Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday

Ahhhh......... Fall, my favorite time to get out and about and do a little shopping. Last Sunday was the final Allegan outdoor Antique Market. My favorite. I finally bought myself an antique butter paddle ($12). I'd say thats about the going rate in my neck of the woods. Heaven knows I waited long enough in hopes of finding a cheaper one, LOL. I also got a reproduction birdcage windsor for $25 at the show. It's a great shape but not a great color. That'll be a future Monday make-over. Here is my butter paddle pictured with a basket I found at a garage sale last Saturday for .25 cents.

This morning I went for a country drive to an orchard and pick up some farm fresh cider, some spies, & several little boo's along with a couple other pale colored little gourds to fill the basket. Their mini gourds are .50 cents ea.

From there I went to Changing Thymes antiques and decor. Lucky me, they were having an anniversary sale. Discounts in every booth and plates of goodies and hot cider all through the store. Cookies, apple bread, red pepper spread on home made french bread, brownies....... Oh My!!!!!  That was my lunch today, LOL.

I bought the beige berry sprig that is in the basket for 20% off ($3.20) and an adorable little sampler (pictured below) stitched in 1988 for $10.80. The frame has got to be replaced. Better sized and maybe heavier. But I love the sampler!

The lantern above is electrified and very weathered. I just love it! I got it off ebay for only $15 and $5.95 shipping. A steal. My hubby, the electrician is going to rewire and add a plug with switch for me since I haven't figured out a good place to hang it. If only there were 2, then I would know right where to put them.

I am still at, buying up wool clothing, cutting it up, and storing it away. Much like a squirrel storing up nuts for winter, LOL. So the last tuesday of the month is always 1/2 price day and I tend to go "a little" crazy. I hit the jackpot this week with some really fabulous colors I didn't have yet - rusty oranges, olive green, eggplant, plus lots of brown and tan - great fall colors.

Finally, I wanted to share some pictures I took last night. We had quite the storms move through west Michigan early last night. As the storm came in it looked like armagedon. The clouds were so black and foreboding and they came in so fast. Then the 40+ mph winds hit followed by hail and heavy rains and some wild lightening. It was an awesome show out the window. But then....... the grand finale. A full double rainbow. I grabbed the camera and ran out the door in my bare feets. Brrr!!!!!!! And there I stood on cold cold wet slab stone along side my pond, in total awe! Rainbows always seem to fade away so quickly and I was snapping away. But that rainbow lasted and lasted and gave me lots of time to just stand and drink in the majesty of it.

Then I noticed everything had a strange glow. I turned aound and looked to the west and this is what I found.

Now I guess it's time to go pick up those branch's and twigs that are spread across the lawn in the wake of it all.





Make-Over Monday

Make-Over Monday

It's been a busy month around here. For starters, I finally re-finished a dovetailed box I got for $2 at a garage sale earlier this summer. It had a very unattractive label and a lot of paint splatters on it.

 The sanding went super fast with my orbital sander. It's a  crafty girls best friend.

I sanded it down just enough to remove the label, paint, and the old finish. But, not so much that I removed the character and age of it. It still has it original saw marks and all it's scars, bumps, and dings. Then I restained and varnished. It is gorgeous if I may say so myself. The pictures just don't do it justice.

We finally got the outside of the pool house done.

This is a picture of the area when we first moved in.

The unsightly chain link, over grown shrubs, and hosta were pulled out as soon as we moved in and the fence re-used elsewhere in the yard, behind a wall of Junipers and out of sight. Then replaced with hydrangea's and evergreens and a split rail fence.

The view from the road. We put in the half round window to match the arches above the bedrooms windows on the front of the house.

The cupola was ordered on-line from Annapolis Weathervanes and Cupola's. It's definately the frosting on the cake.

We are still working on the interior. The drywall needs a little more mudding and then paint. The ceiling is going to be paneled in some old barn wood.

It was ReaLLy ruff so we ran it through the planer to clean it up.





Next I rolled on a light coat of flat, thin, cheap, white wall paint that we got free after re-bate from Menards.

 When the paint was dried I took my trusty orbital sander and sanded the paint way way down. And then I stained over the top with an oil based wood stain.

