CHRISTMAS WITH A CAPITAL "C"

I am delighted to share this story that took a full year to come
full circle back to me. I've decided to put it in this blog so that I don't lose it.

September, 2005:

My husband and I took our jewelry to a Antique street faire in Coburg
Oregon. We were having a great day after a cold early morning September
set-up in 2005. As the sun came out so did the people, including a group
of young college students from the local University. Four of the five
girls had been married that summer, and the fifth was single with nobody
in her future. The unmarried young woman was looking at Eisenberg glitzy
jewels, and trying on drippy, expensive sparkling bibs, and eventually
tried on a very pretty earring and necklace in a pastel blue rhinestone.
She fell in love with it, and flounced around the booth, dancing in front
of the mirror telling her friends she should buy this necklace for her
wedding, and then laughing saying, I don't even have anyone in my life,
but I should save it for when I do get married." Her friends giggled and
joked with her, and she put it down and moved on to the next tent.

An hour later, one of the married ladies returned to our booth and picked
the necklace and earrings up and brought it to me. She said, "I just have
a feeling I am suppose to buy this for my friend , and so I called
my husband and he said I could if I had the money. What is the best you
can do? I am going to put it away and give it to her when she gets
engaged." As I was thinking about what "best price" I was going to quote,
she added, "I'm going to pray for a special man to come into her life."

I thought to myself, "what a special friend this is to be so thoughtful."
I gave the necklace to the young married woman at my cost, because I
thought it was so nice of her. She immediately got tearful and explained
to me that the unmarried woman wasn't dating, didn't have anyone in her
life that she was interested in and all of her friends had gotten married
in the past year or two. She said all she wanted for her friend was a
wonderful man to come into her life. Off she went with her necklace
carefully wrapped in tissue and in a little sheer jewelry bag closed with
a ribbon.

September, 2006:

After doing our first show at the Antique fair last year in Coburg, we
decided we didn't need to get up so early, and that it would be better to
set up a little later than we did the year before. We were setting up in
the daylight and the weather was much better. It was a delightful day,
and we were in a perfect setting with the morning sun shining on the
glitzy jewelry. The past year had been a little rough on us financially,
and so we really needed to have a good showing this year. Customers
started buying early, and we had a good start to the day. I watched
people trying on hats, picking out purses, looking at jewelry and trying
on gloves. I was thinking how much I love to display the lovely "girly"
items in my booth and have women of all ages come to look, try on, dream
of tea parties and dressing up, and buying if they could afford it.

All of a sudden, a very young pregnant woman with a large manilla envelope
boldly approached me and said, "Are you Ms. Esch?"

"yes," I replied.

"Ms. Esch, I am so glad that I was able to find you. Do you remember me
from last year? I bought a blue rhinestone necklace and earring set for
my friend to be married in?"

"Of course I remember! I have thought of that many times. It was so nice
of you."

She handed me the envelope and said, "I was hoping I would find you, I
wanted to bring this to you because you were so nice to give me an
affordable price on that set."

I opened the envelope to find a wedding invitation, the program to the
wedding, and pictures of the bride wearing the necklace and earrings. I
was overcome with tears of joy. On the back of the program was a story
entitled, "The necklace", and it told of the trip to the antique faire,
the young married woman buying the jewelry from me, and diligently praying
for her single friend to have prince charming walk into her life.

I found out that after the jewelry was purchased in September, a wonderful
young man fell in love with the single young woman and in January they
were engaged to be married. Six months later the wedding took place with
the bride wearing the blue rhinestone necklace and earrings. Now, my
sweet customer who purchased the jewelry for her friend was due to have a
little girl in just a matter of days.

It was a wonderful day at the Coburg Antique Street Fair, and from that
moment on I viewed the women and men and little girls who walked into my
booth differently. They were people with dreams, hopes and wishes; they
were people looking for gifts, mementos, reminders of days or people gone
by; and, were in my booth for a reason. I might not ever know the reason
they were there looking at the jewelry, but they were special.

Because we had struggled the past year, I had considered giving up selling
jewelry, but I've decided there is something intrinsically special about
jewelry, and it is an honor to present it to others.

Auburn California Wildfire - August 30, 2009

The Boyz Remedy my Homesick feelings for the Girls

...well, at least it is a true attempt! I miss the girls in Oregon - I like to go to Ross with them, and go shopping. So, today, the boys "humored me" by going to Ross with me to shop for my new purse (see pictures below). They got into the shopping spirit by modeling for me.

My New Purse

I know my grandangels will love this one - Zebra Stripes for my Z-angel, Green for my Shamrock M-angel, and the Glittery Peace Sign for my free-spirited C-angel!

Summer Sandwich - NUMMY!

It's a simple to make sandwich if you have made the summer salad that I posted last week....just take a rice cake, smother it with cream cheese, add some of that greek Feta Summer salad, top it off with a little extra Feta cheese and a slice of Swiss Cheese, wrap it in a paper towel or napkin and nummy nummy - a great tasting lunch or dinner! Try it - it's better than you might think!

