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photo:MarthaStewart.com

I've taken some time off to be able to be with family and friends and it has been wonderful.
Lou and I had lots of hours with the grandbabies.  We've actually taken sometime to relax, which is hard to do when you work in your own backyard.

Tomorrow will be the first time I've been in the studio for almost two weeks. 

Hoping that the New Year 2013 will be a Wonderful 365 Days.

Happy New Year Friends!

Merry Christmas

and May All Your Wishes Come True

Memories of Christmas Past

I'm thinking this must have been taken in 1959.  My baby sister Jan looks to be less than a year old and she was born in February of '59.  Lovin' my brother John's red shoes.  I am lucky to still have my Mom.  Remembering the wonderful times we had and I will always miss my Dad who we lost 19 years ago. 

A Good Day

Spent the day with these cuties...a visit to Santa,
neither wanted to sit on the jolly old soul's lap...so no pictures.

Checked in with Mickey at the Disney Store and then had some lunch.

Lou and I are exhausted...a reminder of why God gives you children when you're young.

Relaxing in the light of the tree and counting our blessings.

Christmas Twinkles

The last of the orders were mailed out on Monday.  We need to thank our wonderful customers for all the support you've shown our little Workshop. The past 4 weeks have been busy, busy, busy around here and now we need to get ready for the holidays.

 

photo: thymes.com

Yesterday Lou and I went out and found our tree for this Christmas...It's set up and I'm almost finished decorating it...just a few more ornaments and it will be completed.  Today Lou will be putting up  some twinkles on the outside and I'll be doing the same on the inside. Hopefully we can sit in the glow of our lovely Christmas tree this evening and think about the true meaning of Christmas.

Just A Glimpse...

A glimpse of the sun this morning while waiting for the coffee to brew...but that may be the only sighting today.  A cold front roared through last night and it's chilly today and looks to be a gray day.

We had a lovely Thanksgiving gathering here.  One son by love cooked the turkey in a metal trash can and the other son by love took care of the ham on the grill.
Made it much easier for me.

Heading up to the studio in a few...have some orders to ship and others to paint. Planning to pull out the Christmas decorations tomorrow.  Lou wants to put up a small train garden, which he hasn't done for years...but thinking the 3 year old grandson will love it.

Wishing you all a wonderful weekend!

The Country Workshop

"Vintage" Christmas Tree Ornaments

Found these birdcage Christmas tree ornaments on etsy last night. When I was a child, my Grandfather gave me one of these in the pink color. I still put it on my tree every year. I have quite a few special, vintage (old) decorations that came from family and are precious to me. Love how the listing says made in the mid 1900's...wow does that make me feel old. 

 Christmas...Family...Memories

http://www.etsy.com/shop/iHeartShinyBrite 

 

Days are just flyin' by...

Lots going on 'round here lately...Our busy season has begun (as you can tell by my absence) and the daughters have been pitching in, giving us a hand wherever they can.  Meagan has been working on signs and helping with shipping. Holly and the grandbabies have been here a couple days a week lending a hand...Dylan brings his talking hammer and saw and works on the box of unpainted blocks I have in the studio.  Mariah will be 8 months old in a few days and she's into everything.  Lou, Holly and I take turns loving her when she gets fussy. This afternoon I was able to have the children all to myself while Lou and Holly worked in the shop..  My heart just about bursts with loving these two wonderful kids.

Holly has been pitchin' in doing whatever we need done and she also has been designing and creating holiday garlands for the Country Workshop website. 

  

Garlands can be found in the Banners and Garland section of the website.

Custom banners for weddings, baby showers and birthday parties will be availabe soon as well personalized garlands for children's rooms.

Oh What a Night...

Was out last night with Minnie Mouse and a Fireman
...just loving life!

We were Lucky...

Good Morning...We made it through the storm with only a bit of a leak in the shop, broken branches and some debris in the yard that flew in from who knows where.  It's still grey here and chilly. The leaves came off the trees all at once and hopefully they will be dry enough to rake this weekend. Checked in with our families and all are safe.  Holly and Chad are the only ones who are without electric and are staying with his Mom who leaves not too far from them.  I'm sure Debbie is enjoying having the grandbabies there.  Meagan and Erik live up the street from us and we could see their porch light on and knew they had power all through the storm and were safe.

My heart just aches watching all the devastation on the news.  People have lost so much and getting back to normal for them is not going to be a quick fix.  Praying for those families and for this country.  Hoping all my blogging friends are safe...know some of you are north of us and were hit much harder than we were in Maryland.

