THE CUTEST COTTAGE LAMPS, ETC.

DANG COMPUTERS!

2012-01-19T10:57:00.000-08:00

Another funny sign! In the last post I did, the whole blog changed and I don't know how it happened! So please bear with me while I correct it and get back into the swing of things after the holidays are over! Maybe I can get my blog back the way it was????
xoxo
Marilyn

A SIGN OF THE TIMES!

2011-11-27T19:54:00.000-08:00

These signs came to me via my email from various friends....I hope you get a kick out of them like I did!

Below is a photo my sister, Carol took of the "Old Mill District" in Bend last fall. She is really very talented with her camera! These three stacks are all that is left of the mill on the Deschutes River.

So did you think I fell off a cliff or something? Well, I didn't, it's just been very busy around my home these past few months. I haven't even made one lamp or shade! Not to mention my LACK of posting! But I do take a look at your blogs now and then and I can see that you all are doing great! BJ, well she's always making food that looks so yummy! Adrienne posts so many photos of the beautiful places she and her honey go! And Kathy is always showing her quilts and FOOD! The rest of my blogging friends are busy, busy, busy!

I took down the fall decorations and now up goes the Christmas decorations! We are not even having family come during the Christmas holiday - but I HAVE to put up some decorations and a tree! It just wouldn't be the same without all the "stuff"! Well, it's getting late and I have to turn on the Food Channel and watch the next "Iron Chef Challenge" tonight - my honey and I love to watch the chefs cook!

So have a great week, and PROMISE, I will start posting more often again! ALSO: When I posted this, it changed my layout, and I have been working on it, but can't figure it out? The right sidebar went to the bottom and I can't get it back to the right side! Any suggestions?

XOXO
Marilyn

KITCHEN-DINING-LIVING ROOM REMODEL

2011-09-29T14:58:00.000-07:00

The picture above is what our kitchen used to look like. Pretty ordinary for a manufactured home! I hated the corner sink - not ever enough room. All the wood was OK, but I really like painted wood! And that black & white tile behind the stove had to go, along with the flooring!

This part of the kitchen is where we usually eat our meals. And outside that big window on the right is our "bird sanctuary"; we love watching the birds while eating our breakfast! When we moved here I painted the kitchen yellow with a splash (well, sponged) light blue here and there. And as you can see, it was yellow, blue, red, pink, green. And we had this old carpenters table that we use as another counter when needed (One of our friends gave it to us; it was actually hand-made by his father!)

This is the living room-dining room. We kept the color on the walls - it is called "Creme Brulee" from Behr in the dining room, and "Contemplation" on the living room walls (a light green) by Behr also. But the old carpet had to go - too many doggies had left their prints and scent (ours and the previous owners dogs.)

Going through some old magazines I found an article I had saved by one of my favorite designers; Gail Claridge in Westlake Village, Calif. Her kitchen & living room were done in Woods, Reds, greens and some yellows. I loved it! And that was the look I was going for. But I didn't quite make it to her designer look. However, I really like what we ended up with. TAKE A LOOK!

So, we put in new flooring throughout the kitchen, dining area, and living room. We painted the cabinets "cottage white" Got a new dish washer (the old one was on its last leg!) subway tiles for the backsplash, plaid wallpaper, and my dream: a new GAS range! This was quite a feat in an "all electric" home! I sewed new valances and a new chandelier shade (picture below). I still have that corner sink, but it REALLY would have cost a LOT more to re-arrange the whole kitchen! Now I am looking for black kitchen table & chairs; but haven't found them as yet.

Details: We removed the door under the sink and I added a curtain. Problem was, I couldn't find an "old" curtain rod! We looked in antiques stores, then found an old spoon. Well it wasn't quite long enough, so Roger took it out in his shop and welded an extension in the middle and attached it to the cabinet - neat huh!

I saw a photo of someone else who bought a rabbit for a door knob, so I found an old "bossy" she even had a bell around her neck. How cute is that!

I wanted the look of a farm kitchen, so I asked Roger if he could drill some holes in some of the cabinet doors - what do you think????

There was a cupboard for your china, so we took the glass out and added the chicken wire instead. I added red & white check paper to the back of the cabinet to make it stand out a little better. And we got knobs and drawer pulls for all the doors and drawers.

I found this shelf in an antique store and had to have it! I was planning on putting it in our bedroom, but it just didn't look right there. So when I put it up against the plaid wallpaper, voila! Also the bottom half of my mothers hutch I have kept all these years just added the green & white tiles to the top...I think I will re stain it or maybe paint it green or red?

I found this little rug just perfect for Baylee to lie on while we are having breakfast - now she can watch the birds also; actually she likes watching for the squirrels.

So this is the "after" picture of the dining room and living room. Although, we're never done re-decorating are we!

And this picture is the "after" picture of the living room only.

Now there is still one UNFINISHED PROJECT! YIKES! This spot is where the built-in oven was. We can't decide just what to do with it. I think we are going to build some pull-out drawers for all this "stuff" with a cabinet door over that. Maybe leave the microwave showing? We'll see!

AND WE COULDN'T HAVE ENDED UP WITH SUCH A NICE REMODEL WITHOUT THE HELP OF Ann & Gerald; who are local carpenters/designers in our area. Actually they did all the hard work! Roger and I only finished up a little here and there. And I have to tell you Ann & Gerald are so easy to work with! I don't think I would have gotten my gas range if it hadn't been for their genius! THANK YOU BOTH FOR SUCH A GREAT JOB!

So we are off on another camping trip for a few days. I have been gone from blogging for over a month now. But with winter coming on, I'll be a better blogger, promise! You all have a great week, enjoy the autumn! I plan on tossing a few leaves around myself!

xoxo
Marilyn

AIN'T SHE SWEET!

2011-07-16T08:32:00.000-07:00

1955 Chevy four door station wagon! SUE-WEEET!

My honey and I were driving back from a Wallowa Lake camping trip a few weeks ago and saw this beauty on the side of the road - FOR SALE! I said "There's my car!" But of course, Roger didn't stop to look at it - He's a Ford-man, you know! Ce la ve!

Then last weekend we traveled to La Grade, Oregon for a car show and decided to drive back home on the same route as before. And what do you know! Driving through that same little town out in the middle of nowhere - there was the car - still FOR SALE. This time my honey stopped and we looked it over. He checked the engine, the shocks, the general condition, etc. The owner came out and we took it for a spin, it sounded great; discussed price, and ended up buying it! YEE HAA! Roger said "now this is YOUR car!" YEE HAA AGAIN!

Now we have the T-Bird, the 29 Model A, and now my 55 Chevy! I love it, and I am not going to have to do much to it either, the engine is good, we have an extra set of tires with mags, we even got the old engine - and sold it to a friend already!
Taking her home!
I know, I know; too many cars! But the T-Bird will stay in the family (Roger's father gave it to him - he was the original owner and bought it in 1956). The Model A needs an engine and more work so it will be a while before we can drive it around. But I will be driving my '55 around town, with the radio blasting! We're back in the 50's again!

Well, that's what's new here. I want to have something written on the back, but don't know what. I was thinking of "Gramma's Blue Toy" or "Gramma's Baby". Any suggestions?

Have a great week,
XOXO
Marilyn

HEY Y'ALL, YOO-HOO! I'M BAAAAACK!

2011-07-07T08:05:00.000-07:00

The Oregon Gardens, Silverton, Oregon

No, I didn't fall off the end of the earth! We have just been going, going, going! First we went to the Oregon Garden Resort in Silverton, Oregon. Such a beautiful place...the rooms are built in groups of four with fireplaces and patios for each room; very quaint! We got a special deal that included the room, dinner, touring the gardens, a spa treatment, and breakfast! We all stayed an extra night so that we could see the surrounding towns too.

Our friends with the Oregon Gardens behind them

Then, we were off to Wallowa Lake in Northeast Oregon with four other couples for a week of camping. It was just beautiful there too; except it rained almost every night and part of the day - guess we were a little early in the season! We took the tram up to the top of the "alps" where there was still a lot of snow on the ground and we could not go hiking, too icy! But we had a great time visiting and playing cards. Going to the shops in Joseph, and trips into the "wilderness".

This was taken near a place called "Lookout Station" Buckhorn.

At the top of the tram!

Then getting ready for the HIGH LAKES SHOW N' SHINE, our car club puts this on every year in our little town! It's a lot of fun and a lot of work before-hand! Selling raffle tickets and talking with all the people - lots of really pretty classic cars! Sorry, I didn't take any pictures this year! What was I thinking???

Oh, and we bought a new truck! A Ford F-150 with FOUR DOORS (count em!) I love it and its the color of rootbeer! Ain't she pretty!

Another thing I did not too long ago is I found out that the ANTIQUES ROADSHOW was going to be in Eugene, Oregon. So I got two tickets for it and my sister Carol and I went (the day before leaving for Wallowa Lake!) We had a blast! But lots and lots of waiting in lines! I took my "crepe paper" dolls, and Fran's "gadget". and Carol took our grandmothers teapot and a picture. Well, we finally got in our lines for specific things: me in the doll line and Carol in the glass/pottery line. I found out that the dolls were uniquely made probably by a crafter (my grandfather bought a set of them and gave them to my grandmother for a gift MANY years ago.) They were worth about $100 or so, and he said that the hats were what made them worth it! Go figure. As you can see in the picture, the dolls were played with by my mother and her sister when they were young - but I love them just the same! I have three of them and Carol has three. Carol found out what the teapot was worth, but we didn't wait in any more lines - the "gadget" line and the "picture" line were both two hours long!!!

Here is Carol while we were waiting in the first group of lines!

We spent Independance Day on Whidbey Island, WA. we were invited to our friends, firneds home on the beach. Good food, friendly people, and what a fireworks display right in front of us on the beach!

And now we are off tomorrow for two days in La Grande, Oregon for another car show! then we will be heading to California to visit our kids! And finally (I think!) one more trip over to the coast for the Winchester Bay COOL COASTAL NIGHTS Car show - however, we will be camping for four days, not bringing our T-Bird!

See what I mean, we have been gone and busy so much these past couple months! Retirement is so much fun!

You all have a great week, and maybe I'll see you at some of these places??? Who knows!

God Bless,
XOXO
Marilyn

LET FREEDOM RING!

2011-05-29T17:48:00.000-07:00

FREEDOM ISN'T FREE - GOD BLESS OUR MILITARY - MAY GOD BLESS US ALL!

A salute to all those who protect the freedoms we enjoy here in America.
xoxo
Marilyn

ANNUAL "FISHWIVES" WEEK!

2011-05-13T16:35:00.000-07:00

That's Fran, Cheri, and me.
Another year, the hubby's went off fishing for a week and a half. Us gals got together at my home this year....boy did we have FUN! Fran picked up Cheri at the airport and drove to my house on 4/30. The guys left on Sunday (5/1). We had a whole 9 days to do whatever we wanted! YAY!

First, we went into the town of Bend, Oregon and I took them up to Pilot Butte, which looks over the city and the lovely Cascade Mountain Range in the background: the photo at the top! Left to right are Mt. Bachelor, Broken Top, South, Middle and North Sisters. Does anyone know the names of the three sisters? Well, it's Faith, Hope and Cherity. Soooooo we renamed them: Fran, Marilyn & Cheri! I think it fits, don't you?!

So we went shopping, mostly at the thrift stores, antiques stores, and the like. We were looking for yard art. Since Cheri flew up here, she couldn't get much - but she had a great time looking for things for us. We found lots of goodies to put together, but haven't made them as yet - but here is a picture of the "yard art" my sister made for me last year:

Cute huh! We picked up more colorful dishes, vases, etc. I will show the pictures of mine when I can get it glued together and in the yard!

We met my sister, Carol at one of the oldest (and my favorite) restaurants in Bend, the Pine Tavern...it actually has two trees growing out of the ceiling! Take a look at our salads, we all had Crab-Louie! YUM!

Now that I look at it, I think Carol got a chicken salad, with fried artichokes on top!

On Friday, the three of us headed off to Florence, Oregon where my Dad and his bride let us stay at his home while they went to the Fireman's reunion in Calif. We had such a good time there! The first night we went out to dinner at a chinese restaurant - boy was that deeeeelicious!
Fran said this was the BEST General Tso's she's ever had!

YUM, YUM, YUM!
We had a great time there...Florence is just a beautiful place, although it rained a bit - but we relaxed and ate and watched lots of movies!

We also went into Redmond, Oregon to the Farmer's Co-op antiques:

Yeah, right!

I know our hubby's had a good time too - didn't catch many fish, but they enjoyed themselves just as well. In fact nobody even got the "big fish award" this year - none of the fish were big enough!

Well, that's it for another year....In 2012 we will be going to Fran's home the year after that to Cheri's....then it's back here again. It sure is nice to have a "Gal's week" where you can relax and let it all hang out!!!

IS IT SPRING YET? NOT HERE!

2011-04-29T15:24:00.000-07:00

Couldn't resist this picture I got on an email! It snowed AGAIN this morning! The weatherman says it's going to quit and we will see some sunshine and warm weather, but I am beginning to think he doesn't know what he is talking about! Know what I mean??? Some of my plants and flowers want to come up, but are having a hard time with all the snow and rain we have had - I sure wish Spring would sprung!

Below is a picture of my grandson Luke, with a "girl-friend" on Easter - they are both 4 years old! I thought it was so cute, that I would share it with you.

For some of you who may be wondering, we have most of the remodeling finished...just a few more things! But I don't know when they will get done, as my sweet honey is doing them AND trying to work on his trains and now we have a "new" car to work on as well! Check out this baby:

We haven't named her yet, (and don't know if we will!) but our friends have their suggestions! I like "Betty" I don't know why, she just looks like a Betty to me! Maybe I she ask you! Feel free to let me know a name you think would fit this 1929 Model A!! Another thing I would like to do is chop the top down about 3 inches and really make it a hot rod!

Ain't she a beauty!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, here it is again!!! The annual "FISHWIVES WEEK"; while our honey's are off fishing at June Lake, California for a week, the "fishwives" (Fran, Cheri, and I) will be here at my house this year...some of you may remember our annual Gals week; we either go to California, Washington, or here in Oregon. I am SOOO looking forward to it to - lots of chick-fliks, popcorn, ice cream, antiqueing and junking and we will probably go over to the coast and stay for a day or two....What fun! Can't wait!

So I won't be posting for about a week or more (what's new!) But I will take lots of photos and show them when it's over! Have a wonderful week, and talk with you all real soon!

xoxo
Marilyn

HAPPY RESURRECTION DAY!

2011-04-17T20:01:00.000-07:00

This IS THE most important day in history. Easter - the resurrection of our Lord, Jesus Christ. I was going to post some newer pictures of the remodel to our living room and kitchen, but it is getting so close to Easter that I had to acknowledge God and all that He has done for me, my husband, and our family and all of the world. And this is the time to do it. He has become so important in my life now, and I realize that anything good that I have ever done, is because I have done it in the Lord and He has done it in me. He is my Father, my Teacher, my Lord. Jesus was born, lived and taught, and then died on the cross. It is a gift from God to all of us. This is not just a story; it is real. Jesus said "Blessed is he who has not seen, and still believes." So please, trust in the Lord and your life will come together as you have never known before!

Have a wonderful and Blessed Easter,
xoxo
Marilyn

THE RENOVATION IS ALMOST COMPLETE!

2011-03-24T07:40:00.000-07:00

This is one side of the new light above the kitchen table.

Things are going a bit slowly now. Last Thursday I had a small operation on my knee (a torn miniscus - BOO HOO!) and I haven't been able to help a whole lot with the renovation! It is hard not to be up and doing things when you are supposed to be babying your knee for two weeks! But we ARE getting there! The contractors are done. My honey is now finishing up the details. And still, I am in a quandry about putting things back! Now that the colors have changed; I was blues, pinks, yellows and greens (basically pastels). Now it is greens, reds & white! Soooo, I made the drapes for the living room and we are waiting for the new recliners (April 2nd - YAY!) And I still need to make the slipcover for the sofa! But putting stuff back on the walls is daunting!

We used the old doors and Roger drilled the holes in some of them to give it a "farm kitchen" look.

The kitchen is almost complete (the most work there!) But now that we changed the colors, I have to change the chair cushions, the curtains, and the accessories too! We made some changes in that we bought a new stove - which eliminated the wall oven, so now we have a space for the microwave and three new pull out drawers in the cupboard below it that will need new doors!

We put the curio cabinet in the kitchen and filled it with kitchen stuff! That's Baylee watching for squirrels!

My honey took the glass out of two of the doors and replaced it with chicken wire - I love it!

We have yet to purchase door knobs and pulls for all the drawers and cabinets, also painting of some small shelves to go on the walls, etc. But I need your opinion: Should I paint the chairs black now that the kitchen is mostly off-white? I would appreciate any comments!

p.s: I don't want to show too much until the whole job is completed - and that will take a lot of work on my part! The "reveal" will have to wait a bit!!!

