Seanymphs Treasures

Doesn't anybody know how to cook anymore?

2012-01-22T17:26:00.000-08:00

Header from my food blog.

Ive been DVRing The Pioneer Woman's new show. I wanted to see how it would be. Its ok...very simple food actually. And that surprises me but when I think about it, it really shouldn't. I don't watch too many cooking shows anymore. I can do most of what they teach so whats the point? But I am always looking for new ideas and things that might inspire me. Its how I roll.

Ive never been able to just follow a recipe exactly. Well not true, sometimes I do. If its complicated, then I may do it exactly like the recipe says just to learn a technique or see how its supposed to taste. But often after I do that, my mind starts running amok, thinking of things to add or flavors to change. Even when I read a recipe, my mind starts thinking oooooo this is good but I think it would be better with this or that. Its how I roll. :)

And so seeing Pioneer Woman on tv really got me thinking. First is a bit of envy.....hey I have a good food blog too, why am I not on tv...giggle. Well, she wrote a cookbook so that's probably why. And some have asked me to write one and I think.....why? Who would want to buy that, nobody knows me. But maybe I should, after all people who do know me rave about what I cook and my recipes. But I just don't see it...

You see Ive been cooking since I was a kid. I had some great cooks in my family too. Even now my dad takes my recipes and adapts them to his way of cooking and I take dads recipes and tweak them my way lol. But I think its precisely since I have been cooking so long that I don't understand what people see in what I make. Like anyone, I see my mistakes. Or Ill make something that to me is just ok and yet they rave. But mostly I think the new generation doesn't have the skills the older one did.

I talked to my bf about this today. I said I don't understand how kids today cannot cook. It IS a basic life skill everyone should have. But then I think of my generation and later and how fast food became a staple. Or how frozen meals or premade foods did too. Heck today so many do not even know where their food comes from. A whole generation or two.....that lost the art of creating a good meal.

I taught my kids. Well my daughter didn't want to learn but she couldn't help but have it rub off on her. My son however has the food gene in him like his mama. :) Hes quite creative and has gone off in a BBQ pit direction now. He loves to smoke meats and create sauces. And he isn't afraid to try weird combos and has come up with some good ones. My daughter tho over time had to learn cuz she had a family to feed. And that family spent time at my house and fell in love with many things I made. So daughter had no choice but to figure this out to please them. I told her tho whatever she makes, make sure you put FLAVOR into your food.

So many recipes to me are just bland or blah and so I'm always adding more of the spices or flavorings than what are called for. I told her to make a recipe and taste it and if it doesn't taste right.......add more! More of something you like. And so she does that and now I see some of HER friends raving about her stuff. And one day I saw her say she does what her mom does.........she makes sure it has flavor. That made me smile. She may not have wanted to learn as a child but she listened.

And I think that's whats wrong with the newer generations. They have lost the art of eating and creating and cooking and have to be taught. And that's why I don't see why what I do is so special....until I realize so many today, just cant do it. Its sad really. So I said to my bf, maybe I really do need to make a cookbook lol............Move over Pioneer Woman, your not the only one who knows her way around the kitchen!

Things that stick with you....

2012-01-17T12:30:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I reread books I have here. I keep the ones that speak to me. And every now and then I'm drawn back to one for whatever reason. Usually its cuz I need something to read in the "reading room". hehehe. And so today I picked up that book by Loretta La Roche.

I like to do that sometimes to refresh my memory of the book, to see why I'm keeping it and sometimes to see just what stuck to me after I finished it. Today this book reminded me why I'm different and I like being different. This book talks about how everyone is a clone today. How the media tells us how to be and everyone that doesn't fit it is seen as weird or eccentric. But she says being different is how we should be. After all we all have different talents, points of views, different bodies and likes and dislikes. So she talks about how to be more different and happy about it . The happy part tho is what drew me to her in the first place yrs ago.

My grand daughter J and I were once watching Loretta's PBS show long ago. This lady is seriously funny and even the young J liked her. But the part that really got us was the TA DAAAA part of her show. She talked about being silly and how it affects you and makes you happy. And sometimes it even makes others smile and be happy.

Now the ex was in the downstairs "reading room" right near where we were watching this. It came to the TA DAAAAAA part and J and I were just cracking up. (we have done this often thru our relationship and I just love it, if you ever see her just say the words "poop fairy" and she will start to roar lol) And so silly old us, decided to make grampa smile and J dressed up as the TA DAAAAAA lady. We put a burger king crown on her head and a blanket around her shoulders. When grampa opened the door......we yelled TA DAAAAAAAA in the silly outfit. We were laughing ourselves silly........but he wasn't. He not only didn't get it but thought we were insane. (honestly tho not much will make him laugh anyway so it was bound to fail.) But we had a blast and were doing it over and over all day. It WAS fun.

And so I love Loretta's blog and books and her outlook on life. http://lorettalaroche.wordpress.com/
And Ive always been different and freely admitted it. I remember one day an Aunt was over. I forget what we were looking at but I never forgot what she said to me. She said "you like anything that's different" and she said it in a way that sounded like a put down. Like I'm weird. At first I was a bit hurt that she would even say something like that. But then being the different weirdo that I am, I thought shes the one with the problem.....so I simply answered her.......YES I DO.

But long ago I realized being different is what made me special. Its ez to look like a clone of everyone else or behave like that but if its NOT who you are, then you're a phony. Ive always loved the Velveteen Rabbit story cuz in the end your real........and I am real, always.

But this also made me think of long ago. My kids were young, we just bought our first house and he was working for a company that would in the end create a career for him. And so the company would have a yearly Christmas party. Now in the beginning he was just a service tech., just one of many so we certainly didn't have a lot of money nor were we able to keep up with the Joneses. So I sewed alot of clothes for my kids and I.

One of the first few parties tho I didn't have much cash for anything so I wore a pretty black skirt I had and a white blouse with ruffles on the V neck and sleeves. It was a nice outfit, nothing flashy but at least a bit dressy. The following yr. tho I had no money at all to buy anything. I didn't have much of anything dressy in my closet either since I was a homemaker and mom. I didn't need things like that. And so I wore the same thing again. It didn't bother me except that I hoped no one would remember. You know how catty women can be. No one said a word to me tho.

But later on my ex mentioned to me that someone said I wore the same thing two yrs in a row. And he was annoyed with me! I was shocked. First I didn't think anyone would notice, after all we were not the Pres. and VP or any managers, just one of the peons. Second, the ex didn't give me any money to buy something and I had no extra from our budget so what the heck did he think I could do? He was funny like that.....

And so I started to sew my outfits, often planning them well ahead of time so he couldn't bitch. I recall one time buying $1 yd. jersey fabric that I liked and made a long gown with it. To spark it up I splurged on rhinestones to make the straps with. Apparently everyone loved it. If they only knew who the designer really was lol.

And another time I found a cheap white halter gown. It looked like the one Marilyn Monroe wore only floor length. I borrowed a floor length black hooded velvet cape from a friend to cover it. So imagine me walking into the room with that cape. Thats the sort of thing you wore to the opera not a company party. And when I took it off there was the Marilyn dress....from all covered up to almost bare on top. Seems I was a hit lol. Even one of the workers dad who came with them......asked me to dance. And apparently he was a great dancer.

He took me in his arms and swirled me around the room like we were great ballroom dancers. My white gown was twirling all around and we were quite the spectacle. Its actually really nice to dance with someone who knows how to lead you around the room. It was one of those moments...you remember forever.

And so I think I like having fun and being different. I dont know why everyone else doesn't like it, why do they all try to be the same? Its so boring and doesn't create good memories either.

Bohemian me....

2012-01-08T13:03:00.000-08:00

Bohemian Chic: While this is a bit too rustic for me it has the elements of things I like, Victorian, romantic and country. This is from the Magnolia Pearl site. She designs bohemian clothing from old textiles and prints and some of her stuff is gorgeous, some is over the top for me. But its the flavor of what she does and who she is that speaks to me. Check out her site for more bohemian stuff.......she did her traveling trailer like a Gypsy caravan.....inside is wild too but there are elements I like. Mine will never be that over the top but I can see me using some bits. (I think it just speaks to the Hungarian in me..... :) )

I'm finding myself drawn to some interesting mixes of decor online. Ive never really been one to put a label on my style...until now. While it does look Victorian in places, romantic in others and even country in other spots.....I don't think I have just one style anymore. I like so many things. Victorian is pretty but tooooo cluttered. Romantic is so girly and fem but too too pink and over done. And country is just too farm house and practical for me. So I feel I do a mix. And after wandering online, I think the name Bohemian fits me.
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B O H E M I A : {noun}
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I've been accused of being different by others in my family. I always say I'm the black sheep cuz I do stuff my family wouldn't and I am not afraid to try new things. I tend to collect what others don't but a funny thing happens to me. Once I start to collect it, others start doing that and make it too expensive for me to continue my collections lol. And so I have a bit of this and that.

But long ago I realized I was different and decided I liked it. Why be just like everyone else? Its not that I like to be center of attention or stand out. But why do I have to like what everyone else does? I don't. And so I taught my kids that too, that its ok to be different and not everyone will like you. But it you have one good friend then you have more than most.

And so today while looking at some Bohemian decor I felt inspired with my house. I don't have any cash right now to do anything. But I do have a lot of stuff around here I'm simply not using. I have some windows too that still do not have curtains. Those windows don't actually need them either but.....I have a few ideas. But I've been a bit stuck here since this house is very different from what I planned on getting. Its not Victorian like I hoped, not very romantic looking except for the view. ...and even not very country with the skylights and big windows overlooking the land with two small windows above it in typical trailer style lol. This isn't a trailer tho and I hate those windows and the wacky ceiling built in this place to accommodate them too.

But while this isn't a New Yrs. resolution it is something Ive decided to do this yr. Most houses Ive lived in I just never finished. I always said when I finish a house we seem to move so maybe that's why I didn't. And my dream house was finished, we spent the money to make it that way and I ended up leaving that one cuz he wouldn't sell it to me. So finishing a house is a bit scary to me.

But when I moved up here I told myself this will be the last house I ever live in. This is where Ill finish out my life. And so its time to finish this one the best I can right now with no money. I have a chandelier that needs to be finished being cleaned and then hung. Its still sitting in the closet. I have a kitchen with lg . areas over the cabinets to decorate that would look fabulous when done. I keep avoiding them tho cuz I just hate hate hate this paint color. But maybe I wouldn't hate it so much if I covered most of it up with stuff up there.

And I don't have curtains in the kitchen, don't really mind that cuz I have a fabulous view and nobody can really see in. But maybe a little valance to finish off the window would be nice. My laundry room is a very used room and a nice size...right now it keeps getting filled with overflow stuff from the kitchen like canning pots and such. I was going to use it as my craft room . I don't think that is going to happen. But it does need some curtains since there's 3 big windows in there. And again no one can see in really but it does feel too exposed in there. I saw a great idea someone had of using old linens as curtains and I have lots of those. So I think its time I made some for that room.

However my sewing machine is still in the garage lol.....and I'm pondering making the guest room, my craft room. After all we rarely have over night guests so that room pretty much never gets used. So I think I'll set the machine up in there. The man has his man cave so why shouldn't I have a room of my own?

Yup its time to get this house done. And I'm gonna make it MY house, decorating it my way even if its not magazine worthy. I don't know why I didn't ever do that in the first place. Its like I always felt it had to be a certain way so people would like it. But really, who cares what people think? They don't live here.

First blog of the new year-chicken sh*t and all that jazz

2012-01-01T16:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I spent most of the day at the egg lady's house. Her other half D was making orange marmalade. Now Ive never made that before and wanted to learn how, especially since he said his is not bitter. Ive always avoided orange marmalade because of that bitterness. While I understand that is classic orange marmalade, its not to my tastes.

And so I helped zest the oranges and cut them up. Then he cooked them down and did one recipe so I could see how he does it. It does get less bitter as he cooks it but I see some tweaks Ill be making now when I do my own batch this week. Oranges were 2lbs for $1 and it is winter, the best time to buy citrus so I picked some up the other day in anticipation of this. I however will use less pith in my version. I know alot of it cooks down but I didn't like the taste of it on the zest. So Ill remove as much as I can there and leave some on the fruit itself. That seems to melt away with cooking.

But it was a nice afternoon sitting and talking with him about our lives. My friend S was in and out doing chores with the chickens and at the end of the day when I was going home she gifted me with something special. A big sack of fresh chicken shit for my garden lol. Now we have talked about it before but I always wondered how would I get it here since I don't have a truck. But she bagged it up in a big feed sack and used the small digger to lift it and bring it to my car trunk. Then she moved it in there. I thought for sure it would stink but it didn't, thank God. I was wondering how I would be able to stand the drive home lol.

And so when I got here I tried to get the sack out of my car and couldn't lift the damn thing. Now I know why she used the digger and drove it over to my car. I had to get my bf to get it out and you should see the look he gave me when I told him I needed his help lol. And it was heavy for him too but he slung it over his shoulder and brought it to my garden. (Now thats love!) Now I just have to get brave enough on a nice day here to work it into my veggie beds. It has to cure in the dirt over the winter so it wont burn the plants come spring. Should be real interesting since the only time I ever did that was in NJ. With a shovel in the ground. This Ill have to dig out of the bag and bring over to each bed......yuck . lol But something has to be done about this lousy soil and I have a free source of fertilizer hehehe.

I only had yogurt and fruit in the morning tho before I went to their house and by the time I left I was starving. Not a good thing . I had some of the leftover ham salad in a sammich when I got home but I think I waited too long to eat. Later on we got a pizza since my bf ate late too and nobody was really hungry......so why cook? That on top of the sammich I don't think worked well and I didn't feel good by the time the New Year came in. And so we tried to stay awake till then, gave each other smooches and went off to bed. Damn when did we get so old? Honestly Id rather be at a party but........and even my bf said he wished he had a gig that nite. So for next yr. I am wishing he gets one so we can really celebrate. I hate this old people stuff lol

And so last nite I pulled out a prime rib roast. I bought it long ago and I'm not sure its good anymore. I'm going to check it soon and if its still ok ......we will ring in the new yr in style. If not, I have a pork roast in the fridge that I can roast instead. But Ill be making my garlic roasted taters and use up the broccoli in my veggie bin too. I'm thinking of making a pie but not sure what kind yet. I don't have any whipped cream here and I don't want to go to the store, but I was thinking a pumpkin pie since we didn't get much of that this past yr.

Later on this week tho Ill be making my orange marmalade. And if I don't screw it up Ill be posting that here. I wished my friends Happy New Yr and hugged them tho when I was there yesterday. Told them I love them and truly I do, they are such nice people. Gave her mom a hug too and teased her about eating all the Snickerdoodles I made for her. She just loved them. And so I rang out the old year with friends, rang in the new yr with my love.

Trying to drum up some good stuff...

2011-11-29T19:05:00.001-08:00

I'm trying to drum up some holiday spirit here.........gonna be probably the worst holiday Ive ever had and my spirit is so down. And so today I decided I really need to get those pumpkins cooked . I started it and realized I was really sick of tv so I turned the music on my cable to the Christmas music.

Now normally I cant stand it....I usually only listen to it when its close to the holiday. But I did this and it seems to be working. I got two pumpkins cut up and roasted and also the seeds to it. I still have 4 more to cook but Ill be working on them tomorrow. Now I have a ham in the oven for dinner.

Then my friend gave me 3 pumpkins. I thought she was just giving me one till she heard what I do with them lol. And so Ill bake them off and bag hers up so she can freeze them. I told her Ill make some pumpkin butter with one of them for her too. Shes always giving me things and helping me so its ok.

And my bf loves pumpkin seeds and he will have plenty after this week . First batch is done now. I just salted these. But I think the next batch Ill make the Vampire ones.......they have Worcestershire and garlic :)

But my bf and I are actually listening to this music as we putter around the house here. Hes singing silly words to some of the songs and whistling some...I'm just plain singing. So many of them are the oldies I grew up with.....Perry Como, Burl Ives, Jimmy Durante, Dean Martin so many classics that just never seem to go out of style. Some my dad used to sing and it reminded me of him. Of course dad always changed the words and they weren't always nice lolol .....but I loved it.

And then there's I saw Mommy Kissing Santa one......and others and if they play Gramma got run over by a Reindeer that will remind me of mom.

And then here's one of my very favorite ones.....gotta be the Eartha Kitt one tho.....its sexy. lol Then there was the classic Perry Como ,,,,Drummer Boy.....now if they would just play Nat King Cole's ....Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire.....that is my all time fav.....altho it might make me cry too . lol

So now I'm on FB playing a game (OMG) I never do that but got hooked on their Bejeweled version. I love that game. And the house smells good like ham....and the music is playing ............and I think my mood has improved some. Now if I can just hang onto it till Christmas.

Black Friday and it makes me blue...

2011-11-25T13:19:00.001-08:00

As I watch whats going on in the world I get sicker and sicker. Society is making me sick. This insanity of Black Friday has permeated our society so deep that people cannot see what greed and corporations have done to them.

I read about fights happening, someone getting shot even and even a customer pepper spraying others. And now on a conservative site I read something again that made me sick . But I didn't dare say anything because I knew they would attack me too. It was about the Occupiers going to target all the stores from now thru Dec. 26. And them yelling at the occupiers to get a job! OMG.

I read the comments about others working, because they wanted to. And that's fine if it doesn't bother them. But many are working thru those days because they have no choice. Many stores make employees work extra hrs then. While I would be grateful to have a job do I want my whole life to be a job? NO. No one does.

Holidays are meant to spend with family and friends. If we are given these holidays to enjoy then how can we if we have to work on them? Its a Catch 22 and really not fair. Now before some of you start yelling these people should be working....some of us out there in the world have been looking a very long time and NOT FINDING ANY JOBS. So you cannot assume all the people there are not looking either. And I find that those who have jobs are the most verbal about this.

I say ... BE GRATEFUL YOU HAVE A JOB, MANY DO NOT. That doesn't give anyone the right to tell others how to live or throw stones at them for what THEY assume of others.

Many years ago there was something called Blue Laws. Sunday's were sacred and no one worked on them. Funny how everyone got everything done anyway even with no access to the corp. world for ONE day. Holidays still happened and dinners were still made, families got together too. And Holidays the stores were CLOSED.

Somehow tho the corp. greed got out of hand and infiltrated minds until they think this is normal . And those out there doing this on these days yell at everyone else, thinking they are lazy, stupid or whatever. Life was NOT meant to be lived this way. IT wasn't when I was a kid and even more so when my parents were kids. In fact when I see how it is now......it reminds me of the things Ive seen back in the day of child labor and immigrants being forced to work long hrs daily, no days off for minimum pay.

Its happened again and now the greedy ones have you all under their thumbs and you don't even see it. They have you doing the dirty work for them now, attacking those who want to have a day off to be with family. They have you believing you need all this crap that you have to shop on this day for great sales. They are not great sales people. They could put those prices out anytime but they don't because they are trying to make as much money as they can.

And all you shopping lemmings have fallen for the corporate greed. I think Occupy has the right idea about targeting the stores. You don't have to agree but I think you should look at the rest of this post . Go sit down somewhere and have a good long think ........about life and what insane direction the powers that be are making you live it.

We don't need all this crap they are pushing. And if you didn't buy it....they wouldn't need to push people to live ungodly ways working crazy hrs..........just to eat and care for their family. Its slave labor once again.

A poem for the holiday.

2011-11-23T19:13:00.001-08:00

At Grandma's House

I like the taste of turkey
Any time throughout the year
But it never
seems to taste as good
As when Thanksgiving's here.

Could be it's all the trimmings
That are cooked with it to eat-
But I think it's
eating at Grandma's house
That makes it such a treat!

~Author Unknown

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE!

Andther day of mushrooming and I got booty!

2011-11-12T16:58:00.001-08:00

I think I got a couple lbs. of mushrooms today. There's Chantrelles at the back, Boletes on the right and a few coral mushroom in front.

My friend called today and asked me if I wanted to go mushrooming again. It was a stunning day, warm and clear so I said yes! This time I made sure to bring my own boots lol. And so I headed over there.

Saw this lil guy on her front porch and then saw lots more as we wandered the woods. This is the first time Ive seen any up here.....so I wonder does that mean winter will be bad?

