Heirloom Party--Late again!

I am always so late to these blog parties! Sorry. I just don't catch them fast enough.
I am the oldest grandchild/great grandchild on both sides of my family. As far as I can tell I am the only sentimental one in the bunch so when the greats went into the nursing home the year I got married we started with a lot of household stuff. Granted, I am one of the few adult great grandchildren. One of my favorite heirlooms is this china. My grandparents got this china
for their 50th wedding anniversary. The neat thing is I was 5 at the time and remember sitting with them at the head table of their anniversary party. They took care of me a lot when I was very young and I loved them.


This Fostoria glass was my grandparents wedding gift on my Mom's side. A few of the pieces in my collection were part of my great grandmother's collection. I love using these pieces because my grandmother is gone now. I never remember a table set with any of the Fostoria. She had a difficult childhood and I think this collection is one of just a few nice things she had. She was a woman full of fire. I love her for it. See the little precious moments figurine? My husband gave that to me as a wedding present.Today is our 13th anniversary. What a blessing!


This linen is precious to me.
My Mum's grandmother was a divorcee. We are talking about the 40's here. Divorce was not nearly as common then as it is now. Not many jobs were available for women. She had four girls to raise. Rough. She raised her girls by working as a seamstress. She was amazing with her hands. I have doilies, dresser runners and lace edged pillowcases. I even have a runner that was done by 4 different generation...my great grandmother, my grandmother my mother and I. I admire her courage and strength.

Finally, I won't show you a picture but my engagement ring was my grandmother's engagement ring. I will never forget when my grandfather gave it to me he said, "I hope you never have to sell this!" Hmm,that is someone who lived through the depression, someone who went off to war as a boy to help his widowed mother keep the family running, and chose to spend the war in a submarine because it meant more money for his Mum.
I am thankful for the heirlooms, they are reminders of the character of my family and how God has carried my family through difficult times.

Saturday Thrift Shopping-A Soap Dispenser

It is time for another link party visit Southern Hospitality to join in on the fun and take a look what others have found on their adventures! Let me start by saying I AM EXHAUSTED. Friday I mowed, edged, weeded, and trimmed. I also worked a few hours in my office and did all the laundry, finished sanding my free cherry headbooard (that is for another post), and ran lunch to my hubby. Today I woke up at 6 to work in my office for a while and then finish weeding the patio. Since hubby is working for the weekend I decided a little thrift shopping was needed. I think I scored!


I love roosters! I found the wire rooster and the wall plaque on this trip. We love iced tea spoons, so 8 more are a welcomed addition. I also bought the little relish forks since I have none of those. My boys looooove those Magic Tree House books. I actually purchased 8 of them. Now for my favorite.... I saw
this over at Creations by Kara and I thought, "Cute, but I will NEVER find one of those!" Well,today I found one. So this mouthwash dispenser is now on my dryer with laundry detergent in it! Whoohoo!

Keeping the Homeschool Stuff Straight

We have only two more weeks of summer vacation before we need to go back to our full schedule and that got me thinking...you might be interested in seeing how I keep things organized. I bought this bookcase at our thrift store for $39.00!!! What a steal for a REAL bookcase!

It only had two shelves when I purchased it. I am so thankful we have a really handy gentleman in our church who was willing to make me two more shelves. I keep the kids reference books, science, history and free reading books on the shelves along with lined paper and graph paper. The bucket has flashcards and math manipulatives in it. I keep the boys' workbooks and notebooks in their individual backpacks because we sort of ooze all over the house when we homeschool. Reading on the futon in the "mantuary" because it gets the best morning light, math and handwriting at the kitchen table for the posture and structure, beds for reading etc.

The picture wire is strung across the wall is attached to eyelet screws. One of my guys LOVES art and this is a great inexpensive way to have an art gallery.
The plastic box ( I know soooooo beautiful!) is for my teacher manuals, tests and keys.
The green bin is actually for silverware. I bought it on clearance and it is great for holding supplies such as glue, white board pens, pencils. Again, very portable, easy to keep tidy.


So this is the back of the door in this room. The organizer is from a dollar store. I keep little stuff such as math manipulatives, extra art supplies, and pencils here so they are easy to grab. See all those bags. Crazy, huh? My husband does not call me "the bag lady" for nothin'! The kids each have a bag for Awana and then the other two are piano bags. Usually there is a church bag there as well.

Finally, the prettier side of the room. I know, I know, attack of the fake flowers. Here is the thing, they are really nice, expensive fake flowers. Well, they would have been if I hadn't bought them from a designer shop going out of business! I also teach piano and voice lessons, that mess gets disheveled on a regular basis. I love love love that clock. So unique,unless you have one and I don't know it yet! Feel free to tell me with what I should replace those flowers.

Trash to treasure-A dresser rescue

I literally picked this out of someone's trash. (I even asked first)I brought it home because of a few crystal knobs it had for handles. It had been painted many times and decoupaged with fabric and sponged with gold paint. Unfortunately it was missing a drawer. It took the span of a month to transform this into something pretty and functional. A good friend cut a piece of plywood to match for use as a shelf. The back of this dresser is marked elm. The grain pattern is so unique. I didn't use a stain on the piece after stripping it. I just used a rub on poly. The new hardware matches the ghosts left by the original hardware. It is a bit too brassy; I might have to antique them some. This has to be one of my favorite refinishing projects. Sorry about the order of the pictures. I haven't figured out how to command their order even though I posted the before picture first.

Before and After Lamps-Kimba's DIY Link Party

Kimba is having a fun DIY Link party. When you are done here, go check out her McKLinky list and add one of your own! We have been living room furniture shopping for quite some time now. I have been admiring the lamps that they always have staged with the furniture. I found two brass lamps at GW last week. I sanded them, primed them and then spray painted them with my new favorite color-Oil-Rubbed Bronze. I am so pleased with how these turned out! I got the new shade at Big Lots. Shades are NOT cheap, even at Big Lots!

Back from Vacation...Time to Work!

We went out east for 9 days and got reenergized. Now it is time to get some work done. We drug everything out of our basement and threw away, gave away, gifted away and consolidated. Now our basement is orderly. What a great feeling! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my label maker. It is addictive, really.

We also baked some dark chocolate chip cookies. Have you ever seen such perfectly round cookies? My six year old son made them. Sickening. Really. My son wants to be a pizza man when he grows up or a chef (said with a lisp, too cute). I kid you not, when we go to Goodwill, his favorite section is the kitchen utensils.

I have been wanting to put some kind of bench at the end of our bed. Here is a before and after. I took 3 layers of fabric off. The fabric I chose to recover with happens to be very similar to the oldest layer found on this vanity bench. It fits perfectly. It only took a couple of hours and I learned a new skill! The webbing on this bench had seen better days. I used my 40% coupon and bought new webbing. I had some left over muslin from previous project to layer over the old stuffing and a new layer I added to freshen it up. I am pleased over all.