My Green Cupboard for Valentine's Day!



I'm back...I think. lol
I've missed you all! Is this winter a killer, or what? Here in MN we're so used to freezing temps and lots of snow that you would think it wouldn't be a big deal. But this is for sure the worst winter I've been through! Day after day of sub zero temps, and then the weather guy will say "Get ready, the coldest temps are yet to come!" What??? I think that this Spring will be the absolute best! It can't come soon enough!

Anyway, I finally got my Valentines decorations up.

I had vowed to never own any other type of holiday tree. Well, I finally caved. I was no match for the 50% off ($4.00) pink tinsel tree from Target after Christmas. So I now have a Valentines tree. I draped it with vintage mercury glass beads and little things that some of you have sent me!

Kim K. and I did a little putz house swap this year. Here is the house she made me! Can you believe how cute it is?  She's so talented!

This big canvas wall hanging was at JoAnne's a couple years ago for 75% off. The puppy valentine up in the corner came just yesterday from Linda Lou! 

In the front are a couple 3-D Valentines from Germany. And behind them are the adorable candy boxes that I received from Dorothy, and Marlynne. Oh, and my vintage book of cut-out Valentines that I found at an estate sale for $1.00 last summer!

This is one of my favorite vintage x-mas ornaments. It's German.

Deb sent me this wienee valentine the other day! And in the background is the candy box that Maddie made for me last year. I found the Beswick dachshund figure at the flea market a couple years ago. The frame is from Target. I know I have a couple more wiener dog valentines that blog pals have sent me. I need to get them up there too.

Chris M. made that darling hula girl shadow box for me last year.

I'm so glad I took the time to finally put some decorations up. It cheered me up and reminded me how lucky I am to have such sweet friends out there. 

XOXO- Erica 

Time To Get Things Done!

 

Hi Dear Friends!

First, I wanted to thank you all for the sweet Birthday Wishes! You said so many nice things, and Angie appreciated it too!

Well I just wanted to check in, and let you know that I'm going to take a short break from blogging.

I just need some time to get things in order. I still have a few Christmas displays to take down, and then it's time for the vintage valentines to come out! I was bummed that I didn't have the energy to host my Putz House Swap in 2013, and I'm sorry to say that I won't be able to host a candy box swap either. But luckily SANDY has that taken care of! Visit her soon to join up!

 

You may have noticed that I also have a "mess" up at the top of my blog! It's driving me nuts! I know there's an error in the html codes, but I can't figure it out. Neither can Google Help Forum. Did any of you (that applied the Minima 3 Column Template yourself), have a problem a couple months ago when Google suddenly stopped supporting that template?

Angie and I are also doing a major overhaul on our diet. Well...she's already been eating healthfully for the past 6 months or so. She stopped eating fat and sugar, and you wouldn't believe how fast she dropped 50 pounds! She's always been the "strong willed" twin. Me? Not so much.

So, now we've packed our fridge with fruits and veggies, and all that healthy stuff. I'm also starting physical therapy for my R.A. and gentle yoga. I've got to catch up to Angie, because right now we don't really look like twins!

 

So that's that my friends! I hope you're having a great New Year!

I'll see you in a couple weeks, if not sooner.

Erica :)

(thank you Meri for the sweet images)



Is That Me, Or Am I You?

My parents didn't know they were having twins until a week before we were born. Can you imagine that nowadays? They had (one set) of baby things ready to go because, sadly, my Mom had given birth to a still-born full term baby boy the previous year. Such a heartbreaking experience for them. Little did they know that the following year they would be bringing home two babies!

Angie and I are best friends. It always seems so odd to us when people ask if we get jealous, or are competitive with each other. Apparently there are identical twins that have that sort of relationship, but that's not us at all! If anything, we are too concerned with how the other one is doing!

I was born 4 minutes after she was. And she's acted like my "older" sister ever since. lol

And we are very different. For example, she doesn't like anything vintage! I know!!! She's not into vintage stuff at all! Her "thing" is makeup! She has drawers of it! And not the cheap stuff either. Me? I have like two lip sticks, and she gave them to me! lol

She also loves clothes and expensive purses, and getting her nails done. I can't remember the last piece of clothing I bought myself. But I know that my purse came from a garage sale. I paid $10 for it about 5 years ago!

