a pie in the making...

dearest readers, my shop update will not be until monday now,

circumstances being what they are,

i have decided it better to take a few extra days

and do the job properly...

so with that being said,

i can only apologize to those that were waiting on friday.

let us just say 'a pie' was made but said pie took a little longer than i hoped.

add in the sudden realization that our #2 turns 17 in 4 days to which i am wholly unprepared...

do not think i do not remember the dates of my children's birthdays

for i do,

it's just i thought we were still somewhere near the middle of April and not entering the beginning of May

but i can assure you i will be in my little store around 10:00am pacific time Monday 3rd May,

popping a few new dottie angel lovelies upon the shelves...

i have several summer apron wraps,

a couple of 'just say it like it is' wall hangings,

a whatnot garland,

a pair of rambling kite tales,

and

some 'summer sunshine' cushions.

now some may say they look like ordinary dottie angel cushions,

the usual patched affair.

but dearest readers like so many ordinary looking things,

they are rather extraordinary on closer inspection.

for i have made these sweet 'summer sunshine' cushions double sided

"oh Tif, that is simply wonderful" i hear you exclaim

"why thank you" i reply

i have always tried to make my cushion covers as pretty on the back as the front,

however, this time i really made the effort to give them two personalities.

the first personality being

happy, colorful and sprightly

and the second personality being

pretty, summery and vintage

and now with that out of the way,

let us talk pie.

for that is really what we are here for today.

did Tif make the pie?

and more to the point,

did Tif's family survive the pie?

very important questions

needing to be answered so we may all sleep tonight.

yes, i made a pie,

yes, it took me the best part of the day

i blame the many distractions that go on within the shed

and not my inabilities to have all the ingredients required,

so nothing to do with a mad dash for flour in the middle of the veggies cooking,

or pesky little olive giving a fatal wound to my oldest and dearest dottie angel cushion whilst i was distracted by my pie making...

no, nothing to do with that sort of thing.

by the time we sat down to eat the meat and onion pie it was well after 8pm

probably a good thing, for my clan were hungry,

my man noted a lack of veggies on the side,

and got up to cook some.

i told him

"sit down, be quiet and eat up.

Jamie says the pie is filling enough

and if Jamie says that,

then it's good enough for me"

on the whole i think it went quite well,

the vegetarian amongst us not fairing quite so well...

everyone lived to see another day,

but as i sat and ate my pie of many hours,

i couldn't help but think,

"lordy Tif, you've got to get up tomorrow and start this all over again"

she is clearing up the debris and getting Carlos the camera warmed up ~ Tif

Jamie and the little voice...

yesterday i left mossy shed with good intentions.

plans to drop our #4 at the soccer field

and head straight to the grocery store.

i had in my hand a shopping list containing all i required to make a pie just like the one in my Jamie Oliver book.

which i must tell you is now sporting a lovely jacket of vintage wallpaper

to match the inside of the book

and mossy shed

"Tif, are you quite barmy?" i hear you exclaim

well yes, some may say i am,

making a little jacket for my book,

is a true sign of the high hopes i have placed in Jamie and his ability to get me cooking.

i sat at the stop light,

i glanced at the list by my side

and then a voice popped into my head.

the little voice mentioned how much it admired my good intentions

but also had i forgotten that indeed my usual port of call when soccer practice is playing out, would be the thrift store.

i gulped

i felt a little whoozy,

the little voice was tempting me to forsake Jamie and his pie ingredients.

i weakened,

thinking of the shelves of despair full of forsaken little souls

wishing to find their way home to the shed.

upon entering the thrift store with guilt on my shoulders,

i went to the clothing department,

after a short while i noticed polyester vintage garments were talking to me

to stop them talking to me,

i told a fib

"polyester vintage garments, do not tempt me with your granny chic charms,

for i cannot help you,

polyester is not my thing"

but they know

what i know

and you know

to be true...

yes indeed a curtain of the finest dottie angel goodness can be made from polyester...

i sensed their despair as i turned away dismayed at my fibbing ways.

i moved swiftly on to the china department

thinking it was all part of Jamie's plan to drive me from the thrift store and into the grocery store...

more lost souls started talking to me once again.

in the nicest possibly way i had to let them down

for they were total 'crappity crap'

and despite rustling around in my bag for my rose colored specs

and saying outloud

"what would dottie do"

i was at a loss for how to save them.

then it happened,

once again a thrift store happening that you all know happens from time to time.

you can't quite believe that what you see is there,

that no other, good thrifting fellow, has spotted it before you.

a bowl with all the look of a Catherine Holm,

on close inspection no marking

therefore causing me to suspect its impostering ways.

but imposter or not

it would be a thrifting crime of the utmost kind,

not to make her mine

i claimed my find,

hugging her for a little while

guilt falling from my shoulders.

upon the way home i picked up chinese takeout

whilst silently promising Jamie that as soon as i got home,

washed up my lovely little bowl

fed and watered the clan with my fast food offering,

i would go late night grocery shopping to make up for my faltering ways...

she is armed today with pie ingredients, Jamie once again by her side and high hopes ~ Tif