Two Horse Town!

Oh my goodness!  I just ran across this amazing video!  I never knew one of these fun 1950s videos was filmed so close to home!

I hope you enjoy this video.  It made my day when I ran across it.  I have owned a couple of Lawn Boy 2 cycle mowers.  They were great pieces of lawn equipment.  Too bad EPA regulations have stopped production of 2 cycle mower engines.

Have an amazing Thursday.

The Factory Town That Lost Its Factory

Here is a great article on a local town.  It's a lengthy read, but it does a great job of summing up what life is like in the area that I live in.  As much as I love the Rocky Mountains, and dream of living there, I have yet to find a place where I enjoy the people more than this part of Southwest Missouri that I live in.  We're fighters.  That became evident to the nation after the Joplin tornado when we pitched in an got it taken care of.

Anyway, this is a story on a neat little town about a half hour north of Joplin.  You can read it here.  My father used to drive a truck, and spent many hours picking up freight at the factory mentioned in the article.

Have a great Wednesday!

The Dogs

After mentioning the necessity of a fence for my dogs on my last post concerning the house I was looking at, JKaye asked me to share more about my dogs.

Funny how I've been blogging for 3 years now, and I've never mentioned them.

Let's start off with Rosco - notice that there is no "e" at the end.  Rosco is a Yellow Labrador Retriever that I rescued from our city pound.  A volunteer at the pound put out a plea for someone to please rescue him, as he had been there too long, and his time was up.  They were getting ready to put him down.  Well, I'm a big softy, so I decided to give him a home until I could find a place for him.  That was almost 5 years ago.  Guess who is still with me?  LOL.  He was about a year old when I got him, and he grew quite a bit afterwards.  He's my bargain puppy.  The adoption fee on him was $10, but the dog catcher waived the fee just to make sure he got a home and didn't have to be put to sleep.  He's my shadow.  I can't go anywhere in the house without him by my side.  He's laying next to me as I type this.  Sometimes it gets a little annoying that he is underfoot, but I'm glad to have him by my side.

Up next is my old man.  Poor Chewy.  Chewy is a Chow Chow and he has been by my side for nine and a half years.  He has always been the sweetest, most loving dog.  Many people believe that Chows are mean, but I have had two, and they have both been great.  In fact, the Chow I had growing up was the best dog our family ever had.  She was a big sweetheart.  I'm not sure how old he is, as he was fully grown when I adopted him from the shelter.  He lived with me the whole time I had my mobile home in college, and the whole time I've been at the Shack.  His health has been deteriorating, and I know that the time is almost here to have him put down, but I just can't bring myself to do it.  He has lost several teeth, he has thyroid problems (which is why he has no hair), he has trouble getting up and laying down, his hearing and eyesight is going as well.  Still, he's my boy, and I can't get rid of him yet.  He spends most of his time laying around, napping.

There you go, now you've met my kids!

Have a great Tuesday!

House Shopping?

I'm kinda in a state of not knowing what to do.  There is a house for sale here in town that is a foreclosure, it is 7 years old, 500 square feet bigger than the Shack, but still 2 bedrooms.  It has a 2 car attached garage as well as a screened porch on the back and a huge front porch (my favorite thing is to read a book on the porch swing at my parent's house).  The house is priced CHEAP.  I know who the owners were, and they took good care of it.  I'm trying to decide if I want to pack up everything and move to a new house.  The downsides are that I don't care for one of the neighbors, the lot is smaller than I have now (I love a big yard), and it has electric baseboard heat (I would have to upgrade to a gas furnace).  However, the house is priced at least 50% less than it should be so that they can get it sold.  Ack!  What to do?  I love the Shack and the neighborhood that it is in.  I don't like that I keep sinking money into it.  I have put new windows, insulation, roofing, shutters and some new flooring in it over the past 6 years.  Every time that I think I'm good for a while, something else pops up (thankfully they are minor things anymore).  Still, the draw of a house that is almost new and would allow me to get money back after the sale of the Shack is pulling me towards a move... Gonna have to make a decision soon!  Thanks for putting up with my rambling while I try to work through my thoughts!

This Week's Thrifts

Oh, the carefree days of summer thrifting have come to an end.  Teachers go back to work for the first day of our contracts on Monday.  School starts next Wednesday.  Sigh.  Where did summer go?

Not wanting to miss one last chance to seek out some fun finds, I went to a few of my favorite stores yesterday.

First purchase - these fun vintage sign letters.  I'm thinking maybe they came from a movie theatre, but I'm not sure.  Anyway, I've been wanting to buy some of these for quite a while to put my initials on the wall in my house.  Unfortunately, the price they go for online is more than I'm willing to spend.  However, these were $3 per letter.  I'm pleased to get all three letters for less than I would have to pay for one online.  Ideally, I wanted red letters, but blue will work just fine.  They had a different style in black, but I didn't care for them too much.

I also picked up this working vintage refrigerator defroster.  Now that I'm almost done with my vintage fridge, I'm going to need one of these whenever I defrost it.  $4.

And of course, there was Pyrex!

I was very tempted in a beautiful set of pink fridgies (complete with lids) for $50, but I talked myself out of it.  I did, however, find a Golden Honeysuckle 2.5 quart rectangular dish (number 055) for $7, and an Opal white unmarked 404 for $4.  Now I just need the 403, and I will have the complete Opal mixing bowl set.  So far, I have $5.50 total spent on the three pieces I have.

I don't usually have any luck at thrift stores finding Pyrex, but this must have been my day.  They had this 8 inch square Flamingo Pink dish for $4.  Sounds good to me!

Have a great weekend!

6 Years!

Six years ago today, I closed on the Cul-de-sac Shack, and it became mine (and the bank's)!  For a little nostalgia - here is what the place looked like when I looked at it for the first time, in July 2006.  Ready for a walk down Memory Lane?

Anyway, here is the front of the house when I purchased it.  Overgrown landscaping and all.

It was built in the late 1950s to be a rental, and the same family had kept it as a rental until I purchased it almost 50 years later.  I don't recommend purchasing a former rental, unless you want a lot of unpleasant surprises.  Rotted out wall?  Just put some paneling over it!  Ugh... it has been 6 years of me going "really?!?!" every time something else is discovered, but at this point, I think I have found all of their cheap cover ups.  The hidden rotten wall in the bathroom being the worst.

Here is the living room, kitchen, and dining room.  The seller thought it would help if they covered everything in hideous grape wallpaper.  It was the first thing to go.  They even used it on the beautiful wooden half wall separating the living room from the kitchen.

Here's the dining room - you can see the poorly built deck outside that I removed.  You had to go outside and walk through the yard to use it - what was the point?

The kitchen is mostly unchanged, except that the awful grape wallpaper has been replaced with avocado green paint.

Here's the bathroom - I've redone it, but I'm not happy with it.  Saving my pennies to really redo it like I want it to be.  I am keeping the tub and toilet.  I already replaced the sink - it was rusting out and couldn't be saved. (One of the very first purchases for the house - a toilet seat, as one was not included...)

And lastly, here are the bedrooms.  The main bedroom had the wallpaper painted over.  That has been fun to remove!  No wallpaper in the second bedroom, but they left the interesting brown 1980s sculptured carpet.

Have a great Tuesday!

Vote!

Here in Missouri, it is Primary Election day.  I'm so sick of mailings and phone calls.  I actually let the answering machine on my home phone fill up so that I can't receive any more messages until after the election.  Ugh.  However, I do feel it is extremely important to get out and vote and have my voice heard.  If it is election day where you live, I encourage you to exercise your right to vote as well.  Have a great Tuesday!

Weekend Finds! How May I Direct Your Call?

Wow!  There were some great things to find this weekend!

Friday morning I went to an estate tag sale here in town.  We never have those, only auctions, and so many people were confused about how it worked (having never attended on in the larger cities around us).  This sale was split in two.  The stuff in the house being the "estate sale" and the stuff outside a "garage sale" for items from the estate.  The stuff inside didn't really impress me, but once I went outside, I filled my car with some great deals!  I went back Saturday afternoon when things were half price outside, and filled up some more.

I got these two Western Electric telephone operator's stools for $1.50 each (half off).  The one with the brown pad is original, the one with the green cushion has a replacement cushion from Western Electric that is for a different chair model.  One of these is going to my classroom.  I also picked up two new old stock replacement cushions for $2.  One is even still wrapped in the original paper.

