Why I blog


Stress relief.
quiet time
Venting.
sharing ideas
Self expression.
photography
C r e a t i v i t y.
i n s p i r a t i o n
Art.
blogging is about life
Release.
ME, in a nutshell
and finally....

Preservation.

It's not that I care so much about anyone else reading this. Cause I think only four people have read my blogs since I started.... But it feels good to sit down and do something for me that I can save for later. This is my time. I cook, clean, work, go to school, grocery shop, drive, take care of three kids and more. Yes, there are other things I can be doing, but this I do just for me. It doesn't take time. But it's something tangible that I have done and if I don't have time to make fancy scrapbooks, then at least I have this. And I can share it. So many millions of other and more interesting blogs. But this is mine, and I like it!

Last Trip for the Summer To Jacksonville Oregon

Beautiful countryside between Jacksonville & Medford

A stop in Rogue River on the Rogue River

The trolley ride in Jacksonville

We are nice and dry in this "before" picture. The after isn't nearly so pleasant

We had planned a trip sometime this summer, but had to wait till I was out of school, and then made these last minute plans to go on the jetboats again, then take a scenic trip to Jacksonville, a town I adore!

Will only post a few pictures in this post, but it was so much fun. Kitty and I are coming back, just the two of us.

The boat trip was fun but I didn't take my camera, and I am SO glad I didn't. We got half the river dumped on us. Kitty's camera got wet but it seems to be okay now.

More pics of the lovely old homes and shops in Jacksonville soon.

Our dinner was DEE LISH! We ate a wonderful place called BELLA UNION! More on that later, too!

The boys came into an antique store with us and Matt found an old polaroid camera, one of the first, and got all excited. Bought it for him as well as an old AFGA camera I'll do some experimenting with. Maybe I can get them to go to more antique stores now???

Vintage Prints in Frames REFINISHED

MY MOST RECENT PROJECT

Lovely vintage homestead prints in green/blue/yellow & white.

Serene as all get-out!

Won't these look lovely against a soft blue wall color?

I decided to sand down the dull wood frames and then paint them white. I didn't take before pictures and wish I had so you could see the BIG difference!

I love them and can't wait to put them up.

Next project ~ coming soon!

Hiking At Silver Falls

Two enormous ant hills.

It was a long way down!

Another beautiful falls!

Gettin' her feet wet!

South Falls

Underneath the falls. Felt goooood!

Nathan was thirsty so he filled his can back up.... LOL

Thought of a fun day trip for the kids and I.

Just a short and very scenic drive away is Silver Creek Falls, which they just call Silver Falls now.

In the middle of this vast farmland lies these beautiful falls.

It offers wonderful picnic grounds, a safe swimming hole, great hiking adventures and stunning falls you can walk under.

But you know this because the only people who read this blog have gone there with me. LOL.

There was me and 5 kids. We were only going to go to the South and most popular falls. But then we decided to venture further to the next falls. FIVE miles and a lot of UPhill climbing later, we were tired and hungry. Glad to be done with the hike, the girls had the swimming hole entirely to themselves and me and the boys sat on the grassy hill right by and watched them swim.

The golden sun was in our eyes the whole way home and I got to enjoy the scenery as Matt drove.

For the next three days my legs were killing me. Maybe I am a little out of shape? But it was worth it!

Artful Inspiration: AN INSPIRATION BOARD

Remember the other night? (the last post) I was sitting here, wondering what to do. Then they boys came in and we played a board game.
Well, today, I realized.. I wanted to MAKE something.
So I looked online for some inspiration. So many wonderful blogs out there.
I decided I wanted to make an INSPIRATION BOARD!

This post isn't working out quite right, as I was going to go picture by picture with how the project came along. But you'll get the general idea.

Anyway, I usually have a few things scattered around the house with words of wisdom or things that inspire me. Usually, some kind of corkboard with pictures and dreamy things. Nothing like that right now.

So I took the girls down to the craft store and started looking for the basics for my inspiration board. I knew I wanted a base of soft blue. Then I chose the black and white papers for contrast. My future bedroom is going to be dreamy blue, with white washed furniture. A black desk and windsor chair. This will look quite nice when it's all put together.

Above, I was referring to the bedroom, not the board. But first things first! Here is all the stuff I got at the craft store.

This (above) shows a corner pocket with rick-rack accents. My future bedroom will have a lot of vintage. So rick-rack goes quite nicely!

