Chaos theory

I blame the Super Moon. I mean really, if a normal full moon can cause your meek cubicle partner to become a werewolf and devour the citizens, then I can blame the Super Moon for chaos.

Simple things .....

I was helping my friend Sioux move some furniture from a thrift store, then she was riding with me when I delivered a custom order table.

I had giant furniture jammed into my car and Sioux had giant furniture stuffed into hers. Off we went, then uh oh. Sioux realized she's made a mistake buying both pieces.

Back we went. 

Just as workers came to unload for us, my phone rang. It was the Clinical Trial coordinator from OSHU. I had to take the call.

Me to phone: What appointment?
Sioux to worker: That goes in the other car and that goes back into the store. Don't hurt the table.
Worker: I can pull that out and probably not hurt the table.
Me to worker: TAKE THE TABLE OUT FIRST!
Me to phone: Sorry. What?
Sioux: Daena, where do you ..... oops, never mind.
Me to phone: I can't drive to Portland alone. 
Sioux to worker: NO! That one goes in the other car. THAT car! Over there!
Me to phone: Huh? Oh. No, I haven't mailed it yet.
Sioux to me: How do you want ..... oh, sorry sorry sorry
Worker: I can put the table in the passenger seat.
Sioux to worker: I'M GOING IN THE PASSENGER SEAT!
Me to phone: On the 28th. Got it. No, really, I got it.
Me, getting into car: #$!&**#@!!!
........

I was in my spray booth spray painting a huge bird cage before I had to run to treatment, not thinking about anything else. Until, uh oh.

I had been standing in red over-spray forever and now I had red gummy hair, red arms, red legs, really red feet and a nice mask shape on my face. Seriously, red enamel is the hardest to get off but
a shower and cheap shampoo took care of most of it.

I ran off to treatment with pink skin and slightly purple hair.
........

My nephew brought his new family for a visit, which was totaly fun and hilarious. However, we have limited space so there were people stacked in the livingroom sleeping. Not wanting to wake the baby I would sneak through to get outside and work. 
Tippy-toeing through the kitchen: BAM BAM BAM BAM BAM
Quiet espresso machine: GRRRRR CLANK! CLANK! CLANK! GRRRRRRR CLANK!
Whispering to dog and kittens: STOP IT! GET OVER HERE NOW! C'MON, HERE KITTY KITTY KITTY!

We had kitty-proofed the house but baby-proofing is a whole new level of challenge. I now have huge plants teetering in high places. We realized everything in our house is sharp. Or is aspiring to be sharp. 
........

I was finally called in for a much needed blood transfusion. It had been postponed and cancelled soooo many times because I have developed anti-bodies in my blood and was now unmatchable and no one wanted to be the one to approve a 'high-risk' transfusion. So, FINALLY! 8:00 a.m.and I am ready!

Except, they cancelled it. I was in the chair, port accessed and it was a no-go.

The nurse went to work, calling and badgering everyone. Floor doctor, pathologist, my doctor, triage nurses....

I sat in my chair staring at Craigslist.
Me to nurse: There's an estate sale just up the road. I could go and come back when you call me. 
Nurse: Give it 10 more minutes
Me, ten minutes later: There are actually a couple estate sales near here. Antiques, furniture, donuts. I really should go and come back when you're ready.
Nurse: It can't be long now.
Me: I'll call my doctor if you want. He knows how I get about estate sales. 
Nurse; He's on vacation
Me, one hour later: There's an estate sale here with shotguns. 
Nurse: Well, that alone won't help us.
Me: Says they have ammo too.
FOUR hours later. Someone signed off on a transfusion! Glory be! 

Don't shoot! He's my donor!
Sheesh, like I need more to go wrong.
........

We finally went to get the bed!!! Oh boy oh boy oh boy. And we left the dog at home. And the kittens.
You saw the picture, right?

Chaos, trying to unload and reload a car in 100° plus heat. We filled our hats with water and dumped them on our heads.

Then there was the incident with Sioux and the hose and Holly's husband and well, forget it.

Worth every second!!

 Be still, my heart!

The wonderful folks with the bed gave me the cutest table and a vanity that I have big plans for.

 

 Here, I see two night tables and a trunk. Do you see it?

Ahhhh, simple pleasures.
........

Revealed!

The REAL cause of chaos around here!

And the capper? This is the second time I wrote this post. Somehow I totally deleted it and couldn't get it back. So, after a couple days grumbling under my breath, I sat down this morning and rewrote it.

Go me.

Sharing with:
miss mustard seed
my uncommon slice of suburbia
shabby nest

 

This? And kittens, too?

How did I come to get this wonderful bed? And kitties too?
It was just part of a recent three-day assault against common sense. This is Day Two. Out of order, but there you go.

Leaving all common sense behind.

