Can you believe it is almost the end of January?

How is it possible that in just a couple of weeks it will be 2 months since you were here for our open house and this coming Saturday we will have been living in our new home one whole year already.  Could it be that we all become so focused on the things we need to take care of each day that we don't even realize that weeks are passing?
  I know this has been a really mild winter for Wisconsin but Lyle was just reading a article, Woodland Dunes submitted to the paper, that the Larkspurs are here already and the Robins should be back in our area in 5 weeks.  That means Spring won't be far behind.
     I have been busy getting the paper work in place ( the legal stuff-permits-bank, and contacting some of my past vendors) to start a little gift shop again, and so far it is going fairly well.  I will keep you posted on how everything is progressing.  
Wanted to show you where I sit when I come to visit with you.  Yes my modern looking computer is hidding under that olde time napkin. LOL

Gosh! Who ordered this weather?

Okay!  Minus 17 degrees as a wind chill for a couple of days followed by today being dismal-foggy-rainy-windy-is a bit much for me, so I'm going to keep my face buried in a spring flower catalog until the temps get back into the 30s.
 I have been using these cold days to be domestic-
Starting up the wood burning stove:  Yes!  I do get up and do that! Actually I take turns with Hubby.
It is chilly in the morning before we start our wood burning stove- but I do get nice and toasty as soon as we have it started.   

  Used those really cold days to bake crescent dinner rolls and I am able to raise the  dough right on the top piece of soap stone in my big redware bowl. Love doing things the old time way.  Made a big pot of chicken soup to go with the rolls.  There is nothing quite a good as a big pot of soup on horrible cold days.

And then the creative monster took hold of me and forced me to try using my quilt crane that is mounted next to the wood burner to dry orange peelings and form them into wreaths and also slit and dry oranges.  The wreaths have turned out fine and the whole oranges are still drying.

Well I will say good bye for today and hope you are all snug in your homes this evening. 
Hugs
Carol                                     










  

 We did have a chance to take Petey and Simon out for a short walk during that cold snap, but we could only be out a little while before their paws started to freeze up.
You guessed it-there we are out in the freezing cold and I stop to take off my mittens to warm up their paws.  I'm thinking that the cars that went passed thought I had lost it.  Oh well isn't the first time and probably won't be the last.

Beating the January Blues!

I think perhaps I carried some of the (Carol child) into adulthood, as I still so love everything about Christmas.
The scent of evergreens-candles-baking
Decorating the house from top to bottom,
The loving warmth of friends and family
The quiet beauty of a snowfall, and how it clings to tree branches is a wonder in itself.
All these gifts that God has given to us to see and enjoy become so much more clear at Christmas time.
   So when January rolls around and I know it is time to start putting away some of the decorations it is a sad time for me.  Granted my waistline is very happy that Thanksgiving and Christmas are over, LOL, but it's still a sad time. 
    I know a lot of you have thought I was crazy in the past, (because I love snow) and you are probably right.  However the beauty of snow is one of the things that help me beat cabin fever until Spring.  A new snow fall makes the world look clean again, and it lights up the whole landscape in the moonlight.
Take time to really see how it outlines all the branches on a bush or the tree branches which are so barren of leaves at this time of year.
  I know in the cities and towns snow isn't all that beautiful, but think how the snow feels-  it falls to the ground to try to make everything pristine and  beautiful - and here come the people with their cars to make it dirty again. Aaaaargh!
 Now seriously if you can take the time to walk the trails in a State Park and just enjoy the peaceful beauty around you it really does chase away the cabin fever. 
   I did say last time I posted that I would show you what the house looks like when it isn't decorated for Christmas.  So here are a few picutres!




This was taken last summer and is the Kitchen part of the greatroom.



This is the livingroom side of the greatroom



Here I am up in the loft bedroom, this is the walkway which leads to the stairway to the Kitchen.

This is the loft bedroom.  I do love how this area turned out with the furniture we made ourselves.  As you can see it was a beautiful windy day-I had the window open and the wind was blowing the curtain.



This is another area of the loft bedroom



This is our little loft bathroom.

I will post a couple more in the next few days and also let you know what I have been doing since Christmas.