Online Shopping.

Another order from our favorite soap

store. We wish we had one nearby.

But short of travelling 4 hours to get

to the store, we instead can order from

the makers of the soap directly. Not

my preference but since Covid we

have found artisans that we can buy

from them directly to support their

cottage industry instead of buying from

large companies. A win win for all!

~ Chy

Lego in Vegas!

Loved the Lego display after we got

off the plane and we were trying to

find our way out to the Ubers to get

us back to our hotel. Had to stop and

take a peek to see if there were any

deals or items we don't have. Nope!

LV is not my favorite but happy to be here!

~ Chy

Almost in LV.

A little snack on the plane. I'm not sure

why, but our hostess gave us one of each!

Of course, the Las Vegas Airport would
have Lego in the terminal. Fun to shop!

Finally landed, safe and sound.

~ Chy

It's Snowing!

We've had amazing weather the last few

weeks. Sunny days, warm temperatures

and dry roads. But today, in the afternoon

as we were finishing up our Christmas

shopping, the sun disappeared and fluffy

flakes began to fall from the sky. With our

hot chocolates warming our hands, we

headed home to the comfort of our cozy

cottage. We brought our big wooden box

up from the storage room that holds our

wrapping paper, ribbons, tape, labels and

gift bags. I tidy it up, gathered a few items

to donate to others and now we're ready

to start wrapping gifts to fill up the empty

space under our little tree. A few cards to

send, a menu to finish and then we're ready!

How are you doing with your plans?

Are you feeling ready and relaxed?

~ Chy

Capturing: Day 6.

I know I should write about how much

I love Christmas shopping. But today,

I'm sharing what grocery shopping is

like in the time of Covid. I so hate it!

We make our list. We pack up our masks

and hand sanitizer. Some stores we can

bring in bags and others we can't. We

drive into town to the store, limiting our

exposure as much as possible. We shop

fast, grabbing what we need and with no

lingering. We chat quickly with the cashier

and then dash out. My heart pounds the

whole time. At home, we use wipes to

clean the items, after we've washed our

hands and washed down the island. We

then wash our hands again and the island

after we've put the items away. The photo

above is the items we can take out of their

boxes. Lots of recycling but at least it's

all done. Then we sit down and take a rest!

Christmas shopping this year has been all

online, with a few small purchases in person.

We are shopping local but taking advantage

of curb side pick up or at home delivery. I

am so thankful for these options. But do

look forward to next year when we can do

in person again, with sweet music and time

to chat with clerks. It's the little things like

this that I miss but I'm happy we're home!

No where else we'd rather be, at least for now.

~ Chy

Finally, Ikea!

After 33 weeks at home, only going in to town for

groceries, gas and an occasional trip to Indigo where

we felt safe, we have not ventured in to any other

establishments to minimize all our Covid~19 risks.

I've been waiting FOREVER to visit Ikea! And finally

we got to go this week. No line ups, very small crowds

and we even felt safe enough to have some lunch. My

dd had fries and garlic toast, and I had a spinach salad.

After a yummy meal, we ventured out to the various

floors to see what was new. Clearly, our Ikea has been

redesigned and it was fun to explore all the new areas.

Finally, we made our purchase and headed home to

build my new Raskog cart and put up a bar in the art

studio to hold metal tins for all my supplies. Finally!

Do you have an Ikea close to your home?

If you do, do you get to shop here often?

~ Chy

Two Pucks.

While we were in Ottawa, we did some

Christmas shopping. It was fun to hunt

and find neat gifts but I truly hated paying

the sales tax, something we don't have

in our Province. Ugh! We were very

successful though and came home with

these 2 pucks for our dd and gs, both

huge hockey fans and of course, a

hockey mom and a hockey star! Perfect.

First Things First.

 

The accounting of our holiday continues. We arrived on the island just after noon and headed for one of our favorite restaurants. Because it was Sunday, brunch was still being served until 2:00 p.m. so we indulged in brekky instead of lunch. I had a raspberry margarita and eggs benedict with a green salad full of curly beets, carrots and pea shoots. Soooo good! And filling. It took a while before I was ready for dinner. We had time for shopping first.

