Saturday, October 31, 2009

Goodies in the Mail....Again!

This time as I opened these, I made sure my husband couldn't grab anything! On my Halloween Swap he took most of the candy before I could photograph it! First I got these really fun towels and toweling fabric from Reto Redheads, one of my favorite shops! I had bought one thing and hated the colors when I got them, so they exchanged them for these! A little bolder than I am comfotable with, but I think after a couple of washes, they will be perfect! Another MODA Home product! And the sweet little bag they came in is going to hold something in my craft room!













Then I got my wonderful box from my Thanksgiving Swap!!!! Her name is Linda and she went wild!!!!! Beautiful little wall hangings, napkins, S&P shakers ( which sadly didn't make it), a beautiful candle and candle holder, a great little Thanksgiving cookbook ( can always use thoses! ) a sweet little fall angel and a beautiful handmade fall runner! Linda, thank you so much, you truly outdid yourself! And oh by the way, so did Leslie with the Halloween Swap, I wish you could have seen all of it! What my husband didn't eat, I have put away already! LOL







OPPS! Lost my signature! Still learning, you know!!!!! :)

Saturday, October 24, 2009

My Very First Giveaway!!!!!


OK Ladies....I am so excited about this! I am going to give away one of my cute "Cracker jars". I have mine on my blog banner. In a post for Vintage Thingie Thursday, I posted a photo and got a lot of questions about it.....so I am making one for my giveaway! It is a good sized glass jar with a sweet Meyercord Decal of a cute little woman and her garden....I keep my sugar in mine. If this sweet little gal isn't screaming 1940's...nothing is! This photo is of my jar, so the top is a little banged up, you will get a brand new one, so you will have to do your own creative denting!


I am going to try to sell these on Etsy, I will have different decals and sizes that you can buy in a week or so. So I guess this is also a way to celebrate my opening my new storealso!


I will post about that later this next week....


The rules are simple!

Leave a comment here, it can be about what ever you would like. I am going to take comments until Thursday Night and 7:00 PM my time. ( In Arizona, I think that is Mountain time. :) ) Please leave a way for me to contact you in the comment.
Please let your friends know about this .... the more the merrier!

I will use a random number generator thingie to pull the winner from the comments left for this post.

Good luck! And thanks for stoppin' by!

Thursday, October 22, 2009

Reproduction versus Real Vintage Tablecloths?
















One of my real passions are 1940's kitchen tablecloths. I just adore them, mostly the fruit and vivid primary colored ones. Once in awhile I am lucky to snap up a real vintage one, but a lot of mine, I must confess are reproductions. I found with the real vintage ones, I didn't want to use them for fear of ruining them. So, I started buying the reproductions and enjoying them. What are your thoughts on this? How do you feel about using and possibly ruining a wonderful vintage find? I saw at at Tina Smith's blog http://cherryhillcottage.typepad.com/cherryhill_cottage/ that she had made art to put on her entry way walls with vintage tablecloths. What a great idea! I might just try that! Let me know what you think !




Friday, October 16, 2009

A Wonderful goodie in the mail!





I was so surprised when I got this in the mail today! This is so sweet! It is from my "Spooky Sugar Swap" partner Leslie at http://plaidchaos.wordpress.com/ . She has seen my blog and felt the need to add a piece to my craft room! I just love Oilcloth, it has a such a vintage feel to anything that is made from it. Leslie, thank you so much !!!! This is my first swap and I am having a ball! I found the swap on Swap Dex : http://swapdex.blogspot.com/. Having a package show up in the mail that you are not expecting is just too fun! I will be using this on my desk in my craft room for sure!



Monday, October 12, 2009

One of the nicest things anyone has ever done for you



I wasn't sure I wanted to do this, I am for sure not a writer, but when Lori from http://www.familytreesmaycontainnuts.com/2009/10/writers-challenge-1.html mentioned this, one thing really stood out for me. This by far is not the only thing anyone has ever done nice for me, there have been many things, but this one still matters a lot.

The summer after my Dad died, my Aunt ( his sister) asked me to come back to Eau Claire, Wisconsin. That is where my Mom and Dad had been raised, my brother and me were also born there. I was very leery about going back, too many memories and I was afraid it would just hurt too much. But after much thinking and pondering, Wayne, me and Bryan, my two year old son went back to Eau Claire in late June of 1983.


Reconnecting with my cousins and Aunt's and Uncles was so special! I felt like I belonged. That Fourth of July we had a wonderful time at my cousin's house with food and sparklers and fireworks! This small town goes all out for the Fourth and there was a wonderful parade, and all kinds of special events going on. Bryan had such fun with his new cousins!

Every night after everyone was in bed, Rosemary and I would sit down at the kitchen table in the house that she and my Dad grew up in and talk about him, all kinds of things....she shared wonderful thoughts and memories with me about my Dad and my Mom, and my grandparents. She would take me to places that had meant something to them, where they had gone to high school, the church they got married in, and so many others.

We cried, and laughed and spent many precious hours together....it helped the healing begin. I felt close to them back in Eau Claire. I could almost envision them with me. I saw the first house they bought together and brought their family to. I can only imagine how hard it had to be for them to leave "home" but my Dad did what he needed to do for his family. And that was provide a good living, and that meant going to Ohio, when I was just two years old.

Every time I see my Aunt Rosemary, I thank her for that time, for that healing and for the love I felt that trip, and every trip since ! This is not a sad memory but a loving, kind one that always brings a smile to my face when I think of that summer of 1983.



Saturday, October 10, 2009

My new look for 521 Lake Street! What do you think?

I spoke of a new "vintage" change and here it is!
When I first wanted to start blogging my friend Meri Wiley of
http://imagimeris.blogspot.com/
sat down with me and helped me figure out an idea for a banner that helped me get the blog up and running. Thanks Meri for helping me get started!
After blogging for a few weeks and seeing other sites, I felt I had a better handle on what I wanted the whole blog to feel like. I really like Michelle's work from
http://shabbycreations.blogspot.com/. So we got together and after many emails and a lot of decisions on my part this is the final product! I couldn't be happier! She gave my whole site that "1940's kitchen " feel!

Blogging has become an important part of my time on the computer and I have met some wonderful new friends because of it. I hope you enjoy my Blog and come back to visit often!
Have a great day !



Thursday, October 8, 2009

Vintage Thingie Thursday






I went to a Thrift store a few days ago and found these goodies! I also am including a photo of one of my very favorites items in my kitchen. My grandma had these type of cookie jars when I was little! This was brand new, but I painted the lid and added the meyercord vintage decal, so I think it counts as "Vintage! Also, look for a new "vintage" look to my blog in the not too near future! :)

Monday, October 5, 2009

You must see this horse! I have goosebumps!!!!!

  • Please click on the video that is below this post....it has a tendency to stop and start a few times, but let it play! This is dressage at it's finest! Horse and rider are truly one being! I just had to let you all enjoy this!



Sunday, October 4, 2009

A Place called SMEEKS!









































My best friend took me out yesterday and we always have such a wonderful time! She always finds places I have never been before, and this was no exception! If you live in the Phoenix area, you must check out this store! As I have told you before I am an old candy fanatic and this place was like heaven!!!!! Wonderful items for parties, and great retro finds! And the large red gnome, he is to die for! $50.00 but he was at least 15 " tall and so cute and red! I bought wonderful paper straws, and cupcake liners, and nutcups and little bit of candy :) I just couldn't get enough of the sights! And the colors....perfect! Please enjoy these photos and if you ever get a chance to get to downtown Phoenix, you must check out SMEEKS! 14 West Camelback Road in Phoenix, AZ. Enjoy!

My SMEEKS finds and more fun photos










































































Thanks to Lori I am in the right order now!!!!! Enjoy!

Thursday, October 1, 2009

The day my world stopped turning





Take a good look at this photo....how old do you think this woman is???? Most people tell me 65 or 70.....she is 58 years old in this photo. This is my Mom, Loie. This photo was taken about a year before she died. The little guy in her lap is my 29 year old son. Life was good...I had a wonderful husband and had a sweet baby boy, my parents first grandchild. It came to be the only one they ever got to know .




I have thought and thought about how to write this post. It is very important to me that the people who read this blog understand who I am now because of what happened 28 years ago.
I was 27 years old and my entire world came apart....my Dad was already in the hospital, he had complication from his diabetes. I came down to Arizona for Bryan's first birthday party. My husband and I lived out of state. I walked in the door and a 70 year old woman was standing where my Mom should have been! To make a long, painful story short for right now, 7 weeks later she was dead of a cancer no one knew she had ( but her) . I had my brother take her to the hospital the next morning and from that day on, she never left it. She died on October 3, 1981. On that day, I lost both of my folks. My Dad was never the same after her death. He died 14 months later, he was only just 60 years old. People would say to me, how bad she looked right before she died.....she just looked like my Mom. Between my brother's birth and mine, she had had a full term pregnancy ( due in a week) and had tripped over a pop bottle case on the floor of a store and went into labor. The baby was delivered deceased the next morning. It was a little girl. She fell into a deep depression. A few years later after my birth, still depressed and ill, they misdiagnosed her with a disease that they treated with pure Cortisone, which left her frail and much worse off physically. The depression never really went away.


My mom was one of those women who never complained, and was never the most important one, my Dad loved her no doubt, but he didn't know how to cherish her, it was just how it was. And sadly, she accepted it. I am convinced had she gotten pissed off once in awhile and yelled, had been able to stand up for herself every so often, she might have lived longer.


I have figured out that she was actually sick with the cancer when I was pregnant with Bryan but she was bound and determined to be here when he was born....NO ONE knew she was ill, NO ONE. How incredibly scared she had to have been. Another real regret.


More than anything, I wish I could just have one more day with her, now, with me this age, and with my life lessons that are behind me. I often think of what I would say to her.....first of all I would tell her how I am sorry for not being a better daughter. I would tell her that I miss her every single day, and that I hope she is proud of the woman I have become. And then I would tell her goodbye...for now. (That was another huge mistake I made, but that is another post another day. ) It is very hard to become a grown woman without your Mom, there were so very many places in my life I could have turned to her for help, with my kids, my husband, my life in general, some advice or just a laugh. I never got to have that Mother/Daughter relationship women have with their mothers when daughters finally become grown. There is a void I have never been able to fill, and believe me I have tried all kinds of wrong ways to fill it! But I can live with it now....all these years later. It isn't easy, but it is doable most days. And when I do see her again and I know I will someday, I will hug her gently and I will tell her these things and so much more. I love you Mom! Your daughter, Sandy

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