I'm Not Old, I'm Vintage

Things I Want More Than, Well, Anything!

2012-02-10T05:18:00.000-08:00

Now, how incredible is THIS? Where's Tom Hanks???? Zoltar was holding court at a freakin' FLEA MARKET outside of Huntsville, Alabama and sported a big sign announcing he was NOT FOR SALE! Of course, had there been anyone around who looked like they were the owner, you know I would've asked "how much?" anyway. Awesome!

OMG! A pink poodle/dalmatian wearing a Marlon Brando biker cap, a studded collar and best of all, he has a pierced tongue! A European artist named Tom (his company is/was "Tom's Drag". Who woulda thought?) made this and other whimsical furniture and figurines and this is all that's left from a few shipments we got from him back when I worked at the art gallery in New Orleans. I'm actually working with them for 3 months (again, who woulda thought?) and when I walked into the back room and saw this, I got all excited and now I want him. Bad.

I really was planning on getting back to blogging but this damn job is taking up all my time, and if I'm not working I'm passed out somewhere in the house. I'm pretty sure I'm just too old and worn out to work a full-time job and can't wait to get back to junkin' and flea marketing and you know, the FUN stuff!

I'm "friends" with some of you on Facebook and that's really how I communicate and show off stuff right now but gosh darn it, as long as the cat continues to barrel through the bedroom and do a swan dive on my head at 4:00 a.m., I might as well fire up the computer and do some bloggin'. Definitely better than killing and eating the little mother-effer.

He'd make a mighty tasty catloaf, though!

(Ms. Von Felts, I loved your comment when I posted this pic on Facebook).

Love to y'all!

Out With The New, In With The Old!

2012-01-06T09:50:00.000-08:00

OK--I'm back and rarin' to get back to blogging and reading your posts. Much has happened in recent months, some of it sad and some of it okey-dokey but now it's a new year and time to barge ahead and get giddy with vintage stuff.

Going to a fascinating auction tomorrow, in a house that looks like it took on A LOT of Katrina water (I will definitely post a photo because it looks like the kind of house that would packed to the rafters with ghosts)--today is preview day in the house so hopefully I won't inhale too much mold. I may not be able to buy much since I'm sure dealers and collectors from New Orleans/Baton Rouge/Jackson, MS will be there--you know, the ones with the deep pockets even though they're always the ones who don't want to pay diddley-squat for anything of value.

I'm also getting my vintage jewelry website together so hopefully I'll be able to sell some pieces and sets since I have a TON of gorgeous stuff with lots and lots of rhinestones. And even if you don't want to buy it's always fun to look at pretty baubles!

I truly hope everyone had a great New Year and made lots of resolutions that OF COURSE you aren't going to keep but OF COURSE have to make, anyway. I didn't even bother to resolve to lose weight since that became a farce many, many years ago--I can't take diet pills due to my high blood pressure and I know you're kidding if you suggest willpower or self-control or any of that garbage. I mean, REALLY?.

Finally, I want to thank all of you who sent messages of condolence after Dad passed last month--his funeral was very well-attended by former business associates and his many friends. My nephew Sean played guitar and his wife Beth accompanied him in song, and niece Corinne wrote and read a wonderful tribute to her Grandpa George. The one weird thing was, at the end of the service, the funeral director came out and said, "The service is over. You are dismissed." Huh? Did I miss something and we were actually in 5th grade instead of at a cemetary burying my father? When she did it AGAIN at the graveside, my husband went up to her and suggested that telling a grieving family they were summarily dismissed (which to me kind of meant GET THE F**K OUT OF HERE SINCE WE HAVE ANOTHER FUNERAL HOT ON THE HEELS OF THIS ONE!) was really not appropriate. Good for him, but I doubt if she'll change anything.

Now, onward into 2012--it's already shaping up to be an incredibly funny year what with the Republicans' Revolving Carousel 'O Candidates and all.

Love to y'all, and see ya back here soon!!!!!

Dad's Obit

2011-12-04T08:31:00.000-08:00

I'd like to thank everyone for their wonderful messages of condolence, both here on the blog and on Facebook. Here's a link to Dad's obituary running today in The Birmingham News.

Love to all.

Dad

2011-12-03T06:51:00.000-08:00

His heart stopped last night. My wonderful dad is gone.

One More Day Til The 25 Days of Xmas!

2011-11-30T07:01:00.000-08:00

In 1959, if you had paid good money for a 9' tree and you realized when you got it home that your ceilings were 8', there was no way in freakin' hell you were going to waste that good money by lopping off ANY of that tree. You just jammed it up to the ceiling and then looped garland and lights around the bent-down boughs! Arranged oldest (and smartest) to youngest (and cutest) are: yours truly, Lowly Trooper Sally, Susie Who Is Now Zuzu, and Baby CeeCee. Behind us are my beautiful mom and the owners of the 1950's de rigueur white flocked tree, Mr. and Mrs. Sharp.

I've got the house 99% decorated and as I told my soon-to-be-visiting niece Corinne, it is now officially "Crazy Gogie Festive" (Gogie being me, of course).

Bellatrix LeStrange

If I looked like Helena Bonham Carter (and ohhhhh, how I wish I did!), people would walk in my house during the holiday season and murmur, "Yes, it DOES look like she and Tim would live here." Although I'll bet anything their actual real-life house is just as normal and modernist as can be, and people walk in their house and yell, "Who in the f**k lives HERE? It can't be weird Helena and crazy Tim!"

Missed me, didn't you?

The Power Of Positive Thinking

2011-11-26T05:52:00.000-08:00

When Dad was younger (but not THIS young, ha ha! He's three years old here), he joined the Toastmasters Club, an organization for people who, basically, like to talk. Or want to be able to talk in front of a large group without fainting and/or wetting their pants. I think Dad really joined up for the camaraderie since he's a people person and has been a member of a HUGE number of social groups over the years. He's still a member of the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out, so you can guess what they do when they get together), a stock investment club, his church's Grief Counseling group, and I think he's even honorary chair of the Women's Auxiliary at the retirement community he's part of! Plus I'm sure there's one or two groups I either forgot or don't know about, but all this is to say that Dad loves people, and they sure do love him back!

I spoke with him yesterday and was able to confirm what my sisters told me--he's completely back to normal mentally! That's the good news, but the bad news is that while he fought off a recent bout of pneumonia, he's just incredibly weak, so weak that he told me he couldn't talk long because he just can't sit up very long to talk on the phone. He also admitted that there was a football game on that he wanted to watch . . . . . . . .

He is getting physical therapy, of sorts--I think it's probably just enough to keep his limbs from atrophying from inactivity, but he is also determined to get out of the hospital and asked my sister to go buy him a leather coat since it will be cold when he finally says bye-bye to all his cutie-pie nurses.

Having lots of friends, a loving family, and a positive mental attitude has kept him going this long, and I want to also say thank you SO MUCH, GJB Fan Clubbers, for your thoughts and prayers.

I plan to end the year with a flurry of postings, so stay tuned since I'm also going to do a giveaway or two and OF COURSE I have to show off some of the fabulous costume jewelry I've been accumulating!

Hope everyone had a fun and filling Thanksgiving and I just know you're totally ready for Christmas, right?

Right??????

If You're In Slidell, Louisiana This Weekend . . .

2011-10-27T06:15:00.000-07:00

(Photo courtesy Slidell Antiques Association)

Come on over to Olde Town Slidell for one of the South's best antiques and handmade crafts fairs! Saturday and Sunday, October 29 & 30. Of course VintageChristine will be there (pretty much hysterical since I have NO help this time) with lots and lots of gorgeous vintage costume jewelry. My booth is on First Street right in front of Carolynn's Wonderland, a most fantabulous collectible doll shop. I also have jewelry inside Antiques & Art on First, so what you're doing this weekend is a no-brainer: come on down!

Now, about Dad. He has gone completely wacko and we think it's due to the infection on his posterior that somehow went to his brain. He is combative, won't eat or drink, thinks he's sitting on the right hand of God (and occasionally thinks he IS God), and gets pretty mean and nasty with those closest to him (including using the "n" word to hospital staff. This is just not him AT ALL). He's also in a great deal of pain. It's like he turned into a completely different person overnight. Additionally, the hospital staff can't find a vein either by poking him or using the PIC machine and were finally able to administer pain meds and antiobiotics when he went in for dialysis. Trying to give him meds and antibiotics in pill form was useless--he spit them out, even after they've explained that by taking the pills he'd stop being in pain. Now I hear they're going to put in a feeding tube.

I'm pretty sure this is NOT how Dad wanted to end his life, in a hospital bed, delirious, with a tube stuck down his throat. Personally, I think he should be on hospice but I'm not the one making decisions.

Praying hard that God doesn't let him suffer too much longer.

Prayer Request

2011-10-17T11:34:00.000-07:00

And if you don't pray, just think positive thoughts, please.

Dad's going into the hospital today--he has a bunch of things going wrong with his body and it's becoming just too much to handle at home. He has become so weak that he can't even prop himself up in bed, plus he has a bad infection AND even with a catheter he's not "going".

I love my dad, but I don't want him to suffer trying to hang on. The time may be coming when he'll be seeing his beloved Joyce and the good Lord, and he's always been ready for that.

Of course I've got a couple tears running down my cheeks right now, but I always over react and hopefully, if the Lord's willing, Dad will beat this latest round. He's been so appreciative of the time many of you have taken to write him and if you could just take a second to think about him, it would be just great.

God bless, y'all.

Guilty Pleasures

2011-09-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

The act of collecting stuff you don't need is what is called a guilty pleasure, especially in "these hard economic times" (and if I hear that phrase being uttered on "Antiques Roadshow" one more time--just before they appraise a vase at a trillion bucks--I shall surely scream). Be that as it may, there was a time--and not THAT long ago--when I merrily spent our money on stuff I TOTALLY didn't need but wanted so desperately that I just couldn't imagine living without it.

THAT sure did stop!

Most of the world poo-poo's the work of Thomas Kinkade but for awhile there he was really hot stuff. I became addicted to the Bradford Exchange's Hawthorne Village series and own their "Seaside Village" set, the "Village Christmas" set, and the "Village Summerfaire" accessories set. I managed to collect MOST of the first two but my husband put his foot down when I subscribed to the "Village Summerfaire" offer and said, "If I see ONE MORE of those damn styrofoam boxes on the porch, I'm going to drop kick it into the pond!" I don't listen to him much anymore but when he threatens violence against my stuff, I do.

(Note Mr. Kinkade himself hawking his wares at the Summerfaire. The lady with the flowers in her hand has just told him, "Tom, I love your work but it is freaking EXPENSIVE and I can get it on eBay for cheap if I wanted it but I don't because you let them produce waaaaaay too much junk". Since Mr. Kinkade long ago made that trip to the bank laughing all the way, he really doesn't give a crap).

This is part of my Victorian-inspired guest room. The little house under the rocking chair is NOT Victorian, of course--it's one of a bunch of Plasticville buildings I've collected. Most of them are in the shed in plastic bags, awaiting that magic moment in time when I say, "Today I'm going to put together all those Plasticville houses and gas stations and radio stations and grocery stores and . . ." Hahahahahahahaha!

(I like the giant rat outside the door, which I think is very '50's "Attack of the Giant ____"-ish)

This is my favorite spot in my house, partially because it's actually tidy and doesn't have a bunch of unrelated junk around it. The Kinkade print is "Sweetheart Cottage", my favorite.

I'm at the point with this blog where I'm not sure it will continue much longer, mainly because I'm doing things that keep me away from the computer. Like trying to eke out a living when we are making 75% less than we did last year. It'll be back to the flea market this weekend--the weather is getting bearable (barely).

We are one of those families who were directly affected by the BP oil spill and the government's subsequent moratorium on drilling/exploration/maintenance. Anyone who says that moratorium has been lifted is full of s**t--the permit process has slowed to a crawl and things aren't expected to get better anytime soon. Getting mad at the government over this is very difficult for me as a liberal and an environmentalist, believe me. Oh, and don't suggest we apply for BP money--we did and were turned down.

I'm not feeling sorry for myself quite yet--we still have a roof over our heads, our bills are nearly paid off, and we have health insurance courtesy of the company my husband's employed by (although they haven't worked him much since he was hired a few months ago). Also, I know that there are a ton of people out there who are doing much worse than we are.

It's just that things don't seem to be improving much, do they?

Vintage Emmons Jewelry

2011-09-13T07:48:00.000-07:00

As a collector and seller of vintage costume jewelry, I'm always on the lookout for great looking pieces that aren't ridiculously expensive. Some of the high-end jewelry designers/manufacturers are Alice Caviness, Vendome, Givenchy, Juliana, Eisenberg, Kramer, Miriam Haskell, Bogoff and Weiss (there are more, of course) and individual pieces are getting more and more expensive. Well, sellers are ASKING higher prices, which doesn't actually mean they're getting them. Sometimes you can stumble upon a piece of Juliana or Kramer when buying a large lot of costume jewelry, but then you're stuck with a bunch of stuff you don't need and can't sell. So, unless you're willing (and able) to fork over several hundred dollars for what is called a "high-end lot", which will reduce your price-per-item costs, you're pretty well stuck in the mid-ranges.

Many of you older-ISH gals (and guys) may remember your mothers/grandmothers/aunties hosting or attending Sarah Coventry home jewelry parties, and I'm sure many vintage costume jewelry collectors have several pieces. Much of it is pedestrian, but it was fairly inexpensive and you got the added dividend of squealing over jewelry while eating tea sandwiches and little pastries with your female family and friends.

What a lot of collectors don't know is that Charles H. Stuart, the founder of the Sarah Coventry line, also had another company selling jewelry at home parties known as the Emmons Jewelry Company. He named the Sarah Coventry line after his daughter, and named the Emmons line after his wife, Caroline (Emmons) Stuart.

The Emmons Jewelry Company, located in New York City, started in 1949 and did business until 1981. Early representatives were all men, but by the 1950's women were mainly showing the lines with the home party plan.

There are some fantastic Sarah Coventry pieces, of course, but the Emmons line was very well made and good looking (meaning, to me, more rhinestones!). In general, the Emmons line was more expensive than the Coventry line, but certainly still affordable back in the day. Since Emmons pieces are harder to find than Coventry, occasionally they command higher prices in today's market, but they are generally still within range for me. Since I'm pretty good at replacing stones (you get a lot of practice when you collect vintage jewelry), I'm now starting to buy pieces that I know are missing stones since once the seller admits it, the price adjusts accordingly. It may take me awhile to find the right stones, of course, so I have several "works in progress". Finding sets, like the ones above and below, at a good price is my goal, and I think I'm doing fairly well. Emmons was very good about marking their jewelry--the early mark in 1949 was EmJ, and the later mark was simply Emmons. Emmons was big on using pearls (both faux and real) in their designs and the line was also known for the interesting texturing on the jewelry. For me, though, it's all about the bling--and the set below just really takes my breath away!

All of the sets shown here are from my collection--I'm going to enjoy them for a little while longer and then they will go to my NEW DISPLAY CASES at Art & Antiques On 4th in Slidell, Louisiana! Of course I'll continue with my booth at the Barze' Place Antique Mall in my town--that's where I sell my glass and pottery, but I felt some of the costume jewelry would show (and sell) better at a smaller venue. I'll also be showcasing my lovelies at the Slidell Historical Antiques Association Olde Town Street Fair October 29th & 30th.

Cuz the more I sell, the more new stuff I can buy!!!!!

It's Not ALL eBay--I DO Go To Thrift Stores...

2011-09-09T11:13:00.000-07:00

...I just don't go very often because the cheapo pickings are pretty slim these days.

One of my almost daily thrift stops used to be Jacob's Well--it's a local charity and the thrift raises money to enable the congregation to house, feed and nourish the souls of young women from all over who have, shall we say, gone down the wrong lifepath. They own four thrifts within 45 miles of each other, mainly due to the enormous amount of donated clothing they receive. The main warehouse has, literally, MOUNTAINS of pants, shirts, dresses, skirts, pj's, baby clothes, etc. And if you can't afford their low low clothing prices, they will give you a bunch for free.

Notice I specifically said "low low clothing prices". Whenever their main pricer sees anything that might be valuable, usually something that's marked with a manufacturer name, she apparently starts seeing gigantic exploding dollar signs in her head and jacks the prices up. Actually, if you're just collecting, it's bad but doable. It's NOT doable if you're buying to resell it. Fortunately she's not an expert on everything and there are still treasures to be found, like the little hand-painted lavender Fenton swan I snagged recently for $1.00. I really should have given more, just to be fair, but I didn't. So there.

