Life with Rachel

This is the first in a new series, featuring the hilarious, often unexpected, sparks of sunshine that Rachel injects into daily life.

Here's what I found when I opened the egg carton this morning.

Memorial Day 2012

The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants.

-Thomas Jefferson

Treasure in Unlikely Places

I've mentioned before that my kids are part of a competitive shooting team.  They love it, and Husband and I love that they love it, but a hobby that involves firearms is not cheap.  The club does fundraisers throughout the year to help offset some of the cost.  Today we helped out in a concession booth at a tractor pull.

gratuitous cute kid pic

I know I have some readers for other parts of the country, and from other countries, and I don't know how widespread knowledge of tractor pulls is, but basically they are competitions in which tractors pull heavy sleds.  This was my first time at a tractor pull, although Husband and Joshua have been to several.

Ok, back to my story.  We traveled about 30 minutes from our home, to one of the most beautiful areas in our beautiful state.  It might not be the middle of nowhere, but you can see it from there.  A local tractor club has a wonderful place there, full of old and new tractors, farm equipment, and even some old IH Scouts, like these.

1960's IH Scout and truck

You can't see me, but I'm swooning!  I love old Scouts.


Ok, I'm off the subject again.  So we went to the place where the tractor pull was being held.  There are many sights like this.

That's downright bucolic.  There is an old barn like building that houses the museum and the concession booth.  As I approached the porch I saw this lovely lady.

Isn't she in lovely condition, considering she's at least 40 years old?  And who knows how many of those years she's been sitting on the porch of the barn!

Passing through the museum area, I saw things like this.

vintage tandem bicycle

International Harvester refrigerator

I entered the building through the tractor museum, which has a dirt floor, went around through the door to the concession booth, and BAM!

Are you kidding me???  These gorgeous pieces of mid-century history were just sitting there, acting like they didn't know they were the best looking ladies in the county.  I had to move a couple of boxes off of them for the pictures.  The condition of the turquoise vinyl (i assume it's vinyl) was amazing.  Here a close up.

And a view of her beautifully curved arms.

Do you think the white plastic lawn chairs are jealous?  Maybe in 40+ years I'll feature them on my blog, too.

I'm joining a new-to-me blog party with this post.  Check out Vintage Thingie Thursday at Coloradolady.

Thrifty Finds

Well, there was some thrifting and some yard saling this week.  In addition, I keep coming across small things that I've thrifted in the recent past, but not blogged about, and I'm including some of those.  Let's start with books.

There are some books for our immediate use, like the Andrew Jackson biography, and some for our collections, like the fish identification book, and some vintage books.  I do love vintage books.

I have a soft spot for Eloise Wilkin books.  When my children were babies and toddlers, My Goodnight Book and My Good Morning Book were two of our favorites.  The illustrations are so sweet!  The old cave book is for Joshua, who is a cave enthusiast.  Last is that awesome cover art on Peril on Mars by Patrick Moore.  How charming is that??

It seems logical to follow books with books with 45 rpm records.  I got all of these at a local thrift store about two weeks ago.

Aren't they sweet?  They will probably all end up in my Etsy store soon.  If I come across an old kid's record player maybe I'll change my mind.

And finally, this mix of items from garage sales.

A few more books, an old box of rubber bands (try to find a rubber band in my house when you need one.  i dare you.), some craft "spouncers", and these cuties.

Some cute kitty cat buttons, and a pair of vintage clip on earrings.  Rachel and I collect these.

I will be linking up with Me and My Shadow for Magpie Monday and Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.  Go see what goodies were found this week.

ETA: Oh look, Apron Thrift Girl is back!  Let's go join her for Thrift Share Monday.  And for you TSM folks, be sure to click the Thrift Share Monday label below to see my finds from the past few weeks.

