Taking Time for Family

I took a short break from art the last eight days as my sister-in-law, Windi, and my four month old niece, Brooklin, stayed with us. My brother, Brandon, works on a professional NHRA Funny Car drag racing team and was racing on the east coast so the girls flew out to spend time with him as well as visit with our family.

Over the past week we did short little trips around our area. We fed the chicken's at a friend's farm, picked raspberries, went to the Cohanzick Zoo, the local Amish Market, drove around the back lanes of my husband's family farm, and went to a few different ice cream stands. We had bigger plans in mind but three kids on different schedules and Brooklin NOT liking to travel in her car seat, we compromised and stayed local.

This past weekend I also hosted a luncheon for my family to come meet the baby. We had lots of delicious food and the festivities turned into an all day event. We spent time eating, talking, swinging and picking raspberries. It was a great day!

I am so fortunate to have had the opportunity to spend so much quality time with Windi and Brooklin. We had a lot of laughs and really enjoyed being together. It's definitely a visit we won't forget! Below are some pictures from our adventures.

My Newest Find: Saginaw Watertown Slide

Meet my newest find for my studio, an antique Saginaw Watertown Slide cabinet. I had been searching for one for almost a year and this piece has quite a story of how it made it's way to me.

After unsuccessfully locating one in my area, I took to the Facebook search bar (this is how I found my complete art show system, read about it here) Typing in "expanding cabinet table" brought up a lot of older posts. After scrolling through I found a post from the previous day of a cabinet for sale in Pekin, Illinois at a small shop called Corner Curio. I contacted the shop owner, Dawn, who was extremely helpful, and explained how I was interested in purchasing the cabinet but needed to figure out the logistics of getting it to New Jersey.

As some of you know, my brother, Brandon, lives just outside of Indianapolis and works for John Force Racing. I called him while he was racing in Pomona and asked if he would be willing to bring the cabinet home with him during his upcoming visit for Thanksgiving. He was able to bring it home but I had to get the cabinet to his house, about 3.5 hours from Pekin, Ill.

I was determined to obtain this long sought after cabinet. Luckily, I stumbled upon the television show "Shipping Wars" just a couple of weeks prior and learned about UShip.com. After registering and uploading information about the cabinet, I received bids on transporting the cabinet to Indiana.

I purchased the cabinet over the phone and secured the transporter, Mario. We discussed the details of the transaction and settled on pick up and delivery dates. Since my brother was racing in California and wouldn't be back to his house for almost a week, I got in touch with his neighbor, Michelle. She was going to help by accepting the shipment and storing it in her garage.

Unfortunately, due to prior engagements and differing time zones, Mario was unable to deliver the cabinet at the time we discussed. However, this worked out for the best! A couple of days later, Brandon was home and the cabinet was delivered.

The following week, my brother drove the 10+ hours home to stay with us to celebrate Thanksgiving. The cabinet was finally home! 

I can't wait to use it with my private lesson art students, packaging prints, and creating works of art. Below are pictures of this amazingly versatile piece of furniture. The best part of the whole story, is that it only cost $150!