The girls were talking to each other about "the couch" in the back--one girl desperately wanted it, the other girl couldn't understand WHY because she thought it was incredibly ugly. So of course I had to go back and see what they were referring to. OMG! With a good cleaning this would be so groooooovy! But I have no more room in my house for big things like this so I had to pass. Boo hoo.

There was this ever-so-comfy chair for sale, 25 bucks, but again, no room. I think it's cute how the girls arranged decorative pillows on the furniture and had a little table and a floral arrangement, too. They might've been bad girls, but even bad girls know how to decorate!

If you are religious and get easily insulted, don't read this. I'm not trying to be sacrilegious but after getting stabbed about four hundred times by this statue's pointy metal aurora, she is now referred to as Attack Mary.

Why is Baby Jesus poking his head out from under her robe?

And why is there a map of Mexico painted on the base?

Still going along with the religious theme, here's a darling little blown glass church. The store was having a "Christmas In July" sale so, for half price, you could buy a Christmas tree, ornaments, garland, toys, figurines, lights, wrapping paper, ribbon, etc. Apparently people other than me overbuy in November and then rather than pack it all up they just shove it in a big box and tote it down to the local thrift store. "Here!" we say. "YOU find someplace to put it for the next 11 months!" Hence, the big sale in July.

Fabulous handbag full of big rhinestones.

An unopened box of bottlebrush hat Santa placecard holders. Just the thing for that big holiday party I'll be giving. Hahahahahahahaha. If we ever did give a holiday party for most of the local people we know they'd probably think the placecard holders were either "somea them fancy schmancy whores dorves" and try to eat them, or pick their teeth with them after dinner (Those that have any teeth. I'm not kidding about this). By the way, I'm referring to my husband's friends, not mine.

MY friends would steal them and put them on their blog crowing about the sweet little Santa placecard holders they got soooooo cheap.

I snagged a full bottle of Muguet de Bois, which has always been one of my favorite fragrances--I think it was the first perfume I ever owned and it was certainly better than sneaking Mom's Tigress and then hearing her mutter, "My God, Christine, you smell like a French whore!" How in the hell, I wondered, did she even know what one smelled like?! Today, while researching the words "muguet de bois", which means lily of the valley in French (ah ha!) I discovered that the molecule bourgeonal is a component of the lily of the valley and that BOURGEONAL ATTRACTS SPERM!

So for once, Mom didn't know what she was talking about, since I smelled like a French whore when I splashed on the Muguet, not her Tigress. But I'll bet she'd know why Baby Jesus is under Mary's robes. Unfortunately, I'd have to conduct a seance to ask her, and I'm pretty sure she'd be mighty pissed that I bothered her up(or down) there. Oh, good lord, Christine, just how disrespectful can you GET??!!!!

I collect vintage cigarette cases and lighters. Got these recently at the flea market.

I've been collecting pieces signed "Georges Briard" when I find them, and this bar set is one of my favorite finds. Although he's not in the league of Sascha Brastoff or Eva Zeisel or other mid-century lights, he did some interesting stuff and since he's still not all la de da famous he's affordable.

If you're interested, you can read what Wikipedia has to say about him here.

Here's hoping you have lots of good luck and find bunches of great things at YOUR local thrift.

And for all of you with moms still on this mortal coil, please give them a hug from that sacrilegious, disrespectful VintageChristine person.

Hell doth truly await me.

Too Lazy To Write A New Post, She Grabs From The Past

2011-09-08T13:31:00.000-07:00

I stayed up past my bedtime last night watching the Republican "Debate" (or as we called it in our household, "The Mitt & Ricky Show, With Guest Appearances By Some Other People Who The Moderators Pretty Much Ignored") so I'm doing an experiment and seeing if I can import a post from my old blog, Kate Spike's Spot. I really really really love this movie!

WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7, 2009

YES, DEL, THERE REALLY IS A MOUSEVILLE

"The Green Mile" is one of my favorite movies, and I'm not ashamed to say that after watching it numerous times I STILL cry when they electrocute John Coffey ("just like the drink except not spelled the same") at the fictitious Cold Mountain Prison in Louisiana. One of my favorite actors is Michael Jeter, who did a great job as Edouard "Del" Delacroix (and he did a pretty good job with the always-difficult Cajun accent). Del's hope was that after he was electrocuted, his pet mouse Mr. Jingles would be able to spend his last years in Mouseville, Florida. Just before they threw the switch, evil little Percy looked him straight in the eye and told him that it was just a made-up story--there was no Mouseville.

I have proof to the contrary, right in my living room. They got the location off a little--it's actually Mouseville, Mississippi.

(click on the image to see all the cute details)

Recommendation for a rainy afternoon: If you haven't seen "The Green Mile", rent it. If you've already seen it, snuggle in and watch it again.

I Say a-PEARN, You Say EEE-pern

2011-08-31T09:03:00.000-07:00

As an English major and daughter of a woman who spoke incredibly precise English, it pains me to no end to hear people constantly mispronounce words even when they KNOW they're mispronouncing them. And Webster's is no help, because they've apparently given up and now, if the word is mispronounced long enough and by enough people, then it magically becomes OK to mispronounce it.

Case in point, the word epergne. In the world of antiques and glass, epergnes are pretty high up there in status of ownership and price. I've owned and resold several and think they're absolutely gorgeous. However, whenever anyone refers to them, at least in my neck of the woods (Deep South), they pronounce it "EEE-pern" like some hillbilly would if he even knew what in the heck an epergne WAS. Everytime I hear it, it's like fingernails grating across a blackboard--I've even tried to very gently correct them but this is what I hear in return, "But that's how EVERYone says it! EEEE-pern." Oh, ok--with that line of thinking, if EVERYone says "F**k you" instead of "Hello", well, be prepared the next time I see you, folks. Not that I wouldn't mind using the "F**k you" salutation if I ever ran into, say, Rick Perry . . .

Sorry. Had to say it.

An epergne is defined as a type of table centerpiece, usually made of silver, but may be made of any metal or glass or porcelain. It has a large central bowl or basket sitting on three to five feet (or a base). From this center bowl radiate branches supporting small baskets, dishes, candleholders, or "horns". There may be from one to seven branches or horns. Epergnes were traditionally made from silver, but from the start of the 20th century glass was also employed. It may be used to hold any type of food or dessert and may also be used as a designer object to hold candles, flowers, ornaments for a holiday, etc. They can also be used as a stand-alone decoration, as well. The word "epergne" is probably from the French "epargne" meaning "saving", the idea being that dinner guests were saved the trouble of passing dishes. However, an actual epergne in French is called a "surtout". (Information courtesy of Wikipedia).

Here are some of my past and current epergnes. I especially like the darling one horn epergnes. All of mine have been made by Fenton Glass.

One horn chocolate Diamond Lace epergne. The horn looks just like an ice cream cone! This one's about the height of a soda can.

Beautiful pink opalescent Diamond Lace one horn mini epergne with Snow Crest rim.

Much larger one horn epergne in seafoam green with a stretch horn. The base has a "zipper" rim. This was sold during Fenton's ill-fated time on QVC and has now been retired. I purchased it at the Fenton Gift Shop.

Look! The big blue opalescent hobnail three horn epergne had a baby!

I've gotten some of my epergnes on eBay but they're getting way too expensive for me--as news gets out that Fenton is closing, I'm sure that most of their better glass will start going up in price.

I did sell the chocolate epergne, but I think I'm going to hang on to the others for awhile and just enjoy their beauty.

Hope everyone's having a good week--I know the East Coast is watching Katia out there in the Atlantic, and we Gulf Coast residents even have something a-brewing, too.

Stay safe!

Hurricane Katrina, Six Years After

2011-08-29T06:34:00.000-07:00

Taking just a moment to remember those who lost their lives on August 29, 2005. All I had to deal with was a yard full of downed trees and no power for two weeks--at the time we had no idea what had happened in New Orleans or the Coast since we were pretty much cut off from the world, but once we began to learn what had happened we knew we'd been damn lucky. Katrina's eye passed right over us, and an evil eye it was.

Regarding Hurricane Irene, I know that a lot of people today are complaining about how they were told to evacuate when it turned out they didn't need to and that Irene was going to be a monster and it wasn't, and blah blah blah. Yeah, you were inconvenienced and maybe your cancelled commuter train will make you miss a day of work. The storm was bad enough for 25 people to have lost their lives and it's estimated that Irene was a $7 billion storm, which is apparently peanuts compared to Katrina, etc.

Hurricane season is HALF OVER. You can look at it two ways--we only have three more months to go, or we're only three months into it. And as we've learned, you don't need a tropical system to turn into a hurricane for it to get disastrous. Tropical storms may not have the wind, but if one of those puppies parks over your neck of the woods and drops a foot of rain on top of you, watch out nelly!

All I can say is: WINTER CAN'T GET HERE SOON ENOUGH!!!

And The Weeners Just Keep On A-Comin'!!

2011-08-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

Even though the Post Office has announced they are probably going to raise our rates in January, I personally felt that there was something MORE that I could do to help them out. As you will remember, I'm also helping my vet save up for his kids' college education AND I'm keeping eBay afloat, as well. So I randomly drew four more names from the list of poor souls who wanted the Fenton vase but didn't win it, and here they are:

ZootSuitMama

1972 Peace & Freedom Party button

70's Yellow crackle double ball earrings by Trifari. These MAY glow in the dark!

(And no, you can't have the fabric in the rear. It's actually a blender cover keeping Mom's Mixmaster safe and sound!)

VainGlorySinner

Vintage pink kittycat figurine

Nelly

Vintage gold twisty circle pin with faux pearls

Vintage gold earrings with crystal rhinestones

Christine (the Okie from Muskogee)

Boyd Art Glass handpainted"Willie The Mouse" in Classic Black Carnival--purchased by yours truly at their factory in Cambridge, Ohio

Barbara in Cali

An orange Fire King coffee cup for your morning cuppa, and a pin that says it all. My mom was one, too.

Now don't get all excited by the next photo. No one won this--I'm just showing it off! It's a beautiful Fenton blue opalescent hobnail epergne. I bought this when I was at the Fenton convention (at an offsite sale) and got a pretty good deal on it. Then I get it all the way home and discover that the seller hadn't bothered to mention that one of the horns actually wasn't hobnail, but rather "Diamond Lace". See that little horn laying next to the epergne? Well, after I made this discovery, I went online trying to find a CHEAP hobnail horn, and found one!

Unfortunately, I neglected to measure the horns I had, and this one is for an apartment-size Fenton blue opalescent hobnail epergne. I know that the person who sold me the first epergne was under no obligation to tell me that one of the horns didn't go with it (you know, "Buyer Beware!" and all that) but it sure would've been nice. As a seller myself, I ALWAYS point out any flaws or discrepancies in things I sell, but maybe they thought I was aware of the wrong horn since the price was relatively low (but not THAT low!).

Now, this is one little cutie-patootie epergne. It's a Fenton pink opalescent Diamond Lace epergne with a Snow Crest rim. It's the size of a Coke can! Cutie-patootie is on her way to the antique mall today so that everyone can go, "Awwwwwwwwww!"

I need some addresses, BTW. My email address is over there on the right.

VainGlorySinner

Nelly

Just remember, boys and girls. Just because you don't get first prize is no reason to give up hope.

At least in VintageChristineLand.

Waddya Think I Am? STOOPID?

2011-08-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Verbatim comment that was headed for the Fenton giveaway post until Blogger decided it was spam. Go Blogger!

"Please for Christ sake help this poor boy from Haiti I have made a blog at blogger.com Since i have added a google adsense in the blog but haven't made a penny with this. I need your help and support to help me make some money to PAY MY Tuition Fees. What you have to do is follow these simple steps 1. go to Google.com and search "Kwotz-Golden Words of Life" 2. then visit my blog from the search results. 3. Remain on the page i.e. Kwotz for one minute or so and do some random surfing 4. click ONE of the ads that appeals to you from AdChoices and visit there. 5. remain on that page for one minute or so and do some random surfing. and that's it. Note: You MUST visit my blog from Google.com. Only ONE click is asked and nothing else I will be very grateful to you." By Majid Ali.

Apparently Mr. Ali finds your blog through going to other people's blogs and then hitting most or all of YOUR blogroll, so I apologize if he found his way to you through my blog. Needless to say, I did NOT go to his blog so I did NOT click on anything over there. Jeeeeeeeez.

Since you usually don't think of someone named Majid Ali living in Haiti (at least I don't), I got googling and discovered that there are actually about 4,000 Muslims in Haiti out of a population of 8 million, although I strongly doubt that this person is anywhere near Haiti and probably much closer to Nigeria. Believe me, I'm not casting aspersions on Islam (unlike many of my fellow Americans) but I AM referring to that hotbed of "send me money stupid USA grandma", Nigeria. My husband worked in Nigeria for over a year as an offshore diver and he said that no matter what you wanted to do, you had to fork over money to the person who did what you wanted done. It's called "dash" over there and it's how you do business.

While in Nigeria, he frequented the local bush bar and every time he came home he'd tell me about the rather large prostitute (named, of all things, Doris Day) who worked out of the bar. Every time someone new walked in, she'd sashay over, stick out her big hand, and say basso profundo: "Hello! My name Doris Day! You wanna party?" She didn't get many takers but she was hell of fun to drink with according to me hubby. He swore up and down that all he did in the bar was drink lots of bad Nigerian beer with Doris and his co-workers and I believe him, mainly because I trust him, but also due to the fact that before he started going to Nigeria I pointed out (LOUDLY) that AIDS started in Africa and that he'd be A STUPID DUMB DORK OF AN IDIOT if he so much as LOOKED lustfully at any female there. I was working at an AIDS hospice in New Orleans at the time so I knew more than the average American did on that subject. My husband is one of those men who's married for life, anyway. Our friends call us "Mr.and Mrs. Dove," ha ha ha.

Mike made several friends among the locals who worked alongside him on the barge and was very upset to learn that one of them had been killed shortly after he came home. His friend died defending the barge from pirates attempting to board and rob. Apparently these pirates weren't the kidnapping pirates, just the robbing and killing ones.

Needless to say, I am very very glad that Mike decided not to return to Nigeria--the money was good but the thought of having to fend off pirates (as well as the amourous Doris Day) pretty much made up his mind. Plus he contracted malaria even after getting the shots and taking the meds.

Of course all of this has NOTHING to do with vintage but getting that "comment" from Majid Ali really got me going.

On another, more pleasant subject--19 very nice people left comments hoping to win the little Fenton vase, which was won by Nova Scotia Jim. BUT WAIT, THAT'S NOT ALL! I'll announce more lucky weeners this weekend.

But now I must dash!

P.S. Jim Varney was one of my favorite comedians and vastly underrated as far as I'm concerned. Did you know he was the voice of Slinky Dog in "Toy Story"? He passed away in 2000.
Rest in peace, Ernest P. Worrell.
Ya know wuddah mean?

Alas, No Computer. That Sucketh!

2011-08-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

My desktop is on the fritz again so I'm doing this on my iPhone. Nedless to say this will be a very short post, just long enough to announce Jim in Nova Scotia as the winner of the Fenton vase! But never fear, those of you who were kind enough to leave a comment are in the running for a few more goodies that I'll post about as soon as my desktop is up and running, which should be soon. Thanks to all for commenting and becoming new followers (I'll be visiting you soon).

Hey Kids, What Time Is It? Time For A Giveaway, Buffalo Bob!

2011-08-10T08:15:00.000-07:00

Yup, I haven't done a giveaway in awhile and since I did get all that nice glass recently, I thought the least I could do was give some away. Happily, I've already sold several pieces at the antique mall so I can afford to be magnanimously generous. Well, that's probably overstating it but what the heck.

Here's what you get if you're the lucky winner!

This cute little double ruffle rim ruby hobnail Fenton vase is 3" tall and is a beautiful rich red. However, when you hold it up to the light, there's a really neat band of yellow, too!

It's marked Fenton on the bottom and also has the paper label--I bought it at the Fenton auction I attended while at the convention, I got a good deal on it, and I know someone will love having it in their home.

Soooooo, all you have to do to enter is (1) be a VintageChristine follower, and (2) leave a comment letting me know you want in. How easy is that? I'll pick the winner on or about Sunday, August 14, so leave your comments soon. Good luck!

P.S. I'll be adding an additional goodie or two, so if you don't get the vase you might still get lucky!