This awesome glass percolator with the starburst design was $1.50 half off.  It was manufactured by Proctor Silex.

Does anybody else ever pick up these boxes that are filled with emptied out junk drawer items?  It was 50 cents half off, so it was cheap and fun to dig through.

I also got this box of shoe shine stuff for 50 cents.

This box of vintage tile pieces was 25 cents.  Gonna have to come up with a project for it.  There is a good amount of the pink hex tiles in the box.

Other finds at the sale - vintage Corvette hubcap for $1, turquoise trash can for 25 cents, a VCR for $1 - not pictured (I pick these up when I can because I have a large VHS collection, and I know some day I will need a spare or two).  The glass piece is a vintage Westinghouse refrigerator dish (too bad it didn't have it's lid).  It was $3.  The little Tupperware container looks like new, and it was 25 cents.

Saturday morning I went to a garage sale that had the leftovers after a family had cleaned out an estate.  Just some small items, but they were priced at 25 cents each.  I spent $1.50, and picked up something I've been wanting for a while - a working aluminum tree color wheel.  Can't wait for Christmas to use it with my aluminum tree!

I also picked up a vintage picnic basket at that sale for 25 cents - the top has a name on it in magic marker, so I think I may spray paint it using the green spray paint left over from my mail box.  What do you all think, would that look good?  I think it would.  The basket even had a few vintage picnic plates in it.

The rest of the finds from the 25 cent sale - a ceramic kitchen utensil holder that matches my kitchen, a mug tree (a place to display my Pyrex mugs), a desk pen holder, and a small yellow Tupperware container.

It was mostly a weekend of smalls, but those telephone operator stools are sure awesome!  What awesome finds did you pick up this weekend?

Thrifty Finds of the Week

I have been spending some time getting out to some of my favorite shops before I go back to school full time.  I've been working half days on my classroom, and spending time seeking out fun finds during the other half of the day.  Once school starts, it isn't unusual for me to work a 12 - 13 hour day, which pretty much kills any chance of getting to seek out any fun finds during the week.

So, what have I found this week?  Firstly, I picked up this partial set of Ballerina Mist dishes in the Strawflower pattern.  Who could resist that soft blue-gray color?  The set was $6 and consists of 4 dinner plates, three bread and butter plates, three saucers, three cups, and three bowls.  Guess I'm ready to have two guests over.

I also picked up this men's squirrel dresser valet.  I now have three different styles of these.  How many does it take before I can officially call it a collection?  This little guy has been repaired on the back, but for $1, he'll display great if I can ever get the shelves refinished that I want to use to display these on.  I'll share a picture of the three I have soon.

I've had my eye on this vintage 1980s neon lighted phone for a couple of months now, but the dealer at the flea market never had a price on it.  This time, the dealer caught their error, and I scooped it up for $2.50.  I'm planning on using it in my bedroom (if the light doesn't keep me awake at night).  The vintage metal thermos was 30 cents, and the red metal tray was $2.

Finally, I can't forget my Pyrex finds!  Probably my oldest find was this 1 cup measuring cup (it was also my most expensive piece this week at $3.50).  The glass on this measuring cup is thick and heavy.  I also picked up three little fridgies in Spring Blossom and this amazing deep brown (anybody know what set this was part of?).  The fridgies were $2.95 each, and I'm collecting the small and medium fridgies right now for a project (hopefully I'll get it complete and be able to share it before too long).  Finally, I picked up this beautiful orange 471 1 pint size casserole.  The color is amazing on it.  It was a great find for 75 cents!

Today I'm headed to an estate tag sale here in town (they are incredibly rare around here, and I really prefer auctions).  Hopefully I'll bring home some great stuff!

Have a great Friday!

Milestones of the Century

If you are like me, you have been spending a lot of time watching the Olympics this past week.  In the opening ceremonies it was noted that this is the third time that London has hosted the Olympics, the last time being in 1948, reviving the games from a 12 year hiatus due to WWII.

So, I did a little digging and found this fun video clip of highlights of the American team in the 1948 Summer Olympics (don't worry - at just over 3 minutes, it is much shorter than yesterday's video).

I'm also sharing this video (at 8.5 minutes) showing clips from the opening ceremonies of the 1948 games.  Enjoy!

Have a great Wednesday!