Doesn't everybody want one?

For several years now, I've been wanting something I have absolutely no use for.

A golf cart.

Yup, that's what I want. I have nowhere to store one. I have nowhere to drive one to, but I still want one.

Mind you, I have never driven one. I just think it would be cool to have one and drive it around. Before my parents passed, it would have been cool to have one because I could have driven it up the street to their house. I used to visit them at least once a day (often twice or more--very handy when I was missing an ingredient for a recipe), but ... now they're gone and the house belongs to someone else. (Which makes me want to cry every time I see it.)

I don't have any place to store a golf cart, either. Our garage barely fits our two cars as it is. In fact, I can't park Mr. L's car in the garage because of the way we have to maneuver them in so we can open the doors, and he can't park my car because of how close I have to get it to the wall. The original owner should have had a 2.5 car garage because ... STORAGE. My parents' garage was 2.5 and it would have been dandy to store a golf cart.

Whenever we head to our cottage, we pass a place on the road where there is always at least one used golf cart for sale. The house has a BIG garage, and I figure the guy who owns it probably buys broken golf carts and then fixes them. There was a pretty blue one last month that I coveted, but somebody else bought it.

I don't play golf, but my sister-in-law does. She gets to drive a golf cart around all the time. She thinks nothing of it.  My brother has a friend who rents a site in a campground for the summer and he has a golf car. He let's my brother use it when he camps. Lucky people!

Do you have something totally unreasonable item on your wish list and of no practical use that you'd like to own?

I Got Swans

My family has had a cottage on the “real” Lotus Bay for over forty years. So I’m pretty familiar with the area, which is one reason why I’ve chosen to write about it.

Of course, my version is filled with fictional characters, and it’s not exactly in the same part of New York State as the real one is, and the names are all changed, but a lot is still the same. The seasons, the fishing, the lotuses, and the swans.

Swans are an important part of my Lotus Bay “universe.” Kathy Grant, one of my main characters, is opening a B&B called Swans Nest. (You can read all about it in the latest book, A REEL CATCH.)

But since I’ve been writing about Lotus Bay and the swans … I started collecting swans. Okay, I did have a few swan planters beforehand, but it didn’t become a collection (and you have to have three for a collection to start) until I started writing the series.

I’ve got tall swans, and itty bitty swans. Many white ones, but in pink, green, and orange. (I know! What’s with that?) And recently I acquired a lotus and lily pad salt and pepper shaker set. I mean, how could I resist it?

I’ve also got swan coasters, swan prints on the wall, and a couple of swan decorative plates. They’re such beautiful birds—how can one NOT like (love) them?

Have you got any swans?
=========================================

Swans Nest Inn is about to open, and Kathy Grant solicits her BFF, Tori Cannon, to help spruce up her property at the marshy end of Lotus Bay, only they didn’t count on finding a body. Who was he? What’s his connection to their friend Paul Darcy? Meanwhile, two entrepreneurs with vast business ties are interested in helping Tori reopen the Lotus Lodge, and their real motives are as murky as the bay after a storm. Will Swans Nest open on time? Will the Lotus Lodge reopen at all?

Trade Paperback:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books A Million 

Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)

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Taking a dip and a drink

My mother had bird baths. So eventually, I got one too.

I admit it. I haven’t been a good bird bath owner … until this year. I read where birds have a hard time finding water all year long.

Really?

Okay, so I decided this year I would try to make a point of keeping the bird bath clean and full.

Holy cow—what had I been missing?

During the summer, I like to write in our screened-in porch. This year, I moved the bird bath from the outer yard to the area around our pool. Holy crap! Those birds are there all day long. Not only are they taking a drink (and I’ve seen sparrows, robins, crows, red-winged blackbirds, grackles, and others I don’t know of) and bathing. Holy cow, do they like to bathe!

The other day, there was a bath-a-thon. Five birds at a time were vying to clean their feathers (while others sat on the electric lines scraping their beaks clean). Suddenly there were twenty or more birds vying to take a bath. The overflow decided the pool might be a handy bath—but too many times Mr. L has had to fish out dead birds from the skimmers, so I ran out and made noise to let them know that the pool was a potential death trap. So when they all flew away, I noted the water in the bird bath was a disgusting brown. So I dumped it and started again. The first couple of birds decided the water was too cold and flew away, but an hour later, it was bird bath heaven once again.

