The Weekly Loot: The Beauty Product Question

Yeah!  Great morning today.  It's always fun when DH & I get to go out, kid-free.  Of course we love our kids.  But you know.

First I found this lovely chair

It weighs about 550 lbs.  I love it!  I'm not doing a thing to it, either.

Found some jewelry today...

I mostly love my big, ridiculous ring. 

Also in there...a couple of books, workout dvd, ceramic tray, and some Wen styling cream.  I've never used it, but I see it on the shopping channel all the time.  What is the verdict on hair/beauty products?  I often buy them if they're unopened.  This one was not sealed in plastic, but looked like it had never been used, and it felt full.  Is that gross?  I mean, I don't go around buying 30 year old bottles of Avon perfume or anything (and trust me, people try to sell it).  And at the yard sale we had in the beginning of the summer, I put out half of my bathroom closet's worth of half-used beauty products, hair product, makeup...and I was shocked at how fast it went.  Lots of times, couponers will sell their loot that they've gotten for free or practically free.  What do you think?  Do you/would you buy this stuff at yard sales?  

Some Christmas ornaments...check these out!  So pretty.

Some random stuff...

I'm a sucker for Willow Tree, I can't help it.

And possibly my FAVORITE find of the day:

That's supposed to be for my 8yo daughter.  But I may keep it for myself.  I've been twirling it all morning!

So, total spent this morning:
Chair                                 $7 (they were asking 10)
2 Books & workout dvd:   $1.25
Willow Tree plaque:           $3.00 (what???  I should have offered 1.)
Candle top thingy:             $.75
Hair product:                    $.75
Christmas balls:                 $1
Jewelry:                            $5.50
Tray:                                 $.10
Baton:                               $.10

TOTAL:                           $19.45

Yikes.  I'm getting to be a big spender these days.


Linking to  thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/ and http://southernhospitalityblog.com/. 

The Weekly Loot: Pottery Barn edition

Hehe...well, not "Pottery Barn, the catalog" exactly.  But pottery, at least, and lots of it.  And an instance of me trying to be all Pottery Barn-y. 

How does one be all Pottery Barn-y?  They get a piece of coral and stick it on a bookshelf.  (Right?)  And if they really wanted to get all PB with it, they'd spraypaint it silver and do the faux mercury glass thing to it.  I'm not going that far.  But I did find a sea urchin for .50!

Plus an extra, um, "bonus" item that came with it...

 

.......yeah.  

I picked the thing up, and realized that the sea urchin was unattached to the base - it just sat on top.  So I took ONLY the sea urchin and played dumb when I went to pay the lady. 

Of course, she was like, "OH, THAT COMES WITH A LITTLE STAND...WAIT, LET ME FIND IT FOR YOU!"  *Sigh.*  If only I wasn't raised to be so polite.  So home with the "I Love Grandpa" stand and urchin I went.  Complete with a great set of unnecessary quotes:

Like, it's not really from Shenandoah Caverns, Va...we're just going to call it that. 

Unnecessary quotes crack me up.  They are everywhere.  There is actually an entire blog dedicated to pointing out signs where people use them, and I think it's hilarious.

Anyway, I like my sea urchin...the question is, do I leave it as-is (sans Grandpa stand), or do I spraypaint it white?   I'm thinking as-is.

I also found some more pottery for my new & growing collection.  I'm really drawn to these little cute pitchers and I pick them up whenever I see them.  These little guys sit on my sewing table:

Aren't they adorable?  And DH found me that owl soapstone dish.  How sweet!

The other ones I've found here & there this summer, I've just been sticking them up on a shelf in my kitchen:

Everything besides the 3 white pieces are things I've found just this summer. 

I think that yellow one is my favorite so far.  It's also the one I paid the most for, at $5.  I think I overpaid.  But I love it.  :)  And considering that some of the others, I scored for .10 and .25, it all evens out. 

And then this weekend, I found this for $1, which I really like:

Love the shamrocks

I just love that blue color inside

And then there was this, earlier in the summer:

Sorry for the bad picture. :)  I'm pretty sure that aqua one is California Pottery.  I paid .50 for the ironstone...tureen? And the guy basically threw the aqua one in with it.  Both for .50.  You can't beat that! 

