Barn Dance

My wonderful friend and the girls' babysitter (still trying to think of a special name that describes what a blessing LaDeane has been to our family) invited us to her barn dance to celebrate her 30th wedding anniversary last night.

Decorating is not her "thing" so she agreed to let me add a few touches to their beautiful barn a few hours before the shindig started. Steve chauffeured me around the dirt roads Saturday morning, letting me out in the ditches to pick flowers in my mudboots and knees highs pulled up over my capris ensemble. I'm sure I was quite the sight. But one is not concerned with fashion when fighting her way through rodent/snake/insect infested foliage.

The party was a wonderful excuse to pull out evidence of my "textile obsession." All my vintage tablecloths and patchwork quilts covered the tables and hay bales. My old floral hankies were strung from authentic (as in straight from the bale) twine along the white brick walls.

My new $3 chalkboard was just the right size for the menu and my assorted 3s and 0s served as a reminder for the number of years Marvin and LaDeane were celebrating.

Josie was so excited to rock her new Goodwill cowboy hat.

Yeehaw!

Unfortunately we were unable to find any boots for the occasion.

The happy couple.

A late night potassium refuel after all the dancing.

Our first ever barn dance.

It was a good thing.

Steve and I humiliating ourselves

with an incredibly failed attempt 

at some Garth Brooks karaoke.....

NOT a good thing.

my little corner of the world

OK.

I'll admit it.

I am spoiled.

This morning's "breakfast" is a piece of pound cake 

drizzled in my yummy raspberry sauce

with a dollup of Cool Whip.

Eaten in front of the computer 

where I have been "pinning" like a crazy woman 

while the girls "play" school.

Essentially, Addie is teaching Gwen to read.

Thank you Hooked on Phonics

(and Addie).

Pinterest.

It's my new latest obsession.

As Sabrina described it......

"a glorious time waster."

Exactly.

Made me want to "pin" a few of my own

favorite corners of my world.

A homonym flashcard from a set I found at a garage sale

set in a $12 frame I found in the basement of our local antique store.

Hard to see.....

SEW

Mary can sew well.

SOW

The farmer will sow his seed.

LOVE it because my friend with the book deals Mary

CAN sew well

and we are surrounded my farmers sowing their seeds.

Until I can decide what I want to do with this lovely huge frame

it will provide a spot of color on our otherwise drab walls.

On top of our piano....

neat old books,

a recently completed silhouette of one of the girls

and a HUGE map of Duluth.

Though not entirely functional 

as it dims the light a tidge,

I used a bit of an old holy heirloom quilt

to top this super tall thrift store lamp.

Truly, my current favorite corner of the house. 

Color = Happiness.

Occupational BERRapY

Addie is improving, her appetite and energy level both increasing. 

She is still quite pale due to her low hemoglobin levels 

and is quite bruised from all the poking and pulling 

of last week's interventions.

But man, can that girl pick berries!

Her sisters have gotten bored with the hunting and gathering.

But Addie is loving it!

She rushes to tell me every time she finds a new great spot

or fills a bucket.

I love her enthusiasm.

And after being stuck in bed for two weeks
I am sure 

it is quite therapeutic.

all in a [few] day's work

I am still processing the events of the past couple weeks in which Addie's "kidney infection" turned out to be a very scary case of hemolytic uremic syndrome requiring an ambulance ride to Mayo, 2 platelet transfusions, one blood transfusion, and two sessions of dialysis over our 8 day stay in the hospital.

(detailed post to come)

 I have spent the last couple of days trying to manage my "post-traumatic" stress by scraping all the nasty linoleum and residue from the top of my latest find. As usual, in my excitement to transform something crusty into something beautiful, I failed to take a 'before' photo. You will have to take my word that it required HOURS of hand-cramping scraping with a screwdriver and a few coats of my new favorite turquoise paint to get this result.

I spent $20 on the furniture and just over $10 on paint and am quite pleased with the outcome. Plenty of shoe storage and lots of display potential. Originally I planned to cover the top in red gingham oilcloth, but I'm fine with the rustic look for now.

I made sure that hubby the kill-joy didn't even have to help carry my finished product from the pole barn to the house. You should have seen my four girlies and me heaving it up the deck stairs. I was so proud of them:) To be expected, Steve still insists it wasn't worth the $20 I paid.
Sigh.

I must show you some comparables to defend my decision making.

Sundance West Country Sideboard $1595

Wisteria Stacked Sideboard $499

A $32 turquoise sideboard. It's a good thing.

July heat.

Can it really be July already?
Am I getting a smidge predictable with my intros? 
Where has the time gone?
Where have I been the past two months?
Is summer really half over?


Maybe if I were to be more diligent in my blog writing I could spare you
the predictable laments over the passage of time
and cut to the chase.

As much as it saddens my heart,
it IS July.
And today's high is supposed to be 98!
NOT counting all the humidity!
Ew.

You can just see the heat and humidity in the air.

We now have another fruit bearing tree!

(It blossomed last year, but no fruit.)

Nothing makes me feel quite as rich as 

pears on a tree.

Evidence of Steve's latest "hobby."

Today I am incredibly thankful that we splurged on that pool
that fits perfectly on our old silo slab.
Sweet relief!

Addie has been suspiciously absent from recent photos 

as she is battling a kidney infection.

And possibly something else.

Poor kid hasn't been able to keep anything down since SUNDAY!

They put her on an IV yesterday and told us to come back today if she wasn't better.

So we are going in. again.

Praying for answers.......