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A Happy Birthday For Me

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I have been at my “new” job for a year already, so decided it was time to take a bit of vacation. My birthday was last week and I thought that would be an opportune time. Bruce said he would swap his holiday time off from Monday (Memorial Day) and take Friday instead, and we could go to Billings. Then I could peruse all the antique shops to pick my own birthday present. He is a smart fella. He knew that if he could come up with something lots of fun that I couldn't say no to, chances were greatly reduced that I would ask for my usual gift of labor on his part! (Instead of asking for wrapable gifts, I always ask him to finish some project on the honey-do list.)

So I had a wonderful, leisurely week. Got some gardening done (despite lots of rain), and managed to do a little pre-Billings birthday shopping right here in town. I found this first book at the fancy-pants thrift downtown.

I love books, and was thrilled when I opened this one and saw all it had to offer.

Chapter after chapter of animals found in the wild, with each chapter culminating in a frameable print, if a person would be so inclined to cut it out of the book. All of the pictures are by the artist Francis Lee Jaques who did innumerous illustrations for the magazine Outdoor Life. In addition to the beautiful pictures, the whole book is a very interesting read. It was published in the mid 1950's.

 

This picture alone was reason enough for me to buy the book. I think it is beautiful, and would go wonderfully with my small collection of other fox pictures – that is, if I can bring myself to cut this book. My Mom raised my brother and I to respect and never disfigure or maim books. But I can see, in my minds eye, a lot of these illustrations beautifully matted and framed, hanging at the cabin!

 

 

Especially this one! With the cabin being named Moose Springs and all 🙂

This second book I found at the regular thrift, and spent a whopping 75 cents for it! It is by Lawrence Sheehan whose wife Carol was the editor for the the magazine “Country Home” for many years. Her wonderful editorials were the first thing I turned to when I subscribed to that magazine, before it went under. She was like reading a favorite blog; so personable, fun, and interesting. Apparently she was a contributor to this book, and it is grand.

It has endearing photography, touching stories, and great ideas for incorporating dog inspired collections into your home.

 

 

 

I can't understand why anyone would have wanted to be rid of this book and donate it to the thrift! Oh well, their loss is my gain! It couldn't have come to a better home – I read my decorating books over and over again!

And on to our Billings trip –

This was my first find. I love how when something is just right, it practically jumps right off the shelf or wall into your arms. You can pass a thousand other things, and then, all of a sudden, there is that one something special thing that just pops out and glows! At least that's how it seems to work for me. The photo doesn't do this collector plate justice. It is a really stunning portrait of an elk, and will look perfect at the cabin.

For my turkey collection. I do not have another hen turkey looking back like this one, and at $4 for the pair I couldn't pass them up.

Another purchase for the cabin, and not only to feed my lamp fixation, but also my bear collection.

I think he is a cute little guy, and was very reasonably priced at an antique mall.

This Navajo style, 100% wool rug was a steal of a deal at a saddle shop. Now I wish I would have gotten 2, but I need to hold back a bit to see what will be truly needed when I get to finally decorate the cabin for real.

 

I was tickled to find these 2; Yellowstone Park memorabilia is getting harder and harder to find.

When we got home, my Mom and Dad came to town for cake and ice cream, and brought me some more awesome presents!

Isn't this the cutest little winter cabin! I love it!

And, what a coincidence, another plate! But this one is a true antique, and so beautiful and unique! It's funny because for Christmas my other Mother, Roxy, gave me an antique picture of a turkey herder that she found in Round Top, Texas; then my Mom finds this plate with a turkey herder! I have old pictures with sheep herders in them, but had never before heard of or seen turkey herders!

My Mom also gave me some yummy smelling lotion and lip balm, and 3 cute shirts for work. Talk about getting spoiled!

Then my bestest neighbor/friend/critter-sitter Eileen brought over this sweet garden light and hanger.

It is so pretty, and really puts out a lot of light, so I put it next to the steps in my yard to help folks not trip in the dark. She also brought me a personal birthday cupcake, and a baby tomato plant for my garden that she started from seed at her house! AND, she babysat Glee and Declan while we were in Billings since that was the first time Declan has been left for a whole day.

Pretty darn awesome birthday, wouldn't you agree?!

TTFN,

Teresa

 

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Lights Of My Life

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I got a fresh, new Country Living magazine in the mail the other day, and for the first time in a long time there were several things that I really enjoyed. That makes me happy, because I miss all the wonderful publications that bit the dirt when the economy took a dive several years ago. Then when things started to pick up a bit, and there were a few new home decor magazines that started showing up again, I was really kind of puzzled and, maybe grossed out is too strong a sentiment, but really not connecting with or appreciating the turn decorating was taking.

