Friday, October 30, 2009

Decking the Halls and Stocking the Shelves



Decking the Halls...I sit here in my warm kitchen, in my warm bathrobe, drinking my warm cup of tea, as I think warm thoughts about Christmas. In a few minutes I will head out to the Shop and pack up all the Halloween goodies and put on some Christmas music and start to deck the halls with Christmas goodies! I am so excited to make the change in the Shop. We have been getting lots of new goodies! Tim and I have been so busy working on some custom orders and also cutting and painting signs. I have lots of new signs for the Shop. This is the start of the busiest time of the year for us. Our house is starting to look like Santa's Workshop! I just wish Santa would give me an early Christmas present...A MAID AND A COOK....my housework has suffered...oh well, we have to keep our customers happy...housework will just have to wait!

Stocking the Shelves: And as I sit here in my warm kitchen eating my warm bowl of oatmeal my thoughts turn to people who are waking up today with no food in their pantry...no food to feed their children. The Brickhouse Craft Shop is accepting donations of non~perishable food and NEW UNWRAPPED TOYS. I volunteer at the Food Bank at the Upper Dauphin Human Services Center, Clearfield Street in Elizabethville. I was there yesterday and our shelves are so bare. We have so many more clients coming in asking for help...so can you help? We will have a box on our porch at all times for donations. You don't even have to come when we are open to make a donation ( but we would love to meet you and to thank you). You can even stop by the Center (across from the Library in Eville). Every Christmas the Center has a Christmas program where parents can come and "shop" for presents for their children. We are expecting a lot more parents to sign up for this program and we need toys. I can't imagine a child waking up on Christmas morning and not having any presents...so please help. I know times are tough for all of us..but it we can give a little we can help a lot..so please help. And for all our followers of our blog, please go to your local Food Bank and make a donation or even volunteer. Thank you.
~~Patti~~

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Views From The Porch


We end the Tour of The Brickhouse with some views from the Porch. We have had so much rain the last couple of weeks but there was one day that was just perfect...so I want to share that day with you....! This is what you will see when you drive up to our Shop.
Come on in.....wanna sit down and enjoy the views? Go ahead......and while you are enjoying the beautiful day take a look at all these wonderful goodies on the Porch.

My view from the kitchen. When our Shop is open I am usually in the kitchen and I can look out and see when our customers arrive.Looks like the sun is beginning to set...it was nice having you visit us. Please come back again and remember you can PORCH SIT anytime you like...we love sharing our porch and our views with you.~~Patti~~

Saturday, October 24, 2009

Tour Part 2

Welcome back. Come on in...
Look around and you will see that we have some wonderful goodies..ALL HANDMADE....MADE IN USA!

Stop by again for more of the tour...OR if you are in our neck of the woods PLEASE stop by The Brickhouse and say hi..we would love to meet you!

~~Patti~~

Friday, October 23, 2009

Tour of the Shop part 1

Tim and I have been working on some changes at The Brickhouse and we thought we would take you on a tour of our Shop. I have so many pictures to share on our blog but I can't load all of them so we may have to take you on another tour at another time. Well, come on in...since the day was so nice we were able to display some of our goods on our porch....take a look around..

Come on in..notice anything different? Yes, we opened up the fireplace. There were doors on the fireplace and yesterday Tim removed the doors! We love how it looks and can't wait to light a fire in it..in the meantime the lights will have to do.Now a sneek peek at some Winter goodies that arrived yesterday in 2 big boxes all the way from Alabama from our good friend, Beryl. If you stopped by The Brickhouse yesterday and you heard some oohs and ahhs coming from the house...that was me opening up the boxes! I was so excited seeing what Beryl made for the Shop...Here is a sneak peek...you all have to make sure to stop by and see the rest of her creations....they won't last long!


Thanks for stopping by The Brickhouse..stop by again and we can continue the tour.

~~Patti~~

Wednesday, October 14, 2009

Day~Tripping


Today Tim and I went to meet Carolyn and Richard of PA SOY CANDLES. We needed to pick up an order so we drove to Lebanon to their home. Carolyn and Richard are two of the nicest people you could ever meet. We had a tour of their candle shop and learned so much about candle making. I had my camera with me but when we got out of the car I forgot all about my camera. I cannot believe I did that but we are planning on going back and when we do I WILL take pictures. After picking up our candles we headed out to Lancaster. We needed to go to a wholesale place and of course we have to take the back roads! AND I did use the camera....so enjoy these pictures from our Day~Trip.
My Handsome Chauffeur.
Views from the front seat...enjoy!
Amish boy heading home from school on his scooter.
Amish buggy...check out the Jesus Fish on the back of the buggy!

We stopped at a little roadside Farmer's Market...love this wreath made with Indian Corn..so neat!We found a nice place to have Lunch..http://www.franklinhousetavern.com/ It was a really nice old building. Tim and I enjoyed a nice lunch of Salad and Wine. Tim had a steak salad and I had a Ahi Tuna Ceasar Salad. I almost fainted when the waitress brought me my salad....it was a whole head of romaine lettuce lightly grilled. I never had grilled lettuce but have seen it on The Food Channel...it was SO GOOD!


Tim's Salad. Sorry I can't rotate this picture..it looks like this because of the way I uploaded it..NOT because I had wine with my salad..no I wasn't standing on my head when I took the picture but you may have to stand on your head to view it..sorry!
Our view during Lunch.Our view while waiting for our desserts!

DID someone say DESSERT? When we go out and there is Tiramisu on the dessert menu we HAVE to get it. We are hoping to have our own show on The Food Channel..Tiramisu Road Tasted! We love Tiramisu! The waitress had the nerve to ask us if we were going to share one! No WAY! This was one of the best we ever had...it was SO GOOD. I was so busy eating it that I almost forgot to take a picture of it. It was a long day but a fun day. We both needed a day away and we picked a perfect day weather wise...lots of rain and maybe some snow headed our way starting Thursday into the weekend. Sure hope the bad weather doesn't keep our customers away from The Brickhouse.
Thank you for stopping by our blog...stop by again and also make sure you stop by The Brickhouse, we would love to meet you.
~~Patti~~