Valentine Decor

Been working on some Valentine's Day decor around here, which included a run to the store to buy a crochet needle.

Don't get too excited about the crochet part. As far as I've gotten is making a very long chain.

It's all going to be part of a Valentine's garland that I'll show you later.

Can you call it "crocheted" if you only use a chain stitch? Not sure that is fair to all those people that work their fingers to the bone making sweaters and fancy stuff o' yarn.



   

The Birds Are Flocking

Birds are my thing right now.

Used to be china dogs. Now it's china birds. Next it will be china platypuses.

I know china statue type things are probably a bit Great-Grandmotherly, but I'm on a campaign to make them cool again! Just watch, Pottery Barn will be all about china figurines in their next catalog.

Exhibit A - This little table in the hallway between two of the bedrooms.

Hello Birdie

Typewriters, birds, pinecones.

They all sort of go together in my eclectic eye.

After Christmas I didn't know exactly what to do with my entryway table, so I removed the obviously Christmas decor (letter to Santa and mini nativity set) and plopped down a bird statue.

Done.

I figure once Winter is gone (soon, please), I'll replace the greenery in my vintage Hull vase with tulips or something equally as Springy.

Anyone else freezing their buns off today? I'm planning on staying inside, building a roaring fire in the wood stove and having a mug of nice hot tomato soup for lunch. Might also throw in a steamy cup of cocoa for good measure.

Thanks for all the input on my Infant Jesus Of Prague statue. I have decided to keep and enjoy Him for the time being. I do think we're meant to find things at certain times in our lives for a reason (well, not like finding a wooden coat hanger at the thrift store has any meaning to it, but you know what I mean).



Linking with Be Inspired, Feathered Nest Friday, Show and Tell Friday, Junkin Joe Vintage and Thrifty Finds

   

Abandoned Religious Statues

Can I tell you that I have started and stopped posts about this little statue three or four times? I have had him since October.

October!!! A lifetime in blog years!

I don't know what's wrong with me. I guess I don't want to offend anyone by saying something weird or irreverent about a religious statue, so I'm frozen in space. Do I call it a statue? Do I call it an icon? Do I capitalize the H in the word "him"? I just don't know!!!!

I do know that I like the statue and it has sat on my desk every day since I bought it in October.

When I saw it sitting on the top shelf at the thrift, totally out of place among the brass candlesticks and smelly cookie tins, I was oddly drawn to the statue. The light jadeite green of the interior of his robe (see, I almost called it a coat) was beautiful. The whole coloring of the statue shouted 1940's to me.

A Guest Post

I've always had the utmost respect for nurses. They are some of the most dedicated and hard working people I know, so I was super excited when my friend Sandy offered to do a guest post for me on my blog.

Hi, my name is Nurse Sandy.

Just Saying . . .

A subtle reminder, just in case you were beginning to forget about your New Year's resolution (the graphic is from The Graphics Fairy and I added the quote myself).

If you follow me on Facebook, you know that my son had been battling an ear infection over the weekend. AND WE'RE STILL DEALING WITH IT!!!

What? Was I yelling?

Truthfully, I tend to deal with the more monumental problems that can come along with a kid with disabilities a whole lot easier than I do with these normal, everyday, run of the mill illnesses. These small things get to me and truly test my SpongeBob watching abilities.

But I have someone special who has offered to do a guest post for me tomorrow. I've never had a guest poster before and I'm super excited, so I hope you'll welcome her with open arms!



   

The Attack Of The Giant Pom Poms

I've been spying some pom poms on Pinterest lately and then Jennifer Rizzo announced that she was having a pom-pom party on Monday, so I put two and two together and came up with these hunks of fluffy aqua-ness.

For some reason the whole how-to-figure-out-the-circumference thing was totally lost in my pre-menopausal brain and they came out a little bigger than I had envisioned.

They remind me of those old-school mop heads.

Red Salt & Pepper Shakers

I bought these cute little salt and pepper shakers today. Does that mean I'm out of my January thrifting doldrums?

I love their bright red color and they've been on my short list of things to look for when out thrifting, so I was excited to find them at the local old lady run charity thrift store.

Don't they look Valentiney? OK, you got me, I'm a little obsessed with Valentine's Day decorating ideas right now. Not sure salt & pepper shakers are going to be the center of my decorating theme though.

If not for Valentine's Day, they would look cute in a 4th of July picnic basket.

They were in a bag of assorted items that was marked $4.00. I did not want the other items that were in the Ziploc baggie at all, so when I checked out I asked the lady if I could buy the salt and pepper shakers for the advertised $4.00 and then go ahead and donate the other items in the bag back to them.

I pay the full $4.00 - I take the salt and peppers - they keep everything else - pretty simple, right?

She looked at me like I had asked if I could steal something. I had to explain it three times and then she only grudgingly accepted my donation to their store. With a big sigh, to boot.

That's me. Always rocking the boat.



Linking with Time Travel Thursday, Treasure Hunt Thursday, Vintage Thingie Thursday.

   

January Thrifting Woes

As soon as I put away the Christmas decor, I start to clean and purge and weed out unnecessary stuff from my life. It's my normal January thing. Out with the old and in with the new (and new is a relative term around here).

So I thought that after Christmas was over and the new year began, that the thrift stores would be filled to the brim with other people's cast offs that didn't make the cut in their own personal purge session.

Lacey, The Abominable Snowdog

Who knew that Lacey was such a snow lover?

Last year was our first year with her and it turned out to be a dud of a winter. A dud, if you actually wanted typical winter weather here in Ohio. We had hardly any snow at all and the temperatures were very, very mild. Like in the 60's half the time.

But this winter is making up for last year with a vengeance and Lacey is loving all the white stuff!

"Where did you get that big spoon? Is that for me?"

"Yum, yum, yum."