art and ideas

 A perfect day to attend an Art Fest

 at nearby Riverside Gardens.

 Artists of a wide variety of mediums set up booths

to display and sell their works.

 I picked up several business cards (and seemed to have dropped a bunch of them SOMEwhere...)

 After a taco pizza at Pizza Hut (our favorite),

my husband and I headed to Barnes and Noble

 where I did some SERIOUS magazine browsing!

 I came home with some ideas to incorporate into our house/home.

There is no shortage of magazines in spite of

competition from blogs and other internet sources.
In fact, I believe there were more than I've ever seen there before!

I enjoyed my day filled with Art and Ideas.
No cost entertainment--shared with my favorite man.

appropriate somehow...

I've been absent for a little over a week.

I spent eight days with my aging parents.

The decisions we needed to make were heavy ones.

I returned home yesterday afternoon and today went with my husband to Winona Lake (IN)

where he attended a seminar.

I stopped at a Goodwill store before settling in at a coffee shop there.

I purchased a mug ($.50) and this watercolor ($.75).

This was the explanation enclosed with the painting...

It was very appropriate to my current situation.

There WERE hours when the effort to look up in hope seemed too much;

however, the touch of the Holy DID invite me to stand up straight.

I shall cherish this painting and consider it quite a token of God's reassuring presence.

 (OK.  I THINK it is a watercolor.  I need to do a little more research.)

possibly again...

 While waiting for a load of clothes to dry this morning,

 I decided to photograph some of the "fowl" that have flocked to the

dining area of our kitchen.

 High...

 and low,

 they perch.

 Silent (and sometimes dusty) sentinels

 filling most available nooks and crannies.

Most all of them are garage sale

or thrift store purchases.

Perhaps my favorite is this life-sized rooster lamp--

a ceramic piece painted by my dear grandmother years and years ago.

I checked posts appearing under my "collection" label in the sidebar

and ran out of patience scrolling through the 60+ posts.

I find it hard to believe I haven't posted about this collection already...

but maybe not.......

ANYway, here it is.  Possibly again.

two reads

I count myself blessed indeed to have found these two "reads"

at a now-favorite thrift store!

I guess I'll leave these check-out pockets inside the back covers.

They are IN 'em to last--unless you've discovered a way

to remove them without damaging the page...

If you've never read Miss Read's books, you are missing out

on some charming, simple and satisfying stories.

 I was also happy to add this tablecloth to my small collection.

It just fits the table and sports beautiful autumn colors...

The two white (Buffalo china) bowls and the creamer

were also purchased at the thrift store.

inside out

Inside - enjoying the delicate beauty of these padded hangers.

At only  a quarter per bundle of three, I brought all three bundles home!

Meanwhile, outside...

we took advantage of the beautiful weather we've been enjoying 

to steady up and improve this free cabinet.

My husband will place it in the shed behind him

to organize our "stuff" a little better.

What fun it is to improve life "inside and out" with inexpensive "finds"...

the pleasure of a panel

 It's just about impossible for me to pass up vintage curtain panels.

 I'm especially fond of this print...

so cheerful!

Fifty cents was a small price to pay for the pleasure of this panel!

missing in action

Spoons are the things that go missing at our house--

second only to socks!

(Why IS that?)

Imagine my pleasure at finding 24 mismatched ones recently

at a thrift store in Auburn, IN!

I took out 6 that most closely match a set I have

and might offer the remaining 18 on a facebook garage sale site.

Meanwhile, I think these make a lovely picture.

What turns up missing at YOUR place?

hospital style

 

Alone in the elevator at Parkview Hospital on the way to visit a friend

I took advantage of the full sized mirror on the door

to take a rare wardrobe photo.

 

Here's a closer look at the pattern of my shirt.

The necklace picked up the gold of the buckle in the brown belt I wore.

(Forget that I forgot to slip out of my plastic sandals into black pumps.)
As you might surmise, everything I'm wearing was purchased at a thrift store.

As I left the elevator on the fifth floor,

this beautiful painting hung on the wall to my left.

It reminded me of the Big Art featured

at the Bohemian Vintage blog this morning.

What a pop of style Big Art introduces to one's space!

 Speaking of art....this is the stenciling I did on the table I posted in a prior post.
The colors are quite muted, but pick up the colors
on the Formica top of the table.
I'm pleased.

re-purposing

 These photos show some of our re-purposed  projects this week.

(The buffet and green desk shown in my last post sold, by the way!)

My husband picked up some free lumber and a unique work bench

from a Craig's List post.

 

I saw a kitchen island waiting to be fashioned in that work bench!

So we put it on casters, I primed it, and Gary painted it a bright blue.

 Meanwhile, I worked on the smaller table (below).

I want to stencil a bit on the front yet.

These projects bring in a little extra income in addition to the

pleasure we experience in re-purposing them...

In the food department, I altered a crockpot recipe to use some garden produce

we'd been given.  This is the way I made it:

Polish Sausage and Cabbage Soup
2 cups potatoes, cubed and peeled
4 cups cabbage, shredded it fine
1 carrot, shredded it fine
1 large onion, chopped
2 servings of turkey sausage, sliced
4 cups water with chicken bouillon cubes dissolved in it

black pepper and salt to taste
Directions:  Place potatoes, cabbage, carrot, onion, , sausage, pepper and salt in crock pot. 

Pour broth over all. Cover, cook on high for 5 - 6 hours.

A couple days later, I re-purposed the leftovers 

and added a few extra potatoes and some more turkey sausage

and we enjoyed the leftovers. 

Finally, me wearing a re-purposed dress for church this morning
standing surrounded by re-purposed treasures of various sorts.

furniture ins and outs

 

It's been a busy day around the house today.  

My husband completed the refinish on the kitchen cupboard that we found

at an estate sale last week.

I wanted to move it into the house and contemplated placing it

where this mirror and mantel stand.

In the end, I couldn't do it!  I think it would have made the space too "close",

I couldn't think of anywhere else to put the mantel and mirror,

and I wasn't ready to sell them.

 

Meanwhile I met a buyer for this white high chair

and another buyer for these two chairs....

A buyer for this mirror came to the house to purchase it

and somewhere in between all the coming and going, ins and outs,

I decided to move this sassy green desk from its space

and list it on a local facebook garage sale site I participate on.

 The kitchen cupboard fits where it had been just fine!

So I spent the rest of the time clearing out the desk

and filling up the cupboard.

Now if the buffet (below) sells,

I should have a bit more space in the dining area of our kitchen.

I just may post the re-arrangement when it all happens.

no-cost dresses

 Where to start?  

 I wore this dress last Sunday.  I've worn it several times,

 but THIS time I got two compliments from strangers at Cracker Barrel where we went for dinner.

(The only thing different was I was wearing the Anne Klein necklace

 that you see in the following photo.)

 And when I picked up a friend for lunch on Tuesday, she said, "I meant to tell you how much

I liked the dress you were wearing Sunday!"

I got this dress off the "Give and Take table at church.  Free.

THEN on Thursday (I think), another friend rang my doorbell and gave me THESE two dresses.

 She had them hanging in her closet, wasn't wearing them, and thought I might like them....

I said, "If they fit, I'd love to have them."

They fit.

And this morning, I'm wearing the black dress with this jacket to church.

It's been a week of no-cost dresses, thanks to friends.