Roof is shingled and the siding is on

This is before.

This is the after.Just wanted to share whats going on with the house now. They have most of the siding on. The front isn't finished but this gives you an idea of the color we went with. This is the sliding glass door off the back .We are planning on building a deck,possibly next spring.The next step is the electrician and plumber. There sure is alot of work in building a house and of course nothing is moving fast enough.How come when you aren't waiting on something time flies? Well I hope everyone has a great holiday and a fantastic Monday.

Calendar Journal

Well I have taken up a new hobby. I friend of mine makes these journals and I thought they were the neatest idea. This is my first one,can't you tell?LOL!. They are very easy to do and not very time consuming. I also posted a picture of the November one I got started on. The first one,I glued pictures and stickers and cut things out of magazines as I was going along all month. I think I will wait til closer to the end of the month to decorate it.

Busy Busy Busy!

Oh forgot to post this after Halloween.This is my niece dressed up as a hobo. My sister took a wig and spray painted it black to look dirty.Love the idea of the sign.

My DH says I am the messiest cook.!

Kinda feeling icky today. Don't have much energy but did muster up enough to bake some cookies,chocolate chip/peanut butter. Take a looksy. Look pretty good,HUH? I think the crazy weekend has caught up with me. Hope I am feeling better tomorrow,have to work next three days. It's such a beautiful day and I am inside baking. Oh well,when I get those craving for something sweet times,I have to have it.This must be one of those times.

The walls are going up!

Well here are some updated pics. The roof is on and will be shingling today.The windows shoud be here by the end of the week.

Here are pictures of the house with the outside walls. They should start putting up inside walls today if the weather cooperates.The first picture is looking into the kitchen and front door.The second picture is the great room.The big opening is going to be a sliding glass door.The third picture is looking from west side of the house into the bedrooms.One of which is going to be an office.

More new house pic's

Well they are coming right along with the house. DH took a few shots of the foundation flooring. Next step is framing the walls.That's when I think it will start taking shape and you will be able to tell how big the rooms are going to be and what it's going to look like. We went yesterday to Arthur IL to meet with the cabinetmaker. Arthur is an amish community.We got there early and the gentleman we had to talk to wasn't there.Pretty soon we heard the hooves of a horse on pavement and there he was,horse and buggy.Him and his two little boys got out. There lifestyle is just so fascinating to me. They live so simply. He is going to draw up kitchen plans for us.I can't wait to see what he comes up with.They are even going to get us prices for the trim and interior doors so that everything will match.I think we are going to go with quartersawn oak shaker style kitchen cabinets and regular oak on the interior doors and trim.The bathroom vanities will be regular oak also.He showed us pictures of the homes he did and they were beautiful. They use only solid hardwood and the craftsmanship is impecable.

Well that's it for now.When the framing starts going up,I will post more.

Ella's Baptism

Pastor Linda,Robb,Ella and Laura

Our family,me and my hubby Steve,Robb(his brother),Ella(our niece),Laura(Robb's wife), Mark(Steve's brother) and his wife Sue.

Robb,Ella and Laura 10/12/2008, Ella's baptism.At the same church they were married in,10/14/2000.

Beginning of our new house

Well finally took pictures of the new house.Well not a house yet but this is the beginning. This is the foundation and you can see how it's going to lay out. The first picture is looking at it from the back yard.Yes that is our existing garage.We have to put on a new roof cuz it's a different pitch.There will be a master bedroom and bath behind the garage. On the other side of the master will be the great room connecting to the kitchen. The second picture is looking from the side where three bedrooms and one bath will be. Well two regular sized bedrooms and one smaller that we are going to use as an office/guest room. The third picture is looking at the front of the house.The kitchen will be to the front on the right and a bedroom will be on the left.The kitchen will have an eat in bar with a great room that opens up to it.There will also be a small half bath coming into the house from the garage.There will also be a long narrow porch on the front.The fourth picture just shows where the house will be sitting from the garage.The garage will be out alot further than the house.The house sits back in the lot more than our other house did.There will be no basement.All one level,yippee!Well that's all I can think of now.I will post more as it goes up.

