Estate sale finds

Happy Friday!  Are you still stuffed?  I am!  But the best part of the Thanksgiving feast takes place today, TURKEY SANDWICHES!  With mayo and cranberry sauce, you just can't beat it! 

Being a holiday weekend there are no estate sales in our town this week, but I thought I would post a few things that I bought last week.

 This is one freaky, deaky Santa!  It is actually a bank and when you put money in the slot, the Santa will ring the bell!  I haven't put batteries in yet to find out if he works or not.  How in the world does a Santa that big think he's going to make it down the tiny chimney in this little house?

I loved the detail of the Christmas tree in the windows of the little house.

 This adorable litte carnival doll was stark naked and had a big dent in her head.  I felt so bad for her and she was only $1.00 so I took her home and worked some magic on her and now she is so happy to be dressed in her Chrismas finery and now she sits right in the top of my aluminum tree.

 And this is a monkey in a cowboy suit!  LOL!  I have no idea why I think this is hysterical, but I do and had to have him.  And what does one do with a monkey dressed as a cowboy?

 Well, hang him in the Chrismas tree of course!

And isn't this pretty, pink childs sewing machine just the cutest thing ever?  There is a piece missing where you thread it but I don't care.  It now sits under my Christmas tree but after Christmas will look just darling in my sewing room!

Hope everyone has a great weekend.  I guess I will head out to do some Chrismas shopping.

Blessings

Linda

p.s.  I am linking up to http://romantichome.blogspot.com/ for Friday Show and Tell.  Hop over and check out all the wonderfully, inspirational posts!

A Quick Hello!

Just dropping by my blog quickly to say Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!  I am off work Wednesday and Thursday and will be back on Friday. 

I will be hosting Thanksgiving dinner again this year and I am a little sad that our family keeps shrinking.  There will only be 6 this year unless my nephews surprise me and show up, but I doubt it.  Oh well, it will be fun anyway. 

The table is set, the turkey is thawing in the fridge and I have already done all my other grocery shopping so tomorrow I can start cooking!  I love my new glasses found at an Estate sale for $2.00 for 8. (LOL I see the baby gate in the background.  That's for the dog, not a baby)

Buffet all set to hold all the pumpkin pie, pecan pie and Coca Cola cake.

 And I have already started decorating for Christmas!  If this photo doesn't put a smile on the Scroogiest of Scrooges, then there's something wrong because this is just one big cabinet of happiness!!

Red and Green overload!!!   Next week I will give you a closer look! 

Hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving and

Don't gobble 'til you wobble!

Linda

Show and Tell Friday

TGIF!!!!  It's a cold, blustery day today in SW Virginia.  But the sun is shining and it looks like there will be great weather for the weekend ahead. 

I am participating in Romantic Homes Friday Show and Tell.  You can find some very inspiring, and creative ideas there.  http://romantichome.blogspot.com/  Pour yourself that second cup of coffee and pop on over there and be prepared to spend some time! 

This week I'm showing the rest of the goodies that I bought at the auction sale last month.  I admit, I went a little overboard, but I absolutely love everything that I bought and don't have a bit of buyers remorse.

 I love this Eastlake chair and got two of them that match.  I have two already that are very similar and I am going to use them with my antique table in my kitchen.  They are newly upholstered, however I'm not digging that color and will re-upholster in a color that goes with the cobalt blue in my kitchen.

 I love the detail on the top!

 This spinning wheel is gigantic!  It's called a great wheel and really, it's just too big for the space I have it in so it will probably go up for sale.  I really like it though.

 I loved the colors in this Austrian dish.

And last but not least, a Shirley Temple pitcher in great condition!

I am headed to an estate sale today at lunch.  About a month ago I went to a sale and bought this set of dishes:

I got a complete set except there were no cups to go with it.  Today they are selling the items in the basement of the same house where I bought the dishes.  I am hoping that perhaps the cups got separated from this set and may be somewhere in that basement!  Wish me luck!

Have a great weekend!

Linda

Retro Christmas Card Books

Good Monday morning everyone!  Hope you had a great weekend.  This Saturday was Yngwies 20th Birthday!  Where has the time gone????  It seems like I was just awaiting his arrival.  I remember everything about that wonderful day!  Ever since he was one years old I have taken a photo of him at exactly 7:10 p.m. on his birthday.

Sunday we went out to Buffalo Wild Wings to meet family to celebrate and my niece brought me a present!  She had gone to an auction and saw these old Christmas card sample books and bought them for $1.00.  A lady came over to her and said that the books used to belong to her when she was in elementary school she would go from door to door selling the cards.  I just loved them!

There are 7 books with the cutest covers ever.

And the cards inside... oh my...  I could hardly control myself from jumping up and down right in the restaurant!

How's that for an adorable Santa face!

 This is so fuuny!  Inside it says Merry Christmas, Happy Thanksgiving, Happy 4th, Happy Birthday, Spooky Halloween, etc....

 Adorable!

 Such a wide variety of different cards

 You can't see it in the photo, but these cards are glittery.  My favorite.

 I love this card!

 You could also get personalized letters and napkins!

 And there was also a box of retro wrapping paper! 

