Stuff happens. And if you’ve been keeping up here, you know that it’s been happening in my kitchen. We’re nearing completion, but at the time when I should have been announcing the October First Friday Freebie winner, it was really happening! Then, there was an email glitch and the winner didn’t get notified in a timely manner and I didn’t get it mailed out in a timely manner. I also didn’t get the announcement made. I’m starting to think that time has no manners.
Anyhow, give a belated cheer to October’s winner –
Jean from Hurricane, Utah!
Congratulations, Jean!
It is news to me that they have hurricanes in Utah, but maybe Jean could give us some history behind that name in the comments.
I love interesting town names. Once, in high school, my best friend and I got hold of an old zip code directory and found ourselves in fits of hysterical laughter as we perused the pages. I must do that again sometime on some gloomy day when I need a lift.
Jean won the pretty necklace you see her wearing in the photo and she agrees with me that it is much prettier than it appears in photos. Jean has won a First Friday Freebie in the past, so check out all the past winners and their gifts hereon my Freebies! page.
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.
NOTE: If you enjoy entering to win, please make sure you subscribe with an email you intend to keep and will likely be checking the week after the drawings. This is my only means of letting winners know they’ve won and so if your email isn’t up to date, you may not get your gift!
Look for the subscription area. It’s easy to find on the “CONTACT” page and after subscribing, confirm your subscription when the confirmation email arrives in your inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
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 help me reach more people with my 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. Are you catching on this is a free thing?
Coming soon: December’s First Friday Freebie – that takes place on Friday, December 3rd. You’ll see a photo of the Freebie and you can enter to win at any point all day that day. Don’t forget to check the email that you used to subscribe for notification that you’ve won.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
ONCE AGAIN (because you tend to forget): 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, December 3rd, 2021.
Next up: November’s winner – in a more timely manner.
Don’t I sound humble? Well, when you’ve got six “Golden Ladles” under your belt – wait! Those were for soups. I’ve never entered a stuffing-making contest, but I’d have to admit, this would be my entry.
I’ve decided that there are three groups of people when it comes to stuffing opinions. Yea, even unto four.
First there are “the-nasty-stuff-shall-never-pass-these-lips” people. I don’t understand these people. After all, it’s a pilgrimage. Keep trying. I know I’ve personally swayed some nose-wrinklers with this recipe.
Next, there is a group of folks I don’t even trust. Someone walks in with a pan of something that resembles stuffing and I’m gonna ask what’s in it – and not so much because I’m concerned that they’ve loaded it with unhealthy ingredients. You have to give these people a second, meaningful look and ask exactly what’s in it. That’s because at some point in history, someone somewhere put oysters in stuffing and told people this was not only acceptable, but tasty. Your life is in your own hands, but my advice is to beware of this group.
Then, there are those folks who cling to the stuffing I grew up on. White bread, torn into hunks and drowned in seasoned broth is baked until it becomes…well, white bread drowned in seasoned broth. There might be an egg or two in there, but generally, you probably need a spoon and it’s nothing special. I take that back. It is something special – it’s memories. It’s what our granny made and it’s stuck in our minds as the thing to do. God bless these folks. May they happily feast on it and leave more of mine for me!
The final group is the one I call home. It’s the “let’s-go-all-out-and-throw-in-everything-but-the-kitchen-sink” group. Flavors, textures, aromas – all blending into a glorious symphonic culinary masterpiece. Don’t say I don’t know how to overdo it.
I like to give credit where credit is due. Many years ago, I checked a book out of the public library called “The Thanksgiving Cookbook” by Holly Garrison. (This was way back when healthy ingredients didn’t seem to matter that much in our household, especially on a holiday.) This book was loaded with yummy stuff and I still use the skillet green bean recipe. I checked and found the book is still available used on websites like www.discoverbooks.com , www.mercari.com , and www.ebay.com in the $5-$8 range. However, there seem to have been different editions and I don’t know how they differ.
The stuffing recipe in Holly’s book really rocked my world. I’d been looking for something “different” and this was not only something I’d never had before – it was hearty, delicious – it was a stuffing “experience”. Still, over the years I’ve adapted it quite a bit, not only to fit the THM plan as a crossover (XO), but to our personal tastes as well. Thanks to Holly Garrison for inspiring me with the basic idea of using sausage, sage and apples – something I never would have come up with on my own.
Be sure to check the notes following the recipe! And, don’t forget there’s a free printable – It prints as a double so you can share with a friend!
Coach Barb’s Stuffing-to-End-All-Stuffings with Sage, Sausage and Apples “XO”
1 pound turkey breakfast sausage, browned and seasoned with plenty of extra sage.
16 slices (20 ounces) sprouted grain bread, torn or broken into postage stamp sized pieces and DRIED
3 celery stalks, finely chopped
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 Tablespoons dried sage or 1/4 cup fresh sage, chopped fine
3/4 cup toasted, coarsly chopped walnuts
2 large (or 3 if smaller) golden delicious apples, peeled and cubed (1/2 inch or smaller)
2 teaspoons mineral salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
3 large eggs, beaten
1/4 pound (1 stick) butter, melted
1/2 cup almond milk
1/2 cup chicken broth with NO SUGAR
1/2 cup heavy cream
Coconut oil cooking spray
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9″X13″ baking dish (or LARGER) with cooking spray.
In the VERY large mixing bowl where your bread has been drying, add the browned meat, celery, onion, sage, walnuts, apples, salt, pepper and caraway, tossing together with a large spoon as you go.
Whisk the melted butter, almond milk, broth and heavy cream into the bowl with the beaten eggs. Pour over the dry ingredients and stir well.
Pour into the baking dish. Cover and bake one hour or until done in center, removing the cover after 30 minutes to allow for some yummy crustiness on top.
NOTES:
Sage: There are years when the frost gets my sage plant before Thanksgiving rolls around, but that didn’t happen this year. Just remember that you’ll need half as much dried sage as you would fresh.
Drying Bread: I use a mixture of bread heels and chunks of homemade sourdough I’ve had frozen along with some store-bought sprouted grain bread such as the Knock Your Sprouts Off bread from Aldi in order to come up with the required twenty ounces. I put it in a huge mixing bowl on Sunday or Monday ahead of Thursday’s feast and several times a day as I walk by, I reach in and give the bread pieces a toss. By the time you’re ready to make stuffing, they’ll be dried out and crouton-like. This needs to happen or they will not be able to soak up the goodness you’re going to apply.
Veggies: Folks will be unhappy with chunks of squashy celery in their mouths, so please go to the extra effort to get the celery and onions pretty small. I leave the last inch or so at the base of a celery stalk connected as a “handle” and run a knife down the stalk separating it into four long strips. Then, squeeze them together and slice them all at once down to the base end and then toss it.
Broth: You could use bone broth or regular chicken broth. Just be sure to adjust the amount of mineral salt in the recipe based on the amount of sodium in the broth. I prefer to have minimal salt in the broth and add my own salt.
The Pan: I use a clear glass baking dish that, while it might be mistaken for a 9X13” at first glance, my other pans of that size will easily fit down into it with a little wiggle room. This is a big pan of stuffing, so if you’re serving just a few people, you may want to make a half recipe until you decide you like it and then you’ll probably want to make the whole thing and freeze the leftovers.
Now, grab your free printable and start your adventure and see if you don’t think this is the Stuffing-To-End-All Stuffings! Check out the THM on-plan Thanksgiving menu here that has been taste-tested and approved by the members I coach in my weekly Food Freedom sessions.
In the group coaching sessions I teach weekly, I do cooking demonstrations and in our countdown to the holidays, the members have gotten to experience several recipes that enable them to have a complete Thanksgiving feast and still stay on plan with THM. If you’d like our suggested Thanksgiving menu, click here.
Remember those “golden ladles” I mentioned earlier. If you’d like my all-time favorite soup, click here. This one is the winner of three of those awards!
