Spring in My Booth

Thinking of Springtime makes me think of white furniture and lots of lacy even silly fun things to bring in the carefree sunshine!  Here is a picture of an all-white booth I had at the Antique Mall(before I went to an all Black booth for winter!)  I was thinking everything in the picture had sold but I realized that the mirror reflecting the camera flash is a pretty gilded folding 3 panel mirror which is now in my daughter's room in the house about to be for sale.  So...some things do take a while to sell!  Usually the things I like.
Here is another picture of Springtime in my booth where I work.  Its a little bit more crowded than I would like...maybe because sales are slow lately?  You think? It is my middle booth of 5 which I tend as the Garden Booth.  I manage the consignment section for the Mall so I never know for sure what I will have to work with.  My other sections are a Traditional one and the Primitive ~Rustic booth.  That booth is very, very full of country pine furniture which a former dealer is pulling out of her attic and consigning. Nice stuff! I wish things would sell faster for her! (One piece she consigned to me is now a display piece at a shop Southern Living calls one of the 50 Best in the South:  Wharf Hill in Smithfield, Va.)  My own taste tends towards Frenchy Frou Frou and English Country style mixed with inherited Virginia ~which I don't think sells very well in my mall so I don't have to much of it.  (Actually,  Virginia things do sell...but I usually keep them.) 

I just realized I worked all day at WAM and escaped without buying one thing!!!  And...I had some nice consignments come in...small things...so my back isn't aching tonight.  After so little sleep Monday night I was a bit sluggish ...it was awful!   I decided I needed a daughter fix so I texted Jojo and asked R U BZY?  DIN DIN? and she is picking me up at 8:00 to go eat at Aromas and walk Duke of Gloucester Street in Colonial Williamsburg!   I am the lucky one!!!

Almost on the market!

Passed a step today in getting my "real" house on the market.  Phew!  It was set up as a day for an appraiser and an inspector~paid for by the RE Agent.  I thought it was a good idea at first,  but it turned out to be incredibly stressful getting ready and I still have to do a turbo-clean next week to list it!  That isn't easy with 2 yelping little dogs and 3 cats and a c/o hoarding husband who helps in his own (slooowwww) way.  

Here are 2 pictures of the center of my life for the last 15 years or so.  "No matter where I serve my guests it seems they like my kitchen best!"  Frankly,   I'll admit the only time it has ever looked anywhere near this good is when guests are being served!  Whenever my children remember living in this house they will probably think of my sitting in that green and white checked chair...It has always been my chair...whenever I get a chance to sit down!  Its where I always start and end my day...with my ToDo Lists and magazines,  my little Pom Pom Kujo ~ and now with my laptop,  too!  When my youngest, Gavin, was little,  we would get up at one of those ungodly hours and he would fall asleep on the floor in front of me until the clock with the bird calls twirped...he still doesn't like the sound of the 6 O'Clock bird...I have to go look and see what it is:  ahh...the house wren.  A pretty song!

I didn't make it to bed until 4 in the morning last night and was up by 7 to paint the back hall and down bathroom floors while the household  was still sleeping.  It has rained steadily for what seems like 40 days and 40 nights (6 in reality) and I wanted to get the sills repainted out front.  Running out the door I tripped and dropped some paint on the front steps...large brick ones which we just had repointed...and had to yell for Fax to get outa bed right away (I think he had just gotten in!) and clean up after me!  I was up on the ladder when suddenly a man drives up and starts taking my picture!  He then walks up and says: "Don't usually see people painting in the rain!  I'm your Inspector!"  I told him I wanted it to look nice for the appraiser...and wasn't he early?  (Meanwhile Fax was barefoot on his hands and knees sopping up the bricks)(Doesn't everyone do that on rainy 40 degree mornings?)  Anyway,  the Inspector begged off...maybe next week?  

It turned out I knew the Appraiser.  She showed us a property in the early '90's and then appraised this house a few years later when we bought it.  She was very complimentary and said it was so close to being perfect (that would surprise my Mother!) that we should make sure everything is ready before listing it.  She thought there was no reason why it shouldn't sell right away...if it is priced right...Well...what IS the magic # these days?

I forgot to say that the Electricians showed up,  too...and the floor I painted wasn't dry yet...and after they left we discovered a ceiling fan that didn't work...the pull cord pulled out...but all's well that end's well,  and everything worked out.  I wasn't even very tired today...lack of sleep will probably hit me tomorrow while I'm at work at the Antique Mall. 

