I want patience and I want it NOW!

Every week I spend hours reading your blogs. I read about your lives, your families, the good deals you find at yard sales and flea markets, estate sales and Goodwill. And I see your pictures. Pictures of beautiful transformations and gorgeous re-dos. I read your tutorials, draw inspiration from you, steal your ideas, and envy you your talent and creativity. So many good ideas. So many projects to begin. So many new (old) things to watch for at yard sales. So many great colors of spray paint to try! My head spins, I hyperventilate, I'm racked with indecision on where to begin. So, while I wait to calm down....I read more blogs. Arrrgh!

Occasionly I DO manage to slow down enough to attempt a few redos. I decided to begin with spray painting. I was shooting for immediate gratification. YOU know. I'd just take one of my shelves off the wall, shlep it out to the yard, spray on some color, let it dry for a few minutes and put it back on the wall. Voila! Right? I mean, it seems to work that way for Kammy at Small Home in the Country. She takes not so attractive items and magically transforms them into gorgeous pieces of furniture or accessories for her home. Hmmm. Well. It turns out that I wasn't born knowing how to spray paint. I have to "learn" how to spray paint. And I have to develop "patience". And I'm going to have to "practice" spray painting until I hopefully get as good as Kammy. Not to mention all the prep work and finishing work I try to get out of doing! Until then, I guess that's why God invented sandpaper.

With that in mind, here's a few of my first attempts. Remember, be kind.

Before...


After...


Before...


After...
And Before...


And After...


I know, I know. If you look carefully, you'll see where there is some touch ups to be done. Hence that lack of patience thing I was talking about. Oh well, at least I've begun, right?

Now...on to my finds for the week...

Old Fan...(needs some cleanup)$4


King sz. quilt and pillow. $5


Pretty bowls $1 each


Old Bottle dh picked up. Says Gordon's Dry Gin on the front. London on one side and England on the other.$5




And my favorite..A set of Crown Ming Fine China, service for 8. $15! Whoo Hoo!




That's it for this week! As always, Thanks for visiting!

Today I'm linking to both Rhoda's Thrifty Treasures, and Susan's Metamorphosis Monday.
Don't forget to check out both sites to see what everyone's been up to lately!

Guess I was hungry

It seems most of my yard sale finds this week revolve around food... either shipping it, storing it, serving it, or advertising it.

Before you see what I mean maybe I better explain something.
I must confess... my taste in decorating is not excusively "Cottage".
(GASP! I know, I know, please don't stop loving me!)

Each room in my house seems to be taking on whichever style that fits it. My living room is pink. Pink carpet, pink flowered wallpaper, flowers, birds, the works. Very fufu. Very cottage.
My dining room is lace curtains, lace tablecloth, and taking on elements of victorian, with lots of handpainted flowers.

The family room is more primitive or rustic country I guess.

And my bathroom and bedrooms haven't even told me yet what they want to be when they grow up. I told them I don't want to hear about it until they have fresh paint on their walls. :)

Anyway, that is why I choose such a variety of items while at yardsales. If I like it, I buy it. I never worry about finding just the right place for it. "It" tells me where it goes!

In fact the "voices" tell me lots of things...BU HA HA HA!

Ok, enough silliness. Here are my finds for this week.

A few signs, $1.00 each



A cool wooden box for shipping corned beef from Argentina. $2


Tiered wrought iron and wicker stand. $2


Cut glass dish with silver ring around top and silver fork and spoon. $1.50


Fancy Schmancy clock. $2.
What does this have to with food?
It's always time for food, of course!


Ok, gotta go.....I could use a snack!

Linking up with Rhoda at Southern Hospitality for Today's Thrifty Treasures

You Say Tomato, I Say...Oh My!

Two years ago dh and I put in a few square foot gardening beds so I could try my hand at vegetable gardening. Our first year was pretty good. We had peas, lettuce, some beans, cucumbers, radishes, and tomatoes. All in all, not too bad. However the tomatoes (which we were looking forward to the most), were on the small side and just not as good as we'd hoped. (they tell me last year wasn't a good year for anyone's tomatoes here in the northeast)

Anyway, so this year we decided to concentrate mainly on growing some GOOD tomatoes along with a few other vegs for salad variety. We dug, we tilled, we added miracle grow, we bought and planted just about every different variety of tomato plant we could find, we watered, we waited.
And finally, we have some tomatoes, and they are just staring to ripen! Yesterday I picked the first few ripe tomatoes. One very special tomato caught my eye. Here it is in all it's glory.





Ahem...

What can one say about something like this?...

I did check my little garden chart to see exactly what variety of tomato we planted in that part of the garden.

It was...


Wait for it....


A Big Boy! What else!

The thing is, now I'm a little concerned.
We also planted some Better Boys....

Linking to Kimba's DIY Party.

