Ain't that the truth

To have children is a double living, the earthly fountain of youth, a continual fresh delight, and also a source of weariness beyond description.

--Josephine W. Johnson

Color Week: Red Friday

Red raspberries, freshly picked from my grandfather's garden, August 2005. I couldn't have been happier with them if they'd been a bowl full of rubies. Not much out there that tastes better than fresh razzies on vanilla ice cream with chocolate syrup. Nope, not much.

Today is Flag Day!

Color week--Gray/Black Wednesday

Cast-iron fish downspout, Savannah.

Pillowcase dress

Back in the spring of 2001, before I was even married, I bought a Martha Stewart Baby magazine that featured an article on how to make dresses for little girls out of vintage pillowcases. I saved the magazine, hoping that someday I would have a little girl that I could make such a dress for.

A few months ago, I remembered the pillowcase dresses and have been wanting to try one for Maren. I even went so far as to promise to teach how to make them to any of the ladies at church who signed up. Now, you must understand that I don't sew. Seriously, I have no idea what I'm doing. But I do have a large amount of faith in myself, which is what led me to offer this class, even though I'd never made one of these dresses myself!

The class is this Thursday night, and today I pulled out one of my thrifted pillowcases just for this purpose and whipped up a dress! Okay, if you consider laboring and sweating over it for two hours "whipping up" anything. I only had to rip out one seam, which for me is not too darn bad. The armholes gave me the most trouble. I have instructions but couldn't make heads or tails out of them, so I improvised. My seams are wobbly, and my armholes are a little bunchy, but once I put the ribbon in the casings and gathered up the top that all disappeared. I think it turned out pretty cute, after all! The pillowcase had the ruffled edge on it to begin with. I suspected it would be a nice detail and I was right. As soon as I finished the ribbon, I put it on Maren. It fits perfectly! I guessed on the measurements and luckily, I was right on. I think she'll be wearing this tomorrow, but I couldn't resist taking a few pictures of her this afternoon. My fit model:

Brown Tuesday

Steph over at Little Birds has designated today Brown Tuesday for this color week, so I'm playing along.

This is my younger brother Kristjan enjoying a Mickey Premium ice cream bar at Epcot in Walt Disney World, July 2004. This was his first experience with the somewhat addictive qualities of the Mickey bars. I remember it was SO hot and sticky (being mid-July in Orlando, duh) and we stopped in the shade near the American Experience to eat these. It felt so good to sit down and be cool for just a few minutes. I was newly pregnant at that time and the combination of morning sickness and the oppressive heat and humidity made for some seriously unpleasant sensations that only Mickey Premium bars could quell.

I've been thinking a lot about Disney lately. Apparently my brain thinks that Summer=Walt Disney World. Perhaps it's those Mickey bars....they put an addictive chemical in those things (not unlike The Pentaverate) that cue your brain to yearn for all things Disney. I think I need to dig out my photos and put together an album of our two trips; perhaps that will stifle the longing. Man, I could really go for a Mickey bar right now!

Junque finds, Saturday

With Quin gone, I haven't been able to go out yard-saling as much as I'd like because I'd have Maren in tow, and it's just too difficult with her. I'd be getting her in and out of the carseat every 5 minutes, and trying to hold her while I shopped would be a nightmare for us both! This weekend my Dad is visiting, so I took advantage of a free and willing babysitter to get up EARLY yesterday morning and hit a few sales. I found some good things, nearly all for resale. I hope to get them listed on eBay on Tuesday evening, so if I do I'll post here with a link to may page so you can check them out if you're curious!
Vintage 1967 Spirograph game. I remembered reading on Yardsalequeen.com that someone sold one of these for pretty good $$ so I snatched it up! When I got it home I noticed it is missing some parts, so that will most definitely affect the value. Maybe someone will want it for parts though, so I'll list it anyway. In the box there was also an unopened package of scratchboard and 3 unopened packages of Solar Print paper, which I'll be using for my Cub Scouts! Even if the game doesn't sell for much, I think all that stuff was worth $.50!


Vintage 'Hip Nip' flask, $.25. I'm not a drinker and I think this is pretty darn ugly, but I'm hoping to find a flask collector out there who will think this is great! It is kinda funny.










Very old ViewMaster and 5 reels, $5.00. This is very cool! I'm guessing this is the original VM. The reels are marked 1946. There was a set of 6 and I'm missing #3, but I'm guessing it will still sell well. I hope so! This was priced at $9.99, but the thrift where I bought it was having a 50% off sale.







