Fill a bag for a BUCK!

We have a St. Vincent's Thrift Store that has an outside area where you can fill a bag for a buck.

I've never stopped to look at the items before, but one day this little thing caught my eye. I knew just what I wanted it for, and it was not for it's current state.

Before

I had to restrain myself from ripping the junk off of it in the car on the way home.

I also got 28 vintage children's books in my bag for a buck, most of them from the 50's and 60's. They are so darling, I'll save them for another post.

After

I think it is much happier in it's new home. And much prettier, too, without all of the junk and fluff.

So this ended up costing me .0356 cents with tax- not bad, eh?

FREEBIE!

I was driving down my street last summer and spotted this on the side of the road with a FREE sign on it - you better believe I slammed on my brakes!

Before

I happened to know the nice guy who was giving this away, and he agreed to load it up on his piano dolly and roll it on down the street to my house. Free, and delivery too? I'll take it!

So I got out some of my favorite paint, and yes, it took me a year to get around to the project, but I love how it turned out. I used some spray paint for most of it, and a foam roller with the matching paint in a can for the top and sides so I could get a more even finish.

You can imagine my excitement when I was at the Dollar Store on 88 cent Tuesday and found (my favorite!) spray paint - Heirloom White for 88 cents a can. Yes, this is the same paint I bought at HD for $3.49 a can. Yippee! So now I have a stash - for any future projects I might have (there are plenty in my garage, just ask my husband!)

After, part one -

The top needs new glass shelves and still needs to be painted, but I am loving using this as a buffet for now. Much better, don't you think?

I spray painted the small knobs Oil Rubbed Bronze (my other favorite paint) and they turned out great. I LOVE that stuff! I bought new knobs for the bottom, I found them at Craft Warehouse and used a 40% off coupon on each. That made them $1.52 each with tax. Not bad, eh?

Please sir, may I have some more?

This time of year always finds me dreaming about vacations.

We took our annual family trip up to the Ranch in Montana

a little earlier than normal this year.

The problem is that my brain keeps thinking now it's time to go.

I guess thirty years of habit will do that to you.

This year we went hiking somewhere I'd not been before.

Talk about lovely views!

I was admiring these little cabins along the way...

Maybe someday ...

beautiful craftsmanship

This tree was so unusual ...

I wonder what happened to it as it was growing to cause it to bend this way.

The curved portion on the ground isn't attached to the ground,

it is floating and sways in the wind.

Talk about determination to succeed!

Upcoming Projects

I fell in love with these things the moment I saw them,

having a few projects mulling around in the back of my mind...

I also fell in love with the prices... the fabric was already cut

and then it ended up back on the roll, so I got it for remnant prices.

Gotta love that!

And the cuts just happened to be the right sizes

for what I was intending to get anyway.

So I guess they were just meant to come home with me, right?

Got any ideas for me of how to use this?

Little Cuties!

While on vacation recently, I was able to go to one of my favorite downtown stores that sells the most delightful things! I had to have a photo of these cute little piggy banks since one couldn't go home with me this time. I definitely would have chosen the one with the pink shawl, though!

And look at these adorable slippers!

I bet I would have worried about getting them dirty. I just thought that these clock lamps were so cool. I love the shades!

(By the way, sis, had I been uber-rich, one of these would have been your souvenir! But alas...)
Truly, this is such a fun store. You should see the rest of the stuff they have there, but I was too nervous to take any more pictures. I look forward to going there every year. Too bad it's like 500 miles away from home. Or maybe for the pocketbook that's actually a good thing!

Memorial Day

{ let us remember them }

photos from trip to DC with Mom

spring break 1993

Now that's a Garden!

I've got to get to work in my garden soon.

I keep looking out my kitchen window to a big mess

and thinking about what I want to do different this year.

This is only my second year having a garden

and we can just say that last year wasn't a huge success.

* one VERY large pumpkin

that hogged up all the room

* three watermelons

two were "past their prime" and the other was fairly anemic

* a handful of raspberries

that was a surprise - it was the first year we transplanted them

* a lot of great roma tomatoes

I used these for soup and we canned up and froze the rest

* several heads of lettuce

gobbled up by the birds before we could harvest anything

* beautiful fresh dill

this smelled SOOO GOOD!

* large stalks of corn

the sunlight wasn't great for most of the corn, we had a few tall stalks,

which I planned to use for fall decorating - but my baby came in mid October

and I was distracted and didn't cut them - the squirrels enjoyed the corn cobs

this winter, though!

Now isn't this lovely?

This is my aunt's garden and orchard in Montana.

She has about 60 acres and it is just absolutely amazing.

She works very, very hard to make all of this possible.

I love canning with her. She does everything, but when we are there it is time to do the pickles and carrots, and my sister does the jelly.

You should try her plum jelly. It's divine! We call it

"Plum Jelly by Mellie."

The first year they made it I kept calling it jam.

But that doesn't quite have the same ring to it, does it?

Unless your name was Sam, then "Plum Jam by Sam" would work.

But it's not, so I was corrected, quite often, I would add. Ha Ha.

I always look forward to her huge raspberry patch. I love to go out and just stand there and eat and eat and eat. Then there are all of the desserts we make...My family loves rhubarb pie. I am only starting to like this. My grandmother made a delicious huckleberry/raspberry/rhubarb pie that was so yummy with vanilla ice cream.
My aunt also dries apples that we get at Christmas time.

I always look forward to all the good food!

I can only hope (and work hard) to get my garden anywhere near this...

I have to say it still feels like a chore, and not that much enjoyment yet.

Maybe that will come someday, but for now, where is that dang rototiller?

A Child's Prayer

I love this sign that I made for my kids' room. I bought the letters a couple of years ago, but they were stashed at the bottom of a drawer in my craft room for ages! Before my second baby was born, I was determined that I would finally get the project done. I really wanted these precious pictures and message to be the focal point of their room. These are dear to me because my beloved Aunt gave them to me. She saved them in her hope chest since she was in high school, I believe. I am so grateful to have them! They were copyrighted in 1944 and 1945. Of course, they deserve to be properly framed and matted. I would love them to be in white frames to match all the furniture, but money is tight so this is my way of using what I have and being able to enjoy them now. You'll probably notice they aren't even matted, but I love them anyway. I am a believer that things don't have to be perfect to be beautiful!

Carmen

Good Deals!

I love a great deal at the grocery store, just like anyone else, but I hate driving all over town to get it. Usually I stick with one employee owned grocery store that always has the lowest price on everything. But lately I've been trying to pay attention to the coupon sales and one particular store (that I hate and always avoid) was having a sale and I had extra coupons and then the store clerks had even more coupons. Well, I ended up with 12 boxes of cereal, 4 large canisters of oatmeal, and 4 boxes of oatmeal packets for $16.00. That averages out to be .80 per item! I was pretty excited about that, especially since the week before they were having another sale and I got 4 jumbo bags of Pampers diapers for $11.50 and 18 wipes refills for $11.50. If any of you are used to buying diapers and wipes you will know that is a great deal. Anyway, I stocked up and got 12 bags of diapers and 18 wipes refills. I wish I could have gotten more, ( I know I'll need them! ) but I didn't have a limitless budget. I mean we still have to eat this month, Ha Ha. Well, I love getting a great deal!

Carmen

one old mailbox

I found this old mailbox at a local thrift store for a dollar or so. I had visions of it being cute and shiny and red. I think it's amazing what a little spray paint can do! Now it holds my daughter's alphabet flash cards (which I made for her, too) and a couple of buckets with her colored pencils and markers. I just love the way it turned out.

-Carmen