Red Hot Firecracker Day...

I finished up my firecrackers today and I love them. I think they turned out HOT! This was taken after I sanded them and before I stained them. I just took my palm sander upside down and rolled the dowel rod over it and it worked great.

I put a few in the galvanized tin and a few in the painted black bowl. Two dowel rods made about 36 of them. I cut them at random lengths like Char suggested! Thanks Char so much for the tutorial. I so enjoyed making them! I might make more and fill an old jar with them!!

They look so cute with the fuse glue on! I'm ready for the fourth!!

Today I had a gentleman call me to see if I wanted an old typewriter his mother in law was selling. I really didn't have a use for it, but this little thing caught my eye. They had $15.00 OBO, so I offered $10.00 and they took it. Now what am I going to do with it you ask? It wasn't my idea, it was Ki's from Junkmarket! I saw in her magazine that someone used one of these to ice down can or bottled pop ! Great idea hu! Wish I had thought of it, taking off the lid and throwing a bag of ice in it and filling it up with drinks at my next cookout!! I love the little cabinet that comes with it. The cooker just lifts off! Isn't that cute, now if I had been thinking I would have downloaded the picture from the book so you ladies could see one in action. Sorry, I have been blogging for over 1 yr. now and I haven't even figured out how to download more than 5 pictures at a time. You know when you make a new post, there are only spaces for 5 photos, how do you get more??

Well my sister-in-law and her neighbor are having a tag sale in the morning and I went over tonight to shop early! I bought the refrigerator bottle from her neighbor for .50 and the little bowl for $1.00, the shaker box I got for .75. Ill paint it black of course!! Speaking of black! I'm almost done with my bathroom. My shower curtain arrived in the mail today. Beth had one in her new bathroom and she shared the website she got it from and I ordered on on Mon. It looks so good. I need to make a valance, I'm thinking about using a pitch fork for the rod. I don't know yet how I will pull that off. And I am juggling some ideas on my lighting. If I knew how to post more than 5 pics at a time, I could show you. Well Mike called earlier and their flight had been delayed due to bad weather. They were sitting on the plane expected to leave in 15 min. If they arrived on time to catch their next flight, they would only be 1 1/2 hrs. late. But if they miss the flight, they may have to sleep in Dallas Fort Worth. And no they did not pack carry on clothes as he did on the flight up there. It's now been 3 hrs. since I last spoke to him, I'm not sure what's going on yet. Well I'm off to tag sales again in the morning, wish me luck, it's suppose to be a beautiful day. Oh Mom went back out today and the goat was not in the fence!!!!And yes, she did lose sleep over it!

You know it's a great day...

when at the first stop you find this great old washtub!!!!! It's huge too. It had a hefty price of $18.00 but I instantly wanted it. I will probably hang it from my shop with all my other buckets.

I knew I would find some more galvanized, I could just feel it!! Alot of the booths at the fleas markets were 50% off. I got a couple of these washtubs for $2.50 or less. I need a few more for my backporch wall and I think I might find a place in my newly painted bathroom.

My mom and dads neighbor have moved to Nashville several yrs. ago and were back looking in on their rental house and had these old screens and sink in the garage. They said I could have them. The screens were way up in the rafters and had about 25 yrs of dirt on them that came raining down on us as we drug them down, but it was worth it. They are great looking!! The sink I'm not sure what I will do with yet. I have seen them used in gardens, heck I might even have the hubby build me a stand for it and use it out in the yard.

A lot of these treasures were on sale too. I loved the two little brushes. I will put those in my bathroom. I have a few shaving brushes to go along with them. The rolling pin will go in some of my old crocks. You can't see them very well but I bought two butter paddles. They were in a booth 1/2 off. Love the old jar and label and I will make another fly screen from the strainer. All in all it was a great day, we ate at Olive Garden , OH! and on the drive home we I guess you could say saved a goats life!! Not to far from home on the highway my mom said oh go back, that goat was hung up in the fence. We turned around, and I said oh by the time we get turned back it will probably have gotten its head pulled back through. Well we pull up and the poor little thing was just bawling for us to help him. We were going to wade across the ditch to push his head through, but the grass was 2 ft. high, probably filled with snakes. So we decided to go on up the road and look for the owners. The poor pitiful goat was just bawling so. We pull up to the farmer sitting on a stool out in his barn and told him the predicament the poor goat was in. He said the state came along and told him he would need to put up a smaller square in the fence then he had, and now the little goats stick their heads in the squares and can't get them back out! He said he would get on his 4-wheeler and go help the little creature out. Poor little guy had probably been standing out there on his hind legs all day trying to get his head out. We made the farmer promise he would go right out there and help him out. My mom prayed for him all the way home. She is probably laying awake right now wondering if that farmer went out there!! Mike and Taylor called tonight, they had just came up from the pool and were headed to their rooms to pack up for the returning flight home tomorrow night. they board the plane about 4:30 and head this way. They sounded so worn out. They both will probably sleep all weekend when they get home. Well there were a few tag sales in the paper in the morning so I had better get to bed. Have a great Friday!

