Free Mulch

There are 2 places in my town that I know of to get free mulch. One is from the city recycling center that is run by the sanitation department. They chip up the tree branches that the sanitation trucks pick up.

The other is at our fairgrounds. They move the bedding from the animal stalls out to the back field and it is free for the taking.
Jeff went out this morning and got a big load of that free mulch. Last week, it was bedding for the show horses. This week, it is mulching my flowerbeds.

Anyone can get this free mulch, but it is best if you have a pick-up truck and a husband willing to do that work.


After - part of the flower bed by the front sidewalk.

This flower bed is in the corner of the front yard.
The pink flowers are Dianthus - really hardy perennials that come back bigger every year.
And if you look close, you will see lots of buds on the irises. They should bloom very soon.

Thanks, Jeff!

Easter Plumbing

We had a little hitch in the middle of cooking for today's Easter meal. We've had a few problems with a leak under the kitchen sink and Jeff has worked on it twice and we thought it was fixed. But while I cooking, Jimmy was walking in the living room and discovered that carpet was wet.

The leak was worse than we thought. Jeff started taking the plumbing apart and discovered our faucet was bad.

This could not have happened at a much worse time. See all the dirty dishes waiting-- and the kitchen plumbing not working!

the dirty dishes from making a big salad, deviled eggs, banana bread and a pantry pound cake.

We headed to Lowes and took the coupons that were in today's paper. Our old faucet was a Moen and since it did not seem to last too long, we wanted to try a different brand. We got this AquaSource one.
The old one came off pretty quick and went right in the trash.

Jimmy and Jeff both worked on the plumbing.

and Bobby worked on the new faucet.

After about 3 hours total, the new faucet was installed and working perfectly, no leaks!

The dishes all got washed and our meal, though modified a bit, was served on time.

The instructions on the new faucet said it should take about 12 minutes to install, but don't believe it - I'm afraid that is wrong!

I'm very thankful for my handy guys! They don't like to plumb but they got the job done.

Easter Wreath

My brother, the professor, surprised me with a handmade Easter wreath. He's made wreaths for the last 2 Christmases and for the last Thanksgiving.

Mine has a lamb in the center. He also made wreaths for my mom and Nina. My mom's has a bunny and Nina's has a baby duck. All 3 are so pretty!

Thank you, Dr. Bert!

Use what you have - pretty pantry - Show and Tell Friday

I am very fortunate to have a large pantry but I never thought it looked very pretty. But I decided this week that I was going to make it pretty. Before, it just held food and supplies, in an organized way but not too attractive. And I know you all have seen some the same pretty pantries on other blogs just like I have seen.
First, I took out all the canned goods. On the bottom pantry shelf, I lined up all the cans according to type. Then for cans that we just have a few of, I lined them up on patchwork placemats.

Snacks and little packets are in a big mixing bowl. When all my children were at home, I used to make big batches of bread and cookies in that bowl. I bought it at a pottery place in Laguna Beach when we lived in California. But now, I mostly make smaller batches and use much smaller bowls,

This is the bread box and I topped it with one of my mom's doilies.

Coffee cans covered with pretty paper, one holds tea bags, one has coffee.

One jar has drink packets, one jar for straws, and the other is that cookie jar from the thrift stores last week. It hold Starburst jelly beans, they are only available at Easter and are Jeff's favorite candy so he bought 4 bags last week.

Baskets hold chips and gelatin boxes.

Everything looks better when it is sorted.

Bottom view of the pantry.

The pink storage box holds assorted jars and lids, I think they will be easy to get to now.

I am very happy with how it turned out, my husband even noticed and said he liked how it looked too, he does not usually notice or comment on things like this.

I still want to make some pretty labels for cans and other containers but have misplaced the webpage I saw last week where I could print some pretty red and white ones, any one know any good places to do this?

Pretty Pantry and I just used placemats, bowls, baskets and jars I already owned.

For more pretty ideas, visit

Kelli for Show and Tell Friday

decopaged eggs

I saw the cutest Easter eggs at Inspireco Her's are glittered and tied with ribbons. I planned to make mine just like hers.
I started with old plastic eggs in various sizes. Then I used pages from an old dictionary and encyclopaedia and some scrapbook paper that looks old.
For glue, at first I used the last of some Mod Podge thinned with a bit of water. When that ran out, I switched to Elmers School Glue, also watered down.
Both glues work great, I like the mod podge ones because they have a bit of a shine but the Elmers glue is much easier to wash off your hands.

