PRETTY PINK FLOWERS

Hi everyone :) :) :)

How are you all doing?  It's been a long time since I last wrote a blog post, but I'm back and ready to go again :) :) :)

In fact, I was sitting in church on Sunday and a sweet friend of mine sat down next to me. She also happens to be an extremely talented painter and artist.  She earns a living selling her paintings on-line.  We had a nice little chat about that and I felt really inspired. She was really encouraging to me.  She and I are gonna get together soon and talk about details, because I"m interested in starting my own online store as well.

So we'll see.  It's still just talking, researching and praying and talking, researching and praying some more.  If you have an online store or home business, I'd love to hear about your experiences.

In the meantime, I made my ual coffee run at Whole Foods this morning.  There's this beautiful plant that has the loveliest pale pink blooms.  I think it's more of a bush, but they have it set up like a tree.  It's hard to explain.  In any case, here's a photo I took this morning:

I'm not sure what kind of flower it is. It reminds me of sweetpea or lilac, but I'm probably wrong on both counts. Do any of you know what this is?

That's the news from the ocean shores of California today.

Love and hugs,

Heather :) :) :)

HEATHER'S TEXTURE TUESDAY

Hi everyone,
It's been a really exciting week for me.  I'm not ready to talk about what it is...yet. However, it is pretty big for me :) :)


I'm participating in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday this week. Today it's an "anything goes" edition. So I decided to show you all my very FIRST texture that I used. It was Kim Klassen's "Autumn Burst" back in September 2011. I hadn't learned how to resize the layer image yet, so I just cropped everything instead. This photo was of a lilac bush in my neighbor's yard. Lilacs are so beautiful and delicate:

Tomorrow, our country will be celebrating it's birthday on July 4th :) :) There will be a parade downtown and I'm looking forward to checking that out.

In the meantime, I leave you with a photo of Colton Hall in the city of Monterey, California. Colton Hall is where the first constitution for the State of California was signed back in the 1850s. It also served as a school at the turn of the 20th century. It's being decorated for our July 4th celebrations tomorrow:

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Extra love and hugs to your day today, Heather :)

HEATHER'S PHOTO TEXTURE TUESDAY

Hi everyone,

I'm participating in Kim Klassen's Texture Tuesday link-up again today. If you'd like to visit her blog, click her. She takes beautiful photos and has some of the most amazing photo textures, too.

Here is the original photo that I took last Sunday:

There is a really sweet story to this photo.  An older couple in our church got married at the beginning of June.  They are both in their 80s.  They were both married to their respective spouses for well over 50 years. They both became widows.  They met at a weekly dinner/Bible study at my church.  They eventually found love again in each other. It was really sweet to see.  We surprised them with a post-wedding reception after church.  The wife was totally surprised. The husband knew about it all along. He can keep a good secret.

It was such a sweet, precious time. Everyone was clapping and cheering for this couple. I think the best love stories are the ones that are written by God - the Author of Ultimate Love.

Okay, so what did I do with that flower photo? See below:

Voila, here it is.  I used TWO of Kim Klassen's beautiful photo textures. I used Photoshop to edit and texturize my photograph today.  First I used two layers of "Reverie" texture. The first layer in soft light at 60% opacity. The second layer in hard light at 30% opacity.

Then I added a THIRD layer of "waterstained frame" at "I totally forget" opacity...just dark enough to see the waterstained frame around the edges of the photograph.

All the textures were free downloads from Kim Klassen's website. Thank you, Kim :) :) :)

That is the news from the ocean shores of California today. Extra special love and hugs to your day today, Heather

Hi everyone,
How is your Saturday going so far? I think June is a strange weather month here in Oregon. It rains a LOT here....from about October through June :) :)  Yesterday it was a high of  about 71 degrees Fahrenheit. It was also overcast and very muggy/humid. So the heat felt much "hotter" than it really was. This morning it started raining. It was beautiful. It has stopped raining for the moment. It's getting muggy/humid again.  That's okay. I have the fan going and it feels really nice in here :)

YESTERDAY WAS LAUNDRY DAY.

 My weekend is shaping up to be rather quieter than usual. I did laundry yesterday.  There's a laundry room at the apartment complex, which is wonderful. We do have to pay to use it. However, I love the convenience of not having to leave home to wash my clothes.    I keep my homemade laundry powder in a big plastic container. This glass latch/hook jar is what I use when I go to the laundry room.  I refill it when needed. Click here if you like to read my post on how to make your own homemade laundry powder. If you have any questions on that, let me know. I'll answer them as best I can :) :)  This laundry powder is saving me a boatload of money :) :)

 FLOWERS RIGHT OUTSIDE MY FRONT DOOR.

One of the joys of spring and summer is when things start to bloom. There is color everywhere. There's this little bush right outside my front door that has these lovely pink blooms. The blooms are about the size of my thumbnail...very tiny. However, this is a close-up so you can see the detail :) :)

MY NEIGHBOR ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE HAS A BEAUTIFUL ROSE BUSH.

 The neighbor across the fence from me has a gorgeous rosebush. The roses are just starting to bloom. In a few weeks this bush will be so laden with roses, it'll start to bend towards the ground :) :)  This is what I photographed yesterday. Aren't they pretty?  I think so. These roses are so lush and just packed full of beautiful, pink petals :) :)

THS IS SHERBERT, THE HOMELESS CAT THAT ROAMS THE APARTMENT COMPLEX. HE'S ONE OF A FEW HOMELESS CATS THAT HAS ADOPTED THIS   APARTMENT COMPLEX AS HIS HOME.

