And I'm down for the count...

It got me. Whatever this "it" is, is just horrible! I haven't felt this bad since, well since I can't even remember when. The congestion is horrible, my chest hurts, my cough makes my head hurt and my chest hurt more. I can't smell anything, I can't taste anything. I feel like my eyes are bugged out of my head...and I look soooo lovely too! Red, puffy eyes, a red, swollen and chapped nose, chapped lips, and did I mention those beautiful red eyes won't stop watering.....WWWWAAAAHHHHH

Vintage Thingies Thursday & Tender Graces...

It's time for me to take a break from my Spring cleaning and join in on Vintage Thingies Thursday. VTT is hosted by the ever gracious Suzanne @ Colorado Lady. Be sure to pay her a visit, say "Hi!" and see who else is doing it VINTAGE today.







Books have always been a key part of my life and my enjoyment. I love to escape into lands far away, the adventures and romance drive me to "dream" and give me the "break" I need to make it through anything stressful that may come my way.

Allow me to share my Colliers Junior Classics and my New Junior Classics, Series One and Two (circa 1962-). One is a complete set and the other I'm missing the first volume. I'm actually "watching" an auction on Ebay right now to see if I can "win" volume I :0)
(There is a book on the far right that doesn't belong in the series but it fits perfectly to keep the books "straight & neat". Good for their spines.

One of my all time favorite stories...
Look at the "artwork". I dare not call them simple illustrations because in my honest opinion, they are far more then that.

I love you Beast...

Thanks for stopping by and sharing a bit of your day with me. Be sure to let me know you were here!
Here's wishing you a wonderful VTT.

TENDER GRACES~
My friend Faye @ Something Nanna Made shared a bit of information about a free conferance on Autism. Many children are afflicted with this illness and I'm happy to share what Faye has written. Please visit Faye and read her posts about Sweet Noah who will touch your heart, about his mom Amy who is amazing and about big brother Luke and how he all ready knows Noah is something special.
God Bless them all.

Spring Fever-Refreshing the pantry cabinet...

This week has been all about my Spring cleaning, organizing and re-freshing. Being that this mid century home was not built with a pantry, we had to add our own. This "beauty" (blech!) sits in the service porch/laundry room, just across from the machines. To the right of this cabinet is my utility closet. Anyway, it's my hope/wish/dream that my wonderful hubby wubby will build some floor to ceiling open shelves here, til then I've a plain, old, utilitarian cabinet that I call the "pantry". As you can see the painters thought it would be a good idea to give it a paint job. Didn't they figure it out that you cannot paint over laminate without prepping it properly? Ugh, we found out about a week after the painting was completed, that this was done in a hurry.

Before:
Ugly, isn't it?

Hmm, found me that wall paper that's been stashed for the past nine years. I knew I'd find a use for it one day...

First door done. What do you think? Should I continue to the next door? I'm thinking about having dear hubby add molding around the edges and I'm still not decided on the pulls. Should I use the ones it came with (see top pic), should I have dear hubby fashion two more spoons into pulls, or should I just go with a pull like the ones on the utility closet? I do have the ones that used to be in my kitchen. Help a girl make up her mind, won't you?

Spring Fever- Pet Food Storage

So I took myself to that big pet supply chain to see how much it would be for a practical pet food container...What? $15?! ( The "good" ones were almost $40!) For what? A big piece of plastic that's what. It was also ugly, flimsy and the lid was so thin I thought for sure I or my son would snap it as soon as we handled it. You see, I like to have the dog food in containers that are not breakable but are airtight so that the food stays fresh and pesky critters (ants!) stay away. Being that Spring has Sprung and that's when our pest season begins, I knew I had to jump on this issue and f-a-s-t !!! Feeding our K9's is my eldest boy's responsibility and while he does the "job", he is rather messy about it. Kibble scatters more often then not and being that we keep the dog food in the laundry room /service porch area, it's not uncommon for me to step on loose kibble, find it under the machines, and worse! Find it in the clothes as I'm sorting them out. Yuck! So you can now see that the need for a storage unit was sorely needed. The last one I had was tossed last summer because someone dropped water into the bin and put the lid on. Hmm, can you say warm/humid days, dog food, closed lid= moldy, smelly food that no dog would touch with a 10 foot bone!
But herein lies the problem. I need the storage container, however, I don't want to spend any cash on something I know I wouldn't be happy with.


So, what to do? What to do?

Thinking...Thinking...

Before:

It's an empty HEAVY DUTY plastic detergent bucket! I gave it a good wash out and dry off. I then grabbed some sandpaper from Hubbs workbench (180 grit?) and gave the bucket a good and heavy sanding on all sides to give it some "tooth". I then printed out pictures of my furry babies, some quotes about dogs, grabbed the mod podge and a brush and went to work.

After:
This was the first side I did. It's too uniform for me but it was all ready on so I decided that the other sides would get a much "free-er" appearance.

I just need to buy some vinyl "paw print & bone" stickers, clean it up a bit and then give it a nice coat of sealer and BAM! I got myself a pet storage container that is "air tight", "heavy duty" and best of all? IT WAS FREE!!!

(I lined the inside with a plastic bag, poured in the dog food and use an old veggie can as my scoop.)

Spring Fever- The Laundry Room...

Actually it's called the "service porch" however for this day and age, I refer to it as the "laundry room". It a small room right off my kitchen and it's what is behind those red doors I love so much.

Be warned the next scene is not a pretty one...
Hey! I warned you! That is one week of laundry piled all over the floors and overflowing the hampers.

