Scrounge Proud

There's not much more satisfying to me than making something I need out of stuff I already have . It makes me feel so self sufficient, so able to to care for my family. It boosts my ego, too. :) Anyway, here's my little peacock strut about the things Jason and I have scrounged together lately:

1) A book shelf for the living room, scrounged from the fish stand I had my old ten gallon sitting on, (which we got for free off freecycle back in the day) plus some scrap wood and hardware from previous projects, and the leftover paint from the first time I painted the fish stand. Jason did the wood working, and I did the painting.

Total cost: NADA, baby!

(sorry-no pic for this one. Trust me. It looks just like you'd imagine a mower to look) :)

2) A lawnmower. This one was all Jason (as is the next one). He ressurected the old mower that was sitting in a dusty corner of the patio when we bought the house. I'm so proud. This guy just tinkered and looked at internet guides until he got ol' Bessy sputterin', and then a purrin' like a kitten. (if any mower could be described as purring.)

Total cost: $10 (parts and gas)

3) A cool, quirky clock for our kitchen. Jason took apart Rudy's old clock which had died, fixed the mecanisim, and created a face out of wood scraps and something he'd dug out of an old TV he'd found in our attic and had taken apart just for fun earlier. I think it's way cool-even if I'm not an advanced enough time teller to look at a rectangular face with no numbers and be able to tell the time acurately. That's what my digital wrist watch is for. :)

Total cost: A BIG FAT ZERO!!

4) Curtains for our dining room. I got a queen size yellow flat sheet off freecycle, which I combined with some scrap fabric to make into some curtains with character. Jason wanted to scrounge for the curtain rods too, but by then I was all scrounged out (I BARELY had enough fabric, after creating an intricate cutting and sewing strategy.) So we ended up buying some curtain rods. Actually, I asked my mom to pick them up for me while she was already at the store. I don't know how it is with your parents, but it's hard to get my folks to let me pay for something they've already paid for. I have to really stare 'em in the eye balls and tell 'em I'm all grown up and want to pay my own way. That day I didn't feel like being grown up-just grateful. So I was. :)

Total cost to us: FREE NINETY FREE!

Ta Da! :)