The Things We Keep: More Precious Finds

Our garage is finally getting back to normal with more boxes of things going out the door than being stored! 

The two youngest daughters convinced me it is time to "Marie Kondo" the things my mother-in-law collected or saved, and then left behind.

This Hand-Painted Box Brings Me Joy!

In her book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, Marie Kondo tells you to touch each piece and ask yourself if it brings you joy? 

That's a hard one to start doing, but it gets easier the more things you touch and pass on.

At first I wanted to keep everything of sentiment or value, but our life is in fluctuation right now...this is NOT the time to store a bunch of things!

My mother-in-law's next younger sister has always shared mom's interest in collectibles and hobbies. I breathed a sigh of relief when she happily accepted the many boxes of dolls and doll parts!

If I had kept these things, it would only be to sell them on-line or in a booth. If I passed them to this favorite aunt, I knew she would love them or find a good home for them. 

Whatever she does with them it's now up to her...Kind of a "Tag You're It!" action.

The night I called the aunt, she had just finished putting an old doll together so I knew she was the right person for mom's favorite vintage dolls and doll parts. 

Here are a few things I kept as they really do bring me joy. They are all old and had been stored away inside this hand-painted old wooden box:

1. This little wooden case holds thimbles. Mom gave me some vintage thimbles years ago, which I plan to add to the old thimbles she had stored in this box.

2. This very odd clamp was also in the box. I knew it must be something involved with sewing, but was perplexed with it until September's Country Living Magazine arrived.

Mom's Clamp

Country Living's "What's It Worth" Section had similar

According to the magazine's article, this is probably an Early-20th-Century Sewing Bird Clamp! Mom's bird clamp has what is probably a pin-cushion on the back of the bird. 

Appears To Be A Pin-Cushion On The Bird's Back

3. A cute metal cat with a pin-cushion-bucket attached to the cat's side.

Another Pin-Cushion Of Sorts

The cat's head bobs up and down, and it feels like it might come out, but I don't want to ruin it if it doesn't.

4. An old case with lining, with a logo from a jewelry store in Birmingham. At first we thought Birmingham, Alabama, but the spelling of "Jewellers" and "Crooke" and the address on "High Street" makes us think it might be from England.

What Are These Used For?

Alabama or England?

We plan to do some research, especially to determine what were these used for...cracking nuts...crab cracking...hair crimpers maybe? 

Since they were with other sewing things, are they used for something in that field? Anyone have an idea for us?

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Vintage Charm Party
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When You Love It, But Let It Go

Have you ever loved something, but no matter how you try it just doesn't work for you? 

That's how I feel about this sweet vintage cabinet...

I thought about painting it several times, but it's a lot of work to do that with all the little nooks and crannies. 

Here's a picture of it in the shop where I bought it years ago.

We have quite a few other cabinets, so I put the little cabinet up for sale on Craigslist the other day and it sold that day.

It was fun to dress it up for different occasions, but we're planning on selling our house in the next year so reducing "stuff" is what's happening around here. 

All the glass in the door, front, and sides would have made it hard to move any distance so it was the obvious choice when it came to reducing cabinets.

Happy Mother's Day this year to all you ladies out there! 

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Throwback 70's And Love Never Dies

A good many years back, I happened upon a photo of these curtains. I wasn't crazy about them, but there was something about these curtains that was so familiar!

Source Unknown

I  rummage around in my mind a bit, and then I rummaged through an old box of photos. 

OK...I have to admit this. I once had some brown and white bell bottom pants in 1971 very similar to those curtains! 

Do you remember bell bottoms and pinball?

So sorry for the bad photo here!  It's an old black and white instant photo from 1971. I had just returned from Clark AF Base in the Philippines after a year and a half overseas. I couldn't wait to get back and buy some stylish clothes! WooHoo.

That's my mother on the left and my little brother and sister playing pinball. Do you remember pinball? When I was a little kid, I was a pinball wizard along with my cousins and next older brother. 

My cousin Doug and I were fanatics. Later in life, Doug's older brother Dale (nickname: Einstein, one of the first computer professors) wanted to surprise Doug with a refurbished copy of Doug's favorite pinball machine. 

Soon after he secretly ordered the pinball machine, Dale died unexpectedly right after surgery, due to a blood clot. A while after the funeral, Doug got a call out of the blue that someone named Einstein had ordered a refurbished pinball machine for him, and it was ready to be delivered. Love Never Dies!

Notice the cigarette machines to the left of the pinball machines? Anyone could buy cigarettes back then! 

I remember going to the liquor store by myself when I was 8 or 10 and buying Tiparillo Cigars for my father for a "surprise" birthday or Christmas present instead of the usual socks. No one batted an eye back then. 

Geesh, in re-reading this I don't know what was worse...that a child would be completely fine walking into a liquor store alone, or that they would sell a child a pack of "Ciggies" or cigars without a moments hesitation! Trust me, life was much simpler back then.

And, P.S. I've never smoked, but I still love the smell of cigars. Whenever I smell someone smoking a cigar outside, I try to get as close as I can to them without looking like a stalker.

How about you? Have you got any 70's or 80's pictures and stories you're brave enough to share?

Thanks for dropping by!

Joining the party here:
Share Your Cup with Mrs. Olson

Goodbye To Orange

Started clearing out the Fall and Halloween things today to make way for Christmas.

Orange is not a favorite color of mine, but I do like these shades of it in the leaves and placemat here.

The gravy boat and butter dish are Pottery Barn items from years back. I don't even remember the year I bought them, though that's probably due to my age and not theirs.

I love anything with a woodland theme. These pieces have squirrels running up a piece of twig used for the handles. 

