Although I am an avid attendee of many estate and rummage sales, as an adult I’ve never hosted one until today. The reason? I LOVE my weekends and enjoy spending them doing things I enjoy, Parker enjoys or Shon enjoys – not selling our cast offs. However, when my friend Katrina mentioned that she was having an estate sale of her husband’s grandma’s things, my ears perked up.

Most of the items I’ve contributed to the yardsale are on their way to Goodwill. However, the estate items Katrina and her husband are selling will be the “talk” of Sioux Falls junkers for at least a year.

Her husband, Chad’s grandparents owned a Dollar store, a Ben Franklin and held onto nice and unique items and kept them in pristine condition. As I helped Katrina set up it was like touring the coolest antique store – toys still in boxes, beautiful glassware, TONS of South Dakota souvenir kitsch, and random items you just don’t see – like ledgers from the 1800s, a salesman’s model toolkit, a 1892 program from the Republican National Convention (Which I did purchase for my brother.)

When my husband, Shon, arrived at the sale, he kept saying,”this is the sale everyone will be talking about” – Kind of like an auction we attended in our neighborhood 5 or more years ago now. It was of one of Shon’s friends, an elderly gentleman who used to work at KELO, and passed away in his 90s. He held onto everything as well, and to this day, when we visit with some of our friends who also attended, we reference favorite items we purchased at his sale – my favorite is a round cooler painted in plaid.

Kitchen remodel is nearing completion!!!!

For friends who have been following the blog, sorry I’ve been lax about updating it. In the last 6 weeks a lot has been going on in our kitchen. There are obviously some details yet to complete, but I wanted to share this update with you.

As you’ll note, I’m not the greatest at BEFORE photos – I know I have some, but I couldn’t find any – so you’ll just get to enjoy some Parker photos while noting our kitchen before: 1. the dark cupboards; 2. the laminate counter tops; 3. the laminate floors.

So far this is what we’ve done: I’ve painted the cupboards, our contractor, Joe Meyer painted the doors, and hung them last night!!!! One thing good about living with no cupboard doors for almost a month (because I was a slow painter) is I cleaned out my cupboards and somehow found room to store everything, so once we’re done with the remodel, it’s my hope to have clean and clear counter tops.

The quartzite counters were installed last week as was the undermount sink and new facet. 

Shon pulled up the laminate floors and yesterday the first sanding was applied to the wood floors underneath – aren’t they stunning!!!! Now all we have left is replacing the huge chandelier with a fixture which matches the others on our main floor, installing the peninsula, painting the walls, installing the subway tile backsplash and painting the trim – I hope it’s all done by the end of July! I’ll keep you posted!

Parker watering flowers outside her dryer box play house.

As Parker matures, one thing becomes quite clear – she imitates us. From her mannerisms to the words she uses and the storylines of her pretend play (if Parker is awake, she is talking, so it’s easy to know what she’s thinking about when she’s playing).

Since we’ve been in the middle of a remodel since early March – and it has been the non-stop topic of conversation between us and our friends – it has also become a topic of conversation for Parker – which is quite funny. This became even more apparent when we made her second cardboard playhouse.

We picked up her first dryer-box playhouse at Mahlander’s – making the lighting and appliance store Parker’s favorite retailer in town. Every time we drive past on our way to the Main Library, she says, “There’s Mahlander’s,” or “I want to go to Mahlander’s!”

Her first playhouse was re-recycled over Easter. We finally got a new box from Karl’s on Sunday and while I fixed supper, Shon cut windows and doors. While he was doing that, Parker walked circles around the box saying, “This is my dining room, this is my living room, this is my pantry, this is my kitchen, here is my front door and I want to paint this color on my walls.”

Hmmm – sounds like the makings of an interior designer?