Sam & Libby

Just a few pictures of some of the Uncle Sams and Lady Libertys that I have. These, below, I made about 10 years ago, out of landscape timbers. I used sphagnum moss for Libby's hair, and I can see that the birds have again picked some off and have given her a bald spot! This happens every year, so I don't know why I'm surprised. I just didn't think it would happen minutes after we put her on the porch! Sam has a crack running through his face, so he will need a little cosmetic surgery before I put him away until next year!

I made two of these big Sams a few years ago, and they just about did me in! I gave the other one to my sister. She decorates in the Americana style, so he is on her porch year-round. He is over 5' tall, and the light in his bag lights up at night. You can click on any picture to enlarge it. I used potato sacks for the bag. I found a picture of him in Country Sampler magazine, and I liked him so much that two of my friends also made him at the same time. Note to self: Make sure you've got the right jigsaw blades before you try something like this again!

I made this goofy pair out of the paint stirrer sticks that you get when you buy a can of paint, and popsicle sticks for the arms!

I didn't make this lady liberty, but I love how she is very plain, until you look at her sparkly crown! Well, I finally got all the lights up for the 4th. I've got a reputation to uphold! I decorate for every holiday, and although I don't do as much as I used to, I always try to make the house look cute, and as I'm looking down my block, I see no decorations at all, but most importantly I do see two flags. Do you decorate your house for every holiday? Are you the only one on your block who does? Please share!

Estate Sale Finds

I am participating in the thrifty party over at Southern Hospitality, so if you would like to see other bloggers' finds, stop in. All of these items came from an estate sale. I have a love/hate feeling about estate sales. I love that there's a houseful of stuff, so you're bound to find something, but I hate the sign-up at 7AM (or getting a number), and then I have to come back at 9AM and can't get in a moment sooner. I hate that the pros running the sale have to get their cut, so alot of times the things are overpriced to me. AND, as I've mentioned before, it makes me sad to go through a deceased person's stuff. All that being said, I am done whining! I went back two times, and here is what I got:
Three little tablecloths, in mint condition. $3 each. They're so pretty, I can't stand it!

A cherry tray, which went behind my vintage glasses right away! It was 50 cents.

The bottlebrush wreath, which I have a collection of (big surprise...what don't I collect?), for 50 cents and the elf was also 50 cents. I loved these little guys when I was little, and I think everyone had one, didn't they?

The little windmill was $1.00, and went on my shelves on the back porch right away.

I'm real excited about finding one of these birdfeeders! When a squirrel sits on the bar, it closes access to the food! I had stopped feeding the birds the good stuff (sunflower and safflower seeds) because the squirrels were getting up on the feeders and just chowing down. With this feeder, the cardinals and bluejays will come back again. Yay!

Now, you may be asking, why would she spend good money on a squirrel figurine when she just said that they drive her crazy? Well they do drive me crazy, but they're also so cute when they chase each other up and down a tree, or hold their food (birds' food) in their little paws. And I feel bad because I just had to scrape a headless one up with a shovel in my garden and dispose of it. Oh, I hope I don't encounter that head somewhere else in the garden!

This cement cat statue was $5.00, and worth every penny to me, although I just noticed that she is missing the tip of her tail! I have named her Penelope.

I got this lunchbox and little purse on the second day, when everything was half off. I guess that is another good thing in favor of estate sales: everything is usually half off on the second day. I bet that purse was some little girl's Easter purse! The lunchbox is a little mod, but it's cute. And now, for the piece de resistance:

Isn't it so pretty pretty?! I had two others at one point, and I sold them. I'll enjoy this one for a couple days, but then it's going on Ebay this week. I hope you found some treasures this weekend. I will be spending this next week decorating for the 4th, and weeding. I am so behind, but what with all the vacations, it wasn't a priority. I'll also show you, on the 4th, something else that I got this weekend, and it will help explain why I chose the name "Old Glory Cottage" for my blog!

Vintage Thingies Thursday or I Went to Wisconsin And All I Got Was This Crummy Teapot!

This is going to be an action-packed post! I'm participating in Vintage Thingies Thursday, so if you'd like to see other bloggers' vintage thingies, check it out. So I'm back from Wisconsin, and our Girls Gone Wild Weekend, and garage saling was a bust. It was so hot and sticky, and there just wasn't anything catching my eye. I got the aforementioned Hall teapot, and that's it. So I had alot of money burning in my pocket when I got back home! I am a new convert to TJ Maxx. Usually nothing "new" comes in this house, except for food! I wanted a birdcage, and I just wasn't finding any at garage sales, so I came home with TWO from TJ Maxx!

This one is pretty durn cute as is, but I wanted it for the garden, so here's what it looks like now:

And this one is quite lovely too, but...

I like this better!

Now for a few vacation pictures. I won't bore you too much, but I had to show you what we had to drive through to get there. It rained so hard that all the cars had to turn their blinkers on, so that we could see each other. A couple times I had to sit under an overpass, because visibility was zero. And it hailed too.

