I renewed my blogging excitement thanks to a beautiful morning at Mrs. Fussypants' home. (Her directions: "You'll see a black Suburban, plastic swords and old fries on the driveway".)
Karla (Looking Towards Heaven) showed us how to take a screen shot, and Lotus (Sarcastic Mom) taught me how to add a comment link directly to this blog's feed. Sometimes these things are best explained in person.
I've also deleted the no-follow code on my template so that when you comment, your blog link counts!
Let me take a moment to ask all of you, is there anything you'd like to see more or less of here in 2008?
44 comments:
I think you're doing a great job with your blog. Keep up the good work!
Blessings, Holly
Just keep all this good stuff coming our way! Anything to do with beautiful living on a budget is your expertise. Love, love your blog!
Love your blog. I would love to continue seeing your fantastic ideas for putting pieces together that you find.
Happy New Year
Michele
Motherly Musings
I loved the piece that you did that focused on how to mimic room designs shown in furniture ads (PB, etc) with what you have on hand or with what you can get for next to nothing. It's so neat to see, large scale, what can be done with all the little and individual thrifty finds.
Ooh I'm jealous. The next time I'm in TN. I'm going to make Ivy coordinate a meet-up.
I agree with all the rest. You are doing a wonderful job. Your blog is the first I read and the only one I read every day. Keep up on the good pictures, they are so charming.
Judy
I'd love to here a little about how you got into frugal living in the first place. And, since I'm getting married in May any tips on raising a family with a frugal mindset would be great as well.
I always look forward to reading your blog and seeing your photos. You are so full of grace and have such an eye for beautiful things. I appreciate your sense of frugality and it really inspires me to do the best I can with what I have or can afford. I so enjoy what you post and can only say more, more, more! :)
I check your blog almost daily. I love the way you take things that are cheap and make them look priceless.
My favorites are:
...your furniture makeovers/home sprucing
...your beautiful table presentations that look pricey but are practical for the pocket book
...and your showing your frugal finds (regardless of what they are)
All of these kinds of posts encourage me to be the Proverbs 31 lady without breaking the bank.
Happy New Year!!!!!!
Tasha
You don't need to change a thing! I am always inspired and a little jealous! I always thought I was thrifty and frugal...but I must say, you do a fantastic job! I wish I could go shopping with you! :) Happy New Year and keep blogging!
Thank you for sharing your frugal lifestyle. It encourages me to keep at it. I can't think of anything that I would like you to add for the next year, but I do enjoy seeing all your "finds." The blue bird pillow was gorgeous.
Happy New Year!
I'm gald you had a fun morning, Meredith. Wish I could say that I understand all the computer/blog stuff that you talked about! Looking forward to another great year of reading your blog. Your blog, and even the ladies who comment, are an integral part of my day now and I can't wait to see each day what's been posted and commented on! Happy New Year!
Susan
I love the lemons and flowers! I realize that's off topic, but I just had to notice them.
Happy New Year, Meredith! I am a 35 y/o living in Philadelphia with my boyfriend of two years and I love your blog. While I'm not even married, or have children yet, I check your blog every day because I admire your taste in interior decor, your beautiful children and the things you do with little or no money. Keep up the great work. I'm a huge fan.
Dear Meredith,
Your blog is one of my daily delights. I love your taste and frugality, but especially your elegance. I love to read about thrift, but the difference between your blog and the ones I don't visit again is the good taste with which you you furnish your home, clothe your children and extend yout hospitality.
The posts I've especially liked have been about your kitchen make-over, your meals for crowds and you thrifting finds. Also, you photography is excellent. One reason I don't go back to some blogs is the lack of photos.
I also appredciate your love of God and the reverence you take care to express.
God bless you in 2008.
Heather
It was so nice to meet you, Meredith! I hope I didn't act too dorky and spazz-like. I always replay things later and slap myself in the face over my dorkitude. :-)
Your blog is lovely. Can't believe I have missed it until now.
PS: Those treats you brought today were what John likes to refer to as "crack-rock." Delicious! ;-)
I do believe I like everything you do! Seriously. Love your creativity, repurposing, copying expensive ideas for pennies.... I wish you were my neighbor. I'd clean your home or exchange babysitting for your inspirational help. Happy New Year.
Keep up your strengths:
Beautiful frugality. Expressed quickly with few words, generous explanations, and just the right photo. This really sets LMS ahead of the frugal blogging pack.
Kindness. Your habit of highlighting other bloggers is appreciated, as is regular asking for reader comments.
The ability to stay FOCUSED on your niche may be one of LMS' best assets! You speedily returned to where your audience and strength lies, the few times you dabbled in more introspective-social issue posts with unpleasant results.
Something new I'd like to see on LMS would be how you stretch not only your money, but your TIME.
And of course, more furniture makeovers and jealousy-inducing thrift finds!
Blessings in 2008;
deb meyers
I love the blog the way it is. The most interesting thing to me was the thrifty 'cook off' between you and the other blogger. I loved to follow along on that.
Thank you Meredith for the work you do on the blog. It is always fresh and interesting. You have a real grace. I appreciate what you do. Roxie
I would love to see more of how you organize (and seconldly store) things -- yours and the children's. I know you are great at purging, but you also seem to have a wealth of useful goods tucked away somewhere. When I do that, I can't find it or have to dig to unbury it in the bottom corner of a closet. I would really like to see how you store your children's toys too!
Your blog always brings me back! Thank you! :)
Look at your Ministry!
It is a wonderful gift that you share and we are all thankful.
Peace be with you.
