I woke up to a heavy downpour complete with bursts of thunder. We needed the rain so badly. It also meant that I had a few days off from watering.
The plants were loving it. I have never done a winter garden before. I’m not really doing one this year, but I did plant some seeds in pots just so I could really see what would grow after the summer season. I have broccoli, spinach, tomatoes, cilantro, and sage in these pots.
I never knew that you can grow cucumbers and tomatoes in the fall also. The cucumbers have really taken off. I have them in a pot and also in the front bed.
I keep planting zinnia seeds and they keep growing. So good for the pollinators.
Neither Donny and I had noticed that our jalapeno plant started producing again. It must really like the cooler weather.
The Mother of Thousands seed pod things I got off a plant at one of the estate sales are doing great. They are the cutest little plants.
So today I am very thankful that it rained and rained good at that.
I think I’m coming down with what Hannah is just getting over. So now I’m going to go take a hot shower and go to sleep. Fingers crossed I feel better in the morning because there is a really good estate sale starting right down the street from Donny’s work.
And a cute cat picture. Little Koda can be a handful but he is such a snuggler.
Today I am grateful for thrift stores. I have been frugal probably since birth. I don’t like stores such as Home Goods, TJMaxx, really any place that sells the same type products that makes everyone’s homes look the same. I love the hunt. Hannah works at one of the more popular thrift stores in our area so I’m constantly in there seeing what’s new. Today I found some pretty cool things.
Jackson loves sweaters. I can normally find them at estate sales, but lately there have been zero. I always check every thrift store to see if any have hit the racks. Men’s sweaters are hard to find. Today I was lucky. I found 3 for him and he loved all 3.
Some people will not buy shoes from thrift stores. I’m not that person. Especially when I find a cute pair of booties that are in the perfect orange-ish color and in near perfect condition.
Not only does her store carry cute clothes and shoes, they have amazing jewelry. I bought Hannah some earrings and a necklace that she had on hold she kept those with her. I found a cute necklace that is going to go really well with one I already bought from there. I also found just a plain silver chain that I can put a pendant on.
I also picked up this Christmas ornament because it was 50 cents and I thought it was cool.
I had a little bit of time after I left Hannah so I decided to go the the big thrift store near our house. I was looking for drip plates for my plants. I found these 2 that were a dollar each.
I love little iron statues. There wasn’t a price on this one, but the guy checking me out gave it to me for a dollar.
This plate was perfect for my little snake plant. Also a dollar.
I found this round mat in a random bin and thought it would be perfect under the fish. It’s actually supposed to hang on the wall because there is a hanger on it, but it works better for me like this.
I found a unique wall shelf. I have very little wall space, but I just loved it and since it was 3 dollars I decided to go ahead and buy it and figure it out when I got home. I didn’t like the white color so I spray painted it gold. I had to do a slight repair to the hanging mechanism, but after that I knew exactly where I would hang it.
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. Not only are you saving money, but you are creating your own unique space. For that I am grateful.
November 1st, the month of Thanksgiving. If you know me or have read here for a while, you know that Thanksgiving is my least favorite holiday. I don’t like the food and because of our jobs we have always had to work the day after. This year, however, I’m going to document what I’m grateful for everyday. I am hoping that by doing this I will be more of a Thanksgiving person. I still won’t like the food but that’s okay too.
Today Donny had off. This was only because he might not get another day off this week. We both tweaked out backs so it was a slower Sunday than normal, but the kids got off work and were home for dinner. I made tacos with homemade tortillas and refried beans. I don’t think we will every eat canned beans again.
Donny and I also got out for a walk with Penelope. The weather was absolutely perfect for a stroll. Penelope made happy chicken noises the whole way. I think she was sad that we didn’t get our walk in yesterday due to the rain and it being Halloween, so she was quite the happy hen today.
One of the best things was that I got all of the Halloween decorations packed up and put away. I just can’t have decorations out after the holiday is over. Christmas gets packed up the day after also. I wasn’t really feeling like doing it but i’m so happy I did.
It’s all nice and tidy back in the shed.
I got everything wiped down and the decor put back that had been packed away for the holiday.
I’m keeping my stereo, that normally goes on the sideboard, packed up until after Christmas. At least I think I will. It depends on how much I miss playing actual albums. Koda likes the extra lounging space.
This kitten is crazy and into everything. Good thing we love him.
