Thrift-o-holic

My name is Rita Farro and I am addicted to thrifting.

It would be very difficult for me to actually make you understand HOW MUCH CRAP I BUY at thrift stores. My life is a constant Merry-Go-Round of trying to take OUT as much as I BRING IN...

For starters -- ALMOST EVERY PIECE OF FURNITURE IN MY HOUSE was purchased second hand.

Well...I guess the easiest way for me to convey the true depth of my addiction is to take you on a little photo tour of my house...

I once had a Lazy boy reupholstered...even though, by the time I'm bringing them INTO my house, they are already 30 years old...

Did you know the BACKS of  Lazy Boys are interchangeable?

THIS is the chair I sit in...whenever I am writing this blog...

I used to collect little wooden totem poles...The tiny one came from the antique mall in Tacoma...I was with Joanne...

I buy puzzles all the time.  Can you see the price was 25 cents?

Mary and I were junking one day, and I found THIS GREAT CLOCK!

Who could resist a plaster Mae West?

The art on my walls is funky and original.  This piece cost $3.  I was with my young friend Anne.

I bought the View-Master face at an art gallery in Olympia.  Remember, Pat?  The wire sculpture was a gift from a woman in Pennsylvania (it's supposed to be me)...

This GREAT coffee carafe was only $3!!  (it still had a paper sticker on the bottom)...

The puzzle table was $3 at an estate sale.  The beige swivel rocker was $40 at Bargain Bonanza.

We ALWAYS have a puzzle going.

We are constantly rotating puzzles...

Remember this classic toy?  Warren loves it -- (Anne and I found it in Iowa City).

The pole lamp works perfectly...and I think it's a work of art.

You just cannot have too many board games!!

String art, wire sculptures...my walls are FULL OF ORIGINAL ART.

Are you starting to understand the depth of my addiction?

If I walk to the kitchen, I see my fabulous Coaching Scenes china, cobalt blue glasses, silverplate, pots and pans, the food processor (I have 3 of them in the basement, just in case)...my Bunn coffee maker, napkins, tea towels, toast holders...yikes...

Because I so frequently "do the rounds" of thrift stores, I've learned how to get the REALLY BIG BARGAINS.  Like, every Tuesday, the Goodwill stores have one color tag for 88 cents.  Then, on Wednesday, it's TWO for 88 cents.

Another example -- I bought a VIP card from the Salvation Army, so every Monday I get four articles of clothing for $1.00.

Well -- you can certainly understand why, sometimes -- it feels like I am BURIED UNDER A MOUNTAIN OF TREASURE!!

I didn't take a picture of the big basket of SWIM SUITS that sits at the end of my hall. Since I started going to the Y every day -- I have bought myself about 20 suits...Lilly has that many, too. And, of course, I can't leave Warren out...

Here's my solemn vow...every Monday, I will REMOVE AND HAUL AWAY as much crap as I brought in the week prior...
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MMWI:  236.4

Happy Birthday, Calvin!!

Today, my brother Calvin is 70 years old!! All by itself, that isn't so remarkable...but when you consider that this spring, after a heart valve surgery...he spent FIVE WEEKS in intensive care, on a respirator and with a feeding tube -- well, this birthday is, indeed, A VERY BIG DEAL.

We live in the same neighborhood...and for the last 20 years or so, Cal has been coming to my house for steak dinner on his birthday. 

Cal's 65th birthday...

Right before his surgery, Deena, Ronda and I made a ragged edge quilt for him...(during his recovery, he has spent countless hours covered with this quilt)

His recovery has been slow-going...but it was a BIG DAY when he could drive his own truck down to my house...

That happened on the 4th of July....

Warren wanted to sit next to Uncle Cal...he's the only kid anybody can remember who isn't scared of Calvin...

Today, the menu will be MORE SWEET CORN, porterhouse steak cooked over a wood fire...and our father's Army Potatoes.

And a gigantic helping of gratitude...