Have a great week,
XOXO,
Marilyn

REMODEL UPDATE

2011-03-02T07:20:00.000-08:00

Here are a couple of photos of the work as it is being done! Still have quite a way to go!
Baylee, not quite sure what is going on! She doesn't like the new floors much! Too slippery! But she will be OK when we put down the area rugs.

The flooring is completed in the living room & dining room, still in need of the baseboard. The sofa is on its side, waiting for me to tear off the skirt and make a slipcover for it. And drapes for the window too!

Roger talking with Gerald and Ann, she is painting the cupboards a pretty off white (called "Cottage White" by Behr). At first I thought it was too yellow, (probably reflected off the current yellow walls) but when I saw it in daylight, it's such a pretty color!

The refrigerator back in its place, removed the wall oven and will make a place for the microwave and a pull out drawer below. Now you can see what's in my cupboards! Yikes!

And there is the spot for our new gas stove! The cooktop has to be removed yet, probably today or tomorrow - when the stove is delivered. Our home is all-electric and I have missed my gas stove for 7 years now! Soooo, we bought a gas stove and will hook it up to propane. YAY!

Well, that's it for now....still have the wallpaper, beadboard, tile backsplash, baseboard, etc., to get done. I am making new valances for the kitchen windows and a new shade for the kitchen too. Pictures of that next week!

Hope all is going well for y'all and you're having a great week.

XOXO
Marilyn

REDECORATING THE KITCHEN! YAY!

2011-02-15T21:12:00.000-08:00

THIS IS THE OLD KITCHEN!
O.K. here's a picture of our kitchen now. On Monday we are having local contractors (a very sweet couple from our town) come in and paint the cabinets, add beadboard around the lower walls, add subway tiles as a backsplash, a new countertop and new floors. And hang wallpaper too! But I didn't realize that it was so much work getting ready for all this! Clean out the cupboards (all of them) take all the pictures off the walls and the nails too. FIND A PLACE for all of this, YEESH!! And here I am with a bum knee! (Tomorrow I am going to the doctor to find out what is wrong with my right knee though, so hopefully I will be getting around much better soon.)
This is the wallpaper that my honey and I agreed on! And I love it!

Sooooo, the cabinets and wainscotting will be off white. The subway tiles will also be off white. There is a picture of the wallpaper below; for the upper part of the walls. And I will sew a red toile valance for the windows. And a large red check for the chairpads. Also we're putting in new countertops and a rich hickory look laminate floor (the floor will go from the kitchen through the dining room and living room.) I am going for the look that designer Gail Claridge did in her guest house; lots of reds, greens, yellows and wood. A very warm look.

Then it's on into the living room. We have ordered two new LazyBoys - one for each of us, yay! I am going to sew a new slipcover for the sofa, and make pillows, and new drapes for the window. I already bought an area rug from Pottery Barn in a red, green plaid.
Here are a couple of the fabrics that I am thinking about for the curtains, which one do you like the best?

I can't believe it; this all started with needing a new floor! One thing lead to another and pretty soon, we were re-doing the kitchen and the living room! So, I will keep you all posted with new pictures as this renovation takes place! AND I am open to suggestions, please!

xoxo
Marilyn

My daughter is SO clever and artistic!

2011-01-22T09:21:00.000-08:00

Check out these photos of my grandaughter's bedroom...she is 8 years old now and "too old" for a princess room, and wanted something new: a PARIS room! So for Christmas, her parents bought her a new bedspread, some pillows, a dresser painted black with pink glass handles, etc. Then my daughter decided to go one step further and paint on the walls - check out what she came up with! A hanging valance in a pretty stripe with ruffles at the ceiling on one wall and polka-dots down the wall. Then a frame around a picture "Haute Couture". She painted this all by hand, no stencil involved! Isn't she clever, creative, artistic AND patient!

So what do you think; now I am making an old chandelier into a pretty one for her room - I found it at a yard sale two years ago, and will paint it black, add crystals, maybe some pretty pink shades too!

Just thought I would share with you all...so have a great weekend!

xoxo
Marilyn

2011-01-20T16:02:00.000-08:00

I don't know about you, but I am ready for spring! I'd love to get to my garden and fluff it up!!! What a long winter! This winter we have had the most snow since we moved here, almost 7 years ago. It's been cold, snowy, rainy, icy, then snowy again! But the sun is out today and all is pretty. Didn't God make a beautiful place for us to live? The whole earth is so beautiful and there is so much to see and appreciate! We just got back from a visit with our friends on Whidbey Island, Washington. You have to take the ferry to get there, so here are some pictures! Whidbey Island looks alot like Vermont, except that they have the green trees all year long, and not as many orange ones!

I took this picture from our truck of Mt. Hood in Oregon on our way there.

As one ferry is going west, another is going east!

Getting ready to unload in Clinton.

And below is a photo of a vintage kitchen gadget that we don't know what it is! Anybody out there in bloggerland, have an idea?

Fran's unique gadget! It comes apart and all the parts are numbered with UH 1 or UH 2 or UH3.

All the parts come off; and something would have to be pretty thin to go through the rollers!

Well, better go now; get dinner going! You all have a wonderful week! And a wonderful Valentine's Day! (At the rate I'm going, it will probably be Valentines Day before I get to another posting!)

xoxo
Marilyn

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2010-12-29T11:34:00.000-08:00

Whew, this year went by way too fast! Don't you think? I want to wish all of you out there in bloggerland a Happy and prosperous and faithful 2011! Below are some pictures of my and my sisters homemade Christmas ornaments this year. The pinecone elves are from our own Lodgepole Pines on our property....I got the idea from an old "Living" magazine, so "you know who" should get the credit! The cardinal was made by my sis, as well as the felt & bead pinecone.

Also Carol (my sister) made me some ornaments for my kitchen goodie tree! Carol is such a sweetheart, she even makes things for the girls she worked with last year before she retired! She made these out of that "sculpty" stuff and then painted them - my birthday was the 26th; that's why the birthday cake! And the pie with the piebird? I collect pie-birds too; what a great sister I have!

A MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!

2010-12-23T16:51:00.000-08:00

Looks like a Currier & Ives print, doesn't it?

They even provided a place for children to sled!

Wishing you all a blessed Christmas and a bright new year. Thought I'd pop in some photos of our trip to Levenworth, Wa. with friends. Cute little German town all decorated with lights, isn't it pretty! Wish our kids were here this Christmas, but maybe next year!

All lit-up and glowing!

We couldn't resist the great German food!

Have a wonderful time and drive safely!
xoxo
Marilyn

2010-12-11T08:51:00.000-08:00

I've finally started my Christmas decorating!

All the presents are wrapped, some are even in the mail! The Christmas decorations are starting to go up, and the baking is being done too....all that's left is to go out and cut down a Christmas tree! But it's still snowing and at least I'M not sure we can do it this year with all the early snowfall, but of course my honey thinks we can... So how are you all doing this season? Getting everything done? I have seen lots of bloggers with all their decorating completed! It's just a beautiful time of the year....love the Christmas songs, the sweet smells, the jolly people.

Unto us a Child is born!

No further words needed!

Isn't this beautiful! My kids gave it to us for a Christmas present this year!

And here are some Christmas tree pictures I thought I'd throw in!

Decorated tree at Tivoli Gardens. We went to this park a few years ago, it's almost like Disneyland in Denmark!

This is called "The Christmas Tree Cluster", somewhere in space; by Stocktrek Images - Isn't it beautiful with all the pretty colors!

And no matter where you are at Christmas, may the Good Lord bless you!

Merry Christmas, yall!
xoxo
Marilyn

LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW, LET IT SNOW!

2010-11-29T19:22:00.000-08:00

Sure looks like we are going to have an early winter! We already have a foot of snow! And the temperature is in the minuses! BURRRRR!

Thanksgiving was just WONDERFUL! My daughter, her husband and the grandkids came for a few days and they were all just pleased as puppys that they could play in the snow! We made a snowman, threw snowballs, went to a gingerbread exhibit, and had a delicious Thanksgiving dinner too! But I have to tell you; I am so thankful that we could be together during this holiday. My sister and her husband Larry came also - so we all enjoyed the good food and good company!

And here's a toast to you!

This is the name tags my daughter & grandkids made for the table! Cute, huh!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving too. Now it's on to Christmas - it sure got here quick, didn't it?

XOXO
Marilyn

HAPPY TURKEY DAY!

2010-11-15T19:22:00.000-08:00

Either I'm really getting lazy or really busy - either way, I haven't posted in a while! Geez! BUT I HAVE been looking at my bloggin friends posts and LOVE all the neat stuff and goodies you all have been making and doing. AND now that it is getting so close to Christmas, I'll bet you're all crafting too! I know I have been, but I cannot show you what I've been making since they are going to be Christmas presents! I will post them after, promise!

But I have some really good news! I won a giveaway from Becky at SWEET COTTAGE DREAMS! She DESIGNED her own tote-bag pattern, which she calls her "Bloomer Bags".

Isn't this the sweetest thing!

What pretty colors too!

Becky is quite a wonderful seamstress, as you can see from the photos. She gave away a few of her bags, a burlap runner and the PATTERN FOR THE BLOOMER BAG (which I won!!)

Now I'll be busy sewing for my family and friends! Please go on over to Becky's blog and see what that sweet CREATIVE girl is doing! She just posted the cutest apron too! And she has a darling scottie and westie. Sweet Cottage Dreams.blogspot.com. (I can't seem to get that link inserted - darn! Anybody know what I'm doing wrong?) And, thank you Becky, I can't wait to make some of your bloomers!!

Thanksgiving will be here REAL soon, and I can't wait for it because my daughter and her sweet family will be here, and my sis & her husband; all cerebrating with us. Well, you all have one BIG Thanksgiving Dinner and don't eat too much so that you sit on the couch like a water filled balloon - at least until someone says "Who wants pumpkin pie?" And give thanks to the Lord for all He has done in your life.

xoxo
Marilyn

AHHHHH, FALL!

2010-11-01T21:13:00.000-07:00

Isn't this a beautiful painting by Vicki Asp! Well, finally fall is here; Halloween's over, now here comes Thanksgiving! Around the corner is Christmas - YIKES! Where did the time go? Didn't we just do this? When I was a kid, probably just like you, I thought it was eons until Christmas...now that I'm a Grandmother, the time just goes so quick..and wham! here it is again!

Remember these Burma Shave signs? Bring back memories? Me too! And I am constantly getting emails from friends that are in my "age bracket" that remind me of how old I am - like old TV shows, or old ads in magazines or even jokes about seniors! Well, as they say, you are only as old as you feel - I may never look 20 again, or 30 or even 50! But I am happy with my life now and satisfied with myself. The Good Lord has put me where I am supposed to be, and well, here I am!!!

So I started Christmas shopping, bought a few things and better keep on it or it will be last minute for us again! So you all have a great week, thanks for stopping by!
xoxo
Marilyn

SUGGESTIONS PLEASE!

2010-10-19T18:51:00.000-07:00

I don't know about you, but I just love this song - isn't it great for Halloween? The name is "This is Halloween" from the soundtrack of Nightmare before Christmas. Booooooo to you!

So we bought a new bed a while ago and we hung swinglamps on each side of the bed. But I couldn't decide what fabric to use for the shades - so they hung there without anything covering them until Roger finally said, "can we cover these with something, they are kind of bright!" Well you know I HAD to do something! I looked and looked in my "stash" of fabrics and couldn't come up with any floral that would go with our new quilt. Then it hit me - GO WHITE! So here is one of the shades - Made from a white linen-like fabric,are ruffled and attached at the top but hang loose at the bottom for that draped look. Plain and simple and they look great in our room - now I have to finish decorating the rest of the room!

I plan on putting two more blue & white plates beside the one in the center above the bed. We painted the room a very light blue, and I fell in love with this quilt from PINE CONE HILL. I used an old white chenelle bedspread that I cut to make curtains to drape at the window; and bought two panels of white, very light curtains with pom-poms. These and the chenelle really does look good together too! Now I must finish the rest of the room. I would like to add some color for an accent, and was thinking about a red or raspberry. What do you think? I would love some suggestions!

Roger and I are in the process of painting my shop right now and my hands have white paint spattered on them that I cannot get off very easily! YUK! We are trying to complete the job before the really cold weather sets in. Hopefully we will have a few days above 70 degrees. I will show y'all a picture when it is completed - but don't hold your breath, it may only be done next spring!

Wishing you all a HAPPY HALLOWEEN! Don't eat too much candy or scare too many children!

xoxo
Marilyn

MARVELOUS MECHANIZED MAGIC KINGDOM!

2010-09-26T12:24:00.000-07:00

Baylee sitting patiently in the back seat.

You know, sometimes you make plans and they go haywire! Or in our case they expand and expand until you are gone more than you are home! This year started out with just plans to visit our kids and friends in Southern California and also to take a trip to visit friends in Wisconsin; and we did both! But ended up with many other trips as well (as you have seen in my previous posts); we have been very busy this summer! So now we are home, and loving it!

The last trip we took, we brought our new puppy Baylee with us. She loved traveling - she did very well driving all that way to So. Calif, then on to Morro Bay, and finally to Reno, Nevada and finally home. And without a complaint or accident! And it seems that everybody loved her too! She is a bit big for our 3 year old grandson though.

So this trip, my honey was asked to speak at the "Marvelous Mechanized Magic Kingdom" event on September 18th at the Disneyland Hotel put on by the Garner Holt Productions. Since I have been to a few of these events myself, I opted out so that my son-in-law Scott could go with Roger. It was quite an event hosted by Doogie Houser (actor Neil Patrick Harris).

Host Neil Patrick Harris

C-P30 and R2D2 were on stage as well.

Roger was part of a on-stage panel discussion about MAPO Magic along with Rick Berryman, Butch Borcherding, Rudy Pena and Corky Wilds - they all worked together at MAPO (the mechanized part of Disney - rides and shows.) My brother-in-law, Michael was also a guest speaker along with Michael Campbell; they spoke about the steam train days at Disney. Scott was so happy to have been able to see and hear about those days at Disney, see the show and have dinner with these amazing people.

That's Roger with the mic!

L to R: Rick Berryman, Roger, Corky Wilds, Butch Borcherding and Rudy Pena

We stayed with my daughter & family - I LOVE to be with my grandchildren! What sweethearts they all are! And Baylee got to spend most of the days playing in their back yard with their dog "Pepper". We bought the kids some kites and took them to the park; we went to the beach; and while the guys were at the "Mechanized" event, us gals & Luke had dinner out at a lovely chinese food restaurant - YUM!

Trying to get that kite up!

Grandpa playing with Luke's toys!

Making a sand castle on the beach.

After leaving (boo-hoo!) my kids we headed north to Morro Bay to visit my darling Aunt Doris. Morro Bay is just a beauitful place and I took pictures of the "ROCK" as you can see. We had fish & chips at a local restaurant and did some antique shopping. Went to the beach to let Baylee out to run around for a bit and ran into a horse and cart on the beach - they stopped just to let me take a picture of them! It was really great to have spent some time with my favorite Aunt Doris!

Here we are eating (again!)

The fog was coming in (or was it going out?) at Morro Rock

Roger is walking Baylee on the beach

I've never seen a horse & carriage on the beach - AND they posed for me!

While in Morro Bay we got a call from our friends in Reno. As it turned out, they would be home that week and wondered if we would come for a visit. So leaving my Aunt Doris, we headed across the state to Nevada and stayed with them for two days. We haven't seen Marilyn and Art for a couple of years, so it was really nice to spend time with them.

Marilyn and Art

Heading home, we came upon a "shoe tree" - you probably have seen them here and there. But I HAD to take a picture of it!

That's it for now...and hopefully we will be home for a while. Although on the way home we did go through a campground that was really nice and may take a few days & the dogs and go back there!

Y'all have a great week!
xoxo
Marilyn

COOL COASTAL NIGHTS

2010-09-07T18:59:00.000-07:00

Beautiful '31

Now here's a hot rod!

Nice looking Hudson!

This is called a "Rat Rod" (It will always look like this! AND it runs!)

Here they come!

There they go!

We just came from Winchester Bay, Oregon for the "Cool Coastal Nights" Classic Car Show. We didn't take our little bird, we took our trailer and camped there in the beautiful RV camp ground. Saturday night we pulled our chairs up next to the road and watched as the beautiful cars passed by. Some waved, some revvvved, some burned rubber! It was a blast! My sister & hubby (Larry) were there and so were my Dad and his bride. We had a great time and as usual ate too much! This was a guys weekend, with the cars and fishing you know. But Carol and I did get a chance to go antiqueing in Coos Bay.

Here's our little 19 foot trailer, just right for the two of us!

Larry caught a salmon! YAY!

Roger didn't, awwww!