Those are the kind of things I keep an eye out for...what are YOU drawn to?  

***
Linking to
southernhospitalityblog.com

The Weekly Loot: Check out my new wheels!

I would call this a great day of yard sales! 

Usually, I choose one day each weekend to go with DH, because we feel kinda guilty dragging the kids around with us for hours.  So we limit that to only once a week.  ;)  Goodness knows we've already given them enough to talk about in their future therapy sessions; we don't need to add "endless yard sales" to the list.

Anyway, it's been busy, and they've been getting to bed later than usual this week, so I wasn't actually planning to go at all this weekend.  But we were all up early this morning, and I asked them each, on a scale of 1 to 10 (with 10 being "so bummed out I just can't stand it") how they would feel if we went to yard sales this morning.  They were both under 5.  I took that as a "let's do this thing!" and away we went. 

First house, got some baskets.  I'm always looking for cute things to put stuff in, and I think these will be handy in my sewing room:

$2.50

Normally I would offer less, but it was first thing in the morning.  I just hesitate to do that when it's right when they open...

A few houses later, got some jewelry!  So cute.  I love these earrings!  PLUS, it just so happens that I knew the girl whose house it was, so I didn't feel squeamish buying them from her.  (Of course I'll still alcohol-ize them!  For those of you who are worried.  Mom.)  ;)

$2.00

Found these Sbux mugs, like we don't have enough mugs...

$1 each, with boxes!  There were two.

This one was .25, with no box.  Anyone know how to clean this?  (That's ink.)

Also at this sale, I got some Pilates DVDs for .50 each.  I've been a fan of Pilates ever since I learned that the Olympic women beach volleyball players do it.  Have you seen those abs?  That's endorsement enough for me. 

Next up, some glass Christmas balls:

The whole box was $1.  I only really wanted these two, though.  Love!!!

Oh, and some butterfly nets, .25 each, for the kids.  They have been on a bug-collecting kick this summer.

So I spent a total of $7.75.  That's actually more than I usually spend!  I think I blew it on the baskets.  I shouldn't have paid more than $1.50.  AND looking back, I wish I would have offered .50 for the two ornaments, instead of taking the whole box.  Oh well.

So we were on our merry way home, when we spotted THIS at a sale in our own neighborhood:

A bike!  For me!

I have been in the market for a bike for about half the summer.  Of course, ever since I decided to get one, they all seemed to disappear from the yard sales.  But today my luck changed!  DH pointed out that it has a "nice" water bottle I could drink from...

Looks, uh......refreshing.

So I checked it out, and wonder of wonders, the frame is actually MY SIZE, and it looked pretty nice!  I was going to offer $20 for it.  And then a little voice in my head said to ask the lady how much she wanted for it.  Well I'm glad I did because she only wanted $15! 

So that was the morning for me.  Not too shabby!  What about you?  Did anyone else do well at the sales this weekend?


Linking up with:
http://thethriftygroove.blogspot.com/
http://www.frommyfrontporchtoyours.com/
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Highs and Lows: "Date Night Before 8am" Edition

Hey everyone!  It's Sunday, and we went to church last night (yeah for Saturday night service!), and I'm sitting here procrastinating on making my grocery list...so hey, why not do a Highs and Lows?  ;)  (This used to be a link party thing, but I don't think Jen is doing it anymore...but I still like to.)

I like to start with the Lows so I can end on a positive note...although I'm happy to say this week there weren't many lows...

1. Well, actually....really no specific lows this week.  I guess my only complaint would have to be the Dealing With the Bickering Children, what seems like every day.  Not all day every day, but at least once every day they get into it with each other.  It is so tiring to listen to.  I busted out a mini-lecture this morning and at present they are both playing individually and everything seems fine.  It's funny...it's like watching me & DH in them...SHE wants to play and do stuff, and HE needs his space.  SHE gets frustrated and tries to force him to do stuff, and HE digs in his heels and refuses.  Eventually one of them resorts to physical force (uh, that's where the similarities end!) and the tattle-taleing begins.  Depending on my mood/state of mind, I deal with it in varying degrees of "good mom-ness."  I'm really trying to not just yell every time...that really doesn't do any good.

