HAPPY NEW YEARS!
2012 is the beginning of our 30th year in business!!! and we owe it all to you, our
wonderful loyal customers.

To celebrate, we are going to be doing some really fun things each month and announcing it by email, on the blog and on facebook.

January 31th we will be having a drawing for 30 packets of wonderful vintage paper items, including a vintage Valenine or two. This is really, really cute stuff.
You can sign up for it every time you come in the shop in January.

We will be doing fun things in the shop all year long, so keep a watch each month
For the latest news in our emails, blog and on face book.

Thanks again for the last 30 years. We couldn't have done it without you!

We have this little bitty lemon tree in our back yard and this is just a few of the lemons it produced. The recipe after the picture is the best lemonade I've ever had. I know your saying to yourself what could be so good about a lemonade recipe? Well trust me it's wonderful.
Get yourself some lemons and give it a try!

Lemonade

1 3/4 cups white sugar

8 cups water

1 1/2 cups lemon juice

1. In small saucepan, combine sugar and 1 cup of water. Bring to boil and stir to dissolve sugar. Allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate untill chilled.

2. Remove seeds from lemon juice, but leave pulp. In pitcher, stir together chilled syrup, lemon juice and remaining 7 cups water.

Because of a medical problem I have, Frank and I will be unable to open the store Christmas Eve as planned. So we will be closed the 24th and the 25th and will open back up on the 26th with a sale on Christmas items. Hope to see you then.
Carol

Time change on the train of lights I told about in last post. It got back into town tonight at 5:45 and left about 6:00. So come before that if you want to see it arrive in town all lite up.

Remember we are open till 6:30 every night through 12-23.
We had lots of people in the store after our usual closing time and everyone was so happy we were open a little later. By the way if you come to town in the afternoon and hang around till dark the pictures below are what you'll see. (my night pictures aren't so good, but you get the idea)

Depot in Plaza

Train of lights

The first ride leaves town at 4:15 and comes back in around 6:00. They are sold out this year but you can still enjoy the view when they pull back into town. You go stand behind the Plaza on the patio to get the best view. The picture is just a few cars on the long train. The train runs every night this next week including the 23rd.

Starting tonight we will be open every night till 6:30 right up to Christmas Eve. That day we will close at 4:00. Come in and say hello. We've love to see you.

We will be closed Christmas, but yes we will be open on the 26th.

I just had someone call us and want to know if we still have Christmas merchandise left. Well..............of course we do! Just look at this cute little frosty setting. Couldn't you buy it all and group it together? Just plain cute!

When I read this, I thought "oh so true!" Christmas is best through the eyes of a child.
Enjoy the season, it will be over way too soon.
• Never worry about the size of your Christmas tree. In the eyes of children, they are all 30 feet tall. ~Larry Wilde

What a smart guy that Cat in the Hat is......................Love this!

Today I brought in some really cool fun old metals that I picked up on my trip last month. I honestly couldn't leave them in IL. LoL

This Panda got one pinned on him. He's so proud!
They would be great to use in scrapbooking, altered art projects, put on dolls or teddy bears OR just collect for fun. There's a bunch, come in and see them. I think they are a bargain at $3.50 ea.

Niles Main Streets Assoc. presents the annual Holiday Christmas Home Tour this Saturday Dec. 10th. The tickets are available on line and in our shop till Friday at $15.00 each then you can buy them on Saturday for $20.00 ea. You can get more info about the event and buy your tickets on line here.

Also that weekend our good buddies Tyme for Tea is having their Special Holiday Tea of Good Tidings on the 10th and 11th. Jessica the owner told me she has just a few more sitting times left, so if you want a truly wonderful tea experience click here for more info.

Wow, the ideas that people come up with.
Cut the top out of an empty salt container and put it in the rim of a canning jar lid then screw on canning jar. I don't use much salt any more, but I will certainly save the next container I get. I would love to put sugar in it.....................or what ever! Clever!


Don't forget to like us on facebook and give me a comment to be in the drawing for cute prize on left.

December Give Away.
Box with a wooden bird, bird paperweight, bird seed which is actually a wood box and a pretty vintage hankie. There are 4 ways to enter the drawing. Send me an email and tell me you want to win. (click email to left) Click on comment on this post and leave a comment. See this on facebook and click like it on the post. AND best of all enter in the shop every time you come in. You can do all 4!

Here's the sign that will be in front of the store today.

Come on down. Shop Niles!

