changes

I have been looking through my old posts about my home and collections.
I think it is a good thing to chronicle the every day things in one's life, it gives perspective.
I have changed.
A lot.
My priorities.
My tastes.
My interests.
My expectations.
Looking at past snapshots of my home tells me a lot more than what is seen in the photos.
It reveals a lot about me... to me!

But on the surface, and as far as what is in the photos, this is what I find--
I have eliminated lots of things in my life mostly by choice, but a tiny few by other circumstances.
For example:
1. Two ugly blue plaid love seats (always hated those), gone. Same for ugly red and blue plaid couch from other room, gone. Both were inherited and they provided a place to sit and no more than that as an attribute.
2. Raggedy Ann and Andy dolls and related paraphernalia, also gone for the most part and what is left (about 5% of the original collection), packed away.

3. Dishes, dishes, and more dishes... all inherited and some dragged in the house by other means. Now given away, or donated to charity. Out of my life.

4. Teddy Bears and dolls, but SO much more to get rid of by a variety of means. Always hated the inherited Teddy Bears. Sorry. The dolls, well, way too many. and besides, the girls don't want all those when they are out on their own anyway. Both Teddies and dolls have a lot of emotional guilt attached to them as far as feeling obligated to retain. No more. The guilt curse must be broken. Saying is way more easy than doing. So much guilt of the money that was spent (not by me) on such a non-useful item.

5. Why is it that people ( some direct person in my family tree) felt that spending money on certain things was to be considered an investment for when the stuff came to be mine? I say it was foolish wasteful use of funds. There, I said it. The economy may have been different once upon a time, but I have 2 sayings to conclude this point.
First-- What things are supposedly worth and what people are willing to pay for them are two VERY different points of reality.
Secondly-- Having a lot of useless "valuable" things means you just have to leave more behind when you are homeless.
Don't get me wrong, I am not planning on being homeless. Just sayin'. Think about it, and I think you will agree. In the height of the foreclosure era do you ever drive through an unfamiliar neighborhood and see empty houses and lots of stuff out at the curb? Did they choose to move out of a rental situation and simply did not want all that to follow them to their new destination? Or was it that a well settled family who went through unforeseen unfortunate times and a home foreclosure and had to leave stuff they had (like the 4 kids' favorite games and trophies or family heirlooms from 3 generations ago) because they had just so long to pack what they could fit into their cousins' basement who was kindly enough to take in the family under their crowded roof until something better comes along? I think of this stuff. A lot of my kids' friends have faced this. It's sad.

6. In general, as I look at the past photos of my home, I see that I have lightened the load of thinking that everything that comes into my life, by means other than my choice, does NOT have to stay in my life...or home. I have begun to look at purchasing ANYTHING with a different mindset. I continue to struggle with lightening the load even more. Time is the main factor in this. Sorting is the process. Things need different categories, you know the drill... sell, donate, give away, keep, trash it. Sometimes I think it is easier to just bring in a dumpster like the ones they use when you get a new roof and grab a snow shovel and open a window, start scooping and chuck it all out. YES I AM EXAGGERATING... yet, you get my point.

7. There are many more specifics regarding changes about which items have been used, displayed, or stored within my environment, but the conclusion is... at this stage of my life, less is more. I am utterly and completely comfortable in other people's homes that have lots of furniture and knick-knacks (chatchkies), or paper build up (I will never be free from that myself!), or a lived in slightly untidy cluttered (yet clean) atmosphere. I am absolutely and completely 100% comfortable with that at other people's homes....just not mine...because to me it represents my own expectations with myself and what I want to accomplish for my life.

