Have Phone, Will....Take Pictures.

I haven't been blogging much, but I have been busy.  I woke up the other morning and looked out at some beautiful color in the sky.  I hadn't seen the early morning sun in a long time.  It seems like it's dark, then it's gray, then it's light...or winter's version of light.  During my brief stint in my apartment, I took quite a few striking photos when I set my alarm clock to get up early, for the sole purpose of taking some pictures. This time was random and accidental.  I grabbed my cellphone and snapped this before going into the kitchen to turn on the teapot:

Even through the screen, the sky and matching school bus thing was pretty amazing.  

Later, the result of my constant arranging and rearranging things, I caught the sun just bright enough to make my bowl of cuties look absolutely lovely.  I'm a little hooked on these tiny things, but I can't eat them cold.  This is my ration for the day, on the counter "warming up".  

They deserved a closer look.  Know what this makes me think of?  How badly I want an orange dress.  Food, decor, fashion.  They stay tied together in my mind. 

A little project I started back in October is finally complete.  I had nothing hanging on the wall over my bed, and with people coming over, I decided to hang the black and the white frame.  One nail each.  That was easy.  It never looked right because it wasn't wide enough for the headboard.  Enter the big brown one, one more nail, and I'm happy with the result.  I always hang something lightweight on this wall in every bedroom.  I just feel safer...It took me five minutes to do this but three months to get started.  Yes, I am a procrastinator.

I forgot my fisherman on the ledge outside.  What was he doing out there?  It's a long story, but suffice it to say that I had an idea.  I changed my mind.  I left the little guy outdoors.  As I was backing out of the driveway I saw him.  I didn't have time to stop for him, but I assumed he'd be there when I got back, and he was.  I bought this thing years ago at one of those souvenir shops that are about a mile away from every big attraction.  I think this was near Starved Rock State Park.  "Big John's Souvenirs".  Or was it "Big Chief's Trading Post"?  I really don't know, but you get the idea.  I've loved those places since I was a kid.  The Gorton's Fisherman really didn't fit in with anything else that was there and that may be why I was drawn to it.  That, or the cool yellow raincoat.  

By leaving the fisherman outside, I was able to make my doctor's appointment on time.  On the way home I stopped at one of my favorite thrift stores "just too look" and found this (I did NOT buy it) amazing trunk/portable bedroom.  It was drawers, hangers and spots for just about anything clothes related.  Where was this gem when I was trying to find space for the overload of clothing we have?  Instead I got a boring old dresser.  This would have been so much more fun.  It closes up to look just like any other vaudeville trunk.  I took a picture for posterity.  And to share. 

And just like it started, the day ended with color and light.  I ran out of light bulbs, so I put one of the stained glass bulbs from Christmas in my living room lamp.  Beautiful and moody, it's a definite keeper.  

Having a cell phone is like never having to remember or describe anything.  You just take pictures.  

Dreams...Sweet!

I just posted a comment on Facebook about how I dream about going into thrift stores that don't actually exist.  This is worth mentioning, because although these stores are my subconscious creations, they reappear from time to time.  Yes, I visit the same several stores in my dreams, and have for many years. 
When I posted that comment, it occurred to me that I haven't "visited" my favorite stores in a really long time.  Probably a couple of years.  It's a little fuzzy...I was asleep, after all.  

I also inhabit several homes.  My daughter used to ask me "What house were you in last night, Mom?"  Sometimes it would be the A Frame, sometimes the Victorian...this is also during my REM cycle.  I'm not having any "out of body" experiences. No metaphysics.  Just a creative mind that refuses to shut down just because the rest of me does.  And just like the thrift stores (I just realized what a hard core thrifter that makes me) I haven't been to my other homes in a long time either.  

What is going on here?  Am I less creative?  Less explorative?  Less adventurous?  Less restless?  Geez, this is huge!  I've been doing this for years, and now it's just...gone?  

I also used to have a recurring dream about a room that was WAY up high in a house.  I had to go up some stairs, across a room and then through a door which led to another set of stairs and so on.  After about seven levels there was a door that I never opened.  My kids used to ask me all the time if I'd opened that door last night.  They were SO curious to know.  The answer was always no.  But one night, I actually did open the door.  The room was empty.  They were so disappointed.  I was relieved.  Now I'm wondering if the emptiness was the actual message.  Man, I really wasn't planning on doing any thinking tonight.  This should make for some interesting dreams.  :)

I'm committed to having lights out my eleven tonight.  I've been running on far too little sleep for someone my age, and now I'm forcing myself to go to sleep with "interesting" things on my mind.  I'll know in about seven hours whether I'm  running a little vintage thrift store in the basement of my Tudor Style mansion.  Or in that empty room...

