List # 7 of the 52 Lists: The Things I Didn't Get Done

I am way behind on my lists here. Actually I feel way behind on everything.

I went to bed by 8:30 3 times in the last week, and it threw me for a loop. I can't sleep that much because I just don't get anything done. My night time hours are not just when I blog--they are when I do the dinner dishes and clean up the kitchen. They are when I fold the laundry and straighten the house. They are when I get to the little projects, like sewing a curtain, or the big ones like cleaning a closet.

Falling asleep that early meant I was playing catch up the next da,y as well as carrying on with my regularly scheduled programming.

I hate that.

The other day, I was pulling my 3 kids out the car, saying things like, "please put on your shoes." and "what happened to your jacket?" and "I don't know where Baby Cheetah is, he's not my toy."

A mom in the parking spot next to me said, "God bless you. I can hardly manage 2, so I don't know how you do it with 3."

"Well, I can hardly manage 1 sometimes, so you're ahead of me," I replied.

Doesn't it feel that way sometimes? There are days, weeks, where I am treading water. Where I serve my kids hot dog buns with butter for breakfast because we are out of bread and I didn't feel like going to the store the night before. I was glad to learn that I am not the only mom who has given her kids half and half mixed with water when we are out of milk. Thanks for the shout out of solidarity Cassie.

It's nice to know we're all in this together.

That is why I give you this list. Because, we are all in this together. And maybe my list will make you feel better about yours. I do what I can, friends. I do what I can.

List # 7

The Things I didn't Get Done

1. I didn't celebrate Arbor Day. Arbor day was one of my favorite holidays when I was growing up. Not because I loved trees particularly, but mostly because that was the one day of the year that I got to wear shorts to school. Yep. Arbor Day. It was big time.

My brother and I went to a small Lutheran school. We didn't wear uniforms, but shorts were not in the dress code. Except on Arbor Day.

I still remember one of the pairs I wore. My favorites. They were pink with tiny, white dots that made a pattern of flowers on the shorts. My mom made them for me and I thought they were amazing. In fact, I don't think she had the buttons done in time, but I was so adamant that I would wear my new shorts on Arbor Day that we just closed them with a safety pin. My turquoise top covered it up and I know I looked awesome.

Besides the shorts wearing, it really was fun to spend the day sprucing up the school grounds. We had the whole afternoon off from classes and we pulled weeds, trimmed branches, raked, and, of course, planted trees. Each class (there were only 2 -- upper grades and lower grades) planted a tree. The big boys dug the hole and then we all got a turn throwing in 1 shovelful of dirt.

It was fun. And it really instilled a sense of pride in how our school looked. I liked the way it felt to take care of our school and to make it look pretty.

And each year after, we watched our trees grow.

It was a good holiday. And not just because of the shorts.

I wanted to celebrate with my kids this year. I wanted to tell them the stories of the Arbor Days of my youth. To work in the yard together and feel that sense of pride and connection to earth. And of course, to plant a tree.

Today was Arbor Day. This was as far as we got with our celebrations: reading this sweet, vintage book.

It is a great book and I recommend it for any day. Not just Arbor Day.

Oh well, we'll try again next year.

2. I didn't clean the school room closet. The closet that makes me want to say bad words every time I open it. The closet that is supposed to be for the kids but they are not allowed to open because something will probably fall on their heads and send us to the ER again.

3. I didn't call the fire department when James got stuck in the avocado tree. I got him down all by myself and neither one of us panicked.

4. I didn't do the ironing, remember to wash the shower curtain liner, or remember to return that bag of tupperware in the back of my car to its various rightful owners.

5. I didn't make May Day bouquets with the kids. Yes, May day is tomorrow. The first of May, right? When I was a kid, I read in some book about leaving May Day bouquets on the doors of your neighbors. I thought it sounded like a perfectly lovely idea. I don't recall if I ever actually did it, but I always wanted to.

So much so, that I want to do it now with my kids.

But I forgot that May Day would be here so soon. This weekend. Tomorrow.

So these lovelies will have to wait until next May Day.

That's OK, because it will probably take me that long to figure out how to make them. (To figure it out yourself, go here.)

I don't think I will spend tomorrow worrying about the things I didn't get done. I am going to enjoy my day: a hike, some butterflies and some swim time.

The list will still be there on Monday.

Hoping your weekend is filled with lots of things getting checked off your list. Or not. No matter what, just try to have some fun. And if the weather is nice, be sure to put on a pair of shorts.

Happy Arbor Day!

