sincerely yours, dena

Biggest annoyance while during sewing? Threading the bobbin. So when I when I do one, I load the baby up as full as she can go. If I have leftovers (which I normally do) I store the bobbin underneath the thread on my thread rack. That way I know exactly what bobbin goes with what thread.

I had a very successful adventure this year at Bath’s MayFair Day. The first Saturday in Maine is dedicated to a city wide yard sale. Can anything be more fun! They even have a legit May Pole in the town center.

	All of this for just $20!!!
	I’m going to give the sugar bowls (filled with flowers) away as door prizes as at wedding shower i’m helping to throw
	I snagged this whole box of old bottles for $4

Because I NEVER throw anything away, I save all my back issues of the 5 magazines I subscribe to. I always say I’m going to go back and look thru them but I rarely do. So I copied my friend Vanessa who copied her Mom… start ripping out what you want and recycle the rest.

Using a exacto knife, I cut out all the articles that interest or inspire me then I put them in clear protective binder sheets and organize them in a binder by subject. I’ve got a binder for decorating ideas (divided by room), a binder for holidays, a binder for recipes and a binder for crafts. The best part is getting the satisfaction of finally being able to throw something away!

I found this beat up buoy floating on the beach of the Kennebec. Actually, Rubbles found it and dragged it home. It was very authentic, complete with barnacles. I gave it a fresh coat of spray paint and using a paint pen put a “B” on it. It’s officially the first decoration in our screen porch. I’m not in love with the colors, but once I get some idea of how the room is gonna flow I can always paint over it.

A few jobs ago the company I was working for was doing some cleaning (aka laying people off) and they threw all the extra office supplies in a pile for people to pillage. I grabbed these metal mail inbox/outbox trays. They have been collecting dust in my closet for years until now. Using craft wire I secured the two trays together making sure the openings lined up at the bottom and secured to the wall in my pantry. Now it’s perfect for holding plastic shopping bags.

Finishing gun says what? BANG BANG! So I furthered my arsenal of power tools and learned how to use a miter saw and a finishing gun (thanks for the lessons Drew). My husband picked this bright blue color for the guest bathroom because he said the color looked “clean.” I agree, it looks clean but also very bright. I don’t want all our guests to go blind. To help tone it down a bit I took some the left over door trim I found lurking in the basement and installed a chair rail. This created a clean dividing line to paint the bottom half white (paint also found in a basement corner). This whole project cost me 0$!

A very Maine thing to do is put your hand soap in a seashell collected from the beach. This handmade soap from Vermont looks especially nice. Even my husband said he liked it (but that probably because I didn’t spend any money on it.)

It’s a pretty simple concept actually. Companies best marketing tool is word of mouth, so what they do is pay marketing firms with members to try out their stuff and talk about with people around them. BzzAgent is one I belong to. They from time to time send me invitations to join a campaign and I get the opportunity to be involved or not. (The more involved you are, the better the campaign) The best part is the free stuff. They send you the campaign product and you use it in front of other people. So far I’ve done the Pledge Multi Wipes (which are gifts from god) and the Scrubbing Bubbles automatic shower cleaner dispenser. If you take the questionnaires on the site they try to get you involved in campaigns that similar to your tastes and lifestyle. They must deduct that I clean a lot, hence all the cleaning products.

Last minute prep for turkey day massacre includes folding the napkins. Bright Settings has online video which is like personal instruction on how to fold these crazy guys. They have 12 different options to choose from:

My friend Amanda invited me to join goodreads.com to share what I’ve read and what I’m currently reading. I’m getting addicted. Not only do you get a complete online list of what you’ve read you also get to see your friends reviews and create a ‘to read’ list. i heart the internet.