Well, hello, there! So much miscellany has happened since our last roundup. Since the first part of the year was devoted to mostly renovation, I think it's appropriate we begin this installation of Miscellaneous Musings (No. 7) with just a few notables related to home improvement.
We'll start with this advertisement below. Wouldn't it be great if everybody said what they meant, including designers and contractors?
There were only a few really stressful days experienced during our projects, and one of them was the day the quartz walls were being installed in the bathroom shower.
There were five guys carrying that one wall which weighed about 500 pounds. After it was over, I said to Mr. P., "I think we need ice cream". His reply? "I think we need liquor". The man doesn't drink at all.
During our ongoing work, I was doing some pinning to a couple of boards I labeled 'Master Bath Ideas' and 'Kitchen Updates'. Now I keep getting emails with subjects such as "10 more pins for your Master Bath Ideas board" or "We think you'll like these kitchen ideas". No. Just stop it, big brother!
Another one of those "big brother" things that irks me (besides seeing pop-up ads when online for things I've recently viewed or even mentioned in an online comment anywhere on the internet)....Facebook. If I post a family photo, it wants to tag family members.....and it decides who should be whom. It doesn't matter that my daughter is not my sister, or my niece or my other daughter.....Facebook thinks it knows better than I! It's hard to UNtag who 'they' think the person should be based on their facial recognition software. Anybody else ever have that issue?
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love dishes. I have a large collection of Quimper Soleil vintage dishes, and I was considering selling them to Replacements, Ltd., based on their current offering prices. Have any of my readers had experience with that process? It seems rather complicated, or they seem to be very particular in what they'll accept, or maybe it was just this collection. Take the plates, for an example, which are octagonal. I was struggling with how to measure an octagonal plate.
Do you measure the width across or do you measure the diagonal on an octagonal plate? It makes a fractional difference, and it got very frustrating because, apparently, over the years, the French pottery company designed and manufactured these plates - even among each type of plate (dinner, luncheon, etc) - just fractions of inches varied in size. I gave up, and the dishes are still in storage.
Ahh, tablescaping....one of my favorite things to do, especially with vintage items. Well, our area recently opened a second ReStore (sustainable funding initiative for Habitat for Humanity). Different from the typical warehouse ReStore, this one has more of a boutique arrangement. The marketing displays, social media presence is fantastic, much like an antique mall or vintage resale shop. In late winter, they held a tablescaping contest! I only saw it on Facebook, after the entries were on display. The photo collage below shows 3 of the 4 entrants from local entrepreneurs.
The winner (left frame in photo above) received bragging rights, a couple tickets for dinner to a local restaurant, and social media exposure. Afterward, all the elements were available for purchase in the ReStore. What a great idea, right? Here's the ReStore Tablescape video showing more detail if you're interested.
Do you like to read? The real, honest-to-goodness, paper kind of books? We have several little, free libraries in our neighborhood. Within a 5 mile radius, I can think of at least 4 different ones. Here's a picture of the latest one established on our walk path. The top shelf is for adult selections and the bottom shelf is filled with children's books. You can read more about this great concept here and how to build, register and spread the word, in general.
Speaking of reading, I subscribe to a lot of magazines, both paper and digital. Although likely a proven marketing strategy, I loathe all the renewal notices. How many times have you gotten caught up in those, and double paid for subscriptions?? They don't seem to extend your subscription either, unless you do your own audit and complain with proof. And how about those automatic renewal notices when they have your credit card on file? Despise those! Recently, I called one up and said no, I don't want that automatic renewal. They offered me two years for $10 less than one year's automatic price. Same thing happens with services such as pest control, cable and home security. Mr. P. calls and says, "No, I'm not paying that increase. I'll just cancel the service". They almost always cave, and keep your business at the old price. Try it next time you get an increase on a "nice to have" but not "necessary" service.
