Thoughts on a Home Interiors party......or am I the only one out of step?

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I visisted a Home Interiors party last night, given by one of the members of our church....one of those expected social kind of things. To those who haven't heard of Home Interiors, it is kinda like Tupperware parties, but instead of food storage containers, you find pictures and mirrors and shelves and candles and such--things to pretty up your walls.

I figured I was going to be out of my league, but there I was at the stated time. There were all the scented candles, all lit and arranged around tasteful displays of "victorian," or "comtemporary," or the curenet "country" rage, CHICKENS. The Home Interors lady taled up the $50.00-70.00 pictures, and passed around samples of the smelly candles. She pointed out the artificial english ivy, in the new, "frosted look." I looked at it, and thought it looked like it had a BAD case of powdery mildew...maybe it needed some copper sulphate...???!!!!!

She went on and on about how folks were decorating their kitchens with chickens. I made a side comment to our hostess..."HUH...my whole front yard is decorated with chickens!"

She spoke earnestly of how important the first impression of visitors in the foyer of you home was to their overall impression; that whatever they first saw when going into your house was what goverened what they think of your home. "Crud," I wondered, "I wonder what the first thing that they see in our house woud be....the shot guns, or the muzzleloaders, or the swords in the corner, or all the books lining all the walls.....!"

I left, without buying a thing, and considered decorating syles on the drive home. My kitchen has two different sorts of cabinets, scrounged from several scources after a fire gutted the kitchen and living area. The cabinet backs are lined with an assortment of kerosene lamps, filled and wicked and ready to go. Open shelves have jars of home canned goods, and my weakness...salt glazed pottery with cobalt blue decoration. Gallon jars have wheat and rice and cornmeal and tea bags and such; the last bits of calendula and chamomile and rosemary from the garden are drying on strings, hanging over the kitchen window. The shelf above them have canning jars filled with mint and lemonbalm and fennel and sage leaves. Crud, where would I put a chicken picture...IF I wanted to buy one, which I don't. I think I could draw better ones. The ones they had decorating the little stool didn't look right. The rooster looked effeminate!

So home I went, and hubby had gotten home, too. He asked how I was, and laughed when I told him how outta step I am. "I would just as soon buy 2 50 pound bags of flour," I told him, "as to spend that ammount of money on one picture!" "Or on .22 bullets!" he added. I nodded in aggreement.

How things have changed. I used to love those kind of parties, and occassionally I would even buy a few items. True, they look wonderful in a house....but have I turned into a complete crumudgen? I'd druther have my spinning wheel and books and sewing scattered all over the room, and REAL plants, than all the stuff in those catalogs. Guess I am a Home Interiors drop out....!!!!

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), November 17, 2000

Answers

I enjoyed your post. Those parties annoy me...everything is so foofy. Don't get me wrong - I have candles burning at this very moment and if I had a TV I think I could become quite addicted to Martha Stuart. But, there is nothing better than wheat grass growing in cardboard milk jugs in the window sills and herbs drying here and there etc. I have made a really cute shelf out of frosting buckets from the grocery store filled with bulk foods. It is amazing what a little cheap creativity can do to the atmosphere of a house. Who needs those over priced candles anyway?...I can make my own.

-- andrea smith (a-smith@mindspring.com), November 17, 2000.

You aren't alone there! I'll bet most of that junk is even made in China. The prices - ridiculous! I much prefer homemade or flea market finds. And if someone doesn't like what they see when they come in my front door - too bad - they don't have to come back!!! It's just another case of someone trying to tell us what we need. I'm a big girl, I don't need someone to tell me what I need, I can figure that out myself.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), November 17, 2000.

What a neat way of looking at the world. My home is decorated very much the same way. Unmatched chairs (which would have driven me crazy a few years ago), unmatched cabinets (but at least we have some) etc. My house is filled with practical things, which I think are beautiful instead of useless decorations. My one big conversation piece is the loom in the living room. It replaced the bathtub that sat there for two years while we were getting around to doing the indoor plumbing....

-- Anne Tower (bbill@wtvl.net), November 17, 2000.

It really amazes me what passes as "country decor" these days. I have a hard time imagining that much of it is really authentic, or even very closely inspired by actual country life. In my home, which is in the country, I tend toward the lean and mean style of decorating. If it costs very much, I can't afford it. If it isn't something I use in my daily life, I don't need it. If it needs dusted, I don't have time for it. If it's easily broken, it's a health hazard.

