Suitcase Art

2012 Week Five Goals

2012-01-29T13:39:00.000-08:00

Reading: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. Page 400.

House: Finish organizing the office and designate a space to set up the light box.

Creative: more stamp projects!

This week and more...

2012-01-28T09:50:00.000-08:00

Well I didn't make it to any more thrift stores this week but for good reason, and after all there's always next week. Yesterday I dropped by my parents' house before running my errands and ended up taking my Mom with me which made all the errands that much more enjoyable.

When we were done our friend Marilyn swung by since she was in the neighborhood and we had a nice visit before I had to run home to let Wicket out and spend a couple hours with Richard before he headed back to work to chaperone the middle school dance. When Richard left for work I scooped up Wicket and the two of us spent the evening with my parents and their dog Daisy. It was a lovely end to a busy week.

I'm only halfway to my page goal in my book this week, but I have to work this evening so I'm hoping to read a bit after I get the girls to bed. And I certainly made good use of my new stamp pot for my project this week, and I can't wait to do more.

Thrift Shops and Birthdays

2012-01-26T07:56:00.000-08:00

It's been a busy week that started with a trip up to Port Washington to visit Beth in her new apartment, explore her new neighborhood, and hit up some thrift shops. Downtown Port is quite adorable, and I'm sure Beth is going to love how walkable the area is because I know we both miss that aspect of Oshkosh. We stumbled into a new little vintage shop called Mobocracy which had some great clothes and custom jewelry.

We did make it to the Saint Vinny's thrift store, but I only found one thing I couldn't live with - a floral enamel pot I plan to use for removing used postage stamps from old envelopes.

Then yesterday was H's birthday and we made and decorated some cupcakes.

The inspiration came from these frog cupcakes from a Disney Princess cupcake book and I think the girls made some adorable frogs.

But Miss H had some other ideas.

Today Tia is coming over for lunch and I'm planning a solo jaunt for some errands tomorrow and hopefully I'll have enough time to swing by another thrift store, what can I say - I'm a little predictable.

2012 Week Four Goals

2012-01-22T17:14:00.000-08:00

Reading: Begin A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin. Try for page 200 by weeks' end.

House: Well, it's not technically the house - but clean out the car and give the inside a good vacuum.

Creative: Stamp project.

Imminent Snow

2012-01-19T19:55:00.000-08:00

My plans with Beth for tomorrow have been delayed because of imminent snow. Isn't that always the case with winter in Wisconsin? I'm still hoping to get out for a couple hours in the morning to run a couple of quick errands before returning to the fort to bunk down for some projects and house work, and probably end the night with a stay-in movie night with Richard.

I managed to swing by my parents' house after work today to pick up just a few things of mine, including a new-to-me George Forman grill that I'm looking forward to testing out (some new recipes perhaps?), but I decided to forgo picking up the framed artwork because carrying large pieces of glass over icy driveways did not entice me at all.

Truthfully I will not mind the snow all that much this weekend. I've already rescheduled my day with Beth and we don't have any plans that involve going very far, so it's a good enough time to stay inside and work on projects and the house.

Thrift store hopping and hoping

2012-01-17T17:27:00.000-08:00

Well, it's a new year and now that the rush of all the holidays is over I've been settling into our home routine. But to be honest it feels like it's missing a bit of something.

And I'm fairly certain the missing factor is thrift shopping, estate sale browsing and yard sale hopping. With all the gearing up for the holiday and gift shopping I had to forgo the occasional thrift store stop, and the thrill of the hunt just wasn't there. Seeing as it is winter in Wisconsin there certainly won't be yard sales any time soon and while I've already made plans for this year's 100-mile-yard-sale that's still months away.

In the meantime I'll go out this Friday with Beth to some stores a few towns over and hope to have good luck...and a good lunch!

2012 Week Three Goals

2012-01-15T17:13:00.000-08:00

Reading: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. No, really, just finish the book.

House: Pick up the things from my old room at my parents' house. Hang up my print of Circe Invidiosa by John William Waterhouse.

Creative: It may not seem creative, but I really want to sort through at least one of my small boxes of found odds and ends, perhaps something with inspire me but mostly I'm hoping to rediscover some old treasures and rid myself of some old junk.

Sunday, Lazy Sunday

2012-01-15T15:29:00.000-08:00

It's been a lazy Sunday in our house, visiting with friends Beth and Ben and making plans for the next week.

Even though the past week was busy I did manage to get to all of this week's projects but one - reading. But right after I finish writing I plan to go curl up with Wicket and settle into my book.

On Wednesday a strange triangular package arrived at our house and Richard had me open it after I got home from work. Inside was a "late Christmas present," a large Mucha poster of "Moon" which I cannot wait to build a frame for and put up in the Office. We've already hung up two new pieces in the living room which is really helping to make the house look more like our own.

Thursday marked our first real snow of 2012, and Wicket enjoyed herself immensely running around the back yard and trying to catch the falling flakes. Since we were stuck inside all day I busied myself making some olive tapenade and organizing the kitchen, but that evening Richard and I went to my first ever professional basketball game to see the Bucks play Detroit and had a wonderful time.

Tomorrow Richard has a day off of school for MLK day and we don't exactly have plans but I'm sure we'll do plenty of house projects.

2012 Week Two Goals

2012-01-08T08:04:00.000-08:00

Reading: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. Currently page 790 and want to finish (page 969).

House: Put together the new printer table for the office. Build the shoe holder for my closet.

Creative: Frame some art and photos to start really decorating our house.

DIY candle recycling

2012-01-07T20:10:00.000-08:00

I started working on my creative project this week (a new jewelry holder) only to discover that at some point the paint I was planning to use had frozen so it was completely useless and because I didn't have time to get to the hardware store I just decided to do a different project that I had all the materials on hand for - a recycled candle.

In this house we love candles, especially the ones from (of all places) Bath and Body works which burn so cleanly and smell so lovely. But they are pricey and I do get tired of the quarter to half inch of wax that is inevitablly left in the bottom when the wicks have burned down.

I combined three candle remnants of various apple scents into the smaller holder (I have other plans for the big one) and decided to layer them to see what sort of look I could achieve. I can honestly say I've learned that I should wait for each layer to fully cool before pouring in the next, but otherwise it's a perfectly nice candle we have burning on the coffee table right now.

Read on for the how to...

Supplies

Wicks
Wick Clips
Candles (on hand)
holder (on hand)
pot and water on the stove

The steps are easy

1) If the candles are in glass holders (as mine were) place them into a pot with about an inch of water on the stove and slowly turn up the heat to melt the wax.

2) Have an empty candle holder (or pretty vintage tin) to pour into, and after putting a sufficient length of wick through the holder crimp the nub to hold in place and put a small dab of hot wax on the back to "glue" it to the bottom of holder.

3) I jerry-rigged a pencil and rubberband to hold the wick upright while pouring in the wax, although I'm sure there's a more professional method I like mine just fine.

4) Pour in the wax and let cool at least a day before trimming the wick and lighting the candle.

5) That's it.

All in all a rather cheap project which only helps to prolong the use of something we already had.

2012 Week One Goals

2012-01-03T08:03:00.000-08:00

As outlined in my general new years post I want to make three goals for myself each week (this is something I already do, but want to remember to blog about it this year) in the areas of Reading, household projects and creative projects. So here we are, week one and technically already late, but my objective is to finish by Saturday and begin week two on Sunday. So here goes.

Reading: Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. Currently on page 604 and want to get to at least page 800.

House: Crate organizers for kitchen cart.

Creative: Paint and assemble new jewelry holder.

Happy, Happy New Years!

2012-01-01T09:10:00.000-08:00

Happy, Happy New Years to you!

I don't often make what I would consider real new year's resolutions. It's usually more of a list of things I'd like to accomplish and places I'd like to go in the next year. So in the spirit of looking forward here is a small list of things I want to do and plans to be made.

Take Tia to St. Paul to meet Jeff and Jennie (and the little one!) in May and go on our third (and Tia's first) trip through the 100-mile yard sale. This year - we're so prepared.
Complete 25 crafty projects. Anything and everything counts here but the stipulation is that I remember to take photos and chronicle things right here.
Write more letters. Also, find some pretty, lined stationary so I can stop writing either at a slant or on boring old notebook paper.
Blog more often. I still keep a handwritten journal so sometimes I forget I have things to share rather than keeping them all to myself.
Be more timely about my coupon clipping and better organized about keeping track of our coupon savings and making sure it gets into the long-term savings account.
Build my basement darkroom and get back to using film more often.
Read 20 books.
Learn how to better utilize social media.
Set three weekly goals (reading, house, and creative) on Sundays and complete by the following Saturday.

Today's only goal? Enjoy the last of our time off before we both head back to work, maybe tidy up the office and clip some of those coupons and toss all the ones that expired.

not yet the new year and already longing for spring

2011-12-31T05:58:00.000-08:00

Surely I am not the only one who is already itching for spring before we've even undecorated the christmas tree.

Perhaps part of that was buying slightly wilted and over-priced basil at the supermarket for our New Year's Eve Dinner and longing for the days when I had a little boxed herb garden on the sill of my kitchen window.

So to appease my longing for spring I've pulled some rather inspiring shots of indoor "gardens."

Hopefully soon enough our kitchen will be less of a construction zone and better lend itself to putting up my own new windowsill garden.

Holiday countdown

2011-12-27T19:38:00.000-08:00

Just a week left before Richard is back to school, and just six days till I'm back at work, but we're still making the most of our time.

Richard and Chris hung the microwave over the stove and have thus cleared out valuable counter space in the kitchen. We finished painting the inside of the pantry (aka former broom closet) yesterday and Richard cut and installed the shelves today so we can finally put away all of our groceries and get one step closer to a fully organized kitchen.

Tomorrow Wicket gets her second haircut and I'll try to get some errands done while I'm on that side of town. Then we're having some family time and a triple date with my parents, sister and her boyfriend, and going to see the new Sherlock movie tomorrow night. I love going to the movies during holidays, its just one of those things that's enjoyable to do with the family when the weather has turned cold.

Hopefully after tomorrow I can get around to taking some house progress shots to share.

Happy, Happy Christmas

2011-12-26T17:49:00.000-08:00

I'm sure we're not the only ones who feel like we could settle in for a long winter's nap after the excitement of yesterday's Christmas festivities.

We had an amazing time with family, and even Wicket spent all day playing with her "canine cousins" Daisy and Muffin. Needless to say - all three of us are completely wiped out.

