Happenings this Week...and an Update

It's been a busy week around here...projects, school conferences, work, Christmas open houses, craft fairs, football and volleyball, plus a host of other things!!!

Remember neighbor Ken??? He came over this week and made my garden pretty again!!! Yea!!

I know I should cut down my mums, but as long as their is a little bit of color, I just can't do it!!!! We'd like to get a cover crop on the garden, but I think it's too late. It's supposed to get very cold here by the end of the week, but maybe that will at least keep the weeds from growing back!!
My dear Lynda had her annual "Pie Party"!! It just sounds so nice doesn't it??? We were missing Karen this year, but Terry and I were there with eager anticipation! This lovely sight greeted me as I arrived!!

Lynda set a festive table, served a great salad and a yummy soup that she got the recipe for off of "Behind My Red Door".

We each had a little goodie at our place setting...

And of course, the pies!! Terry made a very rich and tasty chocolate pie, Lynda made my favorite, pecan pie and I "brought" a peach pie from Costco...more about that later!!!

This weekend Ashleigh came home and brought her 13 year old "sister", Georgia. I thought I had taken pictures of them, but no, not one!! They were so cute too!!! Ashleigh reads to her every night!! They are reading the Harry Potter books right now!! Ashleigh loves to read and Georgia loves to be read to!!

They also talked me into getting into the attic and getting down all the American Girl dolls and paraphernalia!!! We haven't gone through this stuff in years!!! They "played" with it for hours!!!! (me too!!)

They weren't very tidy...

She got to visit with lots of friends and family, went to our old church, had coffee at Woods with her brother, went to Grandiflora with me, played games and hopefully had fun while she was here!!

Miss you Ash!! Come back soon!!!




A little update on the bedroom make-over...

Walls painted...window and door trim up...

Furniture painted, but not sealed...

Battens started...
Chair rail up...

While I've been blogging, Brian got most of the battens up and things caulked. We have someone coming in to lay a new floor in the bathroom and then we can get the trim nailed up in there too. We're waiting for an order of wood and then we'll spray the room with paint, move the furniture in and....decorated it for Christmas!!!!!

Remember the Kitty, Miss Abby??? Well, we had to put her down a few nights ago. Tyler accidentally hit her with his car as he was pulling into the garage. He (and I) was so sad. He stayed with her the whole time and buried her in the garden next to Bailey. We did have a laugh though, as the vet told us Abby was really an Abner!! Oops!!

That was the reason for the Costco pie. Sorry Jayme, I really wanted to try your recipe!!

RIP Abby...

Providence and the Pioneer Woman

Last year at this time, hubby and I were in Las Vegas for this...http://http://iwishiwereawalton.blogspot.com/2009/04/country-music-awards.html I was more than a little dissappointed when he wasn't interested in going again this year:(

But I got over it soon enough when Tami, http://http://theladyinthestonehouse.blogspot.com/ called and invited me to go on a little road trip with her and a few friends. We were working on our taxes and had so much work to do in the yard on what was supposed to be a beautiful weekend, that I actually told her I wouldn't be able to go with and to give the spot to someone else (insert gasp!).

I talked to her again on Fri or Sat and the seat hadn't been filled. Said that if it was raining, I'd be at her house by noon or go without me (another gasp!). My Jesus is such a smartie!!! He sent in the clouds and a few little drops here and there and I knew I was supposed to go on this little trip!! This Pioneer Woman, http://http://thepioneerwoman.com/, was coming to the Seattle area and we were going to meet her!!!!!!

We had to stop at the local General Store so thatKelly, http://http://soleobsessionfootwear.blogspot.com/could pick up her cookbook...she likes to support the local economy!

We all piled into Tami's car and headed down the highway! Went straight to the bookstore to pick up our tickets. We were in group E. They didn't start lining up group A for a few hours, so we had lots of time to hit Alderwood Mall and do a little shopping!! Notice our purchases are not pictured...that is to protect our husbands!