I can't remember ever using them as serving pieces, we just use them for decoration around this time of year.

They wouldn't ever be large enough when our tribe gets together for holiday meals! To fit everyone in, we usually have to eat buffet style to leave as much room as possible on the tables. 

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Convoluted Math And Teacups

Joining Bernideen for her Garden Tea Party. Although I don't have a pretty tea set up to share, I do think ladies with teacups might also want to hang them!

Would you believe it took me forever just to hang a few teacups on a board? Yep, afraid so.

See how evenly spaced my little cups are? Apparently I don't have the gene that allows me to quickly figure out how to measure and screw 7 cup hooks into 36 inches of board.

I'll bet there are some of you who already did the math in your head and are dying to tell me how to do it...My husband is at the head of that line!

But sometimes a girl just wants to figure it out herself! Even if she has to take a rather complicated route to get there.

I didn't even say a word to the Clark Kent in the next room. I didn't want him to turn into Superman and solve my delimia for me. I just wanted to figure it out myself.

The board was exactly 36 inches. Half of 36 = 18 inches. That should be the middle of the board right? Good So Far.

Now, here's where I think 18 inches on one side...18 inches on the other side. Divide by 3 cups on each side of the center cup. 

Let's see... Divide 18 inches by 3 cups = 6 inches between each cup!  Uhh, Nope. 

That puts cup number 1 at 6 inches and cup number 3 at 18 inches. The center cup (cup number 4) is already at the 18 inch spot. Scratch head. Start again!

Then I realized I needed the end cups to start a little inside the end of the board. 

I set the first cup at 3 inches and subtracted 3 inches from 18 inches = 15 inches. 

So, there's 15 inches between the first cup and the fourth cup, which is sitting at 18 inches. 

Divide the 3 cups into 15 inches = 5 inches between each cup.  Finally I just laid the cups out at 5 inch intervals and eyeballed it!

I was exhausted at this point from the mental exertion of it all. I really think "Girl Math" must be much harder than regular math.

On an accomplishment high, I started screwing the cup hooks into the places I'd marked.

I got three cup hooks screwed in before I had to admit that -- even though I was now a mathematical genius -- I wasn't strong enough to twist all those cup hooks into that hard board. This is where I called Superman. 

He flew in, gave the situation a steely glance...went to the garage and returned with his drill and drill bit. 

Apparently starting the hole with a drill bit makes screwing in cup hooks a whole lot easier, even for Superman.

Now, I'm open to learning how I could've figured this out easier and quicker. Anyone have a better way? Leave me a message, I'm all ears.

I'm joining Bernideen's Tea Related Blog Party today. I hope you'll join me there.  

As far as 5-On-Friday, since there's 7 tea cups in this post, I'll bet you're thinking, "There she goes with that funny math again!"  

But no...the party rules say you can also do 5 minutes on one subject. Who knew I could do 5 minutes on hanging teacups.

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Tea Related Blog Party at Bernideen's
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The Sheep Picture Finds A Home

After tearing the house apart to do some small renovations, we're starting to get it back together. 

The breakfast room got an old cabinet, which finally provided a home for this large sheep print. 

We bought the print years ago. It's so heavy it just couldn't find a proper home until now.

The cabinet is solid and sturdy and can easily hold the sheep picture, which is printed on a very heavy piece of wood. 

I just leaned it against the wall, and just in case, I drilled two screws into the top of the cabinet in front of the picture to keep it from sliding.

I fell in love with the sheep-print-on-wood when I saw one on French Country Cottage's blog years ago! I ordered one right away (on the internet) and loved it when it arrived, but I wasn't expecting it to be so heavy. Beware of love at first sight!

As for the cabinet, it has been painted many colors in the past 14 years and is still in "progress" of its latest makeover. Among other things, I'm thinking of adding another layer or two of crown molding to the top.

We're still working on the paint for the newly installed cabinet in the dining room, so a lot of clutter found a temporary home in this cabinet. Once the other cabinet gets painted, this cabinet will hold mainly dishes, linens, teacups, etc.

Too many projects going on at one time, that's for sure! It seems one thing we do leads to another, just like those little Chinese puzzles we use to have as kids. To work the little puzzle, you would slide one up and then slide another one over...and on and on.

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Street Corner Paradise

Would you believe this little piece of paradise sits on a street corner in a little town in the middle of nowhere?

We were on our recent northern Alabama road trip when we happened upon the little garden shop in the little town of Arab. It was like an oasis! Here's a view of the other side of the sidewalk...

The little garden shop sits on a corner that use to house a Farmer's Exchange where, according to this marker, farmers in the early 1900's use to bring their crops in and exchange them for dry goods like flour and sugar.

I was quite taken with the dichotomy of the harsh, dry roadway smack dab next to all these beautiful flowers and plants. Wild Bill not so much.

He thought I'd lost my mind when I screeched to a halt and wandered through the garden and store for almost an hour. I had to soak it all in...and he had to make it to the next destination on his map. It would've been a standoff, but I was driving!

Inside the little shop, which was an old building with original doors and floors and rusty metal on the walls, was a mix of pigs and ivy and everything imaginable.

I was so sorry I had forgotten my camera, but that didn't stop me from using my phone's camera to take it all in.

Out the back door, more lovely flowers greeted me in the shade as I emerged.  

Due to limited room in the pick-up cab, I bought just this little treasure below to remind me of the tiny corner garden shop. Three rusty little bottle stoppers to hold candles. I'm sure you already guessed that Wild Bill was relieved it didn't have to be watered!

The candle holders are perfect for a project I'm working on. Here's one last view of those pretty flowers by the shop's back door before I go...

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