I now Pronounce You 'Man & Wife'!

Well, it's Thursday and the wedding is over and the newlyweds are safely (except for a sprained wrist) on their honeymoon. There was a point last week when I wondered if we would all survive the big event, but we did!

As much as I'd love to jump right back into to thrift-treasure posts, the good-mom in me just has to share a little about THE WEDDING.

From Wednesday afternoon on, this yard was just a beehive of activity!  The tent (complete with side-walls, tables, chairs, dance floor, and linens) was supposed to be here on Wednesday at noon.  Without  going into too much detail, I'll just tell you that it all arrived in 3 stages over 3 days, with the LINENS arriving on Friday afternoon.  Needless to say, the bride was not happy (and was really just a step or two above frantic)!

The tent on Thursday morning

The tent on Friday morning

The new dock (complete with the groom and best man fishing on Thursday afternoon) 

There were so many people in our house on Friday and Saturday, getting things ready, running errands, getting showers, getting 'beautified' and changing clothes (I estimate 15-18), that you could barely move. At one point about an hour before the wedding, I walked past a young man who'd obviously just showered in our basement bathroom and I had absolutely NO idea who he was! I just smiled and said hi!

Here's the funny part -- I grew up in a household where my mom would freak out if she even had 4 people over for dinner, unless they were very close friends.  Every entertainment was a major event, causing so much tension and upset that it just wasn't worth doing it.  My husband (and his family) couldn't be more opposite -- they love nothing more than opening up their home to people.  Thankfully, I've learned a lot from him in 35 years and have gotten much more relaxed about it all.  Still, my sister said no less than 6 times on Saturday night, "I can't believe you did this!  Our mother would be amazed!"  Well, I'm amazed, too!

The weather was absolutely picture-perfect... 75 and sunny, with a light breeze, a brilliant blue sky and big fluffy movie-clouds.

At about 11:00, the 'venue' was ready and that's when I shot these pictures:

Even the scarecrow dressed up for the wedding

The gate & flowerbed leading to the garden

This picture and the one above are the bed where we had 3 dead pines removed.  The flowers were hanging baskets I bought on Wednesday!  As a thrifter/hoarder, I had plenty of containers for them...

This bed was completely dug up, 'repaired' and the plants replanted.  They didn't come back very well, so they were helped along with some annuals.

The inside of the tent on Saturday

No venue is complete without the 'necessaries'

50 to100 guests sat (and stood) by a 275+ year-old oak tree as my son & his bride were married.  It was his special request to be married there because of the age and strength of the oak (pretty neat imagery, I think).

The wedding site & the old oak tree

I got as far back as I could
and you still don't get a feel for how big the tree is

The reception was in the tent between our barn and garden and about 125 people were there for that.  We celebrated the bride & groom, at cookout food, wedding cake and danced the night away.

I had cleaned out the chicken coop on Tuesday and it's a good thing I did -- lots of people wanted to see the girls and get their picture taken with them.  It was sort of a poor man's photo booth!  Between the loud music, extra light, 'tourists' in the hen house and people walking back and forth, the girls were NOT amused!

I can still hardly believe that we actually hosted a wedding here!  I was busy Saturday night being 'mother of the groom' and didn't take a single picture -- fortunately, we have the wonder of Facebook!  Within an hour there were pictures online that I could grab for this post.

The happy newlyweds

First dance as man & wife

As a parting shot, I'll share THIS parting shot -- it's one of my favorites and the one I thought they should use for an engagement picture.  That's Sylvia, the world's sweetest dog, in the foreground!

Slow down, you move too fast...

If you're 'of a certain age' (like I am) you'll remember those lyrics from Simon and Garfunkle and can probably sing the rest of the song.  Those words have taken on new meaning for me this summer because of THE WEDDING (cue ominous music).

Having your son get married is a big deal.  Having the wedding AND reception at your house is a BIGGER deal!  We have been SO busy getting the yard ready and making sure that nothing's been overlooked that we've barely had time to breathe.  There have been wedding showers and dress shopping trips and what seems like a thousand details to see to.  The big day is a week from this Saturday and *I think* everything is coming together.

I feel bad that I haven't posted much this summer.  Sadly, I haven't shopped much either.  My day job keeps me busy until mid-afternoon on Thursdays and by then the garage sales in our area are picked over and I'm too tired to drive very far.  Fridays are spent at the mall 'fluffing' the booth and occasionally stopping at a sale along the way.  I never really thought about what a luxury it was to be able to hit estate sales on Fridays and Saturdays until I didn't have time for them any more.

