Americana Goodies

 Hello friends!

Can you believe June is almost over?

Carla from

The River Flowing Blog

asked me to show off some of my Americana goodies.

Well Carla,

here they are mixed in with some other

goods for sale at our store.

We do ship for those who have asked.

 Uncle Sam has already been sold 

the first day I put this display up last Sunday.

In other news,

Bob lost his keys this afternoon.

He called me saying he looked everywhere

at both stores and in his van.

With his short term memory I figured they 

were gone for good.

We would need to change all of the locks on the stores,

 house and find a locksmith to get a new key

for his van because we only have one key for it.

UGH

I went to the antique store and looked everywhere.

I then went outside and asked St Anthony

for help.

I went to his van and found them in his ignition.

I then thanked St Anthony and went into

the store and placed the keys on the counter

and said to Bob

"Do these look familiar?"

His response was

"Where did you find them?"

I told him and he said he looked in his van 

several times  for them.

I am just glad they were found.

Leaving in the morning when Tundra's

grandpa Ed comes.

Hopefully I will find what I am on the hunt for

whilst antiquing.

Plus hopefully it will fit in my car.

Americana Goodies Blessings To All!

Janice

Our Baby Turns 3

Today our baby turns 3.

WOOHOO!

 

Tundra was an adorable puppy.

Cathy do you still have these pillows?

We still have ours.

A Samoyed.

Samoyeds were bred in Russia to herd reindeer.

He is very fast now and loves the snow.

I crocheted this baby quilt for my son who us now 39.

I did it in these colors as I did not know what 

I was having at the time.

It was Tundra's security blanket for a few months.

What a furball he was.

This was him after a month at is new home.

Once he could get under the couches.

He could also get underneath some 

of the furniture at the store.

Not now.

With his grampa Ed as we call him.

Our doggie sitter.

Coal black eyes and nose to match.

Spoiled doggie now.

Daddy Bob started allowing him up

on the couches and bed.

Now he thinks he owns them. LOL

Happy Birthday Tundra!

We love you to pieces.

In other news,

Mary, from Merry Windy Farm asked me

if we ship goodies from our stores.

Yes, we ship from both and have many times.

Our links are both Facebook pages.

Back Porch Antiques

Blue Water Gift Shop

Both in Marine City, Michigan.

Bob posts booth pics every now and then,

and I post gift shop pics whenever

 I have something new come in.

We are travelling to Seville, OH this Friday

for just a day trip.

Our doggie sitter can only watch

 Tundra for the day this time,

so it will be a quick jaunt down and back

to do some antiquing along the way.

Lauren am afraid we wont have time to meet up.

I am on vacation now until July 5th.

We were hoping to get our garage cleaned out,

but the forecast is calling for rain until Thursday.

We need at least 2-3 days to leave items outside

to re-organize...so not happening now.

Will work on Halloween goodies now.

Last week Bob went to our local dollar store.

They now put in a self check out.

We dont like self check out lines.

We feel that if we have to do this ourselves that 

that we should get a better discount,

after all we do not work for these stores that do this.

Well yesterday that same dollar store now

put a big ole sign on the door stating

that Cash only for register one,

and cash/ card for the self check out.

Most folks dont carry cash anymore,

so they are forcing this self check out on us now.

Bob had cash and told the manager that 

he does not work for the company.

We know the manager of the store and he agreed,

but corporate was forcing him to do it now because

no one was using the self check out.

Do you like self check outs?

What say you?

Birthday Blessings To All!

Janice

Strawberry Season

Many of my blogging friends have been

posting about strawberries.

One of my favorite spring fruits.

I am not going to tease you with real berry pics,

just some which were created using

different mediums.

First off these crocheted ones I made.

In white.

Almost ripe in pink.

Red ripe ones.

Don't they look cute?

I will be selling these soon at the gift shop.

Packaged in three.

Next up my fabric strawberries in a berry bucket.

These are my personal ones.

I sold these a few years ago at the store.

Finally I recently purchased these coverlet ones.

Each one was a different size.

