In the Works

A layer cake from Moda: Lumiere De Noel

 

 

I haven't done a quilt in quite a few years and never bigger than baby size, so I am excited and nervous to take on this task, which I hope to give as a Christmas gift.

I was really drawn to this collection, mostly by the French inspired theme and the color red.

Keep tuned as I cut with no pattern in mind and I just go by feel and the design of each square to guide me.

Why don't a have a quilt plan?  Because, what fun would it be to be prepared and that's how I roll, with things like this.

 

 

 

Age is Just A Number

 

AGE is definitely a  big deal when it comes to classic cars!

Every Friday night  all the old timers come out and park; the classic cars of yesteryear that are so beautifully restored by their owners and kept in mint condition for all to see.  It is amazing the amount of people that come to see this free event every Friday night.  I don't know how this event got started or how they decided to meet in the middle of town in this very parking lot, but I am glad they do.  

Times are changing so fast that we can hardly remember what was in last year let alone fifty years ago.  Buy a cell phone now and it will be obsolete in a year.  We can Google items we once loved and have them pop up on a Wikipedia note.  That seems to be the only way we can glimpse parts of at time we once knew.

The owners to these beautiful driving machines know what to do to keep these icons alive and well-polished for us to remember.  Here are just a few of the wonderful cars I was able to see and peek inside a world that seems far forgotten.  Enjoy!

A Class Act

One Hot Bod

Ornamental Fun

Grill Baby Grill

 

Vacations All I Ever Wanted

For awhile now I have been wanting to go to Canada and see our neighbor to the North.  With my mother and aunt visiting it was the perfect chance to have an excuse to do it.  My mother has been talking about staying at he Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, B.C. to take "High Tea" at the hotel, which she has heard so many things about.  Wheels in motion... we did just that when the two of them came to visit two weeks ago.

Up at the crack of dawn we headed down towards Seattle to catch the Clipper to Victoria.  We barely made the deadline time of 7:15 AM to board the boat, because we took the express lane on the I-5 and missed our exit.  With our motion sickness pills in hand (just in case) we were off and sailing towards an overnight vacation.  Why only overnight?  I have cats and no one to care for them.  Don't worry, I put out three bowls of water, two bowls of dry food and a soft radio playing to keep them company.

We landed in port at 10:30 in the morning to see our hotel just across the way.  It was a glorious sight and what made the day even more special; Victoria Day!  The entire city was celebrating.

The Fairmont Empress Hotel is even more beautiful in person and worth the money to stay there.  Although this visit  my husband and I were treated by my mother and aunt.  We love them for that! 

 Our goal was to have the high tea at the hotel on our first day and I wasn't sure what to expect, but I was surprised by the beauty and richness of the hotel interior and the friendliness of the staff.  I wish I had brought my camera to tea and taken shots, because I have never had the types of sandwiches and tea, not to mention the desserts, the hotel served at tea.  They had a curry sandwich that was out of this world.  We even asked for another plate of them, which Rick and I ate.  I have no shame in my game.  The teas were so good we brought home two boxes of them and have been drinking them every day.

After tea we decided to go to our rooms and take a short snooze before heading back out.  Well, Rick and I snoozed.  I had four hours of sleep in the last two nights and I didn't have much left in me, so I went down for the count.  The room was wonderful with the nicest beds.  Totally my style.  Again, I wished I had the though t to take pictures.  My brain was fried from lack of sleep.  After a two hour nap I was ready to see a bit of Victoria and have a early dinner.

We ended up at eating at the Irish Times Pub.  I am trying to watch the things I eat and I did a good job eating a salmon dinner with salad, but I have to say I took a couple of fries from Ricks plate and OMG... these were the most amazing fries I have ever had.  The pub fried them in such a way I have never tasted any other fry like it.  Lets just say I had ended up stealing five of them from him.  We also had a really interesting beer sampler.  I can't drink the darker beers and the really pale blonde beers, aren't always the tastiest , so I discovered I am a middle of the road girl.  Again, the camera would have been nice here too!

After dinner we did some sight seeing and shopping.  I did more of the sight seeing.  I am not a shopper!  Yup, I am probably the only girl alive who doesn't like to shop!  The beauty of the buildings, streets and even the trees made walking through town really nice.

Love the "friend" with the sign!

Serious Yumm!

We called it a night and got to bed early.  You would think I would have gotten some badly needed sleep, because of how tired I was, but no.  I worried about my animals and I got a whole THREE hours of sleep.  Exhaustion is my friend.

