GOOD INVENTIONS is now available!
GOOD INVENTIONS is now available on Amazon:
US: https://www.amazon.com/Good-Inventions-Gay…/dp/B09SJ14C9D/
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/Good-Inventions-Gay…/dp/B09SJ14C9D/
UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09SJ14C9D/
When a ghastly lab accident blows a respected inventor away, his loyal assistant must devise a way to bridge the gap between the planes of existence to reunite them in life and in love.
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NEW NOVEL! The Mystic Matchmaker: We Kiss Frogs So You Won’t Have To
When a nasty leprechaun threatens her family, a reluctant magical matchmaker must make a big, sweaty sacrifice or die.
RELEASE DATE: April 16, 2021
Available on Amazon:
Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B092SXCMMY/
US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B092SXCMMY/
Meet Dolly Maitland. She’s a sister, a granddaughter, a waitress… and a mystic matchmaker? It’s just a regular talent, right? There’s nothing supernatural about being able to envision someone’s true love just by touching them. Ah, Dolly, thy name is denial.
But the blinders are off when a nasty leprechaun places a magical curse on Dolly and her brother: “Find my grandson a bride in four days or die!”
With no time to process that the supernatural is real and Dolly is part of it, the hunt is on for the leprechaun bride. To help with the search, Dolly and her brother call on everyone they know—both super and natural. A fallen demon, a psychic sketch artist, and a passionate professor help them overcome obstacles like a mad bomber, a crazy ex, and the lethal leprechaun.
Then there’s the thing Dolly’s never told anyone—that whenever one of her happy couples gets down for the first time, their love and lust spill over onto Dolly, ratcheting up her own need to scratch that itch. Will her maddening desire distract her from finding the Little Green Bride before they put the dead in deadline?
Enjoy this urban fantasy mystery with a sexy romantic sub-plot for fans of Sookie Stackhouse and Stephanie Plum.
Peeping Tom or Burglar Casing My House?
Someone trespassed my property and peered in my windows this week—footprints in the snow tell me it was a man with large feet. He opened the gate, climbed the deck stairs, walked the length of my wrap-around deck, and checked things out. So I call Bell Security to get video, and they tell me I never set up my cameras properly, so tough luck. I’ve been paying a monthly fee for these for over a year. I spent ages on the phone Wednesday setting the cameras up, only to have to call back Thursday because the camera under the deck—the most likely break-in spot—still wasn’t recording. Now I get an email, a text alert and a lock-screen alert every time the dog goes in AND out, and when a squirrel runs across my lower patio. But I’m not changing that. I’m entitled to 6000 clips a month. So be it. I won’t get into Bell’s nonsense around my cell phone. #BellCanada nonsense.
In addition, I’ve been battling with Manulife over monies not paid to me from the CoverMe policy I pay for. I was promised—in writing—that someone would call me. No one has. Yesterday, I get a message from my other Manulife account—the one I got from Canadian Tire when I retired, that I owe them money. Jeez, Manulife. You owe yourself money. Just get the one to pay the other and leave me out of it. I have canceled my CoverMe policy with them. #Manulife sucks
BUT WAIT…THERE’S ALSO GOOD NEWS. Yesterday, I booked my shuttle online to get me from Mexico City Airport to my rented apartment in San Miguel de Allende 4 hours away. When I got the confirmation email, I realized I’d filled it out wrong. I emailed them back. Then…THEY CALLED ME. FROM MEXICO!!! A lovely, English-speaking man called to make sure I got what I wanted. Because I’m travelling alone, the cost for a car doubles (US$75 each for a minimum of 2 people, so US$150 if it’s just me). Instead, we’ve booked me on a bus/taxi combo, which is US$85. But if someone else books that day (which always happens), they’ll switch me and let me know. The van holds 8 so even if a family arrives around the same time I do, there’s room for one more. And it’s all confirmed in an email that arrived 5 minutes after the call. Now that’s customer service.
2019 Reading Roundup PLUS 2020 reading plans
In 2019, I read mostly fiction audiobooks:
148….Number of books started
16……Number of books I didn’t finish
1……Number of booksI skipped to the end
131….For a total books read/listened to in 2019
(I also read nonfiction on upcycling and self-publishing.)
I read mostly mystery, as that is my new passion, and what I’m writing now. All my previous books have a “whodunnit” plotline—Who’s selling the designer drugs? (Shift Happens), Who’s stealing shadows? (Lost Boys 2.0) Who’s sabotaging our invention? (Re-Inventing Love), and more.
AND THE WINNER IS… My favourite book of 2019 is actually a series: the Andy Carpenter series by David Rosenfelt. Every book features a dog. The books are witty, intelligent, and have an amazing cast of characters. I learned a lot about writing characters—they’re good, bad, the best, stereotypes (the hooker with the heart of gold), and stereotypes turned on their heads (the little old lady who cooks a mean rugelach and can breach any firewall.) I laughed out loud and am waitlisted at the library for those I haven’t read. Can’t wait!
