Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

No chicken dinner here, just a cute lil ol' Cupcake sign and a few surprise goodies going out to a Farmhouse Follower.  I told you I would post the winner today, and I wasn't April Foolin' ya'll either!  It's a little late but I always say better late than never (since I'm often late lately, giggle)!

Again, thank you to all of you who have followed my blog throughout the year and those of you who signed up for this giveaway...I read each of your comments and bounced around to your blogs here and there to check in on you, of course I ended up reading blogs for a whole day, because you all just make it so easy to want to stay a while, lol! 

I wish I could give you each your very own cupcake sign, but until I become independently wealthy I will have to pick only one lil itty bitty winner......keep trying though, there will be more giveaways to come!  It can be purchased in the Farmhouse Mercantile though if you are still interested. 

Now onto random number generator at random.org.....they make it so much easier than cutting up all those comments and drawing the old name out of a hat trick!

So the winner is......

cough,  cough....

Goosegirl Sews

Congratulations!

Goosegirl said...

"Happy Blogiversary!! I just had my 1 year last month and still have not done my anniversary giveaway yet! I love your blog! I am a follower now!"

Happy Blogiversary to you too Goosegirl, I got the chance to head on over to your ADORABLE blog and I have to tell everyone to check it out, you make some of the most beautiful things!  She made the cutest spring dress with a cameo.....you can view it here...... Oh my Goodness darlin'! 

 

I also, have to say that I love the original Alice in Wonderland Movie from Disney (haven't seen the new one yet), and I know a few little gals who would love to wear these dresses she made.  Oh and as far as aprons go, this gal knows what she's doing...(I'll take the green M.E. pattern and the vintagey red one).  Well congrats on your win Goosegirl, send me an email (found in my Mercantile link) with an address to send your gifts to. 

 

Well, I don't have much more for this post, but check back tomorrow for an EASTER Blessings post......I still have lots of pictures to upload amidst redecorating two bathrooms (this Farmhouse has to be whipped into shape in two days! Hmmm, can she do it?). 
Have a great evening friends!

Take Care,

Dee

It's my Party! A Giveaway and GBP!!

 My one year Bloggin anniversary party that is!

Yes, yes, it is belated, I know. I turned one when my puter' was down and

I not going to let that steal my thunder though, oh no sireee sir.

Being a whole year old, I have gained so many blessings since starting this blog. I love to read blogs, I follow so many of them but it took me a couple of years to finally decide to start one of my own.

When I decided to start my blog, it actually began as something for myself, something I could look back on in time, like a diary. A diary I could be creative with and make it exactly (most of the time) how I wanted it to look. I always enjoyed writing and picture taking so this would be another creative outlet for me.

I must confess that I didn't have a clue as to what I was doing and have learned through trial and error.....many errors! I knew that I wanted to write about life in general.  Holidays, the kids, the house, the garden etc. things that go on each day in our lives.  The funny thing is I wasn't sure that anyone would read what I wrote or why they would want to, but that was alright too and I decided I would not hold back because I wanted to do it, regardless.

I decided that if anyone wanted to come by I would be so happy and welcome them with open arms and if not, it was something I enjoyed showing to friends and family afterall and

we would enjoy it.

But it turned out that you all did come, and that made doing it so much more special. I love reading your comments, I get so excited when I log in and see that someone took the time to do so, really I do! Ask my kids and hubs, I get this excited giggle whenever there are comments on posts! Like a kid who just got a sweet treat.

Now I realize that it is so much more fun to blog when

there are people reading it!

What I have learned in one year's time...

There are some wonderful and encouraging women out there who share supportive, caring and kind words with one another.

That you can share when your washing machine has held your clothing hostage,
complain and they still come back.

You can vent about a magazine and they agree with you and vent too.

You host a party and they'll come with bells on.

You can be sentimental about your children growing up and everyone gets it.

Your online friends also get excited about your fleamarket finds almost as much as you do.

You can take them on field trips with you and they don't get bored.

