Homefront: Vintage Granny Square Afghan and final Mantel Scape

My afghan finally arrived. The description from the seller, "This is a lovingly made 1940's Granny Square afghan by my Pennsylvania Dutch nana when she was probably in her 60's. She passed seven years ago, at the age of 103. I have so many memories of her crocheting afghans for everyone in church, and those in need. I bet she made 500 or more in her lifetime."

When I got the afghan, I was amazed at the perfection of each little detail and color groupings. I really love how the main color is a dark navy, instead of black for a less severe look. I would love one in a cream color one day.

The question is, how do I clean a vintage, handmade wool afghan? I found some information online, but if anyone has any tricks, feel free to let me know.

 And this is my final mantel scape in this home. It will all be packed up by tonight. I would have changed it more than last time, but everything is already in boxes. I'm so glad I painted my mirror white. It looks so pretty with the white mantle. The white chair needs a fresh coatsoon, but I kind of like the shabbiness of the old green color showing through.

The chair was in front of a dumpster in our first apartment, we've been carrying it around for 7 years now, and the little wood truck I got at an antique mall for $7. It's so cute, it's usually on the wall in the boys room with their toy cars lined up on it, but we never had a chance to put it in their room. It's special to me because my grandpa was a truck driver. We really need to paint that armoir one day.

*why do my mirrors always look streaky? I cleaned it today!? 

**linked to: life in the fun lane's first fresh coat friday,  sew much ado's, we did it wednesday, blue cricket designs show and tell

Memorial Day

 *my Grandpa Jack, who served in the Korean War and did a lot of guard duty (running joke)*

We were at a little restaurant and saw an elderly man wearing his retired vet hat with all of is service info on it. My husband went up to him and asked about it. He told us he was a front line infantryman in both Nazi Germany and the Korean War. A very nice, quiet and kind man, with a subtle pride and humbleness. We gave him our thanks and shook his hand. He and his wife were touched... so were we.

 *my little brother Jae, in special ops in aviation electronics, on the way to bootcamp*

So, a giant, respectful hug and thank you to the men and women who have served, and are currently serving in the military. For those who have died, those who have been injured, those who have experienced things we could never imagine and gave up some of their freedoms, so that we could have ours. A thank you to the husbands, wives, parents and children of those who say goodbye to their loved ones and wait every day to hear if they are safe.

 *my dad, who was a Ranger, sharp shooter and 2nd lieutenant, in this ROTC at BYU pic around 1976*

No matter what our personal opinions are about certain conflicts and politics, we should at the very least recognize that there are people willing to leave their families, homes, and comfort in order with the possibility of tragic ends in order to do what they feel is best for our country.

So, I salute you and hope and pray, that wherever you are in this world, that you and your family have peace.

* You may be surprised to know, that when I was 17 or 18, I was in the process of signing up for the military. I was home alone, with the recruiter sitting at my kitchen table, laptop out and I was taking some type of an entrance exam and filling out paperwork. Then, my mom walked in the door, started freaking out... and that was the end of that. Interesting how my life would have been so different had I joined.

**A few years ago, I was starting to write a book on the stories of these heroes before they passed on, never to have their stories told. I was preparing to go and interview veterans at the VA hospitals and nursing homes. Perhaps I will pick up this project again one we are settled, as time is running out. Remembering the past has always been very important to me, (many ladies played an important part as well).. Years ago, when my father was receiving treatment at the VA, we met Dan Illerich who was rescued by headhunters after being shot down in WWII, and were fascinated by his story. You can watch his story here, or see the image gallery here of the story that just aired on pbs the other day, to our surprise.

***For interesting reading, you may enjoy the short starvation experiment log by Lester Glick, that occurred in the University of Minnesota starvation experiment in 1944. 

Homefront: Christmas Decorating

My mantle this year is on an actual fireplace! Amazing!! The width is only about 3 inches wide, so no crazy heavy things this time that will make it fall, but what I can fit on there is perfect for us.

Since we usually do the silver, aqua/blue and white, I thought a little more red and green would be nice for the boys this year, so I stocked up after Christmas last year when everything was 90% off. Isaac's little retro glitter race car ornament needed to go up here, for it's own safety! The deer I got on Etsy from minzer, I love it and maybe I will add a pretty sprig of holly or mistletoe to it's antlers. I wish it were a little bigger, but it's still so cute, and vegan.

My mirror used to be the brushed nickle finish, but that is just something else I painted white. One day, I'll get all crazy with the color, but for now, it's perfect. The red wooden beads are just 2 strands hung up with 5 little nails.

