REDnesday: New RED things at my house

Some of the new RED things popping up at my house lately…

Went on a bit of a (husband-sanctioned, even encouraged) shoe-buying binge last week, all beautiful but all guaranteed to make my feet hurt by the end of the night. But for candy apple RED Ralph Lauren patent platform peep-toe Mary Janes, the pain will be SO worth it. I also elected to join the 21st century and get a new phone that will allow me to send text messages. I just sent my first ever text last week, so I’m obviously screaming right into the technological future, eh?

(And while I’m on the subject, I just cannot make myself write in that pidgin texting language, forsaking all grammar and spelling rules. The word nerd in me just won’t let it happen, so I’ll continue to laboriously send my correctly written messages. I won’t be winning any speed-texting contests anytime soon.)

Pair #2 of hawt RED shoes scored last week. Not even as crippling as they may appear on first glance. More about where I wore these later.

The RED thing that I had, and then returned:

My beloved toaster oven unexpectedly gave up the ghost, providing me an opportunity to replace it with something much prettier (incidentally, did you know Target’s website has a page just for RED appliances? How convenient!)

Even though it perfectly matched Ruby and Bea (so named because she’s an Osterizer Beehive blender), the toaster oven had to be returned because its poor design meant it took up a ridiculous amount of counter space. Boo. I suppose it's just as well, as that toaster oven had rotten reviews on the Target website anyway.

For more good RED stuff, go visit Sue at It’s a Very Cherry World and see the rest of the participants for REDnesday!

It's Rednesday and Vintage Christmas Monday (two days late)

I've been out of town so I'm a bit behind at blogging. Actually, I'm a bit behind in life in general right now, but I'm doing my best to get out of the weeds...

For Sue's Rednesday party, I have this to share:a vintage Rudolph story book that I bought on Monday at an antique store. It's not in great shape (taped spine, ick) but it was el cheapo and it's cute and I can read it to Maren. It's flanked by two vintage flocked red reindeer, both found this year in my thrifting.

I'm two days late but I'm going to join Joan's Vintage Christmas Monday for this week anyway. These photos are of some of the vintage Christmas lovelies at my parents' house. It's fun to share an addiction, although I suffer a far more severe case than they have!

I believe this neat Santa candy container came from a garage sale, lovingly stored in its original box:

Another set of St. Nick and his coursers, this one I found at a thrift and gave to my dad:
This snowman ornament belonged to my great-grandpa and my dad found it in his shed. It has a hole in one side (about 1.5" diameter) and was found with red cellophane sticking out of the hole. We can't figure out what it is--does anyone have any ideas? My first thought was a candy container but it seems a bit impractical for that because the hole is so small. We're stumped!

I bought this tree topper from an antique store. Love the graphics and bright red and green!
And some favorite ornaments from the tree:

It's Rednesday--vintage apron, pin bead Mrs. Claus and gratuitous cute baby photos

Yippee, it's Rednesday! I'm joining Sue's Rednesday party today.


I love this pin and bead Mrs. Claus! She's a Walco craft from the early 1970s and is reminiscent of the pin bead fruit that I collect as well.
I found her at a thrift a few weeks ago, but sadly there was no Mr. Claus to be found. I now have a mission: locate a pin bead Santa and reunite him with the lovely Mrs.!

Found at a rare weekday garage sale when I was out visiting my mom in Utah, I think these are actually from 2008 but I never blogged about them. The crocheted apron is a child's size and somebody turned the vintage tablecloth into cute red-hemmed cloth napkins.

And a favorite red (and blue) thing around here:
Would you just LOOK at that hair? Hee! It's like Muppet hair.This one's blurry but Porter is just the happiest, most smiley baby! He'll be 12 weeks tomorrow (HOW?) and is an absolute delight!

It's Rednesday--vintage spaghetti ware Santa

My favorite color is RED (has been for years) so it's only fitting that I join in Sue's Rednesday party!Today's RED item would also fit for Vintage Christmas Monday. Oh heck, most of what I post this month would probably fall under that category! I found this guy a few weeks ago at the thrift. I bought him to sell, but as it seems to happen all too often, I think I like him too much to let him go.I'm not usually one for figurines (aka dust collectors), but come on--isn't he darling? I love the spaghetti 'fur' trim.
It's so rare to find something like this at the thrift and have it be intact, but he's perfect--not even any chipping on the spaghetti trim! I think I need to find some candy canes or barber poles to fill his sack.

