It's a Fisher Price Birthday.....

I mentioned in yesterdays post that my friend, Janice, made me open four tissue-wrapped birthday presents early. I opened one at a time to find the cutest Fisher Price toys to add to my ever-growing collection.

We decided we'll need to build shelves in my craft room/studio to house them all. They will definitely add some vintage color and FUN!!!

First up....

This little farmer and his two-wheeled tractor. His back wheels are missing, but the graphics are wonderful. I just love the old Fisher Price toys for their colorful graphics and interactive designs.

The farm animals, his plaid shirt, his denim over-alls, and the cute little straw hat, folded just so on the one side. 

 Missing wheels or not, this toy is such fun eye candy!!!

...and I can't help but be reminded of the "nut" guys Phillip and I made while in Kauai.

Next up, is Huffy Puffy the little train car.

So very cute with its wooden wheels and the engineer holding his lantern.

How about this little race car? 

It's a newer piece with plastic wheels.

But NO less adorable.

...and a close-up of the driver. I'm sure he won a few races in his day!!!

I saved the best for last....

 Do you remember having one of these as a kid?

 Can you guess what it is?

Did you guess it was a Music Box Teaching Clock?

It STILL works like a charm, too!

This is the back of it showing all the hours.

And if all that wasn't adorable enough....

One side of the clock shows each quarter-hour.

Twelve.

Three.

Six.

Nine.

Isn't that the sweetest little girl you've ever seen?

On the other side...

what else, but?

The Four Seasons.

Spring.

Summer.

Fall.

Winter.

Thank you, Janice. I didn't have any of these toys in the collection....Now I do.

'Round Here.....

A couple weekends ago, I took a bunch of pictures of things 'round, here.

It's amazing how many round things you can find when you take a closer look.

So here's a simple, random tour of round, here at our house

The beautiful Spring day - NOT! A whopping 34 degrees!!!

The 1...2...3...4...dial on the old typewriter I bought for Phillip a couple Christmases ago.

The ribbon spool. They don't make 'em like they used to.

An old egg beater gear. Thrifted this a couple of weeks ago. Not only for the patina, but also 

for the red wooden knob and handle. It matches the other red wooden utensils in my kitchen.

I finally scored a vintage Bingo game! I've been looking for one for ages. Yes, they are all over Ebay, but I can't seem to bring myself to pay 3x's the cost of the item for shipping....Or pay upwards of .25 cents each for the numbered markers. Yeah, I guess I really am cheap!!! This one my buddy, Bruce, alerted me to a few days ago. The entire game. Markers, numbers, and all the cards I will ever need. Thanks, Bruce!

A mini-chest of drawers. All of about 16" tall. Eight drawers. Purchased this a few years back for Phillip to store his pirate treasures in. Silver, gold, diamonds, rubies...Yeah, I wish...!

This is one of the side medallions.

Clock Face. This little gem was gifted to me about 6 years ago, by my high school friend and maid of honor, Ginger (who will be my neighbor soon!). Our house had a set of shelves inset in the stairwell wall and she was helping me collect little clocks to fill the shelves with.

The very heavy metal base of my vintage floor lamp. I still need to re-wire it, but I love the patina, the weight and it's milky-white glass lamp shade. I haven't decided if this is going in the guest room or the entry way.

This is the knob of the Fisher Price Happy Birthday music box I got at Sally's last year. I love Fisher Price Toys. I have a little collection of them.....

The top of an old wooden spool I found several years ago.

The rusty old wheel of a race car I found - fun to look at and display in the house.

Keys of the old typewriter.

More of the keys. (Just look at that dust!) That's vintage dust!!! LOL

A round clay plate I found, once upon a time. It has a chip, but I like chips....and salsa...Oh, that's another blog post.....AND....a round wooden game ball. The red line is the only paint left on it. It's very heavy!

A steel egg beater I picked up a couple weekends ago. It has a stamped Pat. April 14, 1863 or 1903 date on it that I can just barely read. I need a magnifying glass...This is the gear end.

This is the beater end.

