why i love thrift shop blankets....

i don't know if i mentioned this before, but i have cats.
naughty cats.
and dogs. big hairy dogs.
so some time ago we replaced out carpet with laminate. i wanted wood, but laminate was cheaper.
so be it. it's actually holding up pretty well and looks like rustic board so i really have no complaints.
but carpet is nice, warm and soft.
that's where one turns to rugs.
-but then we're back to the cats. and the dogs.
my nice, relatively expensive rugs were getting destroyed.
i needed a plan.
i was using those dollar rag-rugs, sewing them together to get the size i needed.
but they are difficult to wash, and sewing them takes time.
bummer.
 what to do...

now, i don't know if i mentioned this before, but i have a little addiction to crocheted blankets.
luckily it's a cheap and practical addiction, they cost only about 1-5 dollars at thrift stores and garage sales, and i use them for everything from guest room bedding, dog blankets, throws to a cover for my tatty sofa cushion.
one fine day, upon realizing the replacement for my sofa cushion was too small, i set the blanket on the floor.

neat. i just bought a new rug.

as it turns out, most blankets are the perfect size and shape for my living room.
and since i have a large coffee table to anchor it down, i don't need to put a non-slip mat underneath.
and when they get dirty...toss em in the wash.
a bit worn and tattered...into the dog kennel.
it's probably one of the most efficient way i could be spending $2, when it's all said and done.
plus, being that cheap, i have no reservations about switching them out as often as i like.
this is my living room now, with the "rug" i bought for $1 a day ago, ant the other blanket workin hard as my sofa cover.

i also wanted to change up the dining room table, (though i was given specific instruction not got get too "springy" from the love of my life who, apparently, enjoys wallowing in the misery of wisconsin winters) so into the cupboards i went, found an old bottle and butter jar, a table runner, an antique glass pitcher from my grandma and an antique book in some language i can't read.
all i needed was a candle, a stick from the lilac bush outside and a couple old christmas decorations (and owls, of course) and i was in business.
done.
the butter jar held egg-shaped chocolates (which are now gone, thanks to the above mentioned winter wallower. perhaps that's how he's staving off the winter blues) and the candle got plopped inside the pitcher.
simple, easy, free.

ooohhh...

(way too early) spring fever

yeah, it's unseasonably warm.
but it tricked my weak brain into believing spring is on it's way, and i got a bad bad case of cabin fever.
so to satisfy my outside urges, i removed the pine boughs from the front yard (and the christmas tree i arbitrarily tossed out there. i know, classy) and hauled them into the back...by my fire pit deck.
oh, how my mind reeled...
"these things have been drying for months...what great kindling they would make!" whispered the squirming voices in my spring- drugged mind.
-oh yes, i built the start of a fire.
i'll need to pick up some wood, ours is currently soaked, but i believe that tonight after our weekly wednesday venture to our favorite tavern for tacos i'll be wandering home to have a little fire out back.

that said, spring has polluted my mind indoors as well.
much to my fiancees dismay ("you're too early; it's still winter") i've taken to incorporating some brighter touches here and there. you know, trying to sneak them in...unsuccessfully.
-look, i get bored staring at the same things for long periods of time, and considering that it is winter in northern wisconsin and we are not a wealthy family, we spend a lot of time inside our home.
and though i don't mind it at all, i feel a bit more sane if at least i can change the scenery up a little bit (or completely) from time to time.

a couple of cheap things ive done in the past week or so:
recently the cats destroyed one of my bookshelves (cats are awesome. so awesome, in fact, you should take mine and experience the joy firsthand), so i dug up an old fruit crate i had laying around (yeah, i have stuff like that lying around) and stacked my books in that.
it is actually bigger and more sturdy than my old bookcase, and it works better as an end for my little bench (a ceder lined bench i salvaged from the curb). i actually like it better than the old bookcase, and it has a rad little moon drinking orange juice on top. who can resist that?

                                                           
my coffee table was looking a bit drab and wintry, so so i foraged around the house and found a bunch of old blue canning jars of various sizes, cleaned them up, plopped tea lights in them, and reveled in my thrifty genius.

                                                             
(oh, and my coffee table, it's an old trunk with a piece of plexiglass on top.)

                                                       
it's not much, but it at least brightens it up a little.
oh, and a dog on the sofa is essential.


i know spring is still a couple months away, but i can at least make the wait a bit more pleasant inside.  and enjoy a winter fire with a warm beverage outside.