Final Days of 2017 Grandma Camp

WHERE DID THE SUMMER GO??

The kids go back to school in two weeks, and I feel like we have barely scratched the surface with 2017 Grandma Camp. Wasn't this the year Lilly was going to have a pen pal? I was going to teach her all about snail mail...

That didn't happen.

And, then, too -- wasn't this the year we were going to remodel the little bedroom they sleep in? Time to get some NYC stuff up on the walls...

It's all still in boxes...

Hey...best laid plans and all that...

There were many extraordinary moments...It was the summer Lilly and Warren became obsessed with Hamilton...and we had a great Wisconsin road trip...

But I kinda think it will be the every-day moments they will remember.

Eating on the porch...with the hummingbirds...

The dozens of trips to the park...

Many plays, museums, or exhibits...

Lilly learned some life skills...(ironing, along with mending)

If Warren's daily train track construction project could be laid end to end -- it would have reached California...

Did I already say Meals on the Porch??

They love grocery shopping...

And lots of cooking!

More trips to various parks...

Picnics...

We went swimming EVERY SINGLE WEEK..!!

We ate at lots of restaurants.

Really -- MANY, MANY restaurants...

Lots of local parks...

Actually, looking at these pictures, I can't imagine how Grandma Camp could have been any better.

I'm missing them already...

Scandals Tour, Part Two

During the BUS TOUR portion of our "Scandals" day -- we learned that, at the turn of the century, thanks to a corrupt police force, and proximity to the Mississippi River -- Davenport, Iowa had become a haven for gambling houses and brothels.

In 1903, the New York Times called Davenport, Iowa "The Wickedest City in America" because we had more brothels, (per capita) -- than any other city in the country.

In 1895, in the midst of a deep national economic depression, Davenport built an ornate new City Hall. The cost was about $90,000 — an astronomical sum at that time — and the City constructed the new building without issuing any municipal bonds.

Local legend has long suggested that the city retired the debt so quickly by taxing the city's brothels, but the fines levied against the brothels accounted for only between $7,000-$9,000 per year, just a portion of the financial windfall the city reaped in the mid-1890s. The bulk of the funds came from a new state law (the "mulct tax") which applied to the city's 150 illegal saloons and amounted to around $50,000 per year. This tax allowed for construction not only of City Hall, but also paved streets and a new sewer system, and from 1902–08, the city eliminated its property taxes altogether

We actually WENT INTO the buildings that used to be brothels. In this ornate mansion -- I'm taking my picture in the giant hallway mirror...As the girls walked down the steps, they could use to mirror to see what gentlemen/clients were waiting in the sitting room.

On the other side of town -- Karen Anderson is showing the audience where the most popular "Beer Garden" used to exist.

This building (still a bar) used to have a brothel upstairs.

It was a VERY HOT day...maybe 90 degrees...and the owner of the bar allowed us to go upstairs in this building. At first, I was excited about the prospect...I mean, it is always interesting to actually STAND IN THE PLACE where history was made, y'know?

But then this happened. The tiny little turning stairway at the back of the building was very claustrophobic...and when we got upstairs, there were four small little rooms where these young girls took care of the men. It was unbearably hot that day...and I could hardly breathe, thinking about the lives of those young girls...

Most of them were indentured servants...young German or Irish girls...who thought they were coming to America for a better life. And they ended up working as prostitutes...in these dark, cramped rooms above the busy German Beer Garden.

These rooms never knew any other life. They don't have plumbing or electricity. Once the whorehouse was shut down, time stopped. I thought these are the windows through which they saw their new world... this is the wallpaper they looked at...

As we all got back on the air conditioned bus, the group was very quiet. Maybe it was just the heat of the day -- or maybe seeing those rooms had the same affect on everybody in the group. I was so sad for those young girls. I felt like I had a glimpse into their lives...even though it was over 100 years ago...and it was God-Awful. 

History is good.  Always.  Because sometimes, it's only when you are looking back that you realize  NOW IS THE VERY BEST TIME TO BE ALIVE...