Sherbert decided to check me out as I was leaving the house yesterday. I love these light purple flowers, too. aren't they just gorgeous in full bloom? Sherbert used to belong to one of the other neighbor's here in the apartment complex. The neighbor's moved out and just left him behind. That is actually a good thing, because they didn't treat him right. 

He tried to "adopt" my add and I. However, in an apartment complex, we have to pay a pet deposit in order to have a  cat (or a dog). It's more than either of us can afford. It makes me sad, but in an apartment complex there are rules that have to be followed :(.  We also don 't have money to feed him . So Sherbert ignores me now, because I don't feed him.    Although he still likes to nap by the tree right near my front door ;) :) My next door neighbor feeds him...so he's not totally without. Sherbert gets better love/care/food from my next-door neighbor, than his previous owners.   However, this day, he looked so cute near the purple flowers. This is actually a good photo of him.

As soon as I find my dad's store receipt from Costco, I'll tell you all about that. We went shopping there on Thursday. It was an experience. We didn't buy a lot because we have a small refridgerator/freezer. We did score some great deals on meat and vegetables.   That's for another post.

I also found a really interesting little curio cabinet. It's probably from the 60s/70s...and it's a "not pretty brown". That will be sanded/painted white or cream...to reflect my love of all things vintage, country, romantic, Shabby Chic...etc. You get the idea ;) :)  I'll post about that later, too :) :)

Oh, thanks so much for visiting me today. I've noticed the new followers, too :) :) You always make me smile...and thanks for liking my blog enough to come visit :) :) You are always welcome. God is good and I'm thankful for each and every one of you :) :)

I do need to organize my "subjects", so people can more easily find older posts. What would you suggest? I could use some advice, because I don't know what would work best. How do you feel about one of those "search" gadgets, that let people type in a word and it brings up all-related posts with that word in it? Let me know. This might be my "computer" project for the week :) :)

That's the news from Oregon today. Extra special love and hugs, Heather :) :) :)

SPEEDY STROGANOFF & OTHER INTERESTING THINGS :) :) :)

Hi everyone,

How are you all? Did you all recover from the Blogger blackout the other day?  I was starting to go through some blogging withdrawls. Everything is back up and running, so this post will be a little longer than usual.

First, here's a lovely lilac for you  :) :) The smell is lovely.

 THIS LILAC BUSH IS EASILY OVER 7 FEET TALL. IT LOOKS MORE LIKE A TREE, IF YOU ASK ME.  WHEN IT FIRST STARTED SHOWING BLOOMS, THEY WERE A DEEP PURPLE. EVENTUALLY THEY TURNED TO THIS LOVELY PALE  PURPLE COLOR.

Okay, I am just loving my Gooseberry  patch cookbooks. I have three of them so far. It is a very small, but very mighty collection. The one book I've been cooking A LOT out of recently is Gooseberry Patch's cookbook "Dinner$ on a Dime". You can click here and go to their website, if you want some more info.  

Oh, just so everyone knows, I am not getting paid for this. I'm happily sharing this information with you because I love this company and their product :) :) :)  I paid for the cookbook myself, because I really wanted a copy  :) :)

I REALLY ENJOY BEEF STROGANOFF. THIS IS THE PICTURE FROM THE THIRD TIME I MADE THIS. THE FIRST TWO TIMES, I FORGOT TO TAKE A PHOTO TILL AFTER I HAD ALREADY EATEN THE FOOD :) :) :)

My father and I are really making an effort to cook all our meals at home. Not only is it better for you, it also saves a lot of money versus eating out or buying pre -packaged foods. 

This particular day I decided to make the  Gooseberry Patch recipe for Speedy Stroganoff.  You can find it on page 7 of the Gooseberry Patch Cookbook "Dinner$ on a Dime".  

 SPEEDY STROGANOFF
(submitted by Connie Ferrell of Blanchester, OH )

Ingredients:
1 lb. ground beef 
1 onion, diced
2 tsp. paprika (  I left this out, since I'm not a paprika fan)
1 tsp. salt 
1/2 tsp. pepper
10  3/4 oz. can cream of mushroom soup
16 oz. container of sour cream
Cooked egg noodles

  In a skillet over medium heat, brown beef and onion; drain.  Add paprika (in my opinion, optional :), salt and pepper, stirring thoroughly.

Reduce heat to medium-low.

Blend in the mushroom soup and heat through.

Stir in sour cream. Serve over cooke noodles.

Serves 4

MY NOTES: I did change a couple of things in the  recipe based on preference and making sure to use what was on hand. I don't like paprika. I'm not a spice snob, it's just a taste that I prefer less over other spices.  The stroganoff sauce works great without it, too.  

Also the first time I made it, my father helped me. He forgot about the egg noodles, and he grabbed spaghetti instead. Well, it works  :) :) It's pasta :) :) :) It still tasted fabulous :) :) :) The second and third time we used spiral pasta.

You could also use another ground meat, if you don't eat beef.

This recipe is really super easy and very inexpensive. The meat was the most expensive item. That I purchased on special at the store. So depending on what's on sale, that might influence what you use :) :) I highly recommend this cookbook. Next time, I'll share the easy chili recipe. Oh, goodness, I was in chili heaven :) :) :)

In other news, here are  few things that I thought you might  get a tickle out of:

 HERE ARE SOME VINTAGE ITEMS I THOUGH YOU'D ENJOY.  I AM ALWAYS FINDING SOMETHING TO FEED MY LOVE OF ALL THINGS VINTAGE CHIC.

 The tin on the right is a real old-school Saltine crackers TIN. Yes, folks, you heard right, I said TIN . I found it at a yard sale for $1. It's practical and oh so cute. I'm thinking if the folks at the saltine cracker company started packaging their crackers in tins, they'd sell more crackers. My father and I are sort of "passionately discussing" who gets to keep this.

