But Wait, There's More!

Yesterday's post told only a portion of the tale of the "great stuff-shuffle". I dubbed it "great" because it was intense and so much "stuff" was involved. But wait, there's more, including a bit of this:


More on that in a minute...




The vacuuming alone took about three hours. Ridiculous, I know, but it just did. I had to move so much stuff to get to all the floor and all the edges and while doing that, a lot of stuff got hauled around! Can you say "time consuming?"I knew you could. Meanwhile, as I moved things, I discovered one of my floor to ceiling white curtains had water stains all over it from some leak or another.

Don't ask.

So that came down, and since the washer is still caput, it got washed by hand with a ton of bleach in the kitchen sink, enough to burn my eyes and make me have to turn off the air and open windows. It was miserably hot out and I WAS vacuuming. Air conditioning should be going full blast during vacuuming, but as per the usual, I was sweaty anyway, so I got 'er done and laid the curtain outside to dry. Yeah, still no dryer either.

So with that underway, furniture and piles were relocated and some of my important treasure was crammed into my bedroom, and some was disguised in the second bathroom that is rarely used.

BEFORE...

...and Waa, laa...

AFTER

Looks like I snapped my fingers and this happened. Hardly. 

This was a hard won prize of semi-organization. The chair is a really comfy, but yes, I know, kinda ugly. However, you see, it's one that I got from someone's front yard. I'd get rid of it now that my son doesn't need it (I got it for him) but I beat somebody out for it, so I just can't let it go that easy. It was a prize. It's special. Aren't they all? So special, it's in a bathroom now. Ha! Hey, with the dryer gone for a time, there's sort of room there (more so than most other parts of the house) and I need space elsewhere, so...there you have it. I do what I must.

During the cleaning, the drudgery and the hauling of stuff from room to room, I almost thought I heard the little mice from Cinderella singing, "Cinderelly, Cinderelly, night and day it's Cinderelly..." Only I'm the one who's always keeping myself hopping. I brought the junk in, I have to keep up with it. I'm a tough taskmaster. 

Every so often as I sifted through the stuff, I'd come across one of my finds that hasn't yet been pressed into service for any specific purpose -

- Such as this little silver champagne cooler/ice bucket. I have been wanting one of these for quite some time. My dad had one that he won in a golf tournament back in the early 70's, and I always thought that thing was so cool and remember it sitting on our living room coffee table for some time. So I finally went hunting for a replica. No true sentimental value to this particular piece, but it jogs the memory in a small way.

This smallish version came home by way of a garage sale a couple weeks ago, and it's been sitting on a shelf in the living room ever since. Thing is we need fewer things just sitting around looking nice, and more things serving a purpose while looking good. So it was carted into the kitchen and given a chance to prove itself. Since we have one drawer that holds all our silverware and gadgets, you might imagine what a mess it often is and how difficult it can be to find what we need quickly. So I challenged this little lovely to take over a bit of that organizational responsibility and do it with style. It was quite up to the task, wouldn't you say? Pretty and practical! Gives my old school humble kitchen a little bit of a kick anyway.

The big thrill at the end of the day was that I tackled the giant pickle! I am so proud of myself over this feat. It had been sitting in the living room all week (threatening to become one of those finds that become a liability) until I took down the dining room picture and set the pickle on the cabinets to see if it was going to work hanging there. This is hard for me. I don't like to change things once I like them, and I did like it the way it was. The pickle sat there for a couple days and then I decided to just go for it. After all, it lives here now, it has to have someplace to reside until it finds a new home in a shop or wherever.

It took a while to measure, level, adjust, measure again and again, fret about it, figure and dawdle and second guess while climbing up and down off the chairs to mark each side and dawdle and think and measure some more. There are lots of pencil marks on the wall. Measuring requires much time. As previously indicated, I'm mathaphobic, and rightly so.