Love from Greta

Linoleum Block Prints and Making Dreams Come True.

Doesn't it feel good when you finally do something you've always wanted to do?

Last weekend we drove up to the Antelope Valley to see the poppies. It has been on my list for a long time. Years, in fact.

It is only a 2 hour drive--not close-but certainly not too far to go for such beauty.

And once we were there, I was so happy I'd made it. It was worth the effort to make a dream come true.

That's how it is. It takes a bit of work. Or, more likely, a whole lot of work to make dreams come true.

In the past year and a half that I have been blogging, I have seen many of my dreams coming true. I write nearly every day. When I don't, I miss it tremendously. I have taken thousands and thousands of pictures. With each shot I am learning how to photograph better. I want to take tens of thousands more. I have gotten my first little freelance writing job. I have done a few photo shoots for family and friends.

And all I can think is, I want more.

So this idea that has been brewing in my mind for a while now is starting to take shape.

Aaron and I will be working together.

We're planning a website, a blog, a shop where Aaron can sell some art.

Like these. They're linoleum block prints.

Made by hand. Made by him.

And perhaps it won't amount to much, but we're OK with that. Because it feels good just to create--to make things--and to do it together. It feels good to have our kids be a part of this creative journey. To see where this will take us all.

I recently read this quote that speaks volumes to me about how I'd like to live the rest of my life. And the kind of living I want to teach my children to do.

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails.

Explore. Dream. Discover."

Mark Twain

We're dreaming of the future. And who knows, maybe we'll even make a few pennies for our trailer fund.

We hope you'll come along for the ride.

I'm not sure how long it will take me to get things up and running, but I'll keep you in the loop.

Check back, will you? And please, tell you friends!

Love from,

Greta

Dreaming of Vintage Trailers

I wanted to post this yesterday, but it was my boy's 6th birthday and we were celebrating.

But it is only Saturday morning and there is still plenty of time for a weekend excursion. Even if it is only in your dreams.

I give you travel trailers, another vintage item I am now obsessing over. Come along and dream with me!

We saw these at the campground last weekend and now I am ready to hitch one on and go.

First, the retro trailer. Retro, as far as I understand the term, is not the same thing as vintage. It is a new item, made to look vintage. Like these next two trailers. Not only are they quite adorable, but there is also something to be said for modern amenities in your camping quarters. I find them quite aesthetically pleasing and you know, that is very important.

Next up, the VW camper van. We really like these. Not quite trailer, I know. But still cool enough to be part of our lives, for sure.

This one isn't retro and probably not quite old enough to be vintage, but those strings of lights put them in the running. Nice touch, folks.

This one is vintage and the classic surfing camper van. If my dreams of really learning to surf ever come true (anyone want to send me to surf camp?) I think I'd love to hit the beach campground with my trio of blondies and our surfboards strapped to the top. California dreaming, baby.
But these ones, oh sweet vintage goodness! There were 3 of them, a colony, sharing a campsite together. All true, vintage pop tops. They are just plain cool. Awesome. Rad. Keen.

Two were tan and the third orange, It was my favorite. If any of you would like to purchase one of these and we can form our own vintage VW camping caravan, call me. It would be great.

In the end, though, my heart still loves the truly vintage trailer best. The iconic, pull along variety. There are lots of them around. i know. Aaron has spent hours on Craigslist drooling over them.

The classic silver--a whole lot cheaper than an Airstream, and really, still very cool.

My hands down favorite for the weekend was this one.

The shape, the size, the COLOR!

Even the hubcaps are cute!

I know vintage isn't the easiest way to go, a Winnebago or a new travel trailer would be the way to go for that. But I am not known for taking the easy way. That's why I bake from scratch, paint it myself, and hunt at estate sales.

Sometimes I like to do it old school.
Unless of course, we are talking about the RV we'll be driving across the country in.

Since we're dreaming and all.

Happy trails to you, friends.

Love from Greta

Calling All Bloggers and a Little More of This and That

Hi friends. I have much to tell you about, so get a paper and pen. You'll want to take notes.

First off, Blog Sugar.

I am so excited about this event, I can't even tell you. If you are a southern Californian blogger or want to be blogger, you need to come. You can meet other bloggers, network, score some sweet swag and eat and drink some tasty treats.

It will be fun,

Rachel of Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane is hosting. I love her blog and I just know Blog Sugar will be great too. Please check out this link and let her know if you want to attend. I am hoping you will. Don't be shy.

Next up. 1 Canoe 2, an Etsy shop.

