What's a girl to do when hubby is out of the states?

Well estate shop is what I say!  I hit 3 estate sales today and only bought at one of them so Mark should be really happy.  I lucked upon this one where the woman collects David T Smith furniture and I know some of you are going....who's David T Smith and why is that important?  He's a genius at designing kitchens, cabinets, furniture, ect to fit in with a historical look.  Just google him and prepare to be amazed at his skills but don't look at the prices.  Anyhoo, I got this gorgeous salt box for $20 and the small crock on it for $1 at this woman's sale

She also collects baskets and a lot of high quality antiques.  This home is a $2M home even in this estate mess that Atlanta's in.  I was talking to Mark when I pulled up and I told him that I didn't think I was gonna go inside because things would be way out of my price range.  So happy now that I changed my mind.  She's got this Windsor bench that is huge and also a David T Smith.  The guy hit me with a $395 price tag then dropped it to $295 before I left.  I'm going back tomorrow to see if it's still there because I'm gonna see if I can get him to come down just a little more.  It would be wonderful in the upstairs hallway beneath my samplers.  What do you think?

Warning Very Picture Heavy Post

He's been such a great sport lately hauling me around to all these estate sales and sometimes they work out and others not so much.  Oh well, you can read about some of those in earlier posts.  Last weekend, I drug him over to one not too far from home and it was this great home owned by a 95 year old woman.  Her gardens were amazing and she had these little outdoor "rooms" that I could have just wandered in her yard for days and not even looked at her sale stuff.  I'm so not a yard person but she inspired me especially when I ask her what she's miss most about leaving her home and she said her gardens.  She wished she was 40 years younger so she'd have more time to putter in them....I just got choked up.  I bought a great rag rug in blues and reds that she said was hand loomed somewhere in North Carolina and she was thrilled that I loved it ($4.00) then I saw a little red wagon with removable red slat sides which I bought for the front porch ($15.00).  Mark exhaled thinking that he got off pretty cheaply but then he antique baskets caught my eye.  She didn't even have them marked other than "make me an offer".  I was just too afraid to do that because I might insult her so we left.  I just kept thinking about those baskets and talking I guess non stop about them 'cause we went back on Sunday so I could make sure they had been sold to someone.  But there they were in all their glory, just waiting on me to come back.  I got the lady off to the side because her family was packing up and I asked her about the baskets.  We talked for maybe 5 or 10 minutes before I worked up the nerve to make her an offer.  It turns out the baskets were made in Kentucky and when I told her that we had lived in Bowling Green, she got all excited.  She went to college in BG and had gotten her teaching degree so then we started talking a little more and made the offer....she turned me down flat because she said they were worth so much more.  I reached deep into my jeans and pulled out all the cash that I had $128 and offered again.....she again told me no.  So I'm standing there rather awkwardly and I remind her that I bought the rug yesterday and she starts smiling.  So I'm thinking ok maybe there's a chance now and she tells me that I can have the largest basket for that price and I begged her to throw something else in since my hubby would kill me for spending all my cash on 1 little old basket so she threw in 2 blue mason jars.  I was so excited then Sunday nite I started kicking myself....all that money on 1 basket when I could have done so much more with that same amount at the thrift store.  But I'm over that now and still looking for just the right place to put this basket in so it'll be perfect!  For the record, Mark did almost strangle me and he's charging me 100% interest per day until I give him his $100 back that he loaned me that day.

But I oh so redeemed myself this weekend with my major prim estate sale!  OMG!  The sale was in Social Circle, GA which is about 1 1/2 hours from home so quite a trek but so worth it.  Just the preview pics of this home had me drooling!  This lady's estate was entirely primitive everything!  I wished to high heaven and back that I had dropped my camera in my purse before I went.  I was just in awe walking thru all her cherished belongings and to see everything that I had only seen in magazines in such abundance.  Now keep in mind that I was there day 3 which was to have been the final day and there was so much stuff still there and I was loving it all.  I missed buying any furniture since I was there the last afternoon but some of the pieces were still in place so I could pet them at least.  I started gathering things up and figured I had somewhere in the $200 range when one of the ladies running the sale told me everything was 50 to 75% off since it was the final day.  OMG!  I started going thru that house again and again picking up loot.  The house was jammed full still of really great prims. 

Now I know someone's wondering what she's gonna do with half of a wood bowl so I'll tell ya....make a shelf out of it with some old boards to put in the kitchen to hold dish towels

3 crocks just made my day until I saw the firkin and I was head over heels in love

