And then this bird...

Mr Snork pulled off the I-5 to drop into our favorite GMart in Laguna Niguel, and there, along the off ramp, was the most beautiful stork looking bird.  Like this one:

Except, not by a lake, and far from the ocean.  Well, a 10 minute flight anyway.  I get super frantic, trying to figure out how to rescue the clearly lost confused bird.  (By stuffing in it in the back of the trucklet, of course, and taking it down to Dana Point swamps, from which we just came, and where it clearly belongs. )

Mr Snork, who's gotten creepy good at mind reading, gets frantic in turn, with, "Do you know what will happen to us with that bird in the vehicle??!"  He's also gotten wicked good with thwarting any good plan I have, and generally raining on my parades.   He got downright dramatic with, "It'll peck our eyes out, and beat us with its wings and claws".  Seriously.  I mean, it's a bird.  How hard could it be.  We could keep the windows open, and the wind G forces should keep it in the back.  

So, I try to appeal to his apparently nonexistant humanitarian side - He's lost!  And confused!  Look at him!!  His beak is made for fish, and here he is, on the side of the highway.  He is sad, and hungry, and he needs to be taken to a swamp, to eat!  

In all fairness, it really did look out of place, stalking around gingerly,  like he was trying to step around broken glass and cigarette butts, shaking his tiny head..  Until.. and phawk if, in the middle of my bird saving tirade, he didn't gracefully bend his tiny sad head into the grass, and come up with the biggest mouse ever.  With a wiggling tail, and everything.  And ATE it, with his skinny fish beak, and delicate throat, that apparently expands to fit mice size of sewer rats. 

The look Mr Snork gave me as the light turned green was something special.  I can tell my credibility as a wildlife expert has suffered a setback today it might take years to recover from, to say the least.

Barbara Jean's Pretty Pink Quilt

Saturday was Pacifica's annual city wide summer sweep charity organized garage sale day.  We happened to be in Pacifica.  WIN!

It is noteworthy that, unlike Southern Californians who like to start at 6 am and other disturbing hours, non of these started befroe 8, and there were only a couple of those.  Mr Snork and I (OK, I) were overly zealous with our 7 am start.  So, we had breakfast, and he gave me a quick pep talk about how we don't need a n y thing.   Hours of fun ensued, all within a few mile radius and an ocean background.

  There was even an episode involving llamas.    LLAMAS.  (they weren't for sale)

It was the home stretch, Mr Snork could see our house (well, my dad’s), and smell the chicken sandwich and a nap.. But there were two more garage sales on the block between him and the house. The first had a camp stove that we considered, but then decided we didn’t want to pay $10 for, because we might actually want a fancier one, with dual fuel options and a middle burner. This is important, we cook a lot while camping.


The last one had a sewing machine, but a plastic one, so I wasn’t interested, a giant old paper cutter that briefly intrigued me until I drew a mental parallel between it and old French guillotines. It even had a wooden platform. I decided to hold out till a newer one, with a sliding blade falls into my lap.

And, The Quilt. I picked it up, and the stern grandmotherly lady was quick to say it’s got a hole in it, her dog got to it. This was true, there was a hole. But there was also some pretty rose shaped top stitching. And it was pink. She couldn't remember if her mom or grandmother made it, then settled on an aunt called Barbara Jean.  I looked around some more, getting the most out of my last sale of the day, found nothing, and came back to the quilt. Jesse wimpered something about ending his life if he didn’t get a sandwich right then.

I asked the lady what she wanted for the quilt, and in the background, I heard the sound of Jesse melting down.  She said, “The one with the big HOLE in it”? as if she didn't have it there for sale, and I was shopping her purse for her personal effects.  Since she had no other quilts, torn or otherwise, I said yes, and traced one of the stitched roses with my finger. (Jesse maintains that she didn’t have it out there for sale at all, it was accidentally brought out with the laundry and if she did, it was c l e a r l y meant to line a dog kennel. Which only made it worse, because, c l e a r l y, the quilt needed to be saved.)