If you need support in your journey to better health and weight loss, head to the Contact page and let me know. I’ll give you all the info on group sessions which I conduct locally in person on a weekly basis. Private coaching can be done in person or by phone. Share with friends and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!
Which stuffing camp do you belong to? Leave a comment and give me your thoughts.
When I first started to really eat healthy, like many other people, one of my thoughts was “What in the world am I going to eat on Thanksgiving and Christmas?” It’s all “frankenfood” – or haven’t you noticed?
At first, I just considered it a time to splurge and I knew I had the grit and determination to get back on track afterward. After a year or two of that, I realized it wasn’t worth it. I felt horrible after those meals!
These last few years, I’ve developed a plan that enables me to indulge in all the yummy foods without feeling the least bit deprived on the holidays. Deprived is something I have no intention of being. I am a volume eater and I can really put the stuff away!
Now, as a THM Certified Lifestyle Coach, I knew my clients needed to be able to do the same. Most of them have never been through an entire holiday season during which they needed to try to stay on plan.
That’s why we’ve been focusing lately on how to put together a fabulous Thanksgiving meal that won’t raise your blood sugar, mess with your hormones or negatively affect your health in any way. We all acknowledge that it is a day of feasting and there may be a level of calorie intake that doesn’t occur during average daily living, but that doesn’t mean the ingredients have to be destructive to our health. Also, in THM eating, “crossover” (XO) meals might not help with weight loss, but they are definitely on plan and after all – it’s a feast!
Some of the recipes I’ll be mentioning here are from the Trim Healthy Mama cookbooks. They are such a valuable resource even for those of you who may not be interested in losing weight or doing the plan, but who are interested in fabulous and simple recipes for real families living real lives who want to be healthier. You can find them here or you can also check with your public library or places such as eBay and maybe catch a bargain. I use all three of their cookbooks all the time, so this has proven to be a great investment.
NOTE: The Trim Healthy Mama site is down as I am typing this due to the mad rush caused by their Cyber Monday sale, so please be patient.
In my weekly Food Freedom group sessions, we’ve been focusing on the countdown to Thanksgiving by demonstrating and taste-testing a different recipe each week leading up to the big event. Here’s the menu that my class taste-tested and agreed would let them feast while staying on plan.
Turkey: That’s a given in most households at Thanksgiving and it’s a great healthy choice. We’ve been brining the bird at our house for years and recently I noticed on the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook page that they have brining instructions that are very similar to what we are used to doing. Scared of having a dry bird and ending up with a scene at the big dinner that resembles the one in the Christmas Vacation movie? Brining is simple and totally prevents this disaster. See the THM version here.
Coach Barb’s Stuffing-to-End-All Stuffings: All I can say here is that I’m gonna try. I have adapted my stuffing recipe to fit the THM plan as a crossover (XO) and I think it’s the best stuff ever. There are two camps when it comes to stuffing and mine falls into the “throw-everything-in-there-but-the-kitchen-sink” category. Some folks are fall into the “brothy-bread-with-some-seasoning-and-you-might-need-a-spoon” category. I’ll try to get the recipe posted here before the big day. If you’ve been eating healthy for a while, you know there will need to be some bread changes here from the type of stuffing you grew up with or the boxed version.
Mashed Fotatoes: There are a lot of recipes out there that call for substituting cauliflower for those high-glycemic, carb-bomb taters we were all taught to eat, but this one is yummy. It’s found on page 219 of “Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook”. I make it exactly as directed. The only tip I can offer here is to stick close during the cooking process and then get the cauliflower straight into a colander and toss well right away to get every last bit of water out. That is the most important thing to remember.
Basic Gravy: This gravy is delicious and it’s a Fuel Pull (FP) or can be made with pan drippings and/or heavy cream to make it even more delightful. Doing this will, of course, swing it over into the “S” category, but hey! It’s Thanksgiving! Check it out on page 483 of “Trim Healthy Mama Cookbook”.
Green Bean Casserole: This one recently popped up on the Trim Healthy Mama Facebook page and I couldn’t resist demonstrating it for my class. It was a hit, so you can get the recipe from the THM Facebook page post of November 1, 2021 or use the slow-cooker version in the post on November 21, 2021.
Macafoni and Cheese: I confess to not having tried this one yet, but it looks and sounds so yummy that it is on my list to make soon. I also spotted it on the THM Facebook page post of October 29, 2021.
Pumpkin Silk Pie: We were all so impressed at how decadent this simple pie is. You can also make it into squares, but I tend to think of Thanksgiving as Pie Time, don’t you? The crust, made with almond flour, is a mixture that goes from the food processor into the pan and is pressed into place with your fingers. The filling goes into the blender, which takes the pumpkin from its usual fibrous texture into a smooth-as-silk delight. I topped mine with homemade whipped cream by simply pouring the cream into the mixer, adding 1/8 Tablespoon of salt, a tablespoon or two of Gentle Sweet, a splash of vanilla extract and a tiny bit of freshly ground nutmeg and whipping on high speed. I can’t say enough good things about this pie! (see photo.) You’ll find it in “Trim Healthy Table” on pages 410-411.
Pumpkin Muffins: If you absolutely don’t have enough time to make the pie for this special occasion, try this recipe on page 272 if “Trim Healthy Future”. They are a super-simple dump ‘n stir type of recipe and the Cream Cheese Icing (with the Maple Burst flavoring added) on page 372 is the perfect crowning glory. These are so easy and so yummy that I could seriously form an addiction to this healthy dessert and have to start hoarding cans of pumpkin.
If you need support in your journey to better health and/or weight loss, head to the Contact page and let me know. I’ll give you all the info on group sessions which I conduct locally in person on a weekly basis. Private coaching can be done in person or by phone. Share with friends and let’s see how many are ready to get Trim & Healthy!
The Trim Healthy Mama Plan is a great way to boost your immune system and we all need that right now, don’t we? Leave a comment when you try these great recipes and tell me how you like them.
Offer up some extra thanks this season to the One who blesses us with all good things!
November’s First Friday Freebie post didn’t post! How aggravating.
I was simply way too busy today to check on it as I usually do. Please feel free to take until midnight on Saturday, November 6th to enter to win by commenting as directed on the original post HERE.
The nip is in the air, the colored leaves blanket my yard, the air has that certain crispness and the urge is there to grab a jacket and stroll hand-in-hand with the one I love. So, Smuffy patted me on the shoulder the other night and said, “Maybe next year.” Folks, I’m telling you, this kitchen remodel must end soon. This is why things have gone awry here on the blog and again, I give my apologies. Better days are ahead, but right now, life’s a blur of small finishing details.
Yesterday, I found myself weaving around a ladder in the kitchen, trying to gather things together for my Trim Healthy Mama class and answer Smuffy’s questions about the appropriate distance between open shelving, trying to explain to Phoebe June that despite the presence of three of her humans in the vicinity of her dish she had already had a snack and listening to Lil’ Snookie’s request for “Puh-SHOPSH Cimmin” (applesauce with cinnamon if you’re twenty-two months old). It will be a sad day when he actually learns how to pronounce applesauce, because I get the giggles every time he asks for it.
About that time there came a dim realization, forming in the spaghetti-like mass in the frontal lobe that I had arrived upon the eve of November’s First Friday Freebie and still am in possession of the Freebie that remains homeless!
As stated in the First Friday Freebie rules, the winner will be notified via the email used to subscribe. It’s vital when you enter to win that you check that same email regularly in the week or two following the drawing to see if you’ve won. October’s winner was “Julie”. I emailed Julie, but have received no response, so I am going to put the freebie back into circulation again since I don’t know who Julie is.
Julie, if you’re out there, I’m sorry it didn’t work out, but since I have no other means to contact you, it’s time to re-draw for the free gift.
So, here we go, let’s take a look at that First Friday Freebie again. I’m going to throw in a surprise bonus gift along with it to make things extra special for November.