Here's the candy I made for this weekend. I will also be giving away the recipe.
(you can see the recipe in last post)

We have a winner. Mom and Daughter. Cute!
(Keep a eye out for picture of our next giveaway coming to
My Friends and I soon)

I've posted this before, but it and the picture of it is way back in some older post and since I'm going to be making it to pass out in the shop this Fri. Sat. and Sun. for the Merchants of Niles Christmas Open House I thought I'd post it again. It's really good and really easy. I bought all the ingredients at Wallmart. I couldn't find the white almond bark any where else.

Crock-Pot chocolate candy~
2 lbs (36 oz) salted dry-roasted peanuts
4 oz (4 squares) German's sweet chocolate
1 12-package semisweet chocolate chips (about 2 cups)
2 1/2 lbs white almond bark

Put the peanuts in the bottom of a 4-quart slow-cooker. Layer the chocolate over the peanuts, beginning with the sweet chocolate, followed by the chocolate chips, and then the almond bark. Set the temperature on low and cook for 3 hours. DO NOT STIR THE MIXTURE. After 3 hours, stir the mixture with a wooden spoon until smooth. Drop the candy into cupcake pan liners, using about 2 tablespoons per liner. Allow the candy to cool completely before removing the cupcake liners. (I don't remove the liners, looks festive left in them.)
Makes 30 to 40 pieces. I used the tiny cupcake papers and it made 3 times that much.

Don't forget the Tree lighting and Parade is Friday evening. 6:00 pm for the tree and 6:30 for the Parade.

My friend Diane at the wonderful quilt and yarn store COLOR ME QUILTS AND MORE is having her 5th Anniversary sale this weekend. She's offering 40% off Halloween and Christmas fabrics and several bolts of fabric that will be 50 to 60% off. Don't miss your chance to pick up some fabric or yarn to use in your Christmas projects.
The shop is located at 37495 Niles Blvd.

If you go in please tell her you saw all about the sale on MY FRIENDS AND I blog.

The Silhouettes are in the store. My oh my they are really pretty. Come see.

I know this isn't readable from here but if you click on it, it will get bigger. You can also go to this site http://www.theydrawandcook.com/recipes/christmas-lollipops-by-amy-king and you can see this and others. Really cute stuff. You could print these from the site and use them as cards.

Getting ready for Thanksgiving? Well don't forget that the town of Niles has it's Annual Christmas Open House Fri., Sat., Sun. after Thanksgiving.

Friday night is the tree lighting at 6:00. then the parade of lights starts at 6:30. Come to town early, bring your chairs set them up somewhere on the sidewalk to save your spot and then go shopping! Can't make it Friday? Stay away from the crowded malls and come to town on Sat. and Sun. and get into the Christmas Spirit. Most stores will have cookies and a big smile for you.

I'm back home and glad to be. I love to travel and I had a lot of fun, but there really is no place like home.
I loaded all the stuff I bought on the road from the camper to my van and I hope to start putting it a little at a time in the shop starting tomorrow. I will try and remember to take my camera and take a few pictures.
In the meantime I saw this idea on a site I was on this evening. Never too early to find cute Xmas ideas. Wouldn't this be cute place card holders for Xmas Dinner?

My Niece in Ark. has the most outstanding collection of Pyrex that I've ever seen. The picture uploading to the blog at the RV park we're at tonight is so slow I'm going to wait till I get back to Fremont to post others. It's so colorful and happy.

This was taken out the truck window some where between Gallop New Mexico and Holbrook Az. It was prettier than it shows in the picture. I needed that break in the landscape because most of the view isn't that great.

This is just funny!!!

I'm back on the road again. We got to my brothers in Arkansas on Thurs. Didn't have Internet while there so wasn't able to blog. But I've got it here at the RV park in Amarillo TX. A lot of you know I was born in Niles and grew up in Fremont. Trust me, Fremont is wonderful. LOL

I was all prepared to stop at 2 of my favorite Antique stores in Okla. and they are now closed on Monday's! Poo! I now know how people feel when they come to Niles on Mon. and Tues. and almost everyone but us is closed. It's disappointing!

Boy did we hit some weather. It rained and hailed so hard we had to pull over. You couldn't see ahead of you. It was kind of like fog in CA. Pretty scary.

The big talk on all the news stations here is of course the Earthquake in Okla. We were in Ark. close to Ft. Smith and we didn't feel it although some people say they did. I probably wouldn't have thought it was an earthquake even if we did. Just don't think about Earthquakes there. Poor people. They have to put up with Tornadoes, now earthquakes. Bad news. Saw an elderly lady on the local news and she said she was from CA and knew right away what it was. She said to the news caster "honey I was out the front door before the dust could settle!"