And set them all out in the sun to dry.

And now they are sitting on saw horses in the garage waiting to get installed. I sure hope I like it after all that work which included 1 day of planing, one day of painting, 2 days of sanding, and 2 days of staining.

Till next time (hopefully with a finished ceiling).................





Happy Birthday!!!!

My adorable little Grand Darlings celebrated their 2nd and 4th birthdays this week.

My Sweetie Pie, Ava, turned 2 today. She's a pip!

And my Honey Bunny, big sister Sienna, turned 4 on the 20th.

Sienna and her bestie, Hannah, were born just a day apart. This year they got to share a princess party in the park for all their little friends. It couldn't have been a more beautiful September day and prince and princess costumes were worn by all as Princess Liz read them princess stories.

They are growing up so fast. Too fast in fact.







Frugal Friday

A Fabulous Frugal Friday

 Make-Over Monday

Combo Day

Busy, busy, busy!!!! Now that it's too cold for swimming the mad push is on to get all our outdoor make-overs done before the snow fly's. A free Craigs List fence to install, a house to paint, finishing the new poolhouse, pruning trees, refinishing an antique dining table and a small end table. Work, work work.

We've been in this house for just a little over 3 years now. One thing I have wanted to do since we moved in was to put a cupola (or 2) on the roof to give my 70's ranch a little personality on the outside. In an ideal world I would have 2 smaller cupola's - one for each end of the house. But I would have settled for one larger cupola centered on the house as well. I discovered cupola's don't come along everyday (or every year) on Craigs List and if I was going to ever get one I'd have to pay. So, giving up on the dream to put one on the house, I ordered a smaller 21" cupola for the poolhouse (according to hubby, still too much $$$). Then, 2 weeks after placing my order, what do I find? A free 36" cupola, copper roof and all, on Craigs List. I quickly e-mailed my request, certain I would never hear back. But, an hour later the phone rang and the cupola was mine. Out of 48 other e-mails I was the lucky winner. So this is, for sure, my most fabulous Frugal Friday EVER!!! A new 36" copper topped cupola would be $1,000 + shipping. So while it isn't exactly the cupola I would have ordered, I couldn't be more thrilled with my find. It is about 40 years old. Hubby re-braced the inside. I scraped and sanded. This weekend (when I finish painting the house) it will get painted. And then............ up to the roof it goes.

Now deciding where to put it. I really always pictured a smaller one on the garage and a second smaller one over the brick end of the house. I'm thinking it is too big for the brick end. And, the solar heating for the pool is on the garage. So now it is between centering over the picture window or the above the front door. Hmmmm............

Now this brings us to Make-Over Monday. We had no plans of taking on this project, but when we got the free vinyl fence for the front of the house it just sort of snowballed.

So this is the house before (ewww) -

and after -

Still needing new front windows, a couple large rocks, and 2 mugo pines but we've come a long, long way.

The garage before and after (the walk-in door is another Craigs List freebie) -

and the hideous bedroom windows -

After -

I still have the back of the family room to get painted and hubby has one peak to paint on the end of the house. I leave him the ladder work as I won't climb higher than my 2-step stool. But I definately have, by far, the most area to cover. So, off to Lowes now, to buy my 4th and final gallon of paint. I just love their Valspar paint.

Monday I'll share my completed poolhouse with it's new little cupola.

Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday

It's a frugal Friday "on" Friday. What do ya know? LOL! Looks like hubby has returned to a five day work week. No more Friday's off. Ah well, nothing lasts forever. It was nice while it lasted though.

So early in the spring I posted a nice little lantern I which I hung from my limbed up pine tree. Well since then I found 2 more little mini lanterns for $1 ea. I used the green check hopespun gift ties from my Primitive Heartstrings pear pinkeep to hang them in the tree.

This is the original lantern I got in the spring that started it all. I just can't turn down a lantern of any size.

This vinyl fence was a great Craigs List find I got last saturday. I was the 3rd caller but callers one and two didn't have a way to pick this up. Caller #1 dared to aske the guy if he would deliver the free fence, LOL. It's 2 sections of vinyl picket plus the 3 posts and post caps. It's exactly what I wanted for the front of the house but didn't plan to spend the $$$ on till next spring.

