Tagged!

I've been tagged by Jillian!

What was I doing 10 years ago?

• I was home from college for the summer and working at some boring office job I found through the temp service. I did a different one each summer so I can't keep them straight.
• I had just started dating my now-DH that February. He left for the summer for some ROTC training camp so I'm sure I was very sad.
• The most exciting thing was I was getting ready to leave for LONDON for study abroad in August!

Five snacks I enjoy:

• Chocolate. Anything.
• Ice cream. Preferably chocolate ice cream, or ice cream with chocolate on it.
• Anything gummy or chewy, like red licorice.
• Chips and homemade guacamole.
• Did I mention chocolate?

Five things on my TO DO list:

• Schedule cleaners for the living room carpet and couch. Even though we just had the carpets done a few months ago, it already looks terrible. Having a potty-training 3-year-old is not helping.
• List some of my mountain of stuff I've bought for eBay so I feel slightly less guilty about bringing more junk into the house when I yard sale.
• Read and plan my Sunday School lesson for tomorrow. How did it get to be almost Sunday again so fast?
• Go to the pool with Maren and work on my skin can...uh, tan.
• Work on my swap package for Kari. Tell my muse to hurry up and get her little heinie over here, as the deadline is approaching!

If I suddenly became a billionaire, I would:

• Rent us a week at a beach house. Heck, maybe two weeks. I'm going beach-crazy right now!
• Have all the carpets in my downstairs ripped out and replaced with beautiful hardwood floors and fabulous area rugs. (see the carpet cleaning note in the To Do list section)
• Schedule a vacation to somewhere tropical for me and the DH and drop Maren off at her grandparents' on the way.
• Book a trip to Disney World for October for all of us so we could see the Halloween decorations
  
• Buy a whole new wardrobe from Anthropologie. I love their clothes so, so much but they are just so expensive.
  

Five jobs I've had:

• Bookstore employee
• Office drone
• Scrapbook store employee
• Mom, which mean yesterday alone I did at least five separate jobs: personal chef, chauffeur, maid, construction foreman, wrangler.

Five things you may not know about me:

• I still haven't put our wedding album together, and we've been married for 6 years now. My excuse is I don't have anywhere to display the finished album anyway.
• I've recently decided that I think it would be fun to keep chickens. My HOA does not agree however, so that will have to be postponed.
• When I sleep I have to have the covers pulled up to my chin. If it's hot, I'll just use a sheet, but I have to have something. It's a weird security issue.
• I love rhubarb!
• My all-time favorite dessert is Texas Sheet Cake with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That's heaven on a plate, it is.

Thanks for the tag, Jillian! Jillian has a collection of LuRay dinneware that makes me drool on my keyboard! She also has an online antique shop --go check her out!

And because I hate posting without photos, here's an old one of some great sheet music from the antique store and some yard sale jewels. Have a great weekend! I'm off to the pool. :)

How NOT to Care for Vintage Canisters: A Cautionary Tale of Woe

In my dream kitchen, the antique white cabinets with nickel hardware and lovely wavy glass inserts would stretch all the way to the ceiling. In my actual kitchen, they are boring builder oak, have no glass or hardware, and they stop short of the ceiling by about 15", leaving a weird empty space at the top. I've been able to use that empty space to display some of the vintage kitchen stuff I've amassed, so maybe it's a good thing that I don' t have my dream kitchen yet. The downside to the arrangement is that the items I have up there become coated with a film of grease, which then combines with dust to create a nasty sticky mess. Once in a while, far less often than I probably should, I haul things down and clean them and rearrange.

This past weekend I wanted to rearrange the items to display some of my new Jadeite bowls, which of course necessitated a thorough cleaning of what is already up there. Because I'm lazy and hate to scrub that yucky film off by hand, I decided to put a few things through the dishwasher, including two of my vintage kitchen canisters. I chose the "light wash" option with no heated dry, just to be safe. Or so I thought.

When I opened up the dishwasher to dry everything off, I found this:


and this:

ACK!! The heat from the dishwasher melted the paint off and just destroyed them. That one on the top had the cutest strawberries on it, and the other one was in really great condition with a yellow lid. And not only that, but the trap in my dishwasher was all clogged up with chunks of the paint, so I had to pick out what I could by hand.

Immediately all I could think was, well--What was I THINKING? I should have known that was a bad idea from the very beginning! I am very careful never to put my vintage Pyrex in the dishwasher because I know it ruins the finish. The vintage stuff just wasn't made to hold up to the high heat & abrasion of dishwashers today. I should have known that would be the case for the vintage canisters, but my laziness temporarily outweighed my reasoning abilities.

