being rich *giveaway*

 friends, I have a story to share ( I know big surprise. ) you see, I like to talk, and my pup , Fenway can only listen to me for so long, so I’m chatting with you !

You may know that in my past life I was a cosmetologist. I worked in the same building for over 20 years. ( the ownership changed 3 times, but like the bathroom, I always stayed… I was a fixture there)

Over the years , I made a lot of friends, both co workers and clients.  To this day i am still friends with so many people who I met there.  I am actually still friends with 2 girls that I gave their first day of school kindergarten haircuts to! They are both married with children now.. ghheese…. I sound old when I say that..

Anyhoo… I was kind of an amazing nail tech back in the day. And what happens when you ‘do nails?’  you sit across from someone, hold their hand, and talk for an hour… it doesn’t get more intimate than that… you really get to know someone.

Like Mrs. m.

Mrs. m was a hot ticket.  She had an ‘air’ about her that turned some off, but I just loved her. She said it like it was.. like it or not.

Mrs.m and her husband had a very nice house in an upscale neighborhood in the outskirts on NYC. They also summered on the Cape. ( where I met her)..

After a few years, they sold their NYC house , put everything in storage and starting renting a place in Sedona for the winter.

They talked about buying a place out  in AZ.  They spent the summer talking about what they wanted  and they disagreed ( c’mon friends, they  are married!) 

Mr. m was still traveling for business a lot during this time period..

So the fall came, and they headed to AZ to what she thought was a meeting with a realtor. Turns out, it was a closing. He had bought the house that he liked without her.

She was furious. She stood up, walked out of the room and caught the next flight back to Boston.

About a month later , when she came in to see me at the salon, she had her car FULL of all of her kitchen items. She had her kitchen storage locker delivered to the cape and gave it ALL to me.

Now picture.. I am newly married with just the basics… she gave me a kitchenaid mixer, matching food processor, blender, ice cream maker, entire set of pots and pans, serving dishes.EVERYTHING

I was in Heaven 🙂

She was so furious with Mr. m that she told me that he was going to buy her all new kitchen items once they resolved the AZ. issues.

So one day, we are facing each other, I’m about to paint her nails with OPI ‘ Chicago Champagne Toast’ ( yes, I still remember this, I pay extreme attention to detail… and this was her color)

She looked into my eyes and said ” what makes you rich?”

Now I was confused, because I was anything BUT rich… Scott was still in school and we lived off of my paycheck.. And the tips that I made paid for groceries for the 3 of us)

She then said, ” picture that you could have anything that you want..it’s not as cool as you’d think. Now think about that one thing that just makes you happy. that you feel happy just because you have it and you want to surround yourself with it..it’s the thing that makes you rich”

her thing? was kitchen clips. She could have had anything that she wanted, but kitchen clips made her rich.

So that got me to thinking…  what makes me ‘rich’

the answer?

socks.

I

puffy heart

socks.

And they don;t even need to match :).. A few years ago my mom knit socks for everyone for Christmas.  When we opened them, we all had mismatched socks. She had wanted us to search out which family member had our matching sock.

here’s the thing.. we all liked that they were miss matched and that she had done it that way .. we kept our socks that we had opened

so the following year she gave us these for Christmas

I KNOW!  how cool are these????

I love love love the fingerless gloves!!!!  everyone say hi to Fenway pup 🙂

then earlier this year she made me these…

YOGA socks!

( sorry about my crazy legs & feet 🙂

so there you have it. Mrs. m was a very  wealthy woman, but it was a $5 item that made her rich.

now, because I puffy heart all of my wonderful friends.. I have a surprise for you….

Look what mom made Just for one of you!!!!!!

there are many ways to enter…

1~ like seabreeze designs~ cape cod socks on Facebook

2~ Leave a comment on the blog telling me what makes YOU rich

3~ Share a barefootgirlinthekitchen on Facebook

4~ refer a friend to barefootgirlinthekitchen

5~ ‘Like barefootgirlinthekitchen on facebook ( if you havent’ already)

6~ sign up for new posts via email

7~ pin a barefootgirl recipe or post to pinterest

now… I found this really cool way to host a giveaway ( please forgive my newbie-ness) but I cannot install it here on this blog until I learn how to speak a foreign computer language… It’s just not working for me… so to enter the contest, head over to  hand knit socks by mom giveawayand check off all that applies to you 🙂 ( but remember to tell me what makes you rich.. I really want to know.. and it just might help me with my Christmas shopping 😉

***Don’t forget that after you comment to head over HERE ( click on the word here) to officially enter :).. sorry about the confusion… hopefully someday I can have that directly on the blog….***

Mom is also offering an October special…  All of the proceeds from everything that she knits goes toward our big 40 mile breast cancer walk in May.  So for the month of October she is offering free shipping on any item !! With all proceeds going toward finding a cure for breast cancer

check out her stuff.. she makes the most amazing fingerless gloves ( perfect for texting , and driving, but never texting and driving at the same time, because that is very very bad)

She had tons of stuff that she has already made, and she is more than happy to take custom orders… think ahead to the Holidays, these are all perfect gifts 🙂

This post has taken me forever to type… I need an internet fairy to come help me with the behind the scenes part of the blog….

