Yup it's official...

I'm crazy.

The truth is, I never actually finish any of my pieces until they are ready to go out the door. I usually post them to Etsy before they have backing or details, sometimes without sealer and other stuff that doesn't show. It's this weird thing about me, but I saw Ty Pennington on Leno one night and he said he was going to have a T-shirt made that said, "Why finish something when you can start a new project?" That's me!

So yeah, I've got my pieces 95 percent ready to go, and I'm waiting for grout and sealer and glue to dry and so I think to myself, "Self, you've got a little grout left...what can you whip up?" And so I started another mailbox and a decoupage train-case. Why wouldn't I?

Another great stress beater

It's just a couple of days until the show (Saturday) and I have about 43 thousand little things to finish up. Another great way to beat stress is laughter...and that is why I enjoy every minute at "CAKE WRECKS"

Maybe it's because I've spent so much time with a piping bag, (I use it to apply the grout on my mosaics) but I find this blog absolutely hilarious. For instance....

May I strongly suggest....

A hot stone massage! A friend from Vintage is in school for massage therapy and needed a guinea pig for a hot stone massage. I had had a truly lousy day yesterday, just struggling to have any motivation for anything. I drug myself through the day, eating way too many cookies along the way, and mentally berated myself the whole way there since I was late as usual. She assured me it was fine, and indeed, it seemed that all I had missed was the rocks heating up. For a person like me, who wears all stress in my muscles (unlike you others who seem to have your anxiety piped directly to your colon), this was absolutely amazing. I started off with about 400 hundred questions, but as the massage went on, my ADD brain actually slowed down to the point where I found myself realizing that I didn't have a thought in my head! For me, that is utterly amazing...and a welcome, welcome break. After a hard core week of tapping my creativity and getting into the school rhythm, it was the first real pause I'd felt for a long time. I woke up this morning a little sore, but with some ambition for the day. And now...I've got STUFF TO DO!!!!

keepin' in real as usual

 

I told Robb I was overwhelmed at the thought of cleaning my studio...his suggestion...

"Why don't you start with the dishes?"

funny man.

Art Show Sneak Peek

 
 
 
 

Here's my display doors loaded up for the show on Saturday...yup, that's right...in the middle of my living room! I still have a lot of finish work to do, but today I'm planning to clean up my studio, do some laundry, and try to get my head above water. I still have a couple of ideas I'd like to work out, but I think it looks full enough. Now, I'm just trying to get used the idea that I might not sell a single thing, but that is out of my control. GULP.

The Faces on the Mirror

Here's an idea I've had for a long time. I photocopied antique photos I've collected from various estate sales and then decoupaged them onto shards of china, which I then cemented to a wide framed mirror. I would do it differently next time to keep the images from bleeding. But ultimately, I think the finished product is rather interesting at the very least.

My First Collage

I collect bits from estate sales that literally make no sense...bits of paper, photos, weird trinkets. About a year ago, I learned about assemblage art, and I've wanted to try it ever since. I tend to be very much a purist, so I don't like to "mess up" something that has been preserved for whatever reason, for decades. The true story about these pieces are that they are not at all related, but after watching the sneak preview of Rob Bell's new NOOMA, "SHE" I became convinced that they are related in the greater story that mothers are mothers everywhere and in every era. We all save the little things that remind us of when our babies were tiny and we were so new at mothering that we wanted to ask any stranger on the street, "Am I doing this right?" When our own mothers became legendary in our minds and the days slipped by so fast measured only by how many feedings and how many diapers; when success is defined by getting a full night of sleep. Some of us still live in this moment.

I am familiar with this girl....

"She had an unequalled gift... of squeezing big mistakes into small opportunities. "

Henry James

I'm loving this one....

My world has become pretty narrow...it's food, walk to school, coffee, grout, food, more grout, food, grout and sleep. I'm pretty sure my thoughts are being formulated on tiny shards of china. Maybe that's why I'm loving this mirror with all it's words...

$42.94

I dropped the kids off at school yesterday and headed down to Fayetteville for the Farmer's Market and for groceries. I like to park on the far side of the square, walk around to see who has what veggies, and then go to the ATM on the other side of the square to get the cash necessary to buy. Imagine my shock and dismay when I realized I had remembered canvas shopping bags, my phone, my list, my youngest child, and my coffee, but NOT my wallet. There was no way I wanted to drive home and back. I rummaged around in my giant bag hoping for some way to avoid backtracking and found that I had thrown in the next set of checks since I was getting low. So I headed inside the bank, and cashed a check....shew!

