Old Glory Country Fair

On Saturday I got up early and drove all the way across town to attend the Old Glory Country Fair, a local antique show filled with all the chippy furniture, tarnished silver and vintage linens a girl could ever hope to find in the Denver metro area. I'd been looking forward to it for a month and was desperately in need of some time away sans 4-year-old, and I wasn't disappointed! Though the skies threatened rain (even spilling a few raindrops from time to time) the junque was plentiful, the inspiration abounding, and the prices (mostly) reasonable!

I didn't buy much--in fact, everything I bought fit into a very small paper bag--but I found a few things I had been specifically looking for so I was happy.My few purchases: a white folding yardstick (now I have two, except that I can't find the other one--I believe it was hidden from a certain 4-year-old but I managed to hide it too well), vintage Dennison seals that were promptly used in a few 4th of July art projects, vintage milk caps (I bought 35 at a dime apiece and will probably wish that I'd bought more), some old buttons and an old rhinestone buckle, a vintage White Rabbit greeting card for my Alice in Wonderland collection, and what I think was my favorite find of the day: some old fireworks with really great vintage packaging that would look right at home on Shara's patriotic display shelf!

It was a fun show and I'll definitely make plans to attend next year. Another thing I enjoyed was finding out about some more local vintage and antique shops in the area that I believe need to go on my "field trip" list! There are more photos of the show over on Jeanne's blog if you'd like to see some of the other treasures for sale.

Mt. Rushmore-bound!

We've decided to spend the 4th of July weekend this year at Mt. Rushmore! I'm so excited--I've always wanted to go there, but never realized how close it actually is to Denver. Oh, it's still a 7-hour drive, but when you live out West like we do--that's considered close! It's closer to go there than it is to go to Salt Lake to visit our families, in fact.

Not surprisingly, they do a big program to celebrate the holiday (although it's on the 3rd every year--not sure why). There are performing groups and flyovers from nearby Ellsworth AFB. We had some friends who went last year and said that watching the fireworks explode over the monument was truly memorable. I can't wait! I know it will be crowded and hot but I still think it will be fun.

There are other things to visit in the area as well, like Custer State Park, the Crazy Horse monument that's being built, a few different caves to explore, and another site I'm hoping to see: This is Devil's Tower in Wyoming. I don't have any particular attachment to the movie that made it famous, it's just something I'd love to see up close.

Have any of you visited this area before? Is there anything else that we should be sure to see or any tips you'd like to share? I'm all ears!

Button shirt from Anthropologie

Though I can safely say that I detest wearing maternity clothes, this shirt from Anthropologie has become one of my favorites lately:Yes, you read that right and no, Anthro has not suddenly started selling maternity clothes (Ha! I WISH!). I ordered this shirt when it was on sale last fall and when I received it I was amazed at how huge it was! It was not just the placement of the seam & gathers on the front--there is a ton of extra fabric on the sides and it's quite long. The size was made even more obvious by the other shirt (same size) that I ordered at the same time that was so tight I could barely wear it.

Anyway, I loved the shirt and got such a great deal on it I decided to just put it away for the eventual day that I'd be pregnant again and a cute shirt with lots of extra room in the sides would be appreciated. Well, I'm there, and I love it! Every time I've worn it I have gotten compliments and questions as to whether I made it myself. It wouldn't be at all difficult to refashion one of your shirts with this treatment. The buttons are sewn on with bright embroidery thread in a random pattern. I have a jar full of vintage mother of pearl buttons that I think would be really beautiful on the right shirt.

Another refashioned shirt that I'm in love with is this one from Pink Trees. Shanna used a plain t-shirt and sewed various hexagon appliques near the neckline. I absolutely love it, and for the first time in my life wish I knew how to applique! I love the fabrics she chose. It's cute and quirky without being too sweet--very Anthropologie-ish, I think.

Nature is making me cranky

This is a vent--it's been one of those days where I just feel frustrated and discouraged, that no matter what I do I can't make any progress! So you've been warned--complaining ahead!

I think that the universe or Nature or whatever it is just does not want me to have any flowers or veggies this year! The hailstorm on Sunday beat my newly planted garden all to hell. I spent so much time and energy and money trying to get plants in so that I can have a garden this year, yet all I can think at this point is that it has all been a waste of time.

