This is a lot of work.....

(no thats not me but I do look similar, right hair color.)


I've been busy the last few days. I spent a lot of last week wandering online and just enjoying the quiet with the man at work. It was nice to only have to think of me till 5pm. Of course we have new hrs and its killing me, but Ill adjust. He gets up at 6am to have some quiet too, with his coffee and computer. I don't mind as long as he shuts the door so I can sleep. At about 7am he comes in to shower tho and I have to get up. I have to make his lunch and let the dog out and things like that. Its how our old routine was until we got lazy being home all the time. Its just hurting us both some. I'm tired and hes sore lol but we will be fine.

And so I tore apart my bathroom last week. It needed a thorough cleaning really bad. I've just been doing what needed doing cuz hes been around here all the time. Its hard to start major projects when you get interrupted alot and have to cook, etc. And so I thought I'd enjoy the weekend but..noooo , he was out of clothes. I just finished the wash. But with him coming home dirty and showering and changing into clean, I forgot I'll have extra loads. So I started the wash Saturday.

I really needed to go grocery shopping too. Mom gave me a few $ for Vday and said I should spend it on me. Well I don't need much but I did want to go to the farmers market this weekend. They are starting an indoor one finally till the weather is nice. So I needed some nice fat crusty bread loaves from my favorite bread lady and I was almost out of local honey. I decided that's what I would use the money for if they were there. And so since I needed other stuff , the man gave me some money to try to fill up the house. So Sat. I went thru the newspaper flyers looking for coupons and sales.

These days I have to shop very very carefully. And I hate it. I haven't had to shop like this is 40yrs. And I'm glad I saw this coming and stocked up this past summer with buying in bulk and canning alot. Its really helping now. But still its hard cuz I'm starting to run out of things I kept around and some I cant replace. By the time I get the basics done, there's no money left. But I think I did pretty good this week.

First I hit the farmers market. My bread lady was there and it was so nice to see her again. She gave me big hugs and asked me how my folks are now. And end of last season I gave her roasted peppers that I canned. She said she loved them so I gave her a jar. She said they were so good, she ate them with cream cheese on the bread. I'm glad she enjoyed them. And so I got two huge loaves, one white and one whole wheat. This bread is like big fat baguettes. They are $6 loaf but so big I can get 4 meals from them. They are almost 6in. wide a a foot and half long and the best damn bread I ever had. And then I wandered around to find the honey people. I had a glass jar from last yr and they give you $1 off if you return it. So I got the big 48oz. jug for $19. I always buy the blackberry honey cuz I think it tastes the best.

And so Ill be set for a couple weeks which is good. The market apparently will be on and off till March, then it will be every weekend. Sadly there were no other food vendors, just lots of craft people. I don't buy any of that , I want a farm market. I thought there might be some who forage there or had greenhouse veggies. But no.......just those two, so I wont be going often till the veggies come in.

And so I headed right home cuz there was an accident. Traffic was really bad. I had two more stops in that area to do but decided Id do it later when things cleared up. And so I came home and made french toast for us. Then I went back out.

But these days I cant shop just in one place. And there are not many shops around here. But I go from store to store, knowing certain ones carry things with better prices. I went to the local BiMart to get some canned clams on sale, cheaper all the time there. I can make clams and linguine this week. Got some medicines too cuz their brand is cheaper. And some tuna, whats with tuna lately? Its higher and higher and the cans are smaller, so when I find a deal, I'm on it. Then I headed off to another local grocery store.

There are certain things I buy from this store now that I didn't before. That's the store that had those huge celerys I blogged about last yr. But I find good deals on produce alot. I got 1lb. bags of Ca. garlic from a place I know for $1.59 a bag. At the same time other stores were charging 99cents for ONE garlic bulb. So I keep grabbing a bag or two when I see it cuz I use alot. But this time I got a huge bag of Roma tomatoes, broccoli heads, cilantro, oranges. They had green peppers 3 for $1 which is cheap around here. Sometimes they charge that for one. Got chicken breasts and bacon cheap too. Oh and then I bought a bag of bananas at 25cents lb. They were pretty ripe but will be good for muffins and even my yogurt. And I'm finding that this store in particular does this. When I was little and shopped with my gramma, she used to look for the racks with day old stuff and produce. I used to think, yuck. But these days most stores don't do that anymore and its a shame. They throw it out. And so Ill be checking this store out more often looking for deals. And so I wandered off to the Grocery Outlet.

