Weekend finds...

Happy Monday.  Didn't the weekend just fly by?

Friday night, I promised Josie that she could have a sleepover which included making and decorating sugar cookies. 

 Lots of fun was had, but I'm continuing to find sprinkles and icing in all sorts of strange places.

 While running errands on Saturday, Chris and I popped into a new antique store near our home.

 Of course, a few things managed to find their way home with me.

I loved this St. Nicholas so much that I decided I needed to make another Christmas wreath.
 
Never one to pass up honeycombs (especially when they are marked 4 for $1) these also needed to be rescued.

It's my last week at work and my to-do list is a mile long.

Perhaps, Santa will find me some extra elves to get everything done this week.  Christmas hugs!!
   

Christmas around the house...

It's nearly the weekend! Yippee!! 

 The girls have lots of social plans so we won't be traveling to the A-frame this weekend. However, Chris is headed to the lake after work to meet the delivery of my new stove! Merry Christmas to me!  

Although we don't have any snow left outside at the moment, my sunroom mantle is all decked out with my snowman collection.  

Many of you might recognize the work of Elizabeth "Creative Breathing", Laurie "Magpie Ethel" and Viv "Viv's Whimsy". 

I still love this light that I found at the Salvation Army last year.   A fresh coat of glitter makes it sparkle again.

Have a great weekend.  

Make sure and take time to play!  

Christmas parades and outdoor ice skating adventures...

We had a busy weekend, starting with two different Christmas parades Friday night. Although I don't have any  photographic evidence, Emma's marching band played a few Christmas tunes at the Grandville parade, while Josie's dance/cheer team performed in the Greenville Christmas parade.

On Saturday, the girls and I headed to our A-frame cottage while Chris joined us later that evening.  When we arrived, we spotted a series of boats racing across the ice with special blades.  If you look closely you can see a group of people standing in the middle of the lake.  We actually watched them skating out to the center of the lake!
   The girls were eager to test out their ice skates so when Chris arrived, I had him drill into the ice to confirm that it really was deep enough.  Sure enough, the ice was nearly five inches thick in front of our cottage.

 Soon after, he was busy clearing off the ice and the girls were in ice skating heaven.

Although we've been dreaming of a more elaborate fireplace, it's not in our budget right now and so we found a small electric fireplace for the A-frame downstairs.  Isn't it cute?  The wooden wreath is an estate sale rescue.

Like everyone, I've been busy decorating our house for Christmas and I'll be sharing some of my favorite Christmas estate sale rescues later this week.  Christmas hugs!! 

My 2014 Christmas dollhouse...

I'm happy to announce that Josie pulled Holly from Damita's Pretty Wrap for my Kim K. Christmas give-away. 

 I had meant to update the blog last night but the evening escaped from me.   Congratulations, Holly.  Please send me an email with your address and I'll get this in the mail this weekend!

You all know how much I love to restore and collect dollhouses, and my favorite dollhouse is now all decked out for Christmas.

One of my favorite estate sale finds over the last few weeks, was this reindeer Santa light and it fits perfectly on the roof of the house.

Have yourself a wonderful weekend!

Be sure to take time to play!

More Christmas decorating at the A-frame!

As soon as school was out last Tuesday, we headed to our A-frame cottage for some extended time.

From door to door (in good weather), it's a quick  40 minutes!

Have I said how much I love being able to spread out my Christmas collections between two places?

Makes me feel less guilty for continuing to find and rescue vintage Christmas items from estate sales.

I think I love our cottage even more in the cooler months.

 It's quiet.

 It's cozy.   That new furnace makes a HUGE difference!

 I can pretend that we are nestled in the mountains somewhere.

Going for walks in the snow around the lake is extremely peaceful.

While we were out for a morning walk, I spotted this camper.  Wouldn't it be fun to decorate for Christmas?  Chris was very quick to tell me "no more restoration projects" and to get out of the neighbors yard. 

We have so much to be thankful for.  Christmas break is going to be so much fun at the A-frame!

If you didn't sign up, I'm doing a Kim K. no-strings Christmas give-away on this post.  Happy December!