Ten on Ten - May 2012

Another workday 10 on 10....

the pile of vouchers proving evidence of our annual audit

the first of many cups of ice

pretty flower in the beds outside the building

lunch from Paradise Bakery

maps of the North Sea - I walk past these many many times every day

going down.....

fueling....

two of my favorite stores!

dishes to be washed - need to unload the dishwasher first!

catching the end of the Rangers double-header

See other blogs participating here

Ten on Ten - September 2011

These are all iPhone pics this month.....

starting the day with Words with Friends!



breakfast




ignoring the jungle that is my backyard



yummy treat while out shopping

I don't recommend visiting a brand new Sam's on its very first weekend.



ducks and turtles at Northpark




as seen in one of my favorite stores....Anthropologie




new makeup from Clinique during bonus time yields a fun new bag!



love me some Chopped!



ended the day with a movie


Go here to see other blogs participating this month!

Garage sale find

On my way to church this morning for our worship team rehearsal, I stopped by a community garage sale. I think they do it fall and spring, but I've always been out of town.

Bought a loaf pan and this fun quilt:

Stopped at several other estate/garage sales on the way home and picked up a couple of things, but this was by far the winner of the day.

Now I'm watching baseball on TV for probably only the second time on my life (first time being yesterday) as I'm cheering on the Texas Rangers in their bid to beat the Yankees in the ALCS.

Thrift store find

On my way back to work today from an appointment, I detoured for a moment into the Central Dallas Ministries Thrift Store. I've seen it several times on my way to and from donating blood, but it was never at a time that they were open or I had time to stop. I wasn't really looking for anything or expecting to find anything, but it never hurts to look.

Well, of course, I did find a treasure. Look at this fun cabinet!! It was a steal and is nice solid wood. It does need a little cleaning up - and will probably get a coat of paint at some point. At the moment it is living in my kitchen and will provide overflow storage for large canisters, pitchers, etc......we'll see if it stays there.

Spring Saturday

For the past few weeks, I'd hear about something, mark it in my mental list of things to do and then move on. When I finally started writing all those "somethings" down, they were all happening today! So, I made a list and headed out (after sleeping in, of course!)

1. First on the agenda - early voting at the Civic Center. I'm going to be with my family next weekend and wanted to make sure my vote would make it in.
2. Heights Recreation Center to pick up my 2 free rolls of blue recycling bags from the city (anyone need some? I still had 3 or 4 unopened bags from before!) and buy a box of trash bags.
3. bank
4. local high school band fundraiser garage sale - saw a cute snowman salt/pepper set with a spoon rest. alas, they wanted more for it than I wanted to spend.
5. church youth fundraiser garage sale - score! new end table for $10 (Ethan Allen in great condition!)
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
6. A few Saturdays ago, I scored a Scrabble game (it's our family's newest obsession) at a garage sale for 50 cents. Amazingly, it was only missing 2 letters!! One of my favorite stores, Junkadoodle, usually has a bowl full of Scrabble tiles and tile racks. I went last Sunday and they were completely out of letters! Ugh - apparently someone else came in and literally cleaned them out. The guy told me that Betty Ann was out that weekend stocking up on new stuff and would probably come home with a new stash. So, I called last night to make sure that she had success. A quick trip and 45 cents later (for two letters and one tile rack), my Scrabble game is complete!
7. Leisurely driving through neighborhoods on the hunt for more garage sales. Found a few, but nothing interesting worth bringing home.
8. A stop at Lowe's to try and think about finding some flowers to plant in my front flowerbeds left me completely overwhelmed! So, no plants today. I've sent off a note asking for help from my high school huddle leaders who own a landscaping company in Abilene.
   
9. Last stop was the Cottonwood Art Festival. I have discovered that I really love buying interesting and unique things when I can get them direct from the artisan. Last year I got a funky handblown glass bowl. This year, a fun metal flower sculpture!
   
   
   
   
   

Whew.....and then of course, there are the typical weekend chores....laundry, dishes, etc. I'll sit down to read or watch a movie here in a little bit.....maybe!

Aldi

So, I had my first shopping experience at Aldi today. I didn't really know what to expect, but had seen commericials about new stores opening up in North Texas and heard about their great deals. I went in with a decent list - everything needed to make my Aunt Neva's chicken pot pie, plus a few other items.

I've started doing some price comparisons (something my mom and sister have been doing for years) and had comps for Wal-Mart for at least some staple items. Aldi does beat the Wal-Mart price on most everything. The hard part is it is a small store and the selection very limited. Plus it is almost exclusively off-brand. Nothing wrong with that. Just different from the big grocery stores. And they only take cash or debit (non Visa/MC debit). Which since I don't use much cash, would make it necessary to plan ahead.

