Sunday drive down memory lane

Todays post is dedicated to my Mom and Grandma Mary. Both I owe everything I know.

Yesterday we decided to go on a Sunday Drive.  In my mind Sunday drive means my Aunt Robin and Uncle Jim driving us around in their car.  We all packed in like sardines and once you were in there was no way of getting out.  Hours of driving around looking out the window when I would much rather be home playing with my toys.  What a drag! Well that's how I felt back then.  Today I appreciate all those Sunday drives because they taught me to appreciate nature for what it is. 

My husband had a plan in his head and we were along for the ride.  I knew it would involve some sort of logging road because he grew up in the sticks of Gales Creek Oregon.  What I didn't know was that I would be going down memory lane as well. 

We hit highway 26 headed towards the beach direction.  The first stop was a favorite of mine.  When I was younger my Aunt Eva and Uncle Lu ran a cute Log Cabin Restaurant on Old Wilson River Highway.  Anytime there was a holiday or birthday we all headed out there to eat and celebrate. 

It looks pretty much the same even with new owners.  Sign is still very inviting and bright as ever.  It was nice to see that there are no major changes.  It felt like coming home to be honest. Well minus all the family and crazy relatives. 

The same rustic doors welcome you and that old annoying step up that you knew was there but still always tripped on it.  These days they put a sign up. I still tripped on it.

My favorite part of the place is this massive fireplace.  During the winter holidays we would come in freezing and warm up next to the fire that was nice and toasty.  Its still as beautiful as I remembered it.  The new owners are trying to turn it into a gas fireplace. I told him nothing is as good as a wood burning fireplace and it would change the atmosphere. Not sure if I changed his mind but it saddens me to think of this beautiful fireplace going to waste. 

I found this old picture on Google.  This is what it looked like when my family ran it.  As you can see the same red hanging lights are still still there.  Carpet has been replaced with red carpet.  See what I mean about the cheesy table clothes? Smaller tables make it more intimate.  Mental note: Track down old photos from family.


The chairs are all the same as I remembered but the tables and cheesy table clothes pretty much ruined it for me.  We ordered food which came on random china.  Food was not as good but nothing to complain about.  The prices are rock bottom but the coffee tasted like rocks. But don't take my word for it because I'm spoiled by amazing coffee from Portland.  If you like Folgers then this is your kind of coffee.  Our waitress went to school with one of my cousins.  It was a family affair and one of them was always there. 

What thing I did love was all the coloring books and crayons they had.  This is a huge bonus when you have kids.  My girls didn't get bored once.  One thing I did miss about the cabin was all the old antiques and family pictures.  The walls were filled to the brim with things.  As a kid I remember sitting down staring at the walls. So many old tools that really intrigued me.  There was two old large pictures of a couple that I was told was our relatives.  As a child they totally freaked me out. No smiles? Now I know that it was just like that back then.  But I was FREAKED by it when I was younger. 

Last but not least I had to make sure the bar top was still the same.  Phew! It was.  The bar had coins that spelled LOG CABIN LOG CABIN.  They are encased in resin so there is no way anyone is getting them out.  I dreamed of how I could get those dollar coins out of there.  Just think of all the candy and toys I could buy?  Seriously every time we went there this was in my thoughts.

But anyways this was the highlight of my day.  I love visiting all the places from my past.  I want my girls to know how we grew up and appreciate everything that comes their way.  The Log Cabin was and is one of my favorite places. 

After we filled our bellies we started driving into the woods.  I couldn't imagine myself living anywhere else besides Oregon.  Green everywhere your eyes can look.  Whats not to love about that?  Ferns carpet the forest floor and trees take over the sky.  The smell....oh my gosh the smell is Divine.

We stopped by a park out in the middle of no where to take a pit stop.  It was so beautiful that we decided to take a hike down to a creek.  Just look how inviting this trail is.  I want to live here.  I want to wake up to this everyday.  I want to hear this every morning.  Well until I need a coffee then back to real life I go.

We follow the curvy trail for about 15 minutes.  My girls have walking sticks and poke any plant they find weird.  I trail behind taking pictures of mushrooms and trees.  They are my friends.  In my mind. You get the idea. 

I felt like we were in a fairy tale.  Like we were trying to catch the rabbit and were about to run into a tea party.  Where's the queen? I'll cut her head off! But we didn't see any rabbit or tea party.  Just beautiful trees everywhere. 

