COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO AND CHICKENS TOO!

This handsome rooster and his girlfriend, belong to Lori Deacon, she has a beautiful farm/bed and breakfast/winery here in Washington State!

I have loved chickens and roosters since I was a little girl, something about them captured my heart early on...they are beautiful to me, not to mention they produce the incredible edible egg, who doesn't love that part? What would breakfast be without eggs, how would we bake our cakes, cookies and about a bazillion other recipes with out the wonderful eggs these girls squeeze out???
Rooster in my kitchen window sill...
In the kitchen....
more in the kitchen... In the dining room, with my red transferware..

Love this creamy white rooster, he roosts under my rose oil painting...
This is a beautiful oil painting in my mudroom...
This is a collection of vintage mini roosters and chickens, (oh my look at the dust! I hate dusting!), and blue and white china..

More in the kitchen. I have these columns in the kitchen and dining room, so what the heck, decorate those babies too! I love towels that feature them too...

These, above, are in the mudroom behind the garage door... the coat rack we made with vintage crystal doorknobs and sterling silver forks...the pointy parts of the forks hold the hats really well, nice bonus! Shoot!!! The two roosters hardly show up, sorry! Cute coat rack though...

The picture below is of my laundry room, I should of taken a better picture so you could see the vintage roosters and chickens in the window sill...

More in the laundry room, I just plop them down where ever there is a spot, they tend to show up in all sorts of odd places!!!!

:)Love this rooster by the vintage milk can and one of my birdhouses, his feet finally rotted off, poor guy!

The outdoor chickens and roosters are pretty weather beaten and rusty, but I like um like this!

I find it hard to pass them up at garage sales, stores, antiques mall and garden centers...

This is my favorite, I love this sweet chick peeping out of my vintage teacup stack! She is a salt shaker, and I fell in love with her the minute I saw her!!!

Well, chickee-poo's, I better get pecking away at some house work before Mr. Rooster comes home and finds that Mrs. Hen hasn't made dinner or cleaned the roost!

XXOO,

Donna Lynn

THIS ONE COVERS A LOT OF STUFF...GET READY!!!

It has been a VERY, VERY, busy time around here lately!!! I did not get to do much posting this past week...



I wanted to show you what Ronda, of www. antiquecottagerose.blogspot.com
painted for me!!!! Isn't this gorgeous??? She put my house in the painting and of course my love of roses is the stand out too, she also added in my love of God with the pink cross!!! If you want a one of a kind beautiful piece of artwork, contact Ronda!!! She is a wonderful woman and I now consider her a dear friend as well! I am and will always be her #1 fan, (she probably has a ton of #1 fans, but I can pretend to be #1 can't I?), she is so talented, painting in the old masters style, I wish my camera took better pictures so you could see the amazing detail on each of the roses! When I get it hung up in my craft room, my girly sanctuary, I will post a picture of it. I just have not had the time to get that part done yet...

This is Joshua my 16 yr. old, he is holding his drivers permit....HELP!!!! Actually, he is a pretty great driver already! Must be a guy thing???? We went into the DMV last week, on top of all the packing and what not, we spent the whole day sitting in there waiting to get called up to the counter! Finally at 4:30 pm he was the proud owner of a shiny new permit!

PACKING AND MOVING DAY!!!! We spent Friday and Saturday packing Victoria
and Rachel,her daughter, up for their move to Franklin TN. It went really smoothly all and all! Don and I had gone over on Friday after he got off of work, we spent 4 hours packing her moving POD with all of the boxes, so that Sat. when we had Diana Lyn and her hubby help we could concentrate on the furniture and outdoor things...

This is Diana Lyn's hubby Brady, acting up in the background, NAUGHTY MAN!!!! From left to right: Diana Lyn, Me, and Victoria.

The guys were amazing! They were able to pack this moving POD with a 4 bedroom house and yard full of stuff!!!! Us girls were just standing in awe of what they were able to fit in this thing!

On the left is my husband Don and Diana Lyn's hubby...

ALL DONE, AND INSTALLING THE FINAL STAGE, THE BULKHEAD!!!!!

We had them all packed up by noon on Saturday, we were exhausted, sweaty and dirty, but DONE! Us girls took off to the Victorian Rose Tearoom for a much needed celebration!

GIVING TRIBUTE TO THE AMAZING MOVING MEN!!!

