Failed Bargain Hunting turned to BLESSING !!

Happy Friday All ! I hope your area is nice and cool or is it HOT like mine. Either way I hope you have a nice day !

Beautiful Pitcher made in Japan $.50



Last Saturday, my husband and I were searching for an Estate Sale in our area and saw this ad on craigslist. We went there and found out the estate sale was held in this warehouse complex. We went inside and found lots of really old items from furniture to household items and clothes. Most of them had a high price tag. In my opinion, they were outrageous. Some of the furniture was full of dust and really needed some elbow grease and lots of sandpaper but they were selling them for about $40-$50 each. I wish I took pictures to show you.

Nice China Bowl by Noritake $5

After browsing for about 20 minutes and finding nothing. We were about to head home and I remembered an ad from a local magazine that I read 2 weeks ago at my Dentist office. The ad was about this non-profit organization that will hold a yard sale and all the profits go to shelters and care for homeless people in my area.

Have you heard of Caritas? Do you have one in your area ? This is the first time I heard about this organization ( thank God for waiting 30 minutes at my Dentist and the magazine :) I read about their mission and it is very thoughtful and caring. They do yard sales once a month and all the stuff is donated by people or companies. Some of the furniture is consider new or has a little broken piece.

Nice Lemon/Lime Juicer by Chef'n $1.50

Anyway, we went to check it out... out of curiosity. We got inside the building and started looking around. They have so much stuff... mostly furniture because of their mission. My husband and I were thinking to get something from them even if their price was not like a regular yard sale. To our surprise, their price wasn't bad at all and very reasonable.


Window Curtain Rod the person who donated it wrote from Pottery Barn :) $4

We were browsing without planning to buy a lot of stuff. But hey...look what we got after less than an hour. My favorite is this beautiful faux bamboo coffee table. I'm working on this table now. I will share with you in another post what I did with it :)

Lane Faux Bamboo coffee table with bevel glass top ( I took out the glass for this picture ) $20

My husband and I were glad went to Caritas. We met really nice people who have a heart to help others. We were thinking to volunteer there. The fun part from this trip was we only spent $31 for all the stuff  we got ( all the pictures above ).

Have you failed bargain hunting only to find a blessing!!!

 

 

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Hi all !!! I hope you have a wonderful weekend ! We had a nice sunny weather here. We did not do much but most of all I've got to spent a lots of time with my sweet hubby :)

 

I was craving something sweet on Sunday evening and made this Molten Lava Cake. I have all the ingredients on hands except the orange liqueur ( Thank God for my pantry :)

 

Molten Lava Cakes

Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Prep Time: 30 min

Inactive Prep Time: -

Cook Time:14 min

Level :Easy

Serves:6 cakes

 

Ingredients

6 (1-ounce) squares bittersweet chocolate

2 (1-ounce) squares semisweet chocolate

10 tablespoons (1 1/4 stick) butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar

3 large eggs

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons orange liqueur

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Grease 6 (6-ounce) custard cups. Melt the chocolates and butter in the microwave, or in a double boiler. Add the flour and sugar to chocolate mixture. Stir in the eggs and yolks until smooth. Stir in the vanilla and orange liqueur. Divide the batter evenly among the custard cups. Place in the oven and bake for 14 minutes. The edges should be firm but the center will be runny. Run a knife around the edges to loosen and invert onto dessert plates.

 

 

Since I don't have custard cups I put it in cup cakes pans and made half of the recipe ( made 6 cup cakes size ). I reduce the cooking time to 10 minutes. They were delicious !! I'm happy with the result. After all I had a great weekend with this sweet to ended it :) 

 

 

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Yellow Frame Art ( 3D Looking Art Work )

 

 

I hope you all have a blessed weekend ! I'm so happy today that Ruth from Living well spending less featured me on her blog for Thrifty Thursday about my Dumpster ( Shopping Cart ) Diving.  I'm working on a couple of projects from these finds.

One of them is this frame that nobody wanted in that parking lot. I cleaned and spray painted it with Krylon yellow to incorporate my theme color in our spare bedroom.

 

 

I like this frame because of the shape and design. It is so beautiful.

I have this wreath that I made back at Christmas and never took it off the wall. I was thinking to put this frame around the wreath to make it more festive. Here we are with this free frame.

 

I like how it turned out, it looks like a 3 dimension framed art work.

The rose detail on the frame looks great. I just like how it looks.

The whole art work on this wall cost me only $2 which was for the black frames from Dollar Tree. Everything else the stuff that I already have on hands.

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Simple Way To Make Old Lettuce Become Fresh and Crisp

Are you one of those people who sometimes take longer to finish the produce in your refrigerator ? I am one of those people. I do grocery mostly once a week ( sometimes twice ) that means I buy produce enough for a week. Last Saturday, I want to make salad and found out that the lettuce not fresh anymore.