So, the moral of the story is that laziness doesn't pay off! You can bet I'll be scrubbing the rest of my vintage treasures by hand, no matter how grimy they are!

**Edited to add: I just found out the hard way that you should also not use 409 on vintage canisters. The lid to my darling, almost perfect condition Krispy Kan is now ruined. I think I'm going to stop now before I ruin anything else. Cleaning is overrated, anyway. Pfffftt.

Thrift / trash-picking Thursday

It's Thursday (the day after trash day in my neighborhood) so that can only mean that it's time for another installment of What Heidi Dragged Out of the Trash! And this week's find is:


Two perfectly good plastic faux-Adirondack chairs, with foot rests! I've looked them over and there is absolutely nothing wrong that a good squirt with a hose won't fix. Can you believe these were out in the trash? Yipes. They were at the same house where I scored all the flower pots a few weeks ago. Apparently those are some seriously wasteful people living in that house, eh? I'm going to keep a close eye on their trash in case they decide to throw out any expensive electronics or $100 bills.

My neighbors threw out a ceiling fan and a cute metal window box the same day, both of which I would have rescued if I didn't already have a fan in every room and three such window boxes on my back deck. And two weeks ago I trash-picked a giant roll of brand-new chicken wire, although I didn't photograph it because a picture of chicken wire is just not that interesting. But really, I was psyched to find it because I had been talking to my dad about using chicken wire in my garden just the week before, and now I don't have to buy any! Plus I can use the extra to make one of those cute chicken-wire frames I've been seeing around blogland.

And as it is Thrift Thursday, I thought I'd show a few pics of some recent finds.


The vintage pearls, brown earrings, two Christmas pins and the wing pin were all found at the same sale. I'm completely in love with the Christmas tree pin--it reminds me of the big Czech glass trees that I saw in Omaha last year. This is the new star of my vintage Christmas brooch collection! The pearls are great, though the clasp needs a cleaning. The silver wing pin has me intrigued. It has the letters W A R D and is engraved with an inscription on the back. I can't figure out what it is from, though I've done quite a bit of Googling already. Does it ring a bell for anyone out there in blogland?


And of course, more vintage ornaments and a box in good condition. This morning there was a sale advertised at a senior center in a neighboring town. The ad sounded rather promising and you know about my old people = good vintage junk theory, so Maren and I drove over. I'm afraid it was a bust--tons of stuff, and all I bought was the box on the right and the crystal necklace pictured above. The sale was rather disorganized and a good portion of the items were still in boxes. Normally that doesn't bother me, but the mess combined with tight spaces, a whiny toddler and gale-force winds made it most unpleasant. Oh well, there's always next week!

Parasols, Pink Lemonade & Polka Dots 20 Questions

I'm excited to be participating in the newest Sweet Goodness swap! My partner is the very cool Kari, also known as Artsy Mama. Here are my answers to our 20 questions:

1. What is your favorite Summer Drink(s)? I love anything lime-related! That Simpy Limeade stuff is so good over crushed ice, with a handful of lightly crushed raspberries. Lemonade comes in a close second, though. I don't do alcohol or tea.

2. What is your favorite Summer Activity? Ideally it would involve me on a beach, but since I live in land-locked Colorado, the swimming pool will have to do!

3. If you could spend a lazy afternoon reading, what would be in your hands? During the summer I always get the urge to read "summer reading"-type books--mostly YA fiction. Last summer I reread several old favorites and found some new gems as well, such as the Anne of Green Gables series. I also read a lot of non-fiction--I just finished this and am working on this one as well.

4. What is your favorite type of craft/art medium? My first love will always be paper crafts.

5. What is one art/craft supply you absolutely have been dying to have or try? I got soldering tools for Christmas but have been too chicken to try them out! I have been meaning to get them out any day now--I think 6 months should be long enough to conquer my fear.

6. What are your favorite colors in our 'rainbow sherbet' theme? Pink, lime green, yellow, orange, aqua (or blue) My favorite color combination is red & turquoise, so in this version the closest thing would be pink & aqua. It totally doesn't match my house (which is largely red & navy) but I cannot resist!

7. What is your favorite sweet treat? I love ice cream! I cannot keep cookies or cake/cupcakes in the house because my willpower is simply no match for their yumminess. I have a BAD sweet tooth.

8. Are there any craft or art supplies you would NOT be interested in receiving? As much as I think knitting looks interesting, it's one mess I just can't get into right now. And I like fabric, but I stink at sewing!

