Settlin' in Again....

Bradenton, FL        High:  88      Low:   74

It's great to be back at the house after two weeks in IN. The temperatures started out cool for two days in Elkhart, then they quickly hit high eighties and low nineties and it felt just like Florida! Now that the heat wave has dissipated somewhat up in the midwest, we're sorry we missed the seventies, and the cool nighttime sleeping temperatures, but we'll be getting some cooler weather in a couple of months. It's hot during the day and humid, but so far, not too bad.....On really bad days, we'll just stay indoors more and work on the house...

Sparky's got a list:
1.) Fix her painting mistakes in the den with Eldy's help...
2.) Install shelving in the garage in preparation for storing tubs of craft stuff...(Wait a doggone minute here, woman, is THAT why we are installing shelves? We might have to rethink what's going on the shelves! What about my workbench?)  Hmmmmm...battle of the sexes in the offing?
3.) Strip the wallpaper in the guest bathroom and paint it a neutral color like ocean blue/green...
4.) Paint the guest bedroom
5.) Paint the kitchen nook area--done!

6.) Paint the craft room
7) Unpack some more boxes in the garage so we can bring MORE boxes and STUFF home from the FL storage shed.
8.) Replace yellowed overhead plexiglass lighting panels in the kitchen and bath with new ones.
9.) Strip the wallpaper in the master bedroom and paint. Wait a minute, Sparky is going to hire someone to do that, it's too much work after doing the guest bath! And there's that darned popcorn ceiling again to deal with!
10.) Paint the dining room table and chairs
11.) Have some fun! Hit some estate sales...Which is what we did this past weekend....

Sparky found some great stuff....(Uh-oh! More STUFF....) But Eldy loves going to sales, too, so that's something we really enjoy doing together...Sparky found a nice picture to go in the palm themed guest bathroom for less than twenty bucks...She especially loved the pineapple looking frame...She hung it in the bathroom right away, even though this is the bathroom that is going to get the wallpaper stripped and then be painted a sea/ocean teal color.

Normally, Sparky wouldn't be picking such a picture, but here in the Florida house, it just seems to fit. Sparky is really going in a different direction in colors and style, that's for sure! But it's fun to completely change your style. Since we've totally changed our lifestyle, it seems appropriate to head in a different direction. And many Florida houses on the coast are in that beachy, Mediterranean pink, tropical theme anyway, so Sparky decided to go with a Florida style.

Then she found some little silverplated forks and knives for .25 each. She's going to use them to make funky beaded wind chimes.

And of course, a Florida house near the beaches probably ought to have some fish motifs, so Sparky picked up a ceramic fish dish for 4.00. Kinda ugly, Eldy's expression read, but he didn't say anything. He's so sweet about stuff like that. He just kind of indulges me in my impulsivity, as long as it doesn't cost an arm and a leg. Sparky thinks the house needs some accessories now, so estate sales are great places to go looking for stuff like that. Ugly, maybe, but goes great with the living room colors.

What Sparky's going to put in this fish dish, she hasn't a clue. Candy? remotes? crackers? coasters? This is a piece people are either gonna like it or hate it. Sparky liked it, Eldo not so much, but it's now in the living room on the coffee table. This is also one of those items where an impulsive buy (Sparky's, not mine, smiles E.) later results in, "What the heck was I thinking?" and-- (I knew she was going to change her mind about this one!  :-) Sparky is already having buyer's remorse, but hey, it was only 4.00. She'll put it on sale on Ebay later or out in a garage sale.....Or maybe she'll keep it! She keeps changing her mind....

We almost bought a large computer desk that says it was Lexington furniture, going to be reduced by half for 100.00 in an hour they said. Home we went to measure and figure, but try as we did, we couldn't figure out a good place to put it in our house without overpowering the room. Darn! That was an amazing bargain!

As much fun as we had scouring the sales today, we've decided we're really going to hit the estate sales for some things for the house and for something fun to do in the coming weeks...Apparently, it gets so crazy with lookers, dealers, and buyers during "season", (January through March) that the estate sales agents have to pass out numbers first thing in the morning and the lines go out the door and down the street for blocks when these sales go on. You have to stand in line and wait and wait for your number to get called to get in a house to see what there is. That's NOT fun! So NOW is the time to go looking!

What's on tap for tomorrow? We don't know... Bye for now.....