anaritaiam
- Aug 26, 2020
- 6 min read

Summer 2020

I'M HERE, I'M HERE! Oh my gosh it's been FOREVER!!!! I'm so sorry for the absence and I can't believe how much time has passed! We have so much to talk about! So, are you ready?

Honestly, I don't even know where to start. The last time we talked was June and although 97.3888% of the time I've been home, I feel like so much has happened in our little world both physically and mentally. First I have to start by saying I HOPE you, your family and your friends are all healthy. So much is going on in the US, but because this blog is my happy place, I don't want to go into anything negative or political. My other hope is that you are doing everything you can to live your best life through all this chaos. Right now, our family is doing just that. We are all still feeling good and healthy and doing everything we can to stay that way!

With that being said, let's dive into all that's been happening!

4th of July! Does the 4th of July seem like 6 months ago or is it just me? We're closing in on the end of August and here I am talking fireworks! Isn't this mug the cutest though!?! I HAD to have my favorite dessert ever (double dip chocolate-not hot fudge-sundae with pecans!) to celebrate our Independence Day so I plopped it all together in this cute Susan Branch mug and after giving both dogs a good dose of anxiety medication, I headed to the back deck to see our neighbors create a war zone...loud but beautiful! ...side note: Susan Branch mugs can be found (limited supply) on her website www.susanbranch.com And yes, being the Susan Branch groupie that I am, I have every mug!❤️

On another side note...I celebrated (quietly and amongst myself ❤️) my blog's BIRTHDAY!

🧁HAPPY 3 YEARS to my little blog!🧁 Blows my mind away that you all enjoy reading about our life, but thank you so much for following along! It's been so much fun for me!!!

So, around the house, we've been slowly cleaning up spent flowers in the gardens. The yard has this FULL look to it with all the sunflowers blooming, zinnias, china asters, and cosmos filling in what were once bald spots. If you're driving by, it's pretty hard to see the bird bath OR the fire hydrant! Our house is in there somewhere!⤵️

But it's been amazing being able to make so many bouquets this summer! Having vases of them around the house is wonderful, but I also enjoyed making them as gifts! The first one below was for my son's girlfriend for her July birthday and the one below that was for my niece who had her sweet 16 earlier this month!

Who doesn't love getting flowers?!?! It was fun giving her flowers that bloom in her birthday month❤️ But here are a few more that I have been able to create for the house! All the seed work, digging, weeding, and watering pays off when you can have flowers all summer!!

As you know, this year we didn't grow a vegetable garden. But, because our dahlia garden was a complete FAIL, we had some room to plant spaghetti squash (first time!) and sweet potatoes (first time as well)...and, the sweet potatoes have become mole and deer food, and we currently have 5 million squash blooms but only two squash🤦🏻‍♀️ Fortunately, we have one of the best farmer's markets around! Bill and I have been making weekly trips to the farmer's market and I'm convinced more than ever that we should just continue growing flowers and leave the vegetables to the pros!

OUR LOCAL FARMER'S MARKET⤵️

Look at this freshness!!

That little jar of Peach Preserves came from my local farmer friend Mary. She's my EGG LADY! If you want to read about her little farm, I did a blog post about her HERE! I LOVE her eggs!!

And, since we had all this farm fresh goodness, Bill made me some of his delicious pickles and I even made a loaf of zucchini bread! Oh, I also created a stuffed chicken and cheese chili rellenos casserole dish that I admit was pretty darn tasty! I'll be putting that recipe up soon.

Both recipes can be found by clicking the RECIPE tab above! HOLY YUM!!

So, while the seasons are going through a very hot and slow change, I've also been outside collecting seeds. One of the many NEW PERSPECTIVES Covid has given me (and there are many, you'll see!) is trying to be more cost-effective, economical, practical, and skillful. I'm amazed at the amount of work both Bill and I (mainly Bill!) do ourselves to maintain our lifestyle and honestly believe that if circumstances were different when we were a younger couple, we could have really made a great go at homesteading. So, although we may not have our youth to make it all happen, we can always incorporate some things in to our lives today. One of my new starts is collecting as many flower seeds as possible from all the flowers we grew. There's no sense in buying new seed next year if I have them, right? It's a learning year, so yes, there were a few I totally fudged in collecting, but, lesson learned!

You know how I mentioned the word, skillful? Well, something else I've taken to in a more serious manner is ESSENTIAL OILS. I won't go into all the "stuff" I've been learning right now, but I've invested lots of time researching and learning about using essential oils and am so excited to share so much more. It's honestly been a lot of fun!

Like I said, so much is going on, but without going into tooooo much detail, I do have a big announcement. If everything goes as planned, (and so far it looks to be going as scheduled) my very own Etsy store will be opening mid September!

For those who follow me on Instagram, you know my Insta name is French Country in Kentucky. I decided to carry that over to my Etsy store as well. I can't tell you just yet what I'll be selling in my store-(it's a surprise) & I want to make sure I have a good supply ready, but you all will be the first to know when the store opens!

Right now it just feels like one project after another around here. I've got a piece of furniture that I've been taking my time painting (I'm about 65% finished) and am super excited to share the results with you. And Bill just completed my much desired and anticipated laundry room update!! And I'm IN LOVE with the results! Just a little back story, the previous owner put a second floor laundry room in by using a little space in the loft area and adding a wall. Why he didn't use more space is beyond me. Needless to say, the room is completely functional, but incredibly tight. I am not one who wants to bump out walls or have a need for some grand laundry room, it's just laundry...I don't plan on watching a movie in there. But, he didn't make the walls smooth, he didn't hide pipes, he didn't do a lot of things and it just needed some help. I, personally, just wanted a "nicer" room to go in and do my thing, you know? Sadly, in Anna fashion, I forgot a before picture🤦🏻‍♀️ What we had in there was a 42" cabinet that went to the ceiling, the doors were off of it so we wouldn't keep banging them on a wall and we also had a rack with 5 hooks to hang whatever. But now, it's wonderful😌 We put up wallpaper, some painted trim, stained some wood and hung them as shelves, I even wallpapered the rack with the hooks.😉 Everything's screwed into a stud and LEVEL! That's how my man works 😉

And yes, I made those labels!😂 Isn't it just the dreamiest little laundry room ever? When we went to bed after hanging the final shelf, I ended up scrolling through facebook marketplace and found this farm print in a frame. I wanted it so bad, but it was so late so I sent her a message so she could read it in the morning. Evidently, she is a night owl because she responded immediately stating it was available!! So first thing the next morning, I went and picked it up! It's perfect in there, just an old farmhouse that literally reminds me of our amish trips and the laundry the amish hang out at 4 in the morning! ❤️