The first snowfall is so beautiful...........................

This is what I woke up to this morning -

Love it - want to string up lights and garland right NOW........................
Taken through my living room window

We face a park - and it's beautiful every season - but I am just loving the clean white crisp snow.

Talk to me in January and I will tell you I can't stand it - but for me this is christmas weather - in all
it's glory.

xxx

Another treasure

A couple of weeks ago John, my mother and I went out for a bite to eat - and beside the restaurant was a tiny little dilapidated second hand shop - selling mostly old Elvis paraphelia - I have come so far, there
was a time when I would have never even thought to walk into a place like this.  It was bad, really really bad,
no place to walk - mayhem - but in the back of the store they were using this to house some old broken ornaments

 and I bought it on the spot, well after a bit of negotiating. 

 They did not want to sell it at all - but I told them it was being wasted hidden in the back
 of a shop filled with dust and blah blah blah...............and said it deserved to be restored.
 It's in pretty rough shape, the veneer is coming loose everywhere in the front - and there is
 no glass in the door - and the door itself is a little warped - but oh the potential. The moldings
 are so pretty - and I am kind of glad they painted them in a blue color - so that you can actually
 see them in the pic - ( they will not remain blue - I find it hideous )
 This will be my last purchase for awhile - things are just not selling right now - perhaps after
 the holidays.

 Will post the after as soon as I finish ( got to submit something to Debbiedoo's blog!!!! )

 xxx

All things 60's

I don't know why - but I am on a kick of all things 60's right now ( resorting to my childhood I presume, hope this is not the first step in dementia or alzheimer's!!!! ) and was surfing the web looking for familiar
home decor - things I could relate to - but I can tell you right now we never had kitchens like these in
my circles.....................check out these photos from House Beautiful

Doris Day and Rock Hudson movies?

This Manhattan apartment kitchen, designed by Robert Caigan Associates, was the epitome of sophisticated living in 1968. "The strong solids of white, walnut, sun yellows are given buoyancy and a delicate linkage by the wallpaper, its flowers colored to order," according to the pages of House Beautiful. "A room in praise of the fact that city dwellers need not sacrifice space and sunniness in the happy pursuit of sophisticated life."

LOVE LOVE LOVE that wallpaper..............timeless?

Here is a room that quickly comes to life with a few well-chosen pieces of furniture and some bright accents. Because all interior surfaces are wood, there is a natural built-in warmth. Folding louvered doors provide a colorful frame for the compact kitchen recess. Featured in the May 1962 issue

I am really liking that Niche - and how you can simply close it off when entertaining.

This kitchen was deliberately planned as an entertaining center. It makes the most of the modern, and easy-to-clean technology (at least for that time). Necessary work areas disappear behind folding doors for easy clean-up and entertaining. Featured in the February 1962 issue

How cutting edge this must have seemed - 2 colors - love the contrasting black cupboards below

Pretty Enough to Entertain In

This large kitchen has a refreshing warmth and graciousness that is characteristic of the entire house. The island divides the room into work centers with a sitting room at the far end. Featured in the October 1961 issue.

Timeless ( except for that exhaust fan -  they really loved their scallop trim back then  ) other than that - 50's years later - I could live with it exactly like it is

My mother had a bathtub in her kitchen growing up, can you imagine the height of luxury these kitchens
must have seemed 20 years later?