Last year we planted tomatoes and the weather during June was so horrendous (rainy & cold) that almost none of them ever turned red (although there were loads of green tomatoes) and the few that did dare to ripen were immediately stolen off the vines by my darn dog! It was so disappointing to care for them all summer long, only to have ZERO payoff.

This June is shaping up to be much the same as last year. The weather during May was so crappy that it took me literally weeks to get my garden planted. There were other roadblocks as well--ran out of garden edging and all the local stores were sold out for weeks, couldn't find the onion shoots I wanted locally and had to bring them home from Utah last week, limited energy & ability to bend down due to progressing pregnancy.

I finally, finally got the onions in the ground on Saturday evening, and then Sunday they were pounded flat by the hail. The leaves of the rhubarb were turned into lace, so I had to go cut as much as I could salvage. The strawberries were torn up, and I realized today that the one red berry that I saw last night that I was going to let Maren pick was eaten by a bird, and the other berries were pecked by birds as well. The green beans look terrible. The tomato plants look sickly, and it appears that only 1 of the 6 potatoes I planted has come up.

Then to top it all off, this afternoon I found that the neighbor girls picked nearly 2/3 of the buds off my day lilies and "planted" them in my flowerpot of petunias (the one I had to replant yesterday because it was completely destroyed in the storm), so now I don't even have those to look forward to. (And they did it while their mom sat not 20 feet away 'supervising' them).

ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!

Dorothy, it's a twister!

Good golly, what a weekend! Friday we were on TV, and yesterday we had the unusual experience of having church interrupted and ultimately canceled due to a tornado passing right overhead!

On the way to church at 12:55 pm, I remarked to Maren that the dark clouds were coming up on the edges of the otherwise sunny sky looked like they might make rain. Just an hour later, at around 1:55 pm someone interrupted our church meeting to announce that a tornado warning had been announced for our area and that we needed to stop the meeting and all move up against the walls immediately. I looked out the windows and saw black skies, heavy rain and hail and strong winds. I didn't get close enough to the windows to look up at the sky, but several of those who did said that they could see the funnel cloud right over us!

As the storm passed over we could hear the hailstones pounding on the roof and could see debris flying through the air. Finally at about 2:25 pm the storm had passed over enough that we were able to leave, although we still had to make a run through the hail to get to our cars. It continued to rain for a short time after that but the storm was moving very quickly to the east, so the rain didn't last for long.

Here are some of the hailstones from my neighbor's yard, with a golf ball to show you the size (and this is after they had been melting on the ground for about 30 minutes already).Not all of the hail was this big; most was marble-sized or smaller. These big guys are responsible for the half dozen or so dents that the hood of my car now has, however.

In my neighborhood we didn't have any significant damage from the wind but the hail certainly did a number on my poor little garden! Look at my poor battered rhubarb:The strawberries took a lickin' too:
The tornado (one of five spotted in the Denver metro area yesterday) did ultimately touch down a few miles east of here at an outdoor shopping mall and did some pretty significant damage to the tune of broken windows and gas lines, flipped over cars, metal siding wrapped around poles, crumbled walls, and flying trampolines! It's a good thing it wasn't a Saturday as the Farmer's Market would have been just packing up and there would have been a lot more people out shopping. Some of the homes in the surrounding area were damaged as well with broken windows and blown-in garage doors and the like.

It was a good reminder to us that tornadoes can indeed happen here. I know that when most people think of Colorado they picture mountains, but in truth only the western half of the state is mountainous--the other half is the plains, and that's the half we happen to occupy. We do actually have tornado sirens in our neighborhood, which is a bit eerie. I don't think we'll ever see the kind of tornadoes that devastate towns and cities in the Midwest, but yesterday was proof that we're not completely safe!

Maren and I were on TV!

Yesterday Maren and I had a case of right place/right time and ended up being interviewed for the local TV news! We were in the library checking out books at the same time as a reporter doing a story on the benefits of Summer Reading programs. He asked if he could film us checking out books and interview me about the importance of summer reading. Of course I'm not going to turn down an opportunity to get my adorable kid on TV, but I swear the second the reporter approached us Maren's attitude turned from that of a cheerful 4-year-old to that of an uncooperative 13-year old, so unfortunately all of Colorado missed out on seeing what a charming daughter I have.

