Tidings of Comfort and Joy...

As this season rolls in at full speed, I just wanted to take a moment to send tidings of comfort and joy to all who may pass this way.

This season celebrates the gift of our Lord Jesus Christ... our Hope and our Salvation... our King of Kings...  our Lesson on Love and Loving...  

May your hearts be filled with that Love.  Blessings ~ tanna

Sunday, it was "our turn" again with the grands!!  And, we all bundled up to head to the Christmas Tree Farm.  Brrrr... it was windy and cold!  And, cold and windy! Windy and cold!! 

But, the trees were circled and examined and considered... in spite of the cold...

 Little Andrew checked them out from ground level...

Pop Pop and Alex... well, they were more interested in other activities...

Finally, a tree was chosen!

After that, it was on to the 'fun stuff!' Yes, our tiny Little Man would slide down this giant slide all by himself!!  He's two years old, people!  LOL!

Then, get himself out and run back to the entrance saying, "Again! Again!"  It was pretty amazing.   He wasn't ready to go when we finally had to drag him away.  LOL!

Yep.  We enjoyed Our Turn!!  And, there will be lots more fun to be had!  blessings to all ~ tanna

Vintage and Co.

One last turkey swan song for Thanksgiving... I am giving a big thanks to Jodi of Vintage and Co. for this wonderful vintage turkey planter AND....

This fun, whimsical gobbler!  It was such a pleasure to meet Jodi when she dropped these little turkeys off Tuesday afternoon.  I was the lucky winner of one of her giveaways and I just LOVE these two turkey treasures!!

Jodi has three wonderful sales a year; and, if you are anywhere near enough, you should try to make the next one!  You won't regret it.  Jodi, thank you again!!   Just love 'em!!  Hope we get to visit again soon.

We are about to shift from enjoying fall into the Christmas mode.  Seasons shift so quickly.  I sure have appreciated our splashes of color... Gifts from Above.  Thank You, Father.

blessings ~ tanna

70s Weekender Makeover - An Odd Thanksgiving Edition

The sight of our Little Men arriving for a holiday stay was my "5-4-3-2-1- put your tools down!" signal to stop my remodel project!  What is done is done... what isn't, will have to wait until after the holidays.

I will share some of the project with you today as I give THANKS that this little family arrived safely.

Sorry this is such a bad photo...

We bought our 70s-model weekender this past summer for a near song. It was stuck in the seventies and even though it had had some updates by the previous owner... they were not updates that brought it up to speed. 

The first thing that had to go was the header between these two built-ins.  It just held the whole thing down in  my opinion.  I wanted it opened up, brightened up and cleaned up!

I had crown moulding added to the top of the shelves and around the room.  My favorite elements in a room tend to be the crown moulding and the hardwoods.  The carpet had to go, too.  The floors were put in by people Lumbar Liquidators sent.  Would NOT use them again.  We chose an engineered hardwood in a Tobacco Road stain.  I wanted some variation and movement in the color.  Evan and I both immediately liked this wood.

I do love the stain and the look of the floor.  But, if I had it to do over, I would stick with the floor guy I use with my Old Girls.  I just had to want something a little more 'exotic' this time.

Now, this is not a post about decorating!!  LOL!  This stuff all was hurriedly thrown in place to get ready for the Little Men.  I was still doing a backspash earlier this week.

And, admittedly... I am not a good decorator like my friend, Kim at Savvy Southern Style or so many of my other blog friends... I am more of a 'bones of the place' kind of decorator (just like I was an orthopaedic nurse... not a plastic sugrery nurse... So, please don't judge me by my decorating!  LOL!)

This is during the process... you can immediately see the difference pulling out that header from one built-in to the other makes!   The 'popcorn' acoustic ceiling was removed.  I use very little texture (the Old Girls never have much... so, I've come to appreciate their smoother, simpler appearance).  Sheetrock replaced the old paneling and you can see the crown added to the built-ins.

Still need to find an area rug and do my small bit toward decorating, but all of that will come.  I have no idea why they placed the two ceiling fans where they did. My best solution was to add two more to balance it out and give lots of light. Plus, in the nicer weather the windows will be open and fans will be running! 

Painting the cabinets and using a light neutral color, Wool Skein (knitting attachment, you know) by Sherwin Williams, for the walls really helped lighten up the place, too. 

Yes, the drapes still need to be pressed -- again, not a decorator post.  LOL!

My favorite change was opening up this space above the fireplace.  I am used to seing the changes made by the paint, the hardwoods, the lighting... but, my Old Girls have never needed 'opening up.'  LOL!  So, this relatively Young Girl has had a freshening and I look forward to enjoying the new cleaner, brighter, lighter version.  I'll share more on the kitchen soon. 