“You want to FIX it!”, the lady said with the inflection one might say, “You’re want to PEE on it!”. And, “you are a sewer” that sounded a lot like, “You smell like eggs”.  Followed by some muttering about me petting the quilt lovingly.  She also said I could have it for a buck – coincidentally, the exact amount, to the last quarter, left in Mr Snork’s pockets, who, by the way, behaved atrociously, suggested I inspect the quilt for dog poop, and asked the lady if she was also selling rope. (The quilt didn’t smell funny. It was freshly washed, and smelled like lavender Tide. My favorite.)

And, anyway, it proved my point that she WAS selling it. If she wasn’t, I’d gotten it for free. Even though I’m not really a sewer, I just like to pretend - after careful examination, its been determined only 4 squares can’t be salvaged, and will have to be replaced – I can swing that.

In Mr Snork’s defense, I had, just earlier gotten a quilt, with no holes, and a matching pillow sham, for $2. But we won’t talk about that.  I also have a bit of an obession with "saving" things from their current environment, particularly, if they are under $3.  And, a slight disconnect between the number of projects I take on and the amount of time I dedicate to them.  But, look at the stitching! -

I mean, what do dogs know about pretty rose stitching?

Surprise Garage Sale WIN

I'm behind on bloggying, because I've been wrestling 90 yards of velvet into some curtains every night after work, but this last weekend...

June was gonna be a “Thrift Free” month, because I can’t help myself. I guess it’s not THAT bad,  I could instead have a nasty Starbucks habit, like certain significant others..  So, if I walk out S-Boutique $4-5 later with a dress, teacup, pair of shoes, whatever – it’s not the end of the world, right? Except the Starbucks disappears into Mr Snork’s scary metabolism, and my dress pile (to make something out of) has grown considerably.


Anyway, this Saturday, Mr Snork woke me up at 6:30, for a surprise, which had me in a pretty sour mood.  He's been talking about it since Thursday night and it sounded shady.  There aren’t very many things I am receptive to that early. So, he stuffed me in the vehicle, with my mood improving tea thermos, and went off driving to me muttering “probably somewhere ridiculous”. He was positively giddy, and I was a little worried he secretly signed me up for another 5k. But then, he pulled up and unleashed me onto this driveway.. where sewing stuff was e v e r y w h e r e.   I may have squealed a little.

Mr Snork found what looked like the mother of all crafty sales on CL, and has planned to deliver me there right at 7 am on the dot.  (God forbid someone else walks away with my stuff).  It was a little amazing, and the woman hosting the sale was the most energetic, chatty garage sale haver EVER. At first it was annoying, but then it became contagious. She was selling stuff like the guy a the farmers’ market sells bundt cakes. Loudly, and with conviction. Do I need a sewing machine? How about some ribbon? How about tassels? Do I know how to use tassels? Well, if I did, I would want them for sure. Thread? Oh, I got thread? Take MORE thread! How about a snap maker? Look at this pillow!! On and on and on.

In a stroke of luck (yet again) she had a Giant Curtain Rod. This thing is meant for a place much grander than my two bedroom, it’s like a sideways palm tree, skinned. But, it just so happens, my mother gave me the most ridiculous set of curtains – something like 20 yards of 54” fabric, sewn together into one, 108” by 20 yard piece of velvet football field awesomeness. In the 1500’s, they’d make the royal tents in the field of battle out of this stuff. And it’s been sitting, all 190 lbs of it, in my closet, because the type of rod that would hold them up does NOT sell at Ross for $6.99. (I love Ross rods).

$1 Curtain Rod. I am now knee deep in sewing curtains. And then duvet covers. And table runners. And chair covers. More curtains. Who knows.

$3 Bolt of green raw silk. It’s SO pretty. The pictures really fail here.   $1 bolt of stripey green/purple silk. $1 bolt of quilt interfacing/curtain interlining stuff (Not pictured, but it's giant and brand new, in plastic).

A Trash Bag o’Thread. $1. Mostly new rolls, serger thread even, despite the fact that serger hunt has been unsuccessful, I'm preparing.  Some spray adhesive. Some snap tape for duvet covers. Some more silk (brown, dupioni).

A $1 shelf, already hung by the door, with some teacup hooks to accommodate keys. Mr Snork really took initiative on that, because every morning he hunts the house for my keys, which I leave various places the night before. On one occasion he’s found them in the fridge.   I don't care for the green color, but I guess it goes well with the dolphin theme (to be found nowhere else in my home) untill I strip and stain it. 