This is my sister Mary, my Mom and me, just before we made ourselves sick by eating too much chicken and dumpling soup, sausage, cabbage rolls, jiternice sandwiches (mixture of pork and....liver. I didn't find this out until this year. Still like it thought), and every flavor of kolackys.

This is my niece Gretchen on the left, and our daughter Liz on the right. She only ate the soup and kolackys!

We had so much fun together, but this was also a sentimental journey. We visited my father's grave, and this is my grandparents barn. My aunt and uncle live there now. I love this barn so much, especially the smell of it: machine oil, hay, earth. Oh, and one last thing. This was a Girls Gone Wild Weekend, and we only had the cops called on us once! No, it's not what you think. I said no nudity on this trip! We were taking pictures of the dam where our grandpa used to work, and someone called the police on us! It had to do with terrorism, but come on, this was a town of 2700 people! So that was my wild weekend!

Father's Day

I'm in Wisconsin right now, visiting my Dad's grave for Father's Day. He passed away in 1991, and I miss him very much. While I'm here, my husband is back in Illinois. I couldn't ask for a better father for our daughter. Happy Father's Day, Honey!

Vintage Thingies Thursday-It's A Makeover Too!

I'm also participating in the Junk Party over at Kennesha's, so pop on over to see other bloggers' junk! This is my vintage thingie for today, but I did a little makeover to it. I love this old kerosene heater. I can't tell you how many times I've painted it! I always have a fern sitting on it for summer, and it gets a bowl of pine cones and a red bow for Christmas. Well, I got sick of that blue color, so...

I painted it sage green, and decoupaged some cherries on it. But then...

I added these lights, and...

now I have a porch nightlight! This Friday, my Mom, my sister, her daughter, my daughter and I are going...

here! It's going to be a Girls Gone Wild Weekend! Minus the nudity! The fest takes place in Phillips, Wisconsin, and people, please believe me when I say that I will be eating my weight in kolaces (kolackys) and cabbage rolls!

Weekend Finds & A Couple Vacation Pics

As usual, if it's Monday, it's time to check out other bloggers' finds at Southern Hospitality. I'm back from my Northwoods vacation, and I thought I'd share some of my treasures that I found. Of course I had to have that scale, because our house is a Sears Roebuck house. It's missing the hands on the scale, but it was only $1. The chicken is yellow, don't know why you can't see that. The tomato canisters will go on my porch, and that little lunchbox will be for some kind of storage. This old house only has 2 closets, so storage is a desperate issue!

Lots of little knick-knacks. I love that little purse flower pot--I wish I could find a money plant to put in there! The old mirror was $1.50, but you probably can't see it very well. No matter where I hung it on the wall, it reflected all the the stuff I still have to unpack!

The floral picnic basket arrived from Ebay just before our trip. I still can't believe it wasn't a battle to win that!

This little guy greeted us as we pulled in to the resort. Go Pack Go!

This was the view from our cabin door. Storms are rolling in. It was a very chilly and damp week, but we still managed to have fun....

as you can see by the smile on Mr. Old Glory's face, after he caught a Northern. The fish weren't biting, but the mosquitoes were! I didn't catch anything big, so no picture of me!

Geese, and lots of babies!

We saw quite a few deer...

And this is one of the beautiful sunsets we saw. It was like the sky was on fire! There is nothing like the Northwoods, even when the weather isn't that great. God's Country, for sure! And what's even better is that I get to go back up there in 5 more days...

A Stroll In The Garden

Come take a stroll with me through my gardens. I love the color of that window, and that statue. I've been told he is either St. Francis, or St. Fiacre. Either way, I like him so much that I have two!

I made this birdhouse when the Purple Martin house that I had up there became infested with bees and started to rot. This is right by the property line, where my neighbor doesn't weed, so I had Liz (daughter) Photoshop some of the wild shrubbery! I wish I could remember the name of this clematis...


This clematis is finally staring to wind it's way up the windmill. Liz hates the windmill, because she thinks it makes the yard to farmy looking. I love it, and I guess I should have taken a picture of the whole thing. Ah well, next time!

This is one of my favorites, above, Corydalis Lutea. It blooms from April 'til hard frost. It's a perennial, can you believe it?!

Love the native Columbine too.

Lotsa violas, and a rooster!

Dames Rocket blooming profusely by the lamppost.

A friend made this pot out of a tortilla warmer, so that it goes around an umbrella pole.


I will be leaving Saturday for the Northwoods of Wisconsin, and my mother and I will be staying in a cottage by the lake. She was born and raised up there, so we always look forward to this trip, as we have alot of relatives there. I will be gone for a week, so this last picture is how I better find these flowers when I come back!! This is probably 25% of the annuals that I usually plant, but I didn't want to overwhelm my family by expecting them to keep it all alive! Oh, and just so you know, there is NO WIFI, AND NO CELL SERVICE!! I need to use a pay phone when I want to call home. But it's good antiquing and garage saling up there, so wish me luck, and you all have a great week!