Getting Ready

The last couple of days I have been making preparations for the coming  Vegetable Apocalypse. Actually, it's not really "coming", it's more already here, but things are only going to get worse from here on out. But I am not without a plan---I have a nice team of adorable little girls all lined up to run a vegetable stand for me. They will provide a visible location, the man-power, and the cuteness factor. I am providing the vegetables.

Hey, that's important, too!

I "borrowed" a couple old tables that Noni had in her spare house. The little one was a tiny bit cute if you like shabby chic with lots more "shabby" than "chic". The big one was VERY ugly. It had been painted yellow at one time, then had layers of paint and two different clashing paper layers peeling off of it. They definitely needed some fixing up.


I decided to go with a red and blue color scheme. Partly because those were the colors I had and partly to bring out the patriotic element of buying squash. ("It's your American duty!") The paint was the thickness of wallpaper paste because I'd gotten it clearance for only $1.20 per quart. Great price, but it certainly worked my arm muscles until I had enough space in the can to add water!

I decided to turn the little table into a lemonade stand. The girls have been running their own all summer, so I knew they'd appreciate a little stand. Plus it will make my vegetable look cute by association. I found some scrap wood for the sign and went to work. My dad helped me some, but I finally had a chance to use the new skil-saw he'd given me.

All this time I thought he was just being nice, giving me a saw when I didn't have one. Turns out that now I am supposed to do all my own building. As he told my mom, "Cheapest saw I ever bought...." Oh, there are fierce frowny faces going on here!





After I got the basic coats of paint on the tables I got to do the fun part of painting signs and such.

I had a lot of fun painting the lemonade sign, but I also got to make one for the vegetable stand. I did quite a few signs back in California because I was always selling my tomatoes, so it was a fun trip down memory lane to make another one. There's something so bold, fun, and summery about a veggie sign.

For the price signs I went with an idea I saw in a magazine. I had some old trays from a thrift store that I painted with chalkboard paint. That way the products and prices can be changed without making whole new signs. Hopefully they actually work, but they're highly decorative, anyway....


It's been too hot these past couple of days to put any veggies out, but the weather's cooling off a little. Maybe the Great Vegetable Adventure will be launched today. If not, I'm going to have to make zucchini-squash-cucumber-pepper stew for lunch. And supper. And breakfast. Oh, yummy.