My Disappointment Tale

I mentioned in the last post about a disappointment. Well, I'm here to tell you about it today.

But first a bit of eye candy for you. I don't like just reading print with no photos so I always share something pretty to show you. But Caroline wasn't ready to skype with me tonight or send me any pix, so you're stuck with a couple of things I found in a magazine. ;-) These pix speak of love and renewal. Isn't this memory board pretty? I have several around my house.

This one reminds me that spring is just a couple of weeks away and we can get little flowers to pot in a few weeks also. Now, wouldn't these little jars tied with pretty hankies and wrapped with wire to hang from the patio look just adorable? I'll be making some of these for sure.

Well, these two old geezers aren't very pretty but they are me and Love Bunny about 25 years ago. And yes, he still wears silly/goofy hats. This one looks like it's too big for his head but someone gave it to him and he wore it. I've since thrown it away.

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Remember when I said I ordered an Italian Version of Rosetta Stone. It arrived Thursday and I opened it up. There were several desks with it, actually a LOT! The first one is the application disk to load on and then you can load the disks with the various levels of the language as you progress. I loaded the first, but when I started the Italian language disks they wouldn't load. I called the company and got a man in India who was well spoken, but he couldn't figure out some things as I told him and after a few minutes put me in touch with his superior in the U.S. That lady asked me a few questions and I answered and she said I had a pirated version and couldn't help me. It came from Beijing, China. Nothing I can do. I though I was on Rosetta Stone website but it was a "discount Rosetta Stone" site that had nothing to do with Rosetta Stone except pirate their software and not work for me at least. $188.00! I was miffed and am filing a dispute with Paypal to try to recuperate my money. But truly I'd like to keep and and use it to learn another language - Italian. So now I'm warning you to be sure you are on the actual website when you are wanting to purchase something. I feel like a fool for falling for something like this. I'm usually very astute with things like this. The website looked like Rosetta Stone and when I googled RS at first to find Rosetta Stone, it was one of the first websites to come up so my suspicions weren't raised. So if I can be fooled, you can be fooled also. So be very careful, my friends.
~*~

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Pink Saturday 2/26/2011

Welcome to my Pink Saturday post again. To visit all the participants, go to Beverly's blog by clicking on the logo below.
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I've been busy and had a big disappointment, which I'll go into detail about in another blog post, so I'm scrambling today to find pink to share again with you.

This is a little bird cage I bought and shabby froufrou-ed up. I simply put some faux grass and tiny birds in there with tiny roses that aren't quite visible to you and then hung it with pink curling ribbon, which is tremendously cheap and quite decorative in the house.

This little painting was for sale on ebay and didn't sell. I can't remember the name of the artist now but I contacted her later and asked if it was still for sale. She said that she'd just give it to me! She included the darling frame and the picture and didn't even charge me for postage. The generosity of some people still astounds me. What a charming woman she is. I just love this little teacup picture and its frame. I am a truly blessed chick and most grateful to her for this gift.

I love this little cottage print and can't remember where it came from, but isn't it cute?

While these crystal stemware glasses aren't pink, the paper in the background is. I used it to line the back of our humble china cabinet when we moved into this house 6 years ago. I also trimmed the edges by tacking snippets of vintage lace onto the shelves. I don't get rid of any lace if there is a possible use for it. And these was.

Just a closeup of a few different patterns of our crystal.

These 2 glasses were bought at a neighbor's yard sale when they died. They were both very close to us and died with days of each other. Hubby went over because I couldn't bear to go through their things. He bought these 2 crystal goblets and they are the thinnest and most delicate goblets I've ever held. I am extremely careful with them when we use and then wash them. All by hand, of course.

Love Bunny isn't necessarily a romantic guy but while shopping last week he suggested we buy some of these $5 bouquet of flowers. I didn't disagree of course. Sweet of him.

These two knobs are ones my daughter gave me several years ago. I'd like to make some like them but I'm just being lazy lately so it'll have to wait until I feel like it. I have no clue what I'd do with them, but the pursuit would be as sweet as the rose knobs I think.

