Super scrumptious soup, super "free"

And apropos of nothing, except MSOTA of course…here’s a photo or two from my last visit to Amish friends in late summer:

Mary Yoder's canned pickles

They were so chic and cute, and made from recycled sweaters. What a nifty idea for those of you who do knit (can I get a witness?). Check out the sweaters in your closet. Can you find any that have passed their fresh-by date? No? Who are you–Stacy London from What Not to Wear? Most of us have sweaters that are A) ugly, or B) don’t fit, due to laundry accidents or too much time at the buffet. I think these were actually sewn, and not knit, on second thought. At any rate, I could see many unfashionable sweaters gaining a fashion forward second life as cozy, fetching mittens. You could give these as gifts, or even sell them at craft fairs or etsy.com.

I found some similar pairs on etsy, ranging in price from $17-$26!

And here we have one of my favorite cousins of all time, Reginald of Rosenort, holding a jean blanket made by his MIL, from the outgrown jeans of his wife and daughters. Again, an idea for sew-ers, but what a fantastic idea! I found one similar on etsy for $65. $100 with shipping. Here’s the description:

“Versatile, is the best way to describe a jean blanket. It can be used anywhere for anything. All seams are enclosed. At the beach (sand shakes off easily), for camping/picnics (grass and twigs won’t stick), have around the house as an extra blanket for those chilly nights, or use as a lap blanket when snuggling on the couch.”

http://www.etsy.com/listing/81124550/jean-blanket-with-bluered-abstract-trim?ref=sr_gallery_1&ga_search_submit=Search&ga_search_query=jean+blankets&ga_view_type=gallery&ga_ship_to=US&ga_search_type=handmade&ga_facet=handmade

Robin's Egg Blue--Nature's Perfect Hue (Another poem)

 

My kiddos and I were out running errands early in spring. We weren’t expecting a garage sale, but when we saw the sign—one of the first ones of open season on treasure—we couldn’t resist its pull.

It wasn’t a great sale, maybe because we had arrived after it had been picked over, and we were about to leave when I came upon six cans of unopened latex house paint, brand new, all in antique white, for $5 per can, sitting on the ground next to the checkout lady. It just so happens that I use shades of white almost every day in my studio to paint the furniture and home décor items I salvage from garage sales and thrift stores for resale in a local shop; so I considered this paint deal just the kind of coup I needed to replenish my supplies. There was just one problem: I only had $20 in my wallet, and I wanted all six cans. I asked if there was any chance they could take $3 each instead, and lo and behold, they said yes! I was the proud new owner of six cans of unopened, fresh paint for my many projects, enough to last me a couple years!

Two months later, I decided to tackle a couple major painting projects in the house while the kids were at a summer VBS. I wanted to paint our homeschool room a fresh shade of yellow to cover the scuffed and dingy beige it had faded to, and I wanted to completely makeover my bedroom from the mint green that made me want to puke to a fresh and cheeky robin’s egg blue. My diabolical plan was to take several gallons of the (new! unopened!) garage sale paint to Home Depot to see if they would tint it for me (for free of course). It had worked in the past, so the worst thing that could happen was that they would say no.

Using my biceps of steel, I carried a can in each hand and traipsed through the automatic doors.

In the paint department, I repeated my story of wanting to tint these cans of cheap garage sale paint into something similar to the butter yellow and the robin’s egg blue that I was dreaming of. The sales associate said, “Oh, I can do that for you with our tinting machine.” Oh, really? That would be swell!

So my new friend worked his magic with the digitized machine using the paint chips I had picked out. While the spinner mixed the colors, we chatted. He had noticed I had a “Got Jesus?” shirt on (and when I wear this I feel compelled to drive very courteously in case of an accident), and he said, “So where do you attend?”, meaning what church. I told him, and he told me where he attended. We got on the subject of Love Wins, and he said that sometimes it doesn’t, like when your wife leaves you and drags you through a messy divorce. He was newly single, and clearly in a lot of pain. My heart sank for him. He was younger than me, and now his hopes of having the kind of life I take for granted were dashed, at least until he could find the strength to move on. While the paint wobbled in the turnstyle, I quietly said, “I’m so sorry about your divorce. They just don’t make Hallmark cards for that, do they?” He said no, and thank you. Then he said, “I see you’re not married,” and I said, “What?”, showing him my ring. Flustered, he said, “Oh, I was looking at the wrong hand.” I get that sometimes. My ring is pretty small due to the painting I do every day. His face flushed with embarrassment, and I quickly moved the topic along to other things.

