Friday, April 30, 2010

On the Road Again - Part III

Sunday morning after resting our weary bodies, we load up the van and head to Ventura Swap. I have not been here since I closed down my antique booth and took everything out here to sell. It was the hottest day of the year (seriously, even though it was November).  I don't do well in the heat anymore, so I kinda had a "meltdown" before that day was over. 
However, I am the driver, so here I am.  And it turned out to be a beautiful day. You know what, I found one of my most favorite treasures ever. It only cost $4.00 and you will get to see it when I show all my finds in the next post.
Besides being the driver, I am here because I really want to find some cheap embroirdered linens that I can cut up for projects I have in mind. Sometimes there is a booth where they have tons of linens just spread out on tarps on the ground.....great prices.  On my hands and knees, crawling and searching (what we won't do for that special treasure) I usually leave with a bag full of goodies.
But not on this day.  That vender was no where to be found.
After walking the whole thing, I did find a few things I loved among which has to be a bag of Kettlecorn.
The smell of fresh kettlecorn is enough to get me to the last row (or first depending on which way you are walking)

On to Agoura Hills to an Antique Mall. I haven't been here before, but my traveling buddies have.
I'm sure Gail (click on her name)will have more to share here, but I will just show some pictures from this place.
We were met by the owner who was the sweetest lady we had ran into the day before at McDonalds waiting to use the restroom before going to the "Remnants of the Past"
Loved, loved, loved this store.  It is light and bright and lots of white.  Just being me....I don't care for all the dark colors that are so popular now.  I can appreciate them in other's venues, but for me....give me white anyday.
Anyway, here are a few of the pictures I took here.  Again, mostly soft goods and pillows.


When I found this next area, I had to run and find Gail. She loves anything "shoe" and is fond of black and gold too. This just shouted GAIL.

Sally found me and we went off to see something she found she liked. It was this pillow with a monogram and just made from white muslin. It had a big floppy torn ruffle.  Elegant simplicity.

The next one was in an area of folded linen towels and a basket or two of grain sacks. Not the French Grain sack, but good ole American ones. This is one made into a pillow. Gail and I both bought another one that had held 50 lbs. of popcorn and you will see what I did with one of those in my next post.

If you have been following my blog, you have seen some pictures around my home showing my love of faux food, so naturally these would catch my eye. I didn't purchase either because frankly, I think Mr. SS would kill me.  These are two of his favorite things.


Can you believe how real and yummy that looks?

All of the above pictures came from The Agoura Antique Mart and if you click on it you will be taken to their website and from there to their blog.  There is a lot more to see.....

Well, from here we go to Simi Valley to a couple of our favorite retail stores
Decor Store
Homegoods

Then off  to Valencia to Homegoods, dinner and home.

I wish I had grabbed my camera for a picture before we un loaded the van, but guess I was too tired by then. Did get these though  as the others were unloading and loading to take there treasures home.

Gailwho spent the weekend searching for boat related things for Vacation Bible School week at her church.  You'll see all about that on her blog. Just click on her name.


David, Gail's husband snapped this one as we were loading up Ruth's car.

A tired, but happy group of friends, from left to right:
Sandi, Ruth, Linda, Gail, Beverly and Sally.
Missing is Cindi.....We missed you Cindi!!


Wednesday, April 28, 2010

On the Road Again - Part II

      My friend Gail and I both have blogs and didn't want to overlap too much with pictures and stories. To see our trip from her eyes and camera, go to Victorian at Heart.  We really had such a great time and it was fun trying to get pictures to share with those who read our blogs.  

We left Nipomo, and headed south with Los Alamos being our next stop. None of us had been there in years, but we remembered a big building called the Antique Depot and an old Victorian House. We spent too much time at the Depot and opted to not visit the Victorian House and headed south again. This is the Antique Depot
I guess I didn't get any pictures of the inside. Sometimes I get so wrapped up in looking for my treasures, I forget to take pictures.  I did purchase a couple of things here, but will wait and show them all at the same time in Part III.
As we got off the freeway to get to the Depot, we spotted a field of poppies. I couldn't wait to get back on the road and get a picture of that field before getting back on the freeway.
I have always been a picture taker, but really, my whole outlook has changed about what I look for to take a picture of.  It's now all about my blog....no, really I think I am more aware of all the beauty around me, now that I'm am posting pictures on my blog.  The picture of the old bridge and this next picture are problaby my favorites of the trip.

The poppy field with a touch of lupines growing among them.

