Festive Brownies...

Yesterday was the last day for volleyball until January 8th, so we decided to have a dessert potluck as well. I made  brownies from a box, sprinkled a bag of chocolate chips on top, baked it and when it came out of the oven, I poked in a few red and green M&Ms. They were the hit of the night!

Everyone was oooh-ing and ahhh-ing over them-and they almost didn't take any effort what-so-ever!

They were still warm when we ate them and they were very yummy!

On the Ninth Day of Christmas...

♪♬On the ninth day of Christmas, my loving son found for me...♬♪♪

♪♬...nine dotty bowls! ♬♪♪

On the Eighth Day of Christmas...

♪♬On the eighth day of Christmas, my loving son found for me...♬♪♪

♪♬...eight vintage tablecloths! ♬♪♪

Christmas Projects

These are two Christmas projects created by me! They are not my original idea, but I was the one to cut, glue and glitter-and that is something really BIG for someone as creatively challenged as I am!!

 A straw wreath with stained clothespins, and ribbon.

Printed free vintage Christmas card images, cut into 2" circles, folded, glued and glittered.

I'm pretty happy with how they turned out! I know this is sooo basic and elementary for almost everyone else out there, but for me...it worked!

Have I Told You How Much I LOVE Fiestaware?

I got a #3 vintage Fiesta mixing bowl today. Not from the fun shops near Frankenmuth, but from Ebay. It is gorgeous!!! I LOVE it! I am making progress on completing the set!

Fun filled crazy kind of day...

Today was a crazy, fun kind of day! Auntie and I met at our usual spot and took off for an estate sale in Swartz Creek. It was advertised as the second day-so we were hoping that some good stuff would still be there. When we got there-it was actually the 4th day-not the second like the ad said. It was in a garage (that was colder inside than out), and 99% of the items were grossly over-priced. I went out and waited in the car while Auntie found a couple of treasures that weren't in the top 99%. What a frog of a sale!

We headed for Frankenmuth and Bronner's but on the way we spotted this charming little antique mall  "Around The Farm". It was a prince! We both found a few things that we couldn't leave behind. I will keep this one on the list of "keepers" and I plan to visit it again-maybe this summer! The prices seemed reasonable and each booth took care to display their items in well thought out attractive displays.

This is what I found at Around the Farm:

 A pretty Christmas hankie.

A huge Christmas tablecloth-I kept checking the price-I couldn't believe how cheap it was!

Then we headed toward Frankenmuth and Bronner's. Auntie needed to pick up some ornaments for her boys. It wasn't any where near as crowded as I thought it would be for being this close to Christmas. I actually had a super fun time snapping tons of fun pics to show you! Have you ever been to Bronner's? It's a pretty amazing place-I've never seen anything like it anywhere else-ever! If you find yourself heading north on 75 and are in the vicinity of Birch Run-it is really worth the trip to drive a few miles off the expressway to Bronner's. 

Take a look at some of the photos I took to share with you (don't worry-we had permission):

All of these shots were taken in an area that was about 1/10 of the entire store!

I picked up an ornament for each of my boys...

 A string of bobbers for Adam-to remember his ten day fishing trip to northern Canada with Grandpa and Uncle Dale this summer.

 A feathery chicken for Eric to remember the year he started raising chickens!

We also stopped at another antique mall in Millington (about 8 miles from Around the Farm). It was a nice little shop-definitely deserves a return visit! It was called Mike's Antiques. The sign by the door shows 4 more shops in the area.

 It was a really fun day! I always have fun treasure hunting with Auntie-we never lack for conversation or laughs!

This is what I found there...

After I got home, Eric and I headed out to pick up a couple of last minute gifts and we got a text from Adam telling us the chicken coop floor was on fire! Everything is OK and the girls are fine-although they seemed a little stressed. Adam put the fire out and there was minimal damage. The heat lamp came unhooked from its hanging place and it burned a hole in the floor of the coop.

We are seriously thanking God for helping us avert what could have been a disaster! The coop sits very close to our garage, and had it turned into a roaring fire, I am sure the garage, then house would have caught too.

It's funny how it all worked out...Adam almost never goes in the coop. I can probably count on one hand the number of times he's been in it since we got the chickens last spring. He was looking for some chicken wire-he's going to play hockey with some friends tomorrow on their pond and what he needed the chicken wire for-who knows! Plus...Eric let the girls out this morning before school-something he hasn't been doing the past couple of weeks because it's been so cold. Had they been trapped in there with all the smoke-they wouldn't have survived. Then...Eric just happened to leave a snow shovel just inside the door (that he didn't lock this morning-which had it been locked-Adam would have never went in), so that all Adam had to do was throw snow on the fire.

See what I mean about the crazy part of my day?  ☺