WWII Weekend 2010: Be there!!!

(cue Perry Como:) It's the most wonderful time of the year!

It's like Christmas for WWII enthusiasts and vintage-loving folk- the 20th Annual WWII Weekend in Reading, PA begins next Friday, June 4th!

If you've never been, you simply must come. Even if you have to fly halfway around the world, I promise you it will be worth it.  Where else will you see 2 B-17s & a Lanc, 5 P-51s, 3 B-25s and many more aircraft along with thousands of WWII reenactors and countless "civilians" dressed in vintage garb? Plus re-creations from the Homefront including a radio studio, 1940s home life display, cantina, and of course, plenty of vintage clothing vendors.

I've been attending for at least a dozen years, but this year will be my first in an "official" capacity. I will be manning a booth for my museum, the Wings of Freedom Aviation Museum and assisting local author Peg George, author of We Knew We were at War: a collection of stories on the Homefront, by selling her book.

So stop by and say hello if you're there, and if not- well, why not give it a try this year?

(That's me in the hat!)

Thrifted Thursday!

Whoever had the idea of making vases in the shape of ladies' heads anyway? And why are they so popular?
I'm confused... do flowers sprouting out of her head make her look sexy?

LOL- As you can tell, I'm not big on these things. But of course when I saw one for 30 cents, I had to buy it. I cleaned her up a bit, and repainted her lipstick. She's now ready to go to a new home.  Someday when I open my Etsy shop I'll probably sell her. Do any of you collect these things?

Trash-picked Tuesday: Airing our dirty laundry, and other ethical dilemmas...

I love these old laundry hampers. They're so much more stylish than plastic ones and hold up much better than many of the newer styles. Probably that's why I see so many out by the curb begging to be picked up- they're too nice to throw away, but yet...

Someone else had their dirty underwear in there!!!!

So I've passed on quite a few over the years. Some have been really nice, with a nice wood top, maybe upholstered in cracked ice vinyl. But still, the ick factor just puts me off.

I've even seen a couple in thrift stores that I could have easily fit into our decor, but I just can't get over the heebie-jeebies of using someone else's hamper.

But now, I confess, I've gotten over it.

Yes, this is trash-picked.

However, I knew the person I picked it from. (Does that make it better or worse?)

My son's preschool teacher is retiring and moving to Vegas. I drive by her house on my way to drop him off at school and saw this sitting out by the curb with some other things that she wasn't going to move with her. Now if I'm going to trash pick from anyone I know- it would be her. I mean, her house is just the neatest, most tidiest on the planet. (Probably why it sold in like three days...)

So that presented me with a dilemma- what is she sees me stop and trash picking her hamper??? Obviously I'm not afraid to be known as a trash-picker, since I'm posting this here. But still, it's kind of an ethical dilemma- trash picking from your son's teacher. I looked at my watch and figured that she's at school right now, and if her husband is at home he probably doesn't recognize me or my car. If I wait until dark it might be gone...

So I turned around and with my kids in tow, put it in my car and carted it home.

I'll have to repaint it and re-upholster the top. (We love you, Mrs. F., but that c.1990's Country-blue color has got to go!)

And it will reside in Jayson's room, forever to be known as Mrs. F.'s hamper. Hope that doesn't scar him for life!

Thrifted Thursday- Jayson's lamp, pt. II

Last week we went to my favorite thrift store to make a donation. Of course one cannot just drop off a donation and go home- if I'm getting rid of stuff, that means there's room for new stuff! So we did a little shopping...

The pickings were pretty slim but I did come away with something I'd been thinking about purchasing for a long time. Every so often I see these clip-on reading lights that go over a bed's headboard. I always think about how handy that would be- I love to read in bed at night (that's how I wind down my day), but my husband does not appreciate having my bedside light on. So whenever I see one I think about buying it but seem to convince myself otherwise.

Well, this time I couldn't pass it up. The price was right- $3- and the style was perfect. But for some reason my son took a liking to it and decided he wanted it for his bed. (I told you that the kid is just like me- this brings the total of vintage lamps in his bedroom to four!) He's just learning how to read and thought it would be nice to read in bed just like mommy. As a bonus, if he gets scared of the dark he can turn it on without getting up.