9. What is your favorite song today? For a summery song, I love "Boys of Summer" by Don Henley (thanks for the catch, Sue! :). Always makes me turn it up, roll down the windows and open up the sun roof.

10. How do you 'pamper' yourself during the hot summer days? I love to get pedicures in the summer. It's just as much a necessity as an indulgence for me--hot dry weather + sandals/bare feet = goblin feet.

11. Do you have any kidlets or pets? A 3-year-old DD named Maren and a big doofy yellow lab named Bronco.

12. What is your best potluck dish for summer get togethers? Desserts are my forte. I think cupcakes are always appropriate and appreciated, but for summer I also like to make pink lemonade pie. It's tart & refreshing!

13. If you could take a summer vacation anywhere, where would it be? I always get the bug to go to Disney World in the summer, even though I know that Orlando in July is just about one elevator stop above the fires of Hell. It's just that the two times we visited there were in June and July, so somehow my brain associates summer with the Mouse. I'd love to go somewhere tropical, but that goes for any time of the year, not just summer! I'd love to take a summer trip to the house that was featured in the movie "Dan in Real Life".

14. Describe your decorating style. Does that say anything about your personality? Yard sale chic. Is that a style? I love to pore over the photos in Country Living magazine. I like the mix of well-loved classic styles, with an infusion of quirky antiques and vintage pieces, all artfully yet effortlessly arranged. I should note that my house doesn't look like this yet--more like a yard sale exploded--but I'm working on it, really.

15. What are your initials? HJG

16. Why do you like to join swaps? Who doesn't love to get a box of treasures in the mail? I love shopping for just the perfect things that I hope will make my swap partner smile and feel special. :)

17. You have 25 dollars to spend just on you for a little treat. What do you buy? ((you can list more than one thing) I head to the antique mall and splurge--I never spend that much on one thing! Maybe I buy a really fabulous piece of costume jewelry for my collection or a great aqua pottery vase.

18. What's one craft supply or art supply you absolutely can not live without? I luurrrve my pure silver German glass glitter. It's almost like sprinkles--it makes everything more yummy!

19. Who's the last person you hugged? My little girl. She gives great hugs. :)

20. What's your favorite number and why? I've never had a favorite, really. Never thought much about it. Four does have a nice, even ring to it. (I'm much too OCD to go for an odd number, LOL)

Viola's jewels

Viola must have cut quite a figure in the small agricultural town of Alamosa, a place that even today boasts fewer than 8000 residents. I haven't seen her myself, but it sounds like her appearance was..well..distinctive, so I can get a pretty good picture in my head from descriptions given by people who did know her. Viola was petite but bosomy, she wore a large black wig and I imagine, wasn't shy with the lipstick. Viola played the piano for years at numerous local functions and it seems that she always dressed like a performer, even if the venue was no more glamorous than the town's Senior Center. Viola loved her 'bling', long before that particular slang term entered the public lexicon.

I learned about Viola just two weekends ago, when I was visiting with family in southern Colorado. My mom and I got a hot tip from our yard saling buddy Noodles (not her real name, LOL) that there was something of interest at one of the antique stores in town. It seemed that Viola had decided to move and is liquidating much of her 'bling' at said antique store. Noodles was in the shop the day after Viola had been there, and said that there were several tables literally covered in costume jewelry--it was spectacular enough a sight to cause even her husband to remark upon it. Vintage costume jewelry? In massive quantities? You're singin' my song, Sister.

Viola's jewelry had already been for sale for a couple of weeks by the time we got there, but there was still plenty to choose from. My mouth truly fell open when I looked in the glass case and saw the variety and scope of Viola's collection. There were brooches that were easily as large as the palm of my hand, gorgeous bracelets and necklaces in every color, and some pieces were present in multiples of two, four, six--apparently Viola used to wear them as buttons down the front of her blouse. We were positively giddy as we played dress-up with Viola's sparkling beauties. It was hard to narrow it down to a few must-have pieces--I could have swept the entire contents of that case into my purse without a second thought--but I finally picked out the things I knew I couldn't live without.

Green and teal, 1.5" tall and 2" long

Gorgeous pear-shaped clear stones, 2.25" across

Starfish, 3" across. This is the first thing I spotted in the case and it was love at first sight! I almost didn't get it because I rarely wear those colors but I knew I'd regret leaving it behind.

