This, That & The Other

Well, I had hoped to be more consistent with my blogging, but time has just gotten away from me.   The grandkids have been out of school for three weeks, and it seems that something has been going on every day.  This post has no topic.  I will just do a review of the past few weeks.
Last Friday, my friend and neighbor invited me to attend a breakfast with her that her sister was hosting in Yorba Linda.  And then after that, we were going to go pickin' at their family property nearby.  Their family owns a large parcel of land with several acres, that has recently been sold to developers.  She comes from a very large family, and they all grew up here on this land.  There was many, many years of collections to be seen.  But first, the breakfast at her sister's house.  Jane's sister, was chosen on one of the first episodes of Extreme Home Makeover, with Ty Pennington.  She had just lost her husband to cancer, and had 9 children to raise.  I saw the house being done from the outside, 10 years ago, but had not ever been inside.  I didn't have my camera this day, wouldn't you know it.  But what a fun morning, at the ladies breakfast, and then later at their family property!  Martha greeted us at the front door, with a fresh smile, and her kitchen smelling divine.  She poured us coffee, and soon the ladies began to arrive.  She served a lovely breakfast of Pioneer Woman's baked ginger and coconut french toast, fresh fruit, and breakfast breads and goodies. I brought this loaf of banana and blueberry bread.

 

 Martha's kitchen was warm and inviting, with much of her own artwork gracing the walls.  Roosters and the like, just my cup of tea.  The ladies quickly became acquainted and were merrily chatting along while enjoying our breakfast and coffee that Martha prepared.  During our meal, several of her children appeared to say goodbye as they made their way out for the day.  I was so struck with how obviously devoted, each of her children were to her, as they kissed their Mom goodbye for the day.   She was a gracious hostess, and obviously, very used to large crowds filling her home.  After the ladies had said goodbye and left, she gave me a tour of her home to show me the fabulous things that Home Makeover had done for them. She said, over and over, how very blessed she felt to have had this opportunity.  I can't imagine anyone more deserving than she.  The only photo I took at her home, was of the delightful playhouse that they built out in the back yard.  It had a whimsical feel, sort of Disney'ish, with what were, I am sure, many bells and whistles.  Mind you, this was 10 years ago, and her children are grown now, with her youngest being 14 years old.  So now, for the most part, it is used as one of her son's art studio.

Can you just imagine how fun this must have been for her children!  Hidden up underneath the the eave, is a projection screen for watching movies.  They had set it up for an outdoor theater as well.  And since she had that enormous tree in her yard, they planned and built this around her large tree.
Jane's other sister, Mary lives in the home that they all grew up in.  I had not ever been there, inside, and had so looked forward to this trip.  Mary also raises chickens.  I was eager to see her set up.  When they were children, their family raised hundreds of chickens for eggs.  Now Mary has a couple dozen or so.  Along with ducks, goats, turtles, dogs, rabbits whatever else I may have missed.  Meet Skeeter.  He was quite curious about our visit, and seemed to take a liking to me.  And he stunk to high heaven too!!!

The other Nubian Goats didn't smell.  Just Skeeter!   Skeeter followed me around the entire afternoon too!   We walked all through the property, finding our treasures.  We got to the chicken coop, and I said, "Mary, I think that one of them is dead!"  She had gotten her head stuck in between the ladder and the lay boxes somehow.  Her husband removed the bird, with hardly the same emotion I would have had, had this been in my coop!

They have a farmer's attitude toward death among the animals.  Me, not so much.  I would have had a funeral, and a proper burial.   Poor chickie.
Strolling along, we came upon this odd thing.  It was a homemade chicken plucker.  I have never seen anything like it before!

There are long rubber bolts on bottom of trash can, and all throughout the sides, and the lid as well.  It spins from the top and somehow removes all of the feathers.  Again, my chickens are like pets, and I know I could not raise them for meat.  But many do.
Mary had two beautiful Silkie Pullets for me.  But I decided not to take them.  I will wait for Spring and raise my own chicks, as it is much easier to incorporate new chicks to an established flock than mature birds.  But I was very tempted.

Oh how I wish that I had somewhere to put one of these glorious old stoves!!!!!

 This beauty is one that they have hooked up to gas on the patio of their home.  Mary says she often cooks bread in it in the summer time when she doesn't want to heat up the house.  I fell in love with the green and cream color of this one!!
One of the homes on the property is emtpy now.  It was a lovely home though, in it's time.  With beautiful original hardwood flooring throughout.  Built in niches for the telephone, and closets.  Original tile in the kitchen and bathrooms.  And this lovely piano...sitting all alone by the front door of the now empty house.

My son is a musician, and has wanted a piano in the worst way.  This shall be his.  We have to have it moved here, and then tuned.
I was hoping to find an old apron front farm sink along the way on our pickin' trip.  I didn't find an apron front, but I did get a large cast iron utility sink, and another double sink. And a fabulous Maytag Wringer Washer, and footed bathtub!  They were delivered last week, and I haven't even cleaned them up yet.  But just you wait......

I would love to put this tub in our bathroom!!!  It will need to be glazed, of course.  I couldn't even tip it over, it is heavy!!!!
The wringer washer is going to be a patio cooler!  It is on casters, and cleaned up, I think it will make a wonderful holder for ice cold drinks by the pool!  The sink will be used in my garden as part of my potting area.  I still need two of the feet for the tub.  Oh what a fabulous time we had that day!  I wish that I had taken my camera. These were all taken from my iphone.
We went to Big Bear weekend before last.  It was cold and there was still quite a bit of snow on the ground.  We have some friends who have just bought a cabin a stone's throw away, and they were moving in that weekend.  So we went down the road and helped them unpack their cars, and  have a look around at their beautiful new home.

