Sweet Peas, Raspberries and Broccoli

Mix all the above in blender and drink... just joking! I wanted to share a couple other recipes I took to Barn House, I promised Lulu I would next time I did a post. I did want to mention that I got the Butterscotch Poppy Seed Cake which I posted last time, from a very dear friend of mine, Carol. She went to great lengths to get the recipe, I can NOT divulge how .... But, it is worth the effort she went too, everyone LOVES this cake (except maybe the judges.)

The Broccoli Salad is in a lot of cookbooks I have. I make it so often I just wing it but you probably would like a little better idea, where to start.

Broccoli Salad

8 cups broccoli, bite size

1 medium red onion, diced

2 lbs bacon fried crisp, cut into bite size pieces

1 1/2 cup dark raisins

Dressing

1 cup mayonnaise

1/4 cup sugar

2 T. cider vinegar

1/2 t. black pepper

1t. seasoning salt

whisk and pour over salad

At this point you can add sunflower seeds or sliced almonds. I have added apples, and I have used craisins. It is hard to mess this up and it is good for a couple of days. I like it best when the broccoli is cut pretty small.

Enjoy!

The Raspberry Pie is a new recipe for me from my friend Pam. We had it at her house just a week before I took it to Barn House. It is so pretty it wouldn't necessarily have to be delicious, but it is!

Fresh Raspberry Pie

Crust
1 1/2 Cup flour 1 1/2 T sugar 1 t salt
Combine 1/2 Cup oil with 2 T of milk. Whip with a fork.

Combine everything together and press into pie plate.

Bake 8 minutes at 475. Cool thoroughly.

Filling
Fill the cooled shell with raspberries. It takes more than you think, I used 5 pints, they were small berries. Set aside.

Combine 1 Cup Sugar, 2 T corn starch and 1 Cup water.

Boil until clear ( 2-3 minutes) Add 3 T Raspberry Jello mix. Cool.
Pour cooled mixture over berries. Cool in refrigerator.
Serve with whipping cream or ice cream.
This is easy and fast! Very yummy, I imagine people think it is a healthy dessert and I'm pretty sure they don't want to know about the oil and sugar. Let them focus on the berries...
So are you wondering how the Sweet Peas fit in? I love Sweet Peas, I have A Thing for Sweet Peas, and come to find out so does Lisa at A Thing for Roses! I love everything about them. I love how they just keep blooming and blooming. If they are growing on your fence and you pass by, I LOVE the fragrance! It is so fun to have a bouquet on your table, walk by and you get the slightest whiff... They are so fragile they look like tissue paper. They are the greatest. So then I ask, why don't I plant them every year?? Packets and packets of them? Probably because in Oregon they need to be planted in February, or some crazy time...
I always mean to get them planted, but usually don't. I was more than just a little excited when I saw Sweet Pea starts, at our local farm store this winter. I grabbed them up and let them sit in the box for way too long. But I did eventually got them planted. I waited much too long to get them strings to climb up but finally I did... Oh my, I am so glad! So I'm thinking, I am so special, I have Sweet Peas! Then last weekend at Barn House, amongst every other wonderful thing, I see this...

You can't see them very well from the photo, but on the outside of the fence, SWEET PEAS, all lined up in perfect little groups of white , lavender and purple. What a vision, what a lovely garden! I also love the wash tubs! How cute are they hanging on the fence? I have a wire fence, I have wash tubs, I think I have an idea!

Guess Who I Saw?

