A New Year...

Where will the road go this year?

I decided to close my book of dreamy ideas and just wander, letting

the road of unknown surprise me along the way with its own story.

I'm letting go of my fantasy dream business and just live in the now and grow

with what I have, where I am.

I've had my butt handed to me several times, thinking I knew

for sure that my plans were going to pan out. It doesn't help to have an 

encourager that agrees with my every whim.

Hhmmph.

The last door slam just made me laugh. Out loud and loudly.

It was one of those laughs where you want to cry but you can't

so you just laugh because, hell, it was just that unbelievable. 

Hubby {my encourager} can attest to that.

I think the words, "Hahahaha! Of course this would happen!", came out of my mouth.

Seriously, that was the last straw for me.

I wanted so badly to just shut it all off, crawl in a hole and do nothing anymore.

Some days I still feel like that.

Remember, I was the one born with no patience.

I did have LOTS of good days, though.

How can I not? I have a loving family, hilarious kids

and a cat that thinks I'm the meow. 

One of my greatest achievements of 2014 

were some experiments I did.

I played with scents for linen and room sprays and played with 

some fantastic ingredients in the kitchen.

My most favorite product is my Baker's Vanilla.

I've made a few batches with different ingredients and gave some

away as gifts (my testers) to see if it was worthy.

I've gotten wonderful response, so far. 

The best part of this vanilla is there is no sugar and you get delicious 

bean seed in every teaspoonful.

I am waiting on my labels and cap sealers so I can

peddle my goods. 

It will be interesting to see what 2015 will bring.

{So far, it's starting out sweet and it hasn't even started!}

I wonder what I'll be talking about

this time, next year.

Regardless, this year is going to be my year

of homestead gardening.

I'll be sharing my glories and failures, my discoveries and

my recipes because I plan on cracking open some of my

many awesome cookbooks.

I am so excited to get some beautiful color in they yard, too. 

My English roses will be coming sometime in January. 

Alright, 2015...

I'm ready! I've got my walking shoes on, let's go!

Let There Be Light!

I hope every single one of you had a wonderful Christmas.

This year, we focused more on what Christmas truly is.

We still shared gifts and Santa finally made it to our home

but we talked about Jesus and the reason we celebrate his birthday.

With short attention spans, I'm hoping a few words stuck with our

simplistic explanation.

Every year, the day after Christmas, a sense of newness comes over me.

I'm ready to see what the New Year brings and to see 

where my life path leads. 

I had written another post about my disappointment

in myself and what I set out to accomplish and failed,

but I threw it out. I didn't think anyone would care to hear that. 

New Year is a chance to start anew, with clear {realistic} eyes and 

set small goals instead of The Big Picture.

Unfortunately, I was not gifted with patience. 

As promised in my last post, I am sharing my 

birthday present with you. 

My new bedroom windows.

The Before:

Much better, don't you agree?

We haven't done a thing in there except those windows!

I will be painting the logs, white {loving that look so much!}

and my master drywall guy will be applying extra drywall screws and mud

to the sheetrock before we paint.

I soo badly want a chandelier in our room but being in the South...

{ I don't need to finish that sentence}

The amazing mirror hanging over our bed with given to us 

by a friend that was cleaning out their barn.

It was so dirty, very wobbly and a few pieces were broken off.

In just a few hours with some elbow grease, this piece

just looks amazing. I think our friend will be very happy

to see this Antique piece hanging. 

We love it!

I'm thinking we need to add something to either side of it

 but until I find the right thing, it will stay as is. 

Maybe it will just stay as is, period.

Two of the throw pillows I have on our bed are actually

Antique, hand embroidered/crochet, pillow cases.

Our neighbor gifted the two sets to me a few months ago

and I was so excited. They are king sized {perfect} but 

I didn't not want to use them on a daily basis.

I still have a healthy stash of pillow forms so I stuffed them

and just folded the top over.

So simple yet so pretty.

I love knowing where they came from

and having so much history living in our home.

I really cannot tell you how much

I love the light coming in. 

I plan on planting camellia's along the fence in front of 

those two windows just to add some interest and color.

One last photo for the road...

my wedding dress basking in the sun.

See you soon...

Sharing a bit...

I can't believe it's been since December 7th

 since my last post!

