Are You Looking for a VINTAGE Refrigerator?

I am soooo excited to show this to you....

While at the Oklahoma City Stockshow which lasts THE ENTIRE SPRING BREAK, I take some ME time and head to the wonderful area antique shops.

A blog friend, OKLACOOKIEMAKERQUILTS, turned me on to this WONDERFUL DIVE!

THE RINK in Bethany, OK.

As soon as I walked in the door, I fell in LOVE with this 1950's refrigerator!

This thing was in such great shape that I thought it was RETRO!
I think I might have SQUEALED when I opened it!

I didn't even know they had rotating shelves! Why oh why did they ever quit doing that to the refrigerators?

The ONLY thing I could find remotely wrong with this thing was the gasket had some rust and wear from age on it. Seriously, even the warranty book looked NEW....yes, it has the original warranty book with it.

I don't think anyone has ever actually used it!

Does anyone know if these can be re-wired so they don't pull so much electricity?

What was the price on this you ask?

Before I tell you, I must tell you that I would have this pretty baby in my house had I found it 3 years ago!!

It is priced right at $1600.00! Have you looked at the RETRO versions of these?

We are talking $5000.00 and up!

When you enter the store, if you make it beyond the vintage fridge, you will be greeted by these lovely little darlins'! After you run amok like a kid in a candy shop.....looking at the price tags....you discover there are NO price tags!

So, you will find the nice gentleman who knows something about these chairs and tables....then he will ever so sweetly smile, look at the direction of the tables and chairs....I took this tiny opportunity to wipe the drool off my mouth while he wasn't looking at me.....then he says...."Oh, those AREN'T FOR SALE."

WHAT??? Did I actually call him KIND?

Apparently, at some point they are going to have a coffee shop in here...arrrggghhhh!

I started feeling my bottom lip purse....my chin began to quiver....

Quickly, I started batting my eyelashes.....I tilted my head....I turned on the charm!

I was still told NO!! I slumped....I was devastated because LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!

An IDENTICAL match to MY vintage dining chairs!! I found TWO identical matches!!! WAAAHHHH, and they weren't for sale!

Every 5 minutes, I wandered back to just stare at the chairs....

then I would hit on the guy again....

He was still telling me NO!

Finally, he referred me to THE BIG GUY...no, not the "scurty"...

I felt 'pecial.

When I met him, I didn't even say hello, I just blurted out a price for the chairs....

He looked at me, looked at the chairs, looked at me....I think he spotted the tear in my eye....saw my pouty lip....saw I was packing a gun....and said SURE!!!

I AM NOW THE PROUD OWNER OF 2 MORE VINTAGE CHAIRS FOR A TOTAL OF 6 CHAIRS!!!
Click here to see my table and chairs story.

Here are some more pictures of various items in the shop.....

Oh LOOKY!! It is ME! I have a stalker....that is MOM...everyone say HI MOM!

This is daddy-o looking for The Phantom of the Opera book...first edition...'cause he does stuff like that.....even with old man knees!

No, this is not a stove to go with the vintage fridge...it is a TOY!

The prices were really great for quality stuff!!!

A very vintage bubble blowing MONKEY!!!

This is very unusual....I always thought they wore WHITE corduroy jackets....

Yah, an old TV turned into a CAT HOUSE...had this been a dog house, I just might have bought it!!

These are the pictures I am looking for....if you find any for $5.00, give me a holler! I have a sneaky suspicion that they are catching on....hard to find them under $15.00. I do have a budget and won't pay over $5.00 though.

Yep, I would be the proud owner of the cowboy one and the Williamsburg one!

I really LOVED this booth.....

I am looking for a WORKING pink or turquoise phone like this....

Love this coffeepot....unfortunately, I have a really cool one already...had to let this one go.

Lovin' the lamp....and that little radio on the bottom shelf....

Yah, so this picture is about 6-7 ft. tall!

If I hadn't worked so hard on the chairs....I might have worked on this poster....LOVE IT. It is NOT for sale....pftttt....as if!

Gotta love some old finger chopping fans......

Did I tell you I am looking for one of these phones in pink or turquoise?

So, here is where I started my all day search for some gaudy cowboy boots....NONE of them were in my SIZE!!!

...and if you read my previous post, you would know that I found some elsewhere.....and LOVE THEM TOO!!!

Make sure you stop by this place if you are anywhere close to Bethany!!!

I'm a REAL Cowgirl Now!

While on Spring Break...while at a stockshow...what's a gal to do?
GO SHOPPING FOR COWGIRL BOOTS!
For some time now, I've been searching high and low for some thrifted gaudy cowboy boots....TO NO AVAIL!
I wanted some thrifted $600.00 boots like the local Mexican men wear WITHOUT the little silver tips. ;)
A little birdy informed me that boot companies have started to make vintage lines of boots....

Behind Door #1:

I LOVED these boots....very 70's embroidered detailing.
I was very surprised how comfortable they were on my feet.

