Front Porch…done

After putting around and not getting much done this morning, I loaded the kids up and ran to the store to get the last needed strand of icicle lights to do the front porch.  I got home, put a pot of chicken on to make soup from, and got to work while the chicken cooked.

I hauled the big ladder around, climbed it and put the lights up-without the help I was promised by my boys.  Granted, Calvin was baking cookies, but Brady was not the help I expected him to be.  Oh well…boys will be boys, and I am proud to say that I did it all by myself.  I cut some more greens, took some wire to them, strung some more lights, wrapped the cushions with some Christmas tree fabric, and came up with this…

I was picturing a bit more rounded top to it, but it took me a few hours to get this, so it’s good enough! lol  I’m satisfied :-D

Here are a few more close ups…

Gannon says,"Hi”.  lol  I love how the greens hang down.  Brady asked me if I was making the entrance to Narnia!  LOL

A snowman I painted a few years ago.  He has his shovel ready for snow! lol

I had the enamel pot full of greens right beside the door, but thought it might get in the way there, so I moved it out on the step.

Complete with another little snowman, a beaded star at the bottom, and a cardinal perched at the top.

Another wider shot after it was getting dark.  You can see the garage lights and the candy canes down the sidewalk.

It’s so funny….12 years ago when we moved here, we used to be able to put lights on the pines there in the front!  We decorated them all with lights….now they are almost as big as the house!

Hope you enjoyed the pictures!   Thanks for looking and thanks so much to those who have left nice comments!  I appreciate them, but don’t always think to tell you so!  Let’s me know I’m not just posting to myself!  lol

More Decorating…

I’ve worked all day on getting some of my house decorated.  As I had explained before, once I start a project, it leads to several others :)   My house is still not done, but I wanted to show you what I did in the bathroom today- decorating-wise. lol

This is looking in from my t.v. / crafting room.  It’s pretty small, so it’s hard to get good pictures.  An arrangement on the back of the commode…

I hung this little shelf today.  I may take it back down and paint it black, but I was being impatient today and the last thing I needed to do was to start spraying things!  I wasn’t sure how it would look-if it would look too crowded b/c of the washboards, but I think it may stay.  I’ve had this little tree for several years…I think I got it at the Dollar Store.

What do you think?  Does it crowd that side?  I am still looking for a larger mirror…poor Gannon has to stand on the commode to see himself in this one!  lol  Ignore the ‘not there’ light fixture at the top…the other one started to not work right, so we took it down and I am looking for a nice primitive one (when funds will allow).  I had to pull the curtain aside and stand back in the shower to get this much in the shot!  Like I said…small :)

And here is the top of the tall cupboard in there.  I have had this old drawer for years, and it has found it’s way in here recently.  I filled it with some greens and white berries…

I finally went out and cut some greens today.  Luckily we have pines around the house because it didn’t take long until my fingers were frozen!  I think this may be the coldest day we have had so far this fall/winter.  Snow should be coming soon!

I also worked in the kitchen a bit…but then I made a mess!  It started with me bringing the storm windows down and pulling the screens.  The kitchen is the furthest room from the furnace, so it can get chilly in there- may be why I like to bake a lot in the winter!  It warms it up nicely.  So I have to be sure to put the storms in every year.  We heat with wood, and the heat tends to rise to our upstairs, so it’s not uncommon for us to have a window cracked a bit in the dead of winter b/c it can get HOT up there.  So I’m working on the kitchen windows, and remembered my thoughts on pulling the curtains from the kitchen and trying them in the dining room.  Hmmm….I wonder.  So I did.  I wasn’t crazy about them in my kitchen when I put them up because my wall color had turned out too bright, but they were pretty costly, so I’ve just kept them there for the past year.  BUT-  I LOVE them in the dining room!  Remember this picture where I asked advice on what to do with the windows in there?

I have HATED looking at those windows for the longest time!  We still have not replaced the big one that is broken, but will do it in the spring.  Now I LOVE how it looks in there! 

Maybe not the best picture, but this is our family ornament tree.  It’s pretty large and sticks way out from the window.  Some of the pictures are bright, some are kinda yellow…I was having a big problem with trying to get the window wall all in one shot….the lighting fixture kept getting in the way and taking it out of focus.  I’ll have to try again later.  Here are a few more of what I have gotten done in there…I still have a set of tiers that will fit the window behind Santa there…should I go ahead and put them up?  I’m undecided on that for now…

 

A little closer pic of the stand by the front door…

Here is the other side of the tree-by the kitchen doorway..

