buncha random

Some new things for the house...

A large wine rack from Amazon that takes up less space than the two small wine racks I had before.

The two empty spaces on bottom were filled today with a Malbec and red blend I found at Trader Joe's. I love crisp, white wines and roses (ugh, that's not roses as in the flower...it's "rohzays"...I don't know how to get the foreign accent marks in Blogger!) in the warmer months and then heavier reds in the cold months.

Last Friday, I took a drive out to Woodstock, IL ~ the town famous for the filming of the movie, Groundhog Day. It was a beautiful day, I wanted a little escape all by myself, and the town square is a beautiful place to take a walk and stop in some independent shops. Besides, a few of the shops were participating in a Vintage Shop Hop.

Recognize this gazebo in the town square from the movie?

I came home with a couple of small things ~ this tin bird bath...

and a vintage bowl in one of my favorite colors.

I follow a young woman on Instagram that I used to know from when she was a teenager and we went to the same church. She's now married with a baby and living in the Portland, Oregon area. I've been enthralled by her macrame work ~ she's so talented! ~ and she's now selling it through her Instagram account. I finally decided on this piece for my guest room wall. So pretty, right? She uses driftwood that she finds on the beach.

If you're old enough to remember, macrame was all the rage in the 70's. I took a class with my mom and made plant hangers and even a purse with a Lucite handle. 

I love supporting independent artists, too. If you're interested, her Instagram account is @heatherswebbs. 

Some freebies for the house...

An elderly woman down the street recently passed away. At least, that's what I'm assuming because I haven't seen her and her house is up for sale. A few days ago, Brian and I were taking a walk and there was a Dumpster in front of the woman's house. It was filled to the brim with relics of her life: old-fashioned lamps and torn lampshades, rusty toolboxes, a huge stereo console, a couch that looked like it was from the 1960's with that stiff, brushed polyester finish, lots of junky odds and ends, and ooh, some old ladders.

I also found a huge, vintage pottery crock. The only marking on the bottom is "USA". It has a couple of small chips on the back, but I don't mind. (I found a vintage bean pot too, but it's currently in the dishwasher so it hasn't been photographed yet.)

I guess I officially Dumpster dived! Though I didn't go INTO the Dumpster. Ick. These items were on top. Made me kind of sad though to think this lady lived her life in this house all these years and had all this furniture and things that made her house a home and perhaps made her happy, just like we all do. And then she's gone and all her stuff is relegated to a Dumpster and hauled away. She's gone, her stuff is gone. Like nothing ever mattered. I silently promised the elderly lady that I would take care of her few things and thanked her for them.

My sweet Clementine...

She was diagnosed with kidney disease a few years ago. It's unfortunately very common in cats, especially as they get older. She was young to be diagnosed - only eight or nine years old at the time. She's been doing pretty well since the diagnosis and has been on medicine for high blood pressure which helps the kidneys and a prescription diet. But her latest blood tests show that certain levels are climbing. It's time for subcutaneous fluids. The vet said she needed them one - three times a week to start out. I panicked because of the time and money involved. Long story short, I talked to the vet and we agreed she could start with one treatment per week. From what I've read about and heard from other cat owners, you can get the supplies from the vet and do the IV fluids yourself at home. That way you don't have to keep taking the cat to the vet plus, of course, it's much cheaper to do it yourself at home.

That's all fine and dandy except that IV needles ~ and the thought of sticking them into the cat's skin ~ totally freaks me out. I honestly don't know if I could handle that. Last night as I was lying in bed, I was picturing the whole set up at home and trying to insert the needle into Clementine's skin between her shoulder blades. And it actually made me feel like I was going to vomit. My anxiety was skyrocketing and I couldn't fall asleep. Brian said he couldn't do this either. So I don't know what we're going to do. We certainly can't afford anymore than one treatment per week through the vet. But as she progresses with her kidney disease, she's going to need more treatments. Has anyone out there been through this with their cat?

Gorgeous weather...

