Hearty Soup for the Soul

This past year has been challenging, to say the least. In an economy and demographic where work is hard to find (and I'm not bilingual which is a BIG issue here), I felt that I had to terminate my job working offsite for a small printer in PEI. It was more than I could endure on a personal level and it was starting to affect my stress levels. The other party refused to acknowledge their treatment of others. And then we had to say goodbye to our sweetest dog, Mikey who we tried to save but could not. A tough decision, indeed.

I've been cleaning up my computer and came across a graphic file I put together from a 'story' I found online. It's beautiful and touches my heart. I hope it touches yours. You will have to click on it to be able to read it unless you have special super powers.

Excitement at the river's edge

It's a bit of a distance for my camera to capture good quality video but this was too exciting not to capture. There were several (at least five) juvenile eagles and three or more adults. I couldn't see past my neighbour's and since I was in my PJs, standing on the porch, I was a bit limited but I know there were more. Suddenly, something caused them to scatter... I'm not sure what. And then it was over. If you have your sound up, you can hear them (and then you can hear Colby who didn't like that I was on the porch while he was stuck inside). 


I was glad to be privy to this magnificent event, let alone getting it on video. What a treat! Today, I watched two of the juvenile eagles jostling with each other in flight. No time to get my camera, though. Burn!

Bleh!

It's been a while since I posted. I mean to keep my blog alive because I find it's a good exercise for me. It's a healthy thing to do (well.. for me, it is). 


My life is in the midst of transition. It feels like hell.. lots of turmoil and as I look forward, I see nothing but a blank wall. It's a season of change. One day I'm up and then I'm down. I have plans that excite me and then fear sets in. Some aliens came and stole some of my brain matter. They hail from the planet Hormone. I've been left in a fog but I understand it's not permanent. Yup.


All kidding aside, though.... I quit my work-from-home dream job that became a living nightmare. My prospects of future work given the demographics of where I live are not good. I live in the country. I live in a French village and the province I live in is bilingual. I have a skilled trade that I worked hard at for over 20 years and when I came to this place (that I still love) I went to 'ZERO' as far as employment goes. I'll never work at the level I once did and I'm eyeing early retirement. That just sounds so surreal.


I have no regrets quitting my job. I was torture and I'll not go on about it. Let's just say that it was a no brainer proving just cause for quitting and I was accepted to receive employment insurance. I hate it so much but grateful for it. 


Recently, our beloved dog Mikey and best friend in the world got very sick and we tried to save him but we couldn't. It's a huge loss. My hubs is devastated as they were so close. Our blind guy, Colby really misses him, too. We're trying to keep him busy with play time but the weather's been miserable so it's a challenge. We're making sure to give him lots of love and cuddles. Time will help to ease the pain. It's only been one week.

So, that's it. I know this is just a season. Better things are in store and I'm still so very thankful for so many things. I'm thankful I'm not in that abusive work relationship. It was horrible. I'm thankful that I have EI (really thankful). I'm thankful that I have my hubs and my Colby, and CeCe, my cat, too. I can tell she misses Mikey cause she's not being bad to the bone at all. I mean, she hasn't even scratched my favorite vintage red chair since Mikey 'went away'. 

Slow Death of my Bedside Clock

A few years back, I found the cutest vintage alarm clock on eBay. I was smitten but when it arrived, it looked rather dirty, the kind that cleaning won't remove. I had really wanted a rhinestone alarm clock but they sell for more than I'm willing to pay. So, I settled for something that was cute and affordable.


Hubs said he could give it a fresh coat of paint in an off-white and it turned out much better than I could have hoped for. Then I got to thinking... I could still have my vintage rhinestone clock so I set about fitting and glueing a strand of glittery rhinestones around the bezel. Perfection!

The clock that I love.

Well, all good things must come to an end. The power had been shut off several times during our mudroom reno and resetting the time more times than normal proved to be too much for my clock that I love. I had noticed for some time that the inner workings were getting tired. The 'teeth' around the ten after mark have worn down and the minute hand just stays in the same position... minute after minute after minute. I'm so sad. It was perfect beside my bed, the clock that I love. 

I looked online at some vintage clocks but my needs take huge priority over my wants right now so I just went to a 'big box' store and bought a Baby Ben wind up clock... no batteries, no electricity. I just have to remember to wind it everyday. It's a boring little thing with a smoky acrylic crystal. 

And then I got to thinking... I have this sweet vintage clear rhinestone choker with some pretty blue stones and it might spruce up my boring Baby Ben, plus I'm still using a vintage embellishment. After a bit of a struggle applying glue, which I had to do in stages, it's OK. Darn cute, really but it's not fitting with my color/decor theme and it's not the clock that I love which is now retired to my mantle, just for the sake of looking pretty. My 'new' clock with the vintage bling will grow on me, I'm sure, over time but it's not about form over function. It serves a purpose. I just want it prettied up.

Adding bling to boring.

Yard Sale!

