Vintage Autograph Book

I bought the most delightful autograph book today and want to share some of the entries. It is dated 1937-1938. The owner, Wauneta, was attending Harrison High School, however, I sat down and read it cover to cover and don't know what grade she was in. It is sooooo amazing how the times have changed as the teens now would never use such sayings as;

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Yours till the ocean wears rubber pants to keep it's bottom dry"

(Do the kids today even know what rubber pants were?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Roses are red

Violets are blue

Peaches are green

When compared to you

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you get married

and your husband gets cross

Grab the stove poker

and say "I'm Boss!

(I'm sure today's teens don't know what a stove poker is and would they have a clue about someone being cross?)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On a mule we find two legs behind

And two we find before

We stand behind before we find

What the two behind be for

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

When you get married

And have twins

Don't come to my house

for safety pins

(Would they have a clue what the safety pins were used for)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In the salad of friendship, I am the nuts!

Delightful, don't you think?

Herb of the Year 2008

Sleep, work at home, work at work, eat.........over and over again. Seem to have the winter blahs..................especially after reading blogs where they are out working in their gardens doing the Spring clean-up stuff. Have I mentioned before how I love Spring clean-up thyme in the garden? I love finding the green beginnings of a new gardening season below the brown of the previous year. Such promise that there is always something positive to look forward to.

I also totally love to weed! LOOOOOOVE it! I could even be a professional weeder. Sometimes I have to stop the urge I get when I go by a house with a weedy garden as I want to stop the car and pull those pesky things!

I recently found out that Calendula is the herb of the year for 2008. There are several reasons I love Calendula;

1. It is the flower of the month of October which is my birth month. That is how Calendula Court was so named.

2. It easily reseeds in the garden and is a deterrent for bugs

3. The yellow petals are delicious in salads and look really pretty. (Yes, you may be served flowers if you come to my house!)

4. If I scrap a finger or get stuck by a rose thorn while working outside, I pull a Calendula flower, put it on the 'boo-boo' and it heals so fast that the next day it is gone. If you ever see any lotions or skin treatments with Calendula, it is the best stuff around.

No Auction Today

No auction for me today as I need to stay home and get something done. I have done a couple little painting projects........a little stool and a wooden stand. The stand looks real bland so I think I will decoupage some old music to the top and maybe some pressed flowers. I'm not a big fan of 'antiquing' with paint so I will jazz it up another way.The stool was plain brown and I glued on the wooden wreath and painted it white. Cute, I think for a little girl's room or a shabby chic room or bathroom or beside a fireplace.......I can think of a lot of places for it. I plan to take it to the flea market next Saturday though.

I also bagged some of the potpourri I make and am calling it Cottage Garden Potpourri. It is flower petals and herbs from my garden. I do not let any petal of any kind go to waste and toss them all in this huge hat box I have and after they have dried I add either lavender oil or rose oil or sometimes both, and orris root as a fragrance fixative. After deadheading flowers in the summer I save all those petals. I find it very relaxing to rest outside after working in the garden and pull apart the parts of the plant I want to save for various crafts, etc.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After I am done with this post I plan to put together some little dried flower wreaths that will go in some of the old picture frames purchased at auctions. I will post pics when they are done. Here are the supplies waiting for me to assemble them after getting cozy in a comfy chair and hopefully finding an old movie to watch.

Herb Vinegars

Wow! It's been a week since I've posted and an extremely busy week at that. That's OK though since the week has flown by.....that makes it one week closer to Spring!

Do you ever make and use herb vinegars? I love making vinegars and using in all types of cooking. You can use herb vinegar in any recipe that calls for regular vinegar. I use most often in salad dressing mixed with olive oil and some sea salt and fresh cracked pepper. MMMMMMM! Also drizzled over meats before cooking, in deviled eggs, potato salad, just anything that calls for vinegar. The additional flavor of whatever herb used is a bonus to the dish. The bottles also look pretty sitting around the kitchen and make people think you are an expert chef!

A few of my favorite herbs to add are rosemary, parsley, salad burnet, and chives. Chive blossoms make the vinegar the prettiest pink color. I also like basil and if you use one of the purple basil varities, the vinegar takes on the most awesome ruby color and is so pretty sitting in the windowsill.

