I QUIT!!

Dear Cigarettes,
I'm quitting you. For good this time; I swear. I've had enough of your controlling stinky ways. You are not going to tell me when to go outside anymore or where I can or can't go or how to smell or how to reach for you during periods of boredom or crisis. Yes it's been a long lasting relationship; are you aware it's been 26 years to be exact? During that time you've been abusing my body and my psych with your manipulative hold on me. I'm ready to be healthy without you and that's all I've got to say about it.

so not yours anymore,
Mel

This was the Dear John letter I sent my crutch three months ago. YES! Hooray for me! I've been smoke free for three months and counting. :)

Hmmm?

  What do you do when you can't sleep? I guess you do decide to stop pretending you don't have a blog. This waking up at 3am sucks.Can't figure out if I need to tweek the anti-depressant or if it's just stupid peri-menopause. Right now I sure wish I had opted for a full hysterectomy instead of a partial. At least then I would be able to eliminate one of those.
  We survived the blizzard of 2011. It was very cool to watch it from the safety of indoors. I feel bad for anyone who had to be out in that mess when it was at it's peak. The snow started coming down pretty heavy around 2pm on Tuesday. By about 6pm it became a whiteout. I couldn't see the houses across the street. School wasn't canceled Tuesday so the kids had to ride the bus home just as it was getting nasty. I kept mine home because I didn't want to risk it. The whole families been home since then and I'm kinda glad the weekly routine will be on for Friday at least. I don't mind having everyone around but since I've stopped working I really do enjoy those times when I have the house all to myself.
  I finished sewing another handbag for A. The one I made her for Christmas got stolen >:( . How rude!!right? I just had enough cupcake fabric to make it. It's smaller than the first but at least it's the same yummy fabric. Okay, I better try to get a few hours of sleep before I have to get my kid on the bus.

It's been quite awhile since I've posted. Whew! Let's just say I wasn't sitting on my laurels while I was away rather it was the opposite. I'm sure I've mentioned that I rescue-recycle other peoples trash. As a result I had some pieces of furniture that needed to be revamped before I could bring them inside.

This Rattan chair required 4 cans of Krylon spray paint in Ocean Mist. The old foam seat was in good shape and only need to be recovered in navy blue taffeta. I purchased a very pretty striped cushion for the back at my local thrift store. This was a curb find that been sitting in my garage waiting for some TLC. It’s been waiting for about two years now! Can we say procrastinate?

This little wooden wall cabinet was originally a dark stain with no shine. I used a roller and brush to apply Kilz primer. It’s sealed with a satin finish water based polyurethane. I’m assuming it’s an antique due to the square nails keeping it together. This was a gift from a friend who was cleaning out her garage. I am so sorry that in my excitement over being gifted this really cute cupboard I got straight to painting before I took a before shot.  








These ladder back chairs are from the same day I picked up the rattan chair. There were originally four but one was given to a neighbor and one is currently in my upstairs bathroom. The seats are woven but I don’t know what with. Straw maybe? Another neighbor wanted one for her desk but asked if I would paint it white. I painted it with some white oil based enamel I had in the garage. This time I was so excited to be off loading some of my shunk I gave it to her before I took a finished photo.
I do have some other things I've been working on but it's going quite a bit slower these days. As the weather has turned cold I've had to move on to projects I can do inside. I also got a paying side job of helping my friend paint her bathroom and bedroom.  
Shunk-- anything not purchased new was considered by my ex as "shitty junk"  which was then shortened to shunk. Maybe that's why he's an ex instead of a current husband.

I'm a terrible blogger

I realize it's been awhile since I posted anything but it's not my fault really. My camera died a few weeks ago and I have to wait for my birthday to get a new one. The good news is that's coming up in July. Then bad news is all the pictures on my old cameras storage card are goners. My camera was a hand me down and it is a dinosaur by todays standards. This is supposed to be a blog/diary of my crafty type work. I did manage to complete two lovely handbags but you can guess what happened to the pictures. I also worked on three crocheted shrugs. Again no pictures. So as I'm not wanting to whine about this anymore I'll just have whip up some more stuff to show y'all when I get a camera. Until then!

I'm so excited!!

Just a quick little post today as I feel I've been neglecting my little blog. I'm super excited about something that came in the mail today! I ordered some things from the SewingwithNancy website and they came in less than seven days! Whoot! It's a good thing the mailman is a tolerant soul as he was a little surprised by a woman sqealing with delight at the boxes he dropped on my front stoop. :) I know a picture is worth a thousand words but I can't bring myself to let anyone see the clutter on my table so I'll just have to tell you what I got. Steph over at lovestitches posted about how she'd like to start making some of her own clothes last week. I totally agree with her on the poor quality of ready-to-wear these days and have wanted to try making clothing. This would be less frustrating if the sewing patterns didn't need alterations. Let's face it the female form is very diverse and very few people can use a purchased pattern without tweaking it here and there. That said I've been lusting after Pattern Fitting with confidence by Nancy Zieman for sometime and at long last it's finally mine. I'm a big waffler about getting things for myself and this was a major purchase. I've justified it by reminding myself that our local library doesn't have it to borrow. Little "big" things like this can make me so happy. I've had a lot of different stressful stuff happening and really needed this little bright spot. Hope you find some small thing that makes you happy today! Later!, but not too much I hope.

FINally! as if...

Well here are some pic's of the day I went out thrifting. Not that I really believe anyone was actually waiting for them but I'm playing "let's pretend".  :)  That's the shelves with glassware. The top shelf is organized by color and the very bottom is where you'll find dishware in sets.

A lovely 3 cup teapot...

Some vintage toys.

I didn't buy these toys because I already need to declutter around here. I did find a super cute heart shaped glass fronted curio cabinet to hang on the wall of my daughter's room. She's got quite alot of those littlest petshop pets. I wanted something that would encourage her to pick up her toys; hope it works! Sorry if the pics are on the dark side; I'm still getting used to my camera.

A fun day

Today I'm off to some local thrift stores. I'm taking my camera with for the first time. Wish me luck! Hopefully I'll score some goodies and have some pictures to share with you. Later! :)