Pretty in Pink

          A few weeks ago I hosted a baby shower for my daughter-in-law who was expecting our first grand-daughter. This is new territory for our little family since we have two sons and three grandsons. Our life has been boys,boys,boys!!

Needless to say pink was the main color of choice since it's a color we rarely ever see.
Since the kids were doing her room in shades of pink with fairies, I decided to do a Woodland Fairy theme shower. Now the woodland part I felt comfortable with.....but pink fairies was a brand new world for me.

I love the wooden trays I found -The right is from Crate n Barrel the left Target

Luckily this seemed to be a popular year for gnomes and fairies so I found almost too many great items.Target, Etsy and our local garden centers seemed to be the best places. It was so hard to narrow it down to just a few. In one of the above photos you will see one of my favorites a lime green gnome candle. That little sweetie came from Target and he was on clearance!

Next I found the cutest little succulent plants to use as favors from a shop called Sanpedrocactus. They were absolutely adorable. To keep them in woodland feel I wrapped them in small squares cut used coffee bags. Then I added a soft pink and white fluffy yarn around the container to hold the burlap in place.

 I just felt like it extended the woodland feeling, to have each guest take home a living thank you. What really finished them off were the tiny pink mushrooms I found on Etsy that I included. The shop is called Small Old Things. I also found a cute little outdoor fairy door that I used as a prize. As my Mother always said "It's all in the details". So I tried to pay extra attention to all of the details of the event.

I decided to try my hand at making a pendant banner which I am now very into and may make one for each of grand-children's birthdays. Tons of ideas are now bouncing around in my head!

The center of the fireplace mantel I found the cutest fairy doll from a shop called Happy Dolls by Lesya to use as a center piece, and as a gift to little Hadleigh. Check out her shop she has so many beautiful dolls.

I also made lots of little moss pots and felt toadstools to sit around and give every little corner a woodland fairy feel.

Many of these moss pots and toadstools the Mommy-to-be was able to use in the baby's room. That made my clean up and "what to do" with these little items so much easier!

Having the shower at the end of a season really helped the cost because nearly everything was either on sale or found in a clearance section.


Family members playing one of our games.

I went back and forth about whether to do games or not. I just wasn't sure if it was really still popular. In the end we decided yes on the games, and the ones we chose we very funny.If you know my family funny is very important. This game was to draw a baby on top of your head. Then the mommy-to-be picked her favorite. All of my prizes were also centered around the woodland,fairy, and garden theme.

So keeping with the woodland feel and attention to detail I decided to order these twig colored pencils to use in the games and for each guest to take home with her.

I also added these carved radishes to the salad to give it a woodland fairy feel too. They are very easy and really didn't take as long as I had thought they would. I did them the evening before the event and stored them in the refrigerator.

I tried to use wooden trays for serving as much as I could and when it came time to set up my main table display I was stumped as what to use as a lift.
Then a trip to the back of our shop solved that problem. I noticed two logs chunks from a downed tree just perfect for this. I plan to use these in a million different ways all year.

We had a great day together celebrating our first baby girl. But with time running out we knew we had to finish her room.

So Jason and I spent many evenings and weekends painting a window on her wall as a peek into a fairy garden.

We added little fairies around her room as if a few have escaped their world and into hers. This is something I so enjoy with my son.....but was certainly a new and strange territory for us. There is still a few details to add when we have time......because as you can see our sweet grand-daughter has arrived!!

We are more than over joyed and ready to spoil her and love her as much as we have our three wonderful grandsons!

As a footnote I wanted to include a couple of other Etsy shops I used. The first one is for my invitations I found that were just darling from a shop called Gracie Girl Notes. The other is the cutest pink striped straws from a shop called Bon Fortune. I used them with the pink grapefruit Izzy 's that I love.

An American Made Weekend

 Hi everybody and Happy Labor Day! I hope you are enjoying this long weekend with family and friends and are staying dry!
First before my mind wanders off....and we all know it will. I wanted to tell you all that I have entered my shop into the Martha Stewart Made in America contest.

On September 7th (my husband's birthday maybe that will bring me luck) is the day the finalists will be announced. You can vote once each day from September 7-24th for your favorite finalist. You can read all about the rules and details here if you would like.

A couple of items I'm thinking of bringing back to my shop.

My signature item in my shop.

 So I am keeping my fingers crossed and probably my eyes as well hoping I make it as one of the finalists. I know I have about as much luck as Frosty does sitting by a campfire but dang it a gal's gotta dream!! Stop here to take a peek at my shop entry...you can even leave me a comment if you'd like. So with a new grand-baby and this contest all on the horizon I am more than on pins and needles. I just love this whole contest idea of honoring and congratulating hard working American small business owners. It really is the backbone of this great country!