I pretty much saw everyone!! We all had a great time Saturday at The Barn House Flea Market. We actually had fun Friday setting up our spaces. The most fun part for me is seeing who else is there, I usually know some of them, and then meeting new people and seeing their treasures is so fun! We had intended to leave at 9am but, (through no fault of my own) we left about 11:30... Thankfully we didn't miss the show, like I did the family reunion...Diane and I both took our own vehicles and decided not to use our trailers and drivers/loaders/husbands help. I'm hoping that wasn't my idea, since it was a BAD ONE! I'm not planning to do that again!! Goodness the stuff we haul is heavy!! And as it turned out I decided I couldn't get enough in the truck so Dave had to make a load after work Friday, he may as well had pulled the trailer... And if you must know the whole truth, I called him when it was over and asked him to come help me load up what didn't sale...
Gee what wimp, I know that is what your thinking. It is about an hour and half one way ... And I know what else you are thinking, why don't I pull the trailer like the big girls do?? Well, did I tell you about the time I pulled up my big girl panties and was going take the boat to the lake and on the way hit a car in the church parking lot?? It kinda put me off pulling trailers. I would if I had too, and I have several times since, but really when I have so many other things on my to do list, do I HAVE to pull the trailer too?? I like to think it makes Dave the Driver feel needed...
Lucky for Diane and I those Barn House Boys/Men, are very strong!
This picture makes it look like Joe is running away from me.. I'm sure that is just a camera trick, maybe the angle or something?? Why would he be running??
Besides strong, Joe and Jermonne are also organized, creative, fun, helpful, nice, and on and on...Seriously they are so sweet and enthusiastic, they actually unloaded our stuff, while I stood by wringing my hands like a damsel in distress. Which I pretty much was!
I did finally get my booth together, I would have spent more time but... it got dark!
Here are the girls from Couture Junquies
This was Little Byrd's booth, she was my neighbor. This was her first show, you don't suppose she got placed to me because she was the only one that didn't request not to be?? That thought didn't occur to me until just now...
She did a great job , but I understand she wants a different spot next year...(just kidding)
Here is Diane aka Molly Mo, she is off gallivanting in someone else's booth. She quickly and effeciently finishes her work and has time to spare...she says she makes a list.. So do I but I can't find it..This is the booth of Worthy Goods, I met these sister in laws at Expo and was so glad to spend a little more time getting acquainted with them this weekend.
This is Natalie, of Sparrow and her sweetie Linn, I wish I had got a picture of her daughter Zoe, she is 10 years old and has a flourishing business of her own.. she is in the food and beverage industry.
Speaking of Flourishes, here is Aleta, I got a picture of her taking a picture ...
Here are the girls from, yes just as the sign says..Uncovered Ruby It was a pleasure to get acquainted with Lulu, I have seen her before but I didn't recognize her as she wasn't soaking wet... She was outside at Farm Chicks and it was POURING !! Not to mention the wind was blowing like a hurricane, she says next time she will take an indoor booth... Outside is great when the weather co operates, but when it doesn't...
These are some of Lulu's necklaces, aren't they....charming

This is Julie from The Whities, I told her she looks like her booth, she blends in, or looks like she should be in there... Which is probably true of most of us, our booths like our homes are a reflection of us. I realize there are some exceptions, but I think most dealers buy what they like or are attracted to, and they also realize that once they buy something they own it..

Here is Lynn in her booth,

And look here is Diane again back in her booth.. She is wearing the apron that Dusty silkscreened for her and I sewed, took awhile to do that cross stitching, but she's worth it.. Actually I used a vintage apron for the bottom and added a ruffle.
And even Cindy, Queen of Tarte (sporting a new hair do )in her booth ready to go!
These were only some of the vendors, I have a hard time getting away from my booth to take pictures and when I do I keep getting distracted and forget to take pictures, or forget my camera, or the battery goes dead, or...

Naturally there were many, many, famous and news worthy people at this fantastic event, but my sister Toni and I were so happy that we got to meet Tracey from Notes From A Cottage Industry

Tracey came with her girls, she was one of the judges in the baking and chili cookoff..

I'm sure some of you recognize these famous personalities, strangely enough I did not win... here is the recipe for my Butterscotch Poppyseed Cake, try it for yourself and see if it is not a winner!
Butterscotch Poppyseed Cake

1 box yellow pudding in the mix cake mix

2 pkg instant butterscotch instant pudding

1 1/2 cup oil

1 Cup flat 7up

1 tsp almond extract

4 eggs

1/4 Cup Poppyseeds

mix and pour into greased bundtpan

Bake 350 for 45- 60 minutes check with toothpick

Can be sprinkled with powered sugar or frosted

Frosting

Cream together cream cheese, powdered sugar and lemon juice

Enjoy!!

