Business Meeting

The seasons are on the verge of changing again, and with the changing of seasons, changes around here as well....

For starters, I deleted my cooking/food blog. I just wasn't keeping up with it. so from now on all my cooking and food posts will be here; and I apologize before hand to people who get bored by cooking posts. I try to keep my food posts interesting, mostly about cooking my own home grown produce, old-fashioned recipes, etc. etc. (I wish there was a way to categorize blogs into separate pages.... without building a whole site from scratch. Oh well.)

I am still keeping my horse blog around, even though I am not posting there at present. The horse department of my life has been really messed up since the death of my horses Major and Cavort in March; and this whole summer of struggling with the health of one of my other horses; living with the fear of him dying at any point - then discovering just how traumatized he was before I got him - it has been stressful and I have not been inspired to write about any of it - yet. So my horse blog followers who also follow along here - I am sorry! I promise, I still do have my horses, but it is complicated at present and I just don't feel like talking about it. Yet. Later. I have found a dressage coach in my area and I am scheduled to begin training with her in September; so I will be posting about my sessions with her. Woot!

Back to my cooking blog: Another reason I deleted the cooking blog is because I am giving serious thought to starting another blog (yeah, I know! Another one?!)dedicated to my Etsy shop happenings, and collecting vintage in general. I am trying to decide if it is worth the time and effort. I have come to the understanding from reading things on the Etsy forums, blog, etc. that "Etsy" blogs should not tend toward the personal stuff.... like this one. Thus my contemplation of a more "business", "professional", how-to, educational kind of blog for connecting to my Etsy shop.

What think you readers?

On the Etsy note: if you follow my shop regularly, you may have noticed I have not been adding new items as much; this is because I am letting most of my Spring/Summer inventory listings expire before I add the large amount of all new Fall and Winter items; which I am super excited about. I have been buying up all kinds of groovy stuff. I just have to get it all back from the cleaner's and get it photographed. And, I am still buying new things all the time, so..... yay!

Time to let the puppy out for a bathroom break. Chow!

Meet Our New Puppy.

 

 

 

When I lost my old dog, Sebastian, last November, I thought I was done with dogs for awhile - I never thought less than a year later, I'd be a dog owner again!
But, things transpired in our lives and we have been blessed - yes, blessed! - with a new best friend.

The above pictured doggie, our 7 week old yellow lab; who we have named........

"Dodge".

We didn't want him to be a "girly dog", so we wanted to give him a good "manly" name; a sturdy, American, tough-dog name. After all, he is going to be a farming, hunting, outdoor-everything companion dog; even though for the moment, he is just a lovable little cream puff.

(My husband and I are unable to have natural children; however, we do plan on trying to adopt a child, or an embryo, at some point when the timing is right. So in the meantime, we satisfy our drive to love children and have a family by obtaining pets.
I shutter to think of what our child will be named, when we have a child, considering our track record on naming our "fur babies": Brutus, Cosette, Phileppe, Sebastian, Splat, Spook, and now - Dodge.)

Our first 24 hours with Dodge went something like this:

"You may not chew on Mommy's antique chair legs, dear. Nor the table. The rug is a no-no also, bud. Now stop that, we don't chew on Mommy's riding boots. These are your toys; you may chew those to bits if you like. Don't bark at Spook. Pee-pee outside. Don't run after Phileppe or he is going to......!.....whack you upside the head, just like that. I'm sorry. What a mean old kitty." Etc. Etc.

But I don't mind. He is such a obedient, compliant, laid back, easy going kid.

I love this cuddly puppy stage.....and I'm going to enjoy it while I can, before he grows into a big, strapping, "manly" man's dog, and returns from romps in the woods with Kevin, covered in pond slime and bird feathers.

Antique Shop Vinatge Hats

Here are some of the hats I bought from the antique shop last weekend. It was so hard to choose, but these were the winners. (I'll probably go back for more later.)

"Snow White Queen"

 

100% real white fur. Buy it HERE.

 

I loved this one, even with the moth damage to the wool felt. The Magenta color is stunning. I had to replace the original feather, however; and put this peacock feather combo on it. I'll be listing this in my Etsy shop soon. It is in an unusual bigger size, also - not the typical tiny size most vintage hats come in.

