~♥Hello Blogging Friends♥~

I hope you all are doing well...I know that I have been MIA this past year, but I'm hoping that will all change with this upcoming new year. ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ If you haven't noticed, I am now on Instagram and if you are as well, please follow me at: kayshay65 ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ Just like many of you, I am trying to get ready for Christmas...for some reason this year it has been slow-going...the days are counting down so I'm trying my darndest to get moving.  I've been decorating the past couple of days.  I've changed some things up from what I've done in the past.  I'm hoping to get some pictures posted soon!   ~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ This picture is from my annual Christmas Cookie Exchange 2012.  It's so much fun to get together with friends.  This is the 4th year for the  exchange at my home.   My daughter and I will be baking cookies this week for the upcoming exchange on  Saturday, December 21st!

Thanks for stopping by blogging friends!

♥ Kim

Graphic by: www.gooseberrypatch.com 

~♥ It's A New Year ♥~

Hello blogging friends...I'm sorry that I have been MIA...I decided to concentrate on family and friends and take a break from blogging for awhile.  I had a wonderful Christmas and pray that you all did as well.  I had the opportunity to spend some time with dear friends...one Saturday we went on a Christmas Home Tour and another Saturday I hosted a Christmas Cookie Exchange at my home.  We also had the opportunity to visit with family as well. 



1. Almond Wafers
2. Peanut Butter Mice
3. Cream Waters
4. Mocha Latte Cookies
5. Tumb Prints
6. Double Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies
7. Apricot Coconut Balls
8. Chocolate Mint Sugar Cookie Drops

I'm sorry that I never got around to posting any inside pictures before Christmas...

Thank you so much for stopping by...I hope to not be as scarce in 2012!

♥ Kim

~♥ Merry CHRISTmas ♥~

12/24 - I added a few more pictures of my kitchen at the bottom of the post, so please take a look if you haven't seen them before.
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Thank you all so much for your visits and sweet comments on my last post...I really appreciate it!

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Last weekend I hosted a cookie exchange at my home with some of my dearest friends...I thought I'd share a few pictures with you.

Did you notice "The Farm Chicks Christmas" book?  If you haven't gotten yours, you are missing out...what a darling book.  I found mine at Michaels.

What a wonderful time with dear friends.  We all received a nice selection of cookies...now, if I can just control how many I eat.

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Here are a few pictures of my kitchen at CHRISTmas:

Thank you all so much for your visits during this past year...I'm taking a blogging break until the beginning of 2011.

Have a blessed CHRISTmas, blogging friends.

♥ Kim

~♥I've Had You In Suspense Long Enough♥~

Here's what Santa brought me...a new farmhouse cupboard and...

a new farmhouse table.

This is our 20th anniversary gift, too.  My dear Hubby and I will be celebrating our anniversary on the 13th of January.  When we were first married we bought a table and chairs so we thought it would would be nice to do this for our Christmas/20th Anniversary gift.  We gave our old table and hutch to a young couple who recently got engaged...they just bought a house, too, and needed everything.  They were so grateful and we were happy to help them out.

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I thought I'd show you a few other things in the kitchen, too.

Here's my chalkboard that I love to decorate!  The Chalkink Markers are so fun to use! 

I love sprinkles and things to decorate cookies and cupcakes...here's my supply in the drawers of my new cupboard.

I moved this dresser (removed the mirror) to the kitchen to provide more storage (one can never have enough storage!).  The rocking chair belongs to my dear daughter.  It was given to her by her grandparents when she was a year old...she's now 16 1/2.

The top of the dresser: The scale was a garage sale find ($15), the canisters look old, but they are actually new, the castiron cook stove was given to me by my dear Gram.

Thank for visiting me today...I really do appreciate all of your sweet comments and visits!

♥ Kim

~*Christmas Living Room/Dining Room*~

Good Saturday afternoon, dear blogging friends! I hope you all are doing well and are getting all of your last minute Christmas preparations done. We finished up Christmas shopping last night so now I'm going to have to get the gifts wrapped! We are having our family Christmas meal on Saturday, December 27th, so I actually have a few extra days to prepare.

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Today's tour starts in our living room...it's decorated pretty simply.

This little Santa is a favorite of mine...it was given to me last year by the woman I work for. He's from Maine.

Do you see that tiny little reindeer by the house? It's from my childhood...I treasure it because my dear Mom always put it out every year.

Our coffeetable.

We are now in the dining room.The hutch.

This little picture was a Christmas card we received this year...I thought it was so sweet...it's glittery.

My drysink...since I didn't have enough candles I used ornaments instead.

Our coat rack.

This is my computer hutch were all of my blogging happens.

The top of the computer hutch.

I found this apothocary jar at TJ Maxx for $19.99! I wasn't going to buy it...I walked by it many times trying to decide what to do...I'm so glad I decided to get it. I can't wait to change it for the seasons.

And, last but not least, our Christmas tree. The only place we had for it was in the dining room. I'm looking for a new tree topper...I want to find a star.

This is my all-time favorite and treasured ornament. My dear Mom gave it to me when I was a little girl and it was always on our tree. Now that my Mom is in Heaven it's even more special to me...

Thank you so much for stopping by for this tour of my home...I appreciate all of your visits and comments so much! This may be my last post until after Christmas and our Christmas dinner on the 27th. Take care my dear blogging friends and may we all keep the true meaning of Christmas in our hearts year round.

Love to you all, Kim

~*A Few More Kitchen Pictures*~

I can't thank you all enough for the many visits and kind comments you left on my last post...I'm so overwhelmed!!!

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I inadvertantly left out a few pictures that I wanted to share for the Christmas Kitchen Tour...here they are:

This is my chalkboard...it's one of my all-time favorite things in the kitchen. I absolutely love having a chalkboard to write little notes and sayings (I know there are a lot of you sweet blogging friends that have shown neat ideas for chalkboards).

Here is the word PEACE spelled out with twigs that I glued together. I then used decorative ornament hooks to hang them on my curtain rod.
I know that some of you have tried Martha Stewart's glitter, well a few days ago I tried it for the first time and all I can say is WOW...I'm hooked...this stuff is amazing! If you haven't tried it before, I say RUN, don't walk, to your nearest Wal-mart to get some and give it a try. You'll be hooked like me!!!
I've been on a search for new cannisters...I was getting very frustrated because every set of cannisters I looked at wasn't what I was after. I finally found what I was looking for...at Walmart...they were right under my nose all along and I didn't know it!!! They were very reasonably priced and I think they have a nice old-fashioned feel, which is what I was after.
Ok, this wreath is not in my kitchen, but I wanted to show it to you anyways...I found it at JoAnn's last week for a few bucks...I added the ribbon...I bought two of them to hang on my laundry room windows. I showed my laundry room tour a few posts ago...Click Here if you'd like to see it.*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Melissa from Little Things In Life gave me a Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you, Melissa...I appreciate it! I always have a hard time deciding who to give these awards to so I'm going to dedicate it to all of you sweet, creative blogging friends in blogland!