Living Room Refresh

I spruced up the living room during the past two months. Bruce painted the walls a lovely yellowy maize color, which has brightened up the living room immeasurably. Then we painted the very damaged hardwood floor “Barnwood;” a silvery grayish brown. We replaced our old flowered love seat, sofa, and large chair with just a sofa and a large chair with a matching ottoman. We needed a little extra seating, so I pulled some old chairs up from the basement and gave them a little spray painted refreshment. I think they look terrific with inexpensive cushions from Walmart and paired with my old singer sewing machine table.

Today's Thrifty Treasure

Manuela over at The Pleasures of Homemaking blog, which I adore, has a feature called "Thrifty Tresures."

http://thepleasuresofhomemaking.blogspot.com/ called "Today's Thrifty Treasures."

The picture above is one of my "thrifty treasures." My friend Nancy spotted this bottom of a Hoosier cabinet left out for the trash a few weeks ago. I wish I had taken a "before" pic, but I'm always so excited to finish the project that I forget.

We hauled it across the street and up on to my porch. The counter top was gone, you you looked directly into the drawers. It was paint splattered and had some "plastic wood" repairs. Two cans of white spray paint later, I think it looks pretty good!

My Starbucks Peeps

I advocated for a long time to get a Starbucks here in Portsmouth, VA. It took ten years. I actually check for the nearest Starbucks on Mapquest before I closed on my house here. Starbucks is more than just coffee. I once took a colleague from Red Cross to Starbucks for the first time. She had been blind since birth. She inhaled deeply and said, "This is what brown looks like, right?"

I love my Starbucks peeps. They provide wonderful service, as well as a strong sense of community. They started a book and magazine exchange. Last week, I was able to read the lastest issue of More magazine, one of my favorites...brand new. I've taken home many excellent novels and dropped off books I've finished.

McDonalds started serving iced coffee and lattes a few months ago. They marketed this new product to Starbucks patrons. Wrong demographic! Apparently McDonalds didn't do as well during the last quarter and experts believe is it because the upscale coffee drinks were a bust. I'm not surprised. They might have been cheaper, but they didn't taste as good and the ambiance wasn't the same.

It's not just about the coffee. It is the decor, the terrific music, the patrons, the service, the sense of community...the whole megillah, as they say in Yiddish, which has to do with the book of Esther, but I digress.

So I'm off for an iced vente three equal sugar free vanilla latte. It is my luxury and my treat for the day. It doesn't bother my blood sugar and is a good source of calcium. And my Starbucks peeps will be there.

Where I Work

When Bruce lost his job in March. I took two part-time jobs to tide us over. One of the jobs really captured my heart and I've stayed with it. Joseph is a dignified British attorney (or barrister, as he would say) and ordained minister whom I met six years ago at church. Although some people might term him a "senior citizen," they would be mistaken to label him with words used for people who lived in assisted living. He is a current black belt in Tae Kwan Do who drives a sexy sports car with the top down Joseph is writing a book about his amazing life My role is to help him put the words to paper, to edit, and to be a sounding board as he brings his remembrances to life on paper. We usually work in the decorating shop which he owns with his wife, Elaine. I hope you enjoy looking at these exquistie pictures of the shop. Please note Ma Maison's most successful salesperson, Dudley.

You Never Know Where Life Will Take You

Little did I know when I made my last post that I'd be gone for so long. Life is funny like that.

Bruce lost his job in March and it really knocked both of us flat. God has been good and one month later, he had a better job, with a bigger defense contractor (Lockheed Martin), doing something he enjoys tremendously, for a lot more money. Essentially, he gets to think deep thoughts, investigate various issues on the classified part of the military's Internet, and talk about cool stuff. Seriously. He even works for a command with a cool name, the "Navy Lessons Learned Office." Considering that most military commands have strange names like NAVSUBTRACENPAC, COMSUPAC, SIMA, MARMAC and other esoteric abbreviations, it is nice to work for a place that sounds just like what it is.

In any case, it is a lot better than the Carcass Tracking Unit in Hawaii which was the most unappealing military name I've ever encountered. I don't even want to know what they did there.

The odd thing is that it has taken us quite a bit of time to get back on track. This unexpected change was terribly disorienting and we feel as though we are just getting back to normal these many months later.