It's high time I got this online yard sale going. I don't know what's stopping me. I have this fear of the unknown... jumping in head first and then realizing I forgot to test the waters. It's foolish of me... I can't explain it. How hard can it be to list items with clear photos and honest details on each item? I get tripped up on the shipping costs, the payment transaction (I have a seller's status eBay account AND paypal). So, what's my problem? I don't know! I wanted to blog for a year before I started one. 

So anyway, everything shown on this blog and over here is up for grabs (you will need to visit the archive pages which should be simple enough since there aren't many). I've included a "contact me" button on both blogs so if there's interest in any item, please message me, be sure to include your contact info and I'll be happy to answer any questions. 

Over the course of the next few (or several) days, I'll be listing things on eBay so once I've managed to work my way into it, and past the learning curve, then I'll happily supply my 'sellers name' or whatever it is one searches for when looking for a particular seller's items. I'm not new to eBay, really. I've been a buyer over the years. The selling part, though, is quite a different matter.


Meanwhile... here's a few more things added to my purge list.

Sweetest vintage angel candle huggers in mint condition

I recently acquired two Tom Kuhn vintage yoyos (circa 1998). Now, I don't 'yo yo' and I don't (or didn't) know much about them. I just saw these beautiful hardwood yoyos (in their original boxes) and snapped them up. I was delighted to find they are quality made and retail in the $50 range (each). I have the Sleep Machine and the Roller Woody. Perhaps they'll find their way under someone's Christmas tree this year and for a great price, too!

Hardwood (maple) and just a beautifully crafted yoyo

'Yet another pair eye-grabbing chunky 80's earrings... there more in here or my other blog. Pretty sure I double posted some pics, too. It's confusing when you mix two blogs with the same content. Oh well... my blog, my rules. 

Now, this is chunky! Clip-ons if you're wondering.

Maybe I should wear these for part of a day
and see how they feel. Do they appear to be staring at you?

Here's some tamer vintage earrings by Raynor Inc. Not too much found online about this company but the pearl earrings have genuine pearls and 14k gold filled which a step up from gold plate. The twisted 'loop' earrings have GF stamped backings but the posts read 14k gold so it's possible these are more than gold filled but I can't say for sure.

Pretty and delicate.

14k gold stamped posts. Can't say for certain if earrings
are gold or gold filled but they are lovely.

What's YOUR vintage flavour?

I'm understanding that 80's jewelry is making the rounds in the vintage arena. Really, now... the 80s were not THAT long ago. OK, not to me. Time flies so much faster after 30ish. Yeah, that must be it.

Late 80s earrings.
I think I'm upset that anything I bought new is
now considered to be a collectible item.

I must confess that even though I frequently wore costume jewelry, looking back makes me shudder at the tackiness of the 80s style. Most jewelry back in that era was oversized and chunky. Well, naturally, big hair and big shoulder pads need big jewelry!

Mid 80s necklace and earrings. Is this considered vintage?
Really?

Now, these earrings below are more along the lines that make me look twice. The thing for me is I have no occasion to wear them (they were whispering my name). I live in a tiny village and typical outings involve going to one of two very small towns to do my grocery shopping. My other activities involve treasure hunting at local thrift shops (all three of them) and yard sales or playing with the dogs in the yard. Glittery earrings don't quite work in these settings any more than dressy shoes with three inch heels. But still... they're pretty and nice to look at.

My kind of eye candy!

Too much stuff...

I'm not a hoarder. I just have lots of stuff. I love stuff... mostly old stuff - vintage stuff. And I have lots of it. I can't stop my love of finding stuff and I can't keep all my stuff because I'm running out of places to put some of it and the little stuff just gets put into a jewelery box or something and forgotten.


I'm going to get rid of some of my stuff and have me a yard sale but not in my yard. Several items of what I'm showing here is stuff that was sold as junk jewellry. How delightful to learn I acquired silver and gold sold as costume jewelly. My kind of junk. 


When it comes to the vintage stuff, many here don't know or appreciate the value of old stuff. To them, it's just old stuff. To me, and perhaps you, it's a found treasure. It carries the feel of less complicated days... carefree and innocent. It has character, patina and was made with integrity. Does that sound odd? Made with integrity. Maybe I should say it was made to last, with quality in mind instead of mass produced and cheaply done.


Lots of my stuff is on my other blog... fabfindsgentlertimes.blogspot.com but there's so much more that I haven't taken photos of yet. Too much lovely stuff. 


Here's some lovely stuff but it's not necessarily old stuff. Just great stuff.

Snake chain and pendant, stamped .925 Italy

.925 silver ring with cubic zirconia
(not sure of the stone, actually)

Beautiful silverplated Monet choker.

Choker made of silver beads and
what I believe to be potato pearls

Ladies Zodiac Automatic 60's watch in 18kt gold

Pretty vintage clutch purse and earrings.
Wouldn't these be a lovely accessory with that little black dress?

Pretty little silver (.925) necklace, most likely for a child.

Silver (stamped .925) bracelet.
This is perfect for a small wrist. 

A whopping 120 grams of silver snake chain.
Stamped .925 Italy.

There are 21 stands of silver chain in this stunning necklace.

Blue turquoise and silver earrings.