We've been blessed with a warm-up in temperatures, plenty of sunshine and brilliant blue skies. As I do every year, I photograph the maple tree across the street almost every day. It's amazing how quickly it changes. This photo was taken today in the late afternoon. 

"How beautifully leaves grow old. How full of light and color are their last days."
(John Burroughs)

Brian had the day off work yesterday and we went for an afternoon hike in the State Park. We are so lucky to have this gem close to our house.

If you look closely, you can see a sandhill crane taking off out of the water.

Getting ready for the new couch...

Last month, I told you that we finally bought a new couch from Crate and Barrel after looking for one for over a year. It had to be built - they didn't have the couch we wanted in stock - and it will finally be here on Friday. I'm so excited! The other day when our furnace tune-up guy was here (the son of a friend), he helped Brian move our old couch out to the curb. Luckily, it was snatched up within a few hours.

Our old couch was up against the wall where you see the now-blank space. I packed up the books and pottery from the black shelves, took the two big pictures off the walls and we moved the black shelves and the white table into the basement. Our plan for the new couch is to put it on an angle with the back facing the corner. If that arrangement doesn't work out, we will put the couch in the same place the old one was. 

I love this coffee table. It was my grandma's and it's made by Lane. It's a high-quality, solid (heavy!) piece of furniture. It's too big for our small living room though. Eventually, I want to move this coffee table downstairs into the family room and find a smaller coffee table for the living room. There's other plans I have for the living room too, but one step at a time.

Enjoy the rest of your week. Stay safe and healthy and wear your mask!

💓

weekend fun

This past Saturday, me, my mom and aunt hopped in the car and went to a barn sale out in the country. It was only half an hour from my house, but that half hour further west makes a lot of difference in the landscape as far as open land goes. 

The house and grounds were so beautiful. I could definitely live in a place like this.

Check out the cute shed!

Couldn't you picture relaxing around this fire pit on a cool October evening, talking and laughing with friends or family, having a glass of wine or beer and making s'mores? (No phones!) 

Just gazing around at all the beautiful, open land makes your blood pressure drop. I sure wouldn't mind this view from my back yard instead of neighbor's houses.

We were greeted at the entrance to the barn by a pair of turkeys.

Before I went into the barn, I went to the side where the turkeys started heading and I found more turkeys and some ducks. Pee-yew, was it smelly over there! And turkeys are noisy. I had no idea.

That did it for me - I headed quickly into the barn where I had a more pleasant greeting: free coffee and make-your-own Bloody Mary's!

 

The barn was filled with antique furniture and all kinds of vintage and antique treasures for the home.

This piece already had a sold sign on it. I wasn't surprised. I would love something like this in my kitchen instead of the tall, narrow china cabinet that's currently there.

Me, my aunt and my mom.

After the barn sale, we went to a couple of nearby shops in town to peruse more treasures. Here's a few things I came home with, both from the barn sale and the shops ~ a gorgeous made-in-England pitcher, antique french lace wooden pins, and a small piece of pottery. I also bought a vintage glass deep pie dish and a vintage blue and white speckled pottery mug (RRP Pottery, Roseville, OH) ~ not pictured. I love different coffee/tea mugs in general and have far too many, but my tastes change every so often and now it's leaning towards the pottery ones.

More fun on Sunday with going to see the Linda Ronstadt documentary ("The Sound of my Voice") with a couple of girlfriends. It was excellent! If you get a chance to see this movie, I highly recommend it if you were ~ and still are ~ a Linda Ronstadt fan.

Hope your week is off to a good start. We've had sunshine and temps near 70 so far this week, but rain moving in tomorrow night (which is the last thing we need) and then cold this weekend. Not ready for that!

antiquing finds

A local antique shop had a gardening event this past weekend, so I went to check it out.

I was hoping to find a bistro table for our little front porch, but no luck. 

Instead, I found a few pretty things inside the shop. I love milk glass, but I normally pass on the vases. I thought these three were unique enough to purchase, especially for only 99 cents each.

