Spring is Here!!

After a long day at work I pulled into our driveway and saw this...

:) Spring is here!  I love flowers!

Also, the black striped coffee table that we just took to E-Six has sold!!  It was a nice end to my day.

Week One - Done!

Well, I got through my first week back to work.  It is amazing how much you can forget after 3 years of being away!  All the employee's that I worked directly with before are no longer there...with the exception of one who isn't there yet but will be returning soon to work 2 days a week for the summer. She retired in January and boy am I looking forward to seeing her!  The employees that are there are not very accepting of me coming in and being their boss...and I haven't even started being bossy with them yet! :)  I did feel a little "breaking of the ice" on Saturday, so hoping things start to get better soon. 

I will have to say I was tired this week and my back was killing me!  I am happy to say that although my shoulder hurt some, it didn't hurt much more than my other shoulder did, so I'm taking that as a good sign.  But, because of this, I was only able to get one piece of furniture completed for E-Six this week. :( 

This is not a real "Before" picture because by the time I remembered to take the picture I had already sanded all the water rings and stains off the top and painted the base...

I used black paint to paint the base and 2 stripes and then used ebony stain on the other stripes and the drawer front. 

Got home from work around 6:25 Friday, had to apply a coat of paste wax, let it set up and buff it before John and I could loaded it up and take it over to E-Six. We got there shortly before closing time!

I did get a dresser started that I hope to finish up this week. I'm kicking myself that I didn't get a before picture of this one because when we got it, it had glass stones glued and grouted all over the top of it!  The stones were all colors and all sizes so it was all bumpy on the top. It was crazy looking! It took John a long time to chip it all off and when he was done he left lots of gouges and we discovered a rather large crack in the top...we are guessing that is why they did this to begin with.  Here is a sneak peek after I have used a good deal of wood putty on it!

I am looking forward to seeing this one completed! 

Freezing Sleet & Pink Waterfalls - UPDATED!

This past week a couple of our larger furniture items sold so John and I made our Friday night haul to E-Six to fill the empty spots!  It was freezing outside! The wind was blowing and it was sleeting...we always pick the best times to do things! Can't believe it was 70 yesterday.

Here are a couple of the things we took over there tonight:

I'm calling this an antique writing desk...mainly because it has a large ink spill stain in the drawer!

Before:

After:

And this is called a Waterfall Vanity...I looked this one up on the internet. :)

Before:

After:

I just noticed that the pink looks different in each of these pictures...I think the second picture is closest to the true color.

This one took some work. I added the wood accent pieces to the bench and below the mirror because I thought those spots looked like they were missing something. And I think the new handles and knobs really added the wow factor!  A padded seat had to be added to the bench which was missing when we got it. 
Hopefully someone has a little girl they want to spoil!

UPDATE: The pink vanity sold the very next day!

Decision Time!

This past weekend I had a decision to make...

About a week ago my old employer called and asked if I would consider coming back to work for them.  It has been 3 years since I worked for them and I haven't been "employed" since. 

For those past 3 years I've managed to keep myself pretty busy and not working allowed me to spend just about every day with my dad in the nursing home before he passed away, for which I'm truly thankful. I was also able to help my mom make the move from living in Warsaw and walked her through purchasing her first place on her own, a condo in Mishawaka.

I also had shoulder surgery and rehab during this time which left me wondering what I could do to keep busy while recovering?  Well, I found that I could paint!  So I painted just about everything.  Our storage shed, Lisa and Ty's storage shed, the 2 car garage at our rental property...even a faux rug on our deck! 

Then recently we opened E-Six Flea Market Style and I've been busy refinishing furniture to sell there....life was going pretty good for me.   

Anyway, after a meeting on friday, I had the weekend to make my decision.  I really struggled with it...who couldn't use the money right?  But could I go back to work and still be available to take my mom to doctor's appointments? Would I be able to keep E-Six?  Can I physically do all the work anymore?  After all, when I worked there before I said I didn't want to be doing this in my 50's....and here I am in my 50's.

Then it happened...I was sitting in our office at this very desk weighing everything in my mind.  Should I or shouldn't I...when I looked up and saw this

I purchased this sign some time ago. Did I purchase it because I believed in what it said or because I thought it was cute?  I kept reading it...."Things Happen For A Reason, Just Believe".

I felt like it was a sign (no pun intended). So, I've made the decision to return to work.  John seems happy about it. I'm sure it takes some pressure off him. I just hope I'm able to keep refinishing furniture to E-Six going because we just started it and I've been enjoying it. It would seem like a failure to close it up so soon. I will have set days off so I should be able to take my mom to appointments and I also hope to keep up with my blog. I'm putting a lot of faith into that sign...I guess I'm going to just believe!    

Relay For Life

"Relay For Life" is something we have been going to since John's sister Robin passed away from cancer over 6 years ago. It is something John's Mom likes going to in memory of her daughter. 

Last night a Relay For Life was being held in the hockey arena at Notre Dame so we went and took his mom with us...

At a certain point in the evening they turn the lights down so all the luminary bags are lit up and they have a ceremony. 

Tea time!

Here's a couple furniture pieces I finished last week.  

Vintage Drop Leaf Tea Cart: (no before picture-all brown)

I sanded the entire thing, then stained & hand waxed the top and then painted the rest. I really liked how this turned out. Kind of wanted to keep it!

Antique Writting Desk:

Took the tea cart to E-6 today.

Dinner and a Movie??? - UPDATED

Tonight, on the way home from dinner at PaPa Vino's, John asked if I wanted to stop and rent a movie.  He hardly ever wants to watch a movie let alone suggest that we watch one, so of course I was all for it.  Once there he tells me that he wanted to get the comedy "Identity Thief". I remembered seeing the previews and thought that would be good...but we soon find out that is hasn't been released yet.

So we start looking at all the movies and we narrowed it down to 2..."This is 40" (a comedy) and "Taken 2".  I said I was ok with either one.  
     
THEN, he said that he really would like to see "Zero Dark Thirty".  I reminded him that I don't like war movies or anything with torture (he knows that) and he assured me that this movie wouldn't be like that....

So approximately 20 mins into the movie (15 of which I had my eyes closed because they kept torturing people), I tell him that I'm going back upstairs!

So he is downstairs watching the movie and I'm blogging about it to you!  At least the movie was free....oh, I didn't tell you that when we went to pay, the guy told us that it had been soooo long since we've been in that this one was on them!  No kidding, that's how long it's been since we've rented a movie!

UPDATE: After John finished watching the movie, he came up stairs and said "You wouldn't have like that movie".