Life in our house......

This Kid

Kills me.

He is so unique.  Never has liked tv much and prefers to be outside... at all times and in all types of weather.  Thankfully it is starting to finally get nice around here, so it's easier on all of us when he decides to go outside. 

In fact this morning right after he woke up and was walking down the stairs he says

" I need to go outside and get something." 

Me- Okay, put your shoes on and hurry up we have to get ready for school.

He puts on his shoes and clothes, goes out in the backyard and gets his shovel and starts digging in the dirt.

Me- Sam!  What are  you doing?  We have to get ready to go!

Sam- I'm looking for my treasure!

Me- Well, your going to have to look for it after school!

So finally after about 5 minutes he comes in, defeated.   Then after school he recruits the 3 year old neighbor kid to help dig for "treasure".  I don't think they found it yet and it's 7:06.  But I actually think they gave up when he came in for dinner at around 6:00.

Because then when he went back out no kids were outside so he just wandered around outside for awhile.  He knows if he wanders around long enough someone will eventually come out to play.

And look... No more front teeth!

Before and almost After

Remember my hutch that I got at the Salvation Army last fall....

Well, after stripping the worst veneer ever off of it this winter, I finally got around to sanding and priming and painting it this week!

I still need to rough it up a bit and do a little antiquing to it....  but I'm already loving it!!

I'll post another photo when I'm all done...

recent finds

Thought I'd post a couple things I found when my mom was visiting.  She'll be coming back for the show, to help me... 

We found these at a local estate sale a couple weeks ago.  Actually we found 2 sets of them and I bought both.  And you'll NEVER be able to guess what I'm going to do with one of them....???? 

Yep, keep it. :)  I've never denied that I got problems...

This I actually bought at a thrift store in Reno, but just got to fixin' it up last week.  It was gold with the craziest greenish/blue stained velvet cover.  I'm really bad about taking "before" photos.  I need to get better with that.

Anyway, it's a vanity bench and now it is super cute and fun!

And look at what we are using for our cute tags...  Old playing cards.  My mom had these and they are going to work perfectly!  We've been trying to find more cute, old ones, but we aren't having much luck.  We are running out, so I'll have to keep my eyes open for more, but I doubt I'll top the cute bright pink ones with a kitty on them!

Good Weekend

We had a great weekend...  Nice to be all well...  Good weather...  Fun times with friends at a birthday party... back to church after quite a few weeks missing due to being sick and out of town.

And for the boys, haircuts... tons of time outside and... they rented a new video game... Prince Caspian.

Good times...

Man, I love a fresh haircut on my boys!

Soap

I told you I was back in the saddle! 

I'm making these for the Funky Junk Sisters show.  Do you know what I LOVE most about these soaps?....
That they are NEW fragrances!  I was getting sooooo tired of my standard 8 scents.  Still love them, but was wanting a change and since I don't have to have those 8 scents stocked for a website, I can make whatever the heck I want!  Yippee!

The one on the left is Sunwashed Linen and Lavender (yep that's right) and then the other one is Kumquat~!  They are both fabulous but very different from one another. 

Guess what else I decided?  I'm not going to package them and sell them for less!  Less hassle for me and savings for the shoppers.  Plus less waste.  I'm really happy about it all!

Now they are off to cure for a few weeks....

Reno

I realized I hadn't filled you in on our little trip without the kids to Reno / Lake Tahoe.  We did nothing too exciting and I normally wouldn't pick Reno as a vacation destination, but it's pretty close to my parents house and we only had 3 days...  Plus I heard they had some great antique stores... :) 

And just to be ANYWHERE by ourselves was just great!  We actually had conversations with each other and had dinner at places where they don't have crayons.  Heaven!

We stopped at a lot of places like this...  And Jason did his best to be patient.  Luckily he had the camera so he could entertain himself a little by taking photos.

He took this one for his mom... because we have seen a photo of her with one of these crazy purple and red hats on. 

When Jason is let loose in an antique store waiting for me to look at EVERYTHING... you end up with a lot of photos like this.