This time her dog followed us on the trip. He loves me cuz I'm the cookie lady, I usually bring both dogs a cookie when I pick up eggs. But her other half is out of town right now so she wasn't sure why he followed us, he doesn't usually. She thought maybe cuz he knew she was alone now. But later on we figured it was cuz there were coyotes wandering around. Dukey whined at me once and growled near her but we didn't know why. Its a good thing she was packing a gun tho cuz after that we heard coyotes . Dukey kept trying to wander off and we had to call him back. He could be killed if they separated him away from us.

It was a bit scary cuz I know they travel in packs but she had the gun and wasn't afraid to use it. She goes hunting for elk and deer on her own so I know Ill be safe. I teased my bf today when I decided to go and said , I'm becoming a mountain woman lol. Sure felt like that today out there. And so I took some pics of some weird mushrooms I saw. I had the lil digital and it was hard to get good pics but you can see enough to know most of these you wouldn't eat.

Here's the dreaded red mushroom with white spots that's poison. I HAD TO get a shot of this cuz the only ones I ever saw were in fairy tales. They are real.

We saw a few of these. They are so pretty. The tops are fuzzy and look like brown velvet.

Another freaky shroon, this one yellow with spots. I just know it looks icky and Id never touch it.

Then there were some weird fungus growing on logs. This one had petals. Kind of hard to see it here . Someone told me it looked like a cow patty. I can assure it its not, it was growing out of some wood.

No clue, just thought they were pretty. There's lots out there that are but I won't touch any except those I'm being taught about.

This one is kinda cool too.....another fungus. More petals almost looks like a flower.

See how dark and mossy it is? Awesome! Lots of little streams and fallen logs with lichen and moss on them. We also wandered thru the old orchard where the trees are too old now to make fruit. But there's all kinds of trees here.

My friend picking coral mushrooms. She marked the area awhile back. I just loved the moss covered stumps and was going to take a pic of those. Then she said there's my marker and got her shroons lol.

We headed back to the house, my back was killing me. I really wanted to stay out more but couldn't. I'm really hurting tonight, but it was fun. And we saw these fresh deer tracks and you can see a coyote one near it. This was around where we heard the coyotes noises. Didn't see any but that doesn't mean they weren't watching us in the woods. We did see one pile of feathers on the way out...I thought perhaps they were seagulls because they were gray and white. I asked her if any of the chickens were missing but she didn't think so. So when we got back, she decided not to let them out. The coyotes would have gotten them for sure cuz they were close. In fact when I was heading out to my car we were there talking and Dukey and Oliver when running down the lane past the chickens. We had to call them back......we think they heard the coyotes.

Dukey was so cute tho , when he came back he leaned right on me like he was protecting me. I said your a good boy taking care of us and gave him a scratch. S asked me if i wanted some pumpkins and I said yes. I have some here but Ill bake off the pumpkins and scrape out the meat and freeze them. She liked that idea and so we went to get two more she had at the barn down the street. I'll cook them off and pack them up and she can freeze them. I have 3 Cinderella pumpkins here already that I need to cook.

And so I headed home. Finally cleaned all the mushrooms and I think I'll just dehydrate them now. This way Ill have them to use when I need them. Right now I have other stuff to do and they will rot. Don't want all that good work to go to waste. So I put them in the dehydrator and Ill let them go awhile tonight and finish them tomorrow. My bf says they are pungent but I don't even smell them. lol.

Got home tho, after stopping for milk and a few things at the store.....and I'm beat. So no dinner tonight.....we ordered pizza. I'm gonna go sit on the heating pad tonight. I am gonna be hurting badddddd tomorrow......but it was worth it.

An unexpected fun day.

2011-11-04T10:29:00.000-07:00

(King Boletes)

A local store around here moved to a bigger place and opened today so I decided since I have to grocery shop that Id start there. I wandered to the other end of town to check it out. Pretty much like the old store only a bit bigger.

And then I headed out to grocery shop and doncha know it started to pour.......sigh. Earlier the sun was out and I was enjoying it so much. Now I got wet and I'm just getting over being sick. And so I shopped and headed home. I was supposed to get eggs today from the egg lady too but she didn't call me back before I left so I called her and left a msg. When I got home, still no msg.

And so I started to put stuff away and get something to drink. Came on the puter to see whats new and the phone rang it was S. the egg lady. So I drop what I'm doing to get the eggs. She only had 3 dozen for me. I usually get 4 because she has a waiting list as it is. This way when I get low I call her. While I was there we had a nice visit. We always do that catching up on stuff and who's canning or cooking whatever.

She went out to the coops to see if there were anymore eggs and came back with enough to give me my 4 dozen. She cleaned them and packed them in the carton, then said you cant get them any fresher than this, they are still warm. I love this!! I told her hubby D. that I'm gonna tell my bf the birdies pooped out the last dozen just for him. D cracked up laughing.

I mentioned to S. if she was still going to go mushrooming. She went when I was sick so I missed it. She said tonight she was going hunting, it was her last nite to do that. And so D said he would take me. I had to borrow D's big boots and had a hard time walking in them. He was laughing at me cuz I was struggling to keep up with him in them. But I'm really outta shape too and it embarrassed me cuz I think hes older than me and wasn't even winded.

I swear from now on I'm going to take my camera with me every time I go there . I always see such neat stuff. We headed down the back lane and off to a fork in the lane. Up into the woods we went. Gosh I haven't been in deep woods like this in many yrs. I followed D wherever he went cuz I didn't want to get lost. We wandered and found different kinds of mushrooms but most were not edible. He found a Bolete tho and showed me what to look for . He found some baby ones too. I only found one but I was so happy cuz I did that one by myself. I made sure he checked it tho. Seems its the end of the season for them so some are not good anymore either. We found one big one that wasn't any good.

(underside of Bolete mushroom, spongy no gills.)

And so we kept wandering down the gravel lane and up into another area of woods. Seemed like deep dark woods and I asked D......are there lions and tigers and bears? He says....bears and I said OH MY!!! and then laughed. I did see some poop piles but thought they were from the elk tho. So here we are trompin thru the woods and he didn't bring a gun! He wandered off and I couldn't see him .........from that point on I decided to stay close. Eventually tho it started to get dark and both of us with glasses......they were getting so misty we couldn't see. We headed on back to the house.

As we got past the last gate to the lane on the way to the barn there was a cow staring at me. D was wondering how it got out. And so he told me to go up to it and I freaked......I mean its got horns and hooves. I said will it kick me? He says no......I sure hope not. I mean I wasn't afraid but I don't need to get hurt. And so I went over to the cow and it started to move away from me. Ok so I see the game now......move it in the direction of the gate. D was opening it.

Now this cow was being funny and not going to the gate, then I got it there and two more got out! And the first one followed them . So now we have 3 going in different directions and we have to get them all to the gate so D can close it. lol . It actually was kind of fun even tho the cows were not cooperating at first. They found some yummy grass outside that gate and it was hard to make them move. But they didn't know me so they would when I got near them. Finally we got them all in. I never did that before!

And so we headed up to the house. My back was screaming cuz I was struggling in the boots and lets face it I'm freakin outta shape too. Must have hiked quite a bit. So we get to the house and now I'm trying to take off the boots. Now I have big calves, I always have even when I was young and thin. And my legs must have gotten a bit sweaty with the rubber on them and so my calves wouldn't let me get them off.....they made a suction and I was stuck! Finally I was able to work them off but that's hard to do while standing. Got in the house and got my eggs and stuff and D gave me more mushrooms to take home.

(This is sort of what it looked like, only more mist and greener.)

But I do wish I had my camera with me. There was a low mist hanging over the pasture. The trees where a bit misty too and when the wind is blowing right you can here the rumble of the ocean. We did tonight standing there. But it was just so beautiful there. And as we wandered back to the house the cows followed us along the fence mooing. I did talk to them and told them I loved them and how beautiful they are. I guess they liked me lol ...

And so I left and wandered down the lane. It was dark and misty. I decided to go thru town instead of around the lake. I wasn't sure I could navigate the dark back roads with these bad eyes. As I made my way around the bend there was this person. I couldn't see who it was very well but it looked weird . Looked like a guy with a gun with a bayonet and a helmet on in his pajamas. lol Now I know I was out in the hills and alone and this person waved to me..............so I locked the door. lol

I got home showed my bf the mushrooms and told him why I was so late. Hes such a sweetie he put the lights on for me so I could find home in the dark. And then I made a quick dinner. The phone rang and it was S.......she said hey didn't you see me? I waved to you. Now I know S was going hunting but I thought out of the area. Apparently she just went up her hill. And THAT WAS HER WAVING AT ME!!

Apparently that freaky lookin person was her lol. I told her what I told my bf and we both cracked up laughing. I told her about being out in the woods and she said there's a cougar out there too. OMG . Told her I saw some piles of stuff out there and she said the small dented marbles are elk poop. I said I saw some lg. black piles tho . She said that's bear scat. OMG it was all around me! ! ! And so we had a good laugh. I still cant believe that was her walking down the road tho. She was in her camos, lol not pjs. lol

And for those lucky enough to be able to forage for mushrooms, here's a nice site with lots of recipes.

http://www.wildmushroomrecipes.org/recipes/category/boletes-leccinum-suillus
And something else I just learned when I looked up a link for recipes......Bolete is also Porcini mushrooms!! I didn't know that!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-30T22:34:00.000-07:00

It will be a quiet Halloween this yr. We don't get trick or treaters around here. Last yr. I decorated the house inside and it just seemed silly. This yr. the last week or so me and the man have been sick with the flu. Not much is getting done at all.

And so this yr there will be no decor. I have 3 Cinderella pumpkins I bought, sitting on my counter. I don't want to put them outside cuz last yr. I did and the birds pecked at the side they thought I couldn't see. And so I will just enjoy looking at them on the counter until I get a chance to roast them and puree the meat for pies and such. I'm not even sure Ill be bringing out the Thanksgiving stuff either. Ive been so busy canning this summer that the house is just a mess. And then as I was finishing up the last of the canning we came down with the flu.

I'm barely getting things done now since I have no energy....just some wash and shopping for stuff that we need. Feels sort of weird tho, no prep for any holiday. And so I promised myself no decor until I get this house clean and back to normal.....Maybe once I get some energy back Ill change my mind.......

The Occupy Movement

2011-10-16T00:10:00.000-07:00

First, let me say I know not all will agree with me, its ok. But if you come here and read this and don't agree, don't attack me for my beliefs, I don't go to your page to do that. And sadly I see a big difference of opinion on this subject now within my own group of friends. While it startled me to read it, I had to step back and realize,,,,everyone is on their own journey to the truth.

I have always known I don't belong here on earth. Always felt that way and yet I love this place. And its funny but Ive watched some who had parents die young and they lived in fear till they reached that age too. I used to say that I'm not going to die. They cant make me go. Now I know that sounds foolish but I honestly feel deep inside me, I'm NOT going. I guess life will show me otherwise.....but until then I'm planning on living , and living this life as well as I'm able at any given time.

But I'm now watching whats going on with the OccupyWallst. movement. I see some say its the liberals doing this to change the world to socialism. I see some saying the protesters are being paid. I see people saying its just a bunch of college kids who should be working instead of looking for a handout. I don't believe this is true. I know myself that the man and I are having a very hard time finding work here. I know where we live had alot to do with it but its more than that today.

Many people have lost jobs and spend sometimes a couple of yrs looking for another. These are often skilled people too. And many kids have gone to college and have huge student loans and cannot find any jobs either. Mickey Ds may pay the rent but its not enough for the loans and eating too. So many people are losing their homes and some have done absolutely nothing for that to happen. The banks have gone wild and are foreclosing on homes they don't even have the mortgages on. And more are trying to get them modified just so they have a roof. Many are hungry and on food stamps, if they are lucky enough to get them. Too many are homeless, hungry and needing. How can any of you not see that.

Yes there are many with hands out that wont work or do a thing to help themselves. I am not even talking about them. I am speaking of your everyday avg. American citizen who just has no money left anymore. And yet the banks keep raising fees even tho they get bailouts. And today I read some people were arrested by Citibank because they tried to close out their bank accounts there. When told they couldn't they turned to leave and were arrested!! Arrested for what?

And I so understand this because I myself have been fighting with my bank to close out my account now for over a month. They are doing this. I'm reading other stories of cities all over raising fees for this or that. And govt and local govts for stopping even simple things that people want to do now, like having a garden on your own property. Our foods are tainted and they are trying to control even natural medicines now. Its insane.

And this is what started all this with the Occupy movement. It is a leaderless movement which is why the banks and such are not sure what to do. There's no one to focus on because........its the people,,,,,,,,,,,all of us. .... the 99% that they are doing this to. Its a peaceful movement even when the police try to stir it up. Ive been sitting back watching things here and there and I'm amazed. I decided that since I'm not completely sure of some of the things I read that I would sit back and observe and pray. Ive asked God if this is what must happen for us to change all this then help them to make this work. And if its evil and the wrong thing to do then let it fall apart.

But its not, its growing. And I read that Oct. 15 would be World Evolution day. And it is.....I woke today to read about other countries all over the world joining us. And almost every state the last I looked had Occupy protests going too. And yet there is no leader. Who has that kind of power to make this happen? Certainly not the dark side, the 1%. There's way more of us than there is of them. And these people are not contacting the world.........but its getting out there even tho the media held it back. Its because its time.........the world needs this. Its time to shut it all down and get rid of the corruption and start again.

The Bible speaks of the Romans doing a Jubilee every 50yrs. It was also debt forgiveness for all at that time. That has to happen now and it will. You just watch. Because capitalism or not, there's simply no way to pay all the debt back, there's no way to balance the books.

And so this is growing, you just watch. I read the end of the Mayan calender is Oct. 28th. And I read there is planned a huge gathering all over the world for the day after. Change is coming whether you want it or not. Change has to happen because there's no way to fix this severely broken system. And once this crashes, there's a fix ready that's even been signed into law. But the 1% wont allow it to be known. But its beginning to be. Its called NESARA, look it up. There's a few versions out there and some say it isn't even real. But the first step starts with debt forgiveness for all and then a gift a huge gift for everyone to balance this all out. And all of this is just temporary so everyone can have their needs met and not be just surviving.

Only then can they focus on whats coming......the shift, the ascension, whatever you want to call it. Love will change the world. If you fear whats coming you will miss it. It takes love to be able to move on. Its spoken of in the Bible, and there's prophesies in many religions and cultures. How could that happen when they didn't have communications like we do now. How could that happen when they didn't even know of each other way back when? Its because its part of us, we have always known this is coming......and now those of us here .....we will see and experience it. Heaven on earth is coming.

And its ok if you don't believe me or think I'm nuts. :) I feel it in my soul. But I do ask you to do one thing, just one thing. When you see things going on in the world, just step back for a few moments and look at it like its a movie, not real. And then watch for the patterns you will see. ........the one thing it all has in common is love. Not hate, aggression, war, but love, peace, sharing.

The meek shall inherit the earth.

Doing Dishes

2011-10-13T10:22:00.000-07:00

Don't know who's child this is, I snagged it off the web but its just too darn cute! Start em young!

Ive been rereading an old book of mine called Moving On by the author who did Simple Abundance. I like her books and the form too. Like a daily digest , its a page or two of an idea. At the moment shes talking about the changes in women's lives that happened when Woman's Liberation came about and how it affected her mother and others. She spoke tho of all the kitchen things we do as wives and mothers and how important they are or were to some of us. I am one of those. Id rather be home than working because I still felt like I needed a wife when I was working. There is a lot of work to do running a decent home and doing two full time jobs was exhausting.

But I thought about my life and for some reason doing dishes popped up in my head. I really hate to do dishes and I'm very grateful for dishwashers these days. But I started to wonder when did that change.

When I was a kid, I'm the oldest, and mom worked, so I had to do the dinner dishes most nights. I washed and my baby brother when he was old enough, would dry them. Back then we didn't have a dishwasher. You had to hand wash and hand dry or at least let them dry in a rack. We never had a big kitchen and my folks liked things neat so dishes were never left to dry on their own.

I hated to wash the dishes, since I also had to make the dinner so it would be ready when my folks got home from work. I had already done a day of school and my homework. I just wanted to have fun. And so my brother and I would get silly sometimes while doing the dishes. But mostly I remember him being a pain in the ass and giving me issues with doing it lol. There are 7yrs between us so there was a lg. enough gap that it was like being his mom at times. But we would get the job done.

But I thought back to when there were holidays. Because there were no dishwashers the women would gather in the kitchen after a big family dinner to clean up. I was always amazed at what would take me and my brother so long , was finished so fast with many hands. And any girl old enough to do it was recruited too. I didn't mind those times. I had many Aunts so the kitchen was full of women. Each would grab a dish or pot or whatever as fast as it was washed and stacked on the table if they didn't know where it went. Mom would put it away later on.

But I loved the family fun then, the talking and joking, and I was included too. I was part of the coven lol. I realized this morning that I miss that. I miss so many of those family times. I moved away so young. All the aunts are gone now, but I do remember them.

And then dishwashers came into our lives. My folks are the kind that do dishes right after dinner. I'm not. I work so hard putting a meal together when there is company that I just want to enjoy that dinner with friends and family. And so I stack things in the kitchen and wont let anyone do the dishes. Some have even started rinsing things off and I stop them. Maybe I shouldn't have but for me, by then I'm very tired and the thought of doing dishes overwhelms me. Besides I go thru all that work to prepare a grand meal and have company. ...I want to enjoy it all.

And so I realized that while the times were fun, I missed out on that kitchen bonding too....the female times of bonding. I never saw it that way tho. You see once I started working in a restaurant, I realized just how hard the cook works. And so when my guests came for dinner , I did NOT want them to work. And when I go to others homes I don't want to do your dishes either lol. I want to be a guest. Oh not cuz I'm lazy but because after working in that field, everyone wants help in the kitchen when I'm there.

Now I do help with the meal if they ask but in my own house when someones asks do I want help with dishes, I say no. I say that because I want them to enjoy it all...to be MY guest. And so I want the same for me. When you cook for a living you never seem to get to be the guest. Heck when you cook for a living many don't even want to invite you over to eat cuz they feel intimidated. They don't think what they make could make me happy and I really hate that. I was a mother and home cook long before I became a chef. And I'm still a home cook looking for short cuts and using fast food ingredients when I can. I'm not so special but they think so. So they don't think their food measures up to mine......but I have to tell you I have asked for recipes many times for things they make that are awesome. So don't let anyone intimidate you in the kitchen.

And so the art of washing dishes seems to have gone away. Even here in the new house when I have had company and many hands to do the dishes , I still say no. To me if someone else does my dishes, I still spend so much time telling them where things go that I could do them faster myself. But I have to wonder if maybe I'm really missing out on bonding time by doing that.

These days cuz my SIL has a houseful of kids, we have been doing the big holidays at her house. They have a carriage house/garage that is perfect for everyone to sit down and eat together. And so everyone helps bring stuff out to the tables and brings it back into the kitchen when we are done. And all the kids do the dishes. I'm getting old now and I really like that. I get to be a guest even tho I'm still cooking and bringing things and helping in the kitchen.

I waited my whole life to be one of the aunts who gets to sit and enjoy.....but I have mixed feelings about the dishes still. I miss the women yakking and bonding part but I still hate to do dishes. Guess it was the end of an era and I was just lucky to be a part of it.

Blackberry Season?

2011-09-30T12:35:00.000-07:00

The weather is weird today. The sun is in and out, the clouds get dark and it looks like rain but doesn't. My bf went on a job interview (crossing fingers here) so while hes out of the house I decided to check on the berry situation here.

The egg lady had tons and I'm glad I got to pick with her. I still intend to ask her if there's any left but have been so busy with canning right now. But what you see in the basket up there is what I picked today by my house...about 2c. And it looks real bad out there. Most are dried up. They were like that in the summer with the heat we got here but I saw many unripe ones I hoped would make it. Gonna be a tough yr. near me for berries ........but the spiders are happy. EWWWWWWW they are everywhere and I'm glad I bring tongs with me when I pick.

I decided to bring them with me after last yr cuz I'm short and always the great stuff is up high. I figured long tongs would enable me to pull the branches down to get them. This yr I don't need too..........but it has helped me move webs and stuff , its creepy. My bf pressure washed the house in the back yesterday too cuz they are all over the place. Ive never seen it like this. Every time he wants to go smoke on the back porch hes doing Karate moves trying to fight off webs. Yesterday when picking tomatoes I had to do the same and there were some big ones out there. In fact my bf said he sat down last nite to smoke and noticed something by his foot.......and this one even made him jump. Might have been a wolf one. He took the porch broom to shove it off the porch.

