Heave-Ho-the-Hutch!

 Remember when I told you last week about the new piece of furniture I unexpectedly got? I replaced an old buffet that I had for over 30 years with this piece. It is all wood, already painted white and already distressed. Clearly there was (an invisible) neon sign with an arrow and the blinking word "Lori" by this monstrous piece when it was sitting forlornly in the store! 

I'm not even sure what it is called. I think it qualifies as a sideboard, a step-back and a hutch. It is so perfect for my wall that I'll just call it dreamy! 

 People have asked, and yes, I do plan to change the dishes per season. And yes, I cannot wait! And as my son suggested, it is perfect for holding lots of food for family gatherings. It will be put to good use. In the meantime I put part of my trusty classic blue and white dish collection up to bat first. I figured it was a good summer style, and blue and white is always a winner. 

 As is my style, there is no style!  I like to mix and match and randomly display. I like it best that way. 

 I used a bunch of the various sizes, kinds and colors of blue and white....with a spout. Sometimes they are teapots, sometimes gravy boats, sometimes creamers and sometimes small pitchers. But they had in common their spouts/ladles and their colors. If you'll notice I sat the Blue Willow teapot on an upended cheapola glass candlestick base to give it some heighth separate from the gravy boat. In real life, you cannot even see the candle holder. Notice the little pic to the left? That is a picture I took a couple of years ago, I then ran it through my Waterlogue app and had it printed on cardstock. I need to frame it now. 

 Of course, I need to do a lot of things. Time is ticking and school will be starting very soon! But finding this piece, definitely made it a happy summer for me.

 The top and the bottom are actually two different pieces. When I went to pick it up, I was alone since my husband and all my sons were at work. Also, we don't own a pickup, so I had to try and fit it into my small SUVish type car. I keep a measuring tape in my purse, so I measured the two parts of the hutch the night we found it. 

 At seven feet long, I knew it was going to take up every inch of the space in the back of my car. I actually got another piece of furniture that night as well (which I will show you later this week). So when I went to pick up the pieces, I told the store manager that I had to start with the lightest piece and work my way to the heaviest piece, since I was going to be unloading these ALL BY MYSELF!!  Not only that, but I had to make three trips to get the furniture! One for the piece you haven't seen and two trips (one for the top and one for the bottom) of the big sideboard! Crazzzzzy!!!

 Not only that, but the store was not in the town in which I live, so I had to drive to the other town to get all three pieces! So I ended up making three round trips to pick it all up. And yes, it was one of our 100 degree Oklahoma days. (It was NOT during the cool weather from last week). Also, since these pieces were from a department store, and they had used them as display pieces, there was not really anyone there for "loading" purposes. So the store manager, a very skinny skinny young man (think Don Knotts/Barney Fife) and myself loaded the first two pieces up. I took the piece you haven't seen first. When I got home, I backed up into our driveway, and unloaded the piece under our carport. It really wasn't too bad. Less than 100 pounds I would say. I then took things out of the garage and stacked in front of my furniture prize (so no one would drive by and load-er-up!!). I then got back in the car and headed out for piece #2. 

 Next the manager and I (and the dweepy little man) (said in my nice voice), loaded up the bottom part of the hutch. We had to put the front two seats COMPLETELY forward, so that the piece would fit. Ummmm, I am 5'11.  That was a TOUGH ride home, let me tell you!!  Then I had to wrestle the base of this piece out and put it on the driveway, under the carport, with the other piece. Then I had to "cover it up" with other obstacles too.(I was sweating by now.) I then put my seat back in regular position and went back for piece #3!  When I got back, I found out the store manager had gone to lunch. Oh my gosh. That meant that Dweepy Man and I had to load the heaviest piece (the top) by myself. (I chose to take the heaviest last, that way I could just leave it in the car until my Hubs and sons could help.  

Well, where there is a will, there is a way. I recruited a couple of women sales ladies to help me and the Dweepster heave-ho it into the back of my car. I was going to get it in my car no matter what!  It was wedged in and was not going anywhere. I then wedged myself into the front seat and headed for home with the last load. (All the time I was worried that some unknown person would take my other furniture from the back of my carport....and hidden behind everything I could find!!)  Finally, to make a long story longer, a couple of my sons and the Hubs got it all in the house for me that night. I could finally sleep easy! Ha! And that my friends, is how the Sideboard-stepback-cupboard-hutch-dreamy came to live at my house!  

