Rodeo Queen...

Another BBQ Cook-Off is now in the books...

Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo BBQ Cook-Off

Handsome Hubby and I are in green.  We ate, and ate, and ate... and danced, and danced, and danced... and came home with this picture, some amazingly cool Mardi Gras beads, and a headache.

That mermaid necklace took some serious bargaining and schmoozing to acquire... it is heavy resin, and is going to look SWEET hanging in Dear Daughter's beach room!  SCORE...

So this week I have to come up with an outfit for the Wine Committee's Champion Wine Auction and Dinner.  My friend, Lisa (in the hat above), is a committee member, was the top seller this year, and we were honored to be invited to attend and join them at their table.  I'm told this requires "fancy" cowgirl attire... hmmm... thinking that could be interpreted in a MULTITUDE of ways.  First MUST HAVE is a hat... now, I have a couple of cute cowgirl hats of the straw variety, but I don't think Daisy Duke is in order here.  Found this gem at Funky Quail Vintage:

That "model" kind of cracks me up!  The Pony Express has this on it's way... it came from an estate in Nashville, which is where I was born... cool.  I'm feeling my inner Rodeo Queen starting to emerge...

Next, I need some new boots... these black beauties came from Miss Farfalla and are on their way all the way from NEW YORK CITY (get a rope)...

Ok, got my head and feet covered... need to get busy covering the rest unless I want to get more attention than the wine.  Again, NOT going for the Daisy Duke vibe... so I'm off to raid my fashionista neighbor's closet.  Oh how I LOVE having a fashion DIVA living next door!  Will check back and let you know how I cover all the rest of my parts...

Mama Bear

Mama Loves You

Sweet Son and his BFF are both having girl issues this week... and my Mama Bear is coming out in full force.  So hard to be the mom to teenagers.  When they are little you can easily fix just about any hurt... only you don't really realize that WHILE they are little.  I wish I had.  I wish I knew then that having a three year old was about the easiest it would ever get as a parent.  There is no way now for me to fix what hurts... just have to smile, give my best advice, biggest hug (when no one is LOOKING, of course) and hope it doesn't hurt too bad or for too long.  I remember being their age and thinking my parents had all the answers, like they knew some big secret that I would become privy to when I became a parent... now I know they were flying by the seat of their pants just like I am.  DANG.IT.

Cowgirl Up!

How often do you see THIS rolling through your neighborhood?

HLSR Trail Riders

It's Rodeo time in Houston! If you are not from Texas (or Calgary) the word RODEO may conjure up visions of a rinky-dink rodeo arena, a few haggard looking horses and broken down cowboys. Let me school you on RODEO, Houston, Texas style... briefly, The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo posted attendance of 2.2 MILLION last year requiring more than 22,000 volunteers, it runs for 20 days, hosts live concerts every night (Sugarland, KISS, Kid Rock, Lady Antebellum, Keith Urban, Selena Gomez, Tim McGraw... you get the picture!), and is kicked off by a BBQ

Cook-Off that last year was attended by 221,300 hungry Texans.

The Trail Riders come from all over Texas and make their way through our neighborhood on their way to get the party started. Don't be fooled, I am NO country girl, but I LOVE me some Rodeo! It is a people watching, junk food, margarita fueled fest like no other... so expect some Rodeo updates over the next month. Headed to the Cook-Off on Saturday night, which requires an outfit that's a little bit country and a little bit rock and roll... and now, I must go get my inner Cowgirl on!

Vintage Western Shirt

Turquoise and Rhinestone Necklace

Vintage 1940's Cowgirl Boots

Comfort Stuff...

Most of us have comfort foods... something you grew up eating that just puts you in that happy place.  I also have comfort STUFF.  I know we are not supposed to place too much importance on THINGS, but the things that are important to me have no real monetary value, they are just really valuable to me...

This glass and bowl belonged to my maternal grandmother...if you are a sucker for a great love story, read this blog post by my aunt about my grandparents ... Smitten ... it will knock your socks off.

Anyway, back to my story.  

My Granny Violet (I called her just "Violet" until I was 10 because she said she was too young to be a grandmother, when she turned 50 she decided it was OK to add the Granny) was one of my favorite people in the entire world.  She spoiled me rotten in all the right ways and took unconditional love to a whole new level.  I spent much of my childhood at her house, and THIS bowl was my oatmeal bowl.  

