Under Construction

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!!

I haven't forgotten about you all,

 and I have been working on getting 

my photo's all sorted out, trying to 

make room for more lovely photo's, 

I PROMISE!

The house has been decorated and we are getting in the Christmas Spirit here at Half Acre. 

I'm still out shopping for presents. Each year I say I am going to start early and be done with wrapping, so I can relax and enjoy the peaceful time, but each year is no different for me. 

I always end up wrapping like a crazy person on Christmas Eve, while everyone else is enjoying a lovely Christmas movie.

How about you? How is your Christmas shopping and wrapping going?

Do you get everything done early, or are you like me and leave everything till the last minute?

Well, I'm off to finish writing my Christmas cards and get them in the mail today.

Have a peaceful Tuesday everyone.

Love Sue

HELP PLEASE!!!!

I'm so disappointed, I wanted to share some more pic's with you all this morning, but my Picasa account says........ 

Whoops! You're out of space. You are currently using 100% of your 1 GB quota for photos.

Photos are stored in your Picasa Web Albums account and are included in your 1 GB free quota for photos. Additional storage you purchase is shared between several Google products and is in addition to your free quota. 

I don't even know what a Picasa account is except that's where my pics must be stored.

My Question is....How do I delete pics from my account and if I do delete them will they be deleted from my blog?

I guess the next thing for me to figure out is how to change the size of my pics before I upload them so they don't take up so much space.

Yikes!!! So much to learn.

Any advice or tips would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks from One Very Confused and Frustrated Blogger! 

I hope you are all having a blessed Wednesday!

~Sue xoxo

Toby Mac

I couldn't figure out how to post a video before.

So here is Toby Mac Live.

Enjoy!

Counting My Blessings

I'm Counting My Blessings Today!

I am blessed that hubby's knee is on the mend and got the okay from his Dr yesterday, so he's driving himself to work this morning, first time in two weeks. No crutches. Yay!

I am blessed with a wonderful husband and fantastic kids.

I am blessed by our ever changing view of the mountains right behind our home.

I was blessed to spend time at  the Winter Jam Concert with two of my daughters on Friday night.
 It was an amazing concert and Toby Mac was well worth waiting for.

I am blessed that I had to put the heating on this morning for the first time this year, which means the cooler weather is on it's way. Fall has arrived. :D

I am blessed with wonderful friends and love making new friends.

Hope you are all having a blessed week my friends. What are you being blessed with today?

xxxxx

Craft/Guest Room Makeover

The craft come guest room make over has begun.
Deciding on a color to paint the walls has taken longer than I thought.
In fact I text a friend and said "Help! I'm in a paint chip overload!"

I think I've kind of narrowed it down.
The postcard I brought back from Port Isaac, Cornwall is my inspiration.
Isn't it beautiful it's from a local artist called Katie Childs

Sunday before Hubby's knee surgery we destroyed the old closet and built in dresser.

It felt good to get rid of the old closet.

Silly me thought I could get some work done while Hubby was laid up. 
What was I thinking?

So instead I've been doing lots of day dreaming and drooling over pictures and plans on Pinterest, and after lots of pinning, I dropped a bombshell on Hubby of all my ideas and plans.... he wan't too happy at all the work I'm going to be creating for him at least at first.  I want to move our office into the craft room closet and put in a breakfast nook where the office is now. I have to remember to deliver these ideas slowly, and maybe one idea at a time! ;)

Want to see some of the pic's I've been drooling over? Of course you do! :)

Old-World Kitchen, Gracious New Fit

I love the Bistro curtains in this photo.

http://24.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m1dczzLfW81qkmsleo1_500.jpg

I LOVE EVERYTHING ABOUT THIS PHOTO!

The color of the walls, the table, the layout of the benches! 

Simple Gorgeous!

Before & After: Cottage Kitchen

I Love the table in this photo.

(my apologies as I can't remember where I found this photo)

I Love the storage that this photo shows.

Mobile Closet Storage

This is something I'd like to do with my craft room closet.

Guess where I will be visiting with my coupons very soon!

Happy Monday and I hope you all have a wonderful and blessed week.

A Little Down Time.

Monday my hubby had Knee Surgery! Poor guy has been laid up all week and I have been running around like crazy, getting ice packs, pain meds, T.V. remotes, drinks, cell phone etc. etc.etc.

I did manage to find some time in the evenings to finish this blanket that I've been making for my friend's son, who started it months ago after I taught him the basic stitch, and he asked

 if I would finish it for him when he went away to college. 

Below is just after I started the blanket towards the end of September.

He bought the yarn so long ago we couldn't find anymore of the blue or beige.

So I worked with just the brown and black yarn and found in my stash of yarn a little cream with 

brown flecks that worked to break up the brown and black stripes.

I think it worked out well. I hope my friends son is pleased with it too.

He comes home from college this weekend.