This is poor little Honey our puppy, she got hit by a car on Sunday, two hours before the girls pulled out to drive to Franklin!!!! She is fine, no broken bones, just a gash on her little leg, thank the Lord she is a bendy boned puppy! I was so scared, I saw it happen, it looked worse then it turned out to be thankfully...

BON VOYAGE!!!! THE GIRLS PULLED OUT ON SUNDAY MORNING FOR THE LONG TRIP TO TN!!!!
Left to right: DH, Victoria, wiener dog Sophie, Joshua and Rachel...It is going to take a lot of time for me to adjust to the fact that Victoria does not live 10 min. from me anymore...we have been business partners, best friends and she is truly the sister of my heart! God replaced the sister that is no longer in our families life with her, she means the world to me, sharing the same love of the Lord, family, antiques, gardening, decor and well, just about everything!!!!

Please pray for a safe trip for her and her precious only daughter Rachel! Please pray for me too, it is so sad to think I can't just pop over to her house anymore, no more shared moments over lunches, family dinners, game nights, shopping and joining hands to pray for each other and our loved ones...we will have to re lie on the phone, (just got free long distance, WHEW!!), and the Internet to keep in touch. I am going to have to buy a hands free head set for those 4 to 5 hour conversations we love to have!!!!

I am flying down to Franklin on June 5th for 7 days, I will be helping to unload the POD, and help them get settled in their brand new beautiful brick house!!!! That made saying goodbye much easier on Sunday, I was able to put my tears aside for a couple more weeks...look out when I leave there though, I may cry a ocean of tears....

Well, that is pretty much my life for the past week, hope you all had a beautiful Memorial Day weekend with your loved ones, remember to hug your BFF's and don't hesitate to make the most of your time together....

Blessings! Donna Lynn

MEN O PAUSE? CAN'T WE CALL IT WOMAN O PAUSE?

PLEASE DON'T LEAVE ME, ROSY GLOW OF HORMONES!!
There has been lots of discussions around here lately about menopause, one of my sisters is going through the beginning stages of it at 53 yrs. old and I have started to see small changes in myself these past 3 months, she tells me this is natural and we can't stay in our ROSY GLOW OF HORMONES forever! I don't want to go through menopause, and why oh why do they call it men o pause anyway, can't we please call it woman-o-pause, or woman-on-pause???? After all we are pushing the pause button on a certain time of our life, periods, pregnancy, nursing, and child rearing...

This is what I hear, I am so cold all the time I might just like this part!!!!!

Is this how men think? Is this how woman think when they are going through menopause? And for heavens sake, I doubt this woman is in menopause, look at that outfit will ya?

This is more like it! I have been told hair sprouts out of the most odd places, and some days you just don't look too hot.... They even have kits out for menopause survival!
Is this what I have to look forward to? That looks like a barrel of laughs...

This one is self explanatory...

They have vitamins for it...
They have a musical dedicated to it...
Tea for it...
Books to read when going through it...
Even special little baskets of menopause support! Isn't that just so sweet?

I am going to have to learn to live with the changes that are coming, so here is my menopause to do list!

1. Buy a new hot flash wardrobe, FUN, anything for a shopping excuse!

2. Inform family that if I act mean or crazy it is not my fault! (might like this one!)

3. During sleep disturbances I will spend time wisely and blog! (that will keep me caught up!)

4. Buy some Beano for the gas! OH JOY!

5. Make appointments for:

electrolysis, body waxing, nose hair and mustache trims, massage, mental therapy, cellulite wraps, face lift, tummy tuck, and boob lift!

Well, that should do it! Hopefully armed with all the new information that is out now about this "Change of Life", I should fair pretty well!

If anyone has anything to add to my list of things to prepare for please let me know! Each and every one of your thoughts and opinions are greatly valued, I am thrilled that I have my blogging girlfriends to help me out!!!

Until next time girls!

XXOO,

Donna Lynn

A VERY JAR-ING POST!!!

I am crazy about apothecary jars, I also love finding cheap glass jars of all shapes and sizes to stash my craft junk, sewing items, glass knobs, crystals, seashells, buttons and anything else laying about needing a home!!!!!

This square jar, was .50 cents at the Goodwill, and no one was using my ice cream sundae dishes anymore, so what the heck, I put my sewing and craft pencils in them...
This is the dreaded, ugly free standing, fireplace of doom! I love this vignette, the vintage book is so pretty and the apothecary jar looked great with the other junk! See those white porcelain birds? I got those at my favorite shop, Country Expressions, they have clips on the back of them and they are great for moving around to my different displays!
TAH DAH! I bought this at the local grocery store, it is about 2 feet tall, I need to figure out what to put in it, got any ideas for me????
I love stashing my glass knobs in jars...

and buttons....
and trims...
and more buttons...
stuffed these three full of trims too!

