Saturday, September 30, 2023

Pink Is The New Orange

Hello friends!
Now most of you know I have to order
both Halloween and Christmas items in January
for our Gift Store.
Perusing all of the wholesale catalogs along
with my gift shop magazine, I noticed
lots and lots of items in pink.
Little did I know back in January that the
Barbie movie would come out just before adding 
in my Fall and Halloween decor.
 

Am not a fan of pink,
but I need to attract everyone into the store,
which forces me to get me out of my comfort zone.
I even crocheted pink pumpkins.

.

I also created black pumpkins with pink noses.


Plus this pink ghost.
BOO


The candycorns were also done
 in white, pink and orange.



More orange and pink pumpkins.



Pink pumpkins with black noses.

I only did this small area of pink,
but it has been a hit.
Glad I forced myself to purchase
items in this color.
Did you add pink to your Halloween decor?
At home I did not.
Prim is not pink.

In other news,
today is my mom's birthday.
She is a young 89.
Am so thankful to still have her with us.
I spent the night with her last night.
I treated her to a birthday dinner and breakfast.
My dad died when I was 35,
30 years ago.
My mom was only 58 at the time.
She was never interested in meeting another man.

I took half a day off yesterday,
and she and I spent the afternoon travelling
around to all of the cemeteries where my
relatives are buried.
I am planning on taking on a big
challenge next year,
and I need all of my past relatives birthdates. 
More on that later on.

Bob's progress on our redo is coming along now.
He has one wall almost complete now.
This was a big undertaking that we decided to do...
and he is doing all of the work on the two days
off a week he has.

Pink Blessings To All!
Janice




Tuesday, September 26, 2023

September CupboardScape

Hello frends!
Well Autumn is officially here.
With that comes my September CupboardScape.
Sometimes I really need to think about my
monthly displays, however when the months
of September thru December come along...
it so much easier.
So without further ado, here we go.


This quilt patterned pillow is
made entirely from wool.



For some reason I love blue and yellow together.
 

A small yellowware bowl on top of a yellow firkin.


More yellowware bowls.


Another one.
Can you tell I decided to pull in mostly yellows
for this display.


Some dried grasses.


Indian corn.


Another yellowware bowl.
This one the blue stripes are a bit brighter.


More grasses and sunflowers.


Kept my crock pitcher here from last month 
and added them to it.


Very old Sweet Annie which is no longer green.
However if I rub my hand across it the smell
still permeates.
I love the smell of Sweet Annie!
The gold striped flax grain sack is behind.


Right side of the display.


Left side.


Entire display.
I so love the colors of Autumn.
For those who love primitive decor,
you may notice your cabinets pop more
when displaying Fall colors.

In other news,
still having nightmares about the snake incident.
Found out my neighbor across the street
 had one in his yard a few years back.
I was blissfully happy being ignorant that
they were in our area here.
Now it really bothers me, not only for me,
but for Tundra too.
Fox snakes, Ribbon snakes and Garters dont bother me.

Working feverishly on getting my Christmas
goodies finished for the store.
Elves and reindeer ready for their coffee bath.
Santa's completed.
Once done with this,
will be spending my time on other projects.

The days are getting shorter for sure.
Detroit Edison raised their rates this month.
Almost had a heart attack when I saw the bill.
This is going to be an expensive Winter.
Bidenomics sucks.

Well friends,
Have to get to work.
Moved my work desk to our living room,
so Bob could work in the back.
I will do anything I can to get this room done.