So now we are headed out again for a camping trip with some of the members of our own car club; "High Lakes Car Club" as it is known. We missed last year, so this year we are DEFINATELY going. Then we are on the road again, heading down south to the San Diego area to visit my lovely daughter and her family for a bit and plan on visiting my aunt on our way home. THEN, no more trips! Except maybe one little one camping with our friends Fran & Terry, somewhere on the Columbia River for a few days if the weather holds out. THEN, no more trips!! Really!!

painting by Danny Hahlbohm

The anniversary of 9/11 will be here pretty soon. How can you not remember exactly what you were doing this day? It is still clearly in my mind; watching frightened people running, watching the second plane slam into the tower, and finally watching the towers fall. So sad...3000 people died that day, and only because of the jealousy, hatred, and ignorance of the jihadists. How sad that they do not know that God is love, not hate.

So with that, you all have a great week or two and I'll be seeing your posts real soon!

xoxo
Marilyn

HAVE YOU BEEN WONDERING WHERE I'VE BEEN?

2010-08-17T14:28:00.000-07:00

Here is our new raised "Flower Bed" on top of our new septic tank! Sorry it has been so long since I've posted, but we have been really, really busy!

Since getting home from our vacation, we have gone off again to Carmel, Calif to visit family and take care of business. And some of the family came home with us to stay for a few days. Rogers third son and his family brought their sea-do's and we took them to the lake and played for a day; then took them sight-seeing around central Oregon. Took them to dinner at Greg's Grill and ate outdoors near the river, where when the sun went down, the mosquitos came out! We had to finish our dessert inside!

This is most of the Roger's family, in Carmel-by-the-Sea; less one family, some other grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren! (I won't mention any names for our family's privacy.)

We made a picnic lunch and spent the day; just playing on the water and relaxing!

That's Roger and I coming in after a spin, that was a fun trip too!

Went to Crooked River, Or.

We walked along the Deschutes River in Bend, Or., and went to the farmers market.

After their visit we had a new roof and skylights installed on our home, and had the septic tank cleaned. We found out that the old metal tank was getting rotten (yuk) so we had a new and improved cement tank installed. I never knew how much work there was in putting on a new roof OR a new septic tank in. They had to take out some of the grass, and since I had this old metal bed frame, we decided to put in a "flower bed" instead of grass (see first picture) - of course there will be grass around the raised bed when we re-seed it; maybe by next summer the flowers will be taller and fuller and fill in where its needed? Hope so!

This is the new roof, it took three days to complete, whew!

A picture of our old septic tank

Here they are taking the new one off the truck and dropping it into the hole they dug in the ground.

Baylee is such a curious dog - she had to check it out!

Well, as you can see, lots has been done, and you know one thing leads to another, so there is still more to do! Roger is building a "lean-too" beside my shop so he can have his tractor under a roof and out of the rain & snow in the winter.

I have been going through many blogs lately, just catching up with you all. I love to see what you are doing and the projects you are making or working on. We are going over to the coast to Winchester Bay, Or., for a car show in two weeks - however we are not taking our little "bird", we are going to be camping there for about four days. It ought to be fun, I always enjoy camping! So bye for now and you all have a wonderful week.

xoxo
Marilyn

HOME AGAIN, HOME AGAIN, GIGIDY-GIG!

2010-07-25T14:24:00.000-07:00

We had a wonderful vacation, but it is still nice to get home! The grass is about a foot tall, but Roger mowed it already!
First we met up with our friends in Montana and followed each other to Yellowstone.
St. Regis, Montana - a beautiful and super clean campground! That's our car and trailer on the right. Fran & Terry's to the left.

Spent two days in Yellowstone National Park and drove all the way around the park, saw "Old Faithful" and it's still as magnificent as it was when I was a kid. While we were watching "Old Faithful"

On to Sheridan, Wyoming to see Custer's Battlefield...learned a lot about it from the Ranger who told the story of the battle.
This is the cemetary where some of the people were burried at Custer's last stand.

Then on the Mt. Rushmore, where we took a tour: it included a yummy breakfast, bus tour to Mt. Rushmore, Crazy Horse, and the whole park including some amazing tunnels that the bus drove through. And concluded with a "cowboy dinner" and show.
The designer of these tunnels built them so that when you drove through them you would see Mt. Rushmore in the distance! Neat, huh!

On to the beautiful state of Minnesota - and it IS beautiful! I loved the pastures with Jersey cows, lots of grass and flowers and pretty farms and homes. The park where we were supposed to stay in Wisconsin was flooded out, so we stayed at our friends home and spent three days there. (We ran into many thunder storms with possible tornadoes along the way - but luckily we missed any tornadoes!) Us gals got a lot of shopping done in Wisconsin and we even had "frozen custard" for the first time - IT WAS DELICIOUS! See the pic of Barbara and Fran lopping it up! YUMMY!
Here we are eating the yummy frozen custard; it was chocolate and german chocolate! Ohhhhh Baby!

After three days visiting them, Roger and I started our trip home. Fran and Terry went on to visit some relatives in that part of the country. The thunder storms followed us back until we got into Idaho...While in Montana we stayed two days at the FIRST KOA park in Billings...a beautiful place too.
The last night of camping; in Burns, Oregon (another beautiful little town!)

Oh, and one more picture, all six of us (sans makeup!) Notice that Fran is holding a picture of our good friends, Dave & Ravee who couldn't make this trip with us - maybe next year, we hope!

So we are home now, and the weather here is HOT! And the mosquitoes are out. Darn! Our dogs are happy we are home too. Well, I hope you enjoy the pictures, and hope you have all had a good summer so far!
xoxo
Marilyn

IT'S VACATION TIME!!!

2010-07-05T16:32:00.000-07:00

Just to let you all know that I will be unavailable for a while as WE ARE GOING ON VACATION! A well-deserved vacation I might add! I thought I would leave you with some cute vacation recipes before we leave. First there's the "COLD BEER", I got these from a friend and thought I would pass them along:

COLD BEER:
16-pack of your favorite beer
Lounge chairs
1 beautiful campground spot

Locate a campground next to a lake
Spot your vehicle in campground with an optimal view
Remove lounge chairs from vehicle
Grab beers from frig or ice chest
Place butts in chairs
Pop open beer
Salute!
Drink and be merry
Enjoy view and company.

THE EASY DINNER:
Plan day around allowing time to cook dinner
Remove meat from freezer to thaw.
Talk yourself out of cooking
Talk your spouce into going out to dinner.
Attempt to decide where to go
Drive around looking for a place to eat.
Arrive at restaurant
Order a cold beer or wine
Relax and eat.
On the way back to motorhome, stop at A&W for a vanilla shake
Go back to motorhome full
Put meat in frig
Go to bed!

THE EASY BREAKFAST:
1 box of cerial (your choice)
1 cup milk
1 paper bowl

Get up
Have coffee
Pour cerial into paper bowl
Cover with milk
Eat
This is especially good when getting ready to hit the road for the day and it forces you to look forward to the next meal!

ICE CREAM:

1 good pair of shoes
Patience

Gather up your friends
Start walking toward town
Search for the best Ice Cream
Order biggest ice cream cone available
Pay
Locate curb
Sit
Watch people
Go back to camp
Crash!

Sound like fun? Well, We are gonna have a great time camping! See you all soon!

xoxo
Marilyn

HAPPY INDEPENDANCE DAY TO ALL!

2010-06-29T09:09:00.000-07:00

Next to Christmas and Easter, my favorite holiday is Independance Day...it is a time to reflect on what our forefathers went through to get to the point of freedom from England; freedom from dictatorship and freedom to worship as we will, without a goverment telling us what we can and cannot do. From our first president, George Washington (who must have been miserable during that time due to his poor dental condition) to my favorite president; Ronald Reagan. Our country has had it's ups and downs, have been attacked by foreigners many times and yet we have endured. Our future here in the United States (and the world) does not look very bright right now, we are in debt up to our ears, so many people are out of work, and our present government is "giving away the farm." Please pray for our leaders today that they will follow in our forefathers footsteps and keep our country strong, safe, and free. Have a wonderful July 4th to you all!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

xoxo
Marilyn

SPRING IS FINALLY HERE?!?!

2010-06-06T14:26:00.000-07:00

Take a close look at the picture above....notice that cute little bowl at the bottom of the dahlias? I bought three of them on Ebay a while ago and was waiting for the right time (NO FREEZING WEATHER!) to put it outside. They are supposed to be antique flower "pots" with a hole in the top and a hole in the bottom; and I have never seen anything like these before! There is a tag on one of them that says they were made in Italy. One of them was damaged in shipping and I gave the other one to my friend, Fran. Aren't they sweet?

And here is a lampshade I have been working on: It is for a client who had this shade that was damaged and could not find another one like it in this size. So she asked me to re-do it for her. I took the old one apart and used it for a template, and glued the fabric onto new styrene. Then finished it off at the top and bottom with a matching braid. Voile!

Not much new here, although was did have our new puppy (Baylee) spayed last week and she is doing just fine. I don't think she even knows what happened to her! We are getting ready for the annual Car Show (which my honey is the chairman of) and its a lot of work by many wonderful people who are great helpers! Then in July we are off on vacation, camping all the way to Wisconsin to visit friends. We are REALLY looking forward to it!

So y'all have a great week, and I'll be keeping in touch!
xoxo
Marilyn

HONORING MEMORIAL DAY

2010-05-29T07:58:00.000-07:00

We are so blessed to live in a "free" country. Although our freedoms are dwindling away at the speed of light and many don't even realize it. This week we honor all those men and women (from our own revolutionary war through our present battle in the middle east) who died to help keep the world a safer place.

I have been blessed to have had a grandfather who was in WWI and WII and came home to his family of five children. My father was in WWII, and came home safely and sprouted my brother, myself and my sister. And my own children; both my son and my daughter were in the Navy, and are now living safely with families of their own....Thank you Lord!

I am so blessed to have had them all come home safely, but many are not. My heart goes out to all those families whose grandfathers, fathers, sons and daughters lost their lives defending our freedom and the freedom of others who are not so lucky as we here in the good old U.S.A.
Have a blessed Memorial Day.
xoxo
Marilyn

BIRDCAGES EVERYWHERE!

2010-05-19T13:40:00.000-07:00

Well, I made a birdcage hanging planter, just like Cheri's! When I went to the nursery and asked Linda (the owner) if she still had that old birdcage, she said yes in fact the price was reduced! "What are you going to do with it?" she said. I've got a new idea! So after I got all the plants, moss, etc., together and paid for it, I told Linda what I was going to do. And after I got the whole thing put together, planted some short allysum, and trailing allysum, a pretty trailing yellow flower and hanging petunias, I sent an email to her. Now she is looking for another old birdcage!!
The thing is I must have "something" about birdcages - I have three that I don't use for the birds! See the other two pictures below.

This is the lamp above my kitchen sink...I thought of the idea, and my honey made it happen! What a sweetie he is!

And this is a shelf we made from an idea I got from another blogger; Tina at http://cherryhillcottage.typepad.com She has some really terrific ideas, and a very cheerful home!

My sister is pretty creative also, take a look at the crystal yard, bird feeder she made for me for Mother's Day: Isn't it sweet!

Please don't think twice about the shabby "needs to be painted" porch, that will get done very soon, I promise!

Oh, and one more thing; Baylee's latest picture! She is getting so big, she loves to play and get dirty too! She seems to be very smart and catch on pretty quickly...funny little girl!

Gotta go.....take care, and may God Bless Y'all!
xoxo
Marilyn

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

2010-05-06T16:44:00.001-07:00

Wishing you a wonderful Mother's Day; A day to relax and enjoy your families. All my children are too far away to be together this Mother's Day, but we will get together on the phone...my own mother is no longer with us, so my sister and I will probably spend some time together - maybe our husbands will cook for us!!! Sounds good to me.

You may be wondering how my "Fish Wives Follies" week went? This is the week of OPENING DAY FOR FISHING, where our husbands go off for a week with 7 other guys, so the three of us decided a few years ago that since our honey's are off fishing, we would get together and have some fun too! This year we stayed with Cheri, who lives in Southern California. Below is a picture that the waitress took (a little fuzzy.) That's the three of us; Cheri, me and Fran.

We went to THREE "Home Goods" stores and found lots of really neat things; I brought home two serving bowls, a cup & saucer, some Mothers Day gifts, and Fathers Day gifts too. Now it's my FAVORITE place to shop! Wish they would open one in my area...

And we had to have lunch at In and Out Burger! YUM! Fran and I don't have them where we live; so when we walked in, the smell, made us drool!! These are the best hamburgers in the world, I swear!

The pictures below are of Cheri's home...she and her honey work very hard on this yard, and it certainly shows! Beautiful roses, flowers; the whole back fence is covered with morning glories! The birds love it too. And the "garden art" makes it soooo special! They turned over a birdcage and planted flowers in it, very sweet! Another thing they did is buy tea pots at yard sales and fill them with flowers to hang - really cute idea!

We went to some antique stores, craft malls, and a farmers market. Made some good food; a delicious chicken enchilada casserole, cowboy round-up casserole, and cream puff cake: I think we all gained another 5 pounds! Watched some good movies - you know, Chick Flicks! We had a wonderful time! Next year it will be at my home in Oregon, so I better get planning now! You all have a great week!
xoxo
Marilyn

VACATION TIME!!!

2010-04-23T14:21:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow will start our annual "Fishwives Follies"! Fran, Cheri and myself are vacationing while our husbands go on their annual fishing trip to June Lake for opening day. This year we will be going to Southern California to do lots of shopping, movies, and eating! And who knows what else! We may even get in some walking in the mornings too. So, I will be gone for about 10 days, and will show you lots of pictures when I get back. The picture above is from last year when we went to the tulip festival in Washington. Next year is my turn; I'll have to start planning now!!!
You all have a great week, and God Bless You all...
xoxo
Marilyn

A FLUFFY PUPPY!

2010-04-17T08:42:00.000-07:00

Baylee is now 4 months old...and we sure enjoy her! She does the funniest things and with her long legs, she is funny to watch too! I took her to the groomer and here are the before and after pictures....she didn't like it so much, as you can see in her expressions!

This is her "before" picture

She didn't like the bath much either!

The hair dryer was probably the worst!

When I got her home, my honey said: "She looks like a fu-fu dog!" It took about a week for all the fluff to get back to normal, and now she is all curly again. I brush her every night to keep her hair from matting.

Anyway, all is well and she and Lucy (our older lab) get along just fine! Baylee loves the outdoors and chews all the sticks and branches she can find. Not to mention the lining under our bed!

So you all have a great week, may God bless you!
xoxo
Marilyn

AREN'T GRANDCHILDREN THE BEST!

2010-04-10T17:29:00.000-07:00

Here are two of my "little sweeties"; Ashley and Luke all ready for church on Easter Sunday. The football around Luke's neck is his Easter basket - don't all little boys put them around their necks??? Ashley is just a "girly" girl, and Luke is playing with bugs!

Needless to say, I had a wonderful time visiting with my daughter and her family! The time was too short! And I'm sorry to say that I woke Ashley up almost every morning with my snoring! YEECH!

I did get a couple of doggy toys for Baylee while I was visiting, one is a ball that talks - she picks it up and drops it and runs all over chasing it! The other is a "not stuffed" skunk with squeeky noises.

We went to the Oceanside Street Fair one night and I took the pictures below:
The wall murals were beautiful!

They had fun on the horse rides, and playing in the jumping thing! We all went out to dinner afterwards - my last night there!
Gotta go, you all take good care!
God Bless You!
xoxo
Marilyn

A HAPPY AND BLESSED EASTER!

2010-04-01T16:24:00.000-07:00

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God. Matthew 5:8

Baylee and Lucy 4/1/10
Sorry for the lack of posting, but we have been really busy! First we were going down south for a wedding , visiting the kids and friends. Then our puppy got an ear infection and was a real bear with putting the salve in her ear...so we stayed home and took care of her. Then we learned that Roger's step mother Mary, died and Baylee was well enough by then to leave her with friends. So off we went to central California to see about the will and stuff. Now, tomorrow I am flying to San Diego tomorrow to visit with my daughter and her family - can't wait to see them! Roger is staying here and working on that train and watching the dogs.

Have any of you recently been getting a lot of strange comments on your postings? I have and so I am putting them on "comment moderation". Still I got one that I couldn't even figure out what the person was talking about - absolutely nothing to do with my blog or post, just rambling on about ???! Go figure! I am very concerned about getting a virus, and giving out any more personal information than is absolutely necessary, and so this is another reason to moderate the comments.

Well gotta go and get packing. But I just wanted y'all to know that I haven't left the planet! Not yet anyway! And a Happy and Blessed Easter to you all!

xoxo
Marilyn

HELLO SPRING!