Oh, the soda bottles. Do those bring back memories. My local Fred Meyer store has an entire section of classic sodas.  So my father and I bought these three. He remembers  Bubble Up from his childhood. My dad's a father, so he thought "Dad's rootbeer" was cute, because it technically has  "his name" on it ;) :) The one in the middle, I've never had a sarsparilla soda.  So I had to try it. What are some classics that you love?

THE POSTAL SERVICE HERE IN OREGON IS HAVING A "STAMP OUT HUNGER" FOOD DRIVE TODAY. THEY ARE COLLECTING BAGS OF FOOD TO HELP FEED THE HUNGRY HERE IN OREGON. WE HAVE AN UNUSUALLY HIGH NUMBER OF HUNGRY PEOPLE.   

 It was really neat driving through town today, because almost everywhere I looked I saw white and yellow bags handing from mailboxes, sitting on sidewalks or on top of mailboxes. Every bag filled with non-perishable foods to help those who really need it.  It really is a beautiful sight :) :) :) 

HERE ARE SOME FLOWERS TO SEND YOU ON YOUR WAY TODAY. I THINK THESE ARE JUST GORGEOUS. THE PETALS HAVE RUFFLES. THIS PARTICULAR FLOWER GROWS EVERYWHERE HERE IN SOUTHERN OREGON. IT ALSO COMES IN MANY DIFFERENT COLORS. 

There are so many different color varieties of this particular flower.  Aren't they just gorgeous? I think I'd like to have these everywhere  . 

 Let's see. Here are some things I want to share with you later this weekend:
*More Gooseberry Patch recipes
*a recipe for avocado ice cream (intrigued? You'll have to stay tuned for that one)
*Plus two cute little yard sale finds. One for a quarter and the other FREE.

I hope all of you have a fabulous weekend.   Go visit a local farmer's market.  Make a craft project or whatever else makes your heart glad :) :) That's the news from Oregon today. Extra special love and hugs, Heather :)

YOWZA!! SO COOL (AN UPDATE)

QUICK UPDATE (6:04 p.m. PST)
The Beyond Organic Insider opportunity is only available in the USA at this time. I verified it by leaving a question on their Facebook page.  So I just wanted to make sure everyone knew that :) :) Thanks :) :)

Hi everyone,

Wow, this is so cool. I see that four of you have signed up for the Beyond Organic Insider. That's so cool. I was TOTALLY SURPRISED...shocked, to be truthful. What a blessing.  This is yours to do with what you want. I'm so thankful for this opportunity. Pray that I'll glorify God in all that do, including this. Pray for me, that God will give me wisdom to make good decisions. So I just had to get that out there.

Here are a couple of pics I took to day. My father and I celebrated getting over a major hurdle..paying a bunch of bills. Bills always seem to congregate all together..so we got coffee and soda. On the way home, I spotted what I thought was a  tree with some awfully pink leaves. On closer inspection, it was a tree with pink flowers. This was in front of a business. Some of the employees saw me and thought I was weird. Whatever. I didn't care. I got my pretty photos ;) :)

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL TREE WITH PRETTY PINK FLOWERS.

 HERE IS A CLOSER LOOK AT SOME OF THE FLOWERS.

It looks like some of the blooms are starting to fade on the ends. Or maybe that's the nature of this particular flower. It's not quite clear. However, I think we can all agree that is a lovely shade of pink.

I hope you are all having a beautiful Wednesday :) :) Thanks for visiting me and following my blog :) :) That's the news from Oregon today, Heather :) :) :)

HEALTHY LIVING AND A NEW OPPORTUNITY

Hi everyone,
I was going to share my recipes for easy chili and beef stroganoff today. Nope. I'll put that off till tomorrow :) :) Both of them are recipes that I found in my Gooseberry Patch cookbook called "Dinners on a Dime" It's a great cookbook for me right now.

 THIS IS A SNOWBALL BUSH THAT I SAW NEAR THE OFFICE AT MY APARTMENT COMPLEX.  I'LL POST ANOTHER PHOTO AT THE END OF THIS BLOG POST.







I spotted this snowball bush when I was going to the apartment manager's office. My father had to copy some documents  he needs in order to get financial assistance with our electric bill.  Our landlady is really nice and helped him out.  While there, I saw this lovely bush. The maintenance guys, Bob and Tim , said it's called a  "snowball bush". It does look like floral snowballs, right?

Okay, so back to the topic at hand. As most of you probably know, I'm really working on being healthier, eating healthier etc. I have inflammatory bowel disease, specifically ulcerative proctitis. So one day I came across a book called "The Maker's Diet" by Jordan Rubin. Actually, my father purchased it at our local Christian bookstore. Who knows why at the time. Although, I think God knew why. About 13 years ago, Jordan Rubin was diagnosed with Crohn's disease. Through a process of changing his eating habits, he was able to reverse that and has been in re mission since that time. So I thought, "Wow, if this helped him. It can surely help me." That's the short version of it.

He's written quite a few books. He also has a health foods product company called Garden of Life. Oh, and if that wasn't enough, he has a new healthy foods company called Beyond Organic. What he's doing to provide beyond organic healthy foods at a reasonable price is amazing. I just love, love, love his philosphy on healthy eating and living. In fact, he and his wife have a ranch in Missouri where they're raising beyond organic cattle etc.

In any case, my friend over at The Maker's Diet Mom told me about a neat opportunity that Jordan Rubin was offering to people for free. His new company, Beyond Organic Insider is launching in October 2011. However, right now, he's offering a chance for people to sign up for FREE if they want to learn  more about  healthy living, having access to really good food at good prices, helping others etc. There's no obligation. It's completely free right now.

