one more bookshelf

I bought the 'gold framed' picture at a thrift store. The old frame was a skinny gold one and a bit rotten - the stuff on the back was definitely musty. I took the image out and found it was a 'very old' cover to a magazine. I put it in a new frame and am saving the old one for?


The 'Maine' now sits on its own shelf. Before it sat on top of the bookshelf which seemed hazardous for an old glass candy dish (we guess over a hundred years). So when I found this wood pedestal shelf at the thrift store...


I moved this photo from another wall in the bedroom as a tapestry now occupies that space.

the insanity of being me

Yesterday, I finally got us some new bookshelves I've been trying to get them through freecycle, but they are always pending by the time I email. So I bought these at Goodwill. A tip, you know the millions that Target donates to charity? A lot of it is stuff that is returned or doesn't sell in the store and guess to whom it is donated, Goodwill. This was a composite board bookshelf. It weighed a ton and I had to put it together - but I had it done and loaded with books by the end of the day.


The swan/goose on top of the bookshelf. She is wearing a scarf from my husband's paternal grandmother. When my MIL gave it to me I tied it around her neck and it has stuck (figuratively, not literally).


This a bookshelf made by my maternal grandfather as a wedding gift for us. It is actually pegged and glued together and the back is solid wood too.


This is a thrift store bookshelf - it is handmade by someone and is very sturdy - a good thing.



So while I have a flash and am photographing in the basement, here is a shot of an old school chalkboard map that I dismantled and glued onto the roller for your standard roller blinds.



Which leads me to the inanity of this morning. This morning, I took the girls for a forty-five minute drive down to the opposite side of our metropolitan area to pick up these free bricks I found listed on freecycle. Last summer, I dug up the sod near the back of our yard so that I could grow sunflowers again. We used to have giant sunflowers at our old place and they always filled me with joy. Until we built our fence we had no good place for them here. Even then, I didn't dig out a spot for them. Now they have a spot but it isn't edged and my husband thought it ought to be. He also suggested that I find away to edge the lilacs from our neighbors yard that I am allowing to creep into our yard because I had lilacs growing up and I had them at the old place and I miss them here. He has no problem with letting some move over - he just wants boundaries to make mowing easier. My free solution is this stack of 177 free bricks.

My shoulders and wrists are a bit sore but I did it!!



Before we left this morning I mounted this prism that I bought from American Science and Surplus in the entry window. You'll see more in my next post.3

two angels

We bought this angel yesterday at Goodwill. They had their Christmas items on sale for 75 percent off. The shape behind her is the false window in the kitchen.



A tree top angel that my Mom crocheted for us when we first got married. Last night C decided the angels name was Mick. Behind it is a huge clock that hangs on the wall.

a book thing

Here is the majority of the girls books. I don't dare guess how many books are on these shelves. Thankfully, most of them are gifts or were bought by mom for under a dollar a piece at my favorite thrift store "Bible's for Missions." All the shiny spines are Little Golden Books - both me and the girls love them.



The books in the round basket next to the girls' tree and nativity are the kids' Christmas books (there is also a selection of adult books) that get put out at Christmas. The wooden box below contains the more factual or encyclopedic books that belong to the girls



These are what remain of the board books. K doesn't like reading board books anymore but I am holding onto them because C was the same way at K's age and she did return to the board books, so I have held onto the best ones. I don't think I will ever get rid of the Sandra Boyntons the whole family - even hubby loves them.



These are the audio books that the girls listen too. The whole family is addicted to them. My hubby really likes "Charlotte's Web" as read by EB White and he loves all the Pooh stories even after having listened to them a million times, one can find himself chuckling over Milne's characterizations. Hubby also likes the Little House books that we have - they are read by Cherry Jones and he likes her as a female narrator Shelly Frasier and Rebecca Burns who narrate a number of the stories grate on him.



There is also a bag of cheap paperback books in the car. And a collection of beautiful nursery rhyme and prayer books in C's room.

