Monthly Archives: March 2012

Kmart Has Got the Goods!

31 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in deal of the day, decorating, home decor, K-Mart, thrifty

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Raise your hand if you shop at Kmart!  I know most people think it is sort of a dive and the last resort if Target or Wal-Mart is out of something.  Because of the pretty close proximity of K-Mart to our house, I have been shopping there more since we moved in.  While I don’t generally jump up and down for joy because of things I get there, I was pretty excited about my most recent purchase.

I actually went to K-Mart for something totally different, but right now, I have brain fog and cannot remember for the life of me what that something was.  I guess it doesn’t matter and I am pretty sure I found it elsewhere, but what I did find was a sale on a couple of framed pictures.

Ryan and Luke had decided in Forest House when we lived there (before the flood obviously) that they wanted a Cinema themed family room.  Because we never got a chance to do that in that house, I decided it might be fun to do the same idea here.

I was checking out the framed pics at Kmart when I came across 2 really great Movie themed pictures in black frames.  They are square and about 12×12 I would say.  They were regularly priced $14.99, which I personally would not have paid because I am way too thrifty, but they said on sale this week for $8.00.  Score!  I will take them.  I walked up to the till to pay for them and they rang up as $5.60 each.  What?  Yes, they were $5.60 each so I bought both of them for much less than the regular price of 1!

I love those kinds of buys.  I am going to leave you in suspense as to what they look like though because I want to reveal the whole look when it gets done in the next week or so.  I just had to share the deal though.  It was too exciting of a purchase to keep to myself :)

Vintage Find

27 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in baking, deal of the day, favorite things, thrifty

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A while back, I decided to check out the used furniture store in town to see if there were any interesting finds.  While I found no furniture, I did find out that they have more than just furniture, but also have lots of unique household items.  Now, I am a huge fan of kitchen stuff (half of which I still have packed away because I have no room in my little bitty kitchen) and I just can’t seem to get enough gadgets, bowls, utensils, and cookbooks.  You would think having half my kitchen items in storage would keep me from buying any more, but when you see what I found, you will understand.

My grandma has bowls like the ones I found and I believe they are from the 1970s.  Seeing as I was born in 1980, I guess that would make the bowls older than myself.  I remember her serving baked corn in the bowls mostly, but I am sure she used them for many other food items as well.

The particular bowls I found are not quite as big as the one I remember her using, but it still brought back such wonderful memories when I ran across them.  They had no price tag on them so I asked the lady at the checkout how much they wanted for them and she said, “Oh I guess $1.00 for the one and $1.50 for the other.”  I said I would take them and she said, “You know those are vintage and probably a collectible.”  I told her that I did know that, but that I would be keeping them for my own use and that they reminded me of some that my grandma has.

I have been wracking my brain trying to remember what color that bowl from my memory is.  It is terrible that I have seen that bowl a million times and I can’t remember for sure what color it is!  Grandma, if you are reading this, what color is your pyrex bowl?

Anyway, here are the adorable, vintage Pyrex bowls that I brought home with me that fine day!

They make me smile and remind me of my childhood and all the wonderful memories from those days gone by.  Too bad I was too busy thinking about the food in the bowl than in the bowl itself to remember what the bowl actually looked like!

Gearing Up for Easter

25 Sunday Mar 2012

Posted by in Easter

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Easter Sunday is just a few short weeks away and as always, the time between now and then will surely fly!  I thought it might be fun to get some inexpensive and fun ideas for the holiday weekend.  Of course, my first stop (and only stop) was Pinterest…the ever so fun and inspiring place for lots of crafty ideas.

Here is what I came up with in no particular order!

Resurrection Cookies

These are just a few fun traditions that make Easter more meaningful and focus on the real meaning of the celebration.  What traditions will you start this year?

 

 

 

 

 

Girl’s Weekend!

16 Friday Mar 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

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I am so excited to be jumping in the car and heading to Detroit Lakes this weekend for some girl time with my friend, Kelli, and her family.  Kelli lives in Raleigh, NC now, but about 27 years ago, she was my weekend adventure buddy.  When my parents divorced, my dad found a little apartment to live in and we would stay with him on the weekends.  Kelli, her mom, and sister lived in the apartment downstairs from my dad and as fate would have it, 2 five year old girls found lifelong friendship on the back steps on that little apartment building.

