What I'm reading Wednesday...

Room for Hope by Kim Vogel Sawyer

My mother-in-law was reading this one when we visited last week.  It sounded like I might like it, so I ordered a used copy when I got home.  

In the 1930s a woman works hard to handle the family mercantile business and raise twins while her equally hard working and respected husband spends every other month traveling to enlarge their sales area.  Still, she was happy in her marriage and with her life until one day a stranger appears at her door with three small children whose parents died tragically.  On the father's deathbed he asks the doctor to deliver the children to their aunt...only she's not their aunt...and she learns that the children's parents were her husband and his other wife.  Having been raised in an orphanage, she can't bring herself to turn her back on the children no matter that their presence makes life and work harder than it has ever been, and is a constant reminder of her husband's deception.

I was really glad I had it in my purse last night when I attended an auction.  After previewing the sale contents online and in person, I had only one target:

Not my normal style choice, but for some reason it spoke to me...probably because I think it will look fabulous during the holidays with my leg lamp.  And just look at that fluffy, old-fashioned seat cushion.

It took forever for them to bring it up for bid, but that just meant I got lots of reading time, and by the time it came up most of the bidders had gone home so I could afford it.  :)  Of course, that means I spent all day at work today wishing for a nap!

Girls night out...

Girls' night out around here quite often starts with an early dinner at The Cheesecake Factory...Sheila's Chicken and Avocado Salad for me.

Then on to the auction.  I had my eye on these shutters, which had more of a beautiful blue tint than they appear in the photo, and were about 2 feet wide and about 5 feet tall.  I thought 3 of them side by side might make a cool headboard.  Sadly they were selling them in a lot of 10, and I just didn't want to deal with loading 10, not to mention figuring out what to do with the extras.

I also thought this rug would look good with the blue-shutter headboard.  But it was an inch longer than my bedroom is...and since I decided against the shutters, the point was moot.

I really, really loved this typewriter, and I TOTALLY would have bid on it...  

...but it was all Greek to me.

Since there was nothing I couldn't talk myself out of, I decided to scoot back to my little blue dot before the bad weather coming in from the west hammered us.  They were talking about another possibility for large hail.

Buyer's remorse...

What got into me?  It's not awful.  It's missing a knob, but that is fairly easy to remedy.  Harder to remedy is the size.  It's too big.  I was hoping to use it bedside, but it's out of proportion to the three-drawer chest we use on Carey's side.  Not keeping measurements handy is a rookie mistake.

On the positive side, the drawers slide smoothly, and they don't have that stale smell inside that auction furniture quite often does.

I'll try it...and probably move it around a few times...maybe pull my hair out.  If all else fails, I may pop off the carved trim and paint the darn thing.  

I wish I could at least say it was dirt cheap.

I keeps me promises...

Sheila's Cashew Chicken Salad from the Cheesecake Factory

See.  I told you I'd have a salad today.  Girls' dinner-and-auction night out.  

I bought something at the auction too.  I left it in the car, rather than try to wrangle it into the house in the the dark.  I hope I don't regret the purchase in the light of day.  :)  It wasn't extremely frugal, but it is something I have been needing and looking for since early last year.  I'll post a photo soon.

Going, going, gone...

 I hadn't attended an auction in quite some time, so I talked my friend, Pam, into going with me tonight.  There were some really nice pieces, but none that called out to come home with me.  

This fire surround was really lovely.  The photo doesn't do it justice.  It went for less than $300...I guess no one had a fireplace large enough to fit it.

I continue to be enamored of enamel ware.  I might have bid on this, but it didn't come up before I left.

This scale is one thing that I was hoping to bid on for the kitchen.  However, it went very early and for somewhere in the neighborhood of $270!  Definitely not within my budget at the moment...cough...cough.

We did get in some interesting people watching.  The average of skin surface area covered by tattoos was very high, as was the average age of attendees.  Pam said that she had never seen that many old people covered with LARGE tattoos in one place in her life.  LOL

So we spent an evening of free entertainment.  I came home empty handed.  Hubby was happy.  

Bidding and bidding adieu...

My friend, Pam, is in town.  She is such a bad influence.  She drags me to the Tuesday night auction.  (wink, wink)  The room was packed.  Really crowded.  The majority of the items for sale tonight were from a shipment received from France...wine country antiques.

This chair was one of a pair that I was interested in.  They were very comfy.  I decided that my max bid would be $300 for the pair.  I didn't even bid, as they swiftly shot past that.  They finally sold for $800.  Each.    I set my max bid pretty low, because I wasn't deeply in love with them, so I am perfectly okay with them going home with someone else (unlike this heartbreak).

I really wasn't interested in anything else except for these pails.  I have a thing for enamelware.  They are larger than they seem in the photo.  The white one is about 15 inches tall (about 38 cm).  Lucky for me, they didn't come up for bid till very near the end, and the crowd had thinned dramatically, as had the bidding. 

And they're useful.  I'm picturing them filled with balls of yarn, rolls of toilet paper, rolled towels, Christmas greenery or large round ornaments, magazines, kindling, or I could always fall back on using one or both as waste baskets...but they're way too cute for that.