Both the girls love to read. I started reading to C when she was six weeks old (Jim Trelease has a great book about reading to children that will inspire you - there are many wonderful anecdotal stories in it). When she was around nine months I could read to her for an hour and a half at a time. That waned as she became more active but she still loves to read and listen - especially in the car.

I felt bad about K because although I started reading to her as soon as we came home, she never got as much reading as C. But she loves to read every bit as much as C.

Well that does it for the kids' books. (Except for the small but growing collection of juvenile books - when I am at a thrift store favorites from when I was an avid young reader, I pick them up and save them).

There are three bookshelves of books belonging to hubby and myself. One shelf is moderate sized and was handmade (pegged and glued) by my maternal grandfather as a wedding present for us - it hides in the corner by my sewing machine. Then there is the hand made one that I found at Bible's for Missions for less than $20.00. It is a bit smaller and could stand being refinished by it is solid wood and well made and that counts for something as I can't stand fake backs and cheap shelves. And then there is a barrister bookcase in our bedroom bought new for us by my MIL. It has 'the nicest' books in it. All the shelves are crammed full.

Books live on more than shelves in our home. One of my drawers in our bureau has my Bibles and other Bible Study materials in it (and it is full). There is a very tall stack on the bureau too. Then there is the trunk that has mostly garden and bird books with a few other topics thrown in. Oh and then there is the row on the top of a dresser drawer (serves as storage) behind my sewing table - that is mostly craft books and cookbooks. Speaking of cookbooks there is a cupboard in the kitchen containing my most frequently referenced books and my binder of recipes). I think that is most of my book hideouts. Oh, I forgot the bread box that has small format hardcovers and paperbacks in it.

You can blame my parents. My sister A and I discussed this and later my sister B asked me about it too. We children do not recall Mom and Dad reading to us although a few quips by Mom and Dad and the fact that we are all avid readers assures us that they must have. By the time we started reading we must have cut ourselves off from them reading to us.

There were rows of shelves in the upstairs hallway with books of our house - lots of Zane Grey, Louis L'Amour, Sci Fi, and Grace Livingston Hill. I still have favorite Zane Grey books.

My Dad worked as a City Maintenance man for a small town of 400 and would often bring boxes of books home that he found in the trash. Another perk was the City Hall shared building space with the Library and the librarian was quite easy on us and our borrowing. She enjoyed my Dad and would let us borrow without checking books out. (In fact, years later, Mom gave her one of my all time best photos of my Dad because she cried when she saw it because she then realized why she so liked my Dad - he reminded her of her brother who was gone).

The downside of being avid readers was that both A and I would permanently borrow books from the school library. I had guilt about that for years.

In High School, I was fortunate to have a teacher who pushed me to excel and would encourage me to read worthwhile literature. In college, I majored in English - my interest being literature not writing.

So there you have it. We like books.

some organizing I did last Friday

The problem - an over-run of toys (and these aren't all - I store some in the basement and rotate so they seem new - probably 85-90 percent of the 'stuff' is from my in-laws).


The redesigned area. I think it is an improvement. The stuffed animals are in the blue bin and hiding in the girls' closet.


The cabinet is shopped from the basement too. I, in my insanity, hauled it upstairs on my own. It now houses about 75 percent of the girls books and some of their toys that aren't played with as often or are 'special'. The books that sloppily poke out of the top of the basket on the top of the cabinet don't belong there they belong on the trunk that has the Christmas tree and gifts...I can't put them away as we use them everyday they are C's Bible, Journal, and Prayer Book.

The fake wooden trunk with the fabric top replaces the blue bin which once housed dress up clothes. The dress up clothes are in the new trunk (shopped from my basement) and the three suitcases (I made a quick run to Goodwill for them when I realized the trunk wasn't big enough). Oh there are four Raggedy dolls there - my Mom made a pair for both the girls I mean someday to take great photos of them and do them justice.

