The Tampa IKEA

Image found - IKEA Tampa Fan Blog

My day at IKEA documented through photos. 

Enjoy!!

I know I sure did :)

I found a whole bunch of really nice photos of more furniture groupings HERE at My Tampa Life.  I just love the rooms that IKEA sets up.  It was pretty crowded when I went, so the My Tampa Life photos are really nice since it was before the Grand Opening.

I haven't participated in Leigh's Thrifty Thursday in ages, but IKEA is thrifty especially if you contain your enthusiasm and don't over buy!  Most of the IKEA frames I purchased were $4.99.  Last year those same frames were $7.99!  It wasn't a sale, but their new lower price.  Now that's a deal!! 

I purchased napkins in all sorts of different colors, a ton of photo frames, a small glass baking dish, two things to send my nieces and some red and white wrapping paper.   Per usual, I spent more time taking photos than I did grabbing up deals.

I hope you can visit an IKEA in your travels at some point and I also hope you can go over to Tales of Bloggeritaville and see what other thrifty finds the other participants have dug up!

Have a delightful day!
Kristin

Cheap Thrills

Welcome to my Cheap Thrills edition of  Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville.   I have been wanting to talk about this little exchange that took place on Facebook the other day, but didn't quite know how to title it.  When I came up with Cheap Thrills I thought it would make a tongue in cheek "Thrifty" post!  I hope this story puts a big smile on your face.

Thanks Leigh for putting this together each week!

My sister Alison asked a question on Facebook and she got 17 responses.  One of those responses was from my youngest sister.  It turned Alison's question into one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time.   I hope you find it to be just as fun!

Click on the photo to make it larger & easier to read.

Several  people commented including myself that the TV show she was thinking of was "Greatest American Hero" which aired for only three seasons from 1981- 1983.   Below is the minute and a half TV intro.  Brings back a lot of memories! 



Have you seen this show?  I only watched it a few times, but I remember the opening credits very well.

THEN (my youngest sister)  Hillary said...

Oh my goodness, I'd never heard this before!  Thankfully there is a video of this Seinfeld clip.  It's a hoot!




So,  my Thrifty Thursday post for this week is a cheap thrill! Something funny that makes you laugh right out loud and doesn't cost a thing. I hope you enjoyed! Please leave me a message as I'm not at home :) but please visit the other Thrifty Thursday participants as they have a lot of great ideas, too!

Have a great day!
Kristin

Thrifty Cookbooks

Welcome to my musty, old, fun, cookbook edition of  Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. I'm focusing on cookbooks today, but you never know what the other participants have found as thier thrifty find.

 This week I've put together some scans from some very thrifty cookbooks that I got at an estate sale while I was in Michigan.  I got eight books and a folding yard stick for $4.  Most of the cookbooks were compilation books lovingly put together by women (I'm sure) as a way to raise money for some event or church event.  I love those types of cookbooks, especially the ones from the 50's and 60's, because it really shows what people were eating and cooking at that time.


One of the things that caught my eye in this first book is the section on sandwiches.

I don't eat a lot of sandwiches mostly because I rarely feel like eating deli meat on bread.  I think of a sandwich as being that way and only that way.  (BLT's being the exception to that thinking!)  In the 70's when the "If You Can't Stand to Cook" cook book was written, the idea of having a sandwich was much more varied than I would have ever imagined.   You can click on the pictures to enlarge them. 

I have to interject - I am not going to eat peanut butter and pickles.  I just can't!  Ahhh, but someone really liked that combination or it wouldn't have made it into the book.

 Do you see anything you'd try?  Some of the ideas are truly thrifty - cottage cheese and chives?  I eat that in a bowl.  I never thought of making a sandwich out of it. 

"A Flavor Saver!"  A metal tea ball holds whole spices, like bay leaves, cloves and garlic.  Saves tying in a bag.  Hang over the edge of kettle to season food.  (Pierce County Medical Auxiliary Cook Book Tacoma WA.)