I clung fiercely to the 'Norman Rockwell Family' dream for years...  Scrapped and fought and worked and tried to create it every year in every way I could.  Truth is, we don't have it (at least not in all ways... or in all the times).  But, what we do have is good.  Very good.

We shared an EARLY morning breakfast with our Little Men before they headed off to other family commitments for the day.  Then we headed home... where I did my Thanksgiving phone calls, turned on my electric blanket and piled into bed for a long four hour nap.  Rest was a real treat. 

Evan and I shared a frozen pizza; he is watching football and I am about to catch up on my blog reading.  My heart is full and I am so very thankful for all the many blessings we enjoy. 

Would I still like Norman Rockwell?  You know I would.  But today, I think I am finally okay not having that 'dream'.   Acceptance is a good thing (I know if I keep saying that to myself, one day it will really, really, really sink in).

;)

Today, I have offered and will continue to offer a special thanks to God for my blog friends.  You all enrich my life in ways I could never have imagined (a special thanks to Dotsie, for the flea reminder).  Thank you, too.

I am linking this to Kim's Wow Us Wednesdays (late).  She is such an amazing blog person and blog friend (always makes me feel like such a slacker by how much she gets done AND blogs!).  Thank you, Kim.

blessings to all ~

tanna

Gettin' Ready!

Whew!  This Noni has been as busy as can be!  I knitted this little Tree-Cuttin'-Boggin' for the Littlest Man Friday while waiting on repairmen... while sitting with Zack as he grabbed a bite of lunch passing through town... and at the end of the day.

Had to have one to match his brother, Little Man.  This photo is from last year.  His Momma says his still fits, so we're ready to go!  The pattern is from Susan B. Anderson's Itty-Bitty Hats book.  The yarn is Rialto Aran 100% Merino Superwash Wool.  Love the way it feels!

In the wee hours early hours, this Noni was doing some assembling... While I am not a big fan of assembling, my heart was joyful while putting this train table together, in preparation for Christmas with Little Man.  In my heart's ear, I could hear all the many times, without solicitation,  Alex would say, "Thanks, Noni."  ... for just any little thing I would do for him.  Getting his 'muhlk' (milk) or helping him get his cars... or cutting up his food...

Out of the blue, this precious little voice... "Thanks, Noni."  While the credit for this goes solidly to my daughter and son-in-law, his saying it goes a long way to endearing this precious Little Man to me (as if he could be more dear).

Note:  I did not leave the knife on the train table!!  ;)

Not bad for a grandmother assembler.  LOL!

Blogger disabled my access yesterday.  Out of the blue.  Thank you for those of you who wrote to tell me about it.  But, I was well aware...  as I could not access any of my information (blog or e-mail) or comment.

I fully believe that it was a move to get my telephone number (since until I gave them my number, they would not give me a way back to my google products, in spite of sending them another e-mail address, as directed in their information).  I'm not at all happy about that possibility.  I may be disabled again for saying this!  Has this happened to any of you?

Hope you are all checking things off your list... Christmas is just around the corner!  ;)
blessings ~ tanna

Kaw Valley Wrap

The best thing about my travel times (from here to the Preservation Conference, on to visit the Little Men and then home again) was the opportunity it gave me to knit!

I was able to finish my Kaw Valley Wrap by Blue Sky Alpacas. 

The yarn is Blue Sky Alpaca Silk - 50% alpaca/ 50% silk, 7 hanks (hardly used any of the last skein).

Worked on size 7 needles.

It is very light and airy...

Drapey and soft...

Simple and complex...

 

Even loved the shadows it made....

Maybe when Amanda visits, we can actually get a photo of it on a person.  ;)

Kim, I'm joining up since it is the first thing I have added on a Wednesday in awhile!!  LOL!

Lunch with Bonnie... and a LONG photo shoot... ;)

One of the fun things I did on my recent journey was to meet Bonnie, from A Writer's Kitchen, for lunch.  It was such a pleasure to meet her in person.  We have been visiting through our blogs for a long while and getting to meet her was every bit as delightful as I had imagined it might be!  Thank you, Bonnie for taking the time to have lunch with us!

As for the rest of this post.... You may want to just exit now! LOL! This is a series (long) of photos made with my Little Loves. Take a close look at Amanda's right hand... she received a remote for her birthday... Enough said. LOL! But, I want to save each and every one.  You can move through quickly and have a motion picture show or ESCAPE NOW!  ;)

And, here's our Clicker!!  Hee hee!!  She gets a little carried away with the photo thing!  LOL!  Love you, Amanda!!

 If you made it this far, here's wishing you a wonderful week!! 

blessings ~ tanna