I survived the Hanna Rummage sale!!

Twice a year our little town has a huge RUMMAGE sale!!  It is put on by the hospital auxillary and all the funds go to the hospital.  The amount collected from items selling for a mere .10 cent to maybe $5.00 always amazes everyone when the grand total from the sale starts circulating around town.    It is amazing how much stuff is donate and  the hard work of all the volunteers to get the items sorted and displayed so that the doors can be open to the "lined up" public!  People come from miles around!!  Well, I have had very little interest in going the last number of years.  I am not a real pack rat of stuff and generally look for items that I have a spot for.  I must say though, since starting to blog and being on so many decorating blogs and seeing alot of bloggers who have a great eye for "recycling", I was up for the challenge!!  Where we live in Alberta, there are not alot of great antique sales.  I can't believe some of the outdoor flea markets and sales I have seen on bloggers sites from the States and eastern Canada!   I read about one antique sale that takes up 10 acres!!

Who wouldn't love to go looking for that perfect item with these two!

One of my favorite decorating duos...Sarah and Tommy

Okay, here is what I was looking for:

old "wind up" alarm clocks

blue glassware or bottles

white pitchers ( can never have too many of those)

And below is what I found!

Note the price on the cute little shabby chic mirror is only .10 cents!!

I love old books and these were a steal at .25 cents each!

The bottom one is titled " A Book About a Thousand Things"

I will make a post about that real soon  :)

Annie, the previous owner of 2 of the books...

I have noticed old kitchen scales in some decorating books,

The scale was one of the first things I scooped up when 

I got in the door!  Those are the new kitchen tiles in this

picture, they just need some grout yet 

I think I paid .50 cents for the scale.  I don't think it is too old, but I 

did like the industrial look it has. Ben pointed out that the little

red needle is bent though!  Oh well, what kitchen appliance can 

you get for .50 cents now a days!!

So there you have my finds for the day.  I got 12 items and paid less than $10.00 for ALL of it!

Now that was a great shopping day.

I hope everyone is having a great week end.  I had great intentions of getting out and cleaning up some more of the yard today.  But,,,it is cold and windy!!  I have also been playing around with Picnik, a photo editing program that you can download.  Of course they say for FREE,,,but some of the features I want to use, such as "textures" does cost a fee.  So, for $25 for the year, I downloaded it.  Look for my Mosaic Monday post, as I will try to see if I can figure out the editing.

Thanks for stopping by!  I am really enjoying getting to know the people behind some of my "favorite blogs"   Its great when we reply to one another and stop by to say hi!  :)

Take care!  

Our "little" flip it house....

  We are renovators through and through!  We have tackled many projects in our own home, built our gift store and BnB business up from the ground,  and have also done a "flip it " house.  Now trust me, things do not go as smoothly as the shows on tv, but we did survive our first flip!  Hope you enjoy the pictures ...

Our little diamond in the rough!  Mrs Dong was the owner of this house when we bought it from her.  She was a little oriental lady that had lived in the house for atleast 50 years!!  and as you will see from the before pictures, not a thing had been changed in it!!   Her husband was a tailor in town, and the front window was his little sewing room.   Mrs. Dong moved from small town living to the big city (Vancouver area)  where her only daughter lived.  I often think about her and wonder how she adjusted to the big change.  Her life in Hanna was so simple and quiet....

These are terrible before pictures, but atleast you can get an idea of what we were up against!  The kitchen was so small, half of the doors didn't even close as you can see by this picture!  We knew that we would be tearing down some walls and opening up the whole main floor ... in fact. we barely had the keys in our hands and Darrell and Ben had the kitchen wall knocked down!  The wall with the phone on it was the first to come down.

The cute little white chairs in the above and below pictures stayed with the house.  They have some potential for a cute "cottage look".

The living room and a bedroom were on the other side of the kitchen wall.

Here is the kitchen with the wall removed.  With the original floor plan, the fridge and stove were just kinda sitting out in the middle of no mans land and the space was very cramped.

We hauled away atleast 5 grain truck loads of junk and garbage!

Kaleb helping out with the floors.  This was one dirty job!  

