foxtales

Lady Astor and Rose

2012-01-27T12:00:00.000-08:00

My little adventure at the hospital is over and everything is ok. I love those warm blankets they put over you. Of course we had to drive to the hospital in snow and ice, thankfully my sil was home and could drive. My poor dd wasn't feeling well either. Well those things are never convenient are they.

So I haven't been doing much. I finished the book about Rose, Lady Astor's ladies maid. It was really interesting. I especially liked the chapter on WW11. A ladies maid takes care of her mistresses wardrobe and does little personal services for her. Rose had to not only clean, press and mend, she also had to sew and remake clothes. She also was in charge of her jewels and furs and often carried the jewels in her purse because Lady Astor didn't trust hotel safes. Lady Astor changed clothing several times a day so it was a lot to keep up with. Rose took on the challenge of Lady Astor reluctantly, she had the reputation of being very difficult and verbally abusive and she was, but Rose was able to learn to let it roll off her back and they actually became very close. Rose was like a companion and at times an advisor, not on politics but relationships and personal things. The family often asked Rose advise about Lady Astor. The reason she wanted to become a ladies maid was so that she could travel and she got to travel extensively. Lady Astor did have her good and generous side. During the war she and her husband did much for the war effort and the returning soldiers and also those at home that were in need. They were both members of Parliament and often entertained important people including royalty. Their town home and country estate were both the locations for frequent large events so they required quite a large staff at both homes. They also had 2 other homes. The war changed things a lot. They retired from politics and their town home was so badly damaged that they sold it and bought a much smaller one. Lady Astor was from America and so she traveled back to visit her family in the south quite often. She was a southern bell. I didn't learn as much as I'd hoped about the running of the homes and the staff but it sounds like they treated theirs pretty well and their butler was quite renowned. Rose had quite the life, but she never had much of a life away from the Astor's, they became her family. Lady Astor was good to Roses mother and Rose did go to visit her and was able to buy her a home in her old age. All in all her life had some highs and some lows but she seem well satisfied in the end. At the end of her life Lady Astor wanted Rose by her side all the time, she almost became like a child and Rose was the mother and nursemaid.

I use to read a lot of biographies but have gotten away from them. Reading this book has made me realize how much I enjoy them so I think I'll have to read a few more. Right now I have a bunch of books from the library. They always all come in at the same time. I just started the second book in the Daisy Dalrymple mystery by Carola Dunn, "The Winter Garden Mystery". She's off to another country house to write an article, this one is a Tudor.

I'm keeping a notebook of recipes and tips for dairy-free and Asian cooking, but I haven't felt like eating much so I haven't been doing much cooking. I'm still struggling with tummy issues.

Happy nesting.
Linda

Projects

2012-01-16T13:23:00.000-08:00

Well this is the last project I finished. I started it years ago so I'm happy I finally got it done. I haven't framed it. I was thinking about trying to make it into a mini wall quilt to hang on the wall by putting a fabric board on it and a backing. There are two more panels to this project if I could find the same fabric again, it's blue so not so easy to find.

I've started making sauces for the freezer. That was one of the freezer projects that worked pretty well for me. I made my fav. Putanessa Sa. and now I'm going to make a Barbecue Sa. I'm making a standard but sugar free sauce and plan to try one that has dried cherries and some spice in it. I also have always wanted to make ketchup but haven't and so that is on my list too. Enchilada Sa. is another I tried.

Because of the Bento Box project I am going to try some Vietnamese recipes. I got several dairy-free cookbooks from the library and one of them had some Vietnamese recipes.

I've been into the Upstairs Downstairs world lately because I'm watching Downton Abby and the mystery series I've been talking about is set in this world of having servants. So the next book I'm going to read is one I had on my shelves called Rose: My Life in Service by Rosina Harrison. She was the personal maid to Nancy Lady Astor. I also have one on hold at library that is on order and is based on the Downton Abby series. I've always been fascinated by the downstairs life.

I also have been reading a cookbook called The Kitchen Counter Cooking School by Kathleen Flinn. She graduated from Le Cordon Bleu in Paris and the book is about a project she took on teaching women to cook that were basically afraid to cook and lived on fast foods or boxed mixes. It's a great book for anyone that doesn't really know how to cook, but I picked up a few tips too. The idea came to her when she saw a lady in the grocery store with a cart full of packaged foods and no real food. She stopped her and talked to her and found out she was afraid of real food, she didn't know what to do with it. Kathleen also wrote a book about her experience at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris-The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry so I'd like to read that one too.

On a personal note I'm going in for some minor female surgery on Friday so say a prayer for me, they will be doing a biopsy also. I'm feeling fine about it, but I may get some last minute gitters.

Linda

New Mantle and Bento Boxes

2012-01-08T18:23:00.000-08:00

This is my winter look. I usually go for this sort of early spring look right after the holidays. We've had some pretty dark, grey days and I missed the Christmas lights so I decided to add some. Lighting candles also helps.

I've been busy getting my office set up for the new year. I also go through my files in Jan. There wasn't much to do this year and so I also cleared out my pantry and next I plan to clean woodwork in the kitchen.

I just finished a mystery by Carola Dunn called "Black Ship", a Daisy Dalrymple Mystery. It's British and I really enjoyed it. I'm just starting the first book in the series and plan to read the whole series.

I have a new interest in the cooking realm, Bento Boxes. My gd like to make them. They are basically Japanese lunch boxes, that have become very popular. They are hard to describe so here is a link. I got interested in them because they are colorful and look likes lots of fun. I like the idea of filling up little sections with interesting food and it doesn't have to be Japanese recipes, but I look forward to learning some. I guess I'm looking for some inspiration for the lunchtime meal. I struggle with that meal. Also I want to keep learning new things and so this in one of the things I plan to play with this year.

Linda

Happy New Year

2011-12-28T11:57:00.000-08:00

Well I wasn't going to do a post because I figured everyone is out returning gifts and buying, on sale, Christmas paper but I decided to go ahead anyway. It's not that I have anything to say, maybe a few questions and I wanted to put up the photos of the finished gifts I made this year. Here they are

I made this little pillow for my gd. I loved the little green buttons that were in a bottle of buttons I bought once. She is 15 so I was trying to make it not too babyish and she likes lime green and bright pink.

This is how I finished the other one for my dd. I put it in a memory box I had so that I could add things to it. I thought the flowers on the bottom made it look like she was walking through a field of flowers.

This is the scarf I made for my other dd. It could use a little blocking but it turned out beautifully.

My other gd wanted my to make this for her. I learned a lot from making this. It was difficult but I got it done and she is happy. I hurt my finger in the middle of making this so I just wanted to get it done. It is the earth bender symbol from a series that she loves. We watch it together when she comes over to visit me.

So for my questions- Have you thought about 2012 yet? Any goals or plans for the new year? I think I'm going to not make goals this year, but I hope to be more of myself this year and stop listening to all those inner should do's and those that we think other people want to put on us. Do you know what I mean?

Is anyone thinking about next Christmas yet? lol. I know it's too soon, but I hope that I will get some ideas to make Christmas gifts again. I tried to use as much as I could materials that I already had but the yarn I had to buy and it can be expensive. I want to start doing something with my stash of fabrics and plan to try and make some bags, totes and purses. I also want to try my hand at some place mats I saw that were patchwork. I also like these little tea mats that I've been seeing. They are small than a place mat and larger than a coaster. I think they could be fun to make. They are suppose to be large enough for a mug of tea and a snack. I look forward to getting new ideas from Pinterest this year.

Happy New Year

Linda

Merry Christmas

2011-12-20T20:46:00.000-08:00

I wanted to put up the rest of my Christmas decorating photos before it's too late.

This was another new ornament I got this year. I thought he was so cute.

I spread my village pieces around this year, this is in the kitchen window.

Some of my Santa collection.

I didn't use everything I have this year. I wanted to simplify a bit. So as I said we're celebrating Christmas on the 22 but we didn't want the 25th to be just another day so we decided to get together on that day too in the afternoon and play some board games, watch holiday movies and we drew names for a small gift each so we had something to open and lots of good snacky type food. We limited gifts to one each except for the girls and so I want to talk about what we want to do next year. I was thinking it would be nice to each do some kind of a help the needy thing and share what we did.

Linda

Red and White Tree and Snowman Collection

2011-12-17T13:33:00.000-08:00

So this is my red and white tree. I did a candy cane tree a few years ago and bought all these red and white ornaments then. I've been using this smaller tree the last few years, a lot easier for me.

I piled up some Christmas boxes and set this little snowlady on top.

This little guy was tucked under the tree. I got these hand made dolls at craft fairs several years ago. I have a snowman collection. The rest on them I tucked into the bookcase. Along with another Santa and some of the village pieces.

We're celebrating early so not much time left now. All the gifts are ready I'm just thinking about food.
I'm dairy free now so it's a new challenge with my diet, but I think this has been part of my problem.

Linda

Red and White Mantle

2011-12-15T11:32:00.000-08:00

I decided my theme this year was going to be red and white. I love those colors.

Linda

Trip to Gig Harbor

2011-12-11T10:01:00.000-08:00

My gd and I went to Gig Harbor for a little outing. We looked at decorations and antiques. There is a Christmas store with 2 levels or ornaments and downstairs village stuff. I wanted to get another tree for my village. I bought myself this ornament.

There is a home decorating store that always has around 12 trees decorated beautifully. We thought these ornaments were interesting.

I liked the red plaid on this tree.

We had lots of fun. Had lunch at the Red Rooster, a cute little cafe on the water and later enjoyed the deep leather chairs at the coffee house with out latas. We knew it was time to go when we were falling asleep in those chairs. Lots of walking and fresh air. Also they have a new British shop that has homemade meat pies made by a local lady and lots of Christmas treats.

Linda

Mobac's Pointsettas

2011-11-19T09:39:00.000-08:00

Last weekend I went to see my dd on the other side of the water. My gd came too and we went to Mobac's. It's known for it's varieties of Pointsettas and has tons of Christmas ornaments. We had fun but were both exhausted by the time we got home. I decided I wanted to do something fun to celebrate the season and this was it. We went to the mall, of course and I kept getting sticker shock.

I'm still dealing with tummy issues. Just when I think it's over, it isn't. I've been sewing and watching a lot of dvd's from the library. I'm watching an old one I've never seen before with Audrey Hepburn, Henry Fonda and Mel Ferrer, War and Peace. It's Tolstoy's epic about Russia and Napoleon's invasion of Moscow. It's beautifully filmed, lots of snow. Audrey looks so young and beautiful.

My part in the Thanksgiving dinner is going to be grilled asparagus (if I can get it), fennel, portabello mushrooms with one of my green sauces, roasted winter squash with a balsamic glaze and green salad with oranges and pomegranate with an orange vinaigrette. I always do green beans and wanted to do something different this year and I like to have a salad to cut all the heavy foods. I've been seeing some great ideas on The Chew. Michael Simon did a turkey soup with dumplings that looked wonderful. I'm not cooking the bird but I might get a breast or leg to roast and make soup from.

Have a great weekend and remember to relax and savor the season.

Linda

More on Green Sauces and The Chew

2011-11-03T16:56:00.000-07:00

I've been harvesting my hydrangeas. I got some beautiful colors this year. I also bought several sugar pie pumpkins so I can freeze the pumpkin. They taste some much better than the canned stuff. I like pumpkin pie and pumpkin cheese cake as well as pumpkin muffins and pancakes. Pumpkin custard is good too.

I found some new green sauces to play with Gremolata and Chimichurri. Again there are variations of both. If you do a search on foodnetwork.com you will find some and some of my cookbooks have variations too.

Chimichurri is from Argentina and usually served over grilled steak. I found 2 recipes using fish here and here. The first one is by Bobby Flay and is Fire Roasted Swordfish Steak with Pineapple-Mustard Glaze and Cilantro Chimichurri and Grilled Pineapple Salsa and Pickled Green Chiles. The second one is by Giada De Laurentiis and is Chicken and shrimp with Pancetta Chimichurri.

Gremolata I think is Greek, but I'm not sure. I say that because it has lemon zest in it. I found a recipe using Portobellos that sounded different here. This one is by Bobby Flay again and is Grilled Portobellos with Hazelnut Gremolata.

Both sauces can be used on a lot of different proteins and veggies. I'm having tummy problems again but want to try them out as soon as I can.

My schedule this week was a lesson in flexibility. A schedule isn't any good if it isn't flexible. I'm continuing to try and make my dailies habitual and haven't been able to really work on the weeklies much. I have a feeling with the holidays coming it's going to be difficult to do much but even with what I've done so far my house is in pretty good shape.

We had a fun Halloween. I love seeing all the kiddies in their costumes. My gd's are into cos-play and one was an anima character and the other was a steam-punk girl. They did wonderful jobs making their costumes and were able to wear them to a teen party at the library which has a teen club. The girls have been making costumes every year for several years now and have gotten quite good at it.

As I said I'm sick again. I've been trying to test dairy to see if I'm intolerant to it, but I'm beginning to think I just got a bug that upset my system and it will take a while to go away.

Have you watch Chew yet. It's on ch 4 at noon here. It has some of my favorite Food Network starts on it, Mario Batali and Michael Simon as well as Carla from Top Chef. Carla is a wonderful southern cook, Michael is Greek and cooks a lot of meat and is an Iron Chef, Mario is an amazing Italian chef and also an Iron Chef. If you've ever watched the Iron Chef they are all very talented. The show talks about seasonal foods and has celeb guests. They also have a health food person that talks about how to make things healthier. Here last name is Oz so I don't know if she's Dr. Oz's daughter. They've said her father is a doctor. Anyway they also have a website and you can watch the shows there and get recipes.

I've been reading a book by Debbie Macomber called "Twenty Wishes" and it's about these widows that meet and decided to make a list of 20 hearts desires to get their lives going again and I've been thinking about it and wondering if I could come up with 20 wishes. I'm not sure with no money, but I might just make it 20 dreams if I was young and rich. lol

Have a great week.
Linda

House Cleaning Schedules-Getting On Track Before the Hollidays

2011-10-28T11:02:00.000-07:00

Some of my favorite cleaning things, baking soda, homemade all-purpose cleaner and baby diapers.

I've was inspired by Tidy Mom to work on my cleaning schedule again. After being sick for a while I've let some things go. So this past week I've been working on the daily chores. Her is her post on dailies. She has lots of tips and ideas. You always have to customize these chore charts for yourself.

What I'm working on is making my bed every morning before I go downstairs.

I also wipe out the bathroom sink I just used and give the toilet bowl a swish.

