Life Is Good: The Antique Store Years

Back in the late nineties, I used to run an antique store in rural Maryland. We rented the apartment upstairs and in return for cleaning and setting up the store, I got a commission off all the sales I made. It wasn't much money, but setting up the store was a great project for me. I was a young mother of a toddler at the time, and out of school for a while, so I was feeling that I was stagnating and not learning anything new, except perhaps new and creative ways to get a 2 year old to take a nap. Moving into that antique store was the beginning of a great renaissance for me and a foreshadowing of how Mr. Farmer and I would choose to live our lives once we owned our own place.

When we moved in, the entire house was more or less unlivable. The two front sitting rooms in the old farm house had served as an antique store in years past, but they had turned into a jumbled mess of dusty antique storage. The yellow and green, vertical-striped wallpaper in the stairwell was peeling. The huge staircase railing was covered with dust and fine mold. This place was perfect.

We set to work quickly, moving the furniture around and peeling off the ugly wallpaper. We made the house a home by hanging photos and finally putting out the fancy towels we had received as wedding gifts. I spent day after day dusting and polishing small antique pieces and arranging them for display. Every day was an adventure of discovery and an experience in learning to organize a large amount of stuff into a small amount of space.

In the process of this cleanup I made a discovery that would change me forever. In the large hall closet was a heavy box. In that box were hundreds of taper candle stubs, mostly 3-4 inches long and in every color imaginable. From that box, a hobby that bordered on obsession was born. I started by melting down candles of a single color in a small pan that I bought at a yard sale. I removed the wicks with a fork and set them aside to cool for recycling. My very first candles were made by hanging a long wick into a beer bottle, carefully filling the bottle with wax in alternating layers of color, then allowing the wax to cool and breaking the glass off the candle. The results were fantastic, and I was hooked!

The outdoor cleanup lead to my first adventure in the kitchen. A large grape arbor stood overrun in the back yard, neglected for many years. But Mr. Farmer, being how he is, recognized that among the weeds a good, strong grapevine persisted. He cut the whole thing back so far that I was certain it would never recover. It did, however, and before I knew it we had so many concord grapes that we just had to find some way to preserve them. I pulled out the old cookbooks and the inserts from the mason jar boxes and decided to make both jelly and jam. I spent hours upon hours popping grapes out of their skins, cooking, straining, mixing and canning. The jelly didn't set, but it made wonderful pancake syrup, and the jam was perfect. We gave it away at Christmas and still had more than enough for our own use.

We only lived in the antique store for about a year, but what a year it was! We turned a house into a home. We turned antique storage into an antique store. We turned scrap candles into new candles and grapes into wine, syrup, and jam. We even turned our family of three into a family of four (almost, Little Miss Farmer ended up being born back home in PA, even though I carried her mostly in MD). It was a very productive year, with many memories that I will cherish.

"The Antique Store"
by Laurie Basham
Local artist who chose "my" antique store as a subject.
How cool is that?

Life Is Good: Chilly Weather

Spring is here, but warm weather is not. So, I have to find a way to make the house cozy. The wood stove is now only burning in the evenings, and even though the house is warm enough, it still seems damp and cool. What could drive away the chill and make the house a home again?

Candles, of Course

For a job this big, I lit every candle possible. From left to right: Pink, homemade candle in a mason jar, Hunting Cabin tealight holder, Blue pillar (a gift), Blue taper in a bottle candle holder my daughter made for me, Small vanilla jar candle, large apple/pear scented jar. In the rear you will see a portrait of a very young Young Master Farmer and a handmade plastic-canvas lighthouse that a neighbor made me.

 The light scent and cheery glow from the candles brought the home back to my home. All musty smells were gone, and somehow the illusion of a warmer room was created. That is the magic of candles.

Life Is Good: Snowmen

I am a grown woman who loves to make snowmen. There, I said it, and I'm glad.


I make candles that look like them:

Or I put them on candles: 

I make big snowmen all by myself, usually without the help of the children:

I make tiny little snowmen:

I even made one for Mr. Farmer for his birthday:

I remember making a snowman with my father one time many years ago. He taught me little tricks like how to roll the balls big by pushing them down with their own weight. He also showed me that a marshmallow shape works just as well as a ball, and it is easier to make! I grew up 50 miles to the south of here, so deep snow was more of a treat than business as usual, but it did happen from time to time.

 I only started making snowmen a few years ago. As soon as the kids were big enough to help, they were big enough to have interest in other things, like throwing snowballs at each other and sword fighting with sticks. But I was not to be discouraged. I will keep on making them as long as I am able, and, inevitably, I will be sore and satisfied the next day.