Monday update

Lawn mowing update: I still have all ten of my toes attached firmly to my feet, so I consider that a success! Actually, it was easier than I had expected and once I got the motor started initially, it was all smooth sailing. Now, as for the quality of the job--well, let's just say that if I ever got a haircut like that, I'd go back, complain loudly and insist they do the job again at no charge! It's not terribly even, especially in the back yard. There are a few little tufts of long grass still sticking up here and there that I missed, and the OCD in me is tempted to go out with a pair of scissors and trim them up! I'll resist, but I can't say the thought didn't cross my mind.

Life as a single parent continues to challenge my patience and in some cases, reaction time. On Saturday Maren grabbed my cell phone off the kitchen table (shame on me for leaving it within 6 inches of the edge) and dunked it in the dog's water bowl. It no longer works. Additionally, Maren has: pulled the tablecloth off the kitchen table several times, dumped out the dog's water dish 3 days in a row, spilled a bag of screws all over the floor, written on herself and her clothing with a pen, thrown a spatula and a hairbrush in the trash, figured out how to unlock the dishwasher door when it's running, and torn up numerous paper items. Church yesterday was a challenge; I made it through 2 of the 3 hours and that's actually more than I thought I could handle. I had to take her out of Sacrament Meeting 3 times, but I think most of the people who were in view of her antics find them to be entertaining, and hopefully they have some sympathy for me! She's so much fun, and I adore her, but man, she wears me out!

Not much for the holiday for us here--just another day. I want a new coverlet for our bed, as the down comforter and duvet we have now is just too darn hot for the summer, but I still like having a blanket of some sort on me. I checked the ads in the Sunday paper and found one that looked perfect at Kohl's, but I went to 2 different locations and neither one had the color I want in the size I need. Grr! And that particular item isn't available online. I checked at Linens N Things and Target as well, but a king-size quilt at both of those stores is in the neighborhood of $60-$80, which is way above my price range. I would have hit the thrifts, but most of them are having 50% off sales today, which means they are absolute madhouses and you usually can't even get a cart. I checked eBay and there are a few promising options, so maybe something will pan out.

I'm way behind on posting my thrift/garage sale/estate sale finds, so I'll do that in chunks over the next couple of days. I've got lots of good junk to report!

Good morning!

Up early this morning, and I feel good--it's only 8:45 am and already I've started the dishwasher, switched the laundry, and fed Maren. I'm waiting for it to be 9:00 am so that I can mow the lawn; I figure that's not so early that the neighbors will be cussing me, but I don't want to wait too long because it's supposed to be above 90 degrees today! I've never mowed a lawn before in my life so this will be a new adventure for me. I'm not even sure how to start the mower, so I think I may have to call my Dad to walk me through it. We have a teeny-tiny lawn, so I don't think it will be that hard. My greatest fear is chopping off my toes with the mower, but I put on my running shoes so at least now there are a few layers between the blades and my tootsies. I'll let you know how it goes. For now, I think I have enough time to run the vacuum and maybe even do the stairs. Sometimes this getting up early on a Saturday thing isn't so bad!

Iris

Last year, about this time actually, my dad was here and he helped me rearrange the big flowerbed in my back yard. One thing we moved was these iris plants, only I didn't know they were iris. Last year was our first spring in this house and when we moved the plants they hadn't actually bloomed yet, so I didn't know if they were iris or gladiolus or what. The shock of the transplanting kept them from ever blooming last year, but this year they've decided to show themselves, and when I came home on Tuesday I was greeted with this lovely surprise! The columbine you see in the background was also planted last year (my dad actually brought them to me from his own garden) and although they spent last year looking pitiful and dried out, they've rebounded this year and each of the three plants has a few little yellow blossoms nodding on top. They're nothing like the bushy plants my dad has in his backyard, but I think if I give them a few years, they'll fill out nicely. It's so nice to finally have some color in that flowerbed!

Today has been long, and it's barely half over. Maren woke up at 5:45 am and wouldn't go back to sleep, so I got up by default. By 9:00 am I had: cleaned up pee from the bathroom floor, wiped up all the water from the dog's bowl and put his mat out to dry after Maren dumped the bowl, bathed Maren twice , changed her diaper three times, and wrestled a fat black permanent marker away from Maren, but not before she managed to get the lid off and plant a black mark in the middle of her lips. Thankfully she took a nap not long after that and is napping again right now, which gives me a few disaster- and mess-free hours. My Visiting Teaching appointment for this evening just called and cancelled, so that means I only have once place to go, hooray! I am tired and I just want to sit on the couch and veg out to my guilty pleasure reality show, So You Think You Can Dance, which premieres tonight. Come 7:00 pm, you know where to find me--on the couch!

