Brad & Larissa's Wedding

I'll be back on Sunday or Monday. My brother Brad and Larissa are getting married on Saturday, in the cities. In Medina actually...so-close-but-so-far-away from the Junkmarket Bonanza! We're only planning to go for the day. We'll head back after the wedding. It'll be a late one but it's less stressful for me than trying to stay overnight.

I get really worked-up trying to pack, even for one night. I never used to be like that - it's the anxiety. I can't explain it. {Mark is always trying to tell me not to get worked-up about the little things. But it's something I can't help.} I'm only hoping that it'll be better once we get settled-in here. I'm really hoping that will help. I can't see why not... Things are just a little upside down right now {and will be, for awhile} with the move.

I'm a neat-freak by nature, and I haven't had a neat house in years with all of the moving we've done. (I'm not complaining, I've enjoyed the moving. Well, not the moving-moving, but the relocation. I love change. It's just starting to get-to-me that I haven't been able to have an organized house...until now. :) And our last place, although I really liked it, was so very small and there were boxes everywhere. Literally.

But I'm so excited to see everyone at the wedding! And excited *for* the wedding! :)

Anyhow, I may post later today...I'm going garage sailing. I haven't been for FAR too long. Ok. I really have no idea what I just said in this post. I'm tired. :)

I don't like Salad

It's bliss. Pure bliss!

It was 66 degrees when I woke up this morning! I LOVE it. Love it. Love it!

I was like a wilted piece of lettuce for the past two days in this heat {low 90's} and humidity! I swear my body doesn't move when it gets above 80, if there is any humidity involved. You can only take off so many pieces of clothing. {I mean, I guess you could take it all off, but that would be...I don't know, weird}. That's why I'm not a huge fan of summer. I like to wear clothes.

My sister Amanda's the opposite. She loves summer! I love cool weather. You can always bundle up if you get chilly. We were just talking about it recently. And I was saying how I love fall and she was sad it was getting cooler. And that all the leaves were changing because pretty soon they'd all be dead. And it'd be dreary and lifeless and cold and yucky and mucky and brown and...well cold.

And I thought, what's wrong with that?! ;)

Really, I don't think she said all of that, but pretty much she did when she said she didn't like that it was getting cooler.

{And, as for the title, I really don't like salad. Very much.}

I Don't Get Over Things Like Fly Legs

It's hot today.
I don't do hot. We don't have air. I'm not working. I sweat too easily. And I hate sweating.
Hence the many posts.
It was almost 90.

Cool, fall weather where have you gone?
I want you back.

Tomorrow's suppose to be in the high 70's. Much better.

We have a fly problem. Every night, I sit in the chair with Country Living after everyone else is in bed. After a few minutes of blissful silence, I always hear, "bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz". So, I get up, grab the flyswat, wander around the house searching for the mysteriously disappearing fly, eventually finding it. And Slap!

It's dead. Gone.

And I sit down once again. I get so much joy killing each one of these pesky flies that Mark says I'm a cold-blooded killer. ;)

As I saw a few buzzing around, I was reminded of how I don't get over things like fly legs.

When we lived in Michigan, we'd get flies like crazy {who doesn't?} at different times of the year. Well, one day I was sitting there eating Reese's Puffs - one of my favorite snacks. This was before Cart's allergy. Probably before Cart was even born. I'm sitting there eating and as I'd finished the cereal in my bowl, I went to drink the rest of the milk when I spotted a fly leg. Floating in the milk.

Now, I don't gag very easily.

Really. I don't.

But I gagged! And gagged. {Maybe I was pregnant even (for Carter), I can't remember}. But I gagged.

And I've never touched Reese's Puffs. Again.

The Battle Cry of the Construction Queen

Don't throw that on the floor. I just vacuumed!~

{The cry that's echoed throughout our house lately}.

Don't throw that cereal on the floor. I just vacuumed!
Don't walk on the floor. I just vacuumed!

And even an occassional: Don't throw that frog on the floor. I just vacuumed!

{Thank goodness it was only a toy frog.}

Come to think of it, I believe I'm the Vacuum Queen rather than the Construction Queen.

******************

I made pizza bagels for lunch today (at 3 p.m. - we're still on a late schedule). I'd just gotten off the phone with mom, and was trying to figure out where the remainder of the block of mozzarella had disappeared to.

So. I asked each of the kids if they'd eaten it. I went down my short little row and ended at number 3, Carter. The guilty party by far.