Yes I Did

change the title of my blog. I thought my new title describes my blog better than my business name. My life no longer evolves around a business and thought I would make this a tribute to that change in my life. I am loving my life now that I dont have deadlines to make and no longer have the stress of owning a business. Most of all, I am loving being able to spend time with my family,something I havent been able to do for years. I feel like I have missed out on alot.I guess the important thing is the new memories being made and not thinking about the times I missed out cuz I was busy or tired from running my business.Of course there were advantages to owning my own business but the disadvantages really out weigh the advantages.In the beginning I was so excited.In the end,not so much.I am very proud of myself for doing it for nine years. When businesses were coming and going all the time,I hung in there.I can honestly say I am glad I proved I could run a business. If I ever had the chance to do it again,I probably wouldn't but if I did I would definately do alot of things differently.

Just had to

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cXXm696UbKY
I just had to post this. It is just the cutest thing.It will definately put a smile on your face.

As if I didnt-

have enough to do,I took up another hobby,beading. My 10 year old niece has been making jewelry. So when we went shopping over the weekend she helped me pick out beads, wire and tools to get started.By the time I bought everything I could have bought 2 bracelets that were already made.I guess that would be defeating the purpose,the thrill of seeing what you can make and watching it come together.I have to admit,it is pretty fun.So fun,that when I went to WalMart yesterday,I had to check out the bead section. UhOh, this is going to be addicting. We had a beading party Sunday night.My niece Allyson made the bracelet with the red beads and I made the bracelet with the blue beads. The trickiest part is getting the bracelet at the right length to fit your wrist.I think I will try making earrings next. Of course I will have to go on a all new shopping trip to buy the things I need to make those.Any excuse to shop!

Fish Pond

Here are pictures of one of the fish ponds that's at the house we are renting. The two ponds are at the front entry to the house. My DH laughs at me about these fish. He says he's going to put in a fish pond for me at the new house.We have a frog in there too. I tried to get pic's but couldnt get very good ones.Every time I go out to feed the fish,it jumps and scares the bajeebers out of me.There is a fountain that comes down the rocks too. It's set on a timer.I will have to try and get pictures when it comes on. I also put a picture of the beautiful purple clematis that sits right beside the pond.

New baby for brother and sister inlaw

Just thought I would post a picture of the newest member of the family.His name is Teddy.He is a cocker spaniol and so adorable. They just picked him up yesterday. He is such a cuddler.When you pick him up he lays his head on your shoulder and wants to cuddle. Cant wait to find out how he did on his first night home.Hope he didn't keep mom and dad up all night.

We had a major house fire

It's been awhile since I posted anything new. There has been alot going on in our lives lately.
On June 20th our home burnt. We lost pretty much everything. We did save some items in the basement and our closet. The firemen were also able to get my photo albums out before they were destroyed. We are blessed that no one was hurt.This has been the most difficult time of our lives. It's definitely a grieving process. I do have pictures that my relatives have taken but cant bare to show them now.Still too hard to look at. So it may be a while before I can post pictures but someday I will. I will look back and tell myself that it definitely made our family stronger and that family and friends are all that really matters. I also want to post a THANK YOU to all our family and friends that were supporting us during this difficult time.

tornado Cornell, IL June 7,2008

Ok this was one of the scariest moments in my life. The news said there was a tornado in the Flanagan area moving in our direction,we of course,being the curious people we are,went directly to our back door and looked out and low and behold there it was. A cloud the size of Texas rotating and we new what was going to happen.We stood there about 5 minutes maybe longer and could start seeing the funnel cloud at the bottom of the cloud.I kept saying it's going to come down it's going to come down.Needless to say I was freaking!Grabbed my camera,and of course hubby was yelling at me to get the ground and I was shaking so bad I could hardly get the pics.I was also crying cuz i didnt know where it came down and I was praying that noone got hurt.It did land in a field and nothing was damaged and there were no injuries but it did come back down about 20 miles from our home in the Dwight,IL area. There was one farm that was hit but no one was injured. They did lose there home,barn and one cow.

