Shaker Town

Sorry, was MIA yesterday. Got a bug of some sort and spent the day sleeping. I am up and better today. The sun is shining and all is well.

My most favorite part of the trip was our trip to Shakertown. ABSOLUTELY fascinating! Which of course has spurred my interest in many of these village like religions. FASCINATING!

At Shakertown they believed in absolute celibacy. Men and women were to reside together as brothers and sisters. But in order to submit to the Lord, they must not give in to flesh desires--that such of a relationship between a man and a woman. Each of the homes had 2 doors and 2 sets of staircases. The men on the left and women on the right.

The believed in simplicity. Only the mere necessities.

They did have childrens quarters as often when married couples joined the church they brought a family. They also took in orphans. Those not left on the doorstep, but those actually adopted legally. Orderlies would then raise the children. Because when you joined you gave up your parental obligations.

Shakers were the first to sell packaged seeds in markets. This is part of their filing system for the packages.

Notice how EMPTY the home seems. I dont know if this is because they dont have enough artifacts to FILL the entire village or if this is truly how they lived. SIMPLE.

I absolutely LOOOOVED this! I have seen the irons many times when we have gone out junking and I even remember one in my grandmother's house. But never had I seen a whole bushel of them!

Another photo that I didnt get (thought I had) was of the washing machine. Yes, it was a MACHINE! It was agitated with a poley and little wheel that was powered by a horse that was outside.

They made all of their clothing. It was fun to see the woman actually making the thread and showed us all of the wheels and props they used to count yardages and so much more.

This is a handcrafted staircase that is 3 stories high over in the Inn. Its absolutely gorgeous. And whats more fascinating about it...is that over across the way there is another exactly like it. For the men and women of course.


25 miles of this rock fence surround the property.
Of course... horses were there.

This picture is on the second floor of one of the homes. You can see the dual stair cases going up and and down on either side.

The dining hall also had a mens and ladies side.



One thing that I noticed was that throughout the ENTIRE house there was a peg board about 5-6 feet off the floor on nearly every wall. This was because they didnt believe in laying things down. If something was not in use it needed to be hung up. No pictures or decoration per say was hung with NAILS either. These little mantel shelves held the lighting throughout...and they were made with holes in the handles to hang on the boards.

Though men and women resided together the Ministry did not. They ate alone and the slept in another building.

I am hoping to get some ink to paper today! I have missed playing!

Have a blessed day!-Becky

Blessed be the day --cause its MONDAY!

The Kentucky Horse Park was a lot of fun. Even despite the fact that it was very cold and very windy throughout our tour. We had a really good time though seeing the museums and the different horses. One thing that we can say about Kentucky is that the entire Lexington area has enough Equestrian statues to fit half of an army. Every street corner, every park, every waterfountain, every wall had a horse of some sort. And miles and miles and miles of horse farms. Both sides of every road way is lined with horse fences. Beautiful and yet hypnotizing as well.


Not a fantastic picture of Heather, but unfortunately NONE of the shots of her at the horsepark are any good. She was peeved with me for not taking her horse back riding. I was already freezing to death it was a 35 minute ride and well...reasonings go on and on. Nevertheless she was upset.
And how many hh are you?

We learned several fascinating things about the horses there. Like the reason that there are double fences around most of the farm pastures is due to territorial battles. To keep the horses from picking, biting and fighting with each other over the fences. Also that none of the fields have squared corners. Since the horses get so wrapped up in whatever it is that they are paying attention to they would run into corners without paying attention. So the fences are all rounded...no corners.

Also at this perfectly aligned and close together cemetary the horses are burryed. But only the essence of them are...the hooves, the hearts and manes. The rest is cremated and sprinkled over the farm.

This was just a statue, but I thought it was cool to walk under a horse, cant say I had ever done that before!

