Saturday, March 25, 2017

A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage #97

Welcome to another thrifty week at Harvest Lane Cottage. I am glad you've found me! Each week I share my thrifty and frugal projects, ways of saving money, and my blessings from God. 

A Thrifty Week at Harvest Lane Cottage

I am so glad you dropped in for a visit today—or tonight!
Do say hello!

♥♥♥
Dear Reader,
 Some weeks I do so well at being thrifty. Other weeks just slide by without much conscious effort at saving money or resources. This was a slip by week. There's not much to it, but I hope joy this week's entry.


"Finally, brethren, 
whatsoever things are true, 
whatsoever things are honest, 
whatsoever things are just, 
whatsoever things are pure, 
whatsoever things are lovely, 
whatsoever things are of good report; 
if there be any virtue, 
and if there be any praise, 
think on these things." 
Philippians 4:8
King James Version 
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♥♥♥
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Here's my thrifty week!
  • I brought home a bagful of yarn from our homeschool co-op. I was needing some acrylic yarn, but I just didn't want to buy it since I know so many ladies have it lying around unused. Here's what I'm making with it.

  • We enjoyed leftover cake from a party my mister had at work.
  • We had a potluck with a family from our church. They brought food to enjoy with our pot of refried beans and fixin's. We had some awesome soft tacos and burritos. Gotta love Tex Mex food!
  • This past two weeks had some big expenses, front tires for the van, car maintenance for my husband's car, and a trip to St. Louis to see my friend Laura. Hubby also had a number of expenses while I was gone. These things were big hits on the paycheck. Consequently, we ate primarily from the freezer with just a few fresh veggies and milk.
  • While visiting Laura in St. Louis, we went to the history museum and the art museum—both free! We also walked through the biting cold in order to use the free parking. Score!
  • We enjoyed a wonderful vacation with our friends at very little cost over the gas we used because of their generosity. Thank you friends! 
  • I don't know if redecorating projects are ever actually thrifty. We are trying to repaint our bathroom, and have run into trouble with the popcorn ceiling. It began to fall down in places as hubby was painting it. He's going to look at it again tomorrow and decide if it must come down or be patched. It's thrifty only because he is doing the work himself. 


  • I finished reading Grow in Grace, an e-book I received free for review. I'll share the review with you as soon as I finish writing it. 

Well, that's my thrifty week. 


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♥♥♥
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“Happiness is not a feeling, it is a choice. 
To be happy, one must choose to be happy, 
not respond to a circumstance 
that now controls your happiness.” 
― Joyce Meyer

~♥ ~
I'm working on this one!
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♥♥♥
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Update on Ellen March 21, 2017 7:26 p.m.
God is so good! Ellen was able to send me a text today. Whether she typed it or not, I don't know. I feel like she is coming back from the dead—again. She has been transferred to a rehabilitation hospital. Thank you for your prayers for her. She is learning to swallow, and speaking slowly in sentences. She has a long way to go, but she is improving. Bless God!

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♥♥♥
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What are you doing in your home this week?

ღLauraღ

28 comments:

  1. Still praying for Ellen for sure. Oh I hate popcorn ceilings! They are easy to get rid of although it is tiring work. Jack always just used a putty knife, wetting the popcorn stuff first to make it come down easier.

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    1. Right now I am thankful for two things—the room was small, and there was only one room with popcorn!
      Thank you for being faithful in reading and writing to me!
      Hugs,
      Laura

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  2. You do it so well, Laura.
    Have a cozy weekend!

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    1. You too Billie Jo. I really love to hear from you.

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  3. I love the history and art museum in St. Louis.

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    1. There were some amazing things in each of them. I enjoyed both. Do you live in driving distance from them? I live in Southwest Missouri.
      God bless you Mrs. T.
      Hugs,
      Mrs. Laura

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  4. Hello Mrs. Laura,
    Exciting to hear that y'all are able to update your bath. Sad to hear your project has turned out to be more laborious than originally anticipated.
    Our previous home in Texas was built in the 1930's. When we were doing some extensive remodeling on that home, we seemed to encounter additional work buried within each project. When re-doing the laundry room, we also had a popcorn ceiling "issue". Because the room was small, we chose to scrape the popcorn off the ceiling. We then found that the popcorn covered up an "unfinished" surface. After much contemplation on what to do, we finally chose to cover the ceiling with wainscoting that matched the wainscoting we'd put on the lower 1/2 of the walls. We trimmed the edges of the ceiling with a composite crown molding, that once painted, looked very similar to the crown molding we had in the living room and dining room. Because of the age of the original molding, we could only find something similar. But since it was located in a different room, most folks didn't notice the slight discrepancies. Needless to say, I can sympathize with your popcorn ceiling dilemma.
    I do offer you some encouragement. Although we often encountered additional work during our remodel, the "extra" projects spurred us to add more creative architectural details to the house. In the end, our little home was transformed into a beautiful little cottage that garnished many, many compliments when we put it up for sale one year after the remodel was completed. In the middle of our nation's housing crisis, our cottage sold for asking price.
    I am confident you all will come up with a beautiful and frugal solution to your popcorn ceiling issue.

