A Trip to 'Stan Hywet Hall' in Akron

Yesterday, Mom and Dad took us out for our birthday. It wasn't actually on our birthday, but the weather yesterday was much nicer. We ended up going to Stan Hywet Hall in Akron. The two of us had been dying to go up there for ages now. We had gone on a field trip with TLC about ten years ago, but that was a long time ago. So, Mom figured that this would be a great surprise. Elizabeth actually didn't figure out where we were going until we pulled in! :)



They let you take self-guided tours now. That was really nice as we could go through at our own pace. Mom and Dad got a year-long pass up there, so we are really hoping to go back soon. It was nice and inspirational for our novel, so Lizzy is going to take her sketchbook next time.

The house was built by the co-founder of Goodyear Tires for his family to use as a Summer home. They began construction in 1912 and finished at the end of 1915. It is a Tudor-Revival style Hall furnished with reproductions of Tudor style furnishings --- most of them made around 1915. The family that built the place was keen on British style, so they paid for an architect, interior designer and gardener to reproduce what they liked in England. They actually bought much of the furnishings and decorations in England and shipped them to Ohio.

One of my favorite things in the house was the carved trim work in one of the front rooms. It was made of a dark wood and carved like forest leaves and berries. Squirrels and birds were all over the trim eating the berries. We couldn't take a picture of it, so that's one of the things that Elizabeth is going to sketch next time. Another of my favorite things was a spot in the library. Mr. Seiberling (the man who built the place) sat in this certain chair by one of the bookshelves to read. All the while he would be smoking a cigar, so he would lay his burning cigar on the edge of the shelf. There was a whole little row of burnt shelf edge. It was kind of cool to see it. Sounds funny actually writing it down, but it kind of made the house more "real".

One of the things that was so cool about the whole Hall was the fact that it was so "lived in". All of the furniture had obviously been well used and loved, so it gave the feeling of real people living there --- not just a showcase house that you can't imagine anybody living in. As far as rooms, the Breakfast room, the Billiard room, the Office and the "Older Boys'" room were my favorites. I just love the dark wood that was so common in Tudor style --- not to mention the leaded glass windows. In the Billiards room there were the most amazing window seats that were probably almost three feet deep. Window seats were actually all throughout the house. They had gorgeous velvet pillows on them that have faded over time. It made them look nice and inviting.

It was quite interesting to tour a house that was lived in from the 1910s through the 1950s. We owned almost all the same "things" that were in there, particularly the framed prints and the kitchen utensils. Quite funny really to see so many things that we take for granted displayed as old "museum" pieces.

The weather turned out to be just perfect, and we walked in the garden for a bit --- and took some pictures. Mom and Dad had found a perfect place to take us to Dinner. It's called Mulligan's Pub and Grill. Very much like a Ruby Tuesday or Applebee's. The big difference was that this place had a vegetarian menu! Wow. It was really fun. We had fried mushrooms and cheese sticks, french fries and loaded veggie burgers. Boy, was it fun.

That's Elizabeth in the photo on the left. Isn't she cute?! I don't know why some of the above photos appear out of focus. They look fine if you click on them to see them full size.

Happy 110th Birthday, Nelson Eddy!

Another year is half gone and it's Nelson Eddy's birthday again! He would have been a hundred and ten years old today.

Well, I'd write more, but we're going off for our birthday celebration today. Okay, so it's not really our birthday, but this is the nicest day of the whole week . . . and it is Nelson Eddy's birthday. Dad's taking a half day off of work and we're going somewhere. Mom and Dad are keeping it a surprise, so we won't know where we're going until we get there. ;) Can't wait! They are even taking us out to dinner some place special. Hey, it's not everyday that we turn twenty-four, right?

Another Needle Felted Doll (Gnome) Finished!

