My Wish List

Vintage Junky is having a wish list party! I'm a big daydreamer, so of course I have to show you what I daydream about!
A KitchenAid stand mixer from Younkers in stainless steel. And all of the fun attachments!

A stainless steel side by side fridge like this one from Sears

Unfortunately, I don't have that kind of money, but I'm picking up a white used side by side with water and ice this Saturday!

A pergola. Pictured is one from Sears. (Throw in that hot tub, too!) I've had plans drawn out for making my own for years now. Some day....

I would give my firstborn for this exact shed from Sears. (not really, don't freak out....)

My husband and I have wanted a shed since we bought our house.

Do you notice that I seem to love Sears??

A drill press. Pictured above is a nice one from Sears, but I'm not picky, I just want a drill press!

A white peacoat. I have a black one that I pretty much live in, but I think white would be classy when I go on a date with my husband, or any other time my kids aren't smearing grape jelly all over me. This one's from The Burlington Coat Factory.

Oh, how I've always wanted a 1968 Chevy Camaro. Someday we will be united.... I found this bad boy on Ebay Motors. If you bid and buy this thing, PLEASE come to my house just so that I can drool =)

I want my gym membership back. I absolutely loved going to this place every night. Just have to save a little bit of money first....Check out Anytime Fitness to see if there's a gym near you!

A three season porch, like this one pictured at Better Homes and Gardens. Then again, I would settle for any covered porch at this point.

I REALLY want to back to Disney World with my husband. We went there when I was 18, and I've been wanting to go back ever since. We never got to have a honeymoon, so maybe we'll take our honeymoon this year ;)

That's kind of a big-ticket-item list. Let's scale it back for a little bit.

Stemware like these from Living Quarters from Younkers.


Younker's version of Spanx. Muffin-top be gone!


This robe from Younkers, but in white.

I love Willow Tree and Comfort Candles. Here's the ones I want. You can find them at Younkers.
Brothers---isn't that perfect for my boys?

Mother & Daughter

Quest---for the avid reader, William
Brother and Sister---my little poops
Promise----It reminds me of my wedding <3 align="center">
A mother's love----wouldn't this go great in my bathroom?



Silk trees for my back porch from Younkers. Okay, they are a bit pricey, but a girl can dream, right?


Whew! I think that's enough for right now! I could be doing this all day long. Maybe I have a shopping problem....haha.

For All Things Chalkboard

I love chalkboard paint. I bought a small can 3 years ago, and it's still going strong in my house.

Here's some things I used it on so far:

1. The back of my son's door. His room used to be a playroom, and I've gotten so many uses off of it. I taught my step-son to count by two's on that door.

2. The backside of my kitchen cabinets. It holds my shopping list, grocery list, appointment dates, love notes from my husband, house to-do lists, and a "yuck" face where the cleaning supplies are.

3. A cute little area on a planter. My husband laughed that I'm giving the plant directions. I should have put "Please Stop Growing!" This bugger has been re potted 3 times already.

4. A cute glass jar that I've had forever. Here's the process of it being made:

Love this jar with it's cork top!

Tape off an area, paint with chalkboard paint.

I put a twine ribbon on it again (I love twine!), then labeled it.

5. This is a find from Goodwill. I already started putting chalkboard paint on it. It's part of my next BIG PROJECT. Stick around for that!






I also have this staircase that I'm going to redo very soon. But I haven't decided on exactly how I want it. I was kind of thinking putting chalkboard paint on the vertical parts of the stairs. We could put cute little messages, or I can just draw on any design I like at the moment. It's part of that "Don't take life so seriously" thing I was talking about. Then put white on the horizontal parts.

Or I would do white vertically.

I don't know.....

Any advice???




Switching gears, I want to show you what my mom gave me:
She didn't want it, and I loved it. I still don't have a place for it. I'm thinking it will be part of my next BIG PROJECT.

Up and Coming!

Sorry for my lack of new posts.
I have a good excuse: I left my SD card at my ma's, and my camera won't let me take pictures without it.
So, in the meantime, I'll let you know what's in store for you in the next few days.

1-Music Lover's project (yes, it's almost redone!)
2- Reupholstered Ottoman
3- Vinyl Wall Decal
4- Magic Bullet Recipes (made some last night, but since they are 10 second recipes, I will just do them all over again and take pictures!)
5- A fun find to display a family treasure
6- Sneak peaks at my major winter project.


