Tag: life

Spring Prep

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Home lifeLeave a comment

The weather the last few days have been glorious. The 10 day forecast is supposed to carry it on. I know it could be a false Spring, but I’m just going to pretend like this weather is here to stay. When the weather starts warming up is when I do my seasonal clothes swap out. It’s not time for that yet, put I have been noticing that there are items in my closet that I just haven’t worn in forever. So I did a closet purge.

I’m getting rid of 17 items and I’m sure that by the time it warms up I’ll be getting rid of more. I still need to purge my purses and shoes, but for right now things fit in our shared closet. That’s one of the drawbacks of living in a house built in 1961, the closets are tiny.

By the time I finished with that the sun was shining and I was itching to get outside and start prepping the garden. It has been bugging me for a while because the weeds were out of control and we had dead tomato plants and cantaloupe vines.

I also dug up the weeds around the garden. Next I moved to the baby pools. They took were so weedy.

I got the easier one done first because I have to move the wire fencing around the other one and get the weeds that are growing into it.

We are still debating if we want to till part of the backyard for a bigger garden. What I think I want to get are the oval galvanized raised beds. I just think it will be easier to take care of and the chickens, hopefully, won’t eat everything out of it. Whatever we do, we need to decide soon. With Donny working so much the responsibility will be falling on me so I’m thinking smaller.

By this time I had been outside several hours. You know if you weed it’s a lot of squatting and digging. After I came in Donny said, “let’s go to the gym”. We joined Crunch 1.) so Hannah would have someone to go with and 2.) since we are getting older I want to make sure we lose muscle tone and stay in shape. I shouldn’t have gone after all I did outside. We did the elliptical and the recumbent bike on the Alpine program. When I got off I couldn’t walk because my lets were like jelly. Today my thighs and butt are killing me. I keep telling myself the only way out is through. Guess I’ll be back at it on Monday. Ouch!

A Little Shopping Time

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

I decided to take most of the day off. I don’t have an actual “job”, well at least I don’t get an actual paycheck, but I take care of everything around our home. Monday I had deep cleaned the house. Yesterday I did mountains of laundry.

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I thought after all of that I needed a little break. I have been looking for a frame for Hannah’s Girl with a Pearl Earring adaptation that was one of her art projects. I had found several, but the frames ran vertically instead of horizontal. I could have changed the hanging mechanisms, but since the ones I liked were all professionally done I really didn’t want to mess with it and have it fall off of the wall. Today I hit the jackpot and found exactly what I have been looking for.

I just had to take the backing off and her picture fit perfectly.

It’s big and I have hardly any wall space left. I took down my jester picture and I think it looks mighty fine in its place.

I couldn’t not find a place for the jester so I moved some things around and now he’s in the dining nook.

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I picked up a few more things from the thrift store while I was there.

I couldn’t pass up this wooden shelf. I needed one for above my nightstand and this one was perfect.

I also found some cute shirts in my Fall colors.

Both of these look grey for some reason but they are actually olive green.

I absolutely love this mustard yellow blouse.

Couldn’t pass up this candle. I have a couple of this brand. It’s made here and the smell is amazing.

Donny needed me to run to Office Max to pick up some desk calendars for his work. I needed a new planner. I’m so picky about my planners. Office Max had no cute ones and they ones they did have were SO expensive. I walked down to TJ Maxx and they had no good planners either. Books a Million is in the same strip mall so I checked there and I did find one I loved but it started in July 2025 and ran through December 2026. I cannot stand to start a planner in the middle so that was a no.

I decided I would go check in Ross and no matter what, I would have to just take what I could find there. Ross is where I got last years planner that I absolutely loved. I found the exact same brand!!!!!

This is 100% my favorite planner.

This is the brand and you can’t beat the price. All-in-all it was a good day to get out and get stuff done. It was also in the mid 70’s. I don’t think we’ll get to wear any of our winter clothes very much this season.

Oh, and my second daughter let me know last night that she thinks she was a ghost baby because there are no pictures of her when she was a baby. I sent her over 20 this morning and have so many more. This is one of my favorites.

It’s hard to believe that these little pumpkins have kids of their own now. Dang how time flies!

Best Thrift Find Ever

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Frugal LifeLeave a comment

We have been looking for a new couch. It’s ironic that my husband works for a high end furniture store, but I still haven’t found “the one”. No greys. I wanted an earthy type that fit our vibe. I loved our old Ikea couch, but it has since been discontinued. I really liked the couch we have, but the cushions had gotten smooshy. We had decided to get the cushions redone. To actually do it correctly it would be over $100 per cushion. Well, today I went to my favorite thrift store. I was looking for a certain size frame. I didn’t find one that would work, but on my way out I spotted THE COUCH.