Got a group shot just as we were leaving. It was starting to rain and blow and getting a little bit icky out. This after we'd worked so hard to look beautiful.

We got to the bookstore and had dinner at a nearby restaurant and then proceeded to have our picture taken in this shoebox! Believe me when I say that the outside picture was much better than the inside!!! Ree has talked about Spanx on her blog before, but not one of us had any on which was the reason we didn't all fit in the booth! There was a woman looking on with fascination and she'd finally had enough of our histerics and offered to take our photo!

Later we presented the booth photo to Ree with all of our signatures and blog info!! I'm sure we'll be hearing from her soon!

We met some lovely people in line, including a new blogger friend, Jenn ,at www.seizingtheday.com. She and her hubby were so nice !

Finally the big moment arrived and we were with the Pioneer herself! She is so tiny!!! So kind!!! So real!!!! We were asking how to go about finding the right size Spanx (if you've ever bought them you know our difficulty!) And she says, "well I wear a size ? (I will never put anyone's actual size in!). Blurted it right out there in front of God and everyone! We gasped in horror at her honesty! Tami asked, "where does it all go? It has to go somewhere!" She said, "it goes to my back", leaned forward and said,"here, feel"!!!!!! Bonded us for life it did!!

She was so sweet!!

I think she likes me...look how close we are...maybe it's because I own so many of her books!!

This is her oldest daughter, whom we had met earlier that night. She is a long, lean beauty! I thinks she's only 13, but I felt pretty small, I mean short, next to her.

After asking permission from Ree, we found her again and asked her to sign our books also. She happily complied and even let us take a few photos! You can tell what a great mom Ree is by the way her daughter handled herself. So polite, kind and she didn't even laugh at us for chasing her all over the store, just to get a photo and autograph.

She was adorable in her Wranglers and denim shirt, but the boots sent me swooning!!!!! These babies rocked!!!

And speaking of shoes, we were all thankful for our comfortable shoes from Kelly's store! They did us proud!!



Miss Leslie is on the left, and she is the blond one in the photo's. You can learn more about her here,http://http://leslieisverbose.blogspot.com/

It was a really fun day and I'm so glad I went! Even better than the Country Music Awards!!!

Weekend in the Big City

It's been a fun and busy weekend here!

Started out on Thursday going to the Lynden Craft and Antique show with Lynda and Lydia. Lynda had to leave right after this to do some "damage control" regarding something at school, but all is well, lest you worry!!!
Lydia and I proceeded to shop...mostly me!
Tami, do you see what I have here? Yes, it's something for you, but it's enjoying a little time on my table first!!
This lady has a business called Home Deconomics. She makes the cutest things. She has a etsy sight, but I don't know what it's called. Maybe just Home Deconomics. Yea, that would make sense!!!!
She makes cute towel, potholders, place mats, baked potato bags, and lots of things with oil cloth.
Adorable stuff!!


Friday morning Miss Betty (aka Lynda) picked me up at a horrid hour and we headed down to Seattle. She had a children's ministry conference and a hotel so we thought we'd play some too!!

Brian was already there because he had to stay the night before. So my plan (our plan, because we did talk about it) was to have B pick me up before his meeting, take me back to his hotel so I could sleep and shower and then head over to Bainbridge to see my BIL and SIL and watch some basketball. All was good until I got there and found out he checked out!!!!!!! What happened to the PLAN????

Ended up taking a nap in Lynda's car while waiting for him. Very cozy, but not quite what I was going for!


It was a beautiful day for a ferry ride! Doesn't Seattle look beautiful? What an amazing part of the country we live in!

This is Mount Rainier...STUNNING!!!! While on the ferry we could see both Mt. Rainier and Mt. Baker! They are about 4 hours apart, but it was so clear you could see forever!

After lunch and basketball we did a little beach combing. Lots of beach glass and Meagan found two agates and some heart shaped rocks. She has quite an eye! I was so busy looking at the ground that I had to remind myself to take in the view!!

