My most important design element.....

clean windows!!

I think clean windows make a room sing!

We (and of course when I say 'we' I really mean Dan) have been busy for the last three weeks cleaning all the antique windows in the house. This is no easy feat. When we still lived in Dallas, and I would sit and fantasize about my "antique dream house in New England" and all the light it would have I failed to think that all that wonderful light comes from windows.... lots and lots of windows! Windows that need lots of cleaning!

My dream of an antique house with lots of light came true... the farmhouse has amazing light in the house all year long. In total (this includes the barn) the house has 45 windows and 4 sets of french doors! That's a lot of window cleaning!!

19 of the windows are the original 160 year old windows with gorgeous wavy glass. They have storm windows on the exterior, and it had been at least five years since any maintenance or window cleaning had taken place. Each antique window took Dan 3 1/2 hours to clean. The biggest part of the job was the scrapping of paint off of the panes; a fingertip-numbing job.

But, the good news is they all look gorgeous! It was as if we had removed a dark film off of each window, and the waviness of the glass increased ten fold!

I am one happy girl, as I fought long and hard to keep these original windows. Constantly hearing about how the new windows were so much more energy efficient, blah, blah, blah. Yeah, but do they have 160 year old wavy glass and character that you just can't buy?!

I'm a big fan of vinegar and water as a window cleaning product being that it's natural and green, but this job also called for the big-guns to come out and my go-to product is Invisible Glass.

Do you have any windows to clean?!!

Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving! It was our first one here at the house, and it was very special!

I'll be right back!

A rare form of strep, a head cold, a pulled back muscle...... but the bad news is my laptop crashed- it was sitting on it's side on the floor, fell over and crashed! It's not a happy camper....so on that lovely note I bid you a brief adieu as I get well and get a new laptop...

until then I'll be snuggling with this lovebug!

Be well.

I'm Happy to report...

that all the pups are now in New Hampshire, and that their puppy-angels, Jenifer and Jenny, are safe and sound back home in Alabama!

We plan on making a trip to the shelter to check in on all the new little faces!

I thank each of you who made a donation to the rescue trip! Thank you so very much!

A huge hug to my sister, Susan, and brother-in-law, Doug, for their very generous donation.

You are all the best!

Please help these dogs...

SamJuna
Jojo
Betty
...plus a whole van full of others!

When we moved to New Hampshire we were shocked and surprised to learn that most of the animal shelters here are empty of stray or abandoned dogs. After asking questions and investigating we learned that this was due to New Hampshire's strict spay and neuter laws. While this is true, I think it has more to do with what is acceptable, and in this part of the country it is simply not acceptable to dump a dog, or let your dog run amuck and have liter after liter of puppies. We have lived here for almost two years now, and while we live in a very rural area we have never seen a single stray dog. What we do see is car after car with a dog or two, or three inside.... this is one dog loving state!

We found sweet Ella at the Dallas SPCA which, as of today, has 12 pages of adoptable dogs..... We once thought we would have to drive back to Dallas to get Ella a "sister," but we recently became aware of a shelter in Alabama with an amazing group of volunteers who drive vans of dogs from over-populated shelters in the South all the way to New Hampshire (and Maine) to find their forever homes! The Shelby Humane Society is a shelter who partners with humane societies across the country that are in need of animals to adopt. It's a win/win situation. I am so very awe-struck by the kind hearted individuals who take days out of their busy lives to drive these lucky, lucky dogs states away to find people who will love them. I think they are angels...

Jenifer Wallis & Jenny Miller are two of the angels that will embark on such a trip this Saturday, November 7th... Please click on their blog and read how these two adorable Alabama girls are going to rescue a van full of dogs and bring them to New Hampshire!

Please, please if you can- donate money to this very worthy cause, even $5 will add up and help these shelter dogs! (If you are another blogger please feel free to copy this post and spread the word!) There are three easy ways to donate on the site....

New Hampshire Bound

Stay tuned to their blog as they will also do posts along their journey!

Godspeed Jennifer & Jenny and the puppy-angels in your care.