I did my best to not sound like a total blithering idiot, a task that is somehow far more difficult when there is a camera in your face. I rambled on for a few minutes and they used a few clips of my dialogue for the story. I find it a bit ironic that I was talking about the benefits of summer reading for my daughter--first of all, she can't read yet! And furthermore, our school is year-round so the longest summer break the kids even have is five weeks, which isn't enough to make your brain turn to mush completely if you don't read. So truthfully the whole thing doesn't really apply to us but whatever. The library was empty and the reporter needed someone else to interview, so I was it, and I'm happy to do it!

The embed feature for the video isn't working so if you want to read the story or watch the video, you can go here. And if you watch the video, please keep in mind that the camera adds 10 lbs, apparently even if all that is showing is your face.

Sweet Goodness swap questionnaire

I'm SO excited to be participating in the Sweet Goodness "Hurrah for the Red, White and Blue" swap this month! I LOVE the 4th of July and patriotic stuff in general, especially if it has a vintage spin. My partner is the lovely Cheryl, of the charmingly-named blog Artsy~Fartsy. I already told her a bit about me, but here is a bit more, courtesy of the questions that Shara posted for us on the Sweet Goodness blog:

1. What is your decorating style? Vintage, glittery, old fashioned? Clean, bright and modern? Eclectic? Other? What's that old saying...Early garage, late attic? Yup, I think that covers it. :) I love vintage, glitter, and old-fashioned.

2. Do you have any allergies? Scents? Foods? None

3. Do you like to decorate certain areas for the 4th? Your house, hour patio, your porch, your garden, etc. I have a very busy and curious 4-year-old so I have to be careful that what I put out on my few 'low' horizontal surfaces can hold up to her poking, prodding and molesting. LOL The stuff that I don't want destroyed gets put in my curio cabinet or on top of my china cabinet, which is another nice horizontal space.

4. What are your hobbies? Crafting, reading, movies, thrifting, spelunking? Crafting, thrifting, reading, cooking.

5. What sort of crafts do you enjoy? What sort of crafts don't you do? I love anything to do with paper and glue and glitter! I am rotten with the sewing machine (although wish I could snap my fingers and get magically proficient --poof!-- and I don't do any sort of fiber craft (ie, crochet or knitting).

6. What are your 4th of July traditions? Picnics, parades, boating, etc? I LOVE FIREWORKS! Seriously, it's ridiculous. :) But I love, love to go watch fireworks with my family. When I was growing up we often went swimming, boating or to a water park because it was always HOT that day. Then we usually had a BBQ before going to watch fireworks.

7. Do you have children? If so, how many and what are their ages? I have a daughter named Maren who is four years old and I'm expecting a little boy in September.

8. Are you a cook? A baker? A Take-Out Queen? I love to cook and bake. Unfortunately I don't bake as often as I like because I also have a wicked sweet tooth, so I end up eating too much of what I create!

9. What is your favorite scent? Least favorite? In the summertime especially I love citrus smells like lemon, lime and grapefruit. I also love the smell of coffee (but I don't drink it!). I don't care for scents that are musky or spicy.

10. What is your favorite sweet treat? (Chocolate melts this time of year...) I love gummy anything and red licorice!

Berry love

If raspberries were always $1 per box, I'd never buy candy again.

(I've already eaten two 6 oz. boxes in the last 24 hours with no sign of slowing anytime soon! Is it possible to OD on fresh berries?)

Family Photos and a Triathlon

Humor me, just for a minute or two--click on this link and go see the beautiful family photos we had taken this weekend. (I tried to post a few here but all the images are saved as one gigantic .jpeg so it won't work) They were taken by the fabulous Terra from Magnifique Photography and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out--and this is only the sneak peek! The CD with all the images she took is still on its way, but I don't know how I'll ever choose which to order because I love them all. I love my family and I'm so happy that Terra was able to capture 'us'! And even better: I don't even look too enormously pregnant. :)

It was a good weekend, a quick trip to Utah to see our families for a very few days. The main reason we went was so that The Mister could do his first triathlon of the season. I'm proud of him!Maren also participated in a triathlon while she was waiting for Daddy's race to finish. Her three events were slide, swing, and monkey bars.In addition to family photos and the triathlon, we enjoyed the gorgeous weather that is Utah on the cusp of summer, went as a family to see UP, and drove through snow on the way home yesterday. Seriously! And now it's back to real life--laundry, exterior house painting, the mold on/in the walls in the laundry room, and hiring an electrician to fix an outlet in the basement. It was a nice break while it lasted!