Bouquet, 3.50" across, 3" tall. This is one that is as large as my palm. There were some that were even bigger, if you can imagine.
Red aurora Borealis swirl, 3.25" long and 2" tall. I think this one is just gorgeous and I love the swooping shape.I told the owner of the antique store to be sure to tell Viola that her beloved jewels were going to a good home! I absolutely LOVE every single piece that I bought and I can't wait to wear them. For now, I just love to look at them and hold them, turning them so they catch the light and sparkle like crazy. I think I might have liked to meet Miss Viola--sounds like she was a heck of a gal. :)

While I had my camera out to photograph my Viola pieces, I decided to photograph the rest of my costume jewelry collection and I made a Flickr set, for anyone who loves the sparklies like I do. This is the bulk of my collection--although I'm always on the hunt for more! Don't know that I'll ever find a selection quite like Viola's, however!

Tiny Dancer

Thrift Thursday

Oh, your comments on the spider pictures were just hilarious! :) I had an idea those photos might elicit some good stuff, and I was right. A little more info--we were out visiting yard sales on Saturday morning when we came upon a sale run by a couple of tween girls, one of whom had her pet tarantula climbing up her leg. Well, of course we had to go check that out! She said it was a Rosy Tarantula, so named because of the slightly iridescent russet-colored hair all over it. It was actually kind of pretty, if you could get over the fact that it was still a GIANT HAIRY SPIDER. As far as being brave enough to let it traverse my torso, you'll notice that I'm not actually holding it in any of the photos--it was far less creepy to just let it climb than to actually touch it! And although I'm not a huge fan of spiders in general, they are not #1 on my list of Most Hated Creatures; that honor goes squarely to scorpions of any type. You can bet if those girls had a pet scorpion that I'd have screamed and run in the other direction.

Giant arachnids aside, we had a grand time junking on Friday and Saturday and here are a few of my favorite finds.


No matter how many I already have, I just can't resist vintage ornaments! The ones in the back aren't old but they are neat and because of their small size I thought they'd be good for crafting. I love the red one on the right in the front--it has a crown on it! I've been wanting one ever since I saw one like it that Rebecca found. And in front of the crown ornament is my very favorite--a beautifully aged blown-glass toadstool. That one was from an antique shop but well worth the $5 I paid.


The background of this photo is a vintage dogwood tablecloth. When I spread it out for this photo I realized that it's in very poor condition with several large holes and stains, so it will definitely have to be a cutter. Good thing it was less than $1.00! The sandwich bags were a fun find--thanks to my mom for spotting them! The package is unopened. Not sure what I'll do with it yet. The souvenir Utah teacup and yellow Fire King mug were a dime apiece, as were two other mod Pyrex coffee cups that aren't pictured. The salt and pepper shakers still had their antique-booth label on them which said that they are chrome and bakelite. Not sure how they ended up in a thrift but I'm just glad they did!

This little guy is a hard plastic Knickerbocker rattle. My sweet mom gifted him to me--she thought he'd look great in my kitchen with all the Jadeite. I think she's right, don't you?

A few other "finds" from the weekend:


--A tiny baby bunny, found in my grandpa's front yard. Maren loved him!

--Wild asparagus, gathered along roadside ditches. We were a bit late in the season so this was all we could find but it was still fun to look.

Between the junking, the critters and the vegetables, it was a weekend full of discoveries! Wait until you see what else we discovered ;) but that's another post!

You find the darnedest things at yard sales

Yes, that is me. Yes, that is a tarantula. No, I did not buy it!

Giveaway May Week 4 Winner

I'm still out of town but promised I'd do the drawing for the Giveaway May Week 4 Cupcake package before I return home. Oh great and powerful Random Integer Generator, what do you have to say tonight?

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:22
Timestamp: 2008-06-02 04:30:46 UTC

And commenter #22 is...April B!!! Congratulations April--I'll email you to get your mailing address!

I do want to thank all of you who read my blog and entered the contests during May. I have discovered so many new bloggers that I'm excited to read more about. I truly do appreciate each and every comment that you all leave here. Thank you so, so very much. :) I had such fun putting together the giveaway packages and still have a few things I'd like to send to a new home, so I'll be doing those periodically over the summer.

And now, to bed. We're leaving for home in the morning and for some reason Maren has decided to wake up at ridiculous hours while we've been here--today she was up at 5:34 a.m. Ugh. I've had a lovely weekend and have some fun things to post about this week!

If your name is Angie S. you should probably skip this post

You may recall that about a month ago, I hosted a Pink baby shower here at my home. One of the decorations I made for the shower were these fun pink glittery rosettes that we poked in the top of the cupcakes. I used pink crepe paper, silver glitter on the edges, silver glittered chipboard letters and pretty pink scrapbook paper to make them and then glued skewers onto the backs.