They aren't sick of looking over picture after picture of your decorations.

They encourage your to do list that is 2 miles long.

You can show them pictures of your breakfast and

they get say it looks yummy.....

They will still read your posts even with the mispelled words and

gramatically incorrect sentences....Oh my!  You can even make words up, lol.

~~~~~~~~

Lets have cupcakes at our party shall we?

In fact.....

This blog of mine is

like a cupcake to me.

It is a little treat that I give myself and
oh so sweet!

And.......

You are all the icing on that cupcake!

You make doing this even more fun for me.

So I've decided that I would host an appropriate giveaway for

My One Year Bloggin' Anniversary!

~A Cupcake Sign~

along with a few other surprise goodies of course!

 

I just ask that you are a follower and leave a comment below. You can have more than one entry by linking to my blog and this giveaway and another entry if you have my button on your sidebar.  Giveaway closes on March 31st.
Winner will be announced on April 1st.
Please check back then to see if you have won,
so you can claim your win!

More exciting news to share....

I got a surprise email earlier this week from one of my

FAVORITE COMPANIES...

Gooseberry Patch!

Farmhouse Country Style is the Friday Feature Blog this week!

So head on over if you have a spare moment to check out the link...

http://gooseberrypatch.typepad.com/blog/2010/03/ff-farmhouse-country-style.html


Thanks for all of your sweet comments and
for coming back again!
I have so enjoyed the past year, I've met some really wonderful people online and even chit chatted with alot of you through email, alot of you have become customers through my sale blog
Farmhousesignshop@blogspot.com

I have a few more plans for my blog this year, hopefully I will get them up and running soon...you'll have to check back to see what transpires though! 

Now go have a cupcake, we're celebratin' here!
xoxo

Take Care now,
Dee

When Irish Eye's are Smiling

 Top o' the mornin' to ya all!

Doing an Irish Jig!

I'm so happy to be back!! 

So tell me friends,

Are you proudly wearing Green today?

 How Irish are you?

1/4, one-half.......all irish?

It seems that on St. Patty's day everyone wants to

let their Irish out of the bag.

I guess it's just the fun of it all, and the proud Irish folks

wanting to shout it all from the rooftops that

yes indeed they have green in their blood!

My maternal grandparents were Irish,

my grandfather was

as Irish as could be, and he let you know it too.

(My Irish grandparents with my uncle in the spring of 65')

Of course this was their favorite holiday.

So yes, that indeed makes me part Irish,

and I too have fondness for the holiday.

We make our corned beef and cabbage, a traditional boiled dinner.

 

Red potatoes, an onion, carrots, and a head of cabbage all thrown into a heavy stock pot with a beer of course, and the corned beef has to slowly cook in the broth for a long time.....

A four-leaf clover found in my yard last spring.......

  

The shamrocks come out.

Irish blessings are said,

 and Danny boy is usually sung

while loved ones are remembered.

If we have the pleasure to spend the holiday with extended family

you can be certain their will be celebrating goin on.

I so love all of the beautiful Irish proverbs and the superstitions are a hoot!

I also love that I can attest to the fact that

I am supposed to have a slew of "Irish lace" throughout my home

this is a rule for us Irish folks ya know.

For those of you who do not partake in being Irish on this most festive holiday,

Irish lace is cobwebs, lol.

  

We start our morning out with a little soda bread (with raisins) and some Twinings Irish Breakfast Tea
I drink this tea throughout the year.

 

It is a little stronger than my regular tea and I like to drink it in the morning to wake my brain up.

Of course that soda bread is slathered with real butta!

In This Irish Home

May these walls be filled with laughter,

may it reach from floor to rafter.

May the roof keep out the rain,

may sunshine warm each windowpane.

And may the door be open wide

to let the Good Lord's love inside.

The red potatoes all washed and ready to go into the pot for this evenings dinner.

When Irish eyes are smiling,

Sure, 'tis like the morn in Spring.

In the lilt of Irish laughter

You can hear the angels sing.

When Irish hearts are happy,

All the world seems bright and gay.

