CHECK OUT MY VINTAGE FINDS ON EBAY

MY CONSTIPATED GOLDFISH

Okay, the first time I passed by the aquarium I thought my big fancy golfish Max was dead. He was floating upside down....but it wasn't upside down dead....those of you who have had an aquarium and had a dead fish know what I mean. He was just upside down. I tapped on the side of the tank and he starting swimming just fine. Thank goodness he wasn't dead was all I could think! We've had this aquarium now for several years and haven't lost a fish in a while. The fish I have now have really gotten big from the time I purchased them because we bought the small "cheap" goldfish because we figured they would die (the first few we had in there did) so we wouldn't have a lot of money invested in them. But they have thrived and we really do enjoy watching them now. We bought the aquarium for our son Will. He has autism and LOVES fish. Loves to go to Petsmart and Wal Mart and "see fish".....but at home he doesn't show alot of interest in ours. Guess it's just not the same atmosphere.

Anyway, I decided to feed the fish and when I saw Max upside down he turned himself around and he swam up with the rest of them and was eating like normal. So..I went on with the days work. I was just thankful he wasn't dead and if he was eating that meant he wasn't sick. Didn't it? I came back through a little later on and the same thing. Upside down. This time I noticed he was having trouble staying toward the bottom of the tank. He tried to swim down but he just couldn't do it and stay there. When "hubby" got home I showed him the fish. He said "maybe he's constipated". Yeah right.......so then he tells me to go "google" it. So I did...and guess what HE WAS RIGHT!!! He was constipated. Swim bladder something or other...but from what I could read it wasn't fatal. The "fix" was to not to feed him for a few days and give him two thawed green peas minus the shells. We put him into a small aquarium and I gave him a couple of peas and no fish food and the next morning he was swimming fine again and no floating upside down.

We got a big laugh about it...and I was really happy things seem to be back to normal with Max but now I can tell everyone I had a constipated goldfish!

The Story of Blue Willow

I inherited my mother's Blue Willow china. She collected it for years (along with lots of other things) and we were always on the hunt at flea markets, estate sales, auctions and tag sales trying to find another "piece" to add to her ever growing collection. I didn't realize til I started packing it up to bring home how many pieces she had.

I never considered myself a "blue" person but Mama loved it so much and I couldn't bear to sell it so I ended doing my dining room in blue and to be honest I love it now. And it brings back so many happy memories of me and Mama "junking" together.

There is a really neat story to the pattern on the china....here it is:

"Long ago, in the days when China was ruled by emperors, a Chinese manderin, Tso Ling, lived in the magnificent pagoda under the branches of the apple tree on the right of the bridge, over which droops the famous willow tree, and in front of which is seen the graceful lines of the fence. Tso Ling was the father of a beautiful girl, Kwang-se, who was the promised bride of an old but wealthy merchant. The girl, however, fell in love with Chang, her father’s clerk. The lovers eloped across the sea to the cottage on the island. The mandarin pursued and caught the lovers and was about to have them killed when the gods transformed them into a pair of turtle doves. These are seen gazing into each other’s eyes at the top of the design."

FABULOUS FEEDSACK DRESSES

FEEDSACK DRESSES

A couple of months ago I bought a big box of handmade vintage feedsack dresses! I hadn't had the chance to "really" look at them so I got them out today to "air" them and let them get some sunshine and they were just beautiful!!!! To me they were a work of art hanging on the clothesline.

I never knew my grandmother but my mother always told me about her making her dresses out of old print feedsacks and from the pictures I've seen of her this was the "style" that she wore. All the pictures were in black and white so I couldn't see the "color" but I remember the style.

This lady of yesteryear had a nice and colorful wardrobe!!!!

I just LOVE all the different prints!!!

LOVE THE COLORS

LOOK AT THE POLKA DOTS

Ahhhh..the simpler times..........

NOTHING LIKE AN OLD FEATHER PILLOW

All my life I have slept on a feather pillow. That's the ONLY kind of pillow that my mother had in our house (EXCEPT for the ones she kept in her pillow shams and we were NEVER allowed to sleep on the shams. They were for "looks" only and got put in a chair at night along with the bedspread being folded down and NEVER used to cover up with) My mother took great pride in making her beds and they always looked as good as a picture in a catalog. She used to joke that you could bounce a quarter off of any bed she made. I never tried it, but they were always "perfect". I don't know how she did it because no matter hard I try my beds never look like hers did.

Every bed at our house always had a matched pair of feather pillows or a bolster pillow on them. Every summer Mama would empty the pillows (into an old pillowcase) and wash the ticking and then put the feathers back sometimes adding more feathers from other pillows that she had culled or I remember her even taking apart an old feather bed to get the feathers out and then "re-using" the ticking to make more pillows out of. She swore that the new ticking you bought was not like the old kind.

Even today if we go somewhere overnight I still take my trusty feather pillow with me.

I guess that's why I buy and sell so many feather pillows today...because they were a must in my house as a child and I can't imagine not sleeping on one. It's amazing how many different patterns and colors of ticking were used and how varied the pillow is in weight. I've had some so light and soft and then I've had some that were so heavy that you thought they might have stuffed in with bricks.

If you need any pillows make sure to check out my eBay store cause I always try to keep a big selection in there of all different weights and fabrics. I even have a few bolsters (though they are hard to find) and a feather bed or two! If you don't see what you like, drop me a line because I have a HUGE "pillow stash".

HERE COMES PETER COTTON TAIL....

HOPPING DOWN THE BUNNY TRAIL........

Easter will be here before we know it. aPRIL 12th.

My "bunnies" are out year around. I've collected old rabbits for over 15 years now. I especially love the paper mache and the Chein metal ones.

Here are some pictures of a few of mine.