A Valentiine Gift for You

I'm so slow lately, I've

been meaning to copy some of my favorite Valentines to share with you. Here are a few from my collection. My personal favorite Valentines are from around the 50s and 60s. I just love the rounded faces of those. A lot of these are quite a bit older/not sure how old, but more of a Victorian era. The verses are quite poetic, kind of a culture shock compared to nowadays. Feel free to use these in your Valentine projects. I have a lot more that are mounted on cardstock that go on my old window hanging in my dining room, but I didn't get those scanned.

Valentine's Day has always been very special to me. It brings the kid out in me more than the sweetheart thing, although I do have very a "very fond affection for my dear love". I think part of it is I love the red color, the cheerfulness of a Valentine. I love the old paper doilies, too, although I'm not a real prissy Victorian type. It just brings me back to the days when I was in grade school and we traded Valentine's with our classmates. We would work really hard on huge envelopes that were attached to our desks on Valentines Day. Then, party day, we would all go around and put Valentines in each others envelopes. It would have been unheard of to miss someone, though I do admit to wearing out a few, reading them over and over, pretending that the boy really meant what he said in my Valentine. I never stopped to think that he probably gave all the girls the same Valentine! And yes, I always did save my favorite for my favorite boy. My mother was always my room mother! She and one or two other moms came and brought games and cakes and candies, and oh what fun we had. As I remember, my mom went to nearly every field trip I ever went on! I was always proud that she took the time to be our room mother. (In fact, before I was in school, there were some classes who couldn't get volunteers, and my mom was THEIR room mother!)
Do you watch "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown"? I get kinda sick feeling when poor Charlie Brown doesn't get a Valentine. What kind of class room would have a party and let one kid get left out? It just makes me mad. But there is a lesson in it. There are people in our lives who are not the prettiest, not the smartest, not the most popular. Maybe other people think they're weird. Maybe THEY think they're weird! Everyone should have a Valentine, right?
I actually learned this lesson in second grade. There was a girl in our class who smelled. She didn't have cute clothes (I wasn't always crazy about my own home-made clothes or Tony home perm my mom put me in, either). I was never what you'd call "mean", but I was friends with some girls who were not really very nice. I learned a trick from them, and to my shame, I followed along. This girl would bring these star-shaped chocolate candies to school, and us "other" girls told her she had to give us some or we wouldn't play with her. I still feel bad for doing that. As long as I live, I will always remember having done this, and all my life I've made it a rule not to be that kind of person ever again. I had my share of being made fun of because of my last name. I remember being yelled by the kids on my schoolbus because I always forgot where I was and started singing when the motor would run (I still do that LOL) I know how it is to be teased, but I think it's more shameful to be one who would be so mean. My confession, LOL.

So, in an effort to make sure everyone gets a Valentine, here's my Valentine to YOU!!!!

Cleaning For Spring

No, not the in-home kind this time, but the outdoor kind. It's way past time to have my greenhouse cleaned out, but today Chantel and I went out and got all the pots stacked and sorted, the shelves swept, just general housecleaning, and NOW I'm anxious to get seeds in the ground. I had to go to town today, so got some heirloom tomato seeds and I already have some others to get into the dirt.
Here in Oregon, we've had the weirdest weather. A few weeks ago, we had record snows, then ice, then a quick thaw, and some people got flooded, and now we've been having beautiful sunny days! The whole family was out taking advantage of it today.
I didn't spend the ENTIRE day doing this though. I had to go to town to get some groceries, and happened to check craigslist for sales. I'm having withdrawals from garage and estate sales and today I did find one estate sale. One measly sale, but I found some cool things. I found some neat German maps, a Scrabble game that uses wooden dice, kinda neat, and a few other things. I love the poodle cards, and those high bidder cards are pretty neat, too. Plus, it was half price day, so that was a little extra fun. I can see beautiful things being made out of them all! Sorry the pictures didn't come out very good.