He was standing there watching me as I asked the other two. Although {at 23 months} he is much too young to have a guilty look on his face, he looked at me and right away, pointed to his mouth, "Cheeeee!!!".

Oh the honesty of the innocent.

I am a Woman Warrior

...hear me roar.

I did it! I moved all of my junk to our new house! Carter had chicken pox. Abram was sick with a fever. But we did it! Sara watched my kids yesterday. I'm SO grateful to her. I wouldn't have been able to do it without her. Having the kids out from under foot, for even a day was tremendous. We're all tired and ready to settle in. For the night.

Soon. There is still much to do. Namely scrubbing down the bathroom. The kid's beds are set up in Nikayda's room and I want to shuffle some stuff around before hitting the hay.

I'm so excited that we have a new PERMANENT (yes, that's in capital letters ;) address.

{At the moment, I hope I never have to move again. :) Although, truthfully, I've said that every time I've moved}! I'm excited, exhausted and overwhelmed both in a good way (glad the move is over/excited about having our own home FINALLY/life is just beginning) and the not so good way (SO much to do yet) - but it's all good. I'll get a picture for you soon. Of the mess that is my new home.

You can't see the room that is my kitchen/dining room as I wanted everything stacked in there. There is still so much to do construction wise around here - everything in one spot was easier for me. I don't have anything that resembles a kitchen yet - just a little fridge (from our rental, that we bought from our landlords).

Oh lets be honest here! Technically all the stuff isn't in the kitchen. There is plenty in the living room and sitting room and not to forget the basement which is loaded with junk from various junk-picking excursions in Michigan within the past couple of years.


I was just thinking that this is my 10th move since I moved out of mom and dad's in 1997!! NUTS. Mark and I've been married for almost 6 1/2 years and this is our 6th time moving (counting when he moved into the house that I lived in when I was single). This is the first time that I've moved all of my stuff by myself. (Mark did the heavy lifting with the furniture and his brother Hans lent a hand at the new house with some of it).

;) Don't ever move. Stay put. Settle in your roots. Yeah RIGHT. I love the change ~ or I did when I was younger. Now I'm getting too old for this moving business. ;) But every move was fun (once the moving part was over. ;) I'm ready to settle down and plant those roots. I say I'll never move again. Until next time.

But I really hope we never do because I love it here already. Especially because I have no more drunk neighbors partying until 5 in the morning. There was another party at the house next door, last weekend. I didn't post about it because it's been so busy around here. But I got home at 1:30 a.m. after working out at the house, with 3 sleeping kids, and there were teenagers milling all around our driveway. The police came sometime after 4 a.m. I'm so glad someone FINALLY called. Maybe that'll put an end to it...for the other neighbor's sake. Especially our sweet elderly landlords. (They're in their 80's). I'm going to miss them. They were some of the nicest landlords that we've ever had.

She (the landlord's wife) brought me dinner yesterday when I was packing and cleaning. And today she stopped by with watermelon in the afternoon, "to cool [me] off," she said. :) She's so thoughtful.

Enough rambling, for now. I don't even know what I'm saying at this point. I'm so tired!

Thank you all for responding on the screen name (I may have said that already...) Have a great rest of the weekend!

Oh yeah, I was going to tell you that every time we've moved Mark says I have too much stuff. This time, after I moved it all by myself, he just asked me,"So, now do you think you have too much stuff?"

Nope. Never. Junk is fun!

{I just don't want to move ever again}.

A Screen Name Vote

Moving. Moving. Moving.

Crazy. Crazy. Crazy.

(Only a few more days!)

That's about all that's happening around here. All the while thoughts of a proper name are swirling through my head. I'm trying to come up with a better screen name, you know, seeing as how Junkyard Jen is SO flattering and all. ;)

So. Now that I've got Whimsical~ for my little junk-selling business that I aspire to begin within the next year, I've thought about using it in my screen name.

Whimsical Jennifer?
Too long? (I'd prefer Jennifer over Jen).

Whimsical Junk?
But that doesn't have my name. Is that fine? (I could always sign my comments w/ my name).

Jennifer's Junk?
Or does that sound too much like junk-in-the-trunk? I mean, I know I've got too much of that.

But...still.

What do you think? With a name like Jennifer (they're a dime a dozen from the '70's), I've got to have something a little more unique. Or do I keep Junkyard Jen? I'm sure that definitely grabs everyone's attention.

But I'm not sure it's in a good way. I can just see everyone thinking: "Who in the world is this Junkyard Jen? I mean WHAT kind of name IS that?!" ;)

I'd love to know what you think. I'm open to suggestions as well.

