Christmas 2013

I'm sitting here Christmas evening and feeling grateful to have spent the past 2 days with the people I love.

Christmas Eve, Lisa, Ty and my mom came over to our house and we enjoyed a great meal. John made is famous ribs and a turkey breast on the grill and I have to say my homemade dressing and mac & cheese turned out pretty good too! I also made fudge, mints and peanut butter cup cookies...

John and I spent Christmas morning exchanging gifts to each other...

This is what I got in my stocking...yes, those are snoring strips!

John was pretty happy with his main gift...

and I got some Annie Sloan Chalk paint which was on my wish list....

Then we headed over to John's mom's to spend Christmas with his family....

So another Christmas has come and gone. It seems the older I get the faster they come and go, so I'm trying to enjoy each one I'm given!  Merry Christmas!  

Ideas

I had an idea....so I bottled it!

B4 & After

Before:

After:

Windows at E-Six

Bottles, twine & hooks. You know me...I couldn't just use valances!

I 

Here We Go Again!

It's been a while and I'm sure by now most of you know that I have been busy relocating E-Six Flea Market Style. We have moved into "The Black Crow" on Main Street in Elkhart.  It isn't considered a flea market...while some things will be used/refurbished items like E-Six, there will be a good deal of new things in this store too. The store is open for business now, but is only about 75% completed. Once finished it will also have a sweets/coffee cafe inside! I don't drink coffee but the sweets could be a problem for me!!

Anyway, it was a real chore making the move and I'm pretty sure I won't do it again! Back breaking, stressful...and John and I are not at our best with each other during things like this, so lets just say that I'm glad to have this over and done with!

Here's some pictures from the first time we were shown the store...

The store has 2 areas. One is more updated and modern looking and the other area is like stepping back in the past, original tin ceilings and all. So you know which area I wanted to be in!

I picked this "Suite" area for E-Six. (They don't call them booths here)

It is the very back of the store, but it is the largest suite and the only one with windows! The store front has big windows, but no other suite has windows.

They dry walled and painted the walls, leaving the brick around the windows. They also painted the tin ceiling a metallic copper.

Then we got to work. Thankfully we got help again from Lisa and Ty....

While all this was going on, we needed to get some furniture ready to put in the new space. John took one of the old doors he bought last summer and made a bench out of it. He used the entire door plus some additional wood for the seat. When he was done, I painted it. I think he did a really good job on it!

Also last summer, I came home with this...

It is upside down in the picture because as you can see, the legs are broken. Not one broken leg, but 3 of the legs were either broken or damaged. John couldn't believe I came home with it. But I saw potential...

And...I think I was right!

I was getting tired of furniture and decided to make a couple things to hang on the wall. 
I had an old cupboard door that I picked up at and estate sale and got inspired by all the signs Lisa has been making, so I made this...

I used some of that scrap wood I had left over on the insets of the door.

And I made this large version of the reclaimed wood Christmas trees I've been making. Used pallet wood and other scrap wood we had laying around...

With the change to a new store, I had to replaced all my price tags on everything. UGH!! They want this black crow stamp on all the tags...

It took me 2 days to get all the tags replaced. :(

I'm happy to say that we are now all moved in...

Elkhart's "Art Walk" is in about 2 weeks and it takes place on Main Street and The Black Crow is the headquarters for the judges, so they want us to have our suites looking good by then, so I hope to get a few more pieces of furniture ready by then. I also have a fun plan for the windows in the suite that I need to get done. 

Today I stayed home and got caught up on things around the house. Embarrassed to say that I had 8 full loads of laundry and John was wearing dress socks with his jeans because I got so far behind on it!  I also got my Christmas decorations put up today.

So this is what I've been up to and why I haven't blogged in a while. It is now 11:30 pm and I think I'm going to call it a day!  

A Crazy Craig's List Thursday

John and I recently cleared enough space in our garage to allow us to park inside for the winter, but every year we have the problem of the snow blower sitting in our only path for walking. We are constantly running into it and it also sits right in front of the refrigerator we have out there so we have to move it every time we want to open the fridge door.