This is in no special order. I may do #6 before #3. Who knows.
As I said before, sorry about the lack of posts. I've been keeping my nose in my studies a bit more on top of forgetting my SD card. But I promise you, these posts are worth the wait!

FIB's

As you know, I've been commuting a lot lately. For some reason, yesterday all the planets aligned and there was an incredible amount of FIB's on the road. (F-ing Illinois Bastard). Around my parts, that's what we call them. They are notorious for their driving:

FIB's:
-APPARENTLY all have cars with broken blinkers
-APPARENTLY don't have speed limits in Illinois. Only speed "windows" from 42-94mph on a highway.
-APPARENTLY don't have dotten lines on their roads in Illinois and they think they can take up two lanes.
-APPARENTLY don't have cruise control in their cars.
-APPARENTLY think that cars should look like space ships.
-APPARENTLY are so used to the bumper-to-bumper traffic in Chicago that they think it's okay to be bumper-to-bumper on highways with NO traffic. Argh
-APPARENTLY weren't taught that when you merge from the right, it's NOT OKAY to continue merging all the way to the left on a 5 lane highways in one continuous motion.
-APPARENTLY weren't taught that when someone is merging from the right, it's only curteous to move to the next lane to make room.
-APPARENTLY think that everyone else wants to hear their crappy music. (If they are wearing flannel and their car is rusted, don't mistake them for someone from Peshtigo!)


I hope my commute is better today =P

New Van!!

Okay, I've been gone for a couple days, so I'll update you on the happenings in my household.

I was having a string of bad days. I brought my van into the shop. The mechanic said the head gaskets were gone and it would take $1,500 to repair. Okay....that's more than the POS (piece 'o') is worth. That's not worth it at all! I was mad at myself for a while b/c I only had it for less than 3 years. I didn't beat it up or anything. It was just an old van to start out with.

So it will be going to the junkyard. Yay, now I don't have the van for transportation. Well, at least the truck is an extended cab to haul children. But I start classes tomorrow, and I am commuting an hour and back 4 days a week. A HUGE truck....that's going to be a nice gas bill =P.
Anyways....so it's been a while since I've had a really good day.

But then I had ONE day. This "euphoric" day. The weather was perfect. I got so much yard work done. The gardens were looking awesome. Then.....to top off my day: I got a new van!! And not just ANY van....Here's the highlights:

1. 2004 Grand Caravan (I've never had a vehicle in the 2000's)
2. Leather seats
3. Push-button doors, even the back door! I never have to touch a handle again, lol
4. Seperate driver and passenger climate controls (that'll stop SO many fights)
5. A button in front to vent the back windows, lol
6. Moon roof
7. A FOLD DOWN DVD PLAYER!!!!
8. Headphones so that I can listen to the radio and the kids can listen to their movie with the headphones. Cool, hey?? All wireless
9. The DVD player is a 6-disc changer!!
10. Hookups for game stations! Yes, we are thinking about putting the PS2 in there, since we use the Wii in the house.
11. A bunch of "little" things that make it the sweetest ride ever.

So, after all my vehicles I've had, I think my new van is the most "pimped out." And all this stuff is stock. No, I didn't add anything to it. Some comments from the fam:
"I really love this vehicle"--John
"Can we watch all our movies out here now?" --Will
"Gah"--Hailey

Coming up next...

What a vacation! Highlights:
-Birthday party was fun. My nephew is now 1! Happy Birthday Ethan!
-My daughter got at least SOME sleep in the hotel. Kid vomited in the pool, so we couldn't swim until the morning. Ugh.
-The Brewers took the game against the Cardinals in the 10th inning. Really exciting game!


Anyways, so I'm back at home and waiting for some good weather to finish some projects of mine. Does it seem like I'm always crafting up some project? Yeah, that's because I always am. Either crafting or remodeling. That's my thing.

Anyways, future How-To's:
-Garden Room Divider (needed a craft to get rid of a heap of chicken wire that I happen to have)
-Outdoor Needlework artwork
-Rock Mosiac Wall hanging
-Jazzed up Flower Boxes

Store etiquette

You ever read those articles where waiters/waitresses get to complain about how people treat them and tips on how to be a better customer? Well, after a long day at work, I'm making my own list on how to behave at a retail store.



1. When you get done trying on clothes, please hang the article back up properly and put it in the designated area if you aren't going to purchase it. If you can't do this, then please don't complain if you had to wait at the checkout for 15 minutes. We just spent 15 minutes putting those clothes back on hangers.

2. Only 1 person per dressing room. Unless they are your kids, of course. That makes us feel like you are trying to steal.