This one's named "Pat and Mike" --- after the old Irish jokes. "Pat" is the squirrel and "Mike" is the gnome! Together, they weigh 1.875 ounces and stand 7-1/4" tall (to the tip of Mike's hat). They took approx. 35 hours to complete. They are made from a mixture of wool that includes Corriedale, Merino and a "Briar Rose" blend. I used .40 and .42 gauge needles on them, and the feather is a real feather --- not a felted one! ;)

It looks like they are going down to the State Fair instead of the Hercule Poirot doll. I'm still not totally decided though, so we'll see. I started "Pat and Mike" about a month ago, so I'm really happy to have finished him by now. I don't think that I'll have the same amount of felting time this Summer as in the Winter. Ah, how sad. The next needle felted doll is going to be a present, so it will be a little while before pictures are up of that one.

'Gnome Sweet Gnome' or . . . 'Gnomehenge'?!

The name is up for grabs, but Mom and I made a "gnome garden" today. We turned the area right out the back door from a weedy mess into a cute spot. This is an area of the yard that we've never really done anything to since we moved here over twelve years ago. Finally, Mom hit on this idea. I really wanted this big, metal garden gnome that was on clearance at JoAnn's, so this is his new home.We worked out there for about four hours with satisfying results!

I've been collecting rocks for a couple years to make a fancy garden, but we hadn't had a chance to use any of them, so this was perfect. I got Pop to help me haul them in from different areas of the yard (some of them were quite buried!), and we set to work. These pictures show the results. All of the bushes were in place. We bought the hostas last month and the astilbe just this evening.



Standing opposite the end of the garden (down by the little "gnome sweet gnome" sign) is a locust tree, so I'm going to clear out all of the grass from around the base and we'll continue the gnome look there. Pictures to follow, of course.

We haven't been up to much besides that. Mom and the two of us picked up a cold last weekend, so we've been fighting that off. These super bugs are pretty miserable. Hoping to feel better in time for our birthday next week. Dad's been getting this Winter's firewood stacked. It's beautiful! I can't believe that in four months we'll be using it. Wow . . . time flies.

Reading 'Gone with the Wind'

The cool spell has arrived! In fact, it's been great since Saturday. We've actually had two nights that made it down into the high forties. That was pretty nice. We had a huge storm on Friday night that had to have a tornado or two in it. There was hail coming down and really, really strong wind. It was worth it though, as this has been great weather since. I just mowed the lawn this morning, and we're planning on working in the garden this afternoon. I got the cutest little sign to hang on the fence. It has a little gnome and mushrooms on it, and it says "Gnome Sweet Gnome". :)

We got a fan mail reply last week! This one was from Joan Leslie, the 1940s actress. We sent some sheet music to her which she signed for us. She also sent us each a large photograph of herself. Pretty cool.

I started reading Gone with the Wind a couple weeks ago. We thought that it would be something good to read to get ideas of writing style, as I am about ready to actually write our story. Though I am not necessarily a fan of the story really, I am certainly enjoying the novel. It's a fascinating look into the mindset of the old South and the consequences of the Civil War. I'll post more as I finish the book. I'm only about a quarter of the way through, but it's very good. We're going to see the film on the big screen this Summer in Columbus, so I'm hoping to be finished with the book by the time we go!

A Nelson Eddy Paperweight. Cool, huh?!

We went out to Kohl's yesterday and I got the coolest thing: a "customizable" paperweight! Of course, there was no doubt in my mind that it should have a picture of Nelson Eddy in it. Logical, right? So, I finally picked out a picture and had Elizabeth print it off for me. Hooray! Here is a picture, though it's not too great a one. It's much cooler in real life!

Very hot weather right now. It feels more like July than the beginning of June. The peonies came out with tons of flowers, but they fried in the sun and got beaten off by rain, so no pictures of them this year. More later.

The Joys of Summer (i.e. A Cold Stone Creamery Milkshake!)

