Dirt Chic

Scenes From Existence

On the road.

Walter.

Ernie sweater.

RPM.

Trusty steed.

Thrift weirdness #1.

Thrift weirdness #2.

Thrift... something.

Wrong.

Stay tuned.

Mesh.

Plastic.

Reading.

Plants.

Yes.

Yearly Ornament Crafting: Check

I didn't know if I would get them done this year.

I started with Owl, and despaired.  And then I picked Roo, because he's so tiny and seemed so easy.  I tried to make the first one, and despaired - just 'cuz I'm rusty at my handcrafting skillz, and his little ears posed the only challenge.

I got over it.

Roo x 8.  It is truly Christmas.  

(Older ornaments here and here :)

A Nostalgic Youthful Interlude Involving Perfume and Cosmetics

One deadline down, another major one to go - but I'll be back on the grid (that is, more on the grid) this next week.  I have to remember that my break from teaching is not actually a break - but I'm still hoping to relax enough to absorb the general holiday festiveness. :)

Time for a break, though.  A short one.

I was at Target last week, getting a few presents, and I was trying to decide on what board books to get my 1-year-old niece, and I spied Pat the Bunny.  I LOVE Pat the Bunny.  I think I gave it to my oldest niece (someone did), but then another niece (her sister), completely destroyed it.  So I did not choose it.  But there was an open copy - and I couldn't resist.  I had to sniff the flower page.

I LOVE the flower page.  My copy of it no longer smells like anything, but the fragrance is so subtle and wonderful, and particular to this book.  I have a small bottle of perfume oil that gets close to it - but not quite.  Whoever publishes Pat the Bunny, needs to release this fragrance.  Because I bet people would buy it (if they knew about it, that is.  Who knows, maybe they already have.  I have actually done no research, as yet).

Sensory nostalgia is potent, period.  I recently became obsessed with getting a hold of Benefit Cosmetic's discontinued "Georgia" peach powder, for various reasons.  Then I realized why. 

Please note the aesthetic similarities between the plums and the peach.  Illustration from a vintage copy of The Color Kittens, a Little Golden Book (beware of the remade contemporary version - blech).

I love this powder.  They have it at Ulta right now, in a set, for $19.  Not cheap, but a whole lot better than one powder retailing for a whopping $28.  Sheesh.

Alright.  Back to work.  But before I go, let me share the inscription:

Good ol' Uncle Grubby... whoever you are.

Everything Else: A Weekly Dispatch

I've been lax about writing about anything but clothes, because it's fast and EZ.  I haven't been lax in other stuff.  Stuff.

So I bring you a week in pics.

If you look closely, you will see my favorite street performer, with his trusty Casio.  I prefer his instrumentals, though he has an enjoyable voice as well.  I first encountered him playing The Washington Post March.  This is on my drive home from RMU.  (Also, note OSC.)

I don't have time to cook, but I read cookbooks sometimes, before I go to bed.  This one is vintage.  As if you couldn't tell.  Please note the first sentence.  Maybe instead of going back to cooking, I will take up jade-carving.

Pickled things at Schnuck's.  Shnucks?  Shucks.  Can't remember how to spell it.

I wanted to get this at a book sale.  I might get it, still.  I love these kinds of books.  I don't know who James Kirkwood is, and maybe I should.  I can't resist insider tales of times gone by.  Or mad playwrights.

Playwrights write plays with cast lists like this.  I want to be these three roles.  At once.  Stat.  (Dr. Faustus)

A choice mod wall-art panel at an antique store, too expensive.  But what a dame.

Yes.  (Creative Writing textbook)

In beauty news, Mary gave me this Barbie.  I was and am very pleased, though I'm not a big Barbie person.

I read this and questioned my essential self: "do you have beauty action arms?"

She powdered her legs.  This is from the 80's.  ?!?!  Did she pay special attention to her knees?!?!

Unrelated to anything, Pa Ingalls looks like my dad did about 20 years ago.  Just sayin'.  (On the Banks of Plum Creek)

My sunglasses broke.  I glued them.  They broke again.  I glued them again, and stuck the Krazy Glue in my purse.  However, I tried on my vintage frames again, in the daylight, to see if I could pull it off.  I'm thinking not.

I love my sunglasses.  And I love clothes.  I just do.  And I got dressed today.  In this $8 beaded sweater I picked up at SalArmy the other day, on a quick trip to grab a prize for my friend Jen, because she is glitter-tastic and awesome.  (I thought she should have a DC shout-out as well. :)  I saw this sweater sticking out of the rack.  I'm sort of not super-into sweaters.  I didn't even try it on.

I don't always need to try it on.  