Before bed I make sure the kitchen is all tidy and the dishes are all put away so that I'm ready to go in the morning.

I also wipe out the sink in the downstairs powder room and swish the toilet bowl.

On personal note I always drink a glass of water while I'm checking my email before I have breakfast. I want to add drinking a glass of water before bed. Not right before bed, maybe an hour before. I read that we get dry during the night and sleep better if we drink a glass of water. I've started testing for my diabetes so the first thing I do before I put anything is my mouth is test my fasting blood sugar.

Next week I'm going to work on weekly chores, I've been thinking about them and I always have a hard time deciding what day to do what. My Mondays are pretty set as the day I do laundry, I also want to make that my kitchen day as I already clean out the frig that day. Tidy Mom has pdf print outs for daily, weekly, monthly and yearly chore suggestions. Here is the link for her yearly suggestions and the pdf's are in this same post.

I've collected lots of cleaning ideas on Pininterest here are some.

Magic Spot Cleaner for your carpets

Freshen Your Mattress

Clean Chrome With Baby Oil

The Miracle of Baking Soda and Peroxide

Our fall color is fast being blown away by the windy weather. The street cleaners were out yesterday. I was thinking I wish they would leave them I love seeing the leaves on the ground and I need to get out and collect some to wax. Mine are getting kind of old.

Happy Fall Cleaning the holidays will be here before you know it.
Linda

Salsa Verde

2011-10-22T12:19:00.000-07:00

I wanted to explore sauces and this is the first, Salsa Verde.

Link to Salsa Verde and Chicken Wings from Guy Fieri on Food Network.

Salsa Verde otherwise known as Green Sauce. I always thought it was a Mexican sauce with chili peppers and tomatillas which it can be. It has many different guises. I realized this when I saw a recipe in the French book for green sauce that was parsley, tarragon, garlic, capers, green olives and olive oil.

I've bought bottles of the Mexican version but the idea of fresh herbs with garlic and capers sounds much more interesting to me. I wanted to try this but have been sick so maybe next week. So I did some research to see what other recipes I could find for this sauce which is new to me and I came up with many different versions used with fish, lamb, meat balls, chicken, tacos and other Mexican dishes.

It it a pretty versatile sauce because the components can be changed to fit the meal. The Italian version has Italian parsley and mint with anchovies. Sometimes shallots are used instead of garlic and I even saw scallions used. There is a citrus version with orange and lemon is often used.

So try mixing up your own version. It's a cup of olive oil usually, but I think I'll use less because I don't want to have a lot left over. Anyway everything is usually thrown into a blender and blended leaving a little texture, it's up to you how smooth. I also saw a version that was mixed in a bowl and the ingredients were finely minced. It's a little like Pesto but more interesting I think.

I want to continue to learn some new sauces. I was thinking of sauces using roasted red pepper they would add so much color to the plate. Does anyone have a favorite sauce that doesn't have dairy in it?

I'm better but it's one of those bugs that wants to come back so I'm being very careful about what I eat. We are getting fall color how about your area.

Happy Cooking
Linda

Peter Rabbit Project and Adding Color to a Meal

2011-10-16T13:09:00.000-07:00

Another of the Peter Rabbit series done. This one is going to be framed.

I'm dealing with some sort of virus. Haven't been able to eat much since Thursday. I'm tired and achy so I had to suspend my food presentation project. I did find that color is a great way to make your plates look appetising and started paying attention to the colors when I plan my menu, but also adding those colorful garnishes like herbs, chopped fresh tomato and lemon zest. I want to experiment with sauces. I noticed that chefs always add a sauce and green herb sauce with capers, green olives, Italian parsley and tarragon is one I want to try. Relishes and salsas would also be colorful additions.

After sauces I want to start thinking about first courses. I think that is one way to slow down the meal and savor it a bit. My gd's were over the other night and I tried to just enjoy the conversation as we ate and not be in a hurry to leave the table. We talked about what I'm trying to do. I'm looking at pictures in cookbooks and watching what chefs do on cooking shows for ideas. Also I'm not eating dairy right now and so I'm looking for sauces and things that are not dairy, it is a way of kind of forcing me to try new things.

This is going to be short today because of not feeling too peppy.

Enjoy your meals and experiment.

Linda

More About Decorating, Eating Well and Crochet Lessons

2011-10-09T12:44:00.000-07:00

I've been enjoying following these Learning to Crochet lessons. Even though I crochet I've been learning things I didn't know. I'm hoping she will do a knitting one after this is done. I would also like an advanced crochet course, so after I finish this I'll go looking for that. I'm sure Ravelry has something. I've found so many fun projects on Pininterest like this tutorial on a new stitch, the star stitch. I'm still working on Christmas gifts. I feel so smug when I see people say OMG Christmas is only 12 weeks away. I've got 2 projects done and am working on 2 more.

I got some of the little pumpkins to add to my decor. I like having something real. I can't afford to buy too much this year but I got one big one to make into a jack-o-lantern for the porch. I like to layer my decorating. I start out with the basics and then start to add the details. I was thinking about how decorators say you should use bold statements, but at this time of year I think small vignettes are more intimate and cozy.

I got this photo off of Pininterest, isn't it gorgeous. It originated at sunsurler.tumble.com, but when I went to the site it was blank.

I've been reading these French women books, "French Women Don't Get Fat" by Mireille Guiliano, her cookbook "The French Women Don't Get Fat Cookbook" and "French Women For All Seasons" also by her. She gives good advise on moderation and how to do that, not totally giving up things but keeping them for special treats. She claims that the French woman eats 3 meals a day and no snacking also they eat 3 or more courses but small portions. The idea is to enjoy your treats like dessert in the context of a meal. They take a long time to eat a meal and linger over the table talking and slowly making their way through these different courses.

In her second book she does admit that these ways are changing and you are seeing more overweight people in France. People don't want to make the time for a real meal in the middle of the day like they use to and fast food is becoming more popular with the young. The culture use to really dictate what people did but I guess things are changing.

What I got out of the books is what I'm trying to do in my life right now, to slow down, pay attention to detail and try as much as I can afford to not compromise on quality. I think we eat way too much and also waste a lot and what I would like to do is to make my meals little jewels that are beautiful and delicious like the tapas idea. However that is a tall order and I'm not sure I can do it but that is my goal, baby steps.

I have a lot of bad habits to change and I don't know if I have the energy to do that. The whole low carb/diabetic diet just gets my down sometimes and I see the French way of eating as a way to put the pleasure back into meal planning and eating.

I've been struggling with my food budget and making it work. One of the things the French do is buy for only a day or two and I've been trying to shop only twice a month. I'm finding that it's not really working that well for me. It really helped me to stay on budget when I stuck to it, but I would find myself at the end of 2 weeks eating what I could scrounge together and it wasn't all that appetising. That is a problem for me because I will tend to snack instead of eat a meal. So now I'm going to see if I can shop more often at least for things like fresh produce and still stay on my budget.

We can learn from other cultures, but put our own twist on it. I have another book about eating like the Italians and may take a look at that one again. I think it would benefit me if I could learn to widen the types of food I eat and try some new flavors and ethnic cuisines. My gd's love sushi but I have felt I didn't like the flavors of this cuisine, maybe I need to experiment a little more. I have to keep everything low carb, but I can still learn from others. I'm learning to use my low carb techniques on all recipes. It just a matter of substitution when it's possible.

So Bon Appitite.
Linda

New Fall Decorations

2011-10-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

I've taken down the late summer/early fall look and brought out the pumpkins and candles.

I love this pumpkin farm picture and always bring it out at this time of year. I haven't bought any real pumpkins yet, but this is my collection of faux ones. Hanging from the ribbon is an acorn made out of a cow bell. I left the lace up because I'm using this tan lace as part of my displays.

The cat and the pumpkin were both gifts that were made for me. I haven't used them for a while and so thought I'd put them out this year. They look very Halloweenie.

This little pumpkin quilt was also made for me by a dear friend. I've been watching alot of dvd's from the library as I stitch so I decided to add a tray to corral everything.

I should have cropped this photo but I've gotten to lazy to photoshop my pictures. I love my squirrel candle that I got at Target a few years ago and the leaves I waxed and have kept them from year to year. The little black squirrel looks a bit like a skunk. The grandkids and family crafted these a few years ago with cookie cutters for the shapes and construction paper, beans and grains. I'm using a lot of browns this year.

This is my Tasha Tudor owl that my dd made. I love him. He's shed a few feathers and could use some new ones.

Last but not least my little scarecrow that I got at a craft fair. I needlefelted the pumpkin. My gd taught me how to needlefelt but I didn't go very far with it, but I put this little guy out every year.

That's it. The house feels very cozy and the weather is grey and cool so I'm tucked up inside with my dvd's and my books. I just finished watching "The No.1 Ladies Detective Agency". I've watched it before but never watched the special features which were really good, talking about Africa and the culture there. I tried reading the books once before and couldn't get into them, but I decided to try again.

Have a good and blessed Sunday.

Linda

Details of Early Fall Decor

2011-09-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

I wanted to get the photos up of my early fall decor before I start changing it. I picked these berries off the Mountain Ash trees along out street and used them as you will see in several places.

Those are dried roses inside the cup, I love the scent of roses.

I love this tray and my dd made me the acorn. Acorn's are my favorite autumn thing.

This is a votive holder. Candles are another bit part of my fall and winter coziness. I'm about to replace all this stuff with pumpkins and those lovely orange and brown colors of fall. We've been having tropical feeling weather, warm but damp, but today it has cooled off and definitely feels like fall again.

I can hardly wait to get my pumpkins and maybe some gourds. Happy fall.

Linda

Good Reads and Pininterest

2011-09-19T15:12:00.000-07:00

My current reading. Almost French by Sarah Turnbull is about her experience living in Paris, France as a expat and learning to deal with French culture. She met a Frenchman who invited her to come to Paris and she did and lived with him, they eventually married. Anyway she probably would have flown home happily after a few weeks if she wasn't in love. It was very difficult for her, but I found it fascinating to hear about how she coped.

Gluten-free Girl and the Chef by Shauna James Ahern and Daniel Ahern is another story of love, but very much about food and intermingled with recipes. I like the way they talk about food and cooking seasonally. They also have a blog. The book does talk about gluten free and celiac disease but it also just has a lot of good recipes and I find it very inspiring as far as cooking goes.

I think the fall spurt of energy is starting to kick in a little. Something I've done many time that I've decided to work on again, is really focusing on what ever I'm doing and trying to do the best job I can, instead of rushing though things and half doing them. I find I'm much more content when I'm in this mode.

We've had some rain and cooler days, so it does feel like fall now. I wanted to say a little more about Pininterest. As I've been using it more I've learned that it isn't just a collection of pictures. It's really a place to collect ideas. You create boards which you label like cooking or fall, and you pin any ideas that you find and want to keep onto your board. You can pin things from the site or you can pin ideas that you see as you are reading blogs. Why I like it is because I do a lot of printing to keep ideas and this way I don't have to print so much. Have you ever seen a great idea and then couldn't find it again, well this way you know just where to find it. You click on you pins (photos) and they take you back to the original source for the information about it like a recipe. This morning I made up a fall/autumn board with lots of inspiration.

Have a great week.
Linda

Late Summer, Early Fall Decorating

2011-09-13T11:53:00.000-07:00

The streets are wet, we are getting a light misty drizzle. Does that mean summer is over?

I've done my late summer/ early fall decorating.

I'm not ready for pumpkins and bright fall colors yet.

I've been into the cozy mystery mood. My dd gave me a Laura Child tea mystery for my birthday in Feb. and I still hadn't read it. It's "The Teaberry Strangler". I enjoy these once in a while. I'm trying to decide what I want to get into next. I'm setting LOTR's/Tolkien books aside for a while.

My new interest is Pininterest. My dd has been talking about it and I decided to give it a try. It's lots of fun, but addictive. I've been trying to keep my time on line limited, but it's something fun to do when I'm bored. lol. When I go to the link it takes me to my pin page but I think it will take you to their home page.

I've been watching dvd's while I work on my Christmas projects. The latest thing I'm watching is "Hetty Wainthropp Investigates" and yesterday I watched "The Blind Side", it was wonderful. Hetty Wainthropp is a British mystery. I really like Patricia Routledge the main character and her side kick Dominic Monaghan from LOTR's fame. He played Merry, one of the Hobbits. His work with Patricia was his first role. Sandra Bullock was so good in "The Blind Side". I thought this movie was going to be depressing, but it was not at all. It was very inspiring and thought provoking.

I'm still waiting for the fall energy to hit me. I think if the weather cools down that will do it. Once I feel fall in the air it will kick in. I had a spurt about a month ago, but that has sense gone. I got sick and am still trying to get back to normal.

I made a Chicken Soup yesterday and I'm going to make Beef Stew today or tomorrow so my cooking is reflecting fall.

Have a good week.
Linda

God Bless America

2011-09-11T10:05:00.000-07:00

God bless America and keep her safe. Amen.

Library Table

2011-09-02T12:51:00.000-07:00

I'm not really ready, but I figured if I take all the summer stuff down it would force me to think fall. The first idea I had was adding a table to my library corner. I've been keeping this table for my dd. This last Christmas it was behind my love seat facing the fireplace and I put the Christmas village on it. This summer I put it in front of the window with a display on it. One day I got the idea to use it as a library table and make a cozy corner. I could do puzzles there or bible study or a craft. I love books and have been wanting to have some sort of table in that corner so I'm happy with the results.

My granddaughter has lent me a lot of books about Middle Earth and The Lord of the Rings and Tolkien. I thought I was done, but I just can't seem to stop reading about it. So they are on my book stand.

Linda

Happy Tasha Tudor Day

2011-08-28T11:30:00.000-07:00

We all know Tasha loved her garden. She spent a lot of time in it. So I thought that I would start a new Tasha tradition of planting a new plant in my garden on Tasha Tuday Day. I have to go to the nursery but would like to find a lilac. I've been wanting one for some time. They grow very well up here in the pnw. So that's what I'm going to do today or tomorrow, but next year I'll plan ahead so I can do it on the day.

I plan to read "Drawn From New England" by Bethany Tudor and may come up with some other ideas. I thought of trying to update some of her recipes.

I hope you enjoy the day. Go see Suzanne's lovely post with links to other people and my dd's Tasha Glam post.

The photos are my hydrageas, that are beautiful this year.