We had a self-imposed snow day today. It was snowing and the wind chill was 4 degrees this morning when I got up, and I just couldn't face going out in that to take Maren to preschool. I haven't yet figured out a good solution for keeping the baby warm and wrapped up while I take Maren to school. The stroller is a pain (especially in the snow) and carrying him in the bucket carrier is unwieldy and heavy, but just holding him in my arms wrapped up in blankies doesn't seem warm enough, and I sometimes worry that I'll slip and fall with disastrous results. I've got to get something figured out though, because we have about 5 more months of cold mornings to look forward to here in Colorado! Right now the wind chill is a whopping 10 degrees, and tomorrow morning won't be much of an improvement from today. It has been a good day to stay inside and work on crafts and decorations--hope to have some to share tomorrow!

Snow-drifted jack-o-lanterns are just sad

SNOW DAY!!

While snow on Halloween is not unheard of in Colorado, I can't say that I've ever experienced a two-day blizzard just prior to the holiday. As of early this morning we had about 10" and it's still snowing steadily, but the wind is blowing so hard it will be hard to get an accurate measurement. School was canceled but The Mister had to go into work, which I'm still cranky about. We're staying inside where it's warm and getting a start on the treats for tomorrow night's big party.

On my happy list today (besides not having to take the kids out into the snow):My cute new ballet flats that I purchased on clearance at Wal-Mart (of all places) for $7.00, worn with the top that I just got on clearance at Ann Taylor LOFT for $4.88. Woo-hoo!

Tuesday thrift score

After complaining all summer about the dearth of good junk at my local thrifts, I've had a pretty good run the past week or so! I have more photos of my finds to share but wanted to show this one, today's only purchase:Oh, how I LOVE this old thermos! The plaid, the cute logo & name, the RED! It's in pretty good condition and I can't wait to display it! Maybe my junking luck is changing...

Tick Tock, A New Red Clock

I was tickled when I found a darling RED vintage-style clock at my local thrift for a mere 80¢! It is a reproduction but I thought it had plenty of charm and would look great in my vintage-style kitchen. Only problem--when I got it home, it didn't work! Even after putting in a good battery, the clock hands failed to move. I determined that the clock mechanism itself was kaput, but I knew that I could buy a replacement at the craft store.

Armed with my trusty 40% off coupon, I headed to JoAnn's but was dismayed to find that a new set of clock works was $7.99. Now, I had a coupon that would make it less expensive, but people--I AM CHEAP! I didn't want to pay 6x more for the mechanism that I did for the darn clock itself!

Enter Plan B--find another cheapo clock at the thrift and harvest its organs...er, mechanism. I've searched unsuccessfully a few times now but today I found it! A boring, cheapo clock also priced at the magical 80¢. I didn't have a battery with me to make sure it worked and that thrift store doesn't accept returns, but for that price I was willing to take the gamble. I may be cheap, but I'm not crazy!

I didn't think to take a photo of the "donor" clock, but just imagine your garden-variety plastic, few bucks at Wal-Mart type of clock. I used a butter knife to pop off the plastic dome, unscrewed the hands and removed the little black box. Threaded it through the hole on the red clock, reattached the hands and the glass dome and hurrah--it worked! I did have to fiddle with the hands a bit to make sure they were seated correctly but it's keeping time like a champ now.


Now to hang it and enjoy!

Shoes, School and a Swap

The only thing better than new red shoes for me?


New red shoes for Maren! Jen posted about Salt-Water sandals the other day and that reminded me that I wanted a red pair for Maren. Thanks to the wonders of eBay and quick shipping, I had them just a few days later, right in time to wear with her cute Fourth of July dresses.

