In The Mail

I love getting packages in the mail...even if they're not for me. Currently, I'm waiting for:

--An art history book from textbooksrus.com
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--A geology book from half.com

--Q's cortisone tablets (it's way cheaper to order them online)
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--A new computer (birthday present for Lucas)
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--Some Chartpak Ad markers from Dick Blick Art Materials
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--An A/V cable for the Sega Genesis console that Lucas bought at Goodwill.

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For once, there's nothing fun on the way. No dish trades from fellow collectors. No tops from Banana Republic's online clearance section. No architecture books from Amazon.
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No FUN!

Cherner Side Chair

A few months ago, my good friend Rick found a Cherner side chair at a small local store in his town of Miami. Rick only paid $25 for his chair. He said it looked pretty rough, but was able to bring it back to life with a good cleaning.

Last month, while scavenging for vintage Fiesta at our local antique mall, I happened upon a Cherner side chair. At $175, I passed.

But Rick encouraged me to go back and check the chair out more carefully to see if it is an original piece (reproductions go for $659). And since this is 15% off weekend, I decided to do just that.

Apparently, I didn't inspect the chair well enough when I saw it the first time. There was a big, honking divot carved out of the back.

Plus, it looks like someone tried to restore it, but did a poor job and wiping up the varnish drips.

So, once again, I passed. It's too bad, too. Had it not been for the damage, this mid-century treasure would possibly have been adopted into my home.

What Flower Are You?

I got this from Elaine and Becky.

I am a Petunia What Flower Are You?

You are a tried and trusted friend who will be there for your friends when they need you. But you have a tendency to be nervous about doing things that go against the norm.

Happy Birthday, Lucas

Laundry Room: After

After two weeks of disarray, the laundry room is finally done. Since the space is so small, I had to photograph it piecemeal.

The cabinet that I bought from IKEA this week keeps all the detergents, cleaners, and polishes out of sight.

This wire shelf serves as a drying rack for delicates and a place to keep extra hangers. No more having to fling my bras over a shower curtain rod!

I used bins, baskets, and hooks from the IKEA Bygel series for organizing mop cloths, cleaning wands, and small hand tools. The basket on the right serves as a dispenser for dryer sheets. The white bin to its left is a little trash receptacle for dryer lint and the endless stream of food wappers that I'm always fishing out the kids' pockets.

This mop and broom rack fits behind the door and out of sight. Previously, they were haphazardly shoved into the area between the washer and dryer.

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This newly designed space has received good reviews from the non-female members of the household. Kyle said that I really "pimped out the laundry room". And that's good. That room needed a good pimping.

J. Dangle and Fuzzy

In recent weeks, these two kitties--J. Dangle and Fuzzy--have made their presence known on our street. They live two houses from us, but they have made themselves known to at least three families that I know of. The neighborhood children have become quite captivated with J. Dangle and Fuzzy. And they are just eating up the attention.

J. Dangle is always sitting on this rock in front of his house, keeping watch over the neighborhood. He seems to do better police work than his namesake. The only time he leaves his post is to walk a beat.

Fuzzy likes letting herself into our garage. Here, she has made herself at home on the trunk of the car. Jango and Fuzzy have had a few visual confrontations. For the time being, I have been able to keep a window or screen door between them.

I have a feeling that Fuzzy and J. Dangle will become regular blog material.

Giant Lemons

Looking out in the yard this morning, I noticed four large yellow figures lying on the ground. At first, I thought the neighbor boys had thrown some Nerf footballs over our fence. But on closer inspection, I found them to be lemons that had fallen off the same neighbor's tree. The Diet Dr. Pepper can was included for scale comparison.

Occasionally, our lime tree will yield similar sized fruit.

A Bad Idea

Taking a Mustang on an IKEA run. Because you will never, EVER get "just a few small things".

Sunday Dishes: Go Cardinals!

Just Like Jango?

Laundry Room Painted

After finally completing some touch-up work, I deemed the painted laundry room photo ready.

I decided base my paint color on Fiesta's contemporary Chartreuse color. I matched it up to a Behr paint color called Japanese Fern.

The space is nowhere near done. We still need to find and install wall cabinets, hooks for dusters and cleaning wands, and a drying rod. I also want to rig up some sort of dispenser for the dryer sheets. Additional photos will be posted when that part is done.

I like the look of an empty dryer surface. I'll be anxious to see how long it stays clean.