New Email Address

I've changed my email address. I will be closing down the one that many of you have w/ my name, in a few days - maybe longer (with this move going on). :)

My new email address is whimsicaljunk[at]yahoo[d0t]com. (I'll work on getting it permanently on my blog later).

The name I've come up with for my little junk business is Whimsical~. Then I'll have {refurbished junk} in small print beneath it. :) And of course, my slogan is:

{Changing the world one piece of junk at a time}.

I'm so excited! Now I can work on some scrolling letters for the design part of it. This fall, I plan to get out the pens and work on the design for a sign, tags and business cards. I once read that the more you talk about your business dream, the more it becomes a reality. I hope that's true! :)

I'm expecting a frantic, crazy week. I'm single-handedly (w/ the help of three small children, one with chicken pox ;) moving all of our stuff to the new house - trip by trip. :) (Mark will bring our trailer by in a few days for the furniture). I'm extremely excited and anxious to be on the-other-end! The big part, to me, is getting out of this rental. But everything about this is so exciting for me, I'm almost giddy. :) I've enjoyed every bit of the work from cleaning up the yard (that will be endless ;) to cleaning out the house to scraping the mud clumps on the floor, and believe me, there were many! Lol! (Mark said, "What do you expect from a rookie?") right down to packing up and moving. It's been the most fun and rewarding exercise I've ever done.

Edited to add: This is Mark's first big tape job. He taped and mudded our remodel-job in Michigan but only one or two of the rooms. So he got a lot of practice with our house! It's nice because he usually has someone else do the taping and mudding on his jobs ~ eventually, he'd like to do them.

Paint Progress Report

The paint is up in the living room and the loft area and it's not as bright a white as I thought. I mean, it's bright white, make no mistake. But I like it. Even though it isn't what I'd intended. I love the pale blue ('Retreat') of the sitting room. I got to see that last night.

Mark's favorite color so far is the bathroom ('Caribbean'). It's a bright, deep, aqua ocean blue color. It's darker than anything else in the house and I like it. It's unexpected as compared to all of the other pastels, yet I think it 'flows'. We feel like it does because it's still in the same blue palette. I just hope it doesn't look out-of-place to everyone else. But really, that shouldn't matter. Right? If we're happy with it, that's what counts. :)

The upstairs bathroom (in the loft) is going to be a pale yellow. I love the color of sunshine and dandelions, which are one of my favorite flowers. They really are. I always feel the need to stress that because so many people don't appreciate them. Lol! :) But I've always loved them. I love fields, and in most cases, yards, of dandelions. They look like sunshine.

The only thing left to paint is the bathroom in the loft and all of the floors. The kitchen/dining room floor is painted as of last night. 2 a.m., to be precise. I never did find out what time he got home. He called around 2 to say that he'd be awhile. Carter was up. He wasn't feeling so great. (Runny nose, couldn't sleep). My mistake! He's been in the house a lot lately and there is still so much dust to clean up. I was cleaning, last night, and kicking it all up. I feel awful about that. I'll just have to be more cautious from now on.

I plan to post pictures but it may be a while - as in, a few weeks. I want to get moved-in and all before I try to start taking them. This next week is going to be so crazy and so exciting for us. I've gotta run now to bring stuff to the house. Suzy took my kids for the afternoon. What a treat! :)

Have a great weekend! :)

