Tomorrow is the big day. I don’t know about you, but I’ve got it all planned out. I’ll be getting up early to take the husband’s car for an oil change and hope to be at the bookstore at 9:00 to pick up my book. This was an important strategy, as I can then demand that I not be bothered for the rest of the day until I have finished the book. I will then be heading to Starbucks or some other coffee shop with comfortable seating and something tasty to drink, and start reading. When I need a brief break, I’ll head to the beach or the park for more relaxing and reading, and when I’m hungry enough, it’s on to my favorite Thai restaurant for a bowl of the best Tom Yum soup and, of course, more reading. It’s a quiet, cozy place, so I should have no problem concentrating. The anticipation is just about killing me.

What will you be doing? 

First of all, I’m so excited that my internet friend Yvonne (which is how I refer to her to my real life friends, who think it’s a bit weird that I exchange gifts and magazines and important things like pop-tarts and jus mix with someone I’ve never even met) is featured this month in a beautiful spread in this magazine. If you live under a rock and have never visited Yvestown, you should go there right now and see all the beautiful eye-candy on her blog. Gefeliciteerd Yvonne!

Okay, now I could use some decorating advice. I recently bought this lamp at an antique mall, and I need to get a shade for it. I’d could use some opinions from you very tasteful and talented readers. I’m thinking a nice big drum shade would be cute, but should I go with white? natural linen? I was even thinking maybe yellow, but where would I find something like that? Would I have to make it myself? The lamp sits on a table between two wing chairs that will soon be slipcovered in natural linen, and the curtains that will eventually cover the windows behind them will be white and this green fabric which I got for $5/yard. The walls will eventually be painted a very pale periwinkle blue and the settle you may have seen before is covered with this fabric and has throw pillows out of this fabric as well as the orange cushion I made and a yellow cushion I made from a couple vintage placemats. I want the room to be very cheery, light and fresh, sort of like this. I have my own inspiration photo of delphiniums. I really need to get all my ideas together in one spot. Now that the wallpaper is stripped, and I’m in the process of selling my piano, which takes up a lot of space in the room, I’m nearly ready to finally finish this room.

Now the second request for advice: I also got this awesome birdcage at the antique mall. I want to use it in the living room as well, but I’m not sure yet just what to do with it. Should I paint it? If so, should I go dark or white or a color, like turquoise or yellow? Should I leave it as is or decorate it somehow? I love what Heather has done with this birdcage, but I don’t know if I could get the same effect with silk flowers of which I’m not really a fan. I just don’t know.

Thanks in advance for anything you can come up with. And just because he’s so darn cute, I’ll leave you with a picture of Petey, who must be involved in whatever I’m doing, and couldn’t manage to stay out of the frame when I was trying to take pictures of the lamp.   

I haven’t bothered with writing anything here for awhile, because if I did it would just be a whiny, oh woe is me kind of a post, and who really wants to read about that? I will only say that in the last couple weeks a 300 year old tree lost a very big section and will have to be cut down for a large sum of money, and my old reliable Honda friend needs to be put out to pasture, which meant buying a new car for a large sum of money. It also meant spending four hours in the company of car salesmen who I completely detest. Wow, they were a bunch of jerks.

Let’s remember a happier time, shall we? This is me and my adorable niece in the chicken coop, during my sabbatical. Forgive the lack of makeup and hair styling, I was on vacation.  She helped me gather eggs every day while they were here. I miss my little helper! She also declared Bear her best friend. I’m sure he feels the same. We had so much fun at Disneyland and I had the honor of buying her first pair of mouse ears.

I’ll be back again soon, I still have egg recipes to share, cute cat pictures, gosling updates and even some stuff I made. This is still a blog about making stuff, after all. If you need something to cheer you up, Dreamkiller, by these guys and this song really worked for me. Go listen!

My vacation is nearly over, and I’ve somehow managed to turn it into a computer vacation as well. I barely checked e-mail and have done very little blog reading the past few weeks. I’ve been outside a lot and had lazy days and productive days, and it’s been so nice! I’ve done a bunch of things that will eventually make it here to the blog, here are a few for starters. The duck wallpaper is finally coming down. Wow, it’s so ugly, and see how dark it makes the room? This picture was taken in the middle of the day with all the lights on and the  blinds open. I’m about halfway and it already feels so much lighter in here.