This feat came after a full and exhausting day of "the shuffle," but it was going to get done one way or another... and before nightfall. And I'm pleased to announce that the pickle does, indeed, now reside on the dining room wall! Apparently we REALLY ARE the kind of people who would hang a giant pickle in our house. Okay, it's me, just me who is that kind. I'm the quirky one. My family has no responsibility for my shenanigans. In fact, they are likely embarrassed to near death. But come on, what's wrong with having a little fun now and again.

Ah, well, I'm sure everyone will get used to it. They may even grow attached to it. Such things have a way of endearing themselves to us over time. You may have heard of the Great Pumpkin that Charlie Brown made famous, well, maybe the "Great Pickle" will give the Great Pumpkin a run for its money!

Of course, after I got this onto the wall by myself... (Did I mention the pickle weighs a ton and that I didn't even screw it up? Let's see if it holds. Keep your fingers crossed!) ...I didn't care for the vintage tablecloth with it. So I tried this one that I've had for years and years. It's my favorite fabric. The items that had been on top of the cabinets had more of a seaside vibe to them before, so I changed them out for some vintage type kitchen items, and I changed some of the bottles in the box on the table to green and added some vases with flowers in them.

Now it has a bit of a farmhouse feel going, which seems pretty summery for Fall. However, since I'm not a Fall color person (I grow weary of those colors too quickly to bother), and it almost always seems like Summer here anyway, it's an okay look for a time. I did love the soft feel the room had going before, but I am notorious for getting stuck in ruts, so having it like this for a while will be an interesting change. It's not going to be there forever (famous last words), I intend to change it back later.

The other things I did were to bring out the horseshoes from the pile in the loft room and put them in with the wood I have sitting in my ammo box by our mantle. I also found five wood plate holders at the city wide indoor garage sale this weekend. They are for a project I've been working on a bit at a time between other things. I finished that project more or less during the course of "The Great Stuff-Shuffle". I'll show you the results of that real soon.

Here are a few of the other things I snagged this weekend for a song:

This old desk phone works and has the sweetest sounding ring that takes me right back to the day. I love it! Been wanting one. The guy had three, this one, one that's a sort of flesh tone, and also an ugly dark brown one. When I got home, I realized that I should have bought two, one for me and one to go with the little phone table I found in the trash recently. I was telling my friend Kathryn who was at the sale with me, and since she was going back over to pick up something else, she was able to get the flesh tone phone for me for $4.00. I'd have rather had other color choices, but at such sales you take what you can get!

I got this for a buck! Already full of rust, stuff and thingamajigs. Even found a nickel in the one drawer. That brings my cost down to 95 cents. Nice!

This box was also a dollar. It has a nice little sliding top.

I also got a riveting tool and a bag of snaps to go with it for $3 dollars. 

And don't forget the desk that Paul, Lynette and I scored for free from someone's yard!

And the little yellow bird is keeping watch over the giant pickle from her perch on the old scale. That's a Quirky little Vista she's got there!

And so it goes at our house. Actually, the great stuff shuffle will be ongoing. Oh yeah, I've still got all the stuff; it's just been shuffled. It needs to be shuffled some more; some of it needs to shuffle right out the door. Anybody with me?

I have a feeling many of you are doing the shuffle as well and keeping much better time than I. If not, and you feel you should be, don't be a wall-flower, join the dance. Just watch out for those toes! 

So what's shuffling in your world?

Open House Party @ No Minimalist Here
Knick of Time Tuesday @ Knick of Time
Mod Mix Monday @ Mod Vintage Life
Metamorphosis Monday @ BNOTP
Mop It Up Mondays @ I Should Be Mopping The Floor
Nifty Thrifty Sunday @ Nifty Thrifty Things
October Overhauling @ While Wearing Heels

Saturday Nite Special @ Funky Junk Interiors
Feathered Nest Friday @ French Country Cottage
Inspiration Friday @ At The Picket Fence
Clever Chicks Blog Hop @ The Chicken Chick
Treasure Hunt Thursday @ From My Front Porch to Yours
Wow us Wednesdays @ Savvy Southern Style
Be Inspired @ Elizabeth & Co.
Cowgirl Up @ Cedar Hill Ranch