And this.

And this...  He REALLY wanted to take a photo of an old person smoking and playing a slot machine at one of the casinos, because he thought that it would such a cool photo, but he was too chicken to ask and so he settled for this.

And speaking of smoking...  we saw this in the elevator at the Atlantis and decided the Nevada Clean Indoor Air Act is a hilarious joke. (At least at casinos)

Here is a photo I took.  Isn't that a fabulous piano!?

And what would be a trip to Reno be without a stop and Jason's beloved Taco Johns.  He thought he died and went to heaven when he found out the was a TJ's  (as he affectionately calls it) in town.  Luckily I made it with only eating there once, on our way out of town.  He stuffed himself with Taco Burgers twice there though. 

Oh and beside the antique stores we hit a ton of thrift stores and scored some great stuff!  Most of it I'm fixin' up for the booth or junk show...  More photos of that stuff later....

Cabinet

Okay...  You just all better hang on to your shorts!  Look... just look... at what my dad made for me.

He's making these cuties for me to sell at my upcoming shows!  But they are killing me.  You know... the PROBLEM I have...  wanting to keep them.

Well, I will be keeping one at some point, but for now these 2 are for sale. 

The one on the bottom is really deep, just like a BIG kitchen cabinet.  The one on top is smaller, maybe more medicine chest type size.  I love them both and if I had room they would be mine... all mine. :) 

But I don't have room, so they get to go the junk sale!  Yipee!

He is even working on more things that we have come up with, so be on the look out for more soon.

Pin Cushions

Look at what my mom and I made?  Fun huh?

Makes good use of those random silver creamers I had in the garage with no sugar mates (or use sugar bowls with no creamer mates)!   We saw the idea in one of my older Romantic Country magazines I had around here.  You can use teacups, small urns or really anything small like this.

Measure the diameter of the dish opening and cut a circle from the fabric you are using (thicker fabric works better and won't show the pin holes) with twice the diameter of the measurement.  Using a needle and thread make a strong knot, then sew a circle of running stitches  about 1/2 inch from the outside edge of the fabric.  Pull thread to gather the fabric into a cupped pocket and stuff firmly with fiberfill.  Pull thread tighter to form a ball and tie in a secure knot.  Fill the dish with fiberfill leaving room to insert the cushion. Pull the cushion away from the sides of the bowl and place glue on the sides then release in small section so the fabric makes contact with the glue and do it all the way around the dish.  Then you can add any type of extras you want around the outside of the dish.  You can glue lace, sew on buttons or anything you've got around to make it your own!

Fun stuff.

Easter Eggs

Here are a few pics from dying Easter Eggs the other night.  The boys were still sick, you can tell because Ben is pale and Sam has rosey cheeks...

We do it old school around here...  Just crayons and dye.  No fancy schmancy stickers, glitter or tie dye eggs for us.   Mostly because I start to lose patience.  Patience is not my strong suit.  But the kids don't care.  What they don't know won't hurt them. :)

We had a good Easter (aside from getting over the flu for Ben and colds for the rest of us).   It's really nice to have Grandma here. 

And as far as I know... We didn't get any dye in the potato salad, Jen. :)

Tablecloth Tip

My mom (she's visiting) and I have been going through all the stuff in my garage, plus the stuff she brought with her and deciding whether or not to take it to the antique mall or save it for the upcoming show....  While doing so we've come across a BUNCH of tablecloths with stains.  So taking a tip from one of the ladies that works at the antique mall we have been dying them a new color! 

I never would have thought of that! 

These were a light ecru color and they were sooooo pretty, we couldn't just leave them with nasty brown stains, so we bought some Rit dye in Tan and cooked them up on the stove along with Easter dinner yesterday. :) 

The one in the back still has a little discoloration, but it is way better than before and the one in front turned out perfect!

We also did white ones, that we tried to turn black... One turned out great the other two, not so much...  We've found that the cotton ones (like crocheted) turned out way better than just plain linen or woven materials.  The other two black ones we will probably keep for display because as long as you don't look too closely they are okay! :)