Mr Snork also really liked the curtain hold back things. Especially after he was told they came from a sister’s old house in Ohio. 50c. Did you know you can use them to HANG curtains? I saw pictures in a magazine. It’s true.   Mostly over triangle shaped windows, but that might not stop me..

At some point, I looked up to see the Mr holding three bolts of fabric, a giant curtain rod, and various odds and ends, just hanging out, looking at book titles. The garage saler’s neighbor shared that her husband would rather die than be there, and I felt extra lucky. And a little guilty, I don’t know if I could be that good if he decided to, say, take me to 8 auto parts shops in one day. I might snap by #2, and offer we order whatever we need online..

I offered repeatedly that he set the stuff down in a corner, and frolick freely, but he told me later, he was being stalked for the curtain rod and possibly some other loot, and setting it down didn’t seem safe, and he’d hate to see me get violent in a driveway..   Ahhh, love. 

AND, the best part of this sale is that the hostess and I exchanged phone numbers, because, apparently, if ever I need more stuff (like a fabric cutting board), there's a good chance she has it (turns out she did).  Squeal!!!

Chandeliers and Trickery and How I'm Always Right

So, while I was milling about the courtyard #3 of the Giant Rummage Sale, waiting for Jesse to come join me in rummaging, I spotted the dusty mini chandelier. 

The guy in charge of courtyard #3 kept offering to 'work with me on prices', and I was simply curious if I could get the dusty chandelier for $5, as opposed to $10. Knowing full well Jesse has an aversion to chandeliers, even the free ones.  Turned out I could have it for $5 so I quickly handed him the money, and when the the future Mr SnorkMaiden f i n a l l y got there, I asked him non chalantly what he thought of that cute little chandelier, over there, on the table (in the 'sold' goods section, but he's not very observant like that).

That's when I, the guy in charge of courtyard #3 and innocent shoppers nearby got an earful.  About how:

- Nobody needs a chandelier
- I certainly don't need a chandelier
- I certainly don't need another chandelier (The first one doesn't count btw, my stepmom gave it to us)
- Am I trying to live on the set of Sanford and Son?
- Am I serious?
- A demand to hear a list of three things that can be taken OUT of the house before this one can be brought in (not even fair, I mean, the lamp takes up one square foot..)
- Where in the world would I hang it.
- And, finally, about how he's about to have to staple furniture to the ceiling to have any kind of walking space (dirty lies) so, there won't be any room for chandeliers anyway (wild exaggerations).

At this point I figured everyone has had enough laughs, so I picked up my chandelier indignantly, informed him it was already paid for, and that he'd have to finish his meltdown at home, thanks.  (To his credit, he resigned quietly, and offered to take it to the truck, probably hoping to 'accidentally' drop it a few times en route)

I washed it, and took it apart, and gave the crystals a Dawn bath.  I started to spray paint it green (bad idea) so, I finished it in black.  White/ivory might have also been cool, but I had green and black on hand, so black it was.  It came out exquisite.  It's missing a few crystals, but in all the sparkle-ness, you can't really tell. 

I could not find a setting on my camera that would take a picture of it, the way the Swarovski Chandelier Place down the street has them in their brochures, sigh.  But it's pretty magical.  Jesse apparently worked through his grief while he was wiring it, and while I was off drinking margaritas with Giraffy, he hung it up for me in our hallway.  Yeep!  On top of that, when I got home he conceded that it wasn't the worst $5 purchase I'd ever made.  Ha!

Would you like to follow me through the 80 million chandelier pictures, that depict 1/10th of its sparkle-ness?   Of course, you do.  Meet my hallway:

And a close up? 

And a different light setting, in case you haven't really fallen over just yet: (Note the sparkly-ness)

It's even pretty when it's not lit up: 

Ok, last one. 

I have a 4g memory card full of these, if anybody needs a myriad chandelier pictures, btw.  I'm also on the market for a cooler camera that can capture sparkling better.  Don't tell Jesse.

Snifters and Centerpieces

Sometime last week, the Salvation Army I stalk by my work turned up a set of 8 of these snifter looking things.

