Year in Review

This has been a CRAZY year.  I hope next year is full of a few less surprises.

I tried to pick out some highlights from my year.

Huge project I finally got gone was updating the kitchen.

I was blond for a while.  

I was given CHICKENS!  That is definitely the biggest, craziest thing that happened to me in 2013!

Grew my first real garden.

Did some hard labor.  We built raised beds for the garden, built a retaining wall and then of course a chicken coop.

Had to totally gut the guest room where the chickens lived before they could move into their coop.

Working on the coop took forever.

And then I was still crazy enough to update the master bathroom.

We finally got a fence.

I was a zombie for the second time.

And then I decorated three trees for Christmas.  

Looking at all this makes me very tired!!!!

Goodbye 2013, it's time to see what 2014 has in store.

Christmas Happenings

There was lots of eating.

Over night french toast! 

Some time spent in stockings? and opening gifts. 

This was my husbands idea, for the record.

Some time with family.

Santa Talley!

Then more present opening, and food eating.

And yes, even some naps.

Hope you were able to enjoy yourself as much as Talley.

A Painting

I titled my blog The Hesitant Artist, and yet it's been looking more like it should be called The Hesitant Urban Chicken Farmer!  So here, finally, a painting.

My Husband has been asking me to make a painting to put in his office for years.  So for Christmas I decided to finally just do it.  I haven't really painted for years, so it was nice to try out my skills again.  Of course I feel that there are many, many flaws, but hopefully my husband will like it.  And maybe I'll start painting some again.

Merry Christmas

From our roost to yours!

Getting Warm and Cozy for Christmas

Christmas is so close I can hardly stand it.  I have been enjoying the pigs in a blanket, cheese balls, and other treat and goodies at various holiday events.

I just love this deer, I think it's so cute!

Talley is excited, are you?

I finally made another cheesecake.  Apparently I'm only meant to make one a year.  This year I found a recipe for a Bailey's Irish cream cheesecake, but instead of using Bailey's I used bourbon and cream!  I am from Kentucky after all.  There are pecans and graham crackers in the crust, and the filling has some white chocolate.  Can't wait to try it at Christmas Eve dinner.

A Christmas Wish, Ha!

The mailman who delivers to my work has been begging me to dye my chickens for months.  Dye my chickens?!?!  Well in the spirit of Christmas I attempted to dye the tail feathers on a few of them.

The chicken on the left has some green.

Umm... yeah.  Don't plan to do this again, but Merry Christmas!

It's Beginning to Look Like Christmas

It is really getting close to Christmas.  I have started wrapping presents and putting them under the tree.

The dog's gifts arrived.  I don't know if you watch Jenna Marbles but I think she is hilarious, and she is selling these dog toys that are replicas of her two dogs!  Love them, the girls just had to have them.

And the chicken's gift has also arrived.  It is really more of a gift to myself.  I'm already getting very tired of knocking the ice out of their current water bucket.  I'm sure the chicks will love it too.

And here is Roxie, roasting in front of an open fire.  The girls just LOVE lounging in the warmth!

2013 Christmas Decor

Ok, I said I wasn't going to put up any trees this year... not one!  Well my husband wanted a tree so he got the stuff out.  It was slow at first but once I got going I just couldn't stop.  

I would like this tree to have more ribbon worked into it, but when I started I just didn't want to do it.  I will probably add more stuff to it before Christmas comes, maybe just some more picks and snowflakes.  I wanted to go with a candy theme this year.  Of course all of out other random ornaments are on here too.

I will be showing you how I made the cupcake ornaments.

You can see one of the nail polish ornaments I made.

Yum doughnut.

This tree is going to be making me very hungry.

The mantle, very similar to last year, with some candy thrown in.

Candy canes, lollipops, and cupcakes, Oh My!

Then I did more of a woodland themed tree using my four foot white tree.

I really love the way this one has turned out.

Then I put my four foot silver tinsel tree in my craft room, with pink, purple, and gold balls to match the decor.

I think I have lost my mind!

Past Christmas Trees

I did this tree several years ago.  It's a silver tinsel tree with bright pink and green ornaments and different bright color candy canes.

These are my white Christmas themed trees.  I originally had planed to only decorate the white four foot tree, but went way overboard and had enough to decorate a six and a half foot green tree too.  

One year I used my silver tinsel tree to make an Asian themed tree.  First I made a bunch of origami paper cranes.

I gathered some inexpensive lanterns, chopsticks, and wood and paper fans to decorate with.

I loved it!  One of my favorites.

I made a doggie tree one year.  I used a four foot green tree and made some dog bone shaped ornaments and tree topper.

And this is my main tree from a few years ago.  This tree is the family tree that all of our random ornaments go on but I do alter it a bit every year.  In this picture I think I had bought more multi colored balls and was just going to a bright colorful look.  Last year I added more ribbon focused on red and added tons of snow flakes.

You'll have to wait and see what I've come up with this year.