I finally added a bit of white trim around the bottom of this lamp shade and got roses almost around the whole thing. I've run out of these particular paper roses and won't be able to finish until I get more. Very hard to find also.

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Just a few more rooms to drool over. Imagine your little princess in this room. Heck, I'd take it for myself and put in a queen size bed and get rid of the toys...maybe. ;-) These are all Ethan Allen rooms.

And for your little heroes, this darling bedroom that would probably take him into his teens.

Oh my stars, be still my heart! On second thought, I'd probably prefer this one with the nook off the master suite. Is this not gorgeous?

~*~

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Happy 5th anniversary/birthday, Jubilee Furniture!

As this month comes to a close, I realize there was a significant date I sort of forgot about. Towards the beginning of the month was the 5th anniversary – or would I say birthday? - of the opening of Jubilee Furniture!

I can’t help but wonder if there comes a time when a store is so established and well known that everyone knows about it. Does that ever happen? I ask because it’s not usual for several customers each weekend to say they’ve never been in the store and didn’t realize it existed. When I say, “Actually, we’ve been open and in this location for five years.” this is sometimes followed by a lament from the customer of, “Oh, I wish I’d known about you earlier when I (purchased/donated) a whole house full of furniture!” Believe you me, I wish you had too!

A second response often heard is one of almost suspicion, where the customer seems to be accusing me of withholding important information from them. “Five years? Wow! I really could of used this place when I was (horribly broke and sleeping on the floor/trying to help someone who was down and out and sleeping on the floor/looking for cheap furniture for my son/daughter when they left for college). Sure wish I’d known about ya then. You should do a better job of advertising.”

“No way! 5 years! That’s impossible! Can’t be!” is an occasional response that makes me chuckle – like I don’t know when the store opened and am making stuff up just to see if they’ll figure it out and call me on it. “Ho, ho, you got me! I was pulling your leg! You’re sure a smart cookie! Can’t pull the wool over YOUR eyes! We’ve actually only been open for a week! Ho, ho!”

Ahh, customers – you know I really love you!

I have a lot to show you, but not a lot of sofas. Don’t get me wrong – we have a lot of sofas (both sleeper sofas and regular sofas) in the store (I meant to count ‘em before I left last night and forgot! I’d guess we easily have 20 sofas currently in the store), but not a lot of “new” ones.

Let’s get going!

this is a beautiful, mirrored cabinet that has a place for wine bottles (below the one drawer – sorry for the crappy photo), one adjustable shelf and then under the top piece a place to store wine glasses. It’s only priced $45 because there’s damage that’s actually taken the finish and stain off in two places on the surface just above the drawer. Cover that spot with a pretty place mat – and you have a wonderful piece of furniture!

a donor dropped this lovely, old desk off last weekend and I’ve priced it $85

sitting on top of the lovely old desk is this hanging, mirrored shelf thingie that priced $25

this is a fabulous Room & Board chaise that’s a lovely yellowy, mustard color that will probably change depending on the light. It needs to be spot cleaned in multiple places so it’s only priced $195 – but no rips, no fading, no structural issues whatsoever! I heart it!

nice plaid Klaussner sofa for $30 – why so cheap? – donor had a dog and there are dog hairs on this piece

this potting/planting table is sure to make you think, “SPRING” and it’s priced $135 (cheap price for something that makes you think SPRING!)

this is a gorgeous rounded corner lighted curio cabinet (did you get all of that?) with four adjustable glass shelves (and one stationary shelf) and is priced $295

this is a super nice black/gray/tannish striped sofa for $85 (some minor dog hair on this piece – but donor did have a dog)

talk about furniture that makes you think of spring – how about this Little Tikes outdoor play place that retails for $379.99 and we’re selling it for $135 (power wash this baby and she’ll be like new)

this Little Tikes classic climber cube has a couple of places where the plastic is damaged – but again, power wash this puppy and she’ll be looking good! – priced $75

this lovely dining table, one leaf and six chairs (two of the chairs were never assembled and are in the shop waiting for someone to assemble ‘em) had a hot dish set directly on the table top – which left a whitish/grayish mark and the donor smoked – the fabric’s absorbed that smell – so is priced only $85

mission style wood futon and mattress for $150

lovely classic wingback chair for $95 (second photo is an up close of the fabric)

very nice rose colored velvet sofa by Schweiger for $95; matching love seat for $50 (and there’s an issue under one of the seat cushions of the love seat where some springs have sprung and you sink pretty far down)

this is an amazing vintage trunk (I think the date it was shipped is 8/15/44 – but I could be wrong) for $135! Don’t you want to live in Far Rockaway, NY?!