And when Irish eyes are smiling,

Sure, they steal your heart away.

So what are your St. Patrick's Day plans?  What recipes do you make?  I would love to hear about it, if you care to share!

Here is an easy Brownie recipe for you to print and try....
you can't go wrong with brownies at my house, they're easy and they're chocolate! 
We try alot of different variations.  Let me know what you think if you try these.

Well I hope that the Leprachauns leave a few four-leafed Clovers 

strewn about your yard for some good luck!

Good lord knows that I am not broken (you are so right Sharon Lovejoy!) and

 so lucky to have you all come back

after all of the troubles I aired the last two posts, hehe! 

Thanks good friends!
I leave you with this Irish Blessing......

Check back in again later this week, I will be hosting a Giveaway for followers

to celebrate my ONE YEAR BLOGGING ANNIVERSARY

that I missed while my computer was down!

Take Care!

Dee

No more nonsense....

Thank you all for your sweet and up lifting comments regarding my last post!  I hated to share bad news and sincerely want my blog to be a happy place for you all to come.  In reality though,  I did decide when I started this blog that I would be real and just like in a real life diary (be it online or written in a little book with a lock) it is going to get hit with a few bad entries even if we don't like it.  Such is life!

I have to tell you all that my laptop is in a bad state of repair as well right now, but we are so not even going to talk about that!  I have been unable to update my blog or check in on all of your cute blog posts (:o(  .  I think that the storm is over and we are working on repairing everything.  Thanks again for your supportful words and reminders that there worse things in life than a dishwasher not cleaning your dishes! For those of you who are on a twisting and uncertain path right now....dealing with way more than breaking appliances......you are in my thoughts and prayers.

So enough of all of that!

On to better things.....

Well the sunshine has come out in my neck of the woods and  the weather reached 50 degrees today! Yippeeee, come on spring! I am keeping a sense of humor about my dishpan hands and lack of computer, I am keeping busy with other things.  I have started my spring cleaning and have been working on a few cute signs to add to the online shop.  Easter decorating in underway and I have lots of pictures to share when I am fully functioning once again! 

Here's some of what I was able to paint while away...

Those are listed in the Mercantile now...and I have even more to come.  I still have to add the details but a kind friend is letting me use her computer until mine are fixed! 

I hope that you all have a little sunshine

in your neck of the woods and

are feeling refreshed and ready for Spring.  

Take care and I will be back soon!

Dee

Oh, QUITyerBELLYachin'

It's been one of those months.

not one of those days or afternoons, but one of those months.

A month where you loose focus and murphy's law has taken over..
"Anything that can go wrong, will go wrong",
You start to say that "if anything else happens I think I will scream",
and something else does go wrong, and you do scream.
Well not really, but you want to.

Well it is a stormin' here folks!

Alrighty, let me get this out quick....

~The vaccum has gone on strike

(it will do wood floors but boycotts rugs).~

~The washer is holding my wet towels hostage,
the door will not open, expensive repair guy to the rescue?~

(Lets just say this guy wouldn't be bored at my house)

~My computer has a virus and is being repaired.~
I'm working off of a teeny weeny wireless notebook now, praying my pictures can be recovered.

(mmm, hmmmm, I know!)

~I cracked my coffee pot....
!!*%$#@&!!! (cheese n' crackers)~

~The microwave is making a strange howling noise.~

~The dishwasher spits back out dirty dishes......(obviously has joined in the boycotting .)~

(My future in dishes.)

~My van needs maintanance.....

even after I specifically asked her to behave until next year.

~My DVD player won't open, therefore will not play movies and is holding 5 hostage, 1 of which my 3 year old insists on watching alot, so maybe a blessing?~

~The stereo will play the first 3 songs of a cd and then gives up and shuts off.~

~I have a mouse in the house and that lil bugger is taunting me, no kiddin. Gross  right? Everything that was bleachable in my house got a bath, twice. 