Violet made the BEST oatmeal... except for the fact that I'm not sure there was actually any oatmeal involved.  It was a big soupy concoction of butter, sugar and milk... and butter, sugar and milk... and, to appease my health nut (nazi) daddy I'm guessing... oatmeal.  Did I mention butter, sugar and milk?   Right beside my healthy bowl of oatmeal sat this glass full of whole milk.  YUM, YUM.  Even after I became an adult, fully aware of the amount of treadmill time it would take to work off this heavenly bowl of Granny Violet love, I just could not turn it down.

Vintage Quaker Oats Cookie Jar

When my beloved Granny Violet died too soon and unexpectedly we went to her tiny little seniors apartment to sort through her things.  When I opened the kitchen cupboards, there they were... the bowl and glass that held all the love she showered on me my entire life.  They are now in my cupboards, and they make me feel warm and happy every time I open my cabinets... milk instantly tastes BETTER in that glass, especially if I'm having a really crappy day.  I can just picture her telling my daddy she fed me oatmeal for breakfast... thank God he never actually LOOKED in the bowl.  

I found these glasses and bowls on etsy... same glass pattern, in blue... and very similar bowls... just in case you love them, too.  Can't promise the milk and oatmeal will taste quite as good, but they are still great...

Vintage Anchor Hocking Glasses

Oatmeal... or Cereal Bowls

Just Duckie...

Racing through my crazy routine this morning... dropped Dear Daughter off for Safety Patrol, ran through the gas station, driving back home with thoughts of all I need to get done today rolling through my head... and I get STOPPED by this...

These little friends were quite far away from the neighborhood lake they normally hang out in, and they were in NO hurry, unlike ME.  So I stopped, watched them waddle by, and I was grateful for the moment that forced me to jump off the gerbil wheel, SLOW down and clear my head.  On a gray and busy Tuesday, made me feel just duckie.

Speaking of Monks and Mutts...

Awhile back I posted about reading Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother for my book club.  I am about halfway into the book and came across a chapter where Tiger Mom goes against her long held "no pets" policy and bribes one of her daughter's with a puppy to get her to master a particular piano piece.  With characteristic Tiger Mom fervor, she tackles raising the puppy with the same Dragon Mother tactics she applies to raising children and finds this book, which she hails as the best for dog training...

The Art of Raising a Puppy

OH NO.  Maybe I AM the Dragon Mother... this is the BIBLE of puppy training.  At least it has been MY bible.  Seriously, if you have a new puppy there is no point in reading anything else... and it reads like a great novel, which makes it so much better.  Let's be serious, reading a puppy training book sounds about as appealing as chewing glass.  This book follows a litter of German Shepard pups born and raised in the monastery and it is just beautifully written... it holds a place of high honor on my bookshelf.  Throws me for a bit of a loop that my love for the Monk's philosophy may place me into the Tiger Mother category.  YIKES.

We had a German Shepard when I was a little girl... before our love affair with Standard Poodles began.  His name was Baron, and he was beautiful, smart, and a great protector.  He also had an affection for Krispy Kreme donuts and would regularly run away only to be found at the back door waiting for them to throw out the leftovers...

He also once ate a couch... the entire couch.  WHOOPS... needless to say, Mimi was NOT a Tiger Mother.

Vintage-hand-carved-hand-painted-german-shepard-figurine

Grandpa Lee

My family attended a great funeral yesterday.  I know that sounds completely morbid and weird, but let me explain.  Some funerals really capture the spirit of the person being memorialized, and some just don't.  This funeral was a lovely celebration of a great man... a wonderful father, grandfather, friend, and citizen.  "Grandpa Lee" was the father of one of our dear friends, and we were lucky over the last 15 years to become his friends as well.  He always wanted my Sweet Son to end up with his oldest granddaughter... frankly, so do we but those darn kids have yet to buy into the whole arranged marriage thing.  Every time I saw Grandpa Lee over the past 10 years he would say with a wink, "You KNOW, there's a couple in our Sunday school class that have known each other since first grade and have been married for 50 years!"

Lee was an amazing woodworker.   They talked yesterday about how many beautiful things he had made for his church, family and friends... kneeling benches, podiums, display and bookcases... even a baby cradle that has been used by over 30 babies.  Years ago, Grandpa Lee gave me a stunning wood wine stopper he had made.  It is still my favorite, and I use it regularly (they say one glass a day is healthy, right?)...

Handmade Wooden Wine Stopper

I love having things in my home that remind me of people that have touched my life.  Every time I use this I will remember Grandpa Lee and that wink, "You KNOW..."

