Metamorphosis Monday/Thrifty Monday Lamp

Earlier this summer I was on the boat, DH was driving the truck and we were headed to the Marina to go out on the water, when DH stopped the truck and pointed to the right. I looked, couldn't see anything, looked at him and he's frantically pointing to the right. I looked again, thinking he was pointing at the water, shook my head "yes", and shrugged. He finally (after we've done this little ditty 3 times, gets out and says, "Do you want that lamp sitting by the dumpster?" The dumpster was sitting right NEXT to the boat, and I was looking right over it the whole time......This blonde moment has been brought to you by the letter-duhhhh! Anyway, I said YES and he loaded it in the truck and off we went.

Now DH is SO good, that I didn't even get a chance to take a photo of it before he had it painted and in the house! So the metamorphosis was already performed and this is the result. Can't get more thrifty than a dumpster dive!

Thanks for stopping by to visit, I love having visitors! Come over with me to visit the others at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ and http://southernhospitalityblog.com/

Pink Saturday

I'm posting short and sweet this week, got lots to do. Enjoy your Pink Saturday, and remember to take time to smell the roses!

Join Beverly at the Pinkest Saturday you can imagine at her blog listed below.

http://howsweetthesound.typepad.com/my_weblog.com/

Roosters? Uh-oh. I can't find any.........

I've looked everywhere, and can't find any roosters. I checked the cupboards, shelves, inside, outside, closets. Oh wait! I think I might know where one is........be right back. I found TWO! I should have know that Grandma's Salt and Pepper collection would have at least one, and sure enough there they were! I'm kinda glad that's over, it was way too much thinking for my day off - Friday - etc., etc., etc.

Here they are!

Join the Rooster Party at Bella's at the below address. I'm AMAZED at how many roosters people have, especially since I don't have many. There are some gorgeous ones out there though.

http://barbsgoodlife.blogspot.com/

Foodie Friday - easy Kabobs!

I always soak the wooden skewers while I'm preparing all the ingredients for my Kabob's. They fit into a tall pitcher filled with water pretty well, but I do turn them over after about 1/2 hour. My DH is the grocery shopper in our family, and he has a tendency to bring home "odd" salad dressings out of the "cheap" section of the grocery store. I NEVER (99.9% of the time) like these, but I use them for marinate. One of my favorite things to do is to buy chicken breasts, put 2 in a zip lock bag, dump on whatever kind of dressing it is, seal and freeze. When you are ready to cook, thaw, and cook. The marinate has been doing its thing while in the freezer. BUT back to the kabob's!!!!

My "recipe" is pretty simple. I went to the meat market, and bought a 1 1/2" thick piece of turkey that normally people have slivered for sandwiches. I also got potatoes, onions, and green peppers. There are many other veggies that would be good, or even mushrooms, but DH wouldn't like them. Anyway, I cut the turkey in squares, then put it back in the frig. The potatoes and green peppers went into a ziplock bag (after being cut in pieces) with a combination of ranch dressing and Dorothy Lynch dressing mixed together, coated them well. I zipped the bag, leaving room for it to breath, and placed in the microwave for 5 minutes to precook the potatoes enough that I could skewer them.

I alternated the meat, potatoes, raw onion, green pepper, and more turkey onto the skewers. Then, poured the remaining marinate over them. After they were all skewered, I put them on a tray, and sprinkled them with garlic pepper.

The Kabob's were placed on a medium heat grill, and turned to assure doneness/browned on all sides. Since all of the ingredients were pre-cooked, it only takes about 20 minutes.

I served the kabob's at a deck party at friends cabin down the street at the lake. You can tell that everyone was in the mood for a fresh summer meal, with fresh cukes, tomatoes, and freshly made pasta salad. The kabob's were a hit!

Have a great Foodie Friday! Please remember to leave a comment or become a follower! Thansk to the Gollums for hosting Foodie Friday, and please join us all at the Gollums, via

http://designsbygollum.blogspot.com/

Tablescape Thursday - dots that are Thrifty!

Dots and stripes began the whole idea, and it expanded from there.

The cups, pitcher, tray and candle are from Dollar General, and were---a DOLLAR each!

The red plates are from Pier I, clearance, and the silverware also from Dollar General---4/$1.00!

The silverware have dots on the handles!

The napkin rings were found at the antique store in Colby, Kansas, and have DOTS on them!!

The tablecloth has all the same colors as the dots, but is one of my vintage collection that I use and enjoy!

The napkins are some that I use a lot, because of their color, and the small blue dishes are some I've had forever, but provide the 3rd color I needed.

I hope you all have a wonderful Tablescape Thursday, and please leave a comment, or join my followers. Thanks especially to my mentor, Susan from http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ she's always so gracious and kind to invite us into her home, twice a week.

Outdoor Wednesday - a short trip through the beautiful state of Kansas!

