Breaking Up is Hard to Do....

LOL, bet you think my husband and I split, right?? Wrong!! Never!! I just love music and since I'm a spacey kind of person, I often match up what's in my head to a title of a song. Could be kinda scary with the variety of songs there are!
Well, when I say "breaking up", I'm talking about a couple things. A lot of people I blog with are kinda junky. We love junk, we hunt for junk, we find great junk, and we sell great junk, right? But....I know I'm not the only one who finds something that was SUPPOSED to be resale and it comes in the house, and it likes it there, and it doesn't want to leave. I do that way too often! I've got stuff I've been going to list on Etsy, and we all know internet listing takes time, and things just pile up. It's just hard some times to break up with our junk!!
I went to a sale last weekend, didn't find anything to buy, of course I got there late, because I was actually at a neighborhood one finding some great things. Can't be everywhere at the same time. Besides, my daughter and I dropped hers and my young children off at Vacation Bible School, we rushed across the ferry to Puget Island's neighborhood sale, rushed around as fast as we could to as many sales as we could hit and still get back to catch the ferry to pick the kids up by noon. Fun day. Well, the last sale, after picking up the kids, where I "thought" I didn't see anything I needed, I actually did. I found a whole box full of old patterns!! What a blast I had looking through all of those. I was actually thinking "I'm keeping this one, and this one, and this one....." , but NO I can't keep doing that. We have to break up, and I just decided to list them on Etsy all in one listing. We'll see how that works. Some are in rough condition, others in nice condition. There are some really cute ones that my granddaughter would grow into.....
The other thing I was thinking about "breaking up", was saying how much I hate to say "goodbye". I was looking at my blog favorites list, and then my following list, and it keeps getting bigger. But you know, I find a blog I love, and can't seem to tear myself away and click the but X in the upper right hand corner, never to see these people again lol. So, I'm really glad they have the "follow" button! I don't have to say goodbye!!
I have a young son who is just like that. Kinda gets emotional if you throw something away. He just gets attached easily. He'll be the romantic. His dad's that way too. Problem is, it makes for a pack rat personality. You hoard friends, you hoard stuff, you hoard memories. He hoards parts! He took my old dryer apart and has a box filled with switches and stuff he's planning to use to make a space ship! Hmmm. Maybe his spaceship will run better than my dryer did.

