Happy Fall Ya'll ! & Happy Hobbit Day !

Good Morning Everyone,

And a glum raining morning it is here in my portion of the Midwest to escort the Fall season in.

The Garage sale is over and I must say we felt it was a success. Sunday and Monday were spent cleaning up the garage and packing up what didn’t sell to take it to the Goodwill. We also donated the grandchildren’s outgrown Renaissance outfits which did not sell to our Middle School. They do Medieval Days - in 6th grade when they study the middle ages and the feudal system. They have a big feast and everyone is suppose to come in costume - but not all the children bother, so they like to keep items on hand to provide for those who don’t come prepared.

All that work and time on my feet really took a lot out of an old Lady Like me; so I rested all last evening and am feeling much better today..

I’m a little late with this post as Tolkien Week started on Sunday and here it is Tuesday but better late than never, right? Today Tuesday the 22 of September is important in its own right as It is designated as Hobbit Day and is on Bilbo’s and Frodo’s mutual birthday .

.

Long before there was a Lord of the Rings - there was a Hobbit. JRR Tolkien’s first fantasy novel. , published Sept 1937. Set in a time “Between the Dawn of Faerie and the Dominion of Man” in the wonderful land of Middle Earth. This work has never been out of print since the paper shortage of WWII which bespeaks volumes of it charm, popularity and timelessness.. It has been adapted many times for stage , screen, radio and even games. It was one of my favorite reads as a child and even now in my adult years

If you haven’t read it you should.

The new movie version of “The Hobbit” done by the same movie company who did the Lord of the Rings trilogy is due to go into production in 2010 - and in the theaters in 2011.


Hugs,
Penny

Avast, me hearties.

Arr! Welcome aboard all ye landlubbers?
This Saturday is International Talk Like a Pirate Day. Shiver me timbers - I can see you shaking your head and saying. Okay Penny enough already with the strange holidays no one has ever heard about. But you be wrong - if you think this a strange day. What started out as a fun thing to do for a couple friends; has indeed reach international esteem. Ok. Ok. So what has that got to do with me you ask? Well let me explain. Sir Knight is not a real knight - he really happens to be The infamous Captain Griffon Moon of the Good Ship Advantage,swashbuckler and Pirate extrodinar. Well, He is really a Privateer by her madjesties hand - a very real and lawful Pirate of the realm, but he does love to play to the more dark side sometimes - so we long ago decided this was his Holiday.

A chaming scene before he puts out to sea.

Here below ye can see His Letter of Marque - which he carries on all voyages - in case an enemy ship of the realm is sited where it shouldn't be, this letter gives him permission to board and plunder the ship in the name of our Good Queen Bess.

Arrgh ! Here is a little rendering of the Good ship Advantage for you to biggify , print off, and color . So you too can feel a little like a pirate today. So dig out that old musty Jolly Roger you have hidden away and fly it proudly today. Heave to matey or ye be walking the plank soon.

Hugs,
Penny

The Garage Sale Diaries

Hello everyone,
First! Let’s hear a big round of applause for Sir Knight because he has survived these last three weeks of getting ready for my Garage Sale. (After our last sale two years ago - he vowed it would be the last, but some vows are meant to be broken. Right?) I know some of you may think three weeks is a long time to get ready. I do know some people who just give the garage a quick sweep and start putting the stuff right out for the sale as it sat in the basement or the shed or wherever. But I am meticulous - I plan for everything and I try to get everything in good order and repair. Everything that is to be sold has been washed - line dried (if its made from material) or washed and towel dried so there is no streaking or spots. Broken items that are still usable are repaired to look as good as new.

Plus the garage has to have a though cleaning so any and all unfinished projects needed to be finished up to make room in the garage . Thus my dryad tree was finished and our storage room in the basement got a wonderful new large closet for our out of season clothes. Lumber was then sorted through - good usable pieces stored neatly against one wall of the garage - all Sir Knights tools given a though brooming and then wiped down before they were rearranged to provide as much walking room as possible. Shelves and tables brought down from the attic and a few other items put up in the attic for storage. Old sheet which were washed and freshened up - strung around over tools and such so nobody would question whether they were for sale or not. Then the tables were set up and we could finally start pricing items and setting up our display.

Sir Knight thought I had him set up too many tables till we really got into it - now he knows we really don’t have enough and so we have to stack stuff on top of each other ( I really don’t like that ) but the garage is only so big and we have lots and lots of stuff. I even use light plastic shelf units on top of the tables to make use of the air space and still we are full to capacity.