Today I was able to spend time with my sister who is home from college for break and I'm looking forward to seeing her again on Wednesday before she heads out again. Otherwise we anticipate fully utilizing Richard's time off from school to work on house projects and get started on the basement, so wish us luck. The pantry project has begun, and I certainly hope that by this time tomorrow I'll be safely stowing our food away and off the kitchen counter.

And Winter Break Begins!

2011-12-21T19:45:00.000-08:00

Today was the last day of school before winter break which means there's one prominent feeling in the air around our house: relief.

Aside from some last minute shopping we plan to get done tomorrow morning we're looking forward to some lovely downtime. Our breezy tomorrow will also consist of some dog sitting for a friend, and we can't wait for Buddy to come over - he and Wicket always have a grand time playing together. And when tomorrow is said and done we're just looking forward to spending the holidays with our friends and families and giving numerous house tours to out of town visitors.

There really aren't any photos to share from the past weekend as we spent most of the time doing little projects around the house like hanging shelves and organizing kitchen cabinets. We did get started on the kitchen pantry, but it still has a few steps before our food can reside there. All in all this home feels more and more like our home with every passing day.

After some much needed rest today I'm now feeling a bit on the restless side so I'm listening to some holiday music and tackling some paperwork and general tidying up at my desk until its time for bed... which isn't as far off as I think it is.

Getting ready for Christmas

2011-12-13T12:49:00.000-08:00

Buying our first real Christmas tree!

All lit up and ready for presents.

Post-decorating snuggles.

Adventures in Applesauce

2011-12-12T10:35:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we cracked into the very last jar of applesauce from last year, so it's a good thing Richard used the last of our bushel of apples to can eight more jars last weekend.

Wicket was very interested in getting some of those apple scraps.

The finished jars, all ready to store in the pantry... as soon as we put shelves in the pantry.

The beginning of the end

2011-12-09T19:47:00.000-08:00

As the end of the year approaches the days just get busier and busier!

We spent Thanksgiving in Michigan visiting grandparents and cousins.

We ushered for opening night of Christmas Carol at the Pabst with Grandpa W, Chris, and Tia.

This weekend we're continuing our tradition of dinner with friends and walking Candy Cane Lane before retiring to a fire and some Tom and Jerrys.

Thrifted Finds

2011-11-11T06:41:00.000-08:00

On the way home from work a couple weeks ago I stopped by a yard sale (the signs promised it was *HUGE*) and while there wasn't much that attracted me I did manage to come home with a couple of gems.

The young girl who had her own tarp set out with all her own stuff to sell had plenty of horse themed items. I managed to spy a book by Margerite Henry, the Milwaukee native who wrote Misty of Chincoteague among many other horse books. She worked quite frequently with illustrator Wesley Denis whose work I absolutely adore, so I picked up the well worn copy with binding falling off so I could pull out the illustrations inside.

And the simple loveliness of a couple of old milk bottles which I couldn't pass up. I don't know what it is about the milk bottles that keeps attracting me every where I go, but at a quarter a piece for these two I didn't question it. If nothing else they'll make adorable vases.

But now I must stop my blogging break to go unpack some more boxes!

DIY Apple Chips

2011-11-10T15:12:00.000-08:00

Last week I whipped up some spoon butter which has done wonders for the wooden tools and table in our kitchen but this week I went with something actually edible - apple chips.

As soon as I got out the peeler Wicket positioned herself underneath it waiting for some scraps to fall.

The peeler made quick work as it cored and sliced the apple all in one step. Then into the dehydrator they went for a few hours.

I made the first batch on Tuesday, and when Tia came over today we made a second batch, this time with sugar and cinnamon, so we have plenty to share.

DIY Spoon Butter

2011-11-05T18:42:00.000-07:00

There's a wonderful wooden bowl in our kitchen that we received as a wedding gift from one of my cousins that I absolutely love to pieces. Usually I care for it by rubbing it down with mineral or olive oil every so often but lately I noticed that my habits weren't really cutting it any more. Of course I found the answer on Pinterest - Spoon Butter.

I picked up a pound of natural beeswax last week at Michaels Crafts, and picked up a new bottle of mineral oil from the supermarket while grocery shopping the other day, so on Tuesday in between loads of laundry and unpacking I whipped it up in the kitchen. And then Wicket and I took a walk over to my in-law's to borrow a ring and lid because I still haven't unpacked most of our canning supplies and really I'm not quite sure where they are.

I cut off roughly a quarter of the block of beeswax but used my postal scale to be a tiny bit more accurate in my measuring. I've already rubbed it onto my prized wooden bowl and I'm trying it on a corner of the kitchen butcher block table before I coat the whole thing.

Cost Breakdown
- One pound natural beeswax (from Michael's Crafts in the candle making section with 40% coupon) - $10
- Mineral oil (Pick N'Save) - $2.50
- Quart canning jar - on hand
Total: $12.50
Per Jar: $5

I only used a quarter pound of beeswax so it even though I spent about $12.50 to make it this first time it really costs just over $5 per jar, and it looks like it should last a while. I'm contemplating throwing together three more jars from the left over beeswax to give as gifts this Christmas.

Happy, Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T09:26:00.000-07:00

We had our trick-or-treating last night, but I want to wish all the ghouls and goblins venturing out tonight a festive and safe Halloweeen!

I love my old McDonald Halloween buckets, and I'm really hoping to find a few more so I can make a lighted tower display to put out next year. I made the pumpkin that the skeleton on the door is holding this year with a foam "Funkin" from JoAnn's that I cut in half and decorated using mod podge and some glitter.

And of course the duckies like to get festive as well!

Our House and the New Granite Countertops

2011-10-30T19:32:00.000-07:00

Richard and Matthias dismantling the old kitchen cabinets. We had planned to hang the old cabinets on the back wall of the garage for storage, but in truth they were too far gone so Richard has been cutting them up to dispose of them slowly. And if you look real close you can see the peeling paint that was the bane of my existence for far too long.

Here's the kitchen after we'd installed all of the new cabinets the night before the granite guys came to install the countertop.

Now with brand new granite couptertops! Not exactly Martha Stewart's kitchen, and not quite as organized as I'd like yet but it's a wonderful and welcome change from before.

Wicket approves.

A close-up of the countertop - the color is called "Mountain green" and is a really light mix of white, gray, and black with just a tinge of green.

Weekend scores

2011-10-17T16:57:00.000-07:00

We wandered out yesterday afternoon in between the Packers and Brewers games to run some errands and see if we couldn't find some fun Halloween decorations for our new house. While we struck out on the Halloween decoration front except for some cute jack-o-lantern dish towels we managed to have great luck in other endeavors.

We found one of the pet gates that has a door in it on a clearance end cap at Target. It's original price tag was $50 but was marked As-Is for just $3. So we took that $3 gamble, and boy did it sure pay off! Turns out the only thing that was damaged was the box, so now the stairs to the basement are secure and we don't have to worry about Wicket wandering down and getting into trouble.

We also found a much needed rug for the office on sale. Now all we need for the office is a second chair for Richard's desk, since his last one went kaput prior to the move.

By the looks of it every photo I take around the house now has to include Wicket whether I like it or not. Thankfully, I'm more than happy about it!

Lazy Sunday

2011-10-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

It's sure has been a busy, busy week and I'm glad it's Sunday. We're taking a while to relax (and for Richard to watch football) before we head out to get some new decorations to get in the spirit for Halloween.

Last night we hosted the first party in our new house. We invited Richard's colleagues from school and had a grand ol' time. Lots of food, drink, and good conversation. Bechu came over early to help make the food, of which we made too much, but at least I don't have to worry about making dinner for the next week.

At the end of the night we were exhausted... but no one quite as much as Wicket who spent most of the evening playing with Figment and Buddy, the four-legged party goers. She didn't even wait for us to take her leash off after we came in from the fire in the back yard - just curled right up ready for a nap. So with that I'll return to our lazy Sunday and put off future party planning for another day.

Rivers + Wicket

2011-10-03T16:54:00.000-07:00

My sister Rivers is coming into town this weekend for a brief break from college, and we're planning to have a movie and sleepover night. Richard is being banished to a friend's house so it's just us girls. I guess the only thing left to do is pick out a movie and remember to buy some popcorn.

Here's Rivers the last time she was here helping Wicket try on Daisy's old winter coat. The coat was a bit big, so we may have to find a new one just for Wicket.

On the Town in Milwaukee

2011-09-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

The other weekend we had the chance to spend time with our friends Michael, Mari, and their daughter Alex. We went to Discovery World downtown, which has an aquarium in their new location on the waterfront.

We had quite the time at the touch pool. And a fun quick ride through the big tank on the glass sided elevator!

October and Kitchen Updates

2011-09-26T19:40:00.000-07:00

This next month is just packed.

With all luck the kitchen should be in the finishing stages by the end of the day tomorrow. Here's what the kitchen looks like this evening, just ignore the plywood countertops and small hole in the wall. The countertops are being installed in the morning, and I'll spend the day working on fixing up the pantry. I can't wait for the real counter to be in and have the available real estate to unpack the rest of the kitchen boxes, AND have a working kitchen!

We want to have our families over on the weekend of October 8 for a housewarming party, and then a little shindig the next weekend with our friends. And I'll be hosting the next crafternoon the following Sunday. Quite a lot of hosting will be going on over here, and I can't wait for some of our friends and family to finally see the house for the first time!

And I certainly can't wait to have more boxes unpacked, and a bit more living and working area, instead of just working our way around the stacks of boxes. And with October my projects will resume! How exciting!

speaking of christmas...

2011-09-19T09:38:00.000-07:00

It is usually around this time of year when the stores seem to skip right over Halloween and Thanksgiving to put up Christmas trees and stock. Which is to say that this is when I'm generally rolling my eyes a lot. But this year? It's somehow different. I'm trying to get a head start on Christmas presents this year because I'm afraid with everything else going on this year I won't be able to finish everything otherwise.

The checkout ladies at JoAnn Fabrics look at me like I'm crazy when I hand them a coupon for my single $1 item, but every little bit of savings means I can stretch our Christmas budget even further. So I'm going to take full advantage of their coupon commotion promotion this week to get the last (hopefully) of the supplies for all our presents this year.

A few weekends ago Beth, Sara and I talked about reinstating Crafternoon where we get together at each other's homes and spend the afternoon making things and chatting. Beth has already scheduled the first one for next Sunday at her place and I can't wait! I only hope I have a portable project ready to take with me, and that Richard won't mind me leaving him behind at home.

thoughts on coupons

2011-09-13T08:51:00.000-07:00

I promise that I'm not as intense as the couponers featured on TLC's Extreme Couponing, but clipping coupons has become a way of life to stretch our limited budget.