Chris
P.S. Your beautiful closet is the perfect example of one of my favorite parts of your blog! I was so inspired by that! I love how you show the beauty and then tell us how we can do it easily too. Thank you for those glimpses of beauty!
I have just recently found your blog and I really like it.
Thanks
ELizabeth
Just more of the same! It's all great!
Don't change a thing! Your blog is the first thing I read in the morning - your gentle grace and style never fail to inspire me. Thank you!
I am so jealous! I have tried to figure out if there are any other bloggers in my area, but if there are, they are hidden! I would love to be able to talk and ask some questions. Sigh.
You are a wonderful blogger, I'm sure one can't hear that too much! I really do admire your style, and if I only have time to check a quick blog or two you are always at the top of the list.
How wonderful that you all got to meet! I've been quietly reading you for a year (I don't know why I've never commented...), and loudly reading Lotus and Karla and I'm sort of disconcerted that you all met! It sounds like it was a wonderful time.
Wouldn't change a thing. Your blog is the best and the only one (besides mine!) that I visit regularly...usually daily....for the inspiration you provide. LMS is a wonderful place for kindred spirits to gather. I love it all - thank you!!
Love your blog! Like many others, if I can only check one blog, it's yours!! Always inspiring and pleasant to read and look at. :)Probably because your posts are short, to the point, yet have a lot of substance.
You have wonderful pictures. Maybe sometime you could give the rest of us pointers about how to take better photos for our blogs.
Have a wonderful day - I look forward to what you have to share with us this coming year!
Love your blog, but like the above comment, I have often wondered "how do you store all your stuff!!!!" Your homes seems quaint, clean and orderly yet you must have these items you buy frugally stashed somewhere???? Then I wonder how you think of them-if things are stored too far away I tend to forget I have them :) Love your pics! keep up the good work!
I've been wondering how you resell your "mistakes". You talk a lot about what you do with the things you keep, but every so often you mention selling something for a profit or turning around and getting back what you spent on something you decided not to keep. How do you do that?
Sounds like fun! I'm off to learn how to take a screen shot in just a second- I've always wondered.
Just wanted to say I love your blog just the way it is, and I'm looking forward to more of the same. Your frugal gifts and decorations inspire me! :)
I just found your blog a month ago and I really enjoy it! It's very inspiring to me and I'm slowly reading through your archives to get the full picture (this takes real discipline for me; blogs are waaaaay more tempting to me than watching TV, so I try not to spend a whole toddler naptime at the computer!). Thanks for sharing your life with us.
More of the same, Meredith! Your blog is beautiful, the ideas & photos that depict them so inspiring. Really, one of the best blogs out there of this type. A Happy New Year to you & your family!
warmly, Brenda
Hello Meredith -- well, since you asked, I love the thrifty food ideas on your blog, as well as table layout and decoration. I also enjoy seeing your babies grow up -- so all of it, I guess!
But I really do read it for the upbeat view of making do with less, which inspires me to do the same.
I just wanted to say that your blog is my very-most-favorite blog to read! I love decorating, thrifting, and keeping our family spending trim! I wouldn't change a thing on your blog! (By the way, I do appreciate you posting every day...don't know how you manage it, but I sure love reading your entries!) Thanks so much for sharing your Proverbs 31 life with us!
~Dana
Lotus just sent me here and I'm all breathless with the idea of another person all jazzed about having it all without spending it all! Yay!
I love your blog. Your words and pictures are rest and refreshment. I'm in love with books so if you could show us any great book deals you get or even your haul from the library, that would be great. Happy New Year!
Hi Meredith,
I read your blog very often! You have great apply-now ideas, always a source of inspiration. Here are a few things I've wondered about in the past, and since you asked. . .
*HOW do you arrange those frugal centerpieces (basic floral design principles and stuff for those of us who are challenged in that area?)
*Could you give us a behind-the-scenes look into how you know if something used is worth taking home, or a frugal project will look "junky" or "spectacular"--is this just a gift or can the rest of us cultivate the ability? (The article you did on the different levels of landscaping was great for this.)
*Like the others have mentioned, where do you store all your awesome finds? I have picked up just a handful of great--FREE--serving pieces, but already they are all stacked in a cupboard threatening to tumble down on me. Is displaying them the best bet?
Really, your website is wonderful. I LOVE your photos! And the number one best thing about your blog in my opinion is this: Great ideas, great teaching, great instructions and photos, in the LEAST amount of reading time. I am a busy mom, and I love that I can read your post and get the point in a hurry, be inspired, and scoot along. :)
Happy New Year!
Roslyn
Happy new year to you, Meredith!
Here's what I like about your blog: I appreciate your gift of being able to inspire me to look beyond the superficial and to see the potential that something has. I also appreciate your encouragement that things can be beautiful, even if inexpensive (or better yet-free!).
So thank you, and keep up the good work. I think many households are being blessed by your encouraging us in our frugality. :)
Please keep your blog as visual as it is now. Your photos are so inspiring. Also, keep those ideas flowing about how to add beauty in a home by thinking of smaller details of (I'm remembering your post on how to make a simple breakfast go from drab to lovely by breaking out a few nice pieces).
Your blog is always a delight to read, and an inspiration!
I think you are an amazing and gifted and creative woman. I need to visit here more often!!!
Gina @ Chats with an old lady
Hey, Meredith. It's me again! I wanted you to know that I added you to my blogroll. Now, that may not seem like a big deal...but really don't add many to my blogroll, only because I try to save that for resources that are specifally for helping women in specific ways in their walk with God. There a alot of good blogs out there, but I have just kept it to a few resources. Anyway, I thought that yours would be a really good one to help us in living frugal lives in a very materialistic society!
Good job!!
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