A Bargain is a Bargain!

When I get together with my girlfriends, or if I'm chatting on some of the Facebook sites I belong to, seems we always get around to the subject of shopping. And by that, I mean telling of  the great deal we have just found. And if we aren't talking bargains, we are chatting about a trash to treasure project we have just finished! We are all "Proud" of the bargains we find, and don't mind if you know that we got it at Goodwill for 99 cents! There was a time when you would have never told anyone what you paid for an item, but now with all the Shabby Chic projects, finding the bargain is the coup de gras! It's almost like a one up! I was telling the girls in one of the gardening groups about the great finds I have found at Goodwill, well, they wanted me to show them so I started taking pictures of the tops of my kitchen cabinets. They hold a lot of bang for the buck, so to speak. Most of the pieces are from Goodwill, with some from Big Lots and some from Mom. But I will say, I have amassed quite good collection of  Objects d'art,

 This right side of my Kitchen starts off with this great copper Rooster, (GW) Copper jello mold from Mom, Great woven basked with wood carved handles.

 Little house Cookie Jar and Squash Pitcher (GW) Moms Chicken.

 Little Bicycle , Rooster (GW) , Signed Tomato Painting on Wood (GW)

 Metal Rooster (GW) , blue pitcher and Huge Gourd Pitcher from Big Lots

 Chicken from Mom, little Veggie NeedlePoint from GW

 Large Fish Jello Mold from Mom, great sunburst basket and woven ones too.

Cow Jello Mold, that I love (GW), Little beige jug with Rooster (GW), and mini Jello Mold from mom.
If you look at the pictures top to bottom you can see how they run the top of my cabinets.

Hope you're not tired of this, but now these are the pictures of the Left side of my kitchen cabinets.

 Grapes and small Rooster (GW) Gorgeous Ewer from late 1800's was Moms

 Terra Cotta Rabbit (GW)

 Small Veggie NeedlePoint (GW), White Rabbit Pitcher (GW)

 Gnarly Birdhouse and Gourd Pitcher both from GW

 Wild Turkey Decanter from My Dad, Pitcher from Target.(on sale $2.00!)

Great Apple Painting, Signed. (Church Bazaar) Jello molds from Mom.
I hope you have enjoyed seeing all the fun bargains I have found on my little shopping sprees. Would love to see some of the treasures you have found too!

Summer is fast coming to a Close

Honestly I was so cold last Winter that I told myself I would not complain of the Heat whatsoever! But now that Summer is almost over, I find myself looking forward to some much cooler evenings. And a break from the heat as I work in the yard would be a great help, the humidity...please!! I'm not complaining, in a way we were kind of shortchanged on the Summer. Tropical storms, and rains days on end, have truly meant a shorter summer. Fletcher High has been in session a week already! And once school starts, the press is on for all the stores to start pushing Christmas, be damned Halloween, and Thanksgiving! Remember when you were a kid and Summer lasted forever...

My yard is still soggy in some places, the rains really did a number, but the worst of it all is the overgrowth of everything! Saturday I worked in the yard all day, pulling more weeds that I've seen all summer, and the vines have grown everywhere. I managed to get all the flower beds weeded and enough vines pulled to fill two large trash cans! Oh I am so gunna pay for this! I thought I had actually got some sunburn, but I didn't, it was towel burn!! I had wiped the sweat from my face so many times, I was actually chaffed!! Ahhh Aloe!
The Arrowheads have taken over my flower beds in the back, but look at the Pothos growing on the fence!! Some of the leaves measure 10 inches across!

Lord Forgive Me!!

I know, I know, we are in the throws of summer, but I already have two holiday presentations on the calendar! So I just have to start getting things ready, and searching for new ideas! I can tell by the other blogs that I follow, they are gearing up for the fall and winter holidays too! What is with the time?? School starts back in three weeks! My Grandson Evan will be a Senior!! My Grandaughter Kingsley will be a Sophomore! So I figure in about 6 weeks and it will be Christmas!!
I have just finished the redesign of the arrangement on my kitchen buffet, I have a wonderful collection of vintage beaded grapes that I love to include. I love the weight of them and the colors are exactly what matches my decor. I started with an old shopping basket that my Mom and I bought in Maidstone Kent England in 1959! We took that basket everyday to the meat market, vegetable market, flower market and the bakery. Talk about putting your memories in a basket.