Now I know some of you...ehmmm....Mom (not to mention any names) are thinking she paid good money for all that junk but trust me when I say It's GREAT Junk!  I was just so totally thrilled that I rushed home to tell Mark what a wonderful day that I had.  I must have looked like a kid at Christmas because I was jumping up and down, rambling more than normal and just so excited and he could certainly tell.  He said later that he hadn't seen me this excited about anything in so long that it was good to hear my ramblings.  Did I mention that he's really a good guy?  One of the ladies casually told me that someone would be at the house Sunday morning for a few hours trying to wrap things up and I guess I told Mark that when I got home.  Sunday morning I was puttering about and he told me to throw my clothes on because we were going back to that sale.  It's 1 1/2 hours from home but I sure scooted around and was ready to leave in record time.  I was tellinghim  about that house all the way there and what goodies I hoped were still available.....then we pulled up to the house and there was only 1 truck there with a large trailer so my heart sank.  I had driven all the way back over and the sale was done.  They had sold everything left to this guy but he agreed to let me walk around to see if I wanted anything.  I made about 10 trips back and forth....Mark came in to look around....and I started my pile in the corner.  I gathered up about $150 worth of stuff and I asked him if he'd take $50 for it all.  He studied what all I had laid out and commented that some of the things that I picked up were really of good value so my heart sunk.  Then he and Mark started talking about "guy stuff" and the next thing I know he said yep $50 is good with him.  I wanted to hug him but instead just beamed while they packed my treasures in a box for me.  Here's day 2:

Lovin this bunny for spring!

I love gingerbread and I got them for 10 cents each so I bought all 15 that she had made

I have always wanted one of these cats and I got him for 50 cents

Now I'm off to play with all my new treasures and will post pics later this week once I have a special home for all of them.  Yea!

Sunday Boredom

Not sure exactly what's going on with me but I can't sleep!  I'm still taking my ambian every night but I'm up by 5:00.  This is so not me!  I'm the kinda gal that used to could sleep until noon and still take a nap later that afternoon but not now.  Good news is that I've accomplished a lot lately....my taxes are done, my cabinets are cleaned and organized, closets have been cleaned, craft projects completed, touched up paint in the tv room, rearranged just about every room, laundry done so now what?????  Mark's still working in Tennessee during the week so I've had a lot of free time and now I'm really bored.  Clarice is glaring at me because I make her get up with me and she's missing all her little cat nap time so she's grumpy.  I'd start working in the yard but nay, that just ain't my bag.  So what shall I tackle next?  If Mark was here, he'd vote for cleaning the garage, basement storage area or my ebay/craft room but hey, I can still do those next week so what now?

Girl's Trip Only 4 days away!

I still can't believe that Maria and I are driving to North Carolina on Sunday to spend quality time with our boys Saturday nite!  I'm just so freakin excited that I can't stand myself.  Good thing Mark isn't home this week because I'm literally just jumping up and down with joy.  Maria, say goodbye to your family 'cause we're becoming groupies this weekend.  I got some awesome new concert outfits because no matter where you are sitting, you must look amazing just in case the band wants to Runaway with you....LOL!  And, yes I meant the pun on Runaway!

It's a busy time around the Harris household with yet more training for me.  Wahoo!  More changes happening almost daily so I'm just trying to keep my head down and my mouth shut right now.  And you know that last one is very difficult for me.  Today the new President for Georgia, Mark noticed I was setting up dummy loans during training (because he was standing looking over my shoulder almost the whole freakin day) for Mickey Mouse Cheese Shop which he was quick to point out to everyone because I was thinking outside the box making up my own customers.  Not sure if that was meant to be flatteringor not.  Oh well, only time will tell.  This is a funny side note on conversion day My Mark sent this huge, huge bouquet of flowers to me to share with all the girls at work and I was reading the card out loud to everyone....Just Push The Button...Conversion Day Baby....Love Mark.  The ladies helping us from Mississippi thought my President sent them to me and signed it Love Mark.  It gets confusing so now we say My Mark and the Other Mark at work.

My Mark decided that this past weekend would be a great time to finish all the touch up painting in the tv room.  Oh joy and by we should finish it really meant Donna should finish it.  We still had the drapery brackets up because I hadn't really decided if I wanted to put drapes back up and the tie back knobs were still screwed into the window woodwork but he wanted it finished already.  So I spackled and filled but still haven't painted because it's too dark by the time I get home at nite.  I've got to find the time tomorrow to get er done since he'll be home on Friday to check my results.  I want it done but I just hate dragging all the paint back out, trying to blend the touch ups so they don't show as bad and most importantly I hate washing paint brushes.  Ugh!   But I owe him because I made him drive into Atlanta to a great estate sale that I saw on Craigs List and it was full of all things prim.  Well not so much after we got there!  The guy had sold all his prim stuff so basically I left with nothing and pouted all the way home.  Poor guy had to drive all that way then listen to me all the way home kicking myself for not going Friday when I got off work. 

Well Clarice is driving me nuts laying all over the key board trying to get me to play so I'm off to play hide and go seek as well as a little laser tag.  Have a great weekend and think of me screaming my lungs out at the concert!

Damn forgot to add the pics

Rachel's Snow Day

Her puppy, Brody

We painted the room back in August and it's gray not green which is what it looks like in this lite.

Craig's List Pottery Barn Sofa $300

My new chair TJ Maxx/Homegoods $249

Mark's old leather chair which he loves!

Seating arrangement

memory/low stress travel wall

His new tv and console

Antique Pulley that we had made into a table and his lamp that he made from his Halloween Trick or Beer mini keg.  He loves it and the colors go great with the room so I'm ok with it.