Have some Tasha fun today.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Day on Sunday

2011-08-24T12:43:00.000-07:00

Just a reminder that Tasha Tudor Day is on Sunday the 28th. Here is the link to my past Tasha series. I'm going to set aside LOTR for a day and read some of my TT books and get inspired again. Maybe I'll do some new TT inspired posts. Mainly I'll be having a cup of tea in her honor and enjoying the books about her. Linda

Peter Rabbit Pillow

2011-08-19T09:13:00.000-07:00

One of the Christmas gifts I'm making is a pillow with this cross stitch in the front. I'm doing the whole series, but not sure what I'm doing with the rest of them. I'm also working on a crochet project, so I crochet and watch dvd's in the afternoons. I've watched all the extended versions of LOTR and the special features. I was thinking yesterday how inspiring the craft work is. It's makes me want to go the extra mile. The way they detailed everything was extraordinary. I leaned so much from the commentary as well as the extra features, it was just fascinating.

It seems a little cooler this morning. I've been starting to get the fall vibe a little. This week I've been doing some deep cleaning and decluttering. Yesterday I cleaned off the front of my frig. It's like a bulletin board for me. It gets pretty cluttered because I just keep adding stuff to it. I think it's about time to degrease the kitchen, that means getting out the ladder and taking the stuff off the tops of the cabinets so I want to wait until I feel up to it. Last time I did it I replaced all the stuff with things that are easy to wash.

I'm still reading Silmarillion and it's hard going. I read a bio. of Tolkien it was quite interesting. This next week my gd and I are going to start watching Star Wars, I've never seen it. So I'm thinking I may start reading the series by C.S.Lewis for adults that was sort of an outer space trilogy. I tried to read it many years ago.

I cleaned up my pot garden yesterday, it never really did much this year. Everything seemed stunted and just didn't want to grow. I kind of started to ignore it and basically gave up on it. Well there is always next year. I think I said that last year!

Have a good weekend.
Linda

Tablescape and Why We Get Fat

2011-08-07T17:51:00.000-07:00

I created this little tablescape because I was in the mood for something a little cozier. It felt a little bare before. The plate at the back I got at an antique store at the beach, my one treat. I finally put my A/C on this afternoon. I've been trying to do without it and we've had very few warm days, but I just don't feel well when it gets above 70. That's why I live in the pacific northwest. I also don't sleep well when it's warm in the house. We usually have a breeze that keeps things comfortable but not today.

I've been reading a book called "Why We Get Fat" by Gary Taubes. It is confirming that low carb is the way to go. It's interesting because it talks about how this has been known for years. The food police have been against low carb and for low fat. Well it is because of diabetes that I learned the truth. My problem is that even though I know it, it's not easy to do. It has been a gradually process for me. I really learned a lot from this book about how our bodies work and I understand better now why I don't want to eat the things I should and why I can't seem to get below a certain point. I hope with this knowledge I'll be motivated to succeed in losing the rest of the weight I want to lose.

I've also been watching the Lord of the Rings DVDs and all the extra info about making the movies has been really interesting. I'm just amazed by what they put into these movies, the detail work in every area. Peter Jackson really went for it and all the actors put their all into it also. They all came to love the story if they weren't already a fan. It really helped me to appreciate the books even more. The movies are kind of gross, but the story still has a good message.

Linda

Comments on Blogger

2011-08-03T22:22:00.000-07:00

Just wanted to say I've been having trouble leaving comments on Blogger and I discovered that if you go in and change your settings to the pop up window for comments it solves the problem for those of us that want to comment. I did it on my blog. I don't know what is happening but it has been a problem for a while now and I know others have had the same problem. Linda

Reading Tolkien-Obsession

2011-07-28T18:33:00.000-07:00

This is another photo from the beach. I'd love to see the view from those windows.

I've finished The Lord of the Rings and now I'm starting The Silmarillion also by Tolkien. I've really enjoyed these. I liked them better than The Chronicles of Narnia. I was moved by many things in the stories, the courage and bravery of the main characters. I thought the story really showed the effects of an evil obsession on a person. We don't realize sometimes that we are selling our souls to our obsessions and then they become addictions. There were prices to be paid for the bravery and for the evil. I also saw compassion for a person (Gollum) that was trapped by his obsession (the ring), by Frodo because he knew the strength of the power of the ring and he knew he could end up in the same place. It showed that we need to have compassion for those that are trapped in the clutches of an obsession. Maybe you don't think that would ever happen to you, but it can and even as a Christian I know that I have to rule my emotions and my body or they will rule me. God's grace gives me forgiveness, but I'm still responsible for choosing to ask for it and as a result choosing to turn away from that which calls me into bondage.

I hope this isn't too heavy or preachy, but I just thought I'd write a little about how this series spoke to me.

I've been feeling I'm in some sort of transition, but I haven't figured out what it is yet. I feel restless and like I want to change things up a bit, but also like I'm waiting for something. So we will see.

I'm trying to get up the motivation to get into the kitchen more and do some cooking, but I've been really lazy and not too hungry.

Linda

Back From the Beach

2011-07-22T11:25:00.000-07:00

We just got back from a few lovely days at the beach. It's hard to get back into everyday life. I just want to keep pretending I'm on vacation. I've not been sure if I was going to continue this blog or not. I still have my nose in a book most of the time. I've almost finished The Lord of the Rings series. I'm feeling that maybe come fall I'll be ready to get back to normal.

This is the beginning of a Christmas present. My inspiration was from Heidi. I have seen these Japenses Flower scarfs, but didn't really like them until I saw her version in grey. It is a present for my dd so can't show the finished product until after I give it to her. She picked out the yarn. Mine is a little different, but I love both of them and thank Heidi for sharing.

I hope you are all having a great summer. See you this fall if not before. Linda

Daily Life

2011-06-09T10:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry I just haven't had much to say lately. I'm still doing pretty much the same things. I finished Little Women, Little Men and The Narnia Chronicles. Now I'm starting The Hobbit and Jo's Boys. I really enjoyed Little Men and Jo's Boys begins 10 years later. I read that it is the last book she wrote at the end of her life. I have a book called "The World of Louisa May Alcott" by William Anderson. It's quite interesting and talks of other authors of the time. I enjoyed finally finding out the end of the Narnia stories. I want to read some of his other books, but got in the mood to try The Hobbit because they are making a movie of it right now.

I'm making good progress on my cross stitch and plan to do the whole series of Peter Rabbit patterns that I have. I think they are so cute. I sit down and sew for an hour or two almost every day. I'm not doing any crochet or knitting right now, but my gd has shown me a crochet pattern that I may attempt for her and I plan to make another purse.

I've been trying hard to stick to budget and I'm doing well. I finally have the food budget under control, but it's not easy. It also mean little to no purchases that aren't absolutely needed.

My cooking has been very uninteresting lately, just trying to eat more salads and veggies. I've started phase 2 of Atkins and that means I can start adding some carbs, but haven't done that yet. I'm losing slow, but after a stall I started losing again. I've found that drinking water and eating the vegs. are important as well as being active. My dd and I took a 2 milk hike on Sat. and I hope that as the weather get nice I'll be able to do more of that.

Including a variety of photos from house and garden.

Hope you are enjoying life.

Linda

Spring Decorating-Birds and Birdhouses

2011-05-24T18:47:00.000-07:00

I finally changed my decorations to a spring look. My theme is birds and birdhouses. I have all these little ceramic and glass birds that my dd and gd's have given me.

I also rearranged my furniture and love the new arrangement.

I also brought out all those pillows I made last year and the granny squares. Everything looks so bright.

I will probably keep this through the summer as I started so late. We could have a short one.

I have beach stuff that I sometimes use in the summer months.

We are finally getting some sun but still cool. My container veg. garden hasn't done much yet.

I'm enjoying The Narnia Chronicles. I'm realizing what a talented writer he was and how creative he was. I'm thinking of reading his Space Trilogy after this. I know I've read at least one of the books but didn't understand it very well. I'm still reading Little Women and I've been watching the movies. I have 3 different versions of it. I like the newest one the best. I'm finding that I usually like the book better than the movie.

I started working on some counted cross stitch for Christmas. I've been working on cutting squares for the quilt too, but slowly.

I'm still doing the Somersizing Diet but I also have read "The New Atkins For a New You" and am incorporating some of their ideas. I think it will be targeting me diabetes a little better. The big difference in this diet is that you count carbs and then after the initial induction period you start adding a little at a time until you reach the optimum carb level at which you can still lose weight. It's hard to start on a very low carb diet forever, so I'm hoping this will help me to figure that part out.

Have a great week. My gd and I watched "Inception" with Leo DiCaprio it was very intense but interesting.

Linda

Tea and Poverty

2011-05-18T09:40:00.000-07:00

My dd asked me to keep some of her china for her so I just thought I'd share photos. Isn't this pretty. We had a tea party/lunchion for Mother's Day and I got to use my china cups and tea pot.

I've been watching Lark Rise to Candleford. Dorcas the lady Postmistress of Candleford always offers tea to any guests and for those she is trying to impress the table is full of goodies. She also likes to partake of tea at the local hotel. When you visit Lark Rise residents you are usually offered a cup of tea or a mug. They even are able at times to offer some cake. Tea is the universal way to offer succor and sympathy. I think it's one of those very Victorian sounding rituals, but it doesn't have to be. It can be very cozy and easy. My dd's and I love our tea, but we don't feel we have to be fancy when we have a tea party. We've never been ones for making tea parties stuffy, for us they have always been comfortable and full of good food and fun.

I finished the Little House books and really enjoyed the Scottish ones about her great grandmother Martha. I was in the mood for something British so I've started reading the Narnia Chronicles. I never have read them and I decided, on the advise of my gd to read them chronologically, here is the order

1. The Magician's Nephew

2. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe

3.The Horse and His Boy

4. Prince Caspian

5. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader

6. The Silver Chair

7.The Last Battle

I know this because she also gave me "a guide through Narnia" with complete index of names and places, plus map and chronology. By Martha C. Sammons. So I found that the second book (The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe) made much more sense to me after reading the first one, because it tells how Narnia came to be. I've never been a big one for fantasy, but my gd's are really into it and they bring their dvd's for us to watch when they come to see me and so I've come to appreciate it more.

I'm also continuing to read Little Women in between all these other things. I've been thinking alot about poverty seeing it in many different ways in these stories. I realize it comes in different levels. I started out with Little House looking for ways to live with less and make do. As I watched Lark Rise to Candleford it highlights the haves and the have nots in the two communities. The Lark Riser's are very poor and live very much like Laura's family. As I read Little Women they are suppose to be poor and yet they have a fairly nice home a maid and seem to have food on the table. I think sometimes the feeling of being poor depends on who your neighbors are and what you are comparing yourself to. I know that these books do make the point that money doesn't bring happiness. Poverty may be as much in the mind as anything. It's making me look at what I really need and what really makes me happy. I think the real poverty for many is in not being grateful for what we have and in not making the most of what we've been given. I'm not saying there isn't real povery out there I'm just finding that as I have less I have to realize that I still have much.

I've been busy decluttering and organizing. I'm pretty much done, it doesn't take me as long because I do it often enough that there isn't that much to get rid of. Also because I don't go shopping I'm not bringing stuff back into my home, but things still get out of order and I start to feel like I can't find things. Now I know where everything is and I'm made room for new projects and let go of old ones that I'm not interested in anymore.

It's beautiful today. I hope it lasts for a while. We are having a local parade this weekend and both my gd's are going to be in it. LindaWA

Mother's Day, Quilting and Reading

2011-05-09T17:05:00.000-07:00

I found this tutorial on quilting for those that don't know how to do it and those that need a reminder. I'm still washing, trimming and ironing fabric. I looked at a quilt shop and told her I was looking for really cheap fabric and I was able to get a piece on sale for $1.50. She suggested I go to Goodwill and look for dresses or skirts that I could cut up. She said on Mondays that have cheaper prices, so I may give that a try. I keep finding that people are so helpful in this economy, we are all in the same boat.

I had a lovely Mother's Day. I hope you did too. My dd gave me the little bird in the photo. I have a collection of birds in different forms, some of pictures, some candle holders and some figurines. I love to have nature displayed in my home. I also have some nests, birdhouses and other garden related decor. I also got a lovely cup and saucer with Martha and George Washington pictured on them for my Early American collection. My dd's birthday, my single dd, was this week so we celebrated both events. We had a great time, we always laugh a lot when we get together.

I'm almost finished with the Little House books. I'm reading the last series about Martha, Laura's great grandmother who lived in Scotland and it is really fascinating to see how they lived and how superstitious they could be. The cook believed that they had a Brownie in the house and she had to keep it happy by leaving it treats at night. Laura's world seemed so primitive compared to ours, but as you go back in time reading about her mother, grandmother and great grandmother it makes her life seem positively modern in comparison. One of the things I'm enjoying about the Scotland family is how they spin wool and flax and do their needlework. They use linen for sheets and I'm thinking I would love to have real linen sheets. It's all very interesting and my dd sent me the link to the author of the Martha years, blog.http://melissawiley.com/

Linda

The Royal Wedding and The Caroline Years

2011-05-02T11:34:00.000-07:00

I planted tulips in my herb garden last year and I forgot what color I choose so I was anxious for them to open up to see what I had. I still have a lot of pots with dead looking plants in them. We had a beautiful day yesterday, but back to rain today. I was going to run errands today, but with the rain I decided it's a good day to stay home.

I'm almost done with the Caroline years and I really enjoyed this book. She goes to Milwaukee to stay with her aunt and uncle and go to college to become a school teacher. What is so fun about it is that she is introduced to this whole lifestyle that she knows nothing about. They have a bathtub with a tap that you turn and hot water comes out. They have a maid. Her uncle owns a news paper and lives very nicely, but he is not wealthy. But it is night and day from the way Caroline was raised. She goes to the Winter Ball in a fancy dress and goes to a lot of other entertainments that she has never known, concerts and so on. They take her to a temperance meeting and an abolitionist meeting. Her uncle is an abolitionist. One of their aunts is a single lady and very modern. So Caroline is exposed to a lot of things, but she is grounded by her upbringing.

A few years ago I was really inspired by the Tasha Tudor books and I wondered if the same thing would happen with the Little House books. They have really helped me with my budgeting and frugality efforts. I've decided to make a patchwork coverlet for my guest room bed. This is something little girls did in the Little House days. My dd gave me a queen sized bed and I don't have any queen size linens, except for a set of sheets she gave me. I've been trying to use what I have around the house and especially stuff I've stored up in the craft room. I have a lot of cotton fabric, mostly in small pieces that I've been wanting to use so my gd and I got them out and picked out the ones we thought would work in that room. I may have to buy a little to have enough, but I'm just doing simple squares probably about 4 inches. I think this will be a long term project because I find this kind of work tiring. I'll take photos as I go along. I made a quilt many years ago, but I've kind of forgotten how to do it. I know the first thing I have to do is wash all the fabric and iron it. Then I'll find something to make a template with and start cutting out squares. I plan to make it a tied quilt because my poor hands are not up to that much quilting anymore and I don't think I could do something that large on the sewing machine. I've been wanting to do some patchwork for quite a while.

