Wait a minute....read this!

I am so excited about my new blog which will be about all things vintage...The Pink Geranium. 

As I have started blogging again after a long time off, I was not originally going to start over on a new blog. You all know how hard it is to get a blog going, and know that your friends are following you and hopefully leaving comments.

But if you go here, and read the left sidebar and the first post, you will understand why I am doing this.

So dear blogger friends, I hope you help me make The Pink Geranium the special vintage loving, re-purposing, thrift shop sharing, blog I can see it becoming!!

Come on over and see for yourself...

Thank You!

Jan

New blog after all, and there is a reason why

I starting blogging again, and as you know I have kind of redirected myself into vintage and re-purposing. 

Well, as I was talking to my daughter lately over my vision for my future... and how having a blog is just one part of that vision..she said why don't you name your blog after grandmas old secondhand store?

Well, my first thought was "why didn't I think of that?"

 So, I am asking you wonderful blogging folks that pop in here, to check out (and follow and comment too!) my new blog...

The Pink Geranium

You will see it is brand new blog, meaning I need some wonderful folks, such as yourselves, to  hit that button that says "join this site"and help me get going with all of your help!

And most important, please leave a comment, so I can come back and visit you too!

Jan

Great treasure hunt today...

I was up for the hunt, and crashed my daughter and her husband as they were lounging this morning ( they live a mile up the road), to see if they wanted to go junking with me...it was a go! 

So off we go, and despite how questionable the place looked, it was worth it.

My honey and I have a bad habit of eating in the living room. I have been hunting for some vintage TV trays, with good tray holder, and today was my day All four in perfect condition, I am so delighted!!!

I know I could sell them as I got one awesome deal, but I will love them for a while...and use them too!

I have wanted a caldron..yes that is right.. a big, as in gigantic, caldron to eventually make into a fire pit...or a coffee table!

Yes, today was the day..and the gal overseeing the sale accepted my low ball offer, woo hoo! It has a crack, but will still meet our needs.

And, what was rolling around in the giant caldron? I think it is a canon ball, really what else could it be? 

Any old who, this was just some of the fun!

 I hope your junking adventures are good this weekend as well, I'm going to a flea market tomorrow!

New Treasure...but .what is it?

Have I said how much I love not having to be at a job Monday through Friday...I guess  I may have mentioned it a time or two.

I hit some of my fav stores once or twice, well maybe three times, since my post last Tuesday...and felt like I did OK.

 Now I have a question for you all. I got this lovely, obviously old little bench, or at least thats what it appears to be.

It looks like a normal bench when the seat is down normal, thought it does feel a bit higher then I would expect. 

(If you double click on the picture you will see it better)

When opened, there is storage, maybe for sheet music? And on the other side, there is a piece of wood that flips up, so when the seat comes down it can be at an angle. My wild guess is an organ stool, but that is only a guess. I did find an organ stool that tilts when I was researching it, but it looked different then this one.

Maybe because an organ player, or piano player uses the pedals, maybe the angle lets the player reach them correctly??

I had to see what was under this floral material ...

OK, then I had to see what was under that, and finally got to the original material which is mohair like. Now I could see what it looked like many years ago.

The question is still the same, does anyone know what it is?

Thanks, and leave me your ideas!

Oh, you should also check out Knick of Time Tuesday, and Treasure Hunt Thursday for some other vintage treasures to peek at, and leave comments when you do :)

Your never to old for blocks....

Just one use for all those cute kid's blocks I got..anything that comes in a big bunch is an instant hit with me!

Happy Weekend!!

Do you want to see what I did with some recent finds?

I am so enjoying having time to do things, such as go thrifting,  re-purposing the finds, and find a place for some of them in my own home.

My bigger plan is to get my foot in the door either at Flea Markets ( we don't have as many here in Washington as other areas in the country) or Bazaars, Etsy, etc.

So anyway, I have been inspired by your blogs to freshen up the look at home.  

First I have to tell you the style of my house, which is a ranch rambler and it is a horse property.

I say this because that kind of has some influence on how I can decorate. For example delicate Victorian and super formal doesn't work for this house. 

As for the furniture, we have some mission type furniture, but it is not all the same. I used to have very Southwest/western type things...not so much anymore. I really consider myself eclectic for sure, I am truly evolving.

So, here are some of the recent finds, in their current new place...