I'm wondering if its going to be a hard winter since there's so many around....but then I didn't see that last yr and this winter was long and hard.

All I know is I WANT MORE BERRIES. :)

Changing Perspectives....

2011-09-28T11:27:00.000-07:00

Me and my children on a day trip with a friend. I was about 22 yrs. old here and thought I was fat and ugly. Oh if only I could be that again lol

Yesterday was my baby boys 39th birthday. ( I cant possibly have a child that age, I'm just NOT that old, lol.) Anyway, I don't have much money right now and I cant make him the traditional bd gift that I used to do, which was homemade roast beef with mashed potatoes and gravy. A side of broccoli with cheese. Cant ship that for sure. And so I remembered a thing I did for my grand daughters 18th bd and I made a picture album of her life on FB. So yesterday I decided to do the same for my son.

I went thru all my photo boxes pulling out photos I liked or thought he would. Sadly my printer/scanner I think is dying and it took me well over an hr to scan these photos. I even ended up pulling some out and doing less. In the end there were 27 in the album which I thought was wild since his bd is on the 27th too. Anyway, I was in some of these photos and I saw many in the boxes of course of me. But something about my perspective has changed and its weird.

All thru my marriage my ex was verbally abusive. He wanted a skinny wife and said nasty things about my weight all the time. Now mind you after I had my daughter I weighed only 116lbs. And when I had my son, he made me get on the scale in the hospital to see how much I gained. I was 135 then. sigh......sure wish I was either one of those now. But he made me always feel fat and ugly. What a terrible thing to do to someone and I was so young and gullible too.

I'm not thin now and I wish I was thinner. But working out doesn't do much for me and diets don't either. Only thing ever worked was low carb and weight lifting. I'm a short person but have always had a lg. frame. My ex would laugh at me when I said that tho. But there's a way to measure for that and I had that done. So I KNOW I have a lg. frame, big shoulders, big hips, lg. calves even when thin. But HE just refused to hear that. In HIS mind I was fat , fat ,fat all the time.

It wasn't till we were watching tv one day and a girl in a bikini came on the screen. She was anorexic looking , ribs and hipbones protruding. It was ugly. But HE thought she was beautiful! I was stunned, then sickened and then I realized all this time, it wasn't me that was the problem, it was him and what he sees. But this affected me for all the 30+ yrs I was with him.

And then I left and had to find out who I was. And I was much heavier and felt ugly. But I put myself out there to date and found out other men didn't think that. They loved me, thought I was gorgeous. I had lots of dates. And slowly my confidence came back. I started to like who I was again but it took me awhile to find out who that was.

And then this man who said those things to me my whole life, showed up at my grand child's HS graduation.....fat! In fact when he walked in at first I wasn't sure who it was. He is obese now. I laughed at the absurdity of it and my first thought was.....omg hes the Staypuff marshmallow man now. Karma and all that.......

Now Ive put on more weight and I don't like it but my guy now , loves the real me. And while he may not like that, he does love me and that's a good thing. But my own perspective after looking at those photos again has changed too. I see the photos and I know its me.... and yet its not. I look at that woman and I now see how pretty she really was. I had legs! And even heavier, I was pretty. I was always dressed nice and wore makeup. I was not a slob. And yet he never saw that.

And now me seeing ME from the ME who I am now....amazes me. Those same pictures used to bug me. I felt ugly in them, saw ugly and fat. I saw with HIS eyes, not my own. And now its weird , like I'm detached from that life and yet its mine. That's me in those photos. The real me I never saw all those yrs. How sad so much time was wasted thinking and feeling I was NOT enough. How sad how some people treat others, it has to stop.

We are all Children of God, we are all beautiful, no matter what our size or shape.

We are miracles....

And a review!

2011-09-19T11:09:00.000-07:00

I had a recipe published in the last issue Aug./Sept. issue of Country Living magazine. I sent them one of mine and they love it. It was quite a surprise.

And so now that the next issue is out, I can post the article copy they sent me. But in the October issue, someone sent a review of my recipe and I was so stunned to see it. Im glad at least one person tried it and love it.

"The recipe for peach-almond galette sounded so delicious that I had to bake it for my monthly girlfriend-get-together. Trust me, it was a hit!" ~Lori, Palm Coast, Fla.

Lori may never see this but in case she does I want to say.... Thanks for the great review, Im glad you loved it. :)

Yesterday was a busy day....and today will be too.

2011-09-14T11:50:00.000-07:00

When I was a little girl Id spend summer with my gramma. Gramma would take me grocery shopping with her. Now gramma was always looking for good deals so she often shopped the marked down shelves. Some of that stuff looked pretty creepy to me. But she made do and bought what she could use. This brings me to today.

My friend told me shes getting stuff from the Grocery Outlet for her chickens. But they are giving her some pretty good stuff. Its way more than she can use tho. So she wanted to know if when she got the stuff would I want to come get some. I said yes but really didn't know if I would take it or not. So today she went and called me to come get stuff.

When I got there she had her pickup truck backed up to where the chickens were. I guess whatever she didn't want, she would feed them with. There were several boxes. Most looked pretty tired but was still usable. So we sorted thru what we could use and tossed the rest in the box for the chickens. There was a big box of cantaloupes but they were really not worth it , same with a bag of potatoes.

The my friend was tossing stuff into the chickens pen. One time she tossed a coconut and OMG it hit one of the girls. We thought at first she was hurt bad.....she walked funny and hardly at all and her wings were out and weird looking. My friend ran to see if shes ok saying omg Ill never do that again. By the time she got to her she was walking fine and on the other side of the pen so she must have just got knocked silly for a moment.

But they tossed more stuff in and lots of corn too. Omg the girls were having a party. I wished I had my camera with me then cuz it was so funny. They were so excited and running around tasting things. Before I left she let them out to run around a bit and she said boy were they full, they ate alot. It was fun to see tho since I never grew up around that kind of thing.

But I got several bunches of asparagus that were a little worn but still usable. We got tons of small oranges and lots of lemons and limes. I got several bunches of cilantro, some nice tomatoes, some zucchini, a few jalapeños too. Also got one jicama, that's all I took since I don't eat it much. And we got one usable coconut that has no milk but tastes good. So tomorrow I'm going to grate it and put it in the dehydrator.

While I was there we started doing the produce. I had all I wanted in my car. But there were tons of limes and she didn't want them all. So while I juiced all the lemons and limes, she cleaned the yellow squash, zucchini and her asparagus.

I got one quart of lime juice which I'm going to freeze in ice cube trays to use for cooking. Ill do the same with my lemons here tomorrow. I did her lemons and limes too. I told her how to snap the asparagus stems so she could blanch them. She cleaned the squash and froze that too. It was a nice afternoon tho of yakking and learning. And for helping her I got spoiled.....she gave me a big bag of frozen razor clams to make chowder with. I cant wait for the cold weather, those are great clams to use.

And so now I decided to cut up and save what I could of the asparagus. There was quite a bit so I decided since they were free, I'd pickle them. And so I searched online for ideas and ended up with my own recipe. They are in the canner right now. Ill let them mellow for a few weeks then try them. If they are good I'll post the recipe.

I'm washing the cilantro right now. I'm going to save what I can and run it in the food processor with some olive oil, then freeze it in small freezer containers. This way I can just scoop some out when I'm making my Mexican stuff.

Tomorrow Ill worry about the rest. Ill juice the rest and freeze it. Ill zest the small oranges too. My hands are pruney today so I don't want to put them in the water anymore. We are supposed to get more on Thurs. This might get to be quite a treasure hunt every week lol.

And so while I normally wouldn't do this sort of thing, money is getting tight and free is good. Now I think I understand why gramma did this.

Farmers Market day

2011-08-10T20:31:00.000-07:00

Up there in the picture is Sundays haul. A big jug 3lbs . of local honey. I need more since Im going to be starting to do more canning. I like to use honey when I am able to in some recipes. And then theres 3 pts. of apricots that I want to make into some jam. Two big loaves of bread, one white, one wheat from my favorite bread lady and some string beans and baby carrots. that bouquet is hugeeeee and it was only $10. Its nice to see the flower people back again. Its an old oriental couple that sells premade bouquets or will make one of your choosing from the many buckets of flowers around their space. This one tho caught my eye.

These are the flowers from the Farmers Market . I put them in a blue and white Chinese pot and put them on my kitchen counter. When I looked up, I saw that painting there that I have on top of my cabinets. I bought that long ago for my dining room in my old house. I once saw a model home who's living room was blue and white with pops of color and fell madly in love with it. So when I saw that painting, I had to have it. And now look at both of them. Seems I like this color combo huh? The flowers almost match the painting lol.

Another controversial blog....must be in the air lol

2011-08-07T09:33:00.000-07:00

I posted the above video to another page of mine and found the very religious coming to my pages and they didn't like it. Now I will say they were nice folks, not like some we see and they are people I do like. So this really isn't about them but what I see going on in the world.

I do believe what this priest is saying. I was raised Catholic and as a child I just didn't believe most of this stuff either. Nothing much has changed over the yrs even tho I HAD to do some things just in case....like getting my kids baptized, etc. And I want to say I love my Bible and I believe in God but I also believe the Bible is stories influenced by the times. Yes there is a lot in there inspired by God too. But over the yrs. its been watered down and bastardized by man so you really need to read closely. My own pastor many yrs ago said get a Strong's Concordance because it breaks it all down to the root languages it was written in. He showed many examples of how its changed over time and I saw that he was right. I miss him still, he was a great Godly man who felt the only way to truly know God was to seek the truth, not just take the bible and mans words for it all.

And so this blog is really about truth. My truth. And everyone elses truth that may be true to them. And its ok. But I found today on my posting that of course the really religious didn't like what I posted. It goes against THEIR beliefs. Now see.......I see this as ok. When I read things elsewhere and I don't like what they say, generally I wont say anything. Why stir it up? And truly it has nothing to do with any religion, even atheists do this. But it has everything to do with truth.......Your Own Truth.

And I do believe we need to love everyone more. But I don't like the phony love some speak of with any of these groups. They sound like stoned hippies. You know what I mean. They say the words but there's no substance behind it, they are mindless. And that too is another truth that is coming to us all. ........love, really loving others, not just going along with a religious or other kind of agenda.

But this priest does speak truth....since early days priests and priestesses were set up to control the masses. They still do today. And many are starting to see behind their masks whats really going on. But we are all part of God so we do not really need them. We have the God spark inside every one of us. And that's what we need to access to truly love, not a church or a group. But those places want to keep your mind so busy and indoctrinate it so well that you wont look inside to find the truth.

And that's what you need to do , to truly live a good life. We have all had those moments that we felt in our gut or our heart that told us what we need to do. But then we second guessed it and didn't do that. And later on we found out our first gut feeling was right. That IS GOD speaking to you. Directly. No priest, no group. Cuz its not needed. That's because we are spiritual beings having a human experience. You are not that body. Imagine a puppeteer if you will. His hand is inside the puppet and he makes it speak and think and move. That puppeteer is really who we are. We are not the puppet (the body, the human). That is why they tell you to be still and in the moment. That is why prayer or meditation helps.

It makes you be still in that moment and not think or move or act. It makes your God spark take over. And when you don't know what to do for a problem, to be still and feel that God spark, its what gives you the answers. And if you noticed those are always right. Its because we know what to do if we listen to it but we are swayed by the human experience and teachings here......including the religions. And those experiences are all planned to keep you from your God spark so you cant be in control. If they keep you in fear, they control you. You will give them what they want because you fear losing money, family and even your life. Its worked for thousands of yrs.

And this is what the new world will be about. This is the changes, the shift that is coming now. The old control groups are falling apart, even this priest knows it. And its going to be ugly for awhile which is why they say no matter what feel love and stay in that feeling. Do not give into the fear. Even if you lose everything as Job did, do not give up on God. Because he is the only constant.........all the rest of this is illusion.

(And yes I love God and my Bible, but I look beyond it at the whole. We are all part of the whole, the One, God.)

And now I just deleted that post because its starting to draw in those who preach. I dont need preaching at. I only ask that if you dont believe it, thats fine but dont try to convince everyone else thats the only way.I just ask that you have an open mind because no ONE, religion is right. Its all part of the whole.

Who thought cleaning a stove could be so easy?

2011-07-24T14:36:00.000-07:00

This really works. I recently read that putting your burners and such from your stove in a bag with a bit of ammonia overnight would get them clean without scrubbing. I know I tried this yrs ago and somehow it didn't work for me. I must have done something wrong I guess.

And so I tried it yesterday. I put that one burner in a zip lock bag with a tb or so of ammonia and sealed it. They said you don't need much cuz the fumes are what do the work. I put it outside on the porch just in case it leaked. That stuff stinks. I just remembered it tho and went out to see what happened.

When I looked at the bag, the burner looked the same. When I brought it to the sink tho and opened it......I dumped it out and tried to scrub it. OMG it didn't need to be scrubbed tho. The stuff just flaked off ez. There were one or two spots that were stubborn that I scratched at with a knife and they flaked off too! Look at the difference there between two, one clean, one not. I will be doing this from now on. I hate scrubbing. This is amazing.

UPDATE:

I love this stuff! I had to redo one seriously icky burner but this time stuff was flaking off with just the water spray. Some things do stick and need a bit of steel wool. My burner pans were seriously bad. So bad I took to covering them with foil.

I have double burners so I do one at a time so I can still cook. So the one I cleaned today was the one I use the most. Seriously stuck on stuff that even steel wool wouldn't get off.......until I did it this way. The burner pan looks like new and I will never have to let it build up like this again. Its just so ez to clean, Im amazed.

Strange Times......

2011-07-17T10:38:00.000-07:00

I called the cable co. to get my cable fixed. I noticed one day we finally got ON DEMAND. Now I have no idea when that happened, could have been months ago, I just know we didn't have it when I moved here. So I called them. They tried to fix it over the phone from there end but couldn't. So they sent a guy out.

The guy was here Fri. at 5pm., just like they said. I was shocked he was on time. But he was here for 2 1/2 hrs. trying find out why I cant get it. Nothing he did worked, even with him calling for help from the company. He said I guess you cant get it. I said that's not good enough, I'm paying for it so unless they are gonna discount me somehow, I better be getting it. I set up a 2yr. plan with them and its not right. And so he worked and worked , replacing everything.

He even set the one up in my bedroom. I thought my bf had months ago, and found out he didn't. He said he did grrrrrrr. It only gets basic cable in there and I rarely watch it in that room so I never noticed. But this poor guy I found out has only been doing it 2months so he was pretty much rebuilding my entire system. Now my stuff wasn't that old. When I moved in the house had been empty awhile. Turns out rats chewed thru the old lines so that guy had to rebuild my whole system too. But this time after all that work, it wasn't rats that kept me from ON DEMAND. I think it was my bf. because after the guy re-hooked up everything including the VCR we have there, it finally worked. Seems the man hooked it up backwards!! I told him next time I need something hooked up I guess I have to get an expert lol.

----------------------------------------------------

We are not having nice weather...........again. Ive been looking forward to a great garden for so long. Last yr got started too late. And this yr......well I plant seeds and they drown. I plant plants and the slugs eat them. I get a few great days of sunshine and its back to gray again. And its July and isn't this supposed to be summer? I have two small green tomatoes. Now that's a big improvement from last yr. But I'm reading local blogs and folks are saying that's all they are getting. sigh. I am getting lettuce, we are enjoying a few salads. My radishes which are supposed to be the easiest thing to grow.......are puny roots and I get a few weenie ones now and then. I have peas growing and I'm not sure when to pick them. But I know its really not enough to do anything with. And I have one small head of broccoli. And I don't think its supposed to be doing that yet, except its a cool weather crop and its been that kind of weather.....sigh. Oh and I have raspberries but they aren't red yet but I did pick one strawberry. I promptly ate it before a slug could. :)

_________________________________________

Have you ever loved someone and then they broke your heart? Have you ever loved someone who was so beautiful you wondered why they were with you? Have you even loved someone you couldn't even breathe around? And did they dump you? That happened to me. And while I don't hate him I do wonder how he is doing now and then. And no, Id never take him back. I couldn't take someone back that could do that to me and hurt me so much. But this person....well in all ways was gorgeous, and a Greek god looking kind of guy. And so I thanked my lucky stars for at least a few months of someone like this. But he simply had too many problems to stay with me and I guess he just couldn't cope. So ok.

And then one day you stumble across Greek gods brother online. And you are surprised so you decide to see if Greek god is connected to him ...and he is...and your curiosity gets the best of you and you go to his page.

And there stares back at you a shell of a man..not the Greek god anymore. His hair is a the same but a mess, and he has dull glazed look in his eyes. He looks like he may have put on weight and he has a scruffy, haven't shaved in few days beard. And you look at that and think , no I must have the wrong page and you leave. And you check it all out and it brings you back to that same sad page. And you realize that the beautiful man, the Greek god you knew, fell apart and it breaks your heart. And sadly a part of me will always love him and it hurts my heart to see him like that. I feel sad for him and wish I could help. But I know I cant. Whatever rabbit hole he fell down in, he has to dig his way back out, but its painful to see.

And then I remember the pain he put me thru and how my heart broke and then shut down and I look back at the page and think.........karma?

And then I think of the man who broke the ice around my frozen heart caused by that man and I smile.

How to have a lovely day....

2011-07-15T09:41:00.000-07:00

I saw this on a friends blog : http://storybookwoods.typepad.com/storybook_woods/2011/07/how-to-have-a-lovely-day.html

I thought it was a great idea. What 10 things do you think would make a lovely day?

How to have a lovely Day
in ten easy steps

1. Before you even get out of bed, plan on being happy, it is a choice you know.

2. Ask God for a little Grace to get through your day.

3. Kiss your honey Good Morning every day.

4. Go outside at least once and enjoy some nature.

5. Don't turn on the TV.

6. Don't believe everything you hear.

7. Smile at everyone, it might be the only nice thing THEY get to see that day.

8. Help someone if they need it.

9. Spritz some perfume on everyday even if your not going anywhere.

10. When a problem happens that you cant handle, give it to God.

July 4th evening...........

2011-07-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

The fireworks in my town were at this beach. We went with family, brought the comfy camp chairs and blankets and settled in to watch. This time I brought my good camera to play with. I got a few good shots. But mostly it was a beautiful evening, cool but not freezing cold but enough to wear a good jacket and have that blanket. Some made fires on the beach.

This is part of our town looking to the right of that top pic. There were fireworks going off here too . Its all open here. You see water but then theres a strip of land far off in the distance. Its what creates the bay here. That is where the fire works were shot from. This part of town is right across from it.

So this is the scene on the beach waiting for fireworks at sunset.

And so it begins.............

And so I thought Id just post a couple of the best shot I got since I know you all have seen fireworks before.

Of course I took about one hundred shots and dumped most of them. But these were the very best and this one is my favorite. Its the finale. I love the red reflection on the water.

Happy 4th of July and a few pictures...

2011-07-02T15:40:00.000-07:00

I want to wish all great patriotic Americans a Happy 4th of July. I hope you have a great weekend of fun, family and celebrating. For those who don't get it.........that's the REAL AMERICA. I love my country, I don't love alot that's going on tho because its getting so far from what is good. But this is America and people STILL want to come here to have a better life. That should say it all. And so I thought Id post a few of my decorations. I didn't put out much this yr cuz we will be here. Everyone else we know will be away.
This is the wreath on my front door.

And this is at my front door too. I just love red, white and blue this time of yr. It just screams summer.

And this is my back deck where I spend most of my time outside. Its peaceful and comfy so I decorate it for me to see. I found that star pillow at a thrift shop in CA. a couple yrs ago. It had no price and they didn't want to sell it to me. I begged them to find a price, I had to have it......and so it cost me $1.99 but every yr. I smile when I put it out with my flag pillow.

Just part of my back deck garden. I always put the flag there cuz I can leave out. The porch is enclosed.

An one last thing I bought after the season last year. I may just leave this up all yr.

One of my recipes will be published.

