A WASTED LIFE

Feeling blue...and brown

Okay, it's only been four days -- but no one has found me so far. Shall I throw myself on my fainting couch and weep tears of sorrow and frustraction?

Nah!

Meanwhile, here's a picture of some of my brown transferware. I started collecting it after seeing a display in a magazine. I only have about 10 or 12 pieces, and I paid more than I would like for most of them. But I do like them and they look nice against the beige paint in my dining room.

TEA ANYONE?

I love my collection of bone china teacups and saucers. One of these days I'm going to make a photo collection of all of them. In the meantime, Ive taken just one of them, but isn't it pretty?

MY NEW BLOG SPOT

Hello,

If you've found me here on Blogspot -- welcome! I used to have a blog on Typepad, but no one ever found it, so I'm now here on Blogspot and liking what I see so far.

I love to go junking for neat stuff. Who can afford to buy new these days? I live in New York state near the shore of Lake Ontario, and I'm counting the days until yard sale season starts. I'll be sharing my finds here on my blog and hope you'll share yours, too.

In the meantime, I've posted some of my older posts so that people can see what I've been up to over the past year or so.

Hope to hear from you soon!

MY ENTRYWAY

Okay, I finally took a picture of the new entryway. Compare the paint color with that of my post on June 6th.

Quite a difference, eh? It took a while to get used to it, but now I like it. This picture doesn't give a true representation of the color. It's more a teal.

MERRY CHRISTMAS

Better late than never. My sadly neglected Christmas Cactus has finally decided to bloom.

I got this cactus from a woman at work -- about 28 years ago. It was a LOT smaller then. I gave it to my mother and she kept it for 27 years, but last summer decided it was too big for her to handle and she as going to toss it out. NO WAY! So, I took it in. (And keep for getting to water it.

It may be named a Christmas Cactus, but it didn't know it and has just decided to bloom.

I'M BACK

My goodness, I couldn't believe it has been so long since I blogged -- July! I've been busy with other aspects of my life. I'd like to start here again, but suppose I've lost whatever audience I had accumulated.

Worse, one of my favorite blogs has changed -- and it's now only open by invitation. This must have just changed, because I only accessed it yesterday! I'm so sad I won't be able to read Blushing Rose Antiques anymore.

I've been reading up a storm--both blogs and magazines. One of my favorite fiction authors is Mary Kay Andrews, who also has a blog. She bought a beach house this past fall and has been busy renovating it. I love seeing everything she posts about it. It's supposed to be done this week -- and I'm hoping she'll share lots of new pictures.

Meanwhile, I haven't done much decorating. We did finally finish our entryway. I should take a picture and post it. It came out well--although the color is nothing like we originally pictures. It's a Sherwin Williams deep teal (my description, not theirs) from their craftsman folder. We did the trim in gold, as they suggested. Looks nice, though.

I hope to start blogging here on a regular basis once again. Hope some of you will come back.

OVER THE WEEKEND

I had fun over the weekend going to a community garage sale. Now that I'm not in business any more, I don't buy half of what I used to--so I'm buying stuff that I need, or at least pretend I need. (Like the date bars and peanut butter cookies.)

The magazines were a steal at a nickel each, 3 new cat bowls, a make-up bag, doilies up the wa-zoo, Rubbermaid spatulas, a veggie brush, pumice stone. The Mary Engelbreit book was only 50 cents.

Why do I need a wedding guest book? I'm going to put something over the top and use it for another purpose where I want to collect names and addresses. These things are sooo expensive new, that I buy them whenever I find them. This one was only a dollar.

We also decided to get a barn star for the family cottage. It was a great price but the wrong color. Luckily, I had a can of Ivory Silk paint. Four coats later, and it looked good. I had to get on the ladder to hang it. That was a little scary--but I'm a brave woman. Now I'm wondering if it should be lower. What do you think? (See my beans on the left side of the picture!)

MY CORNER CABINET

Whoa! Is it Thursday already? I meant to post this on Monday. Where did the week go?

Last weekend I was able to put the corner cabinet back in its place. I wanted to give it time for the paint to harden before I put anything back on it.

If you'll remember, it was originally painted forest green. I saw this "leapfrog" green in a magazine and though it might make a nice contract in the yellow bedroom. I really like the way it turned out. What do you think?

