Part Laura Ingalls, part Martha Stewart

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Sometimes, reading throught the postings on this forum, I feel a little out of place in the group. While I'm as much a back-to-the-lander as anyone, I also have another side to my personality that is just as important, and sometimes at odds with, my homesteading self. I refer, of course, to my inner GIRL .

While I do shop the Goodwill and SA for clothes, etc. I won't buy anything that isn't stylish and well fitted (excepting work clothes, of course). I would rather sit on the floor than pay wholesale prices for an ugly couch. I love the idea of matched table settings (shopped for lowest price, of course) and tea parties, of hand-embroidered cutwork curtains (thank goodness I'm crafty), and all the other accoutrements of "la dolce vita", a sort of neo-euro-lifestyle that most people dream of when they're drooling over interior design magazines and the ubiqutous lifestyle catalogs that show up in the mail everytime you order anything from anyone. I read Oprah magazine because its the only "womens" mag that isn't either anti-male and full of condescending and useless lifestyle "advice" or so inoffensively "soccer mom" that it says a lot about nothing, for fear of losing subscribers. I am neither man-hunting, nor in need of another pattern for plastic canvas toilet paper covers (not to be insulting - if thats your thing, go for it). I like to get made-up and dressed up and go to the theatre and eat out (modestly) from time to time, and I love to can and preserve my own food. I love the country life, and the city lifestyle. I am a Green Acres episode all by myself.

I don't share some homesteaders tolerance of permanent duct tape fixes, although temp repairs are okay as long as I know it is temp. I don't go in for the rustic deco of whatever works, stays, (a la rusty bucket magazine holders, old-bent-nail coat hooks, and other "shabby chic" permutations). I buy quality if I can find it at a do-able price, and when I have to make do with sub-standard interim measures, it grates.

Now, don't get me wrong - this isn't a status thing. I buy art, but could care less if anyone else sees it. I like pretty clothes, but am indifferent to designer labels or lack thereof. I drink capachino because I like it and not to appear hip. I know that shampoo is shampoo and buy, accordingly, the cheapest toiletries and cosmetics that work. I buy Volvo and Mercedes, for safety, resale value and style/comfort (in that order), but only if I can pay cash (usually $4000 and under), and I would never buy a high status car that was unsafe or had a rep for falling apart, just to be seen in it.

I love to entertain, not to show off, but out of sheer enjoyment of giving myself and them a good time, even going so far as to hunt down cheapo university kids who need exposure/money to play chamber music or serve guests at an outdoor buffet-thingy. I always enjoy myself, and I never spend more than I can easily afford, which isn't much (college kids are such an under-used resource - they work for peanuts, comparitively, and usually preclude having to deal with leftovers!)

I enjoy all of this while at the same time simplifying my life in the big ways, by using as little energy and water resources as possible, growing a lot of our food, canning, keeping debt to a neccessary minimum (gotta have a credit rating of some sort to get a later mortgage, or I wouldn't even bother), and living lightly on the land as far as permenant damage or disturbance of the world around me. I don't like plastic both for reasons of esthetic value and health/ecological reasons. China eventually biodegrades and doesn't leach cancer pre-cursers into my bouch de noel. I hope to eventually get to the point of being nearly self-sufficient (no salt mining or coffee growing plans, however) while still maintaing my lifestyle. I've come to the conclusion that if you only need $7000.00 a year to live on, making another $2000.00 for a European cruise/tour is a snap. It's nearly impossible to work at all in the "real world" and make less than $10,000.00 without part-timing it, which leaves me plenty of lee-way to pick and choose my job preferences. And if you look hard enough, you can find ways to travel cheaply or at no cost at all (courier services, work/travel such as cruise ship employment or tour guide services, etc.) not to mention fellowship grants, research grants, so on and so forth. I'm very creative and psychologically flexible, and thank Whomever, still healthy, so it's all a big adventure to me.

Does anyone else out there share my tastes, or am I the lone "landed gentry wannabe" on the forum. Please note that class seperation issues are not my thing. I was born poor white trash and have nothing but love for my fellow world inabitants of any and all backgrounds. But my poor white trash Mother was also a rabid Anglophile who filled our childhood with croquet games, tea parties and dress-up games between garden chores and livestock tending. I love the "good life" and the "simple life" and am firmly convinced that one can enhance the other, and that they are not mutually exclusive. After all, isn't the biggest gripe about real landed gentry that they use up more than their fair share of resources and so on, not their lifestyle per se?

