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Do You Want the Good News or the Bad News?

Okay.  So do you want the good news or the bad news?

Me?

Good news first, please.

Super exciting news for thistlewood farms!  I have just updated the blog to a .com.  The new blog is www.thistlewoodfarms.com.  It has been a work in progress and there have been a few bumps along the road.  But  I am so happy and excited with the new format!  It allows me so much more freedom to write even more stories about Captain Crunch and little pieces of paper and recipe walls and the general pandemonium that is known as thistlewood farm.

And I can’t wait to post about building the plate rack and turning a window into a transom and state burlap pillows and what I think about the Pottery Barn catalog.  And I promise you there will be a lot of !!!!!!!!! and ?????? and maybe even a 🙂 or two.

So here’s the bad news.

You are receiving this e-mail because you signed up in the e-mail box at the old blog. 

This feed will be discontinued.

And WordPress doesn’t allow to the old feed to be re-directed from wordpress.com.

So this will be the last e-mail you will receive from the old feed 😦

Sad.

Disheartening.

Downright depressing.

But there’s no need to lose heart:)  This doesn’t have to be the end of the journey.  You see there is a brand new feed at the new blog www.thistlewoodfarms.com. And there’s a brand new place to sign up to continue receiving the e-mails.

And I hope you do.

I really hope you do!

So if you have an extra minute, I would love you to visit the new blog at www.thistlewoodfarms.com and subscribe by e-mail.

All the dustbunnies thank you 🙂

 

The View From Here

 Do you remember the Village People?

I sit out here on the back porch sometimes and think about them.  

I wonder where they are and what they’re doing and if they are still wearing cowboy hats
and Indian headdresses and staying at the YMCA.  Did they end up starring in their own videos or
ABC movies or start an exercise craze or maybe become CEO of a leather chaps company?

Or just join the Navy?

 And sometimes I feel like the Village People live here.

Except instead of cowboy hats and construction gear they are wearing pearls and high heels and a tutu or two. 

Or a pair of knee-high water boots.

Or they are carrying skate board.

 

But there are so many projects and plans and inventions and tiny pieces of paper floating around that it wouldn’t surprise me if
one day my “villagers”  formed their very own group and took it on the road….tutu skirts, skateboards knee hight boots and all.

The other day I sat on the porch and watched as my husband calmly directed the antics and general pandemonium of our “village people” starter kit. 

 

 

 

In one corner someone was starting  a wildlife sanctuary with cardboard boxes and “natural habitats” for a frog and a daddy-long-legs and
a turtle.  There were heaps of grass for the residents to eat and a few dead bugs and fresh water and I think one of the twins even gave their brother
a chair from the dollhouse for the turtle to sit on.

I know the Nashville zoo would have been proud.

 

 

Over here another “villager” was constructing the longest genealogy chart known to man.  There were grandparents and great-great grandparents
and cousins and second cousins and eighth cousins twice removed.

All on a lime-green chart.

That stretched from one end of the porch to the other.

In Spanish.

Really?

You heard me.  Spanish.

He definitely likes a challenge……that miniature genealogist of mine. 

 

 So there I sat.

On my back porch. 

Drinking tea.

As my husband directed the egg project and the skateboard ramp and the wildlife sanctuary and went and looked up how to say great-great -great-
great-great grandmother in Spanish.

All the while looking so handsome and calm and collected and generally in charge of all the village people  goings on.

And my heart smiled.

 

My heart smiled because I knew that one day, when the village people had their reunion tour.  The would never forget these
carefree days in the backyard and the gift of the ability to create. 

Whatever.

Whenever.

Then they would remember when they could feel the grass between their toes and the wildlife sanctuary looked like it had great potential
and they could speak Spanish and there were all the pieces of paper they could ever need or want to for any project.  Ever.

And as my husband stood there in the midst of such utter pandemonium, our eyes met and I saw that twinkle that made me fall in love with him and I couldn’t help but tell him….

“You look just like a CEO.”

 

 He looked back at me with a grin and laughed the laugh of a father who has seen it all…..

                                       …..standing in the middle of that green field with the sun shining and the wind blowing and the birds chirping.

 

Then he shrugged, winked and without missing a beat replied,

“The CEO of chaos.”

And turned his baseball cap around and walked away to once again, direct the pandemonium.

Chaos.  Hmmmm.

The CEO of chaos.  Maybe he’s right. 

But from where I’m sitting chaos looks pretty wonderful to me 🙂

PS  Thanks for all the sweet words about the new website.  It has been a work in progress with a few bumps along the way.  Unfortunately, I lost all the e-mail subscribers from the other feed.  You are receiving this e-mail because I posted to the old blog.  If you want to continue to read about the village people and wildlife sanctuaries and turtles and the people who love them, please sign-up on the sidebar in the e-mail box on the new blog 🙂

I Don’t Know Where to Start

I don’t really know where to begin with this post.

It’s inside my head.  Thoughts and ideas and questions and stuff mixed up and rolled into a jumbled mess.

And I don’t know where to start.

Actually, it all started with this incredibly thought-provoking post and these comments on Beth’s Facebook page.

I read it last night.

And I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. 

