Progess on the Kitchen

 Hello Friends,

I have got good news.. the kitchen project is coming along well. The walls are painted, the upper cabinets are painted and installed. The floor is complete.

To give you a little peek.

 

Our kitchen was all white with a few accent colors.

Ripping out the lower counter top and cabinets.

 

Taking the wallpaper down was not as hard as I thought it would be.

 

We are keeping this cabinet.. it will have a fresh coat of paint and new hardware.

And for a little peek at what we are doing.. 

Our kitchen is playing off the colors of the one below called Sunny Backdrop.

 

My husband has named our kitchen, A Summer's Day.. it is coming along.. thank you for cheering these DIY's on.

♥

Carla

The Tale of Three Bunnies!

 

Several mornings when I went out to care for the hens, I would find a branch of the hens Christmas tree laying on the ground. Above I found this much of a branch left laying with a red bow.

 

What is going on here? Who is nibbling on the hens Christmas tree? One morning before I went out I spied three bunnies hip-pity hop away from the coop.

The above photos share where the bunnies nipped off the branches.

 

And so my hens only have 1/2 of a Christmas tree to brighten the winter days. As far as they are concerned.. they could care less about that Christmas tree, they want spring, bare ground to scratch and bugs.

 As for the three bunnies, I saw them again last night under the bird feeder eating fallen seed.

January Article for the Cameron Chronicle ~ Preparing to Order Seeds

 

Hello Friends,

Here is my January 2022 Article for the 

Cameron Chronicle "The Little Paper With Personality." 

 

 

Preparing to Order Seeds

By Carla TePaske of Cameron WI ~ The Little Garden That Could

My Garden Motto

Plant..

Something Fun

Something New

Something Tried and True

Seed catalogs are arriving in the mailbox. We are starting to get excited to plan the 2022 garden. At times looking through those seed catalogs can get rather overwhelming with all the lovely photos of vegetables and flowers. Here are a few simple tips to help with that overwhelming feeling.

Draw a map of your garden and plot out what you want to plant. This helps in knowing what space you have and not going over budget on purchasing seeds and plants you do not have room for in the garden.

Keeping a garden journal has become very helpful for me. Saving the year before seed order and writing notes about your favorite varieties. Writing notes about what worked and what did not work.

Take inventory of the seeds you do have before placing your order. In my case, I have saved seed, left over seed and seed gifted to me by friends.

Take time to learn about the vegetables and flowers you want to grow.

Do you have enough sunlight and room for the plants you want to plant?

Take time to do some research and plotting out your garden on paper first. Keeping these tips in mind will help reduce that overwhelming feeling when placing that seed order.

 

We Care!

 

Hello Friends,

The above photo is how one of our Christmas greetings came in the mailbox to the friend we mailed it to. That friend mailed me the We Care package to show how they received our Christmas greeting and asked if I minded sending another letter .. since she was only able to read half.

And so I printed another letter and sent her a photo of our family too. I also included a little note to share with her that we received a Christmas greeting sliced open as well, but it was just simply stapled smack in the center of the card to keep it together in our mailbox.

As I write this.. I know I have a friend reading this saying, "Carla, you and your adventures with the USPS." And it is true, I had mail addressed to Wisconsin go all the way to Thailand and back to the address to Wisconsin. 

The funny thing is.. my dear grandma was a Rural Mail Carrier for 40 years. I went with her many a time on her route. So I guess the adventures of the USPS.. is in my blood.

Any good USPS stories on your end?

 

The Start of the Kitchen Project!

 Hello Friends,

We have started on the remodel of our kitchen. This has been a long waited remodel. We are excited to update our little kitchen, with new counter tops, cabinets, flooring and paint!

We have decided to do a fun new look. I will be excited to show you what we have decided on color and design. Yes, we are going with color. Our kitchen is currently white.

We had tile on the kitchen floor. We are going to be replacing it with wood, to match the rest of our home. We will have a 100% wood floor home after this project.

 

 

Ripping up the old flooring. 

This was back breaking work.. here are a few quotes from the day, compliments of my husband..

"Carla, I can feel that I am not 25 anymore."

After a few more pulling of nails and ripping up boards..

"Carla, I can feel that I am not 35 anymore."

After a few more pulling of nails and ripping up boards..

"Carla, I can feel that I am not 45 anymore."

 

 

Pulling nails.. lots of nails.

This week my husband is taking a week off from work and we will tackle this project.We hope to get a lot of it done this week, we will finish on the weekends. The BIG goal is to have a new to us kitchen by the first week of March.

We are doing all the work.. teamwork makes the dream work.

Thank you for cheering us on with the BIG kitchen project.

