Seriously, what's with the rain?

I feel like we live in Seattle, what with all the rain and clouds hovering around constantly!

I found this comic that I save from long ago, which pretty much sums it up:

I've always felt a bond with Lucy Vanpelt. She's crabby, I'm crabby. She's bossy, I'm bossy. She is a fussbudget, I'm definately a fussbudget. She fell for a blonde piano player that completely ignored her. (Mine was a guitar player in a Rock band) but you get the point.

The sun promises to come out tomorrow. Until then, the crabbiness will linger around here....

A curtain dilema solved!

Hey everyone! Hope you're all having a super Memorial day weekend! Ours is low key: barbequeing and hangin' out with family.

I wanted to share a curtain project I recently completed, with the help of my friend Chris. I have this large picture window in our front living room, that is insetted with a window seat underneath. The top of the window hits the ceiling part of the inset, and there is just an 11 inch strip of wall on each side of the window. Really hard to put a rod across, and too short to hang traditional curtains on.

Pretty bare and pathetic!


This calls for a custom curtain treatment!


I knew what colors I wanted for the panels, so I went shopping at Joanne's and found the perfect fabric. I had in my mind the design, but I don't really sew much, and so that's where my friend Chris came in. I descibed what I wanted it to look like, and she told me how much fabric to get. Isn't it lovely?


Now the dilema: how to outfit the area so that you can hang a panel. We took a trip to Home Depot, and with the help of a creative employee we came up with this:

First, we grabbed a pair of closet pole sockets and a 1' wodden dowel.. I spray painted them black. Then we bought a package of 1" rubber leg tip which fit perfectly inside the sockets. Then I purchased 2 traverse rod center supports(at Walmart) to hold the other side of the dowel that will be the curtain rod.

Socket and leg tip

Shows socket, rubber leg tip, and center support piece all mounted.


I cut the dowel a little longer, so the curtain would overlap the edge of the window slightly.
Get it, now that you see it all together?


I also spray painted it black, although you won't see it when the panels are on. Pretty imaginative, huh?


For the panels, we measured the area, and then eyeballed literally how long of a drop I wanted on the black and cream check. We finished the panel with a 1 1'2" seam on the sides and bottom, and made a 3" rod pocket, so it would slide across and cover the closet socket against the wall.


I seriously love it! It makes the room seem so much more cozy and designer-ish like!

Very simple, yet it looks like I bought it custom.

Oh, and to finish off the end of the dowel, I bought two drawer knobs, and spray painted them black. Then I hot glued them on the ends of the dowel to make it look finished.
Hope I inspired you all to tackle that weird space by just starting somewhere, and enlisting the help of a good friend to come up with some great ideas!

Stay tuned for an easy tutorial on how to cover a lampsahde, and make it look like a custom piece!

Have a fun and safe holiday weekend!

Depression, anyone?

I'm re-posting this at Southern Hospitality's thrifty party, partly because this post is so funny, and partly cause I haven't had anything else thrifty to share. Go checkout everyone else's thrifty treasures!

Hi ya'll. Yes, I've been away too long. Busy life, and bloggers block have kept me away for awhile.

On a funner note, it was an awesome garage sale weekend. I knew of at least 5 large community sales within 15 minutes of my house that were going on, so Macie and I were up very early, to make the most of our morning. I couldn't stand knowing I couldn't hit them all!

She is an afternoon Kindie, so we had to be home by 11 to get her fed, and off to school at noon. Then I had to go to work for awhile.

Seriously, every minute counts when you know there are dozens of sales, and bargains to be had. When you have a 6 year old in tow, time is constantly being wasted, haggling over getting her in the car, out of the car, and ripping her away from sale after sale.

You know what I mean, Moms:

You drive up to a sale, get out of the car, and stand outside the car for who knows how long, telling your child to unstrap and get out; they are busy taking apart something they got at the last sale you stopped at, so they are suddenly deaf.

Again and again, you ask them to get out, as you watch 5 more cars pull up, knowing your bargains are going to be snatched momentarily.

