Early Winter, Oregon Coast Trip, Ikea Trip/Bathroom Re-Do, Stuffed Italian Peppers

Story here September Blizzard Montana/Northern Rockies

Early Winter-

Well break out the snow gear, at least in our surrounding areas! Yes, SNOW! An early front is moving in and I'm ready, almost. We woke up to 44 degrees, and it's starting to rain. At 11:00 am it's 48, brrr. We're picking the rest of the veggies today, since the local temps in the 30's will pretty well be the end of the summer garden. We were lucky to have a fairly mild summer, so maybe this won't be a horrible winter? Time will tell.... Will be putting up Autumn decor this weekend, perfect timing! Winterizing the house is on. Here's a peak of Autumn fun to come-

Hoot and Lil Hoot, prim fun from eBay

Thrifted, great colors!

Sunset

Oregon Coast Trip-

We were really excited to go to the Oregon coast on the 15th! Last year Dave and I looked at renting a house and including our three adult children, spouses and two grandchildren for a real family vacation. We have never done that before. We found a really good vacation rental by owner house in Rockaway Beach on the Oregon coast. It had a bedroom downstairs, 2 bedrooms upstairs and a hide-a-bed in the living room. Sleeps 11. Nice sized kitchen and I loved their woodstove! We decided not to use it since there were two young children in the house, also 60 to 65 degrees during the day, too warm. I looked up the model, it was from Denmark and probably extremely expensive, lovely soapstone as well-

Dinner out first night-

Fun wall decor on the upper wall-

The weather was pretty mild, but pretty wet. The second full day there were sunny skies and dry! Gorgeous!!! We went to a sweet, little maritime museum in Garibaldi, 10 minutes south-

My fave display, love the Coasties!!! They have a gorgeous historic station house in Garibaldi-

From Coast Guard Station Tillamook Bay

Crab anyone?

Native American wing-

Scrimsaw

Went went to the Blue Heron French Dairy. We'd been there years ago. I was really disappointed, as it went from charming French-decor to a touristy kind if place. French decor gone, more pushing cheese and wine tastings. I guess you have to survive in the business world. We did score 2 jars of amazing Huckleberry jam though! We went to the beach, ate lots of fresh seafood, got to know all the fun little areas. We saved a lot of money by eating breakfast at the house and some dinners. With a house rental you have to bring everything food-wise including specific utensils. We did miss a chance to ride on the local steam engine, since their website listed that they only ran on Saturdays and Sundays. A fun time was had be all!

Storm blowing in

Drive back, lush, green and super saturated by the rain. We both came down with a sore throat the morning we drove back. Pretty sick for a week, cold and hacky cough. Did lots of Homeopathy, essential oils and rested when we could. Here's the drive back-

Misty Oregon morning, driving east

Eastern Oregon, hitting the Blues

Our wonderful neighbor babysat our kitty Anya, collected the eggs, and the mail. I knew that she liked beachy things, so I bought her a nice little wind chime, and 2 of wooden beachy ornaments. She loved them! While we were at the farm style warehouse store in Garibaldi I also bought these two items for us-

A nice little wooden fish that may go into our new bathroom remodel and a fun little entryway wooden item. I did collect some sand, seaweed and miscellaneous sea shells and Driftwood free fun crafts project later more to come on that.

Ikea Trip/Bathroom Re-Do-
We decided recently to remodel our small master bathroom. After crunching numbers and deciding which projects to move forward with we decided to do it. We did a lot of research and I finally found an Ikea bathroom cabinet that would fit the space, since it's an odd size. We had looked for years and couldn't find anything, but at some point Ikea came up with one that was perfect. It's free standing and basically the same make and model as the one in our other bathroom that is held up really really well. They're painted finishes are super tough. I wanted the rectangular basin above, but they were out, so I bought the one above that's oval. I can live with it. I did buy a new faucet at the IKEA store, but then we realized it would be a little bit too tall. IKEA cabinets are European measurements which basically mean they are taller substantially. I was able to do a return through the mail, and they are now shipping small items for $10.00 . I was able to buy a really nice faucet for the same price. Their faucets are really high quality based on our experience, reviews, they have lots of great selections and are so much cheaper. Here's the one I got in the mail a few days ago-

Nice curves! Lillsvan

We visited with our small locally-owned flooring store and couldn't find a white with blue/ gray floral. I did find some other vinyl that I really like-

Mannington Filigree Pewter

We had already added a new Ikea medicine cabinet last year since the old one was falling apart and we will get a new toilet. Luckily the sub flooring is intact unlike the other bathroom that had a rotted section. I'll do a fresh coat of paint, still choosing that. Think coastal, sea foam? We'll have new flooring, a new cabinet and toilet and then we'll be done! Will start the project to the few weeks after we have a chance to put the garden to bed and do some of the projects.

At Ikea (fast trip on way home) I got a few specific things... 2 Fladis baskets, can fold down or have open, $9.99 each-

They had a new set of vases based on old tradition Swedish forms, each looks handmade. Blue pitcher/vase with stripes, $5.99-

Photos from IKEA Godtagbar Vase

Large 7" high vase, gorgeous! $7.99-

Love the tree idea!

We had lunch there, then grabbed some dry foods, and Lingonberries/ juice to bring home. Glad we stopped! We picked up the cabinet and sink as well, the important part! Grabbed a few hand towels, shower mat, toilet scrubbers, and a new ergo pillow for me, only $14.99! Love that place...

Stuffed Italian Peppers-
I finally got a great crop of Giant Marconi Italian peppers! I always wanted to cook some in a traditional fashion. Since my peppers were large and very curved I made this recipe by splitting the peppers, frying, adding the stuffing on top and put in the oven at 400 degrees. I also used our own home grown organic tomatoes instead of sauce. Just chopped and squashed, juicy! Less stove top time and came out great! Stuffed Italian Frying Peppers   I made a 2nd batch, just baked everything for 40 minutes and used tomato sauce, also delish!

First fry

Put in baking dish

Make stuffing