It may sound farfetched, but couponing contributed directly to buying our house. We never would have been able to save the money for our downpayment without coupons to stretch our budget. And now that we're fixing up the house coupons and rebates are helping to pay for supplies we need to work.

I suppose all this musing was prompted by something Anna said yesterday. We were chatting when she mentioned finding this amazing website called fiverr.com where you can post something that you will do or make or send for $5 and people can buy your offer. She made a comment that if I could just figure out something to post and sell I could stop clipping coupons. Maybe I'll do it, perhaps I'll come up with something to clever to post and I can start raking in the extra cash, but truth be told.... I won't be able to stop couponing.

Call me crazy, but paying full price for anything is something I can no longer bring myself to do. Just yesterday my $100+ grocery shopping bill went down to just $57.51 and I managed to stock up on a few staples that will see us through the next couple weeks instead of just one. This post may very well lead to more musing on the things I do for extra cash, get products for free and to bolster our savings.

Friday Inspiration: Concrete Poetry

2011-09-02T20:06:00.000-07:00

I took these photos over two years ago, on my first ever trip to Minneapolis which was both brief and exhilarating. I found myself meeting up with my friend Ryan who I had met years before in Oshkosh where we'd already had many adventures, and he took both Jennie and I to the outdoor sculpture garden just as the sun was setting and the temperature plunging.

It was a fun night, despite the sub-zero temperatures that could be felt all the way to our bones, or perhaps because of that. I took only a few photos that evening, pulling my fingers out of my glittens only for brief moments.

There is a surprising amount of words for a sculpture garden, and you know me, I'm a sucker for pretty words. These are the words that stick with me the most, "And it is good when you get to no further" from John Ashbery's poem written for the Irene Hixon Whitney Bridge where the words are engraved, and the vantage point from which the next photo was taken.

By John Ashberry

And now I cannot remember how I would

have had it. It is not a conduit (confluence?) but a place.
The place, of movement and an order.
The place of old order.
But the tail end of the movement is new.
Driving us to say what we are thinking.
It is so much like a beach after all, where you stand
and think of going no further.
And it is good when you get to no further.
It is like a reason that picks you up and
places you where you always wanted to be.
This far, it is fair to be crossing, to have crossed.
Then there is no promise in the other.
Here it is. Steel and air, a mottled presence,
small panacea
and lucky for us.
And then it got very cool.

In Matching Pink Dresses

2011-08-31T07:43:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favorite photos of Anna and I of all time. I look at old pictures of us more often that I like to admit, but I rediscovered this one on facebook awhile back, and I absolutely love Anna's description of it - I had completely forgotten the black dragon hoodie!

"back when we wore matching dresses and bows and pink before we started beating each other up and had to be put in separate rooms before we sent a one dollar black dragon hoodie back and forth in the mail and before natalie could knit and tried to teach me and it was unsuccessful and then we tolerated each other and started wearing matching guster shirts and swinging from ropes near dams and got matching bows again. i lost my dad's wedding ring in that chair."

summer wind down

2011-08-30T12:05:00.000-07:00

Milwaukee students may have summer for just a couple more days before they go back to school this Thursday, but Richard is already back in his classroom today. We spent yesterday rearranging his room and getting things together, and he'll spend the next couple of days at meetings and finishing up his plans for the year.

While we were at school yesterday Miss Wicket had her very first haircut. She's not nearly as shaggy now, and she looks much more like a miniature schnauzer.

It's hard to believe that summer is over already, but while summer has been winding down work at the house has been ramping up. So much was done in the kitchen over the weekend, we even have a brand new floor already! Just a few more touches before the last of the cabinets go in and then it will be a bit longer before the final countertop goes in, but a plywood counter will be better than what we're working on now... which is nothing. We've got all the normal kitchen appliances, minus the fridge, taking up residence in the corner of the living room and it is strange to say the least.

Friday Inspiration: The Red River

2011-08-26T12:23:00.000-07:00

Little Songs About the Big Picture by The Red River

As it is with quite a lot of the music I enjoy I was introduced to The Red River by Miss Anna. She sent me a package this past winter that included a mix cd with a few of their songs. When I visited Savannah for the General O CD release party back in February I even had the chance to hear The Red River play at The Wormhole.

Every one of their songs is worth a listen, and while the ambiance at The Wormhole may have been lacking the show was just lovely, and I hope I get the chance to see them again... perhaps the next time they swing through the Midwest.

I often find myself putting on their Tiny Desk Concert from NPR when I'm puttering about working on things in the office, writing or making things. If any Red River kids stumble across this, I just want you to know the next time you're in Milwaukee you have a place to stay with us if you need. Good luck, and thanks for the inspiration.

The R's of our new house

2011-08-22T15:10:00.000-07:00

I've noticed that quite a few things going on in our house right now can be summed up nicely by words that begin with the letter R. Renovate, repair, replace, rescue, reinvent.

We renovated the bathroom, removing all the mauve tile and the moisture damaged walls behind them, as well as the tub, toilet and vanity. We replaced most of these items. A new sink and vanity, an upgraded tub. Help was graciously provided from my father-in-law and brother-in-law in replacing the floor and running new plumbing and electric. We did manage to rescue a couple of things from the bathroom, both to cut down on costs and to keep some of the charms of this house.

As a cost saving venture we kept the closet the way it was instead of installing a new system. I stripped the mauve (are we sensing a theme?) wallpaper off the pine board shelves, but while solid they were both a bit smelly and sticky so it took some scrubbing with vinegar and a last ditch rub down with goo-gone that has left them nearly new.

Both Richard and I enjoyed the style of the medicine cabinet that was installed in the wall above the sink, but the orange-ish wood work of the frame was a little too dated for our bathroom reinvention. It took a couple of well timed hot as blazes afternoons to sand down the wood frame, clean out the inside and the glass shelves and then paint the frame to match the rest of our black and white bathroom.

After sanding off the previous finish so the wood grain would show through the new paint I taped off the inside with blue painter's tape and a thick garbage bag. Then I used my go-to spray paint of choice Rustoleum in Satin Black.

And here's what the finished product looks like in the only odd angle I was able to take a picture without including the mess that is the bathroom door. It is most certainly a 50's piece, and I think the black really makes it pop with all sorts of mid-century goodness in our white updated bathroom.

Progress feels good.

Summer of Forgotten Things and Mislaid Plans

2011-08-20T16:25:00.000-07:00

This will surely be known as the summer of forgotten things. Forgotten plans, forgotten projects, forgotten gardening, and forgotten placement of the kitchen shears. And that's ok, because we're having so much fun with the things we have been remembering.

Remembering to adopt a puppy to add to our family, remembering to go to the museum with Uncle Bob, Debbie, Grandpa, Tia and Chris.

Remembering to have dinner with my parents in the middle of the week for no special reason, remembering to stop at Lambau Field before coming home after Brian and Randi's wedding in Green Bay.

We said we knew what we were heading into when we bought a house, and in a way I know we expected to be overwhelmed. It has been fun thus far, and I'm always looking forward to that sense of accomplishment that comes from the completion of even little steps and eventually whole projects.

Richard and his Dad worked on the kitchen all day today, rerunning gas pipe and prepping the pluming to move to the opposite wall, and the projects that await us only keep mounting. Today I ran a load of laundry and tried organizing the bathroom closet, which until now has been home to boxes and paint cans, but now actually houses cleaning supplies and that hair conditioner that I was in search of for the last week.

I was rather excited last night when I saw Mom's "bounty" of white totes she brought home from her pharmacy where they had been replaced with new ones. The last time her pharmacy replaced the totes I was in high school, and mom managed to bring home some which I promptly used to store my cd collection under my bed. Now they really help with organizing the rather deep bathroom closet so that everything can always be within reach.

Progress is progress, no matter how small the steps. And I'll always be happy with this home, even if it never looks like a glossy magazine styled house... especially if it never looks like a magazine styled house.

Playing House and other eventful things

2011-08-09T20:24:00.000-07:00

Our house is slowly coming together as we finish projects and keep unpacking one box at a time. On top of all our projects and settling in we're trying to pack in all the fun we can before the summer officially ends and Richard is back at school.

Our friend Matthias is staying with us for a while and not only is he quick to help out but it is really wonderful to have the chance to visit with him after such a long time. All three of us (plus Wicket) went up to Oshkosh for Gallery Walk this past Saturday. There was very little walking to be done for us as we would move only a few feet before Wicket had charmed someone else into petting and playing. We did visit Atomic Katz and saw Pam's new jewelry, and met with Pam and her husband Joe at Peabody's for a drink after the walk just before heading home.

On the home-front the bathroom is now completely functional but still needs a few finishing touches before it's really done. Just some baseboards and a few paint touch ups and I may even be ready to share pictures. So now the kitchen overhaul begins. The cabinets were delivered earlier today, and we've already begun the demolition. Fortunately the Richard and Matthias will be doing the heavy lifting and cabinet removal tomorrow while I'm at work.

This weekend Richard and I journey up to Green Bay for a wedding, making it the first time we will leave Wicket overnight with someone. Fingers crossed that everything goes smoothly, both at the wedding and for the little pup.

Meet Wicket

2011-08-08T09:01:00.000-07:00

Richard and I have added a new member to our family, and she's quite furry.

Her name is Wicket (yes, just like the Ewok) and she was a miraculous find - a humane society puppy that I'm not allergic to. The Wisconsin Humane Society even listed her estimated birthday as May 10, 2011 - my birthday - so we're sure to remember it and I rather look forward to sharing the day with our furry little girl.

We adopted her about two weeks ago, on Thursday July 21, and she's fitting in quite nicely around here and is taking well to potty training. Amongst all the projects we've been working hard on, she is certainly the most entertaining and my favorite.

General O gets "Red Hot"

2011-07-24T13:24:00.000-07:00

Red Hot from General O on Vimeo.

The new music video from General Oglethorpe and the Panhandlers for is for my favorite tune off of Whistle the Dirges - "Red Hot." There are so many aspects to love about this video: the costumes, the sets, the props, the animation, and even the singing paintings.

Little time, lots of life

2011-07-21T13:23:00.000-07:00

Life has been so busy that I've scarcely had time to sit down.

