Apparently, I'm VERY emotional today. Must be hormones.
Last night after work, Phillip and I stopped by our local S.Army to pick up one of the larger "treasures" I found the day before and while there I spyed the cutest, little, old red scooter I've ever seen. Chippy red paint. REAL steel, not plastic. Four little white tires. SO stinking cute.
I had enough S.Army receipts to get $10.00 off my next purchase and the little scooter was only $7.95!!! Yes, $7.95!!!!. BUT, it was after 5 pm. The store was still open, but they don't tally receipts after 5. SO, STUPID ME, asked the manager to hold it in the back warehouse and I'd be back in the morning so we could tally the receipts.
STUPID, STUPID ME!!!
I woke up SO excited about getting the scooter. I had even called my friend Janice and told her all about how she would be able to get the CUTEST pictures ever of her new grandson once he was toddling. Him shirtless. In little blue denim Osh Kosh overalls. With the Scooter!
STUPID, STUPID ME!!!!
I should have known. I should have just bought it right then and there! $7.95!!!! BUT, NO!!! STUPID, STUPID ME!!! I'd just go back in the morning and get it for FREE!!!
10 am. HAPPY, HAPPY, HAPPY. I park. Go in. Say Hi to the clerk. SMILE BIG. HAPPY, HAPPY. Tell him I'm here to pick up my little treasure sitting in the warehouse.
He tells me he saw someone walking around with it!!!! My heart literally sinks!
I briskly walk around the store. The manager tells me someone put it out and it's sitting over by the bed frames. I race over. NO SCOOTER. Another clerk says he thinks it got sold this morning - within the last HOUR!!!!
I go up to the other cashier, by the front door. She says she didn't sell it.
The suspense is killing me. I'm feverishly looking.....
Then a Treasure Hunter's WORST NIGHTMARE is confirmed!!!!
"Yeah. The little red scooter. $7.95. I just sold it to a guy this morning." They've only been open an hour! AND it was supposed to have been in the warehouse - waiting for ME! Not that I'm more deserving than someone else, but I thought I had made arrangements. AND I really wanted Janice to be able to use it as a photo prop.
I got many a "sorry, someone must have put it out this morning". But that still didn't heal the pain.
STUPID, STUPID ME. I should have bought it last night.
I came into work and went upstairs to Phillip's office. SMILING! Then I immediately broke down crying huge alligator tears. WOW! I wasn't expecting that!!!
Yes, I am disappointed, but REALLY? To tears???
Moral of the story: If you spy a treasure that tugs at your heart strings, get it. GET IT NOW!!! It won't be there tomorrow! AND sometimes EVEN IF YOU PAY FOR IT and make arrangements to pick it up later, IT MAY GET RE-SOLD and NOT BE THERE ANYMORE!
This happened to me once before in Washington. Bought a wonderfully comfortable antique chair, paid for it, came back just a few hours later with the truck and it was re-sold and GONE!!!
I don't remember if I cried then as well......?
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Some More of OUR Four-Letter Word....
Like I said before, the house is in an ever-changing state of dis-repair and repair.
Here are a couple in-progress shots.
This is the beginning of the ceiling just inside the front porch.
Here it is done. Well, not really, done, DONE, but at least with the tongue and groove wood put up on the entire ceiling in there. I need to prime. Then paint it the creamy white to match the back of the door and side lights. Then I get to find the perfect light fixture. This ceiling is about 2 feet higher than the rest of the house, so maybe a chandelier??? But, not one that has a ton of glass baubles....
This is our front door and side lights. I scored the side lights for $25 each. $50!!! The brand new door cost me $300. Granted, we need to make custom trim, but $350? That would barely have gotten us a metal or fiberglass door. I actually took these photos before the outside porch was complete, but you get the idea. Phillip and I will be making a custom-fit screen door that fits with the outside trim and doesn't block the open-ness of the full glass door.
This is the small light fixture we chose for the back door. We bought two larger ones (same exact look) for each side of the side lights. The porch is also wired for a ceiling fan. Just still need to find the perfect one. Oooooh....I getta' go shopping!!!!
Lastly, here is the "rock" we've chosen for the retaining walls and the base of the porch. The colors look SO nice with the Western Alder stain, creamy white trim, the surrounding forest, and the clay soil/decomposed granite of the exposed mountain.
Lots to do, but we are going in the right direction.
