Fun with Postcards

Christmasing Up the Place

My workshop is putting in overtime...if we just get that freaking back porch painted in Clarinda, I could do this full time.  If wishes were horses, my mother would say, all beggars might ride.

A Bad Juju Day

I am so tired from the constant trips to Clarinda to paint and I have to go back again--aagh!  I decided to take a mental health morning and go to Kalona to have some fun.  It didn't work out so good.  First, I stopped at my antique mall, where I have basically not sold anything for about 6 months, and will have to face the fact that I am going to have to give up that venue.

Well, I thought, a stop at Sister's Garden always cheers me up.  They were closed--they are never closed on a weekday like this!  Oh, well again--I will drive to Kalona, after all, the chocolate factory is the best pick me up one could want--and they are closed due to smoke damage, which also got the bakery next door--not even a donut for happiness.

I got home to find the dog had been sick on the carpet--always the carpet, never an easily cleanable floor.  I then realized I had forgotten the one thing I had to do today, stop at the hospital to drop off a bill for my husband.  Back in the car and more time wasted.  So, I cancelled all my projects that had been my plan for the day and took photos for listing instead.  Here are a few of my offerings coming soon to eBay.

Clothespegs

Special order sugar bucket

The bucket is finished, here are the photos:

If you could send your email address to me at j.schlichtmann@mchsi.com (the link is on the right sidebar), I can get an invoice off to you.  I would ship on Monday. Thank you!

A Day in Bishop Hill

We went out to get groceries Saturday and did what we often do, which is ditch the errands and head out on the open highway.  Bishop Hill on a sunny day sounds wonderful, so off we went even though I didn't have a map with me.  Mistake.  I tried to write down the directions from my daughters phone (yes, I am as antique as my merchandise, I do not have a smart phone and rely on my kids at times like these)--now I must explain that she does have a smart phone, but with limited data, so I couldn't just keep the screen up.  Directions to Bishop Hill go something like this:  turn right, go 3 ft, turn left, back track, go 3 miles turn right, go 6 miles, turn left, spin around, close your eyes, make one thousand more turns and just know you are lost.  I stopped at a gas station to ask for help and this actually happened.  The young clerk said she grew up in Bishop Hill but couldn't remember how to get there.  Fortunately, an older woman overheard and told us to just get back on the highway and keep going until we saw the sign pointing us to Bishop Hill.  I'll be damned if it didn't work.

By that time, it was 3:30 in the afternoon, and I know Sweet Annie's usually closes at 4.  We hadn't had lunch, and it was getting ugly.  Finally we found the town and SURPRISE!  Antique show!  It was about over, but the dealers were happy to stay and let us shop, wonderful prims helped my mood immensely.

I do adore Bishop Hill, but there is not a thing to eat once the bakery closes, and we were still hangry.  We decided to stop at a casino to eat, thinking the fancy steak restaurant would be just the thing.  Of course, they told us it would be a one hour wait, and we ended up having BLT's in the cafe.  James won $10 from a slot machine, and that was that.  

In the Cupboard

I've had two little stepback cupboards tucked away in the attic awaiting a place to display them.  I got them out and had fun using them as photo props--everything looks better in blue.