Double Boiler

How many of you out there in computer land actually use a double boiler? I am having a garage sale this weekend....I think I will put it in. I think I have used it once in 8 years.

Great People in my life-Here's a few!

Check it out!!!!

Okay...What is Owen thinking?, and what is Alexis thinking??? You write the caption!

Amost finished!

I was going to upload a picture of the garage we used to have and the cottage it has turned into, but my computer won't upload the image...Again...sigh! Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
So we have a little cottage the color of Grandma Pickrell's house in Ketchikan (dk brown) with white trim. There are shutters on the windows with fleur-de-lis's (fleurs-de-lis?) painted on them with a little scrollwork and another fleur-de-lis above the window. There are flower boxes as well that are overflowing with color that shouts welcome! Inside the cottage the main colors are powder blue and powder yellow and different shades of white and cream. The bathroom has white beadboard wainscoting and a bit of flowered wallpaper that I pulled the colors from. In the corner of the living room is a small gas fireplace that will keep the place quite cozy. It is about 800 sq ft in size. It has a tile entry, and then the living room & kitchen have laminate flooring while we have wool light beige carpet for the bedrooms. Oh my goodness!!! The picture just appeared!!! The bathroom has a tile floor with a heater in it. It only took that picture about 10 minutes to upload. Let's see if I can get a close up of the windows now...
There will be a walkway with pavers that will extend in front of the cottage for a little patio. Eventually a little picket fence will be out front so whoever lives there won't have to worry about my labs and maybe their picnic lunch. Hurray!!! There it is! The other picture!
Tomorrow we will have the window casings all in place and the beadboard done. The laminate flooring is the next part. We will also lay the walkway pavers tomorrow. We started this in January-It will be good to get this done!

"The Merits of Messiness"

Is everybody's closet clean??? At the dentist office today I was skimming through the Ladies Home Journal (Feb 07) issue and came across an interesting article: It was titled "The Merits of Messiness"
"The idea that clutter can make the world a better place runs counter to everything we've been taught. What's so great about messiness? When you allow disorder, randomness and the unexpected into your world, many good things happen. You save the time and money that you would have spent trying to maintain order. If you have a tightly scheduled calendar, it's easy for something to go wrong, so super-neat people must constantly work at staying in control. But when you're kind of messy, if something unexpected happens you can deal with it more easily. And you also gain tremendous flexibility. For example, when you're tidy, you put that guitar away in a closet. If you're messy, you leave it around where you may happen upon it and rediscover the passion for playing. "

Less is More!

Clean out your closets, get rid of your clutter, throw away garbage, hold a garage sale, get rid of broken stuff or projects you have had longer than two years and have not touched. Give it to a thrift store, or share with someone whether or not they have a need! Get rid of STUFF! DO IT NOW!!!
Thank you!

More photos

Find more of our photos at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/9635091@N03/

THE FAM

Oh What a Hoot!

We had a grand time in Leavenworth! The place we stayed had a pool and a playground area for the kids and other lots of fun things to do. I think Owen expressed it best when it was time to go...

Leavenworth!

We're off to Leavenworth for the night-Hope tomorrow evening. The WHOLE family will be together...Smith's, Kate, Hannah, Ethan & Heidi! What a party! Jane will be there too!

Tea Time

I used to think that I might someday want to do a tea catering business. I did one this Spring for a group of Bible study ladies and though as much fun as it was, it wasn't worth all the work to make me want to pursue it as a business. It took three people to pull it off (It WAS a grand tea!) for 13 people and the supplies were about $80. So even in a business charging people $10 each, it would have been only a return of $50 split 3 ways. That doesn't even include if a teacup were to break or whatever. So...Now we have tea time at the house all the time whenever people stop by. Our favorite Tetley Tea comes from Canada. It's Black Currant. It's time for another trip north as we drank our last cup about a week ago. When was YOUR last cuppa?

Strawberries Etc.

Wahoo! The local strawberries are ripe now. As if I don't have enough to do, I bought a flat of 'em and made 4 batches of freezer jam tonight-And then went out and painted a little more on the mother-in-law apt. we are doing. It's kind of a french country look with fleur-de-lis on the shutters and generous window boxes with flowers. It's about 780 sq ft in size.
We also enjoyed a visit with the new Mr & Mrs Laron and Sarah recently. Now Katie and Hannan and Bean are here from Germany and will be headed to Ktn Thursday for a week.
I found on Craigslist a place where I can get two boxes of Bing Cherries for free! It requires a trip to Wenatchee, so perhaps a night in Leavenworth may be in order! :) Also Don & I just had our 8th anniversary last week!
I also found a used beautiful oak bathroom vanity at ReStore (a thrift store for used building materials!)in Bellingham today for $11!!! SCORE!!! The one I really liked was $10, but it was too big!
I also found out I am going to be related to my chiropractor soon....Read this carefully....My mother-in-law's grand nephew is marrying my chiropracter's wife's sister. Do you suppose that's worth a requesting a family discount???

Family Update

Beth & Jeff are doing great! Their little munchkins are the greatest. Owen's "Na-Naaaaaaa" running pell mell my direction sure melts a heart-I am sure Karen that you think the same! :) Madeline is truly a little girl now-Not just an old toddler. She loves to giggle...
Katie and Adonis are well too-Katie due with baby #2 3rd week of September. If this baby is anything like Alexis, Katie won't be slowing down for a long time. Everything is "in the mouth" stage for Alexis. I have never heard a 15 month old say "I love you" but I heard it with my own ears. Bean is quite developed and can communicate quite well.
Hannah loves Germany and being with Katie. It's been over a year now since she has volunteered to be a Nanny for Alexis.
Ethan is back home after moving out for almost a year. He is contemplating further schooling.
Heidi has just finished grade 10 and loves having her siblings all home for a bit. She played the part of Jo in "Little Women" this school year and was quite a natural for her. Though many gals did great-Heidi had the biggest part and did an EXCELLENT job!
Don is working a little bit here and there helping a contractor from time to time. It's a very flexible position and has lots of time off.
We are just in the process of turning part of our garage into a cottage which my mom will possibly move in. If she doesn't, we do have someone else who is interested in it. One of Heidi's teachers from Skagit Adventist Academy may possibly rent it.
For myself, it's been one thing after another since Christmas. The lady we were harboring married in March so she is gone now. I have a huge garden in, and also acquired over 100 raspberry plants which I put in our orchard.
I also sewed about 30 hours worth of costumes for Heidi's play.
And as usual-anybody coming through, guests are always welcomed! Call ahead to make sure we are here. DO leave a message as this time of year, I would rather be a gardener than an indoor maid! haha

Why 633?

Matthew 6:33-Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things shall be added unto you.
There was a time in my life when 633 was EVRYWHERE! Three mornings in a row I woke up (without an alarm) at 6:33. Stamps sold at work totaled $6.33. Change given back to customer was $6.33. Lots of boxes weighed to send out weighed 633 pounds. License plates too! Everywhere I looked there was a 633 which reminded me of my primary focus in life - Seeking first the Kingdom of God.

We are back....

Guess we'll try this thing out again. I "bowed" my knee to the google machine and got a new email address-Like Brady, these changes were a pain. Heidi went to help me out, but didn't write down anything she changed to the new format so I was stuck unable to post or comment.