Unless I have a really mistaken image of history, my foremothers wouldn't have cluttered their homes with chicken art and such either. They were too busy trying to raise a family and work the land. I don't remember my Great Grandma keeping pretty dishes on the wall where they needed washed before they were used - that's what cabinets were for. Her aroma therapy was whatever was cooking or which ever medicine she was concocting to "dose" one of us with. And she never put up pictures of people she didn't know. "Who the heck are those people and why do you want to be wastin' your time lookin' at 'em?" she would say, although more colorfully. Her decorating scheme was the Utilitarian Style. Too bad cream separators and meat grinders never became as popular as little blue ducks with bows around their necks. How did the decorators come up with these so called country designs?

-- Lori in SE OH (klnprice@yahoo.com), November 17, 2000.


Doesn't matter if it's a country motif, or plastic ware, or pampered kitchen personnel, or anything, as far as I'm concerned. Somebody is still marketing to YOU and somebody is still making money off your needing to be acceptable to others.

I do not go to those parties. I respect people's desire to have them, and I'm sure the socializing can be fun. But I'd rather use MY imagination rather than someone else's. And hey...for a real country experience, have a quilting bee or something! Tell that to those ceramic chicken buyers.

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), November 17, 2000.



Okay, I have spent the last two years working on my home, which includes redecorating it. The wallpaper was falling off the walls etc. The first night I tore down the kitchen curtains which were made of Holstein patterned material. Now I have my own 'country' scheme. Yes, I have chickens but since my name is Cox (which means rooster), I have always had chickens. They are the glorification of what is inside my hen house. I have used the guideline of 'form first'. I think a comfortable home that I can work in is the important thing. Some of my student's parents come every week to just sit, relax and take a nap in my home. I think that is the highest compliment. But, I go crazy at those cutesy parties. These people are just not real! Go to a few yard sales and see where all that expensive stuff ends up in a few years.

-- Cheryl (bramblecottage@hotmail.com), November 17, 2000.

I prefer real plants, have a whole sun room full in gorgeous bloom right now, brought in from outside before the frosts came, and a few pieces of real art, you know, the kind that has been created and signed by a real American artist, be it pottery, glassware, or paintings. Artificial anything can't hold a beeswax candle to the authentic. Annie in SE OH.

-- Annie Miller (annie@1st.net), November 17, 2000.

I have a "friend" (I use that for lack of a better word)whom I never hear from unless it's to invite me to a "Home Party". She has candle parties, makeup parties, Tupperware parties, Chef parties, Home interior, Jewelry parties, and on and on!!!!!!!I am so tired of this I could scream! I feel guilty when I don't buy any thing and guilty when I do buy things and I now just don't go anymore. I don't care for these things!!!

-- Debbie T in N.C. (rdtyner@mindspring.com), November 18, 2000.

Leann, your post made me smile. I've never been to a Home Interiors party. I guess none of that stuff appealed to me enough to convince me to sit through a couple of hours of blah, blah, blah nonsense chatter. Life is too short to waste time sitting someplace that I don't want to be. I'm just happier spending any free time I have doing more solitary things. Nothing in my house matches, and it doesn't bother me at all. I'm grateful to have a bed, sofa, and kitchen table. My animals don't care if my walls aren't tastefully decorated! I'm finding that the older get, the less I want to be bothered with anything more than is absolutely necessary. I'm not about "fitting in". I think that's the best part about getting older.

-- Cathy Horn (hrnofplnty@webtv.net), November 18, 2000.

Hi Leann, I loved your post! I didn't know until I read it that I was in style. Instead of the frosted ivy though, it's my carpet that has the frosted look. Of course it's hair from my really old Golden Retriever, but hey, maybe it will qualify. I used to go around and pick up the hair, but maybe instead I could start a new trend! hee hee I loved what you said about the powdery mildew. Being a gardener, that ivy would drive me nuts, too. Since we don't get many social visits except for family, I had never thought of my foyer being a focal point. Guess I'll have to move my boots out of the way so no one will trip over them. We do have a welcoming committe for guests though, the dogs are so ever the gracious hosts. (although they get a little overly nice sometimes!) Years ago, I had gone to one of those parties. I had a neighbor who was really into that kind of thing. She had all the groupings on her walls and her house looked like a showroom for the home interiors companies. Didn't feel very personal or homey. Not my style I guess. I have an old railroad "bill box" mounted on the wall that I keep my seed packets seperated in, and rather prefer that style. Guess were all Home Interiors dropouts! Thankfully.

-- Annie (mistletoe@earthlink.net), November 18, 2000.


I had to laugh at Anne's bathtub in the living room! We've had our new pedestal sink sitting in the corner of our living room for almost a year now. We'll get to it eventually. I like homey homes and I'd bet that all of ours are nice homey ones, where everyone would be comfortable. Well, all us Countrysiders anyway. Homes are to be lived in and enjoyed. That's why my dear Grandma's lovely table & chairs are in my kitchen where we use them every day. My Dad says that Grandma would like that. Our lives are reality, gals. Aren't you glad we can get together here? I am!!