Everything on the island is homegrown and organic. There is no commercialism and customer service every where you go is amazing. Hospitality and the arts are the two ways islanders carve a living on the rock. Businesses are created out of ideas and needs. People come from all over to experience the magic here. Many come over each weekend on the Ferry to shop and explore the Saturday Farmer's Market. We're looking forward to our walk through the market this coming weekend. Until then, we have a ton of exploring to do and a great deal of unwinding and rewinding on our agenda. 

What are your plans for this week and the weekend?

Do you finally have Spring happening in your region?

Shopping and Life.

Despite the cold, we did venture out

today for a doctor's appointment.

Then a quick trip to meet our dd's

at our favorite mall in the Big City.

Christmas decorations were still

up and lovely music filled the air.

But the big guy has gone back

to the North Pole for the year.

My gramma worked for Birks years

ago and I get a bit choked up anytime

we walk past this store. She loved her

job and her Birks family. I loved that

we often would receive amazing

gifts from her store that we all truly

cherished. I miss her! I miss these

experiences. Now we make new ones

with our kids and grandkids. The

circle of life continues on now with us.

Family Day.

 We all had this past week off from school and

work. Our original plans went sideways ....

.... but that's a long post for another day. We ended

up taking a few days off from the chaos to have fun.

Christmas shopping and yummy lunch with our

girls. It was so good to have a break and laugh.

Tied with a Ribbon ....

.... doesn't it make you just want to

scoop them up and bring them home?

That's what I did on the weekend when

we were out and about shopping.

I needed new socks and came home

with 6 pairs for $10. Original price

was $40. Not only was it a sweet deal

but they are the softest socks I have

ever owned. I bought 3 like the ones

above and 3 striped. All purple and

white, of course. My feet and my bank

account are in Heaven. Truly, it was

the tied ribbon that was the deciding

factor for me. Anything with lace or

a ribbon around it just speaks to me.

Thankfully, my dh agreed and I'm

so glad they were a decent, frugal

price so I could buy more than 1.

Are you a frugal shopper?

Any good deals lately?

Solitary.

When my dh was in his theatre production,

I sometimes would come in to the City

to watch the show. Or just hang out. One

night, I wanted to finish up some shopping.

I did something I've never done before.

I walked down a typically packed street,

one that in the summer is notorious for

racing cars, bar fights and other not so

savory activities. On this night, it was

very quiet and perfect for checking out

the unique and locally owned shops. I

am quite impressed with myself for

venturing out alone, chatting with the

shop owners and finding great gifts.

Vintage Cabin.

Found this vintage cabin after the holidays

last year. It was a great find at 80% off,

setting us back just $6. Shopping for

seasonal items after Christmas is great!

It Pays to be Thrifty ....

I grew up in a family that didn't have two pennies to rub together at the beginning. With tons of hard work and a measure of thriftiness, my parents managed to buy their first house in their early 20's. Sparsely furnished but filled with love and laughter, they taught me that saving was more important than spending if I wanted to reach my goals. I understood from an early age that if there was something I wanted, saving for it was worth the wait. It's something I brought to our marriage and even though my dh grew up in a family that had no financial plans or goals, he was eager to learn and we worked together to create our own thrifty life. We bought our first house at age 20 and it was many years before we could freely spend. Now we're at the other end but we still love to make frugal choices and plan out our purchases. And the thrill of finding a treasure at the charity shop or finding an amazing deal, especially when we're saving pennies for something makes it all worth the work!

We started saving to pay for the landscaping we'll be doing this year at the new house. Truckloads of dirt, sod or grass seed, flowers, bushes, veggie patch, playground, gazebo, pond, fire pit and front gates are all part of the plan that will likely take us a good 4 to 5 years to complete. Doing it all at once would, of course, be far out of reach with our budget. Spreading it out just makes so much sense. And we'll have something to look forward to each year. This year, two things we hoped to acquire included a hammock and raised garden beds. In determining, our savings budget, we found examples of the items we hoped to get with prices. The hammock above is listed at more than $180 at our local hardware store. And the vinyl boxes range from $160 to $250, depending on the manufacturer. For 1 hammock and 6 raised garden beds, we were looking at a total of $1,197 at the lower end, including taxes. Would you believe me if I told you we ended up with this exact hammock and 6 of the raised garden beds for free?? The story is below ....

