Sales in the snow

Obviously my life is still not back to normal as can be seen by my lack of posting and reading/commenting. Last week was a week of appointments. Tuesday was my annual gyn, Wednesday was the cat's annual and the dentist to repair my tooth and Thursday was hair day. Friday? Erm......ummm...Friday? Not a clue. I do remember there were no sales to speak of, so I stayed in. Saturday, however was more interesting.

We woke up to a blizzard. OK, we might have got an accumulation of 1/2", but man, that snow was coming down! I watched the weather and road closings and by 10:00 was on my way. I'd called Lena to see if she wanted to ride with me. She'd not been to any sales in awhile and was antsy to get out too, so off we went.

I did realize before we left that my finances were in dire need of......money. I was broke. Ricky has been sweet enough to pay the rent on the shop until we get it open and I've not worked much at selling. eBay usually provides a cash flow, but I haven't been doing much there resulting in poverty for me. Would I let a lack of funds keep me from an estate sale? Why, no! Why would you think that?

We went to one sale. There were a couple of things I couldn't afford and talked Lena into buying them, but here's what I came home with:

Platter, plate and bowl, clown glass, darning egg, McCoy? cornucopia flowerpot and a little picture made in Italy. Oh, and a small towel bar to match the larger towel bar I found two weeks ago.

Suzy Homemaker juicer, two Santa tidbit trays, a cool, plastic salad set (not washed yet) and a box of 1960s Christmas Cards.

Lady Sunbeam blow dryer, blown glass hanging lamp - only the shade is pictured - and an old sprinkler that's in worse condition than I realized, but I have two friends who collect sprinklers. I'll be able to make them a heck of a deal. The blow dryer is in worse condition than I realized, too and will most likely go straight to a yard sale.

Here, I thought I was buying a bag of butterfly specimens. It turned out that was only a small portion of the bag. A little disappointing, but I'd have paid the price of all this for just those two packs of butterflies, so the rest was a bonus. There's a butterfly made from peacock feathers, two packs of dyed fern fronds, two Jim Dandy puppy prints and four outdoorsman prints.

It's amazing what you can find with little more than pocket change.

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I'd like to introduce you to my friend and step sister-in-law's blog, if you haven't already met her. Lynn and I met when my father married her husband's mother six years ago. Her blog shows the progress of the renovation on their antique house. So pretty! She's also a very talented seamstress and craftsperson. Swamp Girl

Can You Spell L-A-Z-Y?

Oh, my! I've stayed in all week. Got out a few times just to go to the drive through or down to the shop for a little while, but for the most part, I've been sitting on the couch working on putting inventory in a spreadsheet. Ricky had a stomach virus and I stayed home with him. He's finally back at work today. Thank goodness! But this has made me a lazy daisy. I took some cold medicine last night and don't think it's actually worn of yet. It was an absolutely gorgeous day today and what did I do? Slept a good chunk of the afternoon. Shameful. I missed the day and didn't get much done.

I didn't even go to the sales this weekend, but did last weekend swollen lip and all. Here are the few things I found.

Heart cutters made in Denmark, three pairs of gloves, a really old Clinchfield Cremer and a blue trim bowl.

Quilt. Umm. OK. A quilt.

A towel bar stand thing and a marble top, iron table. That made the day worth it. Oh, and an old, store ,embroidery floss display box with glass top. Didn't get a good picture of it and as much as I was in love with it when I found it under all those linens, I don't really like it much anymore.

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Have you been seeing the commercial for I Can Make You Thin on TLC? It starts March 16. I'm looking forward to that show. Hope he means what he says! I wanna be thin!

Award Day

My mouth is close to normal again. The last remnants of the scab mustache disappeared this morning and the tooth is in place as much as it's going to be. It was badly chipped and will have to be filled and the dentist said he'd make everything right when he did that. I still have a little swelling in the lip, but at least I don't look like a cartoon character anymore. Naturally, now that that's all on its way out, I get a crud sinus thing. Think maybe I picked that up at the emergency room? I gotta say though, that I'm glad I didn't have it when my lip was so swollen. There's no way I could have blown my nose or wiped the sn..., well you know what I mean.

I did go to the sales this past weekend and picked up some cool stuff, but I have no pictures, yet. I kept forgetting to take the camera to the store. Later on all that.

Feeling pretty crappy, I'm curled up on the couch with the laptop and thought, "It's time to blog!" But I have no pictures and not much to say, then I realized I'd not bragged about the latest awards shared by some sweet blogging friends.

Dona at Antekin passed the Blogging Buddies award to me.



Vickie at Sand Flat Farm and Connie at Magnolia Street Style both shared the You Make My Day Award.



I'd like to thank the three of you, my husband and children, my real life friends, my blogging friends, my parents who made me who I am today, my cat, Buster, all the little people who made this happen, and most especially God, without whom I am nothing.

Of course I'm being silly, but couldn't help myself with award season on TV. But if you take out the little people thing and take out the context, I meant every word. I am thankful for so much in my life. God is good all the time.