I've been doing my baking for the lady down at "Quincy Store" down the road, not a lot, but just enough to be fun and not a job. I like it. I'm needing very much to work on my Etsy shop and get some things listed. I started another embroidered rabbit which is a fun project, and my other two sold already. What else?? We're plugging away at school of course. Been spending some time visiting with my MIL, as she's not doing real well. I've got to get the whole tamale thing going so I can get the canning class going. Oh yeah, last week, the kids and I are Kristin went to a friends for getting together to do crafts, etc. I was so surprised at the work she put into the day she had planned. I never did get my handwork out! She had gone to a lot of work to make the day fun, she had us enter our names, etc, into her address book, she had some notecards with packets of seed inside. The seed packets had stickers on them and we put our names on them. Later, she had a drawing and gave out prizes! They are vegetarian, and had some really good veggie trays set out all pretty. She even made my kids a frog made out of a pickle!
I told her I felt mesmerized, she put so much work into all it. Do you get like that when someone does something really special? I feel kind of in a daze, just enjoying it all. Kinda like if I was having a message LOL. I know, I'm weird, but I love to appreciate things like that. We all sat around drooling over seed catalogs, too, which was a BIG push for me to get that greenhouse going. Last year, I started my tomatoes in February, and I told myself to start a month earlier this year.
I've been trying to budget, like in having FUN doing a good budjet, getting by on less, etc. I am seriously thinking of going to THIS Frugal Living class this week. I wouldn't ever get "really" serious about coupons, but saving a few dollars is nice. I'd like to hear the tips and tricks of serious budgeteers. Tis the season, right?
What else have I been up to? Well, I did reformat my old lap top for my kids, couldn't find my original operating system disk, ended up using a Millenium disk and upgrading with the XP, and basically, finally got it running, but now am missing some drivers, etc. So of course they're bugging me about that, but it sure is faster now! I just can't for some reason get adobe flash installed and some other things. Well, that's for a day when I have a clear head!
Hope everyone has had a great start for the year! I've got big plans and I'm sure you all do, too!

Tamales, Tamales, Tamales

I'm dreaming tonight about....tamales! Actually, I've been thinking about this for months, then we had the Vintage Winter Gathering to work on, then I had all the baking, and of course Christmas to prepare for...and now, it's almost New Years!! And in this next new year, I have some projects in my head dying to be a reality!
My first project? Tamales of course! I want to invite some friends from church, some friends not from my church, some people who maybe don't even know how to cook- to learn to make tamales together! I was telling Natalie, my friend who I just found out is also a tamale-maker, about what I want to do, and she said she'd teach us!

Tamales remind me of the time we went down to Baja to work in a Christian orphanage for a month (Foundation For His Ministry). This was a wonderful experience for our family! No vacation could have compared, and I've always wanted to go back and do this, which is actually a goal of ours. But tamales....I remember driving into Encinada with my kids and laughing b/c there were so MANY tamales shacks along the road. I mean, how do you decide where to eat?? There must be a code about this or something.

I've always wanted to make tamales, and I'm going to learn together with friends. Should be a great time. Some other goals I have for this next year like the tamale-making day are:
1. Kristin and I want to teach people to can for their families. I'm surprised how many people don't know how to do this, but you can save a LOT of money, and provide some food that you know is good for them because you know what is in it. I don't understand why there aren't more programs out there to teach women about nutrition, preserving food, cooking, gardening???? I really think personally that things are going to get a little tough for a lot of people, and I'd like to help in this small way.
I guess I just listed some of the other things I want to work on! I don't have a lot of time, but I do have a little time to share what I can share, find someone else who can share their knowledge on things and is willing to help. So, now you know why I'm dreaming of tamales! It will beone of the first things on my list of things to accomplish this year.

So Natalie, I'm going to be in touch soon, to plan a day for this!!

And So This is Christmas.....

I've enjoyed this rushed, busy holiday season! I've had a very busy winter of baking, just this Sunday I baked 56 loaves of bread (in a rush to try and make sure the power didn't go out)! My hands feel like they always do this time of year, as if I were working in cement. Pretty dry on the hands, and no, I don't actually knead this bread by hand, I have my wonderful Bosch mixer.

