Hello!

Do you realize that tomorrow is MAY? Can you believe that?

I have no idea where April went.

This weekend was interesting for us.

We had plans for the weekend. Nothing big, but plans none the less.

And it all changed in an instant.

My dad ended up in the hospital. My mom was in Chicago with my grandparents. He was alone.

Long story short, they kept him one night in the hospital for observation, he will have some follow up appointments this week and my mom made it home from Chicago.

I was so thankful we were close enough to come and be with him.

It just really puts things into perspective how fast things can happen.

But God is in control. Always.

And on a happier note, I got a very cheerful bouquet, handpicked.

Peonies are my favorite flower. I love them!

The petals are so light and fluffy and smell so sweet.

Teddy's grandma also sent along farm fresh eggs and some corn relish. She really knows the way to our hearts :)

And speaking of hearts, we are getting ready to celebrate our 2nd Wedding anniversary, as in we've been married 2 years, had 2 weddings and celebrate both dates- April 3 and May 7th.

May 7th also happens to be my honey's birthday.

For an anniversary gift, my hubby has created a little space in the backyard for us. We live in town, close to the road and the cars and trucks are constant. It's annoying to say the least.

So having a little oasis in the backyard near the garden, under the shade of big trees is SO lovely.

He even created a firepit for me. There is nothing more sweet than sharing popsicles and sitting by your very own fire pit in your very own backyard with your hubby. For real.

So now I'm hoping to acquire some outdoor furniture for this lovely little place. And I really want to hang some mason jar lights or something similar to give it ambience. And there will definitely be flowers too :) Of course.

Also, this girl, yes me, ordered Zumba Fitness over the weekend.

It's time.

I once saw a bumper sticker that said "Zumba Changed My Wife". And I laughed hysterically.

But now, I told Teddy to get ready because Zumba IS going to change his wife:)

Camping

I've got the itch to go Camping.
We went last year with friends, and it was a GREAT time!
I'm really hoping we can go again  and SOON.
Before the weather is 100+ degrees like it gets here and before the bugs are big enough to sit down and eat a hot dog with you around the campfire.

So naturally I started browsing Pinsterest and found some inspiration.
Thanks Pinterest.

That view is INCREDIBLE!

I think my hubby could probably live here. The little porch is SO cute!

Have you every cooked a meal over a campfire? It's awesome. The sound of the crackling fire and the smell of bacon cooking on a cast iron skillet is comparable to nothing else.
And don't even get me started on the smell of coffee percolating over a campfire.

When we went camping with our friends, we played cards at the picnic table by lantern and sat around the campfires.
We also fought off rummaging raccoons during the night.
Well, they guys did, I slept thru all of it. Ha!

Waking up in the outdoors in your tent, listening to the birds chirping and a stream nearby is an incredible experience. It also brings you closer to appreciating this beautiful world God has created for us.
I wish these pictures were my own, but for now I'm gathering inspiration from my Pinterest Board.
Come follow me if you aren't already.

Happy Camping!

We have a busy weekend ahead of us. But there will be some relaxing time too.
Hope yours is GREAT!

I've been up to something.....

More crafting.....

Which one is your favorite?

I've still got the Etsy Shop in the works.

Stay tuned.....

Barnheart- Found Link Up

I've got a serious case of it.
Barnheart that is.
Remember this post about Farm Living?

Do you know what that means? It can best be described Jenna Woginrich, here.
She wrote a book about it.
And now she's living out her dream.
Here is a little excerpt from her book that she shared with Mother Earth News :

The symptoms are mild at first. You start glancing around the internet at homesteading forums and cheese making supply shops on your lunch break. You go home after work and instead of turning on the television — you bake a pie and read about chicken coop plans. Then some how, somewhere, along the way — you realize you are happiest when in your garden or collecting eggs. When this happens, man oh man, it’s all down hill from there. When you accept the only way to a fulfilling life requires tractor attachments and a septic system, it’s too late. You’ve already been infected. If you even suspect this, you may have early-onset Barnheart.

Read more: http://www.motherearthnews.com/The-Happy-Homesteader/Yearning-To-Farm.aspx#ixzz1syOuDlT1

It started by watching some of the recent foodie documentaries. You know, like this one, 

I could get on my soap box right now and tell you more. In fact I pasted the links to some other videos, but for fear of scaring you off, I'm going to help you get your feet wet before we dive right in ok? OK.

The bottom line is that my husband and I want to go back to a simpler life. He was raised that way. I was not.

Remember?

City mouse meets Country mouse?

We own some acreage near our home in town.
About 10 miles out in the country, down a dirt road.

We started building on it when we first got married.

And there was a series of different events that caused us to stop building and buy a house in town instead.

I know now that it was God's way of saying " Not yet".

And so now, we revisit the options at hand and see that our heart's desires may indeed be leading us to those 17 acres once again. To raise a few cows/pigs/goats, have a big garden, chickens pecking around the yard, evening walks down the dirt road to visit neighbors who are like family, bonfires on the "back 40".

I worry though if it's the right choice or not, it seems so obvious..... and yet, unsure.

