my thrifty pledge

sleeping beauty...

i don't know why..... i can't seem to post pix in the order i want to... so here's the girlie, on her new favorite sleepin' spot.... Art's bed. Since she's had all her hair shaved off, and we've gotten a cold spell, she's finally succumbed to sleeping with people!!

Here's our little girl kitty~sleeping on my bed. This is before her date with the groomer! She now is naked! ...And FREEZING! It's been so cold here in Florida, we might as well have snow! {Actually, I'd love to see snow! I miss it!} For all you that got snow, I hope you loved having a White Christmas!

Someone's having an awesome Giveaway!

http://www.robinbecksnest.com/2010/12/best-way-to-spread-christmas-cheer.html

Trans-Siberian Orchestra

The first time I saw this group, was Christmas, '02, I believe... My daughter got tickets for all of us---her new boyfriend {future husband}liked them, and so it was the first thing we really did as a family with him... It was a wonderful show, and I'm glad to have the memory of it, and I liked the show enough to go again, but for some reason, we never did... Fast forward: to Now ~2010; I now have a new husband, who has never seen this group, and his birthday is exactly one week before Christmas, so when I realized that TSO was playing nearby, I got tickets for us... Today, we went to the afternoon showing, and he loved it as much as I did the first time I saw them! We actually had an addition to our concert, in Tampa~ they also had "Cheap Trick" come out and do 2 songs~ The only thing that would have made our day better, would be to have come out of the arena and see it snowing out! Oh well, we know that's not gonna happen, when it's in the 50*'s .... But, the 50*'s are chilly for us! We had winter coats and mittens on!

it's so easy to lose track of time when i sit in this chair! .....oh, what good intentions I have!

I can spend hours, perusing blogs, losing myself in them, and just getting all "warm and cozy" feeling~enjoying the photos that you'all have posted, the stories you tell, and the music you share on your blogs!

.....It's beginning to feel alot like Christmas!....just because I've peeked into some of your blogs.....

So, I made myself a cup of ginger tea, to have while I'm getting lost online! {even though it's 80*outside right now, I'm singing Christmas songs!}

here's the recipe:

Into your tea mug: place some thinly sliced, fresh ginger, one slice of lemon, a sprig of rosemary or mint, and a little honey...Pour hot water over, let steep for 5 minutes. Enjoy! {This reminds me of TheraFlu tea~call me strange, I love the taste of that!} There's other variations, too, like iced....I'll have to grab the magazine off my kitchen counter, and post about it later....

my new sewing machine!

Look at what I found, at our local Hospice Thrift Store!

This had no price tag, so I asked "how much?", and the lady said, "we usually ask between $25 and $35 for these, depending on if they work." So, I said, "can we plug it in?"

She helped me carry it to the back room, where there was an outlet, and we checked it out!

Guess what? ...It runs fine! ...I'm in love!

As I was looking it over, she was putting a $25 tag on it, so I thought for a {quick} second, and removed the tag, folded the machine back into the table, and asked her to help carry it out to my car! {I thought it was kind of funny, that she put the low end price on it, after seeing that it worked!...I figured if I didn't grab it, it might not be there the next time I came in!~~Now, I'm wishing that I had offered $20!!!!}

As soon as I got it home, I washed it all down in the garage, and when it was clean enough to come into the house, it went right into my sewing room!!!!!

Side note: This room has not even had any sewing done in it yet, because I didn't have a table in there!~~About 6 months ago, we had a tenant move into what was then my sewing room, and about 2 weeks later, my daughter moved out of her bedroom, into her own place, leaving an empty room, carpeted with off-white berber carpet. I had planned to have this room, someday, whenever Stephanie moved out anyway. There was no way that I would be letting a tenant get the white carpet!!!--I knew better than that!!!

Anyhow: when the tenant moved in, he helped move my sewing/craft stuff out into a corner of the living room{where it stayed, boxed up, unusable until Steph moved, and then only slowly did items make it into her old room...} When Tom was helping me move stuff out into the living room, my sewing table was an old computer desk, with different level shelves, and a pull out keyboard section...and a little old swivel chair with it...He asked if he could keep that in his room... So, there went my sewing machine table!!! {and chair!} I knew I didn't have the space for it in the corner of the living room!! He even asked to keep the little transistor radio I had to keep me company while I was sewing! I was so happy the other day, to see that little radio had been "thrown out" in the garage~~guess he's happy with just the tv, now! And I asked for my little chair back, now that I have a table to sit at! It was so nice, to have my music playing, and getting to know my new machine!