They could be goblets but I like saying snifter. They had Crate and Barrel stickies, but when I searched with Crate and Barrel, this line (handcrafted recycled glass awesomeness) doesn’t have snifters. May be old? May be not Crate and Barrel? They have margarita glasses, tumblers, a pitcher and goblets that match. But no snifters. Well.  They DO have the snifters in a green color:

They call it Summer Drink Glass, but I really do like the word Snifter. Mr Snork's dismay (they are kind of giant for drinking vessels) I brought them home. I bargained a little, because it’s not my fault it wasn’t a Bric-a-Brac sale day, and Jesse was already shaking his head, not as much at the $2.75/ea price tags, as much as at the thought of housing the fishbowls in our cupboards. $14 took them home ($1.75 ea).  Pricy!

My thought was – to use them as centerpiece thingy for the upcoming reception Party. Fill them with pebbles and seashells and float a candle on top? Little bunches of flowers?  Googling "snifter centerpiece" turned up these:

I KNEW I should have gotten the adjacent floating candles that day.  Sigh.  Jesse's vehemently opposed to the idea of live goldfish, tiny frogs, or little mice livening up my 'centerpieces', so I have to dream in confines of his restricted imagination.  Sigh.  Lizards would also be cool.  How often can you dine and watch a tiny lizard twirl in a snifter? Like, once in your lifetime, right? 

I also like the more traditional idea of stuffing them with flowers and/or enjoying margaritas from them meanwhile, before and after the Party. Jesse’s hoping they get taken by guests after the party or accidentally broken. We’re often on different pages like that. 

I wrapped them and set them aside for now, keeping out a couple out to 'practice flower arranging'.  Or lizard taming, if I win that battle.  I have read up onine that you can make the flowers the day before and store in refrigerator, which I have.  Win.   All that's left is a trip to Trader Joe's/Farmer's Market and a set of large scissors to cut the bouquets snifter-short.   

Snifter.  Snifter.  Snifter.  There, I'm done now..

Risky Fashion, Thrift Shop Thwartage and Stalkage

We switched it up this weekend and kept busy mornings with riding and disc golf, so the thrifting frolicking was limited to a couple quick stop at San Clemente's La Tienda Thrift Shop and Garden Grove G-Mart.  Can you say sparkly?

Yeah.  That's right.

I told myself if it was under $3, I'd get it for shock value and to wear for New Years.  EVERY New Year.  And may be for Halloween, when I want to go as the Disco Ball.  It's a Robert Ribkoff cardigan, (he's somebody fancy!) in silver, with silver sequins, all scrunched up.   

And, I'm a little hesitatant to post this, but, how do we feel about shortalls? 

With boots?  And a belt?  Or no belt?  I know, the overwhelming opinion is probably "no shortalls", but it's too late.  $5 got them AND the cardigan, and some unsuspecting public, somewhere, soon is going to be subjected to me wearing shortalls.  Brought to you by Chip and Pepper (Jesse and Google told me they're somebody, so I did a little brand whoring unknowingly).

The side view is decidedly less farmer like.  You know, cause it looks like shorts.  May I'll just scoot up to people sideways when I wear it.  And wear it I will.  I also figure if I can't ever bring myself to leave the house in either the Disco Ball Shirt or the shorticals, I can Ebay them. 

There was also the most amazing vintage cat, wooden, the kind you pull, and it rolls, and the little paws move..  But this little kid had it, and wouldn't give it up.  I heard his mother say he could have anything if he behaved (awesome tactic, BTW, I mean, you're at a thrift shop, you could let your kid clear out the ENTIRE toy shelf and be out $20).  I suggested Jesse go distract his mother while I snuck up on him from behind the dishes rack and snatched the cat, but Jesse reasoned sensibly  (ugh) that it would be frowned up. 

So, I left sulking, but called later -super creepy stalker like - to find out if they sold a wooden cat to a little blond boy -and!- the cat might still be there.  Ha.  May be he didn't behave well enough after all!  Another trip is in order.  In a related story, I am the sort of person who bargains at thrift shops, creeps behind small children, and calls obsessively afterwards stalking a 40 year old wooden toy I have no business buying in the first place.  I know this.  I am working through it. 

