The Pearl Anniversary

Today my husband and I celebrate the Pearl Anniversary, or thirty years together. Someone said to me once that if they made it to thirty years with their
spouse it would be an accomplishment. I guess in some ways it is, but for me, it is more about sticking to a promise to tough it out in good times and bad.

Leading up to this day for the past week, I have thought about advice I'd give a couple just starting out. There are so many important things I could tell a young couple about all the good things that will come their way. And marriage is just that and more, as it is full of many good things and good times. It is full of great accomplishments, goals met, job promotions, new houses purchased, families being started and all the joys life can bring your way with your life partner. These truly are the best of times in a married couples life and they shine like the stars in your bank of memories of years together. I think every one expects that it is in these moments that will keep their married life fresh and together for the long haul. But just how true is that statement?

While marriage is a wonderful thing between two people, it is also not easy to say the least. Couples grow together when the tough times creep into their lives. It is in the not so pretty times that you know what your relationship is made of when you can weather the storm with a person and still like them on the other side. There may be periods that you might not even like the other person very much, but underneath all of that, there is a mutual love that you know you can not live without. It is in the hard to get through, toughest moments in a couples life that cements their relationship and once they see past all the hard, there is an easy, comfortable existence that compares to none.

I myself, could not have read how each chapter in our lives would have turned out all those years ago. I certainly like most, expected rainbows and flowers for the rest of my days and forgot to even think about the storms that would surely come before all the beautiful days. I have learned that to have one, you certainly have to have the other. I don't think thirty years ago, I truly had an appreciation of the character of the man I promised to love forever and always. It took all of those not so easy times to see and appreciate all the qualities that I would admire in the years to come. It is in the middle of the hard and difficult days that come into your life that you realize who you want by your side, who you want to hold you up when you can't hold yourself up any longer, who you can trust to always catch you when you fall.

Is it easy? No...it is not. I don't believe there is ever a perfect anything, and if you want to strive for perfect it takes so much work, so much forgiveness, so much turning the other cheek, so much giving in to things when you want to hold on to resistance, so much letting go of how you think things should be and accept how they actually are and finding your happiness in the middle of all of that.

A little over thirty years ago, I happened to find myself in front of the most incredible man, and at the time, I could not even imagine how that chance meeting would have been the one thing my heart was searching for. Thirty years ago today, in front of a hand full of people, we promised to love each other in the good and the bad, we promised to not give up and keep loving each other and to stick it out. A simple promise.....but it takes a lot of commitment to keep it.

It's hard to believe where thirty years have taken us, we have had so many wonderful times and celebrations in our lives as well as so many brokenhearted and sad times. Have things always gone the way we thought they would? I'd have to surely say, no they have not. But I can't think of where my life would be or what road I would have taken had it not been for the one I chose all those years ago with my husband. In the last thirty years, we have lived life...just the way it is intended to be lived, with in your face moments of grief and also over the top joys of the heart. I find it hard to believe it has only been thirty years. Where has the time gone? It seems it has slipped away in a blink of an eye.

Steve and I have built a life for ourselves in the midst of the hard, the not so pretty and maybe in the middle of not liking each other at times. That is the normal things the pick at the heartstrings of couples, it is in the wading through all of that when you can appreciate that there is something more deeper and meaningful than all the hard times that come. It is in knowing that plans change, people change and sometimes lives change but when you have the one person who is your best friend, it lightens the load and calms your spirit.

Thank you Steve for thirty years of your life! We have a great life, great family and we have worked ever so hard to be where we are today. We have made it through tough times that we thought we surely would not walk away from. Together we follow the road of life's journey and hold each other up if need be. I consider it an honor to be by your side each and every day. Where one might be weak, the other is strong, and where one might not be wanting to start something, the other is there to give a nudge.....firmly if need be. Thank you for putting up with all my insecurities, frustrations and trying to keep quiet when I drag stuff home you think I don't need. Thanks for being my partner, today and always.

........and if your reading this and you are looking for the perfect partner in life, I am not sure there is a perfect one out there. You can try and find them, but truthfully, no one is perfect all the time. You have to make up your mind that working hard, loving when it is hard, and moving forward on days you feel like giving up will all be worth it down the road. Life is intended to be lived with someone by your side, someone you can trust, and someone who makes each day a little bit better. Thankfully, I happened to find myself in front of that very person all those years ago, and to this day, am incredibly thankful and happy I had the good since to grab hold tight and not let them go. Happy Anniversary, Steve. Thank you for thirty incredible years....I expect thirty more, so get ready!

I told Steve I wanted to plant a tree for our celebration of thirty years. We are planting a pine tree at our new home. I think about what that tree will be like thirty years from now, how large it will have grown, and what we will be like if we are able to stand under the canopy of that very tree in thirty years. It makes my heart smile thinking of this day thirty years from now, and what the days in between now and then will hold.

So This Is Where The Long Journey Lead us............Today!

Update on the last few days:.....Thursday December 10th we closed on our little house on Winnie Street. The beloved little house no longer belonged to us, but to a new family. There was not much time for crying, although there were tears shed, but we had to get busy with a plan to get our stuff moved from our home to "some place" soon. That morning, we were told from the closing on our new house would not be happening until this morning December 14th and we have to be totally gone from our house by December 15th. We were totally panicked at what to do. Graciously, the home owner of our new house with the prodding from his wife no doubt allowed us to move our belongings into the garage and shed of the new house, just not in the house itself until today.