I do need to search online to learn more about this machine. This computer is a loaner~mine is being repaired and will be home on Monday! I can't wait! This is not working well at all... I keep putting "singer model #AG" into google's search engine, and the computer freezes or tells me it can't open the page.... oh wait, I just got something...WOW! If I remember correctly {without getting up from this chair, to go out to my notebook in the other room!} it looks like this was made between 1941-1947!! Wow! I thought it was made after that--it is electric, no treadle, after all...

Ok, I got up! I checked my model number-it was made in 1946! In Elizabeth,NJ. And, now, once again, the computer is keeping me from going anywhere else!!! It won't open any other pages.... Guess I'll save this post, no I'll publish it, without the picture! Since I won't be able to download my pix from my camera until Monday...

I'll come back and edit and add pix then!

Happy Halloween!

Last week, we carved pumpkins, in our backyard...

Marcelo, Stephanie & Arianna

and here's Steph & Ari with ME!

Don'tcha just love the look on Ari's face?

I think she looks quite frightened! Eeew, Pumpkin Guts!

Hee-hee! Here's me, with my eyes on! ~~So I could read my blueprint while I was carving!

This is the first pumpkin EVER that I've carved and liked!!! {I've carved many, but never

liked how they've turned out!!!~~It was so easy to search online for a neat template, and then I

just made a quick sketch of it, and headed back outside to start carving!}

Ari, framing her jack o'lantern!

Our 3 pumpkins, all carved, and lit up!

Side note: I had to go back and edit this....

My photo of all 3 pumpkins disappeared,

and when i got it back,

it went to the top of my page...

oh well, it can stay there!

...And, this picture, of my masterpiece, it's sideways!

Wish I knew more about posting, to fix this!!!

also, I had written this all in a pretty shade of orange, and I

can't figure out why it goes back to black when I publish it!

The L Family Blog: Call Me Doctor Mom

this is Great!~~Just read my daughter's blog, and had to add it here! How I wish I was closer to my grandbabies!!!!

The L Family Blog: Call Me Doctor Mom

because of Tasha Tudor...

Tasha Tudor's Birthday was 8/28... I made candles that day...

Well, one of these days, maybe I'll learn how to post pix better..... These are all backwards.....

As you can see here, after making the candles, the next night, I "grunged" them!!! I love "grubby" or "grungy" candles!!

I WON!

Look at this cute little dollie!

I won my first giveaway, over at craftystitchers.blogspot.com/. Thanx, Cyndy {and Mary!}, Ilove her!

What a professional job was done creating her!

Now I have to get my ladder out, to put her in my cradle {photos, later!}.

Until then, she gets to hang out on my bed!

I'm in Love!

I'm in Love~...We had a "Jack & Jill" shower, before getting married {in Sept.2005}, and my most favorite gift was from "my boyfriend" Jim. {Yes, my husband, Art, always introduces us as "this is my wife,and this is her boyfriend." It's been a joke for as long as I can remember knowing Jim.} Anyhow, back to the GIFT!!! This is it...



Isn't it beautiful???? It is a simple little food chopper, and to tell you the truth, I don't think I used it AT ALL, for the first 4 years that I had it!!!! Then, one day, I remembered that it was in my cabinet, and I took it out, I think because my daughter was making something that needed to be chopped up.... She used it a few times, before I ever realized how great it was!!!




Today, while in Sam's Club, I saw this huge bag of Walnuts and couldn't resist... Even though I know I had just bought a "normal" size bag at the grocery store a few weeks ago, and I don't think I've even opened that one, I figured, heck, why not?!!?
The holidays are coming, and I'll be using lots of walnuts then. Plus, we've been "on this kick" here, with Morning Glory Oat Muffins being made almost weekly, and though they call for pecans, I've yet to put pecans in them...I've used walnuts instead... {If I knew how to make my words into links, then I'd make my MGOMuffins link to their recipe...since I don't, I'll have to post it later for you!}



Another great {and easy!} recipe that I use my food chopper with, is this pesto. Yummmm!!! This is soooo gooood!!!! And knowing the basil is from my backyard makes it taste even better!!! {Again, with the linky thingy, I would so post the pesto recipe when you would click on the word pesto~~HINT, HINT....anyone want to teach me how to do this???}





Tonite was a quick dinner. Another new appliance I'm loving is my rice cooker. I worked in a Japanese restaurant for 20 years, why did I never get myself one of these before???? I so love steamed white rice....I know, I know, brown rice is better for me....


