Life in our house......

Jason's New Toy

Close Window Along with a new 70- 200 mm lens.  He is so excited and so am I. He has been looking at new Cameras for about 6 months and finally I just told him to buy it.  It really is his one hobby that he can do while the boys are around. He use to golf a lot, but rarely does that anymore.  Kids just change your priorities and he usually doesn't want to be gone as long as it takes to shoot an 18 hole round. So I told him this was cheaper than a whole spring and summer of golfing once a week and to do it. We currently shoot with the 10D and have loved it everyday since we got it.  So we went with this lovely 50D! I just got the package and couldn't wait to use the new camera lens so I went out in the front yard and shot these. He is so jealous that he is at work and I'm playing with it.  Oh and I wanted to answer the question that Kelly left on the painting post.... I am by no means a "painter" but I usually just go and think about it later... :)  But I'll give you my 2 cents anyway. So I did clean the stools really well, then I primed them with a white spray paint primer. Then after they were dry we painted the green one with regular paint and brushes because I had the color I wanted in a gallon can.  Then the blue one was spray painted because I had a great color in a spray paint.  They both look good, but I might like the blue ones finish just a little better.  It was a glossy spray paint.  I think you need glossy to get a smooth surface for your bum... when you sit, so you can easily slide off...?  Does that make sense? So the green one was only satin and I didn't like the feel of it so I got a glossy spray paint clear coat to go on top of it and that seems to have made it smoother and I like it better now. The kids love them and it worked out perfect because Sam loves green and Ben loves blue, so now they each have their favorite color stool!

The Pumpkin Patch

We hit up the Pumpkin Patch this afternoon after school.  We had been meaning to go over the weekend, but just didn't make it, so it was a nice surprise for the boys that mom and dad were both there to pick them up from school and that we were heading to the usual P Patch that we go to every year.

This tractor is usually the first stop in the field.

Then we scout out the very best pumpkins.

Then on to the corn maze.

At the Pumpkin Patch they have this really tall mountain of sawdust every year in the exact same spot.  Then they have all these random toys around it that kids take up to the top of the mountain and try and ride down.  I'm surprised they still do this.  Or I'm surprised that they still let the kids do this.  I love it and the kids love it... We just know ahead of time there is a possibility of some broken bones, deep wounds or at the very least some type of crying and/or screaming.

Looks innocent enough...?

"Ben, come help me!"

"Why... I'd love to Sam."

And it all goes downhill from here...

Believe it or not... he was still smiling when he came up.  Look at where his feet are!

And because in this family we are equal opportunity dust biters...

Uh oh.

The day wouldn't be complete without a mouth full of dirt.

They had so much fun, they went back for more. 
No crying, screaming, broken bones or deep bloody wounds.

Back

Well of course I didn't get as much done in my week of non blogging as I had hoped.  Sam and I did manage to get our bar stools painted and I love the colors we ended up with.

Here is before

During....

And after...

Got a few other little things done, but I'll have to post photos later.

Just barely keeping up with the RPB orders, so thanks everyone! 
So glad your taking advantage of getting them while you can...
Still have most things available at the moment!

Later Gators....

News

So… I’ve got some news…
Been thinking how to post about it and not quite sure how.  I do have some loyal customers who may be a little disappointed….

I’ve decided to turn Rose Petal Betty into strictly an antique business.
You all know I’ve been doing a little of both and when I went to the farm Chicks show, I really fell in love with the idea of doing mostly antiques and vintage items.

While I really love making (and mostly using) the bath products, making them on a large scale out of our small house has sometimes been a challenge.  Not only making them in the kitchen, but storing ALL the ingredients sometimes has our house looking like a warehouse instead of a home.  I kind of thought when I got into the swing of it we may buy another house with a small separate garage or barn that I could turn into a work and storage space, but that will not be in the works for a while with the way housing is now. 

The costs involved with insurance and making sure I’m complying with all regulations is more than I really can afford now too.

Actually though the good news is, is that I’m super happy with my decision.  Jason is super happy with my decision and well, the kids will be happy as long as I’m happy…

Also last spring Jason developed an allergy to fragrance too!  So you can imagine that when I’m whipping up some nice fragrant Bath Bomb Cupcakes that it doesn’t make him the happiest of guys.  He has been nothing but supportive though.  It must be rough being married to girl like me, but he always make it seem like he would have it no other way.

