Purple Flowers, Bumblebees & Yard Sale Treasures...plus crafts..OH MY!!!

If you look really carefully you'll see this fat and fuzzy bumblebee hanging out on this purple flower! You may have to left-click on the image to enlarge it. Then you'll see the bumblebee :) :) :)

Hi everyone...My dad and I had some things to do today that required the car.  So on the way out I spotted these beautiful purple flowers. Now I know this particular area of town quite well and those flowers were new.  They must have literally sprung up in the last month or so.  When you see the following photos you'll understand why I think this was particularly amazing and special...

When I moved back home in January 2006 this photo was nothing but an empty field. It used to be part of a military exercise base back in the 1940s..but don't quote me on that. There used to be an old cinder block shelter here....similar to what you'd see on old military practice fields. In any case, in just four years it's changd a lot. That building you see is a renal care facility. I watched it from the first hole of dirt being dug to now...YOu can also see what a sorry state the unused portions are still in. It looks like there will be more landscaping happening soon. Anyway..it was along the dirt portion running parallel to the sidewalk that I spotted those beautiful purple flowers...Extreme beauty in the midst of dirt...

Now this is what this particular area looks like where I snapped the photo of those beautiful flowers. You can see these white flowers and a little but of the purple flowers on the very far right!!!


Here's a close-up view of the white flowers that were right next to the purple flowers. I don't know how they got there..unless someone randomly scattered a few seeds...but there they are and there is nothing similar nearby.


Here's a close-up view of the purple flowers.

I'm not sure what type of flowers those are. I tried to find a similar photo on the internet. So if you know what they are, please let me know and I'll update this post :) :) :)

Of course, I managed to visit a couple yard sales this weekend.  I found some wonderful treasures which I'll share with you today. Now the tea things, I'll save for Tuesdays...but the rest I'll show you :) :) This will be it for the next month, because I'm out of money. It's tighter than tight in our house now...but that's alright. Now I can concentrate on the decorating, improving etc... Oh, back to the topic..so we stopped at one yard sale today and I found a few cute things....

This was a really cool, classic car that was parked in front of the house holding the yard sale today. The owner let me take a photo!!!

The photo below shows what I found at "today's" yard sale.  Those wicker shaped hearts with the lace and bows were only $0.25 each. That was a total impulse buy. They need some cleaning up and the lace is faded...but I'll figure out a way to fix it. If you have any tips on how I could brighten up the lace let me know. Those hearts can be hung on a wall. The homeowner made those herself!!! The other big find was her 3-ring binder "Aleene's Big Book of Crafts" with cool subject dividers. It had all these really cool craft projects that the same homeowner had carefully pulled out of Aleene's craft magazines and placed into sheet protectors inside this binder. This was only $2. I did look through this FIRST before I bought it. There are some great project ideas in there.

The items sitting "ON" this bench are what I found at the yard sale today. The bench itself and the lacy fabric peaking out were yesterday's finds...

Here's what I found at yesterday's yard sale...

This storage bench was only $5 and it's in excellent condition...just a little dirty. That can be cleaned.  I may paint this storage bench or leave it as is..not sure..but it's going to go next to my bed :) :) That's a great deal and it's REAL wood :) :) :)


Here's a ROUND table cloth with lace edging that I'm actually going to use on my rectangular table...unconventional I know..but it was only $2.


The book was another great find at only $0.25."Natural Beauty at Home - More than 200 easy-to-use recipes for body, bath and hair" by Janice Cox. She lives here in the same area of Oregon as myself!!! This book was from 1994...but the recipes have been used for generations!!


This tea strainger was "Made in England". It's very heavy.  I'm not sure what metal it's made out of...but this was also a mere $0.50. The teacup/coffee cup underneath it...well, you'll have to watch out on Tuesday one of these weeks...I won't say anything about it here :) :)

During the summer it gets really hot in Oregon. So I like to sleep with my window slightly open at night. The window has a screen so I don't have to worry about bugs flying into my room. In any case, I went to bed late last night...and all of a sudden I hear this really loud chatter...like a woodland creature or sprite with a diabolical laugh.

I got up out of bed and went to my window. It turns out it was three RACCOONS. They are very common in this area, especially when it's dark outside. I think it was a mom and two babies...because the mother was HUGE like the size of a small dog and the babies were a little smaller. They were looking for food.

My neighbor tried scaring them away by banging on a plastic bucket. It didn't work.  The two babies just scampered up the tree and the momma just kept on looking for food. Then she went up the tree, too.  Many of my neighbors leave out cat food to feed some of the homeless kitties that roam the apartment complex. Well, the raccoons now know where the kitty food is and they are frequent visitors :) :) If you've ever seen a raccoon walking around on all four paws, it's really funny!!!

This tree is right outside my backporch patio.  This is the tree that those raccoons climbed up late last night..well, technically it was just after midnight.

It's also crafty Saturday and here's what I've been working on this week. Now part of this is a gift for a friend, so I can't show all the photos...but "dear friend" does know what I'm making and what yarn I'm using :) :) This is the book that I am using..it has the pattern for the "ballband dishcloth".  If you want some great knitting patterns and humor rolled into one, this book is for you. You can also check out their website by clicking here!!! I really enjoyed their first knitting book and their sense of humor. They have since published another book, too!!! I think this is worth your money. See if you can borrow it from your library FIRST, so you can get a free preview. Then go buy it...that's what I did :) :) :)

Part of the craft project I"ve been working on this week. I've since complete a few of these...but this is all I'll show you at the moment :) :) :)

QUICK UPDATE (added at 7:24 p.m. PST) I just went to the Lily Sugar 'n Cream yarn website. It's so cute. If you sign in as a member...I believe it's free, because I didn't see a cost..they have a pattern for the exact same dishcloth. It goes by a different name and it's a basic "brick stitch". If you click here you can see the dishcloth and some other patterns.  I just thought this might be an alternative, especially if finances are tight, but you still want to make some beautiful/useful things :) :) :)

Oh I've had some more really neat ladies join my blog this week!!! So here goes...

WELCOME TO: Ashley Nicole of Bramblewood Fashion. Click here to visit her really cute blog. Ashley is a young lady with some outstanding sewing skills. She makes beautiful clothes that are also modest. Check her out. She also loves among other things the Regency Era clothing and Anne of Green Gables...just like me ;) :)

WELCOME TO: Aimee from Aimee on the Mountain Side. Click here to pay her  a visit. She's a native of the Northwest...She takes fantastic photos, loves Victorian homes and she has some fantastic photos of different areas of Oregon. Check it out...!!! Oh, she's also the owner of one super cute fluffy white dog!!

WELCOME TO: Patti of Fill My Cup...With Beauty. Click here to say hello to her. I don't remember now how I found her blog..but it's lovely!!! She has a really neat post up right now with a  link to "The Graphics Fairy". There you can find really nice free, vintage images. Patti posted some really cute pink vintage images for Saturday!!!

That was a long post!!! Thanks for visiting me.  Things are tough with the job market at the moment and I won't be going to any more yard sales for awhile.  My budget is pretty tight anyway, but I always have to make room for a little fun. It's necessary!!! Anyways, just keep my dad and I in your prayers. I'm always happy to pray for all of you, too!!!

Oh, I've noticed that I haven't really written a lot about budgeting lately. I'll have to see what I can do to change that. I'll be changing the subject labels on my posts soon to make it easier to find something.  I don't think I've left anything out today.  In spite of the trying times, I can count myself very blessed!!!

Have a great weekend everyone!!! That's the news from Oregon today. Love and hugs, Heather ;)