A Quiet Weekend

A couple of weekends ago, my kids went away on a weekend retreat with their youth group to a snow camp at Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire. I was a little sad for me, knowing that it was going to be so quiet in the house for the weekend without them. Rarely are both of the kids gone at the same time for any length of time so it was definitely going to be "different".

With them being gone, it meant that Daryl and I would have all weekend together with just each other. What would we talk about?? What would we do?? It's hard to go back to that time before we had kids and remember what we used to do and talk about. Because I'm a SAHM, my life pretty much revolves around my kids, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect over the weekend without them. As it turned out, it was a very nice, laid back and relaxing weekend and quiet to say the least, without the constant noise of a tv or video game going in the background.

On Friday evening I had gotten a few boxes delivered from UPS so I knew I would be busy over the weekend going through boxes of new items for my website and I also had received a shipment from At Home America, from a home party I'd had earlier. I couldn't wait to go through all the boxes of goodies.

One of the things that I had earned from At Home America, was a wrought iron bowl stand. I had seen it at my friends house (she's also a consultant) during her open house and loved it. Daryl and I put it together on Saturday morning and I spent the rest of the morning filling it and changing things around in my dining room while he puttered around doing his thing.





I also decorated our house for Valentine's, which I don't normally do, but have been so inspired by so many crafty blogger, I just had to do something. Especially since Amanda's birthday was also on Valentine's day.










Daryl and I had many nice talks without being interrupted and enjoyed a small quiet lunch together. Evening came and since the kids were gone, we decided to have a special dinner including seafood. We don't really cook much seafood because the kids don't care for it and I refuse to make two meals at suppertime. It was so nice, both of us working side by side in the kitchen as we prepared a yummy recipe for Kung Pao Shrimp. It was so pretty when we dished it into the plates, I told him it was pretty enough to take a picture. He knows me so well, and told me to go ahead and take a picture before we ate. :)



Here's the recipe if you want to try it. It's delicious!

Ingredients: 1 Cup low-sodium chicken broth
3 TBSP oyster sauce
2 tsp. hot sauce
2 tsp. cornstarch
2 TBSP vegetable oil
1 LB. extra large shrimp, peeled and deveined
1/2 Cup dry roasted peanuts
1 red bell pepper, seed and chopped
3 garlive cloves, minced
1 TBSP grated fresh ginger (we didn't have that so we added about 1/2 tsp ground ginger to the recipe
Directions: Whisk broth, oyster sauce hot sauce and cornstarch in a medium bowl.
Heat 1 TBSP oil in large skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking (ours didn't smoke). Add shrimp and peanuts and cook until shrimp isn't opaque anymore; transfer to a plate. Add remaing oil and bell pepper to empty skillet and cook until lightly browned. Stir in garlic and ginger and cook until frangrant (we cooked for about a minute). Stir in broth mixture and bring to a boil. Add shrimp and peanuts and simmer until sauce has thickened and shrimp are cooked through. Serve over white rice.


I hope if you try this recipe, you enjoy it. Drop me a post if you do. I'd love to hear from you. Thanks for visiting and listening while I shared about our quiet weekend. Hugs & blessings~ Birgit

One small task

Have you ever done this? You start out with one small task in mind and you easily get side tracked in the process when you realize that something else needs to be done before you do that. And, once that little job is done, it causes something else that needs to be done. Before you know it, you're miles away from getting the original task done. Am I making any sense at all???


Well, that's what my daughter Amanda, and I found ourselves caught up in last week. The kids were on vacation from school so we borrowed my mom & dad's carpet shampooer with the plan of getting the carpets washed in the house during vacation. My son Christopher, the muscles we needed to move the furniture, would be home to help clear the rooms and by the end of the week, we'd have clean carpets throughout the house! It sounded like a good plan at the time...

First thing on Monday morning, my kids and I started clearing all of Amanda's things out of her bedroom as it was going to be the first room we'd tackle during our week long vacation.