-- Jean (schiszik@tbcnet.com), November 18, 2000.

We had the wood cook stove sitting in the living room for a year (no place to hook it up in this house -- something hubby didn't think about when he bought it at an auction!!). It's in our bedrooom now, serving as my night stand! Hey, it's a one of a kind!!

Seriously, though, I don't think people ought to use their church family relationships to sell stuff. We stay clear away from that at our church -- it doesn't seem like a right thing to be doing, kind of like the money changers that Jesus cleared out of the temple.

-- Kathleen Sanderson (stonycft@worldpath.net), November 18, 2000.


I went to one of those home interior parties.One. Only one.My neighor invited me and so I was being neighborly.The hostess even asked me to sponser one(yeah- as if)She acted miffed when I said no.I was not comfortable.You are not alone.

Frankly many people have complimented me on my home decor, including realtors,over the years,and without the help of home interiors,thank you very much. I decorate with lots of"junk".Stuff I've salvaged or refinished or repainted.Things gotten for a dollar or two at auctions and useful old stuff that I use for furniture when I'm not using itfor it's intended purpose.We have a wine press,a metal stamper,old kerosene stove,two old refrigs, and old gas stove and sausage stuffer that are all used as furniture.I first got the idea when I saw an old wooden ironing board used as a display table at an antique mall.Yeah,I have one of those,too.

My one friend has a beautiful victorian house(way too big for my tastes)that she has authentically furnished mostly with junk she found and fixed up.She's a big recycler.

My biggest problems are having too many dust catchers,even if they are useful, and finding room for the new old junk I drag home!

I put wide shelves on all my big windows for growing my transplants under lights,til they are up & sturdy enough to go to the greenhouse.The heck with home decor,gardening is my life.I agree that if people are going to stick up their nose at something like that,they probably don't belong in my house, and they don't need to come back,either.

I have all my pots and things,some old some not, hanging up high at the windows in the kitchen, and that is part of the decor.I made valances that are behind this out of 1/4" particle board and can labels that I obsessively saved for a year.If fits in great.

Currently however,I live in a mess, bc we are in a small trailer with not enough storage area for my nature craft material.We have an old house we are working on,It needs alot,but we will get there.This is our 5th house project.We're probably out of our minds,but that was how we built our equity over the years to buy this place.

When the old house is done it will be furnished with my useful and fixed up old junk and that will fit it just fine.At least my house has character.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), November 18, 2000.


I love having all of you "sisters" who are so in tune with my way of thinking. I have decorated my home some. I happen to like pretty things but what I call pretty, Better Homes and Gardens would not! What I have are "my" things. Mostly flea market finds. For instance I have an old Hoosier cabinet that I refinished and sitting next to it I have an old corn sheller.. In my kitchen I have sitting in the floor an old feed grinder and yes, I do have a few chickens but that is because I love and raise chickens and I got mine (at flea markets) long before the chicken craze and will keep them after the chicken craze is gone and everyone is replacing them with the latest thing that "they" tell us we have to have to be in style. Who wants to be in style, I don't need someone to tell me what I like. I CAN THINK FOR MYSELF!!!!! I don't want my house to be a "cookie cutter" copy of everyone elses and most of my things are functional.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), November 18, 2000.

Leanne, I think your home sounds lovely!! Very homey and inviting, a place where people are welcome to come in and "set a spell" instead of a showcase where people are invited in to admire and envy the "current decor" of the hostess. I wish you lived closer, I'd drop in for a cup of coffee and a chat.

-- (trigger@mcn.net), November 18, 2000.


Our home has been completely remolded, new wireing, wall paper & paint, Etc.---but I have always said, I decorate in "Early Salvation Army", or "Early Garage Sale"!!!! "Early Auction"! Etc.--

As our business --we have bought out house holds for years--you get everthing in the house--so we have gotten some great things, some strange things & good things & bad things & ugly things(over the years)!! And most of what our home is decorated in, are those things!!! ha

--I only decorate for myself & our family!(I could give a rat's -- well you know- what anyone else thinks!!) We have worked for the public for sooo many years that our home is our "Oasis"--& just because you come to my front door doesn't mean you get inside!!! Our home is very private to us & only our closest family members & friends are invited inside!

Our home is decorated with "keepsakes", each thing in our home has some meaning to us! I have candles burning--but it is for us-- everything in our home is for OUR enjoyment--not for anyone else to even see!!!!

