Sunny Days

It's a beautiful sunny day here in Lynden and I've been outside for most of it! Three hours picking raspberries and peas! Another hour shelling and freezing! I did take some time to read the paper out in the sunshine during a little respite!! Here's the big picture of the garden. Hard to get it all and get it close enough for you to see.

Ran out of bowls, so dumped the peas into a lovely gift bag!!

Two bowls of red and two of white, but forgot to take a pic of those!! It's hard to tell, but the berries are so BIG this year! They fit over my finger and are about an inch long! They are so tasty and beautiful!

Getting ready for the freezer. I freeze them on cookie sheets and then put them in freezer bags. This way they don't stick together and get all gooey. I don't spray my berries, so I don't wash them before I freeze them, or ever I guess! I love to just eat them frozen out of the bag, sometimes with a little sugar on them. They are to die for fresh, with a little vanilla coffee creamer poured over them!!!

These are Champagne berries and I actually like these better than the reds, fresh. They are sweeter and milder. They don't keep very well though, so they need to be eaten right away. I don't think that they taste very good frozen, like the reds better for that!

One thirty foot row of yellow and two of the reds. More than I need, but it's fun to share!

Here are the peas, zucchini, beets and summer squash.

A front quarter with lettuce, onions, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Swiss chard, carrots and sunflowers (not blooming yet!).

The corn is about 4 ft. tall and the pumpkins (my favorite) are blossoming and putting out cute little punkies!! I would be happy to grow a field of pumpkins...maybe in Heaven!

Baked a few batches of cookies, paid bills , balanced the checkbook and now that it's almost 5:00, maybe I'll get that shower in!! Salmon for dinner and a nice relaxing evening!!

Still Here!!

Some of you are wondering where I've been...I have many excuses, but no valid reasons!

I tend to spend so much time reading other's blogs that I never seem to have time to post one! All of your lives and stories are way more interesting to me than rehashing mine!

I also tend to post when no one else is in the house (guys are out golfing) and of course I'm having a problem with photos again. Turns out I deleted a whole card last week as I was trying to post. Now that may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I rarely have my card made into pictures, cuz I have so many that my bill would be about $200.00!!! And... I don't know how to store them on my computer. Pathetic, I know. So, I lost pictures from as long as a year ago. My daughter's 20th birthday, my son's 15th birthday, the entire basketball season, Father's day...you get the picture. The only good thing is that as I'm aging, I can't really remember everything that was on the disc!
Now my computer won't read my card with the new pictures that I took so I'm back at square one! Hopefully my husband can sort out my mess, and wouldn't it be great if he found the photo's hiding somewhere on the computer? !!!! Pray people!!!!

I've been very, very busy with my garden! The strawberries have ended and the raspberries are going strong with the blueberries not far behind. I'm picking 3 huge bowls of raspberries every other day and giving lots away! Lots of lettuce,cabbage and peas on right now too! I love it though! I feel very pioneery as I put away my "crops" for the winter , and fill my jars and freezers! I put up 30 pounds of cherries and 24 pounds of apricots this week - froze some, dried some, made lots of jam, and the most beautiful apricot pie! And yes, I will be eating it by myself as no one else likes apricots or pie. Ashleigh loves pie, but not apricot! So Sad!!! These people don't know what they are missing!!!

Ashleigh is house sitting for friends this week. They have a pool. It was very, very hot yesterday. Brian and I took full advantage and spent 3 hours swimming, laying in the sun, reading and napping! It was heavenly!! All by ourselves, no yard work, no cooking, no phone or TV. Very relaxing!!! Ash is also working hard this summer. 40 -50 hours a week at one job and another 10 at her other job! Two 14 hour days during the week , but she is loving having her weekends off!! And actually having some money to spend!!

Tyler is working hard too. Been in the raspberry fields since June 5th, five days a week. Now that they've started picking, he's doing 12 and 13 hour days, six days a week. He's driving a picker and I hope to get some pictures this week! What a great opportunity the kids have here, to be able to work at 14, make some great money in a short amount of time and still have a whole month of summer before school starts. I'm so thankful that everyone is employed!!