 I got the silver pumpkin at the Village about a month ago, and LOVE it...what a great fall find! The old brown jugs, of course recent finds too. The vintage zinc lids, mentioned in previous post are in an old wire basket picked up at St Vinny's on Monday...I added my little bird friend...

 We have this large brick fireplace, with the less then lovely pellet stove, it can really kick out heat so...it has a purpose too!

 I put some of my different Bible's in the wire basket in the wood tray on the hearth...they were scattered all over the coffee table. Do you see that old brass piece by it? I have some very old clothespins in it, that I got at the old man's garage sale where I got the old Washboard table mentioned in the post "Have you run across one of these"... 

After I put this picture up, I looked at it, and decided I need more...so I changed it to this... (below)...which do you like?

The oil painting on the mantel is special to me, because my Mothers 90 year old boyfriend had given it to me. Even though she has been gone almost 2 years, I am still in contact with him. He said it had been in his family forever, and I wish I knew who painted it. It has that Southwest feel with the colors and scene, which I like, and seems to fit in here.

Now here you see the magnetic letters & tarnished dish, stone type statue ( I love it, got it for a buck!), angel statue dish thing with acorns in it, the two white wood birds ( I painted white), and Eiffel Tower...all from recent treasure hunts.

 I painted the metal Eiffel Tower orange, to make it fun for fall, and with the candle in it, at night it is kind of lovely!

I notice you can see our sad looking fences through the bay window, we pressure washed them, and are in the tedious job of painting fences...acres of them, ugh!

Also, the pictures make the color on the walls look brighter then they are, boy do they look bright! Memo to self, add paint living room this fall/winter to list.

To see more "Thursday Hunt" finds, click here!

So what do you think, can these changes pass for fall?

Monday Thrifting...required the top down on the Convertible!

I decided to hit the St Vincent store in Monroe, as you never know what may be lurking in some dark corner...and today everything was half off if you were wearing blue...yes that is what the sign said... (except furniture which was 20% off). Did you know that St Vincent has punch cards? Once it is filled, you get a discount on next trip. They also give a $5.00 off a $20.00 purchase when you donate, so I keep donations in my trunk for such occasions.

 Afterwards I went down the street to the local Goodwill, for Monday $1.29 day where today's tag color was green. Picked up a few things there as well! This Goodwill also excepts the $3.00 Value Village coupon on a $10.00 purchase, and the St Vinny $5.00 coupon, off $20.00.

Most of the pile of stuff below came from St Vinny's, and you may see the round table it is all piled on... is missing it's top. When I looked at this I knew it was calling "re-purpose me!"  It was $5.00, and 20% off that.. so I don't feel bad about that, and sort of have a plan.

I left out some items in the picture, as they were already getting started on their makeovers, when I grabbed my phone to take a picture. I need to just go grab the camera!

 The beautiful large wood bowl on the bottom shelf has found a new job on my dining table...do you want to see it?  

What is great about this wood bowl, is that no work was necessary! It was lovely just as it is. And at half off, it was $2.50...can you say SWEET! 

I am also going to show some of the things I mentioned on the last post, from the weekend garage sales. The items below are combined (weekend and Monday) including the rust and wood table which I adore...can you say ASCP top for the table?!

 A box of bottle's for  $3.00, and below an old plant stand, which had been a yucky pink...$2.50..love it!

Magnetic letters $2.00, in an old tarnished dish $3.00

 A bunch of kids blocks $2.00...love the color in the old bowl I already had

 A bunch of cedar Acorns...cheap!

 Cool old zinc canning lids, $2.00 for all...love them!

And this is my fav!

I got the so very cool old bodice at the weekend garage sale for $10.00, and found the Holiday bells at a sample sale later that day..a bit early for Christmas, but I had to try it out!  

When my sis and I left the sample sale, we were almost to her house and a girl in a SUV smashed into my sis's car...and just as my sis reached for her cell phone the Kirkland Police was there, wow, how convenient for us!

OK, I just had to share that, but back to the subject at hand! I have a convertible, so it required the top be down, to get all this in the car on Monday. My husband picked up the bigger Saturday garage sale stuff in his HHR, as it was close to home. 

Since we have been experiencing record highs and sun for this time of year, its been nice to have the convertible top down anyway!

So my question is, any suggestions for the Duncan Phyfe type round table in the first picture, that is missing it's top? Or the box of bottles?