I read where it’s really hard for birds to find water in the winter, so now it’s my job to figure out how to get water in the bird bath and not let it freeze. I know there are electric wires for horse troughs, so are there heaters for bird baths?

The birds have given me so much pleasure watching them do what we do—keep clean and drink. It’s such a small thing to help them to keep doing that.

Do you have a bird bath?
 

A Reel Catch -- just a little late

The days before a book launches are always filled with excitement and a lot of extra work, especially when you don't know if the paperback edition will be available in time, and the audio edition is taking longer than I had anticipated to get started.  So what did I forget to do on launch day?  I forgot to blog about it!  So, I'm here to remedy that little error.

The trade Paperback edition!

The reviewsare starting to come in. I was thrilled with the Fresh Fiction review (above, you can read the whole thing here), and there are at least three more reviews from bloggers, too.

Here's the description:

Swans Nest Inn is about to open, and Kathy Grant solicits her BFF, Tori Cannon, to help spruce up her property at the marshy end of Lotus Bay, only they didn’t count on finding a body. Who was he? What’s his connection to their friend Paul Darcy? Meanwhile, two entrepreneurs with vast business ties are interested in helping Tori reopen the Lotus Lodge, and their real motives are as murky as the bay after a storm. Will Swans Nest open on time? Will the Lotus Lodge reopen at all?

Trade Paperback:  Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Books A Million 

Book Depository (free shipping worldwide)

Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook | Kobo | iBooks

Coming to Audio, too!

Have you ordered your copy yet?

National Booklovers Day

Are you caught up with the series?  If not -- check out my books page.  Click here.

And, of course, POISONED PAGES is the latest installment.

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Happy Reading! 

Teacup Tuesday on Lotus Bay

Happy Teacup Tuesday. Of course, my mind is focused on Friday and the launch of A REEL CATCH. While the title makes you think of fishing, a large part of the book is focused on Kathy opening her B&B, Swans Nest. She serves her first "official" tea-lunch during the course of the book, and I had a lot of fun planning that party--the menu, the dishes, how she folded the linen napkins....Yeah, I know. Anal to the max--but it set the scene for an important discussion between three of the main characters.

Can you guess what Kathy served?

From my garden

One of the hydrangeas in my yard. Most of them (other bushes) are pale purple. This is the best bloom on the bush. I'm trying to decide if I should pick and dry it so I can enjoy it for a few years.

What do you think?

Is life just a bowl of cherries?

It's the last of the sweet cherries season here in Western NY, and yesterday Mr. L stopped at a farm stand to get his yearly fix. I love this little vintage bowl that I got last week at a yard sale, and was the perfect size for the cherries. 

I must admit, I'm not a fruit lover, and that may be because it's so hard to find fruit that's actually ripe. I like bananas, can eat apples and grapes, but that's about it. I love vegetables, though. 

What's your favorite fruit?

Is this some kind of message?

Last week, I stopped at a couple of garage sales on the way to the grocery store. At one, I saw a brass bracelet that made my heart stop because it looked so much like one my Dad had made for me when I was in college. Mine is in silver, the one I got today is in brass.

Dad often worked in brass, silver, and stainless steel. When I asked the woman where she got it, she said a cousin had given it to her. (I should have asked her who her cousin was.)

 Dad probably didn't make the brass one. He never sold his jewelry, just making it for family. And he went to several jewelry-making classes at the Memorial Art Gallery here in Rochester, so this could have been made by a fellow classmate.

 Still, the lady said to me, "Maybe this is a sign from your Dad. Maybe he's saying hello."

That night, in the middle of the night, there was a BIG crash in my office.  A plastic shoe box filled with office supplies that had been in my closet was spilled on the floor. It hadn't been teetering, so ... how did it end up on the floor?

Since then, it's been quiet. But ... was my Dad trying to get my attention?

 What do you think?

Camping 101

As I mentioned a few months back, I'm fascinated by RVing. Fellow author Sue Ann Jaffarian has become a full-time RVer. She's still got a day job, but she's currently living in her class B RV and will hit the road when she retires at the end of the year. I love to read her posts and hope she becomes a vlogger.

I'm not great behind the wheel. What I mean by that is, I can drive for about an hour and then I want to fall asleep. That would not be good, so I will have to live vicariously by watching Youtube videos.