As soon as we had finished moving out of the apartment and into our new house we headed south to visit family. We spent two weeks visiting and traveling, and headed down to Cape Canaveral to see the very last Shuttle launch. It was all amazing!

Now we're home, I'm back to work, Richard is back to coaching, and we're both working constantly on making this new house into our home. We're working constantly because as soon as one project is done the next one is ready to be started.

The new bathroom is almost complete, just a few more touches, and some floor molding and I'll be ready to share some before and after pictures. And then we'll be ready to tackle the kitchen, which contrary to prior plans is now receiving a complete overhaul.

General O to their friends

2011-06-02T05:57:00.000-07:00

I don't think I've said enough about how much I love General Oglethorpe and the Panhandlers and their new album "Whistle the Dirges"

There's something about great musicians who are also art students that results in an amazing collaboration. Devin Smith, who founded the band along with Anna Chandler, has been attending SCAD for film and his exquisite talent shows through their first music video. Just watch - the very last scene will give you chills.

Sick Sick Lover from General O on Vimeo.

Their next video for the song "Red Hot" (one of my favorites) will be out soon, but both videos have already been nominated for Best Non-Narrative films of SCAD 2011.

I was lucky enough that I was able to get down to Savannah in February for the album release concert and the event reminded me what I miss about doing event photography. They are amazing musicians and artists and I was ever so fortunate to experience the grand event they put together.

Progress is a Missing Pink Tub

2011-05-27T09:03:00.000-07:00

It's only been a couple of months since the office got it's overhaul cleaning, and now it's a wreck again. But now it's a wreck I can love. Since I haven't had much time to do actual work in the office it has become packing central. There are both full and half packed boxes stacking their way up the wall as the rest of the upstairs is packed and carted into the room.

Today I'm setting the (hopefully) achievable goal of packing ten boxes before I leave the apartments at 4 pm. That gives me about 5 hours, so it should be doable. I also want to go around the house and gather up some of the scattered cleaning supplies and various do-dads (like sharpies and spare curtains) that need to be at the house now.

Here are some "in progress" shots of the house... it's mostly destruction.

House!House!House!House!

2011-05-24T19:40:00.000-07:00

Well it's been quite a long month so far, and we're not even done yet.

Last Thursday, May 19, Richard and I closed on our house! We're now officially home owners, and we're tackling everything head on.

There have been some unexpected developments... such as the wallpaper someone apparently painted over in the kitchen. We've already demolished the bathroom, it was the original 50's pink bathroom and while it was cute... well, it needed some updating and it turned out that every wall had water/moisture damage because the room was never properly vented. So we're tucking in and getting to work, which is just a round about way of saying we'll be super busy for the next month and a half.

We'll take a brief reprieve next Sunday to go to the first Maxwell Street Days of the 2011 season. And I am so excited for the official beginning to the flea market season. Maybe now that we have a house we'll finally find that chrome kitchen table we've been searching for.

Hopefully I'll get some photos and updates about the house up in the coming weeks, but I'm not making any promises.

Thrifter's Toolbox

2011-05-04T14:24:00.000-07:00

There are so many aspects that I love about shopping secondhand. I have a chance to find quirky, and even new, craft supplies. Brand new red fun fur yarn for fifty cents a skein? Yes, please. The options for vintage accessories at low prices are plentiful if you're willing to look. And it always feels good to give an unwanted object a second life. On the eve of my great jaunt across Wisconsin to attend the 100-Mile Yard Sale, I've decided to share some thrifty tips.

My favorite haunts include the usual suspects - Goodwill, Salvation Army and St. John Vianney Thrift stores as well as estate and yard sales. I have a lot of tips for how to choose a good thrift store or sale, but today I'm sharing the tips of the things I use to find the diamonds in the rough. These are the things in my traveling toolbox, do you use anything I might need to add to it?

Traveling Toolbox
- Sewer's Measuring Tape - after all, you should know if that bookcase is going to fit in your house... or even your car, and all rolled up the tape fits in your pocket
- Magnet - let's you know what is plain metal and what might be more
- Wet Wipes - I keep these in my car because one never knows what sticky substance you'll find on your fingers after rummaging
- Bags - self-explanitory
- Socks - if you're ever going to try on shoes, you're going to need socks.
- Water Bottle and Snacks - these are especially good to have when hopping between yard sales or even thrift stores as they'll save you a pricey lunch.
- Sunscreen - what can I say? I burn easily and when I'm out at yard sales, I'll be spending a lot of time under the sun.
- Cash - always cash, always small bills, always makes it easier. It also helps me keep a budget, plus I always know if I find something ridiculously amazing there's gotta be an ATM nearby.

Those are all the things I carry with me on a regular basis while I'm thrifting. If you've got any extra tips, I'm always eager to learn.

Photography & Adventures

2011-05-02T07:55:00.000-07:00

There's something about the combination of photography and adventures that is just so enticing.

We're back!

2011-04-26T12:06:00.000-07:00

This spring break was one of the most amazing vacations I've ever had. We went to Universal Studios Florida, went on lots of rides and even enjoyed the Wizarding World of Harry Potter for a day and a half.

We spent time with Grandma Lori and Grandpa Rex, with a grand game of Guesstures the first night, and they took us to a beautiful beach on Saturday for a lovely day in the sun. We went swimming and scoured the beach for sharks teeth (I found the biggest one I've ever found!) and even swam briefly with a wild manatee who was traveling down the shore.

There's a lot going on this week, so I'm not planning on any creative projects but I've got a good little list of things to do.

scan film from the trip
pack up the winter clothes
organize my coupons (yes, I'm becoming "that person")

Plans, plans, and more plans. This Thursday I have lunch with Dad and then I'll spend the afternoon helping Beth unpack and organize in her new apartment. A week from Thursday I'll be leaving for River Falls to visit Jennie and go to the 100-mile Mississippi yard sale. I can't wait to see Jennie, and I'm sure our adventures will be grand! The following week Richard and I are going for our first visit at a B&B in Port Washington to celebrate my birthday and get a couple days just to ourselves.

The final weekend of May is the first Maxwell Street Days flea market of the summer. Richard and I are taking Chris and Tia with us. We'll be meeting up with Beth and Ben and my Atomic Katz ladies, Deb and Sandy. And with that the month of May is becoming quite full and exciting, especially with super secret events I can't share yet... but soon.

Spring Break Project: Reading in the Sun

2011-04-17T07:26:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted about this next week's project yet, and there's a good reason for it - we're going on vacation! This week is spring break and Richard's parents are taking us along with Richard's brother Chris and his girlfriend Tia to Florida.

What a wonderful way to spend spring break - where the sun is shining and it's lovely and warm! We'll be visiting Richard's grandparents and family but we're also going to Universal's Wizarding World of Harry Potter which I couldn't be more excited about! I grew up with those books and I have enjoyed them throughly and I think the theme park will be quite fun.

I guess this is a round about way of saying that my only project this week will be reading, and I plan on getting a lot of reading done while we're in transit. I've already finished two of the five books that Caitlin loaned to me, but I'm going to take a couple of my own books for the trip - I certainly don't want to lose borrowed books while on vacation.

The Office: Lighting Set-Up

2011-04-15T16:34:00.000-07:00

Recently I've been working on making our office a better place to work. The major cleaning and organizing was the first step and the second was to put together a lighting set up so I could do product photos under the window and walk a few feet to the desk and load them onto the computer to work on. It's not perfect yet, I have another bar to hang up for better light placement, but I've gotten a few photos done and I'm happy I've finally got a permanent set-up and it's out of the way.

The entire set-up wasn't very costly either. We already had the table, and the floor lamps were once in our living room so I can't really tally those in the cost.

- White sheet - from Ikea $2

- Four clamp lamps - from the hardware store $5 each, but one of my was scavenaged

- Four light bulbs - I use the GE indoor flood natural lights which are $5 each but promise to last a long time, plus you can often find coupons so I only paid $3 each.

Grand Total: $34

But not having to wait until I've got good light coming in the window is priceless, and it means I can get clear and crisp shots any time I need. Here are some more photos of a Salt Box I picked up while out thrifting recently.

So much in just one week!

2011-04-11T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, this past week was certainly not conducive to projects even if we packed in quite a lot of other things. Richard and I traveled up to Oshkosh to go on gallery walk last Saturday and spent most of the time talking with friends before going out to our old haunt for drinks afterwards. It was just so wonderful to see so many friends, and really makes me miss that small town I used to live in.

Work was a little weird this week, the family I work for had a family emergency, so my schedule was a bit mucked up. And to top it all off I seem to have "grown into" allergies again so my head has been stuffy for the past week as spring seems to have finally arrived.

I did manage to get down to the Milwaukee Art Museum for Free First Thursday and visited with Pam, one of my old university professors, who had brought a group of her current students.

We have some wonderful neighbors next door, Tom and Amy, who have become great friends. Richard and Tom used to work together at Apple and in the span of a couple months we both happened to move into the same apartment complex, and it just so happened that the two empty units were right next door to one another. It's been quite handy to have friends so close by, we take care of each others' pets and water the gardens. Last week Tom's younger brother Brandon was visiting for spring break so I spent Friday hanging out with him and we bopped around to a few thrift stores to keep our day busy.

Today though, I have no work, and we spent Sunday doing laundry and all the spring cleaning so there's not much more to do around the house. We even cleaned out the whole garden (all twelve square feet of it) and all my crocuses and iris have begun to bloom and even the tulips are peeking out!
After I talk to our building manager about checking the AC unit (one day of warm weather and the pipes in the basement are already sweating!) I'm going to spend the afternoon taking photos, which I suppose will be my project for this week.

Pillow Project Part 1 of 3

2011-04-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

I promise I got my project done this week, really, I do! It was just as time consuming as I thought it would be but I quickly got into a rhythm and I think the next couple should go just a little bit quicker. But I also sorely underestimated how many buttons I would need so I may be on the hunt for a few more in the coming weeks.

Here is a vaguely decent iphone photo, because I've run out of time to take a better photo this week. And we're off to Oshkosh today! I'm so excited to see friends, and have great Thai food and go on Gallery Walk.

This coming week I want to sew up the "&" pillow and do the "R" monogram.

Week 5 Project

2011-03-24T14:29:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to redo the throw pillows for our bed for a while now because, well, when I made the original ones I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I could have chosen better fabric, and made my seems straighter and made cuter pillows. So, using a video tutorial from The Crafty Gemini I'm going to make three new pillows that will hopefully look something like these...

