Running Around

Dang, it’s been a busy weekend! Took the dogs to the beach and made a new Zoë film, went garaging and eavesdropped on a funny conversation, bought a house, fed my niece’s cats…

Wait a minute. Bought a house? Yup. Of course I’m not planning to live in this one.

For no particular reason I’ve been wanting an MCM-ish dollhouse. All the ones I’ve seen have been very expensive – like over a hundred bucks. At a yard sale. Sheesh. This one was marked $10. I very politely asked if that was their best price (after all, you NEVER buy a house without negotiating the price, right?) and secured a 20% discount. And while I’m not sure where I’m going to put it, I like it a lot. Reminds me strongly of the house I live in. After all, they both have a red roof

 

spacious master bath with tub and separate shower

desk with computer (the monitor swivels, too cute!)

classy modern sofa (this one was easier to bring home!)

 

an umbrella for the outside table

 

and the car in the carport

is a convertible!

I’m a little envious that the guy who lives here

has an attached sunroom

but on the other hand he only has one foot, and I’ve still got both of mine.

We have other things in common though, including a cat

and having more stuff than we really know what to do with.

So I’m back to owning two houses, though when we did that before it entailed two mortgages. I’m awfully glad my current houses are paid for!

Not content with buying a house, I carted home several other items this weekend. I’ve never met a wind chime that I didn’t test the sound of. Plucked this one out of a free box and liked the mellow clatter of the bamboo

and besides, the one-eyed cat needed a new home.

Couldn’t resist these vintage Christmas ornaments, especially the musical cats

 

which date to the same era as my house.

Wanting always to be practical, I picked up some Murphy’s soap, which I’ve wanted to try, and now I can for less than a buck.

And I was awfully happy to find some sterno to use with my Dansk fondue pot.

Now I can erase it from my shopping list!

A lambswool sweater for the hubster

and some candles can also be considered practical.

And only the other day, when we were giving our dogs their pedicures with the doggy nail grinder, I remarked to Steven that I rather wished I had bought a Dremel tool instead, since it can be used for other stuff as well as dog nails. So when I saw a Dremel set at a sale on Saturday, I figured it was a sign from the garage sale gods. It’s the only thing I brought home that Zoë was interested in.

When I opened the box to make sure it runs (it does) I found this set of little screw drivers tucked into the box.

Bet the guy has been wondering for years where those went to. We have the same set down in the toolbox, so now I can have some upstairs too.

 

Found a sale only a couple of blocks from home, a family that’s moving back to Hawai’i. Their house had an oddity.

The husband’s brother used to rent the house from them, and he decided to do some structural work. No one was quite sure what he had in mind for this door. I was quite chagrined that I couldn’t buy a lovely MCM desk they had, but a) didn’t think I could get it into the back seat of my car; b) couldn’t possibly have gotten it out by myself and into the house (Steven is at the National Storytelling Conference this weekend) and c) really have no place to put it if I could have gotten it into the house. Though it would have made an awfully nice stand for the dollhouse! However, I did take away a couple of items. For the yard I scored this handsome rusty sunflower

 

and to play with I bought this little harp.

 

It’s small but really can be played, unlike some so-called instruments made for kids. Put the Murphy’s soap to use cleaning it (I think you can see in this before-and-after picture how far I’d gotten!)

and the tuning wrench for my hammer dulcimer was just what I needed to tune it, which was badly needed. I keep picking it up and plucking out a tune or two. Fun – and so far the dogs haven’t complained about my skill level.

Speaking of dogs, I did take them to the beach the other day. How much did the Zoester love it? See for yourself.

She’s fast!

Kind of reminds me of a conversation I overheard on a driveway on Friday. The husband was retiring from his woodworking business and selling a bunch of equipment, and a friend was there asking him what he was doing selling that stuff. He said, “I just decided I’d start spending the time I’ve been working for chasing my wife around the house.” His friend nodded and said quite seriously, “Yeah, and she can’t run very fast any more!”