This batch of 2 dozen eggs won't be for Easter though. I really like they way look just plain and in a black egg basket in our dining room all year.

Tracey at Frugal Luxuries by the Seasons also made some very pretty decopaged eggs. She used real eggs.

These would be a great craft for children and youth to make. You just have a way for them to wash their hands afterward, my hands were pretty much covered with glue.

Fix it , Make it and Break it Tuesday

Nina brought over some quilts to wash. She made both of these quilts for John near the beginning when they started dating. I think both have been used lots.
Zerbie, normally a very good dog, thought she need to taste the orange and black quilt.
I fixed it by sewing on some more orange fabric to repair the binding.

Almost all of the ties had come off of this red and blue quilt. So I re-tied it after it was laundered. It is just a twin size so it did not take very long.
I bought this brown fabric at Walmart in September to make a curtain for Jimmy's apartment. I finally got around to sewing it up today.
And I bought 8 black and white mugs at Dollar Tree but in my rush to answer the phone as I got home, the sack ripped, they fell onto our tile floor and everyone of them broke.
The phone call ---- they hung up!

Stripes for the breakfast nook

Before

After

I am a little grumpy because I'll end up working about 27 hours this week. I work part-time and shorter work hours really suit me best. I like it best when I work 15-18 hours a week. But then I read where my friend Susan is working 12 hour shifts this week, yikes! I don't know how she does it.

The hours I have been home, I've cleaned most every room, did all the laundry and kept meals prepared.
And I recovered the chairs and a bench in our breakfast nook. The chairs came with white seats and they were pretty when they were new, but after 4 years, they were a bit spotted. The piano bench is only used when we need some extra seating.

I got the fabric at a little fabric -sewing machine shop near my office. This piece was a remnant and the owner did not want to sell it to me because she kept pointing a spot on it and telling me it would not be enough for this project. But it was just big enough, I worked around the spot and I really like how the stripes look with the toile curtains.

The fabric name is "beach umbrella"

Pedi-Paws

Theo is resting after his first Pedi-Paws manicure. We bought ours at Walgreens and used a register reward to pay for about 1/2 of it.
Theo's nails look nice but it will take several more sessions to get his nails like they should be.

Just in case your wondering, using the Pedi-Paws is not nearly as easy and simple as the TV commercial. It does trim the nails and is way better than clippers but it will take practice, both for the pet and human, to get used to the trimmer.

Showing off my curves

Our home has 5 windows with curves of different types at the tops of them. The previous homeowners left their curtain rods all installed and they were installed covering up the top curves. I just used their rods where they put them. Privacy with any of these windows is not really an issue and since I am in trying to "cute-ify" parts of my home, showing off those window curves is at the top of my list.

Dining room window

Before

Dining room window
After

Most of this window covering was made from things I already had. The toile valance on top was previously used in a bedroom. I made the bottom leaf toile part from some fabric I got from my mom.
The ball trim was from a $1 a bag rummage sale and was avocado green, I thought it was 100% cotton so I dyed it with a box of Rit black dye and was very pleased with the results.
I only bought the off white muslin to line the long panels with and the dye to complete this project.
Because this window is right beside our front door, I think they needed to be lined so they don't look weird from the outside.

I've been busy this week working on other projects in this dining room and the living room - I will share them soon!

Before and after

Before
Jeff and I went to several rummage sales Saturday morning. One of my finds was this set of 3 glass candle pedestals for just 75 cents. I recently saw a similar set, but with a nice finish, at Hobby Lobby for $20. This rummage sale set was clear glass with a gold splatter design on the inside, not very pretty at all.
Since I had nothing to lose, I looked through my spray paint box and found a can of almond paint. After a few coats of paint, I am really happy with the results.
After
I even had the brand new candles, bought a few months as a gift set, on clearance at Wal-mart for $2. The brown ribbon was tied around the box of candles.
The candles are Cedar - Oakmoss, a very different scent than I usually buy. It smells kind of like my son's aftershave and that is a good thing.
My mom, the Crochet Queen, made the doily.

just a little spray paint

Before

I got this little toile egg and stand at a thrift store operated by my parents church in East Texas. It was really cute but seemed a little blah, so I got out a can of black spray paint....