Book Reviews

I’ve been evaluating my spending and consumption habits for months now. Since I don’t work outside the home anymore, my job is managing the household. Society seems to take a dim view of the term “housewife,” but I realize that what I do at home (or don’t do) makes an enormous difference in our quality of life. My husband likes that I’m at home. I like that I’m at home, too.

Part of being the manager of my home is scouring the Internet and other sources to educate myself on all sorts of things, from how to make yogurt and cottage cheese at home to raising chickens in a suburban environment. Yes, I said raising chickens

On Monday I borrowed a book from the library which I’d originally intended to buy. “America’s Cheapest Family” by Steve and Annette Economides turned out to be a disappointment. I liked watching this couple on Fox News, but I was less than charmed with the book. Everything in it seemed hackneyed. I didn’t learn anything new. I’m so glad I didn’t spend $11.99 for the used book on Amazon.

One tip they provided was the tired old idea of buying the newspaper on Wednesday for grocery sales. You don’t have to buy the newspaper. I can view the sales circulars for my grocery stores; Kroger, Food Lion, Harris Teeter, and Farm Fresh on line. I read my newspaper daily, on line, free of charge. I save a lot of trees.

I’m glad that I went to the library, though, because right next to the book I wasn’t so crazy about, I found a gem “Living Well on One Income in a Two-Income World” by Cynthia Yates. Cynthia shares what she calls “New Principles for Smart Living” as follows:

Adjust your attitude.
Live within your income.
Organize your world.
Learn prices and become a savvy consumer.
Roll up your sleeves.
Use things up.
Do not waste.
Use your creative genius.
Presentation is everything.
In all things, honor God.

Although there are tips in the book, her basic premise is to educate yourself and re-think how things can be done more cheaply without sacrificing quality of life. I highly recommend this book.

Seeds

This is the smaller of the spare bedrooms, which has a bit of a gardening theme. I use dollar-store decorative birdhouse as a tie backs for the curtains and have two treasured pictures hung on the walls. One is made up of very old seed packets. The other is underneath the shelf, a print of a young husband and wife praying over a field. I love both.

The bed was my grandmother's and the shelf was to the right of her sink for fifty years. It always had rosary beads, a special holder for a used tea bag, her vitamins, her heart pills, and a little statue of St. Francis on it. I found the shutters in my garage when I moved in. I bought the little table from a tag sale and painted a checkerboard pattern on top.

So speaking of seeds, did you ever have a feeling that you should go do something that doesn't make sense? You just can't shake it off though, you feel like you just HAVE to do it. Yesterday, I just HAD to go to Walmart to look at seeds. That part of Walmart isn't heated and it was 28 degrees when I got my little urge...pretty cold for Virginia.

I've learned not to ignore that little feeling, because it is typically the Holy Spirt. I bundled up and drove over. They had organic seeds for two dollars a pack, regular seeds for $1 a pack and an entire display of seeds for 20 cents a pack. 20 cents a pack! I couldn't believe it. I scooped up all I needed and started seedlings today.

Homemade Yogurt and Pizza

For all of you bloggers and lurkers out there who are hoping for a Kim from Daisy Cottage-style gorgeous blog post, this isn't going to be one! http://deardaisycottage.typepad.com/

Folks are worried about the economy and complaining about food prices. One of those people is a friend of mine whose husband eats lunch out EVERY DAY during the work week. This astounds me. If you can afford to spend over $1,400 out per year on lunch, the economy hasn't hit you yet.

Over the last year, we have vastly reduced the amount we spend and continue to look at ways to do even better They have been small changes, things like buying cheese in bulk and doing the shredding at home, buying regular carrots instead of baby carrots, shopping at the Dollar Store and Big Lots, eliminating diet soda, etc. The small changes led to the big change of cutting our grocery bill in half.

The last four pics represent a very successful attempt at making yogurt without a special appliance. I found the recipe here:

http://www.allfreecrafts.com/giftinajar/homemade-yogurt.shtml

Unlike the recipe, I did not buy a candy thermometer. I heated the milk to just under boiling when the bubbles formed at the sides and let it cool until my pinkie felt comfortable in the milk, but it was still hot. That would be Annie's thermometer, I guess. I let it sit overnight on the blue heating pad you see with a towel over it. If the yogurt isn't think enough for you, let it sit in a sieve lined with at paper towel or coffee filter for about a half hour. It came out just perfect.

