Kitchen Clutter

Our kitchen decor really centers around this dish rack/butcher block piece that the husband got at Kmart a decade ago.  It's a Martha Stewart piece and we love it.  It fits our space really well and corrals a bunch of our pots and pans that would otherwise be homeless.  Nothing more sad than kitchen utensils living on the street at Christmas time.  I always deck it out with my snazzy red tinsel tree and some very choice vintage ornaments. Behold:

On top of the rack only one decoration holds court.  The majestic (and new!) reproduction white feather tree.  No, this version is not made with real feathers.  The antique versions were, however.  I strung this gloriously pristine lady with a small length of vintage red mercury beads.  God, I could just look at that all day.

Dining Room Delights

I like showing off my miles and miles of Christmas baubles and flotsam.  Sit back and relax with a nice hot mug of cocoa.  Don't forget to add some peppermint schnapps!  Because, this whole thing will seem a lot less garish and weird with a few shots of liquor.

I like small things.  Little tidbits.  Odds and ends. Minutia.  Here is where I keep some of it.

This is the shelf in my dining room, near the table.  I use the pitchers on a regular basis and decorate the shelf seasonally.  The bulb bouquet in the clear pitcher on the right is my bridesmaid bouquet from the wedding I was in this November.  It lights up.  I'll say that again: It lights up.  That's right.  We were like some kind of gorgeous procession of Christmas and Disney's Main Street Electrical Parade combined.  If that doesn't blow the lid right off your mind, I'm not sure what would.  We made them ourselves and practically had a nervous breakdown with wonder at our own creation.  

If you click on the pics you can see bigger images.  I say that as a warning.  These small pictures seem kind of subdued.  I wouldn't want you to accidentally click on one in mid cocoa sip and end up spewing it all over your screen in surprise at the visual assault  you'd receive.

 This is a close up of a floral pick featuring tiny flocked red boots.  I put out quite a few floral picks this year.  But not as many as my mother who may have to go into therapy soon for her addiction.

Here is one of this year's additions to the Muppet tree.  He was found at Target.  I love the fact that he is just the right size to go match the vintage Muppet head ornaments that I have.  They didn't manufacture an Animal ornament with the original set.

A collection in process?  Three vintage toy soldier ornaments.  I can't say why I love them so much.  I think they might fondly remind me of my years in band.  Not of my years in a band, but, my years in band.  There is a huge difference.

The red shelf is a bit lopsided this year.  The teal bottle brush tree was a late addition.  I couldn't resist the opportunity to show off a few more floral picks.  Check out that plastic, glittery, fake snowy... snow...puff...thing.  And also the gorgeous green foil tree with the mercury bead ornaments.  Swoon!

 

So, in summary:

Plastic Is As Plastic Does, But Flocked Or Glittered Is Better

Matchboxes: A Christmas Collection

Merry, merry, everyone!  Things have been very busy on the Etsy front, these days.  It's hogging up all my blogging time.  But, now I find myself with two weeks off and a whole house of Christmas goodies to share.

It never occurred to me that I had a Christmas matchbox collection until I was decorating this year.  Turns out, I do.  I didn't intend to collect them, honest.  But it turns out there are a ton of them around, most with the matches still in them.  They are small, adorably detailed and Christmas themed.  Obviously I'm just going to pick them up when I see them at sales, etc.  Then, bam!  Before you know it I've got myself a little collection.

Most of them have lots of matches still in them.  And most of the matches are tipped with festive colors.  The cylindrical containers have strikers on the bottom.

Just how adorable are these, anyway??

In Summary:

I'm A Blogging Slacker

Here Comes Christmas

Muppetgasm 2012

Recently the Rochester Ronald McDonald House held it's annual sale.  This sale is huge.  I mean, the size of a warehouse, huge.  I've talked about it before. A huge pack of us go and then get dinner after.  It's an amazing night that is anticipated all year.  I usually get a goodly amount of treasure, but this year was different.  This year, I had what is referred to in my circles as "a hit".

I found armfuls of Muppets.  Armfuls.  I'll just let that sink in for a minute...yeah.  Exactly.

Now, this sale can be cut-throat.  I've seen people going for the same item many a time, sweat pouring off brows as they wonder who will reach the prize first.  A good natured head shake, a congratulations and the would-be scene is over before it starts.  The latecomer conceding to the victor, to whom I'm told go the spoils.