I have helped others decorate over the years--but have enjoyed doing so by finding out their tastes & what their family enjoys, & decorateing with that in mind!!!!! NOT SOME OVER PRICED--STUFF FROM A DECORATING PARTY! I find most families are happiest when surrounded with their family keepsakes --or copies(they have found) of what they grew up with!

We sell to people, who want to have things from their past--but their family never kept those things--so they come to me & say --oh my grandmother had that --I sure would like to buy that as it reminds me of growing up in Grandma's kitchen---etc. these party plan things don't sell anything that give us memories of family,-- of our times of growing up! Etc.--

I know the things I sell we be passed down--as they are starting family heirlooms, & what I love is they are being kept & cherished even if they didn't come from their own family!!!!!!! Guess I'm a sentimental slob!!!!!

As the other day a youngier lady came in with her children & found old cookie cutters--she said, she always helped her grandmother make cookies & she had some of these same old cutters--I gave her my favorite sugar cookie recipe--& I saw a new family tradition being started in that family --with someones elses uncherished cookie cutters!

It is such a blessing to me, when I see one family that doesn't care about their family's heirlooms(and they sell them to me) for them to be sold or adopted by another family who will cherish them!! Sonda in Ks.

-- Sonda (sgbruce@birch.net), November 18, 2000.


I love all your posts I too was invited to a home interior party a couple of weeks ago I didnt go but still felt obligated to buy something. I purchased a candle at least it was useful I keep a potty candle on the back of the toilet with matches hidden under a doiley my family knows what to do. My mom collected chickens and I do also, your right the home interior ones were like nothing I have ever seen in nature. My home is early garage sale I got a wing back chair for free and reapolstered it with a beautiful yellow brocade satin that used to be my mother-in-laws drapes. I also have a red large check over stuffed chair reapholstered with tablecloths form the good will it always gets compliments. Most of the stuff on the walls I made or was given to me I was reciently asked if I would like to be on a christmas home tour for a local christian school they sell tickets and give out a map and people come and tour your home, I thought they were joking they werent you dont have to spend money to have nice things. I passed on the tour it made me uncomfortable to think people would want to snoop through my house, and I wouldnt want friends to think that I was so arrogant that I would think people would want see my house. My husband and kids thought it was funny

-- ronda (thejohnsons@localaccess.com), November 18, 2000.

So your front door foyer has to be just right? Hasn't she ever heard of "Back Door Friends Are Best"?

-- Sandy (smd2@netzero.net), November 18, 2000.

Leann, I got a real kick out of your post! I thought I was alone in feeling that way! It is true that your house is a reflection of who you are, and tells a lot about you. so I figure that anyone who thinks less of me because of my house, wasn't the kind of person I'd build a strong friendship with anyways.

-- Rebekah (daniel1@itss.net), November 18, 2000.

Well, it looks like I won't run out of chickens to buy for my sister- in-law at yards sales, if chickens are 'all the rage'. That's what she gets every present day from us. I used to go to lots of those parties, I even sold Tupperware. Don't have much of that stuff left, if any.

In our living room we have a couch-$35 a chair and foot stool that's about 60 years old and looks it too, a lamp table without the original lamp and a homemade coffee table in the summer. A new bean bag chair(my husband's) two used bookcases with lots of books, a used entertainment center with bought new stuff that not new any more, and a new computer and desk-old chair and last year's new wood burning stove.

I figure as long as we want what we have, we're o.k.

-- Cindy (atilrthehony_1@yahoo.com), November 18, 2000.


I also have a Home Interiors Party story. I went to one pre-woods move, and brought home the catalog. I put my own chicken wire and truft of hay over a cheapo picture of a setting hen, my creation still is in my home for less that 5$, they wanted 45$ and that was at least 15 years ago. But the best was the beautiful oak sconces that held candles, and a middle shelf that was supposed to hold flowers, but I wanted it for an old glass oil lamp that I had. It was pricey and husband said he could make it for much less. So the shelf and the sconces he made he turned out lovely, then he went to router the holes for the candles to fit in it, routered his thumb and 350$ later I had my sconces and he had a patched up thumb from the emergency room! What was worse was when we found the same exact cups, pre made and pre routered, to hold the candles for less than 1$ at our local Craft Shop!! I don't get invited to many Tupperware parties anymore, most have heard my pat answers of, I don't do Tupperware! Vicki

-- Vicki McGaugh TX (vickilonesomedoe@hotmail.com), November 18, 2000.

