free to good home

it was a pretty great weekend!

busy, but great.

you know the kind.
you go, go go, and before you know it,
you wonder where it all went.
the weekend, that is.

a trip to trade days, my super fabulous monthly
flea market, where i picked up some stupendous goodies
( pics coming soon )
and visited with old and new friends alike.

while there, i experienced the slightly surreal moment again
that i've had a few times before,
where someone recognizes
me from the blog and says
"are you anne from fiona and twig?"

that will never NOT feel weird to me!
but i was delighted to meet a new friend,
especially one as lovely as betsy.
hi betsy ( big happy wave ) !!!

and the next day, a visit to san antonio for
vietnamese food ( soooo good ),
and a swing by the camera store to ooooh and aaaah
over all the lenses on my wish list.

and interspersed between all that activity
was more unpacking and organizing,
a task which these days,
seems never-ending.

i am so resentful in awe of those of you who move into
new homes and a mere week later you're
posting full room pics of your glorious
new spaces. how do you do it???
are you utilizing free in-house child labor, or what?
{ giving y'all the side eye here... }

i am SUCH a slug.
a big, fat, lazy, non-decorating slug.
is it okay to 'fess up to that?
i mean, i am among friends, right?
aren't y'all sometimes slugs, too?

instead of showing you
all the projects i've completed,
how about i just enumerate
a mere partial list of
the stuff that still needs doin'?

continue to unpack all boxes in house
organize cupboards
replace bamboo blinds in living room
purchase and hang new blinds
hang curtains in all rooms
hang awning over bed
clean all windows, interior and exterior
landscape
sort through boxes in storage in barn
take donated items to st. vincent de paul and goodwill
plant flower and vegetable garden
re-caulk around shower in guest bath
re-paint bathroom doors and beadboard
sweep and mop all wood floors
replace back porch light
finalize fencing for dogs
repair overhang portion of roof
paint house exterior
install back porch step railing


etc, etc, etc...
and that's just at the new house.

the list of what needs doing at the ( old ) house
we're ready to list and sell
is even longer.

mix in a full-time job, and voila!
a recipe for burnout.
it's a tad overwhelming at times,
which is why when you pass a roadside sign
on the way home from church
which says "FREE DOORS",
you tell the hubs to slam on the brakes and circle back.

they were free to a good home,
and these will go quite nicely
in my future antique mall booth
here in town, i think.

free is good.
free is AWESOME.
and y'all are awesome, for listening to me
pi** and moan yet again.

happy, happy week!

blog interrupted...

so mom was doing a photo shoot 

here in da kitchen.

yep. ANOTHER one.

 she's always 

taking pictures in here.

i don't see anything
all THAT interesting....

no little plastic twisty things off the milk jug,

no paper sacks to crawl into...

just a whole lotta white stuff.

i'll just lounge here
on this nubby old towel
that mom always yells at me for gettin' on.

{ uhhh...that's a pricey vintage grain sack, Winnie }

 hey, i think i spots
a bug over there!

 i do, i do!

it's a bug!

maybe i'll have enough energy to go chase it,

but right now...

 here comes mom again with dat camera.