Well, I couldn't let them go to waste, as cute as they turned out! I used a pair of wire cutters and broke off the skewers. I did have to sand one down a smidge so it would be hidden but then I turned them into this:

This is a little giftie for the friend for whom we gave the shower. Her sweet baby's room is done in pink & brown so I used some fun patterned paper in those colors from my stash. I decorated the pennants with beautiful German pink foil dresden borders from here, and pink tissue fringe from here. I cut some pom-poms off of some pink pom-pom fringe that I think I received in a swap and hot glued those to the points. I used hot glue to attach the rosettes to the pennants and tied it all together with pretty satin ribbon that I received in another swap.

It was such fun to make, and really quite easy! The hardest part was the the rosettes, and those were already finished and out of the way. I used some scrap chipboard and just guessed on the size of triangle to make for the pennants. I've wanted to make a banner like this ever since I saw some at Silver Bella last November but there has always been another project in the way. I do hope the recipient likes it! Here are some closeups--click the photos to enlarge them.
One other little crafty project before I go:


These were little treats for the ladies I visit teach. I have been collecting the blue glass bottles--I am physically unable to pass them up, it seems--but I realized that I really do have too many right now. I found a recipe for "Seaside Brownie Mix" in one of my Gooseberry Patch cookbooks and just layered it in the jars. I printed the instructions on sand-colored paper and cut them out with my giant scalloped circle punch, then tied them to the bottles with some twill tape. I wish I'd had a few sea shells to tie around the necks of the bottles but I was trying to use what I had. Hope the brownies are yummy!

And now, I have to go. I am leaving at some point today to drive 4 hours to visit my grandparents and I still haven't packed. And it's oh, almost 1 p.m. I've just had too much that I needed to get done today, plus for some stupid reason I am exhausted and have no energy so I'm finding it difficult to get motivated. But really--I need to GET MOVING! I will post the Cupcake Giveaway winner from the road but otherwise, I'll be back on Monday!

I have long had this junking theory that old people have good old junk. Ergo, if you want to have the best chance of finding cool vintage stuff, increase your chances by going to sales run by older folks. My theory has proven itself time and again, so it makes my junkin' heart leap to see a sign advertising a church rummage sale, especially when it's at a long-established church in an older part of town.

I put my theory into action on Friday morning when Maren and I ventured downtown to such an event. This particular church holds a sale in the summer and then again in the fall. I missed the autumn event but still remember the goodies I found at last summer's sale, so gas-prices-be-damned, we packed up and journeyed forth. The way this sale is run is that there is a preview on Thursday night but it costs $5 to get in. Friday is free, and Saturday afternoon is a bag sale. I always wonder what I'm missing on that Thursday night--is it attended solely by dealers, who swoop up and snatch anything good? Sometimes I think I'm better off not knowing what I might have missed.

We got there Friday morning not long after the sale opened. I could tell immediately that attendance was down from last year, since I was able to find a spot in the parking lot. Overall, there was far less merchandise than last year. There were still a ton of clothes, but that's just not what I'm looking for (although I did flick through the coat racks to make sure I wasn't missing any fabulous vintage coats), and they didn't have any children's clothing. Everything else was pretty thin, and since I was early to the sale I don't think it was all bought up before I got there--I think they just didn't have as many donations. The upside--the smaller crowd and emptier space did make it much easier to keep an eye on Maren!

I did find a few things that made the drive and the toddler-wrangling worth it to me.

This great pink Shawnee planter is very similar to an aqua one I bought in Utah at the antique store at the beginning of this month. The pink is so pretty and reminds me of the inside of a conch shell.

To fill the planter, I found:

My old favorite, vintage Christmas ornaments. :) I picked out all the pale green, aqua and pink ornies--about three dozen in all. I was tickled to find the silver tree topper (I may actually have a bowlful by next Christmas!) as well as the smaller red and gold one--which unfortunately Maren dropped, thereby breaking the tip and nearly bringing me to tears. I love how the ornaments look in the planter and I'd absolutely leave them that way if I had a place to display them that was safe from little fingers.

I picked up a few other things--an unused candle, six bricks of floral foam (for 50¢ for the lot I couldn't leave it) a copy of a book that I love, and a big box of random envelopes for a nickel (good because I live with a rampant and unrepentant little envelope thief). Not near as much as last year, but still good stuff and I was happy with my haul.

I'm going away for the weekend. My parents are driving down to southern Colorado to visit my grandparents so I'm going to meet them there and stay for a few days. I'm excited to break up the monotony of 2.5 weeks sans husband, see my parents, and do some small-town junking! We've already got a Saturday-morning garage-saling date and I'm itching to get back to the junk shops.