I want to make monogram designs in buttons on each using the two bigger pillows for letters and the one smaller pillow for an ampersand. The plan is for blue buttons on brown pillows to coordinate with our bedroom, so now the only decisions left to make are what font to use and whether to use our first initials, R & N, or our last initials, A & W. I think I'm leaning more towards R & N since we've used the A&W theme before.

Because this project promises to be time consuming I'm taking it in steps and this week I'm tackling the first two steps. First - pick out fabric and cut all pieces. Second - sew the button monogram to one of the pillow fronts.

After some further research I found a tutorial for the button monograms at Adventures of one Crazy Lady. I can't wait to get started!

Project 3 carries into Week 4

2011-03-20T13:26:00.000-07:00

A little bit of last week's projects will carry over into next week...

- ~~The Media Purge from last week continues: get rid of 5 things and take the sell box to Half Price Books~~

- Reading: read one of the books I borrowed from Caitlin - I'm through chapter 8 now, and I'm amending this goal to reading one chapter each night until I'm done.

- Crafty Goal: Add three rows (12 squares) to my blanket to complete the first pattern - see, even I got mixed up on this one because I managed to do 12 squares before I realized that three rows would be 18 squares, so I still have six more squares left to go. I'm just excited to get this done so I can lay out the rest of the pattern and get cracking!

This coming week is packed full of things to do, but I probably won't be working much this week as the family I work for have relatives visiting. This will leave plenty of time for all these things... I hope.

Thursday is Festival of Nations at Richard's school, and we just finished prepping the dough for the spiral cookies we're going to bake. Saturday is the Midwest Gaming Classic which we're attending with some of Richard's colleagues before we all go to the best Chinese restaurant for lunch and before I head off for a night of work.

One Project a Week: Project 3 comes in 3's

2011-03-13T08:46:00.000-07:00

Yes, reading that book fell by the wayside last week, mainly because I was reading so much news. Wisconsin certainly has plenty of news lately, and quite a bit of it relates directly to us. Richard is now in his third year teaching and it seems every thing that happens puts that job further and further into jeopardy.

We went to the Capital yesterday to join in the protests, and even ran into Jeff and Jennie, so I'll post photos later. I'll be honest - I'm having a hard time dealing with a lot of the chaos coming our way, so occasionally these projects may have to be put on the back burner.

- The Media Purge from last week continues: get rid of 5 things and take the sell box to Half Price Books
- Reading: read one of the books I borrowed from Caitlin
- Crafty Goal: Add three rows (12 squares) to my blanket to complete the first pattern

Hopefully I'll get all of these goals done early in the week so I have time to do many, many other things like go to work, scan and edit some photos, and maybe even go thrifting. But for today? We're cleaning the house.

Project 2: De-cluttered Media

2011-03-11T18:10:00.000-08:00

1) ~~Cancel daily paper and go back to Sunday only~~

2) ~~Clear out 50 old magazines. Recycle them, rip them apart, or sell them - just get them out of the house~~. 52 down, who knows how many more to go.
- Recycled: 45
- Box to sell: 7

3) Finish reading one of my borrowed books from Caitlin.

4) ~~Find five books and/or cds to sell. My book and music collection is getting ridiculous.~~
- Box to sell: 5

I'm quite happy with the progress I made, especially being so busy and all over the place this week. The one thing I didn't get to was reading the book, but I think three out of four isn't bad.

One Project a Week - Project 2: De-cluttered Media

2011-03-03T20:22:00.000-08:00

Very simply put - we have a media overload in this house. We are constantly reading books, magazines and newspapers, listening to music, and watching movies. So this week's project comes in multiple parts but because this is another cleaning/organizing project I have a head start from last week.

1) ~~Cancel daily paper and go back to Sunday only~~ - done today!

2) Clear out 50 old magazines. Recycle them, rip them apart, or sell them - just get them out of the house.

Recycled: 11
Box to sell: 3

3) Finish reading one of my borrowed books from Caitlin.

4) Find five books and/or cds to sell. My book and music collection is getting ridiculous.

Box to sell: 1

That's it for this week, and the creative projects start in week 3.

Project 1: Organize Office Complete

2011-03-03T14:03:00.000-08:00

I've taken a tip from Theresa on how to keep myself accountable using my blog. I'll make a post or two every Thursday about what I've completed and what project I plan for the next week. So here are the pictures of a rather clean and organized office and I will post later tonight on what I have planned for next week's project.

Save for the one broken remnant of the bed that hasn't quite made it to the dumpster yet, and will have to wait until the parking lot is less icy, the office is done!

You can probably tell from the pictures that we're big Apple computer geeks, and have a certain affinity to outdated technology. For those of you keeping count at home that's six computers and two typewriters in the office, and each one is perfectly functional.

There may be just two people in this house, but there are three desks in our office. (And yes, that's one of my photo lamps just hanging off the shelf there) The dark wood one is our most recent acquisition and when we move into a house (one day) the secretary's desk will go in the living room and the large corner desk will make its own way to Goodwill, but for now we make good use of every piece of furniture in the room.

The two bookshelves were the first pieces of furniture that my parents owned when they started out together. There is a third shelf that my father recently sanded and stained that now sits in their den.

It may look a little chaotic on the shelves, but things are certainly easier to find than they used to be. Oh, and that little pink traincase on the bottom shelf is the most recent addition to my suitcase collection, a gift from my dear friend Jennie.

One Project a Week - Project 1: Organized Office

2011-02-24T08:44:00.000-08:00

I often pick certain dates to begin changes in my life or my routine. I say I'll start at the beginning of next month, or the beginning of the year, or even on my birthday, and often these changes sputter to a stop for one reason or another. This time, it starts today.

I have so many wonderful ideas for making things and so many projects in various states of completion. So I'm challenging myself to finish one project a week for the rest of 2011. My idea is to focus on one main project each week while perhaps working some on coming projects.

This week is a house project - the office. The office has been in a state of upheaval for quite some time now. We tried having an extra bed for guests to sleep in but it was rather hard to work around such a large piece of furniture that was usually used only two or three times a year. So we moved the frame to storage and the bed to the dumpster (it's had a good long life) to free up that half of the room. Even after rearranging and adding a new desk and a second bookshelf from the basement the room the room is much more open, airy and easier to breathe (and work) in.

The office is half way there, all that is left is to organize a few things and clean some more. Wish me luck!

Be My Valentine

2011-02-23T08:28:00.000-08:00

My Richard, he knows the way to my heart. This past Valentine's day we kept things lo-key by venturing out for an early lunch the Sunday before. We went to the Fox and Hound restaurant that we'd heard nothing but wonderful things about and had some amazing food. He also gifted me with a brand new desk that we spent Sunday afternoon picking out and building. I know I'm not the biggest fan of big box stores, but after venturing to so many office and furniture places we found the perfect piece at Walmart, yes, Walmart. It's a Better Homes and Gardens desk with a large top, filing drawer and plenty of space.

I gave him a bag of goodies, including a tiny Marvin the Martian promo sculpture that I had found on my recent trip to Savannah, and a subscription to Netflix. We kept things simple and lovely, which is the way I like my holidays. And we had a nice moment of nostalgia while we were cleaning out the office and found some of the old Valentines I'd given him.

I know Valentine's Day is a week past, but I hope everyone had a lovely one.

Eagles of Prairie du Sac

2011-01-21T12:10:00.000-08:00

Last weekend Richard and I took a quick trip to Prairie du Sac, just a bit west of Madison, to watch the eagles and get away for a night. It was really amazing to see so many bald eagles congregated in one place, and I even got a few good photographs.

It snowed the entire day we came home. Big, heavy, wet flakes. It was beautiful but a little hard to drive in. On the way home we stopped at Hawks Inn, where we got married, just to see it in the snow.

Treasure in the Trash

2011-01-20T09:45:00.000-08:00

My friends know I have a knack for discovering treasure in the trash. When I lived in my favorite apartment in Oshkosh I shared a dumpster with many of the businesses on Main Street and the things left protruding from and beside our dumpster were always interesting to say the least. I once stubbed my toe on some reel-to-reel recording equipment that was nearly as big as me, but I imagine this little gem must have been discarded from the used bookstore.

I found this book on the ground beside the cardboard recycling, where it had probably slipped from the rest that had been deposited there, I picked it up to put it into the recycling and while it may not exactly be a treasure the book wooed me and I brought it home with the intention of salvaging the illustrations inside.

It was missing its cover, starts on page 157 and continues only to 572. It is probably a piece of a much larger manuscript, and I've been unable to find a title or author so I've reached an impasse in researching it. When I flipped through it again this morning I came across something I hadn't seen before - a leaf that had been pressed and dried between the pages. It's things like this that make me smile, knowing that the object in my hands had a life before me.

edit: Google books is my hero - I now know that the book is "Wife and mother: or, Information for every woman" by Pye Henry Chavasse and was first printed in 1888 and is still printed (without illustrations) today.

New Year, new plans

2011-01-20T06:37:00.000-08:00

We're more than two weeks into the new year, and I've made no solid resolutions because I always need to give myself time to think. This year I think I will depart from my usual list of projects and things to do, and go with the bit more abstract, self-improvement goals...mostly.

Pick up my camera more often. After the trip to New York I found myself falling out of love with my cameras and taking pictures. I realize this is mostly due to my limited movement and not getting out much, so as I gain more movement I resolve to pick up my camera more often, and to challenge myself with photography.

Get better. I realize this one is rather abstract, but after so many issues with my back I am glad to be slowly recovering my strength and I plan to work on it as hard as I can.

Create. All I tend to do is muse and sketch out ideas, and I plan to motivate myself to create more. I'm going to set aside some time each day just for creating. No cleaning the office or organizing my pit of a desk, just making.

That's it for now, but I'm sure there will always be more to add.

Adventures in Thrift Land

2011-01-15T16:43:00.000-08:00

Because we are terrible at reading calendars we mistakenly thought today was the 50% off sale at the Habitat ReStore (it's actually next Saturday) and made a trip out to Wauwatosa to see if there was anything we desperately needed for the house we're still trying to buy. While there wasn't anything we needed to pick up for the house we did have some great little finds, and now I know where I'll be picking up a sink for my often dreamed of dark room.

I had a little thrill when I saw this box on the shelf among the other hardware. Not only am I a sucker for great vintage packaging, but one of my littlest cousins is named Atlas and when we come across fun things with his name on it we like to pick them up to give to his parents and while these aren't exactly practical I also needed nails this size, so they had to come home with us. I picked a couple other things, but since they're gifts I'll wait to share those.