This beautiful scarf by Capelli New York will look great with all your fall fashion with its tan and soft white tones. It’s 100% acrylic, very soft and is hand washable. Including the fringe, it measures approximately 72” X 5.5”, so it’s long enough to loop and tie in all sorts of fun ways or wrap around your neck twice on those extra frigid days.
It was a great find at my local Factory Connection, where I often find fun fashion and great home décor at good prices.
To enter to win the Capelli New York scarf, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “Keep me cozy again, Midwest Storyteller!” You’ll need to do that before midnight TONIGHT, November 5th, 2021.
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so you’ll want to subscribe over on the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so.
I hope you get excited about winning freebies and share them and my blog stories with your friends and family through all your social media. If you like an idea, recipe or story you see here, be sure to hover over the photo and “pin it”. Help me get the word out!
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, November 5th, by leaving a comment which says, “Keep me cozy again, Midwest Storyteller”. Remember, there’s an extra surprise included!
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules,click here.
Why not subscribe and confirm right now before you forget?
If you’re somewhere where the snow is already flying – better you than me. If you’re somewhere where you’re basking in sunny warmth – enjoy every minute. If you’re here in the Midwest like me – make the best of your daily surprises and during this season of Thanksgiving, give the Good Lord your gratitude!
I’d feel just a bit silly if I didn’t know full well that things are about to change. This is the Midwest, after all, and we’ve been known to have a fifty to seventy degree variance in temperature within a twenty-four hour period. Still, as I sit here with the windows open and the ceiling fan in my office circulating the eighty degree air, the October First Friday Freebie seems entirely uncalled for!
You’ll be ready for that nip in the air when it arrives, or maybe it already has in your neck of the woods.
This beautiful scarf by Capelli New York will look great with all your fall fashion with its tan and soft white tones. It’s 100% acrylic, very soft and is hand washable. Including the fringe, it measures approximately 72” X 5.5”, so it’s long enough to loop and tie in all sorts of fun ways or wrap around your neck twice on those extra frigid days.
It was a great find at my local Factory Connection, where I often find fun fashion and great home décor at good prices.
To enter to win the Capelli New York scarf, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “Keep me cozy, Midwest Storyteller!” You’ll need to do that before midnight TONIGHT, October 1st, 2021.
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so you’ll want to subscribe over on the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so.
I hope you get excited about winning freebies and share them and my blog stories with your friends and family through all your social media. If you like an idea, recipe or story you see here, be sure to hover over the photo and “pin it”. Help me get the word out!
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, October 1st, by leaving a comment which says, “Keep me cozy, Midwest Storyteller”.
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
Why not subscribe and confirm right now before you forget?
October is like May – you just can’t get enough of either one. Enjoy each crisp and colorful day!
The sounds of autumn are coming through the open windows of my office as I type this and I marvel that I find it a pleasant sound when it is actually a multitude of the insect host singing whatever it is they sing to each other this time of year. God bless the one who invented window screens. The sound does signal the end of heat and humidity and that’s a good thing.
It’s almost three more weeks until the season changes officially, but you’re right on time for the September First Friday Freebie! Let’s take a look.
Once at a ladies’ function, we played a “getting to know you” game where we had to jot down on a piece of paper “two things you love and one thing you hate” and toss the paper into the bowl. When the bowl makes a second pass around the room, someone else draws your paper and tries to guess who may have dropped this list into the bowl. I remember that when I played this, one of the things I jotted down that I loved was jewelry. I do love a bit of bling. I could so keep this freebie, but it’s all yours.
This pretty necklace by Accessory Connection is a long one. It has an adjustable chain section that extends from 32” to 35”. The “Y” section at the bottom adds an additional 2.5”. This makes it great to throw on over all your great fall sweaters and tops. Double chains of both black and gold (not visible in the photo) meet up with the beaded section which has iridescent beads in black, pale amber and a color I can’t decide whether it is a smoky blue or a smoky purple. A small stone in the “Y” section hovers above a teardrop pendant that I’d describe as a golden caramel color.
I took several photos trying to get the colors to appear as they do in reality, but the bottom pendant seemed to look washed out in every single one. Anyhow, it’s prettier than the photo.
Factory Connection is a great store to find cute jewelry and other accessories along with some fashion clothing. I don’t get there often, but when I do I often find great prices on items like this freebie. Check out their website herefor locations near you.
To enter to win the beaded necklace, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying “Bring me some bling!”. You’ll need to do that before midnight TONIGHT, September 3rd, 2021.
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so you’ll want to subscribe over on the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so.
I hope you get excited about winning freebies and share them and my blog stories with your friends and family through all your social media. If you like an idea, recipe or story you see here, be sure to hover over the photo and “pin it”. Help me get the word out!
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, September 3rd by leaving a comment which says, “Bring me some bling!”
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
Why not subscribe and confirm right now before you forget?
While you’re waiting to find out if you’re the winner, you’ll love a good Smuffy story – the most popular thing on my blog. Our Smokin’ Hot Honeymoon is a great place to start.
May your windows be open, may your hair un-frizz and may you sniff the first hints of fall!
I know what you’re going to say once you start reading this – “Aren’t those people ever gonna finish that kitchen?”
That, my dear friends, is exactly what I ask myself, sometimes multiple times per day.
We’ve got to cut Smuffy some slack, though. After coming home from his day job, he tackles everything else that pops up (or falls down, as the case may be) with this seventy+ year old house. There’s all the yard work, the garden and how a huge outdoor project he’s had to undertake. My “new” kitchen goes forward in spurts and I try to have patience. I will admit to having tears, though. Every once in a while, the whole thing about having a toddler here every day with no cabinet doors gets to be a bit much. Careful placement and a good boy are all that stand between us and disaster.
Well, the doors have arrived! I’d do the happy dance, but they’re not up yet. You see, they’ve been handed over to me. Yikes!
I’ve done a lot of DIY in my time, so I had a hard time figuring out why these made me so nervous. Then, I realized where my jitters were coming from.
It’s one thing to drag something home from a yard sale or resale shop and dive in to give it a whole new life. It is quite another to take brand new things that Smuffy has poured blood, sweat and tears into and risk screwing it up! As I said in an earlier post, most people who say they did their whole kitchen makeover by themselves have few bragging rights compared to what we’ve undertaken on this project. Ripping out things, bringing home new cabinets and installing them and then slapping on some trim pales in comparison to what we’ve done. It’s been me with my sheets of graph paper and research and Smuffy painstakingly hand-crafting each and every cabinet, pull-out, replacing windows, framing in new ones, building the pantry and making all the shelves to my specifications. It’s been a long, long road and each interruption and setback has been tough.
Now, Smuffy has handed me his beautiful cabinet doors and it’s turned me into a big chicken. My design all along (I tell him that at all times he must remember that he’s Chip and I’m JoJo), was to have antiqued creamy cabinets. I went to great lengths to get just the right paints, additives, glazes and colors to achieve the end look. I did all right through two coats of primer. I did all right through two coats of paint. Then, somehow, as soon as I got ready to antique them, nerves kicked in. How could I ugly up Smuffy’s beautiful doors?
It was all I could do to go down to the basement and smear the glaze over the perfection and start wiping it around with old rags over that pristine first door. It was as though I kept forgetting that the installed cabinets upstairs had already been antiqued and it was too late to turn back now. Duh!
There are reasons I chose antiquing. So many kitchens are what I call “hospital white”. I hope it’s a trend that ends soon. Sometimes I think way too many folks out there are working in labs or schoolrooms or medical offices and this look is seeping into their souls. Anyhow, I didn’t want that. I wanted homey. I have a working kitchen – a really working kitchen. With homecooked healthy meals every single day and all the prep for cooking demonstrations at the classes I teach, it would be hard to keep a sleek kitchen looking sleek all the time. Also, I have some things of my mom’s I’d like to use to decorate my open shelving and they’re just pretty shabby and farmy. In honor of her, I’m calling this my Emmabelle Kitchen.
