SPRING Swap...

Spring is here and with it came this very fun Pink and Green Swap. I'm a little slow in posting, but finally getting to it. My package came from Susan (blogless) in New York. What a great job she did putting this together. It item came individually wrapped in the either pink or green, very appropriate, and placed inside the tote bag you see in the backgroud. Yeah, I needed a new travel make-up bag and this one fits the bill perfectly. Thank you, Susan!
Scroll down to see what other treasures she sent.


S ~ Soap. Pink and Green Rose Petal Soap. I can't wait to use this. They smell heavenly...



P ~ Picture. This is Susan's thrifted item for the swap. I remember pictures like this from when I was a kid. Very enchanting...


R ~ Refreshments. These very springy paper plates are going to be fun to serve Refreshements on. I love the lime and lemon in the center.


I ~ Items for a Tea Party. The tea Susan sent is incredible. A herb blend of cinnamon and spice. Mmm... And those cookies? There gone!


N ~ New Kitchen Towels. Aren't these just the cutest?


G ~ Grocery List. Now how did she know that I was on the last page of mine??

Thank you Susan, for all the fun goodies...

Scrabble Anyone?

Some friends of ours stopped by the other night to share our shrimp quesadilla's (to die for!), a rousing game of Scrabble and wine. We had an absolute hoot. I cannot tell you the last time that I played Scrabble. I learned, once again, that I'm not the brightest crayon in the box, nor do I seem to have a good grasp of the English language. I consider(ed) myself a fairly smart and coherent individual until, oh ~ I'd say, FIVE minutes into the game. HOLY BUCKETS - Where's the dictionary?? It was alot of fun, now I'm jonesing to play again.

What other fun board games have I forgotten all about? What are your favorites?

May you all be blessed with good food, good wine and good fun....

Healing...

Our daughter-in-law miscarried today. Please say a quick prayer for Sam and Jessica's healing...

Peaceful...

It's my favorite kind of day. The kids are all at work and Riff is out in the backyard finishing up a stone walk project he had going on. It's raining, I have cookies in the oven and best of all, I'm alone in the house for a few minutes. That absolutely never happens and I totally and completely crave it. Some "me" time is mandatory, though as I write this I hear footsteps through the back door and into the kitchen. I spoke to soon...(big sigh)....


I knit up and felted these cute little purses this past week. They are the perfect size for those times when you want to just take your keys, lipstick and debt card with you. I found the cutest handmade clay button at the quilt shop in Cannon Beach to go on the multi-colored one. That one is headed for my etsy shop.


I'm participating in a fun pink and green swap hosted by Lucy and Rebecca. Not only did you need to send all things pink and green but they had to coordinate with the letters in the word Spring. For example: S-socks. You had to make tags for each item for it's corresponding letter and you also had to have one thrifted item, one craft item and one handmade item. Challenging and alot of fun. This is the only glimpse I can give you as my package has not yet arrived in the waiting hands of it's intended receipiant. (Oh, my soul!! I just noticed that I had the letters out of order. What exactly is SRPING?!)

May you all be blessed with some peaceful time alone...

The Royal Visit...

We have recently been graced by Royalty. The Princess of Quite Alot came to visit after a long time away. We very much enjoyed having Brittany home. She has lived on her own, and far away, since graduating from high school nearly two years ago. We did alot of chatting, shopping and beach walking while she was here. She flew away yesterday with much more than she arrived with. The King of our house is baby shopped out for awhile. We went into the store on our way home from the airport and I was informed that we would NOT be looking at any baby things this time. Who can blame him? He has been a good sport!


(Trumpet call)- Ladies and Gentleman, make way for the Princess and Prince of Nizzyville. The Royal mother found this shot amuzing. The stair-stepping seems to have changed course over the years with the youngest being the tallest now, the middle child remaining in the middle and the oldest being quite the shortest. (She did not find it amuzing!)


Royalty was once again seen in Portland as the Princess strolled through the booths of the Farmers Market on the PSU Campus.


We inspected the wreck of the Peter Iredale, determining that, alas, we can not pull 'er outta the sand!


Her Royal Highness and I visited Cannon Beach one morning. We tried to catch the tide pools at Haystack Rock but after stopping for breakfast at Bagels By The Sea, we were just a little bit to late. No trip to our beautiful coast is complete without a picture taken in front of the "Goonie's Rock".

Bye, Brittany. We miss you already!

Friday House...

My house has a condition known far and wide as "Friday House". It's a horrible virus that runs through the veins of the home as soon as the weekend cleaning is over and terrorizes the central nervous system of any home where a family who works and goes to school Monday through Friday lives. It collects the mail and newspaper on the kitchen table until you can't see said table. Shoes and jackets pile up in various places around the house. Closets spill over with clothes carelessly flung off of their hangers. It is a sad state of affairs and tends to make the owners of the home very grouchy. My friday house condition for this week will be over soon. I can't wait to see it go...

The Bowpicker....

The sight of this fishing vessel parked above the Maritime Museum means that spring has arrived and summer is just around the corner. The Bowpicker serves the best fish 'n chips in town and the spring opening is a very highly anticipated event in our house.


It was a glorious 75+ degrees in our little Astoria today, so after work, we made the mad dash downtown to catch our limit before the 6'ish closing time. As you can see by the grin on my face, I could hardly wait...


MMM...to sink your teeth into those incredible golden morsels. If you're ever in our neck of the woods, don't miss these wonderful treats.
Happy Fishing!!

Stella's Diaper Bag...

This pink and green polka-dotted creation is my second attempt at a diaper bag. This one was made for Stella who will be making her grand entrance into this world in just four short weeks. (If you were to ask her Mama, those weeks are anything but short!)


I filled it with all the diaper bag neccesities that came to mind - (it has been a few years since I had to fill my own diaper bag!)- newborn-size diapers, baby wipes, powder, diaper rash cream, a bottle, baby magic lotion, a binkie, a bib and burb cloth, a book and a little stuffed bunny. Stella's all set for her first trip to town...


Along with my diaper bag making, I seem to have a cupcake fetish right now. My kitchen has turned out strawberry cupcakes, chocolate chip cupcakes and these mocha treats all in a weeks time. Somebody, PLEASE, eat these so that I can move on to the next recipe...