I have been working lots this month also, both at the kitchen shop and at drench-mate. I'm in the garden every day harvesting, weeding, etc. Brian and I got all the mowing, edging and weed-eating done yesterday and all is well! Church this morning where were doing ten weeks of the ten commandments, Larabee State park after church and now home to wait for the rain. I've got a good book to read , a quilt in the works and life is good!

Busy,Busy,Busy!

It's been a busy few weeks so I thought I'd post a few things that have been going on.....

Finally finished watching all 7 seasons of the Gilmore Girls!!! I take it to work with me and watch it while I assemble product, so I usually get 4 - 5 shows in a week. This is one of the best shows ever put on television!!! Ashleigh and I started watching it the first season, I think she was 12. It's about a mother and daughter and their lives in an adorable small town, called Stars Hollow. How can you go wrong with a name like that? It takes you through Rory's high school and college years and all the ups and downs in their lives. I highly recommend watching this with your daughter, however the latter years are best saved for an older daughter! Remember, we watched this for 7 years, so Ashleigh was 19 when it ended! Very funny and very touching!

Tyler got his driving permit!! His birthday is in March, but we just got his permit when he stared Driver's Ed. His friend Jared, and his mom, were their too, but Jared was taking the test for his license! A few of his friends already have their licenses, but Ty has 9 months to go. Watch out!!!! He's actually a really good driver! He's been driving on back roads for over a year and is pretty comfortable behind the wheel. Still weird though!!

Brian climbed Mt. St. Helens a week ago, with a bunch of friends. Had a great time! Took them about 6 hours, through snow and ash, but they made it!!!

Tyler had to have an MRI on his shoulder as he may have torn his rotater cuff. This is the only picture he'd let me take! and he wasn't happy about that! No picture in his cute little gown and for some reason they won't let you in the MRI room!! Don't they blog too?? Should get the results back this week sometime.

Church softball has started and Ashleigh is the official bookkeeper, can't you tell? They were short girls so she got the job of catching. Here she is scoring a run...YEA!!! Despite her stellar performance, they lost both games!!


Ashleigh started her job at Premier Graphics this week and is still working 2 nights a week at the YMCA. Tyler has been working in the berries since school got out, except for 2 days with the flu!! Brian went to Idaho this weekend for a fly fishing trip with some H.S. buddies. I don't know how many fish he caught, but he did catch a fly-right through his ear!!! I've seen the photo, but don't have it. It looked kind of pretty with all the fly decor on it!!! I've been busy driving Tyler everywhere, weeding, a lot, and trying to keep up with everything else. Gorgeous day today, so I'm headed outdoors again!!

Farmchicks...Part 2

Welcome to the 2nd half of the blog...sorry so many pictures! If you only saw how many I didn't put on!!! First of all, I forgot to show what Lynda got at the show, first day mind you!!!! I had read that the Sisters on the Fly were going to be attending the show and camping, but didn't see them anywhere. Thought they'd be on the fairgrounds. I did, however, run into two ladies at the show with denim jackets that had sisters on the fly stitched onto them. I have to say that in recent years I've become a much bolder person and realize that many times you only get one chance at things. I figure that God puts me in situations for a reason and I may as well follow His lead!!! So I approached these ladies and struck up a conversation and before I knew it, Fran had invited us all to Riverside State Park to visit and see what they were all about!!! We jumped all over that invite and after dinner we set out to find them.
We arrived at the park and saw 4 trailers right off, parked the car and set out for a visit. Alas, no one was around and while we were disappointed, we figured we'd look around a bit!!!!

Came across this lovely site right off! ow welcoming and inviting! such beautiful decor and adorable little home!

This lady had her own lettuce patch growing (quite well, I might add) right on the table!