1979 Disney Lil Yakkers toy, still in package, $5.99. I'm worried that I paid too much for this one. I thought it would be 50% off, but when I got to the register it was the only label price that wasn't discounted. Grr! I gambled and bought it anyway, hoping that the facts that it is still in the package and Disney will make it desirable to somebody!






Old baby quilt, $1.00. This has a few stains, but I'll soak them in my trusty Oxyclean and cross my fingers. I loved the printed fabric on this quilt! Too darn cute. Not that I need another baby blanket, but I just couldn't pass this up.









Length of Michael Miller fabric, $3.00. I haven't measured how many yards of this are there, but I can tell it's quite a bit, probably 4 or 5 yards. MM fabric is cute, it's meant to be retro-looking so that's why it caught my eye. Even though it looks kind of Easter-y, hopefully it will still sell well, as I don't want to hold onto it until next spring. My Strawberry Shortcake fabric did so well last week that I bought this hoping for a repeat performance!





Peanuts Christmas cookie cutters, $2.00. This was probably priced a little high, but Peanuts stuff usually does pretty well. I sold some Snoopy cutters earlier this year that I'd bought at a garage sale a long time ago.








1981 Fisher Price Teddy Bear music box, $2.00. Vintage Fisher Price stuff is collectible, so I hope this one will sell! It was made to strap onto the side of a crib and plays a lullaby.
















Two old patterns, $.50. This was the only thing I bought yesterday to keep for myself, and I bought them on a complete whim! I was inspired by all the smocks over at Angry Chicken and when I saw these two patterns for smocks, I got a wild hair and bought them. I don't know how difficult they are--hopefully Simplicity will live up to its name--but I think I may give one a whirl! If I manage, I'll be sure to post, because it will be one for the record books for certain.




Old embroidered linen fingertip towel or napkin and packaged baby buttons, $.50 each. These were actually from earlier, but they are to keep. The napkin will go in the dresser with the other embroidered linens that I love but am too afraid to actually use, and the buttons are really cute but I don't think I can bear to rip up the packaging and remove them, so there they'll stay!

A Photo for a Friday

Taken July 2004, at the home Quin's father grew up in in rural Kansas.

Sunday Best (thrift-style)

Remember this cute little outfit I bought at a thrift store for 3, maybe 4 dollars?

Here is the result--Maren all dressed up to go to Church, wearing her new outfit. It fit perfectly, and looked adorable!

Check me out on eBay

For Meredith and for anyone else who is curious, you can see what I've listed on eBay by checking out my seller name: fluffimusmonkimus (that would be Fluffy Monkey in Latin).

I don't have anything up for auction right now, and probably won't until next Tuesday. You can, however, check my completed auctions and see what I've sold recently! I had several auctions end last night and was thrilled to make a tidy little sum on what originally cost me a total of about $6.00. I think I was most shocked by the vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric, which cost about $1.00 and went for $15.00 to a gal in Belgium. Wow!

Right now I'm trying to make money through eBay to fund a trip to New York City that my mom and I are planning for October. I'd love to make my little junking hobby self-sufficient; that is, make enough selling on eBay to continue to fund my thrift-buying sprees. I think it's possible!

Button, Button

What is it about buttons that makes you just want to run your hands through them, feeling the smooth roundness and hearing the noise they make when they click together? I bought these buttons at two estate sales a couple of weeks ago, and this past weekend when I was home visiting, my mom and I had great fun going through and examining them. That alone was worth the money I spent on them.

I remember when I was young, maybe 5 or 6, we lived in Grand Junction and there was a fabric store that I used to go to with my mother. This fabric store had what could best be called a sandbox, only instead of sand it was full of buttons! This was obviously designed as a place for kids to play while their mothers shopped, and I loved it. It was so much fun to sit in all those buttons and pick through them, looking for treasure. My favorites (of course) were those with a rhinestone in the middle, and I remember convincing my mom to buy me one or two. I have no idea where all those buttons came from, but even now as an adult, I'd absolutely love to sit in a big tub of buttons and sift through them, like a magpie looking for something shiny.

Junque, the final frontier

Reversible dress for Maren, $2.95. I thought it was so cute and I love that it is reversible! It has double-sided snaps up the back. Because it is reversible, there are no tags, so I don’t know the brand or the size. It is too big for her now, though, and will go in the box in the basement to try again next summer.


Old Navy “Mother” pillow, $.50. This was from an estate sale, and I’m going to put it on eBay. It’s from Farragut Naval Training Center in Idaho, which I’ve never heard of. Seems kind of odd to train Navy guys in the middle of land-locked Idaho, doesn’t it?

