Tuesday, July 24, 2012

I'm in Trouble ...

Big trouble.  As in I may be up the proverbial creek. 

In one week I have the book club meeting at my house.  In two weeks I have a much larger group of women coming over for a Dining for Women event.

This is what my foyer currently looks like.





And my dining room.





I decided to take the opportunity while the china hutch was empty to paint the inside. Probably not a good idea. 

Because here's my living room.





There are currently two sofas in the living room.  That's because the new one was delivered and we haven't put the old one in the basement yet. 

Yes,  there are lots of unpacked boxes.  And yes, I've been saying for the last few weeks that I'm unpacking boxes.  Don't judge me.  I obviously have issues. The ones in the family room and kitchen are unpacked.  But that doesn't mean those rooms look any better at this point.

The dining room pretty much looks the same as it did last week, other than I was painting the coffee table in the garage and for some reason it started to crack. So now I'm painting it in the dining room.  You can see the crack in the photo here. 



I think this was where the wood was originally glued, and the heat and humidity in the garage caused it to become un-bonded or something.  It's fixable, but wasn't what I needed at this point ... clearly.

I've planned for the last two weeks to devote my time to getting everything done.  Why isn't it? 

Well last week I had a couple of fun birthday lunches.  Even though my birthday was on the 8th, the lunches go on.  My husband says it's like the Queen's Jubilee.  It's actually just a scheduling issue--but hey a birthday month is fine with me!

And two of my dogs had to go to the vet last week.  For awhile, all three will need to be on meds two times a day. Wrangling dogs for meds they do not want (particularly big dogs for ear meds) takes some time. All of my dogs are rescue dogs, and all have some kind of special needs or ongoing medical issues, either from earlier neglect, congenital problems, or psychological traumas. There's always something with this bunch. 

But really, those are excuses. I'm just not managing my time well. 

It's obvious when I look at the posts of you other bloggers. (Not to leave you readers who don't have blogs out, but I don't get to peek inside your lives like I do other bloggers.  I'm sure you're all much more together than me too!)

You all have beautiful, seemingly neat and clean homes (tell me they only look that way for photographs!).  Some of you have little kids at home. (Does a little dog in diapers count?) Some of you work full-time outside the home, while I only work freelance, part-time from my home office.  Some of you are younger than me--so I can cut myself some slack with the reasoning that you have more energy--but some of you are my age and older. 

And there you all are, creating (and finishing!) projects daily it seems--painting furniture piece after furniture piece, redecorating rooms, renovating houses, renovating and redecorating again, designing and maintaining showplace gardens, spitting out crafts, starting new businesses, expanding businesses, and generally being more productive than frigging rabbits!  (I say that with love.  Envious love. But love nonetheless.)

Plus you all take beautiful photographs and write a lot more posts than I do (of course you have a lot more things to share because of the aforementioned productivity issue).

HOW do you do it??? Please share your secrets!!!

Anyway, instead of whining about not getting things done, I'd better get off my patooti, step away from the computer, and actually go do something.

However, two sofas may be kind of comfy for the book club.  We can sprawl out, put our feet up on some boxes, open a bottle of wine, and have a great discussion!

... Of course I still haven't read the book ...






Saturday, July 21, 2012

Giveaway Winner!

The weekend's here! The weekend's here!  Happy Saturday!!!

Yesterday I stopped by my friend Janet from The Empty Nest's Grand Opening of her new store in Warrenton, VA.  She sold so much Annie Sloan Chalk Paint from her booth in the Fox Den Antique Mall in Warrenton, she had to open her own store for more room!  And it's beautiful--with lots of room for her to give her painting workshops, sell her painted furniture and the beautiful children's clothes and aprons she makes--plus her wonderful artwork!  I mean, that lady is talented!  If you live in the area, be sure to stop by! My cool scale that I found on Craigslist is going to be there.

