Have I Told You Lately I love Spray Paint

So I found these lovelies at the Dollar Store, and knew they had potential. Money is excruciatingly tight right now, so when I decided my decor needed a pick me up, I headed to the Goodwill (more on that tomorrow) and the Dollar Tree. Now you may not think that pink birds with reddish ugly glitter are fall decor, but you would be wrong. They are so much better now. The paint is called espresso and it was just a little drizzly when I sprayed them but I would not be stopped. Today was the first day of School and I felt the need for a creative outlet.

Now they are gorgeous and I love them. Once again Spray paint has turned an ugly duckling into a beautiful swan.

I am working on Falling up my nest right now and these beauties will now fit in perfectly.

The Harbor Bite

Sorry I have been absent so much this summer. We have been out of town more this summer than I can ever remember. My daughter Erin will be a senior this year and we have spent lots of time watching her play what will probably be her last year of summer softball, and her last year showing sheep at state fair. We just got back from State Fair and then a few nights at my brother's home in Seaside. Erin did well at State Fair, but was showing against the best of the best, and did not do as well as she had hoped.
After State Fair we drove to Seaside, Oregon and spent time with my brother Erik, his fabulous wife Elizabeth, and their great children Joslynn, Gabby and Zach. Erik and Liz opened their second restaurant in February. (They also have a wonderful Pizza Restaurant, Pizza Harbor)
Here is most of the family ready to enjoy lunch at The Harbor Bite. Gabby had a babysitting job and couldn't join us, and Erik was cooking our lunch.

Here are some interior shots of the restaurant. We had dinner here also on live music night. The food is great. I had one of the specialties the Mermaid's Purse, which is your choice of white fish or salmon with different spices and white rice steamed in parchment paper. I had the salmon with capers, and it was fabulous, they also have an Asian purse, a Caribbean purse, and sweet chili purse. We had appetizers at both meals, including our family recipe clam dip made with razor clams.

We ate at the booth to the right for dinner.

The restaurant has a funky, fun eclectic style that is welcoming to families as well as those looking for a romantic dinner. The live music was provided by the Salty Dogs and was acoustical folk and rock. Lots of fun.

This is the exterior of the restaurant and the patio where we had lunch.

A close up of the sign.
So that's my review of the Harbor Bite, I know I am biased but I do believe that Erik and Elizabeth have a lot to be proud of. I don't have any pictures of Pizza Harbor because it was pouring rain the whole time we were there. The only time the sun was out was when we had lunch on our way out of town. Pizza Harbor has some of the best pizza I have ever eaten and we always eat there at least once during a visit. So the next time you're in Seaside or even close, please stop by The Harbor Bite or Pizza Harbor and try their delicious food and welcoming attitude.

So I think that I am done traveling for awhile and I promise to blog more often now that fall is coming and the kids will be back in school. I am planning on doing some fall decorating and will have pictures soon.

Lindsay Clan Crest and Castles

I have been distracted... Mom has been ill and needing a lot of TLC, and my energy has been focused in that direction for the past three weeks or so. So it has been awhile since you've heard from me.

However, I am pretty good at finding stress relievers, and one of the things I consider "therapy" is working on my photo greeting cards. I was thinking about my family history, and my brothers (I have two), and looking up some information on the internet. My father's side of our family is from Scotland. We are part of the Lindsay Clan in Scotland. It's fun to look at our history and where some of our ancestors came from and their stories. I have information about this part of our family going back to the 1700's and someday I hope to search further and find the connection from there back even further to the information I found recently on the internet. Meantime, I thought I might create some photo greeting cards using pictures of things connected to our clan. This is the Clan Crest. It consists of an "attacking" swan, indicating some descent from the Swan Knight, (highly coveted by the chivalry of all medieval Christendom).
"Endure Fort" means "suffer bravely" or "endure strongly".