We finally found the creek and quickly threw rocks in it.  The twins never get to throw rocks so they didn't waste any time throwing them.  Hailey loves taking in the scenery and Alyssa was trying to make the biggest splash with her rocks. 

Megan oh Megan.  Off in her own little world poking things in the water.  My girls were at home.  They wanted a creek to have in their back yard.  We could just put it in our pockets and no one would know. Totally possible. Maybe. Okay no.  But they can dream.

We headed back up to the truck. Enjoyed all the peaceful sounds all the way up.  Goodbye beautiful forest.  Until next time.  I leave with a smile on my face and heart.

Fall Bucket List 2011

I was reading a favorite blog of mine called The Green Phone Booth and thought this would be a great thing to do.  Many people have a bucket list but not me.  I have never really thought about it until recently.  It takes time to sit down and think about everything you want to do before you die.  Having four children in my home its really hard for me to get any time alone to even think about making a bucket list.  So I will start by just making a Fall bucket list.

-Take more Fall walks with the kids.

-Gather leaves and make Fall art. We put a leaf on the table then put a paper over the leaf and rub crayons on it.  They make beautiful impressions on the paper and make great wall art.

-Drink more hot cocoa

-Make yummy thick warm soups

-PUMPKIN PUMPKIN PUMPKIN-Make lots of pumpkin muffins n such

-Enjoy the rest of the goodies from the garden that are still growing. Kale and even tomatoes if you can believe that.

-Sit by the fire and enjoy it fully.

-Snuggle with the hubby

-Wear sweaters as much as I can

-Wear my favorite boots till they wear out.

-Start wearing my rubber boots because they look neglected.

-Wear every single one of my knit hats.  None left behind!

-Take a Fall drive with the kids

-Take nature walks with the kids

-Spend more time with my friends/family

So what about you? What would you put on your Fall bucket list?

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Unexpected steals and deals

I have been sick with strep throat this week.  It was a gift from my twins. So nice of them.  I felt a little bit better today so I decided to run a few errands.  I ran to Whole Foods to return 2 soup thermos that I had bought for my twins to use for school.  They had a plastic bpa free lid and bottom but the rest was metal and had cute little princesses on them.  Well the bottom plastic part had a small hole in it so that water would be able to run out after being washed.  Yeah the water never left and I know its just going to rust.  Back to Whole Foods they went! I picked up a few things there and only ended up spending about  $10 after my credit from returning the thermos.  Then I decided to stop by Marks Nw Fresh Produce.

I entered a contest over at Marks NW Fresh Produce stand.  It was one of those guess the pumpkin weight games.  The pumpkin looked about my size so I guessed it was 115 pounds.  A week or two later Mark called me and told me I won. Woot woot!  I had forgotten about the contest or what I even entered to win.  I won the very large pumpkin and $50 cash!  Today I stopped by to pick up my winnings and found out Mark will only be open till tomorrow and everything is 50% off. Woot woot! I picked up all this stuff  using my $50 winnings and still have $10 left in my pocket. 

My goal was to buy things that would be easy to store and last a long time.  $24 of the bill was for the 5 pounds of local honey you see next to the potatoes.I needed honey really bad!  Local eggs were only $2.25 a dozen.  These are usually $6 or more in the stores around here so I really got a deal on those.  The corn you see was free because they need to be used today or tomorrow.  Potatoes were only $1.60 for a 10 pound bag.  They are not organic but I couldn't pass up a good deal.  Pumpkins I snagged for only 25 cents each.  As you can see I really did get a good deal considering I spent no money out of my pocket and came out with $10. 

Tomatoes went right in the oven to be roasted.  I'm really into roasted tomatoes this year.  Once done and cooled these will  go in the freezer for later meals. 

While the tomatoes roasted I decided to make a batch of peanut butter.  2 cups of peanuts + 2 minutes in the food processor= awesome peanut butter!

Picked up 2 bottles of organic concord grape juice for only $2.99 each and some pectin for about $4. 

I did a little of this....

A little of that.

And then your end result is grape jelly.  This batch is going in the freezer.  I just love me some good grape jelly. 

After I was done with all this I started to get a migraine.  My throat and left ear started hurting again and it triggered a migraine.  Off to lay down I go.  At least I did a few things today. 

Lake View Farms

Sunday was a beautiful warm sunny day here in Oregon.  Since I didn't get any pumpkins from the garden this year we decided to visit Lake View Farms to get them.  We have taken them here a few times but it had been a few years and the younger girls do not remember it.  So we put on our boots and headed on out.

