moving for fun and profit

I think I made enough money from what was left behind in the teenage boy's room at the old house to buy a snocone.

playing house

I have figured out why I don't mind moving.

Moving is like the grown-up lady version of playing house, and I loved playing house. I especially loved playing with my dollhouse. You could arrange things however you wanted, be in complete control and no one could mess up anything. You didn't even have to have the husband around. He could go to "work" and come home and then you could touch doll lips to doll lips. Good, clean fun!

I may have taken time away from the unpacking and organizing tonight to give some TLC to my beloved Littles house.

Come on in!



From what I can tell through my internet research, this isn't the wife, but the wife isn't blonde and it's my dollhouse and I can do what I want. Conveniently, the "husband" (token male) just so happened to be a red-head.



Hmmm! It's an avocado green, yellow and orange dollhouse. Can anyone guess what time period we are talking about here?



This may explain why I like the Sister Wives shows so much. I don't know how I thought all these dolls were related, but only two beds? One baby that they are all raising? Only one wardrobe for all their clothes? The modest clothing? Or perhaps the red-head is the "decorator" for the gals?



I may or may not have spent more than an hour cleaning the dollhouse, unpacking, arranging the furniture and taking pictures. In my defense, we don't have television in the new Parsonage. It's not like I have anything else to do. Just the cleaning, unpacking and arranging the furniture in the grown-up house.

In my adultness, I found it maddening to try to arrange such top heavy dolls. What was with the giant heads and toothpick legs? Perhaps this is why the Littles didn't catch on Mattel! Even Barbie in all her top-heaviness wasn't this bad!

After the hands-on part came the internet research that had to be performed where I learned that words like "Vintage" are used to describe my 1980 dollhouse which is selling for $99 on Ebay (worse shape than this one) or $199 for new-in-box.

The house is in pretty good shape, probably because that Mrs. Little was always such a task-master when I was calling her shots. She ran a tight ship.



The End for now, but don't worry. I still have Barbies to unpack.

arty crafty

Frame, bought on Valentine's clearance at Target. I spray painted the mat to match the pic. The pic is a recipe card.

utility room decor

Frog Canisters from Sears, 1976. Someone left them behind at one of the rental properties I manage. I've seen them selling for $20 per canister.

I collect the open-mouth, sit-by-the-sink, sponge-holding frogs:


Industrial meat line prints, purchased from Goodwill:




The stickers on the back with a pre-seven digit phone number would date them before 1965.




Betty Crocker's original cookbook picked up at an Estate Sale. You know, in case I ever need to know how to cook old-school, including chicken from clucking to table.


Kellogg's Sweet Eatin' Carnival sign.

utility room

The Pastor thinks we should part with the table, but I'm not ready to do that yet.

Finders Keepers

Old trunk found in attic. It's amazing what good stuff people leave behind.

I'll get you my pretty!

I can't remember a time when I wasn't moving, but the Parsonage is starting to come together, and I've gotten to the point where I can put things on the wall. Granted I've been using those sticky velcro things that hang things on the wall without damage, so a few hours after I've gotten something on the wall it falls off, but still progress, right?

Here's some of my finds. I've tried to include the prices when I can remember them. Basically, I haven't paid hardly anything for anything. I can tell you I've probably paid less than what a cup of coffee costs at Starbucks for my goodies. It's ok for you to feel jealous.


Framed embroidery, Garage Sale, 50 cents!!! Looks to be about a billion years old.

And, no, I don't really believe the sentiment.






1960's decorating book, Goodwill. Nightstand used as end table? No she di'nt! Yes she did! I'm breaking all the rules. Garage sale.

Bowl - Georges Briard, 1950s/60s/70s barware sold at better department stores. Mine from Goodwill, 90 cents!

When I got the bowl, I tried to tell Nate it was something. His exact words? "You have no taste." My response? "Yes, that may very well be the case, but this bowl? It's a find!" I was right.



Bird pictures, sorry my pic is not good and makes them look crooked (I can assure you they are not) 50 cents, garage sale!!!




Bowl from Goodwill. It was pretty fancy. I think I gave $9.00 for it.




Better pic of one of the birds.





Goodwill shoes. I love the wooden shoes. I remember my Grandma had some hanging on her wall. She always had change in the shoes, so I put some in mine too. So far none of the kids have figured that out.




Enamel tray - garage sale. A lot of this stuff you can tell how old it is with some simple, sad words: "made in America." This tray was actually made in Pasadena, California. How long has it been since anything was made in Pasadena?

The bowl is more Georges Briard barware, from Goodwill. The Nancy Drew book I've had for years.




Plate from Goodwill, 90 cents. This sentiment I believe.




Vases, all from Goodwill.

Beautiful bowl from Estate Sale, less than one dollar I kid you not.




Pic from Estate Sale, again I think it was 50 cents.


Goodwill, Goodwill and Goodwill. Thanks to my friend Ally I may have started collecting Pyrex. Either that, or I'm saving it up for her!

That's enough for you to be envious of for now. I best get back to unpacking.

The King of Rock 'n' Roll, and our fridge

Elvis is in the new house and on the fridge. Whoever that lady is, I feel her pain.

my writing space

for now :

Bookcase, somewhere out there is a librarian very proud of my utilization of the skills I learned as a library aide:

first things first

We may have two separate homes that are each right now in a state of disaster, but we have food at the new house.

Isn't that all that matters?







Dinner.

off to a good start

Just a few days into the new house and nice people are already concerned about our souls:

my biggest fear

The new parsonage has a basement. My biggest fear is falling down into it. So I wisely put my writing desk right next to the opening.

Messengers of death?

No need to go to Anthropologie to embrace the Owl trend. I've had good luck at Goodwill and estate sales:


The embroidered owl pic and the owls on the left were both less than $1.00.

I started decorating my office (and when I say "decorating" I mean "applying vinyl decals") with owls a couple years ago. They make me happy - they remind me of my grandma. The teeny tiny owls above were in the printer's drawer that hung in her house.

Then I met an old Indian woman who said to me "why would you decorate your creative space with owls? Owls are messengers of death."

Oh well. I'm taking my chances. If a creature is going to bring you bad news, it should at least be cute.

Goodbye, carpet.

The Pastor ripped out this carpet today.

It was nasty.

Word to the wise, ladies.

Never let your husband see all your shoes in one place. Never. Part of my shoepocolypse:

coffee table happiness

This coffee table I found at Goodwill is the spitting image of one I wanted to order at Ikea. Only unlike Ikea this isn't particle board. It's wood and it's the real deal - maybe 1950ish? $17.99 (orange price tag) then 10% off with my discount card, the price was right!

Help from the Pastor

One of the things I was able to accomplish today was getting the living room set up. Thanks Pastor for "helping" me by messing up the throw pillows and getting footprints on the coffee table.


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Proof that I'm an Old Lady.

The innards of my china cabinet.