I really would like some help identifying a particular painting. I bought it at an antique store for $30. Its a square painting (victorian era?) of a woman in a big white dress in front of an old couch. It appears as though she is knitting. She is facing a large fireplace with a picture (looks like George Washington) on the wall behind her. There is also a tall grandfather clock next to the picture behind her. In the very front bottom left corner of the painting, there is A table with a Teapot on it. Its a little bit eerie, but a very cool painting. There is no artist name on it. I would very much like to find out who painted it, what time frame it was, and what it could be worth, if anything. Thanks so much!
I have a picture of it also, but not sure if i can post it here. If anyone thinks they might know, I can email the picture. Im sure it isnt too valuable, but its very cool to have in the house. Im most interested to find it who the artist is.

It sounds like a nice painting. If you live near a college you can take it in to the art department and see if anyone knows about it. Also, go to allposters.com and type in the description of the painting. They have reprints of hundreds of paintings.

I already have several birdcages, random hanging lightbulbs, murals, pictures of models on my walls, about 7 dream catchers and several vintage and antique clocks in my room.
What else could I add on a low (ish) budget? Xx

try mixing colors of some cheap sheer drapes. Or some luxurious drapes like satin?

I have a bunch of square shelves that my books are on now.
I will be moving them to one continuous ‘floating’ shelf that goes around 2 walls in my room.
I’m 14, so nothing too complicated.
here’s a list of my books, read if you would like, but most of you probably don’t have the time.

LIST OF BOOKS, YOU DO NOT HAVE TO READ THIS LIST
Nancy Drew/ antique books
The Lost Files of Nancy Drew – Grosset & Nunlap
Nancy Drew #7, The clue in the Diary – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #9, Secret of the Spa- Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #10, Uncivil Acts – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew # 11, Riverboat Ruse – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #12, Stop the Clock – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #13, Trade Wind Danger – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew # 14, Bad times, Big Crimes – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #15, Framed – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #16, Dangerous Plays – Carolyn Keene
Nancy Drew #173, Danger on the Great Lakes – Carolyn Keene
The Little Prince – Antoine De Saint-Exupéry
Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm – Kate Douglas Wiggin
Fun with Dick and Jane – William S. Gray
Mad About Madeline (all Madeline stories) – Ludwig Bemelmans

Crafting/ ‘Fun’ books
1500 best bars cookies muffins cakes & more – Esther Brody
Paige by Paige – Paige Davis
200 Braids – Jacqui Carey
Simply Sewing – Judy Ann Sadler
The Pastel artist’s bible – Claire Waite Brown
Hair Wraps – Anne Akers Johnson
Step by Step Presents – Wendy Boase
The Magic of Salt Dough – Brigitte Casagranda
Origami and Papercraft – Paul Jackson & Vivien Frank
The Philosopher cat – Kwong Kuen Shan

Poetry/ Self Help/ Auto-biography but mostly fiction novels
The giving tree – Shel Silverstein
When the sidewalk ends – Shel Silverstein
Falling up – Shel Silverstein
A light in the attic – Shel Silverstein
Mr Poppers Penguins – Richard and Florence Atwater
When the Nines roll over – David Benioff
Mon Journal Ful Nul – Jim Benton
The Wizard of Oz – L. Frank Baum
The land of Oz – L. Frank Baum
Ramona The Pest – Beverly Cleary
The Adventures of Pinocchio – C. Colidi
Code Orange- Caroline Cooney
The Boy next door – Laura Dower
Tomorrow Code – Brian Falkner
Lush – Natasha Friend
Freshman – Michal Gerber
Paper Towns – John Green
An Abundance of Katherines – John Green
Flush – Carl Hiassin
The Tail of Emily Windsnap – Liz Kesslen
Lily B. On the Brink of Cool – Elizabeth Kimmel
Sex, Drugs and Cocoa Puffs – Chuck Klosterman
Side effects – Amy Koss
Sunshine Sketches of a little Town – Stephen Leacock
Rules – Cynthia Lord
Betsy Tacey – Maud Hart Lovelace
Betsy, Tacey & Tib – Maud Hart Lovelace
The Doll People – Ann M. Martin & laura Godwin
The accidental Chearleader – Mimi McCoy
Twilight – Stephanie Meyer
New Moon – Stephanie Meyer
Eclipse – Stephanie Meyer
Breaking Dawn – Stephanie Meyer
The Host – Stephanie Meyer
Letters from a Nut – Ted L. Nancy
The Audacity of Hope – Barack Obama
My sister’s keeper – Jodi Picoult
Wreck this Journal – Keri Smith
Peak – Roland Smith
Drums, Girls and Dangerous pie – Jordan Sonnenblick
Eggs – Jerry Spinelli
Lost it – Kristen Tracey
Safe as Houses – Eric Walters
The Bvlgari Connection – Fay Welden
The rules of Survival – Nancy Werlin
The Strictest School in the world – Howard Whitehouse
Each little bird that sings – Deborah Wiles
Learning to Float – Lily Wright