Time marches on . . . and I haven't been blogging. Hmmm. I just realized that I haven't posted anything all month! Oh no. It's been pretty hot this week, and we've been busy bees. Dad's been getting lots of yard work done, and I've been helping him weed. Most of the Spring plants are dying back already, so there aren't many flowers out right now. We had a lot of irises bloom this year --- this is the first time that we've seen some of them.

I finally got some of the upstairs closet cleaned out. Sorted through clothes, and we got rid of a ton of stuff that we don't need. We took Dad out on Sunday to Lunch. We figured to that we'd do our "Father's Day" thing on a weekend when everybody else isn't going to the same places. It was really a banner day, as we decided to get an ice-cream cake to take home. We hadn't bought one in ten years or more, so we remembered that someone had told us about Cold Stone Creamery. So, we went in and picked out the cutest little chocolate cake --- then it happened. Mom convinced me to get a milkshake. A chocolate milkshake. I was a bit skeptical as we getting a cake already. Never mind. Make Mom happy. I'll get one if somebody shares it with me. Take it out to the car and, reluctantly, try it. Joy! Wow! Amazing! Okay, so if somebody wants a drink out of it . . . I guess that I could spare one. Just one. That was the best milkshake ever. Wow! Can't wait to try an Oreo one next time!

"Springtime, Lovetime . . . May"

It's the last day of May. It's also the hottest day of the year yet. It hit 91'F in the shade, which beats out the old record heat on this day of the year. Amazingly enough, and sad enough, it is 88'F inside the house!! Less than three weeks ago we were still burning wood to heat the house, now it's so hot that the refrigerator is not working right. Oh dear.

With thunder storms every few days, and record lows followed by record highs, it's not a good year for flowers. Here are some pictures taken over the last few days. Dad spent yesterday weeding, and I was mowing, so things are beginning to look nice. Most of the flowers are fried today, though.






We haven't planted very many new flowers this year, but we were able to get a few more things --- including two shades of "Sweet Williams" (see the fifth picture above). Elizabeth and I thought that it was a great coincidence, as we got them the day after the Royal Wedding, so they were quite appropriate. Next year, in honor of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, we are planning on buying two "Queen Elizabeth" rose bushes. Cool, huh?!

We're trying to come up with things that don't take a lot of baking/cooking (to keep the heat down) and getting it done in the early morning. This afternoon we went up and watched Maytime. Fitting for this month, right? I love Nelson Eddy. Oh, did I tell you that I love Nelson Eddy? Well, I love Nelson Eddy. :)



It has now taken me so long to upload all of these pictures that Dad is home, and it's about time to eat Dinner. Dad's got the fridge and freezer pulled out from the wall, trying to clean them off and check the gaskets. Of course, leveling them off again is a the tough part. That gave me a chance to wash the decorations that were on top of the two units. There are some old lamps and cookie jars up there, so they had their winter "dust coats" on. They are sparkling now!

I've been working on felting a little gnome. More on the cartoon side like some of the first ones. This is another present, and he's not based on any picture --- just right out of my head. Elizabeth wants me to work on "Hastings" next. We'll see. It's between that or Flavia and Rudolph, so . . .

Back from the 2011 Wooster Fiber Show

Yesterday was the start of the Wooster Fiber Show, Mom and the two of us spent a few hours going through all the buildings there. It's held at the Wooster Fair Grounds and fills four or five buildings. I didn't need a ton of wool this time, but we still managed to do pretty well --- including a bag of stuff for Dad's fly-tying!

I didn't need natural colors (black, gray, brown or white), so we were on a "color" hunt. We were pretty shock that the prices had doubled in the last year and a half. They've gone from $1.50/$2.00 an ounce to $3.50/$4.00 an ounce. Not to mention that most of the vendors were only selling roving by the half or whole pound. If you found 4oz. balls, it was pretty good. That is not a great situation, as a felter, considering that one doll takes one to two ounces all together. Felting (other than the "quick and easy" applique-type stuff) seems to be a bit out.