I found these adorable vintage reindeer pair at a garage sale this summer for .75 cents and had to have them. (I found them online for almost $40 last month, wow).

I couldn't find (all) my candles for the candleabra I painted, so one hitched a ride on this little sled I painted and hey, this Santa hat works just fine too! That's what decorating is all about, using what you have in new and unexpected ways, right?

 

 

 This little house is my favorite. I got it in 1987 for a class Christmas party. Each student had to bring in a cardboard (empty) milk carton and the teacher and room mothers made us these adorable little houses. I can't wait to be a room mother when my oldest starts school. The house is just felt, glue, ric rac, sequins (well, missing sequins) and glitter and I absolutely adore it.

The Christmas tree is teeny in our new home, since in our lqast place, we put it on our table... but for now, it works and the boys loved decorating it, so that is what is important!

 

 

 

I loves these gumdrop snowflake ornaments! I used lots of cookie cutters tied with red ribbon as filler on the tree. They really catch the light and are inexpensive and so festive!

The boys made this cute little Frosty the Snowman mobile with their Grandma and Grandpa. It's little foam snowflakes, batting (I think), yarn, hangers and pipe cleaners. It's so cute and is tied in their room.You can make your own little mobile and customize it for your decor too. A tree star in the middle with ornaments hanging around on coordinating ribbon and tulle would be so pretty.

 

Merry Christmas and thanks for visiting! Now join in on The Nester's Christmas Tour of Homes!

A Fond Visit

After two ticks, a bajillion chigger bites (did I mention my grandparents live in the forest?), and a host of new memories I am back home, thrown into the whirlwind of being a stay at home mommy of 2 toddlers again. (click pictures for a larger view)

It was quite interesting being my mother's escort to her 35th high school reunion. With her being a widow for 7 years now after 24 years of a happy marriage (she has never gone on a date nor talked on the phone to any sort of gentlemen caller) it was quite interesting to see a couple of the singleton males be a little smitten with seeing her again. I gotta tell you though, I looked at her yearbook senior picture and the lady was hot. (I'll have to show a photo of it soon)...



We had a grand ole time, my grandparents feeding us constantly, watching the special on Walter Kronkite's passing and Paul Newman, old army stories and church doctrine and history, that's the way we pass the time at the grandfolk's house.



This is the home my mom lived in for her senior year.



This was her first apartment (far left window). It was quite a beauty 35 years ago, I am told. I could definately see the potential. It reminds me of a Jane Austen manor, or a scene from Wuthering Heights, perhaps.





This gorgeous home was down the street. It had several gazebos and grand arches and fountains, but I had to make picture taking quick since the neighbors kid's were watching me and they had a big ole Sheriff's truck in the driveway (whom I could only assume was their daddy).



My grandparent's home is surrounded by acorn, pecan, freshly planted pine and other sorts of trees, but there are a lot of dogwoods as well that attract bumblebees and hummingbirds.



My grandpa fills hummingbird feeders with his own concoctions and they lap the sweet nectar up enthusiastically. At one point, there were at least a dozen of the little darlings on the feeders, but those things are so fast, I could only capture 5 of them at most.



Since my grandmother has health problems, it is a joyous and peaceful pass time to watch the humming birds flit around and nurse the red liquid all day. If you stand on the porch, the birds will zoom right past your head and the humming sound of the quick little wings always buzzes in your ears.



My dear grandpa, helped me drill holes in several metal stampings I have been wanting to use in my jewelry. He is such a great man and treats my grandmother like a princess! My oldest is smitten with his great grandpa and loved exploring with him too. He really enjoyed the nature walks and learned so much this weekend.



I love his little painting my grandpa did many years ago, that now hangs humbly in his workshop.



While on the road to Missouri, we always know we are getting close to arriving when we pass under the (former) world's largest McDonalds!



When we arrived, we were greeted with my grandparent's tasty homemade soup. Here is my their soup recipe for safekeeping, it is truly delicious and can turn into a stew for leftovers later by thickening on the stove with a can of tomato paste!

*brown stew meat in a little oil
*boil in water, cover for about an hour, boil, stir occasionally
*add carrots and celery, simmer covered for 15 minutes
*add potatoes, simmer covered for about 5 minutes
*add diced or stewed tomatoes, peas, mushrooms, onions, corn (whatever you like) and 2 cans of tomato sauce
*add garlic powder and salt free Mrs. Dash Table blend (which is a blend of: onion, black pepper, chili pepper, parsley, celery seed, basil, bay, marajam, oregano, savory, thyme, corriander, cumin, mustard, rosemary, garlic, lemon)

I hope your weekend was as nice as mine!