I so love these in my wood bowl for Spring.

Our strawberries sign went to the antique store.

I have had this for over 10 years.

Never figured out where to hang it in the house.

It is a 2 sided sign.

I decided to let it go and let someone else enjoy it.

It is an old one.

These fabric strawberries were from a giveaway.

I don't remember who made these,

so if you are still blogging, please let me know.

So many blogging friends have stopped blogging.

The back side of the strawberry jam.

Well folks,

these are my strawberries.

In other news,

I am beyond livid with the View.

They slammed their tone deaf comments

regarding the sub that went missing.

I wonder if their view would have been different

if they had a family member or friend on board.

How can anyone still watch this show? 

This Biden economy simply sucks too.

More folks are losing their homes, cars

because they cannot afford the prices.

We are suffering too.

Our gift shop sales are down now 85%.

I cannot blame anyone but this administration.

We are not a need to have store,

and folks cannot spend much money anymore.

It really sucks because lately we are just paying

our bills and worker with no profit.

I am no longer ordering much.

Already paid for Halloween and Christmas,

but id things dont get better, we will 

go out of business the first of the year.

Am hoping and praying we sell soon...

but given the economy I dont think anyone

will want to buy a small business right now.

More and more stores are going 

out of business in town.

Well enough of  my rant.

Have to get my butt back to my desk to work.

Strawberry Blessings To All!

Janice

A Happy Life

My dad always said~

 Life is what you make it.

I dont splurge on many things,

except for primitive antiques. LOL

However when I do,

 I make sure I save up my money.

I am not one to wear jewelry.

I purchase only the clothes I need.

When I first saw this Cross Stitch pattern,

I knew it was meant for me.

 

I wanted this piece to look more primitive,

so I chose to stitch this on Onasburg.

*** Note to self ***

NEVER DO THIS AGAIN.

The holes on Onasburg are not like linen.

It took me forever to complete this it seems...

There are mistakes, but only I know where they are.

Again since this is my primitive piece,

it did not need to be perfect.

Thank goodness.

This pattern came from Notforgotten Farm.

This saying is so much how I feel.

I had initialing intended on stitching this

on 14 ct Aida cloth.

Changed my mind though as you will see.

I did use most of the embroidery floss 

colors in the pattern,

except I switched out the white one for another brown.

I figured why bother using the white 

if I was going to stain this piece.

This was aged using tea and in the oven

it went three times, adding a bit more tea

in certain places each time.

 

Framed under glass in this black frame.

Am pleased how it turned out.

It will reside in our guest room once we

redo it...which will be soon.

More items will be moving out,

and if they do not fit back it,

off to the store they will go.

Speaking of the store,

we did have a showing.

They were interested in the antique store

and also purchasing our name.

They were also interested in

our gift shop as well. 

Our realtor told us that the one gentleman

had to go out of the country for business now,

and will not decide until he gets back.

Not sure what will happen now.

Let the waiting game begin.

Last night I met Bob at his cousins house

after closing the store.

He lives a stones throw from us.

(1/8 mile)

Enjoyed some delicious ribs!

Plus a few beers before heading home

almost 3 hours later.

The weather was perfect outside.

Yesterday in between customers,

I stitched a new Halloween goodie.

Also working on the planning stage

for my Mad Scientist themed room.

Hopefully it will turn out as well as planned.

Happy Father's Day to all of the dad's out there.

My dad is no longer with us,

but I will think about him today.

A Happy Life Blessings To All!

Janice

June CupboardScape

Today is Flag Day.

It disturbs me when I hear Patriotism

has gone by the wayside.

We should all honor our flag and what it represents.

Freedom should NEVER be taken for granted.

Growing up my dad flew his flag every day

except when it rained or snowed.

He put it up in morning & took it down

by sunset.

Today in honor of Flag Day,

today's CupboardScape is all about flags.

Starting with my favorite flag pictutre.

 

George and Martha Washington

are on the right in this picture along

with our flag.

Wonder how many of the younger

generation even know who our

first president was?

