This and That

I'm not sure what to call this post, titles have never been my strong suit.  But anyway, this is what my area looked like at the Bliss handmade show last night.

I  just love that vintage shopping cart, and it's really light weight, so I thought why not bring it??

This is so awful of me, I sold a couple Lollibag's but I hated to part with one, because it was my favorite one!  It had the cutest red and white vintage button.  I should have kept it for myself!  It was this one.

Ya know what?  I think I have one more of those button's, I will make myself that same bag.

Go here and see if you can find a Lollibag pictured.  And the video at the end is good too.  It was from last year's Creative Connection Event.  I am super excited for this year!

And finally, we are getting action on the farm.  I know beggars can't be choosy but I really want a nice family to live on our farm and love it as much as we do.  I want them to swim in the pool on a hot day, tube down the Mohawk River, fly fish with their dad, grow a garden where I have attempted to, walk on the trails, basically, love this place like we have, and ya know what?  I want them to buy our cows too, I want the cows to be able to stay, especially our beloved Bob the bull who has fathered every single one of our calves.  I want lots of kids here, and I want them to have our sheep and watch baby calves be born and pick out a Christmas tree that we planted! 

I think God can do that!

So far we have had business people interested in the farm for either environmental or business opportunities.   However we may have a family, just like I imagine will live here, interested.  I pray God will do his will and whoever is supposed to live on our farm will buy it.  Please let it be a family Lord!

Anyway our "business" showing is tomorrow, stay tuned.

Food Friday~Rainbow Ribbon

When I was little I used to look at my mom's cookbooks and there would always be a Jello one.  I would beg my mom to make a Jello dessert.  They all looked so fun and I thought if only I could eat those creamy lemon cups right out of the lemon or drink that Jello shake, I would be so happy!

The pictures were so MAGICAL!

Well I think I understand now why my mom rarely if ever made Jello desserts, at least the complicated ones.  I made this recipe last fall or maybe it was before Christmas.  It was difficult only because I had never made it before and I didn't know exactly how long to let it set or firm in the fridge before each additional layer, you know it never is as simple as the recipe says.

That being said, it was super fun to look at and super fun to eat.  Just as I imagined as a kid.

And I hope my kids thought it was magical too.

Rainbow Ribbon

5 pkg (4 serving size) Jello gelatin dessert, any 5 different flavors

6 1/4 C boiling water

1 C sour cream, plain yogurt, or vanilla ice cream (I used yogurt)

Dissolve 1 pkg Jello in 1 1/4 C of the boiling water.

Pour 3/4 C of the Jello into 8 C ring mold.  Chill until set but not firm.

Another side note, my mold was to wide, I needed to use a taller thinner mold to achieve the tall mold, but as you can see mine is quite shallow.

Chill remaining Jello in bowl until slightly thickened; gradually blend in 3 T of yogurt.  Spoon over gelatin in mold.  Chill until set but not firm, about 20-25 min.

Repeat with remaining Jello flavors.

Chill until firm, about 4 hours or overnight.

To unmold, dip mold in warm water for about 10 seconds.  Gently pull gelatin from around edges with moist finger.  Place moistened serving plate on top of mold.  Invert mold and plate;  holding mold and plate together, shake slightly to loosen.  Gently remove mold and center gelatin on plate.

Ahhh if only it were that easy!!

It was very good!  As you can see mine was not as tall and perfect as the cover photo!

Well I'm not a professional.

I am going to try more recipes from here........... someday, maybe.

New Lollibag's

Hi
So I've been working on just "a few more bags" for the show on Thursday night.  I always do this, even though I don't have time, I just want "a few more bags".  Because by all means, would if I sell out and there are none?
I have a little tip too, I'm really not a tip girl, and most likely any tip I give will have been discovered long ago and it's really not a tip anymore.......... but I'll say it anyway.

This is one of my new Lollibag's.  It is made from all vintage fabric.  The bag is a vintage drape. And the flower is vintage white cotton, that was pristine, spotless when I cut the strips and hemmed them, and gathered them by machine and then by hand.  So when I was sewing on the strips, I was taken back, yes taken back, I really was...... by the INK SPOT, or so I assume it was a tiny ink spot. 
Had my 17 year old son walked past with a pen in hand while it was hanging over the back of my sewing chair????
He was doing homework while I was sewing, I don't know.  But said strip was already sewn on the bag.  The bag almost done, and how do you get ink out anyway?
I had found a tiny hand crocheted flower that I was going to use to decorate a bag anyway, so I thought, why not sew it over the tiny black spot, on my flower?

