Honoring Jean...

Who's Jean? I really don't know. What I do know is; she lived on my street, raised in my neighborhood, fell in love with a guy named Wellman in the 50's, married him... lost a child and lived all alone for quiet sometime after she had lost her beloved Wellman. 

Autumn and I went to her estate sale today. Broke my heart that her wedding album and many of her photo albums were for sale for $4 each. No family left to care that these precious memories of this lovely lady were being sold to strangers... I quickly grabbed up her wedding album and her vacation album. Autumn purchased a few others. With taking care of my mom right now this really touched me and felt that I just had to buy these albums.  We love these photos, and somehow feel connected with Jean. I will treasure your memories Jean and honor your life.  Somehow, I hope you'll be happy with Autumn and I as the keeper of your memories.

Wedding snapshots...

She saved Wellman's boutonniere, small snips of her wedding gown fabric and lace, a couple of honeymoon souvenirs and the first mail addressed to her as a married lady. She was happy as could be and madly in love.  

Keepsakes, a written account of how they met and and their courtship.

He had asked her to "go steady" on the Capital lawn.

Wonderful summer vacation photos...

a mousey dish that belonged to Jean.  I also picked up some other goodies.

although summer is not officially here, I decide to decorate the mantle with a summer vacation theme and honor Jean with a garland of my favorite vacation snapshots from her album.



Thrifty Weekend

Estate sale finds... $21 for all

Chinese checker board... I love the colors and design. $1

I couldn't resist this highchair and rattle for $5! 

 I'll be looking for a better replacement tray for it, it has a crack that someone has repaired.

But it's very sturdy and cute as heck!  

Pennants from around the country for Noah's room, fifty cents each.

These sweet butterfly flags... I made them into a garland. $1

Also found a wicker purse, an old music sheet book (for crafting)

a drink glass with

Revolutionary War graphics for Noah and a silver and red sugar canister. 

On the last day of estate sales the prices are half off.

If it's not too picked over from the first day you can find some great deals. ~

Couponing at Walgreens and Rite Aid... all of this for $41.  Favorite deals: 25cent toothpaste,  

Pantene shampoo and conditioner for $2 a bottle, cereal $1.08 a box:)

My mom showed Autumn and me how to make crepe paper flowers with the $2 box of stuff from the last estate sale. Such a sweet time spent with three generations of girls... my mom learned how to make the flowers as a young girl from my grandmother. So really it seemed as if Grandma Phoebe was right there with us. 

Mom update: she has good days and bad days. We just never know. Seems the past couple of weeks she's been on the decline. We just take it one day at a time.

~~~

How was your thrifty weekend?



Smitten with...

 my Noah... he's just a cutie:)

with the eight baby bunnies in my strawberry patch...

with my garden...

mama bunny helped herself to some lettuce last night...

Getting a fence!

Remember these mittens I am so smitten with?

One of my dearest and talented friends made me a pair!

Lovely surprises in the mail:)

Can't wait for winter!

Smitten with my estate sale $2 box of vintage crepe paper/flower making stuff,  full of goodies...

with this very old envelope inside my $2 box...

and inside the envelope 3 prefect condition Aunt Jemima rag dolls.

Noah is smitten with his rocker chair that I also bought at the estate sale.

He loves to sit in it when he reads.

Smitten with my Mother's day gifts from Autumn:)

Cute owl pillow!

mama squirrel with her three precious ones...

sweet little carnations, my favorite flowers...

a 1930's photo of the Dionne quints from Canada, (my mom is related to them.)

The one wearing the necklace is named Annette.

and my new Kindle from the boys:)

Reading: The Scarlet Letter... again.

~~~

Hope everyone had a wonderful Mother's Day.

We went for a long walk along the river and had Chinese take-out for dinner:)

Such a nice day!

Thrifty Treasures...

Autumn and I hit a few thrift shops the other day. It's been so long since I've been treasure hunting! Here are my thrifty finds:

Some strange and wonderful books for Noah, 1970's. Cost: 50 cents each.