I've been a terrible blogger lately. Not just my posts, which don't amount to a hill of beans, but I've not had time to read all my friends' posts. For that I'm sorry. I appreciate so much those of you who come by and leave comments even when I haven't seen what's going on in your life lately. And new friends have stopped by that I haven't returned the favor. This simply will not do! I've got to get my life back to normal! But you all know what's been coming first. Working in the shop.

I still can't see much progress, but shelves have been made and are awaiting paint. After that, it should be a cinch. Maybe.

I want to cruise some blogs tonight, but might have to drag myself to Home Depot. Egads! I better wear tennis shoes! I don't want to get up off the couch. Don't want to get dressed. But, there might be some supper at the Mexican Restaurant in it, so I probably will go.

Oh my, what a day!

The same ol', same ol' has been my life lately, but today changed all that. We went to The Home Depot. Shopped, paid and took everything out to the truck. All's fine. I put the buggy (cart to most of the US) in the buggy corral, turned around, stepped on a rock, stumbled to the right, stumbled to the left and went down. Face first. I ate up the pavement. I jumped up and blood was pouring out of my mouth. I knew I'd hit my teeth and was afraid I'd lost the two front teeth or at best broken them. Ricky turned around to see me leaning over pouring blood. He thought someone had hit me. Isn't that just how a man would think? He said if anyone had been around he'd have lit into them.

We didn't know whether to go to the emergency room, doctor's office or dentist, but because of the blood, elected the emergency room. It turned out that the blood was a really bad cut inside my upper lip. My lip is swollen and I'll be bruised all around my face. My teeth are intact, but one was pushed back, so I went to the dentist who took x-rays. All looked good in the x-rays and he gave me a wooden stick to bite on to push the tooth back in place. I thought it would take time and was biting on the stick this evening and it popped back into place all at once. Scared me! I thought I've really broken it this time, but I guess not. Armed with Loritab I daren't not take for a day or two, I'll be just fine.

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Now, here's this past weekend's loot. Not so very much, but I don't regret anything, so that's good.

Small Italian pictures.

Large cameo. The frame is a couple of feet tall. Can you see the pink on the inside of the design?

Always a sucker for rust and green handles, but a green handle squeegee? That might be carrying it a bit too far.
Also in this picture is a little porcelain drawer with brown roosters on it and a blue Swanky Swig.

I forgot to get a picture of the old blue, wooden, ice cream freezer. Don't know if it works and there are no paddles, but that's not why I bought it. I liked the blue, wooden freezer.

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I don't think I've shown y'all the picture I'm thinking of using for the business cards, have I? This copy is optimized too much. It actually is clearer than this. I don't know how well it will translate into a small size, though. I'd use it on the left side of the card. Regardless, I just love that picture and it's definitely going on the web site's "about us" page.

It's getting better and the roadside was good to me

Wow! Thanks for the support, y'all! I've had lots of suggestions, but you know, in the end we work at our own pace in our own, best way. I think last week I was just tired and overwhelmed. I'd been there every day and couldn't see the progress, nor could I see the solution. After taking a couple of days break, I went back at it fresh and cleaned two areas. We can now navigate through the office and the area around the storage closet and restroom, as well as the restroom itself, are neatened up. I can't tell you how much better just that little bit makes me feel. We'll get there. Everything in it's time. Ricky will have three days off this weekend and I've got a list of things lined up for him. But the best part is -- we've set an opening date! We're looking at the second weekend in April. Now, when I set a date, nobody pays attention. Things that are out of my control don't get done. I get interrupted and sidetracked. But when Ricky sets a date, he generally sticks to it, although he's not as good at it as he used to be. As the years go by, he's getting more like me than either of us care to admit, but I think since this is a fairly public thing, he'll stick to it if at all possible. One thing is certain. The doors won't open until a few things my electrician business partner (husband) takes care of. They've got to be done before we can get a business license.

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We were at the shop Sunday evening and a house close by had some things on the street. A cheap, table and chairs, another "disposable" chair and some old doors. Old doors?! Go back! Gasp! And a rusty, crusty, wire rack! Get 'em! We thought there were just a couple of doors in the pile, but it turned out to be six! One still has the white, porcelain doorknob and key thingy. Another has a tin doorknob. Do the others have doorknobs? I didn't notice. But the door on the bottom was a lovely aqua color. Yippee! I luv old doors. Some will be turned into shelves. I didn't get a picture of them, but did get a picture of the rack.

Before and

After:

I got some of the fabric piles off the floor. It was bothering me trying to figure out where they were going to go. Once I get everything worked out into tentative spots, the fun can begin, but as long as things are in piles or hidden, it.....well, that's what overwhelms me. Going through the fabric (the fabric bought in during the summer - there are bags of fabric and linens in the back that have been accumulated through the years) I found small, quilting scraps that I have a plan for. If it works out I'll be a-showin' it to ya.

I'm also working on the new website. The logo has had me stymied. I want the logo to convey the feeling of the shop which includes quirky, so this is what I've decided on at this point. (The edges around the oval need to be cleaned up, still.)