So it's definitely something that is perfect for me  and right up my alley. So I joined. I'm nervous and excited. It's a good nervous and excited.  Here's the link if you'd like to join for free right now. I did ask my friend if I can sign up just for myself and she said yes. So that was also perfect for me. Jordan Rubin will be on TBN's  "Praise the Lord" program tomorrow talking about this. You'll have to check your local listings or the internet to find out if it's available in your area

Friends, I'm so excited about this because I want to live healthier. Also, it's been a real good thing for me in this season of unemployment. It's a bright spot. So from that perspective, I'm really looking forward to what opportunities this will open up. Be in prayer about it. I'd love to have you join. I think this is going to be a neat  thing. However, I want it to be something you feel God is leading you to do. It is for me. Whether you sign up or not, is perfectly OKAY :) :) I just want to let you all know what I'm up to today :)  So here's the link again, if you'd like to join for free. Click here for the link.

THIS IS A PHOTO OF THE SNOWBALL BLOOMS UP CLOSE. IT REALLY DOES LOOK LIKE ITS NAME, DOESN'T IT?

That's the news from Oregon today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

p.s. I'm not sure if this opportunity is available outside of the USA or not. I'll find out as soon as I can.

FLOWER FOR YOU !!!

FEEL FREE TO BORROW THIS PHOTO AND SHARE IT ON YOUR BLOG OR ON FACEBOOK. THIS IS MY GIFT TO YOU TODAY.


Hi everyone, How are you on this Sunday? I'm doing well.  I am going to back into blogging more regularly.  It has been nice taking a little bit of a break.
Church was good this morning. There is a huge city-wide yardsale coming up at the end of the month. So people were  hammering out some of the final details. It will be really neat.  There are lots of extras planned. They are raising money to help send a couple from our church over to Uganda. Pray that all the details would come together AND that LOTS and LOTS of PEOPLE buy all the stuff :) :) :)

That's the news from Oregon today. Extra love and hugs, Heather

MAGNOLIAS ARE MY NEW FAVORITE FLOWER

MAGNOLIA BLOOMS PHOTOGRAPHED JUST THIS AFTERNOON. AREN'T THEY JUST THE MOST ROMANTIC, GRACIOUS FLOWER EVER? IS THERE SUCH A THING AS A GRACIOUS FLOWER? YES, AND IT'S A MAGNOLIA !!!!

Hi everyone, How have you been doing this week so far? I've been doing well.  I've been a bit lazy in posting. There was an idea I had for Tea Time Tuesday that didn't quite make it this week. However, it will be ready for next Tuesday. It'll be so cute. The only clue I' ll give is that it's pink :) :) :)

My dad and I were driving around town the other day when I spotted these magnolias.  These particular magnolias are just the loveliest shade of pink and white. Aren't they gorgeous and romantic? I think I want to plant magnolias. These are either "Saucer Magnolias" or "Japanese Magnolias". I vote "Saucer Magnolias" because we do have saucer magnolias, in general, here in Southern Oregon. Either way, these sure are pretty. Wouldn't you agree?

Oh, I'm on this crazy mission to read my Bible in a week. Well, at this rate, it'll be more like a month. However, it was just a spur of the mo ment thing that my father and I decided to do. So we're going for it. It's really interesting. God makes lots of promises. He keeps them, too :) :) Plus, I think God has a sense of humor, because there are certain passages in Exodus that are just making me howl with laughter. What is it you say?  Well, one in particular is after Moses has just led the Israelites out of Egypt. I'll save that for another post. I have this funny dialogue running in my head about this :) :) Isn't neat that since the very beginning God is watching out for us :) :) That's awesome :) :) :)

I was having very serious doubts... well, more like worries, about being able to pay bills. Today I was reminded "not to worry", because that's what God tells us to do. So it's been neat for me personally to see how God is reassuring me that everything will be okay. It will and I'm NOT worried :) :) :)

Have a great Thursday everyone :) :) That's the news from Oregon today. Love and hugs, Heather :)

Scripture Sunday

Have a great Sunday everyone.  God is convicting me of some bad attitudes I've had about work lately...so I have griped a lot in private emails..and I'd ask your forgiveness!!!  Enjoy today. My father and I will actually be staying home today and listening to a church service at Gateway Church online. My dad listened to the first service, said it was so good, that I needed to hear it, too. Now my dad says almost EVERY sermon is good that he listens, too. However, today had extra emphasis...SO I will listen and be encouraged...maybe convicted..not sure..but knowing that God only has His best for me. Happy SONday everyone....I'll be posting craft stuff this week, so keep your eyes out for that :) :)Extra love and hugs today because it's chilly here in Oregon. That's the news from Oregon today, Heather :)

Scripture Sunday

Feel free to borrow this and share it with your friends and family or on your blog :)

Hi everyone...Have a great Sonday. I'll be working on some new photos with Scripture this week.  Enjoy this one today. That's the  news from Oregon. Love and hugs, Heather :)

My photo challenge for Saturday ~ August 28th, 2010 till Friday ~ September 3rd, 2010.

Hi everyone....Happy Friday. The weekend is here. Do you have any plans for the Labor Day weekend? I have nada planned, other than to relax and do nothing.  I need a little time to recover from working the phones :) :)

Here's my photos for this weeks photo challenge. If you missed last week's photos...click here.

Saturday ~ August 28th, 2010 I believe this is a crepe myrtle.  These are right outside the building where I work. They are just so bright and beautiful!!!


