A Federal Offense

Yep, someone stole our mailbox. Or it is in our bushes somewhere but as far as I can tell it is gone. The sad, rotten post it was precariously balanced on remains but the mailbox is nowhere to be seen. I'm guessing someone stumbled by drunkenly and thought it would be "cute" to run off with it, probably discarding it a few blocks away. It was hideous and was embellished with someone's name other than our own so no big loss though it did happen right before we left town for the weekend so our mail lady had nowhere to deposit our mail on Saturday.

As soon as I discovered it missing I was excited as it gave me an excuse to replace the thing since I was afraid it would fall over every time I opened it and a family of ants had also taken up residency in it this summer. I immediately pictured getting something like this to replace it:

Something classy with some craftsman flair though at $179 it will have to wait until I win the lottery or find one at a garage sale. I will probably never be able to justify spending this much money for something I never really look at which is (obviously) sitting in plain sight for someone to steal.

Alas a $16 Menards special will hold our mail for now.

Just How Much Will $1 Buy?

My parents and I hit a church sale this weekend. It is always exciting to walk up and have one of the helpers throw some grocery sacks your way and say "$1 a bag!" Even better, no other kitsch enthusiasts had been there so it was all mine! I did restrain myself with some of the items, making sure there was more for others who came later and so Mark would not disown me. My mom was beyond her bag and had graduated to boxes, which were $2 a piece, so I did toss a few items in one of her boxes but most of it fit into my $1 bag.

A few of my crazy finds include:

Not one, but two flowery GE kitchen Clocks.

My first thought as she went into my bag was "this would have fit perfectly in previous owner's bathroom with the wallpaper!" I believe she is a toiletry holder of some sort. Though being paper-mache I wouldn't want to store anything too juicy in her.

These should look nifty in my remodel of the bathroom which currently is planned as blue and white, shabby chic-ish. I think the one used to be an apple but the leaf is gone? The price was right.

I'm always delighted to add some new family members to my troll shelves. These guys aren't in the best condition but they definitely needed adopting and they do look very happy to have a new home.

And a psychedelic, paisley twine holder along with some bright Dream Pets also found their way into my bag.
Mr. Macrame owl is enjoying his new spot hanging on the front porch and I'm trying to find a good spot for the horribly tacky "Foam Craft 1981" owls. I was also excited about the afghan as I have been trying to find a cheap granny square in good shape - I have to say I am not going to even find enough yarn to make one of those for the amount I paid!

Mulch Anyone??

This has been the scene outside my kitchen window ALL summer. I called last April to have the "tree" removed and that is just how long we have been on the waiting list.

They finally showed up to take it away and we were left with the giant decaying stump for a few days.

Now we have a lovely mountain of mulch. I filled half the garden by the garage though it hasn't really made a dent. Fortunately I can do behind the garage, beside the neighbor's garage, the side of the house, under the deck...and the list goes on so I think I will be able to find a spot for all of it.

The birds are cranky and confused now as they found it to be a great hang out spot in the evenings. They will probably move over to our roof now and poo all over to show their anger.

There's a bathroom on the right?

Warning: The following images may be disgusting and shocking. Shocking in I have been able to live in a house with this bathroom for so long. Another shocking thing I will admit is this bathroom may have sold me on the house. It is approximately 9'x9' and has the original medicine cabinet, clothes chute, sink and tub.

A reminder of how it looked when we first moved in.

If it wasn't for the cute peg leg sink this picture would have absolutely nothing going for it.

First I had to knock some ceiling down. As you can see the previous owners got a little creative in their patchwork. From what I hear, part of the tree fell on the roof and I'm not sure if it went all the way through but it resulted in a large portion of plaster falling off the ceiling.

Someone built this odd cabinet around the clothes chute. It is handy to store things in but it just doesn't fit the cute vision I have for this bathroom so it had to go away.

The clothes chute is free from its confines and what do we see? Apart from the fact it appears a previous cabinet had also been built around the clothes chute, we spotted some 60's flower power wallpaper!

Of course I had to carefully peel it off the wall and then put it through the scanner. I love the colors and the little lady with the flower hair is my favorite. Fortunately for Mark, these small portions were the only remainder of the wallpaper.

Yes! faux subway tile! Both houses I grew up in had it. It must have been standard if you didn't have enough money for tile you could simply have it stamped into the plaster. Though my parent's house was built by a doctor and not only was it found in 3 bathrooms but it was in the kitchen as well. We suspect he was just too cheap or he told his wife if she really wanted 4 bathrooms (the maid's room didn't have the fancy plaster) in a place and time when 1 indoor bathroom was a luxury, he wasn't going to pay to tile all of them!
Anyways, I would keep it but it is cracked and impossible to repair (I made the attempt at my parent's) plus I believe the wall by the bathtub has been completely replaced so it doesn't exist over there at all.

So my parent's left Sunday night and this is what it currently looks like. The wiring is still the knob and tube here and FYI, yes, yes they did rig up four outlets together using this wiring. The wiring is fine though not meant to have a hair dryer and what, wait? how/why would you have to plug in 4 things at once in here above a single sink?? Anyways, my dad is rewiring, putting in a safety plug and moving the awkward light switch down (see my test plate) plus he will hopefully get rid of that horrid Hollywood light bulb concoction above the sink. I do have a replacement fixture which I'm excited to get up. Also note the random boards under the fixture. What once was knotty pine paneling is 1/4" thick so the mirror doesn't fit flat on the wall. All in all, one giant mess!