L.A. WOMN by Diane Ogden

That's Mine......(sort of like my imaginary fairy)

That's ME!!! I hope that dream comes true ..........

Working, Garage Sale, Shopping....by Diane Ogden

Remember I said sometimes doing a bit of a garage sale will thwart the or any shopping bug. Well sometimes it can enhance it which it did today.... Look what I found. Oh and for any future gifts please note I LOVE FAIRIES! I also believe in them. When I was a child I played fantasy about a small man...(Lord I started way back when with the wrong idea) I always dreamed while awake about making him furniture, clothes, and how I would help him be safe. How to make him a soft bed and sheets and a bedspread.... See, I started out all wrong jeez. I could elaborate on the details of my fabricational fictional character but that will do. I will say I couldn't have been six or seven. I really got creative concerning my ideas regarding the care of this tiny human being. It was all mine and I really believed in myself and this imaginary endeavor. Back to shopping! I decided to make a stop at T.J. Max to get some linen spray and made a personal promise to myself before exiting my car...That promise was not to spend the $100.00 I usually spend at that particular store. And I didn't. I was so proud, why I only spent $78.00 and some cents. Once on a roll I couldn't stop. I have been planning on the Autumn redo of the Macy's Porch just a few feet from this computer. I try to make a pleasing appearance of my open porch as well as give my creative bug a "fix." So I came upon some Fall Foo Foo or is it Phoo Phoo, and bought it. Came home and unwrapped it all and took digitals of the "shopping feast."


Make note I did not forget my FACE.....And I need derma repair EVERYWHERE...I also purchased but did not photograph the all natural antibacterial hand sanitizer, the linen spray, and the all natural counter top cleaner..... And the beautiful very orange ceramic pumpkin! To match my lazy used scarecrow from the Gay-rage Sale! There will be more coming soon...

Notice the broken foot! I got a discount of $3 for that broken foot mind you....

He is so charming, this photo doesn't do him justice... Fairy Fred

I must have moved because she is blurry fairy.... Fairy Frieda

OK so I had some trouble making them stand up (I gave my Grands all my cutsie mini chairs... )

What a good time had by .........one......me!

Working and Passing a Garage Sale.... by Diane Ogden

The beautifully embroidered something....

This is the used resting Scarecrow....

I like this guys Happy Face!

I just had to have these little homemade dolls...

I didn't take any snapshots, oops, they are called digitals now.... of my workday. I don't want to re-look at that. On my way home I stopped at a "garage sale." I don't stop at those too often anymore because I don't need too many things. Ya right! I came out of there with $9.00 worth and $3.50 of items sitting in a chair waiting for me due to no cash left. I ran to a store a mile away, bought a water and got $10.00 cash back. Than I came home with more goodies. I got a steam floor cleaner, a Conair hair setter as mine looks like a rusty truck rolled over it and a dog at the same time. You try to pull all that icko hair off those rollers eeeww. Also I found a little bag of homemade cloth dolls I will post a picture of. And a beautifully embroidered "something." I will make a pillow out of it or frame it! The later I think. Surely I needed those items right? Sometime a little garage sale-ing wards off the big buys and satisfies the wanting desires for whatever.

Why is My Hat Backwards? by Diane Ogden

Now don't I look like I have a big head? That's because I have that hat on backwards! The front is all curled up like a big S....actually that looked silly-er, is there such a word as silly-er? Regardless....it looked worse on the right way. And when a person has lived as long as I have they say, eff-it, I am wearing this hat today because I feel like it, because I am not ready for the red hat club and western boots hurt my feet, so this was the closest I could get to rebellion of "the boring week" I was having. It was all I could come up with on short notice. I wore it to that doggie birthday party across the street. (can you believe I said that) That is the best place I could find to wear my hat backwards or even get out of the house to go!! doi And all it accomplished was making me look like I had a big head and not the confident kind of a big head either. in fact it looked like I wore my hat backwards and didn't know it. Does that mean I looked dumb.... And I thought I was so smart? nope....humm...well now that I look back, it seems that hat deal backfired on me didn't it? I went from my last blog of My French Life to ......"Does that mean I look dumb? OK I will work on this.

My French Life by Diane Ogden

I saw this marvelous book at one of my clients homes. I gently took it from it's quiet resting place leaning on another book named Bloom. Humm, maybe that was a set up secret code from beyond (for me!) I opened it and found my eyes tearing up. I thought to myself, "what? What?" In more words, what are you tearing up about? I answered myself calmly. "I never had a French Life and I felt like I was looking right into one. Such an appealing sight as I stood alone next to the old English brick fireplace it was as though I should have or could have and still wished to." The tears were from a life of struggle and survival and not in France. Not said to draw any form of pity whatsoever because I have found and created my own forms of Life in France. I have always gravitated toward French Country when decorating. I am a total romantic whether its a white French mantel or a black iron chopping table. When a creative person such as myself cannot travel to the real deal, she brings the real deal home. I have created much in my life ......sculpting, sewing, making jewelry, writing, woodworking, painting, and drawing, all while raising the five children, working two and three jobs to get them all the things necessary for a pleasant family home. Always balancing where to put any leftover finances. I wont laugh at that statement and no one except a single Mom with five children would understand.
None of this to say I wouldnt like to be walking on that rainy day wearing black tights, black dress, black trench, and black umbrella just as in the picture......
While holding this book by Vicki Archer I paused to read a paragraph that caught my eye, or was my eye sent to this perfect page, perfect paragraph just for me this day. To set this up I will tell you She and her husband purchased a small 50 acre farm unseen....Below are her thoughts as they come upon it for the first time......