Sunday ~ August 29th, 2010 It actually rained today...for a little bit. We didn't receive the usual summer rainstorm...however, this was wonderful. It was a nice relief from the heat :) :) :)

Monday ~ August 30th, 2010 This is where the story ends.


BONUS PHOTO for Tuesday ~ August 31st, 2010.  I couldn't find anything for today. So this is a photo of one of my pillow cases...LOVE THE RED SATIN :) :) :)

Wednesday ~ September 1st, 2010  First signs of fall. Isn't it beautiful. Every leaf looks like it was handpainted.

Thursday ~ September 2nd, 2010  This is a favorite spot that I love to look at and take photos of when I can...Do you notice that dark red bush in the center? It's another sign of fall/winter :) :) :)

Friday ~ September 3rd, 2010 (Photo actually taken yesterday). This German Shepherd belongs to the father-in-law of one of my neighbor's. He's a HUGE dog...the size of a horse...I'm not kidding...He stands all the way to my hip and he's very wide and very long. He's such a sweetheart of a dog...just a sweetie pie and so very gentle. He came over to greet me :) :) :)

 

Tales from the Pear Tree

Work has been good this week. I've been doing mostly inbound calls. That's always a little bit easier since people actually WANT to talk with me :) :) Either way, I really enjoy my customers for the most part :) :) :) 

 

Oh, apparently, I'm much better at selling peaches over the phone than was previously thought.  I was one of the top two peach sellers last Tuesday. So I came home with a really nice prize yesterday that included Wolferman's Maple Almond Signature English muffins, summer sausage, baklava, cranberry citrus tea cake, dark chocolate cherries.  My dad wants the citrus cake...and I'll have the baklava and there will be peace in the household :) :) :) Oh, it was the best prize I have won this season :) :) I LOVE it...

 

Those english muffins are yummy and the size of tuna cans...no kidding..They're super chubby...just the way I like my English muffins :) :)

 

My shoulder seems to be doing better...but it's a weird mix of feeling much better when I'm at home and hurting again when I'm at work. I suspect it's the chair I sit in. 

 

Meanwhile back in Heather's regular life...oopps...my regular life...my dad and I went and did a little grocery shopping today. I bought some non-food items because it was payday and I really needed some new deodorant. In any case, we saw a yardsale sign and my dad went to stop there...just for moi :) :) :) I found one thing...but oh, what a thing...it was a set of two sheer w hite curtains that I can put in the front room window...to let some light in but maintain some privacy. I have neighbors not to far away...and we have a perfect view of their back porch and they have a nice view of our living room...or would..if we opened up the blinds all the way :) :) :) They're nice...but I just like a little privacy. Oh, the sheers only cost $1 for both of them together. What a deal :) :) :)

 

My dad wanted to buy curtain rods. I suggested we go "Depression Era" in our decorating and just use some pushpins and some heavy duty yarn, until we can afford to buy those. Apropos buying stuff, we do need a toaster, so I'm going to look around for a vintage one!!!

 

It's nice and hot again here in Southern Oregon.  That's the news from Oregon today. Extra love and hugs this weekend, Heather :)

..For The Love of Coffee, Soap, Knitting and Rainy Days!!!

Hi everyone...oh boy....I'm so thankful to God for a job at this point in time, even if it's not "sure" whether it'll continue past Christmas or not.  God is good and I'm learning how to be a good steward of my money..although I will readily admit that I still struggle with spending money on fancy coffee drinks. The coffee is good...and so are the baristas. They are really nice to my dad and I..

Anyway, I just had to get some things out of my head and onto a blog post.  My sweet friend Gerry over at Gerry's Soap N Stuff sent me two lovely bars of handmade soap the other day!!!!  Click here to visit her blog.  She's a really sweet lady who knows all there is to know about making homemade soap.  Take a look at the photo below...

These are the two lovely handmade soaps from Gerry...lovingly styled with my cloth knit from real sugar cane fibres!!! Oh, this soap smells to GOOD!!!!

Gerry asked me one day if she could send me a couple of bars. YES!!!! Gerry, thank you!!! When this arrived in the mail, it was the highlight of my day :) ;) :) :)  The white bar of soap on the right is the "Easy 2 Pounds of Soap" recipe.  The pink bar  has "black raspberry vanilla" fragrance oil in it and some palm oil.  Let me tell you...it's hard to put it down, because it smells so good!!! Pay Gerry a visit and tell her I said "hello" :) :) :)

The cloth that the soaps are sitting on is that yarn made from 100% sugar cane fibres. Yes, sugar can!!!!  Here's a link to the yarn that I bought.  When I can afford it, I like to shop at The Web*sters.  It's my favorite knitting store in Ashland, Oregon. It comes in hanks and is super difficult to wind into a ball...but it's so worth it. Ladies, this yarn is luxury..It drapes so nicely. It's a real dream. it was a little difficult to knit with because the yarn reminds me of really slick mercerized cotton..HOWEVER, with patience, you'll really like it. I knit in garter stitch (knitting on every row) to make this rectangular cloth. I actually use it at work to put my coffee mug on. It looks pretty and serves as a shield if my coffee spills..

I've been praying for some warm, muggy Oregon summer rain for awhile now.  Oregon can be really hot during the summer.  The humidty can really be oppressive sometimes, but there's beauty in that, because oppressive heat, usually means a nice summer rainstorm somewhere down the line.  We finally got one a couple of days ago.  Here's what the skies looked like outside my front door at about 4 p.m. on Tuesday. This is for real and I did nothing to touch up those photos. Don't those clouds look majestic and threatening all at the same time?


This photo was the skies above the apartment parking lot.

