Cheryl Butts In: A Weekend Not Doing What I Was Supposed to Be Doing

I'm lucky enough to have not one, but 2 guest posters this week.  First, Cheryl took pity on me one more time and sent me this wonderful post and second, Di at "Cook The TV" sent me an awesome recipe post that I will be sharing with you on Thursday. (I love the name of her blog and her recipes are so good!)  Me?  My friend Judy is here helping me with some last minute details and I'm getting ready to move!  In the meantime, please welcome Cheryl In Wisconsin once again!!

In my last post I commented on the arrival of spring in a place where we so desperately need it.  Nature has furthered her momentum, the signs are everywhere.  There are robins outside.  (The photo above is of an old stained glass window I had placed on my front porch – last year the robins built the nest there and hatched out three rounds of robinettes.  I’m just waiting for them to reclaim it as a sanctuary.)  I can hear the roar of Harley Davidsons.  And my mother called me to invite me to go to a Garage Sale.

**blink      blink blink blink**

My aunt had called my mother and asked her to let me know about this particular sale.  She promised that there were things that I would like, and the prices were reasonable.  I briefly considered this weekend’s to-do list and seconds later agreed that a garage sale is exactly where I should be.   (It’s important that I mention here that much of the to-do list consists of eliminating things from my house, not adding.)

So, at 8 a.m. Saturday morning we headed to the tiny town where the sale was being held.  It was hostessed by a fascinating woman who was in the process of moving into the little farmette and needed to downsize.  Please allow me to share my haul with you:

First, this old wooden crate, a wine box?  It had aged beautifully.  I can picture this with caster wheels and used in my living room.  I modified it a bit by using a sharpie and an antique stencil I had purchased on eBay from a seller in England:

I could not resist these croquet balls, complete with basket.  I’m not sure how I will use them yet.

This sheep baaa-ed at me from its spot in the sale.

It stands guard on my front porch, greeting visitors.  (Please do not look too closely at the chippy paint on my porch posts.  I LOVE chippy paint, just not actually ON the house.  Painting porch posts is one of the entries on that elusive to-do list.)

A wooden pig cutting board, advertising McMillen’s in St. Paul.  I want to hang this guy up somewhere in the kitchen.

“A&P Bread Contest Winner

W.F. Rogers

1937”

I adore it.

This small tureen came with the original ceramic ladle.  I wonder what kind of stories this would tell if it could.

These gallon jars are not old, you can still pick them up new.  However the price was fabulous and I bought four of them.  I already owned two, they sit on my ‘craft table’ holding door knobs and misc. metal parts.  Can’t you just picture a grouping of all six?  These four may hold doilies, silverware, croquet balls, whatever.  Visual storage.  Form AND function.

The most incredible part of this story?  I paid TWENTY DOLLARS for the entire lot.  Blowing off my chores to visit this sale was a good decision.  Plus, I got to spend some quality time with my mom.

Sunday was a to-do list bust also.  Michael Perry is an author who writes about life in rural Wisconsin.  He is hilarious, when I read his books I laugh out loud.  He made an appearance at our local theatre, an anonymous donor had paid to have him here, admission to the event was a donation to the local food pantry.  He regaled the crowd with his stories and it was an entire audience laughing out loud.  This man offers such a gift to his readers.  I recommend his books to anyone who enjoys a bit of humor about the human spirit.

So, here I sit with a messy house but the enjoyment I got from this weekend’s activities was worth it.  There’s always next weekend, right?

Danni, keep on keepin’ on, girl.  Your to-do list is much more impressive than mine.

   

 

 

 

 

Cheryl Butts In: Pt. 4 - Hope SPRINGs Eternal

"Winter is not a season, it's an occupation.” 
                                                     ----Sinclair Lewis

At the risk of sounding cliché, I am celebrating the (almost) arrival of spring.  

I know that you in the southern climes will begin to post your fabulous first-buds-of-spring photos very soon, and I wanted to offer up my experiences also.  So, this Sunday morning I dressed up the dog and we strolled about the neighborhood, capturing the images that sum up the wonderful phenomena that is ‘almost spring’. 

This is the flower bed that runs alongside my front sidewalk.  Isn’t it beautiful?
The grass has that brownish tone that can only be accomplished by being suffocated with the weight of snow for at least 700 days.  Maybe 800. 