100 Things

• My name is Jennifer.
• I am of Finnish decent.
• I was born in Michigan.
• I live in Minnesota.
• My family still lives in Michigan.
• I have 13 siblings. (8 sisters and 5 brothers).
• I am the oldest.
• I loved growing up in a big family.
• I have always loved babies.
• I am 30 years old.
• My parents have been married for 31 years.
• My husband is 4 years younger than me.
• I was almost 24 when we got married.
• I have always thought that age is only a number.
• Mark and I knew each other for about 3 or 4 months before we started dating.
• We only dated for 6 weeks before we were engaged.
• Our engagement was four months long.
• My husband wanted to elope.
• I didn't.
• We are opposite in so many ways.
• We are the same in so many ways.
• We balance each other.
• He is my best friend.
• Our oldest, Nikayda was born in Minnesota over 5 years ago.
• Abram was born in one hospital in Michigan over 3 years ago.
• Carter was born in another hospital in Michigan almost 2 years ago.
• I think dreams can come true.
• I hope this to be true because I am a dreamer.
• I love vintage things.
• I love to make stuff.
• I love to cook.
• I even love to clean.
• I'd prefer that the kids were to be sleeping while I'm cleaning.
• I think there is nothing better than a sparkling clean house.
• Sometimes I think that there is something wrong with that.
• Especially because my house is always sailing.
• I have an innate desire to produce fun, vintage style decor.
• I love the word junk.
• I want to create and sell {good} junk, as a hobby.
• I'm passionate about organization.
• I love to organize.
• Why, then does my house look like it was raided by wild elephants?!
• I love to take pictures.
• I want to learn how to take {great} pictures.
• I love vintage fabric, rick-rack, and lace.
• I want to teach myself how to draw and paint, again.
• I miss art.
• I only took two years of art in high school.
• I regret that I didn't take it all four years.
• I don't have very many regrets in life.
• I never went to college.
• I don't plan to.
• I don't regret that.
• My husband never went to college.
• My husband co-owns a business, building houses.
• I can't drive by one-single abandoned house without wishing I could dig through it.
• I would be in-my-glory digging through old houses, outbuildings, and attics.
• I am very nostalgic and sentimental.
• My life is a study in contradictions.
• I love history.
• I would like to travel the United States.
• I would like to stop only at historical sites and landmarks.
• I am intrigued by politics.
• I disdain politics.
• I am a conservative.
• I am very opinionated.
• I never mean to hurt anyone with my opinions.
• I respect other people's opinions.
• I hope other people know that.
• I love and collect buttons.
• I am 5'1".
• I have grey-blue eyes.
• My hair is a light brownish-blond color.
• I like short fingernails.
• I love to laugh.
• As I get older, I cry more easily.
• I love to drink {black} coffee.
• I need to drink the aforementioned coffee every morning.
• My favorite drink is a Starbucks' non-fat caramel macchiato.
• I drink a lot of water every day.
• I associate the word 'peanut' with 'poison'.
• My youngest child is allergic to peanuts.
• We were slowly converting to organic before all the hectic-ness of summer.
• I plan to resume that conversion once things settle down.
• I love essential oils and natural medicine.
• The chemicals in processed and prepackaged foods scare me.
• We eat far too many processed and prepackaged foods.
• My idea of window shopping, is surfing blogs and looking at other people's vintage finds.
• I am an optimist who occassionally suffers from anxiety and depression.
• I still have an imagination.
• It gets the best of me sometimes.
• I am not the same person I once was.
• My husband gave me the confidence to be *me*.
• I used to squelch my true thoughts and opinions.
• Sometimes I still do.
• I feel the most like *me* than I ever have.
• I hope that I have grown.
• We are building our first and very own home.
• We are in the process of moving.
• I feel like my life is just beginning.

Rambling Happy Thoughts

A long rambling about the house
By: a happy girl

I'm sitting down, real quick, to say that I'm liking the pretty pastel paleness of the interiors of my new house. If you've ever wondered what it'd look like inside a cotton candy castle, come on over!

Love it. :)

At the moment, I'm leaning toward dark floors...again. (I tried finding the post that connects with this but I have a bazillion under the "House" label...couldn't find it...not enough time. Gotta move stuff. But I tried.) :) Basically, for anyone who needs to catch up, I've gone from wanting white floors (love white), to a very dark stain, to white floors (my latest reasoning: so I can see any stray ticks that land on the floor), and now back to very dark stain. The dark will ground the whole house so-to-speak. So at the moment that's what I'm leaning toward. Again.

BUT...

Mark is painting the raw floors for the time-being. (We'll put in flooring later.) And we went with "Navajo white" for some rooms and a pale "beige grey" for the others. It was ten bucks a gallon. We went with it. ;) Actually, we really lucked out because I wanted to go with white on the raw floor - just to try it out! Very light. The whole house would be SHOCKING to anyone if they saw it undecorated. It is so incredibly bright. And happy.

I think it's happy.

I have some ideas to ground it and pull it all together, though, during the decorating process. Think red. ;)

I've always wanted a retro, cottage-y, beach house-style house. I married the greatest guy in the world. He could care less about decorating and interiors. I am the luckiest girl on earth! Unless, he absolutely doesn't like something, which is so, so rare, he doesn't care. In fact, I'm not sure if there has ever been something that he absolutely was opposed to. I was surprised when he told me that he liked the color of our new kitchen, after he finished painting it. I'm not quite sure if most people would like it. And I don't even care (I say that as sincerely as possible) because I love it. :) But I was really glad that he liked it.