We love our neighborhood, and so do a lot of other people - bicyclists, runners, walkers and even motorists. Seems there's a need to train those who don't live in the 'hood how to behave in the 'hood. In general, there are a couple common courtesies, such as practicing the safe way of walking on any road is on the side against oncoming traffic, not with traffic, for what should be an obvious reason of safety concerns. Another common courtesy if you're a walker, and you smoke or have a dog, clean up your mess. I can't tell you how many times I've run outside when I see a person letting their dog poop on our [private] property and not pick it up. I open the door, approach them, and say, "do you need a bag to pick that up?" Cigarette butts are just disgusting.
Another example of need for training others common courtesy while in another's neighborhood is with those who organize fundraising foot races. They like to paint the streets. See Exhibit A below.
That's not chalk paint either, and there were more intersections painted than there were actual racers on that particular event. What that is, by letter of the law, is graffiti. It's gotten to the point where there are now so many markings on our neighborhood streets, I've had to resort to complaints with city council. The ironic thing is these groups almost always have a cadre of volunteers on every corner, and on many of these corners, there's only one way to go. See Exhibit B, below.
Hel-lo. If you go any other way besides where the street arrows point, you'll be swimming the rest of your race. The issue's being addressed by the city with this removable product (below), but whatever happened to "treat others' things the way you'd want your own to be treated"? How do you think those people would feel if we took spray paint on their streets?
Enough complaining. I'll close this musing with a sweet story. Have you heard of Teddy Mac, the Songaminute Man? he has a channel on YouTube and a Facebook page. You can find out more about Teddy Mac on the 'About' tab on each of his page links provided.
Enjoy life...it's full of musings...good, bad and everything in between.
Or, how about this one?
Throughout our recent projects, I caught Mr. P. watching more and more of HGTV's programming. Two on his radar seem to be David Bromstad's "My Lottery Dream Home" and "Island Hunters". I'm not sure if I would be a part of either of those escapes of his or not.
There were only a few really stressful days experienced during our projects, and one of them was the day the quartz walls were being installed in the bathroom shower.
During our ongoing work, I was doing some pinning to a couple of boards I labeled 'Master Bath Ideas' and 'Kitchen Updates'. Now I keep getting emails with subjects such as "10 more pins for your Master Bath Ideas board" or "We think you'll like these kitchen ideas". No. Just stop it, big brother!
Anyone who knows me knows how much I love dishes. I have a large collection of Quimper Soleil vintage dishes, and I was considering selling them to Replacements, Ltd., based on their current offering prices. Have any of my readers had experience with that process? It seems rather complicated, or they seem to be very particular in what they'll accept, or maybe it was just this collection. Take the plates, for an example, which are octagonal. I was struggling with how to measure an octagonal plate.
Ahh, tablescaping....one of my favorite things to do, especially with vintage items. Well, our area recently opened a second ReStore (sustainable funding initiative for Habitat for Humanity). Different from the typical warehouse ReStore, this one has more of a boutique arrangement. The marketing displays, social media presence is fantastic, much like an antique mall or vintage resale shop. In late winter, they held a tablescaping contest! I only saw it on Facebook, after the entries were on display. The photo collage below shows 3 of the 4 entrants from local entrepreneurs.
Do you like to read? The real, honest-to-goodness, paper kind of books? We have several little, free libraries in our neighborhood. Within a 5 mile radius, I can think of at least 4 different ones. Here's a picture of the latest one established on our walk path. The top shelf is for adult selections and the bottom shelf is filled with children's books. You can read more about this great concept here and how to build, register and spread the word, in general.
We love our neighborhood, and so do a lot of other people - bicyclists, runners, walkers and even motorists. Seems there's a need to train those who don't live in the 'hood how to behave in the 'hood. In general, there are a couple common courtesies, such as practicing the safe way of walking on any road is on the side against oncoming traffic, not with traffic, for what should be an obvious reason of safety concerns. Another common courtesy if you're a walker, and you smoke or have a dog, clean up your mess. I can't tell you how many times I've run outside when I see a person letting their dog poop on our [private] property and not pick it up. I open the door, approach them, and say, "do you need a bag to pick that up?" Cigarette butts are just disgusting.
Another example of need for training others common courtesy while in another's neighborhood is with those who organize fundraising foot races. They like to paint the streets. See Exhibit A below.
Enjoy life...it's full of musings...good, bad and everything in between.
Rita C. at Panoply
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