So that is what we have been doing ever since...moving...load after load! My brother and my niece and her boyfriend helped with all the major things, and heavy stuff, thanks be to them, they were life savers. We should finish up today, and in the morning move our bed and the dogs after we clean one last time. I spend one whole afternoon patching nail holes and repainting every room where it needed to be touched up. I can not tell you how many people told me I was nuts to do that, it was not something I needed to do. I just said, yes it is and I did it. That is how I do things, I would expect someone to do that for me, even if they wouldn't, so I certainly expect no less of myself. We are almost to the closing of the door one last time, it is still a hard thought to conceive, but I'm feeling better about it.

The story for today is one I never expected to tell. It comes from the unexpected and a request that every one I spoke with thought it was a little odd. In truth, it was the medicine my heart needed to heal a little quicker from all of this.

The new homeowners in the contract, requested a meeting with us and a walk through of the house when they got the keys. It was to be scheduled before we were totally moved out. So many people had told me they had not heard of that and it was a bit odd, I don't know if it common or not, but we had to agree to it none the less. On Thursday, after they signed the papers at closing, their Realtor had called our Realtor and said how excited they were and wanted to drive from Southlake to see the house, and unfortunately we were not home. We had left earlier in the day with a truck full and were unloading a truck at our new house full of boxes. I felt bad we were not there, but the lady called and we scheduled for Sunday afternoon instead. She told me how excited they were and they wanted to know how to care for the chickens. I got off the phone and felt a huge dread come over me, as I did not know how I would make it through that meeting not in a huge heap of tears.

Sunday afternoon, they came like scheduled. When I opened the front door, I just took a deep breath and greeted them and said, "Welcome to you new home!"

They are a sweet couple, maybe our age or a little older. Hard working, and thrilled to have our home. At first, it was a little awkward for us and them as well, because the silence for a few seconds was deafening...but I am usually not lack for words, so I just had to start blabbering like a fool at first to get the ice broken. I was amazed at the things they were most concerned with at the house. The wanted to know first thing, how to work the wood Stove. The told us how much the loved it and asked all kinds of questions. We took them room by room and they told us what the loved in each. The loved the bathroom and when I asked if they wanted me to leave the shower curtain they were thrilled, as it matches that bathroom perfectly. The loved the barn door closet doors in the bedroom and really love the master bath. I told them we made the vanity in the bathroom and where the wood had come from and we did that with our friend who is a carpenter. I could tell they loved it as much as we do. They wanted to know if I was taking the curtains in the house, which I was not as our Realtor told us we had to leave them. I guess they did not know that and was so happy as they said the loved the ones in the kitchen so much. I told them I had made them and they said they felt I was a crafty person.

The lady then told me how she had taken pictures of everything in my house when they were there at the inspection. She said she thought it was beautiful and was trying to find the things like we had as she wanted to make their home the same. She asked about a few things specifically and where I had gotten them, one being the iron decor piece that was behind the fireplace. She said she absolutely loved that and hoped that they could find one like it. I thought to myself, it was not likely they would because I had purchased that so many years ago. As you can imagine, the iron piece is now hanging back where it belongs...I went to the new house last evening and brought it back and hung it up behind the fireplace....I guess it was meant to stay because I honestly didn't know where I was even going to put it at the new house anyway. It will be there on Tuesday when they walk into their new house and will be a surprise.

I asked them if they wanted the sofa and the television stand. I could not believe the look on their faces when I asked them that. Our sofa is blue leather and she told me she had been looking for weeks for a sofa like it. She said they loved it and wanted one exactly like the one we had. She reminded me how they wanted to have things like I had in my home. We gave them those things and they were beyond thrilled. In all my years I don't believe any one has paid me a greater compliment than these people did on Sunday. They had been spending weeks since they signed the papers on this house looking for things like I had as she thought it was beautiful. I left them a picture I had on the wall and she asked where it was hanging, and said it would go back where it was originally. I could tell they were so excited and thrilled to have chosen our home.

The chickens and the coops were where we spent a lot of time. We went out there and I introduced them to all the chickens, explained how I take care of them, the food, bedding and stressed how spoiled they were. They wanted to know in detail how I have taken care of them and what they needed to do, and where to purchase what they needed. I have already purchased the bedding and food for at least a month, so they are in good shape there. The turning point from dread to knowing I had made the right choice in leaving the chickens was when she wanted to hold Rosie and her husband wanted to take a picture. I gathered the eggs that were in the egg box and in one hand she had Rosie and the other the eggs...It was really a sweet moment! They were beyond thrilled when I explained what color eggs the hens laid and they fell in love with my beautiful Benny as well. The chickens were a bit skiddish of new people, but I told then not to worry, they will get used to them and warm up to them soon. They are going to open the coops to the rest of the back yard where we kept our big dogs and they will have free range over all of that area. The chickens and Benny will be very happy at that and I felt at peace in my heart that I had made the right decisions no matter how hard it was and still is. It really is what will be best for them in the long run.

I told them about the plants in the yard and what flowers come back year after year, I showed her a photo of my beautiful wisteria in the front yard and how it blooms the most beautiful blooms in the spring. She was in awe that that the beauty to come in the springtime was in her yard and could not wait to see it bloom in the spring. We told them we were leaving the bird bath and why we decided to do so. We told them about the owls that come in the summer time for water and we wanted to leave it as they come year after year. They were thrilled and eager to see them next summer.

From what they told us, we believe this is their first home and I believe they have made huge sacrifices to be able to purchase it. They are beyond proud and excited and I know in my heart they are going to take care of our home as well as we have. We told them about all the great neighbors and they were glad to hear the neighbors were going to be good ones. They can not wait to start their lives here and it showed in every way.

