the "junked" tiffany lamp and some garage sale finds

there was a request for a picture of the junked tiffany lamp. Here it is! Pretty much perfect condition.

Some free vintage books I scored from our local library.

Ohio's Lincoln Highway garage-sales yielded:
some vintage bias tapes...

pretty trims...

teeny-tiny rick-rack

lace trim

the smallest bias tape I've seen(!)

and EIGHT of these beauties (antique barnwood 16x20 frames) for less than 50 cents a piece!

oooooo! I love great deals. The Ohio trip was worth it ... even if we'd only just gone to that one sale. :-)

Year-long Goals: the checkup

In January, I told you about my reachable goals for the year. I had in mind to re-visit them on my blog half-way through the year. (I know, I know, it's over half-way, but close enough. Hey, I live with a 9-month old, gotta give myself some wiggle room.)

Here they are:
- create a family routine in the evening, especially including the spiritual, with the girl
- join a small group
- get a job
- make and use a budget
- work out 2 times a week
- meal plan for at least 2 meals a week
- send out more cards of encouragement
- thrift a couple times a month for my ultimate year-end goal, opening an Etsy shop


I'll confess first, things I have NOT done.

I have not gotten a job, worked out, or sent out more cards of encouragement and we haven't joined a small group. Also, the "check-back-in" with myself every month stopped after a few months. :-)



I won't make excuses for the above (although I have some good excuses) but focus on the things I have done.

I have created a routine in the evening for Ladybug and actually have been incorporating the spiritual into more things throughout the day. We read spiritual books and stories, have a sing-a-long several times a week (kids songs), and I sing over her while she relaxes for bedtime or at night. I am planning to incorporate quoting Scripture over her too, but I haven't actually done it.

We just made a budget and are using it this month. (YAY! Rejoice with us! This is a huge step after 3 years of marriage!)

I've meal-planned 5-6 nights a week almost every week and LOVE the freedom from my uninspired looking-in-the-cupboard-every-night-for-something-to-eat way of cooking. Even if it's not fancy, it's SO helpful. (Woo! Over-achieved my goal here!)

And I have spent some time thrifting (and junking!) for my Etsy shop. I have not, however, been bold enough to brave the gross Kansas heat to garage or estate sale as much as I should have. But, we are going to a major highway garage sale in Ohio next weekend. So excited!


So, tell me, what about YOUR reachable goals? Did you set any in January? How are you doing?

basket: makeover

we've found several things "junked" in the last few weeks. a tiffany lamp, and this table and basket. I am probably going to sell the lamp and re-do the table (once I can buy some paint and the heat settles down... it's too crazy hot to do anything outside these days).

basket before

But, I did take 5 minutes to spray paint this basket outside. I'd actually been thinking it'd be nice to have a toy basket in the livingroom to round up all of the girl's little people, stuffed animals, and books. Plus, we can start teaching her to put them away in the basket!

So I spray painted it a couple of days ago. (Secret: I actually ran out before the inside was finished, so I decided that a little basket insert would take care of that for now.)

Yesterday I made the liner with some fabric I had. I tried to recycle some elastic I painstakingly removed from a vintage sheet, but just as with the tutu, it kept breaking. Finally I gave up. It is a basket with a liner but no elastic.

basket after

Lesson learned: don't use old elastic. And if you can't buy new, don't use any at all! :-)

the first cherries of summer

high chair cover

I finally made a pattern for the high chair cover i needed to make (to ensure Ladybug didn't slide right out of the chair!) and... I give it a 6 out of 10.

I used some leftover fabric from a vintage Hawaiian dress for the front and a green-and-white polyester for the back. It was my first time to make a pattern, use batting (of any kind) and use bias tape. I feel like bias tape should be easier than it was for me. Do any of you have any tutorials or suggestions for using bias tape? 

oh, and it's also reversible. my favorite part. :-)

July's garden!

my garden has grown since my last update.

tomatoes

can you see the tiny pepper?

turn red baby! and soon!

beans

basil

jalapenos

harvested garlic. want any??

IKEA love

My dear sweet Dad put up with a trip to IKEA on the way to our Minnesota (fishing) vacation. Bless him times a million! Jeremy and I visited one in Portland several years ago, but there is just something about that place that brings back lots of Swiss/German memories. We made a couple of trips to the one in Zurich to find a few things to make our volunteer quarters homey.

I found 6 postcards in Germany 4 years ago and have wanted them in my kitchen ever since! Finally, I found the perfect frames. About time huh?

I also fell in love with this pitcher. I also decided my mom needed one for her kitchen redo (still working on the decor!).

Finally, I got two cheap frames for some interchangeable art for little lady's room and a tiny vase for my envisioned living room shelf. (That's yet to come.)

:-) Yay for IKEA! I could've spent lots more time, but we made it through in an hour and a half. Phew. What fun! Thanks M&D!

Fishing and Skiing (Minnesota fun!)

what we did.

the view

the captain - with his tootsie pop

fisherman #1

turtles

fishing under the dock

successful bass fishing!

kneeboarding

wiped out and submarined!

skiing - my favorite

glassy waters (and glowing legs)

Our first-ever summer vacation!