2010-03-20T22:13:00.000-07:00

Isn't this just so peaceful! "Spring Morning" by Michael Humphrey's

Not only was today a day of yard saleing, but it's the first day of SPRING! Yay! I can't wait to get out in the garden and DO SOMETHING! Yesterday I watered my plants, they were so thirsty! But couldn't dig into the ground yet - still frozen! The weather today was just gorgeous - warm and sunny! Stopped by the nursery but couldn't buy anything, was tempted to buy some pretty pansies, but thought of what the new puppy would do to them, so nah, I didn't get them.

Got some bad news last night, Roger's step mother died. Mary was a perfectionist; very precise, and so organized! Very genteel, and sweet. When I first met her she scared me to death! But as we got to know each other, we became friends and wrote letters back and forth. She didn't much like talking on the phone (neither do I) and she didn't like the internet - but she could write the BEST letters and I have saved them all. The whole family will miss her and her funny ways! Death is a part of Life - if you are born you will eventually pass on. I believe to a most wonderous and beautiful place.

Better get going, Easter will be here soon...Y'all get your EASTER BONNETS READY NOW, YA HEAR! Have a great week and may God Bless!

xoxo
Marilyn

IRISH COLCANNON - YUM!

2010-03-13T08:20:00.000-08:00

I have been wanting to try this recipe for YEARS, and never have - what's up with that??? Anyway, we watched a video on the Food Network with Ty Florence. He went to Ireland and made "Colcannon" with a lovely young lady named Christabel Rossiter, and it looked so delicious! So, the other night Roger and I made it for our Car Club meeting (they were our Ginnie pigs!) Well, it turned out so YUMMY; and everyone loved it! So all you Irish-women out there who haven't tried this recipe, here it it! It is a meal in itself, add a green salad and you've got it! Also, traditionally you would serve it in a bowl with parsley sprinkled on top and a dollop of real butter (this is NOT a diet dish!) - but we were going to a potluck dinner, so it went into our crockpot!

IRISH COLCANNON
3 lbs. red potatoes
2 sticks of butter
1 Cup hot milk
ground pepper and salt to taste
3/4 head of cabbage cored and chopped
1 lbs pork (cooked the day before)
5 green onions

Braise the pork and put it in a covered baking dish with a little water. Bake about 325 for a couple of hours - until it is soft enough to "pull" it.
Steam the potatoes for 35-40 minutes, peel, chop, then mash. Add 1 stick of cut-up butter, then gradually add the hot milk and salt and pepper. You want the mashed potatoes to be a little dry, because you are going to add the cooked cabbage which will make it mushier!
Boil the cabbage in unsalted water till it turns a darker color. Add 2 Tbsp butter and cover with lid for another 2 minutes. Drain thoroughly.
Add cabbage, chopped green onions, and shredded pork to the mashed potatoes, stirring gently.
That's about it! A very good, hearty meal too!

Well, as for me, I am working on some lampshades and painting some lamp bases right now. But nothing to show you-all yet! Baylee is getting bigger, she is a lot of fun watching her discover new things, stumbling over her own feet (paws), and playing with Lucy. Getting Baylee has been a good thing for our older dog, Lucy too. She has arthritis pretty bad, but with medication and playing with Baylee, she seems to be enjoying it all!
This is Linda, owner of L&S Gardens!
So WHEN is Spring going to get here??? I know you all are wanting spring to be here as much as I do! I even went to a "Cold Climate Gardening" seminar last week and learned a lot more about our high desert gardening. The speaker was Linda Stephenson from L&S Gardens and she knows quite a bit about the subject. If any of you live in these conditions, you can reach her at her blog: http://www.lsgardens.blogspot.com
Linda also belongs to the "Dutch Oven Society" and they make all kinds of wonderful food - when they have a festival at L&S Gardens, the cooks are there giving out samples of their delicious foods.
You all have a wonderful week, I better get going and see what Baylee is up to!
Bye for now!
xoxo
Marilyn

A CHOICE, A NEW PROJECT, AND BATHTIME!

2010-02-28T16:42:00.000-08:00

First off, I want to say that I Thank the Good Lord that I am where I am because of His Grace. In church this morning we saw a video of the people living in Cambodia - literally living on a dump heap; very sad indeed. Although hunger and pain will always be throughout the world, at least until He comes again. Thank the Lord also because we don't live in Haiti or Chile right now, and say a prayer for them. Someone sent me an email with lots of pictures and I thought the one above sort of hits home now with the world in such turmoil as it is. The light or the fire, the choice is ours alone to make!

Here I am with Baylee, her first bath. She didn't like it much and looked like a wet noodle! But what she really didn't like was the hair dryer - I put it on very low but that didn't help her nerves! When the warmer weather comes around, she won't have to be dried off using my hair dryer - poor little sweetie! She is growing leeps and bounds - and is sure a lot of fun! More pictures as she grows!

Now for the project: I have been thinking about this little project for a long time now. Didn't know if I wanted to do it or not. And now I am glad that I did. I have had this coffee table for a few years now and it is painted an off-white already. But I wanted to paint "maryjanes" on its feet! So I got out my paint and brushes and went to work. Didn't take long, but I like the results. Question is; should I paint socks on the legs also? Would love your comments!

Well y'all have a great week!
xoxo
Marilyn

2010 OLYMPICS

2010-02-20T21:58:00.000-08:00

I don't know about all of you out there in blog-land, but we (my honey and I)are watching the Olympics every night! Isn't it fun too! I especially love the figure skating - how beautiful it is! Our athletes have won a total of 23 medals so far (and 6 of them are gold!) Congratulations Team U.S.A.!

For the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, my honey (Roger) and his company made a "flying saucer" for the closing ceremonies. We didn't know each other then, but I remember watching it on TV - and seeing it "hover" over the coliseum; it was fantastic! Of course, after meeting him and discovering how they did that, it was such a special thing!

Not a lot of news here lately. Still trying to house train our puppy! She has quite a personality too! Sometimes I think that maybe I am just too old for raising a puppy now - I don't have the patience I used to have! I want her trained NOW! It's a lot of work, but we will all get through it - hopefully without much more poop! I gave her a bath and she stayed clean for just about one day! Thank you all for your nice comments about my last post and Bailey. I haven't had much time to even get on my computer, but I wanted you all to know that I appreciate you and taking the time to write!!

Surely as soon as Bailey gets house trained and is used to being outside more...and can entertain herself, I will be able to get back to my blogging and posting! I miss all you guys!

Have a great week,
xoxo
Marilyn

INTRODUCING "BAILEY"!

2010-02-07T14:36:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I had something real special to show you all. And here she is; a new little addition to our family. She is six weeks old, a blond Labradoodle! She had eight brothers and sisters all together. Some were black and some were blond. We have been waiting to get her since she was born on December 23rd. (Guess I should have named her "Holly" because she was born so close to Christmas!) I did have another name picked out, that was CHLOE. But when we picked her up, well BAILEY just seemed to fit her.
Our other dog "LUCY" is about 10 years old and they seem to be getting along just fine; although I think Lucy is "Grandma" age like me and is a little old to be training a youngin'! And I think she would be just as happy to avoid the little ball of energy. So I have been up part of the nights keeping Bailey company when everyone else is sleeping - namely Roger, my honey! However while I was gone this morning Roger did babysit, he brought both dogs outside and let her run around quite a bit. She seems to like the snow and is starting to be potty-trained to go outside. She whines when she wants out so that is a good sign!
Well, now that you have seen her I will put in a couple of other pictures I took below! Y'all have a great weekend and enjoy the Superbowl!

xoxo
Marilyn

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

2010-02-01T09:53:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing you all a SWEET Valentine's Day! My honey and I don't have much planned for this day, but we will be going to the church Valentine's Spaghetti Dinner! YUM! That's about all this week, spending time cleaning the house and my shop - lots of "stuff" to get rid of! But next week I will have something very special to show you'all - a new addition to our family! Surprise!
xoxo
Marilyn

WALK TALL WITH YOUR HEAD HELD HIGH!

2010-01-21T13:11:00.000-08:00

Hello, hello, hello! I got this from a friend and thought it was funny. The caption said: "No matter how badly last year treated you, walk tall with your head held high; this is a brand new year, baby!" Pretty sad looking rooster!

I hope you don't live in the areas of California where they are having such trouble right now! Both of my children and their families, and lots of friends live there and are doing fine right now, Thank the Lord! California is getting as much rain in one week as they should be getting for the whole rainy season! Lots of problems; floods, mud, winds and even some reports of tornadoes! So far two people died from trees falling on their homes. May God bless them.

And I have to mention the troubles in Haiti. I am sure you are all praying for the people there...such a poor country with so much devastation, many times over! The people live under a dictatorship, which keeps the goods for themselves and the people go hungry. But on the other side, there are so many folks going there to help - mostly from the U.S.A. Makes you proud that we are a country that gives so much to others in need - we always have. And I am not talking about government money, I am talking about us citizens, we are the givers! Our hearts always go out to those in need no matter where they are. Still, help and prayers are needed!

You can see "the" tree behind the jeep in the background.

Last week we took a trip to a small town in Northern California to help our friends (Fran and Terry) clean up the home of their parents, who just moved so that they could live closer to their families and medical facilities in the Southern part of the state. We also picked up a 1968 Jeep "Willy" that had been attached to a tree for about 15 years! Jim (Terry's Dad)used the vehicle around the property for various chores and one day lost control of it and rode it all the way down the ravine and slammed into a tree at the bottom. (It is a very hilly area.) So now that the house has sold, they needed to get that Jeep out of the ravine and my honey said he wanted it! Sweet guy that he is, its now in our back yard! I don't know what he wants to do with it, we already have two vintage cars to fix up! He says that he is going to sell it - of course he is inviting all the car club members over to see it first! Anyway, we got the old cabin cleaned and took three loads of stuff to the dump. That is after they had taken many loads a few weeks ago! I did get a couple of treasures: And old kitchen table, and a handmade corner cabinet to refinish and paint! Their grown sons and Terry's brother & nephew came to help too - It was a lot of fun, played games at night and ate too much!

Trying to turn it around so Roger could pull it up the ravine.

Well, that's it for now. I haven't been working on any lamps this month, still trying to get things done after the holiudays...and I think I am going to do some scrapbooking this week, try to get all my pictures in order! UGH!

You all have a good week!
xoxo
Marilyn

A LITTLE MORE FROM CHRISTMAS!

2010-01-09T12:55:00.000-08:00

Notice the new shade in my banner? It was a joint-effort! My step-daughter, Debi, makes quilts and she is doing embroidery on her machine...so when I saw the red and white vintage style embroidery she had made, I offered to make her a shade out of it. I got it done before Christmas and sent it to her...and she loves it! Debi is putting it in her sewing room too. Above are a couple of pictures showing the other side and the inside with the polka dot lined ribs.
"True Friends" painting by Nancy Seamons Crookston

As you might remember, my birthday was last month. My good friend Fran, sent me a card that is so special and I wanted to shade it with you all! Here is what it said: "We all need someone we can just be with, plans or no plans, clean house or not. We need someone we can really trust - who's quick to listen, quick to laugh, quick to think the best of us - someone who makes every minute a little bit richer just by being there." (by Keely Chace) On the inside it said: I am so grateful for the easy understanding between us, for the times we spend, and especially for the way we can simply be ourselves together." Isn't that just the BEST card anybody can get from a friend? It says alot about our friendship; Fran and I are like sisters! And we both feel the same about most of our other friends too. A lot of you bloggers have become good friends too and I want you to know how much I appreciate you.

Here is one more thing I wanted to show you all. I have been working on it for a while and finally completed it before Christmas. Last year I was looking through my decorating mags and came across a picture oonea family's Christmas decorations. I don't even remember what mag is was in, but I saved the one picture because in the background was a Christmas tree made out of childrens blocks - I thought it was so cute! I had some old blocks myself, even some with Disney charactors on them! So I made one myself for my table this Christmas. And my sister Carol loved it so much she made one; and Fran loved it so much she made one too! Below is a picture of the one I made, then the one Carol made, and then the one Fran made! They are all a little different, but oh, so cute!

You all have a great week, please come by and visit anytime!
xoxo
Marilyn

THANKS FOR THE MEMORIES...

2010-01-02T16:36:00.000-08:00

What a great year 2009 was for most of us bloggers! I love meeting you all and have made some terrific friends along the way. The sweet lady who got me started is Laurie at LauriesCharmingDesigns; she is ALWAYS doing something new and pretty! Then there is Kathy at KathysCottage; what a sweetheart she is :) She is blogging all the time and showing us all the beautiful things she makes and she has helped me in my blogging effort alot! Then Adrienne, what can I say? You are such a warm, kind, and giving person. Adrienne is from Withagratefulheart, writes many posts and shows us all the places her and her honey go. Many beautiful pictures of Oregon especially. I am thankful to all three of you for being my friends! You're the BEST!

There are so many really nice, sweet, mostly Christian women I have met just by blogging! Mona, Candy, B.J., Cathy, Dawn, Dolly, Jean, Michelle, Penny, Susie and Meggie, just to mention a few! ALL OF YOU have opened my eyes and shown me just how many kind and CREATIVE people are out there that we never even new before blogging came along! "Thanks for the memories", to quote Bob Hope! And all of your creative ideas.

One of the things I am grateful for and thank the Lord for is being born and being alive NOW! If I had been born 20 or 30 years earlier, I would have missed all this! Another reason I am thankful for today is that my husband (who went through cancer treatments) is now free of it and it has been almost 5 years! 20 years ago he may not have been with me now.

We may have a lot of problems in this old world now, but we also have so much. OK, OK, I'm going a little farther than I intended....soooo, we have a new year to look forward to and to make of it what we will. And with the Good Lord's help, we will make it through! Thank you ALL for stopping by and leaving comments when you can.

Oh, and the picture above is the New Year breakfast I mentioned in my last post - biscuits and sausage gravy, pouched eggs, and sliced oranges, YUM! It was good too! Now, NO MORE GOODIES - IT'S DIET TIME YALL!

I Love You All,
Marilyn

GO DUCKS!

2009-12-28T09:37:00.000-08:00

Wishing you-all a very happy and healthy 2010!

Not much to say today, just starting to clean up all the Christmas stuff...big job! It may take a few days...

One of my favorite things to do is get up early and watch the Rose Parade on New Years day...I love all the flowers and seeing what they have done this year with the floats - always amazing! If you ever get a chance to work on a float, do it! So much fun to be a part of that - we have done it a time or two in past years. Then the Rose Bowl game - you know that the Oregon Ducks will be there - WE are rooting for them! YAY! GO DUCKS! So I will be up early making biscuits and sausage gravy for us (it's a once a year treat!) Will make some pouched eggs and maybe some sliced oranges...sound good to you? It does to me!

More seriously, lets all pray that 2010 will be a better year for our country and the world. Maybe with all our prayers, things will change and we will have "Whirled Peas!" (Just kidding, just kidding!)

One more thing I wanted to show you! Here is a painting by my good friend Laurie. She not only paints, but makes all kinds of beautiful things! She is also into photography and making her pictures really unique. I had bought the cutest birdie pincushion from her - that's how we met. This is a painting she sent to me via email and I'm sharing it with all of you! Enjoy and check out her blog at lauriescharmingdesigns.blogspot.com

Well, gotta go and start that Christmas clean up! Bye for now,
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
xoxo
Marilyn

CHRISTMAS TIME FUN!

2009-12-20T14:10:00.000-08:00

Isn't this time of year just THE BEST! We had some friends over a few nights ago for a Christmas dinner and games afterward. We played "Square Nines", if you haven't heard of that, it's really a fun card game - not much thinking - which is why I like it so much! But I wanted to show you the dessert I made for a Christmas Party with friends where I used to work. The dessert is from one of Martha Stewart's "Dessert of the month" collection. Its called "Rosy apple tart". Looks pretty, doesn't it? A lot of work, and although it was fun to make, it turned out rather bland. If I make it again, I will use a different pudding in the center. The buttermilk cream center tasted good, but when it was all put together, you couldn't taste it as well. And the recipe called for way too many apples! If anyone would like the recipe, just let me know and I will be glad to pass it along!

Here is one of the newest lampshades I made. It was commissioned by a sweet customer who sent the fabric and beads and I put it together for her! Turned out rather pretty, don't you think? I am in the process of making another one for a Christmas present so I will have to show you AFTER Christmas!

And one more thing before I go, above is a photo of a Christmas ornament I got from a sweet lady in our car club...we had a gift exchange in which we exchanged a "Santa on Wheels" ornament. Well, she got this little Santa on a wagon and I loved the Santa so much she gave it to me - notice the date on the sign? December 26Th??? Well, that's my birthday! It turned out that Carol wanted the wagon and not the Santa too much! So Thank you Carol, you are a dear and generous person!

Don't know if I will get a chance to do another post before Christmas, so I will wish you all a Happy and Blessed Christmas. It's all about Jesus' birth, and my honey and I will be going to the Christmas Eve Sermon at church Thursday night, a prayer answered for me!

Love and hugs,
Marilyn

Baby, it's COLD outside!

