Category: Uncategorized

My Bedroom and a CSN $40. Give-away!!

Above – CSN catalog
Below – our bedroom at This Old House

 We bought our new Paula Deen Savannah bedroom set from CSN online last year when moving to This Old House.  The quality is terrific and I do love this bed. I can speak highly of CSN’s service and products.  So when they approached me to host this give-away, I was happy to oblige.  We’ve been looking at track lighting options  for a few areas of our home and CSN has what we’re looking for.

 CSN has over 200 stores, so there are so many possibilities for you to choose from!   I love being able to shop there without leaving my home and I know  from past experience that my purchase will arrive without hassles. There are so many  brands and quality products in so many catagories, I’m confident you’ll have no difficulty finding something that you love in one of their online stores. Below is just a tiny sample of the wide range of products available…

Thanks to CSN, I will be giving away a $40 gift certificate to be used on any of the CSN sites! This is a great opportunity for you to spoil yourself!

What you have to do:

You must post a comment on this post for each different method of entry, and there are two ways to enter. This giveaway will end on March 14 at 5am Eastern Time and is only open to US entrants.  All entries will be verified.

â– MANDATORY: Comment on this post telling me what you might buy on the CSN site if you win a gift certificate!

â–  Become a Follower of  This Old House if you aren’t already. Post a comment stating that you are now a follower.

** This gift certificate will not include shipping costs, however there are items on all of their sites that offer free shipping with purchase.

I received the giveaway product mentioned above for free, but received no monetary compensation to post this. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commissions 16 CFR, Part 255 Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. See my Terms of Use for full information.

Woodbury, CT

  I’m not supposed to be sitting at my computer today.  No.. I was supposed to be at a Boston College basketball game taking photos of our Roba Dolce girl, Shayna shooting hoops at half time. For every basket she made in today, $50. is donated to Special Olympics. (she went 15 for 17 from the foul line – You Go Girl!)   I’m not there today because I’m allergic to my house! Actually, the dust mites in it.  My eyes look like Evander Holyfield and I went two rounds (as if I’d last two seconds!).  I spared the good people of Boston from the site of me today.

  Instead, Mike took pity on me and we went for a ride in the rain to the town of Woodbury, a main stop on the New England antiques trail.   We had lunch at the Curtis House, Connecticuts oldest Inn, dated before 1735. 

Him:   Want to wear my sunglasses in the restaurant?
Me:    Do I look THAT BAD??
Him:   Oh.. well, I’m just saying ..you know… if you WANT to… um, just..sayin.

I don’t know, what’s worse – looking all allergy-eyed or like Michael Jackson in a dark restaurant on a rainy day.  I went without the  MJ look.  Maybe I should have tried it.

The town of Woodbury has a church on every corner and the architecture is stunning everywhere you look…

 

This house is abandoned.  Can you imagine?  I see an artisans commune, don’t you?

Love this truck.   
Since I braved the restaurant with my Rocky Marciano eyes, I decided it was
OK to venture in to Main Street Antiques and scare the good folks of that establishment too.
They have a greenhouse with a Koi pond as well as antique garden decor.
The earthy moist smell was heavenly.

    Old quilts have always been a favorite of mine. I’ve been looking for one that doesn’t cost a fortune for years, and today I finally found it!… $60. and it looks to be authentically hand-stiched, still sturdy enough to
take the wear and tear of the family room.

   

Moving Right Along….

 Thank you all for your kind words regarding our book project.  What the book represents to me is an acknowledgement of  just how far my relationship with my mother has come since the days of my rebel teen existence and her school-teacher/careful-as-you-go way of living life.  A bull and a china shop, Mount St. Helen and a tiki hut, Niagra Falls and a folded newspaper boat. You get the picture, I’m sure. 

 Anyway… to answer a question I get frequently, yes, my GIANT dog Ben and my smallest dog Rudi get along very well.  Ben is an amazing animal, his size does not give him the impression that he should dominate. As a matter of fact, he still believes he can fit on your lap, and demonstrates this regularly.  Ben now weighs approx. 195. lbs.   Rudi weights 9 lbs.  I do love my boyz, although Rudi still marks his territory, pissing on various things if I don’t catch him, the little sh*t. Ben has NEVER done this in the house.  Ever.  That would create a floodplain.

