Land of Nod Inspired Mantel

In just a few hours, our week of visiting grandchildren will begin at 911.

For safety reasons, we won't be using our fireplace during their stay,

 but that's no reason to ignore it, right?

I departed from my usual brown and orange color scheme

for a more festive lighthearted approach.

My color inspiration came in the mail the other day.

  I love the soft blue and orange combination on the cover of the Land of Nod catalog. 

 Lots of goodies inside, too.

This wood plate I bought for pocket change many years ago at a garage sale

has the perfect colors for my fall mantel.  The words Ribnica and Slovenski are

Slovenian like my Baba.  She may have even visited this place

 on her 2 trips to her father's homeland.

I bought this fan for its unusual copper colored blades and

brown bakelite base.  I was kayaking with a friend and we beached

our kayaks while we browsed the antique shops in the lakeside town of

Crosby, MN.  I had to carry my finds back in my kayak,

 so this was the only purchase that day.

I had something else in mind for the centerpiece of the mantel, but it's

giving me a few problems, so my jeep's come to the rescue.

My orange steeple clock always comes out to play this time of year.

The blue jars pick up on the sky blue color in the plate.

I left them empty so they don't weigh down the mantel, and

I think they shine without any help from me.

I stitched up a pennant banner from fabrics in colors from the catalog cover.

The mantel's done, now for the hearth.......

The ice cream maker I bought this summer isn't in the same shade of blue,

but it lightens up the dark brick fireplace.  I filled it with the last of my hydrangeas,

  but now that I think about it, this will be moved to the basement

unless I want dried hydrangea petals everywhere!

We've got two budding young artists coming, so I pulled out my

old chalkboard and tried my hand at the trendy chalkboard art

I've been admiring everywhere.

I didn't spend a lot of time on this art because I'm sure it will be

erased the minute Finley steps in the house.  That's okay.

I've no doubt a new masterpiece will soon take its place.  :@

I've got a few mommy rules to follow this week, and I'll do my best to comply.

1.  Pacifiers only at naps and bedtime.

2.  No cookies or candy.

What?!!

I promise to do my very best at following the Mommy rules.

Hugs and kisses,

Grandma 911

Wynken and Blynken are two little eyes,

And Nod is a little head,

And the wooden shoe that sailed the skies

Is a wee one's trundle-bed.

So shut your eyes while grandmother sings

Of wonderful sights that be,

And you shall see the beautiful things

As you rock in the misty sea,

Where the old shoe rocked the fishermen three:

Wynken,

Blynken,

And Nod.

(Last verse of Wynken, Blynken, and Nod by Eugene Field.)

Joining the party at:

Knick of Time Tuesday

Savvy Southern Style Wow Us Wednesday
Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Friday
Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special

Soup to Nuts

Now that the cold weather is upon us, I actually feel the need to

cook some hearty meals.  This week I made one of our my favorites. 

White chicken chili.  Yum!!  It's not Bill's favorite meal,

but I'm the cook, so I win.

I've also packed away all my summer junk.  Things were looking

mighty bare, so I went shopping in the basement to find some autumn

looking items to prop on my shelves, and here's what I came up with....

Back to school meets the arrival of autumn.

The old crayon tin came from a box of unclaimed freight.

The shoes came from an old Finnish neighbor, now deceased.  How old I'll never know,

because she wouldn't tell anybody her age!  Her birth date wasn't even listed

 on her obituary, but my guess would be close to 100 years old.

  Imagine buttoning your children's shoes every day!

The book page came from a music book

I rescued from a pile of debris just before

they demolished my old grade school.

There are 2 pages for every month.

This page is actually for the month of

October, but the theme and color worked

so here it stays.

I also found an old oak bookcase

door in the debris.  I had a piece of

mirror cut to fit the back and it

now resides in Julie's house.

I wish I had an in when they were

doling out the schoolhouse

clocks and lights!!

This old teddy bear was priced at $3.00 and still he sat in a local antique shop for years before I finally adopted him.  He's quite happy on the shelf next to the cup filled with candy corn.  Oops!  I forgot to take a picture of the metal teacup.  I can't imagine anybody ever drank tea from it, but it's a pretty little cup to use as a candy dish.  Mr. Bear wears a festive orange hat to keep his furry head warm. 



The old wood clock is new to my collection.  An apartment building nearby

has been converted into an antique shop/ art studio and is only open several times

a year.  I went for the first time a few weeks ago and bought this clock for $10.

I think it belongs to my crooked face clock collection.  :@

The coat rack shelf got a new autumn themed look, too.

The large tole tray is the very first tray I bought many years ago and was the start of my collection.

