God Bless America

"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,

Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer.

God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Thru the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam

God bless America, My home sweet home."

 

With husband out of town, I plan to spend Memorial Day afternoon at my sister's house. Our parents will be coming.  I've sliced the strawberries to take along with the whipped cream and angel food cake for our dessert.

I'll be wearing all thrifted items with a flag scarf (too small to tie around neck) tucked in to my top's neckline.

I'm Hooked!

"Style and rigid inflexibility rarely play well together."  Statements like this are what keep taking me back to a particular men's fashion blog.  Giuseppe has just the right amount of know-how, style, common sense, thrift, and self-confidence to keep me "hooked"!

Here's what I'm wearing to church this morning.  I'm off to teach a ladies' Sunday class before the worship service at 10:00.  My husband and I will go out to eat a quick lunch before he leaves town.  I'll have about 36 hours to tend to my mental and physical health by setting some new goals, eating more wisely, and creating some interim wardrobe solutions.  (I know what that means, even if it appears vague to everyone else!  Hint:  Mirror placement and the distance from it make photography deceiving.)

Dressed for Duty

This is what I wore all morning.  If you want to see where I was, click HERE.

Stay-at-Home Comfort

Blue T, tan skirt, black belt & slip-on shoes...All thrifted and found in my closet and drawers...

Stay-at-home day.
Housework, study and reading "Imperfect Birds" by Anne Lamott.

Surrendering to Sunshine

I give up!  Tomorrow I'm going out front to take the picture.  I guess there is just too much sunlight in the morning where I've been posing lately.

I AM loving my LifeStride shoes!  The shape of the heels and their height help the pounds I've gained to be less conspicuous (I hope)!

I added a jacket to my outfit yesterday to dress it up a bit for the graduation parties - which were fun and DELICIOUS, by the way!

Thrifty Vignettes

Vignettes from our home--thrifted,  worn,  flawed,  and treasured...




And here I am!  Behind an OUTDOOR vignette...wearing a thoroughly thrifted outfit.  I plan to wear this to a couple of graduation parties we will attend this afternoon.  Everything is wet here in N.E. Indiana!   I think the double strand of pearls around my neck will make up for the mud-proof shoes on my feet.

Mirror, Mirror, On The Wall

It's raining again.  I'm staying home.
The end-of-school carnival I was scheduled to help with
was canceled because of rain....
This is the outfit I'm wearing today.
Simple and straightforward, and as always--thrifted.

I'm including three of the mirrors that hang in our living room.
(That's right!  Three.)





 One was found lying next to a trash can.  The other two were VERY inexpensive thrift store bargains.  Because our living room has only one window, mirrors play an important role in keeping the light "bouncing" from one wall to the other.

I really like old-fashioned, wood-framed mirrors!

Used Books

This is probably about 1/10th of the garden books I've thrifted over the years.  I should have been reading them over the winter months, but only in the past few days have I gone to the shelves to search out the name of a particular plant.  Now I have a great excuse for not  pulling the weeds that have grown as a result of the frequent rainfalls this past week!  I'd much rather READ than WEED!

I have at least an equal number of decorating books...Do you have a favorite category of used books?

Dizzy Is as Dizzy Does

Small images of my outfit today...Still trying to figure out a few settings on my cell phone camera.  My shoes are see-through, the blouse is brown plaid, and my skirt wrinkled.  Do I dare leave the house looking like this?

As I have said elsewhere, this blog is my "mirror".  I'm seeing myself and may make a few adjustments before going to meet a friend for coffee this morning.

I've been experiencing some dizziness.  Maybe I can blame my looks on that! 

Serendipity

ser·en·dip·i·ty  (srn-dp-t)

n. pl. ser·en·dip·i·ties

1. The faculty of making fortunate discoveries by accident.

2. The fact or occurrence of such discoveries.

3. An instance of making such a discovery.

 For a grand total of $.67,  I bought these items.  The vintage fabric pillow case (I'm going to remove the zipper and figure out another way to use the fabric) and the book were in a thrift store in Watseka.  I stop there anytime I'm passing through on my way to visit our son and his family.  Books, regularly priced at a quarter, were buy-one-get-one-free.  I picked up several for the grandkids and kept this one for myself!

Now the Remington Steam-All....I've been wanting one of these.  Getting out an ironing board is such a pain for the little bit of ironing I do.  This was marked a quarter at an estate sale that I "happened on" last Friday.  I don't think it's ever been out of the box.  I can't wait to see if it will take wrinkles out of some of the sports jackets we find for my husband at thrift stores!  Of course, I'll read the directions that are inside the box.  And I love the turquoise color!

Finally! Sunshine!

Bring out the sandals!

Bring out the pink Vera Bradley bag!

