Just a shot.

So in search of art for my living room I stumbled upon many watercolor paintings I absolutely loved on Etsy. One painting was of an elk, just the head in a very wet drop kind of way. Another was of a cute lop bunny. Then yet another was just as good, but hard to explain.  Now mind you a lot of these were very complicated looking. With the price tags of each I wonder if I could ever afford any large piece. the answer to that question is – not for a long time. So what's the next best thing? I decided to try my hand at a few watercolors myself. Not without a little inspriration though from my Sister-in-law and Friend Anne. She has so much talent and has her hand in nearly everything! Check out her blog here.

At first I tried to do some free-handed flowers

Then I tried doing a dog with some crappy results.

Then a who knows what animal, ha ha!

And a few random I don't know why I tried painting that deals.

Drippy drops!

Still wet even–

So there you have it. A little Etsy and Anne inspiration. My apologies to both for my severey ill representation! 

And to everyone else, try your hand at it, it isn't too bad!

Winter wages

Just a sneak peak of the winter weather down here in little Ohio,

It won't be long; we will be ushered into spring; in the not so far future.

Grasses tumbled over by the weight of snow.

Ice storm with our 'river' flowing through.

  

 Black Eyed Susan's stark naked amongst the snow.

                              

                                                                       (Don't ask ;)

                               

                                            And last but not least, our wintry backyard

              

Food craze!

Is there anything more wonderful?

I believe there is but this one has a lot to offer. We watched Disney's 'Oceans'; it was a wonderful film packed with of lots of color and amazing animals. The story line was dull, the narrater had a pefect voice with the film but the script was not as well written as I had hoped.

Just another Dutch.

Seems that these babies have been making it in our kitchen every week without neglect.

I could have one twice a week, but hubby says we don't want to ruin a good thing. It seems all to easy to burn out on a favorite thing;whether it be a food, a song, or favorite pastime.

Remember the recent Ice storm we Had?

Well this is the first time being at our home that the power did not go out out. Seemingly, every storm we had;our power is the first to go. We heard there were 55,000 people without power. We were both happy and thankful to God that ours did not go like the others. So instead of huddled up to a propane heater trying to keep warm; I imagined this little road of ours was a little frozen over river. The funniest part? It did not take much of my imagination!

So you ready for the yucky part of this blog??

We just had a new bathroom put in a few years ago. Within the first year we noticed this yellowing of our surround. So for those of you who put in or have a professional install one of these; don't use liquid nails!!! It eats through the back and turns a pristine white shower into a yellow ugly one!
And that's not all. Upon tearing out the surround, we found a nasty little secret.

We realized that the 'Tub lip' supposed to catch any water  before it gets to the drywall was installed backwards. Another words they installed the lip behind the drywall instead of in front of it. Making the lip worthless, and actually drawing water in the drywall like a sponge.  Here is what I mean.

See that white part behind the drywall? Let me introduce you to the 'Lip of the tub'. Great idea, that's if it was installed in front of instead of behind the drywall. The worst part? In order to fix this fumble; we would need to rip out the drywall and shave the studs. Because upon install they never gave enough room to accommodate the tub entirely. So now were stuck trying to think of ways to 'fix' the mess up.
We learned are lesson the hard way, if you need a contractor, don't! It seems they know as much (or as little as you may) actually had they read the instructions this would have been avoidable. And the liquid nails (very avoidable too) if of course you reed the directions that come with the tub and the surround. That's the kicker know???

Not my typical Saturday.

Already, I know that it won't be a typical Saturday. So far the plan is to work on the bathroom a little. As well as I have need to release two little micey's that made it into the feed room; they were both caught in live traps; and the plan is to take them far away from home and give them the chance to settle down elsewhere. If I get my way, my day will start by making Dutch babies for breakfast; along with my Sumatra blend coffee that's been waiting for me for such a time. Then off to Lowes for Bathroom caulk and other sundry items. then back home. We will go on in the bathroom until we hopefully get it done. Then off to sorting and organizing the stuff we have accumulated. It's going to be an almost "Spring Cleaning Day" with hopefully remarkable results; a cleaning out the mice from the closets; and I mean that literally.
Happy weekend to you all!

