Thursday, March 31, 2016

NOT-Buyers Remorse

There's only one thing that's worse than 
traditional buyers-remorse and that is ...
NOT-Buyers Remorse!! 
(scary Psycho-music is playing in my head, 
as it should be in yours.) #fact #science
 The struggle is real.
Missed out on this armoire for $29!
Because I couldn't answer the questions fast
enough I missed out on the armoire.
There are few second chances when you're
out treasure hunting.

 I can remember every single thing I should
have bought and did not.  Decades later I can
 still see them in my head and ask why
I can relate to Larry "Remember the time
 we passed a wicker couch by the side of the
 road and you said we'd pick it up on 
the way home?" He loves that story.

Why do I do this to myself? Why? 
Why? Because I talked myself out 
of it with logic. Crazy right!? 

You know the questions:
1. What are you going to do with it? 
2. Where are you going to put it?
3. Why do you need it? 
    (the dumbest of them all!)
4. What are you going to get rid of to make
     room for it?
5. Will it fit in the SUV or van?
    (keep this in mind with next car purchase)
6. It's too big, too small, too much money,
    needs work....on and on.

Sometimes Larry messes with my thinking 
and I second-guess my instincts. Though
 sometimes he does save me from my 
overly-enthusiastic self. He's gotten 
better at reading the signs; fast-talking, 
glassey-eyed, hyperboles, and protective
 circling. Do men understand this? I think not. 

Not buying whatever has obsessed me can
 lead to depression, sullenness and a general 
haunting malaise. I may never find that
(fill in the blank) again! It will be swirling 
around in my head all day...maybe forever

All of this could be avoided 
if I had just bought the thing! Now I'll buy 
something just to avoid the dreaded NBR
(NOT-Buyers Remorse). 
Sort of an insurance policy, therapy, if you will.
bought, used for 2 years then sold
On the plus side, 
nowadays I can always sell it again if it turns
 out to be a hideous mistake, or I just change
 my mind, usually for a small profit. 
Then I can go out and buy something else,
 and the fun continues. Buy-Sell-Repeat. 
trash day find chandie. found all shades
for $1.00 at garage sale. Keeper.
bought and sold
bought and sold
Thrifted vintage china cabinet
Still using HERE. May paint someday, 
or may sell someday. Keeping options open.
Didn't buy, could have $old. 
Bought $20 and sold $75
Bought $25 sold $125
 This buy-sell method has been working for 
years. It's how I pay for all my Craigslist, 
antiques shop, thrift store, garage sale finds. 
Hmmmm...I wonder if that antique pantry
 has sold on craigslist yet? $50. 
I'll go check and keep you posted.
Hope I didn't miss it. 

Cheers!








Monday, March 28, 2016

The Weekend

What's a weekend? 
Here's a sample of ours.
 First I have to get the little girl up. She'd be
 happy to stay in bed all morning as long
 as we are there with her. 
 Here's her morning walk.
 Larry and I both have regular tennis games on Sunday. 
Saturday is often a trip to the farmer's market.
We got the canoe ready for an early evening
 ride on the lake behind our house.
 Sofie loves coming along. 
We started heading back to the house and 
dinner just as the sun began to set. 
My favorite time of day.
Enjoying a glass of wine with a beautiful sunset. 
A nice May Days weekend.
Cheers!


