Francoise is NOT a boy.

Francoise Seignobosc (prounouced say-nyoh-boh') was born in November, 1897, or 1900, in Lodeve, Herault, France. She grew up in France, but eventually came to the United States. She wrote, and self-illustrated, children's books. She died in 1961. SHE? I assumed it was a guy.

I picked this up at a library book sale. The librarian had written in the last name. She must have been the Cher of childdren's books.

 The story is about a girl who loses her duck.

I thought the pages had framing potential, but it took a few years to have the guts to cut up the book. Look what I found inside these frames? EYEYEEEE! Ann Geddes. Very 90s!

My photocopied leaf collection, because real leaves framed will fade and crumble. 

My mom's drawings from her fashion illustration class at the UofMN (the same class I took 30 years later).

She didn't like drawing faces.

Here's the arrangement. OK for a girls room, but not the dining room.

Now, it's time to flip out the living room artwork.

Green with Debbie

I was cleaning out my computer's trash can when I noticed a GI-normous file. It was a PDF of Debbie Reynolds Auction Catalog, pages and pages of costumes she had collected and was now selling. At first I noticed the details and graphic patterns.

And stripes. Too bad this movie was in black and white. 

There were paintings and posters. Awww. Agnes! Samantha! Derwood!!!!

And equipment. Literally, a green light!

I started to notice more and more green.

The Kathy Selden dress sold for $18,000.

Julie Andrews “Maria” turquoise and green dress from Sound of Music
Pre-sale estimate: $6,000-$8,000
Price realised: $55,350

Wonder how this cool graphic jacket compares to the new OZ movie that just came out? Here's how it did at Auction: Emerald-green felt “Ozmite” jacket designed by Adrian from The Wizard of Oz. Pre-sale estimate: $8,000-$12,000 Price realised: $27,675 Wow.

Love how green looks with brown.

There were many shades of grey-een.

Barbra Streisand wore this in Fanny Brice.

Debbie also owned the white getup Audrey Hepburn wore in My Fair Lady. It fetched over 4 million dollars. And the famous ivory pleated “Subway” dress Marilyn Monroe wore in The Seven Year Itch? Pre-sale estimate: $1 million - $2 million Price realised: $5,658,000

Here I am with Debbie a few years ago. Wonder if she will remember me in her will? Or maybe THAT GIRL in the bottom of the photo will? 

I found the auction results here.

You can read the catalog here. 

PS I'm not responsible for the spelling of "realised". Wiki is.

White Castle Anyone?

Yes, it's that time of year! The Parade of Homes has begun. Great time of the year to get out and dream a little. First up: castle house on Eagle Lake. I biked by it last fall and now we get to go inside!

We chuckled a little as we took our shoes off as we read the sign. 

Lots of square footage but no stop light.

Lots of granite and many LARGE rooms.

Next up was a pair of homes that I've noticed them building all winter. That is if you can find them. The new parade of homes web search is SO BAD (and there is no app for your phone). This is not where this great house was located. It's near the gravel pits on the way to the high school. 

Parade homes are perfectly marketed to appeal to buyers. The science-y decor appealed to my daughter.

Complete with felted dryer lint ottoman and pretzel jar that was glued shut.

There is ALWAYS a skateboard themed room in Parade houses. Looks like they threw in a Vikings bag as an afterthought.

The rooms are so clean. No computer coards in sight.

In the kitchen, near the stairs was "Command Central", which was actually a really good idea. A place to plan your day, hide your mail and send out invitations to all of the fabulous parties you will have in this house. 

I liked the flooring in this sunny room.

These are large square vinyl (i think) tiles that were grooved and used in a bathroom.

Loved the subway tiles and spacious shower. Complete with music and a ticket booth.

Now back to our own 1989 parade house to daydream about the huge mudroom, spacious pantry, finished basement, white woodwork, clean sinks, 2nd floor laundry, stairway landing tv watching playrooms...