It doesn’t take much to make me happy….

A new candle.

A new Mrs. Meyer’s Soy Candle.

A 40% off candle.

I’m happy.

Oh yeah.

A few narrated pics to share..

Tonight my family has gone to a nearby Prophecy Conference and I, who had to stay put due to already-scheduled piano lessons, am now waiting for their return while listening to the blustery wind as it shakes the house. Really.

The house is straightened, I have showered, the littlest young man (who did not go due to a low grade fever. Still.) is asleep, I have eaten a piece of chocolate cake (low fat, honest!) and before I go to my room to dive into my newest and wonderful-est read, The Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola (more on that book later), I uploaded (downloaded?) some new photos to my computer.

She didn’t escape it. She can still be seen with something, anything (even if she has to use her fingers) stuck up her nose to prevent dripping. She hates having a runny nose. She can frequently be heard calling for Tish. That’s her word for tissue. She has said it so much that she has shortened it. This was on a particularly feverish day. She wedged her sleeping bag on the hard floor in between the piano and the table. Directly in the flow of traffic. I think it was some sort of boycott or strike.

My son is a typical boy. He likes to play with my hair rollers.

My sons’ room was looking particulary snazzy so I snapped this picture. Not that the snazzy had to do with intensive floor scrubbing and Sunday washing of every stitch of bed clothes and Lysol-ing every nook and cranny due to a bad virus bug.

Sorry about the blinds. I snatched them up from my neighbor’s trash. She fooled me. They were in a new box. I guess she took these down and put these in the new box when she hung the new blinds in her house.

Confused?

Be careful to notice the $12 Target toybox in the back. $99 reg. Sweet.

The kitchen, looking all tidy.

Wait. I see some cool looking canisters.....

The tallest one: $19.99, the middle one: $16.99, the smallest one, $14.99. Target. My price? 70% off. Off of the middle one, $16.99. The lady sold them to me for the price of one. This was from my favorite store, Dirt Cheap. I love these canisters. There is nothing wrong with them either. No knicks or cracks.

I love the numbers! :) The best thing about them is I needed some canisters and I was pretty patient to wait and I got a great deal!

My pansies have been so loyal to me this winter. This is where they’ve been all winter, right here in this basket. Even in the 15 degree weather that we’ve had at least twice (the reason I can remember is that 15 degree weather breaks my washing machine water pipes. Every time. And it’s happened twice).

But they are loving the warm weather! I’ve had to transplant some of the pansies you see here to another pot.

We felt like Daddy Mama might need some chocolate, especially this week, so the kids and I made a low-fat chocolate cake. Ella says it is a winner.

Evan has similar feelings.

Perfect, chocolaty handprints

Looks good to me!

…Cause for all we know, sister is probably in there in the bathroom painting the sink, the lizard……

And even the…..Tish?

Somebody’s gotta clean up this mess!

This little guy, my morning buddy, helped Mama wash dishes for an hour or more one morning this week. He didn’t quit me until the last dish was washed. And believe me, there were plenty. Same little guy woke up from naptime with 102.5 fever a few hours later. :/

**********************************

Well the family’s tucked in bed and it’s time for Mama to crawl between the sheets. Glad for God’s goodness and his favor towards us. Unmerited, undeserved favor.

Did you know that many are his thoughts unto ME?? Wow.

All in A Day: Grocery Shopping

My computer cord has a malfunction, so this week I haven’t been on the computer much at all. We have also been in revival this week (second week!) and I just haven’t had time to blog. I’ve had a few things rolling in my mind, so maybe I won’t lose them until I get a free minute to jot them down to you.

I did want to keep my word to participate in the All in A Day Series, but I’m afraid my post for today will not be as excited as others’. Grocery shopping, for me, is bi monthly. It is a time I really look forward to, because most of the time, my mom will keep my youngest kids for the day. I can relax and enjoy the day to myself (which is rare!). If they want to come, I let them, of course. Many times it will just be me and my oldest and we have a really nice time, just the two of us.

I, first of all, like to check out my favorite store, Dirt Cheap—especially if I have a little piano teaching money that I’ve put back—and see if there are any extra special bargains (like, 90% off) on decor items for my home. Usually, I will stay in there for an hour or so (last trip I got the boys a very nice Target blue wooden toybox, reg. $99 for $12) depending on how many children I have with me. The next stop will be the library. We love, love to go to the library. Our library has a nice children’s center complete with Dorothy the Fish, Veggie Tales puppets, computers, and even a puppet stage! I always have books on loan to pick up—books that I’ve been recommended by Amazon based on my interests (usually on farming, mothering, health issues, etc), that I’ve had the library to ‘order’ for me. I get the children anywhere from 10 to 15 books to take home until the next trip. The library is a blessing to us!

