it's tough getting stuff out of the garbage, but someone has to do it

I mentioned that I did something to my back a few weeks ago, and part of it was moving furniture around.  Said furniture was a couch and a love seat that I found in my neighbor's garbage pile.  I knew that I didn't really have a place for them, but after wracking my brain wondering who else might need them, and the imminent threat of a rain storm, I came upon the brilliant idea of squeezing them into my already more than amply supplied home.

::If you saw this this lovely upholstery wouldn't you just jump at the chance, too?

::here is a photo of our "library" before -- a room in which we also watch shows together on our computer (I love netflix!).  It is a little bit much squeezing two adults, two teenagers, and three littles on one loveseat and one chair.  I decided to move this loveseat up to the landing, but it stuck out too much so this came back down and the new one went up.

::the new arrangement in what I now call the "face off" room.  We can intertwine our legs across the aisle and the computer and t.v. now face off for our attention.  I went to Ikea and got white slipcovers for the new couch and loveseat and they fit almost perfectly!  The best $49 I ever spent.

::here is the landing before, but I have always wanted a window seat or something more comfy on which to sit and enjoy the western sunlight.

::not a fantastic photo, but you get the idea.  Matthew and Ella both think the space is too small to accommodate upholstered furniture of any sort, but Mittens definitely approves and spends most of her day here now.  This slipcover was only $11!

::one casualty at the moment is our dining room which is suffering a glut of chairs -- mostly because of the Christmas trees which displaced two chairs from the hallway and one from the living room, but then since the chess table landed there from the landing and the little rocking chair came from the library, we're starting to look a little scary.  I am not a hoarder!!!  

In the meantime Matthew is dying to know what else we can slip a white cover on.  I'll think of something.

Trash or Treasure

Well, I have done it again and bought some garbage.  Oh, and some weeds.  I went to another estate sale on Friday and found what I thought was another manifestation of my gift for thinking of something I need and then finding it right before my eyes.  That actually did happen when I walked in and saw a long row of cookbooks and thought, "I wonder if  The Joy of Cooking is here because I have been looking for that for a while."  I started at one end of the row and towards the end there it was, twiddling its thumbs, waiting for me to find it.  It is a lovely hard bound edition from the 1960's and is even marked with some favorites for us to try.  This experience made me cocky as I meandered around the house so when I came upon a small chest freezer in the basement I didn't hesitate to snatch it up.  It was only $10 which should have been my first clue that something was not right.  We couldn't get it at that moment so I went back later with Matthew and Charles.  We hefted the thing out of their basement, up stairs, around corners, through doorways and then drove it home and were negotiating around our own tricky corners when I noticed that the seal in back is torn and there is quite a large space for air to get through.  Now, I wasn't completely negligent and did check to see if it worked.  It was plugged in and there was ice in it as proof that it did actually freeze things, but I hadn't noticed this one little flaw.  Matthew and I had a conference as the freezer teetered on the stairs.  How much might it cost to run with air billowing out the back?  And how long would it take to just save the amount that it would require to buy something new that was more energy efficient?  And why did I just pay $10 to strain my back, get my car dirty, and bring something else into my life that I now need to get rid of?   I don't want to just throw it in the garbage since I hate the idea of filling up the landfill, but at the same time how environmental is it to be wasting so much energy with old appliances?  Hmmm.  Craig's list here I come.

More on weeds and the environment later.

Paper Trail

I have never been one to really use coupons. I do use them at restaurants, but I have never clipped coupons to save at the grocery store. I have always been interested, but thought it seemed too complicated and not really worth the time and effort since a.) I try to eat fresh food, and there are no coupons for apples, and b.) I buy the store brand of a lot of things, or clearance, etc. or at the opposite extreme I buy really nice organic gourmet things which also have no coupons. This year we have been trying to build up our year supply of food storage and in my wanderings on the web I have come across many blogs and other sites with tips for spending hardly anything at the grocery store through wise coupon use. Oooh, I would like to spend less on groceries. So first I had to get some coupons which was as agonizing as I could possibly make it. Next I painstakingly copied the experts' organizational methods and still have no idea how to find the right coupons. Finally I looked at the store ads and armed myself with a plastic sleeve which contained a grocery list of only amazing deals and a neat stack of carefully clipped coupons to make those deals truly spectacular. I had a very busy day yesterday with orders going to the post office, picking up kids, cleaning the house, preparing my Bradley lesson, making dinner, etc. but decided to run to the store around 5:00 since some of the sales I had synced up were ending yesterday and if I didn't go then I would have to start all over again. I went inside with the three youngest, which I suspect was my first mistake, and we ran around looking for just the right items. Our cart was filled with multiples of the same product, time was running short, and we made our way up to the cash register. I was nervous and excited as I anticipated the glorious acknowledgement of my efforts -- the receipt! There were some things I had decided not to get so I pulled out the coupons to remove the ones I didn't need. What? Wait a minute! Where are the amazing salad dressing coupons? And the magic eraser? And the peanuts??? Of course I still had the coupons for the things I wasn't buying, but out of the things I did decide to purchase, I had only ones for two items! I had multiples of those so I hadn't realized that some of my precious, precious coupons were missing! By the time this realization was confirmed (checked purse 25 times, shaken out completely empty transparent sleeve in hopes that something was hiding in the corners), the groceries were already being zipped through. I asked if the transaction could be suspended since I was missing some COUPONS, but he said that I could bring them back in with my receipt. Okay. Deep breaths. They are probably in the car and just fell out. Take kids out to the car, scramble under the seats, no coupons. They are probably still at home on the dining table. Get home, look all around, no coupons. I guess I didn't notice 50 coupons trailing behind us as I tried to keep baby safely in seat and was repeating "No gum. No brownies. No sugar cereal. No fruit snacks." to the girls! No wonder I was a bit befuddled. I figure I lost about $20 worth of valuable coupons somewhere and I doubt that anyone will treasure them as much as I did. And to be honest, I didn't really need that many bottles of salad dressing, but they would have come out to .17¢! I guess I will return them.