Tuesday thrift loot

I most certainly hope that all of you had better weather this weekend that we've experienced here! Temperatures in the low 60s with gloomy skies and frequent rain showers put the kibosh on doing much of anything outdoors. I've been trying to get the last of my garden in the ground but the darn rain won't stop long enough for me to get anything done! I don't fancy planting my green beans, potatoes and pumpkin in the mud but we're leaving tomorrow to go out of town for the next six days so I'm desperate to get things in the ground before we go.

I promised to share photos of my small-town thrifting loot from my trip to Southern Colorado last weekend.
Proof once again that I am physically unable to resist buying packets of vintage rickrack. I probably have enough of the stuff to stretch to the moon and back but I still can't pass it up, especially when I find fun striped and multicolored variations like these.
More thrifting Achilles' heels: vintage embroidery transfers (especially for wacky anthropomorphic fruits), vintage seam binding and vintage buttons.Large jars of buttons get me every time, even when they're not vintage. Just like big jars of candy, aren't they?Vintage Valentines (military-themed, to boot!), Strawberry Shortcake fabric (to be made into a new smock for Maren), a milk glass cold cream jar to be altered, and a spool of vintage gift ribbon.
These goodies actually came from an estate sale a few weekends ago. A chickie cupcake pick, old boxes of birthday candles and sewing pins, and vintage patterns.


In other news, sign-ups for the newest Sweet Goodness swap are now OPEN! Head over to the Sweet Goodness blog for more info!

Weekend in Southern Colorado

Maren and I spent a lovely weekend in Southern Colorado visiting with my mom and my grandparents. Here are some of the things we saw while we were there:

Lilacs as big as houses--really! This must be some year for lilacs, because the town was filled with huge, lush lilac bushes, positively loaded with blooms. Alamosa is small with mostly older homes, many of which have at least one lilac that must have been planted around the same time as the home was originally built. Those bushes have grown into what could easily be called trees now, in many cases as tall as the homes they accompany. They were truly spectacular!
On Saturday we made the 80-mile drive south across the New Mexico border to have lunch in Taos. On the way we went through a town (not much more than a wide spot in the road) called Antonito, home to this impressive homage to recycling:
This is Cano's Castle, which is said to be created primarily of beer cans and hubcaps. It's...well, it's something else, that's for sure. Here's a close-up of the helpful health advice on the sign in the front:Duly noted.

The house next door (not pictured) is well on its way to being completely lined with beer bottles and the surrounding lots give any junkyard a run for its money. Small-town America kook at its finest!
Further down the road we went over the Rio Grande Gorge bridge, the fifth highest bridge in the United States and no place for the vertiginously-inclined.The view is impressive and were in the right place at the right time to see a group of river rafters hit the rapids just below the bridge:Wheee! We could actually hear them scream as the water went over the sides into the boat.

From there it was just a few more miles to Taos. We had lunch at a restaurant inside the historic Taos Inn, which still sports this awesome neon sign:I do believe over the course of this weekend I ate my weight in guacamole. Yum!

It was the Saturday after the school let out and traffic was bumper-to-bumper through town, which is small to begin with. The crowds and the looming black rainclouds cut our visit short and we headed back north across the border. This time we used a different route, which took us through the oldest town in Colorado, and then on to home.

I'm happy to report there was indeed some small-town thrifting! Pictures of my loot tomorrow.

Vintage strawberry pin love

Maren and I are off for a weekend in southern Colorado. I get to visit my grandparents and also my mom, who is there for the weekend as well! Hoping to sneak in a little small-town thrifting if I can. Before I go, I wanted to leave you with my new favorite vintage pin, picked up at the thrift yesterday.Don't those berries look just good enough to eat? I'm in love!

Wishing you all a lovely weekend!

Birds and squirrels

Nest update: We have babies!!Yesterday The Mister checked the nest and found that three of the five eggs had hatched, and by this morning chick #4 had appeared! They don't look like much--just a writhing pile of feathers and tiny open beaks--but we're fascinated just the same. I can't believe how fast that was; only about two weeks from eggs to babies. Oh, for a two-week incubation period! (says the 22-week pregnant lady, wistfully)

The nest has been the height of excitement around these parts lately. The bug that Maren brought home from one of the other little germ-factories at preschool went from my chest straight up into my sinuses, where I think it mutated into some sort of Squirrel Flu. It's not fatal like the Swine Flu, just more annoying and persistent.