I found out the cash only thing as I was walking in the store. Good thing my mom taught me how to keep a running tab as I'm shopping to make sure I know what the finally tally will be. Not that I normally do that, but I can. So, I evaluated the amount of cash in my wallet and set out to see how much of my list I could get checked off.

Here was the damage:

1 lb fresh strawberries = 0.99
1 lb bag frozen peas = 0.95
1 lb bag frozen corn = 0.95
quart chicken stock = 1.29
gallon skim milk = 1.79
quart half & half = 1.99
green bell peppers (3) = 1.79
bag yellow onions = 2.69
garlic cloves (3) = 0.89
3 lb frozen boneless chicken breast = 5.49
2 lb carrots = 0.99
4 lb sugar = 1.79
5 lb flour = 1.19
5 lb potatoes = 1.49

Grand total = $24.28

Every.single.thing on my list. Plus, paying with cash made me stick to my list. I *KNOW* I would have spent more at Kroger, because I would have just tossed anything that looked good into my basket.

A couple of other interesting notes....you have to pay a deposit of a quarter to use a basket (they are locked together and you get the quarter back out when you return the basket and lock it back in) and you have to bag your own groceries. You have to bring your own bags or they do have reusable bags for sale or you can pay 0.10 cents each for plastic bags.

Don't know for sure how often I will do my grocery shopping at Aldi. It is on my way home from work, so I might just use it for the quick little runs, but I'm also giving up on the perks of my credit card by paying with cash up front at the store, rather than just paying off the credit card bill in full.

Oh, and before I made it to Aldi this morning? Found a vintage egg basket at an estate sale for $1.50 that I plan to use for those onions in my pantry (been looking for one for a while). Also picked up a Scrabble game for my house (50 cents) and Scrabble Junior for Emily ($1.00) at garage sale. Now each household in my family has a Scrabble game we can whip out anytime!

My girls

This past weekend my home was flooded with friends. My best girls from college came in and we spent a fantastic weekend ..... eating, laughing, praying, crying, singing, creating ..... it was so so fun.

A tiny sampling of the fullness of my kitchen:

Mollie and Dara:

Mollie and Sarah making some YUMMY cake balls.......

Sara, Mollie & Sarah at Bueno (a request of Dara, our California girl)

Sarah had a great idea for us to have a creative project to enjoy while visiting, so I dragged out my scrapbook supplies and we went to town!

Saturday afternoon we ventured out to the Etsy Jingle Bash. Lots of fun, handmade treasures displayed in a funky old building down in Deep Ellum.

One of my favorite things about these weekends is our late night singing & praying. This year we spent almost 5 hours in worship together, rejoicing and mourning with each other and bearing each other's burdens. These girls are such a blessing to me!

Sadly, it all had to come to an end. Monday afternoon, I did loads of sheets and towels and began to deck the halls of my little home for Christmas. Now, off to visit with my little Emily for the next several days!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Weekend

Who ever said the weekend was supposed to be restful?

So, last night I decided to go ahead and start painting that trellis from last weekend....it was as close to cool enough as it gets in August in Texas, so I set up shop in my garage. See those nifty things under my trellis? Folding, plastic sawhorses! So great. I've been *needing* sawhorses for a while - they just make solo projects so much easier. But, I didn't want to buy big heavy bulky ones. And I think my grandpa made my dad's eons ago - I sure didn't want to do that (or even know how!). So, when I saw these, I knew it would be exactly what I needed.

Another recent find is these Tornado hooks that screw straight into drywall without having to use anchors or find studs. Perfect for my garage. I got a hook for my push broom several weeks ago and it is perfect. So, when I bought my sawhorses, I went looking for hooks to hang them on the wall....voila! Perfect size. Measured the span that would be right (used painters tape to get them reasonably level) and hung them while I was waiting for paint to dry.

See how perfect they are hanging up?? This is why I have a garage. Plus, of course, to house my car.

The other project of last night was to illuminate my gazebo. I've flirted with the idea of hanging lights for a while. Even bought a ton of cuphooks last Christmas intending to hang lights out there (because that is how lights are hung on my parents' house). I abandonded that idea as too labor intensive. Finally, after seeing some cute dragonfly lights on my friend Cindy's patio hung with staples, I decided to just bite the bullet. So, I bought some basic round lights and stapled them up around the perimeter. Yes, I ended up with slightly more length than I needed, but I just pulled out the bulbs from the doubled over section and have them as spares (which is good because I did break one while hanging them!). Ever try to hang lights by yourself? Thank goodness for a long extension cord and electric staple gun!