The little card above was made with a sticker and pre-made frame paper. The quote says: "All you need is deep within you waiting to unfold & reveal itself.: ~ Eileen Caddy
I really believe that is true!

Well this one turned out sideways... oops. I decided to add an "Inspiration WIRE" to my board, because I absolutely LOVE the idea! This picture shows cut out letters saying "Have Fun."

I decided to make some little cards to centerpiece
hanging down from the middle of the wire, or to display within the black design in the middle of the board. Each card expresses an attitude or quote.

The big blue one above says: I AM HERE TO LIVE OUT LOUD!
Love it!

Above I have tweaked the vintage photo as well as a page from an old autograph album dating 1905. Added some vintage jewelry, too.

Here, I made a corner pocket to tuck the sayings cards into.

VOILA! This is the finished product but was supposed to be at the end of the post. I did a couple more little things as you will see.

This wonderful floral paper cut outs were a whole sheet in the scrapbook paper section (same as that wonderful black cut out) that I carefully cut apart to make the sweet floral sprigs.

Ah, above is the FINAL final product, without the frame, which will be antique black.

These are the quote/attitude/inspiration cards to tuck into the side pocket. Sideways, sorry.

My niece cleverly attached this old photo above as the gift tag last Christmas.

And finally, this last card says: (A-maz-ing) Surprising greatly. Inspiring awe or admiration or wonder.

This is exactly how I feel lately: INSPIRED and surprised (by my recent straight A's at my first term back to college after 26 years). I underestimated myself. But now I feel like I could do almost anything... and why shouldn't I?! We are only limited by how we limit ourselves.

So, I plan to be making MORE inspiring things more often.

TURNING DREAMS INTO REALITY!

You can do it, too!

Things to do... Things to DO!

So now I am on vacation. Yes, I may have the summer off from work, but I still had full time college. And now that I am done with summer term (a 4 point, thank you very much!), now I am technically on vacation until work starts back up very, very soon.

And then I will juggle full time work with full time school.

So here I sit, wondering what I should do with the remainder of my vacation.

I've done a whole bunch of ebay listings. I have cleaned, and will clean even more I am sure. Spend some time with the kids. Go somewhere.

But as I sit here, wondering what to do with TONIGHT, looking around at the piles around me. I got up and took some pictures of piles. A sign of obsessive compulsive disorder? Or laziness? Or someone who is just really, really busy. Or all of the above?

So, as I sit here wondering what to do next.... the boys walk in with a new board game.

"Mom! You wanna play a board game?! Before I can utter "Uhhhh", they have the game set up and ready to go.

Guess that took care of that!

Sweet 16

A sweet babe!

A loving son!

Going through stages...

...and now!

Nathan is Sweet Sixteen!

My Nathan turns 16 tomorrow! Where does the time go? It seems just yesterday he was a chubby little babe. Now he's practically a grown up babe!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY NATHAN!

Love you son!

CELEBRATING VISITORS TO THE ZINNIA GARDEN

It's a happy day when we have so many visitors to the zinnias.

Have I mentioned zinnias are my favorite flower?

I can't help but take lots of pictures of them. They bloom for so long and as they morph they change into something new and different in the process. Look close... they look like little cakes. At least they do to me.

I would challenge any talented cake designer to make one! Sculpting cakes like flowers is a whole market! As delicious as they look!

We had one other visitor to the zinnias.. a humming bird! I was taking pictures of the white butterfly, and a hummingbird flew up. My gasp of delight scared it away.

Celebrating summer! Celebrating completion of summer term at school! Celebrating life & zinnias!

Ebay Vintage Jewelry

a lovely clip with carved glass center
(currently for sale)

coming up soon on ebay - some miscellaneous vintage/antique bits and pieces

one of the most stunning pieces I've ever sold - a fine silver cameo by famous silversmith HENRYK WINEGRAD

and this, a cloissonne water lily, early 1900 corsage pin. The enameling on this was absolutely beautiful. How do we resist?!

Ebay & Etsy Vintage Jewelry

Here are a few of the things I've had on ebay lately and my usual stock at Etsy. Some of the items I've sold recently were hard to part with, they are so beautiful.

Please visit my shop if you have a chance: User ID THANKNUKINDLY

My etsy shop : signofthedimes

Thanks!