My Trip To Glass Heaven! (But First, A Doggie Report)

2011-08-08T09:36:00.000-07:00

Of course there's always something ELSE to tell y'all before I get to the raison d'etre for the post. This time it's not some cranky anonymous person calling me a liar, but rather my big dog, Boogie. She has a big cyst on her left flank--apparently it's called a sebaceous cyst which isn't the correct term according to Wikipedia but everyone calls them that anyway. I JUST got her and BooBooKitty out of boarding (or as Boogie refers to it, Doggie Hell) and as you can imagine it wasn't cheap to board them for 10 days. I keep telling the vet he ought to thank me for contributing mightily and frequently to his kids' college funds, ha ha ha. So now I have to go BACK to have this cyst looked at and that will involve outpatient surgery and antibiotics and changing dressings (YUCK) and at this point I'm about ready to, well, I don't know what I'm ready to do with this dog who half the time irritates the hell out of me. She was Mom's dog, Mom's gone, and I've got Boogie, who couldn't walk in a straight line if it killed her--she's one of those dogs who curves over to the side when she walks in front of me so she can make sure I'm following her, I guess. Update: it's a sebaceous cyst and slightly infected so he "gave" us antibiotics and everything's hunky-dory.

So, just what did I do on my vacation besides drive a total of 2,200 miles up as far north as Cambridge, Ohio and back to southern Mississippi? I HAD ONE FREAKING HELLUVA GREAT TIME! My main reason for going was to attend the National Fenton Glass Society's annual convention held in Marietta, Ohio. Fenton Glass is actually located in Williamstown, West Virginia but Marietta has more and bigger hotels and is just across the river from Williamstown. Here's what I did once I got to my destination:

Day 1:

Arrive in Williamstown area. Drive upriver to see if the defunct Paden City and/or Martinsville glass factories still exist. They don't. Did get to see a great big nuclear power plant, though.

Wander around trying to find Fenton factory, thanking god for the GPS thingie on my iPhone. Tent sale being held outside of factory. Spent first of many dollars.

Check in at Microtel with Holly dog.

Collapse.
Here's some of the things that came from the Tent Sale:

Key lime green handpainted elephant and dark amber handpainted egg on stand. Both are signed by the artist.

My main mission at the Convention was to get stuff to sell at the antique mall booth as well as add to my collections, one of them being the Fenton cats. Here are two beautiful additions: a dark green handpainted sitting cat, and a dark purple handpainted grooming cat. The grooming cat's decorations are so cute--a little daisy, a ladybug and a pink heart smack on her nose!

Gorgeous purple iridized fish.

Day 2:

8:00 a.m. NFGS Newcomer's meeting at Comfort Inn. Discover this one allows pets. Grrrrrr--had I known that I would've stayed where all the action was. I'm kidding about that--if you just happened to wander into the hotel during this convention you would've assumed it was a gathering of The Old Farts & Fartesses Society. Grey hair was everywhere! Sensible shoes on every foot! Everyone grunted when they got up or sat down and every event featured at least three people suddenly jumping out of their chair (grunting, of course) and running to the bathroom!
MY PEOPLE!!!

So, all the newcomers are asked to tell the room where they're from. Though I'm loathe to do it, I say "Picayune, Mississippi" and get the usual blank looks. Then I said "It's 50 miles north of New Orleans". Oh, OK. The next thing I knew, one of the men walks up and says, "You're from Mississippi, huh? Say something." So even though I had explained where Picayune was in perfectly normal English, I knew what he wanted to hear and said in my best Blanche DuBois voice, "Wahl, honey, ah just don't know WUT to say" and batted my eyelashes at him. Everyone laughed and he was satisfied and I did alot of silent internal grumbling about how I LIVE in Mississippi, I'm not FROM Mississippi.

Next, we newcomers were escorted into the Convention Sales Room, or as I like to call it, "The room that no one can go in except NFGS members, hardy-har-har." As newcomers, we got to cut in front of everyone else, which was nice. The room dazzled with mice and elephants and cats and baskets and vases and bowls and I nearly swooned with the vastness of it all.

Spent more of many dollars on stuff, including an amberina iridized "working" elephant available only to convention attendees:

and a beautiful handpainted and signed by the artist Burmese "Violets" basket, also only available to attendees:

One of the best parts of the convention is the Fenton Company Collector's Sale held upstairs at the factory. We were assigned specific attendance times and when my 2:30 slot came due we drew numbers for a line position, making this all seem EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! The convention program explains this sale: "Fenton has created some wonderful pieces available first to NFGS members." Since the room had been open since 12:30 I assumed the really good stuff would already be gone (and wondered who you had to bribe to get the early spot) but I think I managed to snag some goodies, particularly these four cats: a little Burmese kitten, a translucent blue cat with a rhinestone pendant, a little black Halloween kitten (of course I couldn't leave without getting a black cat!), and a gorgeous pink and white satinized "Violets" cat. All are handpainted and signed. If you're interested, here's a link that will explain Burmese glass.

This vase is probably the most unique item I got, simply because it has those two OOAK Fenton stickers plastered on it. OOAK stands for "One Of A Kind"! Now, this black vase with handpainted hydrangeas isn't all that uncommon BUT what makes this one unique is (1) the yellow tag that says Lenox, and (2) it's not only signed by the artist but by Scott Fenton, Director of Sales.

Fenton created a series of animals specifically for Lenox, and I suspect that this vase was a prototype for possible use. From what I can determine from the Lenox website, however, apparently this was never done. I'm just guessing about this but I do plan on researching it further. This one I'm hanging on to.

The next installment of My Trip To Glass Heaven will feature my evening at the Fenton auction. I LOVE auctions, and this one was incredible (if a bit frustrating regarding my inability to get any cats).

By the way, every cent of the money spent on this trip (hotels, gas, food, glass) was earned by yours truly during a three month stint at the flea market selling whatever I could lay my hands on. Towards the end of the three months, it was all I could do to muster up the will to go due to the freaking insane high temperatures. Sitting outside all day long with a puny fan blowing hot air in your face REALLY makes you appreciate air conditioning. When it's so hot, you feel crabby, your customers feel crabby, and let me just say that I won't be going back until it cools off enough so that the "Feels Like" temperature isn't 113!

Thanks For Making My Day, Anonymous

2011-07-31T16:46:00.000-07:00

I was going to write a post about the Fenton Glass convention but when I signed into Blogger it said I had a comment left on July 25, 2011 waiting for moderation, so I went to "Moderate Comments" and saw this:

Anonymous:

You sound like a hater.

The post Mr. or Ms. Anonymous was commenting on was one entitled "I Hate Mike, Frank and Danielle", the stars of "American Pickers", that I wrote way back in November 2010. Obviously Mr. or Ms. Anonymous was googling the show and my blog popped up.

Once again, cowards of the internet, if you're going to leave a mean comment, at least have the bee-a-double ells to identify yourself. I was thinking about just labeling it spam but decided to add it to the other comments. In looking back over the other comments, MidCenturyMadam did warn me about this.

Now, on to something much more pleasant--the amazing Fenton Glass convention. Here are some table displays--I suppose I could hate their creators because these people have more Fenton glass than should be legally allowed, but having been called on the carpet about hating people you don't know and all that . . .

Imagine wrapping all this up securely and transporting it to the convention. Most of these collections were amassed over many years and are probably just a part of what is owned. These are gorgeous!

Neat black and white display.

Wow!

Each of the mice or groups of mice represent a month, and there are others for different holidays. The mice are extremely popular. I'm partial to the cats myself.

Fenton has several artisans who create incredible art glass. The pattern with the hearts is called "Hanging Hearts" and items are quite expensive. Not sure what the swirly pattern is, but I can't imagine the work and talent that goes into creating these vases!

Fabulous ginger jar collection.

Blood orange has never looked more elegant. Pairing this color with black (like the ginger jar's lid) makes quite a statement.

Some items in less common shapes and patterns.

An interesting collection of this and that. I LOVE the low bowl in front.

These Silver Crested beauties are actually a very pale yellow which didn't photograph well. Would love to have the epergne (the bowl with the vase in the center--this is a single horn epergne and there are others with three and four horns. Epergnes are used to create floral arrangements).

Other glass companies called this color jadeite or jade-ite. Fenton simply calls it jade. It's breathtaking in person, especially in this quantity, and the black touches are great!

Too cute Christmas display!

Last but certainly not least, a whole bunch of beautiful glass. The painted bowls in plateholders are something I particularly love. Obviously, this collector loves flowers, too. Note the one horn epergne in the center. The soft pastel color is called Burmese and is highly prized.

I realize that many people don't "get" us glass fanatics (which group includes my dear husband, who said, when I asked him if he wanted to come with me on the trip, "I'd rather stick a hot screwdriver through my eyeball than go to a glass convention." But I feel the same way about his motorcycle events, so we're even). But if you DO love art glass, this convention was truly heaven on earth. Sadly, Fenton Glass has announced it's closing its doors this years after 106 years of operation, but they assured us that they have enough inventory to enable collectors to keep collecting for some time.

It was wonderful.

More Costume Jewelry Gorgieosity!

2011-07-26T06:01:00.000-07:00

Here's a few more pieces, some of which are already sold but are just too pretty not to share. I also recently acquired some amazingly beautiful vintage made in Japan pearl necklace sets and will show them as soon as I get up off my lazy butt and photograph them. My flea market venture has me pretty busy, though, so I'm taking a little break from the heat, humidity, torrential rain, el cheapo customers and the constant drone of Obama-bashing by my fellow flea marketeers.

This outstanding brooch was one of those finds that make your day--it was in a big pile of what was labeled as "junk" jewelry, probably because the pin is out of the pinback. Like that's a reason to throw something this beautiful in the JUNK PILE! I can't be certain, but it sure looks like a piece of Juliana to me.

A more contemporary piece--it's a pendant and it's BIG. Love the smokey navettes.

This set is dainty and sweet.

If I actually wore brooches, I'd keep every dragonfly I found. These two are my favorites, even if the one below seems to have lost part of his tail. Not to worry--I filed off the rough edges, dabbed on a bit of gold paint and it's perfectly fine.

Impressive crystal rhinestone dragonfly.

This lovely set was made by Lisner and I received it in its original presentation box. Somewhat understated, but very elegant.

Just the thing for the next Mardi Gras ball!

Hope y'all are having a wonderful week!

GJB Fan Clubbers, just a note to let you know that Dad is doing great and happy as a clam. His infection cleared up, thank goodness. I'll be seeing him soon and will snap a few photos to share.

Ooo-La-La and OMG!

2011-07-13T08:07:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know it's been almost two weeks since I last posted, but as evidenced by the fact that life is still going on, I'm pretty sure me not posting isn't the end of the world. Everyone was probably too engrossed in that STUPID CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL to even notice. I'll bet more people know all the details of that STUPID CASEY ANTHONY TRIAL than they know about what's going to happen to this country on August 3 if the STUPID POLITICIANS IN WASHINGTON don't get their act together.

Whew! Now that I've gotten that off my chest, let's look at some beautiful costume jewelry. Because in the grand scheme of things, costume jewelry is just about the most wonderful thing there is, and never let it be said that VintageChristine can't be just as trivial as the next person!

Unmarked ruby red & dark pink brooch and earrings. Everyone who has seen this set lets out a great big "oooooo" when I open the box.

Unmarked lavender brooch and earrings. Beautiful.

Aurora borealis earrings are marked "Weiss" and the brooch is unmarked. I'm not sure these are vintage Weiss pieces but they're gorgeous nevertheless.

Unmarked crystal rhinestone brooch and earrings. Fabulous.

Dainty blue enamel flowers with blue and white rhinestones brooch and earrings. Marked "M&S 1/20 12KT G.F.". I hadn't heard of this company so of course I hopped on the internet, googled M&S, and found a bit of info. The company's history isn't readily available, but the Illusion Jewels website (which is a FOUNTAIN of information, FYI) says that it's "c. 1950". From the looks of this set, I'd agree with that. Other related marks are "Phyllis Originals", "Scitarelli Creations By Phyllis" and "Scitarelli". Unfortunately, I have no idea who Phyllis is/was.

I have a thing for big vintage bead and/or pearl necklace & earrings sets. Many of these sets were made in Japan and every time anyone sees them they invariably say, "Oh, that looks like something my grandmother would have worn!" It's not that easy to find matching sets, though, although individual necklaces or earring sets are pretty easy to come by. So, the jewelry world has come up with the designation "married set", whereby you put one together using items that ALMOST match, or at least complement each other. That's what I've done with the following sets--I've "married" them. Uh oh, wait! I wonder if that's banned by the The Family Leader pledge Mitt Romney just refused to sign . . .

(Yeah, I know that really has nothing to do with costume jewelry, but I just had to say something, me being me and all).

The bead colors and textures match on this one, just not the shapes.

There's nothing more beautiful than a simulated pearl necklace with some sparkly pearl and crystal earrings.

A perfect summertime matchup!

This is one of the most beautiful necklaces I've seen in awhile. It's marked "Coro" and you could certainly pair it up with a nice big pair of CZ solitaires.

I purchased a jewelry case full of beautiful rings, necklaces, brooches and earrings, but while they were all lovely, this incredible necklace was hands down the best. Since the jewelry came from southern California, I'll bet anything a glam 50's starlet wore this to some big premiere.

OMG, for sure!

Which one do YOU like best????

Fenton Animals, Florenza Treasures, And Other Beautiful Things

2011-06-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

As you can see from the newest banner featuring my guest room, I'm kind of nuts for glass (as if some of you didn't already know that). I'm particularly enamored of Fenton animals, cats specifically, but as a member of the National Fenton Glass Society I receive a FREE mouse each year. Which is why I have mice and cats living together in my guest room. I also buy the cats on eBay, since sometimes you get lucky and no one else wants what you're very willing to pay $6.99 for, and occasionally I find them at garage sales and thrift stores. Here are my lovely pets!

I couldn't resist the darling little pig. Could anyone, especially with that little heart on his snout?!

My mother-in-law is the person who started this particular collection many years ago when she gifted me with the opalescent kitty on the left with the crystal rhinestone collar. The collection subsequently went ballistic!

In addition to glass, I also collect Florenza jewelry and trinket boxes. Here's a little history of this wonderful jewelry: The Dan Kasoff Company started producing jewelry in the 1930's, but it wasn't called Florenza until 1948 when Dan Kasoff decided to rename it after his wife, Florence. Dan was able to start his company through the generosity of a gentleman named Mr. Spier, a patron of the restaurant where Dan was eating lunch one day when he was still working in the garment district in New York. Dan's coat was stolen that day and Mr. Spier gave him money to purchase a new coat, which Dan repaid quickly. Mr. Spier was so impressed by this that he offered Dan a job with the Spier Jewelry Company where Dan worked for the next 10 years learning his trade, and then left to start his own company. Florenza also produced jewelry for other jewelry companies including Weiss, Kramer, Coro, Capri and Carnegie--all known as the cream de la cream of high end costume jewelry. Of course, Florenza made more than jewelry--there are trinket boxes, lipstick holders, and pin cushions as well, and nearly every item is clearly marked with the Florenza logo. They ALSO made accessory items for Estee Lauder and other cosmetic companies! Florenza ceased operations in 1981 after Dan Kasoff's son, Larry (who had come into the business earlier) was injured in an accident.

(Information courtesy of Julia Carroll's great reference book, "Collecting Costume Jewelry 101").

The little Florenza box on the left is actually a perfume bottle--that's the dauber sticking up. Next to it is a fantastic trinket box topped by a fleur de lis, and those are Boyd Art Glass dolls ("Elizabeth" in the back, "Nancy" in the front). In the back, a small Fenton Silver Crest basket, and a Westmoreland Paneled Grape with Roses & Bows decoration perfume bottle.

Look! I wished upon a star and found the Florenza trinket box I was looking for. Ha ha. Well, I was looking for just a bottom, but when I was searching this little item popped up--it's actually smaller than the lid I have but it's that whitewash that I love. Plus it was cheap cheap cheap. Speaking of cheep cheep cheep--there's a whole flock of Boyd Art Glass hen on nest salts. Last but not least, the Florenza golden strawberry trinket box.

Four Westmoreland Glass trinket boxes in the Beaded Edge pattern. Of course the Roses & Bows decorated box is my favorite. I also have an Almond color box and a frosted crystal box, as well. Boyd Art Glass items are becoming increasingly collectible AND more expensive but you can still find some deals if you're willing to hunt. Plus if you buy a group like the 2" tall Candy the Carousel Horses below, you'll average out much lower than if you bought them separately. I'm going to sell these just as soon as I stop saying "Oh, you are so CUTE!" every time I walk past them.

Fairy lamps/candle lamps are lovely to look at--just don't put a real candle in them when they have a rare Westmoreland Mary Gregory-style decorated ruby red shade. This one arrived with several big globs of melted wax--now it's clean and gorgeous and the only candle it will have from now on will be one of those battery operated tealights.

Much of this will be going to the antique mall booth, but for now, I'm just enjoying looking at it. Hope you did, too!

