Five Fine Things

1.  Freezer Cooking Ahead ~ We got ground chuck on sale for $2.99 a pound.  Score!  So I spent one morning browning 3 pounds for the freezer (quick taco or spaghetti meals.)  I made 2 lbs into meat balls which I froze on a cookie sheet, then put into a freezer bag so I can take out the number I want for a meal.  And the last 1 1/2 lbs. became a favorite comfort food...Blue Plate Patties.  

This is a Taste of Home recipe from 1999.  And they are delicious!  

I fit the recipe to what I have on hand, which usually means a packet of brown gravy mix, canned mushrooms, and no horseradish.  But they are so good with mashed potatoes.  The men in your life will love you.  :)

2.  Things growing at my house ~ This Missouri Primrose perennial was given to me by my neighbor in Michigan back in 1999.  It moved to Chicago with us where it grew and spread for 10 years.  And when we moved to Southern Indiana 5 years ago, a chunk of it moved here with us too.  It's now like a long-time friend.  

My first Gerbera Daisy in a few years.  My favorite color this year is 'coral' so that's why this pretty girl came home with me from Lowes.

I call these Lindsey's Daisies.  They moved here from Chicago with me too, and they always bloom in June, the birth month of our only daughter, Lindsey. 

Our little 4x8 raised vegetable garden is full.  So in order to grow Bell Peppers, I had to plant them in this little plot of ground under our utility meter on the side of the house that only gets afternoon sun.  I didn't know how they'd do...but they have grown 3X bigger than the Banana Pepper plants in my veggie garden in full sun.  Go figure.  Looking forward to yummy peppers in a few months!

3.  Semi-Homemade Salsa
John and I LOVE this salsa.  We like it better than most name brands and we like it better than salsa made from fresh tomatoes and canned.  So I am experimenting by making some ahead and freezing it.  My cilantro will soon be going to seed, and since we love cilantro in our salsa, I knew I had to make some quick.  I made four blender batches of salsa and have frozen them all.  

Easy recipe...ready?
For one blender batch, add 1 can stewed tomatoes, 1/2 rough chopped onion, a spoon full of canned jalepenos, 1-2 teaspoons of minced garlic, 1 teaspoon of lime juice, and a handful of fresh cilantro.  Process on the lowest you can, so you don't pulverize it.  When it has a consistency you like, stop the blender.  Bam!  Tastes like restaurant style and is completely addictive.  I've already unfrozen one batch to use, and if it ends up alittle juicy from the frozen tomatoes, then I'll just spoon alittle of the juice off of it.  But I'm thrilled to have our favorite salsa in the freezer, ready for use.  Will def. make more this summer.

4.  The Give-Away-Garage-Sale ~ This morning on my morning walk, I came across a large garage sale being set up.  The lady told me she'd open at 11am (!!) but that I could look around.  She's cleaning out her mother's home of years of pack-rat-ing.  I did pick out 2 things right off the bat, and she quoted me a price I couldn't believe (nothing was priced.)  25 cents each!  I told her I'd be back with money around 11am.  Of course, by waiting til 10:45am, alot of the good stuff was GONE!  I guess I learned my lesson...those who obey garage sale start times miss out.  :)  But that's okay.  The wind chime above was one of my finds.  25 cents.  My back yard is making cheery music now, and I'm thrilled.  Was hoping to buy one in Michigan on our vacation, and this find saved me $20 or more!

Here is one of my other finds.  This adorable, 1950s cookie jar is exactly like the one my beloved Grandma had.  I had purchased one like it for myself for $10 a few years ago at a garage sale, thinking that was a steal.  But this little gal came home with me for $1.  What?!  They go on eBay for $70 and up.  This sweetie will be offered to my daughter first, then to my neighbor whose Grandma also had one.  I used to gaze at it as a girl and think how tasty all those decorative cookies looked.

