Autumn officially arrived a little over a week ago and the days have been just lovely here, even the rainy ones, for it has been the kind of rain that feels appropriate for the transition of the seasons.
As we now greet October, color is due to arrive where we live and I am always in hopes that science equals beauty. All the right amounts of rain at just the exact times causes a burst of orange, gold and burgundy and that certain red that can only be described as “fall red”. While we wait for it, let’s meet the latest winner of Midwest Storyteller’s First Friday Freebie.
September’s free gift found its home with –
Debby from Boonville, Missouri
Debby is a first time winner here on the blog. Congratulations, Debby! I hope you enjoy your diamond dial watch and I know it will go with lots of your outfits for fall.
If you’d like to see the original freebie offer and have a better look at the beautiful watch Debby won, click here.
You can see past First Friday Freebies and their winners on myFreebies! pagehere.If you’re not yet a subscriber to Midwest Storyteller they might entice you to become one – First Friday Freebies are for email subscribers only.
Debby is a fairly new subscriber and you must be an email subscriber to enter to win. She did that entering her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirming her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. And that, dear friends, is just as free as the freebie! Subscribing is the best way to avoid missing what’s new here on the blog because you’ll get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post that offers the Freebie and you’ll be entered to win.
Freebies are my way of reaching more people with the stories, recipes and more. When you share with all your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, you’ll give them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free. Get the idea?
October’s drawing will take place tomorrow on Friday, October 2nd. I’ll surprise you in the morning with the announcement and photo of October’s free gift, so don’t forget to check it out.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
REMEMBER: Should your name be drawn as the winner, you will be notified via the email you used to subscribe. That means you’ll need to check your email often in the week following the drawing so that you can respond and keep the prize from being offered to someone else.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on Friday, October 2nd, 2020.
If you’ve won one of my Freebies in the past, leave a comment today and let me know how you liked it. Did you gift it to someone special or keep it for yourself?
Lest you think all Smuffy does is renovate the kitchen, let’s get back to what the man does in his off hours. He doesn’t get too many of those, so he likes to jazz them up as much as possible. I remember closing out Episode 6 of Life With Smuffy by giving thanks that there are enough angels to go around.
If I am to be honest and share the little phrase that floats through my head most often lately, it is this: “Poor Smuffy”. Living in an old house means constant upkeep and what isn’t actually broken needs updating. Then, there are acts of God, nature’s tendency to descend from order into chaos and the animal world to contend with. Because Smuffy knows how to do everything, he does everything. Why call the man when you can be the man?
We try to take a bit of leisure on Saturday mornings before we plunge into the mammoth project of the day and discuss the plan of attack, sighing a lot as we exchange looks that tell us that we are of like mind in wondering when and if this will ever end this side of Heaven. A couple of weeks ago, we were doing just that.
I took a sip of tea and snuggled more comfortably into the sofa. Smuffy, while never having contracted the Boogie Woogie Flu, has had a severe case of Rockin’ Pneumonia all his life and I’ve had to train myself to hold my head still when conversing with him while he’s in his rocking chair lest I get whatever it is people get in their necks from sitting at tennis matches and whipping their heads from side to side all day. I hoped against all hope that I wouldn’t be losing my kitchen contractor for the day. Nature, in the form of a once orderly tree, had descended into such a state that the whopper just to the south of our driveway would soon be causing plenty of chaos should the next big storm send it crashing onto the vehicles or the house.
“What’s the day look like, Dear?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve been thinking about that tree,” Smuffy sighed, taking another sip of coffee and making me wonder, yet again, how he can sip the hot stuff while moving so fast. He can hold a plate of hot food and eat an entire meal while rocking at top speed, too, but that’s another story.
I stifled my own sigh and the groan that threatened to escape me. Smuffy didn’t have any business up in that big old tree, but I’d never known that bit of common sense to stop him. In addition to the danger of plummeting from a great height, the day promised to be hot enough to cause a heat stroke.
“The more I think about it,” he went on, “the less I want to climb it. I’ve decided I’m just gonna call somebody and have it taken down.”
I could have jumped off the sofa and gone into a buck and wing dance right there in my jammies, but I refrained, lest it send him into one of those so-are-you-saying-I-can’t-get-that-tree-down-by-myself? attitudes.