Anyway, one of the articles they had in this month's issue was a collector sharing her top 10 best finds in all her years of collecting. I thought that would make a great blog post, and started sorting in my mind what I thought my 10 best finds would be.

And I thought, and I thought.

I've come to the conclusion that there is no possible way I can narrow my vast array of things down to gleen just 10 favorites. So, I decided maybe I could do categories of things, and list 10 +/- of my favorites in that category! And I have many, many categories of things in my house! So that should give me blog fodder for years to come 🙂 .

I decided to jump into it with my favorite lamps. Yup, they are yet another of my fixations.

This is probably my favorite lamp because not only is it pretty, and very old, it has a lot of sentimental value because it belonged to my Great Grandparents. My Grandma told me she can remember when she was a very little girl seeing her Mama doing her mending next to this lamp.

This teepee lamp is one of my all time best finds. For several years I had been coveting these same types of lamps at a very highfalutin furniture and interior design store over the hill, but they wanted nearly $200 a piece for them! Given, they did have Indian hyroglyphic thingies painted around the bottom edge which made them a smidgen fancier than mine, but I paid $192 less for my unembelished teepee lamp! The gal I bought it from at a flea market (they had at our civic center) had lived in Yellowstone Park for years with her Ranger husband. She had collected a lot of YNP memorabilia and said at one time, many years ago, Park officials had decorated the common area of (if I remember correctly) the Old Faithful Lodge with many of these lamps. Since they are fairly small and a bit fragile-ish, not many made it thru intact, given all the bazillion tourists handling them over the years. It is made of rawhide with metal poles, and holds a small watt light bulb inside. I feel super lucky that not only did I get mine for a steal of a deal, it is an actual YNP relic!

I got this lamp at a rummage sale a few summers ago. It has a leaded glass shade, and a bronze colored metal base. It has probably been featured in a few magazines because the folks I bought it from have a business called Head, Heart, and Hand, and they make phenomenally beautiful craftsman and mission style furniture (they have a web site, headheartandhand.com, you should look at how beautiful their stuff is – I'm not advertising for them, they don't know me from Adam, but their stuff is gawk-worthy!) and have been featured in several magazines, I'm sure using my lovely lamp as a prop! They had a small shop downtown for a short while, and this lamp sat on some of their gorgeous tables in their display window. So, yes, I do own a semi-famous lamp!

Made of metal with a rusty finish, I bought this lamp for $20 at a rummage sale. I think it is so pretty! (Remember, beauty is in the eye of the beholder!)

Then, a few years later, I found this rusty metal fish lamp at a rummage sale, as the fellow was just bringing it outside. I told him he didn't even need to set it down, I would take it right then and there (very brave on my part since I didn't even know how much he wanted for it). He told me he couldn't sell it yet because his wife wasn't back with their change and stuff, and she was the boss of the sale. I asked him how much he was going to want for the lamp, and he said oh, about $2. I said, how about I give you $5 bucks and we don't have to wait for your wife? He said AOK, we were both happy, and I was on my merry way to find more bargains! (That cool little canoe, and all the fishes also came from various rummage sales later on!)

This photo doesn't show it too well, but this little lamp is a bear. I collect bears, too, so he was a must have. The shade is pretty nifty because when the light is on it shows trees and more bears!

I showed you all this cool lamp a few posts ago. It lives in my Cowboy/Indian bedroom.

And the beaver chewed log lamp that I got at the fancy pants thrift store. I love that no one else in the whole wide world will have a lamp like this one.

Last, but not least, this itty-bitty lamp I keep on the mantle in my bedroom for a night-light. Little lamps are the best to make even the dark corners of a room have a cozy glow.

I have lots more lamps in my house, but these are at the top of my list for favorites.

TTFN,

Teresa 🙂

 

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A Cottage Bedroom

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My time management skills are sorely lacking. But I did manage to get my big little son's former bedroom put back together again. Because of that, my turkey collection has to suffer another full year of being boxed up before they can come out and play again. I have so many beautiful and unique turkeys it's a shame to not get them all out, but I put 5 full totes of Halloween stuff out this year, and by the time all of that got put away, then also had the bedroom re-do that had to get done before Thanksgiving, well something had to give!