This year, with all the business, I've made a real concerted effort to make sure to enjoy the days. There are a lot of people hurting, a lot of friends have people who have been sick or dying, people with lots less hours on their paychecks, or no paychecks at all. These are in some ways uncertain days; no one really knows what tomorrow will bring. But have we ever? I've made it a priority to try to enjoy the days we are in, to be thankful for what we have, to really experience all that it going on in our lives. There is not one thing that comes our way that God is surprised by, and He is the One who gives us all we have, and gives us strength to pass the tests that we have in our lives.

So many people celebrate Christmas in different ways, I know that. But for our family, I am always awed by the story of Christmas, the Virgin birth, the Messiah born to bring us life. It's kind of neat to me that we celebrate at the end of one year and the beginning of another, as a new beginning. I love that we celebrate his death and resurrection a few months later. We can't do without either. They hinge on each other.

The weather we are having here in Oregon is just crazy. I know across the nation we are all having some unusually cold weather. I can only remember one winter in my life here that we had so much snow. I love the snow; I think it slows life down a little. I didn't get everything done, as far as shopping goes, but who cares? I didn't get a lot of things done, barely got my Christmas cards out this year, the decorating didn't even get totally done the way I wanted. I laugh thinking that the snowman heads that Natalie told me how to make, and Ethan and I worked on, are stuck out in my car in a box. I have so much snow on the car I haven't made the effort to get them out of the car! Randy's had to drive me anywhere I've gone.

We went to finish some things up in Longview today. It was so crazy with people everywhere. I went into the entrance to Fred Meyer and as a man was coming out he said, "Good Luck!" I wondered what he meant, until I looked up and saw the lines of people at the checkstands. At first I thought, oh well, so I have to wait in line, then I thought, "What in the world is so importand that I have to be here doing this?" The day was at it's end and I knew the trip home was going to be dangerous. The Rainier hill was pretty scary coming up and Randy had taken off his chains earlier. I was glad to get back to our own home town of Clatskanie! I was very surprised to see how empty the store was. Not empty of people, but of food! No milk on the shelves, not a potatoe in the place. They haven't got their frieght in all week I guess. I had Randy call our little Quincy Story out in our little neighborhood, and see if they had milk. Sure enough, Debbie came through! Kinda fitting, since we seem to be having a very simple, old fashioned Christmas, just enjoying the holiday. Randy isn't even going to work this week, since the house he's finishing has 2 feet of snow on a very steep drive. So, this too, is adding to our "Christmas to Remember". It's all good. The snow's just an added gift, a very beautiful gift, too. I know it's treacherous, I know the kids are getting housebound away from all their friends. It will be memories for another time we're making, so let's make them good ones.

Keep safe and healthy and have a wonderful Christmas celebration. It's a Wonderful Life!

When do the days slow down?

Got your shopping all done? Not me! I have hardly started! Have someone in mind who would just love one of these handmade boats? I'm putting in a plug for our friend, Jeff, who crafts these old workboats and paints them in a way that they are really durable. Kristin and I used to sell these for Jeff when we were doing our little shop and they make wonderful toys that really do float. Men loved them, too, to put in their windows. Lots of work for a really nice gift! If you are interested, here's their Etsy shop. His sister, Jennifer, makes wonderful fairy things, too! They have no idea I'm telling you about them, but if you do get one, please tell them I sent you! They're really nice people!


I'll bet there are thousands of posts with the titles "Where do the days go?", "Time is Flying", "I'm too Busy". It seems like that's too often one of my first thoughts! Stuff just happens all the time! My kids had started to decorate for me while I was baking bread one day, I didn't really say much, but the lights they hung were driving me a little crazy. Luckily, yesterday, my daughter Chantel mentioned she didn't like it, either, so YES!, we took them down. I really liked the idea in the Martha Stewart magazine where they hung a ribbon garland and put Christmas cards on it with clothespins that were trimmed with pretty Christmas paper. Probably sounds weird if you haven't seen it, but it's pretty cute. Actually, there were a lot of neat ideas in there MS this month.

I feel like I haven't exactly recuperated from the Vintage Gathering yet! I did get to get that laptop, though. That's another story. I got it after the salespitch the guy in the store gave me, he told me that I could download some drivers off the internet and then send the new computer back to XP version. Wrong! UNLESS, I'm a guru, I guess I'll be learning vista, which, so far, I'm not really very impressed with. I've spent the last few days trying to get the PC, the older laptop, and the new one networked. Long story with a long ending, one of those tear jerkers, I'm not kidding!