Sandy, re: back door friends. I chuckle and agree! We hardly ever use our front door! It doesn't go "anywhere!" Our back door goes to the driveway, the garden, the "orchard", the barns, the bunkhouse, the woodshed, the henhouse, the pasture, the pond, the kitty kennel, the burn barrel, the newspaper box, etc. The front door goes out to some "yard" thing! About a month ago, I went out that door and found a tree looking sickly. Never noticed it before! Sheesh. The only use for the front door is to hang a Christmas wreath on (facing the inside!) and for a fire escape, if we ever need one (God forbid.)Our friends kick their shoes off at the back door, their coats off shortly thereafter, and usually plop themselves into a kitchen chair. On special occasions, we might even make it all the way out to the living room!!

-- sheepish (rborgo@gte.net), November 18, 2000.

Annie, I would LOVE to have my loom in the living room; it lived there for a long time, but it was too big and the room too small, so now it is a cubby corner, awaiting "MY" room....a combination sewing- art-spinning-weaving room. Trigger, you would be welcome, but it would have to be for tea, unless I can find that little jar of instant coffee in the camping stuff. But I do make a mean homemade cocoa mix, if that will do! Right now our living room is so crowded that we don't even have a sofa. But it is comfy.

I think there is a kind of maturation process here...a refining of what we feel is important, and getting our focus on THOSE things. The gleaming neatly empty kitchen counters don't have a lot to do if there is no food to prepare; winter storms come up so quickly here, and many is the time when the neighbors have sent someone down here for sugar or flour, or something.......

Houses are like hands, maybe.....if they are always beautifuly clean and neat (no scars, no nicks or stains or lines), then maybe they aren't doing anything interesting. Whatcha think????

-- Leann Banta (thelionandlamb@hotmail.com), November 18, 2000.


It would be pointless for me to attend such a party. The walls in our home not covered with bookshelves are papered with the art work of my children. Some of it two or three layers deep. They get offended if I try to pack it up before they are tired of looking at it. (Usually about six months).

Actually, the living room is pretty much my own. My favorite junk/treasure hangs in there.

-- Mona in OK (jascamp@ipa.net), November 18, 2000.


Shortly after we moved into our log home, I was invited to a Home Interior party. There was one picture I fell in love with, but the women selling the items kept insisting that I needed all of the sconces, shelves, vines and knick-knacks that went with it! She annoyed me so much that I decided I would never buy anything from her. Our house has logs that we cut ourselves so they are not all milled exactly the same size and finding a wall where all of that stuff would fit was next to impossible. About two years later I found the picture at a yard sale for $2 instead of $40. I think that your decorating style should develop over a period of years not be bought off of a showroom floor the first year you are married. I have lived in this house for 11 years and still have a few empty walls.

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), November 18, 2000.

I, too, have a hard time agreeing to attend those type "parties" - I tend to be critical of purchasing items that have little value in a working household. 'Specially items that are cheaply made copies of antiques, or copies of things that most people have handed down from family members.

Perhaps the corporations that come up with these prefab antiques should print up bogus family histories and stories to go along with them!!! Just be sure to memorize your lines when friends and neighbors come over. ;-)...

Sigh... this whole phony country look disgusts me - and Martha Stewart has annoyed me since she started spouting off in the late 80's. It's hard to trust the sincerity of a woman who started her business in the richest county in CT, the wealthiest (per capita)state in the union. Meanwhile, real country folks are making do 'cause they have to and want to, not because it looks good in the New York Times home section! (The whole Martha Stewart thing is a sore spot with me - I won't get into that now)(*whew*)

To me, a country house is decorated with love and memories. That coffee-grinder on the shelf there - Grandma used to make the best pot o'joe with it! That old scythe - Uncle Jimmy sharpened that thing faithfully, while we sat around jawin' and laughing with him. Hey, hand me that jar lifter - my Mom used that when she was making pickles and preserves when I was little, and now I am using it. That ol' radio - well, when it worked, my Dad and his brothers would crowd around it to catch all the old radio thrillers! This little cutting board - although I got it at a tag sale, it still has a few good years in it. Hey, look - I found this old feed store sign in a junk heap behind the old warehouse -one of those old metal jobs, not a bit of rust on it - betcha it'll look good over my shelf of teacups and thimbles!

Prefab country memorabilia just can't replace what the real thing can do and has done.

Sorry if this has been bittersweet in tone - I can't help but feel that way when this subject comes up. But, when I look around my home and read what all of you share with us, I know that the TRUE country homes are represented right here. It's NOT a look, it's a LIFE.

-- Judi (ddecaro@snet.net), November 18, 2000.


Hallelujah, someone of like mind! I heard a fellow spinner say, "If you are coming to see me, come any time but if you are coming to see my house, make an appointment." I just laughed and told her that she was ever so much more polite than I. My version of that comment is "If you're coming to see me, come any time, but if you are coming to see my house, don't bother!"

