Home Improvement: Tips for Sellers & Scattershooting

Whoohooo....I dodged a bullet today!! Thanks for your prayers...a cortisone shot, a brace, some fluid removal and I'm back in the saddle...sort of. However, instead of a riding crop, I'm using a cane. The MRI went well...they positioned the nicest person in the clinic in the MRI room! She had great MRI-side manner. Ok, that being said, I'm doing a quick little post because I can't sit up at the computer long...still a little painful...but I could NOT not do a post! (After the dr visit, we went shoe shopping...WARNING: after a stressful morning involving your knee...that is NOT and I repeat NOT a great idea. Had to take a two hr nap to regroup the troops.)

So I am doing a rather disconnected post...scattershooting, I'd say.

Saw the canvas below in World Market in Spanish Fort, Alabama and thought I'd try my hand at it...I'll post results later. LOVE the colors and the designs...it was big...mine probably wont be quite as large.

Couldn't imagine what was holding up the traffic at the railroad tracks at Whitfield...whoa...it was just an ENTIRE house being moved down the road. My father did that once...years ago he moved two houses from Coffeeville, MS across the Grenada Lake levee..that gives people an eyefull! (And YES, there is a Mississippi town called Coffeeville and one named Hot Coffee, too.)

I am trying to do some research on these little dolls found at an estate sale. Especially the one on the far right. Aren't they cute?

From the left moving right: Celluloid, two bisques, and the last one is similar to a Patsy doll which may be composite. Anyone have any ideas?

Ran into this little book in the sale bin at Michael's..it's got lots of tips on how to make your house sellable. I agree with most, there are a few I'd be wary of.

Thought I'd share a few with you.

1. Did you know if you will find a bar of soap similar to the color of your walls and rub the slightly damp bar over holes in the walls they will disappear? It's true I do it all the time...sometimes I wonder if there's anything holding up my house sheetrock except soap, I've hammered so many times!
2. Flat paint hides imperfections on walls better than satin. (But it isn't as easy to clean.)

3. When using a color scheme in a room or on the outside of your home, use these proportions: 60% main color (sides of room or house); 30% second color (trim); and 10% accent (door or accessories like pillows.)

4. If repainting the outside of your home, choose a paint color one shade darker than you like...the bright sunlight makes the outside color appear lighter.

5. Dark shades of color make a room seem more serious and possibly elegant and paler shades exude congeniality...or so says this author.

6. Spend a little time attending open houses in your area...to assess the competition.

7. An attractive doorknob on the front door makes a good first impression.

8. Use trial size jars of paint rather than buying quarts or gallons! (Rather obvious.)

9. If you have a septic tank, don't opt for a garbage disposer...it may overtax the system.

10. Use a pumice stone to remove hard water or rust stains from the toilet.

There is a lot more to this little book than first meets the eye...I think the $3.99 I spent was WELL spent. I just wanted to give you a taste of the 11 chapters and 256 pages it holds.

Hope this scattershooting hits the bullseye,

Great Buys For a New Year's Eve!

The hubster and I had a rather fun adventure today. We traveled south to Hattiesburg and visited Trees 'n Trends and Hudson's Treasure Hunt...oh, boy, oh, boy. He's just not even in the same league with me when it comes to finding bargains. Let me expound.


Pictured above are 40 (yep, you read correctly) forty (!) nice size hot pink and purple candy canes. Total regular price=$40. My 95% off price=$4.00! Yep, that's a savings of $36! That is one flat dime each....oh, I LOVE a good deal. Pictured below the candy canes are 16 glittery mantel thingys. They sold for $5.00 each at Wal Mart. Regular price=$80...my 95% off price=$4 for ALL 16! That is a whopping savings of $76! The picture doesn't show the other three items very well, but there is a heavy square green glass soap dispenser with a rubbed oil bronze top for $1.99, a green box that opens up and will hold paperclips, etc. and a black ribbed memo paper holder with a top that can be personalized. My total price for the whole haul was $18.

I see a little extra bow or ornament added to these sparkly sayings and viola! A cute little happy! I also see a white tree with pink and purple candy canes all over in the future for somebody!!

