Wednesday, April 27, 2011

Coins and lost shakers

Here's a picture of a desk I recently finished.



It's from the 30's from what I can tell. It has all the original, brass hardware, and it weighs about 500 pounds.(well, it feels that heavy).

When I first got it home and cleaned it out, I found this.


A really weird coin with a swastika.
Well, it's supposed to be different from a swastika. I guess the lines are going in a different direction than the nazi symbol.
No matter which way the lines go, it still looks evil to me.
I looked it up, and these things are on ebay for $35 -50.
Guess it's going on ebay - backwards swastika and all.

Remember my enormous salt and pepper shakers from my recent post here?

As I was cooking tonight, I couldn't find the salt.



This is where I found it.



Why????

I wil never understand my children.



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Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Adios, Pedro

I'm writing this from my "safe place". We're having some pretty strong storms coming through our area, so I've been watching the local news, which is non-stop weather reporting.
They name towns or cities that I've never heard of.
Today they mentioned Hoodoo and Bugscuffle.
I did not make those up.


Between the rain, I've gotten ots of frames finished. I love the large white one. It's marked 'Ethan Allen 1910'. I don't know how acurate that is, but It'll make a great chalkboard.



Ignore the crazy ugly lamp, that makeover will be up soon.
The box it's sitting on is an old cheese box. They are typically all wood. This one had this great metal edging that has a sort of pie-crust effect.





Cool, huh? This is the lid. With a bit of sawing, I made the bottom into a twin. Not sure what to paint on it though...

I posted a piece on facebook last week, but thought I would show the before.



It was a plain, poorly stained, 5 drawer dresser.



I painted it in Porter Paint's ecru, and topped it with a wanut tinted glaze.












These croquet balls have nothing to do with the dresser, but I like the picture.


We'll say it shows the finish up close....

What are all the kiddos looking at so intently???






A super mean looking turtle.




He was NOT shy. He didn't go into his shell once.


I 'm no turtle expert, but he looked eager to bite a chunk out of a small finger.



The kids plyed with him for hours.



He wandered into our backyard.


I bet he'll never do that again....



If he does, we'll recognize him.








They named him Pedro, and begged me to write his name on his shell.



I hope Pedro likes blue, cause it's permanent.



Notice the live bug in his mouth??


Charming.




For once, I think they listened to me.


They look a little wary of losing a finger.



He ran away during the night.



Adios, Pedro.


Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Jewelry boxes and ramblings...



These little packages are actually jewelry boxes. The larger ones stack together, and have 2 little compartments that are lined with pink felt. The smallest one is just a good old fashioned little jewelry box. I think they would be cute with a monogram on the top stuck into a little girl's Easter basket. (Any little girl but Lilly - she has 3 former sample jewelry boxes


already.) Thhe large ones are $10, the smaller one is $8.



Do you love these too?
My neighbor, Beth, has threatened to steal my salt and pepper shakers for a while now.
They're shiny, pretty blue, and huge.
She has shaker envy.
Here's what they looked like before. Before I bleached, boiled, and painted them.



Well, lucky for Beth, I found a set for her this past weekend. They aren't as big as mine, but they're close.

I got something interesting in the mail this week, from Lysol, of all places.



This book came with a lovely letter congratulating me on my new arrival. (???)
I haven't had a baby since 2006.


I love the phrase under the title, "From Birth to Reality".
If that was really the basis to the book it would be pretty short.
The reality part would begin the day you get home from the hospital, and could be summed up by saying,
"You will never ever get enough sleep ever again.
You will no longer spend money on yourself.
You will lose much of your dignity doing things you promised yourself you never would.
You will turn into your mother.
Welcome to reality.
The end."

Part of my reality is that Baker has a great dislike for 'play clothes'.
He prefers shirts with a collar.
He rarely goes without a belt.
My oldest prefers the homeless look.
I pick my battles.
This is what Baker came up with when I asked him to change out of his school uniform into play clothes.



Aaaahhh. Mixing plaids. It's an art form. Clearly, one we have not yet mastered.

When I asked him to change into a shirt that matched his shorts, he put on stripes.....



.....and took off running throught the basement when he saw the camera.
It's blurry, but I 'gotcha.

Last, but not least, I had another surprise visitor.



Another bird.