Antiquing

So as a kid I remember going to MANY antique stores with my mom. She LOVED to go look at and buy antiques! I HATED IT! I didn't want to go and I didn't like wandering around looking at "Old Stuff." Yeah I thought it was neat to see some of that "old stuff," but I NEVER grasped the concept of wanting to buy it and put it in your house. But my mom LOVED it! And I got to the point that all that stuff was the same...someone else's Old Used Crap! I never understood why the stuff was more expensive. I'd tell my mom all the time you can buy something new like that for CHEAPER!

Now I have a house and let's say...I've matured a little. I do have to say for the most part my style is modern/contemporary, but you can do some neat things with the older pieces. And I've found I "like" SOME of it. A good portion of the stuff still just isn't me, but I'm more accepting! :)

Big shock here...recently I went to an antique mall to actually look around...all by myself, no one saying to go, just me purely interested in finding some neat piece to add to my house. Well I did find 2 things I like...


I LOVE this entry bench! I think it would be so nice in my entry...well I don't have much of an entry, but I could make it work! :) I love the detailed carving and the little hinged storage under the seat. So why didn't I snatch it up? It was $895. I still don't think I get the pricing for antiques. But it is quite nice to look at...I'll keep searching.



The second thing I found was this SUPER Neat French Wire Wine Holder. They placed shells in it, but I thought it would look GREAT in my kitchen near the stove. I wanted it to hold my olive oil bottle and cooking utensils. Cost...$160...ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!!! Uh, does that include the shells, because I don't really need those?! :) Again I did not purchase this. Oh well. I did come home and look online, but all I found were single wire wine holders. I love that this one has three all hooked together with the handle coming up.

Am I being ridiculous on the pricing? I am very conservative with money, but I was willing to splurge, but not like that!!!!

I do have to share an antique piece I do now have in my house...It is this BEAUTIFUL early 1900's Singer Sewing Table. It was a piece of furniture my dad had from my great grandparents. I got it after my dad passed away.



I think it is a Beautiful piece. It is not something I would have purchased and I'm still uncertain how I'm going to decorate with it. But I do like it. My dad had it beautifully restored. I'm honored to have it!!




Look at it opened up. So incredibly NEAT! Yes it is foot pedal powered. And yes I have played with it and watched the needle go up and down! :)

Thanks for Antiquing with me!!

The Year of Firsts

Well yesterday was quite the CRAZY day! We got hit with Thunderstorms ALL DAY and into the night. I've had a few other Thunderstorms while living here, but it just seems like yesterday everything was hitting just right. Thunderstorms are always SUPER loud in this house. I think it is because of the skylight in the kitchen. I've never noticed my little dog, Zoie, being scared of Thunderstorms, but she sure didn't like yesterdays! I think she could hear things I couldn't like trees falling, and uh I don't know the Cowboys Training Facility a few blocks away collapsing?! :)

It was a little weird because we were having some HEAVY rain and then all of a sudden the electricity goes out...the rain stops and I began hearing LOTS of emergency vehicle sirens. A little while later I've got several helicopters circling over head. I have NO IDEA what is going on. The helicopters and sirens continue for at least 30-45 min. We finally get electricity back on and low and behold I find out...The Cowboys Practice Facility has collapsed in the winds we were having! Their offices and practice dome is literally just a few blocks from me. A lot of us that live over here joke about the Cowboys living in our backyard.

The Big white training dome with the Blue Star on the top can be seen from just about anywhere here in the valley. Of course I can't find pictures of what it looked like before. But it was an Icon to Valley Ranch. It's kinda weird to drive around and NOT see it standing high above everything.

I took a walk up the street to take pictures. I hate that I did that because the WHOLE metroplex is all of a sudden in our neighborhood. It's a little annoying! LOTS of Traffic and Lookey Loos! You can basically get the gist of everything from the CRAZY amount of news reports we have. I'm not sure why people are wanting to drive to see it in person. I guess it's the die hard Cowboys fans. For me it's just like WOW that big dome is gone? I see it every day!! It's weird because we were just talking about if the Cowboys were going to move their offices with the new stadium being built. And we wondered what would happen to that big dome they fought to build here in Valley Ranch. Well I guess no worries on that...mother nature took care of that one. It will be interesting in the coming months to see what winds up going through HOA for any rebuilds. It was quite a fight for the Cowboys to be able to build that in the first place.

Here are the pics of the collapsed dome...

You can go here and see footage that was taped inside while the dome went down...
http://www.wfaa.com/sharedcontent/dws/wfaa/latestnews/stories/wfaa090502_lj_cowboys.11e43627.html

Around the neighborhood there are quite a few trees and fences down. It looks like I've just got a little shingle pulled up around one of the vents. I'm Thankful that this is the only damage I've found! I need a good escape from repairs. I'll call insurance out to double check for me, but hopefully this is the only bad spot on the roof.




Yes it has been quite a weekend! In a few days I'll post some pics of a recent trip to an Antique Mall. Why oh why must the things I find and like cost so much?