Now it only rained that one day where I lived...and it wasn't much of a rainstorm at all. Honestly, I do feel I got cheated just a little with the rain :) :) When I purchased the local newspaper the following Wednesday, there were some photos of flooding in some parts of the county. So some people did suffer some rain damage from the storm. That was surprising because in my town it seemed "relatively" calm in comparison.


These are what the clouds looked like outside my front door.  I think I may have taken this photo while on the way to the grocery store.  The clouds have these beautiful highlights with the dark rain clouds overhead...This photo is also untouched, completely natural. Isn't God's creation amazing?

This is a little bit of what it looked like while it was raining.  I'm hoping we will get some more rain later this summer.  This was the best photo I could take for all of you :) :)

I took this photo after my dad and I returned from the grocery store. By that time some of the dark clouds had dissipated, but it was still raining.

There's this one church near my home that I love to drive by because it has this really tall flower bush with these bright, bright magenta flowers. Does anyone know what they're called? A couple of weeks ago this bush looked dead..then yesterday, my dad and I drive by and we see this...

Isn't this intense color? This is a close-up of this flower bush. I don't know what it's called...but it sure is beautiful and it was in full bloom.

The following photo is of the flower bush. I don't think it's a tree, although the church's landscaper has it fashioned like a tree with these stakes.  It was in full bloom of color. I tried to get a really clear, detailed photo and it was impossible...even with lowering the exposure on my digital camera. Then I smiled at the thought that God could/would create a flower so brilliant that taking a photo is impossible, no matter what the weather is like outside :) :) :)


If you know what kind of flower this is, please let me know. Don't you just love all the color?  It's insanely beautiful!!!!

My dad is a really sweet man and here's a funny story that I shared with my Facebook friends yesterday.  My dad went to the grocery store yesterday morning to pick up a couple of things. He actually went to buy me some generic Epsom salts because my feet had been experiencing some swelling. So I'm going to try soaking them in this stuff and see if it helps. Anyway, when he comes home he surprises me with this beautiful bouquet of one dozen brightly colored roses with some lovely accents. See the photo below...


Isn't this gorgeous? My dad gave these to me yesterday!!!

My father is more likely to give me a good Christian book or a nice cup of coffee from The Human Bean. I can think of only two other times in my entire life he's ever given me flowers. Today is a new day folks. I asked him about the roses. He said that when he was at the grocery store, the cashier asked him if he wanted the flowers. Apparently, they can't sell flowers that are a day old...and so it was either give them to my dad or throw them away. Well, my grandmother didn't raise no dummy...so my dad took the flowers home and gave them to me :) :) They are long-stemmed roses. I put them in my antique vintage pitcher.  There was nothing else available and in an effort to use what I already have, this fit the bill perfectly..Aren't they beautiful?

This is my first attempt at styling a floral arrangement.  It doesn't match the pink/cherry table runner, but that's okay...It's all pretty and the flowers still looking really, really good!!!

I'm thinking about keeping some sort of flowers in there all the time now. It really brightens up the dining room area.  What do you think?  I think they are really cheery and bright!!! There is never such a thing as too many roses. ...nope, in this case, more is more!!!

Oh, I found this really super cute blog site awhile back called Rachel's Knitting Corner. I don't remember which one of you dear ladies directed me to this blog...but I'm in knitting heaven. Click here to visit this nice lady's blog site. She's a knitter...and I LOVE knitting. Anyway, every month she has a mystery dishcloth to knit. This current dishcloth project started on August 16th. Every day she posts a few more rows to knit and eventually, by the end of the month, you have a completed dishcloth with a fun mystery pattern that's revealed as you knit it. So I'm going to knit this current dishcloth.

Now there are already 4 days worth of posts. I 'll post about it tomorrow and include a link with my progress. If you knit, maybe you'd consider joining this blog or following the pattern and knitting a dishcloth of your own. Mystery dishcloths....I'm lovin' it!!!  She also has links to past projects..and with every day's new post, she includes all the previous knitting instructions leading up to that point!!!

That's about it for today. I hope you don't mind my "spaghetti" thinking today...starting at one point, going off on a tangent and stopping at the end of the original point. There's just so much I wanted to share with you all.

I've also realized that I haven't done much with budgeting and some other things lately. So I apologize for getting a little off track...but lately I just feel the need to post about what's on my heart. Oh, thank you so much for all the nice comments you have been leaving me here. I read every one and they've been much appreciated..especially since I started working. What really touches my heart is reading how you  ladies look forward to reading my blog..That makes me smile...really!!!!  I love Jesus Christ and just want to be a person that makes people feel good when they visit and feel good afterwards too...so when I read your comments about my blog, it was so unexpected and very touching. I'm wild with delight :) :) :)

That's the news from Oregon today. Lots of love and hugs, Heather :) 

365 Day Photo Challenge for Saturday ~ July 31st, 2010 till Friday ~ August 6th, 2010.

Hi everyone...Did you have a good week? I had a good week. Things are still a little difficult at home, but getting better...I'm trusting God to work it out even though it still hurts at times. My dad is a sweet man and I love him lots... :) :) :) He forgets that I'm a grown woman sometimes..but I still need to love/respect him...because how I treat him,...well, I want to treat him well...and I think that'll carry over into how I treat my husband some day. Does that make sense?

Oh, my goodness...this week was not very good for taking photos. I only got photos for three days. So what I ended up doing was creating some collages from photos I had taken previously.  Next week will have fresh photos.

My dad is so sweet because he's going to "build" me a little table for the mouse and mousepad to the computer...so that I don't have to lift my arm too high.  It's been doing a number on the muscles that go from my shoulder to my neck. What a nice dad!!! Oh, and I'm under strict instructions not to say anything until I've tried out the new idea!!! OH....I love the new idea...Oh, it's so simple...He just put the computer mouse and the mousepad on a chair..no table was needed..and it was free, made from stuff in our home. Oh, sweet relief for my aching shoulder/neck  :) :) :)

Here are my photos for this weeks photo challenge...