In the meantime, I read copious How to Succeed at Self-Publishing (this time!) such as “Newsletter Ninja” by Tammy Labrecque, “Six Figure Author” by Chris Fox, “How to Be a Successful Indie Author” by Craig Martelle, and listen to Mark Dawson’s Self Publishing Show podcasts 1 a day. This time, it’s going to work!
Ever see a dresser wear a tuxedo?
On to the final piece of furniture to make my home complete: a dresser for the master bedroom. I’m more than a little tired of living out of plastic tubs. Eleven months have passed since my big move to Aurora, Ontario, and I’m ready to be completely unpacked.
I bought this dresser two decades ago for $100 at a yard sale. It had been in a neighbour’s basement for years and smelled like it. A good scrub with Murphy’s Soap didn’t help much. But I used it for years, and eventually the musty smell dissipated. At the same time, my cats scratched the hell out of the top. Oh, no!
In 2010, for reasons, it was relegated to the shed, then in 2018, it moved, along with everything else I owned, to my new home in Aurora. The dresser ended up in my unfinished basement workshop. The musty odour resurfaced, and all the cat litter and coffee grounds in the world didn’t help! Yikes!
So I turn, of course, to Upcyclers Anonymous, the awesome Facebook group with all the answers. “Paint it with Kilz,” they advised. “But you have to paint every crevice.”
So I buy a quart of Kilz before Christmas and set it atop the dresser. But I wouldn’t start on it for seven more months! I wanted to practice before I tackled the China Cabinet and the Vintage Dresser. So I began with a few small pieces, attempting bigger and more valuable pieces over the past nine months.
Finally, in June, I’m ready to start on the dresser. First, I take out the drawers, remove the hardware and start to paint. At that time, I had decided I’d paint it grey. I’d read you can tint primer, and people achieve all sorts of paint colours by mixing, so I tried mixing dark grey chalk paint with the Kilz. It worked, but it was a lot more like peanut butter than paint. I asked on list and apparently what I’d done is mixed Things That Should Not Be Mixed. Oops. So I let it sit a couple more months.
In August, I finally had a plan. I’d dress my dresser in a tux. Why not? The colour scheme of my house is black and white and grey with “pops” of colour, so it should fit nicely. I removed the cupboard doors, along with the rest of the hardware. Now I’m using Kilz without trying to tint it. The drawers take a couple of coats to cover the grey folly. (By now you know the sanding and prepping is implied, right?)
I carefully pried off the decorative spirals on either side… OMG! They were affixed using SQUARE NAILS! It’s then I realized that the piece was really old and probably would have been valuable if some previous owner hadn’t hammered it together with big nails and huge screws, not to mention painting the entire thing dark brown. By then, I’d already begun painting it, so I had little choice but to carry on.
My nearby nephew helped me lift the dresser sans drawers, doors and hardware out the basement walk-out and into the back garden. That’s where I sand, prep, and spray. There’s a white square in the grass to prove it.
One quart can of Kilz should do it, right? But back to Home Depot I go for can #2. Then again a half-hour later for can #3. Huh. But it got into every crevice.
Then I decided for the rest of the project (which would be Benjamin Moore Pearl White and Fusion Mineral Paint Coal Black), I wanted to move it to the front of the house. It had to go upstairs eventually, so that made sense. I wondered if I could move it by myself. It’s a big sucker, but I got out my industrial-strength dolly and heaved. I began rolling it up the hill. I worried that if I lost control, it would run me over, so instead of pushing, I pulled. I got partway up the damp lawn and… my boots slipped on the wet grass and down I went. But I didn’t let go and no damage was done to either the dresser or me. So I carried on, and eventually transfererd it from the dolly to the two four-wheeled carts.
I finished painting the outside, got my neighbour to help me lift it into the house. Then it sat awkwardly in the front hall for a couple of days till both my nephews were available to haul it upstairs. They got shrimp and steak for their pains.
I put three coats of Polyacrylic on the top while I finished up the drawers and doors. I knew there’d be issues with the drawers sticking, and wouldn’t have painted it if I hadn’t had to, but after having some success rubbing both sides with a candle, I went to Canadian Tire and bought a silicone lubricant that didn’t seem to smell too badly. I would have used WD-40, but it stinks. (I once used it on a dress zipper and it smelled for-evah!) I haven’t used the lubricant yet; I will tomorrow morning to give it maximum time to air out before I sleep there again. I didn’t realize the uneven door knobs would be so noticeable. The cupboard doors had always been uneven, but when the whole thing was painted dark brown, it wasn’t quite so glaring. I’m going to have to address that at some point, but right now, I just love my tuxedo dresser. Don’t you?
Cabinet Fever
My kitchen is small, originally with golden oak cabinets in one corner. When I first moved in, I had the painter paint the lowers dark grey and the uppers lighter grey, both darker than the walls (all of which I know now I could have done myself). But… my kitchen looked junky. Plus I needed more storage space.
I looked at adding cabinets, shelves or other small kitchen alternatives. I hunted from Ikea to the ReStore. After finding Upcycler’s Anonymous, a Facebook group of 60k+ people from all over the world and seeing the gorgeous work they do, I decided to upcycle a china cabinet. I then watched Facebook marketplace for just the right one. Before long, a faux Mission Style cabinet popped up for $175.00 located in the next town over. If I knew then what I know now, I would have waited, because china cabinets are often given away free; I’ve seen some nice ones, too. But hindsight, like this year, is 2020. So I recruited my nephews, rented a truck. and off we went amid ice and snow in March to pick up this badboy.
Then it sat in my garage in two pieces, side-by-side, until July, completely blocking everything. “Why did it sit so long?” you ask. Sure you did. Because this newbie needed to be good enough at upcycling to tackle an important (to me) piece. So I practiced on some side tables and benches (see previous posts), and eventually decided I was ready.
I bought two wheeled hand carts, so I needed no help to wheel the pieces out of the garage and onto the driveway. I tackled the base first. I removed the drawers, doors, shelves and hardware. I sanded, prepped, painted the inside white with primer, and the outside with black Fusion Mineral Paint. I had the neighbour help me move it indoors, where I re-installed the drawers and doors and shelves. The best part was that the cupboard doors in the base were comprised of square “bars” over a back that just pulled out, having been held in with tiny staples.
By painting the backing white and the “bars” black, I achieved a perfect black and white striped look that goes perfectly with my decor.
I then painted to upper piece, first removing the glass sides and the back. The back was mirrored, which, once it was filled, would look terribly cluttered, so I removed the mirrors. The wood underneath wasn’t great quality, but two coats of primer plus three coats of Fusion Champlain, and it was acceptable.
At this point, I bought a spray gun, and the painting sped up. It took two more trips to install it–one to lug the frame into the house, where I re-attached the back while it sat in the front hall, and then again lifting it onto the base. At that point, I re-attached the glass sides and the door hardware and lastly, installed the glass shelves.
It fit along the wall opposite the cabinets as if made for it, and as both the sides and the front cabinet doors are glass, it doesn’t block the light from the passthrough.
I couldn’t be more pleased. Now I have, as my mother used to say, “A place for everything and everything in its place.”
And of course, because I had googled “Black China Cabinets,” Facebook keeps sticking this one in my feed:
$7,690, Facebook? Srsly? Have you met me? And that’s American $s, before taxes and shipping. I don’t happen to have a spare $10,000 on me. I like mine better. I figure, by the time I was done, I’d spent:
$175 Cdn, for the cabinet, no taxes
$100 truck rental,
$30 wine for nephews
$50 in paint (probably less because I’d bought a box of assorted Fusion paint and accessories from Facebook Marketplace for $50 and it included both almost full jars of Coal Black and of Champlain.)
So, let’s call it $350. Versus $10,000. Anyone wondering why we upcycle?
Now, on to the final piece of furniture I need to complete my home. Bet you can’t wait to see what I do with an antique dresser!
Ahoy, Matey!
The previous owner of my treehouse was kind enough to leave behind a single bed. It wasn’t great—an old mattress, box spring, and one of those metal frames on wheels. It was handy for the first few days I lived there before my furniture arrived.
But its time had come. I decided I wanted a mate’s bed–the ones with drawers underneath. I’d seen them on Wayfair for $250 to $350, and at the Mission Thrift Store for $70. But June is garage sale season, so what did I find the very first day of saling? A pine mate’s bed in perfect condition. It was set up on the seller’s lawn so I could see all the pieces were there, and the guys selling it even took it apart and loaded it into my car. Whoo hoo! Only $20.00!
I sanded off the shiny shellac-like finish and painted the entire thing black. I found that an edger was the best thing for all the flat surfaces. I didn’t paint the inside of the drawers because they were spotless.
I’m particularly proud of the fact that I added handles. I had purchased some of those nifty cup handles in brushed nickel at a Home Hardware that was closing. I used my trusty drill and screwdriver to add them. Only one is a little crooked. But remember my first post? The one where I didn’t know which was the drill and which was the power driver? I’ve come a long way, baby, haven’t I.
Here’s the end result.
The sheets are top quality, obtained from Salvation Army. The bedspread was low quality but great-looking from Giant Tiger purchased for $35.