Its Monday! My favorite day! --go be blessed!-b

A gentle reminder that worldly things are only temporary

We are home! Our Spring Break was awesome! We had a fabulous time in Kentucky! I have sooo much to tell you about and so many great photos to share with you, but today...I ask each of you to stop. Please say a prayer for New Midway Baptist Church. Though, we are not active in this church right now, I do consider the congregation my family and this building, my home. Last evening it burned to the ground. The cause has not yet been determined, but the building is a complete loss. All that remains standing is the brick core. The side that is in this photo is of class rooms, I couldnt get a photo of the sanctuary as the fire engines were still there this morning when I went by. Oh how I pray that this small stepping stone in the church family's life only makes it stronger.

In You, O Lord, I put my trust...Deliver me speedily;
Be my rock of refuge, a fortress of defense to save me.

For YOU are my rock and fortress. Therefore,
for Your name's sake, Lead me and guide me....
Psalms 31:1-3

Lord, it is for my friends and family at New Midway that I pray for this evening. For this is just a mere building. Please give them strength to overcome this tribulation and pull together as a family. Please bless the firemen and workers as they rest and recover. Bless those as they seek your guidence in rebuilding.

Lord I also ask a special prayer for our family. My husbands grandmother is resting in the hospital this evening as yet another step further into dimentia. We wish her peace and comfort and especially peace upon my mother in law as she struggles with this trying time. May each feel your warmth over them.

Its with my friends, that I pray...Amen.

I am honored!

My dearest friend, Lori gave me my very very very first ever Blog award. WOW! How cool is that? Its an award for just being ME. There are OODLES of people I could name here but only a few have blogs...so I pick... Jennifer.

We are getting ready to pull out for our Spring Break. I will post when I can!!

Blessed be the day!

Happy Easter dear friends! Today is especially awesome dont you think?? Praise God that our Jesus saw past the cross and grave for us! Praise God, that even though we got all dressed up and looked all pretty today Jesus knows us inside and out and loves us just the same either way.

Praise God for the little things, like 2 little girls (though not really believing in the Easter Bunny much) so excited to go hunting little plastic eggs that they nearly fell out the front door trying to get out. Praise God for my darling husband for all that he is to me. But most of all, thank you for my faith. Thank you for allowing me the right to beleive. Wow! How awesome is that??

Thank you God for "loot"!

...and Chocolate Bunnies...

...and brand new Easter Dresses, Painted Nails & Hair Cuts...

...for animals that are dieing to get one of those little plastic eggs....

...for those who succeed...

...for curiosity...

...but most of all....thank you for LOVE!

attn Beverly aka beestamper

please email me. thanks

Supercalofragilisticexpeallidocious!

Hi friends! Its a cold day here today! Well ok...not really, but certainly a bit colder than it has been for the last week or so. BUT, the sun is shining. And THAT makes everything OK.

I recently received an email asking for me to name the person whom sent it to me with one word. The idea of the email is that you forward it to your friends and they name you. I have had soooo much fun with this. So I wanted to pass it on. Send an email to your friends...asking them to name you with one word. If you need an ego boost this is certainly it! Trust me....my head can hardly fit through the door right now! Can you describe me with one word?? Remember...BE NICE!!! My favorite email that I have received so far is supercalofragilisticexpeallidocious! Hahahaha...that could mean SO much. Then the fun part...name YOURSELF in one word. My word=Scatterbrained!!!!

OK...so heres some more coloring! Still loving these old peoples! They are sooooo much fun!

And this is kind of a cool stamp huh? Another RAKed image. FUN to color!

Anyways. Have a fantastic day! Today is my Friday, since the girls are out of school tomorrow and begin their spring break.

Happy thoughts, lots of love and gentle prayers for each of you---b

March showers...bring May flowers?