I have been too strung out from trying to get this little housie to market and even though the new sinks and faucets are in~there is still much to do!  And time moves like greased lightening!  I don't feel much like writing about it...but,  since I have had requests for pictures I will try to post a few.  I received a new camera for Christmas and am not too adept with it as yet.  But,  surprise,  my oldest son,  Mackey, took some old discs and set them to music...it was a 5 year walk down Memory Lane for me last week when I discovered them...so now I have over 300 pics to chose from....hmmm....which to share?  And,  how do I do this?  I did once before,  I'll try again....Hey...here is something:  My son Mackey.  A somewhat odd pose which is a self portrait he took with my new camera.  He is an artist...and an actor.  In fact,  he appeared last week at The Comedy Store in LA with his Improv Group.  He pronounced it cool.  In real life he is now living the dream he first had as a 5 year old playing Ms PacMan...he is a computer game designer...I will have to ask him again what his official title is out there in LA...but the game is pretty famous if you like war games (means not a  thing to me~much to his chagrin) "Call of Duty."  He looks a bit like a Mime in this picture,doesn't he?  He moved to Lalaland 6 years ago and said to me that he couldn't believe he was moving to LA the week he turned 26.  I told him that I had him the week I turned 26.  And,  I'm glad I did!

I tried to post a picture of my daughter,  too,  but it came out like the picture that swallowed my Blog...Ah well....another picture for another day...time to hit the hay!

Scheduling nightmares!

We had a little scheduling excitement this morning.   First a little background:  We had the brick mason,  Tommy, show up from Virginia Beach planning to point up the entire front steps. Unfortunately,  the front steps,  as well as the bottom 3 feet of the house and the stone aggregate patio and sidewalk all are in need of power washing.  I had already signed a contract with Jefftile to do the powerwash and he was waiting for a pleasant weekend.  Tommy couldn't do his work without powerwashing and so Fax told Tommy that Jefftile wouldn't mind and for Tommy to go ahead!  I protested...but I was torn because I really wanted to get the work done! Well,  Jefftile did mind (reached via cellphone,)   but Tommy was already on his way!  So~~Monday found Tommy and 2 cronies outside (42 temp. but sunny) washing away that awful black mold that supposedly was a gift from Mexico.  (Is that how rumors get started?)  Jefftile calmed down and said he would be here on Wednesday with the plumber (Nick) to begin putting back the tile shower.  Tommy was supposed to come back this morning (Tuesday,) to finish the power wash and fix the front steps.  The phone rang early Tuesday morning and it was Nick,  the plumber,  saying he and Jefftile would be coming within the hour instead of Wednesday.  Fax didn't want Tommy and Jefftile to run into eachother (plus there was the logistic problem of the men working inside needing to use the front steps while they were being worked on...) so he made me call Tommy and ask him not to show up today!  Tommy took that pretty well...but sounded confused.  The good news is that Jefftile and Nick were here and are not returning until next week.  Fax called Tommy to apologize for asking him not to make the scene and Tommy and his entourage are coming tomorrow and finishing up this week.  Phew!  First no one shows up and then there is a giant bottleneck at the front door!  And lots of trucks in the driveway!   Speaking of the driveway...the new garage doors are in and they look...new...and now we even have motion sensors so we don't accidentally squash our geriatric cats!

Moving right along,  I completely finished painting all of Mackey's room on Sunday and have only one more coat of trim paint to do in the laundry room.  I think the laundry room looks rather charming.  When it is finished I will post a picture of it.  Oh that reminds me:  the sanded wallpaper paste walls came out great!  I used Benjamin Moore primer and it did feel tacky like there was some paste still adhering to the wall,  but I didn't let the roller lag and it came out flat.  The final coat of Linen White looks fine.   It certainly makes me feel more optimistic about removing the downstairs bathroom wallpaper (and the residue aftermath) later this week!

Well,  so far I am batting 100%!  The brick mason loved the entry hall floor also.  He even reached down to feel it and marveled over it!  He is coming back this week to point up the rather large brick stoop at the front door.  I had never thought of redoing the whole thing but it does make sense....especially since Fax decided he would do it.  (An impossibility.)  It looks like most of the joints need mortar again,  but what an expense!  I feel there isn't much we won't have touched and repaired or painted or whatever in getting this house to market.  

Things seem to finally be coming together.  In fact,  the plumber,  the tiler, the electrician,  garage door installers and installers for 2 other doors and who knows who else are all converging here this week!  My dear, late Father-in-law would have called it a "whole Flotilla!"  Just the thought of it makes me nervous,  but I will be busy painting inside.

