what a warm welcome and cool items in Maquoketa Iowa. if you want a trip to a small town this is the shop to visit. They also offer painting classes to learn how to paint furniture and even have furniture items to choose for your paint class https://www.facebook.com/Thepeddlersmarket

Please also lets welcome River City Interiors, LLC for all your construction or upholstery needs! i just found them myself and am impressed with how quickly they work on projects and the quality!

here also is a quick practice gallery i am attempting to add..lets see how it looks. these are small projects i am working on to create a new look for them! enjoy.

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my other blog with really old books i found at an estate sale in a mansion

;I really really love researching and learning about history. What better way than through old books. I acquired a car load of 1800s and early 1900s books at a mansion estate sale. i have started listing them on my other blog here at this link If you love old books you just may find some very rare ones there! on the really old books tab ~ http://retrocitytrash.blogspot.com/

if you really dont want to visit yet a second blog of mine which we know who can resist the temptation of curiosity to see what is there? and you love Facebook too, i have also started adding all my research to my lengthy list of old books with photos etc, on my facebook group at the following link https://www.facebook.com/groups/worldwidevintgageandantiquesales/
it is an open group and you are more than welcome to join and post items yourself there as well!

happy June 2015

a few more things i have been painting...

this one has not been started yet....

June is a happy month. It includes my Grandma's 90th birthday get together...it includes warmer weather, except for the rain and humidity the sunshine is wonderful!

It also includes me filling buckets of mulberries to make things in the kitchen with them..and my driveway being slippery since the tree hangs over that...my suv covered in purple and white bird poop, and the neighbor pointing out her discontent with the tree as it hangs over her driveway as well and her suv. hmmm. well then. 

she could always move, not my favorite neighbor ever.... :). but not all bad...

And theres the swimming pool I bought for the dog, lucky marly that my son calls linda. imagine me asking paypal what my forgotten password hint is, they gave a clue, its the name of your pet...ok lucky? marly? max the cat? i had no idea... the lady narrowed it down a bit more...and told me a letter it has in it...what?? oh yeah .. how could i forget that. thanks for the strong hints. They could tell i was clearly clueless to that and suggested i write down my passwords from now on. Problem is i would lose the note they are written down on when i put it in that ever so safe spot they also suggested i use...that is the same spot, i have forgotten where i decided to use and need a very important paper from!

yep the dog hates water. so the pool was useless to cool off or play in for him. i put the plastic pool in my driveway to lessen the loss of berries, and to help lessen the slippery berry coating on my driveway....of course. it would. rain. and fill the pool halfway up with berries and water...that the birds also seemed to love having a bath in as i painted the buffet nearby...am thinking the berries in the water will just have to be for the birds...not even taking those in the house. I did manage to pick tons yesterday and froze them in a vintage tupperware container. i will make something out of them soon! and so many more to pick still.

finally broke down and spent a little more on paint than usual for heirloom traditions chalk paint. gypsy green hillbilly blue and buttermilk. perfect colors to start out with and it dries so darn quickly! love that time saver for sure.~ will seal everything with polycrylic water based sealer to avoid wax, and to avoid discoloring over time. already avoiding sanding and that is my favorite thing of all since sanding is my least favorite thing of all~

stay tuned and check back often...i cleared out an estate sale, well sort of, brought home quite a few things...the house was filled from top to bottom, and that is no exaggeration! with a majority of the inventory being dolls, quilts, and chickens and rooster figurines and statues. i could not believe how many roosters there were in one house. i now can say i have a couple shelves filled with them in my mcm hutch. just may even post a few later on...once i can absorb just how many roosters and chickens i brought home....much less, why i brought home so many...i not only have an addiction to buffets, chairs and unique vintage things, but i have an addiction to chickens and roosters too.  Not really an addiction as i can stop bringing them home anytime cant i? right...

maybe a better explanation is i treasure hunt for great items. and bring home to enjoy all of them until they find new homes.

had a feeling...there was something out there for me...

