PENNSYLVANIA STAR BARN

I do believe this has to be the most wonderful site in all our travels we have taken over the years...

Last Spring on a trip to Lancaster, Pennsylvania we stopped and took some pictures of a beautiful old barn.

We have traveled this route for 30 years and seen this wonderful piece of architecture and never gotten off the highway to visit it, but after hearing it will be re-located we thought it was time to visit this wonderful beauty.

Over the years it has taken a hit with wood decay and shoddy upkeep and was due to be demolished if someone didn’t come forward to save it.

Fortunately enough funds have been raised and has been purchased and all buildings will be taken apart board by board, stone by stone, numbered and re-assembled in their new location sometime this year.

Here is the video clip of the announcement and new location http://www.wgal.com/video/16764868/index.html

Go to this site to read about this beautiful piece of architecture. http://www.thestarbarn.com/About_OwnershipHistory.aspx

On February 29, 2000, the Millport Conservancy and Preservation Pennsylvania joined forces and funds to purchase The Star Barn Complex. The two organizations shared common goals in moving to save this endangered property: to preserve The Star Barn complex as a symbol of the region’s agricultural heritage and to insure its future survival by making it a part of the life of the communities that now surround it.

In December, 2007, Agrarian Country, a non-profit corporation from Middletown, Pennsylvania, assumed ownership of The Star Barn. AND SHE WILL BE SAVED!!!

MINI VACATION

Seems I have been missing for a few days!
We have had my brother and his wife here since Wednesday - We go up north to their place for a couple days and trade off with them coming down here a month or so later. It's fun being best friends with your brother and SIL.

Ohhhhh it's sooooo very, very cold here today. When we got up and all of us went to breakfast it was minus 14 degrees! And it seemed no matter where we went for meals these past few days it was COLD in the restaurants - I guess it’s just too hard to regulate the temps with minus temps

I haven’t even had time to check in to see what all my friends have been up to so I have lots to catch up on.

On Wednesday it was Doug’s birthday so we went to a dinner/theater with my brother and SIL. We saw Rock’n In The 50’s part 2...oh what fun.

Besides a wonderful dinner we saw such a great musical performance with all the great songs of the 50’s and again I’m dating myself…lol But there’s nothing more catching than the Rock N Roll songs of the 50’s. There were ballads to Rock A Billy!

Then yesterday we took a drive into Milwaukee to visit the Mitchell Domes…it has been many, many years since we visited them and I was still impressed at the flowers and trees and birds - There are three domes each housing a Tropical and a Dessert zone and one with flowers and that one changes with the holiday and season……but it wasn't open because they were changing over from Christmas to Spring/Easter.

We were happiest in the Tropical Dome with a rain forest atmosphere - for Doug and I it reminded us of our trips to the island of St. Kitts to visit our friends, but for now we were content to walk through this tropical splendor. When you entered the dome you got this wonderful scent of spices and flowers and the humidity was so refreshing on that minus 12 degree day! When you closed your eyes you could just imagine being in the island. Lots of ginger and cinnamon scents.

I only posted a couple pictures and one especially of my favorite tree the TRAVELERS TREE and then the MONEY TREE.

A variety of Orchid

I think this was my favorite - although I didn't get a picture of the tree itself...but I had to giggle at the bottom line....what else is money used for...except to buy ornamental things! lol

This is the TRAVELER'S TREE

The bananas start growing from a pod and coming from the center are long chutes and they turn into the banana. After the tree has produced the fruit and is harvested that branch dies and you cut it off.
This particular banana tree is in the yard of our friends in St. Kitts

Then afterward we went downtown Milwaukee to the Museum and took the rest of the day going through the 4 levels of this wonderful museum. The first part of our stay there was to tour the TITANIC exhibit. You can read about it and see movies about it but to see the actual artifacts that were brought up from the deep is astounding.

Hopefully most of you take advantage of the wonderful entertainment/educational offerings in your community….unfortunately we don’t but will try and change that - after yesterday we decided we need to get out there and support all those wonderful institutions offering so much wonderful entertainment.

Karen

WHERE DO YOU CRAFT?

Many times I've been asked where I craft - well, all over the house actually - but I do all my designing, cutting, placing pieces on the fabric....all the messy preps in the upstairs craft room/office.

It was originally one of our son's bedrooms, then my husbands office/2nd guest bedroom and then when I took over the guest bed got taken down and in I came! lol
But Doug still has the same space he had originally - but I sure did surround him.

And yes, after I'm done cutting, etc, it does look like this - one thing I can't stand is to come back up there to do more work and have piles of cut fabrics, scissors, etc. all over the place. I find things much faster this way.....and I guess I'll admit it...I'm kind of a neat freak but not in a bad way, really! Just like to be organized.

I think that was taught to me in Home-Ec class back in the 60's (yeah, I know....wow, she's old!) but it stuck. Home-Ec back then we were taught the basics of being a good home maker and wife...I think it needs to be that way again...but I digressed didn't I.

So, this is where I do my work....where do you do yours???