He's the guy who let me do pale-purple in our living room once. And he liked the warmness to the place after it was painted. See? Aren't I lucky. But, rest assured, I have no pale-purple plans for this house. I'm over my purple phase. For now. I used to LOVE it. Now, it's pale retro blues and greens. And red. I love bright red. Fire engine red.

Oh and the living room and loft? White. We went with white, after all.

Mark started to the cut corners in the living room last night, and when he came home, told me that it's the same color as the primer.

Whoops!

I almost panicked. But I quickly checked myself.

I didn't want a stark-white. I wanted a warm white. In my desire to avoid a dingy white, I went bright white. We thought it looked like a warm, bright white when we picked it out yesterday. Oh well. It's only paint. We can change it in a year or ten. I don't even care because we're finally getting a house! I'll just make sure there is a lot of color on the walls by way of frames and pictures. I'm sure that won't be a problem. ;)

Just a little disappointing because when we painted our remodel job in Michigan, we had used the most beautiful creamy white I'd ever seen. Mark loved it too. So, we wrote it down to use in our house. This house. Do you think we have any idea where that piece of paper is at the moment?!

Luckily (or is that unluckily?) white needs to be repainted fairly often. Hopefully, by the time it needs a new coat, we'll have found the slip of paper. Or a similar shade of white by means of a paint chip. I call it almond white. No idea why. It just sounds like a good name for it. But it's not the right name.

One more week!

We have to be out of here by the 25th. Now, would be a good time to start packing. But. I haven't. I've started moving stuff though, if that's any consolation to anyone. Me? Anyone? Who does this affect anyway?! Lol! :)

And my sister-in-law Suzy offered to watch my kids tomorrow. I can't say how much that is appreciated! It's so much easier to focus with the kids out of my hair.

Ah! The art of procrastination. At least, I'm staying true to myself during this whole process. I always did work better under pressure!

Well, Paint Me Blue

Paint colors continued...

That title has nothing to do with anything and everything to do with nothing.

Huh?!

Maybe the fumes are getting to me.

And I haven't even opened a can yet.

Ok. After standing on my head, turning the lights on and off, sitting on the roof (the neighbors wore off on me), opening and closing one eye, juggling ten kids (at one time...maybe it was only three...anyway...), holding my breath for ten seconds, standing on one leg and balancing a spoon on my nose (truthfully, I've no idea how I did that last part...I don't know how to do that), I think I've finally figured out which paint colors I'm going with.

Man! That's a lot of work.

But it's all worth it in the end, if you're happy with the colors you choose.

Which I can't be certain that this will be the case. This time.

I mean, I'm preeeeetty sure I want a pale, icy, minty bluish green color with absolutely no grey tone to it. More blue than green. Definitely not the other way around, for the living area and entry way. I chose it because I thought the name was fitting.

Retreat.

See. I know what I'm doing.

Mark's picking it up as we speak type read.

Whatever.

So, here goes nothing!

Oh and I went with a pale, icy, minty greenish blue for the kitchen.

Following?

Trust me. There is a difference albeit very subtle. ;)

And I picked "Caribbean" for the bathroom. Doesn't that sound fun?! Just a few shades darker than the paleness of the rest of the house. I don't want a dark bathroom so I'm sitting here cringing, all the while hoping that it's not too many shades darker and that it will flow with the house. Mark and I thought it would. By the looks of the eighth-of-an-inch paint chips.

We're jumping in head-first. As I mentioned before, we don't take too many precautions with stuff like this. Call it a little reckless, perhaps, but I'm not too worried because the leftover paint can still be used for projects if it doesn't work for the walls. It's still the right tone, if the shades off.

I think I could get use to living in a place, surrounded by colors like "Caribbean" and "Retreat".

I've always wanted a beach house.

My Blog Link

So I finally figured it out~!

I happened to notice the other day that my blog isn't posted on my profile. (i.e. If I left a comment on someone's blog and if you were to click on my name, it would only show my other info., not my blog).

Hmmmmm... While contemplating this particular dilemma, I went to the help desk, not so much physically but mentally per se (ok, I clicked on the "help" link in Blogger) and discovered that if your blog is not listed publicly, it will not be listed on your profile. Then I discovered that I could still add it to my profile on my own by posting it under "Contact"!

Yay for me.

So it's under "Contact". You click on "My Web Page". (When you see my name by a comment on someone else's blog...)

Ok. A bit of a pointless observation.

Paint it Easy

Picking out paint colors is so much easier when you don't think of it as a marriage proposal.

