Fun Stuff on Sunday

I've been saving up these lovely items to share with you (and to remind me!) Today is the day to reveal them. All of the printables are free downloads and the photos are all taken from the sites linked.

Enjoy!!
Kristin

Moss Graffiti - found in Kind Over Matter. I don't like the idea of doing this in places that aren't yours - but can you imagine having something in your own backyard growing like this. I love this idea and it looks pretty easy.

Heaven is in Belgium has a wonderful photoblog. I was just overwhelmed by this antique, abandoned doorway that she photographed. I thought you might like it, too. Go HERE to see it.

Olive oil and vinegar labels - from Eat Drink Chic

Birthday and Thank you cards - also from Eat Drink Chic

Circle Dot Box

Some really cool boxes - printable of course! from Don't Eat the Paste.

Hello note cards - Oooh, I really like these! The Daily Etsian.

Treadles and Diamonds

I was reading blogs today - kind of catching up on the photography blogs, design blogs and the things that I don't read every day. Well, I saw this lovely photo of sewing notions and that sparked an idea. Keetha, posted a picture of a sewing machine the other day, too - so sewing has been on the brain this week.

I have a treadle sewing machine that was my Grandmother Corlett's machine. I've had it for...goodness...15 years? 20 years? It's been awhile.

So I hauled out the vacuum (wouldn't want there to be years of dust being photographed!) Don't worry Keetha, I managed to get plenty of dust in the photos :)

and when I thought the machine was dusted just enough I started clicking away.

Artsy shots, close ups, sideways.

Then I decided to look in the drawers. As I recalled from the last time I looked through them, they were full of fun items and quite a bit of small pieces of fabric and trim.



The first drawer I looked in is marked above. It was stuffed with a denim patch and a bunch of yellow trim and a few other items - so I pulled out the fabric and reached my hand into the back of the drawer to pull the few items forward.

The little green card is from a pack of Gurney seeds and coming with that was a ring. I snapped the photo first, then decided to investigate.

It's a ring. It's a diamond ring. It's got a tiny, thin band and it looks like it was worn quite a bit. I have no idea whose ring it is. I called my mother and asked her if she knew where Grandma Corlett's wedding rings were located and she didn't know either.

I honestly don't recall my Grandmother's rings. I remember her necklaces and earrings but not rings.

Could she have put her ring in the top drawer one day and never got it back out again?
The ring fits on my pinky finger. The diamond in the ring I found is about twice the size of the middle diamond in mine. So now I'm wondering if it really is a diamond. My grandparents didn't have a whole lot of money and buying a large diamond just doesn't seem to fit into their lifestyle. And if the ring was just misplaced, it seems like she would have searched high and low to find it.

I guess it's remained hidden from me for almost 20 years but I have never used the machine.

Ahhh, it's a mystery.

I'm going to have to take the ring to a jeweler to see if it's a genuine diamond. That will solve mystery number one. As for the other mysteries, we may never know.

Have you ever found anything in your family heirlooms?
Kristin

Off to College

All around the blogosphere and facebook I'm hearing about sending kids back to school. Actually it isn't just any type of school that people are talking about - it's college. I've got about 100 people as my facebook friends who are part of my graduating high school class and they are sending their kids off to college in droves.

It's making me think about when I went off to college. It makes me think how I have NO IDEA how any of these people are feeling (the parents) because I'm not a parent. I don't have that experience. I get little pangs every so often when people talk about their children and know that I don't have any, but the college thing is hitting me more than ever. Maybe it's because I know that I'm officially out of the age range to have children and that is being amplified now that people my age are sending their kids to college.

When my friends would talk about their kids graduating from elementary school or middle school it didn't affect me much. High School graduation celebrations got my heart racing a little bit, but the college posts are affecting me more than I ever imagined.

I've never really had a strong desire to be a parent. I've had a strong desire to hold newborns, to love and kiss their heads, to play with a toddler, to be with my nieces, to be a good listener to the kids that I meet, but I've always been very happy to let other people take their kids back :) I think about moving back home because I miss my nieces and my family, but having my own children has never been a priority or a strong desire.

