We're On Etsy!

Dear Sweet Hubby and I have a love for vintage. And we wanted to pass that love on to others.

So, we kept our eye out for lovely little vintage finds while we were out and about, and we decided it was high time to open up our very own etsy shop.

So, please, stop by!

Our new shop is called The Midwest Barn, and you can find us HERE. We've also put the link our shop on the sidebar, so you can always find our shop that way!

For a limited time, we are offering 10% off at our shop to celebrate our Grand Opening! Just enter GRANDOPENING2012 at checkout. This offer is good until April 30, so place an order before then! And remember, tell your friends!!!!

Thanks!

Decorating Vintage

I'm not an expert when it comes to decorating, by any means, but I have learned a few things since Dear Sweet Hubby and I got our first apartment. It was there, much to his dismay, that I adopted what he so lovingly termed "Nursing Home" style.

Yep, that's my sweet hubby. Keeping it real. :)

But, like I said, since then, my "style" has evolved. I went from nursing home style. For a while our apartment looked like we lived in a cabin in the woods. Then I went through a "primitive Americana" phase. And most recently, our apartment literally looked like we bought IKEA and put it in our home.

Now, though?

Well, now it's a little bit of everything that makes us happy. And what really makes us happy is vintage. More precisely, vintage-industrial. There's a fine line between buying cool old stuff and becoming an antique museum. It takes a lot of balance and awareness of what you're actually bringing home. It also take a lot of knowing that some antiques can be useful as well as beautiful. And in our little apartment, form and function make me a very happy girl. :)

So, I figured that while I may not be an expert when it comes to this stuff, I do know a few things. I'll begin randomly posting various vintage decorating tips now and then.

My first tip, and I think this one is MOST important:

Know what you love.

Dear Sweet Hubby and I love vintage cameras. We love industrial looking goodies. We love distressed pieces. And I have a ginormous soft spot for pyrex. And LBB? Well, our little vintage nut already has a penchant for vintage toys. What better way to decorate a room, right?

Now I love cool old furniture pieces more than anything. But right now, we have our small apartment, and limited funds, so we are quite content mixing our cool vintage pieces in with our modern IKEA furniture. (Although, someday, we will slowly be merging in some cool old furniture along with our modern furniture. It's all a slow, wonderful, creative process.)

In our dining room, we have a cube shelf...the 4x4-cube Expedit shelf. Modern, modern, modern.

But, mix in a little of this:

and a little of that:

Well, now it's not so plain anymore. :)

You're going to have to wait a few posts to see the whole shelf...we're still in the process of doing a few things to fine tune how it looks.

But, did you notice? Awesome old cameras. Cool pink pyrex (from a dear friend of mine.) And a sweet, simple pic of LBB as a baby. It is completely unique to us. The old projector camera was my main Christmas gift from my hubby (he rocks.) The Canon AE-1 was my hubby's (who got it from a family member.)

Vintage. Personal. And nothing close to being just some antiques sitting on a shelf.

Look for things you love. Things that catch your eye. Not every piece you discover will have a super special meaning to it, but when combined with the pieces that do, along with whatever furniture you won, you will end up with a vintage style all your own!

Tell me...what vintage things do you love? What's the one vintage thing you're constantly keeping your eye out for?

The Super-Mom Myth

I've been thinking a lot this morning. Nothing new, I suppose, but I was thinking of the whole super-mom concept. Then I hopped online for a little bit, and came across this lovely post called "Your Children Want YOU!" over at The Power of Moms.

Everything she wrote went along with what I'd been pondering over earlier today.

Super-Mom.

Society would have us believe that we need to "do it all" as Moms. Clean house. Perfectly dressed kids. Always on the go. Involved in 18 gazillion activities. Homecooked meals with fancy desserts from fresh, organic, and local foods. Yadda, yadda, yadda.

And that post I read today is so right...we live in a era of social media, and it's even easier now to get sucked into what we aren't doing and what we need to do better.

Now, don't get me wrong. I love making delicious meals from organic and local foods. I love having a clean and lovely house. I love doing new things with my LBB and introducing him to the world around us. I love when LBB wears dapper little clothes and his face is spotless and his hair is staying in place (even if it's just for a moment.)

