Wordless Wednesday

A Busy Weekend Goes By Quickly!

I spent this weekend working on a very important costume -no, not Halloween- Christmas! This year our Mrs. Claus needs a new dress. The hard part is that the costume was made many years ago to match Santa and we need the new costume to still match. I took the old costume apart to reuse the trim on the new dress. It is almost done. I just need Mrs. Claus to drop in from the North Pole for a final fitting!

In between my sewing times, DH and I worked on the "De-Clutter the Man Cave" project. We threw out tons of old magazines and junk. We went through boxes that have not been opened since we moved here in 2001. We had over 20 boxes and we kept 11. The others either got put on bookshelves, donated to thrift stores or moved to the sewing room. The room is still not a showplace- but it is much less cluttered- and seems much larger. My sewing room however is trashed!

I put the slipcover on the couch covering the cat damageon the arms and pug damage on the seat cushions!

Finally I did find a little time to rid the house of most of Halloween this week and scattered a little Thanksgiving around. I just don't have much time to decorate much for Thanksgiving- it's all about Christmas now around here!

The Dining Room

We reached a compromise on the next project. I wanted the man cave - He wanted the dining room. I think he wants his man cave left alone so I will not take it over! But, since the dining room table came home last month- we do spend more time in there. This was the compromise we reached- before Christmas we will restore electricity to the dining room and de-clutter the man cave. After Christmas we will go full force into the dining room. Our plan will be January-Early April for the construction. We have found that it always takes twice as long to finish and costs twice as much!

DH and a friend moved the piano out of the hole in the floor. We had to do this first because the plug behind the piano was holding up the re-wiring job. So repairs were made to the floor and we found that the floor has not been refinished under the piano. This is normal here- the floors all need to be redone because the last time is was done they didn't move big things ! But, we just put it right back over the unfinished spot as soon as the floor was repaired and the electricity was repaired.

So we have a date this week to start to de-clutter the man cave! I am only posting these embarrassing pictures to document the clutter - now I am really committed to cleaning it up!

The Next Project

Here's a hint..............................

Cleaning Up

Son #3 is away at Basic Training. He did the first 1/2 last summer, before his Senior year in high school. He is now finishing up the advanced training part. Before he left last summer we had moved the boys into different bedrooms.

B inherited the "Barney Room" -purple. Being a teenage boy, he did not care much about decorating and really just coated the room with piles of dirty clothes. We decided to see how long he could stand it so we let it pile up. There was no limit to "what he could stand" - then he left!

We decided to surprise him with a clean, grown-up room. So we worked all summer redoing the room. He promised that the Army had taught him to keep things spotless. (You know where this going....right?) He came home, was surprised and seemed to love the room! It stayed clean.....for about 2 weeks....then the Army wore off and the teenage boy returned!

So once again he is gone and I have cleaned up the room, waiting for his return.

The clothes are all washed and put away in the great closet his Dad built.

The bed is made.
The pillows are fluffed and neatly arranged.

All of the spilled drinks are cleaned up.
I wonder if the Army influence will last longer than 2 weeks this time!

Estate Sale Saturday

I took the morning off on Saturday! No sewing, cooking or yard work for me! I got up at the crack of dawn and set out with my friend, A, to hit some junk sales! We started at the Historic Preservation Society's Estate and Yard Sale. It was held at the Train Depot that has been restored downtown.

We got there a little early and decided what we would run and grab as soon as they rang the bell. One of my buddies was working and she kept pointing out things for us to buy- she knows my taste! Here you see A looking over our pile!

Most of that is hers...Mine is in the shadow! Chairs and patio tables are mine.

Next we went to a church rummage sale, a craft sale (yucky), another estate sale, and ended up with two junk stores downtown. We had our best luck at Roland's. We had already seen him at the first sale and he had something to sell to A. Here are some pictures of his cute little store.

Here are the pictures of my morning's haul-

A bag of old baby shoes-

Old suitcase, grater, paint-by-number rose painting ,Fitz and Floyd plate , piano and bird- Christmas Ornaments

Chippy painted tin bucket, transfer ware plate, 2 little rhinestone frames (they had $20 price tags from a gift store????but were priced 50 cents each!)

Pile of assorted napkins and towels-

My favorite - 2 chairs! They aren't the same color or style as my dining room chairs, but they are the right age and size and they were for sure the right price! The white linen seats will have to go- Lulu has already left gray cat hair on them!

And last but not least - back in Roland's storage room we found this old light fixture- I think it has possibilities... it will need to be cleaned, and rewired, and need new shades but I think it could be pretty again!

Really, cleaned........... another project......

Happy Halloween!

No crazy costumes for us this year! We did consent to the wearing of these cute T-shirts! Mom and Dad have T's, too, thanks to the $1 table at Old N@vy.

Bitsey has a glow in the dark shirt-

They didn't have any left in Eli's size so he got a baby shirt in size 18-24 m and it fits him very well

I forgot to take a picture of this porch earlier and the next one is the house down the street. This is only about 1/3 of their lights, they have green and purple lights that were not turned on that night!