We got all her treasured possesions (and she has a LOT!) and her furniture moved out. It was then that I thought we should paint her closet doors since they hadn't been painted since Daryl hung them a few months ago. We went down to the basement to see if we had any trim paint left and discovered that there was none so a trip to the hardware store was needed.

Amanda and I went to the hardware store and picked up a quart of paint and went back home and I started to paint her closet doors. It was then that we realized that the color wasn't exactly the same color as her trim paint from before so I had to go around her room and paint all the rest of her trim and bedroom door so that it would match. No problem!

With that job complete and the oil based paint left to dry, I got to looking around her room and up at her ceiling. BIG MISTAKE! She used to have those glow in the dark stars stuck to her ceiling and she took them off over a year ago. Once removed, they left behind a wad of hard clay-like adhesive that we couldn't remove without destroying the sheetrock on the ceiling. I thought, since your room is empty, we really should fix that.

So, Tuesday morning, we get up and scrape little mounds of hard clay from her ceiling, pulling paint and sheetrock as we worked. Christopher came up from playing his video game and helped sand and fill the holes with spackle which we then sanded again once they were dry.

I called my hubby to tell him what we were doing and that we were now in need of ceiling paint. Do we have any in the basement??? Thankfully, with him being in construction, we always have buckets of paint in storage from previouse jobs. Lucky for us, he happened to have some flat white paint in a 5 gallon bucket that we could use to give the ceiling a fresh new paint job! I finally got the ceiling painted and moved on to put a second coat of paint on the closet doors and trim. That was Tuesday...


Waking up on Wednesday morning and looking at how great the room was coming together, we decided that her walls should now be repainted too. You can't do all this work and stop short of redoing the whole entire room!

We did take a bit of a break on Wednesday, and I took the kids shopping and out to lunch. It was a good break for all of us! When we got back home, I found two half gallons of wall paint that were the same color, so I mixed them together and jumped right in to painting her walls.

While Amanda taped out her newly painted trim with painters tape, I started cutting in the ceiling and corners. We worked so well as a team. By the time she was done taping off the baseboard, I was about ready to start cutting in around the doors and window. She cut in the wall above the baseboard. We got the room painted by late Wednesday afternoon though struggling with little chunks of rust from mixing the two old cans of paint together. Yep! We need to do a second coat of paint on the walls tomorrow.

Thursday morning we get up and head to the hardware store again this time for a new gallon of wall paint (one without chunks). We sanded the walls and got rid of all the little chunky monkeys and gave the walls a second coat of paint.

Finally, with that being done, we replaced all the outlet and switch covers and prepared to WASH HER CARPET! Yes, we finally cleaned her carpet and allowed the carpet to dry for a few hours. By mid afternoon, we were moving all her furniture and prized possesions back into her room.




Her room looks like a brand new room with fresh new paint everywhere.


That's her kitty, Adventure with her shaved belly. Her hair still hasn't grown back since her surgery.




What started out as a small task, turned into a week of living around all her stuff being moved into the dining room and entry way, she spent the week sleeping on our couch and I only got one carpet washed during the whole entire vacation. Oh well, there's always April vacation!

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Since I always like to include pictures with my posts, I've got a couple more to share with you. I make all my own fixin's for my website so I have lots of pretty, dried botanicals that I need to find storage for. I keep them all in old canning jars of different shapes and sizes until I'm ready to mix up a batch. I've placed them on my kitchen window sills this winter because I love to see the sun light shining through them. To me, this gives me the warmth of a primitive rainbow streaming into my kitchen.





Thanks for stopping by to visit! Hopefully I won't be away as long as my last post. Hugs & blessings to you~ Birgit

Surprising News & Valentine's

Hello all my blogging friends! I hope you're all enjoying a taste of calmer weather. Here in Maine, believe it or not, we're showing signs of spring. Normally we don't look for spring until mid to late March but I've already seen my first sign of spring.... the red breasted robin! I've never seen them here this early in the year, but not only have I seen them but many of my friends and family have seen them as well. At first we thought that maybe they were confused but on Sunday, we had a beautiful balmy day of 45 degrees! We're still expected to have cold weather and a storm moving in this evening, but I just know that spring is around the corner and I can't wait for it to arrive full swing!