I made the jute net for the brown jug last year, and  I've had

 the wood spools for so long I can't even remember where they came from!

Now our 911 mascot, the squirrel, has a little history.

He's not old.  I bought him at Pottery Barn about 3 years ago and sat him

on top of the piano, where I thought he looked quite handsome.

Then our girls and their husbands came for Thanksgiving and laughed at him.

All four of them agreed that he was vulgar.

You see, he was originally holding a corn cob.

And he had the whole thing in his mouth.

Use your imagination, I'm not going to elaborate any further.

So I put the now vulgar squirrel in the basement where he's been hiding in shame.

Now that I've overcome my fear of power tools, I reenacted a scene from

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre yesterday with a jigsaw.

Ta da!

Mr. Squirrel is now munching on a nut!

Now that I've covered everything from soup to nuts,

 this concludes today's post.  Except for one lingering question.

Do you make your favorite meals even if nobody else in the house likes them?

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

Joining the party at:

Common Ground Vintage Inspiration Friday

The 36th Avenue

Mockingbird Hill Cottage A Favorite Thing Saturday

Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special

Move over Madea!

I've done it now.

I've officially moved up the ranks from a run-of-the-mill junk collector

 to a full-fledged roadside scavenger.

(Google Images)

It all began innocently enough with an evening bike ride to a nearby mine pit

 when out of the blue it appeared.  A threefer!

The second one I've seen in less than 6 months.  What are the odds?!

(three' fer:   3 pieces of free junk in the same place)

We inched our bikes close enough for me to smell inspect the

curbside inhabitants.  Na.  Too stinky.  Too heavy.  Too much work.  I'll pass.

Well, night after night they sat there on that lonely corner taunting me

until I could take it no more!!!   I informed my moving partner that the time had

come to save them from their final resting place at the city landfill.

That's when my voice of reason (Bill) kicked in.

"What is the matter with you?!  You can't just take that stuff! 

 You have to knock on their door and ask if it's free for the taking. 

 And furthermore, I want no part of it.

You could be arrested!"

Now, as much as I love Madea,

(Tyler Perry surely modeled her

character after my Baba.)

I wasn't too keen on

becoming her cellmate.

And I didn't want my name

in the Police Report section

of our small town newspaper, either.

Dejected, I pedaled my bike home.

But I couldn't forget about that junk.  They haunted my dreams and every waking moment.

I had to have them!!!

While the voice of reason was golfing, I hopped in my car and drove

the now familiar route to the treasures.  Heart pounding, I got out, walked right up

to the metal gate and .......woah!

That heavy duty chain attached to the steps and the big

dog dish next to it did NOT belong to Toto!

what to do.....what to do.....

I spotted a neighbor across the street and walked over

 to get the skinny on the junk.

"Oh, yeah, you can take that stuff.  She puts the garbage she

doesn't want to haul to the dump out by the street."

Bingo!

I hefted that junk into my car, buckled my dirty self in, and peeled cautiously drove home

while checking for the po po in my rearview mirror.

 I suppose you want to see what I found. 

 All righty.

After all this time, this is what I conjured up in my mind.

Time for a reality check.  Here's what I brought home.

Now before you start shaking your head, use your imagination!

I found this picture on our daughter Julie's Pinterest board.

Can you see it?  Can I transform my piece of junk into something like this for Mack?

(Quit rolling your eyes, Jeremy.)

Am I up to the challenge?

It remains to be seen.

Remember, this was a threefer.  The next 2 items are a matched set.

The larger of the two kitchen cabinets.

One of the drawers needs to be glued, but other than

that (and the smell), it's in pretty good condition.

Porcelain top with one little blemish in front, original hardware,

vintage cookie cutters in the drawers.  Not bad.

I saw a spiffed up version at Junk Bonanza for $160!

Its smaller sister.

  If you like chippy white paint

with green underneath, feast your eyes on this....

Yup, that's the original paint color peeking out from behind the peeling

white paint.  The missing glass knobs are still in the drawers.

And not a syringe or tourniquet to be found!

You may be wondering what I'm going to do with these two cabinets.

I have absolutely no idea!

I may be opening my "Stinky Sister" shop sooner than planned.

Thanks for stopping by to read the latest adventure in the life of

Stinky Vickie.

French Connection

Bonjour!
I just got back from spending a few days visiting with my girls

and attending the Junk Bonanza extravaganza.  We went to the sale on Friday

 right after our breakfast of coffee and muffins at French Meadow.

A few days before I was scheduled to drive to Minneapolis, I received a surprise package

 in the mail from my friend Tracy (Crow's Feet Chic) whom I've never met in person,

 but through our blogs I've discovered we are kindred spirits.  Knowing my odd fascination with
 vintage sock monkeys and my love of coffee, she crocheted a coffee cozy for me

and my two daughters who share my coffee addiction.