Here is a little closer of my cupboard…

You can click on the picture to see things a little better.  I put some pine here and there amongst the things.  I painted the little house and barn when my oldest son was a few months old-he’s 14 now!  My hubs really got into me painting them and even picked up a paintbrush and helped a little!  He was more into telling me what color to paint things though, lol! 

One more picture.  It’s been a few years since we’ve really put a lot of lights up outside.  I think working overnights kind of killed my desire to do it.  Hubs really wanted to do it this year, so we got some new ones and he has been putting them up.  We still need some for the front porch, but we got the garage and sidewalk done.  Here is a shot from out the big window by the tree…

When we get the rest of them up, I will have to go down the hill and try to get a good shot.  It looks really cool, and you can see them from miles away because of how high up we are on the hill.

Well, I didn’t get a whole lot done in the kitchen…the place where I started today!  My windows are almost all ‘nekked’, lol so I may not show much of that room for a bit until I get something else done.  I tried to get pics of my little tree in there, but I HATE the way the walls show up in them.  I will be painting in there….soon!

I will be back soon with some more pics.  I haven’t gotten my table done yet…I’m working on and idea in my head, so I will have to experiment with it ;-)  Till then, hope your weekend is wonderful- stay warm!

A bit of Christmas here….

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving with their families!  We sure did and ate WAY too much-as usual :)  lol  I had to work on Thanksgiving morning until 1pm, so after I got home, we hit my in-laws for eating and visiting and then around 5pm we went to my mom’s house for more eating and more visiting.

I couldn’t believe it had been a whole week since I last blogged!  I guess with working and trying to get things moved around here to decorate for Christmas, I’ve just been lost in the shift! lol   I did end up getting my neighbors skinny tree and got that up along with our big tree.  The big one pretty much has to go in the dining room, b/c it required only having to move one piece of furniture to get it to fit :)  Then I spent Saturday making some ornaments, getting the trees up and deciding what was going to go where.  I got the skinny tree in ‘my’ t.v./ craft room.  It’s not totally decorated, but after I got the lights on the tree, I decided to re-do a few things in the room.  You see- that’s the problem with having ADD- I can never totally finish a project without it leading to something else- or several other things. lol   SO, this is what I have going on in this room:

Again,  I apologize for the crappy pictures.  I’ll get a better camera, someday…

I used 2 strands of lights that I dipped last year, and then painted the bases and dipped some of the candle lights that I got at the Restore a few weeks ago.

Here is a Santa that I dug out of the Christmas decorations.  I made him several years ago (why he looks so ‘country’) and he just hasn’t fit my style the last few years.  I decided that Santa needed a makeover this year from this:

To this:

Of course b/c of the crappy pic, you can’t tell how grubby he is now!  Trust me- he’s much more primitive!  I hung him on the shelf as I was rearranging.

And of course, since Santa and the shelf got a whole new look, I decided at 9 p.m. that I could not deal with the dresser I use for the big honkin t.v. in there.  It’s a beautiful piece with spool legs but it stuck out like a sore thumb with it’s white coat of paint, against the darker walls.  So I painted it.  PROBABLY not the best move, since the only black paint I had was craft paint, but it served it’s purpose! LOL

It was the funniest thing….Gannon came in the room after I started and he stopped and said, “oooohhhh…Dad is gonna be mad that you are painting on that!”  LOL   DAD was sleeping, and MOM gets to paint all the furniture that she wants to!   I want to scruff it up a bit with some sandpaper, but I’m afraid to!  Not sure how well that craft paint is going to stick!  I keep telling myself that if I scruff it up a bit and use some walnut stain on it, it will hold for awhile and if I need to touch it up…well, I have plenty of black paint!  I never intended to make this a permanent stand for the t.v. because it has a beautiful large mirror that swivels (the frame it sets on is the same as the spool legs!) and it seems a waste to not have it all together.  I am on the lookout for something else to hold the t.v. and the DVD’s and then my neighbor said she would like to strip this piece down and refinish it.  I also had that in mind when I used the craft paint- thought it might not be too hard to strip off?

