Thursday, June 9, 2011

SPENDING MY BIRTHDAY AT Y CAMP

I have been so blessed to spend a week with my daughter, son-in-law and my grandson here at Y Camp
This camp is in the North Georgia Mountains near Tallulah Falls and is so pretty! 
One of the cabins housing staff
Yes there are air conditioners for the staff
This is the dining hall~food is good, plentiful and kid friendly!
My guest room is to the right of this building
This is part of the hill I have to climb several times a day! 
Believe me when I say I had no trouble staying under the speed limit!
Athens Y Camp is for boys and the girls camp is called Camp Chattooga and is close by
My SIL Blake is the Aquatics Director 
This is called 'The Blob'
Lots of lifeguards use these towers
To keep the campers safe

Sara works the camp store a couple of hours a day so she has plenty of time to take care of Tiger
Thanks for inviting me to camp Sara, Blake and Tiger!
Today is my Birthday (June 9th) and this little guy is the best gift a Grandma could have!
A kiss goodbye for now! 


It's good to be home and Mr ALC and Charlie are glad to have me back! 


Hugs to you all!


Linda


Saturday, June 4, 2011

WHERE DO YOU KEEP IT ALL PART 2

I am joining The Tablescaper for her "Where Do You Keep It All" party to celebrate her 2nd Blogaversary!  I joined in last year and a few things have changed since then.  I've added more stuff...I know you are shocked...NOT!
So let's get started!

This was a photo of my dish closet last year.  I've made some changes that have added more storage space

More shelves and I've tried to sort the dishes into color groups
I took down the placemats from the top shelves and instead put large serving pieces up there
The next shelves house some of my S&P collection and my Cobalt Blue depression glass set and other odds and ends
The top shelves on the side store some sets of Metlox china I've been lucky enough to find and some seasonal items
I added another set of shelves to this side for the large place mat collection and divided into color groups
Below the placemats is this great shelf with two drawers I found at a thrift shop.  The large shelf is great for charger plates and the drawers hold some linens
This side was hard to photograph so excuse the angles.   I got two closet organizers (using "My Points" to get a gift card) too maximize the storage. Adding two bins (found on clearance) at the bottom gave me some additional easy storage space
These shelves hold teapots, pitchers and other assorted pieces.  The bins hold additional linens.
I used some storage boxes to corral my teacups and saucers

I found this great little step stool at the thrift shop to keep in here so I can access most everything.  If I need 'tippy top' items I have to get the larger step stool.

Once we leave the dish closet we head into the dining room
 The hutch is filled with glassware and other odds and ends!
Next is the Basement...a work in progress

This is an area I am trying to make into my ETSY shop corner.  Shelves for my inventory and a work table for packing and shipping.
This area of the basement is where I hope to store many of the seasonal decor I have.  I'm trying to put each season in a bin marked with its contents and then store them here.  The shelves will be for items I use in tablescaping or vignettes but not as often as the upstairs items
Stuff has been just piled up on here but will be organized soon...I hope! 
I also have this hutch downstairs that I plan to devote to my milk glass collection.  Most of it is stored here but a few other items have stopped here on there way to somewhere else.  
I also have some storage in the upper cabinets of my kitchen.  Mostly stored there are extra glassware and my Christmas dishes. 
So that's where I keep it all!
I hope you will join
The Tablescaper
I want to thank Stephanie at 
Junker Newbie for doing a feature
on me today!  Check out my interview 
Hugs,
Linda

Friday, June 3, 2011

THRIFTY TABLESCAPE PARTY!

I am a thrifty junker!  I love to set a pretty table also but don't want to spend a lot.  Most of my tables are bits and pieces picked up in thrift shops, yard sales and deeply clearanced retail items. 
So this new monthly party hosted by Diann at The Thrifty Groove is right up my alley!

Summer morning breakfast for two!
Inspired by the denim table runner embroidered with dragonflies.  I found it  1/2 price in a Texas thrift store last year and it was .50
I used white place mats ($1 ea at dollar tree) and added the pretty blue Fiesta plates that were .75 ea at Goodwill
The clear candlewick plates were a huge bargain at $1 ea at a little thrift shop we found last year on a trip to the Mountains.  The flatware is some I've had forever.
I choose the pretty napkins .25 ea to add some pink to the tablescape and used pink bird napkin rings bought last year on clearance at Hobby Lobby 4/$1
We Southerners love our Grits so I added this pink Hall ramekin $1 ea
This butterfly plate was .25 at a yard sale and adds another touch of pink.  The tomato server was a giveaway I won. 
Breakfast tea served in this Fiesta teapot
(the most expensive thing on this table at $10) 
along with a vintage pink sugar & creamer that cost $1 each
I used pink teacups and Boopie juice glasses that cost .49 ea

So that's my thrifty tablescape.  My grand total was $22.25 with $10 of that being for the Fiesta Teapot!
I hope you will check out these other fabulous tables 
done on a thrifty budget 
Here 
Tell Diann hi and that Linda sent you! 

Hugs!! 
Linda

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

WOULD YOU BUY THESE ITEMS?

Monday I went to my local thrift store and since it was 1/2 price day and a holiday, it was packed!   The check-out line was wound around the store...did I find anything worth standing in line for???
You bet I did!  
Both of these items have cracks but I think the little creamer for .20 and the sugar bowl for .40 were bargains
I have a pretty large collection of these types of planters.  This one is fairly small and for half of .99 = .50 I had to have it...
I love this glaze!

Now a question...would you have bought this???
Oh so dirty and lots of lost paint
It's a planter and no chips or cracks that I can see
Marked USA and only???
.99
Here it is all washed and cleaned up
so yes I did buy it!  Turns out it is an old Shawnee Dutch Girl Planter 
the 'cold paint' has mostly worn off but I saw them listed on Ebay for over $10
so I think I made a good buy. 

I'm joining these fun parties this week



I am heading to YMCA summer camp tomorrow.  WHY you ask?  My daughter and her husband have worked Y camp every summer for over 6 years.  This year they are taking Tiger to camp and Grandma gets to go for the first week to help out.  I am excited and looking forward to some time with Sara, Blake and Tiger and some fun time in the mountains!  I hope to blog while I'm there.
Hugs,
Linda