NEVER UNDERESTIMATE TRASH

While my SweetiePie was paying the bill for breakfast last Saturday, I peeped out the door and saw a yard sale in the parking lot. Be still my heart!!! Breakfast out AND a yard sale. I spied something that I thought might be of interest and took off out of the door. A rather sad looking stack of clay pots, but wait a minute what is this in the top? A genUwine Mccoy planter?  cha-ching.

I  love the patina of old things. Maybe that is why I am trying to preserve MY patina. I have listed the planter on ebay and keep your fingers crossed. I also picked up all of that other junk all of the other vintage treasures. Look at this:

I had no clue what these were. Do you?
They are the grinding/cutting discs that are inserted in a sausage/meat grinder. You know the old vintage ones that you clamp on the table and use on hog killin'day to make sausage.
As it turns out, these discs often get separated from the grinder and people are probably like me and have no clue as to what they are. Now you and I know. I am planning on listing mine on ebay and see where they go. I was going to break the set up and sell them as metal bits. Glad I researched a bit.

So, the leason learned today boys and girls is to that you not only have to find trash, clean trash, horde  save trash, but you need to research trash.

Thought you needed to know.

ONE HAPPY CAMPER

Sorry to take so long to post to my blog, but good ole' life just kept getting in the way.
The 16th was our 39th anniversary, SweetiePie had some cardiac tests (everything OK) and I just HAD to go to an estate sale. I have my priorities, don't you know. And, I started a new job!!

SweetiePie wanted to know what I wanted for our anniversary. We don't usually do anything super expensive for our anniversary, just spend the day doing stuff together. SweetiePie asked what I wanted to do and I said go to an estate sale that I had seen listed. They had something I was really interested in. Well, as it turned out, my daughter and I ended up going. (He wanted to sleep in). I knew if we didn't get there early that my prize would be gone. When the door opened I made a beeline for this:

 And I got it!!! A real bargain at 1/3 the cost of a new one. I have been looking for one for a loooong time.

******We interrupt this blog to bring you an update:  The lizard has been captured!!******
Four, count them, four cats in the house and a human catches the lizard. Must have come in when we opened the door from the deck.

******Film at 11. We now return you to the regularly scheduled blog.******

Also got a few other things at the estate sale and some things at a yard sale this weekend.

The picnic basket is in great shape and was filled with aluminum cookware and dinnerware. Didn't want the cookware, but it was there. The guitar will be for the grandkids. The airplanes, raccoon (or is it a badger?) little tea set, art pencils (over 100 high dollar art pencils...$2-3 each!!),puzzle and candle/flower arranger and vintage model airplanes are headed for ebay at some point. The picnic basket will be used for storage in my studio.The little suitcase will be painted with a folk art design sometime in the future. And the stack of  20 vintage linen calenders (1966 to 1996) will be sorted and listed somewhere.

This is the yard sale stuff:

Look at all of those wonderful metal bits!!!! The little shoe on the right will become a pin cushion, the rolling pin will get painted, the webbing will become key chains and the wire basket will be for display at my craft show.  Don't know if you can see the clear plastic ruler behind the planter, but it will be used in my craft room and the little metal rulers on the front left will be used in my sewing. Various metal bits will end up on etsy at some time. Like, when I get around to it.... Oh and that magnificent green McCoy planter from the 1930's that is in super duper shape? It will be on ebay soon. They asked $3 for this lot. Twenty five pieces in all. It was a yard sale to benefit the owner of a favorite thrift store who has huge medical bills from falling and breaking some bones. My husband gave them $5 for the lot. Do you think I got my moneys worth?

And because my thrift karma has been sooooooo good lately, I took this to the rescue mission thrift store. Ten bags packed with clothes and stuff and a dog to guard it all. Hey. I donated more than I brought back.

So, did anyone find anything fantastic lately? I'm dying to know

 

IT PAYS TO PAY ATTENTION---SOMETIMES

Do you read the instructions?
Do you always follow the directions?

I do always sometimes. My Dad was the world's worst for getting something put together and having something left over. A bolt, nut, washer or some screws. THEN he got out the instructions and had to take it apart and reassemble. Would have been better to read the first time and only put something together once.

 But I digress.

I had some bananas that either had to be thrown out or made into something. Out comes the cookbook. Banana bread or banana muffins? I decided on banana muffins. No slicing, no messy crumbs all over the counter. Self contained snack. Great for the lunchbox.

Got everything out of the cabinet, mixed everything and went to get muffin cups. Grabbed a box of aluminum muffin cups. Now, if you have never used aluminum muffin cups you can stand them alone on a cookie sheet and you don't need a muffin pan. I have 6 muffin pans (mine, my Moms-- I think they got friendly and multiplied) so I don't really need the aluminum muffin cups.

Oh wait, each aluminum muffin cup is separated by a paper liner. Double for your money. Let's see what the directions say......

 Discard paper separations.  WHAT? Are you crazy? Why would I throw away perfectly good paper liners just because they are in between the aluminum ones? Makes NO sense.
Guess which ones I used? Right, the paper throw-aways. My momma didn't raise no fool. (at least where muffin cups are concerned).

Time for a snack!! HEY, who stuck their finger in my muffins? Where is SweetiePie?

I'M PULLING MY HAIR OUT!!!!!

Let me start today by saying I am truly blessed and that my husband is recovering from surgery very nicely and I am truly grateful that he is doing so well.......BUT

HE IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!!!!!!!

