Three Weeks and Counting

I know this is a little cliche' but time sure does fly when you are having fun! We cannot believe that there are only three weeks left until our Barn Event and Sale! We have been crazy busy around here getting everything ready and it looks like Mother Nature is following suit...albeit a little early.

The daffodils are flowering in all of their glory along the old stone wall.

The magnolia is budding beautifully even though everything around it is still wearing their coats of muted browns. Except for the ivy which never wears anything but it's resplendent coat of green. I find these changes that occur every year without fail nothing short of miraculous. 

With the soil never freezing fully we have been able to get a huge jump on the vegetable garden. The beds are all ready to be planted and many seeds are waiting to show their heads in the warm sunshine of the past couple of weeks. 

I love this trellis that my son Christopher built with a friend. Last year I built a tee pee type trellis out of the same bamboo...one lasted the season, the other ended up in a heap of twisted vines in the dirt. I passed the job on this year!

I cannot wait for the cucumbers to wrap their growing tentacles around this baby! Unfortunately, with gardening, as with many things in life...the best laid plans...

We all know how that one goes.  

As well as my trellises not serving their intended purpose last summer our crops were severely depleted by the deer. After 4 summers of staying out of the garden fence, they attempted it and were rewarded by all of  our hard work. In one night, they topped off every plant in the garden except the okra. Once they have tasted a ripe tomato, I am sure that they will be back for more! Any suggestions?

We have more to do outside in the warm sunshine but at night we have been busy in the barn. I wanted to give you a peak at a couple of the handmade items that we are putting the finishing touches on.

Here is a chalkboard that we made out of an old decorative molding piece. All we have to add is the tray for the chalk.

We made this one out of an old gilded frame.

Lots more to come so stay tuned!

Spring Barn Sale Event to Benefit Local Charity - Hives for Lives!

Over at Life's Patina we have been buzzing with activity that have kept us busy as bees!  Along those lines we are so proud to announce that we've selected  Hives for Lives as the Benefit Charity for our upcoming Spring Sale!  This is a wonderful local organization started by two young beekeepers, Molly & Carly Houlahan.  When these industrious young girls lost their Great Grandfather to cancer they began selling their honey to honor him and help fight this disease.  For more information and to hear their story follow this link to their website:

                             


                              Hives for Lives

Proceeds of our Spring Preview Party and a portion of net sale profits will be donated to this wonderful  charity which works to "BEE-T Cancer".  Make a difference at our Spring Sale (dates are April 20 – 22nd) which will feature  Hives for Lives products in addition to the many unique items we will be showcasing!

Show hours are as follows:

Friday - 12 - 7 pm

Saturday - 9 - 5 pm

Sunday - 9 - 4 pm

A Bounty of Farm Tables and More

 Excitement brews as we haul in treasures from our latest excursions. We have a bounty of beautiful old wood farm tables to share with you at the next sale. 

These ones are made with old wood tops and new wood  for the legs. They are embellished with a simple wooden apron.

We found them in two sizes.

This table has drawers on one side thus making a great desk. Not sure if we are going to paint this piece but we better decide soon!

Beautiful Irish scrubbed pine Library table...what a find!

We just came in from the barn where we are finishing up repurposing old frames like this beauty into bulletin boards and chalkboards. We have quite a collection of which I will preview for you in my next post.

Happy treasure hunting! Only 30 more days until the Barn Sale!

"Top of the eve-nin to you!"

The wee little leprechauns made a stop at our house today and were very mischievous! They turned our milk green and left us a yummy batch of Raisin scones and some gold coins. They even did my laundry, cleaned the kitchen and made all the beds...tricked ya!

We ended our day with a delicious meal out with my brother and sister and their families as well as my mom and dad. I hope that your Saint Patrick's Day was just as "lucky!"

"May the road rise up to meet you

May the wind be always at your back

May the sun shine warm upon your face,

The rains fall softly on your fields

and until we meet again

May God hold you in the palm of his hand."

Neat Find

And they say that children were not born with a book to tell you how to raise them...

They did in the 1930's!! You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about child rearing in this interesting collection of books called The Mothers Encyclopedia in only 6 volumes! 6 Volumes and you would be all set! 

It even contains sage advice such as the caption under this photo, " The unspoiled baby seldom fusses."

Wish I had this years ago! You don't want to miss this treasure find - it will be for Sale at the Spring Sale but sadly, I only have one!

Enjoy your day!

The Thrill of the hunt

Good morning on this balmy morning in March! 

I am so excited about some of the treasures that I have been finding that I have to share some pictures of what we will have here at our spring Barn Show and Sale.

Old silo door~wouldn't this make a unique towel holder?

This chair needs a little TLC but wait until you see the transformation! We have a set of four that will be ready just in time for this balmy Spring!