See, he still has a space left to work at....I wasn't all that pushy! lol

And the loveseat in the den is where I spend all my sewing time....and I can see the tv from there which is in the family room below....but mostly I don't watch tv.

Hugs,

COLD, COLD DAY

Well today was sooooo cold it was a great day to be inside.

I had lots of orders to work on and also ship a few out. Sometimes I'm sitting so long sewing that I think my butt is going to get as wide as my sofa I sit on...lol

Decided to have a 'comfort food dinner' tonight so I made Stuffed Pork Chops w/gravy, Mashed potatoes, Corn and Pineapple Rings w/Cottage Cheese. Boy it went down just wonderfully.

I browned the two huge chops in my black iron skillet, added one large jar of Heinze Classic Chicken Gravy (from the jar), about 1/4 cup of water and put the whole thing in the oven for about 40 minutes and walla....meat and gravy.

Now the picture is making the whole dinner look blah, but NOT!!!!!!!! You should have tasted it - the gravy after mixing with the meat for that long and simmering in the oven tasted as good or better than homemade....try it!

MARKET FINDS

Well, I didn't find anything fun at Market for myself except a candle and two little decorative table top stands...not sure what in the world I'm going to do with them - if I can't decide, then possibly I will put them on my website (which I think is where they are going to end up!) I just can't find a good place for them. www.kmprimitives.com

But we did get some Easter items - go check out my website in the NEW ITEMS catagory to view....they're cutsie, not prim so I was tentative putting them on my site but this will be just for like Easter and Halloween items, then it will be taken off. I don't want customers to start thinking I'm going away from Prim or Colonial.

I've been on the computer most of the day and now it's time to get off - hope you all had a wonderful day!

This is the gray shelf - fits in a corner and it's almost identical to the cupboard I have it on
And it's SOLD to Becky!!!!!!!!! Thanks Becky, it's on its way!

The red one is a corner one as well but equal on the sides.
Both have a little wood peg to hang something on.

Picked up a few of these Willow Candles too!

I bought 2 of these tin holders for the flicker tea lights to sit in! Aren't they cute?

Hugs,

AND I DID....

Saturday we had the most fun brunch at Doug’s cousins house. One of our cousins is here from Florida so we all got together and had Omelets In A Bag…now I know this sounds yukky but it is delicious.

You take your eggs/milk and either mix in a bowl or mix enough for the group and pour into a baggie, put in any kind of ingredients that you would have in an omelet (except for the cheese), seal bag, place in pot of boiling water for 13-15 minutes. Open the bag and put omelet on plate and then add your cheese on top if desired.

These are just delicious and come out all rolled like an omelet!

Then Sunday Doug and I spent the day putting away all the Christmas decorations and re-arranging all the containers in the storage area and getting the house back together - I can’t believe how big the house looks without all those trees and STUFF sitting around! LOL

Today we had to head out early for Madison for the Market Square Wholesale Cash & Carry show - we found lots of wonderful goodies for Easter and some for our shop. I hope to get some pictures taken of the products so I can get them on my website soon. So that’s my weekend and no pictures to show for it! Sorry. I know we all love pictures don’t we! LoL

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I just won The Lemonade Award from Sharon of PrimThyme.

The Lemonade Award is for blogs that show great attitude and gratitude.Upon receiving The Lemonade Award, you also pass it on to other bloggers who you think show great attitude and gratitude.

I would love to do this however everyone I have contact with through the blogs deserves this award.

I learn so much and see so much from each and everyone of you so this award goes to each of you….I don’t take awards for my blog - I haven’t done this from the beginning…it’s not because I don’t appreciate it - it’s just that I don’t know how to choose.

Hugs,

WANDERING KITTY

Has anything from the past come to meet you???

Well, it happened to me this past summer so I thought you might like to hear the story and hopefully I can keep it short because I try very hard not to be wordy….but if you really knew me…well, lets just say I’ll try.

I received an e-mail from a girl asking if I’m the same KAREN MARTINSEN who made a ceramic kitty sitting in a baby shoe….well, I didn’t think I would ever have made something like that.

Back in 1974 I was in a ceramics class and made lots of decorative things but they were mostly Colonial items - not cutsy.

I told our boys about it and they said they remembered something like that but were not sure.
I e-mailed her back and told her what I thought and asked if she had pictures…she did….she sent them.

WOW….there was the kitty! AND my signature on the bottom! I don’t sign things in that penmanship anymore but that was mine back then.

She proceeded to tell me she collects anything CATS/KITTY and at a FLEA MARKET IN SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS she found this kitty and decided to seek out the maker. Can you believe it??? And we live in Wisconsin.

I made this thing in 1974, that was 34 years ago and as any cat IT CERTAINLY DID HAVE 9 LIVES!!!

I just wish I knew the journey this kitty had in those 34 years - how it survived not being broken or cracked/chipped….did it get purchased at one of my rummage sales and sold over and over till it reached Texas? I will never know but I do know my kitty survives….not sure how many more of its 9 lives it has left but I’m certain it will stay where it’s at till time runs out.