Tonite's dinner was perch {white fish} baked in my favorite little brownware baking dish with butter and garlic, white rice, and some lightly sauteed zucchini, mushrooms,onions,and peppers, with a bit of pesto added. I was sad knowing that these were the last of the peppers from my garden.... Time to start another!!! {That's an exciting thing about being in Florida! I can plant my garden more than once a year!!!} oh, yeah, I also heated up some boxed popcorn shrimp {something we NEVER buy!} and made my own cocktail sauce with horseradish and ketchup...



Two days ago, I made a Lemon Cake {another recipe to post later!}, so we'll have some of that for dessert. We had it with freshly made lemonade that first night!

And what better way to end the day, then to be able to watch The Tampa Bay Rays playing against the Boston Red Sox!!!

up all nite!

OK, this is going to be real quick! It's 2 am, and the a/c unit just shut off, so, I am thawing out!, but, also my fingers are clattering away on this LOUD sounding keyboard!!~~I'm hoping not to wake dear hubby!! He fell asleep so quickly tonight, and just a little after 9pm!!
It's been almost 2 years since his stroke....He sure gets tired out easily since...
Today, we had to go to St. Pete for an appt. @ 10:30am for me {with my workmen's comp. lawyer}, and then to the Veteran's Hospital in Tampa, for a 12:30 appt for him....
So, we had to leave our house between 9-9:30. I showered, as usual, but, he also wanted to shower... uh,oh... He just woke up!!! And asked what time it was!!! 2AM!! He was shocked at the time, and I'm not happy that he woke, cuz, I was hoping to close my eyes very soon! ...but now, he'll probably have the darn tv... hmmph, nope, he turned it on, for only about 20 seconds!! Guess I better shut down this computer and let him sleep! And, he's reminding me, that we have the refrigerator repair man due between 9-11am....So, I have to get up early!!!! Guess I'll end here...

http://storybookwoods.typepad.com/.a/6a00d8341c090953ef01157249e0bf970b-pi


one of my very favorite authors... I hope that my daughters think so, too!!! {I sure had lots of her books in our house, when the girls were small!!!}

a day at the beach...

making new cushion covers for Steph's loveseat

{no volume needed}

I had some help, cutting out pieces for Steph's new loveseat cushions!

my thrift store finds

....on a TS shopping spree one day, with my daughter and her boyfriend's young daughter, I picked up quite a few wooden items, thinking I'd paint them, and paint "prim pictures" on them....

here's Ugly Betty, with the wooden bowls... I think she was waiting for me to fill them up with her food!!!!

Here's a picture of some of my finds.... can you tell I love all things wood???
A set of 4 needlepoint/wooden coasters, never taken out of the pkg! I'll have to think about what the needlework pattern will be that I'll do on these....

An Old Maid Card Game, with all the cards there! {for Arianna}

An owl needlework project, never started... {my mother collected/loved owls when I was young, It'll prob'ly be a gift for her...}

3 wooden salad bowls, a fourth one a little differently shaped~straight sided and polyurethaned, unlike the others! and a cute little scalloped edged wooden bowl, also poly'ed.

A mirror to hang on the wall with a flowered knob.

A tiny display piece with 8 little shelves...I fell in love with this little display shelf, I'm thinking thimbles will go perfectly in each little hole!

And I only own 2 decorative ones {and my 1 metal one which I use!!!}.....so, uh-oh, that means I'll be searching for thimbles now, too, whenever I'm out at the TS's and antique shops!!!

