♥ 31 Years! ♥

I just wanted to pop in here real quick for a couple of things.......

First of all, Joy has been in the hospital since Monday with a flare-up of the pancreatitis.  However, we caught this early on, so it looks like we're getting out of the hospital today!  And her pain level this time  is nothing compared to last time.  For that, we are thankful!  We're still praying for complete healing though!  We would appreciate your continued prayers!

Secondly,  today is Jason's and my anniversary....our 31st anniversary actually.  :)  I am so blessed to have him by my side in this life.  I trusted God for sending me the man he had for me all through my teen years, and He was faithful to send him to me.  I never would have thought it possible on our wedding day that I could love him more, but I do today.  Our love has grown in so many ways.  God has blessed us with our precious children and in so many more ways.  I am truly thankful for 31 years with him!  I can only imagine how love grows in the older years and I look forward to many more with this man God gave me!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  Have a great day!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥  

♥ Sneak Peek ♥

Jason has been a busy bee working on the staircase. He worked all weekend, minus the time we were in church.  He's made great progress in the past few days!

I thought I’d tease you a little bit with a sneak peek. Please excuse the dust.

Oh what a difference it is! I can’t wait to show you the rest of it. Of course, I want to wait until it’s all done though! 

Jason is working on the trim work now and I’ve still got to tear down wallpaper and extend the red paint on the living room side wall. 

It’s got to be done in time for Christmas decorating, which for us is the first week of November!  :)

Enjoy your day! :)

♥ Catch-Up ♥

Have you ever visited an Amish community? If you haven’t and you get the chance, you should go! We were able to visit an Amish community in Tennessee when we went to my brother’s house for an extended weekend vacation last week. It was a very cool crisp day for the buggy ride through the Amish community. The driver was very informative and stopped at several of the Amish homes for us to visit their shops and purchase wares if we desired.

We watched them make sorghum molasses. We bought delicious peanut brittle that never made it out of the buggy. It was gone before we ever returned to our car! I saw the most adorable little Amish boy in his straw hat that I would have loved to scoop up and hug. I saw a little Amish girl cracking walnuts with her bare feet on her front porch, and eat them. And I had to buy this basket. I have a weakness for baskets in the first place, but this one was made by Amelia, a 12 year Amish girl.

On the bottom of the basket:  Can you see the handwriting -  Made by Amelia age 12

Monday night, we celebrated Jason’s 52nd birthday.

 

And we’re still enjoying the ice cream bar cake. It needs to be gone because it calls to me from the freezer.

 

You don’t get to see Colt (our oldest) very often. I was so glad to have him home for awhile last night, along with Amber. He told Amber he couldn’t believe I only took ONE picture of them. He knows me all too well. :)

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For Sandra’s 31 Days of Fall Challenge, here’s another photo by Joy. She’s keeping me stocked, isn’t she? Mums definitely say fall.

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And last of all, but definitely not least, I hope you’ll join me tomorrow on the sunporch for a chat with Lois of Walking on Sunshine. I’m pretty sure that Lois and I began blogging the same year. She’s a long time blogging friend and I know you’ll enjoy getting to know her a little more! Come join us!

Thanks for stopping by! Have a great day! :)

♥ Happy Birthday Jason ♥

I had to pop in here this morning before church for a  Happy Birthday post for my hubby! Jason is 52 years old young today.

Don't think I've shared this pic before.  It was taken late this summer.  

He’s been working so hard on our staircase every single spare moment (especially after having been out of town on our little vacation to Alabama), and he really deserves a day of rest. Knowing him, he won’t take it though.

We're headed out later this evening for his birthday dinner of BBQ ribs and I’ve made him the ice cream bar dessert that I shared on my blog before. That’s what he requested.  We’re all looking forward to that! :)

I’m so very thankful for God giving me Jason. He’s a good man…..and a great husband and dad.

Happy birthday honey! I love you......MORE. :)

♥ Tammy ♥

♥ My Carpenter ♥

I have a carpenter that brings reality to my dreams! I never take it for granted either. If I think it up, he eventually makes it for me. I did say eventually……after all, he does work a full time job. But he does love to build things and I love for him to build things. He’s my hubby! :)

Today, I thought I’d take you through our home and show you what he’s made, at least some of the bigger pieces anyway.  Some of the photos were taken with my husband's point and shoot camera, therefore couldn't be enlarged and others were taken with my camera and those are biggie sized.  :)  

We’ll begin out in The Cedar Loft (which serves as our home-away-from-home/apartment/pool house):

TV Cabinet

 

Now coming back into the house on the sunporch:



coffee table made from old window

 

Potting bench made from a door

Through the back door from the sunporch, into the kitchen:

My favorite!  My Red Cupboard

Dough Bowl Rack

Table bench

In the dining room:

Buffet/Sideboard

 

