Best yard sale find

and the winner is...

A BIG GREEN EGG for $29.95 (isn't $29.95 a strange yard sale price?)! This small "Big Green Egg" was sitting at a yard sale with a post it proclaiming it's price. It was a Fri/Sat yard sale and I was there on Sat so I am shocked that no one else had snatched this little puppy up. Now, if you don't know why I am making such a big deal about this find you need to look it up here. Also, let me just tell you, this egg is a $200 to $300 smoker! Mine came with the cover and my hubs contacted the Big Green Egg mfg and they sent us a book for free!

I have made some pretty bad yard sale purchases over the years but as we were eating some delicious salmon that we had just cooked on the BGE my hubs told me this makes up for all of them!

My Sweet Girl's room

edited to add:

Victoria had to work today, so I'm linking to this older post for Rhoda's favorite thrifty find party. I know that the darling pink bed in her daughter's room is one of her favorite finds ever, along with this.
Since we share this blog, here is a link to one of my favorite finds. I paid only $5.00 for the painting and it is a favorite around here. Make sure you go and join the party.

I took pictures of Sweet Girl's room yesterday. Her room is one of my favorite in the house because it's just so precious. Before she was born I had a hard time with all the crib bedding out there so I went with the Shabby Chic line of regular bedding from Target and had my talented sister Beth make a bumper pad out of a twin size quilt. I used a twin bedskirt on the crib by pinning it into place. After that I looked for the bedding to go on sale and picked up a duvet cover, sheets, etc on clearance for when she would transition to a big girl bed. I am in desperate need of some pink throw pillows to tie everything together, in fact Target has this pillow that I want to get to add to her bed.

Years ago (before sweet girl was even a thought) while shopping at an antique store with my MIL I came across this pink bed and decided I just had to have it for my guest room. Before we moved sweet girl to her big girl bed I was considering painting the bed but I just loved the pink distressed paint and the decorating queen (aka Christina) told me it would be fine left as is.

The dresser came from Lakewood for $110. I just loved the shape of the mirror and it was a great height for a 6'3" man to change diapers on the top when she was a baby. :)

The Decorating Queen made the lampshade seen in the corner, hubs rewired and painted the lamp (bought for cheap at the same antique store as the bed), MIL brought the tea cart over from her house to use as a night stand. The white eyelet curtains came from my sisters MIL.

I had to show the detail of the picture hanging on the wall. Beth cross-stitched this for me one Christmas when my Mother had us make each other gifts instead of buying something for one another.

I added the letters just this spring...bought the letters at Hobby Lobby and a pad of scrapbook paper on clearance at Target that had great papers that coordinated with Sweet Girl's room.

So there it is...the most precious room in my little house!

Crunchy Munchy

Photo Source: Creative Commons


How about a yogurt parfait layered with some crunchy goodness. We loved this recipe for homemade granola growing up and it still hits the spot.

Granola

3 cups uncooked oatmeal
1 cup untoasted wheat germ
1 cup unsweetened coconut
2 T. cinnamon
2 T. brown sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/3 cup canola oil
1 tsp. vanilla

Mix the first 5 ingredients together in an oven safe pan. (I use a jelly roll pan)
Combine honey, oil and vanilla and microwave for 30 seconds. Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until well coated. Spread out to bake.

Bake at 300 degrees for 30 min. stirring approx. every ten minutes. Cool completely.
Place in an air tight container.

We add raisins, dried cranberries or blueberries at the table.

Nuts and seeds are great too. Walnuts would be especially good but with ds's nut allergies, we stick with dried or fresh fruit.

Another great yard sale find!

Just last Friday I found a darling table & 4 chairs for $40 at a yard sale! They caught my eye because my friend has wanted a table that she can paint and I figured for $40 it was a steal. The chairs became my passion after I got them home. I kept looking at the lines and thinking how well they would go in my own dining room with a coat of black paint on them.

I am showing you a picture of the table out on my carport. One down side to all the yard sale shopping I have been doing is that, much to my husbands dismay, we are beginning to look like Sanford & Sons!!!!!

The Five Minute Mantel

Well, I only had about five minutes to work on a summer makeover for my winter mantel. The truth is that I procrastinated until hubby called and said he was on the way home from work. I'm not totally happy with it and it really doesn't look lighter, but here goes...



BTW, can you tell I'm not into symmetry? And it is so traditional! Although I have a good bit of traditional decor in my home, I am also contemporary too...this certainly doesn't show that at all.


edited to add:
I decided to try something else and think I like this better. What do you think?

Fall Mantel Needs Summer Makeover

This is my fall/winter mantel. I haven't changed it in that long. Just today it crossed my mind that we really have at least two more months of summer here, so I'm working on a lighter summer look. Come back tomorrow and hopefully it'll be ready. My walls are not green like they appear in the picture. I don't want green walls. Go away green walls. Sisters and dh---stop laughing. The walls are *not* green.

P.S. Am I the only one who has to get out the Windex and a dust cloth before I take pictures to post?

Happy 4th of July

Freedom is never free.

The Declaration of Independence
Listen to a reading here.






Hope you have a wonderful 4th.

How about a summer salad and a little Caviar

This week I made my dh a delicious salad using the olive oil and garlic method outlined in this video. Do watch the garlic if you are not used to it. Dh enjoyed it, but my daughter thought it was "spicy."

As a part of our Independence Day celebration our sister Beth will be making a Guacamole Salad that she saw on Barefoot Contessa this week.

edited to add: The Guacamole Salad was so delicious. It is sure to be a favorite from now on. We would love to hear from you if you try it.

Since we are good 'ole Georgia girls we include this recipe for Georgia Caviar. Great for a summer BBQ.

Georgia Caviar
1 pound dried black-eyed peas, cooked (I used canned) make sure you rinse and drain
2 cups chopped bell pepper (about 2 large)
1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
1 jar pimentos, drained 2 ounce
1/2 tsp. tsp. minced garlic
16 ounce jar of chopped jalapeno peppers
16 ounces zesty Italian dressing
Tortilla Chips

Mix all ingredients. Refrigerate overnight. Serve at room temperature with chips.
Makes approx. 7 cups
Georgia Cooking-Kathy Haynes

Happy Cooking!

In our last post, Victoria wrote about Dumpster Diving. I found this article on dumpster diving at the Blissfully Domestic blog interesting.