I also picked up this metal carrier...maybe it was one a milk bottle carrier? For now, this is how I'm using it - notice I stuck a couple of the milk glass vases in there - but I'll probably move it outdoors in the warmer weather to hold small pots of flowers.

I put the third milk glass piece in another carrier that I had. The lilacs are from my yard.

I don't know if these vintage pottery pieces are candlesticks or bud vases. Unfortunately, I didn't notice the entire leaf was broken off on the piece on the left until I got home. When the shop owner was wrapping these pieces, he said that one of them had a chip and asked me if that was OK. I said, "sure" without even really looking. Lesson learned.

The bottom of the candlesticks/bud vases have an unreadable signature and label. 

Any ideas?

I love this bowl. It's made by Harker Hotoven Pottery. I now have it sitting on my kitchen counter with fresh fruit in it.

Another find were these horseshoes. I hung them on our fence over nails. I posted the photo on Instagram and someone said that I have them hanging upside down! My question was, how do you hang them the other way? You certainly can't drive a nail through them.

I also went to a plant sale where all the plants were native to our region. I ended up getting a big poppy plant, bluebells, bishop's cap, and a variety of herbs. I can't plant any of these plants yet though, because it's still too cold. We've been having frost warnings at night. We also are changing up a couple of our little garden areas around the house this year. So once we do that and get these new plants in the ground, that'll be another post for another day.

Have a wonderful week!

spring amazements and a big project

This weekend, I went to one of my favorite local garden centers to look around. When I walked into this greenhouse, I stopped in my tracks and smiled. One thing's for sure: When you live in an area that has long, cold, gray winters, it sure makes you happy to see color and flowers again.

I didn't rush and buy any flowers yet though as I knew I wouldn't be able to plant them this week. And right now, all I want to plant is some pansies and they were overpriced at this garden center.

What I did buy? ONE succulent.

Remember the vintage planter I got a couple of weekends ago at an antique shop?
It was calling for a succulent.

If you're wondering about the piece of art in the background...that's a metal and wood plaque by the contemporary American artist, Nancy Thomas. I found it in Goodwill many years ago.

I am amazed by what is blooming or coming out of the ground every day. One day the hostas were barely poking out of the ground and two days later, the leaves were already unfurling.

Today I was walking around my yard and I found these beautiful daffodils in bloom. A couple of days ago, they were merely green stalks.

And rhubarb! That appeared practically overnight, too.

 I had physical therapy this morning (and oh, by the way, I saw the orthopedic dr yesterday for my six week checkup and he didn't like how my knee and leg are still swollen...so I started a prescription anti-inflammatory that will hopefully get that swelling down...and lucky me got another month of PT tacked onto my schedule, too), and this afternoon decided to start a big project.

As most of you know, I'm an avid reader and love my book collection. I have books in every room of my home except for the bathrooms. Downstairs in my family room, I have three big bookcases and two small ones. I also have big wicker baskets full of books because I have no more room left in the bookcases. Well, I decided to tackle the books today. Monkey was absolutely thrilled by this prospect.

I started with the first bookcase and cleared off the half the shelves, starting at the bottom. I carried those approximately 150 books upstairs (lots of trips) and piled them on the kitchen table. I looked up each book on amazon to see the average reader review. Anything less than four stars, I didn't keep it. After that, I decided which ones to list on paperbackswap and which ones to donate to my local library for their Friends of the Library book sale.

I ended up listing 44 books on paperback swap and bagging up another 47 to donate to the library. The remainder were the ones I kept.

Look - I already have empty bookshelves! My goal is to finish this first bookshelf by this weekend. I have a loong way to go, but this is a start.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter - if I don't talk to you all by Sunday!

monday night chat

I started this post by uploading some photos this morning, but severe back pain hit and I wasn't able to write until now - nighttime. More on that later in the post.

Wow, did I ever have a great weekend! My sister and brother-in-law invited Brian and I to a Blackhawk's game. Brian and I have never been to a live Blackhawk's game. We had a blast. I was a little worried ahead of time about my knee, with all the walking and going up and down the stairs in the stadium, but I did fine.

