legs

If you had to choose between thrift stores and chairs, which would you pick?  I don't know either.

So I picked up this old Eames shell chair a couple weeks ago, because it was generally in great shape.  Good color, good condition, still had the paper tag and good shock mounts, but had the worst legs (those stackable giant ones), and was missing two screws.

I ordered new legs and replacement screws from Modern Conscience, and waited.  And missed UPS, because I don't have a doorbell.  But then today, worked it out, and: new legs!

The instructions were pretty minimal (as in one diagram), but after a little trial-and-error, I worked it out.  100% better, right?

The best parts
1. lemonheads
2. the slim new profile means I can get the chair into my kitchen
3. this price tag

Anybody need the old (stacker) base (it's wide mount), and two narrow threaded screws?  Holla at me, they're yours.  I guess they get curbed next week.

thrifty jawns

Since I'm underemployed, and have several days kind-of off per week, I hit the thrift stores in my neighborhood on the regular.

Here's some things I saw this week:

First, this Pyrex casserole.  You can't buy it, because I already did.  I'm probably on the verge of being a person that makes casseroles, right?  (I haven't yet, like, ever, but I might).

This embroidered dog pillow, which really caught my eye, because this girl I blog-follow recently found and Instagrammed a similar cat pillow she found in the Netherlands.  This is still available.

This Eva painting.

A ton of these super weird Indian boy and girl hangers.  I don't know.

This set of Junior Classics, which isn't cheap.  But very beautiful.  I don't like to have lots of books I'm not actually reading, but maybe you do.  And maybe you have $50?

And, finally, an really nice aerial shot of DC/Baltimore, which is hopefully still there, so Amanda can have it.  Phew.

Anyway, all this at Philly Aids Thrift!  Lots of good stuff lately at Retrospect and Mostly Books, but I don't want to spoil your Xmas presents.

S

I think you'll all be impressed to know that I have written much of a thesis, a number of important(?) emails, and many dumb blog posts on a computer with no* "S" key.

It's rough, guys.


*I mean, I have the "S" key, it's just not attached.

tracker

Here's a post that's just about cats, so you can quit now if you're not in the club.

I was vacuuming my bathroom rug All The Time, because Blanc and the Kitten kick up a litter cloud every time.  (Also, I'm partial to that Arm&Hammer Natural Litter, which is lighter than clay and, while it works well, doesn't stay in the litter box so good).

THEN, I had my eye on this litter box, which is very beautiful (for a cat box) and is supposed really solve a litter tracking problem.

It's ONE HUNDRED AND EIGHTY DOLLARS.

So, instead I got a big Tupperware guy, and cut a hole in it. Top entry litter box. It works great!  And, was ten dollars.  Phew.

Hopefully for you, and hopefully for me, I'll never write a post about litter again.

Pilgrim problems

Mayflower closet.

uppers, solutions

Somedays I feel a need, like "hey, I better raise this bed up so I can fit suitcases under it, and I need to do it TODAY".  Stuff like that feels so urgent when you're trying to not do homework.
Regular bed risers (those plastic jawns from Target or Ikea) won't fit on this bed (and they're real ugly anyway.)  So instead I hit the Aids Thrift looking for a solution, and came away with $3 worth of hardcover books.

Three books in each corner, and my bed is tall enough to fit one billion pink suitcases ("Christmas", "Halloween", "curtains", etc.)  And lots of room for MLB and the little one to get up inside the boxspring.  Wahoo.

 

And speaking of suitcases, I have this one little guy
I absolutely can't open. Now I can't remember what's in it, but it's probably something Real Good.  Anyone got a tip on opening a vintage Tiara suitcase? No?

power-ful

A week ago, my power went out (along with all the power on my block, maybe more).  It wasn't really a big deal, but it made me think about people who had been dealing with it for more than a long minute (as in, since Hurricane Sandy, a week before, which didn't really actually hit here.)  THEN it made me think about all the people that lived here before there even was electricity, which is crazy, especially doing these crazy stairs in the dark.
It's a weird thing (thinking about people that lived in the same spaces as me, almost two hundred years ago),  that makes me feel kind of specifically East Coast American, and I like it.

Here's what my house looks like in the dark, a picture taken by my iPhone, which still works without electricity. Phew.

nightly above wizard

I've got a little sampler in this show, which opens tonight and closes Sunday.  (I don't think I'm going to go, but maybe you are).  There's some real good stuff in it (if you're "into" fibers).

old timey

My lifestyle (or maybe just regular style) has taken a pretty notable jeans-and-t-shirt turn. Not all the time, but sometimes, which is way more than usual.

Anyway, for the 10 year anniversary (I think) of 'Nona's shoplifting scandal, and the 9 year anniversary of me having this shirt the first time, I got this shirt again.  I don't know, I think it's funny, and it reminds me of 2003 me, who had bleach blonde hair, lived in Hollywood, and wore t-shirts.