What I love about Lake View Farms is that you get a boat and train ride. Who doesn't like that? Most people do the train ride down to the pumpkin patch first. We decided this year to do it backwards and hit the boat ride first. This saved us a bunch of time.  Honestly I wasn't sure if my girls would handle standing in line for more than 5 minutes. We stood in line for only 5 minutes and we were able to relax and enjoy the experience instead of keeping our kids entertained so they didn't beat on each other.  Yes even girls this.

The boat ride was about 5 minutes long.  It takes you from the beginning of the farm to the pumpkin patch.  You pass the scary lake creature that pops up out of the water, the lonely fisherman and also some pirates.  Kids loved this feature. 

Off the boat and onto the pumpkin patch! All was fun, exciting, beautiful and then this happened.  Look what I found.  Some inconsiderate people decided to leave their garbage in the patch for all of us to see. Talk about rude. Really pisses me off because there are plenty of garbage cans and recycling cans.  Honestly people you have no excuse. Never mind..lets try to focus on having fun. Off to find pumpkins!

Then we found this. Who leaves their crack laying around? Seriously Emma pull your pants up! lol

And then we find this. You people are really pissing me off.  We all come out to nature to find a great pumpkin to take home and instead we come and leave with this in our minds.  Way to go lazy butts. Way to go.

Still annoyed by the garbage we keep looking for the perfect pumpkin. Then I look around.  Oh my gosh how beautiful......I cant even describe how beautiful it was.  Fields upon fields of different crops and wonderful little farms speckled the landscape.  Oh how I want to live here.  Think they would mind if I dropped my house out here and settled down?

We finally picked our perfect pumpkins and loaded onto the train.  Its a small 2 minute train ride but will last forever in my kids memories.  Out of all the pumpkin patches we have been to this one is our favorite.  Its jammed packed and for around $35 for a family of 6 its really not that much money.  We opted not to get food there, didn't buy any cute decorations, passed up the Caterpillar rides, no pony rides and passed on the corn maze.  So even though we didn't take up all the options our kids didn't even notice.  There is a ton of fun to be had here. 

If your in the Portland Hillsboro area you must check out Lake View Farms. 

Lake View Farms


32055 NW North Ave.

North Plains, OR 97133

503-647-2336

Check out their site here and get directions and maps.

Your junk makes me happy

Today I spent several hours at my local Goodwill Outlet.  I go every few months to buy anything we need.  My wardrobe was lacking any sense of style so I was on the hunt for anything for myself.  I did find a bit of tops and some cute free flowing cardigans.  Luckily I was able to find a few pairs of Teva flip flops (my favorite!) and a cute pair of flats.  If you can believe it I also found a pair of Tom shoes for one of the twins.  They were a bit tattered but will make good play shoes. 

I picked this cute thing up for only $6.00.  I think it had been there for a while so they marked it cheap.  The bottom drawer was missing pulls which is why it probably was there for so long.  It was a bit dingy as well so I cleaned it up and added knobs that I was able to get from my grandmothers house.  Those glass knobs are really old and add a nice touch to this piece.  This will stay as is and nothing else done to it.  I love the distressed look.  This will be put in my twins bedroom and one day I will add a vintage mirror above it.

I have a beautiful red (painted it)half circle shelf that I picked up years ago. It originally was in a kitchen back when they made kitchen cabinets out of metal.  Well today I found this piece and I plan to marry them.  Since its in good condition I think I will keep the original paint.  It is made to hang on the wall so I will hang this above my red shelf which I plan to paint black now.  One day we will be repainting our kitchen cabinets black and it will match perfectly.  Love when a plan comes together.

I picked this little beauty the other day from a regular Goodwill store for only $6.99  I already own a rice cooker but as you can see the inside metal bowl has Teflon black coating that really worries me.  Really trying to stay clear of Teflon and this is the last item to go.  Also the lid is glass and impossible to clean the vent hole.   So when I saw this I had to have it.  This is a old one with just a metal bowl with no coating and has a metal lid.  I tried it out tonight and it works perfectly.  So my newer one is out and this old thing is in.  I just love the color. 

You can find just about anything at Goodwill's.  These cute little wooden Halloween decorations only cost me 99 cents.  I love all earthy type of decorations. The Little orange glass item is a hand blown glass tea light holder.  Snagged that one for half price so it was only 49 cents. Its so pretty. 

You can find lots of gardening items and even bird items.  This very large bird feeder is hand made.  Would of cost me over $30 new but I snagged this for only $4.99.  Woot woot! Also I found some biodegradable seed starter pots for 99 cents. 