2011-06-22T10:19:00.000-07:00

I haven't been online much due to a dead computer that's in the shop. So I'm having to borrow one when I can. But I wanted to post this so those that are interested would know whats coming up. A while back, I was on Facebook. I am connected to Country Living magazine on there. They asked for recipes for summer tarts or galettes. I figured many would do that and at first I wasn't going to send them anything. Then I thought what the heck, why not? So I sent them a link to one of my recipes. A few days later I got an email saying they loved it!!

I was so excited I started to cry. lol How silly I know but who would think they would be interested in lil ol me? And so began a back and forth emailing with photos of me and questions to answer so they could do their article. And so what you see up there is the cover of the issue Ill be in. Its the July/August issue. Not sure its out yet, they just posted their cover. But if your interested that's the one to look for. I am the readers recipe near the back.

So I guess I used up my 15min. of fame, huh? hehehe

*I just received my copy and theres a mistake. The front says its on page 121. Its actually on page 126. :)

A garden type of blog...

2011-05-31T12:33:00.000-07:00

I was going to post this yesterday, so its a day late. I wanted pictures from my garden but forgot to take them. So this is here now.

It started out dreary today. I wasn't happy but hey.....this is Oregon. And now the sun is out. Its warm and gorgeous........so I'm glad the weather men are not always right. They said it was going to rain all week. But today.......well I just might work in the garden.

I saw on a blog page, some homemade chive blossom vinegar. Awesome!! I forgot I could do that and mine are starting to blossom. Not many but a few and hopefully more as the warm weather comes. So I went outside to cut them and a few sprigs of chive too. Came in and put them in some vinegar in a canning jar. I put it on my window sill. Its supposed to turn a pretty pink, but I don't have alot of blossoms yet so we will see. If I don't get more, I can always use it in marinades for summer grilling.

Meanwhile I wandered around my garden. I gave my bf a honey do thing to make me some slug huts. They are eating my garden up. Ive already lost two zucchini plants and some lettuce. I see them eating my Brussels sprouts and artichokes. And he has already been doing slug duty, flinging them into the woods. lol I told him they will just crawl back up here we need to kill them. And so I bought some slug pellets. I found out from my garden friend at the farmers market that if you build little covered areas you wont have to replace it daily cuz of the rain. So I put him in charge of using some of our recycled containers to make lil huts with poison in them. Hopefully that will work or we wont have anything left.

But its nice to see my radishes coming up. And now my spinach, beets, carrots and string beans are beginning to pop up too. I still have many things to plant and more seeds too. Its just been so tempting when its nice out to just veg out in the sun.

Today I had to pick up eggs from the egg lady. I decided to pick some of my herbs to share with her. She told me if I get any extra veggies she will trade for them. But today she wasn't going to be around so I had to get them from her Home health aid that cares for her mom. I pkged up some spearmint and choc. mint tho for teas. And then some chives, thyme, lemon thyme and sage. Sadly I found the sage on my counter when I got home so I guess it fell out lol. Ill bring it later.

But on the way home I saw a peacock on the side of the road just walking along. I stopped and opened my window. And Peacock did too. I started to talk to him, telling him how beautiful he was and I could tell he was listening. He kept cocking his head back and forth. I asked him to shake open those feathers so I could see just how pretty he is, but he didn't. But you could see he was listening to me and even came closer to my car. Finally I said, well I have to go, I hoped to see your feathers but I guess not. And so as I slowly started to roll away he went back to the side of the road. But it was funny, as I slowly sped up, he did too like he was trying to stay with me. Finally I was going faster and he couldn't do it anymore. But it was funny cuz his head and neck were bobbing up and down as fast as he could and his lil feet were almost running.

I had a feeling I should take my camera with me today. But I make this trip so often that I couldn't think of what Id want to take a photo of. But I think I'm going to start paying attention to that urge. Today I could have gotten some shots of the peacock.

I don't know what it is with birds and me. I don't really like them very much but they seem to like me. I have my blue jays and crows here that I feed. I had the hummer that tried to land on me last yr. The egg lady's chickens now come to me when I'm outside there and now this peacock. I have to wonder just what the symbolism is since they all seem to like me. What are they trying to tell me?

Just BE ...a poem of sorts lol

2011-05-28T13:29:00.000-07:00

The sun is out.
I go to sit in my rocker on the deck.
I sink down into its cushions to relax.
I feel the sun beating down on my body.
Its been a long winter,
I haven't felt this in ages.

I close my eyes and rest.
I hear the ducks on the lake,
the crows cawing
and the birds singing in the trees.
Its been a long winter,
I haven't heard this in ages.

I open my eyes and see
everything is finally turning green,
big puffy clouds hanging over the mountains
and a stunning azure sky above.
Its been a long winter,
I haven't seen this in ages.

I feel the heat soaking
into my old bones and skin.
It warms it while a cool breeze
blows over me.
Its been a long winter,
I haven't felt this in ages.

The dog pads around on the deck
finds a spot to settle in
and soaks up the sun.
For a moment its peaceful.
In that moment
I hear in the distance
the rolling thunder of my ocean.
And I realize that
I haven't really seen it in months.
Its been a long, long winter.

(And then the peace was shattered
The dog barfed!
In 3 places, sigh
So I had to get up to clean it.

And so I got my watering can
filled it up
and drowned the barf thru the decking
off the porch.

Figured since its gonna be warm
a few days,
Id water the deck garden too
End of my peace.....)

SIGH lol

seanymph2011

I guess I'm a farm girl at heart

2011-05-08T10:55:00.000-07:00

I dreamt of this but got a patch on the edge of suburbia. lol

I was sitting here on the computer, when I suddenly noticed the sun had come out. It was raining all morning. And so I opened my blinds overlooking the mtns and it was so beautiful. So here I am in my jammies and I decided to go outside on my back deck to soak up some sun. The Mormons were gathering at the church at the bottom of the hill. Rain was dripping from the trees in the woods and the birds were all singing, not just chirping,,,,,,,,,but singing. I closed my eyes to take it all in.....smells of rain and dirt, sound of the birds and the feel of sun on my face. I love it here.

And then coming back inside, reading here and there I'm seeing more women speak of being farm girls. I guess I am one too at heart. I don't think you actually have to have a farm to be one, I think its a mindset. There are women who have huge farms and work hard and love it. And there are suburban women who have a yard and garden and can what comes from it. And even some city women grow a few things or can or at least try to buy good organic or local stuff.

Now not all women are meant for that, just like all men are not meant to work all the time either. In some ways these days the gender expectations are blurring and its ok as long as someone is tending the children and home. But so many are working to survive both men and women and I think we are suffering because of that. I don't think life is meant to be lived this way, so hectic so .......being ON all the time. Even God rested.

And so I think burn out is occurring all over with men and women. And life is going to have to change once again. I always said Women's Liberation ruined my life. They made it so if your not outside of the home working, you were defective some how. Ive worked outside my home.....and burnt out over and over trying to do it all. Ive often said I need a wife too. And I think many men just don't get it. They have wives who do the rest for them. They get to go to work and come home and not worry about anything unless they have to. And its not fair.

Now I know there are more and more men understanding this because of moms who did work at a job and at home. We have to thank those moms for training their boys to help do their share. So many men today are more enlightened. But not enough. And so I think this back to the farm feeling women are having is for a good reason, we are tired and burnt out trying to have it all and do it all. The truth is you cannot have it all........at least not all at the same time lol

And so I think more and more women are becoming farm girls and realizing while doing that is hard work too.....its still a simpler life. People are on overload and nature helps to calm. Ive been feeling out of sorts lately and going outside today in that sunshine, made me feel a bit better. And Ive been working on my garden now that the weather is nicer too.

Just yesterday in between storms, I went out to do more on my raised beds. One of those times my bf came outside and watched me while he smoked. I think hes very surprised by all this,,,seeing a part of me hes never known. And so I told him this is actually normal for me. While I didn't grow up with parents who gardened, my grandparents did. I recall helping them in the summers when I stayed there and loving every minute of that. And so when I married I had a garden too.

My FIL used to have a big one so my ex grew up with that too. In our first house there was an empty lot next door. The city owned it but it was too small to build a house on it. So we plowed up half of it , fenced it in and grew a garden. We used to call it the North 40, lol. I told my bf , I had 40 tomato plants and 30 pepper plants, lots of string beans, carrots, beets, lettuce and onions and herbs. I spent most of the summer canning. He seemed surprised.

I told him I didn't grow much in CA. I did a yr or two and thought the kids would come pick things. After all it was just me then. But they didn't and it was alot of work for just me. And I tried 2-3 times when he was living with me too. But it got way too hot too soon and I could never get the plants in. He watched them wither and die even when he tried to keep them alive. So I guess he thought I was kidding or something when we moved here.

And then I had these raised beds put in here but they were put in late. So we didn't get much and again I think he thought, I wasted my time and money. But last yr I did buy alot of fruits and things for canning. And he watched me doing that alot in my kitchen, rather surprised. Again I told him I used to do it all the time. And so I think this yr.....will be a good year for my garden. This farm girl is home again. I might live in suburbia on the edge of farms but I don't have to have a farm to be a farmer.......I just have to have the love of it.

He got fired for creating this!

2011-05-03T09:16:00.000-07:00

This man was a teacher who got fired for this song. Yes its country but it says it all about whats going to happen here. I love it. Pass it on. http://www.onenewsnow.com/Culture/Default.aspx?id=1129482

What a glorious day today is....

2011-05-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

View of Farmers Market from the parking lot.

Today is May 1st and today it finally looks and feels like spring!! The sun is out, its warmed up enough to barely need a jacket and its clear blue skies with some puffy white clouds.....perfection!

Today is the first day of the Farmers Market too. While they only did it today, every week after is supposed to be Sat. and Sun. with the crafts on Sat and the food on Sun. Lets hope it works out that way. Today was a full market but breaking it down, I'm not sure it will look the same. But honestly I'm glad to see them try it. I am really not interested in the crafts but tourists might be. With summer coming, I like the idea of tourists on Sat. and my shopping almost tourist free on Sunday lol.

Its not as big as it looks.....two sides as far as where you see, that's the end and I'm at the beginning.

As I drove around today I thought about when I was married and we would travel to the shore in NJ. and up and down the east coast for his business. We hit many beach areas. And the one thing I always loved was the small town beach atmosphere. There's just something different about the air in places like that. Its quiet in the winters and busy in the summers. But its not like living in big city areas where its like that all yr. round. I think perhaps that's what draws me to them. Its like that biblical thing.....There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven.

Vendors on the other side. Good thing its sunny tho, that grass gets soggy otherwise.

And I just adore living here, even with all the rotten rainy weather we have been having. It just feels right. After all where else can you drive to the grocery store, turn down the road to the driveway to it and see the ocean? And then I get out of my car and I hear the gulls calling. (Yes I know people call them rats with wings lol but I love to hear their calls). The sound of them just stirs something in me, just like seeing the ocean does. Perhaps I am a mermaid after all? lol

Craft vendors.

And so today I got a late start to the Farmers Market, my mom called just as I was leaving. So when I got there I wasn't sure what I would find. But I was pleased to see many tents, not like last yr with just a few. There were not alot of food vendors but what was there was really good and I hope as the season progresses there will be many more.

This is the garden vendor I bought alot from last yr. They have a farm just north of me about 20min. away or so. I drove up to the farm after the season was closed cuz they still sold things there till Thanksgiving. This is the lady I got the pea seedlings from too last yr. Their stuff is some of the nicest produce around. They have a website now and I'm disappointed because they did a CSA and I didn't know it and now its full. But with all I'm planning on doing with my own gardens I may not need it anyway. Today I bought some lettuce from her and two pkgs. of lettuce plants. I'm dying for those baby carrots and beets I got from her last yr but its too early.

And this is my bakery lady! Oh she was so happy to see me, her face lit up when she realized it was me. When I met her month ago in a store she said she hoped I would see her again in May when this opened. So I got a big smile and a hug. gosh Ive missed her. She is so sweet I could just pinch her cheeks every time I see her. As you can see it was about 12:30 and shes almost empty. Thank God I got a big loaf of the wheat bread and a small loaf of the white and two cinnamon rolls. After that she sold out of the rest of the bread lol.

And I had such a nice chat with this lady. She has herbs and goat milk soaps. In front there are herbal jellies and vinegars. I HAD TO buy one of those vinegars........they are Balsamic with fruit flavors and she had one with...........omg marionberry in it!! I am madly in love with marionberries since I moved here.

But talking to her I found out in about 2 mon. Ill be able to get some goats milk. Shes only able to sell it for pet consumption. But we talked and I'm gonna get some to make some cheese from this yr. I can pasteurize it myself. Ive got a cheese making book here and I just needed some milk. And hey if it doesnt work, then it will be for my pet after all. lol.

My bf said we need a goat for the back yard to be mowed. Seems shes thinning her herd. We talked about that too but I know my bf would take care of it but I also know its more than he wants to deal with. He loves the romantic idea of it but the reality isn't what he would care for. Still, its nice to know if we ever wanted to, we could do it. Shes also got a name for a butcher who will do that for farm animals or deer or whatever that is reasonable. And so I'm going to get that name too ..........just in case I get lucky at some point to get venison. Heck the egg lady invited me to go hunting with her for elk this yr. I'm not in physical shape for that right now but I am tempted.

And speaking of meat, these people will be there every week now. Look at that sign..local, fresh, humane, pasture raised! While they are a bit pricey I will be buying some meats from them. This week I got almost 5 lbs. of chicken necks to make stock with at @$1 lb. She asked me if I used chicken feet and I said Ive never had access to them. Seems one of their customers buys lots of chickens but doesn't want the necks and feet and so shes selling them cheap, here. She said the feet give great body and taste to stocks. So when she gets some in I'm gonna get me some chickie feets! hehehe In about a month they will have beef too. I am so happy, Ive wanted to find a local meat person. They also sell beeswax items and I just love beeswax candles so I bought a big chunky one.

And finally the honey people were there again this yr. I bought a big jar this time and found out while he didn't have any with him this time, he carries 3lb. and 6lb. jars too. Meanwhile I was taste testing someone came up to him to ask if he sold buckets of honey. OMG Buckets? I want one! I do canning and would love to use more of that. So its a bit too early for that but he will be having some at some point. I am considering getting one. After all it may crystallize but honey NEVER goes bad.

And so I'm thrilled with what I bought today and happy to see good folks with good products there. Usually more and more come as the summer goes on. I cant wait to see it. After this I ran to the grocery store that carried the yogurt I like. Then I ran to my bf's brothers house cuz he said they had band practice. Got there and he was just leaving.....he said no one was home and he must have gotten the time wrong. So he went home and I went to the other store near me to get the rest of the things I needed. Got a nice peek of the ocean too. So I headed home, we unloaded the car and I opened all the doors and windows to air the house out of the winter dust and smells. Today was a glorious day.

Fitting in or out of the world...

2011-04-28T17:25:00.000-07:00

Been doing alot of thinking about alot of stuff. I believe in many things, God, spirituality and the coming new world of peace that I believe will come with 2012. As we all know its how you look at it. They say what you think you create and I do believe that having experienced it myself at times. But I also believe there's a lot more going on in the world than that. For all of us tho we are in the middle, stumbling around trying to do whats best. Some believe you must just pull out of it all and feel love and it will all be ok. I'm sorry but to me that's too much like putting your head in the sand. However I also believe being in the middle of it all, causes alot of grief too. And so for now I walk a fine line. But here's how I see it.

There are four kinds of people I believe.

1.Those right in there. They are fighting the daily fight in the courts , govt , jobs, whatever. That is their job in this change of the world. They are the warriors to push for change that will be good for all.

2. The informers. Some of us cannot physically or financially do the work and so they are the ones to get info out there. Hopefully the right info but not always. But always the info is for YOU to figure out and discern. Discernment will be the big thing to get us thru these times. There are good guys and bad guys and they are fighting it out. Its Armageddon now. Right now. Its not about nuclear and such. Its about freedom and rights as human beings and learning to love the world.

3. The spiritual pack.......these are those that know its more peaceful and calm if you pull away from the other two. And they do try hard to stay there because it really does work. But they are also practical enough to know you just cant ignore it all cuz your still here in a physical body. You still have to pay bills, taxes and feed yourself and work and all sorts of things. But they KNOW by removing yourself as often as possible from the thoughts of these things, life is much better. This is where we are all heading even tho right now your life may not look like that. Its coming but that's why there's all this strife in the world right now. So in effect you have one foot in both worlds but are trying hard to stay on the heavenly side. What you think is what you create so you try hard not to think about the world until you have too.

4. Totally spiritual....these people don't care about the world. They think sending love to everything is the answer and so that's their work. And they are right to a certain point. Sending love or angels or white light or whatever works for you, does work and does help but we humans are simply not at that stage enough to actually just live on love. But we are getting there.

And so when some say you shouldn't beat a dead horse about some of the things in the world.....think about these kinds of people out there. When they tell you, you shouldn't feel a certain way, think about who is saying it. Everyones feelings are colored by what they are going thru and where they are in their human walk. I do believe we will all attain the spiritual level. And I do believe many will see that soon. Those people will teach and help and send love to those that are not quite there yet or not there for a long time. And much of what they say will seem foreign to you.

But on the other side those that do know and are trying to help need to keep in mind, the other persons mind cannot grasp yet what you are saying. And if some things are important to them or they are going thru a bad time........this is what means the most to them at that moment. Your words fall on deaf ears. I have found in my own walk.........often the best way is to just be an example or just plant the seed.

I know Ive told some of you to stay in your joy. And I know that is hard to do when your not and struggling. I HAVE been there. It isn't ez and sometimes its just plain impossible. On those impossible times Ive just laid down and cried or napped or whatever I needed at that moment. And so should you. ...but then get up......and look for some silver in the dark cloud and cling to that till it feels real. Each day it gets better. Each day it gets easier.

And for me there are still worldly issues that are important to me that I feel I must talk about or blog about or try to help/fix/or whatever. Maybe one day they wont be important but right now they are. So while I'm doing that I try hard to think good thoughts and pray for positive outcomes.

So I guess you could say I'm number 2 and number 3 but I am more number 3 as the days go by.

Life isn't perfect....

2011-04-18T11:39:00.000-07:00

This is my day after Thanksgiving mess a few yrs ago. I spend so much time cooking that I don't do dishes till the next day. I just don't have the energy left to do that.

I saw this video Ive posted below and it started me thinking. How many blogs we go to that show beautiful, perfect houses. How many pretty magazine pictures of homes are out there. And then we see it promoted on TV too. And even Martha Stewart, the Queen of perfection. And I thought about all the anxiety all this has caused women. And how its made men think women should live like this. My own ex would be furious with me for any messes in the house. He lived in hotels all week tho so of course it was ez to keep it clean, especially when there were maids to clean up after YOU! (BTW I have been a maid so he doesn't get off so ez with me about that.)

And then I read this blog about trying so hard to keep a house nice and how many bloggers felt bad when they would see others perfect homes. So this blogger asked others to send her pics of their messy homes. Honestly I love this video. Not cuz of the messes, heck most aren't even that bad. Perhaps they didn't send in the really bad ones cuz they didn't want to be embarrassed. But regardless look at these photos. Wanna know what I see?

I see messy kitchens where there is food and abundance. And how lucky they are to have all that including some beautiful kitchens. And I see overflowing laundry, which to me means, there's a family there......together. And I see toys and kid stuff around the house, which to me means there are children there and their playing is more important than keeping that floor clean. I see paperwork on desks and counters which means they have a real life like me, with bills and taxes and such. Some even have craft rooms which to me means they are lucky to be able to have time to be creative and have the space for it.

My fave one is the junk room area in that one pic. Looks like my laundry room. We enter thru the garage past it all. Right now there's loaves of bread on the desk because it seems anywhere else I put it, it molds fast. And there's a big plastic box for ironing. There are my tools too for cleaning. And best of all the tops of things are covered with containers filled with seedlings growing. IT means if they survive Ill have a great garden. While its messy, I see potential.

I guess what I'm saying here is we all think our homes are such a mess and maybe they really are. But I'm sure not anywhere near one of the Hoarders. Maybe instead of worrying about perfection and messes we should look at what to be grateful for. All those things means abundance and life is in the house. It is not a museum. Real people live there. As Martha says: Its a good thing.

