~First Peeks of Goodies For My Sister’s 1861 Home~

I’m back as promised to show you some peeks of the prim goodies that my sister got for her new “old” home. They are still getting settled in and have lots of work to do. The main part of their home was built in 1861 and there are 3 additions that have been added on over the years. The 1861 house is now the living room and also has the bathroom. An addition to the left side of the home is the kitchen, an addition to the right side is a bedroom, and the addition off the back of the 1861 house is a 10 x 25 foot dining room and another bedroom. Also off of the dining room is a 3 season porch.  You can’t tell from looking at the outside, but the original home was a log cabin…however the wood looks more like small planks than logs. They just recently exposed an outside wall, but it is now a wall in the kitchen. I will share more pictures as they go through the stages of turning back their home to its long ago roots.

My sister has decided to do primitive decorating in her new “old” home. She has loved country cottage decorating for as long as I can remember, but one day I showed her one of my Judy Condon books and that changed everything!! She knew then that she wanted to purchased an old house with history and she wanted to decorate it with primitives. So about a year ago, while house hunting…she also went thrift shop hunting and started to collect some prims. Well…her dear hubby, Mr. C decided to surprise her with a few primitive things for Christmas and just look at what he got her.

~An Old Jelly Cupboard~

Isn’t it just wonderful!! He didn’t stop there as he also got her some prim goodies to display on top of it. The clock sitting off to the right side…

…and an old  grease light.~

She also got a rod iron hook to hang some old baskets from, but if you look closely at this next photo…you will see that her kitties think it is something for them. LOL…

 If you take a peek…you can see that there is all wide wood around the door frame and it is also used for all the baseboards. They are going to be painting all of it through-out the house a tan color and then rubbing some gel stain over it.

In this last photo of her all decorated jelly cupboard…you can get a small peek of her kitchen.

For now she has taken off all the upper cabinet doors as they were in really bad shape. Our brother has a friend that specializes in redoing old kitchens and he is going to build them some new “old” prim cupboards that will fit the feel of the house. Well, I hope you have enjoyed some sneak peeks of my sister’s home…and I will be sharing more in the months ahead as they work on it.

Oh…I also forgot to show you the goodie that my sister gave me for Christmas.

~An Old Wooden Masher~

For now, I have it displayed in the old kitchen cubby that I got from the country shop that is right around the corner from my sister’s house. How fun to have this shop right near there!! Just think of all the trouble that we could are going to get into!! LOL…

Best be going for now…I need to get some rest as I’m going go help paint Peyton Bradley’s nursery in the morning. Only 5 weeks until he is due!! Until next time…..     blessings, Cindy

~A Very Special Christmas Gift~

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. We spent Christmas Eve with Mr. D’s family, our girls were here on Christmas Day, and Saturday evening we were at my parents home to have Christmas with my family. We’ve had a lot of fun…there has been much laughter, a lot of hugs & kisses, and many new memories made!! Our nieces on Mr. D’s side of the family are now both engaged, our niece on my side of the family recently found out that she is expecting her second child and of course, my little grandson is due in 5 weeks. Our family has had many things to celebrate this season and have two little precious ones to look forward to in 2010. (And this grandma can hardly wait for Peyton Bradley to arrive!!)

I guess from the title of my post…you all know that I got something very special as a Christmas gift. Well, here is a picture of it….

Yeap…I got an old sugar bucket. I’ve  been doing the happy dance ever-since I opened it!! I’d like to share the story of how I came to be the new owner of this very old sugar bucket.

Let’s start at the beginning….

I have wanted some old sugar buckets for quite some time now…after seeing them in the homes in Country Sampler and Country Living magazines. I’ve spent the last year or so looking for some in the thrift shops, antique malls, and flea markets. I’ve never been able to come across any at the thrift shops or flea markets….and I can’t afford the ones that I see at the antiques malls.

 So, I did the next best thing and got myself some small ones at a local country shop this past year that were reproductions.

Well, about two months ago while visiting Mr. D’s parents…I noticed my MIL’s old sugar bucket sitting in their living room and I asked her where she had gotten it as I couldn’t remember. She told me that she gotten it from some friends that had an auction after the passing of their mother and that she really loved it…which I knew she did as she has had it for about 20 to 25 years now. I can remember going with my MIL to visit her friend’s mother a time or two on the farm that they lived on way out in the country. It was a big old white farmhouse with a wrap-around porch….and I can still see the picture in my mind of her country kitchen with lots of old primitive pieces.  Hmmm….I wonder if the old sugar bucket was in her kitchen?