Not sure if this glass orb is a float or what....It is very thick and has a flat bottom. Do glass floats have flat bottoms? If not, what do you think this was for? Decoration? There isn't any marking.

Lastly, this is my newest acquisition. A vintage scale. I spied it at an antique store here in town the Saturday before last, when Janice and I were bumming around. The store was just about to close, so I put it down and left, not having enough time to ponder it. 

Well, I pondered it all Saturday night, all day Sunday, and all day Monday. I figured it would be gone, but on my way to the grocery store after work, I noticed the store was still open. It closes at 5. It was about 1 minute after. The sign was turned to Closed, but the door was still open. I parked. Popped in. Spied it again. Slapped down a $20. and left with change. Yippee!!!!

I got home. Cleaned it up. Called Janice to tell her about my purchase. Then she chuckled and told me she was going to buy it for me for my birthday.....how sweet of her. 

So instead of gifting me the scale, she surprised me yesterday with an early-pre-birthday gift. Actually, there were FOUR - count them - FOUR gifts...AND she said she has the REAL birthday gift that she's saving to give me on my birthday....! I wanted to wait, and would have waited. I like surprises and have the patience of a mule for getting goodies. Janice, however, has a heart-of-gold and loves to gift-give NOW, NOW, NOW!!! So, I opened all four, tissue wrapped bundles...and you'll never guess what I got......

see ya tomorrow.....

Creative Space....

Yesterday I continued working on my future creative space. It's a chore, no doubt.

I got somewhat sidetracked (big surprise there!) and cleaned up the laundry room. I have to go through the laundry room to get to the creative room, so why not give it a spiffing up too?!

I'm thinking it might be a good idea to hire a drywall finisher to finish out the drywall on the walls and the ceiling. I know this area used to be the original garage of the original house, and the L-shaped walls to the laundry room were probably built as a barrier to keep the clothes from smelling like exhaust fumes, but now I live here, and we have another garage, and I'd like to see the laundry room finished.
(How's that for a run-on sentence?)

Maybe we should even hire an electrician to put the wiring behind the drywall, before having it finished. The industrial, surface mount look in galvanized conduit....well, it just looks like a temporary laundry room space built inside a garage! AND....I like industrial looking lofts and commercial spaces, but I think this is a bit too tacky - even if I was going for an industrial look!

Onward, as I was in disassemble mode (sidetracked again - I was supposed to be mucking out the room!), I removed the wall-of-shelves that were over the peg board that is over the drywall. Talk about layering....

This section of shelves, though sturdy, are made from particle board. If there's one thing I hate more than MDF, it's particle board! Plus, this wall is where I want the set of three windows to go. I like the look of pegboard - painted a cheery color or white - of course, but I have other plans for this area.

Certainly, the peg board would be more useful and serve as a wonderful wall of tool storage, but my heart is set on the windows! Besides, what else would I do with three windows in one rectangle casement? The loose windows I also scored? That's a gimme. We see them everywhere online. All re-purposed in cute ways. But, this grouping is still in the frame, ready to be built into my creative space/laundry room wall.

Below the pegboard/window wall, is an old workbench. After I removed the shelves, the room looked much larger. Nice! The counter top is - you guessed it - painted (and badly stained and swollen) PARTICLE BOARD!!!! Yippee!!!! More particle board!!!! That will have to be replaced with something....

Butcher block? Galvanized sheeting? Formica? Not tile. I don't like grout lines. Hmmm.... 

Then I noticed the ends of the 2x's ...Could it be???

My minds-eye visualized planks, like an old potting bench, but it was probably just the framework.

With my trusty DeWalt driver in hand 

and many screws later....

 

Voila!

Planks all the way - end to end.

Doing the Happy Dance!!!

This baby is gonna get a good sanding, priming and then a few coats of paint. Distressed edges....Oh Yeah!

AND...and here's the best part.....FREE!!!! 

I already have primer and paint - more than I care to admit, actually. I don't have to buy anything!

Do you have solid wood planks under ugly sections of particle board?

Go Fish...

Got what I wanted.......

Happy Days Ahead.