Vintage Thingies Thursday on Wednesday!

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Vintage Thingies Thursday

This is my first attempt at this endeavor...so we will see if it works! These photos are some of my own vintage things that I love, the baby shoes were my Dad's, at least that is what my Mom seemed to think years ago, but they have little red buttons under the bronze...the chair was a chair that my great great grandfather brought into his home in 1886, it is the "female" version of a parlour set that my great great grandparents had...my cousin Linda has the "male" version and it is a bit bigger....I would never attempt to sit in it...women were pretty small back then! :) The other photo is my wonderful Singer sewing machine, it has been electrified ( is that a word?) but I don't know how to sew, so here it is in the corner of my living room....I need to learn to do better photo's....my walls are a wonderful soft butter yellow ( one of my favorite colors) and the flash just makes it go away....hope you enjoyed my photos...better yet, I hope this works! Here goes something! :)

Joe and Josie Harstad

I thought it was time you got to meet my grandparents who lived at 521 Lake Street. This is Joseph and Josephine aka Joe and Josie Harstad. I was named after both of them as I am Sandra Jo.

I have absolutely wonderful memories of both of them, as do all of my cousins. We often reminisce about our time in this home on Lake Street. My grandfather worked for a few different meat companies in his life time, he ended up at a place called Peter's Meats the longest, and my Uncle Bob, his son, worked there most of his life too. I can remember going into the refrigerated areas of the plant and pulling wieners off of the string and eating them right than and there! I know, don't go there please... :) My grandma Josie was of pure German descent and was a stoic woman. She never worked outside of the home, and I don't think she ever even learned to drive, as was the case of a lot of women of her time. Now when we speak of her we seem to all agree she was the serious one in the relationship. I never doubted she loved me, but she wasn't real demonstrative. But she did give good hugs! Now Grandpa on the other hand was a hoot! He always seemed in a good mood. I have one memory of him taking me to the new Woolworth's Store and I was to go along so he "wouldn't get lost". He bought me a chalkboard that had a little abacus on the top of bright colored beads...I still remember that so well today....he also liked to walk down to the lake, just a few blocks from their home and let us grand kids feed the ducks....I took my son Bryan back to Wisconsin when he was just two, I had lost both my folks and my Dad's sister, my Aunt Rosemary wanted me to come home. I took Bryan to feel the ducks and it was a powerful, surreal moment.

This home that means so much to all of us grand kids, ended up being a college town rental.....it was hard to see this house with so many memories end up looking like crap. So run down...I swore if it ever came up for sale, it was mine! Well....it came up for sale, but no one knew and and very quickly was snatched up by another rental company. This made me nuts for a few days....but I have let that company know if they ever want to sell it...let me know first! I have a lot of thoughts of what it would be like to own that home and lovingly restore it....you never know!!!! We might just have a retirement home yet! :) Thanks for letting me ramble...

Happy First Day of Autumn! 100 degree's or Better!

Well, even tho' it is very hot still...the sun has changed angles and the days are getting shorter. So my best friend Cheri and me decided it was time to decorate for fall! I really wasn't into it, but yesterday the fall bug hit! I love waking up to all of the color! The photos are of some of the things decorated in my home, and the wonderful faux cupcakes of Kris over at Blissfull Elements...you must check out her blog http://krislhurst.blogspot.com/ I love all of her things for all holidays!

Hope this is a great day for all of you! Enjoy it! :)

A vacation like no other

My husband Wayne and I were able to get away this summer and so we headed up to my brother and sister in law's place in Montana. They live in a small community called Lakeside, which is on part of the shore of Big Lake. Big Lake is the largest fresh water lake west of the Mississippi. It was wonderful! What surprised us most was the variety of home in this area. From places like my brother's which is a brand new condo on the lake, to your wonderful ranches to these little sweet homes alongside all of the roads you travel. Every time we went out we had to go by this little yellow house, I finally had to stop and take some photos. You don't know how badly I wanted to go knock on the front door and ask if I could come in! :) This place was perfect! We then went to a little town called Sommers, it is a tiny community that has been there for over 100 years and that was obvious once you drove down the main street. This little place was at one time I am sure a store in the frontier town, but now I think it was just a fun place to be! And the flowers....oh my gosh, I live in Arizona and summer is not a time to grow anything, so when we retire I want to be where I can grow flowers all summer long....we hope to get back to Montana one day, we really needed more time to see it all.....

Patrick is Gone.....

I just got on the internet and saw that Patrick Swayze had died. He really gave it all he had, it seemed. When he did the Barbara Walters interview I was really pulling for him...he was very determined that he would live longer than everyone expected, sadly that didn't happen. I enjoyed Dirty Dancing and Ghost....they were both pretty good flicks. But I loved to watch him dance! Gosh could he move!!!! He was only 57, two years older than I am right now....way too young to be gone it seems to me....rest in peace Patrick.....

Do I glow in the Dark now???

I have always had a serious addiction to candy...it started when I was very young, and I still love the "holiday candies" that come out each year. This year I found a new one!!!! When I bought these, the clerk said "Do you think they glow in the dark?, I am not sure I would eat them if they glow in the dark..." little does she know most of us already do glow in the dark ! :) They also came out with one that looks like little candy corn Dots....I just had to share these....there are those of you out there that will see this post and not be surprised by my discovery :) Have a great week!

The Magical House of the Harstads

Hello! This is my first post on my brand new blog! I really hope to be able to post at least every other day. I feel like at this point, I have a lot to share. This blog is in memory of my Grandma & Grandpa Harstad. The photo above is their house in Wisconsin. We lived in Ohio, so the family got to see them once a year most years, maybe twice if we were lucky to go for Christmas. I know it doesn't look like much, but it was a magical place for me! My brother and I were the only grandchildren that lived quite a ways away and rarely got to "come home", so Grandpa Joe and Grandma Josie were always happy to see us. The first thing we did after giving them a hug was to run to the pantry and get a cookie out of one of the large mouthed jars Grandma kept them in. Chocolate Chip and Sugar were my favorites! I have these jars in my kitchen now to remind me of those times. Even now, after all of these years, the little town they lived in feels like "home" to me. It is still as comfortable as ever to be there. So, please pull up a chair and stay awhile! I will be adding a lot of fun things to this blog....as soon as I figure out how! :)