But -- someone in my family is more adventurous than me.

A few weeks back, my brother said his wife was bugging him to get a pop-up camper. She thought it would be fun for their granddaughter and give them something to do as a family. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised when two weeks later he announced, "We bought a pop-up."

They'd looked at several used campers, and then they found this. I found it almost impossible to believe this pop-up is over ten years old. It's pristine, and they got it for a very good price.

View looking forward.

It was a lot roomier than I thought it would be. I believe one of the "beds" is a king while the other is a queen, and the table breaks down so it could be a bed as well. It's got a little 2-burner propane stove, and outdoor shower, and was spotless.

I had been in a pop-up when I was a kid, when they were still made of real canvas, and it smelled musty, which is why I could never see myself wanting one. But this pop-up not only didn't have an odor, but it was a hot day and it was actually very pleasant inside.

View toward the back.

So far they've only gone camping one time because kids today are scheduled up the wazoo. (Soccer -- and like why? It's not like this country is a fan of "real football" (as my Dad would say). Our team couldn't even qualify for the World Cup.) So they are going in two weeks--if not sooner.

I kind of envy them, but then I remember there's no bathroom. (Although they do have a "marine toilet." My brother had one on his boat so he knows all about it. Still....)

Now I would want to do some decorating. Nice laminate on the floor. Maybe paint the cabinets, etc. but they are fine with it as is. (As my brother pointed out, they were outside most of the time anyway socializing with their friends.) 

Anyway, I wish them lots of great adventures in their little pop-up.

Are you camper type of person?

A message from beyond?

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

Yesterday, I stopped at a couple of garage sales on the way to the grocery store. At one, I saw a brass bracelet that made my heart stop because it looked so much like one my Dad had made for me when I was in college. Mine is in silver, the one I got today is in brass.

Dad often worked in brass, silver, and stainless steel. When I asked the woman where she got it, she said a cousin had given it to her. (I should have asked her who her cousin was.)

 Dad probably didn't make the brass one. He never sold his jewelry, just making it for family. And he went to several jewelry-making classes at the Memorial Art Gallery here in Rochester, so this could have been made by a fellow classmate.

 Still, the lady said to me, "Maybe this is a sign from your Dad. Maybe he's saying hello."

 What do you think?

Poisoned Pages is Now Available!

Like a box of a dozen doughnuts, the 12th Booktown Mystery is now available!

Tricia Miles, mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth, throws a housewarming cocktail party in her new apartment and has cooked all the food by herself--quite a feat for someone who previously couldn't boil water. Then one of her guests is poisoned and dies. Tricia's left to wonder if her cooking is to blame or if there's something much more sinister at play. Either way, Tricia's once again in hot water with her ex-lover, Chief Baker.

Meanwhile the charming town of Stoneham is being disrupted by a vandalism crime wave. It's the hot topic in the race for Chamber of Commerce president which sees Tricia pitted against two bitter rivals. With all that's going on can she find the killer before she's the next item on the menu?

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Happy Father's Day!

Chalking it up

I watch a lot of Youtube videos on a variety of subjects. I like to watch DIY ones, especially about furniture refinishing. These days, a lot of DIYers are using chalk paint. Hmm. That sounded interesting. No sanding!  YAY! But man, have you seen the price for a quart? It can be as expensive as $30+!!!

What do to? I went to Etsy and found you could get sample pots of paint. I got five of them for $20. Of course, I got charged $7 for shipping, but they arrived in less than a week and I wasn't sure what to do with them. The site didn't show you the colors, just listed the names, so I chose what I thought would be "cool" colors. The ivory and sage green work best for me.

So far I've done three projects.  Yeah, no sanding. But what they don't tell you is that you need to do at least three coats of paint for everything. And then they have to be sealed with either wax or some of polyurethane product. Hmmm. For the first one, I decided to distress the little picture frame. It's plastic and looked way too shiny.

(FYI: This little framed piece of lace in the frame is about 5 inches across -- and it hangs on the nail that supports my calendar.)

Here's the second project.

Again, the frame was resin, and I just didn't like how shiny they were. I decided not to distress these.

I did one more project but it got scratched (I should have put more than one coat of the varnish on) so I have to start over on that one.  (It's the lid to a large glass (square) jar. I painted it sage green to make it look older and it worked. But like I said, now I have to start over.)