We may or may not pick up something from a restaurant to eat. If it is just me, I may pick up some healthy snack from the health food store that I usually stop at to get my Veganaise or my organic grits. If I have the kids with me, we will usually go to our favorite Mexican restaurant or if my son gets his way, Chinese. :)

My grocery store is Wal-Mart. We have other smaller scaled grocery stores, but Wal-Mart is the only one in town that carries a half-way decent selection of organics and whole foods. I usually order our beauty products from Vitacost (sorry no link, just google it….) or the health food store. That leaves me with only having to purchase our groceries, tissue paper, dog/cat food, etc.,, from there.

I usually have a $130 budget ($260 per month for a family of 6) to spend at Wal-mart and it can be challenging at times. I have found ways to cut our prices by making our own bread, not buying any processed foods, not buying juice (I buy a bag of organic lemons and make us ‘Honey-Lemon Water’, as my kids call it), and steering clear of any thing we can do without (things like popsicles, even organic juices and prepackaged mac & cheese).

My mom and dad supply us year-round (with the exception of about 4 months per year) with fresh, delicious goat milk and both my FIL and my dad have bee farms, so we get fresh, delicious honey from them. They both have chickens so we get fresh, delicious eggs from them as well. I am SO thankful for this blessing! All of those items are very expensive, especially if you get them fresh, organic, cage-free, etc., so I am so blessed in that area! That takes quite a load off of us, expense wise.

We also garden in the spring/summer and put up tomatoes, peas, corn, okra, and jams and jellies. I hope to delve into that more this year until I’m no longer a novice! :) We have deer meat and pork in our freezer as well. Fresh meat that hasn’t been tainted with hormones is a blessing! My parents grind their own deer meat into deer ‘burger’ so I have fresh hamburger meat a few months out of the year.

Just typing this out makes me realize just how blessed I am!

From a different perspective, my kids are pretty good if taken on our grocery shopping excursions. Sometimes my husband will come along with us and we will go to a larger city, about 50 miles away and make an evening of it. My kids take this as a real treat, because we usually take them to Pet-Co or Books-A-Million. Occasionally, we will take them to Chic-Fil-A to play and we enjoy some time ‘alone’ while we watch through the glass, the kids play.

That’s it for the grocery shopping. My biggest challenges with it is that we pretty much can’t get our school work done on those days and also the house pretty much has to stay ‘as is’ until the night. That is not cool for me, because I really dislike bringing groceries in to an already messy kitchen. :/

Feel free to link up through the comments. I’m going to try this linky thing, but if it doesn’t work and you want to share your grocery experience, feel free to type in your link in the comments!

I’m so excited to have a few new followers! Welcome! I will be by to visit you soon!

God bless your hearts! Here are the others who are participating:
Carrie @ Our Full House http://www.ourfullhouse.com/

Elizabeth @ Yes They http://yes-theyre-all-ours.blogspot.com/ 're All Ours

Kathy @ Kathy Mom of http://www.kathymomofmany.blogspot.com/

Kristy @ Homemaker's Cottage http://www.homemakerscottage.org/

Lori @ Happy Busy Mama http://1happybusymama.blogspot.com/

Renee @ Bakers Dozen http://bakersdozen.typepad.com/

Post Christmas update: The toys that haven’t disappointed

I don’t know if your kids are like mine, but every time after Christmas I’m amazed at how the new toys go into the toy bins, rarely ever pulled out. There are a few exceptions, however, but I’m still convinced that wooden blocks and toy animals have been (and continue to be) my kids’ favorite toys.

This year for Christmas, my son’s great-grandmother got him a Kung-Zhu pet and it instantly became his favorite toy. We lost him for a week or so and it was tragic at our house. My daughter got a sister pet, Zhu-Zhu pet, Moo, and then last week, I was at my favorite burnt-out store and found 2 more Kung-Zhu pets, 90% off. So, now we have a Zhu of Hamsters! :)

Here are a few pics to show just how my kids get excited about these pets (in fact, right now as I type, they are building houses out of wooden blocks for them):

Getting ready to race….

And they’re off….

Explaining the tragic news to sister that her Zhu-Zhu pet didn’t win….

She didn’t receive the news very well…

Sleepy Ella & Mama watch for amusement sake…

These hamsters didn’t disappoint at our household! :)

Happy Thursday!

Thrifty Tablescapes

Well, a girl’s gotta start somewhere and posting about her thrifty finds sounds like it would be as good as any other topic (well, besides something spiritual, but alas, that’s sure to come).

This weekend, we had a drenched lovely time at the beach (it rained the.whole.time) and I got to do a little thrifting on Saturday morning. I spent maybe $10 and got several nice things that I’ll be sure to show you over the next few days. I just love posting about my finds and hope that you like reading about them. :)

At the beginning of the summer, the Lord blessed us to be able to buy--and to make the deal extremely affordable—a ‘new’ dining room suite:

(Please pretend the red is a nice calm, relaxing color. Thanks.)

