Garage Sale Find

I spotted these lovely candle holders just as the past owner was marking them down in price.

Since I didn't have any candles to fit them but I was excited about using them I put this together:

First, grapevine balls,

Covered with a pretty paper napkins,

Draped with a long strand of pearls

Some day I'll paint them a different color but for now I'm enjoying them this way.

rita

Bath Project

The bathroom off of the our bedroom is a mish-mash of construction styles and partially torn up walls and floor. It's part of the remodeling of QC that we did when we first moved in. Eventually we will tear most of it out, relocate plumbing and electrical but it isn't in the budget right now.

I'm not impatient for this to happen. However, I got to looking around recently and decided that for very little money a few changes could be made to help the room to be a little more friendly.

Have you ever had the experience of having a plastic shower curtain be sucked up against your wet naked body while you are trying to shower in a hotel? It can bring back the horror of the stabbing scene in "Pyscho". Then someone invented these wonderful CURVED shower curtain rods!

I LOVE them. So I replaced the original straight bar that was in our bathroom with this satin chrome curved bar. I also hung a new clear plastic shower curtain to give a more open feeling while in the shower.


Then to complete the mini-make over, I installed a new shower head with multiple
water sprays.



I have more ideas to alter this room for next to no money. I just need to find a few things at garage sales this weekend.
rita

Whacha doing?

I've been busy with projects. I'll have photos as soon as I've completed them.
rita

Hey, Dummy

My neighbors go out of their way to amuse me. For an example, on my way to the library today I spotted this . . .

I'm always interested in becoming acquainted with any new neighbors so I stopped for a closer look.

This one-eyed, footless, and quite jaundice gentleman wasn't in the mood for chatting but I bet he could have told some amazing tales of the things he has done and the things he has seen.
rita

Good-bye old iron

When I replaced the old ironing board cover a week ago the change was just too much for my 30 year old steam iron. After a few days of mourning the old cover -- my old steam iron laid down and died. It hissed it's last breath of steam and went cold.



When I recovered from the shock of its demise I began to look forward to purchasing a new one. I assumed that in the 30 years that have passed since the last time I bought one there would be loads of new features.

I was surprised to find that steam irons look pretty much today like they did years ago. They weigh the same and have the same features.

I chose this beauty. I tried not to be swayed by her pretty color and only after comparing all the features of the other models I settled on this one.

The only new feature from my old iron is the retractable cord.

I'm sorry that it isn't blue -- but the pink makes me smile and since ironing clothes is right up there with scrubbing toilets in my least favorite things to do -- anything I can do to make the task more agreeable is worth it.

rita

Quirky Door Sign

This is what I saw last week while shopping at a local strip mall.

Maybe it's just my quirky sense of humor -- but the sign on this door made me stop and think that I had misread it. But here it is -- un-Photoshopped -- it really says this.

I wonder if when they are interviewing potential employees they alert them that if their vehicle is wider than this door they need not apply.

rita

Latin Experience

The Cottage Master and I had a craving for Mexican food so we stopped into a small place down the street from us. We had eaten there once before and we were sure that the food and service would be what we were looking for.

The parking lot was completely full. We considered that a sure sign of good food.

We were told we would need to wait "five, ten minutes" before we could be seated. While waiting, I was taken by the beauty of the ceiling.


Cottage Master mentioned that noise level was rather high and I thought it was only because we were next to the bar section.

After we were seated we discovered that the noise level was no less loud where we were.

There were roving musicians going from table to table singing in Spanish. They sang even louder as the voices of the other diners got louder. Cottage Master and I smile at each other at the irony.

Then, when we thought it couldn't get any worse, a piece of machinery on the other side of the wall that we were sitting against, started up and the rumbling was so loud that the table began vibrating.

Our smiles turned into laughter.


The food was good and there was plenty of leftovers to munch on the next day.
rita

Leaping Leopard Cat

A cat flying through the air has been a familiar sight to us lately. While watching television in the evenings we'll see Leopard Cat leaping toward feeding birds and squirrels.

He is the most agile cat I've ever seen.

One afternoon I was reading when in my peripheral vision I saw him leap straight up into the air -- to the height of six feet -- and fortunately missed the bird at the feeder.

I went to the window to see if he was still there and found him hunkered down inside the curl of the garden hose waiting patiently for his next victim.

He saw me in the window and asked? Whacha doing with that black round thing?

And while I'm on the subject of cats -- how did this cat get here without knocking something down?

rita

Ramblings . . .

This dragonfly visited my kitchen window and I had fun looking at his colorful body.


While taking a walk I looked over a low fence and saw this wonderful garden.

Aren't these cute? They are candles!

rita

What's in a name?

Jerry Seinfeld watchers may remember when George said he wanted to name his first child Seven.

While watching our grandson's baseball team last weekend I became aware of the gentleman behind me in the stands kept calling out encouragement to Seven. My eyes widened. Had someone actually named their son Seven?

I listened intently for the man to call out some other name but he never did. About the time I was convinced that the pitcher's name was Seven my daughter-in-law leaned over to me and using the kid's real name told me that he had been on their basketball team as well.

That's when I saw that he was wearing the Number Seven on his jersey.

I am a bit dyslexic and my brain often does rather entertaining things with letters and words. Such as:

I read this team name as being Pathetic until common sense set in and I took a closer look.

rita

Head Scratcher

On Mother's Day my DD gave me some fun things for my sewing/craft room. One of them being a new ironing board cover. She thought I needed one.

Old Cover

When I first attempted to put it on it was at three three inches too short. My only explaination at the time was that my board is 40 years old and that the newer ones were shorter.

I thought about how best to make it fit over the weeks. Each time I had a solution I would stretch the cover over the board and think about how to best deal with the short-fall.

Then, last week, I finally decided I had a great idea about how to splice the new cover and make it fit. I stretched it across the board so that I could get an accurate measurement of how much I needed to compensation for and to my utter amazement the cover stretch enough to fit the board.


I stood in amazement staring at it -- not really believing what I saw. But here it is.

I'm thrilled with it. It's nice to use my iron without worrying about tearing more holes in the cover.

rita