Bartlett-Stokes House

Warning! Remove Nose From Books

2011-10-02T15:03:00.000-07:00

Happy October! Being a new teacher I feel that I have not done anything in the last few months except decorate my classroom, grade papers, and do lesson plans. This weekend however, I decided that there is more to life than lesson plans so I spent some time in my art loft. Eureka! My stress level has been lowered and I feel a little more like my old self. Oh the joy of rubber stamping!

Last week I had to place a Stampin' Up order to meet my quota so today I played with some of my new toys.

Everything is from Stampin' Up. The new catalog is out and I have some extra copies if you would like one.

I'm getting into the Christmas card, tags and gifts making mood! My goal is to use the stamps I have and only purchase paper. Do you think I can do it?

Well, I hope you have a wonderful week. Please comment; I love to hear your thoughts!

Meschill

I'm Back!!!!

2011-05-15T15:15:00.000-07:00

Wow - it feels as if I have finally stepped out of the fog. For those of you who don't know (and may not care) I have been going to school for the last year and also working on my teacher certification for the last three months. Well I am more than happy to say that I AM THROUGH!!!!!! Finally after more years than I care to admit, I have graduated from college. I am also through with my certification exams so now all I need is a job!

This weekend was the first in a very long time that I didn't have to study and I enjoyed it immensely. I cleaned and organized my bedroom and my art loft (which still needs a name - any suggestions). During this mad cleaning dash I enjoyed my pandora radio listening to Pink, Mozart, and the Beatles. HA! Don't even try to put me into a category!

I have tons of projects to work on this summer - remember all of that STUFF that I bought on Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour? If not see my earlier posts!

Plans for the summer:

Frame and hang old family photos

Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour Scrapbook

Birthday cards for the whole year

Find something creative to do with all of my antique lace and linens

Paint my kitchen cabinets

Paint my un-named art loft

Find out more history on my house

Redecorate my upstairs bathroom

Teach VBS

Go to youth camp in New Mexico

Visit Mattie

Ok, so you get the idea! Debbie and I are also wanting to start a business! Oh, and I also plan to make tons of altered art!

Something I've been thinking about this weekend - Dreams. Not the kind you have at night. My dreams are:

To have an effective ministry

To become a mixed media artist

To be a teacher

To write

One final thing - please pray for my dad - he was recently diagnosed with lung cancer. Miraculously it has not spread. He will have surgery to remove part of his lung as well as insert a stint and possibly a bypass. The date is May 25th.

Thank you and have a great week!

Meschill

What Part of Party Don't You Understand

2011-03-19T21:47:00.000-07:00

Day 5 - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour

We started the day early as usual to make a trip back to Dolly Python because we had been told that they would be having a flea market in the parking lot. Great stuff!!!! Great prices!!!! We picked up several treasures here including an old suitcase and birdcage for Mattie, more keys and little glass bottles. Debbie also found some keepers including a fantastic mirror which features a crown and two unicorns - can't wait to see what she does with that!

Next we planned to head back to Deep Ellum to take some pics of these cool silver birds but found ourselves in Highland Park at, can you believe it, a park. We stopped so we could take pictures. Debbie really enjoyed the photo shoot and I've included some of the pictures. I joke about her big girl camera but seriously she is an amazing photographer! While she took pictures, I enjoyed some much needed chilaxin' watching the ducks - oh, yeah, did I mention there was also a gorgeous lake, well maybe a creek?

There is just something about spending time in nature especially in the Spring - it has healing powers! Wordsworth wrote "Revisiting the natural beauty of the Wye fills the poet with a sense of "tranquil restoration". This is so true. I really enjoyed a sense of renewal watching and listening to the gentle ripple of the water as the ducks skimmed easily over the glass lake. But I digress .......

We said farewell to the beauty of the little park, our nice surprise for the day, and set out to find the Swiss Avenue Historic District which was one of the first swanky neighborhoods in Dallas.

The street was lined with gorgeous old mansions in several different styles. The neighborhood began in the early 1900's. It was fun to see the different styles and unique characteristics of the stately homes.