After

It took one minute to spray paint that clear base and I think it looks so much better. The black base sets off the black toile on the egg now.

Terri over at PennyAnnPoundwise also used a little paint for a quick makeover on a bowl.

Energy savings - Dishwasher compared to hand-washing

I have been on a mission to lower our electric bill and I think I have been pretty successful. Most of the cut in rate is due to replacing many of our light bulbs from traditional ones to CFL ones, having new applicances, air drying laundry in the house and unplugging all unused electronics.

My last change was to try hand washing dishes versus using our 2005 Kitchenaid dishwasher. I did not know if there would be any savings or not because I have heard that new dishwashers are very energy efficient.

According to our recent utility bills, hand washing dishes saved both electricity and water.



3/25/08-4/24/08 Electric usage was 614 and cost $61.02

Water usage was 49 and cost $15.36



4/24/08-5/22/08 Electric usage was 485 and cost $51.64

Water usage was 42 and cost $13.68



These 2 months had mild weather so we were not using the heater or air conditioner. I am pretty happy with those low totals but now we are in summer and using our air conditioner and it will add more than $100 to each month.



The $11 savings from hand washing dishes will not make much difference in our budget so I plan on hand washing when I want to but will load that dishwasher if I am tired or we have lots of dirty dishes.



But I am getting more and more unhappy with the energy situation across the board from gasoline to home utilities. I may just decide my protest will be to use as little energy as possible and if I do, I will be hand washing everything.

weekend doings

Our part of town had a number of garage sales this morning. We looked at a few residential sales but they did not have anything we wanted. So we headed to the one at a nearby church that had a big, well-organized sale. We spent about $25 and here are a few of the treasures.

bright kitchen towels 25 cents each

oversized Santa mugs 25 cents each

small Glasbake casserole $1

Big hammers - $5 each, Jeff got 2 of these. They had a box full of them and he said $5 is a bargain for brand new big hammer.

dark red printed soft cordoroy fabric, it is rolled up and I have not measured it but it is a lot of yards - I guess at least 10 yards $5
Jeff smoked a turkey and 4 pork loins. They are sliced and frozen in meal sized containers. We ate some for lunch and it is all really good. This is a real convenience food for us.
When we moved into this house with its whit-ish carpet, we wanted to buy a carpet cleaner. At that time, I researched them on Amazon but they mostly had lousy ratings and recommendations. We have since hired a company to clean our carpets, he does a great job but is expensive and occupies the house the a good part of the day.

We have also rented Rug Doctors a few times and they do a good job too. But you have to get done and return them within 24 hours.

But I still wanted our own machine so I could clean whenever I wanted. I found this Hoover Steam -Vac on Amazon last month and it had great ratings. The price seemed fair and I ordered. Jeff cleaned the back hall last night and it did a really good job. It does have a smaller tank than a Rug Doctor. But it will be very convenient to just use it whenever we want.

A Year of Savings - mow your own lawn

I just spent about an hour outside. I mowed our front and back yard, watered all the plants and trees and did a little work in our container garden. Really, I like to run the mower. It is good exercise and I just prefer to do it myself. When Jeff gets home, he will do the edging and blow the grass off the sidewalks and driveway.
Most of our neighbors are pretty serious about keeping their yards looking like golf courses. They water every day. Some mow their own yards but the majority of them use lawn services.


If you do much mowing or garden work, I suggest you have a dedicated pair of shoes just for the yard. These are my yard shoes. In Oklahoma, we have red dirt. Red dirt mixed with all the grass really stains your shoes too. So I just keep this pair in the garage and only wear them for outside chores.

Breakfast room - just add 7 cans of spray paint

Before




















After
I was pretty happy with our breakfast room but the the gold-ish metal table and chairs never looked quite right with the brushed silver light fixture. I thought about it a long time, then I took the plunge and spray painted the set glossy black.
I think it looks much better and everyone who has been here says they like it better too.
The table runner and napkins are both recent sewing projects.
The polka dot fabric for the runner is from Wal-mart. The napkins are black toile with little polka dot edges.

A year of Savings -Container gardening

We have never been too successful growing things to eat but we are giving it a go this year. I collected an assortment of pots and filled them with tomato, pepper and eggplant plants.

I bought the plants at Lowes and used a $10 off $25 purchase.

I hope they all grow!