Breakin' news

Not really. Just thought that was a cute little title for today. You'll see.

I had another morning the same as Friday with Noah. He didn't want to go, he pleaded with me to go home. His excuses were "I'm sooooo tired, mommy", or "it's so cold", and I responded, "it will be warm inside your school" and of course when we set foot in the door he said "it's coooooold in here, too" in a whiney tone. (ugh.)

I said a little prayer as I walked out the door this morning. And guess what? I was only in the school 2 minutes sitting on the floor trying to get Noah to play with one of his really good buddies, Brevin, and in walks my saint (hehe), Leann, who is normally not on schedule but running a tad bit late (love ya, Leann!), but not today!

I said, "today is going to be another day like Friday", and she said, "no it's not, I'm here." So, somehow I snuck out while Leann stayed on the floor with Noah trying to get him to play with Brevin and her daughter, Kristin. I got in the car and what a relief I felt come over me. The fact that I was able to leave without hearing screams as I stood outside the school door was amazingly peaceful. Now, I know Leann may not be there every day, but I really think she was my angel in disguise today.

I had a really great weekend and I hope you did also.

Originally we were going to go to Chuck-E-Cheese on Saturday with my friends, Heather, Lee and Cole, but, well, that didn't work out with the behavior I encountered on Friday (I'm a mother who is following through with discipline -- yay me). So, instead we all went to an estate auction of my adopted grandma's, Marie.

Marie passed away in May. I had known her all my life. I posted about her death a while back. Her estate auction was finally on Saturday.

I wanted really badly to get some things of hers. (Well, some I already did get . . . one very important thing which she had "left" for just for me. I'll post about that later -- it's so incredibly special!). And two of those things were an old (old) chair that I had always grown up sitting in, and an old Brownie camera. But while there, I got way way way into being the cool passive bidder (ha ha, yeah right. I was the one waving my number way up high in the air for all to see. How inconspicious I was ---- not!) and bid on a lot of things.

I'd see things that I remembered . . . and you know how I am with memories. So I bid on them. Or I'd see things I didn't know she had and felt the urge to have myself -- usually old vintage things -- and then I'd bid on those, too. So I walked away with a lot. And I was happy. Very happy. Still am.

People rarely bid against me and I think it's because I was a young female (I'm still young, right?) bidding against tons and tons of old farmer men and perhaps I made them feel insecure or maybe they were just shocked? I doubt it, really. I'm sure they were just being incredibly nice. That's just how farmers are. So I had a really really great time.

And then I walked through Marie's house one last time. Talk about memories. I stood in the living room and could vividly picture all her furniture in it, my brother and I sitting on the floor playing, and Marie sitting in "her" la-z-boy chair watching us and watching us when suddenly she would blurt out something that was on her mind and usually it was something sarcastic that I just didn't "get". But as I grew older, I did learn what a funny, very blunt, yet very loving and caring woman she was. It was great going down memory lane. I miss her.

Oh! So what I won! The two biggest things ----- my camera (for $3!, no kidding!), which I'm guessing is probably from the 1930's or 40's. And then MY CHAIR! So I'll post pics one day when I actually take them. I got some other really cool finds which my vintage-loving friends will really adore.

So my breakin' news is this. I need to take another break. I must. I spend way too many mornings and afternoons on my computer on the internet and not in photoshop like I should be doing. I would be ahead, instead of behind, if I'd just attribute those hours to my work. So that's what I'm doing again. I have to get caught up because in just a few weeks I'm having my Halloween party, which as of now, I'm totally not prepared for AT ALL. When are we ever prepared, really? But this is a big party . . . and it keeps getting bigger . . . so I need, no MUST, work a little bit harder or I will never ever be caught up.

I leave you with a picture of the honeysuckle that has (over) grown on our deck. Isn't it pretty? Once the blooms are gone, I'm cutting it all down. It's way too overtaken. But it's quite beautiful.
Have a great week, my friends!

Pleasant discoveries

We are still unpacking. We still have dozens among dozens of boxes in the garage. We just got our storage cleaned out right before the weekend. It frustrates me because all I want is more time so I can finish unpacking and do my best to organize.