But.

I also love lazy days when we watch too much tv. I love hearing his giggles as he see Blue doing something funny with Steve. I love the super-duper, extra cuddles we share during those lazy days.

I love hanging out in his room playing for endless hours. I love pretending we are chefs. I love playing with his imaginext ninjas. I love building boats out of his blocks.

I love when we spend a whole day with Dear Sweet Hubby doing absolutely nothing. I love when we all take a nap on a sunny afternoon.

And you know what? Sometimes, among all that stuff, things get messy in the house. Dishes don't get done right away. Here's the thing though...at the end of the day, that stuff can get cleaned up. I don't need to be following him around picking up every single mess I see. Sometimes I get trapped into cleaning when I'm supposed to be playing.

Why?

Because I worry. I worry that if someone came over, they'd think less of me if my house was messy. I worry that when Dear Sweet Hubby gets home from work he'd be slightly irritated if things were less than perfect. I worry that if my mom stops by and sees my house slightly messy, she'll think I am a terrible mom.

WHY?

Why do I think these things? First of all, none of them are true. My true friends don't care what my house looks like. Dear Sweet Hubby probably wouldn't even notice...he's just glad to see us and be home from work. And my Mom raised me. She dealt with my messy room when I was a kid. :)

God wants me to keep an orderly home, and I do. We don't live in a pig-sty, but we definitely don't live in a palace. Things aren't alphabetized like they used to be before I had LBB, but they don't need to be.

Society has one idea of "Super Mom". But my little guy's idea of me, now that's what matters. I want to be his "Super Mom."

Now, I'm not saying my house is a disaster and that it's ok to not do anything. I love to have a clean house. I love to decorate. I love to do crafts. But I don't want all that to consume me.


I looked up "Super Mom" on Urban Dictionary, and this is what the entry said:

"Fun, energetic Moms who love parenting. Not the stereotype of the women who wear pearls and greet their mate at the door with a casserole in hand, these moms have thrown off the pearls and donned jeans and t-shirts instead. The habitat they are most likely to be found in is the playground, the grocery store in the organic produce section, the closest library or participating with their kids in any fun activity you can think of.

Not to be confused with Moms who think they are wearing proverbial capes and can "do it all". Super Moms are just having super fun!"

Now, I like that.

That's a good definition for Super Mom, and one that I think my LBB would agree with. :)

Grandma's Refrigerator Pickles

I'm not a big fan of pickles.

But Dear Sweet Hubby is.

And after going through lots of store-bought jars, I decided there had to be a better way. (Have you glanced at the ingredients in that jar? Yikes. I don't think something as simple as pickles should have high fructose syrup listed in the ingredients list. But that's just me.)

Anyhoo.

Luckily, my Grandma had a wonderful recipe for Refrigerator Pickles. And I'm tellin' you...it couldn't get any simpler than this. Not to mention inexpensive. A jar of fresh pickles costs me about $2. You can't beat that!

REFRIGERATOR PICKLES


7 cups washed, sliced cucumbers
1 cup sliced onions
1/2 cup chopped peppers of  your choice (optional)
3 TBSP salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup vinegar
1 tsp celery seeds 


Put cucumbers, onions, and peppers in large bowl and sprinkle with salt. Let stand for one hour; drain.


Mix sugar, vinegar, and celery seeds and pour over cucumbers. Transfer to airtight container, and put in refrigerator. Let stand for 3 days before enjoying. Will keep in airtight container for up to 3 months.

The best thing about this recipe? Besides the sheer simplicity and thriftiness? It's just a base recipe. The batch I made most recently I omitted the peppers and celery seed and just added a little garlic powder instead. (Dear Sweet Hubby gave it the seal of approval today...the batch just got done. I practically have to lock these things away until they are ready. haha.)

I've added dill instead of peppers to make dill pickles. There are so many options with this recipe!

Enjoy!

Because Walk-In Closets Can Hold So Much More Than Clothes

LBB has the "master bedroom" in our apartment. Mostly because, let's face it...he's got more than just a bed and a dresser (like Dear Sweet Hubby and I do.)