I have started by putting three vine orbs inside to be used as the anchor for all the decorations, I don't want to poke any holes in the antique basket. Now the fun can begin! Adding my grapes and other beaded fruits, I love the way they add just the right amount of glitz. I have the cutest pitcher and cups that my Italian landlady, Mrs Ierna gave me in 1969, I just love the soft colors, sooo next to the arrangement they go!

I found this wonderful handmade tea pot at a craft fair, "Hand Built Pottery by Jacque". Just the colors that I love, just can't have too much of the terracotta look! It's all gnarly, don't cha love it? Well I will add to the other side of the arrangement!

It is filling out nicely, Oh can you see the mini jello mold ?, that was my Moms, I also have others that I tie with ribbons at Christmas to decorate my cabinets in the kitchen. I am also a hoarder of broken things, I just can't seem to throw them out, I always know I will  find a way to use it. My pots all have bird heads, or cat heads sticking out of the plants, the remnants of things long gone. I have also saved (now don't get upset) the eggs that my parakeet, Miss Birdy (passed) laid. They are like a wisp of air, and are hollow inside, I just couldn't bring myself to toss them! So now I am putting them in a little nest, and putting a butterfly on it that I found on the driveway.

Alright it's a broken rooster..Hey I have also added some little leather books that I used at school in England, French/English, Spanish/English and a Webster. I was 14 years old when I used them, see... hoarder.

Well I have tweaked it enough, and after adding a cute bird with a sweeping feather tail, and some seed pods. I am "Fini" Tres Bonne!

Summer is Definitely Here!

Whew the heat has been upon us! I am missing the color in the yard, everything left is green, with just a few pops of color. Nothing has survived this heat, all the Petunias, Zinnias, and Impatiens are all gone, my Glads didn't even bloom this year, I guess it just got too hot too soon. Just recently my Mexican Fire bush has just started to bloom for the summer, I have three in the yard. I just love the whispy looking red flowers.

I have also found one bloom on my Princess plant, I did have a 6' tree of this, but a couple of years ago the freeze knocked it down. The purple flower is just the perfect shade. Normally My Cannas are about 5 or 6 feet tall, but this year only about 3 feet, and only one bloom! But hey after all this heat I appreciate any blooms at all!  But there is the saving grace of Crepe Myrtles, mine are all blooming, Watermelon, White and Lavender, The Lavender Crepe Myrtle is on the corner of our front yard, and this tree is huge.

We are also recovering from a sinkhole in our front yard! My Wayne went out in the yard and while walking around his leg sank up to his thigh! I can't believe he didn't break it. This hole ended up being 5 feet deep and six feet long! it was totally hollowed out under the grass so you couldn't see it. Come to find out it was a sewer line from the house to the street. The city came out and fixed it all! Praise the Lord it was on the 15 foot easement! It didn't cost us a thing!! Thank you City of  Neptune Beach!

Fourth of July! and Other Things

You know how I have a passion for decorating Mantels, so I couldn't leave mine plain for the Fourth! I have a box of  Red White and Blue decor, but couldn't find it, so I made do with things I found on a scavenger hunt around my house and garage! I used the flowers that I made out of coke cans, quick trip to the Dollar Tree,and I got two of their balloon weights that had stars on them , and two paper lanterns in the holiday pattern, (they were already out of almost everything Red White and Blue!) and used the silver and red star garland I had on one of the workbenches in the garage, put some of the flags that I normally use in the yard and Voila and Star Spangled Mantel! Enjoy this Fourth of July, almost too hot to fire up the barbie, but I know we will!  Also thinking of all those suffering from the loss of their homes in the wildfires, that are plaguing so many States, and to our Military, past and present, that have sacrificed so much for us to even have this Holiday! Hooray for our Freedom!

Just a Pinch recipe site posted "Lemon Ice Cream and No Ice Cream Maker Needed"! Well I just had to
try this oh so easy recipe.

1 pint 1/2 and 1/2
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice ( I could only get 2 1/4 juice out of my lemon so I used that)
2 teaspoons lemon zest ( I had to zest whole lemon to get this)
2/3 cup sugar
mix all together by hand until sugar dissolved, and pour into a glass pie plate or other glass container, and freeze for at least 3 hours.