Look at the vivid colors!  I can hardly wait to incoporate these into some of my paper crafting! 

In sewing news, I am finally finishing up a top I started a month ago and am getting ready to make a few Christmas gifts!  I love this time of year!

Blessings

Linda

My "new" antique cylinder desk

TGIF!  It is a drizzly, cloudy, but mild day here is SW Virginia.  However, my noon the rains should be moving out and the sun will once again make it's appearance.

I have spent this week putting up all the orange and black from Halloween.  It is  bitter-sweet.  I love the fall decorations with their golden hews and will miss them, but I am looking forward to the reds and greens of Christmas!

This week for Show and Tell over at Romantic Home  http://romantichome.blogspot.com/ I would like to tell you about this beautiful desk that I bought a few weeks ago at an auciton.  Yeah!  I got a lot of stuff at this auction, but DH and I decided that these pieces would be our Christmas gifts to each other.

I have been looking a roll top desks for years but when I spotted this beauty at the auction, I just loved it!

Look at the beautiful grain of the wood.  Once I got it home the desk was much larger than I thought and couldn't go where I had originally intended, but it looks right at home right here.

I'm sure it didn't originally have that felt piece on the pull out and I am going to replace it with leather.

Yngwie has already claimed it and has it full of paper, pens and other college related stuff. 

Hope everyone has a super weekend.  I am going to start dragging my Christmas stuff out of the closets and attic!  So exciting!

Blessings

Linda

Sweet and Spooky Dolls

TGIF!!!  It is a misty, cold, and dreary morning here in SW Virginia today.  The weathermen are even calling for snow in the mountains!   

A couple of weeks ago at the auction where we bought the Victorian buffet (a couple of posts below), they had several of these French boudoir dolls.  There was one in particular that I fell in love with because she looks like me!  Fate and luck were with me that day because I was able to buy her!  I would like for you to meet Bridget...

 Isn't she adorable with her hat and glasses?  And those hoop earrings, pink taffeta dress with lace insets!  I was so happy that I was getting to keep her but decided she shouldn't live alone, so I also bought a little lady I call Helene....

 Isn't she stunning with her blue polka dot dress with lacy slip and that jaunty red beret is just the cat's meow.  These dolls were made in the 1920's and are composition and cloth with painted features.  I had never seen any before except in pictures and really like them.  The auctioneer said he would have some more for auction next month as he had just grabbed a couple out of a house he said was totally full of dolls.  I can't wait until his next auction!

And this little lady was purchased simply because no one would bid on her and I stuck my hand up and said $1.00 and the auctioneer yelled SOLD!  I am so glad she got to come home with me.  She looks a little like one of the Little Women.  I named her Sally.  That was my great grandmothers name.

Now I have to say Yngwie and his friends do not like these dolls sitting around at all!  When he was home last weekend with friends they thought I just had them out as spooky Halloween decorations!  He also thinks it's weird that his 50 year old mom names her dolls.   My sister even said they were positively scary!  Really??  I think they are adorable!  I guess it's a matter of perspective.

I actually have NOTHING planned for this weekend.  WHOO HOO!!  A free weekend.  I am soooo looking forward to it! 

Blessings

Linda

p.s. I am linking up to Romantic Homes Show and Tell Friday!  You can find it here:  http://romantichome.blogspot.com/

Good Monday Morning!

I say that "tongue in cheek" as I most definitely got up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.  UGH...  I hate when I get up grumpy.  Fortunately, coffee was made when I got to work and after about 3 cups I am finally starting to act human.  Kinda..

I have no reason to be grumpy, yesterday was a glorious day in Virginia.  The sun was sifting throught the beautiful fall leaves and it was the perfect day for a day trip.

Our family hit the road about 10:00 on our way to Paint Bank, VA.  A beautiful little town about two hours from where I live and very close to White Sulpher Springs, WV.  On the way, we stopped at the VA State fish hatchery.   They had ponds full of every kind of trout you can think of.

 This is an inside view of the restaurant.  The restaurant is on the ground floor and upstairs is the swinging bridge and gift shop.  The restaurant is called The Swinging Bridge and is in an old converted general store.  The specialty of the house is buffalo and that is exactly what we had.  Buffalo Burgers!  They were delicious!

This is the view of the top of the restaurant from where I was sitting.

 Yours truly standing on the swinging bridge.

 There are lots of scenes like this in the restaurant.  It is truly very pretty.

 On the property stands an old corn mill.  You could go inside and see how the grain was ground.

 The landscaping outside the restaurant is just lovely.  There were several ponds, streams and waterfalls.

 Yngwie was home and went with us!

 This is a view of the restaurant from the parking lot.  Look at those mountains in the background!

 We drove on into Sweet Springs WV where this place used to be a resort.  The area is known for it's "healing" springs and many presidents and famous people came to Sweet Springs to relax and heal in the waters.

 This is the old bathhouses around the pool.  All of this has fell into disrepair and is abandoned now.  Apparently there is no money for it's upkeep, which is such a shame considering it's history.

All in all it was a fun and relaxing day and I should sit back awhile and reflect on the blessing of living in such a beautiful place and getting to spend the day with my loved ones.  I have no reason to be grumpy.

Blessings

Linda