Children Get Older

         My oldest child (the 1st of 3 boys) turns 37 years old this week, what a reality check. Like the song says "children get older and I'm getting older to". Where did all the years go? 

        I have to tell all you young mommies and daddies try to slow down and watch those precious children grow or before you know it, in the blink of an eye they are out and on their own. God gives us these children with a clean slate and we are to bring them up the best we can with the grace of God and trust they will be OK. Trust they will love and keep God the center of their lives when they are on their own and for the rest of their lives.           Our society has changed . People strive for the larger house the two new cars and unfortunately the children are the ones that are suffering. Wanting stuff keeps both parents working for the stuff and forgetting to enjoy the reason they are working so hard.               Our society needs to go back to the days when just to have a home and a car to get to work was satisfying enough. Children came home to their  moms in the house to ask how their day went at school, give them milk and cookies and send them out to play till dinner. Yes there are circumstances where the single mom has no choice but to work to support her children. I was one of those children. I would be considered one of the first " latch key kids" from the 60s. There weren't very many of us back then. I cant remember anyone for that matter. I used to wish my mom was home when I got home from school like my other little friends.    I think the parents now of days are missing it. They think they need to keep their child involved in this or that and their lives are busy busy busy. Children are happy with just having a parent that takes the time to listen to them when they talk and to be there when they need them. I believe that is what breeds healthy well balanced children.   In a day when all the gadgets are supposed to save us time its taking our time from our children. When your child wants to talk to you or wants your attention all they see is the top of your head looking down at a phone or the back of your head looking at a computer.  There will come a day when you will want to spend time with them and talk to them, but they learned very well from watching you and you wont get the time you are desiring like the song "Cats in the cradle" says.  I know this post is kind of hard but as a mother that has raised 3 sons, I have some wisdom on the matter. If I could go back I would do some things different. If moms and dads can change it now while they still can they will have no regrets later in life when their children get older and they get older to.

The Vera Bradley Bag

I have always been intrigued by the Vera Bradley Bag. I remember the first time I saw one they were covering a whole wall of a Hallmark store many years ago. At that time I thought to myself huh just another fad. Well from what I understand the company was founded in 1982 and in 1987 the 2 women that started the company was given the title of entrepreneur of the year. It became a multimillion dollar company in just 3 years, see what a fad can do. Fad, I don't think so,

fad/fad/

Noun:

An intense and widely shared enthusiasm for something, esp. one that is short-lived; a craze.

I dont think the Vera bag was short lived like I thought it was going to be. What an idea, to make purses out of 100% cotton, that you can machine wash, in just about every color, print and style you can think of. They have made limited editions, and have named all of their patterns. Some are now retired like a Boyd bear and other vintage collections. I know when I find one at a garage sale it is quite a treasure, if the garage sale advertised it, if you are not the first person at that garage sale the Vera bag is gone. With this different style idea of a purse they were now able to start "The Vera Bradley Foundation" which supports Breast Cancer Research. After all these years I guess you can say I am still intrigued by this different colored, cloth purse that was a thought of 2 women so many years ago.

Reality

For those of you that don't know I have a full time job working as an office manager. When the economy collapsed a couple of years ago our company was hit pretty hard. We live in Florida and build screens over pools and so we were one of the first industries to be hit. I am a fairly introverted person and in our company back then I was able to sit behind the scenes and take care of the books, insurance and licensing stuff, never really having to deal with the public. We had a girl working for us who answered the phones, set the appointments for the estimators and dealt with the "public". 

Well since then we have had to downsize and I am now doing the job I did plus the job of the girl we had dealing with the "public". I have to answer the phones which at first I was horrified at the thought of it. I am now definitely getting a little better and more comfortable with it. People are pretty nice for the most part. Every now and then I will get one that after I hang up my blood will be boiling and my hands shaking but that happens very rare.

 I have been doing this new adventure of selling mostly vintage treasures for about 3 months now and I am enjoying it very much. I shoot my photos, and in the evening while I am watching television I will add the items to the different sites I am selling on,
 Ebay, Etsy, KathysVintageCorner.blogspot.com and every now and then Tophatter auction site.
 My hearts desire would be to be outside shooting pictures or trying my hand at gardening, but in this awful Florida heat and the bugs it almost impossible to grow anything . I have tried several times and have produced minimal food. I would like to be successful one of theses times and eat a nice home grown tomato. To anyone who has never eaten one there is nothing like it. It makes the ones from the store taste like wax.

The reality is I have to work in the office everyday from 9-5. Maybe someday I will sell enough on the auction sites to be doing it full time and we can get a girl to replace me and she can deal with the "public" and I will have more time for selling and& for shooting photos.