I'll be back tomorrow with a photo of something crafty I've almost finished. I'll have access to a computer so I'll do the Giveaway drawing this weekend as well and post the winner. You still have time to enter if you haven't done so yet!

Giveaway May Week 4--the Grand Finale

Happy Memorial Day, everyone! Hope you're all enjoying a day off. I'm afraid it's not much of a holiday for us--Quin is gone and the weather is bad. (Uh-oh, she's going to complain about the weather again...) It's a chilly 55 degrees, overcast with rain showers. The neighborhood pool opened for the season on Saturday but obviously that's out of the question. I told Maren that we'd go to the park today if the weather was nice but it looks like that's out too. Blah.

To brighten things up, how about a giveaway? Drumroll please....


Ta-da! Here is the prize for Giveaway May Week 4--I believe I've saved the best for last. :) The lucky winner will receive a thrifted-but-brand-new cupcake stand, a spool of cute pink and brown cupcake ribbon, a fun cupcake iron-on, the most adorable little cupcake lip gloss, a box of cupcake mix (in my favorite--chocolate!), cute pink & green cupcake papers and pink sugar sprinkles. You can whip up a batch of cupcakes and decorate them, then display them on your new stand! You could even do so while wearing cupcake lip gloss, cupcake ribbon tied in your hair, and a cupcake shirt made with the iron-on. :) As always, leave a comment on this post sometime between now and Friday at noon. Note: due to the size of the box needed for shipping, I'm going to have to limit this giveaway to US folks only. Sorry! Good luck!

Giveaway May Week 3 Winner!

So, ya wanna see what I made for this week's giveaway?


I've had this stamp set for a while but have never used it, even though I think it's darling. What better reason to dust it off and make a few cards than a sewing-themed giveaway? I think they turned out really cute and the lucky giveaway winner will get a set of four cards (two of each design) and envelopes.

Speaking of that winner, it's time to consult the Random Integer Generator:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

4 

Timestamp: 2008-05-24 23:46:22 UTC

Commenter #4 is bunny b! Congratulations! I'll be in touch so that I can get your mailing address.

It's shaping up to be a quiet weekend here. Quin is gone and the weather's not great so it doesn't seem like a holiday weekend. I did a bit of garage saling today with Maren but found nothing more than a couple of books. Total spent: 50¢. I did find a few fun things at the church rummage sale yesterday but even that had far less stuff for sale than when I went last year. Oh well, I'm planning on a bit of small-town junking next weekend so I'll just save my pennies until then.

Hope you're all having a lovely weekend and be sure to check back for the final Giveaway May package on Monday. I think I've saved the best for last!

Junk, glorious junk

I promised to share what I dragged home from the neighbor's yard sale last weekend.


This darling wool kilt was the only thing I dug out of the giant pile of children's clothing on my lawn. It's a size 4, so I'll put it away for Maren for next year but just look at that little kilt pin! That was definitely worth a quarter. I also bought a neat pair of vintage shoes for $2.00 (eBay-bound because at size 6 they'd fit about half my foot), a tall Haeger aqua vase (not the "good" kind of Haeger, the florist kind but still looks great with my aqua pottery collection) and what I believe to be my very first ever Fenton glass find! I think that is a Silvercrest footed candy dish. I also found this darling brand-new Pottery Barn kids frame (perfect for my Americana displays which will go up just before Flag Day), a book on ukulele songs (bought for eBay but it's a dud), a fun vintage coloring book, a big pile of old seam binding and twill tape, a neat pair of old scissors with very ornate handles (bought as a photo prop for a future project) and a fun old reading book with vintage illustrations that I plan to cut & use in collage.

Quin left on Wednesday for work and will be gone for 2.5 weeks. {sigh} That would explain why when I got home last night at 7:15 p.m. after a very long, busy day in which Maren had no nap, the garage door decided to be broken. Thank you, Mr. Murphy, you big jerk! The back slider door was latched, and the front door was not only deadbolted but the anti-Maren-escape latch at the top was slid to, making my keys useless. After I cried a little, I summoned my Hulk strength and heaved up the garage door just enough so I could get in and unlock the front door. At least it didn't happen when I was home, trapping both cars inside the garage--there's nothing that will unhinge me like being trapped in a house without the possibility of escape. (Even if I don't want to go anywhere, knowing I can't freaks me out.) It's not a crisis, but it certainly is an inconvenience, so I'll be putting in a call to the ol' Home Teachers this afternoon.

