Palms & Artichokes

Good morning my dear friends.

With Social Distancing the new word for 2020,

at least I have all you wonderful

ladies and gents to talk to.

I am trying to stay positive.

There will be no Easter with family this year.

Today I wanted to show you what 

I did with my palm artichokes.

If you remember from my March CuboardScape,

I purchased these for our new store.

I brought some home for my Spring decor.  

This is what I did with the others that were

not featured in my CupboardScape.

I added my faux artichokes purchased

from Hobby Lobby.

So love the simplicity of the two colors together.

In other news, since working from home now,

at least I did not have to drive in this the other morning.

Looked pretty though.

Finally hopefully these adorable kitties will

put a smile on your face.

Shadow covering his eyes while sleeping.

Ace sprawled out on the couch behind me

where I sit daily for work now.

Normally when I would come home 

from work he would be sleeping in our bed.  

Now he sleeps here during the day.

Well off to turn my work computer on.

Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Stay safe my friends!

A BIG thank you for all those who are working

the front line to help us all out.

Without their service where would we be?

Palm & Artichoke Blessings To All!

Janice

  

A Feature Wall

Good morning all!

Hope everyone is staying safe.

More of the big box stores have closed now.

Kohls, Best Buy, Joanne and Michaels

to name a few.

So glad I have a stash of fabric and wool. 

Working on both strawberries and a 

new lil witch for Halloween.

Sunday I spent the morning

re-arranging our living room

for Spring and Summer.

With that I wanted to Spring up

my dry sink. 

Tied a sweet light green and white

gingham bow around my horse. 

Added my Spring floral garland

on top of my picture.

Changed up my bench a bit too.
Am thinking though I need to add something
to the left of my sampler.
Not sure yet.

Bob has been working on Summer themed

wood projects at the new store.

A few folks have been coming in to purchase food.

Some even thanked him for staying open.

We will keep the antique store closed

until the end of the month for now.

Am hoping we can re-open again,

but not sure yet.

How did you spend your weekend?

Are you changing up for Spring?

Feature Wall Blessings To All!

Janice

Getting My Wool On

When I was planning out one of

our Mother's Day window displays,

I wanted to create a black and red themed one.

Now with the virus creating havoc,

we are not even sure 

if we will be open or not.   

Part of my red and black theme

was to create this candle mat.

I created this mostly from wool.

The pink check fabric is flannel though.

The red is a muted one in color.

The black wool has flecks of red in it,

while the other wool is a grey/ white houndstooth.

It fits perfectly with the candles 

we currently sell, creating a flower.

Perfect for Spring! 

In fact a new shipment of candles 

came in yesterday,

and I have to label them Saturday morning

when I go to the store.

What a wonderful addition

to one's home no matter what

style you have.

Last evening Bob and I took his father

to the grocery store.

I am not one to hoard food,

and like to plan my meals weekly.

Because I heard the store was getting sparse,

I just started grabbing what I could. 

Bob was doing the same.

The only meat that was there were

a few steaks and a roast.

I also grabbed shrimp, imitation crab,

turkey sausage and bacon....not what

I normally eat....but these are weird times.

I grabbed lots of  fresh veggies to freeze.

No eggs or condiments to be found.

No canned veggies and only frozen

brussel sprouts, which I bought.

I will be getting more creative 

in our meal planning.

Hopefully you are able to find what you need

at your own store.

My son told me he went to 4 different stores

near him and all were mostly empty as well.

Thankfully my daughter is set with food

 for her and the kids.

My mom reminded me that this is what

it was like during the Depression and war.

I never thought I would see this myself.

I can no longer say that.

Hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Stay safe my friends.

Getting My Wool On Blessings ToAll!

Janice

March CupboardScape

Going for the green.

With more green appearing outside,

I thought, why not bring some inside.

Although everything pictured here is faux,

its its still springlike. 

I so love these fern plants with the exposed roots.

We sell these in our new store.

Paired with the glass vase,  

which we also sell....

they look really nice together.

I purchased the topiaries from an estate sale

many many years ago.

Mixed in with my butter molds.

Plus a bit of green on top,

completes my green CupboardScape.

Perfect for St Patty's Day.

Erin Go Bragh!

With all of the restaurants and bars now closed

here in Michigan, there won't be any

Irish celebrating here.

No movies, theatres, gyms.

Even the zoo and casinos are closed now.

We may be forced to close our stores.

It was dead in town yesterday.

Hope everyone stays safe.

Green Blessings To All!

Janice 

A Giant Spring

In my Step.
Spring is definitely around the corner.

So are you worried about COVID-19?
We have a case in our county now.
Our county is pretty rural. 
We were told this gentlemen travelled
Domestically and caught it.

Schools throughout Michigan
 are now closed until April.
Any venues with 250 or more folks
must be cancelled.
Churches have cancelled services.
A friends sisters wedding was cancelled.
I feel so bad for her.   
My only question regarding all of this,
is why was this not as big of a deal
during the H1N1, or the SARS virus?
What are the statistics of those who die 
from the flu each year.... because it does happen.

My daughter is afraid of losing her job,
as her company does displays for venues
like Coachella, Lollapalooza, all of the
auto shows throughout the country.
They have lost 28 accounts now.
When is this going to end? 