Our Fourth holiday was good--quiet, but still nice. We grilled hot dogs and ate outside on the patio, then headed to a neighboring town for the fireworks show. We'd actually never been to watch fireworks here in Denver--for two of the previous three years we were in Utah and the one year we stayed here it rained so we stayed home. We've been a bit unsure of the best place to go to see fireworks so took a gamble and drove a few miles south. We ended up with prime seats and with a big bag of fresh kettle corn for Mommy & Daddy (really, they should call that stuff kettle crack) and a brand new tube of glow bracelets for Maren, we sat back and enjoyed what turned out to be a really great show.

This morning Maren and I walked down to the school where she will be attending preschool to meet her new teachers and see her classroom. The school is on a year-round schedule so while three of the tracks begin tomorrow, Maren doesn't start until the end of July. That gives us just enough time to fit in a couple of weeks of swimming lessons, which will start next week. Maren will only go to school two days a week for about three hours in the morning, but that will be enough for her to have some fun and learn new things and for me to have a little break (yay!).

I received the most amazing package from my Parasols, Pink Lemonade and Polka Dots swap partner, the fabulous ArtsyMama! I can tell that Kari took much time in selecting items that I would love--and she was right!

Among the treasures she sent were a lovely blown glass bottle in my favorite turquoise color, a darling vintage hankie and apron, a fun bag with an ice cream cone on the front (perfect for the pool!)

a trio of vintage paper parasols--so perfect for the theme!--a gorgeous vintage hat and a bunch of neat old millinery flowers, the cutest little ice-cream patterned pennant banner, a little pink wagon for Maren, and one of Kari's pieces of original collage artwork, which I have happily displayed in my craft room.

There were lots of other goodies as well, and it was such a treat to pull out treasure after treasure. Kari was a fantastic swap partner! As usual, I forgot to photograph the package I sent to her before I got it all in the box (WHEN will I learn? Sheesh.) so you'll have to check out her blog in a few days when she returns from vacation. Also, if you're a fellow swapper and haven't yet uploaded your photos to the Flickr group, please head over there and do so! I love checking out all the ways that people interpreted the theme. I'm heading over to upload my photos right now!

RED is best

I know in today's fashion climate that it's considered passe' to match your shoes to your handbag, but I'm willing to be called a fuddy-duddy when the shoes and bag in question are a) shiny and b) RED!

5-13-08

Due to weather, a 3-year-old and a chocolate festival, I was only able to visit one garage sale this past weekend. My friends Kayla and Lindsay and Kayla's mom had a sale on Friday. Kayla and I have discussed our mutual love for *junque* so I knew I needed to check it out! They had lots of fun things, and I ended up with a big oval mirror and this cute vintage lard can.


I think it will be just charming with some flowers planted in it. It's quite large--about as large as a paint can. Now I just need the weather to cooperate so my flowers won't freeze. I'm hoping for July, at this point.

Yesterday I was able to make a run to the antique mall sans grabby-handed toddler. We were there last Thursday to find a Mother's Day gift for my mom when I saw an interesting table out of the corner of my eye. Because I was busy trying to keep my kid from smashing hundreds of dollars' worth of antique pottery I was unable to give it a good look, but I thought about it all weekend and so I went back yesterday with my measuring tape in hand. Alas, I didn't buy it. It really was the shape and size I've been looking for and it was reasonably priced, but its condition left much to be desired and I am just not up to dragging home another piece of furniture that needs refinishing (much to my long-suffering DH's relief). I did find something else I couldn't live without:


Does this not look like something your grandma would have had on your bed? (See again: Long-Suffering DH) I LOVE IT! It's the most beautiful shade of turquoise satin and it's in great shape, and it was a great price to boot! I have a thing for these old smocked pillows so I was thrilled to find such a nice specimen.

It's cold and drizzly today so we're having dinner in the slow cooker. It smells delicious! The recipe is from Real Simple magazine, March 2004 issue and it's one of our favorites:

Spicy Country Ribs
1 small onion, finely chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1/2 c. ketchup
1/2 c. cider vinegar
1/4 c. brown sugar
1 Tbsp kosher salt
1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp ground chipotle chili powder *(I just use regular chili powder)*
1 tsp dried oregano
4 pounds pork country ribs

Combine all ingredients in the bottom of a large slow cooker and add the ribs. Cook on low heat for 6 hours. Using tongs, remove ribs from the cooker and arrange on a broiler pan. Heat the broiler, and pour the juices from the cooker into a bowl. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes to hasten the separation of fat. Remove and discard fat. Pour the juices into a saucepan; boil over high heat until reduced by half, about 15 minutes. Broil the ribs until browned and serve with the sauce. Makes 4 servings.