I just wanted to see if anyone out there felt the same way that I do. I don't begrudge anyone their lifestyle, and don't look down on anyone as beneath me, even if they do have potpourri in a country duck-shaped plastic bowl (ha ha). I just have different tastes and am looking for any fellow Marthas, male or female. Maybe we can get together one day and discuss the pros and cons of tractor renovation vs buying new over expressos, cucumber sandwiches, and homemade cocoa meringues. Any comments? (now that's a pointless question if ever there was one - like we could post anything on this forum without drawing endless commentary!)

-- Kilroy (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000

Answers

Kilroy, I got a chuckle out of your post! I'm probably more Laura than Martha, but there is a little bit of Martha in me, too. I like lace curtains rather than cutwork, but hate the cheap polyester kind you get at Walmart. I like to have matching dishes and silverware on the table (even if it is white Corelle -- timeless classic -- and stainless rather than real silver). I agree with you about *temporary* patches and fixes that become permanent -- that gets frustrating really fast. I don't like tacky kitsch in my house -- I also don't like a houseful of knick-knacks that collect dust and just clutter the place up. I like clean lines (Swedish or Shaker styles) and space, with enough personal touches such as rugs, books, and flowers to make the place homey rather than looking like a motel. Does my house look like this? NO! I have a husband who drags many of his projects in to work on them in the living room. He is extracting honey in the kitchen/dining room right now, and tomorrow morning I will have to scrape all the wax and propolis off the floor before I can mop up the spilled honey and the dead bees. Because of his interest in beekeeping, at every birthday and Christmas, he receives MORE bee-related knick-knacks!! I put a whole box-full away in the attic last year, and the fireplace mantel is almost full again! This may sound like a tirade against my husband, but in his defense, he doesn't buy most of the knick-knacks. I try to keep our belongings thinned down to the essentials that are actually being used, and get so frustrated -- as I take stuff out on one hand, here is all this *junk* coming in on the other hand!

I suppose my family would have been classed as *poor white trash* too by some -- we never had much money, raised or hunted/fished for almost all of our food, didn't have a nice house. The first houses I can remember living in weren't much more than tar-paper shacks, some without running water or electricity. But Mom kept us clean, insisted on good table manners, introduced us to good music and art, taught us basic etiquette and how to properly set the table, tried to teach us to speak French and to square dance (without much success in either instance!!), and read aloud to us and encouraged us to read. We never felt poor -- we were really rich in everything that matters most. All this just to say that living without much money, and living *poor* are not the same thing. So, yes, you can be both Laura and Martha -- actually, from what I know of Laura, she was a lot like Martha in a down-to-earth version. They kept their standards up, even when they had almost nothing. And Martha probably would, too!

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), August 27, 2000.


Hi Kilroy, don't think you're out of place at all! We homesteaders are a diverse group. I love working in the house to the music of The Irish Tenors and Andrea Bocelli. (Springsteen too!) Absolutely love Plays, ballet and Broadway music. Would have every pattern of dishes if I had the money and room. We don't entertain, but since I was little, I loved a beautiful table setting. Don't do it much day to day, but I go all out for the holidays. I usually cook regular meals, but when it comes to desserts, I love to try something fancy.

But, when I get outside I'm a regular slob! Can't stay clean no matter how hard I try. Always dirt on the seat of my pants, from sitting on the ground. No long fingernails, dirt gets under them. Haven't figured out how to keep them from getting stained from the tomatoes yet, though!

I guess my point is, people are complex, and they're are many different sides to us all. We can still be homesteaders and like fine art and Shakespear.

Besides, to me, they're is no one that lives better than homesteaders do, day to day. We eat the best produce, vegetables and meat that most city folks would have to pay good money to have. We get our excersise outdoors in the fresh air and don't have to go to a stuffy gym. I think we all (homesteaders), live a more refined and richer life than most.

-- Annie (mistletoe@earthlink.net), August 27, 2000.


I loved your post also, Kilroy. I have a sign in my kitchen that says Martha Stewart doesn't live here! I really think of myself as a Rosie O'donell, crafty, speak your mind type. Martha's a little on the la-te-day side for me, though I have only respect for a gal who gets screwed by her husband in a divorce and now is one of the wealthiest women in America. I mostly feel "different" on this forum because I don't agree with so many of the womens uncompassionate responces to nearly anything female, especially when it comes to the hard fought rights of the vote, our reproductive choices and choices in general.