Anyway, thought I'd share how the bedroom turned out. I am really happy with it. It feels very calm and feminine and old fashioned to me. Let's see what you think about it –

These are the before pics. This room is only 9 feet by 10 and really difficult to photograph.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I just went from the doorway into the room, then clockwise around the room. It was pretty beat up from my teenage fella living there. When he was little, he used to bedroom hop. With no siblings, he had 3 bedrooms to choose from, but spent his teenage years in this room.

This is the first time I can remember that I didn't make it harder on myself and complicate things by using multiple colors, wallpapering, trying strange paint techniques, etc. I just got two partially full cans of light colored paint out from under the stairs where we store lots of extra paint, and I mixed them together. The result was a nice off white, with casts of buttery creme, beige, and even a bit of a pinkish tint at times. Depending on the light throughout the day, it can take on any of the above tones. I did walls, ceiling, doors, and trim the same color. That made it pretty snappy to finish. We did prime the brown wall with 2 coats of Kilz before paint went on.

This room didn't cost me a dime to re-do. I just shopped my house and didn't have to go out to buy anything. I don't know if that's good or bad, to think you have enough stuff to completely re-do a room and not have to buy a thing, from paint to bedding! The crazy thing is, even if I did add up the initial cost, it would still be little to nothing. I buy paint inexpensively from WalMart and keep what's leftover to use later. Nearly everything in the room is rummage sale or hand-me-down. Let me show you…

The old metal bed, mattress, quilt, little juniper filled chickadee pillow, and old quilt bunny; all from rummage sales. Shelf came from a craft sale, unfinished, and I painted it. The old, old baby dresses hanging from the shelf pegs my Grandma found in a box in the garbage a few houses down from hers. A family moved their elderly relative out of her house and threw nearly everything in the poor lady's house away. So at least these sweet little dresses were rescued. Lamp and chair were my Great Grandmother's. My Mom and I re-upholstered the chair (with clearance fabric) about 10 years ago. Night stand found on Craig's List. Had the lace panels for years. The valance looking thing at the top of the lace is a linen table topper, hand embroidered by my Grandma's tiny little French/Norwegian aunt (she was about 4 feet 10 inches tall in shoes!), many, many years ago. In the frame above the bed is Bruce's Great Grandparent's marriage certificate. It is unusually large, and so beautiful!

I love the detail; the deer by the lake, the different flowers.

Just a few of my favorite poochies from my antique dogs collection. The majority of these were found at rummage sales or were gifts from folks.

 

 

All the antique lady pictures were also my Great Grandmother's.

I moved the gothic window from the living room and added some rope lights. I placed it on an oak 2 drawer chest I got for a song at an antique sale.The wooden shoe lamp was sent from Holland when my Mom's cousin lived overseas. She sent it to my Great Grandmother, and I remember it in her home from the time I was little.

A happy little couple. My little glass corgis were just the right size to be their companions 🙂 .

I put some dollhouse furniture my Mom had when she was little on my little mini hutch.

 

 

 

I'm glad to have it all put together and off the to-do list!

So, in parting, I want to wish everyone the happiest Thanksgiving. I'm going to throw in a couple pics of turkeys from last year, just cuz I'm missing them so much!

 

 

 

TTFN,

Teresa 🙂

 

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Family Room

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I feel a blabbing spree coming on, so here goes! 🙂

If I had known at high school graduation what I know now, I would have gone to college for, of course, interior design. What adult woman who blogs under the home interiors category doesn't have that secret ambition, but have most likely repressed the dream 🙂 Some are brave and take action on that dream, and I say good for them! Several of the blogs I follow, the women have gained a bevy of followers, and are now offering their design advice (for money) to their followers that want it. I wouldn't dream of hanging myself out there at this stage in the game (even if I had a mega popular blog), and instead just subject my poor house (and now little cabin) to all the furies of my overactive decorating ambitions.

Rustic style decorating turns my crank! [I'm too hard headed to be a swooner 😉 ]

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With bits of softer, 1800's type antique cottage style thrown in for good measure – sort of rugged (or tending to lean to the more masculine-ish side), but with just a dab of softness here and there to keep it from looking too “pioneer bachelor style”.

Pinterest

Throw in a smidge of Craftsman/Mission style, and I am a happy camper! And, very importantly, always on a squeaking tight budget, so if I regret a purchase, I'm just out the few bucks I've forked over at the thrift or rummage sale. That is my aspiration. Everything is certainly a learning process, and always a work in progress. I sure know what I like when I see it, and feel comfortable in my home, but may have developed a bad case of “My Own House Blindness”.

