Thanksgiving is a time for "Thanks"!

Thanksgiving is a fun time of year for me. I feel very traditional I like to do the things like; the Thanksgiving Dinner, the Macy's day parade, the Redmond Starlight Parade on Friday day night, you know stuff like that.

Glenn and I like it when our house is full of our Kids and their friends or family everybody eats, plays and has a good time. I am thankful that this year is going to be the same a full house with all the trimmings.
I would like to take this time to thank my Husband and Kids for being apart of my life;

Glenn
Casey and Holly
Amanda, Dustin and Lucy
Andrew and Debbie
Micah
Kadie and KC
Monica
Juniper Berry

I love you all and I can't wait to see everyone on Thursday and those of you that won't be able to make it, you are in my thoughts and heart you will be missed on this special day.

Happy Thanksgiving, Betty Jo aka Mom

Fun Snowy Day Off!

This is such a good day to have off, the air is cold and there are flurries of snow in the air. I happen to like this time of year your home changes it look so quickly with Halloween then the smells of cooking for thanksgiving , the decorations for Christmas time and then we seem to finish this busy time with a celebration of the past year and bringing in the new year!

Today is the day I am preparing the menu for thanksgiving day and get my shopping list ready. It's funny but I like to do my thanksgiving day shopping at Safeway. I don't shop at Safeway any other time of the year, I think it has become a tradition with me. When we lived in Oregon City, it was different living there you really had to plan you time wisely and being in retail we were always so busy during this time. It never failed every year Glenn and I would end up at Safeway across the freeway in Gladstone around midnight a day or two before Thanksgiving. You see in the city the grocery stores stayed open all night or into the early morning hours so you could shop for food anytime you liked not like here in Redmond where most places are closed by 11pm. So again this year I will keep my little Thanksgiving meal shopping tradition and visit our local Safeway.

Hope you have as good as a day as I plan on having.

Glenn is brewing again!

Glenn has played with the "art" of brewing beer for about 8 years now. You never really know when he is going to brew a special batch of beer so I always like to see what inspires him to do so. My "49"Th birthday was one of those inspirations, he started the process the day of my birthday. He choose a mixed berry ale, I really can't describe it now because I haven't tasted it yet. A batch of beer like this takes about 20 days from start to finish. The beer is bottled now and they are just sitting there waiting for the special labels to be put on. The name of the beer is called "Birthday Betty's Brew", I can't wait for that 1st taste, I am sure I won't be disappointed!

Saturday night after spending Halloween with Lucy and Amanda we decided to make the Birthday Betty Beer labels. We both had input in designing the labels so that made for a fun time. In about 5 days we will be able to open up a bottle and have a taste I can't wait I will be excited to see how a bottle of beer tastes that is named after me:)

I have an unexpected announcement to make, I am deeply sadden by the 1st beer my Husband named after me has gone awry ( looked up the spelling). The taste was OK but there was an odor, Glenn is recapping his steps to see what went wrong. I feel really bad but in all the years of him brewing this is the 1st mishap, so if you ask me that is a pretty good track record. I would like to have you try another one when your ready so maybe some day I can have my personal beer made especially for me. As they say "don't sweat it, have another home brew"!
Until next time, have a good day, Betty

June's got a new dog bed!

What do you do with a pile of men's shirts that your Husband says are wore out? here is what I did, You let the pile sit were you can see it and you stare at it wondering what could be done with a great pile of fabric. Casey's dog Simon gave me the idea when I was visiting, it was funny to watch Simon; his "blanket" was being washed and he didn't want to lay on his bed until his blanket was out of the dryer. I thought to myself I could cut up Glenn's shirts and make a dog bed so June could enjoy her bed as much as Simon enjoys his!

Well, June still sneaks up in her favorite chair when we are busy, this habit started when she was a puppy so it's probably to late now to correct:) But I do think she appreciates her new dog bed when we are in our outdoor living area (patio). The cement doesn't seem so hard and cold when she lays on her bed.

I still have shirts and fabric left over so now I am working something else up in my head, pillows maybe I guess we will all have to wait and see. But in the mean time thanks to Simon for the great idea!!

Weekend at Casey & Holly's House

I spent the weekend at my Son and his Wife's home in the St. John's area of Portland. Those two will probably get tired of me before the year is out but I want to spend as much times as possible with them before they move on to their new life adventure together. I am very excited for them but I would call this a "bitter sweet" time in my life.

Casey and Holly are moving to Maryland around August 2010, Holly as been accepted into The University of Maryland with also other great things attached to this opportunity. I will let them talk about that because I just might not get it all right. She has worked really hard to be able to get this scholarship and she deserves the chance to learn and show them how good she is. I am so proud of Casey he has been a huge support for Holly and I know he will continue to do so in the future. It will take the two of them and they know that, they are not taking this lightly from what I can tell and the many questions I have asked them:), they have crossed every T and dotted every I one might say. Good Luck to the both of you and I know you will do well. You both make me so proud!

When I got there birthday presents were waiting for me. I was so excited to get measuring cups like I had never seen before from Casey and Holly knows just what to get me, can you believe she found season 1 and 2 of Dallas. Yes I am a Dallas (show from TV) fan from way back and it just so happens so is she. So I think I will be on the hunt for season 3 and 4 for her just to keep this fun thing going.
Portland was a beautiful and sunny day so we decided to enjoy it by going to the Japanese Gardens. Oh the colors, reds I can't even tell you all the shades, yellows the color of buttercups everywhere you looked. Boy if you live close and your week isn't going in your favor this is the place to go unwind. Really quite an experience. You can guarantee I will be going again. Here are some photos of a great weekend thanks for letting me come and I will see you two again in January if not sooner.



