Homesick + Home Tour

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn UncategorizedLeave a comment

Today I was tired. I went to work for the first time in 6 days. When I got home there was so much that needed to be done. My kitchen was still in disarray because I still needed to paint the wall that was repaired. I had groceries to put up and move the bakers rack back in with all that entailed. The chick pen that is still in the living room needed to be cleaned out. It’s days like these that I miss our house in Baton Rouge.The square footage was only about 100 more than where we are now, but it had so much storage and vaulted ceilings and I really loved it. It was actually the 3rd home that Donny and I have bought and sold during our marriage and it’s my favorite. It’s the smallest and the one that needed the most work, but when I saw it on Zillow that Sunday morning, I just knew that it was the one for us.

I don’t think I’ve ever put an actual house tour of that house on here. I tried to find the before pics, but I can’t find them anywhere. We knew when we bought it that we were going to remodel eventually, we just didn’t expect it to be all at once when our whole neighborhood took on over 4 feet of water. Here is our sweet little home on Holly Street.

Our plan was to paint the brick a charcoal color.

Walking in the front door.

The sliders led out to a little patio.

We completely reconfigured the kitchen. When we bought the house it was a galley style. We kept the upper cabinets, but had to replace all of the lower ones. We did the work ourselves and because we were on a budget we used wood for our countertops which I loved. The island was just a high table that FEMA gave all of the flood victims. I stained it and added the distressed wood to the front.

I found this navy blue oops paint that was perfect for this small area.

This main bathroom.

Our main bedroom. The home is 3 BR 1.5 Bath. The french doors led out to the covered patio. The carpet in all the bedrooms are carpet tiles that I laid myself.

And one of the main reasons we bought this home was the backyard.

Home is where the heart is and we are very happy where we live now, but this house held so many really good memories for us and sometimes I still have homesickness pangs for this sweet little home.

The Wall

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

The best thing that happened today was our leak was fixed and the wall got put back together. I just need to repaint the area tomorrow. They also found out that the pipe was going uphill instead of downhill so I guess something good did come out of it. Old houses, gotta love ’em.

i need to find a place for these cuties. I’ve had them stored in the shed. I got them last year at our neighborhood grocery store, after Halloween, for 90% off and have been looking forward to finally get to use them.

And here’s disco ghost or seizure causing ghost, whichever. I didn’t realize it was going to flash different colors like it does. Sorry, you only get the purple, but I’ve saved you from a seizure so there’s that.

it’s actually much cuter in person 🤣 Sorta.

Sunday.

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, JournalLeave a comment

Today I woke up knowing exactly what was on my to do list. I was going to steam clean the rugs, touch up the paint in the bathroom, start on the Halloween decorations and finish up the laundry. I had deep cleaned the bathroom the day before and had noticed that there was some water marks on the baseboards behind the toilet and next to the vanity. It seemed dry. It wasn’t. I ran the sink to see if any water came out onto the floor. It did. I don’t know why these things always happen on a Sunday. We rent our home and our landlords live 5 streets away. I immediately texted them and they were over in less than an hour. The easiest access to the leak was from the kitchen. This is how my kitchen looked.

You can see the water damage. Luckily the pipe is just dripping. they will be back tomorrow at 8 to cut open the wall all the way to fix it.

I had to move everything out because our kitchen is small and they need all the room to gain access.

It feels so empty and not like my home. When we were looking for a house to rent, it was smack in the middle of quarantine. Our lease was up at our other house and although it was twice the size there were problems with it starting to pile up. They were also raising the rent quite a bit. We just didn’t really like the house. We started looking and we found only 2 that were in the right school district. The first one was already rented so we came to see this one. There were no pictures of the outside and when we drove up we knew why. It was just a plain box. No landscaping and the whole house was white with chipped grey shutters.

When we walked in and both Donny and I looked at each other and said nope this isn’t going to work. It was small, half the size of what we were coming from, but the backyard was huge. There was only one bathroom, but everything had been very well maintained. There was carpet. Everywhere. And not pretty carpet either. Then we talked to the landlords. They were just so nice. They don’t ever raise the rent once you move in. Ever. And the price was less than most one bedroom apartments. They said we could put in flower beds and I could paint the front door and shutters. The only stipulation was that she didn’t want me painting the walls. They had been freshly done, in white, and I loved it. So that’s how we got here and we’ve been here for 3 and a half years.

I just covered the carpet with rugs. Lots of rugs. Now all clean rugs because I did manage to steam clean them today.

Cute runner I ordered off Wayfair.

Woven leather rug we got 90% off from Ashley and a vintage wool rug I got for $30 at an estate sale. The leather one is super hard to take care of though. You can’t use the vacuum on it. I have to use the brush attachment, but it was such a great deal I don’t mind.

I did get some of my Halloween decorations up outside. Yes, they are super cheesy, but the kids still like them because we’ve had them for years. We used to have 3 tombstones, but one blew away last year. We just make it work, cheesy or not, but most of the time cheesy wins.

I do love Halloween!

Thrift Style

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

Most of my home is thrifted. I love estate sales and thrift stores. I like that I have things in my home that no one else has. I fill my walls with things I love. I am running out of room, but that doesn’t stop me.

Some of the more recent things I’ve purchased I was able to hang up today. I think my favorite is the antique frame with the hand drawn daisies. I found it in the garage of the last estate sale we went to. The woman was an artist and had some amazing pieces, but this little picture was just sitting in the dusty garage. When I saw it, I knew I had to have it because it was just too pretty to be sitting by itself away from all the other paintings and drawings. I guess whoever set the sale up deemed it not special enough because they only priced it at a dollar. Thank you L. Richards, I will appreciate your drawing of one of my favorite flowers.

It has found a home next to my vintage clown head. Another thing is, I love clowns. No hate please. LOL

I also painted the frames that hold our antique sheet music that we found In Gladewater at an antique store that was going out of business. I had originally painted the frames grey, but all of our frames are either black or wood, so I decided that black was just more cohesive and it made everything come together.

I guess you could call me a maximalist.

The vintage Mexican pottery also found a new home on our shelving unit.

I repainted the little terra cotta moon I picked up recently because for some reason it just seemed flat and you couldn’t really see face. I used my go to favorite go to paint , Tuscan Sun. I very rarely use word signs , but I just really loved this one. The cross in the middle is from the same estate sale.

Now it’s late, well for me. We’re going to get cozy and watch the final episode of Shelter.

If you are wondering what that cylinder thing is, it’s my bongo.

Also, one last thing. Donny got the frame up for the greenhouse, but it was so dang windy yesterday the cover is going to have to wait a few days.

Yes, those are kiddie pools. They make good, cheap planters and we have used them for years.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Yesterday started off really good. Donny had seen an estate sale on estatesales.net and mentioned that he wanted to stop by before I had to start my colonoscopy prep. It was in a gorgeous neighborhood that we had never driven through before. Besides that house that was having the sale, the house across the street was also for sale. Yes please.

It was the second day of the sale, but I managed to find this antique frame with hand drawn flowers and a piece of vintage Mexican pottery. Donny found some saw horse things for the greenhouse that is actually going up today.

Since I’d been on a clear liquid diet since 6:00 the night before my stomach was growling. Loudly. The only thing I’d had that morning was black coffee. My prep started at 10 that morning so when we got home I had some jello and took the first 4 Dulcolax. I was fine until about an hour after and then the nausea hit.

I tried to drink some peach flavored water, but my stomach was not having it. I thought, well it’s not TOO bad. Boy was I going to find out just how wrong I was.

At 2:30 I took my second dose of 4 Dulcolax. I was still feeling nauseated so I did some comfort reading by one of my favorite authors. Easy, mindless reading to keep my mind off how I was feeling.

And then at 3:00 the fun started and by fun I mean sheer hell. Like I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy.

This is a WHOLE bottle of Miralax mixed with 64oz of Gatorade. You have to drink 8 oz every 10 minutes. Just looking at the picture makes my stomach sick. And as luck would have it, I hate Gatorade. I’m not going to sugar coat anything. This was awful. I couldn’t leave the bathroom and after a few hours I was throwing up and had a massive headache. I was feeling so bad that I was seriously considering canceling the whole thing, but I had come this far and just told myself that I could push through.

I could feel myself becoming dehydrated, but I just couldn’t drink anything. Donny ran to Sonic and got me an extra large cup of ice. That was the best ice I’ve ever had. About 9:30 I went to bed but was up every hour to run the to bathroom.

I made it through the night. We left for the hospital at 5:40 with me still having to use the bathroom every 20 minutes. I was so relieved to be called back and get my saline IV. It made me feel so much better.

To anyone who is afraid of the actually colonoscopy, don’t be. You are completely asleep with the most wonderful drug. They woke me up afterward and I had no idea where I was. Everything went well and just like that they were discharging me. My discharge notes said the procedure took 8 minutes and also my prep was excellent. It damn well had better been.

Here are some suggestions to make the prep easier.

Don’t take 8 Dulcolax even if that’s on the instructions. Trust me on this. 2-4 is fine. Eight is overkill and I think that’s what caused so many of my issues.

Get some depends or something like that. You will need them. I didn’t have any so I stuck a puppy pee pad into my underwear like a saddle. My husband was laughing so hard and begged me to let him take a picture. That was a no.

You may have to make a bed in the bathtub. It’s just practical. You can thank me later. This only works if you don’t have to sit on the toilet and puke into the bathtub.

If you like Gatorade, pick the flavor you dislike the most because you won’t want to drink it ever again.

You will be starving when you’re released, so don’t worry about calories and eat what makes you happy.

And here’s a happy picture of my welcome home

P.S. – this post is not to put anyone off on getting a colonoscopy. If I had to I would do it again, I would, but I’d use my tips and do a little more research into the prep

Prep Night

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

Friday morning I have the treat of getting a colonoscopy. If you’ve never had one, I haven’t, come on this fun journey with me.

I went to work this morning. The owner and I had already decided that working tomorrow probably isn’t a good idea. I was able to get everything done that was needed before the weekend.

Lucky for me there was only one smallish bounce house and a tarp to clean out. Not so lucky for me the weather was moving in fast.

Yep, I ended up getting soaked but I’m off for the next 5 days, so I didn’t really mind.

At 6:00 tonight I had to stop all solid food and start my liquid diet. I decided to go big and eat stuff I normally wouldn’t right up until that little hand hit the 6.

Lunch was chili cheese tater tots with mustard.

Mmmmm, super healthy, but not near as healthy as dinner.

Oh yeah, that is Long John Silver’s. And that’s my last food until Friday afternoon.

Truthfully, it’s not the fast that has me concerned, it’s what I’m having to take tomorrow. It’s scary and I’ll take you along for the ride so if you ever have to do a colon prep you’ll know exactly what to expect.

And what does your family do for fun on a Wednesday night? Ours goes to Walmart for popsicles and jello. I’m telling you, Wednesday at 8 is the time to go because there was hardly anyone there.

And yesterday I found this cute Lucky Brand tshirt dress, with pockets, at my favorite thrift store for 4 bucks. Since I ate such crappy food today I’m thankful for no waste band. The print reminds me of mattress ticking.

Back In the Saddle

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn My JobLeave a comment

I don’t think I’ve ever talked about my job on here. I have a very small part time job that I just happened to fall into. Like some of my other part time fit into my schedule jobs, it’s weird and kinda unconventional. I clean bounce houses. Not just bounce houses though, I clean obstacle courses, giant water slides and whatever else the owner has rented out recently. I only work about 3 hours a day, 4 days a week. I started this job as a way to get into shape and not have to pay a gym membership. It’s like the gym pays me.

Anyway, because I’d been under the weather and had also hurt my hip I had been out for almost 2 weeks. It’s just myself and the owner that work there, except when his kids come to help sometimes. Luckily today was pretty easy because, although I have to wipe down every surface inside and out, they were actually clean.

I only manage to do 2-3 a day and this was the first one I unrolled and inflated. One of the perks is that I can go down the slides and jump to my hearts content. My heart was contented pretty quickly after the first few months.

The second one did need vacuuming first. There is a bounce area behind the slide. I don’t mind doing these, but there are some that I really don’t enjoy.

These are not my favorite. When this was taken it was over 100 degrees and we were all feeling it.

But out of the 30 plus inflatables that we have I like most of them and really like my job. I guess I’m still just a kid at heart.