I'm pretty impressed with Laurie's cookie exchange! It all looks so pretty, so restful and relaxed; my idea of a neat holiday fun thing to do. Chantel and I did go to a girls function put on by Christian Women's Club in our town last Saturday. It was in the evening, and I couldn't get my camera set (due to system failure on the part of my left or right brain, can't remember which) (I guess one half of my brain wasn't being creative, the other half wasn't remembering LOL) It was held at "The Castle", which is owned by the Senior Citizens. It was all decked out for Christmas, they had some really neat antiques, I love the architecture of the building, too. That was another restful thing to do with my daughter and our friends.

Last Friday I found a bazaar I will never want to do again! It was a three hour sale, at 5-8, at the title company building in Longview. They basically gave over all the desks to use to put our wares on, no way could you put together much of a display. It wouldn't have been worth the trouble anyway, b/c across the room was a beer and wine tasting table, and everyone was turning in their tickets for their free glass of wine the title company sent them. It was for a good cause, I think it was ACS, but..... I'm not kidding, NO ONE was walking around looking at anything. They were all standing in clusters talking business, drinking, etc. It got so loud, which was actually good, b/c Kristin and I were talking and laughing about the whole thing in complete freedom of speech! Finally, I called my gorgeous son and told him, hey, you owe me a favor! You come over here and sit with Krisitn and I, and we'll be able to get all the women to come over and buy our stuff! He lives over there, so it wasn't like I was expecting too much, right? The more I thought about, the more I laughed, telling Kristin her I could make bets if we could get more attention. Well, maybe it was a corrupt thought....he wouldn't do it anyway, not even for his mama!

Tonite we (all five of my kids, Randy and I, the four grandkids, and two friends of the family), went to "Journey to Bethlehem" in Longview. There were so many people, the place was packed. If you've never been to it, and you live anywhere near, it is playing through Thursday at the 7th Day Adventist Church. They have acres of land where they set up a huge scene depicting the flight to Bethlehem, complete with tents, wonderful costumes, city-life with people selling their wares, Roman soldiers, real animals, campfires, etc. They make it really serious, my grandsons were stepping back away from soldiers, they were pretty believeable for them. And of course, there was an angel on a hillside telling the Good News and Mary and Joseph and the Babe. It's kind of a family tradition to go each year, remembering why we are celebrating in the first place.

Why City Folk Shouldn't Move to the Country

I had to share this, from an email a friend sent me. I have no idea who to give credit to for it, but it was just so funny. Don't you agree?

Oh shoot, I missed a great idea again!

In the sale we just had there was one of these dust pans, bright red even! I'm now kicking myself b/c I could have done this with that dust pan! Isn't it just the cutest idea? Junk Camp has lots of good ideas, huh?
One great thing, though. I sold the stove!!! Yippee! It's been hanging over my head for a year now, sitting in storage at my dad's, needing to be gone. The lady who bought it just loved it, and it's nice that it will have a good, loving home to go to. I would have kept it, except that I already have a wood cook stove. Now if I can sell the mangle I'll be really doing great! Those were two heavy things that are just really heavy to try to haul to shows.
I'm getting really holidayish feeling! I want to get my house all finished (in some cases redone, where the kids did a few things) and be able to rest and enjoy the season. I only have to real busy baking days this month to bake for, so the hardest part is behind me. I'm anxious to make some Bratzeli cookies; they're a Swiss cookie my Swiss grandmother used to make. They're along the lines of a hard cracker-type cookie, taste a little like a waffle cone. I have memories of Grandma making hers on a cast iron mold like a wafle maker, but real thin and they had a neat design in them. I would have loved to have had that bratzeli press, but no one in the family admits to having it, sadly. I just hope someone who has it appreciates it like I would have! But, we did get an electric type iron that works (probably easier) and so we can still have Grandma's traditional cookie.
Tomorrow I need to get up early and make a bread pudding with left over cardamom bread. I'm taking it to a ladies luncheon. I think I'll take some caramel sauce to drizzle over the top. Doesn't that sound good??