September Summary

I can relate to the poor cat chasing his tail.  I feel like that's all I do anymore ~ 'round-n-'round we go!

September arrived quickly and now it's almost time to say goodbye.  A quick month for sure.

I guess that's what happens when you get busy.

Busy finishing up projects purchased in the spring:

 

This is the heinous coffee table (bottom) I purchased at a flea market for three bucks . . .

 I think I over paid.  It was rickety and glue laden.

Not to mention, filthy.

 

 

The boy taking it apart and bracing it up.

It needed to have the glue scraped off, a couple bolts and

the drawer re-glued.

 

 

 

Top sanded and polyed.

 

 

Bottom primed.

Like my workshop?

 

 

First coat of paint.

Really liked the color but it was just a little

too "beachy blue" for our living room.

 

 

Second coat - in a pale green. 

Um . . . . no.

Not quite.

 

 

The same green with a dark glaze, polyed and

waiting for knobs.

Tricky, tricky ~finding just the right accessories.

 

 

Then we have this:

 

Itty Bitty and pre-school at Mom-mom's house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Of course there was the bazillion birthdays and all the every day stuff that happens in life.  There is quite a bit of truth to the notion that the older one gets the faster life gets.  No pause.  No rewind.  And thank goodness, no fast forward! 

 

Toodles for now!

 

 

In My Spare Time

In all my five minutes of spare time ~ between cleaning out, cleaning up, buying plants, planting, moving junk stuff around, getting the third floor ready to turn into my sewing/crafting area, refereeing fights, calling the heating and air people, and trying to remember to eat ~ I have been doing this:



Don't ask me what's going on with the wallpaper here. 
I think it's user error.
Pay no mind to the candy dish ~ it contains my
sanity ~ dark chocolate kisses.

Back this winter I purchased a china cabinet from the gal who cuts my hair.   Thank you Kellie! !
It sat on my side porch until last week.  She was lonely.  I could hear her calling me.  I brought her in. She needed a good make over,  and by George, I was going to give her one! 

I didn't take "before" pictures because, apparently, I don't know how to operate my camera properly.  The memory card was full and wouldn't let me delete anything insisting the card was "protected".  Since when?  I didn't protect it.  I had to get the manual out to figure out how the card protected itself.   Hm.  Seems somewhere along the way when I took it out to download, I apparently hit a switch on the side of the card that prevented me from altering it in any way.  Now, since when do little 1 x 1.5 inch SD cards have a "switch"?  Since forever, I guess.  Perhaps I should mention that my boy helped me figure it out.  Just in case he decides to read this funny business I call a blog.   At any rate we are  back in business. 

But, if you are really curious as to what it looked like before, just look at the inside of the middle picture.  It was all that 70's walnutty color.   I haven't done the top doors yet.  Perhaps I will photograph them later on ~ just for kicks and giggles.  You will get a better idea.  The bottom doors are done.  I have to find hinges and handles that I like.  I'm thinking something black.

I'm pleased with it.  It didn't take as long as I thought it would.  One coat of some pinkish-red chalk paint over the finish made it look dark and aged.  I liked the way it turned out.  I was scared at first because it was so "pink".  But it dried nicely.  I wouldn't use it on a light piece of furniture ~ too pinkish.   I put poly over the red (instead of waxing it).  I knew it would get a lot of use.  The black is Glidden paint with primer ~ two, not so serious, coats.

When I get back from KY, I will finish her up and dress her accordingly.  She will house my milk glass collection nicely.

Goodwill Hunting . . . . .

. . . . . . and maybe . . . . a little bartering.

I usually don't do well at Goodwill.  I see pretties, but nothing that jumps up and grabs me by the hand screaming, "Take me, take me!".   Well, except the dictionary that was missing the last half of the "R's" and the first half of the "S's".  

On Tuesday as I was out thrifting with Dolly and Bert something changed.  They had found their bargains and as I was putzing around the jewelry counter waiting for Bert to check out, a bowl of jewelry caught my eye.  It wasn't the marvelous collection of jewels in the bowl, but the bowl itself.
All I could see was the rim.  Nothing special, nothing screaming at me, but the rim was "cute".  So I bent down to take a closer look at the bowl.  Ooooooo. . . . . now we're talkin'!