For example.

A simple trip to Wal-Mart for some groceries and to pick up a prescription.
I am usually in and out of Wal-Mart in 30minutes, 45 minutes, tops.
We were in Wal-Mart for almost an hour and a half!!
We only needed a few things but my husband insisted on looking at everything on each and every aisle.
I think he just likes to drive the electric cart.
IT'S NOT A RACE CAR!!!

I still think the doctor released the wrong patient to me.



If this keeps up I am going to look like Rascal.

You know, the world's ugliest dog!

My hair looks like that now and some days my tongue hangs out just like that!

A THRIFTY HAUL

Be still my heart......I love yard sales.
My daughter and I headed out again today and found some gooooood stuff.

It's a good thing we have plenty of room in the van. I got three new pieces of Pyrex, headed for ebay.
And a few other things that I didn't get a pic of that are headed for ebay.

Have you ever seen so many Christmas lights? I got two totes of lights for $5. There are 1500 outdoor lights, 60 strands. 20 strands are new. Also included were 5 strands of LED rope lights!!

Oh, and a strand of garland, not from the $ store!!
What should I do with them? We don't decorate outside for Christmas. I don't think we need this many nite lite bulbs!! I have a craft project that I will use some of them for, but there will be lots left over. My reasoning for the purchase is that one set of these bulbs would cost me more than the $5 I spent on the two tubs.


These are the purse handles and some wire baskets. I am going to use the wire baskets for display at my craft show.

And a new purse for my favorite diva, Nikki Kitty....not really but Princess Pink will love it!!

Some vintage bingo games, craft patterns, jewelry, tools

Got this GIANT tote of children's VCR tapes for the grand cost of $1.00. I'm hoping that someone, somewhere still has a VCR to play them on.

And my favorite find of the day. A small, vintage crib complete with handmade feather mattress for the grand cost of $1.00. The lady I purchased it from said she used it when she was a baby. Now, I don't know about you, but I could never sell that. It's small enough that I am going to assemble it and use it to store some of the grandkids toys and they can also put their baby to bed.

Got a free suitcase that I will use for storage in my craft studio. Can never have enough storage for stuff.

Whew, time for a nap!!

UGLY BREAD---GOOD BREAD

 

Do you ever make bread when you are in a hurry and when you get to the second rise just kinda slam it in the loaf pan?                

Well that’s what I did when I made bread this week.

It might look rough and lumpy but that didn’t stop my hungry family from eating half a loaf at dinner last night.

Have you ever seen happy bread?

 Kinda has an Elvis look, don't you think? Thankyaverrymuch.

I don’t think I need to tell you what this bread looks like. You can use your imagination. Tastes better than it looks!!

I’ve always wanted to make delicious (and pretty) bread but never took the time to knead it properly. I guess when you work all week beautiful and delicious bread is not on the menu, unless it was on sale in the store that week. 

One problem I had was not kneading enough. I solved that problem with a little treasure I found at the Goodwill. A heavy duty mixer with dough hooks!! Fantastic price of $15, works great, came with two bowls, dough hooks, and beaters. Not a kitchen aid but will do until I find one at the right price.

Since I have been out of work I have learned to make bread. I found a fantastic recipe at www.tammysrecipes.com/homemade_wheat_bread. Some say that the flour doesn’t matter, but I beg to differ. I tried store brands and the local brands but the rise wasn't great. Now I use King Arthur Flour and my bread always comes out great. I did tweak the recipe just a bit, but this is basically the same recipe I use.  I replace one Tbs. of flour with vital wheat gluten for every cup of flour I use. This recipe uses 3 cups flour so I replace three tablespoons of the flour with vital wheat gluten.

I make two average size loaves about every 6-9 days and we always have fresh bread. My daughter uses one loaf for her sandwiches to take to work and the other is used for breakfast and what not. What is left over at the end of the week is thrown in the back yard for the deer.


Who cares if the bread looks great. It still taste better than store bought stuff.

THRIFTY WEEKEND

My first Saturday of the "season" yard sailing. Found a few to keep, a few to sell and some more garb for the princesses.
Found these Vera Bradley bags at two different places.

Found these wooden trouser hangers for a craft project I have in mind.
Ten for 75 cents.

Found these vintage metal trays for 50 cents each. Someone had already applied a coat of paint and ruined the patina so I am turning these into chalk message boards with the addition of some chalkboard paint (purchased at the Habitat store for $1.00) for my craft show.

Found the old metal items at a church yard sale for 50 cents each. Some are mine and some will get a primitive folk art painting.

And all of this was free. Just the right price.(Not the muffin tin.)
Just put a battery in the watch and it works great. Perfect for taking pulses at work.

 Love the graphics on this old package. There are muffin cups inside and the original price of 11 cents stamped on the bottom.

Also found an aqua LLBean windbreaker at the church yard sale. Forgot to take a picture and it is in the wash.

Hope everyone found lots of wonderful stuff.

A SAD DAY, INDEED

Yeah, yard season is back.

Went yard sailing on Saturday and found a few things I will share tomorrow..

But it really is a sad day shopping when the thing you get most excited about is......

A NEW TOILET SEAT FOR 50 CENTS!!!!!

Now we can get rid of the Italian* toilet seat in the hall bathroom.



*It pinches your bottom every time you sit down.