Next, we headed back home to pick up Mattie for lunch. We decided to try another "best of Dallas" - The Grape which is said to have the best cheeseburger. It's located in Uptown, a neighborhood that we now know well. The street is lined with restaurants with outside dining and the patios were full of spring-loving diners enjoying the sun and conversation. We noticed however, that The Grape was not crowded, in fact the closer we got the more empty it appeared. Well, I'm sure you have guessed that it was closed - closed on Saturday? We were hungry so we just decided to try the Blue Goose next door. This eatery turned out to be mexican food and as luck would have it they were serving Brunch. Mattie and I took advantage of this and had Eggs Benedict and Migas respectfully. Debbie had Quesadillas.

It was nice to visit with Mattie and hear about her trip to California.

Next we headed to Frisco for a visit to a huge Asian Market. Mattie was able to pick up some spices for a dish that she wanted to make and Debbie and I collected some Asian newspapers for use in art projects so the drive to Frisco was worth it. Next we went to a huge DSW so Debbie could do a little shoe shopping. As I said the store was huge and was decorated with a shoe chandelier.

Well, sadly our shopping trip has come to an end but we have some great memories, new fave shops, and tons of treasures. In my next few posts I will let you in on some of our goodies and what we plan to do with them. We also want to thank Pink for the inspiration for our daily titles. Tomorrow we head home but who knows what adventures we may encounter along the way so stay tuned! I'll leave you with a funny little story. Debbie was taking a picture of one of the shops and two men yelled at her, "miss, miss" and posed wanting to have their picture taken so of course she did. Little things like that have just made us laugh and smile this week. We're anxious to hear your comments and maybe your spring break adventures or your fave vintage or thrift shops!

Nitty Gritty Dirty Little Freaks

2011-03-18T20:24:00.000-07:00

Day 4 - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour

Today we got down and dirty with a few garage sales, thrift stores and even an architectural salvage yard. Our first stop was what was advertised as an estate sale but turned out to be a poor excuse for a yard sale. We did however find a pretty cool garage sale and picked up a few things there. We had plenty of misses but that's just the name of the game with garage sales. Next we hit a couple of thrift stores without much luck and decided to check out Orr-Reed Wrecking Co.

They boast having "plenty of good ol' junk" and this was no exaggeration. Old doors, windows, wood, hardware, granite, fixtures and the list goes on and on just like their rows of "house stuff". We also met Mr. N. L. Jones who is famous in Dallas for his amazing birdhouses built using the discarded junk found in the wrecking yard. He has worked there for more than 40 years and is called Dallas' Birdhouse Man. Our visit to Orr-Reed was well worth the drive. We scored some cool vintage hardware that we can use for our projects!

Now as fortune would have it we found ourselves very close to the Bishop Arts District which we had planned for our last day so we decided to spend a few hours there.

This is an artsy (as the name implies) little area right off IH35 in Oakcliff which is south Dallas. Cute, cute, too school for cool shops, boutiques and art galleries as well as a few restaurants. Some notable mentions include Made which has handmade items and offers sewing lessons, Dirt which has gorgeous flower arrangements, Just Add Jeans where you can find young stylish clothes and jewelry for a very modest price, and Artisan's Collective that houses amazing mixed media and assemblage art from several different artists. Debbie bought a few things in this district but mainly we were inspired and now have tons of projects planned!

Even the tire shop was artsy!

Epiphany had gorgeous clothes and jewelry but plan to pay a little more than Just Add Jeans.

Another cute mural in the Bishop Arts District! I need to back up a bit because before we checked out the shops we headed to the most unique and intimate little restaurant called Tillman's Roadhouse. Debbie had eaten here before and like so many of our other establishments that we visited, has been voted the Best in Dallas, in this case for their fries and let me tell you I was not disappointed. We shared an order of the Trio of Frieswhich consists of three very large portions of parmesan black pepper kennebec, chili dusted purple peruvian, and smoked salt scented sweet potato fries with housemade ketchup & horseradish pickle mayo. Oh my goodness - these are to die for! We also shared a B.L.A.T. sandwich - that's bacon, lettuce, avocado and tomato on grilled sourdough bread.