Not in Kansas anymore

Are you reasonably sure you know the area where you live? Most of the nearby towns? Most of the roads that take you to said towns?
You know, the area you've traveled for (ahem), 40 some years?

Yeah, we thought so too.

Dh and I started out bright and early Saturday morning (aka yard sale day), hit a few sales, and stopped at our favorite restaurant for breakfast. This usually concludes the yard sale segment of our weekend.
But since the pickings were slim this week, we decided to hit a few more a little further out.

And we did.

And it was good.

Then on the way back we spotted a small sign..."yard sale this way" and a cute little arrow. Alright, maybe one more. It might be a good one. So we followed the arrow, then at the next intersection we followed that arrow, then a few miles later at another intersection we followed that arrow too......Geez, this must be a great sale. The people having the sale were bringing in customers from miles around!
Finally we found the sale!

Baby clothes, an exercise bike, and old tupperware.

Oh, goodie, this was so worth it.
At this point we should've packed it in. But wait! Another cute arrow! And off we went again.
Anyway, we DID find some good sales. So, we were happy, tired, and out of money when we decided it was time to head home.......

Wow, turns out we live in a beautiful area full of woods, mountains, windy country roads that lead to other woods, mountains and country roads, and an occasional small town with intersections leading off in 3 different directions. What are the odds of us 'always' choosing the wrong one, and what are the odds of loaning your GPS to DD this particular weekend? Aaargh!

Yes, eventually, after apparently driving in circles, we came to a welcome, familiar, sign, welcoming us to a town we'd heard of. At that point I wouldn't have been surprised to read "welcome to Kansas".

We live in Pennsylvania.

Anyway, thanks for reading my saga. Without further ado, my treasures....

Grabbed this big, beautiful shelf for hanging in the bathroom. This baby is heavy, and built by the Amish. "Look ma, real beadboard!" Not sure what color it will be painted. Stay tuned!


Every week seems to have a theme, something you run into at every sale that week. This week's theme is "Hooks on Wood"


The first ones are pine, the second ones, teak.(I think)

Another birdcage! Dh found this one, and he's very proud of himself!


Love this collection of old bottles. $2.00 for all.


Rose Candle thingie



And...my country themed, bill organizer with clock that I have turned into my country themed, kitchen plan meals ahead and stick recipe in appropriate slot, organizer with clock.


Thus concludes my participation in this weeks' Thrifty Treasures hosted by Rhoda at Southern Hospitality. Click Here to check out everyone else's great finds.

Thanks for visiting and leaving such sweet, funny, and "helpful" comments. I'm having such a good time!

Hugs
Bonnie

Sitting Pretty!

Look what I found yardsaling this Friday!!




Isn't it wonderful! Here's some close-ups...



How bout those flowers, huh?



Ok, so I paid 20 dollars for it...
(talked down from 30)

and I usually spend that much for a whole day of yardsaling...

But.., but.., but..

the woman selling it was very nice...

She said she was moving in with her son and had to sell off some of her things.

And I think it's old...

She said she bought the chair years ago at an estate sale.

(what do you mean you had something just like it in the 70's). I don't want to hear about it!

I liked it!

I bought it!

So there! Get off my back! :)

Oh, and I picked a few more items too....



A Chinese Checker Board made entirely of Wood! No cardboard in the middle like nowadays.



Beautiful demitasse cup and saucer. They are actually NOT a matched set, the cup is from Japan, the saucer from England. But they look great together. And so they shall remain. (together that is)

And onward to other sales...where I picked up...

Cute sign for the bathroom.


And let's call this...a chicken rack.


A set of keys.


And yes, another shelf! But look! No heart cutouts this time!


That's it! Now it's time for you to shower me with compliments on my good taste and bargain finding savvy. Then off you go to Rhoda's Southern Hospitality to check out everyone else's thrifty treasures for the week.

hugs

Bonnie

Treasures?

Hello all! I hope everyone had oodles of sales to go to this weekend. Me....not so much. Not many sales but I was very determined to spend my money.

I really liked these foil prints for $1.00. They have great colors and look fairly old.
These pictures really don't do them justice.




Dh, on the other hand thought they were right up there with Elvis in velvet. Really? Do you think so? Should I be on the lookout for an Elvis to put with these? lol.

I picked up a few frames...



The first one has a crack in the glass but my plans for another chalkboard doesn't require the glass anyway.
And the second one is actually a mirror. The picture is a little blurry but I think you can see how pretty the flowers are.

Found a few wallpaper borders that I loved for future decoupaging. (has anyone tried decoupaging this? Is it too thick?)





And too many wood shelves.

A corner shelf,..


Cute little shadowbox shelf,..

Primitive shelf/towelrack,..

And the dreaded heart shelf. Buyers remorse on this one.

Any suggestions on what I can do to this make this less "70's",and more cottage? Any and all help appreciated.

S'all I got for this week. Don't forget to check out everyone else's treasures over at Southern Hospitality.