Giveaway Winner -

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Thank-you to everyone who entered my Home Goods Giveaway! The winner is the second person to leave a comment: Shell. Congratulations Shell! I'll be in touch to coordinate getting you your card.

Have a great weekend!




Wednesday, July 18, 2012

Savings Tip

I hope your week is going well!  I've been spending it staying inside in my battle not to dissolve into a giant puddle.  My weapons of choice are iced coffee and frozen fruit bars. It is sooooo hot!  And sooooooooo humid!


I had planned on showing you my finished coffee table today.  But it's not finished.  Just not the weather to be painting in the garage. It's part of my Living Room refresh, but of course that's not done either, so I can't show you that.  And yes, I still have unpacked boxes from having our floors refinished.  I don't know why the heat is so innervating when I'm spending most of the day inside, in the air conditioning, but that's my story and I'm sticking to it.  I did do a much needed organization and deep cleaning of my office--so I haven't been a total slug!


Anyway, I was trying to figure out something to share with you today.  I thought about using Thrifty Crafty Girl's concept of how everyday items can come in handy in case of a zombie apocalypse, but that would be stealing her idea, and I'm not funny like she is anyway. (Have you read her?  She's hilarious!)


Then, I was with a group of women yesterday, and Bed Bath & Beyond came up.  And since we all like to save, so did their 20% off coupons that are everywhere.  You know--you get them in the mail, they're in magazines, in newspaper inserts, etc.


But here's the thing.  And if you don't know this, it will change your life.  Seriously.


Those expiration dates on the coupons?  Forget about them! Bed Bath & Beyond will accept the coupons after the expiration date.  At least they will here in Virginia, those of you in other states may want to chime in if it's different where you live.


Now I thought everyone knew this, but only one other person in the group did.  Then I remembered that I didn't know until a friend told me.


And here's the other thing: They don't have a one-coupon-per-person rule!  So you can collect them, and the next time you go to BB & B, whip those babies out!

That means, say if you're looking for towels, you can save 20% off of each one.



Or if you need a Kitchen Aid mixer, you can save 20%.




Bath or shower curtain? Save 20%





Of course bedding, I mean they are Bed Bath & Beyond.






Even decor items.  You got it, 20% off.





And if you have enough coupons,  you can save on everything, all at the same time!  So start hoarding them. Besides the ones you get in the mail or your newspaper, tear them out of magazines at the doctor's office when no one is looking.  Go through your neighbor's recycling.  Whatever it takes people!

Okay, so I don't actually go through anyone's recycling, but I have been known to tear them out of magazines in a waiting room.  :-) 

One last tip:  I stash my coupons in the car, so if I decide to stop by the store I always have them with me.

Have a great rest of week.  There's still time to enter my Home Goods giveaway! (I apparently have shopping on my mind these days ... )




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Friday, July 13, 2012

Home Goods Giveaway!




Love the mixture of the traditional club chairs, vintage-looking French and industrial chic in this photo.


Since I'm in the midst of unpacking boxes and painting furniture, I don't have much to share with you.  And since I haven't done a giveaway in awhile, I decided what the hey -- I'll give something away!


Home Goods


I'm nice like that. :-)  Plus, it will give me an excuse (like I ever need one) to go to Home Goods, which could possibly be my favorite retail store. 



Home Goods


So I'm giving away ... drum roll please ... a $50 gift certificate to Home Goods!  You can get a lot with 50 bucks there.



Home Goods


Home Goods
Check out the combination of patterns, colors, and textures in the two photos above!

I do have a couple of requirements though:

1)  All entrants must be followers or subscribers of this blog. Let me know which one you are in your comment.

2)  For a second chance to win, link up to the contest on your blog and leave a comment letting me know.

3) For a third chance to win, or a second chance if you don't have a blog, tell your decorating-loving pals on Facebook about the contest, and leave a comment letting me know.


Home Goods

Home Goods


That's it!  Now that wasn't too hard, was it?  All entries must be received by next Friday, July 20, 2012.