Here's the good news, though...our yard is looking great!  The aging pine trees are gone and new landscape beds with white birches and a redbud are in their places.  The dock on the pond has been rebuilt.  Lighting's being added outside the barn (how else will people find the port-a-potties in the dark?).  The perennial beds are rejuvenated and the weeds are gone from the garden.   I'll take pictures when everything is ready and will post them so that you can all see that, though I don't have many thrift finds to show, I've at least been doing something!  Who knows -- a thrift find or two might sneak in to the pictures, too!

Eight Treasuries in One Week!

One of the most fun parts of selling on Etsy is making treasuries (collections) and being included ones that other people have made.  A treasury is a collection of items related by theme, content, color or pattern -- pretty much anything the curator can imagine.  I've created several and always enjoy searching for my 'hook' -- whether it's flamingo pink, or weddings or items that all link to 'bark' (think dog planters and barkcloth purses).  The only 'rule' is that the curator doesn't include any of her own shop items and also tries not to include more than one item from any one shop.

Each day, Etsy chooses treasuries to feature on their front page -- I'm hoping one day that either one of my items or one of my collections will end up there, too.  

In the past week, Kitschy Vintage items were featured in 8 treasuries -- what an honor!
Here's where they've been:

Tropical Nights

EVT Takes a Trip

Happy Daisies

Time to Hit the Road

Pink and Gray

Blast from the Past

Down on the Farm

Sun and Sky

If you get a chance, click through to some of these treasuries and see all the great vintage items that Etsy (and the Etsy Vintage Team) have to offer!

Bye, bye, Thelma -- I'll really miss you!

Let me start this post by saying...
I know they're just chickens.  I know they have a short life span.  But...

One of my old girls, Thelma, died last night.   I loved Thelma so much!  She was so gentle and sweet -- any time little children (or scared adult newbies) came to see the chickens, she was the one I'd get out to let them pet and hold, if they wanted to.

You wouldn't think that poultry would show much personality, but they do!    She didn't like to go to bed at night -- she was ALWAYS the last girl to come in at dusk and the last to perch.  She also didn't like to fly up to the perch or down in the morning.  For years, we'd lift her up and down, until she got to old for the top perch and slept just one foot off the ground.

Thelma -- the Grand Old Girl (8 years old)

 She was a Buff Orpington (one of the heavy breeds) and, in her prime, was really hefty!  Lately, she's been light as a feather.  She was 8 years old, which is really old for a hen.

 We originally got 12 girls. 
We got two of each of the breeds that I wanted because (stupid ME!) I thought they'd like to have a sister like themselves.  I didn't process that they didn't have the faintest idea what THEY looked like, themselves! 

Baby Thelma (the little yellow one) about 5 days old

 So I had 2 Black Astralorps (LaVerne & Shirley), 2 Buff Orpingtons (Thelma & Louise) and 2 Speckled Sussex (Lucy & Ethel), along with 6 others. 

Baby Thelma with her sisters (and 2 brothers) -- one of the yellow chicks (a few weeks old)

Teenager Thelma (about 6 months old)

 Of the original 12, only LaVerne (the MEAN girl) is left.

Bye bye, old girl!  I'll miss you!

Miles and Miles of Frogs

I went out to the mall today for my usual Friday fluff of the booth -- it really needed it!  I'd sold a cart earlier in the week and the employee had mistakenly emptied and taken the wrong table up front.  When they brought it back it was just put in place of the cart, but nothing returned to where it had started.  The booth was trashed!

Since the mall is about 19 miles from my house, I went to garage sales out there  and farther out.  I went into parts of southeast Michigan today that I'd never seen before!  I drove for LOTS of miles on dirt roads and saw alot of this:

For those of you who live in other states (or countries) and who thought you'd misread the previous line -- yes, I did say dirt roads!  We've lived all over the midwest and I've never seen as many dirt roads as we have in Michigan, including lots of them with big, new houses on them.   The roads get really rutted and washboard-like in the summer and the dust is everywhere.  The old Kitschy Vintage van really got rattled and dirty today!

I went to lots of froggy sales -- all with signs that read HUGE SALE (4 card tables and an old door on sawhorses) or BARN SALE (even people who don't have a barn advertised this).  One was listed in the paper as a 'picker paradise' and literally was items spaced far apart on 6 tables.  No picking there!  All of the sales were far apart, too.  I have a friend who lives closer in to the city and can hit 30 garage sales in a morning and only drive 6 miles, but it's nothing for me to put 60 miles on the car going to sales around our area.

The last sale I went to was unadvertised and just a sign at the crossroads on the way back to the mall.  It turned out to be a true barn sale with a real barn, some good picking through really dirty stuff and good prices.  Here are the few things I ended up with today:

Some old canning jars and milk bottles

Galvanized coal scuttle

A small (4") souvenir ashtray from the 1950s -- some general store in Fredericksburg, VA (because I'm a sucker for vintage souvenirs!)