Saturday ~ July 31st, 2010 Hydrangeas. There were multiple colors all sprouting from the same bush. This particular one had blues and purples ;) :) :)

Substitute photo for Sunday ~ August 1st, 2010...I learned how to use the collage feature on Picasa to display more than one photo at a time :) :) So cool...and I even made the center photo black & white with a touch of color!!!

Substitute photo for Monday ~ August 2nd, 2010. This is the Segway business that my friend owns in Jacksonville, Oregon.  The original house was built in the latter half of the 1800s.

Tuesday - August 3rd, 2010

Substitute photo for Wednesday ~ August 4th, 2010. These are some flowers that I photographed in Lithia Park in Ashland, Oregon.


Thursday ~ August 5th, 2010 Oh, my friend Cindy over at "Whimsicle Musings" made this beautiful tag for me as a surpise. It even has the letter "H" for Heather ;) :) Thanks for the sweet gift, Cindy. Click here to view her blog. She also writes the blog "I Owe It All To Him" You can find that blog button on my sidebar :) :) :)

Substitute photo for Friday ~ August 6th, 2010...These are some shots of Jacksonville, Oregon. I changed the center one to black and white and the rest to sepia tones!!!

WELCOME TO: natkoplovsky. If you have a blog, could you send me the link or add it to your Google account? Then I can update this post, so people can come visit you.  Otherwise, I'm glad that you have joined my blog :) :) :) Thanks!!!!!

Well that's about it for today. There are some cool giveaways happening over at some of my friends blogs. So I'll make sure to talk about that this weekend. You know I LOVE giveaways. It doesn't matter who wins...it's fun just to enter!!!

I'm so thankful for being able to go back to work for Harry & David for the Christmas holiday season.  There are some logistics that need to be settled by Sunday, so pray for those.  It'll be nice to have a regular paycheck..but the timing is a little off, so it's throwing off my budget a little bit.  Pray that God will meet the few needs that I need to get taken care of before I go back to work. Plus, pray that I'll have a grateful attitude at work..and that I can be someone who spreads joy in the workplace!!! Oh, and no gossip...lots of ladies in a single room sometimes means gossip...so I don't want to fall prey or participate in it either!!! Pray for strength in that area too!! Thanks for being the kind of people I can share some prayer requests with...that's awesome.

Okay...I finished my laundry for today. I watched Perry Mason "The Case of the Wrongful Writ"..and now I'm finished with another post!!! I also read John Chapter 6 and part of chapter 7 today.  Some days it's really easy/joyful to spend time reading my Bible. Other days I feel like I have to drag myself to God's Word like a thirsty person crawls to an oasis in the desert...but the point is that I'm there...so that's where I'm at...but I don't regret coming to God's Word and reading that for comfort!!!! Have a great weekend everyone!!! Lots of love and hugs to you all!!!  That's the news from Oregon today, Heather :) :) :)

I'm Writing With A Joyful and Heavy Heart..Both At The Same Time!!!

Aren't these blooms lovely?  This were on a tree at a local church in my neighborhood. So I had to snap a photo.

Hi everyone, I hope you are all having a good week so far.  Today's post is just a collection of random things that happeneed this week...plus a prayer request!!!

I posted about some things that I bought at a few yard sales last weekend. Well, I decided to take a photograph of the front cover of that 1935 cookbook on home baking. It's really cute. It's chock full of tips and menu ideas for various parties. I absolutely howled with laughter as I was reading the beginning of this little gem.  This humble baking book asserts quite STRONGLY that baking skills are NOT NATURAL AND MUST BE LEARNED...how funny is that? I thought it was funny..and that's why you need that book :) :) :)


During this season of unemployment, my dad and I have to rely a few times on food pantries for things to eat. Yesterday we went to a local food pantry that was near our home and we were blessed with a nice variety of things. The best part was that WE were able to pick and choose what we wanted...so none of this good food will go to waste.  We've had experience in the past where certain pantries pick out the food for you...and alwayss there was something we couldn't eat.  I don't know about you, but one of the things this season has done to me is...I dislike wasting food. Wasting food...well, you might as well throw money in the trash can...so I really try to use everything that's available in my kitchen!!!

Anyway, one of the things we got was a really nice generic box of cornflakes...except I just had to laugh when I saw this box. It looks vintage and the name on the box is really cute. Check out the photo below...

I am loving me a good bowl of "hospitality" cornflakes :) :) Every bowl full makes you more hospitable :) :) :) Good...I need some of that :) :) :) OH I love this and I enjoy cornflakes...I just thought the box was so cute!!!

I think that little house pictured on the upper left hand corner of the cereal box reminds me of Tara plantation from "Gone with the Wind" and The White House :) :) :) Yep, gotta love hospitality cornflakes :) :) OH, that black thing in the upper right hand corner of the photo...that's a sock hanging from my clothes rack..Why? I'm not sure...but I will line dry clothes there, since it's right in front of the screen door. Our apartment complex will not allow us to line dry clothes outside...so the workaround is to put it in front of the screen door. It's inside and it's "legal" :) :) :)...plus with the glass door open, the breeze/sunshine come through the screen door very nicely!!!

