THE (BOOK)CASE OF THE TWO LEFT SIDES

I was driving in an urban area across the river last week, when I saw a sign at a newer shopping center: Hobby Lobby and The Christmas Tree Shops. I let out a little squeal and quickly changed lanes in order to make the turn into the entrance. Some background information is in order: We haven't had any Hobby Lobbys this far north. Fellow bloggers mention Hobby Lobby all the time. We have Michael's, which is very good, but no Hobby Lobby. That is, until October apparently, when this one opened. The woman I spoke to at the check-out said it was the first one in the Northeast. By the way, I didn't buy much this time out, but it is amazing.

My good friend, Donna of An Enchanted Cottage, talks about The Christmas Tree Shops all the time. Previously, I have encountered some that were rather far from here, but this new store is very convenient to my country home. I went in looking for a lampshade for my birthday vintage parakeet lamp (and got one) but then I saw this:


You might remember I have been looking for a bookcase for my upstairs hallway? Looking and looking for a vintage bookcase that wasn't too tall, too wide, but was just right? Oh, and I didn't want to pay an arm and a leg for one. I was unsuccessful. Then I saw this sweet, cottagey bookcase. Okay, it is made of particle board...but who cares when it is so gosh darn cute? It was very inexpensive, so I snapped it up and brought it home. When I arrived, Don was out and I thought I would have it put together in about 20 minutes - well before he got back. Things went swimmingly; I screwed the bottom to one of the sides using the pre-drilled holes.


I grabbed the next side piece to screw it to the bottom and realized something was wrong. The manufacturer had given me two left sides, instead of a left and a right. It was late in the day on Wednesday, the next day was Thanksgiving and I didn't want to turn around and take it back. Determined to make it work, I spent the next 2 hours cursing as I measured and tried to drill new holes that would make a left side into its opposite - a right side. With particle board. Much time elapsed, with me sitting in the midst of bookcase parts, screws, measuring tape and screwdrivers. Sometimes I am just too stubborn for my own good. My husband came home in the middle of all this and gave me a "What is she up to now?" look. Miraculously, I somehow pulled it all together.

Because the backing of these types of bookcases is basically thick cardboard and we see the back of the bookcase coming up the stairs, I used a little Mod Podge and added some neat scrapbook paper I bought when I was in San Diego.

And now I have a home for a small portion of my books - these are mostly theater books.

I added a few things to the top of the bookshelf to personalize it a bit.

That's my sister and me - taken a few years ago. And yes, that is a cow's nose you see in the upper left hand corner of the photo - we were in a local restaurant that had a mural on the wall. And the cow was part of the mural. It looks like he's watching us.

A cake plate with a serving of Betty's pincushions. They look good enough to eat, don't they? I have now officially declared the upstairs hallway to be my studio. It may be small, but it is all mine...okay, I let my husband and dogs walk through it, but it is mine.

My next big project, in the spring, will be constructing some built-in bookcases for the den. I am determined to do it. Our many books need a home and I need to see them. Oh, and I have to paint all the walls, but somehow that isn't as exciting.

CATCHIN UP ON SUNDAY

Hello, my friends. We've had a heck of wind storm here - from Friday into late Saturday. I'm glad it is finally over. Continuous, howling wind makes me feel a bit edgy. Plus, there are all the bits of branches I have to clean up in the yard. Today is sunny and calm, thank goodness.

It is also Dog Bath Day - a major undertaking. We have big dogs. The bathtub doesn't work for these guys...so we have to get in the car, load it with old towels and 2 dogs, and drive several miles to the Dog Wash (part of a Car Wash). It works so much better for us, because there are two washing stations where the dogs can be secured, soap, conditioner, you name it. Then we drive back with 2 wet and squeaky clean dogs. It will take a couple of hours. Next week will be all about swiffering the never-ending dustballs of dog hair that appear after a bath. Ah, the joys of long-haired dogs!

I wanted to share a poster I won at The Beautiful Life. The generous Ruth had a spontaneous giveaway and some of us are now owners of one of these:


Could it be more perfect? I can't wait to frame this and hang it - either in the office/guest room/music studio or in my little 'studio.' Thank you, Ruth!

I've been very tardy in acknowledging two awards. The first is from Teresa at Marigold Manor.


And the second is from Heidi at Heart and Home.