Last week we took the girl and drove to Minnesota with my parents to spend a week in a cabin, complete with wood paneling, bear couches, mosquitoes and charcoal grills. With the lake in view we spent our days fishing, waterskiing, napping, eating, watching (HG) TV and playing games. Cribbage was the game of the week, to say the least.

We shared a cabin with these folks:

Ryan and Erin

my parents (Dad, you know you love it.)

Our cabin was the nicest one I've ever stayed in. Four bedroom, two bathrooms and 3 flat screen tvs! Air conditioning for the two 90-degree days that we had and cabin decor to boot. Love it.

wood paneling and a flat screen tv!

bears and fishes furniture

kitchen/dining room

Next up ... what we did! :-)

A Ruined American (part 1)

Haiti ruined me.

Ruined my worldview, my perspective, my thoughts, my colored glasses ... my life.

I need to publicly apologize to my husband and my child and any other family and friends. I'm ruined - it makes living (American) life a little more complicated.

I was reading Simpler Living, Compassionate Life the other day and the thought struck me. I make a horrible American. I hardly can throw plastic packaging or the lids of plastic containers in the trash without thinking about it. I mean thinking about it. Thinking about the implications of where it will go, why I have to throw it away (do I?) and how a billion of those little things will add up really quickly. I find myself feeling guilty that I don't live in more sustainable ways, and I can't help but think of the the many faceless, underpaid factory workers who made the clothes in my closet. And having 15 pairs of shoes isn't many by American standards but is beyond excessive for others.

I'm ruined.

I still hold an American passport. I don't believe that war is the best answer, but I absolutely respect the sacrifice that men and women in our Armed Forces have made. I can still sing the national anthem with pride - albeit tempered. But, I am a ruined American.

I'm not sure I would care beyond consuming if I hadn't left for Haiti ten years ago. Going there has played a huge part in the change of my worldview.

There's the crazy consumerism end.

And then the zero-waste people.

I'd like to fall somewhere in between the extremes. But, I really would like the continuum to lean to the latter.

Yeah. I know, my husband is snorting and raising his eyebrows right now. "You would like to what?!"

(to be continued... )

First world problems.

I was bored the other day. I even hate saying that I was bored, because you might say, "Well, what's your problem?! Use your time wisely. Make the most of what you have, for heaven's sake!"

And I'd say, "Well, it was a bored/restless feeling." I was stressed out about the job situation (lack thereof), feeling a little down, needing a pick-me-up or something. There were still several hours before Jeremy would make it home (in fact, I think he'd just left) and I needed to get the girl and myself out of the house.

So. I went shopping.

Before I even left the house, I knew going shopping wouldn't make me happy. I knew it wouldn't make me feel better. I knew it wouldn't satisfy me. But, knowing all of this, I still charged right through - ignoring my feelings - for some retail therapy. Knowing I really should sit with it and relax and maybe go for a walk, I went ahead, hopped in the car, and drove away to look at furniture, rugs and vases.

It didn't help.

Funny, how I did it anyway. Funny how I shop instead of think. Shop instead of feel. This is so ... "consumeristic" of me. So typically female. So American.

I normally avoid this, but I fell right back into the easy way and old habits die hard.

I ask myself, "Is this the example I want to be setting for my child?" (No.) "Is this what I want her to turn to when she's feeling down?" (No.) "Is stuff really going to make anything better?" (No.)

Is this how I want to live my life?

No.

******

Hop on over to Rage Against the Minivan and read this funny and insightful post about raising kids in the first world. It's something I think about quite often and have no idea how I am going to accomplish raising my children in our world of stuff and more and more stuff, but I'm going to try. More on this to come.

Progress reports (3): more antiques

The grandparents have sweetly let us borrow their antique highchair for her to use. (I wanted one just like this to use and they had one already). However, it is very slippery and she is a tiny bit short for it yet. We are using a borrowed Bumbo chair to feed her for now and when I get a little cushion made for the seat, we'll be able to sit her in it without her sliding too far. I need to make a pattern for the cushion. Any suggestions how to go about pattern making?

here's a little antique school chair, graciously given to me from the teens at church (it didn't sell at their garage sale fundraiser) via an older couple whose grandchildren used to play with it. isn't it cute? until Ladybug can use it, i'm thinking of fun and practical ways to put it to use!

finally, this one is from Jeremy. his grandma used to have a black rotary phone just like this and he was even excited to pick this up from an antique store going out-of-business sale. the cord may need to be replaced, but we might even get a landline and use it! can you still use these old guys? hope so!

that's all for now, folks. come back soon for more antique/vintage love!

Progress reports (2): garden!

(click here to compare: my first garden post of 2011)

the pole beans are growing beautifully!
one pepper plant has died (still needs to be replaced).
the garlic finally flowered. 
my flowers are slightly wilty from this heat (hope to revive them with more frequent watering and a little love)
and I can't wait to harvest something. so excited!

pole beans

slightly wilty flowers

beans and tomatoes! so yummy!