Every year we do the March Madness bracket competition within the family and we were able to get together with a lot of the participants and watch some ball. We all got together for the Gonzaga game, pizza, treats, and a lot of trash talkin!!!

The women are kicking butt!! Except for Nolan who is kicking Everyone's butt, the men are at the very bottom!!!! I used my same scientific method for picking my teams as usual. Things like school color, mascot, do they have a #4 or #12 (B and T's #'s), any family names on the rooster, turnover percentage and points scored. Sienna has a guy named Just In Love plus his last How can you not pick a team when you have someone like that????

Anyway, so far so good. I'm in third! But most people picked Kansas to win it all so I still have a chance!! Go Team!!

Headed back to Seattle after the game and met up with Lynda and Ashleigh. They were at Claim Jumper's having dinner. I couldn't resist taking a picture of their dessert display. That cake looked amazing!!

Went back to the hotel after dinner and gave Ashleigh an early birthday present. She'll be 21 next week and I found this crown at a garage sale.

She was REALLY excited!!!!

Isn't she cute?!!

We ended up hanging out all night, accidentally bought 2 movies on pay per view and had to keep calling the front desk!!

Ash met me the next morning again and we shopped Redmond and U-Village while Lynda was at her conference. We met up with her at Country Village where I got the most adorable fabric, that I didn't need, don't know what to do with, and forgot to take a picture of!!!

Did I mention it was 70 degrees??? Awesome day! Home in time to watch a little more basketball and see my boys!!!

Junkin' with the girls!

After a very successful Farm Chicks weekend together at the beginning of the summer, we decided to give the Funky Junk Sisters sale a try! Due to Homecoming, we were unable to go to the Friday evening event, which I hear was fabulous, so we set out bright (actually, it's dark at 5:00 a.m.!) and early on Sat. morning. Terry was so kind to let us use her van again...thanks Terry! After stopping for coffee in Bothell, we made it to Puyallup before the doors opened at 8:00. Hence, we had time for this lovely photo op. in the parking lot!We even managed to be first in line! There were a couple of ladies in front of us, but due to photo shoots and bathroom breaks, not necessarily in that order, we were first!
Great stuff at this sale! Everything we liked was well represented, great prices and often the price was reduced even more than the tag price. We were all being very practical this trip and didn't over do it, like someone did at the Farm Chicks....just sayin'!

Karen got this great cupboard for her living room. This booth had wonderful furniture and really good prices. I was looking for something I could use for a coffee table, but didn't find just the right thing. I did get a great Longaberger laundry basket, a suitcase , an old sewing machine and some small goodies. We enjoyed talking with the "sisters" and really liked this show! We will be back in May!!

After the sale we headed a few miles down the road to the town of Sumner. How did we not know about this cute little town? Great, wonderful, and totally awesome shops here...we were giddy with excitement!

Can't remember the name of this shop, but it was so cute and had such great stuff! Wonderful furniture and displays. We went here first and last!!!

We almost lost Lynda at the New England Saltbox! This is what she thinks heaven will be like for her!!! Her favorite style of decorating...the colors, the antiques, the fabric, the lighting...she loved this store!!

She loves to get into character where ever she is and this was no exception. I believe she's writing in her journal here!

Some lovely primitive antiques here, but very, very pricey! Too bad for us, but our husbands were thrilled!

The girls with Horace, the Scarecrow!

I
I had to get this picture in of the sign. What a great word, coverlets!!!

We had a great lunch at a little hole in the wall restaurant. Great soup and sandwiches.

Then off to Country Village in Bothell. I was a little disappointed here. We used to live about a mile from here and Ashleigh and I would go there about once a week to walk around, feed the ducks and play. There were so many wonderful primitive and country shops. Now there are only 3 or 4. Now there is Polish Pottery, Farmers Ins., Indian (East)clothing, and a lot of bridal stuff. What's country about all of that?

We did have a great time! I read today that having friends extends your life quite a bit...I think I got an extra few years from this trip! Thanks, my fellow junkies!!!