nights at my round table

Greetings fellow dragon slayers!

I have been totally antisocial lately, which is not a great quality in a blogger.  I won't try and make excuses because excuses are BS.  I'm owning my misanthropic behavior.

So, let's forget my dereliction of duty and move forward, for crying in your beer cheese soup.

I've been searching for an end table to reside next to the sofa and the Butter Chair.  It couldn't be a piece with an unfinished (or hairy) back, since it will be seen from all sides (not up against a wall).

My Jeep was on autopilot the other month and we ended up at the Goodwill.  My Spidey senses started tingling immediately and I walked straight up to this beauty and promptly shat myself.

It was in amazing condition, and the old price of $10 was scratched off and it was marked down to $5.

Seriously?  $5 for all this walnutty goodness????

Click here to read more »

piano room update {and some Christmas stuff}

Hello!  I have a couple things to show you in the piano room! 

Some of you poked me and reminded me that I've been absent a while.  I have no excuse.  At least not as good an excuse as my friend Amy at Buffalo Roam.  She's been absent because she wrote A BOOK!  I haven't read it yet, but I downloaded it immediately and plan on curling up with Mr. Kindle, a box of ho-hos, and a jug of wine sometime very soon. 

And maybe some Cool Ranch Doritos, too.

Now...where were we?  Oh yeah.  Stuff!

Need I remind you what the piano room looked like when we moved in?  Yes, I think I do:

Click here to read more »

master bath update {pottery-barn-inspired medicine cabinets}

We've lived here pert' near a year and I'm already moving my stuff into the master bath!  Amazing!

The delay is totally my fault.  We could have slapped mirrors up over the sinks, but I have the visual acuity of a mole, which means my face has to be right up to the mirror in order to see.  And my back isn't as limber as it was when I was 12.  I find it an inconvenience to bend way over to see my face just to apply makeup in an attempt to remove hide 10 years of my life.  In short, I need a mirror that will at least meet me partway.  Thus, medicine cabinets.

And I wanted "us" to learn how to make things out of wood. 

I really really liked this Pottery Barn medicine cabinet:

source

Click here to read more »

you're so stupid, rose!! {a painful chair makeover}

I hope you all survived Halloween.  I managed to claw my way out from the onslaught of 11 trick-or-treaters.  

I was going to give this post a sweet title about my chair, Rosie.  But Rosie turned out to be a bit of a poophead.  Actually, it wasn't her fault but I was left with the same poopheadedness feeling.

Let's begin.

When Phil's mom passed away, we ended up with a few million of her things.  One was a dining table and chairs set.  I didn't know what to do with it, so I decided to take it to Goodwill.  My sister bitch-slapped me and said to give it to her instead.  Okeydokey.  So it went to be a foster child (children?) at her house.  She needed the extra chairs for family holiday gatherings and I needed stuff to not be in my basement.

Years later, she decided she didn't want it in her basement anymore, so it went to live in servitude with Emma in her first apartment.

Then Emma moved into an efficiency and guess what?  Dining Set came full circle.  Who says you can't go home again?

Naturally, I don't have pictures of the whole set because I'm only playing with one chair this entire month today.  Maybe someday I'll make them all over (shoot me), but for now, I just want one cute little chair to sit in front of my Gramma's sewing machine.

Here's how she started out:

Click here to read more »

owl post ... {and thanks!}

This isn't about Harry Potter's Owlery...that would involve too much owl poop.

Have you ever become so completely obsessed with something that it takes over your life?

You are an owlbsession....you're my owlbsession....

Might as well face it you're addicted to owls...

I'm so owlxcited...and I just can't hide it....

Owlkay, enough of that.

When I was buying fabric for my curtainry, I came across some of the cutest owl fabric on the planet.  I had no idea what I was going to do with it, but I knew I'd find something fun, so I threw in a yard with my order.

Then I had an owlpiphany.

Remember this lamp?  Me neither.  It was a long time ago. 

Here was the first makeover.  I'm an excellent stager.

Click here to read more »

desk makeover

My daughter moved into a sweet little efficiency apartment which means I am the lucky recipient of all her stuff that doesn't fit in it.

It's a good thing she's tiny.