Well, I’d better get going.  It may be a few days until I get back with some more of my decorating.  I was looking forward to  2 days off, but work kept bugging me today to take on a new homecare case that they just opened or they would lose it.  They promised me that it would only be for the next 2 days- until they get the new girl’s paperwork done so she can take it.  I finally agreed-after I got them to offer me $1 more an hour for working it!  LOL   It’s kind of a pain b/c it requires me to go in for 2 hours in the morning, and then again for 2 hours in the evening- good thing it’s less than 10 minutes away.  Not crazy about it, but Christmas is coming and I have shopping to do, so I agreed.  :)

Lots of pictures…

and colors!

I finally located my camera.  It was in the van….though I can’t figure out why.  I snapped some pics of the items I’ve been working on.  Don’t have places for all of them yet, but I am excited to see my ever-growing pile of things to chose from!

First some blues…

This is one of the things my mom gave me back in October.  It was just unfinished wood.  I love this color!  I somehow can not get a clear picture unless I use my flash.  It makes me angry b/c this is so much darker and more deep in real life.  (Robby!  I need a Nikon- don’t I??  lol)

Remember this pile of stuff I got at half-price day at the newer TS in town?  Many of these items were awaiting paint jobs and went from this…

to this….

(again, sorry about the flash…it’s more colored like the first picture)

and this…

Some tan…

It’s the cute  little lazy susan!  Now to find some wooden salt and peppers to paint for on it!

 

a little red…

Oh yeah, and some black…

The candles are just made over also.  I was shopping the other day, and found the dipped bulbs for the battery operated candles!!!  I was so excited that I bought a few too many!  lol  I’ve always hated the huge bulbs that came on those!  Old farmhouses like this didn’t always have the best outlet placement….so in order to get some candle lights where I would like to, the battery operated ones will have to do.  The white ones farther up are flicker ones that I gave a bit of a creamy shade to, and these brown ones are just brown paint with cinnamon mixed in to make them lumpy.  None of them are sealed yet b/c I wanted to be able to use them for the pics.  I’ve decided that I will buy some real candles in red for Christmas decorating too.

I also have one of the cinnamon painted ones in this sconce I bought at the ReStore yesterday…

with flash on…

Here’s another box…

I bought this a while ago at GW.  Can’t remember the price, but it needed to be this…

It’s old and somewhat soft wood….the colors sanded down beautifully!

These bowls were in the picture with all of the candle holders. Here they are with their new looks!

Miss Piggy before…

and after…

Hmmm…is that finally it?

Not yet.  Remember this cedar box I found a while back?

and I did this with it…

But today, it begged to be something brighter…

I thought I’d throw in a little gold- for good measure!

Believe it or not, but that is not the end of them!  I have several more items base coated, and more yet waiting in the closet.  I’ve decided that I am going to have to break down and buy me a gallon of black paint for some of the bigger projects-  I have a few that will require more than one can of spray.

I almost forgot!  I bought this jolly guy at the ReStore too!

He’s wonderful as is- no make-over for Santa this year-although he may need a toy bag!  I passed him up the first time I was there, but there was not as much to pick from this time.  They have already begun to move some of their stuff down the road into the bigger building.  I couldn’t pass him up again- he was only $5.  He stands a little over 2 1/2 feet tall and looks great with the 50 cent tree I bought last time.  

I spent all day yesterday cleaning so I could start getting out Christmas decorations this week.  Not sure how many trees we will be putting up this year-but I’m sure to need several more strands of lights and I will be dipping them.  We have our regular big tree, hubs said he wants a real tree this year, and my neighbor said I could have the skinny tree she bought years ago and no longer uses (since their daughter is grown).  They decorate a big fake cactus now.   I know….what?  It’s quite amusing….he gets dressed for all kinds of  occasions.  For example, when she had her hysterectomy earlier this year, he sported surgical gloves and a mask for a week or two :)  lol  Bunny ears for Easter, flags for the 4th…you get the picture.  Sorry- I went off subject.  One of the days that the boys are off school we are going to have a Charlie Brown Christmas tree making session.  I have a few strands of skinny wired garland, and would love little ‘trees’ to put around in tin cups and boxes, and pots.  I told hubs to keep an eye out for red berries while he is back in the woods, and also told him we will be cutting a lot of greens to decorate with, and sticks, and I have tons of pinecones gathered already.  I plan on getting a bag of oranges and put the dehydrator to good use- maybe a few lemons too.  I can smell it already- pine and citrus….can’t wait.