 

Ivory wool felt Jane Austen "bonnet" style.

 

Brown wool felt and satin. In exquisite condition, like it was never worn.

The sign on my wall says: "I am the most responsible person in this establishment. Whenever anything goes wrong, I'm responsible."

It's Official

 

We took her to the vet on Saturday morning for all of the shots, worming, fleas/earmites, and spay date.

A trip to the vet's = staying for good.

Thank GOD for a husband who loves poor little abandoned kittys as much as I do. He is the one who picked out her name.... "Spook"!

This makes five cats for us.

Welcome to the zoo, Spook.

PS - you can kind of see a scar on her neck in this photo.... her neck is all chewed up. We're not sure if she was bitten by the dogs where I found her, or if it is from scratching so much at the fleas.

A Girl Can Dream, Part 2

I went to the antique shop, and as I thought, not five minutes went by before one of the owners, who was keeping shop, inquired about my Mother.

I guess it is a country, or a Southern thing - ? Whenever I see any of the locals, they greet me this way:

"Haaaaay there! How have you been, honey? How is your Mother?"

Anyway, back to my local Antique store quest: She asked me how my mother was; and how she was doing since my Grandmother's death a few months ago; how was she holding up and all.

I, of course, respond by reporting that my mother is doing wonderfully, and doesn't know what to do with herself these days after caring for my Grandma 24 hrs. a day for so long.

Other pleasantries ensued: How are my horses; it sure has been warm lately; I haven't seen you in here for a while; etc. etc.

Then I descended upon the hats like a swarm of locusts. I looked at about six displayed on a dresser. I looked at two or three more perched on a chair.

Four more were in the back on an old desk. Cute, but not stunning, and very reasonably priced. Then she directed me to a PILE of hatboxes ..... each containing three or four stunning, exquisite hats.

I was reduced to a blob of jelly as each and every hatbox lid I removed revealed more and more beautiful and unique hats within the tissue clouds.

I chose four. Then I chose another. Then I changed my mind. Then I finally decided on three of the best and oldest. Then I changed my mind again and couldn't remember which box held the other one I wanted. So I had to go through them all again.... darn. There were about 40 hats or more to go through. *sigh*


Finally, I chose three - (for the time being -) a white wool Jane Austen Style bonnet for my own collection, and two for my Etsy shop - a stunning purple one with a feather, and a dainty little black straw and velvet number in perfect condition from the late 30's or early 40s, the shop lady informed me. I will have pics soon.

She even gave me a discount, for being local, and for the excellent conversation I offered during my visit. :) (Not really. It's just that I am local, and she knew my Grandma, and all. )

Before departing, I casually inquired about the next door shop..... and wouldn't you know, it has been rented already, by a member of the Town Council. He is doing absolutely nothing with it, but as soon as it was empty, he pounced on it, just to get it before someone else did. This is how small towns operate..... it's just the way it is. So, Jack, another town council member, who serves with me on the Historical Preservation and Beautification Society Board of Directors- and who happened to be in the store while I was there, and who is the brother of one of the owners - suggested I ask the guy about the shop. But, I doubt I would be allowed the front rooms with the windows, as he is rumored to be putting some antique furniture in there to sell, and he'd want that window space for his items. Understandably.

So.... my brick and mortar shop dream is on hold again; which is fine with me; as I really don't have the numbers in my business yet to be thinking about opening a shop shop.

And I think I will go back tomorrow and buy some more hats - because when I showed my husband what I bought, and told what I spent, he said, innocently:

"Is that all?"


Have a wonderful weekend, y'all!

A Girl Can Dream, Right?!

So my ultimate dream ..... my pie in the sky impossible dream..... is to have my own vintage clothing/haberdashery/"farm girl" antiques shop. Not an Etsy shop..... an actual, real life, "Brick and Mortar" shop shop.

I have wanted to do this ever since I started working at an antiques shop as a teenager and collecting things.

But, the expense of running such a shop is outrageous. And all the ladies I know who own and run such shops in my little, quaint historic hometown in NC are wealthy older retired ladies with more money than they know what to do with.

There is the lease, electricity, insurance, taxes, getting a business licence, opening a business account, getting together enough inventory, getting display shelves and cases together, etc. etc.