This is my view as I maneuver the dog along the welcoming sidewalks:

And this is the view after locating that last piece of remaining black ice on said sidewalk:

But we found many delights, just awaiting our admiration.  The river, before the leaves block our view: 

Graffiti art:

This unit just waiting for the first actual warm (translation:  above 40°F) day to peel back its roof and take a day trip to the local wineries:

My front porch is getting a makeover next weekend, to remove the winter sentiments that were so lovingly placed there in early December, before we became Winter Zombies.

I will finally be able to put these away:

(Danni isn’t the only one with hoseable shoes. These actually need a good hosing.)

It’s not to say that during winter we are zombies every single day.   The best party I ever attended was held at an “ice fishing festival”, in a beer tent, in Michigan, in January.  

I purchased the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy in the fall to occupy us on that ‘quiet winter day’.  I did not experience a ‘quiet winter day’, those are fictional in my world.  However, we did get this built, to facilitate the absolutely necessary new semi-ginormous tv:

Fact:  most professionally built entertainment centers hold an extraordinary amount of VHS tapes, DVD’s, and CD’s. It all gets so comfy and tucked away that it is not until you build one with more visible storage options that all those forms of media must be reviewed for purging.  I can tell you with absolute honesty that a half dozen of my ‘quiet winter days’ were spent sorting through all of that to determine what got the boot.  Ex-haus-ting.

The first warm days of the year spark a natural response in pets to DROP ALL YOUR FUR, RIGHT NOW!  I will be spending a lot of time with the Dyson in the coming weeks.  Like their human counterparts, pets get cranky from their winter incarceration.   Today’s view, around the water cooler:

(That ain’t a display of tolerance.) 

It’s only a matter of weeks until I can enjoy a vision like this in my backyard:

My hat is off to Danni, my hostess, who spent most of her winter doing manual labor to make a house into a home.  Rock on, Danni & Sam (and, of course, Suzan & John in Montreal as well as Andi and Phil in Illinois).  Thanks again for letting me share.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  

CHERYL BUTTS IN: What We Collect - Part 3

Cheryl in Wisconsin, once again.  I am posting about things I am drawn to.  Heavy metal, old house parts, and finally this – faces.  I love things with faces on them.  I don’t know why.  Someday I will get "past life regression hypnosis" and that may answer a multitude of questions.

This is the fireplace surround that I wrote about in Post 1.  The fact that it had this lion’s face on it made it that much more attractive to me.

Also from Post 1.  These are ornamental metal pieces I obtained because of their faces.

Purchased new from Marshall’s.  This guy has a tealight candle holder in his palm.  Love it!

This purple head was someone’s high school art project I found at a garage sale for a quarter.  The zeal I displayed in locating it caused some anxiety for the dude running the till at said sale.  I promptly brought it home and placed it in my garden when my nephew announced that it appears I have a small child buried up to their neck in my flowers.  Oh well.

Randall Wolff is an artist currently living in Iowa that, as a young adult, was fascinated by the ornamental pieces on the exteriors of buildings in New York City as they were being razed.  Randall was able to save a lot of those pieces and ultimately has casted them for reproduction.  This is my only piece I have purchased from him (for now), it is the head of a gargoyle from an elementary school.  It is said that gargoyles on the exterior of a building can scare away evil spirits.  Perhaps my ‘faces’ are what aid in the calmness of my home.  

I found this poster at a local thrift store, of all places.  Kismet!  It is titled The Faces of Fourth Avenue and has photographs of faces found on the exteriors of beautiful buildings along Fourth Avenue in Pittsburgh.  You all may recognize the Kool-Aid pitcher, I modified it a bit.  “Cheryl displays her Kool-Aid pitcher as art.”

 

On a final note:  You may see from these posts that my color palette is very monotone and minimal.  That is by choice.  Some people find it boring, I find it serene and restful.  Perhaps that explains my lack of ambition, my house just mellows me out…          It hasn’t always been this way.  When I lived in Chicago in the 90’s I was enchanted by the homes there – done up in wild wall colors, fabulous colorful advertising posters, spotlighting.  I carried that design with me when I moved back here, to Podunk.  After a while my interior design style evolved to the monochromatic.  I do have one room though that I allowed to maintain color – my back porch, which I have designated as my ‘craft room’.  It is where my friends and I unsuccessfully attempt to cut wine bottles in half, etc.  You may notice a tendency towards cobalt blue.