Salt & Pepper Shakers & Stuff

2011-06-07T07:45:00.000-07:00

I've been collecting salt & pepper shakers over the years and even joined the Salt & Pepper Shaker Collector Club--in the main it's an inexpensive hobby and extremely easy to accumulate a nice collection. Lately, however, I decided to get rid of (translation: try to sell) this collection, took some to the flea market, and was pleasantly surprised to see that people were interested in buying some. Well, as long as they didn't have to pay more than $2 a set, of course. So, I found some good deals on shaker lots on eBay and have been able to actually sell some of the better sets for as much as $4. These are the ones that are valued in the salt & pepper reference books at over $30, of course, but I couldn't even begin to get that at the antique mall booth.

These are called "turnabouts".

Ha ha!

In the back row are Trader Vic shakers that are found on every Trader Vic table and sell in their online gift shop for $11.49 plus shipping. I guess you can buy them at the restaurant, too. I sold these for $3. Also in the back are little farmers that are souvenirs of Canada (they also have rhinestone eyes). Love the Gay 90's pink set and the Tobys.

Amish children, Asian girls with "salt" and "pepper" in Chinese or Japanese, Scots couple, cowboy & his trusty cactus, and those incredible plastic Venus de Milo shakers. The salt & pepper come out of their boobs!

Sleeping Mexican and HIS trusty cactus, Paul Bunyan and Babe the Ox, weird and a little bit scary head split down the middle, Indian chief & squaw, and sweet little Asian dolls. In the back (hard to see since they're black) are two Buddhas.

I love my newest kitchen addition--a Westmoreland Glass large hen on nest. She's pretty shabby and I'm pretty sure someone painted over her original milk glass since a red cased large hen doesn't appear in the Westmoreland book. I don't care--she looks great with my vintage spice set!

Vintage Asian guy planter. Wonder if he is part of a pair?

Found these Beatrix Potter character figurines a couple years ago at the Goodwill before they went all internet and ridiculously expensive on us. Not sure how many are in the complete set, but here we have (from left):

Mrs. Tiggy Winkle

Goody Tiptoes

Jemima Puddleduck

The Old Woman Who Lived In A Shoe

My friend Lisa from the flea market gave this to me over the weekend. It's a small but lovely jewelry box--looks like someone may have rested a lit cigarette there on the upper right corner, though, but that just adds to its character.

The knob on the front is a rhinestone and I love how it folds out to reveal the red velvet interior.

I bought a very old, very used jewelry box at a recent estate sale and decided to alter it a bit with decoupaged handmade paper and rhinestones. The back was broken off one of the earrings in the center, so I broke off the other one and glued them down. Faaaaaabulous!

You may have noticed the new photos on the sidebar of some of my rhinestone jewelry and cameos, most of which are Florenza. Here's how they look together in the altered box. The large round brooch and matching earrings on top are Karu, and those gorgeous earrings in the back are Florenza.

The compact on the bottom is cool--the mother-of-pearl top flips open to reveal a mirror, there's a lipstick holder on one end and a perfume bottle on the other. More beautiful cameos and brooches.

I really like the salt & pepper shakers, but I'm just head over heels in love with vintage jewelry!!!

Kitschy Kitchen

2011-05-31T15:46:00.000-07:00

Love my new vintage plastic straw dispenser. And the cool 60's kaleidescope. And of course the Hazel-Atlas box of glass deviled crab baking shells. You know I adore my turquoise canisters in the background, too!

Now, I always say that just one complete set of carousel animal glasses aren't enough--ya gotta have TWO. The atomic glasses in front are some of my favorites, and I love those gold encrusted glasses on the right, too.

Indiana Glass Company is often pooh-poohed in the glass collecting community because they made stuff that was sometimes a poor imitation of better, older glassware. Apparently they decided to do something in the 60's to look like Miss America or English Hobnail, and what resulted was Diamond Point. Gene and Cathy Florence do feature the pattern in their Collectible Glassware From The 40's, 50's & 60's book but as they put it, "Frankly, we never expected to be adding this pattern in our book when it was appearing all over the markets." Hey, it's pretty, it's cheap, and it's plentiful! What's not to love? When they listed prices for Diamond Point, they did note that the prices were only for the crystal with ruby stain "because it is the ruby stained crystal most collectors seek." The ice tub with the lid on is the most valuable piece of Diamond Point I own and it's only valued at $22. Many times you will see the pedestal compote with a lid, but it doesn't belong on the compote, it belongs on the ice tub. The compote's on the right with the cute honey bear jam jar sitting in it.

I never fancied myself a salt & pepper shaker collector until I took stock one day and realized that, yup, I were one! Some of my favorites are the Van Tellingen "huggers", and I get a kick out of those wooden chef S&P's. The space agey Tupperware S&P holder is cool, and don't you just love the little mousey toothpick holders?

More S&P's, some pretty old. In the back is a wooden set that are little tombstones with the words "Here Lies Peppy" and "Here Lies Salty". Ha ha ha!

The Shawnee Little Red Riding Hood series (cookie jar, S&P's, sugar, creamer, etc.) are horribly expensive so I've been trying to complete a salt & pepper set without going into debt. Unfortunately, these have been reproduced so all three of the shakers I own don't match each other.

Yes, those are Kool mascots Willie (or is it Chilly?) & Millie S&P's--they're plastic but the other set is ceramic. Don't know who they are, just plain old penguins, I guess. I sold the pigs toward the back to a couple who were about to open a BBQ joint and the shakers were going to be their mascots. Cute! The little round pigs more to the front were part of Mom's pig collection. A couple ears have their tips knocked off, but that just makes them cuter.

When I reached for the door handle to go into my shed the other day, I was met with this. Every glass pane in the door is completely riddled with what I thought at first were thousands of spider webs. Which of course nearly made me pee my pants--AACK! GIANT SPIDERS LIKE THAT ONE IN "ARACHNOPHOBIA" THAT TRUSSED UP JULIAN SANDS! AACK!

Upon closer inspection, however, I determined that some stupid bird had crashed into the door. I did look around for a stupid bird carcass since it had to have hit that door pretty hard, but either it was able to shake it off or some woodland creature was awarded a tasty snack.

So far the flea market sales are outdoing the antique mall sales BIG TIME. I'm seriously thinking about just concentrating on selling salt & pepper shakers and costume jewelry at the flea market, though, since wrapping up all the larger stuff, packing it in boxes, toting it around and then packing it back up on Sunday when I'm tired, dirty and cranky is a big pain in the patootie. Plus I'm usually one of the last to leave since everyone else has already figured out that easily packed and carryable stuff is the smart way to go.

Hope everyone is doing well and that this damn tornado season is just about OVER. I mean, hurricane season starts tomorrow for pete's sake!

Vintage Beaded Bags, Hats, Jewelry

2011-05-25T08:56:00.000-07:00

Now this is what I REALLY REALLY REALLY love! I'm "sort of" moving away from glass and gravitating towards this kind of stuff, mainly due to my increased sales at the flea market consisting mainly of jewelry and salt & pepper shakers, although I'm still selling other things but let me tell you, hauling around jewelry is a heck of a lot easier than breaking my poor old back hauling around heavy boxes of glass! Plus my profit margin is better on the jewelry.

I'd taken photos of more jewelry but I seem to have sold it all last weekend! Yay for me!!

First, some vintage handbags and clutches. One of them belonged to Mom, the rest I've picked up along the way.

Tag: Magid/Hand Beaded/Japan

No tag. This one folds in half so you can carry it as a clutch if you so desire.

Tag: Fuji Bag/All Handmade/Made In Japan

Tag: Mr. Ernest Handbag/Made In Hong Kong

Tag: Made In Japan.

Tag: Handmade In British Hong Kong

This little headpiece is very old and the beading on it is beautiful. I look like an idiot with it on, unfortunately.

Incredible, large brooch signed Sarah Coventry.

Note: I collect Florenza jewelry and trinket boxes. I just got this one (at an incredibly low price) off eBay. It has faux opals, blue aurora borealis rhinestones and gold metal. And of course it's signed--Florenza was very good about that.

Closeup. Gorgeous.

Several years ago when I bought a big bunch of vintage jewelry at the flea market, there was this thing that I THOUGHT was a broken brooch since there was no pinback, not even a spot where it might have been at one time. I tried to google it but since it wasn't marked I had a devil of a time getting information on it. But at last I did, and discovered that it was the top to a Florenza trinket box! Well, I have tried and tried to find a bottom but to no avail. The bottom is the part that's marked. If ever any of you run across one, please let me know.

I was so glad to see on Facebook this morning that Ninny, Tootie et al made it through the Oklahoma City tornado outbreak ok. We're supposed to, maybe, get a thunderstorm or two all the way down here in southern Mississippi which would be great since we're in the middle of a bad drought. All kinds of clouds keep going over us but they don't drop any moisture due to the fact that it's just TOO HOT for the rain to get here. We're on the bottom end of the system that attacked the Midwest yesterday and yet again today, which is why we'll get thunderstorms but nothing worse.

Or so say our weather people. THEY'D BETTER BE RIGHT!

The Artist Known As Christine

2011-05-24T07:26:00.000-07:00

Back in the early '90's I decided to take a couple of night classes at the University of New Orleans, so I chose two that I pretty much knew I was going to do well in. No sense going back to school and being the class dunce when you're old enough to be everyone's mother. So I took a Creative Writing class and a class called Drawing On the Right Side of Your Brain, which is really for people who have been told all their life that future scientists and brain surgeons really don't have to be concerned that they can't even draw stick figures. I've always been more of a right brain person--the intuitive, artistic, pretty much space cadet side. Left brainers, on the other hand, are rational, clear-thinking, by-the-numbers kind of people who are good in math and science and sucked at fingerpainting in pre-school. Then Betty Edwards came up with this interesting theory and convinced all the left brainers that they really COULD fingerpaint with the best of the right brainers. Here's a link to the Drawing On the Right Side of Your Brain website, if you're interested.

This was one of the first things we did and I was so proud when the teacher pinned my drawing on the wall as an "excellent effort" by a left brainer. Little did she know that I had sneaked in under false pretences and was actually a wacko rightie.

This guy is supposed to a Renaissance courtier or something, but without the hat, he REALLY looks like a guy you'd see dancing like a maniac with his shirt off at Parade disco on Bourbon Street in New Orleans.

Awhile back, Shara of Monkeybox wrote about a bad painting she'd seen for sale at a truck stop, and I told her about the bad painting I bought at an estate sale where the recently deceased lady of the house fancied herself an "artiste". Her oil paintings and sketches were all over the place, and of course NO ONE was buying any of them because all her subjects basically looked the same. And even though the South is famous for inbreeding and all that, I don't think that was what she was depicting. When I saw this painting, I started laughing and said to the estate sale lady, "My gosh, that looks totally like an 'after' painting of a woman who had a major sex change!" and then of course felt horrible when I was informed it was really a painting of the recently deceased lady's beloved also deceased husband.

So I paid way too much for this and it's been hanging in my hallway ever since. When anyone asks who it is, I just tell them it's ~~Chaz Bono and so far there's only been one person who has pointed out that (1) Chaz is blond and (2) he's a tad chubbier in real life.~~

The rabble has spoken, and it is indeed SONNY Bono. Who has probably been madly flipping over in his grave ever since his daughter became his son.

I Just Bought Johnny Depp For $34.95

2011-05-19T10:12:00.000-07:00

Well, the Barbie/Ken version, anyway. I'm in love . . .

Keith Richards ain't his daddy--Pegleg Georgie (see below) is! Ha ha ha!!!

GJB Update!

2011-05-16T11:56:00.000-07:00

Ahoy mateys! Just got the news that Dad's foot infection has cleared up enough that the doc told him it doesn't appear amputation will be needed. That means that Dad is finally able to fight off infection without having to go to the hospital and get pumped full of IV stuff--he fought it off at home all by his lil ole self. Of course at his age nothing is guaranteed, but of course, it being Dad and all, he's completely optimistic about all of this.

Thanks to all for your good thoughts and prayers.

Me, The Great Procrastinator

2011-05-11T08:54:00.000-07:00

Over a week ago, Miz 1950s Ranch asked others to share what was in their salon de bain. As Queen Of All Procrastinators, I hereby submit to you, late as usual, my stuff.

Over the terlet, a golden tray holding a bunch of mini and vintage perfumes. I adore my pink planter with the awesome plastic flowers and greenery. Wish I could find more vintage plastic flora.

Lovely vintage hairspray cover and lipstick holder.

I have a rather small bathroom (which, fortunately, I don't have to share with my beloved but usually very dirty husband), so I can't display all the boudoir stuff I've amassed. Of course it sits out in the shed and I visit it. I have several vanity sets and a couple beautiful bakelite mirrors.

Sterling silver on glass perfume bottles, several boxes of fragrant vintage soaps, puff boxes, and an old "chopper hopper"!

The box with the pretty young lass doesn't hold anything but when I saw it at an estate sale I just had to bring it home. My mom had one of these Chinese kid pincushions.

This vintage Margo talc is from England and smells absolutely divine.

(The Elmo Sales Corp. on the bottom kind of squashes the elegance factor, but oh well).

I've been able to snag some good deals on vintage costume jewelry recently and hope to be able to feature some here soon. Which in ChristineTime could mean anytime between now and Just Before The World Ends. So don't hold your breath, kiddies.

Love y'all!!!!!!!

Le Marche' Aux Puces, Mississippi-Style

2011-05-02T07:37:00.000-07:00

For those of you who don't speaka da frenchie, that there means "the flea market"--a place that has been my weekend home for a couple months now.

I love it!!!!!

I've also made it to "regular" status, which means that the other regulars are starting to come over and chat rather than come over to scope out what I'm selling. Well, they're still doing that, but at least they say hello, how ya doin' as they're casting covetous glances at my costume jewelry (cheap!), Pyrex (cheap!), and other (really cheap!) stuff. I'm also starting to meet really nice shoppers (hey Terri! hey Suzi of Identity Vintage in Bay St. Louis! hey Heisey Bob!).

I'm displaying costume jewelry necklaces and my handmade jewelry necklaces on an upended table, which I thought was going to work better than it does. I sold five of my necklaces to a local shopowner, but that's been the extent of those sales--the costume jewelry sells better even though my gemstone necklaces are (cheap!). Vintage pins and earrings are displayed in the case and they've been selling quite well since I'm pretty much giving them away. I'm assuming most of the women interested in the costume jewelry are resellers and I don't care who buys my stuff, but it makes me happy when a true collector stops by.

Speaking of which, many of the booth's visitors are people who walk in and immediately start flipping over pieces of glass and pottery looking for a maker's mark. I've stopped trying to explain to them that many companies didn't mark all their wares--the last time I said that, the man looked at me and said, "Sorry, but it's all about the mark, honey."

No, it's really all about how stupid and sexist you are, bucko. I quote from my Westmoreland reference book by Lorraine Kovar, an authority on glass by anyone's definition:

"Speaking of marks, there are a few collectors that refuse to collect any Paneled Grape unless it is marked with a WG. These collectors are missing out on several of the rarest pieces. While Westmoreland made a concerted effort to mark Paneled Grape pieces and other lines, it wasn't a priority. If a mark wore out on a mold it wasn't replaced unless something else on the mold needed to be fixed. Some of the odd baskets, such as the fireside basket, were produced late in Westmoreland's history. Some of these late pieces will have the circular Westmoreland mark. This leads to confusion because many of the reproductions have this same circular mark. It cannot be said enough that it is up to the collector to know what they are buying. Remember, if it seems too good to be true, it usually is! Be wary of dealers that have known reproductions along with genuine pieces. Either they do not know what they are doing or they are trying to fool the public. Reproductions do have their place but it is a shame when a collector buys a new piece thinking it is old. When the collector finds out his mistake, he sometimes gets so turned off that he quits collecting."

During one of my mad eBay binges a couple years ago, there was a beautiful Westmoreland Cherry pattern 12" pedestal cookie jar and lid up for auction. The seller's description proudly announced that both the lid and the bottom were marked with the WG! In my eagerness to find out how much this beautiful piece of glass was worth, I flipped to the value page and saw "Rare $200.00"! Woo hoo--so I bid and won it for the paltry sum of $25 plus, as I remember, about the same for shipping--the jar is a foot tall and solid glass.

In short order, it arrived and I was pleased to see it was expertly boxed and wrapped in a mile of bubble wrap. Perfect! I checked for the WG marks and they were there just as described, and, just to reaffirm that I'd gotten the deal of the century, I gazed happily at the value page and it was then that I noticed the picture of the underside of the jar's base with the words "see text description on this base."

Uh oh.

"The cookie jar has been widely reproduced in many colors. Please view the picture of the bottom of the cookie jar on page 33. Original jars must have a star, a circle in the center of the star, and a "WG" in the center of the star. It is impossible to tell a reproduction lid from an original lid; only the bottom gives collectors a clue."