I figure one of these days I'll be one of those older, retired ladies with more money than I know what do do with (If I play my cards right) and then in that happy carefree day I too will be the owner of a quaint dusty antiques shop. With a shop cat, of course. :)

Here is the thing eating at me today, though.... one of the antiques shops in my little, quaint, historic town in NC packed up and left. Leaving their space empty and dark.

 

It's in this row of Victorian store fronts referred to locally as "The Shoppes Of Milton".
It is the green and cream colored one. Behind the "Open" banner.

 

Next door to the ultra cute Milton Antique Mall.



Anyway, there is the perfect room in the front portion of this now empty building for a shop such as the one in my dream..... not too big; not too small. Perfect.
With wide pine board floors polished smooth from over 100 years of customer traffic.

With tall windows created just for display and window shopping passers-by.

With double front doors with the original Victorian doorhandles. Perfect for attaching a cute shop keeper's bell.

With a door leading into the Antique Mall next door.

Yes.

I am dying to find out if they'd let me do it; and for how much..... the owner is an old friend of my Grandma's, and my Mom's; and has watched me grow up from the time I was a wee girl. I used to feed her cats and fish when she went out of town.

So. It may all come to nothing, but this weekend I plan on going up there to the Milton Antique mall. I plan on buying out her stash of vintage hats my mother warned me about. And I plan on reminiscing about my Grandmother and the good old days; and I plan on very casually inquiring about rent on the front room of the building next door.

And here is how it is going to end:

"Why, yes! What a perfectly lovely idea! Your mother told me you were selling lovely old things on the computer, when I saw her at the Post Office the other day. How interesting. Yes, I believe you may rent that room for..... oh, say $100 per month? Yes! Here is a key. You may move your things in starting tomorrow. No, don't pay me now.... wait till next week. You can use all those old display things in the back. I believe I have some old dress forms in my basement; could you use those? And I have piles of old clothes and hats you may try to sell also, if you like. Can you work some of the rent off by keeping my store once in a while? Oh, wonderful! I can't wait. We are so looking forward to having you here! I will call the paper and send them down to do a story on our new shop keeper. Welcome!"

Yup. Crossing my fingers. But not getting my hopes too high.....

Evening

 

As I was walking in the evening last week (as I often do), I was struck with how much I love this time of day....

My Dad loves the morning. He likes to get up early and have a period of peace and quiet to prepare for the day. He says it is peaceful.........but to me, mornings are busy, hectic, full of energy and buzzing with anticipation of the day head.

The evening, however. For me, the evening is calm. Peaceful. The universe is winding down. Relaxing. Mellowing out.

So at dusk, after a delicious, home made, satisfying meal, I walk. I like to enjoy silence. I like the face that I cannot hear traffic on the highway. Instead, I hear insects and birds; perhaps the great horned owl that lives in our woods will have something to say.

In the summer, I relish the cooling temperature. I pause to take in the sky; sit in the grass and breathe that amazing farm air.

Often I am joined by my kitty cats; and of course my husband and bestest buddy in the whole world. Sometimes we say nothing at all; sometimes we have some casual, low conversation. We don't want to scare the wildlife. Sometimes we see a doe and her fawn. Sometimes we see the wood ducks and their little chicks floating silently on the pond. Once, I watched for a few minutes as a raccoon climbed into a hole in the side of a hollow tree and disappeared. I like to see my flock of hens going into their coop and settling in for the evening.

I love to see my cottage farm house through the woods; with the lamp light in the windows; and the front porch light. It is just so....cozy. Especially in the cold months. The glow of the windows through the woods promises warm wood heat coziness at the end of an evening stroll.

Evening is my favorite time to ride my horses as well.....I love to bathe them after a ride and turn them out and linger for a while, watching them as then meander out to the pasture, nibbling grass along the way, as the sun sets and the insects sing and a satisfying sense of deep fulfillment, peace, and calm fills me and makes me want to sit there forever, watching my horses graze in the dim light.

Sometimes, I don't even walk - we just sit on the porch and take it in; or sit on the patio. Or, I plop right down in a patch of lovely grass and just lay there in it for a while.

If you have never tried it, do. It is great for relieving stress and relaxing after a rotten day of work.

Have a good one....