Well, all of our hands have been working 

and several projects have been completed. 

Hubby surprised me with squeezing a few 

days off in between jobs so we could

get some of the painting done while

 the kiddos were still in school. 

Grab your coffee or tea and come over...

I love our great room. It is such a bright 

and cozy place to linger.

We haven't purchased a log insert yet because we are still 

debating on building a real fireplace, 

installing a wood stove or keeping the gas.

We have an endless supply of oak so the cost 

of heating would be minimal except for

the initial cost of either of the first two choices.

 Of course the natural gas is cleaner but

I could find so many uses for the ash. 

We'll see...

The stairs are done!

Didn't my Mr. do a beautiful job? 

So glad I found a man of many talents.

I always love the part of Miranda Lambert's song, 

The House That Built Me, 

"Daddy gave life to Mama's dream". 

The treads, trim and cap are all painted to mimic a rich wood.    It's a time consuming job but the results are well worth it. 

The wood underneath is pine, which didn't even match the oak floors before we fixed that issue and instead of ripping them out, paint was the best solution. 

I have lived with painted floors before so I know that as long as we keep that top coat up to par,

we'll be alright. I'll be giving our dining 

table top the same treatment. :)

Next on our agenda: 

The boys bathroom, which is the downstairs

main bathroom. But, since this week is Christmas, 

we will be waiting till

after New Year to do that. 

We are doing a farmhouse bath with

bead board and using an old antique dresser

 I've had for the vanity.

All of our material is here and waiting!

I also have some pretty photos to share of 

our bedroom with the new windows but

that'll be next post. 

Wait till you see this amazing antique mirror we saved.

It's good to know people that are cleaning 

out their barns of "stuff".

Joyeux Noel! 

Merry Christmas!

I am going to wish you all a Merry Christmas now

even though it's still a few weeks away,

just in case.

We've been on a roll getting things finished up in the house

and one project feeds another so

I will take advantage of it!

Our tree is only decorated 1/3 down

{thanks to my fellas}

and I still need to pull the rest of the decorations up

from the basement.

I have the wreaths and garland in the windows

and the picket fence is lit up

but we decided no lights on the house this year.

Once I clean up the dust, put the furniture

back in place and breathe,

I'll decorate and photograph!

We went out and took some 

long overdue family photos but I'm

only sharing one. ;)

From our family to yours, 

Merry Christmas

Cheep! Cheep!

Alas, the day has come!

The French Pressed Home has babies!

Eight little peeps

filling their bellies, warming under the heat lamp

and singing their cheepy song.

The kids will be so excited when they get home.

Now to pick names and keep reminding

Lu and Mia that...

Curiosity killed the cat. And dog.

Glazed Bacon Wrapped Green-beans

Thanksgiving 2014:

The most delicious Thanksgiving ever!

This year, I found a few new recipes to use 

and I will say, they were all winners mainly because 

they were all from scratch, everyone participated

in helping this year and they were all delicious!

Here's what our menu consisted of:

Brined and Herb Roasted Turkey

Country Mashed Potatoes with Turkey Gravy

Homemade Herbed Dressing (Stuffing)

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Glazed Bacon Wrapped Green-beans

Buttermilk Biscuits

and

Cinnamon Cranberry Sauce

If I had to pick just one favorite, it would be the

Bacon wrapped green-beans.

 I cannot wait to make these again because

they are so pretty, fairly easy to make and so delicious!

Hopefully next year, we'll be using our own beans.

As usual, I made some modifications to the original recipe.

Glazed Bacon Wrapped Green-beans 

*10 slices of pre-cooked smoked bacon (I used Costco brand)

1.5 pounds of fresh French green-beans 

Glaze:

4 tablespoons of butter

1 teaspoon sea salt (table salt is fine)

1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder

4 tablespoons of brown sugar, packed

2 tablespoons maple syrup

fresh cracked black pepper, to taste

*Using the pre-cooked bacon omitted a step of pre-cooking raw bacon.

It's a great time saver especially when you are cooking so many other things.

You can increase the number of servings accordingly. Glaze can be doubled, as well.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees

1. Wash and trim your green beans (just cut the ends off)

2. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil.