That's okay though.  My parents are still storing some of my crap too.  Namely, the pool table we got for free from Philly's sister.

That, and all those sweet antiques I'm going to steal when they're senile enough not to notice they're gone.  I already scored this trunk and sewing cabinet.  But those don't count since I didn't acquire them by stealth.

This desk set (I use the term "set" loosely...I'm pretty sure they're a blended family) was one of the treasures to come home to roost.

That means Mama uses it however she wants.

Like to support her laptop.  And her generous ass.

Click here to read more »

i made some curtains, yo

I really don't sew.  I can't read a pattern.  But I know how to thread a machine, turn it on, and put my foot on the pedal.  And I can sew a fairly straight line.  I think I've told you all this before, but I tend to repeat myself.

I tend to repeat myself.

Oh, and I actually love to make quilts of my own design. 

I also know how to hand-wind a bobbin because the bobbin winders on both my cheap Chinese machines have now failed miserably and catastrophically.  Let's just say Singer isn't what it used to be.  In fact, Singer, you suck.  I don't do anything crazy with my machines.  I don't sew a bunch of bling onto my hooker clothes and I don't use it to stitch up my cat when she gets in a fight with the neighborhood whistlepig.

She won't hold still for that.

And now I can't even wind a bobbin on either piece of crap.


But who am I kidding?  I love to hand-wind bobbins.  It's right up there with having a colonoscopy.

Help.  I'm talking and I can't shut up.

Where was I?  Oh yeah....curtains.

Thank goodness I like very simple curtainry.  Drapery.  Whatevery.

I made matching curtains for my family room and dining room windows.

Here's the before of the dining area...casing is up here:

Click here to read more »

50 freakin' questions

The lovely and talented Marianne over at We Band of Mothers threatened to make me babysit for a week if I didn't answer these questions.  Since I recently became an empty-nester and no longer have the slightest clue how to care for small people (not that I ever really did), I figured it was in her best interest I comply.

1. What are you wearing?

Pervert.

But, if you must know, look HERE.  I'm donning that, and a few nipple hairs.

2. Ever been in love?

But Mama, I LOOOOOOVE him!  Of course.

3. Ever have a terrible break-up?

Married uber-young.  Divorced before most intelligent life forms have even considered getting married.  What do you think?

4. How tall are you?

Five feet, eight inches. 

Wait.

Five feet, seven-and-a-half inches.  I don't know.  It changes every time I go to the doctor.

5. How much do you weigh?

127 pounds.  On my wedding day.  Both of them.

Currently?  That same exact weight.  From the boobs up.

6. Any tattoos?

No.  After earning my stretch marks, I've had an aversion to anything else permanently etched into my skin.  But, by God, I earned those stretch marks.

7. Any piercings?

Ears, multiple times, but I only wear one set now.  Occasionally, I re-poke out the old holes just to feel young and sassy.  (I am totally stealing from Marianne on this one....we're twinsies!)

8. OTP (One true pair, favorite fictional couple?)

Princess Leia and Han Solo.  Shit.  Wait.  That was fiction?

9. Favorite Show?

Again, Marianne stole my answer.  Breaking Bad.  My husband looks like Heisenberg.  It's cool as hell.  We even bought him "the hat."

Click here to read more »

rock me ama-daisy

I was visiting one of my favorite people (favorite because she gives me free plants and stuff--and she's just an all-around sweetie), and I see this fabulous mission-style rocking chair in her garage.

Click here to read more »

land, ho!

Ah...the power of a comma...

Philly and I celebrated our 15th adversity day last month.  Perhaps you recall last year when I posted about our 14th adversity HERE.

We went on an island vacation.  Mackinac Island, to be exact.  Now, before we go any further, I feel compelled to educate us.  Even though it's spelled "Mackinac," it's pronounced "Mackinaw."  It can be spelled either way, but it's always pronounced "awwwww."  HERE is an explanation.  Learn it; remember it.

There will be a quiz later.

Ever since seeing Somewhere In Time, I've wanted to visit Mackinac Island.

Do you love that movie too?

source

Click here to read more »

that is one big-ass clock

THAT IS NOT WHAT I SAID

Click here to read more »

stool samples

These bar stools somehow found their way into my kitchen.

Click here to read more »