Tuesday thrift loot

I most certainly hope that all of you had better weather this weekend that we've experienced here! Temperatures in the low 60s with gloomy skies and frequent rain showers put the kibosh on doing much of anything outdoors. I've been trying to get the last of my garden in the ground but the darn rain won't stop long enough for me to get anything done! I don't fancy planting my green beans, potatoes and pumpkin in the mud but we're leaving tomorrow to go out of town for the next six days so I'm desperate to get things in the ground before we go.

I promised to share photos of my small-town thrifting loot from my trip to Southern Colorado last weekend.
Proof once again that I am physically unable to resist buying packets of vintage rickrack. I probably have enough of the stuff to stretch to the moon and back but I still can't pass it up, especially when I find fun striped and multicolored variations like these.
More thrifting Achilles' heels: vintage embroidery transfers (especially for wacky anthropomorphic fruits), vintage seam binding and vintage buttons.Large jars of buttons get me every time, even when they're not vintage. Just like big jars of candy, aren't they?Vintage Valentines (military-themed, to boot!), Strawberry Shortcake fabric (to be made into a new smock for Maren), a milk glass cold cream jar to be altered, and a spool of vintage gift ribbon.
These goodies actually came from an estate sale a few weekends ago. A chickie cupcake pick, old boxes of birthday candles and sewing pins, and vintage patterns.


In other news, sign-ups for the newest Sweet Goodness swap are now OPEN! Head over to the Sweet Goodness blog for more info!

Weekend in Southern Colorado

Maren and I spent a lovely weekend in Southern Colorado visiting with my mom and my grandparents. Here are some of the things we saw while we were there:

Lilacs as big as houses--really! This must be some year for lilacs, because the town was filled with huge, lush lilac bushes, positively loaded with blooms. Alamosa is small with mostly older homes, many of which have at least one lilac that must have been planted around the same time as the home was originally built. Those bushes have grown into what could easily be called trees now, in many cases as tall as the homes they accompany. They were truly spectacular!
On Saturday we made the 80-mile drive south across the New Mexico border to have lunch in Taos. On the way we went through a town (not much more than a wide spot in the road) called Antonito, home to this impressive homage to recycling:
This is Cano's Castle, which is said to be created primarily of beer cans and hubcaps. It's...well, it's something else, that's for sure. Here's a close-up of the helpful health advice on the sign in the front:Duly noted.

The house next door (not pictured) is well on its way to being completely lined with beer bottles and the surrounding lots give any junkyard a run for its money. Small-town America kook at its finest!
Further down the road we went over the Rio Grande Gorge bridge, the fifth highest bridge in the United States and no place for the vertiginously-inclined.The view is impressive and were in the right place at the right time to see a group of river rafters hit the rapids just below the bridge:Wheee! We could actually hear them scream as the water went over the sides into the boat.

From there it was just a few more miles to Taos. We had lunch at a restaurant inside the historic Taos Inn, which still sports this awesome neon sign:I do believe over the course of this weekend I ate my weight in guacamole. Yum!

It was the Saturday after the school let out and traffic was bumper-to-bumper through town, which is small to begin with. The crowds and the looming black rainclouds cut our visit short and we headed back north across the border. This time we used a different route, which took us through the oldest town in Colorado, and then on to home.

I'm happy to report there was indeed some small-town thrifting! Pictures of my loot tomorrow.

Vintage strawberry pin love

Maren and I are off for a weekend in southern Colorado. I get to visit my grandparents and also my mom, who is there for the weekend as well! Hoping to sneak in a little small-town thrifting if I can. Before I go, I wanted to leave you with my new favorite vintage pin, picked up at the thrift yesterday.Don't those berries look just good enough to eat? I'm in love!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Birds and squirrels

Nest update: We have babies!!Yesterday The Mister checked the nest and found that three of the five eggs had hatched, and by this morning chick #4 had appeared! They don't look like much--just a writhing pile of feathers and tiny open beaks--but we're fascinated just the same. I can't believe how fast that was; only about two weeks from eggs to babies. Oh, for a two-week incubation period! (says the 22-week pregnant lady, wistfully)

The nest has been the height of excitement around these parts lately. The bug that Maren brought home from one of the other little germ-factories at preschool went from my chest straight up into my sinuses, where I think it mutated into some sort of Squirrel Flu. It's not fatal like the Swine Flu, just more annoying and persistent.