My family and friends all live somewhere in the middle between an episode of hoarders vs. a sterile surfaced, temperature controlled, air filtered bubble. I don't know anyone personally at either extreme end of that scale. I could never be comfortable anywhere that is an ultra minimalist-type home. I could never live that way nor could I feel cozy to sit for 5 minutes at a home that does live that way. You know the kind... 1)where there are no pictures anywhere, 2) no mail or bills sitting about needing attention, 3)no kid art gracing, maybe, the front of the refrigerator or displayed proudly somewhere prominently, 4) no blanket tossed over the end of the couch, 5) no dish or two waiting to be washed after Sunday brunch ( but if they sit one minute too long I go crazy), 6) no laundry waiting to be done, or 7)no trace of dust (temporarily!!)somewhere near the wood burning fireplace to write your name in along side a smiley face, or..... you get the idea, right?

vignettes

Collections... under a sepia tone world map clock. White ironstone pitchers. Thrifted red books with great old covers that feel better than any modern-ebook-thingy can ever feel.

Pheasant feathers in a vintage small crock. Birch. More vintage red books.

Rustic cottage sign (more about this one later) against brick.

And the tell-tale signs of 3 children living in this house. Need I say more??

How to dress a thrifty chair

( My chair waiting to be dressed.)

The chair pictured above is my chair. I have 6 of them. They have been living with me for a few years. They were adopted from the curb of a rich neighborhood in my town. They looked so sad sitting there on the curb. I could see they had potential. They were so glad to come live with me. They have been dressed in many varying fabrics for their cushions.

By the way, the chairs have always been painted in a creamy white and they are kind of chippy which comes naturally at my house with anything painted around 3 kids. I was shabby chic before it was chic.

(My chair dressed in blue.)

I recently dressed them in some beautiful light blue faintly striped damask fabric. Lovely, but I am just not loving it right now in my home. Luckily the huge roll of beautiful light blue fabric was a $2 find at a garage sale so no kidneys were sold for the benefit of dressing the chairs.

Back to trying to decide what to dress them in... I am thinking of maybe some neutral fabric or pillow ticking possibly. I am yearning for a calmer neutral color scheme. I don't think I will do the light blue table theme this year and besides, the tablecloth might be handed off to live with someone else. Hey!, Maybe someone else will cut up the table cloth and make seat covers out of it?!
The best thing about fabric and seat covers is they are NEVER permanent. You could change them with the seasons or the days of the week.

If you have the time!

 I have been painting thrifty find furniture for years now and have been wanting to paint more of the pieces living with me. They have been begging, I mean patiently waiting, for a coat of artsy paint. But that all takes time. Time, my eternal theme in life.

Halloween is coming, roses are fading

Surprised that this post isn't filled with little pumpkins with silly expressions carved into them and cute little witches? That's because I am getting ready (hopefully soon) to unpack the Halloween storage tub any minute (when I find a free minute).

In the meantime, I thought I would snap a few pics of how my bathroom has looked for the end of summer. Thrifty antique roses postcards and tins. The postcards are fun as some have writing on the back. The tins remind me of being at my grandma's house. Did/does your grandma have tins?

Grandma kept lots of things in tins. One for buttons, one for zippers, harvested from clothing that had been retired. Did you ever have a grandma or great grandma who harvested zippers or lace or buttons off things? Do grandmas still do that today? Maybe not so much as those depression era grandmas. I have been known, now and again, to buy a 25 cent shirt at a rummage sale just to harvest some great buttons that would sell on their own new for $10-$20!

My favorite use of tins at Grandma's house was when she would layer homemade cookies in between layers of waxed paper. Mmmmmm! Except the ones with red and bright green dried fruit in them like what goes in fruitcake. Those cookies, not so good. I guess even Grandma couldn't hit it out of the park every time!

Don't you love finding freebies like rose paintings and sweet cherub prints, that all seem to get along together well-- even though they were not found together when acquired?

Fun how that works, huh? So this is how my bathroom has been greeting its visitors of late. But now it is time for a more whimsical seasonal change. The kids are looking forward to the Halloween novelties decor slightly more than they anticipated the roses theme.

PS- I am dragging out the traditional Halloween stuff for the kids' benefit. I have a few black and white and very glittery things that I made and some gifts I was given a few years ago that will be my favorites again this year. Think crows! A little "Martha look" and Alfred Hitchcock mixed together.

dust bunnies and cob webs are a decorator's friend

Do you ever use the excuse that you need to rearrange absolutely everything to dust properly? Ok so maybe I'm just weird that way. I have been told I am weird for many reasons, but we won't go into that just now.

