let's play catch-up...

I have really missed blogging, reading blogs, and all of the warm fuzzies that go along with it.

These days I am consumed with making soap, making more soap,

and then making some more.

Along with sewing dryer sachets, mixing up batches of linen & room spray and

our kitchen & bath cleanser.

and then bringing it here.

The Fulton St. Farmers Market in Grand Rapids through the week,

where you can find some of the best people selling

their honey, maple syrup and home grown,

non-sprayed, organic fruits and veggies.  

It's early in the season here but in a few weeks the place will be overflowing 

with everything the farmers work so hard to grow for us!

On Sundays this wonderful place becomes

The Fulton St. Artisans Market.

where you can find incredible pieces of work and have an amazing artist henna your hand.

(Hannah's favorite thing a couple of Sunday's ago when she came to help man the booth)

On our opening day we had 104 artists selling 

their work and it was fabulous!

Every Sunday through September... how amazing is that?

So you see, I don't have a great deal of new things to share on a regular basis,

I kinda figured 'how many times can I show a bag of soap, or the market booth'?

If you want the answer to that, just check my facebook page...

apparently, A LOT!

I have been so busy that I have gone to posting mostly on FB.  

It's quick, easy, and right now about all I have time for.

I do miss you though.

truly.

I haven't been able to read my favorite blogs in such a long time, that

 I probably need to put my picture on the side of a blogging milk carton.

Here are a few shots of some of the other things that have kept me busy...

Max started baseball in May, with Duane as his coach.

That's Max as #2!

As a side note, I hope to keep all parents from going through what we went through

as a result of Max playing ball...

One wrong bounce of the ball and Max lost a good portion of his front teeth!

He came running to me crying, "my permanent teeth, my permanent teeth!"

Oh my gosh, my heart sank!

He is now all back to new, thanks to our awesome dentist, 

... and he now wears a mouth guard when he plays ball.

Something that my other boys never did, and very few, if any

other boys in the league wear. 

mouth guards... they are a good thing.

I missed showing you these beauties...

and how they filled out the front of the house so beautifully.

Unfortunately, as you well know, they don't last long after a hard rain.

Even after staking and tying them up all of the buds you see here

took a beating and down they came.

I was happy to get this photo as the first of them bloomed!

I expanded our front garden with the help of Max...

this is the view from our bedroom window right after we finished.

...and here it is this morning!  

(just for you, I went out in my jammies to take these pics!)

The iris's are mostly gone, the peonies as you can see are all gone,

but some of the other plants that I dug up from around the house are doing really well,

thanks to all of the rain we've been getting!

This cost of this garden was a lot of hard work and the mulch.

I took all of the plants from other areas where they were overgrown.

It felt so good to be digging in the dirt with my sidekick, Max!

He was my dirt clod shaker-outer!

One last thing before I go.

I have finally hit the 'PUBLISH' button on my new website!

You can see all kinds of the goings on over at 

www.theoldwhitehouse.com

this has been the biggest project yet!

I have wanted to do this for a while now,

I will still have the blog, it is linked on the website,

and hopefully be able to tend to it more often, as well as visit all of you.

I also wanted to have a .com where you can purchase our products,

and not search through etsy.

For now, I will still have etsy too, and that is where the pendants and jewelry

are listed until I have time to list those on the site.

This was a huge undertaking, and quite taxing on my noggin!

I hope you will visit me there and I would love to hear your feedback!

Also, if you don't follow me on facebook,

please do!  I am there everyday, updating my whereabouts 

and adding photos of my happenings!

Like my new business cards and labels that I designed!

new pieces as I finish them...

this was taken at the Garden Gallery show last month.

and some family shots...

front yard frisbee for Fathers Day,

Cam still in his umpire pants and Max showing his skills,

throwing back to Dad!

... and this one

where you can find us at the end of a long day.

My brother had this fireplace stored under

a deck for a few years, and when we mentioned that we 

would like a little firepit back here he offered us this beauty!

How lucky am I?

pretty lucky!

(I really need to clean the siding though)

adding it to my ever growing tada list.

It was wonderful chatting with you all!

I will be taking my new little chrome book

(thanks to the generosity of my kids - my moms day present!) along with me to 

markets and when it's a bit slow, I will be playing catch-up at your place!

I hope all is fabulous in your little world

and that the sun is shining down on you today!

love,

t.xoxoxoxo

the effect company has on me... and my home

Sweeping, mopping, dusting, rearranging, cutting the last of the peonies,

fluffing, and fluffing some more...

is this what having company does for you?

I really need to have company more often and then maybe my house would

stay reasonably clean!

... not 'pop in' company, although they are my favorite kind of company,

but they unfortunately don't reap the benefits of my crazy

cleaning and fluffing!