Pinterest

After searching high and low for blogs with a rustic type of distinction, I've come up empty handed. (I have found some awesome primitive style blogs, tho, and really like them, but I'm searching for less Colonial, more Cowboy and Indian.) If you know of any out there, let me in on the secret, would ya pretty please? I've seen lots of awesome rustic-ness on Pinterest and Houzz, but none that I've seen seem to be attached to blogs.

I am infatuated with Ralph Kylloe's beautifully photographed books of cabins and log homes that span the United States, and study them like bibles. Judging by many of the higher end homes in this area of the state (real estate site cruising), rustic decorating seems to very popular. Much of the content of Mr. Kylloe's books are homes from the western half of Montana. It seems odd to me that I'm not seeing much of this style of decorating in the blogging world at all. I'm glad to see the “ethereal whiteness” starting to fade in the blogging world. I love light and bright and timeless, but some of the house tours I've seen where white is the be all end all, it looks like there should be clouds in the room, and maybe an angel or 2 playing harps. It's good to see some color creeping back in. But even that comes with it's extremes, it seems. I subscribe to several of the magazines out there now, and feel more disappointed with each issue I receive. I can't understand the hodge-podgedness of so many of the homes they feature. I realize there is the “to each his own” factor in everyone's home, but I want to open a magazine, be drawn into the rooms, and think “I would give my right arm to live in that place”.

Anyway, what the heck do I know besides the fact that my house is good enough for who it's for! I took a few more pictures in my family room today and thought I'd stick them right on here for your perusal. If you tend to sway toward rustic style, maybe you'll like 'em, but it's sure OK with me if you don't!

This is my TV table. It came to live here from Craig's List! It is solid pine and had a natural finish, and wooden knobs. I remodeled it 🙂

When I decided to use it for the TV, I knew the open back would be a problem, because all the cables and wires would show. Mr. Bruce had brought back a few good sized bundles of extremely old, used wainscoting that had been salvaged from his great grandparents original old homestead house. He couldn't stand the thought of something that had survived for probably more than a hundred years, and that someone had been thoughtful enough to salvage from the old house, to just have it discarded at the dump, or thrown into a burn pile, so he toted it clear back to Montana. It is awesome. I wish there had been a truck load of it. I showed him my plan to attach the wainscoting to plywood so it could be screwed to the table for now, but the whole back can be taken off later if need be (it could be made into an awesome headboard). Once installed, it sure took care of the cables showing.

I had already painted the small armoire a few years prior to this, and wanted the table to match.

So I painted and distressed, hunted up some more red twig dogwood down by the river, sketched out a design for the twig placement, and Bruce attached them with his brad nailer. Then I added the rusty knobs that I had found at a rummage sale. All of the pictures, pottery, and books on the TV table came from rummage sales and the thrift store.

I found a few more Indian things in the Cowboy/Indian bedroom, and put them with the street sign. The block to the left is a copper and steel antique printing press block of an Indian in full headdress. It's so cool close up!

Moved my bear pic out here, took down the branding irons, and hung the rug on the wall.

The little Indian is a bank I found in New Hampshire while on vacation.

 

 

Next on the list to tackle is the freshly vacated bedroom! I was a brut and made my big little son take darn near everything he owns to his new apartment. I wanted it good and empty because that little beat up room is going to get a cottage make-over!

OK, done blabbing now.

TTFN,

Teresa

 

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Oh, the Cabin…….

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WARNING: This Is A Darn Long Post – Proceed At Your Own Risk!!

So, things have definitely been jumbled up with the cabin plans. We weren't even able to drive to the cabin (without fighting the weather and road conditions) until the first part of June. At that time, Bruce was finally able to start tearing the very decrepit decks off to assess the extent of structural damage we would be dealing with. It wasn't good, to say the least.

 

In the photos below, you can plainly see what bad shape the block foundation is in, and that the bottom log is deteriorating from water damage.

 

The plan that Bruce came up with entails pouring new cement pillar/pier supports to the left of where the cabin presently sits. The cabin has to be jacked up off the existing foundation (by professional house movers), and the rotting base logs have to then be replaced on all 4 sides of the structure. Then the movers will transfer the cabin over approximately 25 feet to sit it on the new cement pillar supports.

