Family, Friends, Feathers, Fun

Our last night on the beach was blessed with a beautiful sky.  (You can also see how calm the water was.  It was pretty much like that the whole time.  I was able to take Sadie and Allie out one at a time, to float on the boogie board.  They loved it.)

Anyway, back to our last night, we went for a walk down the beach.  Sadie wanted to go the the pier (1 mile away) but it was too late to make it there and back.  I reminded her that I asked for her to take a walk that morning.  At the time she said, "you are wasting all my play time by taking a walks."  After the walk, she said she didn't know it would be so much fun.  

Because you just never know what you will see.  Harley the parrot was out on the beach showing off again.  I saw him last year.  You can check that out HERE

And there were two turtle nests that were being watched for hatching.  We didn't go back to check but it was interesting talking to the official watchers.  

Yesterday morning was our last chance to play.  I had gotten this flying rubbery disc at the Big Bin Dealz Store.  It was much easier to throw and softer to catch than a frisbee.  

Allie was particularly good at it.  Unfortunately, we left it on the beach.  Good thing it was only a dollar.  

Our sand castle building improved.  The last one was the best.  

And Birdie even made the "surf squad" necklaces out of shells she and her mother had found on the beach.  

Sadie and Allie showed them off for Mike and Virginia when they got home. 

Well, maybe Allie was more interested in riding her bike.  

As a bonus, Carol and I got one also.  I've never made a friend at the beach before, but Birdie's mom was awesome.  I guess there is a first time for everything.  
 

Last Revision (Maybe)

You may remember me making a birdbath HERE.  It went through many revisions as multiple parts broke.  The last straw was when we had a new roof put on last December.  The roofing crew backed over it and shattered the white glass lamp base.  Today I decided to try to resurrect it.  

It is not as elegant as before, but maybe it will be more durable. 

I used the same hubcap and weighted base that I constructed before.  I used some old lamp and ceiling fan parts, a doorknob, 

and an insulated plastic cup from Dollar General that I got for a penny a couple of years ago.  I don't know what I was saving it for, this I guess.  

To top it off, I used a bubble glass light shade that I got from the Big Bens Dealz Store on $1 day. 

                                          
 I think it turned out good enough.  Now  I need to dig down and bury the base a little bit for more stability and to make it look more balanced.  

Back Track To Wednesday

I am a little behind on my blogging.  Wednesday was Sadie and Allie day.  Once again, we went to the free movie in town, Paddington Bear Goes To Peru.  I would not recommend it for an adult.  Sadie and Allie said they liked it but I think it was more the atmosphere of the movie theater.  I bought the drink and popcorn for them again and was again unable to control the speed at which Allie drank hers.  Two more trips to the bathroom.   After the movie I told them I was going to a boring store.  Virginia had taken them to the Big Bin Dealz Store before and they were not impressed.  They kept saying, couldn't we go to Walmart?  No, I want to go to the $1 day at the boring store.  

Well, it wasn't so boring after all.  I found this costume for Sadie.  

And I didn't get a picture, but a similar dinosaur outfit for Allie minus the head and feet.  She wore it all around the store and had a great time with it back here.  She even wore it home.  

And Sadie picked out two giant spiders.  I don't know what Virginia will be doing with those.  

Back at the house, we baked cookies.  It had been awhile since we used the Easy Bake Oven.  They were very good at taking turns on mixing and adding ingredients.  

They spent the rest of the hot afternoon playing in the water.  They started before I could even finish blowing up the pool.  Another fun day at Camp Mimi.  

 

More Big Bin Dealz

My Pyrex storage lids have been disintegrating for some time now. Joe said you might as well just lay a paper towel over the bowl and it would be as helpful as one of those lids. I have thought about getting replacement lids but that is as far as I got, thinking. 

That is until I went to the Big Bin Dealz store yesterday for $1 day and found these. 

They are not Pyrex brand but they fit. 

 And it looks like I saved $17.  

New Store

Well, new to me anyway. Looks like it opened Black Friday but I just found it last week and went to it yesterday.  It’s t called Big Bin Dealz.  They are closed Thursdays to restock.  Then the prices go down until they are at $1 on Wednesday.

And yesterday was Wednesday. I decided it was better than Goodwill because the price was so much cheaper and all the stuff was new.   I might have gone a little overboard in buying 9 things. 

D

But I couldn’t resist this bird wall sconce. I thought I would use it as an outdoor decoration. But after seeing it on eBay for $60-$100 I am torn about what to do with it. 