Yesterday the sun was shining and I love that. But that happy bright sun has an evil side. It shows all the cob webs and dust bunnies. You don't have those? I'm happy for you --now go away! Just kidding.



I love to rearrange things. Furniture and "stuff".
"Blame it on the doll house that Santa brought", my mom always said. I got one when I was in 1st grade. You know, metal with plastic colored furniture? I was constantly changing it all around. Even putting the kitchen in the bathroom and the bathroom in the living room. Now that's weird for sure. But fun, admit it! I can't be that creative in real life but I can change lots of other things around my real house without someone calling for the men in white coats to take me away.

This sewing machine went to live at my brother's house for a while. When I was about 9, Santa brought me a mini, real working sewing machine. Good grief... my smile wrapped around the back of my head that year  when the wrapping paper was torn off !

So now there is a new arrangement and a few less dust bunnies and cob webs about.

Good thing they come back. Good, you say? Yes. That way I can change things yet again!

How often do you rearrange "stuff" and make new vignettes?

Post note: The things shown were given to me and nearly all of it has subsequently gone on to live at someone else's house (my brothers and I trade things back and forth), or they have been sold off. The old books were my great grandmother's (I still have those) and have her name handwritten inside the cover with the dates they were received. looking at them is kind of like a time capsule of a simpler time before all our connectedness to so much technology. I have a fondness for old thread spools that are wood and for old sewing books. One year for Christmastime I took all the red and green wooden spools of thread and piled them inside a clear glass canning jar with hinged lid...I had more positive comments on the uniqueness factor of that, than on the beauty of the live Christmas tree.

a dish of art

My ATCs (artistic trading cards) I have made, in a glass vintage 1920's powder dish, with vintage dictionaries in the background.

another year

(My collection of vintage record album covers with wonderful happy idyllic family scenes)

Another year of Christmas hullabaloo is done. Don't get me wrong, I am sure many new memories were made and all had fun. It's just that since I have been a grown up, and even more so since I've been a mom, it is all so different at Christmas time. Now I am the one in charge of the magic making. The one behind the curtain, like the great Oz. I admit sometimes it's tough. I want to be the kid again, observing the magic and believing.

I long for the feeling of being a child at Christmas time to rush over me again. That feeling is worth more than gold. When you're a kid you take it for granted or you do not even know you have it. But you do!


Yes, I enjoy the process of making memories for my own kids. I just miss the old days. That's allowed. That is why I surround myself with things and images that make me feel comfort, like these silly record album covers. They just speak to me.

(N.'s collection of nutcrackers, and E.'s hand made Mandela type snowflakes)

N. has always had a fascination with nutcrackers. He has received all these as gifts throughout the years. On Christmas day I took my Santas out of my red cupboard and put his collection and the little tree with his nutcracker ornaments on it up on top. He was so thrilled to see his collection displayed in a new place and the smile on his face as he stood there, and each time he walked by, said it all. I had just made a memory for him!! That's what it's all about.

(Japan elves, my hand quilled snowflakes, and a silk hankie with a perfect winter couple)

My Grandma had made in Japan elves like these. To look at them in my home makes me recall the cozy days at her house during the holidays. She did not decorate every inch of the house as many people seem to do in my generation. She decorated the living room. The room where it all happened. Everything. She had no family room or den. The living room was the place. It was decorated with an aluminum tree and color wheel, items along the fireplace mantle and on top of the big console TV cabinet. The cabinet was big, not the TV itself.

The decorations were perfect. Perfectly enough. I never thought to question, "Why isn't there more?"

(my kids decorate the doll house each year)

This December involves weeding out many of the decor items as we sort through it all --giving some away and donating some. I have decided to have the kids do more of the decorating next year, not just being in charge of the doll house. They will decide what is enough. The kids will make it their own and decide what to love.