New drapes finally

2011-04-05T17:20:00.000-07:00

I bought new drapes before Christmas. Ive been wanting them up all winter but I needed my bf to put up the new rods and take down the old stuff. I didn't want to try to remove a vertical blind setup, I figured Id make big holes. And so finally I talked him into doing it. This is where the verticals where, covering a big sliding door to my back deck.

The drapes are thermal lined with fleece, so there are 3 layers to each part. I didn't realize that when I bought them, I thought they were lined only once. The big drape however took me well over an hour to iron. It was a monster. I finally had to iron the bottom of it while it was hung up, I couldn't manage it anymore. At least this other window was a bit easier since they were in panels.

And I put rings at the top of the drapes thinking I can just pull them back when I open them. The old ones were a pain. I would close them but they dragged on the rug so each one had to be put in place by hand when I went to bed each nite. And the lights from the church below would come into my bedroom making sleep hard. After these were hung I realized I couldn't pull the drape all the way back because they had a center support that had to be there (eye roll).

While I cant pull them all the way back, I can move it halfway and that will have to do. However I love them. ....the room is much warmer now. And it helps muffle sounds in the house so its quieter too. And they block out alot of the light that was disturbing us. You see that skinny window there? I have a beautiful lace curtain that was my grammas. Ive been going thru boxes trying to find it, so far I haven't. But when I do I think it will be perfect for that window, and then the room will finally be done.

Tsunami that didnt come.......thank God

2011-03-21T11:09:00.000-07:00

I have often said on here, I dont live far from the ocean. Last week I was woke up by a siren from the fire dept. near me. But this was early around 5am. and it went on and on. As my bf and I wiped the sleep from our eyes and listened, we thought at first it was stuck and then we thought......hmmmm whats going on.

I had a feeling I should get up and put the tv on. This was not normal And so I did and woke up to seeing them talk about the Japanese quake and the coming tsunami along our coast. My first reaction was of course panic since I was still sleepy. I said we need to get dressed and get out and then I started trying to think of what to save that was important. My bf in his usual calm way said.......not before coffee and started to make some. I thought he was nuts. Then I realized we are on a hill, Im pretty high up. And so I calmed down and watched the news.

They said it the surge would be about 3-6ft for this area....all day of course that number went up and down a bit. My SIL called us and asked if we were going to moms. You see SIL lives right on the beach. The fire dept. evacuated them. I told her we werent going anywhere, we will be safe and then suggested she comes here. She has a houseful of kids and I knew the inlaws would have a tough time of that.

And so they did and we all gathered around the tv and watched and hoped nothing happened. They said the surge would hit at 7:30am and so we decided to get in their van and go to the top of the hill and wait to see it It was cold outside. And so this is about all we saw most of the day.

You can see some of the ripples of the surge coming in but not much happened till much later. And so we went back to the house and I made breakfast for everyone, we were getting hungry and we didnt know when they would be allowed to go back. I was going to go to the store that day but as you can see the parking lot is empty cuz its closed lol. I had some bread in the house but not alot.....no milk or juice either. So I emptied my freezer of all the breakfast meats I had and cooked them up. Thank God I had several dozen eggs cuz I just went to the egg lady. The kids had Lipton ice tea or water and we drank coffee. At least we all ate.

But it made me think about what could happen and Ive been slowly stocking up anyway with water and dried goods. This really made me think tho. And so around noon everyone left.......seems we got lucky and the worst surges hit on low tides and nothing happened here. But it made me think about where I live. I sure got lucky when God put me here. During wild wind storms, this house doesnt shake and neither do the windows. I am built on rock. (didnt the Bible say to build on rock?). And when it rains and even floods right now Im high enough to not have to worry.

And then with possible tsunamis I find out according to the city pages that even in the worst case scenario (whatever that is) we should still be safe. I would have to get hit with I think a 30ft + wall of water for it to get to us. And so I feel blessed to be in this spot and to be able to help family too, when this stuff goes on.

Now I just have to make sure Im stocked up even more!

I havent made one in sooooo many years!

2011-02-28T13:02:00.000-08:00

We had snow the other day, twice in one day but it melted in between. So I took the dog out to do her business and suddenly got inspired. I grabbed some of the lil bit of snow that was left and started to make a snowball. Then I thought snowman! And suddenly the child in me took over lol. Hes not much, just about 4inch. tall but I haven't made one in way too many yrs.

And now the rain is here and hes gone but the memory lingers on lol. Last nite was rough, wild hurricane type winds, tons and tons of rain, some lightening and thunder too. And its supposed to be bad like this all week. I think Ill take the snow, it might have been really cold but the sun was out. :)

I feel like a kid again...

2011-02-24T12:10:00.000-08:00

In the middle of the night I woke up to the sound of some pretty good hail hitting the skylights. Then it started to sort of rain/snow and I saw it accumulating on the skylight. So I went back to sleep.

When I got up the skylight was all covered so I went to look out my bedroom window and this is what I saw! A winter wonderland!!! so pretty.

I took the dog out to do her business and brought my camera with me.

Good thing I didn't plant anything yet. The garden is covered.

Looks like maybe an inch of snow. I know its not alot but its alot for where I live.

Thru my windows overlooking the mtns.

And then the sun was trying to come out...so I figured it was done and will melt soon. And it did start to melt.

So I ran around trying to get pictures fast cuz I figured it would be gone soon. This is the front yard looking out from the man cave.

The crocuses were blooming last week and now are covered in snow but I love this picture.

And then it started to snow again........hard! It kept getting harder and now the sun is out again. Gonna be a weird day but I love it. Guess Ill make soup today.

Its sticking to my back deck screens.

The sun is out now and its stopped but Ill bet it will be like this all day. And that's ok. I am grateful for a gas fireplace that I don't have to go outside and cut wood for, I am grateful that the house is stocked up too so I don't have to go to the store. I am grateful that we can stay inside today and just enjoy it and be warm and safe. This kind of weather is a soup day so I think Ill do just that.

Romance and Valentines...

2011-02-11T10:31:00.000-08:00

I pulled out my Valentine things to put around the house. I wanted to try to make it more romantic tho not just Valentiney. This is what you see coming up to my front door.

Many of you saw this last year. I just threw it together. But I loved the combo so much Ive decided to do it every year. Its just Halloween costume angel wings and a feather heart wreath.

Some of the Valentines at my door. LOVE is the season :)

My spring centerpiece updated with a big heart for Valentines day.

View of the whole decorated area of the hutch for Valentines day.

Lower part on top of chinese wine cabinet, many of my blue and white pieces. In the center a heart shaped blue and white pie plate. Below it a pierced white milk glass dish with a small berry heart.

One of the shelves...Has an antique rose bowl almost 100yrs old., a green depression glass fruit bowl filled with roses and a fan.

Center shelf on the hutch Has a floral filled heart basket, a pretty fan and my Lefton Americana Rose sugar and creamer.

The apothecary jar has been changed too. Still has the flameless candle but is filled with a heart garland that spills onto the counter and breaks into many tiny glass hearts.

This is on my living room table. There's a pink glass rose container filled with rose potpourri. Next to it is a small red satin heart box from one of my first valentines Kurt gave me. The other things were there already so I just sprinkled some glass hearts around.

This is my dresser in my bedroom. I wanted to make a romantic topping for my bedroom. Its perfect for Valentines day but also for all year round.

The lamp has long beaded fringe which I just love to play with. And the tray on the bottom of it is very Art Nouveau looking. I filled the tray part with a sweet rose teapot filled with rose potpourri. Leaning against it is some of the rocks Ive found that are heart shaped.

That photo is my grandparents wedding photo. Both are gone now but they married in 1921. I always have that photo somewhere in my bedroom wherever I live. the brass piece lying on the doily is an old tussie mussie holder. I love those and bought it long ago in the hopes that my daughters wedding bouquet would be made and put in there. She eloped. :( But it has beautiful relief grapes and vines and I was told its a rare piece.

A few thrift things...

2011-02-04T17:53:00.000-08:00

The other day when I went grocery shopping I decided to stop at Goodwill. I haven't been there in a while and heck it was Senior Citizen Wed. another 10%off. Usually tho everything is picked over on that day and I rarely find things but not this week!

I found this cake dish. Ive always wanted a domed one and it was a great price. Its a nice heavy piece too not something flimsy. But I mainly wanted it to put on my counter with brownies and such that the man eats. Ive been storing them over the microwave and not only do they get forgotten but they get stale. So this is a pretty way to solve that issue.

I also saw this sweater. Its a chenille yarn in shades of blue and purple.......my favorite colors. It also has a hood. Thought it would come in handy with the weather we get.

I love purple glass and its hard to find. But I found this stunning bud vase. Its a nice glass with some weight to it and a pretty color. Not sure where Ill put it yet but I just had to have it.

And then I bought another sand castle, the one on the left. Ive always loved these but they are pretty expensive in the gift shops. But lately Ive been finding them in GW for a couple of dollars and that's reasonable. And so my collection is slowly growing. I just had to add one of my mermaids to this.

And then I found this mixed in with a bunch of other things. I almost passed it by. I had to untangle it just to see what it was. I Love grape things tho. This has very gnarled grapevines with some really purple sparkly grapes on it. I have grapes in my kitchen and while I still need to paint in here I thought this would look great when I do . Right now it clashes a bit with the hideous yellow on my walls. (its faded here from the camera flash, but trust me its bright)

So for $3 I bought it...............and I know these go for lots more. But it looks rather like a spider (which you all know I hate). And so I think Ill be looking for some greenery or flowers to wind in between to soften it up, otherwise I just love it.

Some of the latest around the house.....

2011-01-19T15:54:00.000-08:00

Its been cold and rainy and I haven't been able to get outside to see much about the garden. Today the sun is blazing so I did. I planted broccoli very late but hey! I went outside and was able to pick just enough for dinner. Some are just starting to turn a bit yellow which means I needed to pick but there's still a lil bit still growing out there so for now Ill leave it. Not sure the amount of plants I have is worth the cost for this lil bit but Ill be starting over this yr so at least I have this.

I put away all the Christmas stuff and I wasn't quite ready to bring out all the Valentine stuff yet. I just needed girly stuff around me. And so lately Ive been going thru my linens and doilies too, putting some out and freshening up the house. But it wasn't enough so last week I went to the craft store and bought some silk flowers. They didn't have much choices really compared to what I'm used to. And the Dollar store stuff looks so beyond fake. Nobody around here really has much of that so I ended up with some Ivy garlands on sale to make some candle rings with and some purple and white flowers.

A flame-less candle in the floral ring I made, with the tiny nest I won a yr or so ago tucked in it. Figured it would give it a touch of spring.

Ive decided not to paint purple around here but put some in every room in some way. Could be flowers or pillows or glass, maybe a blanket too. But one color that catches your eye, but it is in every room so it flows. I'm not done yet but I'm working on it. Got more ideas too. But this is the latest stuff Ive done around the house. My poor bf, sure hope he likes living in a girly house.

I found this rose pottery container in Goodwill and it goes perfect with my soap dish. I wasn't sure what I would use it for but ended up putting one of my flame-less candles in it to use as a nite light.

As you can see its sunny today. But this is my living room with all the pillows on the sofa now, some in purple. And my new coffee table. Just need some curtain swags on the windows and this room will be done.

And finally the wall by the fireplace is done. I bought these boxes down in Depoe Bay when my grand daughter was here. I saw them on several blogs online and fell madly in love with them.

They are rough wood boxes with herbs stenciled on them and I wasn't sure exactly where I wanted to put them. So they sat on the floor right there till the other day. I thought they would look great on my back deck with plants in them but then thought.........I wont see them out there very much. I wanted them inside. So I put them up but they still needed something. I remember what some put in them so I wandered around the house gathering stuff. I love it! It is perfect in that spot.

And this is my bed. Are you getting tired of seeing pics of it? I just adore this bed and decorate it for every season. And so the Christmas stuff came down but I decided to leave the glittery ivy garland up there and put my floral one back on top of that. I love how it looks. Can you see my skylight? That's my side of the bed so you can see why some nights sleep is pretty hard to do when its windy or the moon is shining in.

But for Valentines day I pulled out some of my rose covered pillows in the lighter shades and put a rose printed pillow on top of that. God, my bed looks so girly lol. I love it.........my bf just pushes the pillows over to my side and crawls in........he hasn't complained yet lol.

But I just put these stickers over my bed the other day. I found them long ago. They say Always Kiss Me Goodnight. And since we do that every nite ( my ex never did) I want to keep it coming!

And this is the small window on my side of the bed. Ive put my mermaid statue there and some pink flowers and such. I love it. I'm still trying to find my grandmothers lace curtain to hang there tho. Its a beautiful old fashioned piece and I only have one panel so it will be perfect for this spot.

And this is in my bathroom now. That's one of the candle rings I made. I used a small wicker wreath that the bottom of the candle holder would fit thru. Then I wrapped it with Ivy garland and stuck in flowers. One for each side of the sink. I decided to move my pierced plates in here instead of the basket I had to hold some things. The basket got too dusty from my powder and was a pain to clean. I think this looks much better.

And this is the mans side of the sink. I softened that basket with some lace and put the other candle there. Since I mostly use this during the day, I didn't put flame-less candles in here. I put real ones in so if I get company, I can make it smell nice.

And finally over his stuff I hung these on the wall. I had that wall pocket filled with pine and holly for the holidays . Now I wanted something girly and in Romantic Country magazine, I saw in the newest issue a woman who puts hand mirrors all over her wall as decor and loved it. I use that one daily but have to take it in and out of the drawer if I want to keep the counters clutter free. So I decided hanging it was a good thing. Its pretty like the other stuff and I can just take it down daily to use. I used brass nails tho so it would look nice too.

Seeing more.....

2011-01-12T09:33:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I hear or see things in the world and I feel there's more to it than we are being told. And often its not our own news or govt. NOT telling us. Its we ourselves that are cut off from the stream of human consciousness. We have pulled so far away from feeling and knowing God or a godlike thread thru us all.

Like, that little girl that was killed during that attack the other day in Az. They say there are those who come here with a mission and sometimes that mission is to be in the wrong place at the right time. They become a catalyst for change. And you have to wonder if a child born on Sept. 11 on the day of our countries worst tragedy, isn't being set up for something great.

I know a death is not a great thing, but when I read of this child she seemed to be an old soul. What child that age truly would want to go see someone from their govt. in action? Not many. There's that old saying about when you die the dates on your tombstone are not what counts.......its the dash between. But this child, I think the whole thing has meaning, she was meant for this.

I hurt with the parents, it hurts to lose a child but I am very proud of these parents and how they are handling it. I love that they are not placing blame like so many liberals are. I hate what the liberals are doing to this country with this incident. The blame is on the nut that shot them........to blame anyone else is insane.

Having said that tho, I do feel this was a hit, set up at a time when the new House of Representatives are starting and they were starting with the Health bill. I find it interesting that Rep. Gifford is one of the more moderate Democrats who DIDN'T vote for Pelosi. I think it was done to scare those like her in the House. After all the Dems lost their majority there and their leader. Whether she was hurt or died, either way it would work. It worked for the mafia many yrs.

I find them blaming Sarah Palin, pathetic but then that's what they do to deflect. They love to stir up fear and hate. But don't be afraid. I think our own govt. has set this up. After all the kid who tried to do damage to Portland Or. at Christmas was known to be dealing with the CIA. I will bet in time we will find out this kid was used too. Possibly even with mind bending used on him.

These are scary times. I try really hard to stay in a happy place and so even hearing these things I will pull back and try to look at it differently. The dark side is losing and they cant stand it. They are going to try to do anything they can to keep us living in fear. Whenever you hear or see anything bad like this..........step back from it. Definitely pray for those involved but also realize perhaps this was their mission here on earth to make change. Don't get sucked into the name calling that's going on, the blaming and the hype. We are all being used right now, its about control and if you suck into the fear, they have you.

Guns don't kill people, people kill people, remember that when they try to ban guns again and they will. But criminals will always know where to get guns so that doesn't work. And our govt. is the biggest criminal of all right now. They think we don't know but we do. And they made a big mistake this time. A little child who died that day, started her birth on a day of tragedy and ended on one too. She is a symbol of what is going on in this country. But you can see she loved so much and her folks did too.

Another one there that died was a man who fell on his wife of many yrs to protect her. And he did.........and he died doing it. I heard it on the news the other day and I burst into tears. It took me awhile to get past it. Even my bf asked me whats wrong and I was very choked up trying to tell him. I don't know why that hit me that way. I would have thought the child would have . I just know my bf would do that to protect me. I know that I would do that to protect him or my children. I think its a symbol of what we must do in these trying times. LOVE.

Instead of blaming, look at the facts. A crazy man went to kill. Someones son. How did he get that way? Regardless, he did it so I do not give him leeway for being ill or mistreated or any other things they will try to use to save him. Anyone that can do that to innocent people, is not innocent and must be held accountable.........and that includes our govt. I don't believe it was the political climate that caused this. People have been speaking out for many yrs. There's something more going on now.......and its dark and sinister. The only way to fight that is to love, be love and be the light.

Morning Rituals

2011-01-08T10:53:00.000-08:00

I'm a creature of habit. I guess most of us are. So there are things I do each morning and when I don't get to do them, the day seems off. Sometimes the routine changes a bit depending on what we have planned for the day but most of the time its still done, just later on.

Most days the man is up first. Hes one of those early risers and hes learned to not annoy me by closing the bedroom door and leaving me be. Smart man. I had an Uncle that , when he was up, everyone had to be up. I don't understand people like that.

And so unless I'm having sleep issues the man gets up, closes the door and goes to make the coffee. My dog is definitely MY dog lol. Most days even if she really has to go, she wont leave my side but waits for me to rise.

And so I lie there. If its early I fall back to sleep. But that only lasts till 7am on work days, then the man comes in to shower and I have to get up and make his lunch. Otherwise, I lie there till I slowly come to wake up. Then its potty time, get my robe and slippers (only when its cold) and out the door to take the dog potty. By then the man has been up at least an hr, sometimes more. Its a good system. He likes his morning quiet time and gets it.

And then the dog gets her cookie and I get my coffee. The dog is funny tho, if we both get up around the same time she will not eat her cookie till we both are having our coffee. Guess that's HER morning coffee too lol. After I have some coffee, I will go open the blinds in the living room. Whether its gray or sunny the view is gorgeous and it just makes this house feel more alive.

Then the man showers first most days. Even when hes home I often wait till he does his first......again just a stupid habit that feels right. And while hes doing that I have my fruit and yogurt and computer time. Then its my turn.

I used to be a lazy person and rarely made my bed. But with the move I made a point of making my bed daily to get ready for showing the house, long before I had to. I knew if I didn't start that habit, Id never do it and the house wouldn't look good then. And so I decided to keep that habit. To make it more special so Ill keep it up, Ive bought some nicer bedding and pillows that I can change out with the seasons. Gives me incentive to make it pretty.

Then I open the bedroom verticals that look out onto my back porch. I love the way that porch looks so its more incentive to keep that room looking nice too. When the man is home its time for me to start thinking of what to make for brunch. I say brunch because hes not a morning eater and by the time all this is done its heading towards lunch time. So I decide to make either breakfast or lunch depending on whats in the house and my mood.

But its funny, this isn't written in stone.........some days it does change when we have other plans. But there are days like yesterday I just couldn't get in the frame of mind for the routine. I was off the whole day. And so my bed never got made and looking at it just threw my day off more. But it was getting late and I had errands to do. He was working and it was raining. So I try to go early if I can. I hate being out in the rain when its darker...and hes been getting home earlier lately too.

But yesterday the whole day was off and I think its that damn beds fault lol. It rained alot.....no big deal. Ive been out in that before. But somehow it really bothered me yesterday. It made me grumpy and I got soaked and chilled and I was NOT happy. So when I got home I made some hot tea and tried to warm up. It took me all evening to do that. I finally fell asleep by the fire with my blanky wrapped around me and when I woke up I felt warm. But up until that point I didn't even feel good either and hoped I wasn't getting sick. I should have worn a warmer coat. Next time I will.

But that whole day was off because I didn't do my morning routine. So my question is.........do you have a morning routine and if you don't do it , does it throw off your day too? What is your routine?

One year ends another begins.......

