Need a little smoking help . . . . .

For as long as I can remember, this little German smoker house has been in the family.

I don't know how it happened but when I married, I wound up with it.  I sat it next to a coffee cup so you can get an idea of the size.  Including the steeple, it is 5" high.  There is an incense cone sitting on top so now the house smells a little like gingerbread.  The roof assembly comes off to store the extra cones which I purchased recently at an import store in Hendersonville, North Carolina (great little town, by the way).

Dad has passed on (the German side of my family) and I tried Googling about it but with no luck.  Does anyone have any information on this kind of smoker?  All the Google hits I got were for new ones to purchase that were much more ornate.

Thanks in advance!

Blessings, Cathi

Starting a new collection . . . . .

I have collected many things over the years.

My biggest collection is my white enamel pots.  This is just some of them.

And brown bottles . . . . . . 

And dogs . . . . .

And kids . . . . . 

And old cheese graters (no picture) . . . .

And fabric (won't fit in one picture). . . . .

And quilt patterns (still won't fit in one picture) . . . . . .

And WOOL! Lots of wool . . . . . 

What I have always wanted to collect is PEWTER.  It was just cost-prohibitive. But two weekends ago, Dear Hubby and I went antiquing and found these two little pieces.

They are a little banged up but the price was right.  I am keeping them in a cabinet that Dear Hubby built for me.

I hope to have a collection some day that will mean he will have to build a new shelving unit for me!

Blessings, Cathi

The pool is open! . . . . .

With this 90° weather, I thought today would be a good day to get the boys pool ready.

Within seconds - literally seconds - Reagan decided he just couldn't wait!

Pawing at the hose seems to be the thing to do .....

And then Nelson had to kick him out to get a drink .......

Aaaahhh .... the beginning of summertime .....

Blessings, Cathi

Spring Cleaning . . . . .

While I have a little breather in-between shows, I thought I would do a little spring cleaning.

One of the little things that I decided to take down and dust really well (because who knows the last time I did that!) is this birdhouse that Dear Hubby made for me one Christmas.  I don't remember what year it was but somewhere close to 12 years ago.

It was totally a surprise ..... 

He came up with the design himself after looking at the stash of old wood he had laying around.

He can surprise me anytime!

Are you listening, honey?

Blessings, Cathi

MaMa and PaPa . . . . .

The Married One told us on Saturday that we are FINALLY going to be grandparents!

She had bought this little sign over two years ago and hoped to give it to Dear Hubby when the time was right.

Well, the time is right and we are both tickled pink .... or maybe blue!  We have a long time to wait to find out any details but in the meantime, I'm just enjoying this cloud I am floating on .....

Blessings, Cathi

A small dog . . . . .

That's what I sweep up everyday.

This little pile will barely fit in a dustpan.  At least the boys have relatively short hair . . . .sigh . . . 

Really I'm just checking in.  It you keep up with my quilt blog, Shakerwood Quilts, you will know how busy my busi-ness is. 

I am hoping to take a nap in April!

and post here a little bit more . . . . .

Until then . . . . .

Blessings, Cathi

Mighty Mouse is still the king . . . . .

At least in our house.

Dear Hubby and I spent the day deep cleaning the kitchen.  Apparently we have mice.  We have caught three so far but at least one still eludes us.  The bugger is pretty smart.  But we'll get him in the end.  We just have to build a better mouse trap!

It sure felt good to give the kitchen a good cleaning.  Not a spot was left undone except maybe under the dishwasher.  Which is where he is probably living AND laughing at us.

If only I could teach the boys to be mousers . . . . . 

They don't look too thrilled, do they?

UPDATE ..... Got him the next day!  Whoohoo.  Set another trap.  Nothing else so I'm guessing he was the last of them.

Blessings, Cathi

Happiness is . . . . .

having a computer programmer in the family!

Thanks to Computer Geek for hooking me up with a new computer and getting me back into the blogging world!

I'll be back soon with something worthwhile to talk about.  It's amazing what one can do when they can work on a real computer monitor instead of a little 10" netbook.

Blessings, Cathi