Thursday, March 24, 2016

Organize The Car Trunk With A Shelf

Everything you have in your car's trunk will
be so much easier to find with this one
simple addition...a shelf!
My "before and after" trunk.
The back of my car was a mess!
The usual suspects; bags of things to return, 
extra shopping bags, all my "just-in-case" 
stuff. I was rummaging through it all every
time I needed to get something. It was time
to find a better way that worked for me and 
finally get that trunk organized.
First I needed to completely empty all
the stuff out of the trunk.
Here's what went back in...first try.
My car trunk duffel, and a large bag of
stuff to return. I don't go shopping that
often, so they can stay there for way too long. 
In the duffle were my extra shopping bags, a 
first aid kit, a couple of tennis cans; one with
 extra trash bags (for the car and the dog) the
other one stored a plastic picnic tablecloth,
 (for those impromptu car trip lunches), a pair
of old sneakers and flip flops for emergencies,
a beach towel and blanket. Beach
emergencies are common in South Florida.
An extra dog leash and water bowl for our
 Sofie can also come in handy if you ever
 find a stray. 
That arrangement didn't solve my "rummage"
problem. I decided adding a shelf would be a
good solution. I repurposed an old closet shelf
we had stored in the attic and Larry cut it to
 size (46") using a hack saw. It fit nicely
using the wheel ledges as support. If you
 don't have that you can build a support out
 of wood scraps. I used the extra wood
support at the back end.
You can see the end of the shelf resting 
on the inside wheel's ledge. 
It's important that you cover the raw edge 
of the shelf with these rubber end caps so 
they don't scratch the car's interior. 
I had some saved in a jar in the 
utility room. Jars rule!
The top shelf has easy-to-grab shopping
totes, wine bags, insulated bags. Underneath
the shelf are the return bags and duffle. 
The shelf isn't attached so it can be removed
 whenever needed. The lip at the end of the 
shelf keeps things from sliding off. 
Plenty of room for groceries or my
ready-to-go beach bag.
Works for me!

Cheers!

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Monday, March 21, 2016

Finding Free Tennis Cans to Repurpose

 I use FREE empty tennis cans to organize!
I hit the empty tennis can jackpot!
My tennis club was having a tournament last
weekend and they supplied all these balls.
All the empty cans were stacked to be 
taken to the dumpster.
 Imagine my delight when I walked past this
stack of boxes.
All I need to do is rip off the label
and toss (or re-purpose) the metal tops. 
They are perfect, unbreakable, see-through
organize containers. 
You know, if you've read my blog, that I
obsessed like to repurpose empty tennis cans
for FREE, lightweight, see-through,
storage containers for...everything!
garage, bathroom, crafts, office supplies, 
gym bag, car trunk, toys, ornaments, 
ribbons, gift tags, odds-and-ends, kitchen, 
laundry, game pieces, candles, first-aid kit,
extension cords, night light bulbs, etc......
 Now I already have a good supply in my
  garage already, but I can always use more. 
Right? Give some away. Ambush-organize
someone's stuff, or just replace a few
of my older ones.
Of course my little Sofie girl loves to play
with tennis balls. 
Check out a few of my tennis can 
storage ideas HERE.


Cheers!


Monday, March 14, 2016

My $3.00 Garage Sale Finds

How $3.00 can make you happy.
The annual Cooper City Neighborhood 
Garage Sale was on last weekend's 
list of activities and places to go.
A beautiful day to walk the grounds and see 
what might need a new home with moi'. I
found this cranberry red tea pot for $1.00!!
It's also a cute coffee pot.
I can make coffee using a filter cone
 top and the drip method. I don't have to 
tell you how many holidays this little 
ceramic pot will see. 
 The same vendor also had this stack of 8 
dishes for $2.00!! Because he was a man he
 neglected to point out how perfectly they 
matched my newly purchased tea pot and 
what a lovely table setting they would make
 for lunch, brunch or tea...but
I figured that out right away. 
 Now in the back of my mind I thought the 
color would match a set of Longaberger
 mugs I have and I was right.
 You can just imagine the joy!
 The ivory background on the plates works
with my Longaberger ivory pottery. 
So it keeps getting better.
 Now for that mix-and-match look, 
I used my red transferware. Better still!
 So these 8 plates for $2.00 have 
completely expanded my plate "wardrobe". 
 I have 4 of these mugs and one or two 
red Longaberger plates to mix in.
 You'll be seeing them again in July when  
I do the Americana color scheme. 
 But I just had to play with them a bit before
putting them in my dish cupboard 
HERE and HERE.
This is the brand on the bottom of the dishes.
I haven't Googled it yet, but I like that it's 
an American company in Beaver Falls, PA. 
Sounds like a nice town. I'm sure someone
enjoyed a nice piece of homemade apple pie
 on one of these plates. :)

Cheers!