It just made sense that he had the bigger room. And, the bigger room comes with it's very own walk-in closet. Lucky kid. (Along with his own bathroom...I think a bathroom just for kids is a lifesaver. All those bathtoys get to just hang out in the tub indefinitely. haha.)

Anyways. I digress. Back to the closet.

He started out having his clothes hanging in the closet. Then, we trimmed down how many clothes he had, and were able to fit them into his IKEA stuva wardrobe. So, that left an empty closet. And, I'm a big fan of empty closets. :) After all, closets, when used correctly, can nearly be a very task-oriented room.

We got that cute little playkitchen at Goodwill...for a whooping $3.99. For a long time it sat in our dining room right next to the kitchen. I had great plans of LBB play-cooking while I cooked. Instead, the dining room turned into a regular mine-field full of play-utensils and wooden food.

It HAD to get moved. Thank goodness for empty closet space, right?

And with just a few small projects, LBB's walk in closet turned into a veritable play-kitchen.

I used my cricut and cut "Buster's Diner" (with the wall vinyl) to make the perfect little sign for his kitchen. The car rug was SUPER cheap at IKEA (but don't ask me how much...I can't remember.) My Mom and Dad got him the wall clock on the left. LBB loves "telling" time...of course, it's always 2 o'clock. And it's always "nommy" time. But, it's toddler-world, so it works. And, of course, Slink the Dog is man's best friend, and therefore, in the kitchen at all times.

We then decided that we needed something to make the space a little more "kitcheney." So, off to IKEA we went. (Have I ever mentioned that I love IKEA?) We got those two wall pockets, the two bars, hooks, and the basket, and it barely even dented our pocketbook. I like that. :)

We had two little decorative hooks on hand, which we used to hang up the ADORABLE chef's hat and apron my Mom made for LBB for Christmas. (The chef's apron says "I'm the next play-food network star.")

And those wall pockets? Ah, pure bliss. They are like miniature cupboards that he can put his food in.

And at this point, this is the farthest we have gotten with the corner. We picked up this cute vintage bookshelf at Goodwill, and it fit perfectly in between the wall and built in shelving. :) Literally, there's 2 inches or so of space. We want to paint it, but are kind of waiting until a later date. Paint or no paint, though, it's still perfect for keeping his pots, pans, dishes, mixer, and some more playfood in one spot. And notice the doggy? LBB is a big fan of doggies. They seem to be everywhere around his room. :)

So, there's a tour of LBB's play-kitchen! Sorry the pictures aren't the greatest...it's a weird layout in the first place to try to get a good picture of, but when combined with my bleh-camera and bad lighting, the odds were against me. :)

FACT:

Bears eat beets.

(Just a little "The Office" humor for you.)

But, supposedly beets also make good....wait for it....

...dye for Easter eggs.

Who would've guessed.

LBB goes completely berserk shows a slight aversion to artificial dyes, and it got me to questioning how good is it to have your eggs be SOAKED in artificial dye. Not that there's anything wrong with it...if LBB wasn't sensitive to those darn dyes, I'd so be buying the dye kits with the cute little rabbit on them.

But, he is sensitive.

And by golly, sometimes that dye leaks onto the egg itself. And that just can't be good.

So, this year we are attempting to dye our eggs the "natural" way. So far I've made red-purplish dye (using the beets) and blue dye (using red cabbage.) No word yet on how they look on eggs, but sitting in bowl, the colors are beautiful. We use brown eggs, and according to some different things I've read about natural dying, these natural dyes look beautifully muted on them. We're pretty psyched.

What about you? Have you ever dyed eggs naturally? Would you? (And if you want to see the recipe for making the dyes, click HERE.)

I'll let you know how they turned out. :)

My New Addiction

I loved picnik.

So when they announced they'd be closing, I was a tad depressed. And then I found PicMonkey.

And I love this even more. I'm not sure why, but I like the actions better. I like the simplicity. And boy oh boy, do I love the way it makes my photos look. :) Here's a few I've done in the past 12 hours. (it's become an addiction. I've spent all my free time digging through my facebook albums trying to decide which photos I want to edit next!)

It makes the pictures that my cruddy camera takes into something special. :) Trust me, once you play on there once or twice, you'll be hooked.