As you can see in the photo, I went ahead with Door #2 and then I started to calm down. In game shows, there is something behind the door to jump up and down about. In my case, I’ll just have to wait a while longer. Smuffy keeps assuring me we are in the home stretch. I nod and sniffle. The home stretch is every bit as exhausting as the rest of this turtle race.
Just in case you’re wondering, Smuffy’s masterpieces are finished off with two coats of Benjamin Moore primer, have had a light sanding and received two coats of Benamin Moore trim paint in “Fresh Narcissus” with Floetrol added. This additive makes all the brush strokes or roller marks “melt” away. The antiquing is done by taking eight parts Benjamin Moore Studio Finish Acrylic Glaze and adding one part Benjamin Moore satin finish paint in “Devonwood Taupe. This is wiped on and then off immediately with cotton rags, leaving accents in the wood details. Two coats of Benjamin Moore polyurethane are added after glazing to restore the hard finish. Otherwise, the glaze would remain too “soft” for durable cabinetry.
I must add that in this photo, the antiqued door looks like it has much more antiquing on it that it does in actuality. There’s no explaining why photos do that sometimes.
Smuffy does more than just build things. My Life With Smuffypage is loaded with stories that will make you laugh, cause your hair to stand on end and probably bump us up to the top of your prayer list!
Leave a comment! What do 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? My kitchen is small. Give me your best storage tips and tricks!
My apologies for running late with this announcement. Not only did I fall behind a bit, but our winner has been under the weather (though I doubt the weather had anything to do with it) and getting it to her and getting a photo has had its challenges.
She was kind enough to snap a picture of her First Friday Freebie in its new home and send it to me, so let’s congratulate and extend get well wishes to –
Liz from Boonville, Missouri!
Liz often enters to win and has been a previous winner, so if you want to meet her, just check out all the past winners and their gifts hereon my Freebies! page.
The “Then Sings My Soul” box-style décor is a Hobby Lobbyfind and you can see the original freebie offer, here.
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.
Look for the subscription area. It’s easy to find on the “CONTACT” page and after subscribing, confirm your subscription when the confirmation email arrives in your inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
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 help me reach more people with my 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. Are you catching on this is a free thing?
Coming soon: September’s First Friday Freebie – that takes place on Friday, September 3rd. You’ll see a photo of the Freebie and you can enter to win at any point all day that day. Don’t forget to check the email that you used to subscribe for notification that you’ve won.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
ONCE AGAIN (because you tend to forget): 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 3rd, 2021.
A lot of people say, “I never win anything!” I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and tell me the best thing you’ve ever won.
Welcome to August! (I say that like I’m hosting the month personally.) Actually, I’m missing out on a lot of it due to the Big Kitchen Crunch, but that has nothing to do with Freebies unless you count the fact that it’s forcing me to do this post past my bedtime.
Yes, it’s the First Friday and that means that commenting as directed in this post will enter you to win my August Freebie. Let’s take a look at it.
This black and white wooden décor will look great on your table or tucked into a shelf. It measures 4.875” X 7.375” including the knob on top and if you’re up on your old hymns, it reminds of that famous one, “How Great Thou Art”. The little damask print bit of stenciled art at the left adds just the right touch and I think it will look great year round as well as with all your upcoming fall decorations. It’s a Hobby Lobby find, because, as you may have noticed, I can’t stay out of that place.
To enter to win the “Then Sings My Soul” décor, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying just that, “Then Sings My Soul”. You’ll need to do that before midnight TONIGHT, August 6th, 2021.
NOTE: An occasional problem occurs with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. Should this happen, email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so you’ll want to subscribe over on the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so.
I hope you get excited about winning freebies and share them and my blog stories with your friends and family through all your social media. If you like an idea, recipe or story you see here, be sure to hover over the photo and “pin it”. Help me get the word out!
On the “Freebies”page, you can see what readers have been winning every month.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, August 6th by leaving a comment which says, “Then Sings My Soul”.
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
Why not subscribe and confirm right now before you forget?
Summer’s winding down. Enjoy every minute of warmth and bloom.
If you are in the Midwest, I hope you’re a heat and humidity lover or are blessed to stay in and enjoy some air conditioning. Our air conditioning went out recently and replacement parts were never more welcome. One thing you can enjoy in this weather is a First Friday Freebie, so let’s meet the winner –
Ginger from Prairie Home, Missouri!
Congratulations, Ginger! Ginger enters to win on a regular basis so it’s no surprise that she’s happened to win more than one of my First Friday Freebies. Take a look at the inset photo and you’ll see she’s not the only one enjoying it. She used it to decorate the front door of her chicken coop and now all her “ladies” are simply cackling with delight over their new decor.
You can see all the past winners and their gifts here on my Freebies! page.
The bright red metal flower Ginger just won is a Hobby Lobby find and you can see the original freebie offer, here.
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.
Ginger’s been a subscriber ever since the beginning of this blog. She became one by entering her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirmed her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
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 help me reach more people with my 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. Are you catching on this is a free thing?
Coming soon: August’s First Friday Freebie – that takes place on Friday, August 6th. You’ll see a photo of the Freebie and you can enter to win at any point all day that day. Don’t forget to check the email that you used to subscribe for notification that you’ve won.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
ONCE AGAIN (because you tend to forget): 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 6th, 2021.
A lot of people say, “I never win anything!” I’d love to hear from you. Leave a comment and tell me the best thing you’ve ever won.
Since Smuffy shares a birthday with the greatest country on earth, things will be busy for me in the next couple of days. So, let me take this First Friday Freebie post to also wish you a Happy & Free Independence Day! (And, Happy Birthday, Smuffy!) I invite you to make this Sunday more than a great time for family and fireworks. Spend some time with those you love celebrating the real meaning of what it means to be an American and the brilliance and freedoms established and granted to us by our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution. These are short documents, but do we know what’s in them? We are a country of political will and ideals that are not found anywhere else on earth.
If I may quote Ronald Reagan from a 1988 speech –
“America represents something universal in the human spirit. I received a letter not long ago from a man who said, ‘You can go to Japan to live, but you cannot become Japanese. You can go to France to live and not become a Frenchman. You can go to live in Germany or Turkey, and you won’t become a German or a Turk.’ But then he added, ‘Anybody from any corner of the world can come to America to live and become an American.'”
I just heard some early fireworks going off outside as I finished typing that quote, as if to punctuate this truth.
Now, remembering that today is the first Friday of the month, let’s take a look at your Freebie.
This bright red metal daisy with its sunny yellow center from The Spring Shop shouts of summer and also of the fact that I’ve been roaming around Hobby Lobby again. It measures 8.75” across and is ½” deep. My first thought how this would make your garden area pop if hung on a fence. Then, I quickly realized that it would look great inside the house as well, adding a little summer to any room. Kitchen, kids’ room, porch – anywhere that bit of red to catch the eye is needed.
To enter to win the red metal daisy, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “I love freedom and a freebie!” You’ll need to do that before midnight TONIGHT, July 2nd, 2021.
NOTE: There seems to be an occasional problem with subscribers not receiving confirmation emails. If this happens, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com so that I can report it and have the issue resolved.
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so you’ll want to subscribe over on the right sidebar or use the menu to navigate to the “Contact” page where you can subscribe to Midwest Storyteller if you haven’t done so.
I love it when people enjoy my blog stories and recipes and get excited about winning freebies. Share with all your friends and family through all your social media. If you like an idea, recipe or story you see here, be sure to hover over the photo and “pin it”. Help me get the word out!
Subscribers win every single month! On the “Freebies”page, you’ll be able to see what they’ve been winning.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight, July 2nd by leaving a comment which says, “I love freedom and a freebie!”
For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, click here.
Why not subscribe and confirm right now before you forget?
Do you have special Independence Day traditions? Leave a comment and let me know how you make the day special.
