Reclutter

I've been trying to declutter my house, so today dh and I took a bunch of stuff to the local thrift store. And since we were there, of course we had to go in and look around! There was a little milk glass available, so I was able to add 2 more pieces to my little collection. I like the little pear plate, just have to figure out how to display it so you can see it! The other piece is a candle holder, so I'll have to find a pretty candle to go in it. The vase is actually for my sister; it matches a piece she already has. The cherry plate is also for my sister, as her kitchen is decorated with cherries. It is SO cute! She really has a flair for decorating. It was nice to find some things for her, since she is always finding things for me! I was really happy to see the flower plaque. It matches my bedroom perfectly! I'm thinking I might add some lace around the outside edge. We'll have to see how it looks. I also found another pair of clip-on earrings, which was really exciting! I would love to find a bunch of vintage jewelry, but most of the jewelry at this thrift store is 80's chic LOL You can't see the cupcake stand very well, but I was thrilled to find that too. Once again, copying my talented sister. She has one of these, and it is always decorated so cute! I found the 3-tiered shelf last month, but haven't shown it yet. I LOVE it. It still had the price tag from the store on it, for $37! I paid $3. Now I just have to figure out where to put it. It's not the most convenient shape LOL Dh calls it the "sleigh", so I'll be decorating it for Christmas at least!
So, declutter, reclutter :)

More shopping...

I managed to resist for 3 days, then I broke down. It never would have happened if I hadn't have HAD to go to the library. I got in the van, headed to the library, and it just automatically drove to the thrift store. Totally not my fault, right? :D


So I ended up with MORE milk glass. You should have seen dh's face when I got home LOL I got the little bowl, which is propped up on a book so you can see the pattern better, and a vase-looking bowl. Love them both. I also got a REALLY CUTE RED train case! I can't wait to get it cleaned up! Not sure if I'm going to try some fun decoupage, or just leave it as is. It even has the mirror and toiletries bag in it, and the inside is in perfect shape. I wish there had been 2, because my sister really loves it too. Guess I'll just have to keep looking for another one, means many more trips to the thrift store! I was happy about the flower frog too. I've wanted one of those for a while, but I'm too cheap to buy a new one. Of course, this one looks so cute in the package, that I don't know if I'll be able to use it anyway LOL I got a shelf for my living room wall too, but I'll show you that if I ever get it hung up :)


By the way, I checked out several Depression Glass books at the library. Gotta learn about my budding collection, right?

Shopping...

Saturday morning started nicely with a garage sale down the street. I actually DREAMED about this garage sale all night, because I had been told there would be some milk glass LOL So I headed over there, found the milk glass and decided it wasn't really what I was looking for. Of course, after spending the day online looking at milk glass prices, I wish I had bought it LOL But I came home with things I loved even more. The reason I spent the day looking at vintage glassware was to see if I could find more information on the pink glass compote. I couldn't find anything, so if anyone has any ideas about it, let me know! I also picked up the little vase (I suspect it might really be a toothbrush holder LOL) and the bowl. And a black metal shelf, just like the one I had hung up the night before in my bathroom! Except the bathroom shelf is cream, but the black one will look really nice downstairs. And then, I discovered the sweet little case, buried in a pile of things that hadn't been priced yet. I asked about it, and my nice neighbor lady let me have it for $3, including all the Fisher Price Little People stuff it was full of. I told her I didn't need the little people, but I ended up with them anyway. I'm glad though, as my mother-in-law has the matching house and circus train, so I'll be sending them to her.

After the garage sale, we took the kids to a get-together up the canyon at the Stokes Nature Center. It was a lot of fun, and the temperature and weather were perfect. We learned about different trees and plants, saw some fun birds, held snakes (yes, I really do like to hold snakes LOL), and had a nice picnic.

On the way home, dh turned to me and said, "How about a visit to the DI?" (the name of our local thrift store). Are you kidding me?!!! Of course I was more than happy to go! I managed to find a few things I had to have, including yet another black metal shelf! Now I'll have a matching pair downstairs. I was REALLY happy to find the little vintage bird pictures. I just about jumped up and down LOL I'm going to paint the rough wooden edges white. I was happy about the hobnail milk glass bowl too. I also picked up some craft books and a pair of, believe it or not, PURPLE Sketchers hiking boots. I'll be hiking in style now! LOL


Ahhh... I love thrifting.

Bluebird of Happiness

Last Tuesday (yeah, this is really outdated LOL) was a great day. First, after dropping Az off at preschool, E and C and I went birding around the valley for 3 hours. We saw 36 different species, 11 of which were new for the year! The new birds were: Common Loon, Western Grebe and Clark's Grebe, Double-crested Cormorant, Green-winged Teal, Greater Scaup (this one was exciting, because they aren't found in the valley very often), Red-breasted Merganser, Ruddy Duck, Golden Eagle, Mountain Bluebird, and Brewer's Blackbird. Luckily, I remembered to take dh's nice camera, so I even got some good pics! I took the pic of the Mountain Bluebird above. They were quite aways out in the field, so even with the telephoto lens, it was still hard to get a good close picture of them. The females are more of a soft brown, with tinges of blue, but the males are incredible! They are so blue that they're almost fluorescent. I love bluebirds, but Mountain Bluebirds are definitely the prettiest of the bunch! Bluebirds make you feel like all is right with the world when you see them. They just make me happy :)
The second great thing was after dropping E off at gymnastics, I was supposed to go spend a blissful 90 minutes at the library all by myself. On the way however, I got distracted by the antique shop. Just had to stop and see if there was anything I could afford LOL I've been seeing blue canning jars on other blogs, and I really, really wanted one, but had no idea if I'd be able to find one. Well, there were blue canning jars all over the place in that shop! This one, above, was actually in the best condition, and the lowest priced! So it came home with me. By the time I'd finished wandering around the shop, there wasn't time to go to the library, so I decided to stop by another nearby antique shop that I hadn't been in before. It was a nice shop, lots of great atmosphere, but 99% of the things were beyond my eensy weensy budget LOL I love the blue jar though, and I'm so very glad I found one I could afford.
The final treat of the day was a mom's night out at the Bluebird Restaurant (the above pic came off the web). This is such a great vintage restaurant. It was originally a soda fountain and candy store in downtown Logan (we have a wonderful Main Street, with lots of old restored buildings) that expanded into lunch and then dinner. The food's not bad, and you get quite a bit for your money, but it's really the atmosphere that makes it a fun place to eat. Oh, and the hand-dipped chocolates :) Had to bring home some dark chocolate melti mints, caramels, lemon creme and orange cremes. Mmmmmm...
And, finally, I snuck off to the library after dinner, and spent the last 30 minutes that they were open wishing I could check out more than 25 books LOL
It was truly a "bluebird of happiness" day!