My favorite ball of roving is a blend of 80% pink-colored wool and 20% white-colored silk. It's unreal looking and will make a perfect dress for a Princess Flavia. Eventually, I'll get to Flavia and Rudolph . . .

The most useful thing that I picked up was the 14oz. of skin-tone --- already dyed! Up to now, I've been carding two different tones together to make the skin, but that is a bit hard as there are still the two different colors of fiber. They tend to show up a little bit as you're felting them, so I have to be really careful to make sure that one or the other does not dominate the face. This stuff looks really similar, so it should work out. If I have to, I can always card a little something in there to change the shade.

One booth was run by a farm down in Indiana that raises "Cotswold" sheep. I'd never heard of them, but it was really interesting. Wow! They are a breed that comes from the 1st Century sheep that the Romans brought into England. Basically, no hybridizing has been done to them, so they are still remarkably similar to their long-ago ancestors. They are huge and have a staple length that can reach 12"! I got a bunch of colors to try out from there, so I'll post more about them later.

The Poppies are in Bloom Again

It's that time of year again! All of the plants are really doing well, and they are very happy for all of the rain that we've been getting. A few poppies opened up yesterday, but it seems that they doubled this morning. There are still a bunch to come, though, so I think we'll be enjoying them all week. Here are some other pictures from around the backyard. That is the hops plant that is growing up the clothesline pole. It's more than tripled in size since last year, so I actually think that we'll have to split it soon. We've had sunshine for five days in a row this week, so Mom and I have really been working on hanging laundry out on the lines. Isn't it beautiful when they are so full?!



Dad's been gone on his fishing trip since Thursday. We heard from him once, but he's due home later today some time. We girls have been busy having fun while he's been off on vacation. We spent Thursday down in Columbus. Mom had a follow-up appointment down there, and we met Aunt Darlene for breakfast. Believe it or not, we hadn't seen her in seven years! She brought pictures of her grandchildren --- they are some of the most beautiful children ever. We also went to some stores (they have Whole Foods down there!) and out for pizza, so we didn't get home until nine.

On Friday, we went out garage sale-ing and then down to see Buddy and Kay. We were only going to stay an "hour or two". Well, guess what?! We stayed seven hours. That meant that we didn't even leave their house until nine, so it was another late night. Fun though. I love visiting with them.


We went to a couple more garage sales yesterday, and I was able to mow the lawn. It's been up in the eighties and sunny, so I even got some sunburn. Hmm. We're all a bit tired today, so it's been an easy afternoon. Our DVDs of the Jeanette MacDonald and Nelson Eddy films, Naughty Marietta and Sweethearts, arrived earlier this week, and Lizzy and I are dying to see them. It's the first time that any of their movies have been fixed up and released on disc.

We were also thrilled that our "Royal Wedding" postage stamps (in the form of a presentation pack) came in the mail. They're really cool. We were also able to get some photo-filled magazines with all of the pictures from the wedding day. Hooray! Here's hoping that the DVD and the music album arrive in the near future.

Having Fun Arranging My Collection

We've finally had warm weather here. In fact, it's been in the eighties (in the shade) for the last four days. I've had to mow the lawn three times in the last week, and the red maple in the front yard is completely leafed out. Mom said that she saw the first poppy open this morning, but it's raining now, so I didn't see it.

We took Dad out to breakfast at Panera this morning. After that we went to a couple antique stores. I managed to find five new French figurines for my collection, so I've spent the evening rearranging them. They are in the hutch where I keep my violin. It's on the bottom shelf and they are on the top two shelves. There are a few King George VI things in the middle there. The breakable things that wouldn't survive in the suitcase with the rest. I'm expecting a KGVI vase in the mail this week. It will match the little mug that's in there.

This evening we made a fondue for dinner and then froze some butternut squash. Boy, was it beautiful?! Dad is leaving for his fishing trip soon, so he's getting his gear packed up and all that. We'll have that time to do "girlie" things. Nothing else much to say, so I'll end for now.

What's been going on at our house?