This beautiful quilt was spread out on another picnic table, which I had seen in Maryjane's magazine. Figured it was one of the ladies' that had made it. Couldn't imagine eating on such elegance!!

This was the back end of another trailer. How fun to do dishes when you have red granite ware!!!

We made ourselves slightly at home and posed at every one, and snooped in quite a few windows too!!! This trailer was darling, with old movie posters painted all over it.
As we were getting ready to leave, the camper next to these trailers came out to talk with us...probably thought we were nuts and had better check us out! We told him why we had come and that we hoped there would be somebody around. He said they were all down below at the campfire and he'd show us the way! Yes sir!!!!

Bliss...no other words to describe this enjoyable and incredible scene! Don't you want to just sit down and have a bite to eat? Every site was this inviting, all decorated to the hilt! We saw Fran and she gave us a big hug and introduced us. We met Theresa who seemed to be the official welcoming committee and showed us all around. She gave us the history of the organization, took us into trailer's, took our picture and invited us to join!!!



This is Sister#79, Queen Pamelot! How cute is this? Notice the old thermos jug turned into a light! Saw a few of those. Cowboy boots everywhere!

This is the inside of her trailer! I want to know where she puts all this stuff when it's time to go to bed!! It was so cute inside!

This is Theresa in front of Pam's trailer. She's pointing to all of the signatures on the red part! By the way, Theresa's trailer is the one with all of the movie posters.

We all flocked to Cindy's trailer as it had icicle lights hanging around it, was red and just looked very festive!!! Cindy makes cute little ponies out of cork for all the sisters and we each got one too!! Thanks Cindy!

Inside Cindy's trailer. ADORABLE!!! She totally renovated it and it turned out so cute! Barnwood on the ceiling and as shelves, appliances and the toilet bright red! It's rare to find one with a potty so she's a lucky gal! Cute quilt, pillows and curtains!

Cindy and Theresa

Here's Fran, standing, around the campfire. They were starting a meeting and we were getting ready to leave. Theresa said that Maryjane Butter's was there earlier and we realized that it was her quilt and campsite that we had been at earlier!!! What a thrill!!!

Remember that bold part I spoke of earlier? I figured we may as well go back up to her campsite and introduce ourselves. She could always tell us to get lost, but maybe not !!! So, off we went. I was the only one willing to get out of the car, but went right up to her and started chatting! What a dear, precious lady!! So kind and welcoming and very willing to chat. Her assistant Renee was with her and also very kind! She started pulling out posters and bumper stickers, invited us to the upcoming show!! by this time Lynda had decided to join in, but the other's stayed in the car! Renee went and gave them goodies as well and talked with them for a bit! We had such a nice visit with both of them and MJ gave us each a kiss on the cheek as we left!!!!



Took some pictures, which I will treasure always!!! Most people love the big celebrities, but give me the down home country girls any day. They know what's important and what matter's and mostly how to be a friend. Isn't that what it's all truly about? I called home an left a message that this was the BEST day of my life!!!!! Such a joy to be a part of everything, with my girls and meeting new and wonderful people!

Sunday we headed back to the show, after carefully packing up! I had bought a table the day before that I needed to pick up and wanted to look around too! We all ended up finding more treasures! Thank goodness we had Terry's van!!!

Thought we'd get a pic of our chick bracelets!
All for one and one for all, except when it came to our goodies! Could have been some battle's!! he he!!

Forgot to rotate this pic, but it is of Teri's mom! We asked her why she was standing in line and she said she just couldn't go up front with all these people waiting!!! We told her she was the mother of the famous one and to push ahead!!! Didn't even want to have her photo taken, as she didn't want Teri to know she was in line!! She knows now!!! Soon Teri's dad shows up and says, "what are you doing in line? Let's get going!!!" and off she went! Ran into her a few more times at the show and she was cute as can be!

Our last minute purchases!

At last we made it to the car. Had to unload and re-pack everything! It was a tight squeeze, but everything fit! You can't see it but at the last minute I bought a chicken crate too and that was the end of it! NO MORE ROOM!!!!