This morning I meet a friend for breakfast decked with my thrifted blouse, scarf, belt, bag and capris!

Speaking of Thrift...

Speaking of "thrift"...this has nothing to do with fashion but everything to do about thrift in daily life.  If you're curious, you can get the scoop here. 

I AM serious about thrift.  For the past few weeks, I've been avoiding thrift stores.  They have brought me GREAT pleasure throughout the years.  However my house is bursting at the seams.  I have need of nothing that I can think of! 

Even though the prices are right, I won't be thrift store shopping for the sheer pleasure of it for awhile.  (Maybe on a "need" basis, though.)

Meanwhile, my fashion decisions and posts (remember, I'm a stay-at-home woman) will reflect the contents of my closet and drawers--which are amply stocked by thrift store purchases.

Funeral Fashion

Yesterday, the pastor of a church in our community called and asked if I could play the piano for a funeral in her church.  This will be my first time playing at a Lutheran Church funeral.  I'm going at 1:00 to get the order of service.  I'm looking forward to doing this.  The hymns are familiar to me -- some of my favorite.

Though my top is colorful, I think I am appropriately dressed in this black skirt, black jacket with black belt and shoes.   All have been in my closet for some time and were purchased in thrift stores.

Straw Hat Replaces Red Hat

It's the Second Tuesday of the Month - the regular meeting of our No-Longer-Red-Hats Group.  Though it's May, it feels more like early March.  Wet.  Cold.  Windy.  I'm wearing warm colors - a brown, linen tunic top and black skirt.  Black belt ties the tunic; brown shoes complete the outfit.

Since we're no longer RED Hats, I might at least carry this STRAW hat...

Mother's Day Garb

I had hoped that my cell/phone camera might fix itself.  Obviously, it didn't.  But after downloading this picture AND looking at my options for taking pictures, I see that I had disabled the "intelligent shot" option which would take care of some of the brightness and clarity issues I've been having!

Ah, well.  No time to retake today.  Look for better things tomorrow!  This is my Mother's Day garb.  Suede skirt, white blouse with a crocheted vest over it, accented with gold-buckle belt and a few strands of gold necklaces and gold earrings. Everything was "closet shopped" this morning!

I'm off to enjoy Mother's Day with all its pleasures.

(If you want to know how I REALLY feel, read my post on my other blog.)

A Rainy Day in May

I dropped my cell phone/camera the day before yesterday while walking.  I fear I may have damaged the shutter action.  Seems like I can't get a clear picture ever since the Big Drop....At any rate, I'm wearing this outfit today - need the jacket because it is quite cool here (not to mention VERY wet).  All items were purchased at a thrift store at one time or another. 

I'll be heading to Golden Years (a Nursing and Retirement Facility) to lead a hymn sing in a couple of hours.  I'll stop and pick up a few items at the grocery store on my way home.

Propped up on the back of the loveseat on our sun porch is this finished paint-by-number painting.  I found it barely started in a thrift store. My husband enjoys doing these - and I thought this particular painting turned out quite lovely!  A suitable frame has yet to be selected. Note the old quilt underneath!  Also a thrift store purchase.

Wednesday Style

White ruffly blouse, yellow belt & denim skirt -- NOT the same one as yesterday!  And below, a picture of a shelf that stands on the landing of our stairway.  I include it here to show some original pottery mugs that I purchased for $.10@ at a thrift store on our vacation (well, 5 of them anyway..).

The Ideal Magazines in the stack are also all thrifted.  I have some for just about any season or holiday.  I enjoy giving them in place of cards to special people in my life or just browsing through while I sip a cup of tea.










I'm also seeing a few of the small, wooden boxes that always catch my eye when I'm at a thrift store.  (They look a little dusty here.)  Do you see the wooden stool?  It, too, was a thrift store buy.  Yes, that's a mirror behind it and above it.  I have a "thing" for mirrors.

To Maggie...

Maggie,

I confess to being uninspired since returning from vacation.  I didn't get back into a walking routine and within a couple of weeks, I gained enough pounds to make my clothes uncomfortably tight.

Well, the past three days, I have walked 30 minutes (slower than I was walking before), but at least I'm doing SOMEthing.

Meanwhile, this morning, this is the outfit I wore.

I am not visiting the thrift store so much.  My closet is full.  I don't need one more thing.  Perhaps I shall return to the stores in the future.  I DO miss it.  But my house is just too full.  I WILL be posting some of my favorite thrift store finds of the past from time to time.  I really HAVE found some "lovelies".  For now, I need to sort through my "stuff" and get rid of some to make room in my "head"!

Does that make sense to you (anyone)?  It was good to be missed.  I'll not neglect this blog.  Thanks for checking in.

Rebecca