We were at an immediate disadvantage because by the time all of the problems were uncovered and realized, we were well into June. Anyone who has dealt with construction, and it seems that particularly in Montana, if you are lucky enough to find a reliable company to get done what you need, you had better get on their books very early in the season because their schedules tend to fill up very quickly. We were able to find only 3 companies in the whole state of Montana that move buildings. Add to that a variety of other complications because you are high in the mountains;

-Very wet, boggy ground in Spring/early Summer because of the massive amounts of snow that have just melted off, which in turn raises the water table of the many underground springs up there.

–Just the distance a company has to travel to get to what will be the job site. And if lucky,

-Maybe 12 weeks of good working conditions if everything has dried out well, and it doesn't decide to snow before October.

Twelve weeks might sound like plenty of time, but the lion's share of planning, arranging, calling, and much of the pure physical labor to frame out and pour the piers has to be done by poor Mr. Bruce. In the last month he has been racing toward a deadline at his “day job”, and has been putting in about 12 to 14 hours a day Monday thru Friday, and also working every weekend for that month. Consequently, spare time has been pretty darn scarce. Needless to say, he is a tad thrashed at this point in time.

He was going to try and at least get the piers poured and the cabin moved onto them in late fall (risky time frame due to the high chance of snow), then do the rest of it next summer. Well, the problem with that plan is that in preparation for moving the cabin, the interior tile floor has to be torn out, and that means that out with the floor also comes the whole kitchen, and whole bathroom, also the wood stove. So, even if by some miracle we could get the 2 different companies lined out for this summer/fall (one to drill for the pier foundation, one to lift and move the cabin, with time in between to pour the piers plus the 3 week cure time required for the cement before it can accept the weight of a building) the cabin would literally be rendered useless, sitting like a shell on the new foundation for the remainder of fall, and all winter, until we can get in next summer to put in new floors, new kitchen, new bathroom, new septic system and plumbing, new electrical, and all new windows. I told Bruce we would be better off to try and get the foundation lined out and poured late this summer if at all possible with the company's schedule being what it is, then let it sit and cure until next summer. We'd make it a priority by February-ish to get on the moving company's schedule for early summer. By skipping the moving part until next summer, at least the cabin is useable right now. We can enjoy it this fall, and be able to snow machine in this winter because we'll still have floors, cupboards, appliances, electricity and the wood stove.

GAD ZOOKS…..I think I just threw up in my mouth a little bit.

I wish I had an iron clad constitution for all this risky business stuff, but I'm a good old fashioned, security driven, worrying sort of Irish lass, and me thinks we may well have bitten off a much larger and tougher chunk than we bargained for – I guess all in good time, if the Good Lord's willing and the creek don't rise 🙂

 

I hadn't dragged but the bare minimum up there because I knew we'd just have to haul it all out again as soon as we started ripping the floors out. All the good bargain stuff I had been finding had been tubbed up and was sitting off to the side in my dining room at home, along with the great big light fixtures from Craig's list. I decided if we have to wait a full year plus to start the decorating process at the cabin, I wasn't going to fall over all this crap in my house for a year. So this last weekend we packed the trucks and hauled a glob of it up the mountain. I spent a fun day Sunday hanging pictures, unpacking dishes, and making beds with fresh new bedding. We cut down a skinny little quaking aspen and I made curtain rods out of it. I hung my cute rummage sale find plaid curtains that turned out to be about a foot too long, so next weekend I will bring up a sewing kit and hem them. My camera battery went dead so this was the only photo I was able to get. It looked so cozy and homey when I got finished. I know I'll be cussing myself when I have to pack it all up and find somewhere to go with it next summer, but c'est la vie.

TTFN,

Teresa 🙂

 

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A Tour of the Extremely Bargain Furnished Living Room

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Felt like it was time to re-arrange. Sounds much easier than it is – my living room is difficult. Too many doorways and the big ol' Tulikivi stickin' way out into the room. Just have to use a little imagination to get everything juggled around.

It's a blustery, thunder and lightening day. Here it is, the middle of the afternoon, and I had to turn the lamps on just to see what I was doing.

I love these rocking chairs. The smaller one came from Bruce's Grandparents farm, the larger one I found at a rummage sale for $15. We reupholstered both of them and polished up the oak, and I think they turned out really nice. I took the gothic window off the sideboard in the dining room and was at a loss where to put it. I didn't want to squash it back in the closet because it's pretty and needs to be seen 🙂 so I propped it up in the corner and kinda like it there for now.

Moved the leather chair over to the other corner and it makes a good reading spot. I got this chair at a rummage sale for $35, bought the leather at a saddle supply shop in Billings, and managed to find an upholsterer in Bozeman that was a total bum. He had the chair for almost 5 months until I threatened to turn him in to the Better Business Bureau, Consumer Advocates, and any other consumer help agency I could think of. He then finally finished it, and did do a decent job, but the whole experience made me really wish that I knew how to upholster my own larger pieces. Simple smaller pieces I can do; big pieces, I'm a fraidy cat to try.

