Monthly Archives: January 2013

Pretty Pics from Pinterest: DIY Valentine Wreaths

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It’s finally Friday!!! Can I get a WOOT WOOT?!

I trust you have all made it safely and happily to the end of the week, or the beginning of your week depending on what your schedule entails. Even when Friday’s weren’t the actual start to my weekend, they were always somehow happier than the rest of the week. There’s a certain jovial air about this day that we call Friday isn’t there?

Anyways, with it being Friday, and I being lazy and not wanting to edit pictures for a post, I thought I’d share some pretty images I found while in the time warp that is Pinterest.  Since Valentine’s Day is approaching, I thought it might be fun to look at some hearty crafts, particularly heart wreaths. I love to keep some type of seasonal wreath on my door, (ya know because I like everything to be dressed, I don’t want any indecent doors around my house), and I’ve been looking for that perfect Valentine wreath. So, here’s a few crafty wreaths I’ve found around the interwebs.

Ali Lily Blog

Etsy Shop: The September Tree similar wreath

Crystal’s Craft Spot

Arts for Life

White Lace Cottage

The Idea Room

Have a safe, happy and crafty weekend!!!

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Thrifting Thursday: Husbands and Wives

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Welcome to Thrifting Thursday, my personal celebration of what I like to call Friday Eve. Which normal people just call Thursday. How boring right? Shouldn’t the day before happy Friday be celebrated too? Unless of course you do some sort of shift work and your Friday is on a Tuesday in which case Monday would be your Friday eve and Friday would be your Monday so Thursday and Friday would be nothing to celebrate for you. Unless of course you absolutely love your job and can’t wait to jump into your work week. Then YAY for you!

But back to Thrifting Thursday….

Today is going to be one part talk-about-old-stuff and another part oh-yay-there’s-cookies! Confused yet? I think I’m still confused about the Friday on a Tuesday thing….

Anywho, here’s a picture to help illustrate this windy path I’ve set us down.

chocolatechipbars1

See that cute blue pedestal plate? Yeah, that’s the let’s-talk-about-old-stuff part of this post. The pedestal really isn’t all that old though, I just brought it home because it was cute and blue and cheap. Those a few of the criteria this girl can’t pass up when she’s sniffing around old junk shops. (I say sniffing, but in some of those places you really don’t wanna literally sniff too deeply. IfyaknowwhatImean)

You see that yummy magic deliciousness sitting upon my pretty blue pedestal plate? That’s the oh-yay-there’s-cookies part of the post.

marthastewartcookies1

These are cookie bars I made a while ago for a little office get together. I used Martha Stewarts  Cookie Bar Recipe. Which can be found here.

The cookies turned out OK, and honestly, I had no complaints from my co-workers. But the cookies just seemed a bit dry to me, I like my cookies to be gooey and soft. Maybe next time I won’t cook them as long. Most food stuffs I prepare end up being a little on the “well done” side. For instance, when I was making grilled cheese sandwiches for me and Bubba the other night, my sweet, gentle, and honest husband politely requested his sandwich lightly brunt instead of charred. I then promptly dropped his on the floor and let the dog lick it while he wasn’t looking. Ya know, being the sweet, gentle and PATIENT wife that I am.

How’s that for a random post about everything from Friday Eve, cookies, plates, and husbands and wives?

Weekend Happenings: The Business of Un-busyness

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This past weekend was the complete opposite of busy, it was un-busy. Meaning that it wasn’t busy, but it wasn’t quiet or lazy either, just un-busy, pleasantly un-busy.

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It was so un-busy, I took pictures of Bubba replacing the wipers on my car. While Goldie supervised of course.

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We watched a couple of our favorite silly movies. I had to get my Mixed Nuts annual viewing in, the third weekend in January is close enough to Christmas to still be watching Christmas movies right?

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I hope so, because if it’s OK to be watching Christmas movies, then it should be OK to still have ones Christmas tree still up.

christmasbox

Just so ya know though, I am working on taking down all the Christmas jolly’s. Although, if it’s still Christmas in my heart I should be able to keep the outward portrayal of all that cheer in my living room eh?

bhgandcrochet

Aside from watching Bubba replace my wipers, avoiding any type of household chore (like putting away my Christmas cheer), I also did some magazine reading and started a new crochet project. You’ll have more updates on that soon, the crocheting not magazine reading. That would be a pretty boring post wouldn’t? It would just be a picture of me, sitting on the couch reading a magazine.

Anywho,after this short review of my weekend it looks like things were more lazy and procrastination filled than they were un-busy.

But I think I’ll stick with un-busy.