Home Goods
Unfortunately my patio is not looking like this at the moment ...
maybe some new accessories will help it out ...


So good luck, and I hope you all have a great weekend!


P.S. I'm not affliated with Home Goods in any way (I wish--I'd save even more with a discount!)

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Friday, July 6, 2012

Hot Enough for You?


When the clerk at Safeway asked me that, I knew I was officially cranky.

Because I wanted to punch him in the nose.

After running around doing errands all morning in the heat, I'm hot and witchy with a b.  Yes, I've tried telling myself that I'm lucky to have an air-conditioned car.  That I'm lucky to have electricity at home. 

That I'm not in Colorado dealing with wildfires or a farmer in the Midwest dealing with drought.

I know I'm lucky that I don't live in a third world country with not only no A/C but also no running water.

And I know he was just trying to be friendly.

But I still wanted to punch him.

I didn't, though--which I'm sure you'll all be glad to hear!  You wouldn't want to be reading the blog of a raving mad woman, now would you?  I just smiled and said, "Wow, sure is.  How about you?" 

Maybe he wanted to punch me in the nose too. It's making us all irritable around here, and there's no end in sight.  Tomorrow is supposed to be another record-breaking day. 



I told my son who is in Afghanistan that I felt guilty complaining about 105 degrees with 115 heat indexes when he's dealing with 120 degrees. His answer--"yeah, but at least it's not humid." :-)

Because we all know it's not the heat ... it's the humidity.  And boy, does it get humid in Northern Virginia!  When we first moved here almost 10 years ago people told me I'd get used to it.  Either they lied, or my body just refuses to accept the fact that it's not in the moderate Pacific Northwest or Bay Area anymore!

So another weekend will go by without doing all the things I need/want to do outside.  Like weeding the garden ... sprucing up the plant containers ... sanding furniture ... finishing cleaning up the storm debris ... sipping a Mojito on the deck ...

Oh well, it's not like I don't have plenty to keep me busy inside.  And I really do appreciate how lucky I am, I do.

So I'm going to try to slap my cranky self around and have a good weekend.  Maybe go to a nice, air-conditioned movie.

What are your plans?  I hope you all have a great weekend, and if you're living in heat-wave country you stay cool and happy!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

Maybe my Coolest Craigslist Find Ever!

This could be it.  This could be my find of all finds.



In fact, maybe I should retire from my Craigslist hunting career now so I can go out in a burst of glory!  



I mentioned in my last post that I had scored a couple of very cool things on Craigslist, and this is the coolest of all.




When I answered the ad for the coffee table that I'm redoing for my living room, the seller showed me a couple of other items they had.  I've already told you about the washstand they gave me for free.



I had never seen one of these before. It has it's original finish, has all of it's parts except for the glass tray--and it still works. I checked the emblem number, and it's the real deal.



Have you figured out what it is yet?



The seller knew the value of the piece, because he told me there was one just like it on Ebay.  They just wanted to get rid of it because they were downsizing and trying to get out of house.  The realtor didn't want it in the staging.



It's a Standard Computing Scale -- used in country stores to weigh hardware, etc. back in the day. 

Like the day in 1911.

I did some research on it, and found out that the Standard Computing Company in Detroit was established in 1889 and continued manufacturing these scales until 1929. It's designed so you can read the weight from both the front and back. 

The seller told me the one he saw on Ebay was bid at $370.  I checked Ebay and found this current listing for $525.  The only difference is mine does not have the original glass tray, and the last patent on mine is from 1911, not 1917. 

I got it for $75.



I really have no idea what I'm going to do with it, but I just loved it and just couldn't pass it up.  Especially at that price!  It's a great display piece and would be perfect in a store or a barn sale environment. I'd like to keep it if I can figure out the right place for it.  If not, I'll sell it.

But for now it's probably my favorite Craigslist find ever! 






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