Summertime, and the Wallowas

We got away last week to the beautiful Wallowas for a little break. Our family had such a good time and much needed rest, if you call driving 1,000 + miles a "rest". We didn't make it in time to go on the Tram the first day; missed it by about 20 minutes. The next couple days we didn't get to go because it was drizzly and cloudy on and off and we figured it wouldn't be clear enough to make it worthwhile. BUT, Randy took us up into the hills above Imnaha to show us where he and his brother hunt every fall. What beautiful land! I'm one to appreciate the scenery in almost any place I go. (The only place I've had trouble was when he'd take me to the Tri-Cities, Washington and he'd say, "You can see forever" and I'd say "See what?") I guess I don't have a respectful appreciation for endless desert-y type scenery, huh? But the Wallowa Lake, Joseph, Enterprise area, the hill country, it is gorgeous! 'Course I'm sure it doesn't always stay green, but it was a great time for me to see it.
I had gotten online and rented a cabin for us, back when my MIL was so sick, and I told him "We need a break, can we get a cabin?" When we first pulled up to "Huckleberry Meadow", I thought, "Oh now, what have I done? Well, the price was very cheap, so what do you want, but it did have some great vintage stuff in it I wish I could have fit into my duffle bag! Next time, I want to have my own travel trailer, because I kind of like my "own" dirt, AND it takes me a good 3 nights in a place before I'm so exhausted I fall sound asleep. But my family liked the cabin, so that was good. The deer come right up to you! We didn't see a sign or anything telling us not to domesticate them, until we had already let the kids pet them. Seth says the antlers are fuzzy feeling. He asked if he could ride it! That's my kids for you!
The boys and Randy took many rides on the gocarts, which was one of their highlights. It was nice to get to watch the boys trying to beat their dad. The first day I had one boy who didn't know there was a break and the other must not have known there was a gas pedal, but the next day they had it down and had a good race.
The second day when we took off for Imnaha, it was drizzly, but it turned out to be a great day for a nice long ride in the beautiful mountains. We stopped first at the Imnaha store, I guess it must be the original dollar store, because the ceiling is covered with $1. bills! Very rustic place, and they definitely know you're an outsider when you walk in. And the post office would be a great career for someone who doesn't want to sort a whole lot of mail. I thought it was just really cute.
When Randy took us up to where he hunts, the ride topped my long, winding road ride I wrote about in my last post. Another 1 laner for stretches at a time, with a huge and I'm talking HUGE canyon for anyone who can't manage to stay on the road. It was creepy at times, but I wish I could describe how wonderful the view was! I'm sure the pictures won't do it justice, but the rolling hills, had different shades of light and dark, hill after hill, and I was just amazed at what beauty God has created! We saw a couple herds of elk, I wanted to see a bear, but oh well, I've always wanted to meet up with a bear while I'm in a vehicle of course. I've only seen a bear at the zoo.
I could go on and on about what a gorgeous place this is, and you really must go if you ever get the chance. The flat lands below in Joseph and Enterprise and surrounding towns have some picturesque farmland that I took way too many pictures of too. I don't know how many pictures of barns I took, but you know, I've got barns on my mind, because I want that barn with the rec room, the studio, the game room, the guest room, and a little place off on the side for the horses. So I was definitely on the lookout for the barn of my dreams.
Well, I told the kids before I left that the truck does know to stop for garage sales and we did do a bit of that. I found a nice hutch that had some amber glass that I got home and promptly took the glass out of, I think chicken wire, what do you think? And although I grew up hearing my mom mention many times how awful it is that people take beautiful wood furniture and paint over it, which has given me an appreciation for natural wood color, the hutch had to be painted. I got a gallon of butter yellow type paint from Walmart half price b/c it was someone else's mistake, but I liked the color and the price. I've been painting it all week, along with a vanity that I got at a different sale a couple weeks ago. I'll try to get pictures when I get them done. They'll probably go in a sale, they won't fit in my house, but the project has been a lot of fun.
We stopped at this really funky shop and met a really nice lady that we had some great conversation with. The place was called JingleBob Vintiques, and if you are ever in Enterprise, be sure to stop in and say hi to Carla. It turns out she knows the editor of our little local newspaper, grew up with her, and it seemed funny that she would have even heard of Clatskanie! Her shop was just a great fix for junking, looking at antiques, finding all sorts of quirky things. We bought an whole box of greeting cards (thanks Carla for such a great deal!) that were done by the same artist out of her estate. There were many prototypes in the box and we've had a blast just looking through them. I "most of the time" look for things that I'll resale eventually, when I get around to it, but these, I'm not sure I'll be able to part with. At least it would take an awfully long time for them to all go anyway, there were so many of them. Then, she pulled out a box of Valentines. I'm kind of a sucker for Valentines, and Randy does spoil me sometimes, so guess what? I got my Valentines early for next year. That is another fun box I'm enjoying.
She had a lot of the neat shabby, chippy stuff, just a ton of stuff. I could have taken a ton of pictures at her place, but we'd kept her from what she'd been working on quite long, and we thought we'd better get back to the cabin.
There was another interesting place in Joseph, Sandy's, but we had already used up our time we allotted for junking and didn't get a chance to go in there.
In the afternoon, we were getting ready to take the kids trout fishing at Wallowa Lake, but the man at the sporting goods store told my husband of a different hole, so we made another trek into the woods, and I'm telling you it was fantastic! The lake wasn't really big, but the trout were jumping all over the place. You just needed to take the frying pan out there and they'd probably jump into it. Randy kept having the kids throw their fish back, and I'm talking many fish. Then he says, "OK, time to go!" Of course they starte whining, saying they thought they were taking fish home to cook. So, they just about broke his arm mmhmm, and they fished some more. They brought 10 trout back to the cabin, we stopped and got some red potatoes, and oh what a feast we had. I wasn't even sure if I liked trout, it had been so long, but trout are very likeable!
All in all, we had a great time, and the best part, was that the kids just kept saying, "Thank you, Mom and Dad for bringing us here!" "This was the best trip", stuff like that. We looked at each other and laughed and said to ourselves, we either have very grateful kids, or we don't get out much! I personally think we have grateful kids, for the most part.

