My Stepback Cupboard (Take #2)

If you read my earlier post about my stepback cupboard a few days ago, you could probably sense my indecisiveness about the color. I love the cupboard......I mean LOVE it....and I did love the color. The thing bugging me was seeing that color that close to my honey oak cabinets...the tones didn't just thrill me together! They didn't compliment each other. I wish I had gotten a pciture of the cupboard and the cabinets together so you could see. You could kind of tell by the kitchen table chair that is visible in the pictures (it's the same color as the cabinets). However, here's a picture of just the cupboard then:



Here's a picture of the honey oak cabinets:



The only thing visually separating the two is the door opening to the dining room so your eye definitely travels from one to the other. It "bugged" me enough that I wanted to try red! I'm so glad my husband is patient! He was willing to move it back out to the porch and he even gave it most of the first coat of paint. Then the next day, I gave it another coat. I decided to leave the prevoius color on the shelves. We lightly distressed the red and left the lighter shelves distressed a little heavier. So...here's take #2 on the cupboard:







I feel like this color better suits me anyway. And so many of you have expressed interest in showing it all decorated. Unfortunately, it won't be an overnight process, at least not to get it like I want it. I have to collect more prim goodies. I am tempted to "steal" from other rooms, but I just got some of those like I want them and so I'll have to just do a little shopping. It would be nice to just go buy everything I want to go in there, but my budget won't let me (especially after all of the other things we've done in there). But on the bright side, I've won a couple of giveaways and have gotten some goodies to use in there! I've shared some of those with you, but my newest one came in the mail today!

This is the giveaway from Char of The Pickled Pepper Patch. I was so excited to see this come in Monday's mail! Our mail lady honked again and Joy gladly went out and retrieved our package!



I'm positive all of this will be used in my kitchen, but I'm still playing around with everything. (We were out of town this weekend, so nothing was accomplished here at the house.) These cinnamon rolls look SO realistic that my family has been very disappointed to learn that I didn't make real cinnamon rolls for them! I'm telling you somebody is going to pick one of these up and take a bite out of them before it's over with, because they looks so real! I just love everything that I got....everything is just so prim! It actually looks really good on the red cupboard too! :)



And last of all a few of you asked what color the bowl rack was going to be.....well it seems like I'm not getting the color right on the first try here lately, so it may not be the final say-so on it....but I'm thinking black (lightly distressed) right now. It will go on the wall between the pantry door and the back door (which are both red). So maybe I should ask you....what color do YOU think it should be? :)

Hubby's Surprise

Okay, before you get too excited, he hasn't planned a big romantic trip to one of my dream spots (maybe someday)....But, he sure did make me happy with his little surprise! I love "little" surprises...especially when they're so sweet and thoughtful.

A few days ago, I showed Jason a picture of a primitive bowl rack that I would love to have for my kitchen. Now it's been enough that he made my cupboard, which I'm so proud of, so I didn't expect him to make this for awhile. Well, Thursday night when Joy and I came in from dance...as I walked down the sidewalk toward the sunporch door, I could see something wooden sitting on the loveseat. As I got closer, I could see it was the very bowl rack I asked for...completely constructed (but unfinished because he didn't know what color I wanted). He had the picture (that I showed him) leaning in front of it. I was SO excited to say the least! Joy was laughing at me! I was exclaiming (in a very high pitched voice, I might add), "Oh, he's the best!"



When we went inside, Joy marched upstairs where her dad was and said, "Introducing your lovely, beautiful, HAPPY, wife!" Needless to say, he got a bunch of hugs and kisses!

I am very happy and blessed to have a husband that can no only create these goodies for me, but is willing and happy to do it. Actually, he loves building with wood. He learned it from his dad, who was a carpenter. I think he'd really rather do this than what he does for a living! (That is if he knew he could make a good living at it).

Jason knows I have a wish list (kind of long) of prim goodies for him to make for me and he doesn't mind...I just have to be patient. Next on the list is a desk that Joy has asked him to make (and you know how little girls have their daddies wrapped around their little finger). Then my mom wants a cupboard like mine! (And he's a good son-in-law too)!