So, what do I think of chalk paint? It's a pain in the butt to use. It's time consuming, it has to be sealed or it scraches right off. Right after I bought the paint, I saw a blog post from a woman who is gutting and revamping her house (by herself!!!) and she wrote a long treatise on why she doesn't like/use chalk paint. I could have saved myself a lot of time if I'd found that blog post first.  But now I have all that paint and I feel obligated to use it up.  Oh, and by the way, a little goes a L-O-N-G way.

I've got a gold mirror (also plastic) that I thought I would like, but never did. I'm going to paint it ivory and distress it and I'll bet I still have a lot of paint left. How eager am I to start that project? Not so much. But it will be done later this summer.

Last weekend I bought a little shelf. It was in pretty rough shape, but I scrubbed it clean, bought a can of spray paint, and now it's very cute and will house some of my cookbooks.

Wow.  Spray paint is a lot easier to use. The paint hardens and is good for years and years. (Oops -- sorry. this is actualy the before picture. I forgot to take the after.)

So, what's your latest DIY project? Did it come out the way you thought it would?

NOW AVAILABLE!!!

I know a lot of you have been waiting for Booktown #11 to come out in paperback. Well, today is the day!  Not only that, but the publisher has dropped the price of the ebook! You can't go wrong!

Here's the description:

Tricia Miles, mystery bookstore owner and amateur sleuth, is in for a surprise when her ne’er-do-well father, John, comes to town—and promptly becomes a prime suspect in the murder of a woman with her own scandalous past. Even Tricia’s faith in the old man is shaken when the Stoneham police break the news that her father is a known con man who has done jail time. From merlot to murder, Tricia is determined to clear the family name before another body shows up and ruins Stoneham’s first—and highly anticipated—wine and jazz festival.

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ENJOY!

Three months later

Grief can hit you when you least expect it. Yesterday, I opened the first can of tuna we've had since we lost Fred. Fred LOVED tuna water. He knew that if you cut up onions, that tuna water MIGHT happen. So if he smelled onions, he'd be dancing around my feet in anticipation. It would break my heart when I was cutting them for some other purpose.

So yesterday, I cut onions. No boy. Today I opened a can of tun and drained the water down the sink. Man, that was hard.

It's been almost three months since I lost my tiny son and it hasn't gotten much easier. We will have new cats sometime this summer, but they won't be Fred or Chester and that's really hard to wrap my head around.

New from my pal Ellery Adams

Ellery Adams's long-awaited 7th Supper Club Mystery, PASTA MORTEM is now available!

Librarian James Henry and his supper club sleuths will take a trip down memory lane searching for clues that will help catch a killer . . .

Get your copy now!

Kindle US | Kindle Worldwide | Nook

Kobo | iBooks

It's a bumber crop!

This year I've got a bumper crop of rhubarb. Of course, the thing I love to make most is rhubarb chutney, but I made so much of it two years ago, that I haven't even started last year's jars.  And -- holy cow, did I mention that bumper crop???

Luckily, Mr. L loves rhubarb ANYTHING. In years past, I've made him rhubarb crisp and strawberry-rhubarb pies. My folks used to like stewed rhubarb with Bird's custard.

I'm going for rhubarb bread and here's the recipe I'm using.

Rhubarb Bread
Ingredients
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1½ cups brown sugar
1 egg
2½ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk (liquid or made from powder)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1½ cup chopped rhubarb (small but not fine)
¾ cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC, Gas Mark 4). Mix the oil, brown sugar, and egg together in mixing bowl. Alternate with flour, salt and soda. Add buttermilk, vanilla, rhubarb and walnuts. Bake in a well-greased tube pan for 34-55 minutes. Test with a toothpick to see if done. This recipe tastes better the day after baking. Refrigerate any leftovers. Keeps well in the freezer for several weeks.

Yield: 12-16 slices

What's your favorite rhubarb recipe?

Are you ready for A REEL CATCH?

The 2nd Lotus Bay, full-length novel, A REEL CATCH, is now available for pre-order in ebook. The paperback and audio links will come later (not so easy for a small press to get a pre-order for those editions).

Really happy with this book and hope you guys will love it, too. Why make you wait? Because I have books coming out in June and July (and possibly two short stories coming out this summer) and don't want to inundate you.