After eight months of burning wood to heat the house, and having to spend most of that time in the "Winter mode", I was finally able to mow the lawn this Thursday. The grass was actually twelve inches high in some spots towards the back of the yard. With this tall (and very wet) grass I was amazed that the mower only "konked out"once on me. This new Snapper is great --- and a super work horse. Here is a picture of for you all to admire! :)



A lot has been happening around here lately. Last week, Dad brought a friend of his home from work and they cut down a Maple tree from our backyard. It had been sick for a year or two, so we'll be using it for firewood next Winter. Dad's already got it cut, stacked and drying out for splitting.

Poor little Oliver. He did something to his paw on Saturday night. We thought that maybe he had broken it, as he couldn't walk yesterday and it was really hurting him. Today, though, he looks like he is doing much better and is only limping a little. He must have just smashed his paw somehow. Elizabeth took this picture of him yesterday, so you can see how irresistible he is!

We spent Thursday, Friday and Saturday out garage sale-ing. It was Fredericktown's community sale weekend, so we found bunches of places having them. Though, there weren't as many as there used to be. It's almost like garage sales are going out of style around here. We found some great things, including the coolest 1950s table lamp for my end table upstairs. My favorite "thing" that we found is this mid-1920s chocolate box (it's a tin with hinged lid) for Whitman's Salmagundi. There is a painting of an art deco woman on the top and this whole mosaic looking design. It was still filled with mending and darning supplies that look like they are from the '30s and '40s. Cool!

Being that yesterday was Mother's Day, Elizabeth and I made a cake for Mom. This was a spice cake with cream cheese frosting, and we decided to "spice" it up! Elizabeth did the writing and all the little hearts. Isn't she good?! We've already got plans for the Father's Day cake. It's going to have a trout stream (with trout, of course). That'll appeal to Pop more than hearts!

Happy Birthday, Der Bingle!

Bing Crosby. The best singer. Ever.

His birthday seems to be clouded in just a bit of mystery. Was he born on May 2 or May 3? Was he born in 1903 or 1904? After looking into it a bit, I figured that May 3, 1903 looks to be the most likely birthday. So, this is just a quick entry to say, "Happy Birthday, Mr. Crosby"!

Nobody ever sounded like him and nobody ever will. He's such an amazing singer with a fabulous gift. Those velvet tones. Ahh. He could sing every kind of song and make them all sound wonderful. One of my favorite Bing films is Blue Skies from 1946. The plot is a bit slow, and the story isn't that great, but the songs are the best. It was made as a follow-up to Holiday Inn, so it's another Irving Berlin songfest! My other favorite is Going My Way, where Bing's smooth tones are shown off at their best. Well, every time that he sang he was "at his best"!

A Needle-Felted 'Pierrot' of the Commedia dell'arte

It's happened! I finally finished the wool needle-felted doll of Pierrot. This means that the first pair of the Commedia dell'Arte figures is complete. It's taken me a while to finish him, as I haven't had as much "free time" to work on him. It seems like there have been lots of evenings where I am just too tired to felt.



Pierrot is 9-1/4 inches tall (including his hat), which makes him the tallest figure to date. He weighs 1.75 ounces. That actually surprised me, as he feels lighter than that. I think that it's because he is so tall and thin that the weight is distributed differently than, say, the Poirot doll. Pierrot took about 35 hours to complete. It looked for awhile like he was going to take forty or more hours, but his head ended up going together in six hours!

He is made of 100% Merino Wool roving felted with a #40 and a #42 felting needle. I'll certainly be glad to get to a doll with some more color! All of this white was starting to get to me. The next doll, that I'm hoping to start this week, is going to be "Columbine".

If you'd like to see some more photos of Pierrot, just CLICK HERE.

Watching the Royal Wedding

We're supposed to be heading up to run errands in town. But . . . we've been sitting here watching the "rebroadcast" of the Royal Wedding! Mom and I made it down in time to see the "balcony bit" and after, so we stayed to watch the re-run of the ceremony and all.