The Long and Winding Road.....

The long and winding road, that leads to.. then end of Rose Valley! I just have to share about my garage sale excursion the week before last. Our of Longview, in the Rose Valley area, they were having a huge neighborhood sale. Who doesn't love driving to all those homes as fast as you can, hoping to find something wonderful (which I did), before it was gone? And I love the Rose Valley area. It is a beautiful drive. So, even if I didn't find something I "needed", I wanted to go for the ride.
Well, what a ride I took! Everyone kept telling me, as I went farther up the road, "There are sales all the way to end!" Well, I'm gullible/stupid lol, and I thought they meant LITERALLY, to the end. The road began to narrow, with a "road narrows" sign, then it narrowed again, another sign. Would that be a clue to you? Well, I kept going, wondering all the time, as the road turned into a one laner, how would I ever get by someone coming the other way? Even that didn't disuade me!

And I'm not talking just a one lane
road! What I'm saying is, on the left side, was a rock bank with huge bolders, and evidence that some of the bolders have ocassionally come loose. On the other side of the road, the pavement is giving way, kinda crumbly you know? And there are drop offs to the river flowing along it. I first thought of my sister. She's the one who lent me her underwear in 2nd grade when I had forgotten mine. She's also the one who is deathly afraid of heights. She wouldn't go up and escalator. She won't go over overpasses in Portland. She won't drive to Bend in either direction. (She probably closes her eyes when her husband drives!) Well, I was thinking of her as I began to have a fear come over me. I had driven miles, had seen no one, had no idea where this road was going, and had no idea if I was going to have to back down this road at some point.
My dad was a truck driver, though, and he taught me to drive going backwards with my mirrors, before I got to drive forwards. So, the persistant thought that maybe I wasn't crazy ruled the side of me that thought maybe fear was a good thing in some cases. Eventually, I couldn't believe it, but some people actually lived up there! I should have done the right thing right then and turned around while I had the chance, but I thought "Maybe something wonderful is at the end!" I passed 2 more houses!
There were 2 ladies walking along the road, and my first question was, "Are there any garage sales up here?" They looked at me like I was scatterbrained, which I have been told I am. Smiles help in this situation, but I always have this thought that even really crazy kooks smile, some more than regular people. Oh well, smiling is a habit with me and although I didn't receive one of those smiles back, I got my info. NO, there is no garage sale up here! My second question, was, "How do you get out of here in a storm?" Obviously, the river must flood up there, the way the road was crumbling. Obviously, with as wooded as it was, trees have to be falling in a wind storm. It was scary enough on a sunny day! They told me the only other way to evacuate was if Weyerhauser opened it's logging road gates up ahead!
Well, I don't know about you, but I love that there are country roads. I often drive to my small town with only one stoplight, 3 miles away, going the "scenic route". Or if I go to my daughter's up the road about 5 miles, I will go all the way around the long way, just because I love to ride the country roads, see the sites, watch for wild animals. My motto is, if the car's running good, and there's gas in the tank, it doesn't matter if you get lost, you just enjoy the ride.
The next day, I told my husband and kids, "I have a ride I want to take you on!!" So, we packed up the kids and got in his truck and headed for the hills. We got not too far down the road, and my husband says, "You seriously didn't drive up here, did you?" Well, ...yes. We got a little farther, and he's saying, "Did you even think how you would turn around????" A little farther, and he's asking, "Did you stop to think NO ONE knew where you were?" Well...no.
The lucky thing for me, was, he loved the scenery, too. We got farther up, clear to the gate at the end of the county road, we got out, and he and the kids went down to the river and played around. He thought it looked like a great fishing hole.
So the moral to my story, "When you go garage saleing, ENJOY THE RIDE!!!"

