What do you do when winter sets in?

Ok, here is the North East we have had snow, snow and more snow......6 majors storms in 30 days! Yuk!
Now it is pretty to look at, but it is icy and messy and I would love to just stay home if at all possible.

Come on in for a cup of Ginger tea or hot chocolate? Don't slip the walk gets icy and I keep putting driveway heat on it, but it melts and freezes again.

         My sweetie warming her toes after sledding. I love to keep the fire going all day when I can stay home. I can't tell you the countless times the kids have snuggled up in this very spot along with the cats and dogs.

Can you remember THIS shot from before?  I always dream of summer and look at my garden pictures to make plans for next  year.

This is my upstairs hall....you see my upstairs is in a time warp....black walnut stain on the woodwork. This is my project this year while winter is nipping at my door. Most of my woodwork has been painted and all I have left is the guest room and the hall. The hall has six, count them six doors to sand, kiltz and paint. So I started with the guest room. We had wallpapered a few years ago and then our son needed to come home for a bit and I never got around to painting the trim with all his stuff in the room. When the girls from APP magazine came to shoot some pictures last summer, I would not let them upstairs to see my dated stuff. This may be what has gotten me to do something about it. The hall paper needs to be taken down and I want wainscoting installed then new paper and paint.

 So I started and this was a work in progress. I hate the prep, but it is so important.

So now the trim is done I can shop for new bedding and some other things for the room. I hope my sister comes home for a visit soon and enjoys the room. It has the best view of the gardens and pool.

So now I can start in the hall. So now tell me what do you do when winter sets in?

January 2011

What is it about the New Year? I feel refreshed and ready to tidy everything up. Clean closets, floors, fresh paint, shiny windows and file all of last years folders from work. My Christmas is all done and packed away until next year...I have a system. Thank goodness for Rubbermaid! The door on my Christmas closet is closed with Christmas neatly packed behind the door. Phew.

My snowmen grace our home and will stay until I start Spring. Hey, I need something seasonal. My candles are lit and the fireplace on days when I can work from home. The sun is shining in and it feels like Winter here.

My son Ben is settled into his new place and at the same time our daughter moved to a new place in South Boston. Big changes around here. Having both children close by is such a comfort. Sunday dinners may be possible again. Everyone has been so scattered the last few years. This feels so wonderful. I want to start the New Year being happy about all my blessings of which there are many.

Lots of blogs are talking about their word for the year and I know I want mine to be BALANCE
This is what I need so much, balance of work, home and family. So with this in mind I will march forward into 2011 seeking balance in my life. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

 to all my Blogger friends, may you all be blessed with happiness, health, and prosperity in 2011.

~The week that flew~

As much as I enjoy bringing out my Christmas, I enjoy putting it away and bringing out my old favorite snowmen. So let me take you back through the week that flew. These are my snowmen, I think they are made of paperclay. I bought them years ago and they just get better with age.

Now as I start to put away and clean up I feel refreshed, love that feeling. The day after Christmas I cleaned our my closet and have six bags for Goodwill. I like how organized it all looks.

And it snowed!

And it stuck.....

My best gift was my son being home to celebrate the holiday with us and knowing he is here to stay just put a happy glow on everything.

I am just sitting down to catch up with the blogs. Now do tell how do you  all find the time to post? Between work, Christmas, family, baking, parties, I just can't seem to find the time to even take pictures, let alone sit down and write a post?

All the grandchildren and children were here for Christmas. Presents were opened, food was eaten, the kids went out sledding and came in cold and wet, sat by the fire to warm up as the jackets and pants tumbled in the dryer. Hot chocolate was sipped, dessert was eaten. There were rosy cheeks and many smiles, giggles, teasing, wet floors, wet mittens and an all round good time was had by all. And after everyone left I sat down by the same fire and had a Gingerbread Martini with a content smile on my face.

Someone loved his new toy. Not to mention the wrapping it came in.

and the stockings are hung by the chimney with care.....

It is almost Christmas Eve!

I am in the kitchen baking, but everything else is done! Oh darn I need to clean .....

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight~

Christmas comes early!

Happy days at the Country Nest!!!!
Our Son is home from Afghanistan. This is the very BEST Christmas present we could receive. We picked him up this morning and it is truly a HaPpY DaY here!!!!

Holiday Open House

On Sunday evening a couple of my friends invited me to join them. On of my friends has a shop A Primitive Dwelling and the other is a true artist...she has a company called Awe-Shucks. Isn't that a cute name? Her name is Carolyn and she can do anything and she does it all so well. Cook, oh my gosh can this lady cook. She had a gingerbread house cake, bread pudding, sugar cookies, gingerbread cookies, pumpkin bread, eclair cake, delish brownies and many other goodies! Then there were the handcrafts. One woman did stunning pottery. My friend Maggie set up a mini shop....and Carolyn had Santas, wooden & beeswax. Floral arrangements, beautiful stockings, cobweb boppers made out of her sheep's wool. Beautiful chairs made from laurel wood, each unique. Gingerbread men......visions dancing through my head. It was all set in the Prince Burgess House Circa 1683. And there were house tours. From the sheep to the greenhouse to the kitchen with the big soapstone cart. Well let my pictures speak for themselves.

So tell me what do you think? Beautiful or what?

My Merry Band of Snowomen

I saw a cute snow annie in Prims magazine and I could not help my self......I got carried away. Each one comes out a bit different. I have used muslin, flannel, batting and chenille. Each has a burlap pocket stuffed with sweet annie, so she smells divine and is a reminder of the summer gone by. She has a necklace of stars or bells and I just love her....