Greetings Cards Have Not Been Sent, but the Christmas Rush is Through LOL!

Whew, well we (Kristin and I) made it through the Vintage Gathering Sale; we held it over one day this weekend b/c it was supposed to be a busy day in Clatskanie..... Last week was wonderful as far as sales and attendance went, so we learned probably mostly likely not to try to do an impromptu extra day. However, it was a huge success, and people were asking for us to do it again in the spring. I have ideas for possible a spring or early summer thing, but right now I'm too tired to think.
We do a small 3 HOUR!! show next Friday at the Cowlitz Title Co. and then the only other thing like that I have on my list is the bread orders I bake for on December 22nd. So come Monday morning, we will back to just a nice quiet home, working on homeschool, my own handwork projects, getting those Christmas cards ready that I haven't given any thought to yet!
I'm still watching for that really great deal on the computer that I'm wanting, plus Randy definitely needs one. His is almost as old as him, at least that's what I keep telling him!
We had a nice Thanksgiving with all the family, very thankful that we are still all together. I think our family was especially thankful for the way the Lord has taken care of us as far as work goes for Randy. Being a contractor with a poor economy could be a little scary, but so far, people are still building nice new homes! So I really must say, "Thank You Lord!" I'm thankful too, that, yep, I'm going to brag again, but I am really thankful that my husband is a meticulous carpenter. I KNOW that he has work because he does good work. He never has advertised, he's not listed in the yellow pages. He gets work because people see his work. I also know why he works so hard and is conscientious. He really does want to do his best. I'm glad he works like that and that I can be proud. In our little tiny town, it would be horrible if he was a slacker and had a reputation as a sub-par contractor. He'd never ever brag to anyone else, but I know the extra touches he puts into his work. So I brag LOL! Seriously, I'm glad he's like that, even though when I frost my cardamom bread, he thinks it should be in a certain pattern down the cracks of the braid.....What??? It drives me crazy when he tells me how to frost my bread. It drives him crazy when he watches me! Well, we're a pair, like salt and pepper! Of course, I'm the salt!

I need to sell......

My mother-in-law's Monarch wood cookstove! I have had it in storage and it really needs a home that loves it. She bought it intending to use it in their new house, but alas, she had too much stuff to fit in her house when the day came. So, Kristin and I had it in our little shop when we were running it, and we are still storing it. If anyone local would love this mint green beautiful, gorgeous, awesome stove with a reservoir and warming oven, please get in touch with me. No way would it fit in a flat rate shipping box, or I'd put it on ebay.
I also have another too-big-for-shipping thing. I also have a really awesome Ironrite mangle (electric ironing machine) that would be awesome in someone's really neat laundry room. I do NOT have a large laundry room or I would have it myself. I have it in storage right now. So, if you near and dear bloggers know of a good home, let me know! The stove is $700. and the mangle is $100. Actually a really good buy! The mangle photo is one I got off the internet, b/c I can't seem to find the one I have of mine, but it's just like this one and in good shape, too.

Pizza's on the way!!

Well, needless to say, I'm very tired! But it was very fun! We had a really good reception to our first ever sale at the church, so much so, that people were asking if we were doing a spring one. I felt like I did when I had my twins, which to this day is still a bit hazy, although the boys are 9 years old now! I just looked at Kristin with that dazed look; it always works on here, you know, she perks up and says, "hmmmmmmm". That's one good thing about being weird. For those who don't know, I have a 30 year old son, a 29 year old daughter, a 13 year old daughter, and the twins. (Yes, they're all mine!) Yep, if you doing enough things that are a bit odd, you get away with a LOT! Right, Kristin???

I couldn't believe how busy it was Friday, and all day long, up until probably 6. Opening, there was a line at the door, I got almost scared enough to leave the door locked and go hide in the bathroom! Kristin was still out hassling with the signs, which was NOT the plan we had in place weeks before! Lori and Linda went and did sign repair afterward. Whatever happened, they found us! But, our good old town council doesn't approve of the sign where they put it, so we apologize that it was removed grrr.

I got to meet people I only knew by phone or blogging, nice to see people actually have faces! Although I initially get scared, I forget about that after the first person smiles, then I have a blast, coming home at night feeling like Barbie at the end of Toy Story, where she complains of her cheeks hurting from smiling! I try to tell myself to not be so talkative, but alas, it just happens!

Today was another great day. It got slow at times, then back at it again. Clear up until closing, we had people there again. BTW, we still have a lot of great stuff, AND, we decided to go ahead and open one more day on Saturday. It's all set up, we'll just add some stuff, do some perking up, and maybe catch the crowd that is coming to the school for a tournament this weekend.

