Wednesday, February 27, 2013

Thrifty Finds & Tulips too....

Like most everyone else, I am so ready for Spring!
So the other day when I was at our local grocery store I
thought I would check out the fresh flower fridge.  Sometimes 
when I need a little pick me up I will treat myself to a bouquet of
pretty flowers.  On this day they had some pretty, on the edge of done,
tulips. But, they were only 99 cents a bundle, so I bought two!

 Flowers can be thrifty too!

 Our oldest daughter is collecting things for her someday Home!
I love that she is picking up what we've always enjoyed doing and that is
thrifting.  When the girls were younger they preferred
waiting in the car while dad and mom went into
 any antique or thrift store.
Now, they are thrifters too!
LOVE that!

 She scored big recently with this wooden box. It says Michigan Fruit
on the side.  This is also her collection of cookbooks
some are vintage hand me downs, some are not.
She takes after her dad and enjoys cooking too.
He LOVES that!

 These two spools were found at Goodwill recently. My hubby pointed
them out to me and thought they would be great in my new Craft Room.
They are quite large actually and are spun with a coarse feeling yarn.
 I'm not sure were they would have come from, but I grabbed them. 
 I think I paid $8.00 for both.


 Here they are displayed above the cabinets in my Craft Room.

 DO NOT look at the back splash!
We still have to decide what to put there. 
 But, the two "cookie jar" type jars
were picked up for around $4.00 and the
 tall one in the middle was 99 cents.
(see my cupcake liners Vee ?)

 The larger Ball jar above was found in a junk pile my hubby picked up
while out cutting fire wood.  Zinc lid included.  The small blue Ball jar I 
picked up recently at Goodwill for 99 cents, zinc lid also included. 
Love me some zinc lids!

This next find has a little story behind it.
I first saw them when I read a post that Penny posted not long ago.
You know how it is when you're out thrifting and you keep your 
eye open for things.  Anyway, one day I was out doing just
 that and I saw the lid but, not the base of
a Butter Bell.  So I didn't pick it up, not being smart creative at all.
Then a few weeks passed by and
 at the same thrift store I saw the base.
Shoot, why didn't I pick up the lid when I saw it.  Oh well!
Not knowing what I would do with the base and not the lid, I didn't
buy that either.  But, I kept my eye open/on it each time I went into
that store.  Long story short, my hubby and I went into that store
on Saturday and....
 both the lid & the base where there!
~insert happy dance~
But, not together.  The lid was in a different section, I think over by
where they had the candle holders and what not.  Anyway, they had the
lid marked 49 cents and the base marked 99 cents. 
 Of course I picked them both 
up and took them over to my hubby and 
explained what they were and my story.
(I still wonder where the lid disappeared to all those weeks)

 the ~French~ side

When we got to the register to pay, the clerk held the lid in her hand
and had a weird look on her face and asked what it was. 
 I explained that it is actually the lid to the dish 
and that someone just marked them separately.
 At that price I didn't care!
She then said, "They do that sometimes,
 I will just give them both to you for 99 cents!"
Thank you,  I replied!
Then she said, "Actually, your total will be 73 cents!"
 It's "blue tag" day and it was marked with a blue tag! 
 Score for me!
The original price is $21.95 plus s/h and tax!
I can handle 73 cents!

Don't you just love thrifting?

Do you ever pick up thrifty flowers?
I'd enjoy hearing about your ~happy dance~ thrift finds too!
Thanks for stopping today....
I always enjoy your visits!

Monday, February 25, 2013

Today's the Day....

our Baby Girl turns
18!

 So hard to believe!

 Seems like only 
Yesterday!

This is a 
BIG
year for her!

She graduates H.S. in May....
then off to College in the Fall....
Where did all those years go?!

Happy Birthday Mallory!
~Time to chase your Dreams~

Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Dining Table redo & a Chalkboard....

I may have mentioned in the past that we got our dining room set
about 23 yrs ago.  We lived in a Victorian Home and we decorated Victorian.
The top of the table was in poor shape, so we removed the veneer....
~23 yrs ago~
I used tablecloths to cover the table.  Then last fall~ish time I just
got tired of tablecloths!

 So one day I just took the tablecloth off and put 
out a burlap bag and told myself it looked 
good and was fine with it....kinda. 
 We use this table alot, not every night, but quite often.
This dining set (with the original chairs we no longer have)
 is Jacobean Style. 
 I just googled it and found a set almost exactly like ours. 
 At one time we also had the matching buffet, but sold it
 about 14 yrs ago when we lived in a brand new house that
 had a much smaller dining room. 
 Now I wish we had kept it! 

