My Inspiration....

{The Hubs}
























{The Diva}



{The Mix Kid}

xxx

September = Busy Season!

Fall and specifically September is always a busy time around our house - school starts back up and we have a bunch of birthdays during the month of September! My daughter has a birthday this month, so does my dad and my mother in law and I am now a Great Aunt with the arrival of my nephew's brand new son! Then there is always the school activities like open houses, school photos, girl scouts, and the school football games!

First Day of School Bus Line Up!

Country Gourmet Home Wickless Wax Melts

I have been so busy with my Country Gourmet Home business that I haven't had a chance to do any blogging on my site and I apologize! Country Gourmet Home just went through some major changes, including a brand new consultant plan, multi-level earnings from our downline team members and so much more!

 Of course the cat and dog always try to vie for being the center of attention. I think my cat wins the prize on this one though. I had set up a display so that I could take some photos of our Country Gourmet Home wax melts.....the pictures turned out pretty good.  I had this whole back drop display set up so that I could get the dark contract going as well as making it easy to edit the images. Several boxes stacked up covered by a dark green velvet type material. Once I got done taking all of my pictures I put the melts away and went to the computer to upload the pictures. Once I had the pictures uploaded this is what I found when I turned around to look at the kitchen table (where the display structure was still set up).

Jasper, the King of Our Castle!

Jasper.....who thinks he is all that!

Gotta love that cat - both he and our dog are an endless source of amusement at our house - never a dull moment around here!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Friday Photo Montage

Happy Friday - the weekend is almost upon us! I woke up this morning to inside temperatures of only 68 degrees......not cold, but this is the first time in weeks that we have had the temperatures dip so low. The nights are getting dark earlier so I know that even though the calender says that fall is still almost a month away it it creeping up on us! In my house the kids are gearing up for school with new clothes, school supplies, hair cuts - all signs that summer is on the way out and fall is getting ready to make it's appearance.

My business - Country Gourmet Home is getting ready to launch it's new Fall/Winter product lineup and it's new compensation plan too. So many changes and I am looking forward to them like a kid at Christmas! I did manage to snap a few pictures over the summer, so before it is gone I thought I would share a few of my favorites!
 

Guest Book Display From My Son & Daughter In Law's Wedding

A Rare Mother ~ Daughter Moment....

New Hydrangeas in My Garden

More Garden Flowers ~ I love the Orange!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Look at my "Country-fied" Kitchen

I have been so behind on any personal posts that I thought I would share. A while back hubs and I actually got a whole day to ourselves and we hit a giant tag sale. Needless to say I was in heaven. The tag sale was being held by a woman who used to own her own second hand store so the treasures and bargains she had were un-believable!

This is my kitchen window sill (right above the sink). The Red dish to the far right is holding a candle and it was bought as part of a larger set.

My Primitive Welcome hung above my buffet. I think the cost was $4.00 

I have this awesome space above my upper cabinets which houses all of my favorite new and old bowls and dishes. I just love my new Rooster bowl! 

I am not a very good photographer, obviously! This whole compilation was purchased at the tag sale. Total cost was about $20!

 I thought I had taken many more pictures than this - it always seems like I am taking too many, but when I go to post them on my blog there are never as many available as I thought. One of these days I will actually remember to take some pictures of the kitchen when there are no dirty dishes and the kid's junk stuff is off of the island! At least now you have a little glimpse into my Country Kitchen! 

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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The Pink Tent - Camping in Style

Yesterday was somewhat of a milestone for me.....I dropped my youngest off for her first overnight Girl Scout Camp-out! She has spent the night away from home before, but this felt different somehow ~ maybe it is the sleeping outside in a tent that made it somehow different. As I went through the rest of the day I often caught myself looking at the clock and wondering what she is doing now? 

I stayed long enough to enjoy watching the girls set up their tents......a whole row of Bright Pink two man tents. I was so proud of how well she set up her little sleeping area which included her air mat, pillow, little LED night light and of course her favorite stuffed animal. She definitely inherited her Mama's "nesting" and "organizing" affinities!  

It's almost time to go pick her up and I know I will hear all about the memories she made during her trip and I couldn't be a more proud Mama, but it is bittersweet too ~ she is my youngest and I know that as I watch her reach her milestones I won't get to watch another until I have grandchildren and although watching them will be fun it just won't be the same.

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Best Day Ever!