After lunch we decided to drop by Goodwill where I found these fun little vintage ornaments. I have a soft spot for Shiny Brite christmas ornaments, and while only the seven blue ones on the right are actual Shiny Brite, but for just 49 cents I can deal with a few duds.

Friday Inspiration: Mobiles

2011-01-07T12:33:00.000-08:00

From Sonia Boyajian via all the luck in the world

Around the World Crane Mobile by SpareBedroomStudio

Moustache Mobile

Owls via My Owl Barn

a colorful rainy day via Baby Space

Happy Christmas!

2010-12-26T11:41:00.000-08:00

Well we certainly had a happy christmas, and I hope everyone else is enjoying their holidays as much as we have ours!

And I don't know about you but spending a lazy day with my husband and new flannel pajama pants is shaping up to be my new favorite day after christmas tradition.

My parents and sister are having a grand time and a whiter christmas than ours despite driving 16 hours south! They're staying with my mother's family in the mountains of North Carolina and the six inches of snow they had last night means lots of family time inside, thankfully the town is so small everyone lives close by.

Happy Holidays to Everyone!

To bed with me

2010-12-19T07:47:00.000-08:00

This year has been a roller coaster of back problems for me. In February I was diagnosed with a herniated disc in my lower spine. The disc has been pushing on the nerve to my left leg causing my leg to go numb and resulting in a lot of pain and weakness.

Because I'd gone through all the possible treatments over this past year, with only temporary improvements, we finally got to the point where surgery was my only option. I had the surgery on Thursday, December 9, to remove the damaged parts of the disc and came home Friday night. It's a week later now and I'm still moving slowly but things are already feeling better.

I've taken time off from nannying, and it couldn't have come at a better time because the family's previous nanny is home from college for winter break and was able to take over for me. My etsy stores have been closed for the time being, because until I can drive myself to the post office I won't be able to ship anything.

So that's really it for updates from me. But now that I'm home working on projects, perhaps I'll have the chance to update the blog a bit more regularly.

Sunday Musing

2010-11-21T16:57:00.000-08:00

What would be the easiest way to spray paint glass christmas ornaments? The ball kind, which have so many strange discolored spots that they really aren't as pretty as they could be.

I feel like sticking them on chopsticks would be the way to go, but then what do I stick the other end of the chopstick into? A pot of dirt? Or maybe a giant styrofoam block covered in newspaper? Where in the world am I going to get a giant styrofoam block? I should probably figure out soon, I'll have to get my spray painting done soon before the Wisconsin weather gets away from us.

Today is an easy day

2010-11-13T06:26:00.000-08:00

Today, Richard and I have no real plans... at least for the morning. He's heading off to his friend Michael's place for what I'm sure is an afternoon full of video games. Meanwhile I'm meeting up with Beth to go for a bit of thrifting and a visit to our new Woodman's market.

For now, since I've already been up for hours, I should probably get some breakfast and start the laundry. I love lazy Saturdays.

Friday Inspiration: Home Style

2010-11-12T11:55:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of blogs that I enjoy reading for their visual stimulation, and in hopes of creating my own beautiful home I've been collecting the most inspiring images on a pinterest board. The two I enjoy the most are sfgirlbybay and DesignSponge because they often send me to new places with even more inspiring images, and they have a lot more to offer than just pretty interiors.

Kitchen from sfgirlbybay

Stacey Sargent from DesignSponge

Sweet Sewing Nook from Thompson Family-Life

cute wee shelves from how to make a baby elephant float

Friday Inspiration: Collections

2010-11-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

Collections are a rather strange phenomenon and often times the way they are displayed says quite a bit more about the collector than it does about the items.

Perhaps they are enclosed in a glass cabinet, because although they are beautiful items for display perhaps they are worth too much to leave on an open shelf. Or perhaps it is a pile of postage stamps in an old shirt box, or shuffled stationary lining a desk drawer. Or perhaps a few things here and there that have gathered in the corners of a person's life.

From Classic Bride

I think my favorite collections are those that are a little messy, or cluttered with only a vague sense of order. Most of the time I just enjoy seeing like items grouped together. I often characterize myself as a collector, and though some may see it as a flaw I quite like it. I'm absolutely itching to live in a house, where I can be unafraid of holes in the wall to hang up photographs and shelves for pretty things.

A friend recently gifted me with a copy of Collections of Nothing by William Davies King, and I'm really enjoying reading it, in between writing a bit for NaNoWriMo and trying hard to finish my crochet blanket of course.

Thrifted Finds: A $2 Trip

2010-11-04T14:49:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago during a thrift run at the 91st Street Goodwill I came upon these three strange creatures that just couldn't be left behind. Besides these three that I came home with there was a plethora of other generic ceramic items colored in varying shades of talent and once I came across plates with swatches of glaze and numbers written below I could only assume some paint-your-own pottery place had cleaned out its back room of unclaimed merchandise.

First there was this tiny elephant bank which I figured was a steal at 49 cents.

Next was another 49 cent bargain - the fish who is apparently an ash tray, and I'm not sure what I'll use him for, but he was just too intriguing to leave behind. Perhaps I'll perch some small figurine on his lip, about to be swallowed whole.

And then of course there was the matador, in all his 99 cent glory, who put me up to my self imposed limit of $2.

These three creatures plus a lovely shade of red spray paint will make for some nice tschokies on the shelf above my desk. I plan on putting the elephant bank to good use as a savings place for my travel fund change. Hopefully the next trip he will help to fund will be a train trip someplace south with Jennie.

Summer Travel: New York

2010-10-29T11:53:00.000-07:00

This summer I took my first trip to New York for a family reunion that coincided with the 100th anniversary of our family's immigration from Italy.

Dad, Mom & Rivers in Little Italy

It was a wonderful trip, and a great chance to be with my family.

Rivers lives in Wonderland

Rivers, Mom & me: Empire State

Mom on the ferry

We all took a trip out to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty

Central Park Duck

You knew I'd get a picture of a duck, didn't you?

Third Time's a Charm

2010-10-27T20:57:00.000-07:00

I often find myself wondering why I haven't posted to the blog lately and I can usually come up with a list of reasons. I didn't have time, I was too tired, or I just didn't feel like I had anything to say. But I'm going to try to be better about it because frankly there's a lot going on!

We're trying to buy a house, and hopefully this time it will work, they do say the third time's the charm. Is it really our third go round? It certainly is. Here is one of those horrible quality realtor site images, but you get the idea. It's quite the little house with three bedrooms and 1.5 baths and a full basement just inches from being finished.

We've been busy here too. I've been working quite a bit and when I'm not working I'm usually visiting Mom. This past week we were helping Marilyn clean out her house and pack up for her move, and I'm working hard on getting her slides scanned. It's slow going, but I've got one box down and just two boxes to go and they're big boxes!

The last of the 2010 Fleas

2010-10-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

Well, Maxwell Street Days last Sunday was quite fun, and rather successful as we got rid of quite a few things from our basement and made a bit of money doing it. Plus it kept me so busy at the flea market that I only managed to buy lunch and not any stuff. We came across a great chrome kitchen table with six red chairs (we've been searching for a chrome kitchen table for a while now) but we didn't buy it because it needed quite a bit of work. Lots of rust to be buffed off, and the chairs would have all needed to be reupholstered. But all it all, it was good to get up before the sun and spend a day outside wheeling and dealing.

Now that I've started nannying again I'm doing a lot more driving these days, and the drive to work or to my parents' house is typically a thirty minute drive, so I've tuned back to books on tape. Or rather, books on cd/ipod. This week I started Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro, and I finished it last night. It was a sweet and rather sad story. It was one of those stories that actually makes my chest tighten with emotion, and it was beautiful. Next week - The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle by Haruki Murakami. The best place for audio books is the library, and our library provides digital downloads of books as well so you can load them on your ipod. The digital download only last two weeks, and after that the files won't play anymore, but its really handy when they don't have the actual cds available.

It's official. Fall has begun. Let's break out the sweaters and yarn.

Welcoming Fall

2010-09-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

While last Wednesday was the official beginning of fall the event that marks the end of summer for me is coming this Sunday. The last Maxwell Street Days flea market of the season. And to make it even more exciting we're going to have a booth! So if you're in Cedarburg, WI you should come visit us!

This week will be a whirlwind of getting ready since we weren't sure if we were doing this until this past Monday. I suppose there's no time like now to get ready!

Creative Endeavors: Spiral Blanket

2010-09-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

I must admit, I started this blanket some time ago and now I'm a little stalled. Since I started the blanket as an experiment I didn't buy all the yarn I would need for a full size afghan, instead, assured by a sales associate that Sugar N' Cream yarn colors are never discontinued, I bought a few skeins of each color and got started.

Lo and behond, when I've finally gotten into the swing of things and perfected the pattern to get exactly what I wanted I go back to buy the rest of the yarn and... there isn't any. It's gone. I picked four colors for the spirals - sage, country red, country yellow, and country blue - and there is not a single country color left. I can still find the sage and the soft ecru I'm using to join the spirals since they are some of the staple colors that are always available.

After some intense searching, and dropping in on every Michaels, JoAnn's and Hobby Lobby we've passed on every road trip, I managed to get enough of the country yellow and country red. The one color missing from every place we've gone is the country blue and now I'm down to less than half a skein and I'm going to have to resign myself to paying full price ($2/skein) online with $8 for shipping to get the rest of the yarn. This little fact turns this project from affordable to a bit more expensive than I expected.

You should know that I'm a coupon girl. I've been known to make Richard come in with me to buy a second skein of yarn in a separate transaction just to use a second 40% off coupon at the craft store. I rarely pay full price for anything because stretching our dollars has become second nature and every penny puts us just a little bit ahead in our savings.

We're still trying to find a house to buy, which hasn't been the easiest process and has left me a little jaded. But, as my father said at dinner this past Saturday, we will never find a better market in which to purchase property. But that is a discussion for another time.

The pattern I'm working from is from the blog quarter of an inch, and although I admit I changed some stitches around I'm not sure I could ever tell you what exactly was changed as the circles have now become so easy and automatic. My only goal is to finish this blanket by the end of 2010 because I think one big project a year is enough, especially since I've been working hard on more cupcakes and getting started on this year's hat and scarf, and with the cold weather coming fast I'd better get cracking!