One of the biggest changes is my commitment not to waste food. For several months, I have used up every morsel of food that has entered our house, as well as composting every bit of that which is not edible. That's not spoiled food, mind you, there hasn't been any spoiled food. It is the papery skins of onions, carrot tops, celery bottoms, etc. I have carefully utilized food in such a way that nothing has gone bad. That's the way it should be, but has not always been, here at the house at 256.

Americans waste an appalling amount of food with no excuse. It isn't that we don't have electricity of proper storage methods. We are simply lazy and inattentive when much of the world goes hungry. There's an interesting blog about it here: http://www.wastedfood.com/ There are moral implications to wasting food, as well as economic ones.

In my new effort not to waste food came last night's dinner, whole wheat pizza with dough made from the breadmaker. My recipe makes two small pizzas. I found it here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Whole-Wheat-Pizza-Crust-for-Bread-Machine-142788

I use whatever I need to use up in the fridge for pizza. Yesterday I had: a small amount of cooked, crumbled sausage; 1/4 of a package of sundried tomatoes; several onion halves; about 20 black olives, two tomatoes getting slightly soft, some pine nuts; some mozzerella and some ingenuity.

I carmelized the onions, which you can see in the first pic. I don't always use marinara sauce on pizza. This time, I brushed both pizza doughs with EEVO. I put black olives, sun dried tomatoes, sausage, fresh tomatoes, parmesan, onions, and mozzerella on one. I put black olives, 1 box of frozen spinach, two cheeses, onions, garlic, and pine nuts on the other. I topped both with crushed red pepper and Italian seasoning.

Last year, I would have thrown out the onions, the tomatoes, the pine nuts, and the olives. I'm glad that economic necessity prevented that this year. I hope you also enjoyed the shot of my cell phone. I have no idea why I left it in the shot.

The Eggs and I

I was having such a good frugal day on Monday. I went to the Dollar Store and got a great deal on shaving cream, some spices, and a replacement for the funnel Bruce decided to throw out, for whatever reason.

Then on to Farm Fresh, in the next parking lot over. Consolidating trips to save gas, don'tcha know. Got rutabagas, cabbage, and fruit that was on sale. The rutabagas and cabbage sound grim and Oliver Twistian, but we love both. Boneless chicken breasts on sale...rock on. Good price on eggs...way to go. Get three dozen. Request Monday military discount. Call to ask hubby to pick up windshield wiper fluid instead of Windex when he gets the dog food, thank you, Debra: http://debrasotherthoughts.blogspot.com/

Rush home to pop pre-made dinner in the oven: meatballs parm. Good job. Dinner will be ready on time. Carry all the food up the five steps to the house. Talk to sister on phone. Consider that if my sister and my phones were wiretapped, we would shock many. Smash six eggs while distracted. NOT FRUGAL!

Last year I would have thrown them out. On Monday, I thought about them. I could scoop them out, nuke them and mix them to supplement with dog kibble. I could make a stir fry now for tomorrow and use the eggs in an "egg drop soup" effect.

Eureka! I can make up three breakfast sandwiches for Bruce. I can do that and still talk to Kerry on the phone. I made a plain omelet and added a few bacon bits I had left over. I cut the omelet into three. I had buns in the freezer from a bargain shop last pay period. Added slices from a leftover tomato and a tiny sprinkling of grated cheese and voila!

Now before I get some comments, I broke the eggs when they slid out of my hand into the kitchen sink. It was a smooth move reminiscent of dumping the compost from under the sink all over my sneakers and the kitchen floor on Sunday when I went to take it out to the composting pile. I was fragrant. I would not use eggs that came from the store broken, because they could have salmonella poisoning.

Bargain of the Day

I am a voracious reader. I used to just buy whatever I wanted, never considering the library, reading a review, getting recommendations from friends or finding a cheaper way to buy new.

The result was that by last year, I was drowning in books. I actually threw some away. The same thing with magazines. Half the time, I wasn't so crazy about the books, which I bought on impulse. I've wised up.