For me Labor Day has always been the signal that summer has come to an end. I don't think the old rules still apply...(do they?) but even though I'm still wearing white slacks, capri's and flip flops I am mentally thinking about the fall and all the treats that go along with that word.

A photo from last year. Some of the reds look like fire they were so brilliant!

Fall festivals, comfort food, pumpkins and persimmons. So later this week I will limp down to the basement and start to look for my fall decor. Gosh doesn't the thought of autumn make you feel all warm and cozy,or is it only me? Fall at least for me brings back so many great memories of family and old friends and fattening foods of course.

 I have had five days off and sadly our plans fell apart with hurricane Issac traveling across the Midwest. I think I've shared before how we as a family always come together at Patoka Lake.

From several years ago. We decided to beach the pontoon and take a walk to look for driftwood and shells

The boys were almost too big for this poor tube.

A fun night a few years ago of games and silliness.

It wouldn't have been a total family get together anyway since my youngest son and his wife are expecting their second child any day now, and have been told not to travel very far. Excited isn't the word for it! We are knee deep in the color pink and lavender since we our expecting our first grand-daughter!! We have laughed our selves crazy because we know we have over dosed on girly girl colors, but it's been so much fun.

 So we simply stayed home and did some things we haven't had the time to do. Cleaning should have been one of them but for me it was sewing. I've had so many ideas in my head and never enough quiet time to pull them out. I have almost completed one and hope to have it finished and a pattern put together so I can add it to my shop. I will share it as soon as it is ready.

My youngest grandson has put his seal of approval on this new item. He is so funny and trust me he really does play with my new creations and tells me if it is just dumb (his words haha), and what can I do to make it better.

A fire for the castle entrance and some scary bones, bats and ghosts to make it even better,

Recently he stayed with us and I love to work while he plays.....well I should say try and work because he wants my total attention. But for me the best part is when I get to witness his ability to take "his" felt stuffed toys that I've made and use them with his other toys.....that's the blue ribbon for me!

The photo is a little blurry because I didn't want to spoil the moment of our deep conversation on the swing.

 So it's back to my work room for a while.Then after dinner maybe a ride in our 4 wheeler up to the cemetery that's behind our property, just to check on things. I love to ride around and see how things start to change. I'll take my camera of course, you just never know what you may stumble upon.

Shaker Village and Family Trees

            last fall we took a short trip down to an area just east of Harrodsburg Kentucky to a place called Shaker Village.

 Shaker Village is truly a step back in time! Once you enter the area you feel the strength of their convictions, of simplicity and peace. Oh and incredibly hard work......you see the results of that everywhere.

I must admit I knew very little about this quaint and unusual group of deeply religious people.

You may or may not know that the Shakers invented the flat broom, the clothespin, and the circular saw, among many other items. This all seems amazing to me since their leader Mother Ann Lee never learned to read or write.
Shaker men and women lived separately. Some members came to the group as married couples but once they became a Shaker they lived the rest their lives in separate quarters. Order,simplicity,hard work and celibacy were strong convictions of this group. In spite of the celibacy though there were lots of children raised in the Shaker villages. Often they were orphans brought in when no one else would take them.

 This is one of the rooms once occupied by children. It doesn't look like a lot of fun for a kid.....we didn't see any toys or dolls or any thing child like that said children once lived here.

 They may have given the children a roof over their heads and three meals a day but fun and play I guess was not a priority.

We fell in love with the furniture and the architecture of the village. I knew from my Mother's love of ladder back chairs that they were invited by the Shakers,and trust me comfort was not part of that invention. I think they designed these chairs so they could hang them on the wall in the evening and sweep the floors clean.

I loved the kitchens and all of the old utensils, the beautiful large bowls and pots. It really made you realize that putting a meal on the table was not a quick and easy process........after all they didn't invent the microwave!

We were surprised to learn that they have a hotel there on the property. We discovered this when we stopped for lunch at their restaurant. The atmosphere in the restaurant was very tranquil and relaxing so I bet a stay at the hotel would be they same. I actually saw this hotel on a list of the top favorite stays of Martha Stewart. I just hope the rooms are a tad more modern than what we saw on our tour of the village.

I have to say the food was wonderful...... they had the best ice tea I've ever had. We hope to go back down someday soon. I bet it's beautiful during the Christmas season. What a great treat that would be to go down for the weekend and shop and simply get away.