Here's the description:
Swans Nest Inn is about to open, and Kathy Grant solicits her BFF, Tori Cannon, to help spruce up her property at the marshy end of Lotus Bay, only they didn’t count on finding a body. Who was he? What’s his connection to their friend Paul Darcy? Meanwhile, two entrepreneurs with vast business ties are interested in helping Tori reopen the Lotus Lodge, and their real motives are as murky as the bay after a storm. Will Swans Nest open on time? Will the Lotus Lodge reopen at all?

Kindle US  |  Kindle Worldwide  |  Nook  |  iBooks  |  Kobo  | My Website

The season for birdwatching

Wow -- this has been the spring for birds!

Over the weekend, Mr. L and I saw several birds we'd never seen in NY. I saw my very first blue bird, which is the STATE bird of New York. We were in the car and I saw a blur of blue and orange out my (passenger side) window and there it was -- flying alongside us.

Then there were these wee birdies pecking around around the deck looking for something to eat; the hummingbirds, of course, and then an oriol. Not being a birder, I always thought a red-winged blackbird was an oriole. (Oh, the wonders of Google!)

This morning, there I was drinking my tea and I looked out the dining room window and said, "Holy crap--is that a hawk?" I tiptoed to the window to see what could only be (and was) a wee owl! You better believe I ran and got my camera.


I tried taking its picture through the livingroom window, but there are screens. So I went outside, got my shoes hopelessly wet, crept around to the deck, and took a couple of shots. I didn't dare try to get close, so this is an extreme crop of my picture. Isn't he handsome? It's only the second time I've seen an owl--the first time was more than 30 years ago at our cottage. It was like a flying log.

Have you ever had an owl in your yard?

Cheaper than a cup of coffee -- and much better!

Why pay a buck for a cup of Mickey D's coffee when you can buy a laugh-out-loud funny cozy mystery?  I was only too happy to blurb her book, DEAD AIR, and you can get it for 99 cents until midnight tonight!  You won't be sorry.

"Frasier Meets Murder She Wrote"—that's how readers have described the Talk Radio Mysteries. It's all about a NY psychologist who moves to sunny Florida to become a radio talk show host. Start with the first release, DEAD AIR and you'll be hooked on Dr. Maggie.

Licensed psychologist Dr. Maggie Walsh, hosts On the Couchwith Maggie Walsh on radio station WYME. When charismatic, dishonest New Age prophet Sanjay Gingii appears on the show and then dies in a suspicious manner, Maggie's roommate is named the prime suspect, but Maggie soon learns that plenty of other people had means and motives to do Gingii in.

Kindle  |  Nook  |  Kobo

 TELL YOUR FRIENDS!

Lost in Grief

It's been seven weeks since I lost my cat, Fred. To me, he wasn't just a cat. He was my tiny son. My little Prince. Additionally, it's been five weeks since we lost Chester, Mr. L's feline son.

The truth is ... we were prepared to lose Chester. He was almost 20 years old. He had multiple health problems. Mr. L and I had learned to give him subcutaneous fluids back in July 2016 because he was suffering from kidney failure. He had other health problems that had us giving him pills five days a week, and cream in his ears almost every day for several months. But until a week before he had to make the terrible decision to euthanize him, Fred was okay. Yes, he had lost weight, but he didn't give us any real sign that he was in distress. He had apparently suffered in silence with the cancer that was rapidly growing within him.

We thought we were prepared to lose Chester. But to lose Fred was absolutely devastating. And then...12 days later, we lost Chester, and he did not have an easy time. We waited a day too long to take him to his last visit to the vet. On the morning of his last day, Chester had a violent seizure. Ive seen people have seizures but nothing like what our poor sweet boy endured. That was at 7:50 am. I called our vet at 8 when they opened, and they said to bring him in at 10:30. I wasn't sure he'd make it and I worried about him suffering. Five minutes later, they called to say, "Bring him in now," which we did.

Some might cynically say the vet only wanted to make the $50 charge to euthanize him, but I don't think so. We didn't want our boy to suffer .. and he certainly did.

Truly, we have been lost without our boys. And our quest to find new cats has not been easy. Honestly, no cats could ever "replace" our boys. We loved Fred for just over 13 of his 15 years, and Chester was two weeks short of his 20th birthday. But ... April isn't quite "kitten season," and the truth is, Mr. L and I want older kittens, not tiny babies.  Maybe we're just a little too old for that right now.