I also have very little tollerance for my husbands use of duct tape and especially his plumbing fixes. If he did some of the things to his customers that he does to me, he would be very broke very fast! I do have your taste it the good things, though I am also one who is willing to wait for nicer things when the kids are grown and gone. Waiting? How about a travel trailer with everything in storage for 3 years why we built our house out of pocket. So nicer furniture and the trapping I so adore will wait some more till kids are gone. Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.


The wonderful thing about being a homesteader is how diverse a group we are. I have a pecan wood grand piano sitting in my living room not quite far enough from my wood stove (as far as possible though). I love tea parties, nights at the opera, a really good theatrical production, Shakespeare, rodeos, livestock auctions, murder mysteries, dining out at a medium priced resturant with great atmosphere and watching my animals make a mess of my yard. I hate tacky. Especially tacky temporary fixes that become permanent. I have lace curtains, and now that I'm alone, my bedroom is very girlish. I painted the old hen house because the sight offended my sense of style. Then I made a wreath and hung on the side of it. This is on the back of my property where it is only seen by friends and family. I don't need expensive. Function before form. I like everything clean but, I am pragmatic. I live in the country with animals and teenage boys. I seldom get what I want. I think there are a lot of us. If it is worth doing, it is worthing doing with style, whenever possible.

-- Cheryl Cox (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.

This is hard to answer. Certainly all of us here have a level of appreciation for things of beauty and taste. It will simply be a different definition for each household. I have repainted every room of this old house, some of the floors, too. I have stripped and sanded wood floors, painted picture frames and matting to match my color scheme. Sewn countless drapes and stenciled sheers. I made a quilt to match my new bedroom colors (finished it yesterday!). Removed medicine cabinet and replaced with huge antique mirror and shaving mirror.

Don't have an espresso machine, but love good coffee. Got rid of the electric stove to install a 1946 Magic Chef that suits this house, and uses propane. (The whole kitchen could be from the '40s. The curtain fabric was from Ebay and was feedsack fabric)

I buy my clothes at the thrift, but in public dress so as to command appropriate respect. Jeans are my farm clothes, sweats are for jogging. We have a piano, and a woodstove, but the cookoo clock cost more than either.

My favorite piece of furniture is my Grandfather's (of blessed memory) old desk, on which this computer sits. I love my olive green couch and loveseat, but had to sew slipcovers to protect them from the four children.

I tend to fix more with baling twine than duct tape, but I'm the only handyman around here, so if it isn't bothering me, it isn't bothering anybody. Last Winter I was hanging clothes in the basement and saw sunlight coming through the foundation wall. That duct tape is still there, waiting to be replaced by tuck-pointing with cement.

I'm sure many homesteaders believe in both the "good life" and the "simple life", in fact, many homesteaders think that there isn't much distance between the two. Goats and chickens don't replace fine art and music.

-- Rachel (rldk@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.



Oooops on the original post. The name is Soni (clicked my husbands AKA on accident) I hope that it doesn't set off another round of "who's who behind that e-mail address". I appreciate the feedback, and will look forward to further postings. I'm thrilled that I got the purple font-thingy right. This HTML stuff is too cool.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 27, 2000.

Very interesting post!

Hopefully, there is a little of both Martha and Laura (didn't it used to be Martha and Mary? ha...Biblical joke) in most of us (including some of the men out there, too). Life is too short to not taste a bit of the "high life", if you can. Art, music, good food, wine, quality automobiles, etc.. Taste shouldn't be confused with gluttony, of course, and that's what confuses some people. It's called greed...

I must say that I have lived in both worlds...it got to the point where my husband was going to have to actually buy a tuxedo for all the social things we got ourselves stuck in. It was fun for a while. I don't miss it at all, though. Nor do I miss a lot of my "friends" from back then, either...

I care about how things look, but I care more about what it takes to get it to look that way (i.e: what sweatshop made my clothes; what animal or rain forest died to let me have my furniture; what ad agency got rich off my gullibility) etc. If I can have a life of beauty and quality without compromising my values, I see no problem. Usually that requires a lot more creativity, and isn't that much more interesting anyway? And of course, "less is more".

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 27, 2000.