Between the thrift shop and my very favorite store, Dirt Cheap, I got my Tablescape Groove on.

Not sure about the salt/pepper shakers (they are temporary), but I love the basket/bowl thingy. I got it for $2.99 at the Thrift store. The tablecloth was $4 and the placemat (bamboo?) was 50 cents.

Here’s another small tablescape (sorry about the poor lighting, I, in fact, had no lighting when I took this picture):

Candle stand: 40 cents (didn’t have a price, so the cashier said, “Oh, $4.99, 90% off”. I tried to remain calm.)

Candle was around 60 cents or so

Coasters (should have taken an up close photo..they are very nice—have more of them on my coffee table): 70 cents

It was all 90% off.

The basket below (holding the Science-workbook-yet-to-be-opened-but-will-be-come-Tuesday) is a soft, collapsible basket that I got out of my neighbor’s trash.

Don’t you just love a good deal.

Well. I have lots more to come.

Thanks for tuning back in with me. Be sure to leave a comment letting me know that you had trouble this summer making it without me and you are so glad I’m back. That way you might get another blog out of me this week.

Ha! :P

God Bless the Thrifty! :)

A couple of Do-it-Yourself-ers

When I was growing up, we never went to Yard Sales. Never. It was not that we were ‘better than that’, it was just that my mom thought it was a waste of time and she wasn’t keen on other people’s stuff. I guess that was the reason. I really never asked her?

I absolutely loathe confrontation, so to me, stopping by a Yard Sale of a complete strangers and pilfering through their junk is just too confrontational for my taste.

And then I stopped at my first Yard Sale.

I think it was my town’s annual 7-mile Yard Sale. I knew there would be lots and lots of people there and it wasn’t like I’d be the only one pilfering, ya know?

Yeah, I have issues. Moving along…

At my Queen-of-Yard-Sales-MIL’s persuasion (she volunteered to keep the kids), I decided to give it a try.

At the second or third stop, I found a bag of books for $1, and soon afterwards, I found an adorable Gap skirt and an Old navy skirt for my little girl.

“How much you want for these?”

“Oh, 25 cents.”

And I have loved Yard Sale-ing ever since.

The other morning, I went to my husband’s Aunts’ yard sale (there were 3 sisters, so three Aunts) and saw this coffee table:

(Yeah, I know…try to look past the cutie AND the mess to fix your eyes on the coffee table…circa 1980s)

She had $20 on it (as IF…) but my MIL (her sister) told her I would give her $10 for it (you would LOVE and…um…sometimes dis-love these sisters…lol…right, Amy?). So, I did.

Here it is after a coat of primer and 2 coats of nice white paint (bought at another yard sale of a lady who owns a hardware store…gotta love it) and a few decor items:

and

Yes, I know there are tags still on the birdies…I wasn’t sure if I wanted to put them there or not. They were Dollar Store finds ($6 ea) and they are tooooo cute.

I now have a lantern were those picture frames are and the tags are off the birds….:)

My living room is quite dark so I’m slowly trying to lighten things up and go for a Country Cottage feel. When I say Country, I love old quilts in baskets, old trunks sitting around, etc., not blue and mauve or the primitive look. To each his own…:)

My last project was brought about because of the urgency I feel to create a sense of work ethic in my children, especially my sons. I do want them to have play time, but not idle time. We have rest time, but I want them to be busy.

We have had a schedule before, but I wanted to have one that my son could look at and see what he’s supposed to be doing at certain times. My youngest 2 (2 & 5 yr old) can’t read, but are loosely following the same schedule (w/ different table activities/weekly/daily chores).

Yesterday was his first day following it and I was a bit discouraged. Around 1:30, he saw that it read, “Playtime with Mom”, so he wanted us to play Scrabble. I talked to him and explained that he would have to do the other parts of his schedule as well if he wanted to have playtime with me. So, he has been doing great ever since! We had missed a couple things to day, but I don’t expect it to be rigid or perfect. :o)

I just used card stock and scrapbook paper.

Nothing fancy. I thought you might could get an idea or two from it. :)

Okay, blessings to all!

I’m finally linking up to Marla’s Woo-hoo Wednesday, held every Wednesday. Stop by her site if you get a chance. She’s having a giveaway too!

Look what I've been buying...

