So, here’s THE Question: When is it okay to transform something old into something new and when should leave well enough alone?

We currently own 7 old manual-style typewriters dating from around 1913 through the 1950s. They are all complete, but not in working condition. We had intended to take them apart and use their pieces, but something in our hearts dies at the thought of all the old typewriters in the world being scavenged. So they sit in our workshop being adored by us, but serving no purpose.

Question #2: Is it better to take an object whose sole purpose in being created was to be used and enjoyed and give it a new life as something used and enjoyed, or are some antiques off limits for use and should be left as is to be visually enjoyed only?

We recently posted a photo of an old wardrobe trunk on our Facebook page and asked our friends to guess what it was going to be. One of our friends commented that they thought it was pretty awesome just as it was. We tend to agree when it comes to old trunks, we own about 8 of them, but this particular trunk is in pretty rough interior condition. It is missing all of its internal bits such as the drawers, hangers, shelves, shoe box, and anything else it might have contained. It was pretty beat up on the outside as well, with a few of its sides showing cracks and warping. And, as most of the old trunks you find, it needs its lock latch replaced. No one would be storing anything in this without some major overhaul work. Thus, we feel justified in turning it into something other than a wardrobe trunk so it can continue its life as a useful thing.

Question #3: If something is in really bad condition, how much of it do you try to salvage?

As we don’t have millions of dollars to spend restoring things to their original glory, we err on the side of keeping anything functional and replacing anything broken, soiled, or damaged beyond our repair skills. We like to believe that sometimes things find us, instead of us finding them. We take that trust seriously and do our best to care for these items and create a new existence for them.

We struggle with these questions about 5-10 times a day. M even has trouble making a decision about what to make out of the mountains of fabric she has hoarded because “once it is turned into something it can’t become anything else.” Yes, she worries about fabric reaching its full potential. (Nutter!)

If you are at all like us – which for your own sakes we hope it is a minimal amount, at least in this area – you know the pitfalls of second guessing yourself at every step and the paralyzing indecision that can result from being concerned about the fate of objects and pieces of history. No one wants to refinish that old side table only to find out on the Antiques Roadshow that it is now worthless but would have been worth a fortune had it been left alone.

On the other hand, if it is yours and you will only use it if you make changes to it, then by all means make it usable! We like to treat our precious objects as members of the family. Personally, we don’t want to be put on a shelf and left to gather dust when our current state is no longer useful to those around us. We want to be reinvented, reinvigorated, and invited back into the fold with a new sense of purpose. And so, we try to do the same for our “stuff”.

The bottom line, for us, is to treat items from the past with the respect they deserve. Quality workmanship, interesting features, and decorative elements should enhance our lives. The world is as beautiful as you see it. Spend a few moments imagining what amazing stories these little gems could tell. They have witnessed countless moments of peoples’ lives and by using them you are inviting them to witness yours. And THAT, we think, is the loveliest purpose of all.

I tend to be a bit of a control freak. There, I said it. But when it comes to my yard, I practice what I like to call “free-form gardening”. Maybe it’s because I am lazy at yard work, or maybe it is a result of my childhood spent wandering the forests and fields where everything was wild and wonderful, but I let the plants around my house grow as they please. I only trim when absolutely necessary and weed out the poison ivy and the nettles, but that is pretty much it.

When I bought my house 7 years ago I inherited some lovely rose bushes and panicked because I had no idea how to care for them. It turns out, just letting them be has made them glorious. They have grown into each other and a bird has taken up residence in their tangled brambles and started a family.

I am certain some of my neighbors shake their heads at my wild flower beds and long for the former owner to put it all back in line, but I like to enjoy them as lovely works of art that Mother Nature has created. As one of my mother’s favorite songs says: “Wild flowers don’t care where they grow.”* And they are often the prettiest and happiest of all.

- M of the frenzygals

* Wildflowers by Dolly Parton

This weekend, however, was a test for both of us. Our nieces share a birthday and they were turning 4 and 3. They decided they wanted cake pops. They wanted Robot and Strawberry cake pops, to be exact. Enter the challenge: we had never made cake pops before and they had both wished for “the best birthday ever.”

Working with melted chocolate wafers is not what I would call easy. Getting the temperature right is tricky; getting a smooth finish on the cake is impossible for me; and doing it all under pressure with a hodge podge of tools is, well, that extra bit of hell. (K is a consummate professional, and handled everything very well, which is good since I was internally stressing like mad.)

