Happy Independence Day

It's only 11 a.m. and already we've celebrated so much that it requires napping! We were up early this morning to go to a pancake breakfast put on by our church. Quin cooked and Maren and I visited with friends and played on the slide before stuffing ourselves with pancakes, eggs and sweet watermelon. What is it about breakfast that it always tastes better when cooked outdoors? So now Daddy and Baby are napping, and Mommy is headed that direction shortly. Don't have big plans for the day; perhaps we'll dump the past two days' rainwater out of Maren's little pool and fill it up with fresh, and let her splash. Maybe Bronco will even get in on the action! Dinner, hope it doesn't rain again, and if the weather holds we may venture out for fireworks.

Quin's mom, Bunnie, is very involved in doing genealogy for her ancestors, many of whom are from South Carolina (as is she). In her files she had a copy of this wonderful document, and I was so taken by it I had to take pictures. I don't know of the official name for it, but this document was written by who I assume were prominent citizens of South Carolina (some of whom I believe are Bunnie's ancestors) less than a year after the first shots were fired at Lexington & Concord, on April 19, 1775. I will type the text as well as I can read it. I found it to be quite inspiring.

"South Carolina Association. The actual commencement of Hostilities against
this Continent by the British Troops in the bloody scene on the 19th of April
last near Boston, & Increase of arbitrary impositions from a reviled and
despotic Ministry--and the Dread Insurrections in the Colonies, are Causes
sufficient to drive an oppressed People to the use of force: We therefore the
Subscribers, Inhabitants of South Carolina, holding ourselves bound by that most
Sacred of all Obligations, the Duty of good Citizens toward an injured Country,
and thoroughly convinced, that, under our present distressed Circumstances, we
shall be Justified before God and Man, in resisting Force by Force, Do unite
ourselves under every Tie of Religion and of Honor and associate as a Band in
her Defence, against every Foe: Hereby solemnly engaging that, whenever our
Continental or Provincial Councils shall decree it necessary, we will go forth
and be ready to sacrifice our Lives and Fortunes to secure her Freedom and
Safety. This obligation to continue in full Force until a Reconciliation shall
take place between Great Britain and America, upon constitutional Principles--an
even which we most ardently desire. And we will hold all these persons inimical
to the Liberty of the Colonies, who shall refuse to subscribe this Association."

Every time I read that, I am touched by the fervor and the conviction behind those words. I am thankful for the men and women who did what the did, and held such convictions, even being willing to die for them.

Thrift find

I haven't been posting my thrift/garage sale finds lately, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been finding neat things! I just got a little embarrassed about posting how much junk I buy, although lately most of it is for resale. If you want to see what I've been buying, check my eBay ID and you'll see most of it!

I did want to share this, however. I found this at a thrift last week. It's a vintage baby dress made of dotted Swiss, with pink ribbons along the front. It's sheer so I assume that it must have been common for ladies to have little slips for their babies to wear.





This little dress appears to never have been worn, as it still has it's original tag. Here's a close-up.

Charming baby, indeed!

eBay watch

Tonight I have several auctions ending on eBay, and I'm pretty excited about how they're going so far! Hopefully as auction end time nears, they will go UP UP UP! Here's the link in case you want to check them out. I know I'll be obsessively checking them every 30 minutes or so.
Heidi's auctions

Nuggets of wisdom

If you look closely, you can see what appears to be...yes...masking tape over the front of Maren's diaper. We started doing this on our last trip to Utah, as Maren had recently discovered her talent for removing her own diaper, and usually peeing on the floor immediately after. I cannot tell you how many times I've cleaned up *piddle* from the hardwoods, carpet, seat of her highchair, bathroom floor, etc. So now, unless she's clothed in something that makes it impossible for her to access her diaper, it gets taped. 1 1/2" wide masking tape, to be specific.