Reference/ Information/ Music

Canadian Oxford World Atlas
The Story of English – Robert McCrum, William Cran, & Robert MacNiel
The Great Scientists – John Fardon
Math Tricks, Games and Puzzles – Raymond Blum
Jumbo Book of Number Puzzles
The Giant Book of Games – Will Shortz
The Old Farmers Almanac 2009
A-Z of Lovehearts, friendship and other Slushy stuff – Tracey Turner
A-Z of Ghosts Skeletons and other haunting horrors – Tracey Turner
A-Z of Crackers, mistletoe and other Christmas Turkeys – Tracey Turner
Piano Chords – Jake Jackson
Guitar Chord Bible – Phil Capone
The Songwriters Notebook – Matthew Teacher
The Complete Beatles Volume 1
The Complete Beatles Volume 2
Best of Dave Matthews Volume 1 Guitar
Teach Yourself to play piano
Jack Johnson In Between Dreams – Guitar and Vocal
2007 Greatest Pop and Movie Hits
The Science Book – National Geographic
Innovations in Glass – The corning museum of Glass
Atoms – Chris Oxlade
An Intimate Guide to the Cosmos
Do Penguins Have knees? – David Feldmen
So, Now you Know – Harry Bright and Harlan Briscoe
Daily Planet Book of Cool Ideas – Jay Ingram
The David Suzuki Reader – David Suzuki
An inconvenient truth – Al Gore
The Otesha Book: From Junk to funk
The Finger Ratio – John Manning
The Human Body – DK Books
Goldfish 2nd Edition – Gregory Skomal

Unshelved
Bad News (A book about the decline in American News)
The Dictionary of Science and Technology, 2nd edition.
Webster’s French English Dictionary
Larousse French English Dictionary
Webster’s English Thesaurus

You already have them broken down by categories. I’d break Nancy Drew into a series and shelve them according to order they were published. In fiction and poetry, alphabetize by author. If you have more than one title by an author, alphabetize within that group by title.

Put non-fiction into categories like the library–history together, sociology (Bad News could fit in here).
keep

Reference books should be grouped together. Keep foreign language books together alphabetically.

The sun didn’t shine down through my window like it would every morning. Instead, a gray light shone through bouncing off my bedroom walls. It looked like it was going to rain, but that was the least of my worries. This week had been hard. Lots of things were happening here and there. Things that I didn’t want to believe. I looked at my clock it was 10 in the morning. Last night had been rough, – actually every night this week- nightmares took over my sleep, and my eyes were numb from crying. My family left me, for a better place – well at least I hoped.
It was that afternoon, when my father told my mother, my younger brother and I that we would go out to dinner soon, where they would leave me alone in this world. I wondered what special occasion it was – only to find out later that my father had quit his old job and had found a new one. My father worked for the government. It was quite a load on his life. After all, he was fifty-two when he decided to quit. He decided to keep an antique shop since he thought we had reserved enough money to live on if the shop didn’t make a profit. My mother on the other hand was a social worker so she stayed home most of the time.
It was about eight in the afternoon when my father announced that we would go out for dinner. My younger brother’s cherubic face shined with excitement.
“Where are we going dad?” my brother jumpily asked, after all he was only five.
“Somewhere special (brother’s name)” dad said as he picked up (brother’s name) and swung him around.
The only thing running through my mind was ‘how was I going to finish studying for my midterm?’
“Dad I can’t go”
“Well why not Kristen?”
“I have to study for my midterms”
“Well you’ll have time for that later”
“Bu –“
“(says father’s name) let her study! We can bring her dinner but not a good grade.” My mother said abruptly. “Okay Kristen” she continued “well be at uncle Fray’s restaurant” I stared at my fathers face. Uncle Fray wasn’t actually my uncle, he used to be my father’s roommate in college, and his restaurant was two cities away. “Call us if you need anything, we’ll bring you back some dinner” she continued to say as she kissed the top of my head and prepared to leave.
“bye mom”
“bye hun”

