Fun finds...

I love thrifting! I go to thrift stores, antique stores, flea markets, rummage sales and garage sales. It's a frugal way to shop, but also my therapy! 😁 A few weeks ago, I hit a "mother-load" garage sale. It was put on by young people selling their grandma's old stuff and they were dirt cheap! I don't think they fully realized what they had. 

I found all of this beautiful antique china for under $10.00! One of my favorite steps of the thrill of the thrift is what I call the decontamination process. I absolutely love unpacking and washing all of it! It's so fun to really look at each item. I also love researching items and finding out it's history and what it's worth.

Isn't this Lilly of the Valley plate beautiful!

Gorgeous gold filigree plate!

I love anything with vintage cabbage roses!

This is an amazing made in Germany pitcher. It's really old. 

Fenton darling stars and stripes pitcher! This will be fun next 4th of July! 

Pretty!

I just love the antique roses and beautiful colors!

I found two cake pedestals. I have several clear crystal cake plates, but this one was so pretty, I couldn't resist! I was so excited to finally find one made from milk glass! 

I love the size and shape of this platter. 

I was happy to see that it's marked Ironstone. I don't believe I have ever owned a piece of Ironstone, I have always read where people collect it, but wasn't sure how they could tell if it apart from other pottery, but it's defiantly heavier! I found this exact one made by Red-Cliff on-line for $75.00!

This was my piece-de-resistance! It's an antique sugar shaker and very collectable! I found one on Ebay and they were asking over $300.00! Score! 

Now that everything is washed and researched it all gets put away and/or put to use!

A new little spot to sit a spell

I'm excited that I found a new little outside sitting area. I recently redecorated our back patio and didn't need these chairs back there anymore. I wasn't sure where to put them, but then had an idea...maybe they'd look cute in the front of the house in front of my she shed my husband made me. 

I never thought to put chairs out there before and wasn't sure they would look good, so I set them out and looked at them from all angles and....

...really like them there!

I have places all over our little farm where I like to sit and have coffee, pray, read my Bible and make my to-do lists etc. 

Now I have this new spot in the morning shade, watch the sunrise, enjoy the view!

Kitty and Blondie like it too!  

4th of July!

I had so much fun decorating for the 4th of July this year! Here's our farm table display. I put my awesome Uncle Sam doll on a miniature chair inside the base box of a Radio Flyer wagon. I added some patriotic pillows and signs and red, white and blue votives. I love how it turned out! Everything here was purchased second hand(and in almost all of my displays) except the wagon box. We ordered two wagons on line for our grandsons and this one was bent. I called the company and they said just throw it away and we'll send you a new one! I was happy they sent the new one, but obviously I didn't throw the bent one away! 

For the kitchen windowsill I grouped an old child's American history book, some darling elves dolled up in red, white and blue outfits, an old brass Statue of Liberty souvenir, a metal toy soldier on a horse, a Liberty whiskey bottle and a bundle of flags. 

Here's a cute little display on top of my cookbook shelf. 

And here's a little display of liberty bells a top my pie safe. 

I love the George Washington statue, he fits perfectly with some old American history books and fun candles. 

Here's our entryway display. I had fun grouping the mini flags this year. 

This is a little table right next to our front door. I absolutely adore the Pledge of Allegiance stitching!

Here's our front porch display. Simply poking flags into flower pots really makes things festive!

And here's our side porch display. I love how this turned out! I purchased the bunting at Hobby Lobby for only $10.00 for all! They actually came all attached to each other as a swag and I cut them up to fit perfectly on our small railings!

I painted my nails for the occasion!

My hubby and I enjoyed our quiet morning!

Then we met family and friends for an all day river float and picnic. We all had flags on our boats and it was so much fun! I love my country and am a proud American! May God continuing to bless our beautiful country! 
 

Holiday Forest Fire Part II

The Holiday fire continued to burn for several weeks. My husband, Eric, continued to work on the fire as a timber faller cutting down hazardous trees and freeing up roadways for the first responders. 

He was still working long 12 hour days. He worked 10 long days like that and finally got a day off, but then hit it again. We finally got our power back after a few days, which was a big relief. 

A mutual respect grew between the cutters and the firefighters and Eric became good friends with them. He sent this picture next to the fire truck to our family group text so the grandchildren could see. 

The air quality was still terrible in our valley. 

I went into the office and took these pictures at 11:00 in the morning. 

My car even had ash on it, which made me so sad thinking about all the people who lost their homes and all the beautiful trees in the forest that we lost and all of the animals who lost their home as well. 

His buddy took these pictures of him cutting this big old growth that had burned. 

He does such dangerous work and he's very skilled at what he does. I am so very proud of him and I am so thankful to God for keeping him safe all of these years. 

Eric found out that a man who works for the timber company he contracts with lost his entire home to the fire. We quickly got into action and borrowed a trailer from another friend who said they could use it as long as they needed it. We put it on our property where they would at least have a place to stay. 

I could not even imagine being in their shoes. I was so happy we could help them out, but just heartbroken for them. I wanted to make them as comfortable as they could be. 

There wasn't much I could do, so I just loved on them with a good homemade meal every night. I made comfort food, such as taco salad, meat loaf, chicken and rice, spaghetti etc. I also baked desserts like brownies, cookies, cakes, etc. 

They are such a nice family and we had lovely conversations at night. The dad and son continued to work and the mom filled her days with errands with the insurance company, bank, contractor, filing for fire relief, etc. They lost everything, but their detached garage/shop. 

Praise God, it finally rained!

The air quality went from this where you could only see out to about a half a mile....

....to this, where I could now see those mountains which are about 3 miles away. Our friends were finally able to go up to their place and see the damage and go through some of the rubble. We prayed together before they left as we knew this was going to be very emotional for them. 

When they got back, she told me that she cried of course, but she felt such a peace when she found her baby Jesus from their nativity set, it really comforted her and she remembered that God is in control and He would never leave or forsake them. They received good news from a friend who lives up river who has a mother-in-law cottage they can live in for a year while they build. This is perfect temporary living situation for them. They also got their building permit, we found out they were the first ones from the fire to get one. 

After about 3 weeks, my husband quit working for Oregon Department of Forestry. All the firemen up there wanted to take a group picture in front of the bridge. This picture went viral because it is so iconic with all of the hard working fire fighters with the historic bridge that they helped save. Eric is the guy with yellow hardhat standing on the far right leaning on the rail. I am so thankful for all of these hard working men and women. I am thankful the fire is finally contained.