How I got my joy back!!!

A bit ago I posted a blog elsewhere that I lost my spark, that joy that infused me from the inside like a stick of rosemary might infuse a well roasted spitfired chicken.
Well folks. I found the 99 cent store. (Not to be confused with the Dollar Store.)

Joy. FOUND

Here is just a SMALL sample of what booty I was able to loot from there. Okay it FEELS like looting at those prices. ;)

The rose bush I gave to my daughter after her play was over.
The birdhouse magnets are the main ingredient for this bursting joy.
You know the kind? Like when you see a sunrise so amazing it makes you do high kicks in the house while in pajamas still? Yea like that.

The rest are supplies for my first barbeque I shall be throwing. First I must find a dart board to hang on my fence for all of us to play.
Then chalk to create hopscotch...
Oh! Return to 99cent store for Hula Hoops. A hula hoop off would be DEVINE!
See those CUTE tiny paper cups with pink and brown polka dots? Those will make popsicles,

along with the plastic pop makers that remind me of childhood.
Hibiscus ice cube makers will be made with a pink juice to pop into sparkling water perhaps?

Margaritas. I see many of those being passed around while friends laugh, snap photos , and eat meat on sticks.

SUMMER please come.
I'm ready for you.
Thanks.

Love you.

Love , me.

Pretty pretty boxes!

WHAT is a girl to do when she's faced with THE most gorgeous box that is not only artwork but FUNCTIONAL as well?!
Well, she waits untill she has a coupon of course!! 50% off at that.

So, get this. It gets rung up, and I see $4.33 pop up. (I am thinking it would be at LEAST $10.) Simple math whizz that I am, I deduce I'm only going to fork over 2 bucks for this this gem!! You can't see the pretty damask print on the sides even! Thank you Michaels. Thank you. Now I don't feel bad splurging on something I REALLY didn't need. But since I can't have a clawfoot tub, THIS will do. ;)

And it will store my hair things, no more bending down to get them out of my under sink cabinet space!

Beautiful Inside and Out

So, decorating inside, and working on my Secret Garden outside...patio furniture all that on a BUDGET seemed daunting at first. But, things work out. Check this out.

The shrub in the first photo (Free, Thanks mother!) I had NO idea would bloom!!! When I peeked out my window and saw those purple bursts of color my heart sped up and it felt like my stomach came up to my throat, sort of like on a roller coaster.

In the back of the shrub is a great rose bush my boyfriend gave me for mothers day, the redwood patio furniture set was about 25$ from a moving sale.

The sweet cafe painting is huge about 18x32...it was marked at 16$ so I told the guy some nails were sticking out funny. He gave it to me for Ten!!! I need to start decorating my downstairs so guess where that will be going? ;)

The tree in the last photo was gifted to me by a neighbor who was having a garage sale. I sorely need to replant it. It pays to not be a hermit!! ;)

So if you can't tell yet, I'm really starting to focus on my backyard. Just picked up a lot of soil, mulch and starter plants for vegetables and melons. Hopefully by the fall or summer I'll have photos to show of my bounitful harvest.

The missing link

One of the hardest things to figure out was how to decorate my breakfast nook.

This room makes me feel extravagant.

An entire extra room for...anything I want!
I call it my creative room and for now it's set up for tea for two!
The kids do crafts here, or we sit and type on our vintage typewriter...

I bring my laptop here and envision writing my entire novel while sipping hot cocoa. (I've done this once, MUST rinse and repeat!)

It's my most vintage centric area...I like vintage pieces all over my home but have modern mixed in as well.

SO...I had this one corner with NADA. Nothing. Until the other day at Goodwill,

it found me, or I found it.

It's a little black table that matches nicely with the vintage black buggy

I have in the corner next to it!

Check it out.
Only 6$

I like the rustic chipped look, I will however use a sharpie marker to fill in a spot or two.

Retro Love

Thrift stores have been a part of my life ever since my grandma was buying me funky printed cartoon print pants. This sweet something was picked up recently on a trip with a friend for only, a dollar. This is one of those shirts that can put me in a different mood...the domestic goddess of my household kind. Minus the pretentiousness that goddess implies.

This dress will find itself in a meadow by a stream. My pedicured toes slipped into some delicate sandals. I'm not afraid of bold hawaiin prints when it belongs to something so light and drapes me just right. It's hard to find a good fit. So many dresses look great on a rack, but oh, dear goodness. Seeing some of them on me makes my mouth twist up like the first time I had grapefruit. Thrift stores are better when shopped with a friend. I see so many things that are great but not for me. Especially in the furniture sections. I want to take photos of them and post them to alert others...would people like something like that I wonder?

I don't normally like decor from the dollar store.
However...
Cute Font? Oh yes.

It seems like a project you'd see on Martha Stewart.

The way this curves makes me feel...like I'm floating on a river. - $1



I've wanted a birdcage veiled vintage hat for so long. Doubly delicious are the feathers... Thrift store I do adore thee. Oh yes what's that behind it? The document that says I studied and stayed in class long enough to get 60 units to put towards a Social and Behavioral Science degree. It wasn't planned on for that particular one, it just was the best fit for all the classes I had hodge-podged in my collection.

Trader Joes daffodils brought a burst of color to my life.
They brought sunshine into my home. I'm picky about colors in this haven I've made.

Yellow is my chosen accent color.

I've yet to find a permanent yellow item.

This did nicely while they last.
1$. For a bunch of TEN!

One woman's trash becomes another woman's "OMG I have wanted one of those FOREVER" treasure.

Howdy ladie's and gents.
(By the way I have to say thank you to my new followers. It made me downright giddy!)
So I've got the traditional cold and or flu that comes along with this season.
Maybe this blog won't be as sman-dazzling as it could be.
Let's get to the point. This buggy.
It's my cherry on my sundae. My sprinkles on my cupcake.

A good friend of mine, we'll just call him ...Justin, called me up. He asked me would I like something his mother couldn't get rid of, no one seemed to want it. I think that's how he first worded it? Sign. me. UP! THANKfully somewhere it got conveyed this was a vintage baby buggy.
A what? Then the rays of heaven opened up.
You see, my hopefully captive audience, I was JUST drooling over vintage baby buggies at an antique sale. THEY wanted over 60$ for theirs. One was even over 150$!!!!
The great thing about this item is that it's made for dolls. So it fits great in my little breakfast nook as a piece to admire. I like to move things around a lot though, so visit me later and then we'll see where it's at.

Oh behind it you see a washing... scrubber ...??? I should know the name for it but I don't.
I do know it was made for mainly underthings in olden days to be washed on. Like pantyhose.
I think they look charmingly rustic. My mother passed that down to me. Total price of my dreamy relics? Free.00$

Then there is this gem. The lights.
You are looking at the lights.





Thankfully they replaced the 70s lamp craziness that was going on there.
This is my mother in law's cast off. See, normally I kind of glaze over what my
ex husband tells me when he calls me. I'm sorry but it's just the facts mam.
However. When I hear the words. "My mother doesn't want" And "I think it's your style"
well my ears perk up, and I say YES PLEASE!

Now, last but not least.


Check HER out!!
She lived in my empty downstairs vacant apartment.
Along with empty boxes.
So I asked my landlady, might I borrow it for an event?
Borrow?? You can HAVE it she replied!!
She now fills my kitchen with music that is the soul of my house.

And did anyone notice I was too cheap to buy another curtain rod for the darker panels?
Yep, I simply pulled them up behind, through the existing rod.
Voila. FREE installation. And now it's also cutting down on my heating bill, making my kitchen oh so much warmer.

Check in soon, because I don't even know what I'm going to post next...