P.S. You are lucky I left out the part about circling the parking lot of the store over and over again, just waiting to get a front row parking spot so that we didn't have to carry the furniture as far!!

Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesday

Metamorphosis Monday

The Scoop

Venerate Vintage

Last week I was trying to use a patriotic quote each day on my IG account and FB account. I would put the quote with some picture I had previously taken. I found the quote you see below and knew instantly it would go well with a flag picture. Then while looking through my files for a flag picture, I came across my fireplace mantel from last year and knew one of those pictures would work. 

All that hullabaloo leads me to the point of the post: This long vintage piece of patriotic fabric I was gifted some 20 years ago. In our Kansas home, the front foyer was decorated in reds and blues and vintage flags and campaign buttons. One of my daughters had a best friend whose mother owned a cute little shop. 

 One day my daughter's friend brought me the long piece of fabric from her mother's stash. She assured me it was okay with her mother that I have it. I loved the piece, which I knew was old when I got it 20 years ago. I found out years later that the girls mother probably did not okay the gift I was given, but also probably never knew it was gone. I have loved it for 20 years. In our home in Kansas it was draped above the stairway window. (To which I cannot find a picture.) At our home here, I have used it several different ways.

 A few years ago, I used it to drape my mannequin-body 'Lola', dressing her up for the summer with the garland. I pinned it using an antique broach. 

 Lola sat in the upstairs hallway in front of a collage of patriotic pictures. It was a perfect place for Lola and her vintage banner. 

 Last year I used it to drape our 6 foot long mantel. I twisted and draped it until it looked natural like one might find on an old gazebo or podium. 

 The fabric, some type of vintage cotton, is a mix between a rough linen and a fine burlap. It is rather stiff and that makes it easy to drape. I have actually washed the piece before. (!!!!)

 It washed up just fine. Just like many old things, it is hardy and ready to serve for many more years. 

 There are some faded spots in it, but they were there when the fabric became mine and I think it just adds to the beauty of the piece. 

See how the piece wrinkles easily like a linen would? It makes it perfect for draping. 

 This year the vintage fabric served yet another purpose. One of my sons is engaged and his wedding date is the 4th of July...2015.  We set out to take some engagement pictures around our little town. I knew there was a place downtown that had an antique fence with a rock wall in front of it for sitting. I knew the vintage banner would be perfect to be subtly seen behind the 4th of July couple. And it was. 

The purpose of this long-winded story about a vintage piece of fabric? Chances are if you are reading this, you too are a lover of all things vintage. Use them. Use them in many ways. Use them all the time. It is not doing you any good boxed up and put away. Enjoy the vintage that is in your life.  

What do you have that you need to put to good use? 

Long May She Wave..................

 I don't really plan on taking off from writing posts, but life happens and I usually have to pick something to put on the back burner and blogging is usually it. Then like most things you put off, the longer you put it off, the harder it is to get around to doing it. That is where I am.  

 Then I tell myself that it's not like it matters anyway. I see some of the homes we look at every day in Blogland and my humble abode does not stack up. That's not a pity party. That is just reality. 

 In the meantime, Life (yes, I meant it as a proper noun) has been changing around here. Some by choice, some notsomuch. To begin with, two of our sons graduated from college on the same day with the same degree (Industrial Safety).  When you're the parents of five children and those are the last two to get through college, it is a BIG DEAL.  Oh happy day. One of my daughters will complete her MBA by the end of the year. That will be another BIG DEAL.

 We are going to be grandparents again. This will be the third one in 2 1/2 years. Again, Oh Happy DAY!!  We have so much fun with Leightyn and Behr.  Baby #3 will be the little brother or sister of Leightyn. We will find out in August whether we get another girl or boy. Not that it matters to anyone, but it just makes pre-shopping easier!!  Leightyn and Behr were both born on March 12, a year apart. This baby is due on January 14.  MAYbe he/she can make it here January 12th and we can keep those 12's up (That is also the birthday of the Hubs late grandfather).  OR maybe it will be born on January 13th, which is my birthday (and my son-in-law's)! Or maybe it will be born January 10th, which is my son's birthday (and the father of the baby). Or maybe it will be born on January 3rd, and it can be born on my daughter's birthday (Behr's mom). Or on the 4th, 6th or 15th, and on one of my nieces or nephew's special day!  Get the picture?  We have LOTS of January birthdays to celebrate. Maybe, just maybe he or she will want to arrive on their very own day! 