I realize that finding the perfect color is a very serious commitment. But really. It's not like a marriage. It's really not. Unlike your spouse, you can change it if you want to.

I find that there are far too many colors out there to choose from. And I love colors. It's just that when I'm given so many choices, I start to feel...overwhelmed. I mean, which blue/green do I really want to stare at for the next few weeks. Few months. Few years. How do I decide. Do I go really pale and risk it looking too washed out. We've experienced this before, with our kitchen, when we lived in Michigan. I wanted a pale minty green color. It ended up looking washed out and we always said that we should've gone a shade darker. We'd probably have liked it better. Yet, on the other hand, if it's the right color it may turn out to be the perfect shade of pale bluish green that we're looking. How do we know. Or do we go with a little darker shade and risk it being, well, too dark.

I know you can buy those little sample containers of paint so you can test out the different colors, but I still need to know the direction I'm going before I start stock piling samples.

So I'm trying to convince myself that this is not, in fact, a big commitment even though it feels like it. Have I mentioned that other than that place in Michigan, this is the first place we've been able to choose paint colors for our walls (and we've moved many times). And have I mentioned that I tend to complicate things far more than necessary. It's not intentional or anything. It's just what I do. In fact, I've gotten quite good at it over the years. I am at the root of most of my own stress. But then again, aren't we all.

Actually, truth be told, I narrowed down the paint colors when I got back to the car. Before I even headed home. I knew it would ease things up a bit for me if I just stuck to the few that really caught my eye. But now the problem is...there are too few blue/greens to choose from. The hardware store only had about three chips with varying blue/greens on them {that looked to be about the tone I was looking for} and I'm not feelin' it. I may need to go somewhere else. Or just pick one and like it. And the latter sounds like the easier choice here. :) Why throw a hundred more colors on the pile.

We can always repaint...

My Fairytale

Once again I'm posting a picture that has absolutely nothing to do with the post. It's becoming a habit. But each time I share a picture, I share a little piece of myself. Do you like my sign? For my house? (Sorry - the lighting is very poor in this picture. - I took it awhile ago and planned to retake it...but obviously that hasn't happened so here you go.)

Ok. Truthfully, I'd prefer not to have a bunch of bare bottoms running around my house. (Although, I occasionally do). This sign is actually for our outdoor sauna. (I haven't gone all crazy on you. At least not more than I already am). Heh. Heh.

Now for the fairytale...

Once upon a time, there was a girl who was incredibly inspired and uninspired all at the same moment. This particular moment was during a span of several months; specifically the several months that made up the summer of 2007. So, then perhaps it was not just a moment - but we'll work with it... She longed to be working on projects and maybe trying her hand at sewing but alas, all she could do was pack, clean and prepare to move into a brand new house. This girl was very excited and anxiously awaited the big day. For she had waited her whole life for this moment.

As a child she dreamed of having a home of her own. She would sketch out houses and room layouts. Clip out inspiring pictures and articles from magazines and dream of decorating over and over and changing everything around at her own whim.

Being the couple that swings by the seat of their pants, this particular girl and her husband never set an actual move-in date to be set aside as the big day. So even to them, this day was a complete and total secret.

So, in the meantime, they carried on with preparations and such (meaning, they went about their daily life as if they weren't about to move in a few weeks), and waited for the big day to arrive, for they felt they would know it when it was near. And sensing the moment to be less than a few weeks off, the girl flurried around in a state of near panic as she decided that now would be as good a time as any to BEGIN packing. So, with three small children under foot, she sat down and continued to panic and think about packing.

And then, as she pushed her dreams of junk and all things vintage aside, she set to work, only to find herself interrupted a multitude of times throughout the day, with thoughts of crackled paint and vintage linens dancing through her head. This girl realized at this moment, that she had a small problem. An obsession. And as she dreamed of turning that obsession into a hobby, a sort of part-time job (although she loathed referring to it as a job, being that it was a hobby and all), she was also consumed by her desires to come up with the perfect name for her business. And realizing that she had been consumed by this thought for several weeks, she realized that she would find no rest until she had come up with this perfect name - even though she wouldn't begin to try to sell anything for many months. This girl liked to be prepared.

*Sigh*

And so here she sits, writing about herself in the third person, like some crazy lunatic and listening to a bawling baby (who is nearly two, by the way) and thinking how lovely it would be to be working on projects instead of packing! ;)

To be continued...

...but when?!