My local Starbucks has a big wicker basket to exchange books. I've picked up a few and dropped off plenty of books and magazines. I borrow books from friends or my mother and sister. I get recommendations before I buy a book. I particularly like to buy books my blog girls recommend.

Yesterday, I decided to add two books to my wish list on Amazon: Housekeepinng and The School of Essential Ingredients. That way I don't forget about them, have time to consider them and family members can look there if they need a gift idea.

I noticed that Amazon has a charge card with incentives, no annual fee. Bruce and I have been using credit to our advantage, by picking a credit card with cash back or other perks. My husband uses one from a favorite store and it pays for his shoes and cowboy boots. We charge EVERYTHING and then issue a draft from our checking account the same day, paying it back.

I decided to get the Amazon card so I could start getting credits to spend there. Why should Bruce have all the fun? Imagine my surprise when I saw a message on the screen saying that I had received an immediate credit which paid for my wish list books with just sixteen cents for me to pay. The shipping was free, with orders of $25 or above. The costs are vastly reduced from the bookstore. You can also order used books for a very reasonable price.

I still do use the library, but also like to have my own books. This is a very cheap way of doing it.

Speak to the Hand

They're six and nine. Piper and Jaime are acting so grown up in these shots I feel like they should be applying for their learner's permits!

Christmas Trip to Richmond

Piper, Bruce and I drove up to Richmond for a trip to the Carytown neighborhood. We went to a few very interesting stores. One store sold only spices. The next sold only beads. Our final stop was 10,000 Villages, which sells fair-trade goods from all over the world.

Radio Flyer

Back before Christmas, Bruce and I took a drive up to Richmond, VA via a back road. I love old-timey back roads. On the way, we stopped at a huge antique mall and picked up this fun miniature Radio Flyer wagon. I used it on the porch with old-fashioned toys for Christmas. Now it holds my potholders and kitchen towels.

The Unexamined Life

One of the best things about leaving the working world, which I discussed in my last post, is having the time and space to critically think about how we live. These days, with the economy so uncertain, a critical examination of our lives is crucial.

I guess I must drive my husband crazy with my musings about things. For instance, lately here when he says he enjoys an activity or something I've cooked, I ask him why. There's a method to my madness. In these days of scarce resources, I want to critically consider why I do what I do and what things bring joy and contentment for what reasons.

Because we are on a tighter budget, we're doing a lot fewer things that I used to think I really liked to do. Yet my contentment level is much higher. The Bible talks about being content with what you have. "Godliness with contentment is great gain," the Pauline Epistles say. I only say Pauline Epistles cause it sounds so smart and because I'm too lazy to look up where in the New Testament Paul said that.

I've finally figured out that the reason we were running here and there, eating out all the time and buying things we didn't really need was because of tension. The house was disorganized, my job brought enormous tension into our lives and instead of facing that, we escaped from it.

Nearly a year after quitting my work outside the home, our house is well-organized. I don't over-buy groceries because I forgot we had stewed tomatoes or couldn't see them. I only buy extra now when things are on sale at a great price. I store them in the deep freeze or in the basement. I don't go out and buy new clothes, I use what I have and get creative with accessories. I don't misplace bills and then stress out about whether they got paid on time.

We don't go out to dinner all the time because I plan our meals. I have time to cook them now. Our meals are far lower in fat and empty carbohydrates. I can include all the vegetables we like and the Food Pyramid encourages.

I set our dining room table with beautiful china I've been given or inherited. Why use the every day stuff all the time? I have time to wash it by hand. We put on music. Our meal times are relaxing and we want to eat at home.

We used to eat at IHOP on the weekends. Was that because I love IHOP particularly? No. I like the luxury of having someone else make breakfast. I'm not a great breakfast cooker. I actually disliked part of going to IHOP. I hate tea with microwaved hot water. I actually found out why from Martha Stewart. Microwaved water isn't aerated with oxygen like boiled water. How freakin' picky am I? I like Earl Gray tea, I like half and half, and I want a certain sized cup.