Eeyore is sitting on a wonderful little thrifted stool I bought many years ago...which of course you can't see. :)

This is the new location for the cd case...I focused this way in order to show the drawings of the girls that I've hung - I plan to frame more of them I have a few thrifted frames ready just need to get some artwork in them. Oh yeah and the shards of Narsil - someday when there aren't cds and dvds scattered all over the entertainment system I will photography hubby's swords...

just a day

It is cooooooooooooooooold today.



This is what hangs above my stove-top - beneath the exhaust hood. There used to be three circles but one fell and broke - and so I found the flower relief at a thrift store for two dollars. I rather like it.



These are photos of my two playing with a Veggie Tales Castle Set for Duke and the Pie War. My nephew (my husband's sister's son) is not churched. Neither my hubby's sister nor his parents attend church although they would all (including Alex's father - probably argue that they are Christians). We decided to get this playset and the video for Alex for Christmas. In order to encourage viewing and playing with it, I am sending some shots of the girls playing with it. I felt that these shots must certainly be in over-vivid color.... :) (Oh, I should say we bought the girls their own set to facilitate this - I wouldn't want you to think we played with his gift)...








Someone decorated the bedroom window in the girl's room.



Our tabs for hubby's car expired at the end of November so we went to take care of that today. Since that is practically next door to the thrift store...

I found six childcraft books there that I thought would be nice for the girls.



I also found these prints the frames are plastic and the prints are cardboard but somehow they look quite nice to me.




and I found this adorable child-sized wooden folding chair - which I am sure will turn up in photos for years to come...



see what I mean - isn't it tooooooooo coooooooooool...?

little 'big' gifts given me

This was given to me by a long time internet friend Jerry who is a poet and an artist. I first met him through a poetry forum. His work is lovely and he has had several shows as of late. It matches the walls too...that I assure you was not intentional.



This was given me by a new and rapidly becoming very dear friend. Lisa at Groggy Froggy. I think he is darling and he absolutely makes me smile.



And finally, this gift from my FIL. My inlaws and I do not have the best relationship. However, on occasion my FIL will see something that makes him think of me and will on impulse buy it. I love unique nativities and have several. Now I have another from him, it was carefully wrapped and adressed in his own hand.

snippets of home

Our house is a split entry so this is what you see as you walk in above the entry to the right. The middle clipboard is now sent off to Scotland as a gift. You can also see just a smidge on the left one of my tie bags.


Basket for the keys to the left of the front door when you face it.



The lion along with this collection of plant and mirrors lives above the coat closet in the entry.




This is above the cupboards in the kitchen. Above the cupboards above the sink is baskets...this is along the right hand wall - my plants (yes they are real), more baskets, pedestals, and other pieces - oh yeah and a bunch of old mirrors. My favorite mirror is the one with the bad silvering and the oval top. It is hard to see in the pics but another nice mirror is round with a gold frame...






This is one of the first things I bought for this house. It was more expensive than I should have paid but it has always given me satisfaction. It hangs above the sink in the kitchen.



Little display sitting on top of a bread box on the dining room table. Just note cards and floral frogs.

a corner of my bedroom

The book I am reading for book club "A Can of Peas" by Traci DePree...in it there is a quote "You can tell so much about a person by what they keep in their home, what they have nearby to comfort themselves in their lonely hours."

Here is corner of our bedroom:


What you see is a closed bookcase with our 'nicer' books in it. A cheap light house print we picked up once at MOA - a sailboat print from Target - a Galilean themometer given to us as a gift, a wooden pen Tim received as a gift, Tim's grandfather's old binoculars, a glass candy dish "Remember the Maine" from one of Tim's great aunts after they passed away, and a box I decoupaged with maps for him...it is decoupaged top, sides, back and inside the drawer.





The single switch plate is just to the left of the bookshelf corner - the double switchplate is at the entrance of the room. I made them as gifts for Tim for Christmas last year - they were the first switchplates that I decoupaged.