A little preview of what I've done today...

Oh, I feel like I have gotten so much done in the past two day, plus I have posted like three of four times in a row! Here is a little sample of some of the finishes I have gotten done. I want to get my shower curtain and valance before I post some pics but here are a few corners. I have painted all i need to I think. The big towel cabinet was the easiest. It didn't have a shine finish, so I didn't need to degloss any of that. The mirror and light fixture seemed to take the longest.

I can't wait to start decorating. I will use most of what I had in there. Tomorrow Mom and I hit the thrift stores and flea markets so maybe I'll find some new treasures!

I just sprayed the shutters. That was the easiest I figured. than scuffed them up. Screwed them back to the wall

I have lots of enamelware to put in the bathroom!! Gotta love that enamel ware. I have a kink in by neck from wallering all over the floor painting and reaching high! Can you spell DEEP HEAT tonight! Taylor and Mike just called, today was their long day. Didn't get back to the motel till 10:30 they did a lot of walking today and saw a lot of sights. The weather was sunny and hot, tomorrow another chance of rain. Mike said his leg was hurting tonight, but he was ok. It sounds as if they are having a great time!!

Char over at The Pickled Pepper Patch had a fun looking tutorial on firecrackers made of dowel rods. I bought some today, used the big saw in the garage all by myself!! It was COOL! Cut those dowels and painted them up black tonight. Need to get some barn red, antique white and navy blue tomorrow and finish them up. I'll post pics when I'm done. I love checking off these projects one after another. It's great having the summer off!!!!!!!!!!

Landed Safely

Well Taylor called this morning and she and her dad have arrived safely in Washington DC! They were on their way to eat at McDonald's and then off to the National Zoo. It was Taylor's first flight. She said it was a little bumpy ,but fun. I hope they got a little sleep. They left here at 3:00 am on a chartered bus to arrive at the Tulsa airport. Then onto their flight to D.C. They won't even get to the motel until 9:30 tonight. Their scheduale is jam packed with things to do everyday while they are there. I know they will have fun, if you can have fun with 33- 14 yrs. olds.

This is my project for today. I actually started alittle yesterday with the washstand and doors. This morning I tackled the vanity,mirror and will probably start on the light fixture soon. I'm in between coats right now. Taking a break!

I think I'm going to love it. My mom called and asked what I was doing this morning and I said, painting my bathroom black. Well she thought I had gone crazy! No mom just the furnishings, not the walls. I ordered a back check shower curtain yesterday. I hope to have most of this done by the time they get back. Taylor and Mike both use this bathroom the most. Well I'll share more pics later, have a great day!

Memorial Day Tribute

May everyone have a blessed Memorial Day this morning. I have done some summer tweaking around the house the first few days of our summer break. I took all my white wicker to my moms front porch, she was thrilled with that, and I replaced it with some of my old metal chairs and stools. This is on my back screened in porch. I placed some old re, white and blue vintage books on the little red stool.

I have been enjoying my swinging bed on the porch also. My hubby built it for me late summer last yr. and it's been nice late at night. The other night we had a light rain come through and the sound luld me to sleep. That night he also locked the door for the night, not knowing I was out there!!

This is the wall leading into the kitchen. I painted the leaves on there a few yrs. back and had some bird houses and some ivy in a planter hanging near the door but I have such a weakness for enamelware I thought why not put some on the wall! I love old wire dish drains too~ Notice the table next to the porch swing. That enamel table will be going out in my shop someday. but for now it is a catch all for things I buy at tag sales and have no place for yet.

More enamelware with my favorite geraniums on the deck table. Nothing prettier of more summery for me that a red geranium!

