Valentine Swap Package & the big Snow!

So our blizzard ended late morning yesterday dropping a grand total of 20" here in Eastern Long Island. The predictions had been almost three feet. I was actually getting a little scared with all the news coverage as the storm was getting closer. The weather people were kind of making it feel like an impending doom..they were scary!" Historic proportions of snow" was one of the terms used. 20" is alot but we have had more! A little further out on our island they had 30". West of us towards Manhattan only had 6-10". I live about an hour from the city. An hour makes a big difference! Below is the view out my front door.

Right before the storm started I did receive a package! From Kim K., my Valentine swap partner. We both participated in the Valentine swap that Viv had. Check my sidebar for their great blogs:  Musings from Kim K and Viv Out on a Whim. All I have to say is I was thrilled!

The pictures do not do this incredible gift justice! Valentine ornaments, vintage valentines....Even a Chinese style lantern which I haven't opened yet!

Lovely embellishments so I can make more ornaments for my tree! Which I did during the snow storm!

I love this vintage style Valentine box of chocolates! It is now serving as a backdrop to some of my decorations in my new hutch. I love you Kim!

A beautiful card and a clingy for the window!

This card is just the sweetest thing. I'm gonna have a hard time putting that away when the holiday is over.

A beautifully decorated Valentine heart! I put my vintage Valentines in it to store them. What better place?

Such wonderful things and I truly thank you!

These vintage Valentines are the coolest. I remember ones like this when I was little too.

It was such a fun swap! Kim should get my package to her by tomorrow. I mailed it before the snowstorm!
Have a great day! Today a shovel is my new best friend as I prepare to go out and do a little more clean up!

It's Snowing! Get the Shovels!

Happy snowy Saturday! Snow day for us today and it looks like Sunday night into Monday will be another. I think I'm going to stay in and play today. I finished my Valentine swap items and they are ready to be shipped. Maybe later my husband will take me to the post office so I can get that mailed away.

I've been working on different bird items using mushroom birds. Sometimes I use extra little resin birds I have too.

I made a few tea cup birds and one with a match holder that came out cute. I'll photo that one later. What have you been working on?

It was a busy week here. My husband picked up our new dining set. I'm thrilled as our old one, which really wasn't very old, had been a lot of trouble lately with chairs that were no longer sturdy :(  It was stressful trying to repair them only to find it was a temporary fix. Now no worries!

I love the hutch and it has a nice light inside! Six chairs for the table. The set looks perfect for the spot it is in. Little Jinxie thinks so too. He loves to photo bomb my pictures.

I had fun decorating my hutch and I was also glad that I didn't have to remove my corner hutch as that was one of the first pieces I ever bought from Lancaster many years ago and I have an attachment to it. It must be in my home forever!

Caitlin made some Valentine ornaments for the Valentine tree--little Love Bugs. She's my love bug.

SO today that it is looking like this:

I think I'll take it easy (like Miss Molly Moo below) and clean a little, craft a little, make some chocolate chip cookies (cause Caitlin has been asking to do them) , and make a roast beef tonight for dinner....maybe shovel a little (or not!) and just settle in!

Have a super day!

Rainy Sunday

Woke up even earlier than I usually do this morning. And believe me, I'm an early riser! I'm thinking on this rainy day I would like to do a few things such as Valentine crafts, and make a few little changes around with the knick knacks, Take some out to display, put a few away, etc. Just rotate a few things!Change it up a bit. That means going into my big closet upstairs so you may never hear from me again! I love digging through there cause sometimes I forget about things I have but I can get lost among the piles....  :)

Are you decorated for Valentine's Day yet? I've done some. I picked up this little girl below at the the thrift shop along with the little tea pot,  tea cup combo. Have I told you I'm in love with chamomile tea? Me...an affirmed coffee drinker and part time tea drinker has discovered this wonderful tea! I look forward to it every day!

I'm making more bird crafts too using tea cups and other things I can find and working on a Valentine swap for my swap partner that is just about ready to go! I made something really cute and country looking yesterday. I have to photograph it to show you.

Our Girl Scout troop had a great guest speaker the other evening. My friend Debbie is not only our school crossing guard but also a licensed vet technician. She does animal rescues and also is the owner of Gina, a therapy dog. Little Gina is a golden retriever who had been hit by a car ten years ago and doesn't have the use of her hind legs. She drags them. However when Debbie adopted her right after she was found, she discovered Gina had an incredible will to succeed and a great disposition. So she became a therapy dog.

Debbie had a scooter built for Gina's hind legs. She also has a special carriage for her and special suits for her legs. Gina visits hospitals, hospice, schools and is even a mascot for the Special Olympics events held here in Commack and Northport. My troop loved her and Debbie! Gina is truly Debbie's baby! Our girls learned so much about the services of therapy pets and how important it is to serve others as our Lord intended . Gina thrills the people she visits and cheers them up with her loving personality.