After making my purchases at the farmer's market....a very human and alive way to shop, may I add? I headed to Aldi where I had 45 dollars in cash to spend. I kept the tally in my head as I threw in eggs, milk, cereal, saltine crackers, canned beans, tuna, plain yogurt...would I make it? As I mentally reached 45 dollars, I realized I hadn't figured in for tax. UGH! I thought about putting something back, but it's been so long since I got groceries....we really needed all of it.

I asked the cashier if I could write a check if I went over. NOPE. "Okay, tell me when I go over...."

Beep beep beep....up the tally went....all the way to $42.94. I verbally thanked God for his provision, and the cashier encouraged me to spend two more bucks. I really wish I had.

I forgot toilet paper.

I wear an apron

I like to wear an apron. I prefer a full apron to a half apron. I have several: one I stole from my mom....I wear it when I ice cakes. One my mom made for me from her grandmother's huge material stash....I like to wear it when I have to take food somewhere and I'm likely to spill it. Two are vintage that I couldn't part with: I like to wear them when I make old-fashioned food like bread or when I am cleaning the house for company. I am also likely to wear these "out" which drives Robb a little nuts, but I feel very "Country Living" when I do. One was a gift from my mother in law and reads "Eat your vegetables" and I like to wear it when I do food preservation. And one is this really thick denim BBQ one that looks like one Dr. Carter used to wear when he helped his wife make breakfast.... I like to wear it when I use power tools. I especially like to put on an apron when I have a lot to do and I don't feel like doing it. There is just something about "suiting up" for me that helps me get moving. So when I found this post from a couple of clicks away, I could relate.

School Daze

I simply cannot believe how abruptly the summer ended. It's 8:30 a.m. and for the last 2 months, I was usually just getting up to find cereal bowls scattered around...today, I have showered, dressed, taken photos, served a nutritious breakfast, straightened Mattie's hair, taken a 1/2 mile walk, read my blogs and email, cleaned up a mess from the dog, washed a load of laundry and cleaned ink off Charleigh's baby doll's face...Now what am I gonna do????

Here are the stars of the show with my usual bad placement requiring the little darlings to squint into the sun....

SCORE!

It's been awhile since I've been to a garage sale...it's been too hot and I've been too busy and too poor to go. But yesterday I saw an estate sale sign, which I cannot turn down, no matter how poor I am. It was HIGH END goodies with some really phenomenal and EXPENSIVE antiques, but I (with all 3 kids) was able to cull some under-the-radar finds which included: 3 1930s yearbooks for a dollar each (these are highly collectible for historical research.) A broken antique purple china pitcher (what do I care that it's broken? CHOP CHOP!) A bakelite golf trophy for a buck....also weirdly collectible. A band of Brussels lace, a black silk mourning hankie, a pretty white linen hankie. A couple of interesting photographs, a black 1940s train-case, a wooden lazy susan to mosaic, and the best piece....in a bag of cheap pop-beads....a red bakelite bead necklace. Altogether, I spent $8.50. Projected profit: about 100 dollars. There are still treasures to be had!

Oh, and speaking of treasures.... last weekend, I scored these solid wood panel doors from the Boy Scout benefit sale for a dollar each....yeah, Baby! I plan to hinge them together and use that as the main display pieces for the art show.

The Last Day of Summer

SIGH!

we made it....to the last day of summer! Tonight, the kids are going over to the neighbor's house for an end of summer party, and tomorrow Vin starts his adventure in football, so this afternoon, I piled the kids in the car and took them iceskating. I must have selective memory about skating, but I just imagined floating over the ice with the kids holding my hands, having an easy time of it. The truth was that Mattie quickly got the hang of it, Vin was less than steady on his feet for the entire hour, but did eventually let go of my hand long enough to clutch to the wall, and Charleigh pretty much dangled from my arms the entire time. I'm a little tired, but it was SO FUN. Especially when Charleigh calls the Zamboni, "The Jumanji."

I haven't been blogging

because I've been doing this..

Vintage shelter

We have some actual options for a place for Vintage to meet and are praying collectively today for the guys as they try to make a decision about what is best for us.

I am working a ridiculously intricate mosaic, which I have already spent three days on, and I'm not feeling much closer to done. So if you call and I don't answer it's because I have grout on my fingers and can't work the phone : )

I got issues

My computer is a hand me down, twice over. But it was free and I love the convenience of moving it around to wherever I am working. It has a few quirks, of course....the cd player doesn't work. The battery has long since died, so I'm always plugged in. But lately, the weirdest quirk has gotten considerably worse....at first it was just sensitive, but now the keyboard is getting completely nuts. You may notice that ssoomeetimes a letteer willl repeeat, and I don't always go to thee trouble of editing it out...but the slightest touch will result in multiple letters. Thee new thing is that the space bar doesn't work unless youu pound on it. You should hear me banging away on this post. It's like a tap dance....light touch on the letters, pound the space bar....

