Wednesday, April 29, 2009

I'm Off To Paris!




I'm sorry, gentle reader, that my posts have been scant. This past week or so has been a tornado. Tomorrow morning I am driving up to my best friend Liz's house where the car will pick us up and whisk us off to the airport. I can't tell you how excited I am! I'll be back after May 6th with pics and stories. Sqweeeee!

Friday, April 24, 2009

The Fumes

Paint is to home projects, kid rooms, and old furniture as hoop skirts were to women - it hides a multitude of sins. And boy, have I been covering up sins lately. For the past few days I have been totally re-doing the room my two youngest share. Painting the walls two different colors, painting their furniture and even painting the floor. Yup. All the furniture, the shelving unit, every little toy, is smushed into one half of their room as the first half of the floor dries and their dressers are out at the base of the driveway right outside the garage door in the middle of being painted.
Within a week I leave for Paris and my middle daughter leaves for camp and I am determined to have this done.
Even if it makes me want to shake kittens.

Monday, April 20, 2009

The Sale Is On People! (Oh, and I'm allergic to "Brown")

Today is April 20th gentle reader, and that means the Earth Day Saleabration is in full swing!
My collaborative group of vintage sellers on Etsy.com called The Vintage Market Team is having a sale in honor of Earth Day. From today until April 25th there are almost 700 vintage items on sale from 20%-75% off!! So Go Green, give Mother Earth a hug, reduce, reuse and recycle.......Buy vintage! It's easy. Just go to Etsy's homepage and in the search box, type the term VMTEAMEARTH and all the items in the sale will magically appear.
Yes.
It's magic.

In other news..........

I've had food allergies for years. The freaky kind that make you not breathe anymore. I'm allergic to shellfish, (shrimp, lobster, oysters, scallops crab etc) spinach, fish oil, chitosan (stuff in vitamins and diet pills made from shellfish) and hey, that's all ok. But this past winter I've had a few freaky reactions to other things. Wonderful things like certain cookies, gravy and the worst of them all was to DIET COKE! Yup, diet coke! I called my allergist and went today. Much testing was done. In depth research and cross comparison of all ingredients was done as well and it seems my friends, I have become terribly allergic to caramel color. Holy Cow, people! I'm allergic to "brown". This will prove interesting.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

A Visit to The Cranberry Bog





























Spring is very slow to come here in MA by the ocean. It creeps on ever so quietly. Now is the time we watch. We watch the temperature and the dew point, the cloud cover and wind speed until one night all the factors come together in just a certain combination and we have the first frost watch. You and your bog must be ready ahead of time. The irrigation system and the engine in the pumphouse must be checked and the propane tank full. The sprinkler heads must be put out and in some cases staked so that they stand up straight. Soon there will be pickup trucks out all night long with big searchlights attached to them scanning the bogs to make sure that all is working properly. If the irrigation system shuts down or a sprinkler head is clogged with a pebble it will mean the vines getting "burned" and lost.
These are a few scenes from my bog yesterday - the guys are out checking and staking and will be watching....

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Vintage Market Earth Day Saleabration!




You might remember me mentioning a big Etsy vintage sale coming up. Well, the time is almost upon us dear reader. April 20th - 25th my wonderful group of vintage sellers on Etsy will be having a sale called the Vintage Market Earth Day Saleabration. Vintage goodies will be marked down 20-50%. All you have to do is go to the Etsy homepage and in the search function at the top of the page search the tag VMTEAMEARTH. Then all of the sale items will appear. You can do it right now and preview the items that will be going on sale. Happy shopping! Now go find a treasure for yourself!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Tomorrow.......

We will visit the cranberry bog.

One of My Favorite Shops

Just this past year I stumbled upon an online shop that 'had me at hello' *sigh* It is quite Anthropologie-esque without the sticker shock. Every time I check it out there is something new to love. Here, gentle readers, is a sample of a few of my latest favorites.

All from www.shopruche.com










































































Saturday, April 11, 2009

Sorry for Being MIA

I'm sorry I've been absent. Things have been very hectic. The build-up to Easter, school events with the kiddos, appointments, and I'm going to let you in on something big............
My best friend and I are going to Paris on April 30th! Yup! Paris! We both turned 40 this year and we are going to Paris. (In 19 days!) I've been preoccupied and trying to get my ducks in a row because my middle daughter is leaving for camp while I'm away and I want to have everything all set for her as well as myself and the house.
Happy Easter and I'll be back on Monday.
♥ - Grover

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

The Art Of The Outdoor Nap

The phrase "looking forward to" can not do justice to how I feel about one of my spring-early-summer rituals. The outdoor nap! On my porch I have a porch swing fitted out with a huge pillow at one end and a blanket folded up in fourths that fits it perfectly as a pad. My house faces exactly west and once spring really takes hold here in the northeast, the sun shines dirrectly on my porchswing in the late afternoon. I lay long-ways on my swing and gently rock in the sun and nap like a happy cat as the kids do their homework outside.
"Soon" I tell myself, "Very soon..."