Then behind Door #2:

ALLIGATOR!!! GREEN ALLIGATOR! They were very soft and felt well used. The even had cutouts on the leg part...look closely and you can see socks and pant legs...

Behind Door #3:

Brown vintage inspired with red inlay!
These boots were tall also...the toes weren't too pointy, which is a good thing since I tend to drag my feet some and tripped myself in another pair.

SO WHICH DOOR DID I CHOOSE?





I chose DOOR #3!

I REALLY liked the embroidered pair, but felt that if I wore them with my TRUE COWBOY, he might be somewhat embarrassed to be seen with me...although he would NEVER tell me that!
The Alligator was really nice too....'cept when you want to tuck in your pants...then it all shows through the little cut outs.
The brown ones were really comfortable AND they wouldn't embarrass my REAL COWBOY in public....he actually kind of liked them!
Now, I need to go through my closet and find the perfect outfit to go with them! I might even find some THRIFTED outfits!

Do You Need to Make a Special Thank You Gift?

We are 2/3 completed with the spring stockshows.

Sydni and Regan both made the premium sale at the regional show.

For those who don't know about premium sales, here's the down-low....

The exhibitor's animals go through a sale pretty much like a normal auction.

The difference is, the animal is not really "sold".

The money is given as a donation and the "buyer" gets a tax-deduction and a really pretty picture w/ the exhibitor, the animal and themselves.

To show our appreciation to the "buyers", we give them a token gift for their generous support. Most "buyers" are businesses who hang the pictures in their office to show off their community support.

We have done special shirts to baked items to baskets to towels!

I found these floating frames and knew exactly what I could do with them!

Do you see that they have see through glass.....really adds a POW to the picture.

Sydni's steer was "bought" by Armstrong Bank for $600.00!

Regan's looks black because she has the black shirt behind it....

As with all the pics on this blog, you can click them to see them LARGER.

Regan's goat was "bought" by Munding Milling Feed for $650.00!

This was Sydni's last time to show at the regional show...sniff, sniff.

I can't believe she is only a few months away from graduating homeschool high school....sigh.....

I will post pictures of the local show when I get them in.....stay tuned!!!

How to Tell if a Manly-Man has a Daughter....

If you know me at all, you know I go to stockshows to PEOPLE WATCH!

This is a friend of ours who shall remain nameless for obvious reasons....other than the fact that he KNOWS where I live!

I just thought this was precious...I do believe it will tug at all mommy hearts out there.....not to mention all those millions of daddy's girls.

I wonder what he learned about his daughter by listening to her IPOD?

GOALS 2010 February Update

February 2010 Goals had some successes and some failures.

We did NOT get to clean the rooms in the old house. We changed from doing the bedrooms to just the livingroom and we just didn't get it done. Now, we will have the task of doing the bedrooms AND the front porch/storage! We will either continue w/ the livingroom and porch or bedrooms and porch.

I have kept up my daily devotionals and missed only 6 days in February...once again, the weekends tend to be my weakness.

Yah, FAILURE on the eating out.....that's all I'm saying about that.

Doing pretty good on my FlyLady Zones. Not perfect, but keeping things flowing. I did make my bed just about every day!! This month, I want to add sweeping the kitchen floor EVERY night before bed....we live on a farm...need I say anymore?

Still too wet to do the culvert....

I have lost a total of 12 lbs. I am shooting for 5 lbs. a month. I was successful for January and February....even eating out...woohoooo. I think my other 1/2 has lost over 20 lbs. sheesh....to be a guy!!

Ok, I totally messed up the Feb. monthly goal of 15 min. of moving activity daily....I thought I was supposed to do 15 min. of devotional time...LOL. So, guess that will be my March "NEW" thing. I am doing quite well with the water...I had ONE pop in two months....and it was not GOOD either....spew, gag, cough.

We cashed in our change jars and had a grand total of $224.00! We are 1/2 way to our $500.00 goal for the goat fence, which needs to be done by April 1st. I also sold some stuff and added to this fund!! Remember, we are trying to get the money from something else than our regular budget...we are being "creative".

We listed some items on Craigslist and had numerous people contact us, but no sales. I need to re-list since it has been 30 days, but have to wait til we aren't neck-deep in stockshows.

Well, feel free to join me in Goals 2010 and let me know how you are progressing!!!

What Does it Take to Put On a Stockshow?

As many of you already know, we are a farm family. The man of the house is an Agriculture Instructor at the local high school. Husband's specialty is livestock. Many a years ago, we decided to raise the children in the livestock area of farming. This meant that it would be our main ACTIVITY as a family. We didn't want to be divided...me taking one child to an event, him taking another child and then having grandparents taking a third child to a different event.

4-H and FFA is a very non-age segregated activity. When dad goes somewhere to work, the whole family can go as well and participate.

Now don't get me wrong, our children played sports at a young age....we burned them out on it before they were old enough to show livestock...yep, that's how we did it.

So, back to putting on a stockshow. We attend many, many, many stockshows through the year. Our local show is actually run by us (the local Ag Boosters).

It takes many, many, many, many, many...you get the picture....hours.

