5 Things for Wednesday

5 things in my fridge:
(Well, nothing much, as it went kaput on us yesterday and we're waiting for a part to come in so it can get fixed! All the dairy stuff has been moved to a cooler with a couple bags of ice. There is a little left, but it is pretty sad...)
1. My salad spinner bowl with a little bit of wilted lettuce
2. A bag of grapes, sitting atop a bowl of ice
3. Two insulated water bottles (keep those in there at all times, full of water)
4. A new jar of my raspberry freezer jam from last summer
5. A big sticky spot on the top shelf that I haven't gotten around to cleaning for a LONG time

5 things in my closet:
1. My great-grandmother's jewelry box and a bunch of her old costume jewelry (cool sparkly pins!)
2. A hatbox with my two Witches' Night Out pillbox hats
3. A lot of clothes that used to fit me from before I had Maren that I am determined to wear again
4. My beloved $45 Cole Haan black mules that are hard to walk in
5. My wedding dress

5 things in my purse:
1. Chapstick
2. Tiny address book
3. Bare Escentuals compact filled with Mineral Veil
4. Wallet, with actual cash inside (a rarity)
5. Tiny bottle of contact lens solution

5 things in my car:
1. Tiny tape measure for thrifting trips
2. CD holder
3. Gum
4. Maren's carseat
5. A bow and arrow set and target (Quin's doing Archery with the Scouts tonight)

j'adore / j'adoor

LOVE this. Love it! I once saw an idea in a decorating magazine where they turned an old door on its side, added a bit of old crown molding to the top, and called it a headboard. It just so happens that I have a queen-sized bed in my guest room that is in need of a headboard, so I've been on the lookout for an old door for just such a purpose.

The only place I've found them is an archictectural salvage place in town, where they start at about $20 but are stripped of all the hardware. I have been intending to go and get myself a door, but just haven't made it out there yet because I have a bunch more projects lined up in front of that one.

Friday night I needed some "me" time and as usually, headed for the thrift stores. I went to an area that I don't usually frequent, as it's a little further than I like to go with Maren in tow. Since I was footloose and baby-free however, I took advantage and hit East Colfax with a mission. I was wrapping up my shopping at an ARC store when I noticed a stack of doors at the back of the store. I poked around in the stack and got excited when I saw this sticking out:


And the rest is history. The door was only $15, which is a total steal with the original glass doorknobs. Those would probably be at least $10 apiece at the salvage store, plus the door would probably be at least $20. Ideally, I would have loved to find a door with panels, and I wish the paint was a little more worn and crackly, but I'm happy with it. I can always use some umber paint to age it later on.

So, Dad, how about coming for a weekend visit to help me with construction?

Crack us a smile!

11 years later.

Yesterday was the 11th anniversary of the Oklahoma City bombing. I dug out my journal from that time and here is my entry for 4-20-95:

I cannot believe that there are people in this world that are full of so much hatred that they would do something such as what happened in Oklahoma City. Yesterday morning at about 8 am, a huge car bomb blew up in front of the Oklahoma City Federal Bldg, absolutely destroying 1/3 of the building. Of course it was all the news yesterday, and so yesterday Dad & Kristjan and I watched it. I was and still am absolutely astounded. The pictures of the building were amazing, as they showed the whole side ripped off the building. The last I heard there was a count of 26 dead, 17 or so of which were children from a daycare center in the building. Then there were about 200 still unaccounted for and basically still trapped in the rubble because there were about 500 people in the building. It is so amazing to me that the actions of just a few people could have such incredible repurcussions around the country. I am so sad at the loss of the children, and I have to figure that their fathers or mothers must have worked in the building because otherwise, why would there be a daycare center in a Federal Building? This is such a mess. My thoughts are all scattered. If nothing else, this is certainly a sign that the Second Coming is near. How sad that people are full of such hatred.

I still remember sitting in seminary and watching the TV news reports (because we had TVs in those rooms) and being just astounded at the images of the building with the whole side ripped off. At the time of my journal entry, I don't think we knew that it was actually Americans who had perpetrated such an act on their fellow citizens.

It's ironic to me that I wrote an eerily similar journal entry on September 11, 2001. On April 20, 1995 I had no idea that I would ever see something like that again, let alone something far worse and far more horrifying. I wonder what other tragedies I will record in my journal during my lifetime? I can only imagine that things will get worse.