2009-12-09T08:46:00.000-08:00

We woke up yesterday to negative 19! This morning it was a little warmer, negative 18! That's the coldest it has been since we moved here! Last night we had some good friends over for a Christmas Dinner, and some of them said it was -27 at their home. YIKES THAT'S COLD!

Have all your Christmas shopping done? Not me - being the procrastinator that I am, I still have some shopping to do. I have heard many people say that "since they retired, they have no time"...now I can relate to that! I have two lampshades to make before Christmas AND send them out - so you know what I will be doing today!!! NOT SHOPPING!

My honey and I decided to do something different this year - let me start by saying we have a nice fake Christmas tree (which my honey doesn't particularly like!) But it is really too big for our little living room...so we decided to go out into the forest and cut our own this year! We got a permit for only $5.00 and headed out to "no mans land" with our dog, Lucy. Sliding around on the snowy and icy roads wasn't much fun, and I took extra food and equipment (just in case!) But it really didn't take too long; we trugged up and down the snow covered slopes, which Lucy loved and finally found the perfect tree! We had a great time doing it and will do it again next year (weather permitting!) But I forgot to take the camera - dang! So now the tree is decorated and you can see above is a picture of it.

By the way, if you have a chance, go on over to "A Gathering of Thoughts". Not only does she have a beautiful blog, but Rebecca posted a beautiful poem about Mary, "He's still her little child" it will bring tears to your eyes!

Remembering December 7th
I was listening to the radio two days ago and a man was talking about being at Pearl Harbor on that infamous day. He was saying how devastating and confusing it was being in the middle of the surprise attack and bombing (we can just imagine!) After he was through speaking, the announcer noted where he lived today - he lives right here in our town! Imagine that! There are not many left who were instrumental in keeping freedom throughout the world during World War II. My father is still alive and well (Thank the Good Lord) and he was in the Navy during that time (however he was not stationed at Pearl Harbor.) He taught our family how important it is to appreciate what others have done for us. So please say "Thank You" to a veteran - they all have put their lives on the line for our freedoms and our lives. Also remember the vets today in Afganistan and Irac who are trying to keep the fight over there, and not here on our soil. May God Bless them all.
xxxooo
Marilyn

MY FAVORITE HOLIDAY OF THE YEAR!

2009-11-27T09:23:00.000-08:00

I hope you all had a nice and delicious Thanksgiving! We did, and I can hardly get around this morning (actually, I feel like I could ROLL across the floor instead of walking!) Thank goodness for the day after! The picture above is a "pumpkin tree" I made for a centerpiece...I saw somehting like this in a magazine, but threw away the article because I didn't know where I could find the little pumpkins! And while visiting our friends Fran & Terry, we went into an antique store and there they were $2.00 a scoop! I bought about 4 scoops and they only charged me $2.00 for all! So of course I looked all over for that article and couldn't find it, so I made this tree from a branch off of our birch tree. I don't know what kind of pods these are, but they look like tiny little pumpkins!
I know some people really dread this time of year, and they have their reasons. But I love the Christmas Holidays - everything about it! And now that we live where we can have a real "White Christmas" it is even better! This year in particular is good because the Lord is more in my life now. I started going to church regularily and I am really enjoying it so much. Talking to the Lord daily is also so fulfilling and reassuring in these trying times too. I am thankful for that!
Thats me behind some lamps!
Carol with her "Curly Girlies"

I haven't done much posting lately because we have been soooo busy. Did a Christmas Church Bazaar with my sister, went to our friends to visit for a few days, a doctors appointment, and did lots of cleaning up and getting ready for Thanksgiving dinner. Now that its over, we will be getting ready for Christmas; shopping, sending gifts to the grandkids, parties, dinners, and lots of food! Yikes!

That's my sis, Carol: caught her counting her money!
Also, please check my ETSY store, I am adding some Christmas Curly Girlies for sale that Carol made! REALLY CUTE!
So here we go, I know all of us bloggers just love the Christmas decorating, baking and such! Can't wait to see all of your homes decorated for the Season! So it's by for now and I'll post again next week - when things calm down?!?
xxxxooo
Marilyn

FALLING LEAVES

2009-11-05T09:11:00.000-08:00

Picture by Bob Gibbons

Halloween's over, Thanksgiving is next; then on to Christmas! Where did this year go? I'm sure we are all thinking that...every year seems to go faster and faster - what is one to do?

My honey and I (well to be honest, mostly my honey) raked up leaves and pine needles for the last three days. Piles and piles of leaves! Now they are waiting to be made into mulch for our gardens...Getting ready for winter.

When we lived in Southern California, we never had to worry about raking up falling leaves; the wind blew them away. Where they went, I never knew! But in Oregon, not much wind here - the leaves stay where they land!

Picture by Curtis Martin

So now I am thinking about what to cook for Thanksgiving...not much of a problem: Turkey, stuffing, pumpkin pie (all the trimmings!) But I would like to try something new, anyone have any ideas please let me know!

Better get going, lots to do! You all have a wonderful week!

xxxooo
Marilyn

HAPPY HALLOWEEN and GIVEAWAY!

2009-10-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

Halloween is such a fun holiday! I don't go in for all those gory-slimy things, just the fun costumes and parties....lots of magazines out now with great ideas for halloween decorating and food. Below is a picture of some apples I made for a Bunco Halloween Party this week. I got the idea online, where there are LOTS of great ideas too. The apples have slivered almonds for the teeth, and I put some red food coloring on some of the teeth to make them look "bloody". I made some "monster toes" too, but forgot to take a picture of them! And the song! I love this song from "The nightmare before Christmas" - you will have to turn up the sound a bit! BOOOOoooooo!

Lucy Bloom is having a sweet GIVEAWAY! She makes these lovely little dolls, but the giveaway ends soon (10/26.) She is giving away one of her cute dolls, some vintage cards, a Laura Ashley fat quarter, and some other lovely things! I would put a picture up but haven't asked her permission, and it ends so soon! So just go to: lucy bloom. and check it out!

A short post! We are not dressing up this year, no parties! So it will be a quite holiday! And we don't get any "Trick or Treater's" here in our neck of the woods either...So you all have a wonderful week, and enjoy Halloween...don't eat too much candy!
xxxooo
Marilyn

TWO NEW SHADES

2009-10-14T21:08:00.000-07:00

Here are a couple of new shades I have made for some very dear and sweet friends. You see, HAVE been working!!! The first shade is made from vintage doilies, embroidery, lace and eyelet - it is a gift for a friend from her husband (shhhh, it's a secret! - its O.K. she doesn't get on the internet!) And another picture of the inside of the shade so that you can see its completion; along with a signature button that I usually attach on the inside of each shade.

Below is another lampshade for my best friend, Fran....A few years ago she came up with the idea of putting together a plate, topped with a teapot, topped with a sugar bowl, and then topped with the creamer (all these she alread had), so Roger (my husband) drilled them all together and it turned out sooo cute! But she didn't have a cute shade for it. That's where I came in! Fran has made some quilts and she made the quilted piece that is attached the shade, and in fact she gave me all the fabric (which matched her kitchen curtains), doilies, etc. When I get a picture of the lampshade ON the lamp base, I will show it in another post.

And I have to show you our first snow of the winter! Roger and I built these swings for the grandkids last summer. And I had to show the tree that bent way over in the snow - It's alright now, Roger trimmed it and it sprang back up! You know we had such a short summer; last winter lasted way into the spring and now fall is going quickly into another winter, the Southern California heat doesn't sound so bad right now! Who knows, maybe we will become snowbirds someday!

Well, y'all have a great week - and stay safe!
xxxooo
Marilyn

YIKES ! THE SWINE FLU IS COMING!

2009-09-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

Poor little piggy! Nobody loves him! It seems that more and more the powers that be are warning us of a huge pandemic coming. Every year it's something! This year it's the Swine Flu. That would be the H1N1 virus that has spread from pigs to humans. Reading up on it I found that it is a flu bug almost like any other flu; you get achy, a fever, sore throat, poops and ralphs! And most people will get over it just like any other flu, without the need to see a doctor. The only people who will become very sick are those who usually get flu complications. So there you have it! People need to keep their hands clean, and sneeze and cough into their hankies or arms! So if you are really concerned, you can go to the Center for Desease Control's website - that's CDC.Gov - and see how bad it is on a weekly basis. The CDC reported last week that 2,326 people tested positive. That's not too much out of over 350 million people here in the good ole U.S.A. Still, having the flu is not fun - If you don't feel good STAY AT HOME, do what you would normally do with the flu. And if you are at risk, see your doctor. And don't go visiting!

We were lucky enough to be invited to a preview of the opening of the new Walt Disney Family Museum last week. And what a wonderful museum it is! They would not let me take pictures inside, and I couldn't get to the store before it closed, darn! But I had some pics outside! The museum is really well done and is a lot of fun. Roger's son Garry, had worked on a huge camera that is displayed, which he also helped to install. So he and his wife, Karen were there, and Roger's brother Michael (who wrote a book about Walt's love of trains) and his wife Sharon also. I got to meet Diane, Walt's daughter, and we ran into many friends there.

The museum is located at the Presidio in San Francisco, a really lovely place. I took pictures of S.F. and the Golden Gate Bridge (from our speeding car!) It was such a beautiful day, and a very nice trip!

A picture of some of the neat buildings.

Michael Broggie's book about Walt Disney

One more thing, I went to the post office today because they left me a note that I had something to pickup...It was my yummy giveaway gift from Rebecca at Belle Maison Shop (sorry my http add in is not working, still!) Rebecca sent the prettiest things...lots of ribbon, glitter, tags, flowers, she sent the best things that I could REALLY use! Thank you so much Rebecca, and also to Alex for picking my name out of the hat!!

Well, you all have a great week, and wash those hands!!! And don't get too worked up over what the newscasters are railing about. Just take good care of yourselves, and we will all get through this flu season like always!

xxxooo
Marilyn

ARE YOU A FARMGIRL TOO?

2009-09-22T09:20:00.000-07:00

Yesterday my honey and I spent the day in town, got flu shots, doctors visit, had new tires put on the car...it was busy! Got the tires at Costco and had about a two hour wait, so we walked over to Barnes & Noble and of course the first place I go is to the magazine rack to check out new decorating magazines! Well, I spotted a magazine that I have heard a little about, "Mary Jane's Farm", and decided to buy it. After we got our tires we headed over to Home Depot for some things my honey needed, so I waited in the car and got a chance to look through my new magazine.

What a nice surprise it was! Mary Jane Butters was talking to my heart! All the neat things in her magazine are really down to earth and so interesting to me...(This is the Oct-Nov issue.) Even her editors notes column "Honesty for Life" was inspiring and very well written. It's all about getting back to the simple life. I especially loved the article about painting a quilt on the side of your barn - and I am going to do that (someday soon, promise!) Well, needless to say I signed up for a subscription!

Anyway, all this reminded me of a conversation I had emailing with Kathy at Kathys Cottage, we were talking about always dreaming of living on a farm. And ever since I was a young woman, I have wanted to have chickens, cows, farm animals and live in the wide open places tending to our home, animals, land and hearth. Well, Roger and I did come as close to that as we will probably ever be. We have raised pigs, turkeys, ducks, rabbits, dogs, had an orchard and I have even canned our home grown food now and then. Since I was little, I sewed my dolls clothes and as I grew up sewed my own clothes and my children's too.

All this puts me in mind of long country roads, clothes hanging on the line, putting vegetable seeds in the good earth, and watching them grow! Eating fresh tomatoes off the vine or apples off the tree! And remembering my parents and grandparents, who were organic farmers before it was popular to do so. I guess I get that "farm" feeling from them, grandma always made homemade everything, always in a dress with an apron; grandpa was always out in the orchards working from sun up to sun down, in his overalls! My folks raised some beef and had orange and avocado orchards...Mom sewed our clothes and canned all kinds of things - I especially loved her chili sauce and pickles too.

Now we live in a climate that is too cold to grow fruit or vegetables, except in a greenhouse - so that rules out the cornfields! But we may be getting chickens and a clothesline soon too! So if you are a "Farmgirl" too, please keep in touch; and check out the new magazine I found; "Mary Janes Farm" you will love it!

Computer trouble again! I tried to add Kathy's html into this post and also the html for Mary Janes Farm, I have done this before and it worked fine, but even though it looks like it took, it didn't! Frustrating! Does anybody have any suggestions as to what I am doing wrong?
So you all have a great week!

xxxooo
Marilyn

ANNIVERSARY - SEPTEMBER 11TH

2009-09-09T07:51:00.000-07:00

This day will live in my memory forever. I am sure it's the same as for those who were there during December 7th, 1941 - the attack on Pearl Harbor. Our country has lived through two wars on our own land, the first to gain our freedom from English domination and then the Civil War. These were both devastating to the American people who lived at the time - no matter which side they were on.

Since the Civil War our country has only fought to help free other people in their countries from tyrants who were dictators, and we have never taken their land in payment (only enough to bury our soldiers who fought to help them).

But the times, they are a-changin'! To me it's sad that as a country we have allowed our politicians to run our world the way they want, not the way we want. And sadly too, WE have voted them in! I have seen the huge numbers of people at the Town Hall meetings, mad as hell, trying to tell those "lump-heads" (and I'm being NICE here!) to stop spending our hard earned money - to no avail! The lump-heads are still going to vote the way THEY see fit - not what their constituents want. Most in Washington DC are arrogant, self-obsessed, know it all's, who still use our money for their own benefit.

IF all these plans for us taxpayers (the stimulus, and health care reform) is so good and needed right now, then why do the politicians have their own health care and retirement plans? If it's so good for US, than it should be good for THEM too! Let's see them live on a Social Security check once a month, or have to go to a doctor only to be turned away because the doctor has too many Medicare patients already. It won't happen because they have their own benefits - that WE ARE PAYING FOR!

And now, here is the anniversary of 9/11. Over 3,000 Americans died because middle east terrorist think we are "infidels". Innocent people died because of their screwed up thinking about life. President George W. Bush did keep us safe from terror on our land for 8 years. And now we have government officials in Washington DC who would prosecute our CIA and set free those that would stab us in the backs - well, actually enilate us altogether. What's wrong with this picture!

However, I believe that all things are falling into place as it should, according to the Bible. So even though I rant and rave about what is going on with our politics, I know it is to be. We must go through all this to get to the end of the Book. So please keep your faith in the Good Lord above, and He will see us through it. God bless us, and our troops, who are trying to help keep the world a safer place. And Lord, please bless our President, to help him find You.

I usually close by saying "Have a nice week", but this week it's "God Bless You All!"
xxxooo
Marilyn

CRUISIN' U.S.A.!

2009-09-03T08:34:00.001-07:00

Here we are waiting for the show to begin, with the fog rolling in!

We had such a fun time at the "Cool August Nights" in Winchester Bay, Oregon last weekend. The cruisers were a blast and so much fun! My sis and hubby had their motorhome at the RV Park where the cruise took place after the car show. So we had front row seats! The weather got a little chilly and the fog rolled in, but that didn't stop the cruisers from burning rubber!

My Dad and his bride, my Sis and hubby, and Roger and myself all went to the car show and wandered around looking at the vintage cars, then came back to their motorhome and had a delicious hamburger and potato salad dinner. Then about 6 p.m. we set up our seats and watched the crazy cars. One car even had hydralics that lifted one side as he was driving down the road. There was a guest celebrity too - President Clinton and Hillary were in a red Chevy - you can't see Hillary, but she was dressed in a witches costume. Then there was the car with the flames coming out the back of his tailpipes...it was all so friendly and so much fun to watch!

So, car show season is almost over for us; since we live in a climate that you don't take your vintage cars out in the snow during winter! So I will be back in my shop making more lampshades real soon! I've got lots of ideas, and after participating in Barb's "Rooster Party" last month, I'm even thinking about having a "Show us your cutest lamp" Party - but that is a ways off.

Take care y'all and have a terrific week!

xxxooo
Marilyn

SHOW US YOUR ROOSTER PARTY!

2009-08-28T06:54:00.000-07:00

Please check out Barb's blog at Bella Vista, she is hosting the first Rooster Party, what fun! These are my roosters, I love them too! So go on over to Bella Vista to see everybody's roosters and have a great time looking! And a BIG THANK YOU to Barb for being our host - she has 204 participants!
Have a great week,
xxxooo
Marilyn

A WONDERFUL VACATION!

2009-08-07T13:08:00.000-07:00

Birthday fun at Disneyland,!
Ashley and Christy in their birthday hats!
"Professional Nails" by 7 year old Ashley!

Thank you all for being so patient while I've been gone! We started our vacation off leaving Oregon heading down to San Diego County, Calif. When a light came on in our car and then the brakes were trying to stop us from moving...the ABS system! Yikes! We got to a dealership in Merced, Ca., in 105 degree weather, YUK! They had to keep the car and order a part (couldn't get it back until the next Tuesday...so we rented a car and kept on heading South.) Got to my daughters and stayed for almost a week; for Ashley's birthday (My oldest grandaughter) and Luke is now 2 years old, cute as a button and full of energy! We had a WONDERFUL time visiting with them! Ashley and I did each others nails, as you can see!