June turned hot here in the Midwest and now it’s closing out as wet, wet, wet. Let’s dry off for a minute and meet the winner of June’s First Friday Freebie –
Kathy from Prairie Home, Missouri!
Congratulations, Kathy! I hope you’ve been getting good use out of your lemony freebie, perhaps while serving up some refreshing lemonade on those sweltering days.
Kathy has not only been a winner of my First Friday Freebie before, but has also been a guest here on the blog. She kindly taught me how to do wood burning and make beautiful spoons like the ones she made here and mine also became a First Friday Freebie! You can see those here, learn how we made them and find out who won them here.
I’m waiting for the word from Kathy – if she has another artsy thing to teach us, I’d love to have her share it here on the blog. She’s always doing something fascinating with found items.
The lemony kitchen set that Kathy just won are by Home Collection and you can see the original freebie offer, 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.
Kathy’s been a subscriber for a while now. She became one by entering her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirmed her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com – it seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
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 help me reach more people with my 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. Are you catching on this is a free thing?
Coming soon: July’s First Friday Freebie – that takes place on Friday, July 2nd. You’ll be able to see a photo of the Freebie and enter to win at any point all day that day. Don’t forget to check the email that you used to subscribe for notification that you’ve won.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
ONCE AGAIN: 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 2nd, 2021.
I’d love to hear from you, especially if anyone has any ideas about how we can divert some of this rain to parts of the country that so desperately need it right now. We are having road closures due to all the flooding and it is one soggy mess around here.
May is known for being merry and for the flowers brought on my April’s showers, but let’s not forget the First Friday Freebie. Meet the winner –
Ruby from Boonville, Missouri!
Congratulations, Ruby! Thank you for the photo and I’m glad you like the reminder that “Everything is ‘figure-out-able’”. It may not win any grammar prizes, but it does help us take a deep breath in the midst of the stuff of life and let our worries go.
Ruby has been a winner here at Midwest Storyteller before and that’s because she is faithful to enter the drawing each and every month.
This little wooden block was a Hobby Lobby find. If you’d like to see the original freebie offer, 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.
Ruby is a long-time subscriber. All she did was enter her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirm her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com and let me know as I am trying to work out a few bugs with that. It seems that from time to time, a subscription will get “stuck”.
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 help me reach more people with my 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. Are you catching on this is a free thing?
Coming soon: June’s First Friday Freebie in celebration of summer! That takes place on Friday, June 4th. You’ll be able to see a photo of the Freebie and enter to win at any point all day that day. Don’t forget to check the email that you used to subscribe for notification that you’ve won.
A winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on the day of the drawing.
ONCE AGAIN: 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, June 4th, 2021.
I can only hope that June in your neck of the woods is as beautiful as it is here right now. Perfect temperatures, lush greenery and beautiful blooms are all around.
January is bitter and devoid of Christmas. March is raw, teasing with its two or three nice days and threatening to never end. But February? Right spang in the middle of it, its redeeming quality, Valentine’s Day, comes to brighten up what would appear to be just another set of footprints plodding through the snow and slush till spring. It doesn’t hurt that chocolate usually enters the picture, too!
While I had no way of sending you chocolates and my little Sweetheart Valentine has kept me from getting a homemade set of Valentine cards made for you, I do have a bit of cheery bling to offer.
Take a look –
This beautiful pendant on a 28”-30” gold-tone chain followed me home. It’s from Accessory Connection and I just loved all the movement in the tortoiseshell pieces hanging from the black faceted embellishment, not to mention the detail in the chain that adds the extra sparkle.
To enter to win the pendant and chain as a Valentine for yourself or for someone you love, all you need to do is “Leave a Comment” on this post, saying, “Be My Valentine, Midwest Storyteller!” You’ll need to do that before midnight TONIGHT, February 5th, 2021!
NOTE: There seems to be a problem here on the blog with people trying to subscribe and not receiving their confirmation email. If this has happened to you, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com and let me know so that I can report all these instances and have the issue solved.
First Friday Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY, so hop on 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.
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 who they are and what they’ve been winning.
A winner will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight by leaving a comment which says, “Be My Valentine, Midwest Storyteller!”
Take advantage of this “month of love” by sending some Valentines! I know, I know, it gets all commercialized, but you must admit, we don’t spend enough time telling friends and family how much we love and appreciate them. Let’s let all the commercialism serve as a nudge. The simplest note or a treat wrapped in red tissue is all it takes to make someone feel special
Subscribe now if you haven’t already, and confirm in your email before you forget! (See note above concerning subscription issues.)
I type this at the end of a raw, blustery day. Is that the distant call of spring I hear? Never mind, I think it’s the Roomba.
Comments or questions? Share some of your simple ideas for making someone feel loved and appreciated on Valentine’s Day.
I’m excited to announce the winner of January’s First Friday Freebie. Sometimes my Freebies have to take a little journey to arrive at their new home.
This one did do some traveling – all the way to –
Janine in Rochester, New York!
Congratulations, Janine! Enjoy your goodies and thank you for subscribing and entering to win.
If you’d like to see the original freebie offer, check it out 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.
Janine entered her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirmed her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com and let me know as I am trying to work out a few bugs with that.
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?
Coming up: February’s First Friday Freebie! That takes place on Friday, February 5th. You’ll be able to see a photo of the Freebie and enter to win all day that day. Don’t forget to check your email for the reveal.
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, February 5th, 2021.
Preparing to say “Happy Valentine’s Day“ to someone special? You can keep this Freebie for yourself – or maybe not!
In some ways, I have my ducks in a row. In others, not so much. Throw a monkey wrench into my well-oiled plans and I’m likely to forget I had any plans at all. November’s First Friday Freebie was chosen in a timely manner and in the usual way. And then, emails just didn’t seem to be moving back and forth in their proper cyber-flow and I lost contact with the winner. By the time this got sorted out and the Freebie got into the hands of the postal service, and the Freebie took it’s cross-country journey, I succumbed to CPO (Christmas Preparation Overload)! This condition, complicated by my chronic state of GCED (Grandchild Comes Every Day), led me to lose complete track of things.
Anyhow, let’s meet the winner –
Jean from Hurricane Utah!
Congratulations, Jean! I’m so glad you entered to win!
Jean received this autographed copy of Diane Yates new novella, “Christmas on the High Seas”. I’m hoping that COP did not prevent her from enjoying this great read in time to enjoy it during the Christmas season.
If you’d like to see the original freebie offer, check it out and enjoy a brief interview with Diane Yates about this Christmas romance 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.
Jean entered her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirmed her subscription when the confirmation email arrived in her inbox. If you’ve done that and not received a confirmation email, please email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com and let me know as I am trying to work out a few bugs with that.
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?
Coming up: December’s winner! Then, 2021 and another great drawing are just around the corner on Friday, January 1st. I’ll surprise you that morning with the announcement and photo of January’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, January 1st, 2021.
Preparing to say “goodbye” to 2020? It’s been quite a year! Blessings on your life as we enter a bright and happy new year!
I realize I haven’t shared many creative endeavors here on the blog in a while. That is, any that are mine and mine alone. Yes, our house is still torn up in several places and most of the efforts are going into what has become the longest kitchen renovation in the history of the world. C’mon, folks! Try and top it! Leave your comments, be honest, and let me know how long your kitchen makeover took. It’s coming along, but we do get weary at times. However, there is only one of Smuffy and everything is hand-crafted in this project, so on we march toward the finish line in our tortoise-like fashion.
In the middle of it all, I decided that if I had to look at our fireplace one more minute I might just scream. I’d passed the grumbling and sneering phase long ago. Built in 1950, our home, for which we are grateful in many ways, was given a fake fireplace from the start. Sturdy and solid brick with a nice oak mantle, it stands tall and proud and just a shade wonky which is better than many other things in our house which are wonky in the extreme. After living here and working on the house for decades, we’ve come to the conclusion (with no offense intended) that our house had to have been built by someone who, being a certified nitwit on his best days, practiced up for his future career as a builder by whamming away on his first project (our house) with a dull axe during bouts of extreme drunkenness.