We had an early breakfast the next morning (included in our package), which was very good and we started off on some more sight seeing, shopping and to see the Parliament building, which happen to be across the street from the hotel.  The Parliament building is their legislative branch.  The building is amazing to see and I wasn't sure if I would enjoy it or not, even though other countries fascinate me and how they go about doing things that differ from our country, but I am so glad we went. It actually was the best part of the trip for me  besides those damn fries!

Now i f you don't notice the little spikes that are sticking out from the dome and building they are lights and at night they entire building is lit up like a Christmas tree and is spectacular looking.  They have free guided tours that you can go on, but since we a limited time before we had to get back to the boat to go home we chose to go free stylin' and do our own tour.  Interesting enough that the Parliament building was designed by the same architect that designed the Empress Hotel.  Riveting stuff!

They had the most amazing stained glass windows.

Two of the windows were dedicated; one to Queen Victoria  for her 60 years of rein and to Queen Elizabeth for her 50 years of rein, which now is now 58 years as of 2010 and  she just might out rein Queen Victoria herself.

 

The best part of the Parliament visit was when went inside the assembly chambers and watched the  members debate a bill.  Their government is not so different from our government.  I watched one member use her Blackberry under her desk almost the entire time the debate was going on.  Shameless!

 We ended our tour a bit short to find a place to eat dinner and head back to the boat to get through customs.  We had the most amazing salsa at dinner.  It was chunky, spicy, and sweet at the same time.  If I could have a plate of the curry sandwiches from high tea and the fries from our Irish pub and the salsa from this dinner I would be a happy gal.

It was 7PM and we were headed home and I was glad, because I needed to see that my cats were okay and I needed to become friends with my bed again.

Unfortunately, it was too cold and a tad too dark to take the picture, but we saw two cutter boats, from the Coast Guard, escorting a U.S. submarine up the coast.  Coolest thing I have seen!  Fun times, but I am glad I am home.

**All photographs are watermarked **

Earth Day

Today the entire country will be celebrating Earth Day. Earth Day is where as a nation, community, and as a family, we make a concentrated effort to take the necessary steps to be more diligent about conservation and the energy we waste in our daily lives.

For the last four years my family has changed the way we do things in our home. We have changed out all of our energy guzzling light bulbs and changed them out to the more energy efficient bulbs. Every plastic container gets washed out and put into the recycling bin along with every newspaper and envelope mailed to us. We are using more cotton towels in the kitchen rather than paper towels. It may be small steps, but every step we take is a step in the right direction. make the change in your home today.


Here are a few ways you can start today:

Change out incandescent light bulbs to high efficient bulbs

Change out your old windows for more insulated windows

Change out your old washer and dryer for a high efficient brand

Use power strips for all you heavily used outlet sockets

Turn off lights when you leave a room

Set your thermostat to 78 degrees during occupied times and 85 degrees when your not

Turn of equipment on nights and weekends when not n use

Use a energy saving setting on printers and copiers

Install solar panels to your home

Take a shower that is no longer than ten minutes

Contact your local home or utility center for rebates to upgrade to a more efficient home

Happy earth Day and remember change starts with you!

FIVE Hour Tour

Last Saturday I went to a book signing for the Pioneer Woman's Cookbook by Ree Drummand.  I was excited to get to meet  her and get a signed copy of her cookbook.  I had never been to this particular book store before and didn't know what to expect.  Little did I know my book signing adventure would turn into a five hour tour.  

As I walked in the door of the book store I was greeted with Ree's picture.  I headed to the counter to purchase my cookbook.  When you purchased your book you received a letter for a group you would be assigned to to get into line for the signing.  I was in group H, which meant I would have a bit of a wait till my group would be ready to get into line.  My poor husband had no idea what he was getting himself into!  I decided to roam around while I waited and I discovered a whole new world in this book store. 

They had several restaurants to grab a bite to eat at, tons of tables to chat and play games and below the book store there were stores to shop at.  

I decided to grab a table and sit and read through my book.  I happen to sit at a table with another "Pioneer Fan", which is what they called us over the load speaker and I began a conversation with the woman at the table.

 

 Meet Staci, from Kennewick, Washington.  Staci drove three and half hours, by herself, to be at this signing.  Staci had arrived at the book store at 1 PM in the afternoon and the signing wasn't until 5 PM.  She had gotten into group E, which wasn't much further away from my group.  You are beginning to get the idea of how many people were at this signing.  We began to waste away the time talking together.  She was sweet, friendly and it helped to pass the time with her.  It didn't matter that we had just met, but it always takes one common thread that pull people together to bond and ours happen to be Ree.  