Now we had one near me in Ca. The first time I went there everything looked awful and so I never went back. But I guess they have improved. I buy my butter from there now cuz its $2.50 lb. Everywhere else is much higher and its from a dairy in CA. that I know is a good one. I buy bulk sausage meat from them too. Its a brand I know that I cant get anywhere else near me here. Celery was cheap too. And I got a big 3lb. bag of Kielbasa and a big bag of tater tots. Ive been wanting to buy some but the reg. grocery has been really expensive. This was a good deal for $5.99. The reg. stores have been that price for one lb. And then I finally wandered to the grocery near me.

Had to stock up on basics there , bread, milk, coffee, creamer, beef and a few other things. I do it this way so when I hit this store I'm almost out of money. I buy the basics and add it up as I go. Then I see if I can add some of the extras I need depending on how much I spent. Its a lot of work and by the time I get home I'm tired. At least he brings it all in the house for me. But then I have to make dinner and put it all away.

Usually end up doing the big putting away the next day, I just put in the fridge till then. And that's what I'm doing today. I had planned on making stock today.........and Kurt came home early. Why they didn't tell them Fri. they could stay home is beyond me......and so he had to get up just to come home in an hr. and no work means no pay. It sux. And so I had to cook for us and finish laundry and clean up all the mess in the kitchen from yesterday. So I decided to make the stock. Ill take some of that and add fresh veggies and noodles and that will be dinner with some of that yummy bread.

I toss all kinds of chicken bones and skin in the water, along with saved onion skins and pieces, celery trimmings, carrot trimmings, parsley stems and some garlic. I had some limp celery in the fridge I tossed in too. And  I found a bag with some beef bones in it I saved. And then I remembered my SIL gave me a big beef bone from the cow they bought. She didn't know what to do with it. And so this time I put it all in the pot. Funny thing,  I tasted it and it reminded me of my moms chicken soup. And then I remembered....mom used to put beef shin bones in her soup too. I used to love that meat from the soup. Hers wasn't just chicken tho and mine never tasted like hers.........till today. Its really yummy too. So tonight's dinner will be awesome I'm sure.

Once I get all the bread cut up and frozen, and the sausage cut up and frozen and the chicken deboned and frozen and the hamburger patties made and frozen and the bananas frozen too. And I think Ill blanch the broccoli cuz I bought alot and freeze that too. Gotta cut up the peppers too cuz I'm gonna make pepper steak this week with rice. But I look at all that I do these days with shopping and food and trying to make the most of it all and I wonder whats gonna happen if I go to work.  There's just no way Ill be able to do it all ..........

Black Friday and it makes me blue...

As I watch whats going on in the world I get sicker and sicker. Society is making me sick. This insanity of Black Friday has permeated our society so deep that people cannot see what greed and corporations have done to them.

I read about fights happening, someone getting shot even and even a customer pepper spraying others. And now on a conservative site I read something again that made me sick . But I didn't dare say anything because I knew they would attack me too. It was about the Occupiers going to target all the stores from now thru Dec. 26. And them yelling at the occupiers to get a job! OMG.

I read the comments about others working,  because they wanted to. And that's fine if it doesn't bother them. But many are working thru those days because they have no choice. Many stores make employees work extra hrs then. While I would be grateful to have a job do I want my whole life to be a job? NO. No one does.

Holidays are meant to spend with family and friends. If we are given these holidays to enjoy then how can we if we have to work on them? Its a Catch 22 and really not fair. Now before some of you start yelling these people should be working....some of us out there in the world have been looking a very long time and NOT FINDING ANY JOBS. So you cannot assume all the people there are not looking either. And I find  that those who have jobs are the most verbal about this.