So no more ducks, but the husband decided that 18 chickens weren’t enough and decided to add some geese to the flock. They’re nearly three weeks old now, and cute as can be, but so very messy. I was not in favor of this new endeavor, but I couldn’t exactly say no, after he agreed to the chickens, could I? They’re currently living in the guest house in a kiddie pool. They love water and never have enough. See, the bowl is empty and I had just filled it a half hour earlier. I think we’d better get a bigger bowl. The gander is named Edwin (he’s the big one in the back), but we haven’t named the two girls yet. Family members may be able to figure out where we got his name.

One of the nicest things about having all this time off is getting to all those little projects that you need to make time for that just get set aside. Like hanging art on the walls. This big wall in my kitchen has been bare forever, except for the big Delft plate of my grandmother’s. I love the numbered hooks, and of course my $12 wooden shoes (worth $15, if you ask me). I found the apron on the right during my thrifting/antique malling day a few weeks ago. It’s so pretty, a crisp linen with rick-rack trim, what could be better for an apron? I think I still need a little something for the right side, above the little plate. I’ll just have to wait until I find the perfect piece.

Next time here at heylucy: egg cookbooks, cute cats, vintage buttons and a clothesline! And much, much more!

I’m busy spring cleaning today, so this is just a quick post to share some craft/antique show treasures, featuring my lovely assistant, Ruby.
The chickens and Bear find that they must all be in exactly the same spot as me when I am outside. Do they not understand that I have personal space issues? I guess it’s nice to be loved. More than one chicken has had her toes stepped on because she just could not get out of my way.

I got some cute wooden shoes and tiny jello molds at craft show on Saturday. I have to work on my bargaining skills, however. Especially as I plan on going to the Rose Bowl Flea Market later during my Four Weeks off (did you think I wasn’t going to mention it again? Wrong!). I spied the wooden shoes on the ground and quickly snatched them up before anyone else could see them, not thinking that maybe not everyone loves wooden shoes like I do. I approached the seller and asked, "How much?" I got all flustered when he said, "How much were you thinking?" I don’t know, I don’t know! I just really like them and they’re old and have a great patina and I just want them and I don’t want to insult you by offering too little. "$15?" "Uh, I was thinking a little less, $12?" Okay, I’ll take them! Doh! I have about 3 weeks to work on my technique. I mean, really, would he have been insulted if I said $5? Of course I couldn’t try to bargain him down below $12 after I offered $15, right? Gah! I’m so not prepared for the flea market experience. Any helpful hints would be welcomed.

While I’m on my Four Week sabbatical an item at the top of my to-do list is to install a clothesline. I didn’t realize however that I would be doing something so revolutionary. I’m glad I’ll be saving the planet and thumbing my nose at all those homeowners associations (I refuse to live in a tract home with a homeowners association anyway, because I just don’t want someone telling me what color I can paint my house and that I have to mow my lawn). Really, though, I just like to be outside and I’m a total cheapskate, so a clothesline seems like a nice idea. I would like to address one item in that article, however. How on earth do you have an $1,120 electric bill?! I get really peeved when ours goes up over a hundred dollars in the middle of summer when the husband insists on running the air conditioner day and night. That’s great that the author thinks she’s making a difference in the world by hanging up her clothes, but I really want to know what they have plugged in to use that much energy? She’s quite proud of the fact that they then reduced their bill to a mere 500-something dollars. Still, what the heck are you running when you pay that kind of utility bill? Also, do you really think Al Gore is out there hanging up his laundry on the clothesline? I’d love to see a picture of that.

Photos:

1. venice, 2. paper crane, 3. luft, 4. clothesline, 5. Bandanas, 6. I’ll Run Away With You to a Small Town., 7. laundry, 8. Forgotten, 9. No wind.., 10. dresses dry, 11. gran pavese, 12. Clothesline, 13. rooftop, 14. Les culottes blanches sur le mur–The white underwear on the wall, 15. Not a good day for washing…….., 16. Country living