We had a great time as you can see by our smiling faces!!! Can't wait til next year!

Thanks Teri and Serena...we'll be back!!!




Check out these websites:

thefarmchicks.com

maryjanesfarm.com
sistersonthefly.com

Farm Chicks...Finally!!!

Sorry, sorry and sorry for this late post! You don't know how I ached to show all of you my pictures from the Farm Chicks show and talk and talk about the amazingly wonderful and incredible time we all had!!!! Too, too much fun!!!

I've been running around like a crazy person all week! Getting caught up with things at home, placing all of my purchases in just the right spot!!! Driving Tyler to work every morning, picking him up , taking him home to shower, taking him to basketball camp, picking him up again, taking him to Driver's Ed... I've been putting 50 miles a day on my car and not going anywhere fun!!! Just when I was ready to sit down and blog, my husband took off on a business trip to Oregon and then on to Mt. St. Helens to do a climb with some friends. Unfortunately he took my camera with him!!! He just got home today so here is my report...FINALLY!!!!

Early Friday morning as we're leaving my house:Terry, Lynda, Karen and myself. Farmchicks or bust!!! Our first stop was at a little antique store in Stanwood called Poppyseeds, but forgot to take a picture. Our second stop,( and bathroom break !) was at Yesteryear Quilts in Waterville. Cute little store and Lynda and I found a little fabric we had to have!

Next stop was at the Buggy Barn in Rearden. Love this shop!! Got some great fabric here, again Lynda and I!! Terry and Karen have such restraint!

I should back up and say that when we left my house and got about 8 miles down the road, Terry announced that she forgot her shirts!!! Left them on hangers on the door! We told her to go back, but she insisted that she could find a t-shirt for sale and would be just fine. After we got to our hotel, she realized she forgot her pants too!!! (What did that girl pack??) Oh yea, she forgot her contact case also!!!!! Sooo, we headed up to Maggie's grill for dinner and then to the mall to do a little clothes shopping!!! Got everything we needed (we all got new shirts!!!) and then back to the hotel for a lovely gab fest until 1:00 am!!!

We were up early, had breakfast, bought coffee and still got to the fairgrounds 30 minutes early, but the line was already forming. There was a sale across the street so we took turns going - I got and old wooden cooler with a metal interior!!! Picture coming up!!!

Unfortunately these pics are out of order, but here are our purchases!! We decided to go our own way when we got in the door and show our stuff to each other back at the hotel. Lynda made up the rule last year that we must arrange and display our purchases, give a little talk and tell what we liked best, best deal , etc.!!! It was really fun not knowing what people had and then seeing it all put together!!!



Karen was pretty overwhelmed by the whole thing, but she managed to come away with a few goodies!!! Her dinner bell was loved by all!!!

Terry is the consummate "giver" and many of her things were gifts for other people! She is such a love and sooo funny!!! Notice her pretty new shirt? Her sign says, "Cheapskate's Corner...Welcome!!

Now I realize that I forgot to post Lynda's purchases. I'll add that on the continuing post!!

Here I am with all of my purchases...I definitely did the most damage, but it was very fun!!!
Wooden cooler is on the right. I got stools, scoops, whisk brooms, a thermos, coffee pot, cooler jugs, screens, jewelry, a scale, metal do dads, plus more!!! I was giddy with joy!!!!

Hauling our purchases into the hotel room - we were so thankful for that cart!!

Holly's treasures up close and personal! Feel free to comment on your favorite piece!!


Me with the Farmchicks, Serena and Teri. They are such lovely and gracious ladies and took time to talk with us and sign our cookbooks. (We missed the timed signing!) They are amazing and put on the BEST show! This is my 5th show and I love it so much! Thanks Ladies!!