The only thing about that is, it's definitely feminine. Not gonna attract very many men. So that would be for the website only. I guess just the words for the signs at the shop, but you should see what I'm thinking for the business cards. I haven't scanned that photo, yet. I asked Ricky if he wanted his own business cards for his tractors and toys. Of course he hasn't thought about any of that. He's obsessed with painting and organizing the back room. Anyway, I showed him what I was thinking about and he said he approved. Don't know if he was really OK with it or if that was only to get me to shut up or if he just doesn't care. I'm sure he thinks a simple, ordinary card with words is fine. Just like he thinks all I need are shelves. Why would I need furniture? He doesn't quite grasp the creative display concept. But he can visualize things I can't. We make a pretty good team - when we're willing to listen to each other and not throw up our guards.

This week's sales and why I'm so frustrated

First, I'd like to share this weeks finds. Not many sales were happening and only two of those were producers, but I'm really happy with what I found.

Do you love it? The charcoal drawing of the lady? It was done by an 18 year old, senior high school student in art class in, I'd say, the early 1950s. The information is on the back, but no date. There is a signature at the bottom and there might be a date there, but I didn't have my glasses on to look closely.
Also in this picture, a pair of Jesus and Mary pictures, plastic Santa and snowman candy containers, old, fancy balls and an old, flannel bag with monkeys on it.

The cookbook is packed full of loose recipes cut from the paper and magazines and many, hand written recipes. The Bible is a family Bible with some family information filled in going back to 1803. Montgomerys, I think.

Old wall paper. I always wondered where people found old wall paper. The only I've ever found was from the 1980s - until now.

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I thought you might like to see why I feel so overwhelmed. What you are about to see will shock and probably repulse you. I'm baring part of my soul to the world here. I just want you to see why I'm not blogging much. See what's preoccupying my mind these days. If you look closely at the pictures of the shop below, you might be able to see where things are starting to shape up, but there are so many layers and piles in front waiting for a place to reside it's driving me nuts! I feel like I move the same piles around from one place to another. Maybe an item stays put here and there, but I'm sort of to the point where I can't do much more until I have a few pieces of furniture in there and in place.

(Edit: The pictures might be too wide for your screen. I just looked at it after publishing and some are cut off on the right. You really aren't missing much.)

This is in the front room. I was pretty happy with that corner for awhile, then things started moving over there to be put on the wall or to find a spot to sit. Notice the paper in the back of the shelves of the hutch. The black and white wasn't pleasing to the eye. It didn't play well with the color of the wood, so I'm coffee staining the paper. The stained paper looks great, but it's taking a loooooong time. I can only soak two pieces of paper at the time and it takes a day or two to get to the right color. Sigh.

More front room. The jewelry case and piles. That rack with the clamps on it is an old, Max Factor fixture. It has the Max Factor light globe for the top, too. It needs sanding and painting.

The pile of fabrics in the back room with no place to live. I know where I want them to be, but have nothing to put them on.

Front room again. That's garbage on the left.

Still in the front. That shelf will go to the back. It's not staying in the middle of the room.

The office. Oh, my word! I've piled, literally thrown, things in there to get them out of the way while we cleaned the floor and painted.

Just a pile of mess.

The storage area. What am I going to do with all that crap? Things waiting to be painted or repaired and things waiting for inspiration.

Back to the back room that will be open to the public. This is where Ricky's tractors and stuff will go.

More storage area. This stuff was moved out so we could hang shelves. Something that hasn't happened, yet.

Ah. A little organization. But with piles around and shelves awaiting hanging.

The garden area, organized, but with piles around.

So there it is. The whole, sordid mess. A few pictures were lost and didn't make it to the post, but the ones that did are probably overkill. More than anyone wanted to see. Sorry.

I just looked up and saw it was one o'clock and I was still in my housecoat. Since I played hooky from church this morning, I should have at least worked at the shop or cleaned house, but I have nothing to show for the time. I do believe we're going to work at the shop this afternoon, though. Now, I just hope I don't loose this post. I'm getting "Could not contact Blogger.com". Internet must be down. I'll try copying everything so I don't lose it all.

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PS to Lynn. If you're reading this and it makes you feel any better, I was under the impression you could do no wrong. LOL We really do need to get together. Thank you for saying what you did.

Just checking in

Mama Sandi has nudged me again. It's been a few days since the last post. It seems like I'm working at the shop during all the daylight hours. I don't sleep well. No, that's not true. I generally do sleep well, just not much. I wake up too early with a million thoughts running through my mind and drag myself out of bed and get busy. I do occasionally have nightmares. One recurring dream is of pressing the brakes on the car, but the car keeps rolling. Wonder what that means? Ha! Shouldn't be too hard to figure out. Also, I now know the meaning of bone tired. I work and work, arranging and rearranging, moving heavy things, hanging small things. Moving the heavy things again, lifting and shoving. My back hurts. I'm sleepy. I better be burning more calories than I'm taking in!! The sad thing? I can't see any progress. It seems like I just move things from one place to another. And I need Ricky to hang some big stuff and we need to get some furniture over there, but he's working 12 hours every day with no off days and is extremely tired, too.

Last weekend's sales were crummy. I do want to show y'all a painting I got for me and tell you about one sale in particular, but I'm just too tired. Brain tired as well as physical. So, until next time...........