He told me he wasn't sure he could do it so I should bring it to The Lamp Menders in Minneapolis (wow, really? you tell me that now). So The Lamp Menders replaced the main wire and all five sockets for $136 bringing my total to $240.00. Tom planned on hanging it on Saturday but we had too much running to do so he PROMISED Sunday would be the big day. 
And he made good on his promise...but not without him seriously wanting to kill me. Listen to this: So Sunday morning about 8:30 he starts working but discovers the "black" and "white" wires weren't marked so we drive to Home Depot. We were told by a lighting "expert" (I use that term loosely) to buy this $17 gadget...got home, it didn't work. Went back to Home Depot, found a different lighting expert who actually knew what he was talking about. Told us how to LOOK at the wires to tell which was which. Got back home, work a little more, find that the screw (or as the lighting people call it, "nipple") from our fixture we were replacing was smaller than that needed for the vintage chandelier. Tom went back to Home Depot, replaced the bracket to fit the bigger screw that he also got a home depot. We got the chandelier up, tested it then held the base up to the ceiling to find that the base didn't cover the hole. I went back to Home Depot to buy a medallian. They only had white so I found my ivory spray paint but it was out in the 30 degree garage so I had to wait an hour for the paint to warm up, got high in the basement spraying the medallian and now we're SURE we're good to go...no more trips to the hardware store! 
We take the chandelier back down, string the painted medallian, make sure the hole is covered, connect the wires, test to make sure it works, start to screw in the base...only to find that the new screw is not long enough for the darn vintage base thats about 3 inches deep (refer back to pic 1 to see the pretty scalloped base). So down it comes...again...and by this time Tom wants to throw the darn thing out the window (and me with it.) We already know that Home Depot doesn't have a long enough screw so we try Menards...no luck...they just don't make the 1/4" screws (nipples) anymore, they're all 1/8". As a last resort we head to our local Frattalone's Ace Hardware and they actually have another 1/4" screw the same length as the one we got at Home Depot BUT they have a little coupling that hooks the two together and VIOLA! We now have one that's long enough and that pesky (but pretty) vintage chandelier finally gets hung at 3:30. I don't know why Tom was so upset...it only took 7 hours and 6 trips to various hardware stores.
Final cost of the $79 chandelier = $302.00 (and almost my marriage)
Moral of the story = Don't buy a friggin' vintage chandelier (ok...maybe one more, just don't tell Tom)
And I found this hat, I don't collect hats, I only buy them for the millinery. And this one came in it's original Daytons box...lucky me! 
And I found just a few other odds and ends, neither of us found anything spectacular. 
I love, love, love these blue flowers, the metal key hole and the vintage hat label that I saved from a hat I took apart (it might even be the hat that I got the blue flowers from?)
I love old religious medals and pins, buttons and paper ephemera.
And I really love this fabric (wish you could see the pretty clear button better)
More of my favorite fabric and a bit of an old pillowcase.
And the Marie Antoinette look-a-like I got from my swap with Cerri of 
This floral fabric is my absolute favorite and I can't find anymore anywhere.
More vintage ephemera and an old locker number.
A little chenille flower and the prettiest lace I've ever seen.
And these are all the tags tucked in the pockets and bags...although I found that I missed a pocket and it's completely tagless so I've got an old recipe card I'll use to stuff in there. Now I can breathe a little easier knowing that all my "good stuff" still belongs to me and it's all in a pretty look book I can fill with my favorite photos.
I'm proud (as a peacock...hahaha) to say that I snuck out of the office to drop off the Chandelier this morning. I organized the library on Sunday night (but still want to move some furniture around to make a cozy little reading nook.) I re-covered my studio chair yesterday and I have to schedule a trip to St. Croix County Dry Goods to get some better fabric for my Strawberry needlepoint pillow cause I'm not happy with what I have...and finally, here is "Fancy Peacock" all finished and hanging out with her little friend, the yellow bird.
And it is so darn cute! I just love it! So, when she lists them in her shop make sure you grab one before they're all gone.
And a little birdie I made from the pattern in 
The first thing we had to do when we got to the hotel is swim, and then after dinner we had to swim, then the next morning we had to swim, after the zoo we had to swim and before we went to bed we had to swim...I think you get the idea.
Henry Doorly Zoo - The Night Kingdom
It was pretty dark in the Night Kingdom exhibit, you could barely see where you were walking. We stopped to look at the crocodiles and Tom whispered to me "Rachel, come here, I think I hear something"...so I fumbled my way over to him and listened...sure enough I heard some nibbling. We could not see this guy at all...only when my camera flashed to try to focus did we see this...
This girl was so old she could barely walk, it was really quite sad, when she finally made her way over to this wall to lay down she groaned as if it pained her to squat to a laying position. You would never guess how frail she is by this picture...she was truly massive!
I don't really need more jars but the prices were too good to pass up, especially on these red lidded S/P shakers!
I got two more floral hankies to add to my collection, a whole gob of rayon seam binding, a big white bowl to hold onions and some other linens that are currently being washed. I'm somewhat of a germ-a-phobe so the first thing I do whenever I get treasures home is scrub them all down...every single one of them!
Here's a bunch of smalls...more dice (I really gotta stop buying dice), some cute little felt baby booties, a vintage bunny candy holder, some jello molds that I'll grow grass in, put in an Easter egg and use on the table for Easter dinner, a Strawberry shortcake doll for Shelby's Easter basket (the doll already got a bath and her clothes are soaking in Biz), a vintage lock complete with the key and lots of little vintage baby announcements. Oh, and don't forget about my vintge crepe paper nut cups...
I've recently started a collection of vintage view master reels. I have a new View Master Viewer but it doesn't really work well with the old reels...so I bought a vintage one (and scrubbed that down so I can check out Mickey Mouse). I got a booklet of milk coupons (some of which will go into my 
These are two of my favorite finds. This hat is full of lovely velvet violets and two pink roses and this Chocolate tin reads "With Love to Mother". It was digustingly dirty but cleaned up rather nicely...
See how cute it is all cleaned up?
Why did I think I needed more buttons? A whole 1-pound tin of them?
And last but not least, my find of the day (Ok, Tom actually spotted it for me), this vintage birdcage was an absolute steal! I've been searching for one for months now and this is exactly what I wanted...and for only $24. I'm going to plant flowers in the old pail and hang it in the backyard and the little hippo planter is for my niece who collects them (hippos, not planters). 
My Etsy shop will remain open since we'll only be gone a few days. Any purchases will ship out on Wednesday the 16th. All purchases to date have been posted.
Absolute perfection...and I got the dealer to come down $15 on the price...
And these cute little strawberries were from a vendor who had set up adjacent to my booth at Junk Bonanza (so she let me have them for $1 each)
Shelby was home for the weekend getting everything ready for her first Spring Break with her college friends. I'm a little apprehensive about letting her go but I've warned her and warned her (and warned her) about the dangers so I'm praying her and the other four girls will be very careful. Of course, she needed her hair colored before she left so that's what we did this morning (and I HATE doing it!)
And I've been trying to get some more of my paper bag and fabric albums made to put in my shop but with all the junking, shopping and hair coloring who has time?
Maybe after our trip to Goodwill I can get working! Have a fun Sunday!