A Change of Plans

When we came home from vacation, this was in the mail and I have been wanting to share it since. This is Baby Jack and he is doing wonderful since his liver transplant!

I knew you would all want to know.

If your thinking you have committed the biggest faux paux ever, well I want you to know that is not so! Here is a picture of what it looked like when we got to the family reunion Saturday.Actually it was worse than that because there were still a few people lingering when we pulled up, so they were there to witness our tardy arrival! One being my dad, he had exhausted himself pacing... He was there at the crack of dawn.

I thought it started in the afternoon sometime, you know 1 or 2 o'clock. No, it actually started at 11am! Opps, guess I should have checked the flyer, but seriously, do you think I could find the flyer? You know the one with the directions and even the name of the park?? We left LATE, we had to buy gas for Dumbo (the rv), not far down the road, Sam announces that he didn't bring any shoes. A quick stop for flip flops and we are off like a herd of turtles...

I was sooo tired I just cuddled right up on the bed and slept the whole way, that is until Dave shouts, "what exit were we suppose to take.. "opps went to far.. back track, go to the wrong park, blah blah blah!! So that is why we missed the whole reunion!!

Things were a little chaotic Saturday morning when we were getting ready to go to family reunion, much like usual only a little more so. I still needed to make the food, so I picked an easy butterscotch, poppy seed cake. Then thought I would whip up a Frog Eye salad (sound delicious, I know) and then we decided to take Dumbo might as well spend the night...So then I had to throw the food together for that, made that yummy Top Ramien Cabbage salad. So all that would have been bad enough, but remember I decided to Flip that House, well I did get started on that; here is a picture or two to prove it.

This furniture is from the living room, and it is now in the office. The furniture will stay but not all the pretties. Do you recognize the family room? Now it is the dining room!

This made it just a wee bit hard to find the things we were looking for...

All because someone at expo was throwing away 6 chairs that needed work bad and I needed 6 chairs. Naturally I took the free chairs, because as we all know, you get what you pay for… That is what really got the flip this house going and was most likely the reason we missed the reunion!

I like the table in the old family room. I like the tv in the living room, I hate the mess I have created. So… Friday I decided to move some of the disaster out to the front porch, that way I could see better what need to go where. When I opened the front door it was clear that I first had to reorganize the porch so more would fit, apparently I had the move it to the porch idea before. So I got rid of all the extra stuff on the porch, I set it in front of the barn. Then I figured I might as well pressure wash the porch since it was incredibly dirty and there was nothing on it. Next why not do the walls and then the gutters, the sidewalk was dirty, so that was next. Then as you move around there is the brick path through the garden which looks great pressure washed… You get the picture, I spent the whole day outside making everything sparkly clean. I wasn’t aware that the pressure washer works like a blower. But it makes even the grass look great!
While I was at it I did the back deck and the chairs. I did the throw rugs the floor mats out of the car and I even did an old upholstered chair and ottoman! What did I have to loose, it was beyond dirty and it turned out wonderful! I did use the upholster cleaner to suck out the dirty water, otherwise it drips to the bottom and that is definitely not good. Next thing I knew it was dark, I was way too tired and went to bed!
I'm not sure what the lesson in this was... I hope it wasn't, finish one project before you start another? Or what about, a place for everything and everything in it's place?

Not being one to cry over spilled milk or in this case missed reunions. We ended up enjoying the late afternoon and evening. Dexter Lake is a beautiful place with apparently several campgrounds and day use areas! If you decide to go there, you might want to figure out ahead which area, especially if your planning on meeting someone...

