A Fairy Tale...well, sort of...

Once upon a time long, long ago in a far away land called Moccasin Holler there lived a young girl who loved Christmas. (Okay, the girl is me and, yep, I mean "long, long ago" literally. I did grow up in Moccasin Holler!) Now, where was I? ...there lived a young girl who loved Christmas. She loved the sounds, smells and colors of Christmas. She loved the warmth that seemed to glow all around her. She loved going to town with her Daddy to pick out "the" tree. And, ooohhh, the decorations!! But, most of all she loved Santa.

Santa always came to school after Thanksgiving riding in a beautiful sleigh being pulled by those magnificent reindeer. (It didn't seem odd at all that they were all pulled by a Pepsi Cola truck.) What a wonderful day that was...all the kids lined up along the street in front of the school and as Santa passed by they would scramble to gather up the candy that he tossed out to them.

After that first Santa sighting, the girl began to count the days until Christmas. Every Christmas Eve, on the way home from Granny and Papa's, her eyes scanned the night sky in hopes of seeing a tiny red light. You know, the one on Rudolph's nose...that would be a sure sign Santa was indeed about his business of delivering all those toys.

Now, there is more to this story but you will have to wait till Christmas to hear it...

I do have a reason for sharing part of the story. I have a confession to make. For the past several weeks, I have been pretty much useless. I have hardly ever gone into my painting room and when I do, I mostly just sit and stare. Those creative juices just aren't there. I look at the things I have prepped for painting and just can't decide what to paint on them. Then I find myself looking at the cypress knees, gourds, clay and all those things that will eventually be santas and snowmen.

So, tonight (or this morning, whichever) I have made a decision. I am going back to what I really love. I am going to create "Christmas" stuff. After all, I wouldn't be painting at all if it weren't for Santa...but, that's another story.

I wanted to let you know so you wouldn't be surprised when you begin to see the changes on my blog, in my Etsy shops and in my new Artfire shop. Call me crazy, but I can't wait to start making those changes and I really do hope you all like them.

It's gettin' warmer...

Yippee!! I am so ready for warmer weather.

I always think of my growin' up years and one of my Mama's "Rules of Wisdom" when the dreary clouds of winter begin to be blown away by Spring's warming winds. It was about this time of year that my siblings and I figured it was high time to be able to go barefoot. Unfortunately, Mama had her rules...and this one was soooo hard on us!! It seems that, no matter what the temperature, it isn't warm enough to go barefoot until May 1st. Apparently, that's "the day" when the ground has finally warmed enough and is ready to make connection with the bare skin of the human foot. So, we had to wait until that day of miracles arrived to remove our shoes and be truly free. Ahhh, the feel of the new green grass on tender feet is indescribable.

Oh well, it's warm out today and I was thinkin' about takin' off my shoes and that made me think of Mama and her "rule" and I just thought I'd share. Gotta get back into the paintin' room...gonna paint some old windows.

Oh yeah...I still have my shoes on...after all, it's isn't May 1st and I wouldn't dream of breaking one of Mama's rules.

Okay, consider this fair warning!!!

It is 2:41 a.m. so I can pretty much guarantee that I am goin' to be ramblin' here!! I should be asleep, but I just had to face facts...I wasn't goin' to sleep, it's just as well I got out of bed. So, here I am. This is such a confusing time of day. What I think is today is actually yesterday, which is good because today (I mean yesterday) wasn't a good day. So, I guess I should be glad it is tomorrow, I mean today. Now, if you understood that we are on the same page which means you may want to wonder about yourself! LOL...just pullin' your leg.

Monday (today/yesterday?) was the
mailout date for our Old Farmhouse
Gathering Spring Swap goodies. I am
so proud...I got mine done and they
will be arriving at their destination soon.
I painted" a stitchery design
by Rhonda of "Primitive Stitches".
I was spending way too much time
at her website looking at all her
wonderful designs...I mean, I don't
do stitcheries...why was I there?
Hmmm, I had a thought...I'll just
buy me some patterns so I can
paint the designs!! This was actually
supposed to be stitched on a candle-
mat!!! You can see it is painted on an old plate but I think it would still make a neat candle-mat. I want to thank Rhonda for giving me permission to paint her designs my way.


I also included these neat hangtags done
by Deena of "Ewe 'N Me Printables".
She did all the real work...I just
grubbied 'n glittered them up. Pretty
neat though, huh? I sure hope my swap partner likes them!