A perfect, working (though dirty) Fisher Price pull toy

The treasure of the day (drum roll here...)

A 1960s microscope kit -- complete with instructions and slides!

It's all in here!

 One of the most enjoyable parts of the day was a constant stream of text messages back and forth with my friend Kally who was going to a WONDERFUL estate sale in the Minneapolis area.  We had looked at estatesales.net together last night (via the wonders of the the phone and internet) and scoped out everything she'd want to look for.  The sale was really big and jam-packed with great vintage items.  She and her friend got there at 8:30 for the 9:00 sale and she was number 95!  She got in about a half hour after it started an then the texts started flying -- in the end she got some real treasures.  She has another sale in mind for tomorrow.  If she keeps doing that, her husband won't let her talk to me any more!

Tomorrow I'm going to Williamston Antique's July sale & flea market with my friend Bargain Hunter.  It should be a fun time!

Fun Thrifting on a HOT Friday!

I go out to the mall on Fridays to check the booth, rearrange and fill any holes left by sales (always a happy thing).  This week, there was an estate sale on the way -- something that seldom happens out here in semi-rural suburbia.  It was billed as a professionally run sale of the estate of collectors and advertised lots of Fenton, Pyrex, Fostoria and salt and pepper shakers. 

That was true...except, perhaps, the professional part.  It seemed, from the way the workers were talking, that it was family-run, and it was certainly priced that way!   The kitchen was loaded with Pyrex -- there were probably 30-40 primary mixing bowls and a few fridgies -- all priced at or above mall prices!  There were 3 double width shelves of salt and pepper sets -- all at $10 each.  Who would pay that at a sale?

I got one or two bargains -- things that were priced lower than they should be (which also points to a family run sale).

As I left and headed for the mall, my GPS took me by the back roads and I passed a sign for a yard sale.  It was SO hot out and I was late for the mall, so I decided to pass it up.  After I was well away from the road it was on and saw 2 more signs for the same sale, I figured I'd turn around and go back -- it had to be a SIGN that I was supposed to stop for it!  It turned out to be another case of 'I'm glad I did!'   There were good things to be had, even though it was about 98-100 degrees outside and closer to 110 under their canopy!

Here's what I found on my quick trip to the two sales:

The tablecloth has a few holes, but the green background with white pattern are great for either a totebag or some throw pillows.  The three suitcases and umbrella were some other true bargains from the high-priced sale

The little chalkware birds and the pitcher are in great shape!

The planter is McCoy -- one of the few items that were underpriced.

I already have more Fisher Price than I know what to do with, but at $4, I couldn't pass up a complete farm!  The high-priced sale sold one in the original box for $30 (not to me!)

I love this spruce green Boonton divided bowl!   I plan to list it on Etsy, but don't know if I'll be able to part with it.  Maybe I'll foster it for a while...  The black and gold elephants are redware

This is a cool chrome thermos.  It has a flattened place in the back and needs to be cleaned up, but it's still great!

Yes, another double cake carrier!  This makes #3 double (though I think they all used to be triple, but the bottom sections were lost or damaged).  I like the pattern & colors of this one, though -- it might be a keeper or a foster-find

 The weather has finally broken and it's *only* 85 degrees today.  Who would ever think that 85 would be classified as cool?  Anyway, it's time to go out and work in the garden!  I hope you had a fun thrifting week of your own!

Oh, as a note on the previous post -- thanks to Jill for letting me know the name of my mystery Pyrex -- Blue Floral! It's so much fun finding unidentified Pyrex!

Hidden Treasures

I mentioned in my last post that I've been working hard straightening up the basement.  I've found many things that I'd just forgotten I'd bought (or remembered and couldn't find).  Hmmm...one step closer to being a hoarder!   

I thought I'd share some of the things I've found (along with a few little items I've bought in the past few weeks of not-shopping)  -- a few of them have gone to the booth and others have made their way to Etsy, but here are a few.

These two mid-century glass trays are very cool

I don't know what pattern this is, but the covered casserole is pretty neat

I can't remember if I shared these or not -- they're sweet little sherry glasses (very mid-century)

Eight West Virginia Glass Blendo glasses

Two Dillon's grocery store glasses -- I have to research these, as I've never heard of Dillon's.  It's probably a Detroit-area store from back in the day.

This owl is so cute!  It's pretty big (about 12-18" high) and all the 'feathers' are made of vintage fabric.  It matches all my yo-yo things -- quilt, pillows and yo-yo dolls