I really, really like their stuff. The state prints are awesome. I have only ever been to the airport in Texas, but this print makes me want to go there. Or at least hang a little bit of Texas on my wall.

See more prints here.

I also like this feather one.
And the bikes.
You know I like the hand-made goods. So check them out and maybe get a little new art for you walls.

Or, you could get some art for your hair.

What? Just take a look at The Headband Shoppe and you'll know what I mean.

Aren't these incredibly beautiful? I love the things in this shop. All hand-made beauties to adorn your head. She uses feathers. They are so delicate and elegant looking.

The best part is this shop is run by my friend Loiusa. Louisa, who used to be 13 and sit on my bed for Bible study and discussing details about my wedding. Louisa, who sewed me a quilt with the 3 other sweeties I discipled, and gave it to me as a wedding gift. I still have that quilt and all my babies have slept on it.

Now she is all grown up and planning her own wedding.

And running this sweet shop that you must check out.

I am hoping she'll start a blog about her wedding (in her spare time) because I know it it going to be beautiful.

Last. You may or may not have noticed that I added a followers button to my side bar. I would really love it if you became a follower of this blog. I know some of you, my dear readers, don't have accounts with Blogger. It is very easy to sign up. And you can even be "anonymous" if you don't want to have your name appear in my follower box. Just knowing you are reading along means a lot. Really it does.

You can also follow me on Facebook. There is a box for that too, right on my side bar. Just click on it and follow the directions. It is very easy. And once you follow me on Facebook, it makes my blog posts come up on your wall so you don't even have to type in my blog address to see new posts. Easy breezy!

And, just one more tiny thing, if you also read my other blog, Lilly and the Brothers, why not become a follower over there too? Thanks. Like I said, it is so nice to know who is out there with me.

I know you are reading, but I'd love to know just who is reading.

So please, will you follow along with me?

Thanks friends.

Love from Greta

As Promised-- Some Vintage Treasures

Last Thursday was an exceptionally good day. My parent's kept the kids overnight for us and when I dropped them at my parent's my mom suggested I hit an estate sale she knew about. It wasn't open yet, but maybe they'd give me a chance to pre-shop. They did and I did and it was glorious.

It is much easier to find treasures at an estate sale when I don't have my 3 darlings with me. I still do it, but I am not going to lie, doing it alone was way more fun.

The goods:

This lamp. I have seen and longed for lamps just like this at The Vintage Collective. They always cost at least $100. This one was $10. Cha-ching!
I am thinking I'll try to clean off the base.

But that body is so nice, I don't mind putting a little elbow grease into it.

Vintage Fiesta bowl. Orange is such a hard color to find.

I love a splash of orange around the house, don't you?

Look at this salt and pepper shaker! Owls! I love it! This was actually what got me headed over to the estate sale in the first place. My mom had bought this for 50 cents when she just stopped by to chat. I loved it so much she gave it to me.

Don't I have a nice Mommy?

And some more kitchen darlings.

These little, old fashioned cook books make me happy.

They are frame worthy, indeed.
Red plastic juicer for 15 cents. Sold! How cheery is this?
And this sweet little butter dish--I now own 4 butter dishes. That is certifiable. But it was 20 cents. Some one make me stop.

I also found a small vintage globe, But I forgot to take a picture of it. It's really cute. Trust me.

I don't get to do estate sales as often as I'd like. As I said, doing it with the kids makes it a bit of a challenge.

That is probably for the best, though. I think I have enough butter dishes to last me the rest of my days.

See you tomorrow friends.

Greta

Orla Kiely Dishtowels Turned Bathroom Curtain

Do you know Orla Kiely? She is a designer from London and I adore, adore, her stuff. Every single little thing she designs I love.

It started with her bags. I saw them in Anthropologie and I was forever doomed. I especially love her vinyl bags like this one or this one. I don't own one because that price seems a bit steep to me, even though I can usually find them on Ebay for about $100. Even then.

And I know that is a drop in the bucket in the land of designer purses, but it is a big drop in my bucket. So for now, I dream.

But, friends, bags are just the beginning. She also designs things for the home. I would love to do a wall in my house with some of her wall paper. Like this one.

Wouldn't it be fun to open up my cupboard to these mugs every morning?

And these sheets for my bedroom.

I think if I had some expendable income I could go a little Orla Kiely crazy.

But for now, I have a dish towel.

Isn't that fabric amazing?

