Country Meadow will be closed from Thursday, August 12, 2010 through Sunday, August 15, 2010.

We will be vending at the Marysville Homegrown Festival!

Located at:
Third Street from State Street East

Hours:
Friday, August 13 – 10:00 am – 7:00 pm
Saturday, August 14 – 10:00 am – 5:00 pm

Come by and say Hello!

Oh Yea….
It’s supposed to be in the 90′s all weekend….
Someone Bring Me Ice Cream!!!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Market Report for the Marysville Strawberry Festival Market in the Park.

Friday
Weather held!
Being a Friday it was relatively slow during the afternoon but picked up noticably after 5 pm. All in all sales were as expected.

Saturday
Weather report called for rain and it certainly looked like it was going to for most of the day. Luck held out though and not a raindrop fell!

Customers were relatively steady through most of the day however, I had heard that traffic was less than last year. I’m going to assume the dark, gray skies and the forecast for rain kept a lot of people away.

Sales were less than expected but nothing to complain about.

Sunday
Rain, Rain, Rain!
Need I say more???

Hardly any customers in the entire festival all day.
It did stop raining around 1:30 but it was dreary and cold.

All in all I can’t complain due to the weather issues.
I will give this festival a try again next year.

Top Sellers
Top sellers for the weekend were:

Patchouli (straight up!)
Satsuma Guava
Cola Float

Things I ate:
Chocolate Covered (both white chocolate & dark chocolate) Strawberries
Beer-Battered Fries (best fries I had ever tasted!)

We have another show in three weeks so I will be doing marathon soap making and packaging! We also have a few new items that I really need to get up on the website.

We have two new soaps I would love to debut but I’m not certain they will be cured in time.

One of my very best friends in high school came and visited me. Was a total and complete suprise as I haven’t seen her since 1979! Now that we have reconnected I look forward to catching up.

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

We are taking a much needed break over the Memorial Day holiday.
Our hours are as follows:

Country Meadow will be closed from Wednesday, May 26, 2010 and will reopen for business on Tuesday, June 1, 2010.

Orders received during this time will be processed in the order received on June 1, 2010.

We will also be taking a blog break during this time!

Memorial Day Sale!

Receive 30% off ANY order by using the discount code: Mday10 during checkout.

You must use the above code to receive the discount!!!

Discount does not apply to sale or clearance items, sales tax or shipping costs. If you order any sale or clearance item your total will be manually changed to void the discount on those items.

Discount is not retroactive.

Discount is valid from May 26, 2010 and ends May 31, 2010

And Remember:
We offer FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $75.00 so gather your friends and family and place one big order and SAVE!

Happy Memorial Day and we will see you when we return on June 1, 2010!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

It’s the end of February already…and no it doesn’t help that it is a short month to begin with!

The northeast is getting slammed by yet ANOTHER snow storm while over here (Puget Sound) spring has….sprung! Grass is growing and trees are blooming!

Books
I have long been a fan of J.A. Jance novels..both the Joanna Brady and J.P. Beaumont Mysteries. Same characters in each series and often times those characters cross over.

Our local library carried only a handful of her books so one day a couple of weeks ago I went on to the library website (what a pain in the *ss that is!!!) and reserved as many books as I could. As I reserved the books I would get a notice saying….51 people have reserved this book ahead of you. Ok…so it will be a while as they all come trickling in.

Um…not!

A few days after I placed my massive reserve list I get an email stating that I have 12 books ready to go! I high-tail it to the library and bring it all home. These are, for me, fast read books so I will whiz through them in no time.

Not to mention I have the newest Stephen King book Dome sitting on our table just calling my name!

Karma
I have been telling my husband over the years that there is such a thing as Karma.
Good and Bad it always pays you back.
He is beginning to believe me!

Case in Point:
As I posted in HERE I was appalled at the lack of security and the fact that no one helped as a young woman was beaten in a Seattle bus tunnel.

I still feel that way.

However…As I always say….Karma has a way of paying you back.

Apparently the young woman is not as innocent as she wanted everyone to think!

Interesting Stories of the Week:

I found these two stories extremely interesting!

The Chemist’s War
The little-told story of how the U.S. government poisoned alcohol during Prohibition with deadly consequences.

The Clarks
An American story of wealth, scandal and mystery

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

I’m out of the office today so no blog post.
Will be back in full force Tuesday!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Happy 2010!!!

My first post of the new year!

I was lucky enough to take quite a few days off both before and after Christmas although now looking back I’m not really sure where those days went.

Before Christmas granddaughters #1 and #2 helped me make cookies (Russian teacakes and ginger creams). We also made Reindeer Chow I found over at Bakerella.

They also were playing with my new Flip so it will be fun to see what they recorded!

Our Christmas was totaly enjoyable. We had both adult daughters over along with their respective families and we (again!) had way too much food!

We had the normal cheese ball and garlic dip and I also made the Black Bean Goat Cheese Dip I posted about here. Suprisingly everybody liked it!

Hubs got the new Terminator and Boondock Saints (first one) movies for Christmas. I was planning on hating Terminator but ended up liking it even though Arnie wasn’t a key component. Christian Bale made up for it big time! Boondock Saints was a little weird but we both loved the movie. I would watch it again and will be getting the second one when it comes out.

Hubs and I are looking forward to 2010. We have a handfull of bills that will be paid off this year (yea!) and it brings us closer to our remodel plans hopefully in 2011!

