Layered Living: gardening, thrifting, + planning

Hello friends! Welcome to my weekly update of all the things happening over here. It’s been a crazy few weeks and I’m excited to catch up with you. I hope you like this new format. It will allow me to share a bit more, easily provide links, and at the end, it’s super easy to add a comment so I can hear your thoughts.

So, let’s get going on all the hot goss of the week…

This week I had to use my brain a bit to come up with something catchy to call this newsletter. For some reason, it made me think of my brother. He has a name for everyone, like I’m not even sure he has ever just called me Jill. From when I was a child, he called me “Widz” (I can’t even tell you where that came from), and now mostly he just calls me “Smellier”, since I call him “Smell”. He is the classic ‘big brother’.

He is always telling stories. I remember, decades ago, listening to him recount an incident that sounded so compelling and interesting. He’s animated and captivating, and everyone listening to him was enthralled. The funny part was, I remember being there, in the story that he was telling. Later I asked him, “How do you do that?” “What?” “I remember these things you are telling, how do you make them sound so…interesting?”

His answer changed me. He said, “Everyone has a story to tell. You just have to remember how it FELT to be there.” Years later, in the 90s, I was heavily consumed in the scrapbooking industry. I was designing product for companies, engaging with customers to tell their stories through journaling, and writing articles and mini books. In fact, I was sharing my memories and helping others document theirs. I was finally telling my story.

Time Life Books approached my publisher and asked if they could compile my minis into a book, and “Scrapbooking Made Easy” was published. A few years ago, while thrifting with my DIL, we ran across my book at an estate sale! We howled. It was one of those times you realize all the things that you have done in your life, and now you’re secondhand. Hahahahaha!

Apparently the underground newspaper I wrote in elementary school won’t ever see the light of day again (sadly no one wants to know what Jordache jeans Jenny wore on a Friday in 1976), but I’m grateful my smelly brother reminded me how to share a story.

Gardening

This last week I’ve done quite a bit of gardening. Well, not sure it’s ‘gardening’ as much as weeding. In my defense, this spring we were crazy busy. Traveling, up north, helping our kids with stuff, and all the fun things life has to offer. I had purchased some large wood boxes for planters, and haven’t even gotten all the soil yet. Layer by layer. But I did plant my tomatoes and peppers!

But with all the running around, every time I needed to weed it was either raining or above 90 degrees outside. I’ll take a hard pass on that one. So I procrastinated. In spots, our yard looked like we were auditioning for the filming site for the next Jurassic Park. My grandsons would love that!

Anyway, a few things I discovered. One, weeds grow the best of anything else in my garden and if you leave them alone long enough, they get pretty tall. And two, I don’t hate pulling them up. The bummer is, those things grow fast, and then they spread their seed around faster than Nick Cannon. So everything multiplies very quickly. My delay will surely come back to bite me.

So when I later reveal my trip to the jungle, I mean, my backyard. I couldn’t even bring myself to take a picture of the “before”, it was too embarrassing. We even had some jungle drama when we first started.

Hubby was helping me, and I unknowingly sent him into the lion’s den. I needed a shovel that was in the back, in a little tool shed we have. When he opened it, the swarm of yellow jackets who had claimed it as their own were not happy that he was disrupting things. Yikes! He got stung like 14 times (luckily not allergic) so now we’re all suffering (hahaha).

Oh lesson number three, keep an eye out for any swarming activity before approaching areas you haven’t been in recently. That’s what neglect does to you. But at least I have five itty-bitty tomatoes that are ripe, the first of the season.

Thrifting

I hit up a few estate sales last week, always on the hunt for my own collections and stuff to resell in my antique booth. This week I got a few good things, and a few amazing finds! I took a pile to my warehouse, and brought home a few things for me.

You know, I’ve been collecting milk glass since I was a teenager, so if I find some good pieces, they are coming home with me. I got a great little vase, which I love the shape, and a few other pieces. I also found an ironstone pitcher, to match a few I have.

But the two best things I found were, one, this little original floral oil painting. For $30, it was a great little find to add to my collection. I added some gold rub and buff to the frame, and now it’s sitting pretty with some friends on our bedroom mantle.

Have you ever tried rub and buff? It’s the coolest thing! It’s a weird consistency, like gold leaf and wax mixed together. It dries quickly and is very forgiving to work with. You can see that it took this brown and black frame to a patina gold one in minutes! You should try it if you like gold finishes.

Next, my favorite find was this mercury glass tree topper. I never find these in the wild! And if I do even find them in an antique shop, they are like $80 or higher. I got this one for $12! I almost hyperventilated! Plus, this has great detail and nice colors.

I have several of these and display them at Christmas time, not on a tree. You can see how in this post of my Christmas home tour from last year.

Planning

The last thing that took up my time this week was lots of planning. Not only for the garden, but for the next project that I am going to tackle.

Our little “bunk room” (as we call it even though there are no bunk beds but a trundle) is one I will be finally finishing. It’s where my grand babies come and stay when we have sleepovers.

When my oldest granddaughter came over, I showed her some color swatches and wallpaper samples and we picked out some things to finish it. I have some cute vintage toys that I will decorate with, when my decor projects are done.

But right now I’m planning and prepping it all, so when I go and do it, it will go quick!

In the garden, I’m wandering in the early evenings to daydream and plan the next layer that needs to happen there. I have some important tasks to handle before fall, and then the rest can be planned through the winter and implemented next spring.

Okay you guys! It’s time for our new word of the month.

If you’re just joining us, instead of making a list of New Year’s resolutions that we’ll never look at again, this year we have picked a new focus word for each month. They all begin with RE, and they are the starting point for some monthly goals we have been making. So far we have done REstyle, REthink, REcommit, REdiscover, REmember, REkindle, and REward.

This month our new word is REPLENISH! However you interpret that into your plan, I know you can make it work for you. That might mean a trip to Costco, to replenish the cupboards before the kids go back to school. It could mean that you assess your schedule, and replenish the time to organize or feed your soul that you may have thrown at the wind while playing throughout the summer.

However you may want it to work for you, ponder it a bit, and see what comes to you. I have several goals I’m making for work and personal with our new focus word.

Until next week

Thanks for spending some time with me this week. Drop a comment below of how the monthly word can work for you, what you have been up to, or tell me about some amazing find you’ve discovered this summer.