I've got mixed feelings on this next one. My hubby's co-worker asked if we would like to have it "free" for our grand daughter's since his children have outgrown theirs. We are making great use of it for sliding into the pool but....... it certainly isn't very pretty to look at out there, LOL.

Sewing Room Progress Report

I made a lot of progress on the sewing room yesterday. It was too cool and breezy to swim so what the heck.

But here is the most impressive part of todays efforts

A clean and organized craft closet.

and closet doors I can actually close all the way

and here I am all ready to post Frugal Friday with 2 minutes before Friday has even arrived. Now to sit and wait for Friday to arrive so I can post .......................................................

Pear Pinkeep Arrives

It's Here!!!!!

The gorgeous velvet pear pinkeep I won on the blog giveaway from Julie at Primitive HeartStrings arrived yesterday. Can you believe it is even more beautiful in person? I never would have thought to use velvet but it was a perfectly amazing choice of fabric. And the little berry hanging from it is adorable. Julie even included the cutest little ball of darning thread, a thimble, and some buttons and everything was wrapped in brown tissue, & tied in homespun. It even smelled wonderful, like cloves I think. It was like Christmas morning!

So, now the confession, those were the pictures of the clean shelf. Below is a peek at what the rest of the sewing/ craft room looks like. Humiliatin' ain't it? A combination of too much time buying second hand "projects", too little time working on said projects, and too much (if there is such a thing) in the pool. Actually, I was standing in the middle of this mess, cleaning away, when the mail lady arrived with the pear. I was making great progress. But when I opened the door to Cam Lin to recieve my parcel I discovered how hot and humid it had gotten. So...., I took just enough time to open my pear, oooh and aaaahhhh, perch it on the shelf, and then.........Splash!!!!!!!!!!!

Well, back to the project at hand.......... cleaning the sewing room. Who knows what forgotten treasures I might discover under that pile?

All my thanks to Julie at http://primitiveheartstrings.blogspot.com/
for the beautiful pear and the much needed inspiration to clean up my mess.   ;o)

All is Well

I just wanted to drop a quick note to say "disregard" the request in the post below please. Julie from Primitive Heart Strings found it last night. Whew! Just in time for me to get a good night's sleep, LOL. I just don't want her to get a flood of notices about the giveaway now. You should drop by and check out Julies fall pumkins. They are gorgeous and displayed perfectly in an old prim tool box. http://primitiveheartstrings.blogspot.com/
So you know what this means? I must go and clean up the sewing/ craft room for my new pear. I'm afraid the closet in there erupted (a couple months ago) all over the room. This is just the boost I need to go in there and face up to my mess.

 Hello. My name is Mary, and yes I am a craft supply/ fabric hoarder.

I Can't believe I won!

I Won! I Won!!!

In case you haven't already heard...... I WON!!!! I won the pear giveaway from Primitive Heart Strings!!! As a great blogger (Cranky Crow) once said to me (and I have found myself saying it every since) "Oh My Heck"!!!! I never win anything. Well, almost never. There was that beautiful ruby and diamond ring I won once (20 yrs ago)

but otherwise, nothing. And now my finger is too fat for the ring and in photgraphing it I realize just how old my hands are really looking, LOL. I even use to get my house all spotless and gussy myself up on Superbowl Sunday just in case Dick and Ed turned up at my door with a camera crew and a giant check from PCH. I didn't want to be caught on camera braless in my robe. But they never turned up. Anyhow, I'm sure the only reason I won is because I rubbed Robin's lucky crow when she wasn't looking.   ;o)

Now, I can't begin to tell you what a frustrating and disappointing day this has been. I had wonderful plans to start my day at a season end sale at the nursery and then spend a hot sunny afternoon in the pool with my gorgeous granddaughters. The pool is perfect and the weather is perfect and the construction mess is almost cleaned up. And then.......