Finally, you snap, and yell at them to listen to you, and get out of the car!

As you finally get their attention, you see out of the corner of your eyes someone carrying off a large, beautiful mirror, the EXACT kind you've been looking for for months! Argg!

This happens at each and every sale you stop at, all morning.

The other scenario is that once you DO get them out of the car, you absolutely cannot get them back IN the car, because they will always go over to the 25 cent box, to mull over for the next 15 minutes which stupid McDonald toy they MUST have.

I can tell within 5 seconds if the sale is a dud, or a good one. I want to get back into the car, and head to the next one, pronto. With a child in tow, there's gonna be a fight, to be sure, if you don't let them browse around for something. Anything.

My daughter insists she wants to GET something. She has the "I wants". She can't stand to leave the sale without buying something. I'm trying to break her of it. Step AWAY from the yucky stuffed animals and crappy McDonalds toys, honey. Just do it.

Really, it's only fair to let them browse, too, especially since they have to go with you, and endure you looking, when there's alot of sales with no kid's items. Macie actually enjoys going with me, and carrying her cute little wallet, with all of her piggy bank coins in it. She is learning the value of each coin in Kindergarten this year, and is so proud to count out her quarters when it's time to buy something.

Let's get on to what I got! This darling ceramic snowman platter, and these four brand new felt snowman placemats, tags still on: 25 cents, and yes, 25 cents for all. Unbelievable! ( I KNOW that my continuing to buy more Christmas stuff is a sickness!)

A bingo game from the '90s. I love the style, so I can age them for my paper projects.
50 cents.

A Puzzle from Springbock. Did I mention I love jigsaw puzzles? But only Springbock. They always have interesting pictures, almost like an eye spy picture. I can't do the 1000 piece farmland scene, where EVERY piece is green. My dear mom loved to work puzzles, and now I honor her by doing them, and always think of her when I do them. I've even gotten my husband interested in them, and we sit side by side, for hours, bantering and stealing each other's pieces.
50 cents.
Sorry for the flash! This one is an open fridge, with all kinds of cool thing in it. I like at the top, the "Cop Stopper" package of donuts.

I also scored several antique plates and depression glass at one sale. The guy said he cleans out foreclosed homes and storage units, and comes across all kinds of cool stuff that people leave behind. Below is a picture of one of the two hand painted Haviland plates I picked up from him. Perfect condition, not a chip on either one.


Beautiful hand-painted detail
Also, a little creamer, he said he thought it was Delft. I think it's flow blue. No markings on the bottom. If anyone knows, drop me a line, please!

I also picked up 6 of these green depression glass dessert cups. I always try to picture who used these way back when, and what kind of yummies they may have eaten from these. Remember, back in the '30's, everything is made from scratch, and that homemade goodness. For now, I'll keep them, and try to make some homemade goodness for my own family to honor these beautiful pieces.

The guy threw these two plates in the box, at the end, to be nice.
They are marked J & G Meakin, Hanley England. I just love them. If anyone knows anything about these, drop me a line.

Hand-painted gold edges, and embossed roses, such pretty details.


Are you ready for the total? 6 depression glass dessert cups, 2 hand painted Haviland china plates, 2 heavy china rose plates, and a Delft? creamer, all for .... $7.00! Yes, I LOVE it!
I also got a cute Express T-shirt for $1.00, and a few cute clothes for my daughter for .50 cents a piece, a great bargain. Oh, and a great fall doormat, for 1.00.
Don'tcha just love finding all kinds of cute stuff that someone else wants to get rid of?
I think now more than ever, people are doing yard sales to make extra cash. In this economy, every dollar counts! I love finding cute clothes at extra cheap prices, cause then I'm saving money on things that I would've had to buy at full retail.
I told my daughter when we were yard saling last weekend, "Honey, I love you, but mommy will be so glad when you start first grade (and start at 8 a.m.) and I can yard sale by myself!"
It's not far away, that end of July date. She is on a year round school schedule, so I'll have some time to myself, before the season ends. Yay!