We spent a few minutes discussing who we might call for the job and I actually began to feel like we were getting a little posh just for calling anybody for anything. Smuffy listed off a few smaller outside chores he wanted to attend to before getting to work on the kitchen and then we each went our own way with him heading outside while I set about to get dishes, laundry and a few other things started before I got dressed and plunged into serious cleaning.
Just as I grabbed some clothes and headed for the bathroom, the phone rang. Smuffy’s voice on the other end came slow and measured.
“I’m on the roof.”
Before the “Why?” that trembled upon my lips could escape me, he continued.
“There are wasps. I have agitated them. They are between me and the only way down. I need you to bring the wasp and hornet spray out and throw it up onto the roof so I can spray them and get down.”
“Okay,” I said, “but I hope you realize that I’m the last person you want throwing something at anything. And I’ll have to find it first.”
Smuffy tried to tell me where the can of spray was, but I knew he naively spoke of where it was supposed to be. When we’d moved and reinstalled the reverse osmosis for the kitchen, I’d had to empty the shelf that held all that sort of thing and disperse the items around the basement wherever they’d fit. On the way to the basement, I shed the robe, knowing it would hamper my (as I loosely referred to it in my mind) throwing arm. The neighbors, if they didn’t get too close, would interpret my nightie to be a sundress, or so I told myself.
I don’t know if you have one of those “old house basements” that looks like a game of “Where’s Waldo and How Long Do You Think He’s Been Dead?” but locating the can nearly had me weeping at the thought that by the time I finally found it Smuffy could be sliding off the roof, a swollen mass of stings. Laying hands on it at last, I imagined this must be how Sherlock Holmes felt every time he searched through cigar ash and discovered a speck of something that could only have fallen from a gentleman of independent means wearing a scarf of Shetland wool and carrying an Orpington hen.
I ran outside and around to the back of the house to find Smuffy perched near the highest point of the roof. I thought this might be the proper time to ask him why he was up there. He reminded me that he’d been wanting to adjust the antenna for a while now. He explained that he couldn’t come any closer without agitating the wasps further and that I needed to back up and fling the can with all my might.
It went just about like I had expected. In fact, it went that way three or four times. Finally, Smuffy suggested that I go around to the northwest corner of the house to higher ground so I wouldn’t have so far to throw. He could then climb over the roof and most of the way down and be ready to catch the can. I didn’t balk at this, but I do admit to having the unpleasant awareness that I would now be much nearer to the street in my nightie, flinging myself about while being hollered at by a guy on the roof. Oh, well…
While sound in theory, I had no faith in this new plan of Smuffy’s. The last thing I wanted to see was Smuffy scrambling up, down and sideways across a steep roof trying to catch an oblong metal object launched by a woman in a manner which was bound to convince passersby that she’d been having a couple.
I scrambled in amongst the petunias and boxwood, tightened my grip on the can and drew my arm back in preparation to let it fly.
“It’s not a shot put!” Smuffy yelled. “Here, watch me.” Instructing me to back up, he stood up and motioned with his arm, instructing me how to hold the can, how to swing my arm and when to release. Then, crouching as near the edge of the roof as he could safely get, he cupped his hands and squinted as though he fully expected to receive a concussion.
Well, you can’t call me a slow learner! I’ll have you know I landed it near enough to Smuffy that he managed, with a few interesting dance steps, to grab the can on my second attempt. I ducked inside out of public view and he slithered over the top of the roof and down the other side to tackle the swarm. Watching out the dining room window at the back of the house, I asked myself if this was the kind of thing I’d traded the tree job for and if it might have been wiser to save the money for hospital bills. I gave thanks that there are enough angels to go around and went to get dressed.
A short while later, with the washer and dryer going and now the dishwasher, I finished dusting and pulled out the vacuum cleaner and continued my mission to get the basic chores done before I started my list of extras. It was then that the earth moved.
The whole house shook with the crash. The windows rattled. The floor moved under my feet. Phoebe June did a little shaking of her own. The force was such that I looked around to see if cracks were snaking across the plaster on the walls and I wouldn’t have been surprised to find that the foundation had shifted. Had some huge explosion occurred on the other side of town? Sirens would probably sound any minute. I raced around to the south kitchen window and my eyes followed a tall ladder as it stretched up into the very tree we had just decided not to cut down ourselves. The gutter dangled off the east end of the porch and the fallen portion of the tree wouldn’t let me get down the deck steps. I spotted Smuffy at the top of the ladder before I ran back through the house and out the front door.