I say ... BE GRATEFUL YOU HAVE A JOB, MANY DO NOT. That doesn't give anyone the right to tell others how to live or throw stones at them for what THEY assume of others.

Many years ago there was something called Blue Laws. Sunday's were sacred and no one worked on them. Funny how everyone got everything done anyway even with no access to the corp. world for ONE day. Holidays still happened and dinners were still made, families got together too. And Holidays the stores were CLOSED.

Somehow tho the corp. greed got out of hand and infiltrated minds until they think this is normal . And those out there doing this on these days yell at everyone else, thinking they are lazy, stupid or whatever. Life was NOT meant to be lived this way. IT wasn't when I was a kid and even more so when my parents were kids. In fact when I see how it is now......it reminds me of the things Ive seen back in the day of child labor and immigrants being forced to work long hrs daily, no days off for minimum pay.

Its happened again and now the greedy ones have you all under their thumbs and you don't even see it. They have you doing the dirty work for them now, attacking those who want to have a day off to be with family. They have you believing you need all this crap  that you have to shop on this day for great sales. They are not great sales people. They could put those prices out anytime but they don't because they are trying to make as much money as they can.

And all you shopping lemmings have fallen for the corporate greed. I think Occupy has the right idea about targeting the stores. You don't have to agree but I think you should look at the rest of this post . Go sit down somewhere and have a good long think ........about life and what insane direction the powers that be are making you live it.

We don't need all this crap they are pushing. And if you didn't buy it....they wouldn't need to push people to live ungodly ways working crazy hrs..........just to eat and care for their family. Its slave labor once again.

Out and about....

Today I finally got out. I wanted to get back to the Goodwill store. I saw those blue plates there last time I was there and fell in love with them. But I was hunting for other stuff and left them there. Today they were calling my name so I had to go back for them. There's only 11 but I think they would look nice as salad or dessert plates with my china. They are very delicate too. A lady in the store saw them in my cart and asked me if they were depression glass. I thought that too when I first saw them but I don't think they are. But they are made that nice. They were $1.99 a piece, which probably isn't much of a deal but I loved them. I also found a glass for my bathroom to match it and a NY cookbook. I seem to do better at this Goodwill than I do elsewhere.

I went to the Consignment shop to see if  I could place some furniture there and maybe even buy some. They are closed, gone. Bummer. I'm needing some bookcases and thought perhaps I could get a deal there. So I went off to wander. I went to an antique shop  that I had been at when we were here on vacation. Yuck. Really grungy old stuff and nothing that interested me. The prices were too high too.

Then I stopped at another right down the street from me. Its an antique mall but looks small. OMG I was wandering in there for ages. Its an antique shop in the front of the building. But there's a different one in the back and you can walk from one to the other. I saw a few things I liked but really didn't need so I didn't buy them. And frankly, I'm stunned at prices up here. I really thought this area would be cheap. Some of the things Ive bought down in CA. were actually cheaper there. I may have to go out to the boonies to garage sales and such, forget the shops.

But I was out, I was driving in the rain! Really didn't bother me much till it really started to come down hard. You would think people here tho would use umbrellas since it rains alot. I see them in the stores and they do look like some are gone so someone is buying them. But I have not seen one open umbrella since Ive been here. Nobody uses them, they just get wet lol.

So I wandered on home since it was coming down hard now. I was getting tired too, coffee time for sure. I got in and did a pile of dishes that I would have done earlier if I didnt get company early this morning. I wanted to get out early cuz it gets dark early and that didn't happen. So I figured I'd clean up when I got home. Good idea too cuz now all my pretty blue dishes are in there being washed and will be all clean to use. So here I sit typing, sucking down coffee and having orange/chocolate marble cake. I have to make dinner tho.........sigh. I don't want to cook.

A day to get the dust blown off me...part two

I am so in love ♥♥♥♥♥ with this chandelier.♥♥♥♥♥ I swear if we find a nice house up in Ore. and I can afford this, I'm going to call them and see if its still there and buy it! So don't any of you even try .........its mine! giggle.