To see other fun vintage things.. go to Knick Of Time Tuesday!

It all started with this, a little cup...

Being a collector of old stuff, I have stuffed some of the small things in this old hutch that I picked up in the mid 70's.

Since we are in the Seattle area, I have accumulated a collection of Worlds Fair items, which are mainly on the top shelf.

Do you see the little white mug with pink on the bottom shelf, on the right? That was my first "find", and I was about 12 or 13. There was an old house that was abandoned in an area near the area we lived, where I found it in a root cellar under the house. 

It's a mustache cup, the bottom says Germany....It was crusted in dirt when I found it, and surprisingly no break or cracks.

So, that was the beginning...and it hasn't stopped!

I went to a great moving sale today...and will gather some pictures soon, to show the cool things I got there... I am so excited!!! Can you say rust, wood and old! The gal having it had all these future projects , and said they were just not going to happen.. truly my gain here.

So back to the beginning, do you remember your first treasure, the one that started it all?

An old work horse of a teacart...gets a facelift...

My folks were famous in their neighborhood for the garage sales they had over decades. 

They had at least 2 a year, maybe 3. In essence they were "mini" flea markets, as they were avid garage sale scavengers themselves, and would resell their finds.
They always had new stuff at each garage sale they had, and since my dad loved refinishing old furniture they had all sorts of furniture and trinkets.

This old tea cart was one of the workhorses of the many garage sales they had. It was used to display their items at all of their sales, and though it wasn't pretty, it did it's job as needed.

When my folks were no longer in need of it my mom gave it to me. She knew I would keep it, because I care for old stuff like she did.

Well, after about 10 years holding stuff in my garage, it came out of hiding.

 I wanted to keep the nostalgia of it, but refresh it's sad look. This before picture was taken after I removed the really ugly contact paper which my dad had put on the top shelf. It was so UGLY, poor thing.

So, after getting the stickiness of the contact paper off the top shelf, I got out my "Annie Sloan Old White" chalk paint, and went after it.  Two coats of paint, some clear wax, and some distressing to bring back the original feel of the tea cart, and here she is...

I still need to address the casters, not sure what I want to do with them.

 I think Mom would be quite happy with it, any opinions?

Going to the Birds...Yard Art...

OK, I am finding one of my re-create projects that also falls under re-purpose, is Yard Art.

 I love the birds, and have so many feeders, and birdbaths, etc.

I also have lots of crazy Birdhouses, which no bird has yet to call it's own..that will be addressed in a later blog.

I even have a little ETSY store, but the cost of shipping is so much, I may never sell anything, which is OK I guess.

A real easy project for those who scout the dishware section of thrift stores, is bird feeders, and birdbaths.

The little frog dish above was too cute to pass up. I had a champagne flute that had a straight stem...perfect to stick in a flower pot, and some ice glass. With some D6000 glue, and drying time, it made a very sweet small bird feeder dish. I really love  it!

 This one was fun because the green cut glass flower piece has a place for a candle (battery operated in my case) that lights up behind it at night. Again a pretty hand painted vase from a garage sale, a pretty Johnson Brothers Spring Chintz plate, and a old glass candy dish under the plate, & the glass flower candle holder...presto!

I use a dowel, for them to sit on, usually a 3/4" by 36 dowel. The dowels come in several sizes and are a few dollars at Lowes and Home Depot.

I really love this one, as the plate is from someplace far away (Turkey maybe?) and I got it on clearance at TJ MAXX, and matched it with a very cool crackly vase...love it, love it, love it!!!

This one says " I prefer buns of cinnamon to buns of steel" The little plump bird has swirls on it that kind of match the swirls on the plate. The birds love sharing lunch with this cute friend...

 

This was a beautiful plate from Ross's, on an old bottle/vase, add a cut crystal swan...love it too!

This is a large cut crystal plate, with a Mikasa cut crystal vase stand, and a blown glass swan plate...all pieces from the Village or Goodwill.

This is "Garden Girl" she is a funky wine glass that had the face painted on it (from Goodwill) , a cool old white vase (her curvy body) that sits on the dowel, and a couple cute plates, one as her collar, and the sunflower plate is her hat... I smile whenever I look at her....she feeds the birds from her sunflower hat.

This was a cool very heavy large urn type vase thing, I found at the Village (Value Village) for about $10.00 I think. The plate/dish  is a large & heavy one from Pier One. I got it for a dollar at a garage sale, but it still had a $40.00 sticker on it from the store... they are re-purposed as a birdbath.