HIGHS this week:

1. The kids went to day camp for the first time.  They had SUCH a blast and it was really awesome to hear them talk nonstop about their days when they'd get home.  We will definitely be sending them again next year.  I think it's so good for them.  And at the closing program (where they sing songs & do skits for us), each counselor chose one kid from their group to have the team flag - this was for the kid who was the "most encouraging" to the other kids.  And my little guy got the flag for his kindergarten group.  :)  I was so proud of him. 

2. SINCE the kids were in day camp every day, DH & I got to go out Friday morning and do the yard sales till our hearts' content, without having to cut it short because we feel guilty dragging the kids around with us.  We had such a great time.  Yard sale-ing is sort of like our "date night."  A date night that starts at 7:45 am, and I don't have to do my hair or pay for a sitter. 

3. I got my blog switched over, yay!  Gilbert Street Stitches...how do you like it?  :)  I think the name change is what it needed.  AND I did it without having to purchase a domain name, which I'm not sure I want to do right now...AND without losing all my content, links & friends.  I did it by following the most AWESOME step-by-step instructions over at this techie person's site. 

OH and here's a question:  I did the design myself (not that there's much to it...) and it looks great on my laptop.  But when I view my blog on our "main" desktop computer, my header (the yellow part) is all off-center and it looks bad.   -Insert Nancy Kerrigan "WHYYYYYYY?" here-  does it look bad on YOUR computer?  Can anyone tell me how to fix this so that it looks centered on ALL screens?  That would be super....

Well that's it for me this week!  Soaking up the last bits of summer with the kiddos....sigh.  I love summer.

Highs and Lows: Awk-warrrrrrd! Edition

Hey, are we still doing highs and lows, Jen?  Well, I am...

I'll list the lows first - usually I say it's because I like to end on a positive note, which is usually true.  But today, honestly, it's because the lows are all that I can think of!  It's not that I'm a negative person, even though DH says I'm a pessimist.  (I say I'm REALISTIC!)  I'm not even in a bad mood right now!  It's just been a rough week.  Thank goodness for the weekend.

LOWS:

1. Ugh.  I still feel kind of sick about this one.  Without going into too much detail (because a startling number of "real life friends" actually read this thing), here's the situation:  I was giving a friend's child a ride somewhere.  When we got there, the child WHIPPED the car door open with all their might, putting a dent (with the paint chipped off) in the $40,000 car next to us.  And yes, I yelled at the child with the same force that they smashed the door into the car, if you're wondering.  Then I felt like a humongous jerk.  Anyway, I left a note, the guy called (and turns out to be a state trooper!), and I had to deliver the news to my friend that the damage is somewhere around $500.  Talk about uncomfortable.  If you're wondering, yes, insurance would have taken care of it, but since it was my car, it would have had to go through my insurance.  We would have had to open up a claim and burn our "first accident forgiveness" on this incident.  Situations like this just suck the life out of me.

What would you have done?

2. We have a tee-baller and a softball-er.  And lately it seems that all of their games are scheduled simultaneously.  So I stand in between the two fields and try to watch both games.  When you try to watch two games, you go home feeling like you didn't see anything at all.  That is a bummer.  I know it's not my fault, but it makes me feel like a "bad mom" when I miss seeing my daughter pitch or my son up at bat.  I just hate that.  It's just the way the schedule is this year, it seems.

3. And speaking of "bad mom" moments, my kindergartener had a field trip this week that I didn't remember until that morning.  It's not that I had to do anything last-minute...it's just that I realized how out of touch I have been lately.  I always imagined that I'd be a "cookie-baking, homeroom mom" kind of mom...not a mom who forgets when her kids' field trips are.