Facing a virtual wall of plush Muppet toys I knew I would not be a graceful loser.  I'd fight for these stuffed animals, these bits of fabric and fluff.  I'd scratch, I'd claw, I'd use every foul name in the book.  Because these Muppets belonged to me.  Mine.  I felt the Gollum like change come upon me as I began grabbing them from the shelves.  Mine.  My precious. 

At this point I already had a bag full of goods, so I'm in the toy section trying to scoop up all of the Muppets as fast as I can and just hold onto them.  Just get them.  I just needed to claim them and worry about how to transport them later.  So I'm there, buried under a mountain of Muppets, barely mobile, and some guy with his wife looks over at me with sort of a surprised expression.  "Oh, Muppets, eh?"  He looks interested.  Too interested.  I manage a muffled noncommittal "Mmm." as I turn away from him before he can move in for a better look, or, god forbid, touch one.  He might lose a finger.  Nothing to see here pal, move along.

Once the gawkers fade away I quickly bag up my booty, which is no easy task.  I float around the rest of the sale, just glowing.

Rizzo looks pretty bad ass in his black pleather coat.  Kermit is super adorable in his bunny ears, but I gotta tell ya, I have no idea why he's got that Easter egg in a terrycloth sack.  Seems kind of kinky.

Now, the untrained eye might easily confuse Easter Gonzo with Valentine Gonzo.  We experts know that Easter Gonzo carries a lily and has a green tie, whereas Valentine Gonzo carries red flowers and has a red heart tie.  I'm pretty sure that Pajamas Kermit is supposed to be a Christmas item.  Adjorbs.

The Valentine gang.  Kermit holding a real frame that you can put a picture of your sweetheart in.  Animal is dressed like an old timey prisoner and is attached to a chain with a heart at the end.  I'm trying to understand just what that means.  Love slave?  Jail...bait?  Oh wait, Prisoner of Love, right?  That's a thing, I think. And this Fozzie I've officially dubbed the W.C. Fields Fozzie.  You can't tell me he doesn't look just like W.C. Fields.  Slumpy top hat, big huge nose, bow tie and all.

Later on I found this vintage Miss Piggy Christmas figure.  For a dollar!  Admittedly, it is one of the uglier Miss Piggy items out there, but still.  A dollar!  The black cat is an Avon bottle.  I love her silhouette.  She'll go great with my other black cat fall decorations.

While in the knicknack section I found some weird dolls.  I almost always buy weird things in this section.  Note to self: Go there first next year.  Well, right after the Muppet toy area, obviously.

The ballerina couples are made of wire skeletons with wrapped and painted fabric on top.  They are seriously unique and quite lovely in their way.  The lady in the middle is a cancan dancer.  She seems pretty old (ya know).

I found this with the purses.

Confession: This is my third baton.  I have three.  I can't let them sit there, unloved!  I just buy them. I have to.  I'm compelled.  I was a majorette in high school and I love me some band.  Little known fact: I twirled the fire baton.  How rad is that?  So, I'm pretty much like a trained circus performer.

I like to keep vintage frames on hand.  These two lookers came home with me.  I'm not keeping the photo, but it's cute, no?  I also noticed that I have no drink stirs in the house.  Problem remedied.

I also found these gourds recently and just had to share them.  How adorable are they?  Little mushroom men wearing hats.  Come on with this.  It's like a 1up and a Get Big in Mario Brothers over here.

This one was birthed by my compost pile!  Thank you nature, for the awesome present!  I love decorative gourds! It's super awesome and looks like it's been sponge painted.

In a completely unrelated turn of events, I recently went on a wine tour.  I came home with a souvenir.  No, not a bottle of wine.  Not a t-shirt.  Not a corkscrew or wine stopper.  I came home with this.

A papier mache skull mask with rhinestones and a tiny top hat.  No, I wasn't drunk.  My only regret is that I didn't get two.

So, in summary:

Pretty Much All The Muppets

Tiny Dancers

Circus Freak

 Nature Gives Me A Present, Probably Because I Force People To Recyle

Therapy

My job has been pretty stressful of late.  While I'm there I need to take little breaks to give my brain time to decompress. I've been filling those breaks with therapy.  Retail therapy.

You may or may not know that I'm an Etsy junkie.  I have a shop, myself and I love to purchase items from other shops with my winnings. It's a glorious cycle.  There is nothing vicious about it.

Currently I'm obsessed with buying earrings.  Specifically, fall earrings.  Let me show you what I've found!

