I Have a Problem - Chapter 1

Just in case you were wondering, I have a concrete problem. Love the stuff, the more beat up (ahem) aged, the better. The last time we moved, the guys were schlepping the last of many urns and other assortments into the back of the moving van. I said to one of them (as a kind of apology): "We have a lot of stuff, don't we?" He put down the 200 lb birdbath and said "Lady, it's not that you have a lot of stuff; it's that you have a lot of ODDBALL stuff." I swear it was the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. My husband has explicit instructions that the word "oddball" must appear somewhere on my headstone. That, and "she was sometimes a headache, but never a bore". And the headstone better be crafted from old, fabulous, chipped up concrete.

So the other day, I am screeching down NE Wygant St. looking for an estate sale, and look what I saw? Okay, so if you take away the gravel, the plastic chairs and the rusted chain link fence, don't you feel JUST like you are standing on the steps of the New York City Public Library?

Photo courtesy of harx1.blogspot.com Thanks Kerri!

A Paint by Number Bounty!

After a looooong, wet winter here in the northwest, estate and garage sales are just starting to come back. I look forward to Fridays when the kids are in school and I can check out the sales in my hood. A recent sale had a glorious collection of paint by numbers in the back bedroom. I grabbed them. Roses! Landscapes with swans and urns! And flowers...in Paris! All six for $3.00! Mon Dieu!

Lucky Friday

My friend Gail and I tried to go to an estate sale on Friday. She thought it was on 133rd and Stark. Turns out it was on 143rd and Pine and it started SATURDAY. Oh well, there's got to be a thrift store around here somewhere....Bingo! Look what I got! Spring!

Photos: A swell gal who loves to make pies, a 1940's hottie in a white tux, happy couple about to go make out somewhere, and a BABY in a SWING!

Who doesn't need glittery, plastic grapes for a quarter?

The creme de la creme: a vintage room deodorizer with pink satin, lace and a flower arrangement in a thimble. Be still my foolish heart!

Gnome sweet gnome

I was on my way to my piano lesson the other day and turned the wrong way on 75th Street. When I did my 3 point turn to turn around, I caught a glimpse of these guys. Hooray for bad directional sense!

Also, changed my template. I loved the dark background with polka dots at first, but then realized very late one night when I was blogging when I should have been sleeping, that it looked like the set of the Larry King Live. UUGGHH!

Framed for Valentine's Day

Look what I made! I added vintage buttons and keys and sparkly jewels to pink frames! I lovingly placed them in my space at Vestiges Storefront, and guess what?!? Haven't sold one! I LOVE them! Wish I could stop using the exclamation point!

Piano Lessons

My mom forced me to take piano lessons when I was a kid. Finally, when I was about 12, she couldn't stand the whining anymore and let me quit. She also warned me that I would always regret it. Okay. Here it comes.....SHE WAS RIGHT!!! So now, a couple of decades later, I am starting piano lessons. From scratch. This week I learned about middle C, that my right hand will take me all the way up to G and what a scale is. And I'm not talking about the one you stand on in the morning when you just get out of the shower. Well, maybe you stand on one, but I certainly don't. Anyway, that's not the point. My 7 year old son and I are using the same lesson book. He already knows how to play Fur Elise. My question is this...Why does the red head on the cover of the lesson book look so terrified?

The Fugitive

PLEASE bear with me. I am not and never will be a rodent person. However, this guy is part of the family, one of 2 teddy bear hamsters we have living with us. My daughter named her hamster Hemingway. She was feeling sensitive that day and wanted a "poetic" name. (She's 14. Can you tell?) This one belongs to my son Charlie who is 7. His hamster's name used to be Fluffy; then it became Scrappy (he always looks disheveled); but lately we have been calling him Thumper. As in THUMPING down a full flight of stairs to get to the family room. We surmise he headed down in order to play with Charlie's toys. No kidding, this 6 oz pile of fur knows how to get out of his cage in the middle of the night. Last night was his third escape. Into the kitchen he waddled, his goal being the leftover cat food. Luckily, the cat was outside at the time or HE would have been the cat food. We now have to keep a 10 pound book on top of the cage to keep him in. Look into his eyes...he's saying "I want to get out...a caged hamster won't sing!"

One Stop Shopping

Okay, so I had about 10 minutes before I needed to be somewhere. I stopped by one of my usual spots and struck gold. Extra fun as I usually strike tin or brass there. The lot includes vintage Easter cards, sheet music for "Fairy Trumpets", old buttons - white and raspberry - on their original cards, a vintage doily how-to guide and several old alphabet decals. I paid so fast it would have made your head spin. When I got home I challenged myself to make up some words with the decals; sort of like Wheel of Fortune but without the wheel or the fortune. See what I came up with? Take a VERY close look at the doily pamphlet...want a cigarette with that crochet hook honey?

First Daffodils in the dark of winter

I always make a mental note when I see the first daffodils of the season. It means spring will indeed come and that my birthday is just around the corner! Last Saturday morning, before dawn, I was up and waiting when the grocery store opened. I spied this lone bucket of daffs just outside the store....YES!