Trying to get that Christmas Look

The new church, situated in the little mantle village...

I've been busy trying to make things look a little like Christmas around here, or at best, a little like December.

Do you ever get your Christmas decorations pulled out, get the furniture moved around and pictures taken off the wall, then feel like the whole house is up-side-down. Well, I do, and did! and now, not even sure I like what I've done...  

Things do look a little out of proportion.

Wanted the look of cedar trees in the background of the mantle village. Oh, did you see the "real" bird's nest up there? Second picture up?

So, between rain showers on Saturday, I cut a wheelbarrow load of cedar boughs from another fallen cedar tree...

I'm not good at making wreaths for the door, but I do like tying a handful of cedar and holly together to make a swag.

Did I mention the acres and acres of brown leaves?

reminds me of another neat line in that famous Christmas poem by Clement Clark Moore...

"as dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly, when they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky. So up to the house-tops the coursers they flew, with a bag full of toys, and St. Nicholas too".

Can't even see the paths here! I'm thankful to say the sun has come out this morning and if these leaves dry out, I just might rake a teeny tiny bit!!

and Eli says he just might sleep through all this fuss...

and guess what else I did with that wheelbarrow load of cedar? Outlined the entire fence around the front porch. I surely did...

Oh gosh! I've done way too much here; the post, I mean.  Will be back with the Christmas tree.  Just not happy with how it looks. :( 

Thank you so much for putting up with me. Best friends I've ever had! Oh, and thank you to a new follower. I appreciate you!

Love,
Henny 

Still, so much to post, so little time

Well, the new rug is unrolled and under the table...but first, thank you all for your comments, which meant the world to me. Here's the new rug...

The fit is perfect and the colors in this rug make it look old. I like that. 

So, I promise to hush about all this now and be happy, and stop feeling sad about the old mahogany table. I've got to tell you this though...a small strip of wood from inside the old china cabinet door fell off. Seriously! You can see it in that first picture. After all these years. Trying to tell me something maybe??

Having more space to move around in the little dining area is good. Why, I can now open the china cabinet door without bumping the table...

and Poppy said, "Mel, don't let the cats climb on these new stools and get hair all over the seats". :(

Wellll, what was I supposed to do?

Up at 4:30 this morning, (Poppy works at the deer processing plant today) I carried Eli and Weetie out first thing. It was freezing cold and the moon was overhead and that made me think of, "Twas the night before Christmas..."the moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow gave a lustre of midday to objects below". Of course, we don't have any snow, but it felt like we did. I love that poem and that is my favorite line.

and thinking of Christmas...

I went in the "Safe Space" thrift shop in downtown and was simply amazed. They have turned the entire place into a little Christmas village. I've never seen so much in one little building, all used stuff, but beautiful! Wish I had taken my camera. I bought the cute Santa above. It is really neat.

look at their faces...

It's big and heavy. Too heavy to hang on the tree but will look good added to the Christmas village on the mantle. Oh, and I found the prettiest church too...need to take a picture, but...

I kinda like these fat little ice skating snowmen too. I've simply got to bring the tree inside today and start decorating..I'm so excited!! 

So, here's the church...

Pictures taken inside the cabin sometimes look dark, but log cabins are dark inside. Makes me think of Tasha Tudor saying, in one of her books...

 "Everyone says my house is dark, but people don't realize how dark old houses were. I love it dark. It's like a nice chipmunk's nest".  She also said, "Candles are flattering to an old face. I've always used them". Don't you just love Tasha Tudor. I do!

Looking forward to building the little village. Got to drive to Henderson and pick up a prescription before starting anything! :(

Well, I was serious about the title, "so much to post, so little time". My little blog shop and sewing room have been much neglected, and there are new aprons and crafts to show you. Need to post about the craft festival Shelby and I did weeks ago, and tell you about two very special gifts I received from two sweet blogging friends. There's acres and acres of leaves to show you and well, hopefully I will be back here soon. :)

Love,
Henny

So much to post, so little time

Well I've got so much to talk about this morning, I simply don't know where to begin. Bet you dread it...

Oh friends, I am trying to adjust to a modern counter height table and stools sitting next to my 1920's mahogany china cabinet. :( Wouldn't it be wonderful if life had a rewind button? Just go back  few weeks and LEAVE WELL ENOUGH ALONE!!

Poppy said, as the last stool was put together and placed under the table, "I can tell by the look on your face that you don't like it".   He also said, "well listen, if the Lord is willing and we're still here a year from now, we will put this set on Craigslist and buy something else". 