So OF COURSE I had bought a repro. Lesson learned. I did manage to sell the cookie jar at the antique mall but I made sure to write on the tag that it was a reproduction. The lady who bought it was thrilled to have it, so it all ended well.

So all that is to say that just because something isn't marked doesn't mean it's not the real deal. Let the buyer beware, though, because there are ALOT of reproductions with all the right marks out there. Which doesn't mean a hill of beans to the flea market pickers--they want it marked, they want it in perfect condition, and they want it cheaper than dirt. Since they're going to resell it, probably to someone who will put it in an antique store or mall, they don't have to verify that it's the real deal.

Old Fiesta platter and salt & pepper shakers--the platter was marked, the shakers weren't, but fortunately someone bought them who collected (and used) Fiestaware.

Genuine Deccafile record case. No one would buy it because it wasn't stuffed full of old 45's, even though you'd think the $4 price tag would indicate it was empty (plus when you picked it up it was quite light, being made of cardboard and all). 100 year old platter, no takers. Unmarked milk glass plate with decorative border that was bought at the end of the second day by a tiny old lady who didn't speak a lick of English--when her daughter told her that I'd said "three dollars" when asked the price, her eyes lit up and she dug into her coin purse and pulled out a wrinkled five dollar bill. Being the sentimental sucker that I am, I gave her three bucks in change. Ahhhhhhh.

For the first time, I brought a bunch of my salt & pepper shakers and sold about half of them. The best S&P sale was when a huge heavily-bearded biker-looking guy walked up, spied the vintage poodle set and almost started to jump up and down with excitement. Turns out he collects vintage poodle stuff! Who knew?

I always stay at my booth when I'm at the flea market because if I started walking around I'd spend every bit of my profits. Unfortunately, a new vendor showed up just two booths away from me and as soon as I saw her hauling out boxes of Pyrex I knew, tragically, that I was doomed. Plus she totally made my (cheap!) prices look (not so cheap!). I managed to stay away from her most of the day but every once in awhile she'd pull something else glorious out of her van--the prize of the day was this fantastic vintage red bullet Xmas tree stand that sat there ALL DAY LONG until I happened to notice it and immediately ran over and snagged it for three bucks. Of course I also sent a photo of it to Miz 1950's Ranch, Expert On Everything, just to make sure it was what I thought it was. And it was.

(You will note the close proximity of my booth to the restrooms. This was not an accident. I knew I was going to have to be as close as possible since I could only force the hubby to sit there with me for 1/2 of the weekend. Now that I've become a regular, though, my fabulous neighbors Joel and Lisa are kind enough to watch my stuff so I can dash off at the last minute, and hubby gets to stay home with the dogs in the A/C).

So now you know what I've been doing instead of blogging and hitting the thrift stores. What have YOU been up to?????

If It's April, It Must Be Our Birthdays!

2011-04-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

I keep (figuratively) hitting myself over the head about not posting on this blog. Actually, maybe I should LITERALLY hit myself over the head, hardy har har. What with keeping up with the antique mall booth and the flea market and shoving antibiotics down the throats of TWO dogs, well, I absolutely had no time for anything else. Although we did go to Birmingham for Dad's surprise birthday party that he planned, coordinated and hosted. It was maaaaaah-vah-lus and over 100 guests showed up to fete the honoree!!!

Large sheet cake that was 99.9% consumed within what seemed like two seconds. The senior set loves them some cake!

#8 balloon and #5 balloon--trying to get a photo of them side by side wasn't easy since they'd been placed directly under an A/C vent. The ONLY A/C vent, it seemed, since it was bloody freaking HOT in there. The senior set also gets cold easily and the thermostat had been set so that everyone got to pretend they were partying in Death Valley in July. Seriously.

The birthday boy! What a cutie-pie!!

Dad's invitation said there would be "light refreshments." Yeah, right. The senior set knows this is code for "one step down from an all-you-can-eat buffet". The invitation also said there would be non-alcoholic punch, coffee and tea. Needless to say, about 15 people offered to make a run to the liquor store so they could spike the punch.

Another birthday girl, my sister Sally, and her daughter, The Stunning Amy.

My sister Cynthia's daughter, The Gorgeous Toni Marie (on the right), and her friend. I can never remember the names of ANY of my nieces' friends, but they excuse me because they are well aware of my fried brain cell problem.

The fabulous and recently hitched Anthony and my niece Corinne. Corinne has made her auntie very happy because she loves vintage almost as much as I do and therefore has received many vintage goodies from me. Corinne is one smart cookie.

(P.S. Aren't they just ADORABLE?!)

April 13 was our 20th anniversary! I purposely scheduled the ceremony for that date since the one thing I never forget is my birthday on April 14. And guess what? I FORGET MY ANNIVERSARY EVERY SINGLE YEAR! Thankfully my husband didn't fry out his brain in his youth like his wife did and he not only remembered our anniversary but presented his pathetic wife with these:

Oh, you can't see what's in the box, you say? Here you go!

The month of April is full of family birthdays--Dad, me, sister Sally, sister Susie, Dad's mother, cousin Peggy. Dad asked his guests to insert the word "y'all" into the Happy Birthday song they were about to sing so that his three attending daughters would be included.

So here's how it went:

Happy birthday to you.

Happy birthday YA ALL ALLLLLLL,

Happy birthday to you.

Nothing like celebrating in the South, I always say . . .

Lamps. Lotsa Lamps.

2011-04-06T05:49:00.000-07:00

I know I'm not the only one with a lamp fixation, but my taste in lamps runs all over the map--retro, Asian motif, antique, TV, even oil lamps. And just to prove it, here's MOST of my lamp collection!

Dove girl accent lamp.

Way cool chalkware lamp, fiberglass shade.

Asian boy and girl lamp, formerly at La Condo (waaaah).

I grew up in the 50's and 60's, and I can assure you that my ancestral home(s) did not have the high-end Atomic look so beloved by you youngsters. No, my mother was an aficionado of the Colonial look, and these lamps were all over the house--in the den, in the living room, in the bedrooms. Unfortunately for me NOW, as a collector, at some point she came to her senses and got rid of the Colonial motif sofas and end tables and all the milk glass hobnail lamps. I bought this one the other day in one of those "longing for the good old days of my youth which, in truth, were not really the good old days because my parents were conservative Republicans" moods.

A lovely (and loving) swan couple TV lamp.

Black and gold shell TV lamp. This one, crack and all, was sold recently at La Flea Market, my new selling venue. BTW, everything (except the stove) behind this lamp was ALSO sold at La Flea!

Love love love my rearing stallion TV lamp.

I also have some antique and antique-look lamps. This one is a beautiful Fenton "Gone With The Wind" lamp. Like the one my mother-in-law has TAUNTING ME in her living room. When she noticed me drooling over it, she said, "Oh, don't worry, you'll get that lamp . . . . . . . . . WHEN I DIE!" My mother-in-law is one of the nicest, sweetest people EVER, so I decided then and there I had to start reining in my lustful gazing at other people's possessions to get them to stop saying things like that.

Recent estate sale find.

Gorgeous antique lamp with enormous reverse-painted glass shade.

And then there's my retro collection. This one is my "Invaders From Mars" lamp.

The-deer-lamp-like-Heidi-has-only-hers-is-red lamp. The fiberglass shade came with it but it has a crack so now it's wearing a cute little red shade until I can find another fiberglass one. Since fiberglass is so cool, you know.

Totally "Mad Men" desk lamp.

Fantastic pair of "cheap motel in 70's Vegas" lamps.

Finally, for those times when you overload your electrical system with all your lamps and find yourself wandering around in the dark and bashing your knees on your coffee table: the tried and true oil lamp. Of course I don't have any lamp oil, but at least I have the LAMP for pete's sake!

Every once in awhile one of you will feature someone's great new blog, and now I'M going to brag on someone: my related-by-marriage-but-we-could-be-blood cousin, Gwen. She has started a blog about both herself and her fantastic second-line umbrella creations, so please take a sec to visit and say hello. Here's the link: The Umbrella Lady.

GJB Fan Clubbers, Dad is doing great and is looking forward to his Surprise Birthday Party this weekend. You know, the one he planned. His actual birthday is TODAY and he's now a lively 85 years young. Woo hoo, Pops!!! Also, a b'day shoutout to my wonderful sister Sally, who will be 39 (again) today.

Oh, and on April 14 I'll be 39 (again), too, and of course I'm looking forward to receiving massive amounts of gifts and large checks from all my beloved followers.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.

Stuff, Stuff And More Stuff

2011-03-29T04:40:00.000-07:00

We've finally gotten over Mardi Gras and La Condo has been sold, so it's time to get back to basics here! First, a peek at some gorgeous glass, most of which is destined to go to the antique mall booth soon. I'm getting pretty good at moving stuff out of the house and into the booth, but I can't seem to bring myself to take that pink opalescent Fenton epergne that looks so incredible in the Hey-Wake buffet. From the left, you see a Heisey crystal comport, Heisey crystal lidded puff box with brass overlay, the epergne, and two hotel butters. There's also a beautiful crystal Cambridge "Capri" sugar & creamer set, Fenton "Spanish Lace" cake stand and on top of it, a Duncan & Miller pink opalescent "Canterbury" sectioned bowl. Right now I'm in love with opalescent glass.

From two recent auctions, both of which were in Bum-F**k-Egypt (which translates to way-the-hell-out-in-the-middle-of-the-freakin'-Mississippi-countryside), we see a Fenton milk glass hobnail candy dish, a Fenton yellow satin ruffle rim comport with handpainted flowers, and a Fenton Colonial blue ruffle rim thumbprint bowl.

This Jefferson Glass "Jewel & Ball" blue opalescent banana bowl/relish dish is gorgeous! In the back you can see a three piece place setting (cup, saucer, dessert plate) of translucent MacBeth Evans Cremax Petalware with the Regency decoration--I prefer the beige Cremax over the white Monax. There is also a lovely large serving platter that could hold a cake or a bunch of cupcakes. Unfortunately, when I took this set to the antique street fair last October, the wind blew off one of the cups. There's nothing like the sound of shattering glass to start your day off right (NOT). A few pieces of blue Wedgwood, two birds on a perch salt & pepper set, and those weird carved wood people round out the tableau.

I wanted to share this corner of the den/dining room. That vintage orange chair is to die for, as is the cute Oriental couple lamp. Not to mention that awesome Hey-Wake buffet, which will look even better when I stop stuffing it full of, well, STUFF.

Miss SvelteStuff came through again with more stickpins! Sue, you know I'm always on the lookout for sweater clips for you, but the pickings can be slim when you live in a place where sweaters aren't worn very often. Thanks!!!

I'll bet you're wondering what those stickpins are displayed on, and just to make ya'll a tiny bit jealous, allow me to show you my Daystrom dinette set. It's now in my kitchen (it was at La Condo) and I still can't believe I got it all for thirty-five bucks!

This spice set will never leave my kitchen--isn't it just too cute?!

Groovy nut/pretzel/whatever tiered holder, Hazel-Atlas serving bowl, two Anchor-Hocking vaseline glass fridge dishes, vintage ice crusher, and beautiful old McKee jadeite fridge dish.

The little pile of blue in front of the serving bowl was a neat find--several years ago Mom and I went to a glass artisan's show in Birmingham--as I remember, the artisan was a doctor who created handmade plates, bowls, etc., and this was supposed to be a pyramid of blue glass squares paperweight. Unfortunately, during the firing process the pyramid fell over--it was put on a "seconds" table at the show and when I saw it I fell in love with this little failure.

Tomorrow, or whenever, get ready for a LAMP EXTRAVAGANZA, darlinks!

Barkus 2011! The Best Mardi Gras Parade!

2011-03-22T11:26:00.000-07:00

"Hey Vern, how come you made me put down my cafe au lait and come out here? What's up?"

"I thought I heard a WHOLE BUNCH of barking from down the street, Mel. Can you see anything?"

"OMG, Vern--it's a freaking DOG parade!"

"Wow, Mel, let's get the human and go down and smell some butts! Woo hoo!!"

I have no idea what the theme of Barkus was this year, but it really doesn't matter. It was Harry Potter a couple years ago and this year there were STILL little kids running around in wizard robes stabbing each other with wands. Maybe the theme was "Le Grand Tete De Chien", which I think means "bigass dog head" but, as usual, it sounds better in Frenchie.

Here we have the flag of the United States, the flag of Louisiana, and the flag of All That Is Gay and Maaaaahvahlus. Gotta love New Orleans . . .

The parade starts just outside the French Quarter in Louis Armstrong (famous NOLA homeboy) Park and proceeds at a snail's pace into the Quarter. I mean, how fast can you move when you're pushing your dog in a decorated shopping cart? Plus there's all that stopping and sniffing and occasional pooping and stuff. I thought it was appropriate that I got this shot of the giant saxophone going right past Preservation Hall, long-time home of traditional jazz. I haven't ever been there because there's no air conditioning, chairs OR bathrooms. I mean, I like jazz and all, but there's just so much suffering I'm going to go through to listen to it.

Obviously, this little guy has had one too many Old Brown Dog Ales and his widdle head hurts. I took his photograph in a bar across the street from Preservation Hall called Boondock Saints, which DOES have a/c, chairs and bathrooms. As well as drunken puppies. Oh, and for all you doglovers who are getting apoplectic about this . . . I'M JOKING, THE DOG'S NOT REALLY DRUNK! It was so cool to sit there and watch all the dogs coming and going--most bars in the Quarter allow dogs as long as they're leashed and they behave themselves.

Or, is that the rule for the two-legged denizens of The Abbey Bar (another favorite of ours), a total dive bar that has had a visit or two from its neighbors the Jolie-Pitts?

I usually make a costume for Holly, The World's Biggest Chihuahua, but this year I waited too long and of course I didn't know what the theme was (although I certainly could've dolled her up like Hermione or that moaning ghost girl). In years past, she's been an angel:

A Flying Monkey (my greatest creation--I can't sew but I can wield a mean glue gun!):

A Mom companion:

And, in HER greatest role, she functioned as a Guide Dog For The Blind (Drunk):

That's The World's Biggest Pug, Tank, saying in dog talk, "Hey Holly, let's ditch this drunk broad and go poop on the sidewalk somewhere." To her credit, Holly declined.

Hope y'all had a great weekend--for the first time ever, I was a seller, not a buyer, at our local flea market and actually did pretty well considering I was almost literally GIVING STUFF AWAY. As a matter of fact, I DID literally give a few things away. You know how you get when it's nearly time to close up shop and there's a bunch of crap on the table that you do NOT want to wrap back up and lug home. If you're like me (and OMG, I hope you're NOT for your sake!) you start grabbing little kids and loading them up with plush toys and offering reproduction Depression glass sugars to ladies in wheelchairs.

Believe you me, ALOT of people were asking when I was going to come back and "sell" more junk!

I've Got Yer Winners Right Here!!!!

2011-03-17T05:44:00.000-07:00

OMG--check out my Dad, GJB Fan Club members! Photo was taken this past Saturday at my niece (his granddaughter) Corinne's abfab marriage to the amazing Anthony. Dad's totally got it GOIN' ON, what with the perky bow tie, ever-present American flag pin, and red rose boutonniere--not to mention that sly little wink. Probably has something to do with the fact that he'd just returned FROM THE DANCE FLOOR, where he kicked up quite a storm frolicking hither and yon in his wheelchair with a comely lass half his age.

I just noticed that, after jumping up to 202 followers, I'm back down to 200. I thought I'd better announce the winners of the 200 Followers Giveaway before the number dipped BELOW 200 and the whole contest's raison d'etre would be sort of, well, stupid.

So without further ado, here's how it went down--one pile for vase wanters:

One pile for ashtray wanters:

And the winners are:

Vintage Coconut and Corinna, please email me (email address is over there on the right) with your actual name and address and I'll scoot your goodies right on out.

Miz Amber Von Felts and Miz Barbara both indicated they lusted after the pink piggy salt & peppers, so I wrote their names down, closed my eyes, and stabbed down with a pen. This was not done to indicate anything violent against either one of them, of course. Miz Amber was on the receiving end, so she gets the pink piggys, etc. However, in an effort to help Miz Barbara out of the dumps she occasionally finds herself in, she's getting a consolation prize:

(See Babs, pigs DO fly and you DID win something!)

I will be sharing our adventures from recent festivities during Mardi Gras in New Orleans tomorrow (or whenever). And then I need to get back to some good old-fashioned sharing of the vintage.

Hope y'all had a wunnerful St. Paddy's Day!!!!!

More Giveaway Goodies

2011-03-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've added a few things to go along with the Brastoff ashtray and the Fenton vase. Have also added a third bunch of stuff so that there will be three lucky ducky weeners!