3. DO NOT put your purse behind my counter and ask me to watch it for you as you do the rest of your shopping. It is NOT my job to watch it, and if I need to walk away, I WILL. Complain to my manager all you want. We are not liable.

4. I love being personal with all my customers, but if there are 5 people behind you, I really can't listen to the cute thing your kid did today.

5. If you aren't really planning on buying something, don't "thumb" through everything. We spend most of our day straightening the things that you didn't really want.

6. Be nice to an associate, and they will be nice back. Kindness goes a long way.

7. Don't ask for coupons. It isn't our fault that you forgot them and you live 50 miles away. Plan ahead. We aren't being mean, but it's against store policy. If we give them to you, we are risking our job. You're not THAT important.

8. Get off your stupid phone when you are at checkout. Vital info is being passed.

9. Show me that you have coupons right away. It's a waste of everyone's time when we have to re-do everything.

10. If we forget to take off an ink-tag, it wasn't personal. We see over 100 of them a day (each person) so if we accidentally miss one, we are deeply sorry.

11. I get 15-45 minutes for a break. If I'm on break, please ask another associate for assistance. We do a lot on our breaks, and that time is vital for us.

12. Black Friday is hectic. Yes, I understand you are cranky b/c you decided to wait outside our doors for 10 hours. But we don't get to shop at all on that day, and we just spent 3 weeks preparing for that one day, and we had to be there early too, so get off our cases.

13. If your coupon isn't eligible for something you have, tough. Read the fine print.

14. Keep an eye on your kids. Please.

15. DON'T STEAL!

Why you should love baseball

We had an awesome trip to Great America yesterday. Rained for about half the time, but otherwise, much fun! Once I edit the few pics I took, they will be posted. Too much fun, no time for picture taking! And no recipes from yesterday, but I'm making a crazy dinner tonight. Leftovers mixed with some boxed stuff. Will it taste good? Maybe, we'll see. I'm crossing my fingers.

So baseball season has started. I have to bring my step-son to a practice in an hour. So I feel like making a list of why everyone should start paying more attention to baseball:

1. Baseball players have great butts. I know guys don't care, but I do. Nothing like a cute butt in a tight pair of baseball pants.
2. Baseball is 1,000 times more intense than any sport. Seriously, watch a game. You'll understand.
3. It's okay if you miss a game. With baseball, there are so many games in a season, no one expects you to watch every single one. But you should still keep up on the highlights.
4. It's a lot easier on fans from the northern woods. Football game=froze my tail off Hockey game=froze my tail off Baseball game=enjoyed the beautiful warm weather
5. If you're a Brewer fan, listening to Bob Ueker is enough reason to love baseball.
6. A chance to come home with a souvenier like a foul ball, or someone's game winning home run ball. Hard to do with football, eh?
7. You need season tickets for football. Baseball you can just walk up to the booth and buy a ticket on the game day! (Now of course I'm speaking about Wisconsin teams. But if you are from states like Illinois...ahem...Cubs....then no, sadly you would need season tickets for baseball also)
8. Racing Sausages!!!!! (yes, I do realize this is getting to be a more "why you should love the Brewers" rather than a "Why you should love baseball")
9. Retractable roof. (K, now it's completely about the Brewers)

Spring Cleaning

It's raining on a Saturday. Is that really fair, God? I had so much I wanted to do today. The husband's gone at camp with the dog. But everything I wanted to do involved being outside. So I tried thinking of some fun rainy-day activities for the kids and me, but I think I should clean this pig-sty of a house. So here's my very own spring-cleaning list (including outside stuff for those lucky enough to NOT HAVE RAIN!)

SPRING CLEANING
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Curtains---Take the curtains down and throw them in the wash. Follow the care instructions printed on the tag. I don't like to put mine in the dryer. When you re-hang them wet, it should take out the wrinkles. If it doesn't, use your steamer to get the wrinkles out. Don't have one? Younkers just so happens to carry them (hehe)

Windows---Take out the window screens and one-at-a-time put them in your bathtub. Scrub them with a rag (with soap and water). Then rinse them off with your shower head. I have a detachable shower head to make this easier. You can also just spray them down with your garden hose. Let them dry before putting them back up

Closets---Start organizing! If you need to, but those nifty closet-organizers that you can find at a hardware store. Line up shoes that you don't wear often, stuff the leather ones with bunched up newspaper to keep their form (purses too!) If it's your cleaning closet, get rid of stuff that you never use.