In times like this, I know who I need to turn to.

He knows.

He always does.

He will lead us.

¹ The LORD is my shepherd, I lack nothing.
² He makes me lie down in green pastures,
he leads me beside quiet waters,
³ he refreshes my soul.
He guides me along the right paths
for his name’s sake.
⁴ Even though I walk
through the darkest valley,^[a]
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.

⁵ You prepare a table before me
in the presence of my enemies.
You anoint my head with oil;
my cup overflows.
⁶ Surely your goodness and love will follow me
all the days of my life,
and I will dwell in the house of the LORD
forever.

Psalm 23

I'm linking up with Beautifully Rooted today.

I'm looking towards The Savior, finding out His plan for us.

Hello Tuesday and Virtual Coffee

Yesterday I said hello to Monday and look at this, it's Tuesday already?

Wow. :)

Hey there coffee gals! How are you doing today?

I've got lots to share, so grab a drink and let's get to it.

As I mentioned yesterday, we got a WHOLE LOTTA strawberries over the weekend.

I ate a LOT. We froze a LOT. And then we made a LOT of jam.

The smell in our kitchen was intoxicatingly sweet.

It was like heaven.

I won't say that it is hard to make jam. But I did have a partner. I highly reccomend it with a partner.

This city mouse is a little intimated by the canning/jamming process.

But with the hubberooni, we made 7 batches of jam. And it produced over 30 pints!

Not the little jam jars, but the next size up.

It looks like liquid rubies.

 I'm mesmermized by the jam making experience.

Some sugar, pectin, lemon juice, a little butter a lot of elbow grease and VOILA! You've got jam!

We calculated that we could have a jar every other week for a year.

That is if we don't give some away.

Which I'm sure we will. We always do.

We see someone and say "Here, have some jam".

A few years ago when we first made jam together as a newly wed couple, we named it Jeter's Jams.

Original I know.

I've already got big hopes of selling our jars of jam at the Farmer's Market on a table with a polka dotted or gingham table cloth. And a mason jar filled with flowers.

Can you picture the loveliness?

These little hens and chicks are still sitting on my table in the same state.

Except now they are surrounded by jars of strawberry jam.

Can you see the purple edges?

I really need to get them planted.

Have I shown you this picture yet?

Or how about this one?

I love the bright, vibrant colors.

And I can hardly believe that these are growing in our garden.

These marigolds are still making me smile. I have 4 or 5 pots lined up down the deck stairs. I even love the smell.

And supposedly, bugs don't like the smell of marigolds.

Lucky us! Bad for them!

I am still slowly making my way thru this book.

It's rocking my world. For real.

I think God is making me take my time with it, to soak it in.

If you haven't heard of this book or read it- get going!

I hope you are having a great day!

Don't forget to go check out Amy's Blog. Go say hi to her. She likes that :)

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Hello Monday

Hello....

I'm pairing up with Lisa Leonard today. Every Monday she does a "Hello Monday...."

It's been a rough week at Case de Jeter.
Teddy has his wisdom teeth out and I was sick and missed work too.
I've been missing in action from what feels like everything.
Church, house cleaning, laundry, having the get up and go to do anything.


My house is a disaster.
When two people are sick  you don't feel like doing anything but laying around, snacking and watching movies.
And of course Charlie was so happy to oblige with cuddling.

And then the kind Amish man calls and says "your strawberries are ready......"
So the hubby, who felt the best out of both of us, went to retrieve them.

He came in with one box.
And then another.
And yet another!

He had ordered 3 flats of strawberries.
3 FLATS!

I will get to more on that later.

We ate a slad from our garden.
European lettuces, radishes, onions and spinach.
The hubby saute'd up some radishes onions and bacon.
Yummmmmmm!

He also made some strawberry scones and we fantasized about what it would be like to have a bakery.
Sigh.....

I found a recipe for making Mrs. Meyer's hand soap.

I love the Lavenerd scented soap. (Sorry for the cruddy pictures).

When I take on that project, I will definitely share.

So what were you up to this past weekend?

Anything fun?

I really will blog more this week.

I know, I've missed you too :)

Virtual Coffee

Good Morning!

I'm a little late for coffee.

And I just found out our main host, AMY is skipping coffee today.

And really, I applaud her for that.

Last week when I was MIA from Facebook and really the Internets in general, I didn't really miss it.

I mean I did, but I didn't.

Make sense?

But alas, I'm ready for another cup of coffee, so come join me.

Want to know a little history about this mug?

When I lived in Brooklyn I bought this mug for a friend who was coming to visit.

But then I liked it SOOOO much that I kept it for myself.

Ha!

I did dishes last night.

Of course.

And after that I was hungry and needed a snack.

 Something sweet will usually fix me right up.

Sometimes a PB&J and chocolate milk is just what I need.

Remember my yard sale talk yesterday?

Well here are some of my finds.

The Miracle Whip jar was home to all these Betty Crocker coupons. Back in the day you could put these towards the purchase of cookware/bakeware and other kitchen goodies.

The hubby thought we needed this really badly.