Midweek Couples Meme

I'm borrowing this from Melissa, who borrowed it from Becky.

1. How long have you been together? 19 years.

2. Who pursued who? Hard to say. We were friends first, and our relationship just grew from there.

3. Do you wear any type of wedding/commitment ring? I wear a gold wedding band with my engagement ring--a matching band with a pear shaped diamond solitaire.

4. What was the hardest thing about learning to live together? It's hard to say. We've been together so long and Q is very easy to live with.

5. Who takes longer to get ready in the morning? I do...no contest.

6. Do you usually eat breakfast together? Define "together". We eat breakfast in the same house...usually at the same time, but seldom together. I like to eat in the living room while Q either eats at the dining room table or at his desk.

7. Do you ever share clothes? Yes and no. Q doesn't borrow my clothes, but I will borrow his sweatshirts, sweatpants, etc. He used to have a raglan sleeved Diamondbacks jersey that I long ago claimed as mine.

8. Who does most of the cooking? Q...no contest.

9. Who usually takes out the trash? That's supposed to be the boys' job. But lately, we've been going halfsies.

10. If you have pets who usually does litter box or poop patrol? Again, that's supposed to be Luke's job. But lately, he's decided that his $5 per week allowance is hardly worth getting out of bed for. So, since Jango is my kitty, the litter box job has fallen to me.

11. Which one of you is more likely to answer the phone when it rings? Probably Q. Whenever he works at home, he forwards his office phone to the house phone. As for the off-hours, answering the phone is just a matter of who's closest when it rings.

12. Who’s in charge of the remote if you’re watching TV together? Almost always Q. Unless Desperate Housewives is on. During which time, he's not allowed to even LOOK at the remote.

13. Who usually drives when you go out together? Again...halfsies. Q will drive if we're going to a place that is familiar to him. But if we're running errands, he'll have me drive since I usually know in which order our stops will occur.

14. Which one of you takes care of spiders and bugs that get into the house? Whichever one finds them.

15. Facing the bed, who sleeps on which side? Me on the left; Q on the right...kind of like our political views.

16. Who usually checks the (postal) mailbox? Me

17. If something breaks or goes wrong in the house, which one of you is more likely to either fix it or call someone to fix it? Since I'm a graduate of the school of "throw away and buy new", Q either fixes it or calls someone who can.

18. Who is generally the neater of you? Q is. But then, he doesn't have dozens of unfinished projects scattered around the house. He doesn't collect anything, either.

19. Who handles the checkbook/pays the bills? Q does.

20. What was your last fight/disagreement about? Instead of asking nicely, Q INFORMED me that I HAVE to pick his meds up at the pharmacy. Being a redhead, I didn't take it well and blew everything out of proportion.

21. When you slow dance together, who leads? If the person who wrote this meme knew my husband, that question would not have been included.

22. What do you love the most about your other half? Many things. For one thing, Q is the best dad and husband ever. We also share most of the same values. But most of all, if I gain weight, break out in acne, and don't do my hair, he doesn't utter a word.

Fiesta Haiku

A few times a week, a group of Fiesta collectors congregates in the CMG chat room. We gab about everything from jobs, men, home improvement projects to pets, kids, and what we're watching on TV. And sometimes, we actually talk about dishes!

That was the case the other night. The subject gravitated toward Fiesta-related haiku. I came up with a few at the time, but I found them goofy. I have since come up with a creation that I deemed worthy of sharing:

Persimmon dishes

A must for every kitchen

Works with all colors

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I'm sure I'll come up with more. If so, I might make this a regular feature.

Laundry Room Cleanout

With a week left before the semester starts, I was thinking about cleaning out and redoing the laundry room.
It's the only room--and I use that term loosely--that hasn't been painted or upgraded in any way. And after almost 10 years in this house, it is way past due. Colorwise, I'm thinking either Sapphire or Shamrock (royal blue and bright green to you non-dishers). Any opinions on this matter would be appreciated.

I'm also thinking about replacing this shelf with a cabinet or two. There is so much wasted space above the bottles of cleaners, laundry soaps, grout sealers, and light bulbs that are packed into this area. Much of this crap will be tossed in the trash. There's a package of bags for a vacuum cleaner that we no longer own!

These pictures didnt' turn out great. A 6' x 6' windowless room is very difficult to photograph.

Sunday Dishes: Sesame Street Style

Sunday Dishes has been brought to you today by the letters F and S, and the number 4.