We just finished eating and I wanted to add a note: I cooked the ribs for 6 hours on low and they were a bit overdone. Still yummy, but a bit on the dry side. My slow cooker seems to cook things really quickly (ironic, no?) so I usually cut the suggested cooking time way down. For this one I'd probably be good with just 5 hours, but YMMV depending on your slow cooker. Also, if you use regular chili powder instead of the chipotle they are not spicy at all, in case that was a concern.

Andie asked if you could skip the boiling/broiling part at the end--I think you can definitely skip it and they will still be delish!

In a little while I'll make some buttermilk biscuits and I'll serve it with baked beans and potato salad. Yum! I'm getting hungry just thinking about it!

Valentine's Day wrap-up

I had such a great Valentine's Day! Maren and I started out the day by making "Balentimes" for Daddy:
We even used glitter glue, at Maren's insistence. The apple doesn't fall far from the tree, eh?

Quin brought home this beauty for all of us to enjoy:

It is from Edible Arrangments and it was delish! The chocolate-dipped pineapple in particular was especially yummy. They use dark chocolate to dip the fruit and the contrast between that and the sweetness of the fruit is wonderful. It was a fun alternative to flowers, and something we've all been able to really enjoy.

I attempted to make strawberry blossoms:


They didn't turn out as pretty as I had hoped but they sure do taste good! Between these and the fruit arrangement it's pretty safe to say that we've all met the suggested daily fruit intake for the past two days.

For dinner I attempted Middle Eastern food. Quin traveled to Jordan in December and raved about the food there. I chose a few recipes off the internet and gave them a whirl but I was at a disadvantage since I didn't really know what the food was supposed to taste like! I thought it was okay, but I know I can do better. Time to head to the library and the local middle eastern restaurant (complete with bellydancers!) for a fact-finding mission. Dessert got postponed until tonight, as I read the recipe rather hastily and forgot the vanilla ice cream, a key ingredient. It was no big loss as our bellies were full of chocolate-covered strawberries anyway. If the dessert is good tonight I'll post the recipe tomorrow.

For my RED installment today, I have a photo of some vintage crocheted potholders that I thrifted very recently.

Actually, the basket with the rose is an old find but I thought the photo needed three instead of two. I picked up the two round potholders last week and I love them! I see crocheted potholders all the time in thrifts but I'm very particular about the ones I will buy. Anything red gets tossed into the shopping cart, post haste. The small red one has a tiny circle of the palest spring green in the middle and I really love how it looks with the red; such a great contrast. The larger circle is very nicely done and in perfect condition. I was tickled to add these RED cuties to my kitchen!

It was so nice to have Quin home today. I was able to go to JoAnn's and Target all by myself, which qualifies as a huge thrill for me these days. I'm excited that we get a free day tomorrow too, and I think we'll spend the day getting some of our piles of items ready for listing on eBay. I've also got a few crafting projects that were shoved aside in order to get all my swaps done that I'd like to finish up and get off my desk. I'm sure I'll find plenty of ways to keep busy!

Happy Valentine's Day!

For the last Valentine, I want to show you the one card that might just be my favorite for now.


I love, love, LOVE this sweet girl with her rosy cheeks, bow-shaped mouth, wayward black curls and jaunty red beret. This card is sweet beyond words; I love everything about it! The flowers around the edge, the lace, the bright colors. It's just perfect. And imagine my surprise when I was surfing around Blogland and found someone who bears a striking resemblance to my Valentine girl! This sweet card is the centerpiece of the clothespin garland hanging on my mirror. I love it so much that I thought it deserved the place of honor.

For my RED item today I had to venture into the depths of my closet. I'm not a terribly sentimental person and I don' t tend to keep objects around for sentimental reasons, but this is one thing I just can't let go.