FYI- I cannot stand Miracle Whip!

I ever I take a bite of a sandwich and taste the tangy zip of Miracle Whip, it makes me want to barf.

The hubby loves it and therefore we are a one jar mayo and one jar miracle whip family.

Same with crunchy and creamy peanut butter.

These two game were a $1 each! What?!

Games are SO expensive at the store, so I felt like this was a REAL find! :)

Pure honey from the Amish general store.

And now for some really exciting finds.

Vintage sheets! Oh how I heart these.

I might turn them into bunting or something like that.

This old grandma blanket. I LOVE the colors.

Look at the detail and hard work that went into it!

I can just imagine a sweet little old lady, sitting in a chair, sipping tea and knitting by the fireplace.

Sigh.

And this is a blanket I found a weeks ago.

Have I already shown this to you?

If you ever come to our house and feel chilly, don't worry, we have plenty of blankets.

<

Tomorrow, my main squeeze is having some widsom teeth pulled.

And so tonight I'm making him a "last supper" as he won't be eating regular foods for a few days.

He requested this :

And meatloag, green bean casserole, creamed corn, garlic mashed potatoes, rolls and sweet tea.
I love that crazy dude.
Because really, nothing says "last supper" like Funfetti Cupcakes in left over Easter paper polka dot cups! :)

Happy Tuesday!

It's Monday already?

So I realize that I haven't posted since LAST Tuesday for coffee.
I don't know where the time has gone! Sorry for my absence.
But I'm back.

I've been busy, doing what exactly I'm not sure. But busy none the less.

My sister made a visit last week and I took off work Friday to hang out with her and my parents and the hubby. We hit up the yard saling pretty hard.
My hubby told me I had a budget of $27 for yard saling.
Bahahahahaha......
And then we went to the Amish farm near us and bought flowers, peppers and tomatoes. And HE spent more than that.
Boys are so funny aren't they!?

Here's one of my finds.

I think it was $1 or $2

I have serious owl love these days.
Well really for the last year or so.
I thought it was funny that I found this at a yard sale in Arkansas.

Did you know I was born in California?

Well, I lack pictures today, but tomorrow I will show up with some for Virtual Coffee.

What did your weekend look like? Do anything fun?

Ps. I still haven't seen The Hunger Games :(
BUT- we now have a Red Box in our town! Hot diggity DAWG!

Have a good day.
See you tomorrow!

Tuesday.....Virtual Coffee

<

Hello Tuesday!
And hello Amy and all my buddies who join in for Virtual Coffee .

Grab some coffee, a cupcake, a burrito- whatever your fancy is, and get comfy.

First I need to tell you that we almost had a crisis at our house recently.
Mr. Bear went missing.
While my mom was dog-sitting. (It wasn't her fault. Really.)
Charlie is SUPER attached to Mr. Bear.
It's like the equivalent of a child's binky.
He carries it around with him, sleeps with him, brings him into the kennel with him.
They are best buds.

I searched somewhat high and low for Mr. Bear ( who we actually realized is a dog, not a bear, silly us.)

And then over the weekend I went to close our bedroom door, and there he was. Behind the door! Oy!

And now, Charlie will barely let him out of his sight.

Nevermind that Charlie has eaten Mr. Bear's eyeballs, a few decorative patches on his tummy and one of his whiskers.
Love is blind and strange sometimes isn't it?


I saw this in the local paper and even though this place is a good 30 minutes from our house, I almost made the hubby jump in the car and go with me. Do you see that? FREE DONUT HOLES!?

Oh dear.
What would you have done?

My mother is has ALWAYS given me an Easter Basket.
And I LOVE that.
We got a couple of re-useable drinking cups (LOVE THOSE!), chocolate Easter bunnies - they were NOT hollow! And.........she got Teddy a Chuck Norris DVD.
Double Feature.
That's like 4 hours of shooting and fighting and general guy stuff. (From the other room I even heard some naughty words.)
And suddenly this guy who could really care less about tv or movies, was so into it.
Lounging in his recliner, not realizing if anyone else walked into the room or not.
Zoned out.
It was too funny!

I simply adore aprons. Yet most of the time I forget to wear them!
While cooking up Easter dinner, I put it on, and my outfit thanked me.

We had a bunch of people over. 13 total.
That is a bunch when you have a small house.
But we were cozy and ate wonderful food!
The hubby put a pork loin and a turkey on the smoker.
He was out there somewhere around dark thirty Easter morning. He was totally devoted.
People who came brought a little bit of this and that, everything was super delicous!
And we prepared this salad. With ingredients from our garden.
Green onion, radishes, spinach, lettuces.

Doesn't that look so Springy and yummy?


There are so many pics I didn't capture on Easter:
Like my niece and nephew wearing their bunny glasses I got them.
The Easter egg hunt in the back yard.
The Easter egg that Charlie found (and ate, shell and all).
The family and friends, love and laughter.
The table I decorated with things from around the house and flowers from the yard.

Oh well, I can't do it all.

Thanks for coffee guys!
Let's do it again next week ok?