A little Cosby... and Claus

‎"I don't know the secret of success, but the secret of failure is to try to please everybody." --Bill Cosby


I love this.  LOVE THIS.  At 45 it has taken me... well, 45 years to understand the real truth in this statement.  I spent most of my life trying to keep all the balls in the air at once, trying to make sure everyone was happy, having fun, pleased with everything I was doing or every decision I made.  Turning 40 (and yes, it is such a CLICHE) changes you.  I make decisions now based on what is best for me, my family, or the "greater good"... that usually means SOMEONE is not going to be happy.  Shockingly, I learned this has not left me with any fewer friends or loved ones (at least not any that matter) and it HAS left me with considerably less stress and more peace of mind.  Try it... it is freeing.


I do like to please Dear Daughter, and she was NOT pleased when she read my blog and I mentioned we bought this shell sign on a vacation to Amelia Island:

Decorating with Etsy

Dear Daughter was HORRIFIED, she audibly GASPED.  I honestly had no idea what terrible mistake I could have made in blogging about her room redo.  MOM, we did NOT get this from the beach!  This was from the big man with the little helpers... you know, the one that flies really fast around the entire world in one night...

Free Vintage Santa Kids Christmas Cards

EEK.  I stand corrected.

Drab to Fab

Every home has things we've had for years that are functional, but no longer "work" with our decor or just look TIRED... kind of like me.  HA!  My mom says we should all get to have another wedding shower after 20 years to replace all the stuff that doesn't work or is just outdated.  I think some men call that a mid-life crisis... but I DIGRESS.  Since I haven't talked any of my friends into hosting that shower, I've found there are some quick ways to spruce up things around the house.  Here's an easy little project I just finished for my etsy store to give you an idea...

This is a CUTCO Kitchen Tool Holder... these retail for $39, have lifetime guarantee,  are made of sturdy oak and there is NO reason to get rid of it except the oak color is kind of drab and doesn't have much POP.   What it looked like to me was an awesome blank canvas...

One coat of spray primer, and 2 coats of black satin spray paint got me started... digging in my stash I found this scrap of toile scrapbook paper and a leftover "jewel" I had from another project.

Trimmed a piece of the toile to fit one side and whipped out my trusty Mod Podge to apply... one coat of Mod Podge, then lay down the paper, smooth it out, wait 15 minutes and apply a second coat on top.  The smell of Mod Podge always makes me feel like I am in 3rd grade doing a paper mache pinata out of a blown-up ballon... remember?  Here's a cute Easter Egg Version with a link to the EASY How-To:

Easter Egg Pinata How-To

There I go digressing again!  Back to our project...

I attached the "jewel" to the front with this Super Glue Gel, which I love because it has a very controlled dispenser and doesn't run everywhere (thus gluing your fingers together)...

I finished the entire thing off with a coat of satin varnish and here is the finished product...

Upcycled Cutco Kitchen Tool Holder

So fun, and so many uses... pencil holder, craft supplies, q-tips... you name it.  I'm sure there is something in your home just waiting for a facelift, or a new "purpose"... have fun with it!  If you're just not feeling so crafty, this and other "upcycled" and repurposed items are available in my store... Orangie's Attic  Come see me!

Happy Hearts, Perfect Poodles, and True Love Turtles...

Happy Hearts Day!  Hope you all are celebrating with someone you love... since my baby is a 5th grader, this is the last year I will get to help her celebrate with a class party at school.  That makes me a little sad... last Valentines she will come home with a box full of little paper cards with lollipops taped to the back.  These are adorable and PRINTABLE, in case you are in a last minute pinch today!

Printable Valentines Day Cards

 Seems like that was always the MOST exciting day of the year when I was in elementary... and seems like it gets harder to come up with special gifts the older they get.  This year I (big surprise here) went etsy shopping... :)  

See that cute little poodle in the first square of the treasury posted to the right here?  His name is Percy, and Dear Daughter fell MADLY in love with him when I put this grouping together.  He comes from LetterHappy   and I think we fell in love with him as much for the description his seller wrote as we did for his flirty eyelashes, "meet percy. and yes, he IS a boy, thank-you-very-much. maybe if his new owner would be so inclined to put a nice little blue collar on him {and stop curling his eyelashes}, people would quit saying, "aww, what a cute little girl you are!" that's all he ever wanted."  If you happen to be an etsy seller, never underestimate the power of that description in your listings!