I have to work on swaps that I agreed to do with a couple of online friends, so some stitching will be in the plan for tonight.  I began and half finished one last night while I was watching t.v.  I was up until almost 1 a.m.!  I kept saying to myself, ‘Just one more word.  Okay, now just one more.  Eh, it’s not that late.  Just one more.’   lol  That has not happened for quite awhile now- since I quit my overnight job.  Let’s just say that, several times, I have awoken at 3:30 a.m. (always within 5 minutes of that time for some odd reason) and found my stitching on the floor.  And yes, I have lost a few needles.  Haven’t found them all yet, (and I’m ever so sure that no one else has-or I’d be sure to know) so sit lightly if you come a’visiting!  :D  I have work tomorrow, so this post will have to tide you over for a few days-  Hope they are wonderful ones for you!

Today I’m feeling….

Blue

No, not the sad kind of blue, but the makeover kind of blue.  I’ve been painting and staining, and will be off to basecoat more items that have been sitting around waiting for me to get the inspiration.

Well, it has struck me.

The sun is shining, and I am thankful that it’s the third week of November and I can keep my back door open to let some of the last breezes of autumn fill my home before winter blows in- likely later this week.

My camera is missing, and I am mourning it’s absence :)  So many things I want to share today and hopefully will be able to later when it reappears.

Hubs took #1 son to the neighbors house to sight in his gun for his first official deer hunting season.  His grades are finally acceptable- not all A’s and B’s like I know he could get if he tried, but much better than he has been bringing home for the past year (okay, actually for the past few years).  It irritates me, b/c he is a bright kid, but just lacks the desire to actually prove how bright he is.  At 14, Calvin knows everything he needs to know to get through life….lol

#2 son has gone on a walk in the orchard with Sadie happily barking and running  along, in circles, in front of him.  That is what our beagle does when she thinks it’s hunting time :)  Brady loves the outdoors and will often take walks in the orchard to try to spot deer.

Gannon has lucked out today.  First of all, PBS is running Thomas shows all morning it seems, so he is parked in front of the t.v.  Also, I found his learning laptop in a cupboard- one he hasn’t seen in 6 months (or maybe even a year), so he feels he has a ‘new’ toy to play with today.  I’m proud of the fact that he now able to play some of the games on there-now that he is learning to read.  He is finding the ‘fill in the missing letter’ game to be quite fun, but a bit difficult.  He’s still trying though.  He just made some popcorn, and it smells a bit burnt.  He poured some in a bowl to share with me….yum. 

I hope to be back later with pictures of my makeovers.  I’ve stripped the walls in the living room and am redecorating them.  I have finally stored up enough things to be able to work with.  I wanted to build a long shelf today to put on the one wall, but the friend that I wanted help from is not available today.  Good news- my hubs has found a miter saw for me!  His co-worker just bought it and used it for a few things and wants to upgrade to a sliding miter.  I will be happy with anything that will guarantee me a straight cut right now.  I have boards in the basement that are waiting to be transformed into useful items for my home- primitive ones, of course :)

Time to get back to painting!

New offering and a Packages arrived!

First I want to show you my newest offering over on my selling blog:

I stitched it on Irish linen, and I have decided that even though it is more expensive than the even weave, it is my absolute favorite fabric to stitch on! I will try to be doing most of my stitching on that for now on. It’s just feels SOOOO wonderful and I especially love the tea colored linen. It give the piece such a great base! Stop on over to my selling blog here to see the details!

Secondly, some may notice that I changed my header. I did that last night, and I was too tired to care that I did not get the words in the right spot! lol That is a picture of my dad when he was maybe 4 years old. He was ‘playing Santa’ by the looks of it. It just makes me smile!

And I had given up, but the UPS guy did show up this evening with my stuff I ordered! Now, it may not be what you think, but it came from here:

and it was filled with this stuff:

If you have never heard about alice, check it out www.alice.com This is what I got:

WHO KNEW??? lol Well, I know my sister did, b/c she mentioned ordering my boys some Tag spray for Christmas from there while she was looking for household supplies. What? I had to investigate! :)

Their prices are not too bad, and they do have automatic coupons on there that they take off their regular price. I got all of this for around $60 (there are 8 Old Spice deodorants there, mind you. My boys always want what their dad uses and that stuff can be expensive. The price here was a little less than the twin pack that I just bought at Walmart 2 weeks ago, and there were auto coupons on these ones)! I started off just putting the stuff in my cart that was the best price, and then added a few more things that I knew we would be needing in a few days. This is a sight where you can track your spending on these kinds of items (a way to help budget it) and you can tell it to remind you that you may be getting low on something. For example, if you know that you normally need to buy shampoo every 2 weeks, then you can choose to be reminded to order it every 2 weeks. You can simply shop the Best Deals section and just pick out the things you would use. The whole sight lists the percentage of savings on each item and also price per ounce/each/ however it is measured. That is pretty handy when comparing prices. Now, I needed coffee, but knew that I could get it cheaper b/c it goes on sale around here often. I decided to skip that. They do carry some food items in the pantry section…cereal bars, coffee, tea, etc.

