Apr 28, 2009

IKEA Fabric ♥!

Yesterday we took the day and headed to Austria for a little fun. Our first stop in Graz was the Burger King. Okay so I know you're like, big deal, but yea it was and the kids really enjoyed it. Then the day turned even better as we drove over to my most major crush, IKEA!!!


I totally love IKEA, everything they carry and the style, it's me! My most favorite part of the store is the fabric section. They carry some of the best quality fabrics in these parts. I was excited to see that they had some new stuff in stock and got busy at once cutting and weighing my booty. Now how cute is this birdy fabric, so cute. Love that single red beak!
I super love all the brilliant colors IKEA uses in it's fabrics, love it!
Got his little orange and pink lovely for only 2€!
Future skirt for Nana girl.
Another of that 2€ fabric. Cute birdies!
And lastly, love this large pattern print, so festive. It's also going to be a skirt, maybe mixing it with another. We'll see!

Stay tuned!

Tori

Apr 24, 2009

Just stuff!

We headed to the outdoor market today to take a look-see at the flowers available. I love going to the outdoor market better than the store because there are so many interesting folk there. I love to see the little ladies in scarves selling the bounty of their hard work wrapped in news print. They just pull the plants out of their own yards and bring them to the market to sell.

We don't have lot of room to plant in out yard to I'm doing lots of containers on our patio. Something about flowers, it's hard for anyone to not like 'em. Johnny mentioned the other day about how much he enjoyed the flowers in town so I'm on a mission to beautify our little piece of Croatia.

Oh yea we had to take our sweet dog KD to the vet today. She was acting a little lethargic and after a look we noticed several large ticks on her. After a little chat with the vet we were informed that Croatia has an epidemic of ticks this year. Apparently she's had them for a while because she had a fever and was already sick from them. Oh well, should have went for that Frontline a month ago.
Oh yea look at what I did. Last week I bought two ugly brass lamps at the market and this week I painted them and covered the shades. After a look I realized that I like the base black but the shades don't really go so well. So I'm going to measure the diameter and next time I'm lucky enough to get to go to IKEA I'm planning on buying some new shades. Either way, the lamps were a great deal becuase you can't get a good quality lamp in Croatia for under 300 kuna/$75 and there is no way I'm paying that!


Anyhoo, the day isn't over yet. I'm planning on doing some more laundry, washing some dishes, making some coleslaw and BBQ for dinner and planting my goodies I got today. Oh yea and maybe playing some tennis if Johnny gets home in time. Hey did I tell you that we gave our roller blades to our kids and took up tennis? Yea we did and guess what, I love it!! I really didn't think tennis would be fun and it's great and a wonderful workout too. We managed to find some really inexpensive rackets and we were off. All I need to do now is to make some new culottes that aren't too shabby so I'll look cute while striking a pose with my racket.

The weather is lovely, I'm saved and have a wonderful family that loves me, what else could I ask for.

Tori

Apr 23, 2009

Good morning to you too!


This morning I'm sitting in the office checking my e-mail when Hannah comes down to tell me that her face feels tight. One look and I realized that something wasn't kosher. Her face was all swollen and especially around her nose and eyes.

It seem what happened is this; the other day while doing some yard work I noticed Hannah with yellow pollen on her face. You know what we did as kids when we would take the butter cups and press them onto our faces so the yellow pollen would be on our face, well apparently this is what she did, but instead of flowers she found a small pine looking shrub in our yard that has red bulb looking things on it and she used those instead. Bad idea! Apparently she had some sort of allergic reaction to it and here she is, the Pillsbury dough girl.

We headed to the doctors office this morning and come to find out this was their late day. The yare open in the morning on even days and evening on uneven days. I know it's weird but it's the system here. So we headed to the emergency room here. The emergency is for emergency but you can also go there if you need to see a doctor and your family physician isn't working.

Oh yea did I say it was pouring down rain today which is a bummer since in Europe getting around town takes a lot more walking then driving.