(Bliss, please note Jar of Doorknobs.  Friends:  Why do you have those?  Me:  Because I can.)

Thanks for allowing me to share these ramblings.  Danni, you are a gracious hostess.  I will put all you bloggers back where you belong – on the pedestal I have placed you upon.  And I will return to snarky commenter status.

***

I would like to thank Cheryl for giving me a break and taking over my blog in such a fabulous way.  She can "butt in" here anytime!  I really hope she starts her own blog soon and we can see more of her awesomeness as well as enjoy her sense of humor!  (Cheryl, you can have a blog AND be a snarky commenter you know.)

 

 
 

 

 

CHERYL BUTTS IN: WHAT WE COLLECT - pt. 2

Since I am still elbow deep in painting at my new house, I'm happy to turn my blog over to my friend Cheryl for another round of "Cheryl Butts In".

It is me, Cheryl in Wisconsin again.  If you’re reading this, Danni has not changed her identity and e-mail address to avoid me yet.

In my first post, I discussed the stuff we connect with, stuff that defines our style and makes us feel as one with our homes.  For me, primarily, it is heavy metal.  Secondly, it is architectural salvage, or as I affectionately refer to it:  Old House Parts.

My house is just one big Old House Part.  Built in 1901 as a Victorian bungalow, it was more of a worker bee house among some multi-story beauties in my neighborhood.  Some of the homes here have been beautifully preserved in their original state.  Some of them have been updated with uncharacteristic materials, now simplistic shells of their former glory.

Luckily for me, my home has most of its original character.  When I got it, it had a new veneer of vinyl siding (great for insulation and low maintenance), and new aluminum storm windows (don’t have to change out the storms/screens each season change), but the interior windows remain, the beautiful wraparound front porch is still intact, I have all the original oak bullseye woodwork (painted white), and save for a back porch addition that allows me to access my basement without going outside, and the addition of a bathroom, it has the original floorplan.

This wall is in my dining room.  The shelf brackets are from the exterior of the house across the alley, they swapped them out for ones made out of composite materials.  I took the old ones off their hands and went to town with a heat gun removing years of leaded paint.  Fun times.  The bottom piece is from a ????, I bought it at a barn sale.  It matches the newel post sitting next to it, I got that at a garage sale.  If I was ambitious I would work these into some actual structure.  My routine is to bring it in and display it like art.  It is art.

This pediment could have once topped a stately mansion’s front door.  Now it hangs above my china cabinet, highlighting my crooked lampshade. 

 

This is a wall in my bedroom.  The piece up top is actually from a NEW piece of furniture that fell apart before it was purchased by anyone.  I painted it and beat the crap out of it so that it would look old, and hung it on the wall.  The joke-of-a-closet (tiny!) had no door so I cannibalized a storm door and used the center section to hang there.  (Yes, people of 1901 didn’t have a lot of clothes but didn’t women wear those huge hoop skirt ensembles?  Where did they hang them up?  Did they just wear the same one every day?  I digress…) That is my baptismal gown on the wall.  My friend Karen is freaked out by it every time she sees it, so I leave it there.  For fun.  I don’t know what else to do with it.  My cats won’t wear it.

I used old gingerbread pieces instead of a curtain in the window above my kitchen sink.  Yes, that is the neighbor’s house.  We’re all just one big happy squashed together family here.

I stuck a piece of old tin on the wall I like to splatter grease on.  The lamp is an old industrial type.  It was made by Pitner Arc, a company that was instrumental in the oil to electrical conversion for lighting.  I had it rewired.

A door handle, beautiful enough in its workmanship to hang on a small wall, no door opening required.

Old house parts used to create a focal point at the end of my fenced in backyard.  I WISH MY BACKYARD LOOKED LIKE THIS RIGHT NOW.  If we looked at this view today, it is white.  Just white.  Looking forward to spring!!!!

Old door, old window boxes, old spindles.  New herb garden.  This is right outside my back door, very handy for when you need a handful of basil, etc.   Just not in the winter. 

Thanks again for letting me share.  Thanks again to Danni!