HIGHS:

1. As is our custom, DH & I had a nice morning of yard sale-ing on Friday before I started work.  I found a few things; a really nice set of curtain rods with ceramic finials for $5...I guarantee these cost a fortune when they were originally bought.  They are going in Abby's room.  I also found a couple of books, no big whoop.  But we just had fun...DH did pretty well.  It always cracks me up how some people are...you can tell the ones who do the yard sale thing regularly and the ones who don't.  You can tell the sellers who are just trying to get rid of junk, and the ones who are looking to get rich by selling their junk.  They do not bargain at all, which just irritates me!  What's up with that?  I could have gotten a pair of strawberry pots for $10 yesterday.  I asked if she would take $7, and she said no.  I'm thinking, "you live in a $400,000 house.  Do you need the $3 that badly?"  So I walked away from the pots.  Now I'm kicking myself a little...$10 is still a great deal.  Oh well.  Anyway, the point is, Friday mornings have become a major high point in my week. 

2. This could really go either way, but when I think about it, all I have are good feelings mixed with a little sadness.  So I'm putting it in my list of "highs" - this week I went to my very last MOPS meeting ever.  When your youngest child goes into 1st grade, you become a MOPS graduate, and they basically give you a nice potted flower and kick you out.  ;)  But it's OK.  By the time your youngest is 6-7 years old, you really don't need MOPS anymore...it's a different stage of life now.  Anyway, being a graduate, I got to get up and say something about my experience with MOPS over the last few years.  I hope I was coherent...I love speaking to big groups of people, but I have a tendency to babble and lose track of what I'm talking about.  If you can imagine that.  I did cry a little.  But not because I'm worried about losing touch with my friends; just because the closing of chapters of life can be so hard.  For me, closing the chapter of having babies/toddlers/preschoolers has been really difficult.  Every once in a while it hits me that my kids are SCHOOL AGE kids and not sweet little 2 year olds anymore. 

3. If all goes well, today I am FINALLY going to get all my plants & veggies.  Whether they get into the ground or not today, I don't know, but if I can at least get them to my house, I will feel a little less behind than I am right now. Yesterday we had a softball game right exactly in the middle of the day, which boogered things up.  Today I have a baby shower at 2, which is also threatening to interfere with my outside plans...but I think I can pull it off.  Cross your fingers for me!

Can you tell I'm totally overwhelmed and have no time for anything???  I am thankful for my job, I really am.  But I'm counting the HOURS until my summer begins. 

The Weekly Loot

Yesterday DH and I went out yard sale-ing before I started work for the day.  It was probably one of the most abysmal yard sale days ever.  I found absolutely nothing!  Sometimes it's treasure, and sometimes it's truly just junk.  But this morning we went out and came home with a truck full of LOOT!  And dragging the kids around with us, at that!  He did much better in quantity than I did, but I came home buzzing off of my one great deal.

This chair was at our last stop of the morning, which we almost didn't even bother going to.  But we'd just been to a "dud" and didn't want to end the day on that note.  $5 price tag, I asked if she would take $3.  She did.  :)

Some other random stuff:

It's not all just about the furniture; I like little silly things too.  That flowery tea tin was 10 cents; the stack of plastic containers was .50.  I thought I could use them to store little sewing notions and stuff.  Two puzzles at .25 each...I cannot resist puzzles, even though I rarely do them and have no place to put them.  So help me, I can't resist.  A pack of unopened paper for .25 and a book for .75.  $5.10 total - great morning!

***

Bedroom Breakdown

I'm so happy to still have some readers here!  Thanks, guys!

So...the bedroom.  I actually have some "befores"...

before

What is with these cats???  Such camera hogs.  The "before"...eek.  Stark walls, leftover wall decor from when we had red bedding (not that it all has to match, but...).  ONE lamp, and not on my side, which was a pain.  Full-size bed...and I'm told that I kick.  No curtains. 

 After:
- I never realized that gray could warm up a room!  That is the Benjamin Moore color "Coventry Gray" - but I took the paint chip to Home Depot and got it mixed there in the Behr Premium Plus Ultra.  The kind with the primer in it. Looking back, I'd skip the Ultra and save a few bucks.  We still had to use two coats, and I wasn't blown away by the quality - I mean it's very nice paint, but I was expecting a miracle in a can.  I've used just the regular Premium Plus before, and thought that the Ultra didn't seem any different.  Not to mention, you really don't need primer on white walls.  Duh. 