Last year Target carried a small line of Orla Kiely house wares. Melamine dishes, place mats and dish towels and some storage boxes. It sold out so fast that it was hard to get your hands on any of it.

I could have spent a small fortune. I tried to use self control and bought only 4 dish towels and a tray. I had a vision for those towels. Of course they would not be used as towels.

Originally I thought pillows. But last week I had a new vision.

My bathroom window needed a curtain. (we still have the original aluminium windows and wow! are they in bad shape. A curtain would hide some of the yuck.)

I was on a curtain kick.

Since one towel wasn't wide enough for the whole window, I cut a coordinating towel in half and sewed some on each side.

Despite my complete inability to sew in a straight line, this came out very much to my liking. In fact, if you can't sew worth a darn, making a curtain out of a dish towel is the way to go. You only have to worry about one seam. Just that one at the top that you fold over to make the pocket for the curtain rod. And if you make it "bunchy" no one will even be able to tell if it is crooked. It is a good first time curtain to try.

Adding the curtain inspired me to hang a poster on the blank wall behind the toilet. By adding those 2 things, I feel like my bathroom is just about where I want it.

Here is what the bathroom looked like when we bought the house:

Are you digging those chandeliers?

How about that cheerful beige color?

And all that gold? The floor was a vinyl that was supposed to look like gold veined marble.

Aaron tore out the old sink and vanity. He and my dad painted it our favorite turquoise. Aaron put in that new vanity from IKEA and we had turquoise sheet linoleum put in.

I think it looks a lot better.

I still need to frame the poster. I am thinking of a fire engine red frame.

We also would like a new light fixture from here.

But even without those things done, I am really happy with my bathroom.

Especially that curtain.

If you want to make a curtain yourself, here is a really helpful tutorial. It would have been great if I had found this before I made my curtain. It might have turned out a bit better. Just don't look closely, OK?

I offer you this as an encouragement to sew something up yourself. I often want something custom rather than the same old same old from Target or the like. But if I don't step out and make it myself, I have to go with the boring. Besides, that curtain cost me less than $10. And it's exactly what I want. Try something easy--you might just surprise yourself. I know you can do it. Take it from me, the non-sewer.

Have a good day my friends. Hope your day is inspired by lovely little things--like dish towels and coffee mugs.

Love from Greta

PS. If you do make something, please share!

End Table Makeover--Before and After (and some furniture painting tips)

We got this little table when we bought the house. The previous owners had some great items that we asked if we could keep. Like the push mower, vintage bowls, an old vacuum cleaner that Aaron kept as a sculptural piece, a still working hi-fi and this little cutie, among other things. We liked the legs and the modern looking handles.

But it had an unfortunate paint job and was in need of some work.

So we got to it. (almost a year later) The boys helped me sand it.

James, "sanding is pretty hard Mom, and it's kind of boring."

Don't I know it, James. Prep work is the part of painting everyone hates.
I decided to go with turquoise for the legs and the front of the drawers. The body of the table and the top would be brown.
I experimented with colors for the inside of the handles.

First this rusty red color.

Then we tried orange. Neither of them worked.

In the end, we went with the same brown we used on the body.

And I really like the way it turned out.

Painting furniture is one of my favorite projects because the end result is so dramatic and you begin to see results right away. True, the prep work is a pain, but most furniture is just a lot of straight lines so it isn't so much once you get to painting.

A helpful hint if you are inspired to go out and paint some of your furniture: get sample cans.

Lowes and Home Depot will mix you any color you want in a handy dandy little pint size. It's called a sample can. It costs about $4 and is usually plenty for a piece of furniture with some left over for touch ups. This saves you from paying the big bucks for more paint than you can use, or in our case, a can of orange that you won't use. (although Aaron will use that orange in a painting later, I'm sure)

Another tip: always use a few layers if polyurethane on the top of your painted tables, book shelves etc. Ask for one that does not yellow. Paint takes a really, really long time to dry. If you leave it to dry on its own, in a week you'll still be pulling paint up if you set a book down on that "dry" table top. Instead, brush on a few coats of the polyurethane and it will be rock solid by the next day.

I have painted a lot of furniture. I buy a lot of beat up furniture for cheap and then have to spruce it up. Paint always does the trick. It is magic. Really. I dare you to try it. Start small. A little table. A chair. Soon you'll be painting everything in site.

So...any takers on furniture painting? What piece would you like to paint? I have a couple more pieces in mind, but I really need to paint the trim in most of our house first.

And that, my friends, is just about as much fun as sanding.

See you tomorrow,

Greta