Guilty pleasure

This is today's lunch. There's no food in the house since I've been out of town, but I always have a box or two of the orange stuff stashed in the pantry. Mmmm....unnaturally orange....mmm...

I think I am IN LOVE

I saw this waffle iron featured in May's Country Home magazine and was instantly charmed. The back plate is regular square waffle pattern, but the front side is these gorgeous roses. Doesn't it just make you want to eat waffles for every meal from now until forever? I bet waffles made with this iron even taste better than regular boring old Belgian waffles.

Mother's Day flowers

These are the flowers Quin sent me for Mother's Day. Aren't they pretty? He always makes me feel special. There are iris, tulips, mums and two kinds of lilies, all in shades of yellow, orange and purple. I love having fresh flowers in the house, but rarely do. They seem like such an extravagance but I think they add such a nice touch. Maybe I need to treat myself to flowers more often!

Sometimes I can't believe how blessed and lucky I am to have the privilege of being a mother to this sweet, happy, smart, beautiful little girl. She makes my heart sing!

Thrift store finds, part 2

Here are the clothes that I bought Maren the other day along with the rest of the stuff in the post below. I don't usually check the baby clothes because it takes a long time to get through them all and I'm usually trying to hurry because Maren's doing her very best to climb out of the cart. I'm glad I stopped this time, as I found some really adorable things! All of the clothes I bought were $2.95-$3.95.


I love this little sailor dress! I think sailor dresses on little girls are classic and adorable. This one fits her perfectly right now, so she'll be wearing it to church tomorrow. I'll try to post a picture.






This little yellow outfit is really neat. It's made of a heavy material and the front is decorated with pintucks and intricate embroidery. The back has darts and the little sleeves are so cute! It's in perfect condition and looks like it will fit Maren right now. I was so excited to find this--what a treasure!













It's a toss-up between this pink dress and the previous yellow outfit as to which is my favorite find. This is a handmade dress, and whoever made it did a fabulous job! The front, hem, and bands of the sleeves are all decorated with pintucking. There's piping along the waistline and it has the wide hem that is indicative of an old-fashioned style. It even has 2 pockets sewn in! The dress is in perfect shape. It's too big for Maren now, but I think next spring/summer it will fit her. This was another treasure! I can't believe someone would get rid of a dress like this.









This little yellow dress will also fit Maren now. It is hand-smocked in the front and has embroidery along the bodice. There is pink and blue piping along the skirt. (Can you tell I'm a sucker for smocking, embroidery, and piping?) When I got home I noticed that a few of the stitches have come out of the smocked part, but it looks like a pretty easy fix.







This is a cute little black velvet jumper from Gymboree. Maren won't be able to wear it for a couple of years yet, but it's in perfect shape and it won't go out of style.

















This is a Ralph Lauren jumper. I've seen the prices for RL baby clothes and they are insane! Who buys that stuff for their kids? People with money to burn, I guess. I would never have paid retail, but at $2.95, it was a steal! It will fit Maren this fall and I think this will be so cute with a little white shirt and tights.

I also bought 3 Gymboree onesies in various sizes that I didn't take pictures of. From what I hear on Two Peas, Gymbo clothes hold up really well and keep a lot of resale value. I have noticed that they seem to be made well and have cute details that other clothing lines don't.

So Maren has some cute new clothes and I can't wait to dress up my little living doll. :)

Thrift store finds, part 1

So I really wasn't going to go to the thrift store yesterday. I wasn't, I promise. I was trying to show some restraint, and I totally failed. And you know what? I think I'm glad I did. I found some pretty cool stuff!

Shabby white bedside table, $4.95. I've been looking for another bedside table for the guest bedroom, and this was perfect. Cheap, lots of storage space, and great shabby look. I can tell it was homemade. It just so happens to be the exact width of the old cabinet we found a couple weeks ago, but I'm not sure if I like how it looks on top of the table, so it probably won't stay there.





Chenille baby blanket, $2.95. I'm not sure if this is a quilt top or what, becausethe back seems a little unfinished to be an actual baby blanket. This is so cute! It is made of pale yellow, soft, corduroy. There is a white chenille border and then the chenille lamb in the middle. If I can figure out what it is supposed to be, maybe I'll finish it. I love chenille!