 I thought this was a good tip - one that I wouldn't think of right away.  Funny though, I wouldn't put the garlic in there, as I'd want it in whatever I was simmering.  To me, the garlic is a prize if I get some in my bowl. yuuuummm :)


I am a lover of hot dogs.  I love them.  It's like a secret indulgence.  I now buy the all beef, sold by the pound at my local Fresh Market hot dogs, so that's not thrifty, but it's definitely very good eating.  If you've got some of those regular hot dogs hanging around the house, you may want to make up some interesting "Frank" dishes!  I may have to try the Frankfurter Stroganoff.

This next section came from a book that had lost it's cover and several pages.  I have no idea what organization put the recipes together, but there were some ads in there from Puyallup, WA. so I'm assuming it was at least put together there.   Every recipe had a hand drawn something on the page.  I fell in love with the drawings before I realized that it was not a complete book.  Ah well.  Love is blind :)

Don't you just love the names that accompany each recipe?  I want to be Minnie Morris :)  Maybe I can be for just a day.

Look! more frankfurters and a fun weenie dog haha

The next clip is from a 1976 East Lansing Michigan edition cookbook.  The cookbook contained recipes from as many of the families of East Lansing Mayors, city administrators and those associated with Michigan State University.   I'll spotlight some of the things I found in that cookbook at a later date, but I had to showcase this snippet.  I can't imagine when I'd need to know this, but it's definitely not something I would have ever thought up on my own.

I hope you have a fabulous Thrifty Thursday.  Once again, go take a look at the other participants, here, and see what fabulous finds they have in store for us. 

The NaBloPoMo site for today is Life in the Bogs.
I totally got sucked into the photos and found myself clicking back page after page to see the changes in the pond.

Kristin
(aka Minnie Morris!)

Thrifty Chalkboard party ideas

Welcome my late edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

I've got a High School reunion coming up this weekend and we wanted to make some very thrifty items for the event, but still have them be interesting.  I got an idea awhile back from that chalkboard party that was held - some folks did some very interesting things with chalkboard paint.  Also, I received in the mail my gift tags from Olive Rue just before I left town and that gave me yet another layer of ideas.  So what I did was to make a bunch of short term chalkboards, gift tags and clothes pins for my reunion.   By short term I mean that it's pretty much a one or two use thing.  The paint was thin, the paper was posterboard, not wood - so that type of short term.

Here is my lovely chalkboard paint and roller.  My paint was from 3 or 4 years ago - so totally thrifty!  It's been paid for already.

Here is the beginning of the clothespins.  I did all 4 sides and the little kissy mouth ends :)  I didn't do the inside as it was just too difficult.  I took the spring off of one clip just to see if I could get it back together and there was no way! LOL  Lesson learned on that one.  I bought the clothes pins at Michaels.  I think they were $2.50 for a package of 20 or so.

These are the chalkboard tags.  This is only one coat so far - they don't look streaked with two coats.  We are going to attach these to the gift baskets and use for various things.   They are way cool.  These were the hardest item to find - just a plain white tag.  We went to three different stores and finally found them at Hobby Lobby.  A package of 20 for $1.99.  We'll probably use 10 and I made 60 :)  Over-kill, but that's OK.  I'll write notes on them and pass them out at the reunion all night. 

These are the posterboard chalkboard signs.  They will be cut in half to make two signs.  I experimented here because I HAD to!  It was an overwhelming desire to use chalk on a newly painted surface.  My instructions on how to make sidewalk chalk literally glide on a chalkboard surface is here, a part of the chalkboard party post that I did.  The posterboard was $1.99 for a pack of 5.  I will get 10 signs from the 5 pack. 

The pumpkins in the shot above are also from Hobby Lobby.  They were 50% off and my mother picked those three up for $30 total.  They look great on her table and what a deal!  We're having a pumpkin carving party near the end of the month, so these will make nice decorations for the food table.