We did some research and discovered that IMRT is somewhat standard in the treatment of prostate cancer, but not cervical cancer. What? It is generally the same area of the body, and is used for prostate cancer for the very reason her doctor was recommending it for her treatment – reduce the risk of organ fusion and damage to otherwise healthy organs! I don’t know about you, but organ fusion sounds horrible. So, we coined the phrase: “Boo to the uniorgan.”

But other than coming up with silly words that made our friend laugh, what could we do? We asked around and discovered that the difference between what the insurance would pay and the cost of the treatment she deserves is $35,000. That is in addition to her deductible, hospital parking fees, prescription co-pays for anti-nausea meds, etc. We spent a few days in that weird haze of Whys and How Coulds and several conversations moaning about the wrongness of it all… then we put our big girl pants on and began to formulate a plan.

This is what we came up with…

We formed a fundraiser page on GiveForward.com, a website that lets you create fundraising campaigns similar to Kickstarter, but whose main focus is covering medical expenses and associated costs. In the first 3 days we reached $5,000 and we are still growing! We encourage anyone who feels compelled to give to do so here as 100% of the money raised goes to Anne-Marie, there are no administrative costs taken out of the amount we raise.

We also decided to open an Etsy shop in conjunction with several other mutual friends who make stuff with all the proceeds of the sales going directly to Anne-Marie and her family. The shop is called “IMRT for Anne-Marie“. You can buy many of the handmade things we usually sell on our website on this Etsy shop, along with some special offerings from Geek Details, Festooned Butterfly, Mike Stepanski Glass, Tony Steele (artist), Eric Kemphfer (artist), and others we will be adding as time goes by.

Sharing the link to the shop or the fundraiser page would be extremely kind of you, and we do ask that you consider it. Also, if you have any spare good vibes or happy thoughts, please send them in the general direction of San Antonio, TX and our dear friend Anne-Marie. She is an amazing person and has already promised us that any money raised that they do not need for her medical expenses will be paid forward to others battling cancer and the potentially devastating financial crunch it puts on their families.

IMRT for Anne-Marie on ETSY: http://www.etsy.com/shop/imrtforannemarie

GiveForward.com: http://www.giveforward.com/imrtforannemarie

How far would you go for someone you love?

In order to reduce our business overhead a bit by moving into a smaller space, we moved most of my workspace out of the business workshop and back into my house where it all began years ago. I was very fortunate that much of the furniture we had in the workshop was well sized and fit nicely into my home space.

Who needs a dining room anyway? I tend to eat my dinner Japanese-style, sitting on the carpet in the living room at the coffee table. So, I decided to use my house to the best advantage and converted my former dining room area into my home workspace.

Now I have all my fabric, patterns, and notions in one location (not to mention my multiple machines and serger) and will hopefully be able to be more efficient and productive. It didn’t all fit in this one room, so the spare bedroom has also been slightly converted as a storage space with bookshelves and dressers dedicated to supply storage. That room is still a disaster, so I won’t share photos just yet.

- M of the frenzygals

A personal Facebook post to this effect sparked the conversation about the theory that bacon makes everything better, and how it seems like this would make logical sense, but in practice it is not true. I am a fan of Vosges bacon chocolate bar, in moderation, and I will try bacon on just about anything, but I must agree that some combinations are hideous and revolting.

I am a huge fan of both bacon AND cotton candy, so naturally the idea began to form in my head to try combining the two. I received a countertop cotton candy machine as a gift for Christmas, so I have the tools necessary to fulfill this experiment. I am thinking I need to acquire some bacon salt to mix in for the bacon flavoring and then I will be ready to test this new concoction.

Who knows, I may be on to something. We’ll keep you posted.

- M of the frenzygals

It was prompted by a few unexpected gifts I received recently that showed me that I am accepted for who I am.

A giraffe hat…

…and a cookbook full of Bacon Recipes.

It may seem strange that those two items were so self-affirming, but when people around you “get” you and encourage the perpetuation of your Self by indulging your interests it is just that.

Everyone should have the opportunity to be accepted and appreciated for who they are, just as they are. Take a moment today to tell someone you know that you value them. It may be a small thing, but those are the things that matter, right?

Dejah Thoris - My kind of Princess

Finally, a Disney Princess I can get behind!

Having never read the books, I was unfamiliar with the John Carter stories so the movie was my introduction. I went in skeptical from the lame advertising campaign mounted by Disney and the unfavorable reviews it had received from critics across the board. My skepticism was for naught and I was whisked into the world of fantasy and possibility before I could even think about resisting.

