Good Mail

As I get older, the fonder I grow of the 1990's.  I spent my high school and college years in the 90's.  When I was in high school, I discovered a magazine that I absolutely adored-Victoria.  It was a home decor, country living, recipes, clothes, and history filled magazine that had the best photographs and most wonderful essays.  I would look forward all month for it to arrive and then I would rush to my room and lie across my bed as I paged through each delightful article savouring it.  Then I would wait another long month for the next issue to appear.  It was a sad day when they cancelled Victoria magazine.  They later tried to bring it back but the profound essays were missing and so was the soul of the magazine; it read more like a catalog.  I never renewed my subscription.  I have never found another magazine that suited me so perfectly.  

In the days before internet, the mail was the main source of information in pursuing your hobbies and interests.  I would send away for catalogs and brochures of all kinds.  I especially liked the European travel kits you could get for free and sometimes they even had posters.  Mail was an exciting thing back then.  Handwritten letters and cards were in abundance.  There were so many magazines to subscribe to!  Most of my other favorite magazines haven't made it through the internet age:  Mary Engelbreit's Home Companion, Country Home, Martha Stewart's Everyday Food to name a few.  

I still really like magazines, I am my father's daughter (he loves magazine too.)  I am not sure if my children have inherited my fondness for magazines but they may have.  My boys subscribe to one magazine it is a free magazine from the Lego company.  They are overjoyed when it arrives.  It may be the only real mail they regularly receive.  The Lego magazine is filled with comics and articles about Lego.  All my boys love Lego!  Today not only did their Lego magazine arrive but also our across the street neighbor gave them some leftover Christmas Candy. Double happy day for them.  They settled down in the backyard with their magazines and giant candy canes and enjoyed some good old 90's fashion fun.

Zany, McCoy and Archy enjoying their mags and candy canes

Is Archy scratching his ear with his candy cane?

I may need to subscribe to a couple of new magazines that way I am sure to have some mail to look forward too. 

Thrifty Collecting

It had been some time since I had been to the thrift store.  Ashlee came to town and our favorite thing to do is "go for a look" at the thrift store.  We both collect several (read: lots of) things.  Sometimes you start a new collection just because you find something that catches your eye and then decide you must have more.  Ashlee and I both agree that you only need three to make a collection.  

Two teacups not a collection, three teacups a collection.

This day I found two new collections and decided to get rid of one of my collections.  I now collect Book of Mormons in foreign languages!  Ashlee found them and I bought them. I later learned one is in Polish and the other in Danish.  I already have a Book of Mormon in Spanish from Eddy's mission and one in French from my college days when I minored in French.  I will have to keep my eye out for more.  Since I have more than three it is a collection.  My other new collection is vintage cards and a few new ones too.  I got rid (gave to Ashlee) my yarn animal collection as I had nowhere to display it anymore.  Now I can pressure her to buy the funky homemade yarn creatures we come across.

The popcorn maker you see below is the best popcorn maker ever!  Once you try its delicious and fresh popcorn you can never happily eat microwave popcorn again.  We have been using this popcorn maker for eleven years and ours is a bit worse for wear so when I saw this brand new one, never opened I thought I had better buy it for when my current one dies.

Needlepoint butterfly for Zany's room $1.50

ASU cross stitch for Eddy's Valentine present $5.00

Vintage Tins so handy to store things in $1.00 each

Popcorn Maker brand new $10.00

Vintage Little People Chauffer FREE

Imaginext Horse FREE

Stack of books $0.25 each 

(found #4 of the Anne of Green Gable series I needed)

Eddy's present after spray painting and cleaning

 I gave it to him and he thought I had cross stitched it, I claimed that I had for a minute and then turned it over so he could read: 

I added my own post script in Calligraphy as Eddy gave me a Calligraphy set for Christmas. 

Eddy thought I should have included Carol & Jack with my name-funny guy.

