FARM CHICKS

yippee ki yeah!
to all of our favorite farm chicks out there:

rollin'

rollin'

rollin'

let's get those doggies rollin'

RAWHIDE....

have a great party!

MADISON PARK

I took a little field trip for inspiration and to take a good friend lunch a week ago. I went to MADISON PARK, Randy Parman's antique store in Sellwood and got inspired! He has such a wonderful way of displaying both rustic and beautiful antique pieces. He is like a water wand when it comes to finding treasures. We can be at the same sale and we can be standing next to each other and he will pick up the most wonderful object before my eyes have even focused, and before I have jump started my brain into thinking I might want it. Once in an antique store, Donna and I had put a pile of goodies on the counter and the owner said to us, "I didn't know I wanted it until I saw your goodies put together-and this is my store"! That's how I feel about Madison Park! I want it all and just the way that Randy puts it together. So if you have not made a field trip out to Madison Park give yourself a treat and take the morning or afternoon to immerse yourself in Randy's treasures and creativity!

MADISON PARK ANTIQUES

7805 S.E. LAMBERT

SELLWOOD ANTIQUE DISTRICT

PORTLAND,OREGON

503-233-3731

MEET ROXY HEART AND RENO TRUCKEE

RENO TRUCKEE

ROXY HEART

Yesterday's blog was bittersweet and one that I debated writing-but my heart won out over my reason. Today I want to share with you what we got after we lost Emma and Farley. I am happy to introduce Roxy Heart and Reno Truckee. They will be 2 in July and August. We waited 6 years after Rascal died to get Emma and Farley-that was too long of a time to not have dogs in our lives, so this time we waited 3 months to get these bundles of endless energy and joy. Roxy is a turbo jet in action-she is constantly moving and if there is a dog diagnosis of attention deficit-she clearly has it. She goes, goes, goes until she drops and then she must sleep. She is pint size and quite a talker. She is very specific in what she needs and will tell you often with her talk. Reno is the opposite of the Roxy-he is a giant cocker spaniel-40lbs of love and cuddle. He is just a gentle soul. Both have independent minds and like most cockers choose to do what you want them to do most of the time.....well-not really. They keep me very busy, as some days I wonder am I smarter than two cocker spaniel puppies? I chose Emma and Farley's name so it was the Wizard's turn to name the two new dogs. He travels a lot to Nevada for work and spends a lot of time in Reno and Vegas. Thus the name Reno. He wanted to name Roxy-Vegas but we thought it was too big of a name for her-we were wrong! Despite her size-she is clearly a Vegas show girl! The wizard's family is from Chicago so Roxy Heart was chosen and she lives up to that name as well. We love our dogs and despite our efforts-we let them live a life with few boundaries and get in return boundless energy and love from them! I can not imagine life without dogs!

EMMA AND FARLEY

EMMA

FARLEY

Emma and Farley came into my life over fourteen years ago. Donna thought I had waited long enough to get a dog after Rascal, our springer had passed away. So I flew down to L.A. with our sister Debby, did a flea market and picked up 3 month old, WIGGLY presents from Donna. Debby and I brought the two cocker spaniels, Emma and Farley home on the airplane [that's another story.] We gave Emma her name because of her sweet, sweet nature. She never met a stranger that she did not love immediately. Farley was named after a dog in the comic strips [For Better or Worse] after he died saving Elizabeth from the river. I could not believe a dog would die in the comic strips [I cried] and right then and there I vowed I would name my next dog Farley in honor of this heroic dog. Farley was a more complicated dog than Emma and he thought his mission in life was to love and protect me. That was all good until he got cranky and it was 'beware of Farley' in his later years-for everybody except his mom, grandma , aunties and my son, Justin. Sadly we are at the second anniversary of their passing away. We lost Farley for complicated health issues he could not survive and we lost our Emma because of her heart within 12 days of each other. That was a terrible time for us but we celebrated them then and we celebrate them now for all the love, affection and enrichment that they brought to our lives. We miss you Emma and Farley!

A BIG THANKS

Sorry I am a bit late with a BIG thanks for all who made the barn sale so fun and fabulous. Joe and Jermonne from Barn House got up at the crack of dawn along with Sylvi from Little Cottage BG to help us! What troopers and dear friends they are to be so generous with their time and talent. Donna missed the sale but worked up to the very last minute behind barn doors making sure everything had her touch of magic before leaving for Bend and her Mother-in-law's 90th birthday celebration. Our Friend Joy from AntyJoy came up on Friday and helped Cindy put the finishing touches to the barn and yard. Thank you Joy-we owe you big time! Our younger sister, Debby gave up her day to come out and help. Thank goodness she did as she took over putting the food together-not my strong point to say the least. Debby was great fluffing and talking with our friends who came to shop the sale. Natalie brought a yummy bundt cake to the party. She was a bit upset that she did not make one of her 3 layer cakes-she did not have time. For goodness sakes-the girl and her family were moving into their new house on Saturday-umm-I think we were lucky to get her to the sale at all let alone bring a wonderful, melt in your mouth bundt cake. A BIG THANK YOU TO THE KING OF TARTE WHO GAVE US FRIDAY AND CAME AND POWER WASHED THE DRIVEWAY AND BARN AREA. I promised The King of Tarte free margaritas and food the next time we are together for all of his efforts. It made such a difference! And finally, THE QUEEN OF TARTE WHO BRINGS LIFE, LAUGHTER AND CREATIVITY WHERE EVER SHE GOES-BUT ESPECIALLY TO THE BARN,

But most importantly, thank you to our friends who came and shopped the sale. We had such fun-hope you did too!

