Weekly Thrift Feed: 9 October 2011

(Libra bank found in Alabama-so meant to be!)

Well, another year came and went for me on the 5th. I had a fabulous night: a Louisville friend took me to a restaurant 16 stories above the city and we watched a sunset from the terrace. Everywhere, I could see the explosion of crimson, yellow and burgundy of trees. Louisville is such a gorgeous city!

I splurged and bought myself this cross-stitch deer and fawn. I love them and it is huge (3' x 2') and framed in a great vintage frame. My photograph does not do it justice at all (I will post again once I get it up on a wall). It is signed Geo. Gahn and, I suppose, Geo. could be Georgina or Georgia, but I like to think it is actually George (note to self: Google later). It was an expensive purchase from one of those fabulous KY flea markets. Yeah, it set me back $11. :) I bought another item the same day, but I am saving it for WTF?! Tuesday.

(Temp gauge, wooden Cuban cigar box and a weird metal horse)

I found this cool Honeywell temp gauge for a buck. This was a new to me thrift store in Louisville and it is one of those really junky ones. The employees were so sweet and one of them told me a great story about how her adult son has a way with animals and sends her messages to tell her he's thinking about her via a flock of birds or some other creature. It was a fun day!

(Cute Charlotte Becker lithograph print)

(MiJ collie wall art, ceramic bird, and chemistry ring on top of a red chipped folding chair)

All of the above I snagged at a flea market. everything was less than $2 each (the bird and chemistry ring were around $1). The chairs I bought at an estate sale. I bought three for $10. I love how they look all chippy (despise that word) and old. The (cute) guy who helped me carry them to my car was saying over and over how much he loved the chairs.

Well, that's it for Flea Market Finds and Thrift Share this week. Check out the other wonderful discoveries out there this week! Thanks for all your comments last week!

Forty-One Goals

Despite the 100+ heat today in the 'ville, I am thinking about fall. The summer has...no scratch that...THE YEAR has flown. This has been my 40th year. I will be 41 in a month and some change.

It's so easy to let time slip by, giving so much to the "have to" parts of life and ignoring the parts that can make you feel good, happy (or maybe this is just me). I have been in Louisville for one year. I still travel home on the weekends. I still feel like I am caught between two lives.

The apartment I call home in one of the lives is awful. I picked it quick on a weekend trip to Louisville before starting the job. I had no idea about neighborhoods or what I wanted. I figured it was a temporary thing and I hadn't rented since my mid-twenties. The day I signed the lease, I learned I could not have pets, aquariums or nails in the wall. I thought, "Oh, well...family will be down here soon and we'll buy a place." This apartment feels like a cheap hotel.

Well, as stated, a year has come and gone and I had to recently resign another year on the lease due to a very heavy workload and not having the time to look around for something in one of the great neighborhoods I have discovered the past year. Life has taken some crazy turns and my family is still up north (problems with husband's transfer).

The job has gotten familiar now. I am still learning, but I feel comfortable. It is not exactly where I want to be, but it is a good job. I have gained about 20 pounds over the past year, not a happy outcome and I am so sad I can't get into a good percentage of my gorgeous, vintage clothes*. I started this blog (after a hiatus and retirement from an old blog), but have slightly pigeon holed it. I have thrifted. A lot.

What I think I need is a jumpstart. I need to find that woman that was gung ho on a new adventure. The one that worked out three times a week and brought her body back into "normal". The one that loved to write and try new things. The one that had a family to come home to at night.

I cover two states with my job, plus occasionally am assigned to the other two bordering ones. In order to stay focused and be overwhelmed with the work-that-never-stops, we make annual work plans. Additionally, we make weekly work plans with a forecast and accomplishments. At first, I despised these plans. They made me feel micro-managed. However, over time I have grown to like them a little.

And, I think its time I use a little Micro-managing in my own life; I need a little working plan of my own.

So, in the next couple of weeks, by my 41st birthday on Oct. 5, I am going to come up with a list of 41 yearly goals. I am going to attempt to create weekly work plans to help me reach my goals. The ultimate goal: not to be here, on the eve of my 42nd birthday, wondering where my time and energy and life has gone.

*It's not helping that I found the second season of Nip/Tuck at a thrift store a few months ago and the theme seems to be Christian and Shawn turning 40.