Back on the road south, we stopped in Summerland (don't ya just love that name) and one of my favorites, Carpinteria.  Mr. SS (in case you can't figure that out, it stands for so sweet.  I've seen other blogs where they nickname hubby after their blog and I thought it was very fitting for my sweet hubby.)
Okay, back to our trip.....Mr. SS has had 2 jobs in the area of Carpinteria in the last year and we have spent a lot of time there. I have been through all the antique stores many times and also a quilt store.
I love to walk along the beach there too.
No pictures in either of these places, but  hope maybe Gail will post some.

From here we headed toward Oxnard where we were staying the night so we could be up early to attend the Ventura Swap.  Before checking in to our hotel, we had dinner and visited a huge outlet mall. By this time, I was beyond exhausted and just dropped those off that wanted to shop while I drove around checking to see if there was something I couldn't resist, but my body won out and I stayed in the car.

Gail's husband found us great rooms at the Marriot in Oxnard and I was never so happy to see my bed. My roomy was Sally and we just had the best time talking and settling in for the night.

I just realized I may need a fourth installement to show my treasures.
Part III tomorrow....Ventura Swap, Augora Hills, Valencia and home.






                                       

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

On the Road Again

I'm going to post about our weekend in 3 parts because there is so much to share.

Saturday morning at 5:30, six of us (usually seven) set off on a road trip to Nipomo, Ca. and beyond for a Barn Sale called "Remnants of the Past"  We rented a 12 passenger van to hold us and all of our "findings". (The rental of the van could be a post of it's own.)

I am blessed with so many wonderful girlfriends, but this group consists of:Gail, Sally, Sandi, Ruth Linda and I. (Due to a family obligation, Cindi is missing on this trip)

We have been hearing about this event for some time, but just couldn't get together  to make it until now.
It is a twice a year event. Once in October and this one in April.

Along the walk to the barn. We were early, of course, and were only 2nd in line, but had to wait over 1/2 hr.

Along the walkway to the entrance and also throughout the show were these fresh flowers. Aren't they pretty?
The Barn. There were venders set up in the barn and all around it too. About 50 in all, I think. It was very crowded and hard to get around at times, but that is all in the fun of the hunt for treasures.

Loved the flags hanging from this umbrella. This booth had the most yummy frosted cupcakes and other tempting goodies too, along with the aprons you see hanging in the background.

My first purchase came from this booth.  I will show my "finds" on another post.

Sally, making her first purchase at "Pink and Peonies"

Next are just a few of the pictures I took of "soft goods" as that is where I look first. I don't want to overlap too much what my friend Gail @ Victorian at Heart will post about our trip.




French grain sacks, which I have really taken a love for, but after looking at the prices starting at $350.00 ea., I decided, I need to find a new love.  I would make a pillow out of one of these....Oh well, a girl can dream, can's she.

One of my favorite booths was the vegetable stand. I didn't purchase any because we would be traveling, but the display was so pretty and colorful. My favorite was the 2nd picture with the vintage trucks filled with snap peas.


I only made 3 purchases at this show, but I will share more about them on another post.
As we were walking out, we saw this perfect place for a picture and Gail hopped in there to model for us.

As we were driving off, we were directed out a different way than we came in. I found myself driving a 12 passenger van with 6 passengers and all our "stuff" facing this.

As cute and rustic and  perfect as this is for a "photo op", would you want to drive over it?
There were many people trying to leave behind me, as I came to a quick halt here. Not only did I stop to ponder the situation, but also because Gail wanted to get out and take a picture. There was  a couple walking across and of course we had to wait for them to cross.
Horns started honking and someone came from nowhere and buzzed around me, but I was still feeling a little queasy about crossing.  Hearing the impatience of the people behind me, I closed my eyes (yes, I did) and went for it. Oh.....I left Gail behind.....so after safely making it across, I had to pull over and wait for her to catch up.
More honking. Okay people, we are out here to enjoy a day of relaxing fun, reminescent of days gone by when there were only horses and buggys....I think the bridge got to me.

We are off to another part of our adventure and I will share more of it tomorrow.