A BUST ON CRAIGSLIST

I've posted four things on Criagslist so far and for the first two I had people who e-mailed me and said they wanted them. Then they found out how far away from them I am and decided, "eh, fuhgetaboutit."

Last week I posted two of my display pieces from my old booth at the antiques co-op. I didn't even get one call or e-mail. I posted best offer, but apparently nobody wanted my little orphaned pieces.

Hubby says it's time to take them to Goodwill.

Sniff.

STILL HERE

Not much to post about. I spent the weekend painting my corner cabinet, but I didn't want to put anything on it until the paint had hardened for a few days, so I will post a picture next week. I forgot to take my other paint, so I didn't get all my projects done. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions ...

Meanwhile, it's a holiday week! Wow--can it almost be 4th of July already?

SPRUCING UP

I've been inspried by DonnaLynn over at Blushing Rose Antiques. She spent the weekend painting everything in sight -- and boy is she good at it. I aspire to have a yard like hers (weed free with lots of flowers) and a gorgeous house.

To that end, we did some major weeding yesterday, and hung the plants we bought over the weekend. This is the first time we've had hanging plants. I don't even know what they are, but they are pretty. We also planted tomatoes and the first of our annuals (really late this year).

I'm getting psyched to spend the weekend painting. I've got my corner cabinet (mentioned yesterday), a small hanging shelf (which is currently blue and will soon be Ivory Silk), and we're going to paint the cottage bathroom. It's currently got paneling halfway up the wall, and then embossed (white) wallpaper. We're going to paint it "asparagus" green. If we hate it, we'll replace the paneling with beadboard. (Yeah! That's what I really want.)

I also want to seal our home deck. It's been years since I did it, and it really is in need. First I have to scrub off the green, which isn't really mold...is it? Anyway, it needs to be cleaned.

In the meantime, I need to do my freelance job. Where will these hours come from?

TREASURES!

The weekend yard sales were a bust! I must have gone to at least 10 of them and hardly bought a thing. I did get four beautiful old handkerchiefs for my mother (for a buck), and two heart-shaped cake pans for the same price, but the real prize was 8 issues of the old Victoria Magazine for 75 cents. (Such a deal!)

The truth is, I already HAVE all but one of these issues, but I figured if I left the duplicates at our family's cottage, I could read them again on a rainy afternoon (with a cup of tea, and a cat on my lap).

I have projects I want to accomplish, and most of them involve painting. For instance: I have an old display piece from my antique co-op days. A corner cabinet. This cabinet was painted a god-awful shade of forest green, with a high-gloss finish. I saw in a magazine (Country Home?) a dresser painted a vivid green, so I decided to go for that color for the cabinet. I started the job by painting the cabinet's door with a white primer, and then did two coats of the bright green, but didn't get a chance to take a photo. If the weather cooperates, I'll paint the rest of the cabinet next weekend.

In the meantime, here's the before picture. All the items on the shelves were bought at yard sales for $2 or less. (I love a bargain!)

TREE TODAY, GONE TOMORROW

Yesterday was kind of sad here. We reluctantly decided to have one of our trees taken down. It was a soft maple. In the spring it shed seeds, and then afterward, seed stems. In the fall, leaves. The seeds and stems played havoc with our gutters. They were always full. You'd clean them of seeds, and weeks later they'd be full of stems. When we had our roof replaced last year, the gutter problems were at the heart of it.

The tree was also planted much too close to the house. We'd have to pay to have it trimmed every year just to keep it off the roof.

So, tree man came and the tree went.

Now our deck is exposed to summer sunlight, probably for the first time in twenty years.

The deck needs work. It hasn't had water sealer on it for a number of years. That's next on my list of things to do (when I can walk properly again). We may have to get an umbrella or an awning, but the truth is, we don't use the deck much because we have an enclosed porch and like to sit there with our kitties.

Look what I bought at a church sale last week--for a dime! I got some alyssum for it and hope it likes its new home.

SAFETY FIRST

The walk from our enclosed porch to our deck was getting hazardous. At one point (before we moved in), I suppose it was landscaped. We yanked a rug juniper out several years ago. But because of the nearby maple tree's roots, and some pavers that had sunk and were sticking out at all angles--and because it was a weed patch--we decided to put in a little brick patio. (It would also discourage the critters that like to live close to the house. Toads, mice, whatever.)

Here's what it looked like this morning at the 90% completion stage. They should finish up later today. And then there'll be no more tripping hazard.