Satin baby quilt, $1.95. This is really neat! All of the little colored triangles are actually like pockets. The colors are lovely and soft and I can imagine a baby would love a silky blankie like this! There are a few stains, so I'll soak it in Oxyclean and hope they come out. I'm going to wash it and give it to Maren to see if she likes it.







Old Farm Bureau cookbook "The Way to a Man's Heart" from1961, $.80. This is one of those cookbooks where all the ladies contributed their own recipes. I find cookbooks like this fascinating because I assume these are the recipes they actually used, whereas you never know how popular or realistic the recipes you find in commercially-produced cookbooks were. I also find it slightly bizarre that all the Farm Bureau ladies are credited as "Mrs. Husband's Full Name." I realize that was perfectly normal and acceptable and correct at the time, but I still find it crazy that women would be okay with giving up their own names. The Artful Cupcake, $1.81. This has lots of neat recipes and decorating ideas. I love anything cupcake-related right now.

Old child-sized mug, $1.81. This little mug is just darling! I love the little graphic on the front. On the back in gold lettering it says, "With Best Wishes, McGrath's Furniture Store, Nevada, IA." I just Googled Nevada, Iowa and found that it is a tiny town in central Iowa with a population of less than 7000. McGrath's Furniture Store doesn't bring up any results, so it must be gone. Anyway, this little cup was some sort of premium or advertising piece, and it's adorable! It will go in Maren's room.



I also bought a cute Crate & Barrel dishcloth with cherries on it for my kitchen, a flowered pillowcase to try to make a pillowcase dress for Maren, a set of vintage Winnie the Pooh sheets for resale on eBay, and a whole bunch of clothes for Maren that I'll post later.

Moving the furniture around

Just want to point out that I added a bunch of links to my sidebar over there on the right. These are blogs I read daily and message boards where I post. In other words, where I waste a whole lotta time. :)

Woke up this morning to snow. SNOW, folks! It's the 10th of May for crying out loud and I live in Denver, not Anchorage. Sheesh! Not a lot, not even a half inch it looks like, but just yesterday I was admiring my little flower bed in the back and all the pretty green that has come up in the past week or so because of the rain, and this morning I saw those same little guys with a sprinkling of white all over them! I had no idea it would get so cold overnight, or I would have covered them up. I hope it didn't kill anything. :( Good thing I haven't planted my pink poppies or the hollyhocks I bought last weekend!

Ta-da!

Remember this--the dresser I pulled out of somebody's trash pile?

















It now looks like this! I finished it up yesterday and I was so excited to get it up in the room that I manhandled it all the way up the stairs all by myself, since Quin is out of town. Good thing it wasn't any bigger or heavier! It's just the perfect size for the spot and I was so tickled that I already arranged stuff on the top of it last night. I still need two knobs for the top drawer, but I'm going to wait on those until I decide what to do about the other pulls. I sprayed them silver, but when I put them on yesterday I noticed the paint chipping and coming off on my fingers, so I'm going to need a more permanent solution. I'm also thinking the drawers need lining, so I'm going to keep a lookout for some vintage drawer liner paper or even wallpaper. I'm sure I'll run across some one of these days, and if not, there's always eBay!

Simply Delish

This stuff ROCKS. I highly recommend it over crushed ice, with fresh guac and chips. Very refreshing and summery tasting! I'm going to try the lemonade next week, but my love of all things lime made me reach for this one first. Yum!

Today I spent some time working on the dresser that I pulled out of the trash a couple of months ago. I used my palm sander for the first time and sanded off all the old varnish, a surprisingly easy task.

I decided to paint it rather than restain it, because the wood is nothing special to look at. I thought I could take the easy route and use spray primer and the new spray latex paint, but it did not go as planned. The primer is okay, although I'm not actually sure how much coverage I'm supposed to have. I think I used the whole can so I hope it is enough.

The paint was another story. I don't like the consistency of it at all! It seems much wetter than regular spray paint and bubbled easily. Where it dried it did leave a very smooth finish, but I'm not sure I like it. The real problem is that the nature of the veneer is such that there are tiny grooves all over, and the spray paint doesn't get down into the grooves. So they stay dark and show through the painted surface. I think I'm going to have to use a roller with a bit of a nap to get the paint down into the little cracks. I'm a little concerned that I won't be able to get as smooth of a finish with the roller and regular latex paint as I could with the spray paint. We'll see.