Of course the monkeys had to ham it up for the camera!   Did I mention that they are French?
  Oui, oui!  They traveled all the way from Alberta, Canada where they are fluent in French.
  They even charmed the staff at French Meadow.  Potential new market, Tracy?

(Me, daughter Megan, my mother, and daughter Julie.)

I talked a film student into taking a group photo outside of the restaurant.

We were charged up and ready to shop!!!

I also found what I thought was a dog bootie in the package from Tracy.  Hmmmm.....

I had to read her note to find out it's a cell phone cozy!  She correctly guessed

the size of my very old, not vintage, just old and outdated cell phone.

I didn't bring my camera into the sale, but here are the few small items I purchased.

I purchased these vintage hangers from the charming Linda (Itsy Bits and Pieces) and the goodie bag was a bonus!  Linda and her daughter Liana were busy with customers, but they took a few minutes of their time to chat with me.  I've followed Linda's blog since just after last years' J.B., so it was fun to meet her and her daughter in person and see all the wonderful treasures packed into their space.

I picked up these sweet little shoes to place on a dresser.

There were plenty of vintage clocks to pick from, but this one caught my fancy.

My purchases were small, but between the 3 of us, we filled up my daughter's truck.
We had to leave plenty of room in back for our next stop at IKEA to pick up her
very heavy wood countertops and farmhouse sink.  At the end of the day, we met
the rest of my girlie relatives for a late dinner and gab fest.  It was exhausting, but fun.
Can't wait 'till the next sale in April!

In closing, I'd like to thank these thoughtful and generous blog friends
 I've become acquainted with this past year:

*Merci Tracy (Crow's Feet Chic) for the crocheted goodies exported from Canada!

*Thank you Debra (Common Ground) for featuring my blog on this week's

Vintage Inspiration Friday where there's a party every Friday!

*And thank you Anne (White Lace Cottage)
for sending me this vintage first-aid kit earlier this summer!

Au revoir for now,
Vickie

Head and shoulders, knees and toes.......

You've seen them.

They're everywhere.

Baby doll heads.

So tell me, have you jumped on the headhunting bandwagon yet?

I'm afraid I, myself, have succumbed to their creepy charm.

Mine sits on top of the medicine cabinet next to a vintage tin.

My collection of one.  Just one.

Well, if you've thumbed through the newest issue of Flea Market Style,

I'm sure you've seen this head turning collection on page 125.

He found his first doll head in the woods.

And will not remove a doll head from its body.

It must be found already detached.

Yeah, right.

Now I don't spend a whole lot of time hiking in the woods (deer ticks and creepy,

crawly things everywhere) but I can say without a doubt that I've never seen

a stray doll head amongst the leaves and fallen trees!

And when I'm vacuuming under the couch cushions, I've often

found Peanut M & M's, but decapitated heads, not so much.

When digging new holes for the sorry trees I've planted, I've

found a few stray glass marbles, but I've yet to hit a

porcelain doll head with my shovel. 

And during the biannual cleaning of my refrigerator,

I'm sure to find a wilted head of lettuce, but a Cabbage Patch

doll head?  Not likely.

So, I can't help but wonder,

 "Where are all these doll heads coming from?"

My Betsy Wetsy's curly top head is still attached to her 50 year old body,

so I know they don't get old and fall off. 

Which brings me to this frightening conclusion.

It's the mommies!!!

Shame on them.

They're tippy toeing into sissy's room late at night and plucking the heads 

right off the beloved baby dolls!  What is wrong with them? 

Will we be seeing these.....

(Picasa photo editing.)

...popping up on all the etsy sites? 

 Really now.

A lousy quarter under the pillow in exchange for Baby Boo Boo's head?! 

Then there's the question of,

"Where are all the bodies going?"

To the local landfill?  Tossed in the Virginia woods? 

Avant-garde jewelry?

 Cut apart for cabinet hardware?

Or maybe......



Off to the North Pole to be repurposed at Santa's workshop!

My mischievous little elves put their heads together and came up with a
brilliant idea.  They will be filling the doll bodies with dirt to create a new style of
Chia Pets!!! 
Be sure to add one to your Christmas wish list!

Another mystery solved.

Thanks for heading my way,

From the headquarters of Detective Ranger 911

*The vintage truck cab and trailer were found in 2 different antique shops

in Wisconsin.  I bought the trailer first and couldn't believe my luck when I

found the mismatched cab to pull it!  They were $10 each.

Joining the parties at:
Funky Junk Interiors Saturday Nite Special
Knick of Time Tuesday