hay trolley lights

I love to restore and repurpose vintage items, and I was especially taken with two hay trolleys I found in my barn. They were from a manufacturer here in Ohio: The F.E. Myers & Bro. Company from Ashland, Ohio. One of the trolleys still had the original metal tag with the manufacturer information - very neat. 

I cleaned them of the dust and dirt and we sent them to Skinners Powder Coating in Piqua. They did a great job of prepping them for me, even though they had never done trolleys before. Next, I painted them a vintage bronze with Rustoleum 2x spray paint. (I love this paint for projects....coated well and dried quickly) We found vintage-looking glass pendants from Home Depot to hang from each trolley. The bulbs are the old filament style. 

Jeremy hung them for me, as they are very heavy. He had to rig them a special way to hold the weight and not take away from the look of the trolley. We are very happy with the final product. They fit right in our southwest-themed conference room with local antiques.

barn dirt and all

after initial cleaning - not bad patina

original tag

fresh from Skinners and ready to paint

both units side by side

painted and hung

nice patina without the rust

with lights on in the room

I will post more on this room as we continue to work on it. It is a special labor of love as we try to salvage as much as possible from our farm, family, and local history.

earth day

What a beautiful Earth Day. It is so wonderfully warm and sunny, and we all enjoyed working outside today. We fixed the kids play area, edged around some trees, graded the driveway, weeded the garden....perfect weather.  My children have a habit of ditching their shoes, and off they came today. Even Claire discarded her rubber boots after learning how to go down a slide for the first time. I gave up trying to keep them on and decided I could wash everything later. We found creepy crawlies under a board and the kids enjoyed learning their names and even held a few (without squashing them).  Here are a few pictures from the day.

my tiny helper

she's smiling :-)

grape hyacinth

yellow daffodil

red tulips

playing in the sun

Frederick holding a tiny snail

big worm

centipede

the tiny snail up close

mr. armadillo bug

going retro

Jeremy and I have a few outfits from when we were kids, and we let the kids wear them if they want to. Elauna has been taken with my little "sailor" dress from when I was her age, and she really enjoys wearing it. The hat is one my uncle brought back from Japan for me, and my mom recently brought it to my house and Elauna was elated that she could now match my picture. It was her idea to get matching pictures.

I found one of Jeremy's shirts for Frederick to wear, but I couldn't bring myself to put him in the knee-high red socks and short white shorts. (So 70s though). Wasn't my hubby a cute little boy? :-) I did not have a picture of me in the green dress with the white eyelet bodice that Claire is wearing. I added leggings and a white sweater since it was a little chilly that day.

Elauna in my outfit

me age 4 1/2

Frederick in Jeremy's shirt

Jeremy age 2

Claire in my dress. I didn't have a picture of me in this.

for my handsome hubby...

Jeremy and I were in Cincinnati for a homeschool convention this past weekend, and it happened to fall over his birthday. He is so good about making time to go to this event even though sitting through talks/lectures is not his highlight.....though talking with Todd Wilson always brings smiles. He was a good sport about everything and very supportive. He treated me to dinner at my favorite restaurant downtown: Rockbottom Brewery. We stayed downtown near the convention center at the Hyatt, and walked everywhere all weekend. I love visiting the city, but my heart is definitely a country girl.

What to get a guy for his birthday? On the opening week of his favorite baseball team? Whose stadium is a couple blocks from the hotel? Hmmm??? Tough one! :-) You guessed it: I bought him tickets to the Reds game, 3rd row from the field next to the Reds dugout. He was stoked! He looked like a little kid who got locked in a candy store overnight. The game was amazing with 8 home runs, two of which were back-to-back pitches, and the Reds won 15-0. Jeremy lost his voice from cheering so much. I don't think I will ever see a game quite like that one again. It just never was boring. I was able to get some really neat pictures of the team because we were so close. These are just a few:

birthday boy

great american ball park

Joey Votto (19) and Jay Bruce (32)

Chris Heisey (28) and Zack Cozart (2)

Todd Frazier (21)

Brandon Phillips (4)

game summary: we whooped 'em!

Votto and Bruce

Reds dugout

first base coach Billy Hatcher (22) with Phillips

some good pitching

Votto at work

Hatcher with pitcher Manny Parra on first

Shin-Soo Choo (17) with young fans

yes we did!

easter fun

My hubby asked if I was going to post anything soon....I think he was hinting I have been slow to post updates. I wanted to post some pictures from a few of our Easter events. Our church hosted a community easter egg hunt and the kids were able to "hunt" themselves. The little kids were especially cute. There was a photo shoot area that I manned, and I made a shabby-chic backdrop out of burlap, sheer, and some pennants. Elauna loved helping me tie the ribbon and strips of fabric to the jute to make the string pennant. I cut triangles out of coordinating fabric to make the other. My friends made cardboard cutouts of vintage Easter bunnies and eggs, and I think the look of it all was super-cute! We had 100 kids show up for the Easter egg hunt....pretty fun stuff!

the backdrop

yes, she is smiling.

the "big" kids

pretty typical: holding hands and pulling ears

tiny princess

handsome boy

picking up some eggs

Easter morning I made a sunrise meal for our church family. We had about 50 people attend the breakfast of egg strata, cream cheese glazed rolls, blueberry muffins, pickled eggs, and fresh fruit. We used nice china and the tables were set in white linens with victorian bird cages with fresh white flowers arrangements. Some people never get an opportunity to sit at a nice meal and feel like they are special: what better place than to feel that way with your church family. My family was a great help as always. I still don't know how I would pull off an event without them.

To end a perfect weekend we had Easter meal at my parents, and let me tell you, my mom is the world's best cook. She never ceases to amaze me at how she makes everyone feel so special and well fed. She did a mini egg hunt for all the grandkids, inside, since it was raining. It was neat for everyone too, because it was the first weekend my brother was home from Thailand. 

my girls

miss claire

miss elauna