I sure do love my hubby! :)



And there's a giveaway to check out....Terri of Thistle House Primitives is having a wonderful fall giveaway. Stop by and check out the details. She will draw a winner next week, so hurry on over!

A New Look for "Herbie Lace"

Remember Herbie Lace?



Eleven days ago, Herbie Lace, our black swallowtail caterpillar, went into chrysalis form. This is how Herbie looked at the beginning of the chrysalis form.



We've watched earnestly everyday anticipating our butterfly. As time went on, it seemed a miracle that those little silky threads were holding the chrysalis to the parsley stem. It seemed to sag more as days passed. We read somewhere that if it fell off the stem (to the bottom of the jar), it probably would not emerge.

One day, one of my piano students, a very active little boy, walked over to the jar (unknown to me at that time) and began shaking the jar and turning it round and round and upside down "trying to find out what was in there." I probably scared him to death when I gasped, "Oh, don't shake it...it will fall." Being the color that it was, he "couldn't see anything". However, Herbie Lace survived the jostling!

Yesterday morning when we got up and came into the kitchen, where Herbie was on the counter, we noticed right away that the chrysalis looked even darker. (It had been getting darker all the time and we could even see an antenna part of the way out). We were actually seeing the butterfly in there with it's dark colors. This is what it looked like before breakfast.



We ate breakfast just a few feet from it at the kitchen table and completed a couple of school lessons immediately after breakfast. Then, Joy walked over and said, "Herbie is out!" And so that quickly, Herbie Lace made an entrance with the new look! Here's a picture taken right after Herbie emerged:



The next step after emerging is the draining of the fluid (almost a blood like juicy substance), and the wings are actually wet from it. Herbie had to sit there and slowly and gradually pump the wings a little bit at a time. Leaving Herbie alone for awhile to pump the wings, we went about our business. After a bit, it seemed as though there wasn't quite enough room in there to pump the wings properly, so we took Herbie out to the petunias just outside our back door. You can see from this picture that the wings are still a little crumpled and bent from being inside the chrysalis.



We came back inside, but of course we had to keep checking on Herbie. After a little while, I snapped this picture of Joy holding Herbie Lace spread out a little more. You can see the markings a little better here. I'm not completely sure, but we think we have a female as she seems to have more blue which indicates female.



After this picture was taken, we left Herbie alone on the flower to finish pumping her wings and to fly away when ready. When we left to go to dance class, Herbie was still there and when we came home Herbie was gone. Herbie is free now....flying somewhere out there proudly showing off her new look! :)

Fall Evenings

Although the weather hasn't cooperated with fall these past few days, (we're having upper 80 and 90 degree weather), all of the other signs of fall are all around us! The other day, I listed some of autumn's blessings, and I mentioned tractors in the fields and cotton fields ready to be harvested.



The very night of that post, (Monday), Jason, Joy & I went for an evening walk down the gravel road near our house. Well....Joy rode her bike and Jason and I walked. It was almost dark when we got back. As we walked back, we heard the familiar sound of tractors working late hours in the fields. I went and grabbed my camera so I could share a picture with you. I stood up on our pool deck to take this picture of the tractors out at dusk harvesting rice in the field behind our home. I love to hear the tractors back there!



While we were out for our walk, we were serenaded by the locusts singing. I just love that sound! Then when we came home, our cats,(Mattie and Bambi), were waiting patiently for us in the only spot that they're allowed to climb! That's their window sill that they're allowed to perch on. That's where they sit and dream of the outdoors! lol! At night, the tree frogs tease them. On any given night, there are at least eight to twelve tree frogs. By day, it's the birds that tease them! Since I had my camera, I snapped a picture of them waiting. Aren't they sweet?



Then on our way to church we pass many cotton fields! On our way last night, we pulled over so I could get a picture. I think they are so pretty....white as snow! I really need to go get some pictures of the kids there before it's harvested, which will be soon. I always love this time of year and driving the backroads flanked by cotton fields!