 Ben helping clear out the upstairs.  There was cardboard for insulation!  This house dated back to the early 30's

Someone left some coloring behind?!  

We did our fair share of eating pizza, A&W, and Subway!

The bedroom wall was next to come out.  The doorway in this picture went out into the front porch area.

The exposed stairwell that was behind the bedroom wall.  The bathroom could be entered from the kitchen and then there was a doorway in the bathroom that lead you to the stairwell!

The chimney caused the kitchen to be very cramped and also went through to the upstairs leaving a very awkward space upstairs too.

The main floor completely opened up.  You have to remember this is one small house!

A new front door!  

We had a young couple that stopped in a few times while we were renovating that really wanted to rent the house from us.  Of course, we really wanted to sell it!  As it turned out, they did rent it from us for a number of months and then they moved back to SK.  The rest of the pictures are with the furnishings they had and actually, the little house showed pretty good.  It wasn't on the market for very long and we saw a "SOLD " sign on our first (maybe last) flip it house!!  It was alot of work...new windows, siding, drywall, floors, cupboards, electrical, plumbing.....but it was rewarding to see the transformation.   I wonder what Mrs. Dong would have thought  :)

Here comes the AFTER...

We closed in the original kitchen window that was over the kitchen sink.  This allowed us a full wall to put the appliances on.  An island for the sink and dishwasher give the kitchen a nice cozy feel.  Ikea cabinets fit the bill.

The living room area is where the small bedroom used to be.  We made the doorway bigger going into the front porch area.

You can see in the picture below how removing the chimney and closing off the bathroom door that was there,  allowed us to have a longer wall to work with, we put a storage area under the stairwell.

 The upstairs was a little hard to work with because of the low ceilings, but it was a definate improvement!

Since the basement in this old house was a little scary..we decided to put the laundry appliances upstairs.

Here is another Before:

and After:

Before:

After:

New siding, windows and front porch finished off the outside.

There you have it!  Our little flip!  

I am also linking this to :

Frugal Friday

Show and Tell Friday

My Simple Home Life

Metamorphosis Monday

A Marvelous Mess

Mosaic Monday and Easter week end...

It has been a warmer week end which made me very happy!  I have enjoyed going to the Good Friday service this week as well as our Sunday morning service today to celebrate our Risen Lord!   Everyone seemed to sing "He Lives" with great energy and thankfulness!

I have been asking Ben most of the week end if he was going to dye eggs with me....I finally got an answer..."I am 18 you know mom!"...so this morning before I made waffles with blueberries and whip cream I dyed a few by myself!....guess I will have to wait for grandkids to come along to have a few more join my easter egg party!

Kaleb was not able to come home this week end and I am missing him.  He is busy in the recording studio this week with The Social Threat!  (the band he is in...)  Their CD release party will be in June, so that will be exciting for him.  I am waiting for a CD from a photographer who took some pictures of the band so I can share them with you in an upcoming post.

My pictures today are from odds and ends this week end.  I have enjoyed getting out for my morning walks.  With all the extra moisture filling the ditches and shallow spots, there are lots of birds around.  I counted about 10 different species in a matter of my 4 miles that I cover.  This morning, we had some visitors in the yard...about 5 deer were quitely walking about.  I got thinking of my blogfriend, Lorrie, and the deer problems she is having on Vancouver Island where she lives.... I managed to get the door open and get one good shot of a couple of them before their keen hearing made them jump the fence!

This cute little bucket with the No. 2 on it was one of my finds at HomeSense this spring.  I thought it would be the perfect little spot for the eggs that I dyed today.  I also used the antique editing feature in Picasa.  This will be my Mosaic Monday post over at  the Little Red House.  Be sure to check out Mary's blog with all the great mosaic posts.

I am also posting over at Debbie's "Newbie Party"... a great idea to us that are new in blogland.  Hope you will take a peak over at her site!

Also adding this to Photo feature Friday over at A Rosy Note

How great the Father's love for us....

Happy Easter everyone!  I hope you have a great week end with family and friends .   I am so thankful for the saving grace of the cross.   His dieing  breath has brought me life....

Mosaic Monday Hockey Moments....

