CELLARbration!!!

 Yes, that’s not a typo, I’m CELLARbrating because my basement is finally empty!!! If you have been following this blog, you will know that the move to my dream home happened very, very quickly. I had had no interest in moving to a new home, but then a friend dragged me to an Open House on a rainy, dreary Saturday in April. Three hours later I was speaking to a realtor. No one could believe it. It was the only house that I had looked at, but I knew immediately that this was the house for me, and it definitely is!!!

On June 17, the movers brought all of my furniture here, but I had not had enough time to pack up everything. My family had been in our home for seventy years.  With the help of friends, I have been making progress, and today it is absolutely, totally, unequivocally DONE!!!!!! The guys who  have taken care of my lawn for years, hauled the last of the boxes up here, and the house will go on the market in two weeks.

Speaking of celebrations. . . fans around the world are celebrating the engagement of pop princess Taylor Swift and her prince charming Travis Kelce. It seems like a perfect match.

In my previous post, I mentioned having a dearth of blooms on the overgrown hydrangeas in my side yard. Well, these in the front yard sure make up for them. ;-)

Serendipity Sunday

This morning I was looking at some of the very out of control bushes in my side yard. One bush is at least seven or eight feet tall. I’m not sure whether I will have them severely pruned or completely taken out. Near those bushes are also three very large hydrangeas only one of which has blooms, and it has only five. As I was checking to see if there were any signs of more blossoms forming, I spotted this lovely little creature and was able to grab these images.

The photos don’t capture the way the wings glistened in the sunlight.

Now, I won’t bore you with too much information about dragonflies, but did you know that dragonfly-like winged insects were among the first to evolve about 300 million years ago!!!!!!!!! There are 3,000 known species of dragonflies . Okay, one or perhaps two more bits of info. According to an article on the Smithsonian magazine site, dragonflies are able to fly in any direction and also hover. Finally, it is said that dragonflies can reach speeds of thirty-five mph. Wow!

There you have it. Keep your eyes out for these gossamer winged little beauties and have a wonderful week. 

Emma and an Amazing Thrifting Fine

 I cannot believe it has been over a month since my last post, but I know you will understand as moving is very hard!!!

I moved in on June 17, and my new home is all set with the exception of a few boxes here and there. I have been spending lots of time emptying the cellar in my old home. With the help of friends, it is now about ninety percent empty. [Buying this house happened so fast that I didn’t have time to get the cellar packed before the moving date occurred.]

 I had been able to get rid of my dad, my grandad, and my brother’s tools fairly quickly. No one who came into my house was allowed to leave without selecting at least one tool. :-) There was a lot of china and glassware; some of which was donated and quite a bit of which came here with me. As you know if you follow this blog, I have many hobbies/crafts so that was a large portion of what still needed to be packed. Also, I have many bins of decorations for every season and every reason. (This new home has a massive cellar for storage though I do plan to donate items as we approach each holiday.)  Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but I think that I will be finally be done packing by tomorrow. Then the two men who take care of my lawn will fill their truck and haul the boxes up here. 

Here’s Miss Emma after a trip to the groomer this morning. I’ve been working on this small perennial garden. In my old home, try as I would I could never attract hummingbirds;  not so here as they are constant visitors. 

While I was waiting to pick up Emma, I dropped off some final bags at Savers, but I didn’t go in. Instead I popped in to the Salvation Army store where I found this incredible find.

 

This wooden chest was filled with lovely lavender bath items: bath foam, bath salts, a ceramic pump, a ceramic soap dish, a shell shaped pumice stone, and a bath scrub. The packing holding the items in place on the shelves was impressive. So, what did I pay for this? It was marked $14.00, but when I brought it to the counter, the woman told me that because of the color of the sticker, it was half priced!!! $7.00!!! Amazing!!!

I looked the items up online and saw a similar collection in a basket from the same company, and the price was $99. Now, I didn’t buy this for the lavender items; I simply loved the wood cabinet. Next question: where would I put it? 

Can you believe how perfectly this cabinet matches my jelly cabinet? I see this new cabinet filled with crossed stitched pillows or other fun items. In case you are wondering, this jelly cabinet houses my DMC floss and a lovely collection of assorted charms, jewels, and geegaws.

My former house is going on the market, I believe, the second week in September. That will be a relief.

I’ll have time to finish arranging my quilting studio and actually have time to do some work. I cannot wait!!!