Urban Farmhouse Part 2

I finally got some of my Christmas decor boxes out of the crawl space last night, so I'm going to try to kick start my holiday decorating today. I feel so behind. Normally, I start decorating first thing in the morning on the day after Thanksgiving. Just wasn't feeling it yet this year.

Here are the second half of the photos of my day of shopping at Urban Farmhouse in Thornville, Ohio. You can see Part 1 of the tour HERE.

Urban Farmhouse Part 1

A little over a week ago, I went to a holiday open house at Urban Farmhouse in Thornville, Ohio.

Thornville is a bit of a drive for me, but I like to get to Urban Farmhouse every few months as a sort of reward for myself. It's a store full of eye candy and a relaxing way to spend an afternoon.

And, be still my heart, they have Shiny Brites!

My Day After Thanksgiving Lazy Fest

I had plans today to do nothing. Nada. Not a darn thing.

Well, I was going to read my issue of Folk Magazine that I had been saving for my annual day after Thanksgiving lazy fest.

And maybe start to plan some holiday decorating.

Am I alone in the fact that I just can't plan out my holiday decor months ahead of time? For me it's a slow, enjoyable process where I can casually reminisce about each item as I gently unwrap it from its cocoon and decide where I will place it this year.

Heck, I don't even remember having half the stuff until I pull it out each year.

Thanksgiving Day 2011

A New Addition To Our Family

I'd like to introduce you to a new member of our family!

Lacey is a five year old Labradoodle that recently decided to adopt us.

Prior to coming to our house she lived with a wonderful host family that kept her while she was having puppies for a local breeder. Her breeder allows the dogs to have just a few litters before they are retired to live the rest of their life puppy free.

She's sort of like the Michelle Duggar of the dog world. Except that Michelle Duggar isn't child free, nor is she going to be child free anytime soon, but you know what I mean.

Don't Box Me In

Thank you all for your advice on my Thanksgiving cooking dilemma. After much thought, we decided to buy one of the roasters and give it a try. What I did not realize is how HUGE these things are. So after Thanksgiving I will have another dilemma. Where to store this massive thing.

But enough about Thanksgiving, I have some thrifty finds on my mind. On Friday I went to a garage sale that was listed on Craigslist. The woman had a lot of photos on the CL listing and it looked like it could be a good one. It was.

Unfortunately, I got there a little bit later than I wanted to. We'll blame it on a much needed stop at Tim Horton's for breakfast. Speaking of Tim Horton's, who ever had the thought of selling donuts through the drive-thru was a genius. My thighs thank you!

So anyhow, I got there a little late. A lot of the stuff I had seen online was gone, but there still was some good stuff to be had.

Like this wooden dresser drawer

with a neat little drawer pull.

Why It's Not Good To Be A Procrastinator

OK, I admit it, I'm a procrastinator.

The oven part of our stove quit working two weeks ago. Since I'm such a master chef, it didn't really bother me until a few days ago when I realized that Thanksgiving was just around the corner.

Yes, I can go two weeks without my oven working and barely give it a thought. That's what they make microwavable soup and Wendy's for.

So I called the stove repair guys and low and behold it's some circuit board doohickey that they have to order and it won't be in in time for Thanksgiving.

I think I'm fine with finding alternative ways to cook most of the stuff, but not sure how to cook Tom the turkey.

Has anyone used one of these roasters to cook a turkey before?

Or maybe I should just switch back to my original plan of going out to eat at a restaurant for Thanksgiving dinner. No, I won't be going to Wendy's or McDonald's (Hey, they aren't open are they?), but some of the ritzier hotels in town have nice buffets going on that we may take advantage of.

Procrastinating does have its downfalls. I'll be sure to work on that some day.

Instant Thanksgiving Decor

I was feeling like my house was a little naked for Thanksgiving, so I added a turkey print to one of my frames to gobble it up a bit.

It took me all of five minutes.

I just printed out this turkey graphic from The Graphics Fairy on a piece of thrift store sheet music (I made the image black and white before I printed it). And then I taped it to the inside of the frame.

Voila, instant Thanksgiving decor.

Not an original idea, but quick and easy. And this girl is all about quick and easy right now!

Hey look, I can do a post that's not ridiculously long and doesn't have 400 photos in it!!!

Drawers Turned Cubby

I don't normally spend too much time on the Pottery Barn site. Like their decorating style, just don't like their prices. And when you can make most of the stuff yourself or find similar things at garage sales and flea markets, it just doesn't fit into my frugal little mind to spend a lot on a home decor item.

But my niece had seen an Optician Sign on the Pottery Barn site that she thought was cool and on the way to checking out that, I ran across this Cubby Organizer. I fell in love with it and thought it would be perfect for my office.

Via Pottery BarnThen I saw the $129.00 price tag.

After I got done cleaning the Coke off my computer screen from where I had involuntarily spit it, I started to think of ways I could make it myself.

I had these four wooden drawers that I had bought at a garage sale for 25 cents each in May. Yes, May, as in six months ago! They had just been sitting in my garage collecting dust and spiders ever since.

And if you turn them on their end, they sort of look like a shelf. Put all four together and you have my version of the Cubby Organizer.

Hedge Apples And Other Thrifty Finds

It's been a little while since I've shown some of my thrifty finds, so I thought I'd show you what I found this week. Don't get too excited, because it's a short list.

Ta-da. This is a footed silverplated bowl that I bought at an estate sale on Friday. 50% off, so it was only $3.00.

Doesn't it look quite fancy juxtaposed against the worn, chippy wood of the bird house?

The Great Turkey Switcheroo

The day after Halloween I had the overwhelming urge to purge my house of all things orange, spooky or jack o' lantern related.  So I tossed my ghosts to the curb (OK, to the storage box since my little hoarder self wouldn't really throw them away) and exchanged them for turkeys.

Here's the BEFORE with the ghosts floating around.

Bulldogs and Hydrangea

I just realized that it's time to change out the Halloween part of my rotating banner at the top of my page and I haven't even posted about the dog photo that is in the middle yet. He is part of this vignette on a small table in my dining room.

I have recently started collecting small china dogs. The fact that my Grandma collected china dogs over 50 years ago doesn't bother me one bit. What's old is new again, right?