What do we do now? On Saturday and Sunday, Bruce cooks breakfast. He has a very limited cooking repertoire, but he is the King of the perfect egg sandwich on whole-grain bread. He also knows how to make my tea perfectly. He slices the oranges thinly, lets me sleep in, and brings it all to me in bed. We snuggle with the dogs and watch the morning news. No cigarette smoke blowing over from the smoking section. No noise and cussing from the kitchen. Well, usually. Total cost at home: fairly negligible, because we often make the bread. Total cost per weekend in the old days at IHOP? About $40.

Socrates said that the unexamined life is not worth living. The unexamined life is also expensive.

I spend money on some things that true frugal zealots would cringe at. I go to Starbucks and I enjoy it. However, I've considered why I enjoy it. I love the music, the decor, the quiet, the smell, the comfy chairs. I really dig their vente, three-equal, sugar-free vanilla lattes. I know I can make coffee much more cheaply at home, but I don't like it nearly as well. I love to do my Bible studies there without thinking that I should get the clothes out of the washer and hang them Bruce and I like to meet there as he exits the tunnel coming home from work and have a little date.

I make Starbucks fit into our budget because it is a lot of luxury for me at a minimal cost. There is a bang for my buck. Having critically considered that, I also charged up a Starbucks card that gave me a discount on each latte. Starbucks then introduced a premium card with an annual fee. I got one of their promotional cards for this plan free for a year because I am pleasant to the staff and they used their promotion dollars on me. Now I get my drinks even cheaper.

Our family knows that we adore Starbucks and so we get gift cards. We organized all our drawers, cleaned out our wallets and found gift cards we hadn't used. We inquired and found out we could transfer them all onto the current card. I haven't actually paid for a Starbucks coffee for quite a while.

Not everyone reading my blog likes Starbucks or even has one nearby, but once you determine what things are really important to you and why, you can do the same thing with your particular guilty pleasure. It is my opinion that nearly everything which is critically examined can somehow be done more cheaply.

This weekend Bruce and I spent a grand total of $3. On Friday, I made a fabulous roast chicken with an infuser a dear friend loaned me. This item makes the chicken "stand up" in the oven and all the grease runs off. I filled the infuser with wine, garlic and rosemary and nearly swooned when we tasted it. I hear you can do the same thing with a beer can, so that's next. The chicken was on sale for 99 cents a pound. This was a lot cheaper and more tasty than the rotisserie chickens I used to get at Farm Fresh. It was much, much cheaper than the roast chicken at Baker's Crust.

We had movie madness night and rented three from the kiosk for $3: Memoirs of a Geisha, The Queen, and And Then She Found Me. I recommend each one. Bruce made popcorn on the stove top the old-fashioned way. Far cheaper than microwave and much tastier. We planned the luxury of some Coke Zero. It was special because we don't drink soda much at home these days.

I estimate that a dinner at Bakers would cost, with tip, maybe $60. The movie tickets would have been $20 for both of us, times three at $60. Add another $5 at least for popcorn and drinks. Never mind the gas. Never mind the parking charge at the garage. $3 is a lot less than $125.00. We spent less than 2% of what we used to with even more satisfaction. What a difference a year makes!

The unexamined life is not worth living. The examined life brings contentment. The choice is yours.

Baby Come Back

You can’t watch a talk show or a news report lately without hearing about thrift and frugality. Thank goodness we, as a country, are taking a good, hard look into what contributed to this terrible problem we now face with the economy…waste, excess and greed.

Some people might observe that I picked the worst time in the world to leave a relatively good-paying job in 2008. I disagree completely. It was a job that sapped my joy, energy, self-worth and health, which is a sad commentary about a job in a church. Quitting helped me to look at many things from a new perspective, including how I view money and my lifestyle. We are happier, more peaceful and with the exception of a few ups and downs, having a better quality of life than we ever had before.

With that all in mind, I’ve been looking at TV, advertisements, what I see in grocery stores, and other ways we live with a more critical eye. You hear folks complaining about the cost of groceries, but my spying on grocery carts shows me that people are still buying totally unnecessary items. Our advertising media has created habits among us that need to be re-examined.