Hope you enjoyed my tales of my kitty

HAPPY NEW YEAR

Well, like most everyone of you are doing I'm wishing you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR - May it be the best one ever.

I know the economy is taking a dive right now...so they say....don't see it when I'm out and about - people are still shopping....but that said, I think I will start thinking differently how I live.

I have taken for granted the electricity, water, food - it's just THERE....but not really. We have to work for it to be able to have it and I for one squander more than I should.

I don't do New Years Resolutions but I will try from here on to watch how I spend my money - not be frugal but just look more closely at prices and do some comparison shopping which I never usually do...if I want it I buy it. And also, not keep the water runnning unnecessarily JUST BECAUSE when I'm at the sink - and turn lights out when I'm not needing them. I find myself lazy in this respect and I will do my best to THINK from here on. It just might be fun!

Well we're in a deep freeze here yesterday and today and we have to get out and head to Janesville to a lunch with my brother/wife and then we're all going to visit an aunt/uncle.
Hopefully we'll be home this evening early and have our traditional New Year's Eve dinner of Steaks, Crab Legs.

Last night we headed to Janesville to have dinner at a great steak place with cousins visiting from Pennsylvania and by the time we left the wind was blowing hard, snowing and drifting. We have an hours drive through country, not interstate and let me tell you there were many white outs. We were very happy to hit our driveway!

Have a wonderful New Year's Eve and New Year's Day everyone.
Hugs, Karen

THE AFTERMATH

What a wonderful Christmas day we had - we had to wait for Darren and MaryAnn to get here a bit late so we all just sat around snacking and playing games which was really a fun time.

By the time they got here the little ones were beside themselves with eagerness to open their gifts - but I sure give them lots of credit for not begging!

After opening gifts and stockings we had a wonderful dinner of baked ham, mashed potatoes, corn, salad, jello and lots of desserts. A typical Christmas dinner in our house.

After dinner Jesse got his Guitar Hero hooked up and that was a fun time for everyone - I'm always so amazed at how teenagers can immediately hook something up and go at it! Camera card was full by this time so no pictures of that fun moment.

Hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Aidan arriving!

Aidan being held by Uncle Dan

Aidan's daddy is in the left corner in the tan sweater

Jesse

Alexandra, Joseph, Emily and Jamie (in chair)

Game time...

Darren, MaryAnn and Aidan

Jamie and Heather

Brett and Doug

Karen

CHRISTMAS MORNING

Merry Christmas morning whoever ventures over to BLOG LAND today!

I woke very early after a solid nights sleep (went to bed at 9:30!)

Got up and made our traditional sweet rolls - Cinnamon rolls and Orange rolls - from the Pillsbury can of course! lol It has been something we have done since the kids were real little as part of our morning around the tree....eating sweet rolls, drinking milk and juice and hoping not to tip the glasses over as we're scattering boxes and papers in 10 differnt directions!

Here's a couple pictures of the mess of gifts that need to be arranged around the tree!

And here they are all under the tree

And this morning, even though we weren't around the tree with the kids, we had to have our sweet rolls with our coffee and milk.

Now the table is set, the kitties are fed, the ham is in the oven, the meatballs are simmering and the rest of the morning is ours and we still need to hang the 'oh so filled stockings'....then wait for the family to arrive around 1 or so.

They are all bringing some kind of appetizer for the afternoon along with our meatballs, chips/dip, cheese assortment so there should be quite an array of goodies.

Have A Wonderful Christmas Day To All My Friends!
Karen

CHRISTMAS MEMORIES

My sister Shirley, Me, my brother Gene 1951
Click on picture to view larger

P.S. Those bright things on the tree that look like clouds all lit up are actually the bottom of Bubble Lights that were so popular in the 40's and 50's!
And don't you just love the Charlie Brown look of the tree???? Oh what I'd give to find one that looks like that!

TO ALL MY FRIENDS OUT THERE WHO HAVE COME AND LEFT WONDERFUL COMMENTS AND WHOS BLOGS I VISIT AND ENJOY SO MUCH....MERRY CHRISTMAS!

MAY YOUR HOLIDAY BE FILLED WITH MUCH DELIGHT AND I HOPE YOU MAKE WONDERFUL MEMORIES WITH FAMILY AND FRIENDS TO SHARE FOR YEARS TO COME.

STAY SAFE AND WARM....HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

Karen

GREAT WEBSITE

I have been so fortunate lately with my web site business....many opportunities have openened up for me because of it....one of them is from this wonderful website: http://www.todaysprimitivehome.com/

These two girls, Andrea and Caryn are promoting websites and products out of the love of creativity! Their writing is fun and upbeat - you must read the descriptions of artists products....you will enjoy your visit there.

This weeek they have featured one of my products AGAIN....this is the third time! And they are giving away a $50.00 shoping certificate at my site....go visit them here: http://www.todaysprimitivehome.com/

I have also been asked to become a 'team member' to do a monthly 'decorating tips' article....we'll see how that goes! Sometimes my decorating ideas are off the top of my head at the spur of the moment so only time will tell whether they keep me on.

Have a wonderful Tuesday
Karen