I'm very sure that I will get over this little hurdle. I'm just going to wish all my friends and their college bound children lots of love and in a few weeks we'll all move on to new topics!

Thanks for letting me mull this around in my head a bit and toss it out on my blog.

Kristin

Your Overdue Payment is Read

I love it when I get these in my email. I think the HONESTY part is just hysterical. Ooooh, since you tell me this is honest, then I should just go ahead and contact you about my Nigerian Lottery winnings!! I know I could use a cool 2.7 million IN CASH!

Amazing to me how many people fall for this.

Kristin



Honesty Overdue Payment Office

FedEx Courier Services
Plot 8,Ahmed Way,
Victoria Island,Lagos Nigeria.
TEL...+234-806-5069-255
DATE:21/08/2009
Customers Service Hours--Monday To Saturday:

Your Honesty Payment.

Your overdue inheritance/lottery prize of $2.7 Million US Dollars is boxed
and put to v.i.p FedEx to deliver to you as cash.

a payment! since you’re disappointed in the past, So contact FedEx with
your delivery address and telephone numbers.

Name : Mr. James Peters
Email : fedexcourierdispatchunit@yahoo.co.uk
Tell : +234-806-5069-255


You should duly contact FedEx for tracking nos and v.i.p shipment
recipient's (SKF), your reference code is.. FAXD-101-87529K.

Note that you will pay for the Security Keeping Fee of $250 and it is
compulsory.

Thanks for your Co-operation.
Yours Affectionately.
Mr.David Smith.
www.fedex.com

Friday Fragments

Mrs. 4444 hosts Friday Fragments each week. It's a great excuse to get all those little snippets that gather in the brain and don't seem enough for one post but together they can make one fun blog post! I'm so happy I finally remembered to get my post up before Sunday! :)



Goodness - last night was such a fun night of TV. It was three and a half hours of Project Runway on Lifetime. What a joy to have that back on again. The best thing was that I recorded it on the DVR, so I watched all three shows sans commercials :)



I'm so happy that I know my limits with my husband. We installed a floor in one of my rental condos last weekend and the last thing to finish up that room was to install new bi-fold doors on the laundry closet. The old doors were so ragged. The were a nightmare of splinters on every surface and couldn't be dusted easily. My husband HATES to install bi-fold doors and has such a hard time with them that I decided to hire my friend/contractor Dan - he helped with our flip house last summer. It took him 2 hours and about 6 trips out to the truck to hack the doors down with a skillsaw & make them fit. Nothing in those condos are square and it's frustrating beyond belief. I would have been seriously considering evil things if it were my husband and I working on those doors. Dan charged me $50 for two hours of pure insanity trying to get those doors installed, but he hardly said a single word about the door issues. We talked about his kids and vacations and his new truck and stuff. And when we were done I wasn't angry with my husband. Totally worth the $50!

Cat with Hat

My husband put his beach hat on our little bench the other day and ever since then Mocha communes with the hat each day. She normally doesn't give too hoots about this bench.



Ok, here's an embarrassing fragment, but I have to share. I get this maddening itch on my rear end every so often. To relieve the pain and itch, I put a little neosporin on a q-tip and rub it on the spot. The itch usually comes on in the middle of the night, of course, so I'm half asleep while doing this little process. The last time it happened I felt absolutely NO relief. In fact, it was really stinging. It was stinging so much that I knew I did something wrong. I looked at my neosporin and realized that I had used my travel tube of baking soda toothpaste with peroxide! Something that funny just has to be shared!

There are more participants in Friday Fragments over at Mrs. 4444's blog - Half Past Kissing Time. Some of the fragments are so funny - so run over and read some of them for a great start to your weekend.
Kristin

Thrifty Finds

Welcome to another edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

This week I'm showing more of my photo finds from the Antique Mall here in Jacksonville, FL. I didn't buy any of these items, but every one of them tugged at me and made their presence known to me.

