What is a monkeybox?

When I was a little girl, we had a pet monkey named Amanda. My Dad worked in the produce business, so each night he brought home that days culls in a big box - spotty cucumbers, pithy apples, limp celery, moldy oranges and the like. We called it a monkeybox. It was really just trash, but my Mom would take each piece of fruit and trim it, pare it and cut it up to make a beautiful fruit platter for Amanda. Even though it was deemed trash by one, it still had life left in it and was good for the purpose we needed it. That's how I live my life - thrifting, yard saling, looking for another's trash to be my treasure.

Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Things In My House

I look to look in other people's houses.  When I was little we would take walks just before it got dark out, right before everyone closed their blinds.  You could look in and see their living rooms and how people lived.    I've always found it interesting to see the things that people choose to put on their walls, look at every day and live with year after year.  Some people have giant framed sports photos over the couch, others have family photos on every wall.  One of the first disagreements that we had when we were setting up our first home was that The Breadman was adamant that we hang an calendar in every.single.room.  And, not like on the back of the door where only "we" would see it, but as in right by the front door and by the dining room table and by the bed and in the bathroom near the toilet.  I was very, very, very, VERY adamant that we would NOT hang a calendar in every single room.  One calendar, in the kitchen, was enough for any normal family.  Twenty one years later and it is still working.  I have never once regretted my decision to hang a calendar by the toilet.  No sireee.
Folk art handmade Woodpecker door knocker.  This hangs on the left of the utility closet in the hallway.

When we first got married, we knew another newlywed couple and we would often go to their house for dinner.  I think she had bought stock in Home Interiors because every room had a different arrangement of three pictures, a shelf under each picture, fake greenery and a porcelain statue.  She had the same candle on each end table and matching table runners and throw pillows.  It looked nice, but it was all so matchy-matchy and it looked exactly like the pictures in the catalog that she would shove under my nose hoping I too would join the three picture, shelf, fake greenery statue club.  I am happy to say that I did not.


Folk Art handmade Woodpecker door knocker #2.  This one hangs on the right side of the utility closet.

Instead, I joined the the yard sale brigade.  And, I found unique one of a kind vintage items that did not break the bank.  Items that love and adore.  Things that are me and no one else has.  I like being different and having different things.  I don't often have house guests, but when I do they usually tell me that I have interesting things and they love to look around.  I know I definitely have more things than the average person.  Most people I know have one single pottery vase on the shelf.  Not over 100 in one shelf like I do.  But, that's okay by me.  I like it and I'm not going to change to be like "those people."

Giant red comb and giant red Safety Pin Carnival Prizes.  These are in a teeny nook in the wall between the linen closet door and the bathroom door.  

There is a single man that lives around the corner from us.  His living room walls are completely bare.  Not one thing on all four walls.  He has a recliner and a TV and he leaves the overhead light on while he watches TV.  I am DYING to get in there and slap some crap on his walls!  And buy him a lamp.  It's driving me crazy!
Vintage Ajax Paper Cup Dispenser.  Hanging in the kitchen.  The Breadman pointed to it and asked me "What is that?'  (He never notices ANYTHING!)

Do you have unusual things in your house too?  What do other people think about your "stuff"?

11 comments:

  1. I don't do matchy matchy! I love unique and things that mean something to me. Your house is my kind of house for sure!

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  2. i was once a Home Interiors junkie, but have converted. I have loads of weirdness all over, driving my hubby mad.

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  3. Really some cool stuff =) Love your blogg. Have a great day. =)

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  4. I like diffrent things but when the husband came home from the hospital my house had to be decluttered and clean clean clean.
    While i didn't like it that sterile
    Some things have crept back in but it is still less than before and I hope to keep it that way. It is easier to clean I have found I need to make things easier to fit in more fun. Because I work full time and go to the drs a lot with husband I need to make time for family, and friends who are way more important thatn cleaning.
    Cathy

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  5. When I went to visit Linda T I think I wandered around her house looking at things like I was at a museum, which is probably the height of rudeness for a guest! But she's so sweet she didn't mind and I know that you wouldn't either. :)

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  6. I am so glad that you didn't join the Home Interior club. Think how boring your blog would be if all you had to talk about was a new sconce you purchased at a friend's home party.
    Your style has personality and charm. Your home is you! I love your style of decorating and your style of writing. You are one of a kind which is hard to find in blogland. :-)
    Thanks for keeping us entertained and inspired.

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  7. Those wood peckers are awesome! Everytime I read your blog I want a fez! I almost grabbed one off a Shriner the other day (NOT! lol)-deb

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  8. I love the woodpeckers!! I remember those!! It got me to thinking about the little outdoor message box that my parents used to have, it was wooden and if someone came by and you weren't home, there was paper and pencil to write a note!

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  9. I kind of do my own thing. I do have one spot (the entrance way where nobody can miss it) that is 100% devoted to Home (Texas) but the rest is just what I want where I want it. My kitchen has lots of slightly rusted, old kitchen gadgets on the wall.

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  10. People often refer to my house as "the museum" but I take pride decorating the rooms to an extent that if in black & white they would look like a set on "I Love Lucy". Some people think its tacky, (some of it is) but I like to thing i'm rather good at riding that fine line. I've know what i liked and wanted since I was 8 years old. SO i've done my house up in things that make me happy, and so what if when I walk into my living room I smile and hum the "I love Lucy" theme song its my home! Besides 60 years ago It all would have been the MOST in home decorating ;)

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  11. I love being different too. I hit yard sales every weekend looking for cool and unique things. I'm different those most ladies that I know. Their homes are sparce and decorated with Ikea and Pottery Barn. That is fine but not my style. That is why I like looking at blogs like yours. It makes me feel that there are other kindred spirits out there too. I also have tons of pottery on my shelves, amongst other things. I probably cannot fit another item on those shelves - but that isn't gonna stop me from buying more neat "junk". I love it. People enjoy looking around my house. It is fun because I have stuff that you can't get everywhere.

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