Halloween just hits different when the kids are grown and out doing their own thing. I miss trick or treating with them. I used to love holding their little hands, watching them knock on doors and how excited they would be to get candy. Hannah is very happy that today is Halloween because it means the last night of working the haunted house.
She has had so much fun on the scare crew, but it’s a very physical job and they work Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays plus she is working her full time job.
Donny and I decided to surprise her a couple of Fridays ago. I hadn’t been to a haunted house in I don’t remember when. There are actually 2 houses on the property, Doc Wilkes and Ringmaster Madness. Hannah is in the latter and is the fortune teller. It’s really cool how interactive each room is. You never exactly know the way out of each room. Her exit is actually behind a bookcase. I wish I could have taken pictures inside, but it’s dark and they ask you not to. She did such a great job and I’m so proud that she stepped out of her comfort zone and auditioned to work there.
A scary movie is always playing.
Apart from the very drunk lady behind us in the ticket line, who groped Donny, it was a fun time. Lots of jump scares and dark passageways. I’m so glad we were able to go.
Hannah got to wear her costume to work today which made it not as rushed to get to the haunted house on time.
Being kidless for the evening didn’t mean we weren’t going to celebrate, even if it was just a little bit. I had forgotten about the pumpkin wall until the other day when I accidentally drove by it. We saw it the first year we lived here and since then the decorations have gotten bigger and bigger. I hopped out of the car to take pictures with all of the parents WITH their kids. I’m still a kid at heart if that counts.
I am so glad that Donny and I remembered about this place.
Our decorations were not quite as elaborate. LOL
We tried.
I tend to do much more inside.
I’ve always loved Halloween for as long as I can remember. Donny knows this and he also knows that I love weird things. He was getting his hair cut yesterday when he heard the manager tell one of the stylist that she was going to throw these away. Donny asked if he could have them so I am a proud owner of 6.
Olivia wanted one and each of the kids did too. I’m planning on making planters out of the ones left. Weird but fun.
And that is our Halloween. Now to settle in and watch a scary movie. BOO!
There is just something about Fall when the weather cools off and it’s not 100 degrees outside. We live in Texas so 85 degrees is definitely cooler. Plus it’s been in the high 50’s and 60’s in the mornings. I have a cooler weather to do list that I have to put off until the weather is bearable. The top item is the shed. Somehow during the summer it always seems to get so messy. I think we’re just so hot that we end up just throwing stuff in and now really caring where it lands.
There are two sections to the shed, the left side and right side. The left is where all of our totes that hold holiday decorations, out of season clothes, etc. When I went to get our Halloween decorations out I knew I couldn’t leave that side like it was. Messes get to me even if I don’t see them everyday, I still know that they are there.
It was so bad and dangerous if you had to get something out that wasn’t right in front.
I still need to go through every tote and purge what we don’t want, but that can wait until it truly stays cool. The area is so much better and I am going to try hard not to mess it up.
On that day I was beat and didn’t even touch the right side. When I cleaned out the rental house I brought home a black shelf and lots of crates that were left behind. I have always stored my canned paints and acrylics in the laundry room. My spray paint was stored on a shelf on the patio and the overflow in the laundry room. With Jackson having even more art supplies with his sculpting class I was so ready to move everything to one designated spot. I wish I would have taken a before picture, but I was in the zone to get this project completed.
Because we still need to replace several of the board sheets but aren’t ready to do that right now, I cut foam insulation to fit between the studs where there were holes. It’s so nice to have everything in one place now.
I couldn’t just stop with the shed because the deck box we have on the patio was a mess and barely closing. I pulled out so much charcoal and smoker wood and because we got rid of our grill, I found a family down the street that had a charcoal grill and gave it all to them.
So much better.
As far as my pumpkin growing is going I somehow don’t think I’ll have one by Halloween. Maybe by Valentines day.
We still have watermelon growing so maybe I’ll just paint one of these orange and call it a day.
Penelope got a new ride yesterday. She loves her walks in her chicken carrier, but she doesn’t like her feet to hang so I end up one armed carrying her. We go on 45 minute daily walks so it was a lot. We tried this baby out yesterday and she really enjoyed it. She was able to look around so much easier than when I am holding her.
Who knew a baby stroller would actually work?
Penelope sits in her camp chair during the day. In fact, we are both outside enjoying the weather right now. Whenever her tote is empty Koda takes advantage.
