Found my OWN Treasures....

Anyone still out there reading this poor neglected blog? For those who still look occasionally, I have a good story for you to start the New Year. Happy New Year btw!!! I'm praying that 2012 is a better year than 2011.

So here is the story.... my parents were here for 2 weeks right after Christmas. When they come, we always go to a certain antique/junk store. Out in the barn section, there was this gorgeous tiger oak sideboard for $175, a real steal and I could see it in a dining room with my vintage glassware on it. I didn't buy it. But is festered in me for 2 weeks. Yesterday was hubby and mine's 19th wedding anniversary, so this past Saturday he took me up to the store to get the sideboard(they are only open on the weekends). When we got there, I saw the "Hold" sign on the piece. Boo hoo! But I let it go and figured it wasn't meant to be.

That evening(Saturday) I did a bit of surfing on Craigslist and typed in sideboard. In the next town over I found a tiger oak sideboard with mirror(not quite as fancy as the other one) but still gorgeous and huge and are you ready for this?!?!?! It was only $60 . My girls and I picked it up on Sunday. It's still in the back of my van, but I'll share it with you when I get it in the house(after I figure out where it is going, lol). Can you believe that? I was so happy, still am. But that's not the end of the story.....

After my good luck over the weekend, I decided to look again today at Craiglist. I usually stick with my town or the ones right around me so I don't have to drive far. I typed in my town under the for sale section and started reading. I saw a light fixture(I have a thing for chandeliers and lights that I can makeover to look old). It was a cute hurricane punched tin light for $30. I thought, "wow, that looks like the kind I put in our old house". I looked at the next listing, by the same seller, another punched tin light for $30, and I thought again..."wow, that looks like the old light over our kitchen table". Then I looked in the background of the photos and noticed some other light fixtures that looked familiar. I emailed the seller and said I wanted both lights. He called me back and we started talking and he said he recognized my name from the closet in his house....where I wrote hubby and my name when we bought the house!!! It turns out that they were MY LIGHT FIXTURES!!!! We sold that house 7 years ago and we still all love the house and have fond memories of it and refer to it as the "red house" even though it is gray now. My 14 yr old daughter and I went over this evening to pick up the lights and got the tour of our old home. I was so nervous to go see it, but when we got there, I wasn't sad at all. The family who lives there now(they bought it from the people who bought it from us) seem very nice and they love the house too. The inside was different(painted) and seemed smaller than I remember, but it was fun to see it. And most importantly of all , I have my lights back!!! The husband was very nice and asked me about things in the house and told me that he will let me have the other lamp(one that matches the hurricane one) when he gets a replacement. He was going to let me just have the lamps for free, since he said they were mine anyway, but I gave him the $60 and told him to put it towards things they need in the house. So I have two new old lights and another one coming. I'm over the moon!! And I have some of our history back.

The one light has to be wired into the ceiling, so I'm not hanging that right now, but the other just plugs in, so I hung it over my daughter's new doll house that she got for Christmas.

I looked up the lights on Irvin's and forgot how much I originally paid for them, the one above now retails for $168!

Here's hoping that this is an indication of how good this year is going to be!!! Now let's just pray that we can find a farmhouse to rent this summer. Yes, we are moving, but that is a whole other story for another day.

Much love,

Tiff