 Every window has a gorgeous view of the lake.

What a fantastic place this is!  They are going to have so much fun here!  And so will we!!!
Their new place is near our Swedish friend, Stins.

This is Stins' dog, Forest.  He can count.  Honest...he can!
Stins will say, "Forest, count to four."  And Forest will tap Stins' hand as many times as the command asks.

Stins is a very talented crafstman, and does beautiful work.  If you need any finish carpentry work done in the Big Bear area, call Stins.  He has an add in the Grizzly newspaper every week too.
Greg went to town and got some firewood.  And I went to town, to visit some of my favorite thrifts.

This is one of my favorites in Big Bear City.  I ALWAYS find something interesting here!  And so cheap. 
On my drive back, the traffic was terrible, since this was the weekend before New Years.  There were a lot of people vacationing up the hill, and driving anywhere was a challenge.  I made the best of it, and just enjoyed the beautiful scenery.   This is the walking bridge at the Stanfield Cutoff.

 And then out the driver side door, this beautiful shot of the sun glistening through the trees, onto the snow that lay melting on the ground.

I made a quick stop at the quilt shop in town.  I refrained from making a puchase though.  But I did get some ideas for things I want to make.  They have a nice quilt shop in the shopping center where KMart is.  They also have a lovely yarn shop in Big Bear City, called Yarn Boutique.
We always bring the pups up with us.  They are good mountain dogs!

There is no fence at Mom's cabin, so we have to bundle up and take them out for many walks!   When inside, our favorite thing to do is this.

And this.

Dusty NEVER gets on the furniture here at home.  He sleeps on our bed at night, but not until I lay a special blanket down for him, and invite him up.  But for some reason, he loves to get on the couch here!  I always throw a sheet or blanket down that I can wash, because he is such a shedder.  He loves this spot on the sofa underneath the window!
We stayed until almost dark on Sunday night.  The sun was so pretty as it was setting.  It looked like a ball of fire, falling from the sky!  I took this on the drive home, with my iphone.  (All of these photos are with my iphone)

A few other random things we have done in recent weeks.  We went on the Newport boat parade.  My brother has a new boat, and we are enjoying spending some time on it with him.  This time, it was a group of my Mom's friends that he took out.  I begged to go along too.  Here are my Mom and a few of her friends.

Can you tell which one my Mommy is?  And just for fun, here is another one that was taken in the bleachers at one of my niece Deanna's basketball games.  Same group of gorgeous ladies!

 My Mommy is the one on the left in the above photo.  Isn't she pretty?!  Oh look, my husband Greg is photo bombing this one.
I uploaded the photos from my phone to my computer for the first time ever.  I had quite a few on there.  So this post is to document these things.
This one is of Greg and I on the fly bridge of the boat.  He was driving, and I went up to sit with him.  It was COLDY, COLD up there!  I didn't last long.   Greg was looking down, and I didn't get a good picture.  But you can see his smile.

You can see how bundled up we were.  It was a beautiful night on the water though, and the boats and houses were so pretty!!

My Mom and I.

I don't know how I didn't get a photo of my brother, Dave, the Captain?  Probably because he is never in one place  for long!
A week or so before Christmas, I had a little craft night with my three little ones.  They had a ball, and so did I!  I will be doing this every year with them.

They made candy cane beaded ornaments, and colored wooden ornaments.  I used card stock and cut out the shapes of mittens, stocking, and candy canes, and then took a hole punch and went all the way around the shapes.  I threaded plastic darning needles with yarn, and let them "sew" them up with the yarn.  Then they decorated them.  So cute, and they all had so much fun sewing them.

We used beads, foam shapes, washi tape, markers, glue, wire, you name it.  Fun, fun, fun!!!

We went as a family to see the play SNOOPY at our Civic Center, put on by our local CATS group.  This was to celebrate Hannah and Claire's birthdays.  November 07, November 14th.  They turned 5 and 7!!! 
Greg and I snuck out one cold night before Christmas for dinner and a movie.  We enjoyed walking around the center with our Starbucks and seeing all of the pretty lights.

Lovely angle, eh?  More chins than the Chinese phone book!
One night at my daughter and son in laws house, I spotted this quilt upstairs.  I hadn't seen it for many years.  I made this for them as a wedding gift, 11 years ago.  Her husband Jake is from Boise Idaho.  And they were to be living there. So I made a Northwest pattern I had seen in a Fons & Porter magazine a long time ago.  I personalized it some, adding the applique shapes of the states from where they come.  Idaho and California.  Then made an applique heart with arrow through it, for them to go on.  I also put a cruise ship, underneath the stars, as this is where they met.  We were on a cruise with our family, and he was on a cruise with his family.  We sat next to their table in the dining room all week.  It is done in all flannels, and backed in a beautiful Northwoods print.  I didn't show it here.  I unfurled it from their landing upstairs, and Greg took a photo of it with my phone.

I loved working on this quilt.  And I love it still.  I wish I had one in my home too!
 We took Noah to see a fun house near us that decorates their entire front yard for months ahead of the holidays.  With manger, train, and the biggest Christmas Village I have ever seen.  Music and lights, and so much fun!!

We went to see Walking With Dinosaurs.  (So cute!)

I made dozens and dozens of these, and sold them for the holidays.

 

Yes, we had a lot of great family fun during the holidays!  Tomorrow, the kiddos go back to school.  And I will be home cleaning the house all day!!
Thanks for sticking it out to the end, if you made it, that is.
I will be back soon with some January photos of what has been going on since New Year's.
Time to go watch the Broncos win, and sit in front of the fire with yarn and hook.
XO  Kris