My front porch. I think the red just pops. We have plans to redo this porch. We used porch flooring and want to go with a deck flooring and vinyl railing. Finding to the time to so that has been an issue. The hubby and daughter leave in the morning at 3:00 am for Washington DC on a school trip. 6 adults and 33 -14 yr olds!! Pray they have a safe trip! Well I have a few more pics to share tomorrow! Have a great holiday!

SUMMER FUN

It's officially our first day of summer break!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have made a list of things to get accomplished and have even started on it Yea! I got up this morning and have been busy every since. The sun is shining and the wash machine is humming. The floors have been swept and the dishes are done. I have plans to start painting the bathroom vanity next week when the hubby and daughter are in Washington DC. Gotta get back to the list. Have a great day!

It's been a busy week...

Wow, what a week. On the 7th my hubby was pushing his trailer back behind the garage and tore is Achilles heel tendon from his calf about 1/3 of the way. It's an inside tear. Of course, he worked the rest of the week, we cleaned up that tree mess on the weekend and on Monday when it wasn't any better he went to the doctor and had a MRI on Tues. and had a air boot on by Wed. Man Oh Man! What bad timing. He and our daughter are scheduled to leave on the 26th with 33 of her 8th grade classmates and 5 other adults on a trip to Washington DC for 4 days!! Yea, Lots of walking~ He has been good to use crutches and a walker with the boot. He has stayed off of it alot and is going back on Thurs. of next week to have the doctor take another look at it. He seems to think Mike can still go on the trip, with maybe another type of boot to be worn with a tennis shoe. UGGGGG! I'm praying he is healed up by then!!!! I celebrated my 45th birthday on the 14th. The hubby made me a coupon good for a split rail fence for when he is healed up. He made it out of sticks glued to an index card. I forgot to take a picture of that.

These are some of my tag sale goodies I found last weekend. The bowls I'm going to paint up. The wire cooling racks I thought I could do something with. Can never pass up cutting boards! And I thought the little picket was adorable. Paid 1 $ for that. This weekend is suppose to be beautiful. I hope to get up in the morning and hit a few more. Tonight I mowed. I love to mow. I have a huge industrial mower. Mowing is therapy for me!! We have about 3 acers to mow. We had our first parent meeting for the new next yr cheerleading season. Taylor made JV cheerleader for her freshman yr. in high school next yr. We met her new couch. She's really sweet! Taylor is excited. She did find out they have conditioning and practice at 5:30 am, yes that is am this summer. She is not a morning person. She says she will get up good, since it is something she wants to do, well see! No sleeping in for me though. It will be nice when she can drive!! Well I hope to post some great finds I will have tomorrow from the tag sales. Oh we took the kids in my school to the movie Hannah Montana today for the end of the yr. treat. K-2nd grade. A girl I grew up with living across the street was in it. She was the lady in blue who has her wig pulled off at the reception table. Jackie Thompson. She moved to Nashville where she perused a singing career and married a record producer there. She does extras in movies. Kind of exciting knowing someone on the big screen! Way to go Jackie! Have a great Saturday Ladies

Mother Nature at her best...

This is what we woke up to on Friday morning about 6am. Quit a little wind we got. I was letting Scooter out and the wind started whipping the tops of the trees and did it howl!! Now here in Kansas we are pretty used to these spring storms popping up but man this one was wicked. Lots of damage around town. But I here we were lucky compared to some smaller towns to the east of us.

We always have a neighborhood brush pile. We own about 3 acres and have a spot to dump down by the road.

This week the city will have tons to pick up. I'm so glad this limb didn't hit my favorite yellow glider. Our neighbors to the west had a tree uproot and land on their pool deck, crushing their deck railing and glass table. Barely missing the house and pool! But what a mess to clean up.

We had this whole tree uproot. It is so wet in this part of our yard we won't be mowing for months. We lost this tree and another that the whole top was gone so we cut the whole thing down. I hate to loose a tree. We worked until 9:00 cutting it up and hauling it to the road with the 4-wheeler and trailer. We were so sore this morning, we could hardly move. Have a great weekend. I hit a few tag sales this morning! Ill have pics to post later!!

A Makeover and a Surprise...