To start with, I had already saved over $1,200 for these items. What took place the other day was pure luck and a bit of extra work to make it all happen. The first thing that fell in to place was an offer from my dear friend, who had spent the day with me on my day off last week, to purchase the second Kitchen Aid mixer we had. Brand new and a pro model. She offered $400 and I was very happy to accept that (value is $700 but we did get an amazing deal and paid far less). So now I had an extra $400 in my pocket to go towards these items and landscaping. Then the next thing fell in to place. The hammock that I was so excited about hanging up one day, if I could find one in stock, came across my FB feed on an ad. And guess what? It was on sale, one day only, on Monday! A certain store (no names in this post) had it for the unbelievable price of $68. But I'm not a fan of the store and when I went on to at least consider ordering it, the website was not letting me place the item in the cart. Then I remembered the hardware store that carries it has a price match that includes the amount the other store charges plus an additional 10% off. Too good to pass up, right? So I called and they agreed to match it, which meant, in the end, I got a $160 hammock (plus taxes and shipping) for $60.88 (including taxes and free shipping).

But the deals for the day get even better. I decided to check on the status of the raised garden beds at our local big box, you must have a membership store (remember, no names!) and they still had them in stock. And suddenly that day, a sale started and they were marked down. Couldn't believe my eyes. And my good luck! I quickly did some calculations and ordered 6 of them. With an original calculation of $1,008 (including taxes and free shipping), I was now blown away to see the price of just $340 (including taxes and free shipping). Prior to these 2 incredible sales, we would have paid a grand total of $1,180 but in the end, our purchases added up to a very tidy $400.88. Oops! I did say that we got all these items for free but the reality is, we paid just .88 cents as the $400 from my dear friend for our second Kitchen Aid covered everything. Now I still have over $1,200 that I was going to use that can stay in our landscaping budget for the big items on our list. Yup, it does pay to be thrifty ....

Any great deals you can share with us?

Treasures you've found or funds you've saved?

Ikea Shopping.

Ikea was created in 1943 by 17 year old Ingvar Kamprad. It is the world's largest furniture retailer with 373 stores in 47 countries. We are fortunate to have a great Ikea location in the big city next to us, and with the new freeway, it takes us about 10 minutes to get there from our country home. A favorite place to shop as a family. A trip always ends with a $1 ice cream cone. Reward for our travels into town.

We first discovered Ikea the year we were married, in 1984. My grandmother wanted to buy us a solid wood table and chairs for the kitchen in our new house. Someone suggested Ikea and our "love affair" with the multinational company began. We ended up with an amazing pine table with 4 solid chairs and had that set for the first 20 years we were married. It was a great investment and looked good in all the kitchens we had as we moved around. As we are collectors of antiques and vintage furniture, we personally don't have a lot of Ikea furniture (though our children are all huge fans and most of their living spaces are Ikea based), but we  have a lot of the storage lines, kitchen knick knacks, dishes, picture frames, candle holders and linens. 

It's fun every summer to receive the Ikea catalogue in our mail box and to spend time searching for ways to keep life organized or add a splash of "new" to a room. On a recent trip into the big city, I found these sweet little bags that can be used for gifts, goodies or as they had them displayed, with the tops rolled down and a plant set inside. Very sweet! I may go back and buy a pack. They come in white as well. 

Here's another new item: ribbon on a roll. I didn't buy these but again, may go back. I love the green combination and the pinks as well.And you can never argue the price!

Do you have an Ikea in your community or close by?

What's your favorite Ikea item to purchase?

Addiing it all up ....

Our thrifty shopping came in for a grand total

of $14 ~ a sweet sum for an hour's work.

The lacy backdrop was this piece we came across

at the thrift store a few weeks ago, for a tidy .50 cents.

Thrifty Thursday #6.

Tiny vintage glass bottles

for my art studio.

Perfect for storing beads.

Or for washing paint brushes.

A bargain for .40 cents for all 4.

Another half price deal.

Thrifty Thursday #5.

For our new kitchen: a tiny egg cup for

.10 cents & a $1 sweet little green loaf pan. 

Thrifty Thursday #4.

 Two more Trisha Romance pictures.

Wedding Day.

Sweet bedtime scene. Our dd has a sleigh bed.

Again, both pics were half price at $3 each.

Thrifty Thursday #3.

Another half price item for just $3.

A Trisha Romance picture for our collection.