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*Note to self: buy more Scarlet.

Goodwill Finds

Despite the fact that it wasn't half price Saturday, Lucas and I decided to hit a few Goodwill stores anyway. There was no Fiesta, architecture books, Lucky Brand Jeans, or vintage video game consoles. But we hit paydirt on patio furniture.

The wicker chairs on our back patio are looking pretty ratty. They will be gone by Hippie Christmas, if not sooner. At which time, these heavy iron and raffia chairs will move in. But for now, they'll stay on the front stoop.

I'm not exactly sure what I'll do with these plant stands yet. I might stick a flat surface across the top and make one or both into small end tables. Or maybe I'll do the unthinkable and use them for their intended purpose. If I do keep them as plant stands, I'll have to buy pots that fit.

Family Jargon, Part 5

Unibrow Taillights: Taillights where the red lenses connect in the center, giving the appearance of one, continuous light. An example is this Saturn SC2.
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Escrow Papers: Part of Lucas’ weekly homework routine involves the need for a parent’s signature on each of his take-home assignments, every daily entry of his reading log, his daily planner, and his take-home folder. The escrow papers are so named because we have to “sign and date here…initial here, here, here, and here”…just like when closing escrow on a house.
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Courtesy Kibble: Every morning, Jango screams for food as if she’s being starved to death. Most times, her bowl is empty. But every so often, the bowl will still have a quite a few nuggets in it. In those cases, I’ll toss in 2 or 3 pieces of courtesy kibble to trick the cat into thinking she’s getting a fresh serving.
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New-Old: Any used or discarded item that is old to someone else, but new to me. Most of my new-old items consist of vintage dishes, second hand furniture, or the used books I find at Goodwill.
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Three D Bands: Bands whose names start with “Three D”. Examples include Three Days Grace, Three Doors Down, and Three Dog Night. Courtesy of Lucas.
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Siesta Wear: My fancy term for pajamas.
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Laverne & Shirley Doors: This can best be explained by this picture from our bathroom. If you still don't get it, you didn't watch enough TV in the late '70s.

Siamese Chaperone: The role Jango assumes when she jumps on the bed and plants herself in between me and Quinton, thwarting any attempt we may make at physical contact. Q came up with this one.
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Taco Bite: Asking for a taste of someone’s food and taking more than is offered. Eating at a Mexican restaurant, my dinner consisted of two grilled shrimp tacos. Before I started my second taco, Kyle asked if he could have a bite. I held up the taco and Kyle wrapped his entire mouth around it like a boa constrictor eating a dead rat. In one bite, Kyle had eaten more than half of my taco. Granted, it wasn’t a very big taco, but it was half of my meal. Now, whenever he anyone wants a bite of my food, I usually say yes, but “no taco bites!”
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Al Gore Light Bulbs: Lucas gets credit for this one. It’s what he calls those “green” (yet mercury filled), politically correct, uber-trendy, compact fluorescent light bulbs that are useless for anything more than a very dim nightlight.
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John Kerry Ketchup: It’s what Lucas calls any Heinz product.

Family Jargon, Part 4
Family Jargon, Part 3
Family Jargon, Part 2
Family Jargon, Part 1

The Vacation Has Just Begun

Q and the boys had been home for the better part of the last two weeks. They are now back at work and school. That means:

--No more whining about being bored.
--No more hasty, last minute cleaning because people are coming over.
--No more fighting over who gets to play Guitar Hero next.
--No more complaining when I want to stop in Macy's to look at the dishes. (I didn't force anyone to come shopping with me. They got in the car voluntarily.)
--No more afternoons filled with wall-to-wall Monk reruns!!!!!!

And now, it's my turn. I get my own vacation--a nice, two-week reprieve before the spring semester starts. I can:

--Sit in my jammies and listen to The Adam Carolla Show without being interrupted by someone needing help finding their shoes.
--Go to the antique mall without having to tack on a detour to GameStop.
--Go to the antique mall without being rushed.
--Go to the antique mall, period.
--Watch Desperate Housewives reruns in the afternoons. They're currently playing Season 3 on Lifetime.
--Clean a room and enjoy its uncluttered glory for at least a few hours.
--Go to IKEA (thanks for the gift card, Pat) and look for kitchen storage accessories and closet shelving.
--Drive into the city and enjoy a nice lunch with Q. After he goes back to his office, I might stay in town and hit a few consignment shops.
--Read one of my new-old architecture books in peace and quiet.