There has been talk on Two Peas lately about the upcoming "Flight 93" movie and whether or not it is in poor taste, or disrespectful to the families of those who died onboard United Flight 93 on September 11. If the movie is done well, and is true to what actually happened (no 'artistic liberties' taken), then I am of the opinion that it should be required viewing. I know there are some who have said they can't bear to see the movie; that it is just too painful. That's precisely why we should see it, because it will open the wound again, and remind us just exactly how it felt to be attacked that day, and the horror of the days after, so that we remember the enemies that we are fighting, and so that we remember that there are indeed bad people out there who wish to kill us and our children simply because we are guilty of being American citizens. Evil does exist, no matter what the cultural relativists may say.

I want people to remember how it was after September 11, how American flags flew everywhere. How people seemed able to overlook differences, political and otherwise, and pull together and be proud to be Americans. We have forgotten how it felt, and I can think of no better way to remember, and no more fitting tribute to the poor souls who died in a Pennsylvania field that day, than to sit for 2 hours in a darkened theater and remember. Just remember.

Thrifts store finds: Tuesday

Blue Pyrex bowl, $1.81. This is actually the smallest bowl in the famous Primary colors set. I now have the yellow, green, and blue bowls, so I am only lacking the red one. I have a feeling it will be hard to find.

Old whisk thing with painted handle, $2.99. This one was in a bag with a bunch of random kitchen utensils, but I bought the whole thing for this one. The other utensils will be getting re-donated and I'll take the tax credit. I know this was too much to pay, but I really wanted it.




Old Bobbsey Twins book, $.69. Copyright 1962. Someday I will read this to Maren, along with the Happy Hollisters books I've found. I've actually never read a Bobbsey Twins book, myself! I preferred Nancy Drew.

1950s Advance dress pattern, $.29. Love the big full skirts! Wish those were still in style.

Miss Know-it-All Dictionary by PonyTail, $.99. This one is copyright 1959 and is actually a Webster's Dictionary inside. I've no idea what PonyTail was, but this one has such a cute graphic on the front I had to get it! I thought it was the kind of thing you'd see in a little vignette, stacked on a desk or dresser in the pages of Country Living or Home Companion magazine.





Assorted rolls of ribbon, $5.98. This actually came in 2 packages, and there were 3 more packages that I didn't buy. I just couldn't justify spending $15; too bad it wasn't the 50% off tag color for the day. I actually called the store this morning to see if by chance today was that color. Unfortunately it's not. I'm curious to know if this is vintage ribbon. I've always wanted to find vintage ribbon or buttons or sewing notions, so I think that's why I felt compelled to get this. It's interesting because it's not on spools; rather, it's rolled around itself very tightly. The largest yellow roll is 6" across to give you an idea of scale. If it really is vintage, I'd go buy the other 3 bags and put it on eBay. I'm not sure how to tell without a label though, and I Googled 'vintage ribbon identification' without any luck. For now, I like how it looks all stacked up.

Spring comes to my backyard

Five things

1. Five minutes to yourself: how would you spend them, ideally? Reading blogs or Two Peas

2. Five bucks to spend right now: how would you spend it? Thrift store junk :)

3. Five items in your house you could part with, right now, that you hadn't thought of already? The hand-me-down kitchen table and chairs, the matching china cabinet, the ugly plaid loveseat in the basement, about half the boxes in the basement storage room, my old crock pot

4. Five items you absolutely, positively could never part with in your house? the mattress on our bed, all my old Pyrex that I've bought at thrift stores, my curio cabinet, Great-Grandma Wuckert's teacup collection, my giant ugly green desk

5. Five words you love? lovely, marklar, mung, vintage, Maren

A visit from the Easter Monkey

This year marked the first Easter since Quin and I got married 4 years ago that he wasn't deployed and I didn't just give birth 2 days prior, so we decided to have a little fun and do Easter baskets for each other. I have the best husband EVAH because not only did he fill my basket with all kinds of yummy Godiva and Lindt chocolates, but he managed to find a MONKEY basket to put them in! I was beyond tickled to find this on Sunday morning! What a guy. {swoon}












We had a busy, but wonderful Easter Sunday. Quin's dad was driving through so he spent Saturday night and Sunday breakfast with us. I thought it would be oh-so-festive to have Hot Cross Buns with our scramby eggs for breakfast, so Saturday night I put aside my fear of all things yeast and whipped up a batch of said Buns. And then, in short order, I whipped them straight into the trash can. Just when I get all brave and ready to conquer Yeast Breads, they smack (or is it punch?) me down and yell "Ha!" yet again, and I stuff the litle packets of yeast back into the spice cupboard for the next time I get a similarly hare-brained idea.