Time to Move

Expo was great fun, it was hot, hot , hot on the asphalt. I loved it and certainly prefer the heat to the cold so... I love being outside, for one thing the spaces are bigger, and it is okay to fudge a bit on the boundaries. There is air conditioning inside, but really... I had Dave take Dumbo (the rv) to the show, pulling the trailer, yes much like a circus train. He actually took it to work and then on to Expo. I wonder what the people at work thought?? They were most likely looking for the rest of the circus animals... I wanted to stay in town since it is at very best an hour one way, and the last thing you feel like doing after all day working in the "trenches" is driving home and then back again the next morning. The parking lot is at Portland Meadows, that is the horse racing track, which is a mile or so from the show. They have a shuttle and there are lots of other "campers". I invited friends to stay, but only Diane who lives about a half hour further than I do, took me up on it. Dumbo has all the amenities of home you realize... There was one little kink with the water on the second day(it stopped working). I didn't want to tell Dave, because I didn't want him to come all the way out to fix it; so I washed my hair in the sink at the restaurant. Yes I know it sounds a little strange, but seriously I have done stranger. And as hot as it was, it took no time to dry. The unfortunate part was I forgot shampoo and a towel so I used the pink hand soap and paper towels... which by the way are really not that absorbent! Here are a few shots of the event. Seems like that is what I am always showing is pictures of the "show," this could get old and boring, so I will put a few out there and move on.
This first picture was taken Sunday when we where all pretty hot and tired. We were not the best salespeople, we were sitting at the chairs out in the aisle and telling people if they wanted something to bring it to us and we would take their money.... not really but almost. I love the John Deere tractor seat, I apparently am the only one since I still have it.. I thought it would make the best tree swing, I guess I will have to put the seat on it and chains. Of course if I go to that much effort I might have to use it in my own tree.
This is a shot of the booth as we were putting it together,
Yes that is a water bottle, some one must have left it in there, you know I
was drinking Diet Coke!
Next is a picture of the booth kinda put together... It was very narrow in there. The booth's were only 9 feet wide instead of 10 soo.. I had a very narrow walkway. I figured once people were in and couldn't get out they would be more likely to find something they couldn't resist...

Here are Lisa and Shannon, Shannon and her mom Maryann were my neighbors. Lisa is with Isabel in a booth a few rows over.

I wanted to show the apron I made. Of course Dusty screen printed them for me and I sewed it. I have more to make for the next show. I love the bingo cards.
One of the best parts of the show is seeing old friends and making new ones. It is nice to have great neighbors so you can watch each other spot while you go shopping or happen to be late.

Here is the gang, (all except Cindy) who had to work her "real" job and couldn't join us. On the far left is me, (my hair doesn't look that wet do you think?) then Maryann, Shannon, Isabel, Diane and in front is Lisa.

It was a lot of fun and now I am looking forward to the next event, that will be July 26th at Barn House I hope you will come, those guys know how to have a great time!! Please take a minute and look at their blog it is so beautiful and they are so funny! The sale I went to in May was awesome. I am wondering how all the gardens are looking and how much the chickens have grown.

And now for, TODAY'S NEWS. Sounds like a television reporter..
Did I hear someone say "time to move" or we could also say "flip this house". I have a feeling it would be less work and time consuming to find a different house and replant ourselves. But since the other half of this married couple can't even consider that, (probably since he works away from the house and it doesn't make him crazy all day) I need to take charge, and make some interior moves. All this to say, once again lets play Musical Rooms! I thought we should move the dining room to the family room, the family room could be integrated with the living room and the dining room, could be an entry with some furniture?? A table and maybe some chairs? I hope people don't think the entry is the dining room... That would be seriously wrong! How crazy would that be? Who ever heard of two dining rooms?? The goal here is to keep the food out of the family room which is no more... I think we could eat at the table in the entry and see the television, which I know is a bad, bad idea, but we do it anyway so I might as well make it convenient I have been getting the "itch" for sometime, but after hours of therapy, (Expo) that seems the best course.. Stay tuned and I will PPAIG, (post pictures as I go.)

Why do we go on vacation??

Goodness, how did I forget, if you take 2 weeks off you have 2 extra weeks of work waiting for you when you get back?? That in my case, should have been done at least a month ago.. But seriously what can you do?? Probably better start with the mountain of laundry, then clean the house and shop, because you can be certain I didn’t get to that before we left. Those cleaning fairies didn’t come while I was gone, however it looks like the dust bunnies had a family reunion.