I got 2 packages of panty liners – both for 82 cents! The razors were also in that section and they cost $1.05 for the bag of 10, and $1.86 each for the other 2 packages! Can’t beat that! Some of the stuff I got because it was the greatest price, and some of the other things I got, well, that was for sheer convenience! LOL I’ve forgotten to buy garbage bags for 2 weeks now and have been scrounging around for the one or two that I had upstairs.

Oh yeah, here’s the kicker…..shipping is always FREE!! The only downfall I can see is that you have to order 6 items. Hopefully it can be 6 items off the Best Deals page.

As I was pulling the stuff out of the boxes, I noticed that they take the time to tape each lid so they don’t come off, and they also put the more liquid items into big Ziploc baggies! And that’s a good thing:

The trigger on the window cleaner still got pushed in a bit, and it leaked! But only in that bag!

I can’t tell you how handy this is going to be come winter when it’s cold outside and we have food in the freezers but are out of toilet paper! lol I placed this order on Tuesday evening and got an email yesterday saying it was shipped, it arrived today! A click of a button and in 2 days it’s at your door! HOW cool is that? If you decide to check it out, you can put my email in to say that I recommended it to you. chrstnshe@yahoo.com. Not sure if I would get any reward for referrals, but what the heck :-D

Their motto: everyone needs an alice

Why yes. I think I might need an alice once in awhile!

Edited: Here is a referral code - http://www.alice.com/referral/4FF455C5 If you put this referral code in, you will get $10 credit after you spend $50. I wish I would have thought of it and I could have put my sisters email in- I would have gotten the credit already! Oh well :)

Make over done!

I couldn’t wait until tomorrow to show this make over!  This week I am working 4 days with my client (trust me- I’m NOT complaining!)  so I’m not sure how much time I will have to complete any others.  SO since I promised that I would show this, I want to get it posted before I go to bed.  I’m too excited about it to wait!

Yesterday, in my first post of the day, lol, I showed the things that I found at GW on Friday when I stopped in to see my step MIL.  I said that I had one more thing, but wouldn’t show it until I had it made over…for maximum impact :)  This was on the shelf with the lamps and I picked it up and it was $2.  I knew immediately that it was mine!  Seriously, those words go through my head when I see a fabulous deal at the thrift, “That’s mine!”  LOL  Heaven help the poor customer who may step in front of me when I spot something :)  Here is the $2 beauty!

In all it’s bright and shiny plastic beauty, (complete with horrid plastic holly and berries) in it’s vintage box even,  I just KNEW it would be fabulous!  I took it apart, worked my spray can magic, and       wa-LAH!

Don’t know if you can tell, but it actually has a really great flame-shaped bulb!  In case you are wondering, the snowman was made for me by my sweet friend, Sandy.  She was my first online primitive loving friend. :)  We did a swap 2 years ago, and she made this wonderful guy!  I just love him- and I love my new lamp!  We are swapping again this year, and I can’t wait to see what she makes this time!

My mom painted the Santa gourd a few years ago.  I have had him out all year around since she gave him to me :)

I almost kept the candle red, but so glad I didn’t or I would have felt it was to Christmas-y to leave it out all year.  It does have Christmas themed imprints on the base of it, but if I put it on a shelf or somewhere that it isn’t front and foremost, you wouldn’t even be able to see them.  I can’t afford to buy all the antique lamps and lanterns I would like to have- or even the reproduction ones  for the most part- so I am thrilled with this one for now!  AND it only cost me $2!!!  What do you think?  Would you have picked it up?  There was a point when I wouldn’t have even taken a second glance at it in that box on the shelf (and probably would have cringed at the first glance!), but now, with so many awesome bloggers showing what they can do with so little…it is very inspiring and makes you see ‘junk’ in a whole new light!