Funky Junk, I wanna goooooo!

Well, I did miss the Farm Chicks sale last weekend, and I'm still pouting about that. I've heard my husband talking with my boys about bombers showing in Portland, and I haven't dropped my own BOMB yet lol. The Funky Junk Sisters are having their sale this weekend and I want to go pretty awfully bad! Plus it was my 50th birthday this week, and I'm still thinking I deserve everything I want this week, right? Well, mostly I got teased! But my mom put my pic in the local paper (just glad she didn't put either my 5th grade one, or my current one lol. Plus, she wrote "to our Sue" on it, and most people know me as Karen, unless they're one of my one million relative around here. I had to marry an out-of-towner just to make sure we weren't related lol.
Anyway, doesn't this just look like a ton of fun???? I think it would be a wonderful day for a ride to Puyallup!

In a drizzle, projects get finished!

Finally! Since it's a drizzly day I thought I'd quit putting off my neglected Etsy shop and get some things done! I've spent so much time outdoors, which is where I really love to be, but now it's time to get some indoor stuff done.
How do you like my needlefelted robin? Hmmmm, is my heart still outdoors? Well, he was made by my own little 'ole fingers and I don't believe I poked myself even once making him. I love his nest, on the old bed spring.
And I've sold the rabbits I've had in my Etsy shop, so while I was caring for Grandma, I was able to work on a couple of those and got this one finished up and listed! I'm on a roll!
I may even work on those chair pads for my porch furniture, who knows???
It's probably a good thing it's drizzly out today. Just last night, Randy and I were discussing whether we should be watering the lawn this summer. I said NO, our water bill is more than doubling b/c our community water source is putting in a new well, as we as shareholders get to pay for it. I don't think I want to pay double to keep the grass green, but when he says, "we'll see...", well, I can already "see" what that means! I'm not saying I don't just love green grass, and it does feel softer on your feet on your way to and from the pool. So, anyway, this dreizzle will be a relief to our lawn, since we've had such gorgeous Oregon weather for awhile now.
Well, better get back to my projects!

Old People Need Young People

We went to see UP Sunday with the kids. I'm one of those odd people who have children 10 and 14, 30 and 31. So, since I have 4 grandkids, it's sometimes hard to not be thinking, "I should have brought the grandkids". But, for sure, if you're like me and have all ages of grandkids and kids (yes weird, and yes, my house won't be empty probably until I'm at least 62 lol), or you're a normal mom lol and have small kids, or a normal grandma, or if you have no child FIND ONE! This is a very poignant movie, at least it was to me. It made me appreciate and do my usual spacing-out over life, memories, plans we make, dreams..... It made me cry. I'm not sure if Randy cried, but I do know that since he's getting soooooo old, he is more emotional, so I'll bet he cried. Besides, he's pretty sentimental, kinda like me, adds an emotion on to the oddest things.

I saw myself in the man's wife, that is for sure! Hey, I saw my husband in the OLD MAN lol. It's funny how oposites attract, except that I thought for sure when I married my husband we were exactly alike. I mean, he laughed when I laughed, which was all the time. He was always smiling, I've been told I do that a lot. He was an airhead like me, right???? No, after about a year, I realized I married a smart man (never have figured out why an intellectual person who is quiet marries a fruitcake, but hey, it works for me!) He doesn't always smile, in fact sometimes I tell him he intimidates people (they tell me that!) He sometimes looks mad, but he's "thinking". If you look at us, you'd definitely think I never think ;)

The little boy in this movie was great. You want to gather his badges and bring him home. But I have one of these kinds of boys already! Everyone needs one.

We almost never go to the movies. We don't even have TV, I've mentioned before. But this movie is one you should go to with someone!!