September Blessings To All!
Janice


Friday, September 22, 2023

Falling In Love With My Store

~~~WARNING~~~
Another heavy picture post.
Items from all of the Autumn goodies
for sale.
Almost 300 hundred items have sold.
I keep re-arranging things every Saturday morning. 
This is a good thing,
and I still have lots of goodies left.


 



















In other news,
Wednesday afternoon had me going outside
wondering what Tundra was barking
at this time.
All Summer it has been this Ribbon Snake.
Well this time it happened to be a juvenile
Massasauga Rattlesnake.
The only venomous snake 
we have here in Michigan.
I have lived here all of my life 
(64) years and have NEVER seen one.
Cannot say that anymore.
It was coiled up with its tail rattling.
Here I was just in my slippers trying
to get Tundra away from it before it bit him.
We were both lucky.
If it had bit him in the face,
it could have been fatal.
Now I am really afraid to go outside in my own yard.
YIKES.
I told my neighbor because I wanted
them to be aware since they garden.
They were so surprised as they have lived here
a lot longer than my 21 years here in this
part of Michigan.
It is very un-nerving as I hate snakes to begin with.

Took both my mom and Bob to their eye appts yesterday.
Bob's dark spot on his eye is slowly getting better,
but no reason given as to why 
he is getting the dizzy spells lately.
A cataract is forming also on the good eye.

My mom is starting to get glaucoma in her one eye.
However her eye disease has not progressed any.
This is partial good news.
They both have appts again in March.

My grandson has decided to drive to Maine
to meet these online friends of his.
We are all worried he is going into a bad situation,
but have been unable to talk him out of it.
My daughter is mentally exhausted.
He is 20, so he is of legal age.
I pray nothing happens to him.
He has very little money, no plan,
and a car that is on its last leg.
Please say a prayer for him.
We need all we can get.

Well friends,
I hope you all have a marvelous weekend!
Happy Autumn.

Falling In Love With Fall Blessings To All!
Janice






Monday, September 18, 2023

How Many Hats Do You Wear

 

Hello friends!

A while back a customer
came into the gift shop
and asked if I was retired yet.
When I said no, she said.
WOW how can you work full time
and still work here on weekends?
Well there are two reasons.


First it saves on paying a worker....
and with inflation store sales have been down 24%.
We need to save money where we can.
(three shops recently closed in town)

Secondly I am still working from home, 
so it gets me out of the house
Plus I love to talk to folks.


The bonnet on the right is an antique one.
The others are repos.


These two bonnets on the right are the real McCoy.
The brown one on the left is a repo.

Well talking to this customer
got me thinking.
How many hats do I wear?
So hear goes.


1. Daughter
2 Daughter- In Law
3. Sister
4. Sister-In-Law
5. Mother
6. Wife
7. Gramma
8. Aunt
9. Great Aunt
10. Niece
11. Cousin


12. Friend
13. Employee
14. Co-Worker
15. Store Owner
16. Neighbor
17. Parishioner
18. Pet Mom
19. Blogger


On the wall around my doorframe
is an apple butter paddle.


Next to it a very long wooden spoon.


On my pine cabinet is my favorite bunny.
Made from wood, I purchased this in the 80's.
Stone fruit also in an early rye basket.


Paired with some wood bowls
including this blue beauty.


I don't often show this piece.
It is a butter churn with a crank.
Much easier to churn butter.

Now that I have told you the many hats I wear.
(maybe there are more...not sure)
How many hats do you think you wear?

In other news,
a friend of mine told me that six weeks
from the last thunderstorm in September
is when the first snow arrives.
We had a thunderstorm yesterday,
so now the first snow will be October 28th.
I am going to keep track of this to see if she is correct.
Am hoping we have more thunderstorms now.
For those in the snow belt area,
would love to know if this prediction is true for you.

Bob worked a little bit more on
 our back room  Saturday.
When I say a bit, he put up one board.
He was feeling dizzy and had a headache
so laid down most of the day.
I told him he was doing too much
by trying to unload the van in one day.
He is no Spring chicken anymore.
He is fine now.

I applied for Medicare last week.
Now I am feeling old.

Carla asked me if I need to buy 
the dried tobacco each year. 
I take a water bottle and spritz it when it
starts to feel like it is drying up.
This will help keep it last for along time.

Well better get to work.
Return to office has been postponed 
to November 6th now, so I get to work
from home a bit longer.

Hats Off To You Blessings To All!
Janice