Kitchen Monday

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Baking, Easy mealsLeave a comment

Some days I feel like I spend most of my time in the kitchen, but I really don’t mind because I really like to cook. Every single morning, on the days Donny works, I make his breakfast and lunch that he takes to work. This morning it was pork tenderloin and eggs.

For lunch I thawed some homemade pasta sauce, that I made with tomatoes from our garden, that i had in the freezer and sausage tortellini.

It’s amazing how much money we save with him taking his lunch everyday.

After running a few errands I decided to bake some cookies. I like to cook, but I love to bake. These were just basic chocolate chip, but I find baking so relaxing. I also like knowing exactly what is in the food my family eats.

We make our own ground beef and last night I ground up 12 pounds of brisket. I always keep a portion of it to make a Mississippi roast. While I was at the store I found a packet that had everything I needed. I normally buy the ranch mix, Italian and au jus separate. I thought I’d give it a try.

Here it is all in the pot.

It turned out so good. We had it with mashed potatoes and corn. A good stick to your ribs meal.

Also, I was almost out of two of my favorite products.

Have you tried this toothpaste? We love it. The only drawback is that it’s black and can be a bit messy. They also make one with fluoride if you prefer that.

Look at that poor little sliver. It’s orange patchouli. That, patchouli and Dragon’s Blood are my favorite scents. They make your whole bathroom smell heavenly. I love Zum products.

And here’s our stray chicken herding cat that gets cooked chicken because he does such a good job. He lives across the street at my neighbors, but earns his keep by making sure our chickens don’t go out into the street.

Yard Day

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home life, WeekendLeave a comment

This is how my day ended and I very rarely drink. It was actually a very good day where the temperature was not in the 100’s. I got a lot done, which means I am TIRED.

My yard was bad. It needed mowing, all of the dead plants needed to be pulled up, we needed mulch. You name it, it needed it. Up until a few weeks ago Donny was working an hour and a half away. He’d leave at 6 and not get back until 10. He was also working 6-7 days a week. It was rough. He was exhausted and I was juggling everything else. With the awful heat and his being away, our yard suffered. So today, we woke up, and got busy.

We have white vinyl siding on our house and it will grow green algae after a rain. I got that wiped off and the windows washed. The beds needed a bit of weeding so I got that done while Donny mowed the backyard. While he mowed the front I got the shed cleaned out and pulled out all the Halloween stuff.

I moved 27 pots that Donny will be able to use in his greenhouse that I got him for his birthday. Hopefully we will get that put up soon. We ran to Lowe’s and picked up 4 bags of mulch and 3 small mum plants because after I pulled out all the dead cucumber vines I had a big ole empty spot.

I was shocked at the price of plants. A solo cup size Rosemary was $19.98! A Black Eyed Susan, same size, was also that price. Are they insane??? Anyway ours were 3 for 10, not too bad.

The new mums all potted. I’m going to repaint the stepping stones. They’ve seen better days.

No more algae.

Freshly laid mulch!

How cute is the Boo Yah sign? I love Halloween!

I still have a lot to do tomorrow, but I’m feeling so much better with all we accomplished today.

Saturday

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

I miss Louisiana. To be more precise, I miss southern Louisiana. I would go back, you wouldn’t have to ask me twice. I loved it; the parades, the swaps with hauntingly beautiful cypress trees dripping spanish moss. We loved all the parades that no matter what holiday was being celebrated all felt like Mardi Gras. It was mystical, magical. This is why I made a small homage on a small wall in our hallway.

The fleur de lis holds souvenirs from parades and trips to New Orleans. I found this awesome book that had drawings of NOLA that I turned into pictures.

Couldn’t forget the king cake baby.

I found this cool picture at a thrift store when I was putting this wall together.

Today was also clean the house day. I have a “uniform” that I always seem to wear when it’s cleaning day.

It’s my Saturday look.

Nothing beats a clean house, especially a clean kitchen. I feel like I spend most of my time there.

We live in a small home that comes complete with a small kitchen. We make it work. Also, I think our stove qualifies as vintage, but it keeps perfect temperature.

It wasn’t all work and no play. If you haven’t watched Harlan Coben’s Shelter on Prime, you should. The last episode comes out this Friday, so then I’ll have to find something else to watch.