My Crafty weekend- An update

So I haven't had too much success this weekend with my craftiness.  I spent several hours going to yard sales and didn't find anything I wanted.  That's not true. I saw a chair I wanted desperately but I didn't want to pay what the guy was asking ($35).   I comforted myself by going to Salvation Army in Saugus (which, this is going to sound funny, is very pricey, all things considered).  I found these for $8.99.   I have a minor turtle theme going for my office and these seemed perfect.  I carried them around for awhile and decided since I didn't get anything else, I would get them.

Here they are- no restoration or craftiness needed:

Adorable right?

Oh and by the way, my lack of success had less to do with the quality of the sales I was a attending and more to do with this particular style cramp who didn't want to be left home and made it known vocally. At 7:30 on a Saturday:

I like to think he is avoiding eye contact out of shame for his pitiful behavior.

I do have to make an aside however.  If you are having a yard sale, and you describe it as "epic" on your signs and Craigslist post, please make sure it is in fact "epic."  Otherwise it just leads to bitter disappointment, and no one wants that.

Later, my BFF came over and asked if I wanted to go to Goodwill with her.  I jumped at the chance cause I hadn't been to that Goodwill in a while.   And she has a bigger car than me.   While there I picked up this little gem

The woman wanted to charge me $8 to which I said "hell no" (I have a suitcase budget).  The manager, hearing this, said I could have it for $4.99.  Well under my $5 budget :).  The latches are broken but I think it will make a fantastic kitty bed.  If you look to the left of it in the picture, you see that the other suitcase bed is often occupado.  

After Goodwill BFF suckered me into wanting to go to Homegoods.  On the way there we passed the house that had the chair.  They were packing up and putting everything away (it was after 5).   The chair was still there.  BFF pointed out that I had not shut up about the chair, so we stopped and offered $20, telling the man I'd been thinking about it all day.   He seemed pleased that someone had such passion for it wanted it, so he agreed and helped me load it.   It looks like trash, but to me it is treasure!

I can't wait to get at it with my sander! I have the paint I am going to use already.  I'm going to paint the seat metallic blue and the arms and legs white.  The guy at the yardsale said that was how they originally were, so I'm trying to respect its history.  I can't wait.  Although I've learned that I suck majorly at painting.   I'm hoping practice makes perfect.  Actually I such at painting wood.  The one metal piece I did actually turned out ok:

The first time I tried to paint was the legs of this suitcase table:

You can't tell, but the legs look like crap.  The rest is adorbs, if I do say so myself.

So here's what I attempted yesterday:

I forgot to take a before. Sorry.   I tried something fancy and they kind of look like crap, but I figure it's a learning curve.  I'm still going to use them and I only paid $4 for each of them so I'm not exactly heartbroken.  All in all the weekend has gone well so far.  I will post tonight with any finished products I may have.  I am going to probably do a whole post about the chair when I get to it though, cause I have a feeling that's going to be a beast of a project.  That I am SO EXCITED FOR!

Have a FABULOUS SUNDAY!

Need to not be busy or worried...

And that is happening this week.  I passed my LCSW exam and have no job prospects and don't care right now. I'm working. just not in my preferred field.  (The one I spent over $30k to get into. Details).  This weekend, I thrift! and I craft!  Stay tuned for some fantastic creations!

On a boat (yo)

Today I went boating with my mom and step father.  Usually these trips include my sisters and my older sister's family, but today it was just me.  It felt like a private cruise.

Here is a selfy I took as we left Boston Harbor

Not the cutest picture, but they never are, are they?

We headed up the coast to Salem, MA where we docked.  There were several beautiful houses along the way.  Particularly in Marblehead

That's Marblehead.

And here's an island that I can only imagine is the color it is due to copious amounts of bird shit.  Sorry. I am who I am:

See all the white?  That ain't snow.

I wish I took more pictures, I meant to, but the boat has a way of making me sleepy and today was no exception.  The problem with the privacy of this cruise was the absence of other people my mom could talk to.  So she was talking my ear off while I tried to sleep.  It's ok.  I love her anyway.  Even though she would. not. shut. her. piehole.   

We docked in Salem MA to walk around.  We hit a few cute shops and an awesome thrift store (where I would have spent more time but I was feeling pressure from my mom and step father to leave- not their thing like it's mine).

On our way out we saw Billy Costa's boat.  I tried to peer in to see the famous throw pillows and duvet covers, but decided I was being creepy enough by looking for it in the first place.   I did take a picture though:

Pretty fancy.  If you aren't from Boston, you probably wouldn't know who he is, but I have to say I love him.  

Then we rode home.  I spent a little time up front enjoying the cool air (finally the heat wave is over!)