Anyway, one day the rough edges and the still visible glue that
 held the veneer and the old signs of our girls art
 (Christmas bell shape outlined in ink) just wasn't doing it for me. 
 So I got out the hand sander and started working on it.

 I made lots of saw dust with this little hand sander.
Then the holidays came and the tablecloths went back on and well....
you know how it goes sometimes.

 But, this past weekend, off came the tablecloth once again and I mentioned to my guy that I wanted to paint the top of the table.  He amazingly agreed, and told me to do it!  But, you know me and my fear of painting antique  furniture.  I changed my mind and decided to just stain it. So he got out the electric sander and within an hour had it sanded as smooth as it would get.  It is the under veneer wood after all.
  Just pine, says my guy! 
 I don't care, I just wanted to have a nice wood tabletop!

 So we stained it

 and polyurethaned it
(several coats)
this wood just soaked it in like a sponge.

 I used a satin poly that is wipe on.  So it's not shiny and that's okay.  I really like how it turned out. I even like all of the knicks and dents and scratches.  I have to do some touch up on the legs with the stain,
 but that's not a biggie.


 This chair that I moved to my new craft room belongs
 with the dining table. At one time we had all four chairs
 and now we are down to just two.
My in~laws bought us 6 new oak chairs to go with our table.
They don't really go with it, but it was a generous gift!
So we slowly moved the "originals" to other rooms.
 Now we don't remember what we did with the other two. 
 Oh well!
(I at this point have decided to wait on painting this chair too)
Oh how I wish I had guts to paint antiques!

 Then I have this chalkboard perched on my Mom's antique sewing machine cabinet in my dining room.  I don't have any Valentine decorations out so I decided to decorate this chalkboard a bit.
 I sorta copied!
(I got the idea from here if you're interested)

and I put this wooden heart under this cloche too!
That's about it for my Valentine decorating this year!

I don't know what has taken us all these years
 to do something with the top of this table. 
 I guess life happened! 
 Raising 3 girls, moving to another state
and back, aging parents....
Yep, life happened!

What projects have you wanted to do, but put on hold for awhile?

As always, Thanks for stopping by!

Friday, February 8, 2013

Trail Blazers....

Or maybe just Basset Hounds....
 I wonder which one was the creative one?
Loosey went out first, probably her.

 Then Delilah, the copy cat, had to go out too.
When she realized Loosey was out.
She's funny like that!
That dark spot in there is Delilah....

 She's not as adventurous today, so she's heading back.

But Loosey made a trail around the whole yard.
She's tired now!
I was looking out an upstairs window and her path is
just how we see it in the summer when they are out in
the yard.  They have this same path that they walk.
It's funny to see she did it in the snow too.
Hounds are funny.  Their legs aren't very long at all. 
She sort of hopped like a bunny.
She's 7 yrs old, almost 8, she still likes to play though.

I shoveled the snow off this deck at 6:30 a.m.
While my guy was out snow blowing so he could go to work.
The sun hits this deck all day.  It's almost completely dry.
Glad I got that done!

How's the weather where your at?
Did you get any of this snow?

Thanks for stopping!

It went kinda like this....

The morning alarm goes off and we turn on the news.  Knowing we were to get more Snow thru the night I said to my guy, "Honey, you might want to go out and snow blow before you get ready for work!"
My guy said to me, "No, we didn't get more then another inch of snow!"
I said to my guy, "Okay!"

You see our morning routine is me going down and getting 2 cups of coffee and letting the dogs outside and then going upstairs to enjoy a cup of morning java with my guy.  Having done all that already, I knew it looked like this outside:

 ~we got another 6-8 inches~
So he gets his shower and gets ready for work.  It doesn't occur to him to look outside as he is doing all of this.  So I just go about my business.  He leaves and I tell him to drive safe and watch him tread thru the Snow to his car.  In his dress clothes and shoes no less!  Hoping he arrives safely to work.  But, next thing I know he is back in the house and changing into....

 Snow blowing clothes....

 Because, he got stuck at the end of our little driveway! Hmm, wonder if somebody should have suggested he do that earlier? Oh wait....someone did! ;)  I tried anyway! Sometimes they just have to discover things for themselves!

While he was using the snow blower,
 I used the shovel to clear off the steps.   
And snap a few pictures!

Just in case the mail gets delivered today!

Hope your having a great morning!
Stay warm and as always, Thanks for stopping by!

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