Half Price Books and $2 Journal Finds

2010-09-26T08:25:00.000-07:00

I was out in Brookfield the other day for one reason or another so I took a moment to visit the new Half Price Books location (I'm a sucker for used book stores) and look for a few things. I found a couple of books that I've been looking for but I decided against picking them up until I've finished a few of the books on my shelves that I have yet to read. Of course I couldn't leave empty handed so I was wandering around the clearance section to see what I could find and a stumbled across a couple of red Picadilly journals for $1 each.

I didn't necessarily need TWO journals, but I've been looking for a new sketchbook as my previous one has been very full for sometime now, so for just two dollars I figured it was worth trying them out. I'm already enjoying them and even have a project for my Tumblr Buddy gift sketched out. It's a little strange to be drawing things over the lined pages, but it certainly makes my handwriting a tiny bit tidier. All in all, I say I've made a sound $2 investment, and I may even swing by the Half Price Books near us to see if they don't have a few in clearance as well.

A little aside: I have always had this strange habit of not writing in the first few pages of a journal or sketchbook. I'm not exactly sure why this is, especially since it's not a conscious decision and I usually don't notice until later, but I realized this time I've left five entire pages blank.

Apple Picking

2010-09-19T12:24:00.000-07:00

Since today wasn't nearly as dreary as yesterday, and there was this great crisp chill to the air, we headed out to Barthel's Fruit Farm to pick some apples and get some of their fabulous apple cider.

We were a week too early for the cider, but we came home with a giant bag of apples just begging to become apple sauce, baked apple chips, and some canned apple pie filling.

I'm planning to do some baking on Tuesday or Thursday because Anna sent me a great lavender tea cookie recipe and with the chill in the air it is certainly the time for tea and cookies.

Now I'll take my afternoon break to read through the paper and clip my coupons for this week's grocery shopping.

Weekly goal update.

2010-09-11T18:25:00.000-07:00

Well, it's Saturday, so I guess it's time to see how I've done on my weekly goals since I have just tomorrow left to finish them.

Make: The cupcakes are almost done, I have the pieces for four finished and they just need to be sewn together and filled but for now I'm still working on the pieces for the fifth.

Home: The office is just about done! The floor is now clear (you can walk!) and I put the new duvet cover on the bed. There are still small piles of paperwork that needs to be sorted (and most likely trashed) and a couple of boxes of things without homes, but it's so close and I feel rather accomplished.

Food: We made the Chicken Caesar Tetrazzini, and boy, was it good!

Photography: 1) I was able to scan three (3!) sets of slides this week, and hope to squeeze in one more tomorrow and 2) I plan on taking project photos tomorrow afternoon while Richard watches the football game.

Other: Turn in application to become a vendor at the October Maxwell Street Days in Cedarburg.... hasn't even been done. The application is still sitting in my bag, so my goal is to fill it out this afternoon and stick it in the mailbox.

Monday Goals: 6 September - 13 September

2010-09-06T19:37:00.000-07:00

So I'm going back to my weekly routine of setting a few achievable goals and to keep myself honest, and motivated, I'm going to be posting them here. They all fit into neat little categories, so this should go quick.

Make: crochet five cupcakes (ten cupcakes in the next two weeks)

Home: organize the office/spare bedroom. With all the furniture moving around lately it has become a bit of a disaster.

Food: Richard and I have the goal of making one new dish each week and this week that is Chicken Caesar Tetrazzini.

Photography: 1) scan one roll of film or one set of slides and 2) take photographs of two projects (this week: train case & crocheted cupcakes!)

Other: Turn in application to become a vendor at the October Maxwell Street Days in Cedarburg

***update: I've already crocheted one and a half frostings and one cupcake bottom, so if I keep up this pace this should be a breeze!

One day in Oshkosh

2010-09-05T19:31:00.000-07:00

So yesterday while I was up in Oshkosh four things happened.

1) I went to Hobby Lobby and found more skeins of the "funfetti" yarn I liked so much. It's a different brand ("I love this yarn" - the Hobby Lobby brand) but it seems a bit softer so I think it will be even better for the cupcakes. Which leads me to a side note: for the next month I'm going to give myself little crocheting/making things challenges. I really want to get more of my projects done, in a more timely manner, and I think this might help. So, my first challenge is to make 10 cupcakes in the next two weeks.

2) I spent the rest of the afternoon with Beth and Ben, and we went to Mario's for lunch... and all ordered the exact same veggie quesadilla. Later that evening we all went to the New Moon (my old cafe haunt) and all had the same veggie sandwich for dinner. Because we're awesome like that.

3) Went on the Zombie Walk, the fundraiser for the Time Community Theater, and saw all my old Sketch Night friends. It was a bloody good time!

4) Saw a few artist displays on Gallery Walk, but my favorite moment was being able to see my old writing professor's show. She has been using pieces of jewelry that belonged to her mother to create new pieces and every last one was gorgeous. It was also just wonderful to see her again. She was one of my favorite professors of my entire college career.

Things that Stick in My head: Up There

2010-09-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

UP THERE from The Ritual Project on Vimeo.

New Books: Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

2010-08-29T18:09:00.000-07:00

I finally ordered my copy of Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins! I'm so excited I could burst! I didn't pre-order the book because I'm trying to be a good little budgeter and have only been buying things from amazon when I have enough gift cards from Swagbucks to cover the cost. My goal after this purchase is to save up enough of the gift cards to buy that cute little Fujifilm Instax Mini. Goodness knows I don't need another camera, but I've been without an instant camera for so long that I just can't stand it anymore!

But speaking of books: as with most of my literature choices lately Anna had a direct role in getting me into The Hunger Games. It was one of the books she read while working for Scholastic, and she couldn't stop talking about it. Since I'm a frugal little penny pincher I had been lurking in the local used bookstore hoping the first novel would show up so I didn't pick it up until this past June and I'm actually really glad I didn't get into the series sooner because I would have been so heartbroken to wait so long for the conclusion. And no matter how the book concludes the story this is sure to be a bittersweet ending, because I just don't want to leave these characters yet!

So if you haven't read The Hunger Games yet - you really should.

Good News and Why things are looking Up

2010-08-23T08:08:00.000-07:00

So it finally came. The letter we've been waiting for since June when Richard was laid off. He's been recalled and we can both breathe a sigh of relief now that this summer of waiting is over. School starts next week already so now its crunch time.

We've withdrawn our offer on the house and have put our housing plans on hold. We're not actively looking for a house to buy anymore and we're planning to stay where we are for at least another year. We've gotten to the point where we're just going to let things happen as they happen.

I had an interview/trial run for a nanny position on Saturday, and I'm just waiting to hear back if they are going to use me on a regular basis which would be just amazing. In the meantime I'm still looking for a job nearby, and trying to whip myself into shape with my etsy stores.

Things that stick in my head

2010-08-07T20:00:00.000-07:00

I saw this a few days ago, and I absolutely love it.
I just had to share.

How to Be Alone
"A video by fiilmaker, Andrea Dorfman, and poet/singer/songwriter, Tanya Davis."

Travel Reading

2010-07-29T20:06:00.000-07:00

Richard and I just got back this past Sunday from a two week jaunt to visit our family down south and I've come to realize one of my very favorite things about traveling is that it gives me a great excuse to read. We tend to go book crazy, in fact.

I finally found a copy of The Hunger Games at the used book store right before we left, and of course as soon as I started reading it I couldn’t stop and I just devoured it for three days. I was also reading The Girl Who Played with Fire (after reading The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo while on the train to New York) and I’m about half-way in.

Not only do we read, we also really love audio books which is a blessing on a sixteen hour drive so on this trip Richard and I listened to Harry Potter, starting at the beginning, and we are just shy of finishing book #3.

I'm not sure if now that we’re home and there are so many things to do, dishes to wash, and projects to enjoy if I’ll get back to the books anytime soon, but I’m already trying to find a copy of the second Hunger Games book - Catching Fire - cause I really can’t wait to continue the story.

New Favorite Thing: Pinterest

2010-06-30T16:23:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorite things courtesy of the internet is this little website called Pinterest where you can make virtual inspiration boards from any images you find online. Their definition of the website's name is Pin·terest (pĭn'trĭst): n. a place to share visual collections of things you love. I think the concept is fabulous, and the execution is spot on and beautiful.

Kitchen Herb Garden from LarkingAbout
I've been have a grand time going through my old bookmarks of pages where I liked a picture and have been able to post all those images to themed boards while still linking back to the original content. It's also helped to clean out my overcrowded bookmarks.

So far my fullest boards are Home Style Inspiration, full of things I'd love to see done in my home, and Project Ideas and Inspiration, which I love being able to go to when I'm a little stuck creatively.

If you'd like to use this website yourself leave your email address and I'll be happy to send you an invite.

New additions to the Photo Arsenal

2010-06-24T06:17:00.001-07:00

I've always wanted a little film Pentax to play with. So when we found a Pentax MX at an estate sale for $20 with two lenses and the only problem was the light seals had long ago turned gummy, I felt like I had a gem. So I spent $10 on a pre-cut seal kit from a seller on ebay, and spent an entire morning cleaning up my new baby. Now I have a working Pentax camera and my first experimental shots were on some expired Kodak 200 speed rolls that I picked up at Goodwill.

The photos turned out with a bit of a green cast to them, but I'm still excited to see what will come out of that little lovely from a fresh roll of film.

For my birthday I received a film/slide scanner that has been just wonderful to work with. I scanned not only that picture above but I've been working on scanning my mother and grandmother's old slides so they can be printed as photos and all the siblings can have copies. I can't wait to get it set up again and get cracking on that project.

Up in the Air

2010-06-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

Everything has been up in the air lately, along with many of our travel plans for this summer. I'll just try to sum everything up as best I can.

I took the trip out to New York for our family reunion and it was such a grand time. We went to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island, ate at the Carnegie deli, and saw my first Broadway show. We played the role of the typical tourist and went everywhere we could, squeezing in every sight we could into just three days.

The trip didn't end quite as well as I was greeted with the news that my husband Richard had been laid off from his teaching position. A total of 482 teachers throughout the district were laid off with no warning - just a pink slip in the mail on Saturday. Things don't look quite as grim as they did at first. First we learned that the district had not yet taken into account the 300 or so retirees from this year and what money/positions that would open up. Then we discovered that the way the layoffs were carried out for the Immersion school where Richard works were explicitly against the teachers' contracts. Both of those facts coupled with the degrees necessary for his position mean that the likelihood that there is someone else with seniority to take Richard's place is slim.

Hopefully he'll merely be asked to step back into in position come August, but until then we're tightening our belts and getting in as many doctors appointments as we can before our health insurance disappears. I've started applying at temp agencies and Richard is almost set to step back into his job at Apple.