2010-12-31T23:01:00.000-08:00

To all my readers and friends and family.......... I hope you get all you wish for in the new year. I hope you get lots........I wish you ...enough. :)

Merry Christmas and memories

2010-12-25T09:32:00.000-08:00

I want to wish all my friends and readers a Merry Christmas. I haven't blogged much this holiday season. I wanted to post my holiday decor but its been hit or miss this yr.

The movers repacked many of my Christmas boxes and so I had a very hard time finding anything. I found my turkey roaster packed in between clothes and a bottle of balsamic vinegar in a box of Christmas. And so its been a very frustrating season for me.

Ive been baking alot to send goodies to family and friends and that hasn't been going very well either. So it took me longer and now boxes wont be going out till Monday.

Ive been very moody and cranky lately too. Its taken me many days to figure out why but I finally did. I love my new home, I love where Ive landed. I love the state I live in too. I'm not homesick for CA. I just miss my children and grand children. Christmas there were so many traditions, many carried over from my in laws when they passed away. I became the keeper of the traditions. It was alot of work but I loved seeing everyone happy. I guess it was my gift to them.

Last Christmas I was packed and ready to move a week or so before it. So I took my family out to a nice Italian restaurant that served many things we would eat on Christmas. It was a wonderful nite, one Ill never forget. But now theres nothing. My children need to stay where they are because of work.....so no one could come up here. My bf just found work so we couldn't go down there.

And so all the things I used to do, suddenly had no meaning........its like someone cut off an arm. And I was in pain but didn't know it yet. Its been a hard holiday for me.

Today we will be with my bfs parents and that's nice but its not my family. I tried hard after my divorce to keep things normal every yr and traditions going. And now I'm gone from there too. It was the one thing I hated about the move.

So my children are floundering with their holiday and trying to make it as good as they are able. And my grand kids miss some of the traditions. We always baked together, they put up the village and nativity and helped with the tree. And we all sat around my dining room table, laughing and sharing the big Italian Christmas feast. Memories.......that's all I have left now.

I am no longer the mom who does Christmas. It hit me just like it did when my children were done with school and I didn't have to school shop or prepare them for the next yr. I felt lost then too and didn't know what was wrong. I got past that tho. Ill get past this too someday I'm sure. I just have to process this like I did with the school thing.

But right now its painful and sad .........and I feel lost.

ENOUGH ALREADY WASHINGTON!

2010-12-20T11:48:00.000-08:00

This is the season of Joy, Love, Hope and Peace. Enough Washington! Stop making more laws we dont want or NEED!!!

STOP PUSHING YOUR AGENDA THRU, REMEMBER YOU WORK FOR US!!! AND WE ARE SAYING NO TO ALL THE THINGS YOUR TRYING TO DO SO LISTEN DAMMIT!

ITS THE HOLIDAYS.............GO HOME AND LEAVE US ALONE. LET THE NEWLY ELECTED HANDLE IT WHEN JANUARY COMES.

I KNOW YOU DON'T WANT THAT BECAUSE THEY WILL DO WHAT THE PEOPLE SAY AND YOU WONT GET YOUR WAY.

WE WILL MAKE THEM REPEAL ALL THESE EXTRA LAWS AND BILLS AND GARBAGE YOUR TRYING TO PUSH THRU!

AND IF YOU HAVEN'T LOST YOUR POSITION YOU CAN BE SURE WE ARE TAKING NAMES AND YOUR GONE THE NEXT TIME.

THE PEOPLE HAVE SPOKEN AND WE PAY YOUR SALARY!!!

I bet the angels in heaven are smiling down on this!

2010-11-27T14:20:00.001-08:00

A Day of Thanksgiving...

2010-11-25T09:29:00.000-08:00

Today I'm thankful for friends online. For awhile I didn't get out alot and so making friends online was a way to connect without worrying about how to do that. I don't like hanging out in bars and I don't do sports. And sometimes you just want friends to yak with not necessarily with the same common things.

And here online I meet all kinds, people with many different lifestyles and opinions,,people from other countries...

But most of all I'm thankful for the friends who stay on each others lists on here, even when we don't agree. We don't have to agree all the time. We don't have to believe what others do. But respecting others and agreeing to disagree makes for some wonderful friends. Ive seen some lately talking about deleting some people on their lists. And some have been deleted too.

Ive done that and Ive been deleted too. And I think the answer is being courteous and respectful, no matter what. And so those have deleted me, I figure are not people Id want to be around anyway. And those Ive deleted refused to be respectful decent people. Those that are left are the best. We are not all the same and yet we are. But how we treat others says alot. Those that cannot contain their anger at basically strangers on a computer, make me wonder just what they are like in real life.

My feeling is I wouldn't want them around me there either. So I'm thankful for friends who know that you have to give love and respect to get it. To those who know you visit a blog its like visiting someones home.

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.

Some November things ....

2010-11-07T13:02:00.000-08:00

The dog

Uh oh moms got the camera again.

Maybe if I look bored she will go away. (it worked!)

new apron - Since Im ruining all my clothes with cooking here, I figured its about time I got some aprons. No wonder Gramma wore one all the time. I like this one,,,nice garden botanicals on it.

Apothecary jar - They are all the rage I know. But I didn't have any and this one spoke to me. Its done like mercury glass on the base and lid.

Found this fat lil bird in Goodwill and had to bring him home.

Dining room table

Dining room - I hand painted this turkey many many yrs ago when my kids were babies. And the platter they are on is a beautiful Italian hand painted one I bought from the gourmet shop I used to work at when I first landed in Ca. The small resin pumpkin says ....As for me and my house...we will serve the Lord.

Living room - This is my new coffee table. I finally decided I wanted a small glass topped one so it wouldn't fill the room or take away from the view when the windows were open.

Living room - Lots of pumpkins and a nice big resin turkey for the holiday.

Living room - I found this dorky bird when I still lived in CA. He kept speaking to me and getting my attention. I just had to bring him home.

Living room - I decided since it stopped raining to go get some twigs from my yard to fill out the big vase.

Front porch - Pretty much the same except I added a terra cotta turkey to it. Next yr there will be no real pumpkins here, only fake.

Front porch - And this is why next yr will be just fakes. The birds are attacking this side of the punkins. They think I cant see that? Grrrrrr

The peas are growing like crazy with lots of flowers too.

PEAS!!!

We have peas........dont know how many Ill get but they are growing!

The broccoli bed has taken off too. No broccoli heads yet but Im hoping.

Garden

The mint has gone wild and the herb bed is dying back. Mom sent the fairy on the glass ball tho for my garden.

Happy Halloween!!

2010-10-31T12:21:00.000-07:00

Its definitely Halloween out there. Woke up to this weird looking sky at 9am. Hey is that a skeleton up there in the clouds?

Even the moon was still out there so late in the morning. Weird. But it looks like its going to be a sunny day. Lets see if it lasts into the night. Not sure the kids come around this area but we are ready for them if they do.

Some Halloween decor...

2010-10-17T22:35:00.000-07:00

Ive been putting things out now and then but really got into it today. I wasn't able to do this last month. We still had glorious summer days and I couldn't even look at pumpkins and such. Once I get the smell of Fall in the air tho and it starts getting cold at nite, I get in the mood. So today we had a fire going and I dragged out all the boxes.
Found out I have 7 boxes of stuff but part of it is also my Thanksgiving stuff too. Once Halloween is over, then I turn any spooky pumpkins around so they look plain and put the very Halloweenie stuff away. Then I drag out my turkeys and leaves.

But I found all my bags of cinnamon potpourri so Ive put some around with my pumpkin spice candles. Its smells heavenly in here. So here's what Ive got so far with decorating. I may change some things around yet.

I did however buy some battery operated candles this year to use for all my holidays. While I do use real, I have some spots I just can't so this helps a lot.

Front porch -Letting you know the witch is in.

Just a few things so far at the front door. I found the black raven feather wreath when I was home visiting my folks. I thought it would be perfect for Halloween.

Punkins! The big one in the middle is real and some of the small ones too. All the rest are ones I know wont get ruined if they get wet. I may be adding more real ones if I find some I like. This is my picnic table on my front porch.

Living room - A pretty pumpkin dish on a stand with a mason jar battery operated candle.

A glass pumpkin filled with spicy potpourri

Living room -Here's where I leave my broom and hat when I'm not out and about :)

Dining room - Since I don't have a mantle Ill be using this shelf now for my holiday decor and treating it like a mantle. Here's where I needed the battery operated candles since they would ruin the wood here.

Dining room table decor.

This skull gets a tea light in it and this is how it looks when lit.

I usually put this on my front porch but here I can't cuz of rain all the time. So here it is in the dining room , ready to serve Poison from the cauldron.

Kitchen - Things this kitchen witch is offering this season.

Witches Kitchen - Can't put this lil guy on my porch, there's no electrical outlets there. So here he sits on the kitchen counter with some friends and a spicy candle.

The witches bedroom - Here's my bed ready for Halloween

Close up of the pillows on the bed.

Some pumpkins and more black feathers. Doesn't everyone have those in their bedroom? :)

My bloody bathroom - Some crazy Halloween decor on my bathroom mirror. hehehehe

Have to have some Halloween elegance right? So some white pumpkins made girly.

Some fall decor on the potty. Now if we need it......we can light those candles to improve the space......they are pumpkin spice hehehe

On the way to the egg lady...

2010-10-14T16:55:00.000-07:00

I take the drive around the lake to go to the egg lady's house. Its much nicer than town, especially in the summer. There's too much traffic in town then.

This is one of the parks by the lake......its so pretty right down the street from homes there.

It even has picnic tables....next nice day I should make a picnic lunch and drag my bf there. :)

On the other side of the lake (from me) there are many big homes with large properties. This is one of them that always draws my eye. Look at that gate!

That's the view on the long driveway to the house......lucky people!

And that's the house.......lil shack in da woods huh? lol

Going down the road off the lake road, heading to the egg lady.

'Cuse my dirty windshield but the trip thru these woods is so nice.

For a little bit there's nothing but trees and gentle bends along the mountain road.

Just before the Equestrian Center there's this sign. One time they actually had the nerve to put a box with a 15mi. hr. speed limit on it, right in the middle of the road. The gas company was doing work on the egg lady's property and these people didn't like it with the big trucks coming thru.

The Equestrian Center.

Love to see that flag right out in the middle of nowhere. Egg lady, sharp turn to the left here past the flagpole.

Love the mtns and the pastures...so pretty out there. Sometimes I see the horses out too. Those critters you see way out in the fields are elk.

On the egg lady's road......more pretty views, trees and turns but the road is narrower.

And here we are. Dukey her dog and one of the chickens greeted me yesterday. Dukey is usually there tho.

Dukey was always nice but now he loves me even more cuz he knows I come with cookies! He hangs by my window like this when I'm leaving and looks soooo sad.

Some of her cows on the farm.

Egg lady's backyard......oh how I love it! She has many acres.

Backyard again with a shot of the hen house.

The chickens all disappeared when I wanted to take pictures so the egg lady called them with bread.

She shook the bag and they came running from everywhere!! I was laughing and having fun watching them scurry over to get some.

She said she trained them to do that in case there's danger and she needed to get them all together fast.

Some of the "girls".

They were hurrying to get all the goodies and stealing from each other too.

And finally these two came right up to me clucking and making sweet sounds like they thought I had something for them. Egg Lady told me to bring any extra bread I have for her to feed them with. I might just do that now and then. Id love for them to come up to me.

On the way back home, right by the Equestrian Ctr. a goose was standing right in the middle of the road, honkin at me. So I honked back to get him to move.......but he didnt. So I inched my way closer to him, honkin at him every time he honked at me. My window was open and I said to him.......dont make me have to ruffle those feathers with my fender.........and then he moved. But just enough so I didn't hit him. Guess he knows who really owns that road lol.

Finally, Im getting some

2010-10-11T21:44:00.000-07:00

Well I finally had a chance to check out my garden. Its been raining since I got home. And then I decided to check out my yard. I read in a magazine about hazelnuts growing all over up here. They harvest in Sept. But I have a tree at the end of the yard that had these green ball like things growing on it. At first I thought they might be cherries. But once I saw that article I thought maybe I have a hazelnut tree. Wouldn't that be awesome?

So I looked for the tree, no green balls, no nothing anywhere. If I had them, they fell off the tree and are gone. I'm sure the squirrels got to them. But next yr. I'm going to look closer and if its that kind of tree, I'm going to have to find a way to save them once they fall off the tree.

Meanwhile I saw one blackberry. Now in my yard the critters seem to get to them first. But up near the street, there's a ton of brambles so i went out there to look. I picked a handful but there were more so I went in the house to find a basket. Sadly there's more where I cant reach lol and I'm thinking perhaps Ill cut some canes back this yr after they are done to give me better access next yr.

Meanwhile I searched all over that area including the neighbors side (shhhhh). And then I went across the street and picked as much as I could find slowly working my way up the hill. That picture you see up there is what I could get today, maybe a pt. or two. But Ill be looking again every few days. I'm going to freeze these and keep picking till I get more. Then I think Ill make some jam. I would love some blackberry jam made from berries, I picked right here with my own purple stained lil hands.

Theres a moon out tonight.....

2010-09-22T23:40:00.000-07:00

So its the Harvest Moon tonight. But whats really special is thats Jupiter below it. Better take a good look cuz you wont see it again for another 50yrs. Fall starts tonight too. Triple whammy. :)

Yesterday was a glorious beach day

2010-09-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

It was a gorgeous day outside yesterday. We have had a few cooler days so this is a nice surprise. It was feeling like Fall and I thought the summer was over. So I decided to take the dog to the beach. Most of the tourists have gone home so there's not much traffic or people around now. I love it.

Now I haven't been here in quite a few weeks and its changed a bit. First it was weird coming down the walkway. Its on a hill and there was a weird optical illusion. There was the ocean but a layer of clouds on it which made it look like another ocean or waves far off and then blue sky. It wasn't till I got on the beach that it looked normal again. But there's an ocean and now an inland sea.

If you look close you will see ocean, sand and more ocean. It made a large area into a small sea. I had to walk all around it or past it to get to the ocean.

As you can see its quite large and all this changed the sand. There just didn't seem to be an area that was solid. And so with or without sandals it was hard to walk on no matter where I tried.

There's my pooch. I let her off the leash when no one is around. She loves to run. But she hasn't been here in a long time and wasn't listening as well. We are going to have to get back to do this more now. But this walk really tired us both out. I kept going but I noticed her drooling alot. She was beginning to tire before me. I went a bit farther but then thought.......I know I'm going to tire ez today too so we should turn around. We walked to the end of the inland sea a bit then came back.

It was just so gorgeous tho and I wished I had brought a chair with me. I have these lightweight sling chairs that have a carry strap. I think I might put one in my car so I can really enjoy nice days like this. But it was so nice to not be freezing. Ive been on this very beach in August and almost froze to death. And here today it was even nicer than CA. beaches! Today its almost Paradise. I love it here!!!

And when I got home, the most amazing thing happened. I didn't even think we had hummingbirds here, Ive never seen one.....till today. But I was watering the garden........and I use a spray head that gives them a shower so I dont hurt the seedings. A tiny hummer came to drink from it!!!!

I mean he was at the end and worked his way up to me trying to find a way to get a drink. He tried to land on the spray even and got so close to the sprayer, he was literally 2in. from my fingers. I told the lil guy go ahead Ill hold still while you drink. But he flew away.........then came right back and did the same thing. He kept looking at me and I said Ill stay still till your done go for it. He wasn't scared or anything. Blew my mind! I love the critters here...they aren't afraid of me.....or maybe its just that Im happy and they see it and aren't afraid. I dont know. But Im loving this!

Guess you cant be a gardener without getting dirt under your nails...

2010-09-05T12:25:00.000-07:00

Not my hands but mine looked bad, I keep forgetting my gloves!

Beenoutside today working in the garden. Its bright and sunny but not ashot as yesterday. So its perfect for being out there. I have things Ihave to transplant from my back deck to my garden and Ive been puttingit off with all the canning Ive been doing. So today I decided to getstarted.

Its hard tho. I sat outside on my deck afterbreakfast. Beautiful sunny day, big puffy white clouds (saw one thatlooked like a dragon!) and deep blue sky. Its warm in the sun and yetthere's a bit of a breeze blowing. And I looked at the plants as I satthere soaking in nature and thought to myself. WTF are you doin? lolThings are dying out here, your so busy with everything else yourletting your Eden croak!

And so I transplanted the shallots andbasil I had in a container to the main garden. Don't know what willsurvive being end of summer. I did it with the onions last week andthey look ok. And the regular basil is doing much better now too. So Ifigure these will survive. While I was at it I grabbed two bulbs ofgarlic from my kitchen. I broke apart the cloves and planted them by mypepper plants. Lets see if they grow. I see garden sites selling thisnow to plant in the fall to get some next yr. Its one grand experimenthere this yr.

Big planter in front with mint and petunias, coffee mug planter far right on top of pointed raised bed.

Ibrought the big coffee mug planter out with the forget-me-nots andthyme in it. I was going to transplant it but it looks so pretty . Idecided to just put the whole container at the point of that one raisedbed to soften it. Not sure it will stay there but for now its nice. Ialso planted the large leaf tarragon, it was getting pot bound. I stillhave some herbs in pots to move around too.

I was strollingthru a website where I buy some things and saw this armillary. (earlyastronomical device for representing the great circles of the heavens,including in the most elaborate instruments the horizon, meridian,Equator, tropics, polar circles, and an ecliptic hoop. The sphere is askeleton celestial globe, with circles divided into degrees for angularmeasurement. In the 17th and 18th centuries such models—eithersuspended, rested on a stand, or affixed to a handle)

It was on sale at a prettygood price but I just kept passing it by. I found a 20% coupon tho andwent back. It was still in stock so I ordered it. I'm trying to breakup the big expanse of flat boxes. I want to add some garden art too.And so I ordered it and it came the other day. Its not as big as Ithought but I like it. I had to put a planter in the bottom of it as itwas too light and the thing would leak some dirt. And for now I justhave some pansies in it cuz that's all I could find. When I getsomething that will climb, next yr. Ill put it here. I think it willlook gorgeous as you walk into my yard, with pretty climbing flowers.

Nowif I could just get my dog to pee somewhere else I would be happy. Shesdoing it right at the bottom of my front steps and it stinks. GrrrrrrrrSo for now I sprinkled baking soda till I get to the store for somelime. I have to figure out how to get her to go elsewhere. Still needsome stakes tho for the pea shoots a friend started for me. And somestakes for my raspberries.

That's my raspberry bush.Its actually starting to get flowers and raspberries!! Can you seethem? Wont be much this yr but it looks like I found a good spot forthem. Next yr. should be even better.

My Inheritance

2010-08-31T16:18:00.000-07:00

My mom called me last week and told me a box was on the way. She called it my Inheritance. lol She goes thru phases of cleaning things out and getting rid of them. Sometimes asks me if I want something.

Overthe yrs there were only 3 things I wanted that would have disappointedme a lot if I didn't get them. Two Ive gotten already and the thirdcame yesterday. The first was my grammas very fragile hand blownChristmas ornaments. I remember these on a silly plastic tree thatstood on top of grampas big floor radio. It had bubble lights (I havesome of those too) and these ornaments. Grampa would put a night lighton in that room so he could come and go and not be in total darkness.(I have that too!) But come Christmas time it was magical in there. Thetree was lit instead. I fell madly in love with that little plastictree with the bubble lights and delicate glass ornaments.

Oneday when I was home for a visit, mom packaged them up for me to handcarry home on the airplane. Every yr. now they are the first ornamentsput on my trees. My kids and grandkids have all had the honor of doingthat and hearing the story.

The other thing I wanted was myDad's. He was in the Navy many yrs ago. He had a pea coat he kept fromthat time. And in that pea coat were dragons! You see back in 1945 hewas in China. And he had a Chinese tailor put beautiful embroidereddragon panels on the inside of his coat. It even has his name and theyr. When I was a teen, pea coats were all the rage and I wanted to wearmy dads. But he wouldn't let me. Yrs later he let my brother tho and Iwas heartbroken. I told him how much that coat mean to me and how Iloved the dragons.

A few yrs. ago a pkg. came in the mail for mybirthday. I opened it up and inside were the dragon panels. I burstinto tears. I called dad up to thank him and he said why are youcrying? You see I grew up hearing about his stories of being in Chinaduring the war and seeing those panels. They will always remind me ofmy dad. And when I couldn't have the coat I was sad. Dad told me thothe coat fell apart after all these yrs. He saved the buttons and thesepanels. He knew I wanted them. They were the best birthday present.

