~Playing around in my kitchen.~

When you don't have many kitchen cabinets on the bottom and NO top kitchen cabinets, you have to get CREATIVE! :-)
(Living in an antique house that is being remodeled, only one thing can get done at a time. :-)
 ~Phillip mentioned that we needed to set a shelf up on top of the cabinet so we could have a "tea station."
Our family has so many fun international tea habits that we needed some place to put our cans of Chinese tea, mugs, and Argentina Mate (special Argentine tea), and the special cups, straws, and Mate that go with it.
So, this is what I came up with.
We enjoy our little tea station!~

 ~My dear friend Luann gave us the red electric water pot, and we use it ALL THE TIME!!  THANKS BUNCHES, LUANN AND FAMILY!!~

 ~Since I LOVE TO COOK AND BAKE AND LIVE IN MY KITCHEN....I use LOTS of kitchen utensils / gadgets, with little drawer space to store them, so this is what I came up with.
It makes me smile to see Ladies' doing things like this in their kitchen in BETTER HOMES AND GARDENS magazine...JUST FOR FUN...
Honey child, this is FUN, but it's necessary too. :-) ~

 

 ~I have A LOT of kitchen gadgets ...but I keep 'em busy.~

 ~When we got our house...My kitchen used to be smaller and have a 1/2 bath in it.
Phillip tore out that bathroom to give me a bigger kitchen, but left this tiny window, to give more light.~

~So, I put an old wooden box up in the window, and some of my little white tea cups and saucers I brought back from Argentina, my flowered tea pot from Argentina, and my pretty white bucket from Colonia, Uruguay.~

~With some of my Christmas money I got these pretty minty green canisters at Cracker Barrel.~

~Talk about Retro...my Oster mixer (on the right), has been my FAITHFUL FRIEND for years.  

I used my Moma's Oster mixer when I had my own bread business at age 13 or 14 (and nearly wore that thing OUT making TONS of Bread), and then when I got married I got me an Oster Mixer.  I'll probably upgrade it one day, but for now it works fine. :-) ~

 ~The wooden box Phillip found on our street here in Cinci, and the tin and 

chalkboard came back from Argentina.~

~I set up an hot chocolate / coffee station in my kitchen as well.~

 ~And just so you get the WHOLE PICTURE...It is on top of my dishwasher (still in the box.)  :-) ~

 ~The cute chalkboard is from Michaels (used 40% off coupon) and the little bird cage idea is from Kohls 70% off.  GOTTA LOVE THOSE BARGAINS!!~

 ~The cute little red tin that says, "Peppermint drinking Chocolate" is from my Aunt Carole, and holds the hot chocolate.
The Ball jar has the snowmen marshmallows, then there's ground cinnamon, butterscotch chips, Dark choc. morsels, crushed candy cane...and later you'll see where I added Sea salt!~

  ~Just perfect for days like today where the CHILL goes right through you.~

 ~On top of the microwave.~

 ~One of my old wooden boxes from Argentina with my dish towels.~

 ~This is THE MESS I HAD FACING ME...ON OUR 3rd FLOOR!
What with 23 or so suitcases to unpack from Argentina, plus several boxes, and a day bed to set up that was donated to us...I didn't know where to start.
But, Jesus and my girls helped me and we chipped away at it a little at a time...and it's looking LOTS Better now!~

~BEFORE~

~NOW~

 ~Half of our 3rd floor has been remodeled...but this side is still a work in progress!
(Soon, I hope to post pics of Kimberly and Sarah's room[and Mary's]...that they and Phillip remodeled last year. :-) ~

 ~I found this nice shelf to help organize Mary's stuff.  The bottom is a cloth bin that holds lots of odds and end toys.~

~Mary and Abigail wearing similar dresses one Sunday.~

  ~One Sunday in January we got to have the Hausmans over for a simple Sunday dinner.

 I had fun using my red and white polka dotted dishes again.~

 ~New Bible reading charts from my Daddy for 2016.~

 ~One never knows what they will find in our house.  I went to pull these 2 chairs apart, and found they were handcuffed together. :-) ~

~It was so fun to have our sweet niece Kate stop by and see us.~

~Not sure if this will show up...but I loved little Abigail's hand print on this mirror.
When I put that mirror up before she was born I wasn't planning on capturing a pic of her hand print on it. :-)

 ~HEATHER~