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Here We Go Again. Hopefully.

I failed my second attempt to get back into reading romance for pleasure, but I'll blame my disappointment with romance in general lately. Also, reading has been difficult for me until I got my new glasses this summer; now I can read with no problem. Still, to try a third time seems like an exercise in futility, but I'm nothing if not determined. I'd also like to try to journal again while I can still write. While we were at a local antique mall I spotted two reasonably priced blind date with a book (doubles, in fact) along with a scary fantasy novel and even a little handmade junk journal. This might work. The junk journal and fantasy novel will help me on my quests. I love junk journals, and this one is small. I should be able to fill it up in a couple of days. I invested in these blind date with a books because they were quite cheap and I love the mystery. Let's see what I got. The seller tucked some nice little bonus items in the folds, to...
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Altering Stuffies Part 2

This brand-new stuffed dog that I thrifted had Valentine's Day tags on it and smelled of chocolate (a nice change from the usual thrift-store smell.) From Dollar Tree I bought two skeins of chenille yarn in orange and green to make a little pumpkin costume for him. I didn't follow a pattern but made up my own, fitting the pieces to the toy as I worked. I also stuffed the pumpkin body with a little fiberfill to plump it out. The pumpkin puppy turned out better than I expected. Again the pieces are removable, so he doesn't have to be a pumpkin forever. I'm quite pleased.
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Homemade Dry Coffee Creamer

As I mentioned in my food frugality post I'm making things at home more often to save money as the store-bought variety becomes more expensive. That includes dry coffee creamer, which has almost doubled in price over the last year. I went hunting for a simple recipe using nonfat dry milk and found this one , which I began tweaking by leaving out the powdered sugar. One envelope of dry nonfat milk and about one tablespoon of liquid coconut oil are what I use now to make my own creamer. Here's a side-by-side comparison with storebought on the right and my homemade version on the left. You do need to keep stirring the homemade creamer as the coconut oil can settle in the bottom. The nice thing is I don't have to use a lot of my homemade creamer; just a spoonful works (vs. two spoonfuls of the storebought variety.) There's also zero chemicals in mine, always a plus. Disclaimer: if you're lactose intolerant like me you will need to take a lactase pill ...
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Altering Stuffies Part 1

Now that they've had a bath and dried, it's time to start altering these thrifted stuffed animals into Halloween decor. For the pig I thrifted a butterfly stuffy, from which I took the wings (the rest I'll recycle in another project. Chenille stems bent in half and sewn into the wings allowed me to bend them a little. I covered the wings' raw edges with scrap black binding and sewed them together. I also made a little mask to hide Mr. Pig's true identity. Here he is, all ready to trick-or-treat. All the elements are removable, so Mr. Pig can fly around to get treats on the big night and then go back to his regular life.
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Less than $7

Six dollars and change won't get you a lot unless you opt to thrift. Then you can find a used hardcover cookbook ($1.99) and a paperback (.99) like I did last week. How about an adorable, gently-used baby quilt? This is a gift for my nephew's dog when they move in at the end of the month (she likes to sit and sleep on quilts.) It was made by a local quilting group, too, so I'm happy to give it a second life. Here's my receipt.
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Round 2

Since I didn't win any of my wannabuts last time I bid, I'm trying again. These are items I want to thrift but only for a set minimum price. This brooch lot is bigger and nicer than the one I just lost, so I went a little higher with a max bid of $14.00. Lately jewelry is really attracting bidders so I'm not very optimistic. For this vintage linen lot I bid $10.00 as my max. These lots are 50/50; sometimes they get no bids and other times they attract bidding wars and last-minute snipers. I doubt I will win this big yarn lot for $10.00, but you never know. Stay tuned to the blog to see how I do. :)
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Yosemite Thriller

I'm trying to decide if I want to pull the plug on Netflix, and looking around to see what's worth watching. I also want to watch some new Western productions because I am pretty biased against them these days. Although it was pitched as a one-run mini-series, the outdoor cop thriller Untamed has been renewed for a second season, and with good reason. It's the best crime show I've watched in a long, long time. The premise: In Yosemite National Park a federal agent still grieving the loss of his young son in the park must solve the inexplicable death of a young woman while coping with a new, inexperienced partner who has her own troubles. This case leads to drug running and murder for hire, and reopens several wounds of the past for almost everyone involved. Set in Yosemite the series is visually beautiful (most of the time) and very different from the usual cop thriller. Eric Bana, who plays Kyle Turner, the grieving federal agent, is almost unrecognizable -- ...
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