A while back I had mentioned that I wanted to turn the corner where our sad fire pit sat into something more special. We had the saucer swing which had always been hard to sit in and when it ripped I fixed it with duct tape. The whole project stalled because I just didn’t know exactly what I wanted. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I do believe that sometimes a person can actually speak things into existence.
So here is where this whole project started. Donny and I went to an estate sale our on Gladewater Lake. It was the second day of the sale and I was sure that the item I was wanting would be long gone by the time we got there. I didn’t tell Donny that we were going so I could buy this item. The house was gorgeous and it was owned by a plastic surgeon. He must have traveled extensively because even the things that were left on the second day were pretty amazing. There were two lounge chairs from the Queen Mary that were unfortunately $225 each. That wasn’t what I came for though.
How awesome would it be to have this as your backyard? Anyway, as soon as I walked up the path to the sale I saw it. I told Donny that I wanted to get and he said let’s look around. Uh, you don’t know it but this is what I came for. When Donny walked into the house I told the man working outside that we were going to buy it. It was $30 but since it was the second day I got it for $24 and change.
The paint was chipping in places, but it was sturdy. I was starting to get the vision for my corner. I definitely couldn’t keep it white. Nope, nope, nope. I wanted this corner to be fun and colorful.
I chose Icy Grape Krylon spray paint. One piece of the puzzle was complete. Now to figure out the rest. Because I wholeheartedly believe that if I wait a bit, items will find me. That’s exactly what happened.
When one of Donny’s salespeople needed a house we referred them to our landlords. A house became available on the next street over from us. Donny told the person that we have a very good relationship with the landlords and to please keep the house up since we vouched for her and her husband. Well, after a year they were moving back to the state they were from. The day the moving van left I went over there and looked though the front door window. It was trashed!!! Donny and I had already discussed that if this happened we would clean it out for free. I contacted the landlord and told her our plan. She felt bad not paying me, but there is no way I’d take any money since we were the ones that referred her. She told me that if there was anything I wanted to just take it. There were 2 things I found that I definitely wanted. A small patio set and two wooden boxes. The corner was not coming together.
Of course I couldn’t leave them bare wood. It took at least two coats on every side, but I think they are so cheerful. I keep a supply of oops paint so this project was cheap. I didn’t know if I was going to use them as planters or what, but I knew I’d figure it out.
Last Thursday Donny saw an estate sale and asked me if I wanted to go. I had already checked the sales on the website and didn’t really see anything that caught my eye, but I never say no to any estate sale. When we walked into the garage I saw this.
It’s 6ft tall and was turquoise. I asked it it had already been sold and they told me no. I looked all over it for a price tag but couldn’t find it. One of the workers told me they’d take $15 for it. Sold! When we went to pay for it Donny didn’t have his wallet and my purse was in the car. I ran back out to get it and when I was walking back in I saw this in a flower pot. I pulled it out, brought it in, and asked if it was for sale. I got it for $8 and the only reason I found it was because Donny, who never leaves his wallet at home, did this time. It was meant to be. I went over it with a light coat of the icy grape and now it looks iridescent.
It was also turquoise so I painted it the color scheme I was using.
I spent all day yesterday working on the corner. I think it is turned out exactly as I pictured. I’m still not completely finished but here’s what I have so far.
I had to dig down 12″ to place the spinner. I also got the peacock from the rent house.
The wood 4x4s that we had around the fire pit were rotten. I picked up edging and pebbles to fix it up.
I painted the edging and spray painted the pebbles.
This is the little set I got from the rent house.
I still have some painting to do like this walk way, the chair and the blocks under the wooden boxes. I stacked the boxes because I figured we could use the top as a buffet when we do s’mores or hotdogs. I painted some wooden poles that I’m going to string our solar lights on. I just have to dig down about 6 inches for each one and I am so sore today from hauling everything out there and also carrying the edging and bags of pebbles. I am super happy with how it’s turning out. I just love a good place to hang out and read or just chill. I never thought I’d get this done. Ever. LOL
Sometimes I feel as though we have a small zoo. I feed 3 young skunks. They have gotten so used to me that they just walk right by me and I can walk around them without them running away. We started seeing them when they were very young. Standing with their front feet in the bowl was a normal occurrence.
They are getting so big.
Mr. Whiskers, who at one point looked like he was near death, is doing so well. His coat has filled out. There are no wounds on him. He eats at least 2 soft scrambled eggs a day cooked in coconut oil. In fact, he’s eating one right now.
