garden is in

green, purple and orange peppers
tomatoes
potatoes
onions
cucumbers

that's it.  We are doing a smaller garden this year.  Last year we didn't get much produce because I had a hard time keeping up with the weeding.  This year shouldn't be a problem...hopefully.

~Jess~

not a thrifty post

So R and I are pretty much obsessed with the Boondock Saints movies... 

anyway this quote from Rocco in the beginning of the 2nd movie stands out to me

There are two kinds of people in the world when you boil it all down.  Talkers and Doers.




Pretty sure I am a doer :)

~Jess~

Happy girl

We got the happy girl a new helmet today at a thrift store, a basket for her bike from my dad and put a new tire on the back of her bike.  She is a happy happy girl today. 

I went back to one garage sale I stopped at yesterday because the seller said she would have more fabric for me and she did.  I spent another $7 on fabric there, got 2 remnants at Walmart for a couple bucks and stopped at a thrift store and got some yarn, more fabric and a tapestry needle for tying my quilts for $4 total.  I am set!

~Jess~

Happiest girl in the world right now

~Jess~

city wide garage sale weekend

It is my favorite weekend of the year.....city wide garage sale weekend and there were some good ones this year.  Most notably 2 sales were everything was 25 cents unless otherwise marked.  I scored HUGE at these sales.  Jeans for K, a lands end winter coat, shoes, shirts, swim suit (NEW), the list goes on and on.

some pics from my deals

Bike $10 has training wheels but they were still in my trunk, scooter for O $3, in the middle is a patio umbrella for my FIL for $5.

The pile!  YIKES huh?!?!

Hannah Montana Blanket for K, 2 pairs of jeans for R (AE and levis), hat for R, quilting fabirc and sheet sets for me.

9 pairs of jeans for K (arizona, LE, gap, unionbay)

shorts and jammies for K and O...K discovered silk jammies and is in love.

mickey mouse shirt for O, dress for K, Lands end coat for K, shirts for K and O

all this for a grand total of $42!!!!!

~Jess~

O's quilt top and pics of my new baby....Any guesses on it's Year of Manufacture?

Finished O's quilt top today.

~Jess~

K's quilt top

I took this pic last night.  It was almost done.  I still need to do the back and sides but here it is so far....

whole thing

~Jess~

Monday....ugh!

Had another contractor here to do an estimate for our block grant house rehab project.  Once I get a little more into this process and the work actually starts I want to write an article about the process from start to finish.  It has been quite ordeal.  Not bad just tiresome and a lot of red tape to go through.  Currently we are waiting on the City's attorney to send in our current title to the title company.  After that, they will do a search to make sure we don't have any outstanding liens (besides the mortgage).  I am hoping to start our remodeling with the next month.  We'll see what happens though. 

I cut out a bunch more squares for quilting today.  I should have enough now to do O's quilt and have a start on the one for my youngest neice.  I need to wait to start on her's until she outgrows some more clothes because my brother requested that I use a few favorite outfits in it. 

After thinking about it more, I want to do 5 quilts total.  One for each of my kids, one for my neice, one for me and Rodney and one for my mom for her birthday.  It will be difficult to do all these and I am not going to stress myself out about it.  I am getting a sewing machine from my mom later this week and going to sew when I feel like it.  I am not going to push myself to do it.  I want this to be an enjoying hobby and so far it is.  I tend to throw myself completely into something and burn out quickly and I don't want to do that this time. 

For my first 2 quilts I am doing just a simple patchwork type block quilt from old clothes and leftover fabrics from other projects of my mom's and we'll go from there.  Once I get better at it I would like to do some neat designs or whatever. 


~Jess~

update

I got more fabric for the girls quilts today and got it all cut and have 5 rows of 10 done on O's quilt.  Sewing tommorrow!

not professional by any means but

here's my very first quilt with the rows pinned together.  Ready for sewing.

I might be changing around some of the blocks. 

better view of the blocks

ta da!

~Jess~

making a quilt

Last night I cut out squares for making a quilt.  I have a bunch more to go but when I pieced it together last night to check it out, I think it is going to look very cool.  It is going to be a long project but I will update as a go. 

I am using some old fabric mom had in the basement and some of my Grandma's old clothes.  It is just a simple block quilt.  Eventually, if I enjoy quilt making (which I don't know if I will because I actually HATE sewing), I would like to make more quilts using the kids outgrown clothes.  We'll see.  I tend to get too far ahead of myself and I lack patience so quiltmaking may not be for me.


