MY NEW OLD LIGHT

My new old light that came about after seeing a photo of one Tammy at A Primitive Place included in her February 17, 2012 post. I new I just had to make one. I made mine a bit different. I put lids on all my jars but the middle one & included a jar lamp kit in the middle jar running the cord behind the window trim to the outlet. I bought four screw in cup hooks to hang the rack from under the kitchen cupboard above the sink. So this little project took little time & only cost .98 cents for the hooks. I can take it down easily to clean the jars & rack. Quick run through in the dishwasher.

Just seeing if it would fit. Oh how ugly the old light is. I have always hated it. It was in the house when we moved in 16 years ago.

Sam took a photo while I held the rack & jars up so I could get an idea what it would look like. We agreed it would be perfect as a light above the sink. Got to just love this boy. He is always a big help to his Mom.

My new old light is new to the homestead kitchen but made from old items. I bought the old jars at my Pap & Grams estate sale. I had asked my mother that day if there was an old caner rack there. Sure enough Gram had kept an extra one over the years so my mother gave it to me. For a long time I had this sitting on my kitchen counter with a candle in the middle. Changed things up & put it in Paps old chest in front of the fireplace. It came back out this week along with a lamp jar adapter I also had stashed in the ho osier cabinet. Now I will see my Grams old jars & caner rack each day. I can just hear what my mother will say when she sees it. Oh you gotta be kidding me. Special thanks to Tammy for sharing the photo she found on Etsy.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

EASY FROZEN KEY LIME PIE

Come along & follow me as I make a sweet treat tonight!

1 (21oz.) Lucky Leaf Key Lime Pie Filling
4 oz. Whip Cream
9" Graham Cracker Pie Shell


In a mixing bowl stir together thawed whip cream & key lime pie filling. Fill the pie crust with the mixture & freeze until firm to slice.

Garnish with sliced strawberries whip cream & blueberries served with piping hot mint chocolate hot cocoa topped off with more whip cream. Time for me to enjoy as I catch up reading your blogs.

Blessings Til Next Time!

The Versatile Blogger Award

I was passed on the Versatile Blogger Award by Stephani from Front Porch Primitives this week. http://frontporchprimitives.blogspot.com

Some things you may not know about me follows:

1 I am the mother of four in my mid fourties. The grandmother of three. Two of
of my children have spread their wings & left the nest. Two of my children
are still in the nest but one is starting to spread his wings.

2 I would very much like to add a miniature donkey & a lamb to the homestead
creatures some day.

3 I love old log cabins & really hope to own one sometime soon.

4 I would like to visit all the New England states.

5 I enjoy creating things with my hands & would like to try cross stitching &
rug hooking.

6 The newest item that is on my list of treasures to find is an antique oak
bookcase. Not to put books in but to put my baskets filled with sewing projects in .

7 Ten years ago I pretty much withdrew from the world. But since finding the world of blog land it has helped me see & join the world again. Thank you all for reading my blog & leaving the comments that have brightened my days. Thank you Stephani for thinking of me.

Blessings Til next Time!

Washington's Birthday

A quote by George Washington:
We should not look back unless it is to derive useful lessons from past errors, and for the purpose of profiting by dearly bought experience.

Blessings Til next Time!
Lara

For My Friends

Any woman who sews or knits or weaves blends colors in a tapestry or creates a patchwork quilt knows by the feel that a single thread is weak but the weaving the blending the intertwining with many others makes it strong.

Any woman alone without friends to sustain her to nurture and support to hold with loving arms like a single thread is weak. But the weaving the loving the nurturing of others the networks of friendship makes her strong.

Barbara - 1994 The Kinship of Women

I read this poem in the Mary Janes Idea Book - Cookbook - Lifebook for the farmgirl in all of us this week. It made me think of all my blog friends & how much you all mean to me.

Blessings Til next Time!
Lara

Photo used for this post is Tasha Tudor & her home.

Grands Visit Again / Laken Meets Strangers

It was a busy day today. I got the boys off to school & then picked Laken up & she drove me back to the homestead & left straight for work. Atlee called to see what I was doing. He wanted to bring the girls for another visit. His work was canceled since it was raining. I hurried to bake cupcakes. I had just finished feeding the creatures & gathering the eggs when they arrived. They were excited to see the eggs & wanted to help wash them. They put them in the cartons after being concerned there may be baby chicks in them.