Some of the vendors at the show:

Seabold Vintage Market (http://www.seaboldvintagemarket.com/) from Bainbridge Island. She designs textiles which she has made in France and they are amazing. Gorgeous creams and reds, my favorites!! Barn house boy-didn't get his name, but isn't he cute with his apron?http://www.barnhousebh.blogspot.com/. They had a great booth.

The Dusty Daisies had such a cute booth. They had plants in Everything!! Such cute displays and containers. Aren't they cute?


My dear friend, Arlene,http://www.heartrockshome.com/, her son and hubby! She is so dear!!!! Bought an apron pattern and feed sack from her and hope to get it made soon!!! Really want to get one of her journals too. Beautiful handmade treasures with old paper, envelopes, note cars and precious personality. I'm saving my pennies for that one, it's that cool!!!!



The Seven Sisters, who are without a doubt, the happiest ladies there!!! They sell amazing baked goods, and treasures, laugh heartily and embrace all! They know how to have fun! What a hoot to have 6 built-in best friends!!! Love those girls!!

Don't know this gal's name, but she had on the cutest out fit!! Check out her pink and brown cowboy boots!!! Awesome!!




That's the end of the first day at the show, but the day doesn't end there!!! Stay tuned for the evening events and day two of the Farmchicks!!!!!

Happy Thoughts, People!

So much for relaxing! Didn't even have time to take a picture!!! Had to grab some from the internet!!

My car thermometer said it was over 90 today and I chose to re-do my front flower beds. Moving plants to different spots, getting rid of some ugly ones and just freshening things up a bit. I'm the one who needed freshening up after that!! It looks much better though and I've got some interesting tan lines now!!!

Ran some errands this evening and took Tyler to watch 8th grade graduation at L.C.

Brian left for Long Beach, CA for some meetings. Back on Thurs. night.

Watched Revolutionary Road with Ashleigh...what a horrible, depressing movie! I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but I like FEEL GOOD movies, preferably one that has a covered wagon in it and the word "prairie" somewhere in the title! This movie left me ... blah, icky, sad and not good!!!! Give me the Waltons, Anne of Green Gables, the Gilmore Girls, please!!!!!

Happy thoughts, that's what it's all about!!!

Good night!!

Big Weekend!

After hosting Bunco on Thursday, I spent all day Friday getting set up for my garage sale. What a chore!!! When Brian got home we went to work getting things out that he was willing to part with. He got rid of so much stuff that I was waiting for him to put a price on me!! He has no attachment to anything while I have a memory and a fondness for Everything! Once you start purging, however, it's very freeing to detach yourself from "things"

We were up at 6:00, which is my least favorite time of day, and started setting things out and putting up signs. I purposely leave my address out of the newspaper ad so that I don't get people showing up an hour early. Once the signs go up though, it's a free-for-all!!! We had steady business all day. Normally I'm tired of the whole thing by noon and shut down, but I had lots to do outside and stayed open all day. My last customer came at 6:00 and bought a $40.00 item! I did nearly half of my business after 1:00!! All total, we brought in $650.00! Not bad for a bunch of junk!

Now I can head to the Farmchicks and fill everything back up again!!!! (Not Really!) We're excited to take off - only a few more days!

Yesterday we went to church, test drove a new Ford Edge, which we really liked, but didn't buy, and then went to a graduation party for our friend Averyl. This girl is amazing!! Valedictorian, National FFA winner, Varsity every sport and going to Central on a Volleyball scholarship, Student government and Leadership. She's done it all and done it very well! Congratulations Averyl!!

Got the lawn mowed ( I know I shouldn't mow on Sunday, but no time), laundry done and dried on the clothesline, and the house straightened up. Everyone was on their own for dinner!!

Today the grand piano went to it's new home, freeing up a large space...yea!!! Put the soaker hoses on all the berries, did some watering, went to the bank and library, balanced the checkbook and thawed some steak for dinner! Tyler has his last full day of school today and then finals for a few hours for the next three days. Can't believe the school year is over!

It's beautiful and gorgeous today and should be this way all week, but hopefully I'll get to relax in it a little more!