There's a skeleton in my closet.

Now that the eve of ghosts and goblins is upon us, I feel the time is right to  

resurrect an old post I deleted.  When I attracted my very first follower
 I hit the panic button and deleted a few of my questionable posts.

You know the posts I'm talking about.  In the early days of blogging when

you don't give a hoot who's reading and you show your true colors.

Yes, those posts.

So, without further ado, today I'm subjecting treating you to my favorite deleted post
and in the process, exposing one of the skeletons in my closet.

Post title:  Knock, knock.
Originally published in the fall of the year 2010.
 Playlist song that accompanied post, I Hear You Knocking by Dave Edmunds.

Let me set the stage for you.

It's a lazy Saturday morning and you're sleenavutzing (my Baba's term for lazing around)
on the couch with your laptop and cup of coffee, still wearing your ratty old jammies,
hair all askew and no make-up,  last night's pizza box and dirty dishes on the kitchen table,
 Hershey's Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate Nuggets with Toffee and Almonds wrappers strewn about,
and the unthinkable happens.......


the doorbell rings!!!!

Yikes!!!!

Now I'm not sure what the average Joe does in a situation like this,
but here at 911, I've been known to drop to the floor and crawl to the nearest hiding spot,
puh-ray-ing  that I remembered to lock the doors the night before!

I was talking to a friend one day when she mentioned having to perform
the combat crawl to avoid a bothersome relative knocking at her door.
What?!!  There's actually a name to this maneuver
 and it's practiced in households other than my own?!   Well, call me relieved!
I'm normal, after all.

I'm quite sure it's a genetic trait I've inherited and passed on to one of our two daughters.
  I carry the slithery trait, but my husband most definitely does not.
 He's one of those people who always answers the phone, and likewise the door.
  He gets irritated with me when I stage whisper, "I'm not home!" as I
run up the stairs two at a time towards a safe haven.

He's not a natural at fabricating little white lies on the spot either.
He even tries to shame me into answering the door by saying,
 "There is something seriously wrong with you!"  to which I reply,
"No, there's something wrong with you.  Everybody does this!"

Don't they?



Well. I gotta run.
Somebody's at the door!!!

Bill:   "Ummmm, Vickie?  Vickie who?  Oh, her.
Ahhhh, let me think.  I saw her put her running shoes on,
so she's probably out training for next year's Grandma's Marathon.
 I'm sure she won't be home for hours, possibly even days.

(I've never run a mile in my life.  Intentionally, that is.)

So tell me.  What's in your closet?

Vickie

Painting the town....green?

I've been busy stitching up bedding for the

guest room, but it was all looking a bit bland to me.

Off-white muslin bedskirt, ivory bed, white walls.....

blah.

Valspar satin Leafy Rise spray paint to the rescue!

Before.

After.

Now the once drab bed has come to life with the application of nearly 3 cans of spray paint

applied on the windiest day of the year.  Well, you gotta make hay when the

sun shines and I was running out of nice weather!

The house next door may or may not be sporting a slightly greenish hue these days.

I kept the decade old Walmart chenille bedspread and draped

one of my old quilts across the foot of the bed.

I would have loved to keep the space under the bed open to reduce the dust mite population,
  but there's much needed storage space underneath, so I made a bedskirt to hide some of my junk.

I constructed the skirt in 3 pieces to work around the iron bed frame.

I don't have a ruffle attachment for my basic sewing machine, so I 

made a casing along the top edge and threaded elastic through instead.
It was so much easier than running a gathering stitch along all those yards of fabric!

I folded it over the top edge of the boxspring and stapled it in place.

No more tucking and adjusting every time I make the bed.  It stays in place nicely.

I made the pillowcases out of the same inexpensive muslin as the skirt.

I added simple ties to the open ends.

I purchased the redwork embroidery pattern online at

Lace Tales Embroidery over a year ago and I did a lot of the stitching

during long road trips (on the rare occasion when I wasn't sleeping ).
 I'm extremely happy to cross this project off my list!

I added a mirror and vintage English plate to the wall on the left to create a mini gallery wall.

I also removed decades of paint splatters from the doors, wiped on a new layer of stain,

 and gave them a coat of polyurethane to freshen them up and protect the finish.

I've got a few more accessories in the works for the bedroom, but that's it for now.

Thanks for visiting!

Vickie

Wait!  There's one more thing to show you.

Just so you don't think I completely forgot about

Halloween this year................

It appears she was checking out the inventory under the bed
when she was overcome by dust bunnies.  Tsk, tsk.