I still couldn’t get anywhere near him for the tree lay over the front lawn, flower beds, driveway and the yard on the other side of the driveway, not to mention a portion of our truck.
Seeing me, Smuffy pointed at the truck. “I thought I parked the truck far enough away,” he yelled. “Guess not.”
I looked at our dangling bumper – a nice match for the gutter. Turning to the house, I gave it the once over. No broken windows and the porch remained attached. Shingles seemed to be in their places. Now I gave Smuffy the once over.
“What are you doing up there? What happened to calling the man to come cut down the tree?” I yelled.
“Well,” Smuffy replied, and I’m not sure he didn’t give his chin a thoughtful rub. “I just decided I wasn’t going to let this old tree beat me.”
I resisted the urge to scream that for two cents I’d be happy to beat him.
“I suppose it never occurred to you to tell me in advance that you were going to climb up there and cut down that tree?”
At this point I threw my hands up in the air and went back in the house, figuring that his logic must be that after the wasp incident, this was mere child’s play. Your mind can’t help but take some sort of stab at Smuffy’s reasoning.
Once my heart stopped racing and the urge to strangle Smuffy subsided a bit, I stopped to give thanks again that there are enough angels to go around.
The scary part about it is that Smuffy only took down a third of that tree. Maybe he’ll give me a while to recover before the next chapter in this story.
The answer is “yes” in case you are wondering – Smuffy has always been this way.
Dig those socks!
Life With Smuffy does, indeed, have its ups and downs. I’m glad that his angels specialize in bringing him down gently.
I think you’ll agree with me that as soon as the calendar flipped over to September, it was time for a change! People have shown an amazing amount of patience in the last several months, but I can sense a certain something in the air that tells me we are all ready for cooler weather, a shift in how we connect with the world and a big dose of normalcy.
I’m here to lift your spirits with a lovely gift! I think you’ll enjoy September’s First Friday Freebie!
This gorgeous watch by “Time and True” will help you get back into the swing of things in style. It has a genuine diamond in the dial and the thing I love most is the self-adjustable bracelet band. You can see that on the watch in the lower portion of the photo. This means you won’t have to have the band adjusted by adding or removing links. You ask why there are two watches? I couldn’t resist buying one for myself when I got one just for you! Smuffy always gets the job of removing links when I buy a watch with a metal band because I have small wrists, so I was thrilled to be able to find such a pretty watch that I could just put on and wear.
The color is a rose gold that leans toward bronze which will look perfect with your fall outfits.
And guys, do you know how many points you’ll score if you win this watch and give it to her “just because”? I’m trying to help you out here.
So many people have said these last few months that the days have gone by in a blur to the point where they didn’t know what time it was or what day it was. I’ve found myself feeling the same way. So, if you’re headed back to school, work or just a more normal life, you might enjoy this First Friday Freebie. By the way, it is September, it is Friday and it is the 4th day of the month. Are we all straightened out now?
To enter to win this “Time and True” Diamond Dial Watch, leave a comment on this post before midnight tonight, September 4th, 2020 and be sure to say, “It’s time I won a Freebie!”
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so subscribe now over at the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page and subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so already.
Your friends will enjoy the stories, recipes, laughter and, of course, the FREEBIES here on the blog, too, so share with all your friends and family through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.
Subscribers win every single month! On the “Freebies” page, you’ll be able to see what they’ve been winning.
Once again, a winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight by leaving a comment which says, “It’s time I won a Freebie!”
Click here for complete First Friday Freebie rules.
Four simple steps!
If you don’t do it now, tomorrow will dawn and you’ll have missed your opportunity to enter. Subscribe now if you haven’t already, and confirm in your email before you forget!
The days are shorter now. Autumn will officially be here in less than three weeks. Decorate your home, pull out the scarves and sweaters and have them ready for that first nippy day. Things are about to change and, my dear friends, it’s about time!
Next up, (did I say up?) Smuffy’s up to something – WAY up!
Comments or questions? What have you done in the last few months to keep the joy alive?