Take a few minutes this evening to look and listen for the sounds of fall. It's a simple pleasure, but a beautiful one!

My Stepback Cupboard

Remember last week sometime I gave you a sneak peek of the stepback cupboard that my hubby, Jason, was making for me? Well, he finished it this past weekend and we painted it. Gosh it seems like each step is forever when you're so excited about seeing how it's going to turn out and how it will look in the spot for which it was created.

We finished antiquing it (or primming it up) late Monday night and Jason moved it in for me. I'm always amazed how you can add a bigger piece of furniture and it will make your room look larger or have more depth. To me, that was the case with my new stepback cupboard, as well as the shelf above the table.

We ended up painting the cupboard the color of the dining room, which sometimes appears a tan and sometimes mustardy depending on the light. I went back and forth between painting it the red of the door and shelf or this color. In the end, we decided to try this color (with the plan that we could always paint over it). I didn't want to get too matchy with all the red and go overboard with it, although I'm a fan of red! So....here's how it turned out:

This was taken during the day with the sun streaming through the windows.

The only colors I could think that would possibly work would have been the red, this color, or black. What do you think of this choice and what would you have done considering the color of my walls, doors, cabinets, counter and all the black appliances? I'm really interested here! Let me know your thoughts!


I figure if I change my mind after a few days of looking at it, we can always go back and repaint it! So far, I love the way everything I put on it pops and stands out! My problem is that I always wonder what it would look like if....it was this color or that color. But alot of times when I do that, I end up coming right back to the same color! lol! So for right now, I've just been playing around putting different accessories on it...trying different things.

This one was taken at night time...makes the color appear a little different:



My cabinets and kitchen table are the honey oak color so I was afraid this might clash somewhat, but it seems to work (at least today for me anyway). We'll see about tomorrow. What do you think, honestly? :)



And I've made a couple more decisions. The way I'm wired, it's a relief when I get a decision made and I come to that point in my mind where that's one less thing to think about and have to decide about! One of those decisions was whether to put a valance on the backdoor. Well I took one down and Jason held it against the door for me to stand back and look (with and without it) and I love the way the valance looks against the door, but I think the door makes more of a statement standing alone without a curtain. I did remove the wreath that I had up there in the picture last week, and put this star up there. I also like that the star is not so large that it blocks my view of the sunporch. Plus the star is sort of three dimensional so it stands out and looks the same from the back (sunporch side) as it does from the front.



So that's once decision made. Second decision (for now anyway) is to leave the table as is. I don't think I will be painting my chairs or pedestal black. I think I'm going to bring the color into play there with braided chair pads and/or a braided rug beneath the table (I can't decide on the rug beneath because of my cats and their little fur balls!)

But I've been like a kid at Christmas! I love playing around with the decor! But Colt comes in from work every evening and says he never knows what to expect around here.....one night there's a sink on the back porch....one night there's an unfinished cupboard........and Monday tonight he came home to my finished stepback cupboard! But I can already tell I'm going to love having it there....between my stove and the cupboard, I feel like I'm living in Laura's kitchen in Little House on the Prairie! :)

Autumn Blessings

I've really enjoyed seeing all the autumn decor and the lists of reasons why folks love fall! I thought about that a little bit this weekend and jotted down my thoughts......the things that really say fall for me....the things I look forward to about fall....the signs of fall....really just the little blessings of fall......




The sound of the katydids and locusts in the late afternoon & evenings....

The colorful leaves on the trees, blowing through the air, and crunching
under my feet.....

Tractors in the fields.....

Pumpkins on porches....

The cotton fields ready to be harvested....

Friendly scarecrows....

The fuzzy caterpillars (wooly worms) crossing the road....

The cool crisp air.....

The evening autumn sky.....

Bales of hay and corn stalks...

Indian corn....

The smells of fall....candles burning, goodies in the oven, pumpkin spice,
cinnamon, apples.....

Hot chocolate.....

Being home for longer evenings by lamplight and candles burning.....

Watching a movie with my family all snug in our pj's and covered up with our afghans.....

Snuggling up with the family inside our cozy home for a good read-aloud book......

Inching closer to Christmas.....


And speaking of Christmas....I had this little treasure in today's mail! I have some time that I will be waiting in between appointments today, so it's going right along with me! I love having it to look forward to and take in every little thing!



And I'm going to leave you with a picture of my new treasure! My mom was with me when I purchased this Ball Jar. I loved the shape of it and was talking about what I would put in it. During our conversation, my mom mentioned that somewhere she had the marbles that belonged to my grandmother's brother (that passed away when he was 18)....the marbles he played with as a child. Well last night, my dad found them and brought them over! We were figuring up how old they were and they are probably somewhere between 95-100 years old! Putting them in the jar and just thinking that he played with them that many years ago was pretty awesome! I decided they were perfect for my new (old) jar!



Thanks for stopping by! I wish you all many Autumn Blessings! :)

Tagged and Awarded!

I really enjoy reading little tidbits about my blogging friends' lives.....little things we might not know by just reading their blogs and comments. I truly enjoy them all! Well, I've been tagged by some of my blogging friends to do the same, so I thought I'd take a few minutes today to do so. I was tagged by my bloggin' buddies: Rondell (Tomatoe Creek Prims), Sue (The Cotton Patch), Sandy (For the Love of Prims), and CozyCoops Corner. So last night, I thought a little bit about what I could tell you that you might not know by reading my blog. Here's what I came up with (I'm really not all that interesting...lol!):

1) It's very hard for me to pass up a bag of circus peanuts or peeps! I love both of those and could probably eat the whole bag in one sitting!

2) I love the mountains and creeks! They are comforting and soothing to me. My ideal spot for my dream cabin would include these! (Actually I'd take my home sitting in a spot like that!) :)

3) I can't stand the looks, taste, or smell of tuna fish...Uggh! (I don't like seafood either).

4) I love to wear the color brown....definitely one of my favorites (followed closely by red).

5) The places I've always wanted to visit include: Vermont & Maine (actually a trip through New England would be wonderful) and I've always wanted to visit Australia and Alaska.

6) I absolutely LOVE Christmas......everything about it! During the Christmas season, I love to just sit up late with all the lights out except my twinkling Christmas lights and watch Christmas movies (I especially love Christmas movies) and drink hot chocolate. I love the decorating, the preparations, the feel of the air....I just enjoy the atmosphere of Christmas! :)

Let's see who I can tag that I haven't read their six random things......and that I haven't either awarded or tagged lately.....how about...

1) Mary (Gettysburg Homestead)

2) Birgit (The Primitive Country Bug)

3) Julie (Country Girl at Heart)

4) Shay (Olde Colonial Peddler)

5) Wendy (The Cozy Yellow House)

6) Dawn (Backdoor Primitives)

I've also been awarded the Your Blog Rocks award by Rosemary (Prim Thymes). Gosh, she said the sweetest things! I really enjoy your blog too! I also enjoy your comments! Thank you SO much for thinking of me Rosemary! I was also awarded the same award by CozyCoops Corner.....thank you SO much! I really appreciate both of you!



Well the rules are:

1) Choose which award you like better, copy and put a link to your blog.





2) Add a link to the person that awarded you.

3) Add them to your blogroll, if they aren't already.

4) Leave a message for your nominees and let them know that you think their blog ROCKS! (I think we're supposed to pick 5?)

Okay, I choose to award all the above people that I just tagged! Your blog ROCKS and so do you....I want to hear more about you!

And I was also awarded the I Love Your Blog award by Kathy (Kat's Korner). Thank you Kathy, you are the sweetest person and always leave the sweetest comments!