He now allows me to let him sit on my lap, but he still refuses to come inside. On my walk the other evening I happened upon an almost new two story cat house for outside cats. I knew the people that left it on the curb, but when I knocked on their door they weren’t home so I dragged it up their driveway and went and got the car. This will ease my worry a bit about when it gets cold. I don’t know if they will use it or not, but it will be there for whoever will. I’m going to put it on pavers and make it a little more homey.
Every morning I wake up, start the coffee and then go outside to feed and water the cats. I heard this strange meow coming from behind the potting table. I thought it was Mr. Whiskers and that he had been in a fight and was hiding. I called Donny outside to help me find him. Nope, not Mr. Whiskers.
Meet Koda (if you are familiar with the movie Fern Gully, he is named after Batty Koda. Just look at those ears) I took him to the vet and he is 5 weeks old and weighs 1 pound 5 ounces. Well, last week he did anyway. Donny was not happy with our find, but who can resist that face. He loves Donny.
Ruthie was not thrilled with the kitten. He is pretty crazy and loves to try to wrestle with her. She slowly warming up to him.
We still have Milo, Malley and Monkey. Monkey will come inside when it gets cold. Her decision not ours. She is a very stubborn little cat.
As far as an update on Penelope our house chicken. There have been a few changes. I got this thing our.
She is very happy with her window.
I also ordered her this wonderful creation from the Tiktok shop.
I take her on a walk every day. She absolutely loves it. Her favorite place is the walking trail.
I spend a lot of time outside and so does Penelope. She even has her own chair.
I also bring it inside so she doesn’t have to be in her cage all of the time. I thinks she’s living a pretty good life.
So that’s our little gang minus the 7 chickens in the backyard. I do love animals.
p.s.
I haven’t been writing lately because my WordPress is still messed up. I’ve been working with the help center and we think we have it somewhat fixed. Thank Goodness
Donny lost 2 salespeople which means his store is very understaffed. This means that he only gets one day off a week. Yesterday was that day. We knew that it was going to rain sometime in the late afternoon. I had seen two estate sales put on by our favorite company so we decided that would be something fun to do. I hadn’t even looked at the pictures on the website so I had no idea what was even for sale.
The first sale was in a very nice neighborhood. This was the second day of the sale so we didn’t know if there would even be anything left. People here are serious about shopping estate sales. We were told by a few of the people working it that it was so crowded you could barely get through the house. No thanks, I’ll just look at the leftovers on the second day. There was still so much left. I spent $7.00 and this is what I bought.
All of the candles and the body butter were unused. The Winter Candy Apple is not a scent that I would ever buy full price, but it was only 2 bucks and I do like body butter. It will work fine on my legs after I shave. I loved both of the candle scents the smaller one is creme brulee and the Yankee Candle is Italian Christmas Biscotti. Both are going to be good for the cooler months. I am always needing tapers and votives. I had a trivet for over 10 years. It got broken and I just got the first one I found at the thrift store. It had fruit all over it and wasn’t really my taste. I love the fish trivet. It goes so much better with everything that I have in my kitchen. The necklace is for Hannah my goth child. It absolutely is her taste.
I also picked up this candle holder because I love the stained glass look. When we got home I put a candle in it and it glows so nicely.
My very favorite thing I found was just in a a random basket in the bathroom.
I follow a guy on Tiktok who talks about all of the fragrances from the 70s and 80s. He has mentioned Youth Dew several times. In high school my friends mother used to wear it and her whole bathroom smelled like it. When I opened this bottle and smelled it, it didn’t smell as powdery and old lady-ish as I remembered. It’s actually the bath oil and there was no price on it. When I took it up to pay they just charged me a dollar for it. When we got home I put some on to see how it interacted with my skin. For some reason scents that smell really good on other people don’t on me and vise versa. I was shocked how much I loved this scent. Even Donny said it smells good. I had to run up to Hannah’s work today and a woman who was in line said that she smelled incense and it smells so good. It was me. This Youth Dew smells just like a cinnamony incense. It reminds me of how the incense ball in the Catholic church that the priest waves around but spicier. Best deal of the day right there.
We drove the the second sale and it was pretty much empty. There was a red vintage hutch that Donny thought could go where our bakers rack is but after really looking at it, it was just going to be too bid for the space. It was so cool and would have given us more storage in the kitchen but I think opening the fridge is more important and I wouldn’t have been able to if we had purchased it. Donny was off looking at things in the house and I had walked into the backyard with these two women. They stopped to look at some plants that were growing. Turns out the were Thousand Mother plants so they told me to take some of the “babies” off of the edges because you can plant them and they will grow.