What follows are my top choices for ridiculous consumer expenditures:

Microwavable Raw Potatoes in the Produce Section:

Have you seen these potatoes in your local Wal-mart yet? These are plain, ole raw baking potatoes washed, and wrapped in plastic wrap. They cost four times as much as a regular potato. I mean how complicated is it to wash a potato, prick a fork into it and wrap it with Saran wrap? However, if they’re selling them, that means someone is actually buying them.

Lunchables:

Ah yes, more plastic to go into our landfills. Plastic never biodegrades. More sodium, artificial sugar, fat and additives to go into little people. How about making a nice sandwich on homemade whole-grain bread, slicing up an orange, and adding a drink from home, in a reusable container which you froze the night before? Put it all in a lunch pail and the drink will defrost by noon and keep the other food cool at the same time.

Swiffers:

Those nauseating “Baby Come Back” commercials ought to be enough to make you stop buying them, but all that Swiffer stuff is really expensive. Not to mention bad for the environment. So baby, come back to a bucket, a mop, and some vinegar and water.

Pledge/Lysol Wipes:

Use vinegar and water on a rag. Just think of all those used wipes which are Not going into landfills for our grandchildren to deal with.

Microwave Popcorn:

Last night we checked and figured out that it takes an almost equal amount of time to microwave popcorn or cook it the traditional way. It tastes better cooked on the stove and costs four times less.

Salad Shooters:

I include in this category any other single-use appliance like a special hot dog cooking appliances, etc. These items are very expensive new and take up a lot of storage space. Use a knife to cut your vegetables and a pan or your grill to cook hotdogs.


Poop Scooper Bags:

Go into a PetSmart and you’ll actually see these items for sale. We save grocery, produce, and baked good bags to clean up while our dogs are walking. They’re free and at least we use them twice before discarding them. Again, the sad thing is that someone is actually buying these.

Individually-Wrapped Servings of Anything:

Chips, cookies, pretzels, etc…whatever you purchase like this costs twice as much as the same item in a big bag. Use some ziplock sandwich bags or little plastic, lidded containers and divide them up yourself OR switch to fruit or a home-made more healthy snack.

Most Cleaning Products:

Bubbles to scrub the bathroom, something else to scrub the floor, stove-top cleaners, toilet cleaners, grill cleaners, shower stall cleaners, dishwasher gel packs and, my personal favorite, vegetable cleaners.

You can clean nearly everything in your house with white vinegar and water. Dusting can be done with a slightly damp cloth with only water in it. Bathtubs can be cleaned with a rag wrung out with vinegar and baking soda for a slight abrasive.

Vegetables can be cleaned with water and a brush or soaked in a mild vinegar and water solution if you're concerned about pesticides.

The only other products I’d include are the occasional use of bleach for toilets, lemon oil for furniture from time to time and a Windex-type solution of ammonia and water. Debra from As I See It Now uses windshield wiper fluid, which is much cheaper than Windex.

All of the items I mention are expensive and unnecessary. All have negative impact to our environment and health. Most of them are no more convenient than the traditional ways our grandmothers used.

We can continue to complain about the economy OR we can take positive steps to change those things that we can.

Bedroom

One of the things I love most about my bedroom is the old fireplace mantel. The fireplace is now set up for a pot-bellied stove, but we may open it up some day. All of the items on the mantel are thrifted except for the birdhouses.

My headboard was found left out for the trash. I changed the black finish to green with some spray paint. The hanging plates and saucers are all from Goodwill and junk stores. The "window: is a frame of the window from the old chicken house where Bruce tended chickens as a young child and later used to build model rockets. He added the chicken wire for me. If you look to the far right of the fireplace mantel there is on old elementary school desk from the fortie.

Bruddah Iz

I lived in Hawaii for over 8 years. Every day there was a privilege with tradewinds, plumeria trees, rainbows and the most beautiful people in spirt anywhere. The picture above is of a small island called "Chinaman's Hat."

I grew to love Hawaiian slack key, Hawaiian culture, Hawaiian haupia (coconut pudding) and the spirit of aloha that permeates everything there. I particularly love ancient Hawaiian hula. The values of Native Culture are Aloha, Ohana and the Aina; love, family, and the land.