- The bed: we got a queen-size bed and mattress set.  And there was much rejoicing.  Before we went shopping, I was under the delusion that we could probably get a good mattress set for about $300-$400.  But I was wrong, so wrong.  :(  And in an uncharacteristically UN-frugal moment, we bit the bullet, went to a furniture store, and bought the bed and dresser.  Even though we did not spend nearly what I know other people spend on furniture, I almost threw up as I paid the girl at the counter.

- The bedding!  I am in LOVE with the bedding.  Homegoods.  :)  And it came with the pillows - that's just one less thing for me to do!

Here's another before...

 
We were trying to cram too much furniture into the room.  The room measures 10'3" x 11'.  No joke.  So we got rid of that dresser and now instead, I'm using my closet for all my clothes.  I got a Rubbermaid closet system and there are lots of shelves in there now.  It's a ridiculous mess right now, or I'd post a picture.  It works pretty well, but I'm still getting used to it.  It's worth having the extra openness in the room.

curses upon you, radiator!

Now there's just a mirror, which I love.  It was $80-something at the Home Depot - Martha Stewart brand.  Not exactly frugal, but have you priced these mirrors elsewhere?  Most start at $200.  I might have to take it back, though, because it makes my hips look big.  It's faulty.

Another before/after...

before...not great.

after...well actually, still not great, but better.  Please ignore the bag hanging from the door and the hamper sitting there.  I didn't mean to have those in the picture...

Low budget item #1: the curtains.  They're actually sheets.  Twin size flat sheets from Walmart, $5 each.  That's $10 a window.  Not too shabby!

that's my daughter's head in the picture.  I tried to crop it out, but there were technical difficulties. 

Low Budget item #2: the lamps.  $7 each at a yard sale.  I didn't have to do a thing to them!  The lady would NOT bargain, though, and had no sense of humor at all, which made me almost put them down and walk away, but DH was there and he talked sense into me.  You can't get lamps anywhere for $7 apiece. 

Low Budget item #3: the side tables!  I wish, I wish, I wish I had a before picture.  You would not believe how crappy these things looked.  They're just cheap-o MDF, and they were brown, and falling apart.  They were originally $5 each, but I bargained and got them for....ready...$5 for the pair!  I sturdied them up by replacing the original dinky little screws with bigger ones...and then a little primer, paint, & polyurethane...and wow.  They could not BE more perfect.

So the last thing to do is to replace the light fixture on the ceiling.  I have NEVER liked it.

I'm going back and forth between spending $99 at Lowe's for a showstopper...

Or just getting a $10 basic, unnoticeable, sad, boring flush-mount one.  I'm actually leaning more towards the "who cares" one, just for the sake of not blowing any more cash.  I don't know, though.  But I do know this: the old one has to go.  The Addams Family called; they want it back.

***

$5 Dresser + TLC.....Priceless

I wish I'd taken a picture of it all together, but...

...and it was even uglier in real life!  Beige, with brown/"gold" accents.  The mirror was filthy - there was some sort of grease all over it.  You can't tell from the picture, but the knobs were mismatched, and the two front legs were loose and wobbly.  It was in pretty bad shape, but I still can't believe I got it for $5.

Once I stabilized the legs so that it didn't wobble, I realized that this thing is built really well!  Solid, and the drawers have dovetail construction...which of course we all know from watching Antiques Roadshow, is a good thing.  ;)

I didn't take step-by-step pics, because as another blogger recently put it, "the world doesn't need another tutorial on how to paint something white."  Amen, sister.  I did refer to this tutorial by Centsational Girl, the veritable queen of furniture makeovers.   I was pretty sure I knew what I was doing, but I really wanted to do it "right."

I'm so unbelievably proud.  Here it is!

I love the hardware I found.  This is from Lowe's.

Look how smooth!  Thanks to a product called Floetrol. 