I had decided to mail a few Valentines and so I picked out some cards at Walmart. I hardly ever buy cards so it was fun to read through the various cards.  That got me thinking about cards and when I saw that cards were only 10 cents I thought I might see if any caught my eye.  Well, I found some lovely glitter cards from the 1950's and 1960's.  Then I really started looking through the cards to find more.  I just love the sweet graphics and vintage thick paper.  I realized that people don't send cards like they used to and that is why you can find so many at the thrift store. I think it is fun to send cards and I am eagerly awaiting some of my kin to fall slightly ill so I can send them a get better card (I now have lots of get better soon cards).

Some of my favorites

All cards including two stacks you see in the background $4.00

Look at that sweet baby and there is micro glitter on it too

Lovely cards

A couple of my most favorite

You just never know what you will start collecting next, if you are like Ashlee and I!

Black Friday Fun

Intrepid Shoppers

Ashlee and I spent solid eight hours shopping at stores to celebrate Black Friday!  Black Friday around here is a very competitive venture. There are not a lot of stores in our town just Wal-mart, Home Depot, Big 5, Bealls, and some other small stores. People, not us, lined up hours in advance to get stuff.  We were way more laid back and decided to get what we could and what we couldn't get oh well.  Except maybe that bath mat Ashlee wanted for $3.50.  She didn't get that bathmat I had to heard about it several times. Mainly Wal-mart took most of our time as about six hours were spent there looking and shopping.  Things you do to save money and make a great Christmas!  We actually enjoy shopping quite a bit.  The only thing that holds us back is, of course, money or the lack thereof.  We do know how to stretch a dollar thanks to some fine bargain shopping training in our childhood.
The crazy. intensity that is Black Friday at Wal-mart s the kickoff to the Christmas season for us.
Season's Greetings!

Magic Quilt

 I am a gal of the opinion that you can't have too many quilts (see former post). I was at the thrift store when I found a blue quilt tossed amongst ratty blankets and sheets. I picked it up gleefully. After a quick glance over it I only saw a small hole that went all the way through the quilt and a few stains, nothing that couldn't be fixed.  I am guessing it is from the late 1980's or early 1990's.  As I held the quilt I sensed something magical about it and I could instantly picture myself taking a Sunday nap under its cozy, worn warmth. 

One worry at this particular thrift store is that it is mostly unpriced so you take your selections to the front counter to check out half holding your breath that the worker will give you nice cheap prices. Once in a while it backfires and you are taken back by your total.  (Like the time I took a screaming kid to the car and Ashlee had to check out for me and the worker charged me like five bucks for each hoodie somehow my total was thirty bucks needless to say I returned those hoodies and got my money back pretty quick.) 

I approached the counter with a friendly greeting and put a ziploc bag with three colors of felt on the counter next my quilt.  Ziploc bag of felt $3.00, way too pricey for a bag of felt so I put it back.  Nice pieced quilt $3.00.  Yippee! That was my happy purchase of the day!

Lovely Quilt

Small hole that went through all layers of quilt

After researching online the best way to repair it, I decided that zig-zagging the hole would work the best and then I could put an applique patch to hide it. Once I zig-zagged back and forth many times I decided I didn't need to hide it with an appliqued patch and so I just left it as the repair was unnoticeable.  Of course if you had an heirloom quilt or really old one you probably would want to repair with some other technique but since this quilt is just a friendly everyday type I went with a simple repair.

Zig-zagged back and forth to repair it

As to its magical abilities that I sensed when I first picked it up, 

I found it really does put one to sleep quite quickly.

 Here I am wide awake and antsy.

Magic Quilt has me under her powers

Walla, instantly I fall asleep for a lovely nap. Just to note, I usually sleep with a sweet smile on my face, I am just lucky like that. You should see my sister Ashlee sleep, not so pretty, maybe I should keep my eye out for a magic quilt for her. Ha, who I am kidding if I find another quilt I am totally keeping it for myself besides, a gal can't have too many quilts!