Oh my BADness!  Where have I been for over a week?  Many of you are asking that very question.  Thanks for emailing and asking  . . . I know you care and that touches me beyond words.  Well, here’s my story  . . . grab a cup and have a seat!

Lets go back to last Wednesday when things were starting to get hectic.  There was a death in my brother-in-law’s family and a memorial service to attend.   Plus it had been a little chilly here for a few days and the temp in the house had dropped quite a bit.  I turned on the furnace to knock the chill off.  I accidentally fell asleep on the couch and when I woke up there was this strong burning smell . . . yep, the furnace died!  Mallory also called from school . . . she was sick and her roomie had H1N1 and bronchitis. 

Thursday morning I started calling around to different companies to get the furnace fixed AND started prepping for a medical procedure I was having on Friday morning.  Yes, I had to clean out the old system!  Mallory called sicker than the day before and was heading home for the weekend to visit the doctor and rest up.  Got the furnace fixed and luckily it was only a relay and we didn’t need to completely replace the entire furnace.

Friday morning I found out that I was a perfect asshole (yes, it was a colonoscopy).  I’m still waiting on biopsy results and I need to have some blood work done but so far, all is well!  The rest of Friday and part of Saturday was spent sleeping and recouping from the lack of food and caffeine from the previous day.  I did spend a time with Mallory and we went shopping for her birthday present . . . she was 21 on the 14th.  I hadn’t had time to get her present, so we just went shopping.  Oh, I also called the tree trimmers that I had gotten a quote from earlier in the summer.  Winter is a comin’ and the trees need a trimmin’  Can’t have anymore branches going through the roof!

Mallory headed back to school on Sunday, but is heading back home today for fall break.  Hopefully she’ll be able to get some rest over the next 3 days and knock this non-flu that she has.  Yes, she was past the 24 hour deadline for the H1N1 test to be accurate, but they have been treating her for it.

Now lets get to the guts of this week.  The tree trimmers drove into the driveway mid-day Monday.  I have spent the last 3 days watching and unable to get out of my garage.  But I did get some great pictures and video. 

We have in our yard (or did have) 4 very old pin oaks and one maple trees.  The estimated age of them are anywhere from 80 to 120 years old.  Over the last 4 years, our area has been hit by an oak disease and all the oak trees are dying.  It is so sad to walk through the neighborhood and see the fabulous old trees with dead branches and some trees just dead all together.    All we wanted to have done was for the dead to be trimmed out of our trees to avoid any further damage to our house and roof.  However, one tree was beyond recovery and when the dead was removed there wouldn’t be anything left at the top to balance the tree.  The arborists told me that within 3 months or after the next good rain, the tree would come toppling down and take our driveway with it.  So, the decision was made to have the tree taken completely down.  I have some great video of this, but do not have it ready today . . .  that’s another day! 

Here’s the tree that was taken down.  You can see how close it is to the house.  The other trees in the front yard have already been trimmed at this point.

See that rope tied to the top?

It’s attached to this truck across the boulevard.

As the climber cut, the truck drove. It wasn’t long until the top of the tree crashed into the front yard.  Now this is what we have left.

That red rope is attached to the same truck, but this time was on the house side of the boulevard.  It came down with a huge thud!

Now in the process of dealing with all this, I also had some branches trimmed that were on my neighbor’s tree, but hanging over my garage.  They caused considerable damage last winter and she refused to have them removed . . . so I did!  BUT, in her front yard is this tree

See that crack that goes the full length of the trunk?  I can put my hand through the top

I’m documenting it here because when this tree eventually splits and falls, it will take out my garage, laundry room, kitchen and family room.  I can’t make her take it down, but I can document it, report it to my insurance company (already done) and send her a certified letter requesting she take it down.  That way when it falls on  my house, and it will, my insurance company can use my documentation to fight with hers.

So that’s the end of my story, the trial and tribulations from the past week.  I did get into the studio a couple of nights and work on a special project though.  You’ll be seeing that next week . . . I can tell you that it’s a tutorial, both written and video!  Yes, I did my first video and you’ll be seeing it soon.  Please be kind when you do . . . I was just a little nervous about it.

That’s all folks!  I’m alive and kicking and ready to get back to work.  Have a great day and thanks for your emails and comments!

Oh my BADNESS . . .  What a day I had today!  I thought I would get some stamping in today but . . . and that’s a big BUT . . . the weather was beautiful and there was an auction down the street.  I had scoped out the auction site a few days ago to see what was there and I found two things I was interested in.  One was a jar of old buttons and the other was a box of old papers.  After seeing all the cars this morning and realizing that the race was on at 2:00, I decided I wouldn’t go.  Then around 11 or so I took the shihtzes out for a walk and couldn’t help myself  . . . the draw was too great.  I missed out on the jar of buttons as I only had $40 in my pocket and it went well above that before I knew it.