After breakfast (sans Buns) I attempted to take Easter photos of Maren, the result of which I posted yesterday. As usual she was significanly less than cooperative, so that is about the only decent shot. Ah, well. Next year I'll bribe her with candy to sit in the giant basket, and have darling Easter photos that will be the envy of all. After photos and a quick nap for Maren we had church, but not before I got the photo of us at right. I unfortunately only got the one, as we were in a hurry and I couldn't remember how to use the self-timer on my camera which resulted in much fumbling and time-wasting on my part.

Church went until 4:00, so I started cooking dinner as soon as we got home. I bought a quarter ham from the Honeybaked folks, made mashed potatoes, buttermilk biscuits, a nice green salad, and the requisite Jello concoction. I even busted out the wedding china and silver since it was a special occasion. It was nice to eat together, just our little family. Maren loved the Jello, and we had a great time watching her try to eat it--not so easy to do with your hands! She was covered and required Bath #2 for the day when it was over. We finished up the evening with a walk around the neighborhood to enjoy the lovely evening.

Hope you all enjoyed your day!

Happy Easter!

Bean update:
I just chopped up some ham to put in the beans, then tasted them--and the beans are still hard! :( I soaked them over night and they've been in the slow cooker on low since 9 am, so I'm confused. I thought for sure they'd be all nice and mushy. I'm going to keep cooking them, since I don't have anything to lose at this point. I'm also disappointed because the soup is still very thin. I even took out a cup and pureed it, then added it back in, something I've heard will thicken it up. It didn't seem to help. Maybe since I'm going to keep cooking the beans, I'll add in some potatoes to starch it up. I want a nice, thick bean soup--not broth and beans. Looks like we'll be having sandwiches tonight. :(

I just have to say that it's too bad these blogs don't have a Smell-o-vision function! I've got a Crock Pot full of beans and ham going and it smells incredible. This is the first time I've ever cooked with dried beans before, so I hope it turns out and tastes as good as it smells. Yum.

Mc-Ching!

Remember this?



This is the twin fitted sheet I bought at a thrift store last week for $3.95 with the McDonald's characters on it. I found out it was produced for Sears in 1976 and I put it on eBay, noting that similar sheets have sold recently for as high as $37. Well, last night my auction ended...and the high bid was--are you ready for this?--$79.00!!! Yes, that's correct--nearly 80 bucks, a 500% return on my investment! I nearly died when I saw the total and then worried that something would go wrong and my buyer would not pay, but the money came through this morning, so I'm good!

I doubt I will ever have this luck on an eBay sale again, but it was sure fun and I think it lent some credence to my junk-buying habit. See, I don't just buy crap--I buy crap that's worth something! :)

Wild Iris

Not much to say, so I thought I'd share a photo. This was taken last summer at our family cabin in Southern Colorado. These were just growing wild, and the sun hit this particular flower and illuminated it. I've never seen iris grow wild before, and it was quite charming to find them--like little jewels among all the weeds and grass!

I'm never too sick to thrift

It's been a quiet week here; not much to blog about. Quin is out of town so it's just us girls. I'm still trying to shake a nasty sinus cold that I got over a week ago, so I've had zero energy. It's frustrating as I had big plans for all the things I was going to get done this week, but I haven't felt like doing any of it.

I did manage, however, to scrape together enough energy to go thrifting this afternoon. I think I may have to be on my deathbed to not feel like going thrifting! :) I found a few fun things:


Old muffin tin, $ .80 and embroidered "L" hankie, $ .50. You can't tell from the photo, but the muffin tin has a really cool patina on it that makes me believe that it is OLD. It's an interesting size, as it has 8 cups instead of the more standard 6, and the cups are slightly smaller. I won't use it for baking, but either decorate with it in my kitchen or I thought it would be a nifty way to separate beads or embellishments when I'm working on craft projects. The hankie is for my mom (if she wants it), as I know she gives old hankies as gifts sometimes. I don't know anyone with an L name, but maybe she does! Don't know that it is necessarily old, but the embroidery is pretty and it's in good shape.









