Finished Object Friday

Welcome back to Finished Object Friday! :) Today I just have a small project to share, but it makes me smile! A while back I posted about a little spray painting project... well, here it is:

The red candlestick on the table. You may remember it was one of my bargains... although it didn't look so great before:

I sanded the rough spots off and gave it a couple coats of cherry red paint - the same paint I used for my lamp. It looks soo much better and I love the curves and shape. Now I just need to figure out how I want to use it... any suggestions? :)

Now it's your turn! I can't wait to see what y'all have done. :) If you are new to FOF, check out the guidelines. Happy Friday, everyone!

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Christmas Gifts for Dummies! Quilted Tree skirt. . . finally finished. Pumpkin Shirt

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My confession....

Ok, I must confess... I know confession is good for the soul! (It also makes for great blogging material! *ahem* On with the confession!)

My confession is that I've been rereading once again! Why do I have this habit? Shouldn't once around be good enough.

Well, not really. There is always something else to catch the second time around, or third, or fourth...

What is it THIS time? Well, in the spirit of a complete confession:

But not just Anne of Green Gables! Oh, no! When I get in, I get in deep. I'm rereading the whole series! There is something about Anne that just feels like fall to me. I'm not sure why... perhaps it is pictures like this:

So sweet! But pictures aside (besides the movies aren't the books - they never are!) here are some of the things I have enjoyed:

I love Anne of Green Gables: "watching" Anne grow up, the girl's writing club, and her friendship with Mrs. Allen.

I love Anne of Avonlea: meeting Davy and Dora and Mr. Harrison (and Ginger, the parrot) and who could forget Lavendar Lewis and Charlotta the Fouth? the Avonlea Village Improvement Society and the bright blue town hall.

However, my favorite book is probably Anne of the Island: I love Patty's Place and Gog and Magog (the guardian dog statues), Rusty the cat, Phillipa Gordon, Miss Patty and her niece "ceasing not to knit," and of course the ending.

I'm currently reading Anne of Windy Poplars. I love Rebecca Dew and Spooks Lane. I'm finally starting to like the Pringles. Elizabeth is a sweet little character, longing for Tomorrow to finally come. and maybe I'll even like Katherine Brook... but I haven't got that far yet.

I love the themes of love and family: the lasting friendship between Anne and Diana, Anne (finally) discovering what true love is in Gilbert, and the care Matthew and Marilla have for a homely orphan girl.

One of my favorite quotes:

"I believe the nicest and sweetest days are not those on which anything very splendid or wonderful or exciting happens but just those that bring simple little pleasures, following one another softly, like pearls slipping off a string." (Anne of Avonlea)

L. M. Montgomery certainly had a way with words and with creating characters! She created a person that is so real to many. I think there is a little bit of Anne in all of us.

I am enjoying the series immensely the third (or fourth) time around. If you haven't read the books, I hope you pick one up soon! The movies are nice, but the second jumbles all the stories together, and you don't want to get me started on the third - I don't have any idea where it came from!

What rereading have you done recently?
Do you have a favorite part of the books that I didn't mention?

The story of the pumpkins

This past August I decided to plant some pumpkin seeds. They sprouted nicely, you may remember, next to the cantaloupe. I didn't have to worry about punkaloupes, because neither of them bore much fruit. ( I did get a couple of tiny cantaloupe, but the vines died...)

A couple of weeks ago, while doing my grocery shopping, I got an idea. I bought a couple of smallish (baking) pumpkins, and when I got home quietly "planted" them among my pumpkin vines.

... and waited the next day until Mark went outside to mow the lawn. I ran to the side window and watched. He walked over to the pumpkins and looked, and looked, then bent down and lifted the pumpkin to look at the stem. Then grinned real big, and lifted the other pumpkin. He then turned to see me peeking out the window. :) We both had a jolly laugh over it, and had a few giggles since then. :)

Then the pumpkins went on to decorate my front porch.

...during which time, the pumpkin above mysteriously walked over to decorate my bird bath. (I think a few of the little munchkins that ride scooters around the neighborhood had a little to do with that!)

One of the other (more practical) reasons I bought those pumpkins, as well as planting the seeds, was to try my hand at making my own pumpkin puree. Pioneer Woman posted a tutorial last fall and as canned pumpkin seems to be a little scarce this year, I decided to try it.

All that scraping is hard work! I did get my puree finally...

(sorry for the blurry picture)

However, might I recommend canned pumpkin while it is to be had... It is nice to know that I can puree a pumpkin if need be, but it's also nice when it is in a can! :)

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a pumpkin pie in the oven...

Really! See?

Sunday Blessing

For the beauty of the earth
For the glory of the skies,
For the love which from our birth
Over and around us lies.

Refrain:
Lord of all, to Thee we raise,
This our hymn of grateful praise.

For the wonder of each hour,
Of the day and of the night,
Hill and vale, and tree and flower,
Sun and moon, and stars of light.

For each perfect gift of Thine,
To our race so freely given,
For that great, great love of Thine,
Peace on earth and joy of heaven:


from For the Beauty of the Earth
by Folliott S. Pierpoint

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Whew... I've had a fairly busy week. I'm sure all of you have as well. I took the butterfly picture on Monday afternoon. That little guy enjoyed posing evidently! :) My windows are all finally back in place as of Saturday! (Thanks to hubby for his help!) You all are right... I am enjoying the nice clean view! :) I hope each of you has a wonderful Sunday!

But the windows ARE clean!

Today was a beautiful day. So beautiful in fact, that I had the urge to do some special cleaning. I washed my dining room windows. (Yes, just the windows in ONE room...just keep reading...) The fact is, our windows aren't simple, you know, wash the inside then the outside. Oh, no. They are double, and not those easy fold out ones. These are the ones with three frames to take out before you can clean the outside of the inside frames. (got that??) :)

The windows ARE clean, though!

They are clean here:

and here:

(Screen outside)

and here:

(The back frame should be at the very top - won't go because the outside frame is warped - how? Great question! I don't know either.)

Eventually maybe all my windows will be back in their proper places. And I am reminded why, yet again, I have vowed not to wash any more windows and to hire a pro. The house should have come with a warning label: "Warning! Windows to be washed only by professionals! Your personal sanity is at stake!" :)

Happy Window washing!! (And hope you week is off to a great start!) :)