Patina White

A few years ago, my neighbor Adalaid decided she wanted to move to an apartment and sell her house. A man from California bought it with the intentions of moving the house to a lake lot. When he asked us if we wanted to buy the lot and the little garage on it for $1,500, we didn't give him two seconds to reconsider! Sold! The little garage is my favorite thing on our property. It's a tiny little old shed really. The white paint is peeling off from years of rain, wind and snow, and the windows are all broken.  It's a picture of endurance. It's taken a beating, but it's still standing. It's the background for many of my pictures. I LOVE THAT SHED! My neighbors, probably not so much. I am sure they are worried about it decreasing their property values by $3,877,999 or so... But, I don't have the heart to paint it, and as long as I don't tell Tim to paint it, it won't get painted. So, I hold my breath and wait for the dreaded day the neighbors tell him to paint it. I love old stuff like that. I always have. When I was a teenager, my mom used to sew "Little Country Critters" and sell them at The World's Most Famous Fleamarket" in Daytona Beach. I loved that market. One of my first jobs was at that market, selling socks. Now, don't laugh. I made commission and you can bet I sold the heck out of those socks! I only worked Saturdays and Sundays and there wasn't a weekend that I didn't go home with at least a couple hundred bucks in my pocket! That was many years ago and that was a lot of money back then. (It still is!) Being exposed to the market and all the wonderful junk/treasures they sold there was the start of my obsession with old things. So, last summer I was checking out a flea market in Detroit Lakes. There were lots of little shops and lots of vendors just set up in the open air in the grass. I came across a little white shed with peeling paint just like my shed! You know I had to go inside. When I entered the little building, my heart began to pound. My eyes were trying to take in everything at once. I was surrounded by new, old, fun, serious, incredibly fabulous, fabulous junky treasures! It was all my style and it was pure heaven.  You know how they say everyone has a twin? The owner of this fabulous shop's name is Beth. This chick is my twin. Not physically, (She's super tall and super skinny and beautiful! But, she did have blonde hair.) but in every other sense. Her business style, her mannerism, her taste in clothes...I could go on and on. She was my entrepreneurial twin. I didn't want to buy everything in her shop. I wanted to buy her shop!! It felt like a shop that I would have put together. But, because of where I live and all the other circumstances, I will just live my life/dream through her. Lucky her!!! When I found out that some of her items were things she created out of items she had picked up at junk yards, auctions, etc... I was so jealous! I love doing that! She has the perfect shop in the perfect town. (Tons of tourists!) She has my dream job! Her shop is called Patina White and she has a website by that name if you want to check her out. She's one super cool chick! Now when I look out my window at my little white shed, I picture it filled with treasures. It inspires me, but I know three jobs might be a bit too much and I know out of the 1,500 townspeople, only 2 are into that sort of thing. There's also the neighbors to think about. They might not appreciate the old, but pretty blue toilet (remember those??) that I have lovingly filled with pink and white flowers, sitting in front of my little white shed. But, who knows....it just might increase the value of their property....it just might.