I've added a new list on my side bar that I'm calling history right now, but I may change it to storybooks. I've listed several Little House sites you can find the names of all the books on this one.

I got up at 1 am pacific time and watched the wedding from beginning to end. I love anything British and this was right up my ally. The hats almost stole the show, but the whole thing was very beautiful. I loved seeing the carriages, but the cars they used were also fun to see, the royal family has quite a collection. I guess there has been a lot of opinion on the brides dress, some like it and some didn't, but I thought it was very appropriate for the occasion and apparently was well suited to her style. It wouldn't have mattered what she wore there would always be someone who didn't like it. They kept talking about how hard times have been in England and how this was really going to lift their spirits and it really seemed to. The people in the streets and the commentators all were very proud and thrilled with the whole thing. I love England.

Linda

Knitted Fall Hat and Rose Wilder Lane

2011-04-20T16:14:00.000-07:00

I finished my hat. It turned out pretty well, but I don't know if I really like it well enough to make another one. I'm looking for another pattern that would be easy. I may make a flower for it, but the pins is cute.

I'm still trying to cut down my expenses. I had a blanket put on my water heater. My strategy for my food budget of trying to stay away from the groc. store as long as possible has worked pretty well. I think I'm actually going to end up within my budget this month. I've ended up going to the store about once every 2 weeks. That's when I run out of eggs and milk. It forces me to use up what I have on hand. I wanted to add that the other things I'm doing is reminding myself to buy basic ingredient, not premade items. Why pay someone else to make something I can make myself. I usually shop this way, but sometimes am tempted by something that looks good. I haven't tackled the insurance yet. I got my gas at the cheapest place I could find this week and I'm keeping my use of the car to a minimum, combining errands. I've added some chard to my container garden. I'm going slow on the garden because it's early yet.

I've finished reading all the Rocky Ridge LH books. They were about the Rose years written by MacBride. Someone said there was some question about how accurate they were and how much they were fictionalized, but I enjoyed them and they seemed authentic. The period of Laura and Manly's lives after Rose leaves is not well documented. Now I'm starting the Caroline years written by Maria D. Wilkes. There is also a few books by the same author about Caroline's mother and grandmother.

Because the books are fictionalized accounts of their lives I wanted to know more about Rose and what really happened to her. I wondered why she made the choices she did. So far I haven't really found the answer to that except that she was searching for something. She was very bright and bored with the life she knew. So I'm started reading bio's and the information is very contradictory. You get a generally idea, but the details change from book to book. So far I've read her own fictional version of her life which I didn't like. I'm almost done with Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder by John E. Miller that talks a lot about Rose and information from her journals. I'm throwing out my old journals after reading this. She had a lot of depression and wrote a lot of stuff that she may not have wanted published. We often pour out our frustrations and doubts into journals, but that doesn't mean that's what we really feel. This book makes it sound like the LH books are a pretty good description on Laura's life, some things are left out, but the gists of it is there. Another small book I read is "Laura's Rose" by William T. Anderson. It was published by the LIW Memorial Society and I think it is kind of a sanitized version.

I would like to read some of the books that Rose wrote. You can get them on Amazon. She was a liberationist and believed in personal rights. She didn't approve on the "New Deal" and the government giving people hand outs. Laura and Amanzo felt the same way. There is a cute story of him throwing a government agent off of his land who was questioning what he was planting. It's quite interesting knowing where we are now. They dealt with the depression by working harder and they thought everyone else ought to do the same. They certainly knew how to live a frugal life, they had been doing it for years. I have some other book with Laura's writing for the farm journal. She wrote about being a farm wife and it should be very interesting. I'll get to those later.

I know everyone is thinking about Easter, but other than going to church I'm not doing much this year. I haven't even changed my decor to spring yet. We've had some sun, but it is still cold at times and I keep hearing about snow flurries here and there. Well I hope everyone has a nice holiday and enjoys each other.

Linda

Fall Colored Block Scarf

2011-04-14T11:23:00.000-07:00

Well I finished my scarf. Now I'm working on the hat. The colors don't look exactly right, but you get the idea. I'm doing the hat with circular needles. I've never done circular knitting before. It was a little hard to get started, but once I got about 2" in it got a lot easier. If it fits and turns out well I think I'll make another one in creamy white yarn.

I've been thinking a lot about Laura, Manly and Rose's life on their Rocky Ridge Farm. We talk a lot about simplicity and frugality. They were an example of both. In this book I just finished they are forced to move to town because their crops failed. Their life changes and becomes more complex, busier and more social. They didn't like town living at first and missed the peace and quiet of the country, but they began to see the advantages and took advantage of them. They had a much larger home that was pretty empty when they moved in. The idea was to take in a couple of boarders so they had to get some furniture eventually. Manly found there were a lot of bargains, to be had, in town when you were there Johnnie on the spot. With his skills he could repair things that others didn't want to bother with and they gradually furnished the rest of the house.

I'm curious to see what happens when they go back to the farm. I know they end up with a bigger home at some point on the farm. It just showed me that they learned to be frugal and didn't get things until they really needed them. They made most of what they needed on the farm and I know they thought their homemade items were just as good if not better than what they could buy. When they moved to town they were able to get some things through trading and taking what others didn't want in town, but they still stuck to their frugal lives. They did find that they needed more clothes and nicer clothes. Rose was growing up and becoming a young lady and their social life had picked up. They didn't feel they could go to town in their old chore clothes. So sometimes our lifestyle dictates how we spend our money. They could get by on the farm because no one saw them.

Manly was more of a spend thrift than Laura. She had to keep him in check. He bought her a new fangle butter churn that made butter in 3 mins. She kept cutting herself on it and asking for her old churn back. She finally threw it out the window and broke it. She got her old churn back. The main thing I learned about simple frugal living is to only get what you need today and to make do until you can meet the need without debt. Also I learned that a very simple life can be a narrow life. It's all about choices, but also knowing what really makes you happy. Not everyone is cut out for a very simple life. They got much busier in town, but they had to work to pay off debt and provide for their needs, so they did what they had to do by moving to town. They made the best of it by embracing the parts they liked, but I have a feeling they will be happy to go back, but will they be changed. I don't know, we will see.

I'm adding new lists to my side bar, this weeks it's some organizing sites. Some of them also have cleaning and decorating posts on them too. One I liked is Bowl Full of Lemons. She has some challenges, a 21 day challenge and some weekly challenges. I also like I Heart Organizing. A girl after my own heart. I haven't been doing much organizing lately, but need to get back to decluttering. I haven't been doing much except reading.

I took the ferry over to visit my dd and see her new townhouse. I always enjoy the ferry ride, but going to the city always tires me out. We went to church and out to lunch and I helped her hang up some pictures and met her new housemate. So it was a pleasant day. A break from my narrow, simple life. lol

Linda

Frugal Tips and What I'm Up To

2011-04-07T10:25:00.000-07:00

If you're not reading Tongue and Cheek's posts on her trip to China you should be. It's fascinating and beautiful and she is witty as ever. This is the current post but start at the beginning of her trip after you read this one.

I'm thrilled I got a prepaid cell phone and no longer have a monthly fee. They also have a box to add to your home phone for $20 a month and it is both local and long distance. I haven't decided if I'm going for that or not. So next week I'm going to try and look into insurance home and auto. I'm thinking maybe I can bundle.

I'm almost done with my scarf and got circular needles to start on the hat soon. It's been grey and rainy here just about every day. I've been watching "Campion" British detective, sort of. The actor played Tristin in All Creatures. I like him he's funny and very dapper in this show. His side kick Lug is very funny too and quite the opposite of Campion. I read the book Laura Ingles Wilder wrote about her trip to San Francisco to visit her dd Rose in 1915, "West From Home". It was very interesting to me because I use to live there. She talks a lot about the Great World Fair that was celebrating the opening of the Panama Canal. I've always heard about the fair but never read anything about it. There were photos too. Anyway it was a good read for me and anyone interested in San Francisco. I'm continuing to read the Rocky Ridge series and I have a new crochet mystery.

The next catagory of blogs I want to share is frugal tips. A lady I've known on line for quite awhile has a blog called Living on Less Money which she has had to learn to do. She is sharing her experience and some good tips. I have several frugal sites that I like and I've put a list on them on my side bar. If you have any good ones please share. I'm in the process of changing it.

Have a good day.

Linda

Blog Sharing and My Week

2011-04-03T18:35:00.000-07:00

I've been going through all my blogs on my blog feeder and I was thinking I'd like to share some of the ones I enjoy on a variety of subjects. I'm also going to be redoing my blog page and the lists I have on it. I'd like to redo the look of it too, but not sure yet what I want to do.

The first blog I want to share is http://tigressinajam.blogspot.com/ It is from my canning and preserving category. I don't really can, but I would like to. I've always wanted to make mustard and though Tigress in a Jam I somehow found this recipe http://localkitchenblog.com/2010/03/12/can-jam-roasted-garlic-lemon-mustard/ So maybe I'll try it one of these days. Tigress has some yummy recipes and links to other yummy recipes. If you have any good canning and preserving sites you like, please share.

I've decided to try going grain free for several months and see if any of my allergic symptoms go away or get better. I read a blog about a family that had several allergic symptoms, not just stomach, but rashes, dizziness and so on and this made a big difference for their whole family. I'm not really suppose to be eating grains on my low carb diet, but I cheat now and then and so I'm using this to find out is I'm really strict if I notice any difference. I've been dizzy a lot lately and I've always been allergic. It's quite common for diabetics to have problems with grains.

I'm knitting a fall scarf, with fall colors and I got a pattern for a hat. So when I finish the scarf I'm going to try making a hat with circular needles. I'm starting to think about what I can make for Christmas gifts. I can't say what but I've started one project already.

So this week I made the call about my cable. I was prepared to be without tv, but I was able to get the economy package for it and my Internet, they are the same provider. So I cut my cost almost in half. I don't get all of my favorite channels, but most of them. I've decided to tackle the rest of the things a bite at a time. This week I'm going to tackle the cell phone. I've also unplugged all the things that I can to see if I can save on power. I tried it once before, but not really long enough to tell, but I heard someone say they did it and saved a fair amount. I'm more motivated now, it's a little inconvenient, but I think I can get use to it. Another thing I'm going to do is go with a smaller garbage can and that will reduce that bill.

We (my gd and I) went on a hike with the Curves group today. They were planning to go a lot farther than I though I could go so we just went part of the way and then dropped out, but it's a start and now I know a new cool place to walk. I need to get back in the walking grove. I tired out pretty quick today and we were lagging behind the group.

The photo is my herb and pansy garden. It survived the winter and is growing well. I planted some lettuce this week.

Have a good week.

Linda

Granny Square Purse

2011-03-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

I finally got my purse finished and I made a little coin purse to match. I lined it with fabric. It turned out really well. I'd like to make another one and maybe try some different shapes. I knitted the coin purse. I've been knitting again. I've done a wash cloth and am working on a second one. I'm also doing another scarf. I'm trying to use some of the yarn I have. I've been reading these knitting mysteries and that got me in the mood to knit again. The one I'm reading now is talking about felting and that is something I would like to try. It makes things warmer and more water tight. It's a good idea for a hat.

I'm sorry it's been so long since I've posted. I had all these medical, yearly apts., but they are done now and they didn't find any new problems so that's a relief. I've also been focused on trying to figure out how to make my budget work. I'm going to cancel my cable, just waiting for my current reality show to end, Top Chef. I don't think I'll get any reception without it. I'm tracking my spending at the groc. store and trying to figure out how to make it work on my budget. I've consistently gone over and I can't keep doing that.

I'm still reading Little House books. I finished the one written by Laura and am going to start the Rocky Ridge series about her life with her husband after they left their original home. I read about Rose and was sad to find out that she had a very different life from her mother and didn't have a happy marriage. By different life I mean her values seemed to be very different. All the things we love about her mom's life it sounds like she rejected.

Spring seems to finally be here and I'm going to start trying to get out and walk. One of the instructors at Curves is starting a walking group and so I hope to be a part of that. I've been struggling with my diet. I'm trying to get back on it. I gained back a couple of pounds, but I hope the walking will help.

I'm hoping soon to start doing some gardening again. My herbs and pansies seem to have survived the winter pretty well. The mints all turned brown, but they will come back I'm sure. I have bulbs coming up. I hope we have a better growing season this year.

I got a jar attachment for my Food Saver that you use on your canning jars to vacuum seal them. it works really well. I got it through Amazon for about $10. I've dehydrated green beans, spinach, mushrooms, peppers, zucchini chips and I'm going to do celery next. Come summer I'll do tomatoes.

We have sun today, I hope you all get some soon.

Linda

A Comfortable and Nurturing Home

2011-03-03T14:13:00.000-08:00

I'm getting in the spring cleaning mood, except that allergies are keeping me from doing it. I've been decluttering and trying to let go of stuff I don't really use. I was rereading some of the articles from down-to-earth and noticed her talking about wanting to make her home comfortable and nurturing and I started thinking instead of just trying to get rid of stuff, maybe I should be thinking in terms of is my home comfortable and nurturing. I think having it working well with a place for things so that you can find them is desirable but I don't think I have to worry about it being antiseptically clean and tidy. It always seems like as soon as I get rid of something I wish I had it back. I've been decluttering for several years now and so I don't have a cluttered house, but it is something you have to keep at because things keep coming in. So anyway I decided to not struggle so much with those books I want to keep and instead keep things reasonable tidy and if something starts to bug me that is probably a sign that I need to do something about it. Right now my garage is getting out of control, but it's too cold now to get out there. I'm wanting to reorg. my kitchen again because some of the things I did last time aren't working so well now. I made room in the den closet for the vegs. that I'm dehydrating so that's done.

I think as soon as the weather is nice enough I want to start getting outside walking and thinking about the garden. The first day of spring is not that far off.

This is a quickie today because I'm not feeling well.

Linda

Stocking Up and Cleaning

2011-02-24T12:34:00.000-08:00

I got a good report from my doctor so I can relax a little about my weight loss. Not that I'm going to stop but that I won't feel so pressured now.