My Favorite Summer Salad

I am so tired of buying lettuce and having it wilt in the fridge before I have a chance to use it all. So, I've started cutting up a seedless cucumber, two on the vine tomatoes, one or two small green peppers and 4 oz of Feta Cheese. Then I sprinkle dried onions, parsley and 6 table spoons of Paul Newmans Balamic Vinegarette Dressing (sometimes I use his Tuscany Balsamic Dressing) over it and stir. It's easy to make and good to eat! NUMMY!!!

...and the April Employee of the Month is...

 

Was there any doubt? Really, you walk into the Walmart that he works at, and you would think he was famous! People stop me as I am shopping and say to me, "Are you Al's wife?" and...."Your Al's wife, right? He is so nice." "We love working with Al!" The man has been loved at every job he works at...no wonder he would rather work than retire with me. Like he says, he feels like a "hero" at work....I think I need to treat him better so he will want to retire with me . Gotta love the man! While I am bragging about him, I should tell you that he was a great student and I think I have heard him say he barely missed a day of school from first grade through college. I can tell you for a fact he only missed one day of work before he "retired" (except for when his mom passed away), and that was because I begged him to stay home with me one day! How on earth did this man get stuck with me for a wife? I guess I need to make him a plaque that says, Husband of the year - every year for the past 33 years! I love that man!

A Boy and his Dog

Really, I wished I could upload the video that I took of KC playing with Pounce! It's too long, and would have to be cut up too much to post - and I have a weak internet service...so I won't post it. Pounce must be the most patient dog I have ever seen. He just lays there and lets KC roll over him. It's so cute!

Drew's First time on the Mound!

Slumdog Millionaire - The Book vs The Movie

After reading the Twilight Series, and then seeing the movie, I decided the best way to see movies would be to read the book first. So, since Slumdog Millionaire sounded like it could be a great story, I picked the book up at Walmart a few weeks ago. I began to read it, hoping that the first few paragraphs with foul language would not be the norm for this writer, and we could move on to a great story. Then came more explicit language and descriptions, and I am just not into that kind of reading, so I put the book down feeling pretty disappointed. I made the decision that I really didn't want to watch the movie. I gave the book to my daughter and thought maybe she might like to read it, but even as I handed it to her, I wasn't very encouraging.

After I got home from Oregon, the Blockbuster movies started arriving, and the first one that I opened was...yep, you guessed it, Slumdog Millionaire. It sat here on the table for a couple of days, and finally I asked Al if he wanted to watch it. He thought it would be good, and I admitted that often the movies don't follow the book. I was very pleased that so much of the garbage in the book was left out of the movie. The story line was so much more than the graphic words and description in the book. The movie, although it wasn't to the T of the book, was actually better than the book, in my humble opinion. I definately am glad that I watched the movie.

Crocheted Garden Apron and More

These were a fun project to work on while I was heading to Oregon on the train, and while I was in Oregon. I wished I had the energy to make one for all of my gardening friends! I got the pattern at Michael's Craft Store, and the yarn I crocheted with is the Lily's Cotton yarn. I love working with it, because it feels good in my hands, and doesn't stretch or split like some acrylic yarns.

Then the square weird little things are called Amaguruchis, but Zee calls them "POPTARTS" - and honestly, that is a more fitting name. The girls picked out their colors and added the extra "hair"....so you can be really creative when designing these Poptarts!

Betty's 87th Birthday

My garage sale friends get together for lunch every few weeks, and luckily for me, we get together when I come to Oregon. This time it was Betty's birthday - wow, 87 years old! It was fun to sing happy birthday to her and have her share some of her great life stories. She's a pretty awesome woman!

Summer Sandles

When the sun shines and you feel all warm and happy; and mom and dad are away, sometimes you just need to go shopping. So the four of us went shopping for new sandles! The girls are great little shoppers, and are good at watching out for their pocket book! I told them each how much they could spend on sandles, and they came way under budget! They did good! Now, we just need to take some time and polish our toe nails!

Cali taught Zaide to Ride the BIG Girl Bike!

Cali taught Zaide to ride Maisy's bike without training wheels! Cali was so proud of herself....but then so was Zaide. Maisy simply said, "Oh, I don't care if she rides my bike, because I really want a new one!"

A Warm Day in Oregon - Splash Waterpark

While Kesch was at a womens retreat, and Dale was working the pizza wagon, I stayed with the girls in Oregon. They were wonderful on Saturday and on Sunday they worked hard to clean the house before Kesch got home, so I treated them to an afternoon at Splash. The girls are absolute waterdogs!

Cul-De-Sac Mothers Day Parade at Kesch's House

Coreographed by Cali (of course).

What Do I do in Oregon with the Girls?

You might wonder what on earth would keep me busy with the girls in Oregon for almost 3 weeks....well, there are a lot of things we do. We go shopping, of course, and hang out with the neighbor kids, but we also watch video's (The Cinderella Story was my favorite!), read books outloud (I read "The Meanest Doll in the World" book), baked cookies, helped make the mothers day gifts (an apron and a Starbucks Coffee Cup), and decorated foam drink holders.