Shopping was sooooooooooooooo fantastic!! I had an absolute awesome time. I am soooo glad Marilyn drove cause she had us whipped in and out and around and all over like we were driving in her back yard. I of course had a good time in the clearance store. Everything in the store is 50% off! I got loads of new paper (yes, I did need some) and embellishments and ribbon (needed more of that too) and a new punch and some pens and oh oh oh ...I just had fun. Afterall, whats better than stampin? Shopping for stampin stuff!! And I couldnt think of two better girls to go with. (HEY JANET & MARILYN!!!!) And we saw Janet W. there at the store. She showed us how to do an uber awesome landscape. WAY COOL! Too many steps for my blood, but man it sure looked beautiful. We stopped by the candy outlet, Harry & David...and well we just had a great day! Sooooo awesome to have days like that. So awesome to have friends!

Today is definitely a good day to stay inside and have tea. OK...well if you like tea. I will just have cocoa if thats ok. Its pouring buckets outside. We so need the rain and I know that it makes the flowers all pretty and everything, but golly it sure is a downer on the mood.

This of course is a housemouser. If you are wondering if I have just been in a furry mood er what. No, actually I have been dillegently working with all of the stamped images I have had stuffed away. When we watch movies I love to color, so I got a lot of coloring done last weekend.
This is also using last week's Split Coast Sketch Challenge. Nothing that isnt self explanitory I dont think -- cept that the beads are all just glued on down at the bottom.

Anyways. I am home today. Doing a little of this and a little of that. The Easter Bunny has some eggs to stuff and some baskets to fluff so I guess Hed better work on that some today too.

I hope each of you enjoy your days. I pray if youre in the midwest that you are safe from the waters. My heart and prayers are with you.

be blessed--b

Were off!

Its Tuesday, which generally means stampin day! But we are doing the next best thing. SHOPPING! Yes, my buddies and I are heading to the SuperStore! WOOHOO!

Ya know the funniest thing. Twinkle has her very own bed. Its right over my scrapping area because she is usually right with me. Its nice. Its fluffy. Its big enough for her to stretch out. To bask in the sun. Its ALL hers.


But, where does the darling decide she would be most comfortable?? In the middle of my very messy desk!!!




Gotta luv that furball!!!

Two cards for you today. They are both colored with Copics. This one has stickles over the bubbles sparatically on the flowers and across the bottom. Its charm says DREAM.

This is pretty self explanitory eh? It says CONGRATUALATIONS ON YOUR BUNDLE OF JOY!

Go now! Have a fantastic day!--b

Magic!

I love Mondays. Have I said that before? I think I have. But really. I love Mondays. The family is all happy and already off and on to their own days. Its a gorgeous sunny day out, my chores are already started. And well...its just a great day!

Over the weekend we watched lots of movies. Which one, that I wanta tell ya about is Mr. Magoriums Wonder Emporium. It, first of all is a wonderful kids show and already my daughter Hannah has started her hat collection. But it has such a huge symbolism in it that I couldnt wait to talk about it. It starts out that Mr. Magorium gives Mahoney a block of wood. She of course is baffled by it. Wondering what on earth she needs a stupid pc of wood for. He of course is convinced that she will need it and makes her accept the gift. Later on it is only when she is trying to make someone else believe that the block of wood is worth something is it's true meaning revealed. Isnt that much like what we have within us already? Werent we blessed with the right "blocks of wood" in our lives and until we are forced to make someone else believe who we are, do we use them?

My challenge to you today is to prove what magic lies within you. YOU have the power to make a difference in YOUR life and in those that you come in contact with. Go--MAKE that difference!--b

whatnots

Happy Friday everyone! Sure hope that YOUR day was fabulous! It was a rainy and dreary day and actually pretty uneventful.

I was sposed to go to Knoxville and decided to put it off for a day or two. I did, however make it to the grocery store and made a fabulous pot of brocolli cheese soup for dinner. I read the People Magazine cover to cover. I NEVER do that. But of course I bought it for the story on Patrick Swayze and of course my other heart throb Matt Damon was in there announcing they are expecting another baby. Awwww. So between the articals of Britney and who was knocked up, knocked out and so on...it was inspiring to read articles of real moral people. Ha! Whod have ever thought theyd be the minority in life.