I've been decluttering this one bookcase that has a lot of household books and binders and I've been rereading some of them and getting rid of some. Anyway I was inspired to work on my schedule again. I put up a check list this week for daily tasks and added a few. It's been good to see that some of these things I really don't need to do daily like sweeping my kitchen floor. I guess I'm not that sloppy.

I read about sanitizing and disinfecting and ended up buying some of those wipes that are disinfectant and I'm using those to wipe out my sinks and wipe down faucet daily also toilet seats. I found out by reading this that good old soap and hot water do a lot and that you don't have to kill every germ you just need to reduce them to a harmless level unless you have someone in your home that has a virus. Most viruses are transmitted through the air so a disinfectant spray or an essential oil burner might be helpful. But for day to day the disinfectant wipes are just a convenience. I had given them up but am going back to them because they are quick and easy.

Next week I'm making a check list of weekly chores and I'll just check them off as they get done and make a note of what day I did them. That way I can see what needs to be done or what didn't get done. I already have a weekly schedule but as live has changed that schedule isn't working anymore and so it's become catch as catch can. The list will make sure I know what's actually getting done.

I started dehydrating. I'm doing some mushrooms today and I'm going to do spinach and green beans. I found out that you can buy these packets that take out the oxegen and help keep them from molding. The food saver also has an attachment for canning jars that does the same thing. I want to get that. I think I mentioned before that I watched some UTube video's on dehydrating and was inspired to try it. I've done fruit before but didn't see the possibilities in vegs. until I watched the videos. She also has a web site that has the videos. dehydrate2store

I'm stll enjoying the Little House books. I've read the first book and am almost done with number two. It's been interesting to hear about all the things they made and how they did it. I didn't know that Ma made straw hats. It's been along time since I read these books. It's made me realize how little we really need and how we have so much excess. They were really excited when they were able to get anything they didn't make themselves and they really appreciated those things, but they valued hard work and independence too.

The photo is of a painting I got in Amsterdam. I told Heidi I would post it.

Linda

What Would Ma Ingles Do?

2011-02-17T13:00:00.000-08:00

We had some amazing clouds. I was going to an apt. when I saw them and was wishing I had my camera so instead I took this photo later in the day, not as good, but still give you the idea. There were these big billowy coulds everywhere. We seldom get that kind here and not so many.

I wanted to share that Audrey Eclectic has started a series called What Would Ma Ingles Do . I was excited

because I've been watching the shows on tv in the afternoons. Her first post is from The Long Winter so I decided to read it. I'm really enjoying it and learning how they got along on so little and how much we have. People are complaining about the cost of living going up and esp. food and are stocking up against the possibility of rising prices. It's seem like I've heard this before many times, but they might be right on this time. I think after the collapse of the economy last year we all take these warnings a little more seriously. I don't have the extra money to stock up right now, but will be looking for super deals on produce come spring. Someone on a forum I'm part of has been drying a lot of produce and I was thinking the soups I've been making would work really well for dried vegs. and so I want to do some of that.

I'm still decluttering. I'm going to tackle bookbooks again. I have a hard time parting with them even though most of them I never look at. I'm determined to get rid of stuff I'm not using. I'm not sure what I'm goingt to do with the extra space, maybe some of my overflowing kitchen equipment could go on shelves with a curtain on top. Have a great week and keep warm. Enjoy a good book and then tell me all about it.

Linda

Dreaming of Spring

2011-02-09T13:25:00.000-08:00

The photo is a runner my dd brought me back from San Diego. It goes beautifully with my lavender place mats. So I have a little spring in my dining room.

I'm doing well on my diet. I lost the l 1/2 that I had regained and a little more. So I hope I'll continue to lose.
I'm having fun trying new recipes. I started making creamed soups out of vegges using basically the same recipe. This week I tried Mushroom Soup that was made with both fresh and dried mushrooms. It was really good, very mushroomy.

This morning I tried making a frittata with zucchini grated, onion and fresh tomato chopped as a garnish. It also had parm. cheese sprinkled on top before placing in the oven. It called for fresh herbs which I didn't use, to lazy to cut some, but I wish I had. I think I need a smaller fry pan to make this because they normally are made for several people and mine turned out kind of thin. I'm making Florentine Eggs next which is a slice of ham put into a muffin pan and you put in a spoonful of defrosted chopped spinach and top it with an egg and grated cheddar cheese and bake. These are SS recipes.

Besides dieting and exercising I've been decluttering. I started thinking I should scale down my possessions with the economy the way it is you never know I might have to move into something smaller some day. I'm still cleaning out freezer and the closet in my den and now a bookcase in the den. I have a bunch of old mags. that I think I'm going to start putting into the recycle bin until they are all gone. I never look at them. If I keep any they will be the special ones to me. I love my old Country mags. I think I'll find a place for the ones I want to keep and tell myself that I can only keep what fits in that spot.

I haven't been working on my crocheted purse, just haven't been in the mood, but I'm almost finished with it .I've been printing up and saving up new crochet ideas which I would like to try. I just finished reading a series of mysteries with a crochet theme they got me even more excited about crochet. Now I'm reading another mystery series with a knitting theme. This morning I saw photos on a blog from the Tokyo quilt show. Oh my they were amazing. that is another one of those crafts I would love to do but every time I try I find it difficult. I can do a simple patchwork, but the ones in the photos were mostly appliqued. Also I find it hard to find time to do more than one craft at a time. I really shouldn't be spending money on yarns for a while so I'll have do finish up those UFO (unfinished projects). I have plenty of them. I would like to go get a Blackbird pattern book for cross stitch, they also have quilt patterns. I love there stuff, very primitive.

I don't think I've mentioned my new favorite tea by Stash Decaf Creme Caramel and Decaf Vanilla Chai. Yummy. They've been on sale at my groc. st.

Well have a good week all and and a Happy Valentine's Day.

Linda

The Love of Art

2011-02-03T12:27:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd show you some photos of what decorating I did after the Christmas things came down. These are unphotoshopped photos. I've had to reinstall my photoshop software. I want to learn to do picnic, but wanted to get these up. They say we are going to have an early spring so I will change things again when that happens.

I decided to go with an art theme on my mantle. I love to put out books on different subjects. Last week my gd's and I did art projects. One gd has started an art journal and I was saying I'd like to do that and so we all did it while they were staying with me. I'm not showing photos of mine because they looked like a grammar school kid did them, but I did a page with watercolors of the Statue of Liberty and did a couple of sketches of my gd. It was lots of fun and I think I should do this more often.

I've always loved art and use to wish I had the talent for it. Monet has been one of my favorites and I have several prints of his. I also love Van Gogh and Rembrandt. When we use to travel I got the thrill of seeing some of the great art galleries of Paris and other places.

I'm still working on my diet and working out. I've been making soups, Asp last week and Broc Cheddar this week. I'm cleaning out my freezers. A lot of the stuff I tried to freeze didn't work that well. I think I'll be on this diet for quite a while and so I'm getting rid of the stuff I can't eat that has already been in the freezer too long. I'm finding if you don't use the things in your freezer in a timely manner they don't have very good flavors or texture. The FoodSaver that I got helps a lot.

Rhonda at down-to-earth had a great post yesterday about slowing down. I've been feeling rushed lately and it was a good reminder to relax and enjoy my day. The chores will get done eventually and I always got the truly necessary things done. Dusting is one of those things that doesn't get done very often.

I'm reading Suzanne Somer's new book and she is talking a lot about toxins and how they can hinder our losing weight. I was happy to see that I've made a lot of changes in that area and I think I am doing pretty good. It did make me think I should be washing my veggies and I said I was going to do that but I never felt I had the time. She says if you don't have one of the veggie washes that you can soak them in water and vinegar or lemon juice. I guess that's better than nothing but the Bioclean veg wash is suppose to be very good at getting at the stuff off.

Have a good week and stay warm. We are kind of cold here but have been having sun and no snow.

Linda

Foggie Morning

2011-01-27T09:42:00.000-08:00

Hi,

Just stropping by for a quick hello. My gd's are here this week. Mom and dad are enjoying the sun in San Diego while we are having fog in the morning and some sun in the afternoon.

We all cooked together last night. We made Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Mushroom Sauce. Chloe stuffed the chicken and Auberne made the sauce. It was really good. The day before we made Cheesecake, yum.

I didn't lose any weight this week, I gained back 1 lb. I'm going to cut out the deserts this week and try and eat more at my meals. Also I've been only having 2 meals a day with a snack and I don't think that is enough. If you don't eat enough your body thinks it a famine and hangs on to the fat. So I want to make sure I give it a steady flow of nutrition.

So we are going to do an art project today and go check on the bunny at home. Have a good week.

LindaWA

I'm Back

2011-01-21T14:18:00.000-08:00

This is just a quick note to say my computer went south and I had to get a new one. So now I have Windows7. So far it seems pretty much the same, but I've heard there are differences. I lost all my favorite so I'm going to be busy looking up everything.

I've been doing good on the Suzanne Somers diet "Somersizing". I'm steadily losing, 2 lbs the first week and 1 1/2 the second. So I'm in sight on my first goal, the one the doctor set for me, but I'm realizing I will want to continue to lose weight. I need to lose another 10 lbs. to be in the healthy section on the BMI. I'm hoping if I lose enought it will reverse the diabetes and some of my other health issues.

Between exercising and dieting I haven't been doing any other projects. It's good to be back on line. I'll be around to see what you've been up to.

Linda

A New Year

2011-01-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

I've spent the first 6 days of the new year getting the house back into order after taking down Christmas decorations and figuring out what to do about my diet. I checked out WW's new program, but it just doesn't work for me and the Curves program has the same problems. So on the advise of a friend I'm going to try and work with Suzanne Somers program. I just came to the decision that I needed a bit more structure, but a structure that works for me. I'm having trouble getting off of sugar, after the holidays as well as snacking too much. I think one of my problems is I don't eat enough at meals.

This is the time of year I always get my office and files in order, but I'm just doing the minimum this year. I've still reading like crazy, I've got several books going at once. I'm reading a mystery and have 2 more waiting. I started Little Women and have to get back to that and I got a book I've been waiting for from the library called "Fannie's Last Supper" Re-creating One Amazing Meal from Fannie Farmer's 1896 Cookbook by Chris Kimball. I'm really enjoying it.

I'm working on a granny square purse. I'll share photos when I finish it.

Take care.
Linda

Think Like a Chef

2010-12-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

Because we had our Christmas celebrations a few days early I am already into the goal setting mode for the new year. I got a new cookbook for Christmas "Think Like a Chef" by Tom Colicchio. He is the head judge on Top Chef. Anyway I was thinking I needed to work on my cooking skills. After so many years of cooking just for me I feel like I've lost some of my cooking skill. His book starts off with a chapter on techniques and he talks about roasting, braising and blanching. His take on some of these is a little different than the standard. He believes in low and gentle cooking for better flavor and texture. So I bought a whole chicken today and I'm going to try his roasting method this week and I hope to improve my cooking skills this year and plan to be in the kitchen more. I have my ups and downs where cooking in concerned. Lately I'm been eating a lot of frozen foods, not wanting to cook. I cook for other people but getting myself to cook for myself can be a challenge at times. So that is one of my goals. I hope to post on my kitchen blog what I am learning.t

I've started taking down a few of my decorations, but I'm not ready to take them all down. I'm just doing a few each day. The girls and I are going to see Dawn Treader this week. They saw it in 3D and want to see it again, but we won't be seeing it in 3D, just regular.

I'm not out shopping the sales but I may go later this week. I'm not really a sale shopper, unless there is something I need. I feel like I just spent a lot of money and need to economize for a while. I'm planning on making Jan. a no spend month except for my gd's birthday.

Yesterday I took down the Santa's and Snowmen that were in my bookcase that holds all my garden books. I set out some of the garden books to display them and I was thinking as I was doing this that I should read some of them and start planning next years garden. We had a cool wet summer for the most part. It got warm late and things just never had a chance to grow much, but hopefully next year will be better. So I haven't given up, yet on the container garden idea. I will give it another shot this year.

I never do anything for New Year, just watch the fireworks on tv, but hope everyone has a good time if you are celebrating and pray your new year will be a blessed one.

Linda

Granny Square Christmas

2010-12-21T11:03:00.000-08:00

This is that afghan I said I was going to make. It's one big granny square. It was really easy to make and didn't take me very long at all. I takes a lot of yarn because of it being a big square instead of a rectangle. I also made granny square ornaments. Sorry no photo, but they turned out cute. I just made a granny square and then added a loop to hang it with. I also saw an idea for an ornament that looks like an Oreo. It was made with the center two rows of the granny that looks like a flower so that it's round. I made two brown ones and one white one and they sewed them together with a hanger, placing the white one in the center of the two brown ones.

Tomorrow is our Christmas Eve. I'm making Jelly Doughnut Cupcakes today out of coconut flour. I don't know how they will turn out, but will let you know later on kitchen blog. The Flourless Orange Chocolate Cake looks good, but will see when we get to taste it. I use my dd's recipe for Flourless Cherry Chocolate Cake and just substituted orange juice for the cherry juice, zest for the cherries and a little triple sec for the cherry liquor. The recipe is on her blog here.

I made what I call my candy tea for the gd's. Last year it was candy cane. This year I asked them for their favorite hard candy flavors and made Apple Candy Tea and Chocolate Mint Candy Tea. You just crush the candy and add it to tea of your choice. I used decaf English Breakfast Tea, loose tea of course. As far as proportions I just wing it, but there was plenty of candy in them. I made my Rosemary Maple Almonds again and a pecan version without the maple syrup, but agava instead for my dd that doesn't eat sugar.

So I'm all set and packing up the gifts tomorrow. My laptop has been giving me problems so if I disappear for a while it's because I decided to take it in.

Have a good one.
Linda

Christmas Wreath

2010-12-16T11:50:00.000-08:00

I've been having trouble with my laptop again, so I meant to have decorating photos up by now, but here are the ones of my wreath over my fireplace. This was my starting point. I had this idea of doing little tussy mussy's of lavender and using lime green ribbon. I couldn't get the lime green I wanted, but it turned out pretty well. I've added some purple and white small ornaments, balls, since I took this photo just to give it a bit more bling and sparkle. I hope to get more photos ready and posted soon.

We decorated a gingerbread house and sugar cookies this last weekend. We had icing all over us. I keep trying even though my gingerbread house decorating looks like a 3 year old did it. We always get the premade houses. My granddaughters have decided the last few years to do cookies instead. I'm the only one that does the house. We listened to Christmas music and watched The Miracle of Johnathan Tooney. They have the book and the movie was great.