The solution? We decided to get rid of a set of shelving we used for storing mostly junk (John's stuff). So Thursday, while John was at work (because that is the best time to get rid of his stuff), I went out in the freezing garage and starting going thru everything. I loaded some stuff in my car for Goodwill and "relocated" the rest into a black trash bag so he couldn't see whats inside!

Sooo, what do you do with a set of large metal shelves that you no longer want and don't have a truck to haul them away? You post them under "Free" on Craig's List. 

So I went inside where I warmed up and proceeded to post my ad... 

Metal Shelves, Elkhart, IN

Heavy Duty Metal Shelves. Great for the Garage.

Free for the taking. You pick up.

Call or text: 574-3two9-83zero3

While on Craig's List, I had to check out the furniture and I found a small drop leaf table someone was selling for only $10 in North Liberty (where John works), so I called the number in the ad, told them I'd take it and that I'd have my husband pick it up after work.  

Then, within minutes of me posting my ad the phone starts ringing. I'm getting text messages, I'm getting phone calls, everyone wants these shelves!  I had people asking me if they were in good shape and I said "I think they are great...for free".  I even had one person ask me if I would disassemble them so they could fit it in their car? I said "no...they are FREE, I'm not doing anything to them".  Then I had a person tell me that her boyfriend wants to come get them right now...so I said "Great, bring a truck!".

Things were going great. I had posted my ad, got the shelves hauled away and took down my ad, all within an hour....AND John called me and said he had picked up the table and was on his way home.  I just love when things work out like this....

That is until I get another phone call..."Carole? This is the guy you purchased the table from". (Why would he be calling? John already picked it up.). He proceeded to tell me that his wife was the one that placed the ad on Craig's List for the table and that he didn't know that she had 2 ads posted for 2 different tables. Seems the table that he gave John was a much nicer, more expensive table and he sold it to me for $10. He said "My wife just got home from work and said "What did you do!?!"  I thought it was kind of funny, because John didn't know what it was supposed to look like...he just knew he was picking up a table...and he was probably thinking that I really scored a good deal. Ha!  

I told the guy not to worry, he could buy the table back for $40....no I didn't say that! :) John exchanged the table the next day.

I guess everything can't go smoothly. That's not how things work in my world!

Winter... Like It or Not

What I  hate  dislike about winter...

- Wearing a coat.
- Slipping on ice.
- The NIPSCO bill.

- The laundry hamper filling up twice as fast.
- Getting in a freezing cold car.
- Pets left outside in the cold.
- Worrying about everyone I love, driving on icy roads.
- Daylight savings time.
- Breathing in air so cold that your nose hairs hurt.
- Dirty snow on the road sides.
- Yellow snow...you know what I mean.
- Those blow up Christmas lawn decorations.

- Running out of windshield washer fluid.
- My car covered with salt and dirt.
- Realizing people really do need those lines in order to park their cars.
- Shoveling the driveway.
- Sleet hitting me in the face.
- Not being able to open the windows.
- Pushing a shopping cart in an un-plowed parking lot.


What I  love  like about winter....

- An undisturbed, blanket of sparkly white snow. 

- Kids bundled up in snowsuits.
- Snuggling up under a blanket.
- Tree branches covered in snow.

- Wearing my Uggs.
- Soup.
- Ice cycles.

- Christmas lights.
- Slippers.
- Not hearing John complain about mowing the lawn.
- Snow angels.

Note: The blanket of sparkly snow, tree branches covered in snow and ice cycles are only enjoyed when viewing them from inside my house!

Remember That Scrap Wood?

Tomorrow Hart City, the building where I have E-Six, is having a craft fair. They rented space to local crafter's to come in for the day to sell their stuff. What they sell has to be handmade. 

That gave me a great idea.  Do you remember this?

I went and picked this scrap wood up several weeks ago.  It was free for the taking and I knew then what I was going to make with it.

So I spent the past couple days sawing, drilling, painting and gluing.....

This is what I ended up with...

This is just a few of what I made and I didn't even come close to using up all that wood!  

Hey...did I just make something come full circle? The scrap wood was once a tree and now it's a tree again. :)