"You should adopt older cats!!!" we've been told sternly.

Okay, but we just LOST two older cats. We are not prepared to get attached to and then lose an older cat or two too soon. I feel terrible, but between losing my parents and three cats (we lost our beloved kitten, Betsy (aged 20) two years ago), I've had too many losses these past few years. I don't think my broken heart can take much more.

So, we're without cats making tracks on our freshly vacuumed carpet. We're without food and water bowls in our kitchen. We aren't maintaining multiple litter boxes and doling out treats ... not that we haven't scoured websites and Facebook pages looking for our next much-anticipated kittens. It seems our timing is just OFF.

We will have cats in our lives again.

It can't come soon enough.

Help me make some BUZZ!

If you've wanted to read A JUST CLAUSE and have been waiting for the paperback, the wait will come to an end in 40 days. You can help me build some buzz by going to Goodreads and clicking the green WANT TO READ button.

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/32791157-a-just-clause

 Thanks!

It's Friday the 13th -- are you nervous?

Like the subject line says ... It's Friday the 13th. Are you nervous about it?  Are you a superstitious person?

I'm not. And the reason?  Black cats are supposed to be unlucky. I've had black cats for most of my life. My first came with a very silly name. I was six and I didn't know you were "allowed" to change the name of a cat. Poor cat was saddled with that name for twelve years. Since then, I've learned that as long as you feed a cat and call it by its new name, it will learn very quickly, "Hey, I'm not stupid name anymore, now I'm called Most Excellent Name!"

Well, here we are on Friday the 13th 2018 (first of two this year.  the other is in July) and I have no black cat. In fact, I don't have two black cats.  We lost both our boys last month (within 12 days of each other) and have been in mourning ever since. We know there is another black cat somewhere in our future, we just don't know when.

Walk under a ladder?  Well, I wouldn't do that just because it's unsafe.

Breaking a mirror?  That upsets me, because it can be terribly unsafe and I don't like getting cut, but I'm not worried about seven years of bad luck.

Opening an umbrella inside? Fahgettaboutit. Why worry?  In fact, it didn't faze me at all when I bought some "studio lights."  Love them!  Haven't used them much, but I have no problem opening the umbrellas that diffuse light.

Spilling salt? And then canceling out the bad luck by throwing it over your shoulder? No. First, I've already spilled the salt ... probably on the counter.  I'm not throwing it over my shoulder so that I have to clean off the counter AND sweep the floor.  Not gonna happen.

There is one thing that I am wary of ... and only because my mother would have a cow if anyone put shoes on a table. But in retrospect, for me it's more a matter of germs. Eeeek! I know where those shoes have been! Imagine the bacteria they've trudged through!!!

Is there something you're superstitious about?

Who knew? I've been Trendy for Years!

Okay, I lied in the subject line. I've never been trendy ... until now, I guess. Why?  

I've been going to yard, garage, estate and rummage sales for years. I always assumed it was because I was cheap. Now it turns out I'm "thrifting."

I admit it. Before I had a booth in an antiques arcade, I rarely went to such sales, but when you need stock and have a weekly rent to pay, you visit these sales and thrift shops. Since then, I begrudge paying retail. And since I'm into recycling, etc., I like the idea that things aren't ending up in landfills when they can be used and/or repurposed.

It was only a week or so ago when I was looking at decluttering videos on YouTube that I learned about thrifting.  I've subscribed to a few of those channels.  My favorite is Thrift Diving (by Serena Appiah -- she's funny, knowledgeable, and knows how to use power tools!).

Another one I like (because of her Thursday Thrift Store Hauls) is Robin Johnson's Happy At Home channel.  She likes white rooms, which aren't my favorite, but she has lots of great tips for repurposing items.

I like shabby chic, but not too chippy when it comes to paint.  For one, they might have lead paint, and for another ... some things look like there was a reason they were discarded in the first place.

I'm a sucker for teacups, china (particularly square plates and brown transferware), and doilies, but lots of other things tickle my fancy.

Yard sale season starts in a couple of weeks. I've signed up to get a weekly email announcement that tells me where all the sales are within a five mile radius of my house. Can't wait until tomorrow to see if it comes.

Do you go thrifting?