~Jess~

neat finds today

I didn't go garage saling or thrift store-ing.  I helped my parents clean out their basement.  I ended up inheriting 5 handmade quilts.  They were made by my grandmother (my dad's mother).  I love quilts so this was quite the score for me.


I already had 5 quilts of my own, not including some toddler quilts so now I have quite a collection of handmade quilts. 

one of my new quilts.  I think Grandma spent many hours on this one.

this is probably one of my favorites although I do love them all

I think Grandma made this one from worn out clothes

O claimed this one.  It is like her....busy.

this one is my favorite but K claimed it right away. I wish I would have gotten a better pic but K already had it on her bed and was sleeping when I snuck in for this pic.  The Roses are gorgeous and hand sewn.  This pic does not do any justice to how beautiful this quilt is.

some of the quilts I already had.

my mom made this one for R for the first Christmas we were married.

my mom made this one for Josh but i have it now.

this one was given to use by a church group after our house burnt down when I was in high school.

This one was given to us by that same church group for the same reason

My mom made this one for me.

~Jess~

awesome thrift store score...to keep or to sell? *edited*

I bought this today for $2.  It has all the accesories as far as I can tell.  The drawbridge works and it is in excellent condition.  I looked it up on eBay and a restored one is selling for $51 currently.  So do I sell or do I keep?  I originally bought it for K.  I planned to put it up and give it to her for her birthday....

~Jess~

edit****  after much internal debate, talking to R and asking some other people I decided to sell it on eBay.  Just after I listed it the only other one on eBay sold for $200!!  OMG!  $200!!!!  mine appears to be in better shape than that one was so wow!  Now to just hide it from K for the next week.  Until it sells and I can ship it.  It already has bids on it so I plan on packaging it up tommorrow night after the kids are in bed and then she will never see it.

a couple awesome thrift store scores today

pair of jeans for K $1. (1/2 off blue tags today and they were a blue tag)

outside little tikes toybox $3
big tote box for toys inside $1
rail for O's new bed. The kind that keeps her from falling out $3
and a couple misc toy things for the girls barbie house.

O inherited a twin size bed from a friend of my dad's.  My dad brought it in yesterday afternoon and we got it all set up.  I am afraid she will fall out and hurt herself so I wanted to get a rail.  K never needed one because by the time she got in a twin bed she was over 3.  O is bigger than K was at that age and about to the weight limit on her toddler bed so it was time.  She rolls around alot in her sleep so she needs the rail.

~Jess~

thrift store shopping

This weekend I had to go visit some family a couple hours away.  They have a couple awesome thrift stores in their city.

I spent $12 at one of the stores.  I bought K a shirt, some pants for me, a Thomas Train for O and a Mickey Mouse with a book for O also.

At the other store I spent $41.  I got K 4 shirts, O 2 shirts, K 2 dresses, R 2 shirts, and this for K.  This was $8.  She LOVES it.  I was going to get her one for Christmas last year but I am glad I waited.  I really didn't want to spend $40 on one.

~Jess~

Proud of myself

The dresser I upcycled looked so nice that I decided to spruce up two of our other painted dressers.  I painted R's which was white with flowers painted on it and porcelain knobs with flowers.  Yeah, soooo not a guys dresser but it worked for him.  He had the least amount of clothes at the time and that was the smallest dresser.  We only had 3 and the kids shared the biggest one, I got the 2nd biggest and he got the leftovers.  Poor guy!

I painted that dresser brown and gave it a bit of pink accent, put the flowery knobs back on and now it is O's dresser.  I brought the biggest dresser downstairs for me and painted my old dresser brown for R.  I put the original handles back on.  However I am going to get new ones for him. 

I realized today that I have never once paid for a dresser!  The biggest one (now mine again) was a gift from my dad's friend's girlfriend at the time.  She bought a new bedroom set and I inherited her oak nightstand and oak dresser.  That beast is HEAVY and I moved it myself today from upstairs to downstairs.  Liv's new dresser was my grandparents' dresser at one time.  I inherited that when K was born and the dresser that is now R's, I inherited from my parents. I don't remember where they got it but I think it was a donation to us after our house fire.  So yep...I have never paid for a dresser and I am 30 1/2 and still haven't started paying. LOL

O's new dresser (used to be flowery)

R's new dresser.  I HATE these handles so I will change them out.  I couldn't get the whole dresser in the pic because they are stacked.  I put his on top of mine since they are both the long type of dresser and take up quite a bit of room in our bedroom.  Having them stacked will work out nicely and give us more space.

