Friday, January 25, 2013

New Etsy listings

Five new Esty listings,

Check it out, I have a few more offering on, since last time I posted about it.

Ginger cat   six inch memo clip. I think my cats are turning out cute!  I do hand cut out the faces.










front
 back
This a a really large 9 7/8 wide x 10 7/8 tall ornament


 front              Grey striped tabby cat. Six inch memo clip.
 back
 front     Tuxedo cat!
 back

I have taken a few hours!! to retake photos and post the new photos, I think things look better!
Now if I can get some more sales! I have decided to go back to school and need to make the tuition for the online classes I want to take!!!  Sorry for the shameless plug! :O)
Here is the link to my shop   http://www.etsy.com/shop/RedDunDesigns   It is also at the top right of my page!  I do Christmas year around!! Its fun and uplifting to me.

Children will remember....


I dont write, many of you write beautiful things, poetry, books, etc.
My cousins wife posted this on facebook, I followed the link to the whole poem? 
It is so true!! I hope you enjoy it as much as I do. All of you who have raised kids, and are lucky enough to have grand kids, and especially new parents, remember this. I sure do plan on it with my grand kids, if I ever get any!! (hint hint, to my kids! LOL)
____________________________________________________________________________
Children Will Remember
As parents, we spend our lives trying to be good enough.  Trying to keep up.  We worry that we’ve failed.  We worry that we’ve screwed up our kids to the point of no return because somehow we’ve not been good enough…as parents.  But let me explain something.
Our children will not remember their childhood the way we think they will.
They won’t remember if your hair was doing that ‘woohoo’ thing at their Christmas concert.  They will remember that when they entered the gym, their eyes scanned the bleachers and locked with yours.
They won’t notice if they found their cereal bowl in the cupboard or in the dishwasher or even if they had to wash it themselves once in a while.  They will remember that on Sundays, you made happy face pancakes.
They won’t have a clue that one Christmas you were flat broke and they got fewer toys.  They will remember that you made them a quilt out of old t-shirts and they will use it to swaddle their own children.
They will not remember that you cleaned and scrubbed while they were playing outside.  They will remember that once you knelt in the dirt pile and vroomed Hotwheels with them all afternoon.
They will not see the holes in their jeans, care about mismatched socks, or remember what brand of purse you carried.  They will remember the smell of daddy’s t-shirt he let them wear to bed…long after he’s gone.
They won’t remember going to the theater with friends.  They will remember being pressed against your thigh on the couch, watching a movie, one hand in the popcorn bowl.
They won’t remember that you didn’t hike as fast as they did.  They will remember that you climbed to the top of the steepest mountain, just to show them the view.
They will never recall the smell of the fancy dinners you prepared on the holidays.  They will remember  every single hotdog they cooked over an open fire and the way you knew they didn’t like mustard.
They won’t care if their bed was never made or that the blanket didn’t match their curtains.  They will remember the way it felt when you tucked the blankets around them and called them a burrito baby.
They will not care what you looked like in a swim suit.  They will remember that you went on the field trip to the pool anyway and were the one parent who didn’t sit to the side and watch.
They will not have lifelong damage from mud overdose.  They will remember the way the ooze felt between their toes and the look on your face when you found them…and joined in.
SO step away from the dishes.  Leave that pile of laundry on the couch, forget about homework once in a while.  Unclench your jaw and relax.  That’s what I’m going to try to do.
Because when I am old and I am gray, and I cannot do the things that I can do today…my children will not remember that my dishes were foul.  My children will remember that I could run…I could whoop…and I could howl.

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I followed the original link, here:

http://backwoodsmom.danoah.com
  

Wednesday, January 23, 2013

Dogs, dogs and more dogs!

I havnt posted in awhile. Not doing a whole lot, except trying to keep warm!!!
This pup in John (the one on the left) we are puppy sitting him while his people are in wonderful WARM Hawaii! The first night we had him, this was how the boys ended up, in Dads lap!  Lapradores all of them!! 
 He is a busy busy boy! John is 18 mo. old. He likes to chew a lot!
 He couldnt quite figure out the pink monkey! LOL I ended up having to take the stuffies all away because he shook one until all the stuffing exploded out of it! Good excuse to take them all and throw them in the wash.
 He has a dinosaur to chew on.
 ....and a yellow ring, and every other chew toy he could find! He spent a lot of time with his head in the toy box (yes my dogs have a toy box :O).

 HI!
 And finally still....for a few minutes! I will say he has a lot more energy than our dogs! I took him to the Mall and we walked for about 45 min. he was great! John is a Guide Dogs For The Blind, career changed dog. Due to some medical problems he had as a pup. He is good now! His owner had him certified as her own Service Dog, to help her with some balance and vertigo problems she has been having.

It has been interesting having three pups in the house! Taking two outside on retractable leashes, at the same time, can be a challenge!  Dublin he goes out and comes in on his own!
Max seems to like John, hasnt been to grumpy with him.

I have to say its really weird to have a dog in the house named "John" as our oldest son is John. 

At times I have to really look, although John is a little larger than Dublin, they look so similar! 

Here is a little Dublin and Max for you! I love my boys!








The End!

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Remembering Summer....