The last temptation of the day are these stainless steel milking cans. Wouldn't they look great filled with some of the forsythia blooms that are showing their golden hues?

Come back tomorrow to see more from our treasure hunting!

More of Mission Organization

I know that I revealed in my last organization post that I had a penchant for things that speak to me visually. Things can be practical and pretty at the same time. I thought I would share a few areas or items in my home that I use to help keep all of the stuff that I have to keep track of from entering into the pile of oblivion (only to be lost forever when they are swiped up to be placed in a bag hidden from the eyes of visitors). You know....the never open a closet in front of strangers rule? 

I will start with the small things and move up into the bigger items. Remember...they have to look pretty!

Lists, menu's, magazine clippings of a product you want to try and find on your next shopping day, receipts from your last shopping day of an item that needs to be returned, letters to be mailed all need to find a home and preferably not one at the bottom of your purse/pocketbook.

 To alleviate them from being "at home" in the bottom of my bags, I took a cute decorative little clipboard (5 X 7 size) and now I clip all those little flyaway pieces to it. It is easy to bring it with me as I am running out the door to to my car and back. I have even clipped small Ziploc bags to it that held the tiniest light bulb ever that I had to match up at the store because I had thrown away the package. To keep it where you will not forget it, you can hang it by the pretty little ribbon near where you make your grocery lists or as you go out the door.

Next dilemma:

I was forever ripping out recipes and...putting them in a pile to never be seen again. Now I have the perfect place to keep the ones I want to try each week so that they are in full view. I took some old tin tiles that I had found and glued a ribbon to the back to make a hanger. I hung 2 of them on the cabinet next to my stove and added a pretty magnet and viola.

This project took a bit more time. I was fortunate enough to have a book shelf in the wall in our kitchen above a desk where the kids can do homework. The open shelving drove me crazy though for it was the first thing you saw when you entered the room. I asked my friend Jennifer one day (remember my artist friend and jack of all trades go to girl?) if she thought that she could make a door and trim it with molding (to make it look pretty!) that could hide the cabinet. To solve another problem...the chore chart...I asked if she could paint the door with chalkboard paint. (We now paint everything with chalkboard paint and yes...the board does say, "take down Christmas decorations the week of March 4th! I had a few here and there that I wanted to make made it back into their hibernation boxes for at least a few months. It does NOT say take down the Christmas tree!)

The door opens up and there at my fingertips are the kids school binders, papers, BD cards, etc. You can even hang schedules on the inside of the door!

I hope that you might get a little spark in your eye when you see this that says, "I too can LOOK like I am totally organized."

Happy organizing!

A typical Murphy's Law Day with some Perspective - Part 2 of 2

Hello again! I left off yesterday at this point in my story…I hope that you were not hanging off the edge of your seat!

Murphy's Law is alive and well in my life….let me just briefly describe my Monday. It was a rough weekend (stomach flu & Constitution Center with the Boy Scouts for 7 hours – a toss up for which was more pleasant!) but I woke up full of hope and optimism that I would conquer the world this week!!  All of the kids made their proper buses and cars to school!  The day was looking good!!  I was breathing a sigh of relief and relishing in the quiet moments that surrounded me after the rush of the morning until….  good ole Mr. Murphy showed up (no, not my dad).  That Murphy's Law thing and here's how it went instead...

1. The puppy, who poetically is named Murphy, starts a little dance as well as a high pitched wine. After continuing that for a few minutes he proceeds to stay under my feet as I continue my morning and sporadically does the little dance and whines. As it turns out, puppy who thought it was loads of fun to eat a stick last week...whole!  is finding out that it is not as fun to get rid of that stick after digesting it...called the vet.

2. Met with contractor to go over estimates and after retorting, "We have to do that, why????  took 2 Advil.

3. Oldest son, who is working for said contractor, runs smack into 2 boards sticking out of truck with his nose. hits the ground hard...called the Doctor.

4. After bandaging up older son, picked up middle son at school for Orthodontist appt. of which he forgot about. Took 10 minutes to extract him from class, now 10 minutes late for appt.

5. Run to Target across the street to pick up a box of hair dye so that I can cover up the grays covertly in the middle of the night...last night. Run around looking for dye that used to be in aisle 5 only to find that aisle 5, 6 and 7 are empty. (of course they are!) Frantically find red shirted worker with a badge to ask where hair dye has upped and moved itself. She shakes her head and after sensing my meltdown, calmly states that they have no hair dye out right now, it's all in the back while they change their displays. I form some expression that is supposed to look like a smile and say through gritted teeth, "No problem, " trying to keep in mind what my mom taught me, it is not her fault that Target has no sensitivity to woman who desperately need hair dye now!

