Cruising Craigslist, and Sitting On A Laptop

So a few months back, someone sat on my laptop.
Turns out, this isn't a great idea.

This is what happens:

This is a quite new laptop, Windows 8.1, with one of those

touch screens that ... well, that I hate.  Horrible, horrible computer.

But I did not assassinate it.  I swear, Judge, it wasn't me!

Sometimes the cracks in the screen smoosh together and you can

hardly tell there's any problem; at other times, it's a hot mess.

Are these screens replaceable?

Or should I ask Santa for a new laptop that does not have a touch screen,

or Windows 8.1 because Windows 8.1 is simply awful?

********************************

Okay.  Enough complaining.

Time for some threats.

Dear Craigslist:  It's been three weeks, and I still have not found our

perfect coffee table for our Study.  What the heck?

I'm running out of patience.  Let's see this week's haul of possibilities:

Oval.  Big.  Nicely beat up, so cheap.  And salvage-able.  Maybe. 

 Almost square.  Rustic.  A bit of ironwork on the bottom,  Sturdy.  Another maybe,

Oh.  Oh.  OH.

What have we HERE?

Look at this cute cottage-y coffee table!

We can forgive it for not being square, it's big, 

it's got chubby little legs and scallops.

Can you see it here, in this room, below, painted a nice

new color (what color?) that will bring out its

cottage-y, scallop-y adorableness?

I didn't really expect to find this particular table.

I thought I wanted a more sophisticated one, maybe with some

brass or glass or something shiny, or possibly iron, or an industrial style

. . . not one that looks lifted out of a Mary Engelbreit illustration.

But I kinda love it.

Wish me luck; I hope it's still for sale.

*********************************

Last weekend, I spent a wonderful few days

with my two daughters in Washington DC.

Anne lives there now; Alida came East from Los Angeles

for our "ladies' weekend."  Such fun!  And so rare.

Anne and Alida, selfie-ing front of the Capitol.

Mostly we talked, and ate, and talked, and shopped, and ate ...

but we did a little of the tourist stuff on Saturday.

Including some of the highlights, like the FDR memorial.

Here's what my darling daughters took a picture of:

"Look, Ma!  You have that table!"

Oh my.

What have I done to my children, that they notice the furniture?

I am so proud.  :-)

Meanwhile, it is Halloween, and so far,

at That Old House, not one little beggar

has knocked on the door.

Where are the children?

Don't they hear the silent song of our little ghosties?

Happy Halloween, my friends!  -- Cass

Link Parties

Miss Mustard Seed has Furniture Feature Friday -- Click here!

At My Romantic Home, it's Show And Tell Friday.  Click here!

Feathered Nest Friday makes its home at French Country Cottage.  Click here!

The Charm of Home features Home Sweet Home on Fridays.  Click here!

Dear Autumn, I Hate Your Guts, And It's My Blogiversary!

Wow.  
I almost can't remember how to write a blog post.  I began this blog on October 1, 2008, and 840+ posts later, I have sputtered to a very slow crawl.

For that very first little attempt at blogging, click here.

Me and That Old House took separate Summer vacations.  All I've written since June are some goofy Facebook posts, and most of those were written by my dog Dylan DiPoochy.

Yes, he is that talented.

While I was being a happy summertime layabout,

poor ol' Summer was KO'd by . . .

 

It sneaks up on me every year.

I never see it coming.

Even displays like this one fly right by me;

I don't even see them.

 What is this called, again?  Oh yeah.  
Denial.

It ain't just a river in Egypt, is it? 

A picture from October 2013, our side yard.  And its leaves.  Lots and lots of leaves, and more to fall.

I am very, very grateful that I do not have to rake all those leaves.  Bless the landscape guys.

I do hate to see Summer fold its tent and take a hike.
And leave all those leaves on the ground.
(Haha ... see what I did?)

Yes, there are compensations.

Fall's colors are crazy-pants -- wild and brilliant. 

Seasonal veggies look like aliens, wacky and warty.

Mother Nature's last crazy fling before winter.

And Fall decorating is stupid easy.  You can't go wrong.

Put a mum or a pumpkin pretty much anywhere,
and POOF! instant Autumn bling.

Fall is both an end -- of warm weather, bountiful crops

and flowers, a life outdoors -- and a beginning.

It's the start of the holiday season, with Hallowe'en kicking off

the parade that won't end until it is 2015.  Yikes.

It was a long and beautiful summer. 

Look . . . Can you spot our Dylan DiPoochy in this picture?  :-)

There have been a few changes here at That Old House.  

Those can wait for another post.

Meanwhile, I wish That Old House a Happy Blog Anniversary.

Six years.  That's a lot of chit-chat under the bridge, isn't it?

-- Cass

Whoa! Creepy Guest on Fake Halloween!!!

BOO!
Last Wednesday was Calendar Halloween,
but because of Superstorm Sandy, our mayor
moved the holiday to Saturday, and then our
governor moved it to today, Monday.

So we have been prepared for

Trick or Treaters for 5 days.

Halloween decorations are still up.

The 3 Musketeers Bars are snuggled in their basket, waiting.

Howard and I have been keeping each other honest.

Black paper bats are great fun at Halloween.

Back in 2010, I had them all over our fireplace wall.

In real life, bats are not as cute.  Read on.

We've had no trick or treaters yet.

Unless you count this one, which Howard

found when he went to take pictures of

another disconnected gutter on our second floor:

Yeah.  A real bat!  Hanging inside a bedroom window.