It was just so sad. There was such a gaping chasm between his messy divorced singleness and my small-ringed nuptial bliss. We were quiet for a long time. I couldn’t imagine a life without my family. Or his loss of one.

When he took the paint out of the spinner, it had turned green—almost the same pukey mint that I was trying to cover in the first place. He was surprised and said he must have entered the numbers wrong (probably while he was looking at the wrong, no-ringed hand). He said, “I ruined your paint, so I’m going to give you one of these.” He reached over for the $22 per gallon Behr that he had been raving about while we were first chatting, tinted it perfectly, and gave it to me gratis.

I was pleased with my fancy new paint, but I didn’t feel so victorious. I was sad for my new friend. As I drove back to summer camp to pick up my darling children, I prayed for him, and I looked at my simple ring on my left hand with renewed appreciation, despite its small size.

This summer I’ve scored at garage sales with great framed art prints for the kids’ walls. Now all three of the kids have framed art on their walls, and each print somehow reflects their tastes and personalities and interests–bonus! This print hangs above the mantle in my 13-year-old’s room. It’s perfect for his passion of this summer, FISHING! It’s really large and beautifully matted and framed too! Garage sale cost: $15. Cost new: $75-$150

A framed art print for Ezra's room, signed by the artist, for $10

Ezra got the coolest print, nabbed by me at the Congressman’s garage sale mentioned earlier in this blog. It’s also nicely framed, and the print is from a poster for the 2005 Great Lakes Conservation Conference, obviously a gift to the Congressman for his tireless efforts on behalf of the Great Lakes! And it’s signed by the artist! That alone floors me, because Ezra is our artist in residence, AND he has a “water” theme for his room. The print depicts the vanishing sturgeon fish, which is also perfect for our family’s eco sensibilities. The congressman charged: $10 (“It’s worth alot more than that,” he muttered, nicely). Cost in the real world. I have no idea. I’d say maybe $100? Fabulous!

Finally, Phoebe got a darling, hand-painted painting of pears with all her favorite colors–lime, pink, blue etc. It’s exquisite, and works perfectly in her pretty little blue bedroom. If I had the energy I’d snap a pic and share that too. Maybe later. For now, it cost me $5, and I think something similar would have been about $25 (it’s painted on a canvas which is wrapped around a box frame and I popped it right on the wall).

How about you? Have you ever picked up a piece of art at a garage sale or thrift store? Tell! And show! I’d love to see whatcha got!

A Korean jade pottery duo on our mantle. The small piece was bought in Korea, for lots of won. The bigger, more ornate piece was bought at a Goodwill in Florida for $8.50

Since we journeyed to Korea six years ago to pick up our daughter, I’ve been in love with Korean Celadon pottery. We picked up a couple of tiny vases while we were there, but recently I found a gorgeous Korean rice wine decanter with fish , crane, and chrysanthymum inlays and details. I found this exquisite piece at the Goodwill in Jupiter, Florida, and just had to bring it home to my mantle. It was $8.50, alot for something at Goodwill, but not alot when you consider a comparable piece would be between $55-$200. I know, a big ballpark, but I can’t quite find this exact piece online. Does anyone know how much this might cost? At any rate, it’s a heck of a lot cheaper than flying to Korea and picking one up!

A hammered copper vase, displayed with pride on a bookshelf parallel to the fireplace

Another decor find: This hammered copper vase, $2, picked up at Goodwill here in Grand Rapids. I love copper, and this vase was just the thing to add lustre and texture to a built-in bookshelf by our fireplace. This vase also kicks up the Arts and Crafts era vibe I’d like our 1924 house to exude (exude cheaply, that is).

I really love both these pieces, and they both look fairly expensive to me, though the copper vase is probably worth less than the Korean pottery (I found a similar one online for $45).

What kinds of heart-stopping decor finds have you come across at thrift stores, flea markets etc?