Distressed-looking white wire basket, $3.83. This is a good-sized basket; 17" long by 6" high. You can't see from the photo but it is made to look distressed, with the silver metal showing through in spots. I thought it would be cute with some fake greenery in it. I've been looking for some objets to put atop my china cabinet to 'draw the eye up', and this is kind of what I had in mind.






Okay, I know this is a bizarre purchase. The two of these together were $3.00, and they're going on eBay. These are old Burger King toys from 1987. They are disturbingly realistic and life-sized. Maybe it's not such a good thing when you are a restaurant and you can make plastic food that looks alarmingly like the real fast food you sell. Ick.









Three more 1950s cook booklets, $ .69 each. I must have missed these when I was at Saver's last Friday night. The one on the left, "Quick Dishes for the Woman in a Hurry," was put out by the Culinary Arts Institute, the same folks that did the Dairy Cookbook I bought last week. This one was published in 1954 and has the standard disgusting food photographs, but also some really cute illustrations. The one in the middle is called "Metropolitan Cook Book" and was put out by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company in 1953. It has the cutest little illustrations of food and kitchen equipment that have faces and appendages. Very 1950s, very charming. The one on the right is "Carefree Cooking...Electrically" and was put out in 1950 by the Edison Electric Institute. Its purpose is to teach housewives how to use thir new electric ranges. This one has some great photos and drawings as well.


And last, the Better Homes & Gardens Barbecue Book from 1956, $2.99. It has lots of really great photos of guys that look like Ward Cleaver, grilling in the backyard in dress shirts and slacks. It also has some really cute illustrations, like this one:
Someday, I will figure out how to change the banner at the top of this blog, and I'd love to use all these fun illustrations from these cookbooks.

So that's it for today. I had actually intended to just stop at one store, then go grocery shopping. I got caught up in the moment though, and ended up going to 3 stores. Maren was not happy to be out shopping and made her displeasure known in very vocal ways, so we ended up coming home without going to the grocery store. So I have old junk, and no food. And that's perfectly fine with me!

Thrift Store Therapy, Part 3

The last installment of my finds from Friday:

This old cookbook is from 1941 and was put out by some Culinary Arts Council. I like old cookbooks, but I think I paid too much for this one: $2.99. Cool, but not that cool. Eh, whatever. I got caught up in the moment.













These little booklets are part of "The Amy Vanderbilt Success Program for Women." The Dinner Party book is from 1963 and the other one is from 1966, if I'm reading my Roman numerals correctly. I have no idea what this Success Program entailed, but apparently being a good hostess and creative uses for artichokes as wall decor were part of the curriculum. The bio for the author of the dinner party book cracks me up: "Adele Whitely Fletcher has an international reputation as an imaginative hostess and has given dinner parties for the famous and near-famous as well as using her great gifts as a hostess in her own home. Her articles in this field have appeared in..blah blah blah..She has also found time to collaborate with the Duchess of Windsor, in Paris, on a series of articles featuring the Duchess' favorite recipes. A doting grandmother, she lives in Huntington, Long Island,where she is known as a warm and ispired hostess." Well, la-di-freakin'-da! I had better get reading, as my international reputation has slipped a bit lately.


These little cook booklets were commonly put out by food manufacturers to encourage housewives to use their products. They usually feature food photography of the most ghastly sort, with everything styled and embellished to within an inch of its life. These three aren't too bad, as they are for Nabisco cookies & crackers, Royal Gelatin and Knox Gelatin. Some of the recipes in the Nabisco book actually sound kind of yummy. The Knox booklet is from 1957; the others are undated but look to be from a similar timeframe.



These booklets were put out by Pet Evaporated Milk and are written by Mary Lee Taylor, who was actually a fictional alter ego for Mrs. Erma Proetz. She did cooking radio shows starting in the 1930s and running until 1955. More ghastly pictures, with equally ghastly recipes: Egg Salad Loaf, anyone? How about a nice, steaming bowl of Lima Bean Chowder? {blech} I'm guessing these are from the early 1950s, because they feature ads for the radio program on the back.





And of course, there's always room for Jell-O! The Joys of Jell-O are many and great, comprising approximately 90 pages of recipes in this booklet. I will never, ever understand why it was acceptable--nay, desirable-- in polite society to suspend such garbage in gelatin! Jell-O was more of a tool than an actual food, it seems. I know that there are jokes among Utah Mormons that anything is fair game to be included in Jell-O salad, but seriously, we don't hold a candle to this collection. Fun fact: Did you know you can make Marzipan out of Jell-O? Consider yourself enlightened.