You see, I love linky parties.  Actually, I like going to them much more than participating.  I’m not really good about participating.  I just start cleaning up all the Captain Crunch and all the little bits of “freshy decorating” and I forget when to link up to the party.  And sometimes I don’t really think anyone really wants to see my glue-crackled table or my dust bunnies or my Bingo pillows.

Well, okay.  Jen did e-mail me once about the bingo pillows.

But the fact is, even those I usually am not good about linking up, I love to visit.  And I love to host.  I love the camaraderie and sharing and the incredible ideas.  I have been known to spend hours at a linky party.  It’s kind of like being at a one-of-a-kind-get-together thrown by Andy Warhol at The Factory.

Julius Caesar Would Have Been Proud

As my Latin teacher used to say:

Venimus!

Vidimus!

Vicimus!

“it’s a Cinch” projects that is.

I really wanted to say “amazing” in Latin, but it didn’t translate.  I don’t think Julius Caesar was really up on the “amazing” lingo in 44 BC.

I guess he was too worried about the Ides of March.

Even if Julius Caesar didn’t say it.  I will.

This party was ah….ma….zing.

There was inspiration with every link.

There were incredible letter projects like this stamped pitcher from Jaime from Crafty Scrappy Happy.

And this simple but stunning Monogrammed Beverage tub from The Delectable Home.

(Can you say Sharpie Marker and Lowe’s sells tubs like these for $10.99?)

It’s like easy and cheap had a conversation and told me I needed a tub like this!

There were Easter decorations made from paint chips.

Like these eggs from Claire at A Little Something in the Meantime.

And Easter decorations made from Peeps.

Like this wreath from Doublewide In the Sky.

Or this cross from Chipping With Charm.

Pieces of old discarded junk made into something truly wonderful.

Incredible.

Each and every link.

If Julius had been here, I know he would have been proud.  And saluted you in Latin.

Incredibile dictu.

Or as we say here at Thistlewood,

You rock!

So grab a feature button and party on.

<img src=”http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-VzkKSFV955M/T3YS5kCO5DI/AAAAAAAAFPQ/nPPN0lwEAr0/s1600/buttonfoldertake2part2.png” alt=”thistlewoodfarm” style=”border:none;” />

PS  Want to know what else is “incredibile dictu”?

Stop by my incredible co-hosts and see.

it all started with paint

Ecletically Vintage

The Cottage Market

the space between

A Note of Thanks

Tags

coffee table, family room, vintage sign

Dear March Madness Organization,

Can we talk?

Just for a moment.  It won’t take long, I promise.  I know you are busy and all, what with big game tonight. 

See that television in the corner?

That’s where we have been watching the tournament for the last month.

On these couches.

In this living room.

And I just want to say thank you.

I couldn’t let the tournament come to a close without saying thank you for allowing McDonald’s to sponsor the March Madness Games.

And not just as a once-in-a-while sponsor,

with an occasional commercial, where you might only see it now and then.

No.

I wanted to say thank for allowing McDonald’s to sponsor every segment of every game on every channel each and every night.

And play that incredibly witty and overwhelmingly enticing Shamrock Shake commercial.

You know.

You know which commercial I’m talking about.

The commercial where the girl walks up and she stares at her boyfriend or husband or significant other.  And then she sniffs him and tells him that he smells like mint and then she tells him that she doesn’t like him and then he brings out a shake and she says she loves him.

Kind of like a mini-romantic comedy.

Brought to you by McDonald’s.

And that Shamrock Shake.

*sigh*

I might have seen the commercial a few times.

Right here on these couches.

Watching this television.

Staring at that coffee table and all of its freshy decorations.

Wondering how fast I could get to McDonald’s for a Shamrock Shake.

So March Madness folks.

I’m glad it’s April.

And McDonald’s has quit selling the Shamrock Shake.

And I have a treadmill.

However, I did see yesterday that they have a new Strawberry Shake coming out.

Really.

It never ends.

I truly hope they aren’t sponsoring the world series 🙂

P.S.  Go Wildcats!

P.P.S.  I am linking this up at Kim’s.

P.P.P.S.  All pictures, freshy or otherwise were taken by RTM Connect.

Wake Up Sleepy Head

Tags

library, waking up the house

My house slept in this morning.

It was all my fault.

Normally I wake it up first thing.

Seriously. 

And yes, you read that correctly.

Not my family…..my house.

Some people talk to their plants.  Some people talk to their pets.

I talk to my house.

Happiness is a Monogram

Tags

back door, monogram, wreath

Look what just came in the mail.

A wooden three-letter monogram.

Dear Telegraph

The Telegraph recently posted the 101 greatest questions of all time.

Aren’t you curious?

PS I Found You

I love writing this blog.

Truly. 

I think some days I love it more than a hot fudge sundae with whipped cream and sprinkles on top.

More than walking along the beach with sand between my toes and finding the perfect piece of sea glass.

Some days I love it more than finding a yard sale where they are about to close-up shop and it’s hot and the husband is watching the sale because his wife went inside to make lemonade and he doesn’t really care what everything sells for so you score a set of old croquet mallets for $1.00 and he throws in a vintage stool for free because he doesn’t want to haul it to Goodwill.