The world-building was extremely well done and it was inspiring to see a world that so beautifully mirrored what you could assume the imagination of a man in the early 1900s would produce. The Art Nouveau/ Deco influences of the time period in which Edgar Rice Burroughs wrote the novel were beautifully intertwined with intergalactic imaginings. There were also noticeable Roman and Egyptian culture influences, another nod to the author’s societal environment, which were expertly blended together to create a comfortably familiar, yet refreshingly unique world.

Dejah Thoris, the Princess of Mars, is truly a Disney princess I can support. Unlike her predecessors in the Disney princess lineup, who tend to lack dimension, she is a fully developed and self-aware woman. Her role in the Helium community as a scientist and visionary/inventor gave her more substance from the get-go than any other princess in Disney’s history. When she ran away to avoid marriage, revealed her fighting ability, and her strong will, I was hooked. Her gorgeous costuming didn’t hurt either.

You are asked to suspend a lot of belief to accept the world of Barsoom, but I think no more so than a lot of other movies that expect you to believe in the actual possibility of the story. When you view the story in the context in which it was written – the early 1900s – you gain a better appreciation for the expansiveness of the author’s imagination. Astral projection, scientific discovery, archaeology, hieroglyphics and symbology – all these things informed the curiosity of the time period and Edgar Rice Burroughs was as much a visionary as Tesla when it comes to imagining the unbelievable and positing possible alternatives to how things are.

I highly recommend this film and will likely be seeking out copies of the novels to read now that I have been introduced to this richly imaginative world. If you like the blending of different aesthetics, the visuals of this movie will delight you in ways you might not expect. And, if you are like me and are a sucker for “so ugly it’s cute” things, the dog-like calot named Woola and his unwavering loyalty to Carter will win your heart and leave you wishing for a “space-dog” of your very own.

The Ugly but Lovable Woola

Today we decided to do something we love doing and haven’t done in a while. We headed out to hit some second-hand stores and thrift shops to see what treasures we could find. When M saw this board game box in a stack of beat-up boxes she gently rescued it and eagerly paid the lady her money.

The object of the game is the be the first player to “Go Broke” by losing/giving away all your money. Well, we are pretty sure we would rock at this game since that (being broke) is a perpetual/recurring state for us.

Copyright 1965, this game was apparently the invention of one Phillip K. Dick (yes, the renowned science-fiction writer) and has seen several reincarnations since its original publication represented by this version. The artwork is deliciously and distinctively 1960s in style and color and we love the darling retro nature of the “anti-Monopoly man” in his wooden barrel apparel.

You play the stock market, gamble at the casino, bet on the horses, and try to give away your money or get other players to make more money that you in order to win. Instead of passing Go and collecting $200, every time you pass the Poor House you have to give it $1,000. If you are unlucky enough to draw a “Go To Poor House” card or land on the space with the same instructions, you must travel to the Poor House and take all the money waiting there, thus upping your chances of failing to Go Broke.

It is an amusing concept for a game, but probably brings to light the more realistic dangers of gambling, oil speculating, horse betting, and the random luck of life. However, we do appreciate the irony of a game that shows a different side to our life’s creed to take risks, gamble on life, and Go For Broke!

Source: wikipedia

We all dream of having lots of money and imagine what we would do with it. Here is an Actual Conversation M had with her boyfriend regarding the potential of being rich. (Miguel is not his real name, but it is a codename he has been sporting for the bulk of their relationship to protect his identity.)

M: I don’t think I would want billions of dollars. I would be a nervous wreck if I had that kind of money. I only want a few million so I can know I will be taken care of and not have to worry every month.

Miguel: If I had billions of dollars I would claim Mars.

M: As in the planet?

Miguel: Yes. I would fund an expedition and tell them to go claim it for me. Then I would build my tomb in the middle of the desert in the U.S., bigger than the pyramids.

M: Why would you be buried on Earth when you own Mars?

Miguel: Well, I might not get there in time.

M: ???

Miguel: Of course, there is probably some international law that prohibits the claiming of planets in our solar system

M: Yeah, there is probably some kind of treaty or something. That just means you have to fund an expedition to the “unknown universe” , way outside our current galaxy because I bet the treaty only covers the “known universe.”

Mars. Source: nasa.gov

Miguel: Hmmmm.

Yes, this seemed like a very important discussion at the time. When dreaming that big you must consider all the eventualities.

What would you do with billions of dollars?