Novel News and Facebookly Fun

Having had the pleasure of "chatting" with you folks for almost five years now, come September, I know you are not only a creative bunch, but you have a sense of humor. So while I know this won't be everyone's cup of tea here-- and yes, I will get to the teacups and other thrifty goodies for you good folks later in the week-- I did want to mention my humorous space fantasy novel There Goes the Galaxy will be out soon, and it now has a Facebook page you can "like" to find out more.

The Facebook page is here: http://www.facebook.com/ThereGoestheGalaxy

I'll be getting the proof of the book in my hot little hands this week, which means if everything looks good, the print version of the book will be out in the next week or two. YAY!!

The book will come in a Kindle version, too; though I'm learning that my storytelling abilities are far stronger than my technical ones. So that conversion is still in-process.

Anyway, just wanted to loop you folks in. I've wanted to write books every since I was 11 years old and had read every Nancy Drew I could get my hands on. So this represents a huge thrill for me-- almost as exciting as a thrifted lamp. :)

Wishing you all a lovely first week o' September,

Jenn

Lamp Lunacy and Porcelain Prettiness

Lamps: they are my mostest favorite thing to thrift. Favorite in kind of an obsessive, too-excited way, in fact.

An interesting vintage lamp gives me a thrill that other folks get over, oh, a new love, winning the lottery, or chocolate cake. (Though I wouldn't turn down any of those things, either.)

As a result, I have a lot of them in each room. And this is okay, given my house is an otherwise pretty dark little Victorian.

Lamps offer that warm glow that also warms my heart.

So when I saw this baby at the L&L Fleatique over the weekend, I could not leave it there.

It's not actually stained glass, but some sort of frosted plastic material made to look like glass. I imagine, based on the materials, that it was probably made in the 60s or 70s, when they started really incorporating plastics into lamps.

I thought the whole thing was sort of gaudily beautiful, which is often my quirky criteria for a good lamp. And the colors are just so inspiring to me when lit. It's now residing in my livingroom.

At the Salvation Army thrift store earlier in the week, I nabbed this glass, pink vintage ceiling light shade...

I plan to use it on my third floor office, where currently there is a white, plastic, very sterile Atomic Age shade which just doesn't work with the rest of the house. It should be a fairly simple swap, and at just $4.99 the price was right.

At only $5, was this frosted glass, depression era boudoir lamp of a lady in a belle skirt...

I'm not sure why it was marked to just $5, when it had been listed at $35, but everything in that area of the Fleatique was, so I couldn't pass the deal up. Again, because of lampaholism.

At the Good Samaritan thrift store, I got these two painted plates from Germany (I plan to hang them on the wall)...

And these Moonstone pattern cups. At $0.69 a piece, it was a very good deal.

Oh, and last, I got this nice little dresser jar from Germany the same day I got the pink lampshade. I think it would be handy for storing cotton balls, Q-tips or something like that.

So that's the thrifty goodness for this week. Quite a lot, really, at one time-- funny how that happens!!

Let's hope none of you are too "shook up" from yesterday's earthquake. I was standing at work, talking to someone and didn't feel it at all, while all my colleagues seated at their desks were really feeling it rock-n-roll.

The Porpoise of Learning How to Work the Video on Your Phone

Just thought you all might all get a kick of the video of the dolphins who followed my boat last week... Gosh, up here in Pittsburgh, the only thing that usually follows my vehicle is a tailgater who's waiting to zip into the fast lane. This is such a pleasant change!


And yes, I apparently DO "ooh" and "ahh" like I'm watching a Fourth of July fireworks display when confronted with unbridled Nature. Feel free to play the New Age music of your choice as accompaniment. :)

Morning Skies and Flying Fish, er, Mammals

Just a few photos from my recent non-vacation trip to Florida I thought you would enjoy. That's the wonderful thing about nature-- the beauty of the landscape can make it look like vacation, even when it isn't.
This was taken at about 8:30am, the morning sun and cloud turning the palm trees to silhouette...
Sun behind some clouds made for a dramatic view...
There's much more sky down there than there is up north, I'm just sure of it. :)
Some dolphins followed the boat I was on, for unexpected, impressive company...
There were about six or eight, including a baby, at one point. I could hardly believe my eyes, having never seen a wild dolphin down there.
Leaping, spinning, they must celebrate the joy of the morning, every morning. For me, I need a cup of coffee before I attempt that sort of thing. But they smiled their way through their morning exercise regimen.

Clearly, you can learn a lot from a dolphin. :)

Hope you're able to jump into the week smoothly yourselves, folks!

Roses, Pinks and Prying Paws

This past week was an unexpectedly productive thrifting week, and I wasn't even trying. Needing a break at work one day, I happened to the Salvation Army thrift store at lunch and came upon my favorite items of the week-- some lady's hand-painted and transferware plate collection.

As you can see above, I chose three which never left their original plate hangers and got hung on my own wall in record time.

Here's a close up of one of my favorites. I love the soft gradated background...

This one reminds me of a plate I have displayed in my china cabinet. The greens and pinks are perfect for my diningroom...

And lastly, this little gold rimmed number appears to have some hand-painted details...

There must have been about 20 different plates there of various styles-- some in jewel tones, some in less dynamic rose prints. I've been wondering whether these two chocolate/coffee cups might not have been from the same home...

And last, I found a giant pink-lidded Tupperware storage container to help keep prying paws out of the kibble. (You can see one perpetrator there.) Earlier in the week I had MELTED most of my pink Tupperware in an accident so dumb, I had to write a humor piece about it. You can share in my horror by clicking here.

And that's it from me for now! Take care, friends, and I hope you have a great rest of your week.