I've got most of my gifts wrapped and under the tree. Just a few things to finish up. Then I have to start thinking about food. I'm suppose to make either green beans and chestnut or stuffed artichokes plus I'm going to try and make an orange flourless chocolate cake. I just have to figure out how I want to add the orange.

I started out not really into decorating, but after I got started I just kept adding so ended up with a lot more than I expected. I may add the rest of the decorating photos to my around the house blog, so if you don't see them here look there. Link in on my side bar, when I get it done I'll add a link here.

We are having our celebration 2 days early so I have to prioritise my time. Sorry I haven't had time to read blogs, but hope to catch up after the holidays. Here's the link Around the House

Linda

Living History Museum- Fort Nisqually

2010-12-09T11:38:00.000-08:00

They were having a special Victorian days for Christmas. My granddaughter and daughter dressed up. The first photo is in the living room of the main house. The ladies were sewing. The second photo my gd is playing a tossing game with wooden rings and sticks. The third game my other gd is playing with a rod and stick. They had a lot of fun.

I got my shopping done and I've started my decorating. I'm not into decorate this year like I usually am, but I'm at least doing my living room and dining room. I don't know if I'll get to any of the other rooms, or outside, but I don't want to force it. My next post will be pictures of the decorations. I have been trying to get here all week to do this post. This week end we are hoping to decorate a gingerbread house (premade) and cookies. That was my motivation for getting the decorating done.

I've been enjoying giving through Curves this year. They are doing toys for our local Fish Line. They had an article in the paper about really being down on donations. They are also sending food and cards to the troops. So that has made it fun. I always want to do those things, but never know how or where. They made it easy for me. So when we do the gingerbread this weekend we are also making rice crispy treats for the troops. I heard they ship better than cookies.

I hope you are all holding up and enjoying the season.

Linda

Christmas House

2010-12-02T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm trying not to get caught up in the hype of Christmas. What I've been trying to do is focus on one thing at a time, but I feel time slipping away from me and in spite of my efforts not to get frantic I find myself slipping into that rush rush mode.

Today I'm at home and I'm just catching up on chores. I've been out so much enjoying the seasonal events. We always go to Christmas House on Bainbridge Island every year and I always get Harney and Son's Holiday Tea at this beautiful tea and knitting shop on the island. So we did both of those things the other day.

I got a set of soup bowls that are really too small for soup, but I thought they would be cute for dessert or to put candles in. I just liked the design. I got some other china pieces and a little Christmas house. She always has something I would love to buy but can't afford. This year it was a beautiful red wool blanket.

I'm having a nice cup of Coconut Chai while my laundry is going and getting ready to do my bill paying. Have a great day and remember you are blessed.

Linda

Festival of Trees

2010-11-29T00:00:00.000-08:00

Saturday we went to see the Festival of Trees and went downtown to our little town to look in stores and also saw Mr. and Mrs. Santa and a horse and buggy ride around town. We love to see the decorated trees and get ideas. It was a nice day. I start shopping for real now. I hope to get it all done this week, than I'll start thinking about decorating.

Linda

Happy Thanksgiving

2010-11-25T11:27:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is a good time to look back at the year that just past and count your blessings. My financial situation has eased up a bit. I've had some health issues but not life threatening and aging can be a challenge, but I'm so fortunate that my faith is there to see me through. My dd got a job this year after being unemployed for over a year. My gd got a pretty good report from her doctor. I've been blessed more than I can say by my on line friends and met some of them recently.

I've been doing a regular quiet time this year. I started in May. It's not a big deal or anything lengthy but it has brought me a lot of peace. I know that when I pray things happen and when I don't pray they don't happen. So I'm mostly grateful for my faith. I had someone comment on my bible study blog that they were out of money at the end of the month. I have also heard of many other situations that sound hopeless, but I know that nothing is hopeless with God. I'm grateful I'm able to take these things to God in prayer and know that they are in His hands.

Linda

Posy Pin

2010-11-22T13:19:00.000-08:00

I finally put together that charming crocheted pin from Attic 24. I put this one of my dd's birthday gift. I want to make some more of these. They are pretty easy to put together, but take a little time to put all together.

We have snow. The first of the season. It's not sticking on the streets yet, but we have about an inch now. It's been on and off all day.

I put out a pile of Christmas books to read. I read all the new ones I got. I've also started a new crochet project. I wanted to use up some of the yarn I've had for a while. I've been wanting to make this lap robe I saw that is one big granny square. You just keep adding on until you get to the size you want. I had some chunky blue variegated yarn that I bought a while ago. It's cheaper yarn so I want to use it up and I thought this would be a good project for it. I'm using the biggest crochet needle that I had.

I'm doing my shopping tomorrow for food, if I can get to the store. I always make a couple of sides. This year it's easy and simple, stir fry green beans with chopped ham and a green salad. I'm bringing some really good ice cream that we like in an appropriate flavor. I have to see what they have. I know that have pumpkin. My dd is cooking up a storm. We almost always go over to her house. A few times I had it here, but it seems to work better at her house.

Have a Happy Thanksgiving.

Linda

Just A Note

2010-11-19T13:35:00.000-08:00

I was off line because my laptop wouldn't let me on. I had to wait for my sil to get back from hunting to find out what was wrong. I enjoyed being off line so much I didn't want to get back on once I could, so I've been taking a vacation from it. Not much has been going on anyway. I'm still focused on Curves and diet. I working on a Christmas gift and reading. Last weekend the family took the ferry and went to a cute little town to shop and have a belated celebration for my dd's birthday. I believe she will be posting and will have photos. Anyway we had lots of fun, but I've been sick ever since a chest cold, lots of coughing. It's turned cold here so I'm stay indoors. It won't be long before it will be time to put up the Christmas decorations. I usually have a theme, but so far this year I don't. Sorry I haven't been reading blogs, but am easing back into it. Today is the first day I've really spent any time on here. Take care all.

Linda

Winter Herb Garden

2010-10-22T16:27:00.000-07:00

I've been cleaning up my back porch and pulling out all the dead plants. I decided I wanted to replant several of the herbs together in a container that I could pull back near the house when the frost comes. Last year I tried herbs indoors but that didn't work so well, so I'm hoping these will do better left outside but somewhat protected.

The signing party was lots of fun, unfortunately I forgot my camera. I made some new friends and we all enjoyed talking about our interests, several were Tasha Tudor lovers and of course they all knew and loved Clarice and her blog. Our dinner at the Tapas place was great. Everyone agreed the dates wrapped in bacon with a balsamic reduction was the best item. The next day were went to a friends for brunch and I continued to get to know some new friends. So it was a full weekend for me.

I made a great Asparagus soup yesterday I'm going to link it on my food blog here.

I bought an extra comforter to put on the end of my bed so I'll be nice and warn come winter. I've noticed that I really needed a little more warmth on cold nights my red coverlet isn't really that warm and Penny's had them on sale, so I got a pretty robins egg blue one. I've been doing a little more shopping then usual looking for Christmas gifts and looking for bargains. I'm not usually a shopper, but I decided that once a week I'm going to go out and start looking. My dd is a great bargain hunter and I never have been so I think I need to learn, we've talked about that you have to know what's out there and what is a good price and when they have the sales. I knew that I would probably spend a little more just being in the stores so I have to watch myself. I saw this comforter last week and came home and thought about it before I decided to purchase it.

Have a good weekend. I still have some clean up to do outside if it doesn't rain.

Linda

Wren's Coming Out Party

2010-10-18T13:53:00.000-07:00

Wren's Coming Out Party

Check out the link above, she is having a give away.

I finally got my copy, but I read the story as she was writing it. I wanted to do a little review from my perspective. When I found out that Wren was from Boston I was immedietly interested because Boston is one of my favorite cities and Clarice and I took a trip there once, just the two of us. It was amazing. Then I find out the Wren moves to Bay Farm and I was in love again because country life is another love of mine. As I read the story I was being inspired to look at my own home in new ways and I think as I read it again I'll continue to find inspiration. Wren is a wonderful character and there are many other great characters in the book also. It was interesting to see how real this world of Wren and Devlin became to Clarice. I've never written a book and never will, but it made me kind of envious to see the experience first hand. If you read Wren Bay don't rush through it but savor it and enter the world of Wren and Devlin for a while, as Clarice puts it take a mini-vacation.

Linda

Fall Flowers

2010-10-15T14:53:00.000-07:00

I think aliens have taken over my laptop today. It's driving me crazy. Well I'm trying to just touch bases for the week. The photos are some of my fall flowers that I'm still enjoying. We have had sun on and off. I haven't cleaned up my pot garden yet. I'm waiting until we get frost. Last year at this time I was big time into herbs. Trying to grow them inside didn't work out too well. I'm not sure why, but it was messy and after a while buggy. They didn't grow much. I'm not sure what I'm going to do this year. I'll try and keep the ones on the porch alive as long as I can and give them protection. I'm not sure what kind of winter we are going to have. I thought it might be a nicer one, but I've heard rumors of a cold one. So far it's cold one day and warm the next.

I've been into British mysteries which always puts me in the garden mood, as I read about their veggies gardens and lush flowers. I enjoyed all the flowers in pots I planted this year and think I will do that again next year. The veggies didn't do well, but we had a cold wet summer and when we finally got some sun and heat it was too late for things to grow much. I've always had good luck with my tomatoes and this year they just didn't produce anything. Well come spring I'm sure I'll be raring to go again.

My life has been so dominated by this diet and fitness program I've been trying to do I have felt like my creativity and fun projects have just been put on the back burner. I am making some Christmas gifts, but can't talk about most of them. I've decided to ease up on the diet and fitness for a while and get some balance back into my life. I was reading something about the importance of balance. I know that I tend to go full bore when I get into something and everything else suffers, so I'm trying to get back on track with the rest of my life. I'm cutting my Curves down to 3 days a week and plan to go in a little later instead of getting up at 6:30 like I have been and the diet was so restrictive that I just lost my appetite so I'm backing up on that too and just taking another look at what I really need to do for my diabetes, but still be able to enjoy cooking and eating.

I'm looking forward to a busy day tomorrow with my dd's signing party and dinner out with family and a few friends. We are going to a Tapas place.

Have a good weekend. Hugs everyone.

Linda

Memories

2010-10-09T12:02:00.000-07:00

I was shopping with my gd today in an antique shop and I saw this cup. I immediately recognized it as the same as a set my mom had. It's English bone china, but she got the set in Canada. It was one of her favorites. When she died and we divided up her things someone else got this, so I was thrilled at the chance to get the cup. Every time I look at I'll remember my mom. Do you have things that remind you of a loved one that is gone?

I've officially started my Christmas shopping. I found a few things while my gd and I were looking around. I'm determined I won't end up buying more for myself than for others. In fact I want to make most of my gifts, but I will buy a few things.

Fall really feels like its her now. I'm seeing the trees start to change color and there are leaves starting to fall. The pumpkins have come to the grocery store. When I was there yesterday they were unloading huge boxes of them. Have you seen the knotty head pumpkins. I'm adding pumpkins and gourds to my decorations. I'll put some pictures on my Around the House blog. I got a beautiful light blue one.

Linda

Fall and Winter Pillows

2010-10-02T16:23:00.000-07:00

I made the purple pillows to go with the other ones I already had. The poppy floral I made a few years ago and the plaid with the floral boarder I didn't make, it is April Cornell. I love the combination because it is so unexpected. The purple pillows I just made are covering pillows I already had but didn't use any more.

I'm still totally focused on my diet and fitness. What I was doing wasn't working so I've gone to a very low carb diabetes diet and I have high hopes for it. I've been spending a lot of time on line doing research. My 1 hour limit on line is long gone.

I've been cooking new recipes. Last night it was pork chops smothered in sweet peppers. Tonight it's salmon with a teriyaki marinade. The chops would have been good but I over cooked them. I want to try the recipe again sometime. I should know better than to follow a recipe when it doesn't sound right. I usually use my own cooking knowledge to over ride a recipe when it seems wrong.

I'm still enjoying doing Curves and look forward to it except for getting up so early. On the weekend I want to try and get a walk in. My gd and I went walking yesterday and explored some trails in our area.

My gd and I brainstormed some trail mix ideas. One she came up with was a S'more Trail Mix with mini marshmallows, chocolate chips, pretzel sticks and chex's corn cereal. I asked each gd what they would like in their trail mix and they came up with some interesting ideas. We talked about doing a Christmas one with peppermint candies in it or trying to do ethnic ones.

So that's what I've been up to. Have a good week. I love October.

Linda

Fall Mantle

2010-09-27T09:50:00.000-07:00

This is what I did with my mantle. I'm putting more photos on Around The House. We had a beautiful day Saturday and my dd and I went for a 2 1/2 mile hike. I was so tired. Today it's grey and damp and muggy inside. I want to get out with my camera and look for some fall color. I'm not really seeing much around here. I'm in a knitting mood and a baking mood. I usually get the organization mood at this time of year, but not this year at least not yet, I'm too busy with my diet and fitness.

I'm collecting ideas for Christmas goodies. I decided to start a file and when I see an idea I stick it in there. I made a lot of food items last year and would like to do the same this year. I'm looking at recipes for power bars and trail mix as well as chocolate goodies. I'm in a Christmas mood. I just ordered a bunch of Christmas books from Christianbook.com. Jan Karon has a new book coming out. It's a continuation of the second series she started about Father Tim's family. They go to Ireland in this book.

Have a good week everyone. We saw "Letters to Juliet" about a week ago and it was so cute.

Linda

Fourth Week of Spark People

2010-09-23T08:52:00.000-07:00

I just finish my third week and am starting my forth week. Read about it here.

Linda

Fall Coffee Table

2010-09-22T00:00:00.000-07:00

This is what I did with my coffee table. My decor for fall ended up being books, and china with some fall things mixed in. I love this table cloth it's one of a set of three with french Provencal designs made from french cotton. I've had them for many years and still love them. The colors on this one just went with what I was doing. I often use color to bring together items that are of different styles. I like to mix in something natural, that's why I love the leaves. I like things to be casual and comfortable. I love china but seldom use it in a formal way.

It's a beautiful sunny day today. We've had so much grey it's lovely to see the blue sky. The pacific northwest is really beautiful when the sun it out.

Linda

Fall Centerpiece

2010-09-19T17:41:00.000-07:00

I did my fall decorating. This is what I did with my dinning room table. I decided I wasn't ready to do pumpkins and will add them later. This especially the mantle (which I'll show you later) ended up looking kind of like a Tasha Tudor look. My original idea was to use my old books. I have a lot of country living, mostly in New England type books and, what it was like in the old days type books, that I wanted to showcase. I like to put out books I haven't read for awhile, in the hopes I might pick one up.