This is such a great "forum". I feel conflicted all the time with the professional/home personnae I must maintain. I don't feel so crazy any more after reading all your entries. As a consultant who works from home, but has to travel overnight from time to time, I'm required to do the "suit" thing and present a professional front. I'm much more comfortable in my jeans and flannel shirts working with my animals or knitting in the rocking chair. I enjoy classy meals out on occasion, but my favorite things to eat are fresh corn on the cob and tomatoes right from the garden. Follow that with some raspberries off the vine and I'm in heaven. Laura Ingalls Wilder was a "countrified" gal, but she was also an astute business woman who raised chickens (for one thing). Frankly, Martha's life is a little too structured for my taste, so Laura is the more appealling example for me to follow. I think we are a unique bunch in that we "create" our homes and subsequently our "world" rather than letting society create them for us. If you believe the media (advertising and otherwise), there would never be a mismatched piece of furniture, tableware, linen or clothing on or around any of us. Vive la incongruity!!!

-- Laura (lbaumgardner@blazenet.net), August 28, 2000.

I wish I could invite you all over for a tea party right now!!! My sister-in-law calls me "Martha", but my husband more often refers to the Proverbs 31 woman.(I'm not sure he knows who Martha is) I fall short by miles of both, but can't help be somewhat flattered. I'd like my house to look like a Martha Stewart showcase home, but I don't have that knack (or money), and I find I'm more concerned with how the coop looks and keeping my garden in top condition than in interior design. Actually, the more I'm outside seeing the beauty God created, the more I appreciate true beauty inside the house as well - well crafted items, good food, great music, laughter. Soni - thanks for expressing my sentiments so well. And the feelings are contagious. The last thunder storm we had found my 13 year old making coffee and cinnamon toast points and going out on the front porch with a tea tray to watch the storm move in. Perfect picture of Martha/Laura.

-- glynnis in KY (gabbycab@msn.com), August 28, 2000.

Hi Soni, I enjoyed your post! This is neat reading-I was wondering if I was the only lady on this forum with a yearning after the beautiful.In fact,I often liken myself to a Jekyll and Hyde sort-in the sense that I am greatly interested in the scientific and equally interested in the romantic.

Besides reading books related to philosophy and science(from the Christian perspective),I also love a good,CLEAN romance novel (preferably historical).[Anyone else?]

My favorite movies(though I generally don't like movies or tv much) are The Sound of Music and The King and I.(The latteer always makes me sad though.)

My dream for our bathroom:we have a very large bathroom with floral wallpaper and birds and birdhouses hanging here'n'there.In our bathroom,is a large corner tub.I would like to make my own curved,double curtain rod to place on it ivory lace panels and above the panels ivory lace curtains tied back.Ideally,I'd like my curtain rod to look as though it were a gnarled and knotty branch, but perhaps it wouldn't work.

Well, God bless you![I really like this forum!It's so neat to learn,share,encourage and even debate with such a great group of people!]

~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 28, 2000.



Oops!I wanted to tell Glynnis how wholeheartedly I agreed with her on the beauty of God's creation!

Btw,we also appreciate a good storm.[Of course,if it looks to be a BAD storm,my children and I are camped out in the aforementioned big bathtub with a mattress over our heads!]

~~Tracy~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 28, 2000.


You go girl!! Soni, I can definately relate...both hubby and I have fine arts degrees and some real artsy-fartsy new york friends who LOVE to visit but couldn't imagine getting thier hands dirty on a regular basis or getting out of a warm bed to go milk the goats.

I think it's true that "countrysiders" in general are a very diverse group but a common thread is love of home and hearth. We often get accused of "living in our own world", If I can make that world as calm and beautiful a place as possible to raise my children and live my life, I say why not? To me, atmosphere is everything! Right now hubby and I are working on putting in a flagstone patio topped by a pergola that with eventually be covered with plenty of wisteria vines. Why? To have a place to relax with a good glass of merlot after the kids are in bed .....as we watch the sun set on the farm projects of the day....life doesn't get any better than that!

Love that idea on the chamber music playing students!

-- Judy in Md. (Trailhppr@msn.com), August 28, 2000.


You mentioned travel. I once met a woman who was a 'profession travel companion.' She would travel usually with older men, sometimes women. No sex involved. Some people just don't like to travel by themselves or even as just another member of a group. Don't remember the financial arrangments, but it was something like full room and board with extra for her time. Part companion, part guide. She had been all over the world. She was just at home in a sleezey bar as in a four-star restaurant. Knew several languages and was well versed on a variety of subjects. I found the concept interesting.

-- Ken S. in TN (scharabo@aol.com), August 28, 2000.

Boy, I sure am glad that I posted this thread. I feel so much less a split personality and more and more like I'm not alone out here with my tea cups and scones with lemon curd. I always thought that I was lost, directionally speaking and just couldn't bear to make up my mind and give up on either dream life. Now I realize that I'm not the lonly soul making a go at forging a single, content life that includes simplicity and harmony with art, beauty, and a good red wine. You guys are my saving grace, emotionally speaking. Danke.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 28, 2000.