Oh yes, we do have 2 barn cats, Slackers!~

That is most of it, not all, but most of it.  Just the icing.
I didn't even touch on the colds and flu bugs that have flown around our house and the......
Oh, nevermind.  I will spare you the rest in hopes
that you will one day return to read my blog.
Geesh, what a whinner! Right?~

Ugh....sigh....sooo,

Just how is a girl supposed to be a domestic diva without her modern conveniences?

You're right....could be worse.

Sorry, I just had to vent.

Life is good in my farmhouse....not always purty, but good.

There I said it, it's real and it's true.

Things break, stuff goes wrong, mice drop by, we get the sniffles and the timing is bad.
That is life, and so is getting on with it and over it, lol.

So,
On a better note......

I am healthy, so is hubs and my children.
We have a roof over our heads, food in our bellies and love in our hearts.

Amen to that.
See that? I am trying to shift focus from
the uncontrollable and frustrating,
thinking more positively and to
appreciation for what is most important.
Afterall, it is what we think about most that we attract, right?
Positive in thinking, we attract more positiveness.

(Sneaky eh?  It's working!)
  

Reminders that say "oh, would ya QUITYERBELLYACHIN' already!"

Afterall, those are little problems in the big scheme of things.
(even if they do all happen at once)

I sometimes refer back to This Post about Wise Words:

#40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
(so true)


Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.....
it is about learning to dance in the rain!
(now where did I put that umbrella)

A friendship bouquet for you.....for lending an ear...



I feel better already, thanks for listening!

My next post will be more cheerful and pretty.

I promise.

Take Care,

Dee

Happy Hearts Day!

And let,

your arrow go....

 straight to my lovers heart....

(nice love song, about getting shot through the heart with an arrow, lol)
I love the oldies love songs though!  They are cute and fun to listen and dance to.

I love the vintagey valentines...but...

   

Homemade Valentines....there isn't anything better!  My son made this one for me in preschool, a keepsake I will treasure forever!  I made my husband a valentine heart much like this the year I found out I was pregnant with my son...inside the heart I wrote in crayon:

Roses are Red,

Violets are Blue,

Inside of me beats

Two Hearts for you!

I think that there is nothing that says I love you more than taking time to get creative and make it

FROM THE HEART!

Valentine tea from Bigelow tea company..white chocolate black tea and cinnamon apple herbal.

mmmm, a sweet drink.

Valentine sweets for my sweets!

One of my sweethearts....all fancied up for school and ready to hand out his

valentines to his classmates.

 Valentines all ready to go to classmates with treats attached.

Valentine goodie bags I made for my daughters...This year I ordered these adorable lil Kleenex holders from my bloggin friend, Linda, over at Prairie Flower Farm, she is the sweetest soul and designs her own fabric and patterns as well as sews all kinds of homemade goodies. I have been hinting to my hubs that I REALLY want one of those cute bags she makes, (hint, hint, hint, giggle {{honey}}).

Well, I got those holders because they were just so stinkin’ ca-ute in their pretty fabrics and will all of the sniffling colds going around they were also practical....I tucked a few heart chocolates in there, a jam jar of lip gloss, pink strawberry whoppers and some purty notecards, topped the bags off with some scrapbooking paper and there you go...

I LOVE YOU to bits!

My son gets a heart shaped box of chocolates with his favorite Disney Cars on it and a few other little boy goodies...

For my husband, I am making him some Vodka Penne with Shrimp for dinner. 

A romantic dinner at home in front of the Fireplace....with our children!

Some years we get to go out, just the two of us, but most years it's the five of us, lol!

Some easy Sweet Treats...

Valentine cupcakes tucked into individual little bakery boxes. 

XO~Chocolate~XO

Covered Marshmallows,

If you can melt chocolate, these are easy to make and the kids really love them. 

For Valentines day I used strawberry marshmallows and white chocolate and some valentine sprinkles on top.  I dipped them in the chocolate and put them into mini heart cupcake cups for a festive look. 