This was one of the very first things that I spotted. I had a china tea set when I was little and I loved it. I didn't ever use it to play tea, but I used to set it out for my dolls and I'd stack the dishes and arrange the place settings. I think it was during those moments that I feel in love with dishes. This set was marked $7. I thought that was a pretty good price for a complete set.

Next up was this set of pink kitchen appliances. They were a mess. They were used and abused and probably left in a basement or garage for a long time. I liked that they were a set and pink. These could be thrifty at $60 - in great condition they could be worth hundreds of dollars - but in this case I included them because I'd never seen a whole set before.

I almost pulled out my wallet for these. I'm a sucker for silverware. This silverware was heavy and fabulous. It was also $65, a real bargain in my books. Below is a close up view of the soup spoon. It is SO deep. It's a real soup spoon. You can actually get a nice big bite of food with this spoon.

Oh, I loved this set of silver.

If I didn't have two other sets of silver already, I would have added this one to my possessions.


These white pagodas, pillars, whatever they are, are made of wood. Carved. Totally cool. $300 for the pair. What a statement they'd make in a yard. I want a plant in the middle and I want to paint them some wild color. If I had a yard I would have figured out a way to stick these in the car and haul them home.

In the background are the carved wood shutters that I featured a few days ago - here.



My last find were these yellow coasters. I think the price says $6. These were so sweet. I don't think I would ever use these as coasters. I'd probably use them for snack plates. I have small dishes that I use for a handful of nuts that I nibble on in the evening, a scoop of cottage cheese or maybe even as a little dish to serve my kitty her wet cat food. Yellow and green is one of my favorite color combinations.

I hope you enjoyed my stroll through the antique mall. Please stop by Leigh's place to meet the other participants. I know I will!

Have a fabulous Thursday!
Kristin

Debbie Ford

One of my favorite motivational/self help authors is Debbie Ford. When I first discovered her, I think it was an audio book that I'd picked up. She was talking about a turning point in her life and the exact spot where that switch was flipped - you know - the big Ah-Ha moment. She said the location and when I looked up the sign in front of me was that exact place. I was in Miami at the time, I do believe, so it was no where near where I lived. It made me sit up and listen, that's for sure. It was just too much of a coincidence. If you'd like to read more about her you can visit Debbie Ford's Website at DebbieFord.com

I learned a lot from her books. It was hard though. I am a tough nut to crack at times :)

I've friended her on Facebook and she gives some really great status updates. The two below are my favorites so far. I'm truly intrigued with the Monday Morning ritual. I'm sure it could be started any day of the week, but I'm going to try to do it this Monday.

Before you go to sleep tonight put one of your most loving thoughts in your mind ~ pray that the feelings attached to this thought fill every cell of your being ~ and then sleep with the angels.
Debbie Ford

My Monday morning ritual: I write down everything there is to do this week and everything I want to do ~ add in a few unexpected miracles to my list ~ hand it over to the powers that be with another wish and a prayer ~ imagine that it's Friday afternoon and I'm smiling and thanking God because I have exceeded my wildest expectations for the week ~ and Viola my wishes are granted.
Debbie Ford

What do you think? Totally wacko or an interesting concept? or anything inbetween :)

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Sit Back and Relax

Here we go!

I received my package from Liz,My Texas Family, the other day. It was a large package and I was a little nervous that she had completely lost her mind and sent me too many things. :) Turns out that she sent me something that she made. by hand. with love. for me.

To say I was flabbergasted when I opened the package is an understatement.

(The Favorite Things Swap was hosted by According to Kelly - Thanks Kelly!!)




The card that she sent told me that she based her selection of items on the theme "Sit Back and Relax." She sent one of her favorite books, which by the way, I have NEVER read. (Insert gasp here) I know! I think about it, but haven't. I guess I was just waiting for someone to send it to me :)

Liz said that she just recently discovered this flavor of Country Time Lemonade and it's now her absolute favorite. It is going to be perfect for the hot muggy days here in Florida.

Now for this quilt. How beautiful. Truly, I was stunned that someone sent something like this. It's a piece of art that's been dropped in my lap :)

I took the quilt with me to Mayo Hospital and put it on the lawn to photograph it. I wanted to use the lawn at my condo, but the lawn guys were there - then the next time the sprinklers were going! So the quilt went on a little journey.

