Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

My eldest daughter and I had a very wonderful and quiet Christmas day together. Christmas Eve Day we spent with my younger daughter and my wonderful grandsons. It had been a while since we'd been together and we shared a simple breakfast, gifts, and many, many hugs. The boys are growing so fast and at 13 and 16 it still feels good to get those hugs. The discussions were more colorful and their opinions are getting to be a little more adult, but we got caught up with music and sports and their busy lives. 

We kept the holiday simple. Our table held this wonderful Poinsettia plant that was so large we called it our tree and it was just enough to put our gifts under. 

As promised to ourselves we kept breakfast simple too. Just coffee with home made donut holes and fresh fruit. It was a day of relaxation and shutting out the world. Christmas dinner was left over Thanksgiving turkey that I vacuum sealed and froze. The only cooking was a pot of potatoes and a fresh vegetable and  we promised that we would continue to celebrate simply from here on. We hope you all had a wonderful holiday and thank you for stopping by for a visit. May 2016 bring good times and many blessing to all. 

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Happy Holidays!

It's been very quiet and relaxed here at the townhouse. Ya sure, who am I kidding? Well we've been trying to make it that way. It seems like there will always be stress mixed into the plan. 

So, in keeping this post light, there is a lovely young lady who is still gardening here in upstate NY. This past week she gifted me some fresh rosemary and parsley. Two of my favorites. Being a farm girl at heart I took the chance and started to propagate a couple of very healthy sprigs. I'm trying a green house method and sealed it in a plastic bag because my reputation with propagating rosemary has been challenging to say the least. I am drying a bit for future use, and I made this wonderful loaf of rosemary olive oil bread. It is so good. The parsley has been added to some smoothies and of course this lovely white garlic pizza with tomatoes. I love fresh herbs and I always manage to add fresh vegetables.

Remember this fine collection of thrift store bottles? Well, in my search for pour spouts so I could use them to hold creamers for my holiday coffee, I was led to the Dollar Tree store where I purchased packages of them at 2 for $1 keeping them in my budget. It pays to read reviews on line and get the information we need to stay economically stable and still have nice things.

Here they are all decked out with our vintage tray, Mikasa sugar and creamer, and mugs for Christmas morning. The green holly fabric are home made napkins and I'm sure once I bake some breakfast items, or simply take some out of the freezer, we'll have a simple and relaxing holiday. It is well earned and deserved. We are wishing everyone a great holiday season and thank you for stopping by for a visit. 

Thrift finds

The mission was to go to the thrift store and find one item to be used in an up cycle project. Many dollars and more than a few minutes later, the words from my daughter were "It's like Gramma's house got delivered to the thrift store and I couldn't resist". She was right and we left plenty behind for others but what wonderful fun and finds.

The first find was several cases of canning jars. We kept the pint size jars and my daughter's co-worker wanted the half pints. The timing of this find was perfect. These are two of the vintage table cloths that we chose. The blue with flowers was in almost perfect condition. The gingerbread print one needed, and still needs soaking, but the stains are coming out. 

We found two new vintage Vera table cloths and a vintage terry towel. It was hard choosing some items, but we've already sold one tablecloth.

Here we found some vintage 70s double knit fabric and some Christmas yard good. The bright pink and purple fabric is another tablecloth. There were boxes and boxes of fabric on bolts and yarn, but the baby yarn is all we got and it was only 99 cents. Not shown were some aqua soup/cereal bowls that immediately were cleaned and put to use in the kitchen and of course the original item we went for we did find plus a few more. We had promised ourselves not to bring a lot more home, but it was a great shopping trip and the items were fabulous. Thank you for stopping by for a visit and have a wonderful week. If you need some last minute items for holiday gift giving my daughter's store is having a 40% off sale so stop by and check it out. Here's the link and you can find the shop on my side bar. 

poetcharms.etsy.com

Townhouse Homestead Tuesday

Holiday Farmer's Market

My younger daughter and I have visited the farmer's market for the past two Sundays to enjoy the holiday celebrations. The weather has been more than wonderful for the northeast, but we sure would have loved a few snowflakes for our visits. 

Oh, the fresh air and the aroma of fresh cut evergreens. There were trees, wreaths, swags, and home made decorations of all kinds for sale. There were vendors selling vintage Christmas, vendors selling roasted nuts, festive foods, cookie waffles made on antique pie irons, apple cider donuts and festive anything you could think of. 

People were dressed in holiday colors to shop and this woman was checking out a farmer's livestock. There were chickens, rabbits, and goats for sale. 

Santa rode in a horse drawn carriage with parents and children expressing their wishes for holiday gifts. Santa was very attentive, but he took a minute to wave to everyone and wish them happy holidays. Children could also decorate a sugar cookie for free as part of the festivities.

This young elf was working her hardest to help sell the family trees. She was in the spirit although she admitted to being quite cold. Her selling spot was shaded, but she hung in there with youthful enthusiasm. This coming Sunday is the final day for this holiday event and I'm not sure we'll be going, but it was so much fun to be out enjoying the holiday at the market before they build all enclosed structures. I will miss the outdoor market, but progress is what it is. Thank you for stopping by and visiting. I hope this brought you a bit of holiday cheer.

Thrift Finds

Well it's getting closer. After the first of the year my daughter will begin her search for a home and stability. We have gone to thrift stores and come home with very little if anything. We have begun packing and labelling boxes and realizing that the last five years of paying off debt and saving will have us in a home in nine months or less. With the Christmas holiday approaching we have decided to decorate very little. We are choosing instead to attend tree lightings and small holiday events. It's sort of if we feel like it we will, if not then we'll relax and craft. The next couple of Sundays at the farmers market the vendors are selling trees, wreaths, vintage Christmas items, specialty foods and there are even horse and carriage rides. It's free to walk around and get into the spirit. The only purchase I made were these vintage bottles. I got them for $1 each. After a few days of soaking and scrubbing I got them clean and am thrilled with the find. 

There is a snowman with a cork stopper, a Gingerbread man, and a Penguin. They were too cute to leave behind. This is my plan for them.

I will add them to my holiday counter Christmas morning with my coffee and hot chocolate. This snowman will hold my French vanilla creamer.

The Gingerbread man will hold...yes gingerbread creamer or ginger syrup.

The Penguin will hold either butter pecan creamer or peppermint syrup. Earlier this year I found a Honey Bee shaped jar that I'll put honey in. This will be our holiday treat to start our day and make it special while keeping it simple. Thank you for stopping by to visit and have a wonderful week. Happy thrifting.