Stay tuned tomorrow. I found a couple of fun treasures!!!!
Here are a couple in-progress shots.
This is the beginning of the ceiling just inside the front porch. 
Here it is done. Well, not really, done, DONE, but at least with the tongue and groove wood put up on the entire ceiling in there. I need to prime. Then paint it the creamy white to match the back of the door and side lights. Then I get to find the perfect light fixture. This ceiling is about 2 feet higher than the rest of the house, so maybe a chandelier??? But, not one that has a ton of glass baubles....
This is our front door and side lights. I scored the side lights for $25 each. $50!!! The brand new door cost me $300. Granted, we need to make custom trim, but $350? That would barely have gotten us a metal or fiberglass door. I actually took these photos before the outside porch was complete, but you get the idea. Phillip and I will be making a custom-fit screen door that fits with the outside trim and doesn't block the open-ness of the full glass door.
This is the small light fixture we chose for the back door. We bought two larger ones (same exact look) for each side of the side lights. The porch is also wired for a ceiling fan. Just still need to find the perfect one. Oooooh....I getta' go shopping!!!!
Lastly, here is the "rock" we've chosen for the retaining walls and the base of the porch. The colors look SO nice with the Western Alder stain, creamy white trim, the surrounding forest, and the clay soil/decomposed granite of the exposed mountain.Lots to do, but we are going in the right direction.
Stay tuned tomorrow. I found a couple of fun treasures!!!!
Comments....
Hi to all those who have been having difficulty leaving comments.
I THINK I have re-configured my behind-the-scenes Blogger account to receive comments WITHOUT having to have a Blogger/Google account.
So, give it a try. If it STILL is NOT working, you can try emailing me:
patinamarie@gmail.com.
Here's to hoping it works!
Also, I've added a Library so you can easily visit PAST posts by category.
Tina
I THINK I have re-configured my behind-the-scenes Blogger account to receive comments WITHOUT having to have a Blogger/Google account.
So, give it a try. If it STILL is NOT working, you can try emailing me:
patinamarie@gmail.com.
Here's to hoping it works!
Also, I've added a Library so you can easily visit PAST posts by category.
Tina
Sunday, April 5, 2009
"HOME" is our FOUR-LETTER word
Yes, around here, HOME is our four-letter word.
The house we bought in August 2004. The house that we are slowly, but surely, turning into our dream HOME. The house with the beautiful mountain and partial river view running through the valley. We LOVE our house AND we love that we are FINALLY, after so many other attempts, in so many other places, FINALLY making this place our HOME. Even though, it is a TON of WORK. A TON of "there's SO much to do that we may NEVER be finished". BUT, we are making progress and it's really beginning to look a lot like the HOME we've been dreaming of.
I was looking at the CD of pictures I took in July 2004 when we first made our offer on the place. It was rough. It was dated. OUT-DATED! BUT, it was HUGE and we could envision each of us, all five of us, having more than enough space to roam, play, nest and rest. Sure enough, there's more than enough room for all that and more. MORE paint. MORE trim. MORE flooring. MORE planning and re-planning. MORE money. MORE time. MORE money. MORE time. MORE work. MORE aches and pains. MORE dump runs. MORE debris. MORE dust. MORE tools. MORE trips to the hardware stores. MORE, MORE, MORE.
Sometimes MORE seems never ending, but the payoff in the end will be grand.
Sure we could just as easily have been content to just leave things "as-is" and just live our life, but that just isn't our style. Like Phillip seeing the potential with the old cars/trucks/motorcycles, I can see the potential here. I love to envision this house in the old bungalow, cottage, farmhouse style - NOT the 1970's Formica, gold fixtures, and in-laid wood-look linoleum. NOPE, not me. Darn them Cottage Living, Country Home, Country Living and New Old House magazines!!!!
So, one room at a time. Well, actually, an area of one room at a time, like I've said before, a room never gets completely done at once, but I do ALWAYS come back to it and do some more. Someday, this house will have gotten a complete update into the past. Say, 1930's or 40's? I just LOVE the feel of that comfortable, casual look, the built-ins and the trim.
Our downstairs bathroom BEFORE.
Here are the AFTER details of our downstairs bathroom.
Old, water/steam worn storage cabinet-BEFORE
Cabinet AFTER painted black with slightly distressed edges. I haven't distressed the doors yet. Why? I'm "test" fitting them right now.....I need to remove them again and sand the edges. I replaced the original gold knobs with these egg-shaped, brushed nickel ones.