More Princeton TALENT

Here's the thing. I have about a 12% understanding of how YouTube works...but  if you watched the video of Lilly singing at the Princeton Talent Show,  other videos came up on your screen.  Some were mine (maybe), but others were quite random...

Some of you saw this....it's the Leonard Cohen version of Hallelujah.

The young man with the guitar is my grand-nephew, Cale. I don't know the girl's name...but she was remarkable.

This was a very small event, put on by Allie Studding (the girl playing the drums) to raise money for the Children's Hospital in Iowa City. She rented the upstairs of the Princeton Community Center -- and put the word out via Facebook. I learned about it because of my niece (Cale's Mom). It's a shame there weren't more people there...because THESE KIDS WERE TERRIFIC.

A random photo of me, with Amy and two of her three boys.  We were attending a concert.  Cale (on the left) is the musician.  So far, we think Garret is gonna be the magician of the family...

OMG...Cale was so young then.  Amy was blonde...and I was fat.  Hey -- we all have our jobs!!

It's funny how life works.  ANY TIME I HEAR THAT SONG...the Leonard Cohen version of Hallelujah, I think of my friend Marion.  WHO ACTUALLY SAW HIM LIVE, IN CONCERT.  And I am still kicking myself that I didn't get to go with her...!!

History Luncheon -- SCANDALS!!

Scott Community College does a great job with their "Lunch and Learn" series. Here's the write-up for their most recent event:

SCANDAL AT MIDNIGHT

From Rev. William Lloyd Clark's shocking 1908 Expose of the floating log whore houses once tethered on the Davenport levee, to the City Council's ingenious plan to impose a "sin tax" on Davenport "Ladies of the night" and saloon keepers (Davenport's first TIF district!), Madam Karen Rose will lift the forbidden curtains of "Bucktown" for a peek into the dark and dusky back rooms of some of Davenport's most infamous turn-of-the-century saloons and gambling parlors.

WARNING-Nude photos of bare ankles, necks and elbows will be displayed! (Smelling salts available, upon request)

LADIES WILL KINDLY REMOVE THEIR HATS GENTLEMEN WILL REFRAIN FROM SPITTING ON THE FLOORS PISTOLS MUST BE CHECKED AT THE DOOR ABSOLUTELY NO HORSES PAST THE LOBBY!

Their lunches take place at the very elegant, old-school "Outing Club"...where the Davenport elite class used to have their cotillion's...

Sandy and I were lucky enough to get tickets (another SOLD OUT event!)...and the lunch was FABULOUS...

Our favorite local historian, Karen Anderson, was dressed in a PERIOD APPROPRIATE outfit...

She had a slide show that showed what Davenport looked like 100 years ago...

Did I mention the delicious Key Lime pie??

Sandy was taking pictures...

But she had to BE QUICK...cuz I was ready to eat!!

Apparently, during the 1890's, through the Roaring 20's -- Davenport, Iowa was considered "The Wickedest City In America". We had more whore houses (per capita) than any city in the country. Wow. Who knew, eh?

After Karen's presentation during lunch -- there was another aspect to the day. Believe it or not -- there was an actual BUS TOUR -- and we were going to visit the scene of the crimes...!!

Although I was a little disappointed when I saw the three SCHOOL BUSES pull up!!

I needn't have worried.  They were air-conditioned. (it was 92 degrees that day)

We started off at the 11th Street Precinct Fire Station...and, right across the street -- the OLDEST BAR in Iowa!!

Run, continuously, as a bar, since 1860...we went in to order a drink...

On the inside, there was a wall displaying some vintage blacksmith equipment.

The original fire box is now a kind of fake flickering candle...but still effective.

It was so interesting to walk down this street (which I've been on MANY times) and think about the fact that these buildings have been here since the 1860's...wow...

This bar has been here for over 150 years. In my part of the world, that's about as old as it gets...

WHAT A GREAT DAY!!