I finally got some still shots of Ben's Provincial medal and his hockey equipment done.  Thankfully there is still a little bit of snow in the yard and it was my backdrop for todays "photo shoot".....professionals make this picture taking stuff look so easy!  A professional, I am NOT!

Some of Ben's equipment has been kicking around the entry waiting for me to get these pictures done before the hockey bag gets packed away.  I washed most of his equipment..only to hear this comotion from the basement..."Mom, did you wash my GOLD WINNING equipment".....oops!  Too late Benny!  What is it with boys and not being able to wash their stinky equipment!

I thought these pictures looked kinda neat as black and white and this will also be my Mosaic Monday post for over at the Little Red House.

We have had a great run of hockey in our little town.  I remember when Ben was about 4 or 5 years old and we would take him to the rink for public skating.    It took us a little while to sign Ben up for hockey though.  Alot of his little friends started as Mites, but we just didn't know if we wanted to do the "hockey thing".  Finally though, one fall registration session, Darrell came home and just said "I signed Ben up for hockey!"... no discussion, nothing!!  At first I panicked, because we were busy on week ends with That Country Place when it was the gift shop, and I just didn't know if I wanted to be a "hockey mom".

I remember his first "tryout" session....oh boy!  He had some catching up to do and could hardly skate backwards.  I thought for sure he would come off the ice discouraged and want to quit,,,,but I was wrong!!  and our years of hockey in Hanna Minor hockey began!  Of course, now it is all "memories" and over the years I have kept a scrapbook of Ben's hockey.  It has been a fun album to work on as it is one theme, I used the Colts colors, a great way to incorporate all those "team" photos you get and will be a great keepsake for him.  

Learning to skate on a little "puddle" and on the dugout

Needing help from dad to tie up his skates

Some hockey camp moments with the Neidermayer brothers.  Every little boys dream to skate with some NHL stars.

Ben did experience a broken leg and it happened when playing hockey.  

I don't think there is one game that Darrell or I have not been at.

Darrell was working on this Dec 18th day and I was running late trying to get away from

having the shop open.  I was just headed out the door to the game, when the phone rang.  

It was another hockey mom telling me not to worry, but Ben had been hurt!!

A broken leg set him back and he was not able to finish the season that year.  Turned out he had a cyst in his bone, so that leg would have broke eventually.  I am just glad that I didn't see him on the ice that day.  When I arrived at the rink, he was already moved onto some tables and waiting for the ambulance.

Movin up the ranks to Pee Wee..

Coaches corner is a page I started doing.... 

Ben was fortunate to be able to play in 1 Bantam Provincials hosted in Hanna

as well as 3 Midget Provincials (2 of those hosted in Hanna), over the course of his hockey years.

Being from a small town, you play with the same kids year in and year out!

Great memories..

What would hockey be without some cheering fans!!

Midget already!! 

Wearing the hard hat!

The boys came so close to winning a medal last year too,,,,but it wasn't meant to be.

There is alot to be learned for both parents and kids in organized sports.  We have been part of a great group of parents and I will miss seeing them all at the rink as we cheered our kids on.  This year was the best though.  Hosting the Provincial B tournament in Hanna was great!!  Small town living at its best as you would  see the stands full with hometown fans cheering our boys onto a great victory!  I work at one of the banks in town, and had many clients asking how the team was doing over the year and when the boys brought home the Gold Medal I had lots of congratulations from people at work!  The last Midget team to bring home a gold medal in Provincials in Hanna was 40 years ago!!!  So our boys did the community proud too!

A proud dad and an emotional Ben :)

We love you Benny and are proud of you.  May you always play in the game of life with integrity, honesty and know that hard work always pays off.

It was bitter sweet as I watched Ben come out of the dressing room for the last time.  The hallway was filled with cheering fans and parents and when each player walked down the hallway he was greeted by applause, high fives and "great job"......  

Well, sorry about the long post today ladies!  Thought it would be a good way to show you some of my scrapbooking pages too.    Hope some of you are still reading!!   Now I must really get back to my income taxes!!  I think I have about an hours worth of work left and that can get crossed off the list! 

Also posting to MellowYellow Monday