6. Run back to Orthodontist who tells me he has good news and bad news. The good news is that middle son is getting his braces off at the next visit. The bad news is that the permeant tooth next to the front tooth that said son, knocked out four years ago is dead, eating away at the bone above it and it needs to be pulled. Here is the caveat...the same day as the braces are taken off. No biggie except that he is due to get them off in 3 weeks when we are away for Spring Break. Due to many scheduling conflicts, staffing, lunch hour, Doctor on vacation ...we walk out of office a full ten minutes later with a 9-5 appt. April 24th... today is March 5th. Take 2 more Advil.

7. Drop son back off at school and while trying to run errands for the day before having to pick up youngest son at his after school activity. I run my office out of my car until my phone dies and I realize that my 4th son (different one than the above mentioned ones) took my car charger because he lost his to charge his phone on the way to school with his ride. (Of course he did!) Run into Walmart to get one and proceed to conference with husband on important issues while husband is sitting in waiting room of hospital to get his 2nd round of Rabies shots resulting  from a run in our other dog had with a raccoon on Friday. (Have you ever had 8 shots at a time? every 3 days?) All parties are fine (not sure about the raccoon actually -  but that’s another story!

8. Oldest son (who left car charger in husbands car), calls to ask if I can pick him up at train station earlier than anticipated for he does not feel well... in 30 minutes…wouldn't be a problem EXCEPT said train station is 30 minutes away if I ditch cart at craft store that just took me  30 minutes to pick out while fielding a frantic phone call from daughter who is a freshman in college who just found out her roommate woke up with a 103 degree fever and is sick with what she thinks is the flu. (Daughter is panicked because she swears she is next and it will ruin her spring Break plans to go skiing with a friend's family in Utah (where's my vacation?!?)  Talk daughter off of ledge, look furtively at full cart and then desperately  call and text older son who does not drive, to see if his friend who is working five minutes from train station can do the chauffeuring duty. He can!!!!( I owe him a homemade breakfast tomorrow morning now as well!) I breathe with a sigh of relief that at least I will have accomplished one intended thing on my list today!

9. Pick up youngest son and go to Barnes and Noble to work on his homework with him which  is our standing date on Monday's. Finish homework while enjoying the bribery brownie an hour later. Receive phone call from husband who has arrived home before I do to hear, " What's for dinner????" (Remember I said that it was our reactions to things that count?)

After speaking to husband on phone, I listen to the reports on the radio of the devastation of the tornadoes and the lives lost and irrevocably changed. I had seen some coverage on the news earlier in the morning, yet to be honest with you, I had forgotten about it due to the busy day that I had.  It made me realize that yes, my day was crazy and yes, Murphy's Law is alive and well in my life and yes I wanted to pull my (still gray) hair out BUT my family is awaiting me at home, safe and sound and my life has not been changed by the events of the day. Dinner or no dinner...we are all together, hair or no hair...and we can bow our heads together and pray for those whose lives were forever affected by real, life changing problems. We are truly blessed...that is a change in perspective.

My maiden name was Murphy….Part 1 of 2

Warning! this post is a little wordy and I apologize for that , but hang in there...there is a method to the madness. I know that I have alluded to Murphy's Law in some of my former posts and the perspective that it has given us in our lives. I had planned on posting another write up on organization but I switched gears because I felt that now was a better time, since yesterday encapsulated the experience of Murphy's Law, yet put life into perspective given what happened in parts of our country Monday with the devastating tornadoes.

We all are familiar with Murphy's Law...whatever can go wrong will. It has a way of showing up in our life, so much so that our friends who know us well when they hear of the latest occurrence respond to the antics of the day by the phrase, "Of course it did!"  In the past it seems that Murphy's Law rears it's head whenever there is a crucial event, a special happening or something of the like. A special happening could be as simple as trying to get myself out of the house at the same time as my kids, dressed appropriately with matching shoes on! Remember, my maiden name is Murphy which makes this all make a little more sense...at least that is what I like to think. Some of my favorite (or least favorite) Murphy's Law events include the following:

- One morning I had an important meeting and heading to school, my oldest son's friend entered the house and asked, "Hello Mrs. Veno...where is your bathroom? I am not feeling well." He then promptly throws up in the kitchen sink. After taking care of the boy, calling his mom who assures me it is just nerves (really?!?) and fielding shrieks from my younger kids who are not safely on their own school transportation stating, " I am not coming into the kitchen to eat.", I miss the meeting.

