A Little Taste

The Husband and I lucked out on Saturday and scored a couple of tickets, through a friend of a friend, to go to the Taste of Stillwater event which was held at the Aamodt's Apple Farm / St. Croix Vineyards. 

Aamodt's has a lovely apple orchard! I think we'll have to visit them this fall!


I hadn't heard of the Taste of Stillwater event until my friend asked if we would like the tickets. But now that I have heard of the event, and tasted Stillwater, I can tell you, "Stillwater tastes GOOD!"


We tried a little, tasty, blueberry muffin top/waffle/cookie thing from The Waffle Van. It was good whatever it was!

We enjoyed a little taste of a somewhat melty but still delicious cake pop from Mara Mi. Aren't they pretty?

The Husband enjoyed a little taste of beer.

I opted for a little taste of wine from the St. Croix Vineyards.

Or was it two tastes of wine. Three? Oh who was counting?

We also enjoyed checking out some of the local merchants and their wares. 


Loved these bags, made of reused materials, from MoonFlower bags!

Then there was a little taste of cheese from the Caves of Faribault, (they had some good gouda!)

a little olive oil from Olive On Tap, (the garlic infused oil was my favorite!)

and a sweet treat from Poorboy candy. My very favorite taste of the day!

We got to the event early so it didn't take us long to make our way around to all of the different venders, but by the time we had, we were so worn out from the heat of the day we were getting desperate for some shade. Sadly all we could easily spy was a lot like the tastes we had just enjoyed...little!!

And already taken!


It took a little hunting, but we finally found a shady spot to rest in so we could munch on the apple brat and the apple and cheese plate we had picked up along the way.

SOOOO GOOD!!


It was a fun event, but the heat wiped me out! I took a nap when I got home! So I guess, all in all, good food and a good nap, it was a pretty good Saturday!


Christine

Gotta Love A Good Fixer-upper

I had a tiny, little, wobbly table nestled between the two chairs on my porch. It needed something under it's one short leg to try to stabilize it, (we used a chunk of mulch) and the top of it barely had enough room to safely set two glasses of lemonade, (love sipping lemonade while sitting on the porch) forget about setting a book or magazine on it when you wanted to sit on the porch and read. It just wasn't a very useful table!


For some time now I've wanted to find something to replace it, but I didn't want to spend very much.


Hmmm, what to do?


Hello garage sales!


Look what I found for $2.00! Whoop!!

"I want my two dollars!!" Ever since the movie Better Off Dead I can't say two dollars without hearing that line in my head. Then of course I have to say it out loud. Then anyone who is not familiar with the movie thinks I'm crazy. I still have to say several more times. I can't stop. Ahhh!


"I want my two dollars!!"


OK, I'm done now.


As I was saying, I found this cart for...it was really cheap! A little rusty, but it was only...it was really cheap.


The Husband, being the great guy that he is, took it apart for me.

He gave it a good scrubbing with some steel wool.

Then he gave it a couple coats of "Grape" Rust-oleum!

"Grape" felt like a bit of a risk, but the cart was only $2.00 ("I want my two dollars!") eh hem...so we were willing to go for it, and it could repainted if need be.

However, I think "grape" was a perfect choice!!

Not bad for a $2.00 cart is it? ("I want my two dollars!") Sorry! 


However, to be fair, the cart cost...well you already know what the cart cost, the steel wool was about $3.00 for a large bag of it, we'll use the rest of the steel wool for other projects. The "grape" Rust-oleum was just under $4.00. And we purchased new casters for it for about $5.00. All total we spent about $14.00 to turn that rusty old cart into a fabulous new table for the porch.


Gotta love a good fixer-upper!


Christine

Reason #101 To Love A Chalkboard Wall

The chalkboard wall makes decorating for any celebration easy!


A few balloons!

Add in a portrait of each family member!

Plus a dash of love!

Top it all with a banner and...

VOILA! Instant party!


Happy Birthday to my wonderful Husband!

Christine

Love Notes

As a parent I so enjoy leaving little love notes for my girls.


A happy face drawn on the white boards in their bedrooms.


A few words of encouragement written on a sticky note and placed on a notebook, in their backpacks, on the day of a big test.


A joke written on a napkin that's placed in the lunchbox, very discreetly, so that none of their friends see it because they are too old for notes in the lunchbox. Not cool! But thankfully still appreciated! -sigh-


And my favorite, a simple I love you note, that has a heart in place of the word love, on a day when one of the girls is feeling sad. It's so good to hear you're loved when you're feeling sad. Like balm!


Yes, I love leaving little love notes for my girls! It blesses this Mama's heart!


Maybe that's the reason why, when, a few days ago, as I was having a particularly bad morning, dropping or spilling almost everything I picked up, (probably because I was tired) and I was still feeling hurt about something someone had said to me, (I'm sure it was said without thought and not with malice. Still hurt!) and I was just generally feeling a little down, (all before I'd even gotten ready for the day! bah) it brought me joy to find this heart shaped water spot as I began to wipe down the bathroom countertop.