Manure..... Yes, just that.

Brookgreen Gardens in South Carolina

So.... I hope you all do not mind, I did not furbish you today with a picture of manure. Because today, I picked up my first load. Just for the garden; and it was a trailer full. Whew!! Now, don't laugh, but I can actually agree to, and share the fact, that I actually like horse manures smell. Maybe it's sentimental or maybe it's not, either way the sweet smell takes me down a country lane. And for that I don't mind it!!

One day i plan on having a horse. Not just any horse. A draft. And I am pretty sure I won't change my mind. And that farm is in my mind. Along with the produce stand I dream of. I will actually have one, this year. Just not at my farm,  yet!!! I really feel like this country girl dream of mine seems to never die. I can forget about it for awhile but it always comes back. And while raking all that good horse poo in the garden, while freezing finger's begged for attention, I pretended wholeheartedly that the manure was from my own horse. And that while I was working it I pretended I was at my own farm. And for that I felt more like myself than ever before. Working in the country. I believe it's just one other calling in my life. And I am loving it. And I am excited to see what my Lord is going to do with it all. Go Jesus!

New Kitchen

So here take a look at our new kitchen!!! All right you got me on this one. But I wouldn't mind having a kitchen like this any day! So Can you guess where I went over this last Saturday??? I will give you a few more hints.

So have you guessed it? IKEA of course!!! And in these staged rooms, the look can be had with a truckload full, and a few handymen. So if you have that, and some mula, your good to go!

We went somewhere else before this. And it was pretty amazing. More on that to come.
And finally the update you may have forgotten about. Jasmine our Calico cat has been to the vet two weeks ago and again today. She was quite an unhappy camper. She has what we believe to be a fungal infection. And that says ALOT! She was taken off her current meds today because of A GI upset and  has to go without meds a few days until the vet finds a suitable trade that doesn't upset her GI tract. My poor girl had yet another skin scraping test. A 12-chem blood test. and 2 shots. One for anti-inflammatory and another (which would be her second for a secondary skin infection) Need I say more. She is also currently on a prescription diet to help her eat better since the anti fungal meds has sent her into a self started fast. We'll see what happens. I just hope the vets will know what to do. I hate seeing her so miserable. And I fear for the rest because they tend to sleep and snuggle up each-other and it's highly contagious. The vet says separating them wouldn't necessarily help and might actually spread it worse. For now the others are still on meds to "prevent" any outbreak. Thankfully the dogs and indoor cats are fine. So it seems the cats outdoors are the only ones affected. Keep them all in your prayers!! And I am doing the same!

Went to the zoo A few days ago. They had free admission, as it was Martin Luther King day. I had this idea that I wanted to go couch shopping. But ended up going to the zoo instead. Not a bad trade off I suppose!
It was rather cold when we got there. Snow and ice were around and some melted water that puddled beneath the exhibits was a bit hazardous since it had frozen over. It was invisible ice, and we had to watch for it. The tiger's here was lounging in thery'e man made cave. From the picture you would have thought it were cooling down. When in reality the tiger was trying to heat up. The zoo is not what it used to be for me. I used to Love going to the zoo. The animals were always so awesome and I could not get enough of them. But it seems now when I see them I feel really not as excited as I once was. I really believe that this is because I know where they are and I can't really get excited about "Wild" animals. That are not that wild. Seeing one of these Bengals in the wild would be enough for me to jump up in down for joy. But seeing them in a somewhat mediocre sized cell makes you wonder what they be doing if they had more room. They can only do so much. And once they are in there home once it pretty much stays the same. The earth tends to change it's appearance over the years. And it changes from a meadow to a swamp pretty quickly.What was a modest creek gives way to its banks by torrential downpours breaking the mud and carrying what was land downstream. So I would suppose life in these 'perfect' cells would after a while get pretty boring. But believe me these tigers looked quite happy, like it never knew what they were missing. But I suppose if they did they might try to find a way out, maybe....

                                      


These lions had a lot more room, the young Male on the left is what I imagine to be the females offspring. If only the bars were removed this would of been an excellent shot. But then again I imagine I would be seeking safety. Not a picture!!