   Big plans for the garden. BIG. Besides tripling the vegetable garden, we have ordered 10 blueberry bushes and 10 raspberry.  My back porch has been transformed into a mini greenhouse, complete with heater.  These are his babies, you see.  I was given the task of watering the other day, and you’de think there were human embryos in there with the set of instructions I got.   We are also going to build a roadside stand, so by mid summer we should have a nice selection of produce and cut flowers for passers by.  We just filled out paperwork for the farm bureau, hoping to be accepted.  

   I’m excited for This Old House to become a working farm once again…

  This is not my photo… but I love this farmstand, would like to have something like it…
  See the heater on the floor?  He’s nutz.

We published a book!

  My mother is a retired public school teacher who has worn many hats in her volunteer efforts and interests. She is also a gifted writer. Two years ago she asked if I would illustrate a children’s book she was going to attempt to publish.  I loved the idea but was very intimidated because I have no education in that area, just a love of creating stuff.

 At the time I was playing around with scrapbooking and paper products, so that’s how I decided to design my illustrations.  There were no sketches. I picked up her manuscript and as I read along I wrote down the scenes I saw in my head.  “Mom and daughter riding in open jeep through jungle road”… etc.   Then I picked up a scissor and started cutting out images, rough-hewn, for lack of a better term.  It was such a fun process because I had no  lines or boundaries I HAD to adhere to….   Always a plus for me….

 Pleased with the results.. we decided to send off the images with the manuscript to various publishing houses, thinking we’d at least get a reply, even if it was a – thanks but no thanks-.  We followed the rules, producing discs with the images in the quality they asked for, (that cost $1,100. alone, just to have my papercut pieces photographed!) and we put the packages together the way the publishing houses want them presented.  This part of the business bugs me… you’d think.. with their strict requirements for submissions and the cost of said submissions to the writer and illustrator.. that they would at least give you a reply at some point, or an acknowledgement of receipt. All it would take is an e-mail.

   I suppose there are so many submissions on any given day that it might be impossible.  Nowadays everyone and their brother and third cousin twice removed by a second marriage wants to write a children’s book.    I’d rather believe in that explanation then one like “they don’t need you, you need them.” That just seems…rude.     Having an agent would help the process along, but most agents don’t want you if you’re a nobody.

  So.. after a year of this struggle, we decided to self-publish with LULU.  I’ve just gotten notice from them that the book will soon be available.  They did some of the cover design work around the image submitted and I won’t say I’m IN LOVE with it, but after weeks of back and forth, the process was tiring and I settled on what their design team came up with.  I just ordered a preliminary copy and I’ll share it with you if I like what I see.  

  Below are a few images from the book. We may not be professionals deserving of a proper agent or a big publishing house, but we sure had fun putting it together.  And to me, that’s what it’s all about –

  

Water For Elephants

 I love a good book. One of my favorites this year has been Water For Elephants, and I’m looking forward to the movie, due out April 22nd.  The cast, in my readers opinion, is perfect to portray the main characters.  To read a New York Times Review of the book, click here….

 I’ve admitted before that this 45 year old woman is a Twilight fan. Robert Pattinson (Edward for Twi-hards) will play the lead roll  in the movie adaption and from what I can see in the trailer and photos – he’s perfect for the part.  He may be a nimwit in interviews  (dude, get your hands out of your hair)  but he’s actually quite good when the director shouts ACTION.  Talk about eye candy… in that british sort of way. 

Another Train Wreck

 I feel so bad for this guy – clearly.. CLEARLY… he is not in control.  Whatever mental illness he’s suffering from – and I do think it’s a mental illness –  he is no longer in any kind of control.  I don’t believe this is just a drug or alcohol addiction. It’s gotta be more than that.  

 Who is he surrounded by? (besides his harem of hired prostitutes…and  what they do for a living is their business, I’m no judge – but where’s their conscience?)  Where are his friends and family?   Isn’t  there SOMEONE out there who can help him? …STOP him?!  I’m pretty sure it’s beyond his family’s power, he has to agree to any help.  Still……he needs to be locked in a facility, diagnosed and treated before it goes to the point of no return.

  From the looks of him in this video…I’m afraid it might be too late.