This morning we're heading over to a big church rummage sale downtown. It's a bit of a drive but it's an old church with people who've been members forever, and generally old people=good old junk! We went to this church's sale last year and picked up some fun stuff. I'm not sure how I'm going to wrangle Maren--the sale is held in the church's social area and it's pretty packed. Last year I strapped her into a small stroller but even that was difficult. This year the footrest on that stroller is broken, plus she can get out of the buckles anyway so it might prove to be more hindrance than help. I know I'm going to really wish I had gotten a babysitter, but I'm going to take her anyway. Hopefully I can find some goodies to make the drive & the hassle worth it!

You still have until noon MDT to enter into this week's drawing! I'll pick the winner when I get back later this afternoon and I promise I won't take so long to announce it this week. :)

Happy Mail

Lately, my mailbox overfloweth with Happy Mail!

From Shara I received this fun little packet with flowery note cards and zinnia seeds. I've heard that zinnias are fast-growing so I'm looking for a place in my yard where I can plant them. These arrived last week when it still seemed like Spring was never gonna happen, so it definitely brightened things up!

The next round of Happy Mail came all the way from Australia! The Shopping Sherpa and I did a little one-on-one swap and she sent me this package full of goodies. She included a vintage apron in the cheeriest floral fabric and a set of dishtowels with aprons on them--how perfect! She also included vintage trim and coasters, the most adorable little cupcake-shaped soap and yummy koala-shaped candies & chocolates. Why is it that other countries always have better candy? Now I'm hooked and I can't get them around here! LOL


I think what prompted our swap in the first place was this beautiful vintage Valentine. It's just wonderful--the little girl's parasol is actually a honeycomb that opens up. It's absolutely charming and will be a prized piece in my collection!

The last (but not least!) package to brighten up my mailbox was my Vintage Apron Swap package from Anne. She sent me not one, but two great vintage aprons--she said it was one to display, and one to wear. This one is to display--be sure to click on the picture so you can see the turquoise and red fabric up close. I am in love with the fabric and it is just the perfect apron for me! Anne also sent this apron to wear. I mentioned that when I cook I always wear a full bib-style apron because I am messy, and she found one! I'm impressed because it seems that bib-style vintage aprons are much more rare--the half apron seems to be norm. This will happily go into the regular rotation. Cooking dinner is much more fun when you wear a cute apron, don't you think?
Don't forget to enter the giveway for this week if you'd like a little Happy Mail from me!

Giveaway May Week 3!

Sorry for the delay in getting this week's giveaway package announced. Quin was gone all weekend for work and then leaves again on Wednesday for 2.5 weeks so it's going to be a long while until I get any Maren-free time and I had things to do. Things which may or may not have included shoe shopping. :)

Without further delay, here is this week's giveaway package:

This week's giveaway has a sewing theme! It includes a brand-new copy of this fun book about sewing all different kinds of purses and bags. The book has so many cute ideas but I must admit that the very idea of sewing a purse with the lining and the handles and the clasp and all? It skeers me, I tell ya! Sewing a purse and climbing Mt. Everest are about equal in my mind as far as Things I Will Never Be Able To Do. I know there are far braver folk than I out there in blogland, so I'm happy to pass this book along to one of you for whom the idea of making your own purse is a totally realistic goal.

In addition to the book, this package includes a cute embellished bottle full of vintage cream & white buttons and this fun quilted wall pocket organizer-thingie. The consignment thrift where I purchased it labeled it as being purchased originally at Anthropologie. It would be a perfect place to tuck letters, patterns, trims--anything, really! And as with the previous packages, there will also be a handmade goodie to be shown later. You know the drill--if you want to be included in the drawing, simply leave a comment on this post between now and Friday, May 23 at noon MDT.

So...this weekend's garage sale. Whoa. Friday evening was the preview sale, so that afternoon at about 5 pm we laid down tarps on my driveway and grass and dumped all of those giant bags of clothing out onto them. I personally hate looking through piles of clothing on the ground at a garage sale--I simply refuse to do it--but in this case there were just SO MANY that it was really the only option. After my house was ready I walked over to Alice's house to help and to shop. Over the course of the sale I picked up a few fun things that I'll share later in the week. There was lots of traffic on Friday night, even though we didn't pull everything out (because it had to put all put back in the garage that night). By the time we ended things and I got Maren to bed it was 8:30 pm and I was worn out!

Friday night I didn't sleep well again. I was up at 5:45 am Saturday morning because I just couldn't sleep, so I got up and glittered the rosettes for the giveaway package. Sometime after 7 am I went and helped at Alice's house. I couldn't believe how much stuff there was! Tons of furniture, lots of knick-knacks and picture frames and such. Alice's yard was absolutely covered, and she has a big corner lot. We opened up shop in my driveway around 8:00 am for the clothing. The day was warm and sunny and there was an incredible amount of traffic for the sale and people were buying things left and right.