June 27, 2012

Silly though it may sound, my thought was that maybe God leaves love notes too. Maybe this one was just for me. Maybe in the midst of my frustrating morning, God wanted to remind me that I was loved.


Well, I quickly brushed that notion aside. A water drop in the shape of a heart was nothing more than a fluke. Right?


I did feel better though.


Funny thing is, I couldn't get that silly notion out of my head.


If God loves me, and I know He does, why was I so quick to discount that He would leave a love note for me?


Crazy! And yet, isn't everything God does about His love for us?


The Lord your God in your midst, the Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing. Zephaniah 3:17


I certainly felt my soul quiet after I found that heart shaped water drop on the countertop.


I began to wonder and ask, "God do you leave love notes for us?"


Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of Lights! James 1:17


Even love notes?

July 7, 2012

Definitely a coincidence.


I'm positive.


Then again...


I love those who love Me, and those who seek Me diligently will find Me. Proverbs 8:17


Maybe God does leave love notes for His children!


Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3-4

July 8, 2012

Call it happenstance if you will, but I believe in love notes from God.


Love notes to encourage, to comfort, to tell us we are loved!


And maybe I'm just upholding a very good, and longstanding tradition with my girls, that originated and is carried on, even today, by my Heavenly Father. After all, He loved us first!


Christine


By the way...this one is from me to you!

Star Spangled

Happy...

May your Independence Day celebrations be spectacular!


God Bless!


Christine

How Much Longer?

You may remember that the Husband began the process of making Limoncello early last month.

I talked about it in the blog post Naked Lemons. If you missed that post, you can click on Naked Lemons to read all about it, or if you need to refresh your memory, because I wrote that post a loooong time ago, and the limoncello was supposed to be ready in 2 weeks, and it is now a full 4 weeks later. I have begun to feel like a child who, 20 minutes into a 4 hour road trip, begins to ask, "Are we there yet? How much longer??"


You see the Husband, after doing some further research on making Limoncello, discovered that many makers suggest that the Limoncello be allowed to sit for at least 45 days. 


WHAT?? I was ready for Limoncello 45 days ago! -snort-


The Husband, sensing my impatience, decided to move the process along 15 days ahead of schedule. He's a good man he is!


Yes, I will accept full responsibility if the Limoncello does not turn out.


Yesterday some sugar was added.

And the peel was strained out.

It's like liquid sunshine!

The whole house smelled like lemon drops!


The Husband strained it once more for good measure and bottled up the liquid sunshine! Woohoo!

I was so excited to try it!


Then the Husband said, "You know, the longer we let it sit the better it will be."


"But!?"


He definitely thought we should wait.


And that my friends is why there are empty glasses in the above photo . -sigh-


I guess I'm going to have to wait a little longer, but I can't make any promises that I won't ask every few days, "How much longer?"


Christine

Time To Relax

I was recently asked what I like to do to relax.


Frankly there are lots of things I like to do to relax.


Reading a good book is very relaxing to me.


Going to the movies. Have you seen Brave yet? The Family loved it! I loved it as soon as I learned the main character had all that wild red hair!! It's so not fair that I didn't get red hair! -sigh-

I like to weed the garden. Yes, I find weeding the garden relaxing, at least I do when it's still a manageable task, if I let it go too long, and the gardens are overrun, then weeding the garden is stressful. There's a fine line my friends. A very fine line!


Playing games with the family, going for walks, sippin' something cold while chatting with friends on the porch, I find all of these things to be relaxing.


However, I had something new to share when asked how I like to relax.


Miss Emma Bean gave me some foot soaking salts for Mother's Day.

They're super simple to make. A combination of Epsom salt, which reduces inflammation, relieves skin irritations, and exfoliates, (good for those rough heels!)  some Kosher salt and a few drops of essential oil. How cute are those little glass containers??


As I have never been a big fan of going to get pedicures and manicures, (I like to paint my own nails, I just don't like taking time to go and have someone else paint my nails, go figure) it took me a very long time to use the foot soaks. 5 weeks to be exact. So when Miss Emma Bean began to ask me when I was going to use the foot soaks, I began to feel like a heel (ha ha pun intended!) for not using the gift she gave me and was so excited about. 


Last week, riddled with guilt, I finally pulled out a little tub, filled it with warm water and added the lavender foot soak to it. Once my feet hit the water, and the wonderful scent of lavender wafted through the air, I was hooked!

Soaking my feet in a warm lavender foot bath is WONDERFUL!


It's become one of my new favorite things to do to relax. I can soak my feet while reading or watching a movie too. Bonus!! Two relaxing things at once! Whoop!


And once I was all relaxed and my heels were all smooth, I decided to give myself, and the girls, fun 4th of July inspired, polished toenails!

Found this nail art idea on Pintrest! 


Ah Pintrest, another relaxing thing to do!


So, what do you like to do to relax?


Christine


P.S. Apologies if that was too many photographs of bare feet for one blog post!


P.P.S. It might make you feel better if you click on the add for the Husband's t-shirt store, Steward, and looked at fun t-shirts for awhile!