Anyhow, we make it to the hospital and we're waiting, finally a humongous doctor lady calls us back and takes off. By the time we get our things together and head back through the double doors, she's gone. Were standing and this other little nurse comes out and wants to know why we're back there. I'm like, "she told us to come back here", then she looks around and says, "who told you to come back here?" so I said the nurse, she looks around and then at me with an obvious exasperation. Who she asks again, "The big doctor woman!" I tell her. Then finally out of what appeared to be a broom closet she steps out. Okay so now I've got it, this is some sort of game they play so their day doesn't get boring.

Anyhow, we're finally in the little sterile room and they decided to give her a shot and you know what, it wasn't in the arm. She wasn't too thrilled with this, first time getting a shot in the bum. and all.

Anyhow, we go to leave and she starts hurting really bad, her leg goes numb and she can't hardly walk. Then she starts to throw up and we head to the toilet. Then she starts to faint. So here she is needed in throw up while holding her bottom and almost falling down. Finally after lying for a while she starts feeling better and we head home.

She's still pretty swollen but I'm thankful it wasn't anything serious. It's amazing that on the mission field, everything is an adventure. There is so much comical material here it's crazy.

So we're home now and she's watching an old Bob Hope movie with the boys and I'm blogging. The world is set right now!

Tori

Apr 22, 2009

Talk about a find!

Okay so you already know that I'm totally getting my kicks from going to the flea market here close to our town. I have found some real gems and I'm enjoying finding some creativity that I didn't know I had.

Anyhoo, last Saturday we headed to soul-winning as usual and usually on Saturdays my partner, Hannah and I head to the market for a quick look-see. Well this Saturday was our lucky day. As we walked my friend commented how there wasn't really anything good today and right about then she said, wait. I turned and she showed me a huge old amiore sitting on the outskirts of the market. The market was crowded so folks were sitting up on the streets. Anyhow, one look and I told her that there was no way I could afford that. It was at least 70 years old and looked to be in really good shape. We walked over anyway out of curiosity and we're surprised to see a Gypsy man and his wife with a few odds and ends and this cabinet. Anyhow after a little back and forth they came down to 200 kuna which is pretty close to $40. Now usually I don't spend more than 3 or 4 but I really wanted this. In Croatia furniture is outragously expensive and it's usually pressed wood and will fall apart as soon as it's moved. For a small cabinet to put a printer on you'll pay about $150. So when I seen this massive cabinet for such a low price I had to have it.

The man delivered it to the church and we headed out to make some visits. Funny thing; Johnny had been in town passing out tracts and made it to the church before I did. I know what his impression would be, that this thing was really expensive that I had spent everything we had in the bank, which would be unusual for me. When we finally made it back to the church all the men were in the side room looking at this cabinet. Johnny looked at me and asked how much, I smiled a sly little smile so he would think I had paid a lot and then I told him how much and he was so surprised. I was glad. My number two goal in life is to fulfil this verse in my marriage; " The heart of her husband doth safely TRUST IN HER, so that he shall have no need of spoil. Proverbs 31:11". It's so important to me that Johnny trusts me. I don't want him to ever worry when he sends me out with money or with anything he has entrusted me with.
Anyhoo, back onto topic, he was pleased.

I had to make a trip to the capital Monday with the national pastor's wife and when I came home I found out that Johnny had went to the town where the new church is and brought the cabinet home and now it's in my garage. I actually took some pictures for my refinishing records and for sharing with you. This is the closet in all it's glory just as I found it at the market. It is in great shape and has very little if any dings in it.
The mirrors are in need of replacing and the bottom drawer has swollen a bit but that's to be expected right? It's old. I does have some cute little inlaid places on it.

And inside is the real treasure. I guess because the closet is so old they more than likely didn't use hangers but instead they used pegs for hanging their things. I love that the most. Someone asked me if I was going to replace them with rods, uhhh NO!

One more key piece of information about this piece is the writing on the inside door. Aparently this girl Fora Nemčić was born February 24, 1911. She then wrote when she was married on June 24, 1932 and finally when a son Stefan, was born on the 27th of what looks to be June in 1949.

This was frosting on the cake for me. I love the closet but the information was an added bonus for me.

I think the wood is Elm but I'm not sure. If you know, please leave it in a comment. I think I'm going to just do a little sanding on this closet and maybe some use some good wax afterwards. The bottom drawer is swollen and will need some attention but that should be too hard.

