Websites

Here are 2 interesting websites that I found with Stumble Upon. Well, one of them is kind of weird. This is the weird one.  Whoever put this website up needs to find something to do.

This one  about  how to repurpose a wool sweater into a bag is more practical.  The bag is lovely, and if I ever find a 100% wool sweater at the Goodwill Store here in Florida, I'm going to make one.

Have a Great Day!

Thrifting and Firefox

I had always used Internet Explorer for my browser.  Recently, mostly from curiosity, I switched to Firefox after reading a little about it on the internet.  I had been having trouble with my internet connection flipping in and out.  My husband and I could not figure out the cause - especially since he was not having any problems with his computer.  Surprisingly, after I switched to Firefox I had no more problems...........Don't know if that information will be useful to anyone.  Probably everyone else already knows it!

This post needs some photos so here are the last of my recent thrifting at estate sales
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A pretty little basket for $1.00

A bowl with a rose pattern for 50 cents. 

And a turkey basket for 50 cents.

Did I need them?  No, but they were cute and a bargain!

Thrifting: Estate Sales

I wish that I had known about estate sales when I was a young wife and homemaker.  I could have furnished our home a lot quicker and a lot cheaper. 

Several days ago I wrote about the valentine that I bought for my husband at an estate sale.  Here are the other bargains I got at that sale.  

This cake plate and server cost $2.50.  I love the rose design.  Roses are my thing!

 

This floral picture (roses again) in a gorgeous gold frame was $7.50.

 

A teapot for $2.50 (more roses, apparently also the "thing" of the woman who had previously lived where the sale was held)..... The ivy is from Joann's. I had a coupon.

I got all of these at half price because I was there on the last afternoon of the sale when they had reduced the prices of whatever was leftover.

I subscribe to Estate Sales.Net, a web site that emails notifications of estate sales in certain areas. 

Click to enlarge the photos!

Housekeeping and More Thrifty Finds

Many times I have made schedules - some simple, some complicated - for getting my housework done.  Somehow I've never really hit on one that works for me.  I have read all the housework organizing books, Confessions of an Organized Homemaker, Side-Tracked Executives, Speed Cleaning, The Messies Manual, etc.and when the web came along, I would read all the home organizing sites that I could find.  I would get very enthusiastic about it, but in all too short order, it would become boring, or impossible to keep up with, or something would come along to get me off track.

Now, I have been keeping house for over 50 years and I still haven't solved the problem - so I guess it is hopeless.  In my defense, a good bit of that time I had 4 children and worked part time.

Hope springs eternal, I guess, and I still keep trying because disorder does bother me. My idea of  heaven includes having everything in place and clean.........all done by someone else, of course!

I've said all that to say this - I have got to get menus planned for next week or we will spend too many evenings eating out!  And I have got to clean my house for company next weekend!

Here are other thrift store, etc. decorating finds. The little glass jar was 75 cents and the red and white saucer 50 cents.  The flowers were cut from one stem at the dollar store.  They sorta match my wall paper and the salt and pepper shakers that were given to me by one of my children who knows I like floral (especially roses) designs. The vase  was recycled from a candle jar.

Yardwork, Thrifting, and Knitting

Well, it 's a very nice day outside today which means...........yardwork!  It was nice to be outside but I am not a yardwork person.  However, since I don't have one (yardwork person), I got out and raked those leaves and started pruning the lantanas in the back yard.  And that is just a start!

Back to knitting:  that afghan I said was simple - well, lately it has been driving me nuts. Morning before yesterday I pulled out 4 looong rows  because I discovered a mistake. This morning I thought I had knitted an extra row in the pattern, pulled it out, and then discovered that it was not a mistake and had to knit it back in.

Probably nobody would have noticed those mistakes except me.  However, I have made a lot of mistakes in my life that I could not go back and correct.  These I could and so I did. (The italics are because I said something profound!)

Like many women, I love bargains.  I think garage sales, thrift shops, and estate sales are great.  Some of my favorite things in my home have come from them.  Recently I went to an estate sale and got several good buys.  Here is the one I thought was the best bargain.  It was my husband's valentine and it cost a quarter (we've been married 53 years so he appreciates any valentine he gets).  In addition to being a copy of a Mary Engelbreit print, it plays music to the tune of "Just the Way You Are".......and that is the way I have to take him. (and also how he has to take me)