The cow-dragon? was bought from a vendor who made them at MediaWest a dozen years ago.
And, oh, look! Here’s the hat girls which were one of the very first projects I undertook to make this house my home.
My ex is coming to stay next weekend to look after Stormy while I’m visiting friends. He’ll be the first to stay in my newly upcycled guest room.
Here’s Stormy, because why not?
Edited to add: My good boy crossed the rainbow bridge a year after I moved into my treehouse. He was probably fourteen. We’d been told he was ten when we adopted him, but he lived another seven years. Thank you for seeing me into my new life, Stormy. I miss you lots.
The Secret of the Old Clock
My new house is full of funny angles–weird for a new-ish build, but it’s a feature I find quite charming. When I saw this skinny old bookcase, I knew it would fit perfectly into a crevice in my living room.
After a successful, car-filling day of garage saling, I posted my finds on Facebook, where my niece in England commented: “I think it used to be a clock.” Doh! Of course it was. I’d never noticed a grandfather-type clock with shelves before, but having subsequently googled it, yes, indeedy. That explains why the top shelf is missing, and the space behind the glass is empty.
Now what to do with it. You can’t tell from the picture, but the wood was exceedingly dry–it had turned a light grey colour with a lot of black that was probably dirt.
I decided not to paint it. Or at least, not all of it. I find many dark curio/display cabnents end up hiding your collectibles instead of showcasing them, so I removed the back, sanded and prepped it, and painted it light grey. The grey matched the wall colour where I intended to place it so it would look like there was no back.
Then I sanded the rest of it, leaving a lot of the black in the creases and corners. I drove to Redefined Finds in Stouffville and purchased some Fusion Hemp Oil. You just slam this stuff on with a brush or a rag and voila! It looked awesome.
It did, indeed, fit perfectly into the little corner I had in mind.
Here it is, displaying my best tea-related possessions, plus a few other curios.
You can see one of the office chairs I recovered, and the gong my father used to open each set before he performed at Lichee Gardens in Toronto. My mother, the original upcycler, re-purposed a bird cage stand to hang the gong from. The red leather magazine holder is a curbside find.
I love it! Don’t you?
A place to rest my stuff…
I saw this little table at Salvation Army a couple of months ago. It was already black (my fave. Yay!), and had some cute styling to it. It weighed only a couple of pounds and fit in my shopping basket nicely. I think it was less than $10.00. It was, however, chipped and scratched, but I immediately thought about using it outdoors, so what did it matter?
I finally got around to sanding it and repainting it. Since it was going outside, I used Rustoelum outdoor paint. Then I covered it in a couple of coats of Polyacrilic. Now the best way to apply Polyacrilic in order to not leave brush strokes or bubbles, is to put on a latex glove, hold onto a piece of sponge, and pull a cotton sock over it. It is way easier to paint detail and rounded things. I’ll definitely be doing this when it comes time to paint my staircase.
As it would be outside, I suspended the table and dipped each foot in Polyacrylic.
Here’s the finished table:
But I worried. It was going outside. So I grabbed some clear peel and stick protective plastic and applied that. Yikes! Well, I wasn’t careful and it ended up full of air bubbles. When I tried to smooth them out, the plastic scratched. It looked awful.
But I had some puffy plastic shelf liner I liked, so I glued that down. I don’t love it, but I’m afraid it I remove it, it’ll tear off the protective plastic, the paint and the veneer, and I’ll have to start again. Which I just might. 
But in the meantime, here’s the little table by my front door. I can put my stuff down on it while I hunt for my keys. A future project is to paint the front door red and the side windows black. But for now, this is quite handy.
EDITED TO ADD: I wasn’t at all happy with the way it turned out. When a friend on Facebook mentioned it looked a little like tile, I got a brainstorm. What if I just glued some leftover tile to the top?
The glue under the black and white shelf liner was still wet, so I just washed it off both the shelf liner and the table top.
I had a few tiles left over from doing the mudroom in my previous home. They were one of the last things I decided to haul from Toronto, but now I’m glad I did.
Voila!
Much better, eh?
The Return of the Footstool
You may recall the little storage footstool that had been one of my first practice projects. Snagged at a thrift store for $4, I was so pleased with how it turned out.
Then disaster struck–the hinged unhinged. And I didn’t know what to do. It sat lonely and discarded while I worked on other projects. So sad.
But then… someone posted the same little footstool for sale on Facebook Marketplace. With pictures, one of which showed the proper placement of the hardware. You were right, @JoanLeacott. They go inside.
And so, armed with my fancy new cordless screwdriver… Wzzzt! Wzzzt! times 4 and it was good as new. Better, even, as it never looked this good.
A happy ending. The footstool and I will live happily ever after.
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