It has turned out to be a lovely Saturday after all! I have thoroughly enjoyed mine and I think it's can be attributed to my relaxing and just no stressing about getting things done...doing what counts and that's being a good wife and mother! We had a nice, delicious lunch and have just been enjoying each other's company. The 2 oldest men of the family have gone squirrel hunting with Papa (FIL) and the rest of the littles are asleep. I have some peace and quiet! It is not too rare that I get peace and quiet, thankfully beings I have grandparents close by who want to get a piece of their grandchildren quite frequently. :o)
My favorite store in the world is a burn-out type store and it's where I get all my name brand goodies, including my all natural-organic body products that I love. Just look at all my goodies and savings!! PS. These are all internet photos..I was too lazy to take real pictures of my stuff! :o) The pillow photos are stolen from someone's blog! Sorry! :oP

Erin's dollhouse that she got from money she had saved up: Regular Price $70-$75, We paid 50% off: $35.00!
Pillows for the girls' room (when I get it fixed up for them)...I got 2 of these and they were 90% off of $18!! Like, a little over $1!! They both had a scorched place right in the middle of them, but with a little Shout and a washing on Gentle Cycle, it came right out!!
And up close.... They are from the Shabby Chic Kids line from Target..

Well if you know me, you know I like All-things-natural and my body products are no different. I love the Jason Naturals products and love it when I can find good deals. This stuff is absolutely heavenly! It is Apple Spice Body Wash/Lotion and you will want to eat it....I'm in love with it and bathing never was so fun! :o)

Oh yeah...70% off of $12 and some change!! They have another set there that I could've kicked myself for not buying yesterday.

Okay, up next are 2 books that I purchased yesterday that were book 90% off!! I paid barely over a buck for each of them. The first one I have been wanting to read for awhile! It is the Five Love Languages by Dr. Gary Chapman. I have read the first 2 chapters and it is good so far! The second book is Green Baby and it is a very nice little read about going Green with your baby (including bfing, cloth diapers, organic...etc...u know the stuff I heart!!)....such nice STEALS!!


I would love to see some of your deals sometimes!
We don't celebrate Halloween, per se, but I am going to bake some Pumpkin bread this afternoon and we are going to carve a pumpkin. We do this every year. :o)

I'm Hooked!

Here I am, all snuggled under a quilt, sitting next to a fire, uh, I mean a gas-powered heater (it should be wrong to use that many commas in one sentence), pretty much enjoying the colder weather. The cold feet, the cold floor, the cold house, all of that is seeming very familiar to me really quickly.
These nursing sessions, er, marathons, have allowed me to surf a bit on the internet. Hands down my favorite thing to do with this nice invention they call the internet, is to read blogs. I have a very nosy (did I say that? Curious is a better word) tendency and an insatiable desire, it seems, to peek into other people's lives. Ok, so nosy is probably a better term.

Well, thanks to my sister-in-law, Amy, I'm now hooked on my nest, um, I mean my next, blog, The Nester. You can find the link on Amy's blog. That way it will take you a few seconds longer to get hooked than if I directly link you. So. Go on. Get hooked. You will look at your home in a whole new light. The craftiness in you will come from somewhere, deep down..in my case..WAY deep down. I mean, it's been a YEAR since I've used my glue gun. The Nester uses hers so much that she has named it. (yeah, I've read almost all the archives..guilty). And she is just so. totally. cool. Oh, and if a new blog addiction isn't enough, just click on her sister's blog linky button thingy. Just sayin.

Well, here are a few attempts to get my 'nest on'. Just some little touchups I've done around the place, a few spots I've cozied up, or bits of advice from the Nester that I've put into play. I'm totally inspired. If tomorrow is pretty, I will be sanding my porch furniture getting ready to paint. I envision black porch furniture with some cool pillows (sewn by moi, or hot glued..hehe) on my chairs, etc... Too bad I can't 'mistreat' my front screen door, because it really needs replacing and that will be $$. Hint..lest you think I would be taking a sledge hammer to my screen door, visit the Nester to see what I mean by 'mistreat'.

And now for la photos..

Just a simple centerpiece arrangement, actually done by my son Move a lamp to the kitchen..wow I love this..the soft glow of the lamp is so nice at night..especially in a clean kitchen (ps. the small glass bowl on top of the recipe card box is where I keep my 'running' list of chores that I draw out of the 'hat'...psycho, I know)

How 'bout some door with that wreath?
Moved this from the front porch (it didn't really 'go' there) it's got purple on it and I mean, it should be orange or brown to be a candidate for the front door. It almost looks like a spider with the 'legs' hanging down. Must fixt that. Looks good IRL.

Can you spot the missing bowl?

This area was Pre-Nester and I have managed to keep it clutter free and clean for about 2 months now. Love it.

And if every chair in your home doesn't have a pillow in it, you don't know the rules. Also, old chairs helps you score points. I win! (Stay tuned to see the replacement pillow...one day)

And what does 70% off of 12.95 equal? A very happy nester. A 'Dirt Cheap' find. Just in case you need a closer look:
Totally wonderful. And it's made outta burlap. That counts for a lot these days.

Mix all that up and add at least one cute kid (below) and you on your way to having a nice nest.