One Day at A Time...

Quote for the Day:

“There is nothing better than a friend, unless it is a friend with chocolate.”
 ~Linda Grayson 

I've been out of commission for the last couple of days.  A couple of weeks ago, I decided that I was having enough break-through back pain that it was time for another epidural injection.  Unfortunately, they make you go off of any NSAID (non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs) that you are on for 5 days before the injection because they can cause/prolong bleeding.

Last Saturday was my last day of my NSAID's.  Sunday was fine.  We went to an auction and I got a cute little vintage typing table on wheels to use in my sewing room.  

I paid the grand sum of $2.00 for it!   It has a couple of scratches near the front edge that you can see in the picture, but otherwise is in great condition.  I'm thinking of spray painting it bright cherry red to coordinate with this cart that I recently got from Ikea for my sewing room.

I actually went to the auction to bid on a Singer Featherweight sewing machine, but it went too high...$310.  I never even got a chance to bid, and by the time the bidding slowed enough for me to bid, it was more than I wanted to pay.  Bidding had been very slow and low on items up till then, but it was like piranhas on a piece of meat when the Featherweight came up for bid!  LOL

That was Sunday.  Monday was a totally different story.  It was my second day without my NSAID and I was in pain of 10 out of 10 from the moment I climbed out of bed.  :(  I took my non-narcotic pain pill and went to work anyway.  I got through 9 hours of my 12 hour shift before I had to leave.  The pain was too great, never going below a 5 out of 10.  (In the USA we use a pain scale of 0-10 and ask patients to rate their level of pain based on that scale.  It is more accurate than "a little pain" or "some pain" or "a lot of pain".)

Tuesday was more of the same, but since I stayed home from work I was able to medicate with a narcotic pain pill that worked better on my pain.  I was feeling horrible and out-of-sorts, when a friend came by and brought me some flowers.

That was so thoughtful of her and I appreciated it so much!  I smile every time I walk past them!  Who wouldn't smile seeing them?  :)


About the only thing I've been able to do is take my pain pills, watch TV, and work a little on this...

 ...crocheting on a baby gift I'm working on. 

My epidural injection is scheduled for tomorrow morning and I am counting down the hours.  I know that when I leave that hospital, I will be virtually pain-free, if everything works the way it has in the past....which I am counting on.  In the beginning, when I first started getting these injections a year ago, I was scared and nervous.  But now I know how much better I will feel almost immediately, and I'm looking forward to tomorrow's injection. 

Say a prayer for me that all goes well, and I'll be back with more quilting news soon...when I'm having less pain and can work on my quilting again.


Until then, I'll leave you with this picture of Ginger that I took last night...

Maybe it's time for a bigger dog bed!  LOL



Loretta

A Weekend Get-Away...

Quote for the Day:

If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion

or acquired a new one, check your pulse.  You may be dead.  

~Gelett Burgess

This past weekend Andy & I took a "mini" vacation and went away for a few days to the historic area of Shephardstown, WV.  This is a historical area associated with the Civil War and close to Antietam National Battlefield. 

Though we are not necessarily civil war "buffs", we are interested in history, and I think that's why we are so into antiques, vintage items, and old architecture. 

On Saturday we decided to take a day trip to Hagerstown, MD, about 20 miles away, to go "thrifting" so we hit the road bright and early!  On the way, we decided to take a side road to see where it led and ended up driving past Antietam.  We were going to stop on our way back by it after we turned around so that we could read the memorial plaques and look at the cannons on display, but ended up getting "lost" and never found our way back to Antietam.  

However, during our "lost" phase, we did drive past this and we just had to stop to get a closer look.  It is an old iron works that was built into the side of a hill.

Each of those archways is an "oven" where the fire was made that heated the metal so the smith could work it into whatever it was he was making.  Here is a close-up picture of one of the ovens...

This thing is HUGE!   The archway is easily 10-12 feet high!  And the "oven" area itself, there in the back, is probably 5 feet high.

There was no sign telling us the age of this structure, but it was near a railroad track that still runs through the area.  All I can say is that this was an amazing and impressive sight!