It's been a really long time since I've spent any time reflecting on how unusual I can sometimes be.  Even to me.  Okay, I'm going to bed.  I'll leave you with a little Fleetwood Mac lullaby. Sweet Dreams!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrZRURcb1cM

Let the Finding Commence!

When I was in high school, I worked after school at JC Penney.  It was a thankless job.  I cashiered in different departments, but most of my time was spent in the catalog department, taking orders over the phone.  Before computers.  It was a mess.  People's orders got mixed up.  The "systems" in place didn't work well.  I didn't help matters much because I hated customer service so I, at 17 years old, didn't do much do soothe the already irate customers.  Once they found out that I was a pretty fast typist, I spent every afternoon hunched over a "Selectric" typewriter, inputting orders that came in by phone or by mail.  Sometimes I just didn't care.  It was a lot of work for a kid with a full-time job called school.  My back and shoulders would hurt, and the office was the back room of what was basically a warehouse.  The boss didn't like me and I wasn't too crazy about her.  I think I worked there for about four months.  Since the job was part of the school's cooperative ed program, once I decided to graduate early, the job went with it.  Or at least I think that's how it worked.  Graduating early really ticked off my teacher too, since the program was supposed to be a full school year commitment.  I really meant it when I said "I DO", but two weeks into the school year, I was asking myself why I hadn't just graduated in three years, which I certainly could have done.  Something about not wanting to miss my senior year.  I quickly came to my senses and went straight to the counselor's office.  "What do I have to do to get outta here?"  I asked.  She reminded me of the coop commitment.  "Anything else?" Nope. Not really.  I had enough credits, I just needed to finish the semester, and so I did.  In the meantime, as Christmas neared, I was getting messages from the Dean's office every day, calling me in to work even on the days that I was supposed to be off.  Never one to get into any real trouble, it was funny to watch everyone's reactions as that little blue slip came calling.  No one could figure out what I'd done wrong.  I hadn't broken the news to my coop teacher yet, so he would sneer every time the note came, then calm down when he saw it was a call to work.  I guess he figured he was grooming a great employee.  He had no idea how many of those orders were messed up because when I got tired of typing, I just put down anything.  I should be ashamed of myself, I know, but every time I think about it, I'm not.

I was seriously into vintage clothing, photos, and design even back then.  While my mom was throwing things away, I was squirreling them away.  My brother worked at Penney's when he was in high school too, and I'm sure he was a better employee than I was.  He had a white oxford shirt with the company logo stitched on, that he had to wear because he worked in the auto center.  I loved that shirt, and slept in it for years.  While I worked there, I took great advantage of the employee discount, and racked up everything from dresses to bowling balls.  I once bought my brother a pair of shoes and sent them to him at school.  Being in the marching band, they marched in all kinds of weather.  He wore his new shoes one rainy day and decided that they were going to be ruined, so he marched barefoot.  Years later, I was still shopping there, and ordering from the catalog.  They obviously stepped up their hiring game after I left as my orders were never messed up.  Better yet, they replaced the manual order input with computers and I guess never had to worry about employees like me again.  So I may have actually helped (?)

I found a pair of vintage palazzo pants at SA a couple of weeks ago, new with tags, from MY JCPenney.  The old one, with this logo:

The sight of it brought back memories, but more importantly, got me stoked about finding new old stock, that looked this cool:

 I think I bought these before Christmas, so I'll say they were my favorite find of December, wrapping up my thrifting year in great style.  I can't wear them, and my daughter, who looks great in them said "it's just SO MUCH FABRIC!"  Palazzo pants, anyone?  They're obviously for sale.

Now as much as I like a good thrift find, I like a freebie even more.  Getting a phone call that someone was moving and giving stuff away was music to my bargain seeking ears.  Trudging through the six inches of snow that fell last Sunday in what seemed like about half an hour, I arrived at a six-flat apartment building, with two units full of free stuff.  Yeah, Baby!