And in the living room:



Shutters flanking the fireplace

Entertainment Center

Now I’ll take you down the hallway and we’ll stop in the hall bathroom:



Bathroom cabinet

And next is Luke’s little bedroom (our 4 year old):

Luke's bed

Luke's nightstand

And in the master bedroom:



Wall TV Cabinet

Now let’s turn around and go back into the living room and go upstairs. First at the top of the stairs, here’s the wonderful bookshelves for our many books. We love books! We homeschool.  We collect books! We love the motto: Wear the old coat, buy the new book. :)



bookshelves across entire wall of loft

And last of all into Joy’s room (our 13 year old):



Joy's desk and bulletin board

Maybe next time I’ll take you to my mom’s house so you can see what all Jason has made for her! After all, he does have to make his mother-in-law happy! Did I tell you he is her favorite son-in-law?  :)  Well, he's also her only son-in-law.  He’s made just about as many things for her as he has me!

Thanks for joining me today for a tour of my carpenter’s creations! I know I really am blessed and I know probably a little spoiled too. But I like being blessed (and spoiled). :)

Have a great weekend!  :)

Linking with Sunny Simple Sundays. 

♥ Tammy ♥

Little Emperor's Ride & My First Sunporch Chat Coming!

Our Little Emperor’s ride fits him perfectly. Seriously.

We found the Emperor's new ride on Craigslist.  4 miles and he loved every minute!

He settled back into his new ride like a natural in luxury. Joy and I looked at each other and immediately both said “Little Emperor”. :)

Jason took Little Emperor the 4 miles...but Joy was trying it out here!

Furthermore, did you know that yellow is the color of royalty in China? 

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And be sure and come back tomorrow (Weds) for my very first Sunporch Chat with Ms. Betty of Through My Back Door. Yes, can you believe she's ready with our chat already complete? And you're going to love it. You're going to love her! She's funny and she's down to earth and I just love that lady! Don't miss it!

See you tomorrow! Thanks for stopping by! :)

A Happy Hubby

My hubby is an especially happy man today.

And this is the reason why.

He has wished, dreamed, “window shopped” (online) and planned..........

And now he finally owns his own Chevrolet Silverado Z71 4 WD (not new, but new to us).

He’s walking around with a big grin on his face. It arrived Monday evening.

It looked like this when it arrived (from Delaware):

He removed the camper.

And starting the inevitable babying it and sprucing it up (with chrome).   Now it looks like this:

And the best part is that there’s no monthly note to go with it!   :)

We’ll be trying it out on our little road trip to Georgia tomorrow morning to see Kim, Chuck, Dakota and Shiloh.

The up side to that: More leg room inside the truck than my little Mazda 3 S for a road trip. The down side: Jason is going to be very picky about letting us eat and drink in it (at least for the first 6 months). ...............So if you see a lady and two kids sitting on a curb at a gas station with a snack and drink, that will probably be us.



Shhh.......Don't tell Jason, but we're really excited about it too!  :)

Fresh From the Workshop (to The Cedar Loft)

If you heard squealing Monday evening, that was probably me! I knew my carpenter was working on a carpentry project that I requested of him (a TV cabinet for the loft), but without my knowledge, Jason finished it and snuck it up to The Cedar Loft. He summoned me up to the loft, and there it sat…..in all its glory! And it looks so perfect there. It was one of those pieces that was just meant to be, so in character for that space. You know how you envision a piece of furniture in a spot? Well this went far beyond my expectations! Can you tell I love it? :)

I had shown Jason a few cabinet ideas that I found online and in Country Sampler magazines, and told him I would like a “sort of mix” of those. I “turned him loose” on it. I so trust his judgement, because he knows me now. I say now when it comes to building furniture for me because it did take awhile to get the distressed idea through to him, but once he got it, he really got it! He even added some of his own creative touches that I didn’t show him!

The panels on the front of the door were his idea! I love that!

Instead of using antique glazing on the green (it's actually called Brown Moss), we had agreed upon sanding and rubbing on stain. We decided on red oak stain.

The ends being "paneled" was his little addition and I love it!

Monday night, after calling us up to the loft, after a while the kids fell asleep on the couch. Jason and I just sat there staring at it. Is that silly or what? Do you do that? I do that with my Christmas lights and décor. I like to turn off the lights and just sit back and enjoy it. And that’s exactly what we did with that cabinet. We didn’t even have the TV on. We just snuggled up on the couch and admired his handiwork. :) And it’s all his handiwork. I didn’t have one hand in the building of it. I just told him what I wanted, and he built it. I’m so grateful that he enjoys building what I dream up!

I just love that little indention of the wood near the left knob!

We just got the 40" flat screen LCD TV a couple of weeks ago. Jason started on the TV cabinet right about then, but has only been able to work here and there after work and a little on the weekends.