 I have to take the time and add more items to the different selling sites. If you are interested in collector plates I have many in my store. Mostly Walt Disney plates for the Disney Collector. I also have just about every Walt Disney Movie Lithographs for sale if you are a collector of Disney Lithographs. There is vintage china, cups, dishes, tea sets and depression glass. Some vintage purses and jewelry. There are also lots of resin retired Boyds bears and I am getting ready to add real teddy bears. The Norman Rockwell collector would love the collector plates.    

  Just an idea of some of the things I am selling if you check my store and other avenues of selling. Thanks for visiting my site.

 

Hoarder.... No Not Me

 I have been treasure hunting for vintage and antique treasures for about 4-5 months now. I have gone to garage sales, yards sales, estates sales and consignment shops . What I failed to figure out was where I was going to keep all of theses treasures while I am trying to sell them. I never quite thought it thru. Right now my dinning room looks like something out of the reality show called "Hoarders". Thank God I have not had any real company where I have had to use my table. When my kids come over with my grand babies we just squeeze around the kitchen table.

 

 I do have 2 guestrooms ( since we have been empty nesters), one which is my grand babies room, it has their toys, crib and bed for the bigger ones, so that room is off limits. My other guest room has become my husbands place to put his stuff for his hobby of restoring old trucks. Unfortunately I do not have a garage, its an old house, it didn't come with one. I tried to squeeze some of my stuff in there to no avail. He keeps telling me it will be real soon and all his stuff will be out of there and then I have a plan. 

I will clean the guest closet out, which has stuff I do not need, (I will probably try to sell) and then organize myself  in that closet. I am a creature of organization and this dining room is driving me crazy:). Thought I would just throw that out there. If you ever decide to vintage or antique shop to sell or shop for anything for that matter to sell , have a plan as to where you will keep your treasures untill they sell. I did stop going treasure shopping until more or most of what I have sells. Happy hunting...

The Levi Progression

The progression of the Levi jean has had quite a traveling road. The oldest pair of 501 Levi jeans originated in 1879 and were designed to be tough work pants that could withstand hard rough work.

 I have become a collector of the vintage Levi jean looking for that Levi vintage treasure. Unfortunately there are counterfeit of the vintage jean and I have had to learn how to tell the difference. I will share with you in this post what I have learned about the fake and the real thing. You start by turning the bottom cuffs of the jeans inside out and look carefully at the fabric edge (the selvage edge) along the inside seams of the jeans.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                If  you  see a two-toned seam allowance with white  fabric on the  outside edge of the fabric, your jeans may be vintage Levi's. You may also find a white line of stitching running over this white edge (oldest jeans era), a blue line of stitching (early 1900s era) or a red line of stitching (found on jeans until the middle of the 1980s).  Examine the red tag on the back pocket of your jeans. Look closely at the "E" in the word "Levi's." If the "E" is a capital letter, your jeans originated prior to 1971. If the "E" is a lowercase letter, your jeans are newer than 1971.  Look at the rivets on your Levi's jeans. If the rivets are made of thin metal and have raised lettering (with or without an outer ring around the rivets), they may date back to the 1980s or earlier. Examine the watch pocket of the Levi's jeans. Levi's jeans from the 1930s and 1940s range in width between 3.5 and 4 inches. Levi Strauss stopped using rivets on the watch pockets during this time due to World War II. Current watch pockets are smaller and they have rivets again.If your jeans have a buckle and strap on the back of the waistband, like the pair pictured here,                                       then you're really cooking: this pair is from the 1930s or earlier. They have been known to sell on Ebay for thousands of dollars.What about jackets? Older jackets have only one pocket on the chest. And, if the jacket doesn’t have the red Tab, that means it’s from before the mid-1930s and really desirable Jeans before the 1970s did not have care tags at all, but instead Levi Strauss stamped the care instructions onto the inside pockets of the jeans. 

There has also been a lot of questions regarding  stamping on the back of the top buttons.
As a rule, jeans with a single stamped digit (2, 5, 6, W) for example are older than jeans with a 3 digit stamping on the top of the button.  Common 3 digit stampings are 524, 558, 555,554.

                                                                                                                                                                    - Jeans with single digit or no digit stamping are made from mid 70's back, and are possibly big E
- Authentic Big E non-reproduction jeans will have either no or a single stamped digit.
- Reproductions will normally be stamped '555'
- Newer Levis and fakes will be stamped '501'
- Japanese Made Levis will have a 'J' followed by a couple of digits '21'.

REAL

FAKE

 Pictured are all the different button closures for the jeans for the different eras.

Era 1870-1873

.

Era 1873-1890

Era 1902-1928

Era 1930-1945

Era 1942-1944

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

   

Era 1987 to Present

I hope you learned about vintage jeans and how to tell real from fake. Thank You for stopping by and reading.

 

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