Anways, we are hoping to spend the night curled up with popcorn and movies. Awww gotta love Fridays!

I know I have told ya to pop on over to Lysa's blog before...but I gotta tell you today she has lots of posters that are offering uber great tips on organization. WOW! I learned so much just by scanning. I cant wait to post my two cents so I can go back and read some more.

Todays post is all about organizing. Where do you stuff stuff when you have last minute company coming? And a special organizing tip?

As far as stuffing...gosh that one is a tough one. It used to be my garage, but since that is now a renovated space its not up for game. But I would have to say my guest room? Unless the company is coming for sleeping. Then I gotta go with my room. Afterall, whos gonna go in there anyways????

OK...so this is my book of words. I have written all sorts of things in here. Everything from things the girls have said, to signs that I read at Churches...to cute little throw pillows and such in magazines. Its just a simple composition book that I covered and decorated. How bout you? Whats your tip for the day??


Have a fantastic weekend! be blessed!--b

Blue!

I have successfully completed my bedroom!! Here are the before shots. Again...these pics are of when we purchased the house. Funny though, that the people before us had very similar furniture.

Arent you all excited to see the transformation? It seriously looks like a blueberry threw up all over the room. Or in the politically correct terms...Martha Stewart's Ball Point Pen. I am totally NOT a blue fan, but being the nice wife I that I am, I decided to let my darling husband choose at least ONE color for the walls of our home. I am having a good time fluffing it up a bit tho.

This is a desk that I have converted to a vanity. The mirror is another auction steal. Theres my fabulous chandelier too!! I got it in the clearance section of Walmart!

Its uberly hard to get a good pic in this room. Heres the bed shot. With all of the lights a blaring! I am not sure bout the pic over the bed...thinking it might be a bit too little. But for now it is perfect.

I like how CLEAN this looks. Kinda masculine. Ok...no not really. But I like it.

The vase was on sale. $.50! Can you believe it? I filled it with river rock and then spray painted one of those natural funky looking flower things silver. Its kinda funky. Then I took a pic of Ronnie and I and scanned it into a black and white. Kinda looks like an old timey pic.

I am not sure about the wall decor either. Kinda looks ummmm.....70ish. With it being silver and all. But they again...will do for now. And how bout those vintage suitcases? Antique/junk store finds. They helped out that little corner!

Another great purchase was this little basket. Of course it was black and had to be spray painted. But a dollar! WOOHOO! I already had the potpouri mix...this just really fluffed it up some.

And my final find. I got me some keys. I dont know why. I dont know what they are sposed to be at all. But I liked em...and they hadded character.

There of course is another wall in this great room, but it just has my exercise walker and a chest of drawers holding the tv. Nothing romantic about it so I didnt take any pics.

What great projects are YOU encountering today? I hope you have tackled something big!!

Go! Be blessed!

I love Mondays!

GOOD MORNING!!! Oh my gosh is it a great day today or what?? The sun is shining! The birds are singing!! GOD IS SOOOO GOOD! Children went to school! Husband, to work! And me, well I am back at the sewing machine.

Heres just a simple card I did, so I could show you something! *smile* This is a set I have had for eons. I of course colored it with copics. The image is then popdotted up.

Twink had an eventful morning! She caught her first mouse!! Yes, inside. We live in the country and on the edge of the woods, so having mice just comes with the territory, unfortunately. But she CAUGHT one!!! It of course exauhsted her out. She has been napping ever since. Such a GOOOD KITTY!

OK, so YOUR day is up to you? Go catch the mice in your life!! So that the sun might shine down upon you! Be blessed!-b

Soooo thankful for East Tennessee Weather!

The snow came. Down in blankets. It was like we had been transported straight to the North Pole. It was gorgeous!!
The kids of course loooooved it. They played and played and played!

