weekend chat

 Hi everyone ~ what are your plans for this weekend? I started my day off with an

early morning yoga class and a couple of errands. Tonight is mine and Brian's usual

Friday night date night. We're going out to dinner, but don't know where yet.

 We want to try something new instead of sticking with the usual mexican restaurant

 we frequent. Tomorrow I was going to see the movie, August: Osage County with

a friend, but now we're under another winter storm warning. They're saying that

we're to get 6-10" of snow. Waah! We still have a lot left on the ground from all

the previous snowfalls. It's already piled up around my little front porch. Brian

has to work tomorrow, so I always worry about him driving home in a snowstorm.

  

 And then how about the Super Bowl? Are you going to watch it?

Brian's a football fan, but I'm not. So I'll make up some yummy snacks and

I'll sit in front of the TV with Brian, but I'll be on my laptop or reading instead

of watching the game. I love the commercials though, and am looking forward

to the halftime show: Bruno Mars and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Speaking of Superbowl snacks, one that I'm making is Ree Drummond's 

(AKA, The Pioneer Woman) Black-Eyed Pea Dip. I've made it before and

it's delicious. I'm also making tortilla roll-ups with cream cheese, green chilies,

a little salsa, shredded cheese, and Mexican seasonings.

(source)

 What are your weekend plans? Hopefully, they don't involve snow.

monday morning chat

 Good Monday morning, my friends. I hope you all had a good weekend.

After three days of being out and about and socializing, I am so ready to

just stay at home today and nest. My day will be full - I have a lot to do

here at home today - but my heart will be full, as well. I love getting together

 with friends or family members, but with being an introvert, socializing tires

me out and I crave and need my alone time to recharge.

 On Friday, a friend came over for lunch - I made a delicious pureed butternut 

squash-pumpkin soup and she brought over salad fixings. Then we went

for a long walk (about 4-5 miles) in the State Park. It was a gloomy day,

but the colors were still wonderful.

 I can't believe how fast the leaves are falling from the trees now.

You know how I've showed you photos of that gorgeous red Maple

tree across the street from me? Totally bare already. Totally 

depressing. Let's not even talk about the time change and how it

now gets dark at 4:30.

 Saturday morning, I met with another friend for breakfast at Panera,

then got my hair cut. Instead of just the normal trim, she did the stacked

wedge cut in back. Since I have fine, wavy hair, I'm really liking all these

layers! The gray is really peeking back, but I always let it go as long as

possible since getting your hair colored (even at a "cheap" salon) is quite

expensive. And no, I can't do it myself. I am terrible with anything to do

with my hair - and she uses a couple of different colors in my hair - 

something I would have no idea how to do. But, it helps to speak up.

I told her why I wasn't getting my hair colored just yet. That I simply didn't

have the extra funds. She whispered to me that she would do it out of

her home for me for a very reasonable fee! 

Brian and I had a really nice date night on Saturday evening. We

went to see "Last Vegas" (matinee - so it was a reasonable price to see

a movie). We haven't seen a movie at the theater in at least a couple of

years. Just something we normally don't do. The movie was hilarious! Brian

is more of a quiet, serious person, so to see him laugh so much and so 

hard did my heart a lot of good. Afterwards, we had a bite to eat at a place

called Freddie's Roadhouse. It's one of those restaurants/bars with casual

ambiance - shiny, worn wooden floors, the higher wooden tables with

tall chairs, the place cozily lit, fireplace going, bar in the middle of the place

with an open food grill in back. Much later at night, the place would be

packed with young people drinking and socializing, but if you get there

early like we did, there's only a handful of people there and it's relatively

quiet. I guess this place makes their money on booze, because their food

is very reasonably priced. We shared a few appetizers and talked and 

laughed. It really did feel like a "date" with my husband of over 29 years!

I was up early and out again on Sunday morning. This time, meeting

two former coworker-friends at another coffee place. On the way home,

I noticed a sign in front of a nearby house announcing a moving sale

and that everything was 50% off. I wasn't going to stop - at first I figured

they wouldn't have anything left. But then something told me to turn around

and go back. Couldn't hurt to at least go look, right? I'm glad I did, as I not

only found a few treasures, but had some lovely conversation with the two

ladies that were running the sale. Turns out their elderly mother had lived

there. She was 92, had alzheimer's disease, and recently passed away.

