Snowmen Know Best

Hubby and self took a road trip to Iowa 

to ring in the new year with Sis and 'Hank'.

But first we hit some great After Christmas Sales!  This is always fun to me.  For $9 plus some change I bought a Holiday Time Warm Wishes Quilt at Walmart and a Better Homes & Gardens 4-PIECE QUILT SET.  So for under $25 I added some festive bedding to Home Haven.  It'll keep.

The Grandmother's Holiday Garden Quilt Limited Edition 2010 came in a tote bag with pillow shams and quilt was reduced to $11.88 plus tax.  King size.  If I had to do this over, I would have bought more sets and set them aside for future gifts.  I about fell over at the price being so reasonable.
Love zee tote.

~Grandmother's Holiday Garden Quilt~

~Holiday Time Warm Wishes Quilt~

Picked up some small candles that will be placed in cellophane bags, tied shut and given away next  Christmas to some neighbors and friends.  So affordable.

My Sis has snowmen throughout the house and Coca Cola in the basement.  

They cheer up a place.

One night we were treated to some Chinese food.  The Bo Bo Platter twas good!

During the day we went to see the Mc Henry House, but found her closed until warmer weather.  Have to try again.  While we were driving around, a whirlwind blew across the street in front of us and with it came a cold front.  Brrrrrr...it does get cold in Iowa.

 Truly, we don't eat all the time, but wanted to share Sis's Snowmen Dishes.

Happy January! Now let it snow.

 The snowmen know best. 

~Deanna~ 

Granny Nanny Chronicles and Crowns

If the crown fits,

wear it!

She did for her 4th Birthday.

Excited that she was actually four she said, "I am now 4!!!!"

How many times do people ask little children, "How old are you?"

She'd answer that she was three, but has a birthday in January!!!

Excitedly, she can hold her four fingers up 

and tell others.

She opened some gifts and smiled real big.

Her Momma took us out for Birthday PIZZA!

Then came the BREADSTICKS with a pepperoni "P" on it.

Lil Miss luvs the letter 

"P"

Guess why.

 Later came Birthday Cake with thick yummy frosting on it and candles to blow out.

She spoke her wish out loud.

Barbie is a high priority to this 4 year old.

This Wednesday morning as she started to descend down the stairs, 

she shared with me that she could snore, 

but had to wait till she was 4! 

She took a deep breath and then breathed out her tiny nose.

Snoring never sounded so sweet 

and quiet.

Celebrating LIFE,

~Granny Nanny here~

emergen-c

Okay.
Okay.
The new year is off and running.
Guess who thought they would get away from having a cold... 
to having a full blown head cold with coughing so hard that light headedness happens?  


Me.  
Took some Emergen-C.  Just wished I had taken it a week ago when my nose started tickling and eyes watering.  It lingered.  Think this would have helped keep a little cold from morphing into a full blown one.  Shucks.


Here's the heads up on EMERGEN-C!
Have you heard of it?

EMERGEN-C

Health and Energy  Booster

1,000mg Vitamin C

24 Nutrients with 

Antioxidants .  Electrolytes .  7 B Vitamins

Raspberry Flavored Fizzy Drink Mix 

mix with 4 to 6 oz. of water

only 25 calories!

If you haven't used this before, 

you may not know 

that it really does make a FUN FIZZY DRINK.

Took me by surprise.

~Deanna~

HaPpY 4th BIRTHDAY

Lil Miss,
Wishing you a very Happy 4th Birthday!


God bless you always.
Love ya bunches,
Granny

I remember when the morning phone call came in from my Daughter that her 'water' had broke.  

She would be on her way to the Hospital.

I called my Husband at work.  

He'd come home from work and off we would go the distance from Kansas Farm to Oklahoma.

On the way we would receive word that the baby was born.

I cried with relief that all went well.

We'd get to see this precious child in the Nursery.

In awe we looked at her tiny body.

A sweet baby.

Out With The Old ~ In With The New

Our 4 year Anniversary of buying our 1885 Native Limestone Two Story House located in a dinky town nestled in amongst the Kansas Flint Hills was at the end of December 2010.  4 years.  Oh my goodness.  4 years.

I've had time to dream and look at loads of decorating pictures.  
Time to think and let my imagination go wild.  This is cheap entertainment!  With a twist.  Refurbishing or remodeling isn't cheap.  It comes with a price.  Your time and money goes into this.  There are sacrifices.

In reality...what makes the messes that we live in while a MAJOR PROJECT is going on tolerable?  Depending on your personality... a lot of praying has had to go on with me.  Looking beyond the mess and believing it will happen has helped.  But above all else, having a handy man that has the tenacity to forge ahead is what it takes.  I can be a cheerleader, sidekick assistant and main bottle washer, but my hubby is the one actually doing the sweating and putting muscle into it all.  I can grin and bare it.  He is the one that has to listen to me while I do my best to carry on as if everything is normal.

He has had help from Heaven On High.  For you sweeties that have prayed for us...I am thankful for your prayers.  God bless you one and all.

This past year while he was in the middle of tearing out and rebuilding the front porch...I get the phone call, yes...you have cancer.  While having surgeries, he is still there for me and forging ahead building a huge porch.  While I am having cancer treatment, he is working away at getting a 800 pound boiler out of the mechanical room and replacing it with a newer nearly 400 pound one and knowing it has to be done before the snow blows while the winds are howling.