This was a deelish and refreshing surprise! We Loved it! This could be the perfect cool ending to a hot day!

Talk about on the Cheap!

I have been posting some pictures on my Facebook page and thought I would share in my blog too. I realized that just about everything I was showing all came from Goodwill, Church Bazaars, Yard sales, or free on the curb, which just goes to show ya you don't have to spend alot of money  to make some pretty cute vignettes  for your home.

This is a painting that I found a couple years ago leaning on a garbage can, next to the road, at the home of the late Mary Brant, her husband was a Beaches Mayor at one time, when she passed I guess they didn't want to keep this particular painting of Caladiums. Mary Brant was an artist and there were articles in the paper talking of her accomplishments. I cut out that article and taped it to the back of this painting. It feels good that I saved these Caladiums, probably one of her first works, as this is quite naive. I love it

 My friend and local artist, Steven Hall, gave me some of his unframed art. This was included, an unfinished work that I just loved. So I cut the unfinished part off and framed the face. The whole look of this painting just gets me every time I look at it, the Betta Fighting Fish as an earring...well that is Steven's minds eye. I have an old oval wood frame posing with it along with a piece of wrought iron from my Moms.

 I just had to show the face that I painted about 16 years ago, this was one of the very first things I tried. After seeing the designer Christopher Lowell on HGTV, show how you could make a table look like marble by faux painting, I knew I just had to try it. I sanded all the glitter off this face and took a hammer and knocked off the chin, I wanted the look of age I guess, got my paints and voila, this...

Did I ever mention that I also collect Jewelry Boxes?? Well I do, In this picture you can see three (one is in the case that I painted and added little ball feet to) I have four more in the guest room. I love the little spool doll sitting on top, that I found at Goodwill, along with all the jewel boxes! One is under the cabinet too. In the background you can see a Hat lamp that I got at an antique shoppe, and the skirt on the chair slipcover I made, were from my Moms dresses.

 I love this little table in my guest bedroom, the Battennburg Lace topper along with the grey fringed topper were from Goodwill along with the glass head, hat and tri-mirror. All together over a white ruffled skirt it looks really sweet.

My Updates or "What's Happen'n Now"!

I just realized that I have not been posting lately. We had the Tropical Storm Beryl come through, and that left a good week and a half of clean up. There was not one pot or plant that did not have twigs or leaves in them, not to mention the yard filled with small limbs, twigs and leaves! I had prepared for this storm, but did not realize that 45 mph winds could tear up so much, and I have been through Hurricanes! Even blew over my swing frame and that whole thing is heavy!

You know how I like to add a recipe or two on things that are original to me. Well a couple of weeks ago when I went to fix dinner I realized that I did not have chicken breasts I had chicken tenders. I usually only use those for Fajitas. so I came up with a great batter and dipping sauce!

"Rena's" All Purpose Batter!

 I started by salting and adding cayenne pepper to the tenders. In a bowl I put one egg, 1/4 cup 1/2 and 1/2, and 1/4 cup Mayo, whisked to  blend till smooth.  Putting All Purpose flour on a plate, I dipped the tenders in the egg mixture and then rolled in the flour for a good coating. Heated Canola Oil in the skillet and fried till a crisp golden brown and all juices were running clear. I am saying this was so delicious, and the chicken was so tender with this light crunchy batter, it just all melted in your mouth! I made a quick sauce for dipping, 1/2 cup mayo, 1/4 cup ketchup, and a healthy squeeze of lemon, Ooo man, creamy and tangy with just the right touch of sweetness...perfect!

My front door entry way is coming along nicely, now that we have had the much needed rain, the plants are all starting to pay attention! You can see that my corn plant was stressed by lack of water, even though it is in the path of the sprinkler, nothing takes the place of Mother Nature.

Don't you just love Succulents! I have so many, this is some spilling out of the lava rocks, and my Kalanchoe blooming is always a favorite. After so many years in the garden things need to be spruced up now and then, as most of the garden art and decor has been there 10 years or more. This last weekend I repainted my Dog and Cat Birdhouses, now they look like the day a got them, except I changed the color of their bows, artistic license you know...