UPDATE…Things I love!

 

For those of you who have already ready this
post, scroll down to the picture of my Mother
and look at the shadow between the calf’s legs
and the right side of its leg…it’s a HEART!
If you click on the picture it comes in larger.
This was just now brought to my attention by a
blog friend.
Do you think my moms is saying “I love you’….I do!

Valentine’s Day is tomorrow…it’s one of those ‘occasions’
I don’t do much about – I send out cards and money to
the younger grandchildren but that’s about it…
I don’t decorate with HEARTS because they aren’t my
favorite ‘decor item’, they were huge in the 80’s
and I had them then – but looking around my house today
I did find just a couple…they have been here for ages
and I just don’t even consider them but did today.

I have a cupboard on the wall in the family room
and in it I have Copper Cookie Cutters…a HEART is one.

And this past October when I was in Pennsylvania I bought this wool HEART

And last is a Salt Glaze HEART plate I bought years
ago in Pennsylvania at Eldreth Pottery
 

There are a few things in my life though that have ‘REAL HEARTS’
and that is my family…they are the Valentine’s in my life.

My husband who has given his love for the last 50 years…
and for the last month and a half he has done more
for me than I ever expected…
But…I do know he’d do it all over again in a ‘HEART BEAT’.

Aidan and Miranda (7 m0. & 4-1/2)
 

Alexandra and Jesse (20 & 23)
 

Joe (13)

Emily (15)

My entire family

But there are also many things that touch my HEART…
some are ‘material’ items and some are long ago friends.
One being my dearest and closest friend ever…
Phyllis who passed away 2 years ago…
I never had a death of a person hit me as hard as this one.
I cried for several days when I would think of her.
She was a friend I truly loved – and she had a ‘HEART of gold’.

My mother….bless her, she passed away at age 49. 
Here she is at age 4 on their farm with her pet calf

My Father

My grandparents…my mothers parents.  This is their wedding picture

And then there are our fur babies who had HEARTS just like us humans…
two of them have passed…we just have BABY now.

Lola at Christmas a year ago – she went deep into my HEART!

Baby
 

And Spot who passed away about 8 years ago…
she was our very first kitty

THESE SPECIAL PEOPLE and ANIMALS HAD ‘REAL HEARTS’
And I love(d) them all.

There are many ‘loves’ I have that make me feel ‘comfortable’…

Home is the first of course – with the scent of fresh
baked cookies – Chocolate Chip being the favorite

And of course my ‘love’ for Pewter – I can’t get
enough – this is just a small portion

And Wool…oh my goodness I ‘LOVE’ Wool

And the soft glow of candle light…perfect
and serene – I ‘Love Candle Glow’

I have a very large collection of Salt Glaze pottery – been collecting for
35 years…one of my ‘first loves’ for home decor

And ‘family heirlooms’ – a gift to me from my recently departed aunt. It was
my uncle’s grandmother’s bowl and pitcher for washing up

And I can’t forget my ‘love’ of reading ‘Amish books’ –
I have a huge collection along with many on my Kindle

And lastly visiting Amish Country PA…
I will never tire of visiting this area..

I also have lots and lots of friends out there in blogland who have
huge HEARTS…I’m happy to call them my friends.

 

NOW I WANT TO THANK A VERY SPECIAL LADY WHO IS SO
GENEROUS WITH HER ‘GIVING’ AND IT IS OUT OF ‘LOVE IN HER HEART’ THAT SHE DOES THIS.
I thank you so much Jean for having a giveaway on your blog and gave these adorable
Blackened Angels to the first 12 people who left a comment.
I was one of the lucky ones…look at this adorable Angel.  I received it yesterday.
THANK YOU JEAN…it’s just too sweet.
You can find Jean at her blog called Prim Crafts:  http://primcrafts.blogspot.com/

  

So there you have my Valentine post…all the ‘LOVES of my HEART’ in my life.
There are many more but these are the most special to my HEART.
As you can see you don’t need to have decorative HEARTS to have HEARTS in your home

I hope you have a sweet and memorable Valentine’s Day with your loved ones.

Karen

 Just a little over a month and I'm back here!!!  Yaaayyy!

So not a lot has happened since our PA vacation get-away except
I turned another year older on the 10th.  I reached the big 80!!!
In my head and heart I don't feel that age
but my bones tell me it is so 😁

Our boys/wives gave me a big birthday celebration on the 14th with my dearest friends and family.  They did such a fantastic job. Sadly I don't have pictures. 
Doug was in charge of that but his turned mostly blurry 😞

We ordered my cake from Walmart and have always had good luck but not this time.  Doug picked it up and when we opened it it was horrible.  They didn't get the decorations correct, spelled my name wrong and did a crappy job of piping edges and there was way too much filling in between the layers that it just slid off when pieces were cut.
We didn't show the guests the cake, just cut it fast lol
Needless to say we took the pictures to the store and the store manager came over and we explained everything - but first showed him the picture with my name....asked him what did this say and he said Karem....and so we told him my name was Karen with an n, not an m.
We were very polite and didn't get angry - explained things nicely and he totally understood and when they checked on the order slip they saw that it wasn't even a cake decorator employee that did it, just someone off the floor!!!
Manager gave us a full refund 
Cake tasted good though!😁!
Isn't it awful...looks like a grade schooler did it!