Many are the projects we have undertaken and pushed through to the end with heavy sighs, but the fireplace has stood just as its maker intended, since 1950.
Then, as happens to so many of us, I saw a photo on Pinterest at acottagegirl.com. I love Cindy’s ideas on her blog. I’d never really known what I wanted to do to the fireplace till I saw her fireplace photo. It filled me with that feeling that can only be described as “Oh, yeah!”
Then came the research. I had to know how to get the look without making some mistake I’d be sorry for. Here’s what I did and a little bit about how I did it. I hope you enjoy the results. I’m very happy with the outcome. The before photo is in Spring 2020 when I hadn’t much desire or inspiration to decorate and the after is, as you can see, decorated for fall. I’m not quite finished tweaking it for Christmas just yet.
I had a long talk with an experienced paint man at Home Depot who recommended a good masonry primer. After applying this, I applied a Behr paint in a Magnolia color called “Lit Candles”. Then, I got pretty jittery about how to apply the darker color and get it to look right. I ended up choosing a Behr paint, “Armadillo” , in a satin finish and mixed it, one part paint to four parts faux glaze. I only had to buy a sample jar of the paint and I had the glaze on hand. I applied this with a sea sponge in a horizontal swiping/dabbing motion and then, with a wet rag, removed as much paint/glaze as I could from the mortar between the bricks. It was a bit like being way too close to your Monet while painting, but each time I stood back and took in the effect, I grew a little more confident that I wasn’t creating a total disaster.
The dark accent wall behind the fireplace, along with the rest of the room, has now been painted in Valspar’s “Milk Toast” from Lowe’sand I’m liking it better and better every day. It went on like a dream in one coat over a special primer called “PPG Gripper” from Home Depot, recommended to me by their helpful paint guy as something I could put straight over my old faux-finished glazed walls without having to sand them. God bless this man!
I’m pressing the pause button on all home updates other than the kitchen until after the holidays. I’ll take progress on that room any time I can get it!
So, dear readers, show me your fireplaces and any other fun updates you’ve been doing lately. I value your ideas because I need to make changes in several rooms.
You can check out some of my other creative projects, including writing, wood burning, decorating, sewing, re-purposing and restoration by exploring my Create! page.
I almost didn’t get this announcement out while it’s still October! The First Friday Freebie found its new home weeks ago, but in case you haven’t heard, I keep my grandbaby every day and am in the middle of the world’s longest kitchen remodel. I’m just a wee teeny bit distracted.
Meet the winner –
Ruby from Boonville, Missouri
Congratulations, Ruby! I know you enter often and that it has paid off. You’re not a first-time winner.
Ruby won this fall set of two kitchen towels from Fabulous Home’s Fall Harvest Collection. Measuring 15” X 25”, they are of generous size. One boasts a plaid of burgundy and gold while the coordinating towel has word art just right for the season. For an extra touch of fall color, you can display (either hanging or sitting) this 5” X 5” metal sign by Dayspring that lovingly lists “Ten Things God Wants You to Remember”.
If you’d like to see the original freebie offer and have a better look at the items Ruby 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.
Ruby entered her email in the subscription area here on the blog and then confirmed 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?
I’m excited about November’s drawing which will take place next Friday on November 6th. I’ll surprise you that morning with the announcement and photo of November’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, November 6th, 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?
When I think of this time of year, what comes to mind is a pot of my Zesty Pumpkin Soup. Click here for that and remember to use almond milk to stay plan-friendly with Trim Healthy Mama. (And the biscuits in that blog post – not on plan – tasty, but pure Frankenfood.) I also think of digging out my boots and scarves, going on outings with friends while the weather is brisk and the colors are bright. I dream of having friends over for comfort food!
To do that, I like a touch of fall in the house, even in the kitchen. You probably do, too, and that’s why I think you’ll enjoy October’s First Friday Freebie!
You’ll be hostessing in style with this fall set of two kitchen towels from Fabulous Home’s Fall Harvest Collection. Measuring 15” X 25”, they are of generous size. One boasts a plaid of burgundy and gold while the coordinating towel has word art just right for the season. For an extra touch of fall color, you can display (either hanging or sitting) this 5” X 5” metal sign by Dayspring that lovingly lists “Ten Things God Wants You to Remember”.
To enter to win this fall towel set and metal sign, leave a comment on this post before midnight tonight, October 2nd, 2020 and be sure to say, “I’ve fallen for the 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, “I’ve fallen for the Freebie!”
Click here for complete First Friday Freebie rules.
Four simple steps!
If you don’t do it now, you might just forget between now and midnight and miss your opportunity to enter. Subscribe now if you haven’t already, and confirm in your email.
Enjoy these beautiful days if you live in a place where the seasons change. Winter around here is nothing I care to brag about, but autumn in the Midwest is a glorious sight to behold. May you revel in the beauty of it all! Have a picnic. Take long walks. Gather some folks around a campfire. Just go sit and stare at the handiwork of God.
Comments or questions? What’s your favorite thing to do this time of year?
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!
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?
Just a quick note today to announce that once again, one of my stories has been accepted for publication in the Columbia Chapter of the Missouri Writers’ Guild’s annual collection of poetry and prose! “Well Versed 2020” makes it’s debut this Saturday, June 13th! My story, “The Eyes of Love” is among the entries chosen for this year’s book.
I was honored to be chosen for publication in this anthology last year (Well Versed 2019) with a story called, “The Brown Wedding Dress” a true-life depiction giving but a snippet of the great love story of my Aunt Martha and Uncle George who were married over eighty years and shared a life and love that I was privileged to witness and record.
I share more of their story this year with “The Eyes of Love” which tells of a horrifying incident that occurred shortly after they married and which, though it brought them shock, pain and responsibilities that any of us would shrink from, drew them into a greater knowledge of love’s sacrifices and brought healing to Martha’s soul.
My apologies for being so late with this announcement. It seems there’s something about keeping a five-month-old while in the midst of this kitchen remodel that keeps me from getting things done quite the way I’d like.
Further apologies for having to announce that if you’d like a copy, you will have to email me at barb@midweststoryteller.com no later than Friday, June 12. (I told you I was behind on things!) They are $11 and if you need me to ship it to you, they will be $14 if you’d like to get one directly from me. You may also respond to my Facebook announcement in the comments. They will be available on Amazon at a later date.
Mine is one of the many contributions to this anthology and I offer my congratulations to all the other contributors!
If you’d like to have get to know Martha and her family members, glimpses into their lives are found along with other family stories can be found right here on my “Laugh” page.
We still have no kitchen as we live in this cluttered world of hitches and compromises. So, you may ask, how does a Trim Healthy Mama who is dedicated to eating healthy managing to keep on track during all this? Let me introduce you to my Not-A-Kitchen!
These photos are really embarrassing, but hopefully will make the end reveal all the more glorious. And, please forgive the spastic decorating. I find that as things change, I keep poking things onto empty nails “for now” and the house is starting to look like I’ve lost my marbles. The chairs will go also – just gotta give Smuffy the time to get my new old ones re-done. Poor fella.
I’m hoping the reveal of this mess may help someone else who is going through something similar and knows that you can’t eat out all the time – not if you want to be trim, healthy and pay for a renovation! The last thing we need around here is for me or Smuffy to get sick in the middle of the remodel. That happened to us years ago and I still have PTKSS (Post Traumatic Kitchen Stall Syndrome) from that experience that put us three weeks behind and left us with a two-year-old and nothing – nothing – but a microwave in the otherwise empty kitchen for the whole time.
I followed my original plan for daily function by shoving my dining room table as far over as possible to make room for incoming cabinets and then filling it with everything we’d be needing on a daily basis. I covered it with a felt-backed vinyl tablecloth first so that it would survive the ordeal.