HaPpy HaLlowEen!

*I'm joining the parties at:
Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Ivy and Elephants What's it Wednesday
Common Ground Be Inspired
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday

A day late and a dollar short.

Thursday was one of my days off this week,
and as I was reading the morning newspaper, I noticed that
there was an estate sale a few blocks away that looked interesting.....
and started 2 hours ago!!!

So, I quickly grabbed a sweatshirt and practically ran down
the street only to find no signs on the property and not even
a car in sight.  Hmmmmm.  I must have read the address wrong.

As I was walking home it occurred to me that it was Thursday
and the sale wasn't taking place until Friday.  Silly me.
As luck would have it, I had to work out of town on Friday and I'd miss
the first day of the sale.  Darn!  I hate when that happens.

This morning I was loafing around and I had no intentions of going to the sale.
It was almost noon and really, what could possibly be left after the first day?

How about this?!

It was used in the basement by the man of the house as a tool chest.

Yes, you read that right.  A tool chest. 

There was a wall cupboard piled on top of it and you could

barely see it underneath cans of nails and whatnot, but my eyes

zeroed in on the applique detail and original pulls.

It was marked $30, but Saturday is half price day,

 so yours truly picked it up for only $15!

Well, I didn't actually pick it up.  I left that to the man in this house 

and another helper at the sale.  After all, I got my flu shot

 in my right arm yesterday and the thing weighs a ton.  hehe

The rest of the haul.

This chair has the same applique detail as the dresser,

and I had to fork over $3 for this beauty.

One can never have too many medicine cabinets!

Somebody started stripping the paint off, which is a shame.

Look at the pretty green paint on the side that wasn't touched.

$10

Green seems to be the theme of today's purchases.

This wicker hamper with a wood top is in perfect condition,

and was one of the pricier items I bought.  I paid $8.

The bedrooms were filled with Christmas stuff, but mostly

new junk, with the exception of this mica covered church for $1.

I'm not even going to think about what was in those rooms yesterday.

I have the perfect spot for this objet d'art.

Picture if you will, glossy red painted tops with white polka dots.  Sweet!

$2

That beadboard door (hinges on back side) leaning against our garage? 

$3!!!  I almost forgot to go in the garage where I found the door and the medicine cabinet.

And the cute yellow chair on the right set me back $2.50.

So, whoever came up with the phrase, "A Day Late and a Dollar Short"

was so, so wrong!

Was that me who finally cleared out our garage and vowed

not to fill it up with any more old junk?

Just one small step away from the grand opening of

The Stinky Sister.

Thanks for viewing my junk!

Stinky Vickie

*I'm joining the party at:

Funky Junk Interiors Party Junk

Floating into Autumn

Just like you, we're trying to finish up all the outdoor projects before

winter settles in.  This morning when I went outside to work in the yard, 

I found a surprise waiting for me.

Can you see it?  

If you remember, last fall I was trying to decide what cutout design I wanted

on the new shutters we were planning to make.

Well, I finally made a decision.....

I decided to keep the old wood shutters after all.  

There have been many changes, both inside and out since our house was built in 1921, 

so we're keeping this detail just as it was back then.  Bill worked many hours

removing the old finish and replacing a few pieces, but now they're good as new

and back on the windows where they belong.  I have no idea how he got them

up by himself, but I'm happy and so is our house........

and probably our neighbor across the street, too.

It's not all work and no play at 911. 

 I always try to fit in one last outdoor adventure when the leaves are in full color.

Last weekend as Carol (Art and Sand) and her husband were enjoying the sunshine

and lively scenes while kayaking along the beautiful California coastline, we were paddling down

a northern Minnesota river enjoying an equally beautiful, but polar opposite scene.

The water was as calm as could be and the sky was slightly overcast.

The lazy river winds for miles without a noticeable current, so turning around

 and heading upstream to the lake is no chore at all.

We didn't see any wildlife other than a few birds,

but as you can see the beavers have been busy feathering their nests. 

 I guess they like weathered wood and natural elements in their decor, too.

Taking a five.

A lone water lily blooms in the warm water.

There were a even a few raindrops at this point, but I didn't mind.

It's a fifteen minute paddle across Swan Lake to the boat landing to the right of the bridge.

  If you look closely, you can see the profile of our state bird, the loon,

 who came to bid us goodbye for the season.  Its partner was to the left, out of camera range.

Seven o'clock and it's already getting dark.

And so the sun sets on another kayak season.

Thanks for coming along!

Vickie

I'm joining the parties at:

Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday

Common Ground Be Inspired