Our towel rack. Also painted black and distressed.
The back of the toilet tank with galvanized metal planter holding three candles. I plan to fill this 2/3 of the way full with sand or gravel to hold the candles up higher in the planter.
Our new pedestal sink AND the newly painted wainscoting and trim.
White, waffle-weave shower curtain with brushed nickel holders.
Mirror. A stand-in for now. It is a cheap plastic one that I painted black. I am on the look-out for a wooden one with a little more character.
The magazine holder. A wire basket I found at the local 2nd-hand shop coupled with a black wood/silver hook rack I found at Wal-Mart, of all places. I found one at Lowe's, but the hooks were plastic. Plastic! There's a break waiting to happen. Wal-Marts were sturdy metal. Yay, Wal-Mart.????
Another hook rack to hold the brush and the blow dryer. Pedestal sinks don't have drawers, but I hate having to roll up and un-roll the blow dryer every day. Actually, I only use the dryer on the cold Winter days, but Phillip uses it every day! It's VERY convenient.
New light fixture. I fell in love with these glass light shades. I actually prefer the look of these hanging down, but the light cast make you look like Frankenstein! AND that's not a good way to start the day! Trust me on that! Plus, pointing up, casts more light across the white ceiling and brightens the place up. Sorry, this photo is VERY dark!
New light switches and plugs! Thanks Phillip! You gotta love the little details!
Especially this little upgrade. A new ceiling heater and over-head light. Now we can see in the shower and stay warm without the "old" red/orange heat bulbs. Those things always made us laugh...and laugh even harder when we clucked like chickens under the "fried-chicken-heat-lamps". Yeah, it was funny! But we are no longer living under orange lights!!! Yay!
That's our "new" master bath. Good for now, but the "master-plan", no pun intended, is that the sink and toilet will stay, but the shower/tub insert, behind that waffle weave, will be history and that space converted into a wonderful floor-to-ceiling built-in shelving/closet unit. Complete with lots of drawers in the lower section and some sliding glass doors up top. Reminiscent of the old pharmacy/dr's office built-ins. Painted creamy white with black library-style drawer pulls, of course! Can't you just imagine????
The tub, a new dual-person shower, vanity and another built-in storage unit will go in the adjacent 10x12 bedroom within the "new" master bedroom. Now that's a bathroom! Separate potty room, complete with tons of storage and a pedestal sink!
The to-do list this weekend: painting the new bungalow-style porch floor (thanks! Phillip) a nice vanilla white; staining the outside horizontal cedar porch boards a nice western alder gray/green/brown;
scraping part of the converted master bedroom ceiling of it's beautiful popcorn ceiling; cleaning out one of the spare rooms downstairs (getting ready for it's turn at new paint, flooring, lighting, etc...); and the BEST....sitting in the new, used HOT TUB.
Thanks to my friend, Kay, who so gratefully sold it to us. We haven't had a hot tub since we moved from Washington State in early 2001 - we've sat in it twice a day for the last two days! Just can't get enough! It's on the lower back patio right outside our bedroom (where that green lawn cart is)
AND the view from the tub couldn't be better - mountains, mountains, and more mountains. We even saw a hawk today and the moon and stars last night. Love, love, love it! It's definitely what the house was missing.
The house we bought in August 2004. The house that we are slowly, but surely, turning into our dream HOME. The house with the beautiful mountain and partial river view running through the valley. We LOVE our house AND we love that we are FINALLY, after so many other attempts, in so many other places, FINALLY making this place our HOME. Even though, it is a TON of WORK. A TON of "there's SO much to do that we may NEVER be finished". BUT, we are making progress and it's really beginning to look a lot like the HOME we've been dreaming of.
I was looking at the CD of pictures I took in July 2004 when we first made our offer on the place. It was rough. It was dated. OUT-DATED! BUT, it was HUGE and we could envision each of us, all five of us, having more than enough space to roam, play, nest and rest. Sure enough, there's more than enough room for all that and more. MORE paint. MORE trim. MORE flooring. MORE planning and re-planning. MORE money. MORE time. MORE money. MORE time. MORE work. MORE aches and pains. MORE dump runs. MORE debris. MORE dust. MORE tools. MORE trips to the hardware stores. MORE, MORE, MORE.
Sometimes MORE seems never ending, but the payoff in the end will be grand.