I call these the Haunted Mansion earrings.  They are super gorgeous.  It will tickle me pink to wear these in the Haunted Mansion next time I visit Disney World. Jessica of Chrome & Cotton was so sweet to make me a special pair since her first pair were sold.  They are a bit heavy, so if you have large holes, like me, you might want to use Lobe Wonder with them.  Seriously, that junk changed my life.  I can't tell you how amazing these look on.  Go visit Jessica's store for some seriously sweet jewelry.  It will remind you of summers on the porch, making jam and eating gorgeous pieces of hard candy from a special glass jar in your grandmother's house.

Next up we have the Autumn Leaf earrings.  These babies catch the light in beautiful ways.  They are exactly like a fall day.  They are plastic, glorious plastic and lighter than air! They are also presented on a vintage playing card.  I can't even stand it.  That has to be one of the most awesome ways of carding jewelry, ever.  Check out Little Lamzie for some kitschy fun!

Lastly we have the Candy Apple earrings.  Miz Lisa's Designs has loads of fun seasonal offerings.  These are a tiny bit bigger than I'd hoped, but super cute and plastic, one of my favorite things, ever. See how delicious they look?

There is no telling how many pairs I'll end up with before this big project at work is over...in December.  But if you all go shopping too, at least I'll be in good company.

One more thank you to the sellers of these amazing items, for making me a very happy lady with a lot less stress!

So, In Summary:

Goooooo Etsy!

Falling 2013

It's fall.  It's actually fall.  Leaves changing, crisp weather, my birthday.  I wish this weather lasted for half the year.  I love me some fall.  Not as much as this guy, maybe, but still a fair amount. (Warning, this link goes to a post that is mostly swears.  If you don't like swears, don't click.  If you are more of a pirate/truck driver lady like myself who enjoys a good swear or two, do your thang.)

The Snug Bungalow has been appropriately festivly decked.  Let me show you around.  First we have the mantel.  Mostly crows and owls with a smattering of bats.  Lots of black glitter.

This here is a real skull.  I think it is a beaver or woodchuck.  I found it at Letchworth State Park.  The best part about it is that it's been gnawed pretty good.  Teeth marks and gouges abound.  Some beastie or another had a right nice meal out of this here skull.  It's been sitting on the mantel since the spring just waiting for it's time to shine.

I love this little guy.  And I love that it doesn't say spooky.  Just one little spook, ready to haunt.

This is my Halloween Baby.  Have you met?  She hangs above my front window.  This is another time that waiting paid off.  I fell in love with her on fall at the Craft Antique Co-op.  I didn't have the money for her at the time.  I went back a month or two later and bam!  Half price.  Don't you enjoy a story with a happy ending?

The Fisher Price house is even getting into the swing of things.

Chubby Bunny (on right) and his marshmallowy friend.

A tiny haunted hamlet.

Shadowbox!  How many tiny trinkets can I jam into one small area?  Many.  The vampire on the bottom row is a finger puppet!  I got him from my mom when I was going through my vampire phase.  Which, incidentally, came about ten years prior to The Twilight Saga just in case you were thinking nasty thoughts in my direction.

Oooh, girl.  Esmerelda can't decide if she wants to sing something by Brittany Spears or something by Cher tonight at the drag show.

Jadeite cake plate!

Beakers for evil science.  I hope she doesn't blind you with it.

Black cats crossing your path all over the place.

Door one.

Door deux.

And three.

I'd forgotten all about this mask!  It was like a present to me, from me, sent through time in a silver Delorian.  See those huge candy corn up there?  Those were a birthday gift from my mom.  They are coated in glitter.  The woman knows her audience.

And the Martha stand.

Happy fall to yose and your'n.

Those Who Wait

You know what they say about those guys, right?  Well, it's totally true.  Remember those Converse I was stalking earlier this year?  Yeah, well.  As you can see I waited.  And they came.  Wait, am I mixing quotes here?  Seems to apply.

Guess how much I paid for them?  The correct and true price.

The inside is neon yellow! 

Life is good.

The Yellow House

 

If you say those words in my family, everyone knows which house you are talking about.  Although there were more than a few of us who lived in yellow homes at one time or another, there is only one Yellow House.

This house belonged to my grandparents, Gee & Papa.  It was my first house as my young mother still lived there with her parents at the time of my birth. 