Zaide likes to bake cookies with me and so for days on end she says, "Grammy, are we gonna make cookies NOW????" Finally we did:



Iced Orange Cookies with Zaide

Here's the recipe for the Iced Orange Cookies that Zaide and I made today:

Make ORANGE ICING first:

1 1/2 tsp. grated orange rind
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup orange juice

Mix icing ingredients together until smooth. Set aside.


Orange Drop Cookies by Louise Murie MacLeod from the Jackson Hole Recipe Book

3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups brown sugar, firmly packed
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 tsp. grated orange peel
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vinegar
3 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Walnuts or pecans (my grands are allergic to nuts, so I didn't add them)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease cookie sheets and set aside.

Mix milk, baking soda and vinegar together. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, sift flour, baking powder and salt together.

In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar together. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition with a wooden spoon. Mix in vanilla and eggs. Add milk and stir to blend.

Add dry ingredients to mixture, stirring well to blend. Stir in nuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoons on cookie sheet. Bake for 12 - 15 minutes (Or until lightly browned - the recipe says 20 minutes, but that seemed to long in my oven). Ice cookies while they are still warm.

We had a great time making these cookies - and she loved licking the bowl! UGH!

Maisy Puts on a Play

Maisy put on a cute little puppet show while I was visiting! She loves to play like this!

Maisy's Build-A-Bear at Home From Auntie!

Estate Sale Shopping Purchase!

Give me a bad day, and I will go dig out my collection of jewelry and try on pieces and handle the various sparkly bangles and bling until my hearts content! Seriously, I'd ten times rather go garage or estate sale shopping than hang out at the mall. Today I had the best of two worlds. Andrea took me to a fabulous estate sale where I was able to pick up 4 nice pieces of jewelry including the above Kirk's Folly choker style necklae. I got a great parure by Coro (1950's design); and sparkling rootbeer rhinestone necklace and earring set and a wonderful Florenza pin and earring set also. I'm addicted to sets - must have earrings to match every other piece of jewelry. Anyway, these will be added to my collection - and I will probably wear the Kirk's Folly a lot over the next year!

Peek-A-Boo!

Drew Bunts the Winning Run...

 

...and BayLee pitched some great strike balls! It was an awesome game tonight. The coaching was fabulous, the kids had a great time, BayLee got the game ball for excellent pitching (following his coaches suggestions) and Drew played an important roll in being the catcher at the end of the game. Drew and BayLee make a great team - I wished they could appreciate each others talents as much as everyone else in the stands does! BayLee is recognized for his quick and strong style both in pitching and catching. Drew is a strong catcher and works great as a baseman. Drew is also well known for his ability to bunt the ball. See the video below to see that Drew's Bunt brought in the winning run!!! YEP, THEY WON THE GAME!!!!

Guilloche Enameled Rose Jewelry

Click the title to this post to view pictures of the Enamel Rose Jewelry that I have collected over the past 10 years.

The story of how I began collecting this jewelry starts with a pair of earrings my mother has. They are the first jewelry that I remember noticing. When I see this rose enameled jewelry, it makes me smile, thinking of my mom wearing the earrings and seeing them in her jewelry box. My mother is a woman who could simply put on a pair of earrings and some lipstick and look fabulous. The memories that are my favorite are of her getting ready to go some place and taking a few minutes to add the lipstick, comb her hair and put on a pair of clip-on earrings.

From Guilloche Rose Collection

Off to the Races - Easter Day

With Gramma Sharon, the three boyz, Andrea and Tracy, Al and I had a fun day at the horse races! We arrived in plenty of time to get great seats - and it was "Dollar Day" so all the food we wanted at $1 each!



We got great a box seat with seven chairs and lots of room. We were right on the finish line, and above the stables where the jockey and horses were prepared for the race. That way we could check out the horses before we headed up to turn in our bets.



It was an absolutely beautiful day - warm and sunny with a slight cool breeze!



BayLee was a little down on his luck and out of money. I was going to be the next one to run out of money, but I had a good hunch on the next race - I thought I new which three would come in on top. The problem is that I had no confidence in placing them in order. So, I enlisted BayLee in putting them in order for me. He told me what order, and I told him that if we won, I would share the winnings. Bottom line is that together we won $160!!! He was in seventh heaven when I gave him his half.



Drew wanted to give it a try with me. So we took our $6 up and bet the same sort of trifecta boxed (that means we didn't have to take the risk of putting the winning horses in any sort of order - but the payoff wouldn't be as great). The problem was that we weren't as lucky this time around....it was a good lesson for Drew, BayLee and Papa!



We all left the races feeling like we had a pretty fun day. On the way home, Tracy took us up to a site where we could overlook the city - oh my it was so beautiful - much prettier than these pictures show. My lesson here was NOT to take pictures with the camera facing the sun! Even if the view is pretty from that direction!






It was a fabulous end to a wonderful day. My only wish is that if it could have been shared with My Oregon family!