I waved as they got in the car and drove away. For some reason I had felt sad that they were leaving.
Great. I was going to be in the house, alone, for at least four hours. Isolation was something that I wasn’t good at coping with. As soon as I shut the front door and sat down to study, the isolation began to creep in. This time it was a different feeling like isolation had brought a friend along with it, fear.

sorry for the grammer mistakes if you want to let me know on how i can make it more interesting just tell me XD im not done il keep adding mor though :]
i’m a really bad speller :/ please no hat ecomments please :]?
ps: i havent came up with some character names so ignore the (father’s name) and (brother’s name)
haha ray thats xactly what i was going to do

WELL I TINK IT NEEDS SUM WORK XD

No, but reallly. Don’t say no hate, you asked for critique.

It needs some grammar correction, spelling correction as well.

say as she kissed the top of my head and prepared to leave.
“bye mom”
“bye hun”

-Capitalize Bye, and add commas.

Additional Details
i’m a really bad speller

That doesn’t matter, fix it.

I looked at my clock it was 10 in the morning. Last night had been rough, – actually every night this week- nightmares took over my sleep, and my eyes were numb from crying. My family left me, for a better place – well at least I hoped.

Show don’t tell, and remove correct measurements. Perhaps you should say late, early morning.

around.
The only thing running through my mind was ‘how was I going to finish studying for my midterm?’
“Dad I can’t go”
“Well why not Kristen?”
“I have to study for my midterms”
“Well you’ll have time for that later”
“Bu –“

This conversation seems not as realistic as it was made to be. Instead of saying what was running, show it:

My mind plummeted into a field of worry. How am I going to finish studying for midterm?

This time it was a different feeling like isolation had brought a friend along with it, fear.

This seems awkward and you use the same word over and over in this paragraph: isolation.

It was about eight in the afternoon when my father announced that we would go out for dinner. My younger brother’s cherubic face shined with excitement.

Instead of telling- have him announce it.

Also you keep saying brothers name, and only brothers name. How about: my brother, for a bit?

With the xD I assume you are under 16, that’s normal. Your writing seems interesting, but dull. Brush it up.

I just went through this and made major improvements. So how good is it and how can I improve it again. I also did my best because I am only 12 year old girl. I did what I know. So how can it be improved if in any way at all?