Sometimes, a lot of times, I can just grab stuff off the rack and go.  Take it and run with it.  

Let this be my big, wise, metaphor for life.

But I did pay for it first.  Whatever that means. ;)

Sweet, or Sad?

I am not in the habit of picking up toys at thrift and antique stores, as much as I love them (toys, but also thrift and antique stores) - mostly because it's a highly unwarranted expense.  I mean, I could justify a lot of purchases if I just think about the nieces and nephew - but then I remember the thing about being frugal.

However.  Mission Mart.  Orange tags half off.  I find this vintage Fisher-Price "Roly Poly Chime Ball" with a price tag of $1.99.  Sheesh.

I take it up to the counter, and the cashier goes apecrap over it.  

She: "Ohhhhhhh, I love this so much.  I had one when I was little." (She then plays around with it a bit before putting it in a bag.)
Me: "Yah, it's fun.  I like finding toys from my youth."
She: "That's why I priced it higher than I normally would've.  I do that sometimes, with toys I had when I was a kid."

I just look at her.  She priced it at $1.99.  I couldn't decide if I thought it was sweet, or a little bit sad.  I've seen these toys at antique stores for much higher than a buck (which was what it ended up costing).

Funny, the differing conceptions people have of value.  :)  Though I don't doubt whatsoever that she values this toy.

Today's Garage Saled Items: Small Collections.

I gave myself $10 this week to go garage saling/thrifting.  It ended up being very satisfying.  I didn't even spend the whole $10.

A phalanx of Strawberry Shortcake pets!  Actually, I only found the turtle at a garage sale - 25 cents - but it made me really happy to put him with the rest of the pets I have.  I don't know his name.  I love turtles, though.  LOVE THEM.

A bag of matchbooks for $1.  I love vintage matchbooks, because I actually use them (candleaholic) and because they, along with postcards, are one of my favorite ways to enter into the not-so-distant past.  

Here are some favorites.  Along with a random I Like Ike button. :)  

Um, I didn't buy these.  Grandma Hamm presented them to me when I saw her yesterday.  Super-awesome, huh?  The big rhinestone one on the bottom right is my favorite.  It's huge.  Not normally my style, but I will make it work.

:) Yay not-shopping-as-much.  Makes these kinds of finds that much more fun. :)

Lasting Reminders of Small Children

After Eowyn and Emmy left, I kept finding things here and there.  And everywhere.

This is not how I normally decorate.  Though it's not that far off. :)

I Make Rabbits (as Do Rabbits)

The Annual Pooh Ornament-A-Thon was a success.

The key to my success?  Picking Rabbit.  ("Picking Rabbit" - future play title, ha ha)  

My first clue was when I got all SEVEN (I have the addition of Ayla and Margot this year to my lovely existing gaggle of little people) of them cut out...

...all while watching White Christmas. :)  (Please note half-formed Piglet body.  I should've thrown that one on the garbage pile.  It tricked me.  It was defective, but I only realized this after toiling over it more - I then realized that I had done it wrong the year before, but felt bad throwing it away.  Geez.)

Then I just spent the next day going to town on them all.  It helped that I had port wine cheeseball and garlic crackers.  And coffee.  And Sufjan (Age of Adz - it didn't occur to me to listen to his Christmas albums, der).

They were just very simple.  2 pages of instructions, 7 pieces.  

The posse grows.

The posse is Named.  (I was semi-ghetto about the name embroidery, but they are spelled correctly and distinguishable, so who cares.)

The posse becomes a phalanx.

Yay Rabbit!

...And I did complete some Piglets that I didn't get to last year.  Which probably has more to do with my recognizing the ease of Rabbit, as Piglet is adorable but CONSUMING.

...I have Tigger, Owl, and Kanga/Roo to choose from for next year, and those are all involved, too.  That's k.  I'm going to start in on them as soon as the weather gets cold (again).

TTI: Mini Minnie Purchase

Mental Health Day is perhaps Mental Health Week.

Do you ever have issues with being depressed?  I know it's complicated.  I also know I just need to give my self a break.  As in, my self-self.  I think I've just been... doing too much.  Thinking too hard.  Etc.  

I did not want to go thrifting today, but someone made me mad about sequins, so I was looking for more for vengeance.  ;)  Lol.

No sequins.  But this brightened my mood:

She belongs with me.  And now, to me.  Fits right in.  One huge dollar.  :)

TTI: Wooden Mobile

Ever have one of these?

 
We did, growing up, and then my mom let me cut the wooden figures off their strings.  I don't think this was a bad thing, but it's nice to have the whole mobile.  Especially cool to have it in the box.  Though I'm not actually saving it for anything, and it's just sitting in my office.  Maybe it would make a nice baby shower gift.