Friday, April 23, 2010

Reflections

This looks like a really bad piece of photography, but it was pouring down rain and I took this through my window.
This is the view outside my window where I sit at my sewing machine. The wind was blowing like crazy and then the rain.  I grabbed my camera, thinking I should have taken this when the sun was shining.  We don't usually have a lot of rain in Bakersfied, so it is always needed.
So as I was thanking God for a rain storm and praying that it not mess up my flower beds too much, I  thanked him for the sunshine that made those same flowers grow and be so pretty for our Easter Egg hunt.
Then I realized how much I take for granted. I love my flower beds and take care to make them as pretty as I can, but with out the Sun and the Rain that our Lord provides, they would look pretty pathetic. So thank you Lord.
I don't have any other pretty pictures today and I don't always express myself well, but just wanted to say how I don't want to take life for granted.
My DIL who has the six kids is a nurse and takes care of babys in the nursery that need special care.  She and I were talking about how much God blessed us with all healthy babies in our family.  I am so blessed that all my family is healthy and I don't want to take that for granted. Thank you Lord for our health.
Do you get how I am thinking? I take way too much for granted.  I am going to spend more time in prayer thanking the Lord for things I haven't thanked him for often enough.
I take too much for granted.

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Some of My Favorite Things

                                     
Last Sunday afternoon, I hosted a "Tea Party"
for a friend.  There is a group of seven of us who (for over 25 yrs.) get together and shop, eat, celebrate birthdays, and just have a lot of fun.  One of our friends couldn't come so our picture is incomplete, but here we are before we sat down to eat.  My friend Gail @http://www.victorianatheart.blogspot.com/ had a tripod, so after several tries the six of us got to be in the picture.
From left to right: Gail, Sandi, Ruth, me, Cindi, and Linda
Sally couldn't come....we missed you Sally.

I still had my table set for Easter and I wanted a change, so I quickly searched through my drawer of vintage table clothes for one I could use with my cobalt and milk glass.  I have a ton of both, but not many pieces for a table setting, most are serving and various other accent pieces. I had to mix and match a little.

I wish I could say these flowers are out of my garden, but of course they are faux. One of my friends said if I had put water in the pitcher she would have thought they were real.  The pitcher was given to my by friend Gail.  You can't really see it but it is sitting on a milk glass cake platter with a vintage embroidered doiley


I had to mix and match with my set of Basketweave dishes I got for my Valentines table.
I alternated dinner plates with the cobalt so I could use my milk glass and colbalt sherberts.


I found 6 goblets at an antique store one day when I first started collecting cobalt and later my friends Ruth and Linda found 6 more for me that are exactly the same. I love using them.
The yellow napkins are vintage Damask.  I have a collection of those in pinks, blues, lavendar, and yellow that I often use for Easter.

I have so much Colbalt and Milk Glass that someday, I will do a post on each of those and where I got them.  Some of the colbalt isn't vintage, but I have some great pieces that are.

Roll Drum please..............Now the food.
As usual we had way too much food and everyone contributed except the Birthday Girl who isn't allowed to cook.

Cucumber Sanwiches
Egg Salad Sandwiches
BBQ Chicken Salad in Tortilla Scoops
Chicken Pasta Salad
Fruit Salad
Veggies and Dip
Deviled Eggs


Sandi has become a Scone expert and brought us a sampling of her favorites:
Cranberry Orange
Sour Cherry
Plain (not plain tasting)
with
Devonshire Cream
and
Lemon Curd
made by Ruth (vintage recipe from her mother-in-law) Yum.


Then, as if we hadn't had enough, Gail brought these. Can you believe the size of these things?
You should have seen my sweet hubby's eyes when he saw these....he worked out in his shop the whole time we were there, so we took him a consolation plate.


It was 82 degrees here on Sunday, so our "Tea Party"  consisted of 2 flavors of Iced Tea and Pink Lemonade. 
Our next excursion is this weekend. We are renting a 12 passenger van(room for 6 passengers and 6 passengers "thrifting finds") and heading to the coast on Saturday for a show called "Remnants of the Past" which is held in Nipomo, Ca. and then on down to Ventura on Sunday for the Ventura Swap.



                                     

Click on the link above the picture or on the button on my sidebar and go over to Susan's  Between Naps on the porch for lots of links to great tablescapes.


Monday, April 19, 2010

Winner....Again

Before telling about my win....I have been experiencing internet connection problems for almost a week, so if I haven't been able to visit all of you as much, or respond to your comments, that's why. I know I am on this thing a lot, but until you don't have it, you don't realize how much you use it. My computer sits next to my sewing machine, and I often just click on a blog for a break or check my e-mail often. I have really missed being able to do that, but.....and you all know where I am going.  I sure get a lot more done when I can't just click.

