HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The chaos is over, the house is back in order, everyone is happy and I am very very tired.
We are going to have a quiet New Years eve - perhaps a movie and dinner - but that is all
I can manage, I am afraid I partied too much this christmas and am in desperate need of
some down time.
Painting begins again next week - will post first project -

Love to all out there in blog land -
xxx

I nearly gave up on this whole blogger thing................

For over 3 weeks I have not been able to connect to my blog - for reasons I still do not understand - I worked on it every night without fail for at least an hour - sometimes much longer and no luck - it kept telling
me Google could not make the connection - went onto all kinds of help sites - and dug into my computers inner secrets with great trepidation, typing what I read I should do here, deleting what I read I should do here, and almost crying with frustration.  Does this happen to anyone else - or do I just happen to be the
most computer illiterate blogger on the planet?
My ( soon to be ) son in law came over for xmas and came in to my office for 2 minutes - walked out and said " I don't know your password but you are ready to be connected to blogger "
WTF???????????????sorry but sometimes only that word will do - this is one of those times.

I am not going to overthink this - I am so relieved and so grateful to be back on - hope everyone had a wonderful christmas -we finally got snow - it fell on christmas eve and christmas day - so yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus and he brought me exactly what I wanted - my family - snow - and a christmas eve that
went off without a hitch for all 15 of us.

Hope everyone had a holly jolly christmas ( this year )
xxx

OMG - just went to download a christmas picture - and............................
my pics won't download - this is an older one I took a couple of weeks ago
SOMEONE SAVE ME FROM MYSELF

( Tony come back please - asap - thanks from your future Monster in law )

I'm dreaming of a white..........................

We don't have much snow here in Montreal to date, and although everyone seems to be thrilled with that, I miss it around this time of year.  When you are raised in a climate of cold blustery snowy winters you tend to associate christmas with a white background, and there is something lacking when it doesn't appear.
I don't have a tree up yet and that is so not me, I haven't been christmas shopping yet - and that is completely out of character for me - and I am 100% blaming it on the lack of those beautiful snowflakes that fill me with
energy and excitement and christmas cheer.

So this year I am thinking my tree will go completely white with decorations - and table settings.  I am off tomorrow to buy the tree - ( I actually wanted to buy a white tree but can't justify spending what they are
asking for them ) I asked my mother today what would happen if I spray painted a real tree - to which she replied " I think you are going a little too far now " I swear to God she thought I meant spray painting living
trees in the garden - lol - people must think I am totally off the wall.

Played with table settings today ( went to a party last night and was too groggy today to do much else ) so here we go - keeping in mind I think there will be 3 tables this xmas all clustered together.

 I am kind of liking the cool " ice " look - I know xmas is all about warmth but I have to get
 the white from somewhere  and will simply light a fire and lots and lots of candles for warmth, lol.

 Our tree goes in the dining room so the white decorations will tie in with the tables, and hopefully
 it won't all look too sterile,

 xxx

Branching out.......................

 Started off with this - a branch from outside - which I spray painted silver
 which led to my once again sneaking out in the middle of the night and
cutting down a few more ( this is going to be a barren looking street if I keep up with my nocturnal habit of snipping here and there lol )

 and ended up with this

 AND.............if you do not feel like branching out - you can always twig out!!!

Did I mention I am guilty of  " overkill " ?  Although I personally don't think you can ever everBranching out
over do xmas - it's the one time of year when I can get away with it, lol

xxx

Wow - It's good to be back

I have been going through withdrawal symptoms from my blog - for some reason Google would not give me access - until this morning - very very strange.  Perhaps I should look into another source for my blog............

Then for some reason my new camera wouls not install my photos - so have been working my little fingers off trying to fix that - God, it is not easy being so technically challenged.
 

Furniture painting has taken a back seat to xmas fast approaching - so here are some photos of my christmas madness!

Have not picked up a tree  yet - very very late this year - but will post photos of that as soon as I can

Off to my mom's new place later today to help her decorate - will take lots of photos

xxx

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

All I can say is...................wow

We pick this up on the weekend - I may keep the top part for my secretary - and sell the bottom part.
( mine was missing the top part when I bought it ) I love the wood detail on the glass doors - and the
molding..............

My latest dresser has not sold yet - and I am panicking a little tonight - because space is such an
issue for me..........may have to drop the price tomorrow evening to see if that helps, if not, a
consignment shop may have to be it's next home. which is a shame because then people are paying
double what I am asking for.

Anyways, I am pretty excited about this piece, pretty pretty pretty awesome!
I paid a little more than I usually do, but worth every penny I think,

here is my secretary finished

it fits perfectly in a little niche between the living room and dining room -
can you see the wire from the lamp?  I am so anal -that has to be fixed
immediately, for me that is a complete eyesore!

and upon seeing this pc in a photo I have to distress the drawers, in person
it is kind of pretty with the drawers so " clean " but here in the photo they
look a little too pristine for the body of the pc.

Oh the worries I have, lol

xxx

Pretty!

This one is being picked up today - will have to work on this one right away because I have nowhere to store it!!!

but it's another great find, don't you think?

xxx

For sale

Newest piece for sale................this piece is solid and extremely heavy even with the drawers out,
I love the mirror - but even that is so heavy I could barely lift it on my own.  Not as old as the previous
pieces I have sold - but these pieces were in every house when I was younger ( which was a long time ago lol )

My mother rented a cottage one summer - and the whole extended family ( she had 7 brothers and sisters )
took turns staying up there - and us kids stayed while everyone came and went - my mother would work all
week and come up on the weekends by BUS.............what a different world we live in today.  Anyways for some reason this dresser takes me right back to that summer..................it brings to mind a plain simple room, with a wrought iron bed - a very similar dresser and white net curtains billowing at the window.
I have always been acutely aware of my surroundings and beautiful things have always made an impression on me from the time I could speak, thus this mad insane passion of mine.
But I live in a cluttered world amongst my treasures, though they bring me comfort, and there are stories attached to a lot of them that make me feel even more connected to them - and ( I think ) my chaos is organized, sometimes I long for simplicity - right now I would like to clear out my bedroom and recreate that summer cottage bedroom.

I would start with this dresser....................

xxx

I couldn't leave you if I tried...............

It's a keeper - the big ugly brown elephant in the room has turned into a very graceful swan - I want to
keep this piece...............

The handles were spray painted a metallic silver - they were so hideous before that I was sure
I would have to change them but I love them now,

A few touch ups - and then the dreaded waxing of the whole pc..............I don't like that part at
all




you ugly,you ugly,you mama say you ugly


xxx

Better?

will post a photos when it is complete - but it's almost there -
a little more painting - waxing - and spray painting ( handles )

but I definitely did not cringe as I walked by it this morning............
in fact I smiled one huge smile - I love it!

xxx

Before and After Dinner for deux!!!

I was so caught up in painting a dresser this evening that it irked me a little to stop what I was doing
and trudge into the kitchen...............

I went to the fridge

 I went to the pantry

I went to the cookware

I went to the stove

and somehow I whipped together this

One of the best meals I've made in a long time, lol
and you thought I could only redo furniture?
Isn't the pizza box a nice touch?  Looks pretty authentic I think, a little bit of old white paint - ha ha

xxx