3. Have a large bowl with ice water waiting to put the beans in after they blanch.

4. Blanch green-beans by cooking them in the water for 3-4 minutes

5. Quickly remove and drain (use tongs) from heat and put them into the ice water

to stop them from cooking. They will still be crisp.

6. In a small saucepan, melt butter then add the remainder of ingredients.

Stir until sugar is dissolved and mixture is hot.

7.  Lay your bacon out and place about 8-10 green-beans (in a bundle) in the center 

and roll tightly making sure not to break the bacon and placing the seam down.

Place on baking sheet with sides (jelly roll pan works great).

8. Drizzle a spoonful of sugar glaze onto each bundle.

9. Roast beans for 20-25 minutes.

Allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

**These can easily be assembled ahead of time by preparing

the green-beans and wrapping them with bacon. Place in refrigerator

until ready to glaze and bake.

These are so delicious with the smoky sweet

flavor of the bacon and glaze and they 

look like a million bucks!

I wish I knew how to clip around the recipe so you could print

it easily. Can anyone give me some pointers?

I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving with

your family. We sure did!

Paperwhites

I have always had the desire to grow Paperwhites.

I love their high fragrance and I love their dainty 

white flowers on stems of glorious green.

 photo via Better Homes and Gardens BHG link for growing tips

I picked up my first batch of bulbs at

Home Depot, I believe, and started them with 

rocks I picked up out of the road.

{Hey, I used what I had on hand!}

I then bought a couple more bags from Walmart and

started those for gifts. Yes, I bought a bag of stones for these.

I started them in whatever I could find.

From my large hurricane

to mason and jelly jars

to a red transferware bowl.

I then set them in the best lit location which is 

the laundry room window. It's a South facing window so 

it gets fabulous light all day.

I read that once the flowers bloom, if you keep them 

out of direct sun, they will last longer.

Well, till then, they will reside in that sunny window

with my Lavender. 

They're growing!

I found my first little bumpy stem this morning

so I know it won't be too long before we see

and smell some action. 

This year is somewhat of an experiment

and so far, so good.

I have plans for doing a show next year around this time

so if all goes well, I'll have some started to sell.

I'll come up with some pretty, rustic and unique

wrapping for them in the meantime.

I think I'll practice that on my gift giving

this year and see who likes what.

Have you ever grown paperwhites for gifts?

I'd love to hear your ideas!

Baby, It's Cold!

Winter is here!

We are in the lower 20's but our

home is warm and toasty and for that,

I am so grateful.

photo via Pinterest

I will be adding to our Etsy today. I have lots to photograph

and put up. 

Hope you are keeping warm!

Home Sweet Home

I'm gonna let you in on a little secret:

We cheated on our house.

But only for an hour or so.

This property enticed us with its acreage, a pond, 

and two houses.

We were mesmerized with everything about it.

The location, the layout of the property, the pecan orchard

and the potential of what we could do there.

Being in the county, you're pretty much unlimited.

It was lust at first sight.

We studied it on google earth, drove by it,

got excited about it and planned out how 

our lives would be living there.

I knew where the chickens were going to live, 

where we would pasture our cows,

where the garden would be planted and

 where we would hold Barn sales.

And the pond situation was even figured out:

A crack in the overflow pipe.

Oh, it was perfect.

Except one thing:

The house.

Another complete renovation.

The house is a 1970's two story brick

set on a concrete foundation.

The second house is smaller which would have been

a great shoppe for me

but, it too is on a concrete foundation,

thus NO PORCHES!

I still took pictures and we 

looked at it all with clear glasses

{meaning realistically}.

Too.Much.Work.

After we got home and looked at what 

we have  and have accomplished in our

home, we decided that we love it way too 

much to sell it and move on

to another big project.

We truly love our home and 

 created the perfect place for us.

We will stay firmly planted and continue to

make it our piece of heaven.

With the interior getting closer to completion

{there's still lots to do-trust me},

we will start working on the outside

yards and getting our fruit trees planted,

my potager designed

and build a small poulailler.

Once the upper level of our property is done, 

the Mr. can play with the woods and do

some clearing and maybe find a spot for a

little fishing hole.

So, it won't be too long before I do a 

Home Tour video {since I figured out how to

take video on my camera}.

Thank you for being here and listening to my

ramblings. I love sharing our story with you.

My next posting will

be full of surprises.

See you then!