Little

Yesterday as I was taking my son to school, I passed another mother who was riding her bike with a cart with a little flag on it behind her carrying her little ones. Ahead of her were two older children on bikes with helmets and backpacks. It was a parade of little people and bikes. They ride like this every morning when it's nice out. They live on the cul-de-sac across the street from us, but we've never met. I was suddenly flooded with memories of my little people and my sister's kids as they grew up together. Then remembered being little myself. All the little treasured memories that we have of growing up, your first puppy, first bike, first bus ride to school.
The creepy little guy with the hat and mustache on my bulletin board is Smedly. My grandma used to put pieces of candy in a little tin toy refrigerator with Smedly sitting beside it when we would come to visit. She would say "I wonder what Smedly's got?" the minute we would walk in the door. Jen and I would scamper down the hall to the playroom to see what was in the little fridge.


In all of those memories, my sister is right there with me. My parents or grandparents always watching, participating, encouraging, teaching.
As I was returning from dropping of my son, I pulled along side the young mom on her bike and drove beside her slowly, explaining I lived just down the street. I could see the two little faces in the cart smiling up at me, they looked so much like my sister and I.. I was shocked. As I pulled in my drive, they stopped riding so we could introduce ourselves without blocking the street. Tucked just between the two little girls was an infant. Three in a row back there! I was so impressed this woman had the energy to get all these little people up, ready, on bikes, strapped in and still had the patience to pedal down the street to watch over the older kids on their way to school. She was, momentarily, my hero. Never did I have that much motivation or was I organized enough to pull of something so difficult at 8:30 in the morning. I got to talk to the little girls and they were so sweet! Just like my sister and I, little peas in a pod. I remembered what a huge part of our growing up was spent outdoors on bikes, trikes, anything with wheels out in our driveway. Being little is so important, I am grateful I had so many wonderful experiences I can still savor. I didn't know then how hard it was to do for us the many things that my parents and grandparents made sure to give us. I doubt this mom thinks much past the immediate right now, but when her kids are grown, what a nice gift to have been given.

The thrill of the hunt

This is my back porch. This photo was taken about two years ago.. Since then many things have come and gone, the most unusual thing being the near life-size mechanical pony "Smokey" that came to live with us when Mom and Dad moved last year.
Whatever lands out there, whatever cast-off from other parts of the house.. somehow they just work and it gets "assembled into the BORG" as my husband would say.
Well I don't do as much hunting and gathering or random thrift shopping as I did in past years. And I have learned to start "editing" what I keep and live with. Part of that is just maturing, I think. If you dropped by right now, the porch would not be this organized.. It is recovering from my last decorating endeavor - being a catch-all for the things I moved out of the kitchen during the cabinet repaint. But this picture makes me happy. It reminds me never to question life's little surprises. Part of being a woman is finding a way to live creatively.
On Monday, I spent the day with my Mom. We finally had time to have a real conversation now that the kids have returned to school. We bolted out to the nearest anitique mall to shop for things for the "hoffice". We were on a tight schedule, had a huge wish list and wanted to hit as many of our old haunts as we could fit into one day. It was like going on vacation, I tell you. We enjoyed ourselves, each other's company and all the treasures along the way. She found lampshades for a chandelier, a copper pot for her kitchen, two chairs for Dad's office, a buffet and I found a metal rack to display our scarves on at our next craft fair and a few magazines. But mostly we just enjoyed the hunt.

It's in the genes..

I have been working like a complete mad woman. Why? It's genetic. I come from a line of compulsive ancestors. I can't go into too many details, but words like frenzy, obsessed, crazy, are part of my daily dialog. I'm OK with it, because I know how many of us are out there and that I come by it honestly via family heritage. Most of my family members are intelligent, humorous, industrious workers and harmless to ourselves and the public, sometimes hot-tempered, Mostly just QUIRKY.

And that is why my mind never rests, I am always thinking of three or more projects, making two or more crafts and stringing it all together in some random way in my craft room. Perfect example: I had no more than hung the last kitchen cabinet than I was off to sew up this tote bag that had been calling out to me. I had started laying it out before I began painting, and it was nagging me that I had a wonderful sewing project I wanted to get to, but all this WORK.
And so as not to ever be idle, I am always knitting something. I have made about 3 scarves a week all summer (105 degrees!) long! Like there aren't enough tote bags and scarves in the world and I must produce more, more I tell you!
All I can say is that the first step is acknowledging that you're a little off-kilter, then you can pull in the reins a little and modify your behavior. But I do really like QUIRKY.

What's cookin'?

I'm almost done!

How long has it been since I started this project? It seems like forever when your kitchen is torn up, but I think it took me a week and a half by the time I had doors on the cabinets and hardware on the drawers.

All white.. Yeah!
The reupholstered bench that started the whole thing, once you make over one thing in a room, the whole room cries out for attention. This bench was great, but made my cabinets look tired.
The upper parts of the cabinets were already white, I just finished all the lower cabinets. You can see there is still work to be done on the side and underneath the cabinets, the pantry is not done. But one more weekend and I will have it!
This is a close up of the paint application: Clean with Liquid Sander, apply 1 coat Primer, paint 2 coats base color, apply 1 coat antiquing glaze, sand edges, finish with 1 coat poly sealer, spray paint hinges with hammered metal finish.