Anyhoo, is my big find and I'm so excited about it.
Stay tuned for an after picture of this one!


Tori

Apr 18, 2009

Finding my Niche

When I was 20 or so I worked at a company in Texas that warehoused lots of merchandise for big companies. We were responsible for shipping out their items and so forth. Anyhow, I was always very good at my job and one day my boss called me in. She sat me down to tell me how I was doing and she said that the one thing I needed to work on was my attention span. She said I was easily distracted and needed to try to focus on one thing at a time. Well that was 16 years ago and I still haven't learned how to concentrate on one item or hobby at a time.

I was just chatting with Johnny and we were talking about my being a Jack of all trades or Jill I should say. Anyhoo, I know a little about pretty much everything. I know how to sew, paint, crochet, garden, upholstery, cook, decorate, and now refinish furniture. I wished for once I could master one of these hobbies. Just so I could say that I was an expert at at least one thing. But no...not me, I can't do any one thing perfect but I can get by with lots of little things.

Sometimes I look around at some of the sewing going on out there in Blogville and I'm like, yep that's the thing for me. Then I see some of the cute knitting blogs and thing, oh wait, that's for me. I dunno, I may never perfect anything.

My latest thrill is thrifting at the markets here in Croatia. Normally anything bought new in Croatia is outrageous but at the market, if your willing to look there are treasures to be found.
Today before soul-winning my partner, Hannah and I all went to the market (across the street from the church) and found some gems.

First we found a prize that I can't tell you about now but soon I'll post a picture of our great find and you'll be amazed. I'm so thrilled about this find that I can't wait to get it home. It's stored at the church right now since it was way too big for our little Chrysler van. Oops, I'm telling too much, enough for now, you'll just have to wait.

One of my lucky finds was the tea kettle. I seen it on the table and was so excited to see it was in perfect condition. It probably dates to the 50s or before and it's so cute. I love the curly copper handle. It even has the tea strainer thinggy in the top for putting your tea leaves in . It's so sweet and obviously handmade here in Croatia. I think it's earthenware and it's come home to a very happy recipient.
One more thing I picked up, a pair of ugly brass lamps. They both work find and are pretty substantial in size. The brass is sooo ugly so this week they are going to get a new coat of flat black spray paint and new shades (if I can find them cheap enough, or maybe I'll cover these).
Anyhow, I am so enjoying digging for treasure here in the Croatian markets. You wouldn't believe all the goodies they have. Cross stitches that are obviously 100 years old. Sewing machines and tables from multiple decades, all sorts of Nazi and war memorabilia, post cards out the wazoo, and any and everything you can imagine, all for the taking.

Anyhow for the moment, I have found my niche and I like it!!

Tori

Apr 16, 2009

Seeing Red!!

Okay so I've finished up another piece of used furniture. I'm loving this! It's so much fun to take an ugly piece of furniture and make it usable. I needed a buffet like this for a while but there was no way I was going to pay so much for something that wasn't actually a need but more of a want.

Anyhoo here's my after shot of this buffet. I got it at an open market and now I love it!I has also taken up residence in Johnny's office and is a catch all for my sewing stuff. It's amazing what a little patience, sand paper and paint will do. Oh yea and that's my Hannah posing with the buffet, she makes it look so nice!

Tori

Apr 14, 2009

Give-a-way!


Hey look who's hosting a give-a-way! Valerie over at The Bishop's Wife is give away a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.com!! Head on over there and read about it!
Tori

Apr 13, 2009

Varnished from the face of the Earth

Yes I know that said varnished and not vanished. I've been gone from my blog for a while but totally busy. I have a new love in my life. I told you about some old furniture I acquired, well I've been staying really busy with refinishing those pieces.
The first piece is a desk I came upon in the Gypsy village. One of the families we pick up had this desk sitting on the side of their house and I asked if they were throwing it out or what. Long story short, Wednesday it came to live with us. It was a real mess, lots of scratches and misuse, all the more fun!
Anyhow I sanded all the old varnish off the top and the drawers and cleaned the piece up a bit. The sanding took several hours but was well worth the effort when I saw what was under all those years of use.
It was actually not wood but a veneer of a couple mm, but still sanded down beautifully.