Something I Didn't Know

This is the first in what I hope will be an ongoing series of posts on things that I didn't know.  Now and then as I am looking for homeschool information, or reading the news, or just following rabbit trails on the web, I will come across something that I find fascinating that I did not know.  Usually I think, "How could I not know this??"  I'm a fairly well read person, and it's not common that I have absolutely zero knowledge of some bit of historical, scientific, or cultural weirdness.  When it happens, I like to share it.  I will say to husband, "Did you know...?"  So with this series I will share some of those tidbits.  Sometimes you will think, "How could she not know that?  Is she living in a cave?  Illiterate?  Completely absorbed with American Idol?"  No, none of the above, just sporadically ignorant.  Without further ado, I give you the first installment of "Something I Didn't Know".

The Potsdam Giants:

I stumbled across this information while looking into acromegaly (a syndrome often associated with gigantism).  So in the span of about two minutes I went from relaxing on a site designed to induce laughter, to hunched over my keyboard, reading with fascination of the Potsdam Giants.

The Potsdam Giants were a Prussian infantry regiment.  It was founded in 1675 by King Frederick William I, and was composed of taller than average men.  Such was the King's desire for tall men to fill these positions, that kidnapping and enslavement were used when voluntary compliance failed.  Tall men from noble families were purchased, those from lower levels of society were taken.  The King let it be known that his preferred gift from foreign rulers was tall soldiers.  He paid these soldiers far more than the average wage, in hopes of attracting more tall men to this service.

As the King's fondness for tall soldiers became known, teachers "turned in" students who were exceptionally tall.  Parents often attempted to hide tall sons, but other members of a village or community would pass along news of the tall boy's existence in an attempt to curry favor with the king.

Much of what I read leads me to believe that Frederick William I's interest in tall men went beyond the desire for a formidable army.  I won't go further here, but this was certainly one of those historical tidbits that caused me to think, "How could I not know this???"

So share with me in the comments, were you familiar with the Potsdam Giants?  If so, how did you encounter this knowledge?.

Thrifty Finds

I thought I wouldn't have much to post this week because I was out of town at a kids' shooting competition Thursday through Saturday, but I managed to squeeze in a few goodies.  In addition, I had a few things from last week that I had not posted.  The result is not a thrifting megapost, but I think it will do.

At a yard sale this week I got these.

Moss rose.  I love moss rose, and have had trouble getting mine to return each year.  I hope these from a very old, established bed will do better.  Do you find it odd that I would find plants at a yard sale?  It's quite common around here.  Earlier in the spring I got several lovely hostas, and a week ago I was in a thrift store and they had a couple of bags of these for $1.

Hen and chicks.  I got so many of these for $1 that Rachel used some to make potted plants for Mother's Day.  (that went very well, btw, and i will post about it later in the week)  I love these little guys.  I ordered seeds for some mixed variety and mixed colors last year, but nothing ever came up.  It was a bad year for plants in Arkansas last year.  We had 100 year flooding in the spring, followed by a summer of record 100+ days.  Ick.

Ok, back to the finds.

Most of this odd assortment came from the yard sale where I got the moss rose.  The exception is the lovely orange Old Navy sweater for Rachel.  There are several little glass bottles with Rx on the top, some Happy Meal toys from the 1990's, a Fisher Price Little People wagon, and a funky little gold and red poodle pin cushion/thimble.  Here's a better shot of that.

A weird, quirky little piece.  I might let Rachel keep it (she's my sewing buddy), or I might put it in my Etsy shop, along with some of the toys.

At the same yard sale I got this great box purse.

Again, it might end up in the Esty shop.

Here are a few finds from last week that I saved because A) I thought I'd have next to nothing to share, and B) I was too lazy to photograph them last week.

Isn't that cloth calendar from 1975 great?!  I might keep that.  The vintage Santa book is actually a thrifting buy from a few weeks ago, but it was on a shelf with this other stuff.  The illustrations are very cute.  The other two items are a glass baby bottle, and an old ink bottle.  Both might just be donated, but the ink bottle was very cute, and might end up on Etsy, and the baby bottle was in a box of stuff I bought for $1 because it contained an air vent diffuser that I needed (not interesting enough to post here).  Here's a close up of the calendar.