I waited patiently as they rounded the tables (and there were two rings since there was so much stuff) toward the box I was after.  The Longaberger went on and on and on, all selling very reasonable and sometimes less than the original price.  When have you ever paid $10 for a Longaberger basket?  They soon came up to my box of old letters.   I knew I was in trouble when there was another lady walk up beside me  . . . let the bidding war begin!  $25 later I was the proud owner of this box:

and on the inside of the box:

many old letters and postcards with postmarks from 1910 and 1911!  I’m jumping up and down as I write this because I can envision the works of art I can create!

My mother joined me sometime before the box of letters went up for auction, and we had spotted some crystal on some tables we were interested.  Before they got there however, there were boxes (some 3 deep) of glassware, etc.  Before I knew it I had purchased this box of crystal glasses, bowls, etc.

Finally they came around to the other we were eyeing.  I had spotted some Fire King that I really liked and right next to it was a Hazel Atlas piece that I just had to have.  Yes, I LOVE depression glass and have quite a bit that I’ve collected over the years.

Well, here they are

sitting in my mudroom with the rest of the crystal that I ended up buying in lots for $1 and $5.  Some things I didn’t want but the auctioneer kept adding pieces until someone spoke up.  It was so easy to say $1!

So am I hooked?  Oh Yeah!!  I might become an auction groupie!

What a day yesterday!  It was great to be outdoors on such a beautiful day and spend time with my sister, mom and Kate at Utica Homecoming Days.  I went to Kate’s first and she and I walked over to where the car show was being held.  My sister and brother-in-law had a couple of cars entered  . . . the two black ones shown below.

The Super Sport (on the right) took best of show and the Fairlane (on the left) finished in the top 20!

There were a few arts and crafts booths scattered among some of my yearly favorites (the dessert booth), but since I can’t eat that stuff any longer, we stayed clear.  I did pick up some charms at a friend’s booth that you’ll soon see on some cards and other projects.  Great finds for only $.25 each.

In the past there have been a number of yard sales, but this year there were only a few.  I did make a major find at one of them  . . . wooden cigar boxes for $.25 a piece.  Take a gander of what the trunk of my car (big enough to take the neighborhood to the drive-in movies in) looked like.

Not only did I get the cigar boxes, but she gave me all the wallpaper books for free!

I brought the cigar boxes in this morning . . . .

Most of them still have the original labels and smell spicy like the cigars that were inside.  I think my favorite has to be this one.  Even though its seen some weather, I know I’ll be able to put it to good use.

The size is perfect and I love the rounded edges!

Speaking of cigar boxes, I went back to mother’s in the afternoon and she had some cigar boxes for me as well.  My grandfather had these and always kept junk in them.  I already have most of what he had, but mom gave me one that I had never seen.  A wooden Yaller Dog Cigar box.

The lid is no longer attached to the box, but most of the label and paper are still there.

If any of you know anything about this box or company, I would love to hear it.  I did a Google search and came up with one Yaller Dog Cigar box . . . however the link was no longer valid.  This box will not be altered or changed in anyway.  I’ve already placed it in my dining room and that’s where it’s gonna stay!

AND, get this!  Before I left for Loveland, my aunt gave me this box of old jewelry.

She was cleaning out her old costume jewelry, giving some of the better pieces to Mallory to wear and I got this box to use in my designing.  I didn’t take time to look through it until this morning and if you were anywhere near me, you would have heard the wheels in my brain turning.

That’s all I’ve got for today folks!  I hope you enjoy the rest of your weekend and thanks for stopping by!

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Good Monday morning!  Just a quick note before I start my day.  In particular, this is more for my subscribers that don’t necessarily click through to my blog all the time.  Over the weekend I changed a few things on my blog, hopefully to help you find things easier.

Not only did I make a new banner . . . yes, I actually made it all by myself.  I finally purchased  Photoshop and in trying to learn some of the features, I decided to play around with a new banner.  I liked it so much, that I couldn’t help but use it.   I also broke down my posts into more categories such as those for gift boxes, altered art, tag art, notebooks, etc.  I hope this helps all of you find what you are looking for easier.

I’m still working on adding new categories and getting the cross-references made and will do so as time allows (mainly when I’m doing absolutely nothing in front of the television late at night).

Let me know what you think and if I can add any categories that you would like to see!