Nepper's of Late - Thrifty Finds

It seems like there is so many things I want to share lately, basement renovation stuff, thrifty find stuff, school stuff, life stuff. So I figure I'll break them all up over the coming week. Of course, I'll have to start with the thrifty finds, because its always so much fun to share your treasures!

Its incredible how fun it is to put a home together. I know you can make anywhere a home, but for me, there really is nothing like knowing we "own" this place. I can stick whatever I want on the walls, paint it whatever color I feel like, and its just plain 'ol mine. And the Nester touched on this last week with her post, Home Wasn't Built In a Day. Its true. So I'm enjoying (most days) being able to slowly plug away at making what's inside these four walls a place that reflects us. A place where we can come in to and relax, live and, love. Or as Kimba puts it, A Soft Place To Land.

One thing that I do find challenging is sharing my home with others. Not like I don't like having people here, I just have major hospitality insecurities. I think this all stemmed from jokes made in high school by some guy friends. Things like, "I pity the man who marries you. All the food will be burnt." Harsh, I know. I really do think it was in jest, but for some reason that really has stuck with me. I guess the even funnier part is that I ended up marrying a cook. So really, I have the best teacher possible, and my cooking has improved considerably in my 5 years of marriage. There are still the burnt dinners from time to time, but that's more from me being distracted with two wee ones. Anyway, I realize this is something I really do need to work on. Even the bible touches on hospitality, "practice hospitality" it says. The thing I like is that it doesn't say "do hospitality" (although that would be exceptionally bad English!) or "be hospitable" but rather practice it. That tells me it doesn't come completely natural to most people, but it is something that we do need to work on. As such, I'm working on it! ;)

But what does all that have to do with my thrifty treasures...hmm, not exactly sure. Anyway, onto the fun stuff!

At a garage sale a few weeks ago, I walked up this ladies driveway and saw two boxes of Mason jars. There was a piece of paper on top saying $1. I figured per jar or something. But nope, it was $1 for the two boxes. So I dragged those nasty old boxes to my car (Rob would likely faint if he saw some of the things I've managed to squeeze into our car!). Got home, took out the hose, sprayed those suckers out, got them in the dishwasher, bought two packages of Snap Lids for $3.89 each, and voila, this is my new dry goods storage system for a whopping $8.78! I have a total of 21 jars, some 1 Litre and some 1.5 Litre. Brilliant!

These are the trusty Snap Lids. $3.89 for 12. I really like the silver. Its a nice change over your Grandma's gold colored lids.

This Pink Gingham pattern melted my heart, but I decided to stick with the silver.

OK, this is a long story, but a good friend was moving out on her own, and needed some house things. So me, being the over thinker, I figured, by me giving her some of my house things, she got house things (pretty self-explanatory), and I had an excellent excuse to get some new house things. I think Rob saw through my evil plan, but he went along with it anyway. Basically everything we have is from our wedding 5 years ago. Still working, but I felt like it was time for a refresher.

I picked up this electric kettle off of kijiji for $10. Cuisinart. I love it. Its the sexiest kettle I've ever seen!

I picked up these table linens at the same garage sale where I got the $5 bag of insulation a few weeks ago. I was like a kid in a candy store. Seriously I was counting our nickels and dimes from my purse. There were so many good finds. I think these are adorable, and in mint condition. I think they are old, although I can't find much out about them. The only marking is "Aragon." Perhaps from long gone Lord of the Rings times?

The tablecloth and 8 napkins were $2.50.

At the same garage sale, I got the serving platter (shown below), as well as a serving bowl and a gravy boat, all for $2. I love the colors, the scalloped edges. Unfortunately they are quite chipped, so they won't actually be used for serving anything. But really just used for pretty :)

The pattern is Duval by Grindley. Circa 1950's.
I picked up this bookcase off of Earthcycle for free. I have been looking for a bookcase for the top of the staircase since we moved it, and finally found one with the right dimensions, and most definitely the right price! I did have to drive to the North side of the city, but it was a bit of an adventure. I slapped some white paint on there. Unfortunately there is a bit of water damage, but considering where it is and what its for, I'm not at all bothered by it. Most importantly I have a lovely new place to store all of my photo albums and scrapbooks.
Abbi's also had some fun finds lately. We were invited out for lunch with a family in our church, and they had this Barney costume. Abbi adores Barney, and wanted to wear this costume the entire time we were at their house. When it came time for us to leave, the kids decided it didn't fit any of them anymore and they gave it to Abbi. It was so sweet. They also gave her a little ballerina outfit, although the Barney costume wins, hands down, day after day.
The best part is the little tail that sticks out...Rob's new job site is an old 1940's movie theatre here in Edmonton (The Garneau). They are renovating it and bringing it up to this century's building standards, while perserving the heritage aspect of it. Um, what does that have to do with the next picture? Well nothing, other than I have never been so excited about one of Rob's sites. Very cool things he's finding there.

But anyway, Rob's bosses daughter broke up with her boyfriend. This teddy bear must have been a token of the boy's affection, and as such, the girl didn't want anything to do with it. So the Dad offered to take it to work and throw it in the dumpster, but then thought of Abbi and offered it to Rob. Abbi loves this puppy, and has named it Tutu. Why, we don't really know, but its really sweet. Its almost as big as her!
Anyway, that's some recent Nepper fabulousness. I've also been working on a huge consignment drop off, which has kept me busy. Perhaps tomorrow I will share some basement news...