(seriously, this headline slays me. Click here for the full story)

I'm on day six of being a mouth-breather and it will probably be a few more days until I'm completely shed of the need to blow my nose every 20 minutes. The worst thing about being sick while pregnant is not the fact that I can't take any drugs; it's that every time I feel a sneeze coming on I have to *brace myself* and *clench*--those of you who've been pregnant know exactly what I'm talking about, right?

Even my garage saling last weekend was cut short by the fact that I felt like squirrel poo, so my only score was four embroidered pillowcases that I can't even show you because they're still in the wash. Better than nothing, but far from the loot I was hoping for. I'm headed to visit my grandparents this weekend so perhaps a little small-town thrifting will make up for it!

Things I'm loving for Thursday

First, a Good Deal Alert!At Ulta this week you can purchase this cutie-pie OPI nail polish set for just $4.95! You get a full-size OPI polish in fun pink (called Short Shorts--hee!) that's perfect for toenails this summer, OPI Top Coat, and the fun little pink metallic wristlet bag. Considering that just the pink polish would set you back $9, that's one heck of a deal! You can purchase up to four at a time. What a great little treat for a friend, a teacher, or just to keep for yourself! (Local girls, this is what I'll be bringing to our Favorite Things Enrichment activity on May 21, if that's any incentive to be there!)

Today I'm also loving...

• These rainbow cupcakes from Baking Bites. I'm not usually one for baked goods that obviously contain a whole lotta food coloring, but I love these! What fun little treats. I love how the dollop of frosting on the top looks like a cloud!
• These gorgeous big flower clips from A Feathered Nest. I love how she has mixed and matched pieces from several flowers to make one big fluffy bloom. Love the idea of using a fabric-covered button for the center--in my opinion that makes them look like something that would be expensive at a department store. Of course these would be darling in a little girl's hair, but I'm thinking maybe I need a few too!
  
• For my fellow vintage button-lovers, check out this beautiful photo by Shanon Gass. She has offered it as a download for your desktop wallpaper--I've already installed mine! Shanon also offers the image as a print for purchase.

What are you loving today?

A Winner and some great deals

Yikes, I'm another day late in announcing the winner to my little "guess the sex" contest, so without further delay--

Heidi B, come on down!

Maren drew your name out of the Goblet of Fire and you're the winner of a package of blue things yet to be determined. :) Email me at fraulein_h AT hotmail etc. etc. with your address so I can get it in the mail to you!

To everyone, thank you again so much for your kind words and for sharing in my joy. :) Thank you also for the assurances that I'll be able to handle a boy! LOL Maren was a wild little girl, but somehow I think a boy will just be wild in a different way. It will be a fun challenge, though. I think the men in my family will have such fun teaching him to do "boy stuff"!

I know I've been complaining recently about the dearth of garage saling opportunities around here, but I've been somewhat assuaged by the fact that I've found garage sale-like prices at some retail stores lately! On Saturday I scored big at Target on some 75% clearance goodies. I found packages of these cute drawer handles marked down to just $5. Drawer hardware is normally ridiculously expensive, so I was excited to find these in pale pink and green. I have wanted to change out the handles on this little dresser since I bought it last year but the repro glass handles I really wanted were just more than I could stand to spend.Two clearance packages of green handles and a few minutes with a screwdriver were all it took to make me happy! They don't make a huge difference (I doubt The Mister has even noticed) but I love them and knowing I got a great deal makes it even better! I'm going to put the pink handles on a dresser in Maren's room, but that will be a bit more involved as it involves drilling new holes.At Target I also found this fun vintage-style coat hook and a couple of green acrylic knobs to match the drawer pulls. Don't know what I'll do with them quite yet, but I know that an opportunity will arise and for $1.24 each I couldn't pass them up.

Other Target deals: a great set of Bare Escentuals eyeshadows & brushes for $24.50 (50% off) and OPI nailpolish for $4 (also 50% off).