To sum up: my initial foray into the dark underbelly of Coupon World ended in complete disaster. Should I even attempt round 2?

Love Seat

And we cannot forget the darling little love seat that was the best price of all -- free!  Complete with colorful afghan and that ever-present black cat.

"New" table

Here it is -- the table that changed my life.  I moved one of the chairs so that the fancy legs could be seen.  What do you think?  Do you think it matches my house?  And me?  

And also a picture of some cool old butterflies I found at a garage sale, and the temple picture that made me question my ability to make basic decisions.

The Amazing Sale

Last Friday I thought I was spontaneously stopping by an estate sale.  I had never been to one before and I had a little time between the post office and whatever was next on my list (Facebook?  No, surely something more important, although now it seems to have slipped my mind).  There were a lot of cars on the cramped street so I had to pull over and let all the cars that had gotten there after me pass by and then I finally found a lonely little spot way down at the end of the street.  I always feel personally affronted by such circumstances, "How rude.  Don't they realize that I have to carry a big baby all that way?  They don't have big babies.  They are selfish.  Oh wait, I am trying to lose weight.  What a great opportunity."  So instead of changing my mind, I lugged my big baby down the street, around to the back of the house and in through the garage.  The scene was typical of any other garage sale: an old fuchsia sofa (I need a new couch, but my walls are red, cringe!), random gardening tools, some broken chairs -- no portent of anything noteworthy.  I wondered if this was the sale in its entirety, but then saw that there were people inside the house.  I sidestepped my way unsuspectingly through the narrow back door and found myself in a veritable Aladdin's Cave!  (Angels singing -- Aaah, Aaah).  Everywhere I turned another treasure caught my eye.  In the butler's pantry were tiny Limoges saucers for .50¢, the kitchen held heaps of trays and bowls overflowing with kitchen ware.  The dining room had sets of china and old Japanese framed prints.  The living room had beautiful furniture -- lacquer hutches and a mahogany secretary.  I found myself wanting to transport the contents of the house lock, stock, and barrel to my own.  But I resisted and merely crept around looking and pondering.  There was part of me that felt like a plunderer, rummaging through another woman's things while she is powerless to do anything about it.  And the thought coming quickly behind  that you really cannot take it with you.  You spend your life scrambling around  and really in the end, very little of it matters.  Those impressions kept my hands loot free for a while (or was it that big baby?) and I felt somewhat somber as I looked at the scraps of her earthly life:  She was a mother -- three boys and one girl; her husband was a prominent doctor in the area; she was catholic; she loved dishes, crystal, and silverware; she was a quilter, a gardener, a reader, a cook, a traveller, a homemaker.  She had made a lovely home and I felt a comforting spirit there.  I turned, and there on a table in a back room were my dishes that I use every day!  I smiled and thought, "We are kindred spirits.  No wonder I like every single solitary item in this house."  This discovery changed my tune as I began to think that she wouldn't mind, with her newly acquired perspective from the other side, if her things went to another house with someone who would enjoy them.  I thought about my own eventual demise and the inevitable letting go.  It will be fine.  With that I picked up a lovely set of cake plates -- each with its own flower pattern, grabbed the little saucers I had seen earlier which would be ideal for sushi dipping, and then went to stand in line.  I made my purchases then stopped back by the dining room.  Hmmm.  What a table!  It matches my hutches perfectly.  And those chairs.  I don't like the way that lady is eying those.  In fact, I am pretty sure that those belong in my house.  I picked up the phone and told M that I was going to buy a new dining set.  "We already have a table."  "I know, but we this one is perfect!"  We went the next day to pick it up and everything was discounted, in fact by the time we left everything was 75% off.  Here is what we ended up with: dining room table with three leaves and six chairs (same brand as my free hutches), loveseat (exactly the same shape as the one I have wanted online that cost $3500 and I was considering saving up for, given to me free because I bought the table), a black afghan with bright flowers (exactly like the one in "Stranger Than Fiction" that I admired so much that I checked out "Crocheting for Dummies" from the library because it had the pattern and I was going to try to make it myself even though I don't know how to crochet), the game "Acquire" (Matthew's favorite game ever and no longer sold in stores and one which I need never play since I am obviously expert at acquisition), my set of dishes -- I now have 18 dinner plates, time for a party! (she had them marked $100, but then gave them to me free when I told her they matched ones I already have), a hammock (I have wanted one for five years and have scoured clearance aisles and garage sale in vain.  I didn't want to pay too much and it ended up that I didn't), a Christmas tree skirt (with pom poms on the edge), a cake slicer (my mom has the one that I grew up with and that was her mother's.  I have looked for one like it at antique stores and thrift shops for years and there it was sitting patiently with its yellow handle that matches my kitchen), and various other plates, bowls, etc.  I think that is all of it.