The atmosphere was very unique and a lesson in contrasts. Velvet cushions and assorted pillows made up the booth type tables alongside elegant brocade wallpaper and eight, yes count them, (umm, Debbie did) chandeliers while one wall was decorated with carved wooden deer heads - I was extremely pleased that these were not real! We sat at a little back corner table and I remarked "french fries, avocado, bacon and sourdough bread, what more do you need" to which my best friend-might-as-well-be-sister replied, "you and me"! Checkout Tillman's website.

We also stopped at a little coffee house for a pick-me-up called Espumoso - great atmosphere and a nice cappuccino for me, iced tea for Debbie and a thick yummy lemon bar which we split.

We took a little rest on a park bench and due to a bad shoe choice my feet were hurting. I stuck them out and said that I wished that someone would come along and offer to rub my feet. Debbie said that whoever would do that would probably be a pervert, to which I replied, "seriously, I really wouldn't care". Aw, good times!

After Debbie's little idea book was full of inspiration we headed to another thrift store, St. Vincent de Paul on Northwest Highway. What a find! This will be a permanent stop on our Dallas trips from now on. We found tons of treasures here for our newly inspired projects and we were pleasantly surprised to find out that everything in the store was 30% off!

Be sure to include this charity based thrift store on your list when you go junking. Oh, by the way, we decided that we are now Junk Divas! Well, after going through this store and the Bishop Arts District and the prior three days, my feet were refusing to go another step so we decided to head home.

Yep, she couldn't resist!

Be sure and check back tomorrow - we plan to go to a flea market at Dolly Python. We'll also give you a rundown of all the shops we visited as well as our list of "Best in Dallas". Please leave us comments - it thrills us to get them, of course it doesn't take much - today we were quite entertained by the fact that as we drove up to Orr-Reed, after thinking we were lost and driving around trying to avoid and then finally facing I 30 traffic, Fastball sang out from the radio "but where were they going without ever knowing the way". I'll say it again - Good Times!

We'll Never Be Anyting But Loud

2011-03-18T05:18:00.000-07:00

Day 3 - Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour

Day 3 was delightful. We started the day with what was advertised as an estate sale. It turned out to be a warehouse where a guy sells the junk (that's a good thing) he has bought from storage units gone bad. What a treasure trove although our hands were filthy by the time we got through digging.

Here is our stack of treasures. Quite a haul for $42! Nice and dirty we now headed for the Arts District and arrived at the DMA, that's Dallas Museum of Art for the uninitiated, about 10 minutes before it opened so we walked across the street to the Trammel Crow Building. Debbie had been before but it was my first time - AMAZING!!! They have a huge collection of Asian art and it's free!

This is outside the Trammel Crow building. I love taking pics of Deb taking pics :)

Next we walked back to the DMA and decided to split up and go at our own pace. Tons of pics here and I'm sure Debbie will share these on facebook; I'll provide a link later.

Because we are not huge party animals, um let me rephrase that, because we should not be huge party animals, we decided to celebrate St. Patrick's Day with a late lunch at The Old Monk, a cool Irish Pub in the oh so hip Knox-Henderson area. We were not disappointed. We tried some Irish beer and Debbie had Shepherd's Pie and I had Fish and Chips. YUM-O!!!

Debbie just had to take a pic of these lads and they quickly posed in their St. Patty's hats. We were tempted to stay another hour for the Irish dancers but opted to find a shop we had read about and Debbie had been to before called Junkadoodle. What a wonderful shop - some really nice things but tons of cheap things waiting for a little love and elbow grease. I scored an amazing poster book of Ladies Home Journal reproductions for only $8!!! I may frame these for my downstairs bathroom or use them as inspiration for my new guest bedroom. By the time we finished in Junkadoodle, it was 6:00pm but we decided to go the short drive to Dallas' famous Salvation Army store on Inwood and Harry Hines. What a find. Debbie bought a few things, including a gift for her son and daughter-in-law. I didn't buy anything here but when I'm ready to buy furniture this is where I'll come. Gorgeous antiques for amazing prices.

