Changes

Over the last couple months, I've been back in my shop, starting over and building it again.

I've noticed a change.

I'm not feeling it anymore.

I used to be excited to hunt for things, give them a new life, and help them find a new home. After I graduated from school, I thought it would go right back to being how it was. But so far, it hasn't.

My perspective on life is that it is short. Too short, in fact, to force something that doesn't fit anymore.

So, I'm making some changes. Re-structuring.

I will close my shop as it is in its current location. In the future, I will offer amazing finds through my blog, online shop, and shows.

I'm hoping this will give me more flexibility to pursue the things that I really feel a passion for.

The good news is, I'll be having an amazing "Moving Sale"!

I need to clear out much of my current inventory.

So here's the plan:

July 20th & 21st- 15% off everything

July 27th & 28th- 20% off all smalls, 15% off furniture

August 3rd & 4th- 30% off all smalls, 20% off furniture

August 10th & 11th- 40% off all smalls, 25% off all furniture

August 17th & 18th- 50% off all smalls, 30% off all furniture

August 25th & 25th- 60% off all smalls, 35% off all furniture + GARAGE SALE

After that, I'll continue to mark things down until everything is gone!

*I won't be offering Layaway or Holds, so bring a truck!

*I'll be bring in new items from the basement and storage until everything is GONE.

I want to thank everyone for their support of my business throughout the years!

Melissa

Gosh, golly, geez this is seriously funny...

I'm always on the hunt for vintage items, some I sell in the shop and some I deconstruct, repurpose, or collage into something else.  I buy a lot of old books, and found one at a thrift shop in a small town close to where I live in Idaho.  It had yellowed pages, perfect to deconstruct and use for projects.  I was looking through the pages, and curiously, I found that throughout the book, certain words had been blotted out with White-Out.  It seemed like a young adults book from the 40's, I wondered which words could have been so naughty that someone had taken the time to go thorough the book and white-out every one.  I used my fingernail to scrape off some of the words: Gosh, gee, geez, and golly were all on the list of unacceptable.

I just laughed and thought of the small town with conservative values and pictured the previous owner of the book (or perhaps a well-meaning parent of the owner). Have any of you junkers ever encountered anything like this??

Black Dresser $189

I just finished this dresser: Check it out!

It is $189...I'm taking it to the Blackfoot Gift Bazaar on Wednesday, unless someone snatches it up first :) Let me know if you would like to take a look.

Black Solid Wood Dresser

7 Drawers

All drawers slide easily- super sturdy, solid and heavy

Distressed black paint

i finally made something from pinterest

I made this little mermaid for Ella.

I am working on several more mermaids for my Abigail and maybe some for the store.

I loved the free motion quilting aspect of this little project.

beloved chickens

last spring, I came home with 10 tiny baby chicks

they lived in the garage for a bit, and in the laundry room on cold nights, with a heat lamp

i wasn't sure how many of them would survive

three disappeared one day, but i found one in the bushes in the front yard

then the neighbor kids helped me chase it back in

so we ended up with EIGHT

two Orpington, and six Red Star (I think)

i didn't see one earwig last summer

they eat everything

BUT, they eat everything

so my garden was dug up

baby corn plants, peas, tiny cabbages, and other plants disappeared

oh, and they poop on everything

so i've been working on a design for a new chicken coop

LT wasn't as excited about my plans as I was

"flower pots? really?"

i would like to use mostly salvaged/vintage materials for this chicken coop

a little 6x6 chicken house, with a 6x6 run

compost bins in the front

a nesting box, with rusty corrugated metal roof!, and a place to roost

i feel a little guilty cooping them up, but we can always let them out

when it is safe for our garden



right now at this very moment

i heard this morning on the radio that Etta James died last friday...this is my favorite song, i love her confidence, i wish i could borrow some of it right now



right this very minute, i'm getting ready to present about Relational-Cultural Theory to the Idaho Counseling Association.... LT and the kids are watching TV, and everyone is full from a good dinner of frybread and roast beef (yeah, healthy, i know.)

my bags are packed, but i'm working on my powerpoint, making changes, doubting myself and the audacity of a student presenting to a group of people who have more experience and more letters after their names

i'm worried about my size....about judgement, disconnection, and my ability to convey my message: a message that is, after all, so close to my heart and has a good chance of being dismissed by people afraid of change

i keep going over a quote by Audre Lorde's in Sister Outsider:

"...it is not those differences
between us that are separating us. It is
rather our refusal to recognize those dif­ferences, and to examine the
distortions which result from our misnaming them and their effects upon human
behavior and expectation."

today I took down my tree

this year, my tree didn't stay decorated.

My little E and J spent weeks deconstructing the decorated tree

breaking ornaments, losing pieces, and adding their own

taking it down today made me think...

about new starts, decisions, and the future.

I've been hanging on to the past, using the same ornaments every year, even though I've changed.

losing control helped me let go

of things I didn't love

but thought I had to hold on to

and decide which things I really love: it forced me to choose

today, I kept what I really love, threw out what was tired, and created a new start.

I bought this lovely a few years ago, after Christmas sale at Joann's.  She still makes my heart sing :)

I wasn't going to do any resolutions, but taking down the tree got me thinking.

In 2012 I will...

have fun

be bold

sing

be me

rock the boat

be grateful

giggle

love

have a voice

CHANGE THE WORLD