3 years ago, I was clearing out the basement and decluttered a gossip bench that I inherited from my Aunt Edna. It was in rough shape - the wood was separating, it needed reupholstering and I didn't have the energy, expertise or time to do it.

The lady that took it flips furniture and sent me a picture of the finished product. It looked so nice, but we had nowhere to put it, so I didn't try to buy it back.

There were so many memories attached that I always regretted letting it go.

Fast forward to today. I was heading to Wawa and saw a yard sale in my neighborhood. I decided to stop by and there in the middle of the yard sale was Aunt Edna's Gossip Bench. The EXACT one I had sold. (The seller even named the lady I sold it to).

I hopped on out of the car and bought it back! That is fate for you!

It's been a while since I've posted - been super busy these last few months. We moved in July, finally got a renter into our townhouse last week, I am working OT, but not as much as before, been sick off & on and generally been living a lot.

We have had a LOT of social obligations. Never dull for me!

-My daughter turned One this month. We had a little party that my mom paid to be in a restaurant (she HAD to do my nieces and didn't want to be seen as favoring my sister's kids - that was her choice).
-Last weekend, I was at a bachelorette party.
-This weekend, my husband is going to the bachelor party.
-In September, we are attending a housewarming for friends (child friendly event)
-In September, we are attending a friend's house party (kid friendly)
-In October, we have 3 weddings - 2 out of state

We also are waiting for the rental income to come in. We have a renter, but are also using a property management company. Because of the renter starting mid-month and the PM fees, we won't see a full month's rental income coming to us until the middle of October, which will go to the 11/1 mortgage payment.

I have lots of cashflowing/savings goals -
-cashflowing budget deficit
-cashflowing wedding events/gifts/travel
-save 1 month Rental Mortage buffer
-save 1 month New Mortgage buffer
-Save 5k Rental Efund
-Cashflow tickets to an event in Oct
-cashflow new furniture

Fun stuff, people! I will say, that we are not revolving any credit card debt as we have been spending a lot. I am so thankful for overtime!

I also want to note that usually I buy Christmas gifts all year long - but not this year as I didn't want to move all the stockpile of gifts! So I need to get busy on that

Today was going to be a veg, do-nothing day. But I couldn't seem to sit still. I took all the clothes in the spare bedroom, organized and listed them to take to Good Will.



Then I ran some errands, went to Acme to return the movies to redbox & pick up some milk, then dropped the clothes off at Good Will.

When I got home, I went into the basement for some organizing. I came out with a bunch of stuff to list on Craigslist & to give to goodwill. I also collapsed some boxes to be recycled. All of which is loaded up in the car & out of the house

Here's part of the basement before:





And here's part of the basement after:



I planted parsley & chives and organized my plants. I'm utilizing a small table & tray table to place the plants in front of the window & move outside in nicer weather. I've also utilized (temporarily) some old mugs for some of the seeds.



I unpacked some glassware from my Aunt that had been hiding in the basement. I cleaned the kitchen, made dinner & made some meatloaf muffins to freeze.

I then decided to organize the cabinet under the sink:

Before:



After:



Whew...now im gonna pick up the living room, put away the laundry & settle in to watch the Nora Roberts movie on Lifetime at 9

Yesterday, I went to the Farmers market for produce. I went with two friends and we explored the outdoor Flea Market as well. I didn't plan on buying anything, but ended up coming home with 3 paintings in ornate gold frames. I have a place in mind in my living room.

Here they are:




Here is each close up:









And here is where I'm thinking of puttin them.

I've been wanting to change some things up at my house. Mostly I want to go out & buy stuff. Instead, I rearranged the furniture. I'm not sure if I like the arrangment, or if I'm going to keep it, but its neat to see something different.

Here's a before picture of my living room.



Behind the couch is a small table & two chairs. The arrangement wasn't that comfy, because you had to walk around the couch to eat at the table. Since its just me in the house, I barely use it.

In this one, you can see how close the couches were to the tv (on the right).





So here's the big couch now, pushed back against the wall.



Here's how much farther the tv is from the couches now.




Here's the table, now in the kitchen, with one of its sides pulled up and one still left down. I had a table in the kitchen, a freebie that I didn't like so much. That will be going into the basement to be given to GoodWill or sold at a later date.




And because she's so cute, here's a picture of my cat, Colbi.

I've been wanting a small table for my kitchen, but have been putting it off. I found one through Craigslist for $50.00, but decided not to get it because I thought it would be too big for my kitchen. Then Monday, I came home to a table at the end of my neighbor's driveway, put out to trash. I grabbed it, cleaned it up and its now in my kitchen. For free

They just put out matching chairs for the trash, but upon inspection, the chairs weren't usable. Broken, crooked, ect. So I'm still keeping in eye out for chairs. But I'll make do with what I have for now.

Tomorrow, I'm meeting that friend of a friend so that he can see the house & the spare room. I did some cleaning and organizing. If he decides he wants to take the room, then I'll have to put in closet poles/shelves and move the dresser and desk in that room to the basement. But I won't do any of that until I know he's interested in the room.

I've been thinking about what to charge for the room, and I still have to come up with a firm number by tomorrow.

In college I bought a set of heavy stoneware dishes & bowls from Goodwill for about $10.00 for the set. They have served me well.


Last year, I inherited my great-aunts daily dishes. I used them in tandem with the college dishes.


I also inherited her china, which is beautiful. The pictures don't do the china justice. I'm going to work on getting some better pictures of the china this weekend.