So, can you see the possibilities? I am having a hard time staying focused with all these projects running through my brain! Oh, I love being a displaced worker!!

 

Have you run across one of these?

I noticed a garage sale sign last Sunday...near my house.

I found an old vintage washtub for $30.00, and couldn't hand the money to the older man  fast enough...I love it!

They were used to wash clothes with washboards. It is all metal, and says Thor.  The metal top lifts off, to access the double tubs, and It has spouts to release the water from each tub, when done with the water.

It would be great for ice and drinks in the summer, and I have not found any like it...  

For now it will be a table in my atrium...I love it!

To see other Vintage treasures, go to this link for Knick of Time Tuesday!

Recent garage sale was so much fun, and this is just one item

I wanted some wicker for our atrium, and have picked up some pieces along the way.
I found this white settee, and. ..well it had me seeing black!

So 5 cans of black satin spray paint later, I am pretty happy with my $20 wicker piece!

Are you Re-purposing?

I suspect if you have been hiding under a rock, you may not have noticed what is going on EVERYWHERE! Taking something old and often referred to with the lovely sophisticated term "Vintage" and making it beautiful, or just useful again.

 It is a newer term for an old fashioned idea that my father called being frugal, and not wasting. Some call it recycling, some call it being green,  some call it collecting junk, and some may even think they are possibly a hoarder in the making.

 I like the term "re-purpose", and it can be anything... from furniture, to horses shoes, old mattress springs to dishware.

It is really just getting what some may call junk (old stuff), then fixing and finding a way for it to be useful again.Aka, to re-purpose the item.

You can re-purpose just about anything. You can give it the same purpose it had when it was new, by refreshing it with color or embellishment. You can change it's purpose, and make it something it was not originally intended to be... but with a new purpose now, or it just may be a unique way to use something.

As a young girl I collected stuff, as a young woman I collected stuff, when I got older I got rid of stuff...and then wished I had it to use now for a re purpose project.

Honestly, until I found myself out of work as of June ( for the first time in decades), I also found myself with ideas and time. 

I have old tables and  chairs, some really cool vintage pieces, which I now give myself permission to re-purpose.

I am an avid thrift store scavenger, and have the blood  of "thrifting" flowing through my veins. My parents were products of the depression, and were famous for both having garage sales, and pa-rousing garage sales. They had found many treasures over the years, and had an eye for it. My father would bring home old furniture, strip it, and bring it to life again.  He became a collector, as things started to group over the years, clocks of all kinds, old furniture, figurines, etc.

So, in a nutshell that is why I am adding this to my blog ramblings. I hope to have some new visitors who are of the same heart, come join me on this journey.

When I was in my early 20's I was doing the 70's version of re-purposing, and am picking it up again now.. in my early 60's.

I have several pieces that are on the list, one  project I am about to work on, is a really cool old washstand.  I have my Annie Sloan chalk paint, and you will see it soon! 
I was going to start a new blog for this, and decided...no, this is all part of Jan's Place.. and who I am in my life journey. After all, this blog is letting me also "re-purpose" myself! 

So, I am staying here with it, and we will see what happens!!





Jan

My new "pony" Daisy....she is so cute!

Yes, it's true that there is now more horse power on the property, though not full size for sure.

Yes, it is a scooter, and ever since seeing Larry Crown, I have wanted one. 

Of course in a perfect world where money is not an issue, I would of looked at a Vespa. But alas, this is not a perfect world and I got this little 2010 150cc Flyscooter Rio for a very small price, compared to a Vespa.

My new scooter Daisy, has 121 miles on it. Ken test drove it, and said all seems well and it was just peppy enough. It came with a helmet, a trunk, a windshield and even has a cover...which in this wet state, is not a bad idea, though we will keep it garaged.

My horses could care less, the dogs just wanted to smell it to decipher more about any recent dogs that have claimed it...and my grand kids are thrilled!

I have signed up for the State Motorcycle training program, to get my license endorsed, and of course teach me to ride it as well! I figure if my sister can have a Harley, I can have a Scooter!

I think that it will be fun on back road rides, and will avoid highways, even though it can go on them.

We do have a trailer that we can use to take it to the sunny side of the state, to play as well. I think scooter'ing in Leavenworth would be fun!