What did you do this weekend? Get shiny new windshield wipers perhaps? Any Christmas tree-putting-away-avoidance?

Thrifting Thursday: Smiling Mice

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Welcome to Thrifting Thursday, my own little personal celebration of Friday eve! It’s a day I’ve set aside to talk about all things thrifty, in other words, it’s a day I blab on about old stuff I’ve seen or purchased recently from a local thrift store. Fun times right? And honestly, what better way is there to celebrate the approaching weekend than to discuss all those wonderful vintage goods out there?

This week, I broke my non-buying pact with myself and bought a pair of amber beveled glasses…

amberbeveledglassesI couldn’t help myself, I’ve been looking for a set similar to these. I figure I’ll start out with two and build upon that with different colored but same in shape glasses. Maybe I like these so much because they remind me of the blue ones my grandmother used to have, somehow sweet tea tastes so much better when enjoyed from one of these guys.

bubbleplateI also picked up this little bubble plate, it’s clear but is the same texture as my favorite blue platter…

christmascookiesAccording to Bubba, who does all the research on these things, this design is from the 30’s and reproduced during the 70’s. The 70’s designs are usually in yellow or brown tones, but the older versions typically are lighter in color. I don’t know for sure if my plates are that old, but all I know is that I love them.

midcenturychinacabinetAnd what better place to put all that pretty glassware but a mid-century china cabinet. I saw this at the Humane Society thrift store and it took my breath away. Or at least had be stop my conversation in mid-sentence. At $100 I really considered this piece, but there was no glass on the shelves and I pictured myself having to dust dinnerware and other glass pretties off before use. That’s what swayed me away from this lovely, hopefully she found a good home elsewhere.

mouseAt another store I found this little mouse staring back at me. He has nothing to do with glassware or hutches, I just thought he was cute.

muddybikeAnd at the same mouse-y thrift store, I saw this bike. You can’t really tell from this photo, but it was caked in mud. I wondered if someone just decided to buy a new bike instead of washing the old one off.

Well that wraps up a nice week of thrifting. Have you found some hidden treasures recently? Possibly a muddy bike? Maybe a cute ceramic mouse smiling back at you? Hopefully no real mice, unless your into that sort of thing.

 

Thrifting Thursday: Dr. Rice McSteamy

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When I was an infant my family spent about a year living in the back woods of Louisiana. Apparently, we lived near a rice field and were pretty close to the owner of said field, because we’d end up with huge bags of rice. Hence, the many rice centered dishes my mom cooked for us, hence my first solid food being rice and probably beans, hence my great love of this grainy carb.  As a child, I remember craving things with rice, particularly rice, gravy, and chicken with a handle (ya know because I couldn’t call it a leg, things from the meat tree don’t have legs!), and for dessert red jello topped with a little poof of cream. Well, the point of this story is not tell you about my favorite childhood meal, but to share with you an appliance I remember my beloved carb being prepared in.

hitachiricecooker

A Hitachi Chime-O-Matic Rice Cooker. Yeah, I realize it’s a weird thing to share on Thrifting Thursday, because it’s kind of an appliance and it’s not really something I’ve thrifted. But it’s old, and I think it’s kinda cool. I mean who wouldn’t love the giant orange bell, and where can you find something with a chime-o-matic feature nowadays?

Anywho, while we lived in Louisiana, my mom received this magical cooker of rice as a gift from my dad’s brother’s in-laws who were visiting for dinner. My mom was cooking rice on the stove top, ya know the old fashioned way waiting for the water to boil or however you cook rice the old fashioned way. Anyways, the point is that they thought it was taking waaay too long for that rice to get done, and that it was just a sin that my mother didn’t have a rice cooker to provide her family with rice almost instantly. So, they gave to her my most favorite of small appliances. That was 30 years ago, I was 1.5 years old.

So, I’ve grown up with rice cooked in a rice cooker, particularly the Chime-O-Matic Rice Cooker.

And ya know what?

It still chimes when the rice is done.

Weekend Happenings: Wide Angles

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YAY! We’ve made it to Wednesday or as I like to call it, Friday Eve Eve!

Even though I’m on the tail end of Wednesday, and well into the work week, I’ve still got the past weekend on my mind. In particular, a new toy that I received this weekend. It’s got me doing a little happy dance every time I think about it.

Amazon

A Sigma 10-20mm F/4-5.6 Wide angle lens for Canon. It’s something that my Bubba and I have been wanting ever since we purchased our first SLR on e-Bay two years ago. Coincidentally, this lens was also purchased on everyone’s favorite auction site as well, and a pretty good deal if I do say so myself. When it finally arrived in the mail on Saturday I felt like Ralphie when he finally got his official Red Ryder Carbine-Action 200-Shot Range Model Air Rifle with a compass in the stock and this thing that tells time. And I would have slept with the lens too, if I hadn’t been afraid of rolling over on it and breaking my precious. Sorry honey, but I take my toys very seriously.

Once we both hurriedly opened the box to reveal our newest prize, I quickly hooked it up to my camera and took some random shots.

viewfromthecouch

Never mind my abnormally large leg and the wonky vents on the ugly wall heater, apparently this lens distorts  certain items that happen to be at the edge of the shot. Or things have gotten distorted through editing and sizing down the original photo. Or there’s a worm hole hidden in my living room that could cause a rip through time and space. Or maybe it’s time to cut back on the Doctor Who re-runs. Also, don’t judge me for still having my Christmas decorations out, it’s still Christmas in my heart. And another thing, this is real life folks, no fluffing of the nest going on in this shot. Hence, the pile of coats on the rocker and various other piles of clutter here and there. We pile in this house, it’s how we organize.

teenyannie

I love this lens, it makes my backyard look HUGE! It also makes Annie-dog look so small and alone. On a side note, I think pea gravel will need to be put under the tree this spring, my poor grass is barely making it thanks to all the dog traffic and shade.

dukecity

I’ve discovered the wide angle lens captures so much more when shooting landscape shots.

sandiafoothills

cactussandiamountains

I have also discovered that New Mexico is pretty brown and crunchy during the winter months. Actually, it’s pretty brown and crunchy during the summer months too, but at least the weeds and cacti have a little more color to them.

bubandgoldie

bubandann

Oh, and the wide angle is perfect for portraits, especially when you want to capture the setting. Ya know, because our couch is picturesque.

Have you gotten any new toys you’er especially proud of recently? Or are you still battling with the remaining Christmas cheer around the house?

Thrifting Thursday: Kooky Corner

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Wow, I can’t believe Christmas is passed and we are already in a new year! You won’t believe the amount of photos I took over the holidays, which really shouldn’t be all that surprising considering the holidays are so jam packed full of fun and celebration. It’s no wonder I couldn’t carve out the time to put a quick post together during the Christmas break!  But never fear, I’ll share those once I can get myself settled down enough to edit the 978,368 photos I snapped over the past couple of weeks.

But the holidays are over, and things are returning back to normal again, and according to my calendar, it’s Thursday, and everyone knows what Thursday means around these parts right? Well, OK guess I’m the only one playing that game, so I’ll explain. Every Thursday and sometimes on Friday if I’m not feeling the bloggy vibe, I do a post centered around thrifting, I’ve titled these thrift centered posts that tend to occur on Thursdays, Thrifting Thursdays. Clever right?  This week, I thought it might be fun to talk about how I store all of my thrifted goodness. Actually, it’s not much storing as it is displaying. Alright, it’s really not displaying it’s more a piling of vintage goods.

redbookcaseThis little nook in my kitchen is where I’ve placed some of my favorite breakables. Actually, it’s not a nook so much as it is a strange random cabinet that is set off by itself in the corner of the kitchen. I call it the “buffet” makes things sound so much more posh. Anyway, it’s getting a little crowded, so it might be time to thin the herd so to speak. But for now, I’ll leave it as is, since I’m currently doing a small remodel in my bedroom, more to dish at a later post. But on to the oldies but the goodies. Most of these items have been blogged about in the past, so I won’t bore you too much with the details. I think it’s pretty obvious Bubba (the Hubba) and I enjoy vintage cookware and I’ve got a bit of an addiction to ceramic woodland creatures  as well as an obsession with milk glass vases.

vintagesquirelsandpshakerI tried to make things a little more Christmas-y here by adding some peppermints. They will probably be there till Valentine’s Day. But don’t my little girl and boy squirrel salt and pepper shakers look cute nestled in the minty goodness?

vintageowltrivets2

And what collection is complete without a bazillion owls? I’ve collected these from various thrift stores, yard sales, and estate sales. My favorite is the Sandia Crest spoon rest, I think I blogged about him at some point in the past, but I can’t locate the post. And I’m too lazy to sift through all of my many owl posts.

vintagemilkglassbudvaseOh and speaking of fowl, the egg chickens got a little dose of peppermint as well. And see that lime green casserole dish? That’s something Bubba brought home a long time ago, it’s an Anchor Hocking/Fire King piece that gets used pretty often. Surprising considering it’s at the bottom of the pile.

All in all, I’d say this is my favorite little nook in the kitchen. Someday all of the breakables will be nestled in a nice china cabinet, but until that day comes a book shelf atop a weirdly placed piece of cabinetry will have to do.