How about the best of both worlds. Homesteading and Martha Stewart are both do it yourself. I really like plain because it's quiet. I love color especially on walls/ceilings Part Victorian, part early American, part woodsie/natural, part plain, all very balanced. Last year I had tea parties in my sunflower house, this year the storms knocked them over.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), August 28, 2000.


What lovely posts! I could pick things from all of your posts and call them my own. I love white, no flowered prints! My favourite colour is sage green! I listen to the Messiah some days and Rankin Family the next. I hat clutter, though my room often is. I love to play classical music and we had a yard dance on Friday :O) I like to Irish dance as well and read Shakespeare to myself. I've been told by my parents that I was born 100 years too late :O) Anyway, I agree with pretty much everything !!

-- Abigail F. (treeoflife@sws.nb.ca), August 28, 2000.

My ideal home would be 18th century colonial-Shaker; the reality is what my daughter calls "bookcase eclectic." My dream is a cabin; the reality is two trailers put together with bits of new windows and such, and pieces that I hope to transfer to my dream cabin...a tin candle ceiling chandeleir (yard sale!), lots of tin candle wall sconces, saltglaze pottery (lots of Willimasburg pottery), and wooden kitchen utensils and bowls, all well oiled, and my spinning wheel and loom, and handmade rag rugs.

The dream and reality get into a tug of war at times, and I am learning to balance them. Hubby and I were just talking about this last night. I need to learn to be happy with the reality! I'm a- workin' in that one :o)!!!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), August 29, 2000.


I'm a little of Laura & Martha both! We have lived with a live style that would not give me the chance to live my homestead livestyle we live now! I have realized as I have gotten oldier---don't wait to use the crystal, the linen, the china for special occasions!!!!!!!!! I make "special occasions" out of our daily life to use them now!!!!! Instead of packed away & used not as often as we should/ to enjoy them! I have been an "antique dealer", for many moons & have lots of nice table services, tons of fine crystal/china, & glassware, etc. -- as my daughter grew up at home/ we used them for only special occasions--now I break them out when ever I can. My daughter who has young boys is afraid they will break something--I tell her, if they break it--then, they will have to find the replacement piece for them selves when they inherit it!Ha Lets enjoy!!!! Life is way too short to not use the things I have packed away for "Special times", I now make everyday "special" in one way or another--who knows it might me my last! We have been blessed to enjoy the arts, music/ fine dinning/ & cinnamon rolls out of a woodstove oven--to baby ducks & geese in my living room in a wadeing pool with a heat lamp--I'm too old or opinionated/ or what ever to care to impress anyone else. I do like to entertain our friends & family & have been blessed as to have been taught how to make it enjoyable for others, as well as our selves.The poem "that when I get old I'll wear purple"--just look for me I'm the one in purple--with the latest trend in a short hair cut/ goddy ear rings/ & laughing! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), August 29, 2000.

Soni, I too loved reading your post. I was glad to find that there are more of us "split personality" types on here.

I was born and raised in England and grew up on tea, scones and my grandma's homemade lemon curd!! At three o'clock everything stops for tea!

I can't walk past a magazine rack!! When I'm not reading countryside or browsing the posts on the forum,(or pitching out the barn) I'm leafing through Victoria, Country Living, or Mary Englbreight's home companion. I love to look at all the beautiful rooms and dream. Then I try to figure out how I can acheive similar effects with what I have handy. I found you can create wonderful archetectural details from plywood and white polymer clay!! The clay can be manipulated into flowers and leaves and baked in an old toaster oven. Looks just like ornamental plaster.

My long suffering neat freak husband's always complaining about the piles of magazines and books that I have to have close at hand. Not to mention the paints, brushes and sketch pads he has to keep clearing off the kitchen table. His favorite comment: " Girl, your a piece of work!"

Right now I'm in the middle of a trompe l'oeil mural in the foyer, and putting up molding around the living room. And a thousand other ideas floating around in my head.

I saw a man at the Home Depot last week carrying a large pine porch pillar. A vision of our future four poster bed flashed before my eyes!

Well, now it's time for another cup of tea and a a shortbread biscuit. Wish you could all come over!

Pauline in NC.

-- Pauline (tworoosters_farm@altavista.com), August 29, 2000.


Pauline, love your idea about the polymer clay mouldings. I'd heard of using bondo to replace broken out bits from a crown moulding, etc., but it shrinks a bit. I shall have to try the clay.

