Auction find - library table

With the help of several guy friends, we picked up the large tables I got at the auction on Saturday.  This one is a library table (smaller of the two) so it's taller than your average table. I spent most of the afternoon moving furniture around to work it in to our living room. It will some day be used as a store display but for now it's being stored here.

Auction Week July 2010

I spent the whole day at the auction house, something I haven't done in a long time.  I've been to enough of them to know how to pass the time.  I worked on some projects coming due, packed a lunch, water, and wore my walking shoes I could walk around the parking lot. For some extra fun I sometimes play what I like to call "Auction Chicken".  I bid
on things way pass what I would want to pay to see if the other dealer will keep going. It's funny when two dealers get in a bidding war, others join in thinking there has to be something they missed in a junk lot. Junk lot are random items on shelves or boxes, so times good stuff but most of the time junk. I did manage to come home with some cool stuff.  Printing blocks (Central Pacific Railroad, map of the U.C Berkeley campus, photo of a hanging), pair of utility drawers and a jewelry box.  I also got a XXL table (over 9 feet long) that I've been looking for a longtime.  It's one solid piece of wood with no extensions. Sort of like a super sized harvest table or wine cellar table.  It's coming home to my studio on Monday!

Busy Week 2010

It's been a busy week for me.  First our computers are getting a major overhaul.  We found a great IT gal, (who only charges $10.00 an hour and no she's not a teenager) who is working out all the bugs on our computers.  While things are downloading, she plays with Annie and Squeak, a good mid afternoon workout for my fur babies. I also got my first ever Blackberry phone, so during those long download times, Kathy has transferred all the information from my computer to my new phone (I would have never been able to figure it out) and given me a live tutorial on all the features my new phone has.
Squeak is finally on the road to good health.  When I took her into the vet's office a month ago they missed the parasites she had in her stool. We realize how ill she really was. Because Squeak would not use the litter box, I was able to get a large loose stool sample (had to use a piece of card stock to get it in the bag, yes very gross) and the vet took one look at it and said something was really wrong. It looked so bad in fact that Dr. Johnson was going to personally look at it under the microscope since the lab tech missed it the first time around. Squeak not only has major parasite issue but a bacteria infection too because of the over abundance of the parasite. With all the drugs we have to give her to get things under control, she wasn't able to get her shots.  We can't wait too much longer since she is already 3 months old but the Dr didn't want to overload her system.  The change in Squeak is amazing now that she is feeling better.  She is using the litter box (happy dance) and has gained weight.
I was looking into buying this old building down in Japan Town and restoring it.  One dream I have is to open a store in the old building that has a mix of paper art supplies, affordable clothing and vintage/anitque items. This building with it's history and good bones would be perfect.  I was told the city now owns it and it's going to be torn down to make room of low income housing.  It's an historic building so I'm tracking down leads to see if it can be saved.

Creative Slump

I've been in a creative slump for a long time now and the creative assignments are starting to pile up.
Took Annie on two long walks this morning (she also got a shower out in the backyard) and decided when we got home I would clean up both studio spaces. It's easy to clean up things when she is napping.  I've let the clutter get out of control so maybe it's bad feng shui at work here.  Going to change into my pjs (better to work in) and get my butt into gear.  With two more rubber stamping/scrapbooking flea markets coming up I could get a jump start on that too.

Full Moon Adventure - Moive Night

Last night (during the full moon) Annie and I went to the movies to see Alice in Wonderland.  Our neighborhood has an association (not really sure what they do for the neighborhood) and they sponsored a movie night at the park. Really how many times can you take your dog to the movies?  There was only one other dog (she was 14 years old) at the movies so Annie was really bored with no one the play with.  As soon as Alice fell down the rabbit hole, I got the call to go pick up hubby at the airport so we missed the rest of the movie.  It was more fun watching the families who don't spend a lot of time outdoors.  The amount of food (it was like the kids would never eat again) bundles of clothes (we are in the middle of summer here) and chairs that most of the kids could sit in for only a few minutes. Annie is not used to walking in the evening so she will bark at almost anything.  As we were leaving the park she saw a large shadow near the swings.  She started barking her big girl bark like Godzilla was going to attack.  I'm sure she scared everyone there.  It was a bike leaning up against the swings but the handle bars did look sort of weird in the dark.  I did make a note I have to get her out more after dark.

Bacon - A Love Story

I picked this book up at the library a few weeks ago.  I thought the title was too funny.  Who would write a book all about bacon?  It's an entertaining and fun book to read.  We eat a lot of bacon at my house.  On the no carb diet, bacon is allowed.  I also make Annie's dog biscuits that call for bacon grease  - makes them really tasty.
Speaking of bacon, my daughter prefers not to eat pork after seeing the pig deliveries made to San Francisco's Chinatown every morning as she walks to work.  A big cargo truck pulls up loaded with dead whole pigs. It was a real shock the first time she saw the pigs being unloaded. She did send me a photo from her cell phone but they were stack so high you really can't tell what it is.  After seeing this every morning it's turned her off to eating pork.

Paper Crafters Flea Market Starts Today

Memories will be hosting their first paper crafters flea market today thru Sunday. Here's the link to the online news report of the event by Melita news link
Since this is the store's first one, it's not a big as the other ones in the Bay Area but it's worth checking out.  New Cuttlebug machines for $25.00, embossing folders for .50, ton of stamps, bagged paper, Quickcutz sets and embellishments.

Squeak and Mr. Purrcy

Mr. Purrcy is a great big brother to Squeak. He spends most of the morning playing with her, really most of the time he has no choice. This morning I had a little scare when I couldn't find Squeak, who wakes me up at 5:45am every morning.  After looking for her in all her favorite napping places, I could only figure out that hubby must have left a door open after I went to bed. Yes, hubby did leave the front door open when he went to get something out of the car. Lucky for us Squeak ended up spending the night in the backyard with Annie.

Hubby's Birthday

Today is my hubby's birthday.  The kids got him tickets to go see Paul in concert up in San Francisco.  He's a big Beatles fan and this will be as close as he will ever get to seeing the Beatles play in concert.  I have very thoughtful children even with a dad who hates all holidays and birthday celebrations.

Crawdaddy's in San Jose

A few weeks ago we went out to dinner with our daughter and her roommate to Crawdaddy's in San Jose.  It's a very interesting dining experience.  No forks or spoons, paper plates and your food comes in a plastic bag. It's a fun place to go if you just want to chow down on some good Cajun style shrimp and crayfish.

New Cuttlebug Embossing Folder Set - Plum Blossom

I picked up a one of the new Cuttlebug embossing folder sets " Plum Blossom".  I'm working on coming up with some new class designs. Not sure why they decided to bundle (set of four folders) the embossing folders.  The new sets have two embossing folders for 5X7 cards, which is different. My Cuttlebug machine is not working well now (I've used it a lot) so I may have to break down and get a new one. :(  Super simple card and great way to use up your scraps!

Quick Floral Card

One of the cards I will be doing at the Yu Ai Kai this afternoon.  Thought is was time to break out some of the stamps and markers I haven't used in a long time.  Super simple direct to rubber stamping.