{I hope this will have a happy ending.}

Color Quiz

I was browsing through the Posie Gets Cozy blog, skimming through archives, enjoying her pictures and in the midst of finding all sorts of inspiration (both crafting and personal), I stumbled across this color quiz (April 6, 2006). If you haven't had the chance, check out the blog. Very inspiring! It's a very good read. The colors in her pictures just pop, not to mention the fact that she's a fabulous writer. I've never met Alicia nor have I left a comment on her blog, yet, but I've been enjoying it immensely.

My color test results... {Very profound results, I might add. Right on the money! Wow.}

My Existing Situation: Readily participates in things affording excitement or stimulation. Wants to feel exhilarated.

My Stress Sources: Seeks independence and freedom from any restriction and therefore avoids obligations or anything which might prove hampering. She is being subjected to considerable pressure and wants to escape from it so that she can obtain what she needs, but tends to lack the necessary strength of purpose to succeed in this.

My Restrained Characteristics: Willing to participate and to allow herself to become involved, but tries to fend off conflict and disturbance in order to reduce tension.
Very exacting in the standards she applies to her choice of a partner and seeking a rather unrealistic perfection in her {...ahem...} life.

My Desired Objective: Desires a tranquil, peaceful state of harmony offering quiet contentment and a sense of belonging.

My Actual Problem: Tensions and stresses induced by trying to cope with conditions which are really beyond her capabilities or reserves of strength have led to considerable anxiety, and a sense of personal (but admitted) inadequacy. She seeks to escape into a more peaceful and problem-free situation, in which she will no longer have to assert herself or contend with so much pressure.

My Actual Problem #2: Does not wish to be involved in differences of opinion, contention or argument, preferring to be left in peace.

Take the Color Quiz! http://www.colorquiz.com/

I'm curious as to whether or not the results stated (regarding anxiety ;) would be any different, say, after the move?! Lol!

Vintage Scarves

This very moment, I'm longing for a clothesline.

I'm hand washing a bunch of vintage scarves (like vintage hankies, only much larger) and I'd love to hang them on the line! And take a picture!

I collect them. And I wear them on my head all the time - just not as much when it's summer and HOT out. Except when I'm workin' out at our property; they're great for keeping the sweat out of your eyes. :) I love vintage scarves.

And, well, to be honest...I'm kinda lazy about doing my hair. Ok. I'm very lazy about doing my hair. That's where the scarves come in pretty handy. ;) It's mighty convenient when I barely have to comb my hair until Sunday rolls around each week; and it's time for church. ;) Oh shucks. Even days I don't wear a scarf, I rarely bother combing my hair. Who am I kidding? I'm a mom. lol! ;) Who has time for combing their hair when there's so much else going on?! (And just between you and me, I keep one handy, right next to the door, should anyone happen to drop by). ;)

I picked up three more of them, yesterday, at the mission house for 50 cents a piece. And I love every one of them! I will post a picture another time...when they're all washed and dried.

Self Portrait - Vintage Scarf

Camping

I can't do it.

You ever get that feeling? Picture putting a wild animal in a cage and then corner it. Well I feel like that animal. There's a name for this particular wild animal. It's anxiety.

I promise, I'm not about to write a big ol' serious post here. :) We were thinking about going camping with my family (Bob & Lorraine T.'s family), this weekend. Camping? Now you're wondering why we'd even consider such a crazy thing. We're in the middle of building, packing, cleaning up, packing, more cleaning and moving in. And we were thinking of going camping?!

We thought it'd be a nice break. A brief weekend to revive ourselves. A refreshment from the daily grind of late.

Ain't gonna happen.

I sat down to write a packing list.

I couldn't breathe.

My left arm started to tingle.

I wrote a bunch of stuff down but I couldn't think of anything else.

The list wasn't done.

I knew it wasn't done.

Mark came home. I looked at him and said,"I can't do this".

"Ok". That's all he said.

I know he was looking forward to a little reprieve too.

But truthfully, I saw that look in his eyes. The one that says,"You're right. This was a crazy idea. What were we thinking?!" It only flickered for a second. But I saw it.

He was relieved. (And he was the one who suggested that we try to go). :)

And I'm trying to be. Once I get worked up into a little dither. That cloak of anxiety takes a few moments to lift itself off again. Funny how that is. It comes on in a matter of seconds. But takes so much longer to leave.

Edited to add: It's much better today. :) I'm so disappointed that we'll be missing out though but relieved that I don't have to pack for camping on top of moving. It would've been so fun to see everyone! Especially so many relatives that we haven't seen for so long. :) And a note on the house - we'll be painting the interiors next week but there is so much to do before then. Including...more packing. Once it's painted, we can start moving our stuff!

