Back To The Drawing Board..........

Last week I showed my 

Dumpster Diva

that my daughter Taylor

found in the trash, rescued and

brought home to me.

This week I have another

"treasure" that Taylor rescued

from the trash! ha!

And, no, she does NOT make a habit of

dumpster diving.

So far she is two for two.

She's looked in two dumpsters and found 

two treasures.

I think she may have a knack!

If I can just convince her!!!!

 

This time however,

she rescued a 

Dumpster Dude.

It was last fall and I had just found out

that the caterer I had hired for my son's 

rehearsal dinner ....was not going to make it.

It was 24 hours before I was supposed to host 100 people!

So Taylor and I went to the local small-chain grocery store

to get food to cook the large dinner ourselves.

 As we pulled away I said that we needed to 

check the dumpster to see if they had any 

cardboard boxes to 

transport all our food and wedding rehearsal decor 

to the site. 

Taylor reached over the side of the dumpster

and pulled out a long cylinder cardboard tube.

Not exactly the type of cardboard box I needed to transport,

but she thought it looked interesting.

We looked inside and found...

all the architectural drawings and blue prints

to the grocery store.

Please ignore the dust blob on the edge of the drawings. I have no idea how it got there, as dust is not allowed in my house1111 ha!

Eighty-three pages of drawings

to be exact!!

The graphics are wonderful.

Pages and pages of them.

They are so....well....blue!

You better believe I kept the

Dumpster Dude!

There are intricate drawings of 

everything from the store itself

to the parking lot,

to the men and women's bathrooms

(wouldn't that be cool to frame and hang in a bathroom?),

to the refrigeration systems,

and each individual aisle in the store.

Not to mention the writing on each and every page!

Every single page has this on the corner.

It tells who drew that page

and who approved that page.

The plans are from 1961.

In the first picture I have the entire roll

rolled together and put in 

my old wooden ice cream bucket. 

I later undid some of the pages from the large roll

and rolled them individually

and put them back in my old bucket.

I have seen blueprints

rolled up in buckets and boxes

in Pottery Barn rooms and

Restoration Hardware rooms.

Now they are in one of my rooms!

My Hubby gave me the old 

ice cream bucket 

for Valentine's Day.

It makes the perfect 

container for my

blueprints.

So the Dumpster Dude(s) are here to stay.

I have thought about framing

one or two of the more interesting ones

that have food items listed and possibly using them 
for my kitchen.

OR I might do the bathroom idea.

I have enough of them that I can use

several of my ideas.

Now I just need to convince Taylor she has 

super-dumpster-diving-skills!

I am linking this with Metamorphosis Monday and

Thrifty Treasures. Also Wow Us Wednesday's and Open House at No Minimalist Here. And Farmhouse Friday's!

Simple Sundays

"But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law."  

Gal. 5:22-23

For all the teachers, administrators, school nurses, 

support personnel, and para's that begin school this week

and the next few weeks:

May the fruits of the Spirit 

abound in your soul

as you work with

your students each day.

And more importantly, 

may you find and nurture the 

fruits of the Spirit in 

each of the young lives

that are entrusted to your care. 

Your job is so important and may God guide you each day. 

(VERY) Random Review

Today is my last day of summer vacation. I have in-service beginning bright and early Friday morning. My students come on Wednesday of next week. I spent today making sure my house was clean-as-could-be. I even washed the slipcovers on my furniture and took all the throw-pillow covers off and washed them as well. I like the thought of going back to school with my house all clean. I am going to spend today at the pool. Relaxing.

We moved into this house 

the last week of school in May.

It was perfect timing if there is 

such a thing as 

perfect timing

in a move.

We stripped and (dark) stained 

all the wood floors

in the WHOLE house.

What a huge job!

Then I spent my summer

unpacking,

organizing,

moving things around,

decorating,

painting, 

hanging,

building,

and making our new (old) house

into a home.

Next summer I already 

have big plans

lined up.

I want to put different 

wall treatments 

on different walls

throughout the house.

Our ceilings are so tall that

the walls really need something

to break up the massive space.....

.......Besides pics of course!

I know that I will be 

waiting on the weekends

to get here, now that school has begun!

I will save my big projects for weekends,

but I think there are 

plenty of projects

I can work on 

after school as well!

Usually I absolutely dread the 

thought of summer being over.

This year is a little different.

I didn't spend the summer baking in the sun

since I was so busy working on the house.

The intense heat here in Oklahoma made it too

hot to even want to go out.

 

So since school is starting

that means 

football is starting too.

I 

LOVE football.

I will watch hours and hours of

grade school (my nephew),

high school (my students)

college, (my SOONERS)

and pro (most anyone) football 

over the next few months.

This is the mind-game

I play with my mind....

Soooooooooo if 

school is starting 

then so is

football.

If football is starting 

it must be Fall.

(Living for) Friday's. Football. Fall

Ahhhh. All is right in the world.

I'll be in the pool all day,

thinking about "fall" 

beginning tomorrow!

He Loves Lucy......................!

 

Just in case you slept through the entire weekend

you might have missed the fact that it was 

Lucille Ball's 100th birthday on Saturday.