From 1985-1990, Kelli and I found ways to get in all sorts of crazy predicaments (while at the same time driving our parents crazy!).  You just never knew what sort of scheme we would come up with next and we had a blast in the process.  Those care free days of slip and slide, whiffle ball, rides in the Scout, bike rides through the neighborhood, and sitting on the step eating pomegranates are some of my fondest memories.  We can reminisce endless about the time my dad got ketchup all over himself at Perkins or about the time my brother ran into the screen door at the lake and we never get tired of the stories (of course, everyone around us wants to cry from hearing the stories so many times).

Reality would show that Kelli and I could not be more different.  She is an adventurer, ready to pick up and travel or move where ever the spirit moves while I like to have my feet planted on the ground.  Kelli is a career girl who is extremely good at her job and loves to be on the go, I am more of a homebody and have no idea what I really want to do with my life.  But, even with our differences, we have so much in common and we never have a lack of things to gab on and on about! 

Because of her grandma’s 80th birthday, Kelli and her family are making the trek to Detroit Lakes this weekend and since it is only about a 6 hour drive from me, I would never miss the opportunity for a girl’s weekend get away.  Who knows what kind of crazy adventure we could get ourselves into in the process!ImageImageImageImageImageImage

 

 

Linky Parties

13 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in Uncategorized

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I posted to a couple of linky parties today!One is all about spray paint and you can get lots of ideas by clicking on the link below and checking out other people’s projects!!

The other is a fun linky party with tons of different ideas including decor, crafts, recipes, and so much more!  Check them out!
http://www.uncommondesignsonline.com/

Flood of Emotions

13 Tuesday Mar 2012

Posted by in flood, Minot flood, photos

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When I woke up this morning, I thought it was just going to be a normal day of school work and some house cleaning.  Pretty boring, but that changed pretty quickly as the days seem to do around here lately.

The day started out with a text from our pastor who was looking for some help from me on a little project for the volunteer group that is here to help with flood recovery.  After running to a couple of stores, I went to the church building, helped, and was on my way.  I decided to stop at my mom’s house to get her newspapers and mail since she is out of town and I was in the vicinity.  Little did I know that on the drive to her house that my day would change.

I try not to drive through the valley of Minot these days because it is emotionally very difficult for me.  I have spent the majority of my life residing in the valley and that is where my heart is.  I loved everything about it and it was home to me.  The flood left a huge hole in my heart for the places that I called home.

Today as I was driving to my mom’s condo, I had to drive by the house where I grew up.  This was the house my parents brought me home from the hospital to, the house where I learned to ride my bike, the house just 2 blocks from my elementary school, the house where I celebrated 18 birthdays and lived in until I graduated from high school.  It was not a particular nice house by any means, but it was a roof over our heads for my entire childhood and a symbol of my youth.

Unfortunately, this house did not fare well in the flood and for several months, it was 2x4s and a roof, nothing else.  Oh, except for the deck that my dad so skillfully made, which, I think was actually holding the house up after the flood.  I wish I had stopped to take pictures of it, but at the time, it was painful and I just didn’t want to do it.  Today was the day that I wished I had because when I drove by this morning, this is what I saw…

The house has been completely demolished and they were filling in the basement.  I ran home to get my camera and came back to snap these pictures.  The guys who were working on the dirt work, thought I was a little crazy.  They stopped to ask me if this was my house and I told them that I had grown up in the house.  We chatted for a few minutes, but then I had to leave because I was getting choked up.

It is so very difficult to see all the things that were so commonplace in my life so ravaged and destroyed.  Some days I think it is getting better (and it is), but then days like today take me right back to the pain that I felt right after the flood.

Goodbye little 16th Street House.  Thank you for the memories!!!

Welcome to the Dungeon

12 Monday Mar 2012

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One more room to go and this whole house will be remodeled.  Of course, then we will be heading outside to spruce it up out there, but as for the interior spaces, the family room in the basement is it.  I was smart and actually took quite a few before pictures of the space.  I am almost embarrassed to admit that this is what the family room has looked like since we bought the house because it is pretty bad, but in keeping with being real, here they are…

These are the pictures I took as we were removing the carpet on the day of closing (in September)!