~Jess~

upcycling a dresser

On the way home from visiting family Saturday night, I saw a dresser on the curb a couple blocks from home.  I didn't get a good look at it since it was dark.  My brother saw it too and told me about it today.  We went and checked it out.  It was U G L Y!  off white (was white at one time it seems but faded or dirty or smoky), green on the inside of the design and an overspray of gold.  It was missing a track.  My brother checked it over pretty good and structurally it is sound.  There is nothing major wrong with it. $1.39 for a small bottle of paint, 39 cents for a tiny paint brush, some paint we already had here, some wood (for the track), nails and screws we already had and 3 hours of my afternoon, we have a like new dresser for K.

my brother checking it out

before

after

~Jess~

Garage sale scores 4/30

All this and a couple more things not pictured for $12. 

Spongebob shirt, jean shorts, Old Navy tee, butterfly tee, pink tank top, kitty shirt Kait had to have, Nike Basketball shirt, 2 pairs of shorts, one is nike

Hannah Montana Shirt, 3 pairs of jeans, 1 is Gap.

Liv's Train

my baking dish

~Jess~

garage sale list 2010

My 2010 garage sale wishlist

sofa (has to be just right though so I doubt this will happen)
kitchen chair (I don't have matching furniture now so I don't care that it matches anything)
computer chair (then we wouldn't need the kitchen chair)
jeans and t-shirts for R
jeans for me
wafflemaker *found at Goodwill*
eccentric plates and glasses
yard tools (shovel, hoe, etc)
bigger wheelbarrow
good clothesline poles (I am thinking metal)
size 7 and up girls clothes
summer dresses for K and O
handmade quilts




~Jess~

back on the wagon

With the kitchen remodel and R's OT we got a little stupid and got a little bit off the thrifty wagon.  It turned out to not be as bad as I had thought however.  I sat down last Friday and balanced the checkbooks and it turned out that we only went over budget by what R's overtime amount was so in all actuality, we did not go over budget.  This week we are somewhat back on track though.  I say somewhat because there were some things I bought today that we didn't have the cash for but needed so it came from savings but will get put back when R gets paid on Friday.  Next week will have to be a very low OOP week for us grocery wise. 
***
I have been a SAHM for almost 2 months and we are still adjusting to a new routine.  I am trying hard to get the kids on a somewhat regular routine...grocery shopping this day, fun day this day, laundry day this day, etc etc etc.  It has been somewhat difficult because we have had rainy days and colder days which screw up the routine.  So I am still trying.
****
Saturday O and I went to Aldi.  I got a couple boxes of frozen waffles because the kids like waffles and pancakes just about every morning for breakfast and honestly I get so sick of making them EVERY.SINGLE.MORNING.  I decided on the way home that I would just buy a dang wafflemaker and make a huge batch of waffles, freeze them and then just pop them in the toaster when the kids want them.  I looked and the 2 thrift stores in town today for a wafflemaker but they didn't have any.  Then, silly me, I remember that oh so many years ago (I think I was 19 at the time but it could have possible been when I was still in highschool....whenever the Grinch was last really really popular and they had a ton of Grinch related items on the market at Christmas time), my parents gave me a Grinch wafflemaker for Christmas.  I still have it.  It has been sitting on a shelf in my kitchen for many years.  I just can't bring myself to part with it even though it rarely gets used.  Well I pulled the ol' Grinch out of the cupboard today and used it.  I intend on making some giant batches of Grinch waffles and freezing them so I actually should only have to make waffles once every week or two.  HA!  It works out to about 6 cents per waffle using Aldi pancake and waffle mix, water and a little bit of oil VS. almost 12 cents per waffle to buy the already made ones.  Yeah, with the time involved it probably works out the same but I have the time so it is not a big deal and the kids LOVE the "crazy waffles".

cute huh?

inside...Crazy waffles as K calls them.

finished waffle

~Jess~

my recycled (and THRIFTY) brick walkway $5.30 total cost

2 bags of sand @$1.65 each and 4 patio bricks @ 50 cents each. The rest of the bricks were from different landscaping things that were here already when we moved in or stuff I had done that I didn't like after a year or two.




It is by no means finished. I have to backfill and I have to level it out a bit more and fill in some more sand in spots. It looks uneven because it is. I had to slightly slope it toward the driveway so the water doesn't pool up and wash away all my sand below for leveling. If the very first part of it is any indication it will correct itself over next winter and be perfectly set by next spring. The section I did last summer settled over the winter and is now flat and level and sunk it perfectly. It annoyed me last summer but now it is perfect.

K wants to plant some tulips around it and that would be ok because this particular walkway sees very little traffic...me once a day to get mail and the mailman. Anyone who comes here uses the side door to come into the house. but I was thinking of just doing grass around it but IDK..what do you think?



 



~Jess~