OK, now to Christmas Eve…

After helping my MIL and SIL pass out all the gifts…I sat down to open mine and don’t ask me why, but I had saved this unusual looking shaped gift for last. As I’m taking off the wrapping paper…I can start to see what it is and I looked at my MIL and said ” Oh my!! You didn’t, you didn’t!! …..just give me your old sugar bucket!!” She laughed and said “Oh yes I did!!” I jumped up off the sofa, gave her hugs & kisses…told her that I loved it and would cherish it forever!! She told me that she knew I would and that she thought is was the perfect gift to give to me.

I can’t even begin to tell you all what this means to me…it has touched my heart that she has given this old sugar bucket that she loves to me. I will think of my MIL every time I look at it…and remember this special Christmas that she passed the old sugar bucket on to me.

My sister also gave me something old for  Christmas, but I’ll share that on my next post. Plus, I’ll share some photos of an old primitive piece that my sister’s hubby give to her as a Christmas present. Can’t wait to share her prim goodies with you and the first peeks of her new “old” home.  The main part of her house was built in the mid-to-late 1800′s. I can’t remember the exact date…so I have to check on that before my next post. So, be sure to stop back by in a few days.

Until then….     blessings, Cindy

~Christmas Gift, Thrift Shop Finds, And I Won A Giveaway~

 

Hope everyone is enjoying all the sights and sounds of Christmas. I sure am!! I love to sit in our living room with all the lights off except for the Christmas trees, the lighted garlands, and the candles…with the Christmas music on, softly singing along and enjoying the moment…and remembering what Christmas is really all about.

I don’t free as stress out this year as I have in years past…finished wrapping the gifts yesterday and am starting my baking this afternoon after I pick Josie up from school. Looking forward to spending this time with Josie as it brings back memories of all the Christmases spend with my grandma when I was a little girl. Every Christmas I would go to her house to make cut-out sugar cookies. We really got into icing them and decorate them with sugar & sprinkles. Sometimes they were so pretty that I didn’t want to eat them.  The recipe that we used was one that my grandma made up herself and it is the recipe that I use still today….and the icing has to be white Jiffy icing. Thank goodness that I can still find this brand because the cookies just wouldn’t taste like grandma’s if I used another kind.

I made Christmas cookies with my grandma  and my mom up until I had my first child. After that, my mom & I started making them with my girls and my sister’s girls…and grandma came if she could. Now I make them with Josie…and up until my grandma passed away a few years ago, I took some of these sugar cookies to her every year at Christmas. When she was in the nursing home…she would hide them in a bottom drawer, so that the nurses wouldn’t eat any. And she would tell them that I made these for her…from her recipe and that they were special and no one else could eat them but her. It was such a magical time to spend time with my grandma around the holidays. After all the baking got done…we would go downtown that night and look at all the pretty Christmas window displays at the big department stores.

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Last week, I went out to lunch with a friend and we exchanged gifts…and then did some thrifting. I can’t believe it, but I actually found some things. For several months…there has not really been much at our local GW or thrift shops, but this time we both found some goodies. First I’ll show you my Christmas gifts that my friend gave me….

~the old heart shape mold~

~the old wood scoop~

~the small iron-stone white pitcher on the right~   The other two pitchers, I purchased that day while thrift shop hunting…the little green one from the GW for .59 cents and the white one with the word DRINK from Marshall’s for $4.00.

And my favorite find of the day was this goose pull-toy that I got for $4.00 at a local thrift shop. I have a small sheep pull-toy and plan to display them together after the holidays. We had a fun day of going to lunch, exchanging gifts, and thrift shop hunting.

And now for the goodies that I won. Deb from “Crows On The Cupola” had a giveaway and I won her hand-painted snowman fireplace match stick box…and 2 of her hand-painted snowmen spoon ornies. I have the box sitting on top of a book shelf with some old band-boxes and the spoon ornies are on my snowman tree. (Thank you so much Deb…your work is awesome!! And I will treasure them forever.)

Well my prim friends, I’m off to go get Josie from school so that we can start making our yummy sugar cookies… going to turn up the Christmas music, sing along and enjoying the sights and sounds of Christmas with my granddaughter!! And after the baking is done…we will turn off all the lights but the Christmas ones and enjoy watching a Christmas movie together as we’ve done for some years now.

Until next time….     Merry Christmas, Cindy