So here's what I've been watching over my vacation...

So as many of you know, we do not have anything besides basic cable; well that except Netflix and now On Demand, which is more than enough for us.

Here's what we've been streaming...

*More of The League...so hilarious I can't even stand it.
*Hubby has finally come around to Parks and Recreation
*And the stand by for a while now, 30 Rock
       
As for On Demand, I've been watching a lot of the following...

*American Pickers...I've gotten past how annoying the guys are just love watching what they find.
*Cash & Cari...Love the estate sales and especially love the refurbishing.
*Hairy Bikers...I kinda want to love this show more than I do. I love the travel part for sure.
*American Restoration...with the restoration team from Pawn Stars

So that's it. But I'm looking for other recommendations too. We're done with the available League, Parks and Recreation, American Pickers, Cash & Cari, and American Restoration. I noticed Mad Men is on Netflix Instant now, anyone like that one?

What's new on Kitschy Kitchen Goods

What I've Been Watching on Netflix Instant Lately

1) The League...oh my goodness so hilarious! Only the first season is up right now, but it has me hooked. I nearly peed my pants watching this show before.

2) American Pickers...the guys are a little annoying but I love the junk they find.

3) Cash in the Attic...similar to Pickers, but British and kinda slow moving. I still like it though.

4) Clean House...watching a show about cleaning and organizing is so much more fun than doing it ;)

More Recent Adds to Kitschy Kitchen Goods

1970 Big Eye/Sad Eye Puppy

Good Night Wooden Wall Art

Ceramic Snoopy Look Alike

Pink Pig Piggy Bank

3 of the "Four Fat Harlequins"

Vintage Waif Girl

Green Vintage Flower Necklace

Blue Vintage Flower Necklace

And a few more Etsy posts

A few more posts at my Etsy shop, Kitschy Kitchen Goods...

1950s Old Car Vintage Martini Shaker

Small Multicolored Flower Vintage Tray

1960's Vegetable and Dip Tray

Celery Stalk Ceramic Serving Platter

Ceramic Asparagus Serving Platter

I think these will be my last adds for a while, I'd like to get a nibble on some of the things I already have posted. If you belong to Etsy, please list my store as a favorite. And if you know anyone who might like one of my items, please pass this info on to them. Thank you!!

A few more posts on Etsy

So my intention is not to turn my blog into an advertisement for my Etsy shop., but as I'm adding stuff I will continue to post here. If you see anything you like, shop around.

Yellow Metal Flower Candle Holder

Country Chain Link Metal Woven Basket

1960's TV Trays

Sunflower Pattern Milk Glass

And this one too...

This birdie has a new lease on life!

A couple of summers ago my mom got me pretty ceramic mushrooms, the biggest with a little birdie sitting on top. Well after a few year in the ground, the largest garden ornament lost it's stake and the bottom of the mushrooms broke too. I kept them because I thought they were pretty and didn't want to get rid of them, but I didn't exactly know what to do with them either. Well, Hubby found a cool piece of wood in our backyard, and an idea was born!

I had Hubby drill some large holes in the cool looking log, and I dripped some epoxy in the drilled holes and around the base of the mushrooms, and ta-DA!! I'm really liking the way it all turned out and that these gifts got a new life on my garden table.

Fence Flower

So back in the spring my husband picked me up a magazine called "Flea Market Gardens" which I loved. I wish I could link to it, but I can't seem to find a website to go along with it; but if you too came across it you may have seen the article "Glass Act". In the article they made "flowers" by stacking plates, which I thought looked really cool, so I set out to find plates. I instead found a metal placemat, a white plate with gold trim, and bundt pan at Goodwill and said perfect! While at home I also found a rusty little bell that fell off some wind chimes. One by one I glued them together using epoxy, and made a tiny twine hanger.  

A screw was sunk into our fence post, along with a dark green metal stake that we used to use for Christmas decorations but have since abandoned for a better solution. I think the finished product looks really cute, and just makes me want to make more flowers for my fence!

And an extra pic of the side yard with coneflowers, queen ann's lace and metal javelina I bought with my little brother in Arizona. These coneflowers are looking much healthier than they have in years past!

Backyard Wooden Windchimes

Easy as drill, knot, hang!

