Newspaper tour

The house from my point of view today...we'll see how it shows up in the paper. It kind of feels like baring my soul to the world...or at least the people of Springfield; people I know and people I don't will see how we live, what I love. Makes my heart skip a little. I have no idea what I said in the "interview," which is even more unsettling to me, being such a word person myself. I know people will just skim the story and look at the pictures, so I suppose that's not a big deal. The spread will run in the Springfield News-Leader on Sunday, 7 March.

Finding inspiration

My friend Barb and I had a really great time shopping in Ozark yesterday. We had lunch at the tearoom, which never disappoints, and then we did Spring Creek and Riverview. We pulled up to Leola's just as they were closing at 5, so we'll have to try that one again soon. I got this chick feeder for $1.50 and the book for $2. The mirror and crocheted runner were a bit more, but not much. I think the little pink drawer will look cute at Easter with some flower spilling over the top, and the two light fixtures can be candleholders or something else.

The small advertising trays (not old but not all that new, I don't think) caught my eye because they are my favorite black and white, but I had to get the one for Kickapoo Indian Salve because the school where I teach, Kickapoo High, home of the Chiefs, is named after the tribe, too.

I don't kno what I'll do with the delicate little wire basket, but the gloves will join another small pair I have upstairs. The planters were a great set, and I can think of a number of places they could live in my house. I'd like to see some ivy in them, but I just do not have luck with houseplants and I don't care for fake greenery anymore like I used to.

The birdcage was cheap, and looks a lot better after I slid the mustard yellow tray out of the bottom and removed the matching plastic food holders on either end.

This silver platter is enormous, and I was charmed by the Missouri State Fair engraving in the middle. I don't know where it will end up yet, either, but it spoke to me.

I had been thinking a little silver teapot lamp would look cute on my kitchen counter so I got this one, but once I put in place in the kitchen, I'm not sure it's the right one. I'll keep moving it around to see if it settles somewhere. The little black train case will go in the guest room.

Barb spotted this silver box and said I had to get it because, as you can barely see, it is engraved with the name and crest of my college sorority, Pi Beta Phi. I found several ironstone pieces at great prices, too.

The glitter, music book and silverware were things I found at STD when I went by to straighten my booth and pick up check last week. I made almost $300 on my dinky little booth this month, which is what gave me license to shop so much with Barb yesterday (as if I really need license, but you know what I mean). I wanted some more tarnished and rusty silver to fill in several of my spooners and to set my kitchen table with for the newspaper shoot, and I was happy to find two big Ziploc bags full of all sorts of mismatched pieces. Just what I was looking for.

It's a rainy afternoon here in Missouri, and I'm puttering around the house tucking these new finds here and there and trying to get inspired...

I have looked several places for the new Flea Market Style magazine but have yet to find it. Maybe it hasn't reached my part of the world yet. But I just know that would give me the inspiration I need.

Doors open

Well, the big news around here is that a writer and a photographer from the Springfield News-Leader will be walking through my doors this coming Wednesday to do a story on our house for the Homes section that runs each Sunday. I am trying to focus on the word flattered right now, rather than the word panic, and I've been walking around my house for days tweaking little things here and there and trying to see all my junk from an outsider's perspective. I only talked to the writer this past Monday, and I was thinking I would have weeks or even months before she got to us, but instead I've got a matter of days. I do wish it was spring, or even Christmas, when things seem more alive and interesting rather than tucked into the winter doldrums, but the writer said they'll focus on the interior and will only be here for about 30 minutes. So I'll do what I can do and that will be enough. One thing I've been meaning to do forever that I marked off my list last weekend was to back the glass on the French doors to my office/craft room with burlap so that if a project or two or three has exploded in there and I want to hide or ignore it, I can shut the doors and none will be the wiser.

The door knobs are faux, cast iron (or is it wrought iron and/or is there a difference?) purchased on half-price from the knobs/pulls aisle at Hobby Lobby and screwed on in a somewhat rickety fashion by yours truly. I tucked a book page snippet behind the faux keyhole just because. They do allow me to pull the doors closed, but they don't go through to the other side, so I could theoretically be trapped in there for days. I can think of worse fates.

I did the same treatment, this time with some scrap leopard print I had around (or is it cheetah?), to the glass doors of a chippy cabinet that I have had for a few years but has only in this house found both a home and a purpose. It hangs above the toilet in the little WC in our master bath and holds all manner of bathroom unmentionables, now veiled in a feline fashion. Both jobs took only a glue gun and very little time, so I don't know why I didn't take care of this sooner. Oh yeah, I had to get out the iron and ironing board. That's why.