Talk about Eeeeeekkkkk!

This poor little guy had somehow squeezed himself between the screen and the storm window.  It took some finagling to free him.  Sadly, he had perished before we even found him.  We like our bats here at That Old House.  They do a bang-up job of keeping our yard pretty much mosquito-free, and they are also kind of neat when they fly out overhead on summer nights.

As long as they don't nest in our attic, they are most welcome.

No jokes now, about my being batty.

'Cause we all know . . . I am.

*************************************

Also still decorating the porch and the side yard,

our Jack-O-Lanterns.

It's hard to get good pictures of them because it is DARK

when they are lit.  Duh.

Daughter Anne's haunted house pumpkin.

Carved days ago, by last night it was showing its age and

beginning to crumple in on itself.

Carved pumpkins don't have much of a shelf life.

And what would Halloween be without a 

Shoe-O-Lantern?

My handiwork.  Oy.

Tonight we'll candle up all 4 of our carved masterpieces,

and hope that we get at least one group of trick or treaters.

Who don't have fur, wings, and hang upside down.

********************************

Sunday night was our last normal dinnertime until next weekend;

Howard doesn't get home from work until 10PM during the week.

So I set a very casual Halloween table, and served up what I realized,

after I filled the serving dishes, was just

about the whitest, most colorless, dinner possible.

Really.

Cauliflower.

Mashed potatoes.

Roast chicken bazooms.

Remember when every home in every home dec magazine was

slathered in white and beige?   Page after page of . . . no color?

This is the dinnertime equivalent of that.

At least I had bright place mats, and Halloween napkins I sewed back in the day, when I sewed dozens of napkins for all occasions and holidays.   Hey, getting your first serger is a heady experience!

If you are in New Jersey,

Happy Halloween on this November 5th!

And I hope you have power by now; so many still out!

Now I need to find a roofer and a gutter guy (do gutter guys have

names?  Gutterer?).  I know we'll be at the bottom of their priority

list, as we still have a roof even though it's compromised,

but I completely understand that.  

Tuesday, Election Day -- A Post about Dylan our new dog,

and how our beach house fared in Sandy.  And remember to vote!

-- Cass

Boo! The Ghosts of That Old House Wax Poetic

In less than one week, it will be Halloween.
I have decided to focus on that, and not the
looming Thanksgiving holiday, coming up
very fast in my rearview mirror.

In 2009, I posted a Halloween tablesetting in our Parlor,

and I'm recycling it today.  Hope you enjoy it, and the 

little bit of "poetry" penned by the Ghosts of That Old House.

So, BOO!

"Will you walk into my parlor?" said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlor that ever you may spy.
The way into my parlor is up a winding stair,
And I have many curious things to show when you are there."

The Spider and the Fly
Written by Mary Howitt (1799 to 1888)

Yes, come and see our curious things, dear precious readers all.
There's a table in our parlor, O so charming, O so small.
You can rest your weary skeletons upon our chairs so black. 
Do not fret about the ghosties sending shivers down your back.
Do not worry, all you pretties; you will not hear ghostly calls.
You will not hear howls or rattling chains in That Old House's walls.
For the ghosties here are kind ones, and we wish you only well.
Now sit down and sip our wine, for we've a story still to tell.

A shameless rip-of of The Spider and the Fly.
Written by the Ghosts of That Old House,

*********************************

Welcome to the Parlor at That Old House. Let's play pretend.

It's Halloween, and it's drawing on to dark.

The wind whips the leaves around the lawn and up onto the porch

(what ever happened to the landscaper's promise to come two days ago?).

We begin to light the lights, and hope for Trick or Treaters.

We love Trick Or Treaters.

With a bit of good Bearnaise Sauce . . . .

Come, I've set two places at a little round table
in the Parlor: one place for you, one for me.

We're just going to have a snack, nothing fancy. Maybe a glass of wine.
Blood red, of course. Here is your special glass:

The Jack O' Lanterns are troubling the gathering darkness.

A wee little ghostie watches over us. His name is Rudy, and he has lived

with our family for almost 20 years. His story is for another post.
But you must behave when Rudy is watching. . . that's all I'm saying.

In our tablesetting, some very old plated flatware.
Just the right size to use for the children
who come knocking at your door . . . . to feed them, I mean.

An Ebay find: vintage flatware -- 1919 era -- in a charming small luncheon size.

Or, possibly, child size.

Just right for a spooky little feast.

Let's see what else we played with today. . . .

Pumpkin plates from HomeGoods.  Not dishwasher safe. Boo.

Underplates -- old restaurant dishes, white with a green stripe.
They were my Mom's.

Sterling china, in Ohio.

Napkins -- goofy Halloween print, sewed 'em myself eons ago.
Wine glasses. . . where else? Dollar Tree, 2008.
Rudy the Ghost -- from a craft fair, 20 years ago.

Black iron candlestick -- church rummage sale, 50-cents.

Pumpkin applique table runner -- can't remember! Kohl's or HomeGoods.

Dried up leaves on porch and lawn -- from Mother Nature. Free.

BOO!

Happy Pea Soup Thursday, and
Happy Halloween!  -- Cass

Linky Parties!

*Join Susan at Between Naps On The Porch

for Tablescape Thursday.  Click here!

**It's Open House Party Thursday at

No Minimalist Here.  Click here!

***Join Treasure Hunt Thursday at

From My Front Porch to Yours by Clicking Here!

****Coloradolady hosts Vintage Thingies Thursday. Click here!