$60 worth of NEEDED stuff for $6

Okay, so I need to work a little on my photo skills! Anyway, behind the oil painting is a paper shredder, which I nabbed for $3. The woman having the garage sale said she consolidated her boutique office to her home office, and no longer needed two paper shredders. I looked up the cost of paper shredders, and a no-frills model like this one would be about $29.99. It works great, and I have been needing one for years. Also at this sale: A hip tee for Jonah, three tops, a pair of shorts, and a pair of pants for Phoebe, and a sturdy canvas, ready to hang on a wall. This last item is for my artist, Ez. It has a pleasing picture painted on it already, but it’s nothing I loved. Instead, for 50 cents, I’ll let Ez have at it, painting his own masterpiece over the existing depiction of flowers and fruit. The best part is, instead of saving his artwork til Kingdom come (and never getting around to framing it), I’ll pop this on our wall with pride as soon as the paint dries.

Beads, books, and tops--most of it giftable

My friend Holly had this garage sale and I made out like (say it together now) a BANDIT IN A BONNET! Oh yeah! For Princess Phoebe, I got a brand new book about drawing animals, a brand new hardcover journal, a bunch of beads and girlish craft supplies Holly and Grace never got around to doing, and a couple of tops, one for me (“Peace”), and another for my 10-year-old niece. Holly tried to give me this stuff for free, but I think I threw five bucks at her. Still, such a deal. Phoebe’s getting the book and journal as part of her Christmas present. 

Christmas gifts for my brother, my husband's cousins gift exchange, and at least one nephew

My fellow garage salers, let us consider Christmas when rummaging through the flotsam and jetsum of other people’s stuff. Seriously! My A-1, Honeybun favorite thing to buy at a garage sale is hardcover books. If I see a table laden with books as I’m cruising slowly down a street, I will slam on the brakes like an old lady afraid to hit a squirrel. At this last sale of the day, I cleaned up, and crossed a few Christmas gifts off my list, six months early! For Dan (if you’re Dan, don’t read this) I got three books, including “Up in the Air” by Walter Kirn (you know, the George Clooney movie), a nice trade paperback retailing for $14.95. $50 worth of books for $2. For Doyle’s cousin exchange (which makes it sound like we exchange cousins…maybe not a bad idea?), we are asked to bring a $15 gift for both a man and a woman for the zany ruckus of a pick-a-number gift exchange. Hopefully, one of the books will work for each category ($2, total). And I always get my nephews and niece an article of clothing and a book. They have come to depend on this like Santa Claus and the Sugarplum Fairy, so I don’t want to do anything else, now that half of them are grown up and married or engaged. My one nephew is itching to become a pilot, so for him, I got “Marine One,” which seems to involve a helicopter and the White House. It’s a $10 book, for .50! Yes, it may seem cheap to you to brag about how I am buying Christmas gifts with the change rattling around in my purse. It is cheap, let’s be frank. But why OH why would anyone pay full price for something, just because they were giving it as a gift? Will the recipient love it? Is it in giftable condition? If your answers are yes, yes, than I ask you, would it not be tackier still NOT to buy these gifts at garage sales, for pennies on the dollar?

I did nab a pristine copy of Nicholas Sparks’ “Dear John” at this other sale, and that, dear readers, I shall give to my beloved mother. Why? Because she loves Nicholas Sparks, the book is in perfect condition, and since I paid TWENTY FIVE CENTS my budget for her gift is wide open for more goodies, old and new, as I find them in the next six months. I like to call this maximizing my gift budget. If, say, my budget for my nephew is $20, that means I still have $19.50 to go, and I’ve already gotten him a wonderful book he’ll likely enjoy. See what I mean?

Try garage saling sometime with a view to gifts, and see what treasures you can haul home.

So, a word about the wine. As I was browsing the books at this fine woman’s sale, it occurred to me that she and her friends were having some sort of wine and munchies. When I commented on it, I was told they have “happy hour” every Friday at quittin’ time. Then I was invited to their subsequent gatherings (having proved myself as a kindred bookish soul), and poured a glass of nice red Shiraz. $80 worth of books AND a glass of wine? Best Garage Sale Ever!