The swan is rising from a ducal crown, indicating that, at one time, a Lindsay was a Duke. Sounds impressive, huh? According to history, each Clan Chief wore a unique badge on his helmet during battle so that his followers could recognize their leader. This badge is the Crest. The Crest is surrounded by a strap and buckle garter, which shows allegiance to the Chief of the clansman wearing it. So then I found quite a few Castles that have association with the Lindsays.

Awesome! Here are some cards I made for my brothers.
The first one shows the restored gardens for Edzell Castle, which is the ancestral home of the Lindsays. Very impressive.




The second picture is a part of that same restored Castle, showing the tower, which is the oldest part of the house and dates back to the early 1500's.

The third picture is Craigie Castle ruins. Craigie was originally built for the Lindsay Clan, in the 12th or 13th century, or earlier. Wow.

I was intrigued by all of this, and the histories connected with these castles.

My someday dream vacation will be to visit Scotland and see these castles, and hopefully find my connection with Lindsay families still living in Scotland.
I have lovely memories of visiting with my paternal grandfather, Dan Lindsay, who was born in the United States shortly after his family came here from Scotland. He used to sing some of the old songs to us, and he had the kilt and bagpipes. The Lindsay Tartan is quite beautiful.

You may hear more about the Lindsay Clan at another time. Any Lindsay's out there who want to contact me? I'd love to hear about connections!

Halloween Project

So here is a preview of my latest project. Its time to start those Halloween projects.
I have beaten the Chaos in my life down to an acceptable level and have moved on to more creative endeavors. I had a brain storm about a pillow collection for my home and the Etsy store, so I ran down to my local quilting store for some fabulous fabric.
I love decorating for Halloween. We don't really do any thing for Halloween. My kids are to old to Trick or Treat and my country location has never attracted any Trick or Treaters,(I do have plenty of candy on hand just in case) but I love the decorating. My tradition has been to put in the classic Bell, Book and Candle and fill my home with Fall and Halloween decor. Harvest decor also part of this farm family's traditions.
Fall is my favorite time of year. I love the crisp weather, making soup,changing leaves and the end of a busy farm and summer season. Fall is my down time before I gear up for tax season. It is the time we take family vacations, do home improvement projects and the time that my husband and I have the most alone time.

So here I sit sweating at the sewing machine, remembering to enjoy the last busy days of summer and looking forward to Fall, Harvest and Halloween.

Peace in the Chaos

I live in Chaos, I know that I am not special in this state of busyness, messiness, fun, unpredictability and stress. One of the things I love about blogging is that I can post pictures of only what I want you to see.

County Fair was a blast, as I said I am a Swine leader, and I am so proud of all of my 4H kids as well as my own kids. We had so much fun, everyone was successful in their projects and all the kids, 4Th grade through Senior in High School were helpful and responsible. As a leader and parent I could not have asked for more. That said, it was also exhausting. I have spent several days recovering and trying to get caught up on the house and laundry.
So far I'm still in Chaos. I have so much to do, so much I want to to, so much I should do. I tell myself that I don't HAVE TO do anything, but somethings left undone have dire consequences. How do you keep up with the tedious, when you just want to play?
So to keep up the facade that I am always organized, and keep up with the dishes and mopping, I am showing you the front entry way of my home (Everyone uses the back door, so this area is usually untouched) I recently painted this dresser cream (sorry no before shot)the dresser was my Uncle John's and then mine as a child. I had been wanting to paint it forever. I love it cream. My walls are a light tan.( I can't afford a better camera yet so bear with me). The photo above the dresser is my Husband's Grandparents. I just love her hat. This was their wedding photo and the hat cost 10 dollars. I got the flower frog at least a month ago and today finally put this vintage image in it. (I believe the image is from Fairy Davis). Just this small act of doing something fun for my home has strengthened my resolve to get the tedious done, so I am off to work on the laundry and dishes. Hope you all are finding time for the fun and keeping up with the necessary.