 

Sunshine

 Hello Friends,

In years past I have never picked out a word of the year. Many blog friends do. I always enjoy hearing the word they decide on and why.

This year my husband challenged me to pick out a word for the year.

And so I did..

SUNSHINE

♥ BRIGHTNESS OR RADIANCE

 ♥ CHEERFULNESS OR HAPPINESS

 ♥ A SOURCE OF CHEER OR HAPPINESS

 

 

After my husband challenged me to decide on a word for 2022, I started to think of what I want to see more of in 2022. Sadly, we have all seen a great deal of ugly, sickness and depression for the past two years. We need to break out of it.. we need sunshine.

I pray that I can be that sunshine.

Sunshine

♥ brightness or radiance ~ praying I can be a bright spot in someone's day

 ♥ cheerfulness or happiness ~ praying I can spread cheerfulness or happiness

 ♥ a source of cheer or happiness ~ praying I can be that source of cheer or happiness for that someone who really needs it

 

Christmas Rewind

 Hello Friends, it is time for a rewind.. to Christmas.

A visit to Irvine Park is always a must for us. A great way to kick off the Christmas weekend.

A dear friend made this bowl for us as a Christmas gift. The popcorn too.

The wood from the bowl came from a big crab apple tree that once was in our backyard. That big crab apple tree has many memories. The boys built a fort in that tree and a swinging ladder. With that swinging ladder came another memory.. one of our boys falling from the ladder and breaking his wrist. Oh, the memories of that big crab apple, now preserved as a lovely bowl, to make me smile and reminisce.

 

 

Christmas Cake.. chocolate cake, chocolate frosting with crushed candy cane on top.

 

 

Our Charcuterie Board.. YUM!

 

Candlelight Dinner.. a family tradition.

A homemade gift for each of us. Can you guess which one is mine?

Thank you for coming along with me on a Christmas Rewind.

♥

Carla

 

The First Hodgepodge of 2022!

 

Looking at the Christmas tree sitting in the cold greenhouse.

We keep our little tree twinkling during the cold, dark winter nights until the end of February. It is nice to look outside to see that little tree twinkling in the greenhouse. 

 

Hello Friends, it is Wednesday and that means it is time for the Hodgepodge.

Joyce asks the questions.

We answer the questions.

 Click here to join the fun!

1. Share one happy moment/memory from the holiday season. 

We enjoyed Christmas weekend at my parents farm with all of our family. 

Belly Laughs!!!

 2. Let's be reasonable with our expectations going into this new year, k? What is one thing you'd like to accomplish/improve/complete/do in 2022? 

I have been talking about the kitchen project for over a year now.. well 2022 it is happening. In fact it starts January 17th! Praying all our cabinets, flooring and other do not have any issues arriving to our front door. 

3. Every January 1st (since 1976) Lake Superior University has published a list of words they'd like to see banished from the Queen's English. Words may be banished due to misuse, overuse or just general uselessness (go here to read more about how the words are chosen). Here are the words/phrases they'd like to see banished in 2022-

wait, what?-no worries-at the end of the day-that being said-asking for a friend-circle back-deep dive-a new normal-you're on mute-supply chain

Which of these words/phrases do you use regularly?I do not use any of these phrases regularly. Wait, what .. would be the closest in my vocabulary.  Which of these words would you most like to see banished from everyday speech and why?a new normal.. I guess I just do not think it makes sense to say that, what is a new normal?  Is there a word/phrase not on the list you'd like to add? My Bad .. I just do not like that saying. 

 4. Best thing you ate in the month of December? 

My husband made the best Cheese Potatoes for our Christmas gathering.

 5. January 5th is National Bird Day. Are you a bird lover? Yes! We have several bird feeders around our home.What's your favorite bird to see in the wild? Nuthatch are my favorite birds. Choose a phrase from the list that follows and tell us how it relates to your life currently...eat like a bird, bird's eye view, early bird, bird-brained, free as a bird, a little bird told me, or kill two birds with one stone.

Early Bird.. that is me.

 6. Insert your own random thought here. 

A few feathered friends gathered under the bird feeder.
 

 And a furry friend too.

 

Happy New Year!!!

 

 

Happy New Year!

During the last week of November 2021, I joined the fun that my friend Anne was hosting at My Giant Strawberry . Anne was hosting, The Joyful Seed Exchange. Anne matched up each participant. I was matched up with Dana.

I received the fun package in the above photo from Dana. 

Dana received the fun package from me in the bottom photo.

 

As we start out 2022.. 

 

Dreams are the seeds of change. Nothing ever grows without a seed, and nothing ever changes without a dream.

Debby Boone