Wednesday, June 24, 2009

It's Wednesday already?

This week seems to be going pretty quickly, which is kind of strange. Generally right before a vacation, time just seems to drag and drag. And then, the day before you leave it's crazy-go-nuts all day long.

We're having a garage sale on Saturday (take 2), and I'm hoping the weather cooperates just as well as it did last week. It was absolutely beautiful! A bit windy, but we couldn't have asked for a nicer day. I put an ad in the paper today, and we're planning on blanketing the neighborhood with festive (and awesome) neon posters. Hopefully we'll get a lot more traffic and get rid of a lot more stuff. If you're in need of stuff, stop by Rosedale on Saturday. We'll be there from 7-Noon. Show up early and I will pelt you with pine cones. You've been warned. :)

Countdown to beach bum status: 4 days!

Friday, June 19, 2009

a snippet

It's finally Friday, and a fantastic Friday it is...it's Garage Sale Eve! It's one of the lesser known holidays.

Tonight shall be filled with organizing, pricing, some sort of junk food, and beverages of the alcoholic variety. Yep.

Prior to that, though, is a trek to the annual library book sale! WOOOO! Lots of bargain books for sale, and if you go on Sunday you can take home a Bag'O'Books for a mere $6. Let the reading bonanza begin!!

Countdown to beach bum status: 9 days!!

Tuesday, June 16, 2009

the weekend ahead

Garage sale!!! WOoooooOOOOoo!

I'm not nearly as ready as I was hoping to be, but I have gone through several boxes that have been sitting in my closet (and likely have moved from closet to closet as I have moved from house to house - which is the definition of silliness).

This is all in an effort to simplify. I have WAY too much stuff, most of which I don't use. Why not sell it to someone who needs it, and put a little extra cash in my pocket? Yep. Sounds like a fantastic idea.

So if you're out and about on Saturday, swing by Rosedale manor and buy some junk from us. We may even have some breakfast burritos for your dining pleasure.

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Before & After: Coat Rack

Hopefully this will be the first of many before&after/DIY projects on my blog. Yay!

I bought this lovely thing at a garage sale for $1. Yes, one whole dollar. I've been thinking about a fun way to display all my hats (and have them within reach).

First, I took off all the hardware and then sanded the board. I spray painted the hangers and screws a lovely matte white. While waiting for the first coat to dry, I painted the board using a tiny sample bottle of Glidden, can't remember off-hand what the color was (other than a gorgeous shade of dark turquoisey goodness). I rubbed it in with my hands to create a vintage feel, then I accented it with some paint that was leftover from our kitchen remodel. I used D-hangers, wire, and picture hangers (that hold up to 50 pounds) to mount it on the wall. And voila! The finished product:

It adds visual interest to the kitchen. I like it!

Monday, June 08, 2009

the last few weeks

Ugh. I've been MIA from blogland for two weeks! That is unacceptable. I promise to do better. What's been going on? A lot actually...

We had a Memorial Day fiesta at Casa de Rosedale, complete with homemade peach salsa, fajitas, and friends (and some It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, hilarity!). Good times!

That following weekend, Cassi and I got our rears out of the house super early (7am!) on Saturday morning to go bargain hunting. We made our fantastic finds at garage sale #3: a dryer for a mere $60 - delivered!, a Fossil purse for me ($3) and a Chinese Laundry purse for Cassi ($2). Yes, I said Fossil and Chinese Laundry. We should have gone back and purchased every purse they had! The next stop brought loads of DVDs for a buck apiece, a coat rack for $1 (stay tuned for the Before & After project), a lovely Carmen Miranda-esque bust for Cassi's room, and a few other knick-knacks. We were famished by 9:30 and stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrell (yum!), and thus ended our garage saling. It was a good morning!

We bummed around the house for the rest of the day, watched a few of our bargain movies, and then went to cheer on the Ruff Riders (Abilene's indoor football team). Cheap tickets, good football. Yep.

On to Sunday. Lazy Sunday morning, late service at Beltway, and then some perusing at Home Depot. I bought a few things we needed for the washer and dryer and then headed home. After lunching, I got to work on my coat rack (full post on that coming soon), and then, while waiting for paint to dry, I got to work installing washers in the hoses on the washing machine (it was leaking from both ends). After several minutes of cursing the blasted hoses, and turning them 1/8 of an inch each turn (stupid!), I finally got all of the washers in place and hoses reattached. Then I put the vent hose on the dryer (which took longer than it should have, those things are hard to cut without wire cutters). I decided to do a test load in the washer, and then (mistakenly) went back out to the garage to finish up the coat rack project. A few minutes later I went back in the house, and found a flooded kitchen!! EEEK! Apparently a clamp for the drain hose is not an optional part. But after all the craziness (and retrieval of necessary parts), washer and dryer are now fully operational and there has been no more flooding. Yay!

I was pretty proud of myself for fixing things on my own (even though there was a bit of trial and error). Is a handy-woman career in my future? Ha, not likely. But it's good to know that I can take care of the small things.