We got back Thursday morning about 8am, that was not a minute too soon because Friday at 5am I had to have my stuff downtown Silverton ready for the sale. Help !! They unloaded and made put lunches together...
I did need to do a few things, as I was making lunches for 50, and had a few (million) other things on my too do list.
The sale, Old Stuff on Main Street was so much fun. Here's some pictures of my friends that were in the sale. I am in a hurry or I would link them, hope to get to that later...

Stephanie and Brandi, is that man carrying an axe???

Diane and Lindsey,

Martha,
This is Laurena and Jason's booth, they are so cute, I should have gotten a picture of them...

It was too bad I had to hide every time I saw someone on my email list… Hopefully you aren’t one of them, most got 3 or maybe 4 emails about the sale. Well, they were suppose to be about the sale, unfortunately some just had my name… (that was too bad, I should have used and alias..) Some never actually went at all (thank goodness), some had the attachment but it was the size of Texas… My favorite one is where I was trying to send a blind copy, where I thought the person it was going to, would be on the to: spot… evidently there is something I’m suppose to do to make that happen, so MANY people thought they were getting someone else’s mail… Evidently they read it, because we had a great turn out…
All that business with the emails would have been bad enough, but I also sent postcards to my customers in addition to the email… Well, some got duplicates, and some got triplicates!! When people told me that (before I was in hiding) I told them that meant we really, really wanted them to come. Not that it means if you got an email with out a message we didn’t want you to come… And now you know why I have a quiver every time I hit send…
In spite of my massive ineptness with anything to do with mail or advertising in general, we had a great time on the Fourth of July. It is so much fun to see everyone, and just have a day hanging out in the middle of Main Street. There were lots of customers all day, the weather was perfect and the day was a huge success. Mark your calender for next year, you can be a shopper or a vendor or...BOTH!!This is Carol Curtis' booth, she is the most amazing artist. I have been collecting things she produces for over 2 decades!! There is the most incredible story behind all that, remind me when I have time to tell you!!

I wanted to take a minute to thank my super good friends, Lisa and Isabel for volunteering at 6am on July 4th to help me set up my booth and get organized!! So THANK YOU!!

This is them at Farm Chicks, I forgot to take their picture on the 4th!

July 4th is also my anniversary, that would be 13 years! Bless Dave’s soul, can you imagine being him??
My sister Toni has an annual 4th of July party, which started 14 years ago when she hosted a “rehearsal” dinner for us (what was to rehearse, we had both been married before) but naturally we loved the party. The guest list varies a little from year to year and if you have ever been lucky enough to be invited, then you know what a great time we have!
We missed some of the main players (our big kids) who have been there from the beginning, (now they are living their own lives somewhere else) but never the less it was very nice. Here's a photo of the one's that didn't get away!

It was super fun to have Lilly, she came home with Honey (her grandmom, my sister Terri) while her mom (Krissi) was on her honeymoon. Sometimes Lilly is a dog, sometimes she is a kitty, she is always a sweetie. Is it any stranger for Sam to be a Power Ranger than Lilly to be an animal?? I didn’t think so either, someone tell his brothers…

I brought the wild animals home with me on the 5th so we could have time with the cousins, they all love to dress up and have a good time.I’m always up for a good time, which is why I’m getting ready for expo, that is this weekend!! You know I don’t have to deliver until Thursday pm. You wonder why I have time to be doing a post? I am at the doctor with my dad. I love to bring my laptop, because I hate to just sit and this way I can spend all the time I want, looking at whatever, and know that I can’t be doing something else.

My dad hates to be late for anything, he is always VERY early. It makes him nervous to be late and have to hurry, (well I doubt he has ever been late in his almost 85 years), it makes him nervous when I’m late and he has to hurry. So he had a 2:40 appointment and we left the house a 9:30 am. It is an hour away… so I have lots of time on the computer. We also have lunch and sometimes breakfast, maybe even dinner...

I'm thinking this might be the sale where I go storming through the house, taking my favorite things! You know, the most wonderful that I am never, never going to sale... Oh me oh my, what a dilemma....