My grown kids think I have lost my mind... but wait til they are my age...they may be riding scooters too!

Anyone out there have one, and how do you like it?

Your blogger friend,

Jan

The end of my era at Verizon Wireless....

It has been 30 days as of yesterday since my career at Verizon Wireless ended. I had 27 combined years, when you count the early years at a Ma Bell Communication (Pacific NW Bell) and all the mergers I rode out as little US West, became AirTouch, and after several other mergers then joined others to become Verizon Wireless. I have worked in many different departments within the company over the years, and really had no clue I would stay so long.

Honestly, I have nothing to complain about. The company closed our center which effected about 850 employees in Washington State.  Many were devastated. We were offered a severance offer, or a move option.

I am going to answer a question usually asked....no, they are not outsourcing, yes they will continue to have the call centers in the US. It has to do with space, we ran out and other centers had plenty of room for expansion. It's all about business...I understand that.

I would say a small percentage took the move option and were able to choose from Alabama, Georgia, Utah, Maryland, and some other areas as well. They would receive $10,000 for the move, and had to commit to at least 2 years.  The other option was to accept the severance package.

Yes, I took the severance, and looked at it as a blessing in disguise! So, even though I had planned on 1-2 more years before retirement... I am now officially a "displaced worker".

I know that when anyone calls a call center, they expect the person on the other end to resolve their issue. I believe the folks answering the call want to do just that. Be easy on those folks when you call. The folks on the phone are scored by your calls. If you get a survey after a call, and the person was wonderful and resolved your issue...and you felt that they did take ownership...please give them the good score they deserved.

I worked with Business and Government accounts for the last several years... I consistently got perfect 10's from my customers, and believe me, I earned them...I took care of my customers, and they knew when the call ended that I really did care about their particular issue and wanted to resolve it for them.

The job is difficult, and stressful. The industry is changing so fast, and the technology is so much more complicated then the days of early cell phones. Sometimes a resolution for an issue is not that simple, depending on the issue. Equipment problems, coverage, dropped calls, is it the phone, the network, the user (yes sometimes it is user error!)... it may require some probing and information to find the answer and hopefully resolve the issue.

Now it is not just your cell phones, basic and smartphone...but it is your tablets, your mobile broadband, it is also Machine to Machine, such as ATM's, and security systems. Its also the networks, 3G, 4G and GSM for international traveling. Its the equipment, and plans for all of these as well. Lets face it, i am getting way to old for this!!

So, back to me! It does seem really weird to not have to get up at 4:45am, fight an hour  commute  to get to work... be under stress at work and when the day ended have the home commute...which was usually over an hour. 

Now the question is...what will I do, I really don't know.

I have ideas and am trying to reach inside to remind myself of what I really did want to do when I grew up...it has been a very long time since I dreamed those dreams!

Any ideas?

Your old blogger friend,

Jan

My little Cavalier King Charles cross, Charlie

I have been away, and hope to see some old friends again as I come back to the land of Blogging.

One thing that happened to me last year, was my little black furry blessing from the Humane Society. I have always, yes always, wanted a King Charles Cavalier. Preferably a black with tri-tip coloring.

Well, when I had vowed not to add to my then reduced menagerie, I made the mistake of stopping in the local Humane Society when traffic was bumper to bumper, to wait for traffic to clear up.

I wandered by all the dogs, and felt so bad that they ended up there, but glad they have hope for now. Then after walking by his pen 2-3 times, I actually looked closer at this little black fellow, they called "Barney". Hmmm,  could that possibly be a Cavalier cross???

He was the right size, not even 16 pounds. Not very tall, and so sweet.

Well to cut my story short, he won my heart at that moment.

Now he is "Charlie," and I think he is the happiest dog I have ever had, with his tail always wagging, and  I really think he smiles!!!

Oscar has resigned himself to the fact that Charlie is here to stay...and  I think he really liked the period of time he got to be an only dog, but now Charlie is the reason Oscar gets more exercise, both in the house and in the yard.

This is Charlie with my lovely granddaughter Elise. As you can see, she is smitten with him like me!

Did you know that the black dogs and cats are the hardiest to get homes at the shelters?

They say it is because they are hard to get good pictures of.  Take a closer look at these critters when looking, they are special too!

All I know is that in person this is a shiny beautiful dog, that I feel very fortunate to call my dog!

Life is Good!

Have you seen this ? So cool!