These are a few of my favorite things.... well this week at least....

Stuff makes me smile.  Vintage stuff makes me giddy.  Cheap vintage stuff makes me gasp, giggle and pat myself on the shoulder!   I wonder why people look at me funny and then back away slowly?

This week I found a Number 3 Barbie and Ken with clothes and case...$17.00.  Oh yay!  Did you play with Barbies?  From the time I was about six until I was ummm too old to admit to it and then when I was too old to care either way--I have loved Barbie.  I have a very good body image, by the way.   I love her little clothes, and the zippers on vintage dresses and the way her voice sounds a lot like mine but more confident.  Oh Barbie, someday I wanna be exactly like you, till then I know just what I'll do, I'll make believe that I am you! 

I grew up in a small northern Maine town and we had to travel about 15 to 20 miles to Lincoln, Maine to shop.  Newberry's was a five and dime on Main Street.  I never knew that it was a franchise and there were stores all over the U.S.  I thought ours was the only one.  I remember sitting at the lunch counter on a swivel stool and ordering french fries and watching the soda fountain pump red and orange fluid like a waterfall and being pretty sure it was magic.  I remember shopping for canvas tennis shoes to get me through the summer "and you know they would last longer if you wouldn't use them as bicycle brakes!"  The toys were down in the basement and I could sleepwalk right to the Barbie aisle.  It closed in the late 90's and that's very sad.  But this little basket makes me happy.  Giddy-happy. 

Oh, from 1984 to 1988 I also bought my weight in Aqua-Net hairspray from Newberry's.   Did you see MY hair?  Why so much hair? 

So did you have a Newberrys?  Another store like that?  Do you remember the smell and the asbestos floor and the aqua painted walls, the stairs? 

Oh, and have you found anything cool lately?  I love neat find stories--Go ahead share with me!

Smiles,
Lisa

Always Prepared but never organized...

This is my TO-DO list for this morning. 

It is now 11:20.  I have one thing scratched off.  It says Animals.  Which means to feed, water, shovel poop, scratch behind the ears and call them shmoopsy.  Check.

Then I was supposed to do the dishes.  Not just wash them, but I bought new-old dishes at the auction yesterday and I need to banish the mismatched, chipped dishes from the cupboards.  These are my new-old dishes...It is a pattern called Blue Heaven by the Sebring Co.  Oh, how I love them.  I got plates and bowls and teacups, saucers, coffee cups, lunch plates, berry bowls, soup bowls all FOR...wait for it....$5.00.  Oh yeah...

Then I should be cleaning off the various drift that collects on the sideboards.

Clear off the overflow that lands on the table, sweep the floors, fold the laundry, clear off the computer table, change the boy's beds and become a Boy Scout. On my honor I... No, wait that's wrong.  I need to sew badges on a boy scout shirt for a customer. 

The list probably should have read...

Wow, look at how much I've accomplished this morning!  I amaze myself sometimes.

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

 

Don't let the universe know you're happy...

Because on Monday I was and then the rest of the week saw two of my hens get eaten by a fox.  Then all 14 of my baby chickens also eaten by said fox.  There are still little fluffy baby chicken feathers all over my yard.  Then in the midst of being born--oh so very close--one of my baby ducks just gave up.  The thought of this big ol' world was just too much for her.  Then the little brown boy goat collapsed in the hot sun and I didn't get to him in time and he died. 

Anyone want to come to MY party. 

Blech.  Here's to nothing getting dead for the rest of the week.  Stupid death.

Nuthin' to smile about here.
Lisa

Haley Emma circa 1946

She's terribly shy. 

Ha!

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa





I'm sensing a pattern here....

The little girl and I went.........wait...

The little girl's name is Haley.  I don't know why I don't use her name.  It's not like someone is going to come and take her.  She's loud. 

And mildy weird.

Anyway.  Haley and I went to the fabric store this weekend to find a pattern for a 40's style dress for a fashion show she is doing for her French class. 

This is the one we chose.

And they were having a sale of 5 Simplicity patterns for $5.00, so we got a few more just for fun...

Then at the auction on Sunday, I picked up a few more...

This one was my favorite.  The bag says, "Old but good blouse pattern.  Used Dec. 1, 1995."

It looks very Katharine Hepburn. 

So there, I have a few patterns-so what?  It's not like I had bins and boxes and closets full of them already. 

I, um, well I think I need help.