This weekend we attended a training conference up in the mountains at a hotel resort called Copper Mountain, about two hours west of Denver. I packed in a hurry, and neglected to take the tape along with the diapers and wipes. I won't be making that mistake again, and let me share with you why:

We were able to get a port-a-crib from the hotel for our room so Maren would have a place to sleep. Our hotel room was configured such that there was a long, narrow hallway leading from the front door to the rest of the room. Quin decided to set up the crib at the end of the hallway (nearest the door) because it was much darker and somewhat quieter there, which we thought would make it easier for her to fall asleep while we were still in the room. I dressed Maren for bed in a fresh diaper and some of her new summer two-piece jammies. The pants on these pjs are a little big for her as she's still so skinny in the waist and they don't stay up well, but if she's just laying in bed they're fine. We put her to bed with a bottle, turned out all the lights, the TV down low, and waited for her to fall asleep. She drank her whole bottle, which usually means blissful slumber is soon to follow, but last night she continued to rustle around in the crib for quite a while. I thought maybe she was just trying to get comfortable since she was in an unfamiliar place, and that she would soon fall asleep.

After a while, I decided I needed to go to bed myself, and I would just have to risk turning on the light in the bathroom which was near to where her crib was. As I neared her crib, I could see Maren standing up and holding onto the side, seemingly not the least bit sleepy. I noticed she'd tossed her bottle far clear of the crib, and bent down to pick it up to fill it with some water. When I did that, I noticed something small and round-ish on the carpet by the foot of the crib. The light was so dim that I couldn't make out what it was, but I wanted to make sure it wasn't something Maren was playing with that she could choke on. I picked it up and noticed the odd texture, and as I walked the few steps back into the light from the bathroom, I realized that I was staring intently at a turd. Yes, folks, it was POOP.

Naturally, I shrieked and flipped on the incredibly bright vanity lights, all hopes of tiptoeing quietly just shot to hell. Once I'd disposed of the offending offal in the toilet, scalded my hands under the faucet, and grabbed a tissue, I ventured back into the hallway where I found several more...ahem..nuggets, courtesy of Maren. Seems that all that rustling around that we'd heard was actually the sound of her removing her pants and her diaper, peeing on the bedsheet at the bottom of her crib, and chimp-like, flinging her poo for what appeared to be both Distance and Accuracy. I say this because there were several little Raisinets quite some distance from the crib, and Maren has proved in the past to have quite the pitching arm.

Even if I'd remembered to pack the tape this still may have happened, as we don't normally tape her diaper before bed. You can bet we will now though, especially when she wears those pajamas. And I think I'll be keeping a spare roll of tape in the car. Some lessons you just don't need to learn twice.

Baking beauties

I made cupcakes the other day. Maren and Bronco helped:


Even with my "helpers," they turned out okay. I made vanilla buttercream but at the last minute added a little lemon juice and lemon zest, and colored it pale yellow. Doesn't taste all that lemony to me, but it looks pretty! I think for more lemon flavor I'd need to do almost a lemon curd. Maybe lemon and chocolate is a weird combination, though. And I do think vanilla buttercream is not that great--I like chocolate far better. Vanilla just tastes weak. I was thrilled to find that my cupcakes fit perfectly in the Tupperware containers I bought at a yardsale last weekend for a quarter apiece. I think it must have been cupcake kismet.

A meme for Thursday

This blogging challenge and meme were supplied by Sophia! I'm only a day late! LOL