Oh, and salt and pepper shakers for GLITTER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This is in my bedroom, I stash my crystal necklace in this one...
I think I need some velvet flowers in this one!
Sequins and paper roses in these old ball jars, I spray painted the jar lids, they were gross with rust etc.
I have shown you this beauty before in my crystal post, but had to throw it in again, this is my favorite!

These are in my craft room window, they are sugar dispensers perfect for chunky glitter! I also like using toothbrush holders for my paintbrushes, they hold them perfectly!

Hope I gave you some fun ideas for storage and organizing! I find it is so much nicer to look at my things displayed in jars, better then thrown in a drawer where I forget about them! When I can see it all out, it helps me get inspired too!!!

Bless you all this weekend! We are finally having perfect weather, which in itself is a miracle, I plan on living outside...I will check in with you when it gets dark and I am forced inside! :)

XXOO,

Donna Lynn

A PERFECT DAY WITH THE MEN, SOME GARDEN THROWN IT TOO!

Mothers Day was just so perfect! Justin, (the oldest one who is on his own), brought me a dozen light yellow and pale pink roses and the sweetest card! I must of done something right raising this boy...

Then off to dinner at Puerto Vallarta. I choose Mexican food because when you are feeding 4 men over 6' feet tall you have to get BIG PLATTERS!

Left to right

Joshua, 16yrs. old and 6'5", Justin, 22yrs. and 6'2", Tyler, 20yrs. 6'6", and my precious hubby Don, 6'5"! See...it takes a ton of food to fill these guys all the way up!

It was awesome, because the boys got along and were so sweet to me all day! I also made them see a chick flick! They only complained just a tiny bit...we saw, What Happens In Vegas. I give this movie only a 4 on a scale of 1-10! It just kinda missed the mark...

So I had to throw in some garden pictures too. This is the front garden in March...

This is how it is looking now, getting bigger, now the flowers need to bloom!

Rachel, my sweet friend at Romantic Porch, asked if I would post a picture of my white Bleeding Heart, so here you go Rachel, isn't this so pretty?! She has a beautiful pink one in her garden, it would be so awesome to live near one another so we could share our plants!!

I sure wish ALL of my precious blogville friends lived near me, I have met so many kind and caring woman who have blessed my life so much!! Well, I hope you all had are having a great week so far, it is suppose to get into the 90's tomorrow, ha, I will believe that when I see it! We have had nothing but dreary rain for days now! Pray for sun girls, pray for sun!

XXOO,

Donna Lynn

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL MY SWEET BLOG FRIENDS!

I wanted to use this picture today, as my Mothers Day post picture! This is a precious little hand painted plate that I won from , Laurie, at Charming Designs, isn't it just beautiful! Thank you so much Laurie, I love every thing you create, how blessed by God you are with such amazing talent!



When I look at it, I am reminded about God's love for us! This darling little nest of eggs, is just like how God cares for each and every one of his children...tenderly nurturing and feeding us till we are ready to spread our wings and fly!! Each time we have a problem or need something, he will take us back and nestle us gently under his protective wings, till we are again strong enough to fly. We Mothers do this same thing for our own children...



Matthew 6:26,27

Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they are? Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life?



God bless each Mother today on this special Sunday! Praise God that he made Mothers!

YOU ARE GOD'S WINGS OF LOVE AND PROTECTION SENT TO EARTH FOR YOUR PRECIOUS CHILDREN! (Even the furry kind...)



XXOO, Donna Lynn

FRIENDSHIP, FOOD AND EATING IT ALL UP!!!!

I got a knock on my front door a few days ago and low and behold, it was, Diana Lyn, she had this lovely rhubarb tucked inside a beautiful basket, not only that but she also had some new tarts to melt in my warmer! YEA!!!! I was so happy I stood on my head...

So, this gift prompted me to bake a cherry/rhubarb pie! So here is the recipe:

THE BEST EVER PIE CRUST ON THE FACE OF THE PLANET!

3 Cups Gold Medal Organic flour

1 tsp. salt

1 cup organic butter

Mix these together, making it all pea sized pieces!

Then add:

2 tsp. of organic sugar (Costco has this, it is wonderful to bake with!)

beaten into two organic egg yolks with 1/2 cup of cold water!

