meet Vern...

my trusty old truck who's seen a thing or two in the past...tomorrow he goes in for his first surgery and i am quite looking forward to not worrying any more about the exhaust falling off every time i go up our hill and over the speed bumps...

as i mentioned before he comes with a classic eighties blue interior, and some little seats in the back for our #3 and #4 to sit. they have discovered it is easier and quicker to exit out the rear window than to wait for their mother to sort out the gears, put the 'hand pull' brake on and get out of her seat. Vern has a few age spots but what can one expect for his age...what's that you say?...yes you are quite right spring has sprung early here ("what are you talking about Tif?"..."stay with me on this one") and at times the sun can seem quite blinding...luckily my newly fashioned visors help me stay focused...

had a few thrifty finds this week, turns out the lighting shop i needed to go to is right next to a 'goodwill' store...how's that for a bit of luck. picked up a lace throw tablecloth thing and also a very sweet teapot and jug...it's got made in Japan on the bottom (i know...i felt the same) and although at first i believed it to be a coffee pot it appears to have the holes inside the spout to stop teabags going where they are not suppose to. i am very pleased with myself and my little teapot but worry that if i use it then it will end up like my other teapot, a chipped spout and very tea stained...the best bit of all, i got all the wrong stuff for the electrician so i have to return it and get something else...how lucky is that, i will be forced to enter the thrift store again...

i haven't made a great deal of progress towards the shop and am not very happy with myself...next week was looking better for getting work done but now it appears most of what should have been done this week building wise has now been pushed to next week...i did manage to achieve a small miracle and get my chair's slip cover done.

on close inspection there are no fancy details and piping but i am quietly amazed that it fits and sits straight. the fabric is just lovely but is really rather 'busy' in my studio next to 'orla'... for now the chair will stay in my studio until an airstream houses her...

talking of which, my man asked me last night when we were talking 'airstream talk'..."Tif, remind me again why we are doing this"...and i know when Saturday morning rolls around and we are standing looking at a potential 'Gladys' that he will question the sanity of it all, but secrectly i am quite sure he's always wanted an airstream trailer and a beat up truck he just won't admit it...

she's off to make a cup of tea in her kitchen rather than the hallway...it's bliss to be back at the sink ~ Tif

bark cloth mad...

i'm back sooner than i thought..."why's that, Tif?" i hear you ask...well silly me, i thought my electrics would be worked on in a 'continuous' fashion until the results were in. apparently not, i got the call this morning, items required are on back order so my electrician will not be here until next thursday...leaving me with six large holes in the ceiling and still no electrics in the dividing wall, thus not allowing the builder to finish up.

my electrician asked me if i was aware of the rodent activity we had in our attic..."yes, i am aware" i replied, and then left off the bit about knowing Samuel Whiskers was lurking up there and that is why for the past two weeks our #4 has refused to sleep in his room because of the three foot by two foot hole above his bed knowing at anytime Samuel and his extended family are just going to invite themselves down to party in his room.

and might i also add that was why last night two boys were freaking out about sleeping above the latest holes...luckily all those thrift store bed sheets are coming in handy...

the kitchen is coming along a treat, here's how it looks today...most of the cabinets have gone cream, and not just any old cream dear readers...a cream that i picked out of the hundreds and thousands of 'off whites' that stare back at one at the paint store. what are the chances that the cream is called 'antique lace', how perfect is that. of course i had the worry once i had picked it that it would look yellow, but it doesn't even if my photo makes it look so...the wall cabinets to the left are white and will have doors with reed glass in them when all is said and done...the difference is like night and day, next week is 'cabinet doors', in the meantime i hope to be able to use the kitchen by tomorrow...which is a good thing, when it comes to feeding a household.

do you remember my little green swivelly chair i had planned to have recovered, well that plan went out the window with all my other plans these days it seems. the cost was just too high, now don't forget i already had the fabric but when i know the chair cost my $35 and i have so many other things like 'light fixtures' that need to be bought i decided to make a slip cover instead. i also decided against the fabric i had originally intended to use, and opted for a more 'asian' inspired bark cloth i stumbled upon over at ebay...so far i have bluffed my way through and it certainly would not pass any type of 'inspection' or win me an 'award' but it does the job...my problem now is to 'mirror' the other arm, i am procrastinating on this.