After getting "lost" on the back roads for a while, we finally made our way to Hagerstown with the help of "Jill", our GPS, and found some antique and thrift stores to visit.  After thrifting, we ate an early supper at Cafe del Sol in Hagerstown (excellent food, btw!!) before heading back to the motel in Shephardstown, WV, where we FORCED ourselves to stay awake till a normal bedtime!  LOL  We were EXHAUSTED...but in a good way...we had been out all day just enjoying the good weather, siteseeing, thrifting (our favorite sport), and even some good deals!

These are some the quilts that I found in the antique store that DIDN'T come home with me... 

 A BEAUTIFUL appliqued quilt...asking price...$1295.00!

A stunning quilt from the Civil War era...asking price...$895.00.

Green and red "Hens & Chicks" quilt...probably 1890-1910's...don't remember the asking price, but nice craftsmanship.

 

On Sunday, we decided to visit a local auction house in Martinsburg, WV, that was having an auction that day.

I love funny auctioneers...they keep the auctions from getting boring...and these guys were funny...cracking jokes and making quick remarks about the items and the bidders!

The attendance was only moderate, so Andy was able to get some good deals on some crocks to add to his inventory.  His hobby is "wheeling and dealing" in antique stoneware crocks and vintage glassware, especially "Fire-King".  He "collects" these, but not to keep...to resell.  He loves the thrill of the hunt!  :)

We had a great time and got to visit an area of West Virginia that we had never investigated before.  We definitely need to do this kind of thing more often!  :)

Loretta

A Little Bit of This...A Little Bit of That...

Quote for the day:

Weekends are a bit like rainbows; they look good from a distance

but disappear when you get up close to them.  ~John Shirley

Happy Halloween to one and all!  I hope it was a good one for you...and I hope you got TREATS and not TRICKS!  :)

This weekend has gone by AMAZINGLY FAST!  Wow!  Whoosh...and it was GONE!

Remember that auction I told you we were going to on Saturday in this post?

Well...we went and had a good time.  It was COOOOLLLLDDD, but we dressed warmly and survived without too much frostbite!  LOL

The auction was in a REALLY NICE area of Bridgeport...nice house, nice neighborhood...nice STUFF!  :D  And things went CHEAPLY for the most part.  Makes me wish I had a bigger house.  A BEAUTIFUL dining set with 6 chairs went for $90.  Yeah...tell me about it!  And there was NOTHING cheap about any of the things this couple had owned.  Everything wreaked of money!  You could have furnished a complete house with solid, well-made brand-name furniture for a couple hundred dollars at this auction! 

Anyway...I don't like to cook.  Basically, I'd rather be quilting...or doing just about ANYTHING else...other than cooking...except for maybe having a root canal...I'd rather cook than have a root canal...   But I digress... 

Back to me not liking to cook...when I do have to cook, I like to not only have the "right" tools for the job, but I also like to use pretty things.  It makes the chore more fun...and the food more presentable to be served in pretty things.  I have a variety of pretty platters and serving bowls that I have bought at yard sales and thrift stores over the years.  I usually pay about $1.00 for a pretty china platter and about 25-50 cents for a pretty china serving bowl.

Now...what does all of this have to do with the auction????

Well...I saw two boxes of Pfaltzgraff Yorktowne pattern baking dishes and serving dishes.  These boxes were chock full.

When they came up for auction they auctioned them off together as one "lot".  And guess who bought them???

ME!!!  :)

Yep...all 45 pieces of it!  

Now...anybody want to hazard a guess of how much I paid????????

$7.50...FOR EVERYTHING!!!

Now...just so you know...I am only keeping what I can use.  If it duplicates an item I already have (that is in a plain glass instead of pretty ironstone)  I will get rid of the plain item and keep the pretty ironstone piece.  For example, I will get rid of a plain pie plate I have and replace it with the one on the left of the picture there.  

I will be keeping probably 12 of the pieces that are pictured.  All the rest will be Ebayed.   I have already listed 3 lots and will be listing more over the next several days.  If anything doesn't sell, I will put it with the yardsale items.  I should more than make my money back!  ;)

These are the lots I have listed on Ebay right now:

Thanks for stopping by!  Please leave a comment to let me know what you have "released" into the wild today!

Loretta