Then on to see my son; Monte and his family. My grandchildren (Corwin 5 and Morgan, who is now 3 years old.) They are all so cute and getting so big! No pictures, but it was wonderful to see them again and visit with them for a while. However, time was so short...so on to visit with some of our friends from the "old neighborhood". It was fantastic to get together with them too and eat and talk and joke - just like old times!

Then on to Roger's children and grandchildren too - got to see our great-grandchildren too! Jake is now 4 and Tyler is 1-1/2 years old! Jake Tyler
We also went to a birthday party with Roger's son Garry and his wife Karen, for a friend who turned 80 years young this year! Check out this cake!

On to Carmel, Calif., where Roger's step-mother (Mary) still lives and Roger's brother and his bride (Brian and Cyndi); we all went to a delicious Japanese restaurant for dinner at the beach - the chef cooked at the table with knives swinging and fires flareing! Mary treated us to the aquarium in Monterey. They have the neatest seahorse exhibit - see the pictures!

And finally we stopped by the New Walt Disney Museum at the Presidio in San Francisco to pick up a tressel (for 1/8th scale trains - which my husband had built about ten years ago.) And we were lucky to get a tour of the museum as they are putting it together - I think I can show you some pictures of what we saw...this museum is about Walt Disney and his family. It is going to be just the most fantastic museum too! Lots of great interactive things for children to do, and wonderful stuff to see, about the early days in Disney's life. Here is the Lille Belle (under wraps until opening day) suspended in the air (Roger with his eyes closed!)

Train Mountain in Chiloquin, Oregon
Finally, we're heading home! But since we decided to donate the tressle, we stopped by "Train Mountain" in Chiloquin, Oregon. This is a neat place too, especially if you are a train enthusiast! They have 23 real miles of train tracks! So they will be using the tressel somehwere in the park. By the way, this tressel that my husband built to display the Lilly Belle in Sacramento was made with the real rails from Walt Disney's home many years ago. Walt's barn, where he housed the train, has been relocated near Griffith Park, Ca. And they just celebrated the 10th year of it being moved there. (For more information about the barn, you can go to the Carolwood Pacific Railroad Society at www.carolwood.com )
Well, I certainly have said enough! Hope you enjoyed the pictures too! Hope all is going well and you are all having a wonderful summer!
xxxooo
Marilyn

GOING ON VACATION & AWARD RECEIVED!

2009-07-13T08:58:00.000-07:00

I was very honored to receive this award from a sweet lady, Jean at http://aromanticcountryhome.blogspot.com/. Thank you Jean and I will pass it on. I too, will be on vacation this week! We just got back from a car show in Roseburg, Oregon. What a show too, almost 500 cars! I will attach a couple of pictures.

So, to those who are receiving the "LEMONADE" award, the rules are:
1. Post the award on your blog
2. Pass it along to ten people you would like to give the award to
3. Link the nominee's within your post
4. Let the nominees know you are giving them an award
5. Link your post to the person who gave you the award
Simple! Enjoy!

Laurie at http://lauriescharmingdesigns.blogspot.com/
Candy at http://rockcandy56.blogspot.com/
Cathy at http://www.thestylishhouse.net/
Kathy at http://kathyscottage.blogspot.com/
Mona at http://wsprsweetlyofcottages.blogspot.com/
Suzie at http://www.suziebuttoncreations.blogspot.com/
Adrienne at http://withagratefulheart.blogspot.com/
Cathy at http://tadpolesandteacups.blogspot.com/
Heidi at http://www.foxglovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com/
Michelle at http://www.michellepalmerart.blogspot.com/
You all soooo deservethis award, so have fun with it!

We're on our way, caravaning (six of us!)

I thought you would all enjoy these three pictures, someone used a glass door handle for a stick shift! The other MUST be a woman's touch, hanging cherries from the rear-view mirror! And the flames on the first picture, just beautiful!

Our club came away from the car show with three awards! That was quite a feat, since there were so many participants! Well, I better get going, lots to do today! You all have a great week, and I'll be checking out your posts daily!
xxxooo
Marilyn

INTRODUCING; CAROL'S CURLY GIRLIE'S!

2009-07-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

I have the most creative sister! Carol has been making these button dolls for years now. She stopped a while ago because the place where she sold them closed their business. Well, anyway, she was giving me some fabric the other day, when I noticed that she still had some of her "Curlie Girlies" left! So I suggested that maybe I could put them in my Etsy Shop for her and see how they sell. The picture above is some of the dolls she has left. They all have a theme, gardening, birthday, tennis, scarecrow, angel, etc. So I have added four to my Etsy shop and will add more later!

Hope you all had a great Independance day. We went to a car show in Fossil, Oregon and boy was it HOT! It was a great show, but I'm talking about the weather - no air conditioning in the T-Bird, I had to use a water mister all the way home!!! I guess I am a wilting flower as my honey says!

I loved this! You can double click on the picture to get a better view!
Better get going, so you all have a great week!

xxxooo
Marilyn

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

2009-07-02T07:22:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite holidays, after Christmas and Easter!! So much is going on right now that is disintegrating our freedoms as we have known them. We are all very busy people with our own problems and so involved in our daily lives that we sometimes do not want to get involved in what is going on around us. (Let's not keep our heads in the sand to avoid seeing it.) Below is a prayer by Billy Graham and a comment from President John F. Kennedy. They say it all, and in a much better way than I could. And I love the marching music at a July Fourth Parade, so here it is for you all to enjoy too!

'Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, 'Woe to those who call evil good,' but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values.. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor's possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, Oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and Set us free. Amen!' by Rev. Billy Graham

"Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, to assure the survival and the success of LIBERTY" by John F. Kennedy

This weekend as we go to barbeques and see the fireworks, please take a moment to honor those who have died for our freedom and also say a little prayor for our president, and politicians to guide them in keeping our country the free nation that it has always been!

GOD BLESS AMERICA!

Have a happy and safe Independance Day!
xxxooo
Marilyn

WINGS AND WHEELS!

2009-06-21T08:17:00.000-07:00

We have been doing a lot of cruising and going to car shows lately. In fact our own car club is hosting our "High Lakes Show and Shine" next weekend (June 27th). But the pictures here are from the WINGS AND WHEELS SHOW in Florence, Oregon...it was a kick, lots of neat vintage cars, planes and motorcycles. A picture of my dad and his bride, and another one of Roger too. One neat pic of the pinstriping on a '35 Ford.

Next are some pictures from the OAKRIDGE CAR SHOW yesterday, June 20th. And some of our friends who won an award, and their cars. It was a cloudy, cold day!

I've also been working on some lamp shades for a few customers, and also tending our gardens too. Finally we are starting to get some flowers and buds! But today Summer begins, and we are expecting a little rain! Wishing you all a "Happy Fathers Day" to all of your husbands, etc! Hope you have had a wonderful week, take good care!
xxxooo
Marilyn

PICTURES, LOTS OF PICTURES!

2009-06-04T20:05:00.000-07:00

I took over a week off, actually I think it was closer to three! My daughter Christy, and her family came for a quick visit during Memorial Day...and what fun we had! We started off by meeting them in Chico, Calif at the Sierra Nevada Brewery and had a nice lunch. After that Roger and Scott (my son-in-law) took the brewery tour and us gals and the kids did a little antique shopping while on our way heading home. We had a great time catching up with each other on the way. The next day we baked a cake with Ashley helping grandma! Ashley, my 7 year old grandaughter, took some pictures with my camera and I'll post some of them - she is a pretty good photographer too! Our grandson Luke, is now a little over two years old and a bundle of energy - and cute as a button! He followed Ashley all around...we built a swing for them and they had a great time with that!
Here is a picture of Ashley and I while baking a Rainbow Cake - and a picture of the results!

A cute pic of the kids on their swing!

And finally some of the pictures that our new little photographer took!

We sure had a nice visit, I only wish they lived closer to us! We are about 900 miles apart, so our visits are very special!
After they left, I have been working on some lamps and lampshades and also I am repairing some shades for two customers....just waiting for the materials that I need to arrive before I can finish them.
So now that I have some time, I am trying to keep up with all of you wonderful friends in the blogging world! Don't be surprised if you hear from me soon!
Y'all have a great weekend,
xxxooo
Marilyn

CARROTS, ANYONE?

2009-05-14T12:32:00.000-07:00

Thought you all might enjoy this picture of the carrots that were left over in our greenhouse all winter - pretty small huh? But they taste great and I think the next time we have guests for dinner, I will add some of these little cuties to the salad! I have been checking out many of your blogs this week and seeing a LOT of beautiful flowers! Well, it snowed again yesterday, so that tells you my flowers are just now coming out of the ground! I think we are going to miss spring this year and go directly into summer!

Here are three pictures I took while visiting - found them in and on antique stores. I thought they were funny!

One more thing, I guess you all would like to see some of the "stuff" I got! The birdhouse has a story; the first day of my visit we all went to a plant sale. At this plant sale they had a raffle where you write your name on the back of the ticket and put it in the bag in front of the prize you would like to win...well, the next day Fran got a message on her phone stating that you won the birdhouse...and guess what! To our surprise, all three of us jumped up saying "I won"! The lady didn't say the name of the winner! Fran called and of course, you guessed, I was the lucky winner! Yee Haa!

While I was gone a very nice lady who I "met" not long ago, Mona from "Whisper Sweetly of Cottages" left me a Bella award! I am so excited that she did this and "Thank you, Mona for such a sweet surprise!" I will pass it along too!

So this is the scoop: To the recipients of this award, here is what you do: Please pass this Bella Award on to 15 people who have blogs that are new to you and you think are lovely (15 seems like a lot to me, but yep, that's the rules!). If you don't know 15 new blogs, it's O.K. to choose a blog that you really love! Also, this award is yours to take and post on your blog side bar if you would like, just put the name of the person giving it to you beneath. Enjoy and congratulations!

So here are 15 new blogs that I've seen and loved! Some very creative people, and all cottage-y a look that I love too! I am sorry about not being able to add their http onto this, but for some reason, this new Windows Vista will not let me! By the way, if anyone out there knows how to do it, please let me know!!!

1) Lallees Cottage at lalleescottage.blogspot.com
2) Sweet Peas and Happy Things at sweetthingsandhappythings.blogspot.com
3) Cottage Farm Villa atcottagefarmvilla.blogspot.com
4) Cynthia's Cottage Designs at cynthiascottagedesigns.blogspot.com
5) Pink and Polka Dot at pinkandpolkadot.blogspot.com
6) The Farm Chicks at thefarmchicks.typepad.com
7) The Beehive Cottage at thebeehivecottage.blogspot.com
8) Suzie Buttons Creations at suziebuttoncreations.blogspot.com
9) Mona at wsprsweetlyofcottages.blogspot.com
10) Jean from A Romantic Country Home at aromanticcountryhome.blogspot.com
11) A Glimpse Of My World at wwwglimpseofmyworld.blogspot.com
12) Cathy at The Stylish House at thestylishhouse.net
13) Cass at That Old House at cass-thatoldhouse.blogspot.com
14) Cherry at Cherrys Jubilee at cherrysjubileehome.blogspot.com
15) Lucy at Lucy Bloom at lucybloom.blogspot.com

Well that's quite a long list! They are all pretty new to me, I have seen them a few times and think their blogs are beautiful! There are lots more I could add to this list, and some of them would be my old friends that I have been watching for a long time - their blogs are just as beautiful!
Have a great week,
xxxooo
Marilyn

WHAT A GREAT TIME WE HAD!

2009-05-07T09:12:00.000-07:00

My friends, Fran, Cheri and myself did a lot of going - all over hill n' dale! First we went to plant sales with another friend, Hilga, then off to gift/antique shops and thrift shops and yard sales. We took a trip out to Snohomish Country to see the Tulip Festival, how beautiful! Lots to eat, lots of joking and laughing, and a lot of sweet friends! Here are some of the pictures:

A walk on the beach, found lots of shells, driftwood, and sand dollars!

We sure had fun in the stores!

The tulip fields - just beautiful!

At a place called Roozen Gaade - had a wonderful display and shop!

In La Conner, Wa. we visited Bunnies by the Bay, a place to buy children's clothes and other cute creative stuff! I like to go just to be inspired by the decorating!

All the rooms are hand painted with lovely murals, and in order to take pictures, an employee has to be in the picture!

I had to take this picture, the island has lots of farming! So peaceful!

Whidbey Island and the state of Washington is such a picturesque place!
I have lots more pictures, but little space here! Next post will have some pictures of some funny signs. When I got home and onto the computer, I found that I received an award from Mona! Well, I was going to put a picture of it here, but my new computer will not let me post any more pictures for some reason! Darn! I will have to put it into the next post I guess?!?!? I don't want to keep gripeing about the new computer, so I'll just say "have a great week" to all of you!
xxxooo
Marilyn

IT'S VACATION TIME!!!

2009-04-22T15:52:00.000-07:00

It's that time of year again when my honey goes off fishing with 9 of his buddies for a week....and I am off to MY friends for a week also. You might remember last year when I had a picture of Fran, Cheri and myself on my front porch after a day of wandering the thrift shops in town. Well, we are at it again, this time in Washington...we're gonna have so much fun! I'm bringing three little bird houses for us to paint (a small project). And I think we may even go into Canada if we have the time and inclination! But it's GIRLS WEEK and we are gonna do whatever we want to do!! COWGIRL-UP! YEE HAA!

These pictures are the newest lamp I made for a customer named Suzie. A very sweet lady who just happened to have her first grandchild, this month! A baby girl named Madison who is just the cutest little thing! Suzie is decorating a room in her house just for Madison and wanted a lamp for that room. She sent me the baby head vase to see what I could do with it. I had a little vintage childs pillowcase with a bunny embroidered on it, and it is just perfect for her lamp! So, what do you think? Cute, huh? Please visit her blog at www.suziebuttoncreations.blogspot.com (I still can't get the http thing to work here! And I cannot get the pictures in correctly, ARRRGH!)and see little Madison with the biggest pink "bow" on her sweet littlehead!

So now I'm off to enjoy a week just relaxing, junking, yard saleing, and who knows what else!!!

NEW GIVEAWAY!

2009-04-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

O.K. so I just posted this morning and now here I am back again in ONE day, can you believe it??? But I had to let all of you know about a great GIVEAWAY from THE FARM CHICKS (well it's actually fabric from a sweet little lady named Stacy McCallum from PIXIE DUST DECOR.) So go on over to The Farm Chicks (a wonderful blog!) at http://thefarmchicks.typepad.com And go on over to Stacy's webpage at www.pixiedustdecor. I tried to add these in here so that you can just click on them, but with this new Windows Vista, it didn't show up! I'll have to work on that!
Until next week, have a wonderful springtime!
xxxooo
Marilyn

FIRST EVER PROTEST!

2009-04-17T08:17:00.000-07:00

TAX DAY TEA PARTY! YEE HAA!
We went to a tea party last Wednesday, and it was fun! Democrats, Republicans, Independents, young and old, you name it we were all there. Protesting (my husband and I, for the very first time!) our present administrations spending our futures into oblivian! With the way things are going, we will never get out from under this mess! We all know that we cannot spend money to get out of debt, and this is what the tea parties were all about. Our town had about 200-300 people joining and more honking their horns as we marched through the downtown part of Bend, Oregon saying "Silent Majority No More!" I know not everyone agrees with me on this, but I have an opinion too, just like you. AND it's still our constitutional right to voice our opinions. At least as of now - but who knows what will happen in our future - it doesn't look very promising. Now all of us grassroots people need to keep going and making sure we have a voice that will be heard and considered by this administration. Enough said!
I am working on a project and almost done; its one of the cutest lamps I have done so far. A very nice customer sent a sweet little baby head vase to me and asked that I make a lamp out of it. She just had her first grandchild (a girl) and wanted a lamp for her bedroom. Just wait till you see it! Next week.
Well, you all have a great week and please write to your state representatives if you want to voice your opinion too!
xxxooo
Marilyn

It's almost Easter!

2009-03-29T18:31:00.000-07:00

Thank you to all the responses I got from the last post (When I was ranting about products being made not to last long!) I guess we all feel the same when it comes to purchasing things and having them go bad before your eyes! By the way, I'm still trying to figure out this new computer - it has Windows Vista - the last one was Windows XP, and they are so different...it will take some getting used to!

Easter is around the corner, and I love this holiday, just as much as I love Christmas! The picture above is a little basket I put together with a couple of cute little ducklings that I found at a yard sale a long time ago.

Easter: The resurrection of Jesus Christ: It's so important, it's what life is all about. "I know that my redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth" JOB 19:25 This verse comforts me, especially right now with all the turmoil around the world, and with what is happening to our beloved U.S.A. And He is there watching over all that is going on, with His plans for us. All I can say is trust in the Lord; "Be still and know that I am God."

