Happy New Year!

Snow and Bird Watching

Today we got about three inches of snow. Being from Alabama, I really dislike the long winters here in Indiana, but I've grown to love, really love, watching the snow fall while the birds flock to my feeders. It brings me incredible pleasure to sit at my kitchen table, sipping on coffee, with my camera close by snapping pictures of the birds. I use my swing frame for a bird feeding station and the birds come right up to the patio, even as close as the door. The pictures aren't as clear as I'd like since they are taken through the sliding glass doors, but from the warmth of my kitchen, I get some pretty good photo opportunities.





I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. Our Christmas was different this year since we weren't able to travel home to Alabama. There have been many years with plenty, but this was a very lean Christmas for us. We are still kind of reeling financially from the previous job losses. That is OK, thankfully my children are older and they understand. It also helps us to put our faith into practice since we acknowledge that the real reason for the season isn't about gifts, but about celebrating the birth of our Saviour. We know this is just a bump in the road and we also know there are many who are in the same boat. We hope and pray that 2010 will be the year that we get firmly back on our feet and we are striving toward that end. I hope that 2010 is a year of peace, health and happiness for each of you.

Merry Christmas

Cooper's Hawk

My favorite thing about snow is that it brings the birds to the feeders! I remove my swing during the winter and use the frame for a bird feeding station. I have it placed right at the edge of the patio for up close and personal viewing for me and the pets. Yesterday my visiting relatives and I were sitting at the table when this Cooper's hawk landed on the swing. What an awesome sight!



This morning when I opened the blinds, the first thing I saw was the Cooper's hawk flying right towards the window and then over the house. The are such majestic creatures!

My internet time over the last several days has been limited. My niece, her husband and one year old daughter came to visit for 10 days. During the time they were here my whole family came down with H1N1. My niece caught it too, but thankfully the baby and my nephew didn't.

I hope everyone has a wonderful week as we lead up to Christmas! It's so hard to believe that it's that time already!

Metamorphosis Monday- Mirror

During the summer I came across this dresser mirror at a garage sale. I didn't need a mirror like this but she was only asking a couple of dollars for it so I bought it anyway. I promptly stuck it under a bed and forgot about it.

I had a bare wall in the dining room and all summer long I kept looking at garage sales for a picture or mirror to go in that particular spot. I never found what I wanted and just gave up, knowing that eventually, I will come across something that will be perfect or close enough to satisfy me. I'm patient, (I'm very frugal too), so I can wait.

A few weeks ago I was in a painting mood and remembered the mirror that was under the bed. I spray painted it and propped it on the buffet in the dining room. I didn't want to hang it centered on the wall because I don't want it to look like a dresser with a mirror, (which is exactly what it is).

The beautiful Drexel dresser was another garage sale find. I bought it earlier in the spring for $100.00, and was perfect for this spot in the dining room.




Here is the mirror all decorated. I already had the evergreen wreath and the stash of florals to put on the wreath. So, this was a thrifty way to decorate the buffet for Christmas. Everything here was either purchased at a garage sale or it was something I already had. I'm not completely satisfied with the way the buffet looks, I need a runner and a few more things to finish it off.

The mirror isn't exactly what I wanted for the wall, but at least it isn't bare anymore!

I'm linking this post to Between Naps on the Porch for Met monday!

Joy, My Wish for You, (and Spam)

I made these ornaments as a young, new bride in 1982. I had just learned to cross-stitch and was looking for inexpensive ornaments for our first tree. We still use them, along with many of the hand crafted ornaments from that first year. Ours is a sentimental tree, not much in the way of glitz and glamor, but very meaningful to us.



Hard to believe I've been using these since 1982!

Is anyone else seeing an increase in spam over the last few weeks? I've never been bothered by it too much since I began my blog, but that has definitely changed. Thankfully it is all on older posts and I have the comment moderation on posts over ten days old. This way I catch the spam but you don't have to be bothered with the nuisance of word verification.

I am also receiving quite a few requests to plug businesses or other business blogs. I consider that a nuisance too. Are any of you getting more of that, and if so how do you respond? It definitely adds to the stress of blogging, not knowing what is legitimate or not. I have been just ignoring those because I don't want to use my blog for advertising. Any comments or suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated.