OMG

The house SOLD, the house SOLD, the house SOLD!!!!!!

What? What? What?

And it sold in less than 2 months...which is freaking amazing considering the price point.

All the stress fell and we caught this freak cold...If a cold and the flu had a love child!

That really kicked our butts...all the while trying to pack boxes, boxes and more boxes and trying to deal with the balance of my dad's stuff.

and working full time....so it was good times all around!

This is also a very emotional time as I am purging, cleaning and finding this I was not aware of.

 My Dad was as shy as he was exuberant...Yes it happens

When he told me he had been nominated for an Emmy award for Cirque du Soleil's Dralion

he also told me he would not go and pick it up in L.A.

This is when he received it at his workshop.

 I took this picture from the TV.

I was watching the documentary that was released 

the year after his death. It was like visiting with him.

 This picture is from Google. He was in his early 20's.

His teachers had him pegged as a fashion designer

but he loved the theater.

So selling his house and moving is a huge thing but

it was a necessary thing.

I do not see our life as scrimping and scraping trying to get by 

, to pay insurance and those crazy municipal taxes....

So of my Dad's friends do not approve...

And to those people I say fiddledee!

And to this fuzzy bellied cat I say hello gorgeous!

Yoda loves to sleep on her back! 

When we move in my Dad's house we only bought

a sofa and a staked washer and dryer for small places.

this move we needed a kitchen table and we wanted a Tulip table

but after seeing the prices we opted for a lookalike not really Tulip table

 and those will be our dining room chairs. we decided to

refurbish our old chairs for the kitchen.

And after trying 50 plus sofas we decided to keep the 60's black vinyl

3 seater and put foam and new vinyl on it.

 Last week on a buy and trade Facebook site, I read

the message of a young woman who had recently separated and had 

2 kids and she was looking for this we could donate.

So I gave her these. She was so grateful and happy and I did not have to list them and deal with

weird classified buyers...

 I had to empty my freezer and look what I found...

pork chops from 2015! and they are not even freezer burned! 

WHAT???

I am my parents daughter and I will thaw them out and cook them.

My mother was a penny pincher and even if Dad loved to splurge he was really cheap on food!

 We also got through our first move.

Yes we will have 2 moves.

All my Dad's nativity is moved, 50 boxes, all the wood working tools

the freezer, the extra fridge and some furniture.

So that clears a lot of extra place for new boxes!

Seeing this makes me so happy, I feel tingly all over!

We have a red room right now and we love it, so this was 

a no brainer!

I just fined baking Dixie's Orange Cake from 

Pyrex prize recipe. This was a challenge from the Facebook group Pyrex and everything vintage!

NAILED IT!

That's it for tonight...Suddenly I am very, very tired

Take care faithful readers!

On this last day of March

I had 2 topics I wanted to share with you...

There is a Barbie Expo in Montreal!

FREE!!!

 I love Barbie and her wonderfully wild and crazy get ups!

This will be so much fun!

NEXT!

Do you know Modglass ?

I don't !

They sell some kind of 21st century Pyrex!

I have seen a blue and turquoise one too, I took pictures but never found them!

I have a witness too....

They are super cute, but a bit on the pricey side....

$25 each

Oh well....

Enjoy the last evening of March

About Time

Being on vacation this year has been AMAZING!

I feel so rested, inspired, creative, productive!!!

The pool is finally ready, at the end I was ready to throw in the towel and just empty it and dismantle it....

It took a new gasket (totally useless), a new filter (professionnaly installed) I'm so happy we paid extra for this because we would've gotten this all wrong  , a new 3-way valve....this is where I nearly threw in the towel!

First place I went, the service rep just gave me any old part and dismissed me...THANK YOU VERY MUCH B.....But we are lucky there's another pool store accross the street, an independent one, the service rep was super nice, not condescending and actually made me a deal on the part I needed....

I know where my future pool is going to come from....

I still need to return the part from the first store and I have a feeling they will get an earfull....or two!

 The pool is finally ready for dipping! It is wonderful and the sure sign summer is here!

The new veggie garden...Doesn't look like much now but I will post pictures of its progress

 

                                         I actually saw a car with false eyelashes!

 My blast from the past snack. In my youth sugary snacks were few and far apart...I got some on holidays...Xmas, Easter, Valentine's....Once in a blue mood my mother would buy a box of these. They were considered a luxury item (It was a real brand not generic, those were never on sale and actually tasted good). My mother was hyper thrifty and we would have cheapo on sale knockoff brand cookies
that weren't really tasty...Too thrifty is not always good.

So I bought a box (I am on vacation afterall)....Guess what? Of course know where I am headed!

I was disappointed! TOO SWEET! Good but too sweet, I could only eat 2 per sitting, which is eally more than plenty.

So the to do list is not getting smaller... Well it is what it is!

Sleep tight!

Woo Time sure Flies!!!

It seems Xmas was just weeks away.....

But the retail world is always a step ahead to make us spend...

                                                 
                                                  Cute sugar cookies? YUM!
                                                  Rest assured I didn't buy any....But I know they are tasty!
                                             

                                             This is the CUTEST grocery list  pad EVER!
                                           
                                  Now I really wanted to ake you along wih me on a journey, a weight loss
                                   journey/experiment...but I forgot to send the document I was working on
                                   during my lunch hour, so it will be for another day!

                                   Be well!

B-Day Loot

Yes it is my B-Day today. My official age doesn't match how I feel AT ALL!

I had a great day overall and was surprised by my co-workers with a musical card playing Celebration by Kool & The Gang. This is kinda of my theme song at work making me remember that I should celebrate each day and even each crappy case.

Dan surprised me with a great SWATCH watch this morning

                                                    Sorry the pic is a bit fuzzy
                                         I LOVE watches, I have a lot and went through an ebay phase not long ago
                              and I bought a lot of cheap watches to match my outfits!

                                                   I also got a car phone charger with 2 ports and this
                                                   

 

A Pyrex Xmas bowl full of goodies I love!

 

Last week I was going through the kitchen cabinets and Dan asked what I was doing...

and I said: I'm looking for some gummy bears, do we have gummy bears, gummy bears would be so good right now!!!

 I didn't find any as we don't have a lot of sugar in the house as a rule... but now I have gummies....

 

And I got a cupcake, a glorious cupcake with lemon icing.

 

I think it sang in my mouth!

 

Well I still need to get up and go to work tomorrow!

 

There will be thrifting!  

Mixed Bag 'O' Stuff

Well dear readers,

I haven't been posting for 9 days.....YIKES!

Since the balcony, front porch has been finished, we've had more renos in the basement....

They are installing a sump pump...which should (finally) take care of the water seeping in the basement.
They also took care of the grade on one side of the house.

But there is much more to do, so that means that I'm not able to put up Xmas lights yet.....Sad face.

All that aside we are checking off things on our to do list!

We bought a new toilet bowl and had every intention of installing it ourselves....but guess what? The old one was more than 15 years old and the sizes are not the same, which means we have to get an adaptor and even change the pipe in the floor and basement...

That's when I said to Dan: UHUH NONO I AIN'T PUTTING MY HANDS IN NO PIPE WHERE POOP GOES NO WAY EVEN IF IT'S MY POOP!

Sorry about the language. The plumber is coming over next friday to install it. I'll keep you posted on that.

We finally re-installed the chandelier in the bathroom, Dan sprayed it black and it is beautiful!
I put some crystals on it but I need to get more! MORE, MORE!

And we removed the kitchen fan over the range....eeeewwww! Holly caked on grease Batman!

And I fiddled with the new fan (I.E. reading the instructions and figuring out what they meant!) we will install it tomorrow morning.....I'm crossing my fingers that all goes smoothly.

I finally decided to spend some of my B-Day money from Dad and I got red boots!

I love them. I love red just like my grandma, GranMimi.

  

 Not cowboy boots, I'll have to take a pick of the heel.

 

Here it is the IN heel.

 

Thanks Dad!

 

I had to bring Dan's Ipod to it's final resting place....

 

 

I have to say I HATE APPLE AND ITS PHILOSOPHY!

I'm sure I'm not the only one.

It's like it is a huge sect and you don't know how it works....and noboby will tell you but they will give you an appointment to meet a genius....