I can normally spot high end products, so when I saw this piece I knew immediately that it was a good find. I dropped my bags and immediately went and sat on it. Holy cow it was so comfortable and looked like it had just come off a furniture showroom floor. When I say it was immaculate, it was. I started flipping the cushions and was shocked when I saw the brand.

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I called Donny and told him what I had found and when I told him it was a Massoud he said, “get it”. It’s a high end furniture company and their stuff is built to last. Y’all it was only $125!!!!! Not the several thousand dollars it would have been in the store. It was perfect. The right colors, the right size, just everything.

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It’s just so perfect. Donny called the guys who deliver for his store and they met me, picked it up, took it to our house, unloaded it where it needed to go and hauled off our other one. That service did cost more than the actual couch, but oh so worth it.

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For some reason it looks a lot darker in this picture, but it’s a rust, yellow and mix of other colors.

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O’malley loves it too.

I did actually pick up a few things before I found this beauty.

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They extended nickel book month so I dug through the many bins and found these. I even found one of my favorite childhood books.

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This cute bird candle was only $1.

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A heavy weight cherub tea light candle holder for $1.

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This cute bracelet was $2.

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I love this little guy. He is a bit Halloweeny, but I’m still going to put him on my outdoor shelves. He was only $2.

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And last, but not least, I got 4 placemats for 50 cents each.

I’d say, all in all, it was a very good thrifting day.

Oh, and one of Donny’s customers were getting rid of their Massoud couch because they just wanted something new. I bet you anything it’s the one we bought.

A Very Bad Week

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn Medical stuffLeave a comment

Last Sunday I woke up not feeling well. I was having really bad back and lower abdomen cramps. I had had them on and off the week before but just thought they were gas pains. This day though, my whole body felt “off”. I went to bed early and Monday I was sure I had a UTI. I had all of the symptoms so I started AZO. For some reason it just wasn’t working, but I thought I could just power through.

Tuesday and there was still no relief and I started getting extremely nauseated. I decided to go the the grocery and pick up some cranberry juice. I was basically living on AZO, aspirin and cranberry juice by this point. The UTI was not letting up. I would have called to make a doctor’s appointment, but I already had my 6 month thyroid one scheduled for Friday morning.

Wednesday and nothing had changed, only gotten worse. I drank a half gallon of juice. I couldn’t eat because I felt so sick. My lower abdomen, side and lower back were killing me. That night I contemplated going the the ER but decided I could stick it out until Friday.

Thursday morning I woke up still hurting. I was having the worse UTI I have ever had in my life with not relief from anything. I went to the bathroom to pee and immediately felt better. I look in the toilet and lo and behold there was a kidney stone.

I still wasn’t feeling super great so I was ready for my appointment on Friday. They tested my urine and found blood in it. By this time though, my UTI symptoms had basically vanished. (kidney stones can cause UTI symptoms) The doctor (if you read here you know we don’t have a great relationship) stepped out of the room to make a referral for me to get an x-ray and call in an antibiotic for me.

My phone was on 1% when I got the text from Walgreens that my prescription was accepted. I clicked on the Rx site to see what he had prescribed. I am so thankful that I did because he had prescribed Cipro. About a year ago I saw a TikTok video about how dangerous Cipro is. Sixteen years ago the FDA warned doctors about the very bad side effects that this drug can cause. It’s a Black Box Warning antibiotic.

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It’s also not just a run of the mill antibiotic that you would prescribe for something that is on the mend but you just want to make sure it gets cleared up. It’s BAD!!!!

His assistant popped in to tell me it would just be a few more minutes and I told her that I was not going to accept the Cipro and could he please prescribe me something not as dangerous such as Bactrim. I expected a fight from him, but he did it. I cannot express enough to advocate for your health. If you feel something is wrong or you are not getting the care you feel you need SPEAK OUT. Don’t just blindly accept what a health care worker tells you.

I got my kidney x-ray done so I guess I’ll find out later this week if everything is okay. I actually feel better today than I have in about a week and a half.

I did make my detox salad and it was so good!

Random Saturday Goings On

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn thriftingLeave a comment

Normally we have a relatively quiet Saturday. We keep errands to a minimum and just spend time at home. Today, however, that was not the case. I noticed that we were very low on coffee so that meant a trip to Walmart. I like the Great Value coffee. It taste just like Folgers and comes in a big cardboard canister that can be recycled. But before we went to Walmart we stopped off at Hope’s Closet. Hannah was with me and we had planned to go earlier in the week but never made it.

She found these cute boots that were brand new. They are so her style.

She also got these pants that will fit into her wardrobe perfectly.

