My Silver Collection

Once in a while I have an Eddie Ross moment and find cool stuff at Goodwill. I found a silver-plated tureen the other day, just waiting to be polished. Today was one of those days I have a burst of energy and feel that I can tackle anything (no, I'm not about to give birth). So I did some cleaning (I know it doesn't happen very often lately.)  Call me crazy but I find it very soothing to polish silver. You see such a big difference after just a couple of minutes of scrubbing and it's very rewarding. BeforeAfter Here are some items from my collection. I love it. I guess I will stop collecting them when polishing becomes a chor...

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Posted in: Hobby

What to do with Green Tomatoes

It was a sad day for hubby. He had to get rid of all our tomato plants that were doing so well. They got a fungus called Late Blight. Early blight close-up  This is what Cornell University said about it. Late blight is a plant disease that mainly attacks potatoes and tomatoes, although it can sometimes be found on other crops, weeds and ornamentals in the same botanical family (Solanaceae). Other plants that late blight may infect include petunia, nightshades, and tomatillos.  Late blight was a factor in the Irish potato famine in the 1850’s, during which millions of people in Ireland starved or were forced to emigrate. Entire potato crops rotted in the field or in storage because of late blight infection.  Because...

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Posted in: Food,Garden

Chickens in the city

So the Iowan farmer side of my hubby wants to raise a few chickens for eggs (no rooster) in our back yard. I'm not sure how I feel about that. So many questions came to my mind: are we allowed to do that, will it be a lot of work, will they annoy the neighbors, will they make our back yard messy, will they attract their predators to our yard? Sure, it will be educational and fun for the kids to learn responsibility, help to feed and collect fresh eggs, but as you can see those questions are all worries. We live in the city and I know there is quite a big community of chicken-raising families in Bellingham. But maybe it is for people with huge lots. I don't know. I think, ahem, I think I might consider it with a chicken coop this...

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Posted in: My house

Story of Mr. and Mrs. Fu

Do you see what I see? Source: House Beautiful There are lots of similarities, but I was immediately drawn to the old Chinese paintings. A Chinese friend told me long that in China people used to commission artists to get their ancestors painted and hang them in a temple for good luck. So I guess they are antiques. Let me introduce Mr. and Mrs. Fu waiting patiently in my closet to be framed. Aren't they cute? It is one of many possessions from Craigslist that I had to have at the moment but ended up in our garage or closet. It's not because I don't like them. In fact, I adore them. They are such an intricate realistic painting but the frames are kind of ugly. Plus the paintings pressed against the glass...

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Posted in: My house

Cute miniature Australian shepherd anyone?

My friend has a super adorable 8 month old pure bred miniature Australian shepherd and she can't keep him anymore. He is potty trained and all the shots are current. He's got lots of energy just like other puppies. I wish I could adopt him, but Jina's allergic. Is there anyone interested? My friend really wants him to go to a good home so she wants to interview. This is Sebastian 4 months ago. He's TOO cute...

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Posted in: Misc

Veggie garden

Today I was looking at some of the photos of our yard from last year and I couldn't believe the difference. It's still a work in progress (well, who am I kidding. It will always be a work in progress) but I'm very happy with what we have accomplished so far. Here are the before and after pictures (not quite the completed after but you know) Before After We had fun creating our front veggie garden with great design help from my brother-in-law, Ian, at Private Gardens, and our neighbor, Bob. He built the fence and gave us all sorts of great ideas and amazing help. We are so blessed with great neighbors. I should mention my hubby built the raised bed. (Thank you!) The incredibly talented interior designer, Brooke,...

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Posted in: My house

Oh my, time has flown by!

It was Ella's first day of school in kindergarten. Ella was so excited that she hardly could finish her favorite cereal and she was giggly all morning. She even let me pick her clothes to wear and wanted to look her best for the camera. Jina was super happy for her sister too. I'm so proud of my girls!...

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Posted in: kids

Bungalow

It's no secret that I love old homes. You just can't find the character of old homes in a new house. Look at this Pagoda bungalow, for example. What big personality for such a small house. Love. Love. Love. Beach Bungalow did this post a while ago about bungalows. http://beachbungalow8.blogspot.com/2010/04/bungalow-living-elsewhere.h...

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Posted in: Architecture

Whatcom Artist Studio Tour 2010

Every fall, one of the things we enjoy is to tour Whatcom artist studios. For the most part we just drool over beautiful pieces of art and dream about owning one when we win the lottery. But, it's a lot of fun to drive around downtown or down rural roads on a nice autumn day and chat with local artists. I'm dying to see these gorgeous paintings in person by Yvette Newmann, Robert Todd, Ruthie V, Lorna Libert and Ben Mann. Yvette Newmann Robert Todd  Ruthie V Lorna Libert  Ben MannFirst two weekends in October between 10am-5pm. Check it out....

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Posted in: Bellingham event

meet Kim

Under construct...

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