New Member of the Household

I'd like to introduce our new bedside table, purchased at an antiques store last weekend.  The moment I saw it, I just knew it was meant to be.  And that notion was confirmed when I opened the top drawer and found a big zip-loc bag of antique wooden spools that came with the table.  ♥  We've been looking for a new bedside table for a long time, and we really don't need a lot of storage space.  Which is why this secret special feature is perfect for us:

It holds spools of thread!  Or finger puppets, if you're me.  Or cooked strands of spaghetti noodles, woven in between the pegs, if you're Karl.  Just kidding, I'm never letting him do that.  Also I'm never letting him stick one cooked elbow macaroni noodle onto each peg.  Kind of a shame, though, because they are the exact perfect size for elbows.  Or penne. 

Christmas Miracle #3

I have never claimed to be a photographer.  Just keep that in mind, okay?  Because I am about to show you photographic evidence of Christmas Miracle #3, and you are going to be underwhelmed because I take kind of bad pictures.  But trust me.  In real life, these are amazing.

 

A few years ago, my mom and I picked up a super cute set of vintage glasses at the thrift store in her town.  The've got little etched stars all over them, and the original set had short glasses, tall glasses, and two shot glasses (just in case).  Of course we bought them all.  Karl and I love them and use them all the time.  Here's a photo of one of our kitchen shelves.  Remember: not a photographer. 

 

My mom was randomly telling her friend about the glasses a couple of weeks ago, and her friend- I am not making this up- said, "Oh, I bet I donated those.  My brother bought those for my mom at the PX when he was in the service.  I have more in the basement."  And she went down to the basement and brought up a big box brimming with what can only be described as a Christmas Miracle. 

I knew nothing about this, so I was surprised when we went home for Christmas and my mom handed me the box.  It held at least 20 more glasses, in different sizes and shapes, like this one:

 

And the piece de resistance... a matching cocktail shaker!

This is when I wish my photography skills were better, because then you could see how awesome this shaker truly is.  Little etched stars... thick glass... pure love.  Come over and I'll mix you up a cocktail in it! 

Christmas Miracle #1

This year, three amazing Christmas miracles happened to us.  Here's the first one:

 

Karl and I go to a little town called Cedarburg every year for a few days after Christmas.  There's not a lot to do there (which is lovely), so we spend time watching movies, sitting in front of the fire, chatting at coffee shops, and wandering through antique shops.  We always find something we need.  This year, it was this sweet little vintage lamp:

 

If you wind the ferris wheel, the riders go around and music plays.  The best part: well, everything.  The worst part: the hideously boring shade. 

 

Fast forward a couple of days and a 90-minute drive, when we stopped at an antiques shop just outside of Madison and found... in the furniture section because we were just going to quickly look at furniture and then go home, which makes it even more miraculous... the perfect shade!  Same company and everything. 

 



 

Goodbye, white shade.  Hello, adorableness.  

Secretly, We Like Cheesy Folk Music.

 

You may remember the walking-down-the-aisle song fiasco and the subsequent sweet solution cooked up by my husband.  If you don't, here's the short version: Our musician played the wrong song while I was walking down the aisle.  But a few days later, Karl dragged me to a bar in the middle of nowhere.  The guy who originally wrote the song I was supposed to walk down the aisle to was playing there, and Karl had emailed him ahead of time to ask him to play that song.  Also, we got to have a beer with him. 

 

The same guy (Bill Staines) played near Madison last weekend.  Of course we had to go.  We may have been the youngest people in the audience.  But it was so much fun!  And he played the walking-down-the-aisle song.  It's possible that I cried a little bit. 

Afterwards, we stopped at a vintage shop where I picked up a tablecloth for $1.  Plus did I mention the concert was free?  It was.  All that fun- a concert and a vintage tablecloth- for only one dollar!  Lucky us. 

Garage Sale Goodies

Have I ever told you that I love Hallmark pins?  Maybe not, but I've at least hinted at it.  I'm not obsessed enough to be trolling ebay or anything, but they're one of the things I always keep an eye out for at yard sales.  So when I found this little turkey for a dime on Thursday, I snapped it up. 

I also scored this antique Swedish camping stove for $3.00.  We don't need another camping stove, but it's Swedish!  It says "SWEDEN" on it!  So obviously I had to have it.  

I also bought a Kelty child carrier (the backpack/frame kind) for $5.00 for a friend who's been looking for one.  Sweet! 

I hope your garage sale expeditions have been fruitful!

Yard Sale Goodies

After the farmer's market on Saturday, Karl and I hit a garage sale and scored these treasures:

This cute yellow metal cart was only $1.  How could we pass it up?

A pair of sawhorses for $2.50!  The last time we needed sawhorses, we made them and they were way more expensive than these nicely foldable ones. 

Our success at this sale further proves my new garage sale philosophy: Go on Saturday.  Skip the frantic Friday morning rush.  Chances are, other shoppers aren't looking for the same things you are, so you'll still have good stuff waiting for you on Saturday.  Plus you get a better experience-- and probably better prices. 