You already know that red is my favorite color, but you combine red with sequins and my inner 6-year-old takes over and I'm powerless to resist. I made these shoes when I was a senior in high school when I dressed up as Dorothy for Halloween. I painted a pair of Keds with red acrylic paint and then used tacky glue and miles of sequined trim and glued it around and around in a circle. I wore the shoes for Halloween but then decided that I loved them so much that I kept wearing them! I'm sure there were kids at school that thought I was a total weirdo but I didn't care. In fact I found out later that year that a boy I had a HUGE crush on liked my style, my red shoes in particular.

The shoes don't fit anymore, and neither does the Dorothy dress--my feet grew a half size bigger when I was pregnant with Maren, and to say that I'm not the same size as I was in high school would be a gross understatement indeed. However, the shoes will stay in the back of my closet, because they're red and sequined and that alone wins them a place in my heart. But even more so because they're a reminder to me to do my own thing and not worry what other people think. There's always someone out there who appreciates me for ME, and they're the ones who really matter.

Tomorrow DH has the day off because of the holiday on Monday, and this is the first weekend in a long time that I don't have a 'deadline' of some sort. I hardly know what to do with myself! Tomorrow I'll have pictures of our Valentine's Day festivities and I think I'll keep up with the RED week celebration, even though the holiday is over. I'm always happy for an excuse to celebrate my favorite color!

Hanging Heart swap, Red Appliance #2 and Vintage Valentine show & tell #7

Today's Valentines are the same style as the ice skaters I showed a few days ago. I love the style of illustration!
I adore the little boy in the sailor suit, although the verse is not exactly what I'd call romantic.

I received my Sweet Goodness Hanging Heart swap package from my partner, Kim, and I couldn't be happier with what she made for me! Kim made me this darling heart wreath by sewing all the individual hearts and attaching them to a grapevine wreath form with a great big bow at the top.
I love it! I love all the different fabrics she chose. The hearts all have cute pinked edges and button embellishments. I was just thinking the other day that I wished I had a Valentine wreath and -poof!- one showed up! Kim also included some of my favorite chocolates and a sweet little treat for Miss Maren. Thanks again, Kim!

And now for my continued celebration of RED week, I'd like to introduce you to the newest member of our family, Ruby:


O Ruby, how I love thee. If I knew how to use Photoshop, I'd have fixed this picture so that a heavenly aura would be encircling my beautiful new KitchenAid, because that's pretty much what I see when I look over in her corner of the kitchen. Wait, wait...what's that I hear? Could that be the heavenly courses of angels singing in praise of my gorgeous mixer? {Aaaaaaahhhhhhhhh}

Seriously, I've wanted this mixer for about three years now and finally this past Christmas my wish came true. I've already used it for several batches of cookies and it mixed like a dream. I think it's possible that the cookies actually tasted better because they were made in my snazzy red mixer. If my blender is like the fingernail polish of my kitchen, Ruby is definitely the unapologetically bright red lipstick! Is it wrong to be head-over-heels in love with a kitchen appliance?

Back tomorrow with one last Valentine and more Happy Mail. Don't forget to wear red!

Happy RED week! and Vintage Valentine show & tell #6

Today's Valentine is, well, you guessed it--one of my favorites! LOL It's actually much neater in person, as the scanner didn't pick up the embossing or the bright, glossy color. Somehow I got lucky and I actually have two of this same card!

I thought this week it might be fun to showcase some of my favorite RED things from around my house. Red is my favorite color and so my house has lots of red decor. My kitchen is done in bright red, yellow, aqua and cornflower blue--all colors taken from the vintage printed tablecloths from the 1940s and 50s that I love so much. We recently had the need to purchase a new blender so of course I jumped at the chance to buy something RED.

Oh, isn't she beautiful? She's a classic Osterizer Beehive blender and the base is the most beautiful metallic red! The color combined with the retro styling meant it was pretty much love at first sight for me. And let me tell you--she makes a MEAN smoothie! The motor is very powerful and also very loud; it sounds like you're firing up a 737 when you first hit the switch. There will be no middle-of-the-night milkshake making with this baby, I assure you. The red metallic color reminds me of my favorite OPI nail polish. Do you think it would be too crazy if next time I go for a pedicure, I get my toes done to match my blender? :)

Tomorrow: another Valentine and another red appliance, plus my last Valentine swap package. Tune in for lots of red and lots of hearts!