My day began - with an early morning phone call while I was laying there stretching and contemplating getting up. It's never a good sign when the phone rings at an unreasonable hour. I won't go into the who, the what, or the why. But, I had to cancel my glorious day. Especially painful because it had been so cold and rainy that I hadn't been in the pool in nearly 3 weeks. By the time I do get home to swim it is nap time for the grand daughters, so they won't be coming.

I have a very late lunch, suit up, and I am on my way out the door for a late swim. Again the phone rings. UGH!!!! Foolishly I answer it. Then.... I turn around and go get dressed to run off and handle catastrophy #2.  No swim for me today.

So I get on the computer and decide to visit blog world since I hadn't been on in over a week. And what do I find? I can hardly believe it! I actually won a blog giveaway! Julie's primitive pear is just gorgeous and will be positively perfect in my sewing room (or maybe even my diningroom). Right away I go to comment and leave a Woot! and a thank you on Julies blog to tell her how this has been the one bright spot in my very dismal day. I click to post my comment and I get "Your current account (MaryOs@comcast.net) does not have access to view this page". I try signing out and back in. I comment again. Again it says no access to view. I went and commented on a friends and a cousins blogs to test. No problems. Back to Primitive Heart Strings - rejected! I click to send an e-mail. I get a message my mail client default is not set. No surprise because I get it every time I click on an e-mail link. Hubby comes home and we spend an hour trying to figure out how to set it properly. We fail. I reached that point - Do I laugh or do I cry. Well, I did neither. Instead I decided to blog about it, LOL. So, Julie, if you see this, I am beside myself with joy that I won. I am also beside myself with grief that I can not contact you to claim my beautiful prize. My only solice is that I am in good company. My bestie has the same trouble not being able to comment on my blog for a few weeks now so I know it isn't just me, LOL. Because...... I HATE when it is just me having an internet issue.  ;o)
So, if anyone is passing by Primitive Heart Strings you might want to mention this post by poor me and that I even included my e-mail here for her. I just don't know what else to do.

Frugal Friday

Frugal Friday

Ok, I know, it's Saturday. Once again I missed the boat. Hubby has been working 10 - 12 hr days, Mon-Thurs for the summer. That sometimes screws up my Friday posting. So I either wait till he goes to bed and post late or, if he is working Saturday for over-time, I wait till then.

So this week I got an amazing steal at the re-sale store. I had been eyeing this trench coat for a couple weeks. But, it was a size too small and $15.00.  But, this week they were having their season end sale and all clothing in the store was $1. So I was standing on the door step when they opened Monday, LOL.  Really, they should have held on to it to put out with the fall/ winter clothing. It has a wonderfully soft warm flannel zip out lining and will be plenty warm for winter errands, even in MI. It's so well made with lots of nice little details and looks as though it was never worn.  Now I just need to stop eating ice cream and get back to business on the diet. I am down 30 lbs and one size but I have a ways to.

I was complaining to my hubby one day that it had been much too long since I got a curbside special. Don't ya know the very next day, while garage saling, I find a weathered old wicker chair!!!!! I couldn't wait for hubby to get home so I can show off my new treasure.

I planted a clematis along side the chair. Hoping next summer or maybe the year after it will climb up on the chair. The ox yoke hanging above the chair is a garage sale find I got for just $10. It is in pretty rough shape but then it wouldn't be prim if it wasn't, LOL.

When hubby got home he was pleased as punch. Not because I found the chair but because he found me 2 old divided wood windows. I have to say they are terrible color but I love the size of 'em. Just means I will have to paint and age them myself. I am going to print off some pics of the grand babies in sepia tones, put one in each of the window panes, and hang them in the new pool house above a daybed once I find one I can afford.  I would go out and take a picture of the windows but it hasn't stop raining all day and they are out leaning against the side of the house. Instead, here's some craigs list beds that are priced a bit too high for my budget or are too far away. But either one would be perfect.

Only $160, but three hours away and needs a custom mattress.

But I LOVE it!!!!

This one is local, $300, and it's great too with new custom mattress included. But, too much $$$ for my frugal budget.

And this is the pool house in progress. Very slow progress. One day it will turn up on a Make-over Monday edition.

Thanks for stopping by!

Till next time.........