Business wise I have plans on adding a few new, smaller sizes in the sugar scrubs and lotions and am working on resizing labels now.

I also have plans on testing at least one, maybe two new soap products.

We are also going to again venture out locally and sell at our farmers markets and a few other specific venues come next fall.

I’ve also had two business ventures that I have had to put on hold (due to the sagging economy) but I hope that by the end of 2010 I will have at least a logo and packaging designs (and possibly a website) at least in the beginning stages!

I’m putting together our blog schedule and as far as I can see I will be keeping the normal format: Cool Products, Ingredient Profile, Recipes, Eco News and a Free for All on Fridays. If you have any blog suggestions or would like to submit anything please let me know!

All in all 2009 was not a bad year for us.

We had an outstanding year weather wise….We actually had lots of snow AND our summer started in April!

Our female dog (English Bull Terrier) is still with us after surviving mast cell cancer last January. It was a difficult thing to go through (2 surgeries and deciding not to do chemo) so I have not really talked about it. By all outward appearances she seems to have beat it (knock on wood).

We got an Umbrella Cockatoo which I will post more about in the future. Even though I researched for about a month on these birds I am still amazed at how destructive (and noisy!) they are. We both buy his toys (which he can destroy within minutes!) and make them so it will be fun to post pictures on what I can come up with.

Hubs and I really didn’t get many chance to take off on our Harleys last year. Hopefully this year we can make it a point to do that. It’s funny….you would think when your kids are grown and on their own you would have all the time in the world but I can honestly say we are as busy if not more now than we were then!

This ends my first post of the new year.

I look forward to see what this year brings and hope to bring you along with me!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Wishing you a Happy Thanksgiving!!!!

Country Meadow will be closed for the holiday from November 25th through November 29th.

Orders received during this time will be processed on Monday, November 30th in the order received.

We will be working on updating our website with two new holiday scents and will be sending out our last sales newsletter towards the end of the long weekend.

If you are not already signed up you can do so HERE!

Only newsletter subscribers will receive our special holiday discount as well as a free gift so don’t wait!!!!

See you next week and have a happy holiday!

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

The Puget Sound area is gearing up for yet another storm…
this one may be the worst yet.

Sometimes those high winds will blow right down on us…and sometimes we are lucky and they stay in the foothills.

Keep your fingers crossed we don’t get the 60 mph gusts that will bring down trees and branches resulting in power outages!

Had Enough Rain?
by JIM FORMAN / KING 5 News and Associated Press

SEATTLE – Forecasters are tracking a third potent storm churning off the coast poised to slam into Western Washington Wednesday afternoon and Thursday.

National Weather Service forecasters issued a high wind warning for the coast and northwest interior Wednesday afternoon for 25 mph to 40 mph winds with gusts to 60. They issued a wind advisory for central Puget Sound and the lower Chehalis Valley for 20 mph to 30 mph winds with gusts to 50 mph.

Forecasters issued a winter storm warning for the Olympics and Cascades with a winter storm watch for the east slopes, including the Wenatchee area. One to two feet of new snow may fall on the central Cascades.

Expecting heavy rain, forecasters issued flood watches for Grays Harbor, Lewis, Thurston, Clallam and Jefferson counties.

Meanwhile, another round of heavy rain pelted an already saturated Western Washington Tuesday night. The sudden downpours caught some off-guard.

“It was horrible,” said one coffee shop barista.

Some are wondering: How long can this all last?

“I think it is going to be like a bad winter,” said another woman dodging raindrops. “I hope not. I am not ready for it at all.”

Despite the new rain by mid-evening Tuesday, most rivers in Western Washington were back inside their banks. The lone exception: the Skokomish River in Mason County.

National Weather Service hydrologists caution, the next storm could bring the heaviest rain to some of the areas hit hard by the last one.

KING 5 Meteorologist Jeff Renner said rain up to 3 inches could fall on the Olympic Peninsula on Wednesday, and up to 10 inches on Thursday.

Increasing winds Wednesday afternoon and evening are expected to reach up to 30 mph over the Sound, but up to 45 mph is possible from Everett northward, with higher gusts. Those winds speeds could further increase Wednesday evening, reaching up to 40 mph south of Everett and up to 50 mph from north of Everett north, with higher gusts.

The coast could see winds of up to 55 mph with gusts to 70 mph.

Mountains could see up to 3 feet of new snow.

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Country Meadow will be closed for the Thanksgiving holiday November 25th through November 29, 2009. We will reopen for business on Monday, November 30, 2009.

Please remember as the Christmas holiday gets closer order processing and shipping from either USPS or UPS will get longer and longer!

Last day to ship for the Christmas holiday is December 14, 2009.

Rebecca
Country Meadow Ltd.
Eco Friendly Shea Butter Spa Products

www.countrymeadowltd.com

Three major mistakes women make when using a blush:

1. Using too much in the fall and winter when trying to compensate for the lack of a tan. Try using a bronzer instead. The key is to apply a small amount. And there are several shades of bronzer to choose from.

2. Choosing a color that is too red or purple. Try matching your natural flush look, by exercising you will obtain that flush look.

3. Applying too little. If you don’t apply enough it will not last all day. The intensity of color you are wearing on your eyes and lips can determine the amount of blush you will need that day. For example if you are wearing a strong lip color, wear less blush. If you are wearing a sheerer lip color then apply more blush.