The metal coffee bin to the left of the chair I got at the thrift store for $25. The roll top desk behind the chair I rescued from my sister-in-law, who had it all ready to go to the dump. The cabinet that sits atop the desk is the upper portion of a Hoosier type cabinet which came from (you guessed it) a rummage sale; a super score in my opinion for $20! I “married them” and they are terrific storage.

That opening to the entryway, above the chair, is where the gothic window was supposed to be built in. A good dozen years later, I got sick of waiting. So when we got the oak floors in the living room last fall, I told Bruce to square off the opening, trim it out, and call it good. I'd had 2 carpenters look at it, and neither of them new how to trim out a Gothic arch. Oh for the craftsmanship of yesteryear! It is so hard to find help to hire in this area, and then you're lucky if you even get the basics completed. Thank heavens I have a very talented husband. Unfortunately, his day job keeps him far away from the “honey-do” list a goodly portion of the time. But when it gets down to brass tacks, he comes thru for me and some things get finished up. And very nicely I might add 🙂

The pictures above the lamp are originals. Some of the very few originals I own. I mostly have antique prints.

I got this tiny drawing of sheep from an art gallery here in town (during crazy daze) for a wonderful price. Bruce cut the mat on our cutter, and the frame was (of course) a rummage sale find. Total cost, approximately $12! Not bad for original art 🙂 I cut the little picture in the lower right hand corner out of a Victoria magazine and stuck it against the glass just for good measure cuz I thought it was cute.

I bought this farm scene at an antique mall in Bozeman because it reminded me a lot of Vermont with it's church steeple sticking up in the background. Turns out that, I believe, it's Russian. The detail on the steeple and the artist's name are what make me think that. This photograph doesn't do it justice. It is beautiful and very detailed when you see it up close. I'm so glad I got it, as the antique mall where I purchased it burned to the ground just a few months later.

Some of my flock of sheepies. This little plaque is cement, and was a gift from my Mom.

More sheep, and the print is one of my very favorite – it has a stone bridge with arches just like the very one we have in our town at Sacajawea Park. I got it at a rummage sale 🙂 and framed it myself.

Here is my custom made in North Carolina couch that I purchased at a rummage sale for $40 and had reupholstered (not by the bum, but by an awesome upholsterer that has since moved away 🙁 ) The lady I bought it from said she had it custom made, pre-children, back when she and her husband both had high paying jobs and more money than they knew what to do with. It is a phenomenal sturdy, hardwood, camel back sofa, and I don't know why she didn't just have it reupholstered herself. My gain!

A portion of my collection of antique, chalk painted Indian pottery.

I put my cast iron barn and farm animals on the sideboard where I previously had the gothic window.

 

There is a small light in the barn which makes the whole barn turn into a night light in the evenings. The china cows came from Bruce's grandparents; I found all the rest of the critters here and there over the years. The barn came from a thrift store in Big Timber.

I put all the rest of my sheep collection out, too. I only put them out about once a year because I have so many different collections and like to rotate them all. So it's fun to start unwrapping them and it never fails I'm surprised by some that I had forgotten about. I'm easily entertained 🙂

Anyway, just thought I'd share some of my treasures. Now, maybe you can understand why I'm so whiney about not being able to rummage due to my new job! I hate shopping retail because I can't stand paying retail prices for anything! For real, 90% of my house is furnished with rummage sale, hand-me-downs, thrift store, auctions, etc., which I'm sure has saved me bazillions of dollars over the years 😉

TTFN,

Teresa

 

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Randomness

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My itty bitty brain is just whirling – just a few weeks ago it was snowing pretty mightily around here; now it feels like full blown summer. I mean windows open, birds tweeting, grass growing inches per day summer! A few weeks ago, I was a domestic diva 🙂 tending my house, chopping wood, keeping my laundry up; now I'm back to alarm clock waking, trying to figure out what would be fastest to prepare for dinner after work, and making lists so I can try to keep up with everything that needs to be done in my very condensed at-home-time. Yup, no mo fairytale, it's back to the real world.

So, in order to try and achieve a little zen, I will share some pictures of random this and thats I have captured in the spare minutes I've grabbed over the last several days.

