Rockin' It Old School

I wanted to show off the newest addition to our home.....a 1949/50 Philco radio with turntable!

It was my parents and I grew up with it in the house.  Here's me standing beside it when I was 15 months old in 1974, lol!

It traveled with us through several moves, but in more recent years it sat in my parents basement, collecting dust and cobwebs and was in bad need of repair.

Thankfully, one of my dad's friends and fellow musicians also repairs stuff like this on the side, and so the wonderful Verle Straatman got the radio and turntable back in working order.  Afterwards, my dad graciously offered to let us have it, rather than take it back to his home.  So now it sits, looking right at home beside our old upright piano.

Here is the turn table, opened by pulling down the front panel:

Unfortunately, it's only AM radio, and will only play 78 rpm records and 45's (not the more "modern" vinyl) so its use will be limited, but that's OK.  I found an oldies station yesterday that plays a mix of 40's, 50's and 60's music which is great (most oldies stations around here consider 80's and 90's "oldies"....blegh) and I have a stack of old 78 and 45 records from my dad's collection....including some homemade ones that he recorded himself.

This is one of the homemade ones.  As you can see, it's pretty beat up and the shellac is starting to flake off the sides of the metal disc.  But, scratchy though it is, I can still hear (kinda) what's recorded on it.

Here's a closeup of the label, it says "Me singing, about 1946 or 47."  That would put my dad at 15 or 16 years old.  It was a thrill to hear him so young, still finding his voice.  If I had lots of spare money I could purchase the equipment and software necessary to transfer it all to a digital format and share it with the world.....but alas, I don't have lots of spare money (though if you wish to donate to the cause, I'm all for that!) so you'll have to take my word for it that it was Damn Cool.

I'd almost rather have this than an iPod!

When Life Hands You Lemons....

When life hands you lemons....

ask for salt and tequila! 

So, you have probably noticed that I've made over the look of my blog a little.  It may not be permanent, I was just looking for something a little more feminine looking.  There's so many cute blog backgrounds to choose from, I just might keep experimenting!  

Plus, I felt perhaps a makeover was needed to rejuvenate things.  Not that I'm no longer into vintage and the lovely Ms. Rogers, not at all!  It's just that I had never intended for this blog to be a vintage-only one, but I got stuck in the mindset that I shouldn't write about anything unless it was vintage related.  That's just one facet of my life, and I want to be able to write about anything and everything.....especially since I'm heading into a new phase of my life.

What's that all about?  Well, c'mere and I'll tell ya.......*whispers*  Husband and I are gonna try to have a baby!!!!  :)

What a thrilling, and terrifying, prospect that is!  The odds are against us with our age (I'll be 38 in Nov. and Husband will be 44 next month), and my known fertility issues from having PCOS, but we're at the point where we can no longer say "someday.....someday."  Someday is here, now.  Our window of opportunity is closing rapidly, so we're just going to bite the bullet and see what happens.

I've always considered myself a late bloomer, and I guess this is part of that.  I've never felt a huge maternal urge to have children other than superficially, until now.  I recall thinking a few weeks ago about the proverbial biological clock ticking, and saying to myself, "So this is what it feels like."  Now, I'm fully aware, and prepared (I think) for the fact that we may never be parents.  But at least we will have tried.  I don't want to be 50 and full of regret for waiting too late and never trying.

I've been taking steps to improve my health and am back in the right mindset to continue to try and lose some more weight, as the more I lose the better it will help my fertility chances.  Although, I learned a hard lesson this week about extremes.

Caffeine is a fertility culprit, and is known to exacerbate PCOS symptoms because it acts as an inflammatory.  So, this week I decided to stop 100% cold turkey drinking anything with caffeine in it.  Me, the Diet Coke-aholic who also has a bottle of No-Doz (caffeine pills) in my purse.  (!) 

Well, Tuesday was Day 1.  By noon I was ready to go home sick from work with a migraine level headache, but I stuck it out until quitting time.  Tuesday night I felt like my entire head from the neck up was in a vice grip.  Wednesday was no better and I stayed home from work.  No amount of ibuprofen helped.  Thursday rolled around and I thought, "It's GOT to be better today!"  Nope.  Stayed home sick from work again.  By Thursday afternoon I was in so much pain I was crying and ready to throw in the towel.  I guzzled a Diet Coke, and within 30 minutes was pain free and back to normal.

Ugh.  I felt like a junkie trying to get clean, but couldn't hack it and so slunk off to my dealer with my tail between my legs for a hit.  No more cold turkey for me, thanks.  So, if you're a mega-caffeine drinker and wanting to cut down or stop, take it from me.....do it gradually! 

I've been obsessed with reading pregnancy books and visiting websites that deal with babies and parenting.  One good thing about staying home from work in the middle of the week, excruciating headache notwithstanding, was that I could watch to my heart's delight all of those TLC A Baby Story shows, hehehe.  I'm also obsessed with watching Kate Plus Eight, 19 Kids and Counting, and all the other TLC shows about multiples.  It drives Husband insane that I like these shows, but do I complain about him watching ESPN and football?  I do not.  Live with it, baby.  :)

That's all for now, have a great, headache-free weekend!

Peekaboo!

Peekaboo!

Yes, I'm still alive, just not very visible on the webz at the moment.  The last 2 months have been filled with life stuff that has taken precedence over online activities. 

Health issues, physical and mental.

My dear mother-in-law passed away.

Stress, and more stress.

Not to worry, I'm hanging in there and may feel up to sharing at a later point. 

In the meantime, I hope all of you are well and that you parents (and students!) are getting settled into a fantastic new school year.  Fall is around the corner, my favorite time of year, yay!!!  I always feel like I become more alive when the weather starts to cool down, so perhaps I'll be back to blogging mode soon.

Ta ta for now!