As soon as we got home I watched a YouTube video to see how to plant them. Hopefully they will take off.
By this time we were starving and the dark clouds were rolling in. We had both seen a review on a little taco shop that’s in a convenient store down the road from us. We could have eaten there, but we wanted to go ahead and get home. Donny got a pastor quesadilla and I got the pastor tacos.
Holy cow they were so good! I did try the hot sauce. All I did was lick the top and it burned my mouth so badly I had to chug milk. If you are ever in Longview you need to try the food at Tejas Mart. It will not disappoint.
Since we ate lunch so late we weren’t hungry for dinner. There was a nice steady rain falling. Donny was watching the football game and I had roasted tomatoes that I needed to make soup out of.
It’s still raining today and nothing hits better than tomato basil soup. I need to go have lunch and then work on my WordPress site on my laptop. I had to finish this post on my phone because I’m not able to scroll for some reason. Hopefully I can figure out what’s wrong. Ugh.
This year I decided that we should celebrate the Autumn Equinox. It’s the first day of Fall where day and night are equal. I thought that it would be a fun way to kick off the beginning of the holiday season. Unfortunately it is still hot here in Texas but we are getting slight reprieves in the morning and evening hours.
I knew that I wanted to have the dinner outside. I didn’t have any holiday decorations out yet so I ran to Hannah’s work and picked up a few things.
I am usually the use what you have kind of person, but the most expensive item was the owl and it was only $3.99. The candles were 50 cents to a dollar.
For the menu I wanted comfort food so I made chicken and dumplings (flat dumplings not the weird puffy ones), baked bread, made a salad and baked an apple pie. I also ran by Braum’s to pick up some vanilla ice cream in case anyone wanted it a la mode.
I didn’t take any pictures of the food but it was all so good. We had a small group, just our family and Olivia but it was so fun eating outside and not sweating to death.
We will definitely be keeping this as a tradition.
The family loves Dr. Teal’s body wash and we normally use the Lemon. During the holiday they have limited edition scents. I decided to try the Snowy Night body wash and it smells heavenly. So heavenly that I actually went to the Dr. Teal’s website to see if they were going to bring out the lotion. No luck, just the bath salts and I don’t like baths.
I am almost halfway through the shampoo and conditioner I got at the Refillery. I absolutely love them. I don’t wash my hair everyday. With these products I can go 4 or more days without my hair feeling oily, dirty or gross.
I put the sticker on the shampoo bottle so I’d know which was which. I found the website where you can order both in bulk.
I haven’t ordered it yet because I think I want to continue getting it from the small business that’s downtown. But, if you are looking for a good shampoo and conditioner this is the one to try.
A while ago I bought this heat brush at the thrift store for a dollar. It was brand new. I forget I had it and wanted to wear my hair straighter than I normally do. I’m not a huge fan of my straighter because I feel like it could burn my hair. I didn’t know how the brush would actually work but I gave it a try and I really liked the results.
I did crank the heat up, but it doesn’t really touch your hair like a straightener does.
Straightened:
I still think I prefer it air dried, but it’s fun to change it up once in a while.
One more product that I had forgotten how much I love. It’s the Petco cat litter that you scoop yourself. Petco was out forever during the lockdown so I genuinely forgot about this litter. You just buy a full one and then bring the container back to refill. I think the first buy is about 20 bucks and then its about 17 every time it’s refilled. The container holds 30 lbs so it’s a really good deal and the litter itself I awesome.
Remember the sun wall hanging and the cherub vase thingy I got not too long ago at the thrift store? The sun was just sitting on the counter and I couldn’t decide where to hang it since I am literally running out of wall space. The cherub holder was an awful gray color and you couldn’t even really see the cherubs at all. Well, I painted it terra cotta and hung the sun up beside it.
It’s in our bedroom where I do my makeup and store my jewelry.
One of the pumpkin patches has flowers. Fingers crossed I actually get a pumpkin by Halloween.
P.S.
If you read here and saw that we had an astronomical electric bill, Donny called the electric company to find out what in the world was going on. Well, it turns out he completely forgot to pay it. They said they thought it was strange because he always pays it on the same date every month. Good think it didn’t get cut off.