I went to one Home Interiors party something like 20 years ago and never went to another. Since I'm the daughter of the youngest daughter in a family that leaves things to sons, there wasn't much left for me when my mother's parents passed away. I do have my Grandmother's pint dry measure and use it frequently. I did have a major battle with my mother over it, not for possession but over her wanting to put "a nice dried arrangement in it." I'm grateful for people who don't cherish their heirlooms and sell them. If I see something like my grandmother had, I'll buy it in a heartbeat because it reminds me of her. I do have a hand forged hay hook my grandfather made. It's the best hay hook I ever used but I retired it for fear of losing it in the field.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), November 19, 2000.


Leann, would you be so kind as to share your home made cocoa mix? I've been looking for one. Thanks - gotta go get ready for church.

-- bwilliams (bjconthefarm@yahoo.com), November 19, 2000.

Hey Leann, share the cocoa recipe with all of us. Sounds great now that the snow is falling.

-- Julie (rjbk@together.net), November 19, 2000.

Hey, someone mentioned making shelves/storage units from grocery store icing buckets. I'd love to hear how you did it! Guess ya'll can tell I'm not into the home decor parties either.

-- elle (hotging@aol.com), November 19, 2000.

Hey, all of your comments has given me an idea. Why don't we start having garage sale parties. You send invitation to all of your friends and invite them to bring their garage sale stuff. You set up empty tales around your living room on which to display the stuff. Each table has a $value card on it and a stack of slips of paper with that amount of money marke on it. When each person arrives, they decide the value of each of their items and walk over to that table and place the item on it and take one of the $value slips from that table. Then everyone goes and sits down. When everyone has arrived and placed their items on the table, you put everyone's name in a hat. Then you draw names and each person gets to take one of their value slips and turn it in for something on that same table or they can turn in a higher value slip for two things on a lower value table. In other words if they bring in a $10 item they can turn in their $10 value item and take two fives. They get to only turn in one slip at a time so that the turns are rotated through until each person's name has been pulled from the hat and they have made their first swap. Then all of the names are put back into the hat for the next go around of selections. As the people run out of slips, their names are dropped from the hat. If a person decides to stop at a particular point and if the item they brought is still on the table, they can elect to take back their own items and cash in all of their slips for the items of theirs that still remain. Also, as they are selecting items, if their item is still on the table and they don't like the other items left, they can choose their own item back.

Before you start, and everything is laid out on the tables, you can give anyone a chance to purchase back their own item just in case they think they put their item on the wrong table or they think their item is worth a lot more than the others. That way, everyone is comfortable before it starts that they are not going to get ripped off. If anyone wants to decide not to play they can take back all of their items. This just helps to prevent any hard feelings.

If you come in with the right attitude, it could be lots of fun. Frankly, I have some things that I could just as easily take to the dump as bring them yet they are good items but just not something that I want to keep. Therefore, they might be a treasure for someone else and I might find a treasure from someone else's throwaways.

Anyway, that's my idea. I know it is a little strange but I think it would be fun and wouldn't cost any of the particpants any money. It would just be a fun get together. Let me know if any of you try it. LOL

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), November 20, 2000.


Well sondra-it sounds like we have the same ideas on decorating! I called mine "early yard sale" style. It's grand fun finding some odd thing and turning it into something useable.This spring I got an old wooden wheelbarrow ,that is going to be a coffee table in the old house.

I took it in to the "Art in the Park" festival,filled it with my plants for sale, and sold nearly every plant and had them wanting to buy the wheelbarrow also.It made a great display.Everyone else had bad sales bc of rain, but not I.

bwilliams-Ihave a corn sheller too,and an old horsedrawn plow I used for a plant stand.Missed out on a grain mill a few years back. Didn't want to load it.Ah....regrets!!!

I'll post my mom's recipe for hot cocoa,as we called it.We had it for breakfast every morning growing up.Oh yes...fond memories.

well,guess I've covered memories and regrets this morning! Perhaps Happiness,and love and loss tomorrow!

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), November 20, 2000.


Mom's Cocoa syrup for Hot cocoa From the Hungry Wolfe Cookbook (our family recipe collection)

1 cup cocoa,not sweetened type. 1 cup hot water 1 1/2 cup sugar 2 tsp vanilla dash salt

Mix sugar cocoa & salt Add sufficient water to make a paste,then remainder of water. Boil 3 min. and add vanilla pour at once into jar when cool,place in frig. Add to milk to suit your taste abt. a Tablespoon to a glass. Makes two cups of syrup.