One of the kings of Hawaiian music was Israel Kamakawiwo'ole . That's pronounced "Kah maka veeva oh lay." He was known as "Bruddah Iz." The following is a tribute to him and the most beautiful version of "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" ever.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OMLoAtC9RY&NR=1

I heard this beautiful song again when I watched "Jon and Kate + 8" recently. It was featured at their re-commitment ceremony.

This next part is just for Bruce...remember Honolulu City Lights and Hanalei Moon:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPQ-bHRvEcg&feature=related

Project - Vintage Stepstool

We're in a major frugality mode here at the Old Shea House at 256. This isn't a huge, gorgeous project where I create a large garden bench out of stair spindles, a wooden dying rack and chicken wire. I'm not that talented. This is the little type of project I love to do. For ONCE, I remembered to take a before and after pic.

I love this vintage stepstool, but the red leather seat was split. A year ago, I would have run to JoAnne's Fabrics and bought some new red leather. Without measuring either, I would have just bought a lot more than I needed.

Today, I decide to mull it over. I took a close look at it and realized that I only had to remove four screws. Well, Bruce (germanic precision-engineering boy) only had to remove four screws. I asked for a half hour of his time.

I had a red bandana fabric pillowcase I never use. I decided to cover the small seat with it, but then thought that I couldn't wipe it off. Last week, I came across one of those heavy plastic zippered bags that bedding comes in. I almost threw it away, but it seemed so useful. I asked Bruce to add it on top.

You can see the before and after pics. I think it turned out just the way I wanted it. And for free!

I also took some shots of the corner where I keep the stool. You can see my vintage apron used as a valance at the back door. I found it in the gutter on garbage day five years ago, inexplicably there along with a rough-hewn red painted heart.

I bought the red chair at a vintage store in Richmond, VA.

The kitchen scale is part of a small collection of three. Two, including the one pictured, came from the trash bin at church when they switched to electronic scales for making the fundraiser Easter Eggs.

A cop friend of mine came in for something while we were making eggs, saw the electronic scales and all the powdered sugar. He said, "is this manufacture and sale of drugs or a fundraiser? Ya'all look like drug dealers in white aprons and you appear to have been sampling the product."

Put a Deer on Your Head and Call Me in the Morning

It is a good thing that there are no hidden video monitors in our house, because if anyone ever saw what goes on here, we’d be on the psych ward.

Bruce and I were puttering around today. I was cleaning upstairs. He decided to clean out our neglected freezer in the basement. He brought up two frozen items that he could not identify, one in a casserole dish and another in plastic. The one in plastic was a large five or six pound lump that I eventually realized was venison from a friend who hunts.

I took it because Mills offered it to me and I didn't want to hurt his feelings. I guess it is hypocritical of me, because I do eat meat, but it bothered me. I never cooked it because it makes me sad.

Bruce was sitting on the cedar chest storage built-in unit (kind of like a window seat with no window) in the hallway chatting with me, surrounded by UFO's (unidentified frozen objects).

I went into the adjoining bathroom to wash my face. My old-fashioned medicine cabinet door was slightly open. When I lifted my head to look in the mirror, I smacked my head very hard. One of those sickening thuds that you know will really hurt in about 3.2 seconds. “Ouch, oh my God,” I hollered.

Bruce ran in and put the frozen venison on my head.

It is a good thing we don’t have children. They’d be warped for life just being around us.

Thanks to Bruce for that great picture of the deer he took over Thanksgiving. It was taken at a nature preserve in Panama City, Florida

Miracle on the Hudson

I love it! Even the hard-nosed, practical news outlets are calling this story a miracle. A plane which lost its engines successfully landed in the Hudson River without any loss of life. Hey, God does miracles every minute of every day, but rarely gets the credit on CNN.

This brings to mind something I've always loved to read in John's Gospel, Chapter 9 vs. 1-3, Amplified Version, as follows:

1AS HE passed along, He noticed a man blind from his birth. 2His disciples asked Him, Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he should be born blind? 3Jesus answered, It was not that this man or his parents sinned, but he was born blind in order that the workings of God should be manifested (displayed and illustrated) in him. And then, naturally, Jesus healed the blind man.

Somtimes when I wonder about why things happen as they do, I remember this passage. I think, "perhaps this happened that the workings of God should be manifested in this situation."

And then I pray, "God, show Yourself...mighty!"