Shavvy Chic And vintage

10/12/2025

10/01/2025

Australia... A man there let a huge huntsman spider live in his house.
Despite their often large and hairy apearance, huntsman spiders are not considered to be dangerous spiders. As with most spiders, they do possess venom, and a bite may cause some ill effects. However, they are quite reluctant to bite, and will usually try to run away rather than be aggressive.
A huntsman spider has a terrifying reputation due to their size and speed. Aftr all, they are very large, very fast ambush hunters.
Huntsmen are quite beneficial spiders in many ways.
They're very fond of eating other creepy crawlies that we don't like having around the house, such as cockroaches, mosquitoes and flies, caterpillars, moths and other spiders, the reason the man let it live in his house.
Credit Goes To The Respective Owner

10/01/2025

Whether you think you can, or you think you can't-- you're right!

09/30/2025

Driftwood sculpture by Ian Freemantle 😃🥰

09/30/2025

My daughter's bedroom has been empty for two years, but I still catch myself buying her favorite purple flowers every spring.

The doctors said stage four meant months, not years. They were wrong about the timeline but right about everything else. Emma fought longer than any of us imagined, whispering about the garden we would plant together when she got better. She made me promise to fill it with purple - her favorite color since she could talk.

For eighteen months after the funeral, I could not touch the yard. The weeds took over, neighbors stopped asking when I planned to clean it up. My husband tried to hire landscapers, but I screamed at him until he sent them home. That earth held too much pain.

Last fall, something shifted. Maybe it was finding her garden journal under her bed, pages filled with sketches of moon gardens and butterfly bushes. I started small, just clearing one section where she had always wanted to build something magical.

The white quartz rocks came from an estate sale. The elderly woman told me they came from her mother's meditation garden, said her mother believed the stones held protective energy for families going through hard times. I loaded every single one into my car, knowing Emma would have loved the story.

Building this spiral took three weekends and more tears than I can count. I found the purple plants through a seller on the Tedooo app who specializes in memorial gardens (I also have my craft store after a tip I heard here). When I told her why I needed them, she sent extra bulbs and a handwritten note saying she understood the weight of planting hope in grief.

Now I sit here every evening, watching sunset light catch the white stones. It is not the garden Emma and I planned together, but it is the one I built for her. And somehow, in this circle of stone and purple blooms, I can feel her again - not in the dying, but in the growing.

The empty bedroom upstairs will always break my heart. But down here, surrounded by her favorite color, I remember that love does not end when breathing stops.

09/29/2025

The eagle that has flown twenty years... but it never crossed the sea

For two decades, a stepparian eagle was followed by a Russian GPS until its death in Saudi Arabia. Its flight map surprised scientists: it traveled thousands of kilometers, traversed deserts and mountain ranges, but never dared to fly over the sea. She preferred to run huge rodeos on solid land, always avoiding water. The explanation is in the physics of flight: these birds depend on thermal currents that are generated only on the ground, and in the sea almost none. Her instinct revealed an incredible evolutionary adaptation.

09/22/2025

From milling rough lumber to applying oil finish, it took me a year and four months to finish this beast, working on it in my spare time and when I was in the mood.
There's a few accent pieces, dividers, and tool holders in walnut, but the cabinet is mostly cherry. The main frame of the case and the door frames are curly cherry. The internal panels are straight grained cherry. The appliqués on the outer doors are from a limb of a massive cherry tree that grew in my grandmother's back yard. The drawer fronts are birds eye maple.

09/22/2025

Found this armoire at an estate sale after the ninety-year-old owner passed. Her daughter warned me it had "issues" - one door wouldn't close properly, the mirror was cloudy, and there was water damage on the base. "Mom refused to get rid of it," she said, shaking her head. "Claimed grandpa proposed in front of it or some nonsense."

Took me six months of weekend work to restore it. Had to rebalance the doors, resurface the mirror, rebuild part of the base. Posted progress photos in woodworking forums on the Tedooo app where I sell restored furniture, and people kept saying I was wasting time on "outdated junk." But when I finally got that door to close smoothly and the mirror to reflect clearly again, I understood why she'd kept it all those years.

Now it lives in my bedroom, and every morning when I open those doors I think about all the mornings she must have done the same thing. Sometimes the best antiques are the ones that fought hard to stick around. They've earned their place in someone else's story.

09/21/2025

I'm standing in my kitchen at 55, holding flowers nobody sent me, wearing a dress that took me 200 hours to crochet. My husband forgot my birthday again. Not forgot-forgot, but the kind where he transfers money to my account with a text saying "get yourself something nice."

The granny squares on this dress? Each one represents a year I've been invisible. The friend who stopped calling after I couldn't afford girls' trips anymore. The daughter who only texts when she needs babysitting money. The coworkers who started having lunch without me after I mentioned menopause once.

I posted this on Facebook and got twelve "you look great for your age!" comments. For my age. Like I'm some archaeological discovery that's held up surprisingly well. My sister asked if the dress was "from that vintage store?" No, Linda. I made it. With these hands that apparently only look good "for their age."

The roses? I bought them myself. Arranged them myself. Took this photo myself with a timer because asking my husband would've meant explaining why it mattered. Last year I ordered myself a birthday gift from a jewelry maker on Tedooo app, had it shipped to the house, and he said "oh, what'd you get?" Never registered that nobody else would be sending me packages.

But you know what? This dress fits perfectly. Every stitch placed exactly where I wanted it. At 55, I've learned that if you want something done right - whether it's a granny square dress or acknowledging your own damn birthday - you do it yourself.

So happy birthday to me. I made this dress, bought these flowers, and decided I look exactly the age I am: 55 and tired of pretending that's something to apologize for.

09/20/2025

"Today, I spent the whole morning pouring this concrete path, carefully making sure every inch was smooth and perfect. Took a short break, came back, and boom, this turtle had taken its sweet time strolling through like it was making a VIP entrance. At first, I was pretty pi**ed, knowing I’d have to redo the whole thing.

But as I looked at those little tracks, I couldn’t help but laugh. I guess I learned something important today: no matter how slow you are, you can still leave a big mark… and I don’t know if I should redo it or leave it as a piece of art."