So as you can see I spent way too much time at Goodwill and very little money.  I just love a thrifty find!

My urge to amass the yield

I really cannot explain it but each year I have this primal instinct to gather food for the winter.  My husband things I'm crazy sometimes because of the things I do.  Sorry honey!  I try to grow a good garden each year and try to preserve all the food for later usage.  It's like my body knows that soon I will not have the option to go out in the garden and enjoy a freshly grown meal so I need to prepare for when I wont have that option.  Maybe its my inner pioneer self?
 It's not like I learned it from my elders or anything.  I grew up gardening and preserving but never really the idea that you need to prepare for the day when you wont be able to enjoy fresh food.  We were poor and my mother was a single parent who needed to feed 2 children.  Government cheese, macaroni and cheese and hamburger helper were normal to us.  But my mom preferred the taste of fresh and if there was a way to get it she did it.  She grew up in a family who grew their own food because its what you had to do.  Long before the days of prepared prepackaged foods you actually had to grow your own food.  Yes that was life back in the day. Oh how I dream of those days and wish I could have my own little house on the prairie or live a Amish lifestyle. 
As the saying goes where there's a will there's a way.  We didn't own a home but rather lived in apartments.  This meant no soil to grow food and we needed to look elsewhere.  My grandmother lived in a old farm house with property and always gardened.  So many weekends were spent out at grandma's house helping her with gardening,  yard chores, canning, preserving, and in trade we would get garden goodies.  Tomato sauce, pickles, and zucchini relish were just a few things we looked forward to eating.  So maybe this is where my urge to amass the yield comes from.

I have to admit I'm scared of taking pictures of my food supply.  But I want you to see that I'm not perfect and I struggle to live a green lifestyle just like all of you.  But I'm not giving up and trying my best.  Here you see drawers full of frozen beans, snap pea's and fruits I have grown or picked fresh from the farms.  Carrots I have canned, stock I have made and froze, local store bought butter, and a red plastic tub of coffee.  What you don't know is that I have owned that tub for 5 years and refill it each month with organic bulk coffee grounds.  All those plastic Ziploc bags full of garden goodies were bought years ago and I wash and reuse them each year.  Those glass jars were mostly bought used, given to me and a few I have bought new.  You can also see meat I have bought from a local natural store.  The meat is local, hormone free and wrapped in paper only. 

This is my tiny pantry.  On the bottom you see my crock pot, pressure cooker, and lots of large glass jars which I store my food in.  Then you have my bread machine (really need to start using it again) and more glass jars.  I have food on  one shelf only.  You will see that I only have one type of canned food right now and that is because I don't like canned food but have yet to grow enough tomatoes to make my own sauce.  The can you see is Organic tomatoes which we use about 3-4 times a month.  Lemon juice is for making our own lemonaid and saltines are for making our own peanut butter (homemade) cracker sandwiches for lunches.  Then of course you have more glass jars, cookie cutters, baking dishes and items to use in making apple sauce.  This is what you typically will find in our pantry. 

And here you see my baking pantry.  I buy almost all my items from the bulk section and keep them in large glass jars which I have bought or luckily was able to snag from my grandmothers house.  Dark colored liquor bottle you see is my homemade vanilla.  Store bought items were on sale/clearance are are from a local company.  Organic sugar I find at Whole Foods and buy because its the cheapest I found so far. Still looking for bulk options on that item.  I don't bake often but do make my food from scratch so all these items I use often.  I'm no baker but I can cook like no one else.

And here is where I go crazy.  Lots of jelly I made, lots of veggies from the garden I froze, and lots of other goodies.  Bagged peas are a downer for me.  My girls love the peas from Schwan's so I caved in and purchased some.  I also have a soft spot for fresh pasta but it's not usually budget friendly unless its found on sale.  When I do find it I buy a bunch and freezer it for later use.  I am proud to say its made by a local Portland company near me.  At $1.99 that's a steal.  I also have vintage Tupperware containers (don't hate me!) with shredded zucchini or squash.  I do not ever microwave these containers, hand wash them in warm water and only use them in the freezer.  These are slowly replaced when I find deals on glass smaller containers.  I also keep our large packs of chicken in here so I only have to buy it once a month.  We feed our dog a raw diet and you can find meat cheaper in larger quantities. 

So are you a freak like myself? 

Do you feel the need to gather food?

Does your freezer look like mine?

Share your ideas and stories!