(seriously, this headline slays me. Click here for the full story)

I'm on day six of being a mouth-breather and it will probably be a few more days until I'm completely shed of the need to blow my nose every 20 minutes. The worst thing about being sick while pregnant is not the fact that I can't take any drugs; it's that every time I feel a sneeze coming on I have to *brace myself* and *clench*--those of you who've been pregnant know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

Even my garage saling last weekend was cut short by the fact that I felt like squirrel poo, so my only score was four embroidered pillowcases that I can't even show you because they're still in the wash. Better than nothing, but far from the loot I was hoping for. I'm headed to visit my grandparents this weekend so perhaps a little small-town thrifting will make up for it!

Things I'm loving for Thursday

First, a Good Deal Alert!At Ulta this week you can purchase this cutie-pie OPI nail polish set for just $4.95! You get a full-size OPI polish in fun pink (called Short Shorts--hee!) that's perfect for toenails this summer, OPI Top Coat, and the fun little pink metallic wristlet bag. Considering that just the pink polish would set you back $9, that's one heck of a deal! You can purchase up to four at a time. What a great little treat for a friend, a teacher, or just to keep for yourself! (Local girls, this is what I'll be bringing to our Favorite Things Enrichment activity on May 21, if that's any incentive to be there!)

Today I'm also loving...

• These rainbow cupcakes from Baking Bites. I'm not usually one for baked goods that obviously contain a whole lotta food coloring, but I love these! What fun little treats. I love how the dollop of frosting on the top looks like a cloud!
• These gorgeous big flower clips from A Feathered Nest. I love how she has mixed and matched pieces from several flowers to make one big fluffy bloom. Love the idea of using a fabric-covered button for the center--in my opinion that makes them look like something that would be expensive at a department store. Of course these would be darling in a little girl's hair, but I'm thinking maybe I need a few too!
  
• For my fellow vintage button-lovers, check out this beautiful photo by Shanon Gass. She has offered it as a download for your desktop wallpaper--I've already installed mine! Shanon also offers the image as a print for purchase.

What are you loving today?

A Winner and some great deals

Yikes, I'm another day late in announcing the winner to my little "guess the sex" contest, so without further delay--

Heidi B, come on down!

Maren drew your name out of the Goblet of Fire and you're the winner of a package of blue things yet to be determined. :) Email me at fraulein_h AT hotmail etc. etc. with your address so I can get it in the mail to you!

To everyone, thank you again so much for your kind words and for sharing in my joy. :) Thank you also for the assurances that I'll be able to handle a boy! LOL Maren was a wild little girl, but somehow I think a boy will just be wild in a different way. It will be a fun challenge, though. I think the men in my family will have such fun teaching him to do "boy stuff"!

I know I've been complaining recently about the dearth of garage saling opportunities around here, but I've been somewhat assuaged by the fact that I've found garage sale-like prices at some retail stores lately! On Saturday I scored big at Target on some 75% clearance goodies. I found packages of these cute drawer handles marked down to just $5. Drawer hardware is normally ridiculously expensive, so I was excited to find these in pale pink and green. I have wanted to change out the handles on this little dresser since I bought it last year but the repro glass handles I really wanted were just more than I could stand to spend.Two clearance packages of green handles and a few minutes with a screwdriver were all it took to make me happy! They don't make a huge difference (I doubt The Mister has even noticed) but I love them and knowing I got a great deal makes it even better! I'm going to put the pink handles on a dresser in Maren's room, but that will be a bit more involved as it involves drilling new holes.At Target I also found this fun vintage-style coat hook and a couple of green acrylic knobs to match the drawer pulls. Don't know what I'll do with them quite yet, but I know that an opportunity will arise and for $1.24 each I couldn't pass them up.

