Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, Relax

On April 1, 2026 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

Yesterday when I went out to check on the garden I saw that cats had been digging up my potted cucumber sprouts and flower sprouts that were also in pots. The little rascals had not been digging in the front bed with the cucumbers because I saw the opening where they were getting in and I strategically placed some flower pots in front of the opening. I, however, did not know what to do about the pots that were in front of the enclosed garden until I remembered seeing some wood that a neighbor down the street had put on the curb for the bulk pickup.

This was the first load I picked up. The woman who lives in the house came out and told me to take as much as I wanted. It was stacked up like a Jenga game so it was a bit difficult to not knock down the whole pile that came up to my chin and was longer than my car. I think it was from a deck they removed.

I stacked some of the pieces under the pots to see how that would work to deter the cats.

I sent Donny these pictures and asked him if he thought I should go pick up some more because they would be a good barrier border around the chicken coop. We have had some problems with possums getting in. He was all in so I went for a second trip.

It was hard sweaty work to load and unload all of this wood, but luckily I decided that this was enough. There were screws in most of the boards. It took me a while to figure out it was the star bit that I needed. I worked on getting the screws out.

When I come outside to do some yard work, I always have a helper. She can hear me come outside and jumps over her fence to hang out with me.

I did catch her standing in the middle of one of my raised beds, so we are working on leaving the garden alone. When I go back inside she runs home and bounds back over her fence.

After all the hot back breaking work I decided to take a little rest in the backyard. When the shade hits the back part of our yard is feels so cool and breezy. I grabbed a blanket, cushion, cold drink and my book and headed out.

Can we just say it was a gorgeous gorgeous day?

O’malley likes it when I chill with him in the yard.

And a big thanks to our chickens who are finally laying again. We are pretty sure it’s because we have been adding the pepper flakes to their feed.

Estate Sales + Catch Up

On March 26, 2026 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home StuffLeave a comment

On Thursdays Donny and I like to go to estate sales. Today he asked me if there were any that looked interesting. The two from our favorite company didn’t really look all that interesting. There was one about 30 minutes away in Gilmer. We decided to take a little drive and go to that one. The last 4 miles of the trip was a 1 1/2 lane road that had drop offs on both sides. It was beautiful though.

It was unfortunate that the sale itself was not very good. Everything was way overpriced. The company that held it was one we had never been to before and I don’t think we’ll ever go back to one of theirs again.

Last Thursday, however, there was a sale in my very favorite neighborhood in Longview. Nugget Hill is one of the oldest, if not oldest, neighborhoods with the most amazing houses.

This house was across the street from the home where the sale was. It’s always been one of our favorites. I looked it up online and even though it’s not for sale anymore realtor.com still has the photos up. The address is 814 Charlotte if you’re interested.

This was the house of the sale.

I cannot tell you the love I have for old houses. The house seemed like a maze and had some very cool items for sale. Since I have pretty much finished the inside of our home I wasn’t really looking for anything in particular and just actually came to see the house. I did find some flower pots outside in the garage area that I picked up for $2 a piece.

I also picked up this Himalayan salt tea light holder.

The rest of Donny’s time off last week was spent buying some plants, cleaning off the patio and working on the coop.

Planted some lavender and repotted my avocado tree whose pot was broken in the storm.

My little cilantro seedlings and some rosemary have new homes.

I used some of my propagated pothos to plant in the wall pots.

The bird feeder that I had in the garden area was not being used by the birds as they preferred their hanging feeder. I decided to turn it into a bee watering bowl instead.

Wiping down the patio was my baby. Pollen is heavy and the dirt that blew in with the storm was making everything a real mess.

This is what was covering EVERYTHING. It took several hours to get all of the fabric and rugs washed and pollen gunk cleaned off. I found the lemon sage castile soap at Drug Emporium. It got an excellent rating on Yuka and was 1/3 the price of Dr. Bronner’s. Plus the smell is so yummy.

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It was so worth all of the hard work.

We have a trunk on the patio that we picked up at an estate sale several years ago and had never really paid attention to what was inside.

We soaked everything in vinegar and cleaned them up.

I feel like I’ve been burning the candle at both ends so today after we got home I watched a lifetime(ish) movie, complete with a unbelievable plot and bad acting, and took a nice long nap complete with Milo and Baby Ruth.

Spring Is In the Air

On February 18, 2026 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn gardeningLeave a comment

I had an hour and a half to kill in Kilgore. Instead of hitting the thrift stores I needed to go to Dollar Tree and Walmart to pick up some items for starting our garden. But first I need to make room in my trunk. I had been hauling around two big bags of clothing donations for months. Luckily for me, there was a donation drop off next door to Walmart.

Because I was picking up three kids I couldn’t use my backseat so I was thrilled to find these bins to make room for my purchases.

In Walmart I picked up the seeds I needed. We decided to only plant crops we would actually eat. I also found a good deal on a huge bag of potting soil.

Didn’t realize that the picture came out upside down, but you get the gist of it.

I was also out of bird seed for my feeder so I needed to pick that up also.

At Dollar Tree I picked up these baking pans with lids. I’ll put the seed starter pots in them to act as a terrarium. I have had the seed pots since last year. I got them 90% off at Dollar General.

Dollar Tree had some cute flower pots. I needed some for herbs.

My best finds at Dollar Tree were these celestial metal art. This one is the exact color of our front door.

I loved this one, just not the color.

Nothing that a little spray paint won’t fix. I left the can so you can see how big these actually are.

It looks so much better.