My son and his family brought a few things over - but realistically his stuff would probably fit on one of the mid size card tables. Like he said not worth having a sale of his own for.

Where does all the stuff come from I keep asking myself - but I know - in my younger days I was a real hoarder. If anyone offered me something, any thing for free I took it - cuz you never know it just may come in handy. I must also confess I love nothing more than to drive around the city during clean up week - picking through what others are throwing out for neat finds. We also go to auctions and if something isn’t selling and it goes down to 50 cents I find my hand flying up (automatically, mind you) to bid on it (Sir Knight Looks at me in total exasperation with that “What are you going to do with that“ look on his face). Some of its pretty and I make room for it among my décor and some is just not me. Also the auctions like to jumble a lot of stuff into one box and if you want one thing out of the box you just bought yourself a big box of miscellaneous stuff. Now if I had a resale store of some sort this may work out to be advantageous but I don’t - so it doesn’t - and all it does is accumulate. Of course I am not the only pack rat in the Family - Sir Knight works at our local high school and when a teacher or student throw away perfectly good stuff he brings it home to me - figuring I can use it for a craft project or something. And we have used quite a bit of the items he has brought home but not enough.

By Sat. night I know I will be totally exhausted - but - hopefully it will be worth all the hassle; and then what’s left will go on to the Goodwill.

And we have a slightly less cluttered house for a year or so. Or maybe a month or two. LOL Yea!!!!!!!!!

Hugs,
Penny

A Wonderful Giveaway or Two

To win this yummy Pink Christmas stocking you need to hurry over to Rebecca's Blog "A Gathering Place" and I do mean hurry since the last day to sign up is the 19th of this month.
Just don't win it (pouty face) cuz I want to win . LOL


Behind this ribbon and tag; the girls over at 'Tales from an O C Cottage" have done it again and are offering one of the most scrumptious giveaways. If you like pink and pretty you will love this giveaway. Check it out! Or then again, don't check it out and I might have a chance to win it, for myself. LOL No I couldn't be that selfish- or could I (evil laugh) - the temptation is strong but - no I couldn't - so do check it out.
But I do hope I win.

Hugs,
Penny

A moment of silent prayer.

Let us pause today and take a moment to bow our heads and each in his own words and each in his own way pray for the souls lost on Sept.11th.

"that we here highly resolve that these dead shall not have died in vain -- that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom -- and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth."..... taken from Lincoln Gettysburg Address

Hugs,
Penny

A Happy & Restful Labor Day Wish

Hello Everyone,
Just taking a few minutes away from my Garage Sale tasks to offer you all; no matter where you labor be it home or factory or office, a Happy and Restful Labor Day.

Hugs,
Penny

Getting ready to sell our garage.

Note befuddled look on my face

Hey everyone,
It's me Genghis, and I'm taking a break from my important job of watching the garage, for just a minute, so I could fill you all in on what has been going on around here. Pellie has been so busy - getting ready for what she keeps saying is a garage sale. I really don't understand what cleaning closets and finding all kinds of stuff she doesn't need, has to do with selling the garage. Well! Really I don't understand why we have to sell the garage any way ( I think it's a great place to wander and explore when I cant go outside to play). Its connected to Pellie's Studio/Shed , with the same bricks as the house and everything (I know I checked it out from the outside on one of my tours around the house.) It seems to me it will be a heck of a lot of work to detach it from the house - but, then - nobody has asked me my opinion.
Here I am checking out things Sir Knight has decided will be going with the trash men, as he cleans the garage up so it looks better when the people come. I mean he better not be throwing any of my cool stuff in that icky pail. I have been missing my favorite catnip mouse lately, but from what I could see it was not in there. Lucky for him.

Pellie also asked me to tell all you great humanbeans and kitties that she will really try to blog something soon , however she may not achieve it until this last City wide sale of garages is over. (Imagine that - I thought we were the only weird people selling our garage - only to hear, their are more people in our city selling theirs too, and all at the same time. Weird!!! Yep definately weird!!) Anyhoo - So she apologizes in advance for not being the kind of friend she should be right now; and begs your patience and forgiveness.

She also said I should tell you that today - yes today - Is "Be Late For Something Day". So live it up and be fashionably late for something.

Purrs.
Genghis

Note. If cats suddenly disappeared it would be only a matter of weeks before rodents completely overran the world. (Lucky for all you beans that us cat are here to protect you.)