ADD TO THE DRY AND DON'T OVER WORK THE DOUGH!!! Your all done, wasn't that easy?

I am a cheater and use those cool plastic template thingies you smash into the top crust and then you don't have to cut strips of crust...I am in the get it done so I can eat it fast camp!

I usually double this recipe, then put half in the freezer for another pie in the future...hint hint, Diana!

CHERRY RHUBARB PIE

Combine 1 1/2 cups organic sugar, 2 Tab. organic butter, with 1/8Th tsp. of salt, and 1/2 cups of the reserved sour cherry juice with 2 cans of the sour cherries and rhubarb cut up into 1/2 inch. pieces. Bring this to a rolling boil in a large sauce pan.

In a small bowl, make a paste of 1/2 cup of the sour cherry juice and 1/2 cup cornstarch. Add this to the cherry/rhubarb mixture stirring till thick and bubbly! Remove from heat let cool and then pour into your crust. Bake at 425' for about 30 min. or until brown, bubbly and crusty!

This is another natural treat I made, if you haven't tried No Pudge Fudge Brownies yet you need to! They are wonderful, for those of us who want a treat but not the fat and calories, this one is for you! You can't read it very well, but it has O grams of fat and only 110 cal. for 1/2 of the box!!!!!!!! I do add chocolate chips to mine for the hubs...

And below, is a salad I was inspired to make after feeling guilty over making pie and brownies!

I was reading some old garden magazines that Victoria gave me... looking at all those wonderful organic gardens, made me realize I needed my greens too!

OK, I wasn't totally good, cause then I made this huge pasta salad with mayo, and two kinds of cheese in it...blaming it on the hubby again! : )

And next I have to post a picture of the breakfast I make for Don every weekend! I do switch it up sometimes, he get omelets etc. but I NEVER, EVER, EVER give him pork anything!!!

This is Turkey Bacon from the health food store! It is really good...no, really it is! We don't eat pork, after watching a You Tube video about the worms in it, and reading The Makers Diet, I will never touch pork again as long as I live! SHUDDER....(sorry all you piggy eaters, don't mean to offend you!)

Today's Menu:

Breakfast:

3 organic poached eggs, 2 strips Turkey Bacon, organic Yukon Gold fried potatoes in olive oil and sea salt and 2 slice of natural English Muffin Bread from Fred Meyer. A hot cup of organic Starbucks coffee!

Lunch:

All organic tossed salad, romaine, baby tomatoes, carrots, sweet yellow and red peppers, baby cucumbers and red onions. Served with Albacore tuna, pecans and dried cherries on top. Topped off with an organic cherry vinaigrette.

...and for dinner a big plate of brownies and pie! Come on, you were good all day, eating your salad and turkey bacon, so dig in!!!!! After all the brownies have no fat, so have some more ice cream with your pie girls!!!!!

Enjoy! XXOO, Donna Lynn

My Home is Featured in the April/May Issue of Country Sampler 08'

I have yet to blog about my wonderful experience being chosen to have my home in a magazine, it came this April and stays on the magazine stands till the end of this month.

I really didn't want to "toot my own horn", but I kept getting asked why I hadn't done a blog post on it yet, soooo...TOOT TOOT!

Last Oct. the wonderful team of, Donna Pizzi and Philip Clayton-Thompson, came to my home and did a photo shoot! It was a blast...

It was fun to open the cover and discover that my dining room was even on the contents page!

I had no idea what work went into each shot, setting up camera angles, shooting with different lighting and diffusers... Donna and Philip, had their assistant here setting up cords, camera equipment, ladders and other things as they needed them, he was really hustling to keep things moving, each shot take around 45 min. to an hour to complete. They had arrived that morning at 7:30 am, and did not pull out of the driveway till around 9:00 pm, they earn every penny they get from the magazine for all the work that goes into each photo you see in a finished article!!!! Victoria was here for the day too not wanting to miss out seeing the behind the scenes action, it was such FUN! We laughed, ate really good food together, Philip sang to us, and in his gorgeous British accent told really wonderful stories that kept everyone entertained and in stitches! Donna is a delight to be around, kind, funny and gentle! I adore them both, they are such wonderful people!

One thing that is interesting, the colors will not print true on some things:

My walls are not bright mustard yellow, they are deeper gold called Camp Ground Gold by Behr. The cabinet in my parlor on page 44, is not green, it is a warm taupe.