The above picture is my mother in law who is not afraid to demo anything and was so very helpful when we bought this house and demo-ed a lot!!  I am sure she will be so very happy that I included this pic in here (Hi Reen!!)

These are pictures I took this morning to show you the space as it is right now:

Clearly we have done basically nothing with this space since we moved in.  We ripped out the carpet and sprayed Kilz on the floors and then my mother in law painted the concrete for us. We also did not paint the wood half white and leave the other half.

Did you notice the curtain hanging in the dungeon?  Yes, it is a purple Snuggie!  Ryan felt the need to hang it down there so that when he randomly watched TV in the dungeon, he doesn’t have to deal with the sun shining on the TV.

The works begins in this space tonight with the removal of the rest of the ceiling tile and the installation of new ceiling tile.  Then it will be on to paint, paint, and more paint.  Then it is carpet time, baseboards, and whatever else Ryan needs to do :)

So there you have it.  The real scary truth of what our basement family room looks like right now.  But, have faith, you saw what the basement bathroom looked like before too and it looks quite fabulous now, if I must say so myself!!

Hallelujah, the Bathroom is Complete!

10 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by in bathroom, decorating, Hiawatha Hill House, lovely things, paint, remodel

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Are you sick of my posts about the bathroom remodel yet?  Well, the end is here and the room is finished!!  I cannot believe the transformation!  It looks like a completely different room and I am very happy with it!!  Check out the many pictures of the progress :)   I just can’t believe it is finally finished!!!  We have a second bathroom again…yes, I really am excited!!

Here is a reminder of the before look.  I took this the day we closed on the house!

Work in progress pictures:

Now for the big reveal!  Check out the after…

It really is unreal how different it looks!  So thankful to Ryan for working so hard on it!

 

 

Sunshine Day

10 Saturday Mar 2012

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I hope I am not the only one who remembers this episode of The Brady Bunch, but if I am, check out the above video for a glimpse into the song that came to my mind when I was thinking about the wonderful sunshine we are experiencing today.  This winter has been so nice and I cannot complain one bit about it, but I will say that even with our lovely winter, I am thrilled to pieces for spring to arrive.

There is something about a beautiful sunshiny spring day to get your mood lifted and your thoughts moving to cleaning up the yard and freshening up your house.  Maybe every one doesn’t feel that way, but I woke up this morning with motivation to get some things done around the house including cleaning up all the garbage that the previous owners of this house left in the backyard.  When we moved into this house, it was late fall and we had so much interior work to do that we have neglected the outside spaces.  That neglect ends today.  Luke and I will be going outside shortly to get a start on some spring cleaning.  Well, at least the stuff we can get to that isn’t covered by a large pile of snow still!!

Of course, I will take my camera out on the adventure so you can see all the garbage we clear out!

Furry Friends

08 Thursday Mar 2012

Posted by in cat, favorite things

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I was reading a blog that I follow tonight and realized that I have never introduced my 2 furry friends on here.  We are cat lovers in this house and feel the need to share our home with 2 funny felines.  Our cats could not be more polar opposite.  Mookie, the Himalayan King Cat, is 14 years old (or so we think) and truly acts like royalty.  He sleeps most of the day away, but likes to spend the majority of the rest of his day grooming himself.

Luke and Mookie

Our other fur ball, Chewie, is not so very furry after all!  He is an orange tabby who lives up to the typical orange tabby temperament.  He is really more of a barn cat than a house cat, but he is loving the creature comforts that come with living in a house.  He has his favorite chair to sleep on and enjoys a little bit of lap sitting, but only when he decides!  Chewie was a Christmas gift to Luke a couple of years ago, which makes him about 2 1/2.

Chewie

Unfortunately, Mookie and Chewie are not the best of friends.  They don’t despise each other, but they also don’t love each other.  It is a definite love-hate relationship, but mostly, they just tolerate each other and stay out of one another’s way.  I was able to capture on camera only one time when the fur balls actually liked each other and I just have to share.  These pictures were taken on 10/23/2010 and I have literally not seen then sitting together like this since!

Don’t be fooled!  This literally was the only time in 2 1/2 years that I have ever seen them like this!!

Well, anyway, now you have met the other 2 men in my life, have you noticed that I am  surrounded by men (Ryan, Luke, Mookie, and Chewie)?  At least, I don’t have to deal with woman drama in the house (except my own)!!!

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