After resting up from doing yard work, I decided I was tired of being hot & sticky, so it was shower time. So I get in the shower and I’m basking in the cool clean water and all of a sudden the power goes out for about 3 seconds and I hear a sound I can only describe as “mmmnnnnnffff”. At first the paranoid me thinks maybe it’s the zombie apocolypse, so maybe I need to find a gun. So I grab my towel and dripping wet, I creep out of the bathroom and peek around corners and am quickly satisfied that there are no boogie men or women about, so I figure we had a brown out type of thing going on. Thinking I’ll be a good citizen and consumer, I turn the central heat up so the a/c won’t kick on and use more electricity, and it was at his point that I smelled something burning. I might be more aware of this smell than the average woman because I’ve lived with The Volunteer Firefighter for 33 years and if I had a dollar for every time he’s made the comment “I smell something that smells like burnt insulation” we could all go out and eat a pretty nice meal.

So it’s time to find the fire. I have it in my head that it’s coming from the central unit so I’m kinda freaked about maybe the fire is in the ceiling, and bye bye house. But like Toucan Sam on the old Fruit Loops commercial, I followed my nose. There are 2 doors in the hallway, one for the water heater and one for the central heat & air. I open the door to the water heater and there it is, nice little flames coming out. AAAAAAGGGGHHH!! PANIC TIME!! Time to call a fireman, time to call MY HUSBAND!! I call, the phone’s ringing, I’m thinking “pick up! Pick up!” Finally, after an eternity, he answers and I of course yell, “the water heater’s on fire!” In addition to calling my beloved husband & fireman, I had grabbed the fire extinguisher and I’m looking at the fire I decide good grief I don’t want to figure out this extinguisher, so I snuff out the fire with my towel. IT WORKED, IT WORKED, PRAISE GOD IT WORKED!! But is that the only place the fire is burning? Did I mention I was in panic mode?

So Dear Husband/Volunteer Firefighter is yelling “turn the power off!” which I hadn’t thought about yet, because for some reason, I’m thinking we have a gas water heater, never mind that I KNOW it’s electric and we’ve never had a gas heater in our 33 years of married life. I’m trying to tell him “I already have it out!”, but my wonderful wonderful Samsung 3, piece of crap phone is doing its thing where I can hear him & he can’t hear me.

Sooooo, he goes into hyper-drive, high adrenalin save my fair lady from suffocating or burning up in a house fire mode. I hear him hollering about something, so I assume he’s grabbing Sam to come with him because when they’re together and there’s a fire, that’s what he does. At this point I realize I have no towel around my body or anything else around my body, so better get some clothes on, Ethel you shameless hussy! I grab a shirt and some pants, put ’em on, pick up the phone, and like magic, we can hear each other again. And he’s about 300 yards from the house.

What I didn’t know was that my Dear Husband was screaming because he was trying to bail off the tractor to come rescue me and had pretty much done a wishbone, got his left leg stuck in a place legs aren’t supposed to go on tractors and his right foot’s hanging around up on the clutch. Easy move for a ballerina, not so much for my farmer. He can give the details on that much better than I. Let’s just say he has numerous “owies” and that’s three accidents for him in two days and that’s enough.

Thank you, Lord, for watching out for naked firefighters and their pumped up on adrenalin firefighter husbands!!

Cookie Monster used to say (back when I watched Sesame Street with my kids) “C is for Cookie and that’s good enough for me!” It seems that here at OohShiny, “F” is for pottery & china that I’m partial to. The first china I sold on ebay was Franciscan, Autumn Leaves pattern. I’ve also become very interested in Frankoma Pottery, which was made in Oklahoma. Then there’s Fenton & Fostoria. Both companies made beautiful glass products. And last night I was researching a candy dish and dessert cups I had just bought, and they are–Firna, Indonesia. And now I see a set of 3 nesting bowls sitting here on my desk. Fitz & Floyd! Yep. “F” is for china and that’s good enough for me!

Have a fabulous day!!

Do you ever start your day with a plan, only to pretty much abandon said plan and do something totally different? Yep, me too. Yesterday started out as a girls day out for LizzyLou and me and in that respect, it stayed true to plan. We got our haircut, did our banking, shopped a little, pretty much the same stuff we always do when we’re together. On our April outing, I had called Patty Cake and asked if she’d like to have lunch with us, and we had such a good time, that I called her again, she said “sure!” and so off to lunch the three of us went. Patty Cake & I had decided we needed a change of scenery for lunch, so we chose a place that we both like and it also happens to be right across the street from an antique store. (You know where this is going.) Yes indeed, after lunch we hit the antique store. And then a thrift store. And then a friend of mine called me and let me know her mom is having a yard sale and has some items I might like to buy.

It was a nice day for friends, family and OohShiny:)

I’ve heard it said that old horse traders were so successful at what they did because they really loved horses. Not many folks do actual horse trading these days; however, the need to bargain runs strong in my blood. Yesterday, I got the “fever”. I needed to go treasure hunting, aka, hitting yard sales.

I live in a rural area with several small towns. The first sale was in a town I’m familiar with, but the streets twist, turn, and have more dead ends than my hair. I swear a wino has laid out this town. Where the heck did 5th street go? It was just here two blocks ago. I go from giving up to never give up, back and forth. I’m making my retreat when I see 5th street, right there all along, who knew? Probably Rand McNally.

The hunt pays off. The first thing I spy is a table of glass and pottery. Oohshiny…I say hello to the seller and start looking. He asks me what I’m interested in and I say I love it all. I find a small vase that looks pretty cool, but it doesn’t have a maker’s mark. I ask if he knows anything about it. He doesn’t, but he’s pretty sure it’s old. There’s Frankoma, which is always worth a look. Some pretty blue dishes that I later learn are Fiesta. I’m mentally calculating the cost of what I want to buy when I hear, “would you be interested in buying the entire table?”. Of course I would, but I’m not sure it’s in my budget. I ask how much and he shoots me a price that $10 less than the one I had in mind.  The bargaining blood begins coursing through my veins. I can’t resist going just a little lower. I make an offer, he says ok, and we have a deal.

The next stop is a small community about 10 miles away. I’ve never been there, but I assume there will be signs. There are 3 signs in 5 miles. I follow the curve in the road.  Wrong way, back to the big curve. Drive the other way, no signs. I’ve decided to call it quits, and, as I’m turning around, I see the cardboard “yard sale” sign out of the corner of my eye. It’s 180 time.

Oohshiny! This sale is bigger than the first. It’s a beautiful day, almost noon, and the seller is a woman who would rather be fishing. I say hello, we chat, and I ask if she’s ready to negotiate yet. To my happy surprise, she says “oh yes”. I’m pretty sure she’s expecting me to bargain for a few items, but I offer to buy the entire table. She’s caught off guard, but wants to be finished, so she asks me for a price.  I make an offer I’m pretty sure she won’t take and she doesn’t. However, it gives us a starting point and soon we reach an acceptable bargained-for sum.

Nothing like a truck load of shiny to make my day.