And, a flag.... the autumn wreath fabric is actually one of those little flags, {I finally broke down and got myself a stake to hang them on~that's another story, I'll post another time!!} This flag was 10cents! {wow!<>

the mirrored thing, i picked up, thinking it'd make a gift for Steph.... {she saw it in my pile at the store! and said, "oh, that's so cute, I want it!!" so I guess I thought right with that!!!}

For now, I've removed the flowered knob so that i could sand it all down, and it's ready for paint!

here's a facebook entry from today...

ok, so maybe my artistic {painting pictures!} skills aren't as good as the pictures i can "see" inside my head!!! LOL! I tried painting a picture on the first bowl, Steph & Ari were here, too, Steph told me it looked good, but I don't think so!!! .....so i left it overnight, thinking i'd see if it looks any better to me after walking away for a while.... {I don't dare go back and look again, I'm sure I'll still think it's bad!!!} So, instead, I am working on my grandmother's table...yes, it still is waiting for me to finish!!! ...so i sanded until the battery died on my sander!!! Now, it's charging, and i've been hand sanding, and working on a couple other small sanding projects.... {woops, i wrote way tooooo much for you fb people!!! I should have put this in my blog instead.... maybe i will try to cut & paste!!}

so, as you see, I did cut and paste my fb entry, and actually took the time to put it in my blog!

my grandmother's table

The first time I saw it, I asked my grandmother if I could have it if she ever decided to get rid of it!

That was in Vermont, back in the late 80's probably... She died in the 90's and I think that must have been when I got it....

{Now, mind you, what you are looking at is not what I saw... This was hidden inside!! }

...See the 4th picture down?? That's what I fell in love with!!! I had no idea that this cute little desk was hidden inside!!!!! And, oh, how excited I was to see that the desktop even slides in and out!!!!

When I got this table, I used it for my laptop alot,...for some of my treasured Christmas houses some years, ...for my daughter's wedding cake in '03....,as a "catchall"/knickknack table in front of my "half-wall" in my living room...

I really don't ever remember "really cleaning" it.... I mean, REALLY scrubbing the years of grime from it... {It really wasn't that bad!} But after selling my house in VT in Dec.2006, and leaving all of my stuff in storage until Oct. 2008, I was so excited to have all my "stuff" here in Florida~right in my backyard!!! {in a shed.}

anyone ?

here it is, 10:05pm, Art fell asleep quickly tonight... {his bed is right behind me as I sit at the computer, I'm surprised he's staying asleep!!}

Oh, how I love to "blog-hop", to see all the beautiful photos that other's share, and take a peak into their lives!!!

As I was hopping thru quilting blogs tonite, I found http://sunny-quiltingdreams.blogspot.com and the last sentence caught my eye... here's what it said:

"Now, it's time to get back to blog-hopping, looking for more inspiration."

Funny, how I always get online, thinking, maybe today I'll write something on "my thoughts" page, and then it seems like I think, "oh, I don't have time to do that, so I'll just look at a few blogs, for inspiration...." and then HOURS have passed, and I could have written a short story!! Instead, I've just been pouring over other's thoughts and shots {photos, that is}.

But, anyhow, if I never write anything here again, who would know?? I just recently had someone start following me {thank you, new friend!}.... but mainly, I feel like this is just a diary of sorts... a place for me to write about me...that noone else will read.... maybe, though, like me, there are others out there, that feel like, "oh, I don't have the time to comment on that nice girl's blog... so I'll just read it and hop on to another..., or, my comments wouldn't be anything grand, so why bother?"

sounds like Steph just came in from work {massage therapist, works til 10pm}..... I'll miss her in a few weeks..... she's moving into her first apartment!!!!

guess I'll go see how her nite was... that's all for now...

gardening...

this is out front.... plants were put in back in '07, new red mulch {one bag so far}added today...

That's my brother-in-law's Ford Explorer~~it's for sale, he's in Vt, it's here in Fl.
LOOK, NO LEAVES!!!!!! Whew, I raked so many magnolia leaves today!!!!
See, here's one of the many magnolia leaf piles!!!! June, and I'm raking leaves!!!!! No autumn raking here!!! {it's normally now and in Feb.!!!}
here's a pineapple top I put in the ground last week.... and an avocado pit that was thrown out has started, all by itself!!! {that actually I noticed back in March... WOW, can u believe it's still alive {with my black thumb, LOL!} Butternut squash plants behind it, and I threw some little mini pumpkin seeds in near the squash plants....
"...and with a broken wing, she still sings"...... I bought this cute little garden statue with fairy wings years ago, marked down cuz of the broken wing... But I loved it anyway!!! Always said that I'd paint a little sign with this song quote, and have it near this statue.... maybe someday!!!!

I planted a banana pepper, a yellow bell pepper, and another type, cubanella {I think it was called}..... along with 3 different varieties of tomatoes {one cherry}.... and 7 basil plants here in the garden, 6 more, out in the shade, so I can see if they do better in one place than they do in the other....