*sigh*

~~~quick, look all disinterested!~~~

yeah, that's the look.

wait.....hey....hold on....

NO FAIR!!!

ya caught me mid-yawn, mom!

sheesh, what's next?

candid litterbox snaps?

can't a girl have a little dignity?

{ although i DO look pretty fierce, i must say }

{quickly recomposes self }

oh yeah, i'm pretty.

i know.

mmmm, dis smells good...

 is dis catnip?

 dis smells real  good!

on second thought....

 it's a little stinky.

 mom says it's something called

lavender...

 it's good for peoples,

but us kittehs prefer catnip.

 *sigh*

posing is such  hard work.

 not only dat...

but it makes you HUNGRY, too!

see ya on da interwebs, mom!

XO,

Anne 

WINNIE

Snippets of Life....and a Giveaway Winner

Anybody want to move in?

Rates are cheap, company is good.

The food? 

Depends on which one of us is cookin'.  ;-)

Just some little snippets of life

around the homestead the past couple of days.

With projects out the ying yang,

both at the new house and the one we're getting ready to sell,

there hasn't been time to get entire rooms
looking good and photo shoot ready.

No time to hang pictures, mirrors,

foof, primp and style....

which is why you're only getting
"snippets".

that's okay, right?

I mean, it beats the alternative,
which is getting...nothing.

And then there's this little snippet
I captured of
this  guy....

Doesn't know what the heck he's doing.

but looks darn convincing holding that bad boy anyway!

In other news, the winner of my

Romantic Country Magazine Giveaway?

 

Karen at Design the Journey.

Mail me your address Karen, I'll get that right out to you.

Happy Tuesday!

A Cynic No More...

I have a confession to make...

I can be a bit cynical...sarcastic...snarky.

I know, I know, y'all are in utter and complete shock right now

about this revelation.  

;-)

So with this admission, I will confess to rolling my eyes a bit ( okay, a lot )

whenever someone out there shares a recent find

with the inevitable "and it's FRENCH!" tacked on to the end.

I mean, seriously...

"I found this fabulous 

alarm clock / enamel pitcher / toilet plunger 

at a garage sale yesterday...and it's FRENCH! "

I mused about this to a friend recently, how is it that everything cool

we unearth in our treasure hunting invariably

comes from France?

Not that France isn't way cool,
but it just seemed too unlikely to me.

A cynic, I was.

I thought people were just tacking on the French

pedigree to be pretentious.

Until it happened to me.

 At a local thrift store yesterday, 

I stumbled across a stack of eight perfectly beautiful

blue and white plates, the perfect complement

to my charming blue and white kitchen.

with this  taped across the top of the plates...

SHUT. THE. FRONT. DOOR.

Really?

Always the cynic though, I had to do 

the inevitable plate flip maneuver...

Well, I'll be.

I'm a believer.

And I apologize to any and all

for ever, EVAH doubting that your

uber cool toilet plungers came from France!

Off to Mickey D's now for some

pommes frites!

Happy Weekend!

linking with

feathered nest friday

&

vintage inspiration friday

Thank You Again, Romantic Country Magazine!

Hello Friends!

Remember me telling you that even amidst all the trials and tribulations,

that I still  had much to be grateful for?

'Tis true!

I am so honored and just plain tickled pink

to let y'all know that I've been published

in Romantic Country Magazine once again!

They used four of my images from the amazing
shows in Warrenton for their feature on the
best flea markets and barn sales in the country for
their marvelous Fall 2011 Issue...

I want to extend a very grateful thank you to both
Mary Forsell and Fifi O'Neill,
new and previous Editors of Romantic Country Magazine,
both complete dreams to work with.

And also my sweet friends 
Theresa Cano of Garden Antqs Vintage
and
Christie Connelly of Sommerfeld Place...

The full page page pic and the equestrian print photos were
taken in Christie's space at Warrenton,
the suitcases and silver ice bucket photos were snapped
at Theresa's spot at Zapp Hall.

Such talented, beautiful, generous friends I have, eh?
I sure think so.
Be sure to pick up this issue, you'll find that some of
my absolute favorite blog buddies
are featured elsewhere in the mag, too.
:-)

To help say "thank you", I'm offering one of you your very own

copy of the magazine...all you have to do is leave a comment on this post!

No hoops to jump through, no buttons to grab, I'll pick a winner next week.

Easy.
I realize that not everyone has access to this fantastic magazine,
and I just want to make it a little easier for ya.
( giveaway is closed )

I'm having some camera issues this week,
so I'll be back once I get my lens contacts cleaned
and quit getting the
black screen / cryptic "f/0" warning ( whaaaaaa? )on my LCD screen.

Happy Wednesday!

linking with

vintage inspiration friday
show and tell friday 

&

at the picket fence

and so it goes

 how many different types of mis-matched fencing
do you see in the photo above?

how about this one?

4 foot white pickets,
weatherd pickets,
new pickets...

new 6 foot privacy fencing,
old weathered 6 foot privacy fencing...

barbed wire fencing,
plain old regular wire fencing...

all to try and contain our dogs.
and it still wasn't enough.

no, after bringing the two dogs over 2 weeks ago,
our two beautiful Siberian Huskies,
it became immediately apparent that the several
4 foot tall stretches of fencing would not contain one of the pups.

he became panicked and anxious when my husband drove off the first time,
just as he has done in the past, and successfully began
to work his way over, under and through the fence.
not completely, but he was well on his way.

i've watched this pup scale fences before,
so i had a bit of an "i told you so" moment
when i witnessed this.

**sigh**

long story short ( too late, right? )
until we can get yet another fence put up,
a uniform, 6 foot privacy fence all the way around,
my husband is living 30 miles away in our old home with the dogs,
and i'm living here in the cottage with the cat.

a few days after this living arrangement went into place,
my husband left for a week in Portland, Oregon to help
his mom get the family home ready for sale.

and so it goes here, as well.

now that he is back home, we are still living apart, reluctantly so.
things are tense and stressful between us, i have to confess.

we must finance the building of yet another fence,
even though funds are low.

we must get the new cottage organized and more livable.
getting it ready for potential magazine and/or book photo shoots?
doubtful.

and most importantly, we must, must, MUST
get the old house prepared to list and sell.
it's a financial must.

houses simply aren't selling right now, so i've had
more than a few anxious, sleepless nights over this.
all of this, actually.

i'm not looking for sympathy here,
i'm just trying to explain why i've been away
the past couple of weeks.

nobody put a gun to my head and forced me to buy
the new cottage, so any hardship we are experiencing
is of our own creation.
strike that. it's of MY creation.
having this new home was my dream, and the mr. indulged me.
i find him blameless in this whole mess.

but still? still?
i am blessed.
abundantly so, i do believe.

in spite of it all, there are some wonderful things
happening in my life...in our lives...if i can just see
beyond the present circumstances.

that's hard to do, but it's what i must do.
i say, as i sit here and type this post, as my husband
resides in another home, with the other two-thirds
of our fur kids.

i'll share more of the good later this week.

until then,

away

Due to some unforeseen personal issues,
I will be taking some time away

to deal with some things that need addressing.

Love, prayers and good thoughts to you all.

I'll be back.

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