And so there was one more thing left and it came thisweek. Makes me kind of sad too knowing time is passing so much that nowI'm getting these things. Long ago when my mom was little she drankfrom a Shirley Temple mug. It has Shirley's face painted on there andits cobalt blue glass. When I was a little girl I would spend summersat grammas and gramma would pull out the mug for me. Now I lovedShirley and I love blue glass so that was the perfect cup for me.

Andso I grew up using it. Gramma passed away and mom got it back. But Ialways wanted it. Over time my moms birthdays came and I found outthere were more pieces. They were actually a set. So I bought mom oneyr. the bowl to match it. Another yr. the creamer. And they sat on hershelves for many yrs. She knew I always wanted them. She said maybethis trip home she would give them to me. I just knew I wanted to getthem before mom died. My brother will be handling her affairs and I wasafraid he would just get rid of them before I could get them.

And so this week, mom sent my inheritance. I love them!And now maybe one day Ill pass them on to my family. Sadly by the timeI got this, my own grandkids were grown. But maybe my daughter can saveit for hers and gramma would be smiling knowing its getting passed onstill.

A strange Blog about a tree

2010-08-25T21:23:00.000-07:00

Lately Ive been seeing a lot of blogs about trees. Now Ijust love trees and that was one of the many reasons I moved up here.I'm used to trees being all around me. I had them in NJ. I think that'swhy I was drawn to my last house in Ca. The yard was surrounded bytrees and felt private. The rest of CA. however didn't and I hated it.In fact my very first house in CA. had a grove of Arbutus trees thatwere 50ft tall. I loved them and would often go lay on the grass underthem. My neighbors must have thought I was nuts since it was my frontyard lol. That first picture up there is my favorite tree on thisproperty. Hes so big I cant even get him all in the shot. I have muchtaller Spruce here and much older ones which I love too. But thisone.....calls to me.

As you can see one of his limbs stretches out toward myporch. It feels like hes trying to reach me and hug me. lol. But thatlimb also overhangs the steps going down to the gate. I often hang ontoit for balance because its steep and the steps are narrow. I like tothink he grew that way so anyone would be safe by hanging on. I mean, Ifind it rather perfect that the only limb going that way is right wereyou need it the most.

When the guys where here working they asked if theycould cut it off. It was in their way. I didn't know what to say. Partof me didn't want them to but part of me knew it made sense to. Even my bf wanted to cut it off but he will most likely never get around toit. But I told the guys if you look at how its growing, where itsattached, you can see it should be going in another direction. Itshouldn't even be where it is, so maybe they could just tie it back soit will grow back that way.

And in this shot you can see that I just grab onto it tohead down the steps. And I told them this too. But something inside mestarted to talk to them about the spirits of the trees and how NativeAmericans believe in that too. I know many people here are NA or partNA in this area so I guess I thought they would understand how I feelabout the tree. And so I told them I'm one of those crazy ladies whotalks to her trees and that these big ones are almost 100 yrs old.They are very special. The men never touched it after that, not even topull the limb back.

So I have to wonder if thetree spoke thru me or if they sensed what I did and left it alone. Asyou can see the bristles are small and soft. I love to stroke it as Ilean on it for balance going down the steps. Perhaps that tree knowsmore than I do and just put that limb there to help us humans whodidn't chop him down. I told them all I will protect them........nowits protecting me. I always did love trees. I never knew they couldlove you back. I wonder what this ones name is?

The garden is done....before and after.

2010-08-19T14:21:00.000-07:00

I moved into this house on a hill and wanted to garden. It was built on rock tho so I had to put in a raised bed garden. This is the picture story of it being built. This is the before of my backyard. As you can see its a steep hill.

This is a shot of the after but you really need to see all the parts to see how its transformed the spot.

This is the shot at the bottom of my front porch steps. My front porch is actually my side yard. Its the only place I have that I can actually use the land to grow. This is before.

This is looking down those steps at the after on this side of the yard. Im just beginning to plant so this yr. will be one big experiment since Im starting so late.

Left side yard, before.

One of the boxes on left side, after. Ill be planting seeds in this one. For now I put a Welcome sign in the dirt.

That gate is the entry into my side yard. Next to the garage door Im going to put a rock border and a plant.

Right side yard. It had a rock base set up for garbage cans before. We built a raised bed/compose bin here now.

Right side yard, after. You see the big split box in the corner now. Several beds have been built going down the fence and the fence is in. The front bed is built to use up what land was left but leave the area where the septic system is open, in case of any problems. I decided for now that bed will have my herbs.


Right side yard, before. You can see whats left of the former garden. I had everything ripped out since the plantings made no sense and were very weedy too. Ill reuse those concrete borders to make some smaller planters near the beds.

This is after where the former garden was. These are some of the beds there now. Thats broccoli and Brussels sprouts planted.

Before, it starts to go down hill at the end here.

Few more beds near the down hill area.

There are pavers and steps that start just past the porch which goes down the steep slope and behind the house.

Not sure you can see it clearly but theres the steps going down. There are pavers off to the right which go to a premade by former owners, flat area bordered by rocks. I decided to put more beds there.

This is the fence and gate after. I thought he would leave it rustic but he made these nice end caps to finish the fence off.

This is looking up at the fence and gate, after. As you can see its a very uneven area so I think he did pretty good.

This is the before of that flat area behind the house. This house was built on rock fill tho and even anchoring the beds was hard because of that. So thats why I did raised beds everywhere.

This is after with the raised beds. This is the sunny side of the house too so for now I put in whatever tomatoes and peppers I had . Nothing may grow cuz its late in the season but I want to see how thing do back there for next yr. The zucchini has grown a few in. tho since that plant was put in.

One more shot of the gate and fence, closed this time. I needed a fenced area too for my dog, not just to keep the critters out.

And here is my Paradise. The fence is only 5ft high which meant I didn't need a permit. And yes we do get deer around here. But everything past the fencing is a very steep grade so the deer would have to really work at getting in there. And if they do I can still legally add something to the top of the fence if I need to. So now its finally Home Sweet Home and Garden.

The latest things I made.......

2010-08-16T14:06:00.000-07:00

I was wandering in Joanne'sone day and thought Id buy some crochet thread to work on. I spottedthis stuff..........its an organic bamboo thread. The colors were sosoft and muted and old fashioned looking, I just had to have some! Ilooked thru my books for a pattern when I got home and saw this one,ironically done in soft colored threads too. This was an old book thofrom the 70s so I dont know where they got those colors from but Ithought it would be perfect for me.

So I made that doily upthere for my bedroom nite tables. I was sorry once I did cuz you haveto make many pieces. And it wouldn't have been so bad but this bamboothread with a small needle splits at times and can be hard to rip outwhen you make a mistake. I finished one and now I knew I HAD TO makethe other to match.....sigh. So I plodded thru. They look awesome tho.And I will say this.........not only are the colors they sell thisin.....stunning.............but the feel of this is so soft. It wouldmake amazing clothing I think.

So then I needed another one, a bigger one for mydresser. I was NOT going to make those stupid motifs again. And so Ifound this pattern and decided to use the same colors so it looked likea set. It starts with 5 motifs but that's it. OMG Iadore...........this piece. Its soft, girly, old fashioned and if itwas bigger would make a stunning shawl. Much easier to work with toowhen you use this kind of pattern.

This is the close up of that piece. I love, love, loveit. But I bought blue thread too. And right now my bedroom has blue andwhite pillows on it for the summer. So I think Ill make some with theblue and cream and white next.

I turned a covered fuse box in my kitchen......

2010-07-29T17:40:00.000-07:00

into something useable. This is the before. Not ugly but rather pointless.

First I sanded it and wiped the sanding dust off real good.

Then I painted it with chalkboard paint. First acrosslike you see in this picture. Then I let it dry for 4hrs as the paintcan said. Then i did another coat up and down and let that dry for afew days.
(There's not much space here to take pictures so that's why I had to angle it.)

And now it looks like this. I rubbed white chalk allover it to season it like they say and then wiped it off with a dryrag. I found Crayola has some great colorful sidewalk chalks to use. Iwanted to get some Chalk Ink pens but they are veryexpensive.....almost $4 a piece. I have one or two but wanted morecolor.

So this will be my grocery list. I figure I can use thecolorful chalk to draw cute borders across the top to match theholidays and such. Since its summer..........I drew thebeach.........with a sign telling you which way it is. My bf thoughtthis was such a cute idea.

To see more cute ideas:

Thrift finds and other things....

2010-07-25T22:32:00.000-07:00

I know this is fuzzy but you can still see the doilypretty good. When I was unpacking some things I found this pattern donein soft colors in cotton thread. It was an old magazine. But I neversaw colors of threads like that. So I went off to Joannes craft storehere and found these colors. They are made of bamboo now and so verysoft. I thought I would try it. With a small needle that's required andmy bad eyes it can be difficult to work with. If I drop a stitch andtry to pick it up, it often splits the thread or just pulls up afragment. I'm almost done with the other matching one for my bedroomand they look great with my lamps but I don't think I would use thisthread to make all these tiny motifs. Next time Ill just use a regularround pattern that has less need to be cut and ends tucked in. Cottonthreads would have worked better.

This is a hanging tea party. When I was in Joannes theyhad a 70% sale on these so I got it for about $10. Its dark with acopper rubbed on finish and resin with glass beads that bounce lightaround. I thought it would work perfect on my back deck.

Ive been bringing rocks home from the beach. And after Iwashed them and dried them I decided to use them as markers on my deckgarden. Some mark herbs and this one says Pats Garden. I used Chalk Inkpens to write on the rocks with. They hold up pretty good to wateringand such. And I figure if it comes off I can fix it or change it tosomething else.

The bottom pierced plate Ive showed you before which wasfrom a thrift store in CA. But I found this pierced hand painted bowlfrom one around here. I put them together on my coffee table and fellin love with the combo.

Ive been seeing sand castles around in the shops andthey aren't cheap. Goodwill had a couple last week and I fell in lovewith this one. I'm hoping to maybe use it in a glass ball with morereal sand and some small shells for a beach scene.

I have mermaids and sea things in my bathrooms. I foundthis lg. shell piece with roses on it. I have roses everywhere so Ithought this was perfect to use as a soap dish in my spare bathroom.

I am still unpacking stuff and have many craftmagazines. I found some wicker magazine holders awhile back that Iposted. But this week found these. They are rough wood, not quite balsawood, a bit stronger than that. But I can paint these or paper them tomatch wherever I put them.

I collect blue and white chinese pieces. I usually onlyfind small pieces at the thrift store. But this just came in and it wasmy lucky day. Its here on the bookcase for now but will be used in mykitchen on top of my cabinets once the kitchen is painted.

I have rose pillows on mybed but Ive been wanting to change them to a more summer/seashore/beachtheme. Ive been looking around and really haven't seen anything I likeexcept expensive ones online. Last week I found these and they wereonly $3.99 a piece! Ironically they are almost exactly what I waslooking for.

Soon Ill have Eden...

2010-07-10T12:42:00.000-07:00

Soon my yard will look like this!

SoonIll have my Eden. I don't have alot of room to grow even tho I own ahalf acre. I'm on a hill and most of it is ravine. So I decided to ripout my front (which is actually my side yard that goes to my front doorlol) and fence it all in and make raised beds for growing all sorts ofthings.

I hate what is planted there. Its weedy and wild andnot very pretty. There's bamboo planted there and on the side of thehouse which I want gone. Bamboo is invasive and this looks like it wasplanted just before I bought so hopefully we can get it all out.

Andso the guy was finally here today. My yard has gotten totally overgrownand needs a major bushwhacking. So hes gonna do that first. Hes goingto cut all the weeds and grass and get rid of that, then rip outeverything else, including the bamboo and haul it away. Then we startfrom scratch.

Id like something like this as my garden fence. Its light and airy anddoesn't block the view. They sell deer fencing like this so we can usethat.

He is going tobuild a fence all around this area for me. I want cedar posts fillingin with deer fencing. I think the open wire look will keep it looking abit wild since I can still see everything in the yard. He wanted to putfence posts with small spaces but I think that will take away from myview from my back windows so I said no.

It wont be like this, will be raised beds with the fence on top of it but it will be layered like this.

Hesgoing to build me raised beds in the back on the one flat area I haveand then make another below it so it will be terraced. That's the sunnyside of the house and I think tomatoes and peppers and such will doawesome back there. Hes going to build a gate going out to the grassyyard tho so we can mow it.

The rest hes going to rip everythingout and make me raised beds. I will have to draw up something to showhim where I want them and hopefully it wont be too expensive. He wantedto save me money using pressure treated lumber and I said no. I saidthat stuff leeches chemicals into the dirt and then into the food. Iintend to grow organic so I want nothing like that. We will be usingcedar instead. I'm also afraid with those chemicals and being on a hillthey will run down into the lake. I want to keep this land as nice asit is now....fresh and clean.

And so if he comes back with adecent price for all this I may have him build me a couple raised bedsin the front yard too. He wanted to do it hourly and I said no. I wanta price. I don't like hourly it tends to run into too much money. Ineed to know so I can budget. So he will be back in a couple days andgive me prices and if it sounds good.........Ill be on my way tostarting my Garden of Eden.

And so the day begins.........and here come the sirens....

2010-06-27T16:28:00.000-07:00

I slept in today till 9am.I'm glad, darn sunshine has been waking me very early and I'm crawlingout of bed at 7:30am lately. Now maybe that's a good time for many ofyou but not me. The man doesn't have to go to work till 2pm and workstill 10 so our days have changed. With these hrs. 9am feels right.

Andso I sat down here to read blogs and suck down my morning coffee. Itwas almost 11am when I realized OMG its Farmers Market day!!! And so Iran to shower and get dressed so I could head off to it. I had to hurrycuz I didn't know if it stopped at noon or later. It was almost noonwhen I left.

Now its summertime here and this is a touristtown. Kurt said the other day when he went to the store, traffic wasawful, bumper to bumper. You have to understand tho a major hwy goesright thru my town. In some states its a 6 lane freeway. Here its a twolane country road that widens to four lanes at 30mi in town. As onenative told me.....no matter what anyone tells you.......its stillgonna take at least 15min to get from one end of town to the other lolI can see that. Which is why some of us go back roads to avoid most ofit when we can.

So on my way today I decided to go to thesignal light instead of attempting to cross that hwy at the other endof my street. Traffic was busier than normal but it wasn't bad whichsurprised me. You see there's a Big Kite Festival going on down at thebeach. Alot of folks come here just for that. So I figure either Imissed it or its later on, I don't know. I did however see somegorgeous kites flying high as I neared the market. I really wanted togo down there but I know parking will be impossible. sigh.

Ilive here, I'm not a tourist anymore and so I'm becoming a townie. Theyhibernate till tourist season is over. I can understand it , truly Ican. And tourism is most of the business in the area so I really cantcomplain. But it bugs me cuz I'm still a tourist even tho I live here.I JUST GOT HERE! I haven't seen all the stuff that goes on so I haven'tgot tired of it all. But I don't want to fight traffic and crowds. Ileft CA. cuz of all that crap.....so I guess there's no happy mediumfor me.

I did see something cool......a die hard ...there wasa guy on a bike towing a cart........and on that cart was hissurfboard! Ive never seen that before, most people put them on theircars.

And so I found my two favorite vendors at the market. Ibought another loaf of awesome honey oat whole wheat bread. And lastweek was this vendor with the most delicious cheese danish! I meanthese were seriously good. Most cheese danish have bland doughy bitswith a blob of cheese in the middle. These are twisted bits of pastryrolled with butter and cinnamon and shaped into a coil like that whichis rolled into circle. The middle is topped with yummy cheese fillingand blueberries. Serious good eats!

And so today I told the ladyat the booth I adore her stuff. I bought a big artisan Italian loaf ofbread last week and last nite made garlic bread with half of it. OMG!!!I'm telling you.......I could skip the garlic and all the crap and justeat the bread but the combo was thru the roof. I could have skippeddinner and ate just that! And so I told her, her baked goods are thebomb and that I'm very hard to impress. I am a chef.

She was sohappy to hear it and told me where they are I think in Depoe Bay orNewport but the bakery name is Volta so if your in that area check itout. She was a sweet lady perhaps Jamaican so her accent was a bit hardat times to understand but I just loved her. I will be haunting thisplace at the market every week.

And then I came home to getthe man ready for work. So I ran around making breakfast for him andthen started his lunch. Hes on a tuna fish kick lately and eats thatdaily. So I make a big batch and then I don't have to every day forawhile. That picture up there tho was today's tuna and it pissed meoff. Notice anything different?

I am going to be emailingChicken of the Sea. Those were from a pkg. of tuna cans from Costco.One of them is only half full!!! Ive never seen anything like that butI figure if I complain maybe Ill get some freebies cuz they owe me.That stuff isn't free ya know?

And so after all that I decideto finally eat. Its late, the man is almost ready to leave for work. SoI mix some of the tuna salad with macaroni salad I made the other nitefor dinner. I love to do that! Makes a yummy meal. And then the sirensstarted.....

That's all Ive been hearing since summer began. Soonce again I don't live in a quiet neighborhood.....sigh. The hospitalis down the street and so is the fire dept. There are airplanes flyingoverhead Ive never seen before. I think they might be patrolling thecoast cuz people disappear ez around here with the sneaker waves andtourists being stupid. And then there's the helicopters that bring incasualties to the hospital behind me.

So much for a quiet summer here......no wonder the natives look forward to winter.

Men and Fairies

2010-06-23T10:44:00.000-07:00

This is my favorite fairy picture....

Soon the longest day of the year, Summer Solstice I decide to try tocontact the fairies. I read that's a good nite to do it. And I readthat an offering of some sort is a good thing to do. I also read theylove buttered bread sprinkled with sugar. And so I did that and decidedto make it even more special by sprinkling it with some of my privatestash of vanilla sugar that I made.

Before I went to bed, Iput the dish out on the picnic table and spoke to them. I said Ivenever seen a fairy so I'm not sure they are real but I want to knowthey are. Ive heard many stories and since my yard is filled withAspens and fairies love them, I thought there may be some around. (YesI know I sound crazy but hey, I'm getting old here and I'm entitled ) Ialso told them there will be some changes to the yard. I will bedigging and putting in fencing and raised beds. And I understandfairies love gardens. And so I wanted them to know it would be ok withme to bless my gardens and play in them if they would just showthemselves to me. That would make me smile. And then I went to bed.

Thenext morning I got up and sadly the plate of little cut up butteredbread was still there. Sigh. But I left it there in the hopes that youjust never know what might happen. And then I went about my day.I had a wild and strange day, locking my keys in a running car and other things. And sowhen I got home, tired and worn out I forgot about the bread. I alwaysput the dog out tho when Ive been out, she has to go usually. And whenI did that, I turned and something looked strange. It was then Inoticed ..........THE PLATE WAS EMPTY!!!

For a moment Ithought omg fairies.......then I heard a crow caw. Yea that's probablywhat it was, the birds ate it. (altho I read crows can be fairies indisguise). And so I brought the plate in, not sure really whathappened.

Later on that nite Kurt got home and I told himabout my weird day. He went outside to smoke after he changed hisclothes and it was then that I remembered the bread so I went outsideto talk to him. Now you see the nite before when I was doing this , heasked me what I was doing. When I told him about my gardens and thefairies and the summer solstice he laughed. He humors me alot andthat's good.

And then I said when I got home the bread wasgone!! Then I said probably birds and frowned. He said nope I bet itwas the fairies! I laughed and thought he was making fun of me but hesaid no. And then I saw his face. I said you did it didn't you?.....says....no the fairies did it. I said you tossed the bread intothe yard didn't you? lol Sweet guy ........yea he admitted it. Hewanted me to think the fairies came. Awwwwwwwwwww damn ....hes a keeper.

Finally I have my rug

2010-06-20T22:47:00.000-07:00

I got my dining room ruglast week. Its been sitting rolled up in the living room. Its beenannoying me. The man has been working all week but I thought he wouldwant to get this rug down since the dog has been scratching up thefloor. So today I got mad and took things into my own hands. I figuredIll get as far as I can go and tomorrow when he has to climb overthings and cant sit at the table to eat, he will finish it. However Igot lucky. I moved all the furniture struggling to get the table offthe smaller rug that was there, all alone. I washed the floor, laid thepadding down and dragged the big carpet roll to the dining room.

