Brrr. For Oregon, it's a chilly morning! It's funny that people often think all it does in Oregon is rain.   Yes, we do get quite a bit of rain, but it's not as bad as you might thing.  We've had an awesome summer, and a beautiful fall so far. I'm especially glad for lack of rain in the fall, b/c of the huge maple tree we have in our front yard. In the summer, the tree is a cool place to sit in the shade, or even to get out of a drizzle, it is that big. We have a bench swing, and tree swing, and an outdoor fireplace under it, so we have cozy evenings or warmth and fun.
But in the fall! I wonder how many leaves a tree actually has on it, but this one is crazy! We have used a blower (I wish we had had a blower YEARS ago, they work so great for leaves) countless times and added the leaves to the garden, like every year. The next day, it looks like we never did it! Today we are moving another pile to the garden, and I'd bet they would fill a dump truck, no kidding! And that won't be all! HOWEVER, the leaves are dry! With not a lot of rain, we've been able to do a lot of fall cleanup without the wetness, and that makes it a lot more fun!
I mentioned before the room my husband made me for a studio for my Etsy treasures?  I am so enjoying this room! It's like I'm out in the yard, right beside that beautiful maple tree. The front is all glass, so it's nice and bright, and at night, it is beautiful to look outside.  My son gave me a pretty sweet recliner, and I've been making a spot so that I can sit there and read, or, if I get my wish, watch snowflakes fall this winter. I live a very simple life, and I can tell you, I am so thankful for my quiet, simple life, and for my home, that is nothing grand, but to me, it is my refuge. (The best compliment I ever get when someone comes to my home is that they are "so comfortable" in my home.  I can't think of a better comment from a visitor!)
Well, with fall, and chilly mornings, I've been working a lot on my Etsy shop, getting it filled to the brim. With making soups on chilly days, with getting my kids through school, with spending time with grandkids. With going to my parents to watch the Seahawks, since we don't have TV here.
I saw a comment on a friend's Facebook page, wondering if she was the only one who didn't have a life that was all roses. It made me think about how much my years have seen. No, I have had HORRIBLE days. I've had really hard YEARS in fact, and lots of painful memories of things that are in the past. But I've come to see, you hang on for the ride. You go through what God has for you to go through, and you trust Him to get you to the finish. The finish is worth it all!  Run the race! Go for the prize! 

Our Latest Recycle Project

We've had a crazy amount of rain here in the Pacific Northwest this month.  It's made it a little difficult for my husband to work at the projects he was supposed to be doing on other people's houses, b/c they needed to be done on drier days, so...yep, I got to have him home, and working on some projects for our house! Usually, it never fails, no work, no money, but we have time. When we have the work and money, we don't have the time. But he's done some pretty creative recycle projects that really didn't cost us much.
My twin sons were wanting their own rooms. I had the extra room filled with all my Etsy junk treasures, and my sewing stuff, my crafting stuff, and somehow it even had stuff in there that my husband would put in there b/c he didn't know where else to put it. In other words, it was a mess. But with selling vintage on Etsy, you need space to keep the stuff, space to photograph the stuff, and space to work with it and actually wrap and mail it off. So, here's one of my boys begging for a room, and what's a mom to do??  Well, I asked my husband if our smaller covered back porch with the hot tub on it would be able to be made into a work room for me. He was actually really motivated with this honey-do, and yes, he made me an amazing studio to work in. I love being outside, and the room he made me is the next best thing to being outdoors.
He had made a rather rare mistake with ordering a lady's windows a year ago. She had wanted grid windows at first, then changed her mind, and he forgot to change the order. It could have been a $2,000 mistake, but the window company gave him a tool to use to change out the glass and he was able to do it for only a $600. loss. Thus, we ended up owning many windows and a slider that had no frames. Well, my tricky sweetheart put the windows in my new studio, the old fashioned way, like they did in days past. And I have to say, I am just loving my little hideaway! These windows of course, don't open, but he did have an old 1950s push out window from another remodel job that works well for the breeze. I have to say, I'm really pleased with it, AND we were able to use up the glass we already had. My sons are happy to have their own rooms, and all is well.  It's amazing the things you can do with recycled stuff!   And you can bet I remember to tell my husband how much I love and am thankful for the way he spoils me!  (I added some photos, but excuse the messes.)

And since I'm on the recycle subject....I had been BEGGING for a long time for my husband to put soffitting on my front porch. When I am sitting in my chair in the mornings visiting with him, and he's telling me about what's on his mind, my A.D.D. takes over, and I start wandering off the conversation, and invariably, I'd start staring at the ugle porch roof that I could see from my chair. It just drove me crazy! Well, he had some vinyl siding that came from another remodel he'd done, and we were going to use it for a hay barn eventually.  We didn't know if this would work, but he went out and got a few pieces and tacked it up to see, and YES!! The vinyl siding has now been recycled into the ceiling of my porch, nice and clean and grey colored. It brightened up my porch a lot! We were pretty excited to see that it worked, and it cost....NOTHING! I'm loving it!  Hope this inspires you to make use of what you have!

Before, see the difference it's making?

Ceiling finished! Am I loving it? YES!!