Pool news

No picture again!

We have noticed at the end of winter that the pool was kind crooked. So at the end of March I called to take an appointment to have a tech come over and check out the pool.

3 weeks ago a tech supervisor called to say they would be there later that week. Time passed, days went like a blur...

No tech!!!

I didn't really follow through because I was freaking out on the garage sale....Ok so it's over.
Monday I called the pool place to ask where is my tech, 'coz the pool is not started yet and I keep having this weird nightmare from America's Funniest Videos...I'm swimming and there goes the side of the pool, water everywhere and me in all my luscious splendor....
They told me a tech would call me back Tuesday (needless to say he didn't) and I called back Wednesday and got a callback the very same afternoon...I was in shock! he told me that if my pool was crooked, I would have to empty it, and he would have to level it and change the lining and another thing (I couldn't hear over the cash register noise in my head! catching!)

So Thursday around 4:30 he came and actually the pool is not that crooked! Yay! It could last like that 6-7 years until I change the lining! That is GOOD news!

I will sleep easier and I can't wait to start that pool! LOL

Sheets! Glorious bed sheets!

I love bed sheets, I love to look at them and to touch them. I love to buy some and to have a lot!



I have different sheets for different seasons. I was trying to remember when I first fell in love with sheets. What go me started???



I have a feeling it's genetic! LOL! As I was saying in an earlier post as I grow older I'm developping this mania of vintage fabrics...It's probably a mutation of my sheet mania!



I remember 20 years ago my Dad giving me Ralph Lauren 100% cotton sheets (white and blue stripped), he had gotten them at a factory outlet in Mass. They were the most beautiful thing I ever saw. All cool and crisp! Over the years I got quite a few of those sets, and some are still in use. Simultanously with Ralph I discovered the Martha Stewart sheets. Okay they were not in cotton but in a poly/cotton blend and so cheerful. I would go into a Kmart (in Lebanon NH) like into a holy shrine, a poly/cotton shrine and would smile alone in an aisle looking at all those sheets.....SIGH!!!

At one point my better half (always the helpful Dan!) informed me that we had enough sheets....really???

I honestly don't know how many sets I have...I have 4 sets for winter....Flannel, soft flannel-like going to sleep in a warm hug! My best ones come from LL Bean and are extra soft, white background with big sunflowers. I have a sage green set (also LL Bean) plain fitted sheet and pillow cases but a striped flat sheet (you can customize), a Target set, pale blue with white and dark blue 60's flowers, and the newest addition....a xmas gift actually! A LL Bean flannel set, white background with evergreen trees in all the colors of their flannel collection (That was a stroke of genius, if you ask me! lol, you can still match your existing bedding).

I have 4 comforters....2 for each bed...in case the cats puke on one in the middle of the night (Been there done that...) You just need to pull out a new one, throw the puked on one to the side and go back to bed.

And I keep fantasizing about buying new sheets....I'm looking forward to my OOB (Old Orchard Beach) vacation and thinking of going to Target to look at bedding. In the meantine whenever I see cool pillowcases at the church basement, I grab them! My latest one (pink,white and purple stripes) ended up in my bed this afternoon. Sometimes I used them as background for pictures, or they could end up in my eternal quilt...which i will finish one day..I swear!

I have to go...I think one of the cats just puked on the bedspread! LOL

Overcast Wednesday

I got good news from the church basement this morning; it will be opened all summer long! That is such good news!

I was worried I would suffer church basement withdrawal.....I suffer from garage sale withdrawal right now....With my town's stupid law!

In the same train of thought there's a rumor that they will install cameras on the garbage trucks to monitor what we throw out....Yessiree Bob!

Since the dead leaves law (you have to put them in paper bags, close them up and keep them from the rain and they will only pick them up 3 times each fall) people have been hiding their leaves and some garden waste with the regular garbage.....Hence the cameras! This so feels like George Orwell's 1984! What happen to freedom? I'm really pro-environment and I love recycling but I have to draw the line somewhere....The hardware store won't even sell us plastic garbage bags anymore!

Ok a happier note....because this post wasn't supposed to be about freedom and garbage but about the church basement finds!

I spent 50 cents and got: A really fun pink,purple and white pillow case ( I use those as backgrounds for etsy pictures and as pillowcases also-I like variety), A San Francisco pot holder (new), a Xmas terry dish towel (barely used- I remember seeing those in the stores a year ago), some Barbie dresses (which might end up on ebay), 6 french mystery paperbacks from the 50's (the covers are amazing- I will post a picture one day!!! I promise!) and a vegeterian cookbook ( Dan is always asking for more vegeterian food...).

So as you can see it was a pretty good haul! On my way back, I was intrigued to see a lot of garbage by the side of the road (you can't throw anything out on the side of the street if it's not garbage day and G-day is Monday). I found a garden hose!!! I don't know if it is ok, I don't test in the rain...But I will test it 2morrow for sure!

About the picture: It's called the 401's party (they all came out to play!)

On tonight menu: Italian brown rice croquettes with green salad (I hope this is good 'coz it makes a ton....and I don't like to throw food away)

Crash!

Yesterday around 2 p.m, I fried my computer...everything stopped (My heart included!)

I found a guy in the local phone book would could pickup my laptop and fix it and bring it back....

He came to pick it up just as promised left me a receipt. I got a partial diagnosis later last night....My C drive was full (surprise!)....he would clean it up and bring it back.

Today I got my laptop back....I have tons of room now. But when I fried it, i fried it good!!! Real good!
I lost sound, the external mouse, and both my USB ports are gone too! Bouhoubouhou!!! Which means (I don't really care about the sound) that I can't print, can't use my external drive, can't download pictures....I probably missed something too! In the process I lost my recipe book. It's on my external drive...but since I can't use it....

My techie also told me that my laptop was living on borrowed time (lol), but I knew that. I bought it second hand and was really surprised that it lasted soooo long!



Well at least I got most of my Pyrex pictures and am already working on a way to get a new laptop.

So that's why I'm posting nice cheerful Pyrex pictures. I find them relaxing and happy. Tech gadgets will break eventually it's a fact!

Being 24 hrs without the internet was quite a change. I didn't even open the TV! I just worked on classifying all the garage sale stuff, making boxes for the salvation army and baking brownies to thank my neighbor Claire to take me to the shopping center. I also invented a nice chinese supper...BBQ chicken breasts in spare ribs sauce (chinese garlic sparerib sauce) and rice noodles,green beans and carrots in black bean sauce....Lip smakcing!

Amazon and a visitor

Friday around 6:20 pm I had a visitor on my deck!

Boy did I freak out! Not because I'm scared of raccoons, but I had heard they could harm cats real bad and Peanut (pinotte) was outside and under the deck. Yikkes!

I saw the raccoon go under the deck! OMG! I ran outside, just as heard nasty noises. I called my cat, over and over, but she wouldn't come out.

I went to the cubbard and got some Luv treats and started shaking the bag and calling her. I lifted my head and saw the cat running in the opposite direction, I scooped her up ,brought her inside and gave her a treat and started breathing again!

Look at that face! That beautiful kitty face!

Ok now for the Amazon part of the post! You know all those beautiful hardcover books nobody wanted at the garage sale? Well at 7:00 am yesterday I became an Amazon marketplace seller. So I listed all the books I could, the ones I couldn't will go in the next garage sale....

The 2 drape sets will go to the church basement on wednesday morning and maybe they will make somebody happy.

As for the Pyrex....I listed some on Etsy, will probably list some more today.

The program is to work outside and when my back needs a break then I come inside and list something

What a day!

Oh my! I'm still tired from all the exictement...From the garage/driveway sale! At 4:00 in the A.M. I woke up a little voice screaming in my head "I didn't prepare my change purse!!!"

It was really cold and overcast in the morning. We finished placing our stuff at 7:00 just as a jogger stopped by asking about the bench. He would talk to his wife about it (they came back and bought the bench). We had a lot of fun. I find that I'm more social since I don't work (but really...). We met tons of nice folks, we laughed ,shared stupid stories, garage sale tales...

One of the best things from this day is that Jenn from Matersum stopped by with her hubby and adorable little girl . It was really nice to meet a fellow Etsy seller from my neighborhood!

What people bought was a real surprise. The clock in this picture was touched a gazillion times and it's still in my house ( I so don't like the clock!). The tools all found a new house. A lot of the perrenials also (Thanks Jenn!). A butt ugly old stained kitchen chair was also adopted...But no one...I mean NO ONE looked at the Pyrex!

How come? I think it's a cultural thing. Most of my french speaking friends don't know what Pyrex is, they don't know that it's a collectible (ok they think I;m CRAZY for collecting it...LOL) and my gay friends know what Pyrex is....But I don't really know why! I identify more with the American culture and sometimes the European one, but never the French Canadian one and I usually stick out like a sore thumb (What can you do?)



Anyways the Pyrex didn't sell AT ALL so that table was the first to be packed.

Another surprise is that I only sold 4 books. I had amazing books (really). Cool retro cookbooks and hardcovers, mystery paperbacks all near mint. A quarter each paperback and a buck for a hardcover. You can't get a better deal than that!!!

We didn't get as much traffic because we're near the water and secluded...and because a town nearby had a town wide garage sale (You can't compete with that...)


We had so much fun that we will be having another one and sooner than you think!

Did I mention we had a warning from the police (?). We were not allowed to host a garage sale this weekend...Only on certain dates...That sucked BIG time! And to think that I checked the town's website to make sure everything was kosher!

At 9:00 P.M last night I was out like a log and woke up at 6:59 A.M, quite refreshed but with a really red nose just like Rudolf!

I already started to prepare for the next garage sale by making lists and re-packing everything. Some stuff will go to the church basement....and some to the Salvation Army.

The big STAR of the garale sale? That brown wood table that I put the Pyrex on. 10 people wanted to buy it, but it was not for sale...it is my kitchen table!

oh,oh,oh! I forgot to mention that 2 men tried to buy some garden soil I had nearby!

Needless to say that today was spent putting away boxes and re-organizing...I had the energy to work a bit in the veggie garden...I'm keeping the rest for 2morrow!

Inexpensive spruce up!

When I was a wee girl I loved clogs like you wouldn't believe!

I had some navy,orange,white, brown,turquoise....I was at my local Zellers (I cannot compare it with a U.S. store because I only know Walmart-which we have and Target, which is a gazillion times better than Zellers!),anywho, I was strolling along taking my time absorbing all the shapes and color that differ so much from my usual world...

And I saw these! The mostest,adorablest,cutest, pinkest little clogs! With embroided flowers...sigh! Suddenly I was 9 again holding my father's hand strolling on the cobbled streets of Rome! I felt soooo,so safe like nothing could ever go wrong- Things didn't really go wrong but I very rarely feel this safe.

Actually I was at the shopping center for a new bra (always a fun task!) and I looked at the slipcovers (129$) for a sofa,yikes! I didn't think it was that expensive (not really expensive but,you know) so I saw this display for single sheets on sale...SCORE!!! 2 ivory flat sheet at 7.97 each sewn togheter plus 2 pillowcases at .50 a pair (church basement) and I have a clean and cute (in my opinion) summer sofa!

Even nicer with that adorable cat: The Boubou! The perfect sofa accessory...lol

Okay now the garage sale is tomorrow (I'm soooo excited and I cannot hide it)...i have to get the remaining boxes from the basement, a couple of baskets, I already emptied a pine chest that (hopefully) will find a new house, I have to make a geological dig for a foot bath in the under the stairs closet...lol

The weather channel is forecasting sunny with a couple of clouds....This should be fun!