Look at the awful piping around the edge lol

 ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Getting closer to having our condo move in date...they said December
now - but we'll see if that holds true.  September was the other date.
We are so ready to get in and settle finally. 
I'm anxious to get some of our décor out of storage.
We went to the build site last week to see one of the units that they are getting further along - took a few pictures (this is not ours).

Originally we were told the cabinets would be white which we liked
 but they will be this color and we rather like it - kind of mellows the look out a bit.

And I love the drop in stove - no back to reach over hot pots to turn burners...I know they won't put up a backsplash so we're thinking of some peel and stick that looks like tiles.

Master bath

Guest bath - not sure why it's larger than the master though.

Looking from the living to the kitchen

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Last Monday was Amazon Prime Day so I saw this corn popper at 50% off - I tried it and don't like it...we have a Whirly Pop and love. it so not sure why I thought I could better that! 
So it's going back.  Why do we get caught up in these on-line gimmicks?  
Anyway - if you have one and like it that's awesome.

Last Friday we went to a rummage sale that advertised fabric for $5 a bolt...
well let me tell you I ran not walked to this one.
Ended up with 2 rolls and 2 bolts.  Not sure what I will use these on
 but you can never have too much fabric if you are a crafter.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And, Dan DiPaolo was having a tent sale at his studio so we picked up a few items.
he had such low prices on things you couldn't pass things up.
I think I am a paper hoarder - at least that's what it appears
if you could see you cabinet with it in 😁 

I love all his notebooks and buy several each season at his studio.

And I so love things with dots and saw this darling 'creamer'
and of course I had to grab it...for $3 why not!!

This fella is big...at least 32 inches - he was $10

And I don't do much Halloween

 decorating if any but this fella called to me and again $10 why not!!!

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

I've been getting back into rug hooking again.
I've been away from it for so long and I missed it.
This turkey one is good sized but an easy hook 22"x32".

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

And as a final note...I was doing laundry yesterday and the
detergent fell off the shelf - just glad it didn't fall on the carpet!!

That's it for now...as usual it was a long one!
Thanks for stopping by
Karen (with an 'n') 😂

Summer - Summer - Summer

Yep, Summer...not one of my favorite seasons.
Actually I don't like it at all.

I'm not a sun worshiper, don't do outdoor activities
and the heat is not my friend....okay, end of rant! 

So, a few things happened/happening here.
First off let me back up a bit and try and figure out what has happened since my last post in April.

Well, 2 weeks ago we took a much needed kind of vacation.  By kind of I mean it was to the same place we always go, Lancaster, PA...but it is so familiar to us after going there for the past 45 years it's like our second home. But this time we didn't go out for the business, we just took a week for ourselves to do some personal shopping and backroads site seeing...and visit friends and cousins.

We had the nicest new Air B&B - when we go again we feel pretty sure we would try and get it again. 
Even though it was right on Rt. 30, one of the busiest highways,
we didn't have much of a problem exiting the parking area.

Just a few out and about photos of the trip.
The green out there is so gorgeous and it just flows for miles - it's not chopped up here and there like where we live in the mid west.  You can see for miles and the farms are so beautiful and well kept (yes, there are some nasty ones as in all our areas, but for the most part they are beautifully kept.
We were amazed at how high the corn is, sweet corn is tasseled out already.

I love how many additions are built onto the main house for the parents and grandparents

Downtown Central Market

Doug and I with John and Linda Schmitt and
Jason and Emmy Schmitt (Owners of Nord Dogs)

Jason Schmitt

On one of the days we drove up to Lititz - had lunch at the Bulls Head
(part of the original General Sutter Inn that had to change their name and it's
now Lititz Springs Inn)
Doug had the Crab cake sandwich and I had the English BLT - both absolutely awesome.
What I liked about my BLT was the bread was grilled
and buttery on the outside, not toasted.

Olde Mill House Shoppes
The house is part of the shoppes and is the original home of the owners
And shops is in the barn

Went to an antique shop after shopping at my favorite wool shop
and saw this enormous bee skep!!!

A few nonsensical items - just stuff I wanted lol

A few Patriotic items

I loved this Fall wreath and Cloves candle...just preparing for Fall 

 b

Our home we sold had dish and hand soap dispensers built in by the faucet and I really missed
them so thought these clear ones would work okay - I don't like
having things at my sink so these might work.

Some wood boards to mount some of my punch needle on

Found a sweet Geranium pick and some poppies at the Old Candle Barn

Here they are in containers

If you haven't been to Riehls Quilt and Crafts you should go....
all Amish made items and so reasonably priced.

I got all these pieces for less than one piece in a store.
I'm using the bag as a purse, small zipper bag and glasses case.

https://www.riehlsquiltsandcrafts.com/

Even lined!!!

And some yummy wool from my go to store
The Bee and the Bear in Herford, PA

And this wonderful year round wreath

We always go to Roots Farm Market on Tuesdays and
I have to come out of there with pecan sticky buns!!!

Oh and In forgot I bought a loaf of cinnamon bread at Central Market!!

And last, here are a few of my new punch needle designs

You will be able to find them on my Etsy soon
https://www.etsy.com/shop/kmprimitives

(The Blue Heron is on now)
BLUE HERON

MOST REGAL OF BEASTS

SCALLOPS AND FLOWER

This one is still a work in progress

DOO-DOO BIRD