So the chair fell apart. Now what?

What do you do with old chairs that are completely falling apart? You give them to your son, and say, "see what you can do with this".

And then, he brings them back to you, with old boards attached as signs. And you realize once again that he has that same "junking" vision as his parents, and you're not sure whether that is a blessing or a curse.

Ha!

 

After he attached the old wood to them, he brought them back to me to paint the words on. I was a bit nervous - he did such a great job on them, I didn't want to mess them up!

 

I also had a chair seat to do something with. I made it into a sign too......

 

 

It looks a bit like it's on attached to the porch post in this pic, doesn't it? Ah, those crazy photo angles. Can't trust them. heehee

 

We have some more of the chair pieces - we'll get to them as soon as we can find time.

 

And inspiration!



Addy Grace vs. Autism

I recently met a little girl named Addy Grace.

Her family came in my shop.

Mom & dad & big sister shopped.

 Addy sat in her stroller, making a noise in her throat.

With any luck, that noise in her throat will become words. 

You see, sweet little Addy Grace has autism, along with other medical issues. 

She was a normal baby, until one of her vaccinations went horribly wrong.

Her mom told me that Addy's health went downhill rapidly.

She became very, very ill with many problems.

You may know that many autistic children don't have the ability to connect.

Eye contact and smiles are not part of the equation.

But as you can see, little Addy is a fighter, and she has her smile back.

She has parents who are doing all they can to help her.

And she has therapists & doctors who are helping her as well.

I started following For the Love of Addy Grace,

a facebook page about her progress.

I encourage you to follow it too.

It's an inspiration to watch her progress.

Look at her above mastering a spoon!

And using a slide all by herself!

She's had lots of milestone moments lately.

They are hoping that noise in her throat is her attempt to talk.

She uses an ipad to communicate now.

Her mama said Addy is very bright.

But it's all locked inside.

Let's pray that soon changes, and she can talk!

Besides prayer, there is another way you can help.

Addy's care is very expensive.

She is currently entered in a contest through Generation Rescue.

If click on the Generation Rescue link, you will see this photo:

If you will kindly click the LIKE button there,

it will count as a vote.

The child with the most votes will win a prize package.

The prize?

Digestive enzymes crucial to Addy's recovery.

A worthy cause, wouldn't you agree?

Again, the link is: Generation Rescue

The last day to vote is October 30, 2013.

A very simple way to help a child, 

and it won't cost you anything but a minute of your time.

Addy with her big sister Abigail.

I'll repeat the facebook link you can follow 

to watch her daily journey:

For the Love of Addy Grace

If you want to help the family with other medical expenses,

you can message Addy's mom Brenda through that page.

Thanks for letting me share Addy's story.

School desks

Any idea what this is?

Does this help?

Note the hole in the desk top.

In a classroom, the desks would have been set up like this...

The hole was for an inkwell.

Imagine a little girl with pigtails sitting in a seat.

And an ornery little boy in the seat behind her.

Wonder how many times ornery little boys

dipped those pigtails in the inkwell?

I found the classroom photo on the internet. It is:

 White Pine Village Marchido School in Ludington, Michigan

We have several of these desks in the shop right now for sale.

A great decorating piece for your home.

And if you have kids, they may love to play school with them! 

Along with the desks that we picked up at various auctions,

there was also a top that was missing it's desk.

I made a sign out of it, using a quote from a beloved children's author...

Dr. Seuss.

Oh, to have an imagination like Dr. Seuss!

A Crock Surprise

See the crock on the left that says Enterprise? I have had it for a couple months or so in the shop. It was sort of hidden under a table.

I bought several crocks yesterday from a customer, and decided to display them all together in a new spot. When I reached under the table to pull out the Enterprise crock, I noticed it has something white all over it.

It was on the inside, but even more on the outside. Crystal like, and practically covering the whole thing. It looked like salt, but I wasn't sure.

I got a wet paper towel, and wiped it off. I got up my nerve, and tasted it, barely touching my tongue to a spot on my hand that had touched the white stuff. Yep. Definitely salt!

You can see a crack in the crock toward the top by the letter S. My guess is that this crock was used to make sauerkraut, which was made by layering cabbage and salt.

The salt must have soaked into the crack, and as the crock sat there under my table, it oozed out. Or grew. Or did whatever salt does.

It's a bit of a mystery to me. Why exactly did it happen? Did it only happen because the conditions were just right? What were those conditions? Will it happen again?

I guess time will tell!

Gossip bench

Are you old enough to recognize this?

 

I admit that I am.

 

It's a phone bench, AKA gossip bench.

 

Back in the day, before cordless phones and cell phones, most homes had one phone. Imagine! And that one phone was either attached to the wall, or had to stay close to it. I'm sure the young folks can hardly believe that. lol

 

The phone would sit on top of the desk part, the phone book would fit neatly inside. And the person would sit in the seat and gossip chat.

We picked this up at an auction, and I gave it the prim treatment. I forgot to take a before picture, but it was plain brown. The original seat must have gave way at some point. When we bought it, it had the piece of plywood you see in the photo for a seat. But, it was unfinished, just a plain piece of plywood.

This brings back memories of party lines, and long and short rings. And the days before answering machines. I remember many times when everyone was outside, either in the yard or garden. Through the open windows of the house, we would hear the phone ring. Someone would go running to the house to answer the phone. More often than not, the caller would hang up just as you were breathlessly running through the door.

Ahhh, the good ole days.

Owls

Isn't it funny how a certain thing will take off and be all the rage?

Right now, it's..........

Owls!

 

These guys are locally made

by a very talented mother/daughter team.

 

So adorable!

 

They're a hoot!

 

Sorry, I just had to say it.

Hee, hee.

 

 

The 70's cupboard

I bought these 2 book cases at an auction. I know you're looking at it, and saying, "I only see one piece". It's actually 2 pieces, stacked on top of each other.

They were plain jane brown. And very 1970's looking.

I dubbed it the 70's cupboard.

And when I called it that on my facebook page, a friend from high school said, "what's wrong with the 70's?"

Why nothing, nothing at all!

We both graduated in '80. The 70's were some good times.

But the bookcase/cupboard? The 70's weren't doing it any favors.

I wasn't sure anything I did to it would help. I didn't want to put much more money in it.

I found a can of sorta bluish/greenish paint in my paint stash. I put one coat on the whole thing, then went over all of it with the orbital sander.

A coat of wax, (or was it varnish? I forget now what I did) and it was done.

Not bad, but I still wasn't sure anyone would want it. It got a decent response on facebook, but I still wasn't sure about it. I didn't bother putting a price on it, thinking I would just use it for display purposes.

Then someone sent me a message asking if I still had the 70's looking cupboard. "Yes I do", I said.

And within a month it was sold.

Shows how much I know about what people want!