Cyris even had a good time. Looking for all of this favorite toys that were strewn around the yard. Eating snow and of course torturing the children.

Twink was all too happy to enjoy the fluffy white stuff from THIS side of the picture window. I did, however take her outside a little later. She did the tippy toe dance and nearly knocked me over trying to get back into the house. Awww such a panty waste!

Now, we might not have all the snow clothes and STUFF needed to play out in the snow, since it only comes once a year (if that) but you can bet that I will ALWAYS be prepared with hot chocolate for the tummies when they come in.

Thankfully the snow is all gone and its sposed to reach back up into the 50s today. Now THAT is a snow storm that I can handle! I gotta admit, I am soooo ready for summer. No wait...make that spring. Not quite ready for 90s yet...but green grass and sunshine for certain!

Make it a blessed day.--b

Scrap Stash Sketch Saturday

Its Saturday. Its the day that I am sposed to dive into my overflowing scrap stash and make some cards using Split Coast Stampers Sketch of the week. OK. Well heres the sketch. Fairly simple one dont ya think?


Well, I gotta admit that I also didnt stamp any of these images either. These are all from my collection of images that friends have sent me.

The first is pink. I colored with Copics and then added dimentional paint.


Then Purple. Hopper of course. My favorite House Mouse member. Again, colored with copics, but I added dimensional glass to the balloons.

Nothing special bout Flossie here, for my RED card. Other than her sunny glasses are all glittery! Again (ok...well all of the images are) colored with COPICS.

This pic came out all distored. But here we are black.

And blue. Dont you think these hats are too cute!?

Orange, nothing exciting. Cut little image tho.

This is Hanna....Her dress, shoes and bags are all paper pieced.

And last but of course not least, ICE CREAM! Another FUN FUN FUN stamp!! This just screams summer fun doesnt it?? Again, nothing special. Other than when adding the buttons, I couldnt decide between the yellow or the green. Ha! I put both!

Its snowing here!!! Something that doesnt happen often here in the Valley of TN. The girls have been out playing already and it looks gorgeous! R is at work and though he was completely not thrilled about goin he has had a miraculously busy busy day and so the extra $ is inspiring him and making his day go a little easier I think.

Enjoy your weekend!--b

Its Friday!

Heather asked me last night if I was making a card for myself. Yes, once again the bug has bit me on the butt! I have the sore throat and headache...AGAIN! I swear this season there has rarely been a day that ONE of us is not feeling SOMETHING. Whether it be a sniffle or a slight headache or sore throat or SOMETHING. I am soooo ready for this time of year to move on through and we can all feel great again.



Of course, here I am...complaining of cold like symptoms and my all time favorite heart throb PATRICK SWAYZE was diagnosed with Cancer this week. My friend told me about it...and I of course did everything in my power to not believe her. I mean...nahhhh surely not. Hes a good guy and things like that dont happen to GOOD guys. I am thankful to find out that the initial reports of less than 5 weeks to live were simply untrue. But still devastated in the news just the same.

I mean, I am sure that 90% of you ladies out there that are around my age had a secret (or like me, very public) crush on Johnny from Dirty Dancing...I had a life sized poster of this man in my room for crying out loud!!


And to think that he has been married to the same woman for 32 years and continued to grow his career....a remarkable person I must admit...and fine looking too!


As mentioned on Fox and iTunes, as a tribute to Patrick they are trying to get his song Shes Like the Wind into the top list of downloads. So pop on over there. Download it. Its a pretty good song, so you wont be disappointed. I already had the CD of this recording (duh!!) but I went and ordered it again just to show my support.




This week while at my stampin buddies party I got uber amounts of St. Patricks Day cards done. I was soooo thrilled!!! Here are two that I did. The first is using the stamps from the $1 bin at AC Moore. I just loooooove these. They were cheap and they are simple! UBER COOL!



