Chicken Soup Instead of Cupcakes...

Under the weather, down for the count -

But hey, chicken soup is one of my favorite things too ;- ) 

I may love chicken soup but I HATE BEING SICK!  Send me good vibes & healing karma.  Be back soon

You know, if I still had ovaries, he'd still be rattlin them :- ) Enjoy!

The Nostalgia Room ~ Bringing The Memories Back Home

So, the sweet gal at Atomic Ranch House inspired me to, 1) make a blog, which obviously I did (whew!  Still can't believe it!),  and, 2) to use a bedroom in my house as a "nostalga" room for re-collecting favorite things from my childhood, which I am in the process of doing.  I am having to re-collect because mom was very excellent at getting rid of things she arbitrarily decided we grew out of!  My sister or I would notice something missing & just KNEW we “grew out" of it.  I think mom was part gypsy because we moved around a LOT so I sometimes think she was continually lightening the load for the next move.  But who knew we would someday long for those things we “grew out of”?   The room is pretty bare bones right now with just a bed & two of my grama's dressers & an old chair I snagged at a garage sale which I will be putting a paint brush to soon.  But I've found a couple of things already that have me thrilled!  One is a pictures of a doll that I dearly loved.  She was a Madam Alexander doll & her name was "Cissy".  I know beyond all hope I'll never find the actual doll again, but I was so lucky to have found two vintage Yardly of London Ad's & one of them has her in it!  My Cissy wore a midnight blue taffeta dress (which I thought looked SO like Debbie Reynolds), the pearl necklace & a big honkin round diamond ring, which I was certain exactly like I would receive from my future Prince Charming who would certainly find me someday :- )  I had them for sale in the store, but when I got the bedroom idea, I knew they'd be coming home with me.

Here’s Cissy in the ad - Isn't she adorable!

This is the other ad & I had to buy them both because they belong together & I LOVE her outfit!

(I am most definately going to have to work on my photography skills!)

And one more thing I'm jumping up & down over is....My very first "cosmetics were called "Little Lady" and I will never forget them and they simply are a MUST for my nostalgia room.  Here is a picture of a few of the items I want sooo bad!  I had all the products plus a dresser set with hand mirror, brush & comb.  Boy would I LOVE to get my mitts on those!

Finding any of these will be a real challenge but, who knows.  However, I was THRILLED to find an adorable Little Lady picture at a GREAT store on Etsy that will definately become part of this new collection for my room.  And I've also had the pleasure of exchanging some e-mails with the owner of that great Etsy store & I'm loving her blog, My Attic's Charm.  Charming place & a charming lady.  Here's the picture.  How cute is she!

So, along with some fun black & white photo's of me & my sister that I'm scanning, I think I'm off to a great start.  And it's going to be so much fun to add the goals for my room to my already great picking adventures!

Do you have a very favorite thing from your childhood?



My Sister

~Paula Francine~

   1951 ~ 2008

I open this blog with a little dedication to my sister Paula, whom I sadly & unexpectedly lost three years ago.  I miss her with every shred of my being and my life will never be the same without her.  But I do not intend for this to be morose or sad.  On the contrary, it is a special remembrance of a beautiful girl and happy memories.  We went through so much together – we shared it all, the good, the bad, and everything in between – the sweet and the bittersweet.  She LOVED collecting, garage sailing, thrift store stalking, and she was darn good at it!  And she would have SO loved sharing this part of my life in the store as well as here.  We were going to be “old ladies” together.  Go to Disneyland without any kids & watch the parades & hear the music and dance with Donald Duck!  Buy as much junk as we wanted & not give a dang what the “Big Daddies” thought or said!  We planned “trailer” vacations together (she’d finally gotten her dream – her fifth wheel!).  And, I think, we would both wear purple with great abandon!  So, here is my beloved little sister, Paula Francine.  And ladies, if you are so lucky to have a sister please, love her like there’s no tomorrow.  And do share your “sister” times with me, be it a sister past or present or a “sister of the heart”

She on the left & me on the right (I let her "borrow" my very cool bike!)

Here she is as I will always remember her ~ smiling, laughing (she laughed so easily) & being goofy!  Whata doll!