You know, you hear a lot these days, depressingly so, about the recession, about people not spending, etc. If we hadn't heard there was a recession, we would never have known by this weekend. I thought that was pretty encouraging, and really, I thank the Lord for blessing this sale. We don't have the final tally, but we will have at least a start on the new roof, thanks to the generosity of the people who bought pie and left donations. People were very excited to see the inside of the little church, and they just loved how it looked. I wish I had taken pictures of people's expressions when they entered. It was beautiful, and we definitely got the reaction we were hoping for!

Thanks to all for coming and supporting ALL of us; a lot of people were involved to make it happen!

Vintage Wintering Gathering Preview

Finally, I got to sit down! I just got 32 loaves of cardamom bread wrapped, and still have 32 pieces of marionberry coffee cake to wrap and some pies to bake, but it's on the downhill side now. Tomorrow morning at 10:00 is the Vintage Gathering, Kristin and Chantel are still up there finishing up, I am doing some last minute stuff here, but almost everything is in place. Sherri (Flowers N Fluff) delivered her wonderful wreaths and centerpieces today and they are getting those in place right now, and getting the kitchen ready to serve pie. It's been an awfully long week, but a lot of fun. Last night as we were finally getting ready to leave, I looked at Kristin and said, "All this work for 2 days???" There is so much stuff in there it's crazy. We did that when we had our little shop "Old Quincy Schoolhouse" down the hill from my home, but that we had open all the time. But this little Vintage Winter Gathering has put me into the holiday mood! Enjoy!!

Creeping Stealthily into "The" Bookshelf....

If you don't tell Randy, I'll share! I got into his collection and grabbed just a couple of his precious books, wanting to scan some of the awesome art in them. I tease him about his books, the mustier, the better! Oh well, I love most of the books he collects, especially the children's books. The "Lilly and Her Pony" is a tiny little book, I guess they sold for sixpence in their day, and came in series, "each with a coloured frontispiece and wood engravings." They were put out by the Religious Tract Society, were and are wonderful little books.

I got this idea that, while I was taking a break from the work for a moment this morning, I would scan a few things and share them. I also "stealthily" crept onto his dinosaur computer (good thing he likes old stuff, because I'll be getting there soon) because he's the one with the printer/scanner hooked to his computer. I had to bypass a little sign on his keyboard that says "Stay off my computer!" Can you believe that? I am sure it was meant for the kids. He just doesn't get it; he can't understand that the reason his computer is so slow is that it is sooooo old!

Well, before I have to get back to gathering more stuff, finishing some projects, cleaning up the tornado that happened last night while Kristin, Natalie, and I went up to work at the church until late last night. I felt bad, in fact, b/c Natalie was here until past 11 pm, and she had a drive to go. I hope she gets a good rest today!

I just had one scare that he caught me with his books, so I'd better finish up, get back to work on the "Gathering" (which I'll probably post a few photos of later today), I'll get them put on my post, then destroy the evidence on his computer, after transferring it to mine!

More Fun With Natalie

People who had been into the "Old Quincy Schoolhouse" when Kristin and I were running it, would have seen a lot of Natalie's (Sparrow) neat stuff. People who've been to Barnhouse would know here very well . This girl has a gift for putting things in all the right places, I'm not kidding. Plus, she's very kind-hearted. We're pretty excited that she's coming down with a couple loads of her things and spending the day & nite with us, arranging some more, fitting in some more, working on areas we haven't hit yet.
Today, I'm sending Kristin on errands to Longview, Vancouver, then on to Natalie's. That will give me a chance to get some stuff done here in anticipation for them getting back here with loads of more great stuff.
She says she's been working on Christmas, too, so we are very anxious to see what she's bringing.
I'm adding some photos here Thanks to Joe and Jermonne's blog, hope you guys don't mind) to give you an idea if you don't happen to know what I'm talking about when I mention Natalie and her "stuff".
I'm dying to take a few photos, and we probably will this evening when we get it a little more "put together". The church is looking very festive, I'll tell you that. I can't believe how much stuff you can pack into a building!
Well, before the grandkiddies get here, this grandma better get some updating done on the housework! See you Friday & Saturday!!!

It's beginning to look a lot like a Vintage Christmas...

Everywhere you go in the little church, we've got fun stuff!! Well, it's still in the "messy" stage, we're still waiting for 2 more loads from Linda and Lorie, the wonderful candles and soaps, etc from Mary, the greens from Sherri, and a couple loads of Natalie's (Vintage Sparrow) wonderful things! Oh yeah, and I guess Kristin and I actually have some stuff to get up there! I did have Randy take a load of my things up today, while we met Sara and her things this afternoon. At first I was thinking, this room is huge, are we gonna fill it up? But, we're coming right along! Randy went up today and got most of the pews out to make room for the goodies. I know the people driving by are wondering, "What in the world!" Kristin and I love playing with the stuff, and you know, you move everything at least 3 or 4 times until you like it. Then I just know when we get more stuff, it will probably move again, but, isn't that half the fun?
I had a lot of fun the other selling out of my cardamom bread. I love selling out! It's a good feeling, especially when it's customer's who've already had my bread! Return customers are good advertisers. Now, my mind is again whirling: Get stuff tagged, get stuff moved, get calls made for all the last minute stuff, get the kitchen set up, get the baking done.....
As soon as we have things settled into place, I'll try and get some photos up to give you a peek! It's going to look awesome!