Next they wanted to know if they could play with the lego blocks. I told them I still had the farm they built last week & I wanted to take a picture before they tore it apart.

I gave them the picture books & paint sets I got them for valentines Day. They passed on playing with the lego blocks to paint. I made slippery potpie while they painted & talked about preschool. The boys came home from school & off I ran Lucas to work while Sam visited with his nieces & big brother. When I returned Laken was home from work playing with the girls. Laken hurried off to see her boyfriend. Just could not wait to eat. Finally diner was done & we ate. The girls decorated their own cupcake. They ask if they could eat them. Why of course thats why I left you decorate it them yourselves I told them.

Before they left for home I brought the bunnies in to play again. They fed them cabbage left from the coleslaw & carrots. Atlee took me to get my truck from Laken on there way home. Hugs & kisses were given & good byes were said as we parted. Such a treat to see my Grands & my oldest son twice in the past two weeks. I have to take a break now. Lucas just sent me a text letting me know he will be getting off work early so I must be heading out again. I am back. Lucas did not pass his drivers test last Tuesday. He removed one hand from the wheel & opened his fingers on his other hand as he turned the wheel keeping his palm on the wheel while making a turn. He was failed for what the examiner called palming it. There is no school Friday so he wanted to stop & pick Laken up so she could drive them back to her boyfriends house to hang out with them tonight. Laken was telling me she run into someone before work while getting gas today that she did not want to see or talk to. A woman & man she met at work Last Sunday. After conversation & being gave the phone number again they parted. She told me it was my fault because I told her to put gas in the truck today. Last Sunday while working a man & woman asked her you don't know us do you? She said no & the woman said this is your father. Pretty blunt & to the point. (why would Laken know him or her the last times he visited her for about ten minute she was five when he dropped bike off at her babysitters for her birthday then when she was seven he was in the neighborhood stopped in with a friend the police was looking for both of them drunk & he staggered into our yard talking to her & Lucas. He scared them & they came running into the kitchen crying some stranger was trying to kidnap them in a red truck. The police had to be called to remove him it got so bad. He was still beating on the door when they arrived. They put him in jail for three months and the friend was picked up after a police chase). Before he left Lakens place of employment Sunday he gave her his number & told her if she ever wanted to talk or visit give him a call. While pumping her gas today the girlfriend & he came up to her & said you didn't call me & gave her his number again & told her to call him. She told me she didn't need him telling her what to do since he was never in her life for the past twenty years & she didn't even know who he was & what did he think I was going to do just drop my life & call him? She is not a happy young girl. I am worried he is just going to hurt her. Atlee had motioned to me tonight that his father seen Laken last Sunday. He was not impressed with how his fathers girlfriend bluntly told Laken the man was her father. The woman has been his fathers girlfriend for maybe a year & dose not even know Laken or even me for that matter. Laken is going to be 21 in 4 months & her biological father is going to find out quick he is not going to tell her what to do. Atlee it 30 years old & over just the last five years since he was 14 years old has been the only time he has been around his father & there has been many disappointments & disagreements. At times Atlee has wrote his father off. Laken has always known about her biological father. Sam & Lucas's father raised Laken as his own from 13 months old until 19 years old when he decided she was just his step daughter last year after he got mad at her. I believe a well known saying to be true. To Be In Your Childrens Memories Tomorrow You Have To Be In Their lives Today. Both these fathers are going to find in the end they are going to pay for what they have & have not done. Children are blessings & meant to me loved & taken care of.

Blessings til Next time!
Lara

Bonnets For The Shop / Thankfulness Mixed With Sadness

I finished sewing the bonnets for the shop orders & got them coffee stained last night. They will soon be dry & ready to make their trip to the shop. I am hoping the shop keepers are happy with them & they sell fast. I have enjoyed making them. Seeing the fabric pieces all sewed together making a bonnet.

