One World One Heart 2011

WELCOME, to my serendipitous blog!  I am an artist, a writer, a mother, a wife, a collector, a yard-saler, a flea-marketing, auction-going lover of all things vintage and antique.  My husband and I have been married for five years, and we live in a 160+ year old home that is listed on the historic register.  We are slowly working on this grand old house and filling it with art, furniture, antiques and things that we love.  Sometimes the going is slow, but we do love making this place into the home of our dreams.  And she's quite a pretty lady!  We juggle the ups and downs of living in an old, old house with our every day, hectic lives filled with cats, dogs, full-time jobs, and, most importantly, our nine-month old son.  No day is typical around the Little Young House!  I hope you'll make yourself a nice cup of tea, put your feet up and stay awhile at my blog.  I'd love to get to know you!

ANYWAY, on to the good stuff!  I AM GIVING AWAY A SPECIAL PRIZE (see below for details)!  This giveaway is open to all active bloggers worldwide.  Just leave a comment and make sure I have a way of contacting you if you should win.  I'd also love to visit your blog, so please be sure to tell me how I can do that.  I'll announce a winner on February 17, 2011.

WHAT WILL YOU WIN?  Oh, you artists out there will love this!  How about a box of old stamps, old stickers, old clips of art work snagged from old magazines and books...a box full of goodies that will help you create up a storm!  Just looking through these things gets my creative juices flowing!  I can just imagine all the things I could do with these wonderful old treasures. 

Leave me a comment...that's all you have to do to enter!  And I hope you'll stop by and visit with me again soon!

The Merriest of Christmases

This year will be a very special Christmas for us, as it will be our son's first Christmas.  He is fascinated with the ornaments and lights of the Christmas trees.  My husband and I are having a wonderful time watching his curiosity with all the decor...and we have never been happier. 

It is a wonderful thing to remember what it is like to see the splendor and beauty of Christmas through the eyes of a child. 

Photo copyright Terri Fortney Photography, 2010

Baby's First Christmas

You have to hold him up to see

The angel on the Christmas tree.

And even though he's still too small

To know the meaning of it all

You watch his eyes reflect the glow

Of colored lights that come and go

And feel him quiver with delight

At every new and wondrous sight.

There's Santa with his jolly face

Beaming from the fireplace.

And from the stocking hanging there

Peeks a cuddly teddy bear.

Bright ornaments and candy canes --

Musical toy and wooden trains --

There's just no end to the delights

Spread out for him this night of nights!

He points and grins from ear to ear

And then he yawns - his bedtime's near!

Dad gives him a kiss and you tuck him away

To rest up for the fun of his first Christmas Day!

~Alice E. Chase

Oh, so happy, happy, happy,

Welcome, December...

Through bare trees
I can see all the rickety lean-tos
and sheds, and the outhouse
with the half-moon on the door,
once modestly covered in
summer's greenery.

Through bare trees
I can watch the hawk
perched on a distant branch,
black silhouetted wings
shaking feathers and snow,
and so can its prey.

Through bare trees
I can be winter's innocence,
unashamed needfulness,
the thin and reaching limbs
of a beggar, longing to touch
but the hem of the sun.
~ Lisa Lindsey, Bare Trees

My November Guest

My Sorrow, when she's here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.
Her pleasure will not let me stay.
She talks and I am fain to list:
She's glad the birds are gone away,
She's glad her simple worsted grady
Is silver now with clinging mist.
The desolate, deserted trees,
The faded earth, the heavy sky,
The beauties she so ryly sees,
She thinks I have no eye for these,
And vexes me for reason why.
Not yesterday I learned to know
The love of bare November days
Before the coming of the snow,
But it were vain to tell her so,
And they are better for her praise.
      ~Robert Frost

Salute The Brave

This nation will remain the land of the free only so long as it is the home of the brave.  
        - Elmer Davis



This photo is courtesy of Able Veterans.  Please visit and support Disabled American Veterans Charitable Service Trust.

THANK YOU, AMERICAN VETERANS, FOR THE SACRIFICES YOU HAVE MADE TO KEEP OUR COUNTRY FREE.

September

The breezes taste

of apple peel.

The air is full

of smells to feel -

ripe fruit, old footballs,

burning brush,
new books, erasers,
chalk and such.
The bee, his hive,
well-honeyed hum,
and Mother cuts
Chrisanthemums.
Late plates washed clean
with suds, the days
are polished with
a morning haze.
        `John Updike, September

Half Price Demi Purses From Thirty-One

Please visit my Thirty-One Blog HERE for this fabulous deal! You don't want to miss this!

A New Venture

I've become a consultant for Thirty-One Gifts, and I am so excited! This faith-based company that derives its name from Proverbs 31, offers a multitude of fabulous merchandise that will help you organize your life simply and beautifully!  I hope you'll visit my new website here and the accompanying blog here (I'd love for you to sign up to follow me there!), and let me know what you think!

Summer Shower

A drop fell on the apple tree,
Another on the roof;
A half a dozen kissed the eaves,
And made the gables laugh.

A few went out to help the brook,
That went to help the sea.
Myself conjectured, Were they pearls,
What necklaces could be!

The dust replaced in hoisted roads,
The birds jocoser sung;
The sunshine threw his hat away,
The orchards spangles hung.

The breezes brought dejected lutes,
And bathed them in the glee;
The East put out a single flag,
And signed the fete away.

Summer Shower by Emily Dickinson

We have waited all summer for a good rain. It had been weeks when, unexpectedly, a sunny day turned dark and the skies opened up and blessed us with a late afternoon shower that was overdue by at least two months. What a luxury rain has become this summer! And what a blessing to finally get a reprieve from the unrelenting sun. Although the rain was brief and we wish it could have visited longer, we were thankful for what little we received! I was so happy to see it, I nearly took to yard in my bare feet just to wade in those glorious puddles! If it had not been for the baby sleeping inside and no one to watch after him, I may have flung open the door, ran outside, tilted my face to the sky and laughed like a mad woman! Oh, when this sweet boy gets a little older, what fun we will have in the rain!

Gone to Seed

A lot of things have changed here in the last three months. We started the spring by planting a few annuals, hanging Boston ferns across our back porch, carefully weeding the gardens each week, and setting out herbs and a variety of vegetable plants. Everything was flourishing until May 15th. Since we brought our Baby Boy home, every moment has been dedicated to him and his care. Watering the flowers became something we thought about doing about once a week (on a good week), and I still haven't staked the tomato plants. As the old saying goes, everything has "gone to seed" -- quite literally when it comes to our property.

As the baby's schedule becomes more regulated and DH and I have caught up on some sleep, we realize that we are going to have to learn how to juggle household responsibilities with caring for our new baby. Is there a course we can take? A book we can read? A consultant we can hire? Surely other parents have experienced this same feeling of overwhelming responsibility and feeling as though they'll never get caught up on household chores again! If anyone has the answer to this dilemma, please let us know!  I'll be trying to get in a load of laundry in between the diaper changes and feedings.  :-)

Loving every moment of motherhood (even the crazy ones),

Smiles

Today, you have been smiling in your sleep,

and I cannot help but wonder

what sweet dreams

you are dreaming.

Patriotism

“Patriotism is like charity — it begins at home. ”

~ James Henry

Happy Independence Day!