She would pull this up his picture on the computer everyday just to stare at him and talk to him (and to see if he had been sold)... well, guess where he is now?  

Percy the Perfect Poodle

Yes, he's holding a place of high honor on her new desk... a perfect spot for a poodle to keep a little girl company while she's doing homework or daydreaming in her room.

As I have mentioned, Sweet Son has a lifelong love of sea turtles... lucky me I stumbled upon this in a treasury I was visiting...

Sea Turtle Necklace

He also loves those leather necklaces, so hopefully this will be a big hit!  KDemARTe has some great jewelry, especially for guys... and you have the option of different types of cording or purchasing just charms.  I really love this because I didn't go looking for this gift, it literally just sort of fell into my lap(top).

Enjoy your day, friends... whether you are celebrating or not.

Remember...

http://www.etsy.com/listing/39717067/all-you-need-is-love-valentine-card

 

Decorating with Etsy? You Betsy!

Sorry for the corny title, just couldn't help myself.  Almost 9:00 here and everyone in my house is still snoozing, so before we get up and running today thought I would share a few of the fun etsy finds we used in Dear Daughter's room redo...

Here's the "grouping" we put together for the wall behind her bed... she has a daybed, so it's up against the wall like a sofa.

We started with the large wire letters which were an awesome Christmas gift from Aunt Dorine... these are from PBTeen.  The Beach House sign and colorful metal fish were both vacation finds when we were in Amelia Island... and of course there are the shell pictures.

The little yellow seagulls were an etsy find from 51 Vintage Circle and started out like this...

They are old HOMCO and my mother thinks they are hysterical because my grandmother had some just like these on the walls in her living room... a couple of coats of bright yellow spray paint and we got some fresh, fun wall art...

Upcycled HOMCO Seagulls

The mirrors in this section also are upcycled HOMCO... DD loves the look of the vintage style of these mirrors made modern with a BRIGHT new paint color... 

We already had the shelf, and the seagull is from the Dollar Spot at Target...LOVE the Dollar Spot!  The peace sign is another PBteen item, gifted to her by a dear friend for her birthday.  My favorite part of this section is the sweet little vintage seagull needlepoint that I found at Olea Vintage...

Shabby Vintage Seagull Needlepoint

On the bookshelf next to her bed we put this ADORABLE vintage sea horse lamp we found at Accessory Addiction, the shade is one we already owned and I think it gives it a great updated feel.

Vintage Sea Horse Lamp

We also needed a desk lamp, and found this perfect little cutie at Fishbone Deco...

Retro Yellow Metal Electric Desk Lamp

That blue mason jar another of Mimi's "donations" to our house... well, we sort of hijacked it out of her pantry because we thought it would be perfect with some of our million shells.

Finally... DD decided she needed a surfboard for a very large wall space created by the vaulted ceiling above her bathroom door.  Searching on etsy we found Sunday Treasures... this seller will custom make your very own decorative surfboard... their surfboards have actually been featured in the PBteen catalogs. SCORE.  She decided she wanted to buy this with her own money... DOUBLE SCORE, says Mama!  Here is her finished surfboard...

4 ft. Personalized Hawaiian Surfboard

One of the really cool features on etsy is the ability to shop by COLOR, this is really helpful if you are trying to shop in a specific color scheme... there are so many great vintage and handmade items it's easy to turn a room from "average" to AWESOME, and you never even have to leave the comfort of your living room.  And these days, I'm all for anything that keeps me in the comfort of my living room!

First Love...

Off to do some Valentine shopping today... will post some of my great etsy gift finds next week, but little eyes like to check out my blog, so those will have to wait.  Handsome Hubby and I don't do big Valentine celebrating, our anniversary is right around the corner and so we usually save it up... but it did get me thinking today about great love stories, and about one you might enjoy.

My great Aunt Orangie (yep, one in the same) was quite a woman... smart, attractive, opinionated, stylish... really just a wonderful role model for a niece who basically worshiped her. She was a first grade teacher and  didn't marry until she was 29, but when she did, she married well and promptly retired from teaching.  My great Uncle Garland (funny names, aren't they?) was a gem.  He worked his way up in THE PHONE COMPANY (back when there was only ONE phone company) from a grunt to upper management... and was happily settled into retirement by the time I can remember.