Other Target deals: a great set of Bare Escentuals eyeshadows & brushes for $24.50 (50% off) and OPI nailpolish for $4 (also 50% off).

Yesterday I went to JoAnn's for curtain rings for another project and happened to find an aisle of cute ocean-inspired home decor for...75% off! Picked up this great vintage-looking green basket and this cute picture frame that go perfectly in my front room. I think I want to try making a Nester-inspired centerpiece out of the basket...hmm, may need to run back and pick up the smaller basket I saw so I can stack them.
The good news is that after five consecutive weekends of yucky weather, this one should be gorgeous! That means that all of the people who've been unable to hold their sales for the past month are probably itching to get rid of their junk, so the sales should be plentiful! The Mister is going to be in Monterrey, California for "work" (mmm..right) so Maren and I are going to hit the sales!

It's a...

BOY!!!

I thought it was a boy, and I was right! It looks like more people guessed boy on my last post, so I must be putting out some kind of 'boy' vibes. I'm excited and a little nervous--I'm a pretty girly girl, so having a boy will be a challenge for me! The baby looks perfectly healthy and it was fun to watch him swimming around on the u/s screen. I think we're going out to eat tonight to celebrate and we still have lots more phone calls to make to tell our family, so I'll choose my winner later and post who it is tomorrow. Thank you all for playing along and guessing! :)

Pink and Blue, all the way through

First, I promised you a contest!

Yesterday I hit the 20-week mark in my pregnancy. Halfway through, and it's all uphill from here, right? LOL I'm currently in that second trimester honeymoon period, where the *ick* has disappeared, my energy has reappeared, and I can still bend over to tie my shoes! Things are good. On Monday I have my 20-week ultrasound, and we're going to take Maren along so she can see the baby too. We're planning to find out the baby's sex, and we're excited to finally know so we can start talking about names and know if we have to redecorate the nursery!
So here's the contest--guess the baby's sex! All you have to do is leave a comment guessing whether I'll have a girl or a boy! On Monday after my appointment, I'll draw a winner from all the people who guessed the correct sex. At this point I'm not sure what exactly the prize will be, but I promise I'll pick something fun! How about--if it's a boy the prize will be blue and if it's a girl, the prize will be pink. You have until I get back from my ultrasound on Monday to enter!

Next up--more pink and blue in the form of the collage I made for the Marie Antoinette Bits & Baubles swap. I love working on these collages because it's so fun to go through all of my trinkets and stash to find things to fill 12 little squares. It's much less intimidating to fill a 3"x3" square than worry about a whole canvas! This one was especially delightful because of the theme--who doesn't love to work with sparkles, feathers, pinks and blues, and all manner of foof and frills?

Here's the finished collage:

and here are closeups of the two halves:
Some of the things I used have been in my stash for years--we're talking 10 or more! Projects like this are perfect for packrats like me!

The fog outside my window means we're gearing up for yet another weekend of lousy weather around here. Every single weekend in April has been wet in some form or fashion, and I've had just about e-damn-nough of it. I think we're having a case of "be careful what you wish for" because our Jan/Feb/Mar were bone dry and everyone was so worried about what that meant for our summer. Well, April took care of it all--we received 3.22" of water in April alone (out of 4.22" for the YTD) and I think most of that has fallen on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday! This is putting a serious damper on the start of the garage sale season.

My yard & garden are a total disaster but I can't plant anything yet, for fear that it'll get snowed upon again. This past week the "nice" days were beset by 30-mph wind gusts, making it less-than-ideal for digging in the dirt or even being outside at all. A few intrepid tulips and daffodils have made their way out of the ground and survived the snows, but for the most part it still looks brown and bare around here. This, folks, is why Spring is my least favorite season in Colorado. Bleh. I envy all of you who already enjoying gardens, flowers, and leaves on the trees! It feels like that is still a LONG way off for us.

Hope your weekend is sunny and dry!