Here's a few pics of projects that have kept us busy over the last 4 years at Home Haven.

Have you ever thought, 'Life isn't for sissys?'  It is these challenges that add character to us.


For starters, we had been in the house close to a year when our daughter went through a divorce and moved into Home Haven with a toddler.  The Utility room was redone before the Kitchen.  We would use a Laundry Mat while remodeling.  This meant we would load into the car loads of laundry.  I decided I was going to make this inconvenience a FUN DATE.  If Hubby and Daughter met me there after their work day, we'd go get a FAST FOOD MEAL.  Later a Fancy Coffee.  If it was just Hubby and me, we play the Pin Ball Bowling Game.  This was a blast!  Now would I go back to the Laundry Mat over my own washer/dryer?  Nah.  I like in house utilities.  Amen.

~Before~

 ~During~

~After~

With the Utility room completed, we moved onto the roof of the Garage and two story House during the Summer 2009.  The weather did not cooperate.  Some days were way to HOT and others, way too wet.

ROOF

~Before~

~After~

Then our porch disintegrated right before our eyes.  
This was disheartening.  For safety sake we redid the porch the Summer of 2010 before the Kitchen.


~Before~

~During~

~After~

Autumn came and a new electric Hot Water Heater 
went into the Mechanical room.
Before the snow blew the old 800 pound Boiler 
was replaced with a new 367 pound efficient one.
Imagine removing this heavy of an object all by yourself.


~Before~

  

OUT with the OLD ~ IN with the NEW

~After~

We are making plans for a cute Kitchen!
Praise GOD and Thank you Honey.


Thank you for stopping by.  I enjoy hearing from you.
May God richly bless you and may you have a terrific year.


Morphing right along,
~Deanna~




PS
Many share their morphing projects over at Susan's.
Please visit Met Monday.
www.betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com

Brian Regan- Dinner Party

Some clean humor.  
May you have a sweet life!
~Deanna~

Television

I can pat myself on the back.  I hope to be able to keep the good work up.  It has gotten easier for me to change the t.v. channel or completely turn off the t.v. when certain subject matter appears on the screen.

Some call watching a so-called famous RAPpER grabbing his crotch while rappin' on television: entertainment.  One of the first acts of entertainment on new year's day 2011 was a RAPpER hopping up on stage grabbing himself as he pranced about.  The channel was changed to THE WEATHER CHANNEL.

Michael Jackson seems to have given some singers/rappers the GO AHEAD AND GRAB THE CROTCH a heads up back in his day as an okay way to manhandle one's self while performing in public.  Remembering when he started this, he was said to say that he couldn't help himself.  I had the good sense to disagree with him.

Last night on CSI, the examiner pulls on a dead person's hair and the scalp is revealed.  The Scalp was scalpped and I said out loud, "I don't want to watch that."  The t.v. was turned off.

When I was a child, if Lassie was on the television, Mom could walk out of the room in confidence knowing that the program was wholesome and no sneak attacks would happen from the programmers that would molest the minds of children.

~Lassie and Timmy~

These days it is healthier for me to blog.
Period.


Off to a healthier year already.
~Deanna~

January 1, 2011

I don't want this day to get away without a post!  
It's the first day of January and a new year.
Makes my head spin.

We were able to drive up to Iowa on Wednesday and I was sure hoping we'd see 2 foot of snow on Friday.   Just a little snow and a lot of cold.  Had a nice visit with my Sis and Bro-in-law.  Much delicious food.

We rang in the new year after watching the movie Evan ALMIGHTY.  Liked the movie.  The clock struck 12, hubby and I kissed and started the new year.

This morning we drank coffee around the dining~room table,
had Breakfast CHAT, snapped a few pictures, hugged and traveled back to Kansas.  Some ice on the roads, wind in the sky and a warm car.

Usually I think about the happenings of the past at the end of the year.  Our 4 year anniversary of buying Home Haven is included in the last December.

4 years ago we bought our old stone house.  This coming week, I want to review in pics what we have done so far to Home Haven.

OUT WITH THE OLD IN WITH THE NEW.

In 4 years...much has happened in our home and in life.

Relocated an antique corner cupboard from upstairs bedroom to it's original location.
Completely remodeled Utility~room.
Garage and house were roofed.
Front porch torn down and rebuilt.
Old hot water heater removed and new one installed.
A nearly 800 pound boiler removed from the mechanical room.  A more efficient boiler installed weighing in at 367 pounds.

Moved into our old stone house, built dog kennels in backyard, unpacked, 4 Grandchildren have been born, a daughter went through a divorce, our home embraced her and a Grand daughter, I started babysitting a toddler, remodeling taking place in old house, cancer, high energy bills, our good buddy Samson the Airedale died, shuffling, shuffling, shuffling, making new friends, shuffling, tearing off the family~room wall's layers of paper, shuffling, shuffling, shuffling, tearing out an old kitchen and making plans for home improvement.

Many a night I fall asleep dreaming and thinking about what to do to our home.  Planning on praying through this year.  
May you have a wonderful new year!
~Deanna~