This and That

Random thoughts...

• I was assuming that we'd try to put in a yard next year. The reality is it will be more like a good four five years before we get all of the trees cleared out...maybe longer...which means mud, mud and more mud! Ah well. The bathroom is right inside the front door. A little dirt don't hurt. ;)
• Carter doesn't talk much. He jibber jabbers and babbles like crazy. (I love that.) But he knows how to say the word property pretty well! (He says,"propirtee").
• I've begun organizing the basement of our new house. If anyone has previously wondered whether or not I was crazy, they would wonder no longer after seeing all of the old junk piled in the corner! (It occurred to me that I don't believe that I have a single new piece of decor for our home. And I'm thrilled about this).
• Our current dwelling is sailing and that is (to be said in the most blunt terms ;) exasperating! A few more weeks...a few more weeks...a few more weeks...a few more...YEARS?! (I need to unpack and settle-in once the move actually takes place. But at least, on that end, the fun will begin. (Decorating. For the first time in my whole life I can decorate like there's no tomorrow)).
• I'm itching like crazy to get my hands on some projects! And I'm incredibly inspired to sew upon viewing various fun and creative craft blogs. But mostly, I can't wait to start refinishing the aforementioned junk in my basement. A few coats of paint and we're good to go!
• Life is a merry-go-round and it never stops. (Can't argue with that, now, can you?)
• In the past week, I recently read every one of the Dottie Angel archives and enjoyed every minute of it! I'm tellin' ya, I want to sew. In bad way! I'll definitely be doing some this fall. (Carter still needs a Christmas stocking).
• The kids are standing by the door, in their flip-flops, patiently waiting to go to the "propirtee". (Ok. That was weird. As I was typing that, Carter resumed saying it over and over. It's his new favorite word).
• Time to head out the door. Stop at the local grocer. Grab some supper. Head to Sara's. Pick up more junk from her barn. Head to the property. Start a fire and cook us some supper. Spend the evening burning more scrap lumber. Organize more of the basement and making sure the kids get nice and grubby and tired before heading back home for the night. ;)

Which Accent Are You?

Judy had posted this quiz on her blog. I thought it was fun! Here are my results. Man! What a relief to know that my voice is good for "TV or radio", seeing as how I've always thought it'd be so much more fun to drive a whole nation crazy rather than just a few friends and family with all of my talking. ;)

What American accent do you have? Your Result: The Midland "You have a Midland accent" is just another way of saying "you don't have an accent." You probably are from the Midland (Pennsylvania, southern Ohio, southern Indiana, southern Illinois, and Missouri) but then for all we know you could be from Florida or Charleston or one of those big southern cities like Atlanta or Dallas. You have a good voice for TV and radio.
The Inland North
North Central
The West
Philadelphia
Boston
The South
The Northeast
What American accent do you have? Quiz Created on GoToQuiz

Dottie Angel - Blog

Random picture from vintage children's book.

Is it fair to pick favorites? With craft blogs? Of course, how could you even begin to pick a favorite?! I've found so many favorites!

So I'll just say that my favorite of the week, is by far Dottie Angel. I've been reading her (Tif's) archives during every spare minute that I can find make these past few days. I love it! Her style is so similar to what I want to do. It's so incredibly inspiring. She sews bags/purses, pillows (she calls them cushions :), and slips. The slips are vintage slips that she dies and then embellishes. They're very pretty. (She was even published in the newspaper! I'm only in the May archives - still have June and July to catch up on but I'm really enjoying it)!

When I say that her style is similar, I mean that she uses similar materials (vintage lace, linens, buttons) that I plan to use. Although, I have no plans in the near future to make bags (purses) or embellish slips. I do have many other ideas floating through my head as far as using similar materials.

And her posts are sprinkled with the perfect amount of humor! She's a good read.

You know it's funny, they always say, Don't judge a book by it's cover., but that's exactly what I do with blogs. The pictures have to grab my attention first in order to peak my interest. Her vintage sewing notions are what first caught my eye. (I recently posted about them here). But going back to pictures, I think of that when I take my own pictures (which nowhere near meet my expectations. :) I'm not complaining there or fishing for compliments. They just don't, most of the time. :) But I'm so focused on this whole house thing, this summer, that pictures have been pushed to the wayside. Along with everything else. I'd love to take pictures of different vintage finds more often and post them but there just isn't time for that yet. I plan to change that this winter as I slowly begin to unpack and settle into our home.