They had a beautiful antique filled house in Nashville, and a farm in the country.  She was in the garden club, women's circle at church, Bridge Club... a real social butterfly and community leader.  He sang in the church choir, gardened, and did the dishes EVERY SINGLE TIME she cooked one of her famous southern meals, most often using vegetables she had canned from his garden.  They never had children, she told me because she was scared she was too old by the time they married... which I find funny since so many women these days are having babies until their early 50's.  If anyone should have had kids, it was these two...  but lucky for us, my brother and I became their "grandchildren" and spent many, many hours enjoying their company, hanging out on the farm, just soaking in their greatness.

When she died, I think he couldn't stand being in that house without her.  I will never forget being with him when he walked into the funeral home and saw her for the first time... he stopped cold at the door and exclaimed, "Oh Honey!  You look so beautiful."   OMIGOSH... just writing that makes me tear up all over again.  Although he was mentally sharp as a tack, he sold the house and nearly everything in it and moved into assisted living.   One year later he joined her... think he really couldn't stand to be away from her any longer.

One of the things she left to me (besides a wealth of life lessons) was this sweet little silverplate set...

It has been used for every special occasion and holiday since.... just love it and the history it represents.  When I received it I found this tucked inside...

Don't you love that? Every time I pull this set out, it makes me smile.  This past Christmas Handsome Hubby was doing the dishes (lucky girl, got my very own Uncle Garland) and he noticed the markings on one of the knives.

Not sure how well you can read this, but it says 1847 Rogers Bros.   Of course there are many, many patterns so we started comparing and here is our match...

Can you guess what the name of this pattern might be?

FIRST LOVE.  Just makes me swoon...

Patchwork Party

Quilts have been part of my life for as long as I can remember... good Southern girl that I am.  My family is fortunate to have inherited several beautiful quilts from both sides... a few are old and time-worn, and a few have been made especially for us.  Last Christmas my wonderfully talented Aunt Dorine made a very special quilt for my Sweet Son.  He has always been a water baby... a competitive swimmer since he was 7, wants to be a Naval Architect, and loves nothing more than to hang out by an ocean any chance he gets.   He also has a serious love for sea turtles.  Here is the AMAZING piece of art she created especially for him...

This picture doesn't begin to do it justice... every single square is perfectly placed to create the "ocean", every color flows seamlessly into the next.  Really, if you never thought of quilting as art, I hope you do now.  Recently we decided to hang this behind his bed to create a "headboard"... he has very little actual open WALL space in his room, so this was the only available area, but he didn't want it folded up where he couldn't enjoy it...

You can't see all of it, but it really still looks so great... he loves it and so do I because now when I walk past his room my eye is drawn UP to the quilt and away from the pile of dirty clothes and wet towels on the floor... come on, if you have teenagers you KNOW what I'm talking about...

Our newest "quilt" started out with me searching etsy for a new shower curtain for Dear Daughter's bathroom, the shower and toilet area which she shares with the guest room.   We got one of those new fangled curve shower rods... which makes the shower feel nice and spacious but also made the existing curtain look like it had a seriously bad case of highwaters.  With all the other redecorating going on, I just wanted a new one that would match the existing paint, etc.  But it had to be extra long... I quickly discovered those are few and far between.  It also needed have enough of a "cute" factor to please DD, but not so girly that my guests would gag.

Surfing aound on etsy I came across this by The Scarlet Thread ...

VERY cute... totally wrong colors for DD's bathroom but the trick is you send this seller your fabrics and she makes it for you... with whatever fabric you choose, length, etc..  Ok, I was ready to go shop for fabric and ship them off when Mimi decided she was going to make it instead (she might remember this conversation a little differently, but whatever)... 

We took off to some of our local discount interior fabric shops (lucky in a big city to have lots to choose from)... interior fabrics aren't cheap, but we only needed about a yard of each design so we were able to find some scraps and clearance... total for all the fabric was under $30.  Mimi got on the phone with Aunt Dorine for some quilting tips and here is the result:

Perfect, perfect, perfect!  If you, like me, are not a seamstress and aren't lucky enough to have an Aunt Dorine or Mimi, you can certainly find someone like The Scarlett Thread to do the hard part for you...Modern Myrtle makes them, she provides some really great fabrics for you to select from, a bit more expensive, but even less work for you... here is one of her samples:

 There are literally thousand's of beautiful quilts on etsy... every color, pattern, and theme you could imagine.  Hang them on the wall, throw them over a chair, use them as a tablecloth... quilts add a pop of color and charm like nothing else.  Now... it's COLD here this morning, think I will go crawl under the quilt my Granny Violet made just for ME.  

