times are a changin'

We have lived in 5 houses in 8 years. Every couple of months I think we either need to move or rearrange everything. Plus, I like to frequently move things around to confuse the Pastor. If he doesn't know where anything is, then he will need me.

Also, I am frequently finding new goodies at estate sales and Goodwill. I have made myself stop going to estate sales because I'm constantly struggling with wanting to be minimalistic and have less stuff even though it is fun to dig for cheap treasures. I do not buy pricey items - I try to stick to $5 or less.

We've been in this house for 15 months now and here are some bits and pieces of our current living situation -



I think it is a magazine/newspaper rack. Not sure. But the stars make it mid-century fabulous and it was $2 at the Goodwill.






I got rid of the fancy dining room furniture and china cabinet, and had to figure out where to put my pretties. The set that looks like grapes with gold trim came from Goodwill and the Pastor bought it for my birthday.



Old typewriter, prints we bought on the street in New York and a pic I rescued from the trash of Times Square dated 1964. My lone green thing, jade, against a west wall for good luck. Hasn't worked. The vase is inside an old pencil cup I picked up with change at an estate sale.






Painting by Nate.



Living room. Triptych by Nate. Lamp on the right rescued from the trash. Nothing else new here.



Cast iron dog. I've never talked about dog before. Dog was from my Great Uncle Clark and Aunt Hazel's house and I always loved it as a kid. It makes me happy to have it in my home.



Jesus, painted on the back of an old coffee table top, dated 1973 and rescued from a dumpster. No one puts Jesus in the dumpster.



Pear painting by Nate. Owl utensil holder was a planter that I picked up at an estate sale. Betty Crocker kids cookbook from an estate sale. I love to look at old cookbooks because you can tell when they were well used and the recipes that were made again and again. There's usually notes or other recipes scribbled on scraps of paper stuck in between pages. Old kitchen timer rescued from the trash.



Tupperware container (free) missing lid repurposed into utensil holder.



Old card.



I'm always fascinated with what people put on their fridge. I love old postcards and my dream is to someday go to Niagara Falls. I love the postcard we picked up at Graceland of Elvis eating.



Owls. I've tried to get rid of this old bar cart on Craigslist but I haven't been able to sell it and finally gave up.



Desk.




1940s metal toy typewriter picked up at Goodwill for $9. Photo by Nate.



Books and knick knacks. Nancy Drew collection is on the top shelf. When I was a little girl my dad traveled for work and would bring books home for me to expand my collection - this was before Amazon.com.



The great thing about having an artistic son is that he makes a lot of art. Finding places and ways to display it all can be a challenge. The cedar chest was my grandma's, made by her brother. I'm going to give it to my brother if he will ever come and pick it up. :-)



Mantle. The tall blue 1960's vase came from an estate sale. Owl lamp with a missing eye was rescued from the trash. Blue bowl in the middle I got at a garage sale for 50 cents. 1950's blue and gold asian vase came from Goodwill - it had survived so much in it's life and naturally I chipped it right away.



Replacement dining room table, rescued from a university science building. Includes a hole in the middle for a Bunsen Burner and has some bored student's initials carved in it. Chairs from an elementary school in Aline, Oklahoma and unlike the wood and microfiber ones we had before - virtually indestructible, Plastic flowers dated 1969. I bought them for less than a dollar at Goodwill and thought I would use them to make jewelry, but decided for now I like them on the table.



And finally, in the kitchen a handsome couple from a booklet that came with cookware. It reminds me of how in love the Pastor and I are in our dream home.

Cream and Sugar

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: