Month: October 2026

Little Corner of the Yard

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Outside StuffLeave a comment

A while back I had mentioned that I wanted to turn the corner where our sad fire pit sat into something more special. We had the saucer swing which had always been hard to sit in and when it ripped I fixed it with duct tape. The whole project stalled because I just didn’t know exactly what I wanted. I also didn’t want to spend a lot of money. I do believe that sometimes a person can actually speak things into existence.

So here is where this whole project started. Donny and I went to an estate sale our on Gladewater Lake. It was the second day of the sale and I was sure that the item I was wanting would be long gone by the time we got there. I didn’t tell Donny that we were going so I could buy this item. The house was gorgeous and it was owned by a plastic surgeon. He must have traveled extensively because even the things that were left on the second day were pretty amazing. There were two lounge chairs from the Queen Mary that were unfortunately $225 each. That wasn’t what I came for though.

How awesome would it be to have this as your backyard? Anyway, as soon as I walked up the path to the sale I saw it. I told Donny that I wanted to get and he said let’s look around. Uh, you don’t know it but this is what I came for. When Donny walked into the house I told the man working outside that we were going to buy it. It was $30 but since it was the second day I got it for $24 and change.

The paint was chipping in places, but it was sturdy. I was starting to get the vision for my corner. I definitely couldn’t keep it white. Nope, nope, nope. I wanted this corner to be fun and colorful.

I chose Icy Grape Krylon spray paint. One piece of the puzzle was complete. Now to figure out the rest. Because I wholeheartedly believe that if I wait a bit, items will find me. That’s exactly what happened.

When one of Donny’s salespeople needed a house we referred them to our landlords. A house became available on the next street over from us. Donny told the person that we have a very good relationship with the landlords and to please keep the house up since we vouched for her and her husband. Well, after a year they were moving back to the state they were from. The day the moving van left I went over there and looked though the front door window. It was trashed!!! Donny and I had already discussed that if this happened we would clean it out for free. I contacted the landlord and told her our plan. She felt bad not paying me, but there is no way I’d take any money since we were the ones that referred her. She told me that if there was anything I wanted to just take it. There were 2 things I found that I definitely wanted. A small patio set and two wooden boxes. The corner was not coming together.

Of course I couldn’t leave them bare wood. It took at least two coats on every side, but I think they are so cheerful. I keep a supply of oops paint so this project was cheap. I didn’t know if I was going to use them as planters or what, but I knew I’d figure it out.

Last Thursday Donny saw an estate sale and asked me if I wanted to go. I had already checked the sales on the website and didn’t really see anything that caught my eye, but I never say no to any estate sale. When we walked into the garage I saw this.

It’s 6ft tall and was turquoise. I asked it it had already been sold and they told me no. I looked all over it for a price tag but couldn’t find it. One of the workers told me they’d take $15 for it. Sold! When we went to pay for it Donny didn’t have his wallet and my purse was in the car. I ran back out to get it and when I was walking back in I saw this in a flower pot. I pulled it out, brought it in, and asked if it was for sale. I got it for $8 and the only reason I found it was because Donny, who never leaves his wallet at home, did this time. It was meant to be. I went over it with a light coat of the icy grape and now it looks iridescent.

It was also turquoise so I painted it the color scheme I was using.

I spent all day yesterday working on the corner. I think it is turned out exactly as I pictured. I’m still not completely finished but here’s what I have so far.

I had to dig down 12″ to place the spinner. I also got the peacock from the rent house.

The wood 4x4s that we had around the fire pit were rotten. I picked up edging and pebbles to fix it up.

I painted the edging and spray painted the pebbles.

This is the little set I got from the rent house.

I still have some painting to do like this walk way, the chair and the blocks under the wooden boxes. I stacked the boxes because I figured we could use the top as a buffet when we do s’mores or hotdogs. I painted some wooden poles that I’m going to string our solar lights on. I just have to dig down about 6 inches for each one and I am so sore today from hauling everything out there and also carrying the edging and bags of pebbles. I am super happy with how it’s turning out. I just love a good place to hang out and read or just chill. I never thought I’d get this done. Ever. LOL

The Menagerie

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Sometimes I feel as though we have a small zoo. I feed 3 young skunks. They have gotten so used to me that they just walk right by me and I can walk around them without them running away. We started seeing them when they were very young. Standing with their front feet in the bowl was a normal occurrence.

They are getting so big.

Mr. Whiskers, who at one point looked like he was near death, is doing so well. His coat has filled out. There are no wounds on him. He eats at least 2 soft scrambled eggs a day cooked in coconut oil. In fact, he’s eating one right now.

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He now allows me to let him sit on my lap, but he still refuses to come inside. On my walk the other evening I happened upon an almost new two story cat house for outside cats. I knew the people that left it on the curb, but when I knocked on their door they weren’t home so I dragged it up their driveway and went and got the car. This will ease my worry a bit about when it gets cold. I don’t know if they will use it or not, but it will be there for whoever will. I’m going to put it on pavers and make it a little more homey.

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Every morning I wake up, start the coffee and then go outside to feed and water the cats. I heard this strange meow coming from behind the potting table. I thought it was Mr. Whiskers and that he had been in a fight and was hiding. I called Donny outside to help me find him. Nope, not Mr. Whiskers.

Meet Koda (if you are familiar with the movie Fern Gully, he is named after Batty Koda. Just look at those ears) I took him to the vet and he is 5 weeks old and weighs 1 pound 5 ounces. Well, last week he did anyway. Donny was not happy with our find, but who can resist that face. He loves Donny.

Ruthie was not thrilled with the kitten. He is pretty crazy and loves to try to wrestle with her. She slowly warming up to him.

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We still have Milo, Malley and Monkey. Monkey will come inside when it gets cold. Her decision not ours. She is a very stubborn little cat.

As far as an update on Penelope our house chicken. There have been a few changes. I got this thing our.

She is very happy with her window.

I also ordered her this wonderful creation from the Tiktok shop.

I take her on a walk every day. She absolutely loves it. Her favorite place is the walking trail.

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I spend a lot of time outside and so does Penelope. She even has her own chair.

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I also bring it inside so she doesn’t have to be in her cage all of the time. I thinks she’s living a pretty good life.

So that’s our little gang minus the 7 chickens in the backyard. I do love animals.

p.s.

I haven’t been writing lately because my WordPress is still messed up. I’ve been working with the help center and we think we have it somewhat fixed. Thank Goodness

Day Out With Donny

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Day Date, UncategorizedLeave a comment

Donny lost 2 salespeople which means his store is very understaffed. This means that he only gets one day off a week. Yesterday was that day. We knew that it was going to rain sometime in the late afternoon. I had seen two estate sales put on by our favorite company so we decided that would be something fun to do. I hadn’t even looked at the pictures on the website so I had no idea what was even for sale.

The first sale was in a very nice neighborhood. This was the second day of the sale so we didn’t know if there would even be anything left. People here are serious about shopping estate sales. We were told by a few of the people working it that it was so crowded you could barely get through the house. No thanks, I’ll just look at the leftovers on the second day. There was still so much left. I spent $7.00 and this is what I bought.

All of the candles and the body butter were unused. The Winter Candy Apple is not a scent that I would ever buy full price, but it was only 2 bucks and I do like body butter. It will work fine on my legs after I shave. I loved both of the candle scents the smaller one is creme brulee and the Yankee Candle is Italian Christmas Biscotti. Both are going to be good for the cooler months. I am always needing tapers and votives. I had a trivet for over 10 years. It got broken and I just got the first one I found at the thrift store. It had fruit all over it and wasn’t really my taste. I love the fish trivet. It goes so much better with everything that I have in my kitchen. The necklace is for Hannah my goth child. It absolutely is her taste.

I also picked up this candle holder because I love the stained glass look. When we got home I put a candle in it and it glows so nicely.

My very favorite thing I found was just in a a random basket in the bathroom.

I follow a guy on Tiktok who talks about all of the fragrances from the 70s and 80s. He has mentioned Youth Dew several times. In high school my friends mother used to wear it and her whole bathroom smelled like it. When I opened this bottle and smelled it, it didn’t smell as powdery and old lady-ish as I remembered. It’s actually the bath oil and there was no price on it. When I took it up to pay they just charged me a dollar for it. When we got home I put some on to see how it interacted with my skin. For some reason scents that smell really good on other people don’t on me and vise versa. I was shocked how much I loved this scent. Even Donny said it smells good. I had to run up to Hannah’s work today and a woman who was in line said that she smelled incense and it smells so good. It was me. This Youth Dew smells just like a cinnamony incense. It reminds me of how the incense ball in the Catholic church that the priest waves around but spicier. Best deal of the day right there.

We drove the the second sale and it was pretty much empty. There was a red vintage hutch that Donny thought could go where our bakers rack is but after really looking at it, it was just going to be too bid for the space. It was so cool and would have given us more storage in the kitchen but I think opening the fridge is more important and I wouldn’t have been able to if we had purchased it. Donny was off looking at things in the house and I had walked into the backyard with these two women. They stopped to look at some plants that were growing. Turns out the were Thousand Mother plants so they told me to take some of the “babies” off of the edges because you can plant them and they will grow.

As soon as we got home I watched a YouTube video to see how to plant them. Hopefully they will take off.

By this time we were starving and the dark clouds were rolling in. We had both seen a review on a little taco shop that’s in a convenient store down the road from us. We could have eaten there, but we wanted to go ahead and get home. Donny got a pastor quesadilla and I got the pastor tacos.

Holy cow they were so good! I did try the hot sauce. All I did was lick the top and it burned my mouth so badly I had to chug milk. If you are ever in Longview you need to try the food at Tejas Mart. It will not disappoint.

Since we ate lunch so late we weren’t hungry for dinner. There was a nice steady rain falling. Donny was watching the football game and I had roasted tomatoes that I needed to make soup out of.

It’s still raining today and nothing hits better than tomato basil soup. I need to go have lunch and then work on my WordPress site on my laptop. I had to finish this post on my phone because I’m not able to scroll for some reason. Hopefully I can figure out what’s wrong. Ugh.