Janet lent me her Mouse! Though, I gotta admit, my mouse came out looking more like a monkey than a mouse. But oh well.

All in all, we are ok. Its Friday. I am handcuffed to the sewing machine today. I have a to-do list a mile high and unfortunately the stitches arent JUMPING into the fur. So I will be over there.

Kids are in school and Mr. Schwans man is off to work. He has to work tomorrow. Hes not thrilled at all. The weather man is saying snow for tomorrow too. That of course adds happy thoughts to the fabulous idea of working on Saturday. Since it will be so miserable out tho, I think the girls and I will just be hanging out at home.

Go and make it a great day!--b

Embrace Life

The spring fling is over in our neck of the woods, its all rainy and turning cooler by the minute. Oh well, it was great while it lasted. And I am off to go stamping today so really...how bad can it be?

This EMBRACE LIFE set is awesome! I have been wearing it out! I just love it! This is just a card I was playing around with. Loooove how the embossed red just pops off the page.

Its a short post today cause I am trying to get everyone out the door and then of course myself.

Remember to EMBRACE the day for what it is worth. Be thankful in your small blessings. Those are the ones that we often forget about.

Enjoy your day!
B

Busy busy!

This is one of the tins that my dear darling husband was able to get for me from one of his fabulous customers!! They are the MOST perfect size for a card set. Talk about a great gift. It was fun and so easy!!

I made a package of 10 cards and 10 envelopes to go inside and then this morning while at the grocery I picked up a book of stamps to tuck inside too. I am so excited to put it in the mail to a dear friend of mine that is away at school. I KNOW she will love it!!

Today is yet another gorgeous day! I am busy with things around here. Cleaning and straightening...and so on. The girls are out today (remember...illness day) so we are enjoying the extra day to play.

I hope your Monday is going well.

--b

Its gorgeous out!

Today, you get to see first hand the evidence of my laziness. I should scan these pages in so that you get a true vision of them. But well...I just dont wanna! It is such a gorgeous day outside and to be honest, I hardly want to be sitting here right now.

I know that we are no where near spring and our 65 degree weather will give way to 30s once again. But you cant help but get spring fever on a day like today! I wanted to post the pages, no matter HOW awful the pics are. The titles are using my dear friend, Marilyns Cricut. Is it not the coolest thing? Upward also has little PomPomaBella too. I am trying to incorporate more STAMPING into my SCRAPPING. So far I am not as brave as I should be.

These pictures REALLY are awful. But I got this little playing card in a RAK not long after Hannah had broken her leg. I was sooo excited to use it.

And this one I seriously just sat here and debated on whether to post it or not. It once again is using the Cricut letters. This layout is WAAAAAAAAAAAAAY too busy for me. It was the first layout I had done in MONTHS so I was trying to get back into the swing of things. A task much harder than I anticipated. I seriously thought it was like riding a bike. I mean, after you do it, shouldnt you be able to do it always??? Obviously not! I am sure I will find my scrappin MoJo soon.

Twinkle came through the surgery beautiful (ha! like I expected anything less). Last night was kind of hairraising as she had small panic attacks each time I left her side. She slept and was very relaxed as long as she was touching me at all times. OK...now, mind you I am honored to be NEEDED to this extent, but do you know it is virtually IMPOSSIBLE to go pee with a cat? She would wake up...realize I was not there and then try to get up and walk around. Still drunk from the anesthesia she didnt make it far..usually just enough to fall of the chair. Screaming all the way. Late in the evening she finally got up and went under the bed of the guestroom. She slept there all night and has ventured out a little today. Shes eaten a little and is walking around some. She did, however have the TWINKLE back in her eye, so I think she is on her way to recovery.

So there you are friends. I am glad to have new visitors and of course I depend on my regulars. THANKS for blessing me! Now get outside and enjoy this weather. ESPECIALLY all of you from TN where I KNOW it is gorgeous today!!

be blessed--B