They came from a school library somewhere here in Michigan.

Sweet bird and fauna prints, by James Gordon Irwing 1950. Cost: $6 each

The cutest darn cheese plate ever!

The mama mouse, baby and cheese are made as part of the plate

(all one piece.)

Autumn guesses from about the 50's or so. cost: 99 cents.

She's so jealous of my cheese plate!

Autumn came home with some vintage clothing for her etsy shop and a huge tote bag.

Here was my living room floor just before we left.

Noah left his rock collection on the floor so Harpo decided to study a bit. I swear, we homeschooler's must have the smartest cats on the planet!

My new/old tin toys...

found at an estate sale that Autumn and I went to last week.

Not sure if they are vintage or reproductions, either way I like them... they make me smile!

Motorcycle man with his sidecar baby... wind him up and he goes!

I love this carousel! Fair goers in little rockets and canoes.

A little electrical tape and I fixed it.

Pull the lever back and weeee!!!!!

Amazing how entertaining this is to us. Simple fun!

Yay for Coupons!

I signed up for online coupons at the Kroger's main website a few months ago. They've sent me a few coupons in the mail over the past few months also. Like $2 off coffee and such. Nice deals. Today in the mail I received all of these coupons for stuff I actually buy at Krogers.
They must keep track of my spending by my Kroger's card (which is a little creepy, but hey whatever.) Really... coupons for what you buy the most, brilliant!
There are coupons for free items; eggs, cereal, lettuce and franks. I love my coupons and Kroger! Okay, I'm off to shop now, just wanted to share this with you in case you're a Kroger's customer too.

Thrifty find and drying hydrangeas

I found this handmade little shelf at a yard sale yesterday. A prefect home for my salt and pepper shakers! $2

I caught Noah's image in the toaster shaker.

The only thing that's growing well in my garden this year are the hydrangeas. I wait until later summer when the blooms have turned from white to chartreuse and have a vintage look to them. Then I cut them, strip off the leaves and place them in a small amount of water that I let run out. I'll have dried hydrangeas for the rest of the year. A house down the street has the most beautiful blue/purple/pink hydrangea bush that I drool over every time I walk pass. Maybe some day my scissors should take a walk with me... hehehe... no, I wouldn't really do that.

Vintage Goodies...

Autumn went to an estate sale the other day. They had posted many photos of the items for sale online. She went extra early to get an entrance number. She was number 18. I had told her of a few things to grab for me if she could. I got two of the three things I wanted... not too bad. We also talked on the phone while she was there. I was telling her "look for this, look for that."

My wonderful scores:)

A BIG rooster Carnival Chalkware Prize. $10

Autumn was told the man who lived there actually won this at a carnival in 1932.

A vintage Dapol yellow chef napkin holder.$4

It's in good shape, usually the facial features are worn off.

I missed out on the plastic yellow cat salt and pepper shakers... dang!
But she surprised me with a cute trio of squirrels... yeah!

Autumn found some stuff for her Etsy shop. Some super cute owl patio lights.

Also for her pin-up photos some of those tulle under skirts...

there's a name for those things... it just escapes me.

Oh yes, crinolines... that's it.

I caught a squirrel...

Not really, but I did catch some great finds...

I found this cute little "bird/squirrel" cage at Michaels yesterday for $2.50!

Also found some sweet pink glass candle jars for super cheap. It's hard to see the colors cause of the lighting, but I put pink stuff on my mantel... I'm into pink and robins egg blue lately. It makes me happy:)

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I cleaned and rearranged the kitchen a bit. It gets out of hand so easily. I put some of my antiques on the counter for a nice display. I like how it turned out.

I also gave the white mini blinds a shower. They were so gross!!! Now I'm thinking all the mini blinds in the house could use a shower along with three cats I know... (not at the same time though.) it can wait for another lazy summer day I suppose.

Kitty got a new bow!