Yesterday I went to JoAnn's for curtain rings for another project and happened to find an aisle of cute ocean-inspired home decor for...75% off! Picked up this great vintage-looking green basket and this cute picture frame that go perfectly in my front room. I think I want to try making a Nester-inspired centerpiece out of the basket...hmm, may need to run back and pick up the smaller basket I saw so I can stack them.
The good news is that after five consecutive weekends of yucky weather, this one should be gorgeous! That means that all of the people who've been unable to hold their sales for the past month are probably itching to get rid of their junk, so the sales should be plentiful! The Mister is going to be in Monterrey, California for "work" (mmm..right) so Maren and I are going to hit the sales!

It's a...

BOY!!!

I thought it was a boy, and I was right! It looks like more people guessed boy on my last post, so I must be putting out some kind of 'boy' vibes. I'm excited and a little nervous--I'm a pretty girly girl, so having a boy will be a challenge for me! The baby looks perfectly healthy and it was fun to watch him swimming around on the u/s screen. I think we're going out to eat tonight to celebrate and we still have lots more phone calls to make to tell our family, so I'll choose my winner later and post who it is tomorrow. Thank you all for playing along and guessing! :)

Pink and Blue, all the way through

First, I promised you a contest!

Yesterday I hit the 20-week mark in my pregnancy. Halfway through, and it's all uphill from here, right? LOL I'm currently in that second trimester honeymoon period, where the *ick* has disappeared, my energy has reappeared, and I can still bend over to tie my shoes! Things are good. On Monday I have my 20-week ultrasound, and we're going to take Maren along so she can see the baby too. We're planning to find out the baby's sex, and we're excited to finally know so we can start talking about names and know if we have to redecorate the nursery!
So here's the contest--guess the baby's sex! All you have to do is leave a comment guessing whether I'll have a girl or a boy! On Monday after my appointment, I'll draw a winner from all the people who guessed the correct sex. At this point I'm not sure what exactly the prize will be, but I promise I'll pick something fun! How about--if it's a boy the prize will be blue and if it's a girl, the prize will be pink. You have until I get back from my ultrasound on Monday to enter!

Next up--more pink and blue in the form of the collage I made for the Marie Antoinette Bits & Baubles swap. I love working on these collages because it's so fun to go through all of my trinkets and stash to find things to fill 12 little squares. It's much less intimidating to fill a 3"x3" square than worry about a whole canvas! This one was especially delightful because of the theme--who doesn't love to work with sparkles, feathers, pinks and blues, and all manner of foof and frills?

Here's the finished collage:

and here are closeups of the two halves:
Some of the things I used have been in my stash for years--we're talking 10 or more! Projects like this are perfect for packrats like me!

The fog outside my window means we're gearing up for yet another weekend of lousy weather around here. Every single weekend in April has been wet in some form or fashion, and I've had just about e-damn-nough of it. I think we're having a case of "be careful what you wish for" because our Jan/Feb/Mar were bone dry and everyone was so worried about what that meant for our summer. Well, April took care of it all--we received 3.22" of water in April alone (out of 4.22" for the YTD) and I think most of that has fallen on a Friday, Saturday or Sunday! This is putting a serious damper on the start of the garage sale season.

My yard & garden are a total disaster but I can't plant anything yet, for fear that it'll get snowed upon again. This past week the "nice" days were beset by 30-mph wind gusts, making it less-than-ideal for digging in the dirt or even being outside at all. A few intrepid tulips and daffodils have made their way out of the ground and survived the snows, but for the most part it still looks brown and bare around here. This, folks, is why Spring is my least favorite season in Colorado. Bleh. I envy all of you who already enjoying gardens, flowers, and leaves on the trees! It feels like that is still a LONG way off for us.

Hope your weekend is sunny and dry!

Thursday things: daffodils and a silver egg

Nest update: No additional eggs today. Phew! It's going to be awfully crowded in that nest once the eggs hatch, even if the babies are tiny (the eggs are teeny!)

On my happy list for today are the bright yellow daffodils I have arranged in vintage blue glass canning jars throughout my house. They're like rays of sunshine in botanical form, aren't they?Now that I look at this photo, I realize I never blogged about the little silver object to the right in the photo, by the picture frame. I bought this little treat at Patina back when they had their sale a month ago. The item is a little silver toothpick holder that looks like an egg. Here's a close-up:There's a wee birdie head poking out of the egg, and the whole thing rests on a silver wishbone. A little bit curious but a whole lot charming, so it had to come home with me. As a bonus, it's monogrammed! Although I can't quite make out the second letter, it looks an awful lot like "M G" which are Maren's initials, so that clinched the deal for me. The shop owner told me that she had purchased this piece (and a few others) from an estate sale, where the original owner had a collection of something like 2000+ toothpick holders. Can you imagine?