I usually do my decorating by starting with the bones and then adding the little accents. As I think of things or find things I add them. I want my fall decor to be cozy. I had to put away my pretty pillows I made this summer, but I really don't mind because the old ones feel so much more like fall.

The leaves are from previous years, they are ironed between wax paper. I love acorns and have these wooden ones, some real ones and some little wax ones that are candles. I also have beautiful fabric one that my daughter made me and a metal one that I use with my wax candle squirrel.

Linda

New Fitness Post

2010-09-15T13:16:00.000-07:00

I'm starting my third week with Spark's People. Read about it here.

Linda

Shawl Project plus Martha on Hallmark

2010-09-13T19:05:00.000-07:00

Well I finally finished the shawl I start a year ago. It was one of my Tasha Tudor projects, not her pattern, but an easy pattern. I wasn't sure the buttons were going to work out, but they actually turned out pretty cool. The only thing I would do differently is make it a little wider. Now I can get back to my crocheted lap robe.

I've been watching Martha Steward's new programing on Hallmark channel today. I haven't watched her for a long time because I didn't like her current show, but the Hallmark shows are pretty good. I especially liked Mad Hungry and Everyday Food. Martha doesn't host these shows, but people that work for her do. Did anyone else see the shows?

Linda

HOPE

2010-09-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

They found 4 of them and it changed everything. They were drowning in grief and sorrow and when they saw the 4 crosses they knew God was there.

Last night I watch again several programs on TBN about 911. It struck me this year how the rescue workers were just not able to process what they were seeing, they were stunned and couldn't even talk about it. It just reminded me that no matter how deep the pit of grief and sorrow God can reach down and pull you up and hold you and comfort you.

Proud Momma

2010-09-10T19:30:00.000-07:00

Just in case there is anybody here that doesn't read my dd's blog Storybook Woods I'm posting the link to her post today here. She has written a novel based on her blog, a new concept we think. This is quite an accomplishment for a dyslectic. It's a very charming story so check it out.

Linda

New Fitness Post-Curves

2010-09-08T09:13:00.000-07:00

See post here.

Goals For the Fall

2010-09-04T11:22:00.000-07:00

I've been slow to get into the fall swing. I guess because we really aren't there yet, but I'm usually ahead of the season. I do have a few things though.

1. Stop spending money, unless you really really need it.

2. Find a fitness program I can do inside.

4. Lose another 5 lbs. by Christmas.

5. Make 1 Christmas gift each week. (I don't know if I'll actually do this one, but I want to.

That's it so far. I probably will come up with more.

Have a great holiday weekend. I'm going to Pt. Townsend today.

Linda

New Post of Fitness Blog

2010-09-02T10:16:00.000-07:00

Someone on line, I can't find them again, mentioned this site for tracking and support in your diet, health and fitness goals. Check out my post.

Linda

New Post In The Kitchen-Review Indian Dinner

2010-08-31T09:22:00.000-07:00

I made the Indian dinner last night. Check out what I thought here.

Linda

New Post In The Kitchen-Indian Food

2010-08-30T09:36:00.000-07:00

Actually it's American food with an Indian Twist. Come see here.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Day

2010-08-27T12:21:00.001-07:00

I've been re-reading the books I have about Tasha Tudor's life this week. I was hoping to get inspired again, like I did last year, to do some new projects. What I really got out of the reading this year was just how skilled and knowledgeable she was and what passion she had. I want to build on some of the skills that I already have and continue to gain knowledge about the things I'm passionate about.

I started a shawl last year and got side tracked by other projects, so I'm working on finishing it and I'm almost there. It's not a Tasha shawl I felt that was beyond my basic knitting skills, but some day I hope to make one.

I decided, to celebrate TT day, I would make something out of her cookbook. I would love to bake something but I'm dieting right now. I decided to try her meatloaf because I don't like my meatloaf and she does something unusual with it. She bastes it and then makes gravy from the drippings.

The last thing I gained from reading about her is that she was never idle. She kept busy. I have such a sedentary life style that I would like to become more active and productive. Limiting my time on line is one step in the right direction.

I've joined a yahoo group Take Peace that I read about here. She also give the link for the TT web site. They have a newsletter that comes out occasionally and I want to buy one of their prints.

Edit-Wanted to add for any new people a link to last years Tasha posts here

So Tasha continues to inspire me I hope she does you too.

Linda

Tasha Tudor Reminder

2010-08-22T14:32:00.000-07:00

Storybook Woods in reminding us that Tasha Tudor Day is coming. Why don't you plan to do something and join in the celebration. Link to her post here.

Linda

New Post on In The Kitchen

2010-08-21T12:13:00.000-07:00

See new post on In the Kitchen, Plum Jam with Agava and Stevia.

Linda

Pillows with Button Detail

2010-08-20T11:25:00.000-07:00

This is part of what I've been doing this summer. I did several sewing projects that required a lot of hand sewing. I love the sew by hand. I've been using buttons more and more as a detail. I like the tailored look of them. I love this new fabric I got to go with the others I already had. This is my spring and summer look and so I want to make a fall and winter look.

I've been thinking about simplicity again and being off the computer for a while has shown me that it takes up a lot of time so I'm coming back on with the restriction on myself that I can only spend an hour a day on it. So I probably won't be posting as often. Also I want to get a little more personal on my blog and share a little more of my thoughts and not just projects.

I'm looking forward to fall are you?

Linda

2010-07-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

I just wanted to pop in and say I got my laptop back, but I've been enjoying not having it and so I decided to extend my vacation. I'm just getting on once a week to check email. I've been busy reading, sewing and walking. Come fall I expect to get back to a normal schedule. I'm reading all about Victorian England.

I hope you are all enjoying your summer.

Linda

Ladies Mantle

2010-06-30T08:20:00.000-07:00

I have this very large Ladies Mantle. I love the lime green color of the flowers. This is another flower that I like to cut and bring in for bouquets. I like to let it dry and use it all winter long. It look lovely along with the lavender.

Here is a link about drying although I just put it in a vase and let it dry.

It does have medicinal uses when made into a tea, but it also has warnings, so I don't think I'll be trying it.

I took a class is drying flowers several years ago. It was a lot of fun. Here are some of the various ways to dry different flowers. This site tells you what flowers are best for drying and has several different methods like microwaving.

I haven't done this for a while, but I'm thinking of trying it again. I also have a press for flowers that is fun or you can use an old telephone book.

I wanted to let you know my laptop screen has been fading out on me and so if I disappear for a time it's because I've taken it in.

Linda

My Lavender is in Bloom

2010-06-26T12:17:00.000-07:00

My lavender is in bloom, so I can start harvesting a new bunch. I just like making little bouquets around the house.

I also enjoy seeing them in the garden so I won't cut them all. Unfortunately I can't use these in cooking because the ground near them is sprayed by the landscapers and I'm afraid it might be getting into the lavender, but I can still enjoy them in other ways.

I may make some sachets for the bath or to put under my pillow. I never did make a sleep pillow last year, so I might do that.

I do have a lavender in a pot which I'll be able to cook with, but it hasn't bloomed yet. I will use it for the flavored honey and teas. You can also use it in foods, but you have to be careful not to overdo it, it can take on a medicinal taste to some people.

What is your favorite way to use lavender?

Linda

Flavored Honey for Christmas

2010-06-24T07:45:00.000-07:00

My dd and I are going to Squim today. That is where all the lavender field are. We aren't going to look at lavender, but to buy veggies. I'm mainly going just to have a break from the house. I've been kind of blah this week. I am doing a lot of reading and trying to focus on lose 10 lbs. My next project that I want to try is flavored honey. I think this would be a good Christmas gife. Here are some links.

A Merry Heart Journal

The Herb Companion

Spiced Honey

The Spiced Honey and the Sage Honey are two I want to try. I'm going to use agava to make mine instead of honey.

The photo is a sunflower boquet in my guest room.

Linda

Robins Egg Blue Scarf

2010-06-19T21:43:00.000-07:00

I saw this pattern at Little Jenny Wren. I've been wanting to try this yarn that has some cashmere in it, so soft. So I tried my best to figure out her pattern, but mine turned out a little different. It was real easy to do. I'm working on some fingerless gloves to go with it. It's going to be a Christmas present. I'm starting to think Christmas already.

Linda

An Old Fashioned Rose

2010-06-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

I wanted to show you my beautiful old fashioned rose that is blooming now. I don't know the name, someone gave it to me out of her yard as a housewarming gift. I love old fashioned roses because they are so effortless and beautiful.

Another beach find the large shell. I thought it would make a good vase or even planted, but I need to figure out a little stand for it, so I put one of my roses in it with some water and just stuck it in a pot with an herb.

Linda

Herb Markers

2010-06-12T19:38:00.000-07:00

While my gd and I were walking on the beach I saw these shells and got the idea to use them as markers for my herbs.

I have 21 herbs now.One of the interesting ones I got this year is Lavender Scented Thyme. I love thyme and also have English Thyme and Lemon Thyme.

This French Mint is from last year and I loved it because it is not too strong, it has a real nice mild taste. I have three other mints, Pineapple Mint, Curly Mint, and Peppermint. I would like to get Spearmint, I like the flavor of it.

I got a Lavender to put in a pot this year because the landscapers spray our lawns and I don't know if it is getting into my Lavender that are in the flower bed. I use those for potpourri, but I wanted some for teas.

I wanted to get some of the herbs I used last year and got a second lemon balm because it is used in a lot of things. I also got lemon verbena for tea and sage for tea and culinary.

So those are some of the ones I'm growing this year plus several others. I have the usual parsley and chives, rosemary and oregano for cooking.

Linda

My Back Porch

2010-06-09T09:42:00.000-07:00

I've been working on getting my back porch pulled together. I've been planting a lot of herbs and flowers along with a few veggies. I decided this year to mix the plants together in some of the pots. So I have herbs and flowers in the same pots. I usually separate them. We'll see how that works. I use the old step stool as a place for some of my herbs.

I started thinking about how many herbs I had to buy last year for my teas and remedies I wanted to try. I can grow them all, but I'm definitely growing a lot more herbs this year. They don't get that big in pots and with our short summer, so I'm getting more than one of the ones I use a lot of like lemon balm.

I have a few veggies, but not a lot. I've done well with tomatoes and lemon cucumbers in the past so I'm doing those. I'm trying bush bean this year to see how they do in a pot. My garlic hasn't been harvested yet, so I'm looking forward to seeing how they did. My porch isn't very big as your can see so I can't do things that really spread like squash.

If the garlic does well I would like to try onions next time. So far we are having a cool year, but hopefully we will have enough heat for these plants to thrive.

Linda

How I Like My Homemade Cleaning and Bath Products

2010-06-03T18:08:00.000-07:00

I have been wanting to get some kind of a cheese shaker to put my baking soda in. Someone was talking the other day about cleaning their cups with baking soda and that reminded me that it would be a lot easier to do if I had a shaker, so I got this one at my local grocery store. The top is rubber and when you push in the center it exposes the holes. So now I can just shake on a little baking soda when I want to clean a cup or my sink.

I also wanted to show off my new Anthropology cup. My dd got it for me, she has one just like it.

I just made my second batch of bath bombs. I like them and use them instead of bubble bath.

I'm also liking the shampoo I made and so far my hair looks and feels very good.

The deodorant works really well, I haven't smelled since I started using it.

The toothpaste seem to be working. My only reservation with it is that a lot of it ends up in the sink and it is primarily coconut oil. I wonder if it is clogging up my plumbing. Also I made it with spearmint because I feared peppermint would be too strong, but actually the spearmint isn't strong enough,you don't get the refreshing feeling in your mouth. So I'll use the peppermint next time.

My cleaning products are working well, except sometimes I just need something a little stronger, I don't have the elbow grease to scrub real hard. The bathtub is one area that I've started to use a natural cleaner from the store when the soap scrum builds up. So I'm still learning. Here is the link to my orginal post for the bath and body products.

Linda

Reading and Thinking

2010-05-31T14:14:00.000-07:00

I'm sitting here enjoying my Spiced Coffee. It turned out very good. The link is here in previous post.

I've been reading a blog that I loved and printed up. She is no longer blogging, but I liked to reread it every once in a while. I was thinking about how much I've learned from other peoples blogs. I find them very inspirational. This lady lived and wrote about many of the things I'm trying to do. Others have written about the same things, but so many of her ideas were right on with what I want my life to be.

I was reading some of her posts on seasonal ideas and schedules. She changed her schedule with the seasons. I've never thought about it, but I guess it's true that life changes with the seasons. I'm walking every day I can and playing with my container garden, my cooking has changed to seasonally fresh and lighter foods. Days are a lot longer so I wake up earlier.

I was thinking as I read that we can celebrate the change or we can ignore it. Celebrating change makes life more interesting and changing things like the decor give daily life a fresh new feeling.

Tomorrow is considered by some as the beginning of summer although the official day isn't until later in the month. So I want to think about how I can celebrate summer and enjoy the season. Last year I did a lot of preserving of produce and I want to make a list for myself of what worked and what didn't and make plans to try some new things this year. I also want to, later in summer, do some more things with herbs. I had a lot of fun with them last year. I think I need to clean out the freezer to have room for new stuff. Freezing tomatoes didn't work well. I think this time I'll stick with the sauce and freeze it. I learned how slimmy some veggies can get.

I'm hoping my walks will turn into longer jaunts of enjoying the outdoors.

What are your plans for summer?

Linda

Container Garden in Process

2010-05-27T16:09:00.000-07:00

I'm buying plants, but the weather has been rainy and cool.

I love the pink petunia it looks kind of purplish in the photo but it is a pale pink.

I got a blue pot to match my blue grill that I got at Target.

I had this little willow rocker and decided to use it as a plant stand for my chives.

So I'm working on my container garden, but it's slow going with this weather.

Linda

Superfoods

2010-05-23T10:16:00.001-07:00

Kitchen Stewardship has some missions about superfoods. She also has some lists of health problems and which superfood is good for them.

I already eat a lot of them, but thought it would be a good idea to try and eat them a little more often. When I first read her list I started to add salmon, when it's on sale and turkey. There are two foods I didn't eat very often.

This week I want to focus on a few superfoods and try to make sure I get them in my diet this week.

They are spinach, I got some nice fresh spinach at the farmer's market. I could make a spinach salad or saute with garlic another superfood.

Berries, I have a lot of frozen raspberries and blueberries in the freezer from last summer and I want to use them up. I may make some smoothies with yogurt a superfood. I made some Saturday with the fresh raw goats milk. I've been enjoying the strawberries in the stores now, when on sale, they make a nice healthy dessert dipped in dark chocolate another superfood.

