Holiday Primitive Decor

Oh, decorating for the holidays!! Which decorations are considered primitive decor?

Candles could be considered primitive as they used to put actual candles on trees and light them. We have since realized that this causes fires!! But still, burning candles gives us a warm feeling and a sense of peace on earth.

Oh' Christmas Tree. I always swore I'd never have a 'fake' Christmas tree. Well, I do indeed have a 'fake' Christmas tree. The mess a real tree causes and the fear of fire and it falling over was keeping me up at night. So, we went with a 'fake' tree. The cool part is that you have to touch it to make sure it's not real. It looks real. Most 'fake' trees nowadays look fake. I have a beautiful full real looking 'fake' tree. Christmas Tree Ornies are a great addition to your holiday decorating.

Angels - Stars - Snowmen - Elf Shoes - Stockings - These items can all be used to decorate in the primitive style.

Head on over to www.JKLCountryPrimitives.com and take a look at the holiday primitive items. They're all hand made.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tam

Building a House - Building a Home - Building a Future

We've been working on my brother's house for over a year. Work on it for a while, get burnt out and then in a month or so we do a little more.

We started with a Morton Building that used to be a motorcycle shop. Yes, a motorcycle shop.

There was an office, a garage, show room and a few other rooms I'm not sure what they were used for.

My siblings and I grew up on that farm. The house we grew up in was only a basement when my dad was a boy. The roof of the basement stuck up out of the ground about 3 feet or so. My dad and mom built an upstairs/main floor to it and that's where we grew up.

Across the holler to the west is where the motorcycle shop was at. Down that road is where Grandma and Grandpa lived. Across the holler to the east was the motorcycle track.

Anyway, late last winter, early 2008 we took all the walls out of the 'shop' except the office walls. It was a huge building on the inside once the walls were gone on the inside.

We laid out the walls with 2x4's on the floor. Then realized that one day my neices and nephew will move out and there would be alot of wasted space. So, we moved all the walls/2x4's and then began building walls.

We spent a few weekends last summer and a few weekends this past winter running gas pipes and wires and cables. Late this winter we put in the furnace.

About a month ago my brother decided it was time to get this home built. He was sick of paying rent and the portion of the builders loan he is paying. So, we began working again.

Two or three weeks ago we started hanging drywall. This weekend we got all the drywall hung that he had ordered. We began mudding the walls and sanded some on Sunday. And he got most of the ceiling mudded yesterday.

Drywall goes on sale again on Wednesday. So, he's going to order the rest of the drywall.

If you've ever hung, mudded and sanded drywall you know what we're going through. It's a pain and it makes your body hurt in muscles you didn't realize you had.

While sitting on the kitchen floor this weekend I looked around the living room/dining room, kitchen and smiled.

We are building more than a house out of a Morton Building. We're building a home. We're building a future.

Working on building a house is hard work. You run into things you never expected. Plans change, ideas get revised. But one thing is the same.

If you slow down and think, it's about family. This home is being built with love - a little sweat and tears but mostly love! My brother, his girlfriend, their three kids; my husband and myself and our three kids and my dad. My uncle has helped with the furnace as well.

Amish have barn raisings. We have home building parties!! We build family every time we're together.

Just wanted to share all this with you. Hope your day is a good one.

Tammy

Beating the economic slump

Are you interested in finding a way to keep up your lifestyle even though the economy is in a slump?

Here's a taste of what will be available to you.

• Spend less on your heating bills
• The many ways to spend less when buying groceries for your family.
• Spend less on your insurance (auto, home, life)
• Spend less at the pump
• Spend less on the Internet
• Spend less on entertainment
• Spend less on your mortgage
• And many, many more.

Check back often for updates on having more money even though the economy is in a slump.

I Miss you Grandma

It was a year ago today that we had Grandmas visitation. I still remember it like it was yesterday. I remember going in with Grandpa and my dad and all the brothers and sisters and the grandkids and great grandkids.

I remember sitting in the funeral home waiting on my sister and my mom after the rest of the family had gone back to your house. I sat there all by myself and watched the video of you and cried my heart out. I remember the picture of you holding Jacob when he was three days old. You really loved the babies (kids). It was like you could see the life in them. You could see all the great things they would do in life. I'm really glad I got to sit there with you alone.

I knew then that the pain was gone for you. But what I didn't know was that I would still have a burning in my heart for you. I knew I would miss you but I miss you dearly.

I thought of you on my birthday and missed you something awful. You never forgot. You always called and told me happy birthday.

We had a big birthday party for Grandpa in the 'shop.' I know you were there. He had a good time with most of your kids, grandkids, great grandkids and great-great grandkids there. I made him a cake and decorated it with his dozer on it.

