If it walks like a duck........ A tale of a Junking Intervention

There is an old expression that I would share with my corporate clients back in the day at the law firm. In trying to explain how to act like a corporation for legal/tax protection purposes, that in all manners of their business, they had to conduct themselves in a certain way. In other words " If it walks like a duck, talks like a duck, it is a duck." The other day, I was reminded of this phrase when I was trying to tell my friend that I did not have a problem. That I wasn't a hoarder, perhaps a packrat but there is a difference. I also was arguing that I could go into a Michael's store and spend less than $20 dollars .......... if I wanted to ..... I could, I'm sure. And last but not least, I could drive by a roadside pile of interesting looking junk marked free, without stopping (of course only if I was just the passenger and had no control over the vehicle, but that counts, right?) She just looked at me, shook her head and said, call it what you want, but you are a duck.

So to prove my friend wrong, that I don't need a junking intervention, I have prepared a list of questions for you to share your thoughts on and eagerly await your responses. We will call this a social behavior survey. Let's begin.

1. Do you have boxes/shelves chocked full of fabric that you enjoy just looking at and are waiting for just that perfect sewing project before getting out your scissors?

2. Do you save empty mayonnaise jars to possibly fill with sand and candles for luminaries, or fill with seashells, or to use as a place to showcase a little handcrafted fairy or bird's nest under glass? For that matter, do you save any interesting shaped bottle for some future craft project?

3. Do you own boxes and boxes of plates, all mismatched of course, but still delightfully coordinated, each being a gem culled from a lawnsale trip or from Goodwill? I am talking about enough plates to set a table for 100 guests from dinner to dessert.

4. Do you have trouble sleeping the night before an enormous flea market trip or neighborhood lawn sale extravaganza, eagerly anticipating what treasures await you, just like a child on Christmas morning, up before the crack of dawn to be the first in line?

5. Do you save any scrap of fabric that is at least 6 inches across? (Hey I use them for making my yo-yo quilts, doll clothes, quilted pieces, pockets on aprons .... you get the idea.)

6. Do you pick up a vintage tablecloth covered in holes and stains, (for free or for just pennies) because the 25% of its usable surface is just too fabulous to waste? Or what about that children's book from the early 1900's that is torn, tattered and yellowed, but the few pages that are salvageable and scannable put you in paper heaven?

7. Even though you own 100's of cookbooks, do you still buy that cookbook at the lawnsale with the jacket cover so perfectly matching your collection of Jadite dishes and showcasing recipes from the 1950's of how to cook squirrel, woodchuck and turtle? Those pages will come in handy some day, right? I mean as part of a collage and not on my dinner table.

8. Do you have stacks and stacks of decorating magazines, that you read and re-read? When asked why you don't just get the on-line subscriptions, you argue that you can't curl up in bed with a cup of tea and a laptop. It just isn't the same.

9. While friends find the allure of the mall so appealing, is a perfect day of shopping for you a road trip to all the Goodwill stores within a 25 mile radius of your house? (For me that would be 10 stores). Anybody interested in a road trip with me?

10. Are you a spray paint and glitter addict? Like that's a bad thing?

And for the Bonus Question: Would you climb through a dumpster if spotting a FFFF (fabulous find for free) while wearing a dress and heels? Be honest.

Oh bother ...... It's true. I guess I AM A DUCK!!!!

Final Vintage Christmas Monday & Memories

Welcome to the last Vintage Christmas Monday. Thanks again to Joan at anythinggoeshere for the wonderful job she has done in organizing this fabulous blog party. I had hoped for something new for this last date and actually found the felt Santa picture at Goodwill and the green cornucopia at a church Christmas sale, the picture was $.99 cents and the pottery $.50 cents. Around the frame of the picture, is a nice cloth trim piece, and real sticks were incorporated into the design. I meant to add a sprig of berries to the vase, but forgot to do so before I took the picture. Goodwill is seasonal when it comes to putting out decoration so I won't see anything new at Goodwill till November 2010.

For today's post I wanted to share an old memory, a new memory and a memory that seems can not be forgotten, no matter how hard we try. A while back, I was celebrating Christmas with my family. It was 2004 and the family was getting together at my house. Usually I am up at my brother's home for the holiday ..... he has Christmas and I have Thanksgiving. However, that year, my family wanted to see my 12 full size theme trees that I had decorated along with miles of garland, nutcracker collection and gingerbread houses a la Martha. I won't say it was over the top, apparently I just didn't sleep much before the party. I had food everywhere, after all that is my business. Tables were set up in the front parlor, music room and of course dining room and kitchen. All homemade goodies from scratch except the cheese (Sorry Martha S. I don't own a cow or goat.) Talk, between nibbling on tea sandwiches and scones turned to the topic of Christmas decorating. That was when the menfolk made a hasty retreat to the family room, not before filling up their plates.