Just a quick makeover I did this weekend. I had posted this small stool in the past. The lid lifts for storage. I picked it up at a tag sale and I thought I could redo it sometime. This past weekend I got it back out and went to work. I painted it black, scuffed it up and redid the top cushion with a check.

Here it is! I thought it was cute. For now I left it in front of the fireplace.

This evening I got home from work and got the mail and in it I had a package from Natalie of Blue Cupboard Primitives!! I have ordered primitive labels from her off of eBay and was very very pleased with them. I would recommend you ladies stopping by her eBay store and picking some of them up. They are great quality and so prim looking!! Well today I received these in the mail from her. Wow! I couldn't believe it. She is so awesome. I am going to have to get her something in the mail!! I have used these labels on old jars, on buckets, boxes, just about anything! Thanks so much Natalie and Kenn! May much business come your way.

BLUE CUPBOARD PRIMITIVES!!

My Saturday Projects...

have just come along great! I was going to sleep in if it was raining and surprisingly it wasn't. I got up and ran to a couple tag sales and found a couple things. I came home and got busy with some small projects I have been wanting to finish! I tweaked a few spots in the house. This one is above the patio doors. I have been collecting so many old things lately and I needed to find a place for them. Mike had come home a while back with some car tags and an old street sign. I placed those on the shelf here.

I had posted this old tray awhile back. I thought long and hard if I should paint this. I loved the aged look it already had. I decided to paint it black and got about half way done and thought, oh I've made a mistake.

But I sanded the heck out of it and I think it looks fine. It just came to me after it dried to put one of my side table lamps in it. What do you think? I do need some little somethings in the tray along with the lamp, I'll find something.

This was my "buy of the day". Don't you always have a "buy of the day". The thing you think, oh that was worth getting up early for. This I guess is an old milk carrier. I pd. $1.00. I loved it the minute I saw it.

For now I put some of my collection of zinc lid jars in it. I need to put something in the jars though. Well I got alot of painting done today on some things I have bought with the intention of redoing. I'll save them for another post. The sun came out for about 20 min. today, but it was a total surprise!! It didn't get over 60 though today. Once I even turned the furnace on. It's May 2, come on!! I'm ready for hot weather again. All I've wanted to do it eat. Well I'm going to get caught up on my blog readings. I've got a few candle boards drying as we speak!

Junkin in the rain!

Boy, did it rain. I dropped Taylor off at school and headed to Joplin. It started raining before I left town. Rained pretty good for awhile. Then it started getting darker and darker and raining harder and harder. I had to pull over three times on my way to my favorite flea market it was storming so bad. I did find a few good things. I pd. $6.00 for this marshmallow tin. I thought it was a little high, but I've always wanted one and had never ran across one before. The cutting board behind it was $1.00. I snatched that right up. I love the shape of it. I put the tin above my fridge along with the rest of them!

I also found this great tote. I am painting it black and then I'll sand it. The rolling pin I pd $4.00 for. I have quite a few now. The strainer I bought for $1.00 to make a fly screen out of. I got it home clipped off the leg band. left the handles and in a matter of seconds I had another fly screen! I like it better than the one I made from the Walmart strainer.

These wooden wall boxes I got from Hobby Lobby at 30% off. I have painted one up tonight already. The little wooden bowl I bought at a Goodwill store for .50 and the big wooden plate I bought at Hobby Lobby also for 30% off. I think it was less then 4.00

The locker basket I pd $6.50 for. I had been looking at some from Mammy Mercantile for 6.50 plus tx. so I bought it. and the whisk broom was .50. I can't pass those up. Remember the whisk broom valance I have in my laundry rm? All in all I had a pretty good day. I went on home from there. The weather was all dark and stormy. I chicken out and headed home. Ran into it all over again on the drive home. Tomorrow it is suppose to rain all day. I'd love to get up and tag sale. there are a few listed. If its raining I'm sleeping in. ZZZZZZZZ! Please send Kansas some sun shine.

This is a memo board I bought at a tag sale a while back. It has a chalk board on one side and had a cork board on the other. But I want to put a sampler on the right side. But I'm having trouble chipping off the cardboard backing of the cork board. I got frustrated and I think I'll try again tomorrow. Well I have the whole day to myself again tomorrow. Mom and Dad are at a car show/cruise in and Talyor is at the sleepover at a motel with her cousin and Aunt Dana. Mike has to get up early and run a route tomorrow so I will piddle around here!!! Yea!