I decided to only do the top and drawers since this was my first project. I didn't want to get into taking the whole thing apart and so on.

Drawers were easy to do and the after was so nice.

I am most proud of this photo. The top finished off like glass. It's lovely and such a joy to work on, which I am right now!

I actually got the desk for my sewing area, but after finishing it I realized it would be a great desk for Johnny. He was using a small computer desk with another small table for his writing the Scriptures and studying. So my sewing desk has been adopted by Johnny and he loves it. That makes me happy.

I'm working on another piece as we speak and should finish it today. I'm so excited! I got this cabinet at the flea market in the town of the new church plant. I paid very little for it and I'm planning on painting it. The veneer is really thin and I don't think I could get as good of a finish so I'm painting it. You'll have to wait to see what color!

Tori

Apr 8, 2009

Wow, that was a fast week!

I know that I've been MIA but I've been busy, sometimes life just has the preeminence over blogging, believe it or not.

We just finished up our Bible conference with Bro. Smith from Southwest Baptist Church in Oklahoma City. The theme this year was Working Together and it was great.
Each night Johnny ran is route to the Gypsy village and brought in around 15 - 18 kids each night. Praise the Lord that 11 of those children were saved throughout the week and we also had an adult couple saved on Saturday.

The childrens ministry has grown in the past few weeks and we're so thankful for each of these precious souls who have been coming.

The little kids table in Sunday school and we also had another table set up with 10 - 13 year olds.
That is Ljubica, the national pastors wife teaching the kids, I'm her helper! Anyhow, it was great and we are more than thankful to Bro. Smith for coming and spending some time with us in Croatia. Can't wait till next years prophecy conference!


What else have I been up to, let see...not much but I did get something special yesterday, a new pair of inline skates. I have been wanting to get into some sort of out door hobby for both health and fun. My dear friends at our home church sent me some birthday money and I choose these. Yesterday was the first day I had ever been on roller blades and let me tell you, I'm not as young as I used to be. When I was young I used to roller skate all the time but inline and roller skates are not the same. It took me a little while but soon I was zipping along. In my new found arrogance I decided to race my oldest, I was winning until I took a little detour to the ground. Don't panic, I'm okay, a little pulled hamstring and a skinned up knee and palm but okay. Actually I got a weird pleasure from my wounds. I dunno, it was like being a kid again.

So often I don't do many of those active things outside because of vanity. I know I look silly doing some things in my skirts or culottes but I think I'm getting over that. Really I don't know why I should feel weird, I'm dressing like the Lord wants they are the ones who are the weird ones.
Anyhow, I guess I ought to make me a pair of thick blue jean culottes so I will be a little more modest when I fall and the thickness may save my legs a bit. I dunno!

Anyhoo, I'm not up to much lately. Been on the look out for some old furniture to refinsih or paint and I purchased an old buffet the other day at the open market. I'm planning to paint it a rich red color and use it inthe office. Also I managed to obtain an old desk the other day from a friend and it comes home tonight. I'm going to sand and paint it for my sewing table, I can't wait.
Will photograph before and afters unless they turn out really bad. :0)

Running off to do some laundry and change some sheets!
Tori

Apr 1, 2009

I Love Croatia #2

Okay so for this week's I Love Croatia post I'm going to introduce you to one of my favorite things about Croatia; Cvek bakery!!!

Croatia and Europe in general enjoy a whole slew of deserts that we in the US and mostly in the south have no idea about. We're talking about decadent cream filled pastries made with loving hands, I'm sure!

We first discovered these treats while out on date night years ago and they have remained a staple in our date night routine.

I've included several pictures from my favorite Cvek bakery and I'm thinking that if you look close enough you may hear a still small voice calling you to Croatia as a missionary also.

Johnny's favorite one is the Chocolate Rhapsody on the left, it's sinfully yummy!
I would show you my favorite but they were sold out, and why not, it is the best they have. It's called the Kinder Snita (german) if you couldn't tell. Kinder for children and snita for uhh, I'm not sure but it's delish take my word for it.
Oh yea and you can't eat one of these babies without a vanilla cappuccino!
You know there are perks to serving God and this is just another reason I Love Croatia!

Tori