 

Yesterday was Mother's Day and my family made sure that I had my favorite kind of day! The weather has been unseasonably warm for Pacific Northwest ~we've had temperatures in the upper 70s since about Friday so I decided that I wanted to go on a picnic (the first one of the year). First let me back up a bit.....my hubby spent a good portion of Saturday planting my Mother's Day gifts! He (and the girls) bought me quite a few flowers (both annuals and perennials) for Mother's Day so now I have a splash of color when I look out the living room window. This particular spot where he planted the flowers had needed some "help" since we moved into our house, prior to the flower planting it had been home to a couple of scraggly plants that the builder had planted and some wild flowers that the hubby had planted last year. I will get out to the yard in the next day or so to take some pictures.

 

So back to my Mother's Day picnic......since it was just the four of us I decided to keep the picnic fixings low key and we had hoagies, chips, potato salad (store bought) and grapes. We set out for Birch Bay about a half hour drive from our house. The park was filled up with people who obviously had the same idea as me, but we did manage to find an empty picnic table and parking spot.

  

We quickly set up our home away from home......once we were done eating my youngest decided to roll up in a blanket to play her video game (she's the lump in the front).

 

Since Mom couldn't be the only one taking pictures both my hubby and daughter got out their cameras and we had a little photo war.... Next, we headed off to the beach, the tide was out so quite a few more photo opportunities presented themselves......

 

The view from our picnic area!

We found so many things while walking on the beach......

 

A crab nestled in the rocks....

 

A Bald Eagle perched high in the trees...

 

Lots of "photo opportunities"....

  

Exploring.....

 

Wild plants growing on the driftwood....

 

All too soon the picnic had to end.....

  

One more picture......

The day was beautiful and we created some memories that will stay with me forever ~ it's the simple things in life that mean so much to me! We loaded up the van and headed for home and I found a new passion along the way......old barns! O.K. so it is not new but I managed to capture photos of three old barns as we drove along, so stay tuned for my Drive By Barns series. Thanks for stopping by and sharing a little piece of my life ~ until next time, take care!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Happy Mother's Day 2012!

Just wanted to take a few minutes to wish Happy Mother's Day to all of the Mamas out there!

 

I am the little baby in the picture being held by my Daddy and that's my very young Mama to the right.

This is my Dad's side of the family - my Dad's Mom is in dark blue, the rest of the family includes 7 brothers and sisters - that's right there were 8 kids.....however my Mom's Mom grew up in a family with 12 siblings!

 

This is my Mom & Grandma! Both my Mom & Grandma are out of the state visiting with my Sister so I don't get to celebrate Mother's Day with either one of them (we'll save it for when they get back).

My Kiddos......

The Oldest

 

My son, the oldest and the only boy!

The Middle Child

 

My oldest daughter

The Youngest

 

The baby....growing up too fast!

My Other Babies

 

Bella (on the left) and Jasper (on the right). I am firmly convinced that they believe they are siblings!

I hope you all have a very Happy Mother's Day, blessing to you and yours!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Happy Friday Photo Montage!

The sun is shining and it is a beautiful Pacific Northwest morning, what more could a person ask for? O.K., I know that is a rhetorical question, but for now life is good and I thought I would celebrate by showing off some great photos!

 

This is a free image that I got from dreamstime.com and with a little computer "magic" it makes a great impact!

 

My favorite morning beverage is COFFEE and I love these colors!

 

I just wish I had the magic touch or the knowledge to be able to grow something this beautiful!

 

There always has to be at least one Ferris Wheel ride or it's just not summer! That's my youngest in the middle - she is much braver than I!

 

Remember these slides? You just don't see too many of them any more - at least where I live. We have a family picnic every year at this park and the kids (some of the adults too) love going down this slide. It is about 15 or so feet up from the ground at the top!

 

The same park that has the slide (above) has quite a few fruit trees.

 

The "Kool-aid" stand.....a standard feature in our driveway each summer! I tried to talk her out of the $1 each price tag - she must have known what she was doing however, as she made $20 that day. It did help that the neighbor's had a bunch of guys over to work on a remodeling project!

 

One of my dreams realized......we finally got that big, four foot deep and twenty foot across above ground pool last year! I can't wait to put it up again this year - the first 80 degree day you will find me in the pool floating around on my air mattress!

That's it for today, hope you enjoyed my photo montage ~ I am so looking forward to summer!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Surviving the Spray Glue

M ondays, we all have them and for the most part we all hate them! Well maybe "hate" is a strong word, but I don't know a single person who likes Mondays. For me, Monday means that I have to go back to the Monday through Friday work grind, the kids go back to school and the normal chaos of the week is about to resume! The chaos includes, but definitely not limited to - homework battles, trying to listen to two kids tell me about their day while simultaneously cleaning up the house, feeding the dog, figuring out what's for dinner, making dinner and then if I am lucky squeezing in a little time for myself. Of course all of this is occurring before Daddy gets home from work.....it's no wonder I drink too much coffee each day! .....It's no wonder I drink too much coffee each day!