Tall items at the back included a rack of plates and bowls, a spice rack and the mixer. In front of that, I lined up glassware and often used items such as salt and pepper, olive oil and salad vinegar, nuts, jars of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and other things we grab to snack on and, of course, my big, fat jar of Dutch cocoa powder because, though I may not have a kitchen, I’ve gotta live!
I left an empty strip along the front for food prep and placed a cutting mat there. This area also serves to hold the hot plate, crock-pot or whatever else may be in use at times when Smuffy is pounding away and I can’t get into the kitchen at all.
Smuffy had built huge new drawers for the new kitchen, but prior to them being installed, I stacked them on one another and filled the top one with flatware and utensils so they’d be in easy reach. Needless to say, we fill our plates and head into the living room to eat.
My “buffet” (I think this is, in reality, a gentleman’s dresser that has seen changes over time) now serves as Appliance Row with the food processor, blender and toaster oven perched atop a towel and ready to go when I need them. One of my old wall cabinets got its doors removed and is shoved against a wall and filled with plasticware and other food prep items we might want to grab.
Over in the “new” kitchen, once Smuffy got the base cabinets in, I was relieved to find that the holes in the tops were the perfect size to catch the rims of my cookie sheets! We take our small blessings where we can find them and give thanks for them. I filled in an area and plopped in some cutting boards. Then, as if in direct answer to prayer, Smuffy discovered that one of our old cabinet doors dropped in perfectly to another cabinet top! We celebrated that discovery by placing the hot plate there and felt like we were really getting somewhere! Sort of.
The problem remained that we had no water. Family came to the rescue, sending us jugs of drinking water, but as for rinsing things for the dishwasher and washing up anything extra, we were running back and forth to the bathtub.
That is, until that glorious day! Smuffy, that man of many talents, installed a true farmhouse sink!
I’m feeling mighty stylish over here! This is where we stand until countertops are finalized. I love the way he placed the decorative part to the front so I would remember not to insert the grandchild.
Take heart if you are in the midst of a makeover. We’ll get through. When? I have no idea. In the meantime, I’m fixing healthy, balanced meals or pulling out frozen versions of the same that I prepared in advance and stashed in the freezer. In case you didn’t notice the bottle warmer and formula in the photos, I’ll point out that I am caring for my four-month-old grandbaby most days in the midst of it all. I have to admit there are days when I’m just a tad pooped.
If you have a friend in the middle of a renovation and finding themselves disheartened, share this post. It helps to know you’re not alone.
That’s the tour of my Not-A-Kitchen. Stay tuned for what I hope will be next – my pantry and remaining cabinetry and their insides. Then, countertops! I’m expecting to be downright giddy when that happens.
Now I’m leaving you hanging again. I’ll bet this has your curiosity piqued more than back when some of you were wondering who shot J. R. Others will have to do a search on that. Life With Smuffy is never dull. That’s why he has his own page here on the blog. (He’s not all about construction, you know.) If you need adventure and laughs, check that out.
I’ll be sharing some of the meals I made ahead in order to get through this. and some of the ones I was able to whip up without losing my marbles in my Not-A-Kitchen.
Can I have your kitchen remodel ideas? What would you have in your dream kitchen that you don’t have now? Leave a comment!
Our world has changed much these last several weeks and at no time have we been more aware of it so far than in preparing to change how we spend the next three days.
Many have taken a hit because of the corona virus. Some have lost loved ones, some are working exhausting, back-breaking shifts while others only wish they had a job to go to. The rest of us, here in the United States, are plodding along, wondering when we can again spend a day doing something we once took for granted – running errands.
The worldwide celebrations of Passover and The Resurrection of Christ have to rank at the top of the list of things Jews and Christians never thought they’d do without attending the largest faith gathering of the year, not to mention home gatherings to celebrate with family and friends. We thrive when we practice our faith and share our holy days with one another and we’re feeling a bit cheated this year.
I just can’t go along with the idea that these events “got cancelled”! Maybe we’ve forgotten that on the first Passover, Hebrew families were huddled, each in their own dwelling, partaking of a meal as instructed by God in order that the angel of death might pass over. And what happened the following morning? They were set free from cruel taskmasters and the bondage that had been their way of life for four hundred years. Perhaps we’ve forgotten that when Jesus, our Perfect Passover Lamb, lay in His borrowed tomb, all his followers scattered each to their own homes, hiding. No throng gathered at the entrance to that tomb on Sunday morning to celebrate the Big Day. They were, for the most part, each in their homes, confused and scared.
Neither group called it “social distancing”, but when you’re shutting yourself away from deadly plague or staying inside so that no one recognizes you and reports you to the authorities, it amounts to the same thing and reminds us that our situation is mild in comparison.
If you knew you had the cure for cancer, would you keep it hidden, or would you share it with the world, hoping to save even one who might listen?
I believe there’s an answer. I won’t tell anyone else what they must believe, but neither will I hide “the Cure” when people all over the world are suffering.
I believe in the loving God who calls his people to pray and then answers. I believe Scriptures hold examples, instructions and insights on how to pray. I believe in “standing on the promises” as the old hymn goes! I believe now is the time, this special weekend, when we’ve been offered a quiet time with just those few closest to us, to pray like we’ve never prayed before – to be bold in coming before God’s throne to ask that this plague on our health and our economy might “pass over”!
I’m asking my readers to join me and to SHARE this prayer right away with all your friends and family so that we can stand on these promises together, fasten our spiritual seat belts and see what the Deliverer will do if we will but ask. Scripture references are included to encourage you to delve into God’s Word and see what He promises (and also so you won’t think I’ve been nipping into the hand sanitizer).
I hope this has inspired you to pray and believe for an answer. I encourage you to print this out and read it aloud together with those you celebrate with this weekend. I’ve included a FREE easy-to-read PRINTABLE HERE.
Wherever you are, may you have a Blessed Passover and a Glorious Resurrection Day and may we celebrate next year together!
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” —Numbers 6:24-26 (NIV)
How have you adapted your celebrations during this season of social distancing? What great food ideas have you invented because you might not have been able to get your hands on the usual ingredients? How have you decorated when you haven’t been able to acquire a few new things? Leave a comment and give us all your tips!
Do you tend to procrastinate when preparing for the holidays? Midwest Storyteller wants to knock one thing off your list and help you get prepared. I’m one of those people who likes to take one season at a time. I love to decorate for fall and I love celebrating Thanksgiving from its current blessings all the way back to its historical roots in Plymouth Colony. Only after that am I in the mood for Bing Crosby, shopping and decorating.
However, since December’s First Friday will fall on the 6th, that seemed almost a week late for me to offer you this and then send it out. Take a look at November’s First Friday Freebie –
I’ve bundled these
great gift tags together to help you spiff up all those bags and packages for
Christmas, birthdays and more. There are
56 in all. Each package contains eight
fancy gift tags and I’ve even thrown in some of my own homemade creations. You can recognize those by the ribbon ties.
These fun tags are from madeforretail.com and Allinthecards and I think I’ve chosen a great array for you. The set includes bronze and silver glittered tags, various shapes in silver foil prints, rose gold borders, stripes, polka dots, chevrons, the water color add-on pack along with my own Christmas versions. With strings and ribbons attached, they are ready to add to your boxes and bags. The majority are “all occasion” rather than seasonal which always makes life easier. You can always enhance them or make them more seasonal with press-on jewels, stickers or other fun art. The kiddos would love to do that!
If you’d like to
win the collection of 56 fabulous tags, all you have to do is leave a comment on
this blog post saying, “Tag me, Midwest Storyteller!”
You’ll need to do
that before midnight TONIGHT, November 1st, 2019!
Important: Once you’ve entered, you MUST keep checking
the email address you used to subscribe or you may not know you’ve won and have
to forfeit your free gift. Also,
remember that this particular comment must be made here on the blog post and
not on Facebook or other social media sites.