 

 

 

I have lots of pretty little flowers popping out. I was sad to see that I did lose many plants and ornamental bushes to this vicious winter we just escaped from – what a cold mean bugger he was!

We have had a few pretty substantial downpours over the last few weeks, and the bright side to that, along with the glorious greenness that presents itself, are these wonderful gifts from nature –

Morels! Oh, they are so yummy! Just soak them in water with a few teaspoons of salt and about a teaspoon of vinegar to dislodge any buggies trying to make a morel it's home, drain 'em, make sure they are nice and clean, cut them in half lengthwise, and drop them into a frying pan with a little butter, olive oil, sea salt, smoked paprika, and a smidge of pepper. For real, they are a gourmet gift to your taste buds! My big little son went down to the river and scouted out a few, which we ate for dinner that night. The next day he went out to my folk's farm and found about a quart of them. They are shiny clean and residing in the freezer, to be carefully doled out on special occasions.

 

There were at least a dozen Western Tanangers in my yard today, flitting about, eating from the suet feeder, and having a merry time. I just love watching all the birds that come to my yard. I think this giant window we put in during the kitchen remodel was the smartest thing we've done with this house. Actually, that would probably be second to the Tulikivi.

I changed a few things around in the family room. I found a beautiful print by one of our local artists, downtown at an antique/junk store. I needed another picture like I need a hole in the head, but it was so reasonably priced I couldn't resist.

I had the frame which I'd purchased several summers ago at a yard sale, so just had to have a mat cut and was good to go. It is a Russell Chatham print. I looked thru his archives online, and I believe this one is named “March Afternoon”. I truly love his work. He has lived here for decades, and the biggest majority of his art is done of this area, primarily Paradise Valley. His lithos and oil paintings go for many thousands of dollars, so I was happy to just be able to have stumbled across a print I could afford. Any kind of affordable work of his is about as scarce as hen's teeth to find. (Sorry about the reflections on the picture – I don't know how to get around that in photography yet.)

I found the “Indian Lane” street sign at a rummage sale the week before I started work. (Don't even get me started on having missed the last 4 weeks of rummage saling – I could just cry about it!) The metal Indian head is also a rummage sale find from a summer past.

Work has begun on the cabin.

 

Yikes.

It's still chilly enough in the evenings to have to start the wood stove up.

Coming home we saw this Mama and baby. Within a half mile stretch we saw the moose, at least a dozen deer, 10 antelope (which was strange because we were still in the mountains and they usually prefer being out on the flats), and these 2 courting cranes below.

So, that's a lot of randomness for sure, and is probably just the tip of the iceberg for what the summer holds. We have a lot of irons in the fire! Guess I better stock up on Wheaties! Or spinach!

TTFN,

Teresa

 

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Happy Easter! ^..^

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Yippee! The sun is actually shining thru my kitchen window! Time to freshen things up, put away winter-y decor, and bring a little brightness into the house. It is so hard to get inspired when it's dreary and gloomy. Now the grass is visibly greener, lots of daffodil, tulip, and iris shoots are peeking out, and I feel like I, too, am “waking up” from a too long nap.

Thought I'd share just some random stuff around the house before I start to revamp a little. Nothing too exciting, just a few things that make me happy when I look at them –

Bruce's great grandpa made this bench (and a lot more) many, many years ago for a meeting hall in the small Czech community he and his family lived in. Recently, they tore down the old hall, and they invited Bruce to help himself to as many benches as he liked since it was his kin that built them. He took 1 for himself, 1 for his brother, and 1 for his cousin. Gosh, if only we'd known we would be getting the cabin he could have grabbed a few more, they are so cute and useful.

I have had a few dogs from my collection out and about. Think I'll trade them out for my little sheep that are presently tucked away.

 

 

 

Eastertime snuck up on me this year. Apparently I was in a bit of a haze, cuz I sure didn't get into the swing of bunny and egg decorating much.

Just put these little guys out and that will have to suffice this year! Besides, I've got the real deal to look at while I'm out raking and spiffing up the yard….

 

 

The End 🙂

HAPPY EASTER!

TTFN

Teresa

 

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BRING ON THE RUMMAGE SALES!

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There is some serious rummage sale withdrawal going on in this county. For whatever reason we don't have flea markets or vintage sales much at all in this whole state as far as I can tell. When I read other blogs (based in other states) it seems like a lot of the folks have been going to big, wonderful fleas and sales for several weeks now.