I'm almost embarrassed to post about this, but not that embarrassed. I won again. Now really, I don't enter that many giveaways...really.  This time my win came from Suzanne. Click on her name to go to her blog.  She has written several posts that have inspired and uplifted me.  One of the recent ones challenged everyone to set a goal by finishing the sentence "I will..."  I did that,  and it has helped me set some priorities.  But the one post that sticks out in my mind was the first one I read on her blog. It was on perspective. As a new blogger at the time, it really made an impression on me and I go back and read it often.  You can find that Here.  Back to the giveaway. Suzanne is a consultant for Southern Living at Home. It is a home party type business and their cataloge is full of useful and beautiful items for your home. In honor of some changes and a name change in her business she was giving away one of the items from the cataloge. This is what I won.


It is a bronze ice beverage container with a tray to catch the condensation.  It is lovely and since we do a lot of outdoor BBQ's and family meals, I will use it alot.  Thanks Suzanne for a great giveaway.

Sunday afternoon a group of friends got together at my home to celebrate a birthday.  I will be sharing pictures of that later in the week and joining http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ for Tablescape Thursday.



                                                                             
                                                                               

Friday, April 16, 2010

Kentucky Spagetti

        Last summer when I went to Kentucky with my son and his family to visit my aunt and cousin, my cousins wife fixed this for one of our meals. She called it Chicken Spagetti, but the first time I made it for my grandkids, they named it Kentucky Spagetti.  The ingredients are simple and something most of us have in our pantry and fridge.
4 chicken breasts
1lb. of Velveta Cheese
1can Cream of Chicken Soup
1 can Cream of Mushroom Soup
1 can Rotelle (mild) or original for more of a kick.
1 lb. Spagetti noodles
1 cup chicken broth

Boil the chicken and spagetti at the same time.

While that is cooking, cube the Velveta and mix the soups, and tomatoes together.

Drain the chicken and reserve one cup of the broth.
Do you have one of these. It is called a Spider and has become one of my favorite tools in the kitchen. Thanks to Food Network, it is just one of the things I have learned about that makes cooking just a little easier.

I add the cheese to the hot broth and stir to melt it just a little. Drain the spagetti and put back in pan.

Add chicken broth and cheese to the other ingredients.

Chop or pull chicken and add to spagetti in pan. Add the other ingredients and stir.

Pour into 9x13 baking dish that has been greased or sprayed with cooking spray and bake for 1 hr. at 350 degrees or until bubbly.

About 15 minutes before it is done, sprinkle crushed croutons (I used garlic, herb) on top and "Voila" you have Kentucky Spagetti for dinner.


I am linking to 



Click on the link above to visit and see what other bloggers are participating and see all kinds of yummy receipes.


Wednesday, April 14, 2010

A Litttle "This and That"

Starting with the little (or not so little) Baby Emmy. I just happened to get a couple of pictures this morning after she got back from her first doctor visit. She is 5 weeks old and weighs in at a whopping 10lbs. 13 oz. She has been smiling for a while, but I got my first big smile today. Of couse not for the camera. Don't ya just want to pinch those sweet cheeks.


Today, I finally put together 29 (of 30) fat quarters I needed for a quilt pattern I got from http://alittlebitbiased.blogspot.com/. I had many of these in my stash.  Some from 10 yrs ago when I first started collecting 30's reproductions, some from my red, white and blue collection, some I had Amber send me that I liked in her quilt and a couple I picked up at my favorite quilt store, Strawberry Patches.  I still need one more, but I started cutting them out today. Here are the fabrics.


Here is the quilt.  I am doing this for my grandson Cade who will be 6 in July.  His room is sports and red, white and blue.  I really thought this would be perfect for him.  These pictures are from Amber's blog (click on the link above) She has an Etsy Store where you can get her patterns.



Today, my prize from the giveaway on Barb's blog arrived.

She made the cutest little gift card with a really sweet note. You can't see it very well, but she sent me a vintage hankie too. (not part of the giveaway). It was her Nana's. Isn't that just the sweetest gift of all. Little did she know, that I collect hankies. But this one I will treasure.
I truely have met the nicest ladies through my blogging and feel so blessed by each of you.

One of the blogs I visit often is Southern Inspiration.  Suzanne is having a giveaway that ends on Friday. She sells "Southern Living @ Home" products and is giving away two of them in celebration of changes in the company and name change.  If you have a chance to hop over there and enter, be sure to read some of her posts. I have really gotten a  lot of inspiration and encouragement from her. Very sweet lady.

That's all for now. I'm working on a couple of cute little dresses for models at Strawberry Patches and made some more purses. I'll show those soon and have a yummy recipe to share on Friday.