The little house on Winnie Street, in the eyes of the new owners might as well have been a mansion in the Hollywood hills....because clearly, to them that is exactly what it is. I am so glad I did not listen to any one else and I went with what I knew to be right and that was to make sure when we close the door, this little old house is shining like a new penny for the new family. In case you are wondering if I made it through the meeting without shedding a single tear, I am happy to report I was able to do that, how I don't know, but I did. Now after I shut the front door.....well, that is a different story...but I held it together when I needed to.

There are still a whirl of emotions this morning, and I am sure there will be tears flowing before end of day tomorrow, but I think the meeting was not scheduled for the new home owners, but for me to find peace and comfort leaving a place that is so dear to my heart in the hands of someone else.

You can tell how I talk about our home that I feel it is a special place. Let me tell you how wonderful the feeling is when friends confirm that for you. Thursday evening, after we had moved all day, we got home to find three of my husband's lifelong friends camped out on the front porch. Two of these special friends had lived with my husband back in the bachelor days of their lives. They had come by one last time for one last solute with a beer or two...or three.....ahem. They talked about old times, old friends, and memories and how they had grown up in this little house. What a special gift these three men gave my husband and myself. There truly are no words to describe it. It's in the confirmation that others found the place dear to your heart to be a special place as in their lives too.

Yes, it has been an emotional roller coaster this journey has taken me on. There have been times of second thoughts, dread, and much sadness to leave it all behind. But likewise.....I am finally to the point of excitement in what is to come. Today...we start a new chapter in our lives and one that we are both excited about! I am thankful for the new things that are to come and in the peace in leaving our lifelong home. It all is official today.....we start a new journey and the next chapter in our lives while carrying the cherished memories of the growing years of our life with us.

In Three Days........

If you have been following my blog for any length of time, you all know how I have a passion for vintage things. The old functional things in a home always hold a special charm as opposed to new and improved, at least that is the way it is for me. One of the older things in our home that has been a favorite since the day I came to live here was the main bathroom's bathtub. Now I am sure some of you are rolling your eyes, but hold on....hear me out!

We have done several remodels to our home and it is up to date on every thing we have in our home and it is in wonderful shape for the new owners. The one and only thing I NEVER touched was the 1940's cast iron bathtub in the main bath. I love the tiered design on the front of the tub, it has a lot of character when compared to a plain tub you see in most homes today. Below is a picture of a tub that is exactly like the one we have. You can giggle if you want, but I will miss that tub, probably more than I should admit!

The tub itself is over sized by today's size tubs and after Steve and I were first married, it was the perfect size for two....ahem.....

anyway....it was perfect for kids, dogs and blankets and pillows when storms were coming and tornado alarms were going off....My kids spent more times in that tub waiting for storms to pass while holding a little Yorkie than I care to admit. Out of all the places in my home, I knew that that tub would withstand most any thing and my precious kids and animals would be piled in there if I thought a tornado was possible in the area. My poor kids..what a memory!

I'll miss the big ole bubble baths after a hard day or when I needed a little time to myself and relax...oh, yes, I can do all of those things in my new beautiful tub at the new house, but there is something to be said about an old cast iron tub that holds special memories in your heart. I will miss that large tub....and if I was a little honest with myself, if I could take that with me, I certainly would.

Today was a long, tiring day and some sad news left me feeling a little worse for wear, but I came home, filled the tub with bubble bath and hot water and sunk down into the most relaxing reviving hot bath that the old bathtub could give.....and I totally feel better. I have made a plan to do that every night I have left and soak up all that relaxing the ole cast iron tub has to give.

I sure hope the new owners appreciate the value of older things.....but for now, for the next three days...that ole tub is still mine and I intend to enjoy it enough to last a long time!

In Four Days.......

It is often the little things that seem to have a lasting impression at times. Sunday is today and in the midst of packing, my mind wondered back through the years of the things that made this little house a special home in a special place.

In doing that, I remembered one of the most special things that makes living here so amazing. My thoughts went to the St. Rita Catholic Church and its bell tower. For years, every single Sunday the bells would chime at the start of Sunday mass. It was a constant for so long, you just never assumed you would not hear them.

When my mother in law was in her final days with us, and she was living in Garland, she talked about the bells at St. Rita. She lived next door to us for years and she said she had missed the bells on Sunday mornings after she has moved. I don't know when the church stopped playing the bells every Sunday, but for some reason, they stopped doing that years ago, but still the memory is a good one. When my mother in law came to stay with us in her final days, for some reason the bells that Sunday morning of her last week here with us chimed. We opened the windows of the bedroom and she sat back on the bed and she was so happy to hear them once again.

Now, the bells chime on Christmas and special Sundays. They are a delightful addition to whatever is happening when I hear those bells chime from the bell tower. When you get used to something, you don't realize how special they are until you know you might not hear them again. We are moving to the country from the inner city for peace and quiet, but honestly, on this Sunday, I know I will miss some of the city noise a lot.

In four days....I don't think the bells will chime....but my heart wishes that they would.

In Five Days...........

Neighbors.....the longtime, lifetime neighbors. The neighbors who know your every habit and routine and you pretty much know theirs. The neighbors who are dubbed "those neighbors" who do things that make you just shake your head. It takes all types to make up a neighborhood, some better than others, some a little more crazy than the next, but all are memorable in one way or the other.

The neighbor across the street who has lived here all her life. Bless her heart, she calls me regularly to just see "what I know" and shares magazines and flowers with me. We share a love for roses and she loves to sit in her chair by the big front window and look at all my beautiful roses, and then question her daughter as why my roses look better than her own. She knows our every move and watches our house when we are gone to work. I will miss that sweet lady most of all.