There's a shop down in my favorite antiquing town that Ive never been able to get into. They have certain days and certain hrs and it seems Ive never been able to be there at the right time. I would look in the windows tho and drool. I love Victorian things and there were always so many delicious things Id spy thru the windows. Today finally I hit jackpot and they were open. I asked the lady if I might take some pictures to blog about and she agreed. I found out they have a blog too. Les Belles Antiques.  http://lesbellesantiques.blogspot.com/

There's such beautiful little vignettes everywhere you look in this shop, even each couch has something to perk it up.

And what a great idea. Several lamps there have fringed silk scarves tied and knotted over the lamp shades. I don't know what the shades look like but I think if you like Victorian, its a quick, cheap way to get the look without having to buy new shades. Awesome idea!

This is what you see when you walk in, off to the right. I love this couch but then its purple, my color. 

And this is what you see right now from the front door. Its like stepping back in time. 

And I ♥ this light too......its so yummy.

 Couldn't you just faint on this couch ? I have to get me one of these one day.

Everywhere you look in this shop is girly frilly things that I ♥.  Look at how gorgeous this lighting is.

Look closely at this, yes its a bit busy for my taste but its a lighted epergne and its beautiful. This is victorian at its best but way too much for me today. Still.....having one corner like this, I could handle. The colors are so pretty.  

 Another one of the pretty couches. Sigh..cant buy anything right now with this move pending. But oh how I want to when I come here. Makes me feel like I'm in another time. If you get a chance to pop into this shop, do it. If you love this kind of thing, you will be in heaven browsing there.Maybe you will find a treasure you just cant live without.

A day to get the dust blown off me...part one

I had to get out of this house today. We have been inside so much, only going  out to do errands. Ive had it. Its fall here but around me it doesn't look it yet. So when I need a touch of autumn I like to go to my favorite town, antiquing. I managed to talk the man into going. So we took a nice country drive there thru the canyon. Got out and started to wander and could already see his eyes glazed over and bored lol. He saw a barber shop and decided to get a haircut so at least it wasn't a total loss for him. But I brought my camera and this is what I saw. That pic up there is a mural painted on the side of a building there...of Charlie Chaplin. This town used to be a movie town many yrs ago and Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm was filmed here along with many of Charlie's others. 

I just loved this Mummy. It looks like a skeleton that was just wrapped up in Vet wrap. He has his arms crossed over his chest like a mummy too. But they decorated him with Halloween jewelry for display in the window. Cute Idea tho.

And this one is hard to see, the darn glass was shiny no matter what angle I took this shot at. But its a giant crescent moon and I love it!

 

This is the front window of my favorite shop My Friends and I . They have a blog too I found out. http://myfriendsandiniles.blogspot.com/ I always go in there no matter what else I'm doing down in that town. See those dancing witches....I almost bought them, I just love those. But ......its big and doesn't fold. All I could think of was, more stuff to pack since Im moving soon,  so sadly I passed on it.

I loved this turkey too. Yea the photo is a bit fuzzy, hes not. But he was really cute. Again ...wanted it, didn't buy it....have to pack it if I did. 

Ive got a couple of these resin pumpkins big and small and I adore them. This one is perfect for Thanksgiving but.........not packing anymore stuff. 

And I ♥ this punkin! Its a mercury glass pumpkin, I love that stuff......but...it would be just another fragile thing to pack......sigh........so I passed on it too. This moving stuff sux.

But at the very back of the store they had a whole Halloween corner. I had to wait for a bunch of ladies to get outta the way. At first I thought they were just setting it up but they weren't. They were shoppers....in my way lol.

 More cute stuff on the other side of the Halloween corner. 

And the only thing I did buy. ...these bowls are smaller than my usual pottery ones but still useful. And they were half price so I got both for only $8. 

As you can see, if you remember my other blue pottery bowls, they match the ridges on those too but are blue and white. I love this old pottery stuff.

To be continued......

Getting ready for fall....