Clatskanie Goes Vintage

I'm getting excited for the coming week getting ready for the Vintage Winter Gathering at the Church. Today, a couple of the ladies, Linda and Lorrie, brought lots of their fun stuff. There were a few things I know I already want. I LOVE vintage christmas stuff, especially from around the 50s. I guess that's because I was born in 1959 and some of the things I would have seen as a child would have been from the 50s or earlier. Especially at Grandma's house.

Well, I'm dying for it all to get there and start getting it put out. Monday a bunch more is coming, which is good b/c as I type, my cardamom bread is cooling to take to a Christmas bazaar thing in Longview (Christmas at the Canterbury if you're interested) I thought I'd get on the computer and update my blog, then get some things to work on while I'm at the Canterbury tomorrow. My coffee cakes are pretty much ready to go. The space they gave me is pretty small, so we're not hauling a lot of stuff, pretty much just baked, but I'll get to take flyers for the "Gathering" .....AND......

Sherri's sale!! I hope this little flyer of hers comes through OK, but I wanted to share. The more the merrier, right? Well, Sherri is going to have a lot of her stuff (like her greenery!!) at the Gathering, but she is also getting in the Vintage theme down at her own shop in Clatskanie, "Flowers n Fluff". She's having the same hours as us, November 22st 10-7, and Saturday 10-4. She's also giving a 10% discount STOREWIDE!! So, be sure to head down there, too. She's got some great things you are sure to love. If you haven't been there, it's right on Hwy 30 in Clatskanie. Plus, she's got some great espresso!

I'm also posting the cutest little Christmas tag (couldn't figure out how to crop the tag corners, sorrry) for you to use however you'd like. I just thought it was soooo cute, and I had to share it. I love the little Dennison's reinforcement on it (this is actually a real tag that I scanned). So, enjoy!!

Working on plans for Vintage Winter Gathering

I'm lost in a cloud, well what's new? My mind is jumbled right now with ideas, plans, goals, etc., for the Vintage Winter Gathering. There are a lot of details to work out. We went over yesterday to paint the tops of the tables in the kitchen. They had always been covered with plastic tableclothes, and we were needing to get a coat of "something" on them b/f the kids spilled cocoa on them during church, but now it's even more of a push, so that people can sit at them and have their coffee and pie. I thought about leaving them wood and just varnishing them, but traditionally, they would have been a white-ish color anyway, so that's what I'm going with. I have a list of honey-dos for Randy so that we can have displays set up the way we want. Things are already coming in and probably more in the next few days.
I'm working on signs for the show; I want that out of the way wayyyyy ahead of time. We're about 3 1/2 miles out of town, so we need to make sure we have the path cleared! I believe Sherri (Flowers & Fluff) is going to have some of her greens done on Tuesday so that we can see what to expect, hopefully I can give you a peek. I am so anxious to see the church all glittered up for Christmas! I know a lot of people in our own community have never even been in the church building, so it will be fun to be hosts!
What else? There's tons on my mind, I've just lost it LOL. I'm very excited to see the "Oregon Historian" come out this month. Tracy Laine, the editor for the Historian (great job BTW Tracy!), is doing a write up on the old building. I guess I hadn't realized it but the little building is the oldest church in our area!! She was very gracious to write it up and to "advertise" the show for us at the same time. Guess that's the break I get for being her old babysitter??? What, we're not THAT far apart in age, but I guess she did have a younger sister, too. Anyway, it was very nice of her to do this for me! Be SURE to get the paper, I think she has it all over the place, including the Pearl District.
Well, I'll have more news as it comes! -I feel like a reporter!

A Gift to Brighten Your Day!

This is a month that we pause and give thanks to God for all that He has done for us! At least that is how I, among countless others, look at the month of November. I've thought a lot about the days we are living in and more than ever, I'm thankful for the hope we have in Him!

On a lighter, more whimsical note, I thought I'd give some free graphics from some out-of-print books I have. I just love these old style graphics, and if you love them, too, feel free to copy them and use them in your projects. I've been grrrrr-ing all morning and last night, too, over my husbands dinosaur computer. We bought a new hp scanner that is hooked to his computer, and last night I needed to scan a photo of our old church to send to the Oregon Historian. Do you think I could do something so simple as to scan it and send it to my computer, or even go on my computer and get the file from his??? NO, it wasn't just a quick little project. Same with these graphics. I'm voting for a new computer for Randy, and while we're at it, I'd like a new laptop!
OK, I'll quit griping, there are worse things in life! Enjoy!!!