Also, I can still use the name Rose Petal Betty and just parlay more into the antiques business, which takes A LOT less time and is super duper fun for me.  My mom may even become a partner with me… I think I may have created a monster.  She has fallen for it too.

So I’m going to continue through the end of the year with making the Bath products and at this point haven’t decided what I’ll do with the site yet.  I may offer some things on there or maybe not.  I may still make soap for sale at shows here and there too, I don’t really know yet.

So... for those of you that may want to buy some goodies before the end of the year and for Christmas, my plan is to have most things available until I quit selling before Christmas.  (Usually around the 15th of December)  But some may drop off the site if I no longer have ingredients and the demand is too low for me to buy more…

The Dead Sea Salt Soaks and Scrubs will start becoming limited because I’m going to no longer buy ingredients for those, so get those now if you still want them.  I do expect to be busy this holiday season, so as always please be patient with shipping.  Some things I make AFTER you order them, so it can take a few days to get in the mail. 

You can leave a comment or email me if you have questions and I’ll answer them as soon as I am able.  For this week, I’m taking the week off of blogging and going to try and get things in order for the Christmas rush…  And oh ya, I started painting and have had to leave it 1/4 done for a while now… I’d like to get a handle on that too. 

Oh and I've decided against wallpaper for now... Ask me next week and I may have changed my mind though. (Poor Jason)

Thanks everyone who has been supportive of me.  I really appreciate it.  You blogger friends of mine really sometimes just make my day with a nice (or funny) comment.
Thanks to everyone who buys Rose Petal Betty Bath products too, I really have enjoyed making them for you and love that you like them…. It’s been a fun ride and I learned more than I did in all my 4 years of (pretending) to go to college…

(kidding mom… well, kinda kidding…)

See you next week!

PS. I gotta figure out how to get rid of that Wikipedia thingy....

Fire King

Fire-King is an Anchor Hocking brand of glassware that is similar to Pyrex. Fire-King is made of low expansion borosilicate glass and is ideal for oven use.

Fire-King was originally produced in the 1940s for everyday use, rather than display. It was often sold in bags of flour as a promotional item or was given away at gas stations. Fire-King could also be purchased at local grocery and hardware stores.

Today, Fire-King is an affordable collectible found in antique stores, garage sales, flea markets, and thrift stores, as well as on the Internet.

The Fire-King line includes bowls, casseroles, cups, plates, bowls, serving platters, creamers, vases and more. Fire-King is not designed for dishwasher use, which can dull its original lustre and remove any applied paint decorations.

There are many decaled patterns that are very popular including Blue Mosaic, Wheat, Primrose, Fleurette, Forget Me Not and Anniversary Rose. Patterns with solid glass colors are Swirl, Sheaves of Wheat, Shell, Restaurant Ware, 4000 Line and 1700 Line.

Jade-ite Restaurant Ware is most popular and, therefore, most expensive. It is a creamy jade color. Martha Stewart popularized this pattern by using it on her TV show. Fire-King solid glass colors come in rose-ite (creamy pink), turquoise blue, azur-ite (light pale blue), white, and ivory. It can also be a fired-on coating over cyrstal in shades of pastel green, pastel blue, pastel peach, pastel yellow, primary orange, primary blue, primary yellow and primary green. These fired on colors are part of the pattern Rainbow. Rainbow is not technically Fire-King, but included in the same category with most collector books. There is also a fired on Peach Lustre color that comes in several patterns.

I LOVE the Jadite and also the turquoise blue and azurite.  White is nice too.  I bought a cream and sugar dish at a yard sale in the Peach Lustre color to sell at my booth.  I'll take a photo of it when I get it out to price.

 I've been stalking ebay for the Jadite and azurite, as they are harder to find stores because they are so popular. 

This is a photo of a mix of pieces, but don't the jadite just grab your attention!  I think so!!

I just love the history and love that in the 40's and 50's you could buy these at the gas station or get them in a bag of flour!! 

Read the last post and comments if your wondering if this post is out of the blue!  :)

Karen and me

Well... since Karen has all the photos of our trip and she already posted about or fun trip.... I'm just going to defer to her blog about our awesome weekend...

Karen's blog.

I laughed out loud and almost spit out my pepperoni Lean Pocket when I read it. 

Fun times.

I'm bringing wallpaper back.

Just kidding.  But I do think it's coming back and in a good way.  So you know I'm in a "white and seafaomy green and robins egg blue" phase... right?  