I asked the fella at the register if I could see said bowl when he was finished with customers.  He said sure, but the line kept growing, Bert was getting closer to check out, and on the inside I was pacing like a caged cat at meal time.   He would never make it to me.  As fate would have it another young man walked up to the jewelry counter to replace a necklace, so I smiled my nicest smile, and in my sweetest voice asked if he could show me the bowl.   Yes, yes he sure could.  Inside I'm doing the happy dance.   I explained to him as he was emptying it out that I had broke my husband's mother's bowl that was just like this.  What a surprise to find a replacement.

But my happy dance ended abruptly when he emptied the bowl and turned over only to find this:                     

"Not for Sale"

 



 

 

Oh, my.  All I could do was look at the poor fella with pain in my eyes (not really, no pain - just disappointment). Generally a "Not for sale" sign means it already belongs to someone or it's quite pricey.   But to my surprise he said - "That's ok.  This is the price it was before they decided to use it as a jewelry bowl."  as he's pointing to the marked out 5-. (I had not seen that)  I can sell it, he says.  

 

What happened  next surprised even me.  I asked him if he would consider taking less for it.  Who in their right mind dickers with Goodwill?  Who?   My mind was thinking $4.00, but my ears heard:  "How about $3.00?.   What???    It was all I could do to stay calm and poised and say, yea, sure, that's good.     "Hang on" he says, "while I run in the back and get another bowl."     What just happened here?  I'm thinking, "Hurry dude" before we get caught.    

 

Happy dance, happy dance, all the way to the car! ! ! ! 

 

I believe in miracles, you sexy thang. Oops, wrong song!

 

We moseyed on over to SA - where I found the Dream Catcher for Goldilocks and then to Halo - a Christian owned thrift store.  I paced again, like a caged cat, waiting my turn to rummage thru the glassware.  Some gal was buying up all the goodies,  I was sure of it.  When she finally moved on, I browsed what was left the shelves.  

 

Again an oddity caught my eye.  There sat two little bowls stacked together.  The one on top had what appeared to be an upside down lid in it.  Curiosity prompted me to touch it to see what it was.  The "lid" didn't move, so I picked up the bowl.  You can't imagine my surprise and excitement when I realized it was the very same pattern as the bowl I snagged at GW, and that it wasn't a bowl at all, but a candle holder! !   Best part ~ it was a whopping fifty cents!            

 

 

 

 

 

Here they are after their bath.  The pattern is Indiana milk glass, Cabbage Leaf pattern.  I love it!

 

Sometimes it all comes together, even in silly things.  $3.50 for a little nostalgia and a replacement ~ not bad for a day's thrifting, I would say.  Not bad at all.   But a day thrifting with kindred spirits ~  that, my friends, is  PRICELESS!                      



Mr. Webster

If you know me, specifically if you are of school age, you know I love the dictionary.  It should be required reading for everyone.  The girls hate it when they need to know what something means or how to spell a word and I send them to the dictionary.  "How am I suppose to look it up if I can't spell it?" they always ask.  Well, if you know what it begins with and how it sounds, you should be able to find it.  Did I say they H. A. T. E. it?  

Up until this past fall most of the dictionaries here were collegiate dictionaries with very small print and hard to use.  You can only imagine how elated I was to find a Children's Dictionary at a Goodwill in Lexington for FIFTY whole CENTS! Practically brand new!  Goldilocks was thrilled when I presented it to her.  I would find her "reading" it at any given time.  The print is kid friendly and it has pictures for some of the words!  Score! !

All was going well until one night when Goldilocks was doing definitions for spelling.  We hit a very, very unexpected snag.  Pages 640 thru 672 were MIA! !  Gone were the last half of the "R's" and the beginning of the "S's".  By the looks of how it was bound, they were NEVER there to begin with.  What a bummer dude.

Where's this going?   Well, yesterday, I went thrifting with Divine Di and Bert.  Both heard the story about the dictionary.  Both love books.  That's the first place they gravitate towards.  (the glass sections scream for me)  So being the attentive good friend that she is, Bert found another Children's Dictionary.  It's a little different, but still nice and illustrated.  And . . . . it was a big fat QUARTER.

Goldi was a smidge skeptical I think, but I figured if anything was MIA in this one, between the two, we could combine and have a complete dictionary. Unless, of course, it's "R" thru "S".  Then we'd be up the proverbial creek without a paddle.

Hey, don't laugh ~ you know that's genius.  But, if all is here, then I have a nice "cut up" book.  Win, win, don't you think?