Shell Shock

Thought I would share another easy peasy project we did for Dear Daughter's big girl room... this room has been in the PLANNING stages for two years, but Mommy failed to get off her duff and get it done.  That said, we had lots of time to gather ideas and this was one of them...

Vacationed this summer at the awesome Amelia Island, Florida... now, I am a Gulf Coast girl going WAY back in my childhood, but that blasted oil spill put a damper on our usual trip to Gulf Shores so we had to regroup and discover a new beach on the "OTHER" side of Florida.  Blasphemy.  I want the sandy white beaches of my youth, but I put on my big girl undies and endured the very LONG drive to the Atlantic side.  What a surprise treat Amelia turned out to be!  Different beaches for sure, but LOADED with shells, awesome waves, and just a delightfully sleepy southern town vibe.  Actually THINK my handsome hubby is taking me back there with him on a business trip soon... yippee!  Here is Sweet Son skim boarding on the Amelia beaches... taken with my iphone and the WAY cool Hipstamatic app...

Of course, Mimi and I always have to take at least one day away from the surf, sand, and skim boarding (JUST KIDDING, I tried to skim board ONCE... not pretty)  to visit the local antique shops, and Amelia was a GOLDMINE.   Wandering through one great eclectic shop I came across this:

Pardon the poor picture quality... it was dark in there and I was using my phone camera.

Ok, so I LOVED this... perfect for Dear Daughter's beachy, vintage theme room... but seriously, the price was HIGH at around $100.  Remember how I mentioned there are millions of GREAT shells on the Amelia Island beaches?  My kids spend literally HOURS scouring the beaches for shells... and then there was that day I made Handsome Hubby walk about 6 miles down the beach with me collecting shells in his shirt... oops, forgot to bring a bag.  I decided to snap a pic and HOPEFULLY remember when I got home to try to recreate this idea...

I have been keeping my eye out for the perfect frame.  In my favorite thrift store one day I found 2 matching framed pieces of art... sort of that 70's Home Interiors style... ugly, dreary looking "fake" paintings in some really scrolly french provencial plastic frames.  One dollar each... JACKPOT.  I didn't even need to get canvases for the shells, they could go directly on the old "paintings"...

Dear Daughter picked out a shade of purple acrylic paint for the frames, to match a surfboard we painted in the same color. Got to work painting the frames... no primer, just slapped a couple of coats right on... because these are some form of cheap plastic, without primer some of the old frame peeks through, giving them exactly the vintage look we were going for anyway.  Next I grabbed my trusty hot glue gun and went to town with those million shells we collected... very little time and about $3 later... voila!

Dear Daughter is in heaven!  These are perfect for the "collage" of stuff above her bed (will blog on that later) and they are very special to her because the shells were collected by her family during her favorite week of the year... Mommy loves them because they were fun to make, turned out cuter than the inspiration (in my humble Mommy opinion), and saved me about 97 bucks... yea me!

One Mimi's Trash...

My mother is on her annual girl's sabbatical to Scotland... three weeks with her best girlfriends staying in a castle  with nothing more serious on the agenda than eating, socializing and antiquing.  Her dear friend, June, just so happens to live in that castle which once required them to go antiquing for something like 28 dining room chairs and a table to fit them.  I don't think I could fit 28 chairs in my entire house, but I digress.   My mom wrote to me yesterday (via facebook, she is a hip and high-tech grandma) that she and her sweet friends have been shopping around the hills of Scotland for ME... or more specifically for vintage things to list in my etsy store, Orangie's Attic.  Can we get a WOO HOO?!?!

My mother (known around these parts as Mimi) has excellent taste, in friends and in antiques.   I am (almost) embarrassed to admit how many treasures have found a place in my home which were sent here with the intention of being sold in one of my many garage sales...you can often find my daddy (AKA Big Daddy), walking out of some room in my house scratching his head saying, "Carol, don't we have a painting just like that one in Kelly's bathroom?"  Umm... well, you did.   For example this antique needlepoint she found on one of her trips: 

Or this antique original oil painting...

Or this sweet little vintage tole tray:

Seriously... who sells this stuff in a GARAGE SALE?  She gets tired of them, brings them to my house, and they miraculously disappear off my driveway and find their way onto my walls, shelves, wherever they look happiest.  Thankfully, she loves me more than she loves the $5 or $10 she would have made...lucky me!

So let's all say a prayer to the vintage Gods for Mimi and her menagerie to strike gold in some junky little thrift store in the Old Country... and then let's say a prayer that I have the willpower to actually sell them.