Can you replace keyboards on old Dell laptops? or should I just keep dancing?

I'm still in this thing!

I recall the exact moment when I was 13 and realized I would never become an Olympic gymnast. Not that I could do much more than a one-handed round-off. I'm not sure how many times I knocked the wind out of myself trying to do a front flip in my front yard, but still, I was disappointed to know that I was just too old....

Maybe that's why I found this story so inspiring! Ok, I gotta go stretch.....

12 Years and a Plan

As of today around 6 pm, 7 eastern time, I will have been married for 12 years. I don't feel old enough for that, but then again, we were about 10 years old when we got married. We weighed about 40 pounds less between the two of us, we knew everything about theology and literally nothing about churches and life in general. We were virgins to life....all of it. We have become considerable less certain of everything we knew for sure back then and we take considerably more delight in the not-knowing.

I remember standing at the back of the church, all alone before heading down the aisle, whispering, "Please God, help me be a good wife." He has answered that prayer in ways I certainly didn't expect....with no money when we wanted it -but always enough when we needed it- with crying babies in the night and cars breaking down, with long trips and long fights, with church problems and moments when things clicked....Yeah, I'm a much better wife because of it all.

My husband is....amazing. He always had a plan. From our first date. From before that even, he had a plan. It was never just "well, let's hang out and see what happens." So I shouldn't have been worried when I asked Robb on Thursday night around 11 p.m. if he had any plans for us today. I knew on one level that I could make plans too, if he was too busy. But then again, let's just be honest....I stink at plans. Really, I'm lousy at it. I make to-do lists and do everything but what is on the list. So he just smirked at me.

Around 2 in the afternoon yesterday, he told me to stop working and pack a bag. So I did. And this morning I woke up in a king size bed, to a beautiful sunrise, and most importantly, no children asking what is for breakfast. I love it when his plans come together...

To Whom Credit is Due

here's the etsy shop of that great light fixture we all liked to much.

fashion show

so I spent the better part of yesterday at my sewing machine or leaning over the table in an awkward angle that has my lower back in spasms this morning. But the good news is that all of Mattie's older clothes are hemmed, patched, re-buttoned, and otherwise in good stitchery. And a couple of my old shirts, which weren't black or white and therefore quickly became Not My Favorite, have been turned into tunic-shirt-dresses for Miss Muffett. I also tried my hand at a vintage pattern with vintage fabric (love that brainy argyle on her) and vintage notions to boot...but for pity sake, don't look too closely at the zipper...I never did get the hang of them in Home Ec, despite Mrs. Townsend making me put it in 4 times until I got it right on my gray straight skirt with box pleats and side zipper....seriously...what ever happened to a pillow????

The orange shirt, I cut off the bottom and made a piece to go into the deep V front. I added cotton eyelet lace and took in the side and armhole stitches. The purple one, I just took in the sides. Cheap and cute.

And then with all the money I saved, I was too tired to make supper and we ended up going out. AUGH. Two steps forward, one step back.

Happy Dance

Yippee!!!! It's gray and rainy today! How wonderful is that?????

School Supplies

Check.

school clothes:

check.

Backpacks packed:

check.


With Robb's help, we knocked it all out yesterday...new socks and shoes and all. You cannot believe how picked over all the shoes were, but we finally found Mattie's signature Chuck Taylor style tennis shoes (in her size) at Payless.

Buying kid's shoes annoys me more than anything...because a good classic shoe with no moronic Disney character, pink stripes, or skulls on it-yes, skulls on my sweet 8 year-old's shoes-is nearly impossible. I'm SO sick of the marketing crap gimmicks, I could scream. I think Mattie actually did a couple of times! I'm sorry, Marketing Geniuses out there...I refuse to make my child your billboard.

Local mom's...here's a tip....Sears was one big clearance rack. It was Old Navy for socks and two-for shirts, Target was very picked over, but we did like their girls' tunic-dress-shirts a lot. We decided, though, to try our hand at copying them from things we already have here at home...and if our ideas turn out as cute as they are in my head, pictures will ensue. Hey, I've seen Project Runway a couple of times...it could happen.

We're ready for school. Bring it on.

ugh.

