Almost Gone...

I only have one bag of pie filling left from last Fall's apple picking! I made the 2nd to the last bag last night into the pie below. I think this year, instead of making so much apple butter, I will freeze more apple pie filling. September seems so far away though.

Today I need to work on some little stuffed creatures for the kid's Easter baskets. Easter kind of snuck up on me this year, I haven't even bought anything for Sunday dinner yet, yet alone the candy for the baskets. I know these aren't the focus of Easter, but they are part of our family traditions.

Have a great day and stay dry(we have had a lot of rain),

Tiff

Brotherly Love...

I came across this blog while I was searching for ideas for homeschool rooms, it's called "Life with my 3 boybarians". Every Tuesday she has "Sweet Shot Tuesday". You post a link to your favorite photo that you took that week.

So here is my entry... It's my 9 yr old son and my 7 week old son, you can see in his face just how much he loves his new baby brother.

Enjoy your day,

Tiff

Sitting Nook and Sugar...

Whew! I don't know what was going on with blogger, but it took me ages to load these pics today and do this post.

Anyway, after trying lots of different things on my windows over the last few days, I have finally given up for now and I'm just going with this... they are barn red checked valances I made several years ago from dish towels that I bought at Primitives in Pine in Hollis, Maine. I think they may need to be lined, but that is for another day. And I still need to decide what to do with he curtain rod brackets that are still on the walls. If I take them down, I will have to fill and paint the holes, but what if I want to hang the curtains again by the rod, then I have to put them back up and put more holes in the wall.

This area is in the front of the house, at one end of the family room. It is a pretty useless area, as my family room is long and narrow and I can never figure out what to do with this space. So for now, I decided to make it into a pretty little sitting nook(but who am I kidding, I doubt I will ever sit there!), but at least it looks nice.

What do you think of the area?
Today was Maine Maple Sunday and we headed out on this cold day to Merrifield farm to get some yummy syrup and treats. I was so mad that I forgot my camera, but here is a pic of the goodies we bought...(the fudge is our absolute favorite!) (this is going to totally ruin the weight loss streak I have been on, have lost my 30lbs of baby weight plus 2 more lbs already)
Came home and made french toast, covered in fresh maple syrup and maple sugar.
Have a terrific day,

Tiff

Bathroom Refresh...

Last weekend hubby and I painted the kid's bathroom. I forgot to take "before" pics, but let's just say it was a boring "builder beige" color and really needed to be freshened up. The main reason was because it was developing a mildew problem. The builder didn't use bathroom suitable paint, just flat paint like he used in the rest of the house. And with my teenagers liking to take long hot showers, even with the fan running, we were developing little spots of mildew on the ceiling and upper walls. We would scrub it off, but it kept coming back and seemed to soak into the paint, just nasty. So, we cleaned it again and then used Kilz brand paint in a semi gloss finish. The color is calmed "creamy blue" and I'm really happy with it. Hubby even keeps commenting on how nice the bathroom looks. Oh, and we painted the ceiling the same color and it worked out great. I'm hoping that with this new paint we can easily wipe off any mildew or mold. Now we just need to get a better fan for the room.

And of course I have to share more pics of Mason! Here he is right after a bath and looking a bit like a wrinkled old man :) See how reddish his hair looks when it's sticking straight up.
And he did great at his U/S appointment yesterday and the radiologist said there were no signs of any hip problems on either hip!! YAY!!
Thank you all for the curtain suggestions, I think I have an idea in my head now that I am going to try to put into action today, if the cutie pie lets me put him down.

Have a lovely day,

Tiff

Love/Hate Relationship...

I have a love/hate relationship with window treatments, actually, at this moment it's just a Hate relationship. I can't figure out what I want on my family room windows. I wish I could just go with nothing, but then I feel like we are lacking privacy, especially living in a neighborhood. And every time I try to go for a real "prim" look, it just looks messy and like I'm hanging rags in the window.

Here are the curtains I have had up all winter. They were swagged to the side and before that I had them hanging from circle clips on each side of the window so that they could be shut at night.

Then a few weeks ago, I tried something different. I coffee stained some white lace curtains I had from target. They came out really pretty and I thought I would go for more a turn of the century look, like Road to Avonlea. But, I'm not sure I like it.
Then I just took the curtains down all together. And yes, all three of these windows are in the family room and all look like they do in the pics at this very moment :)
So, should I just put a simple muslin valance up? Or just hang the mustard curtains at the sides of the windows again? Or just use the lace curtains by themselves? Or what? I just want a lighter and different look for Spring/summer.

We are headed to the U/S appoitment this afternoon, I hope all goes well.

Have a nice day,

Tiff

I'm Back...

Being without a computer is a pain, but I survived :) I'll be back to posting now, maybe not daily, but at least every few days.

Here is what I have been working on, other than taking care of and enjoying my new baby boy... I'm making the 50 state flower blocks that Vickie over at Turkey Feathers is sharing with everyone. She is only on the 2nd block, so it's not too late to join in and get started. I decided to do mine in all black, like redwork. And instead of using dmc floss, I'm just using really fine filet crochet thread and working it on plain muslin. Just trying to use what I have on hand, so no cost is involved. So far, the blocks are working up pretty quickly and I can't wait to have a whole finished quilt.

And I couldn't post without sharing more baby pics!!! Here is my cutie pie after his last Dr. appointment. He has to go for an ultrasound the week after next to see if he has congenital hip displasia of his left hip, which the Dr. thinks he has. This would explain the mysterious clicking I heard when I was pregnant and he made big movements. Hopefully it's nothing serious and can be easily fixed.

Here he is yesterday. I just love these elephant pants.
Can anyone give me camera advice? I don't know why my pics are so grainy. Every now and then I get a nice sharp one, but lately they are aweful.

Until next time,

Tiff

I'm Tiff, and I'm a PC....

I haven't posted because I'm having computer problems. The power cord to my lap top fried so I haven't been able to get on except for briefly on my daughter's school lap top, which is a Mac. And I have realized that it is hard to teach this old dog new tricks.... I will admit that my name is Tiff, I'm 36, and I'm a PC :)

So anyway, I have no pics to share, because I can't load them, and it takes forever to make a post on this computer. Hopefully I will be back up and running soon. I really hate being without a computer, you don't realize how much you use it during the day until you don't have one!

Have a great day,
Tiff

Ps, the hand stitchery is coming along nicely and I'm in the process of making a crocheted bunny.