We're still proceeding with the house, because there's really no reason not to. It will cost just as much to remain in our apartment for one year as it will for a downpayment and mortgage payments and utilities on the house for the same year. The only difference of course will be improvements on the house, but those can be delayed if need be, and we certainly know how to do clean up on the cheap. I'm also a freecycle pro, and I'll go ahead and put this out there - if anyone has house modifying skills I'm always up for working in trade if I can do something you need.

I wish there was better news to share, but I still had some great weeks traveling to North Carolina for my cousin Beaty's wedding and to New York for the Reunion, and I'll be sharing photos from both very soon.

Summer Calendar: These Days are Just Packed

2010-05-14T16:02:00.000-07:00

Looking at the calendar I realize that this summer is set to be full of travel and fun little adventures! So many places to go, people to see, and things to do!

I suppose all this traveling started two weekends ago when I went to River Falls to see Jennie and go to the 100 Mile Yard Sale. And it continues tomorrow (already!) when I go up to Oshkosh for the graduation celebration of Molly, my roommate from sophomore year. She's darling and I can't wait to see her! I plan to leave early so I can spend some time bumming around Oshkosh, maybe hit up a thrift store or two and visit my ladies at Atomic Katz.

Next week its off to North Carolina for my cousin Beaty's wedding. It will be a great chance to see my grandmother, my aunts and uncles, and some of my cousins. I certainly hope Anna will make it to Beaty's wedding as she has another wedding to be at the night before in Charleston, and I miss her so!

In June I'll be heading by train to New York for a mini family reunion which promises to be full of Italians on buses. I don't leave until 3 pm on a Sunday so I plan to spend my last morning partaking in the Hell's Kitchen Flea Market which is just blocks from the train station. I especially enjoy traveling by train, it's leisurely and often feels like I get an extra day (or two) at the beginning and end of my trips.

There will be more traveling, and even more little local adventures, but I will leave the rest of my wanderlusting for another time.

It's Spring and the babies are here!

2010-05-12T07:45:00.000-07:00

These three little baby bunnies were nestled in the front yard of a family I sit for. At the time they were just about big enough to hop away from the nest for good and they're all gone now. But aren't they just adorable?

The little girl was so excited to show them to me, and was very insistent on how far back we had to stay from the nest.

Now if only the ducks would return to the pond behind my parents' house to nest I'll have some ducklings to watch!

Birthdays: 24 times!

2010-05-11T18:52:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my birthday, and I certainly had a grand old time! My parents took Richard and I out to dinner at the local steakhouse where we indulged in a bit of wine and all shared a piece of turtle cheesecake for dessert.

It was a wonderful day, and I had a really great time just being with my family. My parents and Richard gifted me with some really awesome presents as well! (I will readily admit that saying that makes me feel ten years old!)

My father picked out a new bicycle for me that I am rather anxious to ride - we're supposed to be going on the interurban trail from Brown Deer on Saturday and I just hope the weather complies. My mom put together a s'mores kit complete with giant marshmallows the size of your fist! They also ordered the film/slide scanner I wanted - but I think they may have ulterior motives :) as there have been a lot of my mom and grandmother's old slides about the house lately! I really can't wait for the scanner to get here because I'm really anxious to start scanning my mother's family memories so that we can more readily share them with everyone. It will also come in handy when I start experimenting with 120 film in my Kodak Duaflex, which Richard is enabling with the dark bag that he gave me.

Two weeks ago today my great-grandmother Jean passed away. I want to write something for her, because I love her so and am so proud to have been named after her, but I'm still finding it a bit difficult. So I'll leave with that.

All 100 Miles

2010-05-04T14:55:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I took some time to myself to journey across the state of Wisconsin to visit some friends in River Falls. My friend Jennie had heard of this wonderful little thing called the 100 Mile Garage Sale, which was a string of garage sales all up and down 100 miles of the Mississippi river.

We spent ALL DAY out and exploring. We didn't have any miraculous finds, but it was a fabulous time! Starting at 8 o'clock Saturday morning we were on the road and hitting the sales, we took a lunch break around 3 on a beach and spent another half an hour combing for beach glass (I came home with a whole pocket full!) before hitting a few more sales and heading home around 5.

I, for one, have decided that this year was merely reconnaissance for next year. It was super exciting, and a whole lot of fun, especially getting a whole day with Jennie.

Etsy Vintage Discoveries - Spring Gardens

2010-04-20T12:38:00.000-07:00

Since spring seems to have finally arrived it's time to garden with some great vintage discoveries!

Antique Spoons Garden Markers Set $32
from Hammermann

Vintage RRP Co. Aqua Mint Green Jardiniere $32
from Haven Vintage

Herb Garden Pots with Wooden Tray $34.95
from 8point8

"If you'd have a mind at peace
A heart that cannot harden
Go find a door that opens wide
Upon a beautiful garden."

Our house... but not yet.

2010-04-12T14:35:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago we were told that the bank had unofficially accepted our offer on the house and that we just had to wait for them to send over the paperwork so we could close. That was three weeks ago and we haven't heard from the bank since and things haven't moved any further on the house.

I did get into the house a couple weeks ago with our floor guy and got to do some inspecting of our own. Since the last time we were there many of the things (but not all) from the closets and cupboards had been dumped into the trash can out back and it remains to be seen if anyone takes it to the end of the drive to be picked up. The yellow plates from the kitchen walls (see here) have been ripped down and we assume disposed of.

The bad news was that there was new damage to the house. Someone (we're unsure if it was the bank or a break-in) popped out the lock on the side door to the garage breaking the door, the frame, and part of the garage wall in the process. The bank put up a padlock so fingers crossed it doesn't happen again. When they finally winterized the house in early March, after winter was pretty much over, they removed the water meter which is par for the course, however they did not cap the pipe or even put a bucket below it to catch dripping water so there is now a king-bed sized puddle of water across the basement floor. Once we get in and get the water turned back on we'll see if any of the pipes burst during our long and cold winter.

The water in the basement coupled with the old couch that seems to be soaked in cat urine do not bode well for the clean-up process. We had really hoped to get in before it got too warm so the stink wouldn't be magnified. At this point we'd really just settle on closing before the end of April so we can take advantage of the tax credit. If it drags on much longer than that I don't really know if house ownership will be for us. We may just have to settle for continuing to rent where we are or renting somewhere else.

Etsy Vintage Discoveries - School Spirit

2010-03-30T18:06:00.001-07:00

Majorette Medals on Ribbons - 1970s $12.99
from UncommonEye

Red Letterman Jacket $17.50
from FebruaryMarch

Vintage Mini Pennants $15
from Antiquarium

Vintage Alba Stockings Co-ed College Case $29
from Sass Box Classics

News on the homefront

2010-03-28T09:31:00.000-07:00

So many things are going on here at our house and in our lives.

I've been slowly but certainly adding items up in the shop, including this adorable little metal badge from Captain Tim's Ivory Stamp Club.

We're still awaiting final word from the bank, but things with the house seem to finally be coming together. Everything was a bit more complicated than originally appeared and there was actually more than one bank to deal with. We keep hoping that everything could be resolved before spring break so we could have the time off to work on cleaning the new house and preparing to move in, we've still got a week left - so, fingers crossed.

We're meeting with our floor guy on Tuesday so he can let us know how much it will be to refinish the wood floors and how long it will take. It's hard, but I'm holding off on getting super excited because we all know how things can change at the last minute.

Well, that's about it from us, at least for now. Hopefully soon I'll have happy news to share about the house.

Up, Up and Away... Etsy Vintage Discoveries

2010-03-16T12:03:00.000-07:00

Peruvian Hot Air Balloon $25
from Freshy Fig

Ballooning .. UNused Vintage Postage Stamps $10
from Verde Studio

Vintage Hat Box Luggage Set With Hand Painted Hot Air Ballons $90
from Bright Wall

Pyrex Turquoise Balloon Chip and Dip Set, 1958 $78
from Crabapple Vintage

Freebies, Coupons and Making Money: Point Programs

2010-03-15T11:46:00.000-07:00

For quite a while I've used online point programs to get fun things for free. So I've decided to share a few at a time so you can too, it doesn't take much time and I get things like photo prints, magazine subscriptions, and other things free quite often.

Before I get started here's my #1 Tip: I use a separate email address for all the point programs I do, namely so I only look at the emails when I want to and I don't have to wade through so many just to get to my personal emails.

Point Programs

My Coke Rewards

How to Use: Find points on coke products and packaging

What You Can Get: there are plenty of rewards to choose from, but I use most of my points on photo credits from snapfish and magazine subscriptions that I wouldn't treat myself to otherwise.

Where to Find Codes: there is really only one place to find codes - on coke packaging and under coke product bottle caps. While Richard and I don't drink soda all that often it's pretty easy to ask friends who do to save the codes. I know plenty of people who drink lots of coke but don't use the rewards program. So if you're not a soda drinker - don't write it off, just ask around! One of my old roommates would go so far as to take the caps from the recycling bin at her work for me (I made sure to get some prizes for her too!)

My experience: Over the few years I've used this program I've managed to get at least ten rewards each year including yearly subscriptions to Vanity Fair and Readymade, as well as photobooks and prints from Snapfish.

Swag Bucks

How to Use: Sign up. Use the site to search the internet. Get swagbucks. Trade them in for items or gift cards. If you shop online you're also able to use their website as a portal to online stores and receive points for the money you were planning to spend anyway. You also get points for referring friends, so if you decide to join you should use my referral link above to help me out!

What You Can Get: Apple, Target and Amazon gift cards, ipods and electronics, clothes and even office supplies too.

Where to Find Codes: there are Swagcodes that pop up from time to time on the SwagBlog and the Twitter account, I don't lurk all day hoping to get a code (as they are generally only good for a few hours) but have been lucky a few times to have the right timing when I did glance at the site.

My experience: Just today, only two weeks after signing up I had earned 450 swagbucks which I exchanged for a $5 Amazon gift card. The gift cards can be stacked so I plan to earn a few more before making an Amazon purchase so I can get a couple things from my wish list for only the price of shipping.

Fun little lady up in the shop!

2010-03-08T09:54:00.000-08:00

Another one of the Campus Cuties has made it up into the shop today and will be followed closely behind by some other fun vintage finds!

I quite love the Campus Cuties by Louis Marx myself and have a couple occupying various nooks in the house and have given a few as gifts to friends. You can't beat some vintage tschokie therapy on Monday morning!