 While I was doing the non-blog-writing-thing, I WAS giving end of the year state assessments. Unless you are a teacher, especially one that has to give the tests, you have NO IDEA how stressful that is....For the teacher and the students!!  All of my students have to take them. In fact they have to take a literature/reading/grammar test as well as a separate writing test.  I have about 100 students taking the tests. The writing tests have to be sent off to be graded and then added into the other test. But we do get a raw score on the lit/reading/grammar test. When the students are getting ready to push that last button to see their raw score there are a lot of anxious moments. I teach sophomore and junior English   In Oklahoma, if they do not pass their 10th grade English test, they do not get to graduate from high school.  They do get to retake it in December....or the next year (and the junior English test as well), but let me say, that is a LOT of pressure!  Thankfully, my tests went well and my students excelled. 

 Speaking of work, my Hubs and I both have changed jobs. Really. At our age. Well I have written about it before, but for 12 years I commuted more than 100 miles per day.  For the past six years, my Hubs and I have commuted together to the same school. He was the I.T. Director at the school. The six years before that, we still lived in Kansas. The Hubs commuted one way and I commuted another direction. What a deal (in all that bad Kansas weather too!!) But the Hubs has a new job completely out of the computer and education field. And it is close to home. And he has a company truck. My new job is at the high school in the town we live. It is 1 minute and 30 seconds from my home. The other day I went up to the school to get a book and it took me an entire 2 minutes!!!!  You have no idea how good that sounds to me. It is ALWAYS hard to leave a school though. Bonds are made with other faculty and so many students, but the idea of gaining two extra hours in my day of non-commute time was something I could not pass up. So come August, I'll have a new classroom. 

 We have also entertained lots of family and friends this spring. In March we had a double-birthday party for the babies with 55 people in attendance. It was a carnival theme, so we served carnival food with all the trimmings. We even rented a bounce house for the kiddos to use. There were plenty of adults in it as well! In April we hosted Easter with 30+ people. In May we had a big party for our college grads with 30 or 40 people. We love to open the house to our guests, feed them and sit around and visit. Family and friends are important to us, and that is the reason we moved back from Kansas six years ago. We knew we would never get "do-over" years. 

 My Hubs mother has Alzheimer's.  What a horrible, horrible disease.  In her career as an oil company exec, she had to do all sorts of calculating and complex number problems.  Now even the slightest bit of (coin) change gets her mixed up.  It is a disease that strips away a person's dignity....and does so quickly.  The Hubs and I spend a lot of time fixing meals to take to her, and going to visit her. She is still in her home with her husband, but we worry that things could change any day on that front. I try to make her meals nutritious, but easy to warm up.  I try to make sure I include things I know she loved to eat.  My sister-in-law lives right down the street from my MIL, so she gets the brunt of the duty of checking on her. We do try to relieve her as often as possible. It's another one of those things, that unless you have had to live or take care of someone with Alzheimer's you really can't understand how even the smallest thing becomes the biggest obstacle.  Thank goodness for the good days! 

 I also have not sat around twiddling my thumbs on my "free" time. I have painted three rooms in my home...including all the woodwork. We put up the antique fence in the front of our house. We planted lots of new plants. We are working on the backyard and also painting two more rooms. I have also painted a couple of pieces of furniture and have several pieces in my summer to-do list. This week I am working on sewing curtains for one of the rooms I painted. 