It turned out pretty nice I think! I have gotten lots of questions, like did she re-do your vignettes? No, all Donna did was add some flower arrangements to the roses that I had in vases around the house. Did they move your furniture around? No, but they do pull it out at odd angles to get the various furniture to all show up in the pictures.

It was an all around wonderful experience and I would do it again in a hot minute!

It is truly amazing to me, when I pick up a magazine now, to understand and really know what work is involved to make each months magazine come together so beautifully!

Well girls, TOOT-TOOTLES !!!! :)

Till next post I will be either in my shabby chic craft, or out in my garden...XXOO, Donna Lynn

TWO TIERD TABLE GETS TWEAKED!!

I was told by my sweet blog friend, Laurie, over at Decorating Fanatic, that I needed to get cracking on this little table...well, it has been pouring down rain and cold since then! Finally this weekend we had a break, A SUN BREAK!!!! YEA!!! 68' today!

It was about time, we have been having so much rain I was growing moss on my skin...so, the sun was out, and therefore so was I! I lived outside this these past two days, (Sunday and Monday), not coming in till dark.

Didn't this turn out great? So much of an improvement over the scratched brown finish!!! I still don't know where I will put this yet, but if my middle son, who is 20 doesn't start cleaning his room and get a better job I may have to take over his room next! (I am rubbing my hands together with a wild look in my eyes right this instant!)

So here is what I did to this little gem:

I first sanded it, then I used two coats of spray Kilz Primer, then I did two coats of Heirloom White spray paint. This piece was really quick and easy, it was the perfect temperture out so it dried quickly between coats!

I just love the before and afters, I am planning on posting some more, pray for the weather to hold so I can show the other project soon to come!

XXOO, Hope you are all having a great start to your week,

Donna Lynn

P.S. Laurie, I hope you put your stamp of approval on this baby!

ALL THAT GLITTERS IS NOT GOLD!

IN THE SHABBY CHIC CRAFT/SEWING ROOM!

I love putting crystals in glass apothecary jars, the ones laying on the cabinet were only .30cents each, they are the old real ones!

This cherub chandelier was free, it used to be black and gold, love it in my shabby chic craft/sewing room, don't you?

Another free thing, the cherub lamp! It was bright gold and really awful looking. This is on my sewing table, doesn't give off much light but I don't care!

The thread bowl, found at a junk store for $12 dollars, I need to paint this don't I?

I found this sconce at the local Goodwill for $5 bucks, Victoria spray painted it and yummied it up with crystals for out antiques booth...it didn't sell and I got it for my craft room! Yea for me!

AND IN THE GIRLY PARLOR...

I love these bowls, this was gold before I painted it, it is on my cabinet that DH built me...(cute poodle huh?)

Tah Dah!!!!!! This was found in Tacoma, at Victoria Sells, the owner had just gotten it! I came in and stole this one for $50 dollars, she didn't think it worked so she sold it cheap...it worked like a charm and not one missing crystal either!!!

IN THE MASTER BEDROOM, CRYSTALS WERE SEEN ON:

The bedroom chandelier, got this one off of EBay, it was listed in the wrong category, got this baby for $45 bucks!

Victoria gave me this awesome shabby chic lamp, she painted, re-wired it, added the crystals and I gave it a new hat!

I got these at Ross, they were green metal. I drilled holes in the tops, painted and added crystals....

This is hanging over my tub in the master bath. Another EBay miss list, got this for $85 dollars, wish you could see the candle covers they have rhinestones on them...

Love these EBay lamps, I have a set, they were $75 for both! (Better paint these too...oh boy the project list is getting longer!!)


IN THE POWDER ROOM:
Victoria gave me this sweet lamp too! Help! this needs paint too! OH BOTHER!

...AND IN THE DINING ROOM CRYSTALS ON...

Got this on EBay too, real cheap! The bowl broke in shipping, so I took an antique pink glass light cover and used that instead...painted it a yummy pink!

Love these candlesticks! These were a present from my precious friend Toni, they were brass before I painted them...

This was found in a local junk store, think I paid $50 bucks for it! Whoops, I need to take off the berry garland from winter...

LOOK AT THESE CHANDELIERS!!!

Isn't this store awesome? When Nancy, my sister, and I went to Panera Bread Company in Gig Harbor for her birthday this April, we went by this cute children's clothing store, a kindred spirit for sure!!!

Well hope you enjoyed all the sparkle today, hoping too that you are having a glittery, fun filled Friday and weekend to come!!!

Big Blingy Blessings,

Donna SPARK-Lynn