    Blessings,
    Mrs.B

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    1. How encouraging Mrs. B. Thank you. My husband got all the popcorn scraped off today. By the time he was done, it was tracked through the house! It was a major clean up project. The ceiling isn't as nice as we'd like, but we've decided to just paint over it anyway. I've got to decide on a color for the walls next. I keep changing my mind!
      Be blessed,
      Mrs. Laura Lane

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  5. So glad Ellen is improving...will continue to pray.

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    1. Thank you, Cheryl. She has a fever that they cannot keep down. They don't know what's causing it.
      I appreciate your prayers. How is Kristen?

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  6. Sorry about the car repairs Laura! Sometimes life throws a curve ball at you. Still, you manage to make it from base to base. My sis had that same problem with her popcorn ceiling and had to have it all removed. It's a job for sure! Wishing you the best of luck.
    hugs,
    Jann

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    Replies
    1. I am amazed we were able to absorb the costs of all the extras this past couple of weeks. We did end up dipping into our emergency fund, but thank the Lord we had it!

      The popcorn's gone. Yay!
      What a mess it made. Now we can move forward. Hubby will paint the ceiling tomorrow.

      God bless you my friend,
      Laura

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  7. Used a $5.00 coupon.
    Got a pretty good deal on salad fixings marked down or on sale.
    Got a good price on a medium tray of fresh chicken breasts, and two small packs of meat, one boneless ribs, and steak, both less than $2.00 each. All went into the freezer.
    Guess that's about all.
    Glad you have a great time with your friend, and the cost was a blessing also.
    Good for you Laura!

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    1. Annie you always impress me with your frugal activities. I enjoy your online friendship.

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  8. First prayer for Ellen.. Praying to see her fine soon..

    Love to read your blog...

    Please visit: http://from-a-girls-mind.blogspot.com

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    Replies
    1. You are so sweet Miss Krishna. Thank you for your prayers. I'll come visit soon.

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  9. You make me feel so much better this week. I don't feel like I was thrifty at all so I'm going to skip this week. We had a popcorn ceiling too in our bedroom. We went over it with drywall and we are now painting. The drywall was done very badly throughout the room and you could see the tape marks. I think this makes our 24 years living here and our bedroom is just now getting a makeover. I now Know why-the cost of doing anything is unbelievably expensive! Have a great Sunday!

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  10. No thriftiness around here...we had a major car repair as well...to the tune of $241. sigh...just never ending...at least part of my birthday money covered it.

    ANYWAYS, don't forget to prime the ceiling (I read in your comments that you indeed scraped it off)--I wish we lived closer, I would of pained for free, I loveeeeeeeeeee painting, smiles.

    Have a lovely week ahead, sweet friend.

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    1. Oh I do wish you were here! The paint had primer in it.
      I finally just decided to paint the walls white. The two samples we got were not true to the sample cards. I didn't want to keep buying samples of different colors. Too stressful.

      Blessings,
      Laura

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  11. WOW, Laura...I think I could work the rest of my life on that Joyce Meyer quote! ;) It's always lovely to stop by your sweet site...gladly returning the favor today from Mommy Moments! Blessings on your new week!

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    1. You're so sweet Elizabeth. Thank you so much for writing to me. i look forward to talking with you again.

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  12. Laura, my advice about removing your popcorn is late, but maybe it can help someone else. I saw this on one of those home shows. They said that when you remove it, to tape those tossable plastic sheets to the wall underneath to form a sort of bowl to catch the mess as you scrape. I filed that in my brain, because we were *blessed* with them as well. The only thing I like about them is that you don't have to paint them when they're in clean condition. Beyond that....grumble grumble. And I will never understand putting them in closets, bathrooms, kitchens, or laundry rooms.....

    Glad it's behind you. I hope your bathroom has a window. They're so much nicer when they do. Brighter.

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    1. Thank you for the great idea. I don't know how long the popcorn had been up. We lived here 7 years, and it was old when we moved in. ~grin~
      Be blessed,
      Laura

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  13. There is a YouTube video on how to remove the popcorn ceiling (then either replace it or just paint the smoothed surface). The one I did was where you attach a scraper to a wet/dry vac and it sucks up the pieces while scraping. Debi

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    1. Thank you for sharing that Debi. It would have been cleaner than the method we used!

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  14. I sympathize with your popcorn ceiling woes... been there, done that and it wasn't fun, but we are so glad we did it. ... I LOVED your comment on clearing a 3 cu ft of real estate.. that made me smile. :) Thank you for the enjoyable visit. :)

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    1. Hi Joy,
      I'm currently trying to clear the floor in my laundry room! I sorted all the clothes, and I'm trying to marathon wash them. ~smile~ Then I hope to keep up.
      Blessings,
      Laura

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Your blog friend,
Laura Lane
5 Year Cancer Survivor