I also belive that we should not save the dishes for later, but rather use them now, only for slightly different reasons: people save the best stuff for "company" but in reality, who is more important to us than family and self? Let the company eat off of paper if you have to (family does tend to break things!) but always treat your family more importantly than strangers and neighbors. Best manners, best china, best cooking. After all, if Mr. and Mrs. Highbrow frown on your Chinette, just don't invite them to the family Vegetarian Cookout and Croquet Smackdown next year.

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), August 29, 2000.


Croquet smackdown! You kill me! We used to have tournaments for croquet (always at a friend's house). While we didn't have to wear whites or anything (would have been ok...maybe even fun) we did take it more or less seriously. One year we won...and got a magnum of good champagne and two flutes for our "cup". Lovely! Now it's more like horseshoes, beer and beef on the barbecue. Still as much fun though and we can wear jeans...

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), August 29, 2000.

Pauline:My dream bed:A huge bed,mahogany,canopied and veiled with gossamer fabrics.[I can picture it perfectly,but the cannot describe it quite so well.]Of course,a bed with rich velvet curtains would be splendid too!Reality:a lovely white,full-sized,very high iron bed- filled with myself,my husband,our son(almost 2;still sleeps with us) and often our daughter(she is prone to bad dreams at times.).Crowded? Very much so!These years with my children are so much more precious than my daydreaming however.

Croquet:We spent a good chunk of our early lives in CT.(My dad was a missile tech.on the Goerge Washington Carver(a sub))It seems everyone played croquet at gatherings.I thought perhaps it was either a New England thing or perhaps a 70's thing.I guess not!Regardless,It was fun;I have my own set now.Maybe when my little ones are older...

Did any of you read that post a while back on missed Kodak moments? There were so many precious pictures related therein.Truly,what could be more romantic than a country life?So, my many daydreams aside for the moment,I shall enjoy this land the Lord has blessed me with.How truly wonderful to rest after a busy day,to lay in the cool grass watching the children play.To go out on a crisp night with my telescope and look at all the wonders God has put in the sky-no light pollution to contend with...To watch my little son squatting in my berry patch eating his fill of juicy(and not so juicy-lol)berries.

This surely has been fun reading!I'm also glad to know that I'm not alone...

Blessings~~~Tracy~~~

-- Tracy Jo Neff (tntneff@ifriendly.com), August 30, 2000.


Soni, for repairs to moldings you would probably need to to make a mold from the original by pushing the clay against it. Bake the mold then sprinkle some talcumpowder in it and push fresh clay into it to create the new piece. Pull it out carefully and then bake the piece. You might have to do a little sanding or whatever to get it to fit perfectly. I've never made repairs but think that's the way I would go about it.

You know even though I grew up in England I never ever played croquet!! It was always considered something the "well-to -do" played, up there with Polo. You guys have sparked my interest now.

Have a great week end everyone! Pauline in NC.

-- Pauline (tworoosters_farm@altavista.com), August 31, 2000.


Soni, I see nothing at all incongruous about the Laura/Martha image. Have you ever noticed Martha's hands? They are working hands; often rough, short nails and sometimes stained. She's a real do-it-yourselfer who knows her way around power tools.

I'm also glad you posted this. I felt a little guilty saying that my best garage-sale find of the summer was some silver. Can't garden with silver! Now I feel a lot better. And for Tracy Jo: have you thought about a thick grapevine suspended from the ceiling to hang your romantic curtains from? Leave the tendrils! I love the unexpected, too.

-- Peg (NW WI) (wildwoodfarms@hushmail.com), September 01, 2000.


I love that idea! Grape vines are so artistic, aren't they?

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), September 01, 2000.

I think what this comes down to is giving ourselves the permission to live as we please. I have a sister-in-law who doesn't buy anything that doesn't "match" her decor. I have friends who describe their homes as "done in " this or that. That's great if it's what they want. For me, if I like it, it matches. My house is eclectic and so am I. I couldn't possibly define my personality in a few specific terms. Why would I want to live in a home that only fit a specific niche? If I want to have a formal dinner, the baby chicks (actually the last baby critter in the house was a piglet) in a tub in the corner just add to the atmosphere. If someone is uncomfortable with my home, they are probably going to be uncomfortable with me too. Why put a false front on things? What you see is what you get. I love these posts because they help me give myself permission to be who I want to be. This is real life. We've got to live it at our best. We don't have a second chance!

-- Mona (jascamp@ipa.net), September 04, 2000.

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