Let the transformation begin (waving wand...pfst!)

I'm all about re=using and re=purposing when possible. It's a way of life for me as this is the way I was raised. I guess I was "green" before it was the "thing" to do. LOL!
This canister set is in great condition and it's a complete set too. It doesn't fit my decor anymore, and I don't want to alter it's appearance.

Turn the canisters around so the backs show to the front and they become "neutral".

When living in such a small space, "one" must be creative when it comes to storage solutions and decor. The "topper" is an old scarf I used to actually accessorize my clothing with "back in the day". The shelf behind the machines is a piece of scrap wood hubbs cut down, sanded, stained and sealed. It gives me space for my storage and needs.
Each "jar" holds something useful to us for this area or the kitchen area. In the biggest jar I've got laundry detergent. With such a large family I buy the industrial size bin of detergent, however it's to bulky and takes up to much space. I scoop detergent into the biggest jar and that is actually now sitting to the right of the shelf (shelf has since been centered) In the smaller jars I have drier sheets, laundry bags for those bits of apparel that need the gentle cycle, in the others is tape, scissors, rubber bands, paperclips, lost legos/toys and general miscellaneous items one needs on occasion, and in the basket are our trash bags and any single socks waiting for their mate. My stepdaughter gave me that blue enamelware cup one Christmas long ago. It now holds my "tip" money. Family is warned...if money is left in pockets and I find it floating in the washer or in the dryer....IT'S MINE! My biggest "score" to date is $60 that hubbs forgot to remove from his pocket! Yahoo!
I know my machines are not the newest or prettiest of machines, but they have served us well for the past nine years and with as much action and use that they get it's no wonder I love Kenmore so much! We do pull out extended warranties on all our appliances though, because lets face it. Wouldn't you get tired or break down every now and then if you were run a couple times a day, every day? I'm also thinking that within the next few months I'm going to be spray painting the set so that they look "clean and spiffy". I"m just waiting for warmer weather. Have any of you ever spray painted any of your appliances? If so, how did they turn out and how did they hold up?


This wonderful gem is still awaiting it's turn in the warm, sudsy water. I just wanted to show you the one original light fixture left in this house. Isn't it fabulous?! Yes, it's 1954 vintage and yes, it's in my laundry room :0)
So if you check out my last two posts, you'll know exactly how I spent my weekend. This week I hope to conquer the living room/dining room areas.

P.S. Note: I was also able to slay the dreaded laundry beast! Ha Ha! Be gone with ye' Beast of laundry.
You know, the words "wash, dry, fold repeat" went through my head so many times during the "fight". I may have to add those very words somewhere on these walls.

Spring Fever

SPRING FEVER: n.- A feeling of restlessness, excitement, or laziness brought on by the coming of spring.

I've been tackling my Spring Cleaning "to do" list, (hmm, this must be the restlessness) and I'm happy to report that the kitchen got a major scrub down. I literally spent most of the day tackling this chore. There were times where I smiled to myself because I realized just how obvious it is that there are "young uns" in this house. Hand prints and finger prints were everywhere, just "so high". I found lego pieces under my fridge, army men under my stove...it's rather interesting the things that one can find in these dark & dusty places. I am happy to say I found a silver earring I'd been searching for since last Summer. I have no idea how it made it's way under my fridge, but there it was...all covered in dust and grime and the aftermath of spills that were never quite reachable (since they were under a major appliance!) Eww, is right!

I also did a bit of "thrifty decorating" again.

I think it also added a bit more personality to the kitchen.

Before:

Hmmm...

After:

Yup! They've become "pulls"! They're a bit "askew" (darn me and my "crooked" eyes) but lets just say that adds "character". Yes, I thought you'd agree with me :0)
Sigh* A nice shiny clean kitchen and "new" pulls= HAPPINESS (this must be the excitement part of Spring Fever).
(Ha! Just noticed that I didn't close the cabinet door and the lid on my bread box isn't set right! Well, just goes to show that not everything is perfect in a real life working kitchen. )

I also want to give a bit SHOUT OUT to my hubbs. He puts up with all my "ideas/suggestions" and is usually the one to bring those "ideas/suggestions" to fruition.
Babe! You Rock!!!

Vintage Thingies Thursday 3/19

It's time for Vintage Thingies Thursday! Be sure to pay Suzanne, THE COLORADO LADY, a visit. See who else is going vintage!








How I love Red! Below you will see one of my very favorite treasures. I know, I know. It looks rather unassuming but if a bowl could talk, what stories it could tell. Like when momma would make her tortillas and put little dough balls aside for me to roll out. Oh! Or when momma decided to snap her own beans and set some in this bowl for me to snap...boy I felt so helpful! I know! When momma would make pudding in this bowl and set it inside the fridge. She would even let me lick the mixers. This precious bowl is but one of a nesting set of four. They came in primary colors (listed by order of greatest size) yellow, green, red, and blue. I have this red one and the blue one (which is another of my favorite cereal bowls). My mother dropped the yellow one and we lost the green one just a few months ago when we had our last sizable quake. I've been perusing garage sales & thrift stores so that I may replace what has been broken, but I've had no luck. I've seen them on Ebay, but the cost sure runs up and then adding the shipping and it's gone beyond my "milk money".

Did you know Pyrex has a rather interesting history? If you'd like to know more about it's origins, click here.



Thanks for spending some of your time with me. I hope the rest of your day is FABULOUS!