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