Tomorrow I'll be back with a contest and hopefully my Marie Antionette swap partner will receive her package soon, because I'm dying to show you all the collage I made!

Estate sale loot

Nest update: There's another egg! That makes five total. Apparently Momma Bird is gunning to be my yard's version of Octomom. Really, it's getting crowded--I don't know how five little baby birdies are going to fit in that tiny nest!

The weather lately has not been conducive to the start of Garage Sale season. We've had lovely weather during the week and then by Friday afternoon it all falls apart. Last weekend I did happen to spot a sign for an Estate Sale on Friday morning not too far away so I packed up Maren and we went for a visit. Unfortunately, the previous owner was an older man, so there were none of the vintage craft supplies or lovely embroidered linens I always hope to find.

I did get lucky in the kitchen and found this great old jar for $1.The top is a bit vague as to the original contents, but I think it might have originally held applesauce. Take me home? Righty-o!

The woman running the sale also had a large amount of costume jewelry that was very reasonably priced--especially for an estate sale! I picked out a few treasures:I adore the wide rhinestone bracelet on the left. Now I just need somewhere fancy to wear it, as it might look a bit outre under the yellow rubber gloves I wear to do dishes and scrub toilets. Among my finds were two great old sparkly shoe clips, two bright enamel flowers in great condition, and a very old, very unusual bird pin (bottom center). It's made of metal but feels very light and the metal is soft. It's missing some stones but I think that just adds to the charm.

The weather this weekend is scheduled to be wet on Friday but hopefully it will clear up by Saturday morning. Mama needs her junk fix!

Oh, and I finally got sucked in and joined Facebook. I held out this long but the lure of sneaking peeks at old boyfriends finally got the better of me! I still don't know what I'm doing (I can barely manage a blog and an etsy shop, now I have one more thing to figure out) but if you want to be friends or whatever it's called, let me know!

Nesting

I was just tickled when Linda from My Vintage Soul contacted me to let me know that I won a giveaway on her blog! The package was waiting for me when I came home from Disneyland and opening it was just the icing on one big layer cake of a weekend!Like Christmas in April, I tell you. Maybe these beauties will be like priming the junk pump so I'll find lots of great vintage Christmas stuff this garage sale season. Thanks again, Linda--I love them!

Another thing I discovered upon our return last week was that a little birdie had built a nest into the (thrifted) wreath on my front door! At first I couldn't believe it was real, as we'd only been gone for a few days and most of those were filled with one heck of a Spring blizzard.
Sure enough, it's real, and it's interesting to see all the bits and pieces the bird used to construct the nest. I can see twigs, Easter grass, string, dryer lint, and lots and lots of hair (yuck).

I've been worried about the safety of the nest because my front door is banged open and shut all afternoon each day as Maren and the little girls next door play and go in and out of the house. I've been afraid that Momma Bird would abandon the nest for somewhere a little quieter. Not sure I could blame the poor thing--don't all of us mommas just wish for a little peace and quiet?I was surprised then to find two little eggs on Sunday morning when I went out for the paper! The Momma Bird flew away to the tree in the front yard, where I could hear her scolding me all the time it took me to run for my camera and lift Maren up to see the eggs for herself.

Yesterday there were three eggs! By this time I had decided to move the wreath to the wall of the house nearby where I normally have a plaque hanging. It wouldn't be far but it would be more secure than on the front door. I carefully moved the wreath but worried that even though it was just about 18" to one side, that perhaps the Momma Bird wouldn't find it or would be fed up and abandon the nest altogether.
This morning I opened the door to let a guest out and was delighted to find yet another egg! I'm relieved that Momma found her nest and didn't seem too bothered by its slight relocation. The eggs are teeny and the palest grayish-blue with speckles, much lighter in color than Shara's eggs. I wonder if there will be any more? It's getting kind of crowded in there! I do hope they hatch so we can see the babies.

I told Maren that we have to be careful and leave the nest alone, so we don't scare the Momma bird. She suggested that we buy a bird costume--that way we can sneak up on the nest, and the other bird won't see us. Brilliant! I think she's been watching too many cartoons, that one. When I asked her where we could get a bird outfit she replied, "The costume store, of course." Of course. Duh, Mom.