And that's it--I think I'm finally caught up now. I wanted to go thrifting today after reading all weekend long about Bakelite and costume jewelry, but I resisted. I'm going to wait and go with my dad when he visits this weekend. And now, back to refreshing my eBay listings every 15 minutes! (they end tonight and I'm hoping for some big money!)

Junque, part 4

Child's party set, $10.00. This was purchased at an estate sale and the box also held a bunch of other junk, so I didn't pay $10 for just this. It is obviously for a child, but I don't know what to call it other than a tea set. There is a little pitcher, 8 of the large goblets (2 not shown) and 6 of the smaller champagne-type glasses. They're just darling! I know they're old, as everything else in the house was! I think I'll list these on eBay, as soon as I figure out what to call them.



Old child's dishes, same box as above.














Old paperdolls, same box as above. I have a weakness for paper dolls. The 'international' dolls on the top row must have been on some sort of product box, because they're cardboard on the back. The baby, which is simply adorable, was cut out of a magazine. There are snippets of poem written by children on the back, as well as a portion of a rebus puzzle.







Old patterns. These were from an estate sale and came from two big bags, which were $3.00 total. These were the only patterns I want to keep, and the rest might just go to charity in my next donation. On the left there's a cute apron pattern, in the middle an old Vogue suit pattern, and on the right a set of transfers for a Birds of the United States quilt. I think they are the state birds, and I wonder if they are the same pattern used in the old quilt I have the Quin's grandmother made? I'll have to check.


More later when Blogger gets rid of the glitches...

Junque, part 3

Vintage printed tablecloth, $2.95. I was excited to find this for my collection, as it is in wonderful condition and this is one of my favorite prints. Usually the printed tablecloths you find are somewhat faded, due I'm sure to repeated washings and ironings. This one looks like it was rarely used, as the colors are crisp and bright. I did find a few yellow stains, but for the most part this one is fabulous!





Faribault/Faribo camp-style wool blanket, $4.95. There were originally 2 of these on the rack, and I contemplated over them for a while. I decided to walk around a while and if I came back and they were still there, I'd buy them. Well, I came back and one was gone, so I snapped up the other one! I may have made an error in judgement in passing the other one up. Oh well. This isn't one of the older blankets; it's a newer reproduction but still this size (I think it's a Twin) retails for $90+ new! Not sure if I'll keep this one or try to sell it later this fall.


Bathing beauty, $4.00. I'm normally not much into knicky-knacky types of things, but this little cutie caught my eye and I just had to have her! I bought her at an estate sale last weekend. I just think she's adorable, and she makes me so happy to look at!














Vintage Stitch-A-Story embroidery projects, $2.00. I bought these from a most amazing estate sale. These are marked 1948 and they are little embroidery projects for a little girl. The one on the left still has a needle attached to the floss! I think they are absolutely adorable! I'll probably try to resell them, but I have no idea on a price because I can't find any previous listed. If I don't think I can make good money on them, I'd rather keep them for myself!


Vintage crocheted bloomer potholders, $.69 each and vintage wood-handled melon baller, $1.00. The bloomers are from the thrift store and the melon baller is from the same estate sale where I got the Stitch a Story pieces. I soaked the potholders in Oxyclean (I know, I sound like a commercial for the stuff, but I love it!) and all of the stains came right out! When I came home I noticed I already have a melon baller with a red handle, so now I have one of each!

If you can believe it, there's still more junque I haven't posted, but that's all for now, as I have to head to the airport! The rest of the junque when I get back next week!

Crafting gone awry

"What," you may be asking, "in the hell is that thing?" If I hadn't photographed it atop a lamp, it's doubtful you'd be able to identify it as a lampshade, as it currently is a hot mess of fake peonies from Wal-Mart and hot glue gun strings. This, my friends, is When Crafting Goes Horribly Wrong. I have seen this idea before in magazines and such and I had this old lampshade I don't particularly like, and I found these silk peonies at Wal-Mart when I was shopping for a Mother's Day craft for my Cub Scouts. I'm really not sure where things took such a turn for the worse, but all I can tell you is that in my head, this was way, WAY cuter.

The problem now is that I could only get enough flowers to fill about half the lampshade, so I'm left with two choices: 1) go spend another $12 on fake flowers and finish out the ugly thing, so at least when I give it to Goodwill it's finished or 2) just give it to Goodwill as is and cut my losses. I'm leaning towards #2. At one point I was thinking maybe some beaded fringe along the bottom could save it, but I think it's even beyond that. You win some, you make some really ugly. Dang.