The other problem I've run into is the drawer pulls. This dresser has 2 knobs and 3 pulls. It seems that the standard distance between the holes for pulls is 3" which makes finding pulls to fit my 4" holes very difficult! I have a couple of options: 1) spend big $$ on 4" pulls, 2) fill the holes with wood putty, sand, and drill new 3" holes, or 3) reuse the current pulls. I'm going with option 3 for now, as it's the cheapest! On a whim I picked up a clearanced can of Chrome spray paint today, so I sprayed the pulls and they don't look half bad! More like a nickel than a chrome, really, which is what I was hoping for anyway. I will have to see how they look once I get the dresser painted, and if they don't look good I may just repaint them. That would still be cheaper than buying new 4" pulls! I do have to buy new knobs, as one was missing when I got the dresser. Why on earth are knobs and pulls so darn expensive? Highway robbery, I tell you! I'm dreading replacing the pulls whenever I get around to refinishing Quin's old dresser--I think that one has 10 handles! Cha-ching! I may have to try the spray paint trick then as well--I should still have some chrome paint left over!

By the time I realized my problem with the paint it was almost 6 pm and threatening to rain, so I put everything back in the garage and can hopefully try again on Monday during Maren's naptime if the weather permits. I'm anxious to get this thing done and up into the guest bedroom! Mostly I just need to actually finish a project! I keep buying things at thrifts with the idea that I'll somehow 'fix' or alther them, and then they just sit around here. I need the boost actually finishing a project will give me! I think the next UFO (UnFinished Object) I need to work on is the pink pillow that I bought a while back--I ripped off the old backing and cut out the broken stitches, so it needs to be restitched and then washed in Woolite to hopefully get the pencil lines out of the fabric. Then it will need to be carefully ironed and I need to find some new backing fabric and a pillow form to put it all back together. That will make 2 projects down, about 6 to go! Baby steps, right?

Thrift store scores

Crocheted Doily, $.95. (Sorry for the blurry photos, that's what I get anymore when I turn off the flash. Time to dig out the manual.) This is about 12"x 12" though it's hard to tell the scale in the photo. I don't know that it's hand-crocheted, but the colors are lovely! The rose in the middle is variegated pink with green leaves and then the outer edge is the same soft green. There were a few brown stains on this but a soak in Oxyclean took them right out! This is currently in the middle of the small table in my front room.





Crocheted vintage potholder, $.95. This one is in the dress pattern that used to be so popular. I believe this one has been around a while, as the outside is rather faded but the inside is still vivid pink and green.








Three vintage patterns, $.49 each. These are adorable! Two are for children's clothing, and the middle one is actually for a doll. The one on the left is the sweetest little smocked dress that would look adorable on my Maren even today! The doll pattern is interesting; I can't imagine making such elaborate clothing for a doll, including underclothing! You'd be a lucky little girl to have a mama or gramma wiling to sew these for you!




Three books, $.99 each. The book in the back is a picture book by Chris van Allsburg, but it's one I haven't read. The book is in excellent condition; in fact, it hardly even appears to have been opened, as the covers haven't been 'cracked' yet! Cover price for this one was $17.95, so I got a heck of a deal! The book on the left is a 1938 school reader, and it seems to be on the theme of being careful. There are color illustrations throughout and it should be fun to read someday with Maren. On the right is a Happy Hollisters mystery book, published in 1961. My mom read these books when she was young, and I read some of them as well. I've been on the lookout for them and I think this is the third I've found. They feature a family full of kids who solve mysteries. I'd love to read these to my kids as well.


Very old mirror, $5.99. This is such a cool find, and I'm so excited about it! I found this yesterday at Goodwill and debated whether or not to buy it. I'm so glad I did! I could tell the mirror was old by the beveled edges and the black speckling on the backing. It appears to have been part of a piece of furniture, as there were hinges on each side. The frame is dark wood of some type and is very heavy, but I thought I could maybe get the mirror out and do something with it. I pried off the cardboard backing this morning and found this stamp in the corner of the mirror:

Don't know how well this will show up, but you can see in the bottom right corner the date this mirror was made: Oct 2 1919!! I knew this was old, but I had no idea it was that old. Very cool, and very worth my 6 bucks! I still want to take it out of the frame and maybe make a new frame with molding or something so I can hang it. The mirror itself is 18x20 but that is not a standard size, so that's why I'm thinking I may have to do something on my own. This will either go in my front room or in the guest room upstairs, as neither of the guest rooms have a mirror.

Those are my recent finds. Not all from this week--some I just hadn't photographed yet.

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.