What a pioneer for females! 

She was the first female to run a 

major picture studio,

the first to put a pregnancy into a story line

and the pioneer of many TV production methods

that are still used today.

In fact, legend has it that reruns were created

so people could see

"I Love Lucy" again and again. 

Of the thousands and thousands of Lucy fans,

my brother ranks up their as one of her biggest.

He has loved Lucy for as long as I can remember.

To commemorate her special birthday,

he threw an 

I Love Lucy party

at his house Saturday night.

The table was not only decorated with everything "Lucy", but the entire meal, from drinks to desserts, all centered around Lucy episodes.

Notice the grapes: Who could celebrate Lucy without remembering the famous 

grape stomping episode?

My brother, Rusty, thought up and decorated the

entire table

and planned the entire menu.

His wife, an excellent cook,

got the food in "Lucy" condition.

His three sons and my parents helped him enjoy the birthday celebration for Lucy.

There were an abundance of hearts throughout the table

....which probably is still not enough to represent 

how much 

my brother loves Lucy!

My brother googled "I Love Lucy" images 

and used some of his favorites
as place mats that he created
on a color printer.

You can see some more of the 'place mats' in this picture,

as well as the grapes!

My brother used L-O-V-E blocks from 

Valentine's Day for part of his centerpiece.

He also had a Lucy doll 

from his daughter's doll collection that worked 

on the table perfectly.

 

There were many fun and entertaining aspects of 

the meal.

One that everyone seemed to enjoy, 
especially my mother(!!!),
(who said Rusty is SO talented),
was his re-creation of 
 Vitameatavegamin.
The vitamin drink in the Lucy episode
had a large amount of alcohol in it.
By the time Lucy got the commercial finished,
she was a little tipsy!
Rusty said his drink was a special mix he
made up, but there was no alcohol involved!

Rusty went to the drugstore and purchased

new medicine bottles from the pharmacy.

He made the labels on his computer and printed them off.

He had a variety of place mats

for the table.

Obviously, a true Lucy lover could not

pick just one! 

If you don't have a color printer

you could do the same idea by going to a copy shop

for a minimal price.

He did not miss a beat did he?

Now you know why my mother thinks

he is SO talented!

So, are you ready to see what he and his wife 

served to eat?

Each food course 

came from one of Rusty's 

favorite episodes.

Spaghetti (yes, it had meat sauce too): Do you remember the episode where Lucy had a stare-down with 
William Holden

at the Brown Derby?

Ethel had to use manicure scissors to cut the spaghetti

as Lucy was having her stare-down.

So of course Rusty supplied 

manicure scissors 

(yes, clean!!)

for everyone's spaghetti.

Also on the menu was homemade pizza.

Remember the episode where Lucy is at

the pizzeria?

She twirls and swirls and throws the 

pizza dough in the air....

and it ends up all over her head and face!

Do you think Rusty let everyone throw their own 

pizza dough?

Then there was the salad dressing episode.
Fred convinces Lucy and Ethel to 
make and market 
Lucy's aunt's oh-so-famous-salad-dressing.

Again, Rusty used his color printer 
to create a special 
salad dressing label
(from the actual episode).
Notice the heart on top of the jar as well.
Every....little.....detail......!!!

If you have ever watched Lucy at all
then you remember the 
bread baking episode.
When Lucy opens her stove
the bread just keeps coming and coming and coming.
Finally she has to use a hacksaw to 
saw it in two.
Rusty's wife made homemade 
mini loaves of bread,
but the hacksaw blade 
was there to 
cut up the loaves....
and butter them!

 

If you looked closely at the table pictures...
or just guessed...
you know what was for dessert!
Everyone remembers when Lucy and Ethel 
are supposed to wrap candy as it goes by on the 
conveyor belt.
Lucy can't keep up and she stuffs the candy 
in her uniform, under her hat and in her mouth.
Well, Rusty had little wrapped candies....
all you could eat! Or stuff! 
And they were lined up straight down the table,
just like a conveyor belt.

Just in case the meal itself was not 
enough fun,
Rusty had DVD's of Lucy episodes playing
as they piled on their food
and enjoyed their meal.

Yes, Rusty has every episode of I Love Lucy.
He probably has it on VHS tape, 
DVD's
and Blue Rays if I know him!

DVD covers and books add to the 
party decor.
Don't forget little things like that
to fill in the blank spots.

Believe it or not,
Rusty had not even thought of any of this
until 6 p.m. on Saturday night.
He then got it all together,
created and decorated
while his wife cooked
his ideas!
If you know Rusty, you are not surprised.
Imagine what he would have done with
some planning!!!!!!!!!!

In the end, it was more than just Rusty loving Lucy.
It was about having a fun family meal.
It was about celebrating the nonsensical things in life.
It was about enjoying time together before kids 
go to college.
It was about using a big imagination
and a little time and effort and
creating great memories....
and making his Mama laugh!
Find some nonsense and celebrate 
with your family
before summer slips away!
I have linked this with Wow Us Wednesdays
and Tablescape Thursdays. Also Open House Party with Sherry. 
And over at the ever wonderful My Romantic Home Show and Tell Friday.