There was a table at the church food pantry with various items like cups, plates, water bottles etc. I didn't really look around since there were a bunch of woman surrounding the table like vultures at a 100% off table at the favorite department store :) :) It was really quite funny actually..I waited until most of the people had left and I decided to check out what was left. I found this little treasure of a plate hidden under a really ugly pleather bag...Here's a sneak peak...You'll have to wait till Teatime Tuesday for the full reveal :) :) :) It's super cute and a real treasure. This was absolutely free...


Here's a sneak  peak of the freebie I found at the local church food pantry. Even here, in a place that requires you to have a measure of humility, God still blessed unexpectedly :) :) :)

Today I decided to try my hand at baking something. I used this fluted ceramic tart dish that I've had for at least 15 years now...ever since I lived in Germany. Anyway, a dear Facebook friend in Florida wrote this really great Amish cookbook. Her name is Sherry Gore and she lives in Pinecraft, Florida. It's a very sweet little village near Sarasota...and it's a lovely community of beachy Amish Mennonites. In fact, many Amish love to come here for vacations.  Sherry Gore wrote this delightful and super-chubby cookbook called "Taste of Pinecraft" Click here to visit her website.  You can order the cookbook there. That's what I did...and it's worth every penny. It's full of stories of the locals there..so you really get an idea of the people that inspire all the recipes you see in the book. Oh, the cookbook is "chubby" because it's full of stories, recipes, tips...all the good things you would want in a cookbook. It truly is useful.  It's also a goodly thick size that's easy to hold in your hands :) :)

Sherry Gore also has a blog which you can visit here.  She's a lovely lady. Anyway, the first recipe I tried today is the "baked oatmeal" which you can find on page 97. I used the recipe at the top of the page :) :)
Now this recipe was easy...although I didn't have baking powder, so I used white rice flour instead. It worked!!! OH, skipped the vanilla too...didn't have that in the cupboard either..Yet, it's still super tasty..The baked oatmeal is a really nice mix between hot oatmeal cereal and oatmeal cookies...Yummy, yumm and yummy!!

It was easy to make and this is what it looked like when it was finished...Now remember, I'm much better at crafting than cooking!!! I like it more..but I was HUNGRY and wanted to bake something to make good use of what I had in the kitchen :) :)...

Baked oatmeal is really yummy. I had just pulled this right out of the oven. The fluted tart dish...has been well-used over the years..It's more than done the job!!!

I did try some right out of the tart dish.  I didn't want to wait for it to cool down..so it did crumble a little on me, but that's okay...I "spooned" a slice into a bowl and poured some nice milk over it...Oh, tasty Pinecraft treat...here I come...

It tasted great.  It was just slightly sweet and with the milk, it's the best. How did I like it really?...See for yourself....

I ate EVERY blessed bite of this yummy baked granola. The best part is there are leftovers...so I've got breakfast for the next couple of days. This was easy and very inexpensive to make. All of the ingredients that you'd need to buy can be used for multiple things... :) :) :) Oh, while this was baking, I made good use of the time and "whipped up" another batch of my homemade powdered laundry soap :) :) :) It was perfect timing and I am feeling really domestic...just call me Donna Reed!!

Oh, please visit my sweet blogger friend Dorothy over at "Notes from Mémère". She loves Jesus Christ and she just has a really nice writing style. She shares funny stories, spiritual insights she's learned, yummy recipes etc. Feel free to browse through her blog posts. She's a lovely lady...just like all of you :)  :) :)..I"m guessing only ladies read my blog so far :) :) :) Anyway, if you like her blog, then please join!!! She would love to have some visitors :) :) Thanks everyone!!!

I would ask for prayer for my dad and myself if that's okay :) :) This season of unemployment has been difficult emotionally and financially. My father, when he gets upset/stressed, gets really short with me. Yesterday it was really bad while we were at the church food pantry.  We are grateful for the help because we really needed it yesterday. However, it took 2 hours and 45 minutes from the time we got there to the time we left with food...NO JOKE..It was slower than frozen molasses.

NOTE added 3:46 p.m. I deleted some stuff here because I didnt' want to overhwlem you at all..and I didn't want to be disrespectful of my dad...

He did snap at me quite a bit while we are at the pantry.  Anyway, I won't go into more details...but just pray for my dad and I. Pray that I'll still love/respect him...because quite frankly right at this moment I wish I had my own place.  I feel like my heart is breaking and the argument we had yesterday still makes me cry.

Here's a close-up of some of the hydrangeas I photographed the other day :) :) :) Aren't they beautiful? Notice the two tones of blue and purple :) :)

There is good news to report.  I got a call from my old supervisor at Harry & David. I'll be going back to work on Monday...That whole week will be devoted to retraining and learning some new improvements to the computer system.  The department I used to work in was Outbound Telemarketing..and while not my choice of job, it was steady for the season and regular hours. That department was eliminated two years ago. When the new CEO came in, he brought it back, because he said it was an important part of the company...so I'll be back to my old job!!! It'll be great. It's supposed to last through December. That would be great because then I can get my last two medical bills payed in full...and then the only debt left to pay is my student loans from college.. :) :) Yeah...one more step closer to being completely debt FREE :) :) Pray that it goes well!!!

WELCOME TO: Doni of Faith, Grace and Crafts. She's a new follower to my blog. Click here to see all the lovely things she has. I was really delighted over all the cool vintage items, crafts, Victoriana...it really has it all :) :) I think you'll like her blog.

I also have another follower...but you didn't leave your name :( :( As soon as I find it out, I'll update this post ;) :) :) THanks for joining my blog. I hope you have a great week!!!

My heart is heavy and happy at the same time!!! That's just life sometimes... :) :) Thanks for stopping by to visit me..and sorry if this post is a little "darker" than usual...that's not my norm...but I just really need some extra prayer today :) :) That's the news from Oregon. Love and hugs, Heather :)