 I’m really thrilled because now we can enjoy our Christmas movies in The Cedar Loft if we want! I’m still working on adding some Christmas decorations up there. Hopefully in a week or so, I will have it to the point of sharing more pictures of the loft decorated for Christmas.

He made sure I had a shelf to display rustic/prim decor....even though it's on a very low wall!

This is absolutely one of my very favorite pieces Jason had made for me. I really love my red stepback cupboard in the kitchen and the navy blue sideboard/buffet in the dining, room, but this definitely rates right there with those.

Now for the next projects……….pegboards and a cupboard for the kitchen in The Cedar Loft. That would make a great Christmas gift, don’t you think?  :)

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**Dianne (a reader of my blog) left a comment asking if I could recommend more movies, possibly from instant streaming Netflix that were family friendly. I didn't have a way to contact you, Dianne, so I decided to post it here. I would love to do that. I will try to put together some sort of list and post that as soon as I can get it all together. I am not sure if you were speaking of movies in general, or just Christmas ones. I am assuming movies in general. If you would let me know for sure, that would be helpful! Thank you for your comment! I love hearing from you! **

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Thank you for stopping by today! I don't know if I can hold out to 500 followers for a giveaway.....I want to do a Christmas one, so I might just have to do that real soon! :)

Our 29th Wedding Anniversary

29 years ago today, Jason and I were married! We dated for almost 2 years so we were ready for this big day! It seemed like the day dragged on forever! The ceremony didn’t begin until 8:00 p.m. I remember it rained for awhile that afternoon (showers of blessing I like to call it). I was so nervous and anticipating this big day that I dreamed the night before our wedding that it was time to walk down the aisle and I was still in my pajamas! (I tend to have crazy dreams like that when I have something big that I’m anticipating the next day). :)

I can honestly say that our love has grown over the years. I wouldn’t have thought that possible but it’s a deeper kind of love. We’ve gone through many chapters in our lives and I wouldn’t trade any part of it. I value his opinion, his time, his sacrifice, his talents, his leadership, his approval, and most of all, his love.

I appreciate and love the way he shows me I’m important every day. It’s the little things that he does every day that really makes me happy – opening my car door, holding my hand every chance he gets (even in the car), his arm tucked around me sitting in church, his “hey baby” when he walks by or calls me, noticing when I’m wearing something new or have my hair fixed different, or just telling me I look pretty (what girl doesn’t like to hear that?). These are just a few of the little things he does that mean so much in making me feel loved, valued, and cherished.

I thank the Lord for writing our love story and for the gift he gave me in Jason. If you’d like to read more about us, you can read here, here,  here , here or here.

Today as you read this, we’re off on a little overnight getaway….the first and only one we’ve had since Luke came home. Joy and Luke are getting pampered by Grandmama and Pop; Colt has the house to himself; And we have our very own cabin. :)

From the Workshop: A New TV Cabinet for the Big Black Blob!

Last winter, we did something we've not ever done in our (now) 28 years of marriage......added a TV in our bedroom!  I really don't know why....we had no particular conviction or thoughts on it; we just never did.  But you know men and their power tools and their electronic equipment!  Jason decided we needed a TV for our bedroom and when he decided, he decided BIG!  We went shopping and came home with a LCD 42" flat screen TV.

Now you can imagine how that massive black thing with a mounted Blue-Ray DVD player under it, with cords hanging down, looked on our bedroom wall.....nothing really decorative or romantic at all about it.  But, I'll have to admit, we've enjoyed having it....whether it's just us or with the kids piled up in the bed with us watching movies together.  There's just something cozy about it!  (And we don't have cable or satellite or anything, only movies we decide we want to watch.  That keep us in control of the TV, instead of the TV controlling us). 


I've envisioned a cabinet for it since I first saw it hanging on that wall last January, but being knee deep in adoption paperwork last year and saving every penny we could for it, the building of the cabinet was pushed to the back burner.

However, I can tell you it was worth the wait.  Jason just decided a few weeks ago that it was time to build it; he had a little time off and got super busy!  

Here's a (before) pic of the big black blob on our bedroom wall! 

Here's the cabinet freshly built.

After paint.....a color called summer tan, and a little distressing with mocha glaze.

And the new cabinet on our bedroom wall.

Quite an improvement from the ugly massive piece of electronic equipment on the wall, huh?  I chose this color because although we're not even close to redoing our bedroom, I have a vision for it including a different paint color for the walls (than I would normally choose) and I wanted this cabinet to have a country/primitive flavor but a lighter look.  And it blends fairly well with what's in there now.

Needless to say, my favorite carpenter got a big hug and kiss for that one!  I love it!  And...he's even got a couple other little projects in progress in the workshop for the kitchen too....and the weekend is here again!  But more on that later....

Thank you so much for stopping by!  I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!  :)