Miniature Garden

I have been collecting things to make a miniature (fairy garden) for awhile and finally decided to put it together. Hopefully I can post the pictures correctly so that you see what I started with first and the final product last. The container was purchased at Lowe's and the things I collected from the craft store, some from Ebay and some from thrift stores. I think it turned out really cute and I have stuff left over to make another one in the future.

Winner!!!!

The winner of the vintage angel fabric pincushion is Laura P. of Ohio. Congratulations Laura, your prize will be on the way to you shortly!!!

GIVEAWAY!!!!!

I'm so excited to be doing a few giveaways this holiday season. Since I am going with the theme "My Favorite Things" I thought I would start with one of the simple pleasures. I know a lot of you bloggers out there like to sew and do crafts etc. Recently I was putting together a sewing box for myself and needed a pincushion. I came across this wonderful seller on Ebay (Bluebird*Mountain). Sooo, for my giveaway I am giving to one lucky winner one of her great pincushions. A lot of them are made with vintage fabrics and buttons and this adorable angel fabric one is no exception. I will choose the winner on Sunday at noon. Simply respond to this post and pick a number between 1 and 100, and also a number between 1 and 1,000 (in the event I get over 100 entries). I have my numbers written down already and the winner will be the person who comes closest without going over. Also, leave a way for me to get ahold of you in case you are the winner. Good luck, and please tell everyone you know in blog land.. I will be doing more of my favorite things givewaways over the next couple of weeks. Oh, and a big thank you to Janice at Bluebird*Mountain on Ebay for making these wonderful pincushions. Note: Prize will be shipped directly to winner from Bluebird*Mountain.

Lost Maples State Park

Took a day trip to Lost Maples State Park. It is located in Vanderpool, Texas, or about 90 miles from where I am in San Antonio. According to the website the leaves changing are about at peak season and if you go on weekends you can expect a 21/2 to 3 hr. wait just to get into the park! Yikes!!! I managed to get a few pictures and have a little picnic. I know some of you in the big leaf changing states this won't seem like much, but this is good fall color for us here in Texas!

Birthday Surprises!!!

It's my birthday this month and I had signed up for a site called birthdayregister.com (sorry, but I think it's local to San Antonio. Well, since they start sending out gift certificates early in the month I got 3 today! What great surprises too.. 2 free passes to the movies, a $10 gc to Zios Italian kitchen, and $10 to a Mexican restaurant. If it is anything like last year I will probably get tons more before the month is over. Anyone in the San Antonio area make sure you sign up and you can customize what type of certificates you want. These are all no purchase necessary, or no minimum purchase necessary. Oh, and I almost forgot.. I get my nieces pajamas every year for Christmas and at Disney.com the deal of the day is character pajamas for $5 each, regular price $16.50. What a great day!

Blog Contest Winner

The winner of the $25 Piperlime gift certificate is Tracey C. Tracey has a great blog full of money saving ideas, so check it out if you get a chance http://www.frugalchallenge2009.blogspot.com

Sorry I wasn't better organized for this giveaway. It was a last minute decision, but I am happy that someone will get good use out of the gc. Anyways, check back for my next giveaway sometime later this month. It's my birthday month so as a present to myself I'm going to give away a couple of my favorite things (not my own actual things, but new ones of things that I really like). Good luck to all. I'll be providing a sneek peek sometime soon of some of my favorite things that I use almost everyday!

Thrift store finds and an early Christmas gift

Yesterday I went to the Goodwill store that is right down the street. They usually have some cute things. I found a vintage beaded purse (black with embroidered flowers on the front) it is in very good shape, a Mickey Mouse cookbook. This is plastic spiral bound and probably from the 70's with recipes from different disney restaurants, in very good shape. Funny thing about this is that before I could pay for it some guy had offered me $5 and the Goodwill price was $1.99. I think this will be a fun one to look through so I hung onto it. I also found a tile trivel with a rooster. One of my kitchen walls is done in roosters so this will be a nice edition. It is red and white and seems to have been hand made in San Francisco. I don't like posting without photos, but I'll get on that either today or tomorrow and have some photos available. For anyone with a Goodwill if you are looking for sweaters, this is a great place. I found a red cashmere that seemed vintage in great shape but it did not fit too well if I wanted to button it so I put it back for someone else, but I saw plenty of vintage, some landsend pure wool, silk, cashmere, beautiful sweaters! I'll keep looking and since I have plenty of sweaters already I can be picky and wait for something that really jumps out at me.

Now on to a Christmas problem.. I was ordering some things for my little niece for Christmas and came across a great deal online. At Piperlime.com they have adorable baby shoes and the Robeez (sorry if that is spelled wrong) are about $29.99 a pair. For their 3rd birthday (the site) offered a $25 gift certificate for anyone placing an order that day. Seemed like a win/win as I was going to order some cute little shoes anyways. I'm always trying to think of things I can do for others, so I would like to give the gift certificate code to someone who can really use it. Money is tight for a lot of people and this might help solve a problem for someone. Check out the site and tell me why and how you can use the gift code. It won't make the shoes free, but they will be very, very close! I'll pick someone at random.

Bungalow Hunting and other stuff

Since moving to San Antonio I have been pretty happy where I am. The complex I live in is beautiful and there is plenty of room inside. Recently I have been thinking about having a house again and I would LOVE to have a cute little bungalow. I do not miss trying to keep up repairs on a home like I did in Houston or worry about things breaking, but a little tiny house would be great. There are plenty of older neighborhoods here in San Antonio and lots of these types of houses available. Now all I have to do is come up with some kind of plan to pay for it. I have a goal, 2 years to find a way to make it happen! I've been looking at pictures and thought I would post one of the type of little house I am looking for.

Thrift store finds: Today at the thrift store I found some straight pins for the pin cushin I got on etsy.com. Since I purchased some last week at the fabric store, I know that the .10 I paid at the thrift store for the ones with little pearl balls on the end is a great deal. Now to get the sewing box organized and start working on some projects. Oh, I also found a package of vintage yarn needles for .10.

More Christmas shopping today. Found some cute little outfits for my niece and picked up a couple other things (sorry Laura, but I HATE shopping in December!). My budget this year is very limited so I'm having to be much more careful about planning what I will give to everyone and since I'm not in a hurry it's really been a lot of fun.

Friday I am making a turkey dinner. There were some huge birds at HEB this week and with the price less than ground beef I couldn't refuse. Wish us all luck this week as I am making ossobucco on Wednesday with beef shank from the farmer's market. I've never made this before but I've heard it's delicious.

The only other exciting thing is that in my pursuit of free or nearly free activities I finally went and got a library card, and there is a library branch right around the corner from me, yeah! Oh, and I got the dr. to give me a temporary disability placard so it will make getting around much easier for now!

I'd love to hear from anyone who has ideas on the bungalow or if anyone has purchased one that was in not so great shape and rehabed it, or made ossobucco before :-) More updates later.