Finally, at a Garden Grove G-Mart (My favorite!)  I got seriously thwarted.  As I was trying Jesse to try on a Banana Republic shirt that he thought was hideous and that I thought was a beautiful, attractive, sexy purple, I saw this woman's cart - full of dresses.  New dresses, with tags.  I'm sure they were all my size.  There was one I was a little determined to snatch out of her cart while she was on her phone (it's a theme, I know, I need therapy) but she got off the phone and eyeballed me disapprovingly eyeballing her cart before taking off towards the registers.  Gr.  Seriously, a full cart of Macy's tags.   What is she going to do with all those dresses?  So, of course, by the time I made it to the dress rack, there was nothing there for me.  I'm convinced it was that chick's fault. 

Jesse finally agreed to one of my offerings/picks, a different Banana Republic shirt,

with a lot less (none) purple, so I left him alone to brand whore for random Brooks Brothers blazers and the like, and over by the linens/dishes I found

1.  An old Bavarian plate.  49c.  Love!

2.  A bin of fabrics, By The Bolt, $5.99  O.M.G.

I always read jealously about people making muslin mock ups of their patterns, but I've always been too cheap to buy said muslin.  I mean, even at $1.99/yd - which it wasn't - it adds up.  I now have several kilometers of this stuff.  I can cut out patterns, write on it, modify, cut more, fail, try again, rinse, repeat, like 80,000 times.  I can even try to make my own patterns. 

The second bolt wasn't quite as large, but there's quite a bit of fabric on there - may 15 yards - possibly more - dark red raw silk.  Need I say more.  Can you have too many dresses made out of raw silk?  I don't think so, but I will find out.

Shoes & Belts, Mickey and Aebleskivers

It was buried in a big Tupperware bin of belts that I dove into and busied myself with. From Brighton and Disney, crocodile printed, my sized Mickey and Minnie?! In a train!

With Pluto and the Duck, either Donald or Daffy, I’m not good with names. The belt part itself is a little ratty, it's a very tired crocodile.  But how could I not. 

 But I wore it to work today, and it got lots of compliments and managed to stay intact. Win!

There’s a husband/wife leather shop in Laguna Beach I really like (LagunaLeather), I called and inquired about new belts - $40 to make one. So, I guess that could be an option. In a purple crocodile print, yes?

Same bin featured another Brighton belt, looky like brand new, and an older leather Spanish made belt that I just thought looked cool. 3 belts $2.75 each. Normally $3.75, but it WAS a sale day for belts. Ha.

The kitchen department was a bit of a fail, since I own 500 lbs in cast iron, and I really should own a couple pans only, so I can cook on them all the time and keep them seasoned.  (But Jesse thought we might need a chicken fryer, a wok, a brownie pan, and several others.  So, he started it.)

It's a cast iron Griswold aebleskiver pan.  (Don't think it was cooked on, but it ain't rusty either like some Ebay beauties).  I actually have a Lodge one, but the older pans like Griswold were machined smooth back in the day. I guess it’s too expensive to do anymore, and the current cast iron, for the most part is a little grainy. Which typically isn’t a problem, but this is an Aebleskiver pan - they are spherical pancakes that you turn as they cook, so batter pours out and forms a ball. This turning happens with a knitting needle, a skewer, or a chopstick, there are some YouTube videos of it happening.

So, here’s where the smooth surface comes in – if the batter sticks at all to the pan, it won’t turn, the batter won’t pour out, and it becomes a mess.  I've seen it happen:

That middle aebleskiver didn't wanna turn.. :( 

It's a pain in the butt to wash, too.  I'm being a little dramatic, since I've actually made perfectly successful batches of 'skivers on my 'grainy' pan.   And I actually prefer the way it looks.  But, apparently I couldn't walk away from a  $3.75 Griswold.  So, I now  have two aebleskiver pans, and I have a feeling Jesse will make me get rid of one.  There’s a very short section in my address book of people who make Aebleskivers. Extremely short. Non existent, one might say.  May be I'll poach eggs in one of them WHILE I flip aebleskivers in the other. 

Jesse skipped away pretty excited despite a new 10lb kitchen addition, because he found these at a neighboring G-Mart:

They were brand new, $12, and his size. When does that ever happen? He promptly looked them up online, because it’s always exciting to find out how much stuff costs in real life, and feel like you saved some money, and spent some time last night polishing them.  The "after" :

Yes, those are shoes on our dining table.  I guess he was really fond of them.  I was a little jealous, and looked through shoe racks I usually avoid, but no new shoes were waiting to get adopted. I found a cute green Rampage top and called it a day.