The neighbor down the street who thinks he has the whole neighborhood buffaloed into believing he is a code blue citizen. Which, by the way he is not..but he tells the story that he is. Truth be told, he is most likely the one who is the most scared of anything and everything. Heck, I protect the street far better than he thinks he can. Truth.

The neighbor down the street who every morning used to pick up my father-in-law's newspaper from the yard and put it on his porch, because it was the right thing to do and she was there any way. The one who we have a connection with all the way back when our kids were in the same class in school.

The fairly new to the street neighbor who we call "the neighbor" who moved in next door and transformed a run down dilapidated house into a really nice home. When he moved in, I was the crazy nosy neighbor that stuck my nose where it did not belong, but we became fast friends. He is the neighbor who purchased Betty, my first hen and brought her home to Benny when he still lived in the field. The neighbor who is sad we are leaving and was worried he had not been a good neighbor and might have been the cause for us to want to move. The neighbor who brings me food from his family functions because he knows I have a love for authentic mexican food. I will miss "the neighbor" an awful lot!

Year after year, you form bonds with the ones who live just on the outside of your day to day life. They are the ones who come out of their respective houses when there is a crisis on the street or someone is in need. They all know what the other is doing and keeps a vigil watch most of the time. I will miss these good neighbors and I hope my impact on their lives has meant as much to them as theirs has to me. Its rather ironic that the ones you take for granted when they pass in and around your daily life become pretty special when you think of not seeing them every day.

In a few short days, the pesky, nosy neighbor who resides in the house in the middle of the street will not reside there any more. The one that watches out the windows to see what is going on or what isn't. The one who will boldly walk into the yard of her neighbors and question a stranger as to why they are there and what they are doing if she does not think they belong there. The one who notices when the little lady across the streets light is not own at dark and can't get her to answer the phone and will call the police to come check on her. The one who boldly puts herself into the lives of her neighbors in one way or another and cheerfully does so. The one who keeps watch on the street will drive away and a new set of neighbors will move into that little house in the middle of the street. They will become the new neighbors to all of my old neighbors......in just five days.
~ my heart is heavy at the very thought.

In Six Days......

I started the day this morning wondering where my heart would land when thinking about this countdown and being day six. I briefly spoke about how sparse the yard was all those years ago and that had me thinking about where it has come and how much I love it. We have spent countless hours in our yard and we have had several vegetable gardens over the years. We enjoyed all that gardening had to offer and we were always happy to share the abundance that came from those small gardens with friends and family.

This year we have seen record rainfall in our area and that has no doubt played a huge part in the fact our grass is thick and lush and beautiful. I don't remember a year that the yard was so thick with grass and thriving. We struggled through droughts in the summer many a year to keep the grass as green as we liked to see it. It has always been a labor of love when it came to working in the yard. 

I guess everyone has something special they love about their outdoor spaces, but for me the special parts of our yard are the trees we have planted. We have a live oak in the back yard that is named "Jeff's tree" because when he was in fifth grade, they principal handed out small sapling trees on earth day. We planted that little tree in a flower pot and it lived for several years in that pot. Finally a few years back, we put it in the ground and "Jeff's tree is a strong beautiful tree that shades the back of the house. I am very sentimental over that tree and it makes my heart sad to know we can't take it with us....I would if I could....We also have a large pine tree that we planted on the side of our house the year my daughter was born. It is easy to remember the age of that tree as it is the age of our daughter....I wish I could take that one too. The third tree is special to my heart as my husband planted it one year for my birthday. It is a Bradford pear and he planted it because he knew I loved how it blossoms in the spring with white flowers and then in the fall, the leaves are alive with wonderful colors at the end of the summer months. It is special too and I am so in hopes the new owners love these as well.

I spent many years planting flowers that would come back year after year, and most all the blooming plants in my yard attract butterflies and birds. Our backyard has always been a haven for birds, squirrels and within the last ten years, we have had the pleasure of providing a safe place for small owls to come and cool off in the hot summer months in our bird baths. I have become rather attached to all of these creatures that visit our backyard and as you can imagine, it is hard to know I am leaving them behind.

We very seldom ever see the little owls once the weather cools off, but once we had a contract on our house I did see one of the little owls, one last time. I had walked out in the back yard one evening and there sat that little owl in the bird bath. I was almost startled because this time of year, we don't see them at all....he just looked at me for a few seconds and then he was gone. In my mind....he was saying goodbye.....yea...makes me tear up just thinking about it!

Yes, lots of memories in that back yard....birthday parties, kids running in and out of the house all summer long with friends, beloved pets buried under the trees on the back fence, summer mornings spent at the clothes line hanging out clothes and sometimes, the best memories are the ones when I just got my hands dirty, creating a space of tranquility and beauty.

The new house has a fairly decent yard, but it has a long way to go before it will remind me of my home back yard. That is the flip side of all these emotions, because the planning and work that will go into the new yard does stir a lot of interest for me. It is something to look forward to in the planning and the work and knowing where the end result will take us next.....but still...the anxiety of walking in my wonderful outdoor space one last time has tears falling like the rain we have seen lately......in six days my paradise will belong to someone else.

In Seven Days.........

Selling a house is hard work.....selling a house when you have never sold one before is even harder. This journey has been one that I could have never believed possible. The ups and downs, the excitement and disappointment has been paramount to any thing I have experienced in my life thus far. I had no idea this journey would take the paths that it did. That being said, we have finally made it to the point we are almost to closing day.....in seven days.