I controlled myself.  I was cold, my knees were hurting, and I was with my sister and her car doesn't hold a lot.  I was very picky.  The nerve of me!

 This colorful canvas is an instant smile maker.  I kept thinking that it looked "flat".  I added the beads with a couple of thumbtacks on top of the frame.  It breaks up the horizontalness  horizontiality  (whatever!) and I was happy to have it brighten up a kitchen wall that had been adorned with an African mask.  I'm still thinking about this and I'm sure that I'll move it again, but I have to say that everywhere I tried it, including the laundry room, it looked amazing.  Score!

 A big old leafy dish.  That is all.

 Souvenir from Viet Nam.  This could not be any cuter.  I had to bring him home.

My first salamander.  I think one's enough.  Expect an appearance on a black sweater very soon.

I found garden statuary too, and I can't wait to get started but it's about nine degrees out there and I can't even stay outside long enough to even clean the garage.  That's bad because I can't put the tree out there until I make space for it.  It was there before, but as soon as I brought it inside, all the other stuff just "moved" into the empty spot.  I swear that I had absolutely nothing to do with it.  The tree is in the space of the chair, and the chair is in the space of the bench that is sitting at the end of my bed.  Remember the vicious cycles I was telling you about a few days ago?  Such is life in a small house with big dreams. I have to keep moving things around because I'm not going to stop finding things.  Not with week one shaping up like this. 

 Heck, I'm inspired.

Just Trying to Keep it Colorful.

December was fairly mild and we got no snow...so we actually had to "dream" of a white Christmas.  It would have been nice, but that aesthetic is no longer necessary to me.  The cold that comes with the snow makes me want to forego the pretty white stuff in exchange for the ability to walk without falling and skip wearing two sweaters under my coat.  

January came in like, well, January.  It's been super cold all month, and we are already experiencing sub-zero temps.  I really hate this.  I've given myself a two-year deadline to move someplace warmer.  Not hot, just not this.  Meanwhile, I try to stay "up" by crafting, cooking and of course, dressing up.  Winter isn't all plaids and tweeds and herringbones any more.  Pastels and flowers can warm up your winter wardrobe too.  Case in point:

My daughter got this huge peach flower necklace for Christmas. The peach and gold wool blazer was already in her closet, as was the gold sleeveless turtleneck.  Rather than wait for spring, she put it on the first day back at work after the holidays. Pretty!

Just before Christmas, I found this dress at SA.  I've been wanting more dresses since I discovered a Facebook page dedicated to them.  All day long people are posting their latest outfits featuring dresses and skirts.  I wore my $3 dress to church on Sunday and added it to the page.  I really liked this dress when I saw it, as it is unlike anything else that I own.  I don't do bows.  This dress has pleats, buttons and a bow, which would normally make me feel "stiff" since I hate to have anything touching my neck, but it's so soft that it really didn't bother me. The allover dark color made me feel comfortable, not conspicuous and bulky. The bow just blends in, so I was okay in this for most of the day.  

My thrifted pointy-toe pumps, black clutch and one of several new bracelets I got for Christmas completed the look.  Now, to be honest, the dress is too thin for this weather, and I should have worn tights or boots, but I was really over January as soon as it started.  I wanted to feel "light".  But as soon as I opened the door I caved and swapped the shoes for a pair of gray ones with a lower and chunkier heel and added a cardigan.  It's been about 25 years since I've been willing to sacrifice comfort for cuteness. (I used to wear stilettos on the ice, just so I could arrive at the dance club looking like a Glamour Do).

Christmas has been put away, and I'm already redecorating, mostly because I can't remember where everything was before.  I hung this shelf just for the stockings, but hadn't taken it down yet.  Enter a recent collection of brass candlesticks that I was planning to sell.  I started putting them on the shelf so I could take some listing pics, and liked what I saw.  I added a few more for variety, including the vintage amber lucite pair that I've never even been tempted to sell.  This is a total change from what this wall looked like a month ago:

This was unplanned and spontaneous.  It's also a keeper.

Next up, finally getting the home office set up.  I've been making steady progress, organizing, purging, and redecorating a little along the way.  I have a vision for what I'm going to do and it involves a little redo on my son's room because I need to steal his desk.  While I'm at it, I'm going to move things around a little, and get him some new seating pieces that can double as storage.  This will leave me with two more chairs that I need to find homes for.  The wheel just won't stop spinning.  I have shelves to hang in the kitchen to display my antique bottles.  This will involve rehanging a couple of pictures.  See what I mean? 