Thanks so much for joining me on my chalkboard paint extravaganza.  My mom has a cardboard box that printer paper comes in, that she has written over with black ink to mark that the box now holds plastic party supplies.   It's just a mess.  I told her that the leftover chalkboard paint would be great to paint on the ends of the cardboard boxes in storage, so it would be easy to read what's inside and not be distracted by the pictures and other writing...and also easy to change out the tag.  :)  Good idea, huh?  You know I will be painting that box tonight, don't ya?  Yes, I do believe I have to. :)

Thanks everyone!! Hop on over to Leigh's to see the other participants in Thrifty Thursday.
Have a wonderful week!
Kristin

Thrifty purses

Welcome my late edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

I went shopping this week and actually bought something!  I went to Target (we have a Super Target) because they have a very large selection of turkey products.  As I finished with the grocery side, I went over to the other side.

That's the expensive side for me at times.  Especially when I know I need a few things and I knew I need a new purse.  My current bag is really looking beat up.  I've had it a year and it's traveled a million miles.  I still think that I want to take it with me to Rome because it can hold SO much and I can carry it easily.  So I need something to replace it for everyday.  I spent nearly 30 minutes in the purse and bag section and the payoff was fabulous!

These photos don't do the bags justice - the red bag is a gorgeous leather bag.  I don't know why it looks like it has white rings on it.  It's all red and I really like it.   The weird purple bag is a thin fabric bag that has a giant long strap.  I wanted it to hold my camera and a some money - It's just a get-out-of-the-car-with-the-camera type of bag.  Not my everyday-haul-everything bag.

Thrifty? 

Oh goodness!!  They were both on clearance!

The weird purple bag - I know, it's not a beauty, so no kidding it was on clearance, but it was $3.  Three Dollars!

The red leather bag - $12.

I'm super pleased.   What I'm even happier about is that I knew if I didn't find the right bag for me, I didn't need to get one today.  I went through all of the bags available and the ones on clearance were the perfect ones.  Yipppeee :)

If you get a chance, please go visit the others at Leigh's Thrifty Thursday.  Have a great day!

Kristin

Thrifty Finds

Welcome to the 33rd edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

This week I'm showing more of my photo finds from the Antique Mall here in Jacksonville, FL. I also found a few things in my travels this weekend in Five Points ( a cool little area in Jacksonville.) I had a great time finding these treasures, hope you enjoy them!



This is a real nice platter. It had a bunch of items on top of it, but I dug through it all :) and for $13 I could have purchased it. I have a platter similar to it that I rarely use, so I just wished.

I am emptying matchboxes around here and have no place to put the matches. I thought this max holder would be perfect. I took the photo and checked the price and then some man got to talking to me about who knows what and I walked away not remembering that I wanted it. LOL Sometimes having a bad memory is a good thing. It saved me seven bucks!

Now this was a document that lists the persons name and their occupation & the dues they paid. I was intrigued with the paper but mostly I was in love with the handwriting. Below I have a blurry closeup. What a beautiful script. This document was $18 and it was already in a frame.





Have you ever seen one of these paper records? I had forgotten about them completely until I saw this. I'm positive that I used to have a paper record when I was young. This item here was $5 - marked down from $8.

This picture was taken at a retail shop in Five Points. Five Points is a little section of the Riverside neighborhood that has a great little row of shops. This store, whos name I totally forgot, is wonderful. (Bob, do you remember this place? You got a purse here, as I recall)

Anyway, the entire store is filled with these antique mirrors. If you click to enlarge the photo you can really see in the mirrors. The oval mirror on the right has a reflection of one of the other walls of mirrors. What a great idea. I love it. I've been to auctions before where the discarded dresser mirrors are purchased for a few dollars.


I'm going to end my Thrifty Finds with this smiling boy. I have always liked these oval frames, but rarely do I see a photo inside with a smiling subject. I haven't priced these out, but even for a smiling boy, I think $58 is a little too high. Then again, my photo of it was free!!

I hope you have enjoyed my Thrifty Thursday and please go ahead and wander on over to Leigh's and see the others who have participated.

Have a fabulous day!
Kristin

Thrifty Finds

Welcome to another edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds.

Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

This week I'm showing more of my photo finds from the Antique Mall here in Jacksonville, FL. I didn't buy any of these items, but every one of them tugged at me and made their presence known to me.

This was one of the very first things that I spotted. I had a china tea set when I was little and I loved it. I didn't ever use it to play tea, but I used to set it out for my dolls and I'd stack the dishes and arrange the place settings. I think it was during those moments that I feel in love with dishes. This set was marked $7. I thought that was a pretty good price for a complete set.

Next up was this set of pink kitchen appliances. They were a mess. They were used and abused and probably left in a basement or garage for a long time. I liked that they were a set and pink. These could be thrifty at $60 - in great condition they could be worth hundreds of dollars - but in this case I included them because I'd never seen a whole set before.

I almost pulled out my wallet for these. I'm a sucker for silverware. This silverware was heavy and fabulous. It was also $65, a real bargain in my books. Below is a close up view of the soup spoon. It is SO deep. It's a real soup spoon. You can actually get a nice big bite of food with this spoon.

Oh, I loved this set of silver.

If I didn't have two other sets of silver already, I would have added this one to my possessions.


These white pagodas, pillars, whatever they are, are made of wood. Carved. Totally cool. $300 for the pair. What a statement they'd make in a yard. I want a plant in the middle and I want to paint them some wild color. If I had a yard I would have figured out a way to stick these in the car and haul them home.

In the background are the carved wood shutters that I featured a few days ago - here.



My last find were these yellow coasters. I think the price says $6. These were so sweet. I don't think I would ever use these as coasters. I'd probably use them for snack plates. I have small dishes that I use for a handful of nuts that I nibble on in the evening, a scoop of cottage cheese or maybe even as a little dish to serve my kitty her wet cat food. Yellow and green is one of my favorite color combinations.

I hope you enjoyed my stroll through the antique mall. Please stop by Leigh's place to meet the other participants. I know I will!

Have a fabulous Thursday!
Kristin

Antique Faces

Welcome to another edition of Thrifty Thursday hosted by Leigh of Tales from Bloggeritaville. This gives us all a chance to have a fun time hunting around the house, the garage, someone elses house and garage or even a thrift store or two to dig up some cool finds. Be sure and check out the other Thrifty Finds, from the other participants. I'm always amazed at what folks submit and how often I wish I'd found it, or bought it or noticed it...whatever IT is :)

Yesterday, in anticipation of Thrifty Thursday I went to a local Mall - the Avonlea Antique Mall to be exact. It is one of the nicest antique malls I've see in a long time. My allergies are such, that the days of being able to scrounge around in a dusty, musty antique store are gone. This is not that type of place. There are booths, but the booths are quite large and easy to maneuver around in. I found a ton of treasures...enough for two weeks!

This week I'm going to show you the fabulous faces I found at the mall.

I do believe this is the face of a Hindu deity, but I'm very willing to be wrong on this one. It was a giant piece - about 4 feet tall. I just loved the whole thing - the gold, the black and the red light shining on the side. It was thrifty for me because I just photographed it. Purchasing it would be a whole other thing as it was a few thousand dollars.


This lady was sitting high up on a shelf, surrounded by hats and gloves. I don't think she was for sale.


This blonde little gal had a few sisters in this booth, but she had the greatest looking hat. The hat was $10.

Raggedy Ann has seen better days, but for $4 she was a bargain. I haven't seen a large Raggedy Ann doll in a long time. Usually when I see them, they are the little dolls. I was really tempted to get Ann here and bring her home.

These two darlings are a hoot! You can get this pair for $12. I think the little boy really wanted the drum. These little figurines were about 5" tall. They'd certainly brighten up a little corner.

I didn't realize until I got home and looked at the photos just how many faces I focused on and photographed. So that's the reason for this post - The Antique Faces that I found at the Mall. I hope you enjoyed the trip and come back next week when I'll show you some more thrifty finds.

Be sure to go visit all of the participants in Thrifty Thursday.
Have a great day!
Kristin