Bedrooms--Tear off the sheets and give them a good washing. If your comforter is dry-clean, bring it in. Wash up your pillow cases, and either buy an allergy-reducing cover, or buy a pillow that does the same. Younkers carries both. At that note, everyone should have a mattress pad. It's easier to wash that than your mattress!

Bathrooms--Most toilets use more water than needed to properly flush it's contents down. Put a heavy stone in your tank. Or anything that won't float and takes up enough room. This will make sure that your tank doesn't use as much water. Reduces your bill too!
Take down your shower curtain and wash it up.
Clean out your medicine cabinet. Get rid of any meds that are expired. Don't toss or flush them! That will pollute our ground water and can lead to things like mrsa. Most dr. offices will let you bring them there to get rid of them. inquire
Replace all your toothbrushes

Dining room---If you have a wooden table, go to the store and pick up one of those nifty bottles of wood oil. It prolongs like life of your table and makes it look pretty =)
Wash all your table linens

Kitchen---Insect all your appliances for bad cords.
Clean the coils under your fridge.
Deep-clean your fridge. I like to take all the shelves out when I do this
Most freezers and de-icers these days, but de-ice your freezer if yours is an old model
Organize your pantry. Can goods, boxed goods, cereal, etc.
Clean your oven. A lot are "self cleaning" but I still like to do mine manually just to make sure
Run a cycle of vinegar through your coffee pot

Living room---Take the cushion covers off your furniture and wash as specified.
Organize all those cords behind your entertainment center. There are some nifty kits at Walmart for that

Basement---Oh the dreaded basement. All I can say, is start organizing. Every basement is different, depending on what you use it for and if it's a finished basement.
Clean your filters on you furnace. It'll be in tip-top shape by the time the heating season comes again
Insulate your water heater.
Insulate your pipes. You may want to consult a pro for these tasks.
If you have open-rafters, shop-vac the crap outta those spider webs. They give me the willies

Garage---again, clean according to how you use it. I can't park in mine, bummer.
but give 'er a good hose down after you're done cleaning
Check cords on power tools.
Replace batteries on cordless power tools that are losing their charge
Clean out the beer fridge!

Mud Room---Put a bench in there so everyone can sit while putting on shoes.
Make a place for people to hang their jackets.
Have some way to organize the shoes

Exterior--Clean out those gutters! Put on some gutter screens so that it will at least be every 3 years before you have to look in those gutters again!
Depending on the condition of your siding, pressure wash the dirt off of it. While you're at it, pressure wash your decks/porches too.
Check the seals on all doors leading into the house. Leaks cost money
Wash any oil spots off the driveway. You can try good ol' soap and water, or try a specialty cleaner at your hardware store. Use a push broom to clean.
Clean up any furniture

Yayaya! You're ready to sit back and relax for the warm seasons!

Earth Day '09

Taco Bell last night. No fun recipes for anyone today. We had to something quick and easy b/c it was getting way too late after my step-son's wrestling tournament. Oh well. But.......it's EARTH DAY! And being huge recyclers in my family, this is a great day for us!! So here are a few things you could do today to get you started on your eco-friendly life, along with some things I will be doing.

EARTH DAY TO-DO
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1. Plant a tree! There are many beautiful decorator trees to choose from if you don't want a crazy maple or oak covering all your sunlight. You'll get tons of birds, and it'll be awesome.
2. Speaking of birds, go out and buy a bird bath. They range from cheap tree-hanging ones to crazy huge stone ones. I have a beautiful concrete one. Just remember to flip it upside down if you live in the freezing north for the winters!! Earth Day isn't just about plants people!
3. Make a birdhouse with your kids. There are fun kits that you can buy at your local hardware store.
4. Buy cute pots at your local Younkers (hehe) to pot some awesome annuals in and display proudly in your yard.
5. Weed out your gardens. Get rid of that harmful junk, lay down some mulch, plant some beautiful yet invasive plants to keep them out. I started weeding today.
6. Speaking of gardens, start a veggie/fruit garden!! They don't have to be your typical farmer's garden. Just plant your veggies/fruit where there is ample sunlight. It can look just as good as a flower garden if you do it right. I have rhubarb circling a walnut tree in the back. As soon as the nights stop dipping below the freezing point, I'm planting these cabbage plants I have hanging out on my counter.
7. Adopt a puppy! Come on, they are part of mother nature too. Give 'em some love!
8. Plant a bush. Who doesn't love a bush in the front of a house??
9. Buy your produce today from a farmer's market (if you live in an area where they are actually open during this time of year)
10. And lastly, go to your hardware store and pick up some nifty recycling bins. That's right, everyone should recycle. It takes only a little bit more time (if you have a nice system set up) and it really does make a difference!