Mid week slump

I should be bouncing off the walls because I'm almost thru the work week, Mark's gone again and we're suppose to get a little snow tonight but just can't seem to get the energy to do it.  Seriously, the systems change at work has been challenging but we've survived!  We also bought another local bank last Friday and they will be coming on board really soon.  They actually only have 3 branches and we already share a lot of customers so we've been busy answering questions, ect for customers.  Been fun and it's made me learn more about the systems since I'm constantly looking up info.  Life is never boring!

Actually life is good!  My Jovi lovin, best friend got us.....oh wait for the scream.....4th row pit tickets for the concert in May here in Atlanta.  OMG!  I'm still just bouncing off the walls and can't believe that we got this lucky!  We've never been this close before....7th row was as close as I had been but 4th freakin row......watch out David, I'm coming for ya.  Poor boy just doesn't know how afraid he should really be!

Mark's "living" in Tennessee for the next couple of months leading a turn around of a new company they just bought.  Those of you that know us well know that this is just a part of our life...living apart is the norm but I sure do miss him and Clarice really does.  She about sniffed him to death all last weekend and he won't even be home this weekend so her little heart will be broken.  I'm going to try to go see him for the weekend but if snow moves in like they are saying then I'm staying at home.  Got a new little car and wouldn't want to hurt it before I've even made the first payment.

Speaking of Mark being gone last week, I did a major overhaul on the tv room.  I had planned on doing it when he was in Korea but was just too sick to get that accomplished.  It looks really good if I do say so myself.  It's not prim like the rest of the house because it is "his room" as he likes to tell me all the time.  I'm trying to get some pics posted but the room is painted a dark gray and it's nite so they're turning out quite dark.....oh well such is life.

Heard from my folks this morning and they've got like 20 inches of snow.  WTF!  Did someone forget that Arkansas is a southern state?  My cutie pie niece posted a few pics on her facebook and I'm just shocked at that much snow.  There are times I'm really happy to be living in Atlanta and this is one of them!

Did we ever get snow!

Wow, I should wish for a million dollars because my snow wish paid off.  For those of you that get snow on a regular basis it is a curse but in Atlanta it's a real treat.  We got about 7 inches at our house and were snowed in!  I puttered around cooking roast, making a cake and stitching away while watching the flakes fly.  It was heavenly but then reality set in because we needed to go to work on Tuesday.  Mark dropped me off at the bank at 8:30 and I was the only person that could make it to work so I opened the drive thru by myself.  I just sat there with my stitching from 8:30 to 1:30 and only had 4 customers total.  I still can't believe that 4 people managed to get out of their homes much less to the bank.  The entire metro Atlanta area was at a standstill and everyone worked reduced hours for the remainder of the week.  It was so pretty but I have to admit, I'm done with snow for this year.

We went thru bank conversion on Monday and I have to say that it hasn't been as hard as I thought it would be.  Now we still have 3 people in the branch helping us but things have gone much smoother than I thought but ask me next week when I have no help how things are going!  

I'm suffering from a horrible head cold and cough.  I felt so bad Thursday that I thought I'd just crawl under my desk and sleep for a few hours if I thought I could have gotten away with it.  My sinus' are killing me so guess I'll be off to see the dr tomorrow.  My ribs hurt from all the coughing and Clarice has given up sleeping with me because I keep waking her up with my cough.  She's bedded down in a cardboard box that Mark's shoes were shipped in last week.  She's just snuggled in so guess that's where she'll sleep for the next few days.  This will tell you how bad I feel, Mark's in Korea and I had all these plans on re-arranging the tv room and shopping and I haven't done ANYTHING!  I haven't even watched tv in the tv room just piled up in the bedroom every night.  I so wanted to tea dye the living room and bedroom curtains while he was gone but guess that'll have to wait.  He'll be home Tuesday so all my far fetched ideas will be put on hold until his next business trip.

I did finally finish my Clara Ellen Blackbird Design for my SAL.  As you know I did mine to honor my Great Aunt Flo and it turned out gorgeous if I do say so myself.  I'll try to post some pics later this week.  I ran out of thread so had to wait on the mailman to get my delivery here on Friday so I could finish it.  I'm almost done with my Evergreen and not sure what I want to start next.  I'm thinking since I'm obsessed with the Anniversary series that I'll do Farm House but haven't committed to that yet.  Gotta keep my options open at least for a couple more days until my head clears up.  I did spend a little of my Christmas money a couple of weeks ago so here's a few of my treasures.

Look at this cool, iron  floor lamp that I got at the flea market for $40.  It looks great sitting next to the prim chair in the living room.  Also the basket is a thrift store find for $2 and holds all Clarice's downstairs toys.

This great iron rush candle holder looks great on the dining room drysink

My pewter collection from thrift store finds...3 plates and 2 mugs less than $15 total

Already owned the creamer, sugar plate, cone and nippers and those 2 plates but found the coffee pot and bowl at a thrift store for less than $8

My winter mantle for 2011.....I've had these ice cream collectibles for years but don't they mix perfectly with the snowmen

Living room table

Last pic of the table in the entrance hall

Have a great week everyone and hope you like the glimpse into my winter decor