Well, now I'm thinking I might want to wallpaper a wall or two in my living room.  Might being the operative word here.  I haven't decided on anything, but I am a little crazy and the thought of having everything white has me a teeny tiny bit scared.

So I just thought I would check out what is out there and I found the most amazing site, with the most amazing wallpapers.  It's called Graham Brown.  Here are some really cool wallpapers that I just thought I'd show you and see what you all thought....

Some of them look so totally different when you see them from further back.  

And some of the wallpapers on this site are soooo cool in some wild colors, but I'm sticking with my "toning it down" and "less is more" new downstairs.

Do you have a favorite?  I know the white on white are hard to see, but you can kinda see them if you squint. :)

  

This photo has nothing to do with anything.  I just know sometimes it's boring reading something with no photos.  I guess that's why I can't get past "Goodnight Moon" for my favorite bedtime reading....

:)  It's a photo of one of our trips up to Mt. Rainier.

I'm going to work on some painting today and hopefully have some progress to report in a few days... 

On Friday Karen and I are meeting up for a MUCH needed girls weekend.  We haven't done that in a LONG time and it is overdue. 

We've been talking every day just counting down the days!

Okay, I have to get to work, be back tomorrow...

Soooo the weather man is not always wrong....

So.... I guess that severe weather alert for the Puget Sound on Saturday wasn't really that wrong after all.

First of all there are no photos to show you... Even if I had remembered my camera, I wouldn't  have probably gotten to the taking of the pictures on Saturday.

It all started out fairly well.  I picked up my friend Holly in Tacoma at about 7:15 on Saturday morning.  It was grey out and had rained earlier but it wasn't raining at the time.  We headed over the Narrows Bridge and out to Port Orchard, with me of course having terrible directions, but we managed to find the right spot with the help of about 3 maps and the GPS on her fancy Iphone.

So we set up and put extra plastic underneath the roof of the tent because at Farm Chicks (you all remember that fiasco)  the tent leaked.  So we get it all set up and unload the mountain of stuff from the Pilot and make it all look nice and pretty....  And the morning went well, it was rainy but there were quite a few people that braved the weather and it was fun sitting and chatting with Holly.  She got a grown up job and therefore it's not quite as easy for us connect as it use to be.

Then.... the wind started picking up...  We had 40lb sand bags on each leg of the tent, so we thought we were pretty good.  But you could hear a gust of wind coming through the trees and all the vendors would stand and hold on to their tents. 

The lady right next to me tied her tent together with two other tents, I think in the hopes that 3 tents would be easier to keep together than one...  Well... not so much.

Holly and I hear the wind and then yelling and we look out and one tent is in the air on top of another tent and the metal is all mangled.  She said she was holding on to her tent and it actually picked her up off the ground!  She thought she had broken her hand, but wasn't sure.  My tent had even moved at least a foot even with the weights.

So we started packing it in like crazy.  There were big trees blown down right about 25 yards away from us and it was a little nerve racking to say the least.  I just threw stuff in any box any which way and then remembered that I had to get it crammed all back in the car.  Luckily we got it all in. 

I feel really bad for Cynthia who was running the show and really bad that it was partly a charity event and I'm sure that they didn't get at all what they hoped out of it.  She felt bad, but there was nothing she could do, obviously.

So Holly and I stopped for a late lunch at a Mexican restaurant then we headed over to the Antique Mall to check it out for a little bit.

I dropped her off and headed home, I then fell asleep at about 7:30 that night.  I think Jason was worried I was sick, but I was just exhausted.  The thought of unpacking the car made me even more tired, so I did that on Sunday afternoon.  I think I've got everything sorted out now.

Thanks Holly for coming with me and braving the crazy weather!!  I was so happy she was with me, even tough I'm sure she wished she was at home in bed reading a book or something you do when it's miserable outside, instead of being out in it with a crazy friend!

Fall Fair

On Saturday Oct. 4th you can find Rose Petal Betty out at the Kitsap County Food Coop Fall Fair.

It looks like it will be lots of fun for kids and adults alike!

This is at the same place that I went to last spring and it was a lot of fun and everyone was so nice it made me want to head back for this little harvest shindig!

So if you looking for something fun to do and you are in Western Washington, head on over and say hi to me here on Saturday and some of the proceeds from this fair benefit the Food Coop so you can't beat that!