Actually, this is not as ugly as I had built it up to be in my mind. But before the stools were finished and under the table, I felt sick looking at that tall skinny table. The stools leveled it out a bit. I was thinking a lace tablecloth (I love lace tablecloths) would give it a more old fashioned look, but it only emphasized the height. 

and, remember the pretty red rug  that was way too small...

well, it is now for sale on Craigslist for less than half what we paid for it. We kept it for two months, waiting to sell the old mahogany table; too long to return it. We have ordered another larger rug. So, as soon as it arrives, I will be back with pictures!! 

Poppy has been mighty patient through all this.

Did you all have a good Thanksgiving? We surely did. Andee and Todd have moved back to North Carolina. Maddie too, but she is away at college. We are very thankful to have them close to home again! Poppy and I had Thanksgiving dinner them. It was wonderful and very special!

So, Andee sent me a few good Thanksgiving pictures for my blog, but the problem is, I don't know how to move them from email to home pictures, or to my blog.  Oh I managed to transport them, somewhere, but where?? The pictures may be headed your way, who knows! Dear dear me!

So my two pictures will have to do for now...

Andee opened the oven door to check the food. All I saw was how clean her oven was. Makes me ashamed. 

The food not only looked good, it was delicious!

Well when I started this post yesterday morning there was so much to tell you...guess now it will have to wait.

The new rug arrived late this afternoon, but I haven't had time to open it. 

Also, Eli spent the day with the groomer...he came home looking like a brand new stuffed polar bear, and smells so good! 

I will take pictures of both, and a few other things and hopefully, will be back tomorrow.

Thank you, friends. 

Love,
Henny

Oh my goodness! Has it really been ten days since my last post?? Where do the days go? and why can't I remember past yesterday? what has taken up the hours in my days...

Maybe I can start with yesterday. Let's see...Poppy worked at the deer processing plant. I fed the animals, straightened the house, washed two loads of clothes, then went to Walmart for groceries. Coming home from Walmart, a big silver truck got behind me and rode my bumper all the way down the dirt path. Guess who! Poppy, of course!

Great! He helped unload the groceries. We ate a little lunch, Poppy took a very short nap while I put the groceries away, then we left for Henderson to pick up our new dining room table and four chairs. That's right! another little update to our teeny tiny cabin, but wait...

Oh friends, don't ever tell Poppy, but deep down inside...I just know I've made the wrong decision. I just know it. It's the same feeling as when we sold mama's sweet little old car and watched the new owner drive it away.  You see, we sold our antique mahogany dining table and six chairs...

We sure did, on Craigslist. A young couple drove almost two hours, arriving here at 6:00 last evening to take it away. I loved that old table. We even threw in that old rug from under the table.  

It all started one morning not so long ago when Poppy, all bundled up to go hunting, found it hard to squeeze himself and his gun between the dining table and the refrigerator to get out the front door. At the time the dining table was turned around the other way, with the captain's chair at this end.

So, while in the furniture store in Henderson one day; picking up our two new counter stools...wait, I haven't told you about those either...

that's them way there in the distance, on the right of the counter. Anyhow, Poppy saw this small counter height table and four stools...the stools were identical to the two counter stools we had just purchased. He said he really liked the set. Where I messed up was when I said, "me too". 

So now I have this big empty hole in the dining room, and also one in my heart. 

And if that's not enough, I unrolled the new red rug...

that will go under our new table, and discovered it is a 6' x 6'...way too small, if you ask me! The old rug was a 6' x 8', at least! 

The new dining set is sitting in Poppy's shop waiting to be put together. Betcha that mahogany table didn't have to be put together before it could be used!!

So, back to yesterday...we got home from Henderson and unloaded our new table, leaving us about an hour to spare before carrying both Eli and Weetie for their vet appointments, which turned into a two hour ordeal...arriving home about an hour before the folks got here to buy the old table. Eli said, "Enough! I've had it"!

Well, my plan was to back on up and tell you about Sunday, Saturday, and Friday but I've already talked way too much. Besides, Friday and Saturday, Shelby and I were tied up with the big craft festival, so that will be another post, but don't expect much. :(

I will say though that I've cancelled my appointment to get the Prolia shot for my osteoporosis, for the time being anyway. Also, the steroid injection for my back has worked wonders, once again. I'm feeling almost back to normal, almost. 