1. FIRST NAME? Heidi
2. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Heidi from the Johanna Spyri book
3. WHEN DID YOU LAST CRY? Last Friday when I was at my wits' end (DH had been gone for 4 weeks)
4. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Yes, I do
5. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Salami
6. DO YOU HAVE KIDS? One 15-month-old whirlwind of a daughter
7. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? I hope so! I think I'm friendly and positive and fun to be with. I like all kinds of different things so I'm interesting to talk to. I have a good sense of humor.
8. DO YOU HAVE A JOURNAL? Not in the traditional sense.
9. DO YOU USE SARCASM A LOT? Me? Never. (that was sarcastic)
10. DO YOU STILL HAVE YOUR TONSILS? As far as I know
11. WOULD YOU BUNGEE JUMP? Probably
13. DO YOU UNTIE YOUR SHOES WHEN YOU TAKE THEM OFF? I don't often wear shoes that tie, but I would probably unlace them.
14. DO YOU THINK YOU ARE STRONG? Physically, no. Mentally and emotionally, yes.
15. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? World's Best Chocolate from Baskin Robbins, but anything chocolate will do. No wimpy cheap chocolate! I only like the good rich stuff, I'm spoiled
16. SHOE SIZE? It went up half a size, thanks to pregnancy! Now I'm a 9.5. Hope that doesn't happen with each pregnancy.
17. RED OR PINK? That is a toughie. Red has always been my favorite, but I do love pink, especially now that I have a little girl. I just can't choose!
18. WHAT IS YOUR LEAST FAVORITE THING ABOUT YOURSELF? My lack of willpower and difficulty setting and keeping goals.
19. WHO DO YOU MISS THE MOST? My family, who live 9 hours away
20. WHEN AND WHERE WERE YOU BORN? Late 70s, hot summer, Utah.
21. WHAT COLOR PANTS AND SHOES ARE YOU WEARING? Black shorts and bare feet. Shoes make me claustrophobic!
22. WHAT IS THE LAST THING YOU ATE? Scrambled eggs and toast for breakfast.
23. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO RIGHT NOW? The chatter from my little girl as she tears up the office behind me
24 IF YOU WERE A CRAYON, WHAT COLOR WOULD YOU BE? Positively Pink
25. FAVORITE SMELL? Coffee
26. WHO WAS THE LAST PERSON YOU TALKED WITH ON THE PHONE? My friend Melanie yesterday. I'm giving her the curtains I just took down.
27. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE ABOUT PEOPLE YOU MEET? What they're wearing. Shallow, but true.
28. DO YOU HAVE A SPECIAL TALENT? I have extremely dextrous toes
29. FAVORITE DRINK? Ice water, in my pink cup
30. FAVORITE SPORT? Not really a sporty type. Is thrift-store shopping a sport? I think I could make it into a competition.
31. HAIR COLOR? Curly brown
32. EYE COLOR? Swamp
33. DO YOU WEAR CONTACTS? Yes. Hard gas permeable. Desperately hoping to get Lasik this fall
34. FAVORITE FOOD? Hard to choose! I love Thai. And Chocolate cupcakes. Really, any cupcakes will do
35. SCARY MOVIES OR HAPPY ENDING? Happy Ending
36. LAST MOVIE YOU WATCHED? Monty Python's And Now for Something Completely Different (but I listened more than watched)
37. WHAT COLOR SHIRT ARE YOU WEARING? Lavender
38. SUMMER OR WINTER? Summer
39. HUGS OR KISSES? Are we talking Hershey's or real? Kisses for both.
40. FAVORITE DESSERT? Anything chocolate (notice a theme?). If cake's involved, that's good too.
41. WHAT BOOKS ARE YOU READING? Some books by Laurie Notaro, a humor writer. Plannin to start the first Janet Evanovich/Stephanie Plum book when they're done. I've also been reading books on collecting vintage jewelry.
42. WHAT'S ON YOUR MOUSE PAD? An eagle and a flag
43. FAVORITE SOUNDS? the ocean, the nice white noise from my fan at night, my little girl's chatter when she's still in her crib in the morning
44. ROLLING STONES OR BEATLES? Big fan of the Fab Four. Don't like the Stones at all.
45. THE FURTHEST YOU'VE BEEN FROM HOME? I lived in London for a semester. Also went to Paris.
46. IF YOU COULD PICK ANY TWO PEOPLE TO HAVE DINNER WITH, WHO WOULD
THEY BE? Alicia Poulson and Amy Powers (shh, don't tell them I'm stalking them!)

Ahoy!

Her eyes were incredibly blue in this dress, which used to be mine.

Pillowcase dress #2

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!)