Ladie's Weekend

 I left last friday to spend the weekend with 4 other lovely ladies!  Good food, being goofy, hot tubbing and walking.  Our walk on the beach produced pictures, rocks and shells AND oysters that went right on the barbecue with a drizzle of butter.  Oh yeah, heavenly!   The small bay we were at was just around the corner from Tahuya, WA. A blink and you will miss it place with a post office and fire department.  We walked the road to Tahuya, peaceful and beautiful, about 2 miles one way.  I brought a project with me, yoyo's that will be stacked to resemble christmas trees (I think that this would also be a good project for J, she is 6).  Sunday afternoon we were on the deck, the sun was warm, birds calling (no car or people noises).  It soaks in, rejuvinating!
 

It was very hard to leave on Sunday, we were all feeling so good and carefree.

The local saying is "What's it Tahuya"

A Lovely Weekend

My daughter and I went to the midnight sew Sat, it is 4pm to midnight.  It's feels like attending a sewing circle except you talk with women you don't know, it's a good fellowship with shared interests. Most of the ladies are quilters which I love to feast my eyes on (my favorite building during fair is the fibers arts).  I helped E with the girls holloween skirts while she finished a dress.  Interest is always high during the evening in everone's projects with the ladies wandering and asking what you are doing.  I always feel good being there and motivated for days afterward!  We left early to get enough sleep for church in the morning.  I had Sunday dinner with E. and the girls, Hubby stayed home feeling very poorly.

Thank you darling daughter for a  great dinner.  Ricotta stuffed, bacon wrapped chicken breast with sourdough bread. MmmMmm!

An Encouraging Article

http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Meet-Followers-of-the-Simple-Living-Philosophy/2

Self Challenge Against Clutter

I have been browsing a couple of web sights to mostivate myself.  I need to get a handle on the clutter in my home.

• clutter off of surfaces:  kitchen table, dining room table, desk, tall boy (bedroom)
• car, I have allowed the floor behind the passenger seat to accumulate 'stuff
• Pick an area or theme (holiday, summer, etc) abd organize (this will challenge me)

                    in the basement
                    bedroom closet
                    upstairs closet

• Make lists

Some ideas to help me:
     'Rotation Box'     don't display everything, store some objects in a box and rotate things
                                     few months

     'Come in Handy Box'     when full, something must be discarded then add new item          
                                           
     'Clear a Surface'     remove 10 items to a basket and spend 15 minutes around the house
                                        putting them away

A good tip also is to de-clutter first and analyze storage needs then find right system to keep organized.   I am putting off getting these jobs done so my first list is to keep this written on paper to remind me and to physically check off the jobs done.  I tackled another drawer in my bedroom, yeah!

                                     Well done is better than well said.
                                                                        ~Benjamin Franklin~

Chicken Keeping

Note to self  . . .  an easy and lighter way to move chickens to exactly where you want them:
Poultry Schooner @ Living the Frugal Life

Looks like a good design and easy to use, deep shade could be added with a small tarp at one end.

Adapting . . . .

So, we had to move our daughter's shed (8' x 10'), after just building it. The real estate person who manages the house does not seem to communicate well or says whatever sounds good at the time without the owner's knowledge.  Anyway, the building had to be moved from one side of the house to the other side.  E rented a big piece of equipment with four foot tines to slide under the building.  Now that was another fiasco of communication of telling the 6 - 8 feet NOT 4 feet. We positioned 2x4's over the tines to extend their reach, they helped a little.  What is it with the world out there that cannot listen and customer service taking a continuous dive lower and lower!  After deciding it was not possible because the tines did not reach with a true 4 feet; they needed to be under the middle railroad tie . . .  yes. we tried again.  E and I stood on the floor of the building (the edge) the keep it from rocking back off the tines while my husband drove it around to it's new lacation.   How I wish we had an extra someone to take a video and pictures of how not to do it!  We were desparate though and it worked AND the shed did not fall apart.  Yeah for us!

NW Tea Festival

I went to the Tea festival with my daughter and son's girlfriend in downtown Seattle today.  Oh my, some excellent teas were tasted.  I bought a Genmai Cha tea with toasted brown rice and matcha.  Not only did it taste good but seemed like a warm and cozy drink, I'm looking forward to winter morning tea and a book. Mostly we visited vendors booths and tried may types of tea and looked at products.  I saw some beautiful crockery bowls for sipping tea but couln't justify buying any. We also listened to a lecture on medicinal herbs which was very good, I believe in herbs and have used them already in a small way.  I know some are questionable but if care is taken they can be safe, quite frankly most of the drugs out there on the market are very dangerous (in my opinion).  We participated in a small tea ceremony and talk about green, oolong and white tea, OMG they were so good! Oolong was very floral and the second brew of it was even more full bodied. The white was the best, so delicate.  I've made white before and thought it was bad, I'm sure it was an inferior, cheap wanna be.  My grandaughter went too, she is 6 yrs.  She didn't fuss or say I'm bored and had her own tasting cup and tried a lot of tea.  Most she didn't like but a few were approved of.  She was a pleasure to have along, such a little lady! We had a very nice day out.

Ladies, I had a great day out! Thank you.