Just a bit of inspiration. Something I need to read over and over and over again.

Remember my $90 sofa bed find?

And how perfectly an Ikea basic sofa bed slipcover fit?

Well I finally had the money to order a new mattress for it today.  Here's a shopping tip....the least expensive sofa bed mattress I could find after looking at several websites was one at Sleepy's, a memory foam one for $235, more than I was hoping to spend but I resigned myself to having to save a bit longer so I could purchase it.  Fortunately I decided to check Amazon and what do you know, there it was, the exact same mattress being sold by several others for way less and I was able to order one for $119 with free shipping.  I can't wait to get it and finally get a good nights sleep.

I dropped the car off at the mechanics today to get the rear brakes replaced this time (did the front ones a couple weeks ago) and when I went to pick it up I noticed a building two doors down with a few pieces of furniture out on the sidewalk.  I peeked in the door, my jaw dropped and I giggled out loud.  Totally unassuming on the outside but inside.......a three story warehouse filled to the brim with antiques and collectibles.  This is only half the width of the room.......

I only had my cell phone camera but I wasn't leaving without pictures.....most are blurry (sorry), I think I was shaking with excitement......I couldn't wait to go exploring!

Check out these chairs!

One of the employees told me he thinks they came out of an old Girard Bank years ago.
The owner told me this chandelier was from the 60's which surprised me, the thing just sparkled brilliantly in person....$275

For you locals its on Queen Lane between Greene St and Germantown Ave next to Master Tech mechanics.....I asked the name but I've forgotten it.....I don't think there's a sign on it anyway.
The place is only open on Saturdays or by appointment and I can't wait to go back, there was just way too much to see in one visit.  I know where I'm doing my Christmas shopping this year.

I feel like I'm channeling someones grandmother lately.....I scored these Guardian Service pieces at the local Salvation Army Thrift Shop in the last couple of days, two triangle pots (one never used) and a griddle. 

Then today I spent the afternoon chopping, blanching and freezing vegetables.......I never do that lol.....maybe its cause I'm growing out my gray hair....lol. 
Seriously though I'm just tire of the increasingly higher prices at the grocery store and being a single person.......wasting food.  I try to buy fresh food to eat healthier but I swear I throw more of it away than I eat because it goes bad so quickly so I'm trying a new tactic...buying fresh and freezing it. Maybe I should learn more about preserving too.  I needed to go to the Dollar Tree store today to pick up some photo mailers (2 for $1) for my ACEO cards and I always walk the isles to look for other
bargains and spotted four boxes of mac and cheese for $1!  Ok....I know its not the healthiest but I won't eat it every day and you just can't beat 25¢ a box!  Leaving there I passed a produce market and saw Jersey tomatoes $3 for 3lbs, compared to Super Market prices ($2.99 a lb) that's a good price and its the first time I've seen Jersey tomatoes sold anywhere in my area.....I may have to go back for some.

A new ACEO fig painting...I wasn't happy with the one I posted earlier.

Just posted a new ACEO painting on ebay

Or how about a pumpkin

I noticed the other day a fellow artist had posted some information on facebook about the camera lucida.  I unfortunately at the time didn't take the time to read it, if I had I would have saved myself some delay in discovering this...an iphone/ipad app that acts like a camera lucida!

What happened instead was I got a call yesterday regarding an ad I had placed on Craigslist selling a projector that I never use anymore.  And while I was retrieving that from the closet I saw my stored away camera lucida and decided to pull it out and play around with it.

I went online to the makers website to see about replacing one of the two mirrors that are in the head....something sticky got on the outer most half silvered mirror and I can't get it off for the life of me.  I discovered they didn't offer mirror replacements but they do sell replacement heads for $60+, not bad when the complete camera lucida is around $200.  Anyway while I was googling for information is when I saw the iphone app for $4.99.  I swear sometimes I feel like I've been living under a rock!  I downloaded the app and of course couldn't figure out how to use it so I had to do a bit more googling and found some info here......