The Curtain Caper

I've sat here trying to figure out a snappy opening but I'm too pooped to pop or think.

This is the 6th pair of curtains I've had for this window. I have never covered the small window with anything but lace because it's so small nothing will fit there and look right. Anyway, I bought this fabric online and got a fantastic price at $6.95 a yard for higher end fabric. I love the fabric. It's a pink, taupe and white stripe and very pretty. I almost shot myself making them and this is the story.

You would think by now I'd be able to make something without ripping it apart...3 times. Yep, 3 times I took it apart. I wanted 4 panels out of the 7 yards I bought. I'm no fool. I know myself and I always buy more than I need just in case. And just in case applies to ME. First the rod pocket was too small and it wouldn't go on. Rippppp! So after sewing 4 lengths together for 2 full panels I thought it was too full. Ripppppp! So I ripped the seam apart and made 4 panels, very looooong panels and redid the edges after ripping out the rod pocket. Ripppppp! I spent several hours on Saturday doing this and while Sunday is a day of rest, the curtains sat there nagging—yep, actually staring me down and nagging—to finish them up last night because this morning I had to go to PT again and the carpet cleaner was coming.

I need a vacation at this point from just reliving this experience! Still with me?

Okay, so I flipped them over, meaning I forgot the top, just let it go, and restarted from the bottom now. But I kept one with 2 panels sewn together and the other 2 just on the rod squished tight so you can't see they are 2 panels (one on the right in the 3rd photo below.

Now, if you're confused, just think how I was this past weekend. A job that should have taken just an hour or so took me 2 1/2 days. If you've lost count of how many times I've ripped them apart, just trust me. Even I've lost official count. But if you come to my house and try to see the bottoms I just might have to kill ya. ;-)

Last night.

Last night

This morning. I really do like them!

I put the ribbon and rose back up there.

Closeup of fabric.

Very close up of fabric.

But one serendipitous thing did happen. While sitting and waiting for the carpet man, Mario, to finish I decided to redo a few things—plus wash some sheets, but that's another story. These 2 candlesticks were too large for the candles so I decided to stick some tissue paper down there. Lo and behold, it looks just like a ruffle around the candlestick. I'm impressed by my ingeniousness!


They now grace my living room table.
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Giveaway for Aprons

I know I'm a pathetic great grandmother but I could sit all day and look at photos and videos of my great granddaughter. Here is that little sweetheart and her mummy, my granddaughter, early in the spring.

She almost always has her sunglasses on when outside.

In this family, we start them out young keeping their skin youthful. ;-)

No, she didn't put it on the kitty. Here she's calling to her kitties by rubbing her fingers together.
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Welcome to Pink Saturday and many thanks to Beverly for holding the event. I've been remiss lately in posting for Pink Saturday and I do apologize for that, but life gets in the way and I frequently just stumble through it and then there are the times Love Bunny drags me off to the wilds of Idaho to camp. Such is the luck of this summer but I'm here to stay for awhile.

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As many of you know if you read my blog regularly, I am decluttering my house. We've already taken 4 truck loads of stuff to the thrift store and there is much more to go. However, I cannot bring myself to just throw these sweet aprons onto the pile destined for the thrift store and not many of the women I know are into shabby chic, vintage items. (Idaho still hasn't evolved that much, chicks!) So I've decided to give away the rest of the ones I made and never sold. I know that if I give them away they will have gone to homes that will love them.

While they are truly aprons meant to be used, I've just hung them around my kitchen for the past few years. They've been a great decorative item but it's time I let go. They're all washable and many have fabrics you'll never find again. All are sweet and meant to be used. All are ruffled and very girly. Most have pockets and some quirky little items on them, like covered buttons I've made, lace, cute one-of-a-kind buttons, vintage doilies as pockets, rick-rack, toile fabric, tiny roses, polka dots, ticking stripes, vintage bedspread fringe, Waverly fabric in some, and one-of-a-kind fabric you'll never see again in others. I've made every single one with much love in my heart. But it's time, gals.

So, I'll give away one for the next 12 Pink Saturdays. Below are photos of all twelve of them. I'll just put them up on Pink Saturday over at Beverly's blog. There is no catch to win, just leave a comment and if you do NOT have a blog then leave me an email address so I can get in touch with you. If not, I'll pull another name within a reasonable amount of time and that person will get it. I don't want this to be hard and time consuming for me. I'm so into easy!!! So just stay tuned, comment, wait to hear from me and they are yours. Yes, you can enter each time I post a new apron so conceivably you can have more than one. It doesn't get any better than that now does it?!

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Another episode with the Love Bunny.

He wore out our treadmill. Actually, it almost killed him as he was walking on it and the power surged in the motor and almost threw him off. He does 3 days a week for an hour but Fridays are his big push. Plus he always lifts weight afterwards. (Trust me, you don't want to mess with a Marine, whether active duty or retired.)