Good idea Prudy!  Can you even tell in the above picture where it is?

Well there you go. This has turned out to be my most favorite Lollibag that I have made in the last couple weeks.  It is in my new size.  I think the flower on the flower is cute!

And here are a couple more Lollibags.  One more in the new size and two little lolli's.

I had some left over brown fabric from last fall, I know it's not exactly a spring color.  But I have found out that people's taste's are all different.  Lollibag's that I thought would never sell, have sold the quickest.  And some of my favorites are still with me.  Does that mean I have bad taste? 
I don't think so, I think everyone likes their own style and we are all different.

Have a great week!  Oh it's supposed to be sunny on Saturday, keep praying!  If you missed yesterday's post, we have people flying in from California to look at the farm on Saturday!  I'm not getting my hopes up, no I'm not.

Waiting for Summer

I am longing for warm weather.  This year, the rain is just hanging on and lingering, it is so unwelcome.  So when there is ONE nice day in the midst of 6 days of rain, I have to celebrate.

It was so nice on Saturday, I said to the girls......Girls, lets go play by the river!  And that is what we did.

We packed up some snacks and drinks and started off walking.  Dad was already down there, so he came to pick us up in the Ranger.

But not before we walked down through the Christmas trees.

Our first stop was at "the beach".  Sometimes the boys camp out here with their tents.  They build a fire and fish  for their dinner.

A view up the McKenzie River.  It is so beautiful and such a clean river.

The girls have a lot of fun playing here at the beach, they usually take sticks and draw in the mud.  They just run around, finding sticks and rocks.  Who knew it could be so much fun to find a stick??

Then we move up river to our "bench spot".   Hubby brought my rocking bench down here and made me some tables from a tree that went down.  I love to bring a book down here and read while the girls play.  It is so relaxing just staring at the river and listening to it too.  It is so much better in person, I wish you could come and sit with me.

The view down river from where we just were.



I love the river rock.  We have brought tons of it up to put in our yard.  If you follow the McKenzie River east it is the most beautiful site.  There are places where the river dries up and the whole river bed is huge river rock!  I love to take that drive, it is absolutely breathtaking.  There are so many places in Oregon I still have yet to see.

The boys rode up, thumbs up kid, is Nic's friend Kenny.  Nic is in the middle and Josh is on the right.

Sophie ran up and down, up and down, up and down, so many times I lost track.  She would yell, GO, GO, GO! 

There are lots of fishermen on the river.

We took the scenic route back up to the house and saw the new baby cows, soaking up the sun.

I didn't want to go back to the house, but the girls were excited to color easter eggs.  I could have sat down in the sun for hours.  So back, we went.
Please pray for sun on Saturday, we have people flying in from California to see the farm!  They want to walk the property and that is no fun in the rain.
Thanks friends, I know you will.

Have a great week!

Christ is Risen! Happy Easter friends!

Beautiful Terrible Cross by Selah is one of my favorite songs.  I hope you have a wonderful Easter weekend and know that Jesus Christ died for YOU and he rose again.  Please accept this wonderful gift today, for today is the day of salvation!

Colossians 2:13b-15
God made you  alive with Christ.  He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us;  he took it away, nailing it to the cross.
And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.

lunch, a new book and a....fight at Costco

My new book arrived today, it's Ted Dekker's latest novel.  I can't wait to get lost in it!

This is what I have for lunch

every

single

day.

My version of Jeans Salad:

spring mix

red peppers

red onions

walnuts

craisins

turkey

balsamic vinagrette

croutons

Okay, so the  croutons are a grain, but I've cut so far back, I actually am seeing results!!!

My migraine was very mild this month.

And I've been much less irritable and grouchy, hubby even noticed!

So far.....almost grain free/sugar free has been getting results.

I still am waiting for more huge results, so will keep at it!

So here's my ........Costco sitch....

I came out of Costco today and pushed my cart, with Sophie in it, around a car waiting up front.  Then I noticed an old man standing to the left of it facing the drivers side window.  So I had to go between the man and the car to get to my car.  I pull up by the drivers side window, and notice it is rolled down and the driver, is YELLING and CURSING up a storm to the old man standing.