- A personal favorite was when my husband and I were going to Bermuda for a much needed 5 day trip with friends. After staying up all night to write the handbook of the Veno kids for the 6 person tag team who will take care of them while away, we get to the airport to be greeted at check in with, "Can I see your passports?" My husband and I look at each other asking at the same time, " You brought the passports, right?" right…

- 5 years later the same husband (having survived many additional Murphy moments….) and I are going out of the country to Paris!  for the first time ever for our 20th Wedding Anniversary! This is big! It poured the day before but a beautiful Fall day dawns with gusty winds to dry the rains of the  previous day. My awesome husband books a limo to pick us up to go to the airport to kick off the trip. Yay! My in laws are here to hold down the fort and we are on schedule to meet friends at the airport who are also celebrating their 20th Wedding Anniversary. A beautiful white limo is waiting in our driveway. Our oldest son, (the one who's friend christened my sink), rushes into the house yelling that a huge tree just fell across the driveway and almost hit him. Exxageration is his middle name, so we don't think much of it while running outside. Sure enough, one of the oldest trees flanking the driveway has fallen all the way across it. (of course it did!) Father in law and husband get out the chainsaws and try to make it passable. No such luck. We live on a little farm and our driveway is about a half mile long. Kudos to the adventurous limo driver who states that he can try driving up through the fields and come out above where the tree has fallen. (Perhaps he saw my tears as I saw my flight leaving for Paris without me!) We pack inside, put all the weight in the back should we get stuck and vrmmmm! we are off! Have you ever seen a white limo that has turfed through rain drenched fields, wheels spinning for half a mile? We were quite a sight arriving in our "white" limo…getting more than one funny look from the crowd waiting in line as we raced up to the airport and unloaded in a split second dashing inside to make the flight! Need I say that we enjoyed the champagne on the way over? (of course we did!)

- Lastly, I want to talk about one of the Murphys Law moments that most affected my Life's Patina Journey! Our oldest son Christopher has a heart of gold and wears it on his sleeve. He is passionate about what he believes in and what interests him and he has the energy level of our entire family of 7 in his one body. He eats, sleeps and breathes for outdoors and he is a born naturalist. He also has ADHD and significant learning differences. When he graduated from high school almost 2 years ago, it was a major accomplishment for him. He was not ready for college so we had found a Post Graduate program where he basically almost slept outdoors for a year and immersed himself into strengthening his executive functioning skills. It was a challenging program both mentally and physically but we knew it was what he needed. Being honest, it was what we all needed as well! Kids with ADHD are high maintenance and he is often more challenging than our other 4 kids combined. I was thinking to myself that yes! I would now have my nights free where as before I was the homework gestapo. Maybe now was a good time for me to jump into the business (Life's Patina) that was a small idea that had been building in my mind for years! So, I took the plunge, formed the company, again YAY! and about the time we were signing the papers and getting all situated, our middle son, Shane, just 3 weeks shy of finishing up his freshman year started to have excessive sleep issues. (Now we all know how difficult it can be to wake up a sleeping teenager but this went above and beyond anything we had ever heard of. Some days took us a full hour to wake him up only to find him flat out on the floor five minutes after he finally awoke...sleeping again. To make a long story short, he was diagnosed with an obscure syndrome called POTs (Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia). (of course he did!) It is basically a shut down of your autonomic nervous system, everything that your body does on its own that you rarely think of: heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, body temp, fluid retention etc. I will not bore you with the scientific slant on this whole thing but it caused him to not be able to go to school the year that Christopher was leaving for his Post Grad program. One son leaves who needs all of my attention and another one takes his place. (of course he did!) As mom's, all of our children need our attention...some a little more than others.

My point in telling you all of this is that there are always Murphy's Law situations that crop up in all of our lives. In our life, they cause us to think on our toes and to be flexible. Things are not set in stone...we all have our plans, our dreams, our aspirations. Sometimes we are thrown a curve ball, some are ones that we can still manage to hit and others are ones that will make us swing like crazy. It is how we respond to them that counts. They will all make us stronger...to handle the next one that comes along. We look at them as events that make our lives interesting , some are humorous (tree incident falling across the driveway), some are much more serious (Shane's illness) but they are all events that can easily put things into perspective.

So where am I going with all this – THANKS for indulging me….Life's Patina is something that so inspires me to make it through these Murphy's Law events which have contributed so much to my personal Patina (and my gray hair!). It is something that I enjoy, embrace and gives me joy, just as my family does but in a totally different way…BUT…Murphy's Law is alive and well in my life….let me just briefly describe my Monday. It was a rough weekend (stomach flu & Constitution Center with the Boy Scouts for 7 hours – a toss up for which was more pleasant!) but I woke up full of hope and optimism that I would conquer the world this week!!  All of the kids made their proper buses and cars to school!  The day was looking good!!  I was breathing a sigh of relief and relishing in the quiet moments that surrounded me after the rush of the morning until….  good ole Mr. Murphy showed up (no, not my dad).  That Murphy's Law thing and here's how it went instead...

You will have to tune in tomorrow to see how Murphy came into play on the day's events!