Conversations

Have you ever just listened to people around you in a public place?

Since I have to find free WiFi for the time being I have to keep visiting places to sit (hopefully quietly) and look at Pinterest, my Esty, Facebook and then here my blog friends.

Well in my little town there is no place peaceful. McDonalds just doesn't get it.

Today I am at Barnes and Noble. The people in the Cafe are talking quietly but I have heard so many interesting conversations.

Two men in front of me- In what I thought were military uniforms, speaking what sounds like French?

Maybe they are pilots.

We do have both an airport and a military base in Dayton.

Just odd to hear another language except Mexican here.

We won't go there will we.

An older couple beside me-She says to her husband after they finish their coffee, "So what do you want to do now?" They were so cute I had to speak to them. I said "The only thing to do on a rainy day is shop or nap." He said he wanted to nap. She wanted to shop. LOL. I told her she had 1 hour to buy something bright and fun then they had to go home for a nap!

I love talking to complete strangers.

A couple of women beside me- "Suzie turned out well, but...."

I stopped listening, don't want to hear gossip.

I just looked over at the coffee counter an a woman has at least 12 books in her arms. I hope she puts them all back when she is done looking at them. I HATE it when people bring magazines into the cafe area and then just leave them for the workers.

"Isn't that what they are paid for?"

No! They are paid to make coffee not clean up after you!

Sorry, I just had to get on my soap box for a minute.

Well I am really going to make an effort to post 1 time a week throughout December. Things are getting into a rhythm now and I can make time to think a bit these days.

I am really hoping we can afford to get the Internet thing to plug into the laptop soon. I miss keeping up here daily.

Have a great week and pay attention to people around you, they can be lots of fun!

1st Estate Sale of the Year!

Look at what I got today!

I can not tell you how bad I have been needing to go to a sale. Watching American Pickers each week, reading all the bloggers who live in warm climates who have sales year around. It has been killing me.

Well all I can say is I hit the jack pot today.

I can't wait to make something from all these finds.

What do you think of the dresser? The details are very art decoish.

The color is almost perfect as is but I think it needs sprucing up. I was thinking of a color instead of the white look but since I will probably sell it I don't know what color to go with.

If I keep it it will need to be a bit more white than yellow.

What color would you go with?

Robins egg blue

Aqua

Rusty pink

Green?

Look at these handles.

LOVE THEM!

The beautiful patina.

Drool

They alone are worth what I paid for the chest.

I won't tell you how much I paid because you will have a heart attack.

Go ahead and guess if you would like and tell me what you would pay for it cleaned up.

I got more bottles to alter. I just added some to my Etsy shop.

http://www.etsy.com/listing/70940439/romantic-carnival-glass-vintage-steam

More books to use. I love books so much I hate tearing them up. But I'm getting over it when I see what I make with them.

Awesome sheet music that is already distressed to unbelievable coolness!

Do you see the edges?

I almost died right there in their driveway.

See those 2 knobs. They were marked $3.00. Nope, not paying that.

Asked what she could do.

She put all this, the bird print, tintype frame and both knobs together for

$1.00

yup a

$1.00!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

These will be added to something soon.

I thought this silver bracelet was very interesting.

I really likes these small beads with the silver spacers. I don't like the larger sized beads at the base of the necklace so I think I'm going to remake it into a bracelet for myself.

I didn't take close ups of the cutter quilt or the dust ruffle but they are really nice. Already washed them and am ready to start sewing something with them.

So, I think I did real good for the first sale of the year. I got my fix and now I'm ready to get busy making stuff.

Do you want to know how much I spent total?

It's going to help you with your guesses on the dresser but lets just say I had enough left from $30.00 to get a mocha!

My First Prom with a Daughter

Saturday was my 1st prom experience with a daughter.

My oldest daughter didn't get into the High School social scene and even though she had a boyfriend, they decided they did not want to waste the money on a pointless evening.

That was ok with me, saved me lots of $'s

But...

My Youngest is very much into the High School scene. She was going to her Junior prom with or without a date!

Her big sister's fashion project at fashion design school was a draping class. We decided to have her design the youngest dress for her project. How cool to have a custom designed dress made by your fashion student sister.

Great Idea!

Well...my youngest is, lets just say, a bit "picky". I began to worry that if my oldest came home on break 2 days before prom and THE dress wasn't what she had hoped, Well, it just would not have been pretty.

So,

On our way, to just go look at styles that we could tell her sister to copy. I began to think about this potential problem.

I decided to put some cash in my pocket and if she found a dress that was perfect and with in the budget, we would get it. I did not tell her this. I just wanted to have fun trying on all kinds of dresses.

We started at a local bridal shop and she found 2 crazy red carpet type dresses.

She said "I just want to see what I look like in these."

I need to interject here

my girls have listened to me for years say, "I WILL NOT spend a lot of money on a wedding gown that you will only wear for one day. I work this industry and it is all hype. I know what is reasonable and I have a budget and we are sticking to it!"

So, back to the dress shop, and the 1 dress dress that fits of the 2 size 0's.

She walks out

My heart stops

I gasp, OMG!

the sales lady tells her to step up on the podium

that was it, I was undone!

She is B E A U T I F U L

Did I mention we have no intention of purchasing these dresses. They are just for fun. They are 100.00 over what I had in my pocket (just in case).

We agreed it was way cool but we needed to look for other ideas for her sister.

We went on to the mall.

She tried on other typical prom dresses and then she finds another one to try "just for fun" and she loves it. She stands there looking at herself for 10 minutes in this dress with matching jewelry. She loves it, I love it

But this whole ensemble totals $500.00.

NO WAY!

We leave the pretty dress behind and with ideas for big sis, we leave the mall.