xxx

A Kodak Moment

It's a good thing I have low blood pressure - because I think I would have had a stroke tonight -
I plugged my camera into the computer to transfer some photos ( to link up to Debbie Doo's
newbie party...............................and nothing.
It was like the camera was dead - so off I go to my instructions booklet....................
and nothing - there is no information on trouble shooting for this type of thing.
So off I go to Kodak.com to look for a contact..............and nothing
I cannot tell you how long it took me to find an online contact ( there is no such thing
as speaking to anyone anymore ) and then we sat on line " chatting " for 40 very
frustrating minutes with me feeling more stupid with each of those 40 minutes passing.
Finally the person asked me try my back port -
Ok - I did not even know there was a back port - now I had to go find a flashlight and dig
behind my desk amidst 465,347,222 wires - panicking because I am making him wait and
look for a spare port - which thankfully I found.
Then I had to reconfigure the camera to accept that port - and when I tell you I am technically
challenged I ain't whistling dixie here -
The good news is it worked.
The bad news is I have to crawl behind my desk everytime with a flashlight to plug the &*^##
usb into the "BACK" port.
I suppose it is a good thing that it was online - because there was a lot of nasty words being
said from my end.  It's officially time for a glass of something.  So my linking up will have to
take place later.

I have to learn to chill - is it normal to work myself into such a state over something so trivial?

When John gets angry in the car - I always tell him " Road Rage " here I sit with a terrible
dose of computer rage,
I scare myself sometime.

Anyone want to share a glass of wine?

xxx

I've been featured!

So - this is what happens when you are technically challenged -
I do not know how to set up the followers list - I don't know
how to set up an " I've been featured " thingamajig  - and countless
other things in blogland....................

BUT.............thanks so much Elizabeth - from the MELON PATCH,
my ASCP supplier ( you may  have a new customer through my blog from
HAPHAZARDLIFE!!!!! a fellow Montrealer ) and thanks Lindsay
from BETTER AFTER ............you guys have made my week.

Now if only I could sell the damn thing!

my "featured" lady

xxx

Words to live by.................

I was reading an interview with Brad Pitt - and these words struck at me somewhere deep inside

 "I think happiness is overrated, truthfully. I do," he says. "I think sometimes you're happy, sometimes you're not. There's too much pressure to be happy. I don't know. I don't really give a sh--. I know I will be at times and I know I won't be at times. Satisfied, at peace, those would be more goals for myself."

And just like that, the pressure is off..............he hit it right on the nail did good old Brad, there is far too
much pressure to be happy,
Where does that come from?  I don't think our parents had that kind of pressure ( remember you are
reading the blog of a 52 year old woman, lol ) they lived their lives day to day and it was what it was
and yet somehow my generation is on this constant whirlwind of non stop activity trying to prove I don't
know what to the world -  to our contempories - and worse to ourselves.

Look at me - I can do cartwheels - while working - while raising kids - while washingcleaningdecoratingentertaining - I don't require much sleep at all.
I am a superhumanbeing - AND I am always happy happy happy.  My life is wonderful,

Guess what?
He's right,
It isn't always so wonderful..................there's a lot of second guessing decisions - there's
a lot of secrets buried deep in the heart - there's a lot of regrets - there's a lot of pain we
experience trudging along the roads of life and harder still there's a lot of pain we witness
that we cannot do anything about except let it leave it's footprint on our soul.  Our souls
take beatings constantly until it sometimes feels that we cannot bear to absorb hearing another
story from around the globe - the continent - the country - the city - our own neighborhoods.

And then. the miraculous happens -
And we are happy - maybe the secret is embracing the happy moments a little tighter
and realizing that they are not a given at all, but a gift -
Maybe instead of dancing as fast as we can - we should save the dances for when they
matter the most.
Maybe it's ok to not be smiling 24 hours a day -
and maybe, just maybe, it's perfectly OK to say " I don't feel so happy right now "
without that twinge of guilt we feel for even uttering those words.

In a society where we have to label everything as a disorder -
maybe we should just accept that there are goods days and bad days, period and stop
worrying secretly that we are bipolar - 

Instead of worrying that I have a problem with having to have everything organized -
and that I have OCD - I am going to embrace the fact that I can now compartmentalize
my days -
There are good ones and bad one
Happy ones and not so happy ones - and sometimes even heartbreaking ones
Days when I want to dance and yes maybe even do a cartwheel - but days
when I just want to stay in my pajamas and feel sorry for myself if I want to
And the secret is now officially out - sometimes I want to do just that.