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

Medical Terminology

Last Tuesday Husband put a gate in the goat fence so that I could drive in there with the tractor and shovel...stuff...out.  Handy.  When he came up to the house to tell me it was done he mentioned that Stella looked funny.  Well what he actually said was, "Stella has something gross hanging out of her butt."  Rather than something lovely and magical hanging out of her butt, I suppose.  "Gross" and "hanging out of butt" are pretty much synonymous in my opinion.  


Since she had just had two kids in November and we no longer have a buck, I figured she was just in heat.    I meandered down to the goat house and out into the field to find her.  Lo and behold she indeed had something gross hanging out of her butt.  I took her by the collar and led her into the barn, put her in the little stall and closed the door.  She promptly lay down and had three babies.  One little girl and two little boys. 

On the day I sold Pip, I led him through the barn where Stella's stall was open.  I can only surmise that he said his goodbye to Stella in a VERY special way on the way through.  Which makes me nervous because I don't think I've seen Dottie go into heat in a while.  Madness. 

Also, I think Husband's gynecological assessments, though correct.... may need a little polishing. 

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

Sigh....

Well...

ummmm...

see....

yeahhhh....

I got nothing.  

Welcome to my world...

Smiles from the (very open minded) farm,
Lisa

Gittin' Some Gumption...

Sorry for the general neglect of this blog.  I'm just not feeling that bloggy lately.  I feel like I've told all the stories.  Goats, chickens, children, "Oh look I made something", blah-blah-blah.  How self absorbed can one person be anyway? 

I started to clean the house, got bored.  Started a diet, hate it.  I started to write a book, it's really hard to do that.  Oh,  I DID get a new duck. 

Her name is Violet and I can't decide if Stanley loves her or hates her.  Stanley think's he's a goat, so he may just be confused.  Violet's farmer had an emu.  I think I would like an emu. 

Disclaimer: Stolen from the internets and not the actual emu that I met.

Right?  I think that's just what I need to get me out of this funk.  An emu. 

But Husand said emu's kill more people each year than cancer.  I'm pretty sure he's making that up. 

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa

Art or Craft?

What is the difference between arts and crafts?  Art is snooty and refined and inaccesible to the common folk, whereas crafts are utilitarian and homey.  Sometimes there is a fine line between the two and I have spent the last few weeks trying to figure this out.  Well, the last few hours.  Ok, 15 minutes ago I thought about it. Jeesh.

So, here I am trying to figure out my life and my purpose and I decided that I wanted to be artsy.  Not craftsy.  Just artsy.  So I decided to start a line of jewlery.  This line of jewlery will be handsculpted and of the finest quality.  I started with these roses.

Oh, how lovely.  Yes, I will stick with this line of refinement.  I won't slip back into my craftsy ways.  Not everything has to be funny.

 'Cept pop tarts are funny.  BUT cute and sweet too.

Oh and cupcakes!

Ahhh and whoopie pies!!

No, no, no!  Stop it.  (giggle-giggle)  How about roasted chickens!

OR steaks!  BAH! hehehehehehe

SAUSAGE LINKS!  DANGILY SAUSAGE LINK EARRINGS!

No wait.  That's not classy.  Are peas classy?  Yes, I'm pretty sure they are.

Oh and toast is classy.  Well what do they give at the beginning of classy parties?  Yeah, that's right.   Toast(s). 

Though I'd prefer Doritos.

Ummm.  Ok. I give up.  I ain't got no class.  Do you? 

**Note:  All of these classic pieces are available on my Etsy page.  They're wicked nice...and classy. 

Smiles from the farm,

Lisa

No such thing as junk...

Sometimes one of the most interesting things about auctioning is not the things that you buy, but the things that you don't.  Let me explain.  Sometimes you have to buy a lot.  Well you always have to buy a lot.  I mean you have to buy a LOT, as in a group of things.  You may just HAVE to have that broken, cracked thing with the damaged but repairable part-but in addition you have to take three left footed boots,  box of Barbie doll heads and a collection of telephone books from 1982.  Usually you cull the really bad stuff when you get home. 

Well, I have had this gun case floating around my shop for a year.  It is about three feet long, made of wood and I just couldn't throw it out.  Husband suggested that I convert it into luggage.  But seeing as we don't go anywhere and if we did, I don't think airport security would appreciate my crafty DYI-ishness concerning a carry-on shaped like a gun case.  That's just asking for trouble.

I don't have before pictures, because I wasn't sure this was going to work.  I painted it green, added some shelves and lined it with a piece of vintage barkcloth.   I converted it into a shelf for my thread.  Wow, I have a lot of thread.  (Note:  most of thread also bought at auction)

Pretty clever, huh?  Now can you tell me what I should do with this lovely piece of......art?  

Smiles from the farm,
Lisa