Icut it out of the plastic and struggled to get it laid down right. ThenI fought with the big table all by myself and managed to get it prettycentered. And there's the result. Now all I have to do is finishcleaning the chandelier and talk the man into putting it up.......

So here is my girlie floral rug right in the center ofmy house. You cant see it here but there is some purple in the rug andthat's perfect. I intend to paint the kitchen a dusty eggplant on thefew walls that show and have my blue and white china high on thecabinets to decorate them. I think its all gonna go together prettygood after all.

I loveeeee living here in the country!

2010-06-16T20:25:00.000-07:00

Today was just a normal day. I had a few errands to run and had to getmore eggs too. Had to go to the bank.....so I started there thendecided after to wander down to this farm I read about....that's openall week. I found the road and wandered down it. Gosh I love going downthese back roads. They LOOK like back-roads.....not suburbia. :)

It reminded me of the old song.......over the river and thru the woodsto grandmothers house we goooooo. And I did go thru the woods and pastthe river were some folks were fishing. Then kept wandering till I sawthe sign for the farm. So Ok I thought it would be this reallycommercial looking place. But it wasn't.

I turned down the road where the sign was but it got even moredense.....and it started to rain so it felt like when I was in Hawaiiyrs ago......sort of rain forest-like. I kept wishing I brought mycamera and I think I'm going to next time I go there. Finally on thisdirt road.......there was another sign for the farm so I turned there.

And the road got even narrower, trees and ferns and some stumps toguide you on your way and then a sharp turn. I felt like I was going tosome secret place. Now this was an adventure!

And then suddenly as I made the turn another sign showed me where topark and it was like I was dreaming. The sweetest lil farm I ever saw.I WANT IT! THE WHOLE THING....MINE MINE MINE lol

There were sweet lil rows right there will all sorts of things startingto grow.....baby plants and in between the rows were rows of grass towalk on. At the end of each planted row was a long log placedlengthwise to protect the end of the row....and it was moss covered.There were rows on the left and on the right and in the middle was apath to a sweet lil building......with a sign for the Barking Dog farm.Awwwwww damn I love it!

Inside nobody was there but there were rows of some veggies and arefrig case. I signed the guest book so I could get news of what theyhad. Things were a bit pricey and I think much was just brought in andnot grown there yet. I walked back outside and there was this sweetvine covered wooden deck with a gate. The gate had this goofy dogholding veggies made out of painted metal. And when I looked over thedeck there was a sweet lil house and a big greenhouse. Nobody wasaround but they left a note to call on the call box if I wantedanything.

Not yet....didn't see anything I wanted that was not too pricey but Illbe back. I felt like I stepped right into a storybook. They definitelyhad a piece of Paradise and its down the other end of town from me, notfar.

And so I wandered back down the road, almost sorry to leave. I decidedto head back to the outlet mall cuz I was looking for some stainlesssteel bowls for my FIL for Fathers Day.

I hit both gourmet shops there but I wasn't paying those prices. Theyare getting smart now...and charging per bowl and then it costs alotmore. I bought mine in a set yrs. ago. Ill just have to keep lookingand he will have to get them later. But of course I didn't go just inthose stores and bought a top for me and two pairs of jeans. But whatjeans! These were a knit type fabric that I thought was denim....andthey stretched to fit too. So I decided to try them on and omg they fitso nice and felt soo comfy. So I had to buy two pairs at least. ....onetan, one purple. Sadly Ill have to hem them cuz I'm short as a stumpand everything I buy is too long.

Then I wandered back home. You see when I called the egg lady earliershe was out fishing, said she would call me when she got home. So afterI got home, she called me awhile later. She asked me if I want morefish and of course I said yes! So I asked her if she liked crumb cakeand she said YES! So I packed up quite a few pieces to bring with meand the extra empty egg cartons too.

I love going to the egg lady's house. Once again its like going thruthe woods and when I arrive Dukey the yellow lab is there to greet meand get a scratch or two. And the chickens are wandering all over. Iopened the door and Dukey zeroed right in on the crumb cakes sitting onthe floor in the back, sticking his nose in and trying to get past theplastic wrap but I said nonono.......and pushed him away. The egg ladyjust got there too and had her bucket of fish ready to be cleaned so wewandered inside.

She cleaned the fish and for that I was grateful. Yes I'm a chef but Icant handle blood and guts and so I don't like to do that stuff. Whenwe used to go fishing my ex cleaned them so I never had to and we hadprep people in the restaurant so I didn't have to there either. And soI handed her the crumb cakes and told her elderly mom I brought her asweet snack too.

While I was sitting there her hubby came in and he was too cutesmacking her back and forth on her butt while shes trying to clean thefish lol. And so he asked if I wanted them heads on or off and I saiddoesn't matter, either way. I'm just happy to have them. He told her tocut them off but she didn't. I think he was trying to make points withme (wink) , hes a nice guy too.

And so he talked about making pickled fish with some the last time andhad her take some out for me to taste. We often get into theseconversations about food and I love it. I'm not crazy about pickledfish and the first batch I tasted was a bit salty. He told her no getthe other jar so she did and I tasted that. It was much better butstill for me.....not one of my fav. things. But her family is fromFinland and such so I know that's a big thing there.

She went off to gather eggs again and he and I chatted awhile about allsorts of things and canning and growing and I gave him some ideas ofother herbs to use for the fish too. And so it was getting late and Ihad to go. Grabbed my purse and stuff and headed out the door. Hefollowed me.

The chickens were running around and I just loved it. Told him I wantedchickens when I got here but Kurt wont let me get any. So I said Illjust live vicariously thru them, this way I can get eggs and enjoy thechickens but not have all the mess. I can be the country girl and thecity girl at the same time. He laughed and showed me his bare buttchickens. I'm serious , his black and whites for some reason weremolting feathers off their back ends.....damn they have to be cold. lol

It started to rain and so I got in the car to go home. He told me aboutsome of the biddies wandering down the road the other day......side byside like they were leaving home. lol I laughed and asked did theyleave? He said no they came back but it was funny to see. As I saidgoodbye I saw some of the chickens down the end of that drivewaywandering off and he wandered down there too.

I turned my car around in the big driveway to head out and saw him takethe small riding digger he had and round up the birds and shoo themback towards home in the rain. I pulled up beside him in my car andopened the windows. I said I guess this is how you chicken wranglethese days and he agreed and laughed.

I wandered back down the wooded road that goes around the lake andrealized just how happy I was . I wished that I brought my camera heretoo to show you all the sweet chickens they have. I loved where Iwandered today, I love the coastal beachy town I'm in, I Love the backroads and small town feel and even the people I'm meeting. It don't getany better than that.

Weather

2010-06-06T14:13:00.000-07:00

So the last two days Iveposted notes about the weather on my other site. Yesterday was beyond awesome and a dayyou wish you could bookmark to take out when you want a glorious day.Today its pouring again and its been really pouring most days since Igot home from my trip to CA for my grandchild's HS graduation. And the reason its bothering me is because I went to checkout the Farmers Market here.

It started last weekend but I wasaway. And today its pouring. I didn't know what to expect. Oregoniansare tough people and do everything in the rain. So I got my stufftogether to go and even brought an umbrella cuz it was really bad outthere. I searched and searched and couldn't find it.

I thinkit might be at the Cultural ctr. but only saw one person under acanopy. I checked it out but wasn't sure so I headed home. I'm shocked.I did what I thought all Oregon folks do and nobody was tough enough todo it. I cant believe it but I have to wonder..why have a FarmersMarket outside if it rains here alot and nobody is brave enough to goto it in that weather? I read it didn't do well last yr onSaturdays.....perhaps it wasn't the day but the weather.....duh!

Sotoday I posted a note about the different kinds of rain I seehere......sort of like Eskimos with different kinds of snow. {{There are several kinds of rain in Oregon...theres partlycloudy...partly sunny........foggy........misty.....drizzling......rainyou can play in......rain you can go shopping in and then theres somuch rain if you go out in it you will drown. :)}} And I'mnot complaining at all. I knew when I moved here I would have lots ofrain. After 25yrs in Ca. I loved it, I needed it, I craved it. Betweenallergies from smoke, dust and pollen killing me there and theheat....I was feeling dried up, ill, melted and old. I needed to leave.

And that's really funny cuz when I moved to Ca. all those yrsago I was so stoked about coming here. So much sunshine and flowerseverywhere but most of all for me....no snow. I left NJ cuz of thefreezing winters and tons of snow. Of course after I left there, theyhave had many mild winters but I don't care. I left NJ sad to leave mylife behind but happy to be going where I thought I could breathe andbe happy.

Perhaps many yrs ago that was possible in CA. butthat state has changed so much that I no longer recognize it. To me itsa terrible place to live and I hope my children will be able to leaveit too one day. But when I got there I landed closer to SF than beforeI left it. And just that short 10mi. or so difference, there's adefinite difference in weather. I was near the fog belt and I couldcount on one hand how many warm summer nites I could sit outside,nothing like NJ. It was foggier, mistier and the air was better too.

InNJ summer nites are wonderful......and so when I moved just the nexttown over to the valley there in Ca., I had those wonderful summernites there. In fact it would be so warm that several Christmases wecould sit outside on the front porch in shorts and sandals. But summersthere were brutal....often hitting 110, no rain for months.....dust,pollen and when summer fires came, smoke that permeated everything. Iwould live inside with AC on and still suffer.

And so I think of that Sunscreen poem..... and this line from it.....

"Livein New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard; live inNorthern California once, but leave before it makes you soft. "

Andthis line is just so incredibly true. East coasters are strong andtough but often times become too tough. And Ca. folks get too soft andlazy with all the sunshine and cant seem to handle adversity well. Andnow Ive moved on to a nice combo of both. I have much of my NJ weatherand beaches but not the snow or very very little of it. Its rare here.And I have some Ca. weather too with glorious sunshine but its greenhere instead of dry and brown. And I still have my sourdough bread anddungeness crabs too.

Oregon feels like paradise in spite ofthe weather. Its green, fresh air, not crowded. They grow lots ofthings here too. There's hunting and fishing and farms and yet somecities too. There's the beaches which are too wet and cold to be onmost times but I love that cuz there's hardly anyone on them. So itfeels wild and I just absorb all that nature.

So here is apoem I wrote long ago before I moved up here, envisioning where I wouldbe. Now that I reread it......I do believe I created this place longbefore I got here. It fits the poem almost perfectly.

Mothers Day Fantasy

I'm not here, no really I'm not,
I'm where I want to be, in my dreams.

I'm up there, where there's pine and rain
not far from the ocean.

I can see it, all green and earthy
it gleams like a jewel in the sun.

My new home, not far from the sea,
so close it lulls me to sleep.

I'm not here, no really I'm not,
this is just a figment of your imagination you see.

I'm up there, in the mists and rain
in the primordial forests, breathing it in.

I'm on the porch in my wicker rocker
watching the whales in the sea.

I'm there with him, so close, listening
to the ocean, drifting off to sleep.

I'm not here, (shhhh I know I really am)
But I dream of land around me.

And growing things abound,
some wild, some sown by me.

And running free through the forest
becoming one with the trees.

I'll be there soon, I feel it.
Its up there waiting for me.

My first attempt at poetry since High School
P.C. ......seanymph 2008

My citywide garage sale finds....

2010-04-19T11:21:00.000-07:00

This was on day two of a 3 dayCitywide Garage sale weekend , special thing going on here in town. Missed the first day cuz of our septic tank issue, but its fixed now. Sounds like that was thebest day tho. Lots were out there so alot is gone........and dealerstoo....and they pissed some of the people off. It was supposed to startat 8pm. and some showed up at 6:30am. I swear if I ever do that anddealers show up I will refuse to sell to them. There is a reason timesare set and most do not like early birds.

But I left aroundnoon to drop some eggs off at the in-laws house. I stayed a bit then left towander. So Iheaded off to garage sale near the lake near my house. I figure thereare nice homes and its a good place to start.

It was raining lightlysince early that morning but it let up a bit while I was out. It wasstill gray but that made it nice. A lot of people didn't want toventure out. But a lot of home owners didn't want to do it either sinceit was chilly. I started my drive around the lake.....I love it. Thescenery is so beautiful and relaxing. And then I saw a sign for a saleso I stopped. I'm so glad I did. I hit jackpot there. I bought thispiece, might be a nite table, I'm not sure but certainly wont be usedthat way. I fell in love with the cottage look and most of all the handpainted grapes.

It was only $35. I have a lot of pretty purple grape things in my kitchen and dining room and knew I had to have it. The lady said it came from a local towns community center and its from the 1930's. She had someone handpaint it and I love the fine details on this, right down to the cute glass knobs.

Sofor now I put it in my kitchen at the end of my counters. Its cutethere but I'm not sure it will stay there. I have to move the gate legtable into the spare room now. Its under my counter and really doesn'twork there. I may put this cabinet there and put all my linen napkinsin the cabinet, I'm not sure tho.

I continued to wander a bitand saw someone else looking at the piece so I made sure to tell theowners....Ill be taking that piece but I still want to look around. Iwasn't gonna have that snagged out from under me. As I got around tothe other side this grape table screamed take me home. I had to have itand it was only $15.

The top turns completely around, its on a metalbase tho with wheels so it can be rolled around.

The top is just arough piece of wood painted green but it has some nice grapes on ittoo. She said since I was taking the grape cabinet she would knock $5off the table if I take that too. So I did :) She had a few otherpieces I liked but thought the price was a bit higher than I wanted topay .....so her hubby helped me load these things in my car and I left.

And now I put this table onmy back balcony to use with my porch glider. I think it looks reallynice out here. And since I didn't pay much for it I don't mind if itgets a bit weathered, its pretty protected on this porch .

Nice folks tho. She said shehad more but most likely wouldn't do it again tomorrow. She was quiteannoyed with the early birds it seems. She said the first day they weresetting up the garage going back and forth getting things to put there.At one point a dealer came when she wasn't there to see it cuz she was getting more things.....loaded up her car , ripped off the tagsand handed them to her to add up the prices. ....and this was 6:30am!!!The nerve!!! The lady was really angry and told this person, I wouldhave too. In fact I'm just nasty enough I might have told them to takeit all out of their car cuz I'm not selling it lol. .But that's howrude people are becoming.

I wandered around the lakemore.......found some signs and wandered toward them. The signs werenot really good in some areas it was hard to tell something until youwent past the street or you didn't see it at all till you went back.But I took this one road that loops around and apparently goes toanother pretty park by the lake. Ill remember this too, I want to goback. I stopped at one house but mostly kid stuff .......across thestreet was another house.

The old lady who lived there wastrying to get me to bid on the old trunk there so the guy looking at itwouldn't get it.........wasn't sure why, but they were being silly andhaving fun. I met some nice neighbors doing this. And then herdaughter had a gorgeous European piece that was actually an old washstand with a marble top. I loved it but they wanted $150. While it mostlikely was a good price, and I loved the piece, I didn't need it andhad no clue where I would put it. She said make me an offer but Icouldn't and she wanted to know if I thought it was priced good. I toldher I believe in a shop, this piece would probably go for double so Ifelt it was a good price. (Honestly tho for a garage sale I felt it was over priced, people look for bargains.) But I have no where to put it so I cant buyit. We all yakked a bit more then I left there too.

I had decided that todaysince there were going to be many choices that if I didn't know where Icould put it in the house I wouldn't buy it. So I wandered down that loopand found one more. That's where I found these stepping stones. I livenear the beach now and I want to lighten up and make a bit of a beachytheme in my house now. These were 3 for $10 and I know they can costthat a piece and more. Since I want to do raised beds here for veggiesI thought maybe I could use them as a path.

I came back aroundthe loop and stopped at one more house I passed on the way in. Andthat's where I bought this chair. That last house had a very similarchair and wanted $75 for it but I wouldn't pay that. I have my grammaschair and Ive been looking for a couple more so I would have enough tosit around the dining table instead of bringing outside chairs in. Ispotted this chair for $25 and decided this was a pretty good one. Itssturdy, I sat in it.

And I love the roses carvedon the back....that will go with my rose stuff but the fabric on theseat is a grapes tapestry and that goes great with the rest of thehouse. So I stuffed it in the car too. I have a small car so I put the back seat down to stuff all these things in, good thing it can do that. And now Ive put it next tothe hutch in the dining room. I like it there. Ill polish it up thisweek and try to hide the scratches but the chair works really good withmy table.

So there I was driving around town hitting a few morestops that yielded nothing and then wandered around my area of thelake. Must be younger couples near the hospital cuz those just hadclothes and toys . I was getting hungry, had to potty and was tired. Idecided to call it a day. I didn't go the next day, it was supposed to be 70 and nice. But that will bring morepeople out too and it seemed many of the ones I hit don't want to do iton Sunday. So there may not have been very many anyway. I spent more than I thought but I went prepared with lots of change just in case I found some treasures. I read about others on here that hit sales and honestly I dont know how you get things so cheap, must be the area your in.

And while I can see this garage sale growing and it is already, a few more towns got in on it this yr, I dont know if I will want to go anymore. My eyes are getting bad and its hard to see the signs so unless I get someone else to drive next yr.....not sure what Ill do. Ive heard a lot sirens out there so theres probably been some accidents. I can see that happening since I almost got hit once too. The roads are hilly around here the streets dont all have curbs and people park wherever they could find spots since parking seems to be very limited too. That makes for a mess.

Just some of my Easter decor...

2010-03-28T15:46:00.000-07:00

This is the wreath on my front door this yr. I found it at Joannes last year on 70% clearance. It was a $30 wreath so it was a great deal. This was the only one not broken. The eggs are fragile and crack just like real eggs even tho they arent. I found a bag this yr. of Purple ribbon in Goodwill. that bow is made from the wired ribbon in the package. I love it!

I bought this birds nest in Ca. last yr. I had little chocolate eggs in it then. Ive used it all over the house for different things at different times of the yr. Now its filled with fake speckled eggs that I bought a bunch of this yr. Sits on the coffee table and I think its so cute.

I watched QVC a week or so ago and got in trouble. Not only did I buy those speckled eggs up there but these bunnies and the lil chicks behind them. Both are sequin and beaded and are too cute. I tucked the chickies in the basket I filled with candy for my grand daughter when she gets here and my bfs brothers kids since they will all be here for the holiday.

My DIL bought that basket of hyacinths. I love them even if they are silk. So I stuck it in our bathroom to brighten it up and hide my bfs razor hehehe. Added a few more speckled eggs and lil chicks too.

I love this basket and bought it last yr. just for me. I love girly frilly things and this pink basket just screamed girly to me. I filled it with my fake stuffed bunny and chick peeps and some speckled eggs.

I love nesting santas, bunnies, snowmen, you name it and have several for different holidays I pull out. This one is for the guest bathroom. No thats not something sticking out of his ear. .. I forgot to remove the mermaid night-light when I took the shot.

This is my table. That purple feather wreath was on my door last yr. and I just loved it. But its very windy here and I didn't want the feathers to get blown off the wreath so this yr I used it inside on my table. I put a hurricane lamp glass in the middle to showcase a fake chocolate bunny. Added a couple more bunnies and chicks and my fav yellow duckie. Last yr. he was on clearance at the local craft store and I just HAD TO have him. His face is so cute. The only thing is now, I wish I bought a couple since he was only a dollar.

And this is on my counter in the kitchen. I dont have much on it because when everyone gets here for dinner that will be set up as the buffet. But for now my fav. lemon candle is lit to make the house smell nice.

Can I paint you a Picture?

2010-03-22T00:10:00.000-07:00

Just took the dog outside for her morning business. Sometimes youreally need to just stop and live the moment.......and so I did.

Its misty outside, its been raining. But that mist puts a bit of a hushon things outside. The air was fresh, crisp and clean. I inhaled, thenclosed my eyes......and realized how sweet the sounds were around me.

I could hear the water dripping from the trees in the woods here.Reminded me of a rain forest. Misty, wet, damp. And there were soundsall around me of so many critters and birds. Chittering, twittering,squawking, singing. Natures music. And in the distance a lowrumble.........of the ocean. What a great way to wake up. How did I getso lucky to end up here?