Today’s post is actually a report on what is actually “old news” around here – by a few weeks at least. I find that by the time I take care of my sweet little grandson all day every day, blog posts are to be squeezed in around all the fun and games. He began crawling a couple of days ago on the very day he turned eight months old, so now I am really having to be on my toes around here.
Smuffy continues to plug away at the new kitchen in his off hours and those seem to be few. It’s been amazing how long it takes to make something that looks so simple to those who have walked into the store and walked back out with the item or who have told their contractor to “make it happen” and had it appear magically in their house. But, when every single piece of the puzzle has to be custom designed by the designer (me) and then created to fit perfectly by the master carpenter (Smuffy), it does drag on and on.
I’m tickled pink with this great storage cabinet he’s completed for above my wall oven.
I’m a tall cook, so I have no problem reaching up there for cookie sheets, cooling racks and oversized pans. I added the bottom row of small holes for rolling pins, pastry mat, tall bottles, drying mats and anything else that needs stashing there.
We had originally planned on walnut countertops made from a tree that Smuffy cut up and hauled home from the forest. Due to a concatenation of circumstances, we opted to abandon this plan along with the bowed front antique buffet we’d bought for a sink base. I shed a tear or two over that before sitting down to design my own furniture style sink base and then go shopping for the right countertops to go with it. We’ll still use Smuffy’s walnut for our open shelving areas and some ideas I have for other rooms.
Granite soon rose to the top as the best choice for us and we ended up choosing one called “Giallo Fiorito”. With my creamy cabinets, I didn’t really want any granite with white in it and I did want one with the same tones that my walnut would have had.
I don’t know if you recall that in my last kitchen update, I was a tad nervous about the installation of my long-awaited countertops and expressed my desire to escort the installers personally to my door lest they go to the wrong house. Well, you can call that woman’s intuition if you like, but that’s exactly what happened. They were just a bit late and then, wouldn’t you know, they called me and told me that they were knocking on my door and no one was answering. After some discussion during which we arranged all the digits of my house number in proper order, they continued on their way.
I remained a bit tense. I knew I would be until that breakable hunk of rock was safely installed. I followed the man who seemed to be in charge of the crew of four into my kitchen. Having a rear view, I saw his shoulders sag as he let out a heavy sigh and breathed the words, “This is going to be difficult.”
Those four guys got their morning’s exercise! When it was all said and done, we had no breakage, beautiful countertops and a sink that beat my “farmhouse” one all to heck!
Phoebe June had to wait for the guys to leave before she could belly up to the lunch counter.
The next day, Smuffy got busy and installed my new gas cooktop, Delta faucet with soap dispenser, reverse osmosis faucet, reverse osmosis water filtration system and garbage disposal. I hardly knew how to act!
You’re supposed to ignore the towel rack applied with floral duct tape and the hideous window that has since been ripped out. Only the storm windows have been temporarily re-installed while we await the arrival of our new windows.
A cabinet above the refrigerator is finished and ready for installation and then we are on to upper cabinets, open shelving, more pull-outs and doors. Somewhere in there, I’ve got to remove old wallpaper, paint the walls and shop for backsplash. I am not following the crowd on subway tile here, so I’d appreciate all your comments and ideas on backsplash.
In the midst of all this, Smuffy has undertaken a couple of other things that took up his time and slowed things down. He doesn’t seem to know how to do that without bringing sudden bursts of excitement into my day and giving me something else to write about so I’ll share that with you soon – now that calmness has returned to the household.
I know you’re bored these days with so many activities cancelled. What better time to catch up on my Life With Smuffy? He has his own page here on the blog for good reason, so why not start at the beginning? He’s full of surprises!
I truly value any tips you can leave me in the comments concerning features you like/don’t like in your kitchen. Or, have you seen something online or in someone else’s kitchen that you’d like to have if you could remodel your kitchen? Do you have any great storage ideas?
Here we are winding down to the end of summer. Time to meet the latest winner of Midwest Storyteller’s First Friday Freebie. This winner is yet another example of why it pays to enter often.
August’s free gift goes to –
Jenny from Boonville, Missouri
Jenny’s name has been drawn a couple of times in the past because she just keeps entering to win almost every month!
Congratulations, Jenny! I hope you “find JOY” in your Freebie!
If you’d like to see the original freebie offer and have a better look at the “Find Joy in Everything” wood and metal wall art that Jenny won, click here.