Adding a signature to your blog

I found this cool website that lets you create a custom signature to add to your blog. I know some of you have done it, but there are alot of clueless people such as myself, who don't own Photoshop by Adobe, to do such cool things.
This website will help you create one, or you can draw one to make it really custom. I would not recommend downloading your exact signature to the site (which you can do), because of identity theft and all.
The name is my live signature , and it was quick and easy to follow the steps to create my signature. You can pick from limited fonts and colors, but it was cool for me to do it, as I've been wanting one for awhile now.

At the end, I chose to see the html code, which you want to right click and copy, then come back to your blog on your dashboard, go to settings, then formatting. Scroll all the way down to the bottom, then paste it into the template box. It should now appear on all new posts.
Fun, fun, fun!
Hope ya'll had a super weekend; it's looking up here, with finally some sunny days ahead. I should be able to do some digging in my flower beds, and I look forward to my annual Mother's day trip to the local garden center to pick out lots of flowers. What a fun tradition!

Step AWAY from the Christmas stuff, Susan

O.K., so Spring will just not warm up here! It's overcast, cold, and still downright gloomy here in Colorado! I had been looking forward to going to The Paris Street Market for seriously months, and today was the opening day.

My husband came home and informed me that HE had to work the one and same Saturday, to my disamy. That means I get to stay home with my daughter.

What, you say? Just take her with you?

Let me just step out of the room and laugh.

I'll be back.





O.K. I'm back.

Not on your life.

Here would be the the dialogue:

Honey, don't touch that.. No, I said no, don't touch that. Yipes, that's breakable, I told you not to touch anything that looks breakable... Actually, don't touch ANYTHING! (Dealers giving me and her dirty looks.) HANDS OFF! (Now I'm giving her dirty looks.) Macie! How many times do I have to tell you not to pick up or touch anything? Hey, do you want to go sit in the car? I'll put you there if you touch ONE MORE THING! (and on and on and on.)


And that's if I don't lose her in the crowd of hundreds.

So. Now you get it.

Besides the fact that I hate being cold more than I hate, well, just about anything. And today is cold.


So we resigned ourselves to searching for the almost non-existant yard sales around the neigborhood. (It being cold and all.)

The first one we came to was just junk, but somehow my daughter talked me into buying her a Furbie.

The second was a picked over Estate sale that looked like it wasn't that great to begin with. I did score a cool aluminum ware tray, really large and pretty with detail.


I'll be using it at work, at the salon, to put over the top of my rolling tray that I put color bowls, cutting tools, etc on. Yes, my salon is that nice! Look how pretty!


Beautiful handles. Nice and big, for all of my "accoutrements". Cool word, that one. Snagged it for $4!

Then we met my dad for lunch, and on the way home, we spotted a sale sign, so we pulled in. This is where I found some cool old holiday decorations. First I spotted this large Tom and his wife ceramic turkey salt and pepper shaker. These are seriously really large, although it's hard to tell from a picture. I'm going to use them for display, not S&P. They are very old, which I love the look of.

Next, of course, I saw the Christmas stuff, and not just any ol' Christmas stuff. Cool ol' vintage Christmas stuff. Like, the Bonanza of Christmas stuff!
LOVE the little paperboard Christmas housed with the glitter, and bottle brush trees. Don't you love the Santa and the reindeer pulling the sleigh?

The little elves are all marked Japan on the bottom, nice and old.

Their faces and detail are so darling, don't you think?

Along with several Old bottle brush trees, faded to vintage perfection (not pictured), this rubber faced santa, the bottlebrush wreath, the spray with bells and the switch plate cover (so cute), were also in the box, as well as some hard plastic reindeer.

Also in there was an unusual assortment of these little mirrored ornaments, which were kinda cool.
I'm also a sucker for chalkware figures, so I snagged this angel, which also is a spinning music box, as part of the deal. She's my 4th chalkware angel, and plays Silent night.

All this for $7.00. I feel your jealousy oozing through into my family room right this second!

At this point, I'm not feelin' so bad about missing the Paris Market; after all, it will be here again in 4 weeks. Just think of the money I saved, not going today!