Tomorrow promises to hit near 100 for the forty-eleventh day in a row and I am frankly tired of it. I couldn't get into a groove all day, and the doors were constantly open...I actually woke Robb up the other night yelling "SHUT THE DOOR" in my sleep. ...kids in, kids out....some of them mine, some of them not....the flies...the heat...the stuff everywhere.... the dryer is doing this new thing where the element doesn't turn off even when the load is finished...yes, I understand that that could start a fire...You know how babies are good all day and then around 5 o'clock, they just feel the need to scream their head off? That is exactly how I have felt today. In fact, I spent no less than 40 minutes looking for the remote, got mad at the kids who used it last and who were at that moment lying in my bed under about 40 loads of laundry, and sent them all to bed. Not my best parenting moment.

Tomorrow, we're going to buy school supplies. Hopefully this will be kind of fun for them and we can have a good day.

Is this post the equivalent of screaming my head off? Probably. Sorry you had to hear that.

Monday, Monday

ba da, ba da da,

No reason, just had that song in my head.....

I'm EXHAUSTED today. Vintage was great yesterday....we had a Missionary family that had done church planting in Thailand for the last 17 years and they were just great...we really clicked with them.

Then we served another meal at South church, which is a ministry to the homeless. I absolutely LOVE doing this...it feels like real ministry...really hungry people being fed. It's weird, too that they have a hard time lining up churches to serve in the summer months, since many churches send a small group or two while they meet in the school-year months. So rather than your typical casseroles, we have tried to do more "fun" kind of summery meals. Last time, our friend Derek grilled burgers...they were amazing and they were GONE in a flash. Yesterday, we served meatball subs. I estimate we served about 700 meatballs with sheet cakes, fresh veggies, and macaroni and potato salad. We are a relatively small church, but I so enjoy this time with them. The kitchen is full of Vintage, Vintage singing and playing instruments out front, Vintage serving cake and drinks, Vintage washing dishes.

Maybe it hit home more last night because Vintage is homeless too. The Music Hall, who we rent from, is closing down at the end of September. Which means, we need to find a new building in less than two months. While it has always been a bit of an adventure sharing the music hall (DON'T LOOK UNDER THE FLOOR MATS! THE PUNK ROCKERS POOPED THERE) ....so much poop on this blog....anywhoo...it makes sense for us to share a building. But who wants to share with a rowdy bunch like us????? If you are a praying type and you find this carousing, fun-loving, Jesus-following gang the least bit compelling, join us in asking God for a place in this world.

29 Days to the Show and counting

Thanks to my darling husband, I spent an entire day working on mosaics for the art show on the 30th. Despite a rough start, feeling guilty for asking hubby to take my darling children -who I love, but they drive me NUTS- out for the day...I managed to crank out some of my most favorite pieces yet. Of course, they are not done...grout a little goofy on the topiaries, etc. but you get the gist. The little bouquets are 3 x 5 inches....too adorable. I'm not sure why I keep inflicting half done work on you, but I know you are just dying to know how I spent my day (note heavy sarcasm).

Wallpaper on Boring Particle Board Cupboards

So, okay, Cara, I didn't cut off all my hair....just the back of the neck part that had me sporting a mullet. Pics to come when I get a chance to shower....right after I blog, right after I clean, right after right after.

So anywhoo, this was my wallpaper project that took up most of yesterday. We bought these two particle board cupboards from Target SEVERAL years ago to go in my office back in MI. Because they are so big and hold so much, one is our TV cupboard (I hate having the TV exposed) and the other is the official Vintage Fellowship Church office....and by that I mean that whenever I pick up Robb's forty slips of paper, comment cards, business cards and anything remotely related to VF, I stuff it in there.

But of course, they are that boring blond faux wood, which wants to be cool, but falls desperately short of it, unless you have an entire wall devoted to a matching storage system and you also have bamboo floors and floor to ceiling windows with wide wood trim....and even then...

So I had a brain child, went to the thrift store, got a roll of vinyl/fabric wallpaper in a gray herringbone pattern for 2 dollars, made my own wallpaper paste, and trimmed it out with indoor/outdoor acrylic black patio paint. For inside the doors, even when my children are ogling the tv, maybe they will accidentally absorb some geography (albeit 75 year old geography) from a mangled textbook I rescued. I wanted them to feel like old suitcases and I think I achieved that look. It also gave me a chance to experiment some more with paper layering and gluing that I want to attempt on some upcoming projects. I estimate this project cost me about 4 dollars total.

And now....I'm off....hopefully I'll accomplish something.