Junque, part 2

Old Pinewood Derby car kit, $.80. This is pretty cool! It must be from before 1967 because on the back it makes reference to "Lions", which was a rank that was discontinued in 1967. I'm going to list this on eBay tonight and hopefully it will do well! Some other old boxes of PWD car kits have gone for a lot of money. Oddly enough, people even buy the already-made-up cars, for quite a lot of money! Weird, the things people will buy.











Hello Kitty tissue packets, $.80. These are also for resale, and I plan to list them tonight. I think Hello Kitty stuff can bring money, but we'll see. These are kinda cool because they feature a popular Japanese baseball team, the Hanshin Tigers. So possibly I could appeal to HK fans and baseball fans as well. Figured for 80 cents I couldn't go too wrong. Let's hope not!











Length of vintage Strawberry Shortcake fabric, $1.00. I bought this in a package with some other fabric, but I bought it for this one. It's about a yard and a half and it's going on eBay tonight. I think it will sell.









Old 1960s Crewel Embroidery kit, $.95. This one is also for resale. I took a chance on it because it is still in the original packaging. Similar items have sold, so hope this one will too! I think it's ugly, but hope there is someone out there who likes it and will plunk down some cash!














Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cookie cutters, $.35. These are also going on eBay tonight. Figured I couldn't go too wrong for 35 cents, and they will be easy to package and ship. I won't make much on them, maybe a couple bucks.















Two 1965 round Springbok jigsaw puzzles, $1.69 for both. I've learned from the Yardsalequeen.com boards that these are desirable, so I've been on the lookout and last week I found two! Makes me wonder how many I've passed up before I knew to look for them! I have to put them both together before I can list them, as complete puzzles bring more $ than those missing pieces. I did the bird one and it's complete, so now I'm working on the other one (British Soldiers and Battles). Not sure if I'll try to list them separately or together as a lot.

It's just after 9 am. So far this morning Maren has: pulled the tablecloth off my kitchen table, spilling a full glass of ice and water all over the table, the books and papers on the table and the kitchen floor; pulled some of my scrapbooking embellishments off my desk and strewed them all over the house; pulled off her poopy diaper and got her hands in it; messed with the fish lamp in her bedroom and got water all over the carpet; and took off her clean diaper and peed in her highchair (for the second day in a row). It's like she suddenly became 500% naughtier the exact moment Quin crossed the state line.

Junque, part 1

Old Ball canning jar, $.69 and two pillowcases, about $1.00 for both. I was totally excited to find the canning jar, and for so cheap. Now, if I could only find some old marbles to go inside! The pillowcases are to make into pillowcase dresses.









Vintage Halloween cake picks, $.99. I have these up on eBay right now and there are no bids, but a couple of watchers. If they don't sell I may wait to relist them until the fall, when people have Halloween on their minds! I figured for a buck I couldn't go too wrong with these, even though many of them are broken. Hopefully some Halloween collector out there will want them.






Two old cookbooks, $1.29? and one old pattern, $.29. The title of the cookbook on the left cracks me up! It was put out by Slovenian Women's Union of America in 1951, on the group's Silver Anniversary. I love that there are handwritten notes and recipes throughout the book. There are probably some really good recipes inside! The middle book is another 1050s cookbooklet-type with fun illustrations and scary-looking food.




Old aluminum cookie cutters, $.99. I haven't decided to keep or try to sell these. I don't think they'd bring very much as they are; I'd have to wait and see if I could find more to combine into a larger lot. The scottie dog is probably the most desirable of these, but I love the Santa as well. Wish I could find more of these, but this is the first time I've ever found old cookie cutters at a thrift.






Old utensils, $1.00 each and cookie cutters, $.25 each. These were from a really great garage sale that my mom and I found. I love the wood-handled utensils, especially the icing knife and the chopper, because they're unusual.








Vintage Christmas Tablecloth, $3.00 and vintage dishtowel, $.75. These were from the same garage sale as the items above. The seller must have either been a collector or had all her mom's or grandma's stuff, because she had a ton of it, lucky for us!









Old child's gloves, $2.00 and vintage embroidery transfers, $1.00. These were found at estates sales when I was out with my mom. The little gloves are sweet; I soaked them in Oxyclean and they came pretty clean. I have a couple of thrifted shadowbox frames upstairs that I might try to put these in, we'll see.







I also bought a couple of board games and a puzzle to try to resell. So far only one of the games has a bid, but it only cost me $.69 so if I make anything I'll be happy. I need to do the puzzle to see if it's complete, and if so I may try to list it with some other puzzles in a lot. They seem to do better that way unless they're very desirable, like the round puzzles I'll post in my next grouping!

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!