Sure we could just as easily have been content to just leave things "as-is" and just live our life, but that just isn't our style. Like Phillip seeing the potential with the old cars/trucks/motorcycles, I can see the potential here. I love to envision this house in the old bungalow, cottage, farmhouse style - NOT the 1970's Formica, gold fixtures, and in-laid wood-look linoleum. NOPE, not me. Darn them Cottage Living, Country Home, Country Living and New Old House magazines!!!!
So, one room at a time. Well, actually, an area of one room at a time, like I've said before, a room never gets completely done at once, but I do ALWAYS come back to it and do some more. Someday, this house will have gotten a complete update into the past. Say, 1930's or 40's? I just LOVE the feel of that comfortable, casual look, the built-ins and the trim.
Our downstairs bathroom BEFORE.
Here are the AFTER details of our downstairs bathroom.
Old, water/steam worn storage cabinet-BEFORE
Cabinet AFTER painted black with slightly distressed edges. I haven't distressed the doors yet. Why? I'm "test" fitting them right now.....I need to remove them again and sand the edges. I replaced the original gold knobs with these egg-shaped, brushed nickel ones.
Our towel rack. Also painted black and distressed.
The back of the toilet tank with galvanized metal planter holding three candles. I plan to fill this 2/3 of the way full with sand or gravel to hold the candles up higher in the planter.
Our new pedestal sink AND the newly painted wainscoting and trim.
White, waffle-weave shower curtain with brushed nickel holders.
Mirror. A stand-in for now. It is a cheap plastic one that I painted black. I am on the look-out for a wooden one with a little more character.
The magazine holder. A wire basket I found at the local 2nd-hand shop coupled with a black wood/silver hook rack I found at Wal-Mart, of all places. I found one at Lowe's, but the hooks were plastic. Plastic! There's a break waiting to happen. Wal-Marts were sturdy metal. Yay, Wal-Mart.????
Another hook rack to hold the brush and the blow dryer. Pedestal sinks don't have drawers, but I hate having to roll up and un-roll the blow dryer every day. Actually, I only use the dryer on the cold Winter days, but Phillip uses it every day! It's VERY convenient.
New light fixture. I fell in love with these glass light shades. I actually prefer the look of these hanging down, but the light cast make you look like Frankenstein! AND that's not a good way to start the day! Trust me on that! Plus, pointing up, casts more light across the white ceiling and brightens the place up. Sorry, this photo is VERY dark!
New light switches and plugs! Thanks Phillip! You gotta love the little details!
Especially this little upgrade. A new ceiling heater and over-head light. Now we can see in the shower and stay warm without the "old" red/orange heat bulbs. Those things always made us laugh...and laugh even harder when we clucked like chickens under the "fried-chicken-heat-lamps". Yeah, it was funny! But we are no longer living under orange lights!!! Yay!That's our "new" master bath. Good for now, but the "master-plan", no pun intended, is that the sink and toilet will stay, but the shower/tub insert, behind that waffle weave, will be history and that space converted into a wonderful floor-to-ceiling built-in shelving/closet unit. Complete with lots of drawers in the lower section and some sliding glass doors up top. Reminiscent of the old pharmacy/dr's office built-ins. Painted creamy white with black library-style drawer pulls, of course! Can't you just imagine????
The tub, a new dual-person shower, vanity and another built-in storage unit will go in the adjacent 10x12 bedroom within the "new" master bedroom. Now that's a bathroom! Separate potty room, complete with tons of storage and a pedestal sink!
The to-do list this weekend: painting the new bungalow-style porch floor (thanks! Phillip) a nice vanilla white; staining the outside horizontal cedar porch boards a nice western alder gray/green/brown;
scraping part of the converted master bedroom ceiling of it's beautiful popcorn ceiling; cleaning out one of the spare rooms downstairs (getting ready for it's turn at new paint, flooring, lighting, etc...); and the BEST....sitting in the new, used HOT TUB.
Thanks to my friend, Kay, who so gratefully sold it to us. We haven't had a hot tub since we moved from Washington State in early 2001 - we've sat in it twice a day for the last two days! Just can't get enough! It's on the lower back patio right outside our bedroom (where that green lawn cart is)
AND the view from the tub couldn't be better - mountains, mountains, and more mountains. We even saw a hawk today and the moon and stars last night. Love, love, love it! It's definitely what the house was missing.
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