I tend to jot my feelings down when my heart is heavy or not settled, and as you can imagine that is what brought me here today. Almost thirty two years ago, I fell in love with a man who owned a rather sparsely decorated bachelor pad on the east side of Ft. Worth. A small two bedroom house, built in the 1940's which had no updates, just the basics. The stand out decor included red carpet, bark-cloth curtains (which were dubs "thanksgiving day" curtains) a set of old salon style swing doors that separated the kitchen from the dining room and yellow Formica counter tops in the kitchen. It had a great size yard, with lots of trees but not much grass and not a flower one. It needed a little help, but once we were married, the little house on the east side of Ft. Worth transformed and grew to accommodate our family. It has always been home, a safe landing place from the world.

I think about the renovations we have done on this house over the years. When I step back and see every thing we have done here, I can't help but see a little bit of ourselves in all the renovations. It has been a evolution over time to get that little house where it is today. I hope the new owners love it as much as I do. It was a process and one that included a lot of love and attention over the years.

I decided to count down the last seven days of this journey, and remind myself of all the things I love the most about the house we are leaving. As I think about the things I will miss the most, it is a reminder of all the things I have loved about our house over the years. Recollections, reminders, memories. Today I am reminded that a house is really just the shelter for a family. The family is the home of that shelter. However, there have been times in my life that this very house was my safe place in the world. In the big scheme of things, and only briefly, the darkest days of my life happened while living here, and this little house on the east side of Fort Worth was my safe haven from the world. When things were hard to handle and deal with, I was always felt safe and secure inside the walls of this house. Even now, when things are so good in this life, it is behind that front door and inside the walls that bring me the most piece and comfort on a day to day basis. This house has been the shelter from all storms life as bestowed upon me. It is the memories that sustain us and we will carry as we leave.

A lady made the statement to me that I have not detached myself from the house and I am still very emotionally attached. No truer words have been spoken. It is so bittersweet to be looking forward to what is to come, but knowing how hard it will be to let all I have loved for so long slip away and ready my heart to grasp the next chapter of our lives.

In seven days....the little house on the east side of Fort Worth won't have my our names on it any more......the shelter that has weathered the storms of life and provided a safe place to land will be that same thing for a new family. I will miss my safe haven from the world, the walls that have held me close and kept me from feeling so lost when things were hard. I will miss all the projects we worked on over the years that make our home a place we enjoyed as our lived happened year after year.

We are almost to the door that will open to the next chapter of our lives, a new chapter and a new home we can put our stamp on. It too will be a safe haven from the world, even if it is hard to imagine how that will be, just yet. I find it difficult to imagine grasping the door handle to the new house when my hand is tightly holding on to the old one still in my heart....thankfully...I still have seven days!

It's not just a washing machine......it's not just a house!

This week has been a busy week, and it's just too bad I had to use my vacation to work so hard at home! I just about have every thing at the house done that I wanted to do before the Realtor list the house and has an open house. Weeks of sorting through belongings and a sale will be taking place tomorrow and Saturday.....and yes, I am selling SO MANY of my beloved vintage treasures. It is bittersweet knowing I have let so much go and won't be moving it and then on the flip side, I know I am ready to free myself from so much stuff.

This week was also filled with some tears as well. My little neighbor across the street just cried when I told her we were putting out house up for sale. It broke my heart to have to even tell her, but I had to let her know before the sign went in the yard. My next door neighbor keeps trying to talk me into staying every chance he gets. My heart strings are in every fiber of this house and my sweet neighbors I have had for thirty years. I have lived here all my adult life and raised my family here and it is not easy thinking about leaving. I love my house and my yard and have loved our life here. It is a inner battle I continue to fight.

I sometimes have an attachment to things and I thought about that this week as I was sorting our belongings into piles. I was reminded of an appliance that I kept holding on to for years. When Steve and I got married, his dad bought us a washing machine. I loved that darn washing machine and after a time, it began to show signs of wear. The lid of the machine had rusted out in one spot and you seriously had to remove the lid to load it and then gently replace it to wash the clothes. I refused to get another one, as this one worked fine. Steve tried for YEARS to replace it and I refused to let him. He often would say it was just a washing machine, and we need a new one but I refused to replace it. Finally, when the machine was fast approaching 20 years old, Steve had enough and we went and purchased a new machine. We brought the new one home, I sold the old one in a garage sale for $20.00 and I discovered what a fantastic thing it was to have a new machine to wash the clothes with. I wondered why I fought so hard and refused to get a new machine for so many years. I was so surprised at how great the new one was as opposed to my old, falling apart machine.

I was reminded that the move we will be making can be compared  to that old washing machine. I am still fighting it and feeling overwhelmed at the thought of leaving here. However,  just like that new washing machine, I know we will be on to better things and happier times. I just have to keep telling myself that. Now if you can imagine how hard it was for me to let go of an old rusted out, old washing machine, you should be able to understand the emotions of leaving my house of many, many years.......it truly is more than just a house.

I am counting on when the day comes and we are settled into our new house I have those same thoughts I had over that washer......."now, why did we not do this long before now......."


Send good junkin vibes my way and that all the junkers out there who will love my treasures find their way to my sale. I hope the right people who loves vintage treasures will take my stuff home and love it as much as I have. It will be a hard couple of days for me I am sure, but I just have to keep going in the direction I want to end up and this is the first huge step!

Manuel Labor for Labor Day Weekend

A three day weekend for most, would mean stretching every second into a jam packed fun filled three days and saying goodbye to summer right before welcoming in fall. I mean, that is what you do right? ahem....not around here.

This year for us, that meant three days off work and three days to actually work at packing and sorting and purging this house. You guys, fair warning....I have not blogged in a while, but will be doing so again most likely. This is a good place to write my feelings on this journey and maybe one day, I might want to read about this again, after the pain I am feeling from moving heavy things subsides a little. sigh.