Gorgeous day on a gorgeous boat!  Thanks Mom and D!!!

Learning my cat's language

So let introduce you to my little cat.

Her name is Meredith and she has one fang only because she broke her other one.  The picture above is her showing off her one fang.  She has terrible teeth and it's not my fault.  I remind her to brush every day, but she doesn't listen!  (Actually the vet said that sometimes shelter kitties get a virus which cause weak teeth and she suspects that is what happened with Meredith).   Anyway, she likes to get on places and generally knock over as much shit as she can.   Today I learned her language.  

She was sitting on top of my counter top ice maker (shut up, I know it's stupid, but I LOVE it).  Here was the conversation that followed:

Me: Meredith GET Down

Her (laying in that way that cats lay with her hips sticking up): Meow 

Me: GET DOWN

Her: Meow

I grab her and put her on the floor and she says : Meeeeoooooowwwww

My first thought is that Meow means "no."  But she says it when she wants food too, and when Peter and I leave her.  Then I realized.  It's not "no."  It's "fuck you."  Let me demonstrate the above conversation using the translation:

Me: Meredith GET Down

Her (laying in that way that cats lay with her hips sticking up): Fuck you 

Me: GET DOWN

Her: Fuck you

I grab her and put her on the floor and she says : Fuck youuuuuuuuuuu

See?  It works.  That little bitch is not only talking back to me, she's swearing at me!  

I would expect nothing else from my little devil cat

I leave you with some more photos of her, being her.

(this is the pose I was talking about, hips all up and body all compact!)

I do love her dearly

Morning walk

Every morning I take a walk with Peter.  We both need the exercise.  This morning I decided to document my morning in photos.  You're welcome.

First- here is the train so prominently described in my title, except of course that this is a train from West Medford, not to West Medford.  Details.  Also it looks like it's coming to West Medford because when the train is going into the city, the engine pushes it instead of pulling it.

In case you were wondering, here is a photo of my walking partner who really spends more time sniffing things and stopping me than actually walking.

See?

 I walk along a river and right now the water lilies are in full bloom which despite the murkiness of the river (the Mystic, by the way), makes it look just lovely

So it was a steamy, but lovely walk this morning.  I will leave you with a few trees that caught my eye along the way

This one, which is huge (that car is right next to it- the tree is nearly as wide!)

And these ones which some enthusiastic crochet-er (?) has lovingly adorned.  As someone who loves to crochet, I could appreciate that!

Have a wonderful Friday!!!

Oh the heat

Living in New England gives me and my fellow New Englanders ample opportunities to indulge in the age old tradition of complaining about all different types of weather all year long.  I'm sure few would disagree that fall is the best season, weather-wise, in New England.   Right now it is the oppressive three H's (Hazy, Hot and HUMID).  It's getting to the point where my dog will run out, do his business then come back into my air conditioned apartment like his ass is on fire (probably feels like it is).  Stepping outside feels like you are stepping into an oven and the temptation is there to see if in fact you can fry an egg on the sidewalk.  (I tried it a few years ago during a heat wave like this one- it didn't work, fyi).

The biggest down side to this is that it seems to suck every bit of energy out of me, despite the air conditioning.  This is why I could never live in Florida.  I would never get anything done.  Ironically, my electricity bills are making me feel like I actually need to work harder.

Yesterday I had a job interview and it was kind of discouraging.  I don't know if it was the heat, but it sounded like an awful lot of work for not a lot of money and I'm wondering if I'll find something that is fitting the ideal that I've created in my head.  Probably not, and maybe I will feel better once I am cooler. 

One thing that is enjoying this heat is my plumeria which started as a gift from my mom that looked like a stick.  I planted it in some dirt, gave it lots of light and heat and here is what it looks like now:

It really loves this heat.  That makes one of us.  I realize the picture is sideways, but it's hot and I'm tired and I don't feel like fixing it :)

Fans

I love old fans. I guess you could say I'm a fan. (HA!) I don't know why but suffice it say if I see a functional one for under $20, I usually buy them.  I went to an awesome yard sale this morning and picked up this little puppy for $15.

Here it is before:

And after some magic erasers and some elbow grease:

Works great, but there's a rattle I don't love, but it's old and it's my very first old box fan.

Here's the first fan I bought last summer for $3:

Please excuse the fact that it's a screenshot from my instagram- I couldn't find the photo anywhere else.

And finally, here's my FAVORITE fan.  Seriously.  It's a GE and you may have noticed it on my desk in my last post:

So that's it, my tribute to fans of yore.  I leave you with this, a picture of what my love looks like in a heavy breeze not unlike the one produced by my fabulous fans, but in this case the effect was created by riding on the highway with my top down :) (no worries, I was safe when I took this photo, I was watching the road and not the camera)