Surprises are around every corner!

We have four chickens.

And they have been laying WONDERFULLY this past summer!

And have I told you that a fresh chicken egg tastes AMAZING?

I refrigerate them as soon as they lay them (washed of course)

but they really do taste delicious.

I'd been noticing that our red hen had been escaping the yard a lot!

(crawling under the delapidated fence)

Well, a few days ago Emily was strolling around the perimeter

of the fence to look for Red and just look at what she found.....

TWENTY eggs that girl had been laying outside of our backyard!!!!

I had to ditch them all....they were spoiled ~

Funny hen, she was sitting on them all when Emily found them!

More snapshots of sweet Clara being Clara ~

She's quite the ham you know!

I finally added a few fluffy pillows to the guest bed.

Do you see David's guitar still propped in the corner?

Since he left, the sweet boy hasn't been back!

I think he was SO ready to not live with his mom and dad....

but he'll return soon....

I have his grilling tools and that boy LOVES to grill out!

I found something neat this past weekend, so you know I have to share!

I went to w-mart to get the fluffy pillows I needed....queen sized and perfect to fill

the beautiful handmade pillowcases that my dear friend Ann Perry gave me!

They have long, gorgeous ruffles on the ends ~

Well, anyway, what I found was a travel pillow form that they have!
(in the bedding dept)

For only THREE BUCKS!

I had a sweet, quilted pillow sham with roses and inserted the travel pillow into one end,

then let the other half fold over the front ~

Yes, the folds are still there as I've had this sham for several years!

I found this sweet sham at Ross and just loved the fabric.

If you need an inexpensive pillow form that's about a third

of the size of a standard pillow, this is a great deal :)

More treasures in our guest room...

A sweet friend emailed me last week.

Debi told me she had a few sheets of ledger paper that she knew I'd love!

I thanked her dearly and returned her email with my address.

Look at what arrived this past weekend!!!

A sweet gift Debi knew I would love ~

Precious trims ~

Beautiful shells ~

Just look at how teeny tiny the ledger handwriting is!

Thank you so very much Debi ~ I absolutely LOVE it all!!!

On a last note...

I found one lone bloom of wisteria on our back fence ~

can you tell where it ended up?

It will be preserved for eternity!!!

This is the progress of it's pressing:

I sure hope the comment thing is fixed....

I so miss hearing from you guys!!!!!

Wishing you a wonderful fall Monday dear friends ~

hugs and love,

Dawn

The sweet, simple things ~

Our last chicken has finally started laying eggs!

I've been waiting patiently as I knew they would be AMAZING!!!!

Just look at the color of her eggs.....

HAVE YOU EVER SEEN A MORE BEAUTIFUL COLOR??!!

I've been seriously considering taking one to

Lowes or Home Depot to have it color matched for paint.

Am I crazy? The color is the softest, palest, blue green....

I love this tiny box. It was a gift and is filled with tiny treasures.....

Simple little things like this make me smile ~

What's so amazing is my sweet friend Gail

has the exact same box with tiny vintage cards inside....

for sale in her Etsy shop!!!

While I'm loading photos onto my computer, I look over and right beside me,

nestled in a basket in my studio, is my precious Thelma ~

cozy and happy, I had to smile.

Then she realizes she's been spotted!

Then she sneaks out to visit me for a minute!

Another thing making me smile today is that I finished my sachets!!

They are are all sold and I'm so very thankful....

Take time to notice the simple things...the small, sweet things ~

they will always make you smile!!!

Wishing you a great Friday my dear friends ~

hugs and love to you,

Dawn

My sweet babies ~

I'm so proud of them!!!

Our chickens are really getting busy!

I finally had enough pullets (baby eggs) that I thought I'd cook some cheese eggs

and give them a little taste....

they were absolutely DELICIOUS!!!!

A little salt, a little pepper, a sprinkle of cheddar cheese

and we're talking just wonderful!

I couldn't believe how strong the shells were and

how yellow the yolks are!!!

Emily and Brent were strolling 'round in the back thirty behind our house

and found our pear trees....

they're just now putting out fruit ~ not quite ripe but so beautiful!

I can wait :)

Pears are heavenly, don't you think?

My big accomplishment today?

Cooking a big ol' batch of pinto beans with a yummy ham steak in my crock pot,

add some cooked collard greens, chopped vidalia onions and then homemade

cornbread cooked in my iron skillet.....it was A GREAT DINNER!!!

And the best thing...all the boys, Emily and Clara were all here

except my sweet son, Brad ~

Mama's always want all of their babies around!

Have a great Wednesday dear friends,

hugs and love,

Dawn

Chicken love....

Clara tries feeding them her vanilla wafers.....

I hope you are having a wonderful weekend sweet friends!!!

We're up to three eggs now...YAAAY!!

hugs and love,

Dawn

Farmhouse livin'!

My chickens are now about six months old and

I've been checking online so I'd know when to expect them

to begin laying their eggs....

So I mosey on out to the coop today and look what I found!!!!

Two of the most beautiful tan eggs ever!!!

Of course, I'm such a goob, I had to place them in a nest

for the photo shoot....like I'm a new grandma showing them off!

They're not really that big....maybe the first ones are smaller?

I'm not too familiar with chicken stuff.

I think I'm going to have to blow these out and save them,

Kinda crazy? Oh yeah. But who cares ~

I just love them.....

I believe these two eggs are from my two barred rocks...the black and white striped chickens ~

I found this pic online of a barred rock egg ~ looks kinda like them I think!

OH! and this next photo may totally gross you out

but look what my son "took care of" this evening!!!

Yes, I know a king snake is good to get rid of critters but I DIDN'T

want this snake getting rid of my chickens OR their eggs!!!!

He was a creepy 6 feet long!

Ahhhh. Farmhouse livin'....it's the life for me!

Have a great Friday sweet friends ~

hugs and love to you all,

Dawn