Back....finally!

[ love this photo I took of my daughter and a surprising gourd from our garden ]

My computer, it seems, is somewhat of a senior citizen in the technology world. I could no longer blog as I once did. I could not install the needed updates that Blogger required to play on my own blog. Sad, really.

I had a lot to say. I wasn't sure what to do. When in doubt, and you are of a certain middle age, what should you do?....Ask the advice of a teenage offspring, that's what!!

Now it is all fixed and well, and now I am back. With a lot to say.

[ my stack of antiques travel cases filled with special keepsakes ]

Things I have Been Up To:

* I lost 50 lbs in 5 months, my first goal, and so far a total of 54lbs

* loving my new job of about 7 months!!

* not getting much of anything done around the house

* learning to say "no" to things and people

* severing the umbilical cords to my children so they can become more independent

* surviving somehow on less than 5 hours of sleep every 24

* having wonderfully fun Saturday date nights with my husband

* enjoying my new car

* trying to enjoy every minute of every day, as life seems to be racing past

* reading an interesting book

* celebrating another birthday

* feeding a bit of a shoe infatuation with some purchases

Things I want To Do:

* work in my gardens

* rearrange the furniture in my bedroom

* paint in watercolors

* draw my favorite birds in colored pencils

* achieve my next weight loss goal by August

* get rid of " material things" around the house with emotional guilt attachments

Things I Need To Do:

* sort through stuff around the house

* redo my filing cabinet

* detail the inside of my cars

* clean out my closet, lots of things are WAY too big!

* take stuff to the Goodwill

* take donations of books and videos to school

Fun Ideas

Do you have things all over your refrigerator? You know what I mean by things, right? Just ...things!

I have a calendar the size of Texas on mine to try to have the space to fit in all the stuff I need to do each day with three busy kids. I solved the problem of having too many other things on my fridge by doing something with an antique frame, some chicken wire, and some spray paint.

I didn't have to take out the glass from the frame 'cuz someone had already done that chore before I found it abandoned. Abandoned, I say. Who would do that to a frame with so much carved wood detail and so much potential left in it? This frame is big I tell ya, about 4 feet high and 2 feet across. The wood is about 8 inches wide! Anyway, I staple gunned some chicken wire to the back side and then spray painted the heck out of it all, including the frame, and now it is in an awkward corner of my kitchen that I never quite knew what to do with anyway. It holds my photos, notes, recipes, reminders, and whatever else seems to find its way into our life and needs a place to be seen. I hold them on to the chicken wire with old wooden clothes pins. Mine are naturally weathered as I use them on an actual clothes line and treat myself to a fresh batch each spring. Lucky me!

These very vintage Valentines you see above are available in the shop as a collage sheet you print, and would be fun to tuck on your own chicken wire frame or on a fridge in your house...or you could craft with them if you have the time. Time. That is something which seems to escape me these days. Extra time anyway. How 'bout you?

That's why I am doing my crafting by virtual idea sharing so you can do what I wish I had time to do. *sigh*

These are sweet little 1920's images which my mom saved. She saved everything. Some things I am glad of, others, well we won't waste time on all that. They are now a collage sheet too and couldn't you picture the little heart shaped ones cut out and glued to some dollar store paper doilies and then added to a wide ribbon to hang vertically? That would be sweet indeed.

I have lots of themed collage sheets and cowboys and cowgirls is just one of them. How fun to throw a themed party and have these as decor and table extras!! You could make them into place cards or napkin wraps. Shrink their size to make cupcake toppers by cutting them out in small squares and glueing back to back on toothpicks, wah--lah, instant Martha whatever her name is!! Or play tricks on your printer by making some in a mirror image, cut them out right along the edges of the images and then glue them back to back on cord, ribbon or fish line and make a kind of mobile to hang at all different levels to twist and turn. Super fun!

Circus is just one more of the many collage sheet themes, besides fire fighters, policemen, and space-- just to name a few. I could really imagine a bunch of different circus images cut out and glued along a sheer ribbon, or bias tape ribbon, or that super duper great twisty kinda striped baker's/butcher's twine stuff...and then hang it all along a wall or in an archway like a banner bunting. And look at these-- you could play with the image and then add your little one's name to the hearts to make an adorable nursery bunting...or use them for a shower party set up!!

Click here to check them out.

On to the new year...