Don't you just love it when pure bliss just falls intp your lap! That's exactly what happened as we were making our way to DSW shoes (which we never made it to). I spied a sign that said Wine Chocolate Bliss - well to say the least Debbie just about stopped traffic to turn around and head back. Chocolate Secrets turned out to be the most charming Uptown shop with coffee, tea, wine, and of course the most heavenly chocolate. We split what they call a wine and chocolate pairing which included a glass of wine and chocolates. The shop guy was great and helped us pick out wine and chocolates. Yes it was pure bliss.

Next, we headed home. More pics and shop reviews to come. Let me leave you with the best quote of the day from Debbie, "I yield for pedestrians, but only ones with brains." Yep, Dallas driving at it's best!

Wrong in All The Right Ways

2011-03-17T05:39:00.000-07:00

CRAZY DAY 2 of Meschebbie's Magical Tour!

This will be short because we are trying to head out early this morning for an estate sale. Let's just say that day 2 was amazing! We found tons of treasures and will review all the shops we visited in a post tonight as well as pictures to entice you to follow our trail. Let me just say now however that by far our fave shop is Curiosities. Their sign reads "Curious things for creative people" and it did not disappoint. The abbreviated version of day 2 is chilaxing a bit in the morning, frantic shop-hopping, going without lunch because we spent sooooo much time in Curiosities, dinner at the most amazing hamburger joint (more on that tonight), a whirlwind tour of Deep Ellum, and some live music and cool views of the Dallas skyline at night where Debbie got out her big girl camera, finally home to crash! Here are just a few pics to bring you back tonight.

Another Time Another Place - fab Turkish import shop. Debbie and Sarik are good friends now and she plans to go to Turkey to stay in his new hotel. She also bought a gorgeous ring here - very unique.

The most perfect cappuccino I have ever had at The Pearl Cup.

Never seen one of these - a wine tasting table at Lula B's Antique mall that Debbie fell in love with and looked at me and said "Um, can you drive a U-haul?" This is also where I picked up a perfect gift for my hubby :) Oh, yeah I also found THE perfect gift for my Dad at Curiosities!

Voted Best Hamburger Joint in Texas - Twisted Root! YUM-O!

Deep Ellum - Let me just say that it's official - I LOVE DE! So many cool pics to come.

So please post comments - we would love to hear from you!

Day 1 - Raise Your Glass

2011-03-16T07:05:00.000-07:00

Day 1 of Meschebbie's Magical Mystery Tour!

On the road by 6:50AM! I know, I know, why would we insist on getting up early during Spring Break - cuz we have things to do and places to be!

First stop - Cafe Cappuccino in Waco for breakfast. Huge pancakes - if you're ever through Waco be sure to check it out.

We hit Big D around 10am and headed straight downtown to The Old Red Courthouse where a huge tourist's information center is located. We picked up tons of brochures as if we had never been to Dallas before :)

Next we headed across the street to the 6th Floor Museum - very interesting. Also a visit to the grassy knoll.


Debbie standing on the spot where JFK was shot.

Ok, now to the SHOPPING! We dropped our stuff off at Mattie's apartment - multiple trips up the three flights of stairs! It looked like we were moving in - I guess you could say we are both pretty high maintenance. Next we headed to Lower Greenville Ave., known for it's bohemian vibe. On the way we stopped at a cute little taco stand which happened to be in a very seedy part of town. While waiting for our tacos I watched a drug deal go down - what luck!!!!!

On to Greenville. Some of the shops we wanted to visit weren't open so we'll have to go back. We did visit The Shining - very cool, lots of unique jewelry and stuffed mice. Debbie fell in love with this little angel mouse. A short walk, actually a few steps, next door to We Are 1976, another cool shop with original artwork, books, jewelry and odds and ends.

Next, across the street to Again Design Studio, lots of mid century modern furniture, beautiful antique chandeliers and re-purposed furniture. The most amazing thing about this shop is the bathroom.

A short drive and we arrive at Dolly Python - OMG - I've never seen so much stuff - vintage clothing, old records, and alot of other very fabulous finds. We only had an hour before closing time and we spent every minute - as in the guy followed us out the door to lock it up. We made a few nice vintage purchases.