 

Well we got a replacement Ipod and now the energy is right again at casa de Vonlipi.

 

I hope all my south of the border readers had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

 

Remember that turkey is very low calorie!

 

I'm starting on my Xmas list and I hope to share it soon

 

Sleep tight and be well :)  

 

 

Hostess with the mostest!

Time flies when you're having fun/try to fix the house/work full time/try to fix healthy balanced meals/want to blog/need to thrift and love tv!

I even managed to throw my back. I couldn't put socks on! LOL

Fall is definitely upon us and the temperatures are dipping. I don't want to be pessimisstic but I don't think I will break my record of taking a dip in the pool on Thanksgiving.

I'm also trying to list all I can in the shop before October, so I'm ahead of the Xmas rush....

Xmas! How I love thee. We are moving at work and they are cramping us all up so believe it or not there won't be anymore place for the Xmas decorations! CRAZY!

So they were giving it all away. I had fun rummaging through the bins and picked up a few goodies.

Now about the title...I haven't forgoten about my goal to show my Pyrex collection

So here are the Hostess casseroles....

Now I don't have a bracket...and I'm missing some like the black one....!

I would LOVE to find one

Maybe one day,

Maybe on a big roadtrip that is planned soon....

Have a great evening!

It's bedtime in Vonlipi land!

So Soon?

This has been one of those really weird weekends...on the space time continuum.

It felt like I was on vacation not like a weekend.

Yesterday I ran all over the house to clean it up while Dan was at the barber. After I was off to an afternoon of pampering with my step daughter Veronica in downtown Montreal.

Now this spa afternoon was a Xmas gift from Dan. I called in january to book the appointment and was only able to get yesterday.

We both got a massage, a pedicure and a facial! It was heavenly!

Massages were a regular part of my mental health routine before I lost my job in 2008; so it's been 4 years since my last massage; I'm already plotting for my next appointment.....

So I've been out of focus ever since. There was even a time when my bifocal glasses didn't work anymore!

So when came back home for a supper of filet mignon,Quebec asparagus,king mushrooms and baby potatoes.

The king mushrooms were delicious. I cut them in half and marinated them in EVOO and thyme

from the garden; then a quick trip on the grill.

Here's a close up of the mushroom deliciousness!

Meaty and satisfying.

We learned that for mother's day there's always a sale on filet mignon and on father's day a sale

on rib steak!

I'll jot in down on my calendar! 

I had an amazing run at the Sally Ann on friday night....Stay tuned for a thrifty post!

I can't believe I have to work tomorrow!

More Projects Completed!

My oh my oh my! yesterday was magical. We were in the reno zone...so cool!

Ok this is the wardrobe before...One side pantryesque and the other for coats and boots. Notice the before color that deep burnt orange that says: hey! we went to south america and we feel the need to cover the whole house in terra cotta!

After shot. I really like the new panelled doors and that beigy,mocha,brown,khaki color.

Old light (I hate those! we have them all over the house)

New light (I'm totally in love with this one! I've been eyeing it for years now, it's from LLBean-love)

Also this is the toot my own horn moment, I installed it myself and Dan was the helper-I'm the resident electrician)

Our reward...

Lunch! There was some meat, but it was not in Pyrex....so not in the pic!

No blogging for me tomorrow, I'm off to the city for some bloodwork and the annual tit pressing (I hate this)

Have a great evening :) 

A giveaway 'coz it's Friday!

Happy Friday everybody!

TGIF!!! To celebrate the end of the week and the beginning of the New Year I decided to do giveaway! YAY for the giveaway! I'm all excited, imagine that!

I will be sending to the lucky winner this beautiful JAJ Pyrex (from England) in the Toledo pattern- and other goodies yet to be determined!

To participate you need to:

1) Leave a comment

2) Follow my blog

3) If you have a blog write abou my giveaway on your blog

Each gives you an additional chance to win. You have until Friday January 29th midnight to participate. Yes I will ship internationnaly but not on other planets...sorry shipping there would kill me!

The winner will be chosen at random by none other than Henry the Xmas Elf

Seen here hanging out in a New Dots (Pyrex) 401!

Good luck to everybody! :)