I promised these ladies that the things I bought would be used, taken care

of, and cherished. Like this gorgeous lamp shade. Problem is - it doesn't

fit the lamp that I had intended it for! I will keep this in my basement until

I find a lamp at a resale shop - or I will see if my mom can use this.

Embroidered pillowcases that are currently in the wash. I will

iron them later.

A trio of vintage pictures...

A pair of valances...was hoping one would look good in my bathroom, but

it doesn't. I will see if any of my friends or family can use them. If not, they

 get donated. They were only 50 cents for the pair!

Small wicker chest being used on my buffet...

 Lastly, this beautiful vintage butterfly pin. (The gold car pin with the two

cats in it is from a vintage resale shop that Brian and I happened upon when

we were in St. Joseph, Michigan in September.) The ladies at the sale only

charged me $8.25 for all of these items. I was taken aback at how little

money they wanted for all these things...I asked her to repeat the price! I

gave her $10 and told her to keep the change. Am I too nice sometimes?

Perhaps. But I also believe that you get back what you give. What goes

around comes around. Nothing wrong with spreading a little kindness.

thrifty business and exciting friday night

Are any of you familiar with the scrapbooking store, Archivers? There were

quite a few of them here in Illinois, but recently several branches have closed.

One near me is closing on Sunday and everything in the store is now 40% off.

So, I headed up there today and along the way, I stopped at a Goodwill store

that I'd only been in once before. And it so happened that Goodwill was running

a special today where your total order was 20% off! 

When I was taking photos of my thrifty treasures today, I realized I never showed

you a couple of previous finds. Up first is this autumn glass. I actually have two of 

them. Found at a little shop in town. They look so pretty sitting on my kitchen table.

Last week when I was thrifting with Penny and showed you all the lovely

gold items I found, I forgot to show you this cool art piece. I wanted

another black and white picture for the floating wall ledges in the downstairs

family room, and since Brian really likes trains, this was perfect. The artist

is Russell Steel, an American artist who passed away in 2010. Most of his

works were of trains and train stations. He was listed in "Who's Who in

American Art."

 Today's finds included this white pitcher...I don't think it's Ironstone because it's

not marked on the bottom. It's a rather large piece and will be perfect grouped

with all my other white pitchers or even used on the kitchen table as a vase

in the summer.

I adore the color and pattern (retro!) of this coffee cup and saucer. I picked up

 two sets of these for $3! No markings on the bottom of these pieces either.

Cute little squirrel plaque...I think I'll distress the edges of the wood with

some sandpaper.

More gold for my living room! This picture frame just needs some cleaning up.

This book's colorful and unique cover caught my eye...

And when I flipped through it, was thrilled to find beautiful words and 

more cool art work.

 

I love this European cardigan...I believe from the language on the care tag,

 that it's from Poland. I also got a dark gray Geoffrey Beene dress shirt for 

Brian. Both pieces of clothing - $3.99 each!

 Brian and I were going to have dinner at our usual little mexican place

tonight for our Friday night date night and then look for some much-needed

gym shoes for me, but after being out in public for several hours, I was sick

of the noise (loud people, screaming kids, blaring music) and traffic and just

wanted to stay home. Brian agreed - he was very tired from work. So we 

stayed in and ordered a pizza and had a glass of wine. We were then watching

Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives and both fell sound asleep at 7:30! The warning

sound on my cell phone from it needing recharging was what woke me up.

I hadn't slept well last night...had gone to bed at midnight and then was wide

awake at 4:00 a.m. I didn't go back to bed until 6:30 and then slept another

couple of hours. That happens to me quite often these days, where I sleep

in shifts. I think of lot of it has to do with good ol' peri-menopausal hormones.

Linking up with The Thrifty Groove ~ a new-to-me blog that I'll be checking

out this weekend.