Well, I enjoyed my little down time. Back to the ice packs.

Finishing up!

What have I been up to lately...... Well, let me tell you! 

It feel's like I've been gone forever!

Before we left for vacation, my daughter Rachael was asked to paint four paintings for our church.

She finished two of them and started the other two. I didn't realize I didn't have a photo of one of them complete, I will get another photo soon. 

The smaller two were 24"x48" and the larger two are 48"x60" and you guessed it she managed to finish the smaller of the two paintings. Packing and getting ready to move half way back across the pond was quite overwhelming for her.

She managed to paint the outlines before she left and told us to take them to church for

 someone else to finish them as our church is blessed by many artists. 

My dear husband who can draw and paint a little decided that we would finish 

them ourselves. I might add I am NOT a painter and have trouble 

drawing a straight line. So for me this was quite a challenge.

Now these rather large canvas's have been sitting in my family room for quite some time, Since the beginning of July in fact. So I wanted them done, so I could reclaim my living area again.

So I started painting what I call a glorified paint by Rachael (instead of numbers)! Many text messages, emailing of photo's and Skyping...... thank goodness for good ole' Skype, and trying to hold the computer at odd angles, Rachael was able to tell me where and what colors she wanted me to paint.

I also got lessons on how to mix certain paints to get the colors needed.

Jesus remained faceless for quite some time. I wished she had, had time to finish all the black lines.

 Hubby was busy at work and picked up overtime, but did manage to help out a few times.

I really thought painting was relaxing...... trust me.... IT'S NOT!!!

Especially when it's someone else's painting.

I was feeling very overwhelmed as time was going on and now the beginning of October.

So my dear friend Anna came over to help me out and painted the background areas for me of the crucifixion and fixing some of the detailing.

It was such a huge help and inspired me to carry on.

All that was left to finish was Jesus's face and the lantern in the nativity.

Both of which required so much detail that I didn't want to risk taking a chance on.

Bryn could have finished it, but has been working 

so much that at the end of the day is too tired.

So close to finishing, I called our friend Ray who came over on 

one of his days off to help me out!

 He spent a good couple of hours painting the face and painting the lantern and helping me figure out the background of the nativity and how to do the stars so that they would stand out at a distance.

RESULT!!!!

FINISHED!!!!! 

Not too shabby for a person who doesn't paint!

Feeling quite accomplished if I do say so myself.

Will I take up painting as a hobby......... Probably NOT! :D

I would like to say I was inspired by Jesus to get them finished, but alas 

I was inspired by returning the art studio back into my family room.

Rachael has done other canvas's for our church a year ago 6 24"x24" but

 I will have to find the photo's to post so that you can see them some other time.


I had to change to heading. I was having a lot of comments in my spam, from lots of different sources trying to sell different products.... Has anyone else experienced this on their blogs?

UK Trip Day 12 and 13

August 12th.

We left early in two cars and drove from Cardiff to Cornwall and eventually arrived at Honicombe Manor in the village of Saint Anne's Chapel, Callington, which is on the edge of Dartmoor National Park.

The front entrance which is down a very small country lane.

The manor house, which had a lovely restaurant and bar.

Our Holiday Home for the week.

Our view....most of the time it was raining.

August 13th

We drove to Looe. It has been more than 30 years since we've all been to Looe. It's not at all as I remembered it. Very quaint fishing town.

We were all pretty hungry so we found this really old restaurant to eat lunch at.

Scampi and Chips for Bryn!

Roast Beef and Yorkshire Pud for me!

Roast Chicken Dinner for my Mum!

Ham Egg and Chips for Abbey!

I didn't manage to get photo's of my Dad's meal and Rachael's, my whole family think I'm weird taking photo's of meals as it is. 

Saw this sign and thought how appropriate this was, 

as seagulls and myself do not get along. 

One stole my ice cream right out of my cone back in 1997 while we were visiting St. Ives. 

I didn't even had the chance to taste it before it was gone. Cheeky Seagull. :D

After walking around Looe for a while, we drove on to Polperro.

On the way down from the car park I found this lovely little wool shop. The lady inside was so sweet I just had to buy some wool from her..... how could I not?

It's such lovely colors and so so soft.... how could I resist? Not sure what I'm going to do with it yet.

But I will let you know when I do.

So quaint and so many nooks and crannies to explore I wish we could have stayed there all week.

Maybe next time we go back.

Do you see the little place with the colorful picket fence and the umbrella's?? 

Thats where we sat and had delicious, freshly baked Scones with Strawberry Jam, Fresh Cornish Clotted Cream and Tea. Well, coffee for me because I'm a rebel Brit apparently, and I don't like tea.

Right by the car park is this lovely pub, but it was so crowded with coach loads of tourists, I thought I'd  just take a photo for you all to see.

Even though it was raining back at Honicombe Manor when we left, as you can see we ended up with a lovely sun shiny day.