Speaking of exciting, my husband has a friend who wants to ‘unload’ some stuff that was his mothers.  Hubs must have mentioned that I was selling stuff  online and checking Craigslist for stuff, b/c he asked Hubs if I was wanted to list things for him and he would give me a ‘cut’ for taking care of it.  I think he’s talking more about Ebay which I’ve never sold on, but I told hubs to tell him I’ll check on it.  I asked him what he had to sell.  Hubs told me tonight that it’s mostly antiques and stuff!   He said to him, “Well, it may end up costing me once she sees the stuff!”  Um….yeah, maybe :)  I told hubs, “ Oh, you know Christmas is coming up (wink, wink).”  I’ll try to get down there sometime this week to see what he’s talking about.  I’m hoping it’s not fancy antiques and more ‘simple’ ones like crocks, benches, crocks, jars, lanterns, crocks, etc.  Oh, did I mention crocks?  lol  If he has stuff I want (no… desire) I would be happy to list them for some trade offs!  We bought our pedestal oak table and press back chairs off him a few years ago for $100.  He had put it out in a yard sale for $25 and a nice person told him that he may want to take that sign off  b/c it was worth way more than that.  So I’m thinking that he really doesn’t know just WHAT he may have.  We’ll see.  I hope I’m not getting myself all excited over nothing.  Hubs had said there were ‘Aunt Jemima jars and stuff’.   Hmmmm….should I even check it out?   :-D

Trinket boxes

I know, 2 posts in one day! lol  And it’s not even a makeover I promised! lol  We went to a birthday party for my cousins baby.  He is turning one and I had this urge to make something for him.  I decided on a wooden trinket box and just started free handing the design.  I came up with this:

The whole time I was making this, I was thinking that it would be a better gift for his older sister.  Then when I was talking to my mom this morning, she told me that Grace’s birthday was yesterday!  I really should have known, and don’t know why it didn’t hit me, because I know she was born a month after my youngest son!  SO, the trinket box quickly (and hurriedly) turned into 2 boxes this morning! 

It’s a darn good thing that the party was not until 5:30 this evening, because I worked on this thing ALL day!  lol  And of course, I, being someone who can never let it be simple enough, did liners for inside the lids:

I was very lucky that I was thinking of making a little pillow with a pocket for the original one, b/c I had the heart and key already done and just added her birthday on it.  I think I prefer the one I made for Adam.  I did the tacks on Grace’s first, and once I started putting them on the sides, I was not sure I liked it.  I tried taking a few out, but it left holes in the fabric, so I put them back in.  I like the ‘simpler’ look of the one just tacked on the corners.

In all, I was pretty happy with them.  They were admired a lot tonight at the party, and my cousin loved them.  She and my Aunt are women after my own primitive heart!  lol  That is the aunt that I believed inspired my taste in antiques and primitives from a young age.  My cousin and her husband are remodeling their house, so she is living in an old house that belongs to a friend of theirs.  She (the owner) just got done remodeling that house and it is BEAUTIFUL!  It was built in 1916, and all of the woodwork is original and she redid all the whole house from top to bottom.  I wanted to take pictures of all of the built in storage and the sleeping porch (with original beadboard!), pocket doors, etc.,   but there must have been 40+ people there!  When I was leaving, my cousin asked me if I got pics taken, and I told her I’d have to come back one day when there wasn’t 15 kids running through the shots. 

Here are the kids opening the birthday boy’s presents!  Sounds weird, but he’s only one, and had had enough of the party, so my cousin suggested that the rest of the kids open so we could all see what he got.  They are sitting on the built-in window seat in the dining room.  It’s just simply beautiful.  I can’t imagine wanting to live anywhere else once you’ve lived in a house this nice, but I’m guessing that their own house will be equally nice when it’s done.

The item from the GW that I mentioned earlier is drying in the basement, so I hope to be able to post the pics tomorrow of it.  It’s not a big item, nor a wonderful cupboard or anything (darn!) but rather something that was vintage, and somewhat hideous (by my standards anyhow) that I saw true potential in! Check back tomorrow evening for pics!

I was Thriftin’ again!