I love hockey. It's the only sport I enjoy watching. Must be the Canadian in me. My dad was Canadian...and I was born in Canada, though we moved to the States when I was three months old. My dad was a semi-pro hockey player back in Canada, and when I was growing up, he coached kid's hockey games (I went to a lot of these games with him) and he also took me and my sister ice-skating on a huge pond every winter. 

Brian and I spent the day in Evanston on Saturday. It's one of our little day trip go-to places. While browsing in Stumble and Relish, I was eyeballing these handmade earrings. I thought they were pretty cool and I love handmade jewelry, especially by local artists. Brian asked if I wanted them and I told him I wasn't sure; that I'd think about it. He insisted on buying them for me. :-) 

Of course, a trip to Evanston wouldn't be complete without a stop at our favorite antique store, Secret Treasures. I brought home this vintage pottery planter, which was only $6. Not sure who the maker is - it's only marked USA on the bottom. Now I just need to buy a little succulent to put in the planter to make it complete.

We decided to try a new-to-us restaurant for lunch and at the suggestion of a store clerk, went to a casual Mexican place.

Brian's tacos look good, right? He said they were...though I was a little disappointed in my fish tacos. It was one piece of fried fish, almost like a fish stick. And there was a sauce in a little jar on my plate that went on the tacos. The waiter neglected to warn me that the sauce was very spicy. My mouth and lips were on fire! I also had a "real" guava margarita (not made from a mix) but was in a very small glass that was filled with mostly ice. Needless to say, in general we were disappointed with this place and won't be going back.

 We also visited one of our favorite independent bookstores, Bookends and Beginnings where we purchased a couple of used books and also had a nice chat with the owner. I didn't take any new photos, but here's one from a previous visit. This is the cookbook section - they have a fabulous selection.

No photos, but on the way home we stopped at a Mediterranean grocery store and picked up fresh pita bread, hummus, baba ganoush, dolma, and a block of paneer cheese so I can try and make one of my favorite Indian dishes, Palak Paneer. It's basically cubed cheese in a spicy spinach sauce. A few miles up the road, we hit a Jewish deli for corned beef, pastrami, tuna salad, chive cream cheese ("schmear"), and bagels. One good thing about living in the Chicago area, is that we have access to just about any kind of ethnic food we desire. A foodie's heaven!

 We stayed home on Sunday and got a lot done around the house. At one point, we were outside picking up some of the twigs and branches that have fallen into our yard from all the storms and when I bent over, there went my back. I immediately started having horrible back spasms. I wasn't totally surprised. I had noticed a couple of times since my knee surgery, when getting up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, my lower back would lock up on me for a moment and have one of those spasms.

This morning, my back was in slight pain and I'd get those spasms if I made a sudden movement or bent over even in the slightest bit. I took a slow, gentle walk to the channel down the road. The fresh air and movement felt good, even though it was - surprise - another gloomy day with rain moving in.

 When I got home, I took a warm bath with Epsom salts and lavender oil, then did some gentle stretches. I was feeling better until this afternoon, and then the pain started getting worse. I normally don't take ibuprofen, but by 3:30, I couldn't stand it anymore. I had to take something. That only took the edge off the pain for a couple of hours. The pain and spasms got bad again. I spent a lot of time with the heating pad on my back, which felt really good.

 I Googled about pulled muscles in the back + remedies and one thing I read said to try using a tennis ball. So I took a tennis ball and put it between my lower back and the wall and moved around to try and get some of the tight muscles loosened up. Guess what - it worked! I'm not pain free by any means, but it helped a lot. I'm supposed to be going to physical therapy tomorrow, but I don't know if I'll be able to. I'm pretty bummed about that possibility. I was making good progress with my knee in PT and was halfway through. If I miss a session or two, I'll be going backwards. 

 (my clematis coming to life!)

And now it's time to feed the cats and get ready for bed. 

Here's to a better tomorrow.