This giveaway prize now includes two Fire-King Peach Lustre coffee mugs, vintage matches from the long-gone Nelva Court Motel in Meridian, MS and a matchbox from Sweden, PLUS a cool vintage faux croc cigarette case from Savory's, London.

I believe I received the matches from my dear pal Angel, so I hope you don't mind me including them in the giveaway but they're sooooo part of the assemblage!

Giveaway prize number two now features an Indiana Glass "Diamond Point" crystal salt & pepper set, a crystal "hen on nest" salt and a sparkling vintage rhinestone pin!

Since it's just about Spring, I thought some pretty pink things would be fun, so here's a pretty pink opalescent ruffle rim vase, a pair of pretty pink pig salt & pepper shakers (with a gold label reading "Grotto of the Redemption West Bend Iowa" and why someone would buy pink pig salt & pepper shakers as a souvenir of a religious site is totally beyond me, but hey, they're cute!) and a sweet little pretty pink glazed stoneware bunny.

These photos were taken on top of the stump of the giant oak tree that my husband, Paul Bunyan, chopped down last summer. After he got his buddy Nate to climb up into the branches like a freakin' monkey and saw off various tree limbs. We now have actual grass springing up in our backyard instead of great piles of oak leaves!

On a completely different subject, I think I've been a little too harsh on my panicking friends in California, since it now appears that they may actually be on the receiving end of some of the radiation coming their way from Japan. I can assure you that, as a world-class panicker, I would be hyperventilating like crazy by now if I still lived in California. Let's just pray that all the brilliant nuclear expert minds worldwide will come up with a solution. God bless the Japanese--an earthquake, a tsunami and now this nuclear thing.

Hey, do you think the Mayans were off by a year and THIS is actually 2012? It sure seems like it . . .

OMG! It Finally Happened!

2011-03-10T06:12:00.000-08:00

No, I didn't magically lose a bunch of weight overnight, even though I've been praying for that to happen for, like, FOREVER. Nor did my husband get a job, nor did we win the lottery.

So what, you ask, am I so freaking excited about?

200 FOLLOWERS FOR LIL OLE MOI!

I saw several new faces under the Bloggy Friends banner when I opened up my blog this a.m. (yes, I finally got my poor attack-prone computer back) and wondered, hmm, just where did THEY come from? Then I noticed that my bud Linda at A La Carte was announcing a giveaway (whoopee! free stuff!) and hopped over to her blog and wouldn't ya know, she was telling her five and a half billion followers that she'd gotten flamingos from ZootSuitMama and had won a giveaway and also that I'd sent her a little giftie. How sweet is this girl, huh? She says thank you and everthang!!! Anyway, I suspect my new BFFs came over from her direction. Welcome, one and all!

Those new faces brought me up to exactly 200 followers, so guess what? Of course you know--IT'S GIVEAWAY TIME IN VINTAGECHRISTINELAND! Here's what I'm thinking about as a giveaway prize:

A signed Sascha Brastoff ashtray! Before you say, oh yuck, I don't want an ashtray, let me assure you that (1) it's never been used for its original purpose, and (2) read this about Sascha.

But just in case I still can't persuade you to enter the giveaway for an absolutely FREE piece of mid-century collectibility, I'm also going to offer this:

A beautiful blue hobnail opalescent Fenton vase. It does have a flaw--there's a little crack, not real noticeable and it's inside the glass but it displays beautifully and if you don't point it out NO ONE WILL NOTICE. Plus it's free for pete's sake. (That was probably rude. Sorry.)

You can enter for either one, or for both. I'm not actively trolling for followers but you do need to be one to enter your name. Giveaway will close on Wednesday, March 16 and I really truly do intend to announce the winners the next day. I expect to add a few more goodies to the pot (surprise!) so go ahead, leave me a comment telling me what you want and maybe you'll be a lucky ducky weener.

Good luck, my friends!

Down AGAIN!

2011-03-02T02:41:00.000-08:00

Got attacked again day before yesterday (my computer, not me physically) and I believe it was God's way of telling me to get off eBay! Hey, I only bought four pieces of glass and they were all great deals, so what's the big deal here??? Anyway, the computer's at the "doc" and I'm reduced to doing this on my iPhone so until I get "the big girl" back I'm taking a short vacay. Oh and thank you Jamie, Babs & Carol for your hilarious pick me up cards and emails. I appreciate your thoughtfulness immensely! Dad update coming soon, too.

What's In MY Backyard

2011-02-27T09:35:00.000-08:00

ZootSuitMama asked us to show what's in our backyards. I live on 4.5 acres, half of it woods and we have a pond. In southern Mississippi.

I now show you THE most important, valuable, treasured item in our backyard:

THE SKEETER VAC!

We don't have to run it in the winter but when we went out to turn it back on the other day due to winter having said, "Arrivederci, Mississippi!" we discovered it was--SOB!--broken.

EMERGENCY! Call the skeeter vac man and order one, pronto! We have no money, you say? CHARGE the motherf**ker! There's just no way you can walk outside around here without a skeeter vac protecting you.

These little mounds are all over the backyard. I'm not sure if they're beetles or (more probably) fireants. If they're fireants these mounds will become gargantuan in, oh, about two days.

ZootSuitMama was hoping to see everyone's cute little vintage trailers like she has. HA! We want to sell this 29' monstrosity, but unfortunately what seems like all the FEMA trailers that were in New Orleans after Katrina are now for sale within a 100-mile radius of us. Of course OURS hasn't been trashed like so many of the FEMA trailers--people got housing for free and I guess they felt they didn't have to take care of it. For now, I'm stashing all the junk I'll be taking to the flea market in a couple weeks in it.

Of course my beloved shed is in my backyard. Doesn't it look like Ma and Pa Kettle live here? Good lord, I just saw what appears to be the reflection of a large blonde/gray woman in the window! I can't IMAGINE who that could be . . . . .

Some nice atomic glasses set out for lemonade later.

I love my little Radio Flyer wagon even with all the dirt and rust.

I don't keep this in my backyard, but guess what? When I reach 200 followers one of these days this mid-century signed Sascha Brastoff ashtray will be awarded to one lucky gal or guy! Stay tuned!

GJB Update!

2011-02-26T13:06:00.000-08:00

(Wasn't he a cute lil guy?)

Dad had surgery Thursday afternoon at 4PM, which is a weird time for surgery, but anyway. The surgery part went great but apparently he wouldn't wake up when he had been taken back to his room so THAT caused some anxiety. Fortunately the hospital staff had decided to pay attention to an 84 year old one-legged diabetic who'd just had surgery and managed to wake him up. We were wondering why they'd do surgery on the same day he had dialysis, but hey, we're no-nothings and anyway, one doesn't question El Doctor, does one?

Anyway, he's doing great--they'd removed the tip of his fibula AND a bit of tendon but they're pretty sure they got all the infection in that particular area. Now we just wait for Mr. Evil Staph Infection to pop up somewhere else. So far he's been in Dad's clavicle (chunk removed), his knee (LEG removed), and remaining ankle (see above).

Let's just hope it doesn't travel up to his head . . . Or anyway else, for that matter!

I'll let y'all know when he's scheduled to go home.

Teeny Little Boxes and Some Cool Finds

2011-02-22T07:04:00.000-08:00

Miz Hope ("Pixie") over there across the pond in jolly old you-know-where inspired me to create some little boxes to hold the GJB Fan Club Official Pendants. She was part of a blog swap and after seeing how creative people can be with matchboxes I decided that it would be the perfect gift box. Also, since Barbara was wondering what I was going to do with the fabulous stuff she sent me (see yesterday's post for details), I'll let you guess which little box in the second photo was sent to her.

Herewith, your standard Diamond "Strike On Box" matchbox. A pack of these are cheaper than the made-for-crafting matchboxes you find at the craft store, plus what's inside serves a very good function: you can set your house on fire with it! If you're not into pyromania you can just light candles and incense and charcoal briquets.

The first batch! It was a learning experience, believe me--there was glue stuck on everything but I was able to use up lots of my scrapbooking stuff which is FANTASTIC because I have so much of it I could literally open a scrapbook store. Actually, between the huge amount of beads I have AND the scrapbooking stuff, I could give Michael's and Hobby Lobby some serious competition!

Like I said yesterday, one gee-tar down, 3,999 to go. BTW, the pendant fit perfectly inside the box.

After giving pendants to family members and sending out the first 10 to lucky ducky blogland members, I ordered more from my fabulously creative friend Rachel at Two Dog Pond. As you can see from these photos, Valentine's Day was inspiring me.

Each box had a little brad "pull" on one end. Cute!

That's it right now for the crafty stuff--if I do anymore I'll have to change the name of my blog to VintageCraftyChristine and that sounds like I'm devious or evil or something.

Moi?????

I went a little wild over the weekend (with my husband's ok, which technically I don't NEED but you know, there are just times when you have to act like your marriage is indeed a 50-50 partnership. He knows better, of course). I made it to and back from an estate sale near Laurel, MS--it was run by the same woman who'd run the sale I never got to a few weeks ago when I managed to break not one but TWO of our vehicles. I'd emailed her after that weekend from hell and told her about it, so when I walked in the door Saturday she said, "You know, I don't think any of my customers try harder than you to get to my sales!" You betcha, baby--now give me a big honkin' discount! Of course I didn't SAY that but she must've read my mind because she DID. Before our unfortunate slide into poverty back in September I'd spent a ton of money with her and I've explained to her why I'm not doing that any longer. Imagine feeling guilty about not spending a big wad of money for s**t you don't even need! Anyway, I haven't photographed what I bought from her, but it included a beautiful brass lamp with a handpainted domed glass shade, several pieces of glass, and jewelry bits and pieces that will be added to my "to be made into incredible and unique necklaces" stash. Stay tuned for THAT!

Also went to a great country auction that will get its own post. It will include the revelation that I now HATE the owner of the antique mall I'm in. Hit my local flea market, some thrift stores AND found a good roadside sale. Here are a few of the goodies. Oh, and I'll have you know that, due to our semi-impoverished condition I did NOT spend much money on these things and passed up things I wanted because they cost more than I was willing to spend.

Who just said that?

A pile of "Blue Heaven" dishes, all in perfect condition except for being really really dirty:

Two cool shot glasses.

I already had the big glass so I was super excited when I saw the shotglass. It has a crack but I suspect it was sustained during a night of doing slammers in one of those long-gone Vegas hotels.

I got a GREAT deal on this jewelry, all in pristine condition (other than the metal on the vintage sweaterclips being a bit tarnished). The pins are going to the antique mall as soon as I get over my hissy fit with the owner. She has no idea I'm mad at her, by the way, and my husband keeps saying, "Oh for god's sake, get over it already!"

I don't collect sweaterclips, mainly because they're extremely hard to find in a part of the country where people don't really need sweaters due to it being hot as Hades most of the time. However, I have an ongoing sweaterclips-for-stickpins arrangement going on with a blog friend, so these will be winging their way to New Yawk soon.

I'm off to La Condo for a couple days to finish cleaning since we've decided to start renting it. We'll still be able to use it, but when we're not there we could make some money to help pay on the mortgage. Hope y'all are having a great week so far!!!

Vintage Crafting, Coffee Pots, and Dad

2011-02-21T08:05:00.000-08:00

I received a mysterious box in the mail a few days ago. Barbara, who I lovingly refer to as "Babs, She Who Is Funnier Than Most Anyone In The World" (you have GOT to check out her blog here if you've been living in a cave and don't know about her) had warned me she was sending me something but was having a hard time getting it in the mail, causing me to have no end of wonder as to what it could be. The box arrived and I opened it with every expectation that she had sent me $1,000,000 in a solid gold treasure chest along with an autographed nearly-nude photograph of the hunk who plays Gannicus on "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena".

Aren't I the silly girl?

Here's what she DID send, which is really better than a million bucks or a solid gold treasure box and ALMOST as good as that nearly nude photo.

OK, so what's better than one vintage spunhead clown?

A whole freaking BAG of them! (That THUNK you just heard was Magpie Ethel passing out from envy immediately after muttering, "Curses! So THAT'S what happened to all the clown spunheads!").

Next question: what's better than one little vintage black pipecleaner horsie?

A black horsie, a roan horsie, three palomino horsies AND five pipecleaner cowpokes and 'pokettes! With whips, yet!

Cowpokette Wanda (who is Cowgirl Billie's cousin, obviously) is the gal who rounds up them thar frisky horses and herds them back to the corral. As you can see, they escaped with their saddles still on.

Babs also sent me a huge bag of plastic gee-tars. I'll show you soon what I did with one of them. Now I only have 3,999 more to do something with. Any ideas?

I think this little silver plastic swan held mints at someone's wedding long ago. Right now it looks cute with the plastic quilled flower.

A bag of plastic bells!

Vintage golden fruit!

Vintage "it almost looks real but it's not so don't eat it!" fruit!!

Here's the other coffee pot I was referring to in Saturday's post. I got it at an estate sale and for some reason the previous owner also had three creamers and three sugars. Of course I bought them all.

Love the pattern!

Dad will be having surgery on Wednesday. His ever-present staph infection (part of his clavicle was removed because of it and of course, his lower leg) has found a new home in the tip of the fibula bone. Here's a link if you're interested in learning more about the fibula. I had a nice long conversation with him last night and he's just in amazingly good spirits, which is so important to help with healing. He also said he'd received two more (and probably more since he's been in the hospital) missives from his fan club members and said he'd answer them as soon as he goes home. He's intent on getting out soon because he wants to be in good health for his surprise birthday party on April 16 (his actual birthday is April 6 but the 16th is more convenient).

Again, a big thank you to everyone who joined the GJB Fan Club--it truly means alot to me to know there are some really really really great people out there in Bloglandia. I haven't forgotten about you, Carol R. & ZeeMama--I'll be getting your packages out this week. Anyone else who wants to join the fun?

Vintage Coffee Pots and Stuff

2011-02-19T14:04:00.000-08:00

I'm thinking about pulling all my good Pyrex out of the antique mall booth since I'm getting sick and tired of hearing the owner tell me people think my prices are too high. Apparently everyone's mother or grandmother in this podunk town had a kitchen full of Pyrex that they used on a daily basis and if she says to me one more time: "And they just can't believe that old Pyrex is selling for those prices!" I'm sorry, but I have a rare 1961 promotional Golden Grape with delphite interior chip & dip WITH the holder and WITH the box priced at $52. Is that too high? I realize I'm asking a bunch of people who (like me) shop at thrift stores this question, but after researching it I think it's fair. I wound up selling a Fire-King jadeite batter bowl for $15! Pyrex fridge dishes in perfect condition WITH the lids (also in perfect condition) for $6!

So like I said, I'm thinking about yanking everything marked "Pyrex" and handing it over to my niece Corinne. She's getting married next month and I'm pretty sure she'd wet her pants if she suddenly had a kitchen full of vintage Pyrex. NOTE: this is what I'm THINKING, not necessarily what I'm DOING (so if Corinne is reading this, have patience my child).

Now that I've had my Pyrex hissy fit, I wanted to show a coffee pot that I picked up along the way about a year ago. I just found out today that there's also a matching sugar & creamer. In my excitement I "lost" the website of the young lady who had just found the sugar & creamer but she did a post on the Pyrex Collective website today (?) so I'm sure I'll find her again.

I'm going to do Part 2 of this post tomorrow morning. The internet on a Saturday afternoon is just waaaay too crowded and waaaaay too slow. Anyway, I'm dragging hubby to a country auction tonight with the enticement of "You know, honey, there MIGHT be some tools . . ."

Vintage Doodly Doings

2011-02-18T12:37:00.000-08:00

My home office/craft room/den of terror is full of boxes and piles and such. The other day, I said to myself, "Christine, how about going through some of your sketch books--you know, the ones you've carried around with you since the 70's." They were stuffed under 20 years' worth of wall calendars (and why I've saved THEM I'll never even begin to fathom, since it's my dayplanners from the 70's that have all the good X-rated memories stuff. Something I will NOT post about: Dad has been reading my 2009 blog book and did mention that he was not aware I had dated black pimps).

One thing I used to doodle ALOT was women's heads, every single one of them facing left. I did try to draw them facing right but it was impossible, almost like I needed to draw them with my left hand (and I'm right handed).

(Just to test my theory, I did a quick right-facing sketch with my left hand. I also tried doing right-facing with my right hand but it turned out about the same).

Whenever I got ahold of a fine point pen these little cottages would appear:

Now for something different: I fancied myself a cartoonist and created Friar Puck! The idea was to come up with witty leftist turns on traditional homilies. Since I have zero knowledge of homilies, however, the good Friar never went further, which of course left the witty leftist cartoon field wide open for that Gary Trudeau person.

ATTENTION! WARNING, WILL ROBINSON! If you suffer from coulrophobia, do not go any further!