Soon we are on to the new year.
Hope your holiday was a merry happy Christmas time.
Ours was nice with lots of love, laughter, and blessings.

We built a big puzzle and watched old favorite movies on VHS and DVD together last night.
Tonight maybe some old 8mm and super 8 movies of our family shown on a projector against a pull down tripod screen.
Memories -new- are fun to make, memories -old- are fun to revisit.

winter song

A sweet image that is about 70 years old. The colors in these old illustrations are just different somehow and they warm my soul. Hope it warms yours too, and maybe ignites a spark for a great craft idea in which to use it. Have fun.

Are you going to be ready for the happy Christmas holiday or are you going to say enough is good enough? Don't be too hard on yourself.

still around...

Betcha wondered what became of me? Maybe not?
I am still here.
Life is busy. Busier every year.
I am enjoying the ride but wish some days it all went at a slower pace.
Any ideas how to slow the spin of the Earth?
Looking forward to Christmas. How 'bout you?
I have been reading blogs... far more often than writing on my own.
That's obvious.
I have some great new (vintage) photos to list as digital scan purchase. Hope to get to those SOON!

Happy Halloween

(both images above are from an antique primer)

click for crow source



click for source for all the following antique images

ooh, scary

a distant relative of ol' Drac?

spirit fog?

the hatters, mad?

just back from the scary attic

spooked

lonely hollow music played

Happy Halloween!

Life takes me along

I have been so very busy that I find I have been away from the blog for almost a complete month. I needed to stop in and type up some words. Anything to prove I am still plugging along.

Some days I feel like this....
A stick in a stream being pulled along and trying desperately to avoid the rapids and rocks.

I thought of this example in the car one day when I was being the usual family taxi service, a responsibility I seem to be sentenced to for now. Don't get me wrong, I want to transport my children to the places they need to be and also want them to do some fun things too. I just feel like I am always last on the list of priorities.

I will always be my (now adult) special needs daughter's transportation when she can not utilize the county's para-transport system bus. I hope to someday find a reliable person to take my place in this if not all the time at least some of the time. It is a real tie down to my schedule and life. Please don't think I do not absolutely love her. Any parent of a special needs child knows what I mean.
Transportation is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to responsibilities and time it all takes to run the many parts of her life that she can not now (or maybe never) handle.

Lots of my so called friends have proved to be "fair weather friends" and have decided they just can't understand what it is like to be in my shoes. I don't ask that. I just ask for them to listen, as I listen to your joys as well as challenges and sorrows with your own children.


Lots has been going on in my own life and in our house too.
I have gone on strike (again) with some household duties--I am only one person, after all-- but most of them seem to be un-noticed anyway.
We have had to do a major home improvement project- not by voluntary choice, I may add, and the timing is pretty bad.
I have been without my job since July 31st, since my boss suddenly died.
I have been without my uncle since he died. He was my boss.
I cared for him 5-7 days per week in his home for 5 years, also including being his driver and companion for all his transportation needs, and doing all his shopping runs by myself, alone.
I will tell you this: It is hard to have a relative as an employer too.
My only other uncle died just 5 weeks after my boss uncle.
I spent some treasured quality time with him in his last few weeks.
I miss them both so much more than I had ever expected.

Now that the frost is covering the neighborhood each morning, I realize that I did not even have time to use my clothes line this summer. Now it's time to stack the firewood closer to the house. The clothes line will be there next summer, waiting.

I find I am not such a fun person these days. I think of all the creative thoughts I had and things I did.
I will get back to all that some day soon.
Just not now.
Life is taking me for a ride down that stream, at a very fast clip.

Flash Back-simple memories

Now that Summer is getting closer to its end and changing looks, grass grows more slowly and the crickets and cicadas are being extra noisy especially at night, I find myself being reminiscent of times when I was a young girl.

--getting on the bus the first day back to school, deciding where to sit
--new stiff shoes, maybe with a heel
--the smell of a new box of crayons
--weekend slumber parties with friends, playing board games until way past a normal bedtime
--doodling in a spiral notebook using lots of different colored pens and markers, while listening to the radio
--flowered cotton pajamas, sweet smelling from the laundry line
--playing outside using imagination for hours, without a care in the world
-- lying on the floor next to the sleeping cat in the patch of sun shining through the window, wondering how she makes that purr sound

Memories are such a strong therapy when grown-up-ness gets too hard.

vintage dishware birds

Franciscan Bird n Hand pattern is a great, timeless pattern in striking black and white crisp graphics. Made in the late 1960's, it is a discontinued pattern of dishware and now sometimes, other than plates, the specialty serving pieces are a rare find.
Whether you use the creamer for cream when company is invited over for an evening of conversation and coffee,


or maybe for pouring your favorite warmed syrup at a bright early morning breakfast of blueberry pancakes,

or even just display on a shelf to admire, this is a classic item to bring joy to the owner.