Thank you, Teresa and Heidi! I am always so honored to receive an award from a fellow blogger. Both of these awards involved listing things you don't know about me, but I have done these lists before and simply can't think of anything else to list! I will pass these along to all my fellow bloggers, with great thanks for being my friends.

Have a wonderful Sunday!

PINK SATURDAY

Happy Pink Saturday, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I know we over ate...I was more than a tad uncomfortable at the end of the meal!

This week I have another hatpin holder to share with you. I found it on Ebay. It is Nippon porcelain and I love it.

Ah, my favorite color combination of pink and aqua. The flowers are so lovely, as is the gold edging.

Oh, so pretty!

See the raised dots? I've found that such designs were called 'moriage.' It was the art of applying raised dots to porcelain, especially Japanese porcelain, in the late 1800's and early 1900's.

I'm having a lot of fun seeking out my latest passion - these beautiful hatpin holders!

Please stop by our hostess Beverly's blog - How Sweet the Sound, for a list of everyone participating.

VINTAGE BLACK FRIDAY

Well, we've come to the last Vintage Black Friday. It has been such fun. I want to thank Jill at Gypsy Brocante for hosting this weekly party. And stop by her blog for a list of everyone participating.

I had to dig deep to find something for this last VBF. The well appeared to be dry...but then I found these:

The books on either end were my Dad's textbooks when he was attending Cass Technical High School in Detroit in the 1940's. I keep these on top of my hutch in the den. The one on the left is a book on electrical wiring.

His name is written on the inside cover with the year 1940. My Dad was always great with anything to do with repairs, wiring, building - you name it. Apparently, all those classes paid off!

The little book in the middle is a faded copy of The Taming of the Shrew.

A friend of ours gave us this little leather bound copy many years ago.

I hope everyone has a great Friday - and Happy VBF!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone. Among many, many blessings in my life, I am deeply grateful for all of you. You have enriched my life beyond measure. I wish for you a Thanksgiving full of food, family, fun and all good things.

OUR SIGN, THANKS TO TINA AND PAULA

A few weeks ago, Tina of Cherry Hill Cottage, one of my favorite blogs, posted about a sign that a fellow blogger had made for her. The blogger was Paula of Castle and Cottage. I fell in love with the sign, immediately clicked on the link to Paula's site and wrote an email asking her if she could make one for me. She did. I freely admit going with what Tina chose because it was also perfect for my kitchen.

It arrived on my birthday.





I took photos of the sign during the day and at night - I was trying to capture how beautiful it is. Don had been saying that we needed something to hang over the sink/kitchen window that was large and graphic. The sign we previously had there was too dark and hard to read. Almost immediately after that conversation, I read Tina's post...and here it is. We love it.

Paula has an Etsy shop and she has all sorts of signs available in many shapes and sizes. She will also do a custom order. And her prices are extremely reasonable. Working with Paula is thoroughly enjoyable. Stop by and tell her I sent you! You will love her work. We sure do.

Have a wonderful day before Thanksgiving!

VINTAGE BIRTHDAY

I promised some photos of my birthday presents, so here goes, in the order I received them. My husband is pretty darn special and he did such a great job of finding things I love. This was my first present:


Oooh! Tole! I love tole, I do. I believe this is a crumber and I am crazy about it.



Do you see all that chippy, faded loveliness? It makes my heart skip a beat...so perfect. Don is pretty wily - when we were exploring earlier in the day on my birthday, before I opened presents, we went into an antique shop. Turns out it was the shop where he bought this. He pointed out some tole trays and said...what is that? I told him and he asked if I liked that kind of thing, and of course I went on and on about how much I loved tole and proceeded to tell him about all the tole already in the cottage. I'm sure he was mightily amused by all this.

Next: tipped off by Heidi, Don (and the dogs) gave me this:

Swoon! I am over the moon! (Ignore the lampshade which will soon be replaced.) Gaze upon this unbelievably gorgeous, chippy vintage lamp.

I think this is my favorite lamp, ever. The parakeets are so beautiful, the design is so sweet and the base is chippy perfection.

Heidi got this at auction and when I saw it recently, I went nuts. Knowing my birthday was coming up, Heidi did a little secret work behind the scenes with Don and much to my surprise and delight, this little beauty is mine. I. am. in. love. My friend Donna will be swooning when she sees these photos!

Heidi surprised me with this treasure:

A vintage child's toy piano. She said that it screamed my name when she first saw it. She's right! It plays a perfect scale on those 8 wooden keys. Look at the lovely painted design.