One of the things I loved about the Jell-O book was this ad on the back page. I have a set of the Individual Fluted Molds (second from left) that I found at a thrift store, and I adore them!


All the cook booklets combined were $ .99, and I've definitely gotten a dollar's worth of delight out of them.

One other thing I got but didn't photograph is a 14" square pillow form, still in plastic for $1.00. I put it in an old souvenir Salt Lake City pillowcase I found a while ago and it fits perfectly.

And that's everything! I think I spent something like $27.00 total.

Thrift Store Therapy, Part 2

Old Valentines, $1.99. From the graphics, they look like maybe from the 1960s? About half of them hadn't been punched out yet, and envelopes were included. There were more valentines, but they looked much newer and not nearly as neat. Those will be going back to charity with my next donation.








This is a throw pillow, about 15" square. I think I've seen something similar in Country Living (which is obviously my design bible!) and I saw this one at Saver's several weeks ago. I didn't get it then, but when I went back on Friday it was still there, which I took as a sign that it was waiting for me. :) It is made out of pale pink fabric that has a slight sheen to it, almost like taffeta but I don't think it is. I suspect it is handmade, because the fabric is thin and I can see pencil lines on the reverse. It's stuffed with a square piece of foam and backed with pink fabric that doesn't even match at all, so I think what I need to do is use my handy seam ripper, remove the backing, and soak this in some Woolite to see if I can get rid of the pencil lines. Then I'll have to resew it to some better fabric. Shouldn't be too hard of a fix. I like how it looks kinda Shabby Chic. This one was $1.99.


This little gem is headed straight for eBay! It is a twin fitted bed sheet with a McDonald's pattern on it, and it is in almost perfect condition! One tiny tear up in a corner, but the colors are bright and graphics unfaded. It looks like it was hardly used. I did a little searching and a similar one sold in the last couple weeks for $38.00! Wow! Don't know if I can get that much, but even if I could make $10 off it, I'd be thrilled. This cost $3.99, and I think it was money well spent! I'll update here if I sell it. I'm going to list it this afternoon.





More later!

Thrift"Store Therapy, Part 1

Quin leaves tomorrow morning and will be gone for the entire week, meaning it's The Mommy Show all week long. I stole a few hours of 'me' time yesterday in preparation for the long week ahead and of course, I went thrifting! Here are some of my finds:


This one is probably my favorite find of the day. It was only! $5.95. I know a comparable lamp would retail for easily $40. The shade is shot, but that's an easy fix and I know Target has some really cute shades in their Simply Shabby Chic line that would look great with the base. In fact they used to carry a lamp very similar to this, and I saw another similar one in my new Country Living magazine today. The lamp is glass and very heavy, with cut glass balls on the base. It's tall, almost 24". I love it! Not sure which room it will go in yet, as I am running out of places to illuminate, but rest assured, I'll find a place for this beauty!



This is so fun! It's hard to tell from the photo, but it's actually a hostess apron with scenes from Colorado silk screened on the front. It was $1.99. I am not sure of age, as it is in almost-new condition, but I can't imagine that they sell a lot of these in the gift shops around town nowadays. At any rate, this is a double-collectible for me, since I've been collecting both old Colorado souvenirs and aprons. This will likely go in the guest bedroom with all the other Colorado stuff.






These appear to be linen tea towels. I'm not sure if they are vintage or just made in China, because of the very Asian cherry blossom motif. I loved the colors, which don't show up great on screen but are red, yellow and teal. One has a pretty good sized yellow stain but I'll go soak them in Oxyclean and see what I can get out. I think these were maybe $1.99 for the pair.











Five rolls of vintage seam binding, $1.99. Each roll has 100 yds and they all appear to be full, so that is a lot of seam binding! These may go on eBay, as I've done some research and a fewsimilar lots have sold. I know Jenni Bowlin frequently uses vintage seam binding in her projects; I remember getting some at CKU a couple years ago, so maybe there's someone else out there just looking for something like this! I'm half tempted to keep the aqua-colored one, but I don't know what I would ever need all that for!
















This is a little milk-glass bowl (like Pyrex is made of, but this one is not marked any brand name). I don't know who Ricky is or why his name is on his bowl, but I thought this bowl was cute for the red checks. I figure I can always turn the Ricky part around. I'm always looking for small bowls for my kitchen to use for baby food or chopped ingredients when making dinner. This was $ .60

That's all for today. More goodies tomorrow!