It's ironic. I spent $5 for the dresser.  Then I spent $30 for the hardware (a splurge for me, but not NEARLY what it could have been).  Paint & polyurethane...about $20.  I only bought a quart of paint, which was more than enough for two coats.  So all in all, this cost a little more.  But to me, it's my $5 dresser.  :)

Linking to:
http://tidymom.net/tag/im-lovin-it/
http://www.missmustardseed.blogspot.com/
http://www.remodelaholic.com/
http://shabbynest.blogspot.com/
http://frenchcountrycottage.blogspot.com/
http://romantichome.blogspot.com/
http://chiconashoestringdecorating.blogspot.com/
http://southernhospitalityblog.com/another-thrifty-treasures/
http://www.homemakeronadime.com/
http://nightowlcrafting.blogspot.com/2011/08/hoos-got-talent-62.html
http://southernlovely.blogspot.com/2011/08/show-share-1.html

DIY Potting Bench

Hi there!  First of all, an update.  My daughter had her cheerleading practice/"surprise final tryout" last night.  And she gets to stay on the competition squad. :)  I walked in at the end of practice, and got to see them do their dance from start to finish, and I have to say, she looked good out there!  I was impressed! She really looked like she knew exactly what she was doing.  I was very proud of her.  (But the girl we carpool with got moved down to the "alternate squad."  That was a tough ride home.  I felt for her.  I've been on that end of the stick more than the other side.  I really knew how she felt.)  So that's that.  If you're wondering what in the world I'm talking about, check this out.  And then come back to see my new potting bench!

:*****

Back to our regularly scheduled program!  :)

A few weeks ago, I decided that I'd finally had it with the dysfunction of our tiny little back porch:

that's on a good day, nice and cleaned up

the only thing it's NOT lacking is more sidewalk chalk on the wall

So when DH had a few days off from work (in a row! imagine that), I sent him to Lowe's with a list.  :)  

Using Ana White's "simple potting bench" plans,  we built one of our own!  Have you ever made anything from Ana White's website?  It used to be called "Knock-Off Wood."  I liked that name; I thought it was clever.  Oh well.  Anyway, let me tell you: you need to try something from her site!  Her instructions are SO clear, and SO foolproof.  (And SO free!  ;) She even gives you a list of exactly how many of each size lumber pieces to get, and then a "cut list" so you know exactly what to do with them when you get home.  She makes it easy and FUN!  

I didn't take any pictures of the process. Why?  I don't know.  It wasn't that exciting...just a bunch of wood getting put together. 

Here's what we ended up with...ta-da!

And check out the wire hanging decoration...

There's my handy guy, wielding a drill.  I'm behind the camera, most likely asking if he's SURE he doesn't want me to get the level?  That's an ongoing point of, um, "loving contention" every time we do a project together, btw. 

tee hee!  Got it at a yard sale earlier this summer for $10.  Bargained it down from $15.  :)

Pretty!  And level.  Why did I doubt?

So we went from this (on a good day, remember)...

  

To this...

This isn't really a "before & after."  It's more like, "before & a good start."  I have a few things left to do to really make it a "Barbie Dream Porch."  Such as...

1. change out the light fixture.  I think that thing's been there since 1927.  I shudder to think of all the bugs that will fall out when we do that.  And when I say "we," I mean "DH." 

2.  maybe a larger floor mat or outdoor-type area rug.  I've looked into painting my own floorcloth, and frankly, it looks like a major pain in the bum.  And not necessarily less expensive than just getting one on end-of-season clearance.  So there! 

3.  finish the potting bench

Here is what I'm thinking for the potting bench: I want to put a curtain across it so that it covers the bottom shelf.  That, and/or get matching bins for underneath.  

I also want to either paint or stain it.  I'm not sure which, though.  I'm leaning towards painting it off-white.  Or I could go with a bold color; that would look great.  Like the red one on the aforementioned Ana White website.  Or a nice light sage green?  I have no idea.  What would YOU do?  Side note: I'm not very good at distressing things in a way that doesn't look like it's been distressed on purpose.  And I have a feeling it will get "naturally distressed" from use, anyway.  But I'm up for anything.  Seriously, I need suggestions!  

I think I'll link!
http://skiptomylou.org/