I know, I’m not even close to being done with the make-overs from last week, BUT- I couldn’t help it!  Brady needed basketball shoes, and the $6 cheapie shoes that Gannon insisted on getting at the beginning of the school year were literally falling apart on his feet, so we had to go to town last night.  But you know what? I’m excited that I actually have the energy to go to town on a Friday night now! – and with 3 boys to boot!  When I was working midnights, I NEVER wanted to go to the store on my nights off.   I am just so happy not to have to go to work during the night anymore, and I am finally getting to feel ‘normal’ again :)

Well, my step-MIL works at the GW here in town, and we haven’t seen her since trick-or-treating, so I thought we’d take a chance to see if she was working.  She was and was so happy to see us :)  She said it makes her night not seem so long when she gets visitors like us :)  So we made her night, and my night was made too when I saw these:

YIPPEE!!!  It’s the creamer that matches the sugar jar that I found last week at the other ts!   And yes, Janene, they are Pfaltzgraff!  I had looked at the bottom of the sugar jar and it just had a circle kind of symbol on it, but when you mentioned it, I looked at the bottom of the spoon rest and it said it on there :)  My GW tends to have higher prices, but I got the creamer and this other little pot for $3 each (I had to make a matching set! lol)  I couldn’t believe my luck!

I found a few other goodies too.

This lantern was $3.  It has a little loop handle on the base for carrying that doesn’t show b/c of the greens.  Those ornaments are glass too- not plastic.  Don’t care for the candle, but it works for now.  I don’t know if all GW’s are like this, but at this one, you are not allowed to touch the stuff that they have in the buggy to put out.  I tried one day, and another customer told me that rule!  lol  My MIL was actually putting the stuff out last night, and I was talking to her while I was looking around.  She pick this up out of the buggy, I saw the price was okay, and I just said, “Um, you don’t have to put that on the shelf…I’ll take that off your hands.”   lol  It looks great for Christmas, but would look great all year round too.

Then I found this wooden candle scoop w/ candle included for $3!   Not too bad.  The candle has orange slices, anise stars, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves pressed into the sides.  Pretty cute and it was still wrapped too.  I’ll put a few rosehips around it and it’s good to go :)

I found this little candle pan for 75 cents.  I’ve never seen a longer one like this.  It will only fit a regular sized votive, but I thought it was interesting and a little different.

These nice solid baskets were 50 cents each.  They actually look like wine baskets now that I think of it.  They are really sturdy and I thought they would hang on a peg rack really nice.

I’m not sure how much this wire basket was, but I’m guessing it was $1 or less.  It’s already a bit rusty, and I don’t have an egg basket.  The flat basket was .75 and a lot like the shaker cheese baskets that Pam from primitive basketcase makes.  I love those!  I was excited to find one to hang on the wall and it was so cheap!

I found a pair of winter boots for Gannon, and Brady found a few games for his system and my total was $30 for all.  More than I would have liked to have spent, but I was only getting stuff that I just  HAD to have :)  I got one other thing that needs made over, but I don’t want to show it until I get it done.  It’s not too impressive right now, and will hold more impact with the final result :)  I’ll post on that probably tomorrow. Until then, I have laundry calling my name, and a house that needs cleaned :)

To My Customer, Judy...

Judy, I hope you see this, but I tried to send you the pictures, but it says your email is temporarily over quota. Are you full, honey? lol Sorry to do it this way, but even though I have your address, it will take days to get to you! I'll try to send them again tonight.

For everyone else, I spent all day base coating a bunch of my wooden items. I counted at one point, and I had 15 things on the spray painting table! I ended up getting 'trigger finger'! My hand was so cramped up! lol I think I saw somewhere that they make a handle to put on spray paint cans that is squeezed by your whole hand instead of just one finger. I'll have to check that out. I sure hope they make one. I painted a few items (as much as my poor hand could handle that evening) but I still have to sand and stain them. So, no pictures yet :)

My husband made a comment last night about how dark it gets so early now. He's not liking that! He's a person who is outside doing stuff from early till dark, and now his dark is around 6 pm! He said," Well, I guess we should start looking for some tools to set up a woodshop in the basement and we can build some stuff." Me- YES YES YES!!! I have SEVERAL things that I want to build. I have the vision, he has the measuring skills :) I need more room to paint stuff too. His friend gave us the countertop from their old kitchen island, and we are going to build a base for it to be a workbench. I've been scouring Craigslist for the tools we don't have at good prices, so hopefully soon we will have more working room.
I picked up an extra shift for work today, so I'd better get moving. Just wanted to pop in and try to get my message out to my customer, and to tell you to check back for some make-overs in the next few days! Have a wonderful Friday!