So I stop my cart with myself in between these two old men and I give the driver a dirty look and I said..... HEY!  Like you would say to your kids when they are being moron's.  He gets more mad and SHOVES his car into park and opens the door and gets out, my cart is in the way, so he goes around it.

But I head him off and shove my cart in his path so he can't move.  He then goes around it again.

So I walk in between him and the other old man again and I put both my hands up to stop him, (cuz he looks as though he is ready to pummel the other old man) and I say, STOP! 

I say, You can't do this!!

He keeps trying to have at the other guy and I keep stopping him.  So finally he says to me, well I was just giving him a hard time. (I'm sure this went much faster in real time, it felt pretty slow)

UM, ya right!

The other old guy who just stood there not really knowing what the heck was going on, he said in his defense.... I'm a cripple!

ha ha, that was kinda funny...

So I walk away and notice 3-4 people just watching and I am thinking........

Incredible!  Incredible that people, some are men, are watching me stop this fight, while my 3 year old is in the cart, and we are standing in the flow of traffic in front of Costco!

I ask you.... where are the good humans??

Where are people who are willing to help, who will come to the aid of an elderly person?

I don't know where they are.  They certianly don't go to Costco.

In all my life I have NEVER seen people act the way they do in the Costco parking lot.  I've heard it's notorious for fights.  Why?

I did have to chuckle though, I really could have taken the old man out, if he didn't back down.  But still, no one knew if I knew this old man or if he was going to stop, I was physically stopping him from going after this other man, and all I got were gaukers!

I think a Costco gift card is in order, don't you???

More Vintage Memories from Childhood

The other day I sat down to watch the 1979 movie Kramer vs. Kramer.  Remember that?  Of course I was only 7 when it came out, but I do remember seeing it on TV before.  One part in the movie, the dad takes his son to the grocery store and you can see all the vintage products on the shelves, ooooohhhh I loved that!!

So that got me on another search for vintage products from our childhood.  Remember these products?  Well I found a few more things..........

Here is what your mom's grocery cart may have looked like.  Love this!  Maybe you got to go to McDonalds after grocery shopping.

And get a happy meal.  Back then McDonalds had the purple character, what was it's name?  And Hamburglar.  Also, I remember every year at St. Patricks Day my mom would get my sister and I, shamrock shakes.  They still have them, I should have gotten one this year, shoot.

Remember what the McDonald's high chairs used to look like?

I think those are much more fun, rather than what they have now.  So what kinds of cleaning and household products did your mom buy?  My mom always had Comet around.

That is probably why I use it.  She always cleaned the toilets with it and the kitchen sink.  Hmmmm, I don't clean my toilets with it, but I do clean my kitchen sink with it.

Maybe your kitchen looked something like this?  I'm so sorry if it did....Mine looked a bit like this, we had the super dark cabinets.

Did you bathroom look like this?  Have mercy, what were they thinking back then?  When I was 5 we lived in a house on Yakima Street and the bathroom in that house was black and yellow, a mustardy yellow.  The counters were black with gold streaks in them.  My mom had the wrought iron towels bars.

Maybe your house was decorated more like this?  It is a tad better, but not by much...

Did you eat Quisp cereal?  I vaguely remember this stuff.  We ate alot of peanut butter.

Some products now are going back to their vintage packaging.  I LOVE THAT!  Some cereals are and Doritos has for a little while.  It really is good marketing, because it makes me want to buy that product!

Whatever happened to this lipgloss?  Was this more in the 80's?  I remember buying this at Woolworth's.  Woolworth's isn't around anymore is it?

Did you have a speak and spell?  I think I did, I remember playing with one, but not sure if it was mine or a friends.

Now THIS is what I always wanted to have.  I never did get one.  Maybe that is why my girls have had so many doll houses.

Did your mom get you Tupperware toys?  I loved these!! 

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE... vintage Tupperware!  I see it at thrift stores like goodwill, but I will admit, I have a hard time buying it, because I just feel like it's to full of cooties.  I do shop at goodwill and get clothes there too, I don't know why, I just can't get myself to buy the Tupperware, but I will wear the clothes, weird.........  Look at the salt and pepper shaker in the picture, love that!

What are some of the products your mom used to buy?  Are they still around?