Storm June 4,2008

This is what it looks like out our back door when we get storms. Pretty scary sight. We did have tornado watch and warnings also. There were two spotted west of us. One did touch down but there were no damages or injuries.

My new Perennials

OK Like I promised, I am showing some pics of my new perennial, butterfly garden. Now dont laugh at the plants,they do seem so dinky but they will grow,Hopefully!
Look close,the windows on the side of the garage arent real.I mean they are real windows but we made them look like they are in the garage.We took old windows and painted the back black and hung barnwood shutters.The window boxes are baskets I found at the craft store. I filled them with red geraniums,my favorite flower.

Prom Pictures

Here are a couple of prom pictures of my son Justin and his friend Stacey. Aren't they adorable?

It's been awhile

Hi everyone! Sorry it's been forever since I posted anything.Hope everyone is doing well. I have been busy working in my yard. We put a perennial garden on the west side of the house. Looks pretty good but will look much better when the plants start to grow. I will have to post pictures when we get it completely done. Tomorrow we will be getting our pool ready. Not a fun job. I just hope the weather stays nice enough to do it. Won't be able to use if for awhile. The way the weather has been lately,we may not get to use it until August!LOL.

Kiddies finding eggs

Took a few shots of Ally,Kadyn and Kaleb looking for eggs. They were sooo cute.Cherish these moments before you know it they are grown

My webshots

Here is the link to my webshots albums.

http://community.webshots.com/user/sherrishots

Our nephews Kadyn and Kaleb

We had the boys Saturday night and just thought I would put a picture on here. They were so cute and just wanted to share with everyone. Kadyn is the oldest,he is three and Kaleb is 15 months. We had a great time playing with them.Of course the biggest kid of them all was the one on the left,his name is Steve and I wont tell you his age.

WAY TO GO LADY FALCONS!

http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2008/02/25/news/doc47c1ff3d117eb023685259.txt
I want to congrats the lady falcons for a job well done. Saturday they had a game of a lifetime.An experience that will never be forgotten. The girls managed to hold off Newark to a 62-60 victory for the state championship.

Some of my favorite recipes

I just tried this recipe the other night and it's delicious! The whole family loved it. I got the recipe from a Gooseberry Patch cookbook.

Farmhouse Pot Roast
3-4 lb chuck roast
4 oz can mushrooms,drained(I chop these up)
8 potatoes,cubed or(I use whole small potatoes)
1/2 lb baby carrots
3 stalks celery,chopped
14 1/2 oz can beef broth
2c.water
26 oz can cream mushroom soup
First I rub salt pepper and garlic powder on roast.Place in a slow cooker; top with vegetables. In a medium bowl,combine water,soup and broth,pour over roast. Cover and cook on low setting 6-8 hours,until roast is very tender. Makes 6 servings.
Gravy- pour 2-3 cups of juices into saucepan.I also add salt and pepper. Add 1 cup milk mixed with 1 T corn starch and bring to boil until thick.
Serve this meal with noodles and good bread or roll.Pure comfort food!

Kyle's Mushroom Chicken
6-8 boneless chicken breasts
season salt
1 quart whipping cream
1 chopped onion
1/2 lb fresh mushrooms,diced
2 sticks butter
1 1/2c olive oil
Cook onion&mushrooms in 1 stick butter and 1/2 cup olive oil until tender.Season chicken with season salt. Cook chicken in 1 cup olive oil and 1 stick butter until done.Put cream in with the chicken and add onion & mushroom mixture and mix until it is combined.Let simmer 20-30 minutes or when starts to thicken.This is delicious with mashed potatoes.