We really start planning for this FEBRUARY show in OCTOBER.

This post is about our trip to Sam's Club to get the items for the BBQ dinner that is the money maker to put on the show.

We leave the house at 5:30 AM.

I am pretty sure I woke up the rooster when I started the car...

We tank up on plenty of coffee....isn't that a pretty cup? I really feel 'pecial when I use my 'pecial coffee cup and saucer!

After I had to turn around and drive back home to get my "list", I make it to the Showbarn (the building we have the stockshow in).
Teri and Rachel are taking inventory of items. I am checking my "list" and making any changes before we head to Sam's Club.

Rachel brought her son, Tanner. Tanner just thought he was was going to go with us so he could ride around on the big fancy flat carts at Sam's.

We gave him the important job of throwing out the old salt and pepper shakers....

He is almost finished with 1/3 of this ONE shaker....he is SHAKING out all the salt.

Is that a boy thing or what? Can you see the container on the bar? It is FULL of salt and pepper shakers....hmmm, maybe by the time Tanner is 21, he will have shook out all the salt and pepper.

We made it to Sam's Club and purchased $753.00 of "stuff".

What you are looking at is what we carry ourselves.

We met a really nice worker, Zach, who put all our other "stuff" on a pallet.

Yep, each year is a learning experience...we used to stack our own 3,000 cans of pop.

Didn't Zach do a great job? Last year, our pallet was TWICE that size!

We've learned to assess and make changes. We also learned to use a flatbed trailer instead of a pick-up bed to haul the goodies.

We are now back at the Showbarn and have unloaded the stuff.

We tried really hard to get Zach to come with us so HE could unload that pallet of pop....

Then we REMEMBERED Tanner!! We remembered that he was young, energetic, and um, gullible....yah, that's it.

Did I mention it was FREEZING that day as well?

Also, that we had to stop and air up a tire?

Oh and we had to make another stop to make sure the stuff was strapped down!

We did the firemen's line and got the stuff into the Showbarn.

Here I am checking the ceiling (that's my story and I'm sticking to it).

Rachel is not in this picture.

You see, Rachel thought the bathrooms were working at the Showbarn. Rachel didn't use Sam's Club or Quiktrip's pretty bathrooms.....she thought she could "hold it" til we got to the Showbarn....insert evil laugh....

Rachel didn't know that the water was shut off to the building so it wouldn't freeze and bust like it has on more than one occasion. (Last month's gas bill was $700.00)

So, needless to say, we HURRIED to get the stuff into the building and Rachel made a beeline to the house.....

There you have it...one small part of putting on a local stockshow. Stay tuned for more posts about hosting a stockshow.

XS Group: What Does XS Stand For?

Several years ago, I became a small group leader through my church. We had hoped to get the youth involved and become bonded with one another.

I never really thought about how involved and bonded I would become....

Here are two members of XS Group, Naomi and Kimi.

(Not a fancy name..it really means Xtra Small Group...LoL)

Over the years, girls have come and girls have gone...sometimes to the point where we can't even qualify as a SMALL group...thus, the name.

Currently, there are 5 girls attending XS Group which means I actually have to use a church van to transport if all show up!

On this day, we had two girls come to XS Group.

We meet once a week after school.

Currently, we are reading Alex and Brett Harris' book, Do Hard Things.

This is a wonderful book in which all teens should read.

It helps teens realize that the teen years are for doing great things and to stop stooping down to the low expectations that are put on them.

Yes, that is correct...LOW expectations. (CLICK HERE FOR THEIR BLOG)

Seriously, most teens are expected to make their bed and make good grades and be good. Alex and Brett believe there is so much more that can be done while a teen. Did I mention that they were only 19 when they WROTE the book?

On this particular day, since all weren't here, we just headed to the local pizza place and did a tiny Bible study.

Teens deal with a lot of stress and sometimes, they feel very tiny in God's HUGE world. So, I spent some time putting together very tiny letters and basically told them that when they feel very small in God's world to just remember:

Matthew 10:30 says: And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.

Wow! When I think I am small...to just know that God knows HOW MANY hairs are on on MY head...UHMAZING!

I also, referred to:

Hebrews 5:13 Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. 14But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.

The tiny letter told them that I was proud that they made XS Group a priority and that meant that they were moving from the milk to the meat in their spiritual life. I also shared that sometimes we go back to the milk, but there will always be room for the meat.

The letters were put into tiny envelopes I created especially for the tiny letters (I had to use a magnifying glass to read it...they didn't). The tiny envelopes were put into a prayer capsule that the girls can keep on their key chains. My prayer is that they will add their own special prayers to this capsule and see them being answered one by one in God's special timing.

To my XS Group: I have experienced the ups and downs with you. I have cried and laughed with you. My heart has filled with joy of happiness and at times, been trampled by pain. I chose to walk this walk with you...sometimes me dragging you and sometimes you pushing me to go further. Thank you for including me in your Christian walk. My life is forever changed!

I love you!!!

Traci

Psalms 25:21 (Our XS Group Bible verse)