( the kitchen window sill )

I also changed the window sill display on Christmas day. I do a lot of thinking at the sink in the kitchen in front of this window. I needed a change. I get bored with it quickly and easily. I was suddenly struck by the fact that I needed it to be Winter instead of Christmas in that spot. So some milk glass was moved here from another area. It feels better now. I can't explain why.

(vintage game boxes)

I am a big fan of games that families play together that require no batteries or electricity to enjoy, thus the fascination I have always held for vintage games. That and the fact that the color on the packaging and game boards is just different, bright and fun. The photo is a group that's sitting atop my corner cupboard. But I keep some of my kids' board games out of the game closet at all times, sitting ready for play, often rotating some out for new choices. A spontaneous game of Chutes and Ladders can bring a smile to me any time. I have found that if I open the box they will come!! They, meaning one of my kids or 2 or 3. More memory making and laughter.

( house ornaments)

My Mom was a collector of these house ornaments. Each one has the year marked somewhere on the house. On the back you can look inside to the 3 dimensional rooms. After she died I continued to buy one each year, often going without something in order to fit it's purchase into the budget. They are not horribly expensive but still a luxury, in my opinion. I did not buy one this year. Maybe someday I will be able to find one on line, since this is the first year I have missed one. N. looks forward to unpacking them and carefully taking the protective box inserts apart to reveal each one. He put them on the window sill in the living room this year. And yes, those are all my paper snowflakes I have cut by hand with no patterns. Some have been hung on the windows every year for 17 years!!

So another year of Christmas has come and gone. We have new memories and the comfort of decor from years before. We had a Christmas without spending money. B was off work for 8 weeks and we were without his regular pay. Every dollar I had squirreled away for emergency times like this had to be spent just before his surgery to put a new engine in my car. Talk about an unexpected expense! We make every penny count at our house and to be without regular pay you find ways to survive somehow. We were blessed to have many good friends and neighbors who helped to make the Christmas season one of fun for the kids. They brought gifts from Santa and seemingly unending deliveries of trays of home baked sweets and other food. We were even given a turkey for Christmas dinner.

Friends, family and memories. That's what it's all about.

holiday decor

The kitchen window sill is sporting red and white. Can you believe these candles were from the dollar store a few years ago? I can't bring myself to burn them. Isn't that silly?! I made the red paper ball. They are so fun to make and can be done in any size or color or patterned paper. You just cut a lot of circles, fold them so they have triangle centers and glue them together to form a ball. My friend, Sharon, taught me how to make them. The greeting cards are from the 1940's and the one with the tree sticking out of the car was signed from my Mom to my Dad in 1947.

This snowman candy jar is a treasured item that I grew up with each year for as long as I can remember. I couldn't wait for it to be unwrapped from the newspaper that protected it inside the box of Christmas decorations stored away since the Christmas before. I have continued to fill it each holiday season with peppermint nougats, like my mom did. Sometimes when I was little I remember my mom would fill it with ribbon candy, but I can't always seem to find ribbon candy in the stores. When I do, I get very excited. I love Mr. Snowman, dirty Styrofoam face and all.

I have been looking for my felt elves with the plastic faces. They are still packed up somewhere with the other Christmas stuff. I love Christmas elves because my Grandma's house was decorated with the same little felt ones from Japan, called knee huggers. She also had an aluminum tree in the corner of her living room with the color wheel that would spin and cast a different colorful glow against the tree as it turned.

I tucked this folding snowman card on the porch of the doll house. The kids have not yet decorated it this year and I thought it looked a little bare and neglected. Click here-the doll house decorated in the past.

N. commented, "A Snowman on a porch???Oh Mom!!!!"

holiday decorating with old books

The Santa book is from the 1950's and has flocking on the cover for Santa's mittens and hat. The open book is one of a series from the 1940's about three girls named Flicka, Dicka and Ricka. I love the colors of the illustrations. The book, A String of Blue Beads, was given to my Great Aunt in the 1950's. It is one of my favorite stories and is a twist on The Gift of the Magi story.
I read it over and over again as a child.