We chatted and not long after another couple arrived at our table with their cookbooks and we  all began to talk.  It was like the time when I was young, much much younger, when my girlfriends and me would line up in the early morning hours to score tickets for a concert, except this time round I got to sit on a chair indoors, away from the rain outside.  

The table began to discuss the recipes in the book and which ones we had attempted and we were successful at.  About an hour and a half later they announced they would be lining up group E and we said goodbye to Staci.  My husband came to my table and sat down to do the wait with me till they called my group.  We continued to talk, ate California Rolls from the Japanese restaurant and by then the "Big Band" showed up to play for the crowd. You heard me right.  Every Friday and Saturday night the bookstore puts on a show with bands and the community can come and dance for free.  I couldn't believe it, in one place they had books, food, stores, bands, and signings.  I had wondered how the book store had arrived at their name and it wasn't until I saw the banners they had hanging up.

They were building their book store around one place, the community, in which they were located and to bring everyone together under one roof.  Well, their concept made an impression and the community latched right onto it.  By the time the band started to play the place was packed with people ready to dance.  I sat and watched a variety of ages of this community dance to the big band sounds and enjoying themselves thoroughly.  I decided to get some air and a few moments of quiet time and before I knew it it was time for my group to get into line.  My husband accompanied me in line so he could take pictures of me talking to Ree while she signed my book.

Okay, here is where it gets weird!  My husband always picks the perfect time to say the dumbest things to me.  I am three people away from getting my book signed and he turns to me and says, "You're going to start blabbering at her aren't you?"  I wasn't nervous to meet Ree, but now he had done it.  He made me feel insecure about my sometimes ranting I do when I get nervous.  What had started off to be be no big deal turned into an insecure tennis ball match in my head of me talking to myself, "Your gonna screw it up now.  Your gonna blab and embarrass yourself and say something stupid!"  Well, it worked and I did!

Ree was lovely, friendly and just as beautiful in person.  If she thought anything about my crazy nonsense talk, it doesn't show in her face.  I am glad I got my book signed, and  got to meet Ree, even if it was on a five hour tour!

I do have to say a special thank you to my husband for hanging in there with me through a very long wait, for taking the pictures of Ree signing my book and whom I suspect has a crush on her (do see me any in any of the pictures? I'm just sayin'), and for being the same nut job I married and still love after ten years of marriage, even with his morphed idea of funny. 

The best part of my five hour book tour?

All of it!

All photos have been watermarked

Spring Cleaning

 

     With the winter months finally behind us and spring already making its presents known , the warmer weather has inspired me to do a thorough cleaning of my home.  Having had the house closed up for the cooler months it feels as if the dirt has settled into all the nooks and crannies, even though I clean every week.  This is also the time of year that has my family slaves to our allergies.  With allergies and a very low tolerance for the cleaning supplies our local market has on their shelves, I had to find another way to attempt my planned spring cleaning.  Then it hit me. "What did my mother and grandmother use when they cleaned?"  Then I remember our home smelling like Easter and homemade lemonade.  They used products that were readily available at the market, and still are today, and used them to make their own  cleaning products.  This is not a new concept by any means, but we are used to a "take it off the shelf and go" mentality that we don't think about the harmful things we do to ourselves every time we use these products that are suppose to be better, faster, easier.  Today the madness stops!

     Today I commit myself to take the time to make the same homemade solutions that were good enough for my mother and good enough for my grandmother.  I will no longer use the brand products to clean my home in the past and in return I will have a healthier home and a healthier me!  My pocket book will also thank me later.

Window Cleaner

2 Teaspoons Vinegar

1 Quart Water

Sink Tub Tile

1/2 Cup Baking Soda

2-3 Tablespoons Liquid Soap

Toilet Bowls

1/4 Cup Baking Soda, sprinkled into the bowl

Drizzle the bowl with vinegar and let sit for 1/2 hour, then scrub and flush

Add Borax for the harder stains

Mildew Remover

Dissolve 1/2 Cup Vinegar, 1/2 Cups Borax in Warm Water

Apply with a sponge or spray bottle

Disinfectant

1/4 Cup Borax

1/2 Gallon Hot Water

Garbage Disposal

Grind ice to sharpen the blades

Add Orange Juice or Lemonade in the disposal for smells

Refrigerator

1 Cup Apple Vinegar in the fridge will remove the smell in 2 days 

Happy Spring Cleaning!

*With anything; use caution while handling cleaning products of any kind and be safe while doing it.