The first question is should I ever set foot inside another estate sale?  There would not be room enough to receive another haul like this last one, but surely nowhere else would I be able to find so many of just the right things.  I have been having dreams about the sale almost every night (it really had an effect on my subconscious) and woke up quite disappointed on Monday that I couldn't go find one somewhere.  And what did they do with the things that didn't sell (hands wringing, did I need something else)?

And the next question is, what does this all mean, if anything?  It was incredible to me that so many things that I have been searching for were right there at that one house.  I really am not looking for that many things, but I am learning to be patient and just wait for them to find me.  What if I hadn't gone?  Would the Earth have stopped spinning?  Was I meant to go there?  Was it a coincidence?  Or was it a blessing, a tender mercy if you will?  And if so, why?  Things aren't that important, and certainly me having things isn't that important.  And there are plenty of more deserving people in the world who seem to have it pretty rough.  This is a question I ask myself often about amazing little occurrences that happen in my life and I really don't know the answer.  What I do know is that I want to give credit where credit is due.  I know that God loves me and I am sure that I am supposed to "pay it forward" somehow since I have been smiled upon.   I am grateful for what I assume was a unique experience.

Perfection -- aaah

Okay, it is official:  I have the perfect baby.  Last night he slept from 10:00 to 5:00!  It was amazing.  Of course, we were at a park and then the swimming pool for the entire day which may have just wiped him out.  I will be realistic and not hasten to assume that he will do the same thing again tonight.   The other remarkable thing is that lately I have just been putting him down while he is awake and he'll wiggle around quietly and then just go • to • sleep.  It is astounding!  Right now he is snoozing away in the lovely sling that I made.  I will have to put a picture up -- I used upholstery fabric and it is stylin'.

Lest one become envious, let me assure that not all is perfect at our house.  I am sitting in a room with four computers in various states of usefulness.  Matthew's is from work and is the nicest.  Next there is the used Mac that we bought a few months ago on Ebay.  We got a great deal, but last week (or the week before, it is blurry) I was showing my family Jenn's funny post with the can of chinese food and while the laptop was open "someone" (no names) tripped on the cord and the computer swan dived off of the counter and landed face first on the tile floor.  Only, it doesn't have a face and doesn't bend backward like that and the monitor became disconnected from the keyboard.  Matthew connected his computer and found that the hard drive (I know I sound technical, but I really have no idea...) was still working so he brought an enormous monitor home and hooked it up to the laptop keyboard.  So I have to look to the left while I type to the right.  Talennnnt!  It looks ridiculous, but works.  Now on this "new to us" computer we could never get the e-mail to work right so we still used the old laptop.  We wanted a new laptop because the old one actually can bend backward and does at random.  So while just working away on something it would suddenly snap backward and splat the table.  Eventually the screen cracked and little by little one could see less and less of the screen.  I still need that e-mail program to do the orders for Illegal Art so I was still using it until the adaptor connector thing-y (still technical) stopped working so we had to hold it up and to the right to get the battery to work while I did orders.  Matthew then hooked up his parents old laptop so we could see the screen better and know what we were looking at.  Thus four computers and a very long and boring paragraph that I suspect no one will bother reading.  I would skip it and I ought to add a disclaimer at the beginning of it.

I bought a new table off of Craig's list last week so our old kitchen table is also in the dining room (along with the four computers, an actual dining table, a desk, two hutches, some random chairs, the guinea pig cage, and four people at the moment - oh, the vacuum is in here, too).  I really like the shape of the new table, but it needs painting, or I need new chairs...  At any rate, it doesn't match anything.

There is a flood warning right now.  And the thunder and lightning is quite alarming!  I wonder if we should disconnect everything, but I just had to google surge protectors, so I don't think we are ready to sever our ties to the outside world just yet.

I have some photos to post.  Ciao