Well, it's time for me to go to bed.  I have outfits to put together and rooms to redecorate in my dreams.  

2015---My Year to KEEP My Resolutions (I'm really good at making them...!)

The last resolution that I really kept was about 20 years ago, when I vowed to never ride in a car without my seatbelt.  I have kept that one almost perfectly.  I have to admit that on those very rare occasions that I find myself in the back seat (I'm usually driving), I forget to put it on because I feel so restrained already.  It's tight back there, much tighter than it used to be.  Which should bring me to another very obvious resolution, but I stopped making the weight loss resolution a couple of years ago.  I do vow to get healthy again.  But back to the seatbelt thing...I never panic at a checkpoint because I know that I, and my passengers are always buckled up.  Even when I'm riding in the front passenger seat, I just feel exposed without my seatbelt.  So about 99.5% of the time, I'm buckled up.  I think I can smash that other .5% without too much problem.  Just stay up front, right?

The holidays were great!  So much so that I didn't have any time to blog.  Nothing really new happened, but the happiness was just amplified.  I was blessed to be able to pull the funds together to put some cool gifts under the tree for the "kids".  My turkey turned out great (fresh parsley, sage and rosemary stuffed into the cavity), and we had plenty of food, but not so much that I got sick of looking at the leftovers.  I did get rid of the turkey on the 27th.  Two days was enough....and I'm really starting to dislike all meat.  Looking at the raw bird grossed me out a bit.  Looking at it cooked two days later, as pretty as it was, just made my stomach turn.  This might be a good thing. 

 I got some cool gifts including a Heat Miser shirt and snowglobe, another wallet (I love wallets. I'd love to fill them with cash too.  Come on 2015!), and assorted candles, journals, and bath and body stuff.  The house looked great too.  Colorful, festive and organized.  I stepped outside before my guests arrived and was extremely pleased.  I've said a lot about this new phase in my life, being in a new place that I can truly feel at home in, with my favorite people sleeping in the neighboring bedrooms.  Hosting Christmas in my pretty little house was amazing, and as much as we used to love hosting in our much bigger house, we didn't miss a beat.  The kids played board games instead of running around (they're older now so we can do that), the men found comfy spots on the floor to watch the game in my son's room, and even the newly organized laundry room hosted a private convo or two. No one missed the extra space and it was almost midnight before the last guest went home.  It really doesn't matter where you are as long as you're together.  I did know this. 

I didn't buy anything for myself other than the last-minute decorations I found at Salvation Army on the 24th (including the awesome rug below) and a large, lighted pink bird which I immediately identified as a flamingo. I was corrected by a "very smart" lady (lol)  who insisted that it was a crane. Really?  Does anyone care?  Some people just have to flex, I guess, but if you're flexing, be right!  My whimsical pink bird is definitely not a crane, but what do I, as a non-academic, know about pink birds? I plugged it in and found out that not only was it super bright, but it moved!  YAY!  So what I know is that I snagged this beauty for a mere $5 and I get to be amused by it for years to come. Pepper the dog was freaked out by it, which made for a really cute video but  unfortunately my sister doesn't get that you can't talk while I'm filming a video that I plan to post.  Instead, I'll just have to post a couple of pics of the bird:  

I tied a hat on him/her?  It promptly fell off after a few genuflections.

This thing is giving me life right now!

Honestly, I am already dreaming about what the yard is going to look like this summer and I've made tons of mental plans on how I'll lay out the flower gardens, what garden decor I'm going to paint, and how I'm going to (finally) get some fairy lights hanging overhead.  I'll need tons of energy and a lot less pain in order to accomplish this.  So I'm already working on my flexibility, getting some of the really bad stuff out of my diet, and being more productive overall.  I'm still not ready to do anything drastic about my knee issues.  I keep thinking that if I wait, some really viable alternative to surgery will be discovered and the missing cushioning can be replaced.  If you're reading this and know of any, please let me know!  I might even be open to a little "guinea pigging".  Inbox me with your not-so-outrageous ideas... 

 I'm happy that you're here with me as we start a new year.  Here's to stepping into an amazing 2015.  Let's do this!