The girls also felt that animals with disabilities make great pets and should never be counted out at adoption.

 As for me, I'm off to the store to get some parmesan cheese as I just ran out after making a batch of meatballs when I woke up this morning for dinner later. I'm in the mood for spaghetti and meatballs. When my husband got up he said "the house smells delicious!"

Happy Sunday! Stay dry!

Outside My Window...

Snow was falling....now it stopped. We got about 2". It was so peaceful this morning to look out. I had two cups of coffee and then had to get moving to wake my husband up!

My patio set and my bird feeders...

Out my front door on to the front porch...I still have a lit tree on my porch. No Christmas ornaments on it; just white lights. It is still fresh and pretty so it will be here a while.

The wood burning stove with my water pump below. Waiting to hold some begonia and geranium next Summer.

 Valentine hearts and my shed in the background. So pretty and peaceful.

Caitlin has our Girl Scout Father/Daughter dance tonight. We call it an escort dance but it is 99% Dads. The theme this year is "Once Upon A Time..." My co-leader made some adorable blue and silver candy bags and I made these hand mirrors.

They have long ribbons to flow. The tag says "Who's the Fairest of them all?" I hope they like them. My husband said the girls dance the first dance with their Dads and then run around the whole time and eat the snacks. The Dads just hang out and talk. Still a fun night for all.

I've been doing a lot of cooking this week in the cold weather. I made chilli and chicken francese and muffins and a rustic Italian tomato stew. Our temps have been hovering near 0. It's going to be that way on into the weekend. Cold weather just makes me want to cook and when I cook I eat.....

Stay in and be cozy !

Have a great weekend!

It's A Brand New Year!

Happy New Year everyone! As I saw on someone's facebook page "think of a new year as a blank journal with 365 empty pages! Now fill them in with wonderful things!" I'm planning on doing just that! I don't need a ton of excitement but even if I have a few special days this year and accomplish at least a few of my goals, then I will feel it was a successful 2015. I'm already blessed with a beautiful family and friends and good health. What more could I ask for?

All the Christmas decorations are packed away but I did leave out my snow people and Winter-like decorations. Also kept up my candy tree as it is red and white and  I plan to add some hearts for Valentine's Day. It looks so sweet. I'm sure Santa was looking forward to relaxing after a very busy Christmas. I love all my decorations but I was relieved once it was all finally packed up again and the house was dusted and cleaned. You know the feeling. See you in 300 and something days Santa! Say hi to Merry our elf on the shelf.

The bird feeders have been busy outside. We have some very cold weather settling in this week with highs only in the teens so the birds are fattening up, as are my squirrels.  Jinxie and Moo Moo are enjoying the view though Jinxie can barely contain his excitement. Red Cat just looks on amused by the antics of his silly younger brother. Those are all three of our cats. Red Cat is between 10-11 years old. He's called Red Cat because many years ago when he was stray I was feeding, I would say to the kids "where is the red cat? did you feed the red cat?" so he thought that was his name.....though my kids always say "he is orange, Mom." Oh well!

I love the birds so much and feeding them brings so much joy to the house..not just for the cats. I made this little tea cup the other day.

I'm still receiving some of my ebay purchases to expand my mouse collection. I added this fellow the other day. He could go on the candy tree if I wanted to but instead I'm adding him to a shelf I have.

Here are some of them:

Not putting these little critters away either. I also visited my favorite thrift shop and Christmas was 1/2 off so I got a few more items I fell in love with though I didn't get to photograph some of them since I put most of them away. I left out this lady below. I couldn't pass her up. I saw her before Christmas and realized I didn't buy her after I got home from the last trip. She was sitting sadly on a pile of blankets and I knew no one was buying her. But she's a sweetheart, and I now have her out in my parlor. She isn't getting packed away just yet. She's homemade and she's wonderful.

I also got this little snow guy. I got the other one in his set on the last trip but never saw him there till now.

Caitlin attached this adorable baggy to the top of my Christmas present. It contains hot cocoa mix, a candy cane, marshmallows, and a chocolate kiss along with the cute little poem. What a sweet idea for a Sunday school class or a Girl Scout troop or even as a little party favor if you have a Winter gathering of lady friends for brunch or something.

That's all for me today! I have a few things to do  but they'll be brief stops as my husband is sick with a bad cold and Caitlin has a bronchial infection. I made some mac and cheese yesterday that came out good. I used the recipe on the back of the Muellers elbow macaroni box. Only thing I added was a good amount of both onion and garlic powder. Without that addition, it would have been very bland. Those flavorings made it super yummy. Very creamy and scrumptious. Comfort food is amazing. Have a super Sunday!