Other items include a box of balloons

Butterfly cape

And big roll of paper for the girls. 

A bunch of envelopes that fit my string are cards perfect. 

 And a pink swim shirt.  There may be a few other things that I will try to hold off until Christmas.   I have a staff meeting in town next Wednesday. Guess where I will be going first. 

Hell's Kitchen

I took a little trip Saturday to see Ann and Matt and to use Mitchell's season ticket for a Broadway show at the Tanger Center.  

On the way, I stopped at a mid century modern store.  They specialize in refinishing and reupholstering mid century furniture.   I had seen this style chair on another site several years ago and had been looking for it ever since.  It is very comfortable and would go great with the leather and chrome sofa I have.  Only, I have rearranged the living room and am happy with the current layout.  Plus, the chair was $2250 as is and $3000 if reupholstered.  A little out of the thrift store price range I was wanting.  

I also saw this coffee table size stereo cabinet.  I have not seen one this height before.  I made me consider the possibility of having something like this under my new gallery wall instead of a bench.  It is definitely something to think about since I do have a pretty good record collection.  

Then it was onto the show, after a nice seafood dinner.  

According to Google,  

Hell's Kitchen is a Broadway musical by Alicia Keys, with a book by Kristoffer Diaz, inspired by Keys's life growing up in 1990's Manhattan, featuring her music, a coming-of-age story about a teen named Ali finding her voice, and a mother-daughter relationship at its core. 

No pictures were allowed during the show.  But I did snap one at the end. 

My review, the story was ok, the music was good, the singing talent was great, the dancing was a lot of jumping and arm waving.  Overall, it was an enjoyable evening.  Thank you Mitchell for the ticket and place to stay, and  thank you Ann for everything else. 

 

Surprise Find

Remember the metal goats from my walk in Brevard?

I saw them on several people's porches in just a small neighborhood.  

Well, the trend has made it to southwest Virginia.  I could not believe it when I saw it in a thrift store here for $4.00.   It is cute as it can be. 

I checked Etsy and Ebay and it looks like it sells there for $50-$80 for this petite size.  

I hope that it will be the most realistic goat that I see in my yard. 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 23

Christmas decorating inspiration can come from just about anywhere.  But one of my most common spots for ideas is the thrift store. 

I have a photo shelf in the hallway to my bedroom where I display records.  Sometimes record covers with horses and sometimes records from my childhood. 

But at Christmas I change it out to Santas, angels or nativities. 

I have collected them from thrift stores over the years. Sometimes I just like the cover sometimes I like the music.  Some Santa’s are creepy. 

Some are fake. 

And some look, well, drunk. 

Then there is Classic Christmas. 

And finally, unexpected. Who would think of Colonel Sanders as Santa. Well, it is cheap artwork anyway. 
 

25 Days Of Christmas, Day 1

I thought I would try to post something for Christmas every day until December 25th.  We'll see how that works. 

When Emily and Keiran were here for Thanksgiving, they got out the Santa mugs to enjoy with their coffee and tea.  I decided to leave them out on a mug rack that I had made years ago.  The mugs were all originally from Walmart, but I have been picking up mine at thrift stores.  It looks like I will only have 6  plus the big one, because I haven't found any more for a couple of years now.  

I just love the Santa face.  
 

Two Lamps, An Ashtray Stand, And A Light Shade

The other day I saw a birdbath on Facebook that was stunning. 

It was a glass bowl glued to two vases.  I knew it was a long shot but I decided to start looking for a similar bowl. 

Would you believe that I found this on my first trip to Goodwill?  It is not a bowl, it’s a ceiling light shade.  But definitely the look of my inspiration piece.  Next, I wanted a lamp for a base.  It just so happened that the route 21, 100 mile yard sale was this weekend. 

I scored this lamp for $1.  The base is glass.

Sister C gave me this metal lamp piece a few years ago when I was thinking of making a lamp totem pole.  I still have that as a goal but I decided to use this on my birdbath project instead. I used a hacksaw to remove the handles.

The dangling crystals are from an old ashtray stand.  Under the base I attached the weight from the yard sale lamp to make it less top heavy.

I am thrilled with how it turned out.  It is not currently able to hold water because of the hole in the center.  But I thought I might just stick a piece of As Seen On TV Alien Tape over it to see if that works.  But even if it doesn’t function as a bird bath, it is still nice yard art.  I have also driven a stake down the center of the hollow rod where the lamp cord would be and into the ground to give it a little more stability.

I think Kit Kat approves.