Now, I recently awarded some folks with this one, but I'm going to go ahead and award some more folks. I want to give it to everybody on my blogroll because I really do enjoy and love all your blogs...that's why you're on my blogroll....but I guess I can only get by with that every once in awhile, so here's my nominees (I'm supposed to pick 6):

1) Linda (Behind My Red Door)

2) Leslie (My Country Home)

3) Kindra (3 Guys, a Girl, and a Prim Place)

4) Colleen (And Baby Makes Five)

5) Carolyn (Cranberry Crossings)

6) Beth (Raggedy Angel)

Oh my goodness, that was hard....I want to give you all the award...next time I'm taking the easy way out! lol!

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend full of family time and that you get lots of things accomplished! Hugs!

When Our Mail Lady Honks

We have the nicest mail lady. Her name is Mrs. Pat. She goes above and beyond the call of duty, I'm sure! If we have a package too big for our mailbox, all she is really required to do is leave us a card in the mailbox letting us know that we have a package at the post office to pick up that was too big for the box. She never does that though! She pulls in the drive, honks her horn, and waits for Miss Anxious (Joy) to run out there and pick it up. I always stand at the door and hold it open for Joy and wave at Mrs. Pat. She always smiles and waves back! (And we always try to remember Mrs. Pat at Christmas with a little surprise in the mailbox for her kindness all year)!

Well...Wednesday, Joy and I were in the kitchen, and we heard the honk. Joy wasted no time getting out there to retrieve the package from Mrs. Pat. I was very excited to see that it was my goodies that I won in Colleen's fall giveaway! I'm telling you that I was as excited as a kid at Christmas! We started to tear into the box and pull things out when I remembered..."Wait, we can't open anything yet...we've got to get a picture!"



Joy helped me get everything out so we could pose them for a picture! Everything was packaged so inviting! I just love anything tied up with homespun and I tell you that my very favorite way to wrap a package is with brown craft paper and decorate it from there and that's exactly what Colleen did! She also had the cutest brown paper bag tied with raffia....everything just perfect for fall goodies! Doesn't it just look great?



And then the fun part...opening everything up....of course, Joy helped! We oohed and aahhed over everything! I've been playing around with where everything will go, so no pictures of that yet, but I am leaning very heavy to using my fall arrangement (which smelled so good by the way) out on my sunporch window coffee table and the plaque out there on my potting bench or on a shelf. The dishtowels have already found a home on my stove and hanging bar of my telephone table. Joy immediately put the soap in HER bathroom! (By the way, as I was typing this, Joy came and put her arm around me and I told her how good she smelled and she said...that's the soap!) Thanks Colleen for brightening my day! You are a sweetheart and I'm SO glad you picked my name! I love everything!



And this past Tuesday, as Joy and I were leaving for dance class, we stopped by the mailbox (not expecting a package) because Mrs. Pat didn't honk! Well....this little package fit in there....that's why! I wasn't expecting this one at all! This was lavender from Heather's own garden!



She recently did a custom order for my mom. She offered to put some lavender in my mom's order, but my mom is very sensitive to smells, so I explained that to Heather, but made the comment that had I ordered it, I would definitely have loved it...and that we appreciated her kindness and all! Well a few days (or maybe a week later) after my mom received her angel pillow (which she loved by the way), I got the lavender in the mail.......also tied with homespun! I want you to know Heather, that it just made my day! Joy started begging from that moment to have it for her room because it smelled so good...but I haven't given in....I keep telling her that it's going in my kitchen! lol! Thank you SO much, Heather! :)

So now you see why I get excited.......when our mail lady honks?

Olympic Day

On Tuesday, our homeschool group had their very own version of the Olympics! Instead of our normal gym day, we all met at a local park for the Olympic events. We had a really good turn-out and the kids seemed to have a very good time. There were field events and races in which to participate. I know Joy especially enjoyed herself as she was really into the Summer Olympics and watching it on TV.

The games began in normal Olympic fanfare with the passing of the torch! The kids spread out completely around the track at the park. The "torch" was run along by one and passed along to another. The last little guy to run the torch to our resting spot (Mrs. Kim that coordinated this whole event) was little Warren!



Here's Joy participating in the discus throw: (We thought this picture was so funny...it looks like her braid was attached to the frisbee!)



And in the soccer kick:



Here she was doing the shot put....what a face!