Anyway, he wanted another one and I'm trying to keep our purchases down. So he did the Craiglist thing and found one. Not bad. It was listed for $150 and we got it for $120. It's truly like new and the man who sold it to us said his wife gave up after a couple of months.

So hubs is out in the garage as I type this trying to take it apart to put in the huge garbage can. He's saving every single bolt, screw and anything he thinks might be something he'll need someday. The man is 70 years old! He will never, ever need anything he's saving! Sigh...
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Roses Wallpaper Border and a Surprise

When I took down the curtain rods a few years ago and put up these new white ones I had a few rips in the wallpaper border. Now, you have to understand I bought this wallpaper border many years ago and can not find it anywhere now. It is most stunning. AND it was very expensive. I bought it when we lived in California and knew it would be in my forever house someday. When we moved to Idaho I just knew that first house was not destined to be my "forever" house so I just kept it, along with another gorgeous wallpaper I had found at Home Depot many years ago. That wallpaper I used just a fraction of but I kept it because it was the most luscious shade of jewel-tone green with grapes and ivy in it. But nonetheless, this flowered border went into this house. (Oh, yes, I almost forgot. I have another gorgeous Italian border I found and bought but it hasn't been used yet either. That one is an Italian villa view and quite stunning also but I just may use it someday somewhere in this house.

So with that being said I just recently went about the task of finding 3 small strips of it left over from this family room. All 3 strips are of the same bouquet. There are only 2 bouquets in this border so that the repeat is 2 bouquets. And wouldn't you know that the 2 left over are not the one which was damaged. So, being certain of some things, I proceeded to just apply the 2 leftover pieces to the damaged pieces certain that nobody will see the difference. I know this with 99.9% certainty! You all probably wouldn't have noticed unless I point it out to you.

These first 2 photos I took at night so the lighting is atrocious but it is just closeup so you can see the pattern repeat: far left is big rose pointing down to the right and the next one is big rose pointing down to the left and then it repeats again.


So in these 2 photos taken during the afternoon you can see the patched border just to the right of the white molding. See the 2 roses pointing down to the left? Hardly noticeable.

This patch is the one just to the left of the white molding. Hardly noticeable at all unless I'd purposely point it out. I don't care because at least now you can't see the pink wall visible through the rips. This was my fault for putting up the border after putting up the curtain rods and cutting around the rod. Try not to make the same mistake I did. But I was saved by finding the 3 extra bouquets quite by accident.

Oh, and one more thing.

I'm having a giveaway for Pink Saturday. Actually, I'll be having 12 of them over the next couple of months because there are some things I just couldn't give to the thrift store. It will all be explained on Pink Saturday, which I'll post on Friday afternoon. ;-) You're getting a "heads up" here, chicks!
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The Psychology of Shopping and Decluttering the House

Indulge me today; I need it!

I came across this 3 year old photo while cleaning up some files on my iMac recently and thought I'd share it with you. It looks pretty much the same but I am decluttering the house and the dining room has lost a lot of stuff in that cabinet in the background. I'm being brutal in giving stuff to friends and sending 4 truckloads—so far—of stuff to one of the local thrift stores.

I told hubs how sorry I was to have spent so much money on frivolous things when we moved into this house. I see all the stuff being put into boxes to be taken away and wish with all my heart one of you bloggers who loves my style were here to give it to. It's been brutal to see all this stuff go to others but I'm committed, and once I'm committed there's no turning back. I need to concentrate on reality and reality is those things don't mean as much as peace and freedom and a lifestyle that doesn't try to keep up with the neighbors. I see many bloggers just trying to buy as much as they can to satisfy some thing inside them. I'm becoming not that person. I don't want to be so competitive that I lose focus of what really matters in this world. This is not just lip service, chicks. I'm serious about this. All I need is food, a home to live in, a car to get me where I want or need to go and my hubby and kids. It's been a real revelation realizing this but it is sooooo very true at this time in history.

See that little suitcase on the left? Not the front one but the one in back. It's going.

Also the little one up in the left hand corner on the other side of the living room. It's going also. Truly, I thought I'd be crying but funnily enough, I'm not. It actually feels good to get things out of here. Oh, this is an old photo and the curtains are gone and other very flowery ones are up at the moment. However, I just ordered a pink stripe fabric to redo them yet once again. That will make the 6th pair of curtains I've had in this room. Nothing is ever static around this house.

This etagere is gone already to a friend's house. The vintage school desk is sitting on my front porch ready to be sold on craigslist. If it doesn't sell soon, I'll put it around on the back patio for the winter and try again next spring.

As I sit here today struggling with all the things I'm getting rid of a few thoughts have occurred to me. Okay, okay, more than a few, but I'm being nice—thousands of thoughts have gone through my head today, not the least of which is: Why in the world do I take hubby grocery shopping with me? I can't for the life of me figure out why.