We still have some places to stop, but will be home and have new stuff in the shop soon. Stay tuned!

We left IL. this morning, all of us a little teary eyed. We are getting better at saying goodbye. When the kids moved here 5 years ago it was a lot of crying from all of us when it was time to leave. It's makes our hearts feel good that our 11 year and 13 year old Grandsons still care about us enough to be really sad when we leave. (yes it's sad, but still makes us appreciate them) Same for the kids in CO.

We went to Saint Joseph IL. yesterday and were shopping in a store we love and call the "Museum" because the guy has some really outstanding stuff, but very expensive. Anyway he knows I have a shop in CA and came up to me with this box of silhouettes and said "do you sell these at your shop in CA?" Well of course I said "YES!" Well needless to say I couldn't resist buying them. There are 37 of them all different. They weren't cheap and it took me the whole time we were in his shop to make up my mind to buy them. I can't wait to get them in the shop. If your a collector of silhouettes you'll love them and even if your not, you'll appreciate how pretty they are.

Only 4 pictured below

Want to see something funny? Click here . It will take you to a short little movie. It will make you smile.

My Daughter has gone thru her stuff and pictured is some of the things she doesn't want any more. Some of it will be in the store when I get home. Boy am I going to have a great yellow section in the shop. Know any one who loves yellow? There's some wonderful Christmas gifts here.

I'll be back by Thanksgiving so come in and see what's new. Remember the Parade of Lights is the Friday night after Thanksgiving and all the stores in Niles will be open for the day and most after the parade. We're also open Sat. and Sun. Skip the crowded malls. SHOP NILES!

As seen on a blog about buttons I was exploring. Hmmmm......maybe I'll start carrying a tiny pair of scissors. LOL.

This picture goes with post below. Taken at The Great Pumpkin Farm......Yep that's us. King and Queen!

Today we went to the Great Pumpkin Patch in Arthur IL. What a place! Martha Stewart has been there and the guys who started the place have been on her show. Last year they were in Washington DC at the white house.

There are pumpkins, gourds, and squash everywhere. We had lots of fun.

Look what my daughter made her Dad today. Hmmmmmmmmm Apple Pie.

See the top? She saw on a blog to use a cookie cutter to cut top and decorate with.

Pretty cute.

If you want to see some really cute goblins, princess's, pirates, etc., get to town Monday to see all the kids (400 plus!) from Niles Elementary school parade and trick or treat downtown niles. You don't have to have a child in the parade to appreciate how cute they all are. It's just plain FUN to watch! It will make you feel like a kid again. My Friends and I will be open as ususal on Monday and passing out lots of candy to all those little trick or treaters.

A little side note about the parade. I used to take my now 22 year old Grandson to join the parade before he was in school. I wish I could go back to that little guy one more time. They grow up soooooooooo fast.

I found this funny picture on the web. Cool ideal for old sheets.

Well we just got to IL. today. We got out of CO. in the nick of time. It snowed on Wed. We left on Tues. I have done a lot of shopping and will take some pictures and post them tomorrow. If you read my last posts you know that I left my charger at home. My son-in-law thinks there is an extra one where he works. I'm keeping my fingers crossed on that.

Just a little interesting thing my daughter told me today about a grocery store here in IL called Aldi. It's kind of like Trader Joe's, but here's the interesting part. All their grocery carts are locked up and you have to put a quarter in to get one. (like at the airports) Then when you take it back in you get your quarter back. They never have carts in the parking lot cause if someone doesn't return it themselves, there's always someone who grabs it and gets the quarter. Also if you don't bring your own bags they charge you for the bag that they put your groceries in. Wonder if it would work in CA.?

Hope to add some pictures tomorrow. Stay tuned!

Yesterday we went to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo here in Colorado Springs. It's a wonderful, beautiful zoo right at the foot of the Rocky Mountains. We have always enjoyed it, but this time was the best. Weather was perfect and the trees and plants were a blaze in color. Beautiful.

Looking out over the City of Colorado Springs from Zoo. The view was spectacular.

Today was swap meet day two here in Colorado Springs. Wow was it fun! Look at the back of my daughters little Ford in the second picture. The picture below is some of the goodies that

were in that mess.

Yep that's a vintage Alumumin Christmas Tree you see. I bought it without checking to see if all the parts are there. When I get home and if it's all there I plan on putting it in the store window. Guess then I'll know won't I?