sweet make-up table (missing drawer pulls) for $25 (not as white as it looks in this photo – I had to use my flash ‘cause it’s in a dark part of the store)

we received five nice white bookcases for donation this week – 1st and 3rd photos show bookcases with four adjustable shelves and are priced $65 each; photo number 2 matches the other two bookcases but it’s lower and has only 2 adjustable shelves and the price is $45; the last photo shows two matching bookcases that are similar to the others, but not the same, and have two adjustable shelves and are priced $35 each

storage unit for $45

gorgeous oak entertainment center – beautiful color – for $165

wonderful side chair for $25 (unfortunately there’s just the one!)

I love the shape and height of this side table – don’t you heart the wood rope trim? – for $65

I hope you’ll have time to stop in either today (Friday) from 1 to 8 or tomorrow (Saturday) from 9 to 4! Although we won’t have any birthday cake to serve you – there’ll be plenty of free cookies and a very warm welcome whether it’s your first time in the store or your 100th!

Peace be with you, dear reader!

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A Serious/ Sirius Problem and iPhone

First of all, the eye candy. :-) Miss Caroline walking around the island counter top in her mummy's kitchen with her new shoes on. This is absolutely her most favorite thing to do, and you'd better have shoes on your feet when she's doing this or serious consequences will follow—to your feet!

She's getting a lot more hair and is such a happy baby.

A few days ago hubs and I (okay, so it was me, not him) decided we wanted Sirius radio. Last summer when our truck was in the shop for repairs we were given a rental car—a Hyundai—and since we had planned on going back to California to visit our daughter and son, we used the Hyundai to travel there. It was a Sonata and had Sirius radio in it. I fell in love. It was so nice going across the Idaho, Oregon, Nevada desert with a radio that sounded great all the way across that I decided I wanted to get one. So small feat as you'll see.

Remember, we have had no television in this house for about 25 years so we have no idea how they even work now. Clueless! I'm computer literate, not television, DVR, Tivo, cable or anything about televisions. I can't even turn one on now because both my kids have remotes to control everything in one remote and they're somehow connected to other things in their houses also. Truly, I don't even know how to turn it on, much less switch channels.

So after a call to Best Buy to ask about Sirius XM radios and how they work, we set off to buy one. Little did we know. We've now made 4 trips to Best Buy (to buy and return certain things because the advice from 4 different people was scattered, to say the least!) and one to Wal Mart to get this set-up to work. So far it's been a couple of hundred dollars just so I can listen to some programs we don't get here locally anymore. This is what the actual radio looks like, very tiny.

Here it is with the Dock and speakers for it. We could have played it through one of the 5 radios in this house but NONE of them has an audio input on it. They're only maybe 10 years old, the oldest one, but not one of them would work for it so we had to get the Dock for it. This will also transfer to the car when we travel. Great sound. I'm really loving it.

Love Bunny has wanted an iPhone for several years but we decided to wait for the iPhone 4. At first, I couldn't justify the extra money for the Verizon data package and just about decided to get an iPod for him, but he is the king of this domain and works hard for us, so I surprised him with this last week. I bought it, brought it home and stuck it in my desk drawer and called him in here to "help me figure something out" (a ruse, of course) and then, as he sat down, I said, "With your new iPhone." He thought I said iPod as that was what he was thinking in his head, and when I corrected him and said it was an iPhone I thought he was going to lose it. He was so happy and just beamed and thanked me. Now, I get to watch him download Apps all night long onto it. Such fun. Sigh.....

~*~

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