It wasn't that bad but the leaves not crisp. This step what I tried and seem to work. I was glad with the result fresh and crisp lettuce ( even crispier than the one just come from the store :) 

 

Soak them into the water for about 10-15 minutes. Beside make it fresh and crisp. Soaking it in the water for that long I believe make all the dirt came out and who knows might the chemical too.

 

 

Take the lettuce out of the water and drain it with strainer or salad dryer if you have one.

 

 

 Here is the final result of the old lettuce become fresh and ready to enjoy !

What simple way and easy to do it.

Outer Banks On 4th Of July

I  hope you all had a nice long weekend 4th of July. Ours was wonderful. We went to Outer Bank, NC. This is the first time for me to visit this famous beach ( well at least around where we live :) We left early in the morning to beat the traffic. It took us about 3 hours to get to there. Thank God we had a wonderful beautiful day after rain almost everyday during the week. We drove along the coast from Kitty Hawk all the way to Hatteras Island.

First we stopped by at Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk. This museum is very educational. We learn something from this museum about aviation stuff.

We were thinking to see Cape Hatteras  light house and half way there we realized it took further up than what we thought. Since we just spend the day at Outer Bank we turned around. Instead, we stopped at Bodie Island light house. This is also the first time for me to see the light house ( well a couple things that the first time for me on this trip :) 

 

The sky was blue and clear that day. We really enjoy it except the heat and humidity. The beach is really beautiful and relaxing with all the white sand.

One thing, I would say about Outer Banks is very family type of beach. Basically, if you come here just relax and enjoy the family or your company. I barely see a high rise building, mostly a beach vacation house.

We also visit Roanoke Island, this Island has very interesting story about the lost colony from England. We learn something from this Island as well. Our day were very busy and most of all we were spent and had great time together. We were heading home around 5 and thinking to see fireworks but it didn't happen because we were wiped out from having a great time.

 

We were collecting the sea shell from the beach. I brought home a half shopping bag of sand. I will use it for summer decoration or even as a memories keep sake. I put them inside this hurricane, very simple yet very meaningful because there is memory to tell in it.

 



From A Lamp Base Into A Bud Vase

I love to make something beautiful without spending money. And today is one of those moment I'm glad I make it. I posted about what I found from Cart dumpster at Goodwill Outlet a couple of weeks ago. But I don't have this lamp picture on the post. At the time I picked it I don't have any idea what to do with it but I grabbed it anyway. I believe you can find this type of lamp at Target.

Also I don't have any picture before I took off the hardware from the base. There is no wire hook to the hardware. I'm  thinking to recycle it and make it into a bud vase. I wasn't sure if this is a good idea. But since everything free and really easy job I just go ahead and did it.

After I took of the hardware part, I put a silk rose bud ( free as well from the dumpster cart :). And I'm glad with the result. Free center piece on my dining table and very simple.

 

I like the color and the shape of the lamp base. And I'm not planning to make another lamp out of it. I think this is better than keep it as a lamp.

 

 

 

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Great Finds At Estate Sale

Hi all ! I hope you all had a great week and have a great plan on this Independence Day !

Last weekend, my husband and I went to a couple of yard sales but did not really find anything good. Also, we went to a Estate Sale. This is the first time for me to go to an Estate Sale. To my surprise, I really did enjoy it. I saw all these beautiful pieces for sale and some of the price were too high for my pocket. But we did get some pretty good stuff with a steal price :)

We did not get much but I think we did good. You see all this stuff. We spent $27 worth over $100 according to eBay price.

This pair of  lamps they asked $10 for both but I bargained for $5 and yes they gave it to me for my asking price. They are still in a good condition. The most exciting thing is they are 3 way lamps ( night light, lamp and both night light and lamp on in the same time. I did not know this until we tested it at home. I did some searching to find out about this kind of lamp and I found a couple of variety with the price way higher than I paid.

 

This beautiful bud vase for $1 I think is a steal. I love the detail flower paint on it. Also the crazing showing some age on it.

Isn't this boy figurine adorable? My husband loves Hummel figurines. We got him 1 for $15. The price on eBay varies but we made a steal on this one.

 

 

Love these roses made by Capodimonte and the price I paid $5 for it. They sell on eBay and Etsy for about 4 times what I paid for.

 

 

Sometimes you never know what you find out there. All you can do is just do scavenger hunting ! I'm so glad that we did. Have you done an Estate Sale and what good stuff did you find ?

I wish you all have a wonderful 4th of July Celebration!!
Lord, today, bless those who have served and continue to give their lives for my freedom. With favor and bounty meet their needs and watch over their families.

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