We plan to go back on Saturday morning for a Bizarre Bazaar (flea market) in the parking lot! Finally, we headed to T.J. Max on Preston looking for purses, etc. With hurting feet we stopped at Kroger for a few snacks and headed back to the apartment - another trip up the stair,s both of us looking like pack mules - no way we were making more than one trip. Awww, settled in to watch Glee, luckily Mattie had taped it, with wine, cheese, bread,etc. A great first day!

Trying this Blog thing once again!

2011-03-14T11:30:00.000-07:00

Well, once again I am trying my hand at blog writing. I thought this would be a good week to start because I'm on Spring Break and will be leaving tomorrow for Dallas for a super fun week with my BFF Debbie. We plan to shop until we drop and look for the best bargains. I will mostly be looking for ideas as well as "stuff" to decorate my house. I'm also looking for funky finds and found objects to use with my vintage altered art projects. I will try and post everyday and fill you in on our shopping adventure and hopefully can clue you in on some of Dallas' best kept secrets including bargain shopping, vintage finds, fun places to eat, and fabulous thrift stores for those of you who, like me, are junk divas.

Take care,

Meschill

Challenged Blogger

2010-02-19T13:37:00.000-08:00

Well, I have discovered that I'm not very good at blogging. As with most things I get really excited about something and then lose interest. I guess it's really about time - I just don't have the time to do everything I want to do. Blogging is not high on my list of priorities but I thought I would just update the black hole out there.

I have turned the upstairs rooms into an art loft with plenty of room for scrapping and stamping with friends and my mom. I even talked my dad into working on the doll house in that space.

We have gutted the pool house turned cottage and are waiting for the contractor to do some work on the foundation so we can finish the renovating so my parents can move in. I worry about it being too small but I still think they will enjoy it. Rick thinks (ever the optimist) that it should be finished by summer.

Speaking of summer, I am so ready for spring time and warmer weather. This has been one of the coldest and rainiest winters for us. I could never live in the North!

Back to the house - although all of our resources are going to the cottage right now I would like to do some sprucing up before May. I am planning a big Graduation Party for Mattie who will be graduating from UMHB (hence the graduation party) the first of May. I will keep you posted and will try to post my pictures from Christmas (hopefully before next Christmas!)

Well, no promises but I will write as the mood strikes me, anymore would be like work and I have enough of that at my actual job.

Saturday At Home

2009-09-19T18:57:00.000-07:00

Parade, roasted corn, marching bands, arts and crafts, friends: just another day in a small town. Our little town celebrated it's annual festival today, Friendshipfest. This marks our first year here and we are loving life in this small town. I plan to write an article on today's activities on hubpages so stay tuned!

We are almost through pulling down wallpaper upstairs and then we'll start scraping the popcorn ceiling and repairing the cracks in the plaster before we paint. Actually, Rick is doing all of this but I am definately supervising. The way it works around our house is I start a project and then he finishes it. I have a bad case of procrastination for everything except writing and shopping.

We are also making some headway on the cottage and plan to have the first phase finished by Christmas. We have had great weather here this past week and today was no exception.

In other news, I have just become the Paper Crafts Editor for Bellaonline!

Perfect Rainy Day

2009-09-12T15:38:00.000-07:00

A rainy Saturday here in Central Texas. I love it! I have spent the entire day in my writing spot and have written two articles for hubpages.com. The rest of the family and guests are watching football in the front of the house so once again I am able to retreat to my quiet spot in my comfy chair and write while listening to the gentle sound of rain falling. I am so thankful for the rain; there are many farmers in our area that have been devastated by the drought conditions. Every Sunday in our small church someone prays for rain and God has heard and answered those pleas.

It has been really hard for me to get in the mood for fall with our record heat temperatures of over 100 degrees. This is one time of year that I am jealous of those who live in cooler climates and can enjoy the turning leaves, acorns, and pleasant temperatures but with the rain and temperatures in the 70's today, I got the itch to get down my fall decorations. Unfortunately, I think my fall boxes are in storage so I will have to have Rick's assistance to get those, hopefully tomorrow. I have a few little things I bought at the dollar store - what a bargain place for seasonal goodies - I also had Rick get in the attack of the cottage and pull down some china that was left from previous owners. This china will work great for my Fall table with it's wheat stalk design.