After things got started, I came home and decided to make some cupcakes to sell. Any excuse to make cupcakes is good enough for me! I broke out the jumbo pans I bought last summer but hadn't yet used. They make cupcakes or muffins the same size as the big ones you get at Costco or Sam's and they are yummy! The first batch of seven were gobbled up almost immediately so I sent the other four over (a cake mix makes 12 jumbo cakes--Maren and I split the last one) and I got to making more. The next batch I did six jumbo and 12 regular-sized cakes, with homemade chocolate buttercream frosting--YUM! They all sold as well.

By about 3 pm the traffic had pretty much stopped and I think that everyone had just had enough, so they packed up all the remainders. There were four truckloads of leftovers sent to Goodwill--really enough for another good yardsale. Even though there was so much unsold, they really did sell a ton! We finally got everything cleaned up by 5:00 pm and then at 6:00 pm Maren and went over to Alice's again, this time for dinner. We visited until past 8:30 pm and by the time I got Maren to bed again, all I could do was lay on the couch with the massager on my extremely sore back before falling into bed.

In all, it was a great success! The girls raised over $2000, so they met their goal and were thrilled. I was reminded of why I far prefer going to garage sales to actually running them--it's just so darn much work! I really wish I had taken a photo of Alice's yard when we brought everything out that morning--it was astonishing! I was glad that I was able to help, but I know I'm not alone in saying that I'm really glad it's over!

Giveaway May Week 2 Winner!

Yikes everyone, I'm sorry to be so late on the drawing for Giveaway May Week 2. The garage sale started out by taking over my garage but ended up taking over my entire weekend! I was busy with it almost all day Friday and Saturday and was so wiped out that I spent Sunday either at church or on the couch with a terribly sore back. It was fun though, and the girls met their fund-raising goal so it was a success. I'll post more about the sale later, but for now let's get to the drawing!

This time there were 44 entrants who made it before the deadline so instead of cutting up 44 little pieces of paper, I'm turning to the trusty Random Integer Generator to do my dirty work:

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

20 

Timestamp: 2008-05-19 14:55:57 UTC

Commenter #20 is.......Brooke, from Living the Happily Ever After! Congratulations Brooke! Please contact me at fraulein_h AT hotmail dot com so I can get your address! Here's a little photo of the handmade, glass-glittered crepe paper rosettes I made to include in the package:

Giveaway #3 will be up later today, so be sure to check back later!

Have you ever had a night where you dreamed so vividly and so vigorously that you don't feel rested when you wake? That's me right now. I suspect that a good portion of my sleeplessness was caused by this:



That would be half of my garage, covered in bags and bags of clothing and other random items, with a few large pieces of bedroom furniture thrown in for good measure. (Oh, and I love Maren cheese-ing it up in the background!) My neighbor Alice is organizing a yard sale to help the teenage girls in our church raise money for Girls' Camp. Last night was the deadline to drop off donations and as they completely filled her garage, we volunteered space in ours to help out. Alice said that several people asked if they could still drop off things today so it looks like the pile in my garage may grow! This afternoon all the girls are coming over to price things and then this evening there is a "preview" sale for ward members before the big sale officially begins tomorrow morning.

I would be lying if I didn't tell you that it took all the restraint I had not to be over there pawing through the boxes helping the girls sort last night, but I kept my nosey self out of there. Heck, if I thought the bags in my garage held more than clothes I'd have probably been in there until the wee hours of the morning! I will offer my help this afternoon if they need me--I have to be here to open the garage anyway, and I think that the organizers received much more stuff than they anticipated, so an extra pair of hands might be appreciated. Maybe I'll find a few treasures, or at the very least a few interesting photos for my blog!

You still have 3 hours to leave a comment on this post to be entered in this week's drawing! Right now I'm off to do some glittering on a little extra treat for the winner. :)

Trash pickin' and a-grinnin'

It's time for this week's installment of "What Did Heidi Dig out of Someone's Trash Pile?" Today's featured junk is:

Flowerpots!!

I was on the way to an appointment this morning when I saw these in a neighbor's trash pile. I turned around and loaded them up in the back of my car without a second thought. It drives me crazy that someone would throw away perfectly good pots like these! They may not be the style I would choose to buy but for FREE, guess what will be holding my herb garden this year?

Don't forget to enter this week's giveaway by leaving a comment on this post. I've received comments from so many new people--thanks for un-lurking! :) I love to meet new blog friends.

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!