And since this is officially "flag week", I would be remiss if I had not included pics of the outside of our house.  Each year I put up our flags, swags and garland a day or two before Memorial Day(when these pics were taken) and take it down about two weeks after the 4th of July. I know, I know. That's a long time to keep it up. But honestly, I love it. I have always lived in homes that had big front porches and the lent themselves to beautiful red/white and blue swags. This home even has the upper story and two side balconies, so I just go crazy, wild with all my patriotic decor. I even swag up the wooden fence and the antique fence we just put up out front!  Personally, I think it makes an old (seen better days) house, look a little proud. I've said before that we live in the historic area of our little city and we are on the Trolley Tour. We have trolley's come by all day long each day. If I am sitting out front enjoying my front porch (and yes, I LOVE to do that) and the trolley comes by, I wave at everyone. If I have one of the grands with me the trolley operator will ring the bell. I see people in the trolley taking pics of the house, so I'll continue with my over-the-top-patriotic-spectacle! I like to think the house had to look something like this 90 years ago as well. 

I have taken pics of the many projects I have worked on, so I will try to be better about posting some of them. I am not promising anything, but I hope to be better. In the meantime, we will continue to enjoy Life.

Linking to:

Wow Us Wednesday

The Scoop

Metamorphosis Monday

Window Peeping

 Clear back in September, I had traveled back to Hiawatha, Kansas, for the wedding of some friends. We only get back to Kansas (it is over 360 miles from where we now live)twice a year...at the most. Literally, on our drive back home after being there for two days, I saw on Facebook where one of my former students (now grown) was getting rid of all the old wooden windows from his house. 

He and his wife had bought one of the beautiful old homes in town, and they had updated all the old windows. His wife, bless her, knew better than to just dump all the windows and put a call out on FB for someone to come and get them. And there I was, headed AWAY from where those windows were! Just my luck. 

 But luck actually was on my side. Another friend lived just two doors away from my former student and I sent him up to his neighbor to retrieve a window. I told him exactly which window type I wanted (they had posted several kinds on FB). I specifically  wanted one that was 8 big panes, white on one side and brown on the other. I have such good friends. They gave me the exact window I wanted and my other friend stored it in his garage until Christmas when one of my sons went to Kansas for a visit and brought it back. 

 This window is huge and heavy. I plan to use it with the white facing out at times and of course change it around some and have the brown side facing out sometimes. For the time being, I have it propped on a chest in the living room, layered with an antique framed map. 

 When I originally staked claim to a window, I imagined it replacing the gold frame over the mantel on the gianormous mirror. But the window is so tall, that it actually extended about 3/4 of a pane beyond the giant mirror. So when looking at the mirror and window, it looked kind of weird when the mirror suddenly stopped at the top. Too bad it didn't work out though, because the mirror was creating a great reflection on the brown side of the window. Who knows, I might try it again sometime. 

 In the meantime, I love where it is and how it looks. I had the 1930's map framed about six years ago. Then about three years ago I hung the PEACE banner on it for Christmas. I started to take down the banner after Christmas that year, then decided that I liked it up there. After all, we truly do need PEACE all the time, not just Christmas. 

The window represents what I love about my home. It makes me think of that sweet student (now grown) that was one of my all-time favorites. It makes me think of his wise wife that knew the windows didn't belong in the landfill. It makes me think of one of my other favorite friends that walked up and got the window for me and stored it for four months. It makes me think of our wonderful years in Kansas. It makes me think of my son who hauled it all the way back for me and another son who moved it around for me every time I was trying it somewhere new. You can't get those memories from department store merchandise. ....Now I just need to get the giant wardrobe back down to Oklahoma that I bought (online) at a Hiawatha auction...in October!! (Yep, you guessed it...another friend is storing that for me!) 
Linked to:
Metamorphosis Monday
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesday

A Shelf Life

 We still have a few things left to do in the 'new' old kitchen for Phase 1 of the remodel. There is an outside door that needs walled up and cabinets put up over the new wall. I also still have a little painting to do. 

 I still need to putty and paint the railing in the picture above. I need to just buckle down and spend a day during the weekend getting it all done. In the meantime, I am loving one of my favorite presents the Hubs got me for my birthday a few weeks ago. 

 He got this cute little galvanized shelf in the plant part of Target. It works perfectly in our new kitchen. The wall light right above the shelf is also galvanized. I will need to put my cow pictures somewhere else.....Or else move the shelf. 

There are several places in the kitchen where the shelf would work, so I will probably play around and see which works best. I need to style the shelf as well. In the meantime, I'm just enjoying it's cuteness. These can also be ordered online from Target.