Stampin Up! and Picking up Hobbies in Driveways.

I woke up late Saturday, and just rolled out of bed early enough (10:30) to meet Giraffy at the Irvine Farmers Market - which deserves a post of its own.  But, there went my plans to frolic garage sales and look for old sewing patterns, which is a tragedy that must be fixed.  After all, last weekend was camping in Utah, and nobody holds garage sales in the desert sand dunes, so, I'm having withdrawals.

We got up at 6:30 (a new record) because somebody advertised an antique sewing machine - and, logically - where there's a sewing machine, there's a larg(er) chance of sewing pattterns.   Jesse doctored me up a thermos of tea (with lemon and fresh mint leaves from the Awesome Farmer's Market), stopped for a Starbucks for himself, because he claims their mochas can not be replicated in a home environment, and I can't argue because he makes me thermoses of tea at 6 am..  and off we went.

The antique sewing machine didn't come with patterns, but there was a black top and jjill skirt I fancied (and dragged home for a $1) as well as some pin striped Gap wool slacks.  They're beautiful, and I can't limit my wardrobe just because the weather in SoCal does not cooperate with my wool/suede/leather obsession.  Not when it's hung in front of me for a $1, anyway.  Plus, we visit my mom in Chicago fairly often.

We were off to the next place, where 'antique' stuff looked promising - I like old sewing patterns, and old things tend to hang out together, and antique and old are often interchangeable, especially where CL garage sales ads are concerned, so, again, promising.  I never found out, though, and will have to live another week with my current stash of patterns (and since currently I make one dress every 27 years, this shouldn't be a problem).  What I DID find, though, was a lady selling parts of her giant and awesome stamp collection.

Do I stamp?  Nope.  I own some stamps, because I've always wanted to, in the same way I own a guitar and two surfboards.  It's a pretty small collection of 5-6 items that Michael's Dollar Bin had to offer.  But this chick had, like, cases of stuff.  Two boxes, and a table, and a tower thingy.  Jesse went to look through the electronics box, and I didn't look up for 15 minutes.  

I n t r o d u c i n g..  my new hobby :

I started out with half that, but ended up going back.  So many colors.  Flowers.  Bubbles.  Must.  Look.  Again.  When we came back, I mentioned that I was going to make my own wedding invitations, and I was nosing around for flowery things that would go with the theme.  C, the owner of all the awesomeness offered to look through her 'upstairs stash' of wedding specific stuff.  And we did.  And she let me pick some out.

I love the 'going to the chapel' stamp!  Yeep! 

"C" makes cards and they were pretty amazing.  The kind of cards you see in little boutiques, I wish I had gotten a couple or at least have taken a picture.  They were adorable and so well made and pretty..   I did, take her phone number though.  She mentioned getting together to may be watch her make cards, so I was pretty stoked.  But, it could have been, like a, "OMG, get out of my driveway already, what ELSE do you want" kinda of thing.  Hard saying.  Still, stoked.

My first handmade stamp card!

After a little while, I moved on from paper.

I've had a collection of sand dollars from NorCal's sand dollar beach sunning on my porch for a while now.

May be I could just send sand dollars as invites?  Might require bubble wrap..

I kinda wanna go back and see what other stuff she has I may have missed.  Is that bad?

Jesse walked away with a little Ipod speaker thing that he's been looking for camping (falling asleep to tent music?  Yes!!)  

It appears that it's in good working order, he was dancing along to some obnoxious 50 cent songs in the garage today, moving stuff around.  Camping AND garage speakers.  Score.  And some headphones.  $2.  I love that he can hang out with a box of electronics and driveway scenery the time it takes me to space out at shiny things, tour somebody's home, and find more things (that weren't even for sale) to drag home and play with.  I think I got lucky with him.  I mentioned the thermos of tea, right?

Sewing pattern fail.  But then I remembered how I scored this for 10c in a driveway couple weeks ago, and it all became OK.

I might sacrifice a few of Jesse old shirts for this one.  Blue?  Pin Stripe?  That is, if tomorrow's Walkaway Dress Debut goes well at work.  If not, I'll call "C", get some stamping tips and forget this sewing thing ever happened.  Hee.