La Maison Johnson

Spring cleaning has begun! Today, Lance and I took our old dinosaur microwave to be recycled. It had been taking up space in the garage since we replaced it on Christmas Eve. Kent has a recycling event going on today - a good day for cleaning out garages and getting rid of old appliances, scrap metal, tires, batteries, etc. We didn't have much to take there (they didn't accept a lot of what we need to get rid of), but getting rid of that microwave and some of the boxes left over from moving is at least a good place to start.

After that, I coerced Lance into stopping at Big Lots. He had never been in a Big Lots store until today. I just wanted to look at their patio furniture and see what they had. We've had the same resin patio set since our first summer in Germany, and while I never liked it in the first place (I bought it because our neighbor had a pigeon coop and I didn't want the pigeons pooping on a nice patio set), it has served us well. But one of the chairs blew over during a windstorm a few months ago and shattered. So now we have a scratched up old plastic table and 3 chairs. No longer terribly useful or attractive.

So...tomorrow, when Big Lots starts its patio furniture sale, we are picking this up:
http://www.biglots.com/specials/item.aspx?cid=15&scid=49&iid=5717

It isn't exactly what I was looking for. I didn't want a glass topped table, for one thing. I wanted a tile top, and they have one, but it's very small. But $200 for a 5 piece patio set...come on! The price is irresistable. We looked at the table and it seems very sturdy and no worse in quality than some of the stuff you see at Home Depot or Lowe's. And this table can seat 6, if necessary. So we can keep 2 of those old resin chairs in case we need them and get rid of the rest.

We're getting the umbrella too.

I figure that we'd spend twice as much (at least) anywhere else. We have needed and wanted a new patio set for some time. And this will motivate us to get the backyard fixed up, because what good is having a nice, new patio set when the backyard looks like crap? And with the money we're saving, we can also replace the storm door, which is another project that is long overdue.

So yay! New patio set! And yet, it will be awhile before we can break it in. The weather isn't looking too fine and dandy anytime soon.

Also - Lance is now a Big Lots convert. I've never been a frequent Big Lots shopper, but the one here in Kent is actually kind of nice. It's clean and organized, which is more than I can say for a lot of the other Big Lots stores I've seen.

Good news for Reece - we left her out of the crate while we went out erranding this morning. We came home to a happy, excited doggie and absolutely nothing had gone wrong. Good girl, Reecie!

Bargain Hunters

In 15 minutes or so, I'm leaving to pick up Kathy.

We're going to Waxen Art to pick up our jewelry. Then we're going thrifting.

And I *never* go thrifting. I normally don't have the patience to pick through all the crap to find the few truly good pieces here and there, but Kathy is an expert thrifter, so she has promised me a good time. But truly, doing anything with her is a good time.

I think we're going to Meeker Street Emporium and Value Village.

I need shoes too, so I'll have to stop at Famous Footwear.

Here's hoping I can find some new stuff to add to my very sad wardrobe.

Delicious baklava and other delights...

OK. So this is the main reason why Kathy and I got together today. These are the pieces that I made (Kathy also worked on the green piece with me). Please keep in mind that this is my first time doing fused glass and I had no idea what I was doing. But I think they turned out way better than I had expected.




She was able to pick up 3 of her pieces (her last piece, which we both made together, was stuck to another piece in the kiln and has to be refired and smoothed out).

All we need to do is stop at a crafts store to pick up cords so that we can wear them.

While we were waiting for them to glue the hardware on to the jewelry, we stopped at Famous Footwear so I could find some shoes. So now I have a new pair of Nikes to wear for exercise and because they had a 2nd pair for 50% off, I got these.

http://www.famousfootwear.com/product.asp?product_id=1015694&variant_id=69402

Super cute! All they had left were brown plaid in my size, and I said I wanted the black, so they ordered them for me and they will be shipped here to the house for free.

We went back to Waxen Art, picked up our jewelry, and then drove into historic downtown Kent (which was only a block away) to browse around some shops.

First stop - Browser's Books. It's a used bookstore/fantasy art shop. They had a fascinating mishmash of books, but we eventually found the sections we liked (classic/contemporary fiction) and started browsing. I thought they were a bit pricey for used books, so I didn't buy anything, but I took notes on some books I might want to check out at the library at some point. Kathy found a few books that she had been looking for, so she was happy.

Most random/hilarious moment - I found this really old cookbook with an original cover price of $3 - selling for $12. YAY inflation!!

We wanted to stop at Meeker Street Emporium next, but passed American Charm on the way. American Charm is a gift shop...much like a Hallmark store. And it's going out of business because of the economy. They still have plenty of nice stuff. We didn't buy anything, but we browsed.

Then it was Meeker Street Emporium, where I found 2 sweaters and a nice American Eagle top for Lance for less than $11. All in all, a successful thrift shop trip. Kathy was excited because she found a bunch of wool sweaters for very cheap, and she uses them to make things that her son needs. It's way less expensive than buying them ready-made.

All this shopping made us hungry and it was dinnertime anyway. So I called Lance and told him that he was on his own. Kathy and I headed to Spiro's Greek Island, where we shared some baba ganoush with pita, and we got a sampler platter with souvlaki and gyro meat, greek salads, feta, tomato and cucumer slices, kalamata olives, pita and tzatziki. So much food and soooooooooo incredibly good. The waiter invited us to stay for the bellydancing that was supposed to start at 6:30. He told us we could stay as long as we wanted (miraculous for a restaurant, where I usually feel like I'm being rushed through my meal and forced out before I even order dessert). We were well pleased. We didn't stay for the bellydancing though. We packed up the leftovers, ordered some heavenly baklava, and then called it good and went home.

I had a really wonderful afternoon. Kathy and I are making other plans - taking a trip to the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival, both of our families together. We have plans to make crafts together (Kathy used to make homemade candles and wants to teach me and we also want to do soap making.) We're exchanging recipes and ideas and we're on the same page when it comes to so many things.

Anyway, I'm now trying to break in my new Nikes. I am having a difficult time finding good athletic shoes, so I hope I won't end up taking these back.