Saturday finds....

After the awful day I had yesterday,, today I did something to help clear the terror and fear out of me.  I refused to see the TV or Internet News.  There is nothing I can do to help anyone so getting out of the house was best for me.

"Yard Sales"

My daughter is so much stronger than I.  She sounded so calm today and was sorry to have called me at 3am with her terror but I told her I would have been more worried not knowing how they were.  It was a good thing to be on the phone with her throughout the horrible ordeal.
I got up early and hit a "Neighborhood Sale" and they had many homes on each block with such goodies.  I did go with one thing in mind, a "Chandelier" but no luck today.  I did find a few nice items.

  I love little "Tea Pots" and this one was $1.00.  It will take it's place with my ever growing collection.



When I came upon this basket of Fruit, all I wanted were the grapes but the lady said "It's only $2.00, take it all!  Well as you all know, the grapes alone are more than two dollars.  And, I have a pretty nice white basket to boot!  

Sold!

For weeks now I've wanted a large heavy basket for shoes that we slip on and off at the front door... this one is perfect and only $3.00.  I think a can of white spray paint is in order here.

Then the best part of my finds was FREE!   Yes, as I was leaving one sale the lady said.. "Do you want the silk greenery?"  "No, I really don't need any greenery", I said.   "Well, you can have them free".      I took them and once I got the box home I realized they were pretty nice.   Several were long bunches of Ivy.    I'm sure I'll find a home for them somewhere?

I have a few baskets on a book shelf that some of these might work in.

I hope all of you were able to get out in the sunshine today. 

We had a beautiful chilly day and it was so good for me to have something else to think about other than that awful day yesterday.  I am so afraid to turn on the news. My heart can not take the suffering that is going on in Japan right now.  

All I can do is pray for all involved.

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Terror.....

 

The Tsunami as it traveled East in the Pacific

 Map of the Pacific.  The Mariana Islands is a group of about 200 and Guam is included in this group.  Guam is the first red dot on the left of the map.

I woke this morning, about 3am EST,  to a frantic phone call from my daughter Gina.

"Are you watching the News?"
"No I'm asleep" I said. 
"Mom, a Tsunami is coming!"

"Japan had a huge earthquake and the Island of Guam is on hi alert!"
"OMG"!  is all I could mutter as I ran to turn on CNN


For the next 5 hours I stayed on  the phone with my daughter as she and her Coast Guard husband prepared for the Tsunami to hit the Island.
Gina was hysterical as she has three little boys to protect.   I tried to comfort her and give her the best advice I could.  Get some rope and when it's time to get on the roof, tie them together... then tie them to you or their dad.  "They will not float away".  Then find an air vent or something on the roof,  and tie the rope to that... find anything!  We stayed on the phone, off and on every 30 minutes or so and then my son, daughter #1, Gina's dad and my sister in SA,  all monitored the situation, together!   My two phones were not enough to keep up with all the calls.  I relayed messages all morning!  I also was on the verge of hysteria!

 After my morning of "Terror"

I'm so happy to say she and the Island got the "All Clear" about 7am EST when the current took the Tsunami North of the Island. All they had come in was a low 2ft of water.  Gina's home is on the Navy base and it sits on the elevated area of the island.. her street was full of residents coming to higher ground and they all brought wine and drink ... Sounds to me like a "Hurricane Party" we here in Florida have.  
The Navy  and AF bases took care of their own Ships and Planes.. got them out of harms way but left the families to find shelter... this bothered me.  Why not put them all on the ships?  It reminded me of when I was about 9 yrs old. A hurricane came through Miami and my dad (airline pilot) was sent to fly the planes up north and they left us in Miami to fend for ourselves... odd to say the least!
To all of you who do not experience such disasters,, wine and liquor helps with the terror that you feel in your soul!   Gina said her husband gave her wine to calm her down and it did help.  But her heart and mind was on saving her three boys and also on the families of Japan because she has a few friends who came from Japan....
Guam feels earthquakes at least every two or three days.  Gina has also lived there two years now and has been through three Tsunami warnings but nothing as huge as this one... Me,  as her mom who has had enough of this.. "I want Gina and her family to come home"!!!  Her husband has only another year there. Can my heart take it?



Those in Guam escaped the devastating effects of this  disaster but to the Countries who got the worst of this  earthquake... 

I send my prayers to all.

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 I would like to thank all my blogger friends who called and sent messages asking how my family in Guam were doing.

All is well. 

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My Inspiration and My New Kitchen ....

the before

I literally raised the ceiling 8"

My kitchen was crying for a make over!

I went to the magazines and the internet for Inspiration.

"The After"

 

 My new sink and faucet are my pride and joy!
Click here to see how I painted my counter top. 

 "This photo was my Kitchen Inspiration" 

I had a copy  tacked to the wall in my kitchen

and looked at it each and every day.

I may not have copied it to the exact, but the brightness and

sunny disposition of this kitchen "I have achieved"

 

 I moved into this Townhouse about 6 years ago and the kitchen was the last thing on my mind at the time.  I think it was the area and the property that sold me.  Once I was living here for about 6 months I realized what a cave felt like. 
The kitchen was dark and dingy and had this really awful "Light" above. It had  a ceiling fan surrounded by 6 florescent lights.  "It had to go"... yes, the entire kitchen, had to go!
I had only one problem.  My budget, (well I really did not have a budget)  I knew it would cost a fortune to gut the kitchen and start from scratch so I did the next best thing.... I would do it myself!  How hard could it be to paint, demolish and recreate this space? Almost every day I gave at least an hour to this reno.. I did stop for two months due to illness, but after that I continued!   The entire project started with painting every piece of wood furniture white.  For weeks I painted, tables, chairs, cabinets and anything that I could get my paint on.  I brought home yard sale finds and painted them white also.
The white of the kitchen cabinets is wonderful.   I'm also thinking of taking down a few cabinet doors. One thing I've noticed about me, as the renovation was in progress, with each change I made I found a new feature I liked and made more changes. Now I want to put legs on the cabinet bottoms.  
As of now I'm in the build a desk/cabinet in the kitchen mode.  This was a wasted space, and the cabinet will be for "me" and my laptop.  