NOW, LET'S HOPE THAT MY THUMB TURNS GREEN!!!!! I WANT FRESH FROM THE GARDEN VEGGIES!!!!!!!

how can i resurrect this rose?????

look, this was my beautiful yellow rose that I bought around Mother's Day...

See how fast I can kill plants??!!??!!!??!!!

I now have it outside, wondering if it'll come back....

couldn't resist!

Just ran to the grocery store, and couldn't resist this miniature yellow rose! They had a great selection of colors, for Mother's Day gifts, of course..... So I got myself one!!! {Hope I can keep this one alive!!! ~~I seem to have problems gardening here in Florida!!}Also, you can see my love of rustic wood!! The miniature "screen door" looking shelf, I fell in love with, last fall, when I found it at an autumn festival, with 100's {!!!} of craft tables and some little stores, too {!!}~~ I really knew I had to have it, when I saw the price tag said $3.00!!!!

And here's my oldest G-baby, Cody, on his first day of school!! July, 09 {he goes to a year round school, in N.C.}
The red rose, is in a bud vase.... I went over to my neighbor's last night, to "prune" her roses for her..... She's now in a nursing home, and the nasty grasshoppers are enjoying her beautiful roses! I picked 2 stems that had 6 roses on each!!! And then 3 long stem single beauties! I really need to get over there with my bigger pruning tools, this rose bush is out of control!!!

today....

I went to a quilting class at JoAnn's Fabric Store today! That was fun.... I learned quite a bit, had fun, and came home with a "Barn Door" square made!! Now, to stay at it!!!! I need to force myself to sit in front of the machine!!! ~~~~esp. now, that the sunshine and warm weather have come back to Florida!!! Art and I have spent quite a bit of time out in the back yard this past week, and one day at the beach, too!!!

And, now, Baseball Season is in Full Swing!!! So, at least, I know, I'll have some "down time", sitting in front of the tv!!! Hand-Sewing will get done!!!! ..... and maybe that little knit sweater?? I'm still not real quick, when it comes to knitting!!! I did finish that same little blue hat, again, this time, for my daughter's best friend's first baby!!! I'd love to get the sweater made for them, too, and I do have time, as he's due in July, and this will be a fall wardrobe item!!

But, I've also got a hand embroidery project, I started, about a month ago.... a cute little barn print.... only about 5"x7".... So, that will argue for some of my 'sitting in front of the tv' time!!

Then, there's also, the hand appliqued lap quilt/wall hanging, that I started in '08, while the Tampa Bay Rays were winning the American League Championship Title, and went on to play the Philadelphia Phillies in the World Series.... This is a Winter scene, with pine trees, a log house, snowy hills, and a snowman... I love the colors, and the pattern!!!! I put it down on the last game of the World Series ~~when the Phillies beat the Rays, and Art had a stroke that night!!!~~I really should have brought it with me to the never-ending hospital stays and nursing home stays, I could have had it finished long ago!!! I vow, {right now!} to finish it for this Christmas, so it can hang in our dining room, instead of being folded up in the closet!!!!....so, I guess, I better get away from the computer, and in front of my sewing machine!!!!! Bye for now!!!

aged heart ornies

here's 2 out of 3 little heart ornies that i threw together, quickly a few days ago... As soon as I finished stitching Faith on the first one, I gave it away... So, there's no pix of that one... I think I liked it the most~I used a brownish thread, real close in color to the heart itself, instead of the red, like you see in these....

I can't wait to make more, and use that brown thread again!!

They're made out of coffee stained muslin~ That was fun to do! And my peapod trellis rigged up in my garden came in handy, I used it as a mini clothesline to dry the muslin!!!

my first attempt at knitting...

Here's the hat I made for my brandnew nephew....

This pic. shows the pattern and the yarn I used....

I'm so excited!!!! I vaguely remember learning to knit in 4H when I was about 12 or 13, and I'm so glad that I figured out how to do it again!!!! {The knitting/crocheting tv shows sure help!!! Along with the front of the knit pattern books...}

This definitely is not "perfect", but it came out quite nicely, I think, especially for my first attempt!!!

Now, on to my next project!!!! My daughter's friend is having a baby this summer, I think I'll try this little sweater pattern!!!