Hope you enjoy your Earth Day! BE GREEN!

My Sweat Pea

Fun fun Saturday. The boys slept at their grandma's house last night. So me and my cute little girl had some 1-on-1 time that we NEVER get. It was so nice being able to give her my undivided attention.
Some things I learned about Hailey:
1. She only recognises her "cell phone" as being a phone. Pull-along phones apparently don't look like phones anymore =).
2. She loves playing basketball.
3. She calls her daddy "Da-ee" soooo cute!
4. She knows that our dog loves stuffed animals and tries sharing hers with the dog!
5. She dances whenever the singing puppy sings.
6. She loves to feed everyone. I give her a piece of banana, she gives me a piece.

My boys are sooooooo loud and demand so much attention, she tends to just get lost in the comotion. That was one of the best evenings I've had in a while.

Anyways, today we dropped Hailey off with her grandma, and we went to an auction! It's one of the few things me and my husband LOVE doing together. So we definately take advantage of it. It's like a date for us =). A little advertising: Superior Auction, LLC. best auction company I have ever seen. I am literally addicted to following these auctioneers around the area. Not only are they awesome at their jobs, but they are so entertaining to listen to! You can view some of their upcoming auctions at www.superiorauction.net Definately check them out, you won't be dissapointed!!

So we went. Great living estate auction. We came out with some tow chains, cabinet, garden bench, precious moments ornaments (another obsession of mine), wine accessories, and a BEAUTIFUL *Fenton* jewelry box with matching brooch and necklace of a butterflies in their famous glass. Absolutely gorgeous.

And yes, I will get pics of the truck up soon. My husband MADE me sit in the back on lawnchairs drinking beer late at night. Wow.........so if you want to take pictures of the "hicks" and send it to your friends, you can run past our house at night.

North is better than South

Did we seriously need more snow?? This had better melt....

Soooo....Will's doing pretty good on his new meds so far. We'll see how it goes.

So, after much debate with my Aunt that lives in SC. I'm making a list of reasons why the north isn't all that bad:

REASONS THE NORTH IS BETTER THAN THE SOUTH
-------------------------------------------------------
1. You don't need a fridge to chill your beer.
2. Bugs/spiders/seagulls that tear open your garbage are gone 9 months out of the year.
3. When it gets to 50 degrees out, we are HAPPY!
4. No one can tell if your car is dirty with all the snow on it
5. We ALWAYS have a white X-mas
6. We don't have insanely large bugs, and any bugs that we do have aren't deadly
7. People rarely have heat strokes
8. Less direct sun=less chance of skin cancer.
9. We have pasties =D
10. I can wear a bikini and paint my belly green/gold and the only thing keeping me feeling warm is a few beers. Let's see someone from the south do THAT!

Deck party, party, party

It's a bit late in the day. I like my early mornings when everyone is sleeping. It's more peaceful. But I got to sleep in today, so I can't complain, right?

Sooooo....Will has his appointment tomorrow!! It's like counting down a birthday for me =).

And today is the Goodwill Sale at Younkers. Bring in a gently used article of clothing, get a coupon. Easy, right?

Okay, so grilling season is right around the corner. And since my husband and I are getting our taxes back soon, we decided to address some previous complaints from our bbq patrons:

1. Insanely bright porch lights blaring in your eyes
2. Nowhere to put your plates when you eat.
3. Making 5000 trips from the kitchen to the deck.
4. Music blaring in the garage, but barely being able to hear it on the deck (pissy neighbors)

So since we bbq 2-6 times a week, we feel that these need to addressed. Some of the solutions I could do now, some not until the thaw happens.

1. I will be getting SOLAR POWERED (good on the budget AND the environment) deck lights. They will go on every post on both the front and back decks. No more lights in our eyes!
2. I started, and this spring will finish, a flagstone patio off the back deck. We already have the umbrella table to put on it. With swivel rockers =). I go high class =). No more food spilling off crappy paper plates!
3. I need to buy a screened storm window for the back kitchen window. Then we are relocating the grill and building a floating table where that used to be in the nook. The result: a pass-through window from the kitchen!
4. Younkers sells these cute wireless outdoor speakers. I'm investing in one or two. Problem solved!

We are bring the rock to 11 for our bbq's this summer. If you want a steak on a cool summer night, we welcome ALL friends and family to join us.