Our weekends are usually spent gearing up for the week ahead by washing clothes, doing the housework that was missed during the week, working in the yard (weather permitting), but for the most part the stress factor and "gotta get it done now" attitude is reduced by at least 50% - plus there is normally no homework on the weekends! I don't know about other parents but in our house homework is usually a battle and it is a battle that always seems to feature Mama because the kids always want the Mama to be their helper! I am sure that you are thinking, well why can't the kids just come home from school and do their homework right after school? That is a great plan, but in the real world (mine at least) I am not with them when they get home from school and the youngest one still needs my help and supervision and the oldest thinks she needs my help and supervision!

Last night was like any other typical Monday.....I get home from work and start cleaning up the house while listening to my oldest go on about how her art project had been ruined at school and what she needed help with to fix it. First, she is in middle school so several classes and grade levels share the art room, which I understand, but what I don't understand is how she can have class one day and her project is fine and then the next time she has art her project has been ruined! This is not the first time that we have had to scramble to fix a project because it had been ruined at school - lack of teacher supervision I guess. Anyway, this project involved taking an old book, dividing it into four sections and then proceeding to glue pages within each section together. The book she brought home had some 300 or so pages......out came the Elmer's Spray Adhesive! It seemed to be progressing pretty quickly using the spray adhesive and appeared to be drying rather quickly (including all over my fingers). What I didn't take into consideration is that although it was Elmer's Glue, spray adhesive has an over-spray! I quickly realized that the counter and the bar stool was covered in glue so I took a timeout to clean it up (which, by the way involved several methods until I found one that worked).

Contrary to what I thought, not all Elmer's glue is easy to clean up as shown on the glue residual still on the counter and my fingers this morning. We finally got the book glued and the sections separated by wax paper (the only thing I could think of that wouldn't stick) and the book is on it's way to school to be made into some sort of art project that I am still confused about what the final result will be.

The moral of my story:

A) Mondays will continue to be crazy. B) Spray adhesive sticks to everything (thus the word "adhesive" in the description). C) I don't like homework. and...... D) I signed up to be a Mom and it is still the number one job that I love (and sometimes love to hate)....

Oh and as I was putting the youngest down to bed she says "I think I will wear my new Easter dress to my Spring Program tomorrow"......oops, forgot all about that - looks like I will be leaving work early to make sure I am there to see my daughter sing in her Spring Program!

Thank you for stopping by The Mix Gal! Comments validate my blogging efforts, so I would love to hear from you. Take care and Keep Life Simple by Mixing It UP!
~♥KerrieLynn

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Dickey's Barbecue Pit - Lynden, WA

www.facebook.com/DickeysBarbecuePitLynden

My family and I had the pleasure of recently enjoying the taste sensation of Dickey's Barbecue and oh what an experience it was! WARNING the following pictures contain Food Images and Descriptions that will make you want to rush out to your local Dickey's and get some Barbecue - please make sure (for your safety and the safety of others) that you only read during your local Dickey's Normal Business Operating Hours!

Dickey's Barbecue Pit is Managed By Dustin Benson! This is the sign located at the entrance.

When you arrive you immediately get in line to place your order and the food is prepared line style while you observe.  The first person cuts your meat selections to order and places those, the second person places your side orders and the last person gets you your Big Yellow Cup (all drinks are in the same size cup) and totals your orders.  It was busy when we were there so our wait in line was about 10 minutes or so, but once we got up to the counter the service was speedy. 

This is the menu that you choose from, we ended up choosing to each have the 2 Meat Plates with Drinks (Big Yellow Cup) and my youngest choose from the kid's meals.

Troy is the Assistant Manager (and Dustin's Dad) and you will find him working at the front counter or wherever help is needed!

Once you have your food items you move over to the side bar where you choose your soft drinks or cold sweet tea.  You also pick out the barbecue of your choice, Sweet, Standard or Spicy.  The FREE Pickles are also self serve and they are a meal unto themselves!  I got the biggest kick out of the "silverware" (they are plastic with a Silver finish), they fooled me at first glance - when I went to grab the forks, spoons and knives I was surprised at the weight - then I realized that they were "plastic wear".  This is the first time I had seen plastic utensils with a "Silver" finish!

The impressive Pickle Jar - no small portions here!