Anyway, as I mentioned in my title as well as in a previous post, that I had some exciting news. It's exciting to me anyway. Some of you probably already know the news that I'm going to share with you but that's okay too. Are you ready? Here it goes....

My name was chosen as the winner of the Crazy Ladies Primitives give away!!!

To me, that's very exciting news because I never win anything. I did win a green Tupperware colander once when I was a little girl, at the penny fair with my mom. My mom said it was time to go and I said we couldn't go yet because they hadn't called my name yet as a winner. My mom thought I was crazy but she let us stay longer and sure enough, they called my name. I didn't know what I had won at the time but it didn't matter. They called my name over the intercom and I had been a winner! My mom used that green colander for years and years for as long as I could remember. She still laughs when she tells that story how certain I was that I was going to win something.

Anyway, that being said, the package was waiting for me in my mailbox this afternoon when I went to the post office. I couldn't wait to get home to open the package. Annie is so sweet and she is incredibly gifted in her crafting and I couldn't be more pleased with my stack of hearts.

I mentioned that my daughter, Amanda's birthday is also on Valentine's day so I set the stack of hearts right near her picture on the desk in our livingroom. They will go in her room after her birthday gathering with the family. Thank you so much, Annie and all the gals from CLP. You're a wonderful, gifted and talented group and I appreciate your thoughtfulness from the bottom of my heart!

Since it's getting close to Valentine's day and my sweet Amanda's birthday, I've been decorating a little bit too. We don't normally decorate for Valentine's day, mostly because I don't have any decorations for that time of year, but this year, I tried to get a little more into decorating for Amanda and her special day. I guess it's because I'm so inspired by all the creative gals who's blogs I read and visit. There is so much creativity and sharing it's hard not to get the itch to do some of it in my own home.

I saw on Debbie's blog, back at Christmas time, she had made a sweet NOEL banner using scrapbooking supplies. Since I'm also a stamper and scrapper, I thought I would make one for Valentine's day. This is how it turned out.
















I know it's not very primitive looking, but it will be nice for her birthday gathering with the family. I used vintage looking Valentine stickers and heart shaped postage stamps and cancellation stamps. I added glitter to the letters since Amanda just adores glitter.

Here's a picture of the top of the hutch that I hung it on.


Well, I guess I'm off for now as I've got to get supper started. Thanks for stopping by and visiting me. Until next time, have a blessed evening! Hugs ~ Birgit

"Tagged" and Valentine's Day Cards

Hello blogging friends~ It's a cold, dark, dreary day here in Maine but it's warm and cozy inside by the crackling woodstove. I've got a pot of water on the woodstove with some of our simmering potpourri in it and it smells oh, so wonderful! I've mixed this blend of fixin's myself and it includes dried orange slices and peels, whole anise, cinnamon sticks, bay leaves and whole cloves. I've added a splash of orange spice scented oil and it is just heavenly as it sits simmering on the stove!

I don't normally put in plugs for my website here, but I'm going to today. If you'd like to try some of this wonderful simmering potpourri, you can find it here at
The Primitive Country Bug. Our homemade fixin's are one of our best selling items.

As I mentioned in my title, I've been tagged! Although I just made the choice the other day to be tag and award free, I chose to do this one because it was different than any I've done in the past. I was tagged by my good friend Catherine or "Cat" as she is lovingly called lives in Paris, France.
Here is the challenge :


Open "my pictures" folder.

In the 6th folder, take the 6th picture and post it on your blog.

Write something about the picture.

Challenge 6 new people to join this challenge.
Here's my picture

I was sent this picture as well as a couple others of Jesus with children. They are pencil drawn and I wish I knew who the artist is so I could pay proper credit to them. They are the most detailed and wonderful drawings I've ever seen! Here's a couple others that were there.