What a beautiful ceremony, and it's so cool to see such a Christian witness in the service. There are probably thousands of people watching this who would never go to a church service. In fact, the actual marriage ceremony, which must be the traditional Church of England form, is something that we've been trying to find for years. Part of it is used in the end of the 1995 Pride & Prejudice mini-series, but we've never found it any place else. Turns out that they are issuing a CD of all the music from the wedding. It also comes with a book containing all the words for the ceremony and vows, etc. We've already preordered that and a DVD of the wedding. Can't wait!

We were watching the wedding on YouTube, but the streaming was pretty slow (since probab;y a million others were doing the same), so we saw it in a very choppy form. Every twelve frames or so. Not to mention that it was blurry part of the time. It was so cool. Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip are so beautiful. They look like the perfect monarchs. Wow! Prince Charles cuts a good picture of a prince, too!

Well, we've really got to go for now. More later.

An Easter Weekend Full of Fun

Believe it or not, we haven't taken a single picture all weekend. That's not to say that we haven't had a wonderful time, though. It was just so much fun that we forgot the camera the whole time.

We've been "on the go" since Thursday. That was the first day in ages that was all sunshine, so we drove out to Wooster to a fiber mill. I've gotten wool from them at a fiber show last year, and was out of a bunch of colors. I got some beautiful things --- including a bunch of variegated rovings. One of them is going to make a great brown tweed-looking suit for a little Capt. Hastings doll.

It rained all day Friday, but we had to go to Mansfield anyway. Dad had the day off of work, so we took him out to dinner at Pizza Hut and did a few groceries. The next day was spent in the kitchen. We were cooking and baking all kinds of things for the next day, so we were pretty tired that night!

There was an Easter breakfast at church on Sunday, followed by the service. As soon as that was over we were off to Mansfield to visit with the Keultjeses! The girls were up for the day, so it was just like Christmas. :) We spent the afternoon working on a scavenger hunt --- even though it was a bit rainy. That was quite a site: us girls out in our good clothes trying to find acorns, a bird's nest and digging up earth worms! Oh boy. We weren't home until ten o'clock.

Buddy and Kay called on Monday morning with the idea of going down to Colmubus together. Buddy's violin needs a few repairs, so we all drove down in their car and took it to The Loft. I just love that place. I could live there for a week or two --- just to learn all the stuff about violins. Wow. We also went to lunch together before heading home. On the way back, we decided to stop off at their house for a bit. Elizabeth was going to help Kay connect some speakers to their 8-track recorder, so we figured an hour or two of fun. In the end, we were there until after 9:00pm.! Mom and Kay were working on genealogy, so Buddy and the two of us played music and sang together until we were all about asleep on our feet. It was so much fun!

This morning we went out to a ladies' meeting for our church. We're all a bit tired from all this fun, so I think that the rest of the day will be spent taking it easy. :)

First Flowers of the Year

Here they are: the first flower pictures of the year! I took these on Friday but have only just now gotten around to uploading them. Nothing looks much different though, as we've had cold and rain ever since. Summer: how much do I love thee? Let me count the ways!



All of the little plants are really popping up. It looks like the Irises have doubled (and in some cases tripled) in size. The hops did the same! I can't wait to see it come up some more, though. It's been great studying it for our novel. Hops is a cool plant, and I'm hoping that we'll get more flowers this year.

Can't wait for Easter to get here. Church is having a breakfast before service, so we're planning on going to that. After service we're going to Lunch at the Keultjes' house! Hooray! I love going there, and we haven't seen them since Christmas.

We didn't make it down to get wool on Sunday, so maybe this week or next. That should be fun. It's amazing to go into a little building that stacked to the ceiling in all kinds and colors of wool!

Happy 5th Birthday, Sweet Little Kitties!