I'm in Colorado and I'm having a blast. We did a lot of shopping today and I'm loading it up and getting it ready to come back to CA. and to MY FRIENDS AND I. I'm working on getting a charger for my laptop and will put pictures on as soon as I get one. In the mean time here's one I took of the shop before I left.
Later............

Well we're on the road and so far it's just been a boring ride. NV. WY and most of Utah is pretty open and not much to see. Hopefully we can start shopping from Cheyenne on to Colorado Springs. I just realized that I left my computer charger at home and don't have much battery power left on this thing, so will put a few pictures, etc on my daughters computer in a few days.

We did check out Park City Utah today and the fall color was wonderful. We have been this way many times, but have never gone to the town of Park City. Very quaint and very touristy. No Antique Stores to speak of and that is really our interest, so we just had lunch and moved on.

I promise to post while at my daughters houses. Hope they have a spare charger they can lend me while traveling.

DON'T GIVE UP ON ME!

Well the open house is over and it was a real success. THANKS TO ALL WHO ATTENED. If you weren't able to make it, no worry, the store is still packed with lots of cute stuff.

Now that it's over I'm headed across county for a much needed Grandkid fix. I will be going to Co. Il. Ark. and every where in between. Follow me here on the blog for reports and pictures of my adventures.

Yes we're tired! Yes we were feeling silly.....................but we are almost ready for Friday night.
Look at those head bands. So...............cute. Hope to see you this weekend for our Open House.

After 2 full days of opening boxes and putting stuff out it's finally starting to "look alot like Christmas" at MY FRIENDS AND I. It's hard to stay busy in our own spaces cause everyone wants to see what everyone else is putting out. CUTE STUFF!

Here's a little sneak peek of a snowman angel that has a hook on bottom for stockings, wreath, etc. She can hardly wait for everyone to see her at the Open House. (see post below for info) Next to her is the poster that will be on our covered up windows after we close on Sunday. The excitement for us is building........is the supense getting to you yet? I'm going to try and put little teaser pictures on the blog daily, so keep checking back.

It's Christmas Open House time again!

Here's the dates.

Oct. 14 6pm - 9pm

Oct. 15 and 16 10am - 6pm

To get ready we will be closed Oct 10 till Oct 14 6 pm.

We are excited and anxious to get started decorating the shop with all the cute new merchandise we've been getting in daily. If you've been to one of our Open Houses before you know you won't be disappointed. If this is your first one, then get ready to be WOWED!

With that said............I again want to THANK you, our loyal customers for supporting MY FRIENDS AND I these last 29 years. We wouldn't be in business all these years without you. Your the best!

Carol

I have a thing for decorator books and as you can see from the picture I have lots. I ended up with a duplicate, so I'm going to be doing a drawing in Oct. for the one pictured below. Fall is coming and on a cold, rainy evening I love to get my books out and browse through the pages for inspiration.

To win this one you need to email me that y0u want to win and or enter with any purchase at MY FRIENDS AND I.

Click here to find the site that has this darling clipart plus more. Don't ya love it?

We have a new dealer in MY FRIENDS AND I. She has cute stuff! Her name is Diane and when I can catch her with my camera I will snap a picture.

Remember the post where "BOO" was spelled out in black buttons on a pumpkin? Well here's another wonderful thing to do with buttons. Look at the last. Of course I like it because it's my initial and colorful, but truly I love them all.

C is for CAROL

I saw this today and thought it was a cute ideal. The second picture shows how she put the plate on a platic pipe (I think that's what it is) and attached that to the wall. Maybe glued??? I'm sure if any of you want to do this you could come up with some way to make it work. Let us know if you do this project and how you did it.
The plates here are cute, but I would like vintage ones instead.

For this and other cute Halloween things you can print click here have fun exploring the site.

I met Roseann when she became a dealer in MY FRIENDS AND I and even though she's not in the shop any more we have remained friends. She has just gotten a job for a company called Picaboo where you can make the most wonderful books to share on line and to buy.
The picture below is the cover of one she made from pictures of her garden. (she has an amazing yard). If you'd like to see the whole book click here. I think it's wonderful.
When you get to the site, just click on the arrows under the picture. Enjoy!

You can thank good ol' Martha (Stewart) for this. Isn't she cleaver? Or should I say her paid staff cleaver? Who ever thought this up was really good. I like it alot. How about you? The hats are darling.

I was just snapping some pictures in the shop. Peggy in Space #16 agreed to model the hat bands they have for sell. Soooo cute. (Peggy and the hat!)

Click on picture and you'll be able to see it bigger