"Today's photo of the unfinished cabinet that I worked on all day"

As silly as this may sound I found the Inspiration in my doctors office.
The shape of this space had me scratching my head for almost a week until I went in for my Well Woman Exam... there is was!

What to do in an odd space!

I'll do a post of the finished project soon. I just got the idea of a few shelves on the under left side? See what I mean, I change the design on everything before it's completely finished.

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The living room was the next space to get a renovation.
This is how the "Fireplace Wall Unit" started.

Click here to see how I made the Fireplace Unit


 This next photo was my "Inspiration"

I loved the look , the  clean lines of the surround.

The above fireplace is something I really wanted.. but our HMO would not allow me to tear down the wall for the chimney.  The simple lines of this fireplace is what I love most,  but I wanted it to be a 'built in' so I went to my Home Depot and had the nice lumber guy cut all the wood for me and I built my own  with the addition of book shelves on either side. The insert heater was ordered on line from the "Amish" and it is really nice.. the faux flame is perfect for setting the mood and it has a remote to control the heat from high to off... with the flame remaining just for looks.
Along with my "Creamy White Slip Covers" I've added a few accent colors of blue, apple green and orange.. the walls are a blue-gray color.  

I pulled the carpet from the entire downstairs, as well as the staircase. 
The new floor went in this past week and I'm happy to say.. I'm about finished with my renovation of the first floor.

I've come to love the "Cottage White" look and soon the design will travel up the stairs  to the next level. All of my inspiration came from bloggers, magazines and internet sites.  Where does yours come from?

I'll be joining

Show Us Your Kitchen

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hugggsss

Sandy

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A wonderful surprise

Today I received the sweetest gift in the mail.

A blogger friend of mine, Granny J @   Grannys Place 

 makes and sells handbags on her blog.    She actually takes "Plastic Bags and the Tape from old Cassettes" and crochets them into such attractive bags for so many uses.

 
 My two bags (yes, she sent me two)   are for "Make Up" or can be used  to store small items in your handbag.  The smaller bag has a little wristlet to carry money or keys, with a varelco closer to use  when out on a walk.

When I first heard of  'Plastic Bags" crocheted  into womens purses and make up bags I really questioned the feel of the bag.... but I'm totally amazed at how soft to the touch they are.  I also think these might be so easy to keep clean.  They can not be stained!

I've borrowed a photo from "Grannys Place" so you could see the handbag that I really want and hopefully Granny will put it aside for me until I can send a check to cover the cost.

Oh NO!!  This bag was Sold!  

Let me congratulate you on the sale and wish many more sales in the future.

It's not a wonder, look how good it looks!  Maybe Granny can recreate another to look like Bag #3... I just see myself using it in the summer.


If your all interested, click on over to  "Grannys Place"  take a look at her creations.   

Granny,, Thank you so much for the wonderful surprise.  

Put a smile on my face today that may last for quite sometime.

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a chilly sewing day

Amazing what one day can do to the temperature... Yesterday it was in the low 80's and this morning I woke to the low 50's.. Chilly out there!
After a full day in the yard getting my garden planted and ready for summer flowers and a bit too much sun,   I thought I'd stay in and do some sewing that has been on the shelf for a few months now.
My first project was a dress for one of my girls.. she needs this  in April and it's around the corner.  I got busy!

My project is a simple white 'shirt waist' dress and it took me only about two hours to put together.. it's now hanging on the door jam waiting for a fitting sometime this week.

Then I thought I'd work on a slip cover that has been waiting for me to get to.  I bought a 9' by 12"  "painters canvas" to cover a chair... they are so inexpensive and are made of a heavy cotton and   make great furniture slip covers.  I took it out of the package, popped it in the washer with a cup of bleach and tide... used lots of fabric softener and it came out great. Dried it really well  so it would shrink a bit, then laid it over the chair and pinned and fitted. I was able to sew for about a half hour then the 'Good' sewing machine jammed!   I broke a needle and it fell in the area of the bobbin...

"I think I killed the machine"!

I worked on it for quite sometime and could not fix it..  After pulling out all the screws and bobbin parts, nothing I did would make it work. This machine is computerized  and it talks to me with each step. It would not say... "All better"... boy was I ready to toss it off the balcony!


So I did what any good seamstress  would, (not toss the machine) but bring out "Old reliable".. the machine I have had for years... cheep, and does nothing more than "zig-zag and straight stitch"... The 'good' one went in the closet until I can get it to the shop!

"Reliable and dusty and oh so trusty"

I finished the ottoman and started the chair but as with the dress I almost finished,, this was an "Almost finished day"...

I'll finish this project tomorrow, or the next day.  Time to get dinner started.
Monday night is my night for TV. The rest of the week, I don't watch it.. well, expect for Thursday.  "Big Bang Theory" is on and that is my favorite program.

It's Monday..... Enjoy your week everyone!

I'll be joining these linky parties

Craftastic Monday

Metamorphosis Monday

Things to Do Party

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