supporting our habit . . .

My daughter, Lindsay, and I love all things vintage. We love to spend hours poking around thrift stores or garage sales, looking for hidden treasures. My house is filled with fruits of my thrifty labor.

Overflowing might be the adjective Greg would use to describe the status of the cool stuff I've drug home over the years.

"So, just how many more pictures of Jesus do you actually need?" he asked one afternoon as I hung an Egyptian rendition(painted on papyrus) of the Last Supper on the wall.

"I don't need them, I collect them," I informed him, considering the case closed.

But I have to admit, my tastes have changed over time. I collect white porcelain madonnas (the mother of Jesus, not the singer) instead of McCoy pottery now. Old religious books and antique pictures of Jesus catch my eye instead of the old quilts that once obsessed me. Rustic iron crosses have displaced amish collectibles.

It's been a good change, I think. But what to do with my surplus treasures?

I've put them up for sale on my new online shop--Strantiques! Lindsay turned me on to ETSY (an online market which primarily features handmade products) when she first moved up from LA and we've started a shop together.

If you haven't already checked it out, click on the Strantiques link and visit our site. If you buy something from us, I might just have room to buy the St. Francis statue I saw on Ebay . . .