couldn't
post
all
week!
mix-up
with my username
and password.
problem
resolved!
i'll be back
with a bazillion
things to share!
off to
the mansion
tonight!

THE big ANNOUNCEMENT!

show time, this saturday night!

i've enjoyed researching and self-educating for the part.

but, i need your help.

i will be mingling with the dinner guests,

all of whom are just there to figure

the mystery out and have a grand time!

i'll need to be in character the entire time.

"a gypsy from london in the year 1912."

help me, won't you?

should i be sneaky and quiet?

loud and obnoxious?

nervous and withdrawn?

what should i talk about?

what questions would you ask me if you were a dinner guest?

i have my outfit already.

but open to any props or suggestions you have!

please, please, please ... leave a comment... even if you never have.

i'd like your two cents.

i'm waiting...............................

flowers aren't the only beautiful flora you can stick in a vase.

heck no.

look at the beauty i salvaged from the compost pile..

odds and ends from my salad garden....

giant dill, beautiful onion heads, a broken snow pea vine and fat fragrant basil!

beauty, they say is in the eye of the beholder.

and... this beholder thinks it's gorgeous.

above is my to-do list for the day.

i didn't list the daily generals: dishes, vacuum and picking up.

special announcement on my next blog post!

something i'm doing on saturday night.

something i can't hardly wait for.

something i never thought i'd do!

it's going to be a blast!

butter!

saturday night, i had a date in the kitchen with my food processor.

and lots of butter. and freshly picked dill, parsley, scallions and basil.

i made homemade herb butter.

for every 1/4 cup of butter, you add 1 teaspoon of lemon juice.

if you add basil and wish to keep it fresh looking- you add 2 teaspoons.

then, you pick the herbs you like and add to the butter and lemon juice.

then throw in the herbs. the recipe i used has the exact measurements for herbs...

i didn't follow it. i mean, if you're basil lover like me, you can never have enough!

then like a squirrel getting ready for winter, i stuck them in the downstairs freezer!
i'm sure this will be creamy-luscious on a blistery night with homemade bread and soup!


nothing special about the picture above. i just picked snow peas and raspberries... and well, they looked so quaint in this bowl... i just had to snap a picture.
snap!

hope you're enjoying your sunday!
smile, wink, nod

it's tradition!

it was 13 years ago, when my favorite girl cousin, cathy... (board certified m.d. & voted one of the top 10 ob/gyns in detroit--- yeah, i like to brag about her--i love her so), introduced me to monarch larvae hunting. it was the day we buried my dad. all of the family came back to the house and a mix of emotions flooded the air.... naturally, to be expected with any passing.

seeing this, my cousin cathy asked me to go on a monarch hunt.

with jars in hand... she taught me how to find them and harvest them.

here's something to think about.....

the year after my dad's passing..... a milkweed plant suddenly appeared in my flowerbed. it came from nowhere. we had never had it before! but we left it, with the intent to harvest monarch's each year.

we now have a nice patch of milkweed, some years producing many larva's-- other years none at all.

as i walk past the milkweed, tending my gardens... i go back in time and remember that bittersweet summer day.

what a favor she did for me... in a subtle way, showing me "new life."

*picture taken in my house and garden

*40% of the monarch population was lost this

year, due to the cold winter in northern mexico.

smile, wink, nod!

pickles & elephants!

our garden in popping pickling cucumbers out faster then i can keep up!

over the past week,

i've enjoyed canning bread and butter pickles and kosher garlic chips and spears.

one of my favorite things in the world is, how my itsy-bitsy house fills up with the aroma of canning!

vinegar.

dill.

garlic.

then, if that cozy smell isn't enough....

the sounds of lids popping.

and

lining up my completed work, like different size soldiers

on a vintage table cloth, to

admire for weeks!

it's a beautiful sight.

as my son would say, "epic fail."

which describes how i feel about my reading lately.

failure.

i'm reluctantly pushing my way through john steinbeck's, self-proclaimed best novel ever written, "east of eden."

i'm 1/4 of the way through it. i am less then enthused.

in fact, i often fan the pages to see how much longer i have.

do you know what i mean?

so, i'm taking a vacation from it.

and,

diving into sara gruen's,

"water for elephants."

given to me and with rave reviews and an encouraging smile,

from

my best friend, rhonda.

reece weatherspoon is on location filming this right now!

so, what's your latest read?

smile, wink, nod!

tuesday ten:

b.l.t and corn on the cob for dinner last night.

selling bunches at a homeschool book sale today.

canned a bazillion jars of kosher dill pickles yesterday (pictures soon!)

sipping green tea with orange spice.

lindsey lohan off to jail today.

late 4H meeting last night. until 11 pm. wow! way too long.