Easter is also about being with family and friends, going to church services, and knowing that this is the way it should be. Since our children are all so far away, it is at holidays like this that I miss them so much more. The grandchildren, the cooking, eating and lots of family fun together. Well, I'm not going to get all teary eyed, and do the hand-waving thing...so I will just say "Have a great week, I love you all. You are all such a great support group!"

xxxooo
Marilyn

A NEW COMPUTER AND WE'RE UP AND RUNNING, WELL SORT OF!

2009-03-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

Sooo, we broke down and bought a new computer! Now I have to get used to the way this one works! New stuff to learn! yuk!

I just don't understand; You see GREEN everywhere! We are encouraged to be GREEN! Why don't these people concentrate on the real problems? Like manufacturers who make stuff (like computers, refrigerators, TV's, appliances, radios, etc) to break down after a short period, so that you have to throw them away and BUY A NEW ONE????
And what about ALL THAT JUNK MAIL WE GET? How many trees does it take to get out a message to EVERYONE? Junk mail that WE THROW AWAY!

Environmentalists complain that we are a throw away society. Well, why don't they go after all the companies that make the throw away stuff? I for one, would like a refrigerator that will last at least 20 years, or a computer that will last at least 10 years - or even one that could be FIXED instead of tossing it! Last year we had to buy a new printer - there's another thing - what about the print cartridges? Talk about a waste! I know with all the new way of making stuff, they could come up with ink cartridges that last longer! But then THEY WOULDN'T MAKE AS MUCH MONEY! That is where the whole problem is, I'm sure!

So, I am ranting! Done! I will shut up now - you probably all feel the same! So I'm back on line now and ready to blog again! Thank you all for your support and also for listening to my rant today!!!!
Have a great week,
xxxooo
Marilyn

TROUBLE, WITH A CAPITAL "T" !!

2009-03-14T11:58:00.000-07:00

The TROUBLE is that right now I am at the local library, attempting to get computer service! YES, my computer took a DUMP! It's out for good, and we are trying to save it, or we may have to get a new one! And we are trying to download all the "stuff" we had on the old computer too! Why does this happen? Why don't they make computers to last longer than 4 years? I guess like all things, you have to follow the money trail...right? Well, I will be out of "cyber commission" for a while...will let you all know as soon as we get back into working order! But for now, have a great week and see y'all soon!
xxxooo
Marilyn

GIVEAWAY WINNER!

2009-03-08T13:32:00.001-07:00

AND THE WINNER IS:
Cathy from ""The Stylish Home", congratulations Cathy!

Thank you to all 19 entries, this was fun and I definately appreciate your interest in my blog and the Giveaway. I have met some new bloggers, and love my "ole blogging buddies" too. I will be catching up with all of you to see what's new every week. You all said some very nice and special things about my blog and I really am grateful for our "blogging community"!

I just finished reading all the books by Mary Kay Andrews. One of our bloggers suggested these books (but I'm sorry, I don't remember who, getting old I guess!) What I think is so fun about her books is that they are really fun! Three of the books are about two specific women in the South and their adventures, who are junkers like us. These three should be read in order; Savannah Blues, Savannah Breeze and Blue Christmas. Lots of fun!

The others are great fun too. I especially enjoyed "Deep Dish" about a woman who is a TV Chef that has a "cook off" with another hunk of a TV chef, all of the stories have a happy ending - which I loved too! Some of the books are on CD's, so you can listen to them while you are doing your projects! OR while driving to those yard sales!
Speaking of TV Chefs, don't you just LOVE Bobby Flay! What a cutie-pie!

And Thank You, Mary Kay Andrews for some great reading!

Well, better go, y'all have a great week!

xxxoo
Marilyn

ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY - GIVEAWAY!

2009-03-01T08:02:00.000-08:00

I can't believe that it's been one whole year since I started blogging! I have met some very special women, all who have somewhat the same interests as I do! There are so many talented, gifted, and down right sweet people out there that you would never have known if it wasn't for blogging! Isn't it wonderful!

To celebrate, I am going to have a GIVEAWAY! The pictures below are what the Giveaway is; I made a cute little nightlight from vintage embroidered doilies and lace, complete with a signature button on the back; also a book by Kathryn M. Ireland called "Classic Country", and one more thing: the sweetest little salt and pepper shakers - two yellow birds sitting on a "fence" that is a toothpick holder. (you can see it in the picture with the book.) TO ENTER, JUST LEAVE A COMMENT, AND I WILL ADD YOUR NAME TO THE GIVEAWAY LIST! I will draw a name next Sunday (March 8th!) Please note that if you respond "anonymously", I will not have an email for you (unless you leave one) and cannot respond to you or put your name in the hat!...so will the anonymous person who just responded today (3/1), please email me! Thank you, Marilyn

And, I just had to show you what I have been working on! Well, my honey had actually been doing most of the work! And I got the idea from a magazine - I cut out the picture (so I don't remember which magazine it was in!?) If you take a look at Tina's blog, she has one just like it and she actually may have been the original designer, I am not sure! Check her post for February 17th at cherryhillcottage.typepad.com to see it. And she has the cutest home too! Anyway, I had a birdcage just like the one in the picture, and so here it is: Our version of the birdcage-shelf! (IT'S NOT IN THE GIVEAWAY THO!!!)

Hope you all have a great week! Remember, just leave a comment on this post and I will add you name to the giveaway list.

xxxooo

Marilyn

GIVEAWAY'S !!

2009-02-22T15:28:00.000-08:00

Hello all! I am not even a "cat person", but this is just the cutest smiley picture of a cat that I've ever seen! Don't you think her name should just be "Priscilla?" I haven't been posting much lately, I have been down with a "bug!" But it's getting better now! I have been working in my shop making lamps and shades and now I have been even making some bead fringe, to use on a shade - if I ever get it done! Most lampshades take about two yards of fringe or bead fringe...so it's one bead at a time for me!
This little cute bird in a bath is made by Michelle Palmer. I bought it from her Etsy store and I think it's just the cutest little thing! It is going to be a gift for....well, I can't say since she reads my blogs! Take a look at Michelle's work, she is just the greatest artist and now is making these little felted animals too! http://www.michellepalmerart.blogspot.com/

These are two "sister" shades I made for a customer in Saudi Arabia! Just shipped them off to her last week! They turned out very sweet, don't you think?

One last thing; I HAVE been blog looking and there are a couple of great GIVEAWAY'S out there! YAY! Just go to Lavender Hill Studios and Penny is giving away a very sweet Mosaic heart peg, and the winner can pick her own colors too! http://lavenderhillstudio.blogspot.com/ Also, Laurie is giving away a very pretty hand painted spoon magnet, and also take a look at HER cute little felted animals too! (These felted animals must be the newest thing!, I will have to check it out!) You can get Laurie at http://lauriescharmingdesigns.blogspot.com/ . Another giveaway is from Valarie, she makes these wonderful windows with words (the winner can chose the words she wants!!) so go on over to http://wwwglimpseofmyworld.blogspot.com/ and sign up for all of these!

Well, that's about all the giveaway's I know of right now. Now for the best part: I AM GOING TO HAVE A GIVEAWAY TOO! On March 1st, I will have been blogging for ONE FULL YEAR! Boy did that time go fast! There are so many really nice women out there that I have had the real pleasure of getting to know. Bloggers are a special breed (very caring, sensitive, thoughtful, and creative people!) I appreciate and adore you all! I don't know yet just what I am going to giveaway - but it will start on March 1st....so please keep watching!

Have a great week,

xxxooo

Marilyn

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY!

2009-02-12T09:28:00.000-08:00

Here's wishing you all a loving Valentine's Day! There are so many blogs out there with some really pretty red stuff this month, it has been a lot of fun browsing! But todays post is for my honey! We have been married 17 years now, not much time to some - but this is our second marriage for both of us...and we are still as happy as the day we got married! My husband Roger, is one of the smartest, most loving, giving, helpful, and creative people I know. One of the things that I will never forget about Roger's love is when my daughter went into the Navy (Quite a few years ago. She is now married with two children.) Anyway, the recruiters came to our home to pick her up and take her away to who knows where! It was the last I would see of her until graduation from boot camp! I was very sad and I cried quite a bit that day! Roger said he had to go to the store and left. When he came back, he brought a card and some flowers, a hug and a kiss and told me how much he loved me and understood how sad I was at seeing my sweet little girl leave (and growing up!) He has always surprised me when I least expect it. The first year we were together before we got married I was expecting an engagement ring that Christmas - Surprise: He got me a traveling bag! (and I did get the ring sometime later!) Last summer I came home from work and found him putting in the french doors on my shop, and he didn't finish until he had it done...Roger is just a wonderful husband and altogether a generous and kind person. He loves his family and he loves mine too. So to end this post I just want to say; "Happy Valentine's Day, Honey!"

And "Happy Valentines Day" to all you bloggers out there. I am sure you all have your "honey's" to write about too!

xxxooo

Marilyn

DOES ANYBODY KNOW???

2009-01-28T11:32:00.000-08:00

My sweet sister and I have a couple of dolls that were from our maternal grandmother. Not only did we "play" with them, but our mother and her sister did too! That is probably why they are in the condition that they are! One of the pictures show a doll without clothes (probably played with the most!) alongside is a paper my mother wrote showing me what the clothes she wore had looked like (she was hoping that I could re-do it! Didn't happen!) and the other pics are of my doll - I don't have a picture of my sis's doll here. They are porcelain, about 4" tall, (about 6-7" tall with clothes) they have human hair, and the clothes and hats are made out of crepe paper and some cloth (like velvet to other fabric). The hats look like they are old paper nut cups.) We think they may be from England, but don't know much about their history and our mother and aunt didn't know either. We have never seen any others like them. We have been wondering about them for years now! Anyway, doe's anybody out there know ANYTHING about these dolls?

Also, please head on over to Michelle Palmers blog because she is having a GIVE-AWAY! Lots of cute things! http://michellepalmerart.blogspot.com/

Have a great week!

xxxooo

Marilyn

BLAH! BLAH! BLAH!

2009-01-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

Well, its Saturday and I just came in from my shop to start dinner. Been working on some shades. Kind of boring today! I don't have much to say but thought that it has been over a week since I did a post - so here it is! La tee dah! Guess I'm a little slooooow today...not much going on around here.

Well, I did finish a book on CD; "Marley and Me" written and read by John Grogan. VERY cute book! And if you have a lab, or any other dog you love, you will LOVE this story! Let me see if I can get a picture of it: O.K. here it is, found it from Google!

Isn't he just the cutest! And what a charactor too! We have a black lab (named Lucy) and she is very sweet and gentle (I can relate to what the author wrote about Marley hating the thunder - it scares Lucys to death too!)

I listen to books on tape or CD while I am working in my shop and sometimes while I am cooking. I get them from the local library (FREE!) Also, from another sweet blogger who suggested Mary Kay Andrews, I am starting "Savannah Blues". A story about a young woman and her adventures (MIS-adventures) while "junking"! I knew I'd like this one, because she loves finding old used things and then sells them! It's a kick!

So this is a short post, hope you all are having a great weekend. I guess Rue is moving this weekend - so go on over to her blog and lets see if she has posted any pictures of their new home? ruespeanutbutterand jellylife.blogspot.com

xxxooo

Marilyn

ANOTHER NEW LAMP!

2009-01-14T07:41:00.000-08:00

I guess we are all pretty much setteled into the new year by now? I suppose I am, but the time - it's just SPEEDING ALONG! You know you are getting older when you look at your children or grandchildren and they are getting bigger by the minute! Precious as they are, they do grow up!

Above is one of the lamps I have been working on. I bought the base on Ebay a while ago because I thought it was just darling....so what do you think? I will put it below to get a bigger picture of it and I am also going to put it in my etsy shop.

I am working on two shades for a customer, and will be sending them to her soon. After they are sent, I will put a picture on my blog so y'all can see that I really have been working!!! She says she may want another one too; so I better get busy!

Also I have been checking out some of your blogs lately to see what you are doing....it seems that everyone is so busy right now! Your projects are just beautiful and creative...and that is the best reason for doing a blog - your inspiration!!! One of the blogs I found this week is Bakerella, at http://www.bakerella.blogspot.com/, you'll have to go over and see the brownies she made - YUM! I'm going to make them for our next month's car club meeting for sure!!!

AND there's a new blogger in blogland! She just became one of my "followers"...She has a really pretty blog - so go on over and see Candy! http://rockcandy56.blogspot.com/

Well, have a good week!

xxxooo

Marilyn

SPECIAL MEMORIES!

2009-01-06T08:50:00.000-08:00

When I made my very first lampshade, I made a lot of mistakes - so I kept it! Actually my daughter wanted it so she has it now. But what I want to say is that on that first lampshade, I put something special; a button that was from my grandmother's wedding dress. So when Nova, one of my friends, commissioned me to make her a lampshade I asked her if there was anything special she would like to add to her shade. The three little pins above were a gift to her from her grandmother! Nova had gotten a vintage floor lamp with a torn shade and asked me to make one of my "doily" lampshades for it. I think it turned out very pretty, and you can see where I put the pins - right in the front where they have a place of honor! So what do you think?

And remember in a previous post, the six cute little birdhouse drawer pulls that my friend Fran and I got from a yard sale - and a picture of what Fran did with her three (she hung some vintage pot holders from them?) Well the pictures above are of my mantle (post Christmas!) I made them into picture hangers with a little ribbon and lace!

Well, now that 2009 is here, I wish you all a good year. Have fun with what you are making, enjoy your families and friends. Get out and go somewhere or see something you haven't seen before. Enjoy the life you have, and thank the Good Lord for your (and our) many blessings!

xxxooo

Marilyn

A HAPPY NEW YEAR WISH

2008-12-31T08:18:00.000-08:00

WISHING EVERYONE A HAPPY, HEALTHY AND PEACEFUL 2009.

Thank you all for your friendship, kindness, and many sweet words during 2008. I never knew that having a blog would mean having so many new friends! And such creative friends! So my wish for 2009 is that we would all enjoy a more peaceful world, a meaningful life with our family and friends, and thanking the Lord for our many blessings!

"The tragedy of life is not that it ends so soon, but that we wait so long to begin it."

W.M. Lewis

Happy New Year, xxxooo Marilyn

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

2008-12-26T08:30:00.000-08:00

Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and peaceful 2009!

We can't avoid it - time just keeps passing on as we spend our days doing whatever we do, and suddenly you're another year older! Today is my birthday and I can't understand just where the years went. I was a kid, then a teen, young adult, married, had children. They grew up and now I have four grandchildren! Where did the time go? I remember once when I was a young adult someone asking me what I wanted to do in my life and my response was "I wanted to live long enough to be a Grandma!" Voila! here it is, and I couldn't be happier! I felt then as I do now, the good purpose in life is to raise your children to be responsible adults, so that they will raise their children to be responsible adults, and the life cycle goes on.

I have a wonderful life and I have the Good Lord to thank for it. One thing I have learned in 2008 is that the world is not very different from the way it was in the Bible; many of the problems we face today are somewhat the same as then....and God has a plan for me (and you too, of course!) So I am going to spend a little of each day just listening; "Be still, and know that I am God".

Happy New Year, and may God Bless you!

Love,

Marilyn

CHRISTMAS SCENES

2008-12-19T08:39:00.000-08:00

Are you all ready for Christmas yet??? There is still a bit left to do in our home, but I thought I would share some of our decorations with you. I have a collection of silhouettes and the picture above is a nativity scene we put up every year, and since its a silhouette, I put it with my others! The middle picture is on our front porch, we hung an old window frame with a wreath, and as you can see, its snowing! We're having a White Christmas! And then we have these little elves, one is Roger one is me!! So now that all the Christmas decorations are put out, its clean up time! No company this year; we are going to my sisters home for Christmas Dinner. All our kids and grandkids are staying in California for their Christmas'.

I would like to Thank B.J. (at http://sweetnothingsbj.blogspot.com) and Darlene for both of your help in adding the "falling snow" to my blog, it's just perfect for this snowy weather! You can get it to, just go into Darlene's blog, then into her older blogs and look for the instructions under "Let it snow on your blog". http://darlenesdays-darlene.blogspot.com Very simple too!

Well, that's about it for now. Wishing you all a wonderful Christmas, and may the Good Lord bless you all!

xxxooo

Marilyn

First Snow!

2008-12-13T16:56:00.000-08:00

A pretty good storm has come through our area and left us a little dusting of snow. The picture above is of dove footprints left in the snow this morning who came to our front porch searching for bird seed. I thought it was cute, we usually leave some seed on the porch during winter because the feeders get all blogged down with snow and ice.

I have been baking all weekend, making cookies to send for family and friends. Next will be the shipping! Going to the post office on Monday to ship all the goodies - don't you just love it!

