Our new "Pool"

Okay so I wanted a pool.  Inground.  I sort of got one.  But one that doesn't call for an expensive new liner when boys toss in sharp objects,  or call for chemicals, or pool ladders, etc.  Okay, maybe the chemical part isn't totally true.  AND this "pool" can be used in the winter!  How do you like that?  Okay so we call it our swimming hole, the poor man's pool.  But someday.... I still would love a real in ground money eater....  but how practical is that in Michigan?  Last summer we had one good super hot week, and then in the middle of July, we wore winter coats - and I am not exaggerating - to the Hot Air Jubilee.  Winter coats!!  Anywho, they say Iowan's are hillbillys.  But I happen to think Michigan has turned me into one.  But I don't mind.

Patriotic Panes

How happy am I that only one of these old windows in the barn sold from my Craigslist ad last summer.  I've discovered how easy they are to paint on! I use acrylic paint and do the backside the it is protected by the glass.  I was inspired by an old window painted with a flag that my friend bought for her in-laws.  This idea actually stuck in my memory (a rare occasion, folks) and I finally picked up a paint brush and just did it!  Hopefully more to come....

treasure from a trailer park

before

 

Stopped in to a garage sale one day in a run down trailer park.  The toothless gentleman was extremely friendly.  I was about to leave when I noticed this shelf sitting off by itself.  Is that for sale?  Sure, take it for fifty cents.  It just needed a good cleaning, some more cleaning, and paint.  I used a stencil to add some detail on the edge and finished by covering it in polyurathane.  It went up for sale for $25 but there were no takers.  I'm glad.  It was just what I needed when I redecorated my dining room!  So think twice before you poo poo trailer park garage sales!

A blond moment. Go ahead and laugh.

So we wonder how blonds got such a bad rap.  Well, about five years ago, I added my pea to the pot and contributed to the idea that blonds might really be one fry short of a happy meal!  Here's my story.  If you've ever hung out around a campfire with me, you've probably heard this and know what's coming.  You have the right to skip this one.


Like every good garage saler, I thoroughly examine the "garage sale" section of our free Salesman publication every week and highlight what interests me.  "Neighborhood sales" always catches my eye and it happened to be in the trailer park just a few miles from my house.  (Stop it, I know what you're thinking.  But what's wrong with garage saling in a trailer park?).  So I hop in my truck and drive like a maniac Friday morning to the park, making sure I'm the first in line.  After driving up and down several streets, I've not noticed one single sale.  I'm about to leave in a huff when I notice 2 bikes with a for sale sign out by the street.  Behind all the trees I see a beautiful looking yard sale!!!  I park and hop on out.  A large, grumpy looking man is sitting on his wood porch by the front door, waiting for his money box to fill up.  A rake.  Looks brand new!  Just what I need.  I hate it when things don't have prices on them!  "How much for the rake?"  I enthusiastically inquire.  "It's not for sale!"  comes the reply.  Okay then, why's it out here with all this stuff?  Stuff, I quickly notice, consists almost entirely of stuffed animals.  I find another treasure and repeat my question, with the same response, only this time much more emphasis on the "NOT" for sale part!  I keep digging, and a few puzzled moments later, he stands up and declares, "Lady, this is not a garage sale!"  I go back home and snack on some humble pie.  Then I check the ad again.  The neighborhood sales aren't until  the following weekend.

Chair. Plain and simple.

My chair got a sleek makeover one day last week.  $25 and it's yours. :)

Asian Salmon Stirfry

5 carrots
2-3 cups fresh or frozen green beans
2 or 3 salmon burgers (cooked and cubed)
fresh or frozen broccoli (optional)
sliced bell pepper (optional)

Saute all together in a fry pan with olive oil and sprinkle with some onion powder, chicken bouillon (1 tbls?), and pepper.

Cook rice in separate pan (I make enough for 2 servings).

When stirfry is cooked till tender, pour on and stir:
1/4 cup creamy poppyseed dressing
2 Tbls teriyaki sauce/marinade

Serve over rice.  I also add extra poppy seeds.  Don't take a drug test for a potential job after eating this!

Thrifty Thoughts #11-15

11. Instead of plastic wrap, use....drum roll please.... shower caps!  If you're at a hotel, these usually come complimentary in a little box.  Cover dishes with them, wash, and reuse!  They do make these for food, but you'd have to pay for them. :)  p.s. yesterday while driving to a lawn site, I stopped in at a garage sale and among the great finds I got was a flower shower cap, new in the package for 25 cents.  For the extra money, I thought it would be fun to see the flowers in my fridge.  haha.  I'm being a little sarcastic... sort of??