rainy day today.

bought new bright orange totes at wally world.

and matching orange hangers.

had a nice discussion with our pastor's wife about ufo's.

are they real? or not?

what do you think?

smile, wink, nod.

at the mansion

today, i had a show on the mansion lawn.

if you're not familiar with the mansion, you can read more about it here.

with the hot salsa heat, tank tops were selling like sizzling popcorn!

this is how my booth looked... definitely a chick booth.

vintage hankies and embroidered table runners were big sellers.

books were not. cookbooks were not. neither were

my bedazzling collection of fairy books.

guess, this wasn't the book reading crowd?

i took this close-up, so you could see the top of my tent.

i threw a crocheted tablecloth over top of it

and tied tacky pink flowers to it. the larger furniture items i brought

sold first thing: a piano stool,

a white wicker plant stand and a vintage baby crib.

i hand-picked my booth's location.

under a mulberry tree.

i strung a couple of clothes lines and displayed clothing on them.

the people really enjoyed sauntering in and out of the clothes.

this is one of the aisles, looking down into the tent.

i have a really special announcement to make in a week or so.

i'll be participating in something i've never done before.

never ever considered it.

it's nothing to do with shows or markets.

it has me really pumped and on the edge of my seat.

stay tuned... this is a good one!

just popping in to say hello!

my friend, it's been a whirlwind week.

all good, of course.

****************

thursday at the farmer's market show.... the vendor next to me, was picked up by whole foods. how cool is that? you can just imagine how exciting it was to have a big shot from whole foods, walk through our market and make a deal. especially here in michigan. and how wonderful.... whole foods is on a talent search for small mom and pop type, michigan farmers and made in michigan products.

today, my mom and i headed to trendy royal oak, michigan. i forgot my camera, wouldn't you know? we had thai food and for me it was the first time. i played it safe and ordered a vegetable dish with rice and low-level spice. i loved it.

of course, we didn't buy anything in this upscale, super trendy neighborhood. sort of like mini soho. but we did have lots of giggles. and imagine this... we saw a guy (yeah, a guy), dressed in a blue jean above the knee skirt! i didn't want to stare, but i did. it sached' when he walked. i'm sure his dad must be mighty proud of his son (yeah, his son), wearing a skirt. i'm all about creative thinking, but this look was pretty raw. we stopped and had a coldstone ice cream. i made my mom treat us. i carried my orange purse. and, proudly! as per mitzi's suggestion on my previous blog post.

i'm up way past my bed time... and must say good-night for now. i have a big show at the mansion tomorrow (same place i went in june). i am just so geeked about going....i'm sure i'll have a hard time winding down tonight.

i'll be back soon....

smile, wink, nod.

i love my new purse!

unlike anything i've ever carried!

just $1.99 at our local goodwill!

and, it's not even leather!

i'm think i'll feel perky when i use it!

smile, wink, nod!

columbia movie logo!

last night, while munching on our over-priced popcorn at the cinema, and watching the art deco lady statue at the beginning or ending of columbia movies... my mom whispered... "i wonder who this lady was?" being the queen of google... i whispered back, "i'll google and find out!" so i did. click on: columbia movie logo! quite interesting!

we saw the movie, "grown-ups." i will see it again. i loved it. we laughed from our bellies. as did the entire theatre. i adore david spade. i'm sure he doesn't even need a script to pull off his quick humor. love that guy!

today: first round of canning pickles, a quick trip to the local grocery store, and pulling out my food processor to chop and shred and freeze an obscene amount of zucchini.

smile, wink, nod!

the japanese beetle bugs are invading our raspberry bushes!

while out in google-land... trying to find an organic way of disposing of them,

i came across this really fantastic herb garden site.

click here!

it's easy to navigate and loaded with really different ideas for using

herbs. just look on the sidebar and you find oodles of good stuff!

****************

tongue in cheek......

she even has a listing on how to grow an illegal drug. she strongly urges

against it... my question is... then why did she even do a blog post on

how to grow it and what kind of soil it uses? maybe omitted it?

i'm just saying......

ah-well... still a very good blog!

smile, wink, nod!

i know these cookies don't look like much...

but let me tell you... they are the best cookies

i've ever made! and, at age 46,

i've made my fair share of all different kinds of cookies!

i call this "granola breakfast cookie."

after i baked them.... i wrapped them individually and

put them in the freezer...they're excellent warm and

fresh from the oven... but they are better then excellent when gobbled up cold!