Here he is giving it a test-run. As you can see, it matches his bed even better than mine. His bed is a family heirloom which has been passed down through my mother's family. It's a 3/4 size bed (6'x4') made of solid carved walnut and I slept in it as a child. Jayson is the 8th generation to sleep in it, but the first boy. I hope it survives him- at least until he outgrows it.

Fabulous Formica!

Several of you have recently asked to see my formica dinette set. I used it as a backdrop (tho not really intentionally- it was the closest flat surface, LOL) for some of the giveaway pictures.

I bought it from someone on the old Atomic Magazine message board (the precursor to the current Fedora Lounge) who was moving and couldn't take it with her. This involved a trip into South Philadelphia with my truck, and finding a place to park it. I couldn't even drive down her street- the streets are too narrow there. I ended up double parking it around a corner (if you're from Philly, you know this isn't unusal) about 2 blocks away. Which meant that we girls had to carry the table & chairs all that way. They made it mostly intact. Oh, and I paid $100 for it!

So here it is:

I love the Penna. Dutch tulip design. It's not inlaid like the very best formica sets, but printed on. It also has an expandable leaf that pops out from underneath to make the table bigger.

The chairs are all in great shape except for one that has a rip in the bottom cushion. I guess I can buy new cracked-ice vinyl, but until my kids are a little older I'm not going to bother. We need to use cushions anyway because they're too short, so it's covered up now.

I think my favorite part of the design is the little details like the chrome tubing around the table. There are two tubes all the way around and they are connected by little chrome balls near the legs.

The original label is underneath with the date of manufacture: 11/28/52.

You may have noticed that this is not in my kitchen...and you may be asking yourselves why. When we moved to this house, my husband had another table, a solid oak one with 6 chairs that we had intended to use as a dining room table and use this for the kitchen. Problem is, Chez QT does not have a dining room!

So the larger oak table is in the dining space in the kitchen and this is in our game room downstairs. We've set it up kind of like a diner- hence the jukebox wall box you can see in the first picture. But I am really wanting to use this as an everyday table (not too mention that the colors match my kitchen perfectly...) so maybe for the summer we'll swap them. We'll see if I can convince my husband...;)

Trash-picked Tuesday: Fun 'n Games

This is a little creepy-but-fun item I trash picked from the giant dumpster across the street. It's a game called "Marblehead" made by Ideal, c.1969.

You may remember that post a couple weeks ago where they brought in the dumpster to clean out our former neighbor's house. I finally got over there on Mother's Day (gift to self!) and my brother & I grabbed some goodies which will be featured here in the next couple of weeks.

It was mostly a garage-cleanout, and there were several games and sports items that I looked over. This game was completely intact and apparently never used. That's a minor miracle because the box contained about 50 marbles- how they didn't end up all over the bottom of the dumpster I'll never know.

Anyway, the object of the game is to fill a giant plastic head full of marbles and then to poke them out one-by-one through the holes in the side of the head. (That would be the creepy part.)

The fun part is that by doing so, a lot of other marbles come rolling out all over the place. Fun, that is, if you're 2 and 5 and not mommy who has to get them all off the floor before someone goes flying. It's like a cartoon waiting to happen!

And the winner is...

Vintage Christine!

Random.org selected your lucky number, so shoot me an email at susieqt2@gmail.com with your address and I'll get your prize package in the mail.

Thanks to all who entered!

Enter today for the Giveaway!

Just a reminder to make sure you get your entries in for the first-ever PIT giveaway! Leave your comment under the original post and we will draw a winner tonight!

It's Giveaway Time!

Woo hoo! I finally got to 25 followers, and as promised it's giveaway time at the PIT.

Here's the fabulous prize package (drumroll please...):

You win a vintage travel-themed group of items, including a Nova Scotia tea towel (great to use as a kitchen towel, a table runner or to hang on the wall), a Mount Rushmore platter/wall hanging made of beautiful faux wood (aka plastic), ceramic Tiki tourist salt & pepper shakers, and two vintage reporduction luggage stickers. I may throw in some more if I come across anything good in the next couple of days!