In the spring when we had cookouts at dads I remember the summer before that you and grandpa came out.

In May I thought of you on your birthday.

This year when I got the peaches off dads tree I wished you were around to call. He wanted them put in freezer bags, no sugar, no fruitfresh, no nothing. I wanted to call you and ask what you recommended.

On dads birthday I made pineapple cookies and thought of you.

When we had Thanksgiving and Christmas I thought of you when I made the macaroni and cheese. You always made the best macaroni and cheese.

I went Christmas shopping with Melinda early one morning and when I got up that morning I was crying. I wasn't sure why. I took my shower and got ready and headed out the back door to get Jacobs car seat. The temperature was just perfect and as I opened the door I felt I could instantly feel you again. Then when I came back in with the car seat there was a song on the radio that was played at your funeral. I know you were there that morning.

I made Taffy Tan Fudge. I think of you when I buy the 'name brand' sugar and the whole milk. I remember that those were the sticklers that you told me about. I never have figured out how to get it to set up your way. But I have figured out how to modify it and it sets up perfect every time.

I learned a lot from you and I really miss you.

Tomorrow will be the day they laid you to rest. I remember the preacher talking about how you cooked for everyone. She did a really good job of talking about you and how you felt about all of us.

You live on in me. I love you.
TAM

Get Back Up

On a daily basis we all struggle with our own amount of difficulty, whether it be financial, relationships, emotional.

Tomorrow is always a new day. And with each new day we all hope it brings bigger and better times into our life.

Tomorrow is 2009!!! Happy New Year.

We all have that feeling of the new year is a new start, a new beginning for us. We hope the coming year we'll see our dreams come true.

In those down moments when those dreams don't seem to be working out just the way we'd planned, we need something to bring us back up.

Please watch the YouTube video in this link. I think it will help us all.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MslbhDZoniY
Thanks for visiting,
Tammy

Pssst...God....I am so Thankful...

I don't know if it is age or if it's my nature but I find myself thanking Almighty God for anything and everything I can think of. I don't go around looking for things to thank him for.

For instance, I had a house full of kids tonight. It was loud to say the least. Instead of pulling my hair out and being upset, I sat there thanking God that all these kids were together and they were creating a tight knit family.

My sister-in-law and my brother were at the hospital. Her grandfather isn't doing well. So, their 3 kids and my 3 kids were all here. They range in age from 3 years old to 18 years old!!!

It started out a warm day where the kids that wanted to go outside and play could go out. The ones that didn't want to go out helped make Christmas candy and cookies. We spent the afternoon making a mess of the kitchen and loving every minute of it.

Then, for the first time I can ever remember my husband sat down with the kids and they played monopoly. I took that chance to set in the other room and grab a moment of peace!! During this moment of peace I became overwhelmed with the love that was in my house.

I am thankful for all the noise that is in my house. For some day all these beautiful babies will be grown and live in their own homes with their own noise and my day to day noise will be gone. I am thankful to have the noise as long as it can possibly be here.

The other three kids have gone home now and all three of my kids are in bed. As I wind my day down and settle in to hear the now cold evening beat on my windows with the sleet outside I am thankful to God for this day.

Thanks for stopping by,
Tammy

Hard Winter?

This past week we had an odd experience. We had had a squirrel in our attic since summer and could not figure out how to keep him out.
WELL, last weekend my dad and my nephew were sitting here and my nephew looks at me and says, (with no expression) "There's a squirrel in your living room."
I said, "No, there's not."
He said, "Yeah there is. I just saw the bushy tail."
There definately was a squirrel in our house. It started freaking out and running over furniture and under furniture and went from the living room to the kitchen and freaked out in there. He ran over top my computer monitor about 4 times and I said, "Dad, he's going to tear up my computer."
My dad opened the door and it finally figure out how to get out.

We built an addition on our house several years ago and life took hold and we never got the ceiling in the bedroom finished. It was only insulation. That's how the squirrel got in, in the first place.

We have since tried to close the two places where it keeps getting into the attic. We've tried twice and it still figures out how to get in.

The same day a neighbor across the street had a squirrel in her basement.

The weekend before my dad had shown me a picture of a friends camper closet. They live in campers because they work road construction. They were cleaning and had gone to the closet to get the vaccuum out of the closet and found a large pile of nuts. Then while cleaning under the bed they found nut shells. They too have had a squirrel in their 'home.'

Does anyone know if this is a sign of anything? I would say it's going to be a cold winter and the ground will freeze up enough the squirrels won't be able to get their nuts out. But has anyone ever heard of this being a sign of anything?

Thanks for stopping by,
Tammy