It never ceases to amaze me what a difference a fresh coat of paint can make in a room.  I painted my oldest son's room yesterday...basically the same color,  Linen White with Bone trim,  (exciting,  huh?) and it looks so much brighter and warmer.  At least it made me feel like it was worth the effort when I finished and gave myself a (tired) pat on the back.  His room is referred to as the Bonus Room over the garage.  I took one look at where he possibly would be located (near a full bath) and asked the RE Agent if she had a contract with her.  He was such a nightowl that I spent 2 years looking for a house with a bedroom for him far removed from the rest of us!  (It also took that long for our house in No.Va. to sell,  so I saw plenty of houses to help me know what to look for.)  So,  here it is now~practically empty and more tidy than it has been in years....waiting for the next teenager!  I should mention that he is the Lead Programmer for the Computer Game "Call of Duty" and much of the work was done right here at the computer in his room!   He is someone who has followed his dreams since he was 5 years old and hooked on Miss Pacman!

Enough reminiscing...what I want to say is that I had a task ahead of me which I dreaded:  scraping wallpaper paste off the walls!   In an earlier life I spent weeks at a time removing hideous flakes of paper off Victorian hogs hair plaster walls with a razor blade.  (And other methods I don't even want to recall.)  But nothing had prepared me for 1980's wallpaper which "pulls off easily leaving a film for the new layer of wallpaper!"  Well,  what if you don't want wallpaper?  What if you want nothing more than a nice,  smooth,  painted wall???  The film does not come off easily.  In various rooms it didn't come off without lots of wallpaper remover and razor blades (again,) and sand paper.  Its a messy,  horrid~~strenuous job and I still had a laundry room and the downstairs bath room to do!  So I said to myself,  "Self...what are you going to do?  You don't have a week to spend on each of these rooms!!!"  Well!  I decided to grab my electric hand sander and have at!  And it worked!  (At least I think it worked!)  In less than an hour the walls in the laundry room were silky smooth.  Now,  I don 't know if I dare wet them to see if any more paste is left to create havoc...I am thinking that tomorrow I will try some primer and see what happens.  But all I can add is "Phew!  That wasn't even very messy!'  Full "steam" ahead!!!

Shower stall demolition and a trip to NC

I have had quite a few house days,  lately.  I started out Friday morning expecting the Tile man (Jefftile) to show up and demolish the master bathroom tile shower.  He said he'd be there by 10 but about 10 he called to say he couldn't make it.  Did I mind?  Now,  I would like to get this show on the road and over with....so,  I guess you could say I did mind.  I had plans to be away and not involved,  but he was making me nervous that I would have to be there and hear it all!  He promised to show up on Sunday at 10 and begin.  Fax was very disappointed.  He wanted to be the extra helper and carry all the rubble out for Jefftile and he promised he wouldn't ruin my floors. (Hand grainpainted about 6 years ago.)  (Everyone who comes in the front door...including Jefftile...exclaims:  These floors are beautiful!) So,  when I left on Friday I was afraid there would be more delays.  But, I went my merry way,  leaving Fax in charge to pay for the replacement Patio Door and exterior utility door that Lowes people are installing.  I also crossed my fingers that Jefftile would show up on Sunday.

I drove down...or across the state towards NC,  actually into NC to check on a friend's house for sale in a very charming town near the Va. border:  Warrenton, NC.  I have looked at her house more than a few times.  It has been for sale awhile.  It is charming,  the neighborhood is quiet, it has covenants on it from PreservationNC.  It has a drop dead gorgeous outbuilding with an early fireplace to absolutely die for.  It has a huge protected oak tree with enough acorns in the fall to feed a mountainload of squirrels and their mothers!!!  And...if having a historic house for sale isn't enough for you,  she also has a huge, fantastic historic shop for sale right on Main Street next to the Court House!!!  I just wish I could make a leap of faith and jump across that stateline!!!  I have wonderful Austro-Swiss 19th century oil paintings that would make a great backdrop in part of her shop if it were a little bistro with blue and white check tablecloths....ah well...I have eaten some very nice meals in Warrenton.  Last fall I treated my friend and the real estate agent to lunch and the entire bill was $17.00!!!  How does that restaurant make enough to pay its bills?  Whoo...I have really gotten off the subject of Jefftile!!! 

I had better make the rest of my weekend another post for another day...  Suffice to say that the weather was beautiful,  despite cold and rainy being called for.  I dug up 5 of the boxwood like hollies I had planted last year at my little house (a shame,  but they had already grown too large for their location,)  and loaded them in the van for the trip back to the 'burg,  where they will replace Fax's blueberry bushes along the patio in the "real" house's back yard.  Next trip I will remove the rest,  if they are needed,  and I think they will be.