Store information

My business is located on Madison St in downtown Pontiac, IL. I am 100 miles south of Chicago.I have been in this location for almost 3 years. As you come in the door you will see the quaint space that has a barnwood roof type cover over the counter.The whole back wall is made of barnwood with old tin roof.I use antiques to display my products. I sell from many different companies. I sell alot of home decor and some gift items. Among the gift items I sell are jewelry, Maggi B handbags and alot of Ganz products along with the new hot item Webkinz. Webkinz clothes are now in but still waiting on charms and trading cards. Among the home decor items I sell are candles, different candle accessories, window treatments, table linens, framed prints, barn stars, lamps and shelves. The most popular items I sell are the Webkinz, Yankee candles, McCalls candles,Park Designs, barn stars are still popular and wood signs. Well thats all for now. I will come back tomorrow.Hopefully I can post pictures soon.

About my store

I am not sure how many years ago I took tole painting classes. That's when the "bug" started. I started taking classes at a local craft store. Found out that it was a stress reliever and something I love to do. Soon after I took these classes I found out the city was trying an incubation with the old firehouse.It's called Old City Hall Shoppes. They decided to take the old fire house and turn it into a craft and antique mall. I heard about it and thought it might be a good way to sell some things and make a little bit of money on the side. So everyone that was going to have a space in this building went in and helped remodel. We plastered walls, painted and did some major renovations. I am not kidding it was awesome. Some of the best and talented people in town went in and decorated. It was beautiful. Since this was an incubation people were suppose to go in and get started and then sometime down the road open there own stores. Well guess what? It worked. Several of the vendors opened there own stores. I was one of them. Although the first store I had wasn't Simply Country. It was called Kountry Kloset. It was located in downtown Morris. Juanita McDermott, Karen Mackinson and myself started this craft mall in with Juanitas medical supply store. It worked for awhile until we got tired of driving to Morris all the time. Well after that I started cleaning homes for people. It brought in a good amount of money but it really wasn't what I wanted to do. I had a dream of having my own craft store someday. After several jobs and few years later I decided to take an adventure and open a store. My husband and myself went searching for just a little building to get started. We looked in Morris, we looked in Streator and even contemplated opening one in the little town of Cornell.So we decided to take a drive one day over to Flanagan, IL. A small town just west of Pontiac. There it was. A small but quaint building that only needed some paint and a little fixing up on the outside. We called the landlord and struck up an agreement and that's where I started. Well only a few months later about a year,needless to say we ran out of room. There was no storage in this building and we were tracking stuff from home to the store.We had to decide wether we wanted to stick it out and find a bigger building or just call it quits. Seeing how this was my passion and what I loved to do,we looked for a bigger building. I had several customers from Pontiac and they encouraged me to go Pontiac way.So I did. We looked at several buildings and found one a block off the downtown square. We stayed in this building for 4 1/2 years. Then another building came open right on the square. Of course the overhead was going to be more but was assured the foot traffic would be so much better that it would definatley make up for the extra expenses. Of course being the sceptical person I am, I really didnt know if it was worth the hard work to move and headaches of doing it. Well it was probably the best move I could have made for my business. I doubled the square footage and traffic was so much better. Who would have thought just one block would have made a difference? The route 66 museum is directly behind my store which brings in alot of people from all over and the Old City Hall Shoppes (where I started) is behind me also.
Over the 7 years I have been in Pontiac, I have seen alot of businesses come and go.You could definately say that Pontiac's downtown hasn't been really booming with businessess in the past but now we have several new stores which is bringing more people to the downtown area.I have a wonderful coffee & sweet shop next to me. It's great for business but not so great on the figure if you know what I mean. We have a new floral shop, two new gift stores and a nice resale shop coming in the spring. In the future I hope to see many more and wish all the new businesses
great success.