Maybe, around here, this has something to do with it…

 

 

 

Boy, we've gotten our fair share of the white stuff this winter (and spring). It's funny, tho, that when someone has a sale because they are moving, or for whatever reason, bad weather or time of year doesn't seem to deter folks from attending in the least. It's each man for himself, and if you have the forethought to wear protective sport padding under your coat, smart. You are much more likely to get thru the throngs of people unscathed, that show up at these early-in-the-year selling events 🙂 It's all elbows and attitude once they fling the doors open.

We attended an estate sale about a month ago and were lucky enough to score a nearly new microwave for $5! for the cabin, and a few other odds and ends. But, Oh, the people!! It started on a Friday, and I think many must have taken a vacation day from work just to attend! Last weekend 2 sales were advertised in our local paper. I was so excited! Then I started to fret about the people factor. Gosh, I just hate the “Black Friday” type madness that occurs when there is only 1 or 2 sales. But they both sounded really good, so I decided to put on my big girl pants and just get after it. Sure glad I did! I ended up grabbing about 10 things, and left with nary a black eye.

Here is more show & tell of a few things I've picked up for the cabin over the last month or so. Some are thrift store finds along with the rummage sale stuff I just got.

 

Somebody worked hard carving this Indian Brave from balsa wood. He is so light, I nearly threw him to the ceiling when I found him are the thrift.

 

 

I love old Yellowstone Park collectibles, and hunt for them all the time.

 

I was in heaven!! But I could have laid on the floor and kicked my feet when I got to the check out line and saw what other people were leaving with…..so much neat stuff!! They said 'no earlies' in the ad, and sure enough they let people in early :-/ grumble,grumble But no matter, cuz it seems I've developed this disorder, where (in my mind) the cabin seems to grow considerably between my visits there. Unfortunately, my bubble is burst when I walk thru the door after having been away for a few weeks, and there it is in all it's itty bitty cuteness. Nowhere close to the expanse I have imagined in the interim; where truckloads of furniture, galleries of pictures, and scads of antiques were supposed to have room to live! I'm a pretty good squisher-inner tho, so I'll stack, and arrange, dangle, wedge, and squeeze at that little cabin; and what doesn't fit there can come back and live at CottageLodge 🙂

Here's another cute thing for the cabin that came from the downtown thrift.

Nobody else in the whole, wide world will have another lamp like this one! It is a one-of-a-kind, authentic, beaver chewed log base, with a cow hide shade I added (which also came from the thrift earlier this year).

And a neat old frame (out of the free bin). I've had the cute little beaver for ages and thought that would be a good clue to sit by the lamp.

Over the last few years I've gotten a pretty good bear collection started, and if space allows, some of them can go up, too.

 

 

So, even tho I've got ants in my pants to get to work on the cabin, there is still plenty to keep me busy right where I'm at. There's a vegetable garden to plan, lot's of yard work to be done, and the perpetual honey-do list on the house. All good!! All fun!! So blessed!!

TTFN,

Teresa

 

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Wool Blankets

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Time to share another weakness of mine….. wool blankets!

I can't even remember how my attachment to them started, but I am always on the lookout for them. Lucky for me, most of my entire household has been purchased over the years at rummage sales and the occasional bargain purchases from thrift stores and auctions. That was before rummaging was too terribly trendy, and you could still get things without breaking the bank.

 

I have had them scattered all over the house at various times, but now the majority of them are corralled in this old linen press cupboard that came from Bruce's Grandma's home.

A few are still scattered about the house –

 

Some I rolled up and put in an old egg crate, and parked them in the family room. The tag on the crate still has Bruce's grandparents name on it from when they brought eggs to town to sell. They sit atop little foldable camp seats; a papa one, a mama one, and a baby one 🙂 All of them bought at a rummage sale for a song.

 

These are hanging on a ladder in the cowboy bedroom at my house. I camp here when Bruce (or me) is sick so one or the other of us have some semi-germ free space to ourselves. There has been a lot of colds and flu in our neck of the woods this winter! I sure don't have to worry about getting cold when I do sleep in here because wool blankets are extremely warm.

For Christmas, Bruce got me a Pendleton Yellowstone National Park commemorative blanket. It is beautiful, and the only new wool blanket I have. It's packed away for now, but it, along with a bunch of the blankets I have around here, will be moving up to Moose Springs when the roads clear off this spring! Cabins and wool blankets go hand in hand in my book.

 

It is still darn chilly in these parts, so I'm thinking wool blankets are not a bad commodity to have! Although, to be honest, I probably like looking at them more than wrapping up in them, cuz they are a little scratchy!

TTFN,

Teresa

 

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