You can see past First Friday Freebies and their winners on my Freebies! pagehere. If you’re not yet a subscriber to Midwest Storyteller they might entice you to become one – First Friday Freebies are for email subscribers only.
Jenny subscribed by entering her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirming her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. This is the best way to avoid missing what’s new here on the blog because you’ll get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post that offers the Freebie and you’ll be entered to win.
Freebies are my way of reaching more people with the stories, recipes and more. When you share with all your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, you’ll give them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free. Get the idea?
September’s drawing will take place on Friday, September 4th.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
REMEMBER: Should your name be drawn as the winner, you will be notified via the email you used to subscribe. That means you’ll need to check your email often in the week following the drawing so that you can respond and keep the prize from being offered to someone else.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on Friday, September 4th, 2020.
If you’ve won one of my Freebies in the past, leave a comment today and let me know how you liked it. Did you gift it to someone special or keep it for yourself?
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but it’s August and the weather has been fabulous! I’m told it’s to be short-lived, but here in the hot, sticky Midwest, we take relief any time we can get it. To find myself looking in the mirror all throughout the first week of August and not muttering about the frizz and general icky-ness of my mane is almost miraculous – and welcome. It’s almost as nice as a First Friday Freebie!
The year is now well into its second half and most of us will be glad to see 2020 and its ridiculousness go and we won’t even bother to tell it not to let the screen door smack its fanny on the way out! Oh! Wait a minute – I know what we need to do –
My first Friday Freebie is a great reminder to (as the old song goes) count your many blessings and name them one by one. Or, as the Scripture says, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” (James 1:2) We definitely need reminding. My general tendency right now is toward muttering to myself throughout the day, rehearsing a list of world events and news reports that are stepping on my last frayed nerve. You know the one. It’s the nerve that (if I may borrow a phrase from P. G. Wodehouse) is already sticking out an inch and curled on the end.
This 6” X 6” reverse box-top framed word art by “Sign of the Times” has metal lettering and will easily fit into that little nook in your décor that just “needs a little something”. Right now, we all need a little something.
To enter to win this “Find Joy in Everything” décor, leave a comment on this post before midnight tonight, August 7th, 2020 and be sure to say, “Freebies bring me joy!”
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so subscribe now over to the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page and subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so already.
Your friends will enjoy the stories, recipes, laughter and, of course, the FREEBIES here on the blog, too, so share with all your friends and family through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.
Subscribers win every single month! On the “Freebies”page, you’ll be able to see what they’ve been winning.
Once again, a winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight by leaving a comment which says, “Freebies bring me joy!”
Click here for complete First Friday Freebie rules.
Four simple steps!
If you don’t do it now, tomorrow will dawn and you’ll have missed your opportunity to enter. Subscribe now if you haven’t already, and confirm in your email before you forget!
Spend the rest of your summer counting your blessings, even if is something as trivial as a week without frizzy hair! I have so many things in my life to put on my blessings list. We are all enjoying good health, this frightful kitchen makeover has made a giant leap forward and my sweet grandbaby is all laughter and smiles as he learns to sit up by himself and eat from a spoon. He certainly seems to find joy in everything – except pears – and he would have you know that pears are disgusting.
An update on Smuffy’s grand kitchen remodel is coming up soon!
Comments or questions? What have you done in the last few months to keep the joy alive?
I suppose 2020 has been crawling for some people, but not for me. How in the world did we arrive at August? It’s almost time for another First Friday Freebie, but before that, let me introduce you to July’s winner –
Shirley from Boonville, Missouri
Shirley enters often and this time she’s won the beautiful fabric covered remembrance book/journal.
Congratulations, Shirley! Whether you journal your thoughts or just let it rest somewhere as décor, I hope you enjoy your First Friday Freebie.
If you’d like to see the original First Friday Freebie offer of this great Tuesday Morning find, click here.
Past winners of my First Friday Freebies are on my Freebies! pagehere. First Friday Freebiesare for email subscribers only, so be sure to subscribe today if you’d like to enter to win.
Shirley’s name was drawn from among those who commented as instructed after reading the post that appeared on the first Friday of the month. Becoming a subscriber is the best way to avoid missing what’s new here on the blog because you’ll get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post and you’ll be entered to win.