I had also planned to have Tea Time today but with the company over for the game I have decided to have it tomorrow afternoon. I will take pictures of my tea table and post tomorrow. I will serve scones with lemon curd and fake Devonshire Cream, Chamomile Lavender Tea, and finger or tea sandwiches made with egg salad or cream cheese and cucumber.

Rick has almost finished pulling the wall paper down from upstairs and will work on the cracks next. The cottage is finally seeing some results as all of the drywall has been pulled down. The next step is to hire someone to haul off the drywall and next some work will be done on the foundation. This, of course, will have to be done by a professional but once it is done we will be able to work on the insulation, the walls, and the floor. Rick is hoping to have phase one of the project, which is the bathroom and bedroom, done by Christmas for my parents.

I love this old house so much - I have really turned into a home body!

Have a wonderful weekend!

Meschill

Charming Long Weekend

2009-09-07T18:49:00.000-07:00

It's almost time to turn in after the long Labor Day weekend. The Bartlett-Stokes House saw a charming three days and I am refreshed and almost ready to go back to work. Saturday was spent writing and passing out flyers for a youth party but the best part of the day was when we got some much needed rain. The University of Texas played football and as much as I wanted to watch I wanted to go to bed early more so I left everyone downstairs and retired to my comfy bed and watched the movie Never Been Kissed which I have seen several times but always enjoy. Sunday morning was the first Sunday for the new 7th graders to be in our class so we had breakfast for them. We had 9 in attendance counting Rick, Mattie and me. Following church Mattie came to the house for dinner and we had a nice visit with her then back to doing some writing and even some time playing around with different stamping techniques. Sunday night we had a party for the youth - I am really trying to get used to Jr. High kids! Today we had coffee on the front porch for quite a while and then went to Salado and my sweet husband let me do a little treasure hunting in a couple of antique shops. One was a new one which turned out to be overpriced which is common in Salado but the other one had some bargains as usual. It is off the main street in Salado on the frontage road of the highway and has to be my favorite. It is set up like an antique mall in that individual dealers can rent a space for their items. I think it is even called the Salado Antique Mall. I found a little china creamer that matches some other pieces I have, 2 darling children's aprons which I plan to use in my redecorating of Mattie's room, a tall china vase, a pretty hankie and a little picture in a white frame of a french woman which I also plan to use in Mattie's room. The rest of today was spent going through some of my old Christmas magazines looking for ideas for homemade cards, gifts and decorations. So as I said it was quite a charming weekend. I hope yours was nice as well!

Meschill

2009-08-25T18:28:00.000-07:00

I've been reading about the health benefits of tea over coffee. I am an avid coffee drinker; I could live at Starbuck's and be perfectly happy but I am really making an effort to improve my health. I have been sick several times this year and have missed work way too much. I have read that tea provides antioxidants; in fact I have done quite a bit of research and will share that research with you on future posts. I just wanted to check in and invite you to follow my journey as I try and make the switch from an addicted coffee guzzler to a healthy tea sipper. I will try and post daily and report on my progress!

In other "news" concerning the house we are currently tearing down walls in our pool house that is the future cottage for my parents, well, ok, I have had very little to do with this task but everyone else has done a fair bit of work in spite of the 100+ Texas temperatures. I think the general consensus is that we will get much more done when and if the weather cools down (maybe to a cool 80). Well, that's all for tonight. I fly out to beautiful but hopefully cooler Amarillo tomorrow for a TAHC Town Hall Meeting and will return Thursday night. I really don't have anything planned except for church this weekend so I am hoping to get some writing and either scrapbooking or stamping done. I will post to Moments to Celebrate, one of my other blogs, to show you what I get accomplished.

This picture was taken on our Carnival Cruise - more pictures to come!

Take care,
Meschill

2009-08-22T05:59:00.000-07:00

Welcome! I'm glad you stopped by. This blog is all about the journey of renovating our old Victorian style home. I will also be offering tips on home renovation, Victorian decorating and history. If you love old houses, wish you had been born at the turn of the century or just want to add some romantic touches to your home then this is the place for you. Pour yourself a cup of tea in a beautiful antique cup and enjoy the ride.