-- sharon wt (wildflower@ekyol.com), November 20, 2000.


No wonder you all don't like these parties....duh, you can do your OWN decorating! These silly little parties are for the poor, piteous folks who are sadly unable to think for themselves and need to be told what is good and beautiful. We, as Countrysiders, already know these things. To send one of us to a Home Interiors party would be like sending a PhD.'d literature professor to a remedial reading class! Now, if only they had Homesteader Neccessities parties where you could buy matching wellies and slickers for the family with a discount if you get the refurbished milking machine set!

-- Soni (thomkilroy@hotmail.com), November 21, 2000.

Right now I'd be happy to have finished walls to hang something/anything on! And, as soon as that happens, I plan to hang pictures of all shapes & sizes of my family, friends, places we've been, important moments in the building of this farm, things we've collected out in the woods and other special places. In other words, a garden for my soul.

-- Rose Marie Wild (wintersongfarm@yahoo.com), November 21, 2000.

I totally understand where you are coming from. We have homesteaded for 20 years now and our house seeems like it will never be completed. We heat with wood, have all the usual homestead animals and grow and raise most of our foods too. Not into the Home Interiors thing but do run my own business. Never thought I would be doing this business, number one company for women in America and homesteading at the same time. But it allows me to homestead and spend time when I want to with my business. It's funny how your way of thinking evolves over time. Don't be too hard on the women who have their own businesses like this. Maybe they too think a lot of these items are all fluff. It might just allow them to be stay at home mom's and homestead also. Don't think I should say the name of my company at this time ( no free advertising and all of that). But....anyone want a complimentary facial ???? Thanks for listening and happy homesteading !!

-- Helena Di Maio (windyacs@ptdprolog.net), November 21, 2000.

I recently read your response to a Home Interior Show that you attended. Well, I am so sorry that you can not afford to have a CLEAN, NICELY DECORATED home. If you want to live in a pig sty, that is entirely your choice, but to those that do NOT want to live your way give them a break.

AS is common knowledge, the way a home is decorated reflects those that live there, well...you can go back and reread your own letter concerning what your home reflects about you and YOUR HUSBAND....22 shells? What...go out and shoot something up for dinner that you defeather in your kitchen and leave the feathers on the floor...for added decor? I see you are a true American, in fact so true you belong back in the 1800's.

Trust me lady, Home Interiors has been around since 1957 and will be around long after you are not, and we do not need your "large purchase". We do quite nicely without people like you, which represents about 2% of the total population.

Have a nice day.

-- Jen Jones (whatever@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001.


Wow!!! This response was that laugh that I have been looking for all day!! Love my pig sty!!!! Sorry Jen

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001.

I bet we are a LOT less than 2% of the population, and I, for one, am darn proud of who I am!! That really was quite funny!

-- Cathy in NY (hrnofplnty@yahoo.com), January 10, 2001.

No intent to offend anyone, but the last time I checked cleanliness had very little to do with spending a lot of money on pictures and wall stuff. That is one thing that I always tell my kids, it doesn't cost anything to be clean. You really don't need a lot of fancy, costly cleaning products to be neat and organized. In all honestly most people comment on the clean, sparse look of my home, rather than from which company I purchased my pictures. ( Is there a company called YARD SALE CHIC or FAMILY FREEBE HAVEN?) Ha! Ha!

-- Melissa (cmnorris@1st.net), January 10, 2001.

Good grief Jen! Did you not get enough bookings this month or did you have a string of poor sales parties? You are not making a real good advertisement for Home Interiors. Your sales manager will be quite angry! I thought that the descriptions of these homes was lovely. They sound like the perfect blend of homey,useful and attractive. Not once did I see anyone claiming to live in filth. More importantly, these ladies sounded like nice people. By the way, my home IS decorated with many Home Interiors items. However, they are mixed with family treasures,second-hand finds and homemade fancies. Please remember that decoratedness is not next to cleanliness or judging by your post; niceness. Barbara

-- Barbara Ternes (lbfarm@hit.net), January 10, 2001.

Okay, I am trying to stay off the board a little, but this one really got me! I have my B.A. in Interior Design (through Home Ec and Technology.) I was a pro for a number of years (member of ASID....American Society of Interior Designers, the A.A. of the design profession.) My clients were rich, famous, and professional. Over 20 years ago my firm charged an average of $85-$120 an hour for consulting. Big stuff, okay? Residential and commercial. Christmas decorating to restaurants to medical offices to the big showhouse fundraisers for The Powers That Be.