Day one began at 6:00 am yesterday, yes bright and early. The plan was to get our shed cleaned out totally. If you could only imagine what that actually meant. Boxes upon boxes upon boxes and then lets just throw in a few more boxes for good measure. I felt I had to go through every thing.....every last thing.

Yes, this is my house and my junk! 

The morning started off rather well. I had one side of the driveway for keep things, the other side was for sell things and I sat every thing else I was not sure about on the trailer. Progress was being made. Then, mid-morning, Steve and I reached the holiday decor boxes. The first three I pulled out was the Halloween boxes. Now, mind you, I have not decorated for Halloween at my house since my youngest went off to college in 2005....TEN YEARS for crying out loud.

I opened the boxes and truly saw years and years and years of beloved things I used to decorate with when the kids were small. I have a HUGE and I mean HUGE collection of Halloween Chicken Mcnuggets that we sat out every year. They were a must to keep, at least I was not willing to part with those things. But for the most part, I kept a small pumpkin with a cat that lights up and a couple of other things just for sentimental reasons and the rest, I tossed in the sell side of the yard.

As I was battling with myself on what to keep and what not to keep, I did actually make the comment to my husband that I felt sorta guilty. When he asked why? I said, because Alisha, (my daughter) will be upset if she finds out I got rid of all this stuff. Steve said she won't remember this stuff and besides, we don't want to store it. Well, I thought to myself, you might be right about us not wanting to store this stuff, but I can guarantee you, she will remember and thus the reason for my guilt. As we opened the next boxes, Steve pulled out a cardboard pumpkin that had long orange plastic strings that hang down from the base of the pumpkin. The pumpkin was designed to hang from the ceiling. I used to have two of these, but one must have gotten damaged along the way. This said pumpkin could not have cost me over a dollar back twenty-five years ago, and we always hung it in the same place, by our kitchen table. Memories cast aside, the pumpkin was tossed in the sell pile as well, and we moved on past the Halloween decor and onto the next pile of boxes. Progress. It. Felt. Good.

The pumpkin man, which was saved!

About an hour later, guess who calls? Right...Alisha. Apparently, she asked her dad what we were doing. Well, and truthful as dads should be, he told her what we were doing. First words out of her mouth were we had better not be getting rid of all of her memories. I heard Steve say, we aren't, just junk.  I am willing to bet she asked what junk because I heard Steve say Halloween and Christmas. Then I heard nothing on Steve's end of the conversation.

After a few minutes, Steve walked up and said, "you are not going to believe this." I seriously thought, oh, I bet I will. He shook his head and kept saying, I don't believe this, I really don't.......He then proceeds to tell me that Alisha asked if we found the Halloween pumpkin with the orange strings. The same cheap, barely costing a dollar piece of cardboard and plastic that hung from the ceiling of our house for three weeks out of the year, every year. I did not ask him what he actually told her, but he handed me the phone and said I better call her while he walked over to the tossed..... ahem....... memories and fished out the pumpkin from the box. To make a long story short, most all the tossed Halloween was boxed up and repacked to be moved to the new house. Yep, it sure was and it all sits on the keep side of the driveway.

When we got to the Christmas boxes, I saved myself a lot of time and told him to put them all on the keep side. He looked at me and said, "What.....are you kidding?" I asked him if he wanted to make the phone call to his daughter or not. He silently,  put the boxes on the keep side and we kept right on going with what we had to do.

By days end, we could hardly move, but all the keep boxes were lined up on the driveway, and there was not that much really at all in that pile of stuff. All the sell stuff was put back into the empty, clean shed which filled up rather quickly, so we purged so much stuff. I was so surprised by how easily I let go of so much of the stuff that was in there to begin with. I will admit, I ran into some things that proved to be more of a struggle at making a decision, but in the end, about 80 percent of the time, those things went into the sell side of the yard.

Day two is today. We have to get all those keep boxes into storage and we have some stuff to sort and toss that has been stored at his dads garage. I would really like to try and get two more rooms inside the house sorted as well. Lots to do....and we are dog tired. I am feeling so much lighter, but I am weighed down by the sore muscles and bones. It is a J-O-B and believe me, I feel every bit of it today.

When I found myself with a inner battle on deciding if I should keep something or not, I tried to take myself into that new house and visualize how I  would use it or where I would use it or if I would use it. If I could not answer any of those three things, it was tossed.

This move will prove to be the best thing that has every happened to us. I can feel that in my bones and all the stuff we have tossed and are walking away from will certainly lighten the loads in our hearts and minds. We are both so excited!

Day two...here I come!

Screen Doors......Old Screen Doors

There are certain things that creep into my thoughts from my childhood at the most unexpected times. Sometimes, things I have not thought about in years, or things I gave up on obtaining many years ago.

This past week, out of the blue one of those memories came flooding back into my mind and it was quickly added on a "must have" list I am making as we are in the process of looking for a new or at least new to us house to purchase this year......let me just say it is a daunting task...house hunting that is.

It occurred to me this week, that my kids have never known the sound of the spring stretching on an old screen door as it opens, and then the quick slamming sound as it pops back against the door frame.

My grandmother had an old screen door on her porch that lead to her back yard. Many a Sunday afternoons were spent when I was a young girl of me running out that old screen door. Then as I would turn loose of the wood frame,  and as the door slammed shut, I remember my mom and aunt always in unison yelling..."don't slam the door" and before they could get the words out...the door popped shut and off the porch I would go. Honestly, I did not really slam the door, the door just sorta slammed itself.