5.  Our little piece of Paradise ~ My John and I are yard people.  So after living here 5 years, we've finally gotten the yard about how we want it.  Cool mornings and evenings on the patio swing are the best.  So is lunch on the swing.  Enjoying the things that are blooming, and eagerly awaiting the Rose of Sharon and the Butterfly Bush to join in.  There's a new climbing vine with orange flowers coming soon too...it's growing and starting to climb the fence, but is currently hidden by Bee's Balm and Daisies.

Thank you for coming over today to share the fun of my week!

Blessings,

Donna

70 Booth Rummage Sale? Bliss!!

Today was the county-wide 4H Rummage Sale at the Fair Grounds.  With more than 70 booths of goods for sale, it was a fun Saturday morning!

We got some wonderful treasures at this sale as well as a church Rummage Sale.  See that black computer bag?  Like new with plenty of zippered compartments.  $2!    Boots for my little Northern Indiana grandboy and a .25 Cat in the Hat book.  :)

I like to have a pretty seasonal plate on display, and this is my new Johnson Brothers Autumn plate.  :)  $2

Can you believe that a digital frame was on my Christmas idea list?!  This one is brand new and a great price...told my Honey and to save it for Christmas.  :)

And then there are the vintage items.  Oh. Man.  

The painted trays were popular in the late 50s and early 60s.  This is a miniature one, about 5 inches long.  50 cents!  This is before I washed it up.

Vintage Christmas ornaments with a vintage price tag on the end...50 cents!

I grew up with my mom's aluminum measuring cups and still love using them at her house.  These Ecko ones from years gone-by were....50 cents.  :)

My favorite find.  My Grandma from Texas had this very cookie jar throughout her married life.  She passed away 20 years ago and I have wished I would have asked for her cookie jar.  Today I got this one just like it at the Rummage Sale for $5.  I am thrilled!

A lady with a booth at the sale was selling things from her elderly father's home.  Including this 1960's Kodak Brownie Starmite camera and leather Kodak case...50 cents!  I had to get it.  It's so cute in my house...show ya in a minute.

I have been looking for one of these all summer!  It's vintage...cost 97 cents at Safeway many years ago (tag on the back).  I'm going to paint it Heirloom White and use it in my kitchen for hanging my vintage potholders and other vintage kitchenware on it.  Yippee!!

And now to see my goodies in their new found homes.  Kodak Brownie is hanging out on the mantel.  

For now, miniature handpainted metal tray is at home on the Gossip Bench.  Look...it appears that the lady of the home (in the 1940s of course,) came in from shopping and removed her hat, put her purse down, and took off her earrings to talk on the phone, laying them on the tray.  :)  I'm sure the tray will move around the house as I figure out new places for it.  May even stick it on the wall with a 3M strip.

The measuring cups are at home in my vintage drawer in the kitchen.  And see...I DID paint the drawer's handle aqua.  Love.

And Grandma's cookie jar...it has been washed and shined.  It's on my raised bar.  And the site of those raised ceramic cookies with all kinds of icings and decorations on them still make my imagination dance.  As a girl, I thought they looked so yummy!  Grandma's cookies inside the jar were yummy too.  I miss that beautiful, sweet lady.

Thank you for stopping by!  Your comments warm my heart!

Blessings,

Donna
Linked to:
Hope in Every Season
Moonlight and Mason Jars
Think Tank Thursday

Mantle in Bloom

I enjoyed the fireplace mantle this past winter with it's Johnson Brothers winter plate, berries, and burgandy.  But now it's time to brighten, lighten, whiten, and green it up.  Feeling the need for a Spring Mantlescape.

And so with great gladness, I gave my son a Spring Break day off of school and shopped my house for some Springifying decor. 

I bought this window in Plymouth, Indiana at a sweet little antique shop.  Guess how much I paid?  $1.60.  I know...ridiculously great!!  The quail was an after Thanksgiving find at my Schnucks grocery store floral department for $4.00.  The apothecary jar was a garage sale find 2 years ago, and I finally figured out how to use it!  The little square pottery vase on the right is new from The Ivy Cottage here in Evansville.  Love.  It.