CHIVE BLOSSOM VINEGAR WITH ROSEMARY SPRIGS

How To Make Herbal Vinegars...........

Just take fresh herbs and bruise them by crunching between your finger and insert in a wide-mouth glass container. I use glass canning jars. Then fill the jar with vinegar. I use white vinegar so the herbs can add their natural color. Cover the jar with plastic wrap secured with a rubberband. ( Do not use anything metal.) Now let the vinegar set for up to a month or so and every so often you can shake the jar a little to kind of mix it up. Strain the mixture to remove all the fine bits of herbs. I actually strain through coffee filters. Get some pretty bottles, cut some more of the fresh herbs and insert a couple sprigs into the bottle for decoration. Pour in the herb vinegar and cap with a cork. Voila!

Just Bee

Today was my Saturday to work....9:00-12:00....so not bad but would have been nice to sleep in. Stopped at a flea market afterwards and found this bee. It will go in the garden. I have other bees out there as I have started to collect them (kinda, sorta) since my last name starts with the letter 'B'. Plus bees are so important to pollination. Most the time it's just me and the bees in the garden and of course lots and lots of butterflies too.

I'm not sure what kind of glass this bee is made of but I can tell it is vintage. The glass balls are painted on the inside a silver and gold color. The wrought iron also matches the wrought iron on the porches of Calendula Court. Can't wait for Spring so I can find her a herb to perch under.

Speaking of Spring........................here are some of my flower pots waiting patiently in the garage for their annual seeds.

Can you see the pink SALE sign? Everyone knows the yard sale is at my house when the pink signs appear on the street corners.

Hubby & Me as babes

Happy Valentine’s

Day
to you
and yours

A Reader's Question

Lisa B., I was unable to locate your e-mail address to answer your question so I will answer it in a post and share with everyone. Here is Lisa's question.............................I've been enjoying reading your blog. I've used the estate sale site to find sales in my area to go to...I didn't know they had an on-line sale feature. I would love to be able to do that but I don't see any. Can you tell me how you did that and/or how many are offering on-line sales? Thanks,Lisa B.

The closest area to me that I could subscribe to is the Cincinnati area and I received an e-mail from estatesales.net that was about a sale in Ohio being put on by a company called Everything But the House. This particular company has an on-line sale feature and I looked through several of their upcoming sales and bid on a couple items. I ended up winning the items and they sent me a message on where to go pick them up!!!!! Oops I thought, what have I done now......... I then saw where they would ship the items at my request. Since the items are small, shipping is done by them but if the items are big (furniture etc.) the buyer must arrange for shipping directly from the estate sale location. Hope this answers your question!!!! Happy estate shopping!!

Techy stuff

Today I am going techy on ya and want to share some computer things I have learned through other blogs. Do y'all know about Google Reader? I have found this site to be so useful and check it daily to see who out there in blogland has an update. You can subscribe to all the beauteous blogs that you love in one place. So far I am subscribed to 94 blogs (!!!) and they all show up right there on Google Reader. If you haven't discovered it yet, go over there and check it out.

Another site I have found is estatesales.net. This is one of the fastest ways I have found to spend lots of money from the comfort of my computer chair!!!!!! Estate sales on-line!!!!! I have complained before of the lack of estate sales in my area so I found this site that will connect me to estate sales in the entire U.S.........that means shopping estates of folks from New Orleans or Savannah, Georgia, or Charleston, South Carolina..................just image the beauties out there in estate land!!!!! Here is what I am presently waiting to be delivered from my inagural estate sale on-line purchase.............. Some pretty and old perfume bottles................................

And an ornate table-top mirror and Martha Stewart silver plated candle holders

Another Sunday......Another Auction

Here's what I got at the auction today~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Some vintage compacts and a vintage brush-mirror set...............

A bunch of vintage handerchiefs that I plan to make lavender sachets with and also will use as picture matting for some dried flower pictures I plan to make.................I have never seen a pictoral hanky like the one here, Have you?