I also decided to hang one row of cuphooks on the front and use that for seasonal fun lights....these little chinese lanterns jumped out at me and I couldn't resist. I'll probably see what fun lights I can find at Christmas time - and might even see if I can change out every other bulb in the regular string to be red or something.....we'll see.

And on to the fun of today. I unintentionally woke up early and just decided to get up. So, I was out the door about 8:30 to run some errands and find what I could find. Lowe's was the first order of business. I've been wanting a hammock to hang between the two posts in my yard for a while....found one (on sale 50% off!) and got it home, but it was too big. Boo. So that goes back to the store.

Then down to Target to get another string of lantern lights - one wasn't enough. En route to the estate sale that was the ultimate goal, I found a thrift store and scored several treasures. A set of white shelves that are very sturdy - the openings are about 15x15x6 and it is about 30" high. Could be great scrapbook paper storage, except that I have mine stored in other ways. Basically, I don't know how I'm gonna use it yet, but for $4.94, I couldn't pass it up. I also got a pair of ice cream sundae dishes for $1.91.

The estate sale was a bust, but as I was driving aimlessly pointed in the direction of home, I stumbled across many more garage sales. I don't usually stop just because of the hassle of in and out of the car and I'm usually on more of a mission. But today, that was my mission. I found a couple other treasures - a fun snowman to add to my collection for $2 and a ribbon plate for $1. Plus I bought a book for 50 cents.

Once home, I unpacked all my treasures, hung the second set of lights, tried to hang the hammock (which required a trip back out and all around town because I didn't have the right hardware), repackaged the hammock to return, painted part of the trellis and salvaged boxes with chalkboard paint, painted a spot on the bathroom ceiling that was damaged when I had a A/C vent installed earlier this summer, and unloaded the dishwasher.

Now, I am gonna go season my steak for dinner, then chill for a while.....probably pay some bills and maybe run a load of laundry. Maybe I can rest tomorrow afternoon!!

Sunday finds

After church today, while killing time before a wedding shower, I ducked into one of my favorite shops, Junkadoodle, that I, of course, discovered through my friend Kelly.....it isn't antiques, it isn't quite junk, it is just fun stuff that has been repurposed or reclaimed to serve whatever creative juices are drawn in. I've been thinking for quite a while that I needed to do *something* over my sofa in my living room. I already have a big mirror on the other end of the room by the dining table, plus the whole facing wall is windows. Artwork, shelves for knick-knacky stuff, .....nothing was striking me. Plus I kinda hate to be too stuck on a color palette.....

So, when I saw this reclaimed trellis, I knew instantly that it would be perfect. I need to decide if I am going to paint it -- I'm afraid it would just blend into the creamy walls right now (and I'm not up for painting my living room at this point).....so the dilemma over color begins to rage. Freshen up the white? I've got brown paint left from my office re-do last summer ...... I've sent photos to Kelly to get her take as she is often my decorating guru, but I'm gonna throw this out there for you as well...... any thoughts??

Then, while driving home, I swung down a street in my neighborhood to check out a "HUGE SALE" -- it wasn't all that. BUT, on the way down the street, I saw these interesting items out for the bulk trash pickup. I stopped, got out to examine, and folks, these are some prime boxes. Sturdy and in extremely good condition. Could be transformed into shelves, toy boxes, planters.....who knows?! And for free? You know I had to pick them up. So, while I've got you brainstorming......any ideas? I'm thinking possibly planter(s) on the front porch, but I'm not sold on that yet......

Well, I think I'm off to put away clean laundry and then relax for the remainder of my Sunday before that ugly "W" word comes back into play tomorrow.....

Mowing, part 2

Still no juice to the mower this morning.....guess it is going to get a visit to the lawn mower doctor.....

Planning to visit an estate sale in my neighborhood this morning when it opens, take the mower in, and run a bunch of errands. Make a couple of treats for class at church tomorrow and a Cinco de Mayo potluck for work on Tuesday. Put away clean laundry, straighten up the house.....all just basic Saturday chores.

Garage Sale Shopping

I'm not much of a garage saler....mostly because I like to sleep in on Saturday!



On my way home from the library this past Saturday however, I stopped at several. The best was a huge church sale where I picked up these treasures:




























-a set of small black shutters for $1....don't know what I'll do with these yet, but I couldn't pass them up



-a Genius edition Trivial Pursuit game for $3....many a road trip hour was passed asking and answering questions between the front and back seats of our car growing up....now all three households have a set! The sad thing is, even having heard most all of the questions over the years, I still don't know most of the answers!

(p.s. I tried to mobile blog this from my phone, but it never showed up! oh well....)