In the card that Liz sent she talked about the fabric...here's what she said. "The rose fabric is one I absolutely love. I bought the whole bolt about 3 years ago. You have the honor of having the first thing made with it. The pattern came from my favorite baby quilt book, but as you can see, it does not have to be just for babies. To be honest, I'm kind of jealous because it came out so good, and I can't make a copy because I used scraps for the rest of it. But that's OK because I made it just for you. I hope you Enjoy!"

I am truly honored to have such a lovely quilt. I do believe you were just waiting for me so you could make this :) I love it. Thank you. Thank you!

In the photo above I have crudely outlined the quilting pattern in the rose blocks. Isn't it just so sweet??!! If you go back up two photos, you can probably see the pattern now that I've pointed it out here.

Yesterday I talked about some of the items I sent her...all of the free printables on my post called The Goods. Liz talks about the quilt she made here in this post called Back in the Saddle Again. I'm so happy that she made it over the hurdle and is quilting again!!

If you'd like to see what other people have been giving and receiving in the favorite things swap, please go here to the Favorite Things Swap Flickr pool.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

The Goods

I sent off a bunch of fun printables to my swap partner Liz at My Texas Family. I told her that when she received my package, I would send her the links to all of the fun printables that I included so she could use them again and again if she liked. Well, she received my package and blogged about it! (I think she liked what I sent!)

Some of them I may have mentioned before and some I have recently discovered. The whole reason I sent Liz the printables was because I think it is so wonderful how much really cool free stuff is out there. Not to mention how many truly creative people are out there giving away their artwork/creations for free.

Here is most of the email I sent to Liz describing the printables and giving her the links, with a few additions for the blog.



The 5 Good Things - I found the 5 Good Things chart HERE at Whisker Graphics, which also explains how to use it. I really think it's a fun idea. I think you will like it, too. Here's a great video on how to fold it HERE on Etsy and also another printable. If you really like the Pocket notes, you might like to see the little notebooks that you can customize. HERE. The Pocket Mods are the little notes that I took with me when I went to Ireland and the Isle of Man.



You can read about Happy Tickets - HERE I think this is a real good idea. (I keep wondering if my husband would work for Happy Tickets!)



I printed the house, above, onto sticker paper and used it as my address label. It's a part of the Feed Your Soul art project free download page from IndieFixx. I scaled it down to a postcard size so I could use it as a decoration rather than a 8 x 11. You might be able to find a few fun things on this site - HERE.



The little orange bird card -- found HERE.



The little potted plant - found at Kind Over Matter - HERE. I've printed off this potted plant so many times I can't even begin to count anymore.



The final thing I can remember are the recipe cards. Those weren't free. I got those from a gift pack of printables from Paper&Cake an Etsy Seller. They have some of the greatest downloads and they are so inexpensive. You will have to go and take a look. I paid for the gift pack, just for the recipe cards, I was just so in love with them :) Paper&Cake is located HERE.


I got my package today from Liz. Ooooh, it is so cool. You'll have to come back tomorrow to see what fabulousness she sent me.

Hope you have a great beginning to a wonderful week.
Kristin

Carved wood

Plank #1

Last week I went to an antique shop and spied these carved wooden doors or shutters. Actually, I have no idea what they are. I do know that I love the carvings and I adore the color. In looking at the plank below, I do believe that the paint was covering the entire piece at one point, not just blotchy as it is now.

I wonder who made them? I wonder how long it took to carve these? Was the whole house adorned with these or were these special pieces that were unique to the home? Are they shutter? doors? wall hangings? large cupboard doors? Hmmm, I wonder.

Plank #2

When ever I see things like this I immediately think of Mexico. I saw a lot of this type of design in New Mexico and when I went to Cabo SanLucas.