A sewing bag complete with contents of old buttons, embroidery supplies, crochet hooks, and some things I have no idea what they are used for......................................................I wonder who M.R.L was????

A box of picture frames that I haven't even taken out and looked at yet......................AND a cute little table thingy that the auctioneer called a Martha Washington sewing cabinet. I may use it as a night stand when I redo the bedroom or it may end up in The 'B' Hive when I get that room done. Who knows at this point where it will end up. I do that..........get things before I even have a place for them. I totally love the chippy black paint with bits of sage green peeking through. On the way home from the auction hubby said, "You should remove that paint to see what kind of wood is underneath." OMG! NO MORE MANWOOD is what I thought. What I said was, "I like the paint so why go to all that trouble." I will go to the trouble though to put on some cute glass knobs.

Spring Fever

I am suffering...........................from a baaaad case of Spring fever. I am so ready to get my hands in the soil and have mud under my fingernails.......ready to smell all the fragrant aroma's from Spring lilacs and fresh herbs and sneeze as they tickle my nose...............ready to feel the green grass under foot as I search for blooms for a fresh bouquet. I am garden ready!!!!!

Since it is 30 degrees I will just drool over some pics of gardens past........................

Free Flea Publicity

Mom called me the other day and said I must stop by and pick up a local newspaper on my way home from work as there was a nice article about last Saturday's flea market. There on the back page was our picture. I wish I could say I was being featured in a magazine like Sadie Olive but just the small hometown newspaper that one can read in 2 minutes flat........... the entire 6 pages!!!! Anyway, I am happy for the free publicity and the writer even mentioned I was raising money for Paris. The next flea is March 1 and I hope to make several crafty things by then. I promise to share them later...................................

New Look................Again

As I find more and more beauteous blogs out there I decided I needed to personalize my header background. I walked through the house and grabbed a few things that are so 'me' and voila.......a new look is born. Way prettier than the other pic I had I think. Since my middle name is DAWN, the old music with Dawn in the title fits perfectly. Too bad I don't own Barry Manilow's 'Mandy' music! The lavender is dried from my garden and of course I totally love vintage rhinestones and pearls. The QUEEN BEE top is a My Flat in London find from e-bay. I had to have it as around my house Hubby better think of me as THE Queen Bee!!!!!! Also had to have something French so I put in a pad of paper that the sweetest Deb at work got for me as all I talk about is going to Paris next year.

Sugar Scuttle

After several comments on what this is, and researching each and every one, I have learned it is a sugar scuttle. The sole original purpose was for sugar. The scuttle name comes from the scoop used to remove the sugar from the cup. It is designed after a coal scuttle. The sugar scuttle I have came with a small ladle and not a scoop. Every one of these that I found on the internet had a scoop so I don't know what the difference of having a ladle is. At least the mystery is solved for me now. Thanks for those leaving comments on it as that lead to the answer! You guys rock!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Tuesday's lunch breaks have turned in to Goodwill Tuesday's for me. Yesterday's finds were a couple of cook books, a wooden stand that I will be adding to the 'paint it' pile and a small white glass jar. Also I got several boxes of vintage Christmas ornamanets with a pearly white finish and plan to make a wreath with them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I have done some more BLOOM~N~Bottles and just need to get the seeds in them before listing on Etsy. I need to go out in the garden and collect some more seeds............ if the rain would ever stop. The seeds will need to dry out for awhile so as I think of it maybe I will be out in the rain today!

First Flea

Yesterday was the first Flea Market I participated in. Went so-so. I didn't have high hopes seeing as it was here in my hometown which is in the second to the smallest county in the whole state of Indiana. Anyway, I did sell a few things and will be participating in the one next month too. Here is a pic of my table.................................
Here is what I looked at most of the day. I snapped this shot at opening time hoping to catch the herd of buyers waiting for the doors to open. (Yeh right!) ..................And remember me predicting I would be the girly girl table amongst farm stuff? This is what I saw every time I looked at the clock on the wall.......................A super duper big THANKS to my beautuful Mom and Dad for coming mid-morning and Mom stayed the rest of the day with me. And Mary, the chair did not sell. Maybe next time!