Isn't it wonderful? Oh my goodness, I am blessed. Don't you love it when friends and family 'get' you? I couldn't have asked for more perfect presents and I treasure them. All that and sugar-free apple pie from The Julian Pie Company and a wonderful dinner? How could I ask for more?

I have other wonderful things to show you tomorrow and later in the week....things I've won or bought for the cottage.

Have a wonderful day, my friends.

MORE PHOTOS ON THE LINE & A CHALKBOARD

Thank you, thank you for all the lovely birthday wishes! You are such wonderful, generous friends! I read them all with a full heart. I had a lovely day - actually, a perfect day. My husband and I spent the afternoon exploring part of a nearby town. We had some lunch and walked on our local rail trail. Later, my husband surprised me with a wonderful dinner at a local tearoom/restaurant. It was scrumptious! I don't often go on and on about a meal while I'm in the midst of eating...but the food was wonderfully good. Don did a great job of surprising me (he is very good at that.) I came home to presents and pie - sent by FedEx overnight from Julian, California. Yum! Tomorrow I will post about my presents - all vintage.


Last week I added another 'necklace' of photos to my design board. I won't bore you with details on every photo, but the young handsome guy in the middle is my Dad as a teenager. You'll notice he is hanging directly below the photo of my Mom as a teen.

Do you remember the chalkboard tutorial? My first attempt at the actual chalkboard was on plywood that was less than smooth and I ended up using another piece of wood. I didn't want to toss the first attempt, so I drilled two holes at the top of the chalkboard, knotted some twine and fashioned a hanger. I think it looks perfect hanging in my little studio area and if I use a wet towel, it erases just fine. What do you think?


I've written a favorite quote on it for the time being, but I'm sure I will be writing lists of things to do soon enough.

Have a wonderful Monday.

I'm linking to this:



at wonderfully creative Cindy's blog. Just click on the button to visit.

PINK SATURDAY - BIRTHDAY EDITION

Hello, everyone! Happy Pink Saturday! Today is my birthday. So I think it is appropriate to have a Pink Saturday post that is about my Mom.


A while back, I had a post about hanging photos on a piece of twine. I included this studio portrait of my Mom when she was a little girl. By the way, that photo on the left is also of Mom when she was in her teens - 16 or 18? (Mom will let me know.) I've always loved this picture of Mom pouring tea. My grandmother had 3 different poses from this shoot on her wall for years. Mom's banana curls and her shiny shoes and her dress are so adorable. I have that dress - handmade by my Grandmother. It has been safely stowed away in my dresser drawer all these years.

Writing that post got me to thinking about the dress and I retrieved it from the drawer. When I was out treasure hunting, I came across the perfect vintage child's hanger.

Isn't this the sweetest dress? The hanger is pink so that qualifies this post for Pink Saturday!

Grandma was a wonderful seamstress - look at the ruffles and the smocking - just perfect. My Mom is 82 now, so this dress has been around a long time. Perhaps I will frame it and have it on display. Although, the color has been preserved because it has been kept out of the light. What to do?

My favorite color combination: aqua and pink. Aren't those the cutest ducks on that pink wooden hanger?

Thanks Mom - and Dad - for being the great parents you are. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend. Please stop by How Sweet the Sound for a list of everyone participating this week.

VINTAGE BLACK FRIDAY

On this VBF, I thought I would share some old photos with you. I have tons of these - mainly because my Grandmother was so good about saving everything. The other day found me looking through the piano bench, where I knew I had some of these stashed.


Pardon my foot. It somehow snuck in my photo! Let's look a bit closer at these - the top left hand corner is a Snap Shots album that is full of photos of my Grandmother and her friends. She must have been a teenager when these were taken and they show a side of her I didn't get to see. On the right of the album is a photo of my Great-Grandmother...my Grandma adored her and she is so lovely in this shot. In the lower-left hand corner is a photo of my Great-Grandparents. They were a yound married couple in this one. And on the right is a photo of my Grandmother and her classmates outside their school in Canada.




This photo was inside the Snap Shots album. It is of Grandma with a dog - the family dog? I'm not sure. I only know I often hug my dogs the exact same way.

Sweet Jill sent a little treasure packet to some of us who participated in VBF. I was thrilled to receive it. Here it is:



Thank you, Jill! Have a wonderful day and stop by Jill's blog, Gypsy Brocante, to visit everyone participating.