Better get up from here and dip the ice cream. Well actually, I'm having a rich chocolate shake...made with one cup of chocolate almond milk, a frozen banana, and a tablespoon of cocoa...all blended up in my Nutra-bullet. It's delicious!

Wondering, should I publish this mess. 

Love,
Henny

A teeny Tiny Table

Thank you friends for listening to my whining and worrying, then leaving me such sweet and helpful comments.  I appreciate you so much. Especially, knowing there are many folks out there on medications they had rather not be taking, but have no choice.  Still gotta make that hard decision of whether or not to take the Prolia shot. :(

Poppy says, "take the shot"! Poppy also said, "Mel, you've got to stop working around here like you are twenty years old. Stop trying to build a wall, Mrs. Trump"! 

Actually, he was referring to this little natural fence I've been working on. You see, I got the idea from Happyone,  you can see her blog here. Her natural fence is wonderful!

This area slopes down hill, so the fence is a little taller than it looks in the picture...

maybe I have used too many small twigs and sticks. Happyone uses lots of small saplings. Oh, she has this fence building down pat!

and in the woods, I came upon this...

Why, I see a teeny tiny table...

a teeny tiny table set with four soup bowls? Aww, the little soup maker ran away, losing some of her corn. I must have frightened them away.

This little mushroom table was just so cute. I couldn't resist adding a few dishes and dropping a little corn from my feed bucket. 

Oh, when I was a little girl, I could spend the day sitting on the ground in the fallen leaves, up against the sunny side of the house where the cold wind couldn't hit me, playing with acorns and stick dolls. There was nothing like those golden fall days and I was perfectly content to play there alone. 

It's windy and turning cold here, but it's pretty. All the colored leaves are falling today. Looks like they got together and planned it this way. 

Also, looks like this will be the last of the pink (Willie) til next spring... 

all the pink petals covering the ground were almost as pretty as the flowers.

and one sweet little rose...

It's pretty scary to think about leaf raking time, and it is now upon us. Will I even know where to begin? Maybe we will simply have lots more 'natural' areas in the yard and leave the leaves alone. :) 

Better get busy. 

Love,
Henny 

My Aching Back

Oh my gosh! Diggin around in a box of pictures, looking for some chicken pictures... This is me. The Henny Penny in person, in 2001 I think it was, modeling one of my first bonnet creations. How time flies! Was even wearing my wide wedding band back before the crazy arthritis in my fingers.   

Hey friends,

and back to reality...This has been a "limping around" week with an aching back, doctor appointments, steroid injection, bone density scan, reaction to cortisone with burning red face and high blood pressure, and if that's not enough, two doctors firmly suggesting that I consent to taking the Prolia injection for my osteoporosis. Other than that, it has been a pretty good week. 

Friends, I am afraid of the Prolia injection. Could any of you offer any advice, or encouragement? It would sure be appreciated. What to do? What to do?

and, outside...

This has certainly not been the best year for beautiful fall colors...not in our area!

We are seeing a little color, but lots of the trees have brown dead leaves or the trees are bare. Come to think of it, all of 2018 has been unusual, as far as our weather is concerned.

and peeking through the last of the roses, there are touches of color in the trees.

and we could see our first hard freeze next week...down to 29 degrees.

Not much of a post here. Guess I had better fill a feed bucket and hit the door. Hope to be back real soon.

Love,
Henny

Daughters

What a sweet weekend this was! Got to spend time with both my daughters. Poppy was away on a hunting trip.

Andee and I shopped all day Friday, and I actually bought some things. I sure did! Three sweaters, a shirt, and a new can opener; and not from a thrift store, mind you; brand new stuff! :) We even had pizza buffet for lunch. How fun is that!! Oh my, why is everything so fun and so funny when you're out with a daughter. 

Andee spent the night with me but had to go home on Saturday...then late Saturday afternoon Lynn came to spend the night. She stopped in town and picked us up something for dinner. We ate and talked and laughed. Then I said to Lynn, "there is a TV show that I love. It's called "Molly B's Polka Party" and comes on tonight at ten. Will you watch it with me?  Poppy will not watch it. I'm probably the only person east of the Mississippi who loves this show! Anyhow, we watched, and laughed and even tried dancing the polka. 

Before Lynn left going home Sunday morning, she said, "Mama, can I do a little video of your sewing room? You can put it on your blog."  I said, "Oh goodness, Lynn. What about all the dust?"  So, here is the video of my dusty little sewing room, which I must say, makes me sound much smarter than I really am...

Thank you friends, for visiting and for putting up with me.