New additions

The hubby and I were up at the butt-crack of dawn this morning, also known as the ungodly hour of 5 am. We had be at Fort Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia, at 8 am so that he could go over the final paperwork before being shipped off for his training on August 18. He figured we might as well kill two birds with one stone and suggested that I tag along so that I could be added into the military system and get me some benefits (woo!). I was rather reluctant until he added that there was a pretty sizable antique mall in the center of town that we could visit once everything was taken care of so of course I agreed to go. The paperwork proceeded as planned and we were released into the small town of Blackstone a little after 1 pm. After a less than satisfying experience at the local Hardee's for lunch, we walked over the antique mall and proceeded to look around. I have to admit that there were some surprisingly good buys there and it didn't take long before we both found things that we couldn't live without:



Say hello to our new library table and mantel clock! We plan to set up the table in the hubby's office (he's finally reached a point where he can say farewell to the Wally Martin desk that currently lives there) and will hopefully do that in the next week or so. Also exciting is that the main house computer died while he was away in Texas (I swear up and down that I had nothing to do with it), which means we'll be getting a new computer--a Mac!--soon. I have officially turned him to the dark side. I think the library table might be a circa 1910 unlabelled example by L. & J. G. Stickley, as it has nearly identical hardware with rosehead nails as some other tables by them. The thing is built like a brick house with solid quarter-sawn oak legs and sides and a veneered top (and yes, we lugged it up three and a half flights of stairs ourselves after a slight scare over whether or not we'd be able to get it through the door). It has a couple of condition issues, but they're all minor and don't effect the overall aesthetics and usefulness of it. Plus it was a total steal, so I'm not complaining.

As for the clock, well, I love it, which is good because it is not currently in working order. All the parts are there, but its frickin' filthy and will certainly benefit from a good cleaning and overhaul. Hopefully I'll be able to work one of my job connections and get a deal on having it brought back to ticking and tocking until the cows come home. It was made by Sessions and probably dates to between 1910 and 1915. The plan is to put that on the mantel downstairs and move the family mantel clock up to the bedroom; it doesn't really keep time all that well, which I blame totally on my dad, but it looks nice and sounds comforting. My plan to have a clock in every room of the house is slowly coming to fruition. Mwahahaha!