If I concentrated solely on unpacking all these weeks, I would have been done way before now, I can guarantee it. But with my job, it's been impossible. When Maia takes naps, I've been working. Most days when Noah is at school, if I'm not running errands, I am working. I am thankful Maia is good at keeping herself busy during that time. She sees it as a couple super fun hours that she can play with all the toys Noah won't let her play with when he's around! :c)

Anyway, we still have tons and tons and tons to do. Like, it's not even funny. At first I was taking it all with stride, and now I'm just beyond stressed out about it. I'm stressed, Neil is stressed and I think our stress is impacting the kids. How could it not, ya know? Anyway, I know we'll deal. This is more of a vent outlet for me right now than anything.

And what I'm really trying to get at is, I found some really cool things when unpacking a tub last night!

I thought this tub only contained pieces of an unfinished afghan that my grandma had began making before I was born. We found it when going through her things when she passed away (after her long fight with breast cancer -- oh I miss her still) in 2000, so mom gave it to me. I packed it away, but not too far away, thinking I would eventually find someone to finish it for me. No one seemed to want to help me. You know, we're all so busy these days, so I understood.

When I opened it and took out the afghan pieces last night, I also found another afghan (well, pieces) she had started on, and then I also found other crafty things started but never finished. It was like finding a pot of gold for me because I love hand made things and I love vintage things, but even more, it was something I found of my grandmothers that she had her hands on - a lot.

Take a look:
In the bottom of the tub, were probably 10 or 12 unfinished pieces of embroidery or cross-stitch (I think they're called??). This one was a "Merry Christmas" piece. According to the sticker, "A Keepsake". (Makes me giggle.) And to hold the yarn is a butterfly, seen here, made of plastic? (Crafty friends, do you know what I'm describing?)
How to draw trees. Anyone want to know how to draw trees? I can teach you literally by the book now!
Then I found these. Knitting needles? And lots of them.
And then more knitting needles. I guess I should learn how to knit, eh?
And then some handy how-to guides. Now I have no excuse but to re-teach myself! Anyone want to join me?
And then I found this beautiful piece of embroidery. If I were to only finish one thing, I think this is what I would finish. I don't think I could do as good of a job as she did, though.
And then a baby book! I guess I could make something now for my new niece or nephew, which by the way, we find out tomorrow what the sex is!!!
And then another unfinished piece. Those of who who know me well now know where I get this annoying habit of starting things but never finishing them (with good intentions to, though, of course!).
And then one of the afghans. So pretty! I guess she thought I was going to be a boy?
Look, the needle is still in it and everything.
And then the pretty orange one. I would love having this one done also. It's in thin rectangular pieces. I guess this is how you put an afghan together?? There are quite a few pieces. I really don't think there's much more to do than just knitting all of the big pieces together. Here's a piece. Hard to tell, but it's long, as are all of them.
Can you believe how there was so much unfinished? And I seriously had no idea she was so crafty! I never saw her do anything artsy ever. She was a grade school teacher, so I knew there was some creativeness in her, but not like this! It's so special to me finding out new things about her even after she's been gone 7 years.

And then, drumroll . . . I found in a different box some nostalgic things of mine. My "My Little Ponies"! (I gave them to Maia and she's now been carrying them around all day today. They even took a bath with her last night.)
And then I found piles upon piles of letters. I love to write letters, and I always have. It began with my pen pals when I was 8. My friend, Amberley, was one of my pen pals. But she wasn't just a "pen pal" but was like a sister to me. We met when we were infants (we were born on the same day . . .our moms were best friends), she move to Northern Illinois, but we stayed friends forever. This is one of probably the 500 letters I have from her . . . these back in 1989. How fun!!! (Cute Amberley, eh?!) I can't believe were have been friends since birth, and now here we are, 31 years later, the closest we've ever been, with 6 kids among us of our own. (Happy sigh . . . )

New designed header

I know you've seen my new header, it's no surprise. I decided to change it the other day when going through my grandparents old things. I think I've mentioned that they kept everything? Well, there was a box full full full of old cards from people over the years. Hundreds. Yes, they kept everything.

