Destination: Farm Chicks...part 2...The Hurd

Hurd Merchantile...one of my favorite stores EVER!!! It's located in a Rockford, Washington, a little town south of Spokane. The store is nearly 10,000 square feet of eye candy!! I think I was here for about 2 hours!!! It's an old building divided up into "rooms", each with their own theme!

Lot's of pictures...definitely recommend a visit if you're over that way!!

Love this ladder!

The "white" room in progress. They were painting furniture while I was there! I want it all!!

Love the old trike!

Turquoise appliances...love!

Wish I would have gotten one of these signs...

Back to reality... off to work in the garden and finish up some painting!

Happy Father's Day!

Happy Father's Day!!!

Three generations today...Brian, Papa Ron and Tyler. A little family resemblance?? We celebrated by tackling another project!! Poor Brian! Remember my pictures of my re-done sewing room??? New trim around the baseboards and windows, new lighting, new furniture and new TV??? Remember the ugly carpet??? I've been wanting to replace this, and slowly, but surely we're working on it!!

A year and a half ago we had some water damage and had to replace our wood floor in our kitchen, which matched the wood floor in the dining room, which led to a remodel...anyway...we saved all the hardwood floor that wasn't damaged to use somewhere else. Yesterday morning Brian decided we should replace the carpet in my sewing room and put hardwood in there. This is how we do projects...spur of the moment!

Here's what it used to look like:


Minus furniture:

We started laying it at about 6:30 pm, paused for a bit while a wedding was taking place at the neighbors, and quit around midnight.

Back at it this morning and we're done by 6:30 tonight, including trim and carpet tuck-in!!

Furniture moved back in and looking so much better!!

Doesn't it look great???? What better way to spend Father's Day, huh??

Next weekend the office!

Destination: Farm Chicks...part 1

I don't know why it takes me so long to post about the fun things I do. It's not like I do a lot of them, so I'm not quite sure what my problem is!!

I went over to Spokane for the Farmchicks show a few weekends ago. I was by myself, as one friend couldn't go this year, and my other friends could only come for a day. So I went early and spent time with my dad and grandma and hit all the fun places that I wanted to see, that my friends aren't always interested in!!!

I took along Pioneer Woman's Black Heels to Tractor Wheels on CD and listened to it all the way there and back. Eleven hours of bliss!!!! Highly recommend this to anyone who enjoyed her book.

I digress...

I always take Highway 2 over as I love the views, and going through all the little farming towns. I like being able to stop anytime, anywhere, even the middle of the road to take a photo if I so choose!

Major wheat producers over there! Amber waves of grain, growing along the road.
I love taking scenic pictures when I go over. There is such a vastness that I can't begin to convey, but it is beautiful. You can see forever, it seeems.



Nothing like a big boulder in the middle of a field!! These were deposited during the Missoula floods which you can link to a little farther down...I'm not very good with the linky thing!!
Anyway, these are all over...and HUGE!!

This is coming into Coulee City with Banks Lake in the background. You can see the rain pouring from the clouds!! I'm still a few miles from the lake!!

The deeply carved walls from the Missoula Floods. http://www.iafi.org/

Banks lake was formed in the dry coulees during the Columbia River Basin project. It's truly amazing what water can do. These coulees go on for miles and miles.

Highway 2 out of Wenatchee pretty much looks like this all the way to Spokane...one long, straight road!! That town is still another 5 miles away! I love the grain elevators!

I stopped in Wilbur to take a picture of this lilac bush. They are everywhere! I have lilacs here, but there is nothing like the size of the ones in Eastern Washington!!! The fragrance permeates everything!!
Fields of canola...I wish I could describe the smell...fresh, cleansing, intoxicating!!!

I went to Chaps /http://www.chapsgirl.com/ and took pictures of the restaurant and bakery. So eclectic and fun!! Celeste, the owner, is a good friend of Serena's and is featured in the Farm Chicks Christmas book. She is so sweet and her employees are amazing!!!!

Chaps hanging in the entry...

Cute little vintage things all over. Drinks served in mason jars...swoon!!

Fabulous displays...I was coveting a few things!

As I was walking in I saw a young man and woman sitting at a table. The man had on a cowboy hat and gave me a "howdy" as I walked by. I'm thinking, "how can I strike up a conversation with these folk?"
As luck would have it, after I walked around snapping pictures, I got in line for a purchase and who should walk up behind me?? Yes, Mr. Cowboy!

