Cat Thrift

Hello, and happy hump day to all of you straining towards the weekend!

I thought today I'd share a few thrift finds our cats enjoy. They have the third bedroom, since this house has no garage. In case there is any confusion:

this on the door should clear that up.

Two climbers found at a thrift shop and yard sale respectively.

I saw this cushion first in a fancy catalog way out of our price range, so was happy to find one for $2.92 at Family Thrift. 

The latest score found today. Brand new and $2.00 at the Assistance League. As you see, Trixie is checking it out thoroughly, as befits her job description of Snoopervisor.  It just goes to show, thrift shops and yard sales will have what your needs are, and they will show up eventually. Even if you have four feet!

Till next time,

Michele

 

 

The inadvertent collection

Hello, friends,

I hope your Tuesday has been an all good news day and continues so. 

Today I thought of showing you one of my accidental collections. One that wasn't planned or came from strong sentimental or family reasons but rather seems to have just happened. It is squirrels. Why, I'm not sure, unless it's because of the amusement watching Mr. B's ongoing war to keep them out of his bird feeders over the years. They are cute, in their own way and apparently have grown on me because I seem to have accumulated the following:

They usually come out in the autumn, with the acorns and other signs of fall. It just dawned on me the nutcracker is actually a chipmunk, not a squirrel. Oops! Oh, well, they can hang out together anyway.

I've had this rather modern example with candle holder for several years, picked up at Sand Dollar.

This one is concrete and hangs out in a birdcage I've been too lazy to change since we moved. It's on top of the china cabinet in the dining room.

I loved the one on this card from my friend Betty so much it got framed and comes out every September.

This little fellow was .40 cents at Value Village.

This  one was also from Sand Dollar, purchased last week.

What about you? Does your house have collections that appear to evolve organically, with no actual planning on your part or is it just me? 

Have a good one!

Michele

A little more work.

Hello, all,

I hope your week is off to a good start. We put a little effort to that end on Sunday, after visiting a local feed store in search of plants. With our mild weather and continued warm temperatures for a while still, that is feasible here. First, on the same day as the great rug discovery, the Sand Dollar yielded these:

a pair of nice white trellises, for $5.00 each. On other thrift shop ventures I'd gotten a variety of other small pots, all for under a dollar, and wanted some plants to put in those. At the Wabash we ended up buying two salvia, a lavender, a shrimp plant and another that had a tag on it but honestly, the name made no sense. It sounded like something from the makeup counter, with no clue about what type of family it belonged to, so it's a mystery.

There is the shrimp plant and one salvia.

Here is the lavender.

A second salvia.

And lastly, the mystery plant. Mr. B isn't happy with the vine we bought soon after moving here, so it will likely be replaced soon, probably with a pyracantha.

There you have our latest efforts. It's one thing to have a small yard, or one with a difficult terrain, but something else again to have to try and beautify an actual parking lot!

Till next time,

Michele

Snug as a bug . . .

Hello, friends,

I hope your week is going well so far. One of my regular commitments is to attend a Bible study each Thursday at a church in the neighborhood where we used to live. After that's over it's only sensible to check out the thrift shops in the same general area. One is a private one run by a charity staffed with volunteers. They have a lot of furniture, so there is always a brief stop at Junior Forum in search of my remaining needs, especially a comfortable chair for the library. While there wasn't one that would work for that room today, there was another item not quite as high on the list, but still an excellent find. 

TA DA!

a rug for the dining room. As you see some of the four-footed crew are checking it out.

Here is more of a close up to show the colors and patterns better.

With the furniture back in place.

From the other side of the room. I am delighted with this find and pleased we're inching along towards getting the house fixed up the way we want it.

Take it easy!

Michele

A little commercial

Hi, everyone,

This is just a brief plug to tell you that I sell on eBay. My ID is bea4books.

http://www.ebay.com/mbf/Summary?MyEbayBeta&MyEbay=&gbh=1&guest=1

I sell books, collectibles and a little bit of everything and would love if you'd come check it out one of these days.

There are books, linens, mugs and more

so come by and visit one of these days.

Have a good one,
Michele

A friend in need . . .

Hello, friend,

I hope your week is off to a good start. 

Yesterday I spent most of the day cooking a couple of meals for an old friend whose daughter is having major surgery tomorrow. We met when our daughters were in the same kindergarten class and a lot of years have passed since then! It seemed like sparing her a few hours in the kitchen while all this is going on was a worthwhile effort. So, around noon the cooking began. Here are the results:

The large pan has a chicken and spaghetti casserole in it. There are two containers of salad, a loaf of bread, butter and another loaf of pumpkin bread.

The second meal is pot roast, potatoes and carrots, green beans cooked with purple onion slivers and walnuts, gravy and an apple pie. Nothing fancy, but dishes most people are used to and like well enough.

And here it all is, packed to take to her house. I am still tired today, all that standing on my feet most of the afternoon about did me in, but it was worth it if it helps this family while their concern is with a loved one. 

Have a wonderful week!

Michele

 

The culled, the neat and the pretty

Hello,

My morning has been spent in the closet, literally. Part of the problem was that some things were dumped there for no good reason when we moved in, since moving itself is the definition of chaos. However, after working the past several hours with only a couple of brief breaks, here are the results:

Despite this house otherwise being Door Central, there is none on the closet itself, so a pair of curtains do the job.

These are in the small, square hallway between the closet bath and bedroom.

Here are my efforts on the left side, shelf, main rod and floor. I culled shoes and clothes, consolidated some containers and removed things wholly out of place, including several items to be put on eBay. 

Here is the center section, with a small, battered chest of drawers that was in the kitchen before we moved. It has an embroidered scarf on top and some of the pretty boxes set out on it. It is really different to have a window in the closet, but nice.

I cleared things out, dusted, put like things together, added items to a donation box, straightened up the shoe basket after pitching three pair and found a couple of those plastic zipper containers to put the throw pillows in that go on our bed in the summer, stored with that comforter. There is space for the vacuum, barely. Some of the items will be gone in the near future, like three boxes of books given to my offspring for Christmas, so not too much longer to house those. Still left to do: go fix the other areas where things were tossed in the process, figure out where to put the donation box and that sort of finishing up kind of chore. 

It was a daunting task, and one that's really nice to have d-o-n-e! Does it take anything special for you to tackle a major project like this, or are you so disciplined it stays in such good condition it's not necessary?

Have a wonderful weekend, all!

Michele

The Good, the bad and the ugly

Hello, Friends,

I'm taking you not on a magical, mystery tour today. More in keeping with the season, it's more of a horror-inspired field trip. 

Are you brave enough to take a tour of my closet? Think before you answer! The good: the rack for hats and flower shop picture; also, the hangers aren't good but at least they're all the same color. The basket on the floor is working out well for shoes, but some pairs need to be ditched.

The bad, yes, it is horrible. I know. It isn't all my fault. Some of the things were stowed neatly before being knocked down by cats. There is evidence of marital discord in the vacuum cleaner wars. Mr. B keeps buying huge, heavy, unwieldy ones that are a pain to use, at least for me. He disses my smaller version, but since it regularly fills up with huge clumps of dirt I refuse to ditch just because he sneers. Meanwhile, there is no place to store it easily. So, it's in the closet for now.

The ugly: the space as a whole. This is a before story. This is the first step of a promise to clean it up and get it in decent condition. Tomorrow is the day the massive effort begins. I'm making no promises it will be finished on Friday, but will try my best. Whenever order is restored, you'll get pictures as proof it's happened. 

Wish me luck!

Michele