 

Are those the faces of chaos? You wouldn't think so, would you? Unless you know what lies behind those cute faces. Mayhem. I'll go ahead and add Panic and Pandemonium to the mix.

I signed up for it eyes wide shut.

It started out all so normal.

We were getting KITTENS! My friend Sioux came with me and we headed south.

There is such a thing as dumb logic and we proved it.

It seemed like a really terrific idea to take Jasper with us because the town we were going to was almost 2 hours away. He'd have 2 hours to eat get used to the kitties on the way home.

Oh yeah, that was some of our best thinking.

All the way home the dog kept trying to flip the carrier over. Sioux held it down which sent Jasper into a tizzy and he used that energy to tear apart my window shades and chew up everything else he could grab. Little bits of fabric and puff ball were floating around the back of the car. Nice.

We stopped to get food and to get a bone to distract Jasper and I had to laugh. Our bags of groceries, hats, purses, GPS, drinks and kitten food were piled (spilled) between us because Sioux needed all the room she could behind the seats to maneuver the carrier. I told Sioux that it looked like we’d driven to Arkansas and back. The long way.
The car was a wreck.

And the kittens? Slept through the entire drive.

Is it not gorgeous?

The super-nice people we got the kittens from had this bed frame out leaning on a wall. Sioux and I saw it at the same time but she gallantly said I could have it. Which raised the question in my mind: how do you do a tie-breaker when junking? Sudden death?

I'd have to go back for the bed.

At home with The Jasper Barrier. 

And who did Jasper see?

The Jasper Barrier didn't work. The kitties climbed over the barrier for a better look at Jasper.

Brave kitty!


Jasper and Logan sharing a meal.

 Have you ever seen a dog look more perplexed?

And then ..........
The next day, after a full day of treatment I went to the gas station and my car promptly died. Yep. Had to have a flatbed tow truck come out and take it to my mechanic. Now, I'd had to go to treatment first thing in the morning so I never had time to get the car cleaned out. My car left for the mechanic with half-eaten crackers, lots of crumbs, broken veggie chips and kitten chow strewn all over. Not to mention the scraps of fabric. And dust.

When I picked up my car there was a half-eaten cracker on the passenger seat. Ewwww. I was embarrassed.

......................

Yesterday Sioux and I went to get the bed and stopped at every garage sale we saw on the way, and some antique stores. By the time we got to our destination we were worried we wouldn't be able
to fit the bed in the car.

All loaded up and ready to go home.

Kitties and furniture. Heaven!

Sharing with:
miss mustard seed

shabby art boutique
shabby nest
nifty thrifty things
be different act normal

Second verse, same as the first

Updated update.

We're off to celebrate The Fourth of July but real quickly I wanted to show you what I did today. (Since I had a fire lit under me.) My previous post showed a book shelf that I was feeling 'stuck' on. Well, i unstuck myself.

Before and after. The after photos were taken inside since it was close to 90° outside.

The colors are more accurate here.

I went way more rustic on the redo.

The color on the right has more depth.

Ahhhhh. This is more my style. Layers of color and wax.

 

So, busy busy me!

Linked to:
miss mustard seed
french country cottage
nifty thrifty things
flamingo toes
coastal charm
shabby nest
the dedicated house
funky junk interiors
be different act normal

Hello Blogger, my old friend.......

Where the heck have I been? It's been a month! I'll tell you, after the disclaimer:

I've started a few posts and they are laying dormant in draft form, waiting for me to get a grip and finish them already. sheesh

There's a post about junking with my tall-like-Gwyneth-Paltrow (in her own mind) friend who gets all the good stuff 'cuz she's short and fast.

And a post about a road trip that well, you'll see when I finish the post.

And a post about how crazy my treatment has become and how I need to paint while in infusion or I'll never catch up.

And I've been fighting the good fight against some paint that refuses to do as I demand.

Okay, I'll show you that. Maybe you'll roll your eyes and say "Oh get over it. You can fix that!" And I'll say, "Yeah, well. It's the treatment. Who knew it would mess up my eye sight?" cripes all ready

So here's my new nemesis, a cute french-style book shelf that is now baby blue and baby pink and dirt.

 Bright pink. Blue baby blue.

Dark wax = dirt. sigh

Longggg story about the blotchy side. It's sad and you'll cry.

Let's go outside and see what natural light does.

Nothing.

Blotch blotch dirt. Seriously, the reason this happened is saaad.

 Oh look. A dirty foot.

And blue. And pink.

And dirt.

I will prevail! After I've had a nap. And if I can catch my breath.

 Painted pole in Notre Dame, Paris

Okay, so this was my inspiration and I'm thinking I'll go back and add Arles (Annie Sloan) to the mix. I'll layer Arles and Old White with Duck Egg and Antoinette and I think that should about do it.