**********************************************

here's the secret recipe:

mix well: 1 egg, 1/2 cup butter (softened), 1/4 c. honey, 1/4 c. brown sugar

add: 1 teaspoon vanilla (which i add extra- i love vanilla!), 2 c. mashed up bananas, 1/2 cup of sour cream. mix well.

add: 1 1/2 c. flour (whole wheat is fine), 1 tbsp. baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon salt, 2 1/2 cups of granola cereal (i use heart smart granola) and for a little kick, i tossed in 1/2 bag of nestles white chocolate chips.

grease a cookie sheet, drop by either cookie size (rounded teaspoon) or to make a breakfast size cookie, drop by a couple heaping ice cream scoops!

bake 375* for 12 minutes for smaller cookies and 15-17 minutes for fist size breakfast cookies.

(go ahead, try a little spoonful of the cookie dough... that, in itself is spectacular!)

i'll be back tomorrow, i hope you will be, too!

how about a morning walk through my gardens?

celery, dill, rosemary, parsley, basil

lovage, lettuce, peas, cabbage,

onions, peppers and

a small row of flowers are planted in this garden!

sure does make cutting salad toppings easy!

a snip of basil here, a snip of lovage there!

fresh!

our raspberry bush's are a bit out of control...
this is only the second year they've lived here!


god sure did love us when he gave us raspberries!
they're heavenly!

this year finds us having two twin massive vegetable gardens.
everything is planted in here. potato's,
corn, squash, pickling cucumbers, cantaloupe, beans, tomato's.
and small rows of flowers in between the crops.



next up, list one more thing on ebay... an antique hall tea pot.
click here to see my auctions and the beautiful tea pot!
then it's off to a new farmer's market... in this
sweltering 95* weather, which i absolutely love!
smile, wink, nod!

sweet things on tuesday:

-honey we processed over the weekend.

-this website: the little pink trailer... tacky old art and crafts and vintage finds!

-writing my goofy children's novel on my laptop under the apple tree today!

-fresh sheets and fresh cotton quilt on the bed

-watching toy story 3 with popcorn and my mom and boy

-listing bunches on ebay. click here to take a little peek!

now....how about some history?

on this day in 1854, the republican party was established.

on this day in 1885, louis pasteur cured rabies.

on this day in 1699, pirate captain william kidd was seized in boston, taken to england and later hanged.

i'll be back tomorrow... i hope you will be, too!

the daybook for today, monday july 5th, 2010

outside my window: dusk. soon... fireflies. and a beautiful row of edible orange lilies.

i'm thinking: of the mixed media art projects i'd like to try!

i am thankful for: the window air conditioner, a delightful 4th of july at my mom's, coupons,

from the learning room: tomorrow, we start back to home-school lessons. as per my son's request. it's always fun to homeschool outside at the picnic table.

from the kitchen: the smell of melted chocolate and melted marshmallows stuffed between a tortilla shell... tommie made it... it'll probably be really fattening-- but, i have to eat it and enjoy it, since he concocted it.

i'm wearing: grey shorts and a grey t-shirt... wet hair, no make-up and barefoot. (just out of the shower!)

i'm creating: a punky-looking scarecrow for our garden and a twig-trellis for our pole beans.

i am going: to set up at two farmer's market's this week. back to back. in the county south of us. and i can't wait!!!!!

i am reading: other peoples blogs and steinbeck's east of eden.. which i wonder... will i ever finish it? and a herb book.

i am hoping: for no rain on thursday!

i am hearing: the picker's from the history channel-- wheelin' and dealin'!

around the house: half a glass of iced tea to my right, two dvd's waiting to be watched, brad primping the garden, a pile of blue jeans fresh off the line, that need folded and put away, unread magazines and a dog who is staring at me--- she's ready for bed (she sleeps with us!)

one of my favorite things: sleeping outside in a tent in the summertime, white cotton, the smell of dill, chewing fennel, looking for butterfly larvae, the taste of the first cucumber from my garden, this hot and humid 94* weather.

a few plans for the rest of the week: staying home all day tomorrow and homeschooling and doing lots of domestic projects, farmer's market and enjoying july! and looking at the picture above... i think i should do my roots!

here's a picture thought i'm sharing......

no, this isn't my bedroom... but i wouldn't mind it--- would you?

or better yet, to have this on a front porch... where the sweet wind blows or a warm rain falls.. and you could kick back and relax!

isn't dreaming is fun?

today, was another exciting day at the farmer's market

(i have a little shabby chic booth every thursday).....

due south of us.

a steady flow of traffic. lots of enthusiastic customers. lots of creative vendors.

a very humble, relaxed and fun atmosphere. one of my favorite parts of the market is, that when the show starts to break down... vendors come around and give you their perishables. today, i came home with a quart of free cherries, a quart of free raspberries and two bags of doughnuts!

my feet are throbbing. my shower is done. my book is waiting. and so is my soft pillow!

sweet dreams!

smile, wink, nod!