I love it when you share my blog posts with your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest. That helps me reach more people and gives them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free. That makes life good.
August’s drawing will take place tomorrow on Friday, August 7th.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
REMEMBER: Should your name be drawn as the winner, you will be notified via the email you used to subscribe. That means you’ll need to check your email often in the week following the drawing so that you can respond and keep the prize from being offered to someone else.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on Friday, August 7th, 2020.
Spread the word and, most importantly, look for tomorrow’s post and enter to win!
Sometimes, it’s the little things in life that make all the difference. For instance, Smuffy’s custom “farmhouse sink” installation. That certainly breathed new life into the old kitchen! But, alas, I suppose I’m one to never be satisfied, because I found myself wanting more of life’s little luxuries.
The last few weeks have brought some advancements that have at least gotten the kitchen back into the kitchen. If you’d like to see my “Not-A-Kitchen” which was in the dining room, click here. With Smuffy’s addition of plywood along one kitchen wall, we now have a countertop (sort of) and I’ve cut my trusty vinyl tablecloth in half and moved it onto the counter to be able to wipe up messes and keep the plywood from getting icky. Just in case you’re wondering, those don’t rank high in durability. The poor thing has lost its luster and has a couple of melted spots and will soon be ready for the trash can. Bless its tacky lil’ heart, though, it has helped it make this giant leap into actually cooking in the kitchen!
In order to allow for adjusting the base cabinets, there are gaps in the temporary countertops. This makes food prep interesting as I try my dog-gone-dest not to drop food and utensils down inside those holes. While I am grateful for each baby step forward in this kitchen remodel, I do have to admit, if I am being totally honest, that there are some days when I’ve had just about as much ugly as I can stand. And weird storage made of cardboard boxes stacked on their sides. And this hot plate that is second only to my old stove in the category of “burners with minds of their own”.
I am loving the giant drawers Smuffy made. They hold a lot of stuff and I’m loving the smooth glide.
This has all gone on for so long now that I feel the urge to go over next week and personally escort the countertop installers to my door for my appointment just to be sure they don’t get lost or end up at the wrong house or something. Perhaps I should also deliver nourishing meals to their door between now and then to reduce the likelihood of them calling in sick on the Big Day.
I like to find my bright spots where I can and when Smuffy finished my pantry, I was over the moon! He advised me to cram it tight “for now” and wait for the final touches until the kitchen was much further along. I vetoed that idea, knowing that it would give me a much needed mental boost to have a spot of loveliness and an area of organization. I added the large red and cream medallion print wallpaper I’d chosen as a backdrop for all my pantry goodies and headed to Hobby Lobby to stock up on lots of nice jars and chalk labels (at half price, of course) for my ingredients. The tall, antique ten-pane casement window will show off my efforts. My theory is that you can always put anything unsightly in a nearby closed drawer.
As you can see, all my ingredients are conveniently at hand for making THM plan-friendly meals – my Gluccie, beef collagen, gelatin, baking blend, stevia, Super Sweet, Gentle Sweet and all the rest. It’s really been a stress reliever to have this small area of the kitchen complete. The pantry goes floor to ceiling, so I overlapped three photos here. That’s the explanation for any oddities in viewing.
All the shelves are adjustable with strips and clips that make them easy to move, but it took me longer to get those exactly where I wanted them than it did to wallpaper the whole thing!
Some of the items won’t stay in the pantry, such as my food processor, blender and mugs, but right now they have no other home, so…
This concludes Part 5 of these special episodes of my Life With Smuffy. With each completed step, I remind him that he’s my hero. He’s not all about remodeling – not by a long shot – so check out his page if you need stories to curl your hair and broaden your smile.
Next week, when I finally stop kissing and stroking my new countertops, I’ll be back to share the joy!
I’m curious. How do you organize your kitchen? Do you have a pantry? Do you stock it only with food and ingredients or pots, pans and small appliances? Do you have any great organizational tips? Leave a comment!
It’s July! The heat and humidity has arrived here in the Midwest, but so has the First Friday Freebie, so that’s refreshing, isn’t it?
I haven’t figured out how summer can be lazy and crazy at the same time. I suppose the songwriter was grasping for rhymes or perhaps was just bored to tears between parties or something.
