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.