Whew...I just checked the time again...it's 3:19 a.m. I have spent way too long tryin' to get the pics to show up where I wanted them in this post. Somehow, I keep making them disappear...I would really appreciate it if there is anyone out there who could help me out here!!

Okay, guess I'll give up on makin' this post look pretty... gonna try hittin' the sack...well, I'm not actually gonna hit a sack, that would be way too much like exercise and I can't have that!! I'm really going to just go back to bed and hopefully get some sleep. What amazes me is how much easier it is for me to sleep in the morning when I should be awake!! But, that's a whole 'nuther story!!!

Nitey, nite...or is it good morning? :-)

I know...I've been MIA...

and I don't really have an excuse. Surely it's not because I can't think of anything to talk about! :-) Ya'll know me better than that...once I start ramblin'....

Before I get going I wanted to share the links to a couple of Etsy treasuries I snagged...Bustin.Out.All.Over..OFGSC and Bunny Eggs...OFGSC Unfortunately, I couldn't list all 150+ items that are in the Old Farmhouse Spring and Easter Celebrations so to see the rest of them just click...OFGSC Spring & Easter Celebrations

I have been kinda busy...waited till the last minute to get my things done for the celebrations but I think they turned out pretty good anyhoo. Click on the Holly Ridge Creations button on the top left to see them.

And, believe it or not, my brain has kicked in creative mode and I have bunches of stuff I want to get done. Right now I am in the middle of doing a cypress knee bunny!! Yep, a bunny rabbit and no...he isn't wearing a santa suit!! I also have a cypress knee that has decided he wants to be a kitty cat instead of a santa so I have him waiting in line to be painted. I'll post some pics when I get them finished. Got some neat prim eggs just waitin' for some color, there are cabinet doors and old windows base-coated and staring at me. A box full of cones are just screaming my name!!

Hey...I gotta get off here and get in that paintin' room. If I don't show back up soon, please call someone...that kitty cat cypress knee is getting a little upset with me and I'm not sure what measures it might take to cut line in front of the bunny!!!

A Great Give-a-Way...

and I didn't want any of you to miss it.

Stephanie of "Old World Primitives" is celebrating her one year blogiversary and one of us just might just get the gift!! All you need to do is click on "Old World Primitives" to see the goodies, and I mean "goodies", then leave a comment to enter. I have already left mine.

Now, I would say good-luck...but, I mean, after all, that would be pushin' it. At least I'm sharing the news with you...but, I really, really want those goodies for myself!!! :-)

Another heads up...the Old Farmhouse Gathering Etsy team will be starting their Spring Celebration at the end of the week. I'll be posting pics and links as soon a I can.

Love those comments...keep 'em comin'. :-)

Gotta Share!!!

I just had to give you the link to my daughter-in-law's blog and her latest post...it has a couple of pics of our youngest grandson proudly displaying one of his many talents. We are all sooo proud!! I have to say that talent runs rampant in our family!! :-)

Here's the link...http://momabirdof4.blogspot.com


Ain't he a cutey???

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Ice Storm...2009

I am so happy that you are here. For my very first post on my new blog, I have decided to share some pics of the ice storm that hit a big part of our country in January.



We woke up on Tuesday morning to see everything covered by sleet covered ice. An ominous looking sky overshadowed everything. We had been warned that the worse was yet to come...and it was.



On Wednesday morning, we woke up to another couple of inches of ice. The sound of breaking branches and falling trees, that had begun to some extent the night before, had become continual and was to last for two more days. I was dreading going out to see what damage was done.



We still have some broken electrical lines on the property, but they can wait. So many trees have fallen and even more have lost limbs. Some trees were bowed so low you couldn't imagine what kept them from crashing on down. The branches hanging to the ground in front of the shed are now spread out over the top of it where they once were.



By the time I ventured out to take pics, more
than half of the ice had melted. At on point, the ice had completely encased the twigs, in the pics most of it has fallen off. The forlorn bush in the pic below is my Rose of Sharon...I am happy to report that when the ice melted it regained it's former magnificence.




There are those that have still been without electricity...but, it was expected that everyone in our neck of the woods will be back on today.



Still others not far away in Kentucky
and other states that have lost so much more...
please keep all of those who have suffered and
are still suffering in your prayers.