$23

Let's face it, this is the original carpet in my townhouse.  It was very tired, very off color, stained, God knows what else!  It had seen a corporate tenant, a tenant family, and last but not least a couple (total whack jobs but great credit and the check came on time every single month!)  They supposedly had more cats than any of my neighbors could count, and when I moved in I found clues alluding to the fact that they had kept rabbits for feed. Did I mention the check came on time every month???

It took a good year before I was able to STOP discovering strange things they had done...another blog.  I also heard that he would play the bongos @2AM. sigh.   So we've been here going on 3 years now - worked my ass off to get back in - and as most of you know working my cerebral ass off trying to get the mortgage lowered.  Even though the market seems to be bouncing back a bit the comps are killing any realistic pricing for those of us that would like to sell without leaving our kidneys on the table.  

Many know I have been working on personal debt for a long time and am finally seeing the exit sign and a credit score that has risen from the dead.  I've got 3 solid months left of certain payments that I sat on my bedroom floor and designed for myself 5 years ago.  There is now a frugality that will never leave my bones, I have reassessed alot; friendships& relationships.  What things are worth both monetarily and emotionally.  What I can live but more importantly what I can live without.  And the whole time I've been navigating these things under the growing scrutiny and awareness of my children always with the thought of "How will this impact them? And what am I teaching them?"  How does this relate to shot carpet?...

"Mom when are we going to pergo the stairs going to the basement?" 

"Honey Mommy's trying to save $ so not for a while"

"Mom let's just be productive and rip it up...I bet I could porch paint them for $25, they would look nicer, be cleaner and you wouldn't spend that much I promise"

So with gloves on and a few hours of sweat the carpet came off, then the padding which crumbled like some toxic crap, then a million little staples.  The staples took the longest, but we went at it with needle nose pliers he on the down case, I on the up...

There had been some glue and spackle and drippy paint so the first born pulls a hand sander out of the garage (I didn't even know we had one...)

Look at him...LOOK!  I gave birth to that genius!!!

And in no time he porch painted an otherwise totally avoidable area.

And It came in at a cost of $23

Ask me why I love this kid who at such a young age is based in reality?

Children are the anchor that tether a mother to life - Namaste

I'm a Little Tea Pot...

Shakespeare speaks of the eyes being the windows to the soul...They seek out like.  When I saw this little teapot in a random store called "The Food Barn" I had to have it.  I had been back in my house about 3 years and was still making tea in a small sauce pot.  

I just couldn't find anything that really struck me as a 'desire'. A glass one wouldn't survive a week in this house, an avant garde one just wouldn't fit and I would become resentful.  I needed something as comforting as a real wool blanket. Though it sounds silly, tea is a very big part of my life.  It's kind of a Celtic thing I believe.  Tea will get you through most things.  It's there at Births, Funerals, Big News, Little News, Sick bellies and when a chill hits you just  right.

So there I was getting a H.U.G.E. teenage boy sandwich when I started walking around this store.  It seems to be misplaced, like some converted double garage on the outskirts of the local air strip in town.  Yet it trucks on.  I believe they bought inventory from yet another this-n-that store in town that had become collateral damage to the big box stores.  No longer could you get a unique gift, or canning supplies, or real hand dipped candles when these shrines to consumerism moved in but we watched in horror as our beloved 'haunts' went under one by one.  Throw in a back breaking economy and cheap as hell crap from china and it spelled certain doom for our local True Value, Ben Franklin, and Rockaway Sales stores that my generation grew up on.  

So the Food Barn seems to sit there like a little rebel, a hold out, a stand off - I frequent these spots as much as I can.  So while waiting for a sandwich, I started browsing.  And there She was like a little lady with a classic dress on...My Little Tea Pot.  She's just metal - almost like a little issued mess-kit to go camping in. Her lid has a little black button type top and the handle will pull the skin off your hands if you don't use an oven mitt.  Still... She's a charmer.  I flipped her over and spotted the worn orange price sticker $3.00.  

And she's been with me ever since.  She's smaller than a big box pot...you will only get 2 cups at a time with her.  She's tough (like her owner), she can handle a few small dents, a drop, and has gotten her ass burned more than once.  She scrubs up pretty good though - a soak in vinegar and water and a steel wool pad shines her up nice.  She's constant - always there when I need her.

It's proved a good marriage for she still makes me smile.  The best $3 I ever spent!

What a wonderful thing on a day such as this to remember the homemade turkey soup I had frozen

...It's the little things that bring the biggest comforts :)