Everyone in the family has fond memories of The Yellow House.  I can remember watching cartoons there, specifically The Smurfs.  My grandparents used to sleep with me on the fold out couch until I fell asleep, myself.  I have gorgeous, vivid memories of my grandmother doing dishes in the kitchen, late into the night with just one lone light on in the house.

The Yellow House was very large.  There were lots of bedrooms and plenty of places to stay when family came home.  There were Sunday dinners gathered around a large table, just inside the front door.  There was my grandparent's mauve bedroom with it's sheer curtains, looking out at the road.  The smell of my grandmother's jewelry box in that room is something I will never forget. The bedroom had pocket doors and a telephone that looked like something a princess would use.  I was allowed to call my parents on it, just to use it when I spent the night.  I didn't need to call my parents.  I didn't miss them at all.  They used to have to pay me to leave.  For real.  They paid me in pennies for my piggy bank.

I fell in love with the smell of Lily of the Valley at that house.  Just off my grandparent's bedroom porch they blossomed.  A lush carpet of them.  The smell lingered around that area of the yard and became part of my childhood.  Part of what connects me to this earth.

Most of the people in my family feel the same way and have their own beautiful memories of it.

I keep a picture of the Yellow House in my living room.

It was my birthday this past week.  And on my birthday I received a package from my grandmother, who happens to be my only remaining grandparent.  I'm sure you can now understand how happy I was to unwrap this:

It is a painting of The Yellow House that my aunt made, sometime in the 1980's.  My Gee put a special inscription on the back and it brought tears to my eyes and a smile to my heart.

I also got another awesome piece of art for my birthday.  I'm going to tack it on here, at the end of this sentimental journey so that you won't think I've completely gone soft.

A one-of-a-kind Kermit portrait!  My friend LuLu and her boyfriend Rob made it for me...out of Lego bricks!  Zoiks!

So, In Summary:
If you think this was bad, just get me talking about my Little Red Suitcase!
Yeah, I have totally talented friends!

Labor Daybor

Paying half price really is best. I don't care what anyone else says.  One of the thrift stores in the area had a half off sale to celebrate us woikin' stiffs. (as the Newsies would say) Let me tell you, I celebrated my ass off.  The American way.  Buy buying stuff.

 

This is an American Eagle dress.  So cute and made of a great light weight cotton.  Plus, IT HAS POCKETS!  How about if all dresses have pockets from here on out, mmmkay? $6. 

Take a look at the fabric up close!  It reminds me of Green Eggs and Ham.

This is a Kimchi Blue dress which is a brand sold at Urban Outfitters.  It's made of very, very, very thin polar fleece.  I can't wait to get this baby on with some tights and high boots.  Ooh, golden rod tights if I can find them!  $4.  Want to hear something weird about this dress?  Apparently it was made in the USA.  What is this, 1950??

L.E.I. skirt.  Cute butt pockets.  Very much looking forward to fall.  $2.

This is a seriously comfy looking JCrew shirt.  $2.  The cotton is a bit more rough than a normal t-shirt.

There doesn't seem to be a brand label on this purse.  But it's new, never been used.  And I love the crap out of it.  I'm making it my new regular purse.  It doesn't even have any military roots or a long strap to sling across my body!  This is called progress, people. $2.

These are seriously comfortable Land's End sandals.  Walking sandals.  Of course I'm thinking, "They'll be perfect for Disney!"  because that's where my mind automatically goes every single time.  I don't think they've ever been worn.  $5

These Predictions sandals are adorable, a bit dressy and super squishy!  They look great with jeans or a dress.  Mmm....jeans.  My dream of fall continues. $2.50

These Personal Identity sandals remind me of the 70's. They also look great with jeans or a dress. $2

Last but not least we have what I refer to as "porno pumps".  For obvious reasons.  They are platform in the front and actually, despite their looks, pretty comfortable.  Plus, they give me like five inches, which, us shorties know is an amazing feeling.  You feel like a different person!  "Oh, so this is how everyone else sees things! Incredible!"  The husband seems short when I wear these.  Needless to say, I hope I find many reasons to wear these babies in the near future.

Also, sling backs.  Can we just talk about high heels for a minute?  And how they don't stay on your feet, even if they are the right size?  I can walk in a pair of heels.  A very tall pair, provided they stay on my feet!  But, most don't.  Even when you add those things in the heels or (and no, I'm not kidding, sadly) try to glue them on.  But I've found that sling backs are my friends.  Also ankle straps.  Thank you and goodnight.

 So, In Summary:

WHEN IS FALL GOING TO ARRIVE ALREADY!?