I'm not a tour director, but I think in my next life, I'd like to be one. I have taken photos all of my life, with my first camera purchase being around age 7. I was the girl on the bus with the camera in grade school, the young lady with the camera at church when in Jr. High, the young woman with the camera at every event possible in High School, and the Mom who took photos of everything their kids ever THOUGHT of doing when they were growing up. So, it stands to reason that as I travel for my job, I carry a camera with me ALL the time. I see so many beautiful sites, people, memories, places, animals, and things that I can't possibly take photos of them all, but believe me DIGITAL is a God-send for people like me! As I drive down the road, unless I'm in a terrible hurry, I pull over to take photos of many things. So, grab a drink and sit back, we're going on a tour of Kansas. I will tell you where things are located (if I remember) as I go along, and if you want any further information PLEASE leave me a comment and I promise I will answer. Click on any of the photos to make them large enough you can see the detail. So here goes:

This field of sunflowers is found in the north central part of the state, on Highway #9, near Glen Elder. Did you know that fields of sunflowers always face the east? And of course with every rule there's an exception as you can see in the photo. There was a rogue in this field!

Sunflowers are such happy flowers, aren't they?

This church is located in Marysville, located in the north central part of Kansas. (Highway 36).

Bread Bowl Mound located south of Highway 36 in Phillips County, north west/central Kansas, about 3 miles from my house.

The windmill photo was taken along Highway 383, in northwest Kansas, one Friday afternoon on my way home from work.I wish I could mimic the incredible crisp sound that wheat makes when it's dry and blowing in the breeze. It brings back memories of my childhood when the harvestors would come through town, and cut wheat in the area.

As the song goes - THESE are "amber waves of grain".
This church, labeled "Cathedral of the Plains" is located in Victoria. It is in central Kansas, along I -70.

I would be a very bad tour director if I didn't point out to you how in every photo, the sky is clean and BLUE. I think if I were to pick a favorite thing about Kansas it would be just that- the sky.

Central Kansas, along I-70.

We do have several interstate highways, this one happens to be I-70 also, we are heading east but are west of Topeka, in central/eastern Kansas.

No one can say that all the houses in Kansas are old farm houses, with cows around them. (Although there are a lot that are!) This one is actually a train, and is located on highway 54, south of Lawrence (home of Kansas University- GO Jayhawks!)

This was taken a little ways (1/2 block) from our house.

This is a favorite place for my Sr.'s to have their photos taken, also just down the draw from our house. Within a few days after this was taken, the stone wall on the left caved in, so I have a sneaking suspicion that one of these days the railroad will be replacing it with something "new and improved". Won't that be sad?

Thanks for sharing your precious time with me, and please leave a comment or better yet, become a follower! Thanks also to the host blog below for their hospitality!

http://asoutherndaydreamer.blogspot.com

Three or more Tuesday

I have three or MORE aprons. I love the look, colors, textures and thought of work that goes in to vintage aprons. In the photo above, they even provide a rainbow of colors to decorate, cover, and protect your clothes. I'm pretty much hooked on vintage fabrics of any kind and use them to decorate when and wherever I can.

Maude is all prettied up for the rest of the summer, with her black and white fabric with red roses, shown above in her apron and her scarf. She holds court over our supper table every night, in our sunroom.

Maude will be changing her attire, according to the season, so be sure and follow my blog to see more of her!I hope everyone has a wonderful week, and many thanks for stopping by to visit and leave a comment PLEASE!!!!

See the other posts for Three or More at :

http://gypsycorner.blogspot.com//

Metamorphosis Monday-a new beginning for an old thrifty treatsure!

Thanks Susan for being such a gracious host again this week! You are awesome!!!

I have had this table sitting in my sun room for years. It was wobbly, and not in great shape, but worked good once I placed a plastic crochet-look table cloth on it. I had plants sitting on it, and around it, so you really couldn't see the actual table. Then one day there was this blogger who shall remain nameless for awhile, who took a plain table and painted and did mosaic on the top with broken dishes. I. FELL. IN. LOVE. Plain and simple.

So, I told DH that I really had an idea for the table, asked him to work on it, but didn't tell him the WHOLE story.

The top was SO dirty, I can't believe it was sitting in my house that way. Well, anyway, the wood on the top in the middle goes one direction, and the sides the other direction. I kinda hated to cover that up, but it's just an old table, for crying out loud!

I didn't even know this table had so much detail until we uncovered it and got ready to take it to the shop to be painted. Boy were we missing out all this time.

Here's what it looked like after DH went to all the trouble to reglue the joints, and painted it all white. He thought we were done with it, until I showed him the photos of the OTHER table I saw!

I'm so excited about this table, and can't wait for the next step. I'm looking for dishes to break up and mosaic on the top like I saw that I totally lusted after. DH thinks it looks fine the way it is, but when I showed him the OTHER one, he was impressed. He was also concerned that I would mess up this nice table......

Anyway! It was Cindy at http://romantichome.blogspot.com/ , I believe that has a tutorial on mosaics and how to do them - one step at a time. So, I'm going to buy all the stuff and mosaic this table. As soon as I find some dishes to break!

Thanks for joining me in the middle of the table metamorphosis. Be sure and check in with Susan at http://betweennapsontheporch.blogspot.com/ and see what she has up her sleeve this week. This post also qualifies as a Thrifty Treasure, as the table was free when I got it 15+ years ago!. You can see more Thrifty Ideas at this address: http://southernhospitalityblog.com/