Karl and I weren't planning to go to any garage sales; we just happened upon this one.  As long as we're talking about garage sale philosophies, I'll mention my tried and true favorite (a girl can have more than one garage sale philosophy, right?): Follow your heart and don't overplan.  Most of the great deals I've scored have been at sales that I just kind of stumbled upon.  And when I don't feel like going to a sale but I force myself to go anyway, it's nearly always a bust.  It's almost like we have an intrinsic ability to predict which sales are right for us.  So listen to that little voice inside of you when it says, "Turn right!  There's an awesome estate sale two streets over!"

I need to write a book about garage sale techniques and philosophies.  Or maybe a pamphlet.  Or a series of pamphlets.  Yes, a series of pamphlets, definitely.

Cranberry Oatmeal + Rain Boots

Every night, I set up our mini Crock Pot with oatmeal for the next morning. Last night (as part of my "Quick! Use up all frozen and canned items immediately so I can freeze and can some more this summer!" effort), a handful of frozen cranberries made their way into the Crock Pot. I added a little cinnamon and nutmeg this morning, and it was basically the best breakfast ever. Especially because it was rainy and cold and I took the bus to work. I was secretly happy about it, because it meant wearing my new green rain boots for the first time. I scored them at a thrift shop a couple of months ago. Aren't they darling? They're nice and tall so I can tuck my pants into them. No wet cuffs!

Pre-Christmas Miracle

I've been thinking for a while about re-vamping my weekday morning routine. After realizing that about 30 of the 45 minutes I need to get ready in the morning are spent boiling an egg (in my amazing egg cooker), packing my lunch, and making oatmeal on the stove, I thought I'd try to scale that back and maximize on sleep. Packing my lunch ahead of time is easy (the hard part is remembering to grab it from the fridge!). And when we recently got a new Crock-Pot, a mini Crock-Pot came with it (for cheese dip and that sort of thing). I just put my oats and water in at night, plug it in, and in the morning my oatmeal is done! And of course I can make the eggs ahead of time, but I needed a little push... which I found at a thrift shop for 26 cents over the weekend. It's a vintage refrigerator egg box (not the one pictured above; mine is actually olive colored and a teensy bit cooler than the one in the picture). On Sunday, I boiled five eggs and put them in the new box. They're ready and waiting for me every morning!

Can you believe I found that egg box just when I needed it? Now I can get up at 7:30, which is a full half-hour later than before. I'm in love. Maybe I'll start sleeping in my clothes.

This is why I'm not allowed in thrift stores.

Today I had to drive to Portage, a town about an hour away, for a work meeting. I grabbed my ipod, loaded with a very addicting audiobook, and headed out.

After the meeting, I really had no choice but to stop at the St. Vincent de Paul thrift store in Portage. And then at the St. Vinnie's Dig and Save when I got back in to Madison. I don't drive very often (usually I'm on my bike or the bus), so this was a rare chance for me to fill up our little car with thrifted goodies. It's a good thing our car is small, because I was really on a roll today and very nearly tried to tie a humongous hutch onto the canoe rack. It's such a darling hutch. I might go back tomorrow to see if it's still there.

Want to see what I brought home?

I know a little girl who calls these "corners."

There's a fine line between need and... well, it doesn't matter. I needed this globe.

Just in case our current tent ever malfunctions. Now we have a backup. Plus we might have kids someday and they'll want to play with a tent in the yard.


Lately I've been drooling over projects like this one. Soon the hideous light fixture in our guest room will be replaced by a work of art by yours truly. And even if it doesn't turn out to be as gorgeous as I imagine, it can't be any worse than what we've got in there right now.

Another project-to-be. I'm seeing blue paint... maybe I can use the same color on the light fixture and the table. Hey, what's that on top of the table? Is that a mug? Yes, yes it is. Why on Earth would a girl who already owns one million mugs need another one? I can't answer that. All I can say is that they regularly call to me from thrift store shelves and garage sale tables.

Come on. It has smiling lemons on it.

I've been thinking about trying pressure canning, but I didn't want to make a huge investment. Problem solved. And this is the second white enamel stockpot I've found this summer. This one might become a give-away for some lucky blog reader... since I've done so many give-aways this year (zero).

An embroidered tablecloth! My dream kitchen is red and aqua... this will fit right in. In twelve years when we actually get around to creating that dream kitchen.


In the course of taking these pictures, I managed to knock down our blinds and almost poke a huge hole in the couch. That will not surprise any of you. Just thought you should know. xo

Super Sweet Thrift Find

Karl and I stopped by the St. Vincent de Paul Dig-and-Save outlet on Saturday to donate a box of stuff. It's this great thrift shop where everything is in huge troughs and customers pay by the pound. Of course, we couldn't leave without going in and peeking around for bargains... and we found one! This huge enamel stockpot was just waiting for us. It had something burned to the bottom, but after a little vinegar soak, it's good as new!


Oh, and the price was fantastic: One dollar and eleven cents. Can you believe it? This pot is so perfect for canning. Before we know it, it'll be filled with strawberry jam!