Spring Beauty

Our crabapple tree was just beautiful this year! I just love the bright color after a dreary winter!

My daffodils are my pride and joy this time of year! I have more than I can count and just as many different varieties! I love to collect different kinds of daffodils. I love all the unique blossoms that are out there these days!

This rainbow appeared just before a storm came rollin' through! If you look closely, you can see a faint one up to the left! It was gorgeous! It went right over my house! I wish I could have gotten a photo!

SOLD!!

The boat has sold!!

We are so happy! We wish the buyer lots of good fishing!!

BOAT FOR SALE!!

FOR SALE~!

We are selling a 2008 16ft Lund 60th Anniversary Edition boat. It has a Mercury 9.9 Hp engine and a 2007 Load-rite trailer! It has never seen water and is BRAND NEW!! If you are interested please email me! There is a link on the left hand side of my blog!

Buy it all for $5,000!!

We are located in Northeastern Ohio!

Check out the Mercury 9.9 Hp engine

2008 16ft. LUND 60th Anniversary Edition Boat
Brand spankin' new- never seen water!

60th Anniversary Edition! Pretty Sweet!

This is the inside! Lots of room, for lots of fish!!

Some more extra info for ya!!

Homemade Easter Ravioli

Bart and I love to make homemade raviolis for Easter dinner.

First he starts out with 4 cups of flour. He makes a well for the eggs.

Next he adds 6 extra large eggs to the well.

He slowly starts to incorporate the eggs and the flour with a fork until a nice thick paste develops. Then he uses a pastry scraper to work the dough.

After he gets it to a dough stage, I start to knead the dough for about 8 minutes.

We then have a nice piece of dough!

I make a meat mixture for the filling. I use my meatball recipe. Some ground chuck, some egg, alot of fresh parsley, alot of garlic powder, a little salt and a little pepper and then some macaroni cheese. Oh and don't forget the pieces of torn up bread!

We then press the edges of the ravioli with our fingers.

You can not have homemade ravs without homemade sauce! I like mine on the sweeter side! I use Dei Fratelli Tomato Sauce and paste. I also use fresh onion and lots of garlic, a stick of butter, alot of sugar and some macaroni cheese. MMMMMM good!

Here are the ravs cooking in a huge pot of water and some olive oil.

And here is the end product ready to eat!

MANGIA MANGIA!!

Moo! and more!

Zoe is such a phoney baloney!

I was outside checkin' on the calf and he was being
such a hambone! He wants lots of attention! See the speck on his nose?
Thus the name "Speck"



How about a big ol' sloppy kiss??

Another new calf!

Well, I do not think everyone out there in blogland knows, but both of the calves in an earlier post had died. However, this Sunday we went and got another one! He is 6 weeks old and seems very healthy! Cody named him Speck because he has a black speck on his nose! He is adorable. He will be Cody's dairy beef feeder 4-H project!

Tori is busy working with her market steer. Brutus is getting big! You may remember pictures of him in one of my first posts! Check them out and then you can compare how much he has grown! We were going to tape him to see how much he weighed this weekend but time got away from us and we needed to go pick up Speck! We'll tape him this weekend and I'll let you know what he weighs! Any guesses??? Leave them in the comments! We'll see who gets closest!! Let's make it a contest and I'll send out a little something to the winner!! I do not even know the answer to that one yet! (But I am not allowed to play!)

Well, it's a cold brisk morning and I must get outside to feed these guys! Brrrr! It is supposed to be in the 40's today, but then it is dropping and we will be getting more snow! (Hurry spring!)

Get outside and enjoy the weather before it drops again! Have a great day!!

More Punchneedle Patterns & Supplies!

The Garden Gate

Punchneedle patterns & designs!

Here are more punchneedle supplies!

Remember retail & wholesale orders are welcome!

Just email me for more info!

My absolute favorite punchneedle! Comes with

three needles: small, medium & large

$19.99

I also have a punchneedle that comes with just

the small needle for $15.00

My favorite punchneedle hoop! $33.00

(project not included!)

"Ready for Winter" $12.00


"Plaid Paul" $12.00



"Winter Night" $12.00

Keep an eye out for more postings

with punchneedle patterns & supplies!

I have more that I am designing!

I also carry "Distress It" antiquing solution

for punchneedle!!

$8.50 for a 4 oz. bottle

SNOW DAY!!

It's a SNOW DAY here in Northeast Ohio!! Over 640 school closing today!

The kids are loving it! They were outside sledding as soon as the animals were

fed and watered! I must admit that I love snow days just as much as them!

As soon as they came in this morning, we all had cups of hot cocoa

with Reddi Whip!

As I am looking outside, there are big soft fluffy snowflakes gently falling from

the sky! What a gorgeous site! Pictures do not do it justice! I love listening to

the crackling fire and watching the snow fall!

There is nothing better than a snowfall like there is today!

Making snow angels on the back patio!

Punchneedle patterns now available!!

The Garden Gate

Punchneedle Patterns & Supplies

I have designed some punchneedle patterns

that I think everyone will enjoy!

All my patterns did not fit on 1 post so be

sure to check out the next post for more!

Punchneedle is a very relaxing craft!

I sell the punchneedles, hoops & patterns!

I also have "Distress It" to give your finished

items that really awesome primitive look!

My patterns include detailed instructions,

pre-printed pattern on weaver's cloth and

color chart needed to complete the project.

You supply the floss!

Retail & Wholesale available!

If you are interested in placing an order,

just email me!

"Whoa" $12.00

"Gary Gobbler" $12.00






"Snow Sampler" $12.00

"Peek-a-Boo" $12.00

"Farmstead" $12.00

Moo!!

Well, I must say that it has been awhile! And I must apologize! My computer has been down! Had to have a new hard drive put in! SO I am finally starting to get back into the swing of things and wanted to catch everyone up on what's been going on around here! There is soooo much that has happened! Today I'll tell ya all about our new baby calves! What sweeties! I just love having baby calves around! Bottle feeding them is so much fun!

First, here is Inferno! In this photo, my daughter is bottle feeding him. We got him on January 19. He had gotten really sick after a couple of days. He wouldn't stand up, he wouldn't eat...so we had to have Patty come over and tube him for us. We has a meeting to attend that evening about closing our elementary school, but she said they would come over again after and tube him again. Bart really didn't think he'd be alive when we got back, but when we went out and looked in his calf hutch, he was still alive! So he got tubed again. If he was still alive in the morning, they would be back to tube him a 3rd time. Oh...I could not sleep at all!! I kept thinking of that calf! He was such a little doll! I think he was the tiniest calf we have ever had! That morning when I woke up, I put on all my winter clothes....it was in the single digits! Northeast Ohio weather! That walk out to the hutch seemed to take FOREVER! I was afraid to look in for fear of seeing a dead calf. I opened the blanket that I had put over the door and Oh My Gosh...he was trying to stand! I got him up on his feet and he stood there!!! I was so happy I started to cry! I called my husband crying....my first words were, "GREAT NEWS!" because I knew as soon as he heard me crying he would assume the worst! "He's alive!!!," I cried!! I had never been so happy!! And now he is a little pistol! Wants constant attention! And you should hear him Moo!! And he knows he has me everytime he moos! When I start to walk away, he'll moo...of course I have to go back and give him more attention! This goes on 3 or 4 times before I just have to say, "I HAVE TO INSIDE!!"

This is Chowder. We got him on Saturday. He is a little more timid than Inferno. And as of today, he has scours and will not eat. But he is going to get tubed here in about an hour! With this cold temp, he has to eat or he will dehydrate! I'll keep ya posted on him. But for now here is a photo of him!!

So for now!! Stay warm!! We are expecting 4-8 inches of the white stuff tonight! Maybe school will be cancelled tomorrow!!! SNOW DAY!! YEAH!!! I think I enjoy snow days just as much as the kids!!

Getting ready for Christmas!

Our Italian Tree - insprired by my heritage on my mom's side!

Our Pewter Tree--this was started by my Longaberger ornament collection, but many other pewter ornaments have been added. This picture does not do this tree justice! It has white lights, pearl garland and pewter ornaments with some red poinsettias here and there!


My Christmas decorating is well underway! I only have 2 rooms left to finish! I have the pewter tree in our den. In our dining room, I have the Italian tree and the John Deere tree. In the kitchen, I have a small Polish tree. In the living room I have the miniature Hallmark tree along with a tree that just has Hallmark garden themed ornaments. Next week we will go cut down a live tree that will go in the living room and has all of our other Hallmark ornaments. My son has his full size tree up and a table top one. My daughter has a full size horse themed tree up in her room and a table top horse themed tree. In our upstairs hallway, we have what we call our "Gaga & Popi" tree. What is that, you ask? Well, when my hubby's grandparents moved here from Michigan, I bought them a pencil tree for their apartment and every year I would go over and put it up for them. When they had both passed away I knew I had to put a tree just like that one in memory of them. So I went out and bought a tree and just happened to find all the same ornaments that i had used on their tree! So now we have a "Gaga & Popi" tree! In my bathroom, I usually have a blue themed tree, but this year the lights died and I did not want to wait to go and buy more...I wanted to get it up right then and there. So it is a hodge podge tree this year! In my bedroom will go the snowman tree and a new tree---my Bill Hixson ornament tree! ( I got the pleasure of meeting him the night before we left for Savannah!-I bought a bunch of his ornaments and he signed them!!) All my trees have started out as 4' trees and as I accumulate more ornaments,they grow to 7' trees! I have a tree down in our family room that is all handmade ornaments that people have given me or that I or the kids have made! I am also adding an OSU tree in there this year since the room has an OSU theme to it! Gosh--did I forget any trees???
I just love decorating for the holidays! I owe that to 2 special people that have touched my life! On my dad's side it was my Aunt Joanne. She always had the most festive house at Christmas! We would go over there on Christmas Eve (more about that story later--I will let you know my childhood memories soon!). Anyway..she had colorful Christmas lights EVERYWHERE! I can still picture her mantle and her nook in her kitchen! I always thought "when I grow up this is how I want my house at the holidays!" She will always have a special place in my heart! I miss her and wish she was still here to see my home!
My other inspiration is my Aunt Jo on my mom's side. She is a wonderful person! I loved going to her house on Christmas Day! She always had the most awesome tree you can ever imagine! I can still see it....I loved the chocolate ornaments she would hang on it! I happened to find them last year at World Market and was able to put them on my tree for my kids! It brought back many wonderful memories! I also remember all her pine cone wreaths she had hanging! They were gorgeous! And I remember a wreath that was made out of paper cones and the paper had little squares cut out of them! It was neat!
As you can imagine, I have lights and garland anywhere you can put lights and garland! I do not even have to turn on any regular lights! Nothing is more magical that sitting in the glow of holiday lights! And they must be colored! White lights are pretty, don't get me wrong--but I use those the rest of the year! It is the colored lights I remember as a child!

Today, I am jotting down everything I do for the day and tomorrow I will chronicle my day for you! I am one busy person! Come spend a day with me!

Until tomorrow....

Savannah, Georgia!

One of our "Horse Crazy" photos!

Spanish moss hanging from a tree downtown Savannah!

22 lb. Tom Turkey...looks done to me :)

What a beautiful place! We went to Richmond Hill, GA for Thanksgiving. It is a tradition. We stay with my husband's brother & his family. This year...the WHOLE gang went down! It was fantastic! God love my sister-in-law for putting up with all of us. 20 of us in all! And we all stayed at their lovely home! My husband and I along with the 2 kids got there on Sunday before Thanksgiving. My in-laws came in on Tuesday. And the rest of the family arrived on Wednesday. Here is how the whole trip went:

We left early Saturday morn...like 6am. We drove to Charlotte so that I could spent an evening with my very bestest friend Beth (Old Tyme Design--check out her cool blog!). She was at the Southern Christmas show so I got to do a little shoppin'!! We try to get the hotel before the OSU/Mich game so that Bart & Russ can watch the game, but this year it was an early game...so needless to say, I had to hear football onthe radio! Anyway Beth came over to our hotel to have dinner with us and we exchanged our Christmas gifts! Boy---she knows how to spoil my kids! She gave them a "He Fartsalot"....he can fart Old McDonald! (Everytime I turn around someone is squeezin' his thingy and making him toot!) anyway...it was a short but sweet visit! Then Sunday we got to Savannah around 1pm.

We just chilled out...baked cookies! Teri made great pasta! Then we crashed...went to bed by 8pm....I wanted to watch "24-Redemption but fell asleep as soon as I sat down! I was whipped! Monday morning, we went downtown Savannah! We always eat lunch at The Lady & Sons, owned by Paula Deen! DELICIOUS! If you ever get a chance to go to Savannah----GO!!! What an awesome town! You have to do the "On/Off" tour at Old Savannah Tours! And of course you have to eat at The Lady & Sons....get there right at 11am! Or you will have to wait hours! And you can not miss River Street! and then there is City Market! There is just too much to list! okay...back to my trip! So Monday we also ran to Bass Pro Shop & Camper's World! My hubby was in his glory there----we pulled in and they were taking a $260,000 motor home to get gas and asked if we wanted to ride along and then let him DRIVE!! I was a basketcase! He was in love---and not with me :) no----we did not buy it! But we can always dream!

So back to the house...I made my chicken casserole for dinner and hubby made an awesome salad! I promised my Godchild I would help her make Berry Blue Clouds...a jello dessert! They did come out pretty cool! Tuesday, I took my daughter and 2 nieces shopping and out to lunch while hubby, son & my brother-in-law ran some other manly errands! Tuesday when we got back, the girls and I made 4 pumpkin rolls. My mother-in-law got there and made an apple pie and cherry pie---God Bless her...she made her crust from scratch! I made 4 pumpkin pies and guess what....I rolled out the ol' Pillsbury crust! Thank God for Pillsbury! Then everyone else got there Wednesday. My hubby had to make his wings in the deep fryer. I made the sauces. We made 30 lbs. of wings! I made terriayki, hot, BBQ, & Butter garlic. I also threw together Beth's awesome beans!---Maybe she'll post the recipe on her blog!!

We also got some of the casseroles put together on Wednesday and cut up everything for our stuffing. Needed to make Thanksgiving as stressfree as possible! So we wake up on Thanksgiving...have a couple of casseroles to finish....a 14 lb turkey to fry and a 22 lb. yard bird to bake in the oven! Time to stuff the bird----the bird got all cleaned out after I went to bed on Wednesday. So he comes out of the frig...brother-in-law stuffs him and has an enormous amount of stuffing left...I tell him to stuff the front too. He asks "Where?" I say, "Under that flappy thing!" "Here,?" he points...."YES!!" So he lifts it up.......STILL FULL OF GIZZARDS! So he had to finish "cleanin' out" ol' Tom Turkey and finish stuffing him! I was laughing! I got the biggest kick out of it! I said, "Didn't you wonder where they were last night?" LOL LOL LOL!

Anyway....we got everything cooked and dinner was fabulous! We all added our own little tradional dishes! It was a colaboration of traditions! Another funny story...my sister-in-law made this pineapple cheddar cheese dish...very good! She asked how everyone liked it...and one brother-in-law says, "I didn't get any"...we all pointed out that he did and already ate it...he said, "No, that was my cheesy potatoes!"...so we teased him the rest of dinner about his "Cheesy Potatoes"!!

After dinner my mother-in-law got everyone together for a family photo! She got all the girls a "Horse Crazy" t-shirt to wear and all the guys wore black t-shirts. My kids were crabby because they had not gotten any sleep for 3 days...busy staying up with all the cousins! So they were refusing to get dressed....I was mad at them....needless to say, I'll be surprised if we are all smiling in ours!

And then Friday morning we packed back into the car for our drive back north to the cold snow! As much as I love the south, I gotta have my snow! Especially this time of year!

It was fantastic having everyone together for the first time in ages!

hey that leads me to another GREAT recipe!! My sister-in-law got me hooked on this many Thanksgivings ago! It has become a tradition! It is a recipe from her Grandma B!!

Pear Salad

1 lg Lime Jello

1 lg can pears, reserve juice

2 (3oz.) cream cheese

1 tub cool whip

Combine juice & water to equal 2 C. Boil; dissolve jello. Add pears (cut up into smaller pieces) and cream cheese. Blend. Fold in cool whip. Refrigerate until firm. YUM-MO!!! I can not eat enough of this stuff!!

Kumar

This is Kumar. He is our dairy steer. My son raised 2 dairy beef feeders for 4-H this year and could only take 1 to the fair. So now we have this one to finish raising. Can you guess what Cody named his other dairy beef feeder?? Harold. As in 'Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle.' Well, I guess eventually they could go there....at least he has a sense of humor about it! He gave them their names thanks to our ag agent who always called the two from the previous year, Ham and Burger. So then Cody thought Hamburger... White Castle....Harold and Kumar!!! The down side to that....when we went to Florida last spring, we passed a White Castle. Of course my hubby & kids were JUST tickled....I was ready to barf! And so we HAD to stop. I'm sorry for those of you that like WC, but I think the burgers are like little pieces of bland cardboard stuck in a mushy bun! PUKE PUKE!
So anyway, we have Kumar. He LOVES to eat the tails off my mother-in-law's horses! Poor horses! Well actually they love it!! She had chicken fence installed around the pen so he could not get to their tails....now they back up to the gate-- ON PURPOSE!! They love it! I feel terrible, they have stubby, scrappy looking things hanging behind them! Hopefully one day soon our own barn will be done and he can come next door to our house!

Oh The First Snowfall of the Season...

What a change from the fall photo above! We had our first major snowfall on Monday, November 10! We woke up to this beautiful white stuff! There is nothing more exciting than the first snowfall! And as a tradition for the last 10 years, I ALWAYS ALWAYS call my good friend Beth and play Karen Carpenter singing "The First Snowfall of the Season!" It's tradition! I started doing it 10 years ago when we moved out here. She moved to North Carolina 3 years ago and I still do it! I love snow when I can stay home and watch it out the window! Living out in the country makes it even more beautiful! Looking over to the woods and seeing it accumulate on the branches....the bright red cardinals coming to the feeder....the wind creating snow ponies out in the fields....

Although I must say...when we lived in the city, we would bundle up and put our daughter on a sled and pull her around the neighborhood with the big fluffy flakes falling around us. That was fun too! But I still think winter out here in the country is unforgettable! I am sure the kids will grow up with many great memories to share!

All the snow really put me in the mood for Christmas! And I was excited to see that XM Radio started playing their holiday music 24/7 on Channel 34! You can guess where I have my dial set! I am hoping to start decorating any day now! I'll keep you all posted!

Whoa!

Oh what fun!! I did something unexpected today! I rode a horse!! I dropped my son Cody off at a friend's house and his friend's mom had her two horses saddled up! She asked Cody if he wanted to ride but he said no. So she asked me!! It has been a year and a half since I have been on a horse. We rode around their property. Oh how relaxing! There is nothing better than to be able to leisurely ride around and enjoy the scenery on a horse!

That leads me to a story...I have always been afraid of horses! Why, you ask? Well....you ever notice how they kind of have that Orca eye? You know the eye I am talking about! That movie Orca where the whale just stares at the people on the boat before attacking them!! YIKES!! Whenever I see a horse's eye--I immediately think ORCA!! Well....when my daughter Tori was little, she wanted to take horse riding lessons. Okay. So I signed her up and took her to the stable. We walk to the door and Oh Holy Crud, the lady we are supposed to see is ALL THE WAY DOWN AT THE OTHER END OF THE STABLE! And all I could see were ORCA eyes EVERYWHERE! All the horses (and all the kings men...just kidding) had their heads hanging out the stalls looking at us! And I had to walk the entire length to get to that lady. Take a deep breath, I kept telling myself! I have to do this for my daughter! So I stayed right in the middle of the aisle and tried not to look at those darn Orca eyes! Tori is in her glory--"Look mom! Look at this one...Look at that one!" God, please get me to the other end of this stable! Well lo and behold, Tori decided she wasn't taking lessons unless I was taking them! So...needless to say, I ended up taking riding lessons! And I really enjoyed it! Now that Orca eye doesn't bother me! As a matter of fact, last year we went to Mohican Wilderness for vacation and our package deal included trail riding. My daughter and I went EVERYDAY! We had a blast!

Meet Zoe & Blue!

This is our Blue Heeler named..what else....Blue!! She is about 4 years old and sleeps with her tire! And yes---she sleeps with it in her mouth! She is goofy! We got her through a local benefit auction. She was so ugly that she was cute! I fell in love with her instantly!

Blue also has a "suckle binky"! She carries this blanket around like Linus! She doesn't chew it, but she will suckle it. She will not go to bed unless she has suckle binky! If we go up to bed, we have to open the bedroom door and tell her to go get suckle binky or she will whine all night! Blue is my shadow! I can not do ANYTHING without her! They say that blue heelers develop a strong bond with 1 person in the family...I am that 1 person! She is great with all of us, but she has to be touching me at all times. If I sit on the couch, she has to lay on my feet...as I am typing this blog, she is under the table on my feet. When I sleep at night, she curls up against me and if I move...she moves with me!

This is Zoe! She is our 11 year old black lab. What a sweetheart she is! My husband was working second shift when we first moved out into the country. At the time we had a dalmation named Siren. Well, I'm driving down the road and just a couple of miles from our house there is a sign..."Black Lab Puppies for Sale!" Oh---I just had to stop...and you know once you see a puppy there is NO TURNING BACK! The kids were in love with her too! They were 3 and 1 at the time. Zoe just caught our eye out of the whole litter! Well, you know what happened next! We bought her! Tori held her in her lap...oh the look on her face on the short ride home! Siren was not too happy with us...but they became great friends! At about midnight, Bart comes home from work...as he walked in the door, this little pudgy black ball of fur runs to greet him and attack his feet! "What is this??!!" he exclaimed....I said, "Duhhhhh, it's a puppy!" He named her Zoe. She still gets all excited when she hears his truck pull in after work!