There isn't anything at all romantic about an old screen door, but the memories they evoke are the romantic fibers of my heart. I can remember as if it was yesterday, the smell of Sunday chicken frying from my grandma's kitchen. My mom and aunt would be working right alongside my grandma and  the meals they turned out of that kitchen are the memories that can make your mouth water. 

I always loved her screen door, I loved the smooth feel of the plain iron handle, nothing fancy, just functional, but it had a certain feel in my young girls hand. I loved the safety lock which was nothing more than a simple eye hook and hook. I liked locking and unlocking that door as I stood looking out into the back yard. I also loved locking my sister (clearly by accident) out of the kitchen. I loved the chippy paint and I loved how my grandma had little square patches for repairs in the screen of the door.

I wish my kids had been able to experience the simplicity of old screen doors. We always had storm doors on the front of our home. My kitchen door was not to where I could put up a screen door as the pitch of the roof outside the back door would not allow for one. Thus I gave up that dream of having a screen door long ago. It occurred to me, kids today for the most part, never will know the sounds, feels and fascination like I always had with my grandma's screen door.

My must have list for my new house has included a door in the kitchen to the outside, and one that will allow for an old fashion screen door. I don't want a new one, I want an old one. I want one that evokes all the nostalgia and memories I carry in my heart of days gone by. I want to recreate all the warm and fond memories that came from inside that screen door on Sunday afternoons in the summertime. 

I wonder....is it really the screen door itself that holds my fascination and longings? Or is it the memories that are intertwined with the memory of a certain screen door my heart is longing for?

It is a rather simple item to be added to a list of "must haves" in searching for a new house, but one that I don't see myself crossing off the list as not attainable. 

Oh, and about that list......there are really two list....one that I talk about with my husband......and then one that is written in my heart. The second list is the one I am afraid I stay a little more focused on most of the time. The old screen door is item number three on the list.......stay tuned.

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Telephone Timer

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday

If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much. Lastly, try to make an effort to visit the other participants. I know myself, I get so behind and busy, but this year, I am going to do my best to visit each week.

Here is a real blast from the past...and I can't even believe I am saying that!! This is what our phone looked like in "the olden days" or for a more accurate date...the early 1980's. 

We had a phone just like this at a desk that was in our kitchen. The only difference was, it had one of those super long phone cords. Do you remember those?? The ones that would stretch so long that when you finally walked back to the phone it would get all tangled and curled up??  Oh, we had it rough!

Anyway, my mom had two of these little timers that she kept on that desk. In case you are too young to remember these, I think they were three minute timers. The sand would fall to the lower chamber and that was when time was up....or in my case....just flip it over and hope I could flip it again without getting caught by my mom.

I have no idea where my mom got hers, but she had one with yellow sand and one with beige sand. Yes, I remember them well, and with very vivid detail of how they looked. I don't have any idea what happened to the ones my mom had, but I feel sure she does not have them anymore.

I found this one at that fantastic estate sale I went to a couple of weeks ago and had to have it. I did not need it, but it was more of  a memory of fond times years ago. It evoked memories of hours spent on the phone with my friends, trying to solve the problems of the school and all the kids that went there.

I am sure the kids today, especially young ones would have no clue what this was or what the telephone itself was. For one thing, it does not look like a cell phone of today and that is all most young kids know. In fact, this old home phone so it is so outdated, we are getting to the point that the younger generation  coming up have never seen  these types of phones! 

Talk about feeling old.....this is now considered an "olden days" phone...one I used every. single. day. of my youth. I honestly don't know how we made it without cell phones, caller ID, or call waiting.....I guess I should consider myself lucky we never had a party line. ;-)

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!! Have a great week!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Mid Century Mermaids

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday

If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much. Lastly, try to make an effort to visit the other participants. I know myself, I get so behind and busy, but this year, I am going to do my best to visit each week. 

Last week, I described my shopping frenzy!  I have a confession to make....I went back the next day BEFORE the sale started. ahem. Now...that I got that off my shoulders.......

This little set was sitting on a table with a sticker that said $2.00. I walked out the door with my purchases, and dug and scrounged for $2.00 (which was about all I had left in my purse) and went back in and snapped them up.

You see, I fell in love with their sweet faces. Are these not the sweetest little mermaids you have ever seen?

I know these are for the bathroom, and I am guessing these are mid century decor. I simply LOVE these.....LOVE them!

Each one, still has the original tag on her tail. I wonder if these were just put away and not hung on the wall? I would think that the owner would have taken the tags off of them if she hung them on the wall.

One is in MINT condition, the other one has been in a little accident at some point in her life. However, she must have been very special, as she had been painstakingly put back together with what I can only imagine was with great care. I don't care one bit about any repairs one of these sweet girls have had, it does not take away from how precious they are.

As with so many things I find at estate sales, I wish with all my heart I knew the story. Were these special gifts from a child, a mother or sibling?? Were these purchased and just saved and treasured by the original owner? Did these belong to a special family member? I don't know any of those answers, but I always wonder. The colors are so vivid, and they are so pretty, I feel sure these must have been tucked away for years. What a lucky day and find!!

I decided to look on ebay for vintage mermaids....and oh, please, all....the prices of some of these very types of mid century bath decor will knock your socks off. I was blown away. I did not find another two like these, and wonder what the price would fetch if I listed them on ebay. 

Some of my family will be chanting...sell them!!!...but they will have to just relax, because these are not for sale. More times than not, I always hear the same ole thing...sell that junk!!

I have a soft spot for ceramics like these that have the cute little faces on them. These types of ceramics really do remind me of my younger sister, who passed away as a child. It is just something about them that I can not really put a finger on, but they always find a way home with me when I find things like this. I think it is because they are the types of things I know my sister would have liked. She was the girly one, and me, the tomboy of the family. When I saw these, I think that is what drew me to them, and they really remind me of her in some way. 

Have you ever in your junkin' trips ran across a pair like this?? They may not be rare at all, but I have never seen any like them, ever. I love these little mermaids and they will have a good home with me!

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!! Hope it is warming up in your neck of the woods!

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Inspired Toys ~ Christmas Gifts From Marshall's

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday

If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

Okay, folks, I know I have just skipped all the way over Thanksgiving and went straight to Christmas this year. Guess I have joined the retail world in that regards. I will tell you however, on facebook, I am doing the 30 day challenge of posting once a day something I am thankful for, so I really did not skip Thanksgiving all together, just here on the blog!

Anyway, I wanted to share these great vintage inspired toys that are at our local Marshall's. I love that store. Marshall's always has cute and unique things for any gift giving occasion. Along with some awesome vintage inspired Christmas decor this year, they also have some neat toys this year.

Look at this cute Balloon kit...love the packaging! As a kid, I know I would have been intrigued by this toy, but I have always been a little scared of balloons popping. But I know as a kid, I would have wanted to learn to make these figures....heck, I wish I knew how today at my age!

All of these toys are from Lucky Lad, and this magic trick would totally been right up my alley. I always loved magic tricks. I asked for a magic trick set one  year for Christmas, and I know I got one and wonder if it was something like this one. You know why I was so interested in a magic trick set??

Okay, I will tell you.....my family was invited to dinner once to my dad's bosses house. Of course we were lectured on how to act, mind your manners and all that spill we  remember well our parents saying from our childhoods. My dad's philosophy was "Children are meant to be seen and not heard"  Seriously, I wish I had a dollar for every time I heard that. 

Anyway.....after dinner and before we were to leave, the boss's daughter, who was maybe my age had a table set up and she put on a magic show. The thing that stuck with me the most was my dad sat there even after he announced we were leaving, he laughed, he acted engaged and he acted like he really enjoyed that magic show. I took note of that because if it had been myself wanting to put on a magic show, it would have never happened. I was too young to realize at the time he did not really care about seeing that magic show at all. Instead, he was putting on a show for his boss, forty five years later it makes sense.

Likewise, I did get a magic set that year for Christmas, but the only ones who enjoyed the  magic show I desperately wanted to preform, were my stuffed animals. Dad never had the time to see that magic show I wanted to give. Mainly, because there were no bosses to impress at our house....he was the boss. It's sorta strange what triggers memories....this silly magic trick toy brought that to the front of my mind today as I touched the box sitting on the shelf. It was strange that after all this time, the memory still brought a sting of disappointment.

Anyway, moving right along, I also had Jacks....but the jacks I had came in little packages that were displayed on spinning display racks at the corner grocery store. I know that because my memaw bought many a Jacks set for me from the corner store. I love the box these came in.

Look at the adorable box these magic rings come in! I am thinking these would be so cute underneath a little tree. I have decided I won't buy them for myself, but I have been tempted as I thought about these today after seeing them.

Joke books were also something I enjoyed as a young kid. These practical joke gadgets are things I know I had at one time in my childhood. I remember the nail in the finger most of all!

If there is someone on your Christmas list who enjoys these types of toys, these really bring back a lot of memories...some good, some not so good, but memories of long ago just the same! I think they would make great stocking stuffers!

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday......and in case you are wondering....Marshall's only knows me for handing over wads of cash...nothing more! I just wanted to share these today, I thought they were really a blast from the past.

Vintage Thingie Thursday: Vintage Owl Light Switch Plate From The 1970's

Welcome everyone to Vintage Thingies Thursday

If you have a love for vintage things, well....you have come to the right place. We have a really good time each and every week!!!
If you are new to this party, please take the time to read and follow the instructions for participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, click HERE. I try and keep things fairly simple, so please make sure you follow the instructions. Please only ONE link per week. Lastly, if you link in, LINK back to my blog, so everyone can see all of the vintage goodies on display that day. If you don't link back here, they won't know who to visit......thanks so much.

This week, I have a remarkable find to share. I have talked before about buying back my childhood a little at a time. Things I fondly remember and am replacing them as I see them if it suits me. It usually suits me. 

I have also done a few post on the significance of owls to me these days and did a post just recently about that.

Right after I had written that post, I stumbled across another treasure from my childhood and tried to win the bid on ebay. I lost the bid and was crushed I was not going to get it. But last week, my luck was with me and I was able to purchase this one......and low and behold, it was still in the original packaging. New, never used.

In the 70's, my mom must have ordered these for us and although I don't remember the packaging at all, I am thrilled to have it now! I found this light switch that I had as a kid in all of its original packaging. I had not thought about this in YEARS. It is funny how sometimes things come to mind that years ago were long forgotten. 

I don't know what ever happened to my original owl, but I am guessing it must have been sold in a garage sale when I deemed myself too old for it and never thought for one minute I'd want it in my adult life.

The most unusual thing about this owl switch plate is the eyes glow in the dark. I tried and tried to get a photo, but it would not show up. The white circles glow in the dark, and this one still glows after all these years. I guess that is so you can see where the light is in the dark, but I distinctly remember thinking as a kid the owl was watching for "boogie men" in the dark.

I am over the moon to have found this and to have found it in original condition. It was waiting no doubt, for the right home and for me to find it! This is going up in my home soon, and I am most likely going to put it in my laundry room. 

I tell ya, I have lots of treasures from my adult life, but slowly but surely I am buying back my childhood one treasure at a time!

Happy Vintage Thingie Thursday!!