On a lighter note...Lou and I will be going with the grandkids to watch them trick or treat tonight.  It's going to be a bit chilly so I'm thinking it probably won't be a late night. 

Oh Sandy....

This is a photo from the kitchen window, looking east on Saturday.  The first sighting of Sandy, heading up the east coast.  We are about 150 miles from the Atlantic, a bit north of Baltimore.  Seems we are right in the middle of it. The wind started on Saturday and it has been raining constantly since last night.  Lou and I have made preparations to be without power for several days if necessary. Water, food, flashlights and batteries, radio, m&m's, both peanut and plain.  Brought in some firewood.  I filled zip lock bags with water and stuffed them into every open space in the freezer so there will be big chunks of ice if the powers goes out to keep the frig cold, at least for a while. We are as ready as we can be. 
This is one big, scary storm. 
Wind, rain, flooding and snow.
Appears the hurricane will be making landfall closer than was first thought.

I have been worried about getting orders finished and shipping them if the electricity is out for a long period of time. So my plan was to get everything done that we needed power for finished by this morning.  Saturday and Sunday we were in the shop sanding, putting keyhole slots in the back of signs, spraying the finish on already painted signs and printing shipping labels.  We have almost 100 orders ready to wrap for shipping.  Had hoped to get them to the Post Office but thinking it will be closed today as most government offices, schools, malls, libraries are not opening today to keep folks off the road.   May not be until Wednesday before the pile of packages make it to the Post Office.

After having only about 7 hours of sleep the past two days, maybe Lou and I will sleep through the storm.  Also wondering how long Lucy can "hold it" as she won't go off the porch because she doesn't want to get her feet wet. 

For all of you who are in the path of Sandy, please be safe.
Stay home if you don't absolutely need be out in this and hunker down
until this dangerous storm passes.

How Proud Yia Yia and Poppou would be...

On Saturday night we were at my sister-in-law's home for another batch of family birthdays.  We do them in bunches with the husband's family...there are just so many of us now.  Lou's sister and her husband still live in the home where they grew up and it hit me, while looking at all the babies in the family that Lou's Mom and Dad, the children's great grandparents, must be smiling down from heaven, watching all the great grandbabies. Another generation of children will be having fun and playing together at Yia Yia's and Pappou's. 

The Haunted Mansion

 The Haunted Mansion is one of my favorite attractions at Disney World...

photo: marciodisneypictures.blogspot.com

I rarely make a sign just for me, but this year for Halloween I will have this
Haunted Mansion tribute hanging on my front door.

Welcome Foolish Mortals

It's Friday Already?

It's a foggy, soggy day here today...we can certainly use the rain.  

It does make it easier to walk up the hill to the shop to work.  I find on beautiful days I'm wishing I could be outdoors.

It will be quiet here today.  The last two days the grandchildren have been here.  Look how much the baby girl has grown.

Holly has been here designing and creating garlands for Thanksgiving and Christmas, like the ones she made for Halloween pictured below.  Some of the steps in the process she can work on at home but most need to be done here.  Dylan is happy in the studio with me.  Give him a box full of wood cut into blocks of various sizes and he'll build castles and bridges for  hours and of course there's always
Mickey Mouse Clubhouse to watch on the tv in the studio.  

Holly and the baby were in the house working on the laptop and when she needed to be in the shop for painting the chipboard or to use the cutter machine for cutting out the lettering, Mariah J spent her time on my lap, in her Gramp's arms or sleeping
on an old quilt in the corner of the studio. 

Looking forward to seeing the Christmas garlands.  I'll be putting them up on the website as soon as they're finished.

 

 Halloween Garlands on The Country Workshop Website

A Sky Blue Pink Day...

My days have been running into each other lately...trying to get online orders made and shipped and making merchandise for Colorfest in Thurmont.  Set up our booth for that show this past weekend.  Wonderful weather, wonderful visitors to our display and we were able to have dinner with some of our old friends/vendors from the Basket Accessories Roadshow days.  Been running ever since we got home Sunday night playing catch up with emails and getting more orders finished and shipped and have been moving along in a daze.  

This morning, while putting on the coffee, this was the view from my kitchen window...

Took a deep breath and remembered to be thankful for the simple things.

Wishing you all a beautiful sky blue pink day!