You can easily put them onto lollipop sticks instead, a great project to do with your kiddos. 

Chocolate covered pretzels drizzled with pink and red chocolate, melted in a Wilton candy melter.  I picked one up from Michaels craft store....great deal and worth it for the chocolate projects, I use it throughout the year for alot of seasonal treats.

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxo

On another note...

We have had several snow storms this winter, and we have had alot of fun being snowed in, all snuggled down together in the house.  We can go a few winters here on the east coast without any snow at all, but this year sure has made up for it. 

The last few pictures of Winter's seasonal beauty...

I have to now say that I am excited and ready for spring!

Looks like we have 6 more weeks to go though, (thanks Mr. Groundhog)!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

I wish you all lots of hugs and kisses from your sweethearts!

Take care,

Dee

Spreadin' the love...a rather loooong Valentine post!

Love is in the air....

all throughout the Farmhouse.

 In celebration of the LOVE we share in our home...

We dress it up in some Valentine's decor....

To My Valentine

a 2' tag that hangs in the entryway of our home...

An ornament, a stamp and some ribbon....

Oh, won't you BE MINE?

What's this?  Cupid forgot his wings?.....

Some more homemade goodies perched on a shelf.

Mixed up with a few store bought goodies.

(Don't forget to Click on the photos to VIEW LARGER)

A BE MINE banner

I made from some scrapbooking paper, glittered letters

and more gingham of course.

A cute lil' couple picked up from the craft store

I made them a home under the cloche. 

More gingham ribbon, a felt heart and a tag...adds charm.

Flowers and Candy say Valentines,

I spread some faux flowers around

until the real (hint, hint, honey) ones arrive.

(Silent reminders, lol).

Hearts & Roses all in one.

I know roses are the signature Valentine flower,

but Daisies are my favorite flower of all time

My hubs knows that I would rather receive daisies instead!

The windows are splattered with paper hearts,

it looks like

the love is just bursting

out the windows!

A girl can never have too many

HEARTS around her!!

And we should always remember how....

FRAGILE those hearts can be!

A stuffed calico heart hangs from a light....

all the year, reminding us of the love of

friendship too.

What would Valentines be without Sweethearts?

Cupid the cook

waiting in the kitchen for inspiration to whip up all those SWEET TREATS!

Old fashioned Wild Cherry Hard Candies

they look Valentimey to me...

Susan Branch is another one of my favorite authors...I love her cookbooks. 

Her SWEETS to the SWEET goes out on display every Valentine's Day.  She has some good recipes and her illustrations make following them all that much more fun!

I love being snowed in and crafting! 

A couple of weeks ago I dragged out all the scrabooking stuff,

the postcards, ribbon, buttons, stamps,

you name it...

it was probably on my craft table.

A few inexpensive frames....

a little glue, a little glitter....and I threw together a few collages.

This one started out looking like this...

and ended up as this.

Well I still have to make alot of Valentines this weekend...

Planning a few treats to make this week,

now that I'm feeling a little bit better after my bout

with the icky stomach flu, ugh!

I will be resting up this evening snugglin on the couch with my hubs

to watch a few "Romantical" movies, lol. 

These are a couple favorite that are in my DVD cabinet....

Cold Mountain,

a beautiful (and a lil' bit sad) love story set amidst the Civil War...

(ummm, Jude Law's in it too, yay! :o) ).

Another one...of my favorites. 

The Notebook..

Just look at the movie poster...need I say more?

Sooo good!

So, what are your Valentine's Day plans? 

I am thinking a nice dinner at home,

still working on menu ideas though.

I have to say that I think there is nothing better than

Italian food for Valentines day, there is just something so romantic about it!

Hmmm...I love me some ITALIAN FOOD, lol, what to cook though?

Any ideas girls? 

I'll have to check back in a few days.

BTW....

Our porch was featured on

FRONT PORCH IDEAS AND MORE WEBSITE.. 

have a look see if you have a minute. 

Well thanks for stoppin by, stay warm snugglin up the ones you love!

 

Take Care now,

~Dee~