Working on the Shop

Cool Suitcase I found! 

https://www.etsy.com/treasury/NTQxMjM2OHwyNzI2OTM0MzM2/a-little-rustique?ref=fp_treas&aref=15645977018

My entire spring and summer I spent outside. No kidding, until dark, I was outside, just loving the weather we had here in Oregon.  I'm not one bit sorry, but I'm making up for lost time now, on the inside!
I got the carpet shampooed, with the help of my sons, and I'm seriously thinking I'm going to tackle waxing my wood floor, too, but...it's supposed to be sunny tomorrow. I think working indoors should be illegal on a sunny day ;-).
One thing that got seriously neglected, was my Etsy shop. During the summer, I could just not force myself to go in and work! But now that our weather is starting to turn, I'm spending my rainy days in my studio, getting stuff listed,  (I can't believe how much stuff I have stuffed!)  Making up for lost time! I'm just loving this little place my husband made me! Nice and bright, next best thing to being right outside!
So, in my effort to get back to work on my shop, I came across the neatest tool, if you're at Etsian, you'll love it if you don't already use it. I'm on a few Etsy Vintage teams, and one of the "rules" are that you need to make at least one treasury a month. I love to look at other people's treasuries, but I don't always have time to make my own. WELL, I came across this really neat tool that you use on your desktop, with Chrome. Treasury Box!! If you don't have it, get it! You can make a treasury so fast, you'll actually have time to work on listing ;-)  Here's my latest treasury, what a lot of fun it is now!

Racing the Rain

Don't pay attention to my grubby shoes. See the hand reaching for my peas? That was my lil' granddaughter crawling between my legs while I was picking, stealing my peas lol!  That's ok, she lives in a condo; she needs to play in the garden! 

I have said all summer, and now fall, I can't believe what beautiful weather we are having here in the Pacific NW!  My garden was THE MOST FUN ever; I'm STILL getting peas out of it! I've never planted late before, but what a nice season we've had.
However...they're calling for rain. And it's supposed to continue for a few days at least. Gosh, I'm almost not used to it anymore!  You talk to someone who doesn't live in Oregon, and that's what they say, "I couldn't live there, it rains all the time!"  Well, our well-kept secret is that isn't always the case, and our beautiful days and really gorgeous. Even our rain can be cozy, it's all in the outlook.
So, since they're calling for rain, and we have no idea if this "is it", end of beautiful fall sunshine, I've been a workaholic and a taskmaster. Windows washed, bottles to the recycle, porch ready for stormy weather, you get the idea. Among other things, I went out today and got several items out of my barn storage, got them cleaned up, and they are now drying, getting ready to be photographed for my Etsy shop. There is no way I'm doing any of that in the rain....

Some of the stuff I've been scrubbing!

Can you imagine hauling one of these around to mop? I think it may be more useful as a flower pot ;-)

Autumn Rest from Summer Work

After a beautiful long, sunny summer, we are heading into a beautiful autumn here in Oregon! I think I enjoyed the outdoors, the garden, and the projects we were working on, more than any other time. I've always liked having a garden, but THIS year I took better care of it, even put a chair and some flowers out there! Must be getting old :-)
What I have to look forward to each fall, is a huge maple tree dropping leaves all over my lawn, raking many times, then starting all over again. It brings back memories of other years I've done this, but having huge piles and letting the kids jump in them. The good thing about this many leaves, my garden loves them!
So now that it's turning cooler at night, it's getting to be that time to sit around an outdoor fire, sit on the tree swing, and just be blessed of all that's gotten done, plan what else I'd like to get done, and relax a little. Happy Fall!
My little Etsy shop has not had the attention it usually gets, so now is the time to spend listing more treasures I've found, and also getting ready to bake Finnish bread fir bazaars! Can't believe my first bazaar is actually the day after Halloween! Crazy how it flies by!

And before I close, thought I'd show this little clip of an adventure I took with my niece and my sis, to New Orleans. I never thought I'd get that close to an aligator :-)  Her video went viral this summer!


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Roadside Stands

What is is about roadside stands? They just call out for you to stop and buy their wares!  Whether it's lemonade stands, with the little kids running their first business, or produce stands, egg signs that beckon you to stop at the little hut, put some money in the box, and get yourself a dozen eggs, or hot dog stands on the street corner in the city, there is just something special about these real experiences, in not-exactly-brick-and-mortar stands.
I'm a HUGE believer in children's lemonade stands. I've heard that it is actually not legal to have an unlicensed lemonade stand. I don't know if that's true, but if it is, I'm against it. I think every kid should have at least one lemonade stand in their lifetime.
When my sister and I were little, we painted rocks into bugs and sold them to the neighborhood.  We also took styrofoam balls cut in half, and used pipe cleaners to make animals and sold them.  We've thought how funny it would be to go to a garage sale in our area and find one of our old creations, but, I'm not holding out for the possibility, b/c, after all, I was only like 6 at the time, and the quality wouldn't have stood the test of an heirloom. :-)
I live in a very small community. I lived in the same house all my life, until I was grown. I only live a half mile away from that same home.  Well, if you know me, you know I love my life!
Today, I had a huge blessing, to go down the street that half mile again, to my childhood home, and stop at my friend's roadside stand there and buy this beautiful bouquet, all for a whole $2! You wouldn't believe what a very real memory-lane moment this was to me.  To pull into the driveway of my own childhood home, and get flowers grown on that soil, that my mom used to grown flowers on! She spent so much time in her gardens, and you know, to this day, she is always outside in her flowers or riding her lawn mower over her huge yard.  When I would get home off the school bus, she'd be out there working in her flowers in the fall and spring. In the fall, there is a certain type of day, the sun feels just right, the blackberry smell is in the air, the breeze is just that exact same breeze as my childhood, and I get this memory come over me of getting off that bus, mom pausing from her weeding to ask us how school went. It just all comes back to me all over again. I was so fortunate to have such a great childhood. I don't take it for granted. I try to live up to it for my own kids.
So, if you think your life gets monotonous, don't forget, you're making memories. Hopefully awesome memories of sunshiny days, cheerful words, beautiful flowers. Happy children.