will add a photo tomorrow.

had a feeling with garbage day tomorrow in my neighborhood that i should drive a few blocks vicinity. getting discouraged after finding a couple 1940s little golden books in a pile of junk (they were in a drawer with no dresser and not a quality drawer either...so it was left behind, but the books came with me...

i thought if the light musty smell from the books wouldnt come off with dryer sheets in a box for a couple weeks i could resort to using the pretty pictures on the pages, and nursery rhymes to decoupage onto little chairs, desks, or bookshelves....then my mind began racing with possibilities of which little chair would go with which picture...didnt come up with anything at the moment and wasnt yet home, so set the books aside and...


i continued on to a few more alleys, just when i thought there was nothing else...i found a little blue painted rocking chair. missing one third of the seat. ugh. at least it was in decent shape otherwise.

deciding i would figure out something with it, i picked it up to put in my suv. lo and behold there lie the mssing piece of the seat in what little grass appeared after the wrath of our long midwest winter.! yay. it can be repaired, wood filled, glued sanded and repainted...

will definitely get a before and after picture of this and add it here.

I figured as cold as it is outside here still, and the little find i was not going to score much else in the local area, and didnt really want to get gas with my last few dollars today so headed home. tomorrow will get the little chair ready for a before picture.

just had a feeling the universe was trying to deliver something to me, i just had to go out and look to find it! two books and a little diy chair paint decoupage project. or rescue two little golden books from musty smells using dryer sheets. maybe a little of both since i can maybe just take copies of a few pages and decoupage them on. win win situation. unless there is a copyright on the pictures from the 40s...hmm. will have to check that out first!

my little table first of the year diy project

This lil table was given to me. It was covered in sticky wallpaper on top, and all painted in chipped brown paint.

i decided to use some lovely 99 cent quarts of paint from my nearby neighborhood Ace hardware store. and gave this little table a brand new look.

still deciding on whether or not to paint the pretty ladderback chair with rush seat or leave it untouched in great condition that fits perfectly with the table. i think leave it as is for now. will get a photo of chair soon to show better what i am talking about.

now it is fun funky colors and will look great as a very unique piece added to any room. still going to touch it up and add some suprise touches to the top and sides. will work on a second photo of the whole finished project when i am done.

facebook links to pyrex in the midwest! iowa illinois quad cities area

here is a new page on facebook where i will be offering suprise discounts and specials with random new customers and friends who visit and like the page. :).

https://www.facebook.com/pages/The-PyrexGypsy/575109379300376


here is a closed group on facebook...

https://www.facebook.com/groups/midwestpyrexenthusiasts

and Yes! the Quad Cities was a Jeopardy question on the game show...name the cities in The Quad Cities area! my home town stompin grounds... :)

if you missed it or really dont believe me, or are just curious, please do check out one of our local radio stations that shared a link to the Jeopardy video :). http://97x.com/the-quad-cities-were-featured-as-an-answer-on-jeopardy/

Pickle Soup or Zupa Ogorkowa (google translate to learn how to say that ;) )

With the holidays coming up, Easter and such I thought back to the beautiful Easter eggs painted for Polish holidays. What talent!

just found this website with pickle soup. or in polish zupa ogorkowa. What does that have to do with Easter eggs? Nothing, i got side tracked thinking about making soup...

 Being part polish and hungarian I just decided to start researching that portion of my family tree a bit more. The best part of research is holiday customs, and great new recipes that are pretty affordable to create on a tight budget. they say kids love it. cannot wait to try it. seems fairly inexpensive to make and would go great with cheese biscuits fresh from the oven. 

So glad to have found so many recipes and webpages with great things to try! not sure about testing my skills painting detailed easter eggs yet though...that may have to wait just a little bit longer..

I do not get credit for sharing this link, and do not claim creation of the following link. I would like to thank the author however, for all the wonderful foods to try! http://www.agataspolishrecipes.com/zupa-ogorkowa-1.html