Yeah, that's cute.

I'm linking up with Me and My Shadow for Magpie Monday and Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds.  (if ATG returns, i'll link there.  anyone know if she's coming back?)

ETA: I just discovered Hey What's for Dinner Mom? and The Penny Worthy Project, so I'm linking up there, too.

Thrifty Finds

Just like last week, it has been a good week for thrifting.  This is mainly due to the fact that I can hit some garage sales each week.  I ♥ thrift stores, but for pricing, garage sales are even better.

I thrifted on Tuesday, while the kids were in their chemistry class, but all I bought was one pair of pants for Rachel.  She is going to begin doing a feature on this blog about thifting for teens.  Keep an eye out for that.  I hit some yard sales on Friday, and here, in no particular order, is some of what I got.

Very nice rain boots for Bekah, an unopened container of tile adhesive, and the Kit Cat clock.

It's missing the tail, and I'm not sure how old it is.  The reproductions for sale on Amazon right now take one AA battery, and this one requires two C batteries, so I hope that will help me date it.

I also got another pair of rain boots.  They were 25 cents because they have a hole, but I plan to do a crafty thing involving flowers.

The two metal containers are for the Mother's Day plants Rachel is making to sell.  The turquoise Tupperware sugar container was 25 cents, and it's staying with me.  The old books are for Bekah, who loves readers from the 1940's and 50's.  In the back left is this.

It's an odd little purse that I found at a garage sale that had no other odd items.  I don't think it's old, but it has a retro feel.  Rachel loves it.

Next are some ET glasses and a book about playing games on your Little Professor toy and another about science experiments.  The science book we'll keep, and the other items will go in my Etsy store.

I got these two items at the same sale.  They were mixed in with some typical yard sale clothes, shoes, and stuffed animals.

We have several of the vintage Betty Crocker kids' cookbooks.  They are cute and have great illustrations.  Here is a close up of the tiny can of dental paste.

I haven't decided if I'm keeping it or listing it on Etsy.

Well, that's enough for now.  I will be at a shooting competition with the kids on the prime yard sale days next week, so I'll save the rest of this week's haul for next Monday.  I'm linking up with Me and My Shadow for Magpie Monday, Her Library Adventures for Flea Market Finds, and Apron Thrift Girl (if she returns) for Thrift Share Monday.  Go see what everyone else found.

Saturday Night Retro

What a week!  I know that I am not the busiest person I know.  In fact, I have friends who have 10+ children and run small family farms, so there is no doubt in my mind that I am not the busiest person I know.  However, it has been a busy, busy week.  I intended to get a couple of blog posts up during the week.  I even worked on them some, but didn't get anything finished.

I was able to finish a few DIY projects around the house, and I hope to blog about those soon.  I haven't done as much of that type of blogging as I thought I would.

Ok, on to the cool, smooth tones that will help you unwind on what is a beautiful, warm evening with a huge full moon (it's at perigee this weekend) here in northwest Arkansas.

First up:

Ahhhh, that's better. Who's next?  How about...

Ok, let's go back and listen to that one again.

Done?  Ok,  The last musical interlude for the evening is from one of my favorite musicians from my childhood.

I am so relaxed now I can barely type.

On Mondays I do a post about my thrift store and yard sale finds.  Many of them are vintage items (that's how this ties into Saturday Night Retro).  This week I will be showing an old wooden Fisher Price Little People toy that I found.  Here he is with two other Little People finds.

 My sister and brother and I played with Little People endlessly in the 1970's.  My kids have all played with them, as well.  Some day soon I'll do a retro post about my little collection of vintage toys.  Have you collected anything as an adult that you loved as a child?  Share with me in a comment.