I love how the pictures portray the loving, compassionate and fatherly side of our Lord Jesus. I've used these images to make cards for different occasions. They look wonderful and soft, printed out on vellum paper. Add a verse and some cardstock and you've got yourself some homemade cards. Wouldn't your friends or loved ones love to recieve such a thoughtful, homemade card??

Since most everyone I know is no long taking part in tags and awards, feel free to just take this tag and post about a picture in your blog. If you do, be sure to let me know so I can stop by for a visit.

And speaking of cards... I finished making my Valentine's Day cards just the other day so it seemed only fitting that I'd share those with you here too.

This first card is so easy for even the unseasoned card maker. I got the free February calendar graphic from
Sunflower Friends. You must check out this website for some fun graphics. Her prices are very affordable and she always lists some up for free too. They're great for so many crafting uses. Again, just add some cardstock and ribbon and you've got some cute homemade Valentine's cards to share with your family and neighbors.


This card was made using an older stamp that I've had for years but I still enjoy using it for different occasions.
I enjoy giving hand made greeting cards for every occasion.

These next three cards are made using a new stamp set that I found at Cornish Heritage Farms. They've got lots of great vintage images as well as a couple of primitive sets. I knew the moment I saw them that I just had to have them.



So, that's all I have for you today. I do however, have some exciting news coming up. I'll be posting about it soon. Until then, have a safe and happy day! Hugs & blessings to you all~ Birgit

Wild Lynx and My Favorite Things

Here it is, Super Bowl Sunday and I'm typing away at my blog. I've got the game going in the background and dear hubby and son watch with excitment, who's going to win. We've got the woodstove going and it's snug and warm. I took Char's advice and stitched most of this Sunday away. I got two projects finished and ready for staining and another in the works that I'll share with you all in another post.

As I mentioned in one of my previous posts, I've got some great photo's of some wild lynx that were spotted up north by friends of ours while snowmobiling. The lynx were taking their time crossing the road while our friends looked on in curious fear. Thankfully, they had their camera handy!








The lynx weren't even afraid of the snowmobiles!!



Last week I enjoyed reading about Tammy's favorite things that began with the letter "H". I felt that I was up to the challenge and asked her to send me a letter and that I'd give it a try. Well, she gave me the letter "N". Do you know how hard it is to come up with 10 things that begin with the letter "N"? I dug deep into my thoughts and came up with some things that I would call MY FAVORITES for the letter "N".

1. New Testament ~ I love the Old Testament too, in fact I love God's word entirely!
2. Nostalgia ~ I love old stories, especially reading about life in the 1800's.

3. New Magazines ~ Okay, I'm going out on a limb with this one, but I soooo look forward to my NEW magazines each month!


4. Networking ~ I have enjoyed blogging so much more than I ever thought I would and the people I've met through doing this is priceless!
5. Nuthatches ~ well, I love all the birds that come to visit my feeders each day, but BIRDS doesn't begin with the letter "N".


6. Notepads ~ I love cute primitive notepads of all sizes and shapes. I'm an office supply junkie!
7. Needlepoint ~ or stitcheries as we all like to call them. Maybe there's a difference between needlepoint and stitcheries but you do stitchin' with the point of a needle, so I guess it's considered the same.
8. Our Nation, the good ol' USA ~ How can we not love the freedoms we enjoy and so many times take for granted. I'm so thankful for our Nation and remember our nation and it's government in my prayers.
9. Nativity ~ This should have been listed as one of the top ones, as it signifies the birth of my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
10. Neighbors ~ Mark 12:31 "The second is this: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'There is no commandment greater than these."

Since I was on a roll, here's a few more of my favorite things that I thought of that begin with the letter "N".
Narcissus
Nests
Going to Nursery's
New England
Novels (Christian romance are my fave's)
Needful's (need I say more?)

Thanks for stopping by and visiting me. If you want to be challenged, just leave me a comment and ask for a letter. I'd be happy to send you one! Until next time dear friends~ Hugs & blessings to you all! ~ Birgit