Oh, ok, you're NOT afraid of clowns. Goody! Here are some clowny doodles!

This one's my favorite, since NO ONE could be afraid of him. He's so cute, and just a bit sad.

Also in my sketchbook was what is apparently a list of bills for the month of July. I would say this was sometime in the mid-70's. How do I know that? I lived in San Francisco and the rent for my one bedroom apartment was freaking $250!!!! And $8 for gas & electric! And $10 to pay a ticket I got when I was driving to the mall in Daly City and nearly plowed into a police car. He was NOT amused and no amount of eyelash batting swayed him from issuing the ticket. Boy, was he MAD!

I think I was considering moving to a bigger apartment or this may have been when I was going to share that house with my girlfriends in the Haight. Considering that the number "516" referred to my take-home pay ($1032 net per month), I think I was also looking for a better paying job!

I was a frequent visitor to the Emporium department store on Market Street and of course my beloved Macy's on Union Square. I can still remember my account number: 533-18-5**. It's been long-closed, but I memorized it because back then, if you didn't have your card, you could just give them your card number and charge away.

Now you practically have to give them a DNA sample before you can charge something!

Haven't heard about Dad yet, but keep your fingers crossed. And hey, did you notice that I posted TWO DAYS IN A ROW? Wow! Have a great weekend!!!

1955 February Calendar Pin-Up! And a Dad Update . . .

2011-02-17T15:15:00.000-08:00

How awesome is THIS?! No candy for this cutie! I'll try to remember to post these each month since I have the entire year (minus December, dammit).

I'm sorry to report that Dad has been admitted to the hospital. Here's an email I just received from my sister:

"Just talked to Judy and Dad is getting admitted. They're going to do an MRI because they think the infection could be in the bone. I hope that doesn't mean what it sounds like it could mean, but we'll see. Judy said she'll let me know the room # asap, so I'll either email you if I'm still here, or call you later. She also mentioned that two of your blog pals' cards came the other day and two more today - Dad wrote the first two back! So cute!!

Later, Sis"

The doctor actually wanted Dad to go to the hospital about two weeks ago when this infection started acting up but Dad has had about ENOUGH of hospitals so he promised the doctor that if the infection got worse, he'd go. It did, and he went. Now they'll pump him full of antibiotics and hopefully, since he's much stronger than other times with infections, he'll be able to fight it off better.

Dad firmly believes in the power of prayer, GJB Fan Club members. Please remember him in yours, and I'll keep you updated.

Thank you SO MUCH for writing to him!

Have A Wonderful Valentine's Day, Everyone!

2011-02-14T05:46:00.000-08:00

I told my husband not to get me anything this year, which he probably won't since we're supposed to be squeezing pennies until they scream, so I'll share this beautiful bouquet from a few years back when we were flush with dinero. Well, OF COURSE I got HIM a card this year, just because I'm pathologically unable to pass up a holiday without some kind of purchase. I mean, REALLY!

He also wrote this note on our kitchen blackboard, which I thought was incredibly sweet, although I'm not sure who he's directing the request to. The cat? Ha ha.

And then, me being ME and all, I did my own blackboard-y thing:

Dear friends, I appreciate, more than you know, all your thoughts and comments regarding my father. Believe me, he is THRILLED about the fan club!

If you're not yet a member and would like to be, send me an email (my e-address is on the sidebar) and I'll shoot ya an official and HIGHLY COVETED GJB pendant.

Love y'all!!!

Honey, Can You Say FAAAAAAABULOUS?

2011-02-12T08:17:00.000-08:00

That Mardi Gras ball I went to last weekend? Not only faaaaaabulous, but waaaaay too much fun. I mean, how many balls do YOU go to that feature two naked men on the program cover, hmmm?

When Cousin Gwen and I got to our table, it was doing that groaning thing tables do when they're overloaded with food and other life-sustaining substances like massive quantities of alcohol. Sandwiches, chips, fruit, veggies (yeah, so far, eh) . . . but also CHOCOLATE COVERED HANDMADE MARSHMALLOWS and KING CAKE and ALREADY SHELLED AND DEVEINED BERLED SRIMP (that's how we say it down here, and when you're served srimp already cleaned and
someone has taken off the heads and the shell, well, that's a HUGE deal when you're used to fishing them out of a big steaming pile on the table. Which is fun, of course, but not so much when you're wearing the one long skirt you own and since you only wear it once a year taking it to the cleaners with srimp juice on it would be the pits). Here's the invitation and ticket:

(I think the hieroglyphics might be saying something dirty in ancient Egyptian and I was GOING to tweet someone in Egypt to decipher it but then I remembered, "Oh yeah, they just had a revolution" so we'll just have to guess. Ha ha.)

Are you ready for this? All I can say is, when this guy came onstage there was a simultaneous GASP and everyone with boobs--real, fake and stuffed--heaved those suckers mightily. HE WAS HOT!

All he wore were some strategically placed straps and a loincloth. If you care, he's supposed to be the mythical phoenix. Incredibly, he also MADE this costume as well as making or directing the making of several other costume masterpieces in the tableau. Amazing!

This fine figure of a (wo)man was costumed as a tribute to Erte. Pheasant feathers are second only to ostrich plumes on the wow scale. The lady on the left side of the picture was the event's emcee-ette and even though you'd SWEAR she was Audrey Hepburn, she is actually Miss Elizabeth Bouvier, a featured performer at JohnPaul's show bar in New Orleans.

Darker shot to show how sparkly it was. Her dress and harness are beautiful, but her escort has better cheekbones.

It was so dark in the arena that I was lucky to get the shots that I did. Here is last year's King. Again, those pheasant feathers--his were drenched in glitter. Here's a tidbit--the New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune, will accept write-ups about the gay carnival balls but refuses to publish photographs of the queen, which is insane because New Orleans is so accepting of the gay lifestyle. Mardi Gras is serious business down here, though, and the old-line krewes want it treated with "respect" (and I suspect also because the drag queens are oftentimes more beautiful than the straight ones). Anyhoo, a decision has been made to start allowing the gay queen photos in 2012. I guess they figured, what the hell, the world is going to end anyway . . .

Cousin Gwen's hairdresser, David, is a member of the krewe and his invitation got us into the festivities. His costume was incredible (also made by that hot Phoenix guy)--here he is as Poseidon, Lord of the Sea.

David's significant other, David (also known as Bubba), told us that he is so sick of inhaling glitter that if he never sees another Mardi Gras ball again he'll be deliriously happy. He told that to David/Poseidon, who gave him one of those, "Oh yeah, riiiiiiiight" looks. Actually, we ALL gave Bubba one of those looks. We're already planning next year's fabulousness!

Every bit of this costume was done by hand, from forming the frame to attaching the satin to gluing on the glitter and jewels and sewing in the feathers. It weighs a ton and the fact that David had been drinking most of the day made it all the more amazing that he managed to stay on his feet the whole time!

The thing was huge!

Well, that's all for today. I'm going to seriously try to post more often since I've built up a pretty good backlog of photos of STUFF plus I found some pix of me lookin' gosh darn fine back in the 70's. Although I do have to say that little Damon Wayans hat I wore to the ball brought a major sparkle to this old gal's eye!

Hope y'all have a wonderful Saturday!!!!!

Vintage Christine, Revealed!

2011-02-11T18:57:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to let y'all know that I haven't completely disappeared. This is the cute little headband I wore to the gay ball last weekend. Sorta kinda Damon Wayans-ish when he did "Men on Film", don't you think?

I swear I'm going to start posting more. But right now I have to gird my loins, grab a glass of vino and head into the living room to watch "Spartacus: Gods of the Arena".

Would you believe GJB will be watching, too? He LOVES it!

But hopefully not for the same reasons I do . . .

I Hope Y'All Weren't Holding Your Breath . . .

2011-02-02T09:32:00.000-08:00

. . . for your GJB Fan Club pendants or you'd be dead and buried by now. But guess what?! I have finally completed 10 of the custom-designed holder-thingie boxes and will be shipping them out to at least that many of you by, um, tomorrow? I also need to get Rachel to make up a few more, too!

Just wanted to show you my ever-changing living room, now with the antique bookcase that was brutally dinged up until I slopped "Burnt Umber" acrylic paint on the corners. Now if I look at it without my glasses on, it's perfect!

OK, now here are the bloggie friends who indicated they wanted to be GJB Fan Club groupies:

Kathy (please email me your full name & address)

Jabacue

Barbara With The Hand Issues

Magpie Ethel

1950's Atomic

Midcentury Madam

AngelMc

Christine (who is probably frozen solid in OK)

Linda @ A La Carte

Pixie

Amber Von Felts

Suzanne (please email me your full name and address--I think you already did but I accidentally erased your email)

SvelteStuffSue

Corinne E (but of course you already HAVE a pendant since you're my soon-to-be-wed niece)

Ninny (who is also probably frozen solid in OK)

The Amazing Rachel of Two Dog Pond

Speaking of Barbara With The Hand Issues, she just sent me something that many of you crafty-type gals would pretty much DIE FOR. I will post about it tomorrow or whenever, since I'm getting to be pretty erratic with my posting.

Oh, and for those of you who are buried under that snow stuff in other parts of the country, maybe the fact that I sat under a TORNADO WARNING for half the day yesterday might make you feel a little better!

What Did I Do to P*ss You Off, Car Gods????

2011-01-26T12:29:00.000-08:00

Here I am, trying to be a good daughter and wife and aunt and friend and all that, and this past weekend was just a cavalcade of one f**k-up after another! I decided to go to Birmingham to tell Dad about his fan club and since I was going to attend my brother-in-law's birthday party I also packed up a pile of stuff for my niece since she's becoming sort of a VintageChristine-ette and I love it that someone in my family actually wants old crap--I have a bunch of Mom's wedding silverplate that we had tried to sell when we opened up the antique mall booth but no one wants to pay what it's worth. Of course now I'm banging holes in some of the pieces to make windchimes, but the really nice serveware is going to the family. I also took I HEART George pendants for female family members and the book I just had printed with all my 2010 blog posts.

I "loaned" it to Dad but it's actually his to keep. Oh, and friends--he was THRILLED TO DEATH with the fan club and would LOVE to receive fan mail from y'all! He lives for the mail since he doesn't have access to a computer.

Then I hopped in the car along with my trusty doggie companion, Holly, and off we went, stopping first at Mickey D's for a bit of greasy sustenance and a "senior" coffee. An hour out, I spilled the nice hot steaming coffee all down my right leg and for the NEXT hour went through all kinds of hilarious-if-you-saw-them-if-you-were-a-truck-driver contortions trying to keep my right leg above the seat to dry off while at the same time trying not to drive into a ditch and kill myself. I reached Laurel, MS and (unbeknownst to my husband) took the off-ramp there to hit an estate sale. Immediately thereafter, my car started making a horrible grinding grating I'M GOING TO EXPLODE noise and became almost impossible to steer. I managed to get myself into a gas station parking lot and, hysterically called my husband. We assumed our brand new one-month old $3,000 rebuilt by Aamco transmission had blown up so I got towed to the local Aamco garage where we discovered that the transmission was fine but a HUGE bolt holding the brake caliper thingie to the wheel had busted loose. One of those things that the mechanic looks at and goes, "Wow, I've never seen THAT happen before!" and you feel just, oh I don't know, so darn proud of yourself and your vee-hickle.

So Mike drives up with the Dodge diesel pickup, I transfer all my crap and the dog, he drives back home with the stupid-looking doughnut tire on the car and I head on up to Birmingham. Went to see Dad the next a.m., dropped off the box of goodies to my niece, and then decided that I really just wanted to go home after all the excitement yesterday.

By way of introduction to our truck, something is causing it to ding ding ding in an erratic fashion because there's a loose wire somewhere in its bowels that makes it think a lamp is out. Which there's not. There's no rhyme or reason or particular time this happens, but once it starts, the dinging is about on a par with the constantly yapping dog next door on the irritation scale. Of course we've taken it to the dealer, they ran it through their computer, and of course found nothing wrong. When we suggested that they just dismantle the warning bell, they reacted like this: "WHAT?! YOU CAN'T DO THAT!", then did the sign of the cross, threw garlic at us and locked the door. Well, of course I might be exaggerating a bit, but there is no way in hell anyone is going to stop the ding. Apparently you can't just cut a wire--you have to basically get a whole new computer.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

So, I'm merrily driving down the interstate, my stomach clenching everytime I hit a bump (which on Alabama roads is about every six inches or so) since that tends to set off the dinging, and of course it starts up. Just one ding to start, then nothing for a mile or so, then another ding or two, then nothing, then ding ding ding ding ding ding ding, then nothing, then all hell breaks loose and it's like the truck is screaming, "I have aliens in my head and I can't get them out and it hurts like a muhfuh and ding ding ding ding ding!!!!!"

Then it stops and it's quiet for 40 miles.

And then, 20 miles outside of Laurel, MS (yes, that same Laurel, MS from yesterday), the truck jerks and gasps, the temperature gauge shoots into the stratosphere, I hear major grinding, my power steering and power brakes disappear, smoke starts pouring from the engine, and I assume that it's going to blow up and I silently say bye-bye to my dear husband. I managed to get it into ANOTHER gas station parking lot, got out the cellphone, called you-know-who and said with the greatest of irony, "Honey, you won't BELIEVE what the f**k just happened."

Waited for an hour and a half for the towtruck and spent another hour and a half in gloomy pissed off silence as the driver got me home. Turns out the waterpump had blown up, shredded the belt, punched holes in the fan and sprayed water/antifreeze everywhere (hence the smoke). We had a replacement waterpump since Mike squirrels away things like that like I squirrel away Fenton glass so all we had to spend money on was a new belt and more antifreeze (the fan is still usable, it just looks like plastic-eating mice got at it).

Unfortunately the wheel wasn't so easy to replace but Mike found one online for $189--couldn't find one at any of the million and a half junkyards dotting the landscape down here.

So that's how MY weekend went, my dear friends. On the plus side, Dad is doing just GREAT and is looking forward to hearing more about his fan club. If you'd like to drop him a line, send me an email so I can share his address.

I've been meaning to share photos of my fabulous rain oil lamp (only took a year and a half to get it hung up) and a few other things, so now that I've completely zombiefied you with this tale of woe, here's some fabulousness! This is a corner of my living room and I love the PBN's, sunburst clock, gravel art kitties, and my newest Jesus Knocking On The Door light-up picture. The rain oil lamp fits in perfectly!!

What's so cool is the oil beads march down perfectly one after the other. Amazing! Don't you just love Miss Naughtiness?

The Jesus Knocking At the Door is 3D!

Now, this is just the most awesome little lamp and it looks like it's right out of one of the greatest movies of all time, "Invaders From Mars". Remember how those big goofy Martians would lumber around, then point their ray guns at a rock wall, fire, the wall would go all bubbly and then explode and they'd lumber on through. That's exactly what this lamp reminds me of! The shade is plastic but the legs are wood and it works. Verrrrrrrrry cool.

I'm working on getting the pendants out to you guys so please be patient. I had 13 left over after giving them out to my family and they're all spoken for BUT if you want one just let me know since I'm about to place another order with the fabulous Rachel.

And just in case you might be wondering about that last giveaway, I decided that sending someone a piece of broken glass, no matter how minor the crack, was just really not cool. The orange bowl WAS won by Miss Barbara With The Hand Issues. To make up for it, I'll be doing a giveaway for the Fan Club very soon. Stay tuned, and thanks for hanging in there with moi!!!!!

GJB Fan Club Charter Members Alert!

2011-01-20T13:48:00.000-08:00

Thank you thank you thank you Rachel at Two Dog Pond! The GJB Fan Club pendants are absolutely awesome! I'll be ~~springing it on Dad~~ giving Dad the news very soon and I HOPE my family hasn't spoiled the surprise. For the back, we used a great font for the script and Rachel found a wonderful patriotic heart . . . all in all, they're just perfect! The official bloggy world charter members will receive one of these pendants just as soon as I get off my butt and get them in the mail.

Closeup:

Oh, and guess who's sad because SHE didn't get a pendant . . .

Oh good grief, now we're going to have to have a Doggie Auxiliary. And then the cat will be pissed off and lord only knows what destruction will ensue.

Words I Can Live By

2011-01-10T10:24:00.000-08:00

In case you can't make it out:

"Housework can't kill you, but why take a chance?"

--Phyllis Diller

The GJB Fan Club

2011-01-06T14:45:00.000-08:00

When you have an elderly parent (or if you're lucky, parents) and you don't live close to him/her, it's just frustrating as all get out. I don't live THAT far from Dad (five hours by car) but as I get older that five hours goes by slower and slower and slower and watching me get out of the car upon arrival must be hilarious: moaning, groaning, desperate grabbing onto something so I don't fall flat on my face since my legs oftentimes refuse to unbend. If we drive the pickup, forget it. I just fall out, Mike picks me up, I dust myself off and hobble inside.

