with apologies to shabby chic pinners...sort of

I have never quite figured out the "shabby chic" decorating thing. You see I grew up on a farm where most everything was shabby and chic did not ever enter into it. Tools were tools. Junk was junk and stuff in the yard never made it's way into the house unless someone left a door open and a chicken wandered in.

So as I scroll through pinterest, I am often simply dumb-founded by some of the things that are so popular among those crafty, full time mother/bloggers who must just lay around all day dreaming up NEW ways to recycle crap.

Burlap is one of those things I just can't wrap my head around.   sorry?

My experience with burlap has been limited to potaotes, wheat and occasionally corn-on-the-cob (10 dozen per sack). Burlap is itchy and smelly and it gives the nastiest slivers I've ever had to deal with. Imagine my surprise when I started seeing burlap on pinterest as table runners, place mats, bed skirts and curtains!   seriously?!?

Last weekend my daughter, Angela was shopping in a very trendy uptown Christmas boutique looking for a special gift for a friend. As she was checking out, she couldn't help but notice the burlap christmas stockings hanging by the till. Besides the fact that they were made from old potato sacks, she was a little more than shocked to see the price...a cool 60 bucks per sock!

She paused and then asked the particularly artsy, hipster chick manning the till, "Are these burlap stockings very popular this year? I've seen them all over "pinterest".

"Oh yes!", she replied with enthusiasm. "We can't keep them in stock. Everyone wants one. If you want some you should BUY THEM TODAY. We will definitely not have them after this weekend."

"Well...I've already got my stocking up but I was looking for something to keep my potatoes and onions in," she dead-panned.

Without so much as a grin, the girl packaged up Angela's item and with an unimpressed scowl, the shop gal replied, "Will that be all, Ma'am?"

"...way to go Angie. You're a girl after my own heart!"