Find it at a special price by clicking HERE.

Myrtle Must Dream

I have launched, after lots of thought and many nights of staring at the ceiling in the dark (which is where I do some of my best thinking), a new adventure which I hope will bring joy to collectors and artists alike. A place to showcase all my old, vintage, retro and antique photos.

Myrtle Must Dream is a place to search for images that speak to you.

A place to find just the right image to fill the thrifty frame you found last week with a sweet baby's first photograph done in a gorgeous pin-tucked long christening gown.

A place to discover a relative you wish was in your family tree like the man with the spectacular pocket watch and watch fob.

A place to fill that ephemera crafting supply need with maybe a portrait featuring a marvelous milliner's fashion. Or maybe you need a virtual uncle who traveled to the tombs of the Pharaohs to complete your altered art travel journal.

You always dreamed of filling your long hallway with mismatched frames showing off vintage bridal fashions?

This is the place to look, and bring a cup of tea along, you may be there awhile once I get going with listing all my photos I wish to share!!
I am just getting started, with the first 2 photos being found by clicking here. They are
Gertrude Amelia = along the path to Grandmother's house
and
Elmer Dean = frog in my pocket

Many treasured moments found in ordinary daily lives were preserved by many types of cameras over the years, and none of them had a delete button.
Think of the stuff we delete because it is not "perfect".
A shame. Especially for those that come after us 100 years from now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have to give a shout out to a wonderful person who has a super fun shop dedicated to just vintage photo digital downloads:

(click on the name) Gerushia's Digital Downloads to go there and see!

You also have to see her one of a kind art! Click here to see her blog. One of my favorite pieces is her art titled "An Unexpected Visitor" in her post from June 15th.

recycle

If you are not into recycling you think the items in these photos are just junk. If you do recycle you will say, "Hey!, Why didn't I think of that?!"

These photos are at a fun store we go to as a road trip that has all types of things that can be used again, from the obvious fabric pieces and scraps and mat board and frames and vases and ribbons and beads...to the not so obvious- the kinds of things that usually get sent to the trash- but if you use some imagination they can become art supplies.

My son has been in a recycling club for 2 years at school. His main job each week is to empty the big bins of paper from his assigned classrooms into the outside paper recycle hopper to be made into more new paper. They also have craft/art days too, where they make things from recycled items. There are both girls and boys in the club so they have made many types of arts and crafts. Everything from making their own homemade paper to creating beads from junk mail to thinking up new ways to use things as is that you may not have thought of as compared to what they are usually used for.

My oldest daughter is involved in making art at an art gallery, and many sculpture-like art pieces are from recycled items. The gallery, which is open to the public and sells art made only by young adults with disabilities, is in a beautiful historical building. During our first tour, I walked around with my mouth hanging open because I was so impressed with both the set up of the gallery and the art itself. My daughter could not stop smiling. The art, both 2-D and 3-D, is priced from just a few dollars all the way up to $400. Many business owners buy things for their offices, and private owners for their homes. We knew this was the place for our daughter to blossom and took the long, red-tape-paper-work steps to have her apply to be one of their artists. (I'm certain if you have a special needs child/young adult then you know what this all means at every step of their life! Paper work, waiting, denial, approval, more paper work...) My daughter has had one of her drawings chosen to be professionally matted and framed to be offered for sale in the gallery. We are so proud!!

But back to the story about this store where anyone can go to buy recycled items as art supplies... don't you love the idea of the "trash curtain" in the top photo? I think it would be fun on the edge of an outside porch or playhouse. It is colorful and waterproof and I even thought it could include some jingly things to be kind of a wind chime when blown in the breezes.

The soda pop flowers are a great thing to do with kids at a party and they could take them home and add them to their garden or room as an accent. I especially like the silly polka dotted flower. Don't think I've ever seen one in nature like that but I do love polka dots on anything!!

Take a look around and see what you can reinvent instead of sending it all to the trash.