STILL AT IT!

Tomorrow, I start my 6th week working on this gigantic estate sale with my friend and her husband, who is the administrator of this estate with no heirs. Since there is no family and before the estate can be disbursed to the designated charities, the state mandates that every thing be sold at the optimum price. Yesterday, there were seven of us working at organizing and pricing the things that had found their way to the garage and the family room. The whole process has been tedious work, as every piece of paper, etc. must be gone through. For instance, we have discovered valuable jewelry among tools and junk in the outside shed.

We have found such diverse items as an invitation to a White House garden party given by Mrs. Roosevelt to souvenirs from 32 countries to 7 irons (all in working order!)

There are lots of treasured items from several generations, jewelry, old pictures and postcards.

For sale are ethnic clothing items from her travels and lots of vintage clothing with pictures of her wearing the dresses, etc. including her 1942 satin, beaded wedding dress.

There is a whole room of lovely linens with about 30 sets of embroidered and lace pillow cases. We found some nice quilts in the shed outside, plus there are antique baby clothes.

And, of course, there are dishes and silver. A few pieces have found their way to my house. More on that in a later post!

It has been a real learning experience for all of us working on this project. We come home at night thinking about our own stuff; and what a burden it can be when disbursement of belongings is left for family or, in this case, friends.


I had an aunt, who in her later years, was always working on getting things in "dying order". She was a wise and considerate woman!

JUST CHECKING IN

I'm still busy working six days a week getting ready for the humungous estate sale. And when you are over 70, working like that is much harder than when you are 20!! But, this type of work sure has its benefits when you are an antiquer (junker) like me. The workers have first crack at the goodies. The only rule is that someone else must do the pricing of the item you have your eye on. I've brought home quite a few wonderful things so far. Here are a couple of them.

The plate is Bavarian, the colors are luscious, and the bird is a delight - and only $3.00. Again for $3.00, this tiny (2 1/4") transferware pitcher is marked 'Rural England'.

I have lots more to show you on future posts. Stay tuned.

In the meantime, our garden did not get the message that I'm busy. Must do something about all of these tomatoes soon.

Enjoy a new week!

I'm linking up with the following parties:

Rhoda at Southern Hospitality
for Thrifty Treasures

and

Linda at Coastal Charm
for Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays

Check out these blogs for a plethora of thrifty finds.

MET MONDAY

Do you remember this chair? Probably not, as I introduced it in my second post two years ago. If you are interested, you may check out that post by clicking here.

I've been waiting and waiting until the time was right to have it reupholstered to rid it of it's ugly green vinyl. We have done some reupholstering in the past; but with its great channel back and sides, I figured it was beyond our capabilities and deserved a professional job.

I took several pictures under different circumstances and still couldn't capture the true color. It really is a wonderful, red tweed fabric. I'm in love all over again with this chair!

I'm joining Susan at Between Naps on the Porch
for Met Monday

and

Marian at Miss Mustard Seed
for Furniture Feature Friday.

Be sure to check these parties out for lots of inspiration.

My posts and visiting have been sporadic, at best, recently. I've been involved in an interesting project for the last three weeks. A friend of mine is the administrator of an estate with no heirs; therefore, everything must be sold. The deceased was a traveler and literally shopped the world, plus was the caretaker of lots of old family belongings. I was asked to help with the organization, pricing, etc. for the estate sale. My computer time has been spent doing research on different items and prices, plus I've been spending full time working at the site. We have about three more weeks of work before the sale can be held. Hopefully, I'll have a lot to blog about when my time is free again. I'll try to pop in once in awhile until then.

Enjoy the remainder of the summer.

KITCHEN ISLAND

The theme this week at Funky Junk Interior's
Saturday Nite Special is Kitchen Islands. I'm joining Donna and other kitchen island enthusiasts with pictures of our island. Be sure to go by Donna's to check the others out.

Our island happens to be an old meat block from a grocery store. Bob grew up working and cutting meat in his Dad's grocery store; so when we had an opportunity to buy a meat block, we jumped on it. This particular block came from the country store that was close to my family farm. They sold it to us for $50 when they went out of business in 1969.

The block part measures 24" x 30" x 13" high. It is made of solid maple. It was assembled with 1 1/2" strips of the maple, and is held together with bolts and pins that run through the entire block. Then it has these wonderful maple curved legs.

This island is so much a part of our daily lives, and our kids remember it as always residing in our kitchen. One of our criteria in buying a house has always been, "Is there a place for the meat block?"

It is lower than regular kitchen counters, so it is perfect for us 'shorties' to roll pie crust or knead bread. I'm always amused when there is a group in the kitchen, you will always find Bob and I and our two kids crowded around and jockeying for position around the meat block to make our lunch sandwiches. The grandkids and others are always relegated to the regular kitchen counters.

A SIDE NOTE OF NOSTALGIA:
When we first acquired the meat block, our first born was still sleeping in a crib. His crib had these sturdy casters on it; and he soon learned that if he jumped up and down in the crib, he could move it across the hardwood floor all around his room. After a couple of near-miss accidents, he, at the age of one, lost the privilege of wheels. We took the wheels off of the crib and put them on the meat block to give this 300 pound hunk of wood more mobility. Even today after 41 years, I always think of my bouncing baby boy when I'm able to move the meat block to clean under it!

By the way, he is a very good driver today; but at the age of one - not so good.