Chapter One: My New School
It was a very nerve wracking, stomach turning day for me because it is my first day at a new school. I have sweat pouring out of my long, brown, wavy hair and showing through my new outfit. A close fitted T-shirt with extravagant details and a pair of jean shorts matched with a pair of flip flops on my feet. I walked to the large bathroom mirror one more time to make shure I looked okay. So now I am done fixing my clothes in the mirror and now I have to rush down the long set stairs because I as running a little late. I glided gracefully out the antique door and hopped into my old, banged up, red truck. I got my truck cheap, you see, after working a double shift everyday over the summer. I put the keys in the ignition and now going what feels like 100 miles per and hour. It might have been my heart that made me feel that, but you never know when it comes down to me. I parked my car in an empty parking space and took off towards the small school. I entered through the old doors of the school, schedule in hand, going to homeroom. I walked in nervously and saw a boy with blonde hair and big brown eyes. It wasn’t his looks that has attracted me to him, it was just something about how he held himself like he has some sort of secret no one can know. I walked up to the teacher unwillingly. "Hi! Where is my seat Ma’am?", I blurted out like a fool. "Right by Justin Sparks there. The boy with the blonde hair and brown eyes." she replied sweetly in a tone that freaked me out. My first thought was, perfect. I decided I would get to know more about him by asking questions. "So how are you?" I said blandly. "I’m fine. How about you, new girl?" he asked curiously. "I’m great. So tell me a little bit about you." I said blandly again, but with curiosity. "I have no brothers or sisters, only my parents Lizzie and James. My favorite color is blue, like your eyes are." he said happily answering me. The bell just rang so I couldn’t tell him anything about me. I feel guilty. "See you later" we said at the same time. I walked out of the room and into the not so crowded hallway. I took a quick peek at my schedule and hurried to my next class. I walked to the teacher, again nervously. "Hi! Where is my seat?" He just pointed at the chair and I sat down without a second thought about it. I just can’t wait until the school day is over today.
Chapter Two: Disappointment
After school was over and I was home safely I was very disappointed. I didn’t see Justin for the rest of the day. Tonight I hope to dream about him and what it would be like to see his secretive self again. I walked up the stairs carefully making shure not to trip and fall all the way to the hallway that leads to my huge bedroom. My bedroom has brown walls, like the color of Justin’s eyes, and fancy curtains hanging over the windows. My bed is in the corner neatly made with brown covers. I walked quickly to the dresser and put on my white lace night gown. I also know it is quite a bit early for sleeping, but I just want to dream about him and nothing else. I carefully pulled out the covers from under the pillow and pulled them over me. I closed my eyes and counted to 100. I fell asleep 5 minutes later. "Beep Beep, Beep Beep" my alarm clock was literally screaming. I groaned and went to go wake my mom Renee also. She was already awake when I walked into the room. So I turned around and walked down the stairs slowly. I grabbed the box that contains my favorite cereal, pops. I poured it into the plastic bowl I had grabbed form the cabinet and added some skim milk. I ate it quickly and hungrily knowing I wouldn’t want to be late for school.

Great! It could be slowed down down a little bit, and the flow is a bit awkward, but its great. There’s a couple things bothering me though… First, I have no idea what the main character’s name is. Second, don’t you think she’s being kind of obsessive over this guy she just met…? I mean, unless you want the story to be about how this obsessive girl ruins some poor guys life you may want to consider changing that…. Also the beat up red truck, and mother named Renee kinda makes me think of Twilight…. Although I did like the mention of how she got the truck that was pretty good . I like the fact that you had Justin flirt with her a little with the favorite color associated in with her eyes. Perhaps she could start the conversation with shyly introducing herself, you don’t want her to be so unenthusiastic, introductions between main characters are pretty important, and if during the beginning of the book, will show a lot about the character. For example, I slid smoothly into the desk, I picked absent minded at a hangnail, while eye balling this Justin character from a sideways view, he caught my eye for a moment and I hastily went back to my hangnail, moments later though I slowly took a peak to the side to find him smiling cockily at my, wearing an amused expression. "So who might you be?" he inquired. "INSERT NAME HERE," I murmured quietly, barely loud enough for him to here. Just by doing this you really do add some personality, By giving Justin a cocky smile and amused expression you feel that the character seems very sure of themselves, by having him strike up a conversation with the girl staring nervously (She’ll tend to have a more nervous feel to her at the moment if you make fiddle with something like a hangnail) at him you figure out that he’s friendly enough. Also when maincharacterwithnoname asks Justin to tell her more about him, either add more info about him or chose one piece of info, it’s kind of weird to have him tell her something about his parents before slipping in some flirting (On this note, you really should emphasize on what her reaction is)… Also, her room doesn’t need to be described quite so much, readers aren’t intrested in the room, they’re interested in what’s going to happen in the story. Shorten it to a single easy flowing sentence. Ex. I entered my room, it had brown walls, matching lacy curtains, a simple desk, books shelf and small music system on one side of the room, a neatly made bed with matching brown curtains (I love the fact that you added in that the girl is neat, perhaps in a way this could form in to a flaw of sorts? She could be very particular about cleanliness. To mix in with it, perhaps Justin could be very messy, which bothers her).