My whole life has changed since he retired and has stayed home with me. Okay, "staying home" isn't quite accurate as he does a lot of things for our church, the VFW, the Marine Corps League and teaches several classes a month on real estate. (The latter job is a requirement from me to him to help me keep my sanity.) But the thing I'm most perturbed about is grocery shopping.

My opinion is that men simply do NOT understand the psychology of shopping but specifically 'grocery shopping'. We women follow a set of unspoken rules of which men have not been aware since the beginning of time.

Today while shopping he again hangs on to the cart trying to direct me around people. I have been grocery shopping for us for over 50 years now and I think I'm qualified to handle a grocery cart without being thrown out of Wal-Mart. He won't let me pass them, pushes the cart with an iron grip and tells me to watch out for other people. For crying out loud, I'm nice!! I've never hit anyone, smile all the time at my fellow women and men shoppers and actually, on a regular basis, let them go around me by getting out of their way.

Then, there's the 'putting the item in the cart' business. He just grabs an item off the shelf, not noting that it isn't the regular item/brand I buy and then organizes it in the cart ever so carefully. I just toss it in. Yes, of course, there's an organization to MY putting things in the cart but he makes it a science and that takes two to three times longer. I get frustrated and just start pushing the cart away. I don't crush bread or fresh items but I don't take near as long. Bottom line: I want to do my shopping alone from now on and not worry about saving a few pennies with a brand I don't like. (I'm NOT going into the argument we had over Del Monte versus Heinz ketchup today.)

The checkout stand is entirely another issue. We women understand how to 'get it done' without being obnoxious but certainly being assertive—at least I do. I'm assertive without being obnoxious. I start loading on the belt as soon as there is a bit of room and negotiate my cart a bit to the right of the person so I can load the bags into it asap. Mr. Love Bunny, or Happy-To-Shop-Man, doesn't let me do what I need to do. He's giving me the evil eye and pushing the cart back. I tell ya, I just want to POP him!!!! I am never ugly or mean to people! I know how to shop leisurely and graciously without offending anyone! Truly, I do. The only thing I want him to do is carry the groceries in. So I just may have to go shopping alone from now on.

It's off my chest now. Well, that is, but there will be more shortly. Trust me on this.
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Getting Back to Work

I've gotten the bug lately to "clean out" and "get rid of." You all know what I mean, and, of course, I've said it before, but this time I actually mean it. As you can see from the photos below I've given up watching streaming videos on my laptop and decided to get myself in gear. This has not been easy. I mentioned to Love Bunny the other night that I've GOT to stop watching videos on my laptop because my neck is starting to hurt and if there's one thing I don't need, it's another body part hurting. But a few words before I get into that.

Being a slug can be addictive, especially when access to streaming movies is so easy. But there are few things worth watching. Truly. It's mostly trash and I was succumbing to it. Why do we do it? For me it was simply not wanting to deal with reality at the time. Being in a slump can be very debilitating mentally, which then spirals down into physically. I am now cleaning out so much that hubs had made 4 trips to the thrift store so far and more are definitely on his horizon.

Take a look below.

This étagère is now sitting on the front porch. I've put it on craigslist but no takers so far. I do have a place I can use it in the house if need be but I think I can use it on the front porch also. So it quite possibly will remain out there with pots on it. We've had it for 38 years at least.

This is all the stuff that was on it.

The "stuff" will now go on this bookshelf that I moved in here from the family room.

That space was then empty, affording us much more room for a much needed side table and a lamp.

The stuff on the sofa will stay, but the stuff on the floor goes to the thrift store. Plus there's a plethora of items in the other corner of this sofa just waiting to be dealt with soon. Probably the thrift store will benefit here again. This room needs much attention.

Then while all this is going on recently I decided also I wanted a different dish drainer. I went to several stores locally and couldn't find anything I wanted. Even Williams and Sonoma didn't have anything I wanted and their's started at $85! So I surfed Amazon and eBay until I found this one for $25.99 and free shipping. Even hubs loves it.

Then I was needing 2 containers to put our sweeteners in. We use very little sugar but sweeten our drinks with packets of artificial sweeteners. I was putting both of our choices on the same plate but that just didn't work well so I shopped the house and found a couple of things I thought would work. However, in the end my choice was sitting on my coffee table with little shells in it. Below you now see it holding my Equal and the original dish on a pedestal holding hubs' Sweet and Low. This bowl holds the soaps, and the pedestal dish is now sitting on our coffee table in the living room.

Much more efficient this way.

And this little bouquet of flowers is sitting on our dining table. Hubs picked them a few days ago. Aren't they gorgeous? Most of the photos are horrid because of the lighting in this house, but the one below turned out well. Maybe I need a new lens. I think I'll take a trip to the local photography store and ask.

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