy cupcakes & cookies with all the heart shaped sprinkles you can stand. There is a little shop downtown that has sprinkles in every shape, for every season. (The Calico Bean Market on Bluff Street, Dubuque IA) It's a fun little shop and they have SOOO many neat ingredients to peruse. Spices, baking goods, snacks, candy and their famous dip mixes. If you're in the area, check them out!



I bought 4 kinds of sprinkles for our Valentine yum yums. They look so pretty!
We took up a little tray of sweets to Great-Grandma and sent some over to Gram and Gramps as well.

Here is the cutest little picture. I stuck some pink and white crinkled shred inside an antique silverplate baby cup and then tucked in a fabric heart. This cup was a find by my Stepdad one day while he was out and about. He knew I would like it so he picked it up to look it over. By some stroke of luck it was engraved with MY NAME!!!
It says Jenny Lynn on the front. It is hard to see with all the tarnish, but I really can't decide whether to clean it or not. It looks so great the way it is!



Then I played around with the picture and the little heart just glows! I wanted to show you both versions :-)



Here are a few nifty treasures I found in a little antique shop on a day I didn't know I was even going. It's fun to have found such cool stuff at a surprise stop!
I can never pass up a firkin, especially for $8.00



This old aluminum cupcake pan is the cutest size. Not as small as the mini cupcakes, but much smaller than normal sized ones. I love the pattern of the pan and the way it shines behind the little light.



You all know how much I love tin molds. This one had the neatest shape. I had not seen one of these in person before, a 2 piece bread mold. I can see me laying it out flat with goodies inside- but for now is tied shut and shown off on top of the hoosier.



Happy Valentine's Day to everyone! :) Mushy gooey chocolatey hugs to everyone!

(*Little note, I thought I posted this last night. I typed it all up while I was still baking- just going back and forth but somehow I forgot to actually HIT the post button. SO I had to do some editing! I think I was tired!!!)

So, I promised to show you the Valentine cookies... here they are!
♥♥♥♥♥♥



I think they turned out SO cute. I have some on the kitchen counter in a display



and also some on a darling little two-tier tray over in the dining area on the Hoosier.



They look so real to me and just make me smile! ♥♥♥♥♥♥
Cookies are available on my brand spankin new LOLLISHOP store
and also in my ETSY shop.

We have the place all decorated up for Valentine's Day around here.




I got a new lil tree on holiday clearance, so there's a new look for that. I love how old fashioned this gold tree looks while still being current!



Although when I was setting it up, I did tell Wyatt that each branch looks like a sparkly chicken foot. LOL

Another snowy day!



The boys got sleds for Christmas but we had so much rain around that time. They were unable to do any sledding- No snow! They went out this morning and played around, tried out their new sleds.



Colten toyed around with trying to shovel, but the shovel was as big as he is!



He just tossed a few scoops at Copper and they all had a great time out there. Came in and had some hot cocoa with snacks.



I was busy in the kitchen working on some faux Valentine cookies.



I had made up some of the faux candies last year, and a few tarts. I thought I would whip out one small batch of heart shaped cookies before I start on the Spring stuff. I had wanted to make a few new things for Valentine's Day but I always seem to get so far behind... and the upcoming holidays ends up being too close for comfort!I want to get a BIT ahead of the game and just do some Easter instead.
SO, just ONE batch of sparkly heart cookies and I am onto the next thing. I'll show you how the cookies turn out!



Mark has been off all week for deer hunting. He got a nice deer and had a lot of fun with his buddy staying out at the cabin. he did have a little situation when he was cleaning and ended up with 10 stitches in his wrist... He is ok and will always remember THAT deer. He is excited to make up sausage and jerky and I know we will have some very nice dinners!
Since he was off and gone all week, he decided to treat me to a lunch date yesterday. We went out for burgers at a nice place and had a really good time together chatting. It's not very often that we get date time, so it was really special.