Carrots, I got the baby ones easier for nibbling, so going to try and have some healthy snacks this week. I also love radishes which I got a farmer's market and celery. So I will make a raw veggie plate.

I also have some tomatoes that could go on that plate. I bought them to make a greek salad one of my favorites.

Red pepper is also good on a raw veggie plate maybe with a healthy humus dip. Beans are another superfood, but I can't eat too many of them because of the carbs. Also I made roasted red pepper mayo this week see In The Kitchen for how easy it was. You can find a link on my

In The Kitchen sidebar for Kitchen Stewardship. At the top click on lists and you will see superfoods.

Many of these superfood are protective of cancer and heart attacks, good for diabetics, high blood pressure, boost your immunity and much more. If you want lots more information The World's Healthiest Foods is a place you can look up individual foods and get lots of info, maybe more than you want. I looked up spinach here.

Here is a recipe for Spinach and Artichoke Dip. Artichoke is another superfood. This would be excellent with my raw veggie plate or for a party. This site is all spinach recipes.

Here is a Banana, blueberry, peanut butter and yogurt smoothy. That sounds interesting. Here is a Simple Summer Smoothy that has frozen cherries as well. I hadn't thought of freezing cherries, good idea. This is All Recipes you can look up frozen berries and come up with all kinds of recipes.

Sweet Red Peppers are not really my favorite. I prefer the green ones, but I just think maybe I need the right recipe. Here is a Shrimp Scampy which I love with red and yellow peppers.

So that's my plan for the next week or maybe two.

Linda

Coffee Bar

2010-05-20T08:33:00.000-07:00

I put my tea tray away for awhile and decided to set up a coffee tray. I love my French Press. It makes a little stronger coffee so it is a good substitute for espresso. I make my own Lata's now and I love Cinnamon in my coffee plus it is a beneficial spice esp. for diabetes.

I decided to look up some recipes and ideas for flavored coffees and I found some good sites. I found hot and cold drinks plus there are lots of alcoholic versions for those that indulge.

So my idea is to find some other things to add to my tray. I had almond flavored syrup and cream in my coffee last night and I want to find it in a sugar free version and add that to my tray. I don't use those imitation creamers. I like to use the real cream, 1/2 and 1/2 or hot milk.

Here are the ones I want to try Caramel Macchiato, Orange Coffee Recipe , Spiced Coffee

Here are come iced ones Coffee Frappe, Sara's Iced Coffee

There were many more these were just the ones I liked. Of course there is also Cafe Mocha just add chocolate in some form to your coffee along with milk in some form. I want to try cocoa, sweetener and hot milk, but I also have a sugar free chocolate syrup I've used but I don't like to use too much sugar free stuff, with the unsweetened cocoa powder I can add my stevia or agava.

Linda

Flavored Homemade Mayonaise

2010-05-17T15:46:00.000-07:00

I got a new stick blender for Mother's Day. Amazon had them on sale. I wanted to get one to make homemade mayonnaise. I was amazed at how well it worked. I had mayonnaise in 2 seconds.

I decided I wanted to try making some flavored mayonnaise and so I look for recipes on line and here is one link that has quite a few. Basically you are adding herbs or citrus or something like red pepper to your homemade mayo. Some of them add 1 garlic clove also. I saw a recipe for curry mayo and mixed herbs that sounded interesting. I can hardly wait to experiment. Some of them added parsley also. I will share on my kitchen blog what I try.

Linda

Snowballs

2010-05-14T15:32:00.001-07:00

I love my snowball bush. It was one of the first things I planted when I moved here. We are past our frost date now and so I'm starting to work on my back porch container plants. I've planted one of those upside down pots for tomatoes. I put a Sweet 100 in it with little mini petunias on top. I also planted in regular pots two more tomatoes a Roma and a Yellow Pear. One of my other favorites is Lemon Cucumber so I got one of those and I'm going to try some Bush Beans this year. I replaced some of the herbs that died.

I've been reading a gardening book that someone suggested called "Gardening Anywhere" by Alys Fowler. She suggests that if you are starting a new garden you go slowly and find out what works for your garden before you spend too much money. So I'm going to think a little more before I do much more. I really need to do some cleaning up of some asters in my garden that are taking over and my large rosemary keeps dieing a little more each year so I'm thinking I should take it out.

As you can tell we have had some warm and sunny days lately, but that doesn't mean the rain or grey is over. You have to take advantage of the nice days because they don't alway stay for long.

Linda

Crocheted Bag

2010-05-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

This is my latest project completed. It was easy to do and another Attic24 project. The link is here . I had a nice Mother's Day and I had to take the ferry. I used my new bag to hold some extra clothes and it worked perfectly. I was a little afraid the handles would stretch, but they didn't. I followed her pattern exactly except I made my handles longer, because I wanted a shoulder bag. I might make it a little narrower. I'm kind of a loose crocheter and I think she may have used a smaller hook. I used a 4. The flowers were fun to make. I'd like to make some pins out of them.

I've used up most of my yarn and the colors I have left aren't my favorites, so I'm going to start collecting the colors I want for my lap robe. I'm going to do the flower garden pattern with pink and red flowers and the blue and green background. I'm not going to make it too big, because it gets expensive. I'm sticking with my Cascade Superwash because it's one of the more reasonable good yarns. I wanted to do an alpaca or cashmere, but too pricey.

I love crocheting. I was going to take a break from it, but I enjoy it too much to stop. It's sort of addictive.

Linda

Homemade Bath and Body Products

2010-05-05T18:16:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to try some of these. I've been collecting recipes just like I did with the cleaners. So this is what I've made and the link for the recipes.

Homemade Toothpaste from Passionate Homemaking I was a little afraid of this because it has soap in it, but I figured if she can get her kids to use it it can't be too bad. I used spearmint and orange in mine and it taste very nice. Time will tell how effective it is.

Homemade All-Natural Deodorant from Passionate Homemaking I tried it this morning and it has worked altho I haven't gotten sweaty today. I rub it in and couldn't feel anything so that's good. The natural deodorant I've been using hasn't worked that well.

Homemade Shampoo from Passionate Homemaking I made this today, but I haven't had a chance to try it yet. This recipe is shampoo and conditioner all in one. I have another recipe for a shampoo and a separate conditioner that I may try if this makes my hair too limp. I was going to try the no poo method, but when I saw someone had actually come up with a shampoo recipe I was thrilled. I'll let you know how it works for me.

Gardener's Hand Scrub from House on Hill Road I haven't tried this, but my gd tells me that when her hands are dirty she does exactly what they did in this recipe she mixes a little sugar with the soap. So it does work.

Bath Fizzies from Mindful Momma These have to dry and so I haven't had a chance to try them yet. I was looking to an alternative to my bubble bath and these sounded like fun. I didn't have a mold for them and trying to just mold them with your hands was difficult. My gd helped me and we tried some different things and ended up using 2 ice cream scoops, but you have to gently tap them out of the mold or they crumble, so the mold can't be too deep or filled up too much, so my fizzies are kind of small. Update I tried it last night and I liked it. It gave the water a soothing kind of feel and I could see it was like having a bit of oil in the bath but not too much. I tend to have dry skin from my love of hot baths, so this will be good for my skin.

I was going to make some lip balm but I couldn't find the ingredients. I'm still looking for a recipe for moisturiser for my face.

I also saw a recipe for bubble bath, but it uses shampoo and so after I try the shampoo I plan to try making the babble bath with the homemade shampoo, don't know if that will work. I also want to make bath salts.

I also want to try some recipes using herbs.

Linda

Color Schemes

2010-05-03T08:50:00.000-07:00

As I'm puttering around the house I'm thinking about my color scheme in each room. My rooms are all beige walls and beige carpet, so any color has to come from the furnishing and accents.

In my living room I decided earlier this year that I need more color and something brighter and so I made the patchwork pillows with lots of bright colors. I pulled out the red, pink and aqua and a tiny bit of the line green. I put mostly the red on my mantle with just a touch of the aqua. I made those granny square pieces that brought in all the colors.

My living room and dinning rooms are attached so I carried these colors into the dinning room by making an arrangement of objects on the table with my colors. I added a shelf to the top of a pine amoire I have in there and put objects in it with my colors.

My kitchen is partially open to the dinning room and I already had a blue and red color scheme in there, but I had additional colors on the top of my cabinet and so when I was puttering one day I took all that down and put up blue china to reinforce my colors.

So as I'm going around the house I'm trying to create color schemes for each room. I tend to decorate more by theme. My den has a bird theme and sort of a color scheme, but there is a lot going on in that room and the color scheme isn't obvious. So I want decide what it should be and work on making it more dominate.

I also want to do this with my craft room which is a hodge podge right now.

My master has a nice color combo of cranberry red, a light slate blue and a very pale pink. I have curtains with a print that has all those colors in it. A fabric or a picture is a good way to develop a color scheme. I was watching Sarah's House and she said she always takes the color out of her fabric or wall paper that is the smallest and uses that as her accent.

My puttering is leading to a lot of other things.

Linda

This and That

2010-04-30T11:09:00.000-07:00

I'm sort of in the middle of a few projects and so didn't really have a post today, but I will say I'm getting ready to try some of the natural bath and body recipes. I've been a little under the weather so I'm doing a lot of reading.

My garden has a few flowers in it but not much. My trusty pansy is still blooming. I love pansies, their little faces are so cute and the colors so vibrant. They really are a cheerful flower. I always have a pot blooming. I'm waiting for the frost date to start my pot garden. My herbs from last year are starting to slowly get leaves, some didn't make it. I had tried to grow them indoors and they didn't do that well. The best ones were the chives and parsley. Some of the others started to get buggy and so I put them outside.

I've been posting a lot on my other blogs. Check them out if you don't go to them, the links are on my side bar.

Also wanted to say I watched Young Victoria yesterday and it's wonderful.

Linda

Kitchen Stewardship

2010-04-26T08:24:00.000-07:00

I've had this blog Kitchen Stewardship on my reader for some time, but never really understood what she was trying to do until I started to really look at her site.

She has a list of missions to help you have a healthier home and eat healthier. Her missions are baby step missions and you know I like baby steps. I love this kind of thing. Evey Monday is a new mission. She's doing MSG today, getting rid of it.

A lot of her missions I'm already doing, but most of them I'm not. There are a lot of things I've thought of doing but haven't and she gives you the motivation to try and do them, like getting rid of some of the plastics that are toxic or including the super foods into your diet.

So this week I'm working on the plastics, just checking to see if any of the ones I'm using are the bad ones.

I've already checked for HFCS and found my canned pears and bread crumbs had it. The mayo has soy oil in it which is an omega 6 and they say we get too much of it. So I've been saving the heals of my bread and making my own bread crumbs, the pears are really for emergencies supplies. I'll have to see if I can find a mayo with out soy oil, make my own, or find a substitute.

The photo is one of the few flowers in my garden right now a box of violets. They did rather well this year.

Linda

More Puttering-Lavender Scented Draw Liners

2010-04-23T09:05:00.001-07:00

This is wrapping paper. My gd helped me and we put new paper liner in my dresser drawers. Under the paper you sprinkle baking powder scented with essential oil, I used Lavender, of course. I got this idea from some old print outs from Brancante Home, it's one of her puttering ideas. Now I'm going to do the same thing in my bathroom drawers. I also decluttered and reorganized the drawers while I was at it. I wanted the drawers to not be too full so I could see my beautiful paper, so I put the extras in a storage box in my closet. If I don't end up using those things I will eventually get rid of them.

Linda

Puttering Around the House & Lavender Bouquets

2010-04-20T14:24:00.000-07:00

I've been doing a lot of puttering, decluttering, simplifying and organizing. I just cleaned up my garage and reorganized things a bit. I decided to put little lavender bouquets on the nightstands in the master and the guest room, so you get that lovely relaxing lavender smell as you drift off to sleep. I'm enjoying using my lavender spray in the bathrooms. I spray it on after I've cleaned. I think it would be nice to put a little lavender oil on a cotton ball and push it down into the bouquet as this lavender is old. I'll replace it with new lavender when it blooms this year. The lavender scent never seems to go completely away. I had this bunch in a storage box and it smelled lovely when I opened it. Putting your old lavender in drawers would be very nice and everything in that drawer would smell so good. I love lavender. Using the oil in the bath is a great way to relax too.

Linda

Granny Squares Scarf

2010-04-16T15:54:00.001-07:00

This is my gd. I finished the scarf I was making for her. She wanted it long, so I just kept adding squares until we thought it was long enough and then I put the border, a simple one on it. I've use up a lot of my yarns now, so I have to decided If I want to buy more of the same for the next project or switch to something else. I'm thinking I would like to switch things up a bit, but it all depends on what I decide to do for my next project. There are several things I want to do. I think with my left over yarn I'm going to try doing the ripple design and see how hard it is. Here is a link to the pattern. Here is also a link to the bag I would like to make also.

It was a beautiful day here today. A good day to get outside. I went to the nursery and they were mobbed. Have a good weekend.

Linda

My Journaling and Quiet Time Box

2010-04-12T07:48:00.000-07:00

I've gotten back to having my quiet time first thing in the morning. I'm setting my alarm so that I can do it first. I had a lot of excuses why I could never do it at that time of morning. I fall asleep, I don't sleep well, I can't concentrate and so on. I decided to commit to doing it and just do it and see what happens, because I really think it is the best time to do it.

So I bought myself a new box to hold everything. I got it at Target, the colors go with my living room and I can carry it where ever I want it. I dug out a notebook and bought myself some new pens and highlighters and a little pouch to keep them in.

I like to journal and so I also journal my prayers and conversations with God. It works for me and I can get everything off my chest that way and be able to go back later and see how things have changed.

Because the house is still cold early in the morning I'm doing my QT in bed and so I got out a bed tray which has a place for a book and I keep my devotional and a note book in there along with a Bible. So I have a hard surface to write on. I just tried it this morning and it worked pretty well.

So the journaling box and the bed tray are the tools to help me with my early morning QT and other times when I just want to journal or take notes on something I'm reading. I'm also starting a Bible Study time in the afternoons and I will use the box for that too.

Sunday I followed Passionate Homemakers idea about having a Planning Retreat and redid my whole schedule. I used the box to keep a binder and notes in that I was reading about Vintage Housekeeping and yesterday I went over those notes to make changes to my schedule. So the box can also be used for special projects.

I'm doing a series about my Housekeeping Book on my Around the House blog. Links on side bar under housekeeping book catagory. My latest is about rituals.

Linda