I wanted to get a picture up today for the Corners of My Home group. I've been cruising around the house, camera in hand, trying to find a simple area that evokes some nice emotions. I keep looking at things. Things? Materials things aren't REALLY supposed to make me happy. But they do. Everything in our house has history. I found them, or built them, or someone gave them to us. They have my energy, time, and once in awhile my blood in them. They have soul.

It may not be all that interesting to others, but I found an area with a bit of history for me. This is in our dining room. I found this little cabinet at a garage sale when I was a girl of 11 or 12. I went home and begged my mom for the $15 they wanted for it and went back to get it. There was a broken piece on the bottom, and my neighbor carved a little piece of wood to repair it. I sanded it and painted it white and used it in my bedroom to hold my doll collection. Years later, when I got married and moved out, I took it with me. Painting the doors tan and adding new pulls (garlic & peppers) gave it a more dining room feel. Now it holds our "fancy dishes" and odds and ends of wine and martini glasses, special thrifting finds like my fish plates and funny little serving bowls. The green martini set on top was a gift from my mother-in-law, Judy. She got it at a garage sale. It had 6 glasses and a glass stirring stick. One of the glasses broke when we moved here; I cried. I absolutely LOVE the martini set and a good dirty martini. The martini shaker was a wedding gift. Please also notice the two bottles of "Three Buck Chuck" in the wine rack. We like wine but know nothing about it, so cheap wine is no big deal to us.

The print above the chair is from my old printmaking days. My professor, Jim Jereb, and I printed the edition for an artist from Columbia, MO named Frank Stack, and when you print an edition for someone, you generally get a copy of the print. I have a whole drawer full of prints by various artists waiting for framing and display. The chair is from our dining set- It has a broken piece on it, that is why it stays against the wall. Brian and I got the set at a garage sale in our old neighborhood. We had a habit of cruising the neighborhood, even before we had possession of our house. The dining set has a nice 1960's Danish feel, a hidden leaf, and came with 6 chairs. $20! Can you believe it? They all need to be refinished soon, but that will be quite a job. It'll have to wait.

So that is what everything in our house is like. Ask me about something and I'll give you the long story.

*Added on 3/24/06: Judy told me this week that the martini set wasn't from a garage sale. It was her mom's. That's even better!!*