Today we turn 36 years old. Yay! We aren't too thrilled about that number. And we never would have imagined that we would be living together again at this age! But we love our little place, and our dogs. We're also so grateful to now have 2 nieces and a nephew to love!

And who knows what the future holds for each of us?

ok...I won't lie. We hope it holds two, semi attractive, smart, and kind, MEN!

Happy Birthday To My Very Best Friend!

Thank you for always being with me, since day one.

Love you, Angie! 

Erica

Me on left, Angie on right...choking on our own necks. haha



Vintage Christmas Finds

 Try as might, I just couldn't keep from buying a couple things for my collection this season. But I do have to say, that overall I have been great about staying out of the thrifts and antique stores this Holiday Season. The other night though I just had to get out of the house. So...this little gang of elves became mine!

 

 And this fireplace is really fun. It's about the size of a large Putz House. It plugs in and has a little red light in the chimney. I'm very tempted to give it a little make-over though.

 

 The dealer that gave me 50% off a couple weeks ago was at Annie's again! This time she said 75% off! She said "I want it all GONE"! I didn't feel too bad because I know these things had been there for a long time.

 

 Fifty cent ornaments.

 

 I scared the heck out of my sister by placing this Santa on her bed! Haaa! She of course thinks he's the creepiest thing ever. But he was in a 50% off booth! So I don't care what she thinks. lol

The deer were in that same booth. And the putz house was $1.00 because the chimney is coming off. Don't care about that either.

 

This was my favorite find. It's just part of a box! The bottom wasn't included so it was marked $2.00!

Do I care if it has a bottom?? Nope! It will be so great in my Santa display!

 

And last but not least, this is Tammy, Harriette, Me, and Deb! The girls came over last week to do some crafting and eating...and laughing! We had so much fun!

Harriette did a post about it today, so I'm just going to link to hers. I've got more baking, shopping, and wrapping to do! Better get going.

 

Happy Holidays to all of you, my friends!

Erica :)

 



My Vintage Goose Feather Tree!

It was especially fun decorating this old feather tree because this is it's first Christmas with me! You might recall that I found it in the basement of an estate sale last summer, and I think I paid like $10 for it. It came in it's original Montgomery Wards box too!

 As I was pulling out my decorations I realized that I didn't have any ornaments that were traditionally used on this type of tree. Like the Victorian scrap kind and the ones with old tinsel and glass, etc. I'm going to have to make myself some.

 

 So I chose my smallest and oldest ornaments. I didn't use any regular sized Shiny Brites. I didn't think that the Mod/Retro look of the Shiny Brites would go well with the old feathers.

 

I don't think I'll put the tree in this spot next year. I don't like it in front of the big mirror!

 

 I found this Harold Gale Santa a few weeks ago at Annie's. He was marked 50% off so I got him for $12.50! A very good price! Click the link to learn a little about them. There are lots on EBay and Etsy too!

 

Little boxes of ornaments and a Lefton reindeer candy dish.

 

This huge sign is perched up on top of the mirror (above the tree), so the red happened to work well!

 

So that's that! I love this tree so much. I feel really lucky to have found it. :)

 

In other news:

 

 Wellie and I would like to give a little warning to all of our bloggy friends and their doggies!

We were looking for an alternative to rawhide so we tried RAW BONES. These come in several forms but are (usually) uncooked, and found in a freezer in your specialty pet food shop. We bought frozen beef knuckles. Wellie and Ernie LOVED them!

 

 But the next morning (after chewing on her bone), this is what Wellie looked like!!! The whole side of her face totally swollen. Her Mama about had a heart attack!

 

On Tuesday Wellie had to have a major tooth on each side of her upper jaw removed! Two teeth!

They had both cracked way down to the pulp. She looked like the saddest most pathetic little thing after her surgery! And of course you can about imagine how guilty I feel.

Oh, the cost??? $631.50

So, beware my friends! No raw (or really hard) bones for your pups!!!

 

Happy Holidays!

Erica :)