We got to chatting. Cowboys are nice that way! I asked what he did for a living. "I'm a cowboy" he said. I'm liking this!! I asked where and what he did exactly." Idaho and training horses on different ranches", he replied. He was up visiting his girlfriend. I boldly asked if I could take his picture!!!


He introduced himself. His name is Brady Black. Great cowboy name!! And, he was wearing spurs! His girlfriend is Catlyn. Are they not just adorable???
Stay tuned for part two...if you're not bored yet!!

Almost Done

Last day of school today. Tyler actually let me take his picture! Maybe that was because his friend Brandon was there!Hard to believe my baby is a ...SENIOR!!!

God should give you boys first. That way you don't know what you're missing!!! I think I have about 4 pictures of Tyler from this school year. Never wants to take a camera with him. No documentation, nothing for me to weep over!!! Girls, on the other hand, are all about the memories!! Knowing what I'm missing isn't fun!!

Happy Birthday my Friend...

My cousin, Annette, and I have been best friends since...birth! Only three months apart and thirty-six miles away, we were blessed to have grown up together. That's me, second from the left, and her on the right, with her sisters Michelle and Christine (better known as "Miss Long Legs").

My Grammy lived in the same town and in our teenage years, just down the street from Annette. Grammy was a great facilitator of imaginations and we spent HOURS playing dress-up in her vintage clothes. We went to balls, played house, made mud-pies, and thoroughly enjoyed one an other's company! This is Grammy's washtub/swimming pool!

We had serious conversations at an early age! Obviously we both loved dolls and I can now admit that we played Barbie well into junior high!!!

Nettie on the left, great-aunt Trissie, and myself.

I can imagine us being "done" with having our picture taken. "Please let us get back to our talk, people!"


We spent so much time together. I really wanted to move to Davenport, Wa, where she lived, and go to school there. My grammy, dad, aunt, uncle and cousins all went there and I wanted to be part of that same tradition. Alas, it never happened "(

I did manage to attend most of their dances though, including this one on Valentine's Day. We were there with our boyfriends, but we only wanted a picture of us!! The all -county dances were so fun! Annette and I were just a little "Boy Crazy" and those big dances had a Lot of BOYS!!!

I went to their proms and would spend as much time staying with my grandma as I could! Weeks during the summer and every other weekend that I could persuade someone into taking me there!

We would "help" at football camp. We weren't asked, just showed up and volunteered. So unselfish of us!

We would "primp" for hours just to walk around town and hopefully "run into" some cute boys! We'd hang out at the pool and down at the river. We dated the same boys, (at different times!) and would compare story after story! Those poor guys!!!

We were both cheerleaders, had boyfriends who played football and let us wear their jerseys, spent hours at the river and just had so much fun together!

She was a cutie, my "Nettie Poo"!


She, her sister and I all got married within a few weeks of each other. She was my maid of honor. I was on my honeymoon and wasn't able to be in her wedding. Wish I could change that.

She would have been 47 today. She left us just before her 22nd birthday, leaving behind a husband, a baby and all of those who loved her so.

She was the keeper of my past, my dearest friend, my soul mate. I can't wait until I see her again! I know she's entertaining everyone in Heaven with her sense of humor,love and sweetness. I know she's waiting for me. What a gab-fest that will be!!

I miss you Sweet Girl.

My New Favorite Thing!

I'm always reading about the amazing things people do with the stuff they find, namely, painting.
They are really good at" before" pictures, while I only manage to take the" after" shots!

I got these vintage picnic baskets about 2 years ago, and while they were in good shape and each one kind of cute, they didn't really go together. I had them sitting on my porch last summer and this year I decided to paint them and put them in my sewing room. I had some plastic totes that stored my fabric scraps and wanted to have something cuter to store them in.
So, out came the trusty can of spray paint and now I have these!!!They look much better and hold so much more! The top one does not have a lid, so only my very cutest scraps can go in there!!

I've also had this bike for a few years, leaning against the shop. My SIL did a painting of it, and this is as close to a before picture that I have.

She made it look all shiny and pretty, but in reality it was rusty, dirty, the seat was starting to
peel and the tires were flat. Actually the only things that looked the same were the colors! I'm not a blue fan, but I do love butter yellow!!!

Now I have this!!!!

Hubby took it apart for me so I could do the tires white. Yesterday was so nice and sunny that I took it outside and painted it. I love it!!!!! It's parked next to the fence in the front yard for all to see!!!

I went to the Farm Chicks this past weekend, so I'll actually have something to talk about this week!! Until then....