I picked up this olive green sweater. Not shown is the Nautica sweater I picked up for Jackson that he actually liked.

Walmart was PACKED!!!! It felt like we were playing Frogger ,or as Hannah described it as Crossy Roads, when we were trying to get from one aisle to another. I have been having menopausal symptoms that were not fun so I did a little research and decided to try this. I will make a doctor’s appointment if I feel like this isn’t working.

Hannah needed some candles and while we were looking for those I picked up some incense cones to use in the holder I bought by mistake.

I’ve never bought the Mainstays brand, but at least they are made in India.

We we got home from Walmart I got a text telling me that my Michael’s voucher expired today. I checked at it was a $10 one. The kids are always needing art supplies and I knew Jackson needed ink for one of his classes so off to Michael’s we all went. I think that everyone in Longview was also wanting to go to the same place. It doesn’t help that TJ Maxx is right next door. The line of cars turning in when we were leaving was crazy.

The one thing that I HAD to do today was grocery shopping at Aldi. I did not want to go. When we drove by it didn’t look very crowded so I took a deep breath and headed out. I was so wrong because there were SO many people shopping. I did however find some fake Poppi that I can’t wait to try.

And I had never seen these before. They are so good and gluten free.

I have to be so much more careful and read ingredients. This morning I woke up bloated with all my joints hurting. I could not figure out what in the world was causing this until I realized what mistake I had made. The past two evenings I had eaten lobster bisque soup for dinner. I actually know how bisque is made and it’s made with a flour base. I just wasn’t paying attention. Tomorrow I’m going to make a big detox salad and lentil and carrot soup to see if I can get rid of all the gunk.

After I settled in at home I started searching for shoes that I have been wanting to get for Fall. I had the exact shoes I was looking for in my head but couldn’t find them anywhere. I wanted a medium brown corduroy footbed clog. I found some that were the right color from Birkenstock but they were suede and if I was going to pay that kind of money I wanted what I wanted. I finally found them.

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These are exactly what I had pictured in my head. I ordered them immediately and cannot wait until they arrive. I ordered them 1/2 size bigger than I normally would so I could wear them with socks when it gets cold. Do not judge me! LOL

And I will leave this post with the bad little kitten that climbs everything.

Just look at that face. She knows.

Day #68 – Pushing Through

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

I’m still not feeling great. I felt better when I was consistently taking my supplements and have been slipping lately. Tomorrow I’ll go through them and start the regime back up again. I had no choice but to go to the store because we were out of milk and almost out of cat food.

Jackson and I hit the dollar store to see if there were any cat toys for the kitten. She has a windup chicken that is not a cat toy. She loves hair ties, bottle tops, pretty much anything that isn’t for cats.

At first Baby Ruth looked at me like I was crazy when I gave her the toys. Later on we found her favorites were the sushi ones. She likes to slide them along the floor and toss them into the air.

Even though I knew it was Monday and sheet changing day I almost talked myself out of it. Just one more day won’t hurt, but I knew it would bug me if I didn’t just get it done. That’s also what this 100 day accountability is about: doing things that I really don’t feel like doing but will improve my life. So I got out new sheets and threw the old ones in the wash so they just won’t pile up.

I did take breaks throughout the day because I can’t overwork my body right now. Because the temperature was only in the high 80″s I thought it would be a good idea to vacuum out the car. We have an asphalt driveway that is narrow and we track dead grass onto the floorboards and it drives me nuts. I almost couldn’t finish because I was sweating so badly. We’re talking rivers of sweat. Another symptom I have.

Luckily I have thrown caution to the wind and was wearing a tank top. I detest strapless bras. When I was cleaning out Hannah’s room I found this awesome mustard color bralette. She doesn’t like that color so I took it. It’s so comfortable and the straps are cute and supposed to show.

i’m hoping once I get back on my supplements I’ll feel better.

Oh, I’ve also decided to embrace myself, wrinkles and all. I hate foundation so I decided I’m not going to wear it anymore. If I want to wear brighter lipstick, that’s what I’m going to do. My hair gets wild and curly, so be it. I just want to love life, have the best time and not care what anyone thinks. The end. LOL

Day #54 – Fall Prep + Thrift Haul

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Because the heat index was supposed to hit 105 today I decided to get an early start on prepping for our fall garden. Technically, this is Donny’s garden. Mine is at the end of the front flower beds, but I guess we are now sharing the big enclosed one. It was a mess! We had neglected it once we realized that our huge tomato plants were only going to give us the two tomatoes we had already picked.

I just knew I was going to find a snake, I didn’t though. It took a lot of elbow grease and sweat but I finally got it cleaned out.

I did keep two of the most promising looking tomato plants. They have some blooms on them but if they don’t look like they will be growing any tomatoes, they’re out.