Another flag.

This pillow I created 

from fabric and muslin

then stained. 

Finally our grand old flag in all her glory.

Actually this is a 48 star vintage fabric one.

Long may it wave!

In other news,

our friend up the river actually had a boat

of illegals come across from Canada.

The boat stopped at his dock.

When his security cameras went off,

he went outside immediately and asked the

boat operator what he was doing.

Three men and two kids got out with suitcases

and of course could not speak English.

Our friend called Border Patrol asap

and was told they were too busy to come out.

Then a truck pulled into his yard.

He then called the state police on speaker.

Once the individuals heard the police they ran

to the truck and left their suitcases.

The truck was long when the police arrived,

but at least he was able to provide them with

both the boat license and the truck one.

The next day he drove to the Border Patrol

office and spoke to a manager.

The manager told him he was not even aware

of this situation and would review the taped call.

Not that it will change anything,

but for those who live here along the river

we would think Border Patrol would come out 

since we are not like the Southern border.

We will not know about Bob's sleep study

for a bit. This is is second one. It took them

2 months to have him come back in for this one.

We do know he has sleep apnea.

Guess this test will determine what machine

will be needed.

Thanks for your concern.

Much appreciated.

Patriotic Flag Blessings To All!

Janice

Its Dandy Time

Well folks,

it is 4:15 Saturday morning.

In about a half hour Tundra and I will

go to the hospital to pick Bob up

from his sleep apnea test.

Hopefully he will be fitted with the correct

machine so he can sleep better at night.

He has been so run down in the afternoons.

So let's get to today's post.

I do not mind having dandelions in my yard.

In fact it is the first flower (weed) that provides bees

both pollen and nectar.

Since bees are important to me,

so the dandys are important to me as well.

 

As a kid I loved blowing on the puffy seeds.

Before I show off my dandys again this year,

This wood piece is called a hornbeam.

Hornbeams were hollowed out vessels made from trees.

These were used as storage.

Mine is not very big,

But I have seen some very large ones.

These larger ones are really old because it is very 

hard to find large diameter trees any longer.

Underneath my hornbeam is this rug chair pad.

I love the muted colors and the star design.

A blue white quilt resides on my bench for Spring.

The dandy display is on my wood riser.

Dandys are a perfect Spring display.

So remember if you can, please leave them

in your yard. 

Our bees need all the help they can get.

I caught a few dandy's in my back yard.

Also as a kid,  I would pick the flowers

and proudly give them as a bouquet

 to both my gramma's and mom.

My hands would turn yellow too.

While some see a weed,

others see a flower.

Take for example Queen-Anne's-Lace.

We call it wild carrot and a weed.

The bumblebees have been prevalent

in our backyard now.

So much so that Tundra

 grabbed one in his mouth,

and quickly let it go. 

Did he learn hid lesson?

No, he still tries to get more.

For those not familiar with Dandelions,

the above pic shows the flower before going to seed

which is when it becomes puffy.

In other news,

Robin wants to trade me some 

Eastern Fox snakes and Massasauga rattlers

for my Ribbon snake. 

Well we also have these Fox snakes that like to

 hang out in our garage.

Yes they are humungous.

They are protected here in Michigan.

So Robin, thanks but no thanks.

Never have seen a rattler here except for the zoo,

and I would like to keep it that way.

The other day I did have a chipmunk chirp at me.

I was outside and heard this chirping sound

on the ground near our garage.

Turned my head to find this chipmunk looking

at me chirping about 4 ft away.

He chirped for about 5 minutes before

scurrying into the woods.

Never heard this before so not sure if he/ she

thought I was the predator, or there was another

one nearby....namely a fox snake.

Our local radio weather forecast 

for the past few days has been

mostly sunny with periods of smoke.

We have had hazy skies because of the

Canadian wildfires, but not as bad as

New York and Pennsylvania.

Well hope everyone enjoys their weekend!

What will your plans be?

Later today I will be going to our yearly

community meeting.

Sunday working the gift shop.

Dandy Blessings To All!

Janice