What about you? Plans for the weekend? 

Everything AND the Kitchen Sink

 I'm not sure how many pictures a person can look at of a kitchen sink; or for that matter, if it is worthy of a single pic! But, I LOVE my new kitchen sink and felt it was worthy of its own post. 

 My new sink is even in its own island. Well it has to share the island with the dishwasher, but the sink still manages to be the star of the kitchen. 

 Who would have thought the most used item in the kitchen would make me so happy? Let me just say that I went from the World's Smallest Kitchen Sink to the World's Biggest Kitchen Sink (all in my own mind you realize). Just look at the size of the sink though! 

One day I will do a post on the whole kitchen remodel, but I'll give you some highlights (or lowlights I'm sure the Hubs would say). When we moved into this house two years ago, the only thing in the kitchen were four cabinets (two upper and two lower) and a kitchen sink. The sink was an old (very-stained) white cast iron sink, double-bowl-no-garbage disposal and all of 5 (yes 5!!!!) inches deep. It was also only 22 inches wide. No typo's. You could basically get a couple of plates in it to wash them off...if you tilted the plates sideways! We started taking the kitchen apart one night, completely unplanned. In the pics above you can see where we are in the midst of taking the kitchen apart and putting the new kitchen back together. In the first three pics, the mini-sink is still hooked up so we could continue to use it, right up until we replaced it. Then if you will notice the fourth picture, the new sink base is in and it is ready for the new (and MUCH improved sink). I can't find a pic where we actually had the new sink in, but do have one somewhere. We (as in Hubs did the work and I told him what to do(!!!!)). Anyway, the sink was all the way in, but (luckily) we had not had the counter tops cut yet....and I looked at the new kitchen and it was wonderful...and I turned to the Hubs and said, "Ummm...How much work would it be to put the new kitchen sink right here (as I pointed to where the butcher block island was)...and make the island our new sink and the dishwaher?" (You can see where the dishwasher was already in above as well. 

 The Hubs looked at me and never even attempted to strangle me, beat me over the head, or duct tape my mouth. He just (calm as could be) answered, "It wouldn't be hard at all. It will just take a little time." I'm not even kidding. He had it ALL the way installed on the other wall and I asked him to move it. And he did. 

 He moved the entire sink base to the middle, rerouted all the plumbing, moved the dishwasher, rerouted that plumbing and electricity, redid the garbage disposal AND built an entire case to go around it all. He framed the whole new island around the sink base and dishwasher, covered it in beadboard, trimmed it in great trim, and hid the new garbage disposal switch so the grandbabies could not find it. All without every muttering a word! 

 He even picked out the faucet without my help. I told him what I was looking for and he bought one that he thought I would like. And I do! The new sink is He installed the countertops too. The sink now looks out at our front yard and our beautiful historic neighborhood. I can see the trolley drive by and all the neighbors as they go for their daily walks. It is wonderful. 

 I was determined to get a single bowl sink this time. I wavered back and forth between a very dark gray (almost black) sink and a white one. I finally picked white, mainly because it was on sale. I have not regretted it. The bowl is 10 inches deep. That is right, TWICE as deep as my old mini-sink. This one is 22 x 33 inches wide. It is SO much bigger than the old one. At Thanksgiving and Christmas we piled it with the dishes of our large family and there was STILL room. The sink, faucet and counter tops were all purchased at Lowe's. They have a great selection of single bowl sinks. I think the 10 inch one is the deepest. 

 And it sits in the middle of the room. Which is just perfect. By moving the sink, it actually allowed us to put a couple of more cabinets in on the other side. Of course, nothing is ever easy, and we ended up moving the base cabinets all around from when we (thought) we had it finished, but it all worked out in the end. 

And I am the proud owner of the World's Biggest Sink and the proud wife of the World's Most Patient Hubs.

(By the way, I still need to paint the new island. The Hubs finished it the night before Thanksgiving and it has been non-stop kitchen-activity since then. My goal is to get it painted before January is over.) (And those spots in the sink are reflections from the drain and faucet. No stains!) 
Linking with:
Fabulously Creative Friday
Feathered Nest Friday
Between Naps on the Porch
The Scoop
Wow Us Wednesday