*waves my magic wand*

xooxox

and good luck!

ps…..   HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD !!!! oxoxox

random nonsense-ness of the eve of Autumn…..

I have much to share.. but be fore-warned.. I’m all over the board today…

***And if my mother were to find out that I was going to post something about cleaning …..  well, mom… be ready ***

( don’t worry, Mom, I only have one tip…I’m still me 🙂 )

back to my tip.  …

Cleaning. I know.. it should be a four letter word. yuck. I have the ut most respect for those who do it as a living. You folks Rock-MY-World!!

For ages we talk about Spring cleaning. But if you do a deep cleaning in the spring, then Mother nature ( no disrespect, madam..) then pollen shows up.. then the humidity of summer gets everything sticky and if you are an avid gardener like Mr barefoot& I are.. well, there are days that there is more dirt on the inside of our house then outside.

I’m a HUGE advocate for fall cleaning.   and by fall cleaning I mean that i clean for a little while then fall down and a take a nap zzzzzzz..

just kidding.

maybe?

Once in awhile I find a great tip and this, friends, is a good one…

You know how if you have nice **silk flowers or plants they get all dusty & rather scary

I know.. scary.. eh?  How do you clean this? well, you could dust each and every leaf (NOT) OR

you can fill a bag ( paper or plastic)  with Kosher salt. Yuppers. Salt.

just make sure your bag doesn’t have a hole in it.  Don’t ask me how I know this….

once your hole-less bag has salt ( just a big handful per item) place your plant in the bag, close it up tightly &

Shake shake shake… shake shake  shake.. shake your groove thing 🙂

guess what? you just cleaned your plant!!!

and the proof is in the bag.. litterally.

on the right.. the ‘dirty’ salt.. eeiiw……  and on the left, I sprinkled some fresh salt so that you can see the difference.   If you are a fan of barefootgirl in the kitchen on facebook then you know that I proclaimed my addiction of both salt AND pepper.. and this is just one more reason why 🙂

(see mom, it was light cleaning 😉 )

Ok… while I was shopping with a good friend earlier this week she forced me  encouraged me to buy this cookbook stand…

(sorry about the glare..)  and WHY did the NEED to come into my home??

be fore warned.. I’m about to leave you hanging…. although  I’m quite sure a family member of mine might chime in with the answer…..

family?? please don’t let me down 😉

lastly, I’ve spent some one on one time with my sewing machine this week….  but not quilting…. ( although I have many quilts calling for my attention…)  I have been taking wool sweaters & recycling or UPcycling them into something new..

I’ve posted one on barefootgirl in the kitchen ‘s facebook wall, but here is one that I completed today.

I started with this family shawl…

that sadly had been shrunk in a washing machine accident. ( c’mon… we all know it happens)

call me the shrunken laundry ambulance..

this is the second one that I’ve made.   I am LOVING this idea…..  partially beacuse of the whole recycling nature of it…. but I’m into this on another level…..I want to take clothes that mean something to you ( like a sweater from someone who has passed and re-purpose it into something that you will use everyday.

❤ legacys…..  have a sweater that you would like to repurpose? get in touch with me… barefootgirl27@comcast.net

Ok.. thanks for listening to my randomness……  this was only a sliver of what is jumping around in my mind…..

and tomorrow.. I PROMISE you an awesome recipe…. very fall- like 🙂

ciao bellas!!

** although I think that silk plants have their place and CLEARLY I have them in my house, I will always opt for real 🙂

A Rainy Saturday in October


First of all, Fenway loves her new quilt 

lucky dog… At first she wouldn’t go on to it, I think she thought that she shouldn’t. She has now taken claim to it….

So, for a rainy Saturday..

Perfect for sewing, right? right. Unless you need to take you teenage daughter & her friend to the Mall.. then you find yourself poking around in the craft store for things that you didn’t know that you needed……

like these funky fabrics for one of those totes… The blue will be the base, the brown polka dot will be the top & the green will be the lining….

I think it has potential … 😉

And thank you to Cecelia, who sent me a fairly simple, yet beautiful scarf pattern.. I worked on it in the car on our way to brunch an hour away.. I love the way it is coming out.

Thanks Cecelia!!
Now I am off to piece together the back of my quilt.. I wasn’t thinking abut how hard that would be with the  pattern that I chose…. wish me luck !
oxox ~michelle
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