Welcome folks! A big ol' Happy Birthday to Phyllis over at For the Love of Vintage who is hosting this Slumber Party to celebrate her forty-six years.
Come on in folks and get outfitted in your comfy PJs because we're about to head into some serious Slumber Partin'! I'll be sharin' some fab stories about some awesome vintage treasures and I hope you'll chime in with your own stories too.
First off I'd like to introduce you to some awesome folks and point out your lovely accommodations. Madeline and Puppy Cheese have already made themselves right at home.
Madeline is fairly new to the Fluffy Flowers household. She moved in last year after a trip to Athens, Georgia. It was on that same trip that a search for a fabulous yarn store landed us right next to an awesome old house antique shop. I spied this delightful hand sewn bed cover and pillow cases made from an old chenille bedspread and some oh so pretty fluffy flower fabric. It was marked at an unbelievable price but my wallet was low on paper money and high on the plastic. Unfortunately, they only took that old fashioned paper money!
One sleepless hotel night thinking about that groovy bed cover and the next morning I was at the ATM machine and down the road to claim that beauty for my own! Thank goodness it was still there and I don't have to tell this story as the one that got away.
Next I'd like to introduce you to someone near and dear to my heart. He's my teddy bear and his name is Puppy Cheese and, yep, even though I'm having a milestone birthday this year that ends with a zero, I still sleep with him every night.
You see, Puppy Cheese is actually a stuffed Dakin Panda Bear. He was given to me by my high school boyfriend (the infamous prom date who went on to become the quintessential rocket scientist, see here for details) when I was seventeen or eighteen. We found him at the gift shop at Busch Gardens in Tampa, Florida when we went there to see the real live Panda Bears. It was the first time I'd seen those fabulous animals in person and I was enraptured.
For the longest time he was the bear with no name. Then one day, nearly a decade and a different boyfriend later, I was told that I clutched him in my sleep and mumbled something like Puppy Cheese. It seemed so extraordinary and hilarious that the name stuck and he's been Puppy Cheese ever since.
My treasured stuffed Panda Bear has stayed with me nearly every night of my life including those spent traveling. In all that time I only left him behind once, at a hotel in the town I now call home. It was a harrowing two weeks without him until I got him back, I can tell you that!
Oh, pardon my manners! I forgot to offer y'all some refreshments. Here in the Fluffy Flowers household we're trying to watch our figures. Ever since that mean ol' doctor pointed out that we're a little short for our weight we've been watching what we eat. But I do have a tall, refreshing glass of skim milk and some nice and crunchy graham crackers that I guarantee will hit the spot.
Oh, and if you don't want any eyes staring at you just go right ahead and turn that fluff ball to face the other way. She won't mind.
Oh, and don't forget to wave to Miss Holly. She's been with me a long, long time. Since I was seven, I believe, which was a few, ahem, decades ago.
Now what slumber party would be complete without a cottage and three bears? They look like they've got their ears all perked up for something. Wonder what it could be?
And what's that Madeline and Puppy Cheese are saying? They've been waiting patiently? For what, I wonder?
Oh, for a story! Well, of course! It wouldn't be a slumber party without a bedtime story.
Once upon a time there was a little girl. She was sweet and kind and nice but quite ordinary in every way. The funny thing is that extraordinary things kept happening to her. And even though she followed the rules and always did what she was told she usually found herself stuck between a rock and a hard place.
But what she discovered when she found herself in that place was that she didn't have to live with it the way it was. She could change it. She could change herself. She could paint the walls, or hang a shelf, or put up a picture. She could rearrange things and add to it or take away. She discovered that she could transform the world around her and by so doing she could make quite extraordinary things happen.
And so she did, which made her live very happily ever after.
Hum, doesn't quite sound like the story of Jane Eyre, does it? Ah well, the story still seems a bit familiar to me :)
Yawn, I think Madeline and Puppy Cheese liked that story, yawn, I know I did, yawn. Sorry y'all, yawn, sorry! I think I'm getting a little sleepy now. I think it's time to snuggle under the covers and catch a few zzzzzs. Thank you everyone for dropping by and especially to that fabulous Phyllis who set the ball in motion. Happy Birthday!