So I'm looking at the newspaper visit this way, in part because I could potentially have a maximum meltdown if I didn't and partly because there is so much I love about my house and what's in it as is...I'm thinking I will focus on 3-4 key rooms over the next 3 days, including the kitchen, living room, my book page powder room and maybe the master bath for overall photos, and then I think there are plenty of smaller, interesting vignettes, in those and other rooms, that could make up the rest of the shoot. I don't particularly want my bedroom pictured, or any of the sad and winter-weary outdoor spaces, or even Macauley's room. Especially not the bonus room, which was trashed last night when Macauley hosted his BFF Kalin for a very successful sleepover and--this is so not me and so embarrassing--still has a fully decorated Christmas tree up! That's just the room that's so far away in the house from where I normally plant myself, and so often played in by Macauley and his pals, that I just put my blinders on in regards to it. I've been re-working the guest room, but I still think there are better things to see in my house than it. I've still got a lot of work to do, and my friend Barb and I spent the day shopping in Ozark today getting inspired. We had major shopping karma today and both found many treasures. So...I won't panic. I'll prioritize and present what I've put together without the pressure of the entire place being perfect (couldn't help being alliterative there...long-time English teacher). And it will be okay. Won't it?

Stage debut

Last year he refused one, but this year Macauley took a speaking part in the class program. Thursday evening, in the cafeteria/gym/auditorium, the first graders of Wanda Gray put on "A Night with Eric Carle," a compilation of bug related stories, including "The Hungry Caterpillar" and "The Clumsy Click Beetle," and some buggy songs.

Right on cue, he approached the mic and presented the line we had rehearsed with all sorts of different enunciations over the last week or two: "On Tuesday, he ate through two pears, but he was still hungry."

The kids wore brightly colored shirts and were all way into the motions that went with all the songs. Ryan and I got cracked up at Cole S., who was doing all the pantomiming with such gusto, and little Brandon, who didn't seem to know the words to the songs or be able to keep up with the pace of them but nodded his head for emphasis at the ends of lines nonetheless. The show began around 7 pm and we had to be at the school at a quarter til. Round about 7:20, as the show was in full swing, a kid trudged, in no particular hurry, from the back of the gym, right on up the steps of the stage, up a few levels of the risers, then took his place and joined the song. His hair was a mess and his shirt wasn't brightly colored, but he was there. It just tickled me for some reason. I am often a late arrival myself to things, so I get it. We went to Prima's Mexican Grill afterwards to celebrate Macauley's rousing performance, a place we'd never been to before but that Lindsay really likes. The food was good and our waitress was really, really good at her job and happy to be there (you don't always see that), but around 4 am that food came back to haunt me. I felt sick to my stomach and in a fog at school all day Friday. It might have been something wrong with my enchiladas, or I might have just been too much like the Hungry Caterpillar, who ate through everything in sight and was also left with a terrible stomachache. His cure was two green leaves. Mine was the thought of the weekend...

Curiosity quenched

I read the Curious Sofa blog and have always wanted to see the place for myself. Now that my sister lives in KC, not 10 minutes from the store, I plan to visit often. Ryan took me by last weekend for the first time and I was not disappointed. Such a cute little area and a fabulous shop. I could tell that Deb Dusenberry was in the back in her office with her little dog and I warned Ryan that if she came out I might get brave enough to ask her if I could take a photo with her or of some of the inside of the store for my blog, but I probably would have chickened out.

Last weekend was the store's annual Valentine Art Show, and there were so many lovely things to see, including paper crafts, silouhettes, found object jewelry and handmade scarves, in addition to the store's regular merchandise. I bought this handcrafted bird box and I love all the special details. I'll keep it out in my office all year.

The store had several pretty mercury glass votives and I chose one. I also got this word bird.

These little stockings with the chalkboard cuffs were in the sale section in the back. They will be perfect for my Booker T. and the three cats next Christmas.

The itty bitty birdcage is a gift for friend with a birthday coming up. So tiny and so adorable.

Ryan waited in the checkout line with my purchases while I took a fourth and fifth browse of the shop. I heard a big whoop of laughter from that direction at one point and later Ryan told me that all the women in line were asking him about what he was buying and what he was going to do with it all and he finally said, "I really have no idea. I'm just buying this stuff for my wife." One of the women said, "Oooh! I want one of him!" and the man working at the counter said, "Sorry, we don't sell those here." Everyone laughed. Aren't I lucky to have a boy who will patiently canvas the store with me several times, tell me to buy whatever I want because we're "on vacation" (any time we go out of town anywhere he says that) and then wait in line to pay for my treasures? I really tested him later, though, when we found the 50,000+ square feet Mission Road Antique Mall nearby. What a labyrinth. I powershopped the place out of mercy for my sweet husband with the hopes of going back again soon for a closer look.

Back home, I totally copied off of a display at Curious Sofa and placed my little word bird and votive inside one of my birdcages with some book page strips.

I've read that Debbie is planning a big redo of the store, and while I love, love, loved it just the way it is, I'm excited to go back and see what she changes. Such style. Charm. Reasonable prices. Lots of inspiration. A curious place for sure.