Seems like Spring is here. That means that in a little more than a month it will begin to feel like Summer. Today has been just beautiful, and it's very special. Today is the fifth birthday of the "kittens"! That's Manly, Max, Avis and Iveta. It's hard to believe that only five years ago they were little, tiny mouse-sized baby-kins. Awww. They're sweeties.

This is a picture of them when they were about two weeks old. Seven babies were born, but little Nicki was still-born. She's buried out in the kitty cemetery behind the shed. Cadfael lived to exactly five months and his baby-heart gave out. He was a beautiful, milky grey color with stripes just like Manly. He was also a little lover boy --- and so sweet. Aline lived for three and a half years and was also a little sweetie. The other four are super healthy and have their daily routine of eating, sleeping and playing! They've gotten a bit lazy with age, though. They like to lounge around and watch birds out the window and other easy pleasures.

Something else really cool happened today, too! After receiving the special picture from David Suchet (the one that was made for the doll's box) in time for Christmas, and since he had to actually mail it off personally while he was not working right around Christmas, we sent him a "thank you" note. It also included pictures of the doll and box, since we'd told him all about it. Today he sent the nicest little card saying that he had gotten the photos and that he thought the doll was nice. How neat. That was really nice of him to send a response. That's something for my felting scrapbook!

I have taken a bunch of pictures of the yard and the few flowers that are starting to come out. As soon as I have time to upload them, then they'll be on here. Yesterday was gorgeous and sunny, so I washed blankets and sheets and was actually able to hang them out to dry! I also took advantage and cleaned the ceiling fans from all of the accumulated Winter dust. It's amazing how dirty they can get. Now they are all sparkling. :)

On Sunday afternoon we are driving down to buy some more wool (for felting). There is a lady about forty-five minutes South of us who is a big dealer at fiber shows. She's got fantastic colors available, and she's the only one with the skin-tone that I use for the dolls. I'll post pictures of that later!

News Flash: Fort Sumter Fired Upon & First Man in Space

Today is a pretty amazing day historically. Fort Sumter was fired on exactly 150 years ago today which began the American Civil War. Then, just fifty years ago today, Yuri Gagarin was the first man to go up into outer space! All on the same day, wow! Okay, so it was 100 years apart.

Nothing so news-worthy here though. Mom and Elizabeth had appointments at the chiropractor, so we ran up there in the afternoon. It turned out that the waiting room was filled with people we know, so I just sat out and socialized. Quite fun, too! We talked about wool and fiber, babies, the state of the church in Europe, canning pickles and warmer weather!

We did stop to eat at Chipotle before coming home. We hadn't been there in ages. Tomorrow marks the beginning of the first rummage sale of the year, so we're off to that early in the morning. Not to mention that I just ran us out of laundry soap! That's awful, I mean, it's a terrible feeling when you can't do anymore laundry. Off to the store we go!

Very Beanie Find at the First Estate Sale of the Year!

It happened! The first estate sale of the year! We went up to Panera this morning and stopped at the sale on the way. We got a couple of really cool finds (including a 1950s crib for $15.00 --- and it has the little lamby decals in tact), and it was just such a nice feeling to go "garage sale-ing". What really thrilled the two of us was the stack of "Beanie Babies" that we picked up. They were only twenty-five cents each! How can you resist that?! Elizabeth and I are just helpless when it comes to refusing a Beanie. I mean, can you ever have enough?

All of these Beanies are from 1993 to 1998, which is our favorite "era". Those are all the ones that we remember being in the store when we were buying them originally. We even got a shark (which is actually one that we don't have!) and a leopard! Hooray. Five of the Beanies are the mini ones, so they're not in the picture, but this puts our Beanie collection way over 100. In fact, we're going to go count them when we go upstairs this evening. ;)

Elizabeth also got a bunch traveling pennants from the 1960s. They're all from Germanic countries. She's been wanting some for ages to put on the bulletin board in our room. All in all, this was a fun sale! There's a big rummage sale opening on Wednesday --- guess where we're going?!