12. Pack your lunch for work.  Add up how much you spend buying lunch in a month.  Now add up how much it costs to throw leftovers in a lunch bag, or make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.  You'll save enough money to build the patio in a previously mentioned blog (May 24)!  Oh, and for those of you who are not morning people - I pack the lunch the night before.  Or while I'm putting leftovers from supper away, slip some into a container (an empty sour cream container of course, see tip # 14!) and straight into the lunchbox so it's all ready to grab in the morning.
13. When you buy sponges for your kitchen, cut them in half.  You don't need a mammoth one to get the job done.  When it's time to have a funeral for your sponge, you have the other half to replace it.
14. Never buy plastic storage containers for leftovers.  When finished with a plastic butter dish, cool whip, etc., don't throw it away!  Wash it and throw it in your tupperware drawer.  This is great when you want to send leftovers home with a friend - don't need to worry about getting your container back.  (This tip is just a given... right?!!!  I thought so... until some friends of mine made fun of me when they saw what I did!!)
15. Wash and reuse the big zip lock bags.  Unless they've had raw meat in them, then I tend to toss them.  I reuse the sandwich size ones on occasion like when I put some cookies in one for my hubby's lunch.  Next day, put his fresh cookies in it again.  Uhhh, I mean, carrot sticks.  Haha.

from days gone by...

Our civil war era house got completely renovated before we bought it.  Otherwise, we wouldn't have bought it.  The barn had quite the stash of old doors, windows, woodwork, etc.  I knew some day I'd get an idea and find a little time to do something with this great stash.  Well, after seven years of looking at those doors and no gumption to turn them into the stunning headboards I dreamed of, I posted them on Craigslist for $10 each.  Some sold.  Some sat in the rain and rotted.  However, one day as I rummaged through my grandparents basement, I found some wedding pictures that they were more than willing to let me have.  I decided these old pics would be just the perfect thing for one of those windows.  And here we are.  Please excuse the missing buttons.  I'm aware there is a hunk of glue where buttons once adorned this window, but my sweet hubby hung it on the wall for me, over the stairway and didn't bother to tell me as he hung it that some had the urge to bungee jump, without the rubberband.  I have no way of reaching it to fix this problem, and he has no way of getting the motivation to get it back off.  Humph.

one "junk day" item gets a makeover

So if you read the list of things I got during Parma "junk day", I have begun some makeovers on the furniture I hauled off the curbside.  Here is my first. I just posted this on Craigslist for a whole $20. Blast - I forgot to take a "before" pic!  By the way, the paint I used was a mistint I found at Lowe's for 50 cents.  I mixed a tad bit of black with it to give it a more grayish tone.  It was Valspar brand and ohhhh did it cover nicely.  Horray for "OOPS" paint!!

Ugly $1 end tables

These were quite the ugly pieces. Uhhhh, yeah.

I'm sure this two tiered beauty was a stylish piece in it's day

AFTER

BEFORE

AFTER - I used:  A muddy black/brown colored paint, and coated it with a few layers of polyurethane.  The bamboo (?) legs got a coat of walnut colored stain/polyurethane all in one.  If you can find the "all in one" it saves a step - one that I despise!  I actually found the little can of brilliance at a garage sale. It was barely used. And like I always say, almost everything materialistic you need in life, you can find in a garage sale.

      

First come, first serve

Goodwill mirror BEFORE

So it is with Craigslist.  You gotta be on top of your game to ever get something good on the "free" list.  And if you live in my county, there's only something "good" in that category every 5 weeks.  One day, I clicked on to see if there was anything worthy of checking into and low and behold I see "Free - dresser".  There was no picture, but the description said it was "one of those sturdy, solid wood ones, unlike the cheap junk made today".  I called and said I'd take it. Then I made the reluctant call to my husband, the kind he is finally getting used to, to tell him he needed to pick it up after work.  An hour or so later, the dresser's owner called me to make sure I was serious, since her phone was ringing off the hook with eager free-furniture-seekers.  That afternoon, hubby Tim pulled in with a huge purple dresser, matching nightstand, and 2 large pieces of glass that fit on the tops.  I loved it! And how I wish I'd been smart enough to take a before picture.  But alas, you will have to use your imagination.  It's missing a drawer knob, but we can live with that.  The mirror, I found on a half off sale at Goodwill for $4.  Like everything else I acquire, it just needed a little paint!  It is now my 3 year old's set, and  holds almost all of his clothes.

LOVE the style of this nightstand.  Wasn't so crazy about it purple!  haha

Purple dresser turned 2 toned "boyish" with repainted mirror

some Furniture Finally Finished

Before - $1 garage sale bargain

I usually have big plans of accomplishment when my mom comes to visit from Iowa.  However, we usually spend most of the time kissing the baby, snapping pictures of the baby, kissing the baby, staring at the baby, kissing the baby... you get the somewhat exaggerated  point.  But a couple weeks ago when she was here, I finally got a few things done.  Here are a couple.

This was a barstool with a missing top that my mom dug out of her basement.

painted it black and added a glass piece to the top.  Awesome plant stand is born!

novel necklace idea

I really can't take credit for this novel idea, it was my mother's brilliant brainstorm.  Pretty slick and easy: put on a silver chain (or whatever plain necklace you may have) and hook an earing on it.  Wa-la! A beautiful and unique accessory is born!  The pink one is from a pair I found for 50 cents clearance at Family Dollar.  The other earings pictured came with necklaces I bought for my sister and a friend who don't have their ears peirced.  I'm having fun with this!!  Now, go dig through your old jewelry box and see what you can come up with!