I had quite a scare Friday night. Laken had went to work early that day. Lucas went to hang out with her boyfriend after school & wait for Laken to get off work. Laken was not home at the time she should have been. Watching out the windows for headlights to come back the lane & praying as the minutes passed by. The snow was falling the ground was covered. The phone rang. The caller id was Lakens number. When I answered it was Lucas. He said that Laken & he were going to be late. I was confused as to why he was calling from Lakens phone when he was just out the road at Lakens boyfriends house. I asked what was going on. Lucas told me Lakens boyfriend had been in an accident with two of their other friends. They had tryed to avoid hitting a large rock in the roadway & started sliding on the snow covered roadway while missing hitting some trees. The vehicle flipped onto its side. Laken & Lucas were going to help them. I knew Laken would be in no shape to drive. I said I would meet them & I would drive. Lucas insisted they were almost to the accident. More waiting & worrying. Finally Laken called & she was crying. She could not find the accident. Someone else brought her boyfriend home & she was at her boyfriends house. She did not want to drive anymore & wanted me to come get my truck. She said knowing her boyfriend & friends could have been killed & remembering back to her own wreak last June was to much. I had to ask was Lucas in the wreck? The answer was no but he could have been. Lucas went with Laken's boyfriend & the other friends to meet Laken after work & follow her home. Laken had asked Lucas if he wanted to get something to eat with her at McDonald's. Lucas got in the truck with Laken & when they were done eating Laken took her normal route home & their friends & her boyfriend took another route. I have much to be thankful for. Lucas was not in the wreck & their friends are all ok. This is not the first phone call of this type I have gotten. Last June I got the call Laken had rolled my jeep & was being taken to the hospital. I had shared this in a post last June. Fourteen years ago I received the phone call that my son Atlee could not be found & he could be one of the unidentified victims involved in an accident. The car had hit a utility pole snapping it in half & then struck several trees before coming to rest on its roof trapping the victims inside the car. I went right away to look for Atlee. I was told by the fireman that three were killed & another was seriously injured. None of them were Atlee but he thought at the time of using the jaws of life & air bags to remove the victims from the car one was Atlee but discovered it was Atlee's best friend. Atlee & his best friend looked some what alike. No one knew where Atlee was still. I found him the next day. He & another friend was in the car but got out after an argument. They had refused to ride with the others. I was thankful my son was not in the car & was physically ok. In the days that came & three funerals it really took a toll on Atlee.

Atlees best friend had wrote this poem just a few weeks before his death. I have kept his poem all these years & it has been a reminder of the sad loss of him & a reminder that God spared my Atlee.

The Judge
It's time to face the final words. Looking at all the people makes me scared. I saw a big glare and I just stared: like a statue in the sky. The glare was the judges eyes meeting mine. Then he said Life without parole. Then I woke up, (Just a dream) Then I said to myself It's time to change.

This boy was only 17 years old. I have always believed God was reaching out to this boy through his poem. He looked somewhat like my son Atlee but had baby blue eyes & could look me straight in the eye & lie while laughing. I will never understand why. I cared for this young boy & wanted to help him. Since then I have seen my Atlee grow in to a good young man & loving father. Some people stand still in time & are always young in our memories. In the past three years there has been three other very young teens from my children's school who have lost their lives in tragic accidents. The last one being just twelve days ago. Crosses with their names stuffed animals solar lights & flowers mark the roadways at the locations of each their accidents. It weighs on my heart at their loss. The pain there families & friends have gone through since their loss. There lives being so short. Something I can not understand. I continue to tell my children they need to be ready at all times. We never know when God will take us & we need to be sure of were we will spend eternity.I pray they understand just how important this is & open their hearts to God.

I give thanks to God my children have all been spared & are still with me.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

Plans To Fill The Homestead Cabinets & Greenshouse

Last summer I started canning again after many years. Over the past few months I have seen how fast those canned goods have been used. I will need to can even more this summer to have the stash last until the next harvest. I have been plotting just how I will do that. The cost of seedlings were high last spring & I will need even more this year so I will be searching the seed packet displays & starting my seedlings from seeds. It just so happened I found something on sale at Tractor Supply that will make it much easier for me to carry out my plan. A wonderful mini greenhouse with four shelves. Best of all it fits in Lakens room. There is lots of light in there & the tempature will be perfect. If you remember my daughter Laken flew the nest & she is still spreading her wings. I thought she would have flew back to the nest by now. As each month passes it seems I might just have to accept she wont be flying back to the nest. Laken will be 21 this June. So you see I am not taking her space away but just using it.