Now, stage right. Will you please tell me who is the Bargain Finder in this family?! Look at what You Know Who bought for $20!!! Bahahahahhaha!

I thought I had found the best buy of the day....

UNTIL.....I walked into TnT. There was a huge bin of framed prints with a few, let's say, dings here and there. They were kind enough to mark them down to half price. The one I wanted was $50. A little pricey for such a beat up specimen, but I asked for the manager. I wanted to see how my newly acquired negotiating skills would work. He approached, "May I help you?"

"Yes, how much are these poor beat up pictures? This one is marked $50...is that the very best price?" I inquired. "They are so beat up that I'd like to move them out...how about $5?" WHAT DID HE SAY? $5? Is my hearing acting up again? I frantically searched for more while he was there..."What about this one and this?" "Any of them, $5, mam," he patiently pleaded.

OH, HAPPY DAY! One was marked $139.99 and the other two were originally $69.99! I got all 3 for $15. Of course, when I got to the car, Hubster's remark was, "Why would you pay $5 a piece for those beat up things? He should have given all of them to you for $5." Do you see what I mean? He has NO clue.

Anyway, I think it was a very profitable day and I can't wait to show you what I do with all my new little finds....BTW: I hope you all have a Happy New Year's Eve. I'll post tomorrow...Lord willing and if the creek don't rise...old southern saying.

So You Think It's Too Early For a Tree?

I think I'm getting cranky in my old age.. take today as an example. I knew when I put up the Christmas tree in the library that I'd have all the naysayers talking..."It's way too early"...."It isn't even Thanksgiving"...."I hate it when Christmas is rushed." But I try to do a different tree every year and it takes quite a while to come up with a "theme" and make all the decorations. Plus, take out a week for Thanksgiving and we only get to enjoy the tree about three weeks.

We recycle our ornaments and use tons of stuff from Dollar Tree. Let's see, we've had a candy cane tree, a snowflake and gold tree, a purple and copper woodland animal tree, a candyland tree (my favorite) and this year a plaid primitive tree. If I can locate pictures I will explain how we managed to dress them with relatively little cost. I also think you'd enjoy knowing how we used the different components from $ Tree.

I come up with my theme a year in advance, that way when everything goes down to 75% off...I'm the first in line. I've been known to mow down grown men who dare to reach for something I've hidden on a previous scouting trip in the store. Once a lady thought she was getting the last teddy bear music box oven (a bear jumps on the door, opens it and a little cake is inside all the while it's playing carols.)....but I'd been hunkered down in line outside in the cold for over an hour. "I think NOT," I thought and guess what? I was right. I would have made a defensive line coach proud. That's what I mean...cranky and a little brash in my old age.

Well, today, I was ready for all the naysayers. When I arrived at school, I went to my desk and sat down (for the only time all day except for a Subway at 2:00) and neatly printed a little sign.
I folded it and put it in my pocket.

I began the decorating process with my two library aids...both males and as much as I like them....they make the bull in a china shop look graceful. We "took out" (as in smashed) a huge fluorescent light bulb before the 8:15 bell, dropped an oscillating fan that I had them direct the air flow at me because I was sweating bullets, and was caught sticking paperclips into the cord socket trying to dig out the blown fuses...that was before one of them stepped on a string of lights, crunching them flat. But I got a full period's work out of both of them. Bless their hearts. Back to the story at hand...

Things went pretty well until a well meaning principal that harasses me every year about putting up the tree early happened by. "Here he comes," I thought. I was ready this year...
"It's only November 15," he said looking at his watch, "and you are already putting up the tree. I think it's way too early!"

"Really?" I retorted. "Well, guess what?" I said. I slid my hand into my pocket, pulled out my note (which BTW was used several times today), opened it and flashed it at him just like a flash card. It read, " I REALLY DON'T CARE WHAT YOU THINK!" with a smiley face at the end of the sentence. I ceremoniously whirled around and walked back to my task. I heard him laugh as I drove out of sight...oh, no I'm sorry I'm getting that last phrase confused with another Christmas story...