And, as I will always remember "Us" ~ my little sister who grew taller than me and probably so much wiser too

A Twinkle In Time

That’s what I call the legitimization of my PASSION (sickness?!) for loving, collecting and buying all things vintage (i.e., garage sale-ing, estate sale-ing, thrift store stalking, curbside rescuing – all nice names for, well, you know ;- ).  So I found a place to pass along the things I love to others to love and appreciate as I do.  Myself & a friend looked for the perfect place but didn’t need to look far one day while visiting the beautiful historic district of Folsom, California.  We checked out one place that was beautiful but a bit too shabby chic for us.  I do like some shabby chic but find too much to be over the top & this place, while lovely was definitely over the top & their rules not to our liking.  Then a "home" was found on Sutter Street – The Folsom Mercantile Exchange.  It was everything an “antique” place should be.  Large, light, airy, and most important, THE most wonderful people who took us under their experienced wings and taught us how to “fly” in this wacky world of collecting, buying & selling.   A place to share, thrive (and validate!) and make new, wonderful friends.  We started with one space & are now into a second space.  One for our LOVE of all things vintage & “girlie”, and one for our new found passion for the retro era that was so much a part of both of our lives, and we’re LOVING re-living it.  So, here we are, as we started and where I am today.  There is also a little website:  <A HREF=http://www.a-twinkleintime.com/index.htm>A Twinkle In Time</A> which you can look at & better see what's up.  As I said in my blurb on this page, I will NOT be “pitching” stuff here, just sharing thoughts & great “finds”, but if you’d like to check it out, then please be my guest!

Three years ago we started with a couple of folding tables, some lace tablecloths & a few pieces of beautiful junk!  And that's my GORGEOUS niece, Colette helping with the "grand opening"

Here it is today - sort of - everything changes from month-to-month & these pics were a while back and I think it's a bit more organized now.  I'll post newer ones later, but this is pretty much it.  This is the "girlie" side

Here's the retro side - again, sort of - the scene has changed many times, but this was it a while back

So that's it - *A Twinkle In Time*

A New Lease On Life

Bringing an old girl back to life instead of sending her out to pasture.  We all deserve that don’t’ we?  That’s how I think of beautiful old furniture.  Pieces that (UNbelievably) some would throw to the curb, destined for our already overloaded landfills.  Pieces that, like ourselves, were treasured & cared for by someone who loved them.  Beautiful, and speaking so elegantly of their time and place.  Some were used well, some were not.  In life we have facelifts, in furniture we have restoration.  One in the same I’d say.  I’ve spent many hours bringing some “old beauties” back to life with a bit of sanding and paint (okay all you traditionalist – stop cringing!), and lately I’ve been learning the “art” of total restoration.  I will show you a few of my “painted ladies” and my first ever complete restoration.  Painting is no sissy job for sure as I have learned.  But total restoration is a whole other ballgame (i.e., HARD LABOR!).  But with the help & guidance of two people who are perfectionist’s, I am learning.  My good friend Hepcat and Big Daddy, my husband Michael.  One (Hepcat) a master of his craft, & both perfectionist’s.  One telling me the “how to’s” of technique & products, the other providing a helping hand and making sure I do NOT slide or take short cuts in order to get there faster (a quack for a facelift or a skilled plastic surgeon??).  So, here are some things I’ve brought back to life with a few coats of paint, and my crowning glory, my first total restoration of a gorgeous set of tables from the early 50’s.

An old European wicker bassinet we found at a rummage sale that was structurally sound but in need of a coat of paint & TLC



Miscellaneous pieces of bedroom furniture from garage sales

Some VERY worn out, tired old white wicker we thought would be so elegant in glossy black

And my "Crown Jewel" ~ Before and after
The top of the coffee table was dark & gnarley with water marks & cigarette burns :- (

Here she is - stripped bare bones naked!

Done!  Well, almost - I cheated - I still have to put the final coat of finishing wax, but you can see the beautiful wood grain pattern that was hidden before.  (The white dot & shading are shadows outside).  This is the result of 9 hours of sanding and three coats of tongue oil applied over three days