Simple Gifts

Friends bring me gifts, and they know what I like. These are from my dear pal Carmella. The sweet crochet heart and another blue canning jar with a zinc lid.

Elizabeth brought me a pot of lily of the valley, my second attempt at planting some. Try try again...

I bought this beautiful pendant at a sale of our dear Annie's junk. Junk, in the best possible way.

The pendant was made by the amazingly talented Jeanie from The Gilded Junqueyard. So beautifully made and such a special tribute to our beloved Junk Queen. The profits go to Annie's favorite charity.

It was an honor, visiting with Annie's best girlfriends and bringing home a few books that came from Annie's collection. Seeing Annie's home and all her friends and the things that made her happy, made me miss her a little more. The gift of knowing Annie is one I will always cherish.

A broken car kept us home, most of the weekend, but with the terrible weather we've been having, it wasn't really a problem but a gift. Time with my guys... though they slept an amazing amount of time. I took an audio recording of all three of them snoring. Surround sound! They left me crocheting and watching a series of programs on NatGeo about weather and recent disasters. Let's just say it scared the @#$% out of me! I'm not a happy camper in a storm, and these shows all warned of more storms and natural disasters, due to the one degree increase in the temperature of our oceans. YIKES!


Simple gifts... my husband safely home, 3 of the best guys napping on a Sunday evening, friends remembering you with things you like, a hot sunny day, a garden hose and a two year old soaking wet... face time with a daughter far away... a pretty necklace to remember a friend gone too soon... Tis a gift...

Enjoy this beautiful day.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day is a day for remembering and honoring
military personnel who died in the service of their country.
The reason Poppies are connected to Memorial Day is this poem...

In Flanders Fields

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row,
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly.
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.


Reposted from 2010

One, Is the Loneliest Number

The closet is finished. Today is the fourth day of this WIP. In the process I trashed our bedroom. These are photos I took before...

Now I have to put it back to the way it was. I hung a Ikea tablecloth behind the bed. I'm enjoying the pop of color.

I had big plans, as my sweet baboo was away on business all week. I planned on making more of these journals, and reading all those books I showed you. I cleaned and sorted till I was too tired to hold a book...

I hate when he's gone. There's an empty space in my heart, that only he can fill.

And NOBODY makes me laugh like he does. Welcome home honey!

Closet 1 Penny 0

 I have become undone by a closet...  It's just about got me beat.  This is day three and I just found floor.  I didn't have the nerve to take a before photo.  Let's just say, it was bad. 

I went into this project wholeheartedly...With the yes we can spirit...then I was like, I shouldn't have...who thought this was a good idea.  The blame is mostly mine, though my daughter (who hasn't lived at home in 8 years) shares some of it and even my dearly departed Dad, though it's bad form to blame the dearly departed. 

I found the floor, and now my bedroom is trashed.  I've got 5 banker boxes of books, another filled with mailing envelopes.  A box of posters, 2 large boxes of  Zines from the 80's with orders not to toss them.      I'm ashamed of myself for letting it go for so long...and then this morning, I read this from the Brave Girls Club...

Dear Incredible Girl,

When you've done all that you can do, and you still feel like you have so much further to go, when you feel like all that you have to give still isn't nearly enough, when it seems that you will not be able to keep up everything that needs to be kept up for one minute longer --
stop and breathe.

Look. Really really look at what you are expecting of yourself.

You are an incredible girl. You are amazing and strong and brilliant. But friend, you are also a human being. You cannot do it all. You cannot always hold everything together perfectly, and you cannot be perfectly composed every single day. It's okay to have 'off' days. It's okay to feel weak and overwhelmed and have meltdowns once in awhile. It's okay. YOU are okay. Everything is going to be okay. It is.

Let yourself have days to be a perfectly imperfect human being. Let yourself feel what you need to feel and process your life the way you need to process it. Let yourself  BE.

Bad days will pass, overwhelm will dissolve, and the sun will come up again tomorrow morning, just like it does every day. There will be a brand new sparkling day waiting for your tomorrow, waiting for you to hold hands with all of the joy that it is offering.

You are just right. You are doing great. You are fabulous!

And you are very very very very loved.

xoxo

Thanks Brave Girls.  Funny how often they hit the nail on the head.  If you are struggling, (and my silly closet doesn't really apply) I hope those words of support help you today.  You are FABULOUS!  Back to work. 

Serendipity Sunday

Capped off a busy weekend with a visit to the South Barrington Arboretum, a fancy pants shopping center to see Joy from Savvy City Farmer.  It was a beautiful day for walking and shopping outside.  It wasn't a huge show, but there were many friendly vendors, and cool stuff galore.  Joy had her beautiful vintage garden and home accessories, live plants and other cool stuff.   It's always nice to see Joy

and her sweet hubby Don.

These spindles are topped with cups, saucers and finials.  Note to self...look for spindles. Sorry, it was a random photo and I do not have the name of the vendor.

Suitcases are like potato chips to me, back up and walk away.  It's like the picnic baskets, I have so many, I need to stop!  They were so pretty...

I had a nice conversation with Laura of Junque duJour.  She was so friendly and had her teenage kids helping out.  She had great stuff, like the suitcases, silver, wire baskets, french flash cards, dishes, furniture...

and this great corner cabinet.  Laura also sells at Kane County.  I hope we run into one another again.  I told her she should have a blog...if I can, anyone can!  Contact Laura at JunqueduJour@aol.com

The serendipitous moment was when I saw an item that I also saw at the NaDa Farm sale...I thought for a moment it was a reproduction, or something mass marketed.  Then I saw the foxgloves...it was the girl who sold me the medium sized milk bottle full of lily of the valley at NaDa Farm!  Now I have her name to give her credit, it's Diane Passi.  Contact Diane at ppassi@aol.com

A full weekend, I must say...  and a busy week ahead.  Thanks to everyone that made it special, especially to my dearest one.  We met 37 years ago this week...I loved him when I first saw him...it took him two months till he asked me to marry him.  It took me a year and a half till I said yes.  Silly girl.  Wonderful guy!
Enjoy this beautiful day.

Farm Sale/Rummage Sale Finds

Here are the cool things I got at the NaDa Farm sale.  The enameled pot was from Hot House Market.  I met Carrie at our Blog gathering, and met her charming husband at the sale.  These two have the friendliest style and wonderful things to choose from.  We talked about Brooklyn, of all things.  They sell at the Brooklyn Flea, not far from where my daughter lives.  Carrie's blog tells you where their future sales will be. 

 My Buscia had pots like this when I was growing up.  Makes me all warm just remembering.

Wish this was smell a blog...This soap is the best smelling ever.  Made by Soft Touch Soaps, right here in Illinois.  The lovely lady that sold me the soap asked me if I will look at this soap, or use it.  I will use this, the perfect soap for after gardening.  SoftTouchSoaps@aol.com

 I found these 1940 letters at the booth of Chippy!Shabby!.  She had the window I so admired. 

Sorry I don't know the vendor of this medium sized milk bottle.  She also had the foxgloves in large pots in full bloom.  I've been looking for the medium sized milk bottle, and this one filled with lily of the valley was irresistible. 

 In the cup holder of the car, it scented our ride all the way home.

Much, much closer to home was a rummage sale.  The shelves/desk was the first thing I saw...$5.00!  I've been looking for shelves for my son Jon for his antique cameras and vintage fan I recently found him.  The person checking us out told us that she donated the desk and that they had paid $250.00 for it at Crate and Barrel.  Jon is gonna love it, and it will look great with all his stuff.

The sentimental favorite though, is this book...Tasha Tudor's Heirloom Crafts. I first became a fan of dear Tasha back in the hay day of Victoria magazine.  She was an amazing woman...she wrote children's books and illustrated them, sewed quilts, made soap, dipped candles, made baskets, gardened, made and used natural products before it was cool.  My kind of woman!  Finding her book for a dollar was bliss...(Bliss...that's for all of you old school Victoria readers!)

Well, if you read my blog, you know what I like, and there was a little of everything at this sale.  The tin mold, the canning jar with an unusual name...and the smallest ledger I've ever seen.  Take a closer look at the photo of the shelf, and if you are curious about anything, just ask.  A great weekend so far and a beautiful Sunday to go.  Enjoy this beautiful day.

The BoHo Ball at Na Da Farm Sale

I got my best guy... after an 10 hour day of work...(Thank you Tyke, I love you so!) put on my best BoHo...  a 50 cent tablecloth and $1.00  pair of earrings, put a flower in my hair, grabbed my best blogging bud...well, a reasonable facsimile.  I made a Flat Barb of  Babs Just a Babblin' to accompany me to the BoHo Ball, aka as opening night of the NaDa Farm sale. (Barb lives in another state, and we had hoped to go together, but it was not to be this year.)

 I made a bunch of these so watch out girlfriends.

 There's Barb!  Isn't she pretty?  She didn't know she was going...but I thought it would be fun! (and it was so much fun...thanks Barb!)

I was greeted near the entrance by Jeannie of  The Gilded Junqueyard.  She is so pretty, warm and friendly. She has a shop in the Colonial Antique Mall in Woodstock, Illinois, I mentioned in an earlier post.  It was a great  to see her again and a wonderful way to start the evening. I wanted that window, with the curved top, but it was just too big for where I'd want to use it. 

 The amazingly talented, and so pretty in her BoHo frock, Jennifer Rizzo with the lovely Flat Barb!

Speaking of talented, Fifi O'Neill autographed my copy of Romantic Prairie Style and also autographed  Flat Barb! Here she held Barb close to her heart for a photo. Fifi is lovely and soft spoken.  I was so happy to meet her and tell her how much I enjoyed her book. 

 This was one of many beautiful items by Jennifer Rizzo. There were racks of her beautiful designs, and so many of AnneMarie's elegant designs too.  After a while you can tell who made what from their distinctive styles.

 There was so much eye candy, I didn't know where to look first.

Here's Kathy's handsome hubby with Flat Barb.  Kathy is from Charm Bracelet Diva...  It was so nice to see Kathy again, another beautiful person... she is so friendly and kind and a talented designer of jewelery.  She was admiring the work of others at the sale, and wearing some amazing designs of her own.  Wow, Flat Barb was sooo popular.

 So many beautiful displays, great stuff everywhere.  I was really too busy gawking to take many photos...

Foxgloves, in full bloom. Jars of lily of the valley.  Baby tears, the plant, not from baby Daniel.  I got to see him and he is beautiful, just like his Mom, Anne Marie.  I don't know how she did it this time, with a brand new baby...but she did,  BIG TIME!

Show you what I bought next time.  Have a beautiful day.