We talked of homemade wreaths and bows, which stores would have the best after-Christmas sales ... Christmas Tree Shop or Michaels, and can you ever have enough candles? Burning questions to be sure (no pun intended - the candle question). However, it was that last question that prompted my mother to ask my sister and I if we saw the December issue of Martha Stewart Living and had we seen the article on the candle carolers? She went on to ask if we remembered the set of Christmas Carolers Candles that she used to have. Every Christmas Mom would get out the candles and arrange them on a mirror that lay on the dining room side table. She would add fresh greens and berries. The appearance of these candles heralded the start of the Christmas Season. We may not have had many family traditions at Christmas, but this was one of them. Like all things of our childhood, that got old, faded, and chipped, the candles were replaced with newer decorations. Mom said she had regretted having gotten rid of them. I came home one day and saw the box in the trash. I was 12. Horrified, I retrieved them from the bin (my first official foray into dumpster diving) and carefully wrapped them up in tissue paper and stored them away.

Until that year, 2004, when Martha's article had reminded me of my treasures. Safely wrapped up as they had been for so many years, they had been a protected memory of my childhood, of a time of innocence, when Santa was real. I knew it was now time to start a new tradition, with my own daughter. I unpacked the sweet little candles and made my own vignette.


Taking my mother's hand in mine, I led her to the family room where the candles in all their worn paint, slightly warped glory were displayed. Stunned, she turned to look at me. "Could these be the same candles? How" When I explained what I had done, she gave me a hug and said thank you. And for a moment we stood there in silence, gazing upon the candles, thinking of those years that they graced the dining room and when my father was alive. He had died when I was 13. And for a brief moment Dad was with us. OLD MEMORIES.

But there are times when it is okay to pass on a family treasure, because it makes you feel good to share. I just received this sweet little angel bell from my friend Cathy. Last week she had placed a beautifully wrapped box on my desk, so pretty you didn't want to open the gift. So after a moment's hesitation I unwrapped the box and there carefully wrapped in tissue paper was this sweet little angel. (I am thinking it was probably part of a set of 4 spelling out Noel, as the stocking looks like an L). It brought tears to my eyes because I knew that this ornament was one of the few things from Cathy's own childhood that she received after both parents had died. I knew the family memories it held for her and was honored that she had chosen to give it to me. She explained that it was the only decoration that she had of this type, everything else was more modern. She couldn't pass it on to her daughters, how do you decide which one to receive it? She knew my love of vintage and deep respect for family memories and could think of no one better than I to give this little angel a home. It sits proudly on my shelf with my vintage ceramic sleigh and elves and it will always remind me of my friend Cathy and NEW MEMORIES.

Awhile ago my daughter found a scrapbook at Goodwill that had memorabilia chronicling the time spent during the Vietnam War of one young man and his family. Elizabeth thought it was sad that one's memories had been put out for purchase and decided she should buy it out of respect for the soldier. It was only recently that I looked through the pages and found this Christmas Menu, detailing a Christmas Dinner for the 39th Signal BN (S.P.C.)















The menu included assorted relish tray, assorted fresh fruit, assorted nuts and assorted candy.



It wasn't the menu that caught my eye but rather the message from the commanding officer.




"To all personnel of this Command and their dependents, I wish to extend most sincere wishes for a very Merry Christmas. To those of you who are away from your home and loved ones on this day I hope that you may find solace in your knowledge that you are serving the forces of democracy in preserving the peace and freedom symbolized by Christmas Day. It is my prayer that wherever you may be, whether as a Soldier or Civilian, you will never fail to serve your God, your country and your fellow man. May the spirit which prevails here today continue throughout the coming years and there forever will be Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men."

These words were written in Viet Nam, almost 40 years ago, but they could have been written this week, in Iraq. Some Memories never change.

Perhaps not a proper Vintage Christmas Monday ornament or other decoration, but this does represent a long ago Christmas that is worth remembering. What is the phrase ......"People that do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it" .... something like that. Let us all hope for Peace on Earth and Goodwill to Men and that War will someday be only an old memory in the history books. Merry Christmas to all who serve and their families. God bless you and keep you safe.

Dumpster Diving

You know how your heart skips a beat when you think you have spied a treasure peeking out of a pile of trash.....today I thought I had a "tah dah" moment when I saw an old wooden chair rising out of a dumpster. Of course I climbed up to retrieve it.....yes while wearing high heels, I was coming back from a meeting in Portland. Anyway, the chair turned out to be a wreck, even for an imaginative junker as myself. Now there is a lot you can do with even a broken chair a la the French Charming Blog (Nov 12th), but alas, this chair was just too far gone. It reminded me though of a story. A few years ago, my friend and I were off to the high school to pick up our daughters from a band trip. Across the street from the school was a house being gutted with a really large dumpster on the front lawn. Of course we had to walk over and take a peek. My friend spied it first....a fabulous wooden crate with a beautiful painted on design.......in great shape!! Now, my friend was no stranger to dumpster diving; however, the thought of her 16 year old daughter and 80 of her classmates soon to be driving by worried her........her daughter would have been mortified!!!! I on the other hand had no worries. I climbed in and got the box. Had the buses come by and saw me.....if any of the students would have asked my daughter "Isn't that your mother?"....Elizabeth just would have shrugged and replied "It's what she does!" That's my girl.