So,  back at the 'burg I wondered if Jefftile made the scene...The floors looked OK...nothing looked amiss,  Fax didn't look anymore bedraggled than usual.  Yes,  he said that he was feeling extremely bedraggled.  Jefftile had arrived that morning and the shower was demolished!!!  Fax got to be his right hand man and the rubble was carried out from upstairs bucket by bucketful and deposited in Jefftile's special Trashed Van.  Jefftile's work was very tidy!  I was impressed.  There were only a few,  easy to repair gouges in the drywall on the ceiling and it looked as though he didn't really have to tear up the floor outside the shower at all,  except that I know he wants to.   The leakage area was not that large and there was no rotten or soft wood.  It is such a shame (and expense,) that so much had to be demolished to make it look and work OK once again.  Oh well!  One step down,  more to follow!

You can teach an old cat new tricks

This is about the oldest cat at my house: Piggy, almost 20 years old. He was one of 3 kittens born at Easter, 1989, in my oldest son's closet...and according to an old video of his kittenhood: he was the first to purr! I showed his mother the closet a few days before she gave birth and I always thought it sweet that she took my advice and produced 2 boys and a girl~just like I did!!!

Somehow we ended up keeping all three kittens and even added one more (Coati, who is about to be 19,) but this is a story of Piggy in his dotage. (I'll get to that part in a moment~)

Piggy was a handsome boy, sleek and black. When he was born he had a fat, round nose like a snout--thus his name. I always said it made him easy to call because I could just yell, "Piggy! Here Pig! Here Pig! Pig!!! Soouu EEEE!!!"

He didn't care for it AT ALL when we had him altered.  He was furious! I guess it was why he punished us there after by whizzing "Maleness" all over the house.  He was always being admonished and thrown outside.  He loved us anyway...and we loved him.  He also loved visiting neighbors.  I was at a wedding once when a woman I didn't know was telling about a black cat who suddenly appeared in her kitchen while she was on the phone and scared her to death by rubbing against her leg.  I didn't have to ask, "Where do you live?"  I knew.   When we moved a few blocks away the new owner called me up to say our big black cat was trying to get in his new house.  He held the phone down to him and said, "Piggy, your mother wants to talk to you.  She says come back home!!!"

He also had a thing about cars: Our contractor once drove a few miles only to discover Piggy sitting in his back seat.  Sometimes he took his mother with him.  No one left their car windows open in our yard for long!!!   I attended an evening funeral during Halloween week with a friend who really dislikes cats~(Now, how could she be my friend?)  She nearly drove off the road when she realized she had an unwelcome passenger~~and a black cat at that!  Her van came screeching around the corner:  Open door!  Exit Cat!!!

Its a shame that pets get old,  too.  He might have aged pretty well if it weren't for the fact that when he was about 17 he accidentally got run over in the driveway. (Still hanging around cars~but not to his advantage.)  Luckily, it was a pretty light car~ but it did squish his hips together and make him more than slightly crooked when he walks.  I don't know how he ever recovered at all, but I guess it was the morphine.   The main problem was that it made him even more incontinent.  We really couldn't let him run roughshod around the house anymore.

So, in order to allow him to come in, Fax turned a plastic storage tub on its side so that Piggy could stay in it and have supervised visits.  Except that he didn't want to stay in it.  And we'd forget he was there and he'd jump down, fall over...and have an "accident."  It was depressing that we couldn't get him to stay in the tub, but he really didn't care for it.  Plus, if you picked him up and held him...and he started purring...that often made a whole lot of trouble to clean up all across the floor or even on your clothes!!!  It was becoming a big catsize disaster!!!  What to do???

This winter, though, he seemed to catch on.  Maybe because it was a very cold winter he decided to cooperate.  He has an electric heating pad to sleep on in the garage, and a heater, but he still wanted to be inside...and we like to see him, so he began to not give us any trouble about staying in the tub.  Fax usually will say,  "Piggy is coming in. He knows the rules...he has to stay in the tub." I shake my head and say, "He doesn't seem to know the rules." Fax replies, "Piggy knows the rules." (We have deep conversations like this all the time.)  The other morning Fax brought in the tub, put it in a chair with a view and then brought in Piggy.  Just as they got to the chair Piggy jumped from his arms and settled into the tub!  I was surprised..and impressed that Piggy could even jump anymore...and into the tub of all things!!! A little while later I took the dogs out to walk and get the morning paper. I suddenly remembered that Piggy was alone in the house!! Oh Drat!!! I rushed back in but~ too late!   There was Piggy already in the middle of the kitchen floor!  But how about this:  As soon as he laid eyes on me he reversed face and did something that resembled a crab scurrying sideways.  He managed to hurry right across the room and jump back into the storage tub on the chair all on his own!!!  Proving~~ that he not only knew the rules,  but also~ that you can teach a very old cat new tricks!!!