Out with the winter plate, in with my favorite old church plate, a teacup from my sis in law's mission trip to Romania, and the best smelling summer candle ever...Lime and Cilantro.

Lightened up my $1.00 garage sale lamp with a $1 garage sale floral piece.  I don't like the dangly deals on the lamp and I wish the shade was white.  What to do about that?  Any ideas?

The Ivy Cottage, my favorite little shop, was decorated so cute for spring on Saturday and that's where I got this idea.  They had tons of these types of things on shelves, china hutches, tables, etc.  I used leftover silk flowers from other projects and the little sweet nest my daughter and son in law gave me after their wedding...to signify that they were starting their own nest and to commemorate that our nest at home now just had three.  It is precious to me.

I've had those candles for about 4 years.  Green is such a happy, fresh color.  The fabric is just temporarily folded and laid.  Never mind the sun faded stripe down the center from it spending the winter in my sewing basket by the window.

And so there she be!  Ready for Spring.  In full bloom.  Do I need something above the window frame?  Like a white organza bow that appears to be hanging the window on the wall? In a day or two I'll show you how the rest of my house lightened up for spring.  I love shopping the house!  Blessings on you!
This is linked to A Very Merry Vintage Style
Linked to Tip Junkie

Polka Dots and Flower Pots

A week ago our neighborhood had about 25 garage sales going on. With glee, I headed out with a zippered pouch of change and high hopes. I found this darling, oversized polka dot mug for just .25. I have a thing for polka dots, especially brown, and pink. Plus I'd decided I wanted to try, once more, to have a little house plant. I do well with outdoor plants, but I'm not as successful with indoor plants.

After looking at Walmart for a cute little indoor plant and finding none, I decided I'd really rather not spend any money on one...so I remembered that Geraniums can be started by cuttings. Google helped refresh the how-to's on that, then I filled up the mug with some leftover potting soil, and cut a nice healthy stalk off of one of my outdoor Gernaniums. You pull off the lower leaves, and tuck the little cutting about 2 inches into the soil. Water, and watch! It should root itself in the dirt, and begin a new plant. I'll know it is thriving when new leaves begin to grow. For just .25 and alittle ingenuity, my kitchen has a fresh bit of life and green in it...I like polka dots and plants.

Garage Sale Finds!

This morning felt like a garage sale day to me. And since we've only been to a few this year, I felt it was worth the late start to school. Craig's List gave me 3-4 to pursue, with hopeful words of 'most things $1!' It was a heady high that I experienced as many things, truly for $1 or less, were just the very things I had on my 'used goods' mental list of things to buy. First up...the lamp above. A lamp in the kitchen adds a warmth and coziness that I was itching for...and this little sweet lamp was just the ticket...for...$1. The brand new fabric napkin, in one of my kitchen colors, came home with me for .10, too. Oh yea.

Also on my mental list of 'things to buy' were toys for my Sunday School class of K-1st graders. Can you believe that this Build A Bear monkey and many outfits/hats/shoes all became mine for just...yep, $1! I will wash and sterilize them, and the kids will have a great time.

I've been wishing to purchase some pieces of fabric for random, spur of the moment craft projects. Pretty green toille, for free. :) A nearly new C'mas towel-.50, a miniature loaves pan-.50, and a glass jar just begging to become something clever-.50. Mmhmm!

Of course I always look for things my newlywed daughter might need. Linds, Tupperware containers for your pantry items...50 cents each. And that thing in the middle? A new Christmas Card holder for your wall. Compact and extra cute...for .50.

Oh boy, did I have fun!! For about $10 total, I got all of the above, plus a nice lamp shade to replace the ancient shade on our bedroom lamp, 2 more sets of toys for my SS class, and a set of very nice mixing bowls from IKEA. Thank you Lord for blessing my frugal soul today!