I went grocery shopping yesterday. I really wanted to go thrifting but it was hot. I needed the change from my shopping to do the thrifting and if I went there after I shopped, stuff would melt in the car. So I didn't do it. On the way home tho, there is a place called the Decor Warehouse. Its an outlet for holiday decorating. I was there a week or so ago and bought this gorgeous metal pumpkin. (no pic right now, if I get a chance to, Ill post that later). This place sells a lot of what the craft stores do but much cheaper so I like to go there around the holidays.

Ive been feeling stuck in the hot cuz of this heat so since it was so close and I knew I wouldn't be in there long, I went yesterday. I really should avoid this place tho. Its ez to spend toooooo much. But I saw that stuffed turkey up there in the top picture. He was calling my name. I tried to ignore that but he just wouldn't let me leave the store without him! Hes got long dangly legs and his feathers are felt with wire in them. You can bend them to shape. I showed my bf today and he laughed.

This lil guy smiled at me and I knew he wanted to come home with me too....sigh. I really have to stop picking up strays lol. Hes only about 3in. high but soooooooo cute! So I bought him for Halloween.
And I bought this pretty pumpkin, small like the other one but with that saying on it, for Thanksgiving.
And then I saw these table runners draped over the chairs of a dining set. Some were green background and some were this beautiful rich brown. Its shiny, silky fabric embellished with stitching, appliques and sequins. The green seemed a bit gaudy tho. The brown looked so rich and I figured would go much better with whatever I have around.
Look at the details on this ....looks even better in person. The camera seems to make it much shinier than it is.

I had to have this!

See that gorgeous mirror with the ruffle? I HAD TO have it. I spotted this on this blog http://moscottage.blogspot.com/ the other day. She said she saw it on another blog too and had to have it. I searched Google all over trying to find it ...called it a ruffled mirror, a ruffled frame, a mirror with a ruffle. Couldn't find it. Now the woman says these are rare so I knew it would be tough if not impossible. Ive never seen one like this before. So after fruitless searching I went to Ebay, the land of the obscure up for grabs lol.

I searched all over there too and then.........finally ......under oval mirrors.........found her! Someone bid on her already but I KNEW she would be mine. I put my highest bid on it and waited. That was a couple days ago. I forgot about it. Today I remembered and went in to see where things stood and actually caught the very last minute of the auction. What timing huh? I sat nervously waiting to be out sniped. (yes I use a service for that cuz the stupid Ebay newbies bid stuff up beyond what is reasonable).

But I won!! And I didn't even need the sniper this time. NOBODY ELSE BID! That never happens to me with stuff I want. Now I got a deal.........this mirror cost me $5.50 plus shipping. Its 17 x 14 1/2 in.

A few days later...............


The ruffled mirror I ordered came in yesterday. Ive been playing with the stuff on my mantel and this is what I came up with for now. Of course in a couple weeks it will all be packed away for the move.

That's an English teapot that I fell in love with. Packed away already is a matching teacup and saucer. That pretty rose bowl up there is an antique bowl I found online. I thought it looked nice up there with all this. The tiny demi tasse cup is one I found in a thrift store here...it has gorgeous roses on it.

The word LOVE I found in Target. I saw it on another blog and had to have it too. It was Valentine stuff they sold there but I love it so much that Im leaving it up all year.

Some Dollar Store fun today....

First, this is my table in my dining room right now. Took down the July 4th stuff and added my mermaids and some roses from my garden. Put a nice lacy white tablecloth on too so it looks bright and summery.

I saw these crafty things tho at the Dollar store and had to buy some. They are just plain wood that you paint and decorate yourself but wouldn't these be cute hanging around the house? Haven't decided how to do them and most likely wont until the move is over. But I figured if I didn't buy it now.....they would be gone.

Know what these are? Giant stickers but not just any old stickers. They are chalkboard stickers you can put your own messages on. They are quite lg. too about 1 1/2 ft. long. I thought either I could use them in my own shop to put msgs. on or prices or just use them around my house. I did buy the chalkboard wallies awhile back but these were much cheaper. Sometimes I really love the Dollar Store!