Fun in the Sun

Phew. What a terrible week we all had here in the Eller house. Seriously bad. Blah. Blech and pooey!

However...we're all mending nicely now and I'm especially feeling chipper. :) Last night Jeff and I didn't fall asleep until 3a and we couldn't understand what the problem was. ::sigh:: I'm thinking that the meds we're on are causing insomnia, who knows. Anyway, I finally fell asleep but not Jeff, he ended up walking all the way downtown and picking up the morning's paper. Wha??? I know. Had I known this at the time, I would have told him absolutely not. His he nuts? Yeah yeah. Our town is quaint, small and supposedly "safe" but it's in towns exactly like these that the crazies come out and pick people right off the streets and you never hear from them again until you read about them in the news. So... I wasn't too thrilled about his 3:30a jaunt down to the paper box and walking back. Ugh. Now, had it been closer to Sunrise, then maybe. lol It seems that the crazies tend to sleep during the day. Just sayin'.

Tomorrow I'm headed to Cincinnati to the bead show. Very excited. Planned to go today but after yesterday's weak feeling coming over me all day, I decided to take it easy and just make sure that I was good and FINE. (which I am now) Yay!

This morning I made asked Moonbeam to go with me to the Thrift and GoodWill store. We're becoming quite the thrifty pair. I found yet ANOTHER elephant for my collection made out of some sort of heavy wood, I thought it was rock but it isn't. Cool. And Moon found a denim Eddie Bauer skirt (in a size I'd rather not mention but I'm sure a child could wear it) for $2.99. Then we find out that all yellow tagged things are half off. Whaaaat? Totally awesome. The skirt is sooo totally normal looking and with one good wash will look fantabulous. I didn't find any clothing for me, but I'm back on the Weight Watchers kick (gah!!) and am determined to get this excess off of me. lol It was fun! The only thing I was a bit annoyed with was the chair that they had a few weeks ago, that Jeff talked me OUT of getting and this chair was GONE when we went back today. Ohhh how I was bummed. Really sad. That chair had been on my mind since we walked out of the store. I vowed it would be the last time I would listen to my husband about any sort of "find" that I find at GoodWill. I mean? Seriously? You're arguing with me over a piece of furniture from GOOD WILL?? Really? really, really? Yeah. I didn't think so.

Just want to say that I'll have some fun deals next week, being the last week of the Summer Splash. I'll be reducing, moving and clearing out my entire Spring/Summer inventory and moving onto the Fall and Winter beauties. :) So, take advantage, especially for Christmas gifts.

Okay I'm outa here. I have to finish some custom work! Yay!!!!

Goodwill Adventures

(Claire Bear. Photo by Emily Marie Photography.)

Hello! Happy Fourth of July!

First.

WHERE has this year gone? Do you realize we're more than half-way through? How could that be? Shocking stuff. Just shocking. (but in a good way)

I feel as if I've been in a hole all week, my studio room and I have been spending a lot of time together, I've enjoyed it. My friends? Not so much. A few feel neglected. ::sigh:: The thing is, I am very blessed to do what I do. The emails that pour in, telling me how they adore their ordered piece, that they get compliments EVERY time they wear it, and how they're addicted to my jewelry (squeal!). It really makes my day! Thank you, thank you! I am grateful for the opportunity.

Aside from a bad customer experience (someone who thought I could produce a modern-day miracle and deliver a custom-made piece in less than five days WITH a holiday no-mail delivery--the crazies are comin' out of the woodwork lately), my week was excellent! :) You wanna hear about the fun part of my week? Ok. Sure! I'll tell you!

When I went to lunch with Moon, which normally we go to our usual watering holes (Hobby Lobby, Michael's, Tuesday Morning--where she begins to salivate over chipboard pieces, new paper fashions and don't even get me started on her crazy-wild obsession with punchies! lol!), I made an inquiry about Goodwill (since, after all, it was across from Hobby Lobby). She's not a Goodwill shopper and to be completely truthful, neither am I. I've been in a Goodwill once and that seemed to be enough for me.

Now wait.

Don't get yourself all in a huffy because I'm not a fan of Goodwill. Don't even go there!
Here's what I'm saying...

I don't care to buy clothes that have been used when I can find similar "unused" clothing on clearance racks in department stores, that's all I'm saying. Plus, they don't have clothing in my size usually (no, you cannot know my size. hush your mouth.) or, clothing in my size that's to MY liking. How's that? Better? I thought so. (I have three pairs of Chico's jeans that I snagged on clearance for $11.27 a pair and they were originally 88 bucks each! So take that to Goodwill, will ya!) You just have to know when and where to shop, that's all I'm saying.

However.

Most recently I've become a big ol' fan of her and if she can find the Goodness of Goodwill, then so can I!! (what?!! wait.?? did I just say that? yes. yes! i think i just did!)

So, we went in, both expecting to find nothing, nadda, zippo, zilch.

We ended up walking out with stuff. (me with more stuff, of course, but Moon almost bought a few pairs of shoes. I kid. I kid! It was just one pair of shoes. Okay, okay! I kid! You got me. They were salt-shakers! She bought a set of Salt shakers! Ugh!) I, on the other hand, found a ceramic set of unused (!!!) candle sticks for $3.50 a PAIR!, another set of candle sticks for $1.50 (which just need to be spray painted black and they're good to go!), and some sort of thing to hang on the wall that I thought was rather cute (pictures to come) that was $2.50.

Listen, a little spray paint goes a long way and lately I've been lurving me some spray paint. It buggers my fingers something awful though, so you gotta go easy on the spray painting unless you have a spray-painting hand gun (which, you might have guessed, I do!). I have to tell you that even though I didn't care to look through all most of that stuff, it was a lot of fun to snag some great deals.

Next, we're going Garage-Sale Shopping! (maybe?) Don't you judge me! You never know what you might find! I might just find that ceramic monkey that would look PERFECT on my front porch! You never know! (har. har.)

So, it got me thinking (this whole, finding-useful-preowned-items-that-can-be-salvaged thing), that I could start a blog about my finds and what I do with them. So that's what I's a gonna do!
If millions of blogger-girls can do it, out there in blog-land, then I can too! Cuz people, I'm a follower! lol!!

I haven't decided if I'll be able to drag bring Moon along with me on my let's-stop-by-the-road-and-see-all-the-junk-these-people-have-to-offer thing, but she might be willing to do a bit of Goodwilling. You never know!

You all have a great Fourth! Be safe! Don't poke yourself with any sparklers! Remember to stand back when you set off fireworks!

We're headed to Mammoth Cave! More on this later!