I had a HUGE weed pile and luckily was able to fit it all in one of those big yard waste paper bags.

After a much needed shower we had a unexpected, yet wonderful, rain shower. It cooled things off considerably. I decided I needed to get out of the house so I drove around the corner to Big, our favorite thrift store. I actually took my time today because the kids were busy doing something or other and wanted to stay home.

I have no idea why this is so blurry, but it’s a gray tank top type shirt. It’s the kind I just love to wear on hot days.

Another wonderful blurry pic, but it’s a lacy tank top that will go perfect with this gauzy peasant skirt I have.

They were just putting this out and I grabbed it because it will be perfect for fall and winter. It’s by Steve Madden, in excellent condition and I just love it. Especially because it was only 4 bucks.

Cute little candle holder.

I needed a small lamp because I love the ambient lighting I’ve been seeing in kitchens lately. Of course it was too big to go on top of my cabinets so I just switched places with a smaller one I already had that did fit.

I finally found a butter bell! I have been wanting one for a while now but I just didn’t want to pay full price. The color didn’t come out right, it’s actually mustard yellow which fits perfectly in our kitchen. It was on $2

I love background instrumental music. I found this flute album for 50 cents and it’s beautiful music. (I already tried it out) The kids get restless when I’m looking at book so today I got to peruse the bookshelves to my heart’s desire. I found some good ones, I think. I have already started reading Big Woods. When I was ready the synopsis I saw that it’s set in Longview. I’m 42 pages in and don’t want to stop reading it. I googled the author and she wrote Hunting Wives. I haven’t watched the series on Netflix yet. The funniest part is that it’s about Longview. I found it in a Longview thrift store, but it’s from Eastlake Public Library in Eastlake Ohio. So bizarre.

Now I’m going to clean up the kitchen and get back to reading.

Day #52 – One Thing Leads to Another

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

I knew when I woke up that I was going to get the weed eater out and finally get the front done.

I wasn’t planning on doing the back, but Mr. Laurence was outside doing the neighbors yard so I decided to go ahead and do the back side of the house, around the shed and around the coop. I guess I never realized how much of an arm workout that is. I figured I’d go inside after that, that is until I realized I had never cleaned out the deck box.

There was so much stuff that needed to go into the shed. We had just gotten lazy and instead of walking it back there we just tossed it into the box.

I still have some solar lights that I’m not sure where to put yet. I moved all the car cleaning stuff in here. I also moved the potting soil and some extension cords. After toting all of that stuff to the shed I decided to clean off the patio of all the random garden tools and pots that we weren’t using. I swept and wiped down everything because even though they are finished with the road there is still so much dust.

I cannot wait to start having dinner out here again. It’s just been so darn hot.

Monkey’s food and water stay on the table because she is so finicky and likes to eat by herself.

We always keep a gap on the plant tables because, well…..

I got some more pothos propagated. I’m hoping they do okay. The sun in this area isn’t bad until about 4 pm and then it’s like a Lazer.

One plant we have no problem growing is grain. This fell from the bird feeder. We thought it was corn at first. We’ve just let it grow to see how big it will get.

Since it was an excessive heat day, I’m exhausted and am going to watch a movie, fold some clothes and just relax. I hope everyone had a good Saturday. Sometimes I feels good just to get outside and sweat.

Day #14 – Hard Day’s Work

On 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 #13 – Check it Off

On By thefunkyfrugalistaIn 100 DaysLeave a comment

Today was mowing day. That in itself is not a big deal, but after I finished I decided to get some things checked off my, always growing, to-do list. I have been needed to paint the window trim in the back of the house for so long. It’s just a task that isn’t my favorite. I washed down the house because it was dirty and then I got to scraping.

These are the original 1961 windows and they are a mess. I scraped off as much as I could. They were still wet from washing them. Tomorrow I’ll sand them and then give them a coat of paint so they’ll match the front of the house.

I had to caulk one window.

Trust me, they will look completely different when I’m finished.

I also went around with my vinyl tape and covered up all the holes in the siding. There were so many around this window.

I covered up 5 on this part and I swear, unless you knew where to look, you can’t see them.

Tomorrow we are going to have to cut down the Morning Glory vine because it has taken over the chicken coop.

I still cannot believe that the people behind us cut down these trees. Ours were not as big, but this is in my neighbors yard and I just love the flowers.

Another thing I got checked off was putting out the torch lights. I’m not sure if they are going to stay where they are, but they are off our patio table so that’s a plus.

I always said I’d be the crazy cat lady that wears weird clothes and walks on the beach. Ok, I don’t have a beach nearby, but the rest fits.

Let’s see how much I can get checked off tomorrow.