I found cards from my dad to my grandparents when he was 3, ones from friends when my grandma had her hysterctomy in the early 1970's, a card from my mom, dad and myself the Easter of 1976, which would have been when I was only a month old. It would have been probably my parents first card that they signed after I was born and that makes me think of signing our own first cards "Neil, Valerie and Noah". In a new parents life, it's pretty exciting to write a new person's name who is your own child attached to your own, especially when you never ever thought there you would be a family of 3. I still remember signing our names for the first time.

Then there were also cards from grandma and grandpa to each other during a 45 year time span, each seemed to be signed differently, "Honey, I'll always love you", "To many more beautiful years", "I love you more and more every year", and so on. There were hundreds of cards. While I pitched over half of them, I could not fathom throwing them all out. They were a piece of my family's history. And some of my favorites were the ones from the early 50's. Some had sparkles on them, some were very thin waxy tissue, some had the ugliest designs on the front, but some were just so . . . what's the word . . . retro . . . timeless? And the things the cards themselves said - even better - funny in most cases. I had a ball looking through them. And they inspired me to change my header.

This header I designed was using a card that I found from my dad and his siblings to their mom for Mother's Day. If only there was a frame on it with a woman taking pictures or a woman on her computer. Then that would be me to a "t". Here's another one that I really loved. I just adore vintage things. Aren't they great? Hope you're enjoying my new Purple Valley "look".

Decatur in 1914

There is so much talk right now in Decatur about the possibility of the Transfer House being moved back from Central Park to it's original location on Main Street. (Has it actually been decided, anyone know?)

Here I found a picture of what it looked like nearly 100 years ago. Pretty neat, eh? But there's no way this will work today (in my opinion) because they had trolley cars then and very few cars. People walked everywhere and relied tremendously on the trollies. It's a different day and age today. Putting the transfer house back on a street which is now super busy just does not make sense and it is not very feasible. I can't imagine what it will cost to do this, and the thought of damage occuring to the transfer house during the move makes me feel uneasy. The building is very fragile. I know I don't have any say and my opinion probably does not matter, but please, leave it where it is and let history be history. There are plenty of other things that need Decatur's attention and money spent on. Ok, enough said from me.

Beautiful Buttons

I gave the kiddos a job one afternoon, and that job was to take all the buttons of grandma's out of the packaging and put them into a jar. So they did it (yes, Maia, too) and had a great time. I love the simple things like this that occupy a child. Maia especially kept busy putting handfulls of them in and out, in and out. I wish simple repetition like that thrilled me now like it does her. So, anyway, here is the jar filled halfway. (Half full or half empty? I'd say half full, don't ya think?) Isn't it perty?

And then a few of my favorite ones. Gorgeous, aren't they? I think this button discovery is going to send me on a hunt for more. So, oh no, a new collection is emerging. Thankfully though, other than ketchup, I honestly don't have too many. . . . . I swear!

Buttons Galore

I have some sewing bits-n-pieces that were my grandma's. I don't sew. Neither did she really, but she liked to keep everything. Most of what I have are buttons, and there are a lot, plus some spools of thread, and then tiny bags of odds-n-end thread. Anyone know what I could do with all of these? Cerella, since you're a sewing/knitting diva, do you know? Or do you know of anything creative I could do to showcase the buttons? Here are some pictures of what I have. The buttons are all in smaller individual plastic bags. I love all this old stuff and would love to have it "out" rather than put away in boxes for years to come.And then I have this mechanism that I'm not sure exactly what it does, but it looks like perhaps it aids in making button holes? I am right, Cerella, do you know? Again, what can I do with this? (It's really kinda cool looking!)
And then I also have this old sewing machine accessories tin box. Which is really neat and looks to be in perfect condition, as all of these things appear to be. I love the color of this. Isn't it neat how things from this generation tend to be turquoise? Since that is my favorite color, I looooooove it. I might just have to set it this somewhere in the new house. I just am in need of some really creative ideas. My interior decorating brain is not working right now. Too many other things on my mind, which is why I need all of your help!