After my nap, like I said earlier.
And if they'll let me paint in the infusion room.

Sharing with:
miss mustard seed

Primitive tables - as in 'Who the heck would buy one of those?'

I bought them. That's who. 

And, as is my lot in life, I saw all the damage when I got home. Aw, cripes, here we go again. Get out the wood putty, get out the clamps. Find the number 40 sand paper. Then I thought, let's forget all that. Let's just roll with it this one time.

So, here we have 2 chippy tables that I really want to keep (as always) and a chippy table from last summer that I did keep. There are no 'before' photos because I jumped right in and started painting and never thought about it. I've been doing that a lot lately - always in a hurry because of spending 3 days in Portland each week.

The tables and the doors are so vintage that I decided to have some fun and make the images look old as well.

The little cabinet came from a store on Hawthorne in Portland. If you are driving up Hawthorne and see a store with what looks to be all their inventory out on the sidewalk, stop and go in. It's a seriously fun, dark, cramped store that you have to dig around in or you'll miss treasures.

Remember the decluttering photo (here) that showed 5 doors that I had dragged out of the house? Four from the bedroom and one from the hall. Well, guess what? I still had these three doors in my work room. And there's another door in the dining room. Then there are the doors in ..... Bwah ha ha ha. You'll never find them all.

  The red is Primer Red from Annie Sloane.

The small frame on the left is actually the chair back I saved from the trash in southern France.

The primitive kitchen table got the last laugh. When I went to move it, it broke. Somewhere. The legs are now wonky so I'll have to get the glue and clamps after all.

I love my rabbit casserole.
It came from the same estate sale as my pretty tower. My kitchen has slowly been evolving. The walls remain a light taupe but the accessories are changing from bright colors to plain white. I didn't plan it, it just happened organically. I guess I want a soothing atmosphere - which is all part of the extreme decluttering.

It took three coats of Miss Mustard Seed Ironstone to get this chippy goodness. I left it overnight and in the morning I had beautiful cracks and chips.

Here's the chair back before,

 and after. Jury's still out on the 'after.'

On July 1st I'll be moving into a smaller booth at Collector's Market. My old booth was 10 feet and the new one is 6 feet. I feel I won't be so stressed trying to keep up on a booth if it's smaller. It will require less inventory and I think it will be more fun to style. You'll find these tables there, ready for a new home.

I'm keeping the rabbit.

Linking to:
be different act normal
Liz marie blog
its overflowing
my uncommon slice of suburbia
miss mustard seed
nifty thrifty things

Back to basics

Life has gotten soooo complicated. I've been unable to concentrate because of feeling overwhelmed. Part of it is because the clinical trial people decided I wasn't quite done. I have to go to Portland 5 more times, and get this: 4 times are just for blood draws. Yep. I have to drive for 10 hours to have a 5 minute blood draw. There's no way around it - it's a closed test so no one in Medford can do the lab work.

And get this, I had to laugh, they want me to do the 24 hour urine test on the way up there on Sunday. Bwah ha ha ha ha. No problem, I figured out what I did wrong. I'm going to Burger King this time.

So, to sooth my troubled mind, I painted a table the old fashioned way: milk paint and wax. Simple.

later

later

much later

My internet went down when I needed to straighten out a problem with my prescriptions. As well as write this post. I'm sitting in a coffee shop right now, how's that for dedication?

I used wax as a resist, letting the natural wood show.

I mixed the teal color from a CC Caldwell blue, some green and some white. (Sorry I can't remember the names, and I'm 22 miles from home so I can't go take a quick look.) I splashed the paint on leaving quite a bit of wood. I sanded that when dry and splashed on another coat. I added more white to my teal and some water and did a wash over the whole table, randomly wiping it off as I went.

 It feels like forever ago that I did an inkjet transfer. The Graphics Fairy came through again!

 Now the hard part. 

Measure, weigh and list it on etsy.

Linking to:
miss mustard seed
funky junk interiors
be different act normal
liz marie blog 
its overflowing
my uncommon slice of suburbia
nifty thrifty things
shabby art boutique

and now, the continuing saga

I was going to put on my Sorting Hat and go outside to stare blankly at furniture but then I thought I'd share more joy of cancer treatment instead. Right? You can't have too much cancer treatment. Apparently.

My dark humor is showing.

But first, I went to a huge Estate Sale on Saturday. I was lugging a table around when I ran into a friend who looked pointedly at the table and said "I read your blog this morning." We both burst out laughing until tears came because the post she was referring to was the one were I did Extreme Decluttering and pulled all my extra furniture outside. Busted. Did I get the table? No.

But I bought some really old folding chairs. heh heh heh

Now my little story about going for treatment:

Wonky foot and all, I'm going outside to stare at furniture now. Enjoy your holiday!