VERY BUSY BEHIND BARN DOORS

ANNIE,FANNIE AND ABIGAIL AND QUEEN OF TARTE SALE AT THE BARN

SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009

20131 SOUTH END ROAD

OREGON CITY

http://www.queenoftarte.blogspot.com

OFF TO TARTE LAND

COME JOIN THE FUN

TARTE BARN SALE

http://www.queenoftarte.blogspot.com

SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009

20131 SOUTH END ROAD, OREGON CITY

A BEAUTIFUL DAY AT THE BARN

Donna and I spent a fun afternoon at the barn getting ready for the sale. It was so warm and beautiful - I had thoughts of camping out and staying the night but the thought of 8 legged critters roaming around the barn and looking for something to eat [me] put a bit of a damper on that idea. Dexter came to visit us and for the first time two of the horses came up and one ate out of my hand. Thank goodness I had brought an apple with me so we could share it. Well it is off to morning chores, walk the dogs [not a chore], to Monticello and then the barn. It sounds like a busy day-but who can complain with such wonderful sunshine.

TARTE BARN SALE

SATURDAY, MAY 23, 2009

9:00-2:00

20131 SOUTH END ROAD

OREGON CITY

MAKING PROGRESS AT THE BARN

I made some progress today in the barn-but still much to do before next Saturday. I took a few more pictures to tease and please. Hope you like them. I will be back to the barn tomorrow as the Wizard is going out of town for business and it is my last full day to work until Thursday. I will get half days in at the barn during the first part of the week-but I can not leave my puppies alone for too long! Talk with you soon.

WIRE, WIRE, WIRE and SOME METAL

Donna and I have always loved rust and wire! I think we spent many a Saturday down in our Dad's work shop looking at all of the tools and stuff that now make going into an estate or garage sale such a treasure hunt. One of us usually heads straight to the garage or basement to see what rusty, crusty treasures are hidden waiting for us to find them. My memory of buying my first rusty treasures was in the early 70's. We were poor students and had very little extra money to spend on decorations for the house. I found this wonderful old second hand store on Foster road in S.E. Portland and I bought several rusty barn hooks and an odd assortment of rusty tools. The most fabulous find was a two foot rusty pulley that weighed a ton and sat in a place of honor in my home for years. Donna to this day has her collections of old rusty door knobs, hinges, hooks and wire. These have equal status in the museum with her most beautiful and delicate treasures. So when you come to the barn sale you will find lots of rusty, crusty, wire and metal treaures to take home. I will take more pictures today of some of the pretty stuff that will be joining the rusty. crusty collection.

CELEBRATION

I know one is not suppose to TOOT their horn or brag about their efforts or successes-[at least our Mom used to say that to us] but I am so proud of us! We moved out of the second storage unit last Thursday! My son, Justin and our nephew, Andy provided the muscle and we got stuff to the barn and to my side of the garage. We were finished before rush hour traffic after making a round trip to Monticello, the barn and then home. Not bad for a day's work. If you are like Donna and I, we need to rent a truck or van when we have to haul the big stuff around. We usually rent from Penske and I have absolutely fallen in love with the "Sprinter". It's bigger than a van but not as big as a 15' truck which is not my favorite to drive-it's just too big. So if you ever need to rent a truck remember about Penske and the Sprinter! It is so much fun to drive.

I have made several more trips to the barn with new goodies and plan to go to the barn tomorrow to begin pricing and displaying stuff. If I know us-it will take just about every day between now and MAY 23 to get everything done for the next sale. I will take before pictures tomorrow so you can see the progress of our efforts.

Before I close I must say that the Season Opening of the Barn House was spectacular!! Those Barn House Boys put on quite a show with their friends! So if you did not get to the opening event, the Flea Market 0n July 18 looks to be even bigger and better! So put it on your calendar-I counted 20 vendors who will be there-it is not to be missed!

BEHIND THE SCENES AND MILES ON THIS BUGGY

Well, it was definitely catch up week for me! I made three trips to the barn, four trips to Monticello, one trip to Goodwill and three trips to storage! Now that sounds really virtuous and it was. I had a sobering thought when I did my taxes this winter-one might also call it a thunder bolt of lightning-while others might wonder what was I thinking? At any rate I totaled up what we spent on storage costs over the past year on two different 12x20 storage units and realized two things: 1. I could have used that money in so many different ways-mostly to have fun and 2. the value of what was in storage was rapidly loosing its' value over time because of the cost of storage. So I am happy to report that I got the caboose moving and cleaned out one of the storage units last Saturday and Sunday. I have made plans to be out of the other storage unit on Thursday and have rented a truck and hired our nephew-in-law to help move the big stuff. Of course by moving all of the stuff out of storage-it has to go somewhere-so I must yet do a little rearranging in my house, convince Donna to store the Annie, Fannie Xmas boxes and convince the wizard that I really, really do need more space in the garage. With luck-I will be done in time to do a test drive to Battleground on Friday so I can be at the Barn House Sale first thing on Saturday morning to shop and help instead 0f wandering around the countryside trying to find them. That sounds like a great reward for all of my efforts to get out of storage. YEAH!