I took a little break from working on the bonnets last night. First my oldest son Atlee & the Grands came for to visit Sam & I. We played with the lego blocks building a farm house complete with a fenced area for the horses. The Grands are so facinated with my little flock of chickens so Madison built a chicken house to put beside the farm house. Later they played with the bunnies. After they headed home I put together the mini greenhouse I found on sale at Tractor Supply. Over the next few weeks I will be sowin seeds & caring for my seedlings in high hopes of harvesting lots of fresh veggies to can & fill the homestead cabinets full.

Back to working on more bonnets for the shops tonight. My work area for cutting out the fabric pieces is the floor being the largest flat space I have to spread out the fabric. This little fellow some how knows just when I am doing the fabric cutting. He leaves his warm comfy bed to sit on the fabric looking at me & wagging his tail. He should know by now I will shoo him away back to his bed. But he still keeps coming back to try each piece of fabric. Maybe he thinks I need his approval of my color choices? Or maybe he knows fresh brewed coffee will be made to stain the creations soon? Maybe he just wants to be involved? Oh well he is being shooed on his way back to his warm comfy bed to slumber & keep an eye on Sam as he gets his sleeps tonight.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

Back To Creating

After drawing & cutting out paper to use as a pattern for a long bonnet this is what I came up with. Since then I have made some changes here & there. I think I am now happy with the finished product of my very primitive pattern. This bonnet is in the first shop that took in my creations to sell. The shop owner was happy with it & wants more. My adventure that led me to making bonnets follows in the story to come.

I have been back to creating when not running to & fro with the kids school & work schedules. The swelling in my hand is gone. I can get my ring on my thumb again. My knuckle seems bigger. Had to give a push & wiggle to get my ring over it. It is stiff & still sore but with the prospect of creations the shops have requested I am getting along with it. You can see the nail growing has not gone well. I am wondering if I might loose my thumb nail. It has gotten blacker over time since the day the wind blew the truck door shut on my hand.

This is the first shop that took in my creations to sell. The shop owner mentioned he had requests for bonnets. I had told him that was something I had not mastered yet. I had purchased a pattern but was not happy with the finished bonnet but was waiting for a new pattern & I was working on designing my own pattern. As I was leaving the shop owner told me to master the bonnets & bring some in soon. Store link in my side bar. Birds Nest

This is the newest place my creations have been accepted. The shop owner had bonnets but was looking for some long bonnets in printed fabric. Store link in my sidebar. Countryside Primitives

This is the shop I visit that has all the stenciled floors where I got the goose. The shop owner was out the last time I was in. Time before she & I spoke of my creations & selling some in her shop. The gal working that day took a look see at a long bonnet I made. I will be stopping in soon to show her some creations. I would be honored to sell in her shop to. I received another bonnet pattern along with an apron pattern this week. I can't wait to get some of these to the shops. When I get some done I will give you all a look see & give credit to the pattern designer. I am sure many of you know her in blog land. She is a very talented hard working gal with a big heart of kindness. Thanks Mary! I would like to also thank you all for lifting my prayer request up to our Master.

A thought to ponder:
God is always with us; why should we not always be with god?

Prayer request:
Our little town has been shocked at the loss of a senior in our school. She was in a tragic car accident Wednesday night after she left work. Many gather tonight for visitation while saying good bye & comforting one another. Prayer lifted for her parents & siblings along with other family members & school mates. This young girl touched the lives of many & will be greatly missed. Only God knows why her life was so short. We never know when we last see or talk to someone if it will be the last time. Before Laken went to work Wednesday she bought gas at the store this young girl worked at & seen & spoke to her. Just a few short hours later Laken received the shocking sad news.

Wishing you all my best as I close tonight & get back to my newest creations.

Blessings Til Next Time!
Lara

Things have been weighing on me for months. My heart is heavy with much worry. There are days It seems to not be present and I can feel happy but find it has just been a time all has died down only to once again raise and hit me full force when one sees I seem to be happy and surviving. I don't want it to just die down. I want the worry and pain to end. Some are old and some new with mounting. No matter which way I turn I find confrontation. There has been so much stress. I will not keep you with all the details but only say my family needs this to end and true peace to be given. Not just to us but to the one who continues to lash out in hatred. That their eyes are opened to see in order to hurt me they have hurt others. I put my petition before God and ask if you will lift this need in prayer.