You know what? BIG DEAL. The most fun I had was with clients who had some imagination, not those who wanted me to do all the thinking for them. I loved it when they had collections of all the stuff their kids had made over the years (yeah, we had their refrigerator art framed, but that was the ONLY difference except taking it off the fridge...)

I appreciate those who do interior design, as well as the other applied arts. It's hard work, and trying to live by billing hourly is tough. (You may charge a lot, but the overhead is significant, and you aren't billing for every hour you are working!) I appreciate those who make a living helping others create an environment that supports them, whether it be more functional, more aesthetic, or both. And I really do appreciate that people need to make a living in many different ways, and sometimes that means doing home decor parties, as much as I personally don't much care for them.

What I do not appreciate are snobs, and that's one really BIG reason why I left the biz! I hope your post was not intended to be snobbish, Jen, but it came across sorta that way. It's like saying that the grown-up equivalent of refrigerator art has no merit, and I disagree very much. You may not like it, and it may not get published in Architectural Digest, but the people who have it/do it enjoy it.

I can see by re-reading that there seems to be no support for having help doing decorating and that certainly is an individual's choice (budget or whatever..)so I can see why you would feel defensive. I would have too! But your answer came across as kind of brutal.

I hope the 98 percent that you work with appreciate your services. And if it's really only 2 percent who live as aforementioned, why care? Keep helping those that like your help, and may you live long and prosper!

-- sheepish (WA) (rborgo@gte.net), January 10, 2001.


I don't think much of most Home Interiors items, but I have to give them credit for one good idea: they make a heavy glass holder for votive candles that makes it impossible for cats to (a) knock over the candle or (b) burn their whiskers on the flame. Since most of my friends have multiple house cats, this was a popular gift in my circle some years ago.

Wall art? Grandma's samplers, family photos, a wedding sampler from a dear friend, really beautiful greeting cards.

-- Robin S. (rmshapiro@hotmail.com), October 12, 2001.


We are beginning to have church in our home, as we are dropping out of modern "churchianity." And of course, I have to work through this issue of "Oh my, what do they think about my HOUSE?" I am telling myself that the country look is in, and country is what I AM. You cant get any more authentic than that. Hey, that old carpet in the living room may be tomorrow's antique, who knows? And the funny birdhouse made all off-kilter by my 92 year old Papa is priceless to me. It will remain up there on my mantle as long as I want it there. The only artsy-craftsy things in my house are the ferris wheel and carousel (found at the dumpster) made out of old crate tops and decorated with tiny bears and tinkling bells. They sit in front of the defunct fireplace to entertain visiting babies. (The bears are half gone by now.) Hey, not bad for dumpster decorating! My kitchen is decorated by homemade simple calico curtains, fresh bread and cookies. The egg cartons stacked on the entry-room fridge top are there for the simple reason that I sell eggs. Hey, I LIVE in this house, thank you!

However, I have been on the lookout for years for a non-existant decorative item: Jersey or Geurnsey cow stuff. (It's all Holsteins out there, and I detest those black-and-white rubber stamped huge beasts.) I want to make some really cute Jersey or Geurnsey cow stuff for my kitchen. Ok, it's my weak point.

But yes, I have always hated "parties" where a salesman is there to try to get you to buy something. What kind of friendship is that anyhow? No thanks. I have only been to 2 tupperware parties in my life, and thoroughly hate them. Cant imagine Home Interior parties are any better.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), October 13, 2001.


Over ten years ago, I lived in the city and went to a few Home Interior parties. I think I may have even given one. What was really funny was that my husband and I chose pictures depicting country scenes. We were drawn to the country even then. Now we live in an old farmhouse and recently we started putting up some of those decorations and they "fit"! I never went in for "cutsie- poo" stuff so most of the decor works well. I enjoyed those parties, Pampered chef and Tupperware too as I'm never too old to learn about new stuff. I think we should all remember that we are individuals with individual tastes and what works for one doesn't mean it works for the other.

-- Ardie/WI (ardie54965@hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

Leann, your post made me think of a few years ago when I went to a ladies meeting at church. It was the month of Jan. and we celebrated the birthdays for that month, which included mine. I remember so plainly one lady talking about and everyone admiring her new mothers ring, another a new chair for her living room, another about something else, and then it was my turn. They found it hilarious when I said we'd gone to the sale barn and I got four ewes and a buck. At first I was mortified when they ha ha'd and made such a joke of it. Then I realized it was their "problem" not mine. I was thrilled to have the beginning of my herd of sheep. Like you, I'd as soon buy 2 big bags of flour as any Home Interior products and yet I do have some from years ago when I lived in the city and didn't realize how much nicer my sheep etc. could be!

-- Anna in Iowa (countryanna54@hotmail.com), October 13, 2001.

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