I have been spending a lot of time looking at blogs and think there are so many that have the Christmas spirit, they are just beautiful! I wish I had the writing talent that some of you do, I feel like my words are rather bland! Hopefully as I get better at this, they will improve? Some pretty blogs you might want to see: Kathy's Cottage at http://www.kathyscottage.blogspot.com/, Rue's Peanut butter and jelly life at http://ruespeanutbutterandjellylife.blogspot.com/, also Laurie at http://lauriescharmingdesigns.blogspot.com/ Laurie has some real cute little marble magnets - she is such a great painter! Adrienne always has some very kind and thoughtful things to say, she is at http://withagratefulheart.blogspot.com/. Also Michelle Palmer is another wonderful artist! She is at http://michellepalmerart.blogspot.com . This is only four, and there are so many more that are so pretty and Christmas-y, but not enough room here to mention them all. Well, you all have a great week, and keep the Spirit going! Oh, one more thing: I added a new light to my Etsy store! You can see it below! It's a night light made from vintage hankies - please check it out!

Love,

Marilyn

Christmas Season has finally started in our household!

2008-12-06T14:12:00.001-08:00

Well, it's finally here - our Christmas Season has finally started with putting up the Christmas tree. This year we decided that since we were not having company, we wouldn't put up the big fat fake tree we have and instead use one from our yard. It really looks like a Charlie Brown tree too! But it's kinda cute! The ornament on the left above is one my daughter made and painted for us one year - I put it up every year now - as another reminder of just who this season is all about! Also, I just love this little "Jesus" in the center with a star above him, he also is on our tree every year. And the recipe on the right is is one sent to me from my mother years ago - I know its tattered and spilled on, but my Mom wrote a short note, so I will always keep it!

Below is the result of that recipe! If you make it your friends will just LOVE it! We are going to the company Christmas party tonight and this is what they requested I bring! So here goes, you can try this yourself (just be prepared for friends wanting the recipe!) The crust is actually a cream puff!

CREAM PUFF CAKE

(by Elizabeth Powell - I don't know what cook book though)

1/2 C. butter

1 C. water

1 C. flour

4 eggs

8 oz. softened cream cheese

4 C. milk

3 pkg (small) instant vanilla pudding mix

1 pint whipping cream - whipped

chocolate syrup to drizzle over top

Melt the butter in water. Add flour and cook, stirring constantly until it forms a ball. Turn into a bowl and beat in eggs one at a time, beating well between each. Spread puff mixture flat into a greased 9x13 pan. Bake at 400 degrees for 35-40 minutes. COOL. Mix together cream cheese and milk and beat until smooth. Add instant pudding, one at a time. When thick, spread over cooled puff shell. Top with the whipped cream and drizzle with the chocolate syrup. Delicious!

Well, I'm off to get ready for this evening, you all have a wonderful week!

xxxooo

Marilyn

CHRISTMAS IS JUST AROUND THE CORNER!

2008-12-04T22:02:00.000-08:00

As you may have noticed, I changed my blog to reflect the Christmas Season....the chandelier shades in the banner are also in my Etsy store! It's a first! I think I'll put more lamps there too! The pictures above are of my friend Fran's, kitchen; we were yard-saleing and found 6 birdhouse drawer pulls. She took 3 and I took 3. Fran is so cleaver; she hung her potholder collection on them - cute, don't you agree! I was thinking of using my bird house pulls to hang a smaller picture with ribbon. I'll post a picture when I get it done!

Although we don't have any snow yet, but it's cold enough to have a White Christmas! You all have some beautiful posts, I am enjoying them so much. Your Christmas decorations, trees and food - really beautiful! I am still in the process of decorating, putting up the tree, shopping and wrapping gifts to send and then cleaning up after myself! So I don't have any pictures of the Season as yet. We are going to help decorate a tractor-trailer tomorrow (our car club will be in our local "Truckers Light Parade") Every year people come from all around with their pick-ups to big rigs all decked out with Christmas Lights! Hopefully I will get some neat pictures I can post!

I want to thank Heidi at http://www.foxglovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com/ for having the Very Vintage Christmas Swap this year. I met a very nice lady (Missy) who is my swap partner. I mailed out her box of gifts today! This was a lot of fun and I'll probably do it again next year too!

Have a great week!

xxxooo

Marilyn

UNDER CONSTRUCTION AGAIN!!!

2008-11-29T20:44:00.000-08:00

Hi Friends! I am trying to put together a Christmas blog for the Season, but am having a bit of trouble with it! So please bear with me and with a little help from my friends, I'll get it done shortly! Hope you all had a very thankful and pleasant thanksgiving...

xxxooo

Marilyn

It's that time of year again!

2008-11-08T08:37:00.000-08:00

It's getting to be that time of year again! I just love Thanksgiving! Getting together with your family and friends and eating a HUGE dinner with lots of desserts too. Thanking the Lord for all your blessings! In our home, its always the gals in the kitchen cooking and talking and laughing and the guys in the living room watching football on TV. The grandkids running around having fun! Its just great! This year my sister and her husband and our dear friends from Washington are coming here! My daughter and family were going to come, but they are about 900 miles away and cannot afford to travel at this time (boy the economy stinks, don't you think!) But we will call and I'll be able to see them via the web cam!

We have some friends coming next weekend from California to visit. They will only be here for a day, but it will be so nice to see them again! And then I need to prepare for our guests at Thanksgiving! I have a lot of cleaning and cooking to do! We are expecting snow in the next couple of days so I had better get moving now!!

I am working on some Christmas chandelier shades that will be on Etsy before the holidays too. I'll show them to you'all when I get them done! Also, I joined the Vintage Christmas Swap given by Heidi Ann at http://foxglovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com/ and I have a sweet swap partner, Missy, who has http://fairychildheirlooms.wordpress.com/. this is the first time I've done a swap and it should be a lot of fun! Heidi and Missy are very sweet gals and a lot of fun!

So, bye for now and have a great weekend!

xxxooo

Marilyn

IT'S HALLOWEEN! Booooooo!

2008-10-31T08:42:00.000-07:00

We are going to a halloween party tonight and I am bringing some deviled eggs - with spider's on them! We are going to be indians tonight - I was trying to put together a "Tinkerbells Grandma" costume, but don't have enough time left - it will just have to wait for next year! And we had these indian costumes left from years past...hopefully I'll still fit in it!!! The witch on the right is above a store in Florence, Oregon. I thought she was so cute, and witchy!

Roger finished putting the french doors and window on my shop, and added the scalloped siding above them - it's still quite a mess, but it's going to look real cute when finished. The rain is here, and I may have to wait to paint until spring or summer...I was going to paint it the same color as our house since we still have a lot of the paint left over; but my sister said I should paint it a different color. Our house is a light green with white trim and barn-red shutters; see the picture above, it shows the colors as best I could get with my camera! SO WHAT DO YOU THINK? Shall I paint it the same or a different color altogether? I would LOVE your suggestions, you are all so creative!!!

I have two new blogs added to my list of favorites: One is Michelle Palmer Art. Michelle is a wonderful artist and very sweet person. I love her birds! You can check out her blog at: http://www.michellepalmerart.blogspot.com. The other is Heidi Ann who is a designer and decorator at Foxgloves, Fabric and Folly, a beautiful blog site and she makes and sells quilts and other lovely things! Please go to: http://foxglovesfabricandfolly.blogspot.com

And have a Happy Halloween,

xxxooo

Marilyn

RE-DOING MY SHOP!

2008-10-19T10:17:00.000-07:00

This is a picture of my shop right now; where I work on the lamps and shades and various other "stuff". Roger has added a window (so I can see that it is getting late during Winter!) and soon there will be french doors, donated by a dear friend! On the left of the picture is our garden shed and on the right of the new window is the storage area where we keep our 1956 T-Bird under cover. My shop is in the middle! Last year we painted our house a light green with white trim and barn-red accents. And I am going to paint this building the same colors too! But the weather is getting pretty cold right now, so painting may have to wait until next Spring! Roger also put up a scalloped piece of siding that I got at a yard sale, (not in this picture though) as an accent across the top where you can see a line . By next Summer it should all be done and I will show you the results then!!! The only problem with having a window and french doors is that now I have to keep my shop CLEAN!!!! When all that is completed, I will make a little garden in front and use that old metal bed frame in it.

The above cute little pedal cars are what we brought home from our camping trip last month. Our car club raffles them off at the annual car show which will be next June. I really like the hot rod with the blue and green flames! The other one is a "Thomas the Train" look alike. We got them from a company in Chiloquin, Oregon called "The Pedal Car People" (a family owned business - and very nice people!) you can check them out at: http://www.pedalcarpeople.com/

That's about all for now. I am done with my order for three white lampshades. And finishing up the two remaining styrene "coolie" shades. And I did finish a pretty "Doilie" shade for a friend, I'll take a picture of it in her house and post it next time! Now I can consentrate on making my daughters window valances for her new kitchen! They will be a red toile, to go in her light green kitchen! She likes the cottage look too!

I also have been looking at your blogs, and I sure enjoy all the beautiful things you all do and say. So, have a great week, and I'll be back real soon!

xxxooo

Marilyn

IN LOVING MEMORY.....

2008-09-25T21:27:00.001-07:00

Here are a couple of lampshades I recently re-covered for a very nice customer...She wanted to have me re-cover her old shades because they were getting torn inside and were looking pretty sad! So I took off the old fabric, cleaned the frame and wrapped it, and put the new fabric on, inside and out! My client was vey happy with the results, and is having me make another one for her! Also, I have an order for two more "coolie" shades made from styrene for another customer (she is a repeat customer! Isn't it great when someone likes your work so much that they call you for another job :>)) But I've got to get going on them now!!

We also just got back from a few days camping at a beautiful place here in Oregon called "Collier State Park". Near Chiloquin, Oregon. A group of our car club got together for a few days just to have fun and relax...see the pics! We had a pot luck dinner Saturday night and Roger and I went on an excursion to the top of the mountain to find the beginning of Spring Creek, and also got to see this beautiful view - the picture is from "Oux Kanee Skyline Viewpoint" looking South.

Another project I am working on is making valances for my daughter's kitchen window...her kitchen is a pale green and we thought that a red & cream toile would look pretty. She likes vintage things and this will fit in perfectly! When I get them done and she puts them up, I will post a picture!

One last thing; We just lost a beautiful friend to cancer. She died today, and she will be surely missed! We met Carolyn at the first meeting that we went to for our car club. She had announced that she was going into the doctor the next day, that they thought she may have breast cancer, and asked for our prayers. Well, she did. She fought it for four years, lost her hair three times and it spread into her bones, but was in remission until very recently. She came to our camping trip last weekend; although her husband didn't want to go because of her health, she really wanted to be there. She stayed up both nights and played cards with the rest of us and had a lot of fun! She was such a sweetheart, loved to cook and always had a positive word or cute joke for everyone! We love you, Carolyn and will miss you!

IN LOVING MEMORY!

XXXOOO

Marilyn

2008-09-12T16:56:00.000-07:00

I'm working on four lampshades today (and for the past few days!) They are shades that someone would like to have re-covered - the same as before. Two of the shade are off-white and two will be of styrene, again off-white. I do this from time to time, but it is a little boring - I like the fancy shades that I can CREATE, using my imagination. But alas, this does pay a few bills - and this time it will pay for next weekend camping with our car club friends.

However I did go yard saleing this morning! I found an artists easle, and pallet! The pallet has lots of old oil paint on it and I am going to hang it in my shop as artwork! Other found items today were three cute ceramic holly leaves with berries, to hold candy or nuts; a book by Robert Lewis Stevenson and illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith called "A Child's Garden of Verses". Also a basket and a small stool to recover.

Tomorrow we are heading out to the Prineville Classic Car Show with our club. It ought to be fun, last year we won a prize for the most club members in attendance, as well as a few others for I can't remember what exactly (we even won a prize too - a car club jacket for my husband!) Hopefully we will do as good this year!

Oh, and one more thing I wanted to show-and-tell: I put a "decorative expression" on my kitchen wall; went to a home party a while ago and found that I just loved this saying, take a look! It's from a company called Uppercase Living and they have tons of expressions and you can invent your own too - My sign says: "Nobody knows the TRUFFLES I've seen" What do you think?

Not too much else new right now, so y'all have a great weekend and I'll be checking out your blogs too!

xxxooo

Marilyn

BUSY - BUSY - BUSY!!!

2008-08-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone! I know it's been soooo long since I've done a post, but we have been going-going-going! We just got back from Washington and had a great time (see the pictures above-the middle one is my sweet husband, Roger holding crab bait!); and that was after our trip to California and a quick camping trip in between! Also, as you may or may not know I work four days a week at the local grocery store - I'm the baker! I get there at 5 a.m. and home about 2 p.m. And sometimes I even take a NAP after work!! So it doesn't leave much time except my days off, which have lately been spent going places. Enough excuses though. On our trip to Washington, my terrific friend, Fran and I went yard saleing, to thrift stores, lots of eating, and boating with our husbands....Between them, and our friends still in California, and some who moved to Wisconsin, we try to get together at least once a year. We are trying to put together a caravan trip to Wisconsin in 2009 - but there are a lot of hurdles to overcome, it may have to wait until 2010.

I have four lampshades to make for two customers right now. (I also do requests) One is quite an unusual request; originally it was a glass shade, but it was broken and she cannot find a glass replacement. I had made a shade for her once before, so she called me and I am going to make one out of styrene. The other couple would like two simple white shades to replace the old torn ones for their bedroom. Needless to say, I will be busy for a while! I added a picture below of two shades I made for another customer earlier this year. You know, it is always a pleasure to work with these nice people.

Well, that's about it! I have found a lot of projects to do, especially in my garden. Fall is almost here and soon Winter will follow - so I have to spend a lot of time planting and getting them ready for the snow which will surely follow! I'll write more later and I am always checking out your blogs too! I have found some really great ones that I added to my "favorite blogs" list!You'all have a great Labor Day!

xxxooo

Marilyn

We had a great vacation!

2008-08-09T09:27:00.000-07:00

I know it's been a while since I've blogged, but as you all know we were on vacation for two weeks; then had lots of work to do when we got back. Also had over 260 emails to go through, whew! Excuses, excuses! We had a great trip to Southern California! My grandaughter turned 6 and we had a lovely party for her: lots of kids and balloons! In this picture, she is blowing out the candles on her birthday cake as you can see! She got a swing set too! I made her a pretty summer dress from some white chenille and fabric of yellow and white daisys with an aqua background, I didn't get a picture of it, but it turned out real cute!
Our vacation was really fun; to see our old friends and spend time with our families. We sure miss them all. We moved to Oregon from California four years ago, so we only get to see them once or twice a year! I'm sure you all know how hard it is to be away from your kids and old friends! But enough of my boo-hoo-ing!

I did some yard-saleing and got a few "goodies" this weekend. Found a cute little chicken planter that they were asking $5, but she sold it to me for $3! I was cleaning it this morning and saw that it is a Royal Copley and it's in great condition too! What a deal! Also, I'm a sucker for picture frames and found two: one is a large oval frame and the other is a rectangle both are made of wood; I think I'm going to paint them both off-white, and use them for family pictures!

I haven't been doing much on my lamps lately, but I do have a shade that a friend would like and I'm going to work on it today. She wants me to make one of my "doily" shades for her, and has been saving lace and doilies for it too! I already have the ribs covered and the lining on, so now the fun part begins! I'll show you a picture when it is complete!

Hope you all have a great week, I'm happy to be back! I have been looking at a lot of your blogs lately and have found some really great posts, you are all so busy!

xxoo

Marilyn

GOING ON VACATION BUT STILL "UNDER CONSTRUCTION!"

2008-07-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

We are leaving on our vacation very soon, and I just wanted to get in a few words to all you wonderful bloggers before we left! I added a new lamp to my blog (check it out below) and a picture of our 1956 T-Bird at our car club's recent July 4th Car Show. It's such a cute car, I love to ride in it with the top off! Roger takes it out whenever he can! Well, we are headed down South to visit family and friends and when we return I'll be posting some new pictures and hopefully finish the construction on my blog! I've been so busy with work and the car show and other things, that I haven't been able to get it done.

However, remember the project I had painting my kitchen table and chairs? Well, they are finally DONE! I painted them an off-white, and made new cushions for the chairs, using the floral needlepoints I found yard-saleing. So what do you think?

You all have a great two weeks, I know I will (I get to see my grandkids! Yee Haa!)

xxxooo

Marilyn

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!!

2008-06-27T11:13:00.000-07:00

I know my blog looks a bit funny, but Kathy from Kathy's Cottage is helping me (she is a real Sweetheart!!) however, I got called into work again and have to leave before it's done! How yukky is that!! I have a lot to say and pictures to show, so come back maybe tomorrow and check me out again...that is, if I get home at a reasonable time today! Sorry, I didn't! But I'm adding to this post:

Happy Independance Day Everyone! Don't you just LOVE our Country!
xxxooo
Marilyn