I really appreciate all the extra stuff Casey and Holly do for me when I visit, you could say they have a way of "spoiling" me. Thank you!

That's all Folks, at least until my next trip to Casey and Holly's House!

Grandma Violet's Steamer Trunk

Do you have the same problems I have when the season changes and you have to deal with your closet that looks like the "black hole"? This is the time of year that my Husband looses more of his closet, if I was to take more space this year he would end up in the coat closet in the living room probably not really that fair for him is it.?. So I knew I had to do something different, I looked in each closet in our house trying to see the light; 1st our 2 full size closets busting at the seams you might say, nope nothing there, then I went entered Monica's room but I stopped dead in my tracks I guess I will put it we have an understanding she keeps her door closed and I don't "grip" about the condition of her room. I do know that her closet is empty most of the time, the clothes seem to stay on the floor or on her bed but that is another story all together that I will skip... Teenagers?? Then I went to the spare room now that closet has become Glenn's "cubby" I won't say anymore about that because "I am a good Wife"!




So the next idea was to look under the beds, no! all full of very important stuff, in plastic under the bed boxes. If you were to ask me what is under there I would have to say honestly I have no idea but it is organized :)




Glenn has this steamer trunk that I have moved to different areas of the house, it is locked and has been opened once by Glenn since he has had it. He acquired it sometime out of high school. When I questioned Glenn where it came from I got the response of "well lets see it was Grandma Edna Mae, no no it was Grandpa Pete's but Edna Mae gave it to me, No that's not right either Grandma Violet yes it was at Grandma Violet's house and she gave it to me. So as you can see Glenn really doesn't remember but we are going with Grandma Violet so if anybody knows different please let us know. Sorry Glenn but really you don't remember do you?




So one night at just the right moment I asked Glenn if he could open the trunk so I could look in it. Then I told him about the seasonal closet issue he tried to understand and he tried to give me the look of concern but really he only understood I was frustrated about something to do with my clothes so he opened it. All I can say is WOW! I am not a good enough writer to explain the feeling, the smell, nor the excitement I had. The inside is amazing it has a box you lift out where "they" put jewelry, hats or purses but really who knows. The boxed is lined with a thin shelf paper or maybe wall paper that is blue checked. The smell was musty, salty sort of smell. BUT CLEAN!!




After I asked if I could use the trunk as long as he was able to keep it as his nightstand I had to figure out how without the items smelling like a very old steamer trunk. At Costco I found "space saving bags". You fill them full then you use your vacuum to take out all the air, this process keeps them air tight until you open the zip lock, and they are reusable. That's it, I know this will work! I was able to put all my summer stuff in this trunk plus some summer purses. I was so happy and yes Glenn got back his full closet, when I opened it today he is still using only one half like he has done for years. Change can be so difficult for him, but I know he can do it. Just move your pants to the other side Honey it will be OK, I promise:):) But you better hurry before I use the space!




Now take a look at the amazing trunk we have moved around our house completely empty and locked for all these years.

Thank you to which ever Grandparent this came from and we will take good care of it just like you did in your day.

Patio Curtains

Funky tree decoration from the Redmond Antique coop.

We are in the process of turning our patio into an outdoor living area, to be used not only in the the summer but winter as well. I was at the point where I needed to start thinking about outdoor drapes, so I set myself up with a budget and away I went shopping online and going to the local stores everything I came up with was like double+ what my budget was. I didn't want to get to discouraged right in the beginning of this quest. So I went on-line and typed in frugal outdoor drapes. Here is what popped up; (on a side note I will post the sites at the end of this post) A person who has a blog that explains how to make drapes out of medical bedsheets you order on-line from a medical supply house in qty's of a dozen. DONE! So they only come in white I wanted a tan/earthy color her suggestion was to dye them with Tea, IN THE PROCESS!


Fabric in tea dye, with a plate in the middle used as a weight.

I asked Glenn to put up the hardware for me this past weekend so it would be up when I started sewing the panels, DONE! Thanks Glenn I really like how it looks, your the best!!








Glenn helping me with the "hardware stuff".

I am on day 4 of dyeing the curtain panel's, looking on the "net" it states to leave the cloth in the tea mixture for 12 hours I am leaving it in there for 24 hours with that I am getting a very faint tan color, perfect for what I am wanting. The sheets are not a thick as I would like but I am OK with that I will have to figure out how to put weights on the bottom to hold them from blowing in the wind, and such. I guess I will try the fabric store for weights to see what they have.

It is now a week later and I am done with all the tea dyeing. I am going to the store tomorrow to purchase fishing weights, to sew on the bottoms of the drapes to keep them from blowing in the wind. Well the fishing weights work OK but I needed to add more panels so they fell closer together so back to tea dyeing 6 more sheets. When I am finished I will have used the entire dozen but it will look so pretty hanging in the winter air.

All done with the sewing I used 1 and 1/2 spools of thread, I couldn't believe it. But 90" adds up when you times it by 12 sheets right. I am so pleased with the final result of my outdoor drapes, take a look. What do you think.

Well now that I have that done I need to start thanking about what I am going to do with the lighting and the walls. I will let you know when I start on those projects but for now I will enjoy the curtains with the patio heater on high and the music of Chicago or maybe Santana playing in the background.

Grandpa and Lucy enjoying the outdoors before dinner

View from inside the house

Corner where the curtain meet.

I can't wait to see what we do for the lighting and such.

Web site I got my inspiration from;

http://frugalluxuries.blogspot.com/