September Photo Contest Winner

Playing catch up here...wanted to post this a while ago but time has gotten away from me.  This is Champ who won the photo contest on  100% Angel - A Charming Store for Dogs Facebook page  https://www.facebook.com/100pctAngel  

The prize was my All Guests Must be Approved by the Dog Sign 

Congratulations Champ...You are a cutie!

 

Blowing Bubbles...

Had the grandkids overnight on Friday and I always try to find something fun to do with Dylan after Mariah J goes down (hopefully) for the night.

I had read on Pinterest, that if you take bubble solution and add the contents of a glow stick, you would have bubbles that glowed in the dark...Well folks it didn't work. We ended up turning all the outside lights on so the grandson could see the bubbles he was blowing. He didn't mind at all but his grandparents were oh so disappointed.

My Fuzzy Child

 

We have been so busy lately that my darlin' Lucy has been bit neglected. She usually get a bath every 2 weeks or so (being in the shop everyday the fuzzy child picks up sanding dust and dirt and she does sleep on our bed)  I realized yesterday that it had been probably a month since her last bath, when I looked at her little face and realized that her "bangs" were in her eyes.  So I cut the hair hanging in her eyes and gave her a bath last night...hoping to clip her tonight...too bad I can't recycle all that dog hair into a sweater.

Here Comes Autumn...

Happy Fall Everyone...We have leaves starting to turn on the maple tree in the front yard although the old oak trees are are still summer green. But we have acorns...acorns all over the yard. Acorns hitting the roof of the house and the shop. In the shop it sounds like we're having rocks being thrown at us. Wishing ya all a beautiful Autumn weekend!

Making Mummies...

Had the Grandbabies on Saturday night.  
Once I had Mariah J  down for the night, Dylan and I put together
Mummy candles made out of jars for Halloween.

 

 First we coated the glass jars with Mod Podge...a little messy when a 3 year old is helping but he actually did a great job. 

 He liked painting the glue onto the jars.   Then we wrapped the jars with cheese cloth and coated the cheese cloth with more mod podge.  Dylan liked doing this until his fingers started sticking together and then it was up to Mom Mom to finish wrapping the cheesecloth on the last 2 jars.

 

 Dylan was so serious when he picked out which eyes went on which jar.  He inspected several sets before finding just the right ones.

 We then added the small battery lights that flicker like candles.

 And the finished project...3 Mummy Candles for Halloween.

Creepy Crawlies...

 The weather is changing. 
Cooler temperatures and the spiders
are creating lovely works of art.

Along came a spider...my favorite.

Always Trust The Dog....

Country Workshop

2,977 American Flags May We Never Forget

Saturday morning, Lou and I went to the annual Fall Flea Market at Putty Hill Park.  As we neared the park we saw American Flags in front of Parkville Police Station and Fire Station. We then noticed the line of flags on Putty Hill Avenue.  They lined both sides of the street for probably close to a mile...between Harford Road and Old Harford Road
in Baltimore County.  This was quite an inspiring sight.

 We live just 2 miles from this section of Putty Hill Avenue and did not know of this yearly event in memory of the victims of September 11th. 

2,977 American Flags in
Remembrance of each life taken on 9/11

 

Patriot Day Ride 2012
Article from http://www.daggerpress.com

Motorcycle riders will take to the streets on Saturday September 8th in remembrance of the 11th anniversary of 9/11.

Riders will gather at Chesapeake Harley Davidson in Darlington at 8 am and will take part in 6 moments of silence beginning at 8:46 am, the time that American Airlines Fight 11 crashed into the North tower of the WTC.

Other activities include; the Pledge of Allegiance ledge by area fire fighters and playing of the National Anthem.

Riders will depart at 11:30 am along with Honorary Ride Captain Kenny Nacke whose older brother Joseph Nacke III was a passenger on United Flight 93 which crashed in Shanksville, Pa. Kenny is a Detective with the Baltimore County Police Department.

The ride will travel south on RT 1 than make a right onto Harford Rd ending on Putty Hill Ave in Parkville, where they will ride through the “Path of Honor” which will be 2,977 American flags set to honor each and every victim and hero of 9/11.

Organizer – Chuck Ritz encourages area residents to come out in support of the riders along the ride route from 11:30 am –12:30 pm and join us in helping to keep our promise of Never Forgetting 9/11.

Event proceeds benefit the Flight 93 National Memorial and Metro Burn Fund.

For more information 

http://www.911patriotdayride.info