All In A Day of Life With A Rabid Treasure Hunter: An Amazing Dollar Sale

My beloved, Mr. Many Shades of Shabby, is rabid about finding good stuff at good buys. He hunts out the best estate, garage, church and yard sales and eats, drinks, and sleeps - treasure hunting. He starts early and stays late; he believes fervently in all of those old adages about the early bird and snoozing and losing. Today, he was sound asleep on the sofa in front of the television, when like a man out of a bad dream, he raised up rim rod straight, rubbed his eyes with both fists, then riveted his gaze on the tv, exclaiming "WHAT?!?!"

He: Devonia! Did you hear that? Everything at the Dallas Zoo was on sale today for a dollar! I guess the zoo is closing...

Me: Closing the zoo? I didn't know that. What a shame - I can't imagine Dallas without a zoo. Are you sure? Whatever would we buy at the zoo?

He: I just heard it on the news. Maybe they aren't closing it permanently, just for renovation or something. We'll see. The feature is up next. What would we buy? Woman!!! Use your head - All kinds of things! Just think, the statues, the lighting, the name plaques, signs, beautiful chairs, outdoor furniture, patio tables with umbrellas, benches, aquariums, gorgeous potted and hanging plants, all those wonderful old architectural trims, all kinds of stuff to decorate indoors and outdoors with - ONE DOLLAR! ( now holding both hands, palms up, shaking his head in pure despair) I can't believe we missed this.

Me: (brows knitted together) Are you certain?

He: Here it's coming on now - Come listen if you don't believe me. (now turning very disappointed eyes my way) What I want know is - why didn't you know about this? We should have been there. Man, just think... anything there - One dollar!!

Me: (fingers to my lips) Shhhhh, let's listen.

The local news reporter : Today, record breaking crowds lined up at the Dallas Zoo to take advantage of Dollar Day. Today only, all tickets were only one dollar...

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Garden Furniture: I Pulled Unmatched Pieces Together with DIY Mosaics

Garden furniture has come a long way. Aristotle loved to lecture outdoors at his home. Unfortunately, the weather sometimes left the grounds wet leaving the students no place to sit with comfort. Flocks of his students went to the local marble quarries for a slab of broken marble, plopped it down in Aristotle's garden; and thus, the first garden seat was born. Mosaics is also an ancient craft and combining the two - garden furniture with mosaics - can transform "trash into treasure".

This photo is a photo of a project I did as a layout, commissioned and published by The Underground Shopper, demonstrating how flawed, unmatched pieces, collected from here and there at an incredible discount, were magically married to create a wonderful garden retreat in our backyard.

I remember having such fun with it. My whole family was involved, one perfect spring weekend, in cutting the marble tiles and placing them in vined patterns. We created a table top, seats, trivets and even covered the pots and chimneria. The project was not without learning curve disasters. The first table top was done on a wood table round, donated by Home Depot for the project, and I sealed it only on one side. When it was finished, we were so pleased with it. Then the next day we watched, helplessly, as the moisture permeated the wood top and it bowed until it looked like a taco shell.

Not daring to admit to the Home Depot manager that I ruined their wood round, we bought another. This time, prior to starting the mosaic, BOTH sides were sealed and the grouting was sealed too - problem solved.

In exchange for the advertisement of their products, every single thing in the photo, including the baker's rack, the chimneria, and the plants, was donated and ours to keep and enjoy. I was especially sad to lose the miniature roses nestling on the baker's rack- I lack a green thumb. Roasting marshmellows in a chimneria while little ones chase fireflies is such a memory-making treat; and it was a happy morning spot to start a new day. Over all, not too shabby, heh? Doesn't it make you long for spring?

Click on the photo to see an enlargement that is a burst of color that promises flowers around the corner.