"The farmhouse in view was not in line with the one in my imagination: What stood before us was derelict and in total disrepair. My excitement never faltered for a moment - these were mere hurdles to be jumped. My son, Paddy, whispered, "This is it, Mum. We've found it" My heart was hammering in my chest, tears filled my eyes, my ability to speak vanished and the momentous truth shook me like nothing before. If you believe there can be a moment in time when everything in your life changes, then for me, this moment had arrived.

I felt that way when each of my children were born.... And once when I was fifteen I spent some time on a ranch in Jacksonhole, Wyoming and in the Ski Resort town of Pinedale, Wyoming. I have never lost the desire to live there....not ever. Otherwise no moments such as this family experienced. Their experience came through the book like a spiritual awakening directly at me. Thus the tears. Of joy, sadness, loss, hope, or maybe I lived in France on that farm (Mas de Barnard, a Provencal mas, farmhouse) in a past life! Yeah, that is probably it.

The Buick Car.... by Diane Ogden

As you all might recall, Mummie Dearest gave me her beige Buick with white walls and mud flaps. And I have learned over the years to be grateful for gifts. They are free. But I wasn't quite ready for a Buick yet. Ever see a Buick on the road without a white haired little lady barely able to see over the steering wheel, or an elder man with a baseball cap or an Elliot Ness/Soprano/Italian hit man hat on!? Me either. And if you pass any local restaurant after 6:30 a.m. all the different colored Buick's are lined up out front. But again, it was free and in good condition. Too bad Mummie didn't like BMW's huh? No matter, she is running well. Haven't come up with a name for her yet. Only one that seems to fit is "Helen." I am laughing at my own joke. "Helen!" oi. That car does look like a Helen. Today I decided to get "her" washed at the "where they do it" car wash. I get anxiety if I go thru the cheap ones and I am stuck in the car with all that noise and water coming at me... ..eeeeeewww. I was walking thru the corridor to go pay when I spotted the spots. OMG! They had my name all over them..... I didn't think twice. I grabbed those floor mats and paid hard earned cash for them. If I have to drive a Buick with white walls and mud flaps, then its Leopard floor mats all the way. I might just get some leopard seat covers and throw pillows. Oh wait, the throw pillows might be going to far. Like stuffed animals in the back window. eeewww. I know, my life must be real boring to put leopard floor mats in my car! And to even consider seat covers. But I am considering it. Least there is no pole...it would only be for effect anyway...And at the least I am not wearing big red hats with feathers. Close though huh? Of maybe beyond!!

"THE" Garage Sale by Diane Ogden

This is Mother....Itook it the other day... she is 79!!

(photo not of our garage sale) I will work on getting a true pic of the funny farm garage sales.
As a family we always knew Mother wanted to have her own shop in our little town in Wisconsin. And as a family we all thwarted those efforts because we all also believed our Mother would own the town junk shop. She loved to garage sale and loved to shop and find deals at St. Vincent de Paul's. I think we should have let her have her dream.... because now we have to live with her being the town Garage Sale Queen. But I must add that she can set up a garage sale to look like a Macy's Window. No lie for sure! Dad cant get his truck in the garage for about three months out of the year, but then he

has a shed to use. My phone rings often with her inquiries as to if I have gotten her any more hangers. She hired a handy man to put up special racks for clothing...Yup Paid someone $20 an hour to fix the broken wheels on a trash can so she could re sell it, and put the clothing rack up! Does that make sense? Sure if you are 79 and need something to occupy your life with. She gave up on the computer as all they can get is dial up! I agree, dial up is nuts. And Mother is very impatient so you can only imagine how my phone rang on that deal...glad its gone. Now she is happy to just play solitaire.... She also wanted to turn the barn into an antique business....and restaurant...now that is a good idea. And I wanted to turn the old grainery into a cute bungalow! Even rent it out or have it there for family members if anyone is even in need. That went over like a lead balloon! Maybe they thought I would be the one in need. eeeww. The Grands become teens and it would be a great place for teens ...like a glorified tree house on the ground. Not sure where that came from. One of the famous garage sales is coming up Sept. 15th. Am I ready? Nope and the phone is ringing every couple days asking me where are my labels, where are the hangers, where am I? My dog loves to go to the garage sale so....off we go on Friday! What a week, Lil Bear's first dog birthday party, Mother's Macy's garage sale, blood work.... wow, I think I better go back to E-harmony. That was funnier! (But not really less work)

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