Oh the warm days of Summer....
I finally dug my Dahlias up today. Boy! are the tubers huge! I am so happy none of them are rotten, which is the problem we have up here in the NW. Sometimes they freeze, but we can go 3-5 years sometimes before it freezes hard enough to kill them.

I have my favorite blooms, but I love them all!!






And this is what they look like naked!! LOL I didnt tag them, there are two that I know what they are. When I replant it will all be a surprise when they bloom again! More fun in it that way!  The two big ones
On the upper right are what happens when you dont dig them every year! They are huge I would guess 14-16 inches in diameter! for the whole tuber ball! They were absolutely huge plants! The one second from the top on the right, is the burgundy and white striped one in the above pictures. The one that I left out on the far right at the bottom, is my Jokers Wild, that I only got 3-4 blooms off of. The tubers are much bigger than the start I bought last year so I am hoping that it will be much much bigger this year!


I will let them dry for a few days, then I will separate the healthy tubers and pack them in pine shavings, I will probably put them in old feed sacks. I successfully did that a few years ago! Oh man oh man am I going to have a lot of starts!! I will probably put them back in the ground in April or May, but here, that depends on if the ground dries out enough to till it up! I could plant as late as June if it rains like it did in 2012!  Cant wait for Spring and Summer again so I can enjoy these beautiful blooms.

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Merry Christmas everyone!

 Rick, Pam, Dublin and Max!

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Remember the days....


My cousin brought me this picture a few weeks ago. This is me around 10 or 11, 1977-78? (Yes I am dating myself LOL Could be a little later, but then I started riding our gelding.) gaming on our old mare Silky. She was a pretty one, had all the chrome! Four white socks and full blaze.
I have no idea what obstacle it was. We used to go to game shows all the time. Obstacles were, Poles, Barrels, scuries (two jumps and run around a barrel and back over the jumps, its not done anymore.) figure 8, and a few other ones I am not remembering. My Mom and I used to both ride Silky, so she would compete twice. She was a good horse.

Friday, December 14, 2012

Spam

Sorry I had to turn on Word verify for a little while.
Getting a lot of anonymous spam.

Sorry Karen

Monday, December 10, 2012

My first Gumdrop cake!

I have very fond memories of the Christmas box my Grandparents would send, when I was little.
My Grandma would bake Gumdrop cake, and put one in the box with Christmas presents for all of us.
The only changes I made to the recipe was to soak the raisins in Captain Morgans Spiced Rum, I remember Grandma doing this) and a cup of hot water, may leave out the water next time. I called my Mom to consult with her about the recipe too.
Should have used more Rum! LOL can barely taste it. But it turned out wonderful!! Raisins, spiced gumdrops (no black ones) and walnuts. It is basically an applesauce cake.
 Smells great! Very thick.
 Full pan! It bakes for 2 hours!
 Looks good! Colorful! It has always been my favorite Christmas, and after Christmas breakfast!

Gumdrop cake

Ingredients
2 lbs gumdrops (mine came in a 1.8lb package, that was plenty)
1 cup of butter
1 cup of sugar
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 Cups sweetened applesauce (I used unsweetened)
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cloves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 lb light or dark raisins
1 1/2 Cups chopped nuts (I would love to try hazelnuts)
4 Cups flour

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300* Dissolve baking soda in 1tsp hot water.
2. Cream butter and sugar in mixing bowl. (large one!)
3. Add applesauce, dissolved baking soda and eggs.
4. Add 2 C flour, cinnamon, cloves, salt.
5. Mix nuts, raisins and gumdrops in separate bowl. (here is one change I made, I didnt mix in the raisins because of the liquid, just added them after.)
6. Sift remaining 2 C flour over gumdrop mixture then add to the creamed mixture.
7. Grease and flour an angel food cake pan. ( I used a bundt pan, cuz thats the shape I remember as a kid!)
8. Pour batter into pan and bake 2 hours.
(next time I will check after about 1 hour 45 min., I have a convection oven and although it seems done perfect, it is a little crunchy on the bottom(top in pan). The only other thing I want to try is, well, more Rum! and adding some vanilla.
Prep time: 15 min    Total time: 2 hrs 15 min       Servings: 8-10 (a lot more than that!)

This recipe is one of my most favorite Christmas memories! Much better than fruit cake!

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Belles Journey, book purchase

I wanted to share this book with my horse friends. I read the review and the story touched my heart. I have been collecting horse books of all types for awhile now. Garage sales, thrift stores, Amazon, where I found this one. The price was $1.00, plus $3.99 shipping and it came from a Goodwill store in Connecticut. Its about an old horse, that saves her little girls life in a snowstorm on the Canadian Prairie.

 About the author.

 The girl wished for a new younger pony to ride back and forth to school and piano lessons.

 Until Belle brought her home that day.

 She gets a stall in the barn for the rest of her days after getting her girl home. See she was frozen to Belles back and Dad had to cut her skirt to get her off.
It brought tears to my eyes when I read it. I hope to share it with grand kids someday.
Published in 1993, there were a few more available cheap on Amazon if you are interested. I think its kind of interesting it found its way back to Washington, where its US publisher is.
I love horse stories and I have a few old books that are in great condition, by C.W. Anderson, Margeret Henry, etc.  And a lot of newer ones.
I hope you like this story as much as I did.