I had a friend in college (I went to the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque) who took me home for dinner once. Laurie was her name. Her family lived nearby although she lived in the dorms across the hall from me. Anyway, it was at her family's place where I saw things like this. Their home was like stepping into a high end Mexican hacienda. It was just gorgeous. They lived on a farm/ranch and raised horses as I recall. They might have had a race horse or two, but honestly I can't remember. I do however remember this story - Laurie's mother told me of the day she met Secretariat and was able to take a lock of his mane. It was one of the top 10 days of her life, at that point. Her face lit up when she talked about that day.

Funny how things make their way to the front of my mind when I totally wasn't going in that direction. I lost touch with Laurie after my first year at UNM, but I will never forget her home or the story of Secretariat.

detail of plank #2

Now, back to the wooden planks.

They almost looks easy to recreate - I mean, how hard is it to carve a leaf shape or a curl?

Upon closer inspection, I can guarantee that I couldn't recreate any part of these wooden pieces with any degree of success. I spent the last two days working with vinyl and I couldn't carve out a little notch with any great skill :)

I have no idea what these beauties cost and I don't know anything about them. OK, I do know one thing about them -- they were about 8' tall and about 16" wide. I also know that they would look fantastic in my house!

Have a fantastic day!
Kristin

Floor sitting

I spent most of the day sitting on the floor.

This is two days in a row.

At least today I didn't stand up and sit down a million times.

Today it was just half a million times.

We had a lot of complicated cuts today.

I'm so glad that we figured out a lot of stuff yesterday on the easiest part of the room.

Tomorrow, Tom is going to put in the last two pieces of trim (we ran out tonight) and I'm going to mop the floor, put in the rugs, clean up the kitchen and then call someone to install new bifold doors on the laundry area. The old doors are a disaster.

So, one more day and that place will be ready to rent. Again.

The photo at the top shows the corner of one of the vinyl planks. The little blue tabs are the sticky pieces that stick to the bottom of the next row of planks.

Have a great day!
Kristin

Vinyl flooring

This condo is one of my rentals. The carpet has been in that unit since we purchased it three years ago. I think that the builder put in the cheapest carpet ever because these carpets wouldn't come clean. If water was spilled it would stain - I'm serious!

I have an identical unit across the hall from this one and last year my husband and a helper installed laminate flooring over there. I'm not thrilled with the laminate. It's 100 times better than the carpet for my transplant patients, but the laminate makes snapping and popping sounds when someone walks across the floor. (not every step, but enough of them) Still, it's easier to keep clean, so I was still waiting for the right time to change out the flooring in the unit that still had the carpet.

Today was that day. We have all three of our rental units open and available right now, so tearing up the floor in one of them would be just fine because a potential tenant would have two to choose from if someone called and needed a place.



Here's the cart at the Home Depot today. We purchased vinyl plank flooring called Trafficmaster Allure in a cherry finish. What is vinyl plank? Well, it looks like a wood floor. It's long wide pieces of vinyl. They have little sticky tabs on the sides and bottoms that stick together, but the floor itself is a floating floor. It means that it doesn't stick to your existing floor. It's really pretty cool.



We didn't get it all finished today, so the couch and the table base had to come back in from the hallway outside - I forgot to take a photo before we hauled them in. I really like the way it's turning out. Normally I would have my husband call up one of his helpers and pay him to spend the day doing this, but I decided that I needed the abuse. Tom and I work well together at times and other times we don't. If it's something he doesn't want to do, then not working well together is probably the result. The first row is always the hardest. For Tom and I it was absolutely the hardest. Tom ruined three pieces out of the first four. Good thing we are fast learners! I decided that I'd try to make a template of the problem areas and that helped get us past that pesky first row. After that we went along fairly quickly and got into a groove and worked well together again. Unfortunately we didn't buy enough of the flooring, so we need to go back for 3 more boxes.

As of right now I don't know if I can get up off the couch, but I hope to finish the floor tomorrow. I think we got most of the hard stuff done today. I'll update you tomorrow (or Sunday) when we get it all finished.