Happy Holidays!

I saw this gorgeous image on Poppytalk and it led me to a wonderful graphic designer, Rhonna Designs. How have I never seen her designs before? Anyways, she is having a giveaway for a huge collection of her designs (for personal use only). So read HERE to find out all about it and then visit her Etsy shop and get some goodies!!


It has been both busy and slow for our Christmas and New Year. It was absolutely lovely having lots of family visit. We met two new babies, Aeyla and Ashlyn and had new adventures. Playing games where we can laugh and visit, going to the movies and just talking while the boys play video games is just about how we roll. We also pretty much all got sick over the holiday break. Right now, we are all basket cases of stuffy noses and itchy coughs, but it will soon pass! So today, this will be a photo montage of the past week or so.



Isaac never really "got" the whole Santa thing before, but he totally did this year. It was so fun! We stayed up late wrapping his presents and leaving a few unopened under the tree with bows on them. Those were the Santa gifts.



I never did bake any holiday treats. I was planning on it, but figured friends and family would rather not get my cough cooties so I refrained. But before I got sick, I did some face painting for my sister, Pookie the Clown at a birthday party. Aren't we cute? See pics here (totally random, I know)!



We also took Isaac mini golfing for the first time. He even made a hole in one (with David's help on the first hole) and he made 2 hole in two shots on his own. The other's took some time, but he did really well and had a blast!





He loved riding the motorcycle arcade game. We also all pitched in and got Isaac a train set. He absolutely loves it and never gets bored with it. We will be getting him some track add ons for his birthday, b/c he likes to build the track up with blocks to make hills.



We had a Twilight Christmas. I got David this Twilight keychain, and it is awesome, and he loves it. David got me the Twilight movie companion book and the Lion and Lamb ring set, and we got some family the movie soundtrack, which is a lot like the Romeo and Juliet soundtrack, revisited.

David got a basketball, which is nice, when we were dating we would skip out of lame-o singles ward church activities and shoot hoops in the gym, so it will be nice to do that again. We also really want to start going to the gym, so hopefully we can make that happen!

Caleb has been such a cutie pie. Doing his Ohh face more often and he is starting to babble so much. H is currently babbling "mamamamama ma ma maaa" just like that and "dadadada da da" just began about 2 days ago. He has his 4 front teeth and is a master climber!

For the non family down times, we stayed up all hours of the night and watched our Net Flicks "The Office" series. We are at the part where Jim has just been transferred back to Scranton and there is weirdness between him and Pam b/c he is "kinda" dating the Italian chick and Pam is single again. I have seen a couple episodes before (loved the British Office), but never followed the show, so watching it in order gives a new appreciation for it it all!


Jim Halpert by Amaloneyart -Holy Cow this artist is so amazing, he has the whole cast too!! I wonder if he does custom work?


Jim by Elloh she is amazing, such whimsical qualities to her work. She has does the British Office, LOST, Golden Girls and other fun stuff.

I debated putting this story on here, since it is special, but then I decided to share it anyways because it IS special and sometimes, stories like this can help others.

David and his man relatives were going to go camping, but they found out there is a burn ban right now, so they canceled it. David was distrought and decided to camp out in his parent's living room. More room on the bed for me!! Well, Isaac slept with me and I read him some from The Ensign (our church magazine of inspirational talks from the prophet/apostles other leaders and helpful articles). We then said our prayers and went to bed.



He looked at me and said "I see Angel, Mommy". He looked up a little above the corner our bed and said "Angel is white light." He told me he wanted to hug the Angel. It was a very peaceful and serene moment. I didn't want to ask questions to put ideas in his head, so we asked him the next morning. He told us it was a "boy angel, like Jesus" (grandpa perhaps?) and that he wanted to "hug the Angel, but couldn't" I know that the veil is thinner for children than adults, and it is so neat to see these things.

I loved it, when as new babies, I would hold my boys, and they would look past my head to look at a blank spot at the wall or ceiling, and they would get this bright glow and smile in their eyes and they would smile so huge for such a tiny creature, as if they were communicating with a heavenly being. The feeling in my heart tells me this is true, and I always imagine my dad standing there beside me.

For the Etsy/RubyLane/ArtFire/Lollishops or other online venue selling tip of the day, Timothy Adam Designs has an excellent post on social networking. Here it is so have at it!

And now I have to go, b/c Isaac found a mini pair of scissors and has chopped off large sections of Caleb's hair in the past couple of seconds while I was typing. Adios!