Thanks Brad,

Happy day to all,
( and if it isn't a happy day for you than that's ok too )

xxx

Newest Beauty

Isn't she lovely?

 The colors are a mix of Duck Egg blue and White -
 And here she was before she was ready to go to the prom

She would have been a wallflower, don't you think?

Hmmm, I notice I have the drawers in the wrong place -

I want to design a nursery around this piece, lol

Linking up to Miss Mustard Seed- furniture feature friday and French Country Cottage


xxx

Where did it start?

Was it when I was 5 years old and started changing my room around because it didn't quite feel right?
Or was it when I was 11 and decided the black wrought iron banisters in the apartment building where
we lived would look much better white ( my mother had to repaint them the same night back to the
original color ) or it could have been when I went on my first walk - a - thon - and kept the money
( cannot even remember the charity - but it was only family that donated so maybe I can be forgiven )
and then took the money and bought a bedspread and curtains that I just had to have.............
or painting my bedroom furniture when I probably should have still been playing with my chatty Cathy
( oh oh dating myself again )
Strange child that I was - when I went through my babysitting years - I would completely clean the
people's houses and rearrange things - sometime's changing the childrens bedrooms around.
When my children were small - I would go into their rooms - thank God they were heavy sleepers,
and move furniture. I can still remember their little faces when they woke up the next morning to a
different setting then when they had gone to sleep - those sleepy smiles - and " I like it Mommy" just
melting my heart.
And my friends houses, oh the joy when they moved and needed some help. I would literally run to
the task - and the biggest compliment of all was that things would so often stay just the way I did them,
until I did them again.

Now I notice I am not so quick to jump around, although the passion is as strong as ever - I don't
seem to have the energy that I did, I exhaust myself with my constant need for change, they say it
stems from unhappiness but I can tell you without a doubt that in my happiest times I need change
the most. 

Neurotic?
Perhaps
Nuts?
Definitely
The ability to self diagnose?
Priceless

lol - have a good Sunday - the day of rest -

Think I'll paint a dresser

xxx

Finito

before -  (feeling a little blue )

I'm loving the stripes - have to do some somewhere in my house!!!!!
This was one fast easy makeover - a little paint - a little tape - a little glass of wine,
Ok - there was more wine than tape, but anyway.......................
The blue above is the original state when purchased, the first makeover was this
which I loved but couldn't sell so what do I know - the striped version sold right away!

xxx

My little jailbird

250.00 gets you out of jail free

this is another redo from a redo - will post finished pic later tonight -

xxx

before and after Union Jack dresser



xxx

Before ( and before ) and almost after

I have started my first union jack dresser - remember this?  The dresser that reminded
me of summer holidays as a child?  I love love love it - but I listed it for sale, and after
a week I've decided no one else does........;(

So I have started my first Union Jack dresser - it's full of imperfections - and still has
a couple of stages left to go, and I am hoping once I rough it up a little with sanding,
it will shine.

The top has been painted the same light gray - but the lighting is not so great -
and the bottom left hand stripe has been narrowed ( too thick compared to the others )
but I still have stripes in black left to paint - will post tomorrow because I want to
list this baby for sale as soon as possible.

xxx

Black Beauty?

I have 2 interested potential buyers on this piece -

the funny part is - I don't feel it shows well in pictures - so while at my mothers tonight I took
home an aqua paint I had left there while staging - I was going to repaint it this evening when I
got in, set it all up - and decided to check my emails before starting - and lo and behold 2 people
are asking for it.................imagine if I had painted it first lol?

and the 2 pieces I thought were going to fly out the window, are sitting here in my foyer,
and the longer they sit there the homelier they are starting to look to me, sooooo, I am
repainting them tomorrow .................they both just may become my Union Jack dressers.

xxx

again SOLD

this is the pc I was selling with my previous post, I listed them together but ended up selling
them to two different people - both within hours of each other?
lucky break.............

but aren't the details just beautiful?

hmmm - maybe should have kept for my bedroom - lol - what a basketcase I am

xxx