Pathetic. Being an old fartess is just a bitch sometimes.

I call Dad as much as I can but he goes to dialysis three times a week and doesn't get reception in the unit, and then he's pretty pooped after having all his blood flushed out. He spends 3/4 of the day on Sunday at church, he attends luncheons with the ROMEOs (Retired Old Men Eating Out) AND flits hither and yon to this party and that meeting. I swear, if he could drive himself he'd NEVER be home!

Since several of you fine followers have developed little crushes on Dad (when I told him that, he about busted his buttons!), I thought, "Hey! Let's REALLY inflate his ego! I'll start a fan club for him!"

Now, I'm not going to charge dues or write a freakin' newsletter or issue membership cards but I AM going to have the very talented Miss Rachel of Two Dog Pond create a bunch of her fabulous pendants as giveaways! They can either be put on necklaces or keychains and will announce to the entire world that you're a fan of GJB!

If you're interested, just let me know via a comment below. Oh, and there will be some fun surprises for fan club members, too. Woo hoo!!

P.S. The photo was taken for inclusion in his church membership roster. He noted that no one told him not to wear a black shirt since the photograph was going to be taken against a black background. Yes, it DOES look like a floating head tethered by a bolo tie. Sort of a "Buddy Balloon" (Dad's nickname is Buddy). And by the way, those are his actual teeth! Hey, he was married to a dental hygienist for half of his adult life for pete's sake! Sadly, I inherited my mother's sorry excuse for a mouth.

Wonder if I can find a company who can make us some Buddy Balloons? What a hoot!

Books? In A Bookcase????

2011-01-05T06:52:00.000-08:00

As some of you know, I'm something of a Barbie freakazoid. Not vintage Barbies--they're too expensive and frankly, the ones I could afford aren't in the best condition. I mean, how many of YOU twisted off Barbie's head a time or two? And let's be honest, combing out that ponytail and giving her a ratted-up 'do was obviously a major pastime in the 60's and 70's. I have a Miss Yvonne action figure (part of my treasured set of PeeWee Herman figures) and even though you didn't need to rat up HER hair my sister's little girl felt obligated. Of course this was after they'd located Miss Yvonne's head that had been twisted off and thrown under the couch shortly after coming out of the package. When my sister kindly gave me the figure I left Miss Yvonne in her disheveled state (with her head back on) since whenever I look at her she reminds me of when Tinky was a wee little girl wearing her cereal bowl on her head and smiling like that was a totally normal thing to do. Love you, my sweet soon-to-be-married niece!

Anyway, I have a bookcase in my dining room that's just chock full of cool stuff. Since the hubby has been a professional diver ever since he was a chubby-cheeked Navy boy I thought it was important that we have a vintage Navy Seal Diver GI Joe in the house. GOOD LORD, ARE THEY FREAKING EXPENSIVE! This one came with all kinds of accessories like an ax, several rifles, a knife, blah blah blah, you know, things that you kill people with. Or use your doll to kill other dolls with. Navy Seal Diver GI Joe also came with an old "coppertop" dive helmet, weight belt and boot weights so your kid could throw him in the pool and he'd sink straight to the bottom, pretty much ruining him but hey, who knew Navy Seal Diver GI Joe was going to become so FREAKING EXPENSIVE 30 years after he got fished out of the pool?

Next to Navy Seal Diver GI Joe, Ken looks pathetic. Even Divin' Barbie and Mermaid Barbie look more butch. The reproduction coppertop helmet was a Hobby Lobby find--it's made out of some kind of hard composite and when I found it it was on a display case with a bunch of glass animals with a sign that read "All Glass, Ceramic, China Items 50% Off" which caused me to have a vigorous discussion with the manager about what the helmet was made out of since 50% off always makes me salivate and want to buy things I don't need. In her vast wisdom as Hobby Lobby manager she determined that it was NOT on sale, then looked at me and said, "Well, do you still want it?" as she was already turning around to put it back on the shelf. It was obvious she wasn't reading my mind since if she had that ability she would've then slapped me for what I WAS thinking. I said, in my best snarky but polite voice, "Well, YES I want it", snatched it back and marched off, vowing that this was absolutely the last time I'd ever set foot in that store.

Ha ha ha ha HA.

On shelf two, we find more manly stuff. Please note that the only thing the manly person in this household has purchased on this shelf is the little diver figurine. Of course we had to have the Captain America "Easy Rider" chopper (on the left) and the bike on the right is a model of Mike's 1986 limited edition Heritage Softail. And how about that freakin' awesome Woody station wagon with all kinds of cool surf stuff?!

Those rocks are actually fossils. I think one of them is fossilized dino poop. Note: to answer Miz Pixie, NO THAT IS NOT A PROTECTIVE LAYER OF DUST! That is an exact replication of the floor of my husband's workshop. Really!

More cars. The two in the rear are GTO's since Mike loves them and it's much safer to have the models rather than an actual GTO, seeing as how I managed to slide (going 2 mph) into the last GTO and mash its just-recently-restored quarter panel. The company that sold the cars also had available the accessory kit with the auto hoist, tool chests, tanks, etc. When they arrived at the house I took them out of the box, squealed and showed them to Mike, saying "Oh honey, aren't these just tooooo cute?!" He sat there staring at me, then said, "Yes. They are cute." The word "cute" really isn't in his vocabulary but he utters it when he knows it's just better to agree with me. After 20+ years together, he's well aware of the rules . . .

You may recall the car in the front from a post regarding the mysterious death of Melvin the Chicken (read post here). Boo the Cat was exonerated, of course, as it turned out the murderer and driver of this car was A LOW-DOWN SCURVY SQUIRREL! Note: again, the amazing ON PURPOSE replication of actual workshop floor dust. Really!

For all you readers who weren't aware of my political leanings, I have a feeling you'll figure it out by noting the book titles below. See, I DO have books in my bookcase!

OK, I can't get away with another lie about workshop floor dust here, so, hmm, let's see . . . oh yeah! that isn't just undusted dust on this shelf, it's an amazingly clever ruse to get FAIRY PRINTS (and as you can plainly see, that fairy got up and walked over to the salt & pepper shakers. Really!).

Have a happy Wednesday! It's raining cats and dogs here AGAIN. I'm not complaining, though--I COULD be in Queensland (and I really hope our bloggy friend Celia is high and dry!).

New Year's Eve 1944, er, 2010

2010-12-31T08:31:00.000-08:00

Herewith, a grab bag of photos. Enjoy!

Shortly after I met Mike in 1988 in San Diego, my friend Andra and I decided we wanted to attend a big party downtown with a WWII theme, so we hit the thrift stores and found incredible outfits (I even put my long hair in a snood). Mike had gotten out of the Navy just a year earlier so his uniform still fit. Here's me and my sailor boy! Also shortly after I met Mike, both of us started packing the pounds back on since neither of us are, um, svelte. Sigh.

BabyVintageChristine, birthday girl!

Dad with his sisters Audrey and Shirl. As you know, Dad's still going strong but both his sisters have passed. This photo was taken at a family reunion in New Mexico where Shirley lived, probably in the 80's. Speaking of dear ole Dad, I'll be making an announcement soon about something FUN involving him and all you ladies (and gents) who love him. Stay tuned!

My mother, 2007.

I haven't written much about Mike's side of the family but as you can see, his dad is pretty much up for anything! This is the "stripper" who surprised the heck out of him and Mike's mom, Jo, at their 50th wedding anniversary party in 2008. There was also a male "stripper" for Jo. Believe me, when these two incredibly fat and ugly entertainers first appeared, everyone who wasn't in on the joke just about threw up! It was

all masks and padding, though. Whew!

Photo taken earlier this year on one of our horribly hot and humid summer days. The dogs spend most of their time recovering from being outside for 10 seconds.

I'd just like to thank California (oh yes indeedy I'm being sarcastic!) for sending ALL THIS FREAKING RAIN to us today. I realize that everyone north of us is having to deal with blizzard conditions but it is no fun being in a monsoon, either. We'll be launching the yacht (snark snark) later to go to Cousin Gwen's for a quiet New Year's Eve and sleepover.

Have a safe, sane and, above all, HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

My Dad, Stumpy Claus!

2010-12-27T11:19:00.000-08:00

This past summer, my 84 year old father had his leg amputated. He'd fallen down some stairs several years back and his knee was shattered so they replaced it with a prosthetic knee. Then he came down with a bad case of staph infection in his clavicle and from then on, he was in and out of the hospital for the next two years, with the staph infection merrily making its way hither and yon all through his body. When it lodged in the fake knee area it decided it liked it there and refused to budge--Dad was given so many antibiotics that his kidneys checked out and he's been going to dialysis for THAT three times a week. In desperation, the doctor suggested that maybe, just maybe George, you might think about having your leg amputated . . . and while various members of Dad's family were horrified at the thought, Dad made the decision to do the deed (he's suffered from diabetes for years so he had sort of prepared himself for this very thing).

It was the best decision anyone ever made! Dad's health improved to the point where he's been living at home (and getting the best care in the world from his "son" Glenn and Glenn's wife Judy--they all live in the same house in Birmingham--and from my sisters, as well) since August. He was going to get a prosthetic leg but has decided against it since he's pretty ok with scooting around in his motorized wheelchair and being chauffered to luncheons and church by Judy. Every time I start to feel depressed about my current situation I just look at this photo and give myself a big mental whack over the head. What do I have to complain about?!!!

Now, if anyone has wondered where I get my occasionally warped sense of humor, it was given to me by that one legged gentleman above. Soooooo, when I was at a flea market recently I stumbled across a vendor who had those filthy snowglobes AND a little plastic "shelf sitter" Santa Claus with no legs below the knee. AH HA! Of course Santa had to be washed, and then the fun began. I made a little boot out of black felt, outlined it in gold glitter glue and stuck it on. Then I glued Santa's butt to this perfectly sized little chair, filled a gift bag with sugar-free Life Savers and presented it to Dad when we visited recently.

HE CRACKED UP! I told him he could put it out every Christmas and he said, "Well, hell, I'm going to keep it out all year!" which made me, his oldest daughter, melt all over the floor with love.

I hope everyone's Christmas was as precious as mine.

Meowy Christmas From The Cat

2010-12-25T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is one of those moments when you turn around and see this and realize that your camera is right there on the table and you hold your breath praying that the cat stays still for one......second......longer......

(He wrapped himself up and then sat there going, "What tinsel? Where?")

Boo's favorite spot in the entire universe when the weather gets cold and his Mom won't turn on the heat. An old gas stove with an Eternally Lit Pilot Light is a bitch in the summer but a total godsend this time of year. Purr purr purr!!!

Hope you're having a helluva Christmas and if you're not, don't worry about it. Apparently you're in some excellent company considering the very long, very thoughtful, very heartfelt comments some of you left on yesterday's post. We can't all be happy just because this is supposedly "the most wonderful time of the year"--there's just too much shit going down these days. That being said, however, let's buck up and get through the holidays as sanely as possible.

I love you guys!!!

Thinking Of You On Christmas Eve . . .

2010-12-24T10:15:00.000-08:00

While reading Facebook today I saw where one of Mike's nieces had written that she was loving having a houseful of people for Christmas. She is young, has a sweet baby girl, an adoring husband and another baby on the way--in other words, she's just starting out in her adult life and is obviously loving having family and friends at her new home in Alabama.

I started to get depressed--not because we weren't there, but because I realized (yet again) that I'm deep into my twilight years and there's not too much left to look forward to. And then I thought, "Hey stupido--just look at all you've done in your life! Look at your wonderful family, all your friends, all the freakin' memories!!!!" These are our years to let the younger generations create their memories, and we get to savor what we did, who we knew, where we went. Hopefully we, and our parents, were like my own father and photographed and videoed our every breath. And hopefully those photographs and film haven't faded into blurry brown crackly blobs!

I found this photograph taken in 1961 of me (the 11-year old Miss Chubbette on the right) and my sisters--the youngest, Cynthia, then Susie and Sally. Not sure if this was a Christmas photo since my mother used to dress us up like this whenever any kind of holiday came around or we were going to visit friends and/or family.

If anyone ever asked me for advice (and no ever does, me being ME and all), I'd tell them to spend more time with their family. Hard as that might be, you've got to make time for your parents and your siblings. When you're young and starting out in life you don't think too much about the fact that one of these days your older family members are going to start dying and you may start to regret not including them in your life more.

My incredible Aunt Shirley (Dad's oldest sister). She was my idol. Over the years I kept telling myself that I'd get out to New Mexico to visit her. We went in 2005. She died a year later.

I honestly can't remember when I spoke to Cynthia before she died. It pains me to no end.

Mom left us in January of 2009. I'm still trying to stop beating myself up over being so mean to her even though everyone tells me it's a normal reaction to someone suffering from Alzheimer's.

I apologize for being so maudlin at this most joyous time of the year, and please believe me when I say I'm not depressed or feeling sorry for myself (well, not too much). I guess I'm feeling mortal. So just remember to give your Mom and/or your Dad and all your older friends and family members an extra big hug this Christmas.

Of course, that's only if you get along with them. For the true assholes in the family, give 'em a good kick in the shins and have another cup of eggnog.

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends!!!

Three Bad Girls From Oklahoma

2010-12-22T09:26:00.000-08:00

I only know TWO girls from Oklahoma (named Ninny & Christine, who also happen to be sisters) but I'm not talking about them right now. I'm referring to these three girls who came to live with me back in August. I did NOT arrange them like this! Can you believe that poor Kissing Santa is about to get beaned with a giant snowball? And that Minnie is gonna get clobbered by a smaller (yet, for her, just as deadly) snowball? Mickey gets the worst of it--HE'S in line to get whacked over the head with a shovel. WHO LET THESE GIRLS GONE BAD IN MY HOUSE??!

My gosh, the violence that goes on in this house when I'm away! Flamingos breaking other flamingo's legs and cute little dolls throwing snowballs at Santa, for pete's sake!

Here are our stockings all hung up and ready to be filled with candy and toys. Yeah right. You will note the one that says "Chris", which is now officially an antique just like its owner--the year I was born and in which it was made is embroidered on the other side. 1970! Bwah ha ha ha ha ha ha!!!! I kill myself sometimes.

(I really think that the stocking looks pretty good for actually being 60 years old, although I can't say that about myself . . .)

Remember that Block Party I went to in Slidell a couple of Fridays ago? I took two display boxes--this one is packed full of costume jewelry and a couple vintage watches. Fabulous!

The other box had all kinds of stuff I thought would be of interest to men AND women--tobacciana, shaving kits, WWII Army stuff, crystals, even a Playboy gift set. Wow!!!

And here's what I sold:

One stinking 100 year old Kodak camera (it's in the men's box next to the REALLY POPULAR Prince Albert tobacco tin). Twenty bucks.

Oh well, Mike and I had a nice evening together even though we couldn't afford to drink too much since the caterer was charging $4 for, literally, a big thimbleful of wine. I'm not kidding!

On the upside, I had my biggest month ever since I started at the antique mall in April of 2008. I made enough to pay our car note. Woo hoo!!

On the downside, that same car's automatic transmission blew up last week.

Boo hoo.

My Tablescape. By VintageChristine.

2010-12-16T09:33:00.000-08:00

I'm a little bit jealous because everyone has been showing such beautiful, lavish and, yes, waaaaaaay over the top tablescapes of late. Unfortunately for my tablescape dreams, we have a wonderful kittycat named Boo who pretty much goes wherever he wants, which of course drives my sister nuts when she visits and sees Boo jumping on and off the kitchen counters. My feeling is that, hey, he's a CAT for pete's sake and anyway, just how does she know that HER cats aren't having orgies all over HER counters when she's at work, huh?????? All that was to say that I wouldn't dare get all fancy schmancy with a tablescape because Boo would immdiately jump in the middle of it, take a nap, and then he's make it all fly off the table when the dogs started their insane shrieking barking at "The Thing That Is Not There But Needs To Be Barked At" and scared the living s**t out of him.

So here's MY tablescape, which is (to me) the most beautiful in the land. This was Mom's tablecloth, and sometime awhile ago (maybe the 70's?) she made the heavily decorated styrofoam Christmas tree by sticking pins into ALL those little sequiny thingies. Mom suffered from excruciating arthritis for many years and I'll bet her fingers were singing the blues after making this. I forgot I even had this stuff--I ventured up into our "attic" today trying to see if I'd stashed away any more Christmas cards since I ran out before I completed my list. The tablecloth was in a box full of her old linens, and the tree was sitting sort of forlornly in one of those popcorn tins. Now they both have a place of honor in our kitchen!

At least it won't break when Boo knocks it off the table.