I really love these big old books. They are very tattered on their leather covers. The photo in the frame is of my Dad opening one of his Christmas gifts in 1967. I made the 3 dimensional Carolina snowflake. The book, The Shiniest Star, is one that Santa brought to me when I was in about kindergarten or so. It has wonderful illustrations and pop up pages. I remember holding it in my lap and running my finger over the embossed metallic star on the cover. I was always careful handling it and the plastic spiral binding is still very sound. The little pamphlet near the photo frame was featured on a previous blog post (here) and is just a hoot of fun vintage ephemera.

This is a great book. I like the ratty dust cover because it shows it was well loved. It holds significance for me as, when I was a child, my Mom sold personally engraved Christmas cards and wedding invitations in our home or other people's homes for several major greeting card companies. I would often go with her on her outings before Christmas time and many of her regular customers would sit me down with home made cookies and a glass of milk while they looked through the sample books and chatted away for what seemed like hours.

This Snowbound book is on display in different areas in my home until sometime in February each year. I love winter and being snowbound. I remember as a child how people would stock up on bread and milk when a storm was on its way to the point of emptying the grocery store shelves in a panic. I always thought it was exciting to anticipate a big snowed in storm. We often cooked in our big fireplace, while keeping warm when snowstorms downed tree branches, heavy with the weight of snow, knocking the power out-- for sometimes days. These days that happens less frequently in our heavily wooded area. Once the leaves fall each year, some crazy tree trimmers, hired by the town, come and trim (butcher) the trees that surround power lines to the point of ugliness.

The green books are from the 1920's and were my Grandfather's. A red taffeta ribbon dresses them for the holidays. I see from looking at this photo that I need to add some pine sprigs from the yard to the silver berries so it looks more full and complete. Do you ever see things after you take a photo that you didn't notice before?

Look through your own books and see if you can add them to your seasonal decor.

777 posts and What's on the corner cupboard?

It's amazing to think about...my last post was number 777. Can you believe it? I can't! I wonder how many of them were interesting and attention keeping? I hope a few, anyway.

Soon it will be time to clear off my red corner cupboard shelves and put my vintage Christmas thingies out for display. Why not take a peek at what has been collecting dust, errr...I mean...displayed there lately? These things all just happened, more than being consciously planned. Does that ever happen at your house?

The old book Freddy and the Fire Engine is from the 1920's and is a favorite find. I love the colors of the graphics, the feel of the old pages... and the fact that my own brother is a brave firefighter.

I have a weird thing for old Fisher Price toys. I like the 1960's best, but also enjoy the 1970's. The Fisher Price radio is one that someone was throwing away because their kids out grew it (many decades ago). It still plays music.

All 3 of my kids seem to accumulate small bouncy balls (in my day we called them super balls)and although the cat thinks it's fun to have them randomly scattered throughout the house, I don't. They ended up being corralled nicely into a glass candy shop jar.

The 2 old Boy Scout books were also being thrown away by some person who thinks that any book still not on the top 10 best seller's list is much too old to bother with...so of course it now lives happily in my house among the other tattered adopted books. Since N. is now a Cub Scout he enjoys a look at what was being done in scouting even before his Daddy was born, and that's reeeeally olllld!

The red tin was my Mom's and she always had it in the kitchen filled with all those Betty Crocker points things that you tear off boxes and labels. I don't think she ever really sent them in to redeem for anything. I think it had something to do with the fact that you could buy most of those offered items somewhere locally in the store and not pay the shipping fee.

The vintage music sheets are only taped up to the back of the shelves, so they can be changed when I feel like exerting the effort at some point. I have loved the look for a while now and credit my friend, Sharon, for the idea. Thanks Sharon!

I will do a little photo shoot of all 3 shelves once it is dressed for Christmas. Stay tuned!

What's on the table?