I’ve forgotten what lazy feels like, but I refuse to refer to my days as crazy. “Wildly blessed” – How’s that?
Having made it through the first half of 2020, I think we all have to admit that it’s been a corker. Most of us are fed up with events and the lack thereof to the point of wanting to throw a real hissy-fit and scream, “Can’t we all just be together, and normal and nice to each other at the same time?”
Anyhow, it’s been a half-year for the record books and that brings us to this First Friday Freebie.
This beautiful fabric covered remembrance book/journal (a great find from Tuesday Morning) looks handmade and is ready for you to record precious memories, daily happenings, observations on life or perhaps tuck in photos. The way things are going, a few prayers wouldn’t hurt. As an item of décor, it’s lovely! French themed and measuring 7″X 4 3/4″, it has the appearance of having been passed down through the generations. Aged prints decorate the inside covers. The blank pages, appearing browned with age, are simply secured to the binding with satin and lace ribbons that run through the metal rivets of the cover. This allows the individual pages to be easily taken out in case you’d like to remove them in the future for sharing or copying.
Some people love to journal. Some don’t. If there’s ever been a time in your life to jot down your thoughts – it’s now. You’ll want to leave behind your version of the historical times we live in. I have a friend who loves to have ladies over for tea as much as I do and I envision her using this journal as her guest book. You might find that keeping a “treasure book” such as this a great thing to have handy so that you can quickly record the milestones or just the cute things your children or grandchildren do or say.
To enter to win this beautiful journal, you’ll need to “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “The pretty journal, pretty please!” Be sure to do that before midnight TONIGHT, July 3rd, 2020!
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so subscribe now over to the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page and subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so already.
Your friends will enjoy the stories, recipes, laughter and, of course, the FREEBIES here on the blog, too, so share with all your friends and family through Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest.
Subscribers win every single month! On the “Freebies” page, you’ll be able to see what they’ve been winning.
Once again, a winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight by leaving a comment which says, “The pretty journal, pretty please!”
Click here for complete First Friday Freebie rules.
Four simple steps!
Don’t let the day slip away! Subscribe now if you haven’t already, and confirm in your email before you forget!
May your summer be spent with the people, places and events you love and cherish enough to record in this beautiful book!
My goodness! What a month! I won’t get into the whole story while I’m announcing the freebie winner, but you’ll see in an upcoming post why I’ve had little time for blogging lately.
June’s First Friday Freebie goes to a three time winner –
Ruth from St. Louis, Missouri!
To give you a hint as to how distracted and busy I’ve been, you can see here that I’ve had to do a little bit of hurried, and unprofessional, photo editing of Ruth from one of her past wins. (I’ve had some major problems getting to the post office lately and that left little time for us to send, receive and get a photo back. Sigh…)
Ruth enters almost every month and it’s paying off! This time, she’s won three copies of the U. S. Constitution. I’m sure she’ll find a couple of friends to share the extras with who may already know and love this great document that grants us our rights and freedoms or maybe she’ll give them to someone who needs to get acquainted with it.
Congratulations, Ruth! I hope you enjoy your First Friday Freebie – again!
If you’d like to see my original First Friday Freebie offer and find out why I chose to give away copies of the U. S. Constitution, click here.
You can see past First Friday Freebies and their winners on my Freebies! pagehere. If you’re not yet a subscriber to Midwest Storyteller they might entice you to become one – First Friday Freebies are for email subscribers only.
Ruth subscribed by entering her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirming her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. This is the best way to avoid missing what’s new here on the blog because you’ll get an email reminder each time there’s something new – like when there’s a FREEBIE on the First Friday of every month.
Comment as directed on the post and you’ll be entered to win.
Freebies are my way of reaching more people with the stories, recipes and more. When you share with all your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, you’ll give them the opportunity to subscribe and win also. Subscribing is free. Freebies are free. Get the idea?
July’s drawing will take place tomorrow on Friday, July 3rd.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
REMEMBER: Should your name be drawn as the winner, you will be notified via the email you used to subscribe. That means you’ll need to check your email often in the week following the drawing so that you can respond and keep the prize from being offered to someone else.
Take a moment make yourself familiar with the complete Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on Friday, July 3rd, 2020.
If you’ve won one of my Freebies in the past, leave a comment today and let me know how you liked it. Did you gift it to someone special or keep it for yourself?