i hope to see my 'little rocker' take pride of place in an airstream one day...and oh, dear readers that day maybe closer than we think, for i have a very important meeting scheduled for ten in the morning on Saturday...and this "oh so important meeting" is with an airstream...she looks from the picture to be just perfect but then i do recall wearing my 'rose colored' specs when i was searching on line for her...watch this space to see whether 'Gladys' has been found.

she's had a cushion featured in a magazine and is feeling quite giddy about it ~ Tif

gone tomorrow...

how perfectly lovely you have all been to me...i can not tell you how fast the past week or two has whizzed by. you still find me running around chasing my tail, but things are coming along nicely. the kitchen at mossy shed is undergoing some serious surgery...in fact it is not unlike one of those reality shows, at the end we will not be able to see anything left of the original kitchen even though it is lurking underneath. as i have mentioned before we were rather fortunate to have new cabinets, appliances and worktop, however it was so very dark (unless we kept on all the lights, there are more lights in my kitchen than the rest of the house put together for some reason). anyhow i soon named my kitchen "the cave"...not much longer though, with the help of my handy carpenter and trusty painter, various bits of wood and some cream and white paint, a new kitchen will emerge...

on other notes,

note 1: i have made some progress towards opening up the shop and making some new treats...i have several window panels ready to go and my plan for next week when it is a little less hectic in the shed will be to.....wait for it, maybe you should sit down dear readers....yes i plan to customize some slips and get them listed. ("about blimen' time" i hear you cry)

note 2: i am in love...his name is Vern, he is a pickup truck with some serious history...i know he has been around the block a bit, when i found him he was not looking pretty but his baby blue metallic finish, cracked windscreen and non existent exhaust pipe just spoke to me.

he's sixteen years old, tilts slightly to the side where he is requiring hip surgery and after having him checked out by my "trusty mechanic" also requires some heart and brain surgery...but nothing a bit of 'pimping out' can't disguise.

alas i have no picture as Vern is on the road today...he is a manual so it makes for some interesting driving moments. i haven't driven a manual in over seven years and when i did, the gear shift was not to my right. his interior is fetching denim blue without a single curved line, all boxy and solid. when i told our #3 to hop in after unlocking the door from the inside, (it doesn't appear to work on the outside)...he got in, buckled up and then tried to find the switch to put the window down. "you have to wind the handle to make the window move"...there are no cup holders so nothing for 'crap' to build up in, just about perfect i feel...

so far Vern has been decked out in some lovely bark cloth visor covers (with a secret doily that appears when the sun shines and one requires some shielding) and some floor mats...i plan to pimp him out in various bark cloth fabrics once he has undergone surgery and survived. until then every time i pull up to a stop light i send a silent prayer to who ever is listening..."please let me pull away without leaving a bit of Vern behind"

note 3: tomorrow the electrician calls...hurrah, we will have ceiling lights upstairs, and the day after they come to finish off the wall and fill in the hole in our #4's ceiling which has been covered by plastic sheeting so he is refusing to sleep in there...the roof happens in a couple of weeks...i now see this is a good thing as when the hail storm passed over the shed's head yesterday, i found it quite disconcerting (oooh fancy word) that i could hear hail on the plastic sheeting thus implying the roof has some rather nice holes in it...

note 4: spring has sprung early here, hence my attempt at spring flowers...i have dared to plant a few daffs outside and so far three mornings in a row they have still been there...it's only a matter of time till word gets out to the deer community that the 'fool in the shed' has put flowers in her yard...

note 5: we spent yesterday doing a spot of this...not a total wasted journey as we learnt a few things about what it takes to move such 'a beast'. we are after a trailer that requires gutting so we can use it as a 'summer place' in the back yard but when the smell inside makes your eyes well up and then after a bit of time you realize the smell is the combination of damp, chain smoking and quite possibly something deceased, you know this trailer is not the one...there's an airstream with my name on it out there it's just a matter of time...

note 6: kitchen stools are now completed with a lovely coat of soft gray satin, just waiting to take up their position at the island...

she will see you on Thursday after the electrician has done his thing ~ Tif