Summer Turns to Fall

Happens every year.....

I started the summer, and this blog, with such excitement for the season. I had plans. I'm always really, really good at beginnings. The beginning of a project, a season, a class - I'm on it. But somewhere around midway through it, I lose my resolve to finish. And endings in my life, both big things and little things, are never as pulled together as I'd like. I'm always looking forward to my next beginning. There's always something to pull me in another direction, and that's exactly what happened this summer.

June was a blast. But the fun ground to a halt like a broken carnival ride as soon as July emerged. July was drudgery. Complete drudgery. I took a statistics class. Maybe I'll talk more about my classwork later. All I'll say now is that it was miserable.

And it got worse in August when our lovely little kitty, our little baby Owen, our kitty practically since birth (hers and our relationship's), had a bad kidney crash. Reality set in after her week at the OSU vet hospital and subsequent few weeks at home with us. She came home with a feeding tube and showed us moments of happiness I'll always remember. But she also told us she was ready for us to let her go.

We started September as a family of two. And we have been sad. The tears have lessened, but we still ache for our lap buddy, our nap buddy, or door greeter and overall loneliness curer. We stayed busy - the beginning of the academic year at work, busy weekends with family, fun and football - and we got through it.


Now suddenly it's nearly November. It's dark when I leave for work (the best part of my drive to work is seeing the sunrise). And as the season has firmly changed to fall with hints of winter, I'm planning to restart some blogging and just see where it goes. Maybe I'll talk about school, maybe I'll talk about the holidays, maybe I'll talk about....whatever new beginning is around the corner :).

Rebecca

Thrift Stores and Credit Cards

Uh Oh.

Thrift Store Purchases Could Hurt Cardholders
Some Credit Card Companies Track Purchases At Thrift Stores

That the card companies would be watching purchases isn't news. But that they would use my transactions against me? Ugh.

I wonder what the rest of my transactions say about me? I grocery shop at Giant Eagle - since their prices are so high, that should show that I'm solvent, right?!

Proof

I am linking this old post to the Pets in Your Home theme-party at Funky Junk Interiors.  I'm late to the party, but I just found it, so hopefully I can still post.  She lost a pet last week, and it reminded me of our little baby.  Miss you every day, Owie :).

And by the way, I did paint the brass on the fireplace. It's now a hammered copper color, and it was a low-cost solution to that case of the uglies.

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Proof that:


(1) Our Monster is indeed a monster. But we love her anyway (because she's microchipped and there's nothing we can do about it).

(2) I have the ugliest fireplace. I haven't died from looking at it, but it has made me grimace multiple times. Will somebody PLEASE get around to doing something about that hideous brass trim?!?! It's on the list.....

4th of July Weekend

I'm linking this post to Tablescape Thursday at Between Naps on the Porch.

I have an addictive personality. When I discover something new I fall into it and forget about every other single thing for awhile. I somehow found BNOTP and spent hours pouring through all of Susan's great pictures and links on that blog.

Please go see all the tablescapes linked to this week's post - but don't blame me if you are up all night looking at pictures :).

Anyway, here's our table from the holiday:


Plates are The Cellar line from Macy's. The bowls are from World Market. I love my white dishes. I lucked out one day at Macy's and found the open stock plates and the salad plates for .50/each, so I think I bought 16 of each. The napkins and placemats came from Kohls a couple of years ago. The tablecloth is just fabric pieces I had on hand. The glassware is thrift store goodness.

Who says Santa only comes out in December?
Maybe he wants to lead a summer parade!

I used little scraps of fabric as ties on stems, napkins and silverware. They were from an americana-themed christmas tree I used to do--that's why I have the santa (bought him at Bronner's in Frankenmuth, MI).

My sister bought me these little partylite tealight holders a few years ago for Christmas. I finally found a place for them to fit! They look like the stars on the placemats or little sunshines....either way, it works for the holiday.

With the passing of July 4th, my summer travel and holidays for the summer are officially over. Only 2 weeks until the "dog days of summer" and their associated heat and drudgery!

A New Storage Solution

I'm always wondering where to put the new dishes as I accumulate them. I may have found a solution.

Everyone talks about their fantastic Craigslist finds. I have found a couple of things, but I haven't found the crazy good, jump up and down deal yet. I'm usually just not willing to drive very far.

I do love to look at the Free ads. They're good for a laugh. I especially like ads that are one line, very little info, no pictures.

Today there was a funny one. I clicked on it because it said "Free Tea Set." Here is the full text:

"There is a Tea set in my tree at the front of my yard if you have an eye for them all yours. "

OK...assuming the person means for you to take the tea set and not the tree....there is no hint as to where the tree is, so one would have to email the author to get the location. Couldn't he/she just let the person then know - hey, here's the location, and I left it in the tree for you?

Check CL and see if you can find an amusing ad. If so, post it here!