This is the staircase that leads to their guest rooms. I wondered if there was an elevator but we didn't any sign of one, but that doesn't mean there isn't one of course. But to be on the safe side I'd pack light!

 I thought this was interesting and I don't think this photo really shows you that they had separate staircases. One for men and one for women,leading them to their separate quarters. That had to add even more work to build these in each house.....I mean one staircase couldn't ensure that you lived separate from each other. It just seemed interesting to me the thought process in this I guess.

 This trip was for two reasons,one to visit the Shaker Village, and two to search my mother's family tree the LeMay side. We share a family tree with General Curtis Lemay who was very important during WWll. We spent a lot of our time there in Lancaster Ky in the library researching. This research led us to meeting a few women from D.A.R. The Daughters of the American Revolution, a group I hope to join, and a women writing a book about local war veterans. What a surprise to learn she had a story about my mother's cousin who served in WW11. It gave me some much needed information about him I never would have known.

While we were walking around the cemetery where some of my family was laid to rest, I noticed a dog sitting in front of a grave. At first I was kind of scared because I didn't know if it was a friendly dog or not. It had been raining all day and that made it hard to see and even harder to take photos.

 But after a few seconds I realized the dog wasn't moving and was part of the grave. I just couldn't bring myself to walk any closer. The sheer sadness of this dog sitting in front of this headstone waiting on his master was so emotional.....and rather spooky too I have to admit. I just felt that walking down there would be somehow disrespectful and probably upsetting.

In spite of the rain and drizzle it was a great trip. All of the barns with these painted quilt signs on them were so pretty. The stone walls and of course the black and some remaining white horse fences were everywhere in this area. I especially love these dry stacked stone fences,which are probably a couple hundred years old. These have most likely been here since the state was settled. If they could talk....oh just imagine the stories they could tell us.

There was also some interesting cows behind a few of these fences too. I walked over to this one because it didn't look real, but it was....and huge!

Each time we passed an abandoned house I wondered....could this have once been owned by someone in my family. I have been told that the house my grandmother was raised in still partially stands, but where? So still more to research. My next stop is the University of Kentucky to look at old newspapers and even older recorders.You see this search is easy and hard because my great-great grandparents were first cousins! So my search for both sides is with the same last name. Often back in those days people could not read or write so they never knew if the census taker recorded them correctly. This has made me crazy at times!
After I find all I can on this part of my tree I plan to do more on my Dads side the Jones'es and my mom's father's side the Sawyers. An interesting discovery was made before my dad died. We never knew that my mom's maiden name was not Sawyer it was in fact we believe Sawyers......or so I  have seen on old records in Kentucky. This search has led me to discover that we descend from Daniel Boone's sister, Mary Polly Boone. Still lots to confirm and discover.......but one fact has I have learned for is more and more interesting and colorful characters turn up at each point of this process.

I just wish I had paid more attention to my parents and grandparents when they tried to tell me who and where I came from. I hope to leave a better record of things for my sons and their family!

As an interesting foot note, I discovered that as of 2010, this once thriving group has dwindled down to only 3 remaining Shakers. I don't know if this number is still true today.

Space and an Evening Under the Stars

            Have you ever wondered what space smell like? No? I now that I've never thought about it to tell you the truth. But now I am intrigued. Evidently the odor or smell clings to the astronauts space suit,gloves,helmets and even their tools from when they are out working in space. NASA Astronaut Kevin Ford says it a smell he's never smelled before and will never ever forget!

Oh my.....can you just imagine what everything looks like from there, our planet I mean. No politics, no hatred, borders. Just earthlings, all appearing smaller than ants, and all working hard to survive. What an awesome thing to ever be able to experience.

I have Skyview on my IPhone I guess that's as close as I'm ever going to get. I use it often whether I'm inside or outside in the evening. I even sometimes use it at my desk at work. It's a little harder to see but it's still too much fun!I just love knowing where the planets are or where the International Space Station is.....so much....so vast...God is incredible!!!

Stop by National Geographic for the answer to what space smells like....it may surprise you.

Tonight we are planning on taking our tractor, some folding chairs and blankets and going out to the center of our property to watch the meteor shower which is suppose to be huge!

This sounds absolutely wonderful to me.....no TV, no computers, no lights on.....just sitting or laying on a blanket and waiting for what some say will be a spectacular meteor display!! I sure hope so because with grand-kids they'll be chasing firefly's in no time. So lets see I've got blankets,water bottles, bug spray, and cameras ready....lets hope it's a good show!