My Freebies always
happen on the First Friday of each month and last for one day only. Spread the word to your friends and family
TODAY through social media, send them the link in an email or just tell them, “It’s
Freebie Day!”
Make your way to
the comment section now before you forget!
That, my friends, starts to happen more often as the holiday season gets
busy.
First Friday Freebies
are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY. You’ll
find a subscription area in the right sidebar or you can use the menu to
navigate to the “Contact” page and subscribe to Midwest Storyteller
if you haven’t done so already. Confirming your subscription through the
confirmation email you’ll receive is absolutely necessary, so don’t forget
that!
The Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest icons on this page are there to help you
share.
Past gifts and their happy winners are on my “Freebies”page.
Remember, a winner
will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight
by leaving a comment which says, “Tag me, Midwest Storyteller!”
I send Freebies to any winner who lives within the continental United States. For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, CLICK HERE.
Glitches
happen. If you subscribe and do not
receive a confirmation email for some reason, please email me and let me know
at barb@midweststoryteller.com
I’m thankful for
each and every one of you. As we enter
into this special season of Thanksgiving, make it a habit to tell the special people
in your life that they are a blessing!
My readers loved this month’s First Friday Freebie. I had people contacting me to ask where they could get one of these for themselves or a friend.
Only
one person, however, could be the recipient of this great scarf for free. Let’s meet –
Sandy
from Boonville, Missouri
This wonderful
infinity scarf with a hidden pocket will be just right for all your outings
this fall, Sandy. The pocket with zipper
closure is ample in size to accommodate your keys, phone, passport or whatever
you want to tuck away so you can be hands-free to go for a walk, romp with the
kiddos or hop on a plane.
Sandy
followed the instructions and commented as when she received her email on the
first Friday of the month. That’s all it
took to enter her name into the drawing.
Freebies
are my way of reaching out to more folks who might enjoy the various stories,
recipes and more here at Midwest Storyteller.
Why not share with all your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Pinterest so they’ll be able to subscribe?
Subscribing is every bit as free as the freebie!
Freebies happen every month. Check out my Freebies pageto see the winner and the free gifts they’ve won.
The November drawing is coming on up Friday, November 1st.
A
winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on
the day of the drawing by leaving a comment as instructed in the post.
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.
Be sure to take a moment make yourself familiar with the Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These
four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on November 1st,
2019.
Leave
a comment! On a desktop computer, scroll
back up under the title of this post and let me know what you’re thinking. On various devices, you may find “Leave a
Comment” at the bottom of the post.
The month of September and summer have slipped past in a whirlwind. So much so that here it is October and I am just announcing September’s First Friday Freebie winner. Have you forgotten these beautiful “paper” earrings?
No, I didn’t forget to give them away. They found their new home soon enough – it was the announcement that lagged.
Let’s meet the winner and wearer –
Ginger
from Prairie Home, Missouri
They look just great on you, Ginger! At their core, these lovely earrings really are paper. Many steps are included in the process that transforms them so that they look like metal under glass. You can see the original post offering the earrings here.
Congratulations,
Ginger, and enjoy!
All
Ginger had to do was comment as directed when she received her email on the
first Friday of the month. That’s all it
took to enter her name into the drawing.
Freebies
are my way of reaching out to more folks who might enjoy the various stories,
recipes and more here at Midwest Storyteller.
Why not share with all your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter,
Pinterest so they’ll be able to subscribe?
Subscribing is every bit as free as the freebie!
Freebies happen every month. You might be wondering if the gifts are worth the effort. Check out my Freebies pageto see the winner and the free gifts they’ve won.
The October drawing is coming on up Friday, October
4th.
A
winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on
the day of the drawing by leaving a comment as instructed in the post.
An
important thing to remember is that 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.
Be sure to take a moment make yourself familiar with the Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These
four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on October 4th,
2019.
Leave a comment! Have you ever tried making your own jewelry? I’d love to hear your creative ideas!
We welcomed August with a pineapple, a symbol of welcome, or perhaps not, as we discussed in the original post. Let’s see who won the drawing for the First Friday Freebie and welcomed it into their home –
Eva
from New Franklin, Missouri!
This shabby little bit of metal décor from Hobby Lobby will liven up Eva’s walls, that is, if her daughter doesn’t latch onto it for her own room. I’m told she’s enjoying a pineapple craze at the moment. Do teenagers do that?
Congratulations and enjoy, Eva – whichever one of you ends up with it!
Eva has entered to win multiple times as one of my faithful subscribers. She commented as instructed when she received her email on the first Friday of the month. That’s all it took to enter her name into the drawing.
Freebies are my way of reaching out to more folks who might enjoy the various stories, recipes and more here at Midwest Storyteller. Seriously now, would you want one of your friends to miss an episode of my Life with Smuffy? Why not share with all your friends via Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest so they’ll be able to subscribe? Subscribing is every bit as free as the freebie!
Freebies happen every month. Check out my Freebies pageto see the winner and the free gifts they’ve won.
The August drawing is coming on up Friday, September
6th.
A
winner is chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight on
the day of the drawing by leaving a comment as instructed in the post.
An
important thing to remember is that 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 days following the drawing so that you can respond and keep the
prize from being offered to someone else.
Be sure to take a moment make yourself familiar with the Freebie Rules by clicking HERE.
These
four simple steps will have you ready to enter to win on September 6th,
2019.
Leave
a comment! On a desktop computer, scroll
back up under the title of this post and let me know what you’re thinking. On various devices, you may find “Leave a
Comment” at the bottom of the post.
We’ve been in celebration mode around here and midnight approaches as I type this post. Independence Day is big stuff in our family. Not only is it the birthday of the Good Ole’ USA – it’s Smuffy’s birthday as well. I’m afraid the announcement of July’s First Friday Freebie has only existed in the recesses of my mind due to all the other things at the top of my list.
Now that the fireworks ash has settled, let’s take a look at July’s Freebie –
Everyone loves a little word art these days and this bit of wood and metal is just the thing to remind us that the smallest things in life that bring us the most joy. When we lose the ability to appreciate a baby’s cooing, a flaming sunset, the purring of a kitten or the idea of winning a gift we can keep for ourselves or give away to bless someone else, we likely have become obsessed with things that don’t really matter in the long run.
This 6”X6” wooden reverse box-top is deep enough to sit on a shelf without toppling if you choose not to hang it on the wall and the raised metal lettering is eye-catching and stylish for anyone’s décor. I left the corner protectors on for this photo, but you get the idea.
All my Freebies
occur on the First Friday of each month and last for one day only, so share
with all your friends and family TODAY through social media, that dinosaur of a
thing called email or that rarely used technique of communicating called
conversation.
Good intentions
will not help you enter to win before midnight tonight so you had better
navigate to the comment section now and do that before you forget!
To enter to win
the wood and metal reverse box-top décor, all you need to do is “Leave a
Comment” on this post, saying, “I enjoy the little freebies!” You’ll need to do that before midnight
TONIGHT, June 5th, 2019!
First Friday
Freebies are for email SUBSCRIBERS ONLY.
You can subscribe by going 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.
Confirming your subscription through the confirmation email you’ll
receive is absolutely necessary, so don’t forget that!
Facebook,
Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest are great ways to share First Friday Freebies
with your friends. They won’t know if
you don’t tell them!
Subscribers win every single month! See past gifts and their winners on my “Freebies”page.
Remember, a winner
will be chosen at random from those subscribers who enter before midnight tonight
by leaving a comment which says, “I enjoy the little freebies!”
I send First Friday Freebies out to any winner who lives within the continental United States. For the complete First Friday Freebie rules, CLICK HERE.
Glitches
happen. If you subscribe and do not
receive a confirmation email for some reason, please email me and let me know
at barb@midweststoryteller.com
Freebies last one
day only! Enter now so you don’t forget!