I trust God knows the plan,
I have always believed things happen 
for a reason...even though I may not 
know the reason at the time.

OK, enough of my rant.
Let's take some time to enjoy 
my first Spring display,

This chicken crock has some damage, 
but I love it anyway. 

A Spring wreath.

More crockery and white flowers.

Hoping that soon blooms will appear outside.

For now will enjoy the inside view.

Well Bob and I are off to work.
He will work our Back Porch store...
I am working our Blue Water Gift Shop.
We intend on washing our hands 
after each transaction.
Our workers were told to do the same 
when they work.

Hope everyone stays safe.
Have a Pre-Spring wonderful weekend!

A Giant Spring In My Step Blessings To All!
Janice

The Pantry

Happy hump day all!

Spent last night after work at the store.

Still working on taxes....

not my favorite thing to do.

I have one more spot in our new store to show you.

This is what we are calling our pantry area.

Jams, pickled everything, salsa, soups,

Bone Suckin' BBQ sauce and pretzels. 

Our honey and tea spot.
I still have to buy bags to sell the other varieties,
as I screwed up and ordered it by the pound.
Right now we have cool mint,,,
andit smells awfully good for tea.

I so love the blue and white together.

Ground coffee for sale. 

A little bit of kitchen items,

with coffee mugs.

Teacher ones, 

TGIF: This Gramma is Fabulous,

Papa: The Man The myth The  legend.

Mom and Grandpa mugs too. 

We are still doing good in sales...

don't want to jinx myself though.

I made a bunch of crocheted dishcloths.

Sold a bunch, so made more.

I am going to work Saturday again.

I actually look forward to it!

Getting use to the time change now.

How about you?

Pantry Blessings To All!

Janice

Winter Carrots

Boy this time change is kicking my butt.

It is 10:00 already and I feel like

I have not done anything yet....

just took my FIL to the grocery store.

Worked on taxes for hours after

the stores closed last night.

Bob neglected to keep up the inventory.

Now we have to do the whole year

for both stores 

NOW

UGH 

I decided to make a pillow

at the last minute for the gift shop.

I always remember gramma H planting

winter carrots...which made me create this one.

I hand sewed two carrot pieces together,

turned right side out.

Added green wool for the tops,

then sewed to the green fabric.

Oh yeah, I added the wool strip

behind each carrot too.

Stuffed with rags for the old fashion look.

Today I desperately need to do laundry.

Desperately clean my house.

Desperately take a nap this afternoon.

What are your plans for today?

Winter Carrot Blessings To All!

Janice

Apothecaries

Is it Thursday already!?

Yep it is.

Where has the week gone?

Well for me it has been going to work each day,

then spending a few more hours at our new store.
Things are going well, so am very grateful.

Today I would like to share a bit

of history on apothecaries.

Apothecary was a term for a medical professional

who dispensed medicine. Apothecaries were

the earliest form of a pharmacy.

 These early pharmacists investigated

into the healing properties of herbs and medicine

to dispense to physicians and surgeons

of the time. You might say they were our

early chemists.

In addition to dispensing herbs and medicine,

apothecaries provided vital information

to both physicians and surgeons as well as

patients who frequented them.

Apothecary as a profession dates back to early

Babylon days of 2600 BC and has recorded

over 700 different drugs available at that time.

Those are amazing numbers for a time when

medicine was not as advanced as it is today. 

Apothecaries used pottery, glass and wood

to hold their herbs and medicines.

Aromatherapy was also considered 

a treatment back in the day.

Chamomile, fennel, mint, with hazel,

along with catnip were used. Also used were

animal fats, urine, saliva, earwax to name

a few...which is now considered unsanitary

and basically non-effective.

My apothecaries are glass and wood.

The first picture is one which has a glass stopper.

The second picture is my wood one.

The third one has a tin lid.

If you also noticed my lil sheep...

it references that here in Michigan,

March came in like a lamb.

Hopefully it will go out that way too!

Apothecary Blessings To All!

Janice

We Are Open

For Business!

HELLO

Welcome Folks!

Have some brownies or cookies.

Tea or Lemonade or an Arnold Palmer.

It was a huge success.

We only had one incident.

I watched a man look around and

put a pack of gum in his pocket.

He also bought over

$25.00 in more candy and pickles.

When he did not take the gum out of his pocket,

I politely said to him.

Sir would you like to pay for the gum in your pocket?

He took his arms and looked for pockets

in his shirt (which there were none)

Said I dont have any pockets in my shirt.

I then said your pants.

He then grabbed his one pocket....

turned it inside out and coins flew on the floor.

Guess he thought the distraction would help.

Once he picked up his money 

I again said the other pocket.

He finally pulled out the gum and paid for it.

Guess some folks think they are

entitled to steal 

even when they pay for something else.

After he paid, I asked him if he wanted

to add his name and number into 

our drawing.

He was so nervous he walked out so fast,

that I said to Bob he did not want us

 to know who he was.

Doubt if we see him in again.

Well have to go to work.

It is raining right now.

I am not feeling so good.

Had the chills last night and could not get warm.

Hope I am not catching something.

Have a wonderful Monday my friends!

We Are Open Blessings To All!

Janice