And here she is doing the broad jump:



And running one of the races....



Joy loves babies....She tells me that when she gets married, she's having six kids and she's never going to move out of this house with her dad and me and that they'll live upstairs and I'll help her give them great birthday parties! I told her that was perfectly fine with me...as long as her husband has a good job! :)

Here she is holding Noah....and that's Riley (Noah & Riley are sisters and friends of ours). Sometimes she'd rather just be holding or playing with a baby rather than playing!



And here's a picture of the whole gang (well..all the kids:



There will be an award ceremony for the winners next Tuesday at gym....the gold, silver, and bronze place winners! And of course, everyone was a winner for participating and having fun....so all will get a participation award!

Watcha Workin' on Wednesday & Kitchen Update

I thought today would be a very appropriate day to catch you all up a few things that I've been working on lately. Some of it has been repurposing projects, some has been just shopping for a few kitchen treasures, some of it kitchen remodeling and some of it has been exciting new pieces of furniture that Jason has been working on for me! So today on Leslie's Watcha Workin' on Wednesday, I'll show you a few pictures. Please keep in mind that I've just been playing around with some of the purchases and where they sit is probably not where they will stay when I get everything in here and am able to buy more and rearrange.

First of all, here's the new curtains. I ended up buying the Park Designs Cinnamon Pattern. I am so glad I chose it. I really like the way these curtains coordinate with everything.





Here you can see the curtain closer to the red door. I didn't order a valance for the back door...only the bay windows....but now I'm wondering if I should order one for the back door.



What do you think? Do I need one or leave the door as is? Also the wreath that is on the door will probably be replaced with something else...this is what I have for now.



You can see here that the shades on the chandelier coordinate well with the curtains. I didn't know how this would fit in...but I think it will be fine...at least for now.



Here's a picture that shows the countertops against the cabinets and the new black knobs. And there's my redware platter from Wendy's giveaway that I won! Yay! I have it there for now....it may not stay in that exact spot, but it IS going in my kitchen! Actually I just sat a few things there on the counter to get an idea of what my prim items would look like on my countertops.....



This weekend, Jason made my shelf for above the bay window. We painted and antiqued it. I got a couple of shots of him putting it up. I love the red shelf up there too!





Sorry this picture turned out dark...but the shelf is done and up on the wall:



Now I get to fill it up with goodies....the fun part!

This is the tart warmer that I bought off of Ebay and the sweet home checkerboard that I bought from Kindra. I just love them both! It's all sitting on the telephone table that has always been here. This is the spot where my new cupboard will go.



Do you want a sneak peek of the cupboard that Jason is building me? Keep in mind it's still a work in progress.....but here it is! I have always loved the one that Linda has in her dining room and I showed Jason a picture of it on the computer awhile back and told him I love to have one of those for that spot....he got started on it this weekend! I'm so excited over this!



Then while he worked on that Saturday, I worked on a few pieces that I bought from Goodwill and the Flea Market. Do you remember the wooden birdhouse that I found and wanted to turn into the wall candle holder? Well I painted it black, primmed it a little and I plan to add a rusty nail with some grungy candles hanging from it, and rosehips in the bottom tray. That's the plan...but I'll show a picture when I finish! The bucket used to be silver with a rooster on the side. I just spray painted it black. I will be adding fall decor to it for now....



This was just an old beat up bread board that I picked up at the fleamarket. I painted and primmed it, and added the homespun bow and rusty star.



I also painted my paper towel holder black. Jason is cutting out a prim star for the top and I'll paint it and add it later (it will probably either be black or red glazed).



And the last thing to show you that we've worked on....is putting up the new punched tin switchplate covers that we ordered and got in from The Primitive Country Bug. It's amazing how such a small thing makes such a big difference.







And that's what I....(well, we)....have been up to lately! I wanted to wait until I had more to show you all on my kitchen, but so many of you have been so nice to ask about the kitchen that I decided to share the progress. I am always so impatient...wanting everything in place and all decorated first...but it's coming along!

Thanks for stopping by! :)