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Parma junk day!!

So I live by the little village of Parma, population 846 (in 2008).  Every spring, there are city wide garage sales.  Of course, I am the first one to descend on the town, pockets full of quarters, walking shoes on.  Then the next week is what we call "junk day".  Everyone is allowed to put all their "junk" on the curb and it is picked up for free.  So how convenient - everything that doesn't sell gets put to the curbside.  So there's usually about a week while everyone unloads their "unwanteds" and before the pick up.  So for people like me (and believe me, there are lots of us!) this is one of our favorite weeks of the year!  Mom and I jumped in the car to pick up some things at Dollar General (Parma's only store besides the gas station and liquor store) but saw all the piles and got quite side-tracked!  Dollar General will always be there so we forfeited the shopping and drove around finding all kinds of stuff.  We drove home with the trunk hanging open, chuck full.  Came back and exchanged the car for the minivan, which has stow-and-go seats.  Here's the unbelievable list of things we got:

- 2 book shelves
- battery powered rideable dump truck - perfect cond.
- 3 fisher price kitchen sets - one has ironing board, washing machine, etc.
- kid's work bench, complete with battery powered sander, and 20 tools - perfect cond.
- a box of wedding stuff full of: 20 glass rose bowl vases, unused paper plates, table cloth covers still in package, gerber daisies, 2 jars full of white and clear decorative rocks, and 20 floating candles
- retro flyer tricycle. Had a bent back wheel so Dad took 2 wheels off of a free push mower I got on the side of the road a few years ago and replaced them!
- bowling ball (mom wants to paint if for her landscaping)
- 6 white vinyl shutters

- white cube shelf for closet
-3 plastic drawers storage unit on rollers (missing the top - good for the barn useage)
- stand and play table for babies - perfect cond.
- perfect baby exersaucer, same one that I have, only mine is dirty and nasty from being outside!

Patios, Pergolas, Papas

Four years ago, we decided a patio would be more suitable than the itty, bitty deck off the back of our house.  The deck was only a foot off the ground, and would create the most awkward situations for unsuspecting visitors who would get their chair too close to the edge and topple over backwards onto the grass!  The space underneath was also a great hiding place for ginormous spiders.  Definitely gotta go.  Wanting to save money of course, we did a little research and found it was cheaper to buy the patio bricks directly from Shell Rock, IA and have a semi deliver them to our house than it was to get them at our local Menards.  Someone HAD to be there when the semi arrived with a check in hand.  We got the call, they were arriving Wednesday at noon.  BE HOME.  At 2:00 that morning and pregnant with my first sweetheart, my water broke.  We left the check on the counter and drove like maniacs to the hospital.  My mother-in-law was there to hand over the check.  Then while we all oooooed and ahhhhhhed over the new baby, Dad and Tim set to work.  This year we decided a pergola would be just the perfect addition.  Kit's were more money than I had saved from picking up pop cans so Dad scratched his head again and made it!  A month later, with a third little sweetie for us to ooooo and ahhhhh over, Dad and my hubby finished it off with a wall.  Here are the before, during, and after pics.  Please come and sip a lemonade this summer with me!!!! :)

Let me just mention one money saving tip: the boards going across the top of the pergola are from the old deck.

As artistic as I get on furniture

The is one of those tables with the 3 three screw off legs with a glass top that you buy at any mega store for about $6.  Don't we all have at least one of those stashed away in a closet somewhere?  It painted up nicely!

This was an ugly old potato bin I bought for 50 cents at a garage sale.  It had some scary cobwebs and dustbunnies inside, but the argyle design was sure fun to paint!  I took off the hardware and spray painted them silver before reattaching.

and uhhh... don't look too closely at this one!  My first attempt and using a square stencil to make a checkerboard design - it wasn't worth the effort, though it turned out kinda sorta cute!

4 Ingredients = YUM for supper

Grilling chicken?  Grill a few extra chicken breasts and use the leftovers in this dish!

*Note: I do not measure anything, so all measurements approximate.

Creamy Italian Pasta

2 cups mini penne pasta (or similiar). Cook and drain
1 can Italian seasoned diced tomatoes
1/2 brick cream cheese
sliced up grilled chicken

heat through and serve!  Easy, fast, and tasty!!

If you don't have Italian tomatoes, improvise and use lots of Italian seasoning, onion powder, and salt with plain diced tomatoes.

Furniture - black and white

This was a plain wooden desk.  White paint and black knobs produce a clean and fresh look!

blond and boring wood before. The top already had the white tiles so the only white I added was on the drawer.

Previously beat up and scary looking, a man purchased this from me after I painted it black and white to sell in his antique shop.

BEFORE

AFTER

I found this in a St. Vincent De Paul's store for 75 cents.  It needed a little reinforcement, but overall ended up being fairly sturdy.  Picture it before as orange and yellow!  wowzers....