Earth Day Sale On Etsy!

Hello gentle reader,

I belong to a wonderful group of vintage Etsy sellers called the Vintage Market Team. We, as a collective will be having an Earth Day Saleabration from April 20th-25th. Vintage items in each shop will be marked down 20%-50%!
"But Etsy is so huge! How will I find the shops?" you ask.....
Here is what you do.
On the Etsy homepage there is a drop-down menu to the left of the search box. Drop down and chose Vintage; tags, titles
Then type into the search box the tag: VMTEAMEARTH.
That's it.
The sale items will be pre-tagged with this phrase and will appear.

**April 20th-25th**
Happy Shopping!

Thursday, April 2, 2009

Walkabout

Everyday I've been taking Caledonia for a walkabout with me. Winter has gone on long enough and I've had some major cabin fever (not to mention too many pounds on me) As for Donia, well she needs to learn to be a lady in public. So no matter what the weather, even today with the cold rain, we will go for a long walk.

Corn field and pond

Our neighbor runs a vegetable and hay farm. This is one of his fields - just over the hill are his cranberry bogs


No matter where you go in Massachusetts, your bound to see the obligatory stone wall. Gosh, the backbreaking work it must have been.



Every time I pass this spot and look off into the woods it makes my imagination run wild like a kid's. Evil queens, dwarves, wolves....



Homemade Goose Crossing Sign (Gotta watch out for our friends)




And then, back home where two guys from the crew were working on putting out the sprinkler heads on the bog. You can kind of see the little sprays going up from the bog. They are just turning on the system. I'll post pics soon of the system at full blast - it's surprisingly beautiful.





Tuesday, March 31, 2009

Earthlust











Have you seen these? I know that water bottles are everywhere and have been posted to death but aren't they really like shoes? Can you really have enough? I think I need that "nautilus" one like yesterday
all available at : www.earthlust.com



The Stuff Of Nightmares

God! It makes me queasy just posting that pic.
I live on a huge beautiful pond (in these parts we call all lakes no matter how big "ponds") it is spring-fed and lovely and I can't bring myself to swim in it. I will canoe out with the kids and hang out in the canoe or on the "beach" while they swim but I just can't bring myself to do it. Why? Because ever since I was a little kid growing up in NYC I have been terrified of natural bodies of water because I am convinced there are shopping carts submerged down there waiting to entangle me.... This is the stuff of nightmares my friends. Nightmares.

Thursday, March 26, 2009

The Valve Stem Story

Sooo, gentle readers, this might bore a good number of you. Well, since I probably have three readers, it might bore two of you. Anyhoo...You know the little thingy that you use to put air into your tires? I just learned today it is called a valve stem. Well, one of mine was broken. It was leaking air and every time I tried to put air into my tire it just leaked out more. So off I went to the local tire place and a nice guy came out to the lot and looked at my offending stem and informed me that they couldn't fix it because it has a sensor built into it that lets me know when my tires are low. (so that's what that light meant!) I don't know about you, but I've lived just fine without this help for many a year now... So he told me I would have to take it to my dealership to get fixed. Very long, boring story short - After sitting in the waiting room at the dealership for an hour and a half with a BLARING TV inside the room, and BLARING MUSIC dirrectly outside the room a la Abercrombie and Fitch, they charged me $190! To fix the little thing on your tire that you pump air through!

Yeah, that thing!

It seems that because of the sensor, I had to get a whole new tire with a new sensor installed into the new little valve stem and then they had to link up the new sensor to the computer in the car -

OMFG!

The first local tire place told me (before they knew about the sensor) that it would have cost me approximately $8. So I paid a difference of $182 so that the car will inform me of something that I can see the minute I walk out to my driveway. And all of this brings me to.......... I was so disgusted today that I stopped at Pier One and got one of these:






It's way bigger than I thought it would be (that's what she said!)

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

I think my bulldog has a side job......


The Godfather



You've all seen my bulldog by now. I think he is working side jobs to pay for his habbits and vices. Modeling. Product Development. The Godfather (?)
He's probably bringing in more cash than me.

A Visit From Groverland..




Wouldn't you just love to get this little pitcher filled wtih flowers for Mother's Day? I'd be all "Yeah! That's right!"

On sale at : www.groveronthebog.com


Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Hairpins Made In Groverland








All for sale at my shop:

Living On a Bog Perk (or) Peepers Kick Ass

One great thing about living of a cranberry bog is that way, way earlier than anywhere else - it begins. The peepers are here and singing! It might still be in the 40s here, but damn, it sure sounds like a summer evening out there. My bedroom window faces the bog and is about 25 or 30 feet away from it's edge. We can crack the window open and fall asleep listening to them.
Ahhh, pseudo-summer.

So wantable!

How much better would your morning be if you could wake up to this happy bird? http://www.fredflare.com

Again - with the yellow obsession from www.fredflare.com


So cute with a pair of strappy flat sandals www.fredflare.com



These just appeal so much to my dorky-chic side
www.fredflare.com