In the car the fears come back. I tell younger daughter, "If you still like dress #1 we will go back try it on again and if she wants I will just buy it.

She is excited! She tries it on again...She is so Beautiful!

I can't believe I caved in and spent more than I wanted.

I can't believe I did the mom thing,

Oh You are so beautiful, It's only money and it's your special night.

What will I do when it's a wedding dress?
I better start saving now!

The couple

She had a great evening,

everything went well and

she came home this morning at 7am safe and sound!

This was so much fun!
The End

What I was hopping to do and what I actually had to do!

Are you ready to start your Christmas shopping?

Would you like to support women in business and artisans who make their own products?

Then this is the perfect weekend!
Go to the link below and you can check out different shops and enter giveaways!
http://rdgirlsnightout.blogspot.com/2009/09/fall-business-womens-expo-has-started.html


I was suppose to participate in the expo but I didn't get my blog post and specials ready in time (procrastination) and then on Monday evening my husband came and told me he thought we needed to go to the emergency room. Well, that visit lead to a heart cath on Tuesday and open heart surgery on Wednesday. It has been a long week but he is doing very good and we hope he will be home Monday. I will post more about that when he gets home and I am not running back and fourth.
I have a few amusing stories that came out of a very scarry situation.

I'd still like you to visit my Etsy shop if you have time and check it out and leave me a comment as to which item is your favorite!http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6212569 Thanks! And happy shopping.

Busy Weekend!

Last week I helped my friend pick out and place plants in her new landscaping area in front of her new house. This weekend we went out for a great lunch at a cute and very good tea room. They have a store and that was trouble for my friend. She made a few purchases that were pushing the budget, but they were so cute! Well, after lunch we decided to go look for pumpkins and such for our porches.

This is my front porch at my studio door. Just a few of the things I picked up. I love decorating for Fall.

Doesn't this look like a duck?

How about my Mocha Mum, whipped cream!

I have a few other decorating things I have done lately so I thought I'd share them with you coz my family think I'm nuts. Especially my husband!

I found this awesomely made nest in my backyard! I knew I had to do something with it. I mean, this bird worked so hard on her home! Then, while on several walks with Cooper (who by the way, is laying beside me on the couch and on my lap trying hard to push this laptop onto the floor! I'm having a really hard time typing with my left arm on his head.) anyway, I found the cool feathers and these wonderfully marked rocks! Are they not the coolest?

So I added it to the top of my bookcase.

Now I must digress back to the lunch. On our way home we saw a garage sale. Woo Hoo, Got to love bargain hunting and this was the ultimate garage sale find! There were two old wooden rustic garden benches that I knew would be perfect for her porch. Did I mention that she had nothing on the porch and it NEEDED STUFF! Also did I mention I love spending other peoples money as much as I like finding bargains? Well these benches go for around $20 to $40 around here at antique shows so when the guy said one was 1 and one was 2 we weren't sure we heard right. We snatched those babies up plus she got a few other things, I forget what coz I was busy spying this great old book and fake, but very real looking, dried roses. My purchase $2.00!

Look at that book! I just love the cover! and the inside page. I love this! Why don't we have beautiful printing in our books today? I am so excited to own this precious piece of history.

Then... I looked inside to the next page and saw this inscription!

1899! and this book cost .25! I am loving the new additions to my living room!

On we go...

Well we stopped at a few other garage sales back in our town and got more cute stuff but we needed more stuff for her porch so we went to Flower Factory. I said we'd try to only spend 30.00 more dollars! Oh yeah, I forgot to tell you how I justified her purchases to her husband and how we could spend more. One of the items she got at that cute shop at the restaurant were new valances for her front hall. Cost, $37.00. Really a good deal actually but she had valances. (They were ugly!) She had to get these cute new ones. Any way, after we found those 2 benches for $3.00 that could have cost her $40.00, I pointed out her valances were basically free! A wash! Then after buying a rod iron bench for the foot of her bed that was priced at $50.00 and I bargained it down to $40.00. I saved her lots so we could spend a bit more to make her porch perfect.

Well, 2 hours later we had everything we needed!

Whew, Cooper finally got down. My arm was killing me.

I wish I had, had my camera with me to capture the perfectness of her porch but I wasn't planning on blogging about it. Sorry I was to lazy to get in my car and drive to her home for photos once I decided to blog this story.

I found a few things for me too so I photographed them instead.

This is my enchanted garden area where I have hung a chandler I found earlier this summer along with some other candle holders. Well I found the perfect candles to fit in the holders! These were the only ones this size and color!

As we were leaving to go to lunch I was looking at the tree in the front yard and thought I needed something for it. Well, low and behold I found this great chandelier for $5.00! Unbelievable!

Well this is my sanctuary where I spend my time when I am not working and this is why I don't get my blog up dated. Alas, the Fall will be over soon and to cold to hang out there and I must cease the day while it last! I'll try to be more faithful once the temperatures get colder and I won't be shopping any more real soon with my friend...Her husband has band us from being together for awhile.

Have a great Fall and take time to really see the beauty around you!

Antique collecting my way

My guilty pleasure! If I could purchase every quilt that I love I would.



At a local antique show I decided to photograph the things I liked, since I can't buy them right now and really don't need anything else in my house. Taking photographs takes up less space and I don't have to dust this stuff!



I really enjoy booths where people organize their collectibles in groups. It makes it so much more appealing and tempting!


I don't like to cook but I enjoy pottery and the utensils add to the appeal.

This display of all the browns really caught my eye. The shapes and textures, repeated lines all make for an interesting view.

Color themes really catch a persons eye. Again, here are the repeated items and colors. Encourages purchasing more! Hence - collections!

Hope you enjoyed my day brousing and maybe you can find a nice show this weekend.