I found the wooden kitchen utensils and metal colander at a thrifts stores all for about $2. I used twine from home and knotted through the utensil holes that I drilled and then knotted the other end of the twine through the colander. Of course fishing line, or any host of products could be used instead, but I liked the more rustic look of the twine. I drilled a hole and the top and bottom of one of the spoons to attach an additional spoon for the middle "chime".

I made the hanger for the wind chime in a similar fashion, tying knots to the holes in the bottom (now top) of the colander, and viola!

When the wooden/bamboo utensils hit together it gives a really nice earthty mellow thud--very zen.

My one tip is to the leave the string long enough so that all the utensils can clang together easily. Mine are long enough, but if I were to do it again, I might make them a tad longer.

Here are a few more pictures...

Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore

This past weekend, hubby, pup and I packed up and headed to the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore for a weekend of sun, sand and camping.

When we first got there we set up the campsite. If you are thinking about camping here, get there early; campsites are first come/first serve. We stayed in the Mather Loop at campsite M34. It was nice, but not overly roomy--if we'd had more people joining us it would have been tight--but we didn't so it was perfect. If you do have your choice of sites, I thought some of the sites along the back of the loop looked really nice, and many of the sites were much bigger. Here is our site, to give you an idea of where we stayed.

After setting up camp, we went to check out Mount Baldy on the far east side of the park. There are two ways to get to the beach from the parking lot; a short hike up and over a dune, or a little longer hike over some smaller dunes. 

Now, the trail head clearly says to only take the trail over the large dune if you are good shape--we took that trail, and are not in the best shape--don't be scared. A rest or two on the way up and anyone in decent condition will be fine. Here are a few pictures from the top of Mt. Baldy...

Looking straight out at Lake Michigan

And looking east at the beautiful power plant in Michigan City

Now to go back up the same dune to the parking lot is much more steep, but it is ultra fun to go down!

Steep!

After climbing (and descending) Mt. Baldy, we walked along the beach heading west, and waded in the cold water of Michigan. 

Pup's first time in waves!

Looking down the beach

After walking for a while we took the trail through the woods back to the parking lot--it was really pretty!!

After that we hit up an incredibly crazy junk store (on the corner of second and central, if you are interested...it's a pickers paradise), brought some firewood, and spent the rest of the night playing Bananagrams, cooking and hanging out by our campfire.

Day Two started with a nice drive along Lakeshore Drive and eventually ending up at Central Beach. We swam around in the lake with puppy and then took a catnap in the sand; the weather was perfect and we were able to find a secluded spot and it kinda felt like a private beach.

Central Beach

My sandy Puppy Girl!

After hanging out at the beach for a while we started to feel a little thirsty and a little burny, so we decided to head back to the campsite for lunch. After hanging out there for a bit we went to Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk. While there are no dogs allowed on the actually beach, we enjoyed walking on the trail to the beach (paved so it's good for strollers and wheelchairs too) and out onto pier.

Trail to the beach

Portage Lakefront and Riverwalk Pavilion

Beachfront

"Riverwalk" Pier

After our walk back to the car I realized how tired, and hungry I was. We headed back to our campsite once again to start a fire and cook some dinner. After dinner, we played more Bananagrams and hung out around the campfire.

Sunday morning we woke up, broke camp, and headed home. It was an awesome trip! And I would recommend the Indiana Dunes to anyone--especially those in the Chicagoland region--as a quick, fun, inexpensive way to enjoy Lake Michigan's beaches.

Resale Table Turned Garden Furniture

We found this wooden chunky leg table back in early spring at a resale store and I completely fell in love. The base is painted bright yellow, but the top needed to be stained so it could stay outside. Sooo...

1) Sand.

2) Stain. (We used transparent deck stain.)

3) Admire and put into place. 

# 27: Refurbish thrift store tables.

So the other weekend while shopping with my mom, I came across two small gold tables. I thought they would be perfect to use next to our sectional in our TV room.

We first cleaned the tables really well with glass cleaner. And then separated the glass tops and the stands. We decided to spray paint the stand of the table white and the underside of the glass red.

By only spray painting the bottom of the glass red, it left the top of the glass a shiny surface that would be able to have drinks and plates set on it without scratching the paint. Below is the finished product. The first picture is of the tables in our TV room. I love the way they turned out!