Natural Grace...

When I was in pre-school, my brothers built a fort by stacking several "steamer trunks" against one of the interior walls of our garage. (One of the trunks was/is full of dress-up clothes...cast-offs from my mama, grandma, and even my great grandma..and they were all quite the snappy dressers!) My brothers used the ladder from their maple bunk bed set for access to the top of the trunk tower. One day, after spending some time in the little nest I had built with blankets up in the fort...I headed down the ladder to go back into the house. At that very moment...the ladder slid out from under me... and I fell through it and broke my leg.

Playing Dress-Up with My Best Friend, Joy

Joy was/is a month older than I am. Her family had moved into the new little neighborhood...from half way across the country..i.e. Minnesota....shortly before my folks and my wee brothers landed right next door...also from Minnesota. I was the first Washington born babe in the family and my parents brought me home to that house..the one with Joy next door. I was/am blessed with another dear friend...who lived just across the street...we have been friends since she was born..we are friends to this day. We kept ourselves busy with Barbies, dress-up, coloring, and such...never requesting that others entertain us.  If I recall correctly, the big green princess crown I am wearing was a class project made from construction paper.  My mom's fancy nighties were always a dress-up favorite of ours.  Joy is modeling a wee sized high school t-shirt, soft pink skull cap, and pinwheel with her gown.  I am wearing my favorite jeans...the ones with the bright plaid cuffs, along with a granny shawl as a skirt and one of my mama's lacy robes.  I remember that when I went back to school with my broken leg...the teacher had to give me a nice little lecture...because I was embarrassed about using my crutches. I think I got over that pretty quickly...which is a good thing because that was not the last of my graceful mishaps...I thought about sharing a few with you..(fair warning to the squeamish)

There was the time when I was in the ninth grade and my parents were having a party at the other end of the house...I went skipping down the hall to their room. We had really cushy carpet in that house and my parents' bedroom was two steps down from their dressing area..I decided to leap...whilst singing the theme song to "Punky Brewster"...yeah...that was a great idea. I broke my ankle.

Then there was the time when I was 17...I went for a ride on my ten speed. (I rode through our hilly neighborhood all the time when I was growing up...) On my way back home..not far from the house and on a not very steep slope...just out of the blue...I flipped over the handle bars and landed with the bike on top of me and my foot in the spokes. I don't recommend doing that..no, I don't recommend doing that at all. My foot blew up like a balloon and all of my mom's nurse friends felt the need to come over and touch it...Thank you very much! Do I need to mention the ER nurse who went after the pebbles in my scraped knee with what looked like a wire barbeque brush? Ahhh...yeah..thanks a lot!!! My mom said that they don't do that anymore.

When I was in college...whilst assisting a grad costume designer on "A Midsummer Night's dream"..by William Shakespeare...I was told to hurry backstage to grab an accessory out of the second story dressing room. Did I mention that they didn't have ANY safety lights on backstage...not even on the steep, high staircase? Yeah, I fell down the stairs. Fair Oberon asked if I was all right and reached out his hand to help me up (Remember him, Sara? Yeah...he was fine! :) I believe it was Snug who carried me to my car. The staff...I don't know where they were. That was nice. That was just before my birthday. My friends and I spent a beautiful rainy day at the zoo. We all wore ponchos..well..at least I did...and my friends pushed me around in a wheel chair. Thank you, Sara!

Those were just a few of my most graceful moments.

Ahhh..memories. If only my crutches weren't buried in storage. That was a very silly thing to do. You see, on Saturday...whilst out garage sailin' in a nearby town, I saw a plastic grocery bag make a run for the street. I followed. Caught the fleeing bag with my right foot...then landed on my left foot. I had been thinking about what method I should use to catch it...whilst I was running after that bag. What I did not think about was landing on my left foot, then feeling it roll...roll..roll..over onto the pavement and then feeling my entire self...roll...roll..roll..onto the pavement. I was holding a couple of garage sale goodies at the time. Had I not been holding said goodies, I probably would have smashed up my arm instead of just turning my foot into a big bruised...well...foot. Nice. The people from the garage sale were SO kind! They said I should sit for a bit and elevate and ice it..but I just wanted to go home. I am praying that it will heal quickly. I've been elevating and icing it and have been able to walk on it...very carefully....since yesterday afternoon. I actually fell uphill..it could have been much worse...I had JUST put some pretty cute dishes in my SUV. So what was I holding when I fell? I was holding a vintage Spacegirl paper doll set in its original box..and a cool vintage handmade Santa sleigh.

I hope that you had a lovely weekend!

ps Do you see the little girl in the green clown costume? That is Angela. Angela's family lived down by the lake and had an aggregate staircase in their house. Who has a POLISHED aggregate staircase IN their house???

Here is what I think about that! 
: )
Julie M.
For more photos…and to receive regular updates on my fabulous junking adventures and restoration projects, please follow The Little Red Shop's facebook page.  You can also visit us via My Favorite Find , Twitter and Pinterest.