The Things I Do For Antiques

I was going to spend Saturday painting and working on updating this blog, then got sidetracked when I saw Simply Iowa's post about the What Cheer flea market that I had forgotten about. Plans scrapped, and we were off to the hot, humid, mud filled fairgrounds at What Cheer, slogged through the dirt for hours--we looked like pig farmers by the end of the day. We found the Simply Iowa booth, and she wasn't kidding, I think she had 2 cupboards and 2 statues left by the time we arrived, still looked beautiful though! For the rest of the fair, I had to walk through miles of, well, let's say it, crap, to get to the good stuff. There was one really wonderful primitives dealer that I bought bunches from, she's supposed to be having a sale at her house this summer, can hardly wait for it. Along the way, I managed to dig out a few good odds and ends that I have scrubbed up and ready to auction, so it is back to work. As for my projects, I am once more in the midst of about 50 items that I have half finished and just need some uninterupted time to get to the end product. Hoping they turn out as well as my imagination! I am doing red and whites, got an idea for some green and white and yellow and white that aren't even started. I also broke down and ordered my milk paint by the gallon, quarts are getting used up in no time. I am still recovering from the trip to Clarinda. First, I owe the biggest debt of gratitude to my cousin Janet, my sister Mary and my girls Anna and Grace. When we got to the house, I took one look at the boxes everywhere, the Christmas show displays still all over the place, the dust and the cleaning to do and I just wanted to sit on the floor and cry. Being my mother's daughter, I went and got the mop bucket instead. Everyone pitched in and carried boxes upstairs and helped wash the sheets and make the beds and by the next day at least the downstairs was a home again. I could never have done it on my own. They made me pasta and a cake for my birthday, which was lovely, and helped me host the million family dinner the next night after my aunts funeral. We go back in a few weeks to host our "Japan girls", as they are known, the Tamana Girls Orchestra that will come for the Glenn Miller festival. It is going to make it so much easier to get the guest room ready for them now and be up to re-learning communicating with hand gestures. When Anna and Grace were little, they never believed me that the girls didn't speak much English and chattered away at them nonstop, never a moments shyness. Now that they are older, they worry more about not being understood, but usually end up sharing pictures and teaching each other origami and showing them how we cook. I can look forward to it a bit easier now. Here are some things I'll have out for auction, hopefully tonight.