A pint of organic strawberries from CALIFORNIA at the grocery store is $4, and California ain’t anywhere around here. Atlee Yoder, an Amish farmer and friend, lives an hour away and he and his children pulled this produce from the ground today. Yes, gas is a buzzkill these days, but driving an hour for organic produce seems like positively green compared to buying veggies and fruits trucked in from thousands of miles away.

Plus, we got the bonus of tromping around in the fresh air on the farm, chatting with adorable Amish children (Sarah, Robert, Rebecca, Annie, Amos, Sadie, Maddie, and John), petting baby goats and watching ducklings waddle around like they own the place.

Amish ducklings...are they as cute as Englisher ducklings?

The best part about being part of a veggie share is that we have to find a way to make use of what’s growing right now, which expands our palates. Take kale. Just a year ago I thought kale was like an artichoke. Ha! Not at all, as it turns out. All it took was a simple Google and I found a killer recipe for sauteed kale by Bobby Flay himself (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/sauteed-kale-recipe/index.html)

We served this over pasta and it was fresh, green, and delicious!

Atlee also sells his artisanal cheese for $5 a pound. That’s organic, raw milk, handcrafted cheese, like a “gouda or baby swiss,” the straw hatted cheesemaker said, for $5 a pound!

Atlee's artisanal, raw milk cheese for the wacky price of $5 a pound

Now that’s a good looking bunch of cheese right there! A fromagier’s dream, and cheap.

Have you ever considered joining a CSA? Are you in one now? What’s your best kale/strawberry/radish/rhubarb recipe? I mean, not all those things in one recipe…:) If it’s easy and cheap, I’m in!

Six kids ages 4-12 were enthralled for over an hour with this super simple craft!

 Plastic or glass bottles (salsa and fudge bottles work great) and lids make phenomenal homemade lava lamps the kiddies will love. Store-bought craft kits can be anywhere from $3-$30, so this one’s especially cool, plus, as I said, a monkey could do this! How to: Use one part oil, and one part water and fill up your jars. Add a couple drops food coloring, and then one or two(or more) antacid tablets leftover from that horrible night after hitting the buffet a little too hard at your sister’s birthday party. Watch the bubbles in utter fascination. The kids will go ape for this project, and it costs pennies for the oil and the food coloring! Bonus: As a little Christmas gift for Phoebe’s friend who loved this project, we saved a really nice jar, spray painted the lid a pretty color, dropped a couple of antacid tablets and a tiny container of pink food coloring in the jar along with instructions on making her very own lava lamp.

Try this one and let me know how you like it. You’ll never recycle jars the same way again. I’m always assessing each jar I put in the dishwasher for its lava lamp potential! Do you have any favorite recycling crafts for kids? Don’t hold back now…

Horse-trading trots to the big city 

Remember when the annual Christmas cookie-exchange was the social highlight of the year? Friends and neighbors gathered in someone’s home to load up on the latest gossip and returned home with a Herculean assortment of festive cookies.

In these lean economic times, some good old fashioned horse-trading is back in style. No horses?  Budget-savvy consumers have learned to apply that principle to trading perfume, clothing, purses or toys; just about anything that can be purchased can be bartered or traded.

Life’s bare necessities come first in the family budget, often leaving scant pennies for extras like landscaping.

In the foothills of the Rocky Mountains, at Calgary, Alberta, gardening enthusiasts have taken to hosting neighborhood plant-swaps as a way to maintain annual yard beautification … for free. With perennials selling for $5 to $10 per pot, a plant exchange fluffs up the flower beds without depleting the emergency fund!

The rules are simple: thin out your perennial plants in early spring and pot up the extras. Start with a half dozen, keeping in mind that the more plants you bring, the more you’ll be hauling back home. Label your lovelies with a popsicle stick and Sharpie, and then let the good times roll.

Last week, I headed out for my annual plant-swap with five humble lily-of-the-valley and returned with 15 assorted ferns, mosses, flowers and herbs – an embarrassment of botanical riches…all for zero deniro.

I felt I’d struck gold the next morning as each precious, and literally, price-less, plant found a place in my flowerbeds. I couldn’t help but wonder, can some things in life really be this simple, and has ‘horse trading’ once again become a respectable pastime?

Note from Lorilee: What a fabulous idea, swapping plants! What kinds of plants would you love to get for free? Do you think a plant swap could work in your neighborhood?