I was given these place mats as a gift several years ago and I love the boldness of the snowflake graphic. I also adore the fact that they are red and white. I received a red and white table cloth along with them. I was ready to get it out and shake it across the table. When I saw how the place mats looked just laying on the blue table cloth, that was left over from our Thanksgiving set up, I liked how it looked. So I will allow the snowflake mats to dress up the blue cloth for awhile longer before breaking out the red and white snowflake table cloth.



I added some red candles, replacing the orange ones from Thanksgiving. For the center, a rack of pretend red apples. I often have a milk glass bowl or compote filled with real apples in the center of my table. It encourages the family to grab one for a snack because of sheer convenience, being right in plain sight, instead of chips or something else. Especially nice are the tiny sized apples that fit easily in even a child's hand and make a quick snack.... but back to the pretend apples shown here. These apples have been in our family for generations. They were displayed in many different milk glass holders by my Mom as I was growing up. I remember all my nephews and my own children, as toddlers, played with them. They have been thrown, rolled, bounced, used while "playing house", slobbered on, washed and dusted-- all in between being used as pre-Martha Stewart era home decor props. They have real history.

Now I keep them in a rack which is probably supposed to be a cupcake rack. I don't bake! Cupcakes come into my house one of 2 ways, 1.from the store in a plastic clam shell container to promptly get eaten before said cupcakes can be transferred to a rack to fake that I baked them, or 2. from a neighbor who does bake, and in such case, delivered upon a lovely plate, platter or tray from which they are promptly gobbled up. Done!

When the kids had set the table for Thanksgiving they found that the cloth was too long, so they tied knots at the corners. It solved the problem and also kept the cloth in place on the table better, with less shifting.

What's on your table?

teenage invasion

I am one of those moms that loves to have the kids (teenagers) gather at my house. That's what happened again over the weekend. Oh the roller coaster ride that is daily mom-to-teens life!

So this was the scene when the old gang was all back together again. Forget what you have heard about baby proofing a room, that's easy. The room that is teenager proofed is much more thought-filled on the part of a mom. You learn these things after the pop is spilled a few times. I wouldn't have it any other way though as I love the noise and laughter that comes with this group. First up was playing Rock Band. Loud. Is there any other way? It is fun to see them sing and play the songs from my teen age years which this Rock Band thing has made cool again! If not for that the teens would say, "Oh that old song. YUK!" But instead "my music" is on their good music list.


Amazingly A. even managed to get some reading time in, and Cali the cat and Jewel the bird looked on as the noise continued. Notice the covers on the furniture which were still trying to come off and have potential pop spill area revealed.

Throughout the night they ate and ate and ate. This goes along with teens and noise. I think teens have a missing switch which tells a brain and stomach "you are full". They went through 3 bags of pizza rolls, most of a 12 pack of pop, chips and salsa, snack mix, chips and a box of cream puffs. So good that the kids always show up with food to share. They have smart moms!! Actually they brought more food than that, and they would have easily eaten it all if it had just been put in front of them! It will be saved for some party to come soon at whichever house they gather. There are plenty of gatherings when food makes things more fun.

N. came home from a day at Scout camp and was thrilled the whole gang was there and stuff was in full swing.  N. loves to hang out with the teens --and what 9 year old little brother wouldn't? Luckily the teens happily allow him to hang out with them. No problem.

After Rock Band time was done it was time to bring out the karaoke machine and everyone got super silly!! And did I mention the noise level? Loud!

Friends hamming it up with the microphone.

Once again, a modern invention makes the old songs from my time seem cool!

It cracks me up when the teens think a song is new when it is used in a current movie or is done by a new artist as a remake. I always have to be a lame parent and say, "Hey that is actually from the 1970s and I was in (fill in the blank) grade in school during those years, and my friends were...Blah blah blah..."

Like I said- lame parent.

The singing continued until about 10:00 and then they settled in for some movie time.

And more food.

The gang all left about midnight and I sent the leftover and unopened food and pop back home with them, along with their imported entertainment devices (karaoke and Rock Band). I love that they have so much fun, and how lucky am I that all I have to provide is the home (with covered furniture) and the electricity (for all the loudness)!!

I hope they come back again next weekend.