Big Bertha and The Elephant

This is Big Bertha, she is my most favorite antique and I use her to measure up all other antiques that come onto my property.




Not only is Bertha beautiful she is functional! That lil niche is the future home of a pantry, so in the meantime Bertha graces that place in our kitchen, and is doing a fine job of pantry-ness. She was gifted to me by my dad, well actually I called dibs on her after my biological mom passed away. It was one of the last big things I remember her taking from shoddy to shiny. She really did have a knack for sprucing things up and making them shine. I think he was ready to let it go as well as her, moving on from what could have been I s'pose, and it really took up alot of space in his living room.



This is her sidekick Mr. Elephant.





I am a dumpster diving diva, there is nothing I wont stop at when it comes to this "sport", a dead deer carcass and rotting food maybe. Even then I will stop and consider how to by pass "that smell" if the goodie that caught my eye is worth it. Last year we tore down an old bunkhouse and took it to the big dump. The big dump, or sand coulee warehouse, is where we offload building type materials at the local municipality. We have to drive all the way to the top and back, instead of using the big metal containers. While my hubby is removing the straps to said junk, I see something that catches my eye.."what the heck....... is a black silk lamp shade doing up here?".
Off to investigate with 2 children in tow. I'll be darned if someone didn't dump everything from gramma's attic. I found that cookie jar, glass rolling pin, linens, tiny pots and pans that my daughter happily latched onto for her play kitchen. Its a good thing they came with us, I needed extra arms. In the midst of all the euphoria of what I found I had a vision of a rattlesnake coming out from underneath some junk so it was time to vamoose. We get back to the pick up and my husband and another bloke were making fun of me. I quickly shot off "go ahead and laugh this cookie jar is worth around $40 bucks pal, enough to pay for that tire yer gonna pop gettin outta here". Sure enough guess what happens after we unload and drive off......yup, tire going flat. My husband says "well honey you better get that cookie jar sold" to which I reply " HA!No way man!! you made fun of me so I'm not gonna selling it, that'll teach ya"!!! *sticking tongue out* I was trying so so so hard not to burst out laughing, I couldnt help it!! I keep him because its a good story and it is indeed functional. We were not charged at the tire shop to repair the tire either. I told my hubby, this was the universe sending him this lesson in learning to not look down his nose at my "treasures". sidenote: thrift stores and dumps give him the eebie jeebies.

The moral of my story is I don't keep every antique that I come across. They have to be functional or have a good story behind it, not just dust collectors. My family has the junk gene, and for some reason if its antique it must be kept. I disagree, if they are not functional or loved then buh bye! The dish towels we use and I gave the rolling pin to an antiques dealer. I never asked him for money, I asked him to just keep on the look out for a an enamelware bread box for me. I dont get too wrapped in "this is worth this much money" because that is only true when you find someone to actually pay that price. If you can, try to sell them to pad an emergency fund, but don't get hung up on what you think, or someone else might think they are worth. Get what you can and let it go. It was not to long ago I realized clutter is clutter even if it is an antique.

Keep it simple cowgirls!!