Race day before and after. That jacket I'm wearing? It's 'waterproof', and was completely soaked through by the time I finished.

While It wasn’t the 10K that I originally resolved to complete this year, and my time of 58:26 was slower than my best 10K time, I’m more than happy with having completed 80% of that resolution. It also reminded me how much I enjoy running, so maybe I’ll start doing it on a semi-regular basis. Maybe. Perhaps.
Later on Saturday after a long hot shower to try to warm up, I convinced D that we should go antiquing. We headed up near Barrie to Roadshow 400 Antiques which I’ve passed many times, but never visited. It’s a rather large antique market with a quite varied selection of items. Remember those glass candle stick holders I found at a thrift store in September that I worried were a bit expensive at $14.14 for the pair? Look at what I spotted on Saturday:

I think these candle holders are the same as the ones I bought.

I’m pretty sure they're the exact same, but were being sold for $50.

Lovely Pyrex mixing bowls - too bad they were $75

I loved the colours, but at $75 there was no way I could justify buying them as I’d be afraid to use them. Leaving them behind made me sad, however the day wasn’t a complete bust as I did bring something home with me.

My new mixing bowls

Yes – I brought home Pyrex bowls. These ones were literally 2 stalls over from the original set I spotted, and I bought them for a whopping $24. Better yet - mine are less scratched than the original set I spotted! I have no idea if $24 is really a good price for 4 Pyrex bowls, but given they were only a third of the cost of the original set I couldn't really say no could I?  Would you have left them behind? Or would you have been like me and hobbled as fast as your race weary legs could take you to the cash so you could buy them?

My Craigslist Dresser

I have to admit I cheated a bit. I was only missing one of the medallions or rosettes, so I took one of the original rosettes to Lee Valley Tools and tried to find as close a match as possible using size and colour as the two main criteria. The pull I used was the 3" Antique Brass Petal Handle. Here is a closer picture of the miss-matched pull.

The replacement rosette is on the left - the original is on the right

I also strategically placed the pull in the bottom drawer on the left side where it's close to the wall - this means it isn't immediately noticeable when you look at the chest of drawers. Can you see the difference in the picture below (This is admittedly not the best picture, but it would be the angle you'd see the dresser from)?

Simpson's Logo

The Corner of Yonge and Queen St (source:city-of-toronto.blogspot.com)

Simpson's underwent many changes over the years, expanding across Canada, partnering with Sears, and then in 1978 being purchased by the Hudson's Bay Company. The two companies brands operated separately across Canada until 1991, when the Simpson's locations were closed or re-branded as Bay stores. The last Simpson's store to be converted to a Bay store was the original on the corner of Yonge and Queen Streets. (More info can be found here)

Today's Special

I loved that show growing up - and for nostalgia's sake, here's a video ;)

My birthday present - an antique Limoges mirror

It took me a while to figure out to do with the mirror, and once that was figured out, it took even longer to find a key component for my idea to work. The plan was to frame the mirror in a shadow-box type frame. Unfortunately I couldn't find exactly the type of frame I was looking for - I was looking for one where the glass was spaced about 1/2" away from the back of the frame - all the frames I found had no space, or they were true shadow boxes for mementos and the glass was a couple of inches from the back of the frame.

I decided that I was going to hang my mirror in the bathroom, so one of the first steps after completely dismantling the frame, cleaning, and then re-assembling it was to spray paint it silver to match the chrome accents in my bathroom. This was my first experience with spray paint, and quite a bit easier than I had thought.

I taped off the glass on the front a back, and set the frame on some 'Painter's pyramids' I had bought for another project but not used. I set the entire thing in a big cardboard box to spray as I was doing it inside (I don't have a garage or outside space that's solely mine).

I decided that I would back the mirror with black velvet, but I needed to figure out a way to mount the mirror on the velvet. Two sided tape was out as it could potentially damage the mirror, but luckily the mirror was framed with a rope pattern that was constructed in such a way to leave tiny holes around the mirror. Using a beading needle and some clear thread I sewed the mirror onto the velvet using the tiny holes in the rope pattern to secure the mirror to the fabric.
I then mounted the velvet on some thin cardboard (from a frozen pizza) using spray adhesive and placed it in the frame. I then added a piece of thicker cardboard to ensure the mirror was positioned securely in the frame and anchored it all in place using the original nails. Using spray adhesive I glued a piece of brown paper to the back of the frame to neaten up the back, and also to help keep out any dust. My last step was to add a small label identifying the mirror.

Here's the finished product:

Here is the cost breakdown of the project:

• Thrift store frame: $6
• Velvet fabric: $6 - King Textiles - $14.00/yd. and it was 20% off
• Needles and thread: $2.01  - Fabricland - the location was closing so it was 50% off
• Spray paint: $7.19
• Painter's pyramids: $6.80 (I bought mine at Lee Valley, but Amazon has them too)

For a total cost of about $30 (tax. included) I think I got a pretty good result.

Fast forward many months, and those lamps were now sitting forlornly on my living room floor where I'd left them to languish after bringing them home. If I had known how simple it was to rewire a lamp I would have done it months ago. All I really needed to do was visit Aristocrat Lighting, and they very kindly supplied with all the parts I'd need. I have to say that this is a neat store - they will rewire any light for you, and their back room is full of light parts.

It turns out I needn't have been worried about rewiring a lamp - it's very easy. I decided that I'd use the lamps beside my bed. The ones I was using were okay, but I'd had them forever, and they weren't very interesting. I'll describe them as college-chic, which works as I was still in school when I got them.


 

The total cost for these two lamps was just $120. The lamps cost $50, rewiring supplies were $30 and the shades were $20 each. I would have easily spent that much had I purchased two new lamps in any store but mine are unique, and as a bonus the next time I see a great lamp in a store with questionable wiring I'll know how to fix it.