They just take me as I am, and as the house is

and I am thankful that they want to knock on my door again and again!

My 'pop in' company are my friends that know they will

probably walk into scraps of paper strewn everywhere, the smell of 

a hot soldering iron, next to a sewing machine and piles of fabric, 

and a sink full of dishes,

and yet they still come over.

Thank you!

p.s. the door is always open ;)

They don't see the house as you see it,

photo ready.

(which by the way, please excuse the blurriness of these

latest photos, the light wasn't the greatest and my camera

is temperamental to it)

I couldn't retake them because, as you may have guessed

this room did not stay like this for very long.

Between the kids and the cat, the next morning

as I headed out to work, I walked through, shook my head and 

then closed my eyes.

I'm glad that I got pics of the peonies in the old crate and blue jars

 while I could because Oliver thought that I provided him with a new toy

 and had them shredded by the next day.

Good thing I love the booger.

p.s. that goes for the kids too!

Today I have it back in order, (mostly)

except for those pesky dishes and the never ending laundry...

wanna stop by for a visit?

If you call first, who knows what kind of projects I could get done just for you!!!

(sometimes I get crazy enough to break out the spray paint too!)

Happy Monday!

love,

Theresa

xoxoxo

linking to:

White Wednesday

Primp your Stuff Wednesday

summer and the livin is easy...

oh picnik... where have you been all my life?

enjoy your day!

love,

Theresa xoxo

summers favorite sound, and the peonies are here...

Remember the spring wreath for the door?  It would not stay on the door and on the wall it felt like it needed a little somethin somethin...

so...

My neighbors have been treated to the beautiful music of the favorite instrument of bloggers everywhere...

the spray paint can!

wow, it felt good to unleash the painting beast in me!

This frame got a dose of the dove white and sandpaper too, and then I hung my favorite mustache pics of the kids on the original wire.

I am making my way back into the spray paint band slowly,  I painted these two frames and distressed them, and then this morning I painted my new garden.

yup, I painted my garden.

I am planting a salad garden in a cast off dresser.

I can't wait to plant the vegies I bought yesterday.

We will be feasting on 2 types of tomatoes, 4 types of lettuce, sweet basil, cinnamon basil, nasturtium, and mint for the crazy amounts of ice tea that Duane and I drink.

Let's hope that I can make it as Ms. Green Jeans this year!

I have tried to grow tomatoes in the past and well, the plants shriveled up to brown twigs.

(maybe I was trying to grow dried tomatoes!) LOL

I promise pics as soon as I get it planted.

without further adieu...

 here are the promised peonies...



aren't they just beautiful?

Thanks for stopping by!

love,

Theresa xoxo

I am linking up to

White Wednesday

Wow us Wednesday

Transformation Thursday

Vintage Inspiration Friday

it's a guessing game for you...

Can you guess what this is?

did you guess large pinecone?

nope.

look closer...

BEES!!!

(honey bees to be exact)

This afternoon as I was weeding, and Hannah was mowing, I moved some furniture around in the yard, looked up and saw a huge swarm of bees flying around our huge pinetree in back.

Now, I think I've shown my fondness for the little critters.

But I have mentioned on here before...

I am a wimp.

Not ashamed to admit it either.

Bees scare me.

I mean have you seen the movie MY GIRL?

(spoiler alert)

The little boy dies from bee stings!!!

I want to be the queen bee in my home, but I don't want to meet one that is flying around my tree!

After a quick call to a bee retriever (for lack of a better name for him)  I have been schooled in the life of bees.

(this is why I tell my children to pay attention in school, I probably learned this in elementary school but was too busy doodling a Holly Hobby on my notebook)

The colony that we apparently have in our eaves has split.

There are two queens now and well, we know how well that would work in OUR homes right?

So when the colony split, the ones that left all gathered around their new queen and the scouts of the group went in search of a new home.  (probably our barn or something equally inconvenient)

All of the bees you see here, which are over 1 foot long are just thousands of bees hanging on to eachother and the queen is in the center.

When I am in need of my troups, I expect the same treatment!

just saying.

 So the bee man just got here and he is going to take them home with him.

Thank you bee man.

On to another little pest that I usually try to avoid...

ants!

but if they will help this bud get to this

well then, let's have a picnic!

The peonies are starting to bloom!  This morning there was one bloom and as of right now, there are eight!

I can't wait, I love them so...  I will show pictures when they are in full bloom.

lastly, Max says thank you for all of the sweet comments wishing him well.  Today was his first day of playing with his buddies. After a rousing game of nerf guns this is how I found him...

laying in the front yard.

When I asked him if he felt o.k. he answered nonchalantly,

"yeah, I just like laying in the grass"

oh happy day!

love,

Theresa xoxo