I also did some weeding and looked to see if any of our plants are worth saving after going through winter. The hydrangea is budding. I was worried about that one.

The mint comes back every year.

My mums actually survived being dragged from the laundry room to outside about a million times.

I brought my peace lilies outside to do a little trimming on them, add some more soil and give them a good soak.

Also, here is a cost efficient, easy to make dinner.

If you don’t like Italian sausage you can substitute whichever kind you like. I took this picture before I added the parsley. Donny thought that the potatoes were pineapple. The whole dish was really good and it made enough for me to pack leftovers for his lunch today.

Day #78 – Shakespeare Garden

On September 11, 2025 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

I’m on day 3 of feeling unwell. Yesterday I had to go pick Jackson up from school and ended up getting there a bit early. He had told me about the Shakespeare Garden that was right by the art building. I decided to take a look while I was waiting.

You pick up a sheet that’s on the gate and just follow the path.

It’s so pretty and serene. There are benches placed throughout the pathways.

I loved the butterfly house.

Because it is later in the season there is not a lot blooming right now.

I just love that they have this on campus.

Today was Donny’s day off (yes, he did have to go in for a few hours due to some unforeseen issues) but before that we decided to stop by an estate sale that he had seen online. It had a clown painting that he thought I’d like. Oh, and I did. Too bad it was $140. We always go to this company’s estate sales that they put on, but lately the prices have gotten outrageous. We ended up leaving empty handed. However, as we were walking to the car I saw the first Halloween decorations of the season.

I love Halloween, but Fall doesn’t begin until September 22nd. I just cannot get myself to put up Halloween decorations when it’s still technically summer. It just feels so wrong to me. These were really cool though.

Since my pumpkin vine is getting longer we decided I needed some pollinators. We went to Home Depot and picked up some mums and marigolds. My marigolds are still growing and not yet near the bloom phase. I need so insects to have something sooner so maybe when the pumpkin vine flowers it will get pollinated.

I had to get yellow since it’s my favorite color. Fingers crossed I’ll feel well enough to get this planted tomorrow.

Day #14 – Hard Day’s Work

On July 6, 2025 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

I love a hard day’s work. I sleep better. I feel like I have accomplished what I set out to do. It’s just a good feeling. This morning I got back to work on the windows. I had to sand them to make sure I didn’t have a lot of loose paint. I don’t love painting, but I do love the results.

I didn’t tape off the other windows. This was my last one and my hand was so tired I didn’t think I could free hand it as well.

It’s amazing what a difference a little paint can make. I still need to scrape off the old paint on part of the window, but the new paint hadn’t dried yet.

While I was outside painting Donny was cutting back the Morning Glory and he also cut the giant sunflower off.

Once you remove the outer cover you will find all of the sunflower seeds.

I’ll use them to plant more next year.

By this time I was a sweaty mess so I went inside to cut up a watermelon. The chickens love when I do this because they also get a treat.

I didn’t want to stay inside because I was already sweaty. I cleaned out the grill and started weeding the garden. I found aphids. I cannot stand those bugs so I sprayed them with Thieves and dumped out morning coffee grounds where I saw the little rascals. I don’t know if that will work, but they didn’t seem to like it at all.

My poor hydrangea was not happy in the pot we had her in so I decided to try and save her by planting her in the ground. I hope she lives. She is getting new growth since we moved her out of the direct sunlight, but she still wasn’t thriving. We’ll see how she does in the front.

I have a plan for the planter she was in. It has a trellis because Jasmine was originally planted there but it died during the winter.

I finally hung up our flags. I think they are perfect for Summer.

We had to run to Walmart when Donny got home and although they did not have pumpkin seeds, I did find this poor unloved plant for $5. Let’s see if I can nurse it back to health.

Two completely random things that happened today. I found that Walmart makes gallon sized tea bags. I make tea almost everyday and these are going to make it so much easier.

I’ve also never had a cat that likes to watch TV. We had the soccer game on and as soon as she saw what it was she climbed her little butt right up to the screen and tried to get the ball.

My thoughts and prayers are still with the people affected by the floods in the Hill Country. I heard that Kerrville and Hunt are being evacuated due to more rain coming. It’s such a devastation situation.

Day #2 – Side Garden

On June 24, 2025 By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

I accidentally woke up at 5 am. I made coffee and waited for the sun to come up.

When I went to let the chickens out I noticed our Morning Glories are blooming.

Since this is day 2 of day 100 doing what needs to be done to make my life better, I started weeding the front beds. We have 2 gardens. We consider the one in the front mine and the side one Donny’s although they are my plants in it.

Donny has been busy, busy, busy at work. That means long hours and getting home every day after 7. So I felt it was up to me to get the side gardens in shape. Plus I googled when to plant pumpkins in our zone and we need to have them in the ground by July. I have no idea where we are going to plant them because they take a LOT of room. This is what I started with.

Such a weedy mess.

After almost 4 hours this was the result.

I twisted dragged the hydrangeas to the front because they were burning up where they were. I moved all of the random sunflowers Donny planted, some of my avocados and plants that didn’t have a home where the hydrangeas were.

I weeded the enclosed garden, but once plants start bearing vegetables they get big and take over. I feel like I accomplished so much today that wasn’t on my normal to-do list. That side garden is looking so much better. There’s still a lot of work to be done in both the front and back, but I feel if I can work on it everyday it will get done.

There was no rain in the forecast at all so I was surprised when the dark clouds blew in and it started pouring. I’m glad it did because it cooled everything off and filled up our rain barrel. I’d used quite a bit of the water in the gardens.