Here's a few closeups of the S&P shakers- these are so cool I want to keep them, but my loss is your gain!

And the platter (Faux bois, as Martha Stewart would call it, but somehow I don't think this is really what she's talking about ;)

Here's how to enter:

Leave a comment under this post telling me your favorite vacation destination. If you link to this giveaway on your blog you get an extra chance. Make sure to leave a comment telling me where you're posting it and I'll tally the results. The drawing will be held on Sunday, May 16th at 9 pm.  Good luck!

Trash-picked Tuesday: Howdy, Buttercup!

This is my favorite springtime flower arrangement. A handful of buttercups in an old mason jar just make me smile.

The jar is another one of my finds from the dump in the woods, an old Atlas "Whole Fruit" bail lid pint jar. The buttercups are trash-picked as well, you might say- I picked them in the cemetary down the road just as the landscaper was unloading his mower. Another half-hour and they would have been history!

And for those of you that are regular readers, you may recall that I promised a giveaway when I reached 25 followers. Well, we're almost there. Spread the word and bring a couple of friends and I will give away some neat stuff I've found. Don't worry- it won't be trash picked stuff, I can promise you that!

Speaking of giveaways, MaryDeluxe over at Welcome to Deluxeville is giving away one of her fabulous lamps, so get over there and enter! 

Mother's Day: The Real Story

Mother's Day is a day I always look forward to. Then when it's all over I wonder why. I guess I anticipate a leisurely breakfast (not in bed- that's too messy and you-know-who has to clean that up!) spending the morning with the Sunday paper and then a nice brunch or dinner out.

That's the ideal- the reality is this: I woke up at about 7 am to find the power had gone out sometime overnight. I had to re-set all the clocks- I HATE that!

I got up and got ready, then made myself breakfast while everyone else is asleep. At least I got to enjoy some quiet time.

My daughter got up about a half hour later. She just turned 2, so we're starting to work on potty training. (You can see where this is going...) She told me she had to go, so I undressed her completely and sent her into the bathroom. I turned my back to put her pajamas in the laundry and she promptly locked herself in the bathroom. When we got the door open, she was standing in a puddle of her own making. All the rugs then had to be washed and the floor washed with bleach. Not to mention washing her off and getting her dressed!

I finally got out the door and off to work, and hope to be home sometime around 5 so I can cook dinner for 9- both my parents and my mother-in-law are coming over to dinner tonight. Hopefully my husband will keep the house reasonably clean, so I don't have to do that yet!

I think I'm looking forward to tomorrow already!

Thrifted Thursday- Jayson's lamp

My five-year-old son Jayson definitely takes after me. It's funny how he looks just like his dad, but on the inside he's much more like me. (My daughter Kate, on the other hand, looks like me and acts like him!)

A few weeks ago we were thrifting (which of course he loves to do!) and he actually found this lamp. He has a good eye- knows what I like and what he likes. I hadn't noticed it up on a shelf, but he pointed it out and we decided it would be perfect for his room.

His room is done in a vintage outdoors theme, with a lot of old wooden plaques and hunting/fishing memorabilia. This lamp fit right in- and is small enough that we use it as a night light. I though it was a pretty good deal at $15.

I don't know what this type of shade is called; it's a picture printed on some sort of stiff plastic and wrapped around a frame with lacing. I have two other lamps in this style and they are really cool at night- the light shines through the picture giving it a 3-D effect. One of the larger lamps has a label on it that bears the brand "Helmscene". It's one of those things that I don't exactly collect, but are just way too cool to pass up!

Trash-picked Tuesday: Losing your Lustre?

Well, then you need Lustre-Creme! It's Lanolin-Blessed! And for a limited time only, it's on sale for $1.69, regularly $2.00!

I pulled this sweet vintage jar out of another trash pile in the woods. Surprisingly, the metal lid is still really nice and just has a few scratches- not bad for being buried in dirt for decades. The bottom is milk glass.

I use it to store toiletries in the bathroom. That's part of my obsession with replacing modern product packaging with vintage- I love finding useful containers that I can fill up and get rid of the modern. This works really great in the kitchen (sounds like a future post is in order for that...) as well as in the bathroom.