Hope you have a fabulous weekend!
Kristin

Antique Faces

Welcome to another edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds. Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

Yesterday, in anticipation of Thrifty Thursday I went to a local Mall - the Avonlea Antique Mall to be exact. It is one of the nicest antique malls I've see in a long time. My allergies are such, that the days of being able to scrounge around in a dusty, musty antique store are gone. This is not that type of place. There are booths, but the booths are quite large and easy to maneuver around in. I found a ton of treasures...enough for two weeks!

This week I'm going to show you the fabulous faces I found at the mall.

I do believe this is the face of a Hindu deity, but I'm very willing to be wrong on this one. It was a giant piece - about 4 feet tall. I just loved the whole thing - the gold, the black and the red light shining on the side. It was thrifty for me because I just photographed it. Purchasing it would be a whole other thing as it was a few thousand dollars.


This lady was sitting high up on a shelf, surrounded by hats and gloves. I don't think she was for sale.


This blonde little gal had a few sisters in this booth, but she had the greatest looking hat. The hat was $10.

Raggedy Ann has seen better days, but for $4 she was a bargain. I haven't seen a large Raggedy Ann doll in a long time. Usually when I see them, they are the little dolls. I was really tempted to get Ann here and bring her home.

These two darlings are a hoot! You can get this pair for $12. I think the little boy really wanted the drum. These little figurines were about 5" tall. They'd certainly brighten up a little corner.

I didn't realize until I got home and looked at the photos just how many faces I focused on and photographed. So that's the reason for this post - The Antique Faces that I found at the Mall. I hope you enjoyed the trip and come back next week when I'll show you some more thrifty finds.

Be sure to go visit all of the participants in Thrifty Thursday.
Have a great day!
Kristin

John Ritter

My husband will watch the news all day if allowed. Seriously. It is one of the things that drives me to the brink of insanity. In order to save my sanity I record things on the DVR that my husband might like, so that when his gaze is turned away from the news for a few moments I switch to one of the shows I've recorded. Tonight I put on Biography. It was the story of John Ritter. Within seconds, Tom closed his computer and sat back in his chair. ahhhh It's almost like silence.

It was also very interesting. Bonus :)

Sometimes it's good to have a trick or three up your sleeve.

Down by the river

Lights along the St. Johns River walkway

I went to my final "free" photography class tonight. By free I mean that anyone who buys a camera from Ritz Camera gets to come to their classes. I can take the classes again (and will probably go to next weeks class again) and I can take a few of their elective classes later in the year, but for the most part, it's over.

I now know that I'm clueless about all of the manual settings and will need more classes and more practice. I am pretty good at composition once I get back to photobucket and crop my photos. The rule of thirds is easy for me to see when I'm at home. I just need to learn how to see it in the real world first and photograph it. I'll get it.


This sculpture is out in front of the Cummer Gallery of Art in the Riverside section of Jacksonville - just a few blocks away from the light shown above. I think I need to print this off and stick it on the fridge so that I'll remember to actually GO to this museum. It was closed the day I took this photo and I keep forgetting that I want to go.

This is one of those times when I realize that some things just aren't a priority. I think they should be. I'd like them to be. But in reality, it isn't.

Can you see the orange roofs in the background? That's called Jacksonville Landing. I've been there once with Tom around lunchtime and it's a real zoo. There are a ton of restaurants, so it's a real hot spot for lunch. I was planning on walking over there on this day, but I didn't realize how far away it really was...not to mention, it was really hot!

This is a portion of downtown Jacksonville. I was actually trying to take a picture of that weird net looking thing by the RailRoad tracks. I keep forgetting to ask Tom what it is exactly because he would know for sure. It's a part of the RR tracks and it's made of steel, I'm sure. It might be part of the weight for the